CK3 Dev Diary #56 - An Azure Summer​

Greetings!

This week we have a few announcements to make! Firstly, as you saw in the last diary, we mentioned the number 1.3.X - this is the version number for an upcoming patch that we’re aiming to release around this summer (of course, the ‘X’ part will be an actual digit when it’s released, but for now we’ll just have to wait to see what it’ll be in the end!).

As you already know, we tend to name our patches using heraldic terms. The Northern Lords release had the name ‘Corvus’ for example. As we’re hoping for clear blue skies this summer, we’ve dubbed this patch ‘Azure’!

The Azure patch is a free patch, and there will not be any paid content coming out at the same time. It’ll focus on improving the stability of the game, fixing bugs, adding Quality of Life, balancing various systems, and adding some small features requested by the community. We’ll not go into many details in this diary, instead you can look forward to more info in some of the upcoming Dev Diaries!

Until then, here is a first teaser of some of the improvements that you will find in the patch:

• War Declaration Window: The war declaration UI flow will be revisited in order to better highlight your opponent’s strength and the different objectives available for a given Casus Belli
• Starting Men at Arms: Rulers will now start with a contingent of Men at Arms, depending on their income and culture. Default Men at Arms will also be generated when a Character is landed for the first time.

[Image of Duchess Matilda's starting MaA]

We hope to release Azure this summer, before the vacation season (the summer vacation usually starts late June and ends by the end of July) - but depending on how our plans work out, it might release during late summer.

***

Another thing we’re actively working with is improving Multiplayer stability, although this is separate from the upcoming Azure patch. We’re currently collecting as much data as we can, and it’s a process that’ll take time - at this point we’d not want to release the improvements as a patch.

Instead we’re aiming to release an Open Beta on Steam where you can get access to some of the Multiplayer stability improvements early. We highly recommend using this Open Beta when playing with your friends. This version of the game will have extra Multiplayer logging enabled, so that any remaining issues can be found more easily. As a side effect of these additional logs, the game will run a bit slower both in multiplayer and in singleplayer. If you notice the slowdown, you might want to switch back from the Open Beta for your singleplayer sessions. More specific info will be posted as the Open Beta is released.

This Open Beta will be available sometime in the near future for Steam users.

***

Now, as most of you have already figured out, the first big Expansion will be revealed during PDXCon in May! We’re looking forward to then, and to be able to share more details with you!

During the week of PDXCon we’ll have a DevDiary where we go into some detail about parts of the Expansion (we know that you’ll be hungry for more info after seeing the show!). After that diary, there will be some more Azure patch diaries before we start writing further Expansion diaries - just a heads up, so you know what to expect!

 

[Meneth]

This is exciting news, It has always been frustrating to spend large portions of my starting treasury to get just a single unit of catapults, although I suppose income in the early game will go down as a result of this.

By about 20%.
We're however upping starting treasury sizes 50% to give you a faster start.

 

[SauronGorthaur]

So let me get this straight... This is not only not a content patch, it doesn't even warrant a 1.4 label. And given how the bug fix patch for Northern Lords still didn't exit beta branch, it's quite possible its release IS the Azure patch. I.e. we're going to wait three circa three months for the proper release of Northern Lord's bug fix patch (with some extra quality of life throw in), WITH the possibility it may get delayed all the way back to August?

And given Azure's numbering, the expansion is going to be released only after that. Meaning that we're going to see the expansion a year after the release, with even that being a rather generous estimate? Unless this expansion is so large that it's going to put Emperor, Leviathan and Holy Fury all to shame, the development pace of CK3 is really getting extremely disappointing.

 

[YerCo]

... a button "To raise only MaA"...
Please. I hope.

 

[PDX-Nicou]

Will there be dev diaries between now and PDXCon? The DD seems a little ambiguous on that.

You can expect multiple Dev Diaries between now & PDXCon, I have the list right before my eyes and they look increasingly hot hot hawt.

 

[Meneth]

Good afternoon,a great dd,however,question,are you forced to keep conserving generate men at arms or you can delete it and play without them if you want as before?
If not possible,can you at least mod it?
Thanks for any replies about this.

You can disband them as normal. But you won't get a refund.

 

[Meneth]

I hope this doesn't mean all income is increased. As outside the early game, income feels too easy to come by.

Income isn't affected by this change no, just how much money you start with.

 

[pengoyo]

No doubt the stans will defend it as game dev is hard. But is it really that hard to make a list of set images with the ability to color swap. I know the 8 year Olds in my intro programming class could accomplish it in about an hour and a half.

Yes they could easily produce something like that, but I'd rather they give us a better Crest Designer than we had in CK2. If that means I have to wait longer, that's the price I'm willing to pay. Now, if after all our waiting, they just give us the CK2 Crest Designer again, then I'll agree with your point here. But I'd rather hold my judgement until then.

Also look at the huge mods that have been completed by weekend warriors like prince of darkness, LOTR, bronze age, lord of the kings, and tales of Ireland. Look at the amount of detail these amateurs were able to add to the game. And from the official team only northern lords and the ruler designer since launch. Now it's looking like at least until September before we see the first major update for the game.

This was true in CK2 also. Mods, as a whole, are always faster (and not just with Paradox, pretty much any game with decent mod support). Partly this is due to less QA control, partly this is due to mostly remixing existing mechanics rather than creating new one, but a big part of this is due to the fact there are a lot more modders than there are developers. Also I think characterizing modders as amateurs is understating the skill these people have.

And keep in mind, part of the new CK3 DLC model they told us about is that the major expansion will be worked on for longer. And so from my understanding, things like flavour packs are worked on in-tandem with the major expansion to help bridge the gap. This means when they released Northern Lords they weren't releasing all the work they had done up until that point. So again, I'll wait until the major expansion comes out to judge how well this new DLC model is working (though the large delay means I'll expect more when it does finally release).



I do think there are legitimate points of criticism in your posts (such as problems with communication), but I don't think overstating them is helping.

 

[directordirector]

Kinda wish there was more stuff mentioned in the dev diary tbh. Especially after 3 that weren't all that interesting.

 

[PDXOxycoon]

I have the list right before my eyes and they look increasingly hot hot hawt.

Encroaching summer heat already getting to you? Personally, I think the list looks more cool than hot

 

[Stormbound5]

This is exciting news, It has always been frustrating to spend large portions of my starting treasury to get just a single unit of catapults, although I suppose income in the early game will go down as a result of this.

 

[ComplexIvano]

It's just me who think that waiting for mid June (if everything go right) or by August (if everything go wrong) is too much?

It's even worse if I think that I have no faith in surprises and I have no assurance that saving game rule/search option will be in this patch (my first issue with the game right now).

At least we know for sure that the expansion will be presented in the PDXCon and we are going to know more about it in the dev diary right next to it, September/October release date is my best bet.

 

[fofodubendo93]

This change and the change to man at arms will not make the game start a lot faster? It's already fast enought to in just 2 or 3 generations to grow and consolidate becoming a major power in the game and consequently decreasing the game's challenge.

One of the reasons it's so easy is because the ai takes more time to build men at arms. This should actually make the start harder I think.

 

[Metztli]

Paradox please give us a way to raise our Men-at-arms and knights separately from the normal levies (I'm sorry if this is already added but I seriously can't find such an option!).

 

[Arcvalons]

Nice, can't wait to see what the expansion is about. Any updates regarding the in-game Coat of Arms editor, though?

 

[Magil]

This change and the change to man at arms will not make the game start a lot faster? It's already fast enought to in just 2 or 3 generations to grow and consolidate becoming a major power in the game and consequently decreasing the game's challenge.

I think giving the AI some MAA to start with whenever they become landed will be a noticeable help for them, particularly given they spend so much time in partition where only the primary heir inherits MAA.

 

[Voy]

Thanks, we stan Devdiaries of substance.

 

[Nyrael]

I really hope that the first expansion is focused on re-adding stuff from Holy Fury. Playing Catholics in CK3 feels extremely underwhelming even compared to pre-HF CK2.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Hopefully one of the quality of life improvements coming in this patch will be the ability to customize what you get messages on like in CK2.

 

[MikeP82]

Since you are looking into Men-at-Arms and QoL improvements, I would welcome being able to combine Men-at-Arms of the same type (sometimes you inherit units you already have) and maybe being able to upgrade siege weapons to the latest type.