[Volunteering Marshals for Crusades]

In the first game, knights were randomly volunteered for crusades, and there was no way to come back a month later and say "yes." I'd like to propose that a mechanism be introduced to allow players to volunteer their marshals for crusades. I envision this being located in the same place where Orthodox churches can declare independence and Islam can call for jihad. The old game's "gift to the pope" option wasn't as useful by comparison.

[Will there be a nomad city type?]

Tent city!

[Province features should level up]

Within a province are a collection of farms, villages, minor castles, and monasteries. These should all be able to level up if the province is well-managed. Higher-level farms would obviously produce more food, but also introduce more population and eventually workers. Higher-level monasteries would provide more piety, books, and eventually workers. Higher-level towns would produce more manpower, workers, and wealth. And so on.

 

The province features should all have unique icons to show what level they are at, both for ease of reference and aesthetics.

[Terrain masking]

In the first game, I could see all enemy units, even those behind hills. IRL, terrain masking is a huge advantage for surprising an enemy, and this should be present in battles. There could also be a skill for marshalls to increase their terrain masking, and thus be able to surprise an enemy more readily.

[Minor castles]

Minor castles should play an important role in subduing a province. If I just seize the main town, and ignore the minor castles, then the minor castles should not automatically fall. Moreover, minor castles should be rallying points for loyalist rebel units.

[Provincial resources & advanced buildings]

In the first game, many buildings were limited by their resource requirements. Cathedrals, in particular, needed to have three resources all present in the same province/city. For some advanced buildings, this makes sense. For others, like the cathedral and merchant guild, this makes less sense. The latter two buildings should be dependent on possessing resources, whether they are produced in that kingdom or imported.

 

Those which fall into the latter category should appear on the map like minor castles, and be plunder-able.

[4 Tiers of manpower]

In the original game, manpower was pretty straightforward. However, in the Middle Ages there were noticeable quality differences between classes of men at war, and this should be a factor in building armies. The crusader states, for example, had plenty of population but only a few hundred knights available at a time- the local Arab/Greek people were not very warlike, and thus couldn't be mass-mobilized like modern armies today. After Hattin, the Crusader states simply ran out of men.

One way the first game tried to compensate was by having 3 tiers of unit types (Kingdom units, local units, and special/regional units). However, this was set in stone and didn't allow for cultural changes like the English kings outlawing ball games on Sunday to free up time for archery practice.

 

So the 4 tiers would be:

1. Nobility. These are the men who train from the age of 7 to wage war. They are the best of the best, and provide the top-tier units (particularly heavy cavalry).
2. Men-At-Arms. These are not nobility, but are the next best option. These are former criminals, gloryseekers, and mercenaries who enlist from lower social classes and serve for life. They have good discipline and are reliable in battle. These are ideal for units like Genoese crossbowmen (the finest in Europe), Mongolian horse-archers, and other regional/cultural units.
3. Guildsmen. These are not warriors, but the bodyguards of merchants and tradesmen. They have lower discipline but higher morale to compensate. If their leader is killed then they'll automatically flee.
4. Peasants. These men are unwarlike conscripts, and are not very reliable. You can dress them in armor, but they'll still run away easily. Best used for town defense and raiding.

[Minor Governors/Commanders?]

On 11/13/2020 at 8:50 PM, Lighthope said:

Well, remember there has to be sacrifices between absolute reality and compelling gameplay.

True, but most deckbuilding games have tokens to avoid it getting too simplistic. Think of minors as the game's tokens, and the majors as the actual cards.

[Formations wish list]

1 hour ago, Lighthope said:

Stronger defense in exchange for slower speed.  I can see this being the go-to formation.  Too OP.

Ditto.

Shield walls have vulnerable flanks which can be attacked by fast-moving units.

Phalanxes became more common as the middle ages went on, and the Swiss pike blocks were a major player on the battlefield. Square formations are less useful against infantry, but invaluable against cavalry. They were finally driven off the battlefield by cannons.

[Minor Governors/Commanders?]

I don't like all-or-nothing choices, particularly in a Medieval game. In that time, power and sovereignty were highly decentralized, and centralized control was really more of a post-Medieval/early Renaissance thing. Having a Royal court, which has all sorts of bonuses, feels incomplete without the ability to assign lower nobility to govern an unimportant city and increase its revenues.

 

Remember: the minor governors can't use or learn abilities like the royal court can.

[Formations wish list]

In the original game, there were only formations, although they could be spread out or condensed. I'd like to propose a list of new formations. Not every unit would be able to use them, and this will give some flavor to elite units.

 

Line, Square, Wedge- unchanged

 

Shield Wall- this would be a modified line that has a stronger defense and resistance to arrows, in exchange for a slower speed.

 

Phalanx- This would be a modified box formation with similar enhancements and penalties as the shield wall.

 

Schiltron- This would be a circular formation with men facing out in all directions. Large units only. Only level-3 units can move.

 

Stakes/Mantlets- These would be available to archers and crossbowmen. Stakes protect against melee units, while mantlets protect from ranged attacks. Units are immobile while using them.

 

Skirmish formation- This would be a thin/loose offensive line formation that enhances projectile units' attack and speed, at a cost to their defense stats.

[Minor Governors/Commanders?]

Right now, the ability to assign governors is limited by the size of the royal court. This means, if I have 12 provinces then I can't fill them all. I'd like to propose a minor class that would be weaker than the royal court, but still useful.

 

Minor governors

Minor governors are, as the name suggests, designed to be governors of provinces. They are solely meant to increase production, but are not as efficient as royal court members. They would not be able to level up, but would instead rely entirely on the bonuses of the kingdom's traditions. There would also be no marshals available as minor governors, as they will be minor commanders instead.

 

Minor commanders

For minor marshal equivalents, we will have minor commanders. They will be available only to units which have a tradition- using the Developers' cavalry example, only nations with "Cavalry Tactics" will spawn minor commanders with their larger cavalry units.

These will not be separate units, but will be part of a formation acting as a captain and providing a morale boost to his own unit and others around it. If the minor commander dies, his unit will almost always flee, and adjacent units will lose morale. Minor commanders can also inspire bloodlust in their troops, which will lead to them blindly attacking the enemy without being able to be controlled. Many medieval battles suffered from hot-blooded knights charging ahead of the army, with disastrous consequences. Luckily, if they are out of reach of the enemy long enough then they will eventually cool down and return to player control.

 

If a unit reaches elite status (3 stars), then the minor marshal has a chance to rally the troops if the major marshal falls in battle. But beware! Spies can bribe them into defecting or retreating from the battlefield without fighting.

[Battles]

The battle screen had lots of interesting scenarios, but one thing they lacked was formations. There were 3: line, square, and wedge. No schiltroms (hedgehog), shield walls, skirmisher lines, stakes in front of archers, mantlets in front of crossbowmen, or columns (for speed).

 

It was also maddeningly hard to orient them correctly, as they would become more or less dense on a hair-trigger. I'd prefer something like lords of the realm, where a right-click-and-hold revealed a shape on the ground (i.e., the formation) with an arrow pointing in the direction the unit would face. Make organizing much easier to visualize. Either that, or give a 1 minute timer before battle starts to organize the troops' order of battle.

[Alpha Beta]

Count me in, too! I want the sequel to be even more amazing than the first game. 😄

[Towns, buildings and landscapes]

That would be an awesome feature! KoH1 had a very beautiful aesthetic and felt so alive, so a feature like this would be very cool.