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CK2 Dev Diary #46: Surveying the Survey

Greetings!

In today’s Dev Diary we would like to present some of the information we gathered from the CK2 survey we did some time ago. The survey is based on a sample size of between 4000-5000 answers per data point. Note that we have not measured what you thought of any free features that came in the major patches, but rather this survey focused on the paid features of our various DLC’s. I won’t present all of it in this DD, but I will bring up some interesting points that might amuse you!


Amount of survey takers that both Owns and Plays a given DLC:

Sword of Islam - 90.8%

Legacy of Rome - 92,36%

Sunset Invasion - 71,54%

The Republic - 89.32%

The Old Gods - 96,17%

Sons of Abraham - 91,92%

Rajas of India - 82,29%

Charlemagne - 91,66%

Way of Life - 92,97%

Horse Lords - 82,91%

Conclave - 81,57%

Reaper’s Due - 79,29%


The DLC’s that built the most hype before they were released:

The Old Gods
  • A total of 92,05% of the ones taking the test were excited for the DLC - and most impressively a whopping 64,01% were extremely interested!
The Reaper’s Due
  • A total of 80,87% of the ones taking the test were excited for the DLC - and of those 47,27% were extremely interested. While The Old Gods tops the charts for pre-release hype, The Reaper’s Due also significantly peaked the interests!
Way of Life
  • A total of 77,83% of the ones taking the test were excited for the DLC - and of those 42,38% were extremely interested.
While many DLC’s built a lot of interest before they were released, these three stand out from the crowd.


The DLC’s that built the least hype:

Sunset Invasion
  • A total of 34,3% of the ones taking the test were not interested in this DLC, with 33,10% being indifferent.
This leaves the Sunset Invasion as the only DLC that did not manage to build much interest.

The DLC’s that exceeded your expectations the most:

The Reaper’s Due
  • A total of 76,73% of the ones taking the test thought that it was better than expected - where 42,52% thought it exceeded their expectations by a landslide!
The Old Gods
  • A total of 82,53% of the ones taking the test thought that it was better than expected - where 41,91% thought it exceeded their expectations by a landslide!
This means that while The Old Gods is the overall winner, The Reaper’s Due had the most people being completely blown away.

And the other side of the coin, the DLC’s that did not live up to your expectations:

Sunset Invasion
  • A total of 26,97% of the ones taking the test thought that this DLC didn’t live up to their initial impressions, with a respectable 49,17% thinking it was just as expected.
This leaves the Sunset Invasion as the only DLC where for a lot of players it did not live up to the initial impression.

The DLC’s that has content you use the most often:

Way of Life
  • With a whopping total of 96,83% of the ones taking the test using content from this DLC in just about every game they play, Way of Life takes the unchallenged top spot. Of these, 85,57% use Way of Life content in every game they play.
The Reaper’s Due
  • A total of 89,69% of the ones taking the test uses content from this DLC in just about every game they play. Of these, 69,80% use The Reaper’s Due content in every game they play.
The Old Gods
  • A total of 89,95% of the ones taking the test uses content from this DLC in just about every game they play. Of these, 56,23% use The old Gods content in every game they play.

The DLC’s that has content you use the least often:

Sunset Invasion
  • A total of 61,97% rarely use any content from this DLC. Among them 26,69% never use any content.
Rajas of India
  • A total of 49,52% rarely use any content from this DLC. Among them 13,64% never use any content.
Sword of Islam
  • A total of 33,17% rarely use any content from this DLC. Though only 3,91% never use any content.

The most AND least well received feature, per DLC:

Sword of Islam
  • Most: Polygamy
  • Least: Decadence

Legacy of Rome
  • Most: Retinues
  • Least: Ability to Restore Rome
(Note that there were only 2 data points for this DLC, Restoring Rome actually scored quite high, but retinues has it beat by a landslide)


Sunset Invasion
  • Most: Aztec Culture & Religion
  • Least: Aztec Invasion Event

The Republic
  • Most: Family Palaces
  • Least: Republic CB’s and war restrictions

The Old Gods
  • Most: Playable Pagans and Zoroastrians (This was the most well received feature of all features, with a massive majority of 92,55% rating this feature as great)
  • Least: Adventurers

Sons of Abraham
  • Most: Pilgrimages
  • Least: Restoring the Kingdom of Israel

Rajas of India
  • Most: New Playable Religions
  • Least: Jungle Terrain

Charlemagne
  • Most: Custom Kingdoms and Empires
  • Least: Zun Religion (This is the feature that interested the least players overall, with 46,22% rating this feature as uninteresting, narrowly beating Jungle Terrain by ~4%)

Way of Life
  • Most: Lifestyle Traits
  • Least: Character Focus
(Note that once again there were only 2 data points for this DLC)


Horse Lords
  • Most: Silk Road Features
  • Least: Clan Politics

Conclave
  • Most: Reworked Laws
  • Least: Favors

Reaper’s Due
  • Most: New Maimed Traits
  • Least: Seclusion


The additions that you rate the highest in a new DLC:

  1. New Events - With an overwhelming majority of 73,16% appreciating this type of addition very much.

  2. New Starting Dates - With 51,53% appreciating this type of addition very much.

  3. Reworked Previously Existing Features - With 44,25% appreciating this type of addition very much.

  4. Expanded Map - With 38,94% appreciating this type of addition very much.

  5. New Succession Laws - With 29,16% appreciating this type of addition very much.

  6. Interface Skins - With 25,24% appreciating this type of addition very much.

We hope that this was interesting to you, even though it’s in a heavily condensed format - hopefully we’ll be able to present even more survey results in the future!
 
The earliest start date that would make sense is the fall of the Western Roman Empire which marks the beginning of the medieval era. But of course the game right now has a hard enough time modeling 769.
 
I guess i am one of those people who wants another starting date. I would like to have one starting date in the mid to late 900s because here are a few interesting things that happened back then.

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba is one the brink of collapse and is about to fracture into the various Taifa states, leading to the decline of Islamic rule in favor of the Christians to the north.

2. Otto the Great of Saxony is about to restore the Holy Roman Empire that Charlemagne had built centuries prior, but he has to fight against other German rulers and withstand the numerous Viking raids that are now stronger than ever.

3. Speaking of the Vikings, they have now asserted their influence across all of Europe and the Viking age has reached its Zenith. But after more than a century of nearly constant raiding on a regular basis, most of western Europe has gotten used to their frequent attacks and have now built formidable castles to keep them out, making it harder to raid. That along with the rise of christianity in Scandinavia and the slow breakup of the Norse culture marks the beginning of the end of the Viking age.

4. Further east, it's a completely different story. The descendants of Rurik have expand across eastern Europe and have even adopted many slavic traditions. However, one day King Vladimir the Great decides that it's time to abandon Slavic paganism in favor of one of the neighboring faiths(Judaism, Sunni Islam and Orthodox Christianity).

To all of this, we can add a scenario portraying the rise of Seljuk and his clan from the Oghuz Turks in Turkmenistan and the fall of the Samanids to the Buyids in center Iran and Ghaznavids in Khorasan/Afghanistan.
So much could be done with just a few flavor events, event troops (Magyar-like) and the mechanics of the game such as claims (conflict between Ghaznavids, Buyids and later, Seljuks; seeing Seljuk settle; The Ghaznavids' and Seljuks' expansion)...

Late 10th century would be so interesting
 
I wouldn't mind the sunset invasion if they weren't aztecs but something which makes sense in the timeframe.

I actually heard someone say in the Steam reviews for SI it IS actually historically accurate. Basically, the Aztecs were in a Golden Age back in those times (when they were invaded by Spain they were in their own Dark Age) and thus, if they had the knowledge (vikings going further south) and resources (Golden Age) they definitely could have invaded.

EDIT: Seeing people disagree. I'd like to say that I have no idea what I'm talking about, it is only what that guy on Steam said that I'm trying to point out to others. I have no idea whether it is actually true
 
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I hope you aren't seeing these results as a request for more start dates...
More start dates can just be to extend the timeline to later periods, or filling in the already existant period, between 867-1066. On the forums that seem like the most requested, rather than extending the timeline even further backwards in time, which is very problematic in the vanilla game, to say the least.
 
I'm a little surprised The Republic was not one of the three least-used DLCs. Republics are fun, but I reckoned the paucity of starts compared to say, the Sword of Islam, would have seen it drop. Maybe we're all still hunting those elusive 80 trade posts?



I wouldn't want to see the timeline going back any further, but filling in some of the gaps between the earlier start dates? Count me in! Would love the histories between 869 and 1066 to be populated so we could do battle with folk like Cnut the Great, ruler of Denmark, England and Norway.

I'd love to see a DLC adding the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries, but I don't see that happening, sadly.
 
I'd love to see a DLC adding the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries, but I don't see that happening, sadly.
Especially since EU4 does a pretty good job portraying this period
 
Most epic moment with sunset invasion for me was it occuring due to clicking random sometime in the 800's and them having 200K event spawned units during it. Now finally 400 years later after them conquering half the known world with me barely keeping them away with non-aggression pacts the event spawned units have died... Plus the inheritance for aztecs doesnt make them drop empire to 2nd heirs.

Based on this I never wanna set them to random anymore. The world cannot handle mongols and Aztecs at the same time (happened both in 800's). But the horde system falls through unlike with the aztecs. Never click random unless you wanna struggle through 200K of event troops that dont have attrition...
 
Hopefully we won't see anymore sunset invasions. Still never understood why you guys made it, no one even asked for it.
Cannot agree more. But shh, you are upsetting all the fanboys.
 
I actually heard someone say in the Steam reviews for SI it IS actually historically accurate. Basically, the Aztecs were in a Golden Age back in those times (when they were invaded by Spain they were in their own Dark Age) and thus, if they had the knowledge (vikings going further south) and resources (Golden Age) they definitely could have invaded.
Eh no the aztecs were a nomadic people living in the west coast of the US unti, like the last century of the game. Even then it is not until in the eu4 era that they adopt the culture of the civilisations they conquered and actually are anything more than barbarians sitting in stone structures built by others.
And there is no golden age at all in mesoamerica during the viking age, the olmec civilisation collapsed in the 5th century AD The empire of Teotihuacan in the 7th century. Following that mesoamerica is invaded by a series of barbarian invasions, which end with the aztecs invading in the 15th century and finally putting together something resembling an empire again.
Some of the civilizations in between might be seen as somewhat advanced the zapotec for an example but they were on the west coast.

Edit: Yeah as noted below I forgot the toltec.
 
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As someone who just bought Reaper's Due, why is it so high? I delayed buying it until it was cheap on sale because ... diseases? What's exciting about it? (or did I miss some awesome feature that comes with the DLC?)
 
Eh no the aztecs were a nomadic people living in the west coast of the US unti, like the last century of the game. Even then it is not until in the eu4 era that they adopt the culture of the civilisations they conquered and actually are anything more than barbarians sitting in stone structures built by others.

I think he's confusing the Toltec with the Aztec.

Toltec Empire was from 496 to 1122.
 
As someone who just bought Reaper's Due, why is it so high? I delayed buying it until it was cheap on sale because ... diseases? What's exciting about it? (or did I miss some awesome feature that comes with the DLC?)

I think what people like so much about it is that it not only adds a lot of events, but they can be incredibly funny. I don't have it, but from watching a let's play it seemed to be the perfect DLC for adding humour and character to the game. Those are the things that people seem to respond to best.

Edit: It also adds prosperity which comes with a few things people really wanted in relation to building tall.
 
As someone who just bought Reaper's Due, why is it so high? I delayed buying it until it was cheap on sale because ... diseases? What's exciting about it? (or did I miss some awesome feature that comes with the DLC?)

Honestly, I think it was the best DLC they've done since Old Gods. The events are interesting and they changed diseases from something you don't care about (like you said) into something actually interesting and in the case of the Black Death terrifying.
 
I think he's confusing the Toltec with the Aztec.

Toltec Empire was from 496 to 1122.
Oh yeah forgot about the Toltec, I mean they are no Teotihuacan (well they were the primary ethnicity of Teotihuacan near the end but still) but yeah they are an advanced civilisation. See sunset invasion would be a lot better with a toltec invasion.
The problem of course is that the mesoamerican empires were empires in the mesopotamian definition, city states who forced each other to pay tribute in periods. Not centralized empire such as existed in the old world after Darius.
 
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Didn't they already? I felt M&M was kind of similiar. Received very differently though.
M&M still has a lot of arguably not 100% optional stuff, like the new councillor jobs, ally orders and the bundled content pack(wtf?)
 
M&M still has a lot of arguably not 100% optional stuff, like the new councillor jobs, ally orders and the bundled content pack(wtf?)
True the simile isn't perfect. I was mostly jokingly referring to that the Lucifer's own cult was most of the DLC and is kind of like the sunset invasion, an optional ahistorical scenario.
 
Cannot agree more. But shh, you are upsetting all the fanboys.
Dude, nobody "fanboys" over SI, whenever it comes up is somebody complaining about it. Sort of shows that the problem is the anti-fanboys.

On the survey. It seems a few of these questions don't quite compare. On the SoA expansion every christian can go on pilgrimage, but not everyone can restore Jerusalem.
It skews the balance towards small personal mechanics no?

Thanks for showing us this!
 
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Meh, I've tried EUIV, I didn't particularly care for it. I like the RPGness of CK2 that EUIV lacks.
Well, this is not the same game obviously. I agree with the very light RPGness of EUIV and no problems if you don't like it (I'm still learning it and enjoy it a lot but this is not the point).
The fact is, it is a Paradox game and I don't see them extending CK2 timeline, and overlapping with EUIV (beside, the period means nothing without the colonization).