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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.
StartingMaA.png

[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

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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.
 
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By about 20%.
We're however upping starting treasury sizes 50% to give you a faster start.
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.
 
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es333

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The bug fix patch is released in June or August? Whoa, if Paradox is working so extensively on it then I'll also report the minor bugs of many North-Eastern European counties using names based on modern towns, I didn't see a point before as I thought the patch is going to be released last week. Looking at the timeline, CK III should be practically bug free and substantially improved after the patch. I'm looking forward to that. :)
 
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fofodubendo93

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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.
 
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Starting men at arms is just an absolutely A+ change - something I've complained about for a long time. But please make sure to rebalance the starting special armies for the few characters that have them. We don't need Haesteinn to have his current special troop men at arms on top of a pile of regular men at arms, and be even more powerful than he already is.

Will it be possible to specify in the history files specific men at arms a ruler should have at game start, and override the default generated ones? It would be nice to be able to give nations who were at their military apex some stronger starting troops without having to use the hacky special troops system.
 
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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!).
 
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Ostermex

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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.
No, it definitely isn't just you.
I personally expected another hotfix for bugs like this , and it's really disappointing to see issues like this be ignored for months.
 
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