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CK3 Dev Diary #33 - An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Hello everyone and welcome to the 33rd CK3 Dev Diary!

I’m Matthew, one of the Programmers on the CK3 team, and today I am going to talk to you about the overhaul we’ve done to Feudal Contracts since Dev Diary 17.

A quick refresher on what Contracts are: every vassal above baron tier has an individual contract between them and their liege which affects how much the vassal gives to the liege in terms of tax and levies in exchange for the liege’s protection. In the case of Feudal vassals, this contract can be renegotiated.

We were not fully content with the initial implementation of this setup as it did not help facilitate the drama and storytelling of the deals made between a vassal and their liege and the disagreements that could arise from that. This was a view shared among the community as well which reinforced our desire to give this feature another look, so a couple of our designers and I gave it an overhaul.

The Contract
You may have seen screenshots or videos of this system in some of the media released from our press events but I’m gonna take you through the new system step by step, so without further ado here is the new interface you’ll see when you interact with a vassal’s feudal contract.

ContractView.png

[Feudal contract negotiation screen]

As you can see there are a lot more options now to tailor the contract.

Going from top to bottom you can see that we have split the base tax and levy obligations into two separate tracks each now with five options. These are the core base of how much taxes and levies are given to the liege, the lower they are the more your vassal will like you, of course, and the higher they are the less content they will be.
When negotiating a new deal you can only move to adjacent levels of the tax and levy obligations.

Below that we have what we call the “Fine Print” options. These fine options are unlocked via various innovations and provide various modifications to the contract.
The first row being the Special Contract options of Scutage, March, and Palatinate which are available for vassals that are Dukes or Kings.

Scutage.png

[Effects of scutage]

March.png

[Effects of march]

Palatinate.png

[Effects of palatinate]

At the bottom we have the rest of the Fine Print options available, these are things like guaranteeing your vassal a spot on the council or granting them coinage rights. Some options are only shown if the vassal meets specific conditions, for example if the vassal is of a different faith to the liege. In such a case the “Religious Protection” gives them special rights to practice their faith without risk of the liege demanding their conversion or converting the faith of their provinces.

The Negotiation
When negotiating the contract a max of three changes may be made. We experimented with different values and this felt like it wasn’t too limiting whilst also letting you too wildly change your contract in one go.

With the new obligations that can be changed and enacted this allows you to negotiate a more interesting deal. For example, you as the liege may want to increase the amount of taxes your vassal gives you, but just doing that alone will be viewed as unfair by the vassal and increase your tyranny.

NegotiationTyranny.png

[a contract proposal giving tyranny]

So if you don’t want to take that tyranny hit then you need to look at what changes you can propose that the vassal will want, so in exchange for these increased taxes you could guarantee your vassal a spot on the council meaning you can now enact this deal without being viewed as a tyrant.

NegotiationFair.png

[a contract proposal with a fair trade]

Alternatively, if you have a hook on your vassal then you can use that hook to count as one free change in favour of the vassal, so you can use your hook and get those higher taxes without having to give any other concessions and not be viewed as a tyrant. Blackmailing people is surprisingly effective.

NegotiationHook.png

[a contract proposal using a hook to avoid tyranny]

It is worth mentioning that even if you propose a “fair” trade that does not give you tyranny this does not mean that the vassal will be perfectly content. There is an opinion change tied to each obligation and what status it is in, vassals will tend to dislike paying more and like paying less, and this opinion modifier will be present in the vassal’s view of their liege.

The vassal themselves can of course also negotiate the contract, they have the added restriction that they must offer their liege an even trade. So they cannot ask to pay lower taxes without using either a hook or agreeing to give the liege something they would want, be that giving more levies, agreeing to stay with only partition succession, or giving up a benefit they have previously been given such as that guaranteed council spot.

Some vassals start with contracts different to the default, in the Holy Roman Empire all vassals start with low taxes and levies to represent the internal state and the lower amount of control the Emperor was exerting over their vassals at the time.

We really wanted the interface to make this feel like an actual paper contract being signed between the liege and the vassal, thankfully we had this beautiful parchment background and wax seal shader lying around that helped spice it up.

Modding Contracts
All of these different obligations, their effects, how the AI uses them, and how they are shown in the UI is controlled in the script files so you can mod in or change existing obligations to your heart’s content.

Code:
religious_rights = {
    display_mode = checkbox

    is_shown = {

        NOT = {

            scope:vassal.faith = scope:liege.faith

        }

    }

    obligation_levels = {

        religious_rights_none = {

            default = yes

            

            ai_liege_desire = @ai_standard_liege_desire

            ai_vassal_desire = 0

        }

        religious_rights_protected = {

            is_valid = {

                NOT = {

                    scope:vassal.faith = scope:liege.faith

                }

            }

            parent = religious_rights_none

            

            vassal_opinion = 5

            

            vassal_modifier = {

                county_opinion_add = 5

            }

            

            flag = religiously_protected

            

            ai_liege_desire = 0

            ai_vassal_desire = 10

        }

    }
}
Here we have the script database entry for the religious protection obligation type, it demonstrates the various options and should be fairly self explanatory in its naming of the options.

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this dev diary and are excited for the new Feudal Contracts and the more options and interactions they can provide between vassals and lieges!

We look forward to seeing you next week, in the meanwhile if you want to chat more then I highly recommend joining our CK Discord Server as well!

Pets of the Dev Team
On the Crusader Kings 3 team we are of course very big fans of animals and pets of all kinds. So I thought to cap off this dev diary, and give you all some much needed cuteness overload during these difficult times in the world, I'd collect a bunch of pictures of all our wonderful pets, fluffy or otherwise!

Pet17.JPG

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Pet4.png
Pet5.png
Pet6.png
Pet7.png
Pet8.png
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Pet11.png
Pet12.png
Pet13.png
Pet14.png
Pet15.png

Pet16.JPG
 
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I really love the modding potential of these new vassal contracts. It might be interesting to have an option to force the vassal to send one or more of their children to be educated at the court of their liege. The liege could then give the child a suitable education and use them as a hostage against the vassal.
 
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Is is moddable? If a mod adds new government types, can they be set to use the Feudal contracts mechanic?
Yep it is fully moddable, the government definitions have a list of the contract options they have available to them so you can add different contract options there to new or existing governments.
 
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I really love the modding potential of these new vassal contracts. It might be interesting to have an option to force the vassal to send one or more of their children to be educated at the court of their liege. The liege could then give the child a suitable education and use them as a hostage against the vassal.

If they end up adding China and Japan, I'm betting that there will definitely be a mechanic like this.
 
They get free use of the demand council position interaction which the liege cannot refuse. Allowing them to pick a council position and get it. Hooks can also be used for that interaction if you do not have the council rights.
Of course this means the council rights position is limited to only as many council positions you have that your vassals can occupy.
Will they at least prioritize demanding positions that they are competent with? I'd be annoyed if my 16 martial, 10 diplomacy, 8 Intrigue vassal demanded that he become my steward despite having a stewardship of only 4.

EDIT: I suppose a priority should also be given to council positions that aren't already occupied by other council-guaranteed vassals
 
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Special Rights: There Can Be Only One - If two vassals guaranteed a spot on the Council desire the same position, they must fight to the death to determine which one it will be.
 
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Is there a "fine print" that allows vassal to wage war within the realm? And outside the realm?

If you are a brand new vassal then its default tax and levies and no fine print options.
3. It will be the default as above.
Not a huge fan of that, unlanded characters being granted a title should start with pretty disadvantageous contracts (since, as someone said, if he doesn't agree, you could always ask someone else). But I suppose that from a balance point of view it would be nightmarish, with constantly unsatisfied vassals rising in rebellion.
 
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They get free use of the demand council position interaction which the liege cannot refuse. Allowing them to pick a council position and get it. Hooks can also be used for that interaction if you do not have the council rights.
Of course this means the council rights position is limited to only as many council positions you have that your vassals can occupy.


Currently they are handled individually, which to a degree self mitigates it by virtue of encouraging you to make dukes to control the counts and kings to manage the dukes etc. But it is something we are keeping in mind for the future to see if the management of them becomes to annoying and how we can ease that. I would argue that if we need a copy and paste button then the system has become too micro and that is in itself another issue.

(Red) I hope you guys managed to make the AI smarter with that. I wouldn't want to see a 21-Stewardship and 5-Intrigue vassal forcing his way to become my Spymaster...

(Blue) Well, it seems there WILL be a micro problem as soon as someone starts playing in the HRE in 1066. There are lots of count vassals there! A contract template would indeed be useful here.

(Extra) I have a question: regarding Holy Wars and the likes (supposing they were kept the same from CK2) - will I have to sign a contract with EVERY new Count I put in the new, ruler-less land and a new one when I promote one of them to be a duke or does the game gives you the option to not produce a contract until all is set and done?
 
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With the new obligations that can be changed and enacted this allows you to negotiate a more interesting deal. For example, you as the liege may want to increase the amount of taxes your vassal gives you, but just doing that alone will be viewed as unfair by the vassal and increase your tyranny.

View attachment 595184
[a contract proposal giving tyranny]

Poor Duke Otto is being forced to pay higher taxes against his will and wishes, but he still likes his king even more? as seen by the +5 opinion modifier, despite this being an act of tyranny by his liege.
 
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this is absolutely stellar stuff, and an excellent change. im really glad you guys listened to us and gave it another go

i want to ask, though: do you know if this system is flexible enough that you can add stuff like multiple vassalage and weird situations where an independent ruler is also technically a vassal in another realm? like, william the conqueror still adhered to his vassal contract in normandy while actively king of england, but only insofar as it concerned normandy. he wasnt entirely subject to the king of france, but he didnt just entirely break away either

im not saying i expect it on release or anything, im just asking you as a professional if this is the kind of thing that would be real hard to implement
 
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They get free use of the demand council position interaction which the liege cannot refuse. Allowing them to pick a council position and get it. Hooks can also be used for that interaction if you do not have the council rights.
Of course this means the council rights position is limited to only as many council positions you have that your vassals can occupy.
So with this right do they get to not only demand a seat on the council but also pick which position they want? So if Duke Otto want's to be Marshal he can just up and say, "I want to be Marshal!", and whoever is currently your Marshal gets the boot? What if that person is a powerful vassal do the get the "recently fired" malus and inability to rehire them to a different position cooldown, or will powerful vassals automatically be shifted to a different position on the council not currently occupied by similarly powerful vassal? What if the current Marshal also has the Council privilege and can't be removed from the council by the liege?
 
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(Red) I hope you guys managed to make the AI smarter with that. I wouldn't want to see a 21-Stewardship and 5-Intrigue vassal forcing his way to become my Spymaster...
Given the emphasis on roleplaying in this game, I think it's reasonable that a character would enjoy a job they're not very good at more than one they are good at.
 
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Poor Duke Otto is being forced to pay higher taxes against his will and wishes, but he still likes his king even more? as seen by the +5 opinion modifier, despite this being an act of tyranny by his liege.
That value is the opinion modifiers directly from the contract options, so the +5 there is coming from the fact he still has low levies which gives a +5. The tyranny is then separate from the contract's obligations but because you gave an unfair one.
Could probably clear up that is not Duke Otto's opinion of you overhaul but the modifier sum from the obligations picked, will note that down.
 
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Only Feudal characters use the contract with individual obligations, the Clans have a static contract which scales based on opinion.
Hmmh, this certainly tips the scales of interest towards feudalism over clans for me, unless there are yet undisclosed features to clans that make it as interesting to interact with as Feudalism. Perhaps there will be dev diaries focused on clans and tribes, as well?
 
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What is the difference between:
  • Army maintenance -20%
  • Men-at-Arms maintenance -20.00%
Also, why does only one have the decimal place?


Also, a more important question - Will a pop-up decision be given to the player when a vassal dies and the Heir(s) take over,or will they inherit the same pre-existing contracts? Is there any difference to this for say, Gavelkind where you gain multiple vassals?
 
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This dev diary is incredible! Honestly can’t find a single negative thing about it all, not just the modding potential but vanilla gameplay looks to be very enjoyable!

The only thing I’ve been wondering isn’t even really a critique I’m just curious on what happens if two people both have hooks on another. like say your vassal wants to change their contract and use a hook to do so, would you be able to counter their blackmail with your own and stop the change, or are you unable to refute it. can’t say it would be a problem either way since the current contracts go far beyond what I was expecting for this game, but it would nice to know!
 
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