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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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So would the reconquista end if for example the entire peninsula was united under a Pagan ruler or is just if it is united under islam?
 
So would the reconquista end if for example the entire peninsula was united under a Pagan ruler or is just if it is united under islam?

I say "Muslim" in the DD, as they are the most likely opponents, but in the files it only specifies "Christian" and "Non-Christian", so they could be any faith that isn't Christian.
 
Will the Reconquista first target de jure territories and/or what eventually becomes de jure for Castile, Aragon, Portugal at later start dates? So will they be a bit geared towards that outcome first, before every part of the Iberian peninsula is an available target; or is any territory in the whole peninsula a potential target?
IMHO it makes most sense to target neighbouring territories first, and also to divide the attentions of Castile, Portugal. Aragon...
 
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.

This. Unless Asturias get some help, all these great new idea would most of the time never apply to the 769 start. Please keep that in mind. But great new idea, looking forward to Holy fury.

About bloodlines, is the military boni only applied if your ruler is leading the troops, or is it realm-wide?
 
Will the Reconquista first target de jure territories and/or what eventually becomes de jure for Castile, Aragon, Portugal at later start dates? So will they be a bit geared towards that outcome first, before every part of the Iberian peninsula is an available target; or is any territory in the whole peninsula a potential target?
IMHO it makes most sense to target neighbouring territories first, and also to divide the attentions of Castile, Portugal. Aragon...

The AI will focus on taking northern Iberia first, then work itself down southwards later on. The player can choose any target they either neighbor, or is the closest to.
 
Will regular crusades and holy wars in iberia be limited?
 
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!)
 
Is the "muslims can join christians and vice-versa" thing event scripted, or elementary to the CB where e.g. rulers simply take Join war decision?
 
Northern Crusade like stuff would be nice for pagan holy orders as well. I could easily imagine the Jormsvikings go for land in the baltics ;)
 
Will Teutonics attack Orthodox countries like they did in real life?
I am quite interested in this too. Historically, the Teutonic Order went - in modern terms - full-on "rogue state", and paid for it with a considerable reduction in donations from most of the Catholic world; said weakening ended up spelling its end in the closing years of CK2. It should be possible for a Holy Order to become... well, pretty much unholy, and suffer from it.
 
A few questions:
  1. It looks like the reconquista is started by decision by one ruler, so who has access to the CB? Only that ruler, all christians, or everyone?
  2. Connected to the previous, is this a long-term state of reconquista, or does a ruler have to use that decision for every war declared?
  3. What happens if the reconquista finished, but the religion that was pushed out conquers back into Iberia? Can the reconquista start up again?
  4. How about if christians are pushed out without starting the reconquista? Can christians that return to the peninsula later still start them?