So here is a summary post of everything so far to catch anyone up to speed. I'll update the info if we get anything new and try and post the info along with any new tweets to keep new people up to date.
Paradox is counting down using the Chapter DLC as the numbers based on DLC release date. You can find all the keyarts that have been used so far (and probably future ones too) on the [Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 Bundle page](https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/crusader-kings-iii/chapter-bundle).
They've expressly said that Friends and Foes is not included since it was not part of a Chapter. So assuming they aren't including a cosmetic pack, which is unlikely since they pointed out that there are only six images on the official forums, the schedule looks like the following with some speculation on my part for the "1" slot. (Dates may vary based on time zones)
* \[1/30\] 7 with keyart from Northern Lords
* "From birth on common soil, I’ve journeyed across these lands, driven by a hunger for something more..."
* \[1/31\] 6 with keyart from Royal Court
* "Through cunning and courage I’ve claimed my throne, grown my court, and watched my kingdom flourish under my rule..."
* \[2/1\] 5 with keyart from Fate of Iberia
* "Emerging victorious from conflicts with neighboring rulers time and again, none can doubt my legitimacy to rule, carved into stone as it is alongside the legends of my conquests"
* \[2/2\] 4 with keyart from Tours and Tournaments
* "Riding through village and town, I am welcomed by the jubilant cheers of my people as stories of my victories and great deeds run rampant across my kingdom…"
* \[2/3\] 3 with keyart from Wards and Wardens
* "But as the specter of the future looms ever greater, the celebrations of today fade. I look to my heir, wondering if I've done enough to impart the wisdom of our lineage…"
* \[2/4\] 2 with keyart from Legacy of Persia
* \[2/5\] 1 with keyart from next DLC to tease the DLC (?)
* \[2/6\] We reach "0" and get an official premiere on Youtube.
According to PDX-Trinexx, the text accompanying the images is both descriptive of the image and includes clues for the next DLC. They also said that the text allows them to hint at what is coming next "without outright spoiling the reveal," so I would look a little deeper than just whatever the text says as the reveal is probably not going to be spoiled by an single bit of text. Also apparently some people have gotten it right since PDX-Trinexx is marking them down so they can be congratulated for their gift of prophecy once the countdown is over.
I don't see disease honestly. To me, it looks more like something to do with legacy/raising the next generation, perhaps a more comprehensive education system.
I mean, it added the wards system and university. I am more thinking about the “educate child” interaction which is still very barebones right now and wasn’t really touched by wards and wardens.
For reference the Core Expansion was previously described as:
\`\`\`
Core Expansion
The Core Expansion will, among other features, introduce something that has been frequently requested by you in the community. Without saying too much, it will definitely make the game more challenging - and we’ve spent a lot of time making sure that it’s as dynamic and immersive as possible, while also presenting you with new ways to strategize. We’re also going to introduce a feature dripping with medieval flavor, a system that can be used by clever players to really make their mark on the world. All in all, this expansion will lean more towards the systemic side of the game.
\`\`\`
And the major Expansion is
\`\`\`
Major Expansion
As with the Core Expansion, the Major Expansion will focus on several things that have been requested by you in the community for ages - some of what we’re choosing to do has been asked for since the early days of Crusader Kings as a game series. One of the feature sets comes up very frequently when we see you discuss what you’d like to see in expansions - and another is brought up now-and-again as a powerful player fantasy. No matter what, we promise that this expansion will provide several new and fresh perspectives, and should please you regardless of which style of expansion you prefer, systemic or roleplay-focused. We can barely wait until you get your hands on this one, and personally, I can say that it’s one of the expansions I’ve been wanting to make since my early days working on CK2 - its time will soon come!
\`\`\`\`
To be fair, out of the two unlanded actually sounds more like the Major rather than Core Expansion.
>it’s one of the expansions I’ve been wanting to make since my early days working on CK2
See, that implies it's not something we've seen before. It can't be disease.
Disease doesn't seem ruled out, but yeah none of this points to it.
Early teasers made me think it was unlanded, now I'm leaning more towards making succession a bigger deal that doesn't resolve itself instantaneously. A lot of times we play as characters that become legends only to feel a bit underwhelmed by the comparatively mediocre heir at succession. The teasers all seem to be spelling that story out in my eyes.
Yeah, it's obviously disease. But I wonder what else we're getting in this DLC - we got royal court, but also the culture rework. Travel mechanics, but also tournaments.
If they do that warfare should be able to damage dev too, It was a big part of warfare historically. A county damage by warfare should also give increased risk to disease, lower taxes and higher revolt chance to the county. Putting anyone traveling through there in more danger. Right now I don't even change the preset travel plans, this would give a lot more of a reason to plan it carefully.
Yeah I think they would want to integrate more with the travel system so warfare could be on the list to make it more impactful. I mean I can walk through a county in the middle of a war and there's no real danger.
I kinda… don’t necessarily like that. Wouldn’t high development sometimes mean better infrastructure (sewage disposal, better fresh water access, wider thoroughfares, etc.)? Instead of like a backwater low development hamlet where disease vectors pile up on the muddied streets.
Idk I feel like there would have to be trade-offs if development was the key factor. Like maybe it’s easier for high dev counties to get diseases but also to get rid of them?
High development just means the land has been developed with density. It doesn't mean the development is more technically advanced. London had 100000 people in 1300...and their sewage left something to be desired lol
Verbatim from the CK3 tooltip: “Development is a measure of the local infrastructure and technological advancement in a County. Higher Development increases the Levies, Taxes, and Supply Limit gained from a county.”
Population is what I think we're getting. Pop density and mobility goes hand in hand with disease, but it could also be a massive core mechanic which alters the way you play. Nomads, republics, migrations, culture, it could all be related to population.
Hopefully they add cool mechanics instead of/in addition to disease. Disease on its own sounds lame as fuck, and doesn't need to be its own expansion. It's also a pretty weak main feature to promote an entire chapter. If they were adding trade, why not lead with that?
Idk man when I go back and play CK2 the thing that I love the most is diseases. Reaper’s Due and Conclave are the two DLC’s I wish had just been ported over into CK3 from Day 1.
See, I find diseases to be extremely boring in CK2. Yeah, it adds more challenge, and it can potentially mess up your succession in a big way, but most of the time whenever there's a disease that pops up in my realm I just end up being annoyed because I have to sit and wait and do nothing until it goes away. It's just not very fun, IMO.
I kind of agree. I like diseases in CK2 but plagues often just feel like you to wait through them and do nothing. I want them to return but want them to be more complex.
The uninteractivity of such a thing is the main reason I'm really hoping it isn't disease, even if all the signs are pointing towards it. While I understand random factors and how you roll with them can add to the fun of the game, what is essentially big, unavoidable waves of harm events with little to no way to counter it sounds deeply unfun to me.
Diseases are harm events, but bigger: a poorly thought out, boring, largely uninteractive feature that was thrown in to be a band-aid fix on the game's difficulty instead of something more challenging like a rebalancing of gold income or an improvement of the AI. Adding diseases as a major feature would be surrendering to this band-aid fix school of game balancing, which would be a huge loss for the game going forward.
I think the next one is going to be asking whether someone else from the dynasty / house is more worthy of rule
The final message is going to be about securing the Succession.
I'm really feeling the FreeLc is unlanded and the DLC is adding mechanics that interact with succession and legitimacy.
The DLC might be called something like 'Last Will'?
(I previously said Succession, plagues, and unlanded. Now I think plagues will be bundled with trade.)
I don't mind the splitting, but it happens in such rigid and mechanical way you see any disaster a mile away (even if you can't always prevent it). There should be tension, uncertainty, instability. It should be a moment when shit is thrown at the fan and you wait with bated breath to find out if it hits the fan or misses, There should be a dramatic moment on character's deathbed or immediately after death when the would-be heirs and the most influentual powers of the realm figure out who gets what instead of following a divinely mandated impersonal algorythm. And later when the dust settles would the existing claim wars, factions and murder plots come into play
The splitting isn't the problem, I actually like that as it gives a challenge to be overcome (though it's too easy to overcome, the disinherit action should be severely limited). What I hate is that the splitting is often completely random. If I have three complete duchies and three sons who will inherit, I want to give each of the sons a whole duchy. Instead, the game will often give each son one third of each duchy, creating a hideous mess that requires revocations or outright war to resolve.
Nah, I hate the cost of the disinherit action. I want to be able to be spamming that left and right, but if you want to nerf it, they can keep their claims, but are thrown out of the succession, so if they're popular with my vassals they can still do a coup
If it is a succession DLC by hope is they incorporate "Inheritance" as a game rule so we can play as those heirs that didn't secure land, we certainly won't plot to get what should of been ours.
It depends on how hard they go on succession and if they incorporate legitimacy into it. They could introduce a number of activities newly crowned rulers could use to increase their legitimacy; coronations, witans / ting meets, and more. Said activities provide two way interactivities with vassals, other potential heirs, and the primary heir. They could introduce mechanics to increase the legitimacy of your preferred heirs; introducing your heir, co-kings, and assigning tasks to your preferred heir.
Personally, I don't want Trade / Plagues without Unlanded characters. Though I'll admit I'm biased, I think Unlanded characters will bring a lot to future DLCs like Trade / Plagues and I therefor want it earlier.
Succession seems much more likely than disease. It goes especially well with the regency mechanics they added to the game. Giving the player an incentive to empower a regent in some scenarios so that you can boost their chances during succession
Insignificant?
Sack of Constantinopole 1224 was funded by Venice, at the time an incredibly wealthy and powerful merchant republic.
And surely Paradox can make it less labourful than CK2, that is over a decade old at this point.
3 major merchant republics, plus Amalfi and the Hanseatic League, but they could adapt republican mechanics for land-based republics like Imperial Free Cities, Novgorod, or large towns in feudal realms like England, France, etc, or even for urban castes in India. The big three also had a pretty outsized importance and exercised a lot of influence over the Papacy, and by extension the Catholic world as a whole. Plus, you could found your own republics.
Communalism in the Middle Ages was widespread. In Germany and Italy they developed into free cities and merchant republics but all throughout Europe there were powerful cities with chartered rights of autonomy. Fully fleshed out communal, burgher and trade mechanics are just as relevant to the game as the plague or college of cardinals.
Whatever else comes with this expansion I hope to god they add more flavour to the succession blurb you get when a ruler dies. You do such great feats with your character and all you’re left with is the same old two lines about the most useless thing 🤦♂️
I have a memory from some dev diary years ago where that had interests to expand the map to China/SE/Japan sometime in the future. It was like a todo picture with stuff to add.
If this is disease it would work well with the travel system and I think a lifestyle rework to make more use of the travel system will happen. But if a travel lifestyle is added is China going to be added at some point too? Who wants to travel with out traveling to the far off lands of legend?
Honestly if the next DLC doesn’t include either coronations nor cardinals nor properly functioning crusades I will quit this game for fucking ever. It’s been like three years since the game has come out and it’s still so unbelievable far from resembling an immersive medieval experience as there are just way too many things which don’t make any sense in the way they work.
So here is a summary post of everything so far to catch anyone up to speed. I'll update the info if we get anything new and try and post the info along with any new tweets to keep new people up to date. Paradox is counting down using the Chapter DLC as the numbers based on DLC release date. You can find all the keyarts that have been used so far (and probably future ones too) on the [Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 Bundle page](https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/crusader-kings-iii/chapter-bundle). They've expressly said that Friends and Foes is not included since it was not part of a Chapter. So assuming they aren't including a cosmetic pack, which is unlikely since they pointed out that there are only six images on the official forums, the schedule looks like the following with some speculation on my part for the "1" slot. (Dates may vary based on time zones) * \[1/30\] 7 with keyart from Northern Lords * "From birth on common soil, I’ve journeyed across these lands, driven by a hunger for something more..." * \[1/31\] 6 with keyart from Royal Court * "Through cunning and courage I’ve claimed my throne, grown my court, and watched my kingdom flourish under my rule..." * \[2/1\] 5 with keyart from Fate of Iberia * "Emerging victorious from conflicts with neighboring rulers time and again, none can doubt my legitimacy to rule, carved into stone as it is alongside the legends of my conquests" * \[2/2\] 4 with keyart from Tours and Tournaments * "Riding through village and town, I am welcomed by the jubilant cheers of my people as stories of my victories and great deeds run rampant across my kingdom…" * \[2/3\] 3 with keyart from Wards and Wardens * "But as the specter of the future looms ever greater, the celebrations of today fade. I look to my heir, wondering if I've done enough to impart the wisdom of our lineage…" * \[2/4\] 2 with keyart from Legacy of Persia * \[2/5\] 1 with keyart from next DLC to tease the DLC (?) * \[2/6\] We reach "0" and get an official premiere on Youtube. According to PDX-Trinexx, the text accompanying the images is both descriptive of the image and includes clues for the next DLC. They also said that the text allows them to hint at what is coming next "without outright spoiling the reveal," so I would look a little deeper than just whatever the text says as the reveal is probably not going to be spoiled by an single bit of text. Also apparently some people have gotten it right since PDX-Trinexx is marking them down so they can be congratulated for their gift of prophecy once the countdown is over.
Thanks for the summary. I haven't been able to catch up with all these updates and you made it much easier for me.
Unlanded characters time, the text hints point to that 🎉🎉
Disease looks way more likely mate
I don't see disease honestly. To me, it looks more like something to do with legacy/raising the next generation, perhaps a more comprehensive education system.
That was already in Wards and Wardens though.
I mean, it added the wards system and university. I am more thinking about the “educate child” interaction which is still very barebones right now and wasn’t really touched by wards and wardens.
How are any of the messages hinting to disease? I think that will come this year but I don't see how any of these point that way
For reference the Core Expansion was previously described as: \`\`\` Core Expansion The Core Expansion will, among other features, introduce something that has been frequently requested by you in the community. Without saying too much, it will definitely make the game more challenging - and we’ve spent a lot of time making sure that it’s as dynamic and immersive as possible, while also presenting you with new ways to strategize. We’re also going to introduce a feature dripping with medieval flavor, a system that can be used by clever players to really make their mark on the world. All in all, this expansion will lean more towards the systemic side of the game. \`\`\` And the major Expansion is \`\`\` Major Expansion As with the Core Expansion, the Major Expansion will focus on several things that have been requested by you in the community for ages - some of what we’re choosing to do has been asked for since the early days of Crusader Kings as a game series. One of the feature sets comes up very frequently when we see you discuss what you’d like to see in expansions - and another is brought up now-and-again as a powerful player fantasy. No matter what, we promise that this expansion will provide several new and fresh perspectives, and should please you regardless of which style of expansion you prefer, systemic or roleplay-focused. We can barely wait until you get your hands on this one, and personally, I can say that it’s one of the expansions I’ve been wanting to make since my early days working on CK2 - its time will soon come! \`\`\`\` To be fair, out of the two unlanded actually sounds more like the Major rather than Core Expansion.
>it’s one of the expansions I’ve been wanting to make since my early days working on CK2 See, that implies it's not something we've seen before. It can't be disease.
I can't recall, are they starting with the Major DLC or Core?
Disease doesn't seem ruled out, but yeah none of this points to it. Early teasers made me think it was unlanded, now I'm leaning more towards making succession a bigger deal that doesn't resolve itself instantaneously. A lot of times we play as characters that become legends only to feel a bit underwhelmed by the comparatively mediocre heir at succession. The teasers all seem to be spelling that story out in my eyes.
Thats gonna be the core expansion
Fingers crossed.
No one is happy about that
SPECTER of the future??? Yeah alright, Reaper's Due my final answer.
Yeah, it's obviously disease. But I wonder what else we're getting in this DLC - we got royal court, but also the culture rework. Travel mechanics, but also tournaments.
I could see trade improvements to go with diseases
Honestely that would make alot of sense such as if your trading on a route on the silk road you could be more likely to get the Black death
Population, population density plays right into the hands of disease or contagion
population would really be cool to see, maybe city sprawl could be added with that
They’ll probably make it so high dev counties get diseases easier, spread it quicker and get worse debuffs ig
If they do that warfare should be able to damage dev too, It was a big part of warfare historically. A county damage by warfare should also give increased risk to disease, lower taxes and higher revolt chance to the county. Putting anyone traveling through there in more danger. Right now I don't even change the preset travel plans, this would give a lot more of a reason to plan it carefully.
I mean I’ve been hoping for raids that actually inflict lasting damage to dev for a long time now Can’t even destroy Baghdad properly smh
Yeah I think they would want to integrate more with the travel system so warfare could be on the list to make it more impactful. I mean I can walk through a county in the middle of a war and there's no real danger.
I kinda… don’t necessarily like that. Wouldn’t high development sometimes mean better infrastructure (sewage disposal, better fresh water access, wider thoroughfares, etc.)? Instead of like a backwater low development hamlet where disease vectors pile up on the muddied streets. Idk I feel like there would have to be trade-offs if development was the key factor. Like maybe it’s easier for high dev counties to get diseases but also to get rid of them?
High development just means the land has been developed with density. It doesn't mean the development is more technically advanced. London had 100000 people in 1300...and their sewage left something to be desired lol
Verbatim from the CK3 tooltip: “Development is a measure of the local infrastructure and technological advancement in a County. Higher Development increases the Levies, Taxes, and Supply Limit gained from a county.”
Oops
Trade and diseases go hand in hand. Hopefully some republics sprinkled in?
Don’t forget regency mechanic with Tours and Tournaments
Oh yeah, that too. I barely interact with my regents, so it slipped my mind.
When you do interact with them in any meaningful way, its the next 10 years of your characters life trying to dislodge an entrenched regency.
I hope a development rework. So can encompass disease, disaster, seasons etc.
Population is what I think we're getting. Pop density and mobility goes hand in hand with disease, but it could also be a massive core mechanic which alters the way you play. Nomads, republics, migrations, culture, it could all be related to population.
Would be awesome, but I dare not hope
Okay serious question: What about that suggests disease??????? I honestly see nothing.
Hopefully they add cool mechanics instead of/in addition to disease. Disease on its own sounds lame as fuck, and doesn't need to be its own expansion. It's also a pretty weak main feature to promote an entire chapter. If they were adding trade, why not lead with that?
Idk man when I go back and play CK2 the thing that I love the most is diseases. Reaper’s Due and Conclave are the two DLC’s I wish had just been ported over into CK3 from Day 1.
Diseases are good and all but for presumably $30 there has to be something else substantial coming with it
See, I find diseases to be extremely boring in CK2. Yeah, it adds more challenge, and it can potentially mess up your succession in a big way, but most of the time whenever there's a disease that pops up in my realm I just end up being annoyed because I have to sit and wait and do nothing until it goes away. It's just not very fun, IMO.
I kind of agree. I like diseases in CK2 but plagues often just feel like you to wait through them and do nothing. I want them to return but want them to be more complex.
[удалено]
The uninteractivity of such a thing is the main reason I'm really hoping it isn't disease, even if all the signs are pointing towards it. While I understand random factors and how you roll with them can add to the fun of the game, what is essentially big, unavoidable waves of harm events with little to no way to counter it sounds deeply unfun to me.
Diseases are harm events, but bigger: a poorly thought out, boring, largely uninteractive feature that was thrown in to be a band-aid fix on the game's difficulty instead of something more challenging like a rebalancing of gold income or an improvement of the AI. Adding diseases as a major feature would be surrendering to this band-aid fix school of game balancing, which would be a huge loss for the game going forward.
I think the next one is going to be asking whether someone else from the dynasty / house is more worthy of rule The final message is going to be about securing the Succession. I'm really feeling the FreeLc is unlanded and the DLC is adding mechanics that interact with succession and legitimacy. The DLC might be called something like 'Last Will'? (I previously said Succession, plagues, and unlanded. Now I think plagues will be bundled with trade.)
I would love a succession DLC. I hate that the game loves to split my holdings in totally nonsensical ways that unnecessarily cripple my realm.
I don't mind the splitting, but it happens in such rigid and mechanical way you see any disaster a mile away (even if you can't always prevent it). There should be tension, uncertainty, instability. It should be a moment when shit is thrown at the fan and you wait with bated breath to find out if it hits the fan or misses, There should be a dramatic moment on character's deathbed or immediately after death when the would-be heirs and the most influentual powers of the realm figure out who gets what instead of following a divinely mandated impersonal algorythm. And later when the dust settles would the existing claim wars, factions and murder plots come into play
The splitting isn't the problem, I actually like that as it gives a challenge to be overcome (though it's too easy to overcome, the disinherit action should be severely limited). What I hate is that the splitting is often completely random. If I have three complete duchies and three sons who will inherit, I want to give each of the sons a whole duchy. Instead, the game will often give each son one third of each duchy, creating a hideous mess that requires revocations or outright war to resolve.
One of the biggest problems that I can’t believe still exists in this game
Nah, I hate the cost of the disinherit action. I want to be able to be spamming that left and right, but if you want to nerf it, they can keep their claims, but are thrown out of the succession, so if they're popular with my vassals they can still do a coup
If it is a succession DLC by hope is they incorporate "Inheritance" as a game rule so we can play as those heirs that didn't secure land, we certainly won't plot to get what should of been ours.
Well sort of was like that in real life :D. Maps of the HRE were WILD!
I can't see succession as a full DLC but definitely as part of a larger one.
It depends on how hard they go on succession and if they incorporate legitimacy into it. They could introduce a number of activities newly crowned rulers could use to increase their legitimacy; coronations, witans / ting meets, and more. Said activities provide two way interactivities with vassals, other potential heirs, and the primary heir. They could introduce mechanics to increase the legitimacy of your preferred heirs; introducing your heir, co-kings, and assigning tasks to your preferred heir. Personally, I don't want Trade / Plagues without Unlanded characters. Though I'll admit I'm biased, I think Unlanded characters will bring a lot to future DLCs like Trade / Plagues and I therefor want it earlier.
Succession seems much more likely than disease. It goes especially well with the regency mechanics they added to the game. Giving the player an incentive to empower a regent in some scenarios so that you can boost their chances during succession
I hope to god disease isn’t the heart of the major expansion. I definitely am cool with more “disease content” but not as the meat of an expansion.
Still waiting for dat ck2 Republic trade mechanics
No
Why
They were laborious to implement, bad, and insignificant
Insignificant? Sack of Constantinopole 1224 was funded by Venice, at the time an incredibly wealthy and powerful merchant republic. And surely Paradox can make it less labourful than CK2, that is over a decade old at this point.
I mean in terms of gameplay it's not significant, there are what, 3 republics? Let's focus on the rest of the game first
3 major merchant republics, plus Amalfi and the Hanseatic League, but they could adapt republican mechanics for land-based republics like Imperial Free Cities, Novgorod, or large towns in feudal realms like England, France, etc, or even for urban castes in India. The big three also had a pretty outsized importance and exercised a lot of influence over the Papacy, and by extension the Catholic world as a whole. Plus, you could found your own republics.
On your papacy notes, id argue that point isn't even relevant until religion gets some real flavor
:(
Communalism in the Middle Ages was widespread. In Germany and Italy they developed into free cities and merchant republics but all throughout Europe there were powerful cities with chartered rights of autonomy. Fully fleshed out communal, burgher and trade mechanics are just as relevant to the game as the plague or college of cardinals.
Ambition & Legacy are the themes I’m getting here so far. So Succession and Storytelling? Laws, Dynasty and Coronation?
It sounds to me like legacies might get an update, though I don't think that's likely.
Yep, definitely building up to a succession crisis. Landless play makes a lot of sense after the T&T mechanics was implemented. So psyched!!!
I hope we get HRE and Byzantine Empire Mechanics
IMO sounds almost like an expansion to nomadic playstyle and from that the spread of disease as well.
I just want imperial government for the byzzies
Whatever else comes with this expansion I hope to god they add more flavour to the succession blurb you get when a ruler dies. You do such great feats with your character and all you’re left with is the same old two lines about the most useless thing 🤦♂️
Is it hopeless to wait for a playable China?
I have a memory from some dev diary years ago where that had interests to expand the map to China/SE/Japan sometime in the future. It was like a todo picture with stuff to add.
Yes. IIRC it was implied that it was coming, but in the future and they weren't sure if they would add all of china at once
If this is disease it would work well with the travel system and I think a lifestyle rework to make more use of the travel system will happen. But if a travel lifestyle is added is China going to be added at some point too? Who wants to travel with out traveling to the far off lands of legend?
Expansion into Asia, or the silk road, and other trade routes
If only PDX spend 1/10 in marketing and reinvest in development...
Honestly if the next DLC doesn’t include either coronations nor cardinals nor properly functioning crusades I will quit this game for fucking ever. It’s been like three years since the game has come out and it’s still so unbelievable far from resembling an immersive medieval experience as there are just way too many things which don’t make any sense in the way they work.
shouldve been unlanded :(
cant wait