Hello and welcome to the 126th CK3 Dev Diary. I’m Matthew, one of the programmers on the team, and today we’re going to be covering changes to modding support coming alongside Tours and Tournaments as well as how modding activities themselves can work.

► Discuss Dev Diary #126 on our forums!



Activities are fully moddable, and as I mentioned in prior dev diaries they are composed of a variety of options and phases, where a phase is made up of a type and a location.

There are a lot of scripting options in activities so I’m going to also attach our info file on them for a more detailed overview. For this dev diary I’m just going to cover a handful of the bigger things.

Options are one of the more simple things, they are grouped into categories with different options which can be shown and picked and it is scripted which is default. This default picking is a trigger so that different defaults can be set for different people, in vanilla we use this to make Hajj the default for Muslims so they go on that first.


Additionally every option can forcefully add characters to the entourage of the host and invited guests, it will pick from their court characters and allows a weight for selecting them and a maximum to pick from for player and AI.
These invited characters also get an invite order, which I’ll cover in more depth shortly.


Lastly one option category can be set as the “special” category, this option will be picked first when planning an activity. In vanilla we use this for the special activity types like which type of Tour you are going on. It is fed into many triggers and scripted values in the activity setup for checking.

Setting up phases can be quite complicated, mainly centering around how the location of them should be picked.

You can think of there being two types of phases: Predefined and Pickable.

Predefined phases are always present and not removable, they can be selected either by the script picking a location or automatically set to the first or last phase.

For example, in a Tour the final phase is “Journey Home” is predefined and has a scripted selection of always taking you to your capital province so you return home.


For pickable phases the player instead selects a province themselves, phases can be repeatedly picked and have a max limit so you cannot go on a Tour to visit every vassal.

Every phase also has an order in which it happens, for a simple activity like a feast where all phases are predefined this just controls the order they happen. In more complicated activities where the player can pick things the order becomes more complicated, it will respect the order you script but also if the order is matching it will be the last one the player picked.

To take Tours as an example again in the above image you can see order is set to 2, and for the pickable phases where you visit different vassals the order is set to 1.
So that means the Journey Home is always at the very end of everything, and for the vassal stops whichever you the player picked last will be towards the end of your journey.

Special guests can be selected in two ways, either a trigger which you then pick from all invited characters who match it or they can be automatically filled by an effect. This allows weddings to automatically set the bride and groom whereas in a feast you can pick your honorary guest.



Additionally, as you may have spotted special guests can be required or not, if required then the activity will not be plannable without them and if they decline then it will be invalidated.

Every activity has multiple invite rules which control who can be invited, these rules are reusable and can be shared among different activities and are defined in their own files.

On its own an invite rule is just an effect which adds character to a list, how you get those characters from the host is up to you really.


When an activity decides to use those invite rules it can decide if the rule should be enabled by default and more importantly what order the invite rule should be applied. This comes into play when the invite rules are adding more characters then your activity can support, it will try to invite character’s based on the order and later less important characters will be skipped.


Special guests are always invited first since the activity to some degree revolves around them. Equally those you manually invite via interaction will be put to the front of the invite list.

Like invite rules our intents are defined in their own files and can be reused by different activities. The default intent for hosts and guests is defined per activity, the player and AI will pick their own specific one from there.

Every intent can optionally have a target character and they are scripted similarly to interaction targets. One thing to keep in mind when modding intents is the AI target usage, since every invited character is a target you should make liberal use of the AI target filtering we provide and put maximus on potentially very large groups of people.


Due to the nature of activities wanting to display special information, and in the case of Tournaments basically showing its entire own window, we came up with a system of allowing the activity script to define what plugin widgets it would like inserted into the main window.


The format of these is that the left-hand side refers to the name of the plugin widget and the name of the file it will be in, similar to the event window widgets, all of which are found under the gui/activity_window_widgets directory.

The right hand side refers to the name of the widget in the main activity window they should be inserted under. We’ve got a few that we use already in vanilla but mods can expand and add more places they insert widgets and use custom widgets for their own activity information.

As shown off in some earlier dev diaries we now have leveled traits built into the game instead of needing to be handled purely in script.

Script wise they are very simple; any trait can define one or more tracks and what XP thresholds needs to be met for modifiers to apply. The modifiers are stacking so you always get the rewards of previous levels on top of them.

Any trait can be made into a leveled trait, for now we’ve done it to lifestyle traits where you can level them up. But we may apply this in the future to other things!


Currently unused in vanilla we’ve also added it so the trait XP can degrade over time which I am sure mods will be able to put to good use. The below will make the XP degrade by 5 every month, but only to a minimum of 20 so you don’t lose all your hard-earned XP.


Alongside this rework we also went through and added more documentation to traits and combined some properties that could never coexist and now give better errors.

One larger rework that will be a work in progress over the next few patches is that now database types can be registered as scope types.

I’ve reworked our backend to support this better now and still keep things safe, mainly by disallowing effects to be run on these database scopes since they are not modifiable. So now for example traits and activity types are scopes which can be saved and used in script.

Currently the support is mostly in its bare minimum state, but in future patches I plan to make a variety of database types into scopes. This should hopefully improve mod compatibility and reduce down script duplication of manually checking over every single trait by hand.

Coming in the next release after Tours and Tournaments I’ve made traits fully integrated into this for both triggers and effects, so you could look for a random opposite trait of someone and then add it to your character for example.

For Tours and Tournaments we’ve mostly used this in the activity system to support alerts better, so instead of having a hard coded alert about activities you can host we can just check them like normal script.


So modders reading this I’d love to know what types you’d like added as scopes and what triggers and effects that take database keys you’d like to see take scopes. I’ve already got traits done for a future patch, so I am interested in others I can do!

I’ve reworked the backend of how data models work, which now allows us to in gui script dynamically get sub-sections of a datamodel as well as set a datacontext to a specific item in the data model.

For example you can now limit a datamodel to the first three people:
datamodel = "[DataModelFirst( ActivityWindow.GetCharacters, '(int32)3' )]"

Or you can get the skip the first few of them:
datamodel = "[DataModelSkipFirst( ActivityWindow.GetCharacters, '(int32)3' )]"

There also exists a “Last” version of these which gets/skips the end and DataModelSubSpan which lets you do both an offset and desired size.

Using datacontext_from_model you can also get a specific item, oftentimes this will be the very first one so you can show the top scoring character, or first completed intent etc.


The index can also be dynamic so you can save a value in script and then get that character out of your data model.

As some of you eagle eyed people might have spotted, or if you’ve modded Vicky and see they released with our change first, is the new conditional scope change operator ?=.

Normally when you change to a scope you will get errors if it does not exist, but in many cases you know that the thing may not be set in which case you don’t want an error but to fail the trigger.
The previous way of doing that is to add an exists trigger on the line above every time as that then returns false if they are not around, but that could be quite cumbersome.

Now you can combine that together so instead of loads of extra typing it's just one convenient ? being involved!


This also works for scope comparisons where it will return false if the left-hand side does not exist. When used in effects it will just skip running the effects in that scope change if the scope doesn’t exist.

And lastly as a little sneak peek of the patch notes here is the user modding section!

###################
# User Modding
###################

• Added character modifier, Men-at-arms Counter Resistance
  
• Rename hidden_effect_new_artifact to hidden_effect_new_object
  
• Add GetBaronyNameExplicitly and GetBaronyNameExplicitlyNoTooltip to provinces to get the barony even if it's the capital.
  
• Add building_slot_add modifier for holdings.
  
• Add prowess_no_portrait trigger.
  
• Add trait modifiers based on faith doctrine parameters, analogous to culture
  
• Added defines for simple text glow formats
  
• Adds the hostile_county_attrition_raiding to modify the hostile county attrition of raiding armies. Will apply from both commanders and owners of armies. This IGNORES the regular lower limit of 10%, such that hostile county attrition for raiding armies can be reduced to 0. Go forth, land vikings! Pillage! Rule!
  
• Adds the movement_speed_land_raiding to modify the speed of raiding armies moving over land. Will apply from both commanders and owners of armies.
  
• Consistently use reference for triggered background/textures instead of sometimes duplicating with event_background.
  
• Custom loc can now have the "all" type which lets it match to any scope type.
  
• Interactions can now also set a cooldown on all other interactions in the same category via the 'category_cooldown' and 'category_cooldown_against_recipient' properties
  
• Make province GetName and GetNameNoTooltip both return the county if capital.
  
• Remove 'goto' field from 'send_interface_message' and 'send_interface_toast'
  
• Remove GUI support for 'PlayerMessageItem' members 'GetGotoProvince', 'HasGotoProvince', and 'OnGoto'
  
• Remove the add_building_slot effect, only use the new building_slot_add modifier.
  
• Rework how open_view and open_view_data handle additional script provided data, the view_message field has been renamed to data and can be used in either of those effects it will now pass the additional data to the specific interface it is opening which will use it as appropriate.
  
• The 'duel' script effect can now use multiple skills at once, averaging their value. Up to six skills can be compared.
  
• Add diarchy_succession_character script list builder
  
• Add effect change_diarchy_type
  
• Add effect set_diarch
  
• add trigger is_diarchy_successor
  
• Per modder request, added some instructions (and a small correction) to on_actions.info to help newbie modders just getting started
  
• Per modder request, added standardised cultural parameters for raiding overland and overseas to increase mod interoperability. Also made it easier to add dynasty modifiers, house modifiers, & cultural innovations that unlock raiding (either according to standard restrictions for non-tribals or, optionally, without restrictions)
  
• Per modder request, replaced almost all instances of has_government with government_has_flag (and added relevant flags to each government type) to allow for easy hooking in of additional government types to vanilla content & systems, as well as better mod interoperability
  
• Add function [Army.GetArmyStatusTooltip]
  
• Introduce [Army.GetArmyStatusOutlinerIcon]
  
• Renamed [Army.GetArmyStatusIcon] to [Army.GetArmyStatusIllustration].
  
• add change_diarchy_power_level effect
  
• add diarchy_has_parameter trigger
  
• add diarchy_power_level trigger
  
• add set_diarchy_power_level effect
  
• Converted tribal imprisonment block to use a government flag for marginally higher mod compatibility
  
• Added 'memory_creation_date', 'memory_end_date' and 'memory_age_years' triggers for Character Memories.
  
• Add HasCharacterFlag datafunction for characters
  
• Added IsDateAfter promote that takes a date and a target date.
  
• Added IsDateBefore promote that takes a date and a target date.
  
• Added IsDateBetween promote that takes a target date, a start time and an end time.
  
• Added IsDateToday promote that takes a date.
  
• Added GetDateAsTotalDays promote for Dates
  
• Added promote HasFlag to the (Player) MessageType in order to allow specializations for message appearances.
  
• Added effect start_travel_plan, which opens the travel planning window for the player and can take multiple (optional) input parameters like destination(s), companion(s), events/on_actions, et al.
  
• New `*_neighboring_province` list can be used to efficiently get adjacent provinces in script
  
• New `*_army_in_location` list can be used to quickly find armies in a province
  
• The "Settings" window doesn't pop up anymore when reloading localization data
  
• New expand auto-complete mode for console: Toggle via `settings` -> Tools -> Console auto-complete mode
  
• Can kick out existing councillor "nicely" by using `remove_existing_councillor = yes` in `assign_councillor_type` effect
  
• Interactions targetting artifacts can now directly open up a specific artifact
  
• You can now actually generate a 'lowborn' character from character templates (`dynasty = none` is now correctly honored)
  
• The PdxData data_binding 'macro' system now supported for mods too
  
• You can attach character portrait assets to the root of a 3D entities via `at_root_of_entity` (same config location as `shared_pose_entity` / `node`)
  
• New 'scope exists' script operator "?=" added, so we don't have to write "exist = bla bla = { stuff }" thousands of times and can just do “bla ?= { stuff }”
  
• Scope exists operator `bla ?= {}` in effects will not execute effects inside scope if the scope `bla` does not exist
  
• Added new 'ransomed' artifact history state
  
• `set_location` effect now has `stick_to_location = yes` if you want to pin down someone’s default location to be different from their capital or court

Hey! We’re CK’s resident gang of big, beefy, vascular knight bannerets and we’re here to talk knights! Specifically, the brand-new Accolades feature. So slap on your jerkin, grab your bodkin, strap on your slaying-sword, and don’t you dare get distracted by any damsels in distress.

Accolades are about adding depth and flavor to knight management, giving you cause to care about the low-ranked NPCs you’re sending to untimely deaths. This is a smaller feature, but it’s an excellent tie-in to the new Activity System, particularly Grand Tournaments. Activities are ideal less-than-lethal reasons to get your knights out of the house, and get them known as the budding warriors and leaders they are.

No. But your knights will probably get a few new things to offer the battlefield.

► Discuss Dev Diary #125 on our forums!



“In death thy glory in heaven, in victory thy glory on earth. Arise therefore, Arjuna, with thy soul ready to fight” - The Bhagavad-Gita

An Accolade represents the special honors - the eminent status - a liege affords to a favored knight. It represents an awe-inspiring reputation passed through generations of fighters; as Accolades improve over time (and as more storied martial deeds are done), they offer more bonuses to the knights who hold them and to their liege (you).


[Image: Accolades reside at the top of the Knights Window]

By spending prestige to create an Accolade on a worthy knight, you make the character your Acclaimed Knight. They serve just as normal knights do, with no additional effects but those provided by their Accolade Attributes (I’ll get to those shortly).

Here’s what creating an Accolade looks like:


[Image: Pictured: who you can Acclaim and what’s so very praiseworthy about them]

Note that not all your knights are shown as Accolade candidates here. Only unlanded and baron-rank knights can become Acclaimed Knights. Candidates must also have at least 8 prowess - nobody wants them constantly dying of incompetence. Finally, they have to be eligible for at least two Accolade Attributes.

“He who would tell divers tales must know how to vary the tune.” - Marie de France

Accolade Attributes reflect the traits, skills or other qualities of your knights that make them stand out. They’re the source of Accolade bonuses, which scale as knights gain Glory (a new stat: Accolade XP).

Every Accolade has two Attributes. The Ranks earned through Glory gain alternately provide one Attributes’ bonus and then the other’s. So, if your Accolade has a Mentor Attribute, you’ll gain the Mentor’s aid to their fellow knights only with every second increase in Rank.

Some Attributes simply herald an element of a knight’s personality and, while they can be interesting, aren’t particularly impressive. Others (like the aforementioned Mentor) depend on the knight being exceptional and, in return, offer potent men-at-arms modifiers, lifestyle trait boosts, etc.

Let’s check out some Attributes.


[Image: The lowest-level Outrider Attribute bonuses]

The Outrider, shown above, is mostly about boosting light cavalry. Below, you can see what its effects look like when they reach their max. If you’re interested in these kinds of Men-at-Arms bonuses: there’s more on that later in the Dev Diary, including a hot scoop on special Accolade MaA units.


[Image: The highest-level Outrider Attribute bonuses]

To be an Outrider, your knight needs the Open Terrain Expert trait or XP in the Horse track of the shiny new Hastiluder tiered trait (gained from Grand Tournament participation). Being, say, a salt-of-the-earth Thug is more common. Wrathful, Arbitrary, Impatient, Arrogant and Reaver characters all qualify.

The Thug’s is not exactly a rich lineup of bonuses. But hey, if you’re a bad guy, you might still want a Thug on your side!


[Image: the lowest-level Thug Attribute bonus]


[Image: The highest-level Thug Attribute bonuses]

Given knights are a liege’s military muscle, most Accolade bonuses are martial and army-focused. Nonetheless, for those more interested in singing chansons than cleaving skulls, there’s Acclaimed Knights like the rare Master of Revels:


[Image: The lowest-level Master of Revels Attribute bonuses]


[Image: The highest-level Master of Revels Attribute bonuses]

If you find yourself curious about Attributes, a full list with requirements and effects are listed in the in-game Encyclopedia. Have a Marauder and Thug-led gang of bully-boys backing you up, if you wish - or get yourself a Tactician and a House Paragon!

One thing to clear up: while it’s possible to have multiple Acclaimed Knights, you may only ever have one instance of each Accolade Attribute. Let’s keep the modifier stacking reasonable, folks.


[Image: An Accolade]

You’ve created an Accolade. It’s visible above your knights list. When opened, you’re faced with the Accolade’s name, its Acclaimed Knight, the Successor (if one’s been found), its Attributes, and the bonuses it provides.

Note that your Accolades can be freely renamed, just in case the randomly-filled templates like “The Sword of Death” or “Senior Knight of the Polish Guard” don't do it for you.

And the track in the middle is showing… Glory? That’s XP, right?

“He who does more is of greater worth” - Geoffroi de Charny, The Book of Chivalry

Heck yeah, XP. Glory is gained whenever something happens that might make your Acclaimed Knight and their Accolade more respected, more famed and glorious, in the eyes of loyal warrior and hateful foe alike. Accolade Rank is increased with Glory; they’re what provide you with the good stuff.

Here’s a list of common Glory sources for an Acclaimed Knight:
Fighting in winning battles
Wounding/killing other knights in battle
Winning single combats
Attending Activities with their liege
Participating in/winning Tournament Contests
Their liege winning wars against higher-ranked war targets

On that last point: indeed, the feat of besting an Emperor as a Count nets the Count’s Acclaimed Knights a tasty bit of extra Glory. This amount varies based on the size of the war target and the Casus Belli type.


[Image: Glory gain on victory… should this victory somehow happen]

Some new events will also provide opportunities to increase your Accolade’s Glory. This may be the knight-iest one of all:


[Image: An imminent training montage]


[Image: Tooltip of Option A, with Accolades shown in its bottom two entries]

Glory will not accrue endlessly; it is also sometimes lost. This happens when knights lose battles, are defeated, and on Accolade Succession. The last one might seem harsh, but can you really expect a brand-new Acclaimed Knight to command the same respect as their predecessor? Give them some time.


[Image: A n00b.]
​
“For I have promised to do the battle to the uttermost, by faith of my body, while me lasteth the life, and therefore I had liefer to die with honour than to live with shame” - Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur

Knights die. It’s a hazard of the job. If Accolades, as a system, were about the rise of an individual knight’s personal legend, it’d necessitate a lot of frustration and loss of investment. Therefore, Accolades carry on from master to pupil, from Acclaimed Knight to Successor.

Accolade Successors are filled in automatically, but the Accolade’s liege is free to remove them and select replacements.


[Image: Successor requirements and candidates]

What if one has no valid Successors among their knights? Well, willing players can try to recruit characters who fulfill Attribute requirements, by hook (literally and otherwise) or marriage offer.

But if poring through character lists is not your cup of tea, never fear!

“Your prowess, Roland, is a curse on our heads” - The Song of Roland

Worried that one day your Acclaimed Knight will be dead and gone? For a nominal prestige cost, a brand new Accolade Successor can be yours!


[Image: This Interaction is available from the Successor window]


[Image: Top-quality chivalric virtue, on demand!]

There is a bit of fine print to Seek Worthy Accolade Successor, including a fair amount of cooldown. Also, Successors will not necessarily fulfill both of an Accolade’s Attributes, and when that happens - things get funky.

Accolades all have two Attributes. First displayed is the Primary, the core of the Accolade’s identity, which will never change. Below is the Secondary Attribute, which Successors aren’t required to qualify for. Successors must simply fulfill the Primary Attribute requirements (listed in the Successor screen) and qualify for any other Attribute.

An example: you create an Accolade with a Politicker Primary Attribute and an Idealist Secondary Attribute. The Accolade is named something warm and fuzzy like “Most Loyal of the Banners”. Then the Acclaimed Knight dies, and guess what? His Successor is no Idealist, he’s a dang Thug! Your new knight is putting his unique unsavory spin on your Politicker Accolade.

On the bright side, the mutability of Secondary Attributes allows you more flexibility with Accolade bonuses. This boon is offset by increased Succession Glory loss whenever an Accolade has to change over to a new Secondary Attribute.

“Ubi sunt”

What if, god forbid, you fail to find a Successor for your Accolade? Fear not, sweet gamer. The Accolade isn’t destroyed, but rather it becomes Inactive. If you want to free up the slot, you can Retire the Accolade even while it’s still filled by a knight, and it’ll become Inactive.

Clicking on the Inactive Accolades button which, when needed, appears in the Knights and Accolades window will take you here:


[Image: Some out-of-commission Accolades]

These Inactive Accolades no longer provide any effects. You may Reinstate them, choosing a knight to fill them when doing so, or delete them if you wish.

But what if you have an Inactive Accolade and there’s no one up to the task of filling it?

“Are there such heroes among you / Whose bones would not crackle in my fingers?” - The Epic of Jangar

Of course, you’re free to hunt down characters who meet the requirements of your fallen Accolades manually. But this Decision exists to make things a little easier:


[Image: SOUND THE HORNS, SEND THE MINSTRELS]

Neat little aside: this Decision first looks to recruit existing characters, but if none available meet requirements, new characters are generated. The new characters’ Skills and Traits will be appropriate for your Accolade’s Primary Attribute. The individual’s culture should be both A) situated realistically near to yours, B) friendly with yours, and C) either suit the Primary Attribute or generally be well-known for exceptional knights. Basically, this just sets up Norman knights appearing as Accolade candidates all over Christendom.

Plus, if you’re Emperor of Byzantium, there’s a decent chance the elite fighting men who show up will be Armenians or Varangians. Pretty neat.

Let’s switch gears and talk Tournaments. They’re an outstanding one-stop destination for all things knight. Not only do your Acclaimed Knights stand to gain Glory from competition and victory, but the Hastiluder Trait earned with the honing of warrior skills unlocks powerful Men-at-Arms Attributes. Attend equestrian contests if you’re interested in Attributes like Lancer or Camel Rider; hold dismounted combats to pursue knights like the Vanguard and the Skirmisher, and do some archery to get Archers and Crossbow Captains.

Those particularly interested in improving their stable of knights can attend Tournaments with the Recruit Intent, and improve their odds of going home in chivalrous company.


[Image: A Tournament attendee selecting the Recruit Intent]

Interested in your own tale-worthy tournamenting knight? Want an Ulrich von Lichtenstein to dazzle the crowd with skin-tight armor and miraculous skill? Well…


[Image: Reference reference]

The keen-eyed among you may have noticed earlier there’s but 5 spaces for Accolades in the Knights and Accolades window. This is no mistake: 5 is the maximum number of Acclaimed Knights you’ll ever have simultaneously. And I’m afraid to say you’ll often have far less. Sometimes, even no capacity for Accolades at all.

What gets you from no Accolades at all to a whole squad of Acclaimed Knights? These do:

• King-tier Rank
  
• Emperor-tier Rank
  
• Bannus (Innovation)
  
• Knighthood (Innovation)
  
• Renowned Name (Dynasty Legacy Perk 2)

[Image: The Knighthood Innovation, looking pretty stronk]

“This man was very rich and very proud of his bravery, courage and conspicuous lineage; for every Frank is anxious to outdo the others” - Anna Comnena, huge fan of the Latins

Some cultures’ members tended to care a little more than others about glorious feats of arms, and thus we’ve given them a boost to Glory gain. Cultures with Traditions like Chanson de Geste, Royal Army, Performative Honor: those cultures’ Acclaimed Knights have the best shot at being the greatest in all the world.


[Image: Futuwaa, with its new Glory Gain modifier]

The Chivalry lifestyle tree is a good source of Glory bonuses too.


[Image: Chivalric Dominance: a little preview of the Gallant trait]

“He has many men about him and is himself the best of fighters, and is not at a loss for wise counsel.” - The Laxdæla Saga

Before closing things out, let’s take a moment to explain Accolade effects, such as the new Knight Army Modifier. Wherever you see this term, it means your Acclaimed Knight will improve an army simply by being in it. There’s no requirement for the Acclaimed Knight to be the Army’s commander.

Mouse over the Acclaimed Knight icon (helmet with the lil’ colorful scarf) on the army containing your Acclaimed Knight to see what modifiers are being applied to the army by Acclaimed Knights.


[Image: This commander’s got a bit of skirmishing backup]

When you choose a Men-at-Arms-boosting Accolade as a Primary Attribute and level it up, you’ll unlock a fun reward: special, extra-strong Men-at-Arms.

Only one Regiment of these can be recruited and they have a limited troop count. However, their high base stats synchronize well with your Acclaimed Knight’s relevant modifiers and the new bonuses from stationing Regiments in your Holdings. Furthermore, these Retinue MaA perform better in appropriate terrains, they are twice as good at countering, and some of them receive stat increases as the Cultural Eras go by.

Here’s a taste. And it’s just lowly skirmishers with bonuses from game start, because I’m an irrepressible tease.


[Image: Left: regular skirmishers. Right: skirmishers unlocked by a high-ranked Skirmisher Accolade. Bear in mind effects from Knight Army Modifiers aren’t visible here]

That about wraps it up! I’d love to leave you with one last wise quote from de Charny, who may or may not be a greater knight than a certain Willy Marshall or Rodrigo de Vivar:

“Avoid quarrels.”

Thanks for reading!

Welcome, one and all, royal peers from faraway lands, faithful vassals, and errant knights! You are hereby invited to Duchess Matilda’s Grand Wedding!


(Invitation to Duchess Matilda’s Grand Wedding)

Today’s town crier, bringing you news about royal marriages, is game designer Areysak.
Following that, my colleagues will take over to introduce today’s other topics: Bloody Weddings, Feasts, Grand Blots, Grand Rites, and Playdates. We have a packed day, filled with exciting activities, so let’s get started!

► Read Dev Diary #124 on our forums!



Once more, our dev diary is too big to fit into a Steam announcement! Head over to our official forums through the link above to read the Dev Diary in full.

Mine lords, mine ladies, and everybody else not seated upon a cushion! On this day! On this day thee find thineselves equals, for thee are all equally blessed! We haveth the privilege, nay, the joy of giveth introduction to a most joyous occasion. Our exalted majesty hath proclaimed that a tourney is to be held! Right here! In nary a few moons thine village shalt be hosts to a Grand Tourney! Rise, rise to this momentous occasion! Rejoice and partake in the glorious festivities!

Hello everyone, and welcome to Developer Diary#123! We are your hosts: Elisabeth, also known as Oxycoon - a programmer on Crusader Kings 3; Nick, also known as Noodle - a designer on Crusader Kings 3; and Jon, also known as… just Jon - a 2D UI artist on Crusader Kings 3, and today we are discussing Grand Activities. Specifically, the Grand Tournament.

► Read Dev Diary #123 on our forums!



Yet another Dev Diary too big to fit into a Steam post! Head over to our official forums through the link above to read the Dev Diary in full.

Welcome, comrades! First up today we’ll be talking about a subject very dear to my heart, and that’s regencies — what happens when you can’t effectively rule your realm, either because you’re out travelling or because you are a small baby with lacking social skills.

► Read Dev Diary #122 on our forums!



Three dev diaries in a row that are too large for Steam! Head over to our official forums through the link above to read the Dev Diary in full.

Hello everyone and welcome to the 121st CK3 Dev Diary!

I’m Matthew (@blackninja9939), one of the Programmers on the team, and today we’re going to be talking about the overhaul we’ve done to the activity system as well as the improvements to two existing activities; Hunts and Pilgrimages. We’ll be covering the other improved existing activities (Feasts, Blot now known as Festival, and Playdates) in the future as well.

I’m gonna kick things off with how we’ve changed the activity system to better support our goals.

► Read Dev Diary #121 on our forums!



For the second week in a row, this Diary is so large that it exceeds the maximum size for Steam announcements! Head over to our official forums through the link above to read the Dev Diary in full.

Greetings!

Today, we’ll take a look at some of the smaller but numerous changes we’ve made to various systems, as well as some of the more notable quality-of-life changes. We want the game to stay challenging and immersive, especially now that we’re providing a host of new tools to deal with, for example, Vassal dissatisfaction - but we also want to tackle older balance issues, while weaving new solutions into upcoming changes! Of course, this includes us looking at a lot of community feedback from previous rounds of balancing (such as when we updated how the AI built Buildings in the Friends & Foes update).

In this Diary, we will delve into Vassal Stances, Men-at-Arms Stationing, Domain Limit Rebalancing, the Building Slot Revamp, Rebalanced & New Buildings, the Improved Personality Tooltip, Rich Presence, Destroying Artifacts/Aniconism, and Improvements to the Current Situation. Grab a beverage of your choice and get comfortable, this is going to be a long one!

► Read Dev Diary #120 on our forums!



In fact, this Diary is so large that it exceeds the maximum size for Steam announcements, so head over to our official forums through the link above to read more!

Hello! My name is Chad and this is my premiere here on the forums. We’re really excited to kick off a series of dev diaries showing off all the work we have put into Tours and Tournaments. To briefly reiterate a bit of what was covered in our last dev diary, the Tours & Tournaments Expansion will provide a comprehensive rework of the Activity system. Not only have we reworked Feasts, Hunts, and Pilgrimages, but we have added brand spanking new Grand Activities: Tours (also in this dev diary), Tournaments, and Grand Weddings! Along with this rework comes the new Travel System (which I’ll be talking about in more detail today) and the long-awaited Regencies feature–both free additions. You can expect to hear more about all these additions in subsequent dev diaries!

► Read more about Dev Diary #119 on our forums!



Please note the standard disclaimer that all images are of things currently in development and are subject to change before release.


As we said in last week’s dev diary, we want to reinforce the connection between the character and the map. And what’s the best way to do that? Travel.

Every character in the game now has a bonafide Location. With the new Travel Mechanic in place, every character travels to activities that aren’t held in their current location (including the AI). Whenever you plan a Grand Tournament or accept an invitation to your vassal’s Feast, you now also have decisions to make about how you get there. Will you be daring and choose a dangerous route or play it safe? Who will you hire as your Caravan Master to ensure the journey goes smoothly?

Every Travel Plan has two basic stats: Speed and Safety. Speed is represented by a percentage, where 100% is standard (roughly similar to army movement speed). To no one’s surprise, this affects how fast a character moves from province to province. Safety is a value ranging from 1 to 100 and counteracts Danger.

You can expect to encounter a dazzling array of situations as you travel across the map. Perhaps you will encounter a hermit living among the wilderness…


[Image: Event where you encounter a hermit]


Or perhaps you’ll meet someone from a different culture who can speak your native tongue…


[Image: Event where you encounter someone from faraway who can speak your native language]


Or maybe you will even chance upon a knight-errant and convince them to join your entourage?


[Image: Event where you encounter a knight-errant]

Danger lurks in every corner of the map. Every province has a Danger score based on a variety of factors like terrain, county control, owner, et cetera. Traveling through the mountains might expose you to treacherous cliffs, while sailing the seas presents its own, unique hazards, for example.



[Image: Event where one of your entourage members falls from a cliff in mountainous terrain]


[Image: Event where you encounter a squall destroys your sails while traveling at sea]

There are also several dynamic factors that affect how dangerous provinces are. For example, Holdings decrease Danger while any army activity (sieges, battle, raiding) greatly increase danger. While there is always a possibility of encountering Danger, a well-prepared traveler who invests in their Safety will encounter dangerous events far less frequently.


So how do I prepare to set out on the open road? Glad you asked, let’s take a look at the brand new Travel Planner.


[Image: Example of planning to travel for a Pilgrimage]

Along with the Travel System, we introduce the Caravan Master as a new Court Position. The Caravan Master is the face of your journey and handles all the banal, practical aspects to traveling. Hiring a skilled character will increase both your Speed and Safety while providing some passive bonuses to Army Movement Speed, Supply Limit, and Court Grandeur.



[Image: Selection window for choosing a Caravan Master court position]

Every time you set out on a journey, you have the chance to pick 2 Travel Options. These additional features provide a range of possible bonuses when added to your travel.


[Image: Selection screen for choosing Travel Options]

Most Travel Options have an associated cost for the benefits they provide. Hiring Experienced Sea Captains will add a salty sea dog to your Entourage, thus making your journey across open water safer. Some are unlocked by Buildings in your domain or your character’s Traits. To illustrate, if you have built Stables or Camelries up to level 4 or higher, you can unlock the Superior Mounts Travel Option and get a nice boost to Speed. It costs nothing, of course, since you own the Stables already.


[Image: Superior Mounts Travel Option]

Another example is the Train Knights Travel Option, which is unlocked by having Military Academies built in your domain. When selected, 3 of your least-skilled Knights are added to your Entourage. It increases your Safety and there is a chance for each Knight to increase their skills along the journey.


[Image: Train Knights Travel Option]

While it’s not required to select Travel Options (especially for short journeys), they can prove quite useful when setting out on a longer journey, such as a Pilgrimage. This is also a way to affect which characters join your Entourage, the group of characters who travel at your side. Some characters, such as your Court Physician and Bodyguard, will automatically join your Entourage if you employ those Court Positions. Otherwise, your Entourage is primarily composed of characters relevant to the Activity to which you are traveling. Your Knights will join you for Tournaments, for example.

When planning a journey, you will always be presented with the shortest path towards your destination. But perhaps you really don’t want to travel through your Rival’s lands or maybe you’ve always wanted to see the splendor of Rome? Well fear not, for we have included a Custom Route Editor!


[Image: Example of adding waypoints to a journey via the Custom Route Editor]

We allow you to customize your route by adding waypoints along your path. If employed cunningly, you may be able to avoid assassins hired by your Nemesis or gaze up at Caesar’s Needle from the hallowed streets of Rome.

Since Travel inevitably touches nearly every aspect of the game, I figured I’d spend some time here at the end attempting to answer a few questions that are sure to arise.

The focus for this expansion has been to create a Travel System that will specifically work for getting characters to and from Activities. With that said, we’ve endeavored to make this system as flexible as possible for future work and iterations–which is why it’s a free feature. The Travel Mechanic has also been integrated into smaller activities such as Meet Peers, Grand Blot, and Grand Rite. We are currently working on integrating the mechanic into more game systems.

Some Schemes are still completable while you or your Target is traveling. For example, you can still sway a character or attempt to learn their language while either of you are traveling. You cannot, however, attempt to seduce someone who is not in your location. (The power of letters only goes so far…) These Schemes will be frozen until both characters are no longer traveling.

I know you’re all eager for things like trade routes–so are we! That won’t be coming in this expansion, but it is something we have our eye on for the future.

Hello hello hello, I am Meka66 and it has been a while since I was last able to write a dev diary, way back in my Hearts of Iron days. Today I'm here to talk to you about Grand Tours!

What is a tour? Well, more broadly a Grand Tour is your opportunity to use the travel system to hold royal visits across your realm; bringing you closer to your direct vassals and giving you the opportunity to get closer to sub-realms usually in your periphery, yielding powerful rewards to help you manage your unruly subjects; both noble and lowborn.


[The art in this screen is placeholder until we get our more complete gorgeous art.]

Primarily, you will be visiting vassals, choosing from one of three things to do on your visit: Tour the Grounds, Attend a Dinner, or Attend a Cultural Festival. Each of these will yield different rewards both for the realm you're visiting and for yourself personally. Let's start with Tour the Grounds.


Here you can plan your route around your kingdom



Arrival at a Tour of the Grounds, the layout of this window is still being worked on.

When Touring the Grounds of your vassal's holding, you're having a look around at daily life in your vassal's capital; visiting the village, hanging around their holding, and exploring their hunting grounds. Overall this results in a boost in Control in counties within your vassal's realm, since it is difficult to ignore the authority of the King when he's right on your doorstep.



One of many opportunities to raise control in your vassal's holdings

You'll also have opportunities to boost your prestige and renown, by flexing your hunting skills on your dear vassals.


An opportunity here to show off your hunting skills



Arriving at a dinner

Next up we have the Hosted Dinner. The dinner is much like a feast, but far more intimate. The dinner will give you opportunities to not only share some time with your vassal and form friendships and gain hooks, but it is also an opportunity to interfere with their court; offering their courtiers a better life in the capital, becoming the guardian for your vassal's heir, and discovering secrets at your vassal's court.


One of many opportunities you have to make friends, learn secrets, and gain hooks.



Arriving at a Cultural Festival in Sweden. A true oxymoron if ever there was one.

Lastly we have my personal favorite, the Cultural Festival. A realm is typically made up of all sorts of people belonging to different faiths and cultures, and what better way to demonstrate the magnanimousness of your rule than to experience the strange traditions of your subjects? If you're a highly diverse realm like Khazaria or a stranger in a strange land like a Norman invader, this is an excellent opportunity to get some powerful bonuses to cultural acceptance.


Spreading cultural acceptance around your realm by showing your subjects you embrace their traditions. Here we have the Emperor visiting a Bulgarian nativity play.

But no culture is a monolith of course, and Cultural Festivals can still yield powerful rewards even if you're visiting a county of your own culture. Showing your respect for the customs of folks outside of the capital will result in potent popular opinion gains, allowing you to bring your unruly subjects in line.


Same-culture festivals still yield powerful rewards.

Your tour consists of several stops across your realm, with one of the above activities taking place at each location. Here we have our beloved Byzantine Emperor planning a tour of his realm; having dinners with his powerful vassals, touring the grounds of his distant subjects, and observing the local culture of his Armenian and Bulgarian subjects.


A roundabout route of the Byzantine Empire

But visiting nobles isn't the only thing you're doing on your tour, of course. You are traveling with your court! On your journey, you'll get a chance to meet with your lowliest of subjects, and what you do with them exactly is up to you! You may encounter drunkards muttering of rebellion in a tavern, or be accosted by highwaymen on the road. While most travel events are just about things that happen on your journey, a tour travel event is an opportunity to remind the commoners that their liege is ever present.

To this effect, we have several Intents. Intents in Tours determine what exactly it is you hope to do with commoners while on the road; do you want to show charity, assert your authority, or just drink and visit brothels on your merry way across your realm?


Here we have the intent selection screen, which can be changed at any time before or during your tour!

We'll start with the more stone-faced intents: Altruism and Justice.

The Altruism intent is inspired much by the concept of both charity and the Royal Touch; the belief that Kings had the power to heal the sick just with their touch. On an Altruistic route across your realm, you will show your piousness and generosity to your realm; giving piety, popular opinion, and stress loss with the right traits (compassionate, zealous, etc).

An altruistic opportunity to show you are not disgusted by your subjects… or not

Justice is your chance to remind commoners that the crown is ever-present, and you can show justice, whatever it may mean to you. This can include judging local trials, meeting with peasant leaders, and sending in your men to clear out bandits. Justice results in stress loss for the appropriate traits, and some chances to fill your dungeon and increase control along your route.


A chance to bring the Crown's justice to the countryside

Lustful characters can also benefit from the Lechery intent, giving them the opportunity to seek out new paramours on the road and pay visits to local brothels to reduce their stress and find new lovers. If you're a player who enjoys lustful content, this intent is for you; otherwise, the lechery intent is entirely opt-in. What you want to get out of your tour is up to you!


This intent can be particularly useful if your spouse is unable to give you an heir

Lastly we have the Relax intent, which is the default. In this intent, you just want to use your time on the road to visit taverns and take it easy on your tour, giving you large gains in stress reduction.


There are all manner of ways to reduce stress on your Tour.

But there is more! What primarily motivates your tour is determined by your Tour Type, of which we have three: Majesty, Taxation, and Intimidation. These options will determine what exactly it is you demand from your vassals when you stop by for a visit, is it just to show how much of a great ruler you are? Or is it to extract taxes? To strike fear into your unruly subjects?

A Majesty Tour is all about vassal opinion and prestige. During your visits, you will show your grace and magnificence to all.




A Taxation Tour is all about finding those little loopholes and oversights your vassals have been taking advantage of and tying them up, and taking what is rightfully yours. You may cause some upset, but it's all worth it to fill the treasury, right?




Intimidation Tours are all about showing how much your vassals should fear you. You'll get chances to do all manner of things to unsettle your subject. Direct confrontation can be a powerful tool, and can even motivate some vassals to leave their hostile factions against you.




Which Tour type are you most interested in trying first? We would love to hear your thoughts!

Each time you perform an action which corresponds with your selected tour type, it will increase this tour success bar here. The rewards you get at the end of your tour will scale and change depending on just how successful you've been in achieving your goals, and if done right, it can be a powerful tool for strengthening and stabilizing your realm.


Here we have the Majesty success bar

Tours are a big investment in both time and money, but they also yield powerful and long lasting rewards; everything from cultural acceptance to control to dread to prestige, a tour is an all-encompassing realm management tool, taking your court on the road and bringing the presence of the crown wherever it is needed.

That's all for now, we'll be around to answer questions as always. See you next week where we'll talk about some of the smaller-but-broader systemic changes we've made to vassals, buildings, men-at-arms, and more!

Greetings!

Come one, come all! The grand tournament awaits your attendance - your steeds have been readied and your entourage assembled for the journey ahead! It’s time to show the world your graciousness as host and worth in the arena… but to get there, we’re better off routing our journey around the treacherous mountain passes of Stipon, as I hear they’ve been crawling with highwaymen since your, ahem, dalliance with Duke Andronikos’ wife during his son's wedding. Then there’s the matter of your unruly vassals: perhaps it’s time for a royal tour?

► Read more about Dev Diary #118 on our forums!



The life of a ruler was always active - there were many things to attend to, and most courts at the time were itinerant, roaming from place to place constantly. Tours and Tournaments aims to give rulers plenty of things to do, especially during times of peace, by introducing new systems of Travel and Grand Activities!

As mentioned in the Floorplan Dev Diary, we want to reinforce the connection between character and map - after all, the game is played on a beautiful medieval map, and no longer will the only time your ruler leaves the safety of their capital be when you’re at war. There’s an entire world out there to explore, filled with both great opportunities and adventurous obstacles.

By assembling an entourage, selecting options for your travel, and hiring a caravan master, you are ready to set out on the road and travel to activities across the world. The Travel system is an integral part of activities, with both the host and guests traveling to reach them - creating a stronger feeling of place as you see your route being plotted and your character moving directly on the map.


[Image: The Duke of Bohemia setting out on a Tour]

So what are these activities you can travel to, you ask? There’s plenty - firstly we’ve updated and revamped Feasts, Hunts, and Pilgrimages completely - the bread-and-butter of activities. There’s now a reason to hunt in a specific forest within your domain, as a ferocious wolf or legendary stag might have been spotted there - or a reason to hold a feast in a holding with leisure palaces, as you might need to impress a particularly unruly vassal. Pilgrimages will now be epic journeys, potentially taking years if you’re going far - making it necessary for a regent to rule in your stead. All activities have dedicated interfaces with easily-accessible information and beautiful art to set the scene.

Of course, there are Grand activities that are even more impactful - each of them different in their own magnificent way! They have Options and Intents which affect rewards and what type of content you might encounter. Our aim is to make each activity have a clear purpose and be interesting in its own right, therefore we chose to make Grand Tournaments, Grand Tours, and Grand Weddings - three vastly different activities with vastly different executions and purposes!


[Image: Example of Activity Types, initial step]

Grand Tournaments are where you go to test your mettle: spectacles to be announced far and wide, with rewards ranging from precious trinkets to fabulous prizes! Grand Tournaments aren’t only for martially-inclined characters - while there are contests such as melees and jousts, there are also more cerebral ones such as recitals or erudite board games. You can join your knights in slippery wrestling, eagle-eyed archery, dangerous horse racing, and vicious team melees - all clad in gleaming armor brandishing your coat of arms for the masses to see! Participating and winning in these contests will see your characters and knights grow in skill and receive prizes; living the life of a frequent tournament-goer is a valid path to take. Exploring the tournament Locale and choosing the right Intents might help you out in other ways as well, be it finding friends or dispatching rivals. If you’re in need of renown, hosting tournaments yourself will grow your standing significantly, as rulers from foreign realms come flocking to the fateful grounds, eager to compete!


[Image: Snapshot of part of the Tournament UI. Tournaments, unlike other Grand Activities, have an extra special interface - more on that in the Tournaments Dev Diary]

Grand Tours see you assemble your entire court and set out to visit vassals in your realm - an activity commonly undertaken by medieval rulers. This is a way to assert your overlordship, while also enjoying the hospitality your vassals have to offer. There are various paths to take: Intimidation, Majesty, or Taxation, all affecting the rewards and opinions of your vassals. At its core, Tours are a tool for realm stability - and something a newly-ascended ruler should undertake quite early to avoid factions and revolts. You also get to choose between ways of approaching your vassals individually; you might want to tour the grounds, observe a cultural festival, or simply have a private dinner hosted for you.

Grand Weddings allow you to marry above your station… if you’re willing to pay the cost! They also provide ample opportunity for diplomatic shenanigans, such as impressing neighboring rulers into becoming vassals, forming hard-to-get alliances, or creating favorable matches for your children. Of course, these spectacles come with everything you’d expect out of a medieval ceremony - revelries, drama, and even a bedding ritual at the end. Or you can invite a group of mercenaries to color the halls crimson with the blood of the other House, should you desire it.


[Image: Planning a Grand Wedding]

As some of you managed to cleverly figure out, there’s also a brand-new regency system where we’ve made sure that it’s both interesting to have and to be a regent. Loyal regents help you by dutifully fulfilling their Mandates, and being the regent of your liege gives you opportunities to (with varying degrees of bloodshed) seize the throne for yourself, should you be doing a “good” job.

There’s also a myriad of other changes which we’ll go into in future dev diaries - smaller systemic updates to buildings, knights, vassal opinions, and so on - all to support a more interesting and living map, where your choices matter more.

So take to the road, ruler - great opportunities await!

Tours and Tournaments will be released in late spring, and until the release we will have weekly Dev Diaries.

Don’t forget to wishlist:
Wishlist on Steam

Hello everyone!

My name is Jens and this is my first appearance on this forum. I’ve got the opportunity to share some details with you on my probation project for CK3, which is making it all the way into the upcoming release (because that’s where I pushed my changes, lol)!

I’m happy at least one of you caught on to the subtle hint in the previous DD. I was like “Wokeg, did you use my new thing to set up the screenshots?” Well yes, because all of a sudden most assets and characters have become way more accessible. So what is it I’m talking about? At this point, most of you have probably guessed it - but yes, we have upgraded our old friend the Barbershop.

► Read more about Dev Diary #117 on our forums!



I’ve scrambled through the webs looking for feedback and wishes of what you would like and expect from such a tool. Heck, no mediocre fix would do: I want only the best for you! I distilled the info down, looking for the essence of how you’d want to use the tool, set up the tasks, prioritized them, and spent the last few weeks going through them all. Well, I’ll spare you the fluff. Let’s get into some details.

First off, we have expanded the Barbershop into two tabs. The first is focused on changing the appearance of your character. Additionally, I’ve added a fuzzy search box next to the drop downs, in case you already know the name of what you’re looking for.


[Image: Barbershop, tab for changing appearance]


In the second tab, we’ve added drag and drop support for the portraits, so you may click, drag and place them wherever you want. You can also rotate them 360 degrees and we’ve also got 4 different zoom levels for you to play around with. Every character has their own dropdown of poses and animations and we’ve also added a wide variety of backgrounds. The only limit now is your own imagination.


[Image: Barbershop, tab for placing characters in the scene]


One of the big reasons we play is to create stories and make memories. I took a deep dive into the forum history and found out some of you want to use the Barbershop to relive past events between characters, dress up a serious ruler in a funny outfit or take family photos. To support this I’ve added presets. The “Custom” preset lets you import characters simply by pinning them. Another preset I really wanted in (based on a comment) was an easy way to view your entire Council, so for that end I present to you:


[Image: Barbershop, easily view your council]


Also, note the council preset supports modding if that’s your thing.


[Image: Barbershop script]


With only a few polish tasks left, people have already begun discovering this tool in-house and started trolling and meme-ing each other. I hope you guys will enjoy the new Barbershop as much as we do. Let me know if you have any last minute requests and I will see what I can do. Now, our Game Director also has something in store for you.


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Greetings! In addition to the above we also want to show some additions to our collection of Map Modes - namely the introduction of the Control and Economy map modes! These two new tools are very useful in managing your realm… and planning your conquests.


[Image - New Map Mode Buttons]


The Control map mode is very straightforward, showing you exactly what you’d expect. It spans from a dark purple (denoting very low control) to a light yellow (showing just a slight lack of control), and a bright white shows where there’s Absolute Control.


[Image: Control Map mode Example]


The Economy map mode is a little bit less straightforward - but we aspired to make it as useful as possible. The nebulous concept of ‘economy’ is a bit harder to represent, but we decided to include what most of us thought were key factors in making informed decisions.


[Image: Economy Map mode Example, Southern France]


Similar to the Development Map mode, the color spans from dark purple to bright yellow; bright yellow indicates an area is quite rich. The area colors are based on Counties, including income from Cities, Bishoprics, and so on - for an overall approximation of the County’s use to the player (of course, Counties with more Castles might be better in the eyes of some, but we had to make a call and thought that this was the most useful overall). This coloring is relative to the state of the world, meaning that the most brilliant yellow County is the richest one in the world at that moment. This map mode doesn’t care about the current Control Level of the County, which makes it useful for planning conquest targets.


[Image: Economy map mode, showing India]


Something else that you no-doubt notice is that Special Buildings are shown on this map mode! They’ve been hidden away for much too long, and we decided that this was an excellent time to reveal them… and maybe add a handful of new ones. Getting Special Buildings in your domain was always a fun goal for the player to achieve, and now it’s not only possible to see where they are - but also whether you can use them, if they are already built, what they provide, and so on!

As an added bonus, we’ve added an absolute ton of new mines strewn around the map, and we’ve also revised the system for founding Universities - now it’s no longer a decision, but rather the institutions are constructed as normal special buildings (and in many more places than before!), with the same rewards on offer.

This means that there are many, many more great capital locations strewn across the world, and it’s now easier than ever to find them!

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That’s it for this time! But stay tuned… our spymaster sends word that what’s next for Crusader Kings III will soon be announced! Make sure to mark Monday next week, March 6th, in your calendars and visit this link!