Crusader Kings II Message Board older than one year ago

You’ll likely remember that in May we alerted you to the Game Of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings II. It’s first release was already incredibly impressive, packed with features and civil war. And now they’ve released a version 0.2. Goodness knows how good this will be if they ever reach 1.0.

(more…)

2012-07-04: v1.06b
-----------------------

- The date widget arrows in the lobby no longer stay gone after you've looked at your save games
- Added a separate set of Muslim feudal (Iqta) laws
- Added a separate Muslim invasion CB with longer truce and no taking of all occupied provinces
- The success chance for kill plots now increases drastically past 100% Plot Power
- MP: Fixed an OOS issue between people with and without SoI. (Unfortunately, this means modders with SoI cannot just script in any number of wives in other religions.)
- Fixed a serious but simple error messing up the Spanish localization text
- Corrected a load of German text using ';' in the localization, corrupting the text database
- Decadence revolter special troops now disband after the war
- The game will no longer crash if you have the African Unit Pack DLC but not the Sword of Islam
- Exported EMPIRE_CREATION_PIETY_COST to defines
- Fixed a bug with 'replace_path' in mods
- Empires now cost 400 Piety to create (up from 200)
- Fixed a bug that would not actually detract the empire creation Piety cost
- Fixed a problem with the event effects 'gain_settlements_under_title' and 'vassalize_or_take_under_title' where rebel or revolter occupied counties would not be taken in the peace
- Muslim vassals can no longer declare Holy Wars on rulers of their top liege's religion
- Corrected the English regnal numbers to exclude the Saxon Edwards
- Fixed a bug where breaking a truce would not actually cost Prestige
- Added 'creation_requires_capital' field to landed titles
- Added harsher creation conditions for the Latin Empire
- Added proper creation conditions for the Caliphates
- Fixed a bug with the event effect 'abdicate_to_most_liked_by' that could cause the new ruler of a non-feudal state to become independent when he should not
- Character modifiers now correctly recalculated when a timed character modifier expires
- No longer possible to revoke the last landed title off a ruler with significant vassals
- The chancellor in West African cultures is now called Grand Vizier
- The minor title 'title_ruler_consort' no longer has separate localization strings - it's now the other gender version of the spouse's ruler title
- Added 'title_female' custom holder title to landed titles
- Added separate law message for when muslims pass laws
- Added event effect 'disband_event_forces'
- Fixed some glitches with betrothals in the Muslim world
- Fixed a bug with Heavy Armor tech level 5
- Fixed a bug with the Ramadan events firing at once if war was declared
- Religion View: The portrait of the religious head should now age correctly
- Doubled the opinion penalty for revoking a kingdom
- Fixed a bug with the tooltip for usurping emperor tier titles
- Fixed some errors in the Welsh character database
- Women with 'immortal' flagged traits no longer grow infertile after 45, and the AI knows this
- Fixed an issue with 'immortal' marked traits added in the ruler designer or the history
- Should no longer be possible to get both the Sayyid and Mirza traits
- Fixed two bugs with a dynasty's Coat of Arms changing for no reason
- Scripted banned colors for Coats of Arms should now work
- Corrected event picture for event 75075
- Fixed some events using incorrect form 'only_capable'
- Removed some duplicate text entries
- Tech focuses can no longer change when you inherit someone's title
- Commander traits are now generated for characters created with the 'create_character' effect with a martial trait
- The Jizya tax modifier is now shown with an icon on Holdings
- Corrected the religion of Muhammad's ancestors
- Corrected lots of (harmless) errors in the gui files
- Fixed a bug with the tooltip for usurping emperor tier titles
- Fixed a bug with the NTechnology defines and REN_PROVINCE not being read
- Changed the name of the 'Empire of Spain' to 'Empire of Hispania'
- Can no longer transfer Duke or King rank vassals to anyone except their de jure liege
- Buffed the Christian states of Iberia by giving them more holdings, more initial building upgrades and slightly higher tech
- Invasion AI: Fixed some deadlock situations that could occur when armies were loaded on fleets belonging to the wrong agent
- Army AI: Fixed a glitch with attrition avoidance when having attached units
- When moving an army into a sea zone, it will now prefer loading onto the smallest possible fleet
- Attached units can no longer lead a siege if the unit they are attached to is also besieging
- Increased the max number of holdings in many counties in continental Europe, England and the Levantine coast
- Attached units now move at the same speed
- Can no longer select holy orders to play in the lobby
- Page 12 in the Ledger no longer crashes in "observer" mode
- When divorcing a spouse, the "matrilineal" marriage status is now correctly reset
- Vassals with a weak claim on the liege that they can't currently use no longer get an increased revolt risk
- Diplo AI: Tweaked "desires better alliance" factor for marriages
- Fixed a bug where armies containing Holy Order regiments could be disbanded when the Holy Order itself withdrew its forces for another conflict
- Fixed a bug preventing a host without The Sword of Islam from hosting MP games with those who do and have selected Muslim rulers
- Fixed a freeze bug in the lobby when stepping back through history from an advanced date
- Fixed a bug with historical scripted non-succession laws being overridden at start
- Fixed a bug where landless religion heads could be succeeded by ones of the wrong religion
- Added 'decadence' character history command
- The Seljuks now start at 0% Decadence
- Fixed a bug in some combat tactics that would immediately destroy all enemies of a certain unit type

MAJOR:
- Muslim Decadence System
- Muslim Polygamy
- Added new provinces, titles and history for Mali, Songhay and Ghana
- Added the province of Aprutium (split off from Spoleto)
- Added the new creatable Empires of Russia, Britannia, Spain, Francia, Scandinavia, Persia and Arabia
- Strong and Weak Claim System
- Overhaul of game text for Muslims
- Added plots to claim titles
- Split up the former Kingdom of Khazaria into many de jure kingdoms
- Split the Kingdom of Rus into the kingdoms of Rus and Ruthenia
- Added the duchies of Susa and Latium
- Revised murder plots completely. No decisions, just events.
- Commander traits added
- Heavily revised combat tactics
- Loads of new events

MINOR:
- AI: Much more eager to join Crusades/Jihads if it has de jure interests in the target kingdom
- AI: Much more eager to join Crusades/Jihads if in the same realm as the religious head
- AI: More stubborn about fighting decadence revolters
- AI: Tweaked Crusade targetting - will no longer target kingdoms with 0 'holiness' value for that religion
- AI: Non-Muslims will not accept marriages for female relatives with Muslims, unless they are vassals
- AI: Now prefers giving baronies/counties to courtiers with static dynasties rather than creating random characters
- AI: Vassals of vassals can now correctly revolt to depose their liege
- AI: DoW now factors in the strength of enemies of enemies
- AI: Willing to join another rebelling vassal's war for the crown only if they'd like them better as _liege_
- AI: Vassals should no longer start wars (except for revolts) if the whole realm is under attack from outside
- AI: Caliphs will now be more aggressive with calling Jihads
- Army AI: Will now assault when appropriate
- Army AI: Fixed a problem where you could trick AI armies into ping-ponging while it was trying to gather its forces
- Army AI: Fixed some issues where it would not count attached units properly
- Army AI: Better at moving across land without marching together with other armies, causing unnecessary attrition
- Army AI: Improved attrition check in targetting calculations
- Army AI: Fixed an issue where it would merge armies to huge sizes by not considering attached forces
- Invasion AI: Fixed an issue where it would choose poor secondary targets if the target province was too heavily defended
- No longer possible to call lieges to war against their own vassals
- Fixed a bug with the succession message not being shown for the ones who inherit titles
- Fixed an issue with the de jure law vote message not going away when trying to approve it
- Slightly increased merc reinforcement rates
- Fixed a memory leak with timed opinion modifiers that time out naturally
- Moved the county of Chalons into Lower Burgundy and Grisons into Upper Burgundy
- Fixed a bug with the depose liege CB sometimes making the new ruler independent (bug in the effect 'abdicate_to_most_liked_by').
- Fixed a bug with the effect 'abdicate_to_most_liked_by' that would invalidate outside wars
- Fixed a bug with the 'grant_title' effect which would assign the liege to the liege of the granter
- Fixed a potential infinite loop in war name generation
- Fixed a bug with the Feudal Elective law being tolerated for Republics
- If the loser in a war is imprisoned, he is now automatically released on peace
- Fixed a bug with created characters sometimes getting duplicate education traits
- People who avoid imprisonment will now always flee to another realm
- Added a whole bunch of cleaned up title coats of arms
- Muslim coats of arms should now use better colors
- No longer allowed to grant titles to prisoners
- You can now correctly press the de jure claims of vassals of vassals
- Fixed a bug with being able to call vassals of vassals of the enemy into wars within the same realm
- When winning (enforce or reverse) a war, all prisoners from your realm held by the enemy are now released
- Added opinion modifiers 'Imprisoned my Child' and 'Executed my Child'
- No longer allowed to ask to join outsider wars against your liege
- Fixed a bug with the depose liege CB in republics and bishoprics
- Rulers deposed with the 'depose' casus belli no longer get any land from their old vassals to remain rulers
- Fixed an issue where a ruler could not offer peace to a rebelling vassal if he had holdings occupied by another (loyal) vassal in a separate war
- Fixed a bug with the hostility icons for loyal vassals in separate wars with rebelling vassals
- If a vassal is at war with another vassal who is rebelling, the war no longer ends if the liege wins and the rebellion is crushed
- Fixed a bug with lieges ending up in two wars if a vassal revolted while a revoke action was pending
- Blocked excomm wars against revolters
- Fixed some issues with succession not being recalculated after certain event effects
- Peace Offers now make it clear whether it's a demand for surrender, white peace or surrender
- Cleaned up all CB tooltips
- The initial Seljuk-Byzantine war is now a full invasion of the de jure kingdom of Armenia
- Added "Scarred" trait
- Fixed a bug allowing rulers of a hostile religion to vote for de jure laws even when not de facto vassals
- Toned down base attribute gain of children from guardians
- Optimized the CPU heaviest events
- Fixed a nasty old crash bug with the defection of the Victual Brothers
- Fixed a hostility bug with allies helping to defend against a revolter
- Fixed an issue with Gavelkind inheritance in baronies, where the youngest child would inherit first
- Fixed an issue with the random seed in delayed events
- Fixed a bug allowing you to usurp titles from your own vassals
- Fixed an issue with vassals of vassals gaining independence when you pressed their claims
- The titular kingdoms of Naples and Trinacria are no longer creatable in-game
- The Ecumenical Patriarch will now refuse to excommunicate a character who has repented, even if the Emperor asks
- Merc navies will now disband when not getting paid
- Fixed an issue with the lower Crown Authority plot when the liege folds to the ultimatum of a vassal king
- No longer possible to grant duchies to barons
- The event effect 'destroy_landed_title' now gives the current holder a strong claim on the title
- The events where the Mongols receive reinforcements no longer trigger if the titles are held by non-Tengri or non-Mongol rulers
- Fixed an issue with attached units and siege outcomes
- Fixed a bug with Revokation plot wars against vassals who lose the title to someone else
- Fixed a bug where a vassal in revolt against his liege would sometimes have the war end inconclusively when the liege got a new liege
- Fixed an issue where children would change guardian if they became landed
- AI spouses of lower rank than you will now always accept education requests- In feudal elective titular realms, _all_ vassals of the appropriate tier are now electors
- The death of a spouse no longer makes characters lose their jobs
- Characters who end up leading the troops of their enemies should now automatically return home
- The opinion penalties for revoking a title are now applied whether or not the target accepts or refuses
- If a vassal refuses a title revokation and wins or achieves a white peace, the 'declared_war' opinion modifier is now cleared (meaning the liege does not get a 'free' title revokation)
- There is no longer a cooldown for calling allies to war who _accepted_ a previous call
- Primogeniture: more heirs should now be listed
- Gavelkind: fixed a glitch with grandchildren
- Removed impassable terrain between Kartli and Albania
- Fixed unit position in the Irish Sea
- Made Sviatopolk Rurikovich (count of Zaozerye in 1066) a legit bastard
- Heretics and infidels are now barred from inheriting anything that the religious head holds
- The portraits for undiscovered murderers should now be hidden in the event window
- Mercs and Holy Order commanders should no longer be shown in the quick marriage window
- Now always allowed to attach your units to your lieges' units
- Added an event where a ruler converts to the native culture
- Adjusted and improved the events where provinces change culture
- Reactivated the lifting FoW for allies in wars
- Doubled regular assassination costs
- The "Arrange Marriage" button now shows random courtiers if there are too few interesting women around
- There is now a slight chance of a random education outcome
- Fixed some issues with war invalidation for banishment of landed characters
- Can no longer banish mercs, holy order heads, or religious heads
- Attached units that are not in the same province as the master unit are no longer hostile to the master unit's enemies
- The spouse will now get a message on divorce
- Fixed some historical issues with Chios and Lesbos
- The liege should now get pressed claims on _all_ titles of characters who declare independence
- If an ally could legally call you into a war, you should always be able to ask to join as well
- Battle Death should now show the unit owner rather than the unit commander
- Vassals of lieges who are fighting their liege will no longer revolt
- Holy War CBs are now valid for Catholic vassals of Orthodox lieges, etc
- Added automatic county conversion events for Muslims (35500 and 35501)
- Pathfinding now prefers friendly territory to enemy territory
- Vassal vs Liege wars should now end with a _mutual_ truce

FOR MODDERS:
- Exported inbreeding trait gain factors to defines
- Exported most relevant files under common to their own folders, so they can be broken up into multiple files
- Added 'immortal' flag to traits; stops aging, character will not die of age or poor health
- Added 'pilgrimage' flag to traits; the character is away and needs a regent, but can still be a guardian, etc
- Added 'name_tier' to landed titles, so that empires can be called kingdoms, etc
- Added 'pass_effect' to decisions and laws, which is not run by automatic functions (useful for setting opinion modifiers when passing laws.)
- Added event target 'fromfrom'
- Added trigger 'in_revolt'
- Added 'divine_blood' flag to dynasties, which allows full consanguine marriages and tells the AI to prefer keepin' it in the family
- Added 'founder_named_dynasties' to cultures
- Can now script marriage consanguinity rules in religions
- Added a 'potential' trigger to Job Actions
- Added 'dismiss_trigger' to job titles
- Added a 'potential' trigger to traits
- Added trigger 'num_of_realm_counties'
- Added effect 'vassalize_or_take_under_title'
- Added trigger 'death_reason'
- Added event target 'killer'
- Added event effect 'objective_succeeds'
- The trigger 'can_be_given_away' is now more restrictive. Checks occupation or sieges of constituent Holdings, contestation in wars, etc.
- Added history command 'conquest_culture'
- Added trigger 'plot_power_contribution'
- Added trigger 'random'
- Added trigger 'any_potential_tribal_county'
- Added effect 'any_potential_tribal_county'
- Added effect 'random_potential_tribal_county'
- Added 'new' target in effects ( character = new ) for newly created characters
- Added death reason 'death_hashshashin'
- Added effect 'make_primary_spouse'
- Added trigger 'has_strong_claim'
- Added trigger 'has_weak_claim'
- Added effect 'add_weak_claim'
- Added effect 'add_weak_pressed_claim'
- Added trigger 'has_regent'
- Added trigger 'is_contested'
- Added event effect 'any_spouse'
- Added event effect 'random_spouse'
- Added trigger 'any_spouse'
- Added trigger 'is_main_spouse'
- Added a 'distance' trigger

Familicide is an actual word with a meaning as horrible as you might imagine. A lot of the things that happen in Crusader Kings II are horrible and familicide is just one of them. I’ve misplaced more blood relatives than I’ve had hot dinners, and that’s mostly because heating food takes time and that’s time that could be spent crushing infidels, betraying loyal vassals and hoping for young children to die in a war that I started so that I can inherit everything they own. With a major patch and expansion due, I spoke with project lead Henrik Fåhraeus to learn what horrible history the Sword of Islam DLC will add.

(more…)

June 2012 will bring the Sword of Islam expansion to Crusader Kings II, allowing players to select any Muslim dynasty at the beginning of the game and “delivering a wealth of specific new mechanics distinctive to these rulers, creating a whole new gameplay experience. Laws, marriage, holding, traits, titles and more will work completely differently.” Equally exciting is the news that a major patch will be arriving at the same time as the DLC, expanding the map into Mali-Songhay, and adding more complexity to claims, a new plot and expanded combat. The actual DLC will set you back $9.99 or an equivalent of your local coinage. A trailer of maps below.

(more…)

#gameofthrones Over the weekend, the first playable release of Crusader Kings II: A Game of Thrones was made available for public download. And it is already pretty much the perfect Game of Thrones video game. More »

I’m not particularly knowledgeable when it comes to all things Game of Thrones. I’ve only read the first book, I’ve only seen the first two episodes of the TV show and I’ve never even so much as flirted with any of my blood relatives. Even so, I declared Crusader Kings II “the best Game of Thrones game you will probably ever play” and in an effort to ensure that I’m correct, a sturdy team of modders have released a Game of Thrones mod. Someone was always going to make this, the fit is too perfect for it not to happen, but to release something so soon and with so many features is astonishing. Get it here.

(more…)

v1.05g
----------------------------------------------------
- Fixed a freeze issue with the copying of laws into usurped titles

Updates to Crusader Kings II have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:


v1.05f (Mac Compatibility Patch)

- The invasion cb can now be granted correctly again
- The Pope now gets a significantly lower contribution score in Crusades
- AI: The Pope/Caliph will now be more reluctant to accept a White Peace when Crusading/Jihading
- The Metaserver should now work again
- Fixed a rare crash with sieges
- Changed the speed settings so they are all faster, except for max speed (level 2 is now level 1, etc)
- Added missing message text for calls of allies
- Added missing message text for offers to join wars
- No longer possible to usurp religious head titles, even if they have de jure vassals
- Tied together a few more cultural names
- Fixed more typos and database errors
- Fixed a bug where you could have duplicate laws due to the history scripts
- Fixed a bug with the event effects 'prestige' and 'health'
- Fixed a rare crash bug with very long war names (could also cause corrupt saves)
- Fixed a rare de jure assimilation issue when one character holds multiple kingdoms/empires
- Fixed an issue with de jure assimilation status not always being saved
- When events in multiplayer time out, the first VALID event option is now automatically chosen (rather than just the first option)
- Added some missing characters in Novgorod
- Fixed numerous relatively rare bugs causing unintentional independences at the end of wars
- No longer possible to declare wars while in revolt against your liege
- No longer possible to revoke titles off or imprison lower vassals in revolt against their liege
- No longer possible to ask for invasion against a liege or above
- Fixed some bugs with Crusade outcomes
- No longer possible to attach units to those owned by someone of a lower rank
- Fixed an asymmetrical hostility issue between revolting vassals of revolting vassals and the top liege
- No longer allowed to ask to join wars while in revolt
- Can no longer ask to join a war against a liege above your liege
- Fixed a bunch of event bugs
- Broken save games no longer crash the game when you open the save game browser, they are now marked as broken and cannot be loaded by clicking on them.

Having fathered both bastards and imperial legacies, Adam still refuses to release his grip on Crusader Kings II. To learn more about his latest love, he communed with project lead Henrik Fåhraeus and asked about future plans, the difficulty of incorporating RPG elements into an epic historical strategy game and the features that didn’t make the cut. Upon learning that one of those features was ‘relics and other loot’, Adam sheds a solitary tear for what might have been, and then goes on to learn that the shape of a beard is not genetically inherited, causing him to reconsider the sorry state of his own chin furniture.

(more…)

- When you press the claim of a vassal ruler, he should now remain your vassal
- Kingdoms that are not previously de jure part of an empire can now also be assimilated
- AI: Fixed an issue with calling allies into single wars
- Fixed an issue with the regency events
- Fixed numerous typos in the database and event files
- AI: Fixed a bug with rulers being able to nominate dead children to titles, if not of their own dynasty

Change log for 1.05d:

- Fixed an MP issue where clients would go OOS if the host had clicked around on the bookmarks or time widget at all
- De jure kingdoms can now assimilate into empires
- Fixed a bug with the Crusade CB where the kingdom title was usurped even if the holder was not involved
- Fixed a bug with the 'other_claim' CB where, on success, a title could be broken out of the top realm of the attacker
- Fixed a bug with the 'other_claim' CB where it would make the claimants your vassals when it should not
- Fixed some bugs in the new regency events
- The hostility of attached armies is now determined by the army they are attached to
- A very high opinion of the liege now has a greater effect on reducing the revolt risk
- Can't pick intrigue plots against people with no possible backers (lacking courtiers)
- No longer possible to revoke religious head titles, or plot to do so
- Halved the Varangian Guard in strength
- Removed some more initial Byzantine holdings
- Reduced the initial Crown Authority of the Byzantine Empire a bit
- Increased the initial Crown Authority of the Seljuk Turks and Mauretania
- Fixed a bug with dynasty 715 having a historical CoA when it should not
- Fixed another issue with de jure assimilation
- Vassals in revolt who _attack_ an outside state will no longer make their pre-war liege hostile to the target
- Fixed an issue with too many plots being evaluated for the quick plot button in the Character View
- Fixed another issue with huge plot power values due to the wrong cached military power
- Should no longer be possible to attach armies to navies in port
- AI: Should never try to revoke titles off landless vassals (Varangian Guard, etc)
- AI: Even more likely join a plot with the same goal a character is already plotting for, if the plot power of the asker is higher
- Added trigger 'yearly_income'
- Asking the Pope for an Indulgence now costs a minimum of 25 gold
- Fixed a rare crash when a plot target died while you were inviting a backer in the Diplo View

Here's the change log for the hot fix (v1.05c):

- Fixed a bug with some randomly created characters getting 0 base skills
- Fixed a bug with war contribution score not always being given from occupied Holdings
- You no longer gain intrigue for succeeding with murder plots
- AI: Revolters now a bit smarter about when to pick the Independence CB
- AI: Adjusted down the Crusade joining a bit more
- Increased the delay between Crusades
- Exported REVOLT_DISTANCE_FACTOR, REVOLT_OTHER_INDEP_RISK and REVOLT_OTHER_INDEP_RISK_CAP to defines
- You can no longer start military type plots against someone you have a truce with
- Fixed a bug where children born after the father had died would themselves immediately die
- AI: Should not revoke titles off vassals while at war with someone big
- Rebellious vassals who do NOT seek independence will tend to keep the the peace while there are independence revolts going on
- Fixed a bug with a duel event (100411), where a ruler could banish himself

- Fixed a bug with all children getting the exact same education trait
- The mouse wheel now works for scrolling in all windows again
- Autopause on events in full screen mode now works again
- AI: Made smarter about when to join Crusades/Jihads. Reduced "dogpiling".
- MP: Fixed issue where the client was able to change starting date in the lobby, causing all kinds of issues
- MP: Fixed an issue with being able to select dead characters from previous bookmarks
- Fixed a bug with de jure assimilation of duchies when the king himself held counties in it
- Fixed an issue with some plots where plotters did not get what they plotted for
- Fixed an issue with war contribution scores turning negative and strange in huge, drawn-out wars
- AI: Less keen on picking the 'Revoke Vassal Title' plot
- Fixed an issue with the Weaken other Vassal plot where vassals at another level than you could plot against you
- Assimilating duchies are now shown clearly on the map in the De Jure Kingdoms map mode
- Exported WOMEN_INHERIT_PRESSED_CLAIMS and BASTARDS_INHERIT_PRESSED_CLAIMS to defines
- Title creation was possible when at war for independence, resulting in an inconclusive ending and you as "victorious"
- Added some missing French and German translations
- Fixed a bug with the DLC banner not updating correctly in the main screen
- Corrected text color codes in the French translation
- Fixed a bug with the wrong text shown in Crusades/Jihads against heretics

v1.05 Change Log:

MAJOR:
- You can now ask to join many types of wars
- Participants in wars now get a contribution score which determines how much prestige and piety they get when the war ends
- Crusades now target entire de jure kingdoms. The Pope declares the war and other rulers can then join the attacking alliance. The one who contributes the most gains the targeted kingdom.
- Streamlined marriage interface allowing matrilineal betrothals
- Loads of new events for regencies, friendships and rivalries
- Plot to revoke the title of a vassal
- The Kill Plot is now more available and targets a wider selection of logical characters
- Portrait clothes are now uncoupled from ethnicity
- Added Causes of Death
- Added some purely naval mercenary units
- Improved military AI
- Armies can now be "attached" to each other, which means they will just follow the lead army
- Duchies can now be assimilated into another de jure kingdom (takes 100 years)
- Now possible to create titular titles at double cost if you hold the scripted capital
- Empires are now allowed to create kingdoms
- You can now only create kingdoms if you are already a king or emperor, or hold more than one duchy titles
- Added the kingdoms of Frisia, Lotharingia, Bavaria, Pomerania, Aquitaine and Brittany
- The kingdoms of Galicia and Navarre are now de jure kingdoms
- The kingdom of Al-Andalus is now called Andalusia and can be created by anyone in the Arabic culture group
- Changed "Ducal Claim" wars to "De Jure Claim". De Jure kings and emperors can now take counties in their de jure realm
- Assassinations are now more expensive depending on the rank of the target
- All factions in civil wars are now hostile to outside attackers
- Cannot end civil wars until the temporarily independent vassal has no holdings occupied by outsiders
- Tribal Invasion CB: Now destroys all duchies and kingdoms in the conquered realm
- Children now always get the same education type as their guardian
- The Holy Order troop size now scales with the moral authority of the church
- Republics now get a special CB to seize coastal provinces
- Republics (count or above tier) now get a tax bonus from all cities in their realm
- Republics (count or above tier) now get an extra tax bonus from all coastal cities in their realm
- Republics (duke or above tier) now get an extra tax bonus from their capital city
- Women and illegitimate bastards no longer get pressed (inheritable) claims on their parents' titles
- You can now press the claims of female courtiers and vassals in wars if the target title does not have Agnatic succession
- AI: Vassals should now try to defeat peasant rebels on their own
- AI: Will no longer raise forces in besieged counties
- AI: Nearby religious brethren will now tend to join defenders in Holy Wars
- AI: Lowered general vassal revolt risk and DoW aggressiveness
- Cut the Religious Assistance CB
- There is now a "Plot" button in the character view, offering a more flexible way of picking plots against characters
- Fixed an issue with weird (often infinite) build times that could occur after reload
- Vassals will no longer hate you for newly acquired Holdings that take you above the demesne limit. You have two months to get rid of them.
- Heavily revised vassal revolt risk calculations
- Made the revolters in independence wars start gaining ticking war score, and do so immediately
- Fixed a crash when switching between tabs in the Plot View

MINOR:
- Embarked armies no longer suffer attrition
- Withdrawing a small enough army from combat no longer leads to a general retreat
- Rebalanced combat a bit - more morale damage, less kills
- Fixed a bug preventing claimants to the Caliphates from ever revolting
- Fixed an issue with succession CB holders not using it because they are currently the heir presumptive
- The opinion effect of gifts now depend on the State Diplomacy of the giver and the greed of the recipient
- Gift recipients who are not your vassals (or below) will appreciate gifts more
- Landless characters now also get an AI personality from traits
- Added more and greater opinion modifiers from characters having the same traits
- The console command "debug fow" is now just "fow" and works in Release builds too
- The invite to plot selection list of characters now excludes those who would never ever join
- Better tooltip for the "not willing to join plot" icon when inviting people to plots
- Glowing borders on selected titles in the Title View
- More likely to see different unit type models on the map
- Added console command "charinfo" to toggle debug information in character portrait tooltip
- AI: Honorable and dishonorable (personality from traits) characters should now respond more plausibly to invitations to murder plots
- AI: Improved councillor appointment
- AI: More careful about trying to pass de jure law changes during wars
- AI: Smarter about revolting during the lieges offensive wars
- AI: A bit more reluctant to accept ending a plot
- AI: Will now want to raise or hire a more overwhelming force
- AI: Smarter about creating and usurping titles
- AI: Smarter about handing out titles
- AI: Will now actually look at the defines MAX_ELECTOR_TITLES_LEGALLY_HELD and MAX_DUCHIES_LEGALLY_HELD when handing out titles
- AI: Checks if mercs are an option when evaluating DoW
- AI: Fixed an issue with piecemeal raising of ships
- AI: Fixed several issues with Mongol Horde DoW logic
- AI: Landed spouses will no longer revolt
- AI: Fixed some bugs with bishop nomination
- AI: Fixed a bug where the AI could ignore some rules when granting titles (could grant contested titles, etc)
- Children born to parents in a matrilineal marriage should now end up in the mother's court
- Fixed a bug with abdication from war in elective monarchies that could result in premature Game Over
- Crown authority in titular kingdoms and empires can now also be lowered by lost civil wars
- Fixed a crash when just about to revoke the title of someone, and that person dies
- Added some more loading tips
- Fixed a bug with the "prisoner" event effect when releasing characters from someone other than their liege
- Unit owners now get a fraction of the prestige and piety gained from battles (and not just commanders)
- Increased the piety and prestige gained from battles a lot
- Characters can now only pick the Amass Wealth ambition once
- Fathers will now like their children a lot
- Fixed a bug with the inheritance of Claims
- Fixed some errors with the tooltips in event 301 ("A Bastard is Born")
- Tweaked the succession situation between Flandres and Hainaut in 1066 to avoid Flandres becoming part of the HRE
- The members of the House of Vermandois are now members of House Karling
- Vassals now only like succession laws in secondary kingdoms if they are de facto below it
- Gavelkind law in secondary kingdoms has no opinion effects unless the ruler has more than one holding there
- Added early kings of England to the history files
- Temple type holders will no longer desire their liege's titles for de jure reasons
- Temple type holders will no longer be upset with their liege for having the wrong government type
- Fixed a bug with protected inheritance not working correctly between two realms, both with protected inheritance
- Nerfed the Pagan warrior cult building by 33%
- The text for the assassination action now mentions the cost
- Can now only repeat the same plot type, not ambitions
- Improved DoW warning texts
- Changed the initial succession laws of the Spanish kingdoms to Gavelkind
- Gave the Victual Brothers their ships back
- Bohemund of Taranto is no longer a bastard
- Fixed a bug where a dead husband of a newly pregnant wife would not count as a husband
- The conduct diplomacy button is now hidden for dead characters
- Fixed some issues with the "elector titles held" penalty in empires
- The Hordes lose the Tribal invasion CB if they go Christian
- Fixed a bug with the 'is_mercenary' trigger
- Gave Pisa some starting buildings in 1066
- Tweaked the Holy Order levy composition
- Adjusted the map so that the Duchy of Tyrol is no longer split in two
- The Kingdom of Byzantium can no longer be created
- Vassal mercs now cost half maintenance
- The Kill Spouse plot decisions are now less likely to actually succeed
- Open succession law (the Muslim default) now makes succession crisis revolts much more likely
- You are now allowed to usurp titles from other vassals within the same realm if you have a claim on the title
- Fixed a bug with the tooltip for the 'has_objective' trigger
- Fixed some issues with some male hair styles being invalidated when they should not be
- Mercenary captains should now wear helmets again
- You no longer get Piety from handing out the same title to the Church multiple times
- You no longer get Piety from handing out duchies and above to clergy
- The Piety from giving a county to the Church is now 50 (down from 100)
- Boosted the arrival strength of the Timurids
- Uncles and aunts are now also valid successors in elective monarchies
- Removed the warning text and special AI acceptance rulers when marrying a member of the _same_ dynasty matrilineally
- Fixed a bug with Fertility set from modifiers
- Holdings under construction should now also correctly benefit from councillor jobs
- Fixed an issue with historical settlements not being cleared entirely correctly on save game load
- Fixed a bug with certain event target trigger tooltips
- Added a tooltip to the "character" trigger
- Corrected some title adjectives
- Fixed a bug with the 'claimed_by' trigger tooltip
- Fixed a mismatch between potential revolters in the alert and in the Intrigue View
- Mercs of the same culture group as you can now always be hired, no matter the distance to your capital
- Lieges of dead characters are now saved and shown
- The decision to repent (getting your excommunication lifted) now gives the correct opinion modifier, making the character immune to a new excommunication for 10 years
- Fixed a bug where successors could be temporarily disinherited when Temple holdings were assigned a new holder
- Fixed multiple issues with the law change plots

FOR MODDERS:
- The line "nudge_allowed=yes" in "settings.txt" will turn on the in-game map positioning editor (there is a button called "Nudge" in the starting screen.)
- The de jure liege of titles can now be changed through events and scripted history ("de_jure_liege")
- You now see all plots in "observe" mode
- Exported MAX_GENERATED_TRAITS_FOR_HISTORICAL to defines (controls the maximum number of random traits that are generated for historical scripted characters)
- Added a 'destroy_landed_title' event effect
- Added a 'give_minor_title' effect
- Added trigger 'holding_type'
- Exported some merc and holy order hire cost factors to defines
- Mercenary companies can now be scripted with a "strength_growth_per_century" value (in landed_titles.txt)
- The Legalism effects on demesne size is exported to "defines.lua"
- Added plot type 'realm_titles'
- Added trigger 'held_title_rating = [num/target]'
- Event modifiers are now read from multiple files
- Cut the non-functional trigger 'num_of_ports'
- The trigger 'monthly_income' now actually works
- Timed opinion modifiers with value 0 are now added, but not listed in tooltips (useful as a kind of flag in events.)
- Added 'creation_effect' to character objectives
- Exported DOW_AGGRESSION_FACTOR and REVOLT_AGGRESSION_FACTOR to defines
- Added event trigger and effect; 'custom_tooltip'

I asked Crusader Kings II reviewer Adam what he thought of the new build your own ruler DLC for the grand strategy game. His first response was that it sounded a “bit daft”, but I’ll bet that a few hours from now he’ll be sat staring into nothing. If you get closer and closer and closer to his face, his eyes will be glazed over, his nostrils randomly flexing, he’ll be mumbling to himself. Closer still, listen to his words: “Of COURSE King Adam of Sweden will have a beard. There is no question, now. But what colour? And what of the length?” He’ll clench his fists and lean over, lost in his own beardcraft. You too can soon be pondering what sort of king to make in Crusader Kings II Ruler Designer DLC, perhaps the least deserving game DLC to ever receive a trailer.(more…)

- Fixed a random "freeze" issue that could occur during normal gameplay
- Fixed a resign CTD and related issues with Holdings not being entirely reset on resign
- Fixed a problem with white looking terrain on certain graphics cards
- Fixed an issue with historical characters not getting some random traits at start
- The console command "observe" should no longer crash the game
- Reverted to 1.03b version of audio code for greater compatibility with older machines

MAJOR:
- Revised the Message Setting system
- Religion groups are now marked playable in the religion file (no more hard coded rule)
- AI: Improved marriage acceptance. Smarter about "Desires Better Alliance". Values prestige gain or loss higher.
- Added some useful status info to the delayed character tooltip (similar to the info in debug mode)
- Cooldown added to excommunications (only for the same Pope though)
- Doubled the flanking damage bonus in combat
- Increased the flank leader Martial skill bonus in combat by 50%
- Fixed a CTD that can occur in a rare situation with characters having multiple wars against each other
- Nerfed taxes given by bishops to Anti-Popes by 50%
- Holy Orders now cost maintenance if you're in at least one offensive, non-Crusade war
- Halved all peasant revolt risk factors
- Added an "Isolated County" revolt risk modifier and cut the special events that used to simulate it
- Peasant Army size is now determined by the biggest holding garrison size (so they will always be dangerous)
- The Succession War CBs now have the proper success outcome
- Fixed a bug with the usurpation of titles that would hand over all vassals too
- AI: More wary of expensive assassinations
- AI: Fixed some issues with the correct Casus Belli choice
- AI: Tweaked vassal revolt risk to depend more on ambition from traits
- The duchies of Cornwall and Brittany are now de jure part of the Kingdom of Wales
- Buffed the Caliphates and the Seljuks. Nerfed the Byzantines.
- Added vassal Seljuk mercs; the Ghilman
- Now shows a portrait of the target in available player plots
- Hooked in missing plot icon in available player plots

MINOR:
- Upped the chances of dying due to disease a little bit
- Increased the effects of the genius, quick, slow, imbecile and inbred traits
- Reduced the levy size effect of some of the "recently occupied" modifiers
- Nominated bishops are now properly disinherited at once
- Fixed a bug with the guardian opinion modifiers given when entrusted with a ward
- Combat events will not happen until three days into a combat (to avoid commander deaths and such when overrunning tiny forces)
- When an Anti-Pope is installed in Rome, the old Pope no longer becomes an Anti-Pope
- Waived the opinion penalty for held elector titles for elective duchies and below
- Fixed a CTD issue that could occur in tooltips when hovering over Holding modifiers as they expire
- Vassal mercs can now always be employed by their liege, no matter their religion
- Scaled wealth effects and triggers are now based on nominal peacetime income
- Fixed an error in the opinion warning when banishing characters (not the correct figure.)
- The game will now also auto-generate an appropriate number of traits for children with not enough scripted traits
- Added a text warning/explanation for DoW on a revolter
- Traits are now read from multiple files, facilitating modding
- Fixed an issue with event ids in a namespace
- Fixed an issue with flipping "random god names" tooltips in fire event effect tooltips
- Fixed a bug with the decision 'Demand Duchy from liege' with duke tier lieges (should not be available)
- Fixed a tooltip issue with the "any" type event triggers
- Better tooltips for event triggers 'higher_tier_than' and 'lower_tier_than'
- Re-enabled selection of the same type of plot again for players
- Fixed an issue with save/reload of the last selected plot/ambition
- Fixed an issue with protected inheritance not always working under Gavelkind
- Exported MAX_ELECTOR_TITLES_LEGALLY_HELD to defines
- Exported the max duchies held opinion penalty to defines
- Exported the tax penalty for bishops loyal to the Pope or Anti-Pope to the defines
- The "recently conquered" holding penalties are no longer applied during civil wars or wars between vassals
- AI: Fixed a bug where the AI would grant titles to vassal mercs
- Added 'same_guardian' trigger
- Slightly nerfed William of Normandy's initial army size
- Switched the portraits of Harold and William the Conqueror
- Changed some title colors to conform better to their cultural region
- Added proper history for the Prince-Bishopric of Agen
- The Earl of Atholl is now a _legitimate_ bastard

Seeing the logo of Paradox Interactive -- maker of some of the most in-depth (and intimidating) strategy titles in PC history might make a lot of gamers, even strategy fans, balk instinctively. But Crusader Kings II is a different sort of strategy game from the developer's usual fare. To be sure, it is deep, broad, high and just about every other dimension you can think of, but it's not really a strategy game. Or it is, but not in the way you're used to. And that's a good thing, trust me...

Duke Dave the Dashing and his army of Duders embark on the holiest of endeavors: to figure out this game.

I’ve counted my plots before they hatched, I’ve duked it out with my brothers and sons, and I’ve lorded over an entire continent. Now, having lost more than I’ve gained and suffered more than I’ve succeeded, I’m finally ready to share Wot I Think about the majestic Crusader Kings II.

(more…)

2012-02-17: v1.03b

- Loading a save where you had marked characters of interest or non-interest will no longer crash the game
- Fixed a bug with the de jure modifier not being initialized correctly for most kingdoms and above
- Fixed a tooltip crash in the Realm Tree
- Fixed an issue with long MP game connection times
- Fixed an issue with burgher heirs retaining burgher laws when inheriting a feudal demesne
- Fixed several script errors with the special CoAs in Dynasty CoA Pack DLC
- The texture in the Dynasty CoA Pack DLC now works correctly on all graphics cards
- Children of rulers now automatically get the appropriate claims when you start a new game (they don't need to be scripted in)
- Fixed the Steam install script so it won't run every time you start the application
- In order to ask for an invasion CB, you must be at peace and either have a claim on a primary title of the target's, or have fewer holdings in your realm
- AI will now change tech focus
- Revised reverse demands for CBs to make them more interesting
- Diplo AI: Will not allow matrilineal marriages with unimportant characters
- Diplo AI: Will say no to marriages that would make valuable courtiers (councillors) move
- Diplo AI: Will be reluctant to let skilled courtiers move to marry
- Diplo AI: Will now sometimes grant titles to unlanded courtiers again!
- Diplo AI: Fixed a bug where a completely beaten AI would surrender too easy
- Diplo AI: Muted AI spam about marriages if player already declined offer
- Diplo AI: Will not declare religious wars for overseas territories that de jure belong to an independent duke or king of its own faith
- Invasion AI: Better at not disembarking into an enemy army
- Invasion AI: Optimized prio target selection
- Invasion AI: Fixed an issue with pointless counter-invasions
- Invasion AI: Will now load armies in port when possible, in order to avoid loading armies onto the wrong fleets
- Invasion AI: Should now understand how to target peasant rebels
- Resigning now changes the checksum, so you cannot join an MP game without restarting the game (which would cause an OOS anyway.)
- Boosted the strength of peasant rebel units by 50%
- Fixed a bug with the CB for the Institute Gavelkind plot
- Upped the length of truces to 10 years (from 3)
- Added fractions to the revolt risk in the province view
- Added a monthly law vote check to make sure laws pass when they should
- Fixed a bug with port buildings not giving more galleys
- Fixed a problem with running the game on large TV screens
- Raised mercenary hire costs a little bit
- Flank leader damage bonus changed from 1% to 2% for each point in martial
- Fixed an issue where granting titles would disband troops
- Fixed an issue with a plot where the target would retain his title even when he folded
- Fixed a problem with playing the Earl of Durhamn causing immediate game over
- Ask for ransom interaction can now be initiated with the liege
- Ask to ransom interaction in the diplomacy window now has a proper title when selecting target
- Rebalanced the initial situation between William, Harald and Harold
- Gave Edward III a claim on France so the 100 years war bookmark will work correctly
- Corrected the history of Gevaudan to avoid dead "Serene Doges" of France at startup and make sure it has prince bishops at the end

As many of you will have noticed, Crusader Kings II came out on Valentine’s Day. This, as it turns out, was a good thing. I’d already played the beta extensively and have only emerged from the full version when the fact of being a biological entity has demanded that I do so, or when the necessity to write about other things has arisen. I’m not ready to write extensively about wot I think yet – it’s a big game and I’ll be thinking lots about it – but it would be remiss not to acknowledge the release and the hours I’ve already enjoyed.

(more…)

Crusader Kings II is now available on Steam!

Crusader Kings II explores one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy. Medieval Europe is brought to life in this epic game of knights, schemes, and thrones...

Additionally, you can now purchase the original Crusader Kings Complete on Steam!

Perhaps you’ve already discovered the 20 years of playable history that congeal together to form the Crusader Kings II demo? It appears to have marched onto the internet during the weekend, a time when I am traditionally to be found scrutinising medieval maps of Europe. This weekend I decided to be trapped in a cabin in the middle of the woods during a night of heavy snow instead, so I hadn’t spotted the demo until now. Download it here.

(more…)

A trailer for Crusader Kings II would inevitably consist of closeups of maps and loud, pompous music, so even though I’m hugely excited about the game I wouldn’t bother posting it. Or it would be the first in a series of live action comedy sketches themed around the seven deadly sins, in which case I’d be more than content to share it with the world. I’m happy that a game so head-scratchingly intense that I’ve gone through six scalps playing the beta is able to let its hair down. And, yes, I’m talking about the game as if it is a sentient being. What of it? Let’s just watch.

(more…)

As of now you can sign up to be on the closed beta for Paradox’s Crusader Kings 2. Do you want to do that? I can’t help you answer the question. But if you do, make your way over here, and put in all your most private details such that the publisher can clone your identity and sell you to Russia. This one’s by the people behind Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron and Victoria, and we’ve written tons about it. So go research, then perhaps sign up for the map-based combat. The full game should be out early next year.

It’s tough to make Paradox’s glacial but intricate historical strategies look interesting in a trailer, but those plucky chaps have had a go for their Gamescom flag-waving attempt. Crusader Kings II, which puts you at the controls of a medieval European dynasty, is really all about the menus, and the trailer doesn’t deny that, but it does editorialise a bit and try to show how the game is telling the story of the 1066 Norman invasion. It doesn’t quite go for the big finish, but that’s history. The game is still a way off, too, as it’s due early 2012.

Right, so anyway, I’ve actually run out of trailer reblogging juice today, so this will have to be the last one, ‘lest my glands need replacing. I’ve got Red Orchestra 2 and Trackmania 2 betas to wrestle with, too. So serious business ahead, indeed.(more…)