Weekly Dev Diary #9 - Events

[Divine]

Hello everyone!

Today is Tuesday and that means it’s time for another fascinating Developer Diary. My name is Divine and I’ve been part of the Crusader Kings team since last autumn as a scripter and now I’m going to tell you about some of the events that we’ve been working on for the soon-to-be-released expansion, Horse Lords!

If you control a part of the Silk Road you can now build trade posts to make sure to get some of the riches that is traveling along the route. However, there might be more people who want a share of the wealth, so you’ll probably have to guard your treasure chests. There’s also a possibility to gain the help of a trade governor who might attract more traders and riches to your land... or his mishaps might prove to be more of a headache for you to cope with.

As mentioned in a previous dev diary, rulers on the Steppe can send out their sons and brothers to take up arms and become mercenaries. The life of a mercenary, though, is a harsh one and a lot of things can happen when you’re out adventuring in a foreign court; so we’ve added some events about various things that can occur for the captain of such a created mercenary band.

For instance, the Mercenary Captain, being on the field fighting for a living, has a chance to improve his military education trait to one of the stronger ones. These mercenaries also get a few events to interact with their employer or the ruler of the province they are hanging out in. One of these events is for instance eloping with a person of the employer’s court. It can be a daughter, son or a skilled courtier.

Since the Mercenary Captain is earning his keep from being hired he also gets some choices on what to spend it on. For example, improving his Band of Mercenaries or spend it all on women and vice.

A ruler of the Steppe was not much of a ruler unless his clan had a thriving herd of livestock to support them. Thus, it is only natural that we needed to have some events about horses! If you’re living on the Steppes as a nomad, you can now adopt a favorite war horse. There are some events associated with having a horse and what you do together with it - both ordinary and unusual happenings.

So that’s a little sneak peek of the things that can happen on the wide Steppes and everything I had to say for today. I hope you are all hyped for the upcoming expansion that is now just a week away!

Oh! And I might actually have heard legends about certain altaic families behaving in odd ways lately… with hideous faces and beast-like behavior.

 

[Groogy]

Will merc captains with education traits other than the martial ones get the chance to boost their martial stat?

Edit:
Also, how discerning is the "elope" thing? Will it just grab a random character in the employer's court, or will it look at average stats and/or traits, or some other method? The AI isn't great at picking marriage partners already, given how willing Emperors are to marry lowborns, so taking this bit of control from the player could be very annoying.

No only martial education.
And with eloping, it will try and take the most skilled ones. So if you have a Jean d'Arc character who have lost her Celibate trait, the Mercenary captain might elope with her.

 

[Groogy]

Werebear DLC.
Or maybe werehedgehog...

Don't be silly, there are no Werehedgehogs. Just Hedgehog Overlords. Speaking of witch I need to give Master a belly rub later today.

 

[Doomdark]

Good to see there's another thread - I was afraid the video was it.

What kind of CBs do nomads have? I don't think this was ever answered.

Nomads clans can seize single counties off each other internally if they are feuding. They also have a duchy level subjugation CB against external realms (costs 300 Prestige), normal county conquest, subjugation (much like tribal subjugation) against non-nomads. Oh and the most powerful of all is a type of invasion CB that requires the Nomad Clan to be approaching overpopulation.

 

[Groogy]

Can pagans do this aswell? Would be awesome to be able to send out my sibling or children to become mercenaries as a pagan, raid other nations or even tie it in with the immigrant system when you raid someone. How cool wouldnt it be to send out one of your brothers to raid, then get settled somewhere where he raids and spread your culture and religion. It would fit the pagans very well aswell, kinda like the varangian guard.

I am also a bit confused about this, can the player also go out and become a mercenary as an adventurer? Raid and settle? or is it just something that can happen to the player. I kinda wish to be able to be a adventurer in this game

No and No

 

[Groogy]

Will the dynamic mercs be replacing the current static ones completely, or will there be a mix? Also, will I be able to send sons to join existing merc companies? For example, what if I have my elder son form a merc company, could I send a younger son to join him, to take over when the elder comes home?

Original idea was for the dynamic mercs to replace the static ones but it was awful way to play the game so we kept the static ones together with the dynamic ones. No you can't send your sons to join existing mercs. But it is scriptable to do what you want yes.

 

[Groogy]

So just how wealthy are Steppe Hordes going to be? Is the Silik Road going to make them wealthier than republics, for example? And will this break the game? i.e. tons of mercenary companies to conquer the steppes?

No, the Silk Road is a good way for them to make money but generally the Steppe Hordes won't generate much money passively. They gotta earn it.

 

[Groogy]

So can nomads up sticks? There was talk of the player having an option to abandon provinces and find more elsewhere.

Yes they can still abandon provinces through a decision on a county.

 

[Groogy]

So when characters Elope, do they become lovers? I'm only asking because It wouldn't make much sense for my children to run away and marry a mercenary if they didn't love them.

Yes they become lovers, flee from your realm and you become rival with the mercenary captain (meaning you can't hire him anymore to get him back to your realm) and your daughter/son should stay in the court of the mercenary.

It also means if you are the mercenary captain's father that you might get a son come home with exotic girlfriends from all around the world.

 

[Groogy]

So you can effectively be landless?

No they can only abandon completely devoid land with no settlements (including your nomad capital)

 

[Groogy]

Question so nomad Khan lost all his land become raiding adventure is he still playable or is it game over for the players?

Game over

 

[Groogy]

One of the dev diaries said, that the patch will break ironman saves.
Can I downgrade back to 2.3.6 and continue my current achievement hunt or will it be done for good?

Yes you can

 

[Groogy]

This is probably not terribly in line with the spirit of this DLC but could we be a peaceful traveling tribe spreading merriment and whimsy across the world?

No