CK3 Dev Diary #68 - Inspiration Never Dies​

As you may already know, artifacts are making a triumphant return in Royal Court. The artifacts themselves will be familiar to those of you who have used them in CK2, but how you actually get your hands on them will be slightly different. As such, I won’t talk much about the artifacts themselves for now, but I’ll be going over one of the major ways of how you will acquire artifacts.

Characters throughout the world can gain what we call an inspiration. Inspirations come about as a character is seeking to create something extraordinary, resulting in the character wanting to pursue the means of realizing their inspiration. They may want to write a great tome of knowledge, weave a tapestry, or forge a magnificent crown! There are many different kinds of inspirations, all resulting in various types of artifacts upon completion. An inspiration can be broad, such as someone wanting to merely forge a weapon, or very specific like a character wanting to forge a sword.

[Image of a character with an active inspiration]​

Inspirations only occur for landless characters. We want to extend the immersion of guests and courtiers by making them valuable to you even if you have no desire to push their claims, or use their skills as a councillor. Inspired characters will travel the world, from court to court, seeking a wealthy monarch to sponsor them and their creation. Realms with a high grandeur will be able to attract inspired characters more frequently than those with low grandeur. Granting them a higher chance at receiving skilled craftsmen that will be able to forge an artifact to meet your expectations.

Once an inspired character arrives at your court, you can choose to sponsor them by giving them the gold they ask for. A skilled character will demand larger amounts of gold, but will also yield better results in creating an artifact. Most of the time at least. No one is infallible after all. The skill that is relevant depends on the type of artifact they want to make. For example, a weapon and the quality it gets is dependent on the character’s Martial and Prowess skill. Writing a book, on the other hand, scales with Learning.

[Image of the Fund Inspiration interaction]​

After funding an inspiration, it will take some time for the character to create the artifact. During the creation progress various situations can happen, such as the character asking for better materials to work with. Below you’ll find such an example, in which my inspired character finds excellent material at the local market. Approve their request and pay for the material, and you’ll increase the overall quality of the artifact they’ll produce.

[Image of an inspiration event: Highest Quality]​

An inspiration gains progress similar to that of a scheme. You’ll gain progress depending on a chance each month, making the actual time it takes to complete vary. Once the inspiration reaches full progress, the character will approach you to present their creation.

[Image of an inspiration being completed]​

Mind you, this is not the only way in which you can get an artifact. Inspirations exist to serve as the most significant means of doing so, since they will generally grant you artifacts of a higher quality. You can still get artifacts by other means, such as getting them in events. I hope you enjoyed this brief look into how an artifact can come about. Stay tuned for more information regarding the Royal Court!

 

[fmlyman]

Installed my son as king of Jerusalem after a crusade - cant form alliance or even interact because he's too far away...

But some random lowborn with no money somehow is able to travel the world and get kings and emperors to just... give them money?

It would make more sense if it was say a knight/noble whos survived 'x' amount of battles wanted to make a special weapon

 

[Zhetone]

This is actually a bit of a letdown for me. I was hoping to see artifacts become something interesting and yet we are once again back to the same CK2 model of paying for one to be made. Sure, there are other ways to get artifacts that we don't know about yet, but in CK2, you just spend a bunch of money to get a top quality artifact made and we're seeing this again. Such artifacts really have no importance or interest in the game as they are just generic weapons or armor or whatever with no actual story behind them. (An "inspired" character making an item after being paid a bunch of money isn't a story). So once again, we'll have a bunch of uninspired artifacts spread throughout the world instead of having items that have stories and are worth something to the player beyond just a stat boost and money sink. I don't care about spending money on them, but when it's just some landless character who is "inspired", all you are really saying is that the king or emperor (not sure why a count or duke with money can't do this as it doesn't require a court to pay someone to make something) is paying a blacksmith or whomever to make something and that's it. Nothing special. Nothing unique. Nothing interesting. AKA - uninspired.

Don't get me wrong, I love artifacts and want them back. I made a few detailed posts long ago on how I would like to see the artifacts return as something that is actually important to the player and their characters' stories. Perhaps other ways of getting artifacts will result in that, but I really don't like seeing them come back as just newly made weapons and tapestries and such. Those aren't "artifacts". They are "goods". Maybe a weapon that was bought could be passed down for generations and become an artifact (a family heirloom specifically) because it's something the family has had for generations, but a newly forged weapon? That isn't an artifact.

This is actually the first thing that I haven't been happy with or at least okay with. I like where the game is going, but this is just a step backwards.

King: "I've paid this person to make me a sword. It's a really nice sword. You should think better of me and my court because I have this nice generic sword."

vs.

King: "This sword has been used by past kings to forge their empires for generations. It has real importance and historical value. Don't you think my court is better for having such an artifact?"

how many "ancient swords" would have even been owned by anyone or used? how do you think a sword passed down through generations came into existence in the first place?
do you think your king will just find a cool sword in the mud and it happens to be Alexander the Great's or something?

 

[ajokitty]

What happens if a character with inspiration becomes landed? What it they've already been payed to start working on an artifact?

 

[Geodynamis]

Can unlanded spouses, children, councilers, knights, etc. have an inspiration? Or is this strictly for wandering guests?

 

[Rakdar]

One of my favorite things about Imperator was the fun of collecting the treasures of Alexander and other stat boosting relics across the world. Are relics planned for this or future updates? A good chunk of my graduate study focuses on them, and I would be quite happy to see the head of st. George stashed in the lake constance region/reichenau abbey specifically.

Relics were such a huge part of medieval life that I’d be disappointed if they weren’t present in CK3, especially considering they are there in CK2.

 

[Tiax]

I think this is really going to be hamstrung by how lackluster the wanderer system is. Why would I wait around for someone to randomly wander to my court, when I could just open up the character search, find a person with the appropriate inspiration and high martial halfway across the world, marry them to my niece, and have the best smith in the world at my disposal?

The wanderer system is so arbitrary and opaque that it feels indistinguishable from just having randomly-generated characters appear. At least in that system, you'd actually care about who was generated, rather than ignoring the system and getting inspired characters through other means.

 

[Beyond Disbelief]

One of my favorite things about Imperator was the fun of collecting the treasures of Alexander and other stat boosting relics across the world. Are relics planned for this or future updates? A good chunk of my graduate study focuses on them, and I would be quite happy to see the head of st. George stashed in the lake constance region/reichenau abbey specifically.

A bit of a tangent here, but honestly, I liked Imperator's audio and visuals and theme a lot. I also thoroughly enjoyed the economy/trade system even if it's not quite perfect, it's certainly realistic when it comes to running a country - it's not about accumulating X amount of iron or whatever like some RTS game, but whether or not you have access to it at a national scale (I wonder if this aspect of Imperator was inspired by HoI4) I was actually itching to go back to playing Imperator recently but seeing there has been no new DLCs I fired back up CK3 instead.


I do think Imperator has potential as a franchise and hope PDX hasn't abandoned it.

(Side note/totally wrong place for suggestion - If I'm going to pretend I'm the Imperator of Rome with quasi-real slanted/curved maps would be sweet to have a realistic map mode where the Orient is at the top of the map. Doing things the way Romans did can be the key differentiator for Imperator)

 

[IndigoRage]

Characters throughout the world can gain what we call an inspiration. Inspirations come about as a character is seeking to create something extraordinary

I take this to mean our characters will go insane and kill themselves if they don't have cloth lying around.

 

[CrabHelmet]

I have to admit, I'm a bit underwhelmed by this. When you look at the great institutions and events and people that shaped the Medieval era, there's so many that simply aren't represented in CkK3 yet - the entire Catholic church is scarcely there, the Byzantine Empire is represented using the same feudal system as the Kingdom of France, there's no system for anti-Popes, vassals are nearly useless. Instead of any of those, we get artefacts. Let's be honest - individual material items, with a few notable exceptions, were not really that politically or militarily important in the Medieval era, with the exception of a few religious relics and occasionally crowns intended for coronation. 300 Gold for a dagger - 300 Gold gets you about 5 or 6 regiments of Men-at-Arms. No medieval monarch was foregoing a small army in exchange for a single dagger. And I'm almost certain this system will end the same way as CK2, where players acquired about a million different artefacts very quickly, all of which will give various bonuses, and become super-powered overmensch, making an easy game even easier.

 

[Coemgen]

That’s all well and good, but it’s useless if you can’t play at all!

CK3 has been down on GeForce for months. All of us who use it to play have not been able to access the game since.

We’ve been asking for updates and a fix and are being completely ignored.

PDX, please listen to us. Fix the issue or give us an update!

please

CK3 and Stellaris offline for long on GeForce Now + related pre-order DLC problem

Dear all, I would like to point out that both CK3 and Stellaris are offline on GeForce Now most probably since Thursday and would like to know, as the issue could be tied to the Paradox launcher, when the games will be online again? It is...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[Beyond Disbelief]

1. Artifacts can have names on them, yes. It's a bit random, but some artifact may be named after its creator or after whom it was created for.

Just to be clear, is the artifact's name the only piece of personalizable text on them? Would there be a secondary string associated with them for any purpose (whether vanilla functions or for modding possibilities)?

The screenshot pointed to an "inscription" that says "Owned by Kaiser Heinrich of the Holy Roman Empire", that seems pretty specific if its only flavor text on the event for a weapon specifically named after the Kaiser, so I'm hoping that might be an indication of a secondary string attached to the artifact.

It's certainly flavorful if I wanted to rename Joyeus to Excalibur but naturally i wouldn't be able to change the inscription.

 

[DahndI]

CK3 Dev Diary #68 - Inspiration Never Dies​

As you may already know, artifacts are making a triumphant return in Royal Court. The artifacts themselves will be familiar to those of you who have used them in CK2, but how you actually get your hands on them will be slightly different. As such, I won’t talk much about the artifacts themselves for now, but I’ll be going over one of the major ways of how you will acquire artifacts.

Characters throughout the world can gain what we call an inspiration. Inspirations come about as a character is seeking to create something extraordinary, resulting in the character wanting to pursue the means of realizing their inspiration. They may want to write a great tome of knowledge, weave a tapestry, or forge a magnificent crown! There are many different kinds of inspirations, all resulting in various types of artifacts upon completion. An inspiration can be broad, such as someone wanting to merely forge a weapon, or very specific like a character wanting to forge a sword.

View attachment 746831
[Image of a character with an active inspiration]​

Inspirations only occur for landless characters. We want to extend the immersion of guests and courtiers by making them valuable to you even if you have no desire to push their claims, or use their skills as a councillor. Inspired characters will travel the world, from court to court, seeking a wealthy monarch to sponsor them and their creation. Realms with a high grandeur will be able to attract inspired characters more frequently than those with low grandeur. Granting them a higher chance at receiving skilled craftsmen that will be able to forge an artifact to meet your expectations.

Once an inspired character arrives at your court, you can choose to sponsor them by giving them the gold they ask for. A skilled character will demand larger amounts of gold, but will also yield better results in creating an artifact. Most of the time at least. No one is infallible after all. The skill that is relevant depends on the type of artifact they want to make. For example, a weapon and the quality it gets is dependent on the character’s Martial and Prowess skill. Writing a book, on the other hand, scales with Learning.

View attachment 746832
[Image of the Fund Inspiration interaction]​

After funding an inspiration, it will take some time for the character to create the artifact. During the creation progress various situations can happen, such as the character asking for better materials to work with. Below you’ll find such an example, in which my inspired character finds excellent material at the local market. Approve their request and pay for the material, and you’ll increase the overall quality of the artifact they’ll produce.

View attachment 746833
[Image of an inspiration event: Highest Quality]​

An inspiration gains progress similar to that of a scheme. You’ll gain progress depending on a chance each month, making the actual time it takes to complete vary. Once the inspiration reaches full progress, the character will approach you to present their creation.

View attachment 746834
[Image of an inspiration being completed]​

Mind you, this is not the only way in which you can get an artifact. Inspirations exist to serve as the most significant means of doing so, since they will generally grant you artifacts of a higher quality. You can still get artifacts by other means, such as getting them in events. I hope you enjoyed this brief look into how an artifact can come about. Stay tuned for more information regarding the Royal Court!

Will it be possible to steal them through schemes?

 

[klopkr]

First: Why don't these dev diaries show up among the featured content lately? Its my primary way for checking for dev diaries.

I don't think we actually use all the different skills for creating artifacts. I don't think we use intrigue at the moment for example. Some inspirations may use mutiple skills, while others only make use of a single skill. A weaver inspiration makes use of diplomacy, while weapons and armor both use martial and prowess.

I think it would be cool if you could get a poison ring (intrigue) or a special poison (intrigue and learning) that could give you an extra option while plotting to murder. Stealing certain artifacts (looking at you venetians in egypt) was also a bit of a thing. Maybe intrigue could get you the 'genuine' relics.

Example of an event:
Steve the courtier is inspired to acquire a holy relic. He can either use his learning to acquire one legitimately. Or maybe he's heard of some ruler who isn't in need of their relic (wrong religion or just not zealous). Or he can even for one!ge. The later two could use intrigue and may require you funding a risky expedition.

Inspired characters will only travel to the courts of kings and emperors, but as I mentioned in the DD, there are alternative ways of getting artifacts so that counts and dukes are able to procure artifacts as well.

I really hope you guys drop this king and emperor exclusivity eventually. My post about allowing artifacts and a limited court view (no splendor just fam and friends) to all rulers is very popular on the suggestion forum. I think a lot of players do enjoy playing below king rank or spend a decent amount of time there and want artifacts and a 3d court view.

Kings and Emperors should obviously attract more inspired characters but IMO it should be wealth and renown that are the actual chief modifiers here.

A powerful rich duke of venice > some podunk siberian king.

 

[adca85]

This is actually a bit of a letdown for me. I was hoping to see artifacts become something interesting and yet we are once again back to the same CK2 model of paying for one to be made. Sure, there are other ways to get artifacts that we don't know about yet, but in CK2, you just spend a bunch of money to get a top quality artifact made and we're seeing this again. Such artifacts really have no importance or interest in the game as they are just generic weapons or armor or whatever with no actual story behind them. (An "inspired" character making an item after being paid a bunch of money isn't a story). So once again, we'll have a bunch of uninspired artifacts spread throughout the world instead of having items that have stories and are worth something to the player beyond just a stat boost and money sink. I don't care about spending money on them, but when it's just some landless character who is "inspired", all you are really saying is that the king or emperor (not sure why a count or duke with money can't do this as it doesn't require a court to pay someone to make something) is paying a blacksmith or whomever to make something and that's it. Nothing special. Nothing unique. Nothing interesting. AKA - uninspired.

Don't get me wrong, I love artifacts and want them back. I made a few detailed posts long ago on how I would like to see the artifacts return as something that is actually important to the player and their characters' stories. Perhaps other ways of getting artifacts will result in that, but I really don't like seeing them come back as just newly made weapons and tapestries and such. Those aren't "artifacts". They are "goods". Maybe a weapon that was bought could be passed down for generations and become an artifact (a family heirloom specifically) because it's something the family has had for generations, but a newly forged weapon? That isn't an artifact.

This is actually the first thing that I haven't been happy with or at least okay with. I like where the game is going, but this is just a step backwards.

King: "I've paid this person to make me a sword. It's a really nice sword. You should think better of me and my court because I have this nice generic sword."

vs.

King: "This sword has been used by past kings to forge their empires for generations. It has real importance and historical value. Don't you think my court is better for having such an artifact?"

Pretty much. If this is all there is, and I'm hoping this isn't the case, in terms of obtaining artifacts, it's a let-down. Artifacts have history (story, weight). Commissioning random items is just day-to-day business.

Having said that, I'm curious, are the items static? Or do they evolve to reflect their "owners" in a way? As in, would a sword gain more prestige/power/effect/whatever as its wielder conquers more and more lands for instance?

 

[Cruxador]

I think this is a neat little feature, but if it's meant to be the main way to good artifacts and also to make guests interesting, it fails on a conceptual level. The need for inspiration in order to get something high quality isn't accurate historically, and the need to find an idea guy in order to produce something is complete nonsense in any era. And for the guest goal, it's only an artificial limit that prevents land holders from doing this, which means it doesn't hold up to scrutiny so the feature should be minor enough that it doesn't get scrutinized.

It's still a good addition to the game compared to not having it, but I hope I'm future development, inspiration becomes quite rare and other superior methods of getting artifacts (and interacting with guests) relegate it to the background of gameplay.

 

[Ezumiyr]

Sounds kind of weird to me. A king wants a sword made, so he looks around the world for a guy who feels like making a sword right now?

If a king wants a sword made, they'll just ask for a sword and get it.
But that's not what artifacts are about. An artifact in this case would be a very special sword, a true masterpiece, something a craftsman wanted to do for years but didn't have the means to.
That was CK2's big mistake to just have random swords and spears without any added value, that only boosted some stats.
I really hope that in CK3, the weapons forged by inspired craftsmen have a greater "dynastic" value. They aren't supposed to be your random swords almost any ruler in the game can ask for, they are really supposed to be special, and as such, they are made by special people.

And yes, this is rather historically accurate. Powerful people would actively try to attract famous trobadors and authors to write and sing great words in their courts. Sure it's a bit different when it comes to weapon-making... but is it really not acceptable to stretch that part a little bit? For weapons and armours of prestige, someone absolutely had to look for the best smiths for the work. Not the king himself, of course, but someone. And yeah, the best smiths were not exactly "inspired", more like recognized and famous for their work.
If we're going to have artifacts, I think it's a nice way to do it, and I prefer that approach to the one in CK2 that tended to be "I can't have some random sword without giving a random smith enough gold to buy his own castle". Artifacts need to be exceptional items.

 

[Melian Erios]

Below you’ll find such an example, in which my inspired character finds excellent material at the local market.

This line gave me an idea you might want to take up, or may already be considering, if in appropriate regions... Damascus steel weapons?

 

[wilcoxchar]

Installed my son as king of Jerusalem after a crusade - cant form alliance or even interact because he's too far away...

But some random lowborn with no money somehow is able to travel the world and get kings and emperors to just... give them money?

It would make more sense if it was say a knight/noble whos survived 'x' amount of battles wanted to make a special weapon

Knights don't forge weapons. Blacksmiths do.

 

[Tiax]

Knights don't forge weapons. Blacksmiths do.

In the world of CK3, these are apparently the same thing.

 

[CognitoHazard_]

Question will a character with a specific trait such as disfigured or one-eyed be able to commission specific artifacts that are connected to that such as a unique gold-plated face cover for characters that are disfigured or a crown that covered one eye for a one-eyed character?