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CK2 Dev Diary #61: The Dragon Throne

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.

The Dragon Throne.png


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!
 

Pte Baldrick

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I think that'd be interesting. That's a good idea man.

Would be a nice thing to reference. Although, I feel if the event had that outcome, you'd probably either see China convert more often than not in games, or even seasoned players would never experience the event for themselves.
 

killerbee256

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But the reason they went for the Buddhist scriptures was because the country was Buddhist, but had no access to the original Buddhist scriptures. Why would they need to go to Europe, since they probably had very few Christians in the country, let alone in the government?

... You know what, I need to stop being such a contrarian. It would still be a fun event and cool reference, so they should include it. Nor just for Europe though. Just, like there's an event where you can get several visitors from China looking for scriptures. If you give them to them, there's a chance that China will convert to your religion, be it Catholicism, Sunni, Buddhism or whatever.

I think that'd be interesting. That's a good idea man.
There were Nestorians in China but they declined around the year 1000.
 

TheDarkMaster

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Would be a nice thing to reference. Although, I feel if the event had that outcome, you'd probably either see China convert more often than not in games, or even seasoned players would never experience the event for themselves.
Maybe a better system would be flags based on the presence of minorities based on those events, with potential options to send missionaries to China? Whoever shares a religion with the emperor will probably have a more interesting chain, but when the dynasty changes, then there's a strong potential for a minority religion to gain power.
 

JosunUrashima

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I think you can figure out the vast majority of players viewpoints on this by looking at how many of the people making lots of groaning and whining and complaining get lots of Respectfully Disagrees.

I think this is interesting, but will probably hold off at first before getting it- well, it'll depend on if I have money to burn or not.