Crusader Kings II - BjornB
For those eager to know why they should fear the reaper in the upcoming expansion, Game Director Henrik Fåhraeus details what kind of grisly demises you can expect from horrendous world events such as the Black Plague in this video developer diary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQQqBIOgVRw
Crusader Kings II - BjornB
For those eager to know why they should fear the reaper in the upcoming expansion, Game Director Henrik Fåhraeus details what kind of grisly demises you can expect from horrendous world events such as the Black Plague in this video developer diary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQQqBIOgVRw
Europa Universalis IV - BjornB


Today, Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio announced the next expansion for their hit grand strategy game Europa Universalis IV.

Thomas Paine wrote that laws get their force from the consent of those who agree to live under them. It is in this spirit of that Paradox Development Studio continues expand and improve Europa Universalis IV, with the upcoming Rights of Man.

This expansion to Paradox Development Studio’s best-selling historical strategy game introduces a number of small changes that add up to a deeper and more dynamic experience. Near the top of this list is the Great Power mechanic, where the most developed nations have access to new diplomatic options to bully or entice weaker neighbors. Keep that development going, or lose the powers you paid a high price for.

Rights of Man also adds a little more character to your monarchs, as they acquire traits that will give bonuses (or penalties) to your country, and affect how rival nations approach you. Beware the conqueror next door, but be nice to the generous king across the river - he may have some gold to spare in your time of need.

Other features coming in Rights of Man include:
  • New goals for Coptic and Fetishist religions
  • Greater control over adopting new cultures in your empire
  • Leader Traits giving battle hardened commanders added prowess
  • More detailed military instructions for Subject Nations
  • Revolutionary Republics now have Factions to balance
  • Ottoman Empire gets new Harem Politics events and options
  • AND MUCH MUCH MORE
As usual, the release of Rights of Man will be accompanied by a free update for all Europa Universalis IV players – and this one will have the first major overhaul of the technology system since launch.
Europa Universalis IV - BjornB


Today, Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio announced the next expansion for their hit grand strategy game Europa Universalis IV.

Thomas Paine wrote that laws get their force from the consent of those who agree to live under them. It is in this spirit of that Paradox Development Studio continues expand and improve Europa Universalis IV, with the upcoming Rights of Man.

This expansion to Paradox Development Studio’s best-selling historical strategy game introduces a number of small changes that add up to a deeper and more dynamic experience. Near the top of this list is the Great Power mechanic, where the most developed nations have access to new diplomatic options to bully or entice weaker neighbors. Keep that development going, or lose the powers you paid a high price for.

Rights of Man also adds a little more character to your monarchs, as they acquire traits that will give bonuses (or penalties) to your country, and affect how rival nations approach you. Beware the conqueror next door, but be nice to the generous king across the river - he may have some gold to spare in your time of need.

Other features coming in Rights of Man include:
  • New goals for Coptic and Fetishist religions
  • Greater control over adopting new cultures in your empire
  • Leader Traits giving battle hardened commanders added prowess
  • More detailed military instructions for Subject Nations
  • Revolutionary Republics now have Factions to balance
  • Ottoman Empire gets new Harem Politics events and options
  • AND MUCH MUCH MORE
As usual, the release of Rights of Man will be accompanied by a free update for all Europa Universalis IV players – and this one will have the first major overhaul of the technology system since launch.
Europa Universalis IV - BjornB


Good afternoon. It's Thursday and that means we in the EU4 team are being shaken down for Dev Diaries. With Johan cooking something up for you all at Gamescom, I'm back in the saddle to bring you another taster of what's to come in our upcoming [name-leak patched] expansion.

Fetishists were introduced lately, diversifying the Pagan religions by having a tailor-made African variant. While they have some purposed African events, the religion was left without its own mechanics, leaving it looking at its religious brothers with envious eyes.

No longer! As a feature in the upcoming expansion, Fetishist nations will have a choice of Cult granting them bonuses and unique events. Where in Africa you start will determine the Cults which are available to you, giving Central Africans a different starting Cult selection from, say, the West Africans



"Starting" Cult selection you say? Yes. The mechanic will look similar for those of you who enjoy some Hindu campaigns but our Fetishist friends can add some extra tools to their belt as they forge their destinies.

Each Fetishist nation will start with 3 Cults available to them, which can be chosen from by each new ruler. Additional Cults can be unlocked through interaction with other faith groups. Through fighting, bordering with alliance or ownership of heathen land, you can unlock additional cults based on that faith. Each monarch can choose one Cult to worship, granting a national bonus and unlocking events for that cult.



Last I counted, there are 17 in total If you've been putting off that Victorian Three achievement run, 1.18 is the patch to go for it. Fetishist Cults, along with the Coptic Holy Sites mentioned before, are paid features in the upcoming expansion which will be released alongside the 1.18 free patch.

Between the changes in the throne room, the religious mechanics, Great Powers, Traits, Personalities and tech overhaul, you could be forgiven for thinking we have run out of things to reveal about the upcoming expansion and patch. You would still be far from the truth though. We'll be back with another Dev Diary next week to talk not just about what you can do for your subjects, but what your subjects can do for you.

Read the original post


Useful links
Official Website
Europa Universalis IV Wiki
Europa Universalis IV Development Diary Archive
Europa Universalis IV - BjornB


Good afternoon. It's Thursday and that means we in the EU4 team are being shaken down for Dev Diaries. With Johan cooking something up for you all at Gamescom, I'm back in the saddle to bring you another taster of what's to come in our upcoming [name-leak patched] expansion.

Fetishists were introduced lately, diversifying the Pagan religions by having a tailor-made African variant. While they have some purposed African events, the religion was left without its own mechanics, leaving it looking at its religious brothers with envious eyes.

No longer! As a feature in the upcoming expansion, Fetishist nations will have a choice of Cult granting them bonuses and unique events. Where in Africa you start will determine the Cults which are available to you, giving Central Africans a different starting Cult selection from, say, the West Africans



"Starting" Cult selection you say? Yes. The mechanic will look similar for those of you who enjoy some Hindu campaigns but our Fetishist friends can add some extra tools to their belt as they forge their destinies.

Each Fetishist nation will start with 3 Cults available to them, which can be chosen from by each new ruler. Additional Cults can be unlocked through interaction with other faith groups. Through fighting, bordering with alliance or ownership of heathen land, you can unlock additional cults based on that faith. Each monarch can choose one Cult to worship, granting a national bonus and unlocking events for that cult.



Last I counted, there are 17 in total If you've been putting off that Victorian Three achievement run, 1.18 is the patch to go for it. Fetishist Cults, along with the Coptic Holy Sites mentioned before, are paid features in the upcoming expansion which will be released alongside the 1.18 free patch.

Between the changes in the throne room, the religious mechanics, Great Powers, Traits, Personalities and tech overhaul, you could be forgiven for thinking we have run out of things to reveal about the upcoming expansion and patch. You would still be far from the truth though. We'll be back with another Dev Diary next week to talk not just about what you can do for your subjects, but what your subjects can do for you.

Read the original post


Useful links
Official Website
Europa Universalis IV Wiki
Europa Universalis IV Development Diary Archive
Crusader Kings II - BjornB


Hello all, it’s DD time again! As you hopefully know, it’s only a little over 2 weeks until Reaper’s Due is released (on the 25th), and you’ve seen pretty much all the new features by this point. As such, I don’t have any big reveals this week, so instead I will just tell you about a few assorted small features and share some of the 2.6 patchnotes with you. So, without further ado:

Reaper’s Due
As well as 2.6 making the Indian Reincarnation events work slightly better, RD includes a rare Reincarnation event which anyone can get, provided they have Fantasy Content turned on.

Parents now have some reaction events to their children being born, especially to their first child, and additional events if it is sickly.

When characters become Ill, it is possible they will suffer from a Mild, Normal, Severe, or Incapacitating version of their Illness. In the latter case they will be bedridden and will require a Regent for the duration of their Illness.

2.6
I mentioned we might do this in an earlier DD, but Nomad’s Pillage decision is now on a separate Alert to avoid accidentally Settling.

You can now zoom the camera out even further, allowing the entire map to be seen at once.

As mentioned in a non-DD thread, AI-called Crusades will be much more likely to target areas adjacent to provinces of their religion-group if they have no targets with Crusade weights set.

I thought those were interesting enough to mention, but here’s the entire “Balance” section of the 2.6 patchnotes:
###################
# Balance
###################
- Alliances and Call To Arms
- Restored manual call to arms
- Call to arms from allies can be declined again
- Added defines to enable/disable auto call to arms and possibility to decline them
- Added major opinion penalties to alliance breakers
- Added temporary alliance-breaker modifier (gives -5 diplomacy)
- Made alliance-breaker and truce-breaker temporary modifiers duration scriptable
- AI will consider dissolving alliances with alliance breakers
- AI is unlikely to accept alliances from alliance-breakers
- Fixed a bug that prevented vassals from joining wars against tyrants. Expect revocation wars to be more risky! (can be disabled through the define VASSALS_UNITE_AGAINST_TYRANNY)
- Can no longer call ally to war if ally has NAP with defender
- Alliance breaks with attacker if you accept call to arms from defender

- Flanders is now properly part of France
- Norse, Pictish, Visigothic, and Saxon cultures no longer split if controlled by a powerful ruler, or if their head of religion is of their culture
- CROWDED_THRESHOLD_MODIFIER lowered to 25
- Head injury in battle now has a chance to cause disfigured rather than incapable if your have Reapers
- many "active" minor titles, such as designated regent, cannot be held by incapable characters
- Alania is now Tribal from the Old Gods start point onwards
- k_hungary no longer requires a Magyar province to form
- Increased the troop count of the Shia uprising to make it succeed slightly more often
- AI holders of k_france will no longer create k_aquitaine unless they are close to forming Francia
- Gave Berber culture 'allow_looting = yes' and 'seafarer = yes'
- Added requirement for lvl 4 hillfort/market city when upgrading Tribal holdings as a non-tribal
- The AI now makes use of Tribal Armies
- AI Nomads can now acquire warhorses
- Increased the Steal Population effect on the Humiliate CB from 10% to 25%
- Increased the impact and deadliness of most Epidemic traits
- Updated the 'Funeral Procession' event with better rewards in the options
- Extort Subjects now available when at war
- Donate to Liege now available when liege is at war
- The 'Groom an Heir' ambition no longer requires you to be married
- Updated final 'Ambitious positive' event to be slightly more interesting
- When declining the papal request to switch to Papal Investiture, the Pope may now excommunicate you
- Rank 2 and 3 education outcomes are now more common
- Become King ambition now only lets chancellors fabricate one kingdom claim
- AI no longer calls all allies into war, but only tries to get more than 1.25 times the opponent's strength
- Changed age to set childhood focus to 6 so you can also choose an educator at the same time
- Pagan nomads no longer suffer from pagan defensive attrition (made it a define called NOMAD_SUFFER_PAGAN_ATTRITION)
- It's now possible to demand religious conversion of landless courtiers even while at war
- Moved the Theology and Hunting focus events to 'on_focus_pulse'
- Seduction Focus: The rebuff opinion modifier no longer lasts forever
- Boosted the opinion effects of giving gifts and of the "Improve Relations" councillor job
- Even with the law that allows revocation and retraction from religious enemies, their religious brethren among your vassals will now still be upset
- You no longer get Pagan homeland attrition if you're allies
- Made Agnatic the normal default gender succession law again, except in Christian realms or when you have equality laws, or the new game rule
- Blocked barons from having Agnatic-Cognatic succession (it's an inheritance mess)
- Rulers of all religions are now allowed to convert to the attacker's religion during holy wars, if their Moral Authority is much lower
- The Family Focus (Way of Life) can now also remove rivalries between close family members
- Exiled characters should no longer join courts of characters in seclusion, or court of the banisher's vassal
- Characters can no longer escape from House Arrest
- Monthly prestige/piety province modifiers are now added to the character
- Most of the minor titles can now be made available for female characters as well, provided the correct laws or game rules are in place
- Frail now has a small health penalty
- When a Tyranny war is lost while the Conclave DLC is enabled, the title revocation law will be revoked
- Intrigue Focus: Spy On: Nerfed the chances of abduction and murder unless you are a Master Schemer
- Added 1 Health to the Theology Focus
- AI Nomads will now Tribalize if they push too far outside the steppe IF they don't hold much territory in the steppe region + not many castles/cities
- When Nomads Tribalise they now culture/religion convert new provinces based on population/manpower
- When a Nomad Tribalizes a custom kingdom will be created if they would end up as duke rank or lower
- Nomads who Tribalize now get a small amount of event troops
- Changed the Eunuch Councilor events so that they are slightly better and show up in the event option so you can click them and check their stats before deciding
- Carousing Focus: You can now invite people to a new party 90 days after the last one (down from 500 days)
- Raised chance of reincarnation events for Indian religion group
- Changed the Jewish Councilor events so that they are slightly better and show up in the event option so you can click them and check their stats
- Lowered the war contribution that all theocracies and holy orders get as attackers in Great Holy Wars
- Powerful vassals will now only be angry that they haven't been given a position on the council if they're eligible for such a position, or they've recently been fired from the council
- Horse Lords: Unlocked the 'Perform Sky Burial' decision for non-Nomadic rulers of the Mazdan religious group
- Tanistry is now available without Late Feudal Administration, both for Feudal and Tribal Celtics
- Fixed firing Advisors applying the "Revoked Honorary Title" opinion modifier on top of the "Fired from Council" opinion modifiers
- Merchant republics can now always move their capital to a city if their current capital is a castle
- Reintroduced the Bankruptcy character modifier, which reduces army morale by 25% when a ruler has negative wealth
- Councilors who have promised council support to someone will now vote their conscience if the person they're supporting is abstaining
- Commanders can now only be relieved via the Relieve Commander interaction and the Minor Titles screen, which unlike the Revoke Honorary Title interaction, do not incur an opinion penalty
- Retreating enemy armies are no longer considered hostile for the purpose of disbanding units
- Adjusted the 'opinion_unfaithful_husband' opinion modifier
- Adjusted the 'acknowledged_bastard' opinion modifier
- Doubled the positive opinion modifiers from granting landed titles to someone
- Vassals are now grateful when you build buildings in their Holdings
- Viceroyalty succession now overrides all succession law opinion modifiers for that title, since succession law has no effect
- If succession law affects both the youngest and oldest child, and someone is both, they now always get the best opinion modifier
- Fixed heirs not getting positive opinion modifiers from succession laws (E.G., oldest_child_opinion in primogeniture)
- Visigothic culture will no longer split when in a powerful Visigoth realm
- Ladies can now gain the viking trait(s)
- Switching religious branch as an Indian religion will now also switch that of your close kin (if non-zealous)
- The Magyars have a significantly larger army in the 867 invasion of Hungary, they will now win more often than not
- Hungarians led by the Árpád dynasty will always want to settle in Hungary if they have the chance
- When the historical Magyars settle in Hungary, more provinces will convert to Hungarian
- Dynamic mercenaries are no longer prevented from marrying
- Even Malcontent voters will now vote for additional council power laws, as it means they'll have more to say 'no' about
- Prisoners from major revolts can now be executed and released
- Significantly increased the chance of vassals joining Grand Tournaments/Furusiyyas
- Reduced the number of unnecessary courtiers generated; should somewhat improve performance
- Redid the Varangian Guard events from MTTH events to yearly pulse events
- Added AI weights to event HL.10531, where a mercenary leader would accept or decline an invitation to a feast, to make it less random
- Moved event SoA.5219 to yearly pulse from MTTH
- Increased the prestige gain from 'Groomed to Perfection'
- Moved the SoA 'wicked priest' events to the bi-yearly pulse from MTTH
- Retreating from battles and sieges now starts the day after you right-click, so that you can cancel it on the same day if you misclick
- Tribals who are Tengri/Altaic will now raise more Light Cavalry and less Heavy Infantry in their summoned Tribal Armies
- William now starts with slightly more Heavy Infantry in "The Stamford Bridge" bookmark, to give him a higher chance of gaining England
- Rulers can now change crown laws every 50 years, rather than once per lifetime (cooldown still removed on death)
- Opinion of predecessor is now also inherited in elective government types if the successor is a close relative of, or in the same dynasty as, the old ruler
- Crusades on titles without a crusade weight are now less likely if said title is not adjacent to territory of the crusader's religion
- Now possible to ask one's liege to press one's claim even if the liege council isn't allowed to vote on war declaration
- Courtiers who have minor titles, friends, lovers, consorts or rivals are now excluded from the court pruning system
- Immortal characters are now immune to pruning
- If subjugation wars are invalidated, the 'once per lifetime' subjugation is now refunded
- If a Muslim Invasion is invalidated, the piety will be refunded

Horse Lords:
- When conquering Nomad land (empty provinces) as a non-Nomadic character, the following will happen:
- A basic Tribal holding will be constructed
- The Nomad culture and religion will be preserved in the province
- A 'Nomad Agitation' province modifier will be added, slightly increasing provincial revolt risk
- On succession, if a character holds provinces with Nomad Agitation they will automatically secede from the realm unless one of the following is true:
- A Castle or City holding has been constructed in the province
- (Only if Tribal) At least 2 buildings have been constructed in the province's Tribal Holding
- Provinces that secede because of Nomad Agitation will spawn a new Nomad ruler as per the culture/s of the released province/s
- If a newly seceded Nomad Ruler borders a Nomad of the same culture, they will join them as a Clan Chief
- If a Nomad conquers a province with Nomad Agitation, the modifier will be removed

- Raiding Adventurers can now properly invade & claim land from Nomads
- If they are the same culture as the target, they will become a Nomadic Clan Chief
- If they aren't the same culture they will become a Tribal Vassal

- Now when you choose to 'Settle as Tribal' as a Nomadic realm your Clan Chiefs will settle along with you

- The 'Pillage Holding' decision has been remade, it will now pillage the selected holding progressively (once every 6 months) until it's destroyed
- When a holding is destroyed from pillaging you get an event containing some flavor
- You can now pillage several holdings in the same province at once
- You can at any time choose to 'Stop Pillaging' a holding by using a targeted decision
- The Revolt Risk associated with pillaging is now capped at 30%
- Claiming a pillaged province as a non-nomad now clears the revolt risk (other penalties still apply)
- The revolts that spawn from pillaged provinces are now significant (no more 60-man whack-a-mole uprisings)
- You can no longer choose to pillage enemy holdings manually, instead it's triggered by event (gain gold or prestige)

- When choosing to settle as a Nomad the provinces that flip to your culture will now try to border each other
- The AI logic for when Nomads want to settle has been changed slightly, certain Nomad personalities will take longer to settle
- If a settling Nomad has only one vassal of king-tier, they will now usurp that character's kingdom rather than create a custom empire

- The Silk Road has received the following changes:
- The Silk Road has been extended by adding a new branch from Lut - passing through Rayy and Tabriz - to Trebizond
- The southern part of the Silk Road has been updated to also pass through Dhofar, Socotra, Busaso and Taizz on the way to Alexandria
- Increased the base wealth of the Silk Road to 122 from 100, to account for added provinces

That's all for now, but if you haven't already seen them, be sure to check out the various preview videos which are starting to appear on Youtube. Next week I will post the rest of the changes as well as showing the new Steam Achievements.



Finally, here's some eyecandy to remind you of your impending demise

Read the original post


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


Hello all, it’s DD time again! As you hopefully know, it’s only a little over 2 weeks until Reaper’s Due is released (on the 25th), and you’ve seen pretty much all the new features by this point. As such, I don’t have any big reveals this week, so instead I will just tell you about a few assorted small features and share some of the 2.6 patchnotes with you. So, without further ado:

Reaper’s Due
As well as 2.6 making the Indian Reincarnation events work slightly better, RD includes a rare Reincarnation event which anyone can get, provided they have Fantasy Content turned on.

Parents now have some reaction events to their children being born, especially to their first child, and additional events if it is sickly.

When characters become Ill, it is possible they will suffer from a Mild, Normal, Severe, or Incapacitating version of their Illness. In the latter case they will be bedridden and will require a Regent for the duration of their Illness.

2.6
I mentioned we might do this in an earlier DD, but Nomad’s Pillage decision is now on a separate Alert to avoid accidentally Settling.

You can now zoom the camera out even further, allowing the entire map to be seen at once.

As mentioned in a non-DD thread, AI-called Crusades will be much more likely to target areas adjacent to provinces of their religion-group if they have no targets with Crusade weights set.

I thought those were interesting enough to mention, but here’s the entire “Balance” section of the 2.6 patchnotes:
###################
# Balance
###################
- Alliances and Call To Arms
- Restored manual call to arms
- Call to arms from allies can be declined again
- Added defines to enable/disable auto call to arms and possibility to decline them
- Added major opinion penalties to alliance breakers
- Added temporary alliance-breaker modifier (gives -5 diplomacy)
- Made alliance-breaker and truce-breaker temporary modifiers duration scriptable
- AI will consider dissolving alliances with alliance breakers
- AI is unlikely to accept alliances from alliance-breakers
- Fixed a bug that prevented vassals from joining wars against tyrants. Expect revocation wars to be more risky! (can be disabled through the define VASSALS_UNITE_AGAINST_TYRANNY)
- Can no longer call ally to war if ally has NAP with defender
- Alliance breaks with attacker if you accept call to arms from defender

- Flanders is now properly part of France
- Norse, Pictish, Visigothic, and Saxon cultures no longer split if controlled by a powerful ruler, or if their head of religion is of their culture
- CROWDED_THRESHOLD_MODIFIER lowered to 25
- Head injury in battle now has a chance to cause disfigured rather than incapable if your have Reapers
- many "active" minor titles, such as designated regent, cannot be held by incapable characters
- Alania is now Tribal from the Old Gods start point onwards
- k_hungary no longer requires a Magyar province to form
- Increased the troop count of the Shia uprising to make it succeed slightly more often
- AI holders of k_france will no longer create k_aquitaine unless they are close to forming Francia
- Gave Berber culture 'allow_looting = yes' and 'seafarer = yes'
- Added requirement for lvl 4 hillfort/market city when upgrading Tribal holdings as a non-tribal
- The AI now makes use of Tribal Armies
- AI Nomads can now acquire warhorses
- Increased the Steal Population effect on the Humiliate CB from 10% to 25%
- Increased the impact and deadliness of most Epidemic traits
- Updated the 'Funeral Procession' event with better rewards in the options
- Extort Subjects now available when at war
- Donate to Liege now available when liege is at war
- The 'Groom an Heir' ambition no longer requires you to be married
- Updated final 'Ambitious positive' event to be slightly more interesting
- When declining the papal request to switch to Papal Investiture, the Pope may now excommunicate you
- Rank 2 and 3 education outcomes are now more common
- Become King ambition now only lets chancellors fabricate one kingdom claim
- AI no longer calls all allies into war, but only tries to get more than 1.25 times the opponent's strength
- Changed age to set childhood focus to 6 so you can also choose an educator at the same time
- Pagan nomads no longer suffer from pagan defensive attrition (made it a define called NOMAD_SUFFER_PAGAN_ATTRITION)
- It's now possible to demand religious conversion of landless courtiers even while at war
- Moved the Theology and Hunting focus events to 'on_focus_pulse'
- Seduction Focus: The rebuff opinion modifier no longer lasts forever
- Boosted the opinion effects of giving gifts and of the "Improve Relations" councillor job
- Even with the law that allows revocation and retraction from religious enemies, their religious brethren among your vassals will now still be upset
- You no longer get Pagan homeland attrition if you're allies
- Made Agnatic the normal default gender succession law again, except in Christian realms or when you have equality laws, or the new game rule
- Blocked barons from having Agnatic-Cognatic succession (it's an inheritance mess)
- Rulers of all religions are now allowed to convert to the attacker's religion during holy wars, if their Moral Authority is much lower
- The Family Focus (Way of Life) can now also remove rivalries between close family members
- Exiled characters should no longer join courts of characters in seclusion, or court of the banisher's vassal
- Characters can no longer escape from House Arrest
- Monthly prestige/piety province modifiers are now added to the character
- Most of the minor titles can now be made available for female characters as well, provided the correct laws or game rules are in place
- Frail now has a small health penalty
- When a Tyranny war is lost while the Conclave DLC is enabled, the title revocation law will be revoked
- Intrigue Focus: Spy On: Nerfed the chances of abduction and murder unless you are a Master Schemer
- Added 1 Health to the Theology Focus
- AI Nomads will now Tribalize if they push too far outside the steppe IF they don't hold much territory in the steppe region + not many castles/cities
- When Nomads Tribalise they now culture/religion convert new provinces based on population/manpower
- When a Nomad Tribalizes a custom kingdom will be created if they would end up as duke rank or lower
- Nomads who Tribalize now get a small amount of event troops
- Changed the Eunuch Councilor events so that they are slightly better and show up in the event option so you can click them and check their stats before deciding
- Carousing Focus: You can now invite people to a new party 90 days after the last one (down from 500 days)
- Raised chance of reincarnation events for Indian religion group
- Changed the Jewish Councilor events so that they are slightly better and show up in the event option so you can click them and check their stats
- Lowered the war contribution that all theocracies and holy orders get as attackers in Great Holy Wars
- Powerful vassals will now only be angry that they haven't been given a position on the council if they're eligible for such a position, or they've recently been fired from the council
- Horse Lords: Unlocked the 'Perform Sky Burial' decision for non-Nomadic rulers of the Mazdan religious group
- Tanistry is now available without Late Feudal Administration, both for Feudal and Tribal Celtics
- Fixed firing Advisors applying the "Revoked Honorary Title" opinion modifier on top of the "Fired from Council" opinion modifiers
- Merchant republics can now always move their capital to a city if their current capital is a castle
- Reintroduced the Bankruptcy character modifier, which reduces army morale by 25% when a ruler has negative wealth
- Councilors who have promised council support to someone will now vote their conscience if the person they're supporting is abstaining
- Commanders can now only be relieved via the Relieve Commander interaction and the Minor Titles screen, which unlike the Revoke Honorary Title interaction, do not incur an opinion penalty
- Retreating enemy armies are no longer considered hostile for the purpose of disbanding units
- Adjusted the 'opinion_unfaithful_husband' opinion modifier
- Adjusted the 'acknowledged_bastard' opinion modifier
- Doubled the positive opinion modifiers from granting landed titles to someone
- Vassals are now grateful when you build buildings in their Holdings
- Viceroyalty succession now overrides all succession law opinion modifiers for that title, since succession law has no effect
- If succession law affects both the youngest and oldest child, and someone is both, they now always get the best opinion modifier
- Fixed heirs not getting positive opinion modifiers from succession laws (E.G., oldest_child_opinion in primogeniture)
- Visigothic culture will no longer split when in a powerful Visigoth realm
- Ladies can now gain the viking trait(s)
- Switching religious branch as an Indian religion will now also switch that of your close kin (if non-zealous)
- The Magyars have a significantly larger army in the 867 invasion of Hungary, they will now win more often than not
- Hungarians led by the Árpád dynasty will always want to settle in Hungary if they have the chance
- When the historical Magyars settle in Hungary, more provinces will convert to Hungarian
- Dynamic mercenaries are no longer prevented from marrying
- Even Malcontent voters will now vote for additional council power laws, as it means they'll have more to say 'no' about
- Prisoners from major revolts can now be executed and released
- Significantly increased the chance of vassals joining Grand Tournaments/Furusiyyas
- Reduced the number of unnecessary courtiers generated; should somewhat improve performance
- Redid the Varangian Guard events from MTTH events to yearly pulse events
- Added AI weights to event HL.10531, where a mercenary leader would accept or decline an invitation to a feast, to make it less random
- Moved event SoA.5219 to yearly pulse from MTTH
- Increased the prestige gain from 'Groomed to Perfection'
- Moved the SoA 'wicked priest' events to the bi-yearly pulse from MTTH
- Retreating from battles and sieges now starts the day after you right-click, so that you can cancel it on the same day if you misclick
- Tribals who are Tengri/Altaic will now raise more Light Cavalry and less Heavy Infantry in their summoned Tribal Armies
- William now starts with slightly more Heavy Infantry in "The Stamford Bridge" bookmark, to give him a higher chance of gaining England
- Rulers can now change crown laws every 50 years, rather than once per lifetime (cooldown still removed on death)
- Opinion of predecessor is now also inherited in elective government types if the successor is a close relative of, or in the same dynasty as, the old ruler
- Crusades on titles without a crusade weight are now less likely if said title is not adjacent to territory of the crusader's religion
- Now possible to ask one's liege to press one's claim even if the liege council isn't allowed to vote on war declaration
- Courtiers who have minor titles, friends, lovers, consorts or rivals are now excluded from the court pruning system
- Immortal characters are now immune to pruning
- If subjugation wars are invalidated, the 'once per lifetime' subjugation is now refunded
- If a Muslim Invasion is invalidated, the piety will be refunded

Horse Lords:
- When conquering Nomad land (empty provinces) as a non-Nomadic character, the following will happen:
- A basic Tribal holding will be constructed
- The Nomad culture and religion will be preserved in the province
- A 'Nomad Agitation' province modifier will be added, slightly increasing provincial revolt risk
- On succession, if a character holds provinces with Nomad Agitation they will automatically secede from the realm unless one of the following is true:
- A Castle or City holding has been constructed in the province
- (Only if Tribal) At least 2 buildings have been constructed in the province's Tribal Holding
- Provinces that secede because of Nomad Agitation will spawn a new Nomad ruler as per the culture/s of the released province/s
- If a newly seceded Nomad Ruler borders a Nomad of the same culture, they will join them as a Clan Chief
- If a Nomad conquers a province with Nomad Agitation, the modifier will be removed

- Raiding Adventurers can now properly invade & claim land from Nomads
- If they are the same culture as the target, they will become a Nomadic Clan Chief
- If they aren't the same culture they will become a Tribal Vassal

- Now when you choose to 'Settle as Tribal' as a Nomadic realm your Clan Chiefs will settle along with you

- The 'Pillage Holding' decision has been remade, it will now pillage the selected holding progressively (once every 6 months) until it's destroyed
- When a holding is destroyed from pillaging you get an event containing some flavor
- You can now pillage several holdings in the same province at once
- You can at any time choose to 'Stop Pillaging' a holding by using a targeted decision
- The Revolt Risk associated with pillaging is now capped at 30%
- Claiming a pillaged province as a non-nomad now clears the revolt risk (other penalties still apply)
- The revolts that spawn from pillaged provinces are now significant (no more 60-man whack-a-mole uprisings)
- You can no longer choose to pillage enemy holdings manually, instead it's triggered by event (gain gold or prestige)

- When choosing to settle as a Nomad the provinces that flip to your culture will now try to border each other
- The AI logic for when Nomads want to settle has been changed slightly, certain Nomad personalities will take longer to settle
- If a settling Nomad has only one vassal of king-tier, they will now usurp that character's kingdom rather than create a custom empire

- The Silk Road has received the following changes:
- The Silk Road has been extended by adding a new branch from Lut - passing through Rayy and Tabriz - to Trebizond
- The southern part of the Silk Road has been updated to also pass through Dhofar, Socotra, Busaso and Taizz on the way to Alexandria
- Increased the base wealth of the Silk Road to 122 from 100, to account for added provinces

That's all for now, but if you haven't already seen them, be sure to check out the various preview videos which are starting to appear on Youtube. Next week I will post the rest of the changes as well as showing the new Steam Achievements.



Finally, here's some eyecandy to remind you of your impending demise

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Crusader Kings II - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Brendan Caldwell)

Reigns [official site] is a game of decision-making and courtly governance that was described by Adam as Crusader Kings meets Tinder. You get presented with card after card of choices and have to swipe left or right (or in our case, click) in order to say yes or no to your courtiers requests. It s also out today. I ve just played 20 minutes of it. One of my kings was abandoned to rule over a kingdom of pigeons, another was slaughtered and thrown to the dogs by the merchant class, and another went mad, kicked a dog and started hearing the Devil. It s good to be the king.

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Crusader Kings II - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Paradox and Adam may tell you that the next Crusader Kings II [official site] expansion is about diseases tearing through medieval Europe, but no. The Reaper’s Due is about cats. Lovely cats. Hunting dogs be damned, Reaper’s Due will let characters befriend a cat – which naturally brings bonuses. Then… maybe a few more cats. All of the cats. Lovely, lovely cats. Get carried away and you might get the ‘Crazy Cat Lady’ trait. And then something something black death bad omens angry mob blah blah but look, the point is: cats. Oh, and the expansion now has a release date: August 25th.

… [visit site to read more]

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