So pilgrimages are neat but I think that they could be improved. So here are some of my suggestions.
Pilgrimage Activities
Right now when you arrive at the holy site there is just one event about you arriving but there are now follow up events as to what happens while you are there, things that your character does as part of the holy experience or just being in a big city. No mingling with all the other pilgrims, meeting rivals there, lovers there. No climbing all the steps for places with mountains or hills with lots of steps, no meditation, etc. These are the sort of things that should be there. It will help to make visiting Rome different from visiting Canterbury from visiting Cordoba from Damascus from Varanasi, etc.
Pilgrimage Routes
Currently right now in the game you can only do a single Pilgrimage at the time no matter how close the Holy sites are together. Especially if they are on the route to one another. So for example say I am an Apostolic ruler and I want to visit Jerusalem, currently I just travel there with no acknowledge of the cities I stop at it, and more over no mention of Antioch or Beirut that are also Holy Sites and on the route to Jerusalem. However I should be able to design a pilgrimage for my character that sees all three stops, and do the various activates at each place. Of course there should be some side effects for being away from your court for long.
Pilgrimage Stops
Mentions of the cities and towns you visit don't seem to be there, but a pilgrim in this era wouldn't be traveling in the middle of no where but going along well known routes. There are no events for that. There are no events for example of say going to Venice or Genoa to charter a boat to Jerusalem, or stopping at Tunis on your way to Mecca for the Hajj. aside from being in the events themselves, you should be able to as a ruler help steer people towards or away from your communities. Events of the area should also impact things, ie if the place you established as a principal port or major trade route stop is getting attacked then it wouldn't be getting pilgrims and could be making things worse.
Say for example you are playing as the Umayyads, one of the things you could do is designate the Port to Mecca city, picking a city like say Servile or Valencia or possibly both as the principal destination point for the pilgrims going to Mecca. So this in turn would boost taxes and development as people come here.
Of course the opposite could happen. Lets say you are a united Spain and you take out the Muslims from Al-Andalus. However you have chosen Barcelona as the principal port that gets royal patronage for pilgrims going to the holy land, now those cities won't be gaining as much as before since they aren't being supported. In this case since both religions are headed to the same general region, things stall in Valencia or Seville for now but don't go backwards.
Lets say though that you are playing as the Abbasid caliphate and you have reclaimed Persia. There was a pilgrimage route linking Ushi-Darena in the north to Nok Kundi in the south. with cities like Kirman and Kashid growing up along this route. However as the Abbasid you don't care about the Zoroastrians and want to focus on the routes in the middle east to patronage and support. So they not only languish but start to reverse. People who lived there start to leave and seek better places as trade dries up. Meaning prosperous areas can vanish due to politics by the end of the game.
Family and Court Pilgrimages
Currently the pilgrimage is mainly a solo event for the character, when there should be options if not the default to take hanger ons. Your friends, lovers, family, or your whole court. Occasionally you see a mystic. But these should be events for taking traveling companions with you. I know in CK2 you could take some companions but I would like to see that not just brought back but expanded. Let me take my wife or daughter, let me take my lover with me. Likewise you should be able to do something like Mansa Musa and travel with your court to Mecca doing a grand pilgrimage to show off your wealth and prestige as you bring most of your court with you.
Events for the way back
So once you arrive at the pilgrimage site, I have noticed that the trip back tends to be a lot faster than to get there. Which is a bit odd. There should be some events for going back to your estate. After all if I am traveling all the way from Bengal to Mecca for the Hajj, I would expect that it would take some time to return even if I am going by boat.
Thoughts, suggestions, feed back on these idea?
Pilgrimage Activities
Right now when you arrive at the holy site there is just one event about you arriving but there are now follow up events as to what happens while you are there, things that your character does as part of the holy experience or just being in a big city. No mingling with all the other pilgrims, meeting rivals there, lovers there. No climbing all the steps for places with mountains or hills with lots of steps, no meditation, etc. These are the sort of things that should be there. It will help to make visiting Rome different from visiting Canterbury from visiting Cordoba from Damascus from Varanasi, etc.
Pilgrimage Routes
Currently right now in the game you can only do a single Pilgrimage at the time no matter how close the Holy sites are together. Especially if they are on the route to one another. So for example say I am an Apostolic ruler and I want to visit Jerusalem, currently I just travel there with no acknowledge of the cities I stop at it, and more over no mention of Antioch or Beirut that are also Holy Sites and on the route to Jerusalem. However I should be able to design a pilgrimage for my character that sees all three stops, and do the various activates at each place. Of course there should be some side effects for being away from your court for long.
Pilgrimage Stops
Mentions of the cities and towns you visit don't seem to be there, but a pilgrim in this era wouldn't be traveling in the middle of no where but going along well known routes. There are no events for that. There are no events for example of say going to Venice or Genoa to charter a boat to Jerusalem, or stopping at Tunis on your way to Mecca for the Hajj. aside from being in the events themselves, you should be able to as a ruler help steer people towards or away from your communities. Events of the area should also impact things, ie if the place you established as a principal port or major trade route stop is getting attacked then it wouldn't be getting pilgrims and could be making things worse.
Say for example you are playing as the Umayyads, one of the things you could do is designate the Port to Mecca city, picking a city like say Servile or Valencia or possibly both as the principal destination point for the pilgrims going to Mecca. So this in turn would boost taxes and development as people come here.
Of course the opposite could happen. Lets say you are a united Spain and you take out the Muslims from Al-Andalus. However you have chosen Barcelona as the principal port that gets royal patronage for pilgrims going to the holy land, now those cities won't be gaining as much as before since they aren't being supported. In this case since both religions are headed to the same general region, things stall in Valencia or Seville for now but don't go backwards.
Lets say though that you are playing as the Abbasid caliphate and you have reclaimed Persia. There was a pilgrimage route linking Ushi-Darena in the north to Nok Kundi in the south. with cities like Kirman and Kashid growing up along this route. However as the Abbasid you don't care about the Zoroastrians and want to focus on the routes in the middle east to patronage and support. So they not only languish but start to reverse. People who lived there start to leave and seek better places as trade dries up. Meaning prosperous areas can vanish due to politics by the end of the game.
Family and Court Pilgrimages
Currently the pilgrimage is mainly a solo event for the character, when there should be options if not the default to take hanger ons. Your friends, lovers, family, or your whole court. Occasionally you see a mystic. But these should be events for taking traveling companions with you. I know in CK2 you could take some companions but I would like to see that not just brought back but expanded. Let me take my wife or daughter, let me take my lover with me. Likewise you should be able to do something like Mansa Musa and travel with your court to Mecca doing a grand pilgrimage to show off your wealth and prestige as you bring most of your court with you.
Events for the way back
So once you arrive at the pilgrimage site, I have noticed that the trip back tends to be a lot faster than to get there. Which is a bit odd. There should be some events for going back to your estate. After all if I am traveling all the way from Bengal to Mecca for the Hajj, I would expect that it would take some time to return even if I am going by boat.
Thoughts, suggestions, feed back on these idea?
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