Between Civilization 7, Manor Lords, Tempest Rising, and so many more, if you're a developer, the world of strategy games is a tough one to inhabit right now. Standards are high. Competition is extensive. If players don't like your new update or latest DLC, they have plenty of other places to go. Crusader Kings 3 Khans of the Steppe, which introduces new governments and regions to the grand strategy game, has struggled somewhat on Steam so far. A month after it was released, the expansion has a 'mixed' rating from players, who cite some performance problems and balancing issues. But Paradox has a recovery plan. The developer explains how it manages , and which changes it now will – and won't – be making to CK3.
Khans of the Steppe was released on Monday April 28; of all the reviews posted for the latest grand strategy game more broadly, explaining how, after several years of playing, they're eager for a tougher challenge. In response, Paradox shares an extensive statement, outlining its approach to collating reviews and prioritizing areas for improvements.
"Khans of the Steppe and the 1.16 'Chamfron' update were released on April 28, and the initial response was fairly positive both from a technical perspective and a player sentiment one," Paradox Studio Black community manager 'Jacob' explains. "We quickly noticed a spike in crash reports and commentary from players confirming this. Setting our lovely QA team to work, we quickly identified two major contributors to instability in 1.16 and pushed hotfixes to tackle both of them.
"While there was an immediate spike in negative reviews due to stability issues, the response at large to Khans of the Steppe was quite positive right out of the gate. When you spend months working on a specific project, it's always an immense relief to see that it went well and players were having fun with the new content, so everyone at the studio was elated at the response. Then the review score started dropping."
Jacob outlines precisely how Paradox analyzes for Crusader King 3. After releasing a game, DLC, or update, the studio completes daily reports, consolidating player responses and using the data to identify the most common and severe issues, if there are any. Initially, these responses for 1.16 and Khans of the Steppe were encouraging. But before the end of the first week post-launch, sentiment began to change.
"There's a day 0 report, day 1, day 7, etc," Jacob says. "While the day 0 and day 1 reports were initially positive, by the end of the week it became clear that there were outstanding problems that took some time to reach a breaking point for players. We know that players have concerns with the DLC and we're working to address as many of these concerns as we can within the time we have allotted for post-release , before anything else is pushed off to realm maintenance.
"Mainly, [ suggests] that the balancing is wonky and that our more dedicated players want the game to be harder. We've released updates 1.16.1 and 1.16.2 already to tackle the former, and I've been working directly with our game director to implement something to help us address the latter."
On top of the existing difficulty modes, Very Easy, Easy, and Normal, Paradox is planning to release two additional settings: Hard and Very Hard. Jacob shares a small preview of how these will change the strategy game. For example, on Hard and Very Hard, it is now easier for U opponents to revoke titles and retract vassals. The player also has a lower chance of becoming a Conquerer, and, conversely to their rivals, will have a more difficult time when it comes to taking titles back. You can see the full preview of how the new settings affect Crusader Kings 3 in the image below.
"As we've said in the past, we want difficulty and challenge to be something that arises organically from how our mechanics interact, and think that giving flat buffs to the AI or penalties to the player for arbitrary reasons isn't an ideal solution," Jacob says. "That said, our community has made it clear that we're not meeting our objective, and doing something is better than doing nothing. So while we intend to continue pursuing our goal of emergent challenge in the long term, we're introducing these new difficulties for players who want the game to be harder right now."
If you're playing with a Nomadic government, one of the most vital resources in Crusader Kings 3 Khans of the Steppe is your herd. A percentage of the herd can be converted into horse riders, and the larger your herd, the more you can gradually increase Dominance. Since the DLC was released, CK3 players have discussed the possibility of a herd decay mechanic, whereby low fertility levels in certain regions could result in negative herd growth. Paradox confirms that this mechanic will not be introduced.
"We've also heard quite a few people asking for a ive herd decay mechanic," Jacob concludes. "To go ahead and rip the bandaid off, we're not planning on implementing this. Put simply, the system wasn't designed with this in mind and is instead built around discrete reductions. Too much of the game goes off the rails when it tries to deduct what doesn't exist, and herd decay ultimately impacts AI rulers far more than it impacts players, compounding balance and difficulty concerns.
"With the post-release- stage for Khans of the Steppe coming to an end, we don't have the time or resources available to rework a core aspect of the DLC to this degree. Additional adjustments to this system are still possible in realm maintenance updates, but these are unlikely to fundamentally rework the system itself."
The new difficulty settings, Hard and Very Hard, are currently scheduled to arrive before the end of this week, so players can provisionally expect them before Sunday May 25.
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