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It's time again, to fan the flames of speculation, chagrin and wonderment!

This week, I'll speak of buildings. In Crusader Kings, as you probably remember, you could build improvements in your counties; things like a library, a road network or money lenders. These would unlock as technology advanced in the county, and, once built, would improve stuff like taxation, defensibility and levy size. Crusader Kings II, not to be outdone by its predecessor, has a very similar system, except you do not build improvements per county, but per Holding (i.e. the baronies within a county. In Crusader Kings II, your Demesne does not consist of a number of counties, but of Holdings.)

You can click on any Holding in the game to inspect which improvements it has, the size and composition of its levy and garrison, its fortification level and its base tax. If the Holding is part of your own demesne, you can build new improvements there (if any are available and you can afford them.) Castle, City and Church type holdings have different sets of buildings consistent with their role (remember, for example, that Cities are burgher dominated, rich, with sizable ship levies, and so on.) Not only that, but many cultures have their own slightly different sets of buildings. Thus, some Mongol Castle improvements will increase the number of Horse Archers, whereas the corresponding German type would increase the number of Knights.

Another nifty feature of the Holding View is that you can change the name of the Holding if its lord is your subject - this has no effect on the gameplay, of course, but it's still fun (especially in multiplayer.) Naturally, you can also rename counties.

Crusader_Kings_2_DevDiary_111013.png

That's all for now. Until next week!
 
butiwantitnowantitnowapplebloom.jpg (will do when i get back @ home :p).

I want it now/SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
stupid age if i was 18 i could have had a chance of the closed beta :(
 
Will we be able to choose which Holding serves as our capital, or will it default to the richest holding similar to the first game?

Also, how will the game handle naming new holdings? Will it have unique suggested names for us, perhaps using context like the county name + a set of culture specific generic town suffixes (like 'ville', 'shire','field' for English)?
 
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Will we be able to choose which Holding serves as our capital, or will it default to the richest holding similar to the first game?

Also, how will the game handle naming new holdings? Will it have unique suggested names for us, perhaps using context like the county name + a set of culture specific generic town suffixes (like 'ville', 'shire','field' for English)?

You can move your capital at will (with a cooldown.) The names are all prescripted, eight per county.
 
... You just make it nicer and nicer, are you sure you set the release date so far in the future to finish testing, and not just to make us poor mortals suffer? :/

;D
 
It sounds like a very interesting system, though very centralized as well. In that regard, does it really fit in the feudal setting of the game?
 
I read somewhere that your demense can be in counties you do not own. How are taxes/scutage/troops solved in that case? Let's say I'm the HRE and the count of Holland is my vassal and I own a castle in the county of Holland. Does the count of Holland receive taxes and troops from my holding?
 
What the hell is a donjon?

*googles donjon*

Oh, it's a keep. Why not just call it a keep then?




On the plus side, yay for renaming holdings. I decree that my capital shall henceforth be known as Awesomeburgh, and my holiday home shall be Caer Poonhaven!
 
You can click on any Holding in the game to inspect which improvements it has, the size and composition of its levy and garrison, its fortification level and its base tax.

"Base tax" - what does that mean? Base tax as in EU3?

Not only that, but many cultures have their own slightly different sets of buildings. Thus, some Mongol Castle improvements will increase the number of Horse Archers, whereas the corresponding German type would increase the number of Knights.

Is the levy type connected to the building, the province culture, or the holder? If a mongol horde ends up conquering syria, will the buildings change to mongol instantly? Or will the mongols suddenly end up with arab-style armies instead of horse archers? If so, how do you change it to your own type of levy?

If I go crusadin' and grab a mongol province (perhaps one of the syrian ones I mentioned), will I suddenly be able to field a horse archer army?

When (not if :)) I grab the Kingdom of Jerusalem area in the first crusade, will I (as in CK) have access only to arab armies, with arab sprites?

Thanks for another dev diary!
 
I read somewhere that your demense can be in counties you do not own. How are taxes/scutage/troops solved in that case? Let's say I'm the HRE and the count of Holland is my vassal and I own a castle in the county of Holland. Does the count of Holland receive taxes and troops from my holding?

No, he does not, but he will not be happy with the situation.
 
Will it be possible for certain holdings be tied to higher titles? For instance can the lordship of Constantinople be tied to the title of the byzantine emperor?