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Development Diary #105: 1.7 "Bastion" Update

Hello and welcome to another Development Diary for Crusader Kings 3. Today I will talk a bit about the free 1.7 “Bastion” update and what new things it will bring to the game. Today we will not be talking about [REDACTED] which will be released together with the update.

The changes to Factions and AI have previously been covered in posts by @Servancour and @rageair and I will therefore not mention them again, but I recommend checking out their diaries if you missed them before: AI, AI, AI and Let's Talk Populist Factions

Character Memories:​


While the characters often get up to quite memorable things in our games there has up to now not been a way to keep track of exactly what, when and with whom each character has had a particular experience. What we have done in the new update in order to show more clearly how alive the game world is, is to introduce memories to characters. Characters will remember things that happened to them, from important things like the births of their children, important battles, deaths of close ones, and succession, to more mundane things like the event interactions with other characters during their childhood.

Image - Log of the most recent memories of the player Maharaja

[Image - Log of the most recent memories of the player Maharaja]

At any time you can view the memories of your character as well as non-private memories of other characters. This lets you quickly get an idea of not only what a character is like, but also how they got there. One can think of it as a feature somewhat similar to the character history that we had in EU:Rome many years ago.

One important difference to a character history though is that over time some memories will fade away, while others will remain. For player characters and characters likely to become player characters we err on the side of keeping memories longer, mostly because you are more likely to have a need of them as the game progresses.

Memories can be viewed at any time by opening the Memory Viewer from the character window, via a button in the same place as the Kill List, Inventory, and Lifestyle.

Image - Log of the Public Memories of a non-player Character

[Image - Log of the Public Memories of a non-player Character]

Memories are not only there as a log for the player to enjoy, however. The new system allows us to make use of memories that a character has both to trigger content and to make use of in events. This means that you may now find memories used in content that previously had to be vague, an assassin might now actually cite a specific slight you committed against their employer, for instance.

What this also means is that we are now able to create new content that is based entirely on your character having a certain type of memory or sharing a memory with another character.
Last of all I should mention that it is possible to export the memories of a character to clipboard in order to share it outside of the game for those that want others to know of their character’s exploits.

Example of an exported memory list:
6 February, 1246 My mother Têcappukal died in childbirth. 15 April, 1262 I married Maharani Atittapatâriyâr. 13 October, 1263 My grandfather Sadashiva died of old age. 20 February, 1264 My first child Sangappai, a beautiful girl, was born. 16 November, 1264 My father Neetimarga died of heart failure. 16 November, 1264 I became the ruler of the Kingdom of Karnata. 14 January, 1265 I married Maharani Pertal. 20 February, 1265 I married Samrajni Lasthiyavva. 23 April, 1265 I became friends with Maharaja Maurayadhwaj of the Vigrahapalid Kingdom. 2 February, 1267 My grandmother Sattiyavvai died in captivity. 15 January, 1268 I imprisoned Mâtevapattan Chola. 15 January, 1268 I imprisoned Satyasraya Karhade. 15 January, 1268 I won a war against Mâtevapattan Chola. 24 March, 1268 I became the ruler of the Kingdom of Tamilakam. 29 August, 1268 My daughter Chandaladevi was born. 10 October, 1269 I journeyed to Kanchipuram on a pilgrimage. 30 January, 1270 I became friends with Akkadevi Akkadevi. 22 January, 1271 My carefully-written words guided Mahasamanta Mangalesi as he learned to read. 15 November, 1272 My friends Akkadevi and Maurayadhwaj threw me a surprise birthday party. 1 January, 1273 I married Samrajni Gandharavati. 12 November, 1273 My son Rachamalla was born. 5 June, 1275 My daughter Gayatri was born. 29 August, 1276 My son Butuga was born. 21 January, 1279 I became the ruler of the Kingdom of Andhra. 3 September, 1279 My son Jayasimha was born. 7 June, 1280 I became friends with Mahasamanta Narasanayaka of the Akkadevi Raj. 22 July, 1280 My friend Maharaja Maurayadhwaj of Vigrahapalid drank himself to death. 24 September, 1283 I started a war against Rajkumar Achugi of Telingana. 13 November, 1283 I became friends with Rajkumar Rachamalla of the Hoysala Empire. 5 December, 1284 My sister Gangambika died Gout Ridden. 30 January, 1285 I won a war against Rajkumar Achugi of Telingana. 20 August, 1285 I became the ruler of the Kingdom of Telingana. 19 December, 1285 My brother Govinda died from Smallpox. 30 January, 1286 I started a war against Rajkumar Arthapathi of Maharastra. 19 April, 1287 My wife Pertal died of old age. 1 May, 1287 I married Damapatni Prabhavatigupta. 27 August, 1288 My wife Atittapatâriyâr died in her sleep. 24 February, 1289 I became the ruler of the Kingdom of Maharastra. 24 February, 1289 I won a war against Rajkumar Arthapathi of Maharastra. 26 June, 1289 I became the ruler of the Deccan Empire. 27 November, 1289 Rajkumar Rachamalla of the Hoysala Empire and I became rivals. 17 June, 1290 I started a war against Mahasamantadhipati Kassapa II of the Vijayabahu Kingdom. 4 April, 1292 I became friends with Mahasamanta Nayanadevi of Vidharba. 22 September, 1292 I won a war against Mahasamantadhipati Kassapa II of the Vijayabahu Kingdom. 22 October, 1293 Me and Rajkumar Rachamalla of Asika let go of our grudges and stopped being rivals. 30 August, 1295 My daughter Vijamba was born. 11 August, 1297 I married Samrajni Nattadevi. 7 November, 1297 Mahanaga Vijayabahu and I became rivals. 13 August, 1298 My daughter Mahadevi was born. 6 September, 1298 My wife Lasthiyavva died of old age. 11 February, 1299 I married Samrajni Orbei. 30 November, 1299 I became friends with Samanta Narasanayaka of Tagadur.
Click to expand...

Relationship Reasons:​

friendreason.png
Friendreason2.png
friendreason3.png

[Image - 3 Examples of friendship reasons from an ongoing game]

Another addition coming with this update to further open up how things are connected in the game’s world is that we have wanted to make it clearer which characters are your friends, enemies, nemeses, etc, as well as clearer why a character has a special relationship with that particular character. This is accomplished by a new set of icons in the interface to highlight relationships.

Additionally whenever a relationship is formed the game notification will now not only say that it happened but also why it happened. The reasons for relationships will then always be visible in its tooltip: clearly telling you how they became friends, lovers, best friends, nemeses, etc. In cases where a more advanced relation (such as best friend or nemesis) exists we will show the reason for both the basic relationship and the more advanced one, so a best friend will keep track of both how you originally became friends and when you actually became best friends.

Together with character memories this should now make it more clear what has led you to the current point in your game, a small change that brings a surprising amount of context, highlighting parts of the interpersonal simulation that can right now be a bit hidden away.
rivalreason.png
rivalreason2.png

[Image - 2 Examples of Rivalry reasons from an ongoing game]

​

Revamped Childhood Events:​


Image - Childhood event where you can get Diligent, Gregarious, or Temperate. Child's perspective

[Image - Childhood event where you can get Diligent, Gregarious, or Temperate. Child's perspective]

Image - Childhood event where your ward can get Diligent, Gregarious, or Temperate. Guardian's perspective.

[Image - Childhood event where your ward can get Diligent, Gregarious, or Temperate. Guardian's perspective.]

Another thing that we wanted to revisit in order to improve on how we deal with characters in the game world is the revamping of all existing childhood personality events as well as the addition of 12 new ones. This will significantly alter what personality trait combinations are likely to appear and will open up some combinations that were previously impossible simply due to how the old events for growing up worked.

The ambition apart from adding more content to the childhood period is to have the choices you make as a guardian be more interesting, avoiding any easy best choices in any single childhood event.

The new trait combinations that will be pitted against each other are:
  • diligent, gregarious, temperate
  • zealous, ambitious, sadistic
  • shy, paranoid, craven
  • lazy, gluttonous, compassionate
  • lustful, chaste
  • just, greedy, callous
  • humble, cynical, content
  • vengeful, deceitful, calm
  • generous, fickle, arrogant
  • forgiving, trusting, patient
  • honest, arbitrary, impatient
  • brave, stubborn, wrathful

Image - Childhood event where you can get Generous, Fickle, or Arrogant. Child's perspective

[Image - Childhood event where you can get Generous, Fickle, or Arrogant. Child's perspective]

Image - Childhood event where your ward can get Generous, Fickle, or Arrogant. Guardian's perspective.

[Image - Childhood event where your ward can get Generous, Fickle, or Arrogant. Guardian's perspective.]

The Loyal and Disloyal Traits:​


Image - Character with the Disloyal Trait

[Image - Character with the Disloyal Trait]

Image - Character with the Loyal Trait

[Image - Character with the Loyal Trait]

Last but not least for today is the addition of two new traits with the upcoming update. Through their actions (or indeed as they are subjected to the actions of others) characters can now gain traits for having loyal or disloyal personalities, which among other things will impact how likely they are to cheat on their spouse, join factions or plot against their liege. The traits are also integrated as sins/virtues and can be more valued or common depending on cultural traditions.

That was all for today. The new update will also bring new bug fixes, event pictures, and things that I have not brought up today but this was a sneak peak of what is to come.
Next week @PDS_Noodle will be talking some more about what the future will bring.
 
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Koocai said:
While I think you're on the right track with this line of thinking, I think the problem here isn't actually the crossed fingers. The problem is the image of the dog for being loyal. Because dogs already exist in the game as a mechanic, using the image of a dog for Loyal is somewhat confusing, whereas the image of the crossed fingers definitely conveys its meaning.
Click to expand...
Upside down fingers crossed origins are murky but can mean ‘luck with lying’ I looked up the origin of it and apparently crossed fingers is an old sign for the cross for luck. It may even predate Christianity. A serpent would be clearer for disloyal, except it is already used. I do see where you are coming with for the dog. I’m fine with the dog representing loyal personally, and it is different enough from the pet dog image which is a modifier instead of a trait. Upside down fingers crossed actually matches better with deceitful, but it has been used with the snake long enough I can see their reluctance to change an established symbol.

I‘ll have to think on it more.

Edit: How about the image of a broken crown? That might work.

Edit2: Trusting already has a dog! If we have two dogs, why not two snakes? We need more icon differentiation.
 
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I feel like loyal-disloyal will just lead to people purging disloyal people asap. I like the idea of characters more inclined to support the king/oppose them but im not sure advertising it to the world is a great idea. Obviously we shall see how it shakes up in practice.
 
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Great work, can't wait to play with it.

But, yes there is a but..

I disagree with the loyalty being a trait, would make more sense to be a modifier closer to opinion for instance.

What happen if a vassal gain the trait loyal and then, after a really bad day, you decide to kill all his familly ? He stay loyal ? Or did you implement a way to lose this trait ?
 
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re the loyal trait, I'll copy over something I said on reddit:

Think of Loyalty and Disloyalty as more of a personal ethos. Some people are inherently more likely to value loyal and refuse to break their fealty (whether hard fealty or a softer friendship sort of loyalty) than others, and vice-versa. You probably know someone who will tend to default to keeping their word to someone they value, even.

These traits might sound almost identical to ones we've already got in-game, but we considered awhile what it would mean. If you have someone who is Honest and Loyal that speaks for itself, but what about Honest and Disloyal? That one probably characterises out as someone who will A) be more likely to betray you and B) will subsequently stab you in the front (rather than the back, as a Deceitful character would).

Similarly, what if you had a Just and Disloyal character? That one's a fun one to think about. In that case you'd want the character to betray you only when the circumstances demanded it and it would lead to a greater moral good in the world. On the other hand an Arbitrary but Loyal character would do whatever they want to advance their position, so long as it doesn't impact you because they're loyal to they people they have relationships with.

Obviously this game can't exactly mirror and account for all the myriad possibilities, but I think the addition of these two traits can open up some fun roleplay opportunities.
Click to expand...

Loyal/Disloyal are traits rather than modifiers because they way they act in game suit it better. They don't exist within a vacuum. If, taking the example above, you killed all a vassal's family, they'll still be a person more inclined towards Loyalty and the keeping of their word in a general sense; buuuuut in your case you've probably just taken their opinion of you down to the high minuses, which means that that +15 they get to relations with their liege isn't going to stop them from trying to avenge their family (given correct relevant traits, of course).

AHumpierRogue said:
I feel like loyal-disloyal will just lead to people purging disloyal people asap. I like the idea of characters more inclined to support the king/oppose them but im not sure advertising it to the world is a great idea. Obviously we shall see how it shakes up in practice.
Click to expand...

You'd be welcome to do that! The thing is, just like trying to purge every single Deceitful or Ambitious person from any position where they might threaten you, it's not always as simple as it sounds, just like in real life. Rulers throughout history have prized loyal vassals and disdained disloyal ones, but there's plenty of stories where they've not been able to deal with the latter very easily...
 
PDS_Noodle said:
re the loyal trait, I'll copy over something I said on reddit:



Loyal/Disloyal are traits rather than modifiers because they way they act in game suit it better. They don't exist within a vacuum. If, taking the example above, you killed all a vassal's family, they'll still be a person more inclined towards Loyalty and the keeping of their word in a general sense; buuuuut in your case you've probably just taken their opinion of you down to the high minuses, which means that that +15 they get to relations with their liege isn't going to stop them from trying to avenge their family (given correct relevant traits, of course).



You'd be welcome to do that! The thing is, just like trying to purge every single Deceitful or Ambitious person from any position where they might threaten you, it's not always as simple as it sounds, just like in real life. Rulers throughout history have prized loyal vassals and disdained disloyal ones, but there's plenty of stories where they've not been able to deal with the latter very easily...
Click to expand...

Thank you, that was informative, helpful, and thought provoking. I’m still striving for better iconography differentiation, but I’m increasingly appreciating the challenges the designers are faced with that.
 
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Trunting said:
I have a question: Will there be a mechanic preventing us from purging disloyal characters? (I personally wont do that, because I RP the game at least partially, but anyway...)
Click to expand...
No specific mechanic to prevent you from murdering your way through everyone you don't like the look of, just like the rest of the game! ;)
 
I'd like to ask, what's the point of loyal/disloyal traits?
As they're not personality traits, it seems, so it's not just a person who is naturally loyal or disloyal (which is also seems weird); they seem to be traits to be earned through effects. Why do they needed when you have personalities and relationship modifiers?
 
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PDS_Noodle said:
No specific mechanic to prevent you from murdering your way through everyone you don't like the look of, just like the rest of the game! ;)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, the current level of consequences seems to incentivize things like getting your children killed off to avoid partition, or murdering your court chaplain until you get one with good stats. It feels like there's a real risk of the same thing happening here.
 
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PDS_Noodle said:
Loyal/Disloyal are traits rather than modifiers because they way they act in game suit it better. They don't exist within a vacuum. If, taking the example above, you killed all a vassal's family, they'll still be a person more inclined towards Loyalty and the keeping of their word in a general sense; buuuuut in your case you've probably just taken their opinion of you down to the high minuses, which means that that +15 they get to relations with their liege isn't going to stop them from trying to avenge their family (given correct relevant traits, of course).
Click to expand...
Exactly how common will the loyal/disloyal trait be? Will nearly everyone have either one or will it be somewhat uncommon?
 
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It'd be great if we could add custom miscellaneous memories to characters. Oftentimes some cool story stuff happens that is not recognised by the game's mechanics that I'd love to write down. Right now I just pin NPCs (adding notes to pinned characters and prisoners would be another awesome feature) that played an interesting role in my character's life, but actually having these memories written down would be much cooler.
 
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Tiax said:
Unfortunately, the current level of consequences seems to incentivize things like getting your children killed off to avoid partition, or murdering your court chaplain until you get one with good stats. It feels like there's a real risk of the same thing happening here.
Click to expand...

That's a fair criticism, though that's part of a wider and more overarching issue rather than anything directly relating this. However, it's likely Loyal/Disloyal vassals will be less of a direct problem for you than having a billion children ruining your succession plans, so the risk/reward for it is tilted somewhat more towards risk than reward. If you're someone who wants to ensure their powerbase is completely secure then you're likely murdering your way through anyone you don't like the look of anyway, so your playstyle probably won't change too much there.

DaBombXXX said:
Exactly how common will the loyal/disloyal trait be? Will nearly everyone have either one or will it be somewhat uncommon?
Click to expand...

Closer to the latter than the former! With that said, they're more likely to turn up in certain places and circumstances.
 
Will the new Memory system impact performance in any significant way?
 
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Ostermex said:
Will the new Memory system impact performance in any significant way?
Click to expand...

Admittedly this question is better answered by QA and Code than I, but: I haven't noticed any major changes when playing the game. The implementation should be relatively performant (at least from script-side) and the system does discard memories from less-important characters upon death, so there shouldn't be too much clogging it up.
 
Trin Tragula said:
One important difference to a character history though is that over time some memories will fade away, while others will remain.
Click to expand...

Am I correct in assuming that the likelihood of memories fading away or remaining is based on a modifier that is tied to each type of memory? For example, you would be more likely to retain the memory of your child being born than the memory of a nice picnic you had.
 
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Hyperdrift said:
Am I correct in assuming that the likelihood of memories fading away or remaining is based on a modifier that is tied to each type of memory? For example, you would be more likely to retain the memory of your child being born than the memory of a nice picnic you had.
Click to expand...
what if it was a genuinely amazing picnic but a kid you hated and later had killed
 
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Damn! I haven't played CK3 for a year, but these last few DDs have really renewed my interest. All these changes seem creative and well thought-out.
 
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