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Crusader Kings 3 Dev Diary #111 - 1.8.0 “Robe” Feature Highlight

This image depicts an in-game notification with the title “1.8.0 Feature Highlight”, to the right is the vanity character of Hugo Cortell, while to the left is the Paradox Interactive logo. The text within the notification body says “The Paradox Community gained 20 opinion of you (Received Dev diary).
Hello crusaders! I’m @Hugo Cortell, game designer and horchata drinking aficionado at Paradox Thalassic, and today I am here to present everything new and exciting with the upcoming 1.8.0 “Robe” free update.

We’ve worked hard to ensure that this update is a wonderful blend of bug fixes, refinements, and brand-new features. Since this is a “Feature Highlight”, I’ll be keeping it short and sweet and focusing on the latter two. But worry not, I'll still be showing off two of our more interesting changes from the upcoming changelog diary.
Without further ado, let’s begin.

New Bookmark Screen​

The biggest thing you’ll notice when starting a new game with 1.8.0 will certainly be the new and shiny bookmark screen, which has been redesigned to more cleanly fit new scenarios.

This image is animated, showing a before and after comparison of the bookmark screen User Interface. The new one is much more stylish.

Click (here) and (here) for high-quality still images.

Screenshot showing the 867 'The Struggle for Iberia' bookmark.
Screenshot showing the 867 'The Carolingians' bookmark.
Screenshot showing the 1066 'The Fate of England' bookmark.
Screenshot showing the 1066 'From Rags to Riches' bookmark. Emir Yahya is selected on this screenshot.
Everyone loves a good image collage, right?

The new bookmark screen not only looks better but it is also more streamlined: for example, the scenario information box and the character information tab become a single togglable tab once you select a bookmark character, avoiding unnecessary clutter on the screen.

This image is a side-by-side comparison of the new togglable information menu, the left side shows scenario information, while the right has information about the character itself.


To top it off, alongside the new bookmark screen we have also updated the main menu to conveniently display all the downloadable content you own and easily access any that you may be missing out on. You’ll be able to find it on the bottom left corner of the main menu screen.

This image shows the DLC icons on the main menu. One of the DLCs, Fate of Iberia, is being highlighted by the cursor, prompting it to display information about itself. It is also informing the user in the picture that the DLC is enabled and that clicking will open the store page for that DLC.


Custom Ruler Saving​

To complement the new bookmark screen, we’ve also added the ability to save and load custom characters! At long last, you can finally use for multiple playthroughs that one character that you’ve spent so much time detailing to perfection.

Saving and loading is done through buttons that you’ll find at the bottom left of the ruler designer.
Selecting load will bring up a list of all saved characters and allow you to conveniently preview your selected creation before loading them into the designer itself.

This image shows the Ruler Designer window. In the center of the screen lies an overwhelmingly handsome man named Theodore Thalassic, canonically the son of John Paradox. On the bottom left there are two new buttons, one of them (titled 'save') saves the character on screen, while the other (titled 'load'), opens a menu to load a character.
This image shows the menu used to load saved characters into the Ruler Designer. The window is divided into two parts. The left side contains a list of saved characters, containing their name, a headshot, and the amount of points utilized by that character. The right side has a compact breakdown of the character’s details, their Age, Faith, Family, Skills, and Traits are all displayed in this menu.

Additionally, saved rulers are stored as individual files in ..\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III\ruler, meaning that you will be able to easily share your magnificent creations & abominations with the rest of the CK3 community. I look forward to seeing a mix of gorgeous and cursed creatures in the forums once this release comes to be.

Unique Illustrations For Every Tenet​

Yes, you heard right. Get ready for art galore because our artists have been hard at work making new illustrations for every single tenet in the game that was previously missing one.

This image is a collage of various new tenet illustrations, all of them have clearly been lovingly and expertly crafted to maximize both readability and beauty. There are a total of ten illustrations in this image. An idol of an ancestor, standing between ritualistic candles. An axe hitting a shield. A mouth, opening in a threatening manner while blood and saliva drip from its fangs. Hands holding prayer beads decorated with an islamic symbol. A robed skeleton carrying a child within. A lotus flower in a pond, sheltered by lush leaves. A mother cradling a young child. A pagan-style statue hidden inside a christian-styled one (in the fashion of a Matryoshka doll). A lone, robed individual walking across a sun-lit arched hall. And a stone shelter built on a mound at the foot of the mountains. These illustrations are highly interpretative and may hold greater meaning and detail than can be described by the likes of the writer of this post.

PSA: if you are visually impaired, hover over the image to get a written description!

We don’t want to spoil all of them here, so look forward to seeing them in-game for yourself when the update releases. The art team did a great job making these, especially considering how tenets can have very abstract concepts, which I am sure must have taken a lot of back-and-forths to get just right.

Changelog Highlights​

We’ve worked very hard to fix as many bugs as possible for this release. I hope our commitment to making a high-quality product will be made apparent when you see the size of the final changelog in an upcoming changelog dev diary. As mentioned at the start of the post, I’ll be sharing two highlights.
Please note that the current titles may not match their name on the final changelog.

Mozarabs can now use a strong hook to coerce the Pope into binding with Rome​

If you have a strong hook on the pope, you can now use it to skip the requirements for binding with Rome. Though the pope will not like that.

This image shows the 'Bind the Faith to Rome' decision side-by-side. The left side shows the requirements, which state that you must either fulfill all the regular requirements or have a strong hook before being able to make the decision. The right side shows the effects of the decision when you use a strong hook to bypass the regular requirements, which includes the pope disliking you and your hook being consumed.

It goes without saying that if you fulfill all requirements, but also have a hook, it will pick the regular outcome before the coercion one.

Zandaqa can now have their pledge of submission rejected by the Caliph​

Pledging submission to a caliph will send out an actual in-game letter rather than instantly consulting the AI upon selecting the option. If you enjoy playing as a Caliph in multiplayer mode, look forward to deciding the fate of the Zandaqa players for yourself.

Image of the 'Heirs of the Prophet: Zandaqa' event, where the Zandaqa gets to pick who their head of faith may be. The first option is to elect their own leaders, while the second lets them 'Realign with the Sunni orthodoxy'. The player in this screenshot has their mouse over the second option, which has made a tooltip showing the possible outcomes appear. The first outcome is that the Caliph rejects your pledge, forcing you to select your own head of faith. The second one is that the Caliph accepts your pledge, getting a weak hook on you in the process.
Image of the follow-up event that the Caliph receives. It comes in the form of a letter from the Zandaqa player. There are options to accept or decline the pledge, but accepting comes with greater benefits. Both options come with the nice detail of having icons, a designer somewhere in Paradox Interactive probably spent too much time on that.


Alright, that is everything I’ve got to show for now. I hope that we’ve managed to excite you for what’s coming in the immediate future for Crusader Kings. Let us know your thoughts below!
 

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Since they're touching tenets, here's hoping this got noticed.

Also the Pope is such a cuk in this game
 
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I've not seen this said anywhere here, but I suppose we are looking at a two-week hype to launch? So one more DD next Tuesday and then release with changelog on the 6th?
 
Hello crusaders! I’m @Hugo Cortell, game designer and horchata drinking aficionado at Paradox Thalassic, and today I am here to present everything new and exciting with the upcoming 1.8.0 “Robe” free update.

We’ve worked hard to ensure that this update is a wonderful blend of bug fixes, refinements, and brand-new features. Since this is a “Feature Highlight”, I’ll be keeping it short and sweet and focusing on the latter two. But worry not, I'll still be showing off two of our more interesting changes from the upcoming changelog diary.
Without further ado, let’s begin.

New Bookmark Screen​

The biggest thing you’ll notice when starting a new game with 1.8.0 will certainly be the new and shiny bookmark screen, which has been redesigned to more cleanly fit new scenarios.

View attachment 895690
Click (here) and (here) for high-quality still images.

Everyone loves a good image collage, right?

The new bookmark screen not only looks better but it is also more streamlined: for example, the scenario information box and the character information tab become a single togglable tab once you select a bookmark character, avoiding unnecessary clutter on the screen.

View attachment 895703

To top it off, alongside the new bookmark screen we have also updated the main menu to conveniently display all the downloadable content you own and easily access any that you may be missing out on. You’ll be able to find it on the bottom left corner of the main menu screen.

View attachment 895704

Custom Ruler Saving​

To complement the new bookmark screen, we’ve also added the ability to save and load custom characters! At long last, you can finally use for multiple playthroughs that one character that you’ve spent so much time detailing to perfection.

Saving and loading is done through buttons that you’ll find at the bottom left of the ruler designer.
Selecting load will bring up a list of all saved characters and allow you to conveniently preview your selected creation before loading them into the designer itself.


Additionally, saved rulers are stored as individual files in ..\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Crusader Kings III\ruler, meaning that you will be able to easily share your magnificent creations & abominations with the rest of the CK3 community. I look forward to seeing a mix of gorgeous and cursed creatures in the forums once this release comes to be.

Unique Illustrations For Every Tenet​

Yes, you heard right. Get ready for art galore because our artists have been hard at work making new illustrations for every single tenet in the game that was previously missing one.

View attachment 895715
PSA: if you are visually impaired, hover over the image to get a written description!

We don’t want to spoil all of them here, so look forward to seeing them in-game for yourself when the update releases. The art team did a great job making these, especially considering how tenets can have very abstract concepts, which I am sure must have taken a lot of back-and-forths to get just right.

Changelog Highlights​

We’ve worked very hard to fix as many bugs as possible for this release. I hope our commitment to making a high-quality product will be made apparent when you see the size of the final changelog in an upcoming changelog dev diary. As mentioned at the start of the post, I’ll be sharing two highlights.
Please note that the current titles may not match their name on the final changelog.

Mozarabs can now use a strong hook to coerce the Pope into binding with Rome​

If you have a strong hook on the pope, you can now use it to skip the requirements for binding with Rome. Though the pope will not like that.

View attachment 896586
It goes without saying that if you fulfill all requirements, but also have a hook, it will pick the regular outcome before the coercion one.

Zandaqa can now have their pledge of submission rejected by the Caliph​

Pledging submission to a caliph will send out an actual in-game letter rather than instantly consulting the AI upon selecting the option. If you enjoy playing as a Caliph in multiplayer mode, look forward to deciding the fate of the Zandaqa players for yourself.



Alright, that is everything I’ve got to show for now. I hope that we’ve managed to excite you for what’s coming in the immediate future for Crusader Kings. Let us know your thoughts below!
Fake Rome... I expected nothing less from the Dev Diary Caliphate!
 
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I continue to hope that Crusades get a fix. At this point, the only way to win a Crusade is practically by accident, or if you do it yourself. I don't want to necessarily win EVERY Crusade that's called, but really, the Catholics should win a Crusade against Burgundy when they are the only Adamite nation in the world and are bankrupt and their armies are depleted.

And yet Burgundy somehow won that Crusade.
 
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I continue to hope that Crusades get a fix. At this point, the only way to win a Crusade is practically by accident, or if you do it yourself. I don't want to necessarily win EVERY Crusade that's called, but really, the Catholics should win a Crusade against Burgundy when they are the only Adamite nation in the world and are bankrupt and their armies are depleted.

And yet Burgundy somehow won that Crusade.
Well, IRL the albigensian crusade eventually ended in an occitan military victory (but the country was devastated which lead to a political defeat in the long run), so this is not so obvious. Crusades against other christians should probably have more trouble finding crusaders to participate (motivation being mainly political/economic).
Still I agree a fix is needed on crusades...:)
 
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I hope they fix the event bp1_yearly.5725(You search for Khutulun), the event that lets child rulers get married to adult women.
Though it is somewhat good with the stats as a child ruler from the spouse.
 
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Well, IRL the albigensian crusade eventually ended in an occitan military victory (but the country was devastated which lead to a political defeat in the long run), so this is not so obvious. Crusades against other christians should probably have more trouble finding crusaders to participate (motivation being mainly political/economic).
Still I agree a fix is needed on crusades...:)
Adamites should have strong crusades against them so I don't have to constantly see such an ahistorical omnipresent in my game completely ruining immersion 200 years in
 
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Adamites should have strong crusades against them so I don't have to constantly see such an ahistorical omnipresent in my game completely ruining immersion 200 years in
No problem with that. However you downvoting when I simply state facts (about albigensian crusade) is not very polite...
 
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This part isn't mainly facts "Crusades against other christians should probably have more trouble finding crusaders to participate (motivation being mainly political/economic)."
Do you know who participated in albigensian crusade? And on which side? Do you have another example to oppose to it?
 
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Actually you'd think finding 'crusaders' to fight a much more local and much more beneficial conflict would actually be the exact opposite. You'd have a plethora of willing nobility. You just would not see many kings getting involved.
 
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Love the art team's work, although quick question would it ever be possible or later added to swap between loading game's intro music. I'm sure later down the road you will have more log in music and it's currently impossible to play the older version.

Is that an option or will i have to swap between opening Youtube sometimes as i stare 20 minuite's debating on were to start ( Both theme's are lovely but i have to spice it up god know's when it took me to long to pick a place in EU 4 that theme is forever burned into my poor skull...)
 
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Actually you'd think finding 'crusaders' to fight a much more local and much more beneficial conflict would actually be the exact opposite. You'd have a plethora of willing nobility. You just would not see many kings getting involved.
If you consider the historical example, there were nobles/rulers willing to participate on both sides. But it didn't go much further than France (on crusader's side) and Aragon (on defender's side).
 
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The heck is going on with the "Holy Papacy" in that second to last Zandaqa screenshot ?
 
Paradox are not using, and never have used, formally-compliant semver.

Their version numbering is

X goes up when they feel like it
Y goes up for "this is a Proper Update"
Z goes up for hotfixes
Some of it makes sense. The third number goes up if the update doesn't break saves, the second number goes up if it does. The first one does go up whenever they feel like it.
 
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Some of it makes sense. The third number goes up if the update doesn't break saves, the second number goes up if it does. The first one does go up whenever they feel like it.
Which is not proper semver :)

Proper semver for a game would be X goes up when it breaks your save, Y goes up when your save can't be taken back to an old version, Z goes up when it's just a bug fix.
 
Liking the saving of custom rulers. Always wanted that.

Being a knight for liege needs to be optional for players and AI rulers. Hopefully in 2023 since it doesn't look like this has been addressed.
 
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