Crusader Kings III

[Syt]

Not sure how I feel about the "legends" gameplay - seems like bloodlines with more bells and whistles and making the player even more OP?

[Zanza]

That content sounds really good. 

[garbon]

Not sure how I feel about the "legends" gameplay - seems like bloodlines with more bells and whistles and making the player even more OP?

And what does the black death have to do with Legendary game play?

The Decameron dlc?

[Zanza]

From their forum - makes it more clear what they see as combining element between both mechanics:

Core Expansion - Legends of the Dead�
Legends of the Dead is all about the map - specifically that which spreads throughout it! Core Expansions will, as mentioned in previous Dev Diaries, focus on broad systemic changes to the core gameplay loop, or high-impact systems that affect large parts of the game world. As this is our first Core Expansion, we wanted systems that were big and all-encompassing, affecting all rulers on the map in one way or another! With that said, here's a high-level list of what you will see in the Expansion and its accompanying update:

Legends
Tales of your or your ancestors' epic deeds will travel across the map, spreading news of your glory across borders into foreign realms. Embellished tales of heroism or piety were a massive and common part of medieval life, and here we're allowing you to write your own saga - quite literally! As your legend spreads, a book will be updated with your story - and events you get along the way may allow you to... alter certain aspects to suit you better, after all perhaps it was a dragon that your grandfather slew rather than a bear! The more your legend spreads across the map, and the more rulers that propagate it, the more famed it will become.

Plagues
Plagues are the second thing that spreads across the map, but unlike legends they are destructive and nefarious - with a promise to shake up the game! Deadly diseases can sweep across your lands, spawned by either random chance or the activity of armies, and they will destroy development and kill characters with a vengeance. All plagues are different, with varying effects - such as consumption ending the lives of elders with haste, measles shortening the lives of children, and Holy Fire (aka the Dancing Plague) making rulers... move erratically. Of course, there will be ways to combat and recover your lands from these terrible maladies!

[jimmy olsen]

This looks really good!

[Jacob]

Yeah sure I'll get that.

[Syt]

Legends and plagues also both seem to tie into legitimacy. Legends can increase it, while the realm being ravaged by disease can decrease it (I assume your subjects could see it as a punishment by God?).

[Solmyr]

Yes; though I feel it may become old quick in Vanilla. That said, it could be interesting if that means that you could continue playing after losing your last holding instead of GAME OVER. Lose your land to some jerk, go abroad, gather resources and try to reclaim your lands and titles from literally nothing.

The dev diary says that you can "keep playing your beloved character after being unfortunately deposed from your lands".

[Jacob]

The dev diary says that you can "keep playing your beloved character after being unfortunately deposed from your lands".

Really leaning into the RP aspect of it. I can see it being fun.

[Solmyr]

I wonder though if there's any way to lose the game anymore. I guess if your dynasty completely dies out so that you have not even a distant relative to inherit, but that's fairly unlikely after the early game.

[Valmy]

Can you start as an unlanded character? There were some dates in CK2 where some of the most interesting characters were not landed.

[jimmy olsen]

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/dev-diary-145-legends-legitimacy.1624620/

Looks good

Legitimacy�
For Legitimacy our aim was to put together a measurement of different systems that already existed in the game, but were not directly connected to each other: Short Reign penalties, Popular Opinion, Vassalization and Marriage acceptance, etc. The game was already trying to reflect how legitimate of a ruler you were, but was trying to do so with Prestige and Renown in non consistent ways. Prestige is a reflection of the social influence of the character, not an indication of them being the "right" person to the throne - you can be a highly prestigious king of the Capetian dynasty, but should you be the emperor of Byzantium?

Legitimacy and its effects scale with title tier. It's not the same being a level 5 Emperor - where everyone expects you to be the right person for the job - than a level 5 Duke, where everyone is impressed with your overachieving.

It's also easier to go up and down levels the lower your tier, as it's harder to convince people once they've formed an idea of who their king is.

Legitimacy also scales with the in the game era, and the levels are smaller in the Tribal and Early Medieval eras.

Legitimacy is calculated through a series of factors, mainly attached to who you are in relation to your title: the level of splendor of your dynasty, how long you've been on the throne, who your parents were (are you the child of kings or just random lowborns?), your traits, being a bastard, etc. When you die, a part of your legitimacy will be passed down to your heir, but they will get a calculation of their own based on who they are - it's not the same to have your firstborn inherit than a third cousin.

Legitimacy can be gained through various means that will reassure the public opinion that you have the right to be in the throne: legends, for one, are one of the main ways to gain it. Holding activities, holding court, and doing what's expected of a ruler will also help increase it, as well as winning wars - but this will also be relative, as it's not the same to win a war against a Duke as an Emperor than be the Duke beating up the Emperor.

Legitimacy can also be lost. Losing battles, especially to factions (and especially to Claimant factions) will make you look pretty bad, or even managing to have a Peasant Rebellion appear will signify that you're not taking good care of your subjects. Rulers were also blamed for plagues, as the representatives of God on earth, so allowing them to hit your capital will also make you appear less legitimate in the eyes of your vassals. Disinheriting or forcing kids to take the vows also exposes a ruler that doesn't take good care of their dynasty and will also make you lose Legitimacy.

Your vassals, of course, have Expectations of you. This is calculated based on your tier, era, and how long your family has ruled over theirs, besides their opinion and relationship to you. Not meeting your vassal expectations will make them discontent and more likely to join factions against you.


As we've already seen in the tooltips, Legitimacy levels affect all sorts of things in the game: Casus Belli cost, Marriage and Alliance acceptance, Faction formation and even the counties necessary to create a title.

I'm going to introduce our new visual map tables, a feature we've wanted to add for a long time. With the new chapter a table scene will now appear as you lift your gaze higher from the map for an overview of the world. With the release of Legends of the Dead we have added two new map tables, the tables are chosen dynamically or if you have a preference you can also change the active one in the settings menu.

[jimmy olsen]

More information on plagues and diseases.

Also, we can now hold funerals.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/dev-diary-146-it-started-with-a-cough.1625227/

[Josephus]

Looks good. I like that you will start to see the black plague trickle into your empire, allowing you to prepare for it.

[Syt]

Reception to new DLC seems very positive. The main complaint seems to be the longevity of legends. Basically, legends start to fade quickly after "finishing" them, like 20 years or so. And the game doesn't keep records of them.

Now, legends can provide powerful bonuses, so having them "die" quickly is a way to balance it, and forcing characters to build new legends for their propaganda/PR regularly, but I feel at the very least the game should keep a record of all legends, even if they provide no long term buffs and become "just stories."

Played a bit myself yesterday, but didn't engage with legends much (started, as usual, as count). Saw quite a few diseases break out across the map. An outbreak of "Connaught's Fever" (consumption?) took out over 80 characters in Ireland/Northern Britain. Other diseases broke out in other parts of the world not me. I also had no characters die in 20 years, so no funerals. Lots of hunting, though. Your court physician can now help with preparing for outbreaks, and there's some buildings, like hospices (but unlike in CK2 it takes up a building slot as opposed to a "build hospital" special button). Again, I wished there was more record keeping after a disease has run its course. Like a message saying that a plague is over and maybe mentioning a few important characters who died to it or the total bodycount.