What changed in Crusader Kings III in 2021

New weapon looks will be available for characters to carry into duels or display in courts.

Tradition for certain cultures emphasizing less importance on subjects' beliefs.

New cultural tradition for North Germanic Heritage cultures, connecting Shield Maiden content from Flavor Pack 1 Northern Lords.

Frankish heritage cultures gain access to the Chanson de Geste tradition, unlocking the Valets innovation in the Late Medieval era.

Persian culture tradition emphasizing philosophical thought and introducing a royal gardener court position.

Available for Berber heritage cultures in desert regions, unlocking the Mulathamun Man at arms type.

Catalan culture tradition enhancing the utility of coastal holdings.

Allows cultures with Roman ancestry to adopt a special version of Parochialism, creating Republican vassals.

Legacy provides a hook when landing a ruler of their culture, making it a viable strategy for cultural acceptance.

Introduces a new Dynasty Legacy focusing on strengthening multicultural realms for players with the Royal Court expansion.

Second legacy enhances the effectiveness of the Council Job, allowing an extra slot for Learn Language schemes.

First legacy provides a Cultural Acceptance bonus upon completion for dynasty members, enhancing acceptance with other cultures.

Added buttons to grant land to nobles of your culture or local culture, improving acceptance for the act.

Unlocks a new Court Position that increases Different Culture opinion by up to 20 and grants prestige.

Last legacy allows a decision to improve lands if cultural acceptance is above 75%, providing significant bonuses.

A new Photo Mode feature allows players to take memorable pictures of court events with various camera angles and options.

Four main cultural areas (West European, Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern, Indian) each with unique architectural styles.

Various visual bugs encountered during development have been fixed.

A new feature that brings historical courts to life with 3D character systems and dynamic interactions.

Ability to display up to 20 characters in the courtroom scene, enhancing the visual experience.

Different levels of grandeur for courts affecting details and furniture based on the court's status.

Upgraded lighting system allowing for multiple light sources and improved shadows in courtroom scenes.

Players can evict guests if their lodgings are inadequate, adding a strategic element to court management.

Events will now vary based on the chosen court type, affecting both court and non-court events.

Players can redecorate their courts to reflect different styles, impacting the court's grandeur.

New gameplay mechanics introduced where court events are influenced by the grandeur level and amenities of the court.

Rulers can sacrifice some dignity to hire skilled staff, enhancing their court's effectiveness.

Players can now preside over their own Royal Court upon reaching the rank of King or Emperor.

Players can invite Courtiers and Vassals to Hold Court, allowing for new interactions.

Added buttons in the main interface to access the Royal Court and view others' Courts.

A new system to measure and display the Grandeur of the Royal Court, impacting various gameplay elements.

Players can choose between different Court Types based on their Culture's Ethos, affecting gameplay and bonuses.

New decorative items that can be displayed in the Royal Court to increase Grandeur and provide bonuses.

Players can commission artifacts from local artisans, with quality varying based on inspiration.

The Antiquarian can now Reforge, Repair, and Commission Artifacts, with a shortcut for recruitment.

Players can now view the history of artifacts and see claimants who may want to steal them.

Introduction of an inventory window for managing equipped artifacts, categorized into crown, regalia, weapon, armor, and trinkets.

Artifacts wear down when equipped, affecting their bonuses and requiring maintenance.

Replacing a tradition now incurs a 50% increase in prestige cost, making it more challenging to change traditions frequently.

Diverging from widely spread cultures is now cheaper, allowing for easier cultural changes.

A new establishment rate affects the time required for cultural changes to be fully adopted, influenced by culture size.

Cultural heads can now reform their culture, changing ethos, martial custom, and traditions without creating a new culture.

AI is more restricted in language selection, considering the Faith of the speakers.

Players can see the spread of Court Languages through a special map mode.

Choosing your native language as Court Language grants a 25% bonus to Grandeur impacts.

Players can now choose a Court Language that affects Court Grandeur.

Court Grandeur is influenced by the chosen Court Language and the pecking order of Royal Courts.

Sharing the same Language Pillar between cultures increases baseline acceptance, improving relations.

Characters have a limit on how many foreign languages they can remember, influenced by their Learning score.

Various events can occur while learning a language, including interactions with friends and rivals.

Bonuses for the Learn Language scheme have been added throughout existing Lifestyle trees.

Players can now learn additional languages through a new Learning-based scheme, affecting cultural acceptance.

Includes new ambient Mood Tracks, Cue Tracks, and a new Main Theme recorded live with an orchestra.

New 'walla' sound effects recorded to enhance the ambiance of court rooms.

Court ambiance changes with the Court Grandeur level, affecting the number of crowd sounds heard.

New court-type events replace standard character-type events, allowing for larger narratives and more options.

Players can choose to engage with court events, with a default neutral option selected after a timeout.

Duel events have been revamped with improved animations and space for better storytelling.

A new decision for vassals to formally pledge loyalty to their Liege, affecting Opinion, Renown, and Prestige.

Players can now approach their Liege with a Petition to request various favors, enhancing vassal interactions.

New position that increases the chances for children at your court to receive a better education trait.

New feature that evolves CK2’s Minor Titles, focusing on important positions at your court.

Updated to be a fully fledged Court Position, taking care of sick people within your court.

Provides a Control Growth bonus based on the appointed character's Aptitude.

Unlocked by a cultural tradition, provides opinion bonuses and boosts Development Growth.

New position complete with a jester’s outfit.

Can prevent assassination attempts and reduce risks in battles, but can also betray you.

Provides protection against hostile schemes and poison-related murder attempts.

All events related to the Holding Court mechanic will be delivered in a new courtly event style.

Players will gain court grandeur as a result of making rulings during the Holding Court mechanic.

A new repeatable decision allowing players to hear requests from various characters, including guests, courtiers, and vassals.

Approximately one hundred unique events will be available for the Holding Court mechanic to enhance gameplay variety.

Players can randomize, copy, discard changes, and reset to historical coat of arms in the customization window.

An undo/redo system is implemented to facilitate incremental changes while editing coat of arms.

A detailed edit mode allows players to modify emblem positions, scale, rotation, and layering.

Cadet houses can enable or disable quartering for their coat of arms.

Players can choose background patterns and colors, and adjust emblem layouts for their coat of arms.

Introducing a new feature that allows players to edit and customize the coat of arms for titles, dynasties, and houses.

Introduction of a new system for generating distinct artifacts in the game, enhancing variety in royal treasuries.

Artifacts will now have features that influence their descriptions based on creation factors like culture and geography.

Some artifacts will hold historical or sentimental value, impacting gameplay beyond just functionality.

Introduction of character modifiers for artifacts, ensuring balanced benefits when equipped.

Update on the development progress of the Royal Court expansion, indicating it will take longer than expected.

Banners and tapestries can now reflect the ruler's specifications and heraldry.

Players can equip artifacts in various slots around their court for viewing by guests.

New 3D artifacts can be displayed in the Royal Court, enhancing the grandeur of the court.

Artifacts are now visual 3D objects instead of 2D icons, allowing for a more immersive experience.

Inspirations progress similarly to schemes, with varying completion times based on monthly chances.

Players can improve artifact quality by approving requests for better materials during the creation process.

Players can sponsor inspired characters with gold to create artifacts, affecting the quality based on character skills.

Characters can gain inspirations to create various artifacts, enhancing gameplay immersion.

Baronies have been renamed and reorganized into new counties, with new vassals scripted for the 1066 start.

Hindustani culture has been replaced by Kannauji, covering the Gangetic plain, named after the Imperial city of Kannauj.

Starting presumptions about control in 1066 have been revisited, with more starting characters and adjustments to domain limits.

Rajput culture has been renamed to Rajasthani to better fit the historical context of the game.

A new culture carved out from Hindustani, Marathi, and Oriya, covering the central parts of India.

Revisiting the extent of cultures like Kashmiri and Telugu, with assignments of tribal counties in eastern-central India.

Crisis of the Chola empire and other historical events better represented in the initial setup.

The Assamese culture has been renamed to Kamrupi to reflect historical accuracy.

A new culture added in southern Europe, covering most of south-eastern Bavaria, with West Slavic heritage and South Slavic language.

Introduced traditions: Charitable, Parochialism, Ting-Meet, Tribal Unity, and Warriors of the Dry.

New tool added for changing color when creating a new faith.

Players can now change and set the color of their new culture when created.

Allowed access to characters for interactions when they should not be available.

Resolved issues when choosing to continue in single player after network out of sync.

Addressed crash issues related to saving and progressive dynasty and title coat of arms.

Resolved crash occurring after starting a fort assault during a long playthrough save.

Players can now edit the color of any title they hold or is held by their vassals.

Dead children should not show up anymore during Meet Peers events.

Allow rulers to fire their chaplain/priest once when they have the doctrine Temporal, for life.

The AI will now be able to properly offer vassalization to Clan and Tribal rulers.

Ambitious characters will not be stressed if they are defending in a war and they sign a white peace.

Sparta will be a valid holy site in existing saves, new games will still use Olympus instead of Sparta.

Mass Ransom is now instant (except if the recipient is a player), making it more responsive and fixing issues with gold.

Fixed the issue with custom characters not starting the game with Men at Arms.

Fixed domain limit grace period not getting applied for newly gained titles.

Fixed initialization garrisons for saves from versions before 1.4.0.

Fixed a rare crash when using the every/any_faith_character script list.

Renamed the portrait_modifier files. Scripted_character are assigned to index 50 and events to index 90.

Characters with an opinion above 80 will properly leave factions.

Fixed the game rules window's 'reset to defaults' button being visible when the rules are not possible to change.

Fixed the faith character list potentially overflowing and crashing the game due to dead people pretending to be alive.

Added an information on why Fabricate Hook can be unavailable when targeting characters without location.

Restored a missing localisation key when hovering Declare War without selecting any Casus Belli in English.

Fixed HUD date occasionally jumping in multiplayer.

Fixed a rare crash occurrence at game start.

The Decision Develop Capital cannot be done by a child anymore.

Counties will now leave factions if they don't meet the criteria to join.

'Use Hook' is accessible in the Declare War window when you want to push a claim while your liege has a high crown authority.

Properly check that there is 'no Special Building instead' of 'no Special Building slot' for the Defender of Rod decision.

Fixed a bug when two or more armies involved in a siege and their casualties get applied multiple times.

Opinions from gift is now capped to 100 (200 with the perk Thorough) and decays 2.5x faster.

Jester hat will be less fashionable after 1300 and thus, won’t be used by the majority of the characters anymore.

Allow modifiers from events to change haircuts and beards once again.

Fixed a rare case when AI units don't join a fight if player units have been attacked while moving.

The 'End of Fun' event will not stack up several times in multiplayer even if the player does not choose an option immediately.

Alliance with relatives will stop breaking immediately after being enacted.

Each culture can have its own language, affecting character interactions and opinions.

Aesthetics pillar allows customization of character appearance, architecture, and naming practices.

Introduction of traditions that provide gameplay bonuses and flavor, with a limit of five traditions per culture.

Cultural Pillars include Ethos, Heritage, Language, Martial Custom, and Aesthetics, each affecting gameplay.

Martial custom allows appointment of knights and commanders based on gender, independent of faiths.

Seven new Ethos types introduced: Bellicose, Communal, Courtly, Egalitarian, Inventive, Spiritual, and Stoic.

Heritage system introduced to categorize cultures and affect cultural acceptance.

New cultural acceptance mechanic that affects opinion penalties between different cultures.

Introduction of a new culture system allowing players to create and customize cultures with five main Cultural Pillars.

The cultural rework will be part of a free update accompanying the Royal Court expansion.

Increased network stability of the client login procedure.

Players can hire mercenaries from further away, including Iceland.

Players can create presets for finding spouses, wards, and councillors.

Various cosmetic items from the Monarch's Journey are now available to all players.

Various traits have been adjusted for stress impacts and bonuses.

Children and grandchildren can now be married off by their liege if allowed.

Players can now create and switch between different game rule presets easily.

Improved stability for clients joining multiplayer lobbies with decreased save game transfer speeds.

New events for Learning and Martial lifestyles introduced.

Norman culture now has access to the Regional innovation from the start.

Garrisons now have a max and min capacity and can reinforce over time.

Children can now engage in activities to forge relationships and learn.

Resolved issues with historical characters changing hairstyles upon death.

Mass prisoner actions now correctly act on the intended number of characters.

Improved layout for better comparison and access to objectives.

Players can raise men at arms without calling all levies, aiding in small wars.

The 'Spindly' Trait will not make people's limbs too thin anymore.

Spouses of rulers will now once again wear clothes based on their spouse's culture.

Vassals' handling of holy wars has been reworked to limit aggression of Tribal rulers.

Unique cosmetics including headgear and haircuts unlocked through a community challenge are now available for all players.

Arabic High Nobility will now use the Scholar's Turban and Caliphs will use the Caliphal Robes.

Royal Courts have types that grant bonuses based on cultural ethos, affecting gameplay style.

Different levels of Grandeur unlock various council tasks and affect the attraction of Inspired characters.

Grandeur measures a ruler's standing, affecting political benefits and unlocking new council jobs.

The Royal Court serves as the seat of royal majesty and power, featuring a 3D scene called the Throne Room.

New non-interruptive events that occur within the Royal Court, showcasing life among courtiers.

Enhance the quality of life at your court with better amenities to impress guests.

Interact with vassals and courtiers as they present their problems for royal judgment.

Announcing the upcoming Royal Court expansion which introduces new gameplay features and cultural dynamics.

Split from traditional culture to create a new one that fits your aspirations.

Develop new ways of life that adapt to your realm's multicultural population.

A visual representation of your royal court reflecting the majesty and prestige of your dynasty.

Talented individuals can work on projects to create treasures and artifacts for your court.

Garrisons will be depleted after a successful siege, making recapturing territories faster.

Improved interface for declaring war, allowing better comparison of strengths and objectives.

Factions can now synchronize their declarations and their power dynamics have been adjusted to create more challenging situations.

Mercenary costs now vary based on realm size, primary title, and innovation era, making it easier for lower-tier realms to hire them.

Players can save and load combinations of game rules for easier gameplay customization.

Players can now raise only Men-at-Arms without involving levies, enhancing military strategy.

Players can save and load search filter combinations for easier character searches.

Players may encounter an issue preventing them from seeing any game in the multiplayer lobby.

Improvement applied to the open beta branch to enhance save game transfer speed for multiplayer participants.

Players may be kicked back to the main menu from the loading screen in multiplayer.

Impatient characters can speed up their Personal Scheme progress when Stressed, without increasing Stress levels.

Diligent characters can improve their Capital's Development, generating Stress in the process.

Shy characters will no longer generate Stress when launching a Personal Scheme, though they will still face Stress from some scheme events.

The Azure patch will update and add trait-specific interactions and consequences, enhancing the roleplay experience.

AI units will take more optimal routes during warfare, avoiding treacherous terrain and improving efficiency.

AI armies will pursue suitable opponents more aggressively and avoid unfair fights, enhancing strategic gameplay.

After winning battles, AI armies will more efficiently besiege enemy fortresses, reducing unnecessary unit movements.

The patch version number will be updated to 1.4 to reflect the scope of the changes more clearly.

Forgiving characters can abandon a hook to lose Stress, enhancing their roleplay options.

Arbitrary characters can dismiss a vassal's hook by spending Prestige and gaining Tyranny.

A new beta branch is available for all Steam users to enhance multiplayer stability.

The beta aims to address issues such as Out-of-Synchs, empty lobbies, and incorrect version issues.

Age restrictions for Sway and Murder schemes have been slightly reduced to allow younger characters to engage.

Children can gather with young rulers and courtiers to play, reducing stress and improving opinions.

A new event chain for Martial Authority characters where children can fight in tournaments against grown soldiers.

Crusader Kings III will participate in the Grand Campaign on 21st April from 12:00-22:00 CEST.

Announcement of the upcoming Azure patch focusing on stability, bug fixes, and quality of life improvements.

The war declaration UI flow will be improved to better highlight opponent strength and objectives.

Rulers will now start with a contingent of Men at Arms based on income and culture.

Announcement of the first big expansion to be revealed during PDXCon in May.

Ongoing work to improve multiplayer stability, with plans for an Open Beta to test improvements.

User modding: Added datamodel GetTraits on TraitGroup.

User Modding: Add HasTrait and HasTraitFromGroup data functions to Character.

User modding: Added effects clear_traits and copy_traits.

User modding: Added effect remove_innovation = innovation_key.

User modding: Added effect set_army_location.

User modding: Made the Localize data function allow the key it references to also call other data functions.

User modding: Add AddList data function for GuiScope, it is to add_to_list what AddScope is to save_scope_as.

User modding: Added list builder x_culture_global.

User modding: Added data functions GetTraitsWithFlag and GetTraitsWithoutFlag.

User modding: Added trigger perks_in_<lifestyle>, to query how many perks exist in a given lifestyle.

User modding: Add GetGlobalVariable and GetGlobalList data functions for getting data saved from script.

User modding: Added effects set_age and change_age.

User modding: spawn_army will now only spawn levies if scripted to do so.

User Modding: Add CloseGameView data function so mods can close specific in game views.

User modding: Added trigger has_innovation_flag.

User Modding: Add GetTraitFromGroup and GetTraitGroupLevel data functions on Character.

User modding: Add MakeScopeValue, MakescopeFlag, and MakeScopeBool to create scope objects out of primitive types directly.

User Modding: Add GetTraitGroup( 'tag' ) and Trait.GetGroup data functions to get trait groups.

User modding: Added effect deactivate_holy_site.

User modding: Added effect remove_dynasty_perk.

User modding: make_concubine now supports same-sex concubinage.

User modding: Add ScriptValue data function to scope objects which will evaluate a script value just with that scope object as root.

Join the teams of Crusader Kings III, Europa Universalis IV, Hearts of Iron IV, and Stellaris for a collaborative event leading up to PDXCON.

Introduction of new scripted content for the Northern Lords expansion in Crusader Kings III.

The server list for multiplayer games is not functioning, but joining via server ID is operational.

An early access Open Beta for upcoming fixes and releases for Patch 1.3.1 is now available on Steam.

The first Flavor Pack for Crusader Kings III, featuring new events and cultural themes related to Norse society.

Crusader Kings III is available to play for free on Steam until March 21st.

First Flavour Pack for Crusader Kings III releasing on March 16th.

Crusader Kings III's first Flavor Pack 'Northern Lords' is now available.

Includes balancing changes, winter mechanics, poetry, and duels.

Norse characters can abandon their homes to establish kingdoms in foreign lands.

Includes special dynastic legacies, blot sacrifices, trials by combat, and cultural innovations.

Includes roughly 13 pages of changes and fixes.

Norse holy warriors and shieldmaidens can now fight on your behalf.

Numerous new events added for additional gameplay depth.

Original art and musical score enhance the gameplay experience.

The Poet Trait returns with reworked stats, a character interaction, and randomized poetry generation.

Updates to the game map are included in Update 1.3.

Winter is being introduced to Crusader Kings III.