[GoT] Give your opinion about the mod after 1 month out

[Zarine]

Hello everyone,

It has been a month since the first official release of the Game of Thrones mod. I know some enjoyed the mod, I also know that some found it boring after 2/3 games.
The question now is what is your opinion about it.

* Does the univers is used enough (considering the map area) or too many things are missing? If things are missing, could you please give some details about what you're expecting? I'm speaking about what could be present in the current map. Please don't speak about the wildlings (they are coming) and/or the free cities or anything else outside the map. (keep in mind that we'll stay far away from any highly copyrighted data (music, extract from the serie...)

* Are the war/battle/duel working as you would expect or is there some change that would be necessary in your opinion?
Do you find them interesting or it's just army throwing and watch the result? Do you find the duel interesting or only 2/3 clicks and let's forget about it?

* Are there enough plots and are they covering enough case or you think some are missing? And if so, what would be a good plot to add?
Variety, result, side effect...?

* What are you expecting in the futur release of the mod? (wildlings, free cities, more flavor events, new start date...)

* What are the elements you find better in the vanilla game? And better in the mod? And better in other mods? (please be specific, not "mod X do better")

* Do you feel like playing it multiple time is as entertaining as playing it for the first time? Do you feel it lacks replayability?

* Could you give us an idea of how much you're waiting the next version of the mod? (if you want a scale : 0 - not waiting for it at all / 5 - I'm addicted and need a new batch)

* Any additional remark?

To help us as much as possible, please try to answer the 5 holy W that you all learned in school (or not) : Who ? What ? When ? Where ? Why ?
We can't improve something if we don't know the answered to those easy questions.


Keep in mind that we won't be able to please everyone and we won't be able to do everything within the next days.
We will try to take your remarks into account as much as possible in order to improve the quality of the mod we propose to you and make your experience with it as pleasant as it could be.


Please be civilized toward all opinions as your point of view might be different from another player. It's not because you shouted louder that we will listen more to you!

Thank you,
Zarine.

 

[Xoatly]

I find it really fun. I have over 4 saves that have gone over 100 years each, and I'm still playing them. The dueling system is neat, I just wish there was more choices during the duel rather than letting them Yield or killing them outright.

The things I'm eagerly anticipating are the Wildlings and more Night's Watch events/things to do. It'd be cool if you could go to war if a Lord/King imprisoned one of your dynasty. Dunno if that would be able to work, though.

On the scale of 1-5 of awaiting the new version, I'm probably about a 4. I just love the mod and all the work the team put into it. It's suprisingly more fun than the Vanilla game. It's also suprising how replayable it is.

 

[Beric Dondarion]

I love the mod, and even more so because of the awesome things that can happen(everybody declared themselves King after Robert left an infant bastard on the throne.)

I like the idea of wildings though from the pics I've seen there's not enough of them. An idea though, how about using the Mongol invasion mechanic to represent Others, wights/ Golden company? I would also love to see a custom title for the North and Southern Kings( Winter Kings, anyone?, and a less manly name for the Reach, Rose Kings :rofl
Aegon Targaryen seems to lack Lunatic or Quick or Genius traits at game start. Other than that, love it

Thanks for this wonderful mod

 

[debar]

The mod is great but I am missing:

- proper possibilities to expand as Count-level starter(getting claims with advisors is next to impossible)
- real AGOT mercenaries(Unsullied, Brave Companions)
- wildling/Others threat
- more variety to tourney events
- random bastards with weak claims

I don't care about replaying the Books as this would result in a very linear gameplay and prefer an AGOT sandbox.

Still, this one has the best adaption of a fantasy setting but lacks some gameplay flavour in comparision to other mods(Prince&Thane).

 

[I Killed Kenny]

Answering each questions:

* very nice map.

* I find it neat, but stop reading it.

* Some more LP level plots

* Chance to usurp LP, ambition on becaming a LP. Small council mechanics. After Megawars events for both winners and losers.

* Prince and Thane's war mechanics, I would like to see more war destruction and pillage

* I really love playing it but only the 1st scenario

* 5

* You are great

 

[ashalpha]

* Does the univers is used enough (considering the map area) or too many things are missing? If things are missing, could you please give some details about what you're expecting? I'm speaking about what could be present in the current map. Please don't speak about the wildlings (they are coming) and/or the free cities or anything else outside the map. (keep in mind that we'll stay far away from any highly copyrighted data (music, extract from the serie...)

A lot of the universe is there, I would mention the flags missing but you guys are already working on it. Overall the setting with main Westeros is already pretty good.

* Are the war/battle/duel working as you would expect or is there some change that would be necessary in your opinion?
Do you find them interesting or it's just army throwing and watch the result? Do you find the duel interesting or only 2/3 clicks and let's forget about it?

I did not really notice much of a difference but then I never use any generals with low martial traits. I had very few duels since I played counts to Lords and have yet to rise to lord paramount.

* Are there enough plots and are they covering enough case or you think some are missing? And if so, what would be a good plot to add?
Variety, result, side effect...?

I think you need more plots against neighbors in the spirit of GOT, like the Dreadfort plotting to get the Hornwood and White Harbor responding if perceived weak. I am not exactly sure how you would implement that though . I am not a modder.

* What are you expecting in the futur release of the mod? (wildlings, free cities, more flavor events, new start date...)

All of that and more!!!

* What are the elements you find better in the vanilla game? And better in the mod? And better in other mods? (please be specific, not "mod X do better")

I just think of any mod with differences as a different game really so any elements are considered differently. I don't hate any of the changes nor love them just think of it as different for the mod.

* Do you feel like playing it multiple time is as entertaining as playing it for the first time? Do you feel it lacks replayability?

Yes, it is very replayable if only to get the experience from multiple levels at different areas.

* Could you give us an idea of how much you're waiting the next version of the mod? (if you want a scale : 0 - not waiting for it at all / 5 - I'm addicted and need a new batch)

Definitely a 5!!!!!

 

[knuckey]

- more variety to tourney events

Any ideas? we are always looking for more flavour. for example, for the next version we have an event where a drunkard can embarrass themselves and you can now credit/blame your squire

 

[Rev1917]

I think you guys did a great job capturing the feel of the series, its mythos and history. The game as it exists now is fun, up until a certain point, say for a little while just after Robert's rebellion in the first scenario.

Unfortunately, for me anyway, it gets stale after that point. Part of the joy of CKII is building your dynasty from some small duchy or kingdom into something larger over the course of centuries. You really cannot do this in the GoT mod.

The way I see it the problem is, and I don't really know how you fix this staying in cannon, the social structure of Westeros. The 7 kingdoms, or rather the 7 lps, start the game with huge pre-established territories, of which 100% of their provinces are De Jure. Your only real opportunity playing as an LP is the inevitable succession crisis and the following mega war where you can rebel, fight for your liege, fight for independence.

From my perspective their isn't a lot of motivation to fight in a rebellion to capture the iron throne. If you are supporting someone else's claim to the throne, you just end in with the same situation you started with. If you try to instal yourself, and manage to win, game over--this brings me to something I will discuss in a minute.

If you fight for independence, this is barely worth it. Even if you manage it, and become independent this doesn't usually last long. Within a generation or two the Iron throne recollects other LPs it lost, and since the Iron Throne maintains de jure claims on your kingdom forever, you will eventually get swallowed again. Then again, maybe you can avoid this by trying to take out the Iron Throne while they are weak, but if you win, you just get the Iron Throne, which means game over (for me anyway).

Really, what this boils down to, I've found, is that I play the mod (and still have fun doing it), but most of my time is spent as a political marriage simulator. The best way to take territory from your fellow LPs and even lower lords is through marriage, sometimes interspersed with assassinations. Literally though, this means I spend large portions of the game on the fasted speed possible waiting for children to become born, to educate them, and then to marry them off in the most advantageous marriages.

That in and of itself can be addicting (I've played hundreds of years of your mod doing just this).

Some other problems (as I discussed briefly above): The Iron Throne. Playing as the Iron Throne is incredibly dull for me. If I ever "take it" I give up the game. There is basically 0 advantage to having it, not that you'd need any advantage, because once you, the player, have it there are never any serious challenges to you.

In fact, the one game I played as the Tagaryens after I won the war, I just married, had children, etc, etc until I owned 5 of the 7 kingdoms through inheritance. Then I quit.

Some of this can be avoided by playing at the Duke/Count level; However, the real appeal, I think, for most people playing this mod is that they get to play as the head of the major houses that they've come to love/hate. Originally it also became next to impossible to play as smaller lords anyway (except through the marriage simulation aspect) because the AI was able to get crown authority high enough you couldn't wage war with other vassals/anyone else. Supposedly this has been fixed? I haven't given it a try.

The problem though is, even if it works well, once you achieve LP status then you're stuck in the same game play pattern I mentioned earlier.

In short, I think you could make this game better by providing a game mode similar to what debar suggests: GoT sandbox. I'm not suggesting you ditch the linear scenarios you have, they are important too, but having the game a bit more sandboxy (like Vanilla or other mods for Vanilla) that would be awesome.

I also agree (and I've said this before) that you guys should be looking at Prince and the Thane in regards to gameplay flavor.

And please do not think I am only critical of your work. I actually love it, and am glad you did it!

Things I absolutely love, and that I absolutely love made it into Prince and the Thane:

Trial by combat!
New education system is awesome, and makes a whole lot of sense
New "personal" interaction model
New dueling system! Amazing work.
New traits.

*edit

One more small critique. What was the point of changing the default succession from Gravelkind to Primogeniture? You take suck a huge tyranny penalty for not giving up your territory to any random relative that asks, it is just stupid to not give away all your provinces but one forever. Given that, you could just save me the trouble and return the default to Gravelkind. That way, when I die, if I have any excess lands they get split and I never have to worry about "I want land" spam again.

 

[Aristonn]

I think there is one big problem: empire of iron throne is too stable, there are not any large wars. Personnaly I look forward to "wars of five kings" scenario, where I will play for Rob Stark .

 

[Navidson]

The main thing I want is a scenario similar to that at the end of ADwD, with Young Griff and Jon Connington. I'd say more but I'd rather not spoil it for those that haven't read that far, but I think you'll understand what I mean.

 

[LP90]

Altough I love your mod. I have several suggestions:

Something that bothers me is that only the Ironborn, the Reach and to some point The westerlands and Dragonstone can get atleast a minor fleet.
I can understand that at the beginning the other powers dont have any? But why shouldnt they be able to build one? How about a very costly decision to unlock Shipyards?(Maybe not for the North if its still not working)
Then why shouldnt you be able to upgrade your castle/keeps/cities/temples? After all someone built them? again this could be very costly and after all it is already in the buildscreen....Why shouldnt the arbor grow larger than Highgarden under an influential Lord?
An then there have to be much more possibilities to climb in the social ladder...At the moment you cant become LP from a single Lord.... You cant even ursupe High Lordships although you own every territory.... There has to be much more plots, events etc. in that direction....How about something like:
Plot->CB "War for the North"-> If you win event:Iron Throne accepts you as new LP, or denies you"-> if denied you can step back or claim independencie. The Iron Throne is just too stable without any enemy from the outside... Why should the Iron Trone not say at one time let´s expand to to Essos or the Summer Isles. But I know you dont want to hear about this....
Oh and pls make it possoible for people of the "drowned God" religion to marry into Westeroosi Houses...I never get a marriage, because everyody wants "a better alliance", even a normal Lord.... After all they belong to the Seven Kingdoms too...

 

[Stonewall]

I am quite enjoying the mod. It renewed my interest in the CK2 engine. I'd like to see more of the Free Cities. I know they won't be in until republics can be played, but perhaps events, decisions, etc can be modeled to reflect the influence of places not on the map.

 

[Wheatley]

I know you said not to mention it, but the addition of the Free Cities would be great, and what I feel I'm missing from this. It could be that, or the wildlings - but from a gameplay point of view.

What these two things would address are that the Iron Throne as an Empire is far too stable, and the de jure titles are all distributed to their actual owners from th ebeginning, far too stable. It means that you need some creative marriages over decades to bring on even a few county-level conflicts. I love the mod and youve done a great job capturing the flavour, but as a gameplay criticism, it goes stale for me after a while.

 

[mp84]

* Being as someone who just started reading the books a month ago (finished Book 1 and 2 so far, yea I'm late to the party, heh), I must say you guys did an excellent job of the Universe and the feel of it too. In terms of the main lands of Westeros, there's really not much else I could say or think of that you can improve upon there, as all placements and towns, plus the major houses are already in the mod and represented quite well. If anything, I would like to see more “Dynasty” specific traits, say for example, the Lannisters are perhaps the richest Dynasty in Westeros, so they should have traits that are centered around that, like increase wealth that raises stewardship, etc…

* The Duel system is amazing!!.... It literally brings me back to my Romance of the Three Kingdoms gaming days which had a duel system in it and to simply see that again, with all your favorite characters going at it from the books, is a pleasant treat. Who would have thought that the CK II Engine was capable of that through events. Naturally, the only suggestion I can give about that, is simply “more, more more, please”, heh... Give more ways to pull off a last minute defeat, have times where one of the duelers is just wounded, thus not killed instead, basically the more options you give the more interesting it gets as that’s such a unique feature to this mod. In terms of the Battles/Sieges themselves, their not bad at all, Battles are more deadlier which I like to see, which in turn brings up the warscore fast which is a plus. As for Sieges, I think more Events, a la Prince and the Thane Mod has done would be nice tough, but naturally with your GoT flavor to it. Ohh, speaking of which, since you have the Duel System, maybe take advantage of it via the Sieges too, perhaps you can have Skirmishes that leads to Duels, etc...

* In terms of Plots, I've never been that kind of creative person so it's hard to comment on what I would like to see... I guess I'll lean to other users comments on it, as I'm always in the thinking the more the better, but I’m not exactly sure what you could do with it.

* Now here I would love to comment!! What I would like to see, defiantly on the Event/Flavor Side, we need more! plain and simple.. Yes I know it's incredibly hard to do and time consuming, but I think adding in many more flavor events, lifestyle events, etc... Will keep things interesting during the downtimes when the Iron Throne is at full power and no rebellions pop up... Hell, perhaps you can make events that Lead to a Rebellion if possible... Like exactly the way the War of the Usurper scenario started, or other things examples could be faction on faction fighting (Dynastic Rivals, like Lannisters always hate Starks, etc..). For example, perhaps we can use a CB is not to get rid of the titles that the Dynasty holds, but perhaps to just imprison and banish to the wall the main Character of the House instead, so maybe it’s more favorable dealing with the Son instead, or it could lead to other possibilities instead. Now stuff like that could be interesting.

Also Tournaments!!!.... One thing I noticed in reading the first two books, especially the first book, the Tournament descriptions are amazing, especially on the jousting, they showcase several knights and what happens in the one on one confrontation, etc..... If somehow we can add "Brackets" or the ability to actually tell you what's going on during the tournament, and whose doing good and progressing through the latter rounds instead of just the winners. Also, speaking of Tourneys, I think there's simply too much of it too, if anything at all, there should only be "Regional" and "Grand Tourneys" only because the constant minor tourney spams you get is rather insane. But aye, that's one feature I would hopefully like to see expanded on tremendously, because again it's something that can bring flavor outside of the usual "warfare" etc... While we're at expanding it and since it goes kind of hand and hand with tourneys, perhaps the Knight/Squire system can be expanded even more, I'm kind of drawing a blank at the moment of else you guys could approve it, but perhaps by mentioned it here, it would give someone else extra ideas on how that system can be further improved too.

Finally, more improvements to the "personal diplomacy" and Friends/Rival system.... The current CK II system of the "numbers" game for opinions is more streamlined, but it feels way less personal than the actual friends/rival system of CK I... So the fact that you guys were able to bring it back in some capacity is awesome... Therefore, maybe we can have more centered events around that, or better yet events that could eventually lead to wars, etc... In terms of Personal Diplomacy, perhaps more intriguing/scheming can be done through that, not sure what exactly, but figured it's another one I would through out there for people to discuss if they would like to see improvements made upon that as well.

* To be honest, you guys are so much better than Vanilla, there's really not much I can say on that front that Vanilla does better, granted in the end of the day you are using CK II engine, so I'm not to trying slap Vanilla in the face in anyway as that game made this mod possible, I just personally prefer the Westeros setting over Europe, maybe because it's a bit more fresher in my eyes, and less "fantasy" driven than say Middle Earth. If anything, a few things I would like to see which I have mentioned in the past, but perhaps it's not feasible without proper research, and that's more Building Options (Prince and the Thane has a good assortment of options, perhaps you can take inspiration from that), and yes, I know the dev teams state that it would not fit well in Westeros, but nevertheless, I'm hoping Magnate Lords type features (with economy driven aspects here) for GoT as well if possible.

* Right now there is some replayability, but not much because we don’t as much flavor events as I would have liked or the dynastic rivalries that are so prevalent in the books really showcasing themselves here yet etc…. I think once you include more of that which it seems that’s the direction you’re going anyway, it will increase 10 folds on the replayability aspect.

* Defiantly a 5.... I really want to see how the mod plays now with the new hardcoded engines changes the 1.06 patch does and naturally I know you guys have been working on making Westeros more interesting after Robert's Rebellion, so I do want to see how that plays out too and it also seems to me that every new patch brings very nice new features, so I can only imagine what the next one will bring. Considering also that 1.06 opens a lot of new modding possibilities too in time I can see more of that incorporated as well.

* That's pretty much it, not much else I can say, overall fantastic job, and I can only look forward to the next version. I seriously think you guys have something special and considering how Game of Thrones is such a hot IP (thanks to the HBO series I believe, yes the books were popular, but I think HBO helped GoT go mainstream) and the fact there's no other good games for Game of Thrones out there (as the 2 that came out are so bad, ugh...) you guys defiantly have a promising future ahead of you if you're able to keep up this quality of work.

 

[TheTedinator]

I still haven't been able to get this mod working on my mac, even with the changes to the .mod file and/or deleting the loading screens. It crashes before I get to the main menu.

 

[unmerged(498604)]

Great mod!
* I love the look and content of the map. I don't have anything to suggest here.

* Levies do tend to inflate pretty heavily as the game progresses, but I'm not convinced that this is a problem. Wars are still very enjoyable. The only improvement would be the ability to raise fleets for certain regions, but I understand that this causes problems with the AI. If that could ever be fixed, that would be great. Duels are entertaining.

* I'd always like to see more plots, but as far as content goes, I just don't have a whole lot of suggestions.

* Wildings, Free Cities, Technology and Buildings Overhaul

* While the game has definite re playability, it tends to lose some of its appeal further into games. By the time I'm three or four generations into the game, things have slowed down a lot in Westeros.

* 4.5-5

*I would really like to see an overhaul of technology and buildings in the future. Right now, with technology coming at a very slow pace buildings just continue to upgrade until they max out. It leaves the game feeling a bit unfinished as there is no ultimate goal or complexity. I heard it suggested that repeated sieges destroy buildings and that buildings could become a "two-way street" with some degrading over time if not upkept. This appealed to me greatly. I'd also like to see a workable technology tree if possible.

Thanks for the awesome mod!

 

[unmerged(426560)]

First of all, you've done a great mod!

About plots, I would create one to have a claim on a neighbour, but vanilla have just done it, so I think it will be there anyway... You could have other plots triggered by specific situations, like if you have an important family priosioner, you could do usefull stuff with him like bargaining a claim or ask them to pledge you vassalage...

I'm expecting more events and more options on the personal relations menu - you could put there things like kidnap, pledge secret allegiance, humiliate, invite for a visit... and roll on that with events and plots related... Definetely I would conect those things...

Those plots and scams IMHO should make the basis to mass the things from bottom lords to the LPs and the iron trhone, so their lifes, even when you play as them, get very hard... It shloud be harder to keep a trhone than to conquerer one, as Robert would say...

Finally, sorry my english, no time to check grammar... =p

 

[debar]

Tourney event ideas:

- Cleagane/Loras-like actions where the player can decide about the outcome depending on his martial value
- If intrigue is high and player is sponsoring tournament->plot to kill some of the participants or guests
- Essos warrior influx due to "Mysterious Knights"
- Captured wife on won tourney with 5% chance of massive war(Bigger tourneys)
- tourneys are good moments to "create" bastards
- winner of big tournaments get special reward(Valyrian Sword, artefacts from the First Men)
- if taking part and player has high intrigue->choice to "increase"chance of winning by poisoning/weakening main opponent
- Smallfolk rebellion disturbs tourney with different outcome(maybe depening on levy size: after a war the soothing effect for the smallfolk can backfire on the lord)

 

[pquinn232]

My first ever post (after months lurking) to say that I find this mod SO SO SO SO much fun. I don't have any specific ideas on how to improve it, but I just wanted to thank you all for your work on it. It's just amazing - I know a friend who bought CKII *just* for this mod after I showed it to him

 

[Deflare]

This mod was my first serious interaction with the A Song of Ice and Fire universe, and it was enough to get me to start reading the first book. So there's that.

On the plus side, it's nice to get away from Europe for once. The new map and new setting are fun to mess around in. I thought that living in one big Empire might get boring, but the mod does a good job of both making the Empire manageable, and makes it interesting to play around in it. The focus on individual characters is quite gratifying, and I wouldn't mind seeing more focus put on individual life paths. So far as what I'm looking forward to, from the first hundred pages of A Game of Thrones alone, I think the Free Cities will make a big difference--the 'canon' ending to Robert's Rebellion completely removes the Targaryens as a factor in the game if you can't represent their exile to the nearby continent.

My main problem with the mod is that it's so focused on recreating the state of Westeros as of the start of the first book that I feel like it doesn't allow room for change, evolution, or generally playing a game. The lack of technology; the slow rate of reinforcements; the limited ability to influence people's opinions (which makes it difficult to get supporters for plots); the hard limits on settlements so that, no matter how much time and money a ruler might have, they can't make a given province as spiffy as Storm's End or some other uber-province--they all feel stifling for someone who's not focused on recreating the canon storyline (not to mention posing problems in normal gameplay--my one abortive attempt to play Eddard Stark ended with my armies getting shattered in the first fight of the Rebellion, completely knocking me out of the war thanks to pitiful reinforcement speeds). CK2 is a game that plays out over centuries, and I kind of feel like the mod team ignores that in favor of focusing on the eighteen years from Robert's Rebellion to the "modern day" of the novels' storyline. (And on a minor note, I don't think religion is being used to its full potential, though I imagine it's hard to model the distinctive nature of Westeros' religions in an engine designed for Christianity and Islam.)

I do enjoy the mod, and look forward to seeing how it develops. I might keep an eye out for mods-of-mods that make the map less static. That's really my biggest problem with it, so that'd sort things out nicely. It'll be interesting to see what y'all do with 1.06's features.