10 Things You Didn’t Know about Crusader Kings 3

crusader kings 3

Paradox Interactive is famous for its multiple series of grand strategy games. Each of these series covers either a different genre or a different period. For example, Stellaris is centered on science fiction. Meanwhile, Victoria is centered on the 19th century. In the case of Crusader Kings, the series is centered on the medieval period, though interested individuals are by no means limited to the heads of crusader states. Now, it has been revealed that there will be a Crusader Kings 3 coming out in 2020, which makes sense because Crusader Kings 2 has had more than enough DLC to round it out. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Crusader Kings 3:

1. Meant to Be More Welcoming to Newcomers

The Crusader Kings series isn’t exactly the most newcomer-friendly series that can be found out there. This is because of the sheer number of things that players can do as well as the sheer number of things that can be done to the players, meaning that the whole thing can be rather intimidating. However, Paradox Interactive is aware of this problem, which is why they have said that they want to make Crusader Kings 3 more accessible by having a better user interface as well as more tooltips without dumbing down the game.

2. Ireland Is Now an Official Tutorial

Playing an Irish noble in the default campaign was considered to be an unofficial tutorial in Crusader Kings 2 because there were no pressing threats in a relatively isolated region, meaning that interested individuals could experiment at their leisure. Amusingly, it has been revealed that Crusader Kings 3 will have an official tutorial set on Ireland.

3. Easier to Run Breeding Programs

Grand strategy games being grand strategy games, players can engage in a lot of terrible shenanigans. In the case of Crusader Kings 2, a lot of players engaged in breeding programs to provide their player characters with beneficial traits such as Genius and Strong. Apparently, Crusader Kings 3 will have more support for inheritable traits as well as the ability to make it easier for these inheritable traits to pass across generations, thus making it that much easier to run a breeding program.

4. Better Intrigue

Speaking of which, it has been said that Crusader Kings 3 will have better intrigue. This is important because in Crusader Kings 2, carrying out plots consisted of nothing more than calling in as many co-conspirators as possible while bribing undecided individuals to make them more supportive. In Crusader Kings 3, there will be more focus on securing the support of key individuals as well as the ability to coerce otherwise unsupportive characters by digging into their deep, dark secrets.

5. Skill Trees

Crusader Kings 2 saw a fair amount of movement towards RPG mechanics. Now, Crusader Kings 3 is set to take that even further by having skill trees for its characters. Better still, stress mechanics will take skill trees into account by increasing the chances of characters becoming stressed out when they act contrary to the personalities established by their chosen skills.

6. Religious Reforms

One of the DLC for Crusader Kings 2 introduced the option for members of pagan faiths to reform their religion by meeting some very demanding requirements. It has been revealed that Crusader Kings 3 will have the option to reform what are already considered to be reformed religions by its predecessor, meaning Roman Catholicism and the like. One can’t help but wonder how this will tie in to heresy mechanics, which seems to be a certainty under the circumstances.

7. You Can Have Perks For Your Entire Lineage

Speaking of which, Crusader Kings 2 had bloodlines, which were special bonuses given to entire lineages by virtue of their descent from a figure of note. For example, if a player character managed to become a saint, that would provide their legitimate descendants with in-theme buffs. Likewise, if a player character managed to kill 30 people over the course of their lifetime, well, suffice to say that some bloodlines had more mixed consequences. In Crusader Kings 3, there will be more support for giving perks to entire lineages, which should come as welcome news for those focused on the long run.

8. Characters Now Have Character Descriptors

It has been said that characters in Crusader Kings 3 will have character descriptors such as “Callous Maniac” and “Bold Blackguard” generated for them by the game based on their characteristics. This is a very flavorful way of summarizing characters’ most notable characteristics, which is an example of the game’s move towards emphasizing the characters for a more immersive experience than otherwise possible.

9. Characters Will Have More Influence Over Battles

Not a lot of information has been released about war mechanics at this point in time. However, it has been said that characters can now be embedded in the fighting units where their characteristics can have more influence over the outcomes of encounters than ever before. Assuming that Paradox Interactive can get this done right, this has the potential to prove exciting indeed, though it remains to be seen whether that will be the case or not.

10. No “Deus Vult”

“Deus vult” and its variants mean “God wills it.” Said phrase has a very strong association with the First Crusade and thus the Crusades as a whole. Unfortunately, recent times have seen the phrase used more and more by the alt-right, which sees it as evocative of the supposed clash of civilization between the very nebulous concepts that are the West and the Islamic world. Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy games attract a fair number of these types because history games always do, particularly when those history games have strong military elements to them. As a result, Paradox Interactive has been offering pushback here and there for some time. The latest example seems to be Paradox Interactive’s statement that “Deus vult” won’t be brought up in Crusader Kings 3, though in truth, the phrase wasn’t exactly very prominent even in Crusader Kings 2.

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