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CK2 Dev Diary #81 - Cleaning up the Map

Greetings!

The last few Dev Diaries have had you visit the Cartographer’s office to look at several reworked areas of the map - while there are more, we don’t want to show them all in a row, lest we risk you getting bored of them!

Today we will instead take a look at a minor free feature, an optional new Game Rule that might just help those of us that really can’t stand irregular borders! Like the map changes, this change will arrive in the free update that will accompany the next expansion. This feature is a pet project of mine, and an attempt to cure situations such as these:
Bordergore_example.png

As you can see in this example, Scotland holds a province in mainland Anatolia. There’s no logical way for them to control this territory - there’s no land connection, it’s not connected via ports, and it’s not part of their De Jure area.

The Game Rule is called ‘Exclave Independence', and aims to do just that - set exclaves independent. Being an optional Game Rule, it’s very modular, and is mainly intended as a tool for increasing immersion.
Exclave_GR.png


The Scotland example pictured previously is really the worst case scenario, and would be covered by any of the settings. As the ruler of Scotland dies, the game will try to identify any ‘exclaves’ and take appropriate action. If there are rulers whose land is completely situated in an exclave, they will be set independent, otherwise a peasant leader will seize control of the land. In this case the result will look like this:
Bordergore_cured.png


I can tell you that, if you’re like me, the difference playing with this Game Rule is like night and day. After a few hundred years you’ll no longer have a map that makes you want to claw your eyes out! As I mentioned earlier there are many different settings, and here is a full list of them:
Added the ‘Exclave Independence’ Game Rule, with the purpose of eliminating disconnected land on succession. As long as the new ruler during a succession isn’t at war, their exclaves should be set independent according to the setting. If the AI is at war during succession, they will try to remove exclaves once every year until such a time they are no longer at war (does not apply to Players). Settings:
  • Off - The default option, no removal.
  • Limited - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless they are connected to the Capital area with gaps no larger than one County, via a naval path or part of the characters primary De Jure territory.
  • Limited (Naval) - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless they are connected to the Capital area with gaps no larger than one County, via a limited naval path (1000 distance units) or part of the characters primary De Jure territory.
  • Significant - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless they are connected via a naval path or part of the characters primary De Jure territory.
  • Harsh - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless as they are connected via a limited naval path (1000 distance units) or part of the characters primary De Jure.
  • Total - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless as they are connected via a limited naval path (1000 distance units). Disables Achievements.

To show a more tangible example, I loaded up an old save and added the Game Rule to it. It looked like this:
Exclave_ex2.png


After the death of the ruler of the Mongol Empire (the light blue spots) the result produced this:
Exclave_cure_mongol.png


And after the death of the King of Bengal:
Exclave_cure2.png

As you can see, the two Mongol provinces were overtaken by Peasant Leaders as they were much too far away from their steppe overlords. Bengals land, on the other hand, simply had the vassals declare independence, as they held no land in non-exclave land.

I hope this small feature will be of interest to some of you, in the next DD we will return to the cartographer's office with another exciting update!

Please note that the time between Dev Diaries will be irregular, as we’re still early in the development cycle.
 
In what circumstances were capitals moved?
The Ilkhanate got 3 successive capitals during its quite short existence.
The Empire of Bulgaria got 6 successive capitals or so.
Scotland got 3 capitals

I guess the expansion and decline of the realms (or their fragmentation after a succession crisis) can make the capitals move.
another reason can be a change of the ruling dynasty or family branch (when the ruler wants to show that his rule will be different for example)
 
This is great and a much need feature IMHO. I'd love to see something similar (though not as drastic) for contiguous non-de jure land (something to make non-de jure land, unless strategic or wealthy, not worth the hassle to rule unless you are willing to put the resources in until it becomes a de jure part of your realm). Currently, there doesn't feel like much of a difference between ruling over de jure and non-de jure land (conquering feels different, but IMHO ruling doesn't).

Where do baronies in neighbouring or coastal counties fall in this? I'm assuming they would be allowed even under total (assuming the coastal county is within range).
 
Huh? Who did that? Charlemagne?
One of the Pepin’s before Charlemagne I think. They were mayors of the palace before they elevated to the king of the Franks. So Paris to Aaachen. Then at the split of the empire west Francia went back to Paris east Francia went to I think Metz maybe.

Edit
It could have been Charles Martel now that I think about it. I don’t actually know who moved the capital to Aachen. Wikipedia is not being that helpful at this moment. That would put the first move before the game start.
 
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1000 - how long is it?
Anything with a port in the Strait of Gibraltar is just above 1000 to anything with a port in the Nile Delta.
Gibraltar to Suf (Jerusalem) is 1130.
Gibraltar to Cornwall is 710ish.
Austisland to Nidaros is 760ish.
Prussia to Castile is just around 1000.
 
One of the Pepin’s before Charlemagne I think. They were mayors of the palace before they elevated to the king of the Franks. So Paris to Aaachen. Then at the split of the empire west Francia went back to Paris east Francia went to I think Metz maybe.
That's all fine. Sounds like specific circumstances made that happen. Hardly what @TheDungen claimed: "moving capitals was something that was done a lot in this period." I'm just curious why a feudal society would be so mobile with their institutions. Afaik, they either had one fixed capital, or they had no capital at all.
 
Anything with a port in the Strait of Gibraltar is just above 1000 to anything with a port in the Nile Delta.
Gibraltar to Suf (Jerusalem) is 1130.
Gibraltar to Cornwall is 710ish.
Austisland to Nidaros is 760ish.
Prussia to Castile is just around 1000.
That does sound very generous. For Iceland to Nidaros it makes sense, but Prussia to Castille, around Denmark and France? I'd suggest an additional setting that lowers that distance down to 500 or so :)
 
I'm just curious why a feudal society would be so mobile with their institutions. Afaik, they either had one fixed capital, or they had no capital at all.
From what I can tell, Regime changes were a big reason. For example, the English capital moved to London in 1066.

Edit technically... The capital moved from Winchester to Westminster, not London. It’s just more convenient to say London.
 
Anything with a port in the Strait of Gibraltar is just above 1000 to anything with a port in the Nile Delta.
Gibraltar to Suf (Jerusalem) is 1130.
Gibraltar to Cornwall is 710ish.
Austisland to Nidaros is 760ish.
Prussia to Castile is just around 1000.

Maybe limit it to 750 or 500 (or give an option to change the naval limit separate from the rest of the rule). 1000 seems too generous, as I'm assuming each port extends your range allowing you to make a chain (similar to the earlier example of AABABABA with exclaves). Even Iceland to Norway would be okay with 500 as there are the Orkney Islands to help bridge the gap (and it's de jure).

Edit: Grammar and clarity
Edit2: Can the naval distance be made to also affect the limit on de jure drift?
 
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IMHO there are Exclaves and there are Exclaves. Scotland having a landlocked province in Asia Minor is pretty straightforward; however The HRE or Francia or Italia having an Exclave in each other’s de jure territory, that would not be impossible to maintain, since they border each other.
 
So let's say as King of Scotland, I inherit the Kingdom of Bohemia (chosen because landlocked).

I control no other land other than within these two de jure Kingdoms, which I fully control. My demesne is 6/6, with 4 counties in Scotland and 2 in Bohemia. The rest of Scotland is controlled by dukes of Scotland, and Bohemia by dukes there - they are no vassal overlaps.

My primary title is Scotland, and my capital is also in Scotland. I use primogeniture succession on both titles.

--------
The following is a question rather than me complaining or anything.

So what happens to Bohemia when I die? There is no connection between these kingdoms in any of the potential rules above.

A peasant ruler takes over my two counties in Bohemia, and becomes the King there, and my sole heir rules Scotland?
What if I used gavelkind on one, other or both of these Kingdoms? Does Bohemia then go to my secondary heir, or to another peasant ruler?
What if I have Scotland as my primary title, but my capital is in Bohemia?

Thanks!
 
Does this effect theocracies and merchant republics OR landed mercenaries and Holy Orders?
 
I'm shocked no-one else has brought this up yet, or maybe no-one has noticed, but... there's been a mod around for a couple of years now that does almost the exact same thing. Like, the only differences in implementation I can see are that the mod uses sea tiles to measure whether to let something remain in the country, instead of naval distance units. Might this have been an inspiration, Paradox? ;)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=773182774
 
Cheers for the DD Rageair, and the extra info Meneth :D. Tihs sounds like something I'd be very interested in - looks tops, and definitely something that made CK2 games feel a bit 'funny' (in a non-Glitterhoof kind of way).

It was Polishing Poland actually, alliteration is the name of the game when it comes to map-based updates! It's gonna be harder to come up with good ones in future DD's though, as the easy ones have been done already...

Mopping up messy maps? Exterminating exclaves? Bashing bordergore?