CK2Plus - Balance improvements, more kingdoms and empires, more ambitions and plots

[Wizzington]

I am no longer updating this mod as of version 2.01.4. Anyone who wants to create their own fork or CK2+ on include my work in their own mod is welcome to do so.

Work on the mod has been taken over by the CK2+ Continuation Project. Go there for the latest updates.

Spoiler

CK2Plus requires Patch 1.103.

For a list of features and changes in CK2+, see the Features List.

Instructions, credits and changelog in the readme. Full changelog can be found in the readme in the mod zip file.

For FAQ, help and tutorials, go to the Help and Tutorials thread.

If you want to report a bug or request technical support, go to the Bugs and Issues thread.

Interested in multiplayer? Join the CK2Plus group on Steam.

Purpose
The purpose of CK2+ is to create a broader, deeper, more challenging and more balanced CK2 experience without straying too far from the original game mechanics or tacking on deterministic railroading events and modifiers. The purpose of this mod is not historical accuracy (although I try to preserve it whenever it is not a major detriment to gameplay) but rather to embrace and enrichen the medieval intrigue sandbox that is CK2, while fixing its various little issues and exploits.

Included Mods
These are mods already bundled with CK2+, either in the main module or as an optional module.
- ARKO Pack
- Patrum Scuta (version 0.3)
- Mod Mercator
- All the Way to Timbuktu
- Syren's Nicknames Mod
- Family Relations Mod
- Council Shuffling Mod
- HRE Revised Coronation Mod
- Offer You Can't Refuse
- Culturally Different Cities

Compatible Mods
These are mods whose authors maintain mod compatability with CK2+. Please note that these mods may not be updated for the latest version of CK2+ and that I do not offer support for issues caused by conflicts between CK2+ and other mods, compatible or not.
- Köppen Climate Classification
- Better Armies
- Patrum Scuta (version 0.5)
- Flavorful Titular Titles
- Titular Title Generator
- Better Looking Characters
- Polish Revison Mod
- Vanilla Immersion, Events and Traits Mod
- Duel Engine
- Consort Mod
- Milennium

DLC Compatability
- CK2Plus is compatible with all CK2 DLC.

Save Game Compatability
- CK2Plus is NOT compatible with vanilla saves.
- Current version is compatible with saves from all versions with the same middle number (all 1.33.XX are compatible with all other 1.33.XX, but NOT with 1.32.XX etc).

Downloads
Download CK2Plus 2.01.4 (mirror)

 

[Wizzington]

CK2Plus for Crusader Kings 2
Author: Martin "Wiz" Anward
Contact: m(dot)anward(at)live(dot)se
Credits: Nexoid (misc icon graphics), Glassmage (Cultural cities 1.091 integration), Necroskowitz (Jewish ruler titles), Hoodinski (Eastern European dynasty names), Werther, River, Faelron, Duc Toto du Haricot (French Translation), Arko (ARKO Pack), zeek40 (Scripting and event writing), idib816 (Jewish Cultures), Sleight of Hand (Breton Names), Slim Jim Pickens (Culture Buildings), Maestro Ugo (Lupus Agnum), Elryck and Arko (Mercator Mod), zeress (Flavorful Titular Titles, German Localisation, Divided Muslims scenario), Viscardus (Cornish Characters, Anglo-Norse Culture), Cetan (Expanded Character Tooltips), Crackdtoothgrin (Crackdtoothgrin's Graphical Goodies), Spartan_One (Mod File Hosting), Peuri (Little Portait Mod), Trovador and thrashing mad (Enhanced Portraits Mod), EmperorTojo (Icelandic Culture Mod), Ijtzoi (All the Way to Timbuktu), Syren (Syren's Nicknames Mod), mate0815 (Better Looking Characters integration), Shaytana (Better Looking Characters), EOOQE (German Localisation), Keanon (Patrum Scuta), Wappenwiki and Solo_Adhémar (Patrum Scuta Graphics), Zaldax (An Offer You Can't Refuse), Velho e Bom Joe (Culturally Different Cities), Icecream Jones (flags, new countries), Strudel Man (many tweaks and additions), NoNotTheMindProbe (russian kingdoms), pothkan (CK2 heraldy mod), The_Chancellor (Council Reshuffling mod), avee (Family Relations Mod, Better Rebels mod, Death Causes mod), Sniper4625 (misc graphics), Van Diemen (HRE Revised Mod, Youth traits), riso (Treaty of Nymphaeum scenario), Six Gun South (PMM)

****************
* Installation *
****************
1) If you have an older version of the mod installed, delete those older versions first.
2) Unzip to your Crusader Kings II game folder OR the Crusader Kings II my documents folder.
3) Make sure the mod was extracted to the correct folder. Inside the 'mod' folder, there should be a CK2Plus.mod file. If there is not, and instead another 'mod' folder, you extracted the mod incorrectly.
4) Unzip any Hotfixes to your Crusader Kings II folder (same place you installed the mod in step 2).
5) Start the CK2 launcher and check 'CK2+ X.XX' in the list of mods.
6) Check any optional modules you want to use along with CK2Plus.
7) Hit play.

**************
* Disclaimer *
**************
CK2Plus is a collaborative effort. While most of the work is done by me personally, it also includes parts of many other mods (see credits for full list). You are free to use any part of this mod in your own mods as long as you give due credit to the creator of said part.

************
* Features *
************
- 'Shattered World' scenario with the world divided into independent counts, featuring over 500 new playable characters.
- New faction system where vassals are members of permanent factions with multiple goals and moods, making factions into an exciting aspect of internal politics that can be both good and bad, instead of just being glorified plots.
- Rebalanced levies and laws that reduce the military capabilities of large kingdoms with weak authority (like France or the HRE).
- Reworked difficulty system: Instead of giving flat economy bonuses to the AI, higher difficulties means slower expansion, slower and costlier warfare and more dangerous plots and revolts for the player.
- Reduced fertility/health and altered attributes for old characters: 80-year olds will no longer have a new child every year while leading their armies from the front, and characters that live to very old ages are suitably rare.
- New tyranny system that assigns reasonable but noticeable penalties for imprisoning, banishing and executing characters and allows for more leeway in dealing with traitors.
- Crusades can result in independent Crusader states with a special truce that makes them able to survive their first few years. A Crusade for Jerusalem will now much more closely mirror the historical First Crusade with an independent Jerusalem being created.
- Holy Wars have a cooldown timer so that the general rate of expansion in Iberia and the Middle East is slowed.
- More lethal diseases and battles, making medieval life the violent and uncertain existance it should be.
- It is now more difficult but also more rewarding to raise your crown authority.
- Tweaked succession laws to make it possible for non-Basques to use Absolute Cognatic. Authority requirements for other succession laws have also been eased.
- Women of your dynasty can hold some council positions under Cognatic or Agnatic-Cognatic laws.
- Many more ambitions and plots.
- More provinces and sea zones.
- Many minor and major balancing tweaks for a more challenging and enjoyable experience.
- Many more Kingdoms and (Titular) Empires to create.
- More mercenaries and holy orders.
- More cultures.
- German and French localisation.

****************
* Future Plans *
****************
- Non-Christian versions of personality traits with different piety (for chaste lustful etc).
- Grand Banquet event where you can invite neighbours, friends and allies instead of just vassals.
- Rework child education events to be more restricted by your traits, and more balanced between the options instead of there always being one 'best' option.
- Executing characters gives landed relatives of theirs the option to ask for blood money - if you refuse, they can send assassins or launch a blood feud war against you.

********************
* Optional Modules *
********************
Use any combination of the following:
- 'Vanilla Hordes' will make the Aztecs and Mongols appear in every game instead of 20%/50% of games as is CK2+ default.
- 'Gender Equality' makes women eligible for any position on the council and allows them to inherit on the same grounds as men.
- 'Hardcore Mode' decreases demesne size and income, makes breaking treaties more costly and in general slows down the pace of expansion for the player.

Use only ONE of the following:
- 'Shattered World' divides the world into either independent counts or small independent states, depending on the start you choose.

*******
* FAQ *
*******
Q: Can I play CK2+ multiplayer?
A: Yes, but you must ensure that all players are using the same set of optional modules. You can't have one player playing with No Assaults and another without, or someone playing with Shattered World and someone else playing without, and so on.

Q: I have claims/de jure claims/other CBs on a character but declare war says I have no valid casus belli?
A: Check if either you or the character has the 'truce' modifier, which prevents war declarations on newly formed rebel counties and crusader states.

Q: Is there supposed to only be two de jure Empires?
A: Yes. There are dozens of different titular empires to form instead.

Q: Is the Catholic world supposed to start at 0 tech?
A: Yes, starting tech was lowered across the board to give Pagans, Armenians, Ethiopians etc more of a fighting chance against Catholics/Muslims.

Q: Why isn't the option to fabricate claims available?
A: You need to have at least 0 prestige to fabricate claims.

Q: Why don't get I get Kingdom de jure claims?
A: You need Medium or higher CA to press Kingdom de jure claims.

Q: Why can't I declare Holy Wars?
A: Holy Wars can only be declared every 5 years by the same character. If you have recently declared one, your character will have a modifier that blocks further Holy Wars until it expires.

*************
* Changelog *
*************
2.01.4:
- Fixed a bug where Unreformed Pagans could switch away from Gavelkind by taking over titles with a different succession
- Concubines will no longer be married to random characters by event
- Amalfi's capital is now actually Amalfi
- Fixed a bug that was preventing contagions from appearing before 1066
- Venice is now playable in 867
- Pagans can now properly have female priests on the council
- Fixed some bad straits leading to portals between Russia and West Africa
- Each character can now only use Pogrom once, to prevent excessive abuse of a weird glitch in MP where it doesn't remove the jewish buildings

2.01.3:
- Now compatible with 1.103

2.01.2:
- Minor database fixes.
- Added Gallawa melting pot for north germanic rulers in Scotland and Ireland
- Fixed icon for hellenic pagans
- Added a few more holdings to West Africa
- Bafour culture now has some scripted dynasties
- Added Jewish holy sites

2.01.1:
- Increased starting troops for Ivar the Boneless.
- Hardcore mode should now work again.
- Pagans can now properly get separatist and pretender factions.

2.01:
- Updated to patch 1.101.
- Added in missing Podlasia flag.
- Fixed a bug where the Malta Channel was inaccessible due to being defined as a major river.
- Buildings should now work correctly in Shattered World.

 

[Zarine]

- Better heresies that have a chance at surviving and that a player might want to adopt under certain circumstances.

I really hope you don't plan on doing this... Currently being heretic is overpowered and you want to make it easier ?
If you don't trust me : Duke of Munster, get all your land, use console to turn heretic and start to have fun... (don't forget to convert all vassals you give land to by demand conversion). In 1120 you should have almost all Great Britain. If you want to make it easier, this would even be crazier.

 

[Wizzington]

In my experience being a heretic is terrible on account of being unable to recruit mercenaries, but I'll give what you said a shot.

I reworded the OP to match my actual intent.

 

[unmerged(287474)]

Glancing through it looked at chancellor jobs and it looks like you changed it so that you need 25 diplomacy in order to be about as effective as 12 diplomacy. Did you intend for this?

 

[Wizzington]

I had intended to require higher skill overall to achieve the same results, but I might have overdone it. I will tweak it.

 

[Varam]

The mod looks great and I'll definitely try it after I finish my vanilla game.

Your Lotharingia does look a little weird, though. Maybe you set it up like that for specific gameplay reasons, but if not, I think it would look better (or at least more in line with the traditional boundaries) if you added the Lorrainian duchies and Alsace to it and switched Flanders back to France.

Also, the French Empire itself looks like it could be really easy to form, but I don't know whether that's actually a concern or what you could really do about it outside of including a rearranged Burgundy as part of it.

 

[Wizzington]

Lotharingia's borders have already been adjusted for the next version to include the Lorrainian duchies and not include Flanders.

To form an Empire you have to hold all Kingdom titles in it, so you have to at least take the crowns of Brittany and Aquitaine before forming it. Not too difficult for the player, I admit, but putting Burgundy in France would feel ahistorical.

 

[Prototart]

Definitely gonna check it out. Your Swabia LP is totally the reason I got into EU games.

 

[Wizzington]

I updated the imgur link to show the current Empires/Kingdoms in development version. Let me know if anything looks odd.

 

[Prototart]

Any chance of an Empire of Ethiopia/Ethiopian Empire with Axum, Nubia and Abyssinia? It was, technically, an empire; The Aksumite Empire until 940, and the Ethiopian Empire from the 1100s until the mid 20th century.

 

[Wizzington]

Any chance of an Empire of Ethiopia/Ethiopian Empire with Axum, Nubia and Abyssinia? It was, technically, an empire; The Aksumite Empire until 940, and the Ethiopian Empire from the 1100s until the mid 20th century.

Yep, that's in future versions plans. I need to spend a lot of time on that region in general... it needs tech, culture and title revamps.

 

[Prototart]

Yep, that's in future versions plans. I need to spend a lot of time on that region in general... it needs tech, culture and title revamps.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I always gravitate towards North Africa for some reason, so it's always a huge bummer when stuff's so lacking. Super awesome to hear that you'll be working on it.

 

[Wizzington]

Updated to 0.10:

0.10:
- Fixed a problem in empire forming decisions that was causing severe game slowdown.
- Holy Wars are now only possible against neighbours, to prevent silly things like France gobbling up the southern half of Iberia. Neighbours is defined as realms that either border physically or which both hold provinces in at least one de jure kingdom (so Apulia can invade Malta because they both have provinces in Sicily). Crusades/Jihads are NOT affected.
- Fixed a bug where each character could only buy indulgences once. It is now every 5 years as it should be.
- Decreased the size of mercenary bands and holy order regiments.
- Greatly increased cost of mercenaries, both for recruiting and maintenance.
- Added a flag for Danubia.
- Flanders is now a part of France instead of Lotharingia.
- Alsace and Upper/Lower Lorraine are now parts of Lotharingia instead of Germany.
- Tweaked councillors to be better at their jobs.

Downloads
WizCK2 0.10 (MediaFire)
WizCK2 0.10 (FileFront)

 

[Kainser]

Your mods for Rome and EU3 are both pretty amazing, so I'm looking forward to seeing this become more fleshed out. Naming the mod WizCK2 might look mildly egomanical, but at least it's not 'random latin name' # 37

Oh, and naming the baltic/polish empire Poland-Lithuania is really weird and anachronistic (no I don't have a better name for it.)

 

[Arcvalons]

Can someone post screenshots, please?

 

[Solo?]

Holy Wars are now only possible against neighbours, to prevent silly things like France gobbling up the southern half of Iberia. Neighbours is defined as realms that either border physically or which both hold provinces in at least one de jure kingdom (so Apulia can invade Malta because they both have provinces in Sicily). Crusades/Jihads are NOT affected.

That's brilliant. Thanks so much.

edit: just an after thought; is this going to hinder crusades?

 

[Wizzington]

That's brilliant. Thanks so much.

edit: just an after thought; is this going to hinder crusades?

Look at the last sentence in the quote...

 

[Wizzington]

Can someone post screenshots, please?

What do you want screenshots of?

 

[Solo?]

Eh, I'm an idiot. Thanks for the mod. I'm going to give it a whirl now.