It’s turning out to be trailer day here at NHS (or perhaps trailer week), as Paradox announce the latest bit of DLC (and by far the biggest) for Crusader Kings 2 – Sword of Islam. Expect to see this one come out in June, along with the 1.06 patch and be priced at $9.99. Here’s the word from Paradox:
New York, May 30, 2012 – Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio today reveal that players will soon be able to play as the Muslim rulers in upcoming DLC “Sword of Islam” .
The DLC will release at the same time as the next hefty patch which adds new features to the game, such as an expansion of the map into Mali-Songhay, differentiation on strong and weak claims, new plot, expanded combat and more.
Sword of Islam enables players to rule as the Muslim lords, delivering a wealth of specific new mechanics distinctive to these rulers, creating a whole new gameplay experience. Laws, marriage, holding, traits , titles and more will work completely differently.
Can’t wait! The new Game of Thrones fan-mod should keep me busy until then, too.
I smell a fatwa…
Call me crazy, but sometimes it feels like Paradox is just taking mechanics already fleshed out by some of the more popular mods out there and implementing them in the core game. In particular, CK2 Plus pioneered a revised crusade system very similar to the one later rolled out in the 1.05 patch, and that same mod currently possesses working equivalents of everything listed in the press release above, except for strong vs. weak claims (which I’m hoping is meant to fix the mess that is matrilineal and foreign claimants).
The real question is, when will Paradox borrow the measures various mods have employed to reduce the empire-blobbing and prestige inflation that invariably ruin the late game?
I approve of this and will be purchasing