Star Dynasties – Crusader Kings In Space

[MadMaxHellfire]

The character system actually sounds pretty good. Otherwise I'm not that enthousiastic. In the end its the different systems working together to create something entertaining. Most of the systems here seem to be pretty barebones. Will keep an eye on it though.

Been wanting a game with a setting like this ever since I read Dune. Emperor of the Fading Suns was a letdown and I was especially pissed when Mech Lords fell through. And then we had that really fun CK2 mod named Crisis of the Federation that really was going places before the modder quit. Oh well.

EDIT: Holy shit. They recently started work on the mod again! Awesome.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...confederation-crusader-kings-in-space.803651/

umh...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=430170977

File Size
Posted
Updated
42.289 MB
22 Apr, 2015 @ 7:48pm
17 Oct, 2015 @ 9:56pm

 

[Trash]

That's the old mod that's abandoned. Here's the new version.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1921207930&searchtext=crisis

To begin, Crisis of the Confederation/Confederation at Crisis/Crisis at Confederation is a recently revived total conversion mod for Crusader Kings 2 created by Galle. The mod's development began in 2013, petered out in 2015, and has recently returned under a new team (with one old developer). The mod forgoes the usual historical or fantastical trappings of CK2 mods in favour of a sci-fi hodge podge drawing from Dune, Foundation, Fading Suns, Mobile Suit Gundam, Warhammer 40k, the Arthurian cycle, and a touch of Star Trek. Future development will likely lengthen the list. Elaboration on the lore will be in the following dev diaries.

With that out of the way, allow me to introduce the team. The ones that aren't on Reddit can be found on the Discord (see below).

Cjay - Lead Developer
LordKeeper - Artist for the original team, and now the new team.
u/Alexmaths - Developer
u/zombaxx - Developer
u/CaC-TheGoldenGun - Developer/Dev Diary Writer
Ballisticwaffles - Writer
Krunch - Writer
Dr. Evil - Writer
And you, possibly - We accept applications, see our Discord.Discord https://discord.gg/DZ68Afv - ! Direct Download Available Here ! -

File Size
Posted
Updated
123.577 MB
26 Nov, 2019 @ 4:44am
21 Apr @ 4:00pm
21 Change Notes ( view )

 

[Space Satan]

They are alive...maybe.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Xamenos]

There's a demo available on Steam for the next week. Limited to 20 turns, but it should be enough for a first impression if anyone cares to see it.

 

[Sranchammer]

I like the look.

 

[Harthwain]

I am cautiously interested. It has potential, but a lot depends on how they will handle the execution of the concept and the overall flow of the game will feel like.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Xamenos]

They've also opened sign-ups for a closed beta that will last December 10-21. It will probably be the last beta before release, from what the dev has said.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdK55QAreWAktcqFbvceonuBtSysne3HKh5k5PqMrhr6eNh7Q/viewform

 

[Space Satan]

I learned not to trust developers, who present developer diaries with them talking 90% of time, instead of showing game's features, screenshots or videos.

 

[Xamenos]

Anyway, what I liked:
Everything to do with the character system. Every character has traits and skills. Skills are like CK2's attributes, except they grow as a character does his jobs, and there's no learning or tech growth. Traits affect relations, but more importantly happiness. Happiness is pretty important, giving a bonus to everything a character does. And things you do that affect someone else's happiness also affect your relations. People like you when you do things that make them happy, and also when you do good things for their friends. An example of all this: On my first game my medical councilor was Proud and untalented at being a medic. As a result she hated her job and she was miserable. One of my vassals was her friend, and he hated my guts because every single trait we had was incompatible and I was making his friend unhappy. I later switched her to a different council position and gave her a husband she loved, she became happy, and my vassal (barely) stopped hating me without me doing anything for him directly.
The game also has a grievances and favors system that are generated by various things you do.And they can cancel each other out, giving a nice sense of "eye for an eye" and escalating vendettas. For example, you can ask any of your vassals for money. It normally generates a grievance, but if the vassal has previously given you a grievance (by refusing a call to arms, for instance) then the grievances cancel each other and the matter is considered settled. Unless you opt for a punishment more severe than the crime, at which point not all grievances are cancelled, and the matter may gradually escalate.
Secrets. Not everything is public knowledge. Everything clandestine starts as a secret that can be discovered. For example, I had an affair with one of my vassals. In the beginning it was a secret and everything was fine. But then people found out, my wife hated me, and I got a bad reputation for being dishonorable towards her.
Action points. Every turn you get a number of action points depending on your happiness. Everything you do requires various amounts of action points, from arranging a marriage to attacking a system. You, theoretically, can't do everything you want to do each turn.

What I disliked:
The economy is practically nonexistent. Every system has an econ rating, current and maximum eg 50/60. You can invest to increase the current rating, up to the max, but there's nothing you can do to increase the max. Your system's economy affects your taxes, the size of your personal fleet, and the maximum size your house can be before it starts generating unrest. And that's about it.
Military is similarly simple. You have your personal forces and your vassal forces. Vassals cannot support their forces too far from their homes. You don't move your fleets directly. Instead when you click to attack a system, you automatically gather all available fleets in range, (unless a vassal refuses which generates grievances), the defender does the same, and you fight it out immediately. Admirals give bonuses and can generate events that affect the battle, but otherwise raw numbers are used to generate the odds of victory and the larger force generally wins. You cannot improve your fleets' quality, morale or even composition. It's all just raw numbers.
There's not enough to do at peace time. After a while I kept ending turns with half my action points unspent.
The world is too static. You cannot colonize new systems. Existing systems will max out their economy shortly after galaxy creation, and remain that way for the entire game. Economy decays a bit every turn, but not enough to affect anything. And there is no technology progression, no progression at all actually. Nothing to differentiate factions at all.

Quoting myself for visibility. Beta's over, and my thoughts of the game are largely the same. The character system is still the best part of the game. By making happiness matter and tying it to relations the dev has created a system that is much more intuitive and "realistic" than CK's. The honor and grievances system is kinda cool too.

What changed:
More events and such. Still not enough, I think, but definitely more than before.
There's now a character creator. In addition to the expected character traits, you can also pick some bonuses (or penalties) for your homeworld. And there are a few House traits now. There's potential there if it's expanded.
Characters can now be sent to assignments. Those will be familiar to anyone who's played CK, though there are a few extra. The major difference is that you can send every adult member of your House out on them, not just your Councilors. In fact the Councilors get a hefty penalty on assignments due to their other duties. Assignments help with the problem of "not enough things to do at peace time", but they don't solve it entirely. I still finished turns without spending all my action points.
The economy of a planet is now without a cap and does not decay on its own. Upgrading it is an assignment with an increasing cost. Battles damage a planet's economy, and if it's reduced to 0 the planet is abandoned and has to be recolonized. Otherwise it works like before.
Combat has been reworked, taking a page from Endless Space. There are now three types of ships, with a rock-paper-scissors relationship between them. (x2 or x0.5 damage). Combat lasts for 3 rounds. And on each round you may (or may not) pick a tactic from those your admiral knows. Different admirals know different tactics, so even choosing who you want to send is a little more involved than just the guy with the biggest number.
Various other bugs and minor annoyances have been fixed.

Steam tells me I've played 30 hours across the Alpha and Beta, and I want to play more. I'll probably pick it up on release if it's cheap enough.

 

[Infinitron]

Early Access on March 16th.

 

[Infinitron]

Released on Early Access:

 

[Delterius]

I hope this goes to places.

 

[Joggerino]

I heard this game was shit

 

[Axioms]

The game is currently shit. Like absolute trash. Then again it is in EA so...

 

[Axioms]

I won a game on easy with a heavily diplo focused leader in 10 turns. I dumped Security incredibly hard. So hard. God security, and most of the character interactions, are worthless. You can consistently win on turn 20 or so. The dev previously argued that even easy mode was supposed to take 100 turns at a minimum.

The major problem with the game is that the dev dumped war and econ and science for D/I/P(Diplomacy, Intrigue, Politics) but as far as efficiently winning the game Intrigue and Politics are pointless. Diplomacy is key, but only the request allegiance button is used. Pay 5 Action Points, get free planet for virtually no cost, sometimes you get 1 or 2 dishonor points, no biggy when you are maxing diplo. You need econ to buy mercs to bully other characters.

I never hold feasts, I never Improve Relationship, I certainly don't set up a spy network. All of those fancy buttons are unbelievably inefficient to take territory. And they aren't yet deep enough for good RP.

 

[Xamenos]

On one hand, yeah, I am disappointed that this early access is the latest beta with a new tutorial and pretty much no fixes. Security and secrets being almost nonexistent in the current version has come up before in the beta discussions. (At least it's better than assassination spamming) But you are misrepresenting what the dev said about the duration, which was that he's aiming for that number and he's looking for feedback on where it is at the moment and how to get there. And maybe you should try playing on a difficulty higher than easy? Easy gives you some hefty bonuses on everything the AI takes into account when deciding whether to submit.

 

[Raghar]

Is this the game that looks like a Stellaris?

Edit: I watched this game on Cringer stream, and there are issues.

1. In future, rulers will not die to old age. (Even year 2500 should allow A LOT LONGER LIFE for ruler, than for Lizzards on UK throne.)
2. This copies from Stellaris so much it looks like a Stellaris mod.
3. Daughter doesn't look genetically related to mother.

On the positive side, I observed Cringer when he read text "I did lose happiness because I has been rejected by my daughter." Looks like he has some speaker system that allows his family to hear him when he's streaming, and he left it on.

 

[Axioms]

On one hand, yeah, I am disappointed that this early access is the latest beta with a new tutorial and pretty much no fixes. Security and secrets being almost nonexistent in the current version has come up before in the beta discussions. (At least it's better than assassination spamming) But you are misrepresenting what the dev said about the duration, which was that he's aiming for that number and he's looking for feedback on where it is at the moment and how to get there. And maybe you should try playing on a difficulty higher than easy? Easy gives you some hefty bonuses on everything the AI takes into account when deciding whether to submit.

Well when I first beat easy on turn 45 he said he was thinking about turn 100 for easy, since with less than 50 years you can barely say the game has dynasties. He was incredibly shocked that I could win on turn 10. However he is nerfing a key mechanic to turn 10 wins, which involved attacking an Archon's homeworld with a fleet large enough to get him to surrender before the fight and vassalize him and any of his ducal vassals. Aka getting 15 planets in a single turn. So a more plausible speedrun would be 25 turns after that update.

However easy doesn't actually have huge buffs. 10 rep isn't a massive deal. 20 bonus income can score you an extra vassal slot but it isn't a huge deal. 20 assignment effectiveness is probably the best buff. I usually don't concern myself with fleet power at all.

I *just* started a medium difficulty game where with only a mid tier diplomatic councillor to go with my min-maxed diplo leader I was given a free barony, a savings of 5 AP, and then grabbed another 2 that turn. And I was a 3 planet vassal duke. If I was a free duke with 5-6 planets, as you sometimes are, I could hit have 10 planets on the second turn.

Then I pressed my claim to a relative's fellow vassal duchy, my Archon refused and I managed to have enough gold to hire mercs, get lucky on an enemy refusal to assists and vassalize my 5 planet archon and their 4 planet vassal duchy. Leaving me at 17 planets at the end of turn 3. And again I had a shit diplo, shit military leader, and a shit 3 planet starting vassal duchy.

On turn 4 I threatened a one planet Archon with 2 3 planet vassal dukes. I had been given one of my planets I got before turn 2 by one of the vassal's duke's barons and I had requested allegiance from one of her Baron's so she was cut off and I had 100% chance to win an attack so for 2 AP and some dishonor she surrendered those 7 planets to me. Now I can get her back some planets of hers that are in useless spots to clear my vassal slots. Bam 24 planets at the end of turn 4.

My expectation is that I can win a game on medium by turn 30 in half of all starts. Gonna run some tests and see if I can't get it down to 25.

If I wasn't lazy I would make the retard alternating caps spongebob meme about this statement of yours: "And maybe you should try playing on a difficulty higher than easy? Easy gives you some hefty bonuses on everything the AI takes into account when deciding whether to submit."

Edit:
I won a game on medium on turn 15. All the strategies involved are essentially the same. Just takes slightly more build up. Because gaining vassal slots rises linearly and expansion capability does similarly, there is only a linear increase in turn requirement. I am now attempting a turn 20 win on Hard.

 

[Axioms]

On one hand, yeah, I am disappointed that this early access is the latest beta with a new tutorial and pretty much no fixes. Security and secrets being almost nonexistent in the current version has come up before in the beta discussions. (At least it's better than assassination spamming) But you are misrepresenting what the dev said about the duration, which was that he's aiming for that number and he's looking for feedback on where it is at the moment and how to get there. And maybe you should try playing on a difficulty higher than easy? Easy gives you some hefty bonuses on everything the AI takes into account when deciding whether to submit.

I'm making a fresh post to shit talk you because on a 2 vassal baron start as a vassal duke on Hard I am now sitting at 22 planets with 9 AP to burn on turn 4 and prospects of grabbing another 21 planets over the next 4 turns depending on the random factors. I am very confident about a 15 turn win from a pretty bad start. Might be able to argue for favorable geography maybe? And a decidedly average selection of characters for the council and missions so no easy wins there either. Especially lacking in diplomacy and administration.

 

[Xamenos]

I'm not surprised you're a little autistic faggot. But fine. Congratulations! You discovered an exploit in an indie game made by a single guy, a game that's not even fully released yet. This is a feat unprecedented in the history of gaming, and proof positive of your superior intellect. Truly you deserve the title of a "l33t g@m3r".

Is your e-peen hard enough yet, or will you "shit talk" me some more to stroke it?

 

[Norfleet]

Your conclusion reminds me of the way Space Empires games often played out: You'd acquire enough of an advantage to simply demand that the first AI surrender, which he would do because of your advantage over him. This gave you more of an advantage, so once you could force surrender the first guy, you would immediately win the game this way. It's funny because THEY would declare war on YOU, and then immediately surrender the next turn.

 

[Axioms]

I'm not surprised you're a little autistic faggot. But fine. Congratulations! You discovered an exploit in an indie game made by a single guy, a game that's not even fully released yet. This is a feat unprecedented in the history of gaming, and proof positive of your superior intellect. Truly you deserve the title of a "l33t g@m3r".

Is your e-peen hard enough yet, or will you "shit talk" me some more to stroke it?

Everything I did was a legal play it wasn't DDRJake in EU4 level nonsense. Also you are the one who made a big deal out of higher difficulties, not me. Not my fault you just assumed the difficulty bonuses would prevent smart play.

 

[Axioms]

Your conclusion reminds me of the way Space Empires games often played out: You'd acquire enough of an advantage to simply demand that the first AI surrender, which he would do because of your advantage over him. This gave you more of an advantage, so once you could force surrender the first guy, you would immediately win the game this way. It's funny because THEY would declare war on YOU, and then immediately surrender the next turn.

Actually there are barons I can't even get a yellow, may accept, options on. Characters look at strength but you can just chain vassalize one after the other. Also the chances of an Archon being properly located on the map to use the vassalize in return for calling off a homeworld attack trick are low. A lucky game has 2 or 3 archons where you can do it with some smart setup. The average game has 1 at most.

Star Dynasties actually has a ton of anti-snowball mechanics. For instance your homeworld fleet becomes totally unusable for offensive plays after you get to about 25 planets. You need 58 to win. Hell if you get a non-central location and/or your homeworld is in a star lane pocket it becomes useless after even hitting 10 planets. Because of the distance calculation for fleet action large empires can only employ a fraction of their fleets. You have to pay for expensive one use merc fleets. Also my understanding is that mercenaries are totally unaffected by House military skill. Your military skill multiples your base fleet size but mercs are a static size per lump gold sum. 30 gold always gets you 5/5/5 no matter how proficient you are at military skill.

Vassal slots are anti-blob as well. While you get slots for income the majority of slots come with hard or soft caps. Monitor vassals is always capped at 3, and it is usually lower at 2 or even 1 since it depends on the science level of the character on the mission. You can never get more than 3 regardless. You get one per 50 admin and per 75 science from your leader+councillor total. These are soft capped at 4 and 3. It would take incredible luck + incredible investment to get above that and it would crash when your characters died. You get 2 base. Then you get 1 per 5 infrastructure level. Technically this is uncapped but raising levels takes a lot of time and money.