CK2 Dev Diary #104 - Forging a Bloodline

[Silfae]

Greetings.

Before we jump into the dev diary proper we have an exciting announcement. Pagan Fury the official band of Crusader Kings have released their first single that can be found below! Have a listen, let us know what you think and make sure to follow the band on spotify to find out what is coming next.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6OPsyrpJLYcCZUEhWIEsep

We have already covered the topic of Bloodlines, and more specifically historical Bloodlines, in a past Dev Diary, yet marrying into a famous family is not the only way to gain a Bloodline in Holy Fury.

There are quite a few custom Bloodlines that you can found with your own ruler by several different means. Some can be gained through special actions, such as by building a Legend as a Warrior Lodge Hero, others can be unlocked by performing impressive feats, such as being an extraordinarily dedicated Viking raider or restoring Israel.

Finally, if your ruler has very high Prestige (5000 points or higher) and is Duke-tier or above, you will have access to the new Forge Bloodline ambition.

By picking this ambition you will be provided with several paths to create your own custom Bloodline, tailoring it to whichever kind of ruler you wish to be remembered as.

Each path will lead you to unlock a different bloodline, each coming in different variants (for example pursuing the Murder path will lead you to gain one of four different Murder-related Bloodlines). Additionally, if you pursue more than a single path at the same time, you have a chance of unlocking a hybridized Bloodline, with its own unique perks.

And finally, if you take too long to complete any of the initial paths, having the ambition will trigger a special event chain that will allow you to invest resources and select from yet another pool of potential bloodlines, whose pick will be determined by the choices that you make during the event chain itself.

Some of these Bloodlines grant a static bonus, decreasing the chance of vassals joining factions against you, increasing your plot power, or unlocking special buildings for your realms, others grant more dynamic perks, such as special events to facilitate murder or decisions to meddle in your relatives’ private affairs.

This is it for now, though there's still going to be some news coming today. Do not forget to tune in for our very special stream at 17:00 CEST (https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive).

 

[Silfae]

does the 30 years have to been all at one time, or just 30 year in total?

All at once. Getting into a war resets the counter.

 

[Silfae]

I wonder whether is too frequent that one person stacks too much bloodlines after few generations.

Is there some limitation in place?

The ambition can only be picked if the character does not already own a forged bloodline. Once your dynasty has forged a bloodline, it will only be able to stack more via marriage (or if your heir loses the forged one).

 

[Silfae]

What exactly is a foreign war?

Anything that is not a revolt.

 

[Silfae]

Sensible.

A bit of a pity too, but, y'know, sensible.

I think it's for the best. It allows to set different goals for different playthroughs as well, if you wish to pursue a certain kind of bloodline in one and another in the next.

Would the winner of a children's or shepards crusade be awarded a blood line due to the difficult circumstances?

Spoiler

But yes, if the Crusade is successful, the leader gets a special bloodline.

 

[Silfae]

Nice, will the AI pursue Bloodlines as well? I hope it does, it would be a bit said if only the Player's family ended up with them.

The AI can pursue this ambition, but it has been taught not to do it if it belongs to a player-controlled dynasty, to avoid spoiling the player's fun.

 

[Silfae]

If you already have a bloodline, can it be improved or combined with other bloodlines? E.g. if I complete the ambition to forge a bloodline, am I stuck with that single result for the rest of the playthrough?

Merging bloodlines is not something supported (they can be stacked though); if you forge a bloodline, you cannot forge another bloodline during that playthrough unless you lose it in inheritance (in which case your next ruler can try to forge another one), but owning a forged bloodline still doesn't stop you to gain more (either historical or forged by the AI) by marrying into them.

 

[Silfae]

Could we please have a look at the bloodline created by the reformer of a religion or the one for the reformer of rome? will they be different based upon the different natures, doctrines and rulership or they will be a generic "reformer of x religion"?

There are no bloodlines for reforming a pagan faith; it was considered, but discarded. Reformation gives already a considerable amount of perks and, as you say, unless one where to give just a bland generic bloodline for it, one would need to invest an absurd amount of time to create variants to apply on the various possible combinations of Natures/Doctrines/Leadership.

When saying that persuing multiple goals for a bloodline gives you a hybrid bloodline, does that mean:

Building 10 castles gives you X
Building 10 cities gives you Y
Building 10 temples gives you Z

The hybrid will result in:
1. X+Y+Z
Or
2. A bit of X + a bit of Y + a bit of Z

I hope it makes sense.
Is it better to straight focus on a single goal or much more profitable to achieve as many as you can?

Thanks in advance.

Hybrid Bloodlines have their own special effects, they are not better or worse than the pure versions.

 

[Silfae]

Can we create our own bloodline through dynasty designer?

No, they can only be earned in game.

 

[Silfae]

What's the perk if you achieve everything?

You are going to get a bloodline as soon as you fulfill one of the conditions (or a combination of two), there is no "everything" bloodline.

Oh. Well, we can still forge a bloodline by creating an empire of our own, right?

Eh, no, not enough special an occurrence.

How does this bloodline forging especially works, lets say ruler, has childs and grandchilds,does all of them get bloodline as its forged, or just thouse get who are born after forging a bloodline.

If AI forges a bloodline, will it be registred as normal bloodline what can be married into or its immune to adoption.

Does all forged bloodlines are agnatic or you can also chooce them or they depend on forger. Does Female forged bloodline get enatic, or all bloodline are agnatic-cognatic

Bloodlines work as normal, they are assigned to children when forged; the kind of inheritance they follow depends on the founder's sex.

Two questions:
- would passing the bloodline according to gender be hardcoded (so male founder could pass only to male descendants)?
- how about creating the bloodline via chosen focus (i.e. famous seducer with dozens of lovers creates some sort of Casanova bloodline)? Or is it already included in already mentioned event chain?

As said above, the type of inheritance depends on the founder.
There is nothing planned in that regard, as it would have made those bloodlines tied to Foci.

 

[Silfae]

Are bloodlines like societies in that the basic functionality is free, but specific bloodlines you created require the expansion?

Unless I'm misremembering yes, that should be the case.

 

[Silfae]

How long? Does it just has a long mean_time_to_happen?
And what if I am aiming for "Rule at peace for 30 years"?

It is an event fired with a delay after you pick the ambition. It's not necessary to go through it, though, you can just dismiss it if you wish to pursue another path.

 

[Silfae]

Can the founder of a forged bloidline also be eligible for Sainthood, pious conditions being met of course?

Yes, Sainthood is a separate kind of Bloodline.

Can special bloodlines be gained even after founding a bloodline?

Eg: I'm aiming to restore Rome. I found a bloodline meanwhile via ambition. If my great grandkids manage to form Rome, would they get the new bloodline additionally? Or the 'slot' has been used?

It depends; in your specific case, they should still get the new Roman Bloodline, because we are talking about a very special event. They will not be able to create any bloodline related to the Forge Bloodline ambition.

 

[Silfae]

Can modders use bloodlines to have permanent claims to certain titles?

It should be possible to mod something like this, yes.

Do the cities built from converting to feudal or republic from tribal count as building cities for the purpose of the forging of a bloodline?

If I recall correctly, it only counts when you successfully build a new holding, not when converting an existing one.

 

[Silfae]

Those things seem very easy to do?
Maybe the requirements should be higher?
I mean who hasn't murdered 30 people

You need to have the ambition in order for those conditions to be considered "met".

Will a forged bloodline be applied to all dynasty members or will it only go to your descendants? So like, will your cousin the king of Burgundy also get your bloodline when you create one, or will it only go to your children and their children so on and so forth?

Direct descendants.

 

[Silfae]

So is there a grace period? Or is it if I murder 15 and have built 7 cities I'd get a hybrid automatically ?

Yes, hybrid bloodlines are usually gained when a character is halway through 2 paths.

I believe Silfae said they last until you lose them in inheritence, meaning so long as someone has it you can still get it back, I guess. Seeing as it can be lost in inheritance, I can only assume that means that it's strictly agnatic or enatic based on who the founder is.

Yes.

 

[Silfae]

Nice - but I worry that the "murder 30 people" option will be the default.

Eh, there are various Murder bloodline types with different perks to choose from, so there is variation even if one focuses on that path. Still, the other bloodline types grant different perks which are not accessible to the Murder bloodlines, so there's still that...

Do the conditions get measured from picking the ambition or over the lifetime?

Do I have to pick the 30 years of peace young to have a chance of picking it? Or can my elder statesman choose it well after 30 years of peace

Most conditions are checked even before picking the ambition, with the one major exception of the years of peace.

I understood that it gets transfered to your kids, but I did just not read anyplace how long time it can pass on through a female line for example, like with claims, that seem to disappear after 2-3 generations of female passing through. But it seems that it will continue forever. Unless you lose it somehow - I still don't understand how you can lose it though, besides it has something to do with inheritance. Is it like with claims? That there is a chance that some of your children will not get the bloodline?

The older Dev Diary about Bloodlines explained the inheritance process: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/ck2-dev-diary-85-legacy-of-legends.1102727/
The vast majority of Bloodlines are either agnatic or enatic, usually depending on the founder's sex, which determine what members are allowed to pass them down to their children. Bloodlines do not "wane" like claims.

 

[Silfae]

Question for @Silfae : When it checks for forged bloodlines on a character, what does it look for? In other words, is it looking for a forged bloodline that the character can normally pass on to their heirs (so enatic on a woman, agnatic on a man)? Is it checking that the forged bloodline was created by your dynasty?

I assume that if I have tanistry active I can forge a new bloodline with every branch of my house and slowly bring them together via matrilineal marriages among my descendants. This might be especially funny if I follow the same course for all of them. +200% city tax? Thank you sir!

The check looks at any owned bloodlines that have the created_bloodline flag.
Historical bloodlines do not prevent rulers from forging a special bloodline.

Also, for the people who missed them, these were some example released on Twitter in the past few days:

Spoiler

 

[Silfae]

So, it looks like it would be possible to time many conditions at once. In particular, the build church/town/castle, foreign wars, and execution ones seem entirely feasible to all complete at once.

In that case, how is the hybridization decided?

There are various hidden checks; in the event of multiple bloodlines being valid, the first one to fire will be the one you get.

@Silfae Will traits like Sayyid/Sayoshant Descendent still be in the game, or have bloodlines replaced those?

No change has been done to those traits.

 

[Silfae]

I assume the bloodlines feature is easily moddable?

Also, is there a flag for the founder of a reformed religion, so that we could mod a bloodline for a founder?

Yes, they are very easy to mod, you could definitely add Bloodlines for the reformer if you wish to.