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Calliope

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Posts posted by Calliope

  1. 22 hours ago, William Blake said:

    I'm also very much against "engineering" as a marshal skill and think it should be some tech unlock on a kingdom level.

    To my mind, an engineering skill could be great, if indeed it allows your marshal to build more advanced siege weapons. Without the skill, a marshall having engineers in his army could craft rams, onagers, tower sieges maybe? And with the skill, depending on its level, maybe he could make his engineers craft ballistas, then trebuchets, and finally, if he's a true genius, why not cannons? Like a true Jean Bureau. That would make a lot of sense to craft more advanced siege weapons depending on that Engineering skill.

    The main thing here would be to have Engineering, Medics, and other options available in an army behaviour, independently from commander skills that could enhance them further more. 😃

  2. 7 hours ago, William Blake said:

    Cavalry needs a kingdom trade good to be built.

    First, I wanted to share some ideas here. For instance, we know that if one can produce horses in a province, and if he wants to create horsemen, he can do that in the appropriate province. But then, what annoys me is the same can be done in the WHOLE kingdom, right? I believe that's how the game currently behaves. Since the last comments shared ideas about situational advantages in battle, and that I find nothing to add to them, I admit I would also like to see situational advantages when gathering an army - not necessarily with all trade goods. The game should allow the player to recruit horsemen only in a province that fits the associated requirements. That would be far more logical than the wide kingdom advantage when building an army. Then if someone wanted to put some cavaliers in his army, he should bring his marshal in a specific province to recruit there some squads (or wherever they may be garrisoned). I know this involves some kind of micro management, but I think it wouldn't be too complex, regarding both gameplay understanding and technical implementation. And if I'm wrong, tell me, because there may be something I'm missing, ah-ha! 😅

    Second, some reactions to the whole dev diary (#27):

    - Visually, I've noticed some UI improvements (number of settlements in a province, very useful, though the province features and the local trade goods produced haven't been separated as I've suggested about a month ago). Also, is it me, or is the main screen landscape still being enhanced? Maybe I find it too gorgeous every time I see it ha ha. 😉
    - Linked to my saying just above, isn't there any hills in the game? There are plains, mountains, forests or so... rivers, sea.. but no hills? Or maybe I don't notice them...
    - How is the Additional Troops mechanic considered a military equipment? I understand the necessity to have different ways to play the game... but I find no logic in it. At least no logic at all to consider this as a military equipment, instead of supplies/wagons, and siege weapons. Though, as I said somewhere, on the Discord: siege equipment was (almost) always built on the spot, otherwise it would slow down armies and it doesn't help to transport them on long distances. However it would be VERY interesting to have some engineers mechanic, that would allow to craft siege weapons, or that would allow to speed up their fabrication. Engineers that would also be able to set up some tunnels, galleries below a castle or a city? Which would help winning a siege, or reduce the time it takes...

    ---> This leads me to suggest some ideas; instead of "army equipment", it should be renamed to logistics. Then, indeed, displaying options impacting the role of an army would be great. So there would be, as showed, Additional troops, Supply wagons, and why not as I suggest Engineers? Instead of being able to craft siege equipment magically and transporting them on long distances, which makes no sense, sorry. It doesn't mean in its current state, I won't enjoy the game actually! Just that it could be enhanced so it demonstrates how it can be both original and serious, compared to several other games. C'mon guys, give us some incredible stuff we won't see anywhere else, just like KoH 1 did! Have some audacity! 😃

    Finally, I want to make some more suggestions about which options could be added in logistics ("""army equipment"""):
    - 4th (according to the way I've counted in this whole comment) = Organised camp/Organisation. This would allow your army to fight more efficiently, being more prepared, whether you attack or defend. And here I'm not talking at all about the knight's ability called fortified camp. This is my point: generally, in the Antiquity, Medieval times and until this day, military operations are launched from a base. Yes, you can have battles "unprepared", being on the move, but two enemy armies often had their own military camp, where they put all their equipment, food, treasures, which they left (or not) to fight their opponent. And if having an organised camp should allow your army to fight more efficiently (not being caught on surprise in an attack), it should also allow for better retreats. Otherwise if you lose a battle, your retreat should be more disastrous.
    - 5th option: Medical staff. I know there's an option too in the knight's skills, that allows to preserve some of your soldiers, and heal the wounded ones... but that shouldn't be only a knight's ability. It should be available for an army, independently from the knight leading it. Then, you can want to stack the bonuses if you wish so, but that's another topic. Here, I think it is necessary to allow the player to have some medical staff in his army, if he wants to take care of his men, because it doesn't depend on the general only, but on logistics too! And that would also be more realistic I think.

    There could even be more options, more ideas, etc. It's late here, and I prefer to let everyone react to these ones if he wants to. Otherwise, this dev diary hypes me, I find it great, very interesting... and, yeah, I believe there could be much more improvements so that the game would be even greater than what it may currently be. Can't wait for the Devstream! And for a sneak peek of this live Orchestra! 😉

    Please, dear devs, make Knights of Honor II: Sovereign like its predecessor: a true masterclass. 🏆

    • Like 1
  3. Reading at all this... I wonder if I really like the current buildings system. I mean, the one in the original game really satisfied me, but I can understand the team wants to make and play on a polished, new version, maybe more balanced, I don't know.

    About trade goods, the pictures right above my comment makes me a bit suspicious. The first implies, in order to have salt, that you absolutely need to have barrels before producing salt. But I totally disagree with this kind of setting. Don't get me wrong, this is logical IF you wanna trade salt abroad, or if you send salt to other provinces in your realm. But what about local goods? If a province had salt mines, it would exploit that resource, and stock it in an administrative center, right? But it wouldn't necesary need barrels to be transported in some near location, it would need only carts. Let's imagine you have a town about 5 km distant to salt mines. Would you really need barrels that much if you only had to stock them in some building? But barrels would be needed for long distances, transport, for global, or even provincial trade. I think this lack of accuracy gives a flaw to the game, because it prevents a province from making salt, even if it doesn't have barrels. That's my opinion.

    Just like the Deep Forests needed for making glass, I don't really get the idea behind needing minerals, in order to produce glassworks. The description of the building itself is very thin and leaves the player in the blur. I know it might still be on works but... hey, I'm not really satisfied with it. Am I the only one here? 😅

  4. Interesting dev diary! Thanks for these infos! Although, like William Blake, I'm wondering about the real sense of this complexity, if it's really useful the way it is now, not in its deepness but in it's behaviour. But maybe it's very complementary and everything runs well so that it gives real flavour to the game. 🙂

    May I ask this: How much do relatives matter? I mean, for instance, two brothers, or an uncle and his nephew, are historically ruling two different entities (with a separate administration). In this kind of cases (which are historical), would they still be considered relatives, though not being in the same court?

    • Like 1
  5. Greetings, dear Brad, dear devs, and dear fellow fans!

    First I want to say I wish everyone's great and has had good holidays!

    I'm so happy with what is published there, about the many different ways to configurate a game... I love especially kingdoms descriptions, it can truly help a player when choosing a kingdom! By the way, is a kingdom's description the same for the three starting dates, or not? And if not, can it be modded so there may be three different descriptions? 😄

    The minimap, and all the visuals, even if they might be on works, they all look gorgeous, it's still so pleasant to the eye!

    Also the possibility of creating a kingdom, coming out of nowhere, based on whichever province you want, I find it's a nice idea! And same for the possibility for a player to switch to another kingdom if their first is defeated!

    Can't wait for the devstream!!

  6. On 12/9/2021 at 9:45 PM, William Blake said:
    • Few selected kingdoms are preset as "available" for players to start.
    • These few should be roughly the same size to minimize starting advantage. They also should be more or less equally distributed on a map to avoid Player 1: Scotland, Player 2: Wales, Player 3: Baghdad.
    • This list should also be variable to include or exclude starting kingdoms which are proven to be a problem due to special units or location
    • Player in a "Competitive" mode do not choose the starting kingdom, but get a random one from this list, such that a player will be presented with a fair and variable starting location and no one can seize a lead just by initial choice
    • Player however can choose starting religion, which will apply to the kingdom, such that personal preference and strategy can still be based on a religion preference.

    I agree with your post, and especially with these lines, except for the last one. But only a personal preference (to rule is to choose what you can, and compose with what you can't choose).

  7. 7 hours ago, CroatianKnight said:

      I do like the flavours pagans get! However I am not sure about it spreading by itself.. I mean I can see it happen but it feels more suiting for heresy, especially spreading over borders. Paganism spreading like that would make more sense if there are more pagan faiths so it happens between them as some gods would be similar.

      However considering the year of early start date it makes no sense to add different pagan faiths at all as paganism was already on decline. And it would make it too complex for KoHII and weird because there is no Judaism, Coptic nor Zoroastrianism. 

    Considering the map, maybe paganism could be split into two branches: a "Nordic" or "Eurasian" one, and an "African" one. The first could mix Norse, Romuva (I think that was Lithuania's religion before they converted to catholicism) and Tengri (Mongolian) faiths, the second one could represent the fetishist realms of Africa. I think that would be cool and add even more depth, while keeping things simple. Actually, current paganism reflects the "Eurasian" non christian or muslim faiths. If the devs like this idea, and if they have time and resources to spare, things may evolve this way... or another! :-)

    • Like 2
  8. It's great to see this new part in the game, fantastic! It feels like playing all three major religion groups will feel exciting though with different gameplays, I love it!

     

    By the way a small question about modding: for instance, if I wanted to add another faith (in one of these religion groups), how easy would it be?

    Because I may have an idea for the time period... 👀

    Thanks again for this dev diary, indeed the content is very promising!

  9. As William said, the game implies a lot of work. And as many said, one of the problems usually is the lack of communication.
    But when we ask questions, sometimes we get answers, and we got them recently, about what was going on. Given the discussions on the Discord server, especially the precisions Veso/Frujin brought us, KoH2 is not abandoned at all. And that's good news! Though I wouldn't be against another devblog. :-)

    Same as William, from what we know, and from what we see, there are chances the game will be released next summer (mast spring, I expected it to happen in spring 2022 at max). That's a realistic vision. And most parts have been done. Tactical battles, balancing, bug fixes (Veso told on Discord about a game where some weird situation that shouldn't have occured, but which did)... recording voice lines too. Among others. That's not a devblog but I'm totally fine with such infos, about which part of the game is being worked on, which progress the team makes... it's my own opinion, but I like to hear from the devs, from time to time.

  10. Interesting! Both gameplays look cool and a bit more diverse than in KoH1. Can't wait to hear from the team in next devstream, and to dive more into that topic!

     

    Several questions:

    - Will Papal States be playable?

    - If the Pope owns Rome and another province, but eventually lose Rome, does the Papacy still disappear? Does the Papal States remain?

    - Will it be easy to add and modify Religious Centers, so that catholic clerics do not only go to Rome, but also for example to Santiago de Compostella, or to Canterbury? Same for Orthodox, with Antioch or Mount Athos for instance?

    - What about peaceful pilgrimages (to Santiago, Rome, Jerusalem...)? Is there a mechanic for it, or do you plan to make one? I mean, regardless of one's religion, but as a mechanic available to Christians and Muslims, depending only on their own religious centers.

     

    See you Thursday! Thanks again for the mechanics unveiled! I and the other fans hope everyone's fine!

    • Like 2
  11. Knights of Honor II: Sovereign - Judicates

     

     

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    Dev Diary #3 : Teambuilding

     

     

     

     

    Hello there, and welcome to the third development diary of Judicates. We hope you are fine during these first days of Autumn, or Fall, as the 'mericans say. In the previous diary, I was expecting to write a topic on a new region of the map, but instead, the mod made a nice progression, and its map, though necessary, is not the only thing that matters. Today, we're going to dive into a sort of subreality, on which rest great hopes. Without further delay, let's talk about it!

     

     

    The mod was initially planned to be focused on the sole island of Sardinia, as it was explained in the first diary. At that moment, I felt it was too little for a mod, because except historical and geographical research rendered on a single picture, there was almost nothing yet behind. Back in early Spring, there was not enough information known about Knights of Honor II. We could only rely on still images in order to guess and try to find how the game was going to be played. Then, everyone waited a couple of months to discover gameplay footage, internal mechanics, and all sorts of features, to learn a bit more about the way the game behaves. Military units, buildings, battles, knights special actions, among other parts of the game, are now less of a secret (though all of this is still a bit unknown). Actually, it led to the mod's general improvement, for the best.

     

     

    As I wrote it in the previous dev diary, I thought about the possibility of creating scenarios focused on a specific area, instead of a huge map. Thus, with some help, I was convinced it could be great to work on one of these. This led to the development of a new project, which won't replace Judicates, but rather launch it, and possibly make it grow. As such, we are proud to present you: The Beginning.

     

     

    Judicates: The Beginning is a submod for the main project, or a demo if you prefer. Its purpose is to allow the player to discover and familiarize with the world of Knights of Honor II: Sovereign, on a manageable map for a first mod, which is not divided into hundreds of provinces, since it will put the player on the sole island of Sardinia, at the head of one of its realms. This decision has been taken because creating an overhaul extending on a larger scale implies lots of efforts, time and motivation. These can go off at any moment, and slow down, or even stop the project. Yes, you have to be aware that until the mod comes out, anything can influence its process of creation. This is why, as non professionals, we definitely want and hope we'll be able to achieve this one! Then maybe we'll have enough energy to create the main mod.

     

     

    Concretely, the goal of The Beginning is to offer the player different interesting features, such as additional interface languages (German, Russian and French), so that the mod has full coverage and is not intended only for English speakers. We want to allow both Single player and Multiplayer (up to five players). Although the submod only allows you to start on the first start date (around 1100 AD), we want to offer different experiences, depending on the starting location chosen by a player, because each realm has a different situation and each king available right at the start will take the role of one of the five knights classes. But beware, selecting a large judicate does not necessarily mean your game will be easy; actually, it may be the contrary.

     

     

    The overhauled political situation of Sardinia in 1100 AD, recalling the classic colors of a board game.

    Sardinia_political_1100_small.png.c52e8d98766b6cf010ea1b7cff68a999.png

     

    Though work has been made on several features we will cover in a future diary, here we want to present you another part of the mod that has known progress too: visuals.

     

     

    This part concerns essentially flags and portraits for the moment, as we wanted to represent each judicate with its historical emblem, and as we also wanted to extend the amount of portraits available. Right now, we don't know how many portraits will be available in vanilla game, but as you will notice with our two examples, the ones created below differ by far in their style.

     

     

    Noblemen drawn by a mysterious man whom we do not know but is very human.

    noble_sardinia_3.jpg.cca2d281fc1b3a9cb77c3e3055c3264f.jpg

     

    noble_4.jpeg.afd3acf4109ee3ef8e4181cefea908ee.jpeg

    To say it in a few words, these pictures are obtained through a random generation of men's and women's faces, then it requires artistic skills and passion to obtain these realistic people... or are they actually real people? We can't affirm it.

     

     

    The flag which represents the judicate of Gallura. Cock-a-doodle-doo!

    gallura.png.48080a2e081be1ee96c23eac7ddafb87.png

    Most flags for the submod are already done, and we're having quite a nice amount of portraits, especially for men.

     

     

    As the mod grew, it was decided to launch a mod specific platform, in order to be able to work more efficiently on it, upload, download and exchange files, or talk about Judicates and everything related to Knights of Honor series, in lounges set up for this purpose. Thus was set up a Discord server, initially quite simplistic and sometimes chaotic, but which quickly gained in organization. Being a modder or moderator is a rewarding experience, but becoming an administrator allows you to discover unsuspected things by seeing them from another angle. Similarly to Knights of Honor, it allows you to develop certain skills, and to gain confidence in what you're doing. We'll talk a bit more about this later in this blog.

     

     

    But Judicates and its Discord server wouldn't be the same without a special guest that helped a lot in this project, notably on arts, but overall in every aspect of it. Because Judicates is no more the project of a sole man, but of two now. Therefore, I present you Heragoga, who joined the team this month, and is co-ruling the server with me. Heragoga, I give you the floor, so that readers can discover your multiple talents.

     

     

    Hello there everybody. I am a German game development student with quite some modding experience in Hearts of Iron 4. My skills mostly lie in coding, technical knowledge and 3d modelling, tho I am able to create 2d art up to some extend as you can see. My main motivation for joining this projects are my high hopes for KoH2 and the desire to greet it "with open arms and a bucket of flowers", in a manner of speaking.

     

     

    Thanks Heragoga. As you have noticed, the arrival of Heragoga brought a lot to the project. However, we are still looking for more people who are passionate about the game and who could contribute to the development of Judicates. A varied team, made up of various nationalities, would indeed be beneficial. Speaking anything other than English, Russian, French or German would be a great asset, since we want to put additional languages to the game and to the mod. These are the ones we are looking for essentially: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Polish and Korean. If you speak any of these and want to help the mod or the game, notably with translation, you are very welcome; and so you are if you speak any other language too!

     

     

    Whether you have talents in graphics, writing, coding, research, drawing, musical composition or anything you think can improve the mod, we will prepare and make a place for you. We don't mean to compete with Black Sea Games, but rather honor their job and what they're creating, as to show the passion Knights of Honor II community has for this game.

     

     

    Thereby, we invite you to join the team, if you are interested to take a part in it, or even just discover a bit more of the project. However, since there are rules on the Forum and on KoH2 server, and since we want to respect them, we cannot publicly display the link to Judicates server ; otherwise, this would be considered advertising, repetitive, aggressive, self-promotion, and we don't want that, or any conflict at all.

     

     

    A solution has been found with the Forum and Discord moderators: if you want to join Judicates server, you need to send Heragoga or myself a private message and ask for the link that leads to it. Then, we will send it to you discreetly, so that you can access the server. Our tags are #8147 and #9916, respectively, if you ever need them to find us.

     

     

    This blog is now finished. We hope it is still a pleasure for you to read us. In the next diary, we may talk again about historical details, or about concrete, internal work we're preparing for the mod before the game comes out. Have some patience! We all want to discover it after this long waiting. Meanwhile, rule well, sovereigns. See you next time!

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2
  12. 23 hours ago, CroatianKnight said:

      Yes it really is a bit too much. I would honestly shrink it a bit but also expand the map too. On the topic of maps I wonder how will culture map look like. This is definitely the best thing about KoHII map, besides more provinces. 

      I also hope that in KoHII we will be able to restore Rome as Byzantium. It would be cool to play as Nicea and then Byzantium and then Roman Empire. 

    The devs explained they didn't want too much sort of empty land (or very large provinces which weren't that much populated). So yes, map expansion would be great, but only if essential I think.

    By the way, the map link does not work for me, it seems the picture has been removed... I hope I didn't provoke any feeling of shame or blame to the team, because of my post. It wasn't the purpose. It just amused me to see how tiny Arabia was! I hope the devs laughed with us...

     

    To be frank, they probably did. 🤗

    • Like 1
  13. 5 hours ago, CroatianKnight said:

      This is excellent! I am really looking forward to it! 

      May I ask, do you plan to make a map for Adriatic sea? I would love to see it! 

    Thanks! Glad it pleases you!

    Map progress is still on work, and there aren't many regions that have been explored, apart from Sardinia and Sicily. Though I could say which will be maps' edges (it has been uncertain for several months), I'll keep it secret for now, because we're still on early stage of mod development.

     

    Yet, it is possible that this region may appear in the future... :classic_wink:

    • Like 1
  14. Interesting dev diary !

     

    Indeed, that would be very cool to add this feature about inviting knights that have been abandonned by their kingdoms. I don't know for the western part of Europe, but in the East, the Greeks used it a lot (that's part of espionnage war in which they excelled).

    Also, I have a question... what are the conditions for a knight to betray you ? Is it only when he's a foreign spy, or is it also if the relation between him and you doesn't shine ? What do you think about adding a character opinion / loyalty modifier ? Would you find it's a good idea ?

  15. That's pretty true, I find the original portraits are reflecting unique faces, easy to differentiate from one another, while it's more blurry (blurred ?) in KoH2. I also prefer the original colors encircling portraits, same argument.

  16. Knights of Honor II: Sovereign - Judicates

     

     

    Dev Diary #2 : The Mediterranean keystone

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Hello everyone, and welcome to the second development diary of Judicates. I hope you're doing well ! Please, take a seat : today, we're going to focus on a specific region that always had a great importance.

     

     

    First of all, this very diary is coming several months after the previous one, and I apologize for that, because that was not my initial plan. Reflexions, other map making works and IRL issues slowed down this project, although I made some progress. By that time, the official developpers of the game published their own diaries, with a better regularity, and I have to admit I could not read it all. However, the explanation of several game mechanics was highly useful. Even though it has been said the players will have a wide freedom and proper tools in order to make their own mods with ease, remember that Judicates aims at melting into the core game and using the same game mechanics, at least when it comes out. Obviously, this is a map expanding mod before all. Still, if it becomes a concrete sandbox for all types of players, I'm all ears with the addition of new mechanics, or the reshape of basic ones, should modders want to collaborate and freely share their ideas.

     

     

    The rule is simple : you can take my ideas, I can take yours ! If sharing is the motto, then anyone can help anyone. You might ask : I know nothing about modding, what if I can't help in any way ? And I'll answer : Any help of yours will always be welcome and appreciated, don't underestimate that. It could be historical infos and sources in a language I can't understand or do not master, as well as your own thoughts on the project, like your thinking about its balance, the relevance of one of its elements, or even a single encouragement. In a house made of bricks, there is no insignificant one, not even the smallest ones.

     

     

    So, as I said above, I made progress on the map, though not as fast as I wanted to, yet I made it. The region I wished to present to you, back in Spring, is still on works, and gave me a hard time deciding which towns, which settlements, which frontiers, which rivers should be represented, how to connect the roads and how to enhance the terrain to make it realistic, pleasant and playable. To this day, there are still a lot of enigmas around it, but I hope I'll be able to finish it and publish it during the next months.

     

     

    Consequently, I worked on other parts of the map, especially on another region I know a bit more, and it paid off well. I encountered almost no problem on it, and went to a fine result, flexible enough to represent its geographical, political and cultural varieties, which played a major role in this territory's identity. Thereby, without further delay, I am proud to show you which is this jewel jealously coveted by foreigners, often times invaded, rarely conquered : here is the Mediterranean keystone, Sicily !

     

    rect2717-8-9-6.thumb.png.7acf325e65fad7b9c80dc25a93a91e48.png

     

    The island shares some similarities with Sardinia, since it was conquered by the Berbers and the Arabs over the Romans too. However, there grew an emirate that lasted for a couple of centuries, quite autonomous from North Africa (where came the invasion), as well as prosperous, to the point of letting some Arabic influence in certain words of Sicilian language. This is under their reign the capital was moved from Syracuse to Palermo, more suitable for a western power, but the Romans never renounced to reconquer the island, and tried several times to retake it many years after they completely lost it.

     

     

    Then, the Normans appeared in south Italy during the eleventh century, and after seizing there a large amount of land for themselves, they conquered Sicily in one generation, even faster than did its previous masters. Though the proper term of crusade did not exist yet, it looks like this one saw its beta test succeed (!). On the first start date, which is set in the early twelfth century, the player choosing to begin here will rule over a quite steady and unified realm owned by Roger II, Count of Sicily, a unique character leaving then his childhood and on the brink of becoming one of the most famous rulers of its time.

     

     

    Concretely, the twenty-three provinces of Sicily (of which Malta) offer a formidable base, with perhaps the best average rank of settlements per province of all the map. However, it will be in your hands to satisfy the barons, or crush them if needed to, as well as control the rest of your internal factions. Should you stabilize your realm, you may, as Roger did historically, invade other places, such as Africa, or wage war to inherit the south continental part of Italy. Foreign rulers, both muslims and christians, will observe you with a strange eye, since the area was very multicultural until the mid 1200's. It may be in your best interest to leave it as it is, and shape your traditions by keeping in mind the benefits that can bring you tolerance of your subjects belonging to the two religions (and I really hope such a system already exists ingame). After all, most of its inhabitants were muslims until mass conversions and expulsions, which occurred under the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (with whom will open  the second start date). At last, on the third start date, Sicily is under the control of the distant kingdom of Aragon, and plays no longer a center of power of its own (though a cunning and disloyal player may want to gain its own independence).

     

     

    Since Sicily has been set as it is, I went back to Sardinia and polished it to better shape its traditional territories, adding there a few provinces, towns and settlements (which will better represent its political and cultural situations on each start date). In my mind, an area's average number of settlements represents its development and its potential wealth. Though there is a great difference between the current poorest region to the richest one, it's up to the player to survive and expand its realm the way he can or he want, depending on his situation.

     

     

    I would like to speak about start dates again : on the previous development diary, I explained I aimed at following the same dates available in the core game. However, due to the complexity of History, I wish to add a few ones, if it is ever possible. I am currently thinking about a start date in the late XIIIth century, which, in Sicily, would represent the Angevine dominion and the risk of a massive rebellion, like during the Sicilian Vespers. Also, an earlier start date, set in the eleventh century, which would preferably cover the Norman conquest of Sicily, would be very interesting, for both sides (Normans and Sicilian Arabs). These are only ideas for the moment, as it would imply to choose perfect and interesting dates for most realms on this large map. Another option would be to create scenarios focused on a single region, and set on a specific single start date, to cover a famous historical event, or a reknowned character . But yet again, these are potential ideas, which, remember, can be taken by anyone. So be free to take and share !

     

     

    Here is the end for today. I hope you enjoyed reading this diary, it's been a pleasure for me to write it. I should come back with a third one sooner this time, expanding the map with a new place worthy of interest. Until then, please, take care.

    • Like 1
  17. If the devs can (and moreover want to add such deep into their game),

    I would suggest some climate adaptation depending on the unit,

    Light regiments would be really appropriate for arid areas,

    an example among others, because I don't find it fun to use the exact same units to conquer absolutely everything, from cold lands to sand deserts, from mountains to marshes.

    On one hand we have terrain, which we don't know the current effects ingame (if they have some), and on the other hand we have climate... which we know about even less. :classic_laugh:

  18. True, these are reactions, but the game is still on works (and in its state, I may have been wrong about a possible release in autumn). Dev team has already been very nice by showing us this teaser, I think we're midway to release date, but from what we saw, and from all the current published diaries, it's improving.

    I... suppose naval gameplay and everything related to it will be set in one dev diary ? Let's hope so. At least, we're expecting the next one to be about espionage !

    Yes, we're going far with this vision range idea. I won't be bothered if it stays like in KoH 1. It's only suggestions, and if the devs love the idea, and can implement it in the game, it'll be great ! If they can't, it'll still be nice. If think the question is open, and is debated among the dev team.

    That's the same for my own suggestion about built and yet to build settlements (which I think wouldn't be as complicated to set as vision ranges, but again, devs' decision alone).

  19. Hello there,

     

    Like many people, I watched the Dev Talking number 17 and liked it a lot, indeed, because of the gameplay footage (which led to a long, passioning discussion initiated by William Blake), but also because of the game's mechanics explained in the first half of the Live. I will present some reactions about both of those elements.

     

    Part 1

    The different types of settlements have been presented and it does make sense to have villages, crop farms, temples and forts (with their variations, like mines, cattle farms, etc). I cherished another settlement type, coastal villages', that were in the first Knights of Honor. When I learnt they got removed, I was a bit confused, but Frujin answered it would work differently. So I took patience.

    Now, any settlement can be coastal if it's close enough to the shore (so that there can be coastal villages, coastal temples, coastal farms, and coastal castles). The moment I heard that, it was great great news ! I don't know precisely what are the effects on each coastal settlement type, but it seems to be still linked to trade, resources, gold and ship travel (I hope I'm correct on that last one, I don't want to write any fake news !).

    That really matters, as sea is the most effective way to trade. The sea is a natural frontier, and a large space where a boat can move more freely and quicker than a caravan on land. It's more dangerous though, because of the conditions implicated (wind, waves, storms...), and as such it requires knowledge and maneuverability.

    I heard during the stream the word Admiralties. None of us can understand what it exactly implies, but it's certainly related to sea, and I wish it will be an original mechanic that will fit in my mod... and to see more about that, you'll have to read the next diary about Judicates... which is not ready at all. But I hope it will be soon enough !

    There was discussion about resource features, and a large number of goods, like the current 65, is quite impressive indeed ! I can't say much on that, I'm not behind the curtain. It has been said some resources will be produced in a specific province, according to historical, geographical reasons. I think that's the kind of detail that adds balance between historicity and fun gameplay. If it's modular for a map-maker, it's great, here again !

    As sea was talked about... pirates have been announced, and that makes me smile, as for admiralties. It should totally fit in my mod too. I wish it will need some specific requirements, like culture or religion. Sea gameplay will certainly be a lot more improved, compared to Knights of Honor 1.

     

    Part 2

    Here, I will give some impressions about the gameplay footage we've watched in the stream.

    So, it appears there are connections between goods, settlements, buildings, and more, in the way it's made wider than in the original game. It gives complexity, while still being simple to understand. Links and effects from actions or places seem to have a greater impact, to be more meaningful, and to be in a greater number. Again, these are impressions, but there's a feeling of everything matters. The short video shown last month about Tangiers' province, which shows us a living world, goes in the same way. Quite an improvement, I really appreciate.

    I'd like to talk about UI. It's the thing I observed the most. Generally, it looks like intuitive enough, and is nicely done. But I think the game misses the HD touch. It's like a bit oldy. Not that much, but still. Again, I want to give courage to the team to work on it, and don't blame you for its current state. 💪

    I'm meeting a problem with the character's icons, on two levels. First, those which are displayed in the royal court. I find their colours too dark, they do not differentiate enough from each other. It was brighter in the first game, and I preferred that, because a marshal icon was easily recognizable with bright red, a clerc icon with bright light blue, etc. Second, it concerns the icons displayed when the player chooses a specificity for one of his childs : the five icons, while showing different forms, have the same gold-yellow colour. I don't know if it's a real issue, because this window appears only for a few moments in a game, but it's related to the first point about icons, which don't have much difference. I think readability should be improved. Even the provinces' resources and goods are more easy to differentiate, while their image quality is lesser than the rest. Dear devs, please, do pay attention to these thoughts.

    The buildings' choice in a town seems really cool. It appears te be more limited, but it's another way of playing, and I'm eager to see how it works !

    The resources (gold, food, trade goods, piety, books...) appeared balanced in their number ; it might be too early for me to say that, because there were so many features involved in the gameplay video, but I don't remember resources to be as easily accessible as it appeared in the first game. I can only say the game in its current state has been tested and tested again by the devs to make sure it will be viable.

     

    Part 3

    Finally, I'm just sharing some free suggestions.

    I wanted to complete Ivory Knight's original idea about vision ranges, because it concerned essentially towns and settlements. We've forgot to talk about marshals vision ranges, and more specifically, units vision ranges. If that feature was part of the game, it'd be good for units to each have their own vision range, depending on their type. For instance, peasants, and generally footmen didn't have a wide vision range. But support units like archers, and moreover light cavalry should see further than regular units, because they were the kind of regiments to be used as scouts. That would give a greater interest to having light cavalry in an army. Along with that, maybe one of the already existing skills in the game could offer an extra bonus of a marshal's vision range. To make it quick : the marshal's view range could be based on the unit that has the larger vision range.

    At last, two more ideas : it would be nice to make the Papacy playable, with an original style of gameplay, and in the same way, to give Italian republics (or generally republics) an original gameplay style as well.

     

    Thanks for taking time to read this !

    • Like 1
  20. 2 hours ago, illbe85 said:

    I think Calliope's proposal would not go in the direction to change the map and the territory configuration, if I understood correctly at the beginning of the game, of 4/5/6 already generated places for settlements in a province, you only have already built 3 of 4, 4 of 5, and so on. So there is a settlement missing, (but the place, the road and conncetions are already there) and this one you decide to build from scratch according to your strategy. 

     

     

     

    1 hour ago, Ivory Knight said:

    Point 2: Have 1 settlement in a province not be decided, and to be developed by the AI or player at a later date to what they wish.

    Couldn't explain better than that ! 🤗 The point was to give player flexibility, freedom of choice, since he's meant to reign.

  21. Since I cannot react anymore with buttons on display for each comment for the rest of the day, I just want to share quick thoughts and impressions.

     

    First, thank you Frujin, for the time you invest reading this topic, that means a lot. Totally agree with you, the game (to my mind) seems like a scientific experience on course because the team seems to explore everything it can do (and it's great !). I wished there was not that much "image proof" and talking over it done by everyone (I promise I won't do that in my reactions topic), because the excess of doing it reveals ignorance, as we are not behind the scene as you are. :classic_smile:

     

    9 hours ago, William Blake said:

    Yes, but the problem is with 300 provinces on the map, adding a single settlement to a player province... it is just feels strange on a scale. Well it is actually one of the cornerstone problems of KoH you start very small but expect to grow up too big and it is hard to find a balance of what is meaningful size and what is not.

    My precision here : to make it clear, if a province had 6 scripted settlements, and if the player took a kingdom owning that province, it should not add any settlement to it. My suggestion was to make it that way : among the six, five are already there (cannot be changed), and one is yet to be built. So that six stays six. Just like in Crusader Kings series, where player can decide to settle... a settlement (sorry for the word repetition). At last, if I forgot to mention that, I'll say it here : if the player could have the choice of his last settlement's nature, in every province he owns right at the start of the game, then it would be the very same for the AI, so that you wouldn't have to decide it for all 300 provinces, as time passes (only if the AI chooses a last settlement for each province it owns - remember, AI, though not always well-minded, is AI, and does calculate things quicker than what someone can do).

    And that's why AI needs to be worked on, but let's not bring pressure to the team, and let's stay patient for what is currently being done.

    • Like 1
  22. Thanks William for sharing us a full explanation of your thoughts, I really appreciate this (though I represent only myself), and thanks everyone for this (long) conversation.

    I better see your POV and your suggestions, and in truth I wanted to propose you to give them when I wrote my first message. That's how we can make this game progress and question the devs team about each mechanic's pertinence.

    I won't quote everyone's speech because there's much to read (a bit too much sometimes, so please everyone, try to keep this simple !).

    So : I find the army stance a good thing to add to the game, as an "automatic" thing customizable by the player. It would be something between : Offensive, Balanced, Defensive, and Avoid conflict. I'm thinking of a similar system to EU4, where your army can't withdraw instantly, when the battle begins, but the player needs to wait a certain time. Avoid conflict stance would reduce the amount of time for the army to withdraw (like an organized retreat, something the marshal has intended to in case of an unfavorable fight).

    By the way, retreats were not always due to heavy casualties : sometimes, this was something very planned by the general (I think Hannibal, or Belisarius, did this several times), and it was made to attract the enemy into a trap. And frankly I think this should be possible in the game to spice it, but only meeting certain conditions. In this case, retreat is made to fool the enemy's army and take advantage over it (by playing with overconfidence), let's say in a more suitable terrain, for example.

    By reading all of the ideas and the pictures accompanying them, I realized there are stats to each unit. Before seeing that, I intended to make the suggestion of getting inspiration from a flawless game named 1066 Hastings, easily findable on the net, and free. In this game focused on battles, the player selects first his faction (Viking, Anglo-Saxon or Norman), his army composition right before a battle, then the position of each unit on the board, and finally the way they behave... each regiment had its own health (number of men), morale, attack strength, defense strength, movement range... from this, I suggest the team to add a morale value for each unit as well. Unless it's the resilience stat ? But I was thinking about a variable morale depending on the circumstances. Maybe it's already there... !

    I'm keen on army's speed, and some sort of passive stance. I don't think the consumption of food should vary for that (I may be wrong), however I was thinking about bonuses or penalties depending on the speed. So here are my other suggestions : normal army speed should stay as it is. Quick march should indeed make an army increase its speed, but at the cost of morale, since an army gets tired from it. Remember what happened to king Harold of England when he had to face Norwegians and Normans, in 1066 ? He had victory in Stamford Bridge, but his army was exhausted, and he made it quick march again to face the Normans, where finally, he got defeated. On the other hand, slow march should be available and provide bonuses, such as a morale or defensive boost, and a better chance to withdraw without taking too many casualties.

    In order to prevent spam abuse, each time a player selects a certain army stance, he should wait before eventually changing it, due to organization ability. Saying that, if logistics was a marshal skill, it should reduce that waiting time. Overall, there can be good inspiration of this from Total War Rome II and Total War Attila. I think it would be great to make stances, if they were added in the game (which I wish) more or less like in these games.

    Also, it's great to talk about supply. I wanted to talk about it separately, but it's the right place. When I saw the food surplus / balance in gameplay footage, I was happy, because I had the same idea in the past, and I always thought food supply in the first game could be enhanced. It seems it gets better now ! To express my thoughts, I agree with making it more difficult for an army to be supplied enough the more it moves away from its own kingdom, or from an ally' kingdom.

    ☝️

    Finally, I'm willing to present a small idea of mine, and I'm all ears to receive critics. Here it is : the number of settlements in each province is fixed, and for everyone who played the first game, that's normal. We cannot change this number, neither we can change the nature of each settlement in each province, the moment the player starts the game.

    And what if... in every single province, almost every single settlement was already built... except the last one, so the player could have greater freedom of deciding a province' role, and choose the type of settlement to build there ? In order to make it strong and risky at the same time, this choice could not be reverted, unless during building construction time (player's changing his mind) : the player should then make his decision with great care. Afterall, this game is called Sovereign ! This building phase would require resources, such as gold,  plus maybe food for a village, wood, stone... depending on the settlement type.

    If this was considered as a cool feature, it could become an selectable option before starting the game. I hope that idea will please you, dear fellows, and dear devs. 🤗

     

    • Like 1
  23. Dear William, I read your point of view and came to the same conclusion than Ivory Knight.

     

    Really, I appreciate your thoughts because you always go deep into matters and show the devs, and show us, key elements we didn't see, and though I do not always agree, I estimate what you share with great value.

    I have to admit on the very beginning of the demonstration, I was like a bit deceived, because it was not like car's explosions and all. But the video caught my interest, and I was quite calm and quite curious at the same time. I didn't notice every single thing, I paid attention mostly to UI details, readability, and a bit less to the rest. I looked at many things with the will of knowing more of what was on screen. Like a little child asking questions to his teacher.

    I myself made in my mind comparisons with the first game, thinking of the way it evolved. Like Ivory Knight, I wonder how what you saw seems worse than Knights of Honor I.

    The game is on Alpha version, and needs both balance and bugs' correction. But for what we've seen, I see it as an improved version of the first game, as it goes beyond what it did in 2004.

    Of course, there are far more possibilities with modern techniques, but the game we saw is in development for about... I would say four years, five max. And whatever its current state, I find it very interesting, more than the first one. Maybe I'm wrong. But when I compare to let's say Paradox games, the evolution from an opus to another is not that important. Here, we're talking about a company that owns less means than Paradox. Again, we need to wait until the end and see if the game confirms its promises. Let's not put the horse before the cart.

    I can't react to everything you've write. It's dense, and Ivory Knight answered to most arguments. I've noted my own thoughts of the dev stream and it will be part of another topic, because it's related to things Brad and Alex talked before the video footage, and it's rather different.

    So... I'm wondering how fun you would qualify the first Knights of Honor, and how the second game is deceptful. Everyone knows it's not Victoria III or Europa Universalis V. It's a different game, with less details, nonetheless it seems to have complexity, playability, fun, and a lot more. To my mind !

    I will read once more your ideas and study them tomorrow, but if I misunderstood something, or if you need to react before I eventually add more of my thoughts here, please, go on. I may need to see your thoughts from a different angle, if your critics are right.

    Thanks for presenting them.

    • Like 1
  24. 3 hours ago, William Blake said:

    I hope we can make it faster in the game than 20 years to build from a ground up ))

    They'll be there from the start of the game. But IF the game was a bit different, with the ability to build and destroy settlements, and to place them strategically (as for castles), then yes, the building of castles would be nice, if you had'nt to wait decades ! I have to admit I'm really curious about castles' behaviours and how to improve them via town buildings.

    2 hours ago, Sh0ppo from 9ers_Gaming said:

    I just realized from the third screenshot that Lefkosia is rather located to the north of Cyprus and not really a coastal city.

    Yup, and it'll be the same for other places on the map. Still the shape of the island is far better than in the first game ! I wonder if the devs intend to make copper a locked natural province good for it... I would appreciate that small detail. :-)

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