Med8r

Great news! I'm loving each playthrough so far, and anything to spice up religions further is a welcome addition. One thing I'd love to see is a place in the game where we can view the "formable nations" and what their requirements are. The more difficult ones (like Russia) create major goals for my playthroughs, and it would be nice not to have to rely on outside sources to give me what I need to plan future conquests. Keep up the great work! You're giving big franchises a run for their money.

My first game was as England and it went swimmingly. I believe it was in the earliest start date. I had a blast! My first playthrough was on Easy difficulty, so that may have had something to do with it, of course! As England, you're more powerful than all your adjacent neighbors, but you're also not far removed from other major players (like France) who will challenge you later in the game. It's a great balance. So it's not too difficult to spend the first part of the game consolidating your power in the British Isles, then the later parts looking outward and conquering in whatever direction strikes your fancy. In my playthrough, I ended up owning most of Spain, thanks to a crusade that plopped Valencia into my lap. As far as economy goes, it's always a bit randomized since you can't count on certain provinces having certain goods, but my game ended in the Advantages victory, so it's doable. One tip I learned in a subsequent game as Novgorod: don't claim inheritances too much! They will bow to your demands most of the time, if you're strong, but after a few times, everyone will hate you for it and no one will trust you (go figure, lol). Then all it takes is for one of the disgruntled parties to declare war, and they will ALL join in. There were several times in that game that literally all of Eastern Europe was at war with me! I managed to survive, but definitely learned not to claim the inheritance unless it was paramount. Hope that helps! Good luck!

I've been having a blast with this game, but one of the areas that sticks out to me as having the most potential for improvement is the royal family. I like the princes as they are, but I find the role of princesses to be pretty one-dimensional, and the role of the queen is almost unnoticeable to me. I'd love to see a little more depth and choice infused into this little corner of the game. Here are a couple ideas I had: 1) The potential for queens to rule, given the right circumstances (such as death of the king without male heirs). I know this was unusual in medieval times, but it certainly wasn't unheard of. This would make your king's choice of partner a bit more important, since she would mean more than just potential alliances and future claims. 2) The option to educate princesses and recruit them to the royal court. For the sake of the history, their class choice could be limited to diplomats and spies, maybe clerics. The gameplay improvement is more than enough to justify any slight departure from history, in my opinion. This would allow princesses to be seen as more than mere bargaining chips, and make the decision to marry them off more significant, since you may be losing a court position. You could even tie what they're allowed to do to your religion. I'm not looking for CK3-levels of complexity, but the option to occasionally bring the females into the mix would help keep things varied and fresh, and cause us to care more about them, I think. Anyone else with ideas, thoughts, or other points, feel free to contribute and discuss!

My thoughts exactly. I almost immediately found myself thinking how well this would translate to the Bronze Age, Roman times, or feudal Japan. Some conversion mods for these eras would be great, in any case.

Couldn't agree more. I've been waiting years for something to give some real competition to Medieval 2 Total War, and for me, this is it. This game was my introduction to the KoH series. I love how charming it is, and the graphics contribute to that for me. I love the balance they struck between immersion and being willing to simplify the history a bit, which is what I always loved so much about Medieval 2. I'm enjoying a game as Novgorod currently, and I'm impressed with the dynamics of playing with the Orthodox faith. No offense to any real Orthodox followers out there, but in most games, that branch of Christianity just boils down to Catholicism's boring cousin. This game brings a unique mechanic with the Patriarch and becoming independent, that helps make up for the lack of interactions with the Pope you get as a Catholic. I'm eager to try a Muslim faction soon to see if that religion plays as well. This game feels at once complex and accessible, and best of all, I didn't have to consult any outside sources to get a grasp of the gameplay, which is more than can be said for most grand strategy games these days. I feel like the developers are punching way above their weight, and I really hope it continues to gain traction in the strategy community. I'm certainly loving the heck out of it.