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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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I would like a button for "Save these settings as my default". That way when I start a new game, I can select "Use my default settings" without having to check/uncheck everything. It would also be nice to know what the "Standard" options were, before they could be changed by the player.
 
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Thure said:
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.
Click to expand...

Even the anglo-saxon rulers claimed the title of "Imperator" (of Britain) at one point. Whether this was a genuine claim to being an Emperor as we'd understand it, or making a point that they were undisputed rulers, and thus held Imperium in the Roman sense is an argument for far more scholarly types than me.


But yeah, the "Imperator totus Hispaniae" and the often repeated claims to being an ancient Empire put forward by England whenever they thought the Scots were paying tribute are both (proper) Imperial claims.

How recognised they were is another problem...
 
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crowdemon said:
Well, this is a surprise, today we have CK2 development diary. I thought guys/ladies decided not to do another one in till May, what does this mean for next week?

What other features are you planning?

Could you please give some love to CK2 convert and ruler designer?
Click to expand...
the converter especially. can we try to convert province development from ckii to euiv please?
 
kmh42 said:
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
Click to expand...

A little edit on my suggestion
De jure Empires: Default / historical empires and the rest titular / all titular / None (only available with Charlemagne)
 
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Thure said:
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.



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



How do you explain the Demon Spawn with his witch armies?
Click to expand...

The game has no mechanic to properly represent rulers just tacking on "imperator" to the front of their title list for a prestige kick... well, it does, actually, all you need to do is make a character modifier triggered by a decision.

And that's all that the Imperator Totius Hispaniae should be. In game terms, if you become an empire, that title is going to be there forever, and it's going to represent something fundamentally different to a kingdom. It drastically changes how a realm works, preventing realm divide via inheritance, and turning kings into dukes. Yes, sometimes kings would swear fealty to other kings, but we have a tributary system for that. You didn't have anything like the long-term, stable vassal relationship like existed between the King of Bohemia and the Kaiser.
 
Please add 'normal relationship bonuses' / 'reduced by 33% relationship bomuses' / 'reduced by 50% relationship bonuses' (last option is how it was done after last big patch)
 
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Some of the proposals are quite specific and others have a global impact.

It would be good to separate between basic settings and advanced settings, and most minor settings could be hidden from the casual/beginner player (e.g. shown by clicking "show advanced settings"). Same for modded settings (just have a flag for minor vs global setting).
 
Keep up the good work, Paradox!
FloppyEars said:
Could you add a hard option where adventurers and some rebellions get more men or at least the same then their liege? So that adventurers and other events actually have the possibility of succeeding. I dont know how many times I get the Shia revolt, which never succeeds. As of right now rebellions and adventurers are just minor annoyances that get cleaned up. So at least an option that makes them stronger would be greatly appreciated. This could break up big blogs and even make the player think. If the player does not like it then they should be able to turn it down. Also an option that buffs factions somehow would be great.
Click to expand...
Factions don't need any help to be a pain in the ass, especially after Conclave added the unending "Increase Council Power" factions (which are the main reason I don't use Conclave: I have enough problems keeping elective succession demands under control). As for adventurers and uprisings, they succeed more often against smaller realms, which seems realistic to me: you wouldn't expect some random guy who hired a bunch of mercs and whomever was crazy enough to believe his speechifying to succeed against an entire empire.

Maybe for uprisings: Default/Extreme/Off or something of that nature.

Also, I'd like to see coreligionists become able to join religious uprisings (I suggested this in Suggestions once already).
 
StarSword said:
Factions don't need any help to be a pain in the ass, especially after Conclave added the unending "Increase Council Power" factions (which are the main reason I don't use Conclave.
Click to expand...

Please speak only for yourself. For me and many others, factions do need a lot of help indeed. In Conclave, they're nothing but a nuisance, and can be easily put down. That's why many have been suggesting to enable the pre-ROI factions system, or at least allow factions somehow to have a chance of actually winning a rebellion.

This should be optional, so if you don't like it, don't enable the option. But please don't tell the developers they shouldn't add something many players want just because you can't handle rebellions at all.
 
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Hector of Troy said:
Please speak only for yourself. For me and many others, factions do need a lot of help indeed. In Conclave, they're nothing but a nuisance, and can be easily put down. That's why many have been suggesting to enable the pre-ROI factions system, or at least allow factions somehow to have a chance of actually winning a rebellion.

This should be optional, so if you don't like it, don't enable the option. But please don't tell the developers they shouldn't add something many players want just because you can't handle rebellions at all.
Click to expand...
"Please speak only for yourself"? Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot. You two should get on like a house on fire.

Point out where in my post I said I couldn't handle rebellions or keep them from happening in the first place? I SAID that they were too frequent and bloody irritating with the addition of the Council Power faction, i.e. Goddamned Bats, not Demonic Spiders. I also think it's entirely illogical and immersion-breaking for non-council members especially to start factions for something they don't even benefit from (help out with, I can believe, but the option to create the faction should only be available to councillors).

One of my preferred solutions would be to institute a substantial cooldown after a failed faction revolt where the faction cannot be created. In RP terms the king proved he will not tolerate the demand and has the power to back it up, and people are too cowed to try again for a while. In return, Increase Council Power becomes available to councillors, and ONLY councillors, regardless of the war declaration law.
 
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Brilliant idea.

Haven't read through the thread, so don't know if anyone else has suggested this, but ... for goodness sake, make it possible to change the names of dynasty characters in-game - not just newborns, but all dynasty characters.
 
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