Yesterday should have been a dev diary day, but I forgot that May 1 is actually some sort of Red holiday, and turning up to work gets you lined up against a wall and shot. However, this is not the time to discuss the mysterious idols, totems and faiths of the previous century. Let us instead think back much further, to simpler - if no less bloody - times, before Socialist May Day, before Christian Walpurgis Night, when the bonfires blazed for the Old Gods...

To begin with, religious Moral Authority has been revamped. The base value is now determined by the number of Holy Sites under the control of the religion. On top of this, there are various timed modifiers (think character opinions) for things like winning or losing holy wars, or building temples. This new system applies to all religions, not just the pagans. The pagan religions do tend to start with fewer Holy Sites under their control, but on the other hand there are no pagan heresies to worry about.



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Well, it's been two weeks, so it's time for another bi-weekly entry in the saga of The Old Gods expansion for Crusader Kings II (we will ramp up the pace to weekly dev diaries from May 1). Today, I'll talk about what is, perhaps, the core feature of the expansion: raiding. All pagans have the option to raid, but it is especially important for Norse and Tengri rulers, who will start losing Prestige if they have been at peace for too long. Rather than declare a regular war, they can opt for some good old fashioned raiding.



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It's time for another cycle of developer diaries on Crusader Kings II and I thought I'd begin by talking about the new start date and giving you a broad overview of the upcoming expansion; The Old Gods. Yes, we're pushing back the earliest possible start date to 867 AD. This is a special bookmark that comes with the expansion (and you will not be able to start at dates between 867 and 1066 without modding.)

Europe is a very different place in 867... Many of the familiar countries have not yet come into being. There is no Hungary, no Poland, no Russian principalities and the British Isles and Scandinavia are full of petty kingdoms. The Carolingians still rule the Franks, but the great Empire of Charlemagne has been divided between four of his descendants. In the Byzantine Empire, a new dynasty has just risen - the House of Makedon - destined to restore some of its former glory. The Muslims are in the middle of a drawn-out crisis as the once enormous Abbasid Caliphate has fractured, with a succession of Caliphs being murdered by their own Turkish generals.


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The Republic has been out for a few weeks now and we're happy to say the response has been overwhelmingly positive. As you know, the announcement for the next expansion is imminent, so I thought I'd round off the Republic cycle with a short "post mortem" discussion (though I would prefer calling it "post natal").

Way back when we made the original Crusader Kings, we considered making republics playable somehow, but there was neither time nor a design that would fit the rest of the game. Come Crusader Kings II, we were, again, more concerned with core gameplay and revitalizing the original game, so playable republics remained a gleam in the designers' eyes. However, when we sat down to plan the future expansions, the republics were one of the obvious choices (together with Islam, the Byzantine Empire, etc.)

Initially, we discussed completely waiving the importance of your dynasty, allowing you to play a succession of Doges regardless of their origins. This would entail gameplay more along the lines of Europa Universalis, where you play a country. The main concern with this approach was that it would eliminate one of the most fun and unique aspects of CKII; the building of a Dynasty. Thus, we decided on the "five families" concept and the virtual "Family Palace" holding. I am very pleased with this design choice since it preserves the dynasty based gameplay while still providing something new and different. ...

With the release of Crusader Kings II: The Republic expansion today, there's no need to hold back and be secretive!
So if anyone has any questions regarding the expansion and the patch, ask away in this thread and we will do our best to answer them during the day!

Here is the dev diary archive for the expansion:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...-Diary-Archive

Here are the patch notes for 1.09:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...09-Patch-Notes

The expansion is now live on all digital download portals for 9,99 USD and you can get the expansion here:
http://www.crusaderkings.com/buy

So... Fire away!



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Well, it's a new year and past time for another dev diary on The Republic - the upcoming DLC for Crusader Kings II! This time, I'll talk about the intricacies of Republican government. Republics - at least the Italian ones - are ruled by a Doge, who is elected for life by the senate. The senate is not represented directly in the game, but each Patrician has a "Respect" value which shows how well liked and respected he (yes, it's always a he - republics are even less gender equal than monarchies) is by the senators. Respect comes mostly with age, so that old - and hopefully wise - Patricians have a definite advantage, but Prestige also helps a great deal. These factors are known and predictable, but there is also a hidden variable called the "Campaign Fund", which is how much money a Family has reserved for the next election campaign; including things like bribes, strong-arming and good old fashioned blackmail. Players can add or subtract money from the Campaign Fund until the reigning Doge dies, when it's all spent regardless of who wins the election. Although there is an "expected successor", there is also an element of chance.
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I hope you've all had a merry Christmas! As promised, in this week's dev diary I'll talk about the differences in gameplay between normal feudal lords and Merchant Republic Patricians. Now, they are called Merchant Republics, so you would expect them to trade, and that is precisely what they do.



Patricians can build a special type of holding called a Trade Post in any coastal county. Trade Posts have a fort level and a small garrison, but they do not provide a levy. They can be upgraded with buildings like normal Holdings. Most importantly though, they have a significant income, based on the total tax value of the county in which they are built. They also provide a modest income boost to all cities in the county. Trade posts can link together to form Trade Zones, which is simply an area (on land and sea) of connected Trade Posts. The bigger the Trade Zone, the bigger the income bonus (with diminishing returns.) ...

Well folks, we're coming up on Christmas and, according to some, the end of the world.

But in the event that the world is still around on January 14,
I might as well start writing this dev diary on the next expansion for Crusader Kings II; a little thing we call The Republic.

The expansion will make the great Merchant Republics playable; Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Gotland and the Hansa. What about Novgorod, Florence and Cordoba you ask? Bruges and the "Vier Leden"? The lesser Italian republics? The short answer is that they did not quite qualify. Some of them were not really mercantile in nature, some were more or less ruled by a princely family, others were landlocked, and the rest were too minor. Instead, we chose to focus on the big five (though new ones can appear during the game.)

Now, we did not want to mess with the Dynasty based gameplay that makes Crusader Kings II unique, so rather than playing a succession of Doges from various different merchant families (like in Europa Universalis III), you will be the head of one such family - a Patrician. For simplicity's sake, the Merchant Republics (much like New York) are run by five families who take turns at being Godfather - I mean Doge. This is rather similar to how Elective Monarchies work in the game; if you lose an election, you can still keep playing though you no longer control the entire republic.

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As you know, we are quickly approaching the end of times, as a cycle of the Mayan calendar is about to end on December 21. Not to be outdone by the Mayans, we are doing our part to hasten the coming apocalypse by releasing a totally unhistorical DLC for Crusader Kings II called Sunset Invasion. The forum response to this minor and completely optional DLC was interesting to say the least. We expected a mixed response, but certainly not the degree of passion we've been witnessing.

The DLC, for those of you who don't know, features an invasion of Europe by an earlier and far more powerful Aztec civilization than we know from history, at some point after 1250. Arriving on vessels suspiciously similar to Norse long ships, Aztec explorers first make contact with a random coastal lord, offering obsidian beads and other exotic trinkets in exchange for land. ...

As you know, the Byzantine Empire is the theme of Legacy of Rome and patch 1.07, and an integral part of the Empire was of course the Orthodox faith. So, today I'll talk about a feature we planned to put in the DLC, but later decided to make a free part of patch 1.07; Autocephalous Patriarchs and the Pentarchy.

The main difference between Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism is probably the lack of a single leader (although the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is nominally the first among equals.) Instead, there are a number of practically autonomous Patriarchs, though they remain in communion with the rest of the Orthodox Church. This is called autocephaly, and we now represent this in the game by making the Court Chaplain in Orthodox kingdoms a Patriarch who is the religious head of everyone in the kingdom. ...

Ears up folks, it's time for another Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome and patch 1.07 dev diary!
This time, I'll reveal what we've done to rebalance combat. All these things are actually in patch 1.07, so you'll get them whether you buy the DLC or not.

To give you some background, we were never entirely happy with the combat system in the game;
the outcome was too dependent on numerical advantage and there was little you could do to affect it beside throwing more troops into the fray. ...

Well, what do you know? It's Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome dev diary day again! Today's topics are Liege Levies and Retinues.

In patch v1.07, you raise fewer, larger levies from your direct vassals (we call these "Liege Levies" for lack of a better term.) These levies are now handled separately from actual Holding levies; you only get regular holding levies from your own Demesne. The opinions of vassals of vassals are thus now mostly irrelevant; you only need to worry about the opinions of your direct vassals. Another benefit is that you don't get tiny little armies all over the place when you mobilize your realm. Liege levies also fix a fundamental balancing flaw in that you can no longer just keep raising little levies from all vassals as a war drags on (due to the portion of holding levies that was reserved for the liege.) The new Liege Levies do not reinforce at home while raised. ...

Hello again folks, it's time for another dev diary on Legacy of Rome! Today, I'll talk about the new Faction system as well as the changes we have made to Plots and Ambitions. Like I mentioned last Wednesday, Factions are part of patch 1.07 and will be available to everyone free of charge.

Factions are, essentially, a kind of Plot; a Faction has a leader, a number of members, and a clear goal (for example, to Lower Crown Authority in the Kingdom of England). However, there are some key differences: Factions always target the liege, and they are always known to the liege as well as the other vassals. A vassal can lead up to two Factions, but be a member in any number of other factions, unless their goals are contradictory. If a faction leader dies, the most powerful remaining faction member automatically takes over as leader. When the leader thinks the Faction is powerful enough, he can issue an ultimatum to his liege. The liege can then either give in to the demands peacefully or refuse, which triggers a Civil War where all faction members revolt together in an alliance.
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It's Wednesday, and time to answer some questions about the upcoming DLC for Crusader Kings II:Legacy of Rome. The focus of this mini-expansion is going to be the Byzantine Empire and the Orthodox church. First off, in order to clear up any confusion from the original announcement, it's a bit smaller in scope than the Sword of Islam so the price is set at $5.99. While I say it's smaller in scope, if you include all the stuff we're adding for free in the accompanying patch (v1.07) it's probably about the same size as Sword of Islam (SoI) and v1.06.

So, let's take a look at what's in the Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome DLC and what's in patch 1.07...

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Hello again folks! Stay a while, and listen. The highlights of today's third and last Sword of Islam developer diary are Muslim Casus Bellis, revised combat mechanics and cultural buildings. You know the drill by now; I'll talk about both some unique Sword of Islam features and some free stuff that comes with patch 1.06.
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It's time for the second of three dev diaries on the new expansion for Crusader Kings II; the Sword of Islam! Those who watched yesterday's live stream already know a bit of what I'll talk about today. Just like last time, I'll talk about both some unique Sword of Islam features and some free stuff that comes with patch 1.06.
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Well, it's Friday and high time to spill the beans on the new expansion for Crusader Kings II; the Sword of Islam. Judging by the forum, playable Muslims is the most requested feature for CKII, and who are we to disagree? We always wanted to do it, provided we could do the Muslim world justice. That time is now (or, well, soon ). As with the Ruler Designer DLC, the Sword of Islam will be released together with a major content patch. What you get with the Sword of Islam is simply the ability to play as the Muslim rulers, but all the new mechanics will be there and running for the AI (or other players in multiplayer) even if you don't have the expansion.

I'll be doing three dev diaries on the Sword of Islam, each one dealing with some unique features for the Muslims as well as some free features that everyone will have access to simply by patching to 1.06.
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The Steam version will be out in a few hours...

Checksum: MLDO

CHANGE LOG:

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The game is released, the reviews are in, and the response so far has been overwhelmingly positive. It's been a long road, ...