CK2 Dev Diary #61: The Dragon Throne

[Doomdark]

Hello folks!

The Swedish summer vacations are drawing to a close and I’m back and eager to talk some more Crusader Kings! What better way to kick off the end of summer than by revealing the theme of the next expansion? Yes my friends, it’s China! Now, before you get all emotional one way or the other, we’re not actually going to expand the map farther east. We considered doing that, long and hard, but eventually decided on a different approach that would not strain performance and stability beyond reason. As I mentioned in Dev Diary #51, it bothers me that the eastern edge of the map just cuts off in such an unnatural way. Playing in the Orient, you should always feel like you’re in the shadow of the Dragon. It should be an interesting and dynamic region right in the center of the Old World. So, we came up with the idea of adding China as a political entity even though you cannot actually see most of its territory.

There is a new screen you can open up, which, if you’re within range of China, allows you to interact with the Emperor in various interesting ways. China can grant many wonderful boons if you’re in the emperor’s good graces, but, depending on the current status and policy of the Dragon Throne, the emperor can also decide you’d better show some respect and become a tributary state. When there is turmoil in China, displaced or fleeing armies can arrive on the map and cause all kinds of trouble. China can even seize and rule actual provinces, but the emperor leaves the governing of such areas to the Governor of the Western Protectorate (or, to be a stickler, the “Protectorate General to Pacify the West”.) Potentially, this on-map part of China can grow enormously powerful, but you should not have to worry too much as long as you enjoy the emperor’s grace…

That’s going to be all for now. I’m sure you have a million questions, but you’ll have to wait for the upcoming dev diaries.

Meanwhile, remember to tune in to our CK2 livestreams between 16 to 18:00 CET!

 

[Doomdark]

Wow, interesting idea... Will China be able to launch invasions too, like the Mongols - Or is the plan that they are just a buffer to the east?

They can...

 

[rageair]

Will the state of China carry over to EUIV when using the converter?

Yes - the Emperor and Dynasty will be converted, and EU4 Ming will be replaced by whatever is in CK2 (Yuan, Tang, etc). Culture and religion will also be converted over. Any land held by the Protectorate will be given to China proper.

 

[Meneth]

That's great!

However, I have another suggestion:

In fact, "Daizong" is just his posthumous title (yes, that means nobody knows who is "Daizong" when he is still alive!). His real name is Li Yu (李豫).

We're aware it isn't quite accurate to use the temple name during their lifetime, but we decided it was the best course of action given that we need the names to be both consistent and recognizable.

Pretty nice!

How moddable will this feature be? Will we be able to add new titles accessible through such an interface? Is it possible to add other conditions than diplomatic range for interacting with China?

It'll be highly moddable.
You can add more offmap titles.
Diplomatic range is more than just the regular diplomatic range system, and basically any restriction can be modded in.

 

[Meneth]

Don't understand this part, if anything this naming convention makes the thing more inconsistent and unrecognizable.

This way, the emperor keeps the same name during life and death, and the name they're generally known by is used.

What kind of names are available for Emperors? Only -zong (Taizong) or also -zu (Taizu)?

-zu for the founder of each dynasty. -zong for everyone else.

 

[Meneth]

also, Emperor Daizong LOVED Buddhism, he was one of the most pro-Buddhism emperor of Tang dynasty.
I dont know where you get the idea that he "dislikes Buddhist".Emperor Wuzong after him did unleashed a crackdown on Buddhism, not him.

Like Warial says, this is currently random.

 

[blackninja9939]

A very beautiful interface! I love the idea of an off-map interaction. I only hope that it will be as moddable as possible!

The entire system is extremely moddable. You can add and customize your own offmaps via the script.

 

[[Arthur-PDX]]

So what this reads like to me i s something that's going to mean MORE random large armies marching through my lands with no way to answer them. At least ifm I want to play Central Asian powers. So it conversely makes the game in the region less interesting to me.

Game Rules my friend, game rules.


Arthur

 

[blackninja9939]

So it's possible to have several offmaps?

Yes

 

[blackninja9939]

It's not really a nursery rhyme as much as a phrase that is said at the beginning of every round of the game, the phrase is.
"Kejsaren av kina tycker inte om te, men han tycker om...?"
"The emperor of china does not like tea (actually the letter t) but he likes...?"
And then the person is supposed to guess nouns that the emperor likes. And if the word does not contain the letter in question (t is first round other rounds it kept secret) the person who asks says "The emperor likes [noun]" or if it contains the letter then he said "the emperor dislikes [noun]".
I have a hard time thinking that it's a coincidence. Generally the guessers win if they can get an entire round without anyone saying something the emperor dislikes then the next person is the asker.

I know the game you mean (although not by any reference to China I was always taught it as a generic "he likes" but that might just be a cultural thing) and the mechanic was not made with that game in mind.

 

[blackninja9939]

If you say so. Still seems like much of a coincidence to me.

It is a coincidence, that game has no reference to the Emperor of China in any country I have seen it played in and nobody else on the team had heard of it by that name either.

 

[blackninja9939]

It's a very common Swedish children's game. You know that country you are based in.

But hey whatever it's not really relevant.

Not everyone that works at Paradox is Swedish...

 

[blackninja9939]

Does it require the DLC? Or is going to be like Society's and the framework is part of the patch it just wont be used in the game for China unless you own the DLC?

The system is open to modders to use without the DLC like the Societies and Artifact systems are.

 

[blackninja9939]

Modding the converter is relevant to my interests so can I get confirmation that "extremely moddable" extends to this converter functionality? If there are multiple offmaps modded in can they each be converted to a different area in this way?

Not in the same way the converter specifically handles China as that is hardcoded. There is a set of new on actions for when the EU4 converter starts and finishes which might be useful in your case to set some things up. Will also likely be useful for any other things you want to do with the converter that are handled by code currently but can be tweaked around in the script before it happens.