Crusader Kings 3 Dev Tracker

Hello everyone! Today's dev diary is written by two separate authors, and covers the art and music of Khans of the Steppe. There's a good bit to cover, so let's dive right into it.

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Art & References
Salve,

Lucas Ribeiro here, 2D Art Lead at CKIII. I’m here to share with you our efforts to bring to life the beautiful open splendor of the steppes and the blood-stained battlefields of the east through our humble artwork.


Loading Screen
To start off, let’s talk about our new loading screen. We began by sketching out some ideas and running them through the team to get impressions. There was not much debate on what the theme was here, mostly how to represent it.



From these 4, we picked the one with the charging band of warriors against the stormy sky. We felt that this composition had a lot of dyna... Read more

Hi! This expansion is adding quite a few new systems, and today we’re here to talk about the modability and underlying tech of some of them.

Tributaries One of the more impactful features we’re adding is tributaries. So we’re on the same page when it comes to terminology: a suzerain is to a tributary what a liege is to a vassal.

Previously, a vassal had a collection of individual contracts defined on their government type which made up their complete “vassal contract”. This included things such as “feudal_government_taxes” added on the “feudal_government”, which determined how much a vassal with the feudal government would pay to their liege.

However, with the addition of tributaries this has changed slightly. Firstly, pretty much everything related to “vassal contracts” have been renamed to “subject contracts”. To enable re-use of these contract lists and usage outside of governments, we’ve added a new database called “subject contract groups” which include... Read more

We've now resolved the issue with yesterday's 1.15.0.1 update, so we're deploying Update 1.15.0.2 as planned. The changelog is effectively the same as 1.15.0.1, so you'll be familiar with the changes if you read yesterday's changelog.

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Update 1.15.0.2 Changelog Game Balance

• Reduced the frequency of the 'Instill Virtue' Court Position task.
  
• The ‘Instill Virtue’ Court Position task can only affect children 6 years or older now.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue that caused congenital traits to not show up in the character list of the Arrange Marriage window
  
• Fixed an issue with a toast message saying "DESCRIPTION" instead of the actual description.
  
• Fixed an issue with the ‘Instill Virtue’ Court Position task where it would affect the Wet Nurse herself, if her employer was a child ruler, rather than the child in question.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Wet...

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Hello everyone. Earlier today we released Update 1.15.0.1, which introduced a user interface issue that wasn't caught during certification and approval of the update. Considering the severity of this issue, we have decided to rollback the public version of Crusader Kings III to 1.15.0 until this issue is resolved.

What are the next steps for us?

• Immediate Rollback. Effective immediately, we are reverting to the previous version of the game to maintain playability for as many players as possible
  
• Ongoing Investigation and Resolution. Our Release and QA teams are actively working to resolve this issue, and working on an express pipeline to ensure an update is ready as soon as humanly possible.
  
• Deployment of 1.15.0.2. Once we have certified a new update, we will deploy it immediately to Steam.
  
• Preventative Measures. Afterward, we'll be looking into our testing procedures to prevent...

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Hello everyone! We're releasing a small update today to address some issues reported to us since the release of the 1.15 "Crown" Update. Please check the changelog below for more information!

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Update 1.15.0.1 Changelog​
Game Balance​

• Reduced the frequency of the 'Instill Virtue' Court Position task.
  
• The ‘Instill Virtue’ Court Position task can only affect children 6 years or older now.

Bugfixes​

• Fixed an issue that caused congenital traits to not show up in the character list of the Arrange Marriage window
  
• Fixed an issue with a toast message saying "DESCRIPTION" instead of the actual description.
  
• Fixed an issue with the ‘Instill Virtue’ Court Position task where it would affect the Wet Nurse herself, if her employer was a child ruler, rather than the child in question.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Wet Nurse was using the children’s aptitude...

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Өглөөний мэнд!

Today we will be covering most of the nomadic flavor that we've introduced with this update, so without further ado…


The Greatest of Khans Great are the plump princes in their southern fortresses, great are the chieftains of the grass sea… but great-EST? Only one is greatest. CHINGGIS KHAAN, Universal Ruler, Khan of Khans, biggest and baddest boi… well, actually, Genghis is only the greatest and the baddest baddie sometimes. In some other playthroughs, the Greatest of Khans will arise organically. Heck, the Greatest one could even be you.


[It’s quite the trait.]

The key point is that there is only one GREATEST. Once someone has become Greatest of Khans, no ruler ever can again. It’s the highest point of nomadic achievement, and an absolute game-changer! So yeah, should you or an AI ruler achieve this highest of... Read more

Өглөөний мэнд!

Today we'll be covering some of the extra mechanics that Nomads use. We’ve already talked about the main features in our first Khans of the Steppe Development Diary, so make sure you take a look at that one first – and apologies if I repeat myself.

We shall now get into the details.

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Dominance


As we have mentioned in previous Development Diaries, Nomads have their own mechanics and, when it comes to how they rule, one of the most important is their Dominance level.

Before I dive into the specifics of each level, it's important to note that Nomads have a fixed Minimum and Maximum Domain and Vassal Limit per Dominance level. These numbers can be increased only through Dominance and Yurt Buildings, and no skills or lifestyle perks affect it. We have also changed the Lifestyle Trees to better work w... Read more

Hello there!

Welcome back to the first official dev diary for our Core Expansion this year, Khans of the Steppe. For those who did not see it, we first talked about the DLC back last month with Dev Diary #162 - Steppe by Steppe, so I recommend reading that first.

Today we will discuss Tributaries, Confederations, and Raid Intents. All three topics were mentioned in the previous Dev Diary, but we will discuss them at length in this one, so let’s settle in like a migrating nomad and get started.

Follow-up from Previous Dev Diary The team has gone through an intense iteration period based on both feedback collected internally and the comments received from our previous Dev Diary. Many changes have been thus made, and we are sure we are not done with it yet. However, here's a small list of some of the most significant tweaks done based on your feedback:

• A new, "base" Tributary type has been made available for non-Nomads.
  ...

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Hello everyone! I'm the Community Manager with Paradox Studio Black, and today we're excited to present to you the next stage in Crusader Kings III's development: Chapter IV. Today, we'll go over the themes of each piece of content that make up the Chapter, as well as give a brief peek at their features. Without further ado, let's get into it.

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Core Expansion: Khans of the Steppe The first release in Chapter IV, Khans of the Steppe, focuses on the brand-new Nomadic Government and the systems we've created to support it. Inspired by the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian Steppe, these mechanics will challenge you to adapt to a lifestyle dominated by the ebb and flow of t... Read more

Greetings!

This Dev Diary is about the upcoming free update, which we’ve dubbed 1.15.0 ‘Crown’! Similarly to free updates of the past, the Crown update will be pretty big - it has reworked systems, new features, and a myriad of bugfixes and balance changes.

All of the changes that I’ll go over stem from the fact that we spend a lot of time updating, tweaking, and bugfixing existing systems and features as part of our parallel development track setup - depending on the status of an individual track, people from that track are assigned to what we call ‘Realm Maintenance’, where we focus on improving areas of the game that we either feel aren’t good enough, or that you in the community are asking for us to change. Usually a lot of Realm Maintenance time happens at the start of a new development track, as there are few bugs in newly developed content during, for example, the concepting or pre-production phases. During Realm Maintenance we have Improvement Days where we ad... Read more

Hello everyone! Today we're releasing our two newest Content Creator Packs, Medieval Monuments & Arctic Attire.

Please find the changelog and release trailers below.

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General Update

• Added support for Medieval Monuments and Arctic Attire Content Creator Packs
  
• Added new DLC icons and descriptions for the Content Creator Packs

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Medieval Monuments Content Creator Pack
Discover the great architectural achievements of the Middle Ages with the Content Creator Pack Medieval Monuments.

Created in collaboration with the established Crusader Kings III modder PiGu, Medieval Monuments brings new varied and culturally significant monuments to the game.



... Read more

Hello everyone! We have an unusual dev diary today, in that it’s two dev diaries in one! PiGu, developer of Medieval Monuments, and Aj, developer of Arctic Attire both will give us a brief overview of the content they’re bringing to Crusader Kings III as well as the work that went into creating it.



Let’s dive right into it with Medieval Monuments.

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Medieval Monuments

Hello everyone!

I’m Pietro “PiGu” Cavalli, creator of the Medieval Arts mod, and today I have been granted the privilege to welcome you to this developer diary introducing the new Crusader Kings III Content Creator Pack: Medieval Monuments!

I’ve been playing Paradox games for years, but Medieval Arts was my first modding experience.

Developed in 2021 to represent the artistic and architectural achievements of the... Read more

We’re pleased to announce that two new Content Creator Packs are coming to Crusader Kings III on February 25th! These packs introduce historically significant monuments and new clothing inspired by the Sámi and Khanty peoples of the far north, offering players even more ways to immerse themselves in the Medieval world.

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Discover the great architectural achievements of the Middle Ages with the Content Creator Pack Medieval Monuments made by the modder "PiGu", bringing 20 new varied and culturally significant monuments to the game.

This Content Creator Pack includes the following monuments:
- Drassanes
- Great Kyz Kala
- Cluny Abbey
- Maior Ecclesia
- Walls of York
- Great Mosque of Damascus
- Jokhang Temple
- Wartburg
- Beta Giyorgis
- Holy Wisdom of Novgorod
- St Wenceslaus Cathedr... Read more

Өглөөний мэнд!

I am here to welcome you to a special kind of Development Diary – It's the first of a series, but the rest will come later and not in the following weeks. We're working on a comprehensive system for the Nomads of the Steppe, and while we are knee-deep in the production of the expansion, we still want to introduce you to the features as soon as possible, with the aim of collecting feedback and acting on it during our approaching iteration phase.

For that reason we are showing screenshots earlier than usual, so do keep in mind that all shown here is still a work in progress.


Therefore, some small caveats:

• Layouts, visuals, and other aspects of the UI may change as we continue to refine these systems.
  
• The map set up is also not final and we are open to feedback.
  
• All values and numbers are still subject to balancing, and some of them are mere placeholders while we work o...

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Steam's Real-Time Strategy Fest is here, and Crusader Kings III is participating! During the sale, you can enjoy the following discounts on CKIII content:

• 70% off Crusader Kings III
  
• 50% off Royal Court, Fate of Iberia, Northern Lords, Wards & Wardens, and Friends & Foes
  
• 45% off Crusader Kings III: Starter Edition
  
• 30% off Tours & Tournaments

…and more!

Check it out before January 27th to save on Crusader Kings III and other Paradox Interactive titles!

End of an Era


With Legends of the Dead, Roads to Power, and Wandering Nobles, we've had a captivating journey of new content, flavor, and mechanics released for Crusader Kings III in 2024. You've crafted your own legends, danced through illness, relocated camps, blinded co-emperors, and finally... took a hike. From all of us at Paradox Development Studio, thank you for a fantastic year. We're incredibly grateful to have players as passionate about the medieval era as you are, and we wouldn't trade (most of) you for the world.

With all of the content in Chapter III now released, the time is quickly approaching to retire the content bundle. While all of content within Chapter III will still be available individually (and as part of the Collection Bundle), you will no longer be able to purc... Read more

Greetings!

2024 is coming to a close, and with it the conclusion of Chapter III and everything we’ve done this year - we’ve hit some big-ticket milestones, including one I’ve been dreaming of since I started working on Crusader Kings way back in 2015! In fact, back in 2017-2018, when we were planning the features for the CK2 expansion Holy Fury, I had a design for a rudimentary ‘Adventurer’ mechanic that we ultimately decided not to go with because ‘it’d fit CK3 much better’! Interestingly enough, some elements of that design survived to this day, such as the concept of officers, mercenary work, and contracts on the map.

► Discuss Dev Diary #161 ... Read more

Hello everyone! We're releasing a small update today to tackle some localization issues reported to us since the introduction of Polish language support alongside the launch of Update 1.14.2.

This update should be fully compatible with mods and save files supporting 1.14.2.

Thank you to everyone who reported issues to us after the release of Update 1.14.2! As always, if you encounter issues after today's update, then please let us know by submitting a report in the Bug Report board of our official forums[forum.paradoxplaza.com].

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1.14.2.2 Changelog
Bugfixes

• Fixed UI overflow when...

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Princes and Princesses of Fashion, sound the horns for the arrival of Polish language support and our next Content Creator Pack, West Slavic Attire! Crafted by the talented Pierre "El Tyranos" Azuelos, West Slavic Attire features new clothing and accessories, bringing Western Slavic flavor to your court.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3275760/Crusader_Kings_III_Content_Creator_Pack_West_Slavic_Attire/

Discover Western Slavic Culture ​
Immerse yourse... Read more

Hello there!

I’m Pierre “El Tyranos” Azuelos, the creator of the Community Flavor Pack mod. The past couple of months have been busy again and I am once again delighted to collaborate with Paradox Interactive on a second Content Creator Pack named “Western Slavic Attire”.

This second project is a little more special as it does not come alone, for the 8th official language of Crusader Kings III will be released at the same time. The game will be entirely translated into Polish and for free of course!

Introducing the Content Creator Pack ​
Before showing you some garments, explaining the artistic direction and getting into more technical details, I wish to (re-)introduce you to the vision of this project.

The philosophy remains the same as “North African Attire” and this Content Creator Pack has been designed to be of similar size: you get an entire set of clothes, headwear, armors and trousers for Western Slavic characters. These assets are exclu... Read more