Hi folks, I hope you have all had a nice and relaxing holiday! However, just in case you didn’t, let me take the edge off your existential angst with some soothing talk about the next expansion for Crusader Kings II; a little thing we eventually decided to call Conclave...

As you know, most of CK2’s expansions have “widened” the gameplay by unlocking new regions of the map and making various religions playable. You can now start the game in widely different cultural spheres for a great variety of different experiences; “Fifty Shades of Dark”, if you will. Meanwhile, we have gradually improved the core gameplay in patches (e.g. the technology system), but rarely in any radical way. Whenever we did try to “deepen” the core gameplay in an expansion, it often turned out to be a mistake: The Retinue mechanic of Legacy of Rome should, for example, have been a part of the base game so we could have kept building upon it.

Even so, it is high time that we addressed some of the major shortcomings of the strategy game that underpins the RPG experience. In particular, CK2 suffers from a kind of inverse difficulty progression; it is hard in the beginning and easy in the mid-to-late game. This is a great shame, because one of the main points of the whole feudal hierarchy mechanic - the need to rely on vassals - was to make it hard to maintain stable large Realms. So, my first and foremost intention with Conclave was to increase the challenge of the mid-to-late game. This was the general plan of action:

• Reduce the “positive opinion inflation” of vassals vs their liege. (We ended up cutting many important positive opinion modifiers in half.)
  
• Highlight the most powerful vassals by making them strongly desire a Council seat.
  
• Give the Council more power without reducing player agency. (You are free to disregard the Council’s suggestions, but this will have ramifications on Factions. More on this later...)
  
• Introduce Infamy and Coalitions against aggressively expanding Realms.
  
• Improve the alliance mechanic to make it a more intentional choice. (A royal marriage is now simply a non-aggression pact. Alliance is the second step, but still requires a marriage.)
  
• Improve the diplomatic AI in order to contain “blobs” (with the help of the above Alliance and Coalition systems.)
  
• Bring the military AI to a whole new level.
  
• Make it harder to quickly win wars through one or two major engagements. (Hence, we reduced the bloodiness of battles overall, introduced “shattered retreats” and made armies reinforce in friendly territory.)

Thus, the features of Conclave and the accompanying patch are a combination of internal and external measures to make blobbing harder. This intention had ripple effects on other mechanics. For example, malcontents now tend to gang up into fewer but more powerful Factions, and we reworked the Law Screen while we were adding the new Council Power laws.



We also took this opportunity to address an unrelated weakness in the game, namely the education of children. If you have the expansion, that whole experience should now be more interesting…

That’s all for now, stay tuned for the details!

Henrik Fåhraeus

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Developer Diary Archives

Hi folks, I hope you have all had a nice and relaxing holiday! However, just in case you didn’t, let me take the edge off your existential angst with some soothing talk about the next expansion for Crusader Kings II; a little thing we eventually decided to call Conclave...

As you know, most of CK2’s expansions have “widened” the gameplay by unlocking new regions of the map and making various religions playable. You can now start the game in widely different cultural spheres for a great variety of different experiences; “Fifty Shades of Dark”, if you will. Meanwhile, we have gradually improved the core gameplay in patches (e.g. the technology system), but rarely in any radical way. Whenever we did try to “deepen” the core gameplay in an expansion, it often turned out to be a mistake: The Retinue mechanic of Legacy of Rome should, for example, have been a part of the base game so we could have kept building upon it.

Even so, it is high time that we addressed some of the major shortcomings of the strategy game that underpins the RPG experience. In particular, CK2 suffers from a kind of inverse difficulty progression; it is hard in the beginning and easy in the mid-to-late game. This is a great shame, because one of the main points of the whole feudal hierarchy mechanic - the need to rely on vassals - was to make it hard to maintain stable large Realms. So, my first and foremost intention with Conclave was to increase the challenge of the mid-to-late game. This was the general plan of action:

• Reduce the “positive opinion inflation” of vassals vs their liege. (We ended up cutting many important positive opinion modifiers in half.)
  
• Highlight the most powerful vassals by making them strongly desire a Council seat.
  
• Give the Council more power without reducing player agency. (You are free to disregard the Council’s suggestions, but this will have ramifications on Factions. More on this later...)
  
• Introduce Infamy and Coalitions against aggressively expanding Realms.
  
• Improve the alliance mechanic to make it a more intentional choice. (A royal marriage is now simply a non-aggression pact. Alliance is the second step, but still requires a marriage.)
  
• Improve the diplomatic AI in order to contain “blobs” (with the help of the above Alliance and Coalition systems.)
  
• Bring the military AI to a whole new level.
  
• Make it harder to quickly win wars through one or two major engagements. (Hence, we reduced the bloodiness of battles overall, introduced “shattered retreats” and made armies reinforce in friendly territory.)

Thus, the features of Conclave and the accompanying patch are a combination of internal and external measures to make blobbing harder. This intention had ripple effects on other mechanics. For example, malcontents now tend to gang up into fewer but more powerful Factions, and we reworked the Law Screen while we were adding the new Council Power laws.



We also took this opportunity to address an unrelated weakness in the game, namely the education of children. If you have the expansion, that whole experience should now be more interesting…

That’s all for now, stay tuned for the details!

Henrik Fåhraeus

Useful links
Official Website
Crusader Kings II Wiki
Developer Diary Archives

Your Council Would Like a Word With You
New Crusader Kings II Expansion “Conclave” Coming Soon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_n_qy53Isk

The new year will bring new goodies from Paradox Development Studio and the team behind Crusader Kings II, Paradox’s best-selling and critically beloved medieval grand strategy game.

Conclave, the newest expansion for the game, will give your vassals some bite to go along with your bark, as the council that governs your realm will now demand some say in how you rule. Powerful dukes, regardless of competence, will require a seat at the table, and those left on the outside will be more likely to plot against you.

Keep your council happy, and the mighty vassals will resist the pull of faction and civil war. Dismiss their interests, though, and you may find yourself trying to hold together a council at war with itself.

Balance councillor skill and power to keep your dynasty safe and strong. Ignore powerful underlings at your peril, or simply buy their loyalty with favors. Conclave makes the royal council a force unto itself.

Other features of Conclave will include:

- Councils can now vote on changes to realm laws – or you can try to limit their power and influence
- Revised education system for royal children, with new traits and events designed for childhood
- New diplomatic system that prioritizes marital alliances and non-aggression pacts, as well as the possibility of coalitions
- Improved military combat model with a greater emphasis on morale, as well as new rules for mercenary companies
- And many more smaller changes including the usual tweaks to how the AI prioritizes its decisions.

So the choice will be yours; do you dare to challenge your vassals on their council at the risk of challenging them on the battlefield? Can you move your nation towards greater centralization and power without your advisors realizing how much they are losing in the deal?

Crusader Kings II appreciates the subtlety of court intrigue. Conclave will give you new avenues to test that skill.

Conclave will be available in early 2016.

Official Crusader Kings II forums
Official announcement

Your Council Would Like a Word With You
New Crusader Kings II Expansion “Conclave” Coming Soon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_n_qy53Isk

The new year will bring new goodies from Paradox Development Studio and the team behind Crusader Kings II, Paradox’s best-selling and critically beloved medieval grand strategy game.

Conclave, the newest expansion for the game, will give your vassals some bite to go along with your bark, as the council that governs your realm will now demand some say in how you rule. Powerful dukes, regardless of competence, will require a seat at the table, and those left on the outside will be more likely to plot against you.

Keep your council happy, and the mighty vassals will resist the pull of faction and civil war. Dismiss their interests, though, and you may find yourself trying to hold together a council at war with itself.

Balance councillor skill and power to keep your dynasty safe and strong. Ignore powerful underlings at your peril, or simply buy their loyalty with favors. Conclave makes the royal council a force unto itself.

Other features of Conclave will include:

- Councils can now vote on changes to realm laws – or you can try to limit their power and influence
- Revised education system for royal children, with new traits and events designed for childhood
- New diplomatic system that prioritizes marital alliances and non-aggression pacts, as well as the possibility of coalitions
- Improved military combat model with a greater emphasis on morale, as well as new rules for mercenary companies
- And many more smaller changes including the usual tweaks to how the AI prioritizes its decisions.

So the choice will be yours; do you dare to challenge your vassals on their council at the risk of challenging them on the battlefield? Can you move your nation towards greater centralization and power without your advisors realizing how much they are losing in the deal?

Crusader Kings II appreciates the subtlety of court intrigue. Conclave will give you new avenues to test that skill.

Conclave will be available in early 2016.

Official Crusader Kings II forums
Official announcement

Greetings everyone!

As many of you know we like to regularly update the community about our behind the scenes adventures with development.

This comes in the forms of regular developer diaries posted by a wide assortment of team members. Lately we've shared insights about our QA team, the new office and of course sneak peeks of upcoming features and fixes.

Check out the developer diary archive and get up to date on Crusader Kings!

Greetings everyone!

As many of you know we like to regularly update the community about our behind the scenes adventures with development.

This comes in the forms of regular developer diaries posted by a wide assortment of team members. Lately we've shared insights about our QA team, the new office and of course sneak peeks of upcoming features and fixes.

Check out the developer diary archive and get up to date on Crusader Kings!

Paradox are taking over Steam this weekend with insane prices!

Enjoy 75% off on pretty much everything Crusader Kings 2.

Paradox are taking over Steam this weekend with insane prices!

Enjoy 75% off on pretty much everything Crusader Kings 2.

My Lord, good news!

You have been chosen the Great Khan! Paradox Development Studio arms you with new territories, new armies and new ways of ruling the restless hordes at your disposal in Horse Lords, the newest expansion to Crusader Kings II, our best-selling medieval strategy simulation.

Get more info at the link below!

Horse Lords Release Details

Steam Store page

Don't forget to register your copy of Crusader Kings II on our forums for access to our developers thoughts and minds as well as user mods too large to fit on the workshop and much more...

My Lord, good news!

You have been chosen the Great Khan! Paradox Development Studio arms you with new territories, new armies and new ways of ruling the restless hordes at your disposal in Horse Lords, the newest expansion to Crusader Kings II, our best-selling medieval strategy simulation.

Get more info at the link below!

Horse Lords Release Details

Steam Store page

Don't forget to register your copy of Crusader Kings II on our forums for access to our developers thoughts and minds as well as user mods too large to fit on the workshop and much more...