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Over half a year after the previous expansion, CK II returned with yet more scope extension. This time the game would look at the subject of China (which had recently gotten a look from the EU IV team in Mandate of Heaven). Jade Dragon was announced on August 24, 2017, and released on November 16, alongside patch 2.8.

Tibet

While China stayed off-map, Tibet was already in the area of the current map, but was largely unusuable wasteland. This was now developed into a playable region.

The area is generally under monastic feudal government, with four related cultures. Two of the smaller cultures can have Absolute Cognatic inheritance, allowing female rulers. Most of the area is Buddhist, But Bön is a defensive pagan religion, and there’s a couple of reasonably powerful rulers in the 867 start for that religion (the rest of the time, there is a dominant Buddhist empire).

The rulers of the area are generally playable with the Jade Dragon expansion, or with either The Old Gods or Rajas of India (depending on religion). It’s a fairly stable region, with tough terrain… and direct access to one branch of the Silk Road.

China

The main goal was for the eastern edge of the map to feel like China is close and involved with affairs on the map. Considering that China was generally unified in ways the rest of Eurasia wasn’t during this period, I think not directly representing China was the best option. It would distort the game way too much to accurately represent what was going on there while not losing the feel for Europe, and the existing Holy Roman Emperor already causes problems by being too capable.

At the personal/realm level, the main interaction is grace. Imperial grace is akin to the Pope’s opinion of Catholic characters, as it can be used to ask for favors. However, it is tracked by dynasty, instead of personal opinion, so the death of the Emperor won’t remove accumulated grace, but civil wars can cause a change of dynasty, which will.

Of course, the easiest way to gain grace is to become a tributary of China. But that requires giving up much of your income and levy reinforcement, as well as being called into wars. On the other hand, you can request military support from China if you are attacked.

Past that, you can send various gifts to the emperor, who will have things he likes and dislikes. In addition to the obvious money, you can send eunuchs and concubines, and in special circumstances, physicians, commanders, or famine relief.

Getting favors tends to be expensive, so getting anything out of deals with China will take a while. At the high end, you can get the Emperor to dismantle a rival state (after a war, of course), or get an imperial marriage, but the more modest requests are guarantees of peace with China, and medical help.

All of this depends on China being stable (which is most of the time). Random events can send China into civil war, unrest, famine, and other problems, or start a golden age. Usually, when times are tough, China will be “open” with the silk routes operating normally. When times are good, China can go expansionist, trying to increase the on-map holdings of the Western Protectorate. And at times, China will close the borders, going isolationist, and closing down the Silk Road completely.

On the other hand, someone on the extreme east side of the map can go off map to trouble China itself. This can be merely to try to force the Silk Road open, but you can pillage or try to invade. I can’t say I’m anywhere near ambitious or skilled enough to give it a try, as China will spawn bigger and better armies than any other event in the game (actually, the Aztecs from Sunset Invasion can have bigger armies, but they have low quality, while China will have a high quality army).

Overall, it all makes sense, but I do find there are still odd problems. In my experience, even an open China is too likely to go after odd targets, like southern India. Chinese concerns were generally ruled by the dangers of neighboring tribes, and I don’t know of any serious desires to extend control along sea lanes, and certainly not past the (off-map) SE Asia area, so the AI needs reigning in here.

Religion

Bön starts as an organized defensive pagan religion, but borrows mechanics from the Indian Dharmic religions, and a couple of other places. Like most pagans, their power wanes throughout the timeline, though some provinces stay Bön during the entire period.

As well, a new heresy was added to Zoroastrianism, Khurmazta. It is also more eastern in flavor, with a patron deity mechanic akin to Hindus.

And Taoism was added to the game, with such characters being playable with either Jade Dragon or Rajas of India. Taoist realms tend to be stable, with no ‘short reign’ penalties, and an automatic +2 to stewardship to encourage larger demesnes. On the other hand, they are more restricted on declaring war. Also, China is usually Han and Taoist, and a ruler who is also both gets a bonus to imperial grace.

Trade

The Silk Road was enhanced in the patch. First the number of different routes was enhanced, more looking at what is known of overall major trade patterns, rather than just the famous route through the steppes.

Many of the provinces trade flows through can now have trade posts built. This is the same secondary holding as introduced in The Republic, but anyone who holds the proper provinces can build them.

All Silk Road provinces still get a status that regulates the value of trade, and it is more responsive now. Between the revamped mechanics and new trade posts, life on the Silk Road can be very profitable, but there is more to do than before.

To War

There were a number of changes to warfare in the patch. First, sieges were tweaked to go faster overall, but fort levels became more important (which means late game sieges drag out to the same time scale as before). Also, the ‘ticking warscore’ for a successful attacker was increased.

It was also decided to let just about anyone always go to war over a neighboring county-level title with the expansion. The new “border dispute” causus belli doesn’t completely replace the old method of fabricating claims, as there is a high up front cost to do it. It also causes a relationship penalty with all the members of the religion on both sides of the war, so declaring war on (say) a fellow Catholic will cause quite the relations hit with all other Catholic rulers.

Conclusion

Various properties have found, often after the fact, that it can be more effective to keep certain things permanently off-screen. And China is an excellent choice for that effect.

At the same time, China should have a massive effect on regions that are on the map, and the expansion does just that. The expansion comes with four new rules, allowing the new causus belli and setting the requirements for Chinese interactions.

Not mentioned in the review is the fact that Paradox also reworked the map of Persia and Arabia for this patch. I don’t know those areas well, but they were much better developed, and helped play in that area as well.

Overall, its a much-needed addition to CK II, though not worth a lot to people who stick with the game’s Western European roots. Its kind of a cross between an expansion in scope, and event package, and recommended to anyone playing in the eastern half of the map just to make thing feel more “real”.