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Hello everyone and welcome to the second dev diary for Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne!

I'm Tobias Bodlund, Scripter on the CK2 team. Today we'll discuss two new game features that we are really excited about. One has to do with titles and the other has to do with stories. Oh, and we've also changed something that has to do with murders.

In Crusader Kings 2: Charlemagne, rulers will no longer be restricted to the predefined de jure kingdoms and empires on the map when they wish to take a step up in rank. Any duke that has a large enough realm and enough prestige can now declare himself a king. The new kingdom will initially have no de jure lands, but it will gain them with time (if it survives). In the same way, a powerful king can declare a new empire. The new title will inherit its name and coat of arms from the primary duchy or kingdom title that the ruler had before.

ck2_18.png

This new feature should open up new ways for players to shape the world, and you'll see new titles arising according to the unique sequence of events that unfolds in your specific campaign.

Along with this comes new support for modders to dynamically change the coat of arms for any title through events or decisions or via the history files.

Another new feature is something we've wanted to add to Crusader Kings II for a long time. As you play through a long campaign, you are effectively creating the epic story of your dynasty, and we've always felt that it would be nice to create some kind of record of this, something that enables you to look back on your history and that you can also keep as a record after the game. This is why we've now added the Dynasty Chronicle.

ck2_10.png

The Chronicle will register any important events that happen to the characters you play, such as births, marriages, wars, deaths, important decisions etc. It will also mention major world events such as the arrival of the Mongols, the Crusades and the start of the Viking Age. You will be able to review your family chronicle at any time through the in-game interface, and you will also be able to export it to a text file so that you can keep it and share it with your friends. Maybe you'll even want to format it in a fancy font, print it in color and show it off properly.

Finally, for todays dev diary, let's talk about assassinations. There are two major changes being done here - and this part is free content, meaning it will be in the patch for everyone whether you have the Charlemagne DLC or not.

The first change is that the assassination diplomacy action has been removed. Since we introduced plots in Crusader Kings II, we've really had two different and wholly separated systems for assassinations. No longer. The click-to-assassinate mechanic was, to be honest, somewhat obsolete considering how the game has evolved over the past few years. From now you'll have to run a proper plot in order to kill someone, which also makes for much more interesting gameplay.

The second change to assassinations is that we've added a way for you to defend yourself from those who would plot your untimely death. There is now a new decision called "Go Into Hiding", which allows you to remove yourself from the public eye for as long as you desire and thus greatly decrease the chance of any murder plots against you succeeding. The decision is available at any time that there is a known or suspected murder plot against you (you might be wrong of course, but being paranoid doesn't mean that they're not actually out to get you). This new mechanic will have a number of new events associated with it.

You will also be able to send your spouse or any of your children into hiding in the same way - provided they are not rulers themselves, they are in your court, and that there is a credible threat against them.

You may come out of hiding, or take your dependants out of hiding, at any time you wish.

ck2_16.png

Hiding away in the inner rooms of your castle for prolonged periods of time does have its price, however. Your inability to hold court means that you will suffer a reduction to your diplomacy attribute while in hiding, and your vassals with be less loyal due to your absence. You will also be unable to hold feasts and tournaments, travel, lead armies and all those other things that would require you to leave your hiding place and step out into that evil and dangerous outside world.

There are of course also other risks associated with hiding. People living in relative isolation during extended periods have at times been known to... how to put it... suffer certain effects to their personality. But I'm sure you'll be fine!
 
I'm all for the removal of the spammable magic kill button, but as others have said here the assassinate plot needs to be made a more viable option. Right now it's almost entirely dependent on good opinion, but it's when everybody HATES you that you most need to off somebody.
 
To devs:

What have you done about the de jure set-up? Are there still going to be 12.century de jure areas in 8.century or perhaps your new title creating mechanic permits to have no de jure set-up what so ever?
 
For a moment I got my hopes up that we'd be able to change the layout of duchies with these new titular titles. I was hoping I could, for example, create an Estonian kingdom comprising all culturally Estonian provinces in 769, or a Samoyed Kingdom via the same logic.
 
To devs:

What have you done about the de jure set-up? Are there still going to be 12.century de jure areas in 8.century or perhaps your new title creating mechanic permits to have no de jure set-up what so ever?

I was wondering the same thing.
Since your levy sizes depend (somewhat) on kingdom/empire location of your capital and the vassal, I think we're stuck with de jure kingdoms and empires forever
 
I hope that if you have a de jure liege, you will need to earn their approval as well rather than just declaring it to be. Don't want it to be too easy. Also, it seems like you won't be able to customize the actual title (e.g. Tsar, Grand-Prince), which would have been very cool.

Re: the chronicles, I hope they add (or someone can mod) the ability to write items into the chronicle yourself.

I agree. The Charles the bold, Duke of burgundy, was never able to create the kingdom of trier because the HRE didn't approve of him because he was a dangerous threat.
 
Will you integrate Israel in any way into the new system? I think that you should make Israel into a version of Kingdom of Jerusalem, i.e. make the decision to Form Israel create Jerusalem and give it the name "Israel" and CoA with the Menorah.
 
Or it could be done the "historical" way - forming kingdom would require getting crown from the pope (for catholics)/emperor (for christians)/some other source (others). So, he needs to like you enough. Add events/decisions/plots to support this mechanic. And presto - instant extra fun!
 
One duchy is enough if you have a large enough realm. But having at least three duchies takes away the realm size requirement.

Yay for children who have one duchy in Anatolia and two in Northern Italy in blob empires and their newfound Kingdoms of Clusterfungus!
 
Or it could be done the "historical" way - forming kingdom would require getting crown from the pope (for catholics)/emperor (for christians)/some other source (others). So, he needs to like you enough. Add events/decisions/plots to support this mechanic. And presto - instant extra fun!

Something event based, should be suitable for Catholics indeed.

When one wants to form a successor to Roman Empire, one has to convince the pope to back him and if Pope gives the green light, a Catholic Roman Empire title is born.

When one wants to elevate a duchy to a kingdom, one has to gather support from other same religion kings. When enough kings endorse the elevation, a new Catholic Kingdom is born.

All this would only stand for Catholics. If I wanna form the Empire of Häme as a Suomenusko dude, who worships dragons and fairies, the opinion of Pope or Catholic realms should not really concern me.
 
Honestly? I will buy this DLC for the Chronicle alone, I always wanted something like that.
 
About the chronicle, will it be a player only feature or does every character have one? So that when I choose a different character, will I be able to catch up on his history by reading his chronicle? And also, will the chronicle be about one succession line father->the-son-I-started-playing-as-after-fathers-death->the-son-I-started-playing-as-after-fathers-death->the-son-I-started-playing-as-after-fathers-death->the-son-I-started-playing-as-after-fathers-death? Or will it contain stuff about the entire family at the same time?
 
Great improvements but are there any new events or mechanics to prevent let say Leon having one province in Lithuania for 400 years and fighting for it everytime as it would be their capital? Maybe centralization can be useful here? IMO - 5 reputation points for every prov away from boarder to be count as diplomacy range and some events to get rebelion or possibility to break free for vasal would be great...
 
I loved the chronicle! But since it is dynastic, will it tell you when independent members of your dynasty adquire titles? Like if my monk cousin gets to be the leader of the Templars, or even gets to be the Pope.
 
Will there be changes to gavelkind? So that big Kingdoms fall apart after monarchs death? Like it happend after Charlie died?

With the new Title creating there is even less danger to monarchs death, because you can create a high tier title, that holds your realms together after death.
 
Hello everyone and welcome to the second dev diary for Crusader Kings II: Charlemagne!

I'm Tobias Bodlund, Scripter on the CK2 team. Today we'll discuss two new game features that we are really excited about. One has to do with titles and the other has to do with stories. Oh, and we've also changed something that has to do with murders.

In Crusader Kings 2: Charlemagne, rulers will no longer be restricted to the predefined de jure kingdoms and empires on the map when they wish to take a step up in rank. Any duke that has a large enough realm and enough prestige can now declare himself a king. The new kingdom will initially have no de jure lands, but it will gain them with time (if it survives). In the same way, a powerful king can declare a new empire. The new title will inherit its name and coat of arms from the primary duchy or kingdom title that the ruler had before. ... This new feature should open up new ways for players to shape the world, and you'll see new titles arising according to the unique sequence of events that unfolds in your specific campaign.

Along with this comes new support for modders to dynamically change the coat of arms for any title through events or decisions or via the history files.

Thanks for expanding on this. It is the single-most thing I'm looking forward to so far.



Another new feature is something we've wanted to add to Crusader Kings II for a long time. As you play through a long campaign, you are effectively creating the epic story of your dynasty, and we've always felt that it would be nice to create some kind of record of this, something that enables you to look back on your history and that you can also keep as a record after the game. This is why we've now added the Dynasty Chronicle.

The Chronicle will register any important events that happen to the characters you play, such as births, marriages, wars, deaths, important decisions etc. It will also mention major world events such as the arrival of the Mongols, the Crusades and the start of the Viking Age. You will be able to review your family chronicle at any time through the in-game interface, and you will also be able to export it to a text file so that you can keep it and share it with your friends. Maybe you'll even want to format it in a fancy font, print it in color and show it off properly.

This is something else that I am very much looking forward to. There are a lot of potential awesome elements covered by your "etc" - I really hope they are realized in your implementation of this feature.

Finally, for todays dev diary, let's talk about assassinations. ... The first change is that the assassination diplomacy action has been removed. ... The second change to assassinations is that we've added a way for you to defend yourself from those who would plot your untimely death. There is now a new decision called "Go Into Hiding", ...

This is the implementation I have the most concerns with. I have expressed my concerns before and even provided concrete real game examples where the removal of the button led to a "game - over". So I won't repeat myself here.

The only thing I will do is say this: The implementation of this one change if mucked up may be the thing that causes me to swing my acceptance and enthusiastic endorsement of this dlc into a complete rejection.


To devs:

What have you done about the de jure set-up? Are there still going to be 12.century de jure areas in 8.century or perhaps your new title creating mechanic permits to have no de jure set-up what so ever?

In the last dev diary, Witch-King indicated that different start dates will have different de jure maps. What exactly this means was not expanded on - this does give hope that all three major start dates get revised de jure maps however.
 
It looks promising, but a question...
Could we get some sort of an option to add something in the chronicle ourselves, so that we can memorize things we find important in a roleplay way?