Crusader Kings III – The Royal Court DLC

You read that right! The next content expansion for Crusader Kings III will soon be available as DLC. ‘The Royal Court’ will be the second DLC to be released for this universally critic and gamer acclaimed real-time strategy game since ‘Northern Lords’ was released a few months ago. Readers should note that since the ‘Northern Lords’ was by Paradox admittedly more like a flavour pack than a full-fledged expansion, ‘The Royal Court’ is going to present a much wider effect on gameplay and strategy to reward loyal fans of the series and players of the game with more in-depth reconfigurations and new features to explore.

Admittedly, much of what we predicted might be included in the second DLC did not materialize. (Although we were right that Victoria 3 would be announced!) Our initial assessment was that the next DLC for CK3 would also be essentially a flavour pack to mirror the ‘Northern Lords’ winter theme with a summer-themed expansion. Consequently, we were very pleased to be proven wrong because ‘The Royal Court’ is sure to be a fantastic expansion DLC set to include a wide variety of new and exciting features.

As mentioned by the developers in the official paradox forum, the court of a ruler is an exceptionally symbolic image representing their power and authority, and a simulation of that simply can’t continue to be denied from players any longer. One thing that was somewhat disappointing for quite a while in CK3 is that there wasn’t really that much difference between a Duke, a King, and an Emperor. Aside from how big that character’s realm is, how many vassals they have, and how many troops they can field, ultimately in terms or role-playing, there weren’t that much rewarding, or even that noticeable, differences in gameplay. With that in mind, the developers have resolved that imperfection with a new feature exclusive to Kings and Emperors, which is the royal court. Players will be able to upgrade their court’s aesthetic through commissioning work from artists, decorate with ancient recovered artifacts, and entertain visits from their vassals and courtiers coming with complaints that their liege must resolve. You will be able to find all sorts of interesting characters, such as jesters, tutors, and food tasters, in your court!

Similar to the ‘Monks and Mystics’ expansion for CK2, ‘The Royal Court’ will be introducing a personal inventory system. While the inventory system for CK3 is somewhat simpler, it will still allow players to equip their characters with weapons and crowns that can be passed down the family line as heirlooms.

One very interesting new feature is ‘Grandeur’, which is basically a stat that goes from 0 to 100 and measures the display of your character’s political power. By fulfilling requests, spending gold on visitors, improving your court’s appearance, and holding court, players can increase their grandeur, which gives excellent benefits with internal and external diplomacy. On the other hand, players that waste too much money on costly wars and buildings may lose grandeur.

The final major feature coming to CK3 is a nearly complete overhaul to the Culture system. Instead of being relatively superficial and static, the new culture system is finally going to have some dynamic innovation brought to it. In line with the diversity and customizability found within the game’s Religion system, the new system for Culture is going allow for a more accurate representation of cultural mixing or ‘hybridization’, a real-world example of which would be with the Romano-Celtic and Germanic peoples of France mixing to become the French, or the Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Norman-French cultural mixture that gave rise to the English.

When all is said and done, the next DLC expansion for Crusader Kings III represents a massive assortment of innovations on gameplay and new content for the game. With the addition of the new royal court gameplay feature, there will be more opportunities to flash the strength of your character’s Diplomatic and Intrigue focused lifestyles. As the official trailer says, ‘Real strategy requires cunning.”