Grand Strategy Crusader Kings III

[Kem0sabe]

Have they said anything about forging bloodlines and creating/finding items for your treasury? i took a quick look at the dev diaries but none had a title suggesting it addressed these two gameplay elements.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Have they said anything about forging bloodlines and creating/finding items for your treasury? i took a quick look at the dev diaries but none had a title suggesting it addressed these two gameplay elements.

Neither of those will be in at release.

 

[eater of pie]

 

[Hace El Oso]

Any mention of the Varangian Guard? One of my favorite little mechanics(northmen characters going off to seek fame and fortune) but I suppose it doesn’t fit the barebones framework paradox is going to push out.

 

[Kem0sabe]

 

[Avarize]

No surprise, they also call Islamic polygamy "polyamory".

Does that mean Muslim women can take four husbands?

 

[Zariusz]

 

[Agame]

The ancients knew what's up:
"Who would not fall in love with such a youth? Whose eyesight could be so blind, whose mental processes so stunted? How could one fail to love him who is a Hermes in the wrestling-school, an Apollo with the lyre, a horseman to rival Castor, and one who strives after the virtues of the gods with a mortal body? [...] For, when the honourable love inbred in us from childhood matures to the manly age that is now capable of reason, the object of our longstanding affection gives love in return and it's difficult to detect which is the lover of which, since the image of the lover's tenderness has been reflected from the loved one as though from a mirror. Why then do you censure this as being an exotic indulgence of our times, though it is an ordinance enacted by divine laws and a heritage that has come down to us? We have been glad to receive it and we tend its shrine with a pure heart. [...] Marriage is a boon and a blessing to men when it meets with good fortune, while the love of boys, that pays court to the hallowed dues of friendship, I consider to be the privilege only of philosophy. Therefore all men should marry, but let only the wise be permitted to love boys, for perfect virtue grows least of all among women."

This is not homosexuality (at least in the modern sense). That's pederasty, ie. relationship between grown-up men and young boys. The Ancients had much more nuanced view of what was acceptable and what wasn't. It was, for instance, absolutely below the dignity of any free adult man to be a bottom penetrated by another man. Such man was considered to be lacking any dignity. In Athens, for instance, a man with such a past was ineligible to stand for public office. It was, however, socially acceptable for a man to be a top in a homosexual relationship. It was also acceptable to be the receptive partner while still a prepubescent boy. Even for a royal, since future Philip II of Macedon was a youthful lover of one Theban statesman.

Now I know why Tom Hanks is getting the Greek citizenship.

 

[wwsd]

Funny thing about the way navies are (not) represented, it's the same as in CK1 from 2004. Doesn't really bother me though, since ships in CK2 were shit too. They're basically just different flavours of shit. Would be nice if they did something with proper medieval navies but that would require actually working out a mechanic that makes sense and that the AI can deal with. With Paradox you pretty much have the guarantee that any new game will have all kinds of shiny new features while the AI will still be shit. Just when you're thinking that the AI isn't too great suddenly you get an event and it's like OMG I JUST SPAWNED A CHILD OF SATAN, THIS GAME IS AWESOMESAUCE! A Swede can change its engine but it cannot lose its tricks.

Speaking of CK1, seeing this new map made me a bit nostalgic for the days when these games had a limited scope:

CK2 at first wasn't too bad either:

 

[LizardWizard]

Wait, no navy improvements again? Lol, imagine making a medieval life simulator and not having navigable rivers being your most vital economic artery.

Imagine wanting naval mechanics in a Paradox game when they've been horribly AI-breaking shit in every title they have ever produced

Rivers are navigable, boats cost ducats and take attrition. Which is an abstraction that worked much better in CK1 than the laughable, ahistorical, micro-managey chore it became in CK2.

 

[Alexios]

Wait, no navy improvements again? Lol, imagine making a medieval life simulator and not having navigable rivers being your most vital economic artery.

Imagine wanting naval mechanics in a Paradox game when they've been horribly AI-breaking shit in every title they have ever produced

Rivers are navigable, boats cost ducats and take attrition. Which is an abstraction that worked much better in CK1 than the laughable, ahistorical, micro-managey chore it became in CK2.

Nobody wants this game. It's another shameless cash grab like EU4 in which Paradox has not only not made any improvements worthy of a new release, but has dumbed down on the previous title.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Wait, no navy improvements again? Lol, imagine making a medieval life simulator and not having navigable rivers being your most vital economic artery.

Imagine wanting naval mechanics in a Paradox game when they've been horribly AI-breaking shit in every title they have ever produced

Rivers are navigable, boats cost ducats and take attrition. Which is an abstraction that worked much better in CK1 than the laughable, ahistorical, micro-managey chore it became in CK2.

Nobody wants this game. It's another shameless cash grab like EU4 in which Paradox has not only not made any improvements worthy of a new release, but has dumbed down on the previous title.

Ah yes. The classical idiocy of comparing a sequel at launch with its precursor including all its DLCs.

 

[LizardWizard]

Even then dynamic events, lifestyles, intrigue, vassal contracts, combat systems are improved compared to Ck2. If you're referring to them removing Merchant Republics and Nomads, that's because people rarely played as them.

I'm not opposed to PDS reworking Republics with some beefy naval-siege/trade advantages. But I don't see any chance of them successfully adding universal boat combats without completely breaking the game's already lackluster AI. It's just not worth it.

 

[Xamenos]

Ah yes. The classical idiocy of comparing a sequel at launch with its precursor including all its DLCs.

Ah yes. The classical excuse for a company that puts less and less effort in its products with every year. Don't compare the games as they stand now, declare the last 8 years never happened and pretend the missing features are unimportant.

Ηow's EU4 coming along now that it has more DLCs than EU3 ever did?

 

[Kem0sabe]

Nice ongoing long form analysis of all the dev logs, with someone who doesn't sound like a bored cunty bavarian:

 

[Hellion]

Paradox issued stricter embargo conditions than usual for the game. Streams, videos, "social media discussions" and written reviews are allowed to commence only 1 day before the game's release.

 

[mondblut]

Nobody wants this game. It's another shameless cash grab like EU4 in which Paradox has not only not made any improvements worthy of a new release, but has dumbed down on the previous title.

Ah yes. The classical idiocy of comparing a sequel at launch with its precursor including all its DLCs.

If a sequel at launch can't compete with its precursor in its final state, why switch over?

 

[Fedora Master]

Nobody wants this game. It's another shameless cash grab like EU4 in which Paradox has not only not made any improvements worthy of a new release, but has dumbed down on the previous title.

Ah yes. The classical idiocy of comparing a sequel at launch with its precursor including all its DLCs.

If a sequel at launch can't compete with its precursor in its final state, why switch over?

But don't you want to have EPIC MULTIPLAYER MATCHES between your Grossgermania and le Basileia Ton Rhomaion?!

 

[mondblut]

But don't you want to have EPIC MULTIPLAYER MATCHES

 

[Infinitron]

 

[fantadomat]

Geeee,you took Magnat seriously,i am surprised.

 

[Avarize]

Nobody wants this game. It's another shameless cash grab like EU4 in which Paradox has not only not made any improvements worthy of a new release, but has dumbed down on the previous title.

Ah yes. The classical idiocy of comparing a sequel at launch with its precursor including all its DLCs.

If a sequel at launch can't compete with its precursor in its final state, why switch over?

And if it costs 200 euros by the time it can compete, why buy it? For a while Paradox had a really good scheme going on but we're starting to see the cracks. They can never make a sequel that doesn't disappoint because they bloated the previous iteration of each franchise with years of dlc, they simply can't develop a sequel of same scope. Might have been a good idea to look yeaes into the future instead of quarterly earnings.

 

[JarlFrank]

Nobody wants this game. It's another shameless cash grab like EU4 in which Paradox has not only not made any improvements worthy of a new release, but has dumbed down on the previous title.

Ah yes. The classical idiocy of comparing a sequel at launch with its precursor including all its DLCs.

If a sequel at launch can't compete with its precursor in its final state, why switch over?

And if it costs 200 euros by the time it can compete, why buy it? For a while Paradox had a really good scheme going on but we're starting to see the cracks. They can never make a sequel that doesn't disappoint because they bloated the previous iteration of each franchise with years of dlc, they simply can't develop a sequel of same scope. Might have been a good idea to look yeaes into the future instead of quarterly earnings.

Theoretically they can develop a sequel that competes because each 20 dollar DLC consists of three new features (which were probably already implemented in some mod lmao) and that's it.

 

[mondblut]

And if it costs 200 euros by the time it can compete, why buy it?

...buy?

 

[Avarize]

Theoretically they can develop a sequel that competes because each 20 dollar DLC consists of three new features (which were probably already implemented in some mod lmao) and that's it.

Perhaps, but it will be to a diminishing customer base.