Black Death Question

[TheNJDevils30]

Is it intended that no matter what start date you use, when you start your game, the Black Death hits you nearly immediately? I have been playing with the plagues set to normal, minor diseases to default, and I've been tinkering with the black death both to occur only once or to occur multiple times and both historical spread and random spread. It seems no matter the options set in the game rules, it without fail hits 1-2 years into any playthrough and nukes the entirety of the map's development to zero. If it is set to occur more than once, I feel like it returns every 5 years nonstop and always comes for the first time a year in.

It would be nice if there were settings that made it so that it could appear anywhere in a playthrough, like it never randomly pops up 2-3 characters into a run or 50-60 years after the start. It also doesn't appear like you can have it occur multiple times but be a once a century or once per 50 years event, it is just absolutely non-stop.

I always like to play with ironman on and settings to make achievements available.

Is there something that I am missing? No mods, all DLCs.

[Mansen]

Check the game rules, when you're selecting a character to start as. You can tweak the specifics for plagues, including what timeframe they can occurs, and if more than once.

[TheNJDevils30]

Originally posted by Mansen:

Check the game rules, when you're selecting a character to start as. You can tweak the specifics for plagues, including what timeframe they can occurs, and if more than once.

I know there are game rules, I've tried all the permutations for them aside from stopping it entirely and it doesn't seem to change the above described behavior of occurring right at the game start. You never "wonder" when the Black Death is coming when it is turned on, your options are 1) once as soon as you start or 2) as soon as you start and then non-stop every few years. I was hoping there was a way that would be a really bad calamity that is rare and you cannot really predict when it would hit. If you start in 867 for example, which I tested a dozen or so times, it is 100% going to hit in 868 or 869 if it is enabled.

[Mansen]

That can't be right, since at least one of the choices, Historial means the Black Death isn't arriving till the 1400s.

But as the game rule states, if set to Organic, it will appear at a time where the state of the game fits having one.

[brownacs]

Er... no that should not be happening. You said no mods which'd be my first instinct... you're sure that if you start a game with the default settings, you get hit with the black death in a year or two? It's not just a random plague? I'm genuinely nonplussed.
TLDR: No.

[armyissue69]

I start 867 95% of the time. Black Death starts around 1100-1200 I spose. I don't change any settings other than ironman mode and no families generated.

Black Death is just fine. It seems scary, just have a good physician and lots of kids ;) It's kinda nice to have a good wipe. Try not to have battles and you can spawn your army and separate all the knights, disband your army and set your knights w/You out at sea for 3 years or so... only when it's in your area ;)

[brownacs]

Originally posted by armyissue69:

I start 867 95% of the time. Black Death starts around 1100-1200 I spose. I don't change any settings other than ironman mode and no families generated.

Black Death is just fine. It seems scary, just have a good physician and lots of kids ;) It's kinda nice to have a good wipe. Try not to have battles and you can spawn your army and separate all the knights, disband your army and set your knights w/You out at sea for 3 years or so... only when it's in your area ;)

Really? And that's with it set to historical? I've only actually seen the black death once cos I can rarely be arsed to play into the 14th century (I'm also a 95% 867er).

[Moose_knuckle]

This has been happening to me too. It's set to appear at a random date but it always happens within a few years of the start date,

[TheNJDevils30]

Most of my games are set to random or organic. The historical option tooltip says it will spawn in a historical province and spread in a historical way. I am unsure if that effects timing. Having said that, it comes right at the game start. I usually start in 867 but it happens in 1066 and 1178 also within a year or two.

I think a "good wipe" later in the game is great once the map is built up and should even alleviate lag, but it always comes right away and starts the game off with low global development. I'm not "afraid" of the Black Death, I just wish the options to control it were more flexible because it seems I either get it right away or I have to turn it off entirely. Unless I'm not understanding something behind the options in the game rules. I do not have any mods and the only other game option I mess with is limiting the landless people to 25 because they cause lag.

[brownacs]

Originally posted by TheNJDevils30:

Most of my games are set to random or organic. The historical option tooltip says it will spawn in a historical province and spread in a historical way. I am unsure if that effects timing.

It does... or it's supposed to at least. "The Black Death can appear in Central Asia after 1346 and is 50 times less likely to spread to Milan, Poland and Tibet." https://ck3.paradoxwikis.com/Game_rule (under historical event settings)
... I wouldn't have thought organic or random would guarantee it in the first year or two though.

[armyissue69]

Originally posted by brownacs:

Originally posted by armyissue69:

I start 867 95% of the time. Black Death starts around 1100-1200 I spose. I don't change any settings other than ironman mode and no families generated.

Black Death is just fine. It seems scary, just have a good physician and lots of kids ;) It's kinda nice to have a good wipe. Try not to have battles and you can spawn your army and separate all the knights, disband your army and set your knights w/You out at sea for 3 years or so... only when it's in your area ;)

Really? And that's with it set to historical? I've only actually seen the black death once cos I can rarely be arsed to play into the 14th century (I'm also a 95% 867er).

Yea. I am totally guessing that the game is made up in a way by where you start AND what conditions you're in. I saw the black death start up in Mongolia on my previous Italia run about the time I restored Rome which was somewheres around late 11th century. I didn't even realize it was anything special until I checked a few years after noticing the deathly red plague button on the bottom and was curious what the heck it was. took many years but yea engulfed the whole map. I thought it was quite cool and fun. I've become accustomed to the plague hate over time and pay little mind other than managing the capitol depending on circumstanced etc.

[brownacs]

Originally posted by armyissue69:

Yea. I am totally guessing that the game is made up in a way by where you start AND what conditions you're in. I saw the black death start up in Mongolia on my previous Italia run about the time I restored Rome which was somewheres around late 11th century. I didn't even realize it was anything special until I checked a few years after noticing the deathly red plague button on the bottom and was curious what the heck it was. took many years but yea engulfed the whole map. I thought it was quite cool and fun. I've become accustomed to the plague hate over time and pay little mind other than managing the capitol depending on circumstanced etc.

Was that fairly recently? There was a bug when Roads to Power first released where restoring Rome, regardless of whether you also decided to adopt Hellenism, triggered the black death.

[armyissue69]

Originally posted by brownacs:

Originally posted by armyissue69:

Yea. I am totally guessing that the game is made up in a way by where you start AND what conditions you're in. I saw the black death start up in Mongolia on my previous Italia run about the time I restored Rome which was somewheres around late 11th century. I didn't even realize it was anything special until I checked a few years after noticing the deathly red plague button on the bottom and was curious what the heck it was. took many years but yea engulfed the whole map. I thought it was quite cool and fun. I've become accustomed to the plague hate over time and pay little mind other than managing the capitol depending on circumstanced etc.

Was that fairly recently? There was a bug when Roads to Power first released where restoring Rome, regardless of whether you also decided to adopt Hellenism, triggered the black death.

I dunno lol. Did NOT convert to hellinism. I dont actually think hellenism is a great religion to have in the game, doesn't really do anything special. Heck, for Rome I don't think the legionaries are all that great either...bout the same as house guards/vangarian.

Someone mentioned above that the black death didn't go to some spots, in my game it went the WHOLE map. I do not have the last DLC and yes fairly recently, maybe 2 months ago tops.

[TheNJDevils30]

Originally posted by armyissue69:

Originally posted by brownacs:

Was that fairly recently? There was a bug when Roads to Power first released where restoring Rome, regardless of whether you also decided to adopt Hellenism, triggered the black death.

I dunno lol. Did NOT convert to hellinism. I dont actually think hellenism is a great religion to have in the game, doesn't really do anything special. Heck, for Rome I don't think the legionaries are all that great either...bout the same as house guards/vangarian.

Someone mentioned above that the black death didn't go to some spots, in my game it went the WHOLE map. I do not have the last DLC and yes fairly recently, maybe 2 months ago tops.

I've seen it start nearly everywhere across a dozen or so tests. It usually hits the whole map but spares either the southern coast of Africa or the Tibetan Plateau, whichever was on the opposite side of the map from where it started. I will try some more testing with the various game rule settings but my current gripe is that it seems to start 12-24 months after you begin a game (every single time) and the effect is that it lowers development to near zero on the entire map and cuts Rome/Madurai/Baghdad and the other high dev provinces in half right away and basically "stoneages" the game. That and it is not at all an unpredictable calamity but just a prerequisite of any run right off the bat. Especially frustrating when you are trying to do short term steam achievements and keep restarting and just keep getting an immediate black death again and again.

And then secondarily, as I already said, if it is enabled to happen more than once, it doesn't happen every 50-100 years like you'd think, it happens like every 5 years without relenting.

[armyissue69]

Originally posted by TheNJDevils30:

I've seen it start nearly everywhere across a dozen or so tests. It usually hits the whole map but spares either the southern coast of Africa or the Tibetan Plateau, whichever was on the opposite side of the map from where it started. I will try some more testing with the various game rule settings but my current gripe is that it seems to start 12-24 months after you begin a game (every single time) and the effect is that it lowers development to near zero on the entire map and cuts Rome/Madurai/Baghdad and the other high dev provinces in half right away and basically "stoneages" the game. That and it is not at all an unpredictable calamity but just a prerequisite of any run right off the bat. Especially frustrating when you are trying to do short term steam achievements and keep restarting and just keep getting an immediate black death again and again.

And then secondarily, as I already said, if it is enabled to happen more than once, it doesn't happen every 50-100 years like you'd think, it happens like every 5 years without relenting.

Definitely seems odd. EVERY single plague that comes into my realm, on its way out I can pay some money to reinvest in the afflicted counties which boosts the growth back to where it was. I don't experience the pain you do...wild. You must have hard settings enabled that somehow seem to be normal. Also, how often plagues happen depend on where you are at. I did a Hispania run (starting from Urgell) and when my capitol and primary duchy was Toledo, rarely have plagues. When I did the Faster than a Fox and took over Sicily, seems like port towns and river ways have the worst of it. I did a Siberia run very recently and there is almost NO plague (the Ostyak culture has a tradition that limits plagues which I combined with a Horse Archer culture for supremacy).

[TheNJDevils30]

Originally posted by armyissue69:

Originally posted by TheNJDevils30:

I've seen it start nearly everywhere across a dozen or so tests. It usually hits the whole map but spares either the southern coast of Africa or the Tibetan Plateau, whichever was on the opposite side of the map from where it started. I will try some more testing with the various game rule settings but my current gripe is that it seems to start 12-24 months after you begin a game (every single time) and the effect is that it lowers development to near zero on the entire map and cuts Rome/Madurai/Baghdad and the other high dev provinces in half right away and basically "stoneages" the game. That and it is not at all an unpredictable calamity but just a prerequisite of any run right off the bat. Especially frustrating when you are trying to do short term steam achievements and keep restarting and just keep getting an immediate black death again and again.

And then secondarily, as I already said, if it is enabled to happen more than once, it doesn't happen every 50-100 years like you'd think, it happens like every 5 years without relenting.

Definitely seems odd. EVERY single plague that comes into my realm, on its way out I can pay some money to reinvest in the afflicted counties which boosts the growth back to where it was. I don't experience the pain you do...wild. You must have hard settings enabled that somehow seem to be normal. Also, how often plagues happen depend on where you are at. I did a Hispania run (starting from Urgell) and when my capitol and primary duchy was Toledo, rarely have plagues. When I did the Faster than a Fox and took over Sicily, seems like port towns and river ways have the worst of it. I did a Siberia run very recently and there is almost NO plague (the Ostyak culture has a tradition that limits plagues which I combined with a Horse Archer culture for supremacy).

I do still get the event to spend money for rebuilding efforts and it works as intended as far as I am aware. And yes the smaller disease outbreaks definitely hit the coasts harder and sometimes don't spread inland.

It is so weird you mention Siberia. Funny enough, I noticed this black death issue while playing as the Count of Kazym in Siberia, an Ostyak Culture, with the intention to make a Siberian "uber-forest" culture and religion. I restarted about 6-8 times since, being that the black death spawned every single time 1 year in, that I may as well try to get the achievement where you contract and then recover from the bubonic plague. Needless to say I got the achievement, but Kazym is covered every time by the black death plague. Going from 1 development to 0 is no big deal, but every tile on the map basically goes to 0 also and the major cities that are the highest development come down into the single digits. I formed all all taiga Empire as I was trying to do, but the black death hits immediately each time I restart.