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CK2 Dev Diary #61: The Dragon Throne

Hello folks!

The Swedish summer vacations are drawing to a close and I’m back and eager to talk some more Crusader Kings! What better way to kick off the end of summer than by revealing the theme of the next expansion? Yes my friends, it’s China! Now, before you get all emotional one way or the other, we’re not actually going to expand the map farther east. We considered doing that, long and hard, but eventually decided on a different approach that would not strain performance and stability beyond reason. As I mentioned in Dev Diary #51, it bothers me that the eastern edge of the map just cuts off in such an unnatural way. Playing in the Orient, you should always feel like you’re in the shadow of the Dragon. It should be an interesting and dynamic region right in the center of the Old World. So, we came up with the idea of adding China as a political entity even though you cannot actually see most of its territory.

The Dragon Throne.png


There is a new screen you can open up, which, if you’re within range of China, allows you to interact with the Emperor in various interesting ways. China can grant many wonderful boons if you’re in the emperor’s good graces, but, depending on the current status and policy of the Dragon Throne, the emperor can also decide you’d better show some respect and become a tributary state. When there is turmoil in China, displaced or fleeing armies can arrive on the map and cause all kinds of trouble. China can even seize and rule actual provinces, but the emperor leaves the governing of such areas to the Governor of the Western Protectorate (or, to be a stickler, the “Protectorate General to Pacify the West”.) Potentially, this on-map part of China can grow enormously powerful, but you should not have to worry too much as long as you enjoy the emperor’s grace…

That’s going to be all for now. I’m sure you have a million questions, but you’ll have to wait for the upcoming dev diaries. :)

Meanwhile, remember to tune in to our CK2 livestreams between 16 to 18:00 CET!
 
Who is this DLC marketed towards?

1. The China fans who don't get to play in China?

2. The people who never wanted China in the first place?

Who exactly do you believe is going to buy this DLC?

Everyone but a small minority. Seriously, look at your dislikes and at the other post's likes. You speak for almost nobody here.
Speak for yourself as much has you want, but stop acting like you represent someone. You don't.
 
Aww... and here I wanted a playable China. Or one I could conquer.

Oh well, it's just nice to see it implemented! I look forward to seeing how this affects my future games in the east! Oh! I also look forward to seeing China events where you can see what's going on in China offscreen.

So, can you at least play as the Governor of the Western Protectorate should he appear?
 
There are already events for this.

And who would rule Newfoundland or Greenland? There was no united title or realm there.

That's what I mean, after the events already in game triggered, Scandinavians could interact with the settlements in Greenland and Newfoundland.

And I figure the leader we'd be talking to, at least to start, would be the expedition leaders, Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson, and maybe if you support them well enough, those settlements can become permanent and persist with a converted save into EUIV.
 
Well ok, please hate me for assuming a DLC who's theme is CHINA, will add mechanics relating to CHINA, and as far as I know CHINA had very minimal direct influence on the map outside of the eastern edge. Since you cannot play in actual CHINA, then this DLC will have no effect on places such as IRELAND or any of the vanilla map area.

If you can prove to me this wasn't true I will gladly change my opinion. Khitans don't count, they're nomads.
If you mostly play in Ireland, or any of the vanilla map area, then this DLC is not for you.
You have no reason to be bothered by this DLC. Just don't buy it.
 
It seems that guy was a main patron of all previous china threads? Based on comparable amount of hatespeech from him and everyone else in this thread.

And you know what? Almost everything I said turned out to be right.

I predicted the China expansion a year ago when the "road ahead" diary came out.

I predicted the China expansion got cancelled when Doomdark announced that the "large" expansion became a "normal" sized one.

I predicted the axing of the "full-fledged" China expansion as early as the Tibet diary.

What I did not predict was that they were STILL going to make a CHINA-focused DLC where you CANNOT PLAY IN CHINA. I expected better from Paradox. I thought they would make it a small part of the DLC, but apparently it's the "theme" now.
 
One thing I'm begging for paradox, PLEASE add a bureaucratic style government that can be used to properly represent pre Pronoia Byzantium better than feudal vice-royalty.
 
Will all Chinese characters have the family name displayed first, like with the emperor in the screenshot? If so, can this be extended to other cultures, e.g. Hungarians?
 
One thing I'm begging for paradox, PLEASE add a bureaucratic style government that can be used to properly represent pre Pronoia Byzantium better than feudal vice-royalty.

Depending on what Government type they use for that Western Protectorate, a bureaucratic government doesn't seem out of possibility...

Anyway. I'd have preferred full China, though I recognize the problems that would've entailed. Some China is better than pretending it doesn't exist, and I'm willing to see how they implement it. Hopefully it's not just a bare-bones interaction with some army spawning events but we'll see!

Also glad to see what look like Chinese hats. I always enjoy new portraits and/or councillors (the latter might be a stretch but who knows).
 
Outside of some of the really minor features neither do Horse Lords, Rajas, Sword of Islam, Legacy of Rome or The Republic(among others), do you really wanna be complaining about that all day.

Yes, but no other DLC required TWO other regional DLCs to get the full experience. If you do not have HL or ROI that's a large part of the eastern map that's unplayable.
 
And you know what? Almost everything I said turned out to be right.

I predicted the China expansion a year ago when the "road ahead" diary came out.

I predicted the China expansion got cancelled when Doomdark announced that the "large" expansion became a "normal" sized one.

I predicted the axing of the "full-fledged" China expansion as early as the Tibet diary.

What I did not predict was that they were STILL going to make a CHINA-focused DLC where you CANNOT PLAY IN CHINA. I expected better from Paradox. I thought they would make it a small part of the DLC, but apparently it's the "theme" now.

Just curious; where exactly is the tweet/thread/post/etc where they announced that the DLC was China?

You keep going on about this "China expansion" and while I know many people here was thinking that a RoI-type of expansion was in the works, I do not recall PDX actually saying that one was coming in any capacity.
 
This DLC is irrelevant for those who don't have the necessary DLCs to play on the eastern edge of the map though. That's a good portion of players who aren't going to buy it.

If you don't have HL that's nomads and silk road gone.

If you don't have ROI you won't be able to play as Buddhists either.

Now if you don't have this dragon throne DLC you won't be able to experience China mechanics either.

That's THREE regional DLCs needed to experience that region's mechanics.

1. Without HL the nomads are tribal and playable with OG. You can stil play christian steppe people without any DLC besides OG. And you still can play muslim steppe people with SoI and without HL. And you can play Pagan Steppe people with OG and without HL.

2. This DLC will add Bön religion. Maybe you can play Bön characters with this DLC? In this case you could play Tibet without any DLC but with this DLC.

3. We don't know all features of this DLC.
 
So, question here.
Was it ever actually confirmed that this DLC will be about China, specifically? I skipped about six or seven pages here, but from what I saw on the dev diaries, it seems mostly Tibet with an off-map 'China' added in due to proximity.
 
Hot dang, this is a brilliant compromise.

I was hoping that we wouldn't have a China map expansion. I doubt my PC could take it. However, the idea of interacting with, and even influencing, China is a brilliant idea and something that really comes across as exciting to me.

I want to convert them to Christianity. Is there a way to influence and/or marry into their families, etc. ?
 
Actually speaking of governments, I noticed the green ribbons around the Chinese emperor-tier character. Not feudal then. Green is iqta usually but maybe that's a placeholder for a new gov type?
 
Can't please everyone...I think I'll stop at reading the OP. I can already tell the rest of thread is probably a massive bitchfest.
 
Just curious; where exactly is the tweet/thread/post/etc where they announced that the DLC was China?

You keep going on about this "China expansion" and while I know many people here was thinking that a RoI-type of expansion was in the works, I do not recall PDX actually saying that one was coming in any capacity.

Assuming you know how to read English, it's in the dev diary:

the theme of the next expansion? Yes my friends, it’s China!
 
Can't please everyone...I'm not going to even read the rest of this thread because I know it'll be an annoying bitchfest.
Got it in one. A third of the people are bitching about how it's not really China. A third of the people are bitching that we got any Chinese anything at all. And the remaining third are like "It's a good compromise," which isn't winning them any favors with the pro-/anti-China radicals.

Personally, I run a potato so I'm glad that China hasn't been completely added in, just because my laptop would catch on fire if it did. :/