Crusader Kings III: Royal Court
It is the first real expansion that Crusader Kings III is getting since its launch. There was the Northern Lords but that was more of a content pack rather than an expansion one. So I am excited to see the quality of this expansion pack and what we might expect from future ones. So let's talk briefly about the features of this expansion one by one and I would give my opinion about them.
Royal Court
One of the new features of this expansion is the royal court. Only kingdom tier titles and above and feudal and clan government types will have access to this feature in vanilla. From what I read, modders could bring this feature to other government types and lower-tier titles.
With having a royal court comes a new modifier you have to balance called 'Grandeur', you will balance this Grandeur according to your courtiers and other characters expectations of your court's grandeur. This expectation would be based on your title's tier and the size of your realm. Having a 'Grandeur' that is higher than expected will lead to positive benefits while having it lower would lead to negative ones. You will be able to increase your Court's Grandeur by spending some gold.
Royal Court will also make use of Crusader Kings III's 3D character model system to represent the Court as a 3D scene.
You would be able to hold court and if you are a vassal you would be able to petition your liege for different things like granting you a title you have a claim on or for breaking up a faction.
In my opinion, the royal court is going to be a welcome addition to the game, because currently there is not much to do during peacetime and this is going to bring much-needed content to fill that time. It still might not be enough, since you would not have access to it when you are an independent duke or count. But it is still a step in the right direction.
Dynamic Cultures
If you played Crusader Kings II, you would know that most things were static, like religions and culture. When Crusader Kings III came out religions came with a dynamic system, where you could create your own faiths in that religion or when reforming an unreformed religion you could change it however you wished. But this system was absent for cultures, they were static like they were in Crusader Kings II and I always wondered what a Crusader Kings with dynamic cultures would be like.
Well, this wonder of mine is getting an answer in patch 1.5 because dynamic cultures are going to come to Crusader Kings III.
You would be able to form hybrid or divergent cultures. Or you would be able to reform your culture if you have access to Royal Court DLC. While forming a hybrid culture, you would have access to pillars and traditions of both parent cultures to choose from. Your new hybrid culture would also gain the innovations that have been discovered by both parent cultures.
While diverging from an existing culture you would have access to almost every pillar and tradition but you would not have access to new languages or aesthetics. Forming a hybrid culture or diverging from an existing one would be an instant change. But changes done when reforming your own culture will take some time to take hold. All of these are going to cost Prestige, depending on how different they are from your existing culture.
Well, from the first paragraph you know how I feel about this feature. I am really excited about it because this not also gives players a lot of freedom but also the modders. Think about what they could do in their mods with this system.
Languages and Minor Titles
These two are not that major of a system, so I am going to talk about them briefly. If your ruler knows how to speak a language they are going to have more cultural acceptance from that culture's characters and counties. It is a new system to the series but a system that does not have that much of an impact gameplay-wise, it is more of a flavour system.
Minor Titles are not a new thing to the series, they existed in Crusader Kings II. They are a little bit different from their Crusader Kings II version but not that much. You now have to pay their salaries, other than that not much different.
Artifacts
Artifacts as a system also were in Crusader Kings II, but they were broken. You could easily get overpowered characters by having a couple of books in your inventory. In Crusader Kings III this is going to be remedied because you are going to only get bonuses from equipped artifacts.
Artifacts are going to have durabilities, and to restore the durability of an artifact you are going to need to hire an antiquarian. Hiring an antiquarian will also unlock the decision to commission new artifacts. Antiquarians will also protect your artifacts during sieges. If you have access to Royal Court you would also be able to show off your artifacts in your court.
In my opinion, artifacts system were a beloved addition to the Crusader Kings despite how broken they were. So seeing them return is a nice thing. Also, they are going to open a whole new avenue for modding.
Coat of Arms
With 1.5 the ability to customize the coat of arms coming once more to Crusader Kings III.
This is part of the free update. We had this ability in Crusader Kings II, but it was cut from Crusader Kings III due to time constraints I think. Do note though the system in Crusader Kings II was not this free, you were only able to pick some preset colours etc. So this system is definitely an upgrade over that one. And from what I could see from the screenshots we are going to be able to share the coat of arms we created with other people.
Final Thoughts
This expansion is going to be great with all the free additions, I forgot to mention that dynamic cultures are a part of free additions and with all the new and improved modding additions that are coming to the game. Oh, I forgot same-sex marriages are also going to be possible with 1.5. If you enable them on the game rules.
Well, a little bit of a stream of consciousness in the end there. Hope you enjoyed my post, and see you in the next one.