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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!

DD_silk.jpg


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.

DD_mercenary.jpg


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.

DD_horse.jpg


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.
 
So does that first event picture confirm Chinese cultured courtiers? So hyped if this is in fact true :)
 
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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.
 
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I hope Lunatics can name the horse Glitterhoof.
Also, this is really a nicely large expansion which finally fleshes out the steppe.
 
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HORSE COMPANIONS DLC CONFIRMED §§§§§
Now I demand a horse armour DLC, too! $$$$$$


Edit:
I wanna be mercenaaarryyyy! More specifically I wanna be a werewolf mercenary!
Sorry, there's only werebear mercenarys:
Oh! And I might actually have heard legends about certain altaic families behaving in odd ways lately… with hideous faces and beast-like behavior.
 
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Thank you for sharing.
 
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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.
 
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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.
 
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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.

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

EDIT: Being able to play as an adventurer in CK2 would raise it to a whole other level for me. There are so many possible outcomes, and the roleplaying would be totally awesome. Imagine being a Danish viking, raiding some in africa and you get settled there. Or being a mercenary and get killed, or win a lords trust and get some land. Man, the possibilities would be endless!
 
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