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Hello folks, and welcome to the first entry in the development diary for Crusader Kings II!

I am Henrik Fåhraeus, project lead on this sequel to the original Crusader Kings (on which I worked as co-designer.) Crusader Kings was a game quite different from our other franchises, in that the focus was on the powerful people of the era rather than on countries. You played a ruler, got married, had kids and watched them grow up to stab you in the back. As such, Crusader Kings was a bit of a role-playing game, while still retaining the strategy game elements of our other titles. Personally, I loved the combination, and, judging by the clamor for a sequel, it appears many others did as well. We are still proud of Crusader Kings, but time waits for no man, and the game is getting on in years...

As it happens, Crusader Kings II is coming along nicely, and, starting with this one, you should be seeing monthly CKII development diaries coming your way (on the first Thursday of the month). With Crusader Kings II, we are not trying to reinvent the wheel. Rather, we want to build on the strengths of the original game and fully realize its potential. That is not to say that Crusader Kings II will be the same game with new graphics, but it should feel instantly familiar to CK players.

What makes CK unique among our games is its character system and its RPG-like elements. The role of the player is clear since there is a ruler, a character, to identify with. The player is the king, and it's good to be the king! In Crusader Kings II, we aim to really hone in on the importance of characters - their personalities, interests and interactions - and to tone down the relevance of "countries". The sum total of the Prestige your successive rulers have gathered throughout the game determines your final score; not the size of your realm at game end. Of course, a major source of Prestige is the power of your family, your Dynasty. In fact, die without an heir from your dynasty and it's time to INSERT COIN.

The core gameplay, then, revolves around increasing the power of your dynasty and ensuring that you always have a legal heir with strong enough support. The death of your current ruler is the moment of truth: who will support the legal heir? Have you even managed to ensure one? Will anyone contest the succession? Unlike Crusader Kings, where your vassals would declare war on you simply because they disliked you (regardless, even, of their chance of success), in Crusader Kings II they are much more likely to bide their time and cause trouble during a succession crisis. The key is to choose the best Succession Law... For example, Gavelkind is almost guaranteed to be safe from succession crises. On the other hand, Gavelkind will divide your titles equally among your sons, splintering the realm and potentially decreasing your power.

I mentioned toning down the concept of countries. Here are some highlights: there is no Infamy/Badboy. Neither do characters have "loyalty", and neither is there a persistent relations value between countries. CKII is all about the characters, their opinions of each other, and their clash of interests. Therefore, we have merged the aforementioned concepts into a single opinion value between -100 and 100. I.e. what one character feels about another character... and why. The value is a sum of modifiers, like "Friend of Father's: +5", "Granted a Duchy: +30", "Betrayed Alliance: -20", etc.

Of course, characters will have traits, genetics and neat portraits like in Crusader Kings and EU:Rome. If you want to breed a dynasty of redheaded Harkonnen look-alikes, go ahead (with my blessing). Oh, and characters will age visibly; I shall leave you with a screenshot demonstrating the effect!

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Next month: Barons - why Vladimir hated Leto
 

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This is very good news indeed. I like the direction this sequel is going in. Keeping the strengths of CK1 and focusing on the roleplaying aspect. I was slightly apprehensive because CK1 is my absolute favourite game and some recent sequals have been buggy, rush-job, dumb-downed, cash ins taking away rather than adding features (civ5 anyone). But this DD has stirred me out of my cynicism. That portrait looks far better than what I was expecting too. Very nice, medieval illuminated manuscipt vibe without hideous quasimodo hobo "realism" some people favour. I am hoping that there sill be some tie in between traits and the portraits (at the very least court roles, ie. armour and helm for marshal, bishop chapeau for ecclesiatical etc).

I see taking away badboy is a wise step (this was the era of religious and familial loaylties not Nationalism).

I dont quite understand how the new -200 / +200 relations works... I mean every single character couldnt have this modifier to every other of the thousands of characters in the game could they?

But very positive and optermistic after reading this thank you for the Dev Diary Doomdark

I'm positive that characters will have relationships with a max 50 people or so. There is no need for a relationship between courtiers in England and Bagdad for instance.
 
Whilst I love the character look and the aging aspect. I will truly miss the old CK portraits. They had a uniqueness about them.

Also, with these characters and the inclusion of ambition of characters, it seems that CK and EU:Rome are borrowing a lot of concepts from each other. Hopefully, it'll make both games better.
 
I'm positive that characters will have relationships with a max 50 people or so. There is no need for a relationship between courtiers in England and Bagdad for instance.

Characters will not have a saved relations value. They only have "opinions", which can either be:

a) Static. I.e. treaties and stuff like being of the same dynasty.
b) Temporary adjustments for specific reasons, such as a dishonored alliance.

These are summed up and treated as a single value, capped at -100 and 100.
 
in Crusader Kings II they are much more likely to bide their time and cause trouble during a succession crisis. The key is to choose the best Succession Law... For example, Gavelkind is almost guaranteed to be safe from succession crises. On the other hand, Gavelkind will divide your titles equally among your sons, splintering the realm and potentially decreasing your power.

If I understand correctly the succession laws are still attached to characters (like in CK1) and not to their estates ?
I am wrong or does those succession crisis are title based and rebellion of vassals are for vassals linked to a specific title ?
(and, for exemple, gavelkind work for a title and all title under it).
 
I enjoy the aging effects of the portraits, though I prefer the caricatures of CK1, honestly.
More importantly, though, I really am looking forward to a good genetics system, preferably also with regional tendencies towards certain genes. No longer will I have to kill 100's of random courtiers in my quest to have an all blonde kingdom of sweden, hopefully only a hundred or so max.
 
this is all looking totally awesome! the new loyality replacements and mechanics especially sound wonderful, and shifted focus too.
Glad to see everything is going well, and im sure the game will be the best yet!!

If I understand correctly the succession laws are still attached to characters (like in CK1) and not to their estates ?
I am wrong or does those succession crisis are title based and rebellion of vassals are for vassals linked to a specific title ?
(and, for exemple, gavelkind work for a title and all title under it).

I am hoping that CKII will have laws tied to Titles not individuals.
That if the Duke of A gets elected to the Kingdom of B then when he dies B is elected by A goes to the son.
 
Characters will not have a saved relations value. They only have "opinions", which can either be:

a) Static. I.e. treaties and stuff like being of the same dynasty.
b) Temporary adjustments for specific reasons, such as a dishonored alliance.

These are summed up and treated as a single value, capped at -100 and 100.

Ah well, pure semantics. Whether you call it an opinion of someone or a relationship with another it's still the same :)
 
Ah well, pure semantics. Whether you call it an opinion of someone or a relationship with another it's still the same :)

actually what he said isnt anything to do with semantics
hes saying as far as i can understand it from just reading what yourve quoted

instead of having a single relationship value of +150
having a treaty adds 50+ and being a cousin adds 100
then an event might take away 10 for three weeks
but it wont be a single value that gets bumped back and forth
but a dynamic calculation of many things
which is something no other paradox game has as they all use saved relationship values
 
These are very interesting news.

I like the portraits! The eyes look lifeless, though (interestingly more on the young and middleaged).
I hope there will be ugly and fat characters like in old CK too.

Looking foreward to the next Diary Page!
 
Getting rid of badboy/infamy in regards to how it was used in CK1 is a bold and good move.

However, something akin to Tyranny for the populace (those normally insignigant masses who don't get a special portrait) to represent how they feel about your ruler and his/her policies.
 
Getting rid of badboy/infamy in regards to how it was used in CK1 is a bold and good move.

However, something akin to Tyranny for the populace (those normally insignigant masses who don't get a special portrait) to represent how they feel about your ruler and his/her policies.

I agree. It would also keep rulers from being too harsh on his own population without worrying about drawbacks. Revolts could happen this way if a ruler is too tyrannical. :)
 
If you want to breed a dynasty of redheaded Harkonnen look-alikes, go ahead (with my blessing).

So I take it that characters will look like a combination of their parents, grand-parents?

If so may I point that I was the first one to mention that idea :p

I think the idea of Genetic inheritance was coined some way back...

It was also in CK1
 
Yay! This looks totally awesome. I love the concept of portrait aging! Very excited to get my hands on this game (after, of course, the requisite 2-3 patches to ensure that the worst release-day flaws have been ironed out. ;) )
 
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