Hello and welcome back to another DD about <Secret DLC>! If all is going to plan you should be reading this while I am on my third, and sadly final, week of vacation, so I may or may not show up to answer questions. For this DD we are getting back to the core values of <Secret DLC>: Death and Suffering!

Being a prisoner is never a fun experience, and frankly, with <Secret DLC> it only gets worse. We have added several fairly unpleasant ways to interact with your captives:

• Humiliate. The prisoner is degraded in some fashion; such as being tarred and feathered, or forced to do a “walk of shame”. This also causes them to lose prestige and be generally looked down on.
  
• Torture. The prisoner is caused a certain amount of pain; such as being whipped, or stretched on the rack. May cause them to become Stressed or even Depressed, and can cause you to lose the Kind trait.
  
• Mutilate. Only available to rulers with certain traits, such as Cruel or Impaler, this causes the permanent loss of a body part. May lead to you becoming Cruel if you are not already, and can cause them to gain Stressed or even Lunatic.
  
• Bad poetry. Rulers with the Poet trait may deploy their very worst poems against a prisoner. While a comparatively mild punishment, it nonetheless has a slight chance to drive them mad.
  
• Consume. Rulers who are either Possessed or Lunatic and also have the Cannibal modifier may simply eat their prisoners. If you haven’t disabled fantasy content, this may lead to you “gaining the power” of your victim.

All of these options, besides Consume, release the victim afterwards as they are considered to be their punishment, and while you choose the category you do not choose the exact method. Needless to say, your former prisoner will not think kindly of you after any of these punishments, and in the more extreme cases their close family may also be outraged.

Of course, sometimes a mere punishment is not enough and you simply have to Execute your prisoner. Well, we have added content for this eventuality too! You still simply press the Execute button, as before, but the actual execution method employed is chosen from a list based on your location/culture/religion/traits as well as the imprison reason you have on your prisoner, their religion/gender/traits, and things. Different execution methods come with different death reasons, and as you may have heard in an earlier DD, different death sounds. We have 31 execution methods, including Hanging, Crushing, Sawing, and Bear. It’s all in an easily moddable file too, just in case modders think we have been insufficiently creative.



I should also mention that with the 2.6 patch it is no longer possible to escape from House arrest unless someone with the Intrigue focus breaks you out, so if for some reason you want to be nice to your prisoners they are no longer virtually guaranteed to escape.

Since Death is a big theme for <Secret DLC>, we have also added several reactions events to the death of your lovers, friends, and rivals. For the first two, these can result in things like you turning to drink, finding a new friend, taking comfort in the arms of another, or finding a keepsake of them. For the latter, you may miss having a rival and start a new feud, resolve to become a better person, or if you are a particular type of person you might sneak out and desecrate their corpse. We don’t judge!





That’s all for now. Next week I’ll be back at work and writing these “live” again, so I’ll decide the topic closer to the time. It's quite possible the subject will be cats though.


Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Crusader Kings II Development Diary Archive

Hello and welcome back to another DD about <Secret DLC>! If all is going to plan you should be reading this while I am on my third, and sadly final, week of vacation, so I may or may not show up to answer questions. For this DD we are getting back to the core values of <Secret DLC>: Death and Suffering!

Being a prisoner is never a fun experience, and frankly, with <Secret DLC> it only gets worse. We have added several fairly unpleasant ways to interact with your captives:

• Humiliate. The prisoner is degraded in some fashion; such as being tarred and feathered, or forced to do a “walk of shame”. This also causes them to lose prestige and be generally looked down on.
  
• Torture. The prisoner is caused a certain amount of pain; such as being whipped, or stretched on the rack. May cause them to become Stressed or even Depressed, and can cause you to lose the Kind trait.
  
• Mutilate. Only available to rulers with certain traits, such as Cruel or Impaler, this causes the permanent loss of a body part. May lead to you becoming Cruel if you are not already, and can cause them to gain Stressed or even Lunatic.
  
• Bad poetry. Rulers with the Poet trait may deploy their very worst poems against a prisoner. While a comparatively mild punishment, it nonetheless has a slight chance to drive them mad.
  
• Consume. Rulers who are either Possessed or Lunatic and also have the Cannibal modifier may simply eat their prisoners. If you haven’t disabled fantasy content, this may lead to you “gaining the power” of your victim.

All of these options, besides Consume, release the victim afterwards as they are considered to be their punishment, and while you choose the category you do not choose the exact method. Needless to say, your former prisoner will not think kindly of you after any of these punishments, and in the more extreme cases their close family may also be outraged.

Of course, sometimes a mere punishment is not enough and you simply have to Execute your prisoner. Well, we have added content for this eventuality too! You still simply press the Execute button, as before, but the actual execution method employed is chosen from a list based on your location/culture/religion/traits as well as the imprison reason you have on your prisoner, their religion/gender/traits, and things. Different execution methods come with different death reasons, and as you may have heard in an earlier DD, different death sounds. We have 31 execution methods, including Hanging, Crushing, Sawing, and Bear. It’s all in an easily moddable file too, just in case modders think we have been insufficiently creative.



I should also mention that with the 2.6 patch it is no longer possible to escape from House arrest unless someone with the Intrigue focus breaks you out, so if for some reason you want to be nice to your prisoners they are no longer virtually guaranteed to escape.

Since Death is a big theme for <Secret DLC>, we have also added several reactions events to the death of your lovers, friends, and rivals. For the first two, these can result in things like you turning to drink, finding a new friend, taking comfort in the arms of another, or finding a keepsake of them. For the latter, you may miss having a rival and start a new feud, resolve to become a better person, or if you are a particular type of person you might sneak out and desecrate their corpse. We don’t judge!





That’s all for now. Next week I’ll be back at work and writing these “live” again, so I’ll decide the topic closer to the time. It's quite possible the subject will be cats though.


Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Crusader Kings II Development Diary Archive

Hello and welcome back to another dev diary about <Secret DLC>! One day we will actually announce this DLC and I’ll be able to use the proper name, but that day is not today! Anyway, right now I am here to tell you about some extra stuff we have made for Pagans, which will be part of the free 2.6 patch (of course, you still need The Old Gods to play as a pagan), and our new Female Advisor events. So, uh, actually this DD is really about 2.6 content and not <Secret DLC>, really, but anyway, onwards!

First of all, Defensive Pagans now have the ability to summon bands of Devout Warriors if they are the primary defender against an enemy of a different religion at the cost of 200 piety. Overall this is rather like the Raise Tribal Army decision and gives Defensive Pagans some extra punch when attacked.

Next, Defensive Pagans also have a new decision which can be used while at peace, and not more often than every 10 years: Ancestor Worship. This allows you to ask your ancestors for help or advise with some part of your life, perhaps you want triumph on the battlefield, maybe you want your realm to Prosper, or perhaps you are just lonely? In any case, once you have decided what it is you want, you must decide what you will offer up to get your request heard, and can range from offering up your eye or a human sacrifice to a more modest feast or carving a simple idol. With the sacrifice made, hopefully you see some kind of result in the not so distant future. Although, skeptics might point out that there’s no evidence the ancestors actually did anything and you may simply be giving them credit for a happy coincidence, that isn’t the kind of thought a pious man ought to have.



here we wish for affection and offer up a feast

With Defensive Pagans covered, let’s move into their more Offensive cousins, the Norse. The first change here is relatively simple, and some of you guessed it from the Trait icons I showed in an earlier DD, but there are now two improved versions of the Viking trait: Ravager and Sea King. These are gained from continuing to sack holdings while raiding after the Viking trait has been gained and come with larger bonuses.



A couple of minor yet neat changes:

• The Norse may now also gain a trait similar to Crusader when taking part in Great Holy Wars, called Valhalla-bound.
  
• Norse Culture will no longer split into into Swedish/Danish etc when it’s part of a powerful Norse realm (which I seem to remember was said to be the case long ago but doesn’t seem to have been implemented) where the ruler either has 2 kingdom tiles or an empire title, or if the faith has been reformed and the Fylkir is Norse. On a related note, Pictish, Old Saxon, and Visigothic cultures will also no longer split/change when part of a powerful realm or their head of religion is of their culture.

Finally, Norse religion rulers now have a decision to appoint female characters in their realm with good Martial skill and appropriate traits as Shieldmaidens. These warrior women can act as bodyguards and/or can be set as commanders for your armies regardless of your gender laws. Shieldmaidens have a number of events relating to both their actions in battle and their training for said battles, and if a player happens to end up as a landed lady they can experience the Shieldmaiden content from the other side.



Now leaving Pagans behind, but staying with cool women, we’ve added a couple of ways to get more female advisors. Firstly, close relatives of a ruler with high stats may ask to be given a job. Secondly, a talented woman may show up in your court and offer her services to you. In either case if you accept they will take up a council position, but you will get an opinion penalty with your vassals - if you have Conclave the size of the penalty is reduced if you have increased your Gender Equality laws. These events do not fire if your gamerules/gender laws/religion/culture allow women to be appointed normally, since in that case you could simply hire them if you want to.



That’s all for this week, next week Doomdark will talk about the future of CK2 beyond <Secret DLC>.

Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Crusader Kings II Development Diary Archive

Hello and welcome back to another dev diary about <Secret DLC>! One day we will actually announce this DLC and I’ll be able to use the proper name, but that day is not today! Anyway, right now I am here to tell you about some extra stuff we have made for Pagans, which will be part of the free 2.6 patch (of course, you still need The Old Gods to play as a pagan), and our new Female Advisor events. So, uh, actually this DD is really about 2.6 content and not <Secret DLC>, really, but anyway, onwards!

First of all, Defensive Pagans now have the ability to summon bands of Devout Warriors if they are the primary defender against an enemy of a different religion at the cost of 200 piety. Overall this is rather like the Raise Tribal Army decision and gives Defensive Pagans some extra punch when attacked.

Next, Defensive Pagans also have a new decision which can be used while at peace, and not more often than every 10 years: Ancestor Worship. This allows you to ask your ancestors for help or advise with some part of your life, perhaps you want triumph on the battlefield, maybe you want your realm to Prosper, or perhaps you are just lonely? In any case, once you have decided what it is you want, you must decide what you will offer up to get your request heard, and can range from offering up your eye or a human sacrifice to a more modest feast or carving a simple idol. With the sacrifice made, hopefully you see some kind of result in the not so distant future. Although, skeptics might point out that there’s no evidence the ancestors actually did anything and you may simply be giving them credit for a happy coincidence, that isn’t the kind of thought a pious man ought to have.



here we wish for affection and offer up a feast

With Defensive Pagans covered, let’s move into their more Offensive cousins, the Norse. The first change here is relatively simple, and some of you guessed it from the Trait icons I showed in an earlier DD, but there are now two improved versions of the Viking trait: Ravager and Sea King. These are gained from continuing to sack holdings while raiding after the Viking trait has been gained and come with larger bonuses.



A couple of minor yet neat changes:

• The Norse may now also gain a trait similar to Crusader when taking part in Great Holy Wars, called Valhalla-bound.
  
• Norse Culture will no longer split into into Swedish/Danish etc when it’s part of a powerful Norse realm (which I seem to remember was said to be the case long ago but doesn’t seem to have been implemented) where the ruler either has 2 kingdom tiles or an empire title, or if the faith has been reformed and the Fylkir is Norse. On a related note, Pictish, Old Saxon, and Visigothic cultures will also no longer split/change when part of a powerful realm or their head of religion is of their culture.

Finally, Norse religion rulers now have a decision to appoint female characters in their realm with good Martial skill and appropriate traits as Shieldmaidens. These warrior women can act as bodyguards and/or can be set as commanders for your armies regardless of your gender laws. Shieldmaidens have a number of events relating to both their actions in battle and their training for said battles, and if a player happens to end up as a landed lady they can experience the Shieldmaiden content from the other side.



Now leaving Pagans behind, but staying with cool women, we’ve added a couple of ways to get more female advisors. Firstly, close relatives of a ruler with high stats may ask to be given a job. Secondly, a talented woman may show up in your court and offer her services to you. In either case if you accept they will take up a council position, but you will get an opinion penalty with your vassals - if you have Conclave the size of the penalty is reduced if you have increased your Gender Equality laws. These events do not fire if your gamerules/gender laws/religion/culture allow women to be appointed normally, since in that case you could simply hire them if you want to.



That’s all for this week, next week Doomdark will talk about the future of CK2 beyond <Secret DLC>.

Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Crusader Kings II Development Diary Archive

Hello all, it’s time for another DD about ZombieInvasion <Secret DLC*>! Today we’ll take a look at what we’ve done to the Maimed trait. Well, we’ve removed it! People without <Secret DLC> can still be Maimed, of course, but the lucky owners of <Secret DLC> will instead receive more specific injuries, such as: One-handed, One-legged, One-Eyed, Disfigured, or Mangled (this represents severe trauma to the torso, mostly). As well as allowing more specific wounds and flavor, this has allowed us to remove the Health penalty from most of these traits (Mangled still has one though). Instead, when you receive a maiming-type injury you will also receive the Severely Injured trait, which has some health and stat penalties, but will be lost after some time has passed. Afterall, while losing a hand is certainly not an enjoyable process, you do eventually heal up and can be perfectly healthy besides the missing appendage. Also, if anyone is feeling creative, please suggest interesting effects for these new traits - we do of course have some penalties on them, but I worry they are a little dull, so fire away and I may shamelessly steal your ideas.

Since both One-eyed and Disfigured affect the faces of characters, we have added a lot of new portrait props to reflect this. Here is a small sample of what you might see ingame:


We have also added several events relating to life with missing body parts:

a disfigured ruler holds a masquerade ball


the loss of a hand is a severe blow to a famous warrior

That’s all for now, next week I am not certain which DD we will show, either I will talk about some extra Pagan features we’ve added, or Doomdark will give you some of his thoughts about CK2. It will be a surprize!

*= DLC contains no zombies


Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Crusader Kings II Development Diary Archive

Hello all, it’s time for another DD about ZombieInvasion <Secret DLC*>! Today we’ll take a look at what we’ve done to the Maimed trait. Well, we’ve removed it! People without <Secret DLC> can still be Maimed, of course, but the lucky owners of <Secret DLC> will instead receive more specific injuries, such as: One-handed, One-legged, One-Eyed, Disfigured, or Mangled (this represents severe trauma to the torso, mostly). As well as allowing more specific wounds and flavor, this has allowed us to remove the Health penalty from most of these traits (Mangled still has one though). Instead, when you receive a maiming-type injury you will also receive the Severely Injured trait, which has some health and stat penalties, but will be lost after some time has passed. Afterall, while losing a hand is certainly not an enjoyable process, you do eventually heal up and can be perfectly healthy besides the missing appendage. Also, if anyone is feeling creative, please suggest interesting effects for these new traits - we do of course have some penalties on them, but I worry they are a little dull, so fire away and I may shamelessly steal your ideas.

Since both One-eyed and Disfigured affect the faces of characters, we have added a lot of new portrait props to reflect this. Here is a small sample of what you might see ingame:


We have also added several events relating to life with missing body parts:

a disfigured ruler holds a masquerade ball


the loss of a hand is a severe blow to a famous warrior

That’s all for now, next week I am not certain which DD we will show, either I will talk about some extra Pagan features we’ve added, or Doomdark will give you some of his thoughts about CK2. It will be a surprize!

*= DLC contains no zombies


Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Crusader Kings II Development Diary Archive

Hello all, once again I am here to tell you about the horrors wonders of <Secret DLC>! Today the subject is our new narrative events. We have added two new chains of events, the first being the titular End of Days chain(s).

The concept behind the EoD events are that your people have become scared and uncertain and this has given rise to various doomsayers and general unrest. Possible results of this include:

• The rise of a Prophet of Doom, who is convinced the world will end if he doesn’t overthrow your rule.
  
• A general belief that the dead have returned to walk the earth and attack the living.
  
• Panic based on a solar eclipse, which is surely the herald of the End Times.

These events are somewhat rare, and each possible doom has several ways to resolve it, for better or for worse, so we hope you will find them rather interesting should they appear.





The other chain we have added is The quest for Eternal Life. Much as I encouraged you to do in an earlier DD, characters in CK may find themselves contemplating their mortality, and as rulers of realms they have rather more resources available to them than you or I. The quest for Eternal Life is long, dangerous, and prone to failure, but when the possible reward is the ability to defy Death… well, you can see why people may undertake it anyway.



That’s all for now, next week I will go into detail about our new Maimed traits.

Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Developer Diary Archives

Hello all, once again I am here to tell you about the horrors wonders of <Secret DLC>! Today the subject is our new narrative events. We have added two new chains of events, the first being the titular End of Days chain(s).

The concept behind the EoD events are that your people have become scared and uncertain and this has given rise to various doomsayers and general unrest. Possible results of this include:

• The rise of a Prophet of Doom, who is convinced the world will end if he doesn’t overthrow your rule.
  
• A general belief that the dead have returned to walk the earth and attack the living.
  
• Panic based on a solar eclipse, which is surely the herald of the End Times.

These events are somewhat rare, and each possible doom has several ways to resolve it, for better or for worse, so we hope you will find them rather interesting should they appear.





The other chain we have added is The quest for Eternal Life. Much as I encouraged you to do in an earlier DD, characters in CK may find themselves contemplating their mortality, and as rulers of realms they have rather more resources available to them than you or I. The quest for Eternal Life is long, dangerous, and prone to failure, but when the possible reward is the ability to defy Death… well, you can see why people may undertake it anyway.



That’s all for now, next week I will go into detail about our new Maimed traits.

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Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Developer Diary Archives

Hello again. Last week I told you about the horrors of the Plague and your inevitable death, but so you don’t fall into total despair I’ll tell you some steps you can take to delay giving the Reaper his due.


The first and most immediate defense against Epidemics is to go into Seclusion. This is somewhat similar to going into Hiding, but in this case you Seclude your entire court in your castle (or capital holding of your choice). Seclusion is a very effective way to stop disease getting into your castle… provided, of course, that you don’t bring in anyone who is already infected. While in Seclusion there are unique events which deal with such things as; interpersonal conflict or bonding, angry people outside who want in, food shortages, murder, and maybe even a little cannibalism. Only a little! Happy DD, happy DD…



Another, longer term defense is to build Hospitals. Hospitals are a new holding type, built in the same way as Trade posts or Forts. Their primary effect is to make the chance of an Epidemic breaking out or spreading to the province less likely. Hospitals can have several buildings built within them, which mostly serve to increase the Disease Defense level, but Leper Colonies can also lower revolt risk.


Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Developer Diary Archives

Hello again. Last week I told you about the horrors of the Plague and your inevitable death, but so you don’t fall into total despair I’ll tell you some steps you can take to delay giving the Reaper his due.


The first and most immediate defense against Epidemics is to go into Seclusion. This is somewhat similar to going into Hiding, but in this case you Seclude your entire court in your castle (or capital holding of your choice). Seclusion is a very effective way to stop disease getting into your castle… provided, of course, that you don’t bring in anyone who is already infected. While in Seclusion there are unique events which deal with such things as; interpersonal conflict or bonding, angry people outside who want in, food shortages, murder, and maybe even a little cannibalism. Only a little! Happy DD, happy DD…



Another, longer term defense is to build Hospitals. Hospitals are a new holding type, built in the same way as Trade posts or Forts. Their primary effect is to make the chance of an Epidemic breaking out or spreading to the province less likely. Hospitals can have several buildings built within them, which mostly serve to increase the Disease Defense level, but Leper Colonies can also lower revolt risk.


Read the original post

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Developer Diary Archives