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.

 

[Jorlem]

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.

How do the dynamic mercs measure up to the static ones? Are they around the same size, or compositions? Also, as the static ones generate their own leaders, will they usually provide better leaders than the dynamic ones, which presumably come from your court? Because I recall it being mentioned that the leader system was being revamped to limit who you could put in charge of armies, granting an extra benefit to mercs, who will always have capable leaders. Basically, will it be worthwhile to hire dynamic mercs instead of static mercs?

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.

When they elope, do they actually marry, or just become lovers? Also, can this happen with the static mercs, or do only the dynamic mercs risk stealing your daughters?


Also, will there be any changes to how mercs behave when you go bankrupt? Currently this is hardcoded in, so I'm wondering if it will be made moddable, so we can script merc leaders who have the greedy trait to be more likely to turncoat, for example.

 

[TheDungen]

Can we take the 'Catherine the Great' option with our horses?

I'm sorry what does that mean?

 

[Rakia Time]

so if one of my children elopes they go to the merc's court and i wont be able to give them land...that's unfortunate since i usually give kingdoms to all my children, ah well, i guess i'll avoid it by marrying them off to random mercs as soon as they hit 16, until now i married all my daughters to Varangians before giving them a kingdom

 

[Holomanga]

Is it just me, or do all of the nomad top-level lieges seem to be emperor rank?

 

[toroltao]

Is it just me, or do all of the nomad top-level lieges seem to be emperor rank?

Ya nomads can only be emperor ranked when independent.

 

[BFKelleher]

I'm sorry what does that mean?

A legend says that Catherine the Great screwed a horse.

 

[Rationalsanity]

A legend says that Catherine the Great screwed a horse.

Of course said legend is almost certainly false.

 

[theKing1988]

Of course said legend is almost certainly false.

I'm pretty sure the legend have been a bit too popularized by The Big Bang Theory

 

[Nyrael]

One more question can the player claim the title of Genghis Khan?

In the last Dev Diary, a Dev revealed that a character who unites the Mongols before a certain date becomes Gengis Khan. If it doesn't happen until that certain date, a certain character (Temujin?) appears in the game (probably with doomstacks). The Golden Horde and the Il Khanate are no longer there, at least not in the old form.

 

[bitmapmedivh]

Are you really surprised?

In the HL trailer the nomads have a hair knot like in Chinese hanfu style, whereas this guy is supposedly Chinese buy wears a conical hat and a pigtail. Let the rage begin.

Not the first time something very anachronistic gets into the game.

Remember this loading screen:

This isn't just anachronistic, it's downright Fantasy.

 

[toroltao]

Not the first time something very anachronistic gets into the game.

Remember this loading screen:

This isn't just anachronistic, it's downright Fantasy.

At least it's inspired fantasy and looks cool. That event artwork just looks plain wrong. Why is the "Horse Lord" inside a castle? Why does the Chinese guy dress like a Manchu? Nothing makes sense. I think I would prefer the European version tbh.

 

[bitmapmedivh]

At least it's inspired fantasy and looks cool. That event artwork just looks plain wrong. Why is the "Horse Lord" inside a castle? Why does the Chinese guy dress like a Manchu? Nothing makes sense.

Don't get me wrong, it bugs me too. I don't know how much of that type of 2d artwork they outsource or not, but gives an impression of lack of research.

 

[Gundqr]

All this talk of a braid in an event-art clip... I'm just happy we have an interaction with China.

 

[BigPharma]

At least it's inspired fantasy and looks cool. That event artwork just looks plain wrong. Why is the "Horse Lord" inside a castle? Why does the Chinese guy dress like a Manchu? Nothing makes sense. I think I would prefer the European version tbh.

In the same way, to someone totally unfamiliar with Chinese culture and history (as the artist of the picture clearly is), it must have looked cool and somewhat in line with pictures that he/she found on Google Images. It just happens to irk you because you care enough to be irked by it.

I'm actually quite bothered by both, but hey, it's an event I'll read in two seconds and a loading screen picture that I don't have to stare at if I don't want to. Back to playing my game.

 

[mudcrabmerchant]

Do we have any control over important actions that our sons take? Specifically, is there an easy way to undo religion changes to our heir? There should be risks of sending your son off, but a potential religion change is a major thing to have no control over after you click the button to send them off.

 

[Harley_Quinn]

Not the first time something very anachronistic gets into the game.

Remember this loading screen:

This isn't just anachronistic, it's downright Fantasy.

To be fair about that fantasy, I always got the impression the loading screens are just meant to be the artwork made in the era, commissioned stuff... And Artists aren't exactly known for being 100% accurate and truthful.

 

[Karlingid]

I present the face of Genghis Khan, mighty Khan of Khans, the great and terrible conquerer, destroyer of civilizations and scourge of the steppes:

 

[Karlingid]

On a side note, I propose that now, when lunatic rulers Caligula their council, we have horse characters to fill the roles with independent stats, interactions, and dynasties. Like, when I get Epona the high priestess, I want her to bear my cubKIDS I said kids.

 

[Jorlem]

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.

I forgot to ask earlier, but what defines "most skilled"? Is it along the lines of the level needed to unlock extra options in events (usually 10), or is it higher? Also, is there a minimum skill floor, so if there is only a single unmarried woman at the court the merc captain is hired to, and she is unskilled, the event won't fire or he won't take her?

Also, if I'm in the middle of a war, and the event fires, will the mercs abandon me? Even if they are in the middle of a battle? And if they do leave, do I get some sort of refund at least? I'm imagining hiring some mercs, and a week later, they vanish with my daughter and my money, never having fought. And while that leads in to a great story, will that sort of thing at least hurt their prestige or make the AI less likely to hire them? If a merc captain has proven that he can't be trusted, who would risk hiring him?

 

[richvh]

Your kids, you say?