Hi.

I'm Johan, the Manager of the Internal Studio here at Paradox. I'm here to give you a little bonus development diary on a monday afternoon.

We've added in a few new betas in the last weeks, and I thought I'd share some of their posts here with you, and giving you a little screenshot.

There is a thread in the beta forum, called "Nice Little Details", and here are some of the comments from it..

• In the battle results, it also shows which land holders lost their lives in the battle.
• Love how game labels characters in relation to you. Like 'son-in-law' or 'rival'.
• Escheat is also pretty cool, and is an essential part of feudalism.
• When your gold runs out while you have mercenaries, they will/might switch over to the enemy side
• When you receive diplomatic offers or correspondence/messages, the wax seal at the bottom is stamped with the COA of whomever sent it.
• I love how historical the game feels, the atmosphere, the dynamics... Love it.
• I love everything so far, though I do love the ability to name children.
• The 'detail' I'm most excited about is the fact that this game is practically in release-shape already and is going to be by a million miles the most polished release PI has ever done. I don't want to sound condescending but Paradox really learnt their lesson from HoI3.

We also asked the betas to give us some feedback from their playthoughs, and here are a few...

Kingdom of England
"Was rather interesting getting Harold Godwinson to survive - he lived to a very ripe old age and passed England along to his son and then to his great-great-grandson (Godwin I and Godwin II respectively). William the Bastard died in a French prison, although his descendants did hold onto the county of Rouen. Didn't play very aggressively, mostly just tried to manage my dynasty and watch plots. This made the game kind of peaceful although there were a few moments of excitement. I had to throw a couple of nobles into prison for plotting against the throne, and in one case that led to a short war between England and the Duke of Lancaster, who at that time was the most powerful vassal in the realm. Another noble agreed to refrain from assassinating my heir once I asked her politely. "

Duchy of Apulia
"Right after the start my wife tried to poison me - from the three options i choose to kill her and married the Duchess of Toscana (Matilda). I offered Capua to become my vassal and they accepted, short after that i declared war on Messina and Syracuse and won. I created the Kingdom of Sicily and fought back several Muslim attacks.

My first ruler died and through elective law the only son with his second wife (Matilda) become the new King and also the heir of Duchy of Toscana. After that I felt strong enough i claimed the County of Palermo and attacked the Sheikh, and I got his whole Sheikhdom including Salerno, Napoli, Palermo and Trapani as vassals. This was a very bad move, because all the cities and so were still reigned by muslim which hated me of course...

I tried to revoke their titles and fought some wars with them to get the titles and through that my other vassals began to hate me too.

To cap it all, Matilda died and i got the very huge land of her, including Firenze, Spoleto, Brescia, Sardinia, Corsica, Rome, and several other counties...

Matilda was a vassal of the HRE and the Emperor was very upset about the loss, in 1115 he declared war on me and in 1118 several of my vassals declared their independence.

I fought very hard but could not win against them all... "



Here is a screenshot from a game King is currently playing..

 

[Nyrael]

I at no point said that having the Pope back your claim doesn't strengthen it in the Catholic world. Obviously it does. But that has nothing to do with the original question which was why the Pope, UNLIKE EVERYONE IN THE REGION, felt that William had the strongest claim PRIOR (Obviously) to supporting him. I do not understand why this is hard to understand.

I guess Papal support comes from him deciding as a character. If he likes William or feels he would be better King than Harold and/or ain't fond of Harold, he will strengthen the claim.

 

[Nuril]

I guess Papal support comes from him deciding as a character. If he likes William or feels he would be better King than Harold and/or ain't fond of Harold, he will strengthen the claim.

Yeah, if you look a couple of posts back Nick already admitted that his original claim/phrasing wasn't the case. Rather it was just the personal relations between the people involved, so 'tis a dead issue.

 

[unmerged(303218)]

I at no point said that having the Pope back your claim doesn't strengthen it in the Catholic world. Obviously it does. But that has nothing to do with the original question which was why the Pope, UNLIKE EVERYONE IN THE REGION, felt that William had the strongest claim PRIOR (Obviously) to supporting him. I do not understand why this is hard to understand.

We may never know why did the Pope support him.
But surely he had an interest in replacing Harold with William, as even back then personal interests (or interests of the political entity) were the thing that decided, not personal beliefs in the strengths of claims.
And I guess it was as simple as expecting gratitude. I make you King, and you will obey my commands.

 

[soran]

boy have i missed alot since i last checked CK2 topics and DD's o_o

question: what exactly is the difference between option 1 and option 2 in the picture? both seem to just declare he's yours, but there's got to be a difference since they were listed as options right? so, what're the differences?

 

[Wezqu]

boy have i missed alot since i last checked CK2 topics and DD's o_o

question: what exactly is the difference between option 1 and option 2 in the picture? both seem to just declare he's yours, but there's got to be a difference since they were listed as options right? so, what're the differences?

The difference is that the first option makes him able to inherit you as he is legitimate son. The second option you just acknowledge that he is your child. That doesn't give the child any rights to inherit anything from you as he is a bastard and not legitimate son.

 

[soran]

aha, i see, thanks

but in both cases, odds are he'll get into a fight over the title along the line if i have other kids, that's wicked [assuming that's possible].

also, what if i chose the 2nd option, but my character died, having one kid, him, will he inherit? or other family members will? and does that mean i will play as the bastard kid or whomever inherited even if they were distant family members?

 

[Wezqu]

but in both cases, odds are he'll get into a fight over the title along the line if i have other kids, that's wicked [assuming that's possible].?

Thats a high possibility but it might depend on whatkind of person the bastard is and even in history many bastards served their fathers loyally and usually where some point rewarded with some land or a tittle.

also, what if i chose the 2nd option, but my character died, having one kid, him, will he inherit? or other family members will? and does that mean i will play as the bastard kid or whomever inherited even if they were distant family members?

He can't inherit in that case as he is not legitimate son. So it would go to someone else most likely a brother of your character.