Crusader Kings II: The Republic - Developer Diary 1: The Five Families

[Prince Michael]

I haven't played vanilla long enough; I only know how it looks on the CK2+ map xD

Alright, no problem. Actually I see Republic of Ancona quite often in vanilla. Sometimes it is a breakaway from Venice or Genoa, and in some dates it is a republic already present when the game starts.

 

[Torngasuk]

Historically, Domenico Selvo was forced to resign as Doge after suffering a particularly nasty defeat. Is such an end for a Doge possible here, or will their terms be strictly to the death?

 

[Prince Michael]

Historically, Domenico Selvo was forced to resign as Doge after suffering a particularly nasty defeat. Is such an end for a Doge possible here, or will their terms be strictly to the death?

I certainly hope so. Feudal lords are deposed in the game all the time, why shouldn't Doges? I hope there are some juicy factions in the republics...

 

[Eldorian]

Historically, Domenico Selvo was forced to resign as Doge after suffering a particularly nasty defeat. Is such an end for a Doge possible here, or will their terms be strictly to the death?

I certainly hope so. Feudal lords are deposed in the game all the time, why shouldn't Doges? I hope there are some juicy factions in the republics...

Doomdark mentioned that there are ways to overthrow the doge, other than murder.

 

[Sir Tornado]

And I'm very confused by Gotlands inclusion. When I looked it up, it didnt seem especially merchant republic-y except when Visby was hanseatic. Is it just because its Swedish?

I suspect it is for balance reasons. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any republic in the north, giving south an advantage. (Remember, the trade posts generate money for the kingdom it is hosted in as well)

 

[liamgamer55]

Well, there are ways for Patricians to become nobles. For example, if their capital is a castle and they declare independence from the republic. However, the ruling Doge cannot declare himself Duke or King, etc.

So I can now spend 100 years wheeling and dealing within the republic, save up loads of money, declare independence as a feudal lord, gain a vassal bishop, declare that bishop to be anti pope and then go around attacking everyone with infinite numbers of mercenaries in the name of my new noble (ex merchant) family?

What do we want? OVERLAND TRADE ROUTES AND INLAND REPUBLICS! When do we want em? JANUARY 14!

There aren't actually any oversea trade routes. Just trade posts that you can build only in coastal provinces.

easy enough to mod.

It's not like the current buildings are intelligently named. I mean what the hell is a castle dojon? I'm sure that'll all get looked at in the future though.

I suspect it is for balance reasons. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any republic in the north, giving south an advantage. (Remember, the trade posts generate money for the kingdom it is hosted in as well)

I doubt things like that get made for "balance" reasons. I mean I don't think playing ethiopia atm is very "balanced" it just gets you crushed. Perhaps Gotland is playable because it'd be interesting though... and also perhaps because it's the only playable precursor to the hansa in 1066.

Modding question: Will which religions are able to have merchant republics be exported to the religion file? Will we be able to mod in that muslims are allowed to have merchant republics if they have a coastal duchy republic by putting a =yes somewhere?

 

[unmerged(237193)]

So question for the developers, if we grant a Muslim mayor a coastal duchy will we be able to play a Muslim republic?

 

[TheLionHeart]

Oh no Matilda! What happened to your fair skinned face? It looks as if her face is melting off. But, really the Mediterranean face pack should really only affect Southern Italians, while northern stay the same.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Oh no Matilda! What happened to your fair skinned face? It looks as if her face is melting off. But, really the Mediterranean face pack should really only affect Southern Italians, while northern stay the same.

That's currently impossible, as portrait styles have to apply to everyone in a given culture (well, technically if they inherit the graphical culture specific to Italians, Spaniards, or Portuguese, 'southerngfx'). Unless PI adds in a Sicilian culture (which I doubt, but it would be nice), then all Italians, no matter if they were born in Malta or Lombardy or Cumania or Ethiopia, will have the mediterranean look. With the current mechanics it's impossible to do percentages (i.e. 50% chance a person looks like this) or to split off based on region or province, or any other factors for that matter.

 

[Tapscott]

Man, all I want to know is whether I am able to use the ruler designer to create my own custom patrician family. That's all I want to know!

 

[rav3n]

It depends on the start date (the Hansa does not exist in 1066, etc). You can currently not use the Ruler Designer to create a Patrician, but it's something we are looking into.


I hope your able to make it work, I long to recreate the German Merchant family I had running Venice in Merchant Prince and Merchant Prince II.

Also I think having Inland Republics would be neat too, maybe after Pagan DLC(hope)

 

[Andaries]

It depends on the start date (the Hansa does not exist in 1066, etc). You can currently not use the Ruler Designer to create a Patrician, but it's something we are looking into.



No, you can choose to start as any of the five families within the republic.

This is good me and my 4 friends wanted to do a game were each player takes one of the 5 families of a republic. We thought the game play aspect would be pretty cool that way.

 

[Justin Pace]

By the way, I just love the fake book backdrop in the interview. Not every company can afford a whole library of fake, antique books...

It looks like those same five books are great, he has like thirty copies of each.

BTW, thank you paradox. I haven't starting putting spears through Christian hearts yet, and now i have less than a month.

 

[Gongsun Zan]

Just to clarify, we can't actually create playable merchant republics anywhere, right? Some users seem to think that simply having a coastal republic will create a playable merchant republic.

The dev's posts suggest that only the 5 listed will be playable under any circumstance (including later start dates or save-loading).

Now, somebody mentioned a playable Ancona, and since Ancona's not part of the list I'm wondering if I've made a false assumption here.

I think Doomdark said on the first page we should be able to mod other republics to be playable in the same fashion, just that we can't add more than 5 families per Republic.

I personally don't think it'll be that difficult. I'm guessing it'll boil down to a line of code going 'merchant_republic = yes' or something like that.

 

[September]

Also put me up in the list of people who are hugely puzzled in the muslim piety gain thing. Venice and Genoa were active in muslim countries all the way to the end of the game. This is completely ahistorical. Venetian control of eastern trade is why Genoa obsessed over fighting another way around.

He might just have been talking about the general piety incentives you get from fighting people of another faith in any kind of war, pointing out that these were an additional bonus beyond the money you can get?

 

[Thure]

I think Doomdark said on the first page we should be able to mod other republics to be playable in the same fashion, just that we can't add more than 5 families per Republic.

I personally don't think it'll be that difficult. I'm guessing it'll boil down to a line of code going 'merchant_republic = yes' or something like that.

No. You give them a county and a duchy and it will be playable. If it had a coast. So... If Ancona is a Duchy it should be playable.

 

[roplox]

Will the lesser republics be un-playable or turned to feudal titles?

 

[liamgamer55]

Will the lesser republics be un-playable or turned to feudal titles?

I believe they've said that they'll remain unplayable and will not be feudal.

 

[onodera]

What do we want? OVERLAND TRADE ROUTES AND INLAND REPUBLICS! When do we want em? JANUARY 14!

Hear, hear! Europe needs its furs and honey!

 

[Portal]

There aren't actually any oversea trade routes. Just trade posts that you can build only in coastal provinces.

You know what I mean. Construct trade posts on land.

@Doomdark. How about this:

• Allow all states to construct trade posts. Even Feudal states. Even counties. However, grant a massive bonus to Republic's income with them, and make it so expensive that vassals will rarely build them. Why? Well, trade was a very essential element in the Medieval era, even for kings.
• An event similar to the one that fires when a Holy Order wants a barony should fire if someone wants to establish trade. For example, 'Traders from X seek to establish trade with us. [Trade with X would greatly benefit our economy.] [No trading with the scum of X!]. This should not fire for the top liege but the character in control of the province.
• Trading should boost opinion and factor in to the AI's reluctance to declare war. Not make it impossible, but attacking someone you are trading with doesn't help the economy.
• Overland trade structures. How would this work? You could build these in provinces adjacent to those you or your vassals control and beside trade structures you control. This would create an overland trade route. Why? Overland trading was a thing, you know.
• Grant Nubia, Abyssinia and Egypt these overland trade structures. Why? First, the money would give them a much needed buff, and second, the AI's reluctance to attack trade partners would make it a good representation of the Baqt, allowing Nubia and Abyssinia to survive as historical. This may unfortunately also buff Egypt, but with a few tweaks to their income that could be fixed.
• Enable all other republics! No excuse with overland trade.

I'll think of more later.