The next big Crusader Kings III update is approaching, and Paradox Interactive is spotlighting its new features via a series of blogs – we’ve already learned about winter and the new poetry generator, and now we have details on the game’s new duel system.

　　Basically, duels are one-one-one turn-based battles that unfold over the course of two to four rounds. Depending on your character’s personality and prowess, you’ll be assigned various moves and specials to choose from. Of course, the goal is to kill or incapacitate your enemy, but there’s a good chance you may injure yourself doing some of the riskier moves, so there’s a strategic risk-reward element to the fights.

　　Paradox has also been revealing the patch notes for Crusader Kings III ver. 1.3 in chunks, because when it comes to this series, even bug fixes are entertaining. The most notable thing from this batch of notes is that hair mechanics have been updated – instead of characters passing on a specific hair style, they pass on a hair type (straight, wavy, ect.) and the new character may change hair styles depending on which culture they become a part of. Check out the latest notes, below.

　　New Features

　　Enhanced the hair & beard inheritance gene system. Instead of inheriting specific haircuts from your parents, you now inherit a ‘hair type’ gene such as ‘straight’, ‘wavy’, ‘curly’ or ‘afro’. The actual haircut a character uses is now based upon their culture. This means that rulers won’t use inappropriate hairstyles/beards just because one of their grandparents happened to be of another culture!NOTE: Existing characters from save games made before 1.3 might get a new haircut or become bald, and old ruler designer DNA data will not have hair/beard.This system does not affect the Barbershop or Ruler Designer, where you’re still able to choose whatever hair you want.Added the ‘Chin Goatee’ beard variantAdded new Special Buildings in [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], including the [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and more!Balance

　　As the Patron of a holy order, you can now hire it even if it is already hired by someone else (except another player). You pay the piety cost to the person who has already hired it, rather than hiring it for freeReduced acceptance bonus on Offer Vassalization from ‘wide difference in rank’ and ‘rightful liege’Reduced fascination gain from learning from +2 to +1Blocked joining a tyranny war if you can’t join a faction against your liegeIt is now possible to recruit children from prison as long as they’re not heir to one of their liege’s titlesReduced inherent health penalty on flagellant from -0.5 to -0.15Reduced chance of characters randomly contracting lover’s pox & great poxImproved the candidate selection for republican mayors: they can be of the province culture as well as their liege’s culture, will prefer to be succeeded by members of their court, and women can be selected when it makes senseBeing more than 5000 men above the supply limit now causes you to lose supply faster, will scale from 5/month at 5k to 10/month at 10kBuildings in holdings in the domain limit grace period are now disabled entirelyCreating a Head of Faith title now requires 1 more holy site (2 for Spiritual, 3 for Temporal). Creating a Spiritual HoF title now costs 300g rather than 50 to 300g based on your incomeImprisoning and Executing characters of no particular status (i.e. lowborns) now yield much less tyrannyNon-republican Barons now get married and produce a family more consistentlyThe Pope is now more willing to lift excommunications, but doing so costs the excommunicated a Level of FameWhen a Claimant Faction succeeds in their goal, they will free their Claimant from prison if they were a prisoner of the old title holderBugfixes

　　Children should no longer incorrectly become Lowborn if at least one of their (known) parents carry a DynastyThe Pope will no longer grant himself Rome every year, and gain Piety for itFixed several instances of wounds being applied using the wrong effect, causing them to never healFixed Great Holy Wars invalidating rather than changing target if someone for instance takes the target’s primary titleFixed prestige and piety gains in extremely large battles (hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides) sometimes having an overflow issue causing them to go negativeFixed the Controlled Territory Defender Advantage modifier only working for provinces you personally control, and not those of your vassalsFixed the Diplomatic Range modifier not having any effects. Now range between two characters is based on the highest Diplomatic Range modifier of the twoFixed the loss of your pet spoon removing your pet stone insteadCharacters under 18 will now hold council propsFixed an issue where vassals created additional holdings throughout a liege’s realm when becoming feudal or clan. They should now only create holdings within their own sub-realm.Hostile schemes are now invalidated when the target isn’t within the owner’s diplomatic rangeIt is now much harder to imprison a claimant that has the support of a faction that has pressed demandsIt’s now easier to imprison your own young children if they’re unfortunate enough to be in your courtRemoved the secret tunnel between Cherchen and Gomoco, allowing armies to pass through the Kunlun Mountains.You can now send your kid off to university properly and easierThe AI can now occasionally attempt to escape from prisonSubjugation wars now return their prestige cost when invalidatingTribals can now adjust tribe-valid succession laws (i.e., gender, mostly) at limited tribal authority instead of needing to reform to feudalFathers of secret bastards can now realize that they are the real father even when the mother is marriedCharacters can now rip their shirts off without exposing their crotchEnded the CrocapocalypseCrusader Kings III is available now on PC. Update 1.3 doesn’t have a release date yet, but expect it to drop within the coming weeks.