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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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Zhetone said:
No, platypuses, English uses English plurals. Spellcheck on here doesn't underline platypuses while it does underline platypodes and platypi.
Just like how it's octopuses, not octopi, because it's English, not Latin or Greek.
Click to expand...

Platypuses is also acceptable. But so much less penache. The importsnt part is that the endings of both octopus and platypus are derived from greek. So, if we're going to use any non-English grammatical convention, it should be the greek.

Saying platypi or octopi is like referring to a man whose last name is Fitzpatrick as 'ibn Patrick.' Its just meshing things around that don't fit.
 
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Thanks, what's the difference between historical and deadly diseases?
My issue with the current diseases is not their spread and length but the high survival rate of those that are infected, it seems that 9/10 will always recover in my campaigns, even the old and maimed. I would prefer diseases to be more of a threat in my campaigns but I would also like the Black Death to appear close to it's historical occurrence, between 15 years either way.
 
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Audoucet said:
What you could simply do is make "gold achievements", and "silver achievements". The same achievements, but with or without the mandatory options
Click to expand...

Please don't, that sounds like an awful idea. It would just spam up the achievement list without adding anything of value. And I would have to get all my achievements again in the missing color...
 
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Moah said:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/platypi

According to merriam-webster, "platypi" is a valid plural for "platypus" in english, and I personally find "platypuses" horrible, so I'll keep using platypi. I've also grown fond of Dominus Novus correcting me every time ;)
Click to expand...

Just roll it around, see how it feels. Saying platypuses or platypi never starts a totally pointless and tangental conversation. But platypodes... why, you're in for an illuminating evening where you get to sound pretentious. And isn't that the point of it all?
 
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Awesome! I love how readily accessible to modders you guys make all your content/expansions.

And my first students wonder why you're my favorite developers. Pfft.
 
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theKing1988 said:
So in that regard, he is actually right, the only use of achievements is that it gives people something to brag about
Click to expand...

You are assuming what others think. I never bragged about any achievements, and yet, I do like it when they pop up. I sometiimes only play a certain way to get one. I had a whole screw-up in my last game, because I thought "Hey, someone has an anti-pope... I will make one to, maybe someone will make an other one so I can get the achievement !".

That is why I proposed to make gold achievements and silver achievements.Gold if you want to brag, And silver if you just like it.

Yes I know, I can make up my own goals or use a mod. But it is not the same feeling.
 
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DominusNovus said:
Just roll it around, see how it feels. Saying platypuses or platypi never starts a totally pointless and tangental conversation. But platypodes... why, you're in for an illuminating evening where you get to sound pretentious. And isn't that the point of it all?
Click to expand...
As a french man, I sound pretentious by default.
 
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There should be an option to enable the old assassination system for all the players that miss it.

Assassination: Plots Only/Plots and Diplomatic Action
 
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huyderman said:
Please don't, that sounds like an awful idea. It would just spam up the achievement list without adding anything of value. And I would have to get all my achievements again in the missing color...
Click to expand...

Well to be fair, if you already have one, you got it with the full game, so in "gold", which means you should automatically have the silver one.

But yes, it would add a lot to the list.
 
This is certainly a welcome addition. As someone who'd been running a better gender law mod for awhile (I didn't update it to Conclave or Horse Lords), just how far do you go with the gender equal modes? The game and the AI currently do not work well with non-agnatic succession and there are a lot of mechanics that don't work well with it either (granting land and landless son prestige loss). Have any of these been addressed?

For those curious, here is a link to my mod. Not only did it give the option to play as a gender equal realm without changing the base game too much, I tried hard to make it also support playing a female dominated realm too. Remember, you will have to roll back your CK2 version if you want to play the mod to before Horse Lords.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/better-gender-law-mod.743408/
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=242520861
 
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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.
 
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Perfect expansion that will be! I pretty much prefer endless options like the ones you are thinking to add. Not a problem to spend 1 hour once to set everything as i think it should be and then replay many times after that. In particular I would like to be able to set which traits are opposing between them and to set all opinion impacts from each trait.
 
Audoucet said:
You are assuming what others think. I never bragged about any achievements, and yet, I do like it when they pop up. I sometiimes only play a certain way to get one. I had a whole screw-up in my last game, because I thought "Hey, someone has an anti-pope... I will make one to, maybe someone will make an other one so I can get the achievement !".

That is why I proposed to make gold achievements and silver achievements.Gold if you want to brag, And silver if you just like it.

Yes I know, I can make up my own goals or use a mod. But it is not the same feeling.
Click to expand...

I didn't say that, just because achievements is a way to give people something to brag about, that they will brag about it, now did i?

And your last sentence just confirms to me, that what i was saying is true
 
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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...
Maybe this is already part of the historical gender equality option.
 
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DominusNovus said:
Platypuses is also acceptable. But so much less penache. The importsnt part is that the endings of both octopus and platypus are derived from greek. So, if we're going to use any non-English grammatical convention, it should be the greek.

Saying platypi or octopi is like referring to a man whose last name is Fitzpatrick as 'ibn Patrick.' Its just meshing things around that don't fit.
Click to expand...
That's correct, but not the whole story.

When real biologists say "octopodes", they typically only refer to multiple species of octopus. Multiple individual specimens would be called octopuses. I propose we can extend that custom to platypus as well. Saying platypi or octopi in an attempt to sound more "correct" than your fellow speaker is just bad.

EDIT: sorry for the initial mistake, I corrected myself
 
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