I originally posted this a short while ago in response to Jck2's Western Roman empire thread. I've tried to lay out the main reasons why this should be done as an expansion and not a mod below, but am willing to put more points under either heading if anyone posts some which are convincing. I agree that Republics/Pagans/other CK2 time period-centric DLC should be done first, but once 1066-1453 has been fully fleshed out, the foundations for the fall of the Roman Empire DLC will already have been built.
Reasons why this needs to and can be done:
1) As information is scarce on the early middle ages, the lack of detail would make development easier as less dynasties would need to be constructed, so 600 years pre-1066 would be easier than 400 years post 1066.
2) The price point would be similar to that of vanilla CK2 as we are essentially getting a new game here (in the same way Fallout New Vegas was a new game built using the engine+models of Fallout 3.
3) The fact that we go from 395AD to 1453AD if we want allows for an epic level of continuous gameplay.
4) As CK2 has sold so many copies (and continues to do so), there is already a huge customer base who would be willing to purchase the expansion pack
5) As long as it is marketed as more or less a new game, it would attract much interest.
6) As I said before, the engine and map are already there and very much suitable for the late Roman era.
7) EU: Rome covers early-late Rome but also ends in late Rome. This expansion-game would bridge the gap between EU:Rome and CK2.
So why not simply make a post 395AD mod?
1) Mods lack the level of polish which the vanilla game has - CK2 is worked on full-time by paid staff, whereas mods are hobby projects which get juggled alongside other commitments. Not only that but vanilla has the entire community to search for bugs and help with accuracy whereas mods only have their far smaller player bases.
2) Continuing on from my point about polish, mentioned above, the difference in the time spent on mods vs dlc also gives less scope for details.
3) Not every mod will be compatible with a 395AD mod, whereas if the rolled back date was present in vanilla, they all would be, allowing us to play 395AD with our favourite mods rather than simply our favourite mods which are compatible with a 395AD mod.
4) Who's going to do the 395AD mod? There's a lot of work there for a mod team to handle, such as portraits, events, balancing etc. and many mods which get started don't get finished. It's easy to say just mod it in, but mods require a LOT of work, and unless somebody is willing to put in the same amount of devotion the game of thrones team put into their mod, or that the Elder Kings team appear to be putting into their, we're simply not going to see this new start date come to fruition.
5) Paradox South will be able to give us more awesome portrait packs for Barbarians/Romans! The African and Aztec packs were awesome and I for one would love to see as many portrait
packs from them as possible!
So feel free to debate/discuss/analyse the idea and practicality of this below
Reasons why this needs to and can be done:
1) As information is scarce on the early middle ages, the lack of detail would make development easier as less dynasties would need to be constructed, so 600 years pre-1066 would be easier than 400 years post 1066.
2) The price point would be similar to that of vanilla CK2 as we are essentially getting a new game here (in the same way Fallout New Vegas was a new game built using the engine+models of Fallout 3.
3) The fact that we go from 395AD to 1453AD if we want allows for an epic level of continuous gameplay.
4) As CK2 has sold so many copies (and continues to do so), there is already a huge customer base who would be willing to purchase the expansion pack
5) As long as it is marketed as more or less a new game, it would attract much interest.
6) As I said before, the engine and map are already there and very much suitable for the late Roman era.
7) EU: Rome covers early-late Rome but also ends in late Rome. This expansion-game would bridge the gap between EU:Rome and CK2.
So why not simply make a post 395AD mod?
1) Mods lack the level of polish which the vanilla game has - CK2 is worked on full-time by paid staff, whereas mods are hobby projects which get juggled alongside other commitments. Not only that but vanilla has the entire community to search for bugs and help with accuracy whereas mods only have their far smaller player bases.
2) Continuing on from my point about polish, mentioned above, the difference in the time spent on mods vs dlc also gives less scope for details.
3) Not every mod will be compatible with a 395AD mod, whereas if the rolled back date was present in vanilla, they all would be, allowing us to play 395AD with our favourite mods rather than simply our favourite mods which are compatible with a 395AD mod.
4) Who's going to do the 395AD mod? There's a lot of work there for a mod team to handle, such as portraits, events, balancing etc. and many mods which get started don't get finished. It's easy to say just mod it in, but mods require a LOT of work, and unless somebody is willing to put in the same amount of devotion the game of thrones team put into their mod, or that the Elder Kings team appear to be putting into their, we're simply not going to see this new start date come to fruition.
5) Paradox South will be able to give us more awesome portrait packs for Barbarians/Romans! The African and Aztec packs were awesome and I for one would love to see as many portrait
packs from them as possible!
So feel free to debate/discuss/analyse the idea and practicality of this below
