So that time of the week again and its time for me to make something up to write about. Today I decided to talk about regions and forts, two new concepts in Crusader Kings II.

First, regions isn't something that is going to affect you directly but it works somewhat like how it have done in the Europa Universalis Games. It's an area on the map that denotes a region with a name and it's mostly used to improve on our localization of things, such as hunting for tigers in India or hunting a deer in western Europe. So no longer will you find Tigers in the woods of Poland if you manage to move your capital of your Indian Empire out of the subcontinent. You can see these regions by opening up a province and click on the new region icon to get an outline of the region. It's also possible to search for regions in the old title finder.

Next is a gameplay feature you will actually interact a bit more actively in. It's called forts which is an additional type of holding you can build in provinces next to the normal ones and trade posts. Because of this we had to extend the province view with a window you can open and close which will show "extra holding slots" which will contain the trade post and fort slots. The fort can be built anywhere from your own territory even enemy provinces that you have under your control. Their biggest advantage is that they are fortifications that you can build up really fast and very cheaply. The main point of them being to let you build up a region as your march towards a big neighbor which will let you slow down their advance but at the same time let you set up forward positions in the enemy territory.

They do have some added bonuses though beyond that, for instance in Tribal land where you have the homeland attrition bonus, that bonus will be removed from the province as long as you have a fort there to supply your troops with. There is also a feature for the forts that is too related to the expansion so I can't delve into that any deeper.


And again here's some more random changelogs

Spoiler

- Fixed crash when a war is invalidated because of no defender
- Fixed the "hostile against everyone" bug
- Fixed bug where the AI would keep their units attached to characters they no longer participate in a war with.
- Added alert for having high prio minor titles available to grant.
- Fixed various provinces in India that had no rulers scripted for some start dates.
- Monks and other people living in celibacy will no longer try to arrange stealth marriages if ruled by a patrician.
- Defensive religions now properly also give defensive modifiers for Camel Cavalry and Elephants.

 

[theKing1988]

Yes Paradox never forget you must always cater to the lowest denominator. Even though the game has been out for years never make the AI something that could challenge an intellect greater than a semi-retarded torgladyte can grasp. Sensible policy for a bright future and glorious gaming excellence... Are you also high up in governmental policy of a Western Democracy? Its just your policy aspirations sound very familiar.

Where do i say that they have to aim for the lowest denominator?!? Please do point that out to me.

Not every player have achieved mastery of the game yet, so yeah, i think it is pretty safe to assume that as long as new players start playing the game there will always be people who are threatened by the AI.

It is a fine balance act to try and appease both veterans and newbies with these DLCs

 

[Grell74]

Where do i say that they have to aim for the lowest denominator?!? Please do point that out to me.

Right there you even quoted yourself: "as long as new players start playing the game there will always be people who are threatened by the AI. It is a fine balance act to try and appease both veterans and newbies with these DLCs"

You say the devs should deliberetly handicap the AI so its not too challenging to new players... Not game difficulty setting but AI. THen go on to claim that people on the forums must always remember this? Why? Its a ridiculous claim and needed to be called out.

 

[Umbosch]

They do have some added bonuses though beyond that, for instance in Tribal land where you have the homeland attrition bonus, that bonus will be removed from the province as long as you have a fort there to supply your troops with. There is also a feature for the forts that is too related to the expansion so I can't delve into that any deeper.

Sounds intresting with the forts. Is a good strategy for West Francia but not for me as his Saxon neighbor. I have enough to do, as the old saxon king to become 500 prestige for the tribal army and Brandenburg as a good defense place. Is my only good chance to kick back him from my ground. What bring the forts for me as unreformed tribal? When i reform my religion i have the same adavantage how france but was is before?

 

[theKing1988]

Right there you even quoted yourself: "as long as new players start playing the game there will always be people who are threatened by the AI. It is a fine balance act to try and appease both veterans and newbies with these DLCs"

You say the devs should deliberetly handicap the AI so its not too challenging to new players... Not game difficulty setting but AI. THen go on to claim that people on the forums must always remember this? Why? Its a ridiculous claim and needed to be called out.

I didn't say anything about them needing to handicap the AI, you are basically reading something in my post that isn't there. I pointed out something very basic to the guy that i originally responded to (see below) that he should be aware of without me pointing it out to him. That's all it was.

Forts? Are there still people out there who are "threatened" by the AI? Or is this yet another measure to make "WQ in 50 years" possible for everyone?

Whether the Forts are going to be a great addition or not to CK2, i'll reserve my judgement on until playing with them in the game.

 

[Emren]

Are you kidding me? This game is laughably easy. It's generally more frustrating then hard. Like when you're waiting for a rival who hold loads of kingdoms under gavelkind to have more than one son or when you're trying to fabricate a claim for a decade straight. Or when gavelkind gives disappropriate amounts of land to the primary heir for 'reasons'.

The game can be very irritating in how it's arbitrary but it's not hard. It's really difficult to game over, especially if you start as a king.

The AI is never a threat the game mechanics are.

Agreed with everything right up to this point!

The game should give the player more controll, and then make conditions much harsher. Meaning you'll lose the throne from time to time but you'll know exactly what will happen when you do. You'll know who you'll play what lands you'll hold and you'll start plotting to take that throne back before you've even lost it.

This is somewhat contradictory. If you had written "more precise in-game information about mechanics and consequences", rather than control, then I would fully agree. We don't need more control.

 

[Czert]

when readed about new forts option, well why to not go even more and add special resource to some provs which give certain bonuses like gold/gem mine, silk road, some special horses (extra cavalary trained there),..etc

 

[fishface60]

@Groogy What scripting hook-ups are there for regions?

There's currently the unused continent = condition, which is presumably sufficient for determining what kind of prey to hunt or Roman borders etc.
However, I'm thinking of a mod to create a custom Kingdom/Empire when you completely control a region.
I'd like to be able to do something like this:

region_decisions = {
    custom_region_kingdom_decision = {
        from_potential = {
            always = yes
        }
        potential = {
            # If it's large enough to be a kingdom, but not large enough to be an empire
            region_size = 35 # Same size restriction as form_new_kingdom
            NOT = { region_size = 180 } # Size restriction for form_new_empire
            # If we have any land in it
            any_region_province = {
                FROM = {
                    owns = PREV
                }
            }
        }
        allow = {
            # FROM owns every province = no provinces FROM does not own
            NOT = {
                any_region_province = {
                    NOT = {
                        FROM = {
                            owns = PREV
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        effect = {
            # Create new title for region based Kingdom
            create_title = {
                tier = KING
                landless = no
                temporary = no
                custom_created = yes
                holder = ROOT
            }
            # Assign duchies of region's provinces to new Kingdom
            any_region_province = {
                duchy = {
                    new_title = {
                        PREV = {
                            de_jure_liege = PREV
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

This requires being able to find the size of a region, have a scope to find each province in a region, and have a form of decision hung of regions.

 

[TheDungen]

Agreed with everything right up to this point!



This is somewhat contradictory. If you had written "more precise in-game information about mechanics and consequences", rather than control, then I would fully agree. We don't need more control.

Yeah we do because a machine can never have the intuitive sense of planning that a human can (as long as we're desling with linear computing of course). If the machine distrubites titles then it will do it wrong from time to time.

 

[TheDungen]

It sounds like you have achieved a reasonable mastery of the game then and that is great.

But not everyone has, that was all i meant to say with my reply. And people on the forums very easily tend to forget that.

No I'm still really bad at it, I do mistakes all the time. But when I feel like ragequitting it's not because the AI does something clever but because the game mechanics did something stupid.

 

[Khanwulf]

I can do that no problem. Have a sneak picture of next dev diary.

Groogy, in your spare time could we have another fun expansion: "Crusader Koalas: Hedge[hog] [K]nights"! Replace cultures with animal races, and appropriate artwork. Maybe some events.

Would be better than Sunset Invasion.

--Khanwulf

 

[fishface60]

Would be better than Sunset Invasion.

Nah, nothing beats Sunset Invasion for winding people up.

 

[chrnno]

Nah, nothing beats Sunset Invasion for winding people up.

Next expansion Sunrise Invasion in which Japan overruns all of Asia to hit Europe.

Expansion after that the... Sunny* Interdiction where the conflict between the two great Sun superpowers is Cold but heating up.
*maybe Noon or Midday instead?

 

[Zolotaya]

I think of forts as "field fortifications" to be built in enemy territory. These are temporary and abandoned once the fighting ends. A few people commenting in this DD seem to think they are something else.

 

[Isinfier]

God forbid people have hopes and dreams.

That aside, as a feature forts will certainly be handy when it comes down to representing Anglo-Saxon burhs, Roman forts and to a lesser extent Bronze to late Iron Age hill forts, although the latter would be better represented by castles/towns.

 

[Emren]

Yeah we do because a machine can never have the intuitive sense of planning that a human can (as long as we're desling with linear computing of course). If the machine distrubites titles then it will do it wrong from time to time.

Are you talking Gavelkind title distribution in particular, or just control in general? I mean, it would be cool to be able to actually write your will in this game, for giving out titles. But more control in general I am not a fan of.

 

[Had a dad]

Posting in an inflammatory manner is still against the forum rules and will bring forth personal communication from a member of the staff.

Getting too many of those personal communiques will cause individuals to be banned

 

[Rationalsanity]

I just hope there plans to adjust some of the de jure nonsense that still exists. The entire patch would be worth it if the HRE's horsecrap claims on Flanders and the existence of Aquitaine in the later start dates weren't dooming France anymore.

 

[Djaevlenselv]

I just think we need the ability to choice which heir get what on succession.

Agree completely. This especially makes sense in something like a Louis the Pious situation: So you've got three surviving sons that haven't been disinherited and all of seven kingdom titles to hand out; you'd like your oldest son and heir to have Lotharingia, Burgundy and Italy right next to each other, while your second gets Germany and Bavaria and the youngest gets France and Aquitaine. Also, your entire demesne is in the first three kingdoms, so they should all go to your heir, since the two others will be able to automatically usurp a county within their own appanage. Something like that?
Particularly the last bit seems important to me. If your younger sons can inherit a whole duchy or kingdom title, they really shouldn't be eligible for any demesne held inside the duchies/kingdoms of your heir.

 

[Thure]

Agree completely. This especially makes sense in something like a Louis the Pious situation: So you've got three surviving sons that haven't been disinherited and all of seven kingdom titles to hand out; you'd like your oldest son and heir to have Lotharingia, Burgundy and Italy right next to each other, while your second gets Germany and Bavaria and the youngest gets France and Aquitaine. Also, your entire demesne is in the first three kingdoms, so they should all go to your heir, since the two others will be able to automatically usurp a county within their own appanage. Something like that?
Particularly the last bit seems important to me. If your younger sons can inherit a whole duchy or kingdom title, they really shouldn't be eligible for any demesne held inside the duchies/kingdoms of your heir.

Yes, like this

 

[Korashy]

When I read "forts", I was really hoping it was a way to deal with non stop raiding.