All DLC content from CK2 in base CK3

[The Former]

I'm surely going to miss some things, and I'll count on others to correct me when I do. That said, I've set out here to list all the confirmed CK3 core features I'm currently aware of that were originally CK2 DLC features. Observe the following key:

[!!] = The mechanic has been remarkably enhanced, expanded both deep and wide as compared to its CK2 form.

[+] = The mechanic has been expanded from its CK2 form.

[-] = The mechanic exists in a somewhat reduced form as compared to what CK2's DLC had to offer.

[//] = The mechanic sounds to be no more or less than before in terms of its depth or importance, but has been refactored in CK3.

[?] = I'm not certain whether this one is expanded, diminished, or more or less the same.

Any features not given one of these denotations exist more or less in a similar state to their original CK2 counterparts.

Note: This list does not touch on features brand new to CK3, nor from CK2's base form. Only CK2 DLC features are covered.

Note: This is NOT AN OFFICIAL POST. I may have some of my information wrong. I'm going primarily by one particular Q&A and what I've gleaned from dev diaries and impressions on Youtube.

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CK2: Sword of Islam

• Playable Muslim rulers - Muslim rulers are not, at CK3's launch, functionally identical to Christian rulers.
  
  
• Iqta government [?] - It's been stated that the clan structure in CK3 is "very similar to CK2's iqta government system".
  
  
• Polygamy [?] - I'm not sure if the same limitations on number of wives exist that did in CK2 (it's likely), but this will definitely be in the game as an element of the custom religion system. (Edit: Just saw a screencap and yes, it appears four wives is the max again.)
  
  Update: Developer stream shows absolute confirmation of 4 wives for polygamous rulers.

CK2: Legacy of Rome

• Retinues [!!] - Retinues have been deepened slightly to feature per-slot size expansions, dynamic upkeep (different costs at war and at peace), and to include siege engines as a first for the franchise. There's also a slight bit more variety in troop types.
  
  Tactical elements have been reimagined to feature terrain bonuses and penalties as well as a suite of stats specific to the retinue, rather than the retinue being a "package" of unit types which provides broad-stroke offense/defense/morale bonuses as in CK2. Culture-specific men-at-arms remain a feature.
  
  
• Factions [+] - Factions no longer simply make demands as soon as their strong enough. They now track a different stat, Discontent, which allows the player to appease them and buy time to deal with them or prepare for war. The degree to which a faction is stronger than you, however, does affect the speed at which Discontent rises. Each faction type now wages a unique form of war with differing mechanics.
  
  Dealing with factions is now deeper as well. Hooks you have on a vassal prevent them from joining a faction against you, as will alliances. High Dread can intimidate vassals away form a faction, and you can imprison members to take them out of the faction... but doing so may spark an early revolt, regardless of Discontent. There are also ways to strike deals with a faction, giving them a lesser version of what they want before it comes to war.
  
  (Side note: Civil wars have also received a noteworthy makeover. Civil wars now leave your realm whole, only in separate halves. If an outside invader declares war on your realm while engaged in a civil war, the whole realm fights the invader.)
  
  
• Liege Levies [//] - This is now tied to the deeper feudal contract mechanics, but those won't be mentioned on their own as they're technically an improvement on a base CK2 feature.
  
  
• Ruler Improvement [!!] - This now takes the form of active lifestyle pursuits.

CK2: Old Gods

• Start Date - The 867 start date returns.
  
  
• Paganism [+] – Pagan religions and their contingent elements have been included in the game to an extensive degree, and are all available for religion customization. This includes...
  
  
• Consorts and Concubines - Like polygamy, this will be one of the possible marriage laws in the relgion editor.
  
  
• Culture-specific Mechanics [?] - Norse-style raids and Irish tanistry succession both make returns, among others. Specifically....
  
  
• Raiding [+] - Raiding has been improved with the goal in the dev diary stated as making it "more fun to play with, and less unfun to be on the receiving end of". Raiders raid barony to barony, allegedly a fairly quick process, but not one they can move away from. This means if a defender has enough men and can raise them fast, the AI can't just run away the second you get close.
  
  Raids no longer use siege mechanics, but a similar system which discounts things like siege engines since you're dealing with countryside terrain. If you beat a raid army, you receive all the gold they're carrying. Both pagan rulers and most non-pagan tribal rulers can raid.
  
  
• Adventurers [?] - Exists as one of the possible paths for a wandering character who's left his court.
  
  
• Named Rebels [?] - This mechanic exists in the form of Populist Revolts, in which a Populist Faction will have a leader. If that faction manages to win their war, they'll usurp or create a new title for their leader to hold, which can even lead to kingdom-tier titles being created. The leader of the faction, as a hero of the liberation war, will "almost always b e a competent commander". These revolts usually form when counties want to be governed by a ruler of their own culture or religion. Sympathetic vassals can also join this type of faction.

CK2: Sons of Abraham

• Papal Elections [?] - These make a return as the elective form of leader choice in a given religion, which is also selectable in religion customization.
  
  
• Playable Jewish rulers [/?] - Allegedly there are considerably more historical religions in the game than CK2 had even with all its DLC. Therefore, you can pretty much be sure that "playable <religion> rulers" are in core CK3.
  
  
• Monasticism [+] - You can again ask "almost all your courtiers" to take vows. Depending on your faith's gender doctrines and the existence of Holy Orders, they can be sent to either a holy order or to join the clergy. This is no longer guaranteed, but if a character won't accept, you can use a Hook on them to force the issue, which ties the mechanic in with the new intrigue mechanics. (How I love those...)
  
  
• Holy Orders [!!] - While this was a core CK2 feature, it was greatly expanded in Sons of Abraham, and CK3 goes further still. You can still only hire a holy order while you're in a religious war, but once hired they'll fight all your enemies until you're no longer in a religious war. While mercenaries are on contract, holy orders stay on until the war is over. Holy orders are no longer limited to one per faith, and a ruler can found a new holy order in their realm with enough gold and piety on hand. The founding ruler is their patron and can hire them for free, so long as he remains of their religion.
  
  Holy orders no longer go around asking to build castles, but instead lease barony-level holdings (castles or cities) which can be revoked. One of these is their Headquarters. Holy orders can shift their Headerquarters to a new holding when one is lost, but will disband if they have no more holdings. Therefore, they will often seek to add holdings to their number by taking advantage of, for example, debts a lord owes them. Additionally, on top of your scions sometimes deciding to go join an order on their own or courtiers being forced into service by their liege, holy orders will sometimes come to you and recruit one of your courtiers, bringing your dynasty renown and yourself piety if you accept.
  
  
• Pilgrimages [+] - Pilgrimages will be in the base game and, like similar decisions, will likely feature a more robust event mechanic which plays a bit more off a character's traits.

CK2: Rajas of India

• Playable Indian rulers - You guessed it!
  
  
• Elephants and jungles - Listed on the wiki as a keystone feature. CK3 has both. Elephants, I believe, will be a type of cultural man-at-arms unit.
  
  
• Map expansion to India and parts of Siberia - Yes. I may remember that India was given more regions as well, but I don't recall for sure.

CK2: Way of Life

There's too much for a Steam post. Read the dev diaries for yourself. This whole DLC was just blown wide open for CK3.

• Lifestyles in General[forum.paradoxplaza.com]
  
  
• Lifestyle Events[forum.paradoxplaza.com]
  
  
• Intrigue[forum.paradoxplaza.com]
  
  
• Stewardship[forum.paradoxplaza.com]
  
  
• Learning[forum.paradoxplaza.com]
  
  
• Diplomacy[forum.paradoxplaza.com]
  
  
• Martial[forum.paradoxplaza.com]

CK2: Conclave

• Diplomatic Changes [?] - I've read some on the changes to diplomatic relations – marital relations in particular – though not enough to know how precisely it differs from the revisions in Conclave. I do know that, by the sound of it, you can have marriage alliances with vassals. (A dev diary notes that if you have, as an example, a marital alliance with a vassal, they won't join factions against you.)
  
  
• Important Vassals [+] - The concept of important vassals returns and ties in with a number of new game mechanics as well.

CK2: Reaper's Due

• Epidemics [?] - I know for a fact that one of the game options deals with a setting for "minor diseases". It then stands to reason that major diseases are a feature. This may or may not include full-on plagues.
  
  Update: Full-on epidemics along the lines of the Black Death will not be in the game. Or rather, they may be, but not with the same mechanics they used in Reaper's Due. (Source: comment)
  
  Update: Diseases of all sorts, however, will be in the game and have unique visual overlays on the characters to show their effects. (Source: Dev Diary #34)
  
  
• Court Physicians [?] - Cheating a bit on this one. I don't know if the mechanic exists as it is in Reaper's Due, I only know that one of the impressions videos spoke of a ruler who "accidentally had is leg cut off by a physician".
  
  Update: Recruitable court physicians are in the game and tie in with minor illnesses and such that can be contracted. (Source: comment)

CK2: Monks & Mystics

• General Councilor Instructions [?] - This seems, at the very least, to have inspired the spouse-as-councilor mechanic CK3 is using. An unlanded spouse can now either provide a small boost to all her husband's stats, or a more significant boost to one stat at a time, by undertaking one of a number of passive roles in your kingdom. This feels similar to the way Monks & Mystics handled passive advisor instructions. (Side note: Realm stats are now gone.)

CK2: Holy Fury

• Legendary Bloodlines [+] - This one is a bit technical, but the revamped dynasty mechanics[forum.paradoxplaza.com] essentially take this a step further by letting you build your own legendary bloodline over generations. As they existed in Holy Fury, however, I can't verify if they're here or not.
  
  
• Charm and Persuasion [+] - This has been revamped with Hooks and blackmail, Seduction schemes, and more.

CK2 Cosmetic DLC

• Culture and Ethnicity Visuals [!!] - I'll quote from the dev diary:
  
  "We have expanded the amount of portrait asset sets from the two in the CK2 base game to a grand total of seven in CK3! On release, there will be a visual distinction between Western Europe, Northern Pagans, the Middle East/North Africa, Byzantium, the Steppe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and India. We will also have an even greater number of ethnicities, so you will see variations within these seven groups.
  
  Thanks to the new portrait system, ethnicities now blend seamlessly. When two characters of different ethnicities have a child, the children will look a bit like both parents. More on this in a later Development Diary!"
  
  
• Byzantine Units - In the game at launch.
  
  
• Norse Units - Styled in the dev blog as "Pagans".
  
  
• Turkish Units/Mongol Units - These are in CK3 as a single unit appearance, styled in the dev blog as "Turko-Mongol".
  
  
• Persian Units - Styled in the dev blog as "Middle East/North Africa".
  
  
• Indian Units - This didn't come as standalone DLC, but just noting that this content is in fact in CK3 at launch.
  
  
• Barber Shop [!!] - Comes with a greater variety of hair colors, headwear, and clothing.
  
  
• Ruler Designer - Is not in the game at launch, however has been confirmed as coming in a free update sometime after launch. Can't be sure whether it'll be improved or not as I don't have any information beyond that.

I may have missed a few, but these are all the ones I could think of from memory. Quite a hefty list, all things considered. I didn't expect them to bring back any of the DLC content for CK3's base game, so I'm glad to see that the list is so long.

[AethelWulf02]

Epidemics won't be in the game, so major events like the black death won't be like how they are in CK2, but their is a recruitable Court physician role, that ties in with all the minor diseases and illnesses, which will have a physical impact on your character depending on the illness.

[The Former]

Originally posted by laser_beam02:

Epidemics won't be in the game, so major events like the black death won't be like how they are in CK2, but their is a recruitable Court physician role, that ties in with all the minor diseases and illnesses, which will have a physical impact on your character depending on the illness.

Got it, will modify.

[AethelWulf02]

Originally posted by World's Coolest Old Guy:

Originally posted by laser_beam02:

Epidemics won't be in the game, so major events like the black death won't be like how they are in CK2, but their is a recruitable Court physician role, that ties in with all the minor diseases and illnesses, which will have a physical impact on your character depending on the illness.

Got it, will modify.

Well, I think the black death will be in, just not like how pandemics are done in CK2, I believe their might have been a mention of it in a Dev Diary.

A good source to use to improve this, would be look at the FAQ on the Paradox Forums, and see all the answers to community questions.

[The Former]

Originally posted by laser_beam02:

Originally posted by World's Coolest Old Guy:

Got it, will modify.

Well, I think the black death will be in, just not like how pandemics are done in CK2, I believe their might have been a mention of it in a Dev Diary.

A good source to use to improve this, would be look at the FAQ on the Paradox Forums, and see all the answers to community questions.

I did a little cross-referencing, but admittedly not extensive. I may give it a second look sometime when I'm less tired.

[Ghost Face]

Maybe very unneccasery question but,

Have they said anything about horse lords? I was waiting to play nomads as they have very interesting game mechanic to me.

Also i am hoping they will add some mechanic to Rus lands as DLC. But i think even if it will happen, it won't be soon as probly first expansion will be about HRE(based on the cosmetic they gave away).

[The Former]

Originally posted by Lemon Tree:

Maybe very unneccasery question but,

Have they said anything about horse lords? I was waiting to play nomads as they have very interesting game mechanic to me.

Also i am hoping they will add some mechanic to Rus lands as DLC. But i think even if it will happen, it won't be soon as probly first expansion will be about HRE(based on the cosmetic they gave away).

From what I gather, Horse Lords content as it stood in the Horse Lords DLC won't be in at launch. However, nomadic cultures will be tribal at launch, and tribal governments do seem to operate similarly to the way a Khanate might have in a few ways:

• Tribal holdings provide more troops, but less tax.
  
• Tribal men-at-arms are paid with prestige, not gold. If your lord is prestigious, his men will follow him.
  
• Tribal realms can go on raids.
  
• Tribal realms are unaffected by development, and cause non-tribal realms to have lower supply limits in their lands. The tradeoff is that they lose influence as the years advance.
  
• Tribal rulers base their obligations (from vassals) on Fame rather than on contracts or opinion. A famous ruler will receive more troops and money from his vassals.
  
• Tribal rulers, once in their lifetime, can use a Subjugation casus belli to forcibly vassalize an entire realm.
  
• Tribes can eventually reform into either Clan or Feudal realms, if they choose.

Likewise clans, while intended for Muslim realms, have a few noteworthy features that make them eerily similar to some of the steppe cultures...

• Puts emphasis on family rather then realm. As was the case for Genghis Khan, most vassals will be members of your dynasty.
  
• Obligations are heavily based on opinion rather than being contractual. Happy vassals provide significantly more taxes and levies than unhappy ones.
  
• Once per lifetime at the highest level of Fame, a clan ruler can use the Clan Invasion casus belli to invade a kingdom.

I'll also note that religions now provide a certain cultural tilt to a realm, so that might make realms following steppe religions feel more nomadic (minus the actual nomadic behavior), but I can't confirm that.

At launch, however, there won't be any proper nomads unfortunately.

[AquilaESP]

There aren't include any Unit Pack of CK2 with specific units models for countries. In the default CK3 we are going to have generic unit models for european, scandinavian, muslims and some more.

I think they are going to release a lot of unit pack models as they do in the CK2 and in Imperator Rome (know in this last game as Flavour Pack).

[The Former]

Originally posted by Aquila-ESP:

There aren't include any Unit Pack of CK2 with specific units models for countries. In the default CK3 we are going to have generic unit models for european, scandinavian, muslims and some more.

I think they are going to release a lot of unit pack models as they do in the CK2 and in Imperator Rome (know in this last game as Flavour Pack).

I doubt it, it hasn't been their model since EU4. Some, perhaps, but I don't expect near as many as CK2 had.

The units’ appearance is based on culture - We have Western European, Byzantine, Middle-east / North Africa, Pagans, Indian and Turko-Mongol.

A unit has three visual tiers, becoming more armor-clad and sophisticated as it progresses. So it was important for us to make sure a Tier 2 Byzantine looks equally as tough as a Tier 2 Turko-Mongol for instance.

So doing a quick tally, I'll just look at what CK2 gave us, excluding content packaged with other DLC:

Byzantine [CK3 check!]
African [Not sure; it doesn't say so clearly, but they do have unique attire for sub-saharan rulers, so...]
Russian
Norse [CK3 check!]
Celtic
Military Orders [CK3 unclear]
Warriors of Faith [CK3 unclear]
Saxon
Finno-Ugric
Turkish [CK3 check!]
Persian [CK3 check!]
Iberian
Early Frankish
Italian
Mongol [CK3 check!]

Of those, Early Frankish was tied to Charlemagne, while Iberian and Italian units looked similar enough to CK2's Western European units that I can't be sure they'll warrant their own DLC.

But statistically...

CK2 DLC units in CK3: 5/15
CK2 DLC units possibly in CK3: 3/15
CK2 DLC units definitely not in CK3: 7/15
CK2 DLC units not in CK3 that may not warrant skins: 3/7

Considering those numbers, yeah, I definitely don't expect a whole lot of unit skins as DLC this time around.

[kaannath.ttv]

Thank you for the in depth analysis, OP!

[The Former]

Update: For those unaware, the degree to which character details have been expanded is technically DLC, and they've released a Dev Diary[forum.paradoxplaza.com] showing this off at length. It does far more to lay out just how much they've expanded portraits over ever CK2 + DLC than one Steam thread ever could, I recommend giving it a read if you're interested in that sort of thing.

[badb]

Cool post! So excited for this game. :)

[The Former]

Further update: I've gone ahead and added the barbershop because it's confirmed to be in the game, however there's still no confirmation one way or the other about ruler designer. Just be aware.

[Cultured Thug]

Yea cant wait for this game!

[NicouLenny]

Me too!
Wait... yeah, same here!

[Segovax]

Very informative, thank you.

Not that major DLC expansions will be available on launch, but when they do come out does anyone know if will they function like they do in CK2 in respect to MP? As in whatever DLC the host player has, all connecting players can use? I expect it would be since Stellaris works the same way but that's never a guarantee.