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Rise and Collapse: Cycles of History

Chinese version: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2779311705 (not managed by me)

Russian translation: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2778231892 (not managed by me)

"There is the moral of all human tales;
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past.
First freedom and then Glory - when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption - barbarism at last.
And History, with all her volumes vast,
Hath but one page." - Lord George Gordon Byron



Rise and Collapse: Cycles of History aims to create a more dynamic world by introducing three new mechanics to CK3:

- Sociodemographic cycles
- Rise and collapse
- Fate of Empires

States will go through golden ages and periods of total collapse. No realm will be spared hard times, but some will be luckier than others. As societies devolve into total collapse, rulers will fall from grace and never recover. On the other hand, brave and ambitious tribal rulers will sometimes experience an outburst of energy and courage that will allow them to rise from obscurity to empire.

Young empires will seek to expand through warfare and later commerce. As generations pass, military traditions of old are forgotten, and the people are more interested in seeking wealth and knowledge. Old, decadent empires will become defensive and fragile, until they finally collapse into chaos. Some empires will survive the dark times and usher in a new period of commerce and prosperity, but most will fall.

These mechanics are handled through cyclical modifiers, and do not alter any game files to ensure compatability with more or less every mod out there. They are largely hidden mechanics; aside from new events and traits, the only thing different to vanilla are the county and province modifiers that all counties now have. Every new game, realms are assigned random start states, and will go through phases and ages at their own, random pace.


Sociodemographic cycles mechanics are based on secular cycle theories in agrarian systems which postulate that all agrarian socities follows a common cycle of growth and collapse. RC attempts to simulate these dynamically.

Every realm in the game will now pass through four phases, consisting of eight sub-phases. Every phase lasts 20 years on average, but could in extreme cases last anywhere from a year to a hundred years. a full cycle usually takes about 200 years. Not only the length, but also the magnitude of each phase varies significantly, and no game will ever have the same cycles.

Phases are grouped together into "father and son" sub-phases. Most of the time, father-phase has the strongest effects, but not always.

The cycles are as follows:
1. Expansion phase
2. Stagnation phase
3. Crisis phase
4. Decline

During expansion and stagnation phases, all realm rulers will gain bonuses to development and control growth, income and build cost and speed, while levy size will be reduced (to simulate lower population). Crisis and decline have the opposite effects. Once the cycle is complete, the realm will return to the expansion phase.



Rise and Collapse
Realms suffering from moderate to severe crises may collapse entirely. The entire realm will lose faith in the ruler's abilities, and he will forever be disgraced. It will take 30 years before the realm can recover.

Small tribal rulers with brave or ambitious traits, and that are going through a period of expansion may gain the pioneer trait, granting great county and character bonuses. AI rulers with this trait will be more aggressive. If this realm manages to establish a sufficiently large kingdom within 50 years, it wil enter the Age of Pioneers and be granted large bonuses for a lengthy period.

Fate of Empires mechanics is based on Sir John Glubb's work The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival in which he divides the rise and fall of empires into universal phases;

- Age of Pioneer and Conquest
This age is for characters who've gained the "Pioneer" trait. This represent sudden outbursts characterised by an extraordinary display of energy and courage. The new conquerors are poor, hardy and enterprising and above all aggressive. Those lucky enough to enter this age will experience huge bonuses.

- Age of Commerce
The proud military traditions still hold sway and the great armies guard the frontiers, but gradually the desire to make money seems to gain hold of the public. During the military period, glory and honour were the principal objects of ambition. To the merchant, such ideas are but empty words, which add nothing to the bank balance.

- Age of Affluence
The first direction in which wealth injures the nation is a moral one. Money replaces honour and adventure as the objective of the best young men. Moreover, men do not normally seek to make money for their country or their community, but for themselves. The object of the young and the ambitious is no longer fame, honour or service, but cash.

- Age of Intellect
The great wealth of the nation is no longer needed to supply the mere necessities, or even the luxuries of life. Ample funds are available also for the pursuit of knowledge. The merchant princes of the Age of Commerce seek fame and praise, not only by endowing works of art or patronising music and literature. They also found and endow
colleges and universities.

- Age of Decadence
Decadence is a moral and spiritual disease, resulting from too long a period of wealth and power, producing cynicism, decline of religion, pessimism and frivolity. The citizens of such a nation will no longer make an effort to save themselves, because they are not convinced that anything in life is worth saving.

Empires will pass through these ages at different speeds. On average, it should take 250 years to become decadent, but it could go much faster or slower. At the start of the game, empires and kingdoms with a realm size equal to or larger than 30 counties will be assigned to random ages. HRE and Byzantium are exempt from ages for now. It will become available to Byzantium once I've fixed a bug.

During periods of crisis and collapse, empires cannot move to the next age. Losing enough land will also cause the ages modifiers to disappear.

Young empires will gain many positive modifiers to income and levies. In an expansion phase, young militaristic empires can become very dangerous. Older empires will mostly get negative modifiers, but gets a huge bonus to fort levels and garrison sizes in all counties, and will be very difficult to defeat when not in a crisis. As the empire collapses from within, it will be much easier for surrounding states to take advantage of the situation.

I appreciate any feedback related to bugs or the mod itself! I'm not a native english speaker and would especially like some feedback on better ways to describe the modifiers, events and such.