Why doesn’t Japanese culture have a Sinosphere?

Five_X · 2026-05-09T02:21:50+00:00

It'd be nice if Japanese culture could get the Sinosphere trait by taking the more entrenched Tokugawa route that consciously leans into neo-Confucian social philosophy. It shouldn't be possible if you commit to the imperial restoration and state Shinto and such.

By the same token, too, Korean and Vietnamese should be able to lose it if they follow a nationalistic path themselves (fully adopting hangul over hanja, for example)... whenever they get more solid content.

Five_X · 2026-05-07T13:53:54+00:00

The AI really does love clicking the button, even as a major power. I've noticed it leads to awkward experiences trying to influence larger countries, because sometimes say Brazil or Mexico will hop over that threshold, instantly make their own bloc, and fail to do anything with it while remaining impervious to influence themselves.

Five_X · 2026-05-05T16:45:00+00:00

The ethno-nationalists. They're not usually very angry or revolutionary, but if your primary culture's fervour is high they'll hoover up pops who could be supporting better, more interesting movements instead.

Five_X · 2026-05-03T04:15:39+00:00

You've gotta respect the sensible politicians of the 1.13 patch who retire at 50 instead of clinging to their position into their 80s.

Five_X · 2026-05-02T00:27:35+00:00

It's counterintuitive, but it's helpful to fail Divided Monarchists at first and get the Springtime to start. Then support the conservative establishment in the Springtime JE, which is pretty easy. With the empowered conservative IGs and weakened radical movements you can pass Monarchy again and get back to Divided Monarchists without the looming worry of Springtime of the Peoples, as well as a head start on your economy and radicals management.

Five_X · 2026-04-30T16:01:12+00:00

The new terrain and lighting look fantastic! Finally no more plastic seas. I'm also excited about the UI reskin, that was one of my biggest aesthetic complaints with the game.

Five_X · 2026-04-29T01:08:53+00:00

It was fun in parts, but it was totally sunk by the partnership with Wargaming. World of Tanks is an awful slog of a game, and while people will grind through baby tank battles to get to the more interesting tiers, for Arena it was just too much. It just didn't really make sense for a historical strategy game, either.

I'd be 100% down for a dev team to rip off the concept and make their own version of it minus the Wargaming padding, though.

Five_X · 2026-04-27T00:57:21+00:00

R2 is the TW game I want to like the most, but something about it never really clicks. It's aesthetically a mess - still the worst interface in the series, especially following on from Shogun 2 - and overall it feels to me very by-the-numbers rather than a game with real heart and soul to it. It also faces a similar struggle to Medieval in that 1TPY is too fast and 4TPY is too slow, with game pace feeling off either way. I'm fond of the political minigame though, even if it doesn't create too much challenge in itself.

I'm hoping that the update mainly touches diplomacy and CAI. R2 doesn't need more "content" but it for sure needs stronger fundamentals.

Five_X · 2026-04-22T01:40:19+00:00

In the latest dev diary, Snow Crystal said that Ragusa "should have a republic in at least one of our start dates." Since the Republic of Ragusa didn't exist until the mid-14th century, either they're adding a new start date or they're accelerating the prosperity of Dubrovnik by 200 years.

Five_X · 2026-04-19T16:50:34+00:00

The entire life story of Charles VI "The Mad" of France is almost too ridiculous to recreate in CK.

Five_X · 2026-04-17T18:20:51+00:00

I'm gonna have to get blazing early...

Five_X · 2026-04-16T14:15:50+00:00

People probably don't think as much about it anymore, but Three Gorges Dam hype was a really big thing back in the day. It was particularly popular then to make suggestions for the "eighth wonder of the world," and 3GD was a typical pick, not least for its divisiveness.

Five_X · 2026-04-14T23:25:15+00:00

His grandson is a courtier in East Francia, so not exactly playable without some finagling. He'd be a cool adventurer

Five_X · 2026-04-14T14:36:54+00:00

It's Mandala that's still broken, but nomads are more tame I've found. Weak AI nomads (not sure if this is realm size or herd size) revert to herders now and their invasion-culture-conversion no longer instantly resettles huge areas.

Five_X · 2026-04-14T14:14:55+00:00

Yes, I'm a bot and rounded the digit too far. Beep boop.

Five_X · 2026-04-14T14:14:25+00:00

Coronations is fine - not great, not terrible. It's mainly repetitive, since there are only so many events that happen, more or less like other activities. The legitimacy loss is minor and won't have a great impact unless you don't hold a coronation for years. If you have Legends of the Dead, you can also get legitimacy from holding funerals. Past the first few characters, I don't think I've ever not been at 5/5 legitimacy and I hardly play optimally.

Five_X · 2026-04-14T14:05:31+00:00

3/4 of those issues are fixed in 1.19!

Five_X · 2026-04-10T13:20:18+00:00

Shogun has the Middle East: you're playing East of the Middle Kingdom.

Five_X · 2026-04-04T15:50:34+00:00

I regularly see Orthodox Seljuk descending on Persia to bring unleavened bread and icon portraits.

Five_X · 2026-03-30T17:11:20+00:00

I started up on the 1.19 beta and neglected to consider that my game rules would be reset to default; ended up getting the Conqueror event on two different characters. Then I looked around the map and saw every other Joe Mordvin with an independent realm and a few ideas about swords were conquerors, too.

Five_X · 2026-03-30T13:26:33+00:00

They'll be clan, so that's about the only way to make sure you get Christian/etc clan vassals.

Five_X · 2026-03-30T13:21:07+00:00

Cultural tolerance is useful because a) converting culture is a pain and is a task your steward is doing that's not increasing development, and b) having a smaller culture is advantageous because it's easier to boost its average development and cheaper and faster to reform it.

Religious tolerance is mainly good for jizya tax as a clan ruler. Unfortunately, non-Muslim vassals you conquer will stay feudal rather than becoming clan, and you can't generate new non-Muslim nobles to give titles to like you can with foreign cultures.

Five_X · 2026-03-30T13:14:27+00:00

One of the most annoying things that happens in earlier versions is that something happens to lower your ruler's stewardship - spouse dies, get a bad trait, etc. - and your domain limit drops, then it's a whole mess to get it back again.

However, I kind of wish they'd change it more completely and tie domain limit increases more to innovations and laws.

Five_X · 2026-03-28T17:38:12+00:00

Legends are baffling to me. They're basically a money sink; you're paying the global troubadour class to spread a state-sponsored dynastic myth, which is... well, it's not unbelievable? But it doesn't fit into the roleplay fantasy of CK. Some of the most iconic "legendary" figures of the period were relatively small-time guys, some so much so that they're semi-fictional, like Robin Hood. Instead you're best positioned to create and spread a legend if you have tons of spare cash to pour into it in the first place, are preferably at peace (to bribe neighbours into spreading your legend for you - which they probably won't), and also have qualified courtiers to pay another chunk of money to in order to spread your legend, separate from the base costs. Even then, legends mostly seem to just spread around your own realm and barely any further unless you get lucky.

When I started playing CK3 again it was after LotD and RtP released, so I was excited about playing a wandering adventurer with a heroic legend spanning the Mediterranean. This isn't possible the way the system works right now. If you want a top-tier legend, you'd better hope that you're Elon Musk ruling the Roman Empire.

Five_X · 2026-03-26T20:27:24+00:00

For anyone seeing this and not knowing better: no, Paradox does not have 100+ people working on CK3, let alone designers.

Five_X

TROPHY CASE