Feel the power of China in the new Crusader Kings II expansion

You can look but you can’t touch

Continuing their conquest to make Crusader Kings II the longest DLC supported game ever, Paradox Interactive announced at Gamescom 2017 a new expansion for the five-year-old game.

Jade Dragon will bring the Empire of China into the mix in an odd way.

The Empire of China will be an off-map entity that acts as an influencer to those in their realm of the world. You will interact with the Chinese AI through their Emperor whose power will wax and wane through the game depending on different events in the world.

You will be able to give the Emperor gifts to earn his praise, make deals with border guards, and interact with fleeing princes from the Empire who will bring great treasures with them. If you see an opportunity to escape the power of the Jade Empire due to waning power you will be able to take it. It isn’t clear if China can attack you but from what I’m reading all interaction with China will be through a separate screen that details the Emperor’s wants and needs so I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t allowed.

Now comes the kinda crappy part: they are putting rally points in this expansion instead of in the free update that will come alongside it. I love Paradox, do not get me wrong, but they tend to do this stuff with their games and it really bothers me that I need to shell out money for what should be a basic feature in a strategy game. They are also adding in eight new casus bellis which while is not as bad as the rally point feature, would be nice to see in the base game.

No release date or price point has been set but I expect it to be out by the end of the year. I also wonder how long they will continue to use the Crusader Kings II base before moving onto Crusader Kings III. I guess at least another six months or so.