The Way of Life DLC's biggest feature are the Life Focuses. Conclave built upon that for its revamped education system. However, I believe that this mechanic is fundamentally flawed, and does not fit with the CK2 as it was prior to these expansions.
The Focuses of WoL, and Conclave's education system both utilize the same gameplay mechanic, a panel that opens up that lets you effectively alter aspects of your character instantly. This is a mechanic that draws heavily from EU4's design philosophy. I'm not referring to things like the borrowing of shattered retreat, or AE/threat, but rather the underlying idea of how the player is meant to interact with the game. EU4's menus are more like control panels, where you can push buttons to effect some aspect of your country. Push one, and stability goes up. Push another, and revolt risk goes down. Push a third, and your tax income increases, and so on. This is a deliberate design choice, which I recall was explained thoroughly around the time of EU4's release, how every click of the mouse was meant to feel significant to the player. And for EU4, this works. The game is designed around it, and it fits together.
This is not the case for CK2. The vast majority of CK2's mechanics are built around the idea of being more hands off, so to speak, guiding your realm as its liege. To get things done, you need to interact with your vassals and other characters. You need to pay attention to their income, making sure they are not taxed too harshly, so they can build up their own demenses. You need to manage their opinions, to ensure you have enough levies to win wars, and to keep down factions, and in Conclave, to get your council to pass your laws. If you want to kill someone, you need to sway others to assist you. And it is notable with regards to that last one that there used to be a "bacon button" for that, the Assassinate button. An EU4 style interaction, you press the button, and are instantly granted an attempt on someone's life, without needing to interact with any other part of the game, beyond your cash reserves. And for that reason, the Assassinate "bacon button" was removed from vanilla CK2, in favor of an improved plotting system (which never really materialized, but that's another topic.)
Then the WoL Focuses were added. A set of ten "bacon buttons", granting a choice of bonuses an options for your character, all at the push of a button. Push one button, and suddenly your Martial stat increased, and you will live longer. Push another, and you can boost your Diplomacy stat, and up the odds that your character will have children. Or another, and boost your Intrigue, your chance at children, and gain access to the ability to attempt to seduce almost anyone you might want to. Before, if your character was poorly skilled in a certain area, you could decide to try to improve that skill, and there would be the occasional event depicting your character gradually improving themself. Now? Just press the right button, and so long as you don't press another, you'll instantly gain a significant boost. Before, if you wanted to invite your courtiers or vassals on a hunt, it merely had to be the proper time of year, and you needed the funds. Now, you also need to have pressed the proper button first, the same with pilgrimages.
A similar issue exists with Conclave's education system. With the old education system, you had to consider who you wanted to place the child with, yourself, a vassal to ensure loyalty, or perhaps a better educated courtier. Also playing into this was considering what types of education each character had, as that mattered for how the child would be educated. Now, you merely push the button for the education type you want, and send them off to the vassal for the opinion boost when they reach stage two. This is a somewhat different kind of bacon button, as it doesn't provide the instant gratification that the others do, but it does absolutely guarantee that you'll get the education type you want, and if you play the trait minigame, you'll likely get a decent quality as well. No need to interact with or consider any of the other characters that make up the rest of the game, just push the right button and you'll get what you want.
To put it simply, CK2 is a game where the vast majority of the game is intermeshed to some degree or another, where you don't often have precise control over all that happens, so you need to plan and plot your actions to try to get the result you want. And the Focus and new education systems sit off to the side, unaffected by anything, offering potent bonuses and increased control over results, all for the push of a button. In short, I feel that these systems just do not fit with the rest of CK2, and should not have been added, for the same reason the Assassinate button was removed.
The Focuses of WoL, and Conclave's education system both utilize the same gameplay mechanic, a panel that opens up that lets you effectively alter aspects of your character instantly. This is a mechanic that draws heavily from EU4's design philosophy. I'm not referring to things like the borrowing of shattered retreat, or AE/threat, but rather the underlying idea of how the player is meant to interact with the game. EU4's menus are more like control panels, where you can push buttons to effect some aspect of your country. Push one, and stability goes up. Push another, and revolt risk goes down. Push a third, and your tax income increases, and so on. This is a deliberate design choice, which I recall was explained thoroughly around the time of EU4's release, how every click of the mouse was meant to feel significant to the player. And for EU4, this works. The game is designed around it, and it fits together.
This is not the case for CK2. The vast majority of CK2's mechanics are built around the idea of being more hands off, so to speak, guiding your realm as its liege. To get things done, you need to interact with your vassals and other characters. You need to pay attention to their income, making sure they are not taxed too harshly, so they can build up their own demenses. You need to manage their opinions, to ensure you have enough levies to win wars, and to keep down factions, and in Conclave, to get your council to pass your laws. If you want to kill someone, you need to sway others to assist you. And it is notable with regards to that last one that there used to be a "bacon button" for that, the Assassinate button. An EU4 style interaction, you press the button, and are instantly granted an attempt on someone's life, without needing to interact with any other part of the game, beyond your cash reserves. And for that reason, the Assassinate "bacon button" was removed from vanilla CK2, in favor of an improved plotting system (which never really materialized, but that's another topic.)
Then the WoL Focuses were added. A set of ten "bacon buttons", granting a choice of bonuses an options for your character, all at the push of a button. Push one button, and suddenly your Martial stat increased, and you will live longer. Push another, and you can boost your Diplomacy stat, and up the odds that your character will have children. Or another, and boost your Intrigue, your chance at children, and gain access to the ability to attempt to seduce almost anyone you might want to. Before, if your character was poorly skilled in a certain area, you could decide to try to improve that skill, and there would be the occasional event depicting your character gradually improving themself. Now? Just press the right button, and so long as you don't press another, you'll instantly gain a significant boost. Before, if you wanted to invite your courtiers or vassals on a hunt, it merely had to be the proper time of year, and you needed the funds. Now, you also need to have pressed the proper button first, the same with pilgrimages.
A similar issue exists with Conclave's education system. With the old education system, you had to consider who you wanted to place the child with, yourself, a vassal to ensure loyalty, or perhaps a better educated courtier. Also playing into this was considering what types of education each character had, as that mattered for how the child would be educated. Now, you merely push the button for the education type you want, and send them off to the vassal for the opinion boost when they reach stage two. This is a somewhat different kind of bacon button, as it doesn't provide the instant gratification that the others do, but it does absolutely guarantee that you'll get the education type you want, and if you play the trait minigame, you'll likely get a decent quality as well. No need to interact with or consider any of the other characters that make up the rest of the game, just push the right button and you'll get what you want.
To put it simply, CK2 is a game where the vast majority of the game is intermeshed to some degree or another, where you don't often have precise control over all that happens, so you need to plan and plot your actions to try to get the result you want. And the Focus and new education systems sit off to the side, unaffected by anything, offering potent bonuses and increased control over results, all for the push of a button. In short, I feel that these systems just do not fit with the rest of CK2, and should not have been added, for the same reason the Assassinate button was removed.
- 19
- 5
