Hi folks,
struggling for some time to making this thread, but concerning CK2 will probably end in 2017, time to get this going.
I know since many ideas floating around there is only a very small chance that something will be picked up, but hey, you´ll never know.
So I will try to make reasonable, realistic small suggestions that can be easily implemented and not full-blown gamechanging mechanics. Although, most of them fit more into dlcs then patches.
Feel free to comment, discuss and criticize .
Thank you and looking forward for your opinion. I am very interested in what you are thinking about the ideas, don´t hold back.
Immersion and storytelling
1) Please define reasons of death in the general type of dying causes like "natural death", "accident" etc. I would really love to read "got run over by a horse", "fell of the stairs", "died of a stroke" or "died peacefully in bed".
Every time someone important dies of something like an accident "man, I would love to know how he died". That would give double plus storytelling bonus points for the little novel in my head.
2) Separate character (player) and title succession. What I mean with that: give me the opportunity to choose one of the character getting my titles rather than jumping into the one with the primary title.
The advantages would be numerous, i.e. I can follow in exchange for power the character I am interested in the most, I can change the pace and difficulty of the game and I can choose in Elective Monarchy to follow my Core Family rather than getting the King title as my third grate cousin who I didn´t know existed.
This mechanic is fair, when you choose it, you´ll loose land in exchange. I know you can reload, but this is rather uncomfortable and doesn´t work in Ironman.
3) The diary: Expand the chronicle. Make a DLC out of it, I would pay for that happily. But it would be marvelous if the diary wasn´t something like a anecdote history book but also lists events private and secret in nature, following every war and every battle, every affair and every event. It does not have to be a huge changed text, it would suffice when it says:
01.01.1066 Duke Tristan (character Portait) received an event: "I think Isolde fancies me" (character portrait)/ He went with: "Make a move"/ It turned out: "I went to her chamber and gave her a good tumble".
10.01.1066 Battle for Brittany was fought: (Screenshot from the Battle resolution table).
Then make a red X to erase these entries to make the Diary thinner, when you want.
Don´t want to be rude, but the chronicle is not very useful. It lists so many three headed goats and earthquakes, but so much is left out, it barely scratches the surface.
The diary could let me go back and remember fondly what awesome stuff happened. It can be shared. It can be used to remember when you are playing an old campaign.
And first and foremost: There is no game out there I know which can tell so great stories sandbox style in my opinion, it´s time to be proud of that and show it. I guarantee I will spent time reading these stories and indulge myself in the memories.
4) Show me were I am! I got very beautiful councillors from various cultures, but it would be even more informative to know where I am personally. I can check it through the hover menu, but it would be far more informative and beautiful to see me on the map. I died more than once suddenly in i.e. Normandy by a battle of my liege by being sure I am residing in Wessex. It feels more real, because the easiest information I can access about myself is where I am, it shouldn´t be something I am surprised to find out about. So give us small 3D nobles, one male and one female, representing our character.
Also... hush... you can give the generic lord and lady in a patch, fix us on, and sell the other cultures as cosmetic content. I will glad buying "(Cultural) player representation" more as "(Cultural) councillor" (although I bought them all anyway).
More to do with courtiers
I would say the courtiers are even DLC worthy (it would be my favorite next DLC by the way), and I get some ideas I maybe post in a larger scaled threat, but here I will give only small additions as promised.
I mean, they are supposed to be my social networks, people I hang out with every day, my friends, enemies, rivals etc and the game could expand on that by giving me more to do with them.
Currently, I am getting an event or two about a courtier making a remark, or somebody wants to give me a cookie in the kitchen or a girl who fancies me, and most of the time they hang around, coming only to life for a moment and fade back into obscurity.
Additions on that, by the way, would automatically enhance the role of women in the game.
1) Send courtiers into war: Just give my courtiers with marshal education the diplomatic option to "send them to war" if I´m fighting one. They will do nothing for the battle, they will not be attached to a specific army, they will "only" get a prestige bonus and a small chance to be killed, maimed or captured or getting traits like "craven" or "brave".
After the war they come back. That´s all, but this is historically accurate and has tactical opportunities. Giving your son more prestige or getting rid of him when your very lucky. Sending your rivals in danger. It´s small, but I think it´s fun.
2) Give me the diplomatic option for my courtier to "get to know them". That could raise the chance that some courtier events, that are triggered, are for him. You can than additionally make event chains for courtiers with that. Doing a hobby together, falling in love, playing boardgames, becoming friends and rivals. Cool stories about people. CK2 stuff.
Warfare
1) Tell my commanders they should focus on capturing and killing: Yeah, I know it´s not a warfare game and the mechanics cannot be easy manipulated. But this thing could work.
Like the raiding button, there could be two buttons on the army. There you can chose to improve slightly the chance to capture or kill enemy leaders (or staying on default when the buttons are unselected). The downside would be that you improve the chances for your leaders to be killed and captured as well.
A small addition, but it improves tactics and scheming. Sometimes enemies need to die and although it is difficult to kill a noble who is defeated in this world, I find it very realistic that the ruler could slightly suggest being hard on them and maybe "overlooking" his surrender. To say to my soldiers "I want them alive" is also pretty believable, especially if I need the ransom money. And the third option: When I am no murderer, but want to get rid of someone, I would gladly put them in greater danger in war. This would be fun and it would encourage tactical thinking in the war.
2) Please give me a note when a Commander of mine or the enemy is slain, maimed, wounded or captured. It seems random if I´m getting it or not, mostly they simply disappear and I get a note to appoint someone new. I even made all my commanders characters of interest and it still is random if I got noted that someone died, and I think it never says when someone is wounded, maimed or captured. Sometimes, i.e. the maimed trait is suddenly there. Again, that would be a nice addition to the storytelling aspect noticing that my uncle cut the enemy a hand off or he himself was wounded.
3) Give CB "release prisoner": Yes, and the War Goal is not more than that. If you win, the prisoner comes free and you get some Prestige. If the AI executes the prisoner, you get the Vendetta CB (see below).
I am entirely sure there are numerous players out there who would happily fight a war just to free their daughter from the Vikings. Or to free the Duke who needs to have a son before he dies, because his title would then pass from your realm. And I think, people going to war for their daughters/friends/wives is historical accurate and a great, strong story.
4) Give CB "Vendetta": If someone murders, slays or executes your friend or close family member, you should get a "Vendetta" CB. War Goal: Revenge. Just that. When you win, the murderer of your beloved ones dies.
It would be satisfactory, tense and would give tactical options. And additionally, it would give a appropriate answer to Assassinations from another court, if the Murderer is recognized. So when Mathilda, courtier from the Duke of Nuremberg, kills my son and it is known, I can declare war on the Duke and if I win, Mathilda dies. Wouldn´t that be great? This is one of my favorite wishes.
Intrigue
1) Make deals: Game mechanics wise, I feel very restricted in Intrigue. There is a guy in another court I am targeting and he wants to be councillor, and I think: Okay, you can be it if you want, but you´ll have to back my plot. I cannot do that. And I cannot say: "Kill the Duke and you will be Count". When I give him what he wants, he is at my court and cannot back my plot anymore.
It´s not that it is "too hard" to get backers or that I want to make it "more easy", I think it would be fun and feeling like a real intrigue if I can promise him something.
Just give me the diplomatic option and let me choose a reward and see what he says. When he has done what I asked him, an event pops off where he demands what I promised. If I betray him than, give me a chance to become Deceitful, give me a huge prestige and an opinion hit for being untrustworthy and a chance that he spills the beans. More plotting and scheming? Always worth it, is it not?
Ruler designer, Cosmetics and Customization
1) New Western European portrait pack: We can keep the old, but it´s time to expand on them I think. New German, French, Italian faces that look as good as the other ones. The game is Europe centric, so I don´t think someone will mind if the Europes got a few face more than the other cultures (at least I hope so). The more variety in the faces, the better. Europes faces are 4-years old, it would be great if they get a lift.
2) Let us change headware and clothes in game when we have the ruler designer: Yes, I want to put that Helmet off. I.e. as I viking, I really wanna know how my face looks like. And I want choose my clothing. That would be great. I mean, I don´t need the clothes to define the role of myself (which I certainly know anyway) or the Multiplayer character (since they will not be THAT numerous that I have to relay on seeing the Duke Crown to recognize that he´s a duke).
3) Let us drop new lower-tier vassals at game starts in Duchies and Countries: Two actual play examples: I as Narr666 in 2016 grew up in the town Wesel, which is in the county of Kleves. Wanna play as Kleves in Charlemagne -> it´s hold by Karl himself so no Kleves for me (and no Cologne, the town I live in, either). Played a medieval Pen & Paper RPG in Somerset in 1066 and wanted to recreate the campaign in CK2. I can forget that, it´s hold by William the conqueror. You can throw that restriction simply away by giving us the opportunity to drop a new count in these provinces, this would have the additional effect that the designed ruler can start in a blank place without kicking out someone else. I would love that, not only because of Kleves and Somerset.
New Game rule
1) The story goes on: I never lost the game in my 450 hours, it is not very common. But it can happen. I always asked myself: Why? It is no real threat. It is not really in the spirit of the game. It is not the thing, around which the game resolves. I am loosing all the time, getting beaten by Cikings, Arabs, Kings, Queens, getting abducted, seeing my heir die, see my plans go to ashes and: loosing is fun in this game. It is part of the game. And that´s maybe the strongest trait of CK2. So give us a game rule: When your dynasty dies out, you jump into your new heir. I see nothing wrong with that. People who don´t like it can simply turn it off.
New Stuff
Warfare:
Make Alliances count: That was the first idea to inspire me writing this post at all. Surprisingly, I have forgotten this of all things. That alliances mean nothing for the player always bugged me. I can take it, at as long that not bad timing send doomsstacks sweeping over my country, I can do nothing and everything is fine. I heard that there is maybe an event for this, but if it is the case, it happens not often enough. I have no reasons to refuse, really. I fight for them for RPG reasons, but I gain nothing from it and there maybe a case, where I have not the capacity and think: “Okay, that one time” and staying home. It is a bit odd that I can ignore my friend and let him be plundered and beaten or that I can save his a** and getting nothing from it.
Two ideas come to mind to improve it:
1) Take the war contribution and calculate an opinion modifier. Let nothing happen with at least i.e. ten percent, give me a malus with i.e. 0%-9% and give me a boost if I have basically fought his wars (i.e. more than 50% and a greater for more than 90%). Give me a reasonable time (3-6 months?) before the malus hits, so I have time to get my army there. That would be great and you would value the alliance.
2) Give him a percentages of my levies under his control. When I accept the Call to arms, they are raised and walk to him (and give me these troops if he honors my alliance). That´s much more simpler to do I think, although I prefer 1.
Stop teleportations: It´s odd that leaders are everywhere all the time. Just put a time ticker on them before they arrive, this is a good thing in EUIV. Combined with the "show me where I am" option this would be even more fun, as you can see your ruler walking on the map.
More to do with the Pope
The whole Pope game is not important enough in my opinion. For me, he simply dies sometimes and gets replaced. I learned the whole campaigning for Cardinals thing, but it really doesn´t change much. Sure, maybe I can divorce or excommunicate someone, but it is not the display of power it could and should be. Also, it is far to rare to get into the position to use it. So:
Give me a papal screen like in EUIV: Yeah, that would be great. Give bishops and cardinals a loyality. It could be depending if they are my vassals when they become cardinals and like me. They score points while in the college, I can have a screen with papale action like in EUIV to divorce, get rid of my sins, be blessed, or excommunicate someone etc. The Pope also scores those points depending on his opinion of me (and substracts points or even completelydenies the Screen for me if he does not like me). That would give me more overview, more tactical consideration. And it would make so much more fun to fight for a chair in the college of cardinals. It would make the Antipope even more important.
As I played EUIV, I recognized how much the Papal Screen improves.
The whole campaigning for cardinals can simply stay as it is now.
Better communication
So finally I have got my friends to play CK2. It was a real, year-long battle. The game is not easy to pick up, but that´s a price I pay gladly to have so many options and can do so much in this sandbox. But some things can be easily improved to lower the difficulty of understanding without loosing to any complexity. Here´s my take:
1) Succession Screen: You can hover over your crest to see the order of your heirs. But that´s very few information. My pals were surprised by Gavelkind time and time again while I am teaching it. That´s unnecessary and maybe the major hurdle for new players. You have to know how the succession rules work and calculate for yourself, which heir will get what. A simple solution would be to make a succession screen that you can choose from any character. There you see the titles as always as clickable crest and arrows pointing to the clickable heirs. When you are in a working mood, out sliders for all succession laws on the top, so you can browse through it and see how the succession would change if another law is implemented. Great overview for intricate plans and schemes. I foretell you thousand new players just with this option. It would not lower the complexity, but would give new (and old) players the empowerment to plan their plans without bad surprises, that her character would have known.
2) Always show all options: CK2 is a google crusade when you learn it. There are so much information that rely on wikis and forums and even veteran players have to search stuff to understand. But the tooltips are so much helpful. Why not use them all the time? An example: I tried to found an independence faction in my approximately 490th game hour. Bad luck, wasn´t there. So I googled and googled. Till I found a forum post where someone digged the requirement out of the data. You cannot establish an independence faction when your capital borders your liege´s capital. So Im moved my capital and there it was.
Nowhere in the game I know of you can learn this. I still try to figure out why ‘I can´t take the “Free from captivity” option on my son. The solution is simple: Always give all options, grey the ones out that cannot be taken and with the obligatory tooltip. That could take more than half of the googeling out and you can learn from the game in the game.
3) Press claim warning: Okay, I got it, but one thing that gets player confused is the press the claim option. That he has to be your vassal for you to keep it, that you loose him if he gets a title from the same rank as yours. Give the player an explicit warning: No “it can be that...”, write: “Eryk is not your vassal and would become independent.” Or “Eryk´s new title is of the same rank or higher than yours and he would become independent.” When you give out a title, write simply “Eryk would become independent.” Veterans don´t care anymore, but I do not want to know how many players rage quitted of course of that rather confusing rule and never turned on the game again.
I hope that was all.
I am looking forward and am glad for comments, critics and discussions.
Keep on gaming,
Dennis
struggling for some time to making this thread, but concerning CK2 will probably end in 2017, time to get this going.
I know since many ideas floating around there is only a very small chance that something will be picked up, but hey, you´ll never know.
So I will try to make reasonable, realistic small suggestions that can be easily implemented and not full-blown gamechanging mechanics. Although, most of them fit more into dlcs then patches.
Feel free to comment, discuss and criticize .
Thank you and looking forward for your opinion. I am very interested in what you are thinking about the ideas, don´t hold back.
Immersion and storytelling
1) Please define reasons of death in the general type of dying causes like "natural death", "accident" etc. I would really love to read "got run over by a horse", "fell of the stairs", "died of a stroke" or "died peacefully in bed".
Every time someone important dies of something like an accident "man, I would love to know how he died". That would give double plus storytelling bonus points for the little novel in my head.
2) Separate character (player) and title succession. What I mean with that: give me the opportunity to choose one of the character getting my titles rather than jumping into the one with the primary title.
The advantages would be numerous, i.e. I can follow in exchange for power the character I am interested in the most, I can change the pace and difficulty of the game and I can choose in Elective Monarchy to follow my Core Family rather than getting the King title as my third grate cousin who I didn´t know existed.
This mechanic is fair, when you choose it, you´ll loose land in exchange. I know you can reload, but this is rather uncomfortable and doesn´t work in Ironman.
3) The diary: Expand the chronicle. Make a DLC out of it, I would pay for that happily. But it would be marvelous if the diary wasn´t something like a anecdote history book but also lists events private and secret in nature, following every war and every battle, every affair and every event. It does not have to be a huge changed text, it would suffice when it says:
01.01.1066 Duke Tristan (character Portait) received an event: "I think Isolde fancies me" (character portrait)/ He went with: "Make a move"/ It turned out: "I went to her chamber and gave her a good tumble".
10.01.1066 Battle for Brittany was fought: (Screenshot from the Battle resolution table).
Then make a red X to erase these entries to make the Diary thinner, when you want.
Don´t want to be rude, but the chronicle is not very useful. It lists so many three headed goats and earthquakes, but so much is left out, it barely scratches the surface.
The diary could let me go back and remember fondly what awesome stuff happened. It can be shared. It can be used to remember when you are playing an old campaign.
And first and foremost: There is no game out there I know which can tell so great stories sandbox style in my opinion, it´s time to be proud of that and show it. I guarantee I will spent time reading these stories and indulge myself in the memories.
4) Show me were I am! I got very beautiful councillors from various cultures, but it would be even more informative to know where I am personally. I can check it through the hover menu, but it would be far more informative and beautiful to see me on the map. I died more than once suddenly in i.e. Normandy by a battle of my liege by being sure I am residing in Wessex. It feels more real, because the easiest information I can access about myself is where I am, it shouldn´t be something I am surprised to find out about. So give us small 3D nobles, one male and one female, representing our character.
Also... hush... you can give the generic lord and lady in a patch, fix us on, and sell the other cultures as cosmetic content. I will glad buying "(Cultural) player representation" more as "(Cultural) councillor" (although I bought them all anyway).
More to do with courtiers
I would say the courtiers are even DLC worthy (it would be my favorite next DLC by the way), and I get some ideas I maybe post in a larger scaled threat, but here I will give only small additions as promised.
I mean, they are supposed to be my social networks, people I hang out with every day, my friends, enemies, rivals etc and the game could expand on that by giving me more to do with them.
Currently, I am getting an event or two about a courtier making a remark, or somebody wants to give me a cookie in the kitchen or a girl who fancies me, and most of the time they hang around, coming only to life for a moment and fade back into obscurity.
Additions on that, by the way, would automatically enhance the role of women in the game.
1) Send courtiers into war: Just give my courtiers with marshal education the diplomatic option to "send them to war" if I´m fighting one. They will do nothing for the battle, they will not be attached to a specific army, they will "only" get a prestige bonus and a small chance to be killed, maimed or captured or getting traits like "craven" or "brave".
After the war they come back. That´s all, but this is historically accurate and has tactical opportunities. Giving your son more prestige or getting rid of him when your very lucky. Sending your rivals in danger. It´s small, but I think it´s fun.
2) Give me the diplomatic option for my courtier to "get to know them". That could raise the chance that some courtier events, that are triggered, are for him. You can than additionally make event chains for courtiers with that. Doing a hobby together, falling in love, playing boardgames, becoming friends and rivals. Cool stories about people. CK2 stuff.
Warfare
1) Tell my commanders they should focus on capturing and killing: Yeah, I know it´s not a warfare game and the mechanics cannot be easy manipulated. But this thing could work.
Like the raiding button, there could be two buttons on the army. There you can chose to improve slightly the chance to capture or kill enemy leaders (or staying on default when the buttons are unselected). The downside would be that you improve the chances for your leaders to be killed and captured as well.
A small addition, but it improves tactics and scheming. Sometimes enemies need to die and although it is difficult to kill a noble who is defeated in this world, I find it very realistic that the ruler could slightly suggest being hard on them and maybe "overlooking" his surrender. To say to my soldiers "I want them alive" is also pretty believable, especially if I need the ransom money. And the third option: When I am no murderer, but want to get rid of someone, I would gladly put them in greater danger in war. This would be fun and it would encourage tactical thinking in the war.
2) Please give me a note when a Commander of mine or the enemy is slain, maimed, wounded or captured. It seems random if I´m getting it or not, mostly they simply disappear and I get a note to appoint someone new. I even made all my commanders characters of interest and it still is random if I got noted that someone died, and I think it never says when someone is wounded, maimed or captured. Sometimes, i.e. the maimed trait is suddenly there. Again, that would be a nice addition to the storytelling aspect noticing that my uncle cut the enemy a hand off or he himself was wounded.
3) Give CB "release prisoner": Yes, and the War Goal is not more than that. If you win, the prisoner comes free and you get some Prestige. If the AI executes the prisoner, you get the Vendetta CB (see below).
I am entirely sure there are numerous players out there who would happily fight a war just to free their daughter from the Vikings. Or to free the Duke who needs to have a son before he dies, because his title would then pass from your realm. And I think, people going to war for their daughters/friends/wives is historical accurate and a great, strong story.
4) Give CB "Vendetta": If someone murders, slays or executes your friend or close family member, you should get a "Vendetta" CB. War Goal: Revenge. Just that. When you win, the murderer of your beloved ones dies.
It would be satisfactory, tense and would give tactical options. And additionally, it would give a appropriate answer to Assassinations from another court, if the Murderer is recognized. So when Mathilda, courtier from the Duke of Nuremberg, kills my son and it is known, I can declare war on the Duke and if I win, Mathilda dies. Wouldn´t that be great? This is one of my favorite wishes.
Intrigue
1) Make deals: Game mechanics wise, I feel very restricted in Intrigue. There is a guy in another court I am targeting and he wants to be councillor, and I think: Okay, you can be it if you want, but you´ll have to back my plot. I cannot do that. And I cannot say: "Kill the Duke and you will be Count". When I give him what he wants, he is at my court and cannot back my plot anymore.
It´s not that it is "too hard" to get backers or that I want to make it "more easy", I think it would be fun and feeling like a real intrigue if I can promise him something.
Just give me the diplomatic option and let me choose a reward and see what he says. When he has done what I asked him, an event pops off where he demands what I promised. If I betray him than, give me a chance to become Deceitful, give me a huge prestige and an opinion hit for being untrustworthy and a chance that he spills the beans. More plotting and scheming? Always worth it, is it not?
Ruler designer, Cosmetics and Customization
1) New Western European portrait pack: We can keep the old, but it´s time to expand on them I think. New German, French, Italian faces that look as good as the other ones. The game is Europe centric, so I don´t think someone will mind if the Europes got a few face more than the other cultures (at least I hope so). The more variety in the faces, the better. Europes faces are 4-years old, it would be great if they get a lift.
2) Let us change headware and clothes in game when we have the ruler designer: Yes, I want to put that Helmet off. I.e. as I viking, I really wanna know how my face looks like. And I want choose my clothing. That would be great. I mean, I don´t need the clothes to define the role of myself (which I certainly know anyway) or the Multiplayer character (since they will not be THAT numerous that I have to relay on seeing the Duke Crown to recognize that he´s a duke).
3) Let us drop new lower-tier vassals at game starts in Duchies and Countries: Two actual play examples: I as Narr666 in 2016 grew up in the town Wesel, which is in the county of Kleves. Wanna play as Kleves in Charlemagne -> it´s hold by Karl himself so no Kleves for me (and no Cologne, the town I live in, either). Played a medieval Pen & Paper RPG in Somerset in 1066 and wanted to recreate the campaign in CK2. I can forget that, it´s hold by William the conqueror. You can throw that restriction simply away by giving us the opportunity to drop a new count in these provinces, this would have the additional effect that the designed ruler can start in a blank place without kicking out someone else. I would love that, not only because of Kleves and Somerset.
New Game rule
1) The story goes on: I never lost the game in my 450 hours, it is not very common. But it can happen. I always asked myself: Why? It is no real threat. It is not really in the spirit of the game. It is not the thing, around which the game resolves. I am loosing all the time, getting beaten by Cikings, Arabs, Kings, Queens, getting abducted, seeing my heir die, see my plans go to ashes and: loosing is fun in this game. It is part of the game. And that´s maybe the strongest trait of CK2. So give us a game rule: When your dynasty dies out, you jump into your new heir. I see nothing wrong with that. People who don´t like it can simply turn it off.
New Stuff
Warfare:
Make Alliances count: That was the first idea to inspire me writing this post at all. Surprisingly, I have forgotten this of all things. That alliances mean nothing for the player always bugged me. I can take it, at as long that not bad timing send doomsstacks sweeping over my country, I can do nothing and everything is fine. I heard that there is maybe an event for this, but if it is the case, it happens not often enough. I have no reasons to refuse, really. I fight for them for RPG reasons, but I gain nothing from it and there maybe a case, where I have not the capacity and think: “Okay, that one time” and staying home. It is a bit odd that I can ignore my friend and let him be plundered and beaten or that I can save his a** and getting nothing from it.
Two ideas come to mind to improve it:
1) Take the war contribution and calculate an opinion modifier. Let nothing happen with at least i.e. ten percent, give me a malus with i.e. 0%-9% and give me a boost if I have basically fought his wars (i.e. more than 50% and a greater for more than 90%). Give me a reasonable time (3-6 months?) before the malus hits, so I have time to get my army there. That would be great and you would value the alliance.
2) Give him a percentages of my levies under his control. When I accept the Call to arms, they are raised and walk to him (and give me these troops if he honors my alliance). That´s much more simpler to do I think, although I prefer 1.
Stop teleportations: It´s odd that leaders are everywhere all the time. Just put a time ticker on them before they arrive, this is a good thing in EUIV. Combined with the "show me where I am" option this would be even more fun, as you can see your ruler walking on the map.
More to do with the Pope
The whole Pope game is not important enough in my opinion. For me, he simply dies sometimes and gets replaced. I learned the whole campaigning for Cardinals thing, but it really doesn´t change much. Sure, maybe I can divorce or excommunicate someone, but it is not the display of power it could and should be. Also, it is far to rare to get into the position to use it. So:
Give me a papal screen like in EUIV: Yeah, that would be great. Give bishops and cardinals a loyality. It could be depending if they are my vassals when they become cardinals and like me. They score points while in the college, I can have a screen with papale action like in EUIV to divorce, get rid of my sins, be blessed, or excommunicate someone etc. The Pope also scores those points depending on his opinion of me (and substracts points or even completelydenies the Screen for me if he does not like me). That would give me more overview, more tactical consideration. And it would make so much more fun to fight for a chair in the college of cardinals. It would make the Antipope even more important.
As I played EUIV, I recognized how much the Papal Screen improves.
The whole campaigning for cardinals can simply stay as it is now.
Better communication
So finally I have got my friends to play CK2. It was a real, year-long battle. The game is not easy to pick up, but that´s a price I pay gladly to have so many options and can do so much in this sandbox. But some things can be easily improved to lower the difficulty of understanding without loosing to any complexity. Here´s my take:
1) Succession Screen: You can hover over your crest to see the order of your heirs. But that´s very few information. My pals were surprised by Gavelkind time and time again while I am teaching it. That´s unnecessary and maybe the major hurdle for new players. You have to know how the succession rules work and calculate for yourself, which heir will get what. A simple solution would be to make a succession screen that you can choose from any character. There you see the titles as always as clickable crest and arrows pointing to the clickable heirs. When you are in a working mood, out sliders for all succession laws on the top, so you can browse through it and see how the succession would change if another law is implemented. Great overview for intricate plans and schemes. I foretell you thousand new players just with this option. It would not lower the complexity, but would give new (and old) players the empowerment to plan their plans without bad surprises, that her character would have known.
2) Always show all options: CK2 is a google crusade when you learn it. There are so much information that rely on wikis and forums and even veteran players have to search stuff to understand. But the tooltips are so much helpful. Why not use them all the time? An example: I tried to found an independence faction in my approximately 490th game hour. Bad luck, wasn´t there. So I googled and googled. Till I found a forum post where someone digged the requirement out of the data. You cannot establish an independence faction when your capital borders your liege´s capital. So Im moved my capital and there it was.
Nowhere in the game I know of you can learn this. I still try to figure out why ‘I can´t take the “Free from captivity” option on my son. The solution is simple: Always give all options, grey the ones out that cannot be taken and with the obligatory tooltip. That could take more than half of the googeling out and you can learn from the game in the game.
3) Press claim warning: Okay, I got it, but one thing that gets player confused is the press the claim option. That he has to be your vassal for you to keep it, that you loose him if he gets a title from the same rank as yours. Give the player an explicit warning: No “it can be that...”, write: “Eryk is not your vassal and would become independent.” Or “Eryk´s new title is of the same rank or higher than yours and he would become independent.” When you give out a title, write simply “Eryk would become independent.” Veterans don´t care anymore, but I do not want to know how many players rage quitted of course of that rather confusing rule and never turned on the game again.
I hope that was all.
I am looking forward and am glad for comments, critics and discussions.
Keep on gaming,
Dennis
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