Hello everyone!

I know you are all eager to learn more about the Royal Court, but as we announced last week, we will go into more details once the Azure patch is released. If everything goes according to plan, and there are no unexpected events, we aim to release Azure next week! But let’s focus on today's small dev diary for now!

During the development of Crusader Kings III, we organized a community challenge where you could unlock unique cosmetics for the game, which we dubbed the Monarch’s Journey. With the 1.4.0 Azure patch, we’ve decided to make these cosmetics available for everyone!

It includes:

• Headgear:
  • Hennin
  • Chaperon
  • Jester's Hat
• Haircuts:
  • Miller
  • Miller Highlights
  • Jeanne d'Arc
  • Pageboy
  • Mullet
• And the Wizard's Beard!

In order to celebrate this, we’ve also hooked some of these assets in to be used by random characters. For instance, Scots will be able to randomly use the Mullet haircut, while Frankish women will be able to use the Jeanne d’Arc haircut.

[A classy French woman with a Jeanne d’Arc haircut]

[A charming Scot with a Mullet]​

And because fashion changed over time, the Chaperon and Hennin will be available in the western world only after 1300.

[A wonderful Chaperon]

[A magnificent Hennin]​

In addition to that, we fixed several visual bugs highlighted by you:

• Spouses of rulers will now once again wear clothes based on their spouse's culture
• Arabic High Nobility will now use the Scholar's Turban and Caliphs will use the Caliphal Robes
• The 'Spindly' Trait will not make people's limbs too thin anymore

On the AI side, we reworked how vassals handle holy war and added constraints on Feudal and Clans rulers to limit their aggression of Tribal rulers. These modifications still allow the Byzantine empire to expand but in a more elegant way. Let’s have a look at a few results from Observe mode!

​

And this is it for today! As mentioned at the beginning of this dev diary, we should be back next week with the changelog for the patch if everything goes well!

Until then, I wish you the best and, hopefully, have fun!

 

[BrotherJonathan]

The Azure update is really shaping up. I get that some people are annoyed that something they worked for is now avilable to everyone, but considering that the content was never paid and those who completed the contest still got access to it almost a year before everyone else, I think the anger is a bit overblown. Also glad that bordegore and weird AI behavior is being tackled. This sort of attention to quality is what built Paradox, and I'm glad to see it's being continued.

 

[Riamus]

I've never understood this attitude of not wanting other people to have access to things just because you earned them in the past. It is one thing if you're talking about achievements or unique items in a multiplayer game (especially something like a MMO). It's another thing when you're talking about items in a game that is mostly played single player. And even for those who play this multiplayer, it's still such a minor thing. It wasn't that hard earning these if you had time to put into doing so. I got the first 3-4 unlocked and I did it in a matter of a few hours. You could get enough points for the first few within a few decades or so of starting each MJ, which doesn't take long at max speed. I didn't bother with the rest because those would have taken longer to complete and I did not have time to spend doing that. It wasn't that it was hard and therefore something that proves you're a good player; it is just a matter of having enough time and proving that just proves you don't have much of a life beyond the game.

 

[Finear]

That's very nice to see! But best part is that you're trying to launch Azure patch next week! can't wait! And have to end quickly my current campaign...

 

[lozikk]

It would also be nice if we could dress our characters in their house colours tbh. Like on GoT

Or better yet, choose the clothing colors, because right now they are randomly generated and hidden in some non-editable places

 

[King Anund]

From the looks of it, the textures have been made for the commoner clothing sets which means it's only courtiers and guests that will wear them probably. You can tell based on the colour scheme it follows and the texture pattern always matches the ones on commoner clothing. No late gear for your highborn, I'm afraid.

Well that is a pity. I expected something to match the real use of the chaperon by high nobility (or equivalent in Italy).

Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy (1396-1467) and Lorenzo de Médici (1449-1492)

 

[doxdoxdox]

Finally - the Jester's Hat!

 

[sheai]

Do you guys think that all the content of the patch is now revealed or can we expect some more things at the release or another dev diary maybe ?

 

[FonzoRomano]

Check @Belonogy 's activity - he has gone into all my comments on posts and marked them as "respectfully disagree". Not only here but on other threads, several months old.

Not only mine but also other people's who disagreed with his benevolent views on why he thinks giving everyone a hanfdul of cosmetics that he unlocked almost a year ago is a terrible idea. Even though he has a ratio of 1 to 25 likes and dislikes, doesn't take a clue on people genuinly not agreeing with him, hates the feeling and blindly dislikes every post of who doesn't agree with him.

This attitude is sad, but common online. And only shows how a few toxic people can ruin the experience of a otherwise positive community.

 

[Cymsdale]

Check @Belonogy 's activity - he has gone into all my comments on posts and marked them as "respectfully disagree". Not only here but on other threads, several months old.

Not only mine but also other people's who disagreed with his benevolent views on why he thinks giving everyone a hanfdul of cosmetics that he unlocked almost a year ago is a terrible idea. Even though he has a ratio of 1 to 25 likes and dislikes, doesn't take a clue on people genuinly not agreeing with him, hates the feeling and blindly dislikes every post of who doesn't agree with him.

This attitude is sad, but common online. And only shows how a few toxic people can ruin the experience of a otherwise positive community.

Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, my precious karma!

 

[FonzoRomano]

Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, my precious karma!

That's how he must have felt. It's a non-issue to me, just trying to show how petty this all is. How much time did he spend disliking that many posts?

 

[Voy]

Do you guys think that all the content of the patch is now revealed or can we expect some more things at the release or another dev diary maybe ?

Well, the changelog will come next week so we will not know everything coming with Azure until then. Some other notable changes will come for sure, that has yet to be mentioned.

But in the realm of "content" as in new events, mechanics or graphics, ofc they've announced everything, what a silly question.

 

[nestorius]

cant the byzantine empire die for once ?

 

[riadach]

Why are those who did not participate in the challenge given our unique awards? So I was wasting my time getting the maximum points? Leave or make at least one hat for those who participated in good faith pls

The real Monarch's journey was the friends you made along the way.

 

[NexusSix]

Well this could have been made shorter if you had just said :

Cosmetics you unlocked anyway and map stuff...

 

[Belonogy]

Check @Belonogy 's activity - he has gone into all my comments on posts and marked them as "respectfully disagree". Not only here but on other threads, several months old.

Not only mine but also other people's who disagreed with his benevolent views on why he thinks giving everyone a hanfdul of cosmetics that he unlocked almost a year ago is a terrible idea. Even though he has a ratio of 1 to 25 likes and dislikes, doesn't take a clue on people genuinly not agreeing with him, hates the feeling and blindly dislikes every post of who doesn't agree with him.

This attitude is sad, but common online. And only shows how a few toxic people can ruin the experience of a otherwise positive community.

do not insult me, I did not call you toxic, although it was you who disliked all my comments

 

[Cymsdale]

do not insult me, I did not call you toxic, although it was you who disliked all my comments

There is a difference between disliking someone's objectively ridiculous comments in a thread and stalking someone around the forums and downvoting all their posts. If you don't like being called toxic, don't do toxic things.

 

[RandomJoe]

Can we please get some kind of answer or response about the CoA designer? I noticed how the question was asked and ignored, but the Dev felt it necessary to comment on the debug tools on the picture.

 

[Voy]

Why is my behavior toxic? By buying all games and add-ons at full price, following the terms of the contests in good faith, and getting rewards? Why are you getting my awards just like that? I am forced to introduce a second package of sanctions in view of your insults

Paradox has been very transparent about the Monarch's Journey rewards from the beginning. It has been stated that it would be available to get later during CK3. Your reward was to get it early, and that's enough. If you cannot fathom the idea that sales and discounts exist, and some DLC might become free at some point, you should wait for that yourself instead of buying it at a full price.

 

[Riamus]

Do you guys think that all the content of the patch is now revealed or can we expect some more things at the release or another dev diary maybe ?

The patches always have a lot of stuff no one was aware of before seeing the changelog. But the major items should already be revealed. You can probably expect a changelog that is very long.

 

[G S Palmer]

Another reason to release the Monarch's Journey is to pay proper respects to the devs who made the content. It would be a shame if the cosmetics they worked hard on just ended up being used by a couple people who happened to have time to play the challenges, and no-one else ever got to appreciate them.

Are you a communist?

I mean, maybe? Not in the traditional sense though.