Witcher Kings 0.11.0 news

Hi folks,

This 0.11.0 release brings compatibility with latest CK2 patch 3.2.1.

It fixes some annoying bugs like the court chaplains appointment or some missing pre-rendered portraits.

But it also makes use of some new or neglected CK2 features:

• Societies
• Trade routes
• Great works

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The mod is also available on CK2 Steam Workshop

For questions and more information on the mod, checkout first the Witcher Kings wiki page.

Helping with the mod

The potential of the mod is huge, and we're lacking manpower, while there's still a lot of ideas to be implemented ! You can help by:

• reporting bugs
• giving suggestions, ideas and feedback (balance, fun, ...)
• doing some modding (scripting, events, map, history,...). If you're interested you can get an idea of the potential tasks by browsing the opened issues on the Github repository and contact me. There's a lot to do (societies, bookmarks, colonization, random words, ...) !

A bit of flashback

When 4 years ago I proposed my help to JonStryker and ajjr, my motivation was to not let the mod die.
Mainly because there were thousands of hours of work already invested by the creators and contributors.
It's a vicious cycle when a mod is not compatible with latest CK2 version - there are much less players ready to rollback, less feedback, less chances of modding contributions given the size of the work to do, etc.

I had good knowledge of CK2 modding, thanks to my contributions to WtWSMS and Ancient Religions Reborn mods, so I hoped I could keep the mod up to date with the base game, without too much work :)
That was underestimating a few things:

1. CK2 longevity and the amount of new modding features
2. my limited knowledge of the Witcher lore at the time - players were reporting lore bugs I didn't understand :p
3. the complexity of CK2 total conversions and their fragile mechanics that rely on modding hacks (immortal races, wilderness, mage towers, ...) - we're seeing these days few big mods even choosing to do a risky full re-write.

We don't know what the future holds for CK2, but the mod has not died so far, so it's been a success :)

If CK2 patches were to stop, people would still be able to play the mod years from now (with 1 click installation from Steam) !

Societies

Finally some societies are present in the mod !
It's mostly only custom localization and custom UI on top of vanilla existing scripts (hence Monks & Mystics DLC is mandatory), but it's a good basis to later add custom powers or features.

Dark cults

First the Coram Agh Tera religion has been transformed into an demon worshipper society, based off vanilla Lucifer's Own.

It is accessible to characters with Melitele, Kreve, Lebioda, Eternal Fire or Solar religion.

The Svalblod cult is accessible to Freya and Druidic characters, and is based off vanilla Fellowship of Hel.

A Lilit cult - accessible to Yer characters - may spread after a Haak invasion. It is based off the vanilla Plaguebringers.

All these dark cults have some common pre-requisites:

• be lunatic or possessed
• or be cruel or cannibal
• or be a maniac killer
• or be close to death (duelist, veteran, physician)
• or have experienced a tragic loss of a loved one

Alchemist guild

It is based off the vanilla Hermetics society.

Something that could be interesting in the future is a real alchemy system !

Order of the Witchers

A placeholder Witcher society has been added:

It mostly helps keeping track of witchers and prevents them from joining other societies.

So no, Witchers have not been made playable in this update. But this is maybe a tiny step towards that goal.

In the future, the monster infestations might be re-written as society quests.
Other interesting things I have in mind would be quests about lifting curses or investigating suspicious murders.

Great works

The following great works from the lore have been added:

• Oxenfurt Academy (Grand University)
• University of Lan Exeter (Grand University)

• Nilfgaard Imperial Palace (Royal Palace)
• Vizima Royal Palace (Royal Palace)

• Beauclair Palace (Royal Palace)
• Kaer Trolde citadel (Grand Fortress)
• Castle Tuirseach (Grand Fortress) - destroyed in current bookmarks.
• Grand Picket (Great Temple)
• Prophet Lebioda Statue in Toussaint (Ruler Statue)
• Statue of Modron Freyja (Ruler Statue)
• Novigrad Harbor (Great Harbor)

• Loc Muinne amphitheatre (Grand Amphitheater) - destroyed in current bookmarks.

Some pre-requisites in vanilla scripts have been adjusted to the lore.

The most time consuming part was nudging positions.txt to display great works on the map.

Trade route

The maritime trade route from Ofier to Pont Vanis has been added.
Ofier is not on the map, so it is symbolized via an off-map 1 pixel county.

The trade route should make the game more interesting when playing as Kovir & Poviss or Novigrad, fighting for control of trade posts.

Note that it requires Horse Lords or Jade Dragon DLC.

Diplomatic decisions icons

Some icons have been added to the mod custom targeted decisions:

Druidic circles

Druidic baronies have been renamed to circle, and their settlement image has been improved:

Known bugs

• Game performances degrade after 200 years, due to too many immortal race (dwarves and dryads) courtiers. You should also consider disabling "court size" game rule if going for a long game to not penalize dwarf or dryad realms.
• Random worlds scenarios may be buggy (no witchers or sorcerers etc).

Full changelog

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v0.11.0 2019-09-29
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Compatibility with vanilla 3.2.1 #129

This release is probably NOT save-compatible with previous releases (map changes).

Feature:
- Add maritime trade route with Ofier #55
- Integrate vanilla great works
- Configure some historical great works #130
- Nudge positions.txt to display great works on the map
- Adapt great works conditions to the lore
- Disable great works within mage towers and wilderness provinces
- Add dark/satanist cults #41
- Transform Coram Agh Tera religion into a dark cult based off vanilla Lucifer's Own society
- Add Svalblod cult, based off vanilla Fellowship of Hel society
- Add Lilit cult, based off vanilla Plaguebringers society
- Adapt vanilla Hermetics into Alchemists guild #45
- Add a placeholder Witcher society #42
- Add Hugo of Rivia (32410)
- Add "the Seer" nickname
- Add personality traits to some canon characters
- Add settlment and title decisions to grant an abandoned de jure mage tower to an unlanded sorcerer in court #96
- Add icons for diplomatic decisions
- Rename druidic temples into circles
- Change the faith of Toussaint to Prophet Lebioda, and re-arrange its holy sites

Bugfix:
- Fix Blood of Dezmod by making Bienvenu La Louve marriage matrilineal
- Disallow bastards for historical bloodlines #116
- Fix Bran not being King of Skellige on W2 timeframe
- Fix imperial elective in Nilfgaard title history, causing reset to feudal government
- Fix "Veronica" name from lyrian culture starting with lowercase
- Fix rulers unable to appoint court chaplains #117
- Remove prosperity/depopulation mechanics for mage towers and wilderness provinces
- Fix nomad agitation triggering on mage towers or temple-only provinces and making province tribal/nomadic #119 #121
- Disable elf/dwarf courtier marriages for the AI to avoid court bloating
- Remove negative wealth events for wilderness
- Make c_thanedd de jure vassal of d_gors_velen, to solve de jure drift issues #96
- Reduce MTTH for son wants to become druid event #123
- Reduce AI chances to convert to druidic religion #123
- Reduce MTTH for druid spawning if no druidic province or holy site in realm
- Fix druidic circle holdings picture
- Fix Lover's Pox not being cured by magic #108
- Fix heal spell not removing Reaper's Due on-going treatments or disease levels
- Add a menopause hidden modifier
- Move artifacts generation from events to startup spawning, to prevent infinite generation
- Exclude witchers from "order to take the vows" and "assemble mercenary company"
- Fix duplicated "Preposterous, woman can't be a Marshal!" event options for all jobs
- Remove broken usage of job_mage as a localization scope #105
- Fix bad scope in drowners letter event #97
- Fix some missing pre-rendered portraits. Now using only vanilla layers p11 and p36, for better compatibility with portrait DLCs.
- Tweak government flavors to avoid defaulting to Indian Absolute Kingdom