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CK2 - Dev Diary #123 - Iron Century

Hello!

As you probably know by now we released our 3.1.1 patch yesterday. Hopefully those of you who have managed to try it are enjoying it, and those of you who haven’t will jump in this weekend. Let us know what you think about the court and tech changes, and as always if you run into any issues, please report them in the bug forum!

Now onto something new, there have been a few hints here and there about what we have been working on. However now we can officially announce that we will be releasing a new historical bookmark called: The Iron Century. The bookmark will start on the 7th of August 936, a previously unplayable date and our first in the 10th century.

CK2_IronCentury_1920x1080.jpg


In Europe Otto marches on the path to an Empire, Rival Caliphs battle for control of the Muslim world and the last remnants of the vikings stir to the north. Hundreds of other characters have their own stories to tell. A thousand possibilities await in the Iron Century.

Next week we will do something special and have a new dev diary about the 936 bookmark every day from Monday to Friday to cover the setting of the medieval world in the 10th century. Also I want to make it clear that ‘The Iron Century’ update will be completely free.

A correction from last weeks dev diary is that the correct weekday of our Crusader Kings stream is Wednesdays 16:00 CEST and not the previously mentioned Thursdays.

Thanks for reading everyone!

CK2 Team
 
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First off - thank you once again for continuing to support this truly amazing game. And for free again !

Second - come on people, they've given us a date, a picture and a patch title, let's get to work !

I'll start with some guesses -
  • Reworked HRE mechanics
  • General middle east religion cleanup, with Zoros, Yazidis etc all getting put into their rightful places
  • Combat rework
  • New migration mechanics
  • Papal shenanigans with a more detailed Pornocracy, Cadaver Synod and maybe even seeds of the Great Schism mechanic and possibly a pre-Papal Conclave succession type for the pope
  • Northern trade routes ?
  • Playable theocracies ?
  • More/new/amended artifacts/bloodlines/titular titles/Great Works/Societies ?

Work with me here people !
Doubt it, it's a free update and my expectation is lower... But if they do, OMG WTF :D
 
CK2 Dev Dairy, eh? Will there be news of improved cow milking technology?
How is giving stuff out for free milking it?
This will be particularly fascinating for Iran, at the height of the Iranian Intermezzo, because the brief rule of the Zoroastrian Ziyarids will still cover much of the country; probably the most viable Zoroastrian start for anyone. It also is just after the start of the Buyid dynasty, the Daylamite Shi'is who attempted to claimthe title of Shahanshah and who were the last major dynasty before the Seljuk invasion in Western Iran. In Khorasan, meanwhile, the Samanids are at their height, the dynasty which did so much to restore the prestige and use of the Persian language after two centuries of Arabic's literary dominance.

I'm looking forward to this one a lot :D.

EDIT: Ah, it appears that a Sunni Muslim had ascended the Ziyarid throne in 935, so sorry Zoroastrian fans, it's one year out :p but there will hopefully be plenty of Zoroastrian sub-rulers in the Ziyarid realm.
Ah that's a shame. Zoroastrian Persia is always a lot of fun.
They may do some Charlemagne-sequel story events for it
Considering those events are still broken...
936,so how to select Chinese emperor for the period of “five dynasty and ten kingdoms”?
Because that's not totally an issue in already existing start dates?
 
i figured the next dlc after the free wonders would be a paid update, but apparently it's yet another free update. curious.

to be honest, i wouldn't mind paying a few euros for it. almost feels wrong to get new content for free lol.
 
Do the suits in marketing know you're giving away so much free content? Did you just lie to them and tell them that CK2 has been discontinued?
This is probably a pointless remark that will give rise to needless speculation, but when Diablo 3 decided not to make a second expansion the developer released all the content they'd developed so far for the expansion (concept art, new levels, new monsters) for free over the course of several patches.

I doubt the same is happening with CK2 -- because I think PDS would just let them finish the xpac rather than pulling the plug halfway through -- but it's possible.

Rather, I hope that PDS has decided that CK2 has so much DLC available, and the fanbase has been so loyal, that they decided to let the CK2 team take a year or so to work on free projects wherever they think the game needs improvement. And that, with all the DLC available to buy, they can draw in a hefty income from the game simply by drawing in new players to buy the DLC already available.

It's wishful thinking. But I can dream, right? ;)
 
This is probably a pointless remark that will give rise to needless speculation, but when Diablo 3 decided not to make a second expansion the developer released all the content they'd developed so far for the expansion (concept art, new levels, new monsters) for free over the course of several patches.

I doubt the same is happening with CK2 -- because I think PDS would just let them finish the xpac rather than pulling the plug halfway through -- but it's possible.

Rather, I hope that PDS has decided that CK2 has so much DLC available, and the fanbase has been so loyal, that they decided to let the CK2 team take a year or so to work on free projects wherever they think the game needs improvement. And that, with all the DLC available to buy, they can draw in a hefty income from the game simply by drawing in new players to buy the DLC already available.

It's wishful thinking. But I can dream, right? ;)
I agree,but we will see what PDS will decide for CK2.There are still rumors than CK2 can be at the end of development soon.I hope not but we will see what will happen.
 
Will Marozia be playable and become the bad girl version of Matilda?
 
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Next week we will do something special and have a new dev diary about the 936 bookmark every day from Monday to Friday to cover the setting of the medieval world in the 10th century. Also I want to make it clear that ‘The Iron Century’ update will be completely free.
CK2 Team

With all the free updates, are you preparing for one huge expansion later in the year?
Maybe this is the final year for CK2. All of these updates are for tidying up the game.
Are you willing to give us a complete road map for this year?
 
How is giving stuff out for free milking it?
Ah that's a shame. Zoroastrian Persia is always a lot of fun.
He wrote that because of OP's typo "dev dairy" I think.
About Zoroastrian Persia, yeah that was make it or break it for me.But I'll still play on this start date occasionally I guess. 867 is a sweet spot for me.

Thanks guys for the free contents again!!
This is unbelievable, absolute mad lads.
If you guys are hijacked and forced to work for free just blink twice and we might or might not save you. :p
 
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Any chance the Boudicca bloodline that's in the game files will have an event to reward it in this update? Otherwise it's sitting there doing nothing.
 
Awesome. Love you guys.
 
I just want to point out one thing, i assume Eirik Bloodaxe will be the playable Norwegian king of that timestamp(as he currently is showns as in title history). In the current game the character has christianity as religion, but everything in the historical sources (Heimskringla, Fagerskinna) indicates that he was a pagan. And not to mention the skaldic poem made about him, Eiriksmál, which speaks about him entering Valhall. Please make him pagan.
 
Well...
East Asia in 936.PNG

I am not sure which one could be considered as the "Chinese Emperor". I prefer that the off-map power should be unavailable since East Asia was just a region with several independent countries in 936, just like Europe.