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CKIII Dev Diary #27 - Cultures & Cultural Innovations

Greetings, dear friends, and welcome to the cultural dev diary! Today, we’re going to be going over some familiar mechanics from CK2, and, relatedly, our decidedly less familiar all-new tech system!

Cultures & Culture Groups
The basic structure of the cultural system will be fairly recognisable to many of you. Every county and character on the map has a culture, representing (usually) the majority demographic for that county or the preferred customs of that character. Most cultures are based around a language, but some focus more on dialect or specific bodies of tradition, and a few are even primarily just regional.

Every culture, in turn, belongs to a culture group. These are gatherings of several cultures that, whilst distinct from one another, are nevertheless closely related. Most often this is down to a shared root culture, but in a few cases cultures have entered the same group merely by cohabiting for a long period of time.

Characters who come from completely different cultures like each other less, with characters who come from different cultures within the same group taking a reduced penalty. Like CK2, this only matters within your realm, so you won’t get grumpy at your neighbour for being different unless you’re occasionally required to talk to the lad.

Cultural preferences carry over to the peasantry: if the lord who directly holds a particular county doesn’t share that county’s culture, then that county will take a hit to popular opinion (with the hit being smaller if they’re at least part of the same culture group).

Of course, as this is only the direct holder of a county, having a good friend who understands the local customs in charge of all these strange foreign peasants can be an excellent way to stave off peasant revolts...

But what about...
… Melting pots and culture splits? Still got ‘em! We’ve even got some fancy new scripted effects to make it easier than ever to add your own.

Culture conversion is also more easily accessible: per the council task dev diary, this is now a council task, performed by your steward. You can attempt to culture convert any county in your sub-realm, though without an excellent steward or certain types of faith, it’ll likely take a while. People seldom change their culture quickly or willingly.

Show us the good stuff!
Ahhhhhh, you want to see some maps? See how granular we’re getting with our cultural setup this time around? Well, maps I’ve got! How many new cultures can you pick out?

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Cultural & Technology
In CK3, cultures mean a lot more than just a few points of opinion here and there. Cultures are now an integral part of our reworked system for technology, with eras, explicit innovations, and mechanics for tussling over the cultural heart of your people.

Innovations
Innovations are the very heart of CK3’s technological system. Each one represents a thorough proliferation of an idea, a legal practice, or a specific technology, taken to heart by any given culture, or still weird and foreign no matter its advantages. As the game progresses, cultures will slowly become more and more accustomed to the various innovations, until each innovation is thoroughly embraced and ubiquitous amongst the people of that culture. At that point, an innovation is considered “unlocked”, and its unique benefits are accessible to characters and counties of the unlocking culture.

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Benefits for each innovation vary tremendously between them. Some unlock new and better forms of succession law, some give bonuses to growth or income, some allow access to specific Men-at-Arms, or even grant entirely new CBs. We have innovations for everything from battlements to bombards, from coinage to cranes, and wootz steel to wierdijks!

Innovations broadly fall into one of three categories: military, civic, and special (a.k.a, "Cultural and Regional"), each grouped together in the interface.

Military and civic innovations typically cover what you might expect (martial and non-martial matters, respectively). All cultures can, eventually, acquire all military and civic innovations.

Special innovations behave a bit differently. A few are unlocked via special decisions and can only be acquired by taking those decisions, whilst some are cultural, requiring you to belong to a specific culture or culture group, but most are regional innovations.

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Regional innovations require you to either have at least a certain number of counties within a specific area to unlock, or else to have a certain percentage of your culture’s total counties within that area. They represent concepts and technologies that were specific to certain areas historically, rather than spreading across large areas of the globe, but which could very easily have been developed by any culture moving into that area.

Needless to say, innovations, the bonuses they provide, and the mechanics they unlock are all fully scriptable and can be modded with ease.

But how do I *unlock* an innovation?
All innovations have a small chance to progress towards being unlocked per month, affected by a few factors, with the most telling one being average development of the sum counties a culture holds. A culture that spreads recklessly will have naturally slower growth than one that exists in concentrated pockets of high development.

The major ways generation progress towards unlocking innovations are setting fascinations and exposure. Each of these affect only a single innovation at a time, though both happen simultaneously.

Exposure is a natural process, occurring when your culture has counties that border another culture with a specific innovation. The more you have in common (culture group, religion, and so on) with that other culture, and the more of its counties your culture borders, the faster you’ll unlock that innovation.

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Fascination, by contrast, is an entirely character-driven process, reflecting the drive of powerful leaders to introduce new concepts and technologies (be they original or imported) to their people. Where exposure is selected randomly from suitable innovations, fascination is deliberately selected by a specific character.

Who gets to pick? Why, the cultural head.

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Any culture with at least one landed ruler somewhere has a cultural head, who then has complete control over which fascination is selected from available innovations. The cultural head always shares the culture they are the head of, and is the character with the most counties of that culture within their sub-realm in the world.

As you can imagine, the size of the culture makes a difference in how easy it is to become (and stay) cultural head: there are many more Andalusian counties than there are, say, Cornish ones.

An important factor in unlocking innovations via fascination is the learning skill of the cultural head. An unlearned cultural head doesn’t do much to bring new ideas and technologies to their people, but an erudite scholar knows who to invite to court, how to phrase ideas in a way the peasants will accept, and how to get the nobility to see the benefit of embracing a foreign concept!

Eras
You might be thinking that this sounds a little bit disorganised. What stops me, say, unlocking bombards in the 900s and blowing my enemies away with oversized canons for the next five hundred years?

The answer to that is eras.

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In CK3, all innovations are organised into one of four eras, before being categorised into military, civic, or special. In order to begin unlocking innovations from an era, you need to have actually reached that era.

If an innovation belongs to the Tribal Era, no problem. All cultures start with the tribal era reached, and many primarily-feudal cultures will start with most (if not all) of its innovations unlocked, especially in 1066.

For the eras beyond that (the Early Medieval, High Medieval, and Late Medieval), you need to meet two criteria. The date must be at least an appropriate minimum year (e.g., the high medieval period cannot start before 1050 AD), and you must have at least 50% of the preceding era’s innovations unlocked. Further, if your cultural head is tribal, you will be unable to progress to the next era until you obtain a non-tribal cultural head. Cultures that have just left the Tribal Era will unlock innovations faster for a time, allowing them to catch up a little as medieval social and legal structures begin sweeping their lands.

Eras therefore let us gate technologies and features in stages, so that cultures which thrived in later centuries can still use their special bonuses, units, and features, but don’t get them too anachronistically.

Aaaand that about wraps it up for cultures and technology! I’ll be around the thread to answer questions for the next couple of hours, but otherwise, we’ll see you next week!
 

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I'm sure this will be one of many posts like this one, but here goes...

Will Dutch be in the German culture group? It's orange (duh!) but historically, especially during the Middle Ages, it was still very much related to Northern German dialects. So much so that they could mutually understand eachother, so it would only make sense they are the same group.

Will French in the finished game be more culturally divided? Right now in the screenshots I see two major culture groups, French and (I think) Occitan. I'm fairly certain it French culture was almost as divided as German. (Think Burgundian, Provencal, Walloon, Francien, Poitevin) Furthermore, is Breton part of French or Celtic(?) culture group?

Lastly, as a Belgian, I'm bothered by the cultural division in what's modern day Belgium.
During the Middle Ages the County of Flanders (that would be Duchy level in CK) geographically situated between the river Schelde and containing the Northern French towns of Lille and Douai was politically part of France, but the culture was very much "Dutch".
Similarly the Duchy of Brabant was also "Dutch" culture and was politically part of Lotharingia, later the Holy Roman Empire. In the screenshot it seems it's indeed partly Germanic culture, however Franconian isn't quite right.

I'm already really hyped to play this game, great job guys.
 
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Great Dev Diary, sounds like a really fun system!

A few questions:
- How will new but historical cultures (e.g. portuguese) emerge in CK3? Same way as CK2?
- How will the innovations and tech system work for these new cultures? Will the new culture inherit the previous culture's tech and innovations when it spawns?
- Do some of these emerging cultures have special innovations like the cultures present at start?
- How about when my character changes culture, do i instantly adopt the new culture's tech and innovations? Is there a cooldown for when the player can change cultures again?

Thanks!
Depends on the culture: some come about via decision, some via event, so it's fairly case-by-case. :) Typically, a new culture takes all non-special innovations from its predecessor(s): for instance, Norman takes all of the non-special innovations from both French and Norse.

Some do, yes. Depends on culture and region!

It's not quite so trivial a thing to change your culture, but yes, you gain access to the affects of the innovations instantly.

Also are there going to be like split off cultures / events for Cisalpine?

Some of us are very confused by Cisalpine culture and Italian culture on the same map.
We don't have anything for splitting Cisalpine at the moment, I'm afraid, but that's not necessarily a hard stance.

Amazing work!
Are cultural innovations tied to a culture worldwide or to a culture in a realm?
:) Worldwide, though most cultures aren't especially far-flung.

Love to hear about some of the melting pots and decisions! Agreed too that Basque should extend into Aquitaine.

Are there still cultural specific features like Basque/Zhangzhung equality and Tanistry? Do they count as special innovations? If so, does that mean Irish/Welsh etc can only use Tanistry in certain eras?
With some exceptions, those are mostly special innovations now (or decided by faith doctrine, if appropriate), but yes, they're still around!

To be clear: special innovations are restricted in where/who can develop them, but not where they can be used. Irish characters could still use tanistry in India, if they ended up there.

3 questions :

Technology is bound to culture or culture group ?

Is it still possible to easily change our own culture like in CK2 in 1 click ?

What happen when we change culture, we lose the innovation from the old culture ? like the specific men at arm disappear ?
Culture, yes (though I'd argue that's not an easy or light change to make), and yes to losing access to any old innovations that your new culture lacks. MaA do not disappear, but you can't recruit any more of a type you no longer have access to.

I want to know; that since technology is related to culture; if I’m a Celtic ruler and own a lot of Norse provinces; will I be able to have Viking Longships?
Actually, yes! :) Per the dev diary, if either a certain percentage of counties within Scandinavia were to become Irish, or if a certain total percentage of Irish counties were in Scandinavia, you'd be able to start unlocking the longships innovation, as your culture would have effectively become a part of the Scandinavian cultural sphere.

Wait until you read the next Dev Diary on monks and religious conversion - it’s titled Woolooloo
We're anticipating record likes on that one, yes.

Very nice changes. However, is "Gaelic" a correct term for proto-Scottish? I mean, Irish are also Gaelic. I suppose that "Gaelic" represents the Irish who settled in Scotland (Dal Riata). Maybe Irish split from Gaelic?
:) Gaelic is not a term for proto-Scottish, but for the mainland Gaels. Scottish culture splits from Anglo-Saxon in de jure k_scotland. Scotland in 1066 is actually one of my favourite cultural setups in the game, as the battle for hegemony of Alba could go either way between the highland Gaels and the lowland Scots. :cool: Or you could be cool and bet on the Cumbrian underdogs, though they're doing much better in 867.

Oooh. Could you be so kind as to say what does that "Reconquista" innovation does for the hispanic catholics? Sounds exciting
Increases passive piety gain (which is kinda fantastic) and decrease holy war CB piety cost. Makes the Reconquista much more lively!

What the game really needs is minority cultures/religion. Maybe not everywhere as some regions were monolithic. But there should be the option to have minorities in counties. That way they don't get eradicated as time goes on.
Lovely concept, sadly nothing we'll have for release.

This is a nice new direction for CKIII to take, looking forward to geting my hands on it.


But eeeeh... *insert meme picture here* Ya'll got some more of those culture mapmode screenshots?
:oops: They were a *touch* more dramatic before articles started to come out and stole all my thunder. Afraid those are all I was approved to show!
 
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But what about...
… Melting pots and culture splits? Still got ‘em! We’ve even got some fancy new scripted effects to make it easier than ever to add your own.

Great dev diary, thanks!
Do you mind sharing screenshot of cultures around Kievan Rus / Russia? And interesting whether Russian culture is formable as a melting pot, or splittable.
 
Is there any grouping of cultures above the cultural group? Something e.g. connecting all Slavs or all Germanic peoples or maybe even Europeans as opposed to the Levant? Is Czech as far away from Swabian as it is from the Tibetan Plateau cultures? Do innovations accepted by a culture have something to do with it, so e.g. if cultures share the same innovations they're considered closer to one another than if they don't?
 
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@Wokeg could you offer some insight into the Frisian/Dutch/Flanders situation? As the whole thing seems like a mess currently.

So now you got rid of the Frisian culture as seen in the maps revealed over the last few days and just replaced it completely with Dutch? I mean, that works, but it would be better to have both, instead of just one or the other. Also, Flanders shouldn't be French, but rather Dutch.

Also, Basque should extend into Aquitaine a bit, as it does in CK2 and EU4. It seems that this cultural map is two steps forward one step back in terms of accuracy...
 
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:oops: They were a *touch* more dramatic before articles started to come out and stole all my thunder. Afraid those are all I was approved to show!

Aww, not entirely! Its still nice to get official screenies vs screencaps from videos. And I will patiently wait for a glimpse of the Caucasus in that case, got a few months to go till release anyway.

Hoping the Caucasian Albanians/Udi do make it in before then though. :D
 
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Oh hey I thought of a question: has there been any expansion on the concept of realm names changing based on ruler culture (e.g. Ireland vs. Eire, etc.)?
 
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Okay I got it that immersion or suffering from an innovation would make it easier for you to embrace it, But how is this idea created the first place?
Is there any mechanic that the Count of Copenhagen says I got an Idea, primogeniture is a good idea lets do it and then the rest catches on?
 
Also, are there any plans to introduce, if not a pops system, at least a "minority culture" ( and a minority religion) sometime down the line?
 
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Why there is culture Cornish and Aragonese for 1-3 provinces and there is no Sorbian culture for much more provinces in South Połabia region?
Also, why Polabians have South Pomerania? You need to fix it, add Sorbian culture instead of Polabian culture in south Polabia and change culture for south Pomerania region to Pomeranian.
Sorbian culture is totally different from Polabian. If you making difference between Aragonese and Catalan, you need also make a difference there.
 
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Depends on the culture: some come about via decision, some via event, so it's fairly case-by-case. :) Typically, a new culture takes all non-special innovations from its predecessor(s): for instance, Norman takes all of the non-special innovations from both French and Norse.
I think they should get most special inventions from both Cultures as well if there is not an exceptional case they should not.
 
For other regions I very appreciate that changes, it looks very good. Just maybe Anglo-Saxons could be separated like Russians in CK2. Maybe Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Northumbrians could work?
 
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Not a subject of the DD, but still related to culture: will culture-specific buildings be there? If yes, can we PLEASE not lose them whenever a different culture guy controls the piece of land with that previously-built building?
 
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As others also pointed out here, the current cultural setup for the Low Countries is a mess. What’s labelled Dutch is in most areas (coastal) Frisian. Flanders and Brabant were mostly Dutch. Unless you want to have them start as Low Frankish/Low Franconian and let them become Dutch later.
 
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How will cultural leaders work in multi ethnic empires? For example if im the Welsh emperor of Britain with the only landed Anglo-Saxon character will my vassal and im on good terms can i benefit from his advances ? It could make a good flavor and gameplay. The choice between a more stable monocultural state ora more multi ethnic state that reaps the benefits of its many cultures but is much more harder to hold together.
 
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For other regions I very appreciate that changes, it looks very good. Just maybe Anglo-Saxons could be separated like Russians in CK2. Maybe Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Northumbrians could work?

There's a whole thread devoted to discussing this right now, and while I don't agree dividing the Anglo-Saxons is necessary, I prefer the solution proposed there to divide it into West Saxons, East Anglians, Mercians, and Northumbrians if it's going to be divided at all.
 
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Not a subject of the DD, but still related to culture: will culture-specific buildings be there? If yes, can we PLEASE not lose them whenever a different culture guy controls the piece of land with that previously-built building?
There is more issues than that, like why would you change into a worse Culture if your old Culture have alot of good unique stuff. Like if Norse is better than the Scandinavian cultures, why would somebody want to change into these cultures?
 
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Hmm having to rely on the AI to choose your techs if you are a small nation, and gating technology by arbitrary dates.. what could go wrong? The Devs taking away individual agency from independent realms is very disappointing. A character switches culture and then magically forgets the technology he previously knew and magically knows a different set of technologies? Pretty silly and illogical IMO.

I have for the most part liked what I've seen in the CK3 dev diaries, but the tech and culture system is not one of those things. Tech will definitely to fall into the "mod it into oblivion category."
 
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First of all: this seems to be a very spicy improvement.
Cultures (like religions) are difficult to display in a grand strategy game since the games are on the fundamental level described by logical terms and numbers. Which obviously cannot be said about the existing cultures and religions. For me I have to say that culture and religion systems in previous games have not really given me this special touch they should because they affect simply everything (with religion in europe especially in this time frame). If culture changed, you got a new name in the province overview, maybe your buildings looked a bit different and there were some other special "unlocks" related to it. But it felt very mechanically.
Since it is not possible to display cultures and religions appropriate to the real world (unless you live it) I think the highly differenciated new religion system, based on doctrines and tenets, makes it much more complex (which is good because its closer to the real world) and dynamic.

What I hoped for is that the culture system would work in a similar way with many changeable components that could add more depth and slowly alterations to cultures. Especially the latter I would really like to see in CK3 because big cultural shifts (represented by new formation of cultures in CK2) happen but seldom and such a stable culture that does not change at all just does not exist. In particular during the long time frame CK3 is covering the lack of such a feature would be serious.
But for now: Thanks to you for having a really good sense for what we are wishing and expecting for CK3!

(I hope you understand my English trial.)
 
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