Hi folks!

It's been a while, and I bet you're all wondering what we've been up to... Now, I can't reveal anything about the upcoming expansion quite yet, but, to tide you over, I thought I'd talk a bit about our other efforts. As you know, with every expansion comes a slew of free improvements and fixes. This time the focus has been on the latter; clearing up old bugs and issues (the change log is currently 620 lines long). Sometimes, that has required us to do some fairly major code rewrites. For example, we got rid of the rule that your 'government type' was determined by the type of your Capital Holding. (You know how it was game over when you got a Temple Holding as a capital, even for a tiny period? Well, now that kind of thing cannot happen anymore.) The government form is now something more persistent, and can have various rules that override those of your religion (whether you can raid, take concubines, etc.) To go along with this change, we also reworked the portrait frames to clearly distinguish between the various government forms.

In a similar vein, almost since release we've been plagued by bugs with characters leading multiple regiments and/or flanks, which could even cause crashes. Part of the problem was that the whole system was rather strange, so we decided to consolidate it in the following way: only the ruler, the Marshal and characters you have appointed Commander (a new title) can lead flanks or your own demesne and retinue regiments. Vassal levy regiments can still be led by your loyal vassals, but a character can never both lead a flank and a regiment. Mercenaries become more useful because they come with their own, good, leaders. Flank leaders apply their martial bonus to all regiments in the flank. Oh, and the combat system has been updated under the hood to correct various quirks that few people ever noticed, but which could sometimes cause never-ending battles and such.

In the process of implementing the new Commander title, we decided we might as well throw in a more convenient Honorary Title view. This is a perfect example of how what starts as a simple bug fix can turn into a whole new little quality-of-life feature. In this whole house cleaning process, we've also made some serious optimizations to the speed and memory usage of the game.

To finish off, here are some random snippets from the change log:

Spoiler

- Revised the pagan Subjugation CB so that it completely subjugates the target but no Holdings ever change hands
- Added "Stop Seduction" and "Stop Spying" decisions
- Failing to imprison vassals of vassals now correctly forces them to abdicate and flee the realm
- AI will not join wars against spouse
- When your heir has an equal tier title to yours, _your_ laws are now copied to his primary title on succession
- Character Finder: The 'Married' filter now excludes concubines too
- Character Finder: Councillors now correctly show up too!
- Fixed a problem with allies of vassals staying in the war when the vassals's liege joins the other side
- Fixed some cases of ANY_ALL in location tooltips
- Duels now potentially give the Kinslayer trait
- The Yazidi Sheikh and Hurufi Caliph now have access to the Muslim subjugation CB and the Jihad CB
- The Paulician faith can now properly mend the schism
- The Hashshashins can now resurface after being scattered
- Fixed some issues with 'excommunication' for Yazidis
- Sons with traits blocking them from inheritance no longer count as "unlanded sons", causing prestige loss
- AI: Toned down seduction by characters with many children
- AI: Toned down impregnation chances for seduction affairs with characters with many children
- Handsome and lustful men now also populate the cabins in the wild for the pleasures of people who find them attractive

That's all for now, but from now on, we plan to post a dev diary every Tuesday, even if it's a short one!

 

[CplKatie]

Are you finally going to fix that cultural retinue in africa thats been screwed up since launch? Or did that get fixed recently? You know....the one that literally says in the wiki that its broken.

 

[DmUa]

Are you finally going to fix that cultural retinue in africa thats been screwed up since launch? Or did that get fixed recently? You know....the one that literally says in the wiki that its broken.

- if you talking about ethiopian/somalian retinue, than it was fixed ages ago.

 

[aitaituo]

Yes, but you can call medieval england a "feudal realm" and be correct. Calling Ummayad Andalus an "Iqta" or "Iqta realm" is really not historically correct.

I think it's an adequate approximation, though; you've got to call it something, after all.

It's kind of the same for Charlemagne's realm, which wasn't really feudal yet.

 

[That one guy]

- Failing to imprison vassals of vassals now correctly forces them to abdicate and flee the realm

that is a big one no more free money

 

[Deleted]

If the type of government held is no longer determined by the capital holding now, how can Republics turn into Kingdoms, now?

 

[Federalist girl]

If the type of government held is no longer determined by the capital holding now, how can Republics turn into Kingdoms, now?

Through use of the "obtain shinier hat" ambition.

 

[aitaituo]

Through use of the "obtain shinier hat" ambition.

I hope they implement the in-game store idea they're toying with, but only sell various hats.

 

[Metz]

Can you guys expand the kin descriptions?

Like second cousins, great granduncle, nieces' husband, etc..

 

[darkmonk56]

That minor titles window is beautiful...one dev diary in and I'm already excited about the possibilities here.

 

[Accrsd]

I'm still hoping we get a culturally relevant merchant clothes DLC! no more west Africans dressing up in the styles of Venice please!

 

[cybrxkhan]

I'm still hoping we get a culturally relevant merchant clothes DLC! no more west Africans dressing up in the styles of Venice please!

I do like my characters looking like they came from a performance of Othello but yes this really should be addressed. Would be nice if th devs added some new, non-Christian republics, especially in the Indian Ocean as well.

 

[LordDamien]

- Drools -

 

[Rags17]

I want participatory Athenian Democracies, Italian Communes and Swiss Confederacies !

(But I'll settle for what they've already shown us !)

 

[sacrelicious2]

Is there a way to get a notification if you have available minor titles to hand out (excluding court jester)? If not, could that be added? I never know when I have one available due to a vassal dying.

 

[firerougex]

What I want to see:

Reading the new developer diary I got into overdrive mode and thought out new mechanics I would like to see:

Benevolence and Tyranny (Persistent and inter generational)
Tyranny should be persistent and realm-based, no more revoking all realm's titles and landing new courtiers that don't know our king's reputation as a tyrant. Secondly it should be inter generational and inheritable, new rulers would inherit a tyrannic reputation from their ancestors, this of course would be a fraction from the former ruler's.

Benevolence is the opposite of tyranny and follows the persistent and inter generational rules I have laid out. Benevolent rulers pass on some of their reputation to their heirs, and they are renown among all their vassals, it is a fixed amount, not based upon if the vassal was there before or not. To increase benevolence the ruler needs to give out titles, for anything that a vassal is grateful for, the realm considers that ruler more benevolent than before.

Gratitude and Dis-gratitude (Dynasty-to-Dynasty based)
Gratitude is all that was a positive opinion of a ruler to another. Now it is based upon a dynastic gratitude your grandson will still feel gratitude to the Capetian dynasty for landing you as a Duke. Of course this gratitude would decrease each generation that passes, which later would render this gratitude null, and thus part of the status quo. Vassal dynasties should feel gratitude to their liege's dynasty for expanding their power and influence in the realm. This leads to a more dynasty-to-dynasty game that greatly expands upon the impact of a simple decision.

Dis-gratitude is the opposite of gratitude, and is based upon all the negative things dynasties do to one another, leading to decade long family feuds.

Major Dynasties (Soft Cap)

A Major Dynasty is a dynasty that holds duke+ rank in their realm, or has held duke+ rank in their known past. Realms would have a barrier to entry for new major dynasties in that realm, thus creating difficulties for 'upshot' families that would be seen as contrary to the upper nobility's power and influence. This would lead to players ruling over a realm with a small degree of major families that vie for power and influence, since the player would have an incentive to land members from the major families inside their realm instead of an 'upshot' courtier or commander, this would still have the possibility of ruling over grand counties and such, but dukes and kings would be more jealous of their prerogatives as the upper nobility.

The Soft Cap will be based upon the realm size, its vassal limit and its rank (kingdom or empire), thus larger, decentralized empires would have more 'major families', than small centralized kingdoms. A new map screen would be laid out combining direct vassals with dynasty map modes so rulers can see the power and influence enforced by the different major families in the realm. This would lead to more historical and challenging game-play as well as a more dynasty-to-dynasty game, where families are central to decision-making. A new screen showing the major families in the realm would be added and I recommend a soft cap close to half the vassal limit of the realm, to enforce their importance. Anytime the ruler lands a courtier as a duke+ vassal, instead of a member of a major family, would lead to dis-gratitude by the major families.

Privileges and Obligations

Privileges are exemptions that the ruler can give their individual vassals to more carefully model the patchwork of feudal privileges and obligations in medieval times. This can be such as the ability to make war outside the borders even though the realm is absolute CA, in essence any privilege that is taken by CA can be given back to individual vassal families, tied to their title. This would generate gratitude and benevolence. To take it away is seen as tyrannical by your vassals and can lead to rebellion.

Obligations are those things that are not covered by CA but can be enforce upon a vassal because of their bad behavior (rebellion, plot, etc), or as a condition upon the giving of the title. This generates dis-gratitude and tyranny. They can be exempted at any time by the ruler, or by the vassal through a plot or low CA.

Since gratitude and benevolence and their counterparts are dynasty-based, and privileges and obligations are title-based, once a new dynasty becomes ruler upon an old realm, the privileges and obligations are left as is, but their is no gratitude felt to the new dynasty, unless they give out new privileges. A common example can be the Karlings giving the Rodlings of Flanders the privilege of exemption from military service in exchange for the obligation of a tax, for this the Rodlings are grateful, for even though they have a new obligation, it is a more favorable outcome than military obligation, then the Capetians rise as kings of France, now the Rodlings hold the same laws, customs, and privileges as before and may have exempted themselves of their obligation because of a decline of CA, yet they feel no gratitude to the Capets.

This are my ideas, I hope to see yours posted in this thread, as well as debating the ideas of others.

-Firerougex

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ant-to-see-for-the-upcoming-patch-dlc.855659/

 

[RaptorCommander]

They said the patch will be save game compatible... This don't sound like China. And why 'final hurrah'?

Well it has to be ended at some point...I might be wrong on the timing but surely the last update will have one of either China or Cadet Branches

 

[darkmonk56]

Well it has to be ended at some point...I might be wrong on the timing but surely the last update will have one of either China or Cadet Branches

I'm sure there is an end at some point, but right now I'd say we're a good distance from CK III; especially when this game is still routinely hitting top of the charts on Steam sales and when the DLC packs are easily moving up to top of the charts once they're released or anytime they go on a sale. There's no doubt in my mind that CK II is still producing a pretty good profit - no reason to go to planned obsolescence now; especially not when the audience is this large and this involved.

 

[Apom]

- Failing to imprison vassals of vassals now correctly forces them to abdicate and flee the realm

Nooooo that's how I made all my money as king/emperor! Now how will I pay for all my retinues that I use to assault all enemy holdings?!?

 

[Samaha]

For what it's worth: I absolutely applaud all of these much-needed changes. The minor title system was impossible to manage from the character list. This game continues to be amazing.

 

[Bluekkis]

Nice improvements all around. But the questions still is... Will you finally fix CoA randomization issues on religion change/load? You already had it partially fixed in 2.2 but broke it again in 2.3...