Crusader Kings II Message Board

I really appreciate the efforts of the voiceover man in this launch trailer for the new Crusader Kings expansion, Rajas of India. He’s doing his very best to make the game sound exciting and dramatic, even as the camera pans slowly across colourful cartography and static menu screens.

Except, as we players of Paradox’s medieval soap opera know, this is exciting. You don’t need to say it in a dramatic voice: Rajas of India adds the Indian subcontinent, three new religions, and a lot of new ways to commit lusty barbarism.

… [visit site to read more]

Rajas Of India is the next gargantuan expansion for 2012-2013′s best strategy game, Crusader Kings II. Your date with the Rajas is set for March 25th, which should give you just enough time to buy something nice to wear and book a table at that fancy restaurant that everybody keeps going on about. I’ve already gathered a wealth of information about what to expect, as well as thoughts on the expanded map, and new faiths and cultures. The ten minute video below contains much of the same information, delivered directly from the mind and mouth of Henrik Fåhraeus, the man who made the Middle Ages.

… [visit site to read more]

I don’t think anyone at Paradox expected Crusader Kings II to spread into India with quite as much gusto as it will this March. The next expansion adds around 50% to the world map, with almost 400 new provinces, three new religions and a continent’s worth of new events, including the possibility of chained ‘reincarnation’ plotlines. As always with these generous chunks of DLC, a free patch will be released alongside the expansion and it will contain a surprisingly hefty amount of content, including the entirety of the expanded map, and Steam matchmaking and Workshop support. While it may not have the immediate appeal of the Old Gods to many (Vikings vs Buddhists anyone?), Rajas is the biggest expansion since. More details below.

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Crusader Kings 2 is one of my personal favourites of 2013, as it was in 2012, but it didn’t have a place in our calendar. It could been included using the Trojan Horse of DLC, as XCOM did thanks to Enemy Within, but it’s hard to pick out the stand-out expansion for CK II. Even The Old Gods, which expanded the timeframe, felt like part of the whole rather than a distinct item. That is part of the brilliance of the design, but it also makes it much harder to say ‘Crusader Kings II: Old Gods’ is one of the games of 2013 rather than simply saying, ‘Crusader Kings II is one of the games of the year. Again.” Here’s why I think that argument is valid.

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If you enter in to Crusader Kings 2 with a plan to win, you’re going to be frustrated. It’s a complex turn-based strategy game set during the Middle Ages in Europe, with an overwhelming array of options available whether you start as a mighty King or a lowly Count. If you approach it as a role-playing game though, with an interest only in being interesting, then it’s an accessible, surprising delight to muddle your way through and craft your own stories.

That’s why any new expansion to the game is so exciting; every added layer of detail gives you a new role to perform. Sons of Abraham focuses on expanding the Jewish and Muslim faiths. It’s out now and there’s a new developer diary below.(more…)

Apparently, Crusader Kings II is still missing something, which seems unlikely considering the amount of content that each major expansion has added. The Old Gods took the cake* – Forseti loves a slice of Battenberg – adding a couple of centuries to play with, a host of religions and new raiding mechanics mechanics. That’s not the end of the road though. It seems the one God and the diverse groups that claim to know Him best is a little jealous of the Old Gods and the Sons of Abraham expansion is hoping to make Him feel better by honouring “the big three in Medieval Europe: Christianity, Judaism and Islam”. More details below.

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2013-08-13: v1.11
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GAMEPLAY
- Added auto-invite function to plots
- Added auto stop plot functionality under intrigue tab.
- Added Siege leader trait
- Added so bastard dynasties are generated when the first bastard is born.
- Fixed so holy orders can use their special units in a defensive war where they are the primary defender.
- Fixed CTD occured when starting between 1184-1185
- Fixed Duke Dafydd II of Gwynedd invalid state in history files
- Slowed down fleet movement
- Increased movement time for armies onto or off fleets

INTERFACE
- Added Favorite IP table to multiplayer menu
- Added an approve button for laws so you can change your mind later if you initially ignored the law.
- Fixed so you can see what characters has had a plot proposal sent to them.
- Now support to select ship-exclusive using ALT key.

MODDING:
- It's now possible to read additional data into existing landed titles in mods
- It's now possible to read additional data into existing religions in mods
- Added 'intermarry' parameter to religions, so you can specify if members tend to marry those of specific other religions
- Exported EXTRA_NR_OF_CHILDREN_FOR_PLAYERS to defines
- Fixed custom tooltip trigger and effect always returning true
- Exported ARMY_LOAD_UNLOAD_MOVE_COST to defines

Paradox have sounded the news bugle to announce that Crusader Kings II, the game that has continued to expand and consume my days throughout 2013, is refusing to abdicate its crown. A polite ruler would step aside to make room for the next in line to the throne, but CK II has never been polite. It’s a devious, murderous omnicidal lord and it will never die. Today’s grand strategy news is this – Europa Universalis IV will couple with Crusader Kings II via a save-game converter.

Fans of Crusader Kings II will be able to maintain the empires they have established and guide them through the age of exploration in an all-new strategic experience, continuing their personal stories of expansion and conquest.

There’s a very good chance I won’t be playing anything else ever.

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Jim is basically the J. Jonah Jameson of RPS: I was handsomely making sweet news for you guys when he stormed into the forbidden RPS chatroom of mystery, slammed his fists on the desk with the rage that only an editor can muster, and demanded I find some mods. “It’s the weekend!”, he angrily typed. “If there you don’t find at least three mods by the end of the day that the readers can play, you can go and beg VG247 forra job.” And then he stormed out, muttering about page impressions, tea, and robots. Luckily I’ve been on a bit of a modding binge of late, so I have a few interesting things for you. Do you have Arma 3 installed? That’s nice.(more…)

2013-07-04: v1.103
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INTERFACE:
- Fixed incorrect AI reasoning text string "X is my lover"
- Fixed a tooltip bug in the effect 'gender_succ'
- Corrected some text bugs
- It is no longer possible to start building Theodosian walls outside of Constantinople
- Wikipedia links should now work on linux

GAMEPLAY:
- Changed the way levies reinforce (to fix a rounding bug.) This will overall reduce levy reinforcement rates a bit.
- Tech spread no longer gets stuck at 5
- Patricians with no landed holdings now correctly get some random courtiers (which they can, for example, marry)
- Euboia is no longer "Ocean" terrain
- Westfriesland is no longer "Ocean" terrain
- You can no longer become a truce breaker from failed imprisonments or title revokations, or wars from events, plots or factions
- 867: Gave Almos, the ruler of the Magyars, and his son Arpad scripted traits
- 867: Slightly strengthened the initial Magyar army
- Kingdoms with a king can now also de jure drift into empires
- Independent kingdoms can no longer drift out of their de jure empires
- Added Zoroastrian Crusade target weights to appropriate titles
- Human played vassals of the Magyars now get to keep their Ukrainian lands when Hungary forms
- Added level three Castle Fortifications to Constantinople
- Boosted the heavy infantry morale bonus given by the Aztec Jaguar Warrior Lodge
- Fixed a crash with deleted characters in a title's previous holder list
- The Seljuks now appear a bit further south, in Dashhowuz rather than Kyzylorda
- Fixed a bug where creating a kingdom or empire would not always initialize Crown Laws correctly
- Fixed raised armies being counted twice for max troops calculations used by some interfaces and some AI calculations
- Fixed an issue with save game corruption after loading a game and saving before unpausing

AI:
- Fixed a bug where patrician AI would go braindead for a long time after resign/reload
- Fixed an issue where, in many cases, under Gavelkind the AI would not create a second duchy even to form a kingdom
- Fixed a bug in the diplo AI where it would consider other lowborn characters to be its own dynasty
- Tweaked cross-religion Pagan marriage acceptance

2013-06-25: v1.102
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INTERFACE:
- Removed the erroneous warning text about disinheriting a dynasty member when granting him a temple holding, for non-Christians
- West Africans now use the Mongol on-map shields
- Diplo View: Crusades/Jihads/Great Holy Wars are now listed before they can be used (with a tooltip why you can't use them)
- Added some more random Coat of Arms elements (more work to come)
- Fixed an issue where the wrong temple icon could be shown in the province view
- Fixed an issue with the displaying of strong claims for pagans and Zoroastrians

GAMEPLAY:
- Fixed bug where Arsenal building could be deleted on succession
- The decision for creating Hungary now takes away the Ukrainian part of their realm
- Zoroastrians can now properly use their Crusade CB
- 1066: Rebalanced William's, Harold's and Harald's starting forces
- Fixed a bug where Crown Laws would not carry over into created kingdoms and empires
- Fixed some bugs with True Cognatic succession
- You no longer get messages about adventurers who are not actually declaring war
- You must now be in the West African culture group to recruit the Ghanan Band
- Slashed some unnecessary memory usage for living characters
- Fixed bug where you sometimes raised two runestones in honor of your father
- The event where a female courtier initiates romance with her liege now properly checks their opinion of each other
- Expanded the Justanid dynasty of Gilan
- Fixes and additions to several Norwegian dynasties
- The Imperial Reconquest CB now also applies to the Kingdom of Asturias
- Fixed a bug where the order of holdings in provinces did not remain consistent when stepping back and forth in history
- Varangians will now only come back Orthodox if it's the Byzantine ruler's religion
- Diseases now actually trigger before 1066
- Fixed a rare crash issue with invalid coat of arms for Muslim held titles
- Some slight memory and speed optimizations
- Lund is now a temple holding
- Marshals can no longer interfere with their own efforts to train troops in a province
- Court Chaplains no longer claim characters are heretics if they are already branded as such
- The opinion modifiers given by events 3243 and 4148 no longer instantly disappear
- Added the Dál gCais dynasty
- Expanded the Morgannwg dynasty
- Fixes to Gwerthrynion dynasty members
- 867: Corrected the character Hrolf, the first duke of Normandy
- 1066: Corrected an issue with Gurgan and Dailam not being part of the Seljuk empire
- Loosened up the culture requirements for the formation of the kingdoms of Rus and Finland
- Follow-up events should now trigger properly when your wife is impregnated by a lover
- Added the three winning submissions from the Event Contest
- Piety from buildings is now given to both the owner and his/her liege
- Moved the duchy of Hayya from Abyssinia to Nubia
- Fixed a bug where the liege would always inherit a courtier's gold
- Improved the gold inheritance check to look for siblings and grandchildren if necessary
- No longer possible to invite a concubine to your court
- The Blot and Nerge decisions are now high priority, giving players a heads up when they are available
- Landless Popes can now call crusades
- Titles with free duchy revocation (the ERE) can now also revoke the de jure capital county freely

AI:
- Will no longer declare war on its current "player heir", or vice versa
- Will not flip culture to Swedish, Danish or Norwegian culture if in a huge Norse empire
- Will now execute claimants whose claim is currently pressed in a war against it
- Doges and patricians are now more likely to build in their cities
- Pagans now willing to accept cross-religion marriages with other pagans if it likes you enough
- Will now accept marriage offers for courtiers of the right religion, even if the ruler is of a hostile religion
- Female rulers or heirs less likely to marry non-matrilineally, unless they really like you
- More likely to revoke its de jure capital title

MODDING:
- Added Enatic and Enatic-Cognatic Succession code support (laws not available without slight modding)
- Added 'can_hold_temples' to religions (like Muslims can hold temple holdings)
- The history command 'raise_troops' now raises them with full morale
- Added 'merge' field to the 'spawn_unit' effect
- Added 'can_use_gui' to CB types
- Added liege_prestige, allowing buildings to give prestige to its owner and his/her liege

2013-06-12: v1.101 MEFB
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MAJOR:
- Added a "Retract Vassal" interaction
- Disallowed destruction of non-titular titles under Gavelkind

INTERFACE:
- Added lots of portrait fixes from the "CK2 Portrait Fixes" mod by zebez
- Adjusted the random CoA colors and color choices
- Scripted a lot of CoAs for various dynasties
- The CoAs of titles named after a dynasty now match the dynasty CoA
- Bishops no longer wear pope hats, but the pope does
- Livonia now has the correct pagan flag
- Buildings requiring a coastal province now show up in the tech tooltip even if the capital is not coastal
- Fixed some tooltips in the settlement view not showing building levels with the name
- Nicknames are now shown for heads of religion
- The 'Grant Independence' action is no longer even shown if the recipient is not your vassal
- The 'Prepare Invasion' action is now shown but grayed out if you are at war with the recipient
- Added missing Bektashi religion description
- Endgame screen now shows correct score for characters
- Added missing name of the Reformed Aztec Church title
- Tweaked the religion colors to make them more distinct
- Corrected some event text typos

GAMEPLAY:
- Norse Pagans can no longer employ the coastal conquest CB against other pagans (neighboring counties can still be taken though)
- The Subjugation CB can now only be used once per lifetime instead of every 10 years. (Unless you have the 'Become King' ambition.)
- Characters with the "Become King" ambition and access to the subjugation CB can no longer move their capital out of the de jure kingdom
- Subjugated rulers of another religion now get a smaller opinion bonus vs the winner, lasting for a shorter time
- Fixed a bug with many vassalizing casus bellis where the target's own counties would be seized when they should not be
- Tengri Pagans are now limited to Agnatic succession
- The Jomsvikings now reform if the Norse reformation takes place
- Fixed an issue where the primary heir under Gavelkind would not inherit the capital county
- West African pagans can now also raid
- Lowered the spawn rate of TOG rebels by 20%
- Added the "Ghanan Band" mercenary company
- Slavic, Baltic and Finnish Pagans now get a bonus to their levy sizes, at the cost of their garrison bonus
- Fixed a problem with the decadence invasion event
- Fixed a bug with decadence revolts ending strangely on the attacking ruler's death
- Court Chaplain job events no longer restricted to men for pagans
- Made the Chancellor job to improve relations more effective
- Mercenary ships will no longer spawn in major rivers
- The Viking trait can now only be gained by adults
- Heirs returning from the Varangian Guard to take the throne of their dead father can no longer get the same event twice
- Piast the Wheelwright and his son are now of the Piast dynasty
- Pagan festivals can now only be held in summer as intended
- City Shipyards now produce slightly more galleys than their Castle and Temple counterparts
- Fixed a bug where banishing landed vassals would not take all their titles
- Under Gavelkind, your oldest son will no longer ask for titles
- Added additional names and dynasties for Roman characters created in the Ruler Designer
- Added an earlier king of Ireland to make Irish liberation revolts possible
- 867: Strengthened the coastal Baltic, Slavic and Finnish tribes with better Holdings
- 867: Slightly strengthened the initial forces of Ivar and Halfdan
- 867: The Karling kingdoms are now on Agnatic succession
- 867: Moved Uglich from the Meryas to the Vyatichi
- 867: Byzantium is now properly on Primogeniture, not Gavelkind
- 867: The Duchy of Meath now exists, called "Tara" by the Irish
- 867: Made some important vassals to the King of Italy Italian culture to prolong the survival of the culture and ensure more internal troubles
- 867: Adjusted the initial political and dynastic setup among the Baltic tribes to make them more resilient
- The vassal opinion for free investiture law now correctly only applies for Catholics
- Build cost and time is now affected by your capital tech, not the average tech in your realm
- Ignoring pagan defensive attrition is now controlled by your capital tech, not by the average tech in your realm
- Own fort level no longer affects ability to navigate major rivers
- Tweaked the AI bonuses on Hard and Very Hard difficulty settings
- Successful non-claimant adventurers are now known as "the Conqueror"
- Fixed a bug with weird dynasty names for the commanders of Liberation rebels
- Castrating or blinding a prisoner now removes the righteous imprisonment cause when they are released
- The ambition to gain a council position now only increases a skill the first time it is successful
- The generic Pagan religion now has a description and holy sites
- Added the Hellenic religion
- The events when certain cities are sacked now properly trigger for the Mongol Empire
- The event when you raise a runestone as a zealous Reformed Norse character no longer treats you as a Christian
- Captured Rebel leaders now have a "Broken Spirit" modifier, making them pretty useless
- Fixed a bug where Gavelkind could produce republics
- Fixed a general bug with multiple kingdom inheritance that could produce republics
- The decision to create the Kingdom of Leon now makes it a de jure part of the Empire of Hispania
- Trade posts are no longer counted towards the Prepared Invasion realm size limits
- Fixed a bug with being able to semi-grant invalid duchies and kingdoms to your heir under Gavelkind
- Heathen priests can now inherit titles
- Mayors and heathen priests will now marry if they are heirs to other titles
- Lack of Piety rumor event now only triggers for Christian lieges as intended
- Trade post garrisons now give less retinue cap increase
- Moved the counties of Loon and Julich from de jure Cologne to Luxemburg
- Technology points are now gained by own demesne when containing buildings that give technology points
- Baltic cultures can now also form the Wendish Empire
- Finnic cultures can now also form the Russian Empire
- Finnic cultures can now also form the Scandinavian Empire
- North Germanic cultures can now also form the Empire of Britannia
- 867: Greater Poland is no longer a republic after a resign
- Norse Patricians are now correctly on Seniority succession

AI:
- Will not convert to Norman culture if in a huge Norse empire
- Higher prio on building temple towns
- Adjusted propensity to backstab brothers of the faith who are primary parties in holy wars
- Behaviour is now affected subtly by the difficulty settings
- Tweaked max field army sizes a bit
- Will not agree to concubinage for title claimants

MODDING:
- Exported BASE_REVOLT_CHANCE_MOD and TOG_REVOLT_CHANCE_MOD to defines
- Added a 'can_appear' field to dynasties to prevent for example the Seljuks from appearing before their event

The Old Gods expansion for Crusader Kings II is out now. It costs £9.99 and for a few short hours, the base game is actually cheaper than its expansion thanks to a 75% price reduction. The Old Gods moves the start date back a couple of centuries and adds playable pagans, among other things. I’ve played CK II more than any other game in the last 12 months and it’s going to end up at or near the top of the list over the next 12 as well. That’s at least in part thanks to the DLC, which has opened up new features, factions and play styles. I shall be playing with the Old Gods tonight. I hope they’re friendly.

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They don't use expensive pre-rendered cinematics. They don't license famous old songs. They don't play on TV during the NBA playoffs. But that doesn't matter. Niche PC publisher Paradox Interactive still makes the best video game trailers in the world regardless. Above, you can see their latest, for the very hardcore, very PC game Crusader Kings II (well, its new expansion, The Old Gods). It's an expansion about Vikings, so, metal, yeah. BEARD. Below are some other Paradox trailers. I have laughed more, and forwarded these to more friends, than anything I've ever seen on a stage at E3. And isn't that half the battle when it comes to these things?

2013-05-28: v1.10
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MAJOR:
- Completely revised technology system
- Revised buildings to fit the new tech system
- Added a Raiding and Loot system
- Revised the Religious Authority system, with Holy Sites for all religions
- Major rivers, navigable by Norse Pagans
- Norse pagans can prepare invasions
- Pagans and Zoroastrians can take concubines
- Multiplayer should now work between all three platforms (Windows, OSX and Linux)
- Added new "The Mongols" bookmark set in 1220
- Added the County and Duchy of Amalfi (merchant republic)
- Added "Steppe" terrain

INTERFACE:
- Revised many shields, courtesy of Txini
- Added court search option to character finder, which lists only characters in your court
- Can now mark characters as special interest from the character view
- If a character of special interest dies, they will now be removed from characters of special interest
- Landed characters of special interest who die will now pass on their special interest status to their heir
- Dead spouses are now shown with the old previous/next spouse buttons
- Updated the tutorial
- Outliner: Clicking a family palace now opens the republic view
- Republic View: Fixed a glitch with the trade post limit tooltip
- Character View: Landed councillors and foreign prisoners are no longer listed under your court tab
- Succession View: Added some religion specific death texts
- Ransom Prisoner now works when you select the prisoner through the normal interface too
- The "Ask to Ransom Prisoner" interaction no longer shows up when it should not
- Diplo View: Fixed a glitch with the prestige from marriage icon
- Diplo View: If arranging a marriage in your own court, the female will always be regarded as "your" party, for correct prestige
- Bulgarians now use western slavic graphics instead of eastern
- Can no longer see the Release Prisoner interaction if the prisoner is not yours
- Can no longer see the Exile Prisoner interaction if the prisoner is not yours
- Fixed a glitch with white text in the tooltip for the 'religion_authority' effect
- Fixed bug with missing sound 'transferregimentship'
- Event spawned regiments now have names
- Added delayed tooltips to explain tribal and titular titles in the Title View
- Fixed a refresh issue with on-map province names
- Fixed a refresh issue with on-map CoAs
- Fixed some trigger tooltips
- Fixed several issues with missing parameters and wrong strings in succession marriage and betrothal interaction texts
- Fixed a misleading tooltip in independence faction revolter war score
- Revised some message categories to get the correct event window frames
- Improved the tooltip on the diplo relations map mode
- The cultural title names are now updated correctly even before you start a game
- Adjusted diplomatic colors in Scandinavia
- The Polish counties now all have reddish political color instead of bright green
- Improved the create and usurp title tooltip so it shows more info even if some requirements are false

GAMEPLAY:
- Fixed multiple crash issues
- Fixed some "out of sync" issues with multiplayer
- Some further speed optimizations
- Liege levies now have 0 morale when raised
- Bastards may now marry normally. If they have children, they will start a new dynasty.
- Birth rates have been reduced a lot
- Independent dukes of certain cultures are now called kings (of "Petty" kingdoms)
- You now need more than 50% of the de jure counties to usurp or create a title
- Added a special event for the rise of the Shi'a Caliphate
- Increased the max distance to hire mercs
- You are now allowed to switch commanders if no crown law applies
- Reworked the penalty for overrunning your max demesne size so it does not crush small demesnes completely
- Prisoners who are close relatives to the main participants are now automatically released after a war
- You now only get a "mercy" opinion bonus with your vassals for releasing a vassal ruler
- Fixed a bug where mercenaries would sometimes be raised in a wasteland province
- Fixed a bug where the military view sound would play repeatedly if window was kept open
- Catholic Holy Orders will no longer fight other Christians unless they are a heresy of Catholicism
- Fixed a bug where the 'Chancellor is looking at my wife' event had a 99%+ chance to fire each year.
- Revised many cultural first names
- Only Christian prelates care about traits like Chaste, Celibate and Lustful
- Demand Conversion now also converts the court of the recipient
- Revised Gavelkind succession to work better and be smarter about titles that characters already hold
- Prevented Gavelkind exploit where you could grant your oldest child and heir extra titles before succession
- Fixed a bug where you were allowed to send off imprisoned children to be educated in other courts
- No longer able to grant honorary titles to vassals of vassals that are currently in revolt
- Made the events where people claim they would make a better councillor rarer
- Fixed a potential problem with Patricians moving to another court for no reason
- Primogeniture: Fixed a bug where living mothers could inherit ahead of younger sons
- Increased the minimum religious authority required to ask for invasions and excommunication
- Vassal religious heads can now grant the invasion CB
- Fixed an issue where you would vassalize the pope in wars over Rome if he had minor holdings there
- Fixed a bug where the laws would not always get updated along with the government type
- Increased the chance of getting the inbred traits
- Fixed a problem with laws not being validated on religion change
- Most randomly generated men now start out lowborn
- Tweaked dynasty name generation for newly landed Lowborn characters
- Improved choice of exile for married characters
- Shared revolter occupation war score now works when the liege is the attacker too
- Corrected the region around the Aral Sea
- Added a duchy of Samarkand
- Fixed a bug with the surrender effect of Holy Wars
- Posthumously born children of Doges no longer get a claim on the Republic
- Fixed a bug where the presence of live Zoroastrians in the game would mess up various Mongol events
- Fixed a glitch where newly activated titles could be labelled Theocracies
- Can no longer offer vassalization to someone you have granted independence
- Moved the duchies of Tabriz and Azerbaijan de jure into the kingdom of Persia
- Added an event where powerful vassals can choose independence after a successful Decadence invasion
- Added an Empire of Italia
- Added de jure Empire of Tartaria
- Added de jure Wendish Empire
- Added de jure empire of Carpathia
- Added de jure empires of Mali and Abyssinia
- Gave the Pechenegs a kingdom tier title
- The kingdom of Italy is now a de jure part of the HRE in 1066
- Outsiders can now ask to join "other" claimant wars
- Added a Muslim Caliphal subjugation CB, much like the pagan one
- Simplified and improved the Tribal Invasion CB
- Tribal titles can no longer de jure assimilate duchies and kingdoms
- Tribal titles are now destroyed if held by someone with normal titles of the same or higher tier
- Added a number of tribal tags, mostly intended for the 867 start
- The event "Comet Sighted" can now actually fire
- Fixed an issue where counties and minor baronies could given a null holder
- Fixed some issues with the outcome of claimants getting king+ tier titles
- Fixed an issue with the outcome of usurpation and grant title event effects for the primary title of a holder with multiple highest tier titles
- Fixed an issue with newly activated titles getting the wrong government type
- Non-pagan Temple type characters no longer inherit claims
- Added new ambition: "Become King of X". Cannot be cancelled.
- No longer allowed to land eunuchs with feudal holdings
- Fixed a bug preventing a complete victory against a landless enemy with only fleets
- Blocked the whole event chain leading up to bastard children for muslims
- Added vassal Opinions of a liege who lets a guardian of the right or wrong culture educate their heir
- Fixed a rather bad error in combat with the defensive religious bonus
- When the primary title is taken from a Caliph, the Caliphate should now go with it if the taker can hold it
- Fixed some bugs with the creation triggers for the Sunni and Shi'a Caliphates and the Latin Empire
- Higher tier bishops are no longer generated with dynasties either
- Now allowed to pick a lowborn character to play in the lobby, if he will get a dynasty as soon as the game starts
- Added Bolghar and Khazar cultures
- Fixed a bug with culture-less holders being created for baronies that had had a scripted holder before being taken out of circulation
- Gave the Volga Finnic tribes some new duchies
- Added two now cultures: Mordvin and Samoyed
- Revised province cultures in the Finnic areas
- Added an Avar culture
- Independence faction leaders are no longer imprisoned on white peace
- Added creation condition to the kingdom of Hungary
- Reshuffled some de jure provinces around Lithuania and created the duchy of Grodno
- Fixed a bug with regnal numbers and moving back in history past the first holder of a title
- No longer allowed to grant independence to de jure vassals of your own religion
- Inactive titles no longer get holders automatically until explicity activated
- The Holy Orders are now properly deactivated with no rulers until they appear
- The Mongols are now properly deactivated with no rulers until they appear
- The Aztecs are now properly deactivated with no rulers until they appear
- Open Elective realms now only get Lowborn rulers and courtiers
- The arriving Mongol Khans are now Batu and Hulegu
- Fixed a bug with dead Caliphs no longer being styled "Caliph"
- Fixed a slight bug in the claimant faction ultimatum decision
- Split the Swedish county of Småland and adjusted the history files
- Added the county of Bar (split from Verdun), with history courtesy of Voy
- Fixed some issues with the trigger 'revolt_risk' and made sure it's used correctly everywhere
- Added Slavic Pagan religion
- Added some more straits to Rügen and the Western Isles
- Made Venice a single county de jure kingdom
- Cut the strait to Venezia
- Adjusted the Nubian region de jure
- Adjusted culture and religion history in Cilicia
- Moved c_viviers (Vivarais) from d_toulouse to d_dauphine
- Slightly adjusted the border around Uppland, Västmanland and Gästrikland
- De jure change: Sarpa to Azov and Kasogs to Alania
- De jure change: Portucale to Portugal
- De jure change: Hedmark to Ostlandet
- De jure change: Foix to Toulouse
- De jure change: Nice to Provence
- De jure change: The kingdom of Wallachia no longer part of the ERE
- De jure change: Armenia Minor to Anatolia and renamed "Cilicia"
- De jure change: New duchy of Jazira
- De jure change: Al Bichri to Syria
- De jure change: Cut the Duchy of Oxford. Gave its counties to Essex/Bedford and Hwicce/Gloucester.
- De jure change: Qwivir to Hamadan
- De jure change: Dailam to Tabaristan
- De jure change: Bjarmia to Perm
- De jure change: Tyumen to Cumania
- De jure change: Aktobe to Cumania
- Increased the Permian province sizes for aesthetic reasons
- The Pomeranians are now Slavic Pagans
- 1066: Fixed a bug with the county of Pavia
- Changed name of Maghreb culture to Berber
- The names of Interesting Muslims should now be displayed correctly
- Dead sons should no longer participate in Family Feuds
- Added title history for the Byzantine Empire going back all the way to Augustus
- Added Saladin as an Interesting Character in "The Third Crusade" bookmark
- Added Khagans Batu and Hulegu as Interesting Characters in "Rise of the Hansa" bookmark
- Added Wikipedia links to numerous characters
- Adjusted position of Reykjavik on the map
- Fixes to the Von Sayn dynasty
- Added unique council titles for Greek rulers
- Baldwin V of Jerusalem now has the correct dynasty
- Province owners will no longer burn down Trade Posts belonging to a vassal's vassal
- Added missing Sayyid trait to Ummayad characters
- Alexander Nevsky now has some scripted traits
- Ezzelino III da Romano now has some scripted traits
- Friends and Rivals events should now be a bit more common
- Added Margraves of Susa
- Various changes and fixes to several Welsh characters
- Corrections and additions to House Maelienydd
- House Ua Flaithbertaig / Ua Briáin Seóla dynasty filled out
- Additions to House of Mathrafal Powys
- Fixes to the Trpimirovic dynasty
- Character 455520 is no longer female
- Gaston the Crusader no longer gets his nickname on birth
- Additions to the de Holland dynasty
- Fixed issues with later Ylving monarchs
- Various fixes and additions related to Ida von Cham
- Bahri Sultan of Egypt's children now have the correct culture
- Ramiro Garc now has Basque culture
- Added additional holders for the Bishopric of Roskilde
- Fixes to the de Rethel dynasty
- Added Tewdwr dynasty, precursors to the House of Tudor
- Fixes to the marriages of Frederick Barbarossa
- Added the bastards of Henry Beauclerc
- Added missing wife and sons of Herluin de Conteville
- Graphical updates to many coats of arms
- Changed traits of Caliph al-Mustansir
- Fixed the names of some English characters
- Added King John's missing children
- Fixes and additions to the af Munsö dynasty
- Additions and changes to the de la Pole dynasties
- Various changes to Nizam al-Mulk
- Gyda Eiriksdottir now has the correct father
- Fixes and additions to the Yngling dynasty
- Fixed and additions to the Capetian dynasty
- Tiborg de Provence now has the correct father
- Fixes and changes to Stephen of Blois' family
- Added missing marriage to Welf Guelph
- Changes to Boleslaw II the Bold and his close family
- Hoël of Nantes is no longer lowborn
- Hugh 'the Red' de Sully now has his own dynasty
- Burgonde de Bachaumont is now properly female
- Fixed a bug with event 248 for unlanded characters

AI:
- Tweaked military AI to be a bit smarter
- Fixed a bug where the AI would disband Holy Orders even if they were fighting religious enemies and could afford them
- Will no longer attempt to use Holy Orders to siege enemy provinces of the same religion
- Muslims will now make use of Holy Orders when fighting other Muslim faiths
- A bit more focused on de jure grants
- Will not create claimant factions for the parents of the current ruler
- Fixed a bug with Patricians not educating their children
- More careful about raising Crown Authority to the highest levels
- Electors will now tend to vote for other dynasties if the reigning one is too powerful in the realm
- Adjusted title revokation acceptance for baron tier characters
- More nasty plots against overly powerful dynasties
- Likelier to start and join claimant factions against overly powerful dynasties, if the claimant is of another dynasty
- Fixed an issue with nominations for Catholic Bishoprics
- Emperors will now sometimes destroy held kingdom titles
- Will now often join claimant wars pushing their claim for some title
- Tweaked marriage chances between pagans
- Tweaked title creation/usurpation for tribes
- Smarter about fabricating claims
- Improved choice of "assimilation culture"
- Tweaked guardian selection while desiring to assimilate into the local culture
- Fixed some DoW targetting issues
- Certain religions are now more passive, some more aggressive
- Tweaked opinion effect on DoWs
- Fixed an Elective voting indecision issue
- Snappier about picking an ambition
- Will be less stubborn about marrying for an alliance if it has no valid player successor
- Fixed a bug where it could dismiss special event spawned troops
- Will now prioritize recreating destroyed religious head titles
- DoW prio to tribes so they will try to take their de jure kingdom
- Will not offer to join holy wars to defend someone in another region (overseas), unless it neighbors them somewhere
- Will do more actions towards its vassals even while at war
- A bit better at handing out minor titles
- Fixed a bug where non-patrician baron tier vassals would always say yes to all diplomacy
- Will not pose claimant ultimatums while the claimant is fighting a war together with the liege
- Will save some of its state so it can be more consistent after reload

MODDING:
- Added system for excluding use of inappropriate names for religious reasons
- Added religion_modifiers, these are temporary modifiers to a religion's MA score
- Added scripting commands add_consort = x and is_consort = yes/no/x
- Added 'consort' event target
- Added 'christian_opinion' to traits
- Added 'christian_church_opinion' to traits
- Added 'zoroastrian_opinion' to traits
- Disabled the character history command 'give_job_title' (use an effect instead)
- Added trigger 'dynasty_realm_power'
- Added console command: init_laws [title]
- Exported FERTILITY_BASE_MULT to defines
- Exported many values to defines
- Added 'spawn_fleet' effect that can match characters
- Traits can now be marked as religious, which will clear them out if a character changes religion
- Added dynasty flag 'used_for_random'
- Fixed a bug with the 'controls_religion' event trigger
- Added parameter 'disband_on_peace' to the event effect 'spawn_unit'
- Event spawned sub units can now be marked as not inheritable (cannot_inherit = yes)
- Added safeguards to prevent strange crashes when trying to add non-existent temporary modifiers
- Added 'adjective' event effect
- Tweaked the 'set_name' effect so that it can reset title names
- Added trigger and effect 'any_consort'
- Added effect 'random_consort'
- Added title history commands 'name', 'adjective', 'reset_name' and 'reset_adjective'
- Event effects can now be run in title history as well
- Added 'insert_title_history' event command'
- Added event effect 'cancel_job_action'
- Added event effect 'remove_holding_modifier'
- Added event effect 'refill_holding_levy'
- Added Casus Belli type flags 'apply_short_occ_mod' and 'apply_short_occ_mod'. These control whether or not the "Recently Conquered" and "New Administration" holding modifiers are set on victory.
- Added an 'aggression' field to religions (AI parameter)
- The 'create_character' effect now correctly defaults to 'dynasty = random'
- Added event effect 'make_primary_title'
- Fixed some minor issues with the triggers 'higher_tier_than' and 'lower_tier_than'
- Fixed a bug with the 'de_jure_vassal_or_below' trigger
- Fixed an issue with the effect 'usurp_title_plus_barony_if_unlanded_and_vassals' vs holders with multiple kingdoms
- Added 'can_cancel' flag to character ambitions
- Added trigger 'attribute_diff'
- Added trigger 'is_reformed_religion'
- Fixed some issues with trigger 'is_parent_religion'
- Fixed an issue with decision scripts and very low likelihoods
- Can now specify 'used_for_dynasty_names' in landed titles
- Added trigger 'holy_order'
- Fixed a bug with "religion" change at a certain date in the character histories
- Exported SHORT_REIGN_OPINION_MULT to defines
- Added a 'short_reign_opinion_year_mult' field to religions that can override the define SHORT_REIGN_OPINION_MULT
- Added trigger:
num_culture_realm_provs = {
num = X
culture = [tag/target]
}
- Added trigger:
num_religion_realm_provs = {
num = X
religion = [tag/target]
}
- Added "Killer" character text promotion
- Added "GetSonDaughter" character text
- Added Alert: ALERT_PLANNING_INVASION
- Added Alert: ALERT_ENEMY_INVASION_PLANNED
- Added trigger: preparing_invasion = [yes/no]
- Added event target: invasion_target
- History: Added proper working support for removing holdings
- Individual dynasties can now be overridden by mods without replacing the whole file
- Exported define PAGAN_HOME_SUPPLY_MOD
- Added 'defensive_attrition' to religions
- The creation trigger on landed titles now has the title itself in the FROM scope
- Added trigger 'any_previous_holder'
- Death and birth dates in character history files now only use the outer date. (Ignores the X in "birth = X")
- Added trigger 'relative_power'
- Added 'piety_cost' and 'prestige_cost' to casus bellis. This means they are visible to select even if you currently don't have enough Piety or Prestige.
- Added 'match_min' and 'match_max' parameters to the 'spawn_unit' and 'spawn_fleet' effects
- Added 'female_temple_holders' field to religions
- Scripted in a 'allow_distant' parameter in CBs
- Added on action 'on_siege_over_winner'
- Added PREVPREVPREVPREV scope (does not work everywhere)
- Added 'GetFatherMother' parameter to text

I’ve played Crusader Kings II’s latest expansion and it’s packed full of exciting things that I’d like to spend at least eighty hours exploring. For pagan characters, who are the focus, there are raids, landless adventurers, river-based assaults, plunder, warbands and human sacrifices. I never found the time to play with previous Republic expansion but I am incapable of ignoring the opportunity to unify every pagan religion beneath Odin’s banner, creating a British empire that clings to the forests and the ancient ways of worship. Paradox are currently running a competition that will include the winner’s historically appropriate event in the game. Rules below.

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The official Game of Thrones video games were largely terrible. Lucky for us, then, that the Game of Thrones mod for Crusader Kings II is better than any official game could ever have been. Even luckier for us, that mod is about to get a whole lot better. The development team's April Fool's joke was that they were going to be adding Essos - the world's Eastern continent - to the game. It was funny, because it seemed too ambitious to be true. Nope. A month later and they've announced they're actually going to do it. It's still early days (much of the land is yet to be added as territory/factions), and the team faces a big challenge in that there's not as much canon for the East, so information on cities and dynasties is going to have to be fabricated in places. But still. The opportunity to take control of everything from Pike to Qarth is a tempting one, and the fact it'll be using CKII's Republic DLC as a base - which allows the Free Cities to be modelled somewhat accurately - is exciting. A Game of Thrones [Mod Page, via PC Gamer]

This new trailer for the upcoming Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods gives a taste of how you'll build a pagan empire, beginning in 867 AD. The base game was one of Kotaku's 2012 Game of the Year nominations; the expansion will be out at the end of May.

Crusader Kings II is rolling out the pagans, and the game is changing not just by the nature of the idols it worships, but also in a few fundamental game mechanics, game events, and in the start date, which has rolled back to the ninth century. The Paradox team have taken some time to explain these decisions in a series of development update videos, which you can see below.(more…)

#crusaderkings More »

Paradox are finally ready to unleash the Pagans, or at least they are finally ready to announce that they will unleash the Pagans in the near future. The Old Gods expansion for Crusader Kings II won’t just allow players to control Pagan leaders, with all new mechanics and events, it will also open up a new start date of 867 AD. Details are scarce but I did speak with members of the studio about raids and Viking bands. Raids sound like a sort of terror event, with bands sprouting from the woodlands and wilds once a trigger is hit, falling under the leadership of a nearby ruler. Their numbers are not tied to the provinces that leader controls, so they can quickly become overwhelming. Trailer follows.

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If you listen carefully you’ll be able to hear Adam, all the way hidden in darkest Manchester, mumbling to himself about how much he likes Crusader Kings II. Listen now… [mumble mumble awrite ourkid i love crusader kings ii mad for it mumble mumble]. Did you hear it! He’ll be uncontrollable with glee to learn there’s a new trailer for the Republic expansion, as well as two other smaller expansions out now.

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Last year’s most impressive fratricide simulator, Crusader Kings II, receives another expansion today in the form of The Republic DLC. If you’d like to learn more about trading, nautical dominance, economic skullduggery and political corruption, you could either read several volumes of Serious History, or jog over to the Paradox forums where the designers are responding to questions right now. People are already saying things like, “Doesn’t this cause problems with modeling the Hanseatic League?”, and regarding the upcoming patch, “Could you provide more background about the 1.09 changes to bastardy/pregnancy?” How many games patch in ‘changes to bastardy’, eh?

The expansion should be live at 3PM CET and costs $9.99.

When all of the expansions are in place, Crusader Kings II will be a completely inaccurate title. They’ll just have to change the name to ‘Medieval Chaps and Ladies (also infants)’ because everyone will be playable, even if they have no interested in Papal-dictated conquest or monarchical pursuits. Moving away from the previous alternate history DLC, The Republic is a meatier expansion that should alter the game significantly. Money, not blood, drives the engine of the merchant republics. Venice, Genoa, Pisa, the Hanseatic League and Gotland will all be playable, and Patrician families will have a greater emphasis on trade, cash and political corruption, the latter of which isn’t quite the same as defenestrating your first born. Probably.

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Aztec invasions of late 13th century Europe have no place in otherwise believable historical strategy games, particularly not when they threaten to shatter the united realms of slothful hunchback Cormac Whittlestump, ruler of the mighty Empire of Britannia. Crusader Kings II’s Sunset Invasion DLC insists on the madness of an Aztec invasion – bringing armies, disease and human sacrifice – and it’s the first significant slab of content that I haven’t immediately installed. I’m not opposed to its existence but I doubt I’d spend much time with it. Any takers?

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Here’s the inevitable pagan DLC for Crusader Kings II then. I’ll just take a quick look at the feature list: human sacrifice…Mesoamerican Menace? That second part doesn’t with my preconceived notions as to what this next expansion includes. “Brings the savage, blood drenched Aztec civilization to European shores, determined to wreak carnage on its inhabitants”? This might not be the pagan DLC I expected after all, but rather a fantastical alternate history upheaval of the sort never before seen in a Paradox grand strategy game. Set your eyes below the break for more info on what the Aztec invasion might mean for the ever-warring folks of the Old World.

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This is my first week back from a holiday, during which time I barely looked at an internet, let alone wrote on one. I didn’t play any games either, unless you consider freezing to death on a remote Welsh hillside to be some sort of game. As is often the case, not doing something for five minutes has made me think about why I do it in the first place. Why, of all the wonderful and fascinating things that exist, do I spend so much time thinking and writing about games?

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#crusaderkings No, it was built over a much longer period of time than that. But hopefully Legacy of Rome will be worth the wait, as past DLC for the excellent strategy game has been somewhat disappointing. (Though fortunately, you can mod CKII into the best Game of Thrones video game on the market). More »

The Sword of Islam burns bright and now the embers of Rome threaten to ignite. The second major expansion for Crusader Kings II, Legacy of Rome, adds new features that at first sight (a press release) appear to concentrate on being a big player, with much talk of the Byzantine Empire. Vassals forming factions, becoming smarter and presumably more interesting, generals with further features and more influence, and the possibility of appointing Orthodox patriarchs. Self-improvement ambitions will allow regents to grow as people rather than simply collecting vices and scars, and no doubt there’ll be more to discover before the Q4 2012 release.

I’ve been creating all kinds of stories with Crusader Kings II and with the release of the Sword of Islam expansion I decided it was time to pen a chronicle or two. Somewhat experimental, this is history from several perspectives, being the tale of a thousand men and women, and the genesis of nations. This is how their world ends and how the modern world began.

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