Things I like to see in CK2 (was Top 3 Things You Want ...)

[Kriegsspieler]

1) For the dynastic game to work, the realms need to not have their lords rotated so often. I recall in a game the German king ended up stripping all the dukes of their land and giving them to his children. I can't suggest a solution offhand but it's very damaging to gameplay to set your children up to be in line to inherit something and the king or dukes end up revoking everything so they can give their children land.

This is a good point. It should not be impossible for a ruler to replace vassals, but there should be a real price to be paid for doing so. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the factional and "loyalty" thinking from Rome to make its way into this game.

 

[Zenith Darksea]

Some Byzantine Effort

I must say that I didn't play the first CK, so perhaps Paradox are already on top of this issue, but I know from other games that the Byzantines are often implemented rather casually, or at least without too much cultural/historical awareness. So, what I would like to see in CK2 are:

1. Clear and informed research on the nature of Byzantine society, culture and religion, and the ways in which it differed from Frankish/Latin society and culture. I'd rather not see a Byzantium that was just a cardboard cut-out from the Western cultural templates, only coloured purple.
2. Consistent and accurate spelling of Greek names and words (I recall that EU3 mixed Latinised and Hellenised spellings extremely casually).
3. An awareness of the trans-ethnic nature of Byzantium, e.g. through the presence of Western Europeans, Armenians, Georgians, Turks, Pechenegs etc. in Byzantine imperial service.

Basically I'm just being the annoying person requesting historical accuracy, but as a history grad student studying Byzantium I can hardly help myself :wacko:

 

[telesien]

1) Sufficiently many features to make a "A Song of Ice and Fire" simulator. Seriously that would rock.

IIRC there was one for HoI2 and CK and yes, your sig did attract my attention

 

[JimmyCos]

1. You can use everyone, except the mongol hordes. Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox, pagans, the type of goverment are more difficult though, the game should stick with monarchies and the nice web of domination they had.

2. Power to the people! In some parts of Europe the "low" classes had a good organization, in Spain the people had "cabildos" and fueros, they could revoke the laws of the kings!

3. More roleplaying stuff . More events, traits, problems, relationships and things like that. I'll love to see in the game a family tree of your main character or everybody .

 

[The-Doc]

Different techs for Christians, Muslims, Mongols, and maybe even for different government types. This would promote different kinds of militaries and economies.

 

[Nesrie]

1. Better Portraits
2. Bring back the children taking strengths and weaknesses from their parents
3. Full implementation of women ruling, aka so you can shift to female heirs not just include them, sort of.

 

[Kaleidoscope]

2. Bring back the children taking strengths and weaknesses from their parents

How about no. This just turns the relationship aspect of the game into a tedious eugenics program. Have child abilities determined randomly, but influenced by the skill of the tutors, with traits determined by upbringing events.

 

[telesien]

How about no. This just turns the relationship aspect of the game into a tedious eugenics program. Have child abilities determined randomly, but influenced by the skill of the tutors, with traits determined by upbringing events.

I like the current system where everything plays some role. It is realistic, hard to predict and still makes you try

 

[unmerged(82228)]

As long as I can play as Novgorod and Muscovy, I'll be happy!

 

[Sarmatia1871]

Less ugly portraits.

The ugliness of the portraits was one of the best things about CK.

 

[Earl Uhtred]

Basically I'm just being the annoying person requesting historical accuracy, but as a history grad student studying Byzantium I can hardly help myself :wacko:

Byzantium in CK1 was a bit duff, I'm afraid. It was functionally virtually identical to Western feudal states.

EDIT: Except for the domain limit

 

[A_Dane]

Agreed, i really enjoyed the character portraits, getting 3 butt ugly rulers (which had basically the same face, but the nose kept getting larger as the line went on), was awesome

 

[Shogun 144]

Okay here are some things I would like to see:

1. The ability to arrange for a marriage for your children before they come of age.

In real life marriages were often contracted between the nobility years in advance. A well-known example from the height of the time-frame was Henry II and his sons. Richard was contracted to Alys of France when they were both not yet teenagers (he was 12, she was 8). And there are many examples of even younger contracts. In addition there should be a option to break the contract at any time by either side.

2. More in-depth court and vassal relations

While the original CK was a wonderful game the court and vassal interactions were generally flat. I would love to see a more in-depth and better fleshed out court. The same with vassals and how the ruler interacts with them, as well as in turn how you as a vassal can interact with your ruler.

I would add that I would include under this heading that I would like to see better interactions between vassals themselves. The ability to create factions would be good.

3. Better Diplomacy

Contrary to popular belief medieval diplomacy was hardly flat or simple. This was a flaw in the original CK and I would love to see this fleshed out more. Many historical diplomatic maneuvers from the era were not replicable in CK, which is a shame. Alliances were a joke in CK, and I would consider fixing that a priority.

I would add that I would include under this heading better interaction between dynastic branches, and some concept of seniority in family. The ability for the eldest, or most powerful, male in the dynasty to be able to dictate to other members of his dynasty would be good.

4. Better War System

The existing war system is not very good. This needs a major overhaul, and some serious depth. Perhaps more then anything, creating a good war system and better diplomacy would integral.

5. A more accurate representation of the Holy Roman and Byzantine Empires

Both of these empires were pretty poorly represented in the original Crusader Kings as the feudal system used did not fit the realities of how things worked in either empire. I would like to see a better representation of both in CK2. The Holy Roman Empire would probably not be too difficult, except for the election system. The Byzantines would probably require a bit more work, but given the rising interest in them it would be more then worth it.

 

[monsterfurby]

1) Sufficiently many features to make a "A Song of Ice and Fire" simulator. Seriously that would rock.

Amen.

Also, the possibility to create titles, similar to how you create theaters of war in SF. Of course, coats of arms may be the issue, but maybe one could have a pool of default CoAs for this purpose (like Rome used generic flags for barbarian-formed states.)

I further agree with Shogun on the count of arranging marriages before children come of age - the tracking of your heir's potential spouses until they grew old enough was a pain in CK.

 

[wilcoxchar]

I would like for the string of numbers for DNA to actually have an effect other than just determining the portrait a character uses, maybe influencing whether certain traits crop up in a child or something. It would be a good way to ward off inbreeding in-game if certain diseases like hemophilia were included.

 

[telesien]

I almost forogot, but someone probably already said it.

Courtier diplomacy in the style of SoI from V2. I love collecting offsprings of famouse dynasties (de Vivar and de Boullion anyone? )

Also the court jester position. I'd like some way to humiliate useless people

 

[Liu Bei]

I'd rather see the portraits in a style like the original CK than the portraits in Rome. The original CK portraits had a cartoonish flair to them, they were unique and I thought they looked great.

 

[telesien]

I'd rather see the portraits in a style like the original CK than the portraits in Rome. The original CK portraits had a cartoonish flair to them, they were unique and I thought they looked great.

And they allowed family features to be inherited. I really liked how kids looked like their parents

 

[Romtos]

1. An extended world map to the far east (don't hit me!), for the Chinese situation is much more turbulent than during Ming and Qing, plus trade goods per province.
2. All factions playable and fleshed out.
3. A CK2->EU3 converter

 

[King of Men]

Sea power. Not EU-style navies, but an abstracted level of control over sea territories; you increase your control by building ports, funding navies, and enacting province decisions that favour ships. You can only ship troops through territories you have X level of control over, and the attrition increases if your control level is low.

A court-management minigame not based purely on events.

Realistic-ish sieges; not every province needs to have a fortress, but on the other hand a big fortress should have a good chance of seeing off an enemy army even if it isn't relieved.