1.20.1|Oct 13, 2026
View on Steam↗Update 1.20.1
4/5 Significant
Major balance overhaul for religious mechanics including increased Piety costs for gold and canonization, alongside hundreds of AI and interface fixes for the By God Alone expansion.
Key Changes
- 1Piety costs for 'Ask Subordinates for Gold' increased to 100-250 scaling with gold amount
- 2Religious Scholar lifestyle XP bonus halved from +50% to +25%
- 3Canonize a Saint base costs increased to 3,000 Piety and 500 Gold
- 4Assume the Conqueror’s Mantle rebalanced with a new 3,000 Piety cost
- 5Ecumenical Council sways now scale with the size of proposed changes up to 2.5x base cost
- 6AI now respects Influence and Honor limits when harming title candidacies
- 7Fixed a critical issue where players without 'By God Alone' could incorrectly become Papal candidates
- 8Added historical sainthood and burial sites for five historical figures including Clotilde and William of Gellone
- 9Beseech De Jure Rights now has a 3-year cooldown for the asker
- 10Massive UI overhaul for religious windows, including a new Schism progress view
All Changes
⛪Religions & Rites(8)
- newSaints: Added historical sainthood and burial sites for Clotilde, Sigismund, Guntram, Sigebert III, and William of Gellone
- newRuler Designer: The Monk trait is now selectable in the Ruler Designer
- newRuler Designer: Custom rulers can now be created for landless Archbishops and Cardinals
- changeConfucianism: Updated the Confucian saint designation from Shengxian to Xianru
- newTenets: Added historical glossary to some tenets to separate background links from descriptions
- newRites: Added auto-fill buttons when editing Rite names
- newHoly Sites: Independent kings/emperors with Paragon of Virtue Piety can now create Holy Sites in their realm
- newChristian Church: Added a Schism progress view to the Christian Church window with crisis indicators and decisions
⚖️Game Balance(11)
- nerfAsk Subordinates for Gold: Ask Subordinates for Gold now costs between 100 and 250 Piety, scaling with Gold requested
- nerfReligious Scholar: Religious Scholar's lifestyle XP bonus halved from +50% to +25%
- nerfCanonize a Saint: Canonize a Saint base costs increased from 2,000 to 3,000 Piety and 300 to 500 Gold
- nerfAssume the Conqueror’s Mantle: Assume the Conqueror’s Mantle Piety cost set to 3,000
- nerfRites: Passive rite learning while travelling cooldown increased from 30 to 90 days
- nerfBeseech De Jure Rights: Beseech De Jure Rights now has a 3-year cooldown for the asker
- nerfWar: Request White Peace now requires the war to have lasted at least two years
- nerfEcumenical Council: Ecumenical Council sways now scale with change size, up to 2.5x base cost
- nerfStudy Rite: Reduced Study Rite success bonuses for Learning, Piety levels, and Theologian trait
- changeCranial Trophies: Spiritual Fulfillment from Cranial Trophies now scales with the victim’s Prestige
- nerfPetitions: Removed the high minimum chance for AI rulers to accept petitions
🤖AI Behavior(7)
- fixAI: AI now respects Influence and Honor limits when harming title candidacies
- changeAI: AI only revokes titles for rivals or wrong-faith vassals when it incurs zero Tyranny
- fixAI: AI avoids demanding children for the cloister who are married, heirs, or have children
- fixAI: AI no longer declares war on the Frankokratia leader during the Fourth Crusade story
- changeAI: AI diarchs now recruit heads of powerful families for coups in realms without powerful vassals
- fixAI: AI Pope no longer recasts core tenets of a rite edited by a player
- fixAI: AI no longer spends a player lessee’s Treasury on building construction
🖥️Interface & UI(5)
- changeUI: Proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven now shows held vs. required qualifying counties
- newMap Modes: Faith map mode now displays landless and landed religious heads with a toggle for Holy Sites
- newHotkeys: Added Shift+F2 as a shortcut to the Royal Court
- changeUI: Raise Army tooltip now explains splitting armies and labels Ctrl-click as 'Raise without splitting'
- fixUI: Fixed dozens of text overflow and layout issues across Domicile, Archdiocese, and Legend windows
🐛Bug Fixes(7)
- fixPapacy: Players without By God Alone are no longer eligible for Papal candidacy to prevent game-over states
- fixStability: Fixed a crash occurring when displaying scheme agent slots in the Intrigue window
- fixStability: Fixed a rare crash related to updating Dynasty modifiers
- fixGreat Schism: Mending the Great Schism now correctly recognizes a puppeted Orthodox or Catholic Head of Faith as supportive
- fixAchievements: Fixed 'A Perfect Circle' achievement calculation to unlock for the correct family tree
- fixStability: Fixed a softlock occurring when a landless Noble Family title holder becomes independent
- fixGeneral: Over 100 additional fixes for historical anachronisms, event logic, and character history
🎨Art & Audio(3)
- changeArt: Female cardinals now wear the red cardinal hat instead of the clergy crown
- newArt: Added icons for Gift Claim and Incite Claim War interactions
- fixAudio: Fixed domicile buildings not playing sounds and updated ecclesiastical building sound effects
Summary
Religious & Balance Overhaul
Update 1.20.1 focuses heavily on balancing the new mechanics introduced in the By God Alone expansion. Significant changes have been made to the Piety economy, with increased costs for asking subordinates for gold, canonizing saints, and assuming the Conqueror's Mantle. The 'Religious Scholar' lifestyle bonus has been significantly nerfed to prevent rapid progression.
AI & Gameplay Improvements
The AI has received extensive logic updates, particularly regarding how it handles religious councils, title revocations, and candidate harming. It now respects Influence and Honor limits more strictly and avoids illogical actions like demanding vows of chastity from characters who already possess the trait.
Interface & Stability
A massive list of UI fixes addresses text overflows, incorrect notifications, and map mode displays. Key additions include a new Schism progress view in the Christian Church window and historical burial sites for several saints. Critical stability fixes address rare crashes related to scheme agents and dynasty modifiers.