CKII is released.

[CrimsonAngel]

Anyone notice this yet?

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/content.php?889-Crusader-Kings-II-Post-Mortem-Dev-Diary

So what did we cut from Crusader Kings II? Basically, this:

• A medieval style chronicle with annual entries
• Trade post holdings built by the republics (Venice, Genoa, etc)
• Hiring ships from the great republics
• Relics that can be found, looted, and used to build cathedrals
• Loads of very rare narrative events (like "The Gates of Hell") with multi-generational effects
• A viceroy/drots/great seneschal council position for each kingdom held
• Cadet branches of dynasties
• Adventures - younger sons raising an army and going off to conquer something on their own

Will all these things become DLC? Probably not, but some likely will, and others might be patched in for free (or, well, basically paid for by those who do buy our DLC.) Note that playable non-Christians, republics and theocracies were never planned (though always considered good material for expansions.)


A few areas of the game went off on a tangent from the original design as development progressed. For example, the map turned out much prettier and more advanced than I had envisioned, thanks to the efforts of Tegus (Fredrik Zetterman.) Also, things like the vassal and dynasty trees, the Wikipedia links and the panning map in the lobby (courtesy of Johan Lerström) were not in the design doc. As always, there are also parts of the game that I am not 100% happy with. Plots could be more dynamic and have a better interface, the marriage interfaces are a bit clunky, the general GUI can be intimidating to newcomers and battles are not interactive. On the whole though, it all turned out pretty much as intended.

So, what are we planning for the future? Crusader Kings II will have many major DLC packs that are actually more like small expansions. Every time we release a major DLC, we will also release a major free content patch. I cannot say exactly when we will be adding what, but here are some things you can expect for free in the coming months:

• Enhanced, more focused Crusades with a "contribution" score
• Causes of Death
• Asking to join an ongoing war
• Lots of more plots and ambitions
• Events, events, and more events
• Improved GUI where it's needed the most (plots, marriages)
• Flexible de jure liege structure
• More de jure kingdoms

Of course, we will also be fixing bugs, plugging exploits and improving the interface, the AI and game balance. Oh, and unleash some DLC...

Aweeesome! Though the DLC stuff sucks, but eh, there's always a way around that.
I think that more plots and ambitions are vital, enhanced crusades too! They should be the focus. I WANT TO BE A PLOTTER!!

Well if there is good content in the DLC and in the end they add up to what we would get in a expansion then i have no complaint and as long as they add more plots and ambitions for free then i am happy.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Ran a few tests with the Mongols again, and there's definately something seriously wrong with them (Golden Horde at least). I did a series of assassinations, and got over 75% (of all holdings, including the richest parts of the Golden Horde) of their empire to rebel at once... And not one of them succeeded.

 

[XenomorphII]

Ran a few tests with the Mongols again, and there's definately something seriously wrong with them (Golden Horde at least). I did a series of assassinations, and got over 75% (of all holdings, including the richest parts of the Golden Horde) of their empire to rebel at once... And not one of them succeeded.

It is not just them. Wars of independence in general are borked right now, because to actually succeed, the party that is breaking away has to conquer their liege to a point that he accepts their independence (100% in my experience) and they usually either have their leader die or get board and simply agree to a white peace long before that happens.

 

[hoverdog]

new patch to be released on friday

v1.04

MAJOR:
- Revised the Message Setting system
- Religion groups are now marked playable in the religion file (no more hard coded rule)
- AI: Improved marriage acceptance. Smarter about "Desires Better Alliance". Values prestige gain or loss higher.
- Added some useful status info to the delayed character tooltip (similar to the info in debug mode)
- Cooldown added to excommunications (only for the same Pope though)
- Doubled the flanking damage bonus in combat
- Increased the flank leader Martial skill bonus in combat by 50%
- Nerfed taxes given by bishops to Anti-Popes by 50%
- Holy Orders now cost maintenance if you're in at least one offensive, non-Crusade war
- Halved all peasant revolt risk factors
- Added an "Isolated County" revolt risk modifier and cut the special events that used to simulate it
- Peasant Army size is now determined by the biggest holding garrison size (so they will always be dangerous)
- The Succession War CBs now have the proper success outcome
- Fixed a bug with the usurpation of titles that would hand over all vassals too
- AI: More wary of expensive assassinations
- AI: Fixed some issues with the correct Casus Belli choice
- AI: Tweaked vassal revolt risk to depend more on ambition from traits
- The duchies of Cornwall and Brittany are now de jure part of the Kingdom of Wales
- Buffed the Caliphates and the Seljuks. Nerfed the Byzantines.
- Added vassal Seljuk mercs; the Ghilman
- Now shows a portrait of the target in available player plots
- Hooked in missing plot icon in available player plots

MINOR:
- Upped the chances of dying due to disease a little bit
- Increased the effects of the genius, quick, slow, imbecile and inbred traits
- Reduced the levy size effect of some of the "recently occupied" modifiers
- Nominated bishops are now properly disinherited at once
- Combat events will not happen until three days into a combat (to avoid commander deaths and such when overrunning tiny forces)
- When an Anti-Pope is installed in Rome, the old Pope no longer becomes an Anti-Pope
- Waived the opinion penalty for held elector titles for elective duchies and below
- Fixed a CTD issue that could occur in tooltips when hovering over Holding modifiers as they expire
- Vassal mercs can now always be employed by their liege, no matter their religion
- Scaled wealth effects and triggers are now based on nominal peacetime income
- Fixed an error in the opinion warning when banishing characters (not the correct figure.)
- The game will now also auto-generate an appropriate number of traits for children with not enough scripted traits
- Added a text warning/explanation for DoW on a revolter
- Traits are now read from multiple files, facilitating modding
- Fixed an issue with event ids in a namespace
- Fixed an issue with flipping "random god names" tooltips in fire event effect tooltips
- Fixed a bug with the decision 'Demand Duchy from liege' with duke tier lieges (should not be available)
- Fixed a tooltip issue with the "any" type event triggers
- Better tooltips for event triggers 'higher_tier_than' and 'lower_tier_than'
- Re-enabled selection of the same type of plot again for players
- Fixed an issue with save/reload of the last selected plot/ambition
- Fixed an issue with protected inheritance not always working under Gavelkind
- Exported MAX_ELECTOR_TITLES_LEGALLY_HELD to defines
- Exported the max duchies held opinion penalty to defines
- Exported the tax penalty for bishops loyal to the Pope or Anti-Pope to the defines
- The "recently conquered" holding penalties are no longer applied during civil wars or wars between vassals
- AI: Fixed a bug where the AI would grant titles to vassal mercs
- Added 'same_guardian' trigger
- Slightly nerfed William of Normandy's initial army size
- Switched the portraits of Harold and William the Conqueror
- Changed some title colors to conform better to their cultural region
- Added proper history for the Prince-Bishopric of Agen
- The Earl of Atholl is now a _legitimate_ bastard

 

[Spectacle]

I hardly see any successful rebellions, ever. It seems like it takes too much warscore to force a liege to recognize your independence, so the independence wars drag on forever until they eventually get tried and white peace.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well in that case, it's time to start modding. Shouldn't be too easy to make a white peace have the vassal independent, and the enforced terms just have a massive motherfucker of an prestige/piety/gold hit for the liege on top of it.

 

[Cassidy]

Failing to put a vassal in place after x years should lead automatically to victory in this vassal's war of independence and force the liege to wage another war later to try reconquering it. It's silly that wars of independence don't have their warscore upped automatically due to the lack of success of the other side. AFAIK historically independence wars weren't about the side seeking independence totally crushing their master if they were to succeed.

 

[20 Eyes]

Failing to put a vassal in place after x years should lead automatically to victory in this vassal's war of independence and force the liege to wage another war later to try reconquering it. It's silly that wars of independence don't have their warscore upped automatically due to the lack of success of the other side. AFAIK historically independence wars weren't about the side seeking independence totally crushing their master if they were to succeed.

Agreed, I struggled with this in one game. I mentioned it a few pages ago. In Crusader Kings II, the Americans wouldn't have been given their independence because they didn't sail to England and fuck their shit up.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I'll post the modifications you need to do to the .txt file tomorrow. Shouldn't be too hard to fix.

 

[XenomorphII]

I'll post the modifications you need to do to the .txt file tomorrow. Shouldn't be too hard to fix.

Are you talking about just changing what a white peace does like you had mentioned earlier? If so that won't fix anything and will just lead to lots of fragmented realms, as the AI seems to always pursue white peace in defensive wars.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, I'd say it's preferable to super-stable empires.

 

[Malakal]

I don't save-scum in Paradox, generally, I only use autosaves and otherwise don't really save for many years at a time, but if my ruler fucking dies prematurely and I only have gavelkind because of broken liege crown authority mechanics where King of France/England/your wide fucking asshole haven't set their authority to high and my small duchy breaks up that I've spent 4-5 hours building, I'm going to reload the motherfucker. Because maybe I don't enjoy a game when for arbitrary reasons of dice rolls and chance, something stupid happens.

Elective is available right away. If your realm breaks its your fault. I cope with those issues, whether its by assassinating all my brothers or going elective. I had the exact same situation you described, my realm split into three duchies. I spend my inherited gold on familicide.

Maybe none of you have experimented with saving-reloading, but there are programmed events in game that fire regardless just because Paradox makes it so an event happens: ie: 15 July 1093 your liege might get an event that increases relations with a vassal randomly, you reload and he loses the "just" trait on the same day, which means a total relations drop with vassals and there's no decision event with a trade-off, you just fucking become unjust because the king gets "tired of justice". For no fucking reason. Or maybe on the same date in another reload, he might randomly sire a bastard. Whatever it is, the events happen regardless of save-scumming but the randomiser picks a different event.

Thats exactly what I want to avoid ie stat whoring. My godlike ruler dies while hunting? Tough luck. My king dies while on his own tournament? Happens.

It's all fucking programmed bullshit anyway, and if I know I had just as much arbitrary chance of losing a good trait as gaining a bad one through no personal character tailoring out of the blue, I will fucking reload the autosave. Because fuck you, but if Paradox designed better events that give you a reason for why your king just stops being just or lustful or charitable or trusting or ugly then maybe I wouldn't fucking reload because I'd be driving my character's growth.

More stat whoring. N/c.

Anyway there is one situation where I am wiling to concede on reloading - you lose the game due to circumstances you couldnt avoid that are of random and personal nature. Like dying with a heirless character right after the game started. Not when infidels conquer you - that just means you lost the game fairly.

Not willing to argue on this issue. As I said Paradox AI isnt noteworthy for being advanced and thus save scumming here is a pointless exercise of cheating a retarded child.

 

[Tigranes]

I suppose it was 'bullshit' that Barbarossa got himself killed because he forgot that metal armour is pretty heavy one day, and the big stack invasion you planned went to pieces.

Vaarna that would be an interesting 'fix', but from what I've seen every calendar year there's at least one or two rebellions that get white peace'd, so it might lead to a situation where there are no AI empires of any size at all. I mean, the AI wouldn't recognize the changed conditions and try to refrain from WPs, right?

 

[XenomorphII]

I suppose it was 'bullshit' that Barbarossa got himself killed because he forgot that metal armour is pretty heavy one day, and the big stack invasion you planned went to pieces.

Vaarna that would be an interesting 'fix', but from what I've seen every calendar year there's at least one or two rebellions that get white peace'd, so it might lead to a situation where there are no AI empires of any size at all. I mean, the AI wouldn't recognize the changed conditions and try to refrain from WPs, right?

Exactly.

 

[oscar]

Reality is unrealistic "bullshit" apparently.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I suppose it was 'bullshit' that Barbarossa got himself killed because he forgot that metal armour is pretty heavy one day, and the big stack invasion you planned went to pieces.

Vaarna that would be an interesting 'fix', but from what I've seen every calendar year there's at least one or two rebellions that get white peace'd, so it might lead to a situation where there are no AI empires of any size at all. I mean, the AI wouldn't recognize the changed conditions and try to refrain from WPs, right?

Exactly.

Actually, after taking a gander at the file, there are modifier limits for the various scores in which the AI accepts/declines different offers. However, there doesn't seem to be what covers white peace.

However, you must also remember that the situation with all Empires is utterly FUBAR now, and requires a giant whooping with a nerf-stick to result in non-player Byzantium being a helpless paper dragon, HRE spending most of its time fighting itself, and Mongols getting into big trouble with conquered lands after their initial hordes run out.

 

[Chef_Hathaway]

An easy way to make realms able to break away successfully is to up the amount of war-score battles give you. It's how a lot of the mods do it right now, because battles are almost worthless in vanilla.

 

[Saxon1974]

So it sounds like the developers are going to add a bunch of additional stuff to the game. I just got this but is there enough to make it fun now or should I wait to invest time in it? I have a ton of other games to play anyway.

 

[Chef_Hathaway]

So it sounds like the developers are going to add a bunch of additional stuff to the game. I just got this but is there enough to make it fun now or should I wait to invest time in it? I have a ton of other games to play anyway.

It's fun to play on the fringes near heathens, but I feel like the catholic west is kind of boring right now. Not enough plots to make outmaneuvering people for titles fun and assassinations are too easy to game. Still very solid though, and probably Paradox's best release so far.

 

[Malakal]

So... its as it should be? A single duke shouldnt be able to revolt alone against the BE unless its already busy fighting a war or is facing a massive civil war. Vaarna changes makes sense in this regard. But they need testing to see if AI can handle them and if all realms become fractured in few decades...

 

[Malakal]

Actually what they should do in Iberia is remove all king level titles after you unite it and replace with kingdom of Spain and a big prestige bonus.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

So... its as it should be? A single duke shouldnt be able to revolt alone against the BE unless its already busy fighting a war or is facing a massive civil war. Vaarna changes makes sense in this regard. But they need testing to see if AI can handle them and if all realms become fractured in few decades...

I seriously doubt that anything weaker than say, half the dukes of the HRE/ERE revolting together would be enough to collapse either empire, unless it was being massively attacked by enemies at the same time. HRE/ERE simply have too much critical mass to collapse because they always have MORE DUKES AND COUNTS AND MORE DESMENES so they always have mass to fight any rebellion. HRE and ERE are probrably only weaker than Shia Caliphate, except that unlike the Caliphate, they don't have to deal with ceaseless european crusades all the time. Seljuks need to be more agressive, for example.

The problem that my tests concluded was that it was IMPOSSIBLE FOR AN EMPIRE TO FRACTURE, even with 75% of the realm in revolt! This is due to the fact that the only way it could work out the way it is now is if all Independence Wars became allied in a single war and the war score increased adjustingly in the revolters favour. So the only sensible thing to do is make the White Peace also result in independence, I'd say. The present problem is partially due to the fact that a stalemate results in a white peace, which means automatic victory. Personally I think the heat should be on the liege, who should win the war if he wants to hold the realm together.

Come to think of it, I've only ever seen a single Independence war succeed, and that was the Duchy of Uppland BECAUSE I FOUGHT ALONGSIDE THEM.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Alright, here's the revised Independence War entry in cb_types, so you bros can help me test it out throughoutly.

Basically, white peace is now also an option, but costs the revolter 100 prestige. On the other hand, asserting demands is very desirable now, because not only does it give you prestige, it also gives your former liege a massive prestige hit AND forces them to pay you a shitload of money.





bid_for_independence = {
name = CB_NAME_INDEPENDENCE
war_name = WAR_NAME_INDEPENDENCE
sprite = 12
truce_days = 3650

is_permanent = yes
is_independence = yes

can_use = {
ROOT = {
de_facto_liege = FROM
}

FROM = {
NOT = {
any_war = {
attacker = {
character = FROM
}
OR = {
using_cb = bid_for_independence
using_cb = depose_liege
}
}
}
}
}

is_valid = {
ROOT = {
OR = {
liege = {
character = PREV # either independent
}
liege = {
FROM = {
is_liege_or_above = PREV # or have shared liege
}
}
}
}
FROM = {
higher_tier_than = ROOT
}
}

on_success = {
if = {
limit = {
FROM = {
independent = no
}
}
FROM = {
liege = {
ROOT = {
set_defacto_liege = PREV
}
}
}
}

if = {
limit = {
FROM = {
independent = yes
}
}
ROOT = {
set_defacto_liege = ROOT
}
}

ROOT = {
prestige = 200
primary_title = {
add_pressed_claim = FROM
}
}

FROM = {
transfer_scaled_wealth = {
to = ROOT
value = 6.0
}
prestige = -400
any_demesne_title = { # All titles
limit = {
OR = {
tier = king
tier = emperor
}
is_titular = no
NOT = { has_law = centralization_0 }
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_1 }
add_law = centralization_0
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_2 }
add_law = centralization_1
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_3 }
add_law = centralization_2
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_4 }
add_law = centralization_3
}
}
}
}

on_fail = {if = {
limit = {
FROM = {
independent = no
}
}
FROM = {
liege = {
ROOT = {
set_defacto_liege = PREV
}
}
}
}

if = {
limit = {
FROM = {
independent = yes
}
}
ROOT = {
set_defacto_liege = ROOT
}
}

ROOT = {
prestige = -100
primary_title = {
add_pressed_claim = FROM
}
}

FROM = {
prestige = -50
any_demesne_title = { # All titles
limit = {
OR = {
tier = king
tier = emperor
}
is_titular = no
NOT = { has_law = centralization_0 }
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_1 }
add_law = centralization_0
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_2 }
add_law = centralization_1
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_3 }
add_law = centralization_2
}
if = {
limit = { has_law = centralization_4 }
add_law = centralization_3
}
}
}
}

on_reverse_demand = {
ROOT = {
prestige = -200
prisoner = FROM
}
FROM = {
prestige = 50
}
}

on_attacker_leader_death = {
any_defender = {
letter_event = {
id = 251
}
}

end_war = invalid
}

attacker_ai_victory_worth = {
factor = -1 # always accept
}

attacker_ai_defeat_worth = {
factor = 150
}

defender_ai_victory_worth = {
factor = -1 # always accept
}

defender_ai_defeat_worth = {
factor = 100
}
}

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Btw, my ongoing campaign as the Kingdom of Finland is in a very bad spot right now: I've had a row of three old as dirt kings now, last of whom didn't have a son and whose daughter had no children (luckily his equally old as dirt brother had a little boy, so the old man had to go), and my only hope right now is for the aforementioned nephew to grow up before the old king kicks the bucket, meaning 3 years of intense excitement. Since I've cleared the line of succession until the little guy (unfortunate accidents all, of course), which probably wasn't a smart move, I'm just going to have to get the old fart to survive and then die so I don't have to deal with the clusterfuck of having to deal with creating baronies left and right and a bazillion revolts (you know, the usual thing that happens when crowns change hands).

Meanwhile, my new Independence script seems to work well. For one thing, it makes civil wars a lot more urgent to win, and secondly I have seen some fracturing in the usually monolithic entities of the game, which is good. And of course, my constant assassinations of Golden Horde Tsars (seriously, there are literally NO MONGOLS LEFT in the Horde, it's all Russian Catholics) has led to some great disintegration, though there is moar work unfortunate accidents to be done!