Grand Strategy Crusader Kings III

[Norfleet]

Well, there's succession wars and there's outright fratricide wacky races to the capital like the Ottomans did.

That would be a hilarious mode of succession to have in the game, where your successor is determined by who gets there first.

 

[Theodora]

That would be a hilarious mode of succession to have in the game, where your successor is determined by who gets there first.

More like, the only brother to escape getting purged ends up in rebellion against you.

 

[FreeKaner]

I suppose that Royal Court could be the basis for future DLC. Say, something that touches on caliphal succession and makes it more involved by engaging the court's interests in which son takes over. You can have a fourth fitna scenario with the iranian power base supporting one claimant and the traditional bagdad élites supporting another.

Be the last man standing by murdering all your bothers before they murder you?

That is indeed Turkish succession. As well as the open succession that enabled all sons to claim throne on equal standing and fight for it with armies. Ummayad and Abbasid succesion was not primogeniture but it wasn't exactly a free for all either. It was in practice more akin to Byzantine succession, whereby a relative of the caliph, though not necessarily a son or even blood relative, would become the successor with support from various factions and their general overall power and wealth. In practice most succession is a son, brother, cousin or nephew.

A system that allows indirect successions like this and enable a fallback without game failure could be used for both the caliphs and Byzantine Empire. If for example you failed to ensure succession to your direct relative on character death the descendant could play from the power base whether with landed titles or estates then try to become the emperor or caliph again. Part of the gameplay would be to also at least assure the next descendant has enough power base to keep a powerful position to become the ruler again. They would need to decouple the assigned heir from the state succession though so you would need to choose not just your heir but also which child you want to keep playing as after character death.

As a note an Abbasid caliph did try and establish a direct succession system towards end of the caliphate so it shouldn't be too set in stone either.

 

[FreeKaner]

More like, the only brother to escape getting purged ends up in rebellion against you.

This was indeed what happened and it was the reason direct fratricide was allowed. Still didn't prevent this happening occasionally such as when Selim I rushed to the capital and dethroned his father and killed his brother because he had the support of jannisaries or Suleiman's sons having a sort of "controlled civil war".

He even failed to kill one of his nephews who ended up not being able gather enough support to rebel and fled to Iran.

 

[Delterius]

A system that allows indirect successions like this and enable a fallback without game failure could be used for both the caliphs and Byzantine Empire. If for example you failed to ensure succession to your direct relative on character death the descendant could play from the power base whether with landed titles or estates then try to become the emperor or caliph again.

I was thinking of this earlier. This is where the Byzantine and Caliphal experiences should differ. With the Byzantines there is an incentive to give make members of your family into governors and council members. They'll choose amongst themselves who should lead the empire next and you play as them anyways so it's fine. With the Caliphate instead you could limit elections to members of the ruling dynasty, but in case direct succession is not secured (say, you die while your kids are all still infants) then you lose the Empire and the capital to whoever was chosen by the governors. You retain a claim and you continue the game from the rest of your demesne. That way you don't actually want multiple Abbassid governors across the Caliphate, you want your bureaucrats to have incentives to pick your own kids.

 

[FreeKaner]

Did they do that before the Ottomans though? Cus I kinda want it in game.



Exactly, even if you think it's shit and terrible and 'pozzed' or whatever else, it's still already way bigger and more elaborate than any other game expansions they've put out.

They indeed do that. However most of Muslim world ended up being dominated by a Turkish dynasty or another so there is fair amount of variance depending on how they actually took over. Tulunids in Egypt for example, short lasted but the first and only succession literally ends up with one brother rebelling against another. Various governors (Sultans, which eventually became a title akin to King because of Turkish takeover) not being direct rulers and generally acting as "viceroys" in Abbasid name succeeding in more loose ways. When Seljuks invaded they also had an open succession and have plenty of fraternal civil wars. Indeed one of them is actually a four way civil war between three brothers and a nephew. Seljuks went ahead and even split to two branches after they entered Anatolia because of succession.

 

[Theodora]

Seljuks went ahead and even split to two branches after they entered Anatolia because of succession.

You're such a treasure trove! Bless!

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Yeah, as of now it seems that Royal Court is designed to serve as a basis for further, more in-depth content. It’s a really big, fundamental redesign of many gameplay aspects when you take a closer look, it definitely can serve as a starting point for things to come. That’s why it’s in development for such a long fucking time.

I only wish that they wouldn't waste so much development time on gimmicky 3D art. Especially in the case of the whole court system since it's tied to the DLC ergo we won't probably see new court styles beyond the four ones that are coming with it.

Also, if you look at the images of the court from the latest dev diary (comparing low vs max splendor for the Polish court), it doesn't look impressive at all regardless of the level of splendor.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Yeah, as of now it seems that Royal Court is designed to serve as a basis for further, more in-depth content. It’s a really big, fundamental redesign of many gameplay aspects when you take a closer look, it definitely can serve as a starting point for things to come. That’s why it’s in development for such a long fucking time.

I only wish that they wouldn't waste so much development time on gimmicky 3D art. Especially in the case of the whole court system since it's tied to the DLC ergo we won't probably see new court styles beyond the four ones that are coming with it.

Also, if you look at the images of the court from the latest dev diary (comparing low vs max splendor for the Polish court), it doesn't look impressive at all regardless of the level of splendor.

Considering that most of the intrigues and secrets are centered around the bedroom, a 3D boudoir would make more sense than the throne room.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I think its interesting Paradox is focusing on a relatively big expansion rather than the older, smaller DLC.

Could the reign of the old DLC model be ending? I suspect they might be more interested in continuous revenue sources now, you know, stuff like Gamepass and such.

They decided to do a strategic shift in the DLC model (fewer but bigger and more expensive expansions) - a continuation of the shift they did midways into the CK2 lifecycle when they re-bundled the cosmetic DLC with the main DLC.

Does the Gamepass include DLC? I could see them offer a DLC subscription for CK3 in a couple of years or even a Paradox subscription for all their games, thought it's hard to compete with Gamepass.

 

[Norfleet]

More like, the only brother to escape getting purged ends up in rebellion against you.

That's already there by default.

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://www.crusaderkings.com/en/pc...t=post&utm_campaign=crki3_ck_20211116_cawe_dd

Dev Diary #82: Court Type Content
NEWS PC / 2021-11-16

Howdy, y’all!

Once again shadow posting for our wonderful Dev, CC! Who could this mysterious figure be who I am ghostwriting for? We may never know the answer to that. However, we do know that the info from today will be quite interesting for those of you following along with Royal Court updates and information!

Without further ado, may I present:

Spoiler

Hello and welcome to another Dev Diary. We talked about the Court Types system last week, and continuing on that, this week we’ll showcase the different types of content you might experience depending on your chosen court type.

[image showing a petition court event about an offensive monument; more common in diplomatic or administrative courts]

[image showing a petition court event about funding a cadastre; more common in administrative courts]

If your court is known as a place of learning, then you can expect events concerning scholarly matters to be more common. If it’s a place famed for its administrative nature, then events related to that will be more frequent.

These “court event weighings” don’t eliminate events from the pool, they just alter their “weights.” It’s not just petition events that are affected either, but the court events too.

[image showing court event about reselling a neighbouring country’s fashion; more common in diplomatic courts]

And if you think that the events are limited to the court room alone, nay nay. We’ve added court type weighted events outside of court as well. Nothing is sacred, nowhere is safe.

[image of event where an academic disagreement is happening; more common in scholarly courts]

Likewise, some new content is based off of your grandeur level and even your amenities. For instance, if your lodgings are low enough that you’re struggling to house everyone, that does give a _rather_ convenient excuse to evict guests and other scroungers from a cramped castle.

[order mass eviction decision]

[order mass eviction event]

On the inverse side of things, having so many rooms that you don’t know what to do with them gives a bit of uhhh… space for experimentation.

[exoticise a grand hall decision]

Redecorating in the style of a glamorous court is a bit on the nose, but not a bad way to crank up your own court’s grandeur.

[exoticise a grand hall event]

Of course, for the _rustic_ look, you could redecorate after a less-than-fashionable court...

[exoticise a grand hall event, less grand court tooltip]

And, to round off, rulers whose courts lack grandeur that are willing to hold their nose a little can even burn some of their remaining dignity in exchange for skilled staff, rounding out their courts with experience even without pedigree.

[scraping the barrel event]

 

[Fedora Master]

Scraping the Barrel indeed.

 

[Eyestabber]

So, after the long and hilarious rule of King Fernando 'the Founder of Spain' (and Portugal), I'm done forming my Empire of Hispania. So let's check out on other possible empires. Let's see what France is do -

Oh...ahn... I see you guys are having fun too...I guess?

100% AI driven btw. I only went about wiping out every other Moslem (and Christian) Kingdom and then expanding through North Africa.

Fun game so far, I had other campaigns too, but Spain was the most fun. I'm into my 4th generation of adulterer character and King Fernando caught his daughter with her lover while out on a hunting trip. I had the option to join in the fun (Seduction Perk), but passed. I suck at CK, I know.

 

[Eyestabber]

Anyway, here are six mods that should've been vanilla features, but aren't, because games fucking up things their predecessors got right is the "new normal":

• Resizable events: shit pop into your screen all the time and you can't even resize it, lol. Especially annoying when a son/descendant is born at the same time a battle is raging on. I can't even click on the "ok, carry on" button!
• IR terrain: vanilla map is complete dog shit. While mods still haven't added the important features like Diplomatic and Economy map modes, at least this mod makes rivers and terrain much clearer, which helps a lot during war.
• Knight manager: such an obvious dev oversight with such a simple fix. Filters allow you to take Council and family members out of the battlefield. No more heirs dying lolrandom.
• Title-ranked portrait borders: yet another default CK2 feature that is absent from CK3. Being able to tell at a glance who's landed makes everything easier, especially for cultures like Spaniards, where all sons are called "Infante", whether they are landed or not.
• Expanded alerts: it's amazing how the devs have no clue on what events are or aren't important. While the mod doesn't fix the lack of a "don't bother with shit like this again in the future" config, it does add important stuff like not having a fucking physician as an alert.
• Vassals to arms: only gameplay changing mod I will mention because WHY IS THIS NOT THE DEFAULT AI BEHAVIOR??!?!? Anyway, this mod makes it so that characters that stand to lose land will join their liege as an ally. Characters that stand to gain land get an event, but don't autojoin. I guess this mod could make the game harder, as you won't be invading the HRE without having to deal with a ton of allies helping the Kaiser. It definitely shifts the balance if favor of the defender.

 

[thesecret1]

Vassals to arms: only gameplay changing mod I will mention because WHY IS THIS NOT THE DEFAULT AI BEHAVIOR??!?!? Anyway, this mod makes it so that characters that stand to lose land will join their liege as an ally. Characters that stand to gain land get an event, but don't autojoin. I guess this mod could make the game harder, as you won't be invading the HRE without having to deal with a ton of allies helping the Kaiser. It definitely shifts the balance if favor of the defender.

This was missing from CK2 too. It was really retarded – often there was a weak, 1-county emperor who could muster like 3k total, which you easily stomp over with your 10k and seize a duchy from his vassal... who had 60k but didn't choose to raise them... yeah...

 

[Harthwain]

Anyway, this mod makes it so that characters that stand to lose land will join their liege as an ally.

How are the characters who stand to lose land get calculated? When the attacker has claims on certain lands?

 

[Eyestabber]

Anyway, this mod makes it so that characters that stand to lose land will join their liege as an ally.

How are the characters who stand to lose land get calculated? When the attacker has claims on certain lands?

It all depends on the CB you use and its effects. AI reaction is split in 3 categories:

Stands to lose land: if your CB results on a character getting his title revoked or losing a vassal within its real, they will autojoin.
Gets a new liege: vassals whose liege would change get the option to join, but it's not a guarantee. It depends on their opinion of the current x new liege.
Not affected directly: doesn't get involved.

In order to provide a better explanation for you, I loaded up an old save in debug mode:

This fine Adamite young lady is an AI countess who rules over the County of Bar. Her liege is Duke Albrecht of Bar (owns the Duchy, but not the county named 'Bar'. Owns 2 out of 4 counties within Bar), a guy who bends the knee to the King of Lotharingia which is a part of the HRE. Threatening her clothing free lifestyle are her western neighbors, the mighty Empire of Hispania (my realm), whose ruler, Emperor Muno (my guy), follows the One True Faith: Militant Kekism (custom religion I made). This religion gives Nuno access to Conquest and Holy War CB against Countess Tiburge's top liege: the Kaiser. Conquest AFAIK works the same as claims (minus the fabrication) so titles may or may not be revoked. Holy War OTOH results on everyone within the target getting their lands seized. So, with that in mind:

If I wanted to conquer the County of Bar, Countess Tiburge would take issue with that and would join her liege 100%. The Duke and the King would both lose a chunk of land within their realms, so they would also join. The other countess of Bar, Klementia, won't join the war directly because she isn't going to lose anything (yet). Here's another scenario:

If I were to conquer the Duchy of Bar, the ladies Tiburge and Klementia may or may not join the war, because their liege would change, but they wouldn't lose territory directly. Duke Albrecht will obviously join, alongside the King and the Emperor. Now things get interesting:

If I were to declare Holy war for the Duchy of Bar then both Counts, the Duke, the King AND the Emperor would instantly join. That happens because HW means everyone within the target area will lose their lands. So Countess Tiburge and Klementia will be forced to set aside whatever quarrels they had with their liege and help him, otherwise both of them would lose their titles. And finally:

If I were to declare Holy War for the Kingdom of Lotharingia then the king would go

and bring a force that far surpasses that of the Emperor himself.

In vanilla CK 3 all these scenarios would have the same result: I would face the Emperor's 15k with the ocasional reinforcements from random vassals deciding to raise their troops. It's incredibly stupid and makes the post-Empire gameplay super boring as you can simply curbstomp entire Kingdoms with very little effort. And Holy War becomes the best CB in the game. With the mod installed you might wanna consider using a less ambitious CB or facing a much stronger force.

 

[Eyestabber]

Wow this could change gameplay a lot.

Yeah, for better or worse. VtA changes the game significantly and I recommend starting a new game from a "neutral" position. The mod makes attacking someone of higher rank pretty much impossible so William's conquest of England and similar scenarios will autofail because the defending king will have like 10x more soldiers than he normally would.

That's the problem with "modders will fix it". Rarely things work out flawlessly after a mod "fixes" them. It would be better if devs didn't release games in a shitty state, but that's asking too much nowadays.

In my game I declared HW against every single Moslem ruler in Iberia and noticed the fucking Fatimids would come all the way over from Egypt to help while Count/Duke Goatfucker wouldn't bother raising their own levies to help their Sultan or whatever they are called.

 

[Eyestabber]

So one of my English kings was a faggot and the game has only nice things to say about him. Nice.

Fun fact: Roderick's specialty is torture. If people think King Faggot is bad, they have no idea how much they will miss him. Specially the Irish/Welsh/Scots.

 

[Harthwain]

I am getting mixed signals here: "[...] has found peace in Christ's embrace [...] he lays now in the tender care of Satan himself".

 

[Fedora Master]

Isn't it a nice feature how they will randomize sexuality even for historical characters? It's the little things that make a PDX title.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

 

[Eyestabber]

1 - culture rework looks decent. Ofc I would prefer having few cultures but making each of them unique, but whatever.
2 - the court itself might be really good or really bad. Idea is decent, depends on how well they implement it

Thing is tho, there's plenty of things WRONG with the core gameplay of CK 2 and these issues IMO take precedence over adding new shit. To name a few:

- AI needs better criteria for alliances. I saw a guy become HRE Emperor by simply asking William the Conqueror nicely. In my game as one of the Ireland minors, fucking BOHEMIA allied my neighbour and I declared war w/o looking. Suddenly 6k armies were at my doorstep, ready to kick my teeth in. Because OFC the King of Bohemia 100% needs that alliance with a 800 levies Irish OPM. Those scenarios are funny, but utterly nonsensical. AI should only ally factions of similar power AND that are somewhat nearby.
- Supply mechanic is garbage and should be redone. At the very least they should add a "split down to supply button". Manually splitting every time I need a resupply is a tedious chore.
- Knights need their bodyguard count, levies need to be buffed somewhat. After midgame levies become detrimental to your army since they take supply count w/o adding much.
- Vassals to arms of some form of Liege + Vassal warfare improvement needs to happen. It's 100% retarded that you can't call your own allied vassals into wars. Allying vassals is useless as it stands.
- Game should WARN you when an Heir is of a different culture. Losing Crown Authority + other useful innovations with no warning is retarded. And yes, you can convert, but it won't refund your lost currency and you can't do it while at war. Massive ass pain.
- Disinheriting and KILLING criminal family members should be less punishing.
- Partitions need to be less autistic. Giving land to your secondary heirs should show up on the UI as "will count towards this heir's inheritance", along a rough estimate of what your realm will look like after you croak.
- Political/Diplomatic/ ECONOMY maps need to come back
- separate peace needs to come back in some form.
- players should be allowed to add simple nicknames to characters. Keeping track of everyone is a clusterfuck.
- Actually functional "hire physician" button. Should be similar to "find spouse" since I usually end up marrying someone to a physician.
- factions shouldn't insta-attack a new king, there should be like a year or so for bribes/sway/murder/marry
- where the FUCK is the loyalist faction? Deposing a King is way too easy. High opinion vassals should join the king's side during big rebellions.
- game REALLY needs to provide a way to tell at a glance what's worth conquering and what isn't. Development map is the closest thing we have, but it doesn't show you the full picture (eg: Gold Mines). It really sucks to hand out Cordoba to a vassal only to later find out IT'S THE BEST PROVINCE OF HISPANIA and I really should've held on to that.
- peasant rebellions hopping on boats to flank you is SUPER RETARDED and needs to die in a fire


But ofc, ignore the core issues and just add more shit, that's how things work nowadays.

 

[Fedora Master]

That DLC is a glorified event/decision window. I'm more interested in the changes that the accompanying patch might bring but I doubt it'll address any of the actual gameplay problems either.