Dev Diary 34 - Interesting Times
Enough work got done early that it was possible to create the dev diary a day early, so here it is.
As shown a couple of times in the past the current release version has a roughly de jure China-shaped hole in it in the Iron Century start as the existing title history for the area mainly comes from well before Iron Century was in the game.
As of the next version, this will no longer be the case.
Note that some things in this dev diary still are a work in progress; for example, there are a number of one-county realms around that will be merged into proper placeholder realms later on. However, feel free to point out any border issues you see except for Jin having a lot of land that probably would have been under Tang; they have that land in order to ensure that some historical subjects are playable.
Unless otherwise noted all characters mentioned here are Han and Taoist. Since there are a
lot of characters mentioned here and the most interesting ones were covered in
Dev Diary 31 Wikipedia links have been provided (where possible) in lieu on descriptions.
(Later) Tang:
Starting ruler:
Li Congke, Buddhist
Starting Mandate: Poor (due to being in an ongoing civil war they're supposed to lose)
Starting wars (to be added): Defending against (Later) Jin and Liao in a war that'll result in the empire being taken over by Jin if they lose.
Starting claims: N/A
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Later Tang:
-
Li Congyan, the son of
Li Maozen
-
An Congjin
-
Zhao Yanshou
-
Fan Yanguang
-
Wang Jianli
- Fang Zhiwen
-
Gao Xingzhou
-
Liu Yanhao
-
Zhao Hongyin, father of
Zhao Kuangyin (Taizu of Song)
-
Zhao Dejun
-
Zhang Jingda
-
Yang Guangyan (under Zhang Jingda)
Given that you start in a war that you're expected to lose (as that's the historical outcome we'll be balancing things around) this start will probably be challenging if you actually want to avoid losing the war, and having a Poor Mandate means councillors can join certain factions, so there's also that to consider.
(Later) Jin:
Starting ruler:
Shi Jingtang (Gaozu)
Starting Mandate: Good (due to being a new dynasty that's supposed to win the ongoing war)
Starting wars (to be added): Attacking (Later) Tang alongside Liao in a war that'll result in a takeover of Tang if they win (plus likely the ceding of the
Sixteen Prefectures; there'll be an option to renege, but you
might not want to take it because bad stuff happens...)
Starting claims: Has claims on the counties of Luoyang, Bianjing (Kaifeng), and Chang'an to make sure that they can revoke them if they win the war (as two are historical Jin capitals and the third is too important for them to ignore)
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting event troops: 16k; subject to balance (they need quite a few to ensure that they almost always beat Tang). Liao has an additional 8k at present, so we'll likely not need to go too much higher.
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Later Jin:
-
Liu Zhiyuan (Gaozu of Later Han)
-
Guo Wei (Taizu of Later Zhou)
-
Li Shouzhen
-
Sang Weihan
Assuming you win your war this is probably a fairly easy start. However, if you lose too many event troops and Liao decide to settle (or if you decide to...
alter a certain deal and they don't appreciate it) there might be trouble down the line.
(Later) Shu:
Starting ruler:
Meng Chang
Starting Mandate: Average (rather small realm on its second ruler)
Starting wars: N/A
Starting tributaries: Peng Shichou (Shenist Tujia ruler; has two counties next to Chu and Jingnan)
Starting claims: N/A
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Later Shu:
-
Zhang Ye
-
Zhang Gongduo
-
Zhao Tingyin
-
Wang Chuhui
- Li Yanhou
It is likely that what happens in the north will greatly affect your chances of doing well. If a strong Tang or Jin emerges, expect trouble. If there's ongoing chaos (say because Tang wins the war and then get issues due to their Poor Mandate) you can probably thrive as the other strong pretenders will have to work to get close to you before they can attack you.
Jingnan/Nanping (Jiangling in-game):
Starting ruler:
Gao Conghui
Starting Mandate: N/A
Starting wars: N/A
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting claims: N/A
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Jingnan: N/A (has no vassals)
Given that you don't start with any CBs (except for tributary wars, if those are active) and are rather weak, this will be a very challenging start unless you find a strong liege. The strongest possible liege is probably a victorious Jin, but you might not have the luxury to wait for their war to finish as Wu and Shu might come for you before then, so your options will probably be the weaker Shu and the unstable Wu.
Chu:
Starting ruler:
Ma Xifan
Starting Mandate: N/A
Starting wars (to be added): Defending against the Southern Han general Sun Dewei in a war over d_guizhou and c_liuzhou
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting claims: N/A
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Chu:
- Ma Xigao
-
Ma Xi'e
-
Yao Yanzhang
If Han or Wu attack you, you probably won't be able to beat them, so either you'll need to hope that both fall apart or you'll need to pledge yourself to either of them and hope for the best if the other comes for you.
(Southern) Han:
Starting ruler:
Liu Yan (Gaozu)
Starting Mandate: Average (has previously lost Annam, which is inauspicious)
Starting wars: N/A
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting claims: Weak claim on Annam; a civil war
there is not entirely unlikely due to
certain factors...
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Han:
- Sun Dewei (will start attacking Chu in a war he'll probably lose)
-
Wang Dingbao
- Liang Kezhen
Likely the strongest start after Jin (and things can go poorly for them, as previously mentioned). You're likely in a position to knock out Min early and might be able to take land from an infighting Wu or Chu, and if Annam gets a civil war you can use your claim on them for even more land (if with wrong culture vassals).
Min:
Starting ruler:
Wang Chang (Kangzong), Buddhist
Starting Mandate: Average (rather small realm on its second ruler)
Starting wars: N/A
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting claims: N/A
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Han:
-
Wang Yanzheng (Tiande), Buddhist
-
Liu Congxiao
This will probably be a rather hard start. You don't have the numbers to attack any of your neighbours, and you can't swear fealty due to being an emperor.
Wuyue:
Starting ruler:
Qian Yuanguan
Starting Mandate: N/A
Starting wars (to be added): N/A
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting claims: N/A
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Wuyue:
-
Cao (Z)Hongda
You can probably fight off Min if you need to (and one of your brothers has a wife with a weak inheritable claim on them, so that might be something you can make use of...), but Wu is another matter. Maybe swearing fealty to someone would be wise, but your only options are Wu (which might implode) and Min (which probably wouldn't be able to defend you very well against the others).
Wu:
Starting ruler:
Yang Pu (Rui)
Starting Mandate: Poor (Yang Pu is reluctant to rule, and Xu Zhigao/Li Bian is scheming to take over)
Starting wars: N/A
Starting tributaries: N/A
Starting claims: N/A
Starting event troops: N/A
Playable historical characters set as vassals of Han:
-
Xu Zhigao/Li Bian (Liezu of (Southern) Tang); starts with a weak claim on the empire
-
Zhou Ben
-
Zhou Zong
-
Li Decheng
-
Wang Lingmou
You'll probably see a faction form against you very quickly as Xu Zhigao has a claim AND could go for a takeover faction (and some other vassals are friends with him, so they'll probably support him). Given that he has roughly as many troops as you have when you count contributions from vassals (including him) any war is likely to be extremely difficult (and you can't tyrannically imprison him, as you're Chinese Imperial), and as he has a lot of Intrigue (usually somewhere around 20) you're unlikely to be able to assassinate him. Expect a challenge unless you're prepared to cede your throne (as historically happened).
Other than the realms mentioned above we've also added Tuoba (Li) Yixing (Taoist Tangut) in Dingnan (shown as Minyak because vanilla has him landed there (likely as a placeholder)) and expanded the Gansu Uyghur kingdom (Yugur) so that it actually contains Gansu (and other things).
If you have any suggestions for other interesting characters that could be added as vassals (ideally somewhere they actually ruled, but that's not strictly necessary) in this start date we'd like to hear about it. (Later) Tang and (Southern) Han in particular start well above the demesne limit, so more characters there would definitely be good, and we're open to adding more characters elsewhere unless we need to unland someone more important (e.g. future emperors). We're also interested in historical rulers for the provinces between Da Yining/Shu/Chu, as well as those between Tang and Goryeo (which will be one or more tributaries under Liao unless we discover something unexpected).
Also, while not relevant to the IC start date, we've added specific starting Mandate levels for the 769, 876, and 1066 emperors of China (Average, Average, and Good, respectively).
It is fairly likely that most of the work being done in the near future (aside from adding wars and a few minor things in the IC start) will be further work on the history files, in which case there will probably not be a detailed dev diary for a while as that work usually doesn't result in anything that's interesting to show off until a bunch of stuff has changed.
