total conversion [mod] Carnal Realms Total Conversion Beta 0.91 Released 9/11/2026

[DoctaSax]

1 hour ago, anonanon421 said:

I mean you are not entitled to have anyone play your mod just as I am not entitled to have you make a mod I like.

 

That's nonsense - nobody's forcing you to play it to begin with. And frankly, asking for core systems of a total overhaul to be made optional is imo unreasonable, while a lot of your misgivings about things potentially not working down the line are just theoretical at this point. This is understandably demotivational for the author, so if you're just not going to play it, then just stick to that and give it a rest.

[SamIAmHam]

I am going to say this one final time. You may suggest features that you would like to see. You may not demand that I do things your way. You may not tell me to make core systems optional submods. The rules of LoversLab make this clear.

 

1. The biggest and most important thing of this community is that the modders come first. They are the ones who make this community worth coming to, they are the ones enabling you to even play these mods.  Meaning if you don't like the way a mod is going, don't be a jerk about it, they can take the mod in whatever direction they want. Don't like it? Then make your own release and put the work in yourself. Find a bug or issue that needs to be fixed? Don't be a jerk about it and raise your concerns and feedback in a constructive manner.
    
2. Don't be a jerk. Seriously, does this really need to be said?

 

When you are told no on your ideas, you got your answer. You do not get to ignore what I say and change what I said into “you thought I didn't understand.” You also do not get to demand that I keep your compatibility stack or maintain dead mods. I am under no obligation to do either of those things. You are responsible for keeping them up to date if you want them. It's right there in Rule 1.

 

When I ask questions the respectful thing is to answer them. I had numerous times asked if my mod was actually being played and I never got a response. I will assume that because you failed to answer that you didn't.

 

I welcome suggestions from people about what to add to the total conversion. In fact, my interactions with Drax70 and bodiefrank show this to be the case.

 

The final thing is to treat people with respect, which is what Rule 2 basically says. If you give respect, you get respect from me.

Edited Saturday at 05:51 AM by SamIAmHam

[SamIAmHam]

Where the mod stands at now is that all of the vanilla general events have been hijacked at their start. New story decks run downstream of the hijack using the standard 20>40>80>160 events in a pool.

 

The following orders have been redone with new story deck events for their missions and feasts/fairs as applicable. They also have their own artifact gear for four tiers and new event pictures.

 

Benedictine

Dominican

Order of the Sacred Magdalene

Community of Saint Basil

Community of Saint Abraham

Hermetic Society

Adavita Matha

What societies are left to do for a complete overhaul are:

Savaka-Sangha

Sravaka-Samgha

Stoic Intelligentsia

The Assassins

Demon Worshippers

 

Warrior Lodges will only get story decks, but everything else will be vanilla. Secret cults won't be touched at all. I may add in new societies for pagan religions at a later date.

 

Once the orders are all done I'll release a new version of the beta. I'll continue to rework the vanilla events to use story decks for the DLCs.

 

My old mod Aliyah: The Return will be added to the core soon. It will be reworked from 2014 scripting to the current scripting.

Edited Saturday at 06:19 AM by SamIAmHam

[bodiefrank]

I'm impressed by your work ethic.  You've done great work in a very short amount of time.

[SamIAmHam]

15 minutes ago, bodiefrank said:

I'm impressed by your work ethic.  You've done great work in a very short amount of time.

 

Thanks bud, how are you like the total conversion so far?

[SamIAmHam]

I'm going to show what an actual Story Deck looks like in synopsis form. I uploaded the rebuilt Public Rites and House Service material for the Order of the Sacred Magdalene so you can see how the system works in practice instead of just reading me describe it.

 

As you go through it, pay attention to how the opening premise establishes the story, how the deck remembers the people and circumstances involved, and how each choice determines what can happen later. The later events are not unrelated random popups. They continue the same story and remember what happened before until that storyline reaches its conclusion.

 

This is only one section of the Story Deck system, but it should give you a much better idea of what I mean when I talk about Story Decks and why there are so many events behind them.

15 - Order-of-the-Sacred-Magdalene--public-rites-and-House-service.pdf

[jeoncock]

I just want to say thank you for this mod, I have been playing with it since yesterday and it is a lot of fun!

[SamIAmHam]

2 hours ago, jeoncock said:

I just want to say thank you for this mod, I have been playing with it since yesterday and it is a lot of fun!

 

I thank you for that and I'm glad you are having fun. Just keep an eye out in the future when the new orders are released along with the full general events story decks.

What is your favorite part of the total conversion?

How are you liking the combat and weather?

[SamIAmHam]

Why doesn't SamIAmHam do committee run mods?

 

I feel that I owe people an explanation on why I have the policies I do and why I say no to certain things. Enjoy this walk through modding hell and have a laugh.

 

In the halcyon days when Sons of Abraham came out I saw how thin the Jewish content was. I decided that I would learn how to mod CK2. I created Expanded Israel. In those days, the scripting language was primitive and you had a hard time hooking into CK2's engine. You had to write scopes and conditions in an arcane way just to get what you wanted. There wasn't any bloodlines or the like, so it was all trait based. I added in Jewish holidays, rebuilding Jerusalem, Jewish specific childhood include age of accountability, and so on.

 

I had a beta tester named Dave*. He was a hard worker and his goal was to break my mod. He did every day. He exposed bugs and unexpected behavior daily. I had to revise my code to fix the problems. Sometimes the solution was easy and other times I just had to scrap the idea because the scripting language couldn't do what I needed it to do. I created the trait icons and the COA flags in addition to the scripts.

Another modder doing a Zoroastrian mod approached me about merging mods under the title of Monotheism Rising. I quickly found out that his coding wasn't up to snuff and he kept breaking my code. I tried to help him improve but he would ignore me. He ended inviting another modder to the group. So now the team was three with our own individual projects merged under one roof. My code and new modder's code was stable while the Zoroastrian modder was not. 

 

I learned all about compatibility patches during this. I know how difficult it is to actually merge 3 different mods coded in 3 different ways with 3 different skill levels touching the exact same files. It wasn't pretty and bugs soon became a problem. Poor Dave was at the end of his rope. He found hundreds of bugs within the Zor code that he threatened to quit. Dave was a guy that loved to break systems in games, so him getting frustrated was understanding. I had to rewrite a lot of the Zor code just to get the entire mod stable. That bred resentment between the members of the group. Members would drop out while the Zor coder remained. 

 

There were really bad arguments in private over how the entire mod should be developed. Subjects like who proofs another coder's code and why is my feature being pushed back while yours is being pushed forward. So when someone suggests that I don't know what I'm doing as a modder or how to bug test things I get a laugh out of it. Sorry pal, but you're talking to a guy that spent hundreds of hours dealing with someone else's shit coding.

 

Real life happened and I had to drop out. I attempted to take my code and art with me. That didn't work, so the Zor coder decides to keep my code and art without permission. Eventually he removed my credit for the Jewish section of the mod. He refused to give me the credit I was due. I ended up just taking the code I had and announced I had left the team. 

This is why I don't do committee run mods. It's too much of a headache. If something breaks in the entire mod and it's not your code you get yelled at by the players in one ear and the modder who you are fixing their code in the other. This is why I have a no dead mod policy. It's why I don't take over someone else's code. It's why I don't take someone else's art. When I created CR I redid the CM traits to fit the style I wanted. It was done out of respect for the prior modder. The refusal to assume someone's else's code is my line in the sand. You will never get me to change my mind.

 

*Name changed to protect the innocent.

Edited Saturday at 08:42 PM by SamIAmHam

[SamIAmHam]

Carnal Realms 9.1 Update

 

Societies

 

Carnal Realms now treats societies as long-term narrative institutions rather than passive bonus menus. The central rule is simple:

 

Randomness chooses which story begins.

Memory determines what story continues.

 

Society missions use persistent Story Decks. The opening situation, participants, province, title, institution, relationship, and earlier choices remain part of the story through later stages. Choices produce consequences, complications, and success, partial-success, or failure endings that resolve the story that actually began.

 

 

Shared Society Framework

 

The ten formal religious and philosophical orders require five years at each rank before promotion. The same rule applies to player and AI advancement.

Society rank traits are synchronized when a member joins, advances, falls in rank, changes religion, leaves, or is recovered by the maintenance system. Previous rank traits are removed before the current one is granted.

All authored and rebuilt societies have dedicated rank-trait icons and society-panel rank strips. The nine Warrior Lodges also have lodge-specific rank traits and strips.

Each active society has its own 531x615 society background. Duplicate backgrounds were removed and the Magdalene panel was upgraded while preserving its established altar composition.

Current-standard mission decks retain actual characters, provinces, Houses, titles, manuscripts, artifacts, religious offices, and other story-specific scopes.

Personality traits affect AI choices according to the decision being made in the scene. Different missions use different pressures rather than one universal personality split.

Premises that require disease, war, raiding, unrest, hardship, holy sites, festivals, damaged institutions, or other world conditions are gated before the premise can be selected.

Adult intimacy is integrated into society life where it fits the society and story. It can create trust, jealousy, pregnancy, rivalry, affection, exposure, or complications; it is not an automatic success button.

Mature artifact systems use tiered regalia and manuscript libraries. Higher-tier regalia destroys the previous item in the same slot, worn regalia is cleaned up on death, and books pass to the heir where that society uses inherited manuscripts.

 

 

Order of the Sacred Magdalene

 

The original Story Deck prototype has been rebuilt as a current-standard female Catholic order centered on sacred prostitution, mercy, sacred desire, carnal charity, and Mary Magdalene as the beloved disciple.

The ten quarterly missions are Serve as a Temple Prostitute, Lead Temple Group Service, Teach at the Order House, Feed the Poor, Minister to the Sick, Receive Pilgrims, Copy and Teach Scripture, Serve Widows and Orphans, Steward an Order House, and Feast for the People.

Each mission preserves one of twenty opening premises through all four quarters, records cumulative choices, retains its participants and location, and reaches a mission-specific success, partial-success, or failure ending.

Disease missions require an actual diseased province and an Order House before they can be offered. Comparable province-dependent premises use the same availability rule.

Teach at the Order House combines doctrine with lessons in sex as a holy rite, including adult same-sex practice and period-appropriate erotic objects.

Temple Group Service preserves three distinct eligible adult clients and uses larger communal rites when local demand supports them.

Serve in the House of Mercy retains its payment system, solo and group service, client obedience, and punishment mechanics. Disobedient clients may be imprisoned, excommunicated, and publicly scandalized according to rank.

House of Mercy group service can involve up to ten willing adult participants. Both male and female group routes are supported, including the male-group cum-bath conclusion.

The Public Altar and other public activities use continuing Story Decks, remembered participants, and explicit adult communal rites.

Magdalene Feast and Fair guest logic recognizes the other Catholic orders.

The society retains its vows, rites, Grace economy, rank progression, artifacts, manuscripts, event art, icons, and dedicated visual identity.

Kept Mercy tentacle stories now use ten new 3:1 scene-family images, including relationship, household, study, court, and shadowed erotic scenes. Three wild-creature images are registered for later event use.

 

 

Benedictine Order

 

The Benedictines are a male Catholic order centered on Shepherd service, levirate assistance, household continuity, fertility, hospitality, charity, and practical service.

The active quarterly mission roster has been focused to ten distinct decks: Shepherd the Flock, Group Shepherd Service, Preserve a Household, Preserve a Noble House, Serve the Public, Copy Sacred Scripture, Preserve a Manuscript, Assist a Household, Safeguard Continuity, and Benedictine Feast.

The six removed decks and their stale localization were cleaned from the active mission presentation.

Missions retain their actual household, spouse, petitioner, client, heir, dynasty, manuscript, and province context through the year.

Levirate stories preserve the intended legal household and dynasty while recording the actual biological father through the established pregnancy and birth handling.

Group Shepherd Service validates its distinct adult participants before the route is offered.

Grace replaces Devotion as the Benedictine society currency.

Benedictine rank traits, five-year rank tenure, consort limits, vows, rites, public activities, House of the Shepherd building chain, event pictures, rank strips, regalia, and inherited manuscripts are integrated.

Benedictine public-event preparation recognizes members of all three Catholic orders.

 

 

Dominican Order

 

The Dominicans are a mixed male and female Catholic order centered on doctrine, examination, correction, submission, religious discipline, and inquisitorial service.

The nine ordinary missions are separate remembered decks: Examine the Faithful, Examine a Ruler, Correct the Faithful, Teach and Preach, Train an Inquisitor, Serve a Temple, Examine the Clergy, Copy Sacred Scripture, and Preserve a Manuscript.

Rope, cuffs, collars, edging, caning, flogging, toys, denial, role reversal, penetration, and aftercare can establish different continuing consequences involving trust, pressure, humiliation, obedience, resistance, opinion, and mission score.

Faith replaces Devotion as the Dominican society currency.

Catholic temple holders and Catholic Court Chaplains are enforced as Dominicans through appointment eligibility, immediate grants, character creation, startup, religion conversion, society departure, title changes, and yearly recovery.

The Hunt Heretics starter is silently redirected into the Dominican investigation system when Dominican conditions apply. The exact vanilla suspected heretic is preserved as the accused throughout the case.

Investigations last four quarters, preserve evidence and prior choices, support concurrent cases on different accused characters, and deliver their report even when the investigator is independent.

Restoration remains a second-stage response to a proven case. Successful or partial restoration clears the target's secret religion, removes Devil Worshipper membership, and restores Catholicism.

Existing execution, banishment, branding, release, and restoration judgments remain available to the responsible authority.

Dominican Feast and Fair events invite eligible adult members of all three Catholic orders.

Mixed-gender papal infrastructure, female temple holders, Cardinals, Popes or Pappisas, five-year ranks, rank traits, vows, rites, artifacts, manuscript inheritance, and visual assets remain integrated.

 

 

Community of Saint Basil

 

The Orthodox Community is a mixed-sex Christian order built around service, discipline, learning, restoration, and communal life.

It reuses suitable Magdalene, Benedictine, and Dominican Story Deck engines while preserving the Community member as the acting character and retaining the original mission's participants, premise, choices, and outcomes.

Female members can enter sacred bodily-service routes; male members can enter Shepherd, levirate, and continuity routes; both can enter discipline, instruction, correction, charity, hospitality, household, Scripture, and manuscript stories when eligible.

The Community has its own four rank traits, society rank strips, Byzantine visual identity, complete four-tier regalia, and four manuscript traditions.

It follows the common five-year rank rule and can culminate in voluntary angelic ascension as a Throne.

 

 

Community of Saint Abraham

 

The East Syriac Community is a mixed-sex Christian order centered on hospitality, service, Scripture, household support, teaching, and distant Christian communities.

It reuses appropriate existing Christian Story Decks without cloning their event libraries or inventing doctrine that does not belong to the Community.

Its available stories emphasize charity, hospitality, households, Scripture, manuscripts, service, submission, instruction, and public cooperation.

The Community has its own four rank traits, society rank strips, East Syriac visual identity, complete four-tier regalia, and four manuscript traditions.

It follows the common five-year rank rule and can culminate in voluntary angelic ascension as a Principality.

 

 

Community of Saint Anthony

 

The Community of Saint Anthony is a mixed male and female Miaphysite order centered on sacred submission, humility, service, trust, and the rejection of pride.

Its eleven quarterly missions are Submit to Correction, Serve the Community, Serve a Stranger, Surrender Rank, Confront Jealousy, Learn Trust, Public Submission, Reconcile a Household, Copy Sacred Scripture, Preserve a Manuscript, and Feast of Humility.

Each mission uses twenty gated opening premises, remembers cumulative choices through all four quarters, preserves its correcting adult, traveler, trusted partner, household, manuscript, province, and other required scopes, and reaches a story-specific success, partial-success, or failure ending.

The Vows of Submission and the Open Body support five rank-gated rites: Humble Service, Sacred Submission, the Open Body, Correction, and Perfect Surrender.

Feast of Humility, Celebration of the Open Body, and Festival of Service provide the Community's social and public events. Adult intimacy appears as willing service, trust, reconciliation, bodily equality, and fellowship.

Four synchronized rank traits, dedicated trait icons and society rank strips, the common five-year rank requirement, and voluntary Rank 4 ascension as a Cherub are integrated.

The Community has complete four-tier regalia, four inherited manuscript traditions, decision and artifact art, a dedicated society background, and sixteen registered 3:1 event pictures. Ten crowded scenes were reframed from their original art to keep the principal figures and actions inside the event window.

 

 

Advaita Matha

 

The Hindu monastic society has become the mixed male and female Advaita Matha, centered on sacred union, embodied philosophy, fertility, temple service, and nonduality.

Its ten quarterly missions are Guide a Sacred Union, Lead Communal Union, Serve the Temple, Conduct Sacred Anointing, Prepare a Fertility Rite, Guide a Consort Household, Reconcile Lovers, Teach Embodied Nonduality, Copy and Study Sacred Teaching, and Restore a Temple Tradition.

Every mission preserves twenty opening premises, continuing participants and places, cumulative choices, and success, partial-success, or failure results.

The society includes the Vows of Sacred Union and the Open Body; five rank-gated rites; Feast of Union, Temple Fair, and Festival of Nonduality; 3/6/9/12 consort limits; and a five-year rank progression.

Full regalia, four manuscript traditions, rank traits, decision art, event pictures, and society-panel visuals are wired.

The vanilla Hindu monastic mission selector now issues Advaita missions directly.

 

 

Savaka-Sangha

 

The Buddhist monastic society has become a mixed male and female Sangha centered on shared pleasure, emotional generosity, hospitality, reconciliation, and freedom from possessive jealousy.

Ten distinct quarterly missions use remembered openings, cumulative choices, persistent participants and world context, and success, partial-success, or failure endings.

Sexual generosity can build trust or companionship, but jealousy, conflicting expectations, and possessiveness can complicate or ruin a story.

Joy is the society currency. The Sangha has two vows, five rites, three public activities, 3/6/9/12 consort limits, four rank traits, and the common five-year rank progression.

Complete tiered regalia, inherited manuscript traditions, event art, decision icons, trait icons, and society rank strips are integrated.

 

 

Sravakha-Samgha

 

The Jain monastic society has become a mixed male and female Samgha centered on non-harm, honesty, non-possession, consent, boundaries, restraint, and mastery of pleasure.

Ten distinct quarterly Story Decks cover gentle restraint, controlled group rites, orgasm discipline, possessive households, boundary disputes, protection of professional companions, non-possession, harmed relationships, harmless pleasure, and preservation of the teachings.

Restraint practices and sexual choices have context-specific consequences rather than collapsing into one generic intimacy result.

Discipline is the society currency. The Samgha has the Vows of Ahimsa and Aparigraha, five rites, three public activities, 3/6/9/12 consort limits, four rank traits, and five-year ranks.

Complete tiered regalia, manuscript traditions, 3:1 event art, decision icons, trait icons, and society rank strips are integrated.

 

 

Stoic Intelligentsia

 

The Hellenistic philosophical society is now a mixed male and female order centered on reason, self-command, civic duty, endurance, natural desire, and life according to nature.

Its eleven quarterly missions include Counsel a Ruler, Conduct a Public Disputation, Educate a Young Adult, Reconcile Lovers, Endure Public Insult, Face Personal Loss, Test Desire, Resolve a Household Conflict, Preside over a Symposium, Write or Defend a Philosophical Treatise, and Practice Voluntary Discomfort.

Pleasure, sex, affection, wine, wealth, and status are treated as legitimate parts of life whose value depends on deliberate judgment and self-command.

Publicly teaching one principle and choosing its opposite can produce temporary Hypocrisy.

Reason is the society currency. The Intelligentsia has two vows, five rites, three public activities, 3/6/9/12 consort limits, four rank traits, and five-year ranks.

Complete tiered regalia, manuscript traditions, 3:1 event pictures, decision icons, trait icons, and society rank strips are integrated.

 

 

Hermetic Society

 

The Hermetics have been rebuilt as a serious medieval learned society while preserving laboratories, observatories, ingredients, apprentices, papers, astrology, alchemy, medicine, artifacts, and Magnum Opus production.

The ten society-issued missions are Observe the Heavens, Conduct an Alchemical Experiment, Investigate a Natural Phenomenon, Treat a Difficult Patient, Recover a Lost Manuscript, Translate and Interpret a Text, Construct a Scholarly Instrument, Defend a Thesis, Train an Apprentice, and Verify Another Scholar's Claim.

Each mission has twenty remembered premises, cumulative quarterly choices, persistent scholars, patients, claimants, apprentices, provinces, and books, and success, partial-success, or failure results.

Specialized premises require their actual disease, patient, coast, mountain, laboratory, observatory, book, ingredient, scholar, claimant, hardship, damage, or unrest context.

Three repeatable general scholarly Story Decks run alongside the formal missions.

Rank advancement requires accumulated scholarly accomplishments. Magnum Opus remains separate and now benefits from completed research history.

Existing Feast and Fair events contain Hermetic options; obsolete invention, summoning, and warding chains were removed.

Adult intimacy routes are available in every formal and general Hermetic deck when a valid partner and context exist.

Hermetic event pictures, decision icons, rank traits, rank strips, society background, and artifact presentation are wired.

 

 

The Assassins

 

The Assassins are one mixed male and female, multicultural organization devoted to paid assassination contracts.

The existing assassination plot recruits the organization. Contract cost scales from barons through emperors, and payment is taken only when the organization accepts the contract.

The target must be in diplomatic range and cannot be a member of the Assassins.

Rank limits the highest target tier an operative may receive. Culture and religion matches improve assignment priority because they make infiltration more believable.

Six directed methods are available when the operative and target meet their requirements: Seduce an Asset, Infiltrate the Household, Poison the Target, Bribe an Insider, Approach as a Physician, and Direct Ambush.

Selecting a method locks the operation to that method. The same target, asset, cover, poison access, patient, insider, or ambush location remains part of the story until success, failure, exposure, abort, capture, or death.

Successful contracts award society standing according to target importance and contribute to rank advancement. Currency alone cannot make an unproven initiate eligible for imperial contracts.

The society includes four rank traits, practical four-tier regalia, operational manuscript traditions, dedicated event art, decision icons, and society-panel visuals.

 

 

Secret Religious Cults

 

The shared Secret Religious Cult template now uses one religion-neutral Story Deck framework rather than a separately hard-coded implementation for every faith.

The rebuilt decks are Blend In, Conduct a Secret Ceremony, Recruit a Believer, Convert a Household, Evoke Sympathy, Induct a Child, Prepare the Grounds, Avoid Exposure, and Restore the Faith.

Each campaign preserves its recruit, household members, child, witness, investigator, ceremony participants, province, and prior choices through a 20/40/80/160 progression.

Religious text adapts to the member's actual secret faith through dynamic faith names, high gods, scripture, worship, clergy, and community mappings.

Adult intimacy can create private trust, access, loyalty, jealousy, or exposure. It does not guarantee conversion. The child-induction deck contains no sexual content.

Sympathy remains distinct from secret conversion, and secret conversion remains distinct from joining the society.

Prepare the Grounds remains tied to one actual province and preserves the existing secret-community modifiers.

Avoid Exposure begins from a real suspicion or compromised-cult state and remembers the actual witness or investigator.

Restore the Faith measures earlier household, recruitment, sympathy, ceremony, and province work. It prepares the realm but never forces public conversion.

Openly Adopt Faith remains the player's explicit final decision.

 

 

Warrior Lodges

 

All nine Warrior Lodges retain their cultural and religious identities, rank titles, heads, and visual themes while using one current-standard CR narrative architecture.

Twelve society-issued Story Decks cover Build Your Legend, Challenge a Rival, Train a Warrior, Prove Your Strength, Great Hunt, Go to War, Raid for Glory, Wrestle a Warrior, Celebrate a Victory, Defend Your Reputation, Bear the Scars, and Raise the Next Generation.

The decks remember opponents, victories, defeats, lovers, rivals, friends, injuries, scars, kills, hunts, raids, wars, children, pregnancies, boasting, humiliation, and earlier sexual choices.

Personal Combat Skill establishes martial credibility. Fertility influences the reproductive side of the legend. Both are checked again as the story develops.

Every major deck contains appropriate adult sexual routes. Private encounters can grow into recurring relationships, rivalries, group celebrations, fertility stories, and part of the warrior's public legend.

Five rank-gated rites and three public lodge activities combine martial competition, bodily display, feasting, bathing, attraction, and celebration.

Lodge-specific rank traits, icons, rank strips, unique society backgrounds, and seven 3:1 pagan event scenes are wired for all nine lodges.

 

 

Devil Worshippers

 

The regional vanilla Devil Worshipper societies have been replaced by one mixed male and female, cross-religious secret society.

On joining, a member permanently chooses Chastity, Greed, Wrath, Pride, Envy, Gluttony, or Sloth. Lust is a virtue in Carnal Realms, so Chastity occupies the seventh infernal path.

The chosen sin controls rites, Story Deck continuations, obligations, realm corruption, temptation methods, and ascension requirements.

Ten society-issued quarterly Story Decks cover temptation, recruitment, religious officials, sacred places, spread of the chosen sin, households, rulers, lovers or consorts, feeding the sin, and preparation for ascension.

Religion-specific text supplies the society name, rank titles, infernal power, religious officials, sacred places, sacrilege, invocations, artifacts, manuscripts, and demonic terminology.

Rank-scaled corruption affects fertility, building costs, revolt risk, prosperity growth, levy and garrison size, or required violence and raiding according to the chosen sin.

Chastity follows refusal, abstinence, denial, reproductive rejection, and permanent celibacy. The other paths use distinct fetish, excess, power, possession, violence, status, appetite, or indolence themes.

Rank 4 members who complete their path may voluntarily ascend as a public demon. Christian demons are excommunicated and all demons become valid targets for the persistent Demon Hunt system.

The society includes four ranks, five-year tenure, Corruption currency, two vows, five rites, three secret gatherings, complete regalia and manuscripts, individual art for every artifact tier, and dedicated event and interface visuals.

 

 

Angelic and Demonic Ascension

 

Rank 4 members of the six Christian societies may voluntarily end their mortal society progression through angelic ascension.

The Order of the Sacred Magdalene produces Seraphim; Benedictines produce Malakhim; Dominicans produce Archangels; Saint Basil produces Thrones; Saint Abraham produces Principalities; and Saint Anthony produces Cherubim.

Devil Worshippers ascend into one of seven visible demon types determined by their chosen sin.

Every visible angel and demon specialization has exactly six benefits. Archangels count their Demon Hunt advantage as one benefit, and Demons of Envy count permanent raiding access as one benefit.

Angels and demons are permanently public, cannot cross-ascend, cannot repeat ascension, and cannot return to their former mortal society.

All angels hold a -50 opinion of all demons, and all demons hold a -50 opinion of all angels.

Legacy generic demons remain recognized. A recoverable chosen sin converts them safely to the matching visible type without stacking the old and new bonuses.

 

 

Presentation and Cleanup

 

All recent society event pictures were normalized to the Carnal Realms 768x256, 3:1 event format.

Society rank icons, trait icons, decision icons, artifact art, rank strips, and backgrounds were audited and wired to their live owners.

Live society localization and the current Fixes mirrors were cleaned of duplicate keys. Only the latest requested localization copies are retained in Fixes.

Obsolete mission selectors and replaced downstream chains are disabled or redirected so the old and new implementations do not compete.

 

 

Development Status

 

The society systems above have received current-source static checks for routing, event destinations, localization, image references, state counts, and other subsystem-specific requirements. CK2 has not been launched for one continuous full-campaign society test, so delayed-event timing, AI behavior, save migration, and final in-engine presentation remain runtime test items.

 

 

Hermaphrodite Sex

 

Added in hermaphrodite sex between men, women, and other hermaphrodites. It begins by right clicking the person you want your character to have sex with. The catch is that your character must already have a sexual relationship with them. This launches a focused story deck that is repeatable.

 

 

Hellenistic Revival

 

Hellenistic revival has been redone. It is an adventure style story deck that begins with a single opening act. It then branches based upon the character's traits and the choices they make. It still requires to be the ruler of the province in the vanilla event.

 

Wild Tentacles

 

Wild tentacles have been implemented with event pictures. They are a full story deck that begins with how the character meets it and builds a relationship with it. The end state of the story deck is repeatable. Unlike Kept Mercies, Wild Companions are treated as disgusting by every religion in the world. 

 

Release Status

 

The update should be released later on in the week. I want to put some hours into it to see what bugs pop up. Once the obvious bugs are squashed I'll release it. A word of warning that this update will break saves. This is a beta so I want you to understand that.

 

[SamIAmHam]

Combat Overhaul Part II: Building an Army That Fights Your Way

The Problem With Vanilla Levies

Vanilla Crusader Kings II gives the player surprisingly little control over the composition of a levy. Military buildings commonly bundle troop types together, so improving a holding often adds a mixture of soldiers whether that mixture suits the player's plans or not. The result is an army whose composition is determined largely by building packages rather than by deliberate military planning. That is especially limiting in Carnal Realms because troop composition now helps determine which tactics a flank can use in battle.

 

The military overhaul joins the holding and combat systems together. Every established holding begins with a baseline levy instead of requiring buildings to create soldiers from nothing, while military infrastructure gradually develops that levy into a balanced combined-arms force. Each troop family has its own building chain, with the number of troops added at each tier calculated so that a fully developed holding reaches the intended 25/20/20/20/15 force mix. This gives every normal troop family a meaningful battlefield presence and allows the completed levy to meet the 15 percent troop requirements for the widest range of tactics. The buildings therefore do more than increase the size of the levy. They progressively transform the holding's basic manpower into the balanced force required to take full advantage of the combat system.

The Holding Supplies the Men

The new system keeps the vanilla manpower total for each holding type, but remaps that manpower into two appropriate baseline troop families. These soldiers represent the ordinary military manpower already present in a functioning settlement. Buildings represent the equipment, training, organization, horses, ranges, drill grounds, and other infrastructure needed to turn more of that manpower into specialized battlefield arms.

 

Holding	Baseline Levy	Total
Castle	191 Archers + 34 Heavy Infantry	225
City	97 Archers + 18 Heavy Infantry	115
Temple	110 Light Infantry + 20 Archers	130
Tribal	106 Light Infantry + 19 Archers	125
Family Palace*	42 Archers + 8 Heavy Infantry	50
Nomadic Capital	170 Light Cavalry + 30 Horse Archers	200

 

These are raw holding troops before Martial and other percentage modifiers. Settled holdings begin around a large body of archers supported by better-equipped foot, tribal and temple holdings begin around a mass of Light Infantry, and the nomadic capital begins as a mounted force. Military construction then fills out the rest of the roster.

 

*Removed for balance reasons.

One Troop Type, One Military Chain

Each permitted troop family now has its own military building chain. An Archer Range develops archers, a Heavy Infantry Barracks develops heavy infantry, a Pike Yard develops spear and pike formations, and the cavalry arms have their own stables. Tribal armies use the same principle with Light Infantry, spear-armed Pikemen, Archers, Light Cavalry, and Horse Archers. The Pike category is CK2's battlefield abstraction for organized spear and pike infantry, so tribal Pikemen include spear-armed warriors rather than implying that every tribal soldier carries a late-medieval pike.

 

All ordinary chains may be built together. There is no artificial choice between an Archer Range and a Pike Yard simply because both are military buildings. The limits are money or prestige, construction time, technology, building space, and the opportunity cost of spending those resources on military development rather than something else.

Who Can Raise What?

Military System	Available Troops
Feudal and Republic	Heavy Infantry, Pikemen, Archers, Light Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry
Tribal	Light Infantry, Pikemen, Archers, Light Cavalry, Horse Archers
Temple Levies	Light Infantry, Pikemen, Archers, Light Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry or Horse Archers
Nomad	Light Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, Horse Archers, plus appropriate regional mounted special troops

 

Temples no longer use Heavy Infantry. Their premium mounted arm is either Heavy Cavalry or Horse Archers through mutually exclusive levy-building alternatives. Nomadic hordes are a separate exception, and Heavy Cavalry and Horse Archers may coexist there because the horde and retinue systems are not governed by the levy-building premium replacement rule.

The Target Composition

The completed military system is built around the same 15 percent threshold used by the combat overhaul. In the normal five-family levy, the largest and cheapest baseline family finishes at 25 percent, the three ordinary supporting arms finish at 20 percent each, and the premium arm finishes at 15 percent. The result is a complete 100 percent force in which every ordinary supporting arm begins safely above the tactical threshold.

 

Role	Final Share
Large baseline family	25%
Supporting arm	20%
Supporting arm	20%
Supporting arm	20%
Premium arm	15%

 

The premium position is a replacement slot rather than an extra category. Heavy Cavalry fills it in the ordinary settled force, Horse Archers fill it in the standard tribal force, and culturally or regionally appropriate special troops can replace the normal premium arm. They do not create a sixth 15 percent category. War Elephants remain a deliberate exception because their scarcity and battlefield value make a normal 15 percent elephant requirement inappropriate.

Buildings Grow Toward the Composition

The building numbers are calculated from the desired completed army rather than balanced as isolated recruitment packages. A troop family absent from the baseline receives a large Tier I catch-up so that it becomes tactically relevant. The smaller baseline troop receives only the amount needed to reach the same general level, while the large baseline family receives fewer recruits because much of its eventual numerical advantage already exists before the first building is constructed. Later tiers advance the supporting arms together while preserving the mass troop's inherited lead.

 

A castle begins with 191 Archers and 34 Heavy Infantry. Pike, Light Cavalry, and Heavy Cavalry begin at zero, so their first buildings add enough soldiers to establish those arms immediately. By Tier VI, a fully developed castle reaches 500 Archers, 400 Heavy Infantry, 400 Pikemen, 400 Light Cavalry, and 300 Heavy Cavalry. That is exactly 25/20/20/20/15 percent.

 

Castle Building	Troops by Tier	Tier Costs (Gold)
Archer Range	59 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50 / 50	100 / 120 / 200 / 300 / 400 / 500
Heavy Infantry Barracks	86 / 56 / 56 / 56 / 56 / 56	50 / 60 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250
Pike Yard	120 / 56 / 56 / 56 / 56 / 56	50 / 60 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250
Light Cavalry Stables	120 / 56 / 56 / 56 / 56 / 56	50 / 60 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250
Knight Stables	108 / 39 / 39 / 38 / 38 / 38	50 / 60 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250

 

Cities follow the same settled pattern and finish at 450 Archers, 360 Heavy Infantry, 360 Pikemen, 360 Light Cavalry, and 270 Heavy Cavalry. Family Palaces finish at 375 Archers, 300 Heavy Infantry, 300 Pikemen, 300 Light Cavalry, and 225 Heavy Cavalry. The scale changes, but the mature composition remains 25/20/20/20/15.

Tribal and Temple Development

Tribal holdings use four military tiers and finish at 400 Light Infantry, 320 Archers, 320 Pikemen, 320 Light Cavalry, and 240 Horse Archers. Light Infantry remains the 25 percent mass arm, the three supporting families finish at 20 percent each, and Horse Archers occupy the 15 percent premium slot. The Pike category represents the spear-armed component of the tribal army, giving those warriors their own battlefield role instead of burying every lightly equipped foot soldier inside Light Infantry.

 

Tribal Building	Troops by Tier	Tier Costs (Prestige)
War Camp	81 / 71 / 71 / 71	50 / 100 / 150 / 200
Practice Range	85 / 72 / 72 / 72	50 / 100 / 150 / 200
Pike Drill	104 / 72 / 72 / 72	50 / 100 / 150 / 200
Light Cavalry Corral	104 / 72 / 72 / 72	50 / 100 / 150 / 200
Horse-Archer Pastures	90 / 50 / 50 / 50	50 / 100 / 150 / 200

 

Temples use Light Infantry as their mass family and no longer field Heavy Infantry. Their mature levy is 450 Light Infantry, 360 Archers, 360 Pikemen, 360 Light Cavalry, and 270 troops in the premium slot. The premium troops may be Heavy Cavalry or Horse Archers, but the alternatives are mutually exclusive so that the temple remains a five-family levy rather than gaining an additional troop category.

Improving the Mass Troop

The large baseline troop receives fewer new soldiers from its building chain, but each upgrade also improves the Defense and Morale of that troop family by 2.5 percent. The modifier applies to the entire contingent of that type originating from the holding, including the large number already present in the baseline. The building therefore represents better equipment, discipline, organization, and training rather than merely recruiting another oversized block of men.

 

Castle and city archers reach a cumulative 15 percent Defense and Morale bonus at Tier VI. Temple Light Infantry reaches the same 15 percent at Tier VI, tribal Light Infantry reaches 10 percent at Tier IV, and Family Palace archers reach 7.5 percent at Tier III. No offensive bonus is added, so the system improves the staying power of the mass arm without restoring the old stacking-offense meta.

From Tribal Warfare to Settled Warfare

When a tribal holding becomes a castle or city, both its baseline and its military infrastructure change with it. The tribal Light Infantry baseline ceases to apply and the new settled holding immediately uses the appropriate Heavy Infantry and Archer baseline. War Camps become Heavy Infantry infrastructure, while the other ordinary arms convert into their settled counterparts. Horse-Archer infrastructure becomes Heavy Cavalry infrastructure. Already-raised troops are not removed by an artificial cleanup event.

 

Tribal Infrastructure	Castle Successor	City / Republic Successor
War Camp	Heavy Infantry Barracks	Heavy Infantry Guild
Practice Range	Archer Range	City Archer Range
Pike Drill	Pike Yard	Pike Guard
Light Cavalry Corral	Light Cavalry Stables	Livery Stables
Horse-Archer Pastures	Knight Stables	Patrician Knight Stables

 

How This Connects to the Combat Overhaul

For ordinary troop types, 15 percent of a flank is the standard for a tactically significant presence. A flank with enough Archers can use archer tactics, enough Pikemen can use spear and pike formations, and enough cavalry can use the appropriate mounted tactics. Mixed maneuvers can require more than one troop family to be present at the same time.

 

Example Tactic	Basic Troop Requirement
Volley	15% Archers
Harass	15% Light Cavalry or appropriate equivalent
Swarm	15% Horse Archers
Advance	15% appropriate infantry
Stand Fast	15% Pikemen
Charge	15% Heavy Cavalry / Knights
Harass Swarm	15% Light Cavalry and 15% Horse Archers
Swarm Volley	15% Archers and 15% Horse Archers

 

The troop percentage is only the composition gate. Technology, commander Martial, commander traits, terrain, battle phase, enemy composition, and the other conditions attached to advanced tactics remain in force. War Elephants retain their special 3 percent threshold rather than being normalized to 15 percent.

Combined Arms, Specialization, and Casualties

The overhaul deliberately rewards combined arms with tactical flexibility and penalizes specialization by locking the specialized flank out of tactics whose troop requirements it cannot meet. A fully developed standard force begins with the three supporting arms at 20 percent and the premium arm at 15 percent, so it can satisfy a broad range of composition gates. A player who concentrates heavily on one or two troop families may put more soldiers under the bonuses of a favored tactic, but the price is a much smaller tactical menu.

 

That tactical menu can shrink during the battle. Casualties alter the percentages of the surviving flank. The 20 percent supporting arms begin with a five-point cushion above the threshold, while the 25 percent mass arm has a larger reserve. If one troop family takes disproportionate losses and falls below 15 percent, tactics that require it disappear from the available choices. The premium arm begins at exactly 15 percent, so losses to Heavy Cavalry or its special replacement can remove premium tactics quickly. A fresh combined-arms force can therefore lose tactical flexibility as its formation is broken down by casualties.

Cultural and Regional Premium Troops

Cultural and regional special troops now fit the same structure instead of being stacked on top of it. Camel Cavalry can replace Heavy Cavalry in appropriate settled armies, while tribal cultures may replace the standard Horse Archer premium chain with another appropriate mounted special troop. Indian elephant infrastructure replaces the premium chain while retaining the special elephant exception. This preserves cultural military identity without granting a culture an extra troop family and an extra set of tactic gates for free.

 

The overhaul also removes the old habit of using enormous offense, defense, and morale bonuses in levy-producing cultural buildings. Cultural identity now comes primarily from troop composition, access, and appropriate special troops. The mass-family quality bonus is deliberately modest and defensive, while the more extreme retinue bonuses remain a separate balance pass.

Retinues Are the Next Piece

The tactic thresholds and levy system are now operating under the new composition rules, but the full retinue rewrite remains the next major piece. Vanilla retinues were designed around the old tactic selector, and many of their ratios and large cultural bonuses were chosen for that environment. The current audit preserves the exposed global cap weights while reviewing compositions and modifiers against the new 15 percent system.

 

Troop Type	Current Retinue Cap Weight
Light Infantry	0.7
Archers	2.0
Pikemen	2.5
Heavy Infantry	3.0
Light Cavalry	3.0
Horse Archers	4.0
Heavy Cavalry	6.0
War Elephants	20.0

 

Heavy Cavalry therefore remains much more expensive in standing-army capacity than ordinary infantry, while War Elephants remain exceptional. Those global weights have not been changed merely to make the new levy ratios work. Retinue composition and bonuses can be brought into line with the combat overhaul without discarding the economic distinction already built into the troop types.

What This Means in Play

Military construction in Carnal Realms is no longer simply a way to make the levy number larger. The holding supplies a basic body of soldiers, and the buildings selected by the player determine how that manpower develops. Building every military arm creates a broad force designed to preserve access to many tactics. Concentrating construction into only a few arms creates a specialized force that may be very strong when the right tactic is selected, but it is deliberately locked out of much of the tactical system.

 

Those choices continue to matter after the battle begins. Losses can knock a troop family below the 15 percent threshold and remove tactics that depended upon it, so an army's tactical capabilities can deteriorate along with its manpower. The result is a direct chain from realm development to battlefield behavior: the player chooses the infrastructure, the infrastructure shapes the levy, the levy determines the available tactics, and the commander, technology, terrain, enemy, and casualties determine how long those options remain available.

 

Buildings → Levy Composition → Available Tactics → Commander + Technology + Terrain + Casualties → Battle

 

That is the purpose of the overhaul: the army on the battlefield should be the army the player chose to build, and the way that army fights should change naturally as that army is developed, commanded, and worn down.

Edited Tuesday at 08:50 AM by SamIAmHam

[SamIAmHam]

Combat Overhaul Part III: Merchant Republic Family Palaces

The combat testing uncovered one significant problem with the new military system. Merchant Republics were fielding armies that were considerably larger than those of the other governments. Republic armies averaged a little more than 2,100 men, compared with approximately 1,380 for Feudal armies and 1,040 for Tribal armies. This translated into Republic victories in roughly 69 percent of their battles against Feudal armies and 85 percent of their battles against Tribal armies. The problem was not caused by the combat tactics or troop types themselves. It came from the Family Palace.

 

The Family Palace had effectively become a second military holding. In addition to the troops supplied by developed city holdings, the palace was producing heavy infantry, pikemen, archers, light cavalry, and knights through several military building chains. The earlier combat overhaul had also added separate Household Pike Drill and Household Knight Stud chains so that the palace could field the full settled troop roster. In practice, this gave Merchant Republics too much permanent manpower before their wealth, mercenaries, retinues, and other advantages were even considered.

 

That was never the military role I intended for Merchant Republics. Their strength is supposed to come from wealth, commerce, mercenaries, professional forces, ships, and the ability to sustain military operations for long periods. A Republic should certainly be dangerous when it has a full treasury, but it should have to spend that money in order to turn economic strength into military strength. The Family Palace therefore needed to stop functioning as another castle and return to being the administrative and economic center of the patrician family.

 

The Guard Barracks chain is being replaced by a single Military Headquarters costing 400 gold. The Military Headquarters will not produce soldiers directly. Instead, it will provide a 10 percent global levy bonus, representing improved recruitment, military records, mobilization, and administration throughout the patrician family's holdings. This allows a wealthy and established Republic to organize its existing forces more efficiently without giving the Family Palace an independent levy of its own.

 

The Bowyer chain is being replaced by a single Finance Administration costing 500 gold. Finance Administration will provide an additional 2.5 gold per month, or 30 gold per year. This represents the accountants, commercial agents, financial officers, and contract administrators required to manage a major patrician fortune. More importantly, it strengthens the Republic in the manner originally intended. The palace does not provide another regiment of archers. It provides the money needed to hire troops when war comes.

 

The Stable chain is being replaced by a four-level Quartermaster Supply chain. Each level will provide another 100 days of army supply, producing cumulative totals of 100, 200, 300, and 400 additional days. The four levels will cost 250, 350, 450, and 550 gold. This gives developed Republics a major logistical advantage without increasing their permanent manpower. Their armies and hired forces will be able to remain in the field for exceptionally long campaigns, which gives the Republic a distinct military strength without simply handing it more soldiers.

 

The existing Military Warehouse chain is also being replaced. The new Warehouse will be a single building costing 750 gold and providing one additional trade post. Its former morale, reinforcement, retinue, and stewardship bonuses will be removed. The Warehouse will now represent the large commercial storage and distribution network required to support another branch of the family's trading empire. This ties the building directly into the economic foundation that makes Merchant Republic warfare possible.

 

The separate Household Pike Drill and Household Knight Stud chains added during the earlier combat overhaul will also be removed. Otherwise, the Family Palace would continue to produce pikemen and knights after the original troop buildings had been replaced. Once these changes are complete, the Family Palace will no longer produce direct land troops through dedicated military buildings. Republic land forces will come from their cities, their general levy organization, retinues, and the mercenary companies that their wealth allows them to hire.

 

The Family Palace shipyard chain will remain unchanged. Merchant Republics should possess strong private naval infrastructure, and the ships were not responsible for the imbalance found during testing. Their ability to move armies by sea is an appropriate advantage for a government built around maritime trade and commercial power.

 

The purpose of these changes is not to weaken Merchant Republics until they resemble Feudal rulers. It is to make them powerful for different reasons. Feudal governments can rely upon strong permanent levies, while Merchant Republics will rely more heavily upon money, trade, mercenaries, logistics, retinues, and ships. The Republic can still become one of the most dangerous governments in the game, but that strength will now come from its treasury and commercial organization rather than from a Family Palace quietly producing another army.

[SamIAmHam]

Carnal Realms Combat Overhaul

Simulation After-Action Report

The present combat system was subjected to a series of controlled simulations intended to determine whether army size alone remained the dominant factor in battle, or whether the revised military system had succeeded in making composition, development, command, tactics, technology, and terrain meaningful parts of the result. The tests conducted to date include Tribal against Tribal, Feudal against Feudal, Republic against Republic, Feudal against Tribal, and Feudal against Republic. One hundred battles were fought for each relevant development pairing, with commanders, Martial ability, leadership traits, mounts, technology, terrain, and other battlefield circumstances allowed to vary within the simulation.

 

The results indicate that the system is performing according to its intended design. Development gives an army a measurable advantage, but does not determine the result by itself once opposing forces are within a reasonable range of one another. Equal-development armies consistently produced results close to an even division of victories. Once the structural strength of the two armies was approximately equal, command and battlefield conditions became the deciding factors rather than the government type or the simple number of soldiers present.

Tribal Forces

The Tribal against Tribal test consisted of 1,500 battles covering all development combinations. When both armies were at the same level of development, victories remained close to an even division. The equal-development results ranged from 47 to 53 percent for either side, demonstrating that neither position received an artificial advantage merely from being designated the first or second army.

 

Development nevertheless mattered greatly. Across all battles in which one Tribal holding was more developed than the other, the more developed army won 93.1 percent of the engagements. The advantage became less absolute when adjacent higher levels met one another. A Tier III Tribal force defeated Tier II in 78 percent of their battles, while Tier IV defeated Tier III in 78 percent. These results show that development creates a strong military advantage, but the advantage becomes increasingly susceptible to command, terrain, and tactics as the armies approach one another in strength.

 

This is particularly important for the Tribal military system because Tribal armies rely upon lighter troop families. Light infantry and light cavalry form an important part of their military strength, supported by archers, pikemen, and horse archers. A well-developed Tribal army can therefore become very large and dangerous, but it remains dependent upon favorable circumstances when fighting heavier opposition.

Feudal Forces

The Feudal against Feudal test consisted of 2,800 battles. Equal-development forces again remained close to an even result, with the seven equal-tier groups producing victory rates between 48 and 55 percent for the first army. This confirms that two Feudal armies of comparable development are not being separated primarily by their holding level.

 

The advantage of development remained substantial without becoming absolute. Across all unequal-development battles, the more developed Feudal army won 88.5 percent of the time. The most useful results came from adjacent development levels. Tier II defeated Tier I in 88 percent of the battles, Tier III defeated Tier II in 70 percent, Tier IV defeated Tier III in 66 percent, Tier V defeated Tier IV in 70 percent, and Tier VI defeated Tier V in 65 percent.

 

The declining certainty of victory at the upper levels is desirable. A mature Feudal army possesses strong heavy infantry and heavy cavalry components, but a one-tier advantage does not erase poor leadership or unfavorable ground. At the highest levels of development, the armies are close enough in strength that the quality of their commanders, their technology, the tactics selected during battle, and the terrain upon which they fight can overcome the difference in holdings.

Merchant Republic Forces

The Republic against Republic test consisted of 10,500 battles. Republic military development was measured according to city development and the presence or absence of a Military Headquarters. Economic, trade, naval, and supply buildings were not treated as separate battlefield development levels because they do not directly increase the land army present in the engagement.

 

When two Republic armies possessed the same city development and the same Headquarters status, victories remained close to an even division, with the first side winning 51.4 percent of the battles. This establishes the same control result already seen among Tribal and Feudal forces. Comparable Republic armies are being separated by battlefield circumstances rather than by an unseen structural advantage.

 

The Military Headquarters proved useful without becoming overwhelming. When two Republics possessed the same city development but only one had constructed the Headquarters, the Republic with the building won 62.4 percent of the engagements. The 10 percent global levy increase therefore gives the owner a meaningful advantage, but it does not approach automatic victory.

 

City development remained important. Across battles in which the two Republics possessed different city development levels, the more developed city won 88.8 percent of the time. As with Feudal forces, the advantage narrowed among adjacent mature tiers. Higher development remained valuable, but commanders, tactics, terrain, and technology increasingly determined the result when opposing armies approached one another in overall strength.

The Republic military system now possesses a distinct character. Its native army is competitive without relying upon overwhelming manpower. The Republic's broader strength lies in its wealth, mercenary access, naval power, trade network, and ability to sustain armies in the field for long periods. Those advantages exist outside the immediate calculation of who wins a battle between two otherwise comparable forces.

Feudal Against Tribal

The first inter-government test consisted of 3,500 battles between Feudal and Tribal forces. Feudal armies won 70.89 percent of the engagements, while Tribal armies won 29.11 percent. This result reflects the different military character of the two governments rather than a simple difference in development.

The clearest distinction is troop quality. Feudal armies make substantial use of heavy infantry and heavy cavalry, while Tribal armies rely more heavily upon light infantry and light cavalry. The heavier Feudal forces therefore possess a man-for-man advantage in direct combat. Tribal armies can overcome this through greater development, larger numbers, favorable terrain, superior command, better technology, and advantageous tactics, but equal development does not necessarily mean equal battlefield value.

 

The upper-tier results illustrate this clearly. A Tier III Feudal army defeated a Tier III Tribal army in 67 percent of the battles even though the Tribal force possessed slightly greater raw manpower. At Tier IV, Feudal won 72 percent despite the Tribal army again being larger in raw numbers. The heavier Feudal troop composition was sufficient to overcome a modest numerical disadvantage in many engagements.

 

Development could still reverse the situation. A Tier I Feudal army defeated a Tier II Tribal army only 44 percent of the time, while Tier II Feudal against Tier III Tribal produced a nearly even result at 51 percent Feudal victories. A sufficiently developed Tribal army can therefore compensate for the superior weight of Feudal infantry and cavalry. The result then passes back into the hands of terrain, tactics, leadership, Martial ability, and technology.

 

This behavior is desirable because the two governments remain different without one being rendered obsolete. Feudal armies possess a qualitative advantage, while Tribal armies can answer through development, numbers, mobility, and circumstances. Government identity remains important without becoming a predetermined result.

Feudal Against Republic

The Feudal against Republic test consisted of 9,800 battles. Feudal armies won 53.4 percent of the engagements, while Republic armies won 46.6 percent. The two governments are therefore operating within the same general military range, with neither possessing a decisive structural advantage.

 

The average starting forces were approximately 1,375 men for Feudal armies and 1,322 for Republic armies. This placed the two governments close enough in manpower that other factors could determine the outcome. The Republic Military Headquarters also performed as intended. Republics without the Headquarters won approximately 44.8 percent of their battles against Feudal armies, while those possessing it won approximately 48.4 percent.

 

The equal-development results are particularly useful. Mature Republics equipped with a Military Headquarters approached an even result against equally developed Feudal rulers. At Tier V and Tier VI, the contests were effectively divided evenly. At that point the government itself ceased to decide the engagement. The commander, his Martial ability, his leadership traits, the technology available to the army, the tactics selected, and the terrain became the principal differences between the forces.

 

This does not make Feudal and Republic armies identical. Feudal rulers retain somewhat stronger organic military development, particularly through their heavier troop composition. Republics possess other strategic advantages outside the immediate battle, including greater financial strength, mercenary employment, extended supply, trade expansion, and naval transportation. The result is not equality through sameness, but competition through different forms of strength.

General Assessment

The simulations completed to date show that the present combat system has largely achieved its central purpose. Army development matters. Troop composition matters. Government military organization matters. None of these factors, however, has become so powerful that it eliminates the importance of actual battlefield conditions.

 

Equal armies repeatedly produce results close to 50 percent because the holding system has ceased deciding the battle before it begins. Once development and manpower are approximately comparable, terrain can punish an attacker, a superior commander can overcome a numerical disadvantage, leadership traits can improve the performance of an otherwise ordinary force, better technology can increase battlefield effectiveness, and favorable tactics can turn an engagement that raw numbers alone would not predict.

 

The same principle remains visible when different governments meet. Feudal heavy infantry and heavy cavalry give Feudal armies a qualitative advantage over Tribal light infantry and light cavalry, yet sufficient Tribal development can erase that advantage. Republic armies can stand against Feudal armies without requiring superior permanent manpower because their military strength is supported by administration and a broader economic system rather than by another source of direct troops.

 

The present system therefore does not eliminate strong armies. It eliminates the assumption that the largest army must also be the best army. Development determines what a ruler can bring to the field, while composition determines what those soldiers can do once they arrive. Technology, command, leadership traits, tactics, and terrain then determine whether that theoretical strength is successfully employed.

 

That distinction is the central result of the simulations. The army brought to battle matters, but the battle itself still has to be fought.

[SamIAmHam]

I updated the Character Background Builder to show off the new event window and the new choices that will be in the next release.