So folks, we are releasing the fifth expansion to Crusader Kings II, on Monday next week; Sons of Abraham. In the previous dev diaries, I have gone through the various features we've added in the expansion, so today I'll speak of the 2.0 patch. Usually when we release expansions for Crusader Kings II, we add a lot of free stuff in the patch as well, and this time is no exception. It's almost funny how many features we plan for the expansions that we end up putting in the patch instead, simply because they alter the core gameplay too much. Now, where to begin?

Perhaps the biggest - yet quite subtle - change we did was to reduce the amount of levies you get, particularly from your vassals. There are several changes to the rules; first off, levies from outside your de jure capital region get progressively smaller in stages (county, duchy, kingdom, empire, outside). Secondly, vassals will not give you any levies if they don't have a positive opinion of you (previously the threshold was -25). On the other hand, you now always enjoy a big opinion boost if you are being attacked by foreigners, particularly by infidels. This means that you can usually raise something approaching your theoretical max while being attacked, but not when you are doing the attacking. (Incidentally, this also means that factions tend to be less dangerous while the whole realm is under threat.) Lastly, the ruler's martial skill has a direct and significant effect on the size of the levies that can be raised from his or her demesne.



We have also added whole new feature to improve the military side of the game; terrain bottlenecks. This is a system where the defending side in a battle has sometimes found suitable terrain before combat commences. The chance of this depends on the main province terrain and leader skill (there is even a new commander trait for this.) Each flank may have a narrow approach, preventing the attackers from attacking in numbers greater than the number of flank defenders (their number at the start) during the melee phase. The main reason we added this feature is that being outflanked is now much, much more devastating than it used to be, particularly if you are being outflanked from two directions, or through your (fallen) center. We have also updated all mercenaries and holy orders so they actually have three regiments instead of one (and can thus fill a battle line on their own.) Mongols and Aztecs also arrive with more but smaller regiments, etc. What else? Oh yes, we unleashed Wiz (Martin Anward, who improved the EUIV AI) on the military AI to see if he could kick it up a notch...





Another really nice thing with the 2.0 patch is of course the addition of Ironman mode, like in Europa Universalis IV. To complement this, we added 50 Steam achievements that you can only get in Ironman mode. The multiplayer metaserver, however, will be discontinued. RIP.

Now, as you know, playing Crusader Kings II is a pretty cheerful and lighthearted experience, so we thought it was high time to bring in some much needed tragedy. Thus, there is now a chance that women might die in childbirth, either at once or after a period of illness. Infants can also be born "Sickly" (new trait), which means it is unlikely they will live past their third year. Surprisingly, we are not simply doing this out of pure malice; there are interesting gameplay effects where marriage alliances can suddenly be reset and you don't know if your sickly heir will actually survive to adulthood.

When characters convert religion, there is now a chance they will be tolerant of their old faith. These are new traits which affect the opinions of both the character and of other characters. For example, a former pagan king might get no opinion penalty versus pagans, nor will they of him.



I know I'm forgetting stuff here, but you can all read the change log for yourselves when I post it. Needless to say, it's full of bug fixes and modding improvements as well.
And in case anyone missed it, Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham will release the 18th of November.
That's all for now, but there will be a live stream with yours truly on Tuesday, the day after release!

 

[balmung60]

Will this Ironman mode allow one to start at any date and still gain achievements, or will it require a specific date similar to EU:IV? I ask because my favorite start bookmark is 'The Alexiad' in 1081 and I strongly dislike the 867 start date.

Odds are that most achievements will require a specific start date, which will usually be the earliest vanilla start date. This means Stamford Bridge (the first 1066 start). There will probably be a few for later starts, but I doubt that any achievements will require DLC, meaning probably no TOG achievements. Though there could be some.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

.............

But one question remains: At what time will the dlc be released so that I can start playing?

From the annoucement:

Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham will release on all major digital-download portals on November 18, 2013.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...rusader-Kings-II-Sons-of-Abraham-is-announced

Or as Domdark said in his first sentence in the OP of this thread..

So folks, we are releasing the fifth expansion to Crusader Kings II, on Monday next week;

If you were asking for the hour, well on Steam its usually a bit later than GG, as Steam releases for US time or so i understand.
So maybe 18CET ? 12pm EST or such...

 

[mahler5]

When you convert the game to EU4, will Heresies be counted as a separate religion, instead of being arbitrarily re-assigned back to the parent? Since now Heresies can get their own religious head, it would be nice to see a difference in-game.

 

[jakt]

the fiercest opponent to smoking is often an ex-smoker... if a person converts i would think they should also have a chance to become zealous in their new found faith. sure, some might be sympathetic (especially heretics) but if an infidel converted to the true faith, i think it would require some heavy amounts of faith on his part (or outside threats) and would be very much into his new found fantastical beliefs and hateful of the old ways

 

[firelordzuko]

the fiercest opponent to smoking is often an ex-smoker... if a person converts i would think they should also have a chance to become zealous in their new found faith. sure, some might be sympathetic (especially heretics) but if an infidel converted to the true faith, i think it would require some heavy amounts of faith on his part (or outside threats) and would be very much into his new found fantastical beliefs and hateful of the old ways

That would be realistic if we were actually talking about faith-based conversions. Particularly in Northern Europe, most lords and monarchs converted before hearing very much about the Christian faith due to Catholic monarchs actively enticing them with benefits. On one occasion, a monarch converted as a condition to being sheltered by the German King during a succession crisis. On others, the Christian missionaries offered their services as teachers for a local administration that would cement royal authority. Etc, etc. Here's an interesting source for you: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/...amme/neighbours/neighbours/life_of_anskar.pdf

 

[DominusNovus]

But I don't think Christians were totally fine with it either? I mean if their liege suddenly became Muslim they would hate him even if he was "tolerant".

Agreed absolutely. But the point is not whether or not Muslims or Christians have particular views on Apostasy, but that Islam, the religion itself, strictly prohibits it, in its sacred scripture, while there is no such prohibition in Christian scripture (largely due, of course, to the fact that the New Testament does not generally serve as a legalistic scripture, the way the Koran and Torah do).

Of course, we have historical record of just such an occurrence, Julian the Apostate. And, while the Christians weren't too thrilled about the idea that the Emperor was now going to be a Pagan, they were most concerned with his policies regarding their faith, rather than his own faith. Similarly, throughout the spread of Islam across the map, the Christian communities were generally content (though certainly not happy) to live under Muslim rule.

Not that I want to suggest any sort of superiority of one group over the other. Just that there is legitimate basis for the idea that a Muslim converting from Islam would face greater challenges than a Christian converting from Christianity.

 

[Labrynian Rebel]

Agreed absolutely. But the point is not whether or not Muslims or Christians have particular views on Apostasy, but that Islam, the religion itself, strictly prohibits it, in its sacred scripture, while there is no such prohibition in Christian scripture (largely due, of course, to the fact that the New Testament does not generally serve as a legalistic scripture, the way the Koran and Torah do).

Of course, we have historical record of just such an occurrence, Julian the Apostate. And, while the Christians weren't too thrilled about the idea that the Emperor was now going to be a Pagan, they were most concerned with his policies regarding their faith, rather than his own faith. Similarly, throughout the spread of Islam across the map, the Christian communities were generally content (though certainly not happy) to live under Muslim rule.

Not that I want to suggest any sort of superiority of one group over the other. Just that there is legitimate basis for the idea that a Muslim converting from Islam would face greater challenges than a Christian converting from Christianity.

I'm all for different religions having diverse playstyles and gameplay mechanics based on history. Makes the game more dynamic and fun.

 

[shinversus]

It will probably be the 1066 start date. I don't think they would limit ironman mode to owners of ToG only.

if it works like euIV, you can make an ironman start whenever you want.

 

[WeissRaben]

if it works like euIV, you can make an ironman start whenever you want.

Yup. People get confused with the achievements - the reason achievements can only be obtained starting in 1444 is not that you can't play Ironman starting later - it's that almost all of them check for the date as a condition to allow them.

possible = {
		ironman = yes
		start_date = 1444.11.11
	}

 

[apg]

Apparently not. No metaserver, full stop.

lol yes thats because he said its getting replaced.

 

[unmerged(652342)]

Agreed absolutely. But the point is not whether or not Muslims or Christians have particular views on Apostasy, but that Islam, the religion itself, strictly prohibits it, in its sacred scripture, while there is no such prohibition in Christian scripture (largely due, of course, to the fact that the New Testament does not generally serve as a legalistic scripture, the way the Koran and Torah do).

Of course, we have historical record of just such an occurrence, Julian the Apostate. And, while the Christians weren't too thrilled about the idea that the Emperor was now going to be a Pagan, they were most concerned with his policies regarding their faith, rather than his own faith. Similarly, throughout the spread of Islam across the map, the Christian communities were generally content (though certainly not happy) to live under Muslim rule.

Not that I want to suggest any sort of superiority of one group over the other. Just that there is legitimate basis for the idea that a Muslim converting from Islam would face greater challenges than a Christian converting from Christianity.

- errr... Comparing roman emperor who ruled in empire where pagan faiths was still in relatively strong position to hypothetical muslim apostate ruler, is not a very good idea. All this conversion thing is mainly tied not to "holy scriptures" and other imaginary crap invented to subdue serfs, but to actual ability of that individual ruler to project his own will and power on others. If this "hypothetical" muslim apostate ruler will want to convert, he at first will ensure that other rulers of his realm will either embrace new "true faith" with him or suffer consequences for their disobedience. And regarding implied "christian tolerance" just remember how those "righteous and tolerant christians" have dealt with simple christian heretics...
So i personally cant see how muslim apostate would be different from apostates of other faiths, in all cases he can be tolerant to his former coreligionist and those former coreligionists could hate him with passion, you know zealotry is not tied to one particular religion.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

I'm curious about the patch log tomorrow.
I can't imagine the game without pilgrimages and orders being included as mechanics in the patch.
I hope they are as usually and Doomdark just missed to tell us.

 

[Chevaresqye]

You get levies from Arabia. But not many. And they just make it harder for you... Isn't that nice to have a greater challenge?

No, having more challenge is not fun to me. Except for the defending bonus, the capital thing is very gamey. That only leads people to move their capital to the biggest duchy in their kingdom. Negative modifier for far away vassals work better and more realistic. CKII used to have revolt risk based on distance, why doesn't PI reintroduced opinion based on distance?

 

[apg]

I'm curious about the patch log tomorrow.
I can't imagine the game without pilgrimages and orders being included as mechanics in the patch.
I hope they are as usually and Doomdark just missed to tell us.

has anything even changed about holy orders? other than a few new ones and that you can send ppl to them +with them having a permanent leader now who actually holds land?

yes those are good changes, but some more diplomacy with them would be nice.

 

[Thure]

has anything even changed about holy orders? other than a few new ones and that you can send ppl to them +with them having a permanent leader now who actually holds land?

yes those are good changes, but some more diplomacy with them would be nice.

You can lend money from then. And they want something from you for this. Or you could give them money.

 

[kromeboy]

Death at birth and smaller levies? You are scaring the hell out of my empress of the Roman Empire :laugh:

 

[Rationalsanity]

So is this Sickly trait just a worse version of Weak/Ill or will it expire should a child beat the odds?

 

[Vinroke]

No, having more challenge is not fun to me. Except for the defending bonus, the capital thing is very gamey. That only leads people to move their capital to the biggest duchy in their kingdom. Negative modifier for far away vassals work better and more realistic. CKII used to have revolt risk based on distance, why doesn't PI reintroduced opinion based on distance?

The distance-revolt modifier is still there. It's just that you'll hardly ever see it because distant vassals will almost always form an independence faction.

 

[$ilent_$trider]

No, having more challenge is not fun to me. Except for the defending bonus, the capital thing is very gamey. That only leads people to move their capital to the biggest duchy in their kingdom. Negative modifier for far away vassals work better and more realistic. CKII used to have revolt risk based on distance, why doesn't PI reintroduced opinion based on distance?

In theory it can work the same I'm duke of Jerusalem, vassal of the King of Jerusalem, who is also Emperor of Hispania in his capital at Burgos. I like him, he is brave, gave me money and has a nice chancellor who visited me last year.
Oh, he went to war agains the King of France? Well, I could send him my 5000 men, but it's not as if he is going here to check if I have indeed 5000 men as I said, so I'll just send him 2000 men and say I've just had a major plague of avian flu...

 

[Prince Michael]

For the largest part, great changes.

But I can't resist ranting about the obvious new obsession about "de jure" capitals. Firstly, they break Gavelkind by arbitrarily distributing the inheritance. Secondly, they make the AI go insanely and arbitrarily revoke-happy if they are not in control of their supposed "de jure" capital.

And now, the new patch forces us to concentrate our holdings to these so-called de jure capitals, as the levies will be more plenty in those. This is just too restricting, me not happy. The game would be so much better without these "de jure" capitals.

Otherwise, great improvements, as usual, like the nerf-blob, deaths in childbed and sickly children and improved combat. I hope Volley Harass is fixed as promised. We will see!