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CK2 Dev Diary - The Rules of the Game

Well people, what do you know? I needed a break from the Stellaris crunch, so here’s an unscheduled dev diary! All the hubbub about Defensive Pacts and Shattered Retreats got me thinking about an old ambition I’ve had to improve the game set-up screens in order to allow players to customize their experience without having to resort to modding. The idea is inspired by games like Civilization and the Second Wave DLC for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which allow players to change various advanced options and settings for a different experience in the game. I really like such options and typically make good use of them myself.

Now, of course there is such a thing as “the way the game was meant to be played”. That is, how the designers made the game and like to play it themselves. However, variety is the spice of life, and after 11 Crusader Kings II expansions things are not as clear-cut anymore. It’s actually pretty funny that I’ve been using a small personal mod for CK2 for awhile myself. There are some downsides to modding and using mods though:
  • It requires awareness that it’s possible, and where to find existing mods. The modding scene is a jungle.
  • It takes a modicum of extra effort and skill.
  • It might not feel quite legitimate (it can feel a bit like cheating) and you might not get any Achievements.
  • Mods typically do not have the same level of support as the base game. Many become fossilized or are otherwise problematic.
For these reasons especially, I think that adding a bunch of Paradox-approved, fully supported in-game rule variations is a good idea. Thus, when you start a new game, you are now presented with several interesting options. Most of them are simple flavor variations, but some are more fundamental and will disable Achievements in Ironman mode. Here’s the list of options we are currently showing in the new screen (still a work in progress though):
  • Sandbox vs Ironman
  • Shattered Retreats: On/Off
  • Defensive Pacts: On/Off
  • Gender Equality: Default/Historical/All/Players
  • Sunset Invasion: 13th Century/Random/Off
  • Mongol Invasion: Historical/Random/Off
  • Raiding: Historical/Unrestricted/None
  • Epidemics: Dynamic/Historical/Deadly
  • “Supernatural” Events: On/Off
  • Adventurers: Normal/Rare/None
  • Provincial Revolts: Normal/Rare/None
  • Regencies: On/Off
  • De Jure Drift: Default/Restricted/Off
  • Dynamic Kingdoms and Empires: On/Off
  • Diplomatic Range: On/Off
Red options disable Achievements.

Crusader Kings II - Rules 01.jpg


Our new rule system is itself fully moddable, so that modders can use the same system with pretty much any options they might want!

Crusader Kings II - Rules 02.jpg


I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Are there any rule variations you think we’ve missed, or that you would really like to see?
 
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Ive been waiting for something like this for a long time, the option to let players choose what they want or dont want in that particular playthrough. Nice job guys:D
 
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Red Earth said:
Sure that's probably one that would be filtered out, but that can be explained by insanity and people believing in the insane. The one that comes to mind for me is having a tumble with a rose bush and finding a baby in the garden nine months later.
Click to expand...
There's nothing in the game that is 100% unambiguously supernatural. But there are plenty of things, like the events mentioned, that lean that way. There's always a rational explanation but a number of people have expressed dissatisfaction with those explanations or an unwillingness to follow them and it's those people that option is for.
 
At last! The game was going to die if you kept doing random stuff without listening the costumers.

You gave me hope again, you are truly the best
 
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Skipped over most of the thread, so don't know if someone already suggested but:
I'd prefer the options menu have "back," "next," and "finished" buttons or tabs, rather than the small scroll bar at the side.
 
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Andrzej2 said:
Nice. I would also like to have option to disable matrilinear marriages. They are ahistorical and I don't like them. They should result with creating new cadet branch dynasty. For example like Maria Theresa married prince of Lotharingia so their children were from new dynasty Habsburg-Lotharingien. We don't have cadet branches for now so I would like to have matrilinear marriages disabled entirely.
Click to expand...

You know there were historical exemples were dynasties were brought by the matrinal part? There are some exemples in the timeline. Matrilinear marriages DID exist.
 
Bobemor said:
I never really took that as supernatural more just unexplained by their time and over explained. Supernatural I more think of as literal lizard people invading or horses being advisors.
Click to expand...

Or that one where you fight Cthulu or get the Antichrist.

But yeah that's why it's "supernatural" (in quotation marks), not supernatural. Also horse advisor isn't supernatural, its a reference to Caligula.
 
antidualist said:
I'm English and its definitely Octopi not Octopuses... think Platypi is also correct
Click to expand...

Which is the plural of kindergarten? It's a German word so you should use the correct plural kindergärten even if you don't know how to use 'ä' but this is the correct way!

/sarcasm

BrokenSky said:
Or that one where you fight Cthulu or get the Antichrist.

But yeah that's why it's "supernatural" (in quotation marks), not supernatural.
Click to expand...

This are events for lunatics. They are not really happening...
 
Cadet branch is always nice to have.
 
I don't mind if there is an option to turn matrilinear marriages on/off.
 
mudcrabmerchant said:
OH! Duh, the most obvious thing that's missing from these options is historical/limited de jure empires. Now that we have custom empires, there really is no need for any de jure empires in Christendom but the HRE and the ERE. If I want an ahistorical empire for myself, I'll make a custom one.
Click to expand...

Custom Empires are a DLC feature... without the DLC you wouldn't be able to creat any empire with your suggestion. And ahistorical? In the middle ages there was a declared Empire of whole Spain. And an Empire of Britannia. They didn't were acepted, but they were claimed.

Bobemor said:
I never really took that as supernatural more just unexplained by their time and over explained. Supernatural I more think of as literal lizard people invading or horses being advisors.
Click to expand...

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

Dryhad said:
There's nothing in the game that is 100% unambiguously supernatural. But there are plenty of things, like the events mentioned, that lean that way. There's always a rational explanation but a number of people have expressed dissatisfaction with those explanations or an unwillingness to follow them and it's those people that option is for.
Click to expand...

How do you explain the Demon Spawn with his witch armies?
 
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WOW, great addition!

You could put the difficulty selection into this screen!
Difficulty: Low / Normal / Hard

And here are some other suggestions.

Faction cooldown time: Default (none)/ 3 Years / 5 Years

De jure Empires: Default / Only HRE, ERE and Abassid/ None
 
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Thure said:
How do you explain the Demon Spawn with his witch armies?
Click to expand...
I view the entire game as creating an imperfect history. Contemporary accounts described King David XI as the spawn of Satan himself; his enemies claimed his military victories against them were achieved by summoning the souls of the damned to fight for him, that sort of thing. I mean, there's a reason I put forward that chain as the quintessential example of "supernatural" events, because it takes the longest walk to explain it. But you can still approach the game from an angle where it works out.
 
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I would love to see an option where feudal realms have a law similar to tribals, where at level 0, dukes and kings provide no levies and has to be called into war, at 1 only kings need to be called into war and at 2, the realm functions normally
 
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