Crusader Kings II - Dev Diary 4 - Regnal Numbers

[Doomdark]

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

[Lord Tywin]

This looks great, it will be great to be able to follow your dynasty throughout the game.

[Qorten]

Looks great DD. The ability to browse through dead characters will no doubt be of great help to AARland inhabitants.

[Lord Blekinge]

great as always, makes the new year better

[Vladislav]

A fully rotatable 3D map as in Rome? Cool.

[Txini]

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.

What happens with people who had been deposed or abdicated before their deaths? For example Emperor Isaakios I Komnenos

[Romtos]

Wheee, map screens. The angled view of the last one is fascinating. Is that only for development purposes?

[Tyson_48]

Thanks!
Looks very promising.
As a statistics-fan this feature is surely a must for me.

I am very confident that CKII will be the "next step" in Paradox Interactive Games.

So check 1 of 9999999 fulfilled

Go ahead PI



One question: (okay two)
The last screen shows in the middle bottom the boronies of Uppland.
Is it planned to have some flavour pics in there for cities, castles etc. or at least modable?
I assume the shields will be linked to the diplomacy screen, is it possible to display some general information in this window (loyality etc.)?
Last one
In some counties there are more than just one (capital?)"settlement" displayed...
Is this because of "work in progress" or are there special rules?

[Kaleidoscope]

So we know at least one of the traits in CKII - "Diligent". I wonder if this is equivalent to the Energetic trait from CK1?
Looking closer, I can also see that Edward III has three icons that might represent traits on his sheet, and (looking closer still) two of these icons have a number inside them. Could these numbers represent different degrees of a trait? "Diligent 5" being more diligent than "Diligent 3"?

What else can we see from these screenshots? Well there are definitely many more provinces in England and Wales than there were in CK1. We can also see a new ability to zoom the camera right down to an almost horizontal view. I like that. Will we be able to rotate the camera also?
I would also guess that the Baronies in the provinces will be represented by 2d artwork rather than 3d renders, judging by that last screenshot. I like that, the 3d town renders were never very interesting in EU3 and just took up space.
I'm guessing Uppland contains three towns, one church and one castle, with one unused barony "slot"?

We can see at the top of Edward III's character sheet icons for wealth, prestige, piety and... any speculation on what that foruth icon might represent? I can't think of anything obvious that a shield surmounted by a crown could stand for.

[AlexanderPrimus]

This is all kinds of awesome!

[LordofSaxony]

Thanks! Looks great. I can't wait to play this game

[Doomdark]

Wheee, map screens. The angled view of the last one is fascinating. Is that only for development purposes?

The map can be rotated freely, much as in Rome (though better.)

[Doomdark]

I would also guess that the Baronies in the provinces will be represented by 2d artwork rather than 3d renders, judging by that last screenshot. I like that, the 3d town renders were never very interesting in EU3 and just took up space.
I'm guessing Uppland contains three towns, one church and one castle, with one unused barony "slot"?

Just be careful with drawing conclusions, this is still a pre-alpha.

[Duke of Bavaria]

Looks really nice. But does anyone else but me think the church and its tower in screenie 3 look too "baroque" for the Middle ages?

[Tambourmajor]

I am impressed!

Also, a question: What is the CoA displayed below Edward's portrait in the first screenshot? Is that his demesne's CoA?

[safferli]

I'm not enthused by the map-rotating à la Rome, but the map itself sure does look nice!

The faces are a bit bland, though, but I'm sure you're still working on that.

[Kaleidoscope]

Oh hey look - the Political Mapmode presumably is our first view of the entire minimap? Is that confirmation of how much of the world we'll get to see? Looks like we can go a little bit further south and east than in CK1

The faces are a bit bland, though, but I'm sure you're still working on that.

I think that might be because all the facial features are quite small, leaving large expanses of generic flesh. I bet increasing the size of all features by about 5-10% would make a big difference.
I bet they are just placeholders though - there's clearly only one female portrait at the moment, if the screenshot is anything to go by.

[Doomdark]

I am impressed!

Also, a question: What is the CoA displayed below Edward's portrait in the first screenshot? Is that his demesne's CoA?

That is the (currently randomly generated) Dynasty CoA. Important dynasties like the Plantagenets will get proper pre-scripted ones eventually.

[safferli]

Also, there is a new thing in the top bar! Money, Prestige, Piety, and a shield with a crown on it? Legitimacy?

[keeveek]

This game is going to be epic...