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CK2 Dev Diary #17: Crusader Cats

Hello everyone! I’m Virvatuli, one of the Content Designers on The Reaper’s Due, which also happens to be my very first project here at Paradox. It’s been so much fun working on this DLC and I hope you’ll have even more fun playing it! In this week’s DD (another first for me), I will reveal one of Reaper’s most important features. Oh, okay, it might not be that important, but at least it’s my personal favourite and pet project. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you cats.

For the longest time, there’s been a issue regarding the representation of pets in Crusader Kings 2. In the realm of companion animals, there has been a worrisome lack of diversity. Most of you who play Way of Life have probably had a loyal hunting dog, there have been some events regarding birds of prey, and a lucky few Conclave players might have encountered a tiny rodent friend. Sadly, that has been pretty much it on the pet front. To rectify this serious problem we’ve added some additional furry and feathered friends in The Reaper’s Due. As we did, of course we couldn’t leave out the best animal of them all: our Feline Overlords, Befurred Ninjas, Gods of the Internet.

In the new DLC you can befriend a cat in a number of ways. However, as any Dwarf Fortress player or real-life cat lover knows, you do not adopt a cat. A cat adopts you. Once your feline friend has decided that you’re the one and only slave for it, you will receive a fancy “Pet Cat” character modifier (unless you scare it away, you horrible person). It will give your character +1 health, as the cat brings you so much happiness, and +1 intrigue, because we all know that cat owners are a bit more clever than everyone else (hey, it’s science!).

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However, most things can become troublesome in excess, even your love for felines. In every cat owner’s life there comes a time when you ask yourself if you shouldn’t get just one more. At some point, the answer is probably no, at least if you don’t want to scare off all of your friends and repulse the courtiers.

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Unless you want to become even sneakier, that is. Then go ahead and become a Crazy Cat Lady, or a Crazy Cat Lord, if that’s how you identify.

At first thought, one might think that cats would be a very insignificant aspect of a medieval ruler’s life, however, when the Plague comes around to visit this changes drastically. Most of you probably know that the Black Death was likely spread by fleas on rats. Sadly this fact is unknown to ye olde peasant, and when people start to die, some of them might point fingers to our furry protectors. Believe it or not, there are some people who do not like cats. It’s crazy, I know, but trust me on this. How will you deal with their growing fears? Do remember, if you don’t have cats, you’ll have plenty of rats…

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This sneak peak of cats is all you’ll get for now. Don’t worry though, The Reaper’s Due is out on the 25th of August and then you can experience cats for yourself in all their whiskered glory. Next week Darkrenown will talk about more assorted features. Now I need to get back to scripting, there’re still some cat-related subjects which need further exploration… Adieu!
 
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My opinion on the cat news: Like previous "fun" events, I'm rather against them. Not because they're not good laughs and being funny, but because they don't enhance medieval atmosphere, rather they worsen it by not being serious. The setting thus gets undermined. There are several other paradox games where they fit better, e.g. Magicka, which I laughed really hard at for all the built-in jokes. For the middle ages though, I'd like it to be Game of Thrones type of serious. I'll modify that statement though if there was some historical point with the cats which haven't been explained yet (were peasants historically averse to cats? were there mobs forming to get rid of them? was this a common occurance? etc).
 
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Are we gonna get a Muslim specific spin on cat events and modifiers when playing as a Muslim?

Cats were revered in Islam

Not really it's just that we can't really have dogs (besides Malikis) so we just turned to cats.
Cats have no religious significance really.
 
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Is there some sort of interaction between cat and dog owners as well as other pets? I can imagine a dog-lover asking the Pope for excommunication against his wife for getting a cat. Or a viking choosing to feed somen's parrot to their cat. Can one demand a cat in return for a favour?
 
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Oh no. Call Pope! We found a cat-worshiping cult here. We need call for Crusade!!! :eek:
Also, We suspect the new PDX developer is an alien infiltrator who is going to integrate human race into their evil cat dominion. :eek: But, considering cats already have spacefare technology, maybe we shall just surrender! :eek: or.....maybe dogs can save us?
 
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My opinion on the cat news: Like previous "fun" events, I'm rather against them. Not because they're not good laughs and being funny, but because they don't enhance medieval atmosphere, rather they worsen it by not being serious. The setting thus gets undermined. There are several other paradox games where they fit better, e.g. Magicka, which I laughed really hard at for all the built-in jokes. For the middle ages though, I'd like it to be Game of Thrones type of serious. I'll modify that statement though if there was some historical point with the cats which haven't been explained yet (were peasants historically averse to cats? were there mobs forming to get rid of them? was this a common occurance? etc).
I would fully agree with you IF the upcoming dlc named Ck2: Pets. It's just a small portion of dlc just gives cats. That being said.
It would be absolute disappointment IF cats/rats ratio are affecting the plague. Because one cat owner won't change the outcome.
 
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My opinion on the cat news: Like previous "fun" events, I'm rather against them. Not because they're not good laughs and being funny, but because they don't enhance medieval atmosphere, rather they worsen it by not being serious. The setting thus gets undermined. There are several other paradox games where they fit better, e.g. Magicka, which I laughed really hard at for all the built-in jokes. For the middle ages though, I'd like it to be Game of Thrones type of serious. I'll modify that statement though if there was some historical point with the cats which haven't been explained yet (were peasants historically averse to cats? were there mobs forming to get rid of them? was this a common occurance? etc).

Actually, yes. And I dunno if the fleas that spread the plague ONLY lived on rats but cats would've been handy if that were the case during Black Death, if people liked them anyway.

Though, for the record, I don't really agree with your preference for the middle ages to be strictly portrayed as grimdark but different stroked for different folks.
 
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I thought cats carry the plague fleas, especially because they come into frequent contact with rodents. I love cats, but I dont think you would actually be safer with a cat during the black death.
 
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I would fully agree with you IF the upcoming dlc named Ck2: Pets. It's just a small portion of dlc just gives cats. That being said.
It would be absolute disappointment IF cats/rats ratio are affecting the plague. Because one cat owner won't change the outcome.
It could make you less likely to catch the plague.
 
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I thought cats carry the plague fleas, especially because they come into frequent contact with rodents. I love cats, but I dont think you would actually be safer with a cat during the black death.

I think that's actually the first time i've ever read anyone claiming that cats spread the Black Plague even further. Where on earth have you read that?
 
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I would fully agree with you IF the upcoming dlc named Ck2: Pets. It's just a small portion of dlc just gives cats. That being said.
It would be absolute disappointment IF cats/rats ratio are affecting the plague. Because one cat owner won't change the outcome.

Cats, rats, dogs are all aliens to CK2 till this point.
They come out all of sudden.
So...the real history shall be:
1,Alien rats decleared war to human and brought plagues
2,Cats infiltrated human society and fighting rats because conflicts of interest
3,Then, come the dogs, trying to save human from cats slavery.

And all the rats, cats, dogs we see today are the descendants of those middle age aliens. They secretly hide the real history from human. :p
 
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Actually, yes. And I dunno if the fleas that spread the plague ONLY lived on rats but cats would've been handy if that were the case during Black Death, if people liked them anyway.

Though, for the record, I don't really agree with your preference for the middle ages to be strictly portrayed as grimdark but different stroked for different folks.

Cool, I'll read that. So maybe the DLC makes more sense than I thought (still not convinced that's how it's steeped though). What would've been awesome was if there were mechanics tied into this.

And yes I agree, grimdark isn't really my goal either. Hard to explain, sorry for that. But it's related to roleplaying and in what way you enhance the world to deliver conflict, limitations and strife.
 
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My opinion on the cat news: Like previous "fun" events, I'm rather against them. Not because they're not good laughs and being funny, but because they don't enhance medieval atmosphere, rather they worsen it by not being serious. The setting thus gets undermined. There are several other paradox games where they fit better, e.g. Magicka, which I laughed really hard at for all the built-in jokes. For the middle ages though, I'd like it to be Game of Thrones type of serious. I'll modify that statement though if there was some historical point with the cats which haven't been explained yet (were peasants historically averse to cats? were there mobs forming to get rid of them? was this a common occurance? etc).
Why do people assume that humour is a modern invention? There are ancient Mesopotamian tablets covered in jokes, but no, Medieval Europe must be all grimdark.

Heck, even GoT is like 25% toilet humour, 25% sex, 25% violence and 25% instant teleportation and information transfer across thousands of miles.
 
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