Will The Republic be as good as Merchant Prince?

[grisamentum]

The next expansion/dlc is CK2: The Republic. http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/12/08/crusader-kings-iis-next-expansion-announced-the-republic/

You'll play as a republican merchant family, with very different gameplay than playing as a feudal lord.

But of course, a very similar concept (and awesome) game like this was already made:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Prince

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/324/Machiavelli+the+Prince+(Merchant+Prince+remake).html

Merchant Prince (also re-published as Machiavelli: the Prince). It was an amazing game with a lot of similar sounding features: control a merchant dynasty, try to get elected doge, trade, upgrade assets elsewhere, etc.

But it seems like it'll be really one-dimensional and flat in CK2. We don't have trading goods, we don't have warehouses, we don't have a College of Cardinals to bribe, we don't have exploration or sailing to India and China, we don't have the Silk Road. It just seems like it's going to be very.... meh, without some really radical changes.

Like, will we be able to invest in missions to the Orient, like Marco Polo's? Will we be able to discover new lands, generally?

If republics are just a different way to paint the map with your dynasty, that seems really boring. It already seems really simplistic that "trade" is just amassed through holding territory and collecting "taxes." Like, could we please get some way to actually make decisions about where to buy goods and where to sell goods, where to invest money, etc.?

 

[cybrxkhan]

Actually the DLC first made me think of the Patrician series, which is a more recent series of games (though I've heard mixed reviews about them).

But it seems like it'll be really one-dimensional and flat in CK2. We don't have trading goods, we don't have warehouses, we don't have a College of Cardinals to bribe, we don't have exploration or sailing to India and China, we don't have the Silk Road. It just seems like it's going to be very.... meh, without some really radical changes.

Like, will we be able to invest in missions to the Orient, like Marco Polo's? Will we be able to discover new lands, generally?

If republics are just a different way to paint the map with your dynasty, that seems really boring. It already seems really simplistic that "trade" is just amassed through holding territory and collecting "taxes." Like, could we please get some way to actually make decisions about where to buy goods and where to sell goods, where to invest money, etc.?

Remember that we just had a small interview to base all we know on - the dev diaries and the DLC proper haven't even been out yet, so the devs will probably expand on how they'll improve the trade system.

Also note that the interview discussed how the patrician families have a different way of handling sucession and trying to achieve power within a realm, with different families vying for power. For all we know it could be just as cutthroat as feudal lords... except in a different way.

Again, my point is, we just had one small interview - not even anything from the devs themselves. Who knows. The features explained in the interview might be more nuanced and interesting than first meets the eye (at least I think so).

That said, remember that CKII isn't a trade simulator game - it's ultimately a game about dynasties, which the Republic dynasty seems to be focusing on more or less, with merchant families trying to outdo each other.

 

[grisamentum]

Yes... CK2 isn't a trade simulator game, and we're talking about dynasties. But in the case of The Republic... we're talking about MERCHANT dynasties, as you just said. Merchants are people who trade.

If a "merchant dynasty" is the same thing as a "feudal dynasty" except that you play the game through a different map mode usually, then that's really, really disappointing.

Trade needs to be something more than just "taking over trading posts." If that's the gameplay then we're just doing a word-swap for "castle" to "trading post" and it doesn't really add anything to the game.

 

[Joel M Bridge]

Yes... CK2 isn't a trade simulator game, and we're talking about dynasties. But in the case of The Republic... we're talking about MERCHANT dynasties, as you just said. Merchants are people who trade.

If a "merchant dynasty" is the same thing as a "feudal dynasty" except that you play the game through a different map mode usually, then that's really, really disappointing.

Trade needs to be something more than just "taking over trading posts." If that's the gameplay then we're just doing a word-swap for "castle" to "trading post" and it doesn't really add anything to the game.

We going find out, thing is this look likes where the feudal lords are about land republic is all about money.

 

[Aardvark Bellay]

In case of no trade goods in the Republic DLC we might get an updated version of the Magnate Lords Mod and then you should be fine. At least apg (the author of the mod) said he might be back when a republic DLC would be released.

@crbyxhan

Patrician 2/3 is a legend and i still play it once in a while. Its also very relaxing compared to other games and fullfilling. I love it.
Patrician 4 though got mixed reviews indeed. I will get it once, but still havent as i just got a new comp and CK2 is all i can deal with nowadays.

 

[LordTempest]

Still can't believe that the DLC people chose Aztec Invasion over this...

 

[fuzzyperson]

Still can't believe that the DLC people chose Aztec Invasion over this...

They didn't. After LoR, the team immediately went to work on Republics while Aztecs was mostly an outsourcing job.

 

[Joel M Bridge]

They didn't. After LoR, the team immediately went to work on Republics while Aztecs was mostly an outsourcing job.

It was pretty much tell artist we need something pretty, and rest was terrible easy coding for them.

 

[Hackworthy]

That shit looks awesome. I'm actually more excited about this than I would have been for pagans.

 

[Yazman]

It was pretty much tell artist we need something pretty, and rest was terrible easy coding for them.

Yeah, and it wasn't even done during work hours.

Seriously, I don't know how people keep bringing this up when even the developers themselves said it didn't take away from anything else in any way and was done in their free time.

 

[Knives]

I'm kind of disapointed, I was really hoping for pagans, but Republics should be fun and I support Paradox's decision. Dominating trade on the baltic sea should be fun. I've kind of wanted to play Genoa too since it seems to gobble up half of Italia before I can fabricate claim on it.

 

[unmerged(74536)]

Yes! Republics! This means that the AGOT team might finally include Essos!

...oh and uh, Venice and stuff is cool too.

 

[Wallain]

Yeah, and it wasn't even done during work hours.

Seriously, I don't know how people keep bringing this up when even the developers themselves said it didn't take away from anything else in any way and was done in their free time.

Because people are stupid and/or misinformed.

 

[grisamentum]

Yeah, if Magnate Lords can make it so that merchants make the most money off of this, and feudal lords don't make that much money off most goods, that would be interesting.

I look forward to playing The Republic but I am just going to be disappointed if its all about taking over generic trading posts over and over and over.

 

[DominusNovus]

Because people are stupid and/or misinformed.

And I wonder why people feel the need to continually insult other people over the issue.

 

[Wallain]

And I wonder why people feel the need to continually insult other people over the issue.

When is stating plain fact insulting?

 

[DominusNovus]

When is stating plain fact insulting?

The odds of you genuinely not understanding how its insulting are very low, so there's no point in rehashing the whole debacle.

 

[Wallain]

The odds of you genuinely not understanding how its insulting are very low, so there's no point in rehashing the whole debacle.

No really, try to explain why what I stated was insulting. And do not misquote me in the process.

 

[Divi]

I guess we'll see with the dev logs. That said I do hope this adds navigable rivers in some way, even if it's just to flag them coastal for trade purposes.

 

[DominusNovus]

No really, try to explain why what I stated was insulting. And do not misquote me in the process.

Its generally agreed upon by most people that referring to those that disagree with you as stupid or misinformed is considered an insult.