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Hello everyone! Today we're releasing our second Core Expansion and first piece of major content in Chapter IV: Khans of the Steppe. We're also releasing Update 1.16.0 "Chamfron" alongside this core expansion.
Check out the release trailer below, and then the changelog under that.





Update 1.16.0 "Chamfron" Changelog

Expansion Features (Paid)

Added the new Nomadic Government Type, heavily inspired by the nomads of the Eurasian Steppe, introducing a new playstyle around Herd and Migration.

Migration allows nomadic rulers to move around the Great Steppe in search of better pasture lands. Negotiate with the locals or subjugate them by force.
Herd is a new currency only available for Nomads that can be converted into Horde Riders and upgraded into better Men-at-Arms.
Nomadic Vassal Contracts: focused on Herd instead of Levies.
The Nomadic Capital Domicile – It represents the collection of yurts nomads have during migration. They include 8 new domicile buildings with 80+ new internal upgrades and a Domicile Culture/Faith mechanic with unique Decisions and Character Interactions.
5 Dominance levels for Nomads that govern their Domain and Vassal limit, which Decisions they can take and what titles they can target during migration.
Nomads have a new Dread cap: 150.
Nomadic Subjects and Courtiers have Obedience towards their overlord, measuring how likely they are to form factions, perform hostile plots and respect their decision of heir during succession.

Gain someone's Obedience by demanding it, negotiating it or just impressing them through new Character Interactions and Activity Intents.

Added new Schemes for Nomads, such as Steal Herd.
Added 4 Vassal Directives just for nomadic vassals.
New Council Positions for Nomads – the Kurultai Members.

Kurultai Members may perform some familiar tasks like Increase County Control and Domestic Affairs, but they will also have 6 new tasks focused on Herd gain, Fertility management, Piety, Raiding, Culture Hybridization and Reformation and even Exploiting their own lands to gain some extra income but reduce the Fertility.

A new Succession Type for nomads: the Kurultai Succession with different outcomes based on how Stable or Chaotic it is. Chaotic successions have effects such as herd loss, realm splits, or even realm dissolution (depending on realm size and number of disobedient kurultai members)
Settlement Issues: new contracts available for nomadic rulers after migration, focusing on increasing the county control of their new area.
The Way of the Nomad trait ensures that the nomadic lifestyle stays with their children for one generation after leaving the steppe, focusing on Cultural and Religious tolerance and opening up the possibility of becoming an adventurer.

Added the Great Steppe Situation: a new regional mechanic for the Eurasian Steppe, divided in three geographical regions.

Every county within the Great Steppe has County Fertility, regulating the Herd gained by the nomads holding them. With appropriate alerts for when the fertility is low, or when its time to migrate.
The Steppe Seasons affect the County Fertility of their region, as well as the behavior of the nomadic rulers within, including Vassalization and Tributarization acceptance, bonuses to raiding and even free CBs. The seasons are visualized on the map.
Gather the largest Herd of the steppe and become the Gurkhan, a formidable warrior marked for greatness, en route to become the Greatest of Khans.

Added another new, unplayable government Type: Herders, which inhabit the Steppe and replenish Fertility, but lack any military strength.
A new 1178 bookmark for Nomads: The Endless Sky.
A new 1066 bookmark for Nomads: At the Gates.
New game rules to make other areas Nomadic: Sápmi and Karelia, Arabia, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
Changed the map table to be adjusted based on situation, e.g. the Byzantine map table is only for Byzantines, and the plague one only happens during significant plagues
Added a ‘Bring under Tribute’ CB for non-nomads to force an independent ruler into becoming your tributary
Added a "become tributary" interaction, that lets you pledge yourself as tributary to an independent ruler of a government type that can have tributaries
Added a "demand tributary" interaction, that lets nomad rulers demand tribute from independent neighbors
Added two new non-nomadic tributary types and their obligation levels
New Nomadic Court Positions: Stargazer, General, Chief Law Overseer, Siege Engineer, Quartermaster, Keeper of Horses and Chief Bodyguard, with new tasks that heavily interact with the Nomadic government and the Great Steppe.
Added new Men-at-Arms for Nomads and Nomadic cultures

Steppe Raiders
Nomad Lancers
Heavy Horse-Archers
Torch-Bearers
Mangudai
Cataphract Archers
Maturkan Warriors

Added new Cultural Traditions to Cultures in the Great Steppe

Iron Cavalry
Wolves of the Deep Steppe
Tribes of the North
Devoted Horsemanship

Added Siberian Permafrost county modifier to lands on the northeastern border of the map that highly synergizes with the Tribes of the North Cultural Tradition
Added a new Blood Brother relationship type, hooked in as a variant of the friend relation

Only available through the Swear Blood Brotherhood interaction
Provides positive modifiers for useful blood brothers, and alliances between ruler blood brothers

Added the new Tsaagaan Tsar Feast type, only available in the winter months, to celebrate the coming of a new year and obtain gifts from your guests.
Added the new Nerge Hunt type – an activity focused on obtaining Martial and Prowess skillpoints, Commander Traits and trait experience.
Added more than 70 new flavour events for nomads, including events related to the seasons, blood brotherhood and migration.
Added severed head content to the execution interaction, allowing you to keep the heads of those you behead, or send the head to their successor
Adds flavor events for Temujin and Jamukha, as well as a conqueror event to propel player Temujin to becoming Greatest of Khans
Created a Greatest of Khans storyline, beginning with the Become Greatest of Khans decision

A Great War of Defiance CB that neighbors launch to prevent the Gurkhan from becoming Greatest of Khans
Revamped effects for the Greatest of Khans trait, and other bonuses
The Offer Submission or Ruin interaction for the Greatest of Khans, and the related GoK Onslaught CB
New Turkic, Mongolic and Iranian cultural nicknames for the Greatest of Khans
Reform the Great Khaganate Decision, a capstone to the GoK’s success, allowing them to establish a huge de jure empire and choose a government type of their choice (gaining significant bonuses towards that form of rule)

Added 25 new special Decisions for Nomads, including

Decisions to switch government types
Decisions to expand your realm
Expand the Steppe region
Introduce your heir to potential friends and blood brothers
Manage fertility in your domain
Hire courtiers and candidates for new court positions

Added new Casus Bellis for nomad rulers, including Overrun Kingdom, Expand Dominance, Sovereignty, Humiliation, Retaliation, and Nomadic County/Duchy Quarrels
Added a Paiza system with unique decisions and character interactions:

Establish Paiza System
Summon Wealthy Visitors: Paiza
Abuse Gurkhan’s Authority
Leverage Khan’s Authority

Added a new Nomadic Dynasty Legacy focusing on Herd management, Fertility, Raiding and military might
Revamped the old Mongol Invasion event chain, integrating new features and elements of the Greatest of Khans story
Added the Burkhan Khaldun special building in Khentii.
Added new ambience sounds and music tracks for nomads.

Game Content

Added 5 new Raid Intents, available for Nomadic and Tribal armies

Pillage
Terrorize
Capture
Plunder
Adventure

Added Confederations: an agreement between tribal or nomadic rulers that commits them to joining one another's defensive wars

Decision to Call for a Confederation
The Offer Confederation interaction, which adds rulers to the confederation
An Abandon Confederation decision for leaving your confederation
A decision which allows you to turn your confederation into a kingdom-tier realm, with you as its monarch, and Confederation Elective succession for the created title
Added new icon for Confederations

Added a "Bring Under Tribute" CB for non-nomadic rulers
Added potential friends, potential lovers, tributaries, and suzerains to the default activity guest invite rules
Made it possible for domicile buildings to trigger specific map graphics for holdings
Added character interaction for guardians to teach a commander trait to a ward
Added memory for all participants of a successful hunt
Added mercenary_hire_time_mult modifier affecting how long mercenary contracts last
Added capital_fort_level and capital_additional_fort_level modifiers
Updated councilor related events to include kurultai if they fit the context
Subject contracts can now have prestige transfers as obligations
Added new interaction category "tribute"
Added a new Vassal Stance, Belligerent

Databases

Renamed the kingdom of Mongolia to the kingdom of Ötuken
Rearranged the starting Cultural Traditions for cultures in the Steppe
St Wenceslaus Cathedral changes: the building now has 3 upgradable levels, renamed to Archcollegiate Church of St. Mary and St. Alexius, and moved to Łęczyca barony. The University special building has been returned to Kraków.

Bugfixes

Removed duplicate raid icon in diplomatic_icons texture
Fix to subject directive icons not being aligned properly
The ai will actually check if they can feudalize holdings now–they’ve never done so.
Fix to maximum amount of horizontal slots for terrain effects
Fix to men at arms illustrations being stretched and cut too much at the top
Fixed crash when calculating tax collector aptitude due to recursive call of script value
Fixed sometimes misleading tooltips for rewards and wounds in hunts
Fixed message when liege grants you a pardon
Fixed reversed reason when rival gained from losing realm
Fixed erroneous liege converting county notifications
Fixed fellow vassal faction join event referring to you as the liege
Fixed visuals for the soldier of the cross crusader trait event
Fixed dangerous beast slain modifier sometimes being applied after hunting non-dangerous animals
Characters will now use more correct cultural weapons in animations
Improved readability of messages from tutor educate child task
Non-Christian characters will no longer use the crucifix scepter prop in admin realms
Made effect tooltip for pleasure dome more generic in case you don't have a barony selected
Fixed missing councilor tooltip erroneously referencing councilor instead of kurultai member when playing as a nomad
Revealed the actual gold cost behind Pay Homage
Changed court position tooltip concept to be player contextual, and display officer instead, or in addition to, court position when appropriate
Removed old holder of court position being oddly grateful that you replaced them
Added missing capitalization to county titles
Fixed appearance of monk in the necromancer event
Players will now only be informed of faith creation when nearby or otherwise relevant to them
Made it impossible to relocate your capital to a province with a disabled holding
Fixed ai adventurers sometimes getting a hook on you because they completed a contract for your councilor
Fixed bloody weddings and grand wedding events having incorrect scopes when disbursing rewards
Fixed peasant faction war being not inherited on death of the primary defender
When your charioteer loses, the corresponding team color illustration will show up
The event treacherous slopes will now tell you of the outcome of the stewardship options
The adventurer landed message will now only be shown for rulers within the same realm
The event night attack will no longer wound the same poor follower multiple times
Event “Nursing a Suspicion” can no longer make spouses suspicious about themselves
1178 start date: Sancho of Teruel, Tello Pedrez of Calatrava, Pedro II Manriquez of Molina, Fernando Rodrigez of Merida, now have feudal government
Fixed a faulty trigger for managing courtiers
Fixed a crash when removing a character from a great holy war
Fixed the inverted descriptions of mozarabic_break_with_rome_decision of righteous and fundamentalist
Fixed a few instances of incorrect usage of title tier as honorific
Fixed a typo having an additional comma in the description of grand wedding in the wedding ceremony
Fixed a bug where empire-tier title holders did not get the offer fealty malus for king-tier (or higher) titles
Blocked armless people from doing actions which require using two hands
Fixed an issue where newly landed Muslim rulers would get Male Preference instead of Male Only succession


Balance

Dissolution factions now also destroy any kingdoms an emperor might hold, avoiding border gore/impotent dissolution faction outcomes where everyone's still in one realm
Increased and standardized speed of adventurer contracts
Added a decaying opinion malus for your former suzerain if you break the tributary relationship by pledging fealty to someone else
Flat MaA bonuses from cultural traditions have been converted to percentage bonuses.

Art

Turkic cultures of the west steppes now use The Legacy of Persia clothing assets as they are a better fit historically
Added nomadic UI skin, inspired by Mongolian patterns, architecture and relief art. You can see elements from their yurts like the interior, fabrics with different patterns and symbols like the falcon.
New Interfaces

Migration
Great Steppe Situation

Added new event themes with associated icons

Raid
Migration
Settlement

Added Coat-of-Arms Shapes and Headers

Confederation Header
Nomad and Herder CoA Shapes

Added situation modifier icons
Some improvements to the bp3 portrait environments
Added icons and illustrations for new nomadic Men-At-Arms unit types

Mangudai
Nomad Lancers
Steppe Raiders
Torch-Bearers
Maturkan
Keshig
Heavy Cavalry Archers
Cataphract Archers

Added new icons for Levies and Nomadic Riders which are the nomadic counterparts of feudal levies.
Succession

Added new icons for Peaceful and Chaotic succession, both in a rendered and flat style.
Added new headers and patterns for Peaceful & Chaotic Succession shown in the Succession tab in the Realm view

New icons added for nomadic dominance levels with a frame for the active level and a special frame for the highest level, both active and inactive.
Added new Kurultai task icons and adjusted frame shape to fit the nomadic theme better

Support Herders
Domestic Affairs
Manage Fertility
Exploit Lands
Increase Control
Organize Raiders
Aid Stargazer
Explore Cultures

Added siberian permafrost modifier icon
Added new court position icons

Yurtchi
Yeke Jarguchi
Foreign Emissary
Boyan
Cherbi
Court Astrologer

Added a new icon for the Gurkhan
Added Ovoo as temple mesh and illustration for settled Tengri rulers
Added new Casus Belli icons
Make Tributary
Migration
Retaliation
Humiliations
Added new icons for the new Tributary interactions

Become Tributary
Release Tributary
Demand Tributary
Cease Paying Tributary

Fixed levitating cross-legged characters mena and indian thrones
Added “Confederation” decision image.
Adjusted decision illustrations so that they do not stretch when made into a button or when non-decision images are used as decisions
Added northern tribes, wolves of the deep steppe and iron cavalry cultural tradition images
Added new assets to the Event window:
Added new orange Event Window header background for nomadic related events
Added new Event type icons for nomadic and migration related events
Burkhan Khaldun mesh and icon positioned in the map with the necessary terrain adjustments
Added steppe royal court in 3 grandeur variants
Added steppe royal court props : table, chests, panels, tugs, fireplaces, carpets, tapestry, banners, lectern, pedestals, main throne, spouse throne
Added Nomadic Lifestyle trait icon.
Added a new icon for the the Situations Map Mode
New nomadic and herder settlement building icon added
Added 6 steppe season illustrations
Added Activity Type Illustrations

Nerge
Tsagaan Sar

Added Holding Type Illustrations

Herder Camp
Nomad Camp

Added Story Event Illustrations

Great Khan
The Great Steppe

New loading screen
Added new Raid Loot icon
Added a new Artifact Icon for nomadic Paizas
Added a new icon for Paiza Character Interactions
Added mongol level 1 to 5 holding models
Added herder holding model
Added level 1 to 4 mongol wall models
New illustration for nomadic horde added
Added new ethnicities for the Steppe: Tibetan, Turkic, West Turkic and Mongol
Nomadic Domicile

Added new icons in both a rendered and flat style for the Nomadic Domicile depicting a yurt to better fit the nomadic theme.
Added new Domicile map pin background texture that fits better with the nomadic theme
Added new Domicile window assets

Frame
Header
Paper texture

Added new Domicile background that fits the steppe and nomadic Domicile layout
Added new Nomadic Domicile buildings

Main Yurt tier 1, 2 & 3
Millet Storage
Khan’s Champions Yurt
Square of the Tumen
Court Yurt
Family Yurt
Ovoo
Barter Stalls
Empty slots


Added new smaller versions of the Nomadic Authority level icons to better fit in texts and use cases outside the Realm tab or nomadic HuD widget.
Added nomad Legacy Track illustration and icon
Added new icons for the Nomadic and Herder Government Types
Added 10 clothes for steppe cultures

Male commoner - Nomad's Deel
Male low nobility - Cross-Over Coat with Fur Lining
Male high nobility - Fine Cross-Over Coat with Fur Lining
Male royalty - Khan's Embroidered Robe
Male imperial - Khagan's Deel with Fur Coat
Female commoner - Steppe Woman's Deel
Female low nobility - Nomad Woman's Robe
Female high nobility - Nomad Woman's Fine Robe
Female royalty - Khanum's Coat with Embroidery
Female imperial - Khatun's Splendid Robes

Added 8 Headgear for steppe cultures

Male/Female commoner - Fur-Brimmed Shepherd Hat
Male nobility - Feathered Hat of the Steppe
Male royalty - Golden Flower Crown
Male imperial - Decorated Jonon Hat
Female nobility 01 - Nomadic Pearl Headband
Female nobility 02 - Khalkha Headdress with Pearl Bands
Female royalty - Khanum's Embellished Gugu Hat

Added 6 Hairstyles for steppe cultures

Male hair 01 - Khitan Warrior Style
Male hair 02 - Behind the Ear Braids
Male hair 03 - Steppe Rider's Fine Braids
Female hair 01 - Turkic Kirk Belik Braids
Female hair 02 - Steppe Style with Cloth Covers
Female hair 03 - Center-Parted with Decorated Covers

Added 6 Beards for steppe cultures

Mongol Style Mustache and Soul Patch
Nomadic Warrior's Beard
Nomad's Goatee
Mongol Style Mustache
Nomadic Warrior's Mustache
Nomad's Mustache

New event background illustrations

Steppe Temple
Steppe Evening
Steppe Hunt
Steppe City (Karakorum)
Nomad Throne Room (and main menu version)
Steppe camp day
Steppe camp night
Steppe Tent Interior
Asian Rural Village
Asian Rural Village Raid

Added military horse units for nomads
Added traveling horse units for nomads
Added grazing sheep to the map
Added horses to the map
New character animations

Standing next to horse
Shepherd (with sheep!)
Galloping with sword and shield
Conversing while mounted
Exhausted on horse animation
Surveying while mounted
Aggressive horse archer
Idle horse archer

New props

6 bows that can be drawn, both with and without arrows
Characters will now drink from culturally relevant cups
Sheep with variants representing ewes and rams, single color and spotted breeds


User modding

Vassal contracts lists on governments have been replaced with separate “subject contract groups” that can be reused between governments and used to start tributaries.
Most things “vassal contract” has been renamed “subject contract”.
Triggers related to vassals now often have tributary counterparts.
Triggers related to lieges now often have suzerain counterparts. Also overlord counterparts exist which acts on either liege or suzerain, depending on what the scoped character has.
Add debug info in portrait tooltip for played animation
Created a new raze_county script effect
Added new graphical 'defeated' unit state for units that have just lost a combat
Add holder_council_members and holder_tributaries as new elective succession candidate set types
Added deny_powerful_vassal government rule, which disallows a ruler from becoming a powerful vassal if they have a government with this rule (no uppity Herders allowed)
set_definitive_form now sets a default definite article for a title if the title does not already have a definite article set
Added support for setting the definite article of a dynamically generated title
Added on_actions for when a mercenary company is hired and dismissed
Added an on_action for when a character changes government type
Neighboring/_and_across_water_top_liege_realm/_owner script list variants now have suzerain variants as well
Adds modifiers character_opinion_from_high_prowess_add and character_opinion_from_low_prowess_add, altering the character's opinion based on their prowess delta from define average_prowess_value
Military_power compare trigger changes the ai_military_threat_modifier to use military_power instead of current/max_military_strength
Adds land_neighboring_realm_with_tributaries and land_neighboring_realm_with_tributaries_owner script lists
Added is_tributary_of_suzerain_or_above character trigger
Added an ai.interaction_values console command to determine an ai character's willingness to take an interaction on available targets
Localization used in the GUI for passing realm laws can now be customized per law
Added new character interaction target list, neighboring_rulers_including_tributary_borders
Added an ai_military_threat_modifier to be used in interactions that relate to the military threat value between two characters
Added a parameter for government types to allow tributaries
Added a parameter for government types for setting a scripted character template to be used when automatically generating characters for that type
Amended the vassal_contract_set_obligation_level effect with a version for tributaries called tributary_contract_set_obligation_level
Added a "hidden" animation in the default A-pose for testing purposes called bind_pose. It can be accessed in the portrait editor and is useful for checking clothing and body changes.
Domiciles are now owned by special landless titles instead of characters. The Domicile owner will be the special title holder.
Made it possible to set a scripted camera per triggered animation everywhere animations are used. This makes it possible to have horse and non-horse related triggered animations for one character position in the same event, for example.
The hard-coded limit of the amount of Legitimacy types that can exist has been removed
Each Legitimacy type can now have their own icon instead of sharing one
Added 'on_combat_start' and 'on_combat_unit_join_side' on actions
Added new script effects which allow more control over combat outcomes: ‘set_winner’, ‘force_win’, ‘set_disallowed_retreat’, ‘set_allow_early_retreat’, ‘set_skip_pursuit’
New ‘Situation’ system added to which can be used to create dynamic region-based gameplay systems. (see Modding dev diary #168 for more details)

Interface

Reworked the Realm window interface. Being one of our oldest panels, it was getting harder to work with and append new functionality to. While rewriting the code we also took the opportunity to improve its presentation coming on par with other modern windows while balancing the information load in each tab.
Added an expanded interface of the Kurultai tasks since all members have access to eight tasks each, which caused the portraits to be covered by icons.
Made paper styled UI skinnable, for example on contracts or letters. For now, mongolic cultures will have a more Eastern styled look to their paper interfaces.
Court position type tooltip now show requirements instead of showing a courtier's fulfillment of the requirements
Added contextual map icons for when raiders are raised and selected. Will show province loot within a range of selected raider armies owned by the player.
Added new ‘Diplomatic Relations’ map mode which shows what current diplomatic relations the selected ruler has
Exposed ‘File Transfer Speed’ setting to also be configurable in the multiplayer lobby settings

Multiplayer

Improved default transfer speed for MP save games, which should reduce time to start MP games significantly. The default (High) is now about four times faster than before. New file transfer setting options ‘Very high’ and ‘Ultra’ added, for very fast connections. The previous default transfer speed configuration is still available as the ‘Medium’ setting.


We're excited to finally release Khans of the Steppe, and we hope you have fun playing it! If you encounter any issues after today’s update, please disable all mods and ensure you’re playing on a fresh save file. If the issue persists, then please submit a bug report either via our Community Support board here on Steam or via the Bug Report board on our official forums.