CK2 Dev Diary #112 - Wonderful News

[Tuscany]

Good afternoon


It has been a while since we wrote one of these and I am sure you are all dying to know what we have been working on, because of course, we have been working away on the next exciting thing. Our next update will be free and will focus on a brand new feature: Wonders.


Cathedrals, Fortresses, Pyramids and many many more wonders are planned for the next update. By investing a significant amount of gold and time you will be able to build a wondrous building. These will be built in stages meaning that even if you cannot finish it in your lifetime, your descendants will be able to finish what you started.

Wonders and their stages


Now even though many Cathedrals or Great Libraries may be built, we want to ensure they are not all the same, so it will be possible to add upgrades to your wonders, everything from spikes to gargoyles, to gardens, each of these giving unique modifiers and sometimes unlocks new content.

Upgrade Icons

We will also be adding some prebuilt historical wonders to the game, to represent already existing buildings, such as the Pyramids of Giza and the Colosseum of Rome. (Maybe you can even add an upgrade or two)


If you have fun ideas for any of this please let us know. I can’t promise it will get in, but it just might.


We hope you’re as excited about this as we are and please remember that all the art is work in progress.

 

[Tuscany]

Pyramids?!

Pyramids will just be one of many wonders and will be available to build only in specific circumstances.

 

[Tuscany]

Will there be possible disasters that can happen during construction?

Disasters is a fun idea, there will definitely be events that can happen while you're constructing...

 

[Tuscany]

It would have been cool if we can change already build wonder depending on our religion or culture. E.g. Hagia Sofia

This is something we would like to do but not sure if we will have time for it at the moment

 

[Alfray Stryke]

I'm assuming we'll be able to build holy monuments for religions (especially reformed pagans) on their holy sites, similar to Irminsul?

 

[Tuscany]

For fun ideas - perhaps some upgrades that are reliant on having access to specific other features of the game? Stuff like placing the skull you dug out of your rival's grave on top of the Colosseum's gates; using your influence as a Hermetic Grandmaster to fill a dedicated section of your Great Library with esoteric works; as a religion that sacrifices people, installing a blood altar at the top of the Pyramids.

These are exactly what we're thinking of. Blood altar on pyramid may be confirmed...

 

[Tuscany]

Also since Cathedrals are now a thing can we move Saint Burrial sites to them?

We haven't worked out quite how we want saints to work with Cathedrals but its on our minds.

 

[Divine]

If building a Pyramid is not really worth the costs, especially compared to other possible wonders, I think it'll be fine (I oersonally expect a library or a fortress to be more useful than a tomb) . It's not like just anyone will be building wonders either.

As for my ideas: if a province has a wonder, please give the related EU4 province a permanent modifier after Save Game conversion!

I think this is a cool idea. I've been thinking that at least fully completed wonders should transfer to some kind of permanent province modifier.

 

[Tuscany]

If building a Pyramid is not really worth the costs, especially compared to other possible wonders, I think it'll be fine (I oersonally expect a library or a fortress to be more useful than a tomb) . It's not like just anyone will be building wonders either.

As for my ideas: if a province has a wonder, please give the related EU4 province a permanent modifier after Save Game conversion!

Converting wonders is planned.

 

[Tuscany]

Well, restoring/improving the Seven Wonders would seem obvious, as well as a few famous buildings elsewhere (the Colosseum, the Hagia Sophia, etc.). Other than that, the ability to restore Hadrian's Wall could be interesting if it actually mattered (meaning there was something forcing you to siege it down if you attacked the relevant provinces from the north), the various pyramids built in e.g. Constantinople mentioned in various Sunset Invasion events would be nice (also, given that the Aztecs supposedly view Gizeh as the holiest location outside Tenochtitlan in those events, having a holy site there would be nice...), and possibly some generic vanity projects (e.g. creating a Mount Rushmore-style wonder depicting your ancestors, or building a Statue of Liberty (Statue of Tyranny?) in your image).

Statues you say...

 

[Tuscany]

I assume there will be a couple wonders that only an insane person can start?

Starting with the Winchester Mansion of the Middle Ages as the baseline and going up from there

We have atleast one 'lunatic' wonder planned.

However it will be easier for us to add upgrades for lunatics.

 

[Tuscany]

Are there ahistoric wonders planned - something that probably wasn't actually a wonder in that period but could feasibly happen? Like, I don't know, making the world's most secure castle/dungeon, a gigantic statue of some vain ruler, some proud madman giving another shot at the Tower of Babel. Possibly somewhat anachronistic stuff like what the Hermetics have with their inventions.

It is possible to make ahistoric wonders, new pyramids being a great example. Also some upgrades can be ahistorical.

 

[Snow Crystal]

some proud madman giving another shot at the Tower of Babel

I want this so much.

 

[Tuscany]

How many wonders per kingdom?

Technically its a single wonder by province but cost and time will make this unrealistic. We also haven't got into balancing yet so this may change.

 

[Tuscany]

Can the perpetual motion hamster wheel you can throw immortal rivals in become a wonder!

I think rather it should unlock and upgrade, Hmm what could I do with endless power and medieval level technology...

 

[Tuscany]

Some megalithic stonehange-like stuff for pagans?
Big fortresses(think Malbork)

Another shot for Babel is a must though

Oh and BTW I love the way ck2 is developed.

Megaliths are planned

 

[Tuscany]

I suggested few times Wonders as the element of Stewardship Immortality eventchain, but that also works.

Btw, how long it will take to construct a single wonder? It took about 180 years to build Notre-Dame in Paris.

The idea is that to finish a wonder properly will take a few generations. Unsure about exact years yet.

 

[Divine]

Anything on 64-bit?

It's something on our agenda to consider and evaluate. First patch will not contain any changes on the bitness of the game.

 

[Tuscany]

Will the wonders appear graphically on the map when built?

Maybe, more on this later

 

[Tuscany]

This is definetly something I want to know; because, and especially with a rich immortal, i would hope you could have more than 1 per realm (just heavily disincentivized due to cost and build time) simply because if you build one and it ends up being a "meh" thing, being unable to start a different one would suck.

Or just being a new roman emperor and saying "screw it, wonders for everyone"

Just please not limited like it's a "bloodline but for realms", bloodline founding sucks enough once you inevitably have an immortal

See my comment above.