CK2 Dev Diary# 22: Quarantining the bugs

[Darkrenown]

Hello all, it’s time for another CK2 development diary. We’re still working on making 2.6.2, and while of course there’s some bugfixing going on, for the most part we’re just adding bonus content. Which is fun!

We are working in a strict priority order, so naturally the first thing to be added was more pet events:


With the vital stuff out of the way, we moved on to more of The Reaper’s Due’s core focus, mortality and death:


We’ve also added some new game rules, such as making regular illnesses less common if desired, keeping prisoners in jail after torture, or disabling titles being named after dynasties or changing due to the culture of the holder.

There’s not much else to show at the moment, but there’ll be more next week. For something else to talk about now, I can reveal some of the new statistics data we’ve been getting about RD and the gamerules.

Of the 50,000 players in the last 24 hours:
90-95% of RD players are using the new Death sounds and have ingame sound on.
96% of players allow the AI to use the Intrigue focus.
92.6% of players allow the AI to use the Seduction focus.
93% of players have kept assassination plot only.
84% of players have Defensive pacts on.
76.3% of players have Shattered Retreat on.

Right now I can only see the numbers for default settings or not, but that will change as our stats people make newer and fancier graphs, and these seem like the most interesting stats for now. Next week, more new 2.6.2 content news!

 

[Darkrenown]

WOW..

Playing chess with the Death? What will influence the outcome?

Gamesmaster is a good one, but there are a few less expected branches - I would rather let you discover them for yourselves though

 

[Virvatuli]

Nice Seventh Seal reference.

Does Death only show up while the Plague is active? Or can it show up at any time?

Thanks! While the plague does make Death's appearance more likely, they can appear at any time. You are never safe from Death!

 

[Darkrenown]

Is that a regular old murder attempt or a supernatural event?

Supernatural.

New content is always good to have !

For the stats, does it only take into account those who have purchased RD, those who have the game in 2.6.1, or everyone (even those still on 2.5 version) ?

It counts everyone, except the Focus one only checks people with WoL and Death sounds only people with Reaper's. Not a huge change since ~80% have WoL and only ~3% aren't using 2.6+

Nice Seventh Seal reference.

Does Death only show up while the Plague is active? Or can it show up at any time?

He can show up whenever, but it is a lot more likely when you have low health or the plague is active nearby.

 

[Darkrenown]

Will this option allow for only-English title names? I'd really like to go back to seeing the King of Sweden instead of the King of whatever those letters are.

Yes, disabling cultural names means it always uses the default name.

Do any of the new game rules affect achievements? any chance of more death sounds being added? and, of vital importance, how do I get a pet parrot or owl? I only have cats, dogs and horses.

Setting regular diseases to less common, and keeping prisoners after torture will disable cheevos. More deathsounds are unlikely, but maybe in future DLCs. Parrots require you to be... piratey, Owls are from mourning events.

What are the consequences of keeping prisoners after torture?
Do you get an event after torture that asks you whether you want to keep the prisoner or not? Or is the prisoner kept without any question?
What about humiliation, mutilation, blinding and castrating?
(I do sound a bit psychopath-ish?)

You sound like a pretty average CK2 player! You just keep them in jail until you hit "release" or they die.

Great. However those stats are getting a bit creepy for me. The next thing I know you'll be stating which sammiches we are eating while playing...

If it's not roast beef, salt & vinegar crisps, and mustard -the objectively best sandwich- you will get worse events.

Great stuff, and more importantly incredible work overall with the last patch. You did an amazing job and completely turned the idea many CK2 players had of the game as of late (especially when it comes to game performance). You guys simply rock!
Also:
I'm firmly convinced that, along with "Agree / disagree / helpful", we need a 4th button labelled "Hilarious", as that is exactly what I would have clicked right now (and it happened in many more instances already).
Really, could you poke some of the forum technicians, @Darkrenown, to see if that could be done?

I will try!

@Darkrenown Would you consider adding a game rule to turn off opinion of predecessor carrying on to the next in line on the throne? I feel like this would be a great addition to the current set of rules.

Nice idea, I will see.

A random courtier being Death - I'll keep an eye on my court then.

Statistics are interesting. Myself, I am only avoiding shattered retreat because of adventurers, raiding or claiming. So they won't come back with twice my levies next time .

Remember that shattering a raider blocks him from raiding you again for 5 years too.

Wait... Using the new death sounds? Is that something that can be turned off/on? Cause I haven't really heard any yet, so I am just thinking it is because my characters die in a "usual" way, where there is no sounds added...

Yeah, it's in the audio options. Try executing someone, you should have lots of sounds.

 

[Darkrenown]

Why would you post that? it is lunch time here and I don't have any food with me, which wasn't a problem until I read that post

Is lunatic/possessed/depressed/stressed qualified as common diseases?

No, actual illnesses, such as the Flu. On a related note, we did tone down the AI's willingness to pick experimental treatments when not deathly ill though, so you should see less crazy/maimed people around.

 

[Darkrenown]

Any chance you'll take a look at the Aztecs ?

Basically so we don't end up with situations like this: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/passive-aztecs-and-culture-flipping.966738

I'll take a look, depends exactly what's going on though.

 

[Darkrenown]

But will the option to keep them in jail post torture disable achievements?

Setting regular diseases to less common, and keeping prisoners after torture will disable cheevos.

Cheevos = achievements, sorry if that was unclear.

The AI doesn't actually have a plan for prisoners, it just periodically picks something to do to them. It could be torture, release, or it could be torture, torture, torture.

 

[Darkrenown]

@Darkrenown

Since you have even commented on whether or nor a hilarious button should be added, I guess it's not asking much for an answer on my previous question, which is:

Do you guys have plans to add anything to the game rules that will make empire management a little harder ? Options such as vassal limit changes, Pre-ROI factions system, factions firing when they actually have a chance to win a rebellion etc.

After all, as you can see, my concerns have also been mentioned by others in the Comprehensive Community Issue List: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...prehensive-community-issue-list.917246/unread

Thanks in advance.

There'll hopefully be some vassal/demesne limit rules, time permitting. Old factions system is unlikely. You;ll need to clarify what you mean about factions actually having a chance to win for me though.

 

[Darkrenown]

Are the devs aware of the few problems patricians are facing?

They cannot search for court physicians.
They cannot go into seclusion, even when their doge is in seclusion. They just have to weather the storm...and die...all of them...

Please explain these two.

Out of curiosity, how many players are using mods (if you can see that and are allowed to share)?

32% of players are using mods - this means all mod at all though, from basic UI tweaks to total conversions. Actually down a lot from pre-2.6 numbers, as a % anyway, probably from mods not being updated yet combined with less active players coming back to see new stuff.

 

[Darkrenown]

The top 20, everything beyond that is under 1% use and condensed into a big "other" chunk.

 

[Darkrenown]

Can you reveal the top 20?

Enjoy the wonders of unsorted tooltips!

 

[Darkrenown]

Patricians at Baron tier without any holdings except the family mansion are not able to search for a court physician. The decision does not exist.
Same goes for going into seclusion. The decision does not exist.

It only becomes available when the patrician manages to become doge of the republic.
The only way to get your own character in seclusion is being in your liege's counsil when the doge goes into seclusion. The rest of your court and family stays out in the streets.

I have no information about patricians who managed to conquer another holding than their mansion.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't have them, when I start as a barony-patrician I have both the decisions:


Edit: Aha, turns out we fixed them this week.

 

[Darkrenown]

I assume max_age = 2 is to prevent it spamming every character in the world every day, but this really isn't the best way to do something like that, I will see if I can rework it.

Edit: It has actually already been done!

 

[Darkrenown]

I'd like to make an option or something. When we first added game rules I wanted to have one for it, but game rules are applied after rulers are designed so it wasn't possible.

 

[Darkrenown]

What percentage of people play with achievements enabled? I always play mods, so I've never got any.

31% Ironman, 30% Cheevos. Bear in mind Ironmaners can be using mods now, and even Cheevo-getters might be using non-checksum-changing mods.

Also, regarding the low % of players having even gotten the Marriage Achievement, that's out of all owners of CK2 while my stats are of daily users. A big chunk of owners don't play regularly/at all.