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!

 

[Lord_P]

The houses and trade posts are still tied together (they do share the same interface after all. However it is possible to change the coastal requirement.

Not to engage on any Wild Mass Guessing here, but...

*puts tinfoil hat on*

This may mean inland republics in the future.

 

[Scyneir]

Looking good guys, nice touch on the title frames and honorary titles menu.

 

[Karolus Magnus]

Not to engage on any Wild Mass Guessing here, but...

*puts tinfoil hat on*

This may mean inland republics in the future.

It also means no game over by losing your port province since you will not become a non-merchant republic.

 

[Thure]

Yes. Governments will be moddable. And when moddable I do mean that it is possible to add new ones, script historical governments and change the behavior of them. I may have missed some effects but most of them should now be visible in the government script, such as free_retract_vassalage for Muslims, and the allows_matrilineal_marriage for republics. In this script it is also possible to mod the holding types which are allowed for the specific government, the color for the Government Mapmode and potential/allow triggers.

Oooooooooooh! I can't wait for this patch!

 

[Kung Zog]

Yes. Governments will be moddable. And when moddable I do mean that it is possible to add new ones, script historical governments and change the behavior of them. I may have missed some effects but most of them should now be visible in the government script, such as free_retract_vassalage for Muslims, and the allows_matrilineal_marriage for republics. In this script it is also possible to mod the holding types which are allowed for the specific government, the color for the Government Mapmode and potential/allow triggers.

I assume that succession laws are still hard coded for AI and efficiency reason?

 

[nestorius]

Just wondering I posted this before in the bug section and it seems to be a major issue with muslim holy orders particularly the Hashashin. If any of your family joins the hashashin for instance then as he has generally more holdings then other sons he inheirts the titles. So the next character that you play is also the head of the holy order. The problem is that as soon as that character dies the holy order looses all holdings and Hashashin as they have the event cease to exists.

Another issue is that the Varangian guard end up being an inheirited title where for some reason the leader of the guard marries.

 

[Ezumiyr]

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.

Well they could call it "Caliphate". I'm still not sure it's a fully adequate approximation... but maybe it also means that the Byzantines get a new government form (iqtas are aften compared to the akritai after all, and there were also muslim "governors"), and maybe the Persians too (but I'm probably dreaming).

Yes. Governments will be moddable. And when moddable I do mean that it is possible to add new ones, script historical governments and change the behavior of them. I may have missed some effects but most of them should now be visible in the government script, such as free_retract_vassalage for Muslims, and the allows_matrilineal_marriage for republics. In this script it is also possible to mod the holding types which are allowed for the specific government, the color for the Government Mapmode and potential/allow triggers.

That's really good news.

 

[Lhutien]

all aboard the hype train!

 

[stilgarpl]

If government type is permanent, will we still be able to create vassal republics?

 

[kemazon]

Glad to see that no longer will my Character's liege kidnap him to fight some random war with terrible odds with the chance of dying/getting maimed and making it in the process unable for my character to engage in different events including those in WoL while leading armies without my consent.

 

[Karolus Magnus]

If government type is permanent, will we still be able to create vassal republics?

The way the triggers for republics and merchant republics are set up right now, republics with a port capital and a duchy title will become a merchant republic. The merchant republic will however not become a republic when it lose its port capital (it will however become a normal republic again if it for some reason lose its duchy title and ends up as a count).

 

[theKing1988]

Well they could call it "Caliphate". I'm still not sure it's a fully adequate approximation... but maybe it also means that the Byzantines get a new government form (iqtas are aften compared to the akritai after all, and there were also muslim "governors"), and maybe the Persians too (but I'm probably dreaming).



That's really good news.

Akritai did not have anything to do with how the Byzantine state was lead. The Akritai were soldier-farmers guarding the Eastern Frontier. If you are looking for anything remotely similar to the Iqta in the Byzantine world the only thing that fits the bill is the Pronoia grants. Which was the Empire granting the revenue from a given area to private individuals

 

[cybrxkhan]

Some of the religion triggers is supported in governments as well. Unfortunately divine_blood is not one of them as of now.

Ah, hopefully it will be so in the future! I'm assuming then that bs_marriage and the other triggers for the other types of incest (forgot what they are) won't be available at the moment yet.

Regarding triggers: Potential triggers and allow triggers will have to be valid when evaluating what government a character should have (for instance when starting a new game). After a government has been set, the allow trigger does not have to be valid for the character to keep that government. The potential trigger must however always be valid, otherwise a new government will be set for the character.

I was actually asking about conditions in, say, other events or decisions (like say we want the Summer Fair to be available to only those with the Iqta government), sorry for not clarifying. However I should've asked about how potential/allow triggers work too, so thank you for the info.

 

[Karolus Magnus]

I was actually asking about conditions in, say, other events or decisions (like say we want the Summer Fair to be available to only those with the Iqta government), sorry for not clarifying. However I should've asked about how potential/allow triggers work too, so thank you for the info.

There are two ways of doing this. Either you could use has_government_type = iqta_government to check against a specific government, or you could use the old triggers (is_feudal, is_republic, is_theocracy and is_tribal), which checks against government groups. Iqta is under the feudal government group, so is_feudal is actually the same as:

OR = {
has_government_type = iqta_government
has_government_type = feudal_government
}

The reason we decided to go this way with the government groupings is that it would take a lot of time and effort to go through all events and decisions to make sure we check all the valid governments, and without groupings we would have to do this every time we decide to add a new government.

 

[TheDungen]

It says that Inherited title overwrites Held title. So, yes, good when you give your finely-tuned title to successor with awful one, but horribly bad when opposite happens and you inherit awful title that overwrites your awesome one.

No it says that player held titles break ties.

 

[Wallensteinwojt]

Again need to restart my family career! But who cares? I'm curious of battle tactics changes.

 

[TheDungen]

Will being a commander or council member give you gold and/or prestige? It would be nice, the first step towards in the future allowing landless characters.

 

[cybrxkhan]

There are two ways of doing this. Either you could use has_government_type = iqta_government to check against a specific government, or you could use the old triggers (is_feudal, is_republic, is_theocracy and is_tribal), which checks against government groups. Iqta is under the feudal government group, so is_feudal is actually the same as:

OR = {
has_government_type = iqta_government
has_government_type = feudal_government
}

The reason we decided to go this way with the government groupings is that it would take a lot of time and effort to go through all events and decisions to make sure we check all the valid governments, and without groupings we would have to do this every time we decide to add a new government.

Thank you for answering. The government group system does seem intriguing... and it leaves me wondering what sort of new governments we will see.

 

[Yvanoff]

looks very good - and that's only the beginning of the patch changes !
looking forward for next wednesday ! (I hope West Africa got some love this patch !)

 

[Lord_P]

Thank you for answering. The government group system does seem intriguing... and it leaves me wondering what sort of new governments we will see.

These are the ones already existing in game:

Feudal, Theocracy, Republic (standard), Merchant Republic, Iqta (really just feudal but with minor modifications), Viceroyalty, Tribal, EDIT: Mercenary, Holy Order (if landed)

Would be nice to see Iqta expanded. In history, the Iqta holders didn't really "own" their lands (represented by free revocation in CK2) and the people who were obliged to pay tax to them were not their subjects (instead subjects of the ruler).