Welcome to the third summer teaser, please have a look at the Events images on our forums!
This time around, we figured we would show you something quite different. As you may know already, minor titles will be returning alongside the upcoming expansion, Royal Court, allowing you to appoint a Court Jester, a Seneschal, and more!
As you might expect, weâll be adding a number of new events that make use of these appointed characters, but we are no strangers to also updating existing content if need be! We generally want features to be visible wherever it makes sense, and updating content can be a part of making old events have new and interesting options or additional variety and flavour.
What happens when you launch up the game? What actually goes on in a single day of gameplay? Our dev team details the Anatomy of Crusader Kings 3! đĄ âș Read more on our forums
Have a look at the following traditions coming with Royal Court: Communal, Courtly, Egalitarian, and Stoic! These add up to the past three we have shared last week: Bellicose, Inventive, and Spiritual. âș Read Summer Teaser #2
As promised, here is the first of what we like to call âsummer teasersâ for our upcoming expansion Royal Court. Today, a few traditions that youâll be able to pick up with the upcoming overhaul for cultures! âș Read Summer Teaser #1
đĄ To see the images, please visit our forums or website. đĄ Enjoy the FAQ Royal Court and read all there is to learn about our upcoming Expansion
Greetings!
The sun is out, and weâve all been enjoying pristine Azure skies during the Swedish midsummer celebrations. Or, well, a few of us have! Some members of the team got to enjoy a massive downpour of rain (which is customary, to be fair), and others even got to experience a refreshing storm of hail. Speaking of Azure, weâre releasing another small patch today which addresses a handful of issues (most notably some stability concerns):
============================== âș Fixed unpause issues in multiplayer if choosing to continue in single player after network out of sync on 1.4.2 âș Fixed crash on save and progressive dynasty and title coat of arms disappearing âș Fixed UI lists refresh, allowing to access characters for some interactions when they should not be available (i.e.: you could grant vassal to your liege characters from other realms) âș Fixed crash happening after starting a fort assault during a crusade on a long playthrough save on 1.4.2 ==============================
Beginning next week a majority of the team will be going on summer vacation, which means that itâll be mostly deserted for the next five weeks. In practice this means that the next few Dev Diaries wonât be as meaty as the ones that came before. You can think of them more as teasers than proper Dev Diaries. When weâre back weâll of course resume having more substantial ones!
With that being said, we donât want to leave you empty handed. Summer vacation doesnât start until next week after all. Some of you might have noticed in the previous Dev Diary that we had a small square at the top of the window when creating a hybrid or a divergent culture, showing a colour. This is of course a preview of the colour your new culture will have when itâs created. Clicking it allows you to change and set the colour of your culture exactly as you want it!
[Image of selecting a colour during culture creation]â
But we didnât stop there! We added this new and wonderful tool in a couple of other places as well. As when creating a culture, we've added it for creating a new faith too.
[Image of selecting a colour when creating a faith]â
You'll also be able to change the colour when customizing a title. No longer will you have to settle on the colour the game picks for you when creating a custom kingdom or empire! Especially when that colour turns out to be neon pink... You can edit the colour for any title you hold or is held by your vassals, similar to how you are allowed to edit the name & adjective for titles in your realm. Yes, this means that you can make your vassal lands sport a cavalcade of colour if you so desire!
[Image of selecting a colour when customizing a title]â
That's it for today, I'm afraid. While this might be a fairly small addition in the grand scheme of things, we do think itâs a nice and flavourful tool that lets you customize your experience more than before!
The Steam Summer Sale is here! đ Up to 20% discount on Crusader Kings III during the #SteamSummerSale, until July 8th! Bring your friends in, make them your vassals and then in the darkness bind them âș Buy for you or a friend here: Crusader Kings III
Fixed HUD date occasionally jumping in multiplayer
Mass Ransom is now instant (except if the recipient is a player). This makes it significantly more responsive, and also avoids an issue where it could only send one ransom request to each recipient. Also fixed Mass Ransom in some cases giving 0 gold. Note that if the recipient runs out of money or otherwise no longer wants to accept the ransom, not all characters might get ransomed off
Fixed the game rules window's "reset to defaults" button being visible when the rules are not possible to change
################### # User Modding ###################
Renamed the portrait_modifier files. Scripted_character are assigned to index 50 and events to index 90. Keep in mind that the content contained in the one with the highest index will have the priority over the other.
Fixed a rare crash when using the every/any_faith_character script list
We have noticed a few issues that were introduced with our Patch 1.4.0 "Azure", especially the Garrisons that are not reinforcing if you are continuing your 1.3.1 "Corvus" campaign.
As we know how much heart you put in your campaign, we have released an Open Beta 1.4.2 on Steam that includes the following changelog. Read more in the official forums.
==========
################### # Balance ###################
Ambitious characters will not be stressed if they are defending in a war and they sign a white peace.
Opinions from gift is now caped to 100 (200 with the perk Thorough) and decays 2.5x faster
################### # AI ###################
The AI will now be able to properly offer vassalization to Clan and Tribal rulers.
Fixed a rare case when AI units don't join a fight if player units have been attacked while moving
Fixed HUD date occasionally jumping in multiplayer
Mass Ransom is now instant (except if the recipient is a player). This makes it significantly more responsive, and also avoids an issue where it could only send one ransom request to each recipient. Also fixed Mass Ransom in some cases giving 0 gold. Note that if the recipient runs out of money or otherwise no longer wants to accept the ransom, not all characters might get ransomed off
Fixed the game rules window's "reset to defaults" button being visible when the rules are not possible to change
################### # User Modding ###################
Renamed the portrait_modifier files. Scripted_character are assigned to index 50 and events to index 90. Keep in mind that the content contained in the one with the highest index will have the priority over the other.
Fixed a rare crash when using the every/any_faith_character script list
Fixed initialisation garrisons for saves from versions before 1.4.0
Fixed domain limit grace period not getting applied for newly gained titles
Characters with an opinion above 80 will properly leave factions
Counties will now leave factions if they don't meet the criteria to join
Fixed the issue with custom characters not starting the game with Men at Arms
Alliance with relatives will stop breaking immediately after being enacted
Allow rulers to fire their chaplain / priest once when they have the doctrine Temporal, for life
Properly check that there is "no Special Building instead" of "no Special Building slot" for the Defender of Rod decision
Jester hat will be less fashionable after 1300 and thus, wonât used by the majority of the characters anymore
Fixed the faith character list potentially overflowing and crashing the game due to dead people pretending to be alive
"Use Hook" is accessible in the Declare War window when you want to push a claim while your liege has a high crown authority
Allow modifiers from events to change haircuts and beards once again
Fixed misleading conditions in tooltip of Fabricate Hook interaction
Sparta will be a valid holy site in existings saves, new games will still use Olympus instead of Sparta
The "End of Fun" event will not stack up several times in multiplayer even if the player does not choose an option immediately
The Decision Develop Capital cannot be done by a child anymore
Added an information on why Fabricate Hook can be unavailable when a you are targeting characters without location
Dead children should not show up anymore during Meet Peers events
Restored a missing localisation key when hovering Declare War without selecting any Casus Belli in English
Fixed a bug when two and more armies involved in a siege and their casualties get applied multiple times
Fixed a rare crash occurrence at game start
==========
We expect to release this same build next Tuesday; Barring there are no severe issues discovered until over the week-end.
If you would like to opt in now, you can access it by right-clicking Crusader Kings III in your Steam library, selecting Properties, entering the 'Betas' tab and selecting "open_beta_1.4.2 - 1.4.2 open beta patch" from the list.
As always, thank you for your patience & understanding. Let us know if you have any additional feedback to 1.4.2.
Before we begin, first things first. We are working on an additional patch to fix some of the issues introduced in 1.4. The patch is still being worked on, but if everything goes as planned, we should be able to get it out sometime next week or so. Weâll let you know once the patch is ready.
With that out of the way, letâs talk about something Iâm quite excited to share with you all. As you probably know already, weâve talked a bit about how we are revisiting cultures for the next expansion. Unlike faiths, which got a lot of attention prior to release as we made them quite dynamic and customizable, cultures can feel a bit static, and aren't anywhere near as interesting as faiths. That is all about to change!
đĄ To see the images, please visit our forums or website. đĄ Enjoy the FAQ Royal Court and read all there is to learn about our upcoming Expansion
We are revising cultures as you know them. Most exciting is perhaps the possibility to create new cultures! Both for simulating historical events and to create plausible and interesting alt-history scenarios. But Iâm getting ahead of myself. For now, letâs start by looking at the foundation of a culture and the different components they are made of. This is what the new culture screen will look like.
[Image of the new and updated culture interface]â
Cultural Pillarsâ A culture has five main Cultural Pillars. These are Ethos, Heritage, Language, Martial Custom, and finally Aesthetics. Of these, the Ethos is perhaps the most significant, but all of them play a particular role in how a culture plays and how cultures view each other.
Ethos Each ethos is framed around a particular theme that somehow ties into a fairly broad definition of what a culture is. A cultureâs ethos not only provides effects and bonuses for having it, it also ties into how easy or difficult it is to acquire certain traditions (more on this further down). There are seven in total:
Bellicose
Communal
Courtly
Egalitarian
Inventive
Spiritual
Stoic
Here are a few examples of what they may look like in-game Again, please read the thread on our forums for the images. We would also love to hear your feedback here and on the Paradox forums where our developers are most active:
[Image of the Bellicose ethos] [Image of the Spiritual ethos] [Image of the Inventive ethos]â
Heritage A culture's heritage can be compared to the culture groups that you may be used to in the existing system. Heritages will roughly match said culture groups. Youâll see an Iberian Heritage for cultures like Basque and Castilian, or Turkic Heritage for Turkic cultures, such as Oghuz and Cuman. In terms of gameplay, the most outstanding effect of a shared heritage is the impact it has on Cultural Acceptance.
Language Each culture has a designated language. Languages vary greatly across the map and between cultures. Some languages, such as Arabic, are spoken by quite a few cultures. Other languages are spoken by no more than two or three cultures, or in some cases, cultures even have their own unique language. An example of these would be Basque, who really don't have any closely related languages and it wouldnât make too much sense to group them together with their neighbors. The vast majority of cultures share a language though, as a sort of âlanguage groupâ rather than a specific language.
Characters can always speak the associated language of their culture. They are, however, also able to learn multiple languages over their lifetime. Knowing multiple languages has its benefits, as speaking the same language as another character of a different culture, and county, will reduce the opinion penalty that character, or county, has towards you. Knowing the native language (i.e. the language of their culture) of your vassals is therefore fairly beneficial as a means of increasing their opinion of you.
Noble Martial Custom The martial custom decides which gender you may appoint as knights and commanders. As youâd expect, you can either appoint men, women, or both. We always felt that having the gender doctrine on faiths decide which characters can and cannot participate in battles felt off. The doctrine is about the right to rule and the holding of titles, more so than anything else. Just because you want the Equal doctrine to allow female rulers, doesnât mean that women would automatically lead your armies or join you as knights. Revising cultures gave us the ample opportunity to move the functionality from faiths over to cultures. Which also means that youâll have additional options in shaping your realm.
Aesthetics This pillar is really a collection of several smaller properties for what a culture âlooksâ like. It decides what type of clothes characters wear, the coat of arms style for dynasties, what architecture holdings use, and the type of armor the units on the map wear.
This is also the pillar that contains what naming practices the culture uses. Mainly what character names to use, if they use a dynasty prefix, etc. The naming practice will also be used to change title and holding names, which used to be set per culture, so as to not have titles change names if you create a new culture.
For all of you modders out there; all of these can be set individually per culture. Allowing you to mix and match the different aesthetics to your heartâs content.
Traditionsâ Traditions are the meat of the cultural overhaul, and provide that extra layer of variety and immersion that can have a significant impact on gameplay. An important aspect of traditions is that they give us a clear means of visualizing and explaining existing mechanics that previously just âwas a thingâ and never explained. Take Anglo-Saxon as an example. They have access to the Saxon Elective succession for no apparent reason other than âthey doâ. Instead, they now have a tradition that grants them the succession law, making it clear as to why they have it. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, traditions serve as the perfect means of giving a culture additional flavour or gameplay bonuses that add a greater degree of variety across the map.
A culture can have no more than five traditions in total, but this number will increase as you enter a new era. Most cultures will start the game with around three or four, which leaves plenty of room for you to shape your culture as you play the game. As the cultural head, youâll have the ability to establish new traditions.
Not all traditions will be available everywhere. We have both regional traditions, as well as traditions that are available depending on your heritage. The vast majority of them can be established regardless of circumstances, but might require certain conditions, such as âHill Dwellersâ having the requirement that your culture must be present in a county with hills.
Traditions cost prestige to adopt. Which will be the largest hurdle for you to overcome if you want a specific tradition. The prestige cost is dependent on your ethos. Certain traditions will be more expensive than others, if you donât have a matching ethos. Similarly, a tradition will increase in cost if your culture, or in some cases the cultural head, doesnât fulfill a specific and thematic requirement. An example would be a tradition named âOnly the Strongâ, which is more expensive if you as the cultural head don't have at least six knights with at least 12 prowess. The increased cost is meant to act as a softer limit and make it slightly more difficult to establish certain traditions (depending on your circumstances), but not as much as to make it impossible to do so, should you want to go and unlock a particular tradition.
Instead of explaining traditions in detail, Iâll just show you a few examples of what traditions may look like, as well as the type of effects you can expect from them.
[Image of the Swords for Hire tradition] [Image of the Chivalry tradition] [Image of the Esteemed Hospitality tradition] [Image of the Seafarers tradition] [Image of the Land of the Bow tradition]â
Cultural Acceptanceâ Cultural acceptance can be described as how well intermingled two cultures are, and how accepting they are of each other. Which means that given enough time, cultures will dislike each other less, and culture converting everything within your realm is no longer the only solution to combat cultural differences.
The opinion penalty of being of a different culture used to be a static value. Now, it will depend on the cultural acceptance between your culture and the target culture. Each culture has an acceptance value of another culture, visualized as a percentage. Depending on the amount of acceptance, the âdifferent cultureâ opinion penalty will gradually be reduced. At 0% acceptance, youâll have the full opinion penalty. At 100%, the penalty is removed altogether. Acceptance goes both ways. So if the French have a 20% acceptance towards Normans, the same will be true from the Norman perspective.
There are two ways for acceptance to change. The first is an acceptance baseline. Which increases if two cultures share similarities with one another. There are a number of different modifiers that can increase the baseline. Such as cultures that share the same religion or faith, ethos, or language. The most impactful modifier, however, is heritage. If two cultures share the same heritage, they have a significant bonus to their baseline.
If acceptance is above the baseline, it will slowly decay over time towards the targeted value. Being below the baseline on the other hand, will not make the acceptance increase. A bad relation between cultures wonât disappear overnight.
Secondly, acceptance very much changes depending on the circumstances. Donât expect two cultures that never interact with one another to gain acceptance. If cultures exist within the same realm though, it will increase over time. This applies to both counties of another culture within your realm, as well as vassals. Acceptance is also reactive. Taking certain actions towards characters of a different culture will have consequences on your acceptance, such as declaring war or revoking titles. This generally scales on size. While the difference isnât huge, revoking a single county from a small culture will decrease your acceptance more than if you would revoke a county from a much larger culture. At the end of the day, if you want to maintain a high acceptance and keep your Occitan vassals in France happy, you are at least gonna have to try and be nice to them.
[Image of what the cultural acceptance between two cultures may look like]â
There we go. Thatâs what a culture will look like in the near future. Oh! Before I forget; Best of all? The cultural rework is free, and will accompany the free update that launches alongside the Royal Court expansion!
