Since I played a mod called Crisis of the Confederation for Cruasder Kings 2 I was hooked on that style of gmae. Then Paradox released Stellaris but removed the character focus. In the end it just wasn't the same and now seems two developers have taken the best aspects of Crusader Kings II and crossed it with my beloved 4X genre. Crisis of the Confederation: A total conversion mod, allowing the player to take the role of a military officer, politician, or crime lord amidst the chaotic political upheavals of the 31st century. It is set in an original science-fiction setting.
I am pleased to present an interview with Gregory “Galle” Hayes, project lead for Crisis of the Confederation – the “Crusader Kings II in space” mod I recently covered. Below, we discuss COTC‘s inspirations, the interplay between game mechanics and a space-feudal theme, where new players should begin, and more. Enjoy!
Ck2 Crisis Of The Confederation Game
Crusader Kings II - Enhanced Torture V.1.
Development of the mod
Peter Sahui: Hello, and welcome to the site!
Crisis of the Confederation is one of the most interesting mods I’ve encountered, a homage to science fiction classics such as Dune and Foundation. What made you decide to translate those influences into a total conversion for Crusader Kings II?
Gregory Hayes: I happen to like applying game mechanics to new story concepts in general, and I’m a firm believer that everything is better in space, but COTC specifically actually had its origins in a game mechanic idea that I was never able to implement. Way back when I was working on A Game of Thrones, I was struck by the idea of using the Investiture mechanics to represent martial law versus civilian law. That created the need for a setting in which the spread of martial law made sense, which inspired the civil war backstory, which in turn led to me to think back to the great science-fiction cliche of the rebellious space colonies.
Another factor that probably influenced my decision was that I was replaying Emperor of the Fading Suns at the time. EotFS is a lot like CK1 – a broken mess of a game that is nevertheless fun because of how great its central ideas are. COTC isn’t really that much like EotFS in gameplay, but the desire for a good space feudalism game was definitely a big influence.