Crusader Kings III is going into business. Paradox Interactive has dated Silk & Silver, the next major expansion for the medieval grand strategy game, for November 17 on PC. It adds two new ways to play: a landless merchant family and a playable Republic.
Play as a merchant company
The new Merchant government puts you at the head of a trading company, building your dynasty’s fortune instead of conquering land. You seek out trade routes for more than 40 trade goods and slowly expand your reach as the company’s renown and wealth grow.
Merchants pick one of three specializations, each with its own bonuses and content. Caravaneers move large amounts of goods, Creditors lend money to rulers, and Artisans create new artifacts. You can also lobby nobles and royalty for patronage, use political influence to win exclusive trading rights in markets or lock out rivals with a full monopoly, and upgrade your mansion to unlock more trade routes.
Run a Republic
The Republic government is about patrician families competing to become doge. Wealth buys power and popularity decides who holds the top job, so you will be using law, bribery and the will of the Assembly against rival houses. You can set your Republic’s constitution, choose an administration that leans toward seafaring trade, an expansionist nobility or rule by the common folk, and build trade posts in foreign counties. Republics can also join Trade Leagues for commercial and military benefits.
Two new bookmarks come with the expansion: 1066, Channels of Commerce, which lets you play as some of the era’s best-known merchants, and 1178, Guelphs & Ghibellines, set during the struggle between papal and imperial factions in Northern Italy. There are also civic carnivals and new Italian flavor.
One thing it will not add is naval combat. As Rock Paper Shotgun points out, Paradox said earlier this year that it chose not to take on naval warfare alongside all the new systems, because it would not have been able to give the feature enough time to do it well.
Silk & Silver follows the Church-focused By God Alone, and Paradox is still rolling out developer diaries ahead of launch. Pricing has not been listed on Steam yet. If you prefer your strategy a little more feudal Japan than medieval Venice, Sega recently restored the original Total War: Shogun 2 after pulling its Complete Edition.
