Crusader Kings III News

Paradox apologizes for "unfair" Crusader Kings 3 DLC with 81% negative reviews

It's rare that trusted developers make such a gargantuan misstep that their entire community turns against them. We saw it with Cyberpunk 2077's abysmal launch, and it took the legendary CD Projekt Red years to rebuild trust with its players. By all accounts, the game is now in a great place, but it took a lot of time and effort to get there. A similar situation has occurred with Paradox Interactive, after the Coronations DLC for Crusader Kings 3 launched in a terrible state. A developer has taken to the Paradox forum to apologize, but it's just the first step on the path to redemption.

Read the rest of the story...

Update 1.17.0.1 & A Long Overdue Apology

[p]Hi everyone,
[/p][p]My name is Riad, and I’m the QA Manager for PDS Black, the studio working on Crusader Kings III. You might know me as the guy who wrote a dev diary about Black Forge Jam. I want to speak to you directly and honestly. First of all. I am not a PR guy, and I don’t have an elite team of ghostwriters who can craft a response for me. I work at Paradox, and I am someone who cares deeply about this game and this community.
[/p][p]I want to take the proper time to say something that’s been on my mind all day, and led me to ask for approval by my higher-ups to make this post:[/p][p][/p][p]I’m sorry. [/p][p][/p][p]“Coronations” was not up to the standard you deserve, and that’s on me. As the QA Manager for the studio, it is my job to ensure that our releases meet the QA vision we have set out. It is clear we didn’t give the project the resources and attention it needed, and the result was a release that let you down. You have every right to be upset, and I want to acknowledge that openly.[/p][p][/p][p]To give some context, not as an excuse, but as a bit of background, our team has been pouring enormous effort into “All Under Heaven”. It’s the biggest expansion we’ve ever attempted, and making sure it’s both fun and stable has demanded most of our experienced developers, and basically every resource we have in the studio to be committed towards that release to ensure that things like tick speed performance is up to your expectations. Due to this, our other projects, such as “Coronations”, have had less resources dedicated to them. Though I am very proud of the development team, and really amazed with what they did with such limited resources, we didn't assign enough people to oversee the release and meet our quality demands, and that was clearly unfair to both them and you, our fans.[/p][p][/p][p]I don’t want this to happen again. As a studio, we’re taking a hard look at how we assign resources, and support our developers so that every release meets the expectations you rightfully have. For example, we will be more stringent about allowing last-minute changes to the game (which can cause issues like broken oaths). We will also ensure that we dedicate more time towards full-length playthroughs throughout the entire development cycle, to ensure that issues like these can’t slip through. This is about making sure the quality of every DLC lives up to the game that I, and many of you, love.[/p][p][/p][p]Many of us on the team, myself included, joined Paradox as fans of the games. Meeting you at events (most recently in Visby!), hearing your stories, and seeing how much Crusader Kings III means to you is what makes this work so meaningful. That’s why it hurts so much when we fuck up like this. We don’t take your trust for granted, and I want to do my best to ensure we earn it back.
[/p][p]In the meantime, we have done our best to address many of these issues you’ve experienced with yesterday’s release. Please let me know directly if there are any other issues that are breaking the game for you and I’ll do everything I can to make sure they’re included in upcoming patches. Additionally, we are planning at least one more patch for Coronations to fix many of the issues we encountered ahead of the release, but didn’t have enough time to fix.
[/p][p]Thank you for holding us accountable and for continuing to care about this game as much as we do. We will do better.[/p][p][/p][p]– Riad[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p]

1.17.0.1 Changelog

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]

[p]Fixed the issue with always getting the Oathbreaker event, regardless of if you completed the oath or not[/p]
[p]The buildings needed for the three "build special oath buildings" oaths have been changed from tier 3 to tier 2[/p]
[p]The special oath buildings have had their costs and modifiers reduced across the board[/p]
[p]The special oath buildings have had some of their triggers simplified, so they need fewer of their requirements than they used to[/p]
[p]These oaths have also had the time you can do them increased from 10 years to 20 years[/p]
[p]Specifically for the spiritual one, switched the requirements from tier 3 to 2, and vice versa[/p]
[p]The Alliance oath has been changed from 5 alliances needed to 3[/p]
[p]Building Oath (the generic one) has been reduced from 10 buildings to 8, and the time available to do it has been increased (from 15 years to 20)[/p]
[p]Legendary Hunt has been changed from 3 to 1, and has had the time available increased (from 20 years to 40)[/p]
[p]Fixed the Prepare Heir oath decision, so it checks for the proper scope in its requirements, and also removed the gold cost[/p]
[p]Added two new modifiers for the AI, so if they choose a warlike oath, they will have an increased war chance, and similarly, if they have the peace oath, they will have a peace oath, which will decrease their war chance[/p]
[p]Removed health bonuses and maluses from Prepare the Heir rewards[/p]
[p]Added extra checks for the AI so they will try to take oaths that make sense[/p]
[p]Fixed the End the Struggle oath, so it correctly tells you which struggle area it is targeting, and massively increased the time it is available to you (from 20 years to 50)[/p]
[p]Increased the time available to do the Repent Oath from 10 years to 20 years[/p]
[p]Fixed Anointment Doctrines and Anointment activity type being available to faiths with Temporal Head of Faith (these are for Spiritual HoF faiths only); temporal HoF faiths have guaranteed access to regular coronation instead[/p]
[p]Fixed duplication bugs and self-crowning malus caused by temporal HoF being Coronation host[/p]
[p]Blocked the building oaths for Nomads and Tribals[/p]

[p]
[/p]

Crusader Kings 3's Coronations DLC debuts to boos and jeers from the Steam review court, largely thanks to "broken" oath breaking

I bring ill tidings from the land of folks who're usually busy stressing about their heirs, sire. Crusader Kings 3's paid Coronations DLC has arrived alongside the Ascendant update, and I regret to inform you that the little expansion's immediately been put in the stocks. The rotten tomatoes doth fly towards its bonce, and the resulting juice has turned its Steam reviews a mostly negative shade of crimson.

Crusader Kings III: Coronations - Available Now!

[p]Assemble your vassals to witness the consecration of a new ruler with the Coronations Event Pack. Take an oath and declare the vision of the ruler you aspire to be. Will you maintain your promise of protection and prosperity for all, or break your word and face the displeasure of your subjects?[/p][p][/p][p]It is your time to step up as a ruler!

Key Features:[/p]

[p]New Activity: Coronations[/p]
- [p]Legitimize your rule through grand coronations that will impress your vassals and neighboring rulers[/p]
- [p]Maneuver around faction members and detractors, hopefully forging a magnificent coronation from dangerous circumstances[/p]
- [p]Bring together your vassals for a grand ceremony to celebrate your new rule of the realm[/p]
[p]Oaths[/p]
- [p]Take an oath after your coronation and declare an objective for your rule[/p]
- [p]Access new decisions with unique rewards to suit every playstyle [/p]

[p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][hr][/hr]

PC Update 1.17.0 "Ascendant" Changelog

[h2]Expansion Features (Paid)[/h2]

[p]Added Coronation activity[/p]
[p]Added game rules for Coronations: one making them optional by turning off Crowned laws, another that allows rank-up to emperor without losing crown[/p]
[p]Added laws for kings and emperors regarding their Uncrowned, Crowned or Anointed status[/p]
[p]Uncrowned kings and emperors - and their spouses - do not wear crowns[/p]
[p]Adds Coronation Tradition doctrine to faiths, determining whether they have Anointment Required (for emperors), Anointment Permitted or No Anointment[/p]
[p]Adds faith-based triggers for whether a culture is focused specifically on crowns during coronations, on regalia, or utilizes either without preference[/p]
[p]Two Coronation types: Regular Coronation and Anointment by the HoF[/p]
[p]Adds Request Anointment character interaction with the HoF[/p]
[p]New filter for activity locations that permits your capital and holy sites, both within and outside your realm[/p]
[p]Ties coronations into title gain events and elsewhere[/p]
[p]Provide coronation artifacts (crowns or regalia) through multiple avenues: on game start, from free inspirations, on regular pulse for AI[/p]
[p]Adds imperial rank-up event informing players that they become uncrowned when increasing tier[/p]
[p]Coronation activity options: Ceremony and Celebrations[/p]
[p]Coronation host intents: Impress Attendees, Embrace Supporters, Weaken Detractors, Exalt the Crown[/p]
[p]Coronation guest intents: Bear Witness, Seize Advantages, Advocate Domain, Profess Rights, Offer Support, Disrupt Loyalists[/p]
[p]~44 prelude phase random host events[/p]
[p]~19 prelude phase random guest events[/p]
[p]~28 feast phase random host events[/p]
[p]~18 feast phase random guest events[/p]
[p]Above events include guest intent fulfilment events, where guests with shared intents choose what related reward they are interested in asking of the host[/p]
[p]“Critical fail” outcome for Coronations based on guests with disrupt loyalists besting the host[/p]
[p]Events include content for Christians, administrative, clans, nomads, tribals and confederations[/p]
[p]New Activity Pulse Actions for Coronations[/p]
[p]10 ceremony phase key events with triggered success-based and regional loc variations[/p]
[p]Magnificence meter determining a Coronation’s level of success[/p]
[p]Scaling Coronation and Oath rewards based on magnificence[/p]
[p]through activity and at conclusion, opinion gain with vassal stances based on intents[/p]
[p]Background relationship formations amidst and between Supporters and Detractors during Coronation[/p]
[p]Supporters and Detractors guest subsets[/p]
[p]Activity view widget displaying Major Supporters and Major Detractors[/p]
[p]Added 16 Oaths with bespoke rewards and fulfillment conditions[/p]
[p]Includes Oath-tracking story cycle, Oath decisions, and Oath failure and success events[/p]
[p]New Oath-based building lines[/p]
[p]New Oath-based cultural tradition[/p]
[p]Added crowning animation[/p]
[p]Added new intent icons for the coronation activity[/p]
[p]Coronation activity type illustration[/p]
[p]Illustrations for Regular Coronation and Anointment sub-types[/p]
[p]AI behavior adjustments so they will host a Coronation ASAP while uncrowned[/p]

[h2]Game Content[/h2]

[p]Added bow inspiration type and added bows to the weapon option of the commission artifact decision.[/p]
- [p]Bow artifacts now increase hunter trait venator track xp gain.[/p]
[p]Adds 4 free random yearly events about being a councillor[/p]
[p]Underaged kings/emperors over 12 years old now wear crowns[/p]
[p]New camera angles for event characters, many playing with perspective[/p]
[p]~8 new feast events[/p]
[p]Adds regional/government type-based custom loc keys like GetFighterTerm, GetRegionalSword, GetTitleTierAdjective, GetLocalCommonerTerm[/p]

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

[p]Fixed bug where player couldn't close the travel window after opening it during an ongoing travel - only check if a travel plan is cancel-able when checking if the travel window can be closed if we have a travel plan draft. for ongoing travels, the window should always be close-able.[/p]
[p]Fixed travel_danger_events.6000 listing the wrong character in its effects and hunt_legendary_animal_custom_loc_trigger no longer errors if scoped on the root character.[/p]
[p]Blocked certain disease recovery event outcomes for children[/p]
[p]Cultivated Sophistication's development bonus now only applies if your Estate is in your realm capital, preventing vassals from providing repeated development bonuses to their liege.[/p]
[p]Added a cooldown check for activities, so they are moved to the right list when they are unavailable, and tell you how long is left before they are available again on hover[/p]
[p]Various fixes to tsagaan sar feast flavor events[/p]
[p]Added non-nomad music tracks to nomadic music list to lessen repetition[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue with mass ransoming, where you would get all of the character’s money instead of a fixed amount[/p]
[p]Updates background triggers for more appropriate regional backgrounds[/p]
[p]Makes holy_site_unique background include generic fallback backgrounds[/p]
[p]Fixed the effects and progression of Paiza Office nomad domicile upgrade for the Barter Stalls yurt[/p]
[p]Fixed the effects of Skull Collection nomad domicile upgrade for Court Yurt[/p]
[p]Fixed edge cases in activity invalidation events[/p]
[p]Makes HoF more likely to accept Declaration of Repentance if you are their liege or top liege[/p]

Dev Diary 183 - Coronations Art & Changelog

[p]Hello everyone! Today's developer diary is a short one, as everyone at Studio Black is currently focused on putting extra polish on our remaining Major Updates this year. In this dev diary, we're sharing two high-resolution illustrations from Coronations, as well as giving you the full changelog for the 1.17 “Ascendant” Update itself.

To be clear, the update is NOT live yet; it will be released alongside Coronations on September 9th.

[/p][hr][/hr][p]
[/p]

Coronation & Anointment Art

[p]The two images we're including here were crafted by our wonderful Studio Black 2D Art team. This type of illustration is limited to 460x1100 in-game, but we're posting them in their original 2688x6224 resolution so you can see their full detail. Please note that these images are too large to display at full size here; you can access the full size version by clicking on the links underneath them.

[/p][p]https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/1353401/Coronation.jpg[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/1353402/Anointment.jpg[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p]
[/p]

PC Update 1.17.0 "Ascendant" Changelog

[h2]Expansion Features (Paid)[/h2]

[p]Added Coronation activity[/p]
[p]Added game rules for Coronations: one making them optional by turning off Crowned laws, another that allows rank-up to emperor without losing crown[/p]
[p]Added laws for kings and emperors regarding their Uncrowned, Crowned or Anointed status[/p]
[p]Uncrowned kings and emperors - and their spouses - do not wear crowns[/p]
[p]Adds Coronation Tradition doctrine to faiths, determining whether they have Anointment Required (for emperors), Anointment Permitted or No Anointment[/p]
[p]Adds faith-based triggers for whether a culture is focused specifically on crowns during coronations, on regalia, or utilizes either without preference[/p]
[p]Two Coronation types: Regular Coronation and Anointment by the HoF[/p]
[p]Adds Request Anointment character interaction with the HoF[/p]
[p]New filter for activity locations that permits your capital and holy sites, both within and outside your realm[/p]
[p]Ties coronations into title gain events and elsewhere[/p]
[p]Provide coronation artifacts (crowns or regalia) through multiple avenues: on game start, from free inspirations, on regular pulse for AI[/p]
[p]Adds imperial rank-up event informing players that they become uncrowned when increasing tier[/p]
[p]Coronation activity options: Ceremony and Celebrations[/p]
[p]Coronation host intents: Impress Attendees, Embrace Supporters, Weaken Detractors, Exalt the Crown[/p]
[p]Coronation guest intents: Bear Witness, Seize Advantages, Advocate Domain, Profess Rights, Offer Support, Disrupt Loyalists[/p]
[p]~44 prelude phase random host events[/p]
[p]~19 prelude phase random guest events[/p]
[p]~28 feast phase random host events[/p]
[p]~18 feast phase random guest events[/p]
[p]Above events include guest intent fulfilment events, where guests with shared intents choose what related reward they are interested in asking of the host[/p]
[p]“Critical fail” outcome for Coronations based on guests with disrupt loyalists besting the host[/p]
[p]Events include content for Christians, administrative, clans, nomads, tribals and confederations[/p]
[p]New Activity Pulse Actions for Coronations[/p]
[p]10 ceremony phase key events with triggered success-based and regional loc variations[/p]
[p]Magnificence meter determining a Coronation’s level of success[/p]
[p]Scaling Coronation and Oath rewards based on magnificence[/p]
[p]through activity and at conclusion, opinion gain with vassal stances based on intents[/p]
[p]Background relationship formations amidst and between Supporters and Detractors during Coronation[/p]
[p]Supporters and Detractors guest subsets[/p]
[p]Activity view widget displaying Major Supporters and Major Detractors[/p]
[p]Added 16 Oaths with bespoke rewards and fulfillment conditions[/p]
[p]Includes Oath-tracking story cycle, Oath decisions, and Oath failure and success events[/p]
[p]New Oath-based building lines[/p]
[p]New Oath-based cultural tradition[/p]
[p]Added crowning animation[/p]
[p]Added new intent icons for the coronation activity[/p]
[p]Coronation activity type illustration[/p]
[p]Illustrations for Regular Coronation and Anointment sub-types[/p]
[p]AI behavior adjustments so they will host a Coronation ASAP while uncrowned[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Game Content[/h2]

[p]Added bow inspiration type and added bows to the weapon option of the commission artifact decision.[/p]
- [p]Bow artifacts now increase hunter trait venator track xp gain.[/p]
[p]Adds 4 free random yearly events about being a councillor[/p]
[p]Underaged kings/emperors over 12 years old now wear crowns[/p]
[p]New camera angles for event characters, many playing with perspective[/p]
[p]~8 new feast events[/p]
[p]Adds regional/government type-based custom loc keys like GetFighterTerm, GetRegionalSword, GetTitleTierAdjective, GetLocalCommonerTerm[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

[p]Fixed bug where player couldn't close the travel window after opening it during an ongoing travel - only check if a travel plan is cancel-able when checking if the travel window can be closed if we have a travel plan draft. for ongoing travels, the window should always be close-able.[/p]
[p]Fixed travel_danger_events.6000 listing the wrong character in its effects and hunt_legendary_animal_custom_loc_trigger no longer errors if scoped on the root character.[/p]
[p]Blocked certain disease recovery event outcomes for children[/p]
[p]Cultivated Sophistication's development bonus now only applies if your Estate is in your realm capital, preventing vassals from providing repeated development bonuses to their liege.[/p]
[p]Added a cooldown check for activities, so they are moved to the right list when they are unavailable, and tell you how long is left before they are available again on hover[/p]
[p]Various fixes to tsagaan sar feast flavor events[/p]
[p]Added non-nomad music tracks to nomadic music list to lessen repetition[/p]
[p]Fixed an issue with mass ransoming, where you would get all of the character’s money instead of a fixed amount[/p]
[p]Updates background triggers for more appropriate regional backgrounds[/p]
[p]Makes holy_site_unique background include generic fallback backgrounds[/p]
[p]Fixed the effects and progression of Paiza Office nomad domicile upgrade for the Barter Stalls yurt[/p]
[p]Fixed the effects of Skull Collection nomad domicile upgrade for Court Yurt[/p]
[p]Fixed edge cases in activity invalidation events[/p]
[p]Makes HoF more likely to accept Declaration of Repentance if you are their liege or top liege[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][p]
That’s all we have for today. We’ll see you again on Tuesday![/p]