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Dev Diary #94 - Conquest and Reconquest

Hello there!

For this week, we are going to take a look at the Iberian Reconquista and the Northern Crusades. Keep in mind that things aren’t finalized yet, so there might be small errors etc.

NorthernCrusade01.png


Late 12th century or afterwards, the Teutonic Order can decide to start converting the north (Scandinavia/Baltics/Russia), if they aren’t already holding lands in the south or fighting for any lord at the moment. After the original announcement event, any King or Emperor living in the north will be able to ask the Teutons to target a specific ruler to conquer.

NorthernCrusade02.png


After asking the Teutons to target a specific character, the Teutons will send a response letter with their demands, be it land, money or that they will do it for free. After the Teutons have received a target, they will focus their efforts from now on, to convert that specific DeJure Kingdom to Christianity, fighting wars for one Duchy at a time. In other words, other rulers won’t be able to ask them to target any character outside of the DeJure kingdom later on.

NorthernCrusade03.png


After the Northern Crusades start, the Teutons will potentially ask a local ruler for help, receive event troops and start marching upon the Duchy they fight for. Should they win that war, they will become the Teutonic State and start actively pacifying the region. If they lose, they will wait for some more years, before re-launching the Northern Crusades once more. If they keep losing their wars, they will eventually give up their Northern Crusade, and leave the north.

NorthernCrusade04.png


For those helping the Teutons in pacifying the north, there is rewards in the form of gold, piety, artifacts and potentially a bloodline if you are truly pious.

NorthernCrusade05.png


Turning down south, we also have the new Reconquista. For any Iberian Christian ruler (of Duke or higher tier) with lands in the Iberian Peninsula, they can start fighting to reconquer the peninsula for Christendom. A new decision has been added, to start preparing for a Reconquista. This will cost a ruler a substantial amount of prestige, piety and gold. One thing I want to point out, is that the Reconquista wars can be started at any point throughout the game, and it is not attached to the start of the normal Crusades.

Reconquista01.png


Reconquista02.png


After the Reconquista has started, the ruler will start gathering troops and resources the following year. Every month or two, special events will fire for the ruler, to ask the Pope for gold, finding ships, troops etc.

Reconquista03.png


After a year has passed, the preparation events will finally stop, and the ruler will have one more year to find a fitting target to attack. They can of course start attacking someone prior to the preparation year has passed as well, but then at the cost of the special events attached to that period. The new Reconquista Casus Belli will let you attack special regions in Iberia, each one of them consisting of two Duchies (with the exception of Navarra and the Balearic Islands, which is 1).

As a Reconquista is ongoing, a Muslim in the Iberian Peninsula will be able to sell their services to the Christian Reconquistador and vice versa for Christians. This is to simulate the chaotic type of warfare that often happened at the Iberian Peninsula. For those who want to simulate El Cid, there is a special bloodline for someone winning several Reconquista wars from both sides (helping both the Christian attackers, and the Muslim defenders).

Reconquista04.png


The Reconquistador will also be able to set up a beneficiary, akin to normal Crusades, but it isn’t necessary nor pushed as heavily. After all, spreading the faith locally at the Iberian Peninsula is quite the pious task!

If you have a Beneficiary to gain the land, they will have some extra benefits akin to how the Crusaders usually do, with no penalties to the area when the war is won, etc.

Reconquista05.png


A Reconquista will be considered a success when all the lands of Iberia has been taken, or a Christian Emperor of Hispania is crowned. Similarly, if a Muslim gets the Empire of Hispania, they will stop the Reconquista as well.

The title has been changed slightly to reflect this, and you can no longer create the Empire, unless there are no rulers of another faith holding any DeJure Kingdoms. E.g, the Sultan of Andalusia cannot create the Empire of Hispania while there is a Christian King of Asturias.

Of course, there is a bloodline for those who stay loyal to the faith, and fight for Christianity as well. None of that wishy-washy both sides nonsense!

Reconquista06.png


Finally, if Christendom is desperately trying to survive in the region, Reconquista adventurers can start spawning for the Christian rulers of Iberia. They have a shortened preparation time of 1 month, before they declare war on the closest Muslim. If they win the war, they will settle down as a Beneficiary would, with some of those benefits.

Reconquista07.png


And like last week, there is of course two new game rules attached to the two new Crusades.
  • Northern Crusade:
    • Enabled
    • Disabled
  • Reconquista:
    • Enabled
    • Limited (No Adventurers)
    • Disabled
Reconquista09.png


That was all for the Baltics and the Iberian Peninsula! Hopefully you guys are as stoked for the two new Crusades as we are. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed these extra summer Dev Diaries, and we are back to the usual from next week on!

(Ps. Yes, there isn't really a huge change from the summer Dev Diaries to the usual ones, just that these weren't originally planned)
 
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As a Reconquista is ongoing, a Muslim in the Iberian Peninsula will be able to sell their services to the Christian Reconquistador and vice versa for Christians. This is to simulate the chaotic type of warfare that often happened at the Iberian Peninsula. For those who want to simulate El Cid, there is a special bloodline for someone winning several Reconquista wars from both sides (helping both the Christian attackers, and the Muslim defenders).
Very, very happy to see this. More inter-religious interaction is always welcome, especially in Iberia. Is there any change to the taifa states in terms of potentially starting them out as tributary paria states of the neighboring Christian kingdoms, or are they still fully independent of them?
 
Since I already see Muslim Iberia rarely survive in the long run (from a 1066 start onwards), I fear all these 'bonus'-events of the Reconquista make it even harder for the AI to survive the Christian onslaught. Have you taken measures so that their chances of surviving are at least that high as they are now (now = pre-Holy Fury)?
(Besides this concern, I am definitely stoked for those two special crusades, and thanks, SnowCrystal, for posting these rogue-diaries. I really enjoyed them. Thanks for taking the time, the community appreciates the effort a lot, I dare to to say!)

Crusades will be less likely, as the Crusade weight for them has been reduced, but not limited.

I think this should address it? imo a big part of the Muslims failing is that they often just get one-shot by a crusade for Andalusia and can't recover.
 
I can put it into consideration, if nothing else.

Please do! I like playing in Charlemagne starts, so it would be a bummer to have to wait hundreds of years to see these events. The overall crusades trigger dynamically, so they will show up when they make sense (France falls, Constantinople falls or the player "nudges" them into action). The Reconquista is also not bound by the date, so it would be great if the various "special" crusades were also dynamic, so they show up when the crusades are going on and not at some fixed date.
 
Oh yes im stoked, too often the teutons did not appear on the map, glad this got looked at. These DD were much appreceated, thanks!
 
I was waiting for some kind of unique Reconquista mechanics or events since the beginning, and it's perfect. But also I was hoping for some new provinces added to the region, and a De Jure rework (splitting that huge Andalusia, for example). Anyway, I really hope this could help Asturias surviving the Umayyads, specially in the 769 date.
Snow Crystal said on Reddit that he's finishing the Steppes map rework, and once it's done if there's enough time left a rework of Iberia could be possible
 
How will the Teutonic State act towards other christian rulers once it is established.
Would it for example attack one in a de jure war?

Like they said, once they're established rulers they'll probably function just like other rulers.
 
I wish you would consider adding more to Iberia than just that:
1) Way more impassable mountain ranges, to reflect the difficulties of the Iberian terrain.
2) Series of events for the collapse of the Umayyad Califate, the rise of the Almoravids, and the rise of the Almohads.
3) Some minor tweak so that the Umayyads focus on internal stability and converting their lands before setting to conquer more.
4) Make Asturias a tributary state of the Umayyads at the 1st bookmark.
5) Make Granada a tributary state of Castille from mid-13th century onwards.
6) Make andalusian/iberian rulers more likely to sympathize with other Abrahamic religions.
7) Allow andalusian/iberian rulers to raid neighbouring lands of different religious group.
 
I wish you would consider adding more to Iberia than just that:
1) Way more impassable mountain ranges, to reflect the difficulties of the Iberian terrain.
2) Series of events for the collapse of the Umayyad Califate, the rise of the Almoravids, and the rise of the Almohads.
3) Some minor tweak so that the Umayyads focus on internal stability and converting their lands before setting to conquer more.
4) Make Asturias a tributary state of the Umayyads at the 1st bookmark.
5) Make Granada a tributary state of Castille from mid-13th century onwards.
6) Make andalusian/iberian rulers more likely to sympathize with other Abrahamic religions.
7) Allow andalusian/iberian rulers to raid neighbouring lands of different religious group.

100% agree on everything.
 
Snow Crystal said on Reddit that he's finishing the Steppes map rework, and once it's done if there's enough time left a rework of Iberia could be possible

This would be great, since at the earliest start dates, the southern borders of the Christian lands were largely depopulated. I think this can be replicated in-game by giving this counties Nomad type government instead of Feudal. Later, the ruler can repopulate them by decision or scripted event, spawning buildings in the empty holdings.
 
All this talk of Bloodlines, does this mean that restoring the Roman Empire will grant you a special bloodline as well? Maybe replacing the Augustus Trait and making it a big deal when it comes to a hypothetical "Augustus Bloodline"?
 
That certainly seems reasonable. There has also been a lot of questions about whether Sayyid and Shaoshant would become bloodlines instead of traits, but the devs do not seem too keen on the idea.
 
This sounds like an impossible task for the AI in the 769 start. :(. Does this mean that if Asturias is conquered, the Reconquista will never be a thing for the rest of the game? I hope those adventurers you mentioned are strong enough to support Asturias at that start date, otherwise, that's kinda brutal.
Yeah I really think there should be some sort of hold on the fighting until the caliphate of Cordoba breaks down. Maybe Asturias could be a tributary state of Cordoba?