CK2 Dev Diary #25: Man vs Machine

[Shylock.]

Now, we are aiming to tweak several interfaces and while I cannot go into much detail yet, I can say that I’d especially like to address the following main areas:

• Plotting (quality of life)
• Prisoner management
• Guardian vs Educator (clarity)
• More space for Traits and Character Modifiers

Expanded plots with phases so you can play the long game with intrigue! Maybe "Befriend" if you have certain focuses, some such?

 

[MishaTX]

This will probably be covered in the "plotting section" but it often annoys me that I can't seem to know which titles I can plot to usurp and which I can't and WHY. The greyed out plots and short tooltips don't help.

I'd also love an Electors screen like the Councillors when debating on a decision like Title Revocation - one that would tell me why the AI is voting for their candidate AND what they don't like about mine.

Oh yes, yes, yes, all of my yes!

That would make councils/plots/heir voting so, soooo much less frustrating and annoying! I don't mind the game throwing me a challenge, I welcome it, and I don't mind if I have to occasionally jump through hoops or make some very tough decisions to avoid/achieve something, that's one of the things I love about this game above all others, it's the "OK, so he won't vote for my proposal/heir/law. Fine. That's his prerogative... So why won't he? What can I possibly do here to change the situation. Why, oh why, oh whyyyyy?".

And I know you guys can do this. You already have the best tool tips in the industry, bar none, so add my "pretty please" to this

 

[Mundoworld]

Please improve the UI for high-resolution and wide screens!
Add OPTIONS to:

1. Increase/scale info screens
2. Have bigger icons
3. Enlarge font size
4. Unhinge info screens from the left and right edges to move them into the middle

 

[Slavicist]

What’s this, a dev diary on a Monday?! Yes, it’s true, we’ve moved them to Mondays so they’ll coincide with CK2 streams. The Reaper’s Due has been out for a while now, and I am very pleased with how both it and the free update were received (I wasn’t sure the focus on Death would be so universally appreciated!) As Game Director, I rarely have time to do much coding and scripting anymore, but I did help out with the optimizations and several of the Game Rules. The game is in safe hands though; the current CK2-team has done an amazing job so far!

Work has now commenced on the next expansion and I can already reveal it’s going to be something a bit similar to Way of Life, which I believe I actually mentioned in my previous dev diary. I also promised optimizations, AI improvements and quality of life stuff. Well, the optimizations are done for now, so the next major free update will feature AI and GUI improvements, which brings me to today’s topic; usability.

Now, we are aiming to tweak several interfaces and while I cannot go into much detail yet, I can say that I’d especially like to address the following main areas:

• Plotting (quality of life)
• Prisoner management
• Guardian vs Educator (clarity)
• More space for Traits and Character Modifiers

There are other things in the works too, but when you’ve worked on a game for so many years you tend to get blind to many usability issues and simply accept them as they are. That is why I’d like to hear from you, our faithful fans, what you find most annoying and clunky about the CK2 interfaces. Are there any actions you find hard to do, or useful information you cannot easily find (or not at all)? All feedback is welcome!

That is all for now; the floor is yours...

Don't miss today's livestream - Medieval Monday with Emil and Doomdark - 16:00CEST on https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive

The building panel. Please, just please, do something with the building panel. At least a few pics here and there, or at least open up the possibility to mod in custom pictures.

 

[Crodriguez91]

a better filtering system when looking for courtiers or wife/husband, also abdication will come in handy maybe only possible with a high diplomatic skill?. and most importantly the vassal limit grows as your empire grows, i have found myself many times with no choice but to be over vassal limit cause i already have the max with vassal kings...

 

[JasonStoltz]

Improve search in the character finder, please! So much of this game is spent looking for characters ... whether it's a new general, a suitable wife/husband, a skilled councillor, a foreign heir to land in your realm... It's such a core, critical tool. I mean over the course of a game I've spent countless hours in this panel... and it's often a very tedious experience and definitely not where I want to spend my time when playing.

The problems:
- There are certain filters that I always set when searching for a wife, for example... "Married: no, My culture group, My religion group, etc.". And others that I use when searching for a councillor: "Married: no, any culture group, any religion, ruler: no". Switching back and forth between these is kind of a pain and error prone... i often forget to toggle a filter on or off.
- If I'm looking for a wife, I only want to see fertile women. I don't want to see 67 year olds. I'd like to be able to filter them out of the view completely.
- I often want to find Heirs to duchies so i can invite them to court, and it's super hard to find them. It usually involves hovering over each individual portrait, one by one.
- Finding courtiers is a lot easier since you now have the will accept invite icon on portraits ... but there's still a bunch of things that factor in. Like, will they accepts after I bribe them? Can I buy a favor from them? Can I buy a favor after I bribe them?

Possible solutions:
- Way more filtering options. But put them in an "advanced search" so it doesn't over complicate the search screen. I'm sure you could poll the community and figure out a list of additional filters that players want.
- Saved filters ... I want preloaded filters like "Wife", "Heirs", "Councillors" that I can simply toggle between.
- A filter (or icon) for "Will possibly under some condition accept join court invitation"... whether it's by bribe or by favor, not just a "Will accept offer to join court now". Basically ... include the "Maybe" icon that you use on portraits when characters "might" join your plot
- An "heir" filter or portrait icon. If we have an advanced search screen, then maybe we can even search by "Heir to duchy", "Heir to Kingdom", etc.

 

[sergio_sos]

Please improve the UI for high-resolution and wide screens!
Add OPTIONS to:

1. Increase/scale info screens
2. Have bigger icons
3. Enlarge font size
4. Unhinge info screens from the left and right edges to move them into the middle

+1

 

[goondo]

The dark blue colored text in the tooltip is unreadable.

 

[JasonStoltz]

Another suggestion:

I'd love some more information in the battle screen that explains how my commanders abilities are affecting damage ratings.

Like if total damage being deal per day is 80... break it down by:
Base Damage: 10
Commander is "Holy Warrior", + 6
Commander's Martial ability, + 10
Current Tactic: - 20
etc.

It's just like, every time I'm in a battle I never really know what all is affecting why my troops are either winning or losing.

Related, I STILL don't understand what the trickster trait does and how that affects battle.

 

[n-m-aljaber6678]

Things that would be nice to add:

-Slavery mechanics: it would be nice to have an option to abolish or have slavery. Slave revolts can be a thing too.
-Oligarchic republics would also be nice. having a choice to go either merchant republic or oligarchic republic would be nice.
-Muslim republic should be fixed. It seems very buggy since once the heir inherits it becomes either feudal or the game ends.
-Culture conversion mechanics would be nice too. it's really annoying having to wait for your culture to just pop up.

 

[friedrichthegre]

- commanders and regent/court physcision should be in the same category, otherwise one has to scroll up and down almost every time, the rest are "minor" titles, which are as the name says less important
- splitting to armys with the drag and drop menu is way more mouse work, than the earlier version with the arrow, get the arrow back
- how are the possible husbands and wifes sorted in the marriage finder menu available through the character menu, when I sort by some column I can never seem to get the original sort back, unless I close and open the dialog again
-

 

[Adenru]

I'd like an ability to have a tag for diasbling automatic revealed plot stops for certain characters.

 

[M4rtell]

I want a button that makes your troops to walk to friendly territory by itself and disband automatically

 

[marceror]

- commanders and regent/court physcision should be in the same category, otherwise one has to scroll up and down almost every time, the rest are "minor" titles, which are as the name says less important
-

When I want to assign a court physician or regent, I toggle off commanders. When I want to assign commanders I toggle off minor titles. It's basically removes the need to scroll, and for me, has worked very well.

 

[Gauk]

There are other things in the works too, but when you’ve worked on a game for so many years you tend to get blind to many usability issues and simply accept them as they are. That is why I’d like to hear from you, our faithful fans, what you find most annoying and clunky about the CK2 interfaces. Are there any actions you find hard to do, or useful information you cannot easily find (or not at all)? All feedback is welcome!

That is all for now; the floor is yours...

Well, since you asked, I had a text file running with some ideas.
1. The find character screen could use some QoL help -
A. A way to filter out those too far to interact with. Nothing says CK2 micromanagement like having to scroll through 15 brides that I can't make offers to.
B. A way to filter out those that won't take an invite to court offer(the ones that say 'no', not the 'maybe's). Same thing as above, when I'm looking for a commander.

2. Often my spymaster discovers a plot an npc has to kill someone I want dead - some way to discreetly offer my support would be a good alternative to starting my own plot or throwing them in jail. The same would be helpful for plots to overthrow a liege we both share, etc.

3. Army micromanagement:
A. I would like to be able to designate one commander to lead an army during sieges, one for movement, and one for battles. You can do this now with lots of clicking but it'd be nice to have the UI support this.
B. When assigning a commander to a flank, a color-coded name or warning when that pulls them from another army would be welcome.
C. After I've worked out the commanders of a large army, stop the game from reshuffling them every time 57 troops from a podunk levy join up. It's really irritating. Perhaps a 'lock flank commanders' button would be appropriate.
D. Straight up bug - The popup for when your commanders die says they died fighting against you, not for you, which is confusing.
E. Even when the current ruler is 'forbidden to lead armies', he or she is still a choice in the flank commander pop-out. This is confusing and not helpful. Perhaps it could be listed as 'forbidden' but not clickable? Or a confirmation dialog if a forbidden ruler is chosen to lead a flank?

4. The intrigue start plot screen could use some more feedback. It'd be real nice if plots that can't currently be started could list reason(s) why they can't be started. Like, you can't plot to revoke a vassal's title if you're charitable/kind etc. Similar feedback in the declare war screen would be helpful, especially for new players - maybe you can't declare holy war because you're cynical, or maybe it's because Nestoriansim and Catholicism just don't hate each other.

5. Bug: Several times vassals of mine bring me proof that I have been slandering myself. This is confusing.

Disclaimer: It's been a few months since I played, so if these have already been addressed, I apologize and thank you for being on top of it

 

[monkeytrumpet]

The most clicking I ever do is trying to rearrange the members of my council to the places that they are best suited to... It would be nice to be able to see comparative stats and shuffle them around with an easier interface.

 

[n-m-aljaber6678]

What’s this, a dev diary on a Monday?! Yes, it’s true, we’ve moved them to Mondays so they’ll coincide with CK2 streams. The Reaper’s Due has been out for a while now, and I am very pleased with how both it and the free update were received (I wasn’t sure the focus on Death would be so universally appreciated!) As Game Director, I rarely have time to do much coding and scripting anymore, but I did help out with the optimizations and several of the Game Rules. The game is in safe hands though; the current CK2-team has done an amazing job so far!

Work has now commenced on the next expansion and I can already reveal it’s going to be something a bit similar to Way of Life, which I believe I actually mentioned in my previous dev diary. I also promised optimizations, AI improvements and quality of life stuff. Well, the optimizations are done for now, so the next major free update will feature AI and GUI improvements, which brings me to today’s topic; usability.

Now, we are aiming to tweak several interfaces and while I cannot go into much detail yet, I can say that I’d especially like to address the following main areas:

• Plotting (quality of life)
• Prisoner management
• Guardian vs Educator (clarity)
• More space for Traits and Character Modifiers

There are other things in the works too, but when you’ve worked on a game for so many years you tend to get blind to many usability issues and simply accept them as they are. That is why I’d like to hear from you, our faithful fans, what you find most annoying and clunky about the CK2 interfaces. Are there any actions you find hard to do, or useful information you cannot easily find (or not at all)? All feedback is welcome!

That is all for now; the floor is yours...

Don't miss today's livestream - Medieval Monday with Emil and Doomdark - 16:00CEST on https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive

I believe character customization shouldn't deactivate achievements. My reason for this is that.. well.. the character eventually dies. It would be nice to have your own dynasty and culture growing. Disabling achievements kinda ruins it for folks who want to have a good time, yet, still get achievements. I've played EU4 and in EU4 you can create your own nation but achievements can still be achieved. Why can't it be done with ck2 as well? Wouldn't it be interesting if that happened?

 

[Heiliges Thüringens Reich]

I guess noone suggested this, but I'd like to see a system clock. I may have been guilty of losing some appointments because of CK2...

 

[Clementine]

I would really like to see a navy focused DLC. I know that's not really the focus of CK, however I feel that the navy aspect of the game is really underdeveloped. I want to control trade routes in the sea and have ship battles.

 

[fluza1]

I would really like to see a navy focused DLC. I know that's not really the focus of CK, however I feel that the navy aspect of the game is really underdeveloped. I want to control trade routes in the sea and have ship battles.

Regarding the navy, I'd love to have automated naval transport like in EU4. I know it's not directly related to the interface, but it would be a nice QoL feature. And also, if you're not going to touch naval combat, galleys could give some kind of bonus to land troops, just to make them a little more useful.