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Johan

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When the 1.05 updated for Crusader Kings II is released there will be DLC's associated with available for purchase at the same time. However, in this series of development diaries, we aim to detail what you will get for free from it. This update is planned to be released on April the 17th and has three major sets of new features we will talk about every friday until then.

One of the things we personally thought was not the best feature of CKII was the crusades system. It was rather similar to the system we had in the original game, and while it technically worked, it just did not feel entirely right. So we wanted to overhaul this in the game when we had some extra time. So for the first major content update, this was a given.

First of all, Crusades now target an entire de jure kingdom. Also, the actual crusade is one common war, that the Pope declares and other rulers can join. The one ruler contributing the most to the crusade will gain the targetted Kingdom, if the war is successful. This means that crusades have the potential to be more powerful than before, but also relies on the abilities of the Pope to get a coalition going.
crusade_contribution.jpg

Of course, we have now added the possibility for a ruler to ask to join another ruler's war, for some types of wars, even though you are not allied. This is a feature that was primarily added to make the big crusade wars more fun, but it is also available if you for example want to help someone become independent.

One feature we thought would fit this brilliantly was the concept of attached armies. It was originally conceived of for this system, where you might be a small count, but would like to participate in the grand crusade without your small army being lost alone. We have tried it out in the latest patches for V2 and EU3, and now its in its full glory. When you give the order to one of your units, it will attach itself to the strongest friendly army in the same province, and then follow that one around, fighting together with it.

Finally, as we mentioned earlier, participating in a war and doing things are now rewarding. Participants in wars now get a contribution score which determines how much prestige and piety they get when the war ends. This is a good reason for a smaller count to join in on a crusade, even though he may himself not be crowned King of Jerusalem, he may end up with a lot of prestige and piety from it.
war_contribution.jpg

Join us again next week, when we talk about more shady stuff :)
 
good stuff - can´t awaiting next DD... :)
 
Oh man, this sounds awesome! Every single one of those features is something I've wanted :)

Now, since it is traditional in these threads to ask for more than we are given :) Can I ask if this:

One feature we thought would fit this brilliantly was the concept of attached armies. It was originally conceived of for this system, where you might be a small count, but would like to participate in the grand crusade without your small army being lost alone. We have tried it out in the latest patches for V2 and EU3, and now its in its full glory. When you give the order to one of your units, it will attach itself to the strongest friendly army in the same province, and then follow that one around, fighting together with it.

Will be used by the AI? I'm thinking of situations where lots of small rulers are fighting one big one - a HRE civil war for eg - and even if the smaller rulers have more troops in total they don't co-ordinate well and get picked off one by one by the big doomstacks.

Even if not, this is still going to be an amazing patch!
 
I'm currently on a break from CKII, but I'm already certain that this will bring me back again - both of these features are interesting!
 
This is exciting news, makes staying up this late worth it. Just to make sure, will this system be able to target, say, the de jure kingdom of Al-Andalus? Or is there something in place to stop that? And also, when should we expect an announcement of what the DLC is?
 
Should really spice things up. But watching that screenshot, it seems like the pope somehow got a very high attribution score s: I really hope the pope dosn't end up with too much land?
 
i don't think the Pope DIRECTLY shuld be able to contribute to a crusade...
 
While we are on the topic of changing the war system, will the much needed monacrh teleport issue be solved so he only leads troops out of the capital rather than any land he owns?
The rest sounds like nice additions :)
 
What I don't understand: As in the picture I only see that the number of army counts atm, so what happens if you just hire a big amount of soldiers and merchs plus some holy army and not really participate in fights - so we only raise up the army in our own releam and wait till the war ends? Do we still get the land then?

Hmm...
 
Great stuff ! Can't wait to hear the rest.
 
Why not? He runs the Papal States, after all. At this time frame he certainly had considerable secular power, as well as spiritual.
I think the reason to be concerned is that pope can afford to buy any mercenaries he wants. Papal mercenaries joining crusades are not something you want to see. :) And you dont want Jerusalem to be part of Papal states.
 
What I don't understand: As in the picture I only see that the number of army counts atm, so what happens if you just hire a big amount of soldiers and merchs plus some holy army and not really participate in fights - so we only raise up the army in our own releam and wait till the war ends? Do we still get the land then?

Hmm...

I would be very sursprised if those numbers are army sizes. I doubt contribution score = army size raised.


Changes sound great! Maybe the muslim will need a buff though.

Will contribution score be implemented for other kind of wars too?

One scenario is obviously when you accept an allies call for war and then just don't help him. So if your contribution score is 0 or very low you could get opinion hits or something.

Another is when your liege is useless and you have to save him/her but he/she gets all the glory.
 
Interesting stuff, looking forward to seeing how it works out.

Though I do hope one of the next two updates also mentions preventing snowball blobbing/making independence less painful to gain. Cause right now, you're totally just asking for the HRE to snatch up more land a kingdom at a time. Though, really, they're the one major force I've never seen have serious struggles. Seljuk Turks? Saw them get wiped out before the Ilkhanate even arrived. ERE? About at half their starting size in one game, though it took a German Catholic Emperor to cause that level of unrest. Sunni Caliphate? Seen them conquered. Shia Caliphate? Okay, they mostly just kick ass, but I do have a game going right now where crusades, infighting, and frequent invasions from a powerful Hormuz are starting to eat away at them.

But the HRE? The worst they can do is not expand. But they're more likely to just absorb half of Europe. Maybe some sorta "critical mass" mechanic, so as a Kingdom/Empire continues to expand it runs a greater and greater risk of over expansion and potentially losing control of some of its land. Right now, being bigger simply means you have more troops and money at your disposal to keep rebellious types in line, not to mention it means they have to conquer even more land to break free. Also, would love to see the pressure put on the liege to stop vassals from gaining independence, by treating the rebels as the defenders in the sense they get a ticking score just for maintaining control of their lands.
 
I think the reason to be concerned is that pope can afford to buy any mercenaries he wants. Papal mercenaries joining crusades are not something you want to see. :) And you dont want Jerusalem to be part of Papal states.


this.

if I start to see Papacy blobbed up in formerly non-Christian lands because I had a particuarly aggressive Papal AI getting directinvovled in Crusades, I'll facepalm.

And the argument that it would somehow make sense because of the Pope's secular power is made moot by the fact that the Pope had no reason, and would never, get any of his personal power in a Crusade when all he had to do was ssue a command and the majority of Europe would do everything for him. Seriously if I start to see "Papacy" splattered all across the Iberian peninsula, or North Africa, or God forbid Jerusalem falls under direct control of the Vatican, I'll facepalm.
 
It would be nice if lesser contributing members could be granted lesser titles within the de jure kingdom automatically. Otherwise if a German gets the Kingdom there's probably little chance of him giving a Duchy to (for example) an unknown Spanish Count, rather than a friend or relative of his own. The First Crusade almost fell apart as various factions refused to cooperate and instead went on a massive landgrab towards the end. It'd be nice to see that simulated by handing out the lesser titles to lesser contributers, rather than letting the new King decide.
It'd also make for an interesting challenge for the player if he ends up as King - how do you unify a (possibly) culturally diverse new Kingdom against the threat of your unfriendly neighbours?