• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

CK2 Dev Diary #17: Crusader Cats

Hello everyone! I’m Virvatuli, one of the Content Designers on The Reaper’s Due, which also happens to be my very first project here at Paradox. It’s been so much fun working on this DLC and I hope you’ll have even more fun playing it! In this week’s DD (another first for me), I will reveal one of Reaper’s most important features. Oh, okay, it might not be that important, but at least it’s my personal favourite and pet project. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you cats.

For the longest time, there’s been a issue regarding the representation of pets in Crusader Kings 2. In the realm of companion animals, there has been a worrisome lack of diversity. Most of you who play Way of Life have probably had a loyal hunting dog, there have been some events regarding birds of prey, and a lucky few Conclave players might have encountered a tiny rodent friend. Sadly, that has been pretty much it on the pet front. To rectify this serious problem we’ve added some additional furry and feathered friends in The Reaper’s Due. As we did, of course we couldn’t leave out the best animal of them all: our Feline Overlords, Befurred Ninjas, Gods of the Internet.

In the new DLC you can befriend a cat in a number of ways. However, as any Dwarf Fortress player or real-life cat lover knows, you do not adopt a cat. A cat adopts you. Once your feline friend has decided that you’re the one and only slave for it, you will receive a fancy “Pet Cat” character modifier (unless you scare it away, you horrible person). It will give your character +1 health, as the cat brings you so much happiness, and +1 intrigue, because we all know that cat owners are a bit more clever than everyone else (hey, it’s science!).

dd1.png

However, most things can become troublesome in excess, even your love for felines. In every cat owner’s life there comes a time when you ask yourself if you shouldn’t get just one more. At some point, the answer is probably no, at least if you don’t want to scare off all of your friends and repulse the courtiers.

dd2.png

Unless you want to become even sneakier, that is. Then go ahead and become a Crazy Cat Lady, or a Crazy Cat Lord, if that’s how you identify.

At first thought, one might think that cats would be a very insignificant aspect of a medieval ruler’s life, however, when the Plague comes around to visit this changes drastically. Most of you probably know that the Black Death was likely spread by fleas on rats. Sadly this fact is unknown to ye olde peasant, and when people start to die, some of them might point fingers to our furry protectors. Believe it or not, there are some people who do not like cats. It’s crazy, I know, but trust me on this. How will you deal with their growing fears? Do remember, if you don’t have cats, you’ll have plenty of rats…

dd3.png

This sneak peak of cats is all you’ll get for now. Don’t worry though, The Reaper’s Due is out on the 25th of August and then you can experience cats for yourself in all their whiskered glory. Next week Darkrenown will talk about more assorted features. Now I need to get back to scripting, there’re still some cat-related subjects which need further exploration… Adieu!
 
  • 230
  • 53
  • 28
  • 1Like
  • 1Love
Reactions:
That's what you have servants for. You really think a king would personally clean up after his pet cat or dog?

The kings cat s*its, the steward scoops.
 
well i have wo for long time, but never got dog, mayby because i didnt taken hunting focus, i thought that having rich empire and heirs was more important.
so can we have easier wa to addopt dogs, cats and other animals ?
and have cat-dogs wars at court ?
it just intereing event poped to my head - your courtier have beloved mouse/rat at she is eaten by visitiong person cat which is then hunted by rulers dog. how to deal with that situation ?
 
Except that's once you become "crazy cat lady/lord" and not just because you have a cat. Riffing on the modern term of a "crazy cat lady" hermit that is unsociable and disliked, not because it was taboo in medieval Catholicism.... Oh.

Hopefully the event chain does account or this and isn't just some satirical, meme event.

It wasn't a taboo, the Church had no policy on cats at the time. But a theme of this DLC is that peasants are stupid and want scapegoats when times are bad.
 
  • 13
  • 1
Reactions:
well i have wo for long time, but never got dog, mayby because i didnt taken hunting focus, i thought that having rich empire and heirs was more important.
Nope. The dog is more important. Once you get the dog, then you swap to a different focus, as the dog by itself, on average, boosts your health by 20%.
 
  • 3
Reactions:
When do we get 'support cat companies' for HOI4?
Swasticat2-258x300.jpg

maybe even medals for cats. Just as medals given to message birds in ww1 :p

actualy there were given medals to animals in wwii, to varous dogs, birds and cats. i think they were called dicken medals, and there was one dog , i think it was german shepard, which recived high class medal, he served at raf iirc, but cant recall more details, will love if someone will find out more.
 
Or, to quote oral tradition:
"Ring around the rosie,
"A pocket full of posies,
"A-choo! A-choo! We ALL! FALL! DOWN!"

i.e. people were sneezing: pneumonic plague.
Note that the explanation that this rhyme has anything to do with the Plague is now generally rejected; it doesn't appear until long after the Plague was more or less eradicated from England, and more broadly, the "every folksong must have a deep meaning" genre of analysis is no longer popular with scholars.
 
  • 1
  • 1
Reactions:
Is this a joke ? Cats ? Some new disease/age-related traits would be nice like Dementia( - learning, dlip. ), Osteoarthritis( - martial ) or something like that. But nope, f####### cats -_-

There is plenty of diseases coming. They even dedicated an entire DD to it. They will obviously be diseases with a distinct medieval spin and not a modern, seeing as people from the middle ages would have had no concept whatsoever of what Dementia or Osteoarthritis even is, so it would be pointless to add them
 
  • 2
Reactions:
Tell me about the significance of cats in a grand strategy game.
Out of sheer curiosity - do you consider the addition of hunting dogs in the Hunting focus pointless as well? And the falconry trait? Poet? And most importantly: are all those elements somehow detracting from the "grand strategy nature" of the game to the point of them not to be included in the first place, according to your sensibilities?
 
  • 8
Reactions:
There is plenty of diseases coming. They even dedicated an entire DD to it. They will obviously be diseases with a distinct medieval spin and not a modern, seeing as people from the middle ages would have had no concept whatsoever of what Dementia or Osteoarthritis even is, so it would be pointless to add them

No concept ? Nope.
Dementia is an ancient term which has been in use since at least the time of Lucretius in 50 B.C.E.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_praecox

Osteoarthritis existed in the Middle Ages, but severe cases must have been rare


http://www.arthrolink.com/en/osteoarthritis-folders/all-folders/osteoarthritis-and-history-ep-3

Out of sheer curiosity - do you consider the addition of hunting dogs in the Hunting focus pointless as well? And the falconry trait? Poet? And most importantly: are all those elements somehow detracting from the "grand strategy nature" of the game to the point of them not to be included in the first place, according to your sensibilities?
In my opinion they should not focus so much on the rpg element and actually care a little bit more about the political/strategic part of the game. This game has for example no naval warfare, Byzantine imperial administration is a joke, decadence system is broken and there are many more issues/problems. Im kinda upset that they invest sooo much time in nonsense like "crusader cat/dogs".
 
Last edited:
  • 11
  • 6
Reactions:
Yes, Ostearthritis existed. That's not the same as people in the Middle Ages had any idea what it was. Learn to read the distinction. Your link deals almost entirely with a look back at the history of the disease, not with the Medieval conception of said disease in a present tense

Fair enough, i can concede i was wrong about Dementia

My main point still stands though. They are adding a whole slew of diseases, they are the most prolific ones and not rather fringe diseases, so they are not ignoring diseases in favour of adding flavour for cats
 
Last edited:
  • 2
Reactions:
i didnt taken hunting focus, i thought that having rich empire and heirs was more important.
Hunting focus is for characters with stressed/depressed traits, so preferably you could take it when your ruler is 50+ to eliminate the traits and to prolong his life a little bit.
 
  • 1
Reactions:
No concept ? Nope. It is just my opinion but its weird that my 50 years old character can beat a young 20 years old "competent" fighter in a duel. Doesnt make sense, or ?
Dementia is an ancient term which has been in use since at least the time of Lucretius in 50 B.C.E.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_praecox

Osteoarthritis existed in the Middle Ages, but severe cases must have been rare


http://www.arthrolink.com/en/osteoarthritis-folders/all-folders/osteoarthritis-and-history-ep-3


In my opinion they should not focus so much on the rpg element and actually care a little bit more about the political/strategic part of the game. This game has for example no naval warfare, Byzantine imperial administration is a joke, decadence system is broken and there are many more issues/problems. Im kinda upset that they invest sooo much time on nonsense like "crusader cat/dogs".
I've always considered the Infirm trait as covering senile dementia.
 
  • 13
Reactions:
In my opinion they should not focus so much on the rpg element and actually care a little bit more about the political/strategic part of the game. This game has for example no naval warfare, Byzantine imperial administration is a joke, decadence system is broken and there are many more issues/problems. Im kinda upset that they invest sooo much time on nonsense like "crusader cat/dogs".

Of course, it's a strategy game with RPG-elements, not the other way around!

Which is precisely why major DLCs add new and important strategy/gameplay mechanics, along with the free patches. Honestly, I think most of the strategic core of the game was updated via patches, wasn't it? But this is a minor DLC, and has always been promoted as such.

Minor DLCs such as Sons of Abraham or Way of Life have always been more focused on adding new RP-elements and event chains, since they are easier to create and properly test than large-scale core mechanics changes. And still they feature one or two new mechanics which change the game significantly, so you don't buy just event-packs - Legacy of Rome is a prime example, by adding retinues. And the Reaper will have those as well - the way Plagues are reworked, and the prosperity mechanics will be hugely important strategically from what I can see.

I join you in your hope that the next DLC will feature more core-game improvements. It was announced to be a big one, so it's fair to expect those. From a minor DLC not so much.
 
  • 8
Reactions:
I'm amazed at how defensive and angry people are getting about one designer's admitted personal pet project.
 
  • 15
  • 1
Reactions:
It wasn't a taboo, the Church had no policy on cats at the time. But a theme of this DLC is that peasants are stupid and want scapegoats when times are bad.
Yes, it was taboo for many Catholics. As I've already pointed out.

Disagreeing isn't going to change the facts, sorry kids.
 
Last edited:
  • 17
  • 3
Reactions: