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CK2 Dev Diary #86 - Character View Redux

Greetings!

Today I’d like to show off the new Character View, which we affectionately refer to as the ‘Redux’ version. The old Character View, despite having been redone several times already, was still plagued by not having enough space for the various elements (traits, in particular) and having random buttons floating all over the interface (Leading Troops Toggle, Artifacts, Barber Shop, etc). Our primary goal has been to free up space and facilitate the addition of new buttons, and here’s the result:

DDCharView_YourCharacter.png


This is how the Character View for your own character will look. As you can see, a lot of things have been reshuffled to create more space. We’ve kept in mind that certain habits are hard to break, so some of the more commonly used things are still in their original place, e.g. the ‘Arrange Marriage’ button, and the information you need at a glance is in the same general area as it used to be, e.g. the Levy Size number. We’ve replaced the text with icons, and all icons now also have tooltips - this means that, unlike before, we actually explain the concepts of the various lists you see, such as what the difference between a Trait and a Modifier is.

Some elements have been removed, such as the ‘Dynasty Tree’ button, as clicking the Dynasty Shield itself fulfilled the exact same function.

The old ‘Combat modifiers’ icon (the two crossed swords) have been replaced by a new icon (orange with a sword and chess piece) in order to make it more clear that you can hover it to see useful information. We’ve also added a similar button that shows the total effects of any Artifacts a character has (yellow with a goblet and helmet). This icon is also visible in character lists, making it useful for tracking down characters which hold artifacts on their persona.

We’ve also exposed the Personal Combat Skill value of characters in the list of skills. More on this in a future DD, but rest assured that it’ll have an enhanced impact on your gameplay experience!

To preserve some sense of mystery I’ve censored some of the buttons pertaining to expansion features using pictures of confused ducks, I’ll go into more detail on what the buttons entail in later DD’s.

This is how it looks when viewing another character:
DDCharView_OtherChar.png

As you can see, it’s similar to the other view although with more censored buttons. The main difference, which may take some time to adjust to, is the new location of the Plot button - though it is now in a way more convenient location overall.

We’ve tried to shuffle as much information as possible to the right of the view, in order to make it easier to get the information you need at a glance - Active diplomacy (such as wars), levy numbers and stats are all lined up and easy to view.

While we don’t expect everyone to instantly embrace the new layout, we did it out of necessity and managed to use the space we had available in a very effective way - and after having spent months using it internally, I don’t believe there’s a single one of us in the Dev Team that could go back to the old layout. :)
 
If only we would have the technology to make boxes with a dynamic size...

PDX knows about UI scaling and other tricks already. Whether it's worth it to code in is another matter entirely - the game did survive 6 years with a very crowded interface anyway.
 
I'd like to see a filter for factions. Was playing as an assassin and spammed recruitment like crazy ended up with the majority of membership coming from my demesne. Won holy war and wanted to land these truly faithful but was a PITA trying to scroll through my subjects looking for my unlanded members.
 
To preserve some sense of mystery I’ve censored some of the buttons pertaining to expansion features using pictures of confused ducks, I’ll go into more detail on what the buttons entail in later DD’s.
Oh, those were Ducks? At a glance it looked more to me like Grand-Maester Pycelle denying any knowledge of what has just transpired. "Muh muh my my, my Liege!"

Maybe I've been in Westeros too long.
 
Might take a little while to get used to the new layout, but I think it'll be a good thing once we do.
 
I don't like this at all- in fact, I hate it -but I understand the reason it is being done and see the points made for doing it to be valid, so I understand that I have no real choice except to accept it.

I would prefer a text-based UI, though: I like it to say "TRAITS" and "MODIFIERS" instead of pictures.
 
Text labels are more clear and less tedious than having to learn new iconography.

Assume that done - is there a way to pin 3 or more candidates or other characters to be viewed with stats and info side by side for making the best decisions?

Yes, I'd take a late medieval quilll-pen spreadsheet or roster.
 
I don't like this at all- in fact, I hate it -but I understand the reason it is being done and see the points made for doing it to be valid, so I understand that I have no real choice except to accept it.

I would prefer a text-based UI, though: I like it to say "TRAITS" and "MODIFIERS" instead of pictures.

The only named fields lost are Titles and Claims and Diplomacy, as far as i can see.
There are descriptons of the icons in the tooltip for each, so i assume the aforementioned names are in there.
The problem with text is that it takes more space than icons do.
 
Hello,

In the demesne frame of the character view redux, is it possible to do a green border on de jure title (like for strong CK) for all character. It will ease the view of "de jure" or not titles.

And if i can add another request, if we click on the title shield at the begining of the demesne frame (or the shield near the character head), we could see on map a border for the whole demesne and a green border for all "de jure" titles in...

Thank you for your reading.
 
The UI upgrade is welcome, but like others I have my own thoughts about the arrangement. My quick mock-up image rearranges the character panel to include the benefits of the rework whilst retaining more of its original arrangement.

*Extended the Titles section to allow 1-2 more titles before stacking.
*Claims and Diplomacy reduced to 4 shields before stacking occurs.
*Moved Attributes and Stats panels to enable quicker lookup IMO
*All actionable buttons moved to top right (except marriage proposal)
*Religion moved to below shield (reflects religion anyway)

I'm unsure where to place the inheritance type icon (see picture)

Additionally I've mocked up an alternate Traits/Titles bar that allows more titles/claims/diplomacy icons to be clearly displayed.

Just my two cents. What do you guys think?
 

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I'd like to see a filter for factions. Was playing as an assassin and spammed recruitment like crazy ended up with the majority of membership coming from my demesne. Won holy war and wanted to land these truly faithful but was a PITA trying to scroll through my subjects looking for my unlanded members.
Use the character finder (bottom right of the screen), you can set the filters to find unlanded characters in your realm (i.e. people you can gift titles to), and can even specify that they have to be your culture and/or religion. You can even sort by particular stats.
 
Use the character finder (bottom right of the screen), you can set the filters to find unlanded characters in your realm (i.e. people you can gift titles to), and can even specify that they have to be your culture and/or religion. You can even sort by particular stats.
i'm quite aware of that but that isn't what I was talking about. I was talking about the lack of a Monks & Mystics person xyz is or isn't a member of xyz filter. Such a filter is what I was saying I wanted because it's a PITA trying to scroll through everyone looking for such a condition.
 
i'm quite aware of that but that isn't what I was talking about. I was talking about the lack of a Monks & Mystics person xyz is or isn't a member of xyz filter. Such a filter is what I was saying I wanted because it's a PITA trying to scroll through everyone looking for such a condition.
You can filter it down to IS a member of X society if you type in the society name. You just can't invert that selection.