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CK2 Dev Diary - The Rules of the Game

Well people, what do you know? I needed a break from the Stellaris crunch, so here’s an unscheduled dev diary! All the hubbub about Defensive Pacts and Shattered Retreats got me thinking about an old ambition I’ve had to improve the game set-up screens in order to allow players to customize their experience without having to resort to modding. The idea is inspired by games like Civilization and the Second Wave DLC for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which allow players to change various advanced options and settings for a different experience in the game. I really like such options and typically make good use of them myself.

Now, of course there is such a thing as “the way the game was meant to be played”. That is, how the designers made the game and like to play it themselves. However, variety is the spice of life, and after 11 Crusader Kings II expansions things are not as clear-cut anymore. It’s actually pretty funny that I’ve been using a small personal mod for CK2 for awhile myself. There are some downsides to modding and using mods though:
  • It requires awareness that it’s possible, and where to find existing mods. The modding scene is a jungle.
  • It takes a modicum of extra effort and skill.
  • It might not feel quite legitimate (it can feel a bit like cheating) and you might not get any Achievements.
  • Mods typically do not have the same level of support as the base game. Many become fossilized or are otherwise problematic.
For these reasons especially, I think that adding a bunch of Paradox-approved, fully supported in-game rule variations is a good idea. Thus, when you start a new game, you are now presented with several interesting options. Most of them are simple flavor variations, but some are more fundamental and will disable Achievements in Ironman mode. Here’s the list of options we are currently showing in the new screen (still a work in progress though):
  • Sandbox vs Ironman
  • Shattered Retreats: On/Off
  • Defensive Pacts: On/Off
  • Gender Equality: Default/Historical/All/Players
  • Sunset Invasion: 13th Century/Random/Off
  • Mongol Invasion: Historical/Random/Off
  • Raiding: Historical/Unrestricted/None
  • Epidemics: Dynamic/Historical/Deadly
  • “Supernatural” Events: On/Off
  • Adventurers: Normal/Rare/None
  • Provincial Revolts: Normal/Rare/None
  • Regencies: On/Off
  • De Jure Drift: Default/Restricted/Off
  • Dynamic Kingdoms and Empires: On/Off
  • Diplomatic Range: On/Off
Red options disable Achievements.

Crusader Kings II - Rules 01.jpg


Our new rule system is itself fully moddable, so that modders can use the same system with pretty much any options they might want!

Crusader Kings II - Rules 02.jpg


I look forward to your thoughts and comments. Are there any rule variations you think we’ve missed, or that you would really like to see?
 
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Wow! Thanks for listening to the players!
 
Unsure if anyone has suggested it, but what about randomized factions/characters? EU4 has the option to random gen old world landmass as well as nations, as well as old world nations and their development levels. Is this possible to some degree? Priority given to random nations/characters over development.

If it has already been suggested, count my mention as a vote for it.

Another thought that just came to me was the pagan reformation. Turn that requirement on/off for pagans to change their succession laws, or give specific options for them. I still want every Norse nation to hold their Thing and elect a new king rather than the shameful gavelkind. Even pagans all using the nomadic tribal succession would be better.

Lastly, what about an alternate history one? Tie into the first thing I mentioned in the sense that it creates random nations, but have it limit the game to only pagans and restricts them to historical regions. I.e. greco-roman through former Roman empire, instead of christian. Roman and the older cultures only, instead of Italian and the more late game ones. Stuff along those lines. Or I mean, just make a DLC set during the Great Migration. That would be just peachy.
 
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Two more suggestions:
Unreformed tribal pagan succession: Elective Gavelkind/Gavelkind
Unreformed feudal pagan succession: Gavelkind/Same as Christians
 
I was sold at secret bears becoming less secret.
 
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Engellus said:
Unsure if anyone has suggested it, but what about randomized factions/characters? EU4 has the option to random gen old world landmass as well as nations, as well as old world nations and their development levels. Is this possible to some degree? Priority given to random nations/characters over development.
Click to expand...
I thought you could only randomise the new world??
 
The likes speak for themself. I put off posting out of morbid curiosity to see how the community would react but I think its clear how psyched people are. A stunning return to form after what some saw as a rocky period, this will without a doubt make my games more enjoyable and really justify playing ironman.

Awesome, simply awesome. Whoever respectfully disagreed to this I am dying to know what the issue is, like... Too much choice?
 
Conqueristo said:
I would like a button for "Save these settings as my default". That way when I start a new game, I can select "Use my default settings" without having to check/uncheck everything. It would also be nice to know what the "Standard" options were, before they could be changed by the player.
Click to expand...
Your settings are remembered, so if you always use the same you'll be able to just press "play" and won't have to re-set everything.

Jamey said:
Secret Bears are more awesome than Platypi.
Click to expand...
NO. Just No.
 
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Simmy93 said:
The likes speak for themself. I put off posting out of morbid curiosity to see how the community would react but I think its clear how psyched people are. A stunning return to form after what some saw as a rocky period, this will without a doubt make my games more enjoyable and really justify playing ironman.

Awesome, simply awesome. Whoever respectfully disagreed to this I am dying to know what the issue is, like... Too much choice?
Click to expand...

I wasn't the one with the disagree, but I can see a possible problem where the player base is no longer playing the same game as each other, making it difficult to ask for or offer advice, since the cumulative differences with all the options will add up to a significant change in how the AI acts and the game plays out.

I can also see it complicating the perceived difficulty of the game for newcomers.
 
DreadLindwyrm said:
I wasn't the one with the disagree, but I can see a possible problem where the player base is no longer playing the same game as each other, making it difficult to ask for or offer advice, since the cumulative differences with all the options will add up to a significant change in how the AI acts and the game plays out.

I can also see it complicating the perceived difficulty of the game for newcomers.
Click to expand...

I'd counter that simply by saying that these options don't drastically alter the game in terms of ironman. Simply preferences which I am sure will be self-explanitory. When it comes to new players I agree, but this is CKII where new players never know what's going on and don't until about 100 hours in haha. Though an issue with no being able to help each other is moot, these options are just switching between versions of the game we've already had (pre-shattered retreat/PActs etc) and it seems to be the same experienced names offering advice on this forum, so I think we'll manage grand. I dunno, the dislike just felt... Petty. I sound like a kiss ass, but people often forget what a genuinely good developer Paradox is in terms of their updates to their games.
 
Dracko81 said:
While I agree that platypus are superior to bears...

What if you use multiple settings for different types of starts?
Click to expand...
I agree, being able to save presets might be nice.
 
DreadLindwyrm said:
I can also see it complicating the perceived difficulty of the game for newcomers.
Click to expand...

That's why there is the default options. The default options mean how the game is supposed to be played, the rest is extra flavor.

If you think about it, setting the in-game messages and notifications can be a quite annoying and confusing task, and yet you can choose to completely ignore it or not.

Moreover, Crusader Kings 2 is by nature a game with a high learning curve in all its aspects. It's not a list of extra and very welcomed and useful options that will scare people away.

DreadLindwyrm said:
I wasn't the one with the disagree, but I can see a possible problem where the player base is no longer playing the same game as each other, making it difficult to ask for or offer advice, since the cumulative differences with all the options will add up to a significant change in how the AI acts and the game plays out.
Click to expand...

I might be very wrong, but I believe the majority of players have never even visited this forum or ever asked for advice.
 
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Jamey said:
For a lot of us, RoI was the point the game's performance tanked.

I understand that it is probably not feasible for India to become optional, but it has been 2 years since RoI was released and the performance still degrades for me as I get deeper in a game.

Frankly, I consider RoI to be the worst expansion that Paradox has ever put out, because it turned what was my most played Paradox game into one that sits on the (virtual) shelf. I recently moved my personal CK2 DLC plan from "buy at 75% off and try the game again" to "don't buy" due to this.

I hope that lessons have been learned about the impact of changes of that scale on game performance.
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Indeed. There's no point in buying DLC that you can't really use because the game doesn't let you. Why play the Charlemagne start if the furthest you can get is 200 years in at best and then there's just so much lag that it's no longer fun to play?

If Paradox had a feature that could get rid of India altogether, that alone would be a major selling point. Otherwise, custom features are really nice but again, what's the point if performance is terrible? If there's no "get rid of India" feature, it's pretty much a flop imo.
 
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