Hello again folks!

This diary will be a bit on the short side due to the frenzy at the office this week, but since it recently came up on the forum, I thought I'd say a little bit about regnal numbers. One of the nice little touches in Europa Universalis III (and its predecessors) is that kings have proper regnal numbers. This feature was missing from the original Crusader Kings, but I am pleased to announce that it will be fully implemented in Crusader Kings II. The way it works is that the first names of actual scripted holders in the character database are counted for each landed title at game start. Regnal numbers are only displayed for Dukes and above, which includes the Pope (a kingdom tier title.) The Holy Father, however, is a bit special in that he changes name on accession. So, a character named, say, Étienne Aubert could get the name Innocent VI if he became Pope.



Somewhat related to regnal numbers is the state of a character at the time of death. In Crusader Kings II, you can browse back through dead characters and see exactly which titles they held and what regnal number they had. I'll leave you with some extra screenshots while you're waiting for the next dev diary, which will be about our beautiful new map. Failing unexpected delays, it should be posted on february 4.




Henrik Fåhraeus, Associate Producer and CKII Project Lead

 

[brifbates]

I would be surprised if they limited the amout of traits to the number in CK1 .. sine this engine has none of the limitations of the old one ... I think there will be room to mod existing traits and add new ones to your heart's content.

Which brings up one of the things I found annoying, especially in the later days of DV: any ruler that lived a long time (30+ years as ruler say) would end up with a huge number of traits. There needs to be some sort of throttle to keep it interesting without getting ridiculous. Something like 4-6 green traits with no limit on the red and blue ones should be the norm not the 8-10 or more I regularly see.

 

[Damocles]

I must be some kind of weird deviant, cause I've always preferred 2d to 3d. For one thing, I think it ages better by a metric ton.

Overall, optimistic. Though, I'm not sure on the protocols of calling someone the First, if there hasn't been a Second yet, i.e., Maud I.

 

[Wezqu]

The map seen in the screeshots is most likely just a picture put there to be a place holder. I don't think it even yet works like it should. It most likely doesn't even show the current map that they are using in the game as it most likely isn't even close to be ready.

 

[Annibal]

They should diversify character portaits. The all dukes and earls look like brothers of Edward III.

 

[The-Doc]

Overall, optimistic. Though, I'm not sure on the protocols of calling someone the First, if there hasn't been a Second yet, i.e., Maud I.

Wouldn't be too weird, I think I remember hearing Kings referred to as "Edward the First of that Name" or something like that in chronicles.

 

[unmerged(92417)]

Every new Dev Diary makes me more and more excited for this! Keep up the good work!

I can't believe everyone is already complaining about portraits like that part of the project is complete. Be patient people, we still have over a year to go...

 

[unmerged(61770)]

wow

This looks great. Somebody already asked it, but i'll ask it again. Will there be other titles besides earl and count (conde, comte, etc.)? If so, what makes one character an earl and another character a comte (the culture, province, etc.)?

Again, it looks great. I can't wait.

 

[RedRooster81]

This looks great. Somebody already asked it, but i'll ask it again. Will there be other titles besides earl and count (conde, comte, etc.)? If so, what makes one character an earl and another character a comte (the culture, province, etc.)?

Again, it looks great. I can't wait.

It's cultural, man. But I don't think that the developers have weighed in yet on whether it will depend on the culture of the realm or of the officeholder. For example, King William I of England would be king of England, duc de Normandie, earl of Essex, comte de Rouen, etc... In the DD today, we see that all of Edward III's vassals visible on the screenshot are earls in England or Dukes in Ireland (and Cornwall).

 

[Vladislav]

I love the expanded map. I'm hoping to play an Orthodox realm in Africa (and surviving, naturally ).

 

[Brent15]

Hey, Nice! I like the direction you've gone with the female portrait!

 

[Rivus]

I still prefer side profiles for the potraits... I really hope (yeah it's wishful thinking but I can still hope) Pdox reconsiders using side profiles instead. It gives the game a more classic feel...

Good to see Regnal Numbers in! Yay...

Skull icon looks odd, somehow. Very much prefer darkening / grayscale the potrait instead to represent dead characters.

Shields floating above realms felt kind of odd in 3D too. I keep getting the impression the shields are weighing heavily on the map, like they would drop anytime and crush the poor people living beneath it... Which is odd since it worked well enough in 2D (CK1). Wouldn't the view be extremely cluttered if we have such large shields floating everywhere? Or are only Kingdom / Duchy shields shown now?

UI looks good It's pretty clear the 2D elements in the screenshot looks better than the 3D elements at this time. No doubt things will improve... would love to see seasonal effects on the 3D map even if it doesn't affect gameplay in any way.

 

[RedRooster81]

I still prefer side profiles for the potraits... I really hope (yeah it's wishful thinking but I can still hope) Pdox reconsiders using side profiles instead. It gives the game a more classic feel...

Good to see Regnal Numbers in! Yay...

Skull icon looks odd, somehow. Very much prefer darkening / grayscale the potrait instead to represent dead characters.

Shields floating above realms felt kind of odd in 3D too. I keep getting the impression the shields are weighing heavily on the map, like they would drop anytime and crush the poor people living beneath it... Which is odd since it worked well enough in 2D (CK1). Wouldn't the view be extremely cluttered if we have such large shields floating everywhere? Or are only Kingdom / Duchy shields shown now?

UI looks good It's pretty clear the 2D elements in the screenshot looks better than the 3D elements at this time. No doubt things will improve... would love to see seasonal effects on the 3D map even if it doesn't affect gameplay in any way.

I think you bring up some good points. The UI looks pretty good so far; I recognize some of the icons for subscreens from EU Rome: like the gear for research, the helmet for military, the letter and dagger for diplo, etc. I like the 2d heads. The male hair models that I have seen look pretty good, and I like the idea of changes in clothing, hair, and face with age.

I imagine that the map will in the end approximate the most recent EU3 map updates, with a dynamic zoom with the mouse wheel (I hope at least). Maybe kingdom shields are shown at higher zoom levels, then more detail as we zoom in? The minimap shows what would potentially be nine different map views (political, religious, terrain, realm, who knows [but Doomdark and company] what else).

 

[Doctor Zoviet]

Rivus, it could very well be that the only shield shown is the county/duchy/kingdom you have selected. In fact, that's how it looks to me.

 

[Pickle_mole]

Why does the king look like a mongolian?

 

[yourworstnightm]

They should diversify character portaits. The all dukes and earls look like brothers of Edward III.

They will, this is pre Alpha.

 

[Rivus]

Rivus, it could very well be that the only shield shown is the county/duchy/kingdom you have selected. In fact, that's how it looks to me.

If you see the third picture (horizon view of Sweden) you'll see a couple of shields floating in the background (e.g. Denmark). The selected domain seems to be part of Sweden. In any case, it's too early to tell how the display will be done. I was just pointing out that if we see all the shields (like ine CK1) it seemed like a very cluttered view, cos it's in 3D and what not (maybe it's the size of the shields?)...

 

[unmerged(68106)]

Outstanding progress so far. This is very exciting!

CKI is one of my top 3 favorite games of all time, and I am an old gamer. This game has the potential to be a legend.

 

[unmerged(157596)]

It's cultural, man. But I don't think that the developers have weighed in yet on whether it will depend on the culture of the realm or of the officeholder. For example, King William I of England would be king of England, duc de Normandie, earl of Essex, comte de Rouen, etc... In the DD today, we see that all of Edward III's vassals visible on the screenshot are earls in England or Dukes in Ireland (and Cornwall).

Or "Guillelmus (or Willelm), Angliæ Rex, Normanniæ Dux", but that's a discussion for another thread.
Semi-localised titles in diffrent languages adds flavor and is infinitely better than just the generic "duke" and "count".
Hopefully the system will be moddable, so those disagreeing with the chosen titles may make their own.

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

So, there will be ordinals... what about epithets?

I'd also like to see epithets, though I could foresee it taking a lot of work to avoid odd combinations. Still, it wouldn't be Paradox without Incompetent Competents.

Also: That last map made me go cross eyed, between the fuzzy texture, bright/sharp colours, angle and my disorientation. I'd hate to think what that pre-alpha would do to someone if moving.

The settlement pictures are perfect, though.

 

[Davisx3m]

Awesome! But why do all woman look the same?