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Dev Diary #97: Pagan Pals - Warrior Lodges

Greetings!

This week we want to show you the work we have been doing on the new society type: Warrior Lodges!

(This is where you scroll down to play the sound clip found in this dev diary, for an insight into the background ambiance of the societies, and how the dev team sounds when we hang out)

It's a society perfect for the rowdy pagan or tribal ruler: the one who drinks, fights, and brags about it to your friends. Of course, underneath that rough surface, lies a heart that swells at the thought of camaraderie, and helping you defeat your enemies.

That said, joining isn't for everyone. You have to fight to prove yourself, and duels are not for the faint of heart.

Fleeing_initiation_duel.png


The ones that do make it into the Warrior Lodge can also insist that their children attempt the initiation!

Once a member, you can enjoy special events on the battlefield, and intimidating power. Going up against a member of a warrior lodge is a calculated risk, but only cowards back out of challenge. While you might lose a leg dueling your friend for sport, you could also end up founding a bloodline as a famous warrior hero, having your legacy stay with your dynasty through centuries.

Warrior Bloodline.png




Each playable pagan religion has its own version of a Warrior Lodge, with some unique touches to them. Art is of course one of them.

Society_Menu.png



Then we have things like Create Fetish, a Power exclusive to the African Warrior Lodge. It allows your ruler to order the forging of a special type of artifact, ranging from mere rain-sticks to scare off ghosts, to large totem masks infused with the energy of ancient spirits.


The mask artifacts come in many varieties and shapes, and as they can be equipped to a separate face slot in your Treasury they can appear on your character’s portrait whenever they are worn. Both their shape and effects will depend on investments made during their creation, as well as on the type of spirit you decide to infuse them with. Do you wish to channel the energy of a benevolent river god, or that of a trickster?

WLfetish.jpg



In addition to Powers, and the various missions you can choose to accept, you might also find yourself involved in side activities, such as feasting events and competitions. Make sure to always pick up the challenges from your fellow warriors, or you might lose influence within their circle, be it a drinking contest, an arm-wrestling match, or the Flyting game of patience, where you and your opponent will hurl all sorts of insults at each other, to see who loses his cool first. If that is you, do not fret: even if your character ends up horribly humiliated, nothing is stopping you from being a sore loser and challenging your opponent to real duel in the aftermath…

WLflyting.jpg


Duels are also no longer locked solely the War Focus, but all Warrior Lodge members can enjoy fighting all up close and personal. In general, duels are a large past time for members of these societies, and Personal Combat Rating has been revamped to fit the new system. Outcomes of the duels vary from mere bruises to severe injuries. There is naturally also the chance of one thing leading to another, and you might find yourself making friends (or lovers)...


Thank you for your time. :)
 

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the last CK2 DLC scheduled for the game right? Is there any plans afterwards to just do a bit of clean up and optimizing since the last time that was done? I might have missed something but last time I checked it was Reaper's Due DLC that did a wonderful job overhauling the game so that it didn't have a seizure at the end of every month. Just hoping that some clean-up and tidying of content occurs after they're done with all the DLC content and close out this game.
 
I have a question: in the DD, it says that being part of a Lodge could lead you to found a new bloodline, using Sigurd Hring as an example. Does that mean Sigurd will only be able to get a bloodline of his own via Warrior Lodges? Or will he get a regular one, like other famous characters? Will both be an option? If so, do the bloodline bonuses change depending on what path you took to create it?
 
Really looking forward to this. As it is duel's are far too risky. Even a highly skilled warrior is far, far too likely to die. If with a lot of skill you're more like to get injured than die, that's a lot more realistic and fun gameplay

I hope for the same. In my 685 year run as a Norse, reformed Germanic empire starting from Gotland, I had at least 3 rulers ridiculously die in duels. They all had +7 or higher personal combat and their opponents either had 0 or negative combat. Few things are more annoying than a +9 person combat character losing to one with -2 personal combat ability. Negative personal combat ability! Their opponents should have been slaughtered while asking which side of the ax is the pointy one.
 
Will these be part of the free update, the new DLC or the DLC that added sects (Monks and Mistics)?

This is part of Holy Fury. That said, a lot of the duel rework and updates will be available to players with the Way of Life DLC, which contained the original duel decision. The rebalancing of Personal Combat Rating is in the free patch.
 
Really looking forward to trying these mechanics out! I’ve only tried a pagan run once, and I just didn’t find it quite to my liking. I think the changes that have already been discussed for the DLC and free patch make me more than willing to give it another chance :)
 
Ayy, this is great! In all my 2k hours I've only ever played as non pagans afew times, so this'll really buff out my enjoyment! Even despite the previous lack of content my favourite games were always as Mali in 769, so for them to have all these cool masks now ect is amazing.

However, that said, I also really love the Aztecs, I've had them on for every game and I just unironically love that dlc, so to hear they won't be getting a lodge is really quite sad, ontop of the fact that if they reform in ck2 it doesn't carry over when you convert to eu4, it's really kicking the Aztecs in the teeth here. Shame, they're alot of fun :(
 
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To be more clear on the matter: nomads will always be able to join the Tengri Warrior Lodge, regardless of their religion. The other lodges require you to follow the appropriate faith, or: to not be Zealous while neighboring a ruler that follows a pagan religion.

So a non-Zealous feudal Orthodox may join the Suomenusko lodge? As in, no need to be tribal?
 
This is great!
 
I have a question about bloodlines.
Is it possible for different bloodlines to stack?
To be able to have and see that you have many different bloodlines in one character? (I don't count their abilities, what I really care about are the bloodlines... altough abilities is nice)
 
No mechanic should be locked behind a Focus. Everything should be available for the player character to do at least at a basic level. Choosing a Focus should unlock higher level abilities/higher chances of success etc. It's just stupid to restrict gameplay choice like that. Also, when are the Templars/Hospitallers etc getting a look?
 
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Any chance we might get an event where a pair of Warrior Lodge buddies get the gay for each other (or a man and a woman become regular lovers?) Seems like the sort of self-realization being in crowded conditions with a lot of other huge dudes would lend itself to :3c