Highlander Mod (ideas, not a modder)

[ErikModi]

From the franchise of the same name.

 

So, ever since I got into Civilization 2, it seemed to me these kinds of games have rulers not unlike Immortals in the Highlander franchise, but Crusader Kings 2 really takes it to a whole new level, with making your dynasty, dying (potentially in battle or a duel), and so on. So I thought. . . wouldn't a Highlander mod be cool?

 

It would require a different "Immortal" trait than currently in-game. Immortals are immune to disease and any cause of death that isn't decapitation, so this Immortal trait would have to reflect that. They might be able to be wounded, but they wouldn't heal into scars, Immortals heal perfectly (unless the wound is to the neck). They could, however, still lose limbs. The only way for these Immortals to be killed would be under the dueling system, probably against someone else who possesses the Immortal trait (since only other Immortals would know decapitation is required to kill them). And when one Immortal beheads another, that's when the fun begins.

 

One Immortal taking the head of another gains their defeated foe's knowledge and power. In-game, this could be represented by increasing an ability, ideally on the basis that if, say, they had higher Diplomacy, the winner gets the loser's Diplomacy score. If the victor had all higher stats than the loser, one random attribute is increased by one. Maybe you also gain a trait the loser had (positive or negative).

 

Oh, Immortals also cannot have children, so better hope your Immortal ruler wins all their duels!

 

So. . . how much of a pain in the ass would something like this be to code?

[Cheri Song]

Most of this can be easily handled with a new trait and some events. The hardest part is making the ruler immune to death, which isn't possible in vanilla and would require you to catch and tweak a lot of possible death scenarios.

[ErikModi]

I figured death would be a stumbling block, but I figured traits and stats would be difficult, as well. Especially since, as I understand it, at some point the game decides "You have too many good traits!" and starts forcing trait losses on you.

[Strec]

I think the main goal to be achieved in the game is to have the biggest dynasty and the more land owned by this dynasty so it seems a very difficult objective for an infertile ruler ?

[ErikModi]

23 hours ago, Strec said:

I think the main goal to be achieved in the game is to have the biggest dynasty and the more land owned by this dynasty so it seems a very difficult objective for an infertile ruler ?

Yeah, I was thinking it'd be a kind of high-risk playstyle: Be Immortal and win all your duels against other Immortals, and you become the most awesome ruler in the history of humanity, but lose a duel, and game over. But I was thinking about this at work today, and had the thought: the Master-Apprentice Chain is kind of a big deal in Highlander (not as much as in Star Wars, but still). So maybe a Decision to attract a pre-Immortal to your Court, to take under your wing and make your Heir, as you train them in how to survive in the world of Immortals. If you do die, then you continue playing as the Immortal you've trained. So Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez loses his head, but his player continues the game as Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.

[Strec]

Ideally the idea would be to replace bloodline with spiritual children to replace dynasty with an organization.

 

Technically it could be done by hidden impregnation but the risk remains of real impregnation of a dinasty member not wanted by the player (maybe a mechanic making such children infertile would help if if don't break the hidden impregnation idea)

[Cheri Song]

Now I want a Sith Lord mod for CK2.

[SmokeMage]

Don't think it's a good idea, for CK2 is not designed for immortal rulers.

 

 

Vanilla immortal block death by disease and old age, trigger "is_indomitable_trigger = yes" block battlefield death (expect battlefield duel). Then high intrigue and a few defensive_plot_power_modifier (almost) block plot death, and being a male block child birth death.

 

It seems have rooted out almost every vanilla death reasons other than duel. But the problem is, in HF duel system, battlefield duels are much less bloody than standard duels, where even when you have defeated you can choose to get imprisoned or let a fellow commander to get imprisoned, only a "double death" event can kill you. On the other hand, if you only accept practice duel missions in warrior lodges, you can stack your combat rating to 200+ and make duels like picnics.

 

If a ruler is immortal even on battlefields, what will happen? He can have dozens of command modifiers (3~4 standard leadership traits, all of warrior lodge leadership traits, artifacts including the improved masterful short-sword, battlefield experience, and other minor modifiers) and get 40+ martial. That means you can win a 1:10 battle against most 20+ martial warriors. With this immortal king, when you gather 25000 soldiers in a province, AI don't stand a chance, because it can't have 250k units in a single province, isn't it?

Then what's the point expand this imbalance? To make a warrior who can lead 300 Spartans to overthrow a emperor?

 

 

I think the biggest problem is current duel system doesn't provide much fun by itself. It looks like a greatly simpified version of duel system once in CK2+, to ensure MP compatibility. If someone can expand the old CK2+ duel engine, make it as good as the old KOEI three kingdoms games, or even as good as CA's TW3K, that would be most exciting. After that, a "perfect immortal" would be welcome.