Steam Open Beta 1.4.2 "Azure"

[Pdx_Meedoc]

Hello,

We have noticed a few issues that were introduced with our Patch 1.4.0 "Azure", especially the Garrisons that are not reinforcing if you are continuing your 1.3.1 "Corvus" campaign.

As we know how much heart you put in your campaign, we have released an Open Beta 1.4.2 on Steam that includes the following changelog.

Spoiler: 1.4.2 'Azure' Changelog

###################
# Balance
###################

• Ambitious characters will not be stressed if they are defending in a war and they sign a white peace.
• Opinions from gift is now caped to 100 (200 with the perk Thorough) and decays 2.5x faster

###################
# AI
###################

• The AI will now be able to properly offer vassalization to Clan and Tribal rulers.
• Fixed a rare case when AI units don't join a fight if player units have been attacked while moving

###################
# Interface
###################

• Fixed HUD date occasionally jumping in multiplayer
• Mass Ransom is now instant (except if the recipient is a player). This makes it significantly more responsive, and also avoids an issue where it could only send one ransom request to each recipient. Also fixed Mass Ransom in some cases giving 0 gold. Note that if the recipient runs out of money or otherwise no longer wants to accept the ransom, not all characters might get ransomed off
• Fixed the game rules window's "reset to defaults" button being visible when the rules are not possible to change

###################
# User Modding
###################

• Renamed the portrait_modifier files. Scripted_character are assigned to index 50 and events to index 90. Keep in mind that the content contained in the one with the highest index will have the priority over the other.
• Fixed a rare crash when using the every/any_faith_character script list

###################
# Bugfixes
###################

• Fixed initialisation garrisons for saves from versions before 1.4.0
• Fixed domain limit grace period not getting applied for newly gained titles
• Characters with an opinion above 80 will properly leave factions
• Counties will now leave factions if they don't meet the criteria to join
• Fixed the issue with custom characters not starting the game with Men at Arms
• Alliance with relatives will stop breaking immediately after being enacted
• Allow rulers to fire their chaplain / priest once when they have the doctrine Temporal, for life
• Properly check that there is "no Special Building instead" of "no Special Building slot" for the Defender of Rod decision
• Jester hat will be less fashionable after 1300 and thus, won’t used by the majority of the characters anymore
• Fixed the faith character list potentially overflowing and crashing the game due to dead people pretending to be alive
• "Use Hook" is accessible in the Declare War window when you want to push a claim while your liege has a high crown authority
• Allow modifiers from events to change haircuts and beards once again
• Fixed misleading conditions in tooltip of Fabricate Hook interaction
• Sparta will be a valid holy site in existings saves, new games will still use Olympus instead of Sparta
• The "End of Fun" event will not stack up several times in multiplayer even if the player does not choose an option immediately
• The Decision Develop Capital cannot be done by a child anymore
• Added an information on why Fabricate Hook can be unavailable when a you are targeting characters without location
• Dead children should not show up anymore during Meet Peers events
• Restored a missing localisation key when hovering Declare War without selecting any Casus Belli in English
• Fixed a bug when two and more armies involved in a siege and their casualties get applied multiple times
• Fixed a rare crash occurrence at game start

We expect to release this same build next Tuesday; Barring there are no severe issues discovered until over the week-end.

If you would like to opt in now, you can access it by right-clicking Crusader Kings III in your Steam library, selecting Properties, entering the 'Betas' tab and selecting "open_beta_1.4.2 - 1.4.2 open beta patch" from the list.

As always, thank you for your patience & understanding. Let us know if you have any additional feedback to 1.4.2.

Cheers,

 

[Cymsdale]

Mass Ransom is now instant (except if the recipient is a player). This makes it significantly more responsive, and also avoids an issue where it could only send one ransom request to each recipient.

This marks the day you truly surpassed CK2.

 

[Subcomandante]

I wonder - has the bug that made the objects of a fabricating hook scheme perceive it as a murder attempt been fixed lately?

 

[G S Palmer]

Renamed the portrait_modifier files. Scripted_character are assigned to index 50 and events to index 90. Keep in mind that the content contained in the one with the highest index will have the priority over the other.

Again?

Hello, updates, my old friend.

 

[Toybasher]

Sparta will be a valid holy site in existings saves, new games will still use Olympus instead of Sparta

I'm confused on this one. I checked the wiki and Olympus isn't listed as a Holy Site.

So Sparta is simply being replaced with Olympus? I'm just curious why it's being changed. Does Olympus have any differences in bonuses compared to Sparta?

I guess I can make a "THIS! IS!(n't) SPARTA!" joke.

Overall though this patch looks fantastic and I hope "We'll let players opt into these minor patches early if they so desire before we push them to stable" happens more often. The Jester hat bug especially annoyed me for some reason.

Thank you so much for the early release.

 

[Castox]

"Renamed the portrait_modifier files."

y tho

 

[DreadLindwyrm]

So Sparta is simply being replaced with Olympus? I'm just curious why it's being changed. Does Olympus have any differences in bonuses compared to Sparta?

I guess because Olympus was literally the home of the Gods, and somewhere had to go to make room for it.

 

[tsr-aph]

Why have the "offer vassalage" options been swapped in the open beta? It's really weird to go from 'low', to 'medium', to 'high' (not that anyone ever accepts at high...), to 'religious exemption' (RE), which is 'low'+. I don't mind if you put the lowest obligations on the top or on the bottom, but please can you understand that RE really is lower than low and not some extra category.

Also, has RE changed? I'm sure it used to be low taxes, low levies and now it's low levies but normal taxes.

 

[Hero Of Olympus]

I would love to get an option to merge Man-At-Arms of the same type. Like combining 2/5 and 3/5 archers to get 5/5 archers. It's annoying when u have lots of 1/? of the same type.

 

[Purno de Purno]

Does this include the increased multiplayer stability from the other beta?

 

[Tiax]

• Fixed domain limit grace period not getting applied for newly gained titles

This is better than it was in 1.4.0, but it is not fully resolving the issues with rulers who start above their domain limit. I think there are two significant issues remaining. First, rulers are not given credit for their full domain limit (presumably some bonuses to Stewardship are not being counted - perhaps the spouse bonus?). Second, the counties they do receive income from seem to be arbitrary (perhaps having to do with the ordering of the internal ids?). This means that many such rulers do not receive the income and levies from their capital, instead receiving it only from minor outlying territories.

Consider the Duke of Mercia in 867. He holds 10 county titles. In my test game, he has sufficient Stewardship on day 1 to have a domain limit of 4:

However, he only receives income and levies from 3 counties:

As you can also see in the above screenshot, he does not receive any money or levies from his capital.

The result of this is that these rulers who begin above their domain limit remain artificially weak. While this is not necessarily a big deal for rulers who start at peace, it has a significant impact on Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria, who all start at war. I know the vikings are supposed to win the invasion, but it seems silly for it to be balanced around an incorrect computation of the Anglo-Saxons' starting forces.

EDIT: I said above that this is not a big deal for rulers who start at peace, but I think that's incorrect. It is a big deal, because it heavily impacts their starting Men At Arms. So for example, the Tulunids, who start far above their domain limit, did not get Cairo as one of their non-penalized counties, instead getting some poor desert counties. That drastically alters their initial income estimate, and I would imagine costs them a couple hundred gold in lost men at arms.

 

[Pdx_Meedoc]

Again?

Hello, updates, my old friend.

It should be the last time. We are implementing a more robust system for 1.5; you will be able to set priorities working independently of the loading order.

I guess because Olympus was literally the home of the Gods, and somewhere had to go to make room for it.

It's indeed the reason. Olympus was requested by the community and, as it's supposed to be the place where the Hellenist Gods lived, it was logical to add it. However, we didn't want to just add an extra holy site and that's why it's replacing Sparta. We chose to remove Sparta for both geographical and importance reasons.

Why have the "offer vassalage" options been swapped in the open beta? It's really weird to go from 'low', to 'medium', to 'high' (not that anyone ever accepts at high...), to 'religious exemption' (RE), which is 'low'+. I don't mind if you put the lowest obligations on the top or on the bottom, but please can you understand that RE really is lower than low and not some extra category.

Also, has RE changed? I'm sure it used to be low taxes, low levies and now it's low levies but normal taxes.

View attachment 732641

We sorted the option in this order to both help the AI using the mechanics and properly trigger the suggestion (before the suggestion would only trigger if you could offer a High Obligation contract). We are going to investigate if we can find a solution allowing to have both the cake and eat it!

Does this include the increased multiplayer stability from the other beta?

No, we will be updating the multiplayer stability branch along the official release.

This is better than it was in 1.4.0, but it is not fully resolving the issues with rulers who start above their domain limit. I think there are two significant issues remaining. First, rulers are not given credit for their full domain limit (presumably some bonuses to Stewardship are not being counted - perhaps the spouse bonus?). Second, the counties they do receive income from seem to be arbitrary (perhaps having to do with the ordering of the internal ids?). This means that many such rulers do not receive the income and levies from their capital, instead receiving it only from minor outlying territories.

Consider the Duke of Mercia in 867. He holds 10 county titles. In my test game, he has sufficient Stewardship on day 1 to have a domain limit of 4:

View attachment 732683

However, he only receives income and levies from 3 counties:

View attachment 732684

As you can also see in the above screenshot, he does not receive any money or levies from his capital.

The result of this is that these rulers who begin above their domain limit remain artificially weak. While this is not necessarily a big deal for rulers who start at peace, it has a significant impact on Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria, who all start at war. I know the vikings are supposed to win the invasion, but it seems silly for it to be balanced around an incorrect computation of the Anglo-Saxons' starting forces.

EDIT: I said above that this is not a big deal for rulers who start at peace, but I think that's incorrect. It is a big deal, because it heavily impacts their starting Men At Arms. So for example, the Tulunids, who start far above their domain limit, did not get Cairo as one of their non-penalized counties, instead getting some poor desert counties. That drastically alters their initial income estimate, and I would imagine costs them a couple hundred gold in lost men at arms.

Thanks for the heads up! We will look into that!

Cheers,

 

[Think_Crabing]

• Founding the Capital of the Rus now gives a more mild development level boost, as well as a reasonably hefty boost over time, rather than immediately catapulting you to Constantinople-levels

The "Founding the Capital of the Rus" decision was already changed in the 1.4.0 Azure patch, but the "Elevate the Kingdom of Mann & the Isles" decision still gives you a +20 development boost.

Is this working as designed or can it be changed as well to make it less powerful or stretch out the boost over a longer period of time?

 

[Tiax]

Thanks for the heads up! We will look into that!

One other note is that the way the game handles people who are 1 or 2 slots over their domain limit is different from how it handles 3 or more. For 1 or 2, you don't get any grace period, and just start with the regular percentage penalties. I don't think it's a huge problem, but it would probably make more sense if the two cases worked in the same way.

Of course, the real solution is to just fill in vassals for these rulers that are starting with like 20 holdings. None of these bandaids would be necessary!

 

[Czaristan]

• Properly check that there is "no Special Building instead" of "no Special Building slot" for the Defender of Rod decision

Does this affect Defender of Ukko as well? Because that's currently broken as well.

 

[repent]

I don't remember "sinful bishop exposed" being quite this bad before I switched to the beta patch. The Fevour of Catholicism tanks to about 40% early on in my games.

 

[krazykalamari]

• "Fixed the issue with custom characters not starting the game with Men at Arms"
  
  It's fixed, however when making a custom character starting age 16 or lower you don't get the Men at Arms, but at age 17 or older you get them.

 

[浅夜丶]

• "Fixed the issue with custom characters not starting the game with Men at Arms"
  
  It's fixed, however when making a custom character starting age 16 or lower you don't get the Men at Arms, but at age 17 or older you get them.

This is tantamount to no repair.

 

[Cruspy Phoenix]

We expect to release this same build next Tuesday; Barring there are no severe issues discovered until over the week-end.

= today?

 

[PDX-Nicou]

= today?

Indeed