Cork2
29-02-2004, 08:25
FAQ
Unit Questions
Q: You don't see any crewmen around the siege machine.What is going on?
A: That's because the shot is taken from a development build for E3 2003. The crewmen were simply not ready by that time.
Q: There is no one on the walls. I know it would be dangerous to be there in this situation, but still, it's the best place to harm the enemy.
A: Again, it is an old shot. There will be units on walls and fighting you.
Q: Will we get non- christian nations in this game, E.G: The Turks, the Mongols and the Moors and all the extra units and architectural styles that they'll bring?
A: In KoH we have units which naturally do not comes from Europe.
Q: Will the units in KoH also start screaming and running when they are near the enemy?
A: They scream and run when they charge enemy units.
Q: Once the laddermen have put the ladders next to the wall, can any type of footsoldier climb up?
A: Not every, only soldiers on foot. No cavalry or siege equipment. But this is how it is going to work, the laddermen (not armed) have to place their ladders, then the foot soldiers can climb.
Q: Can you resupply your ladderman with a ladder?
A: The ladderman has always one ladder. He places it and stands aside, holding the ladder. If he dies, the ladder disappears. However the laddermen come in a group (squad). They are the cheapest Siege units.
Q: Are ships in the game? Will they play any role in trade or war?
A: Yes, we have ships. They are mainly for transportation.
Q: Will we actually see soldiers and crewmen on the ships in KoH, unlike in many other games, where the ships are manned by an invisible crew, and with arrows shooting from the
bow, without any apparent archers?
A: Sort of. You will see them on the boats when they land on a foreign realm.
Q: Are there Naval Battles?
A: We have naval battles but they are rather simple. Two ships meet in World View and fight. One survives another dont. But you dont do play naval battles in the close view. Naval
battles in medieval were not that important.
Q: As the game will have three different startingpoints, I wonder will the units be consistant?
A: Yes the units will stay consistant through all periods.
Q: Will rebels decide to fight for independance?
A: Yes, Rebels may decide to fight for independency and assaulting the castle. If this would happen a new Kingdom would emerge.
Q: Do you see peasents with pitchforks besieging a castle?
A: A Knight can become a rebel too, you could bribe him to change sides... With his army, which can have of course better units than pitchforks. But imagine a large army, of highly motivated peasants who have pitchforks, assaulting a castle which has no outer wall build yet?
Q: Will you be able to put the spearmen in a kind of spike wall formation, where they can kneel down and stick their spears out, kinda like in braveheart?
A: We have a line formation.... which acts similar to that.
Q: Will archers kill their enemies instantly if they hit em with their arrows or will it be like age of empires where 100 arrows were necessary to kill a man?
A: If the arrow hits it kills instantly. And it doesn't make a difference between friend and foe.
Q: In the Medival were the Crusades, is it therfore possible to build for example Templars in Jerusalem (and not only in france)?
A: As "Western" King you can build in Jerusalem Western units but no arabic. While when you are an Arabic King you can not build a Templar.
Q: I've read that the archers can only carry a limited amount of arrows. Well, I think that's an interesting and realistic feature but how can I ensure the ammo supply?
A: The plan is that when a battle rises you have full refilled ammo. If you spent your arrows then the archers have to be pulled back out of danger or they can only fight hand-to-hand were they are weak. But when the battle ends then the arrows get refilled again.
Q: Won't there be any long lasting battles then?
A: It really depends. Archers are a very tactical weapon...if used properly. The battles are long enough that that the arrow limitation WILL play a role.
Q: How will you solve the problem with sieges?
A: There is no problem, a siege is no fight in KoH. A siege means that troops are camping outside of a castle and cut all supplies to the town / castle. This happens in the World View. If you decide to break out or enemy to assault, then the game switches into the Close View and the ammo limitation comes into place. You can give your archers the order not shoot, or to shoot only when enemy on sight, stand ground etc. That they dont waste ammo. If units run out of ammo they fight hand to hand with a short sword. But they are very weak.
Q: Even if the archers is attacked by a charging cavalery wont they flee if they are low on morale?
A: They flee and they may even surrender, depending on own condition (morale, enemy positions, attacking unit type, heavy losses etc.) and enemy condition (morale, unit count etc.).
Q: If the defending archers and crossbowmen have no more ammunition left the castle would be almost indefensible.
A: No, your towers can have a ballista inside. Also the drum towers can be equipped with catapults. And not to forget you can have also oil cauldrons. Also a battle is not lost when the enemy units passed the wall...the fight continues inside the castle of course. Also imagine, when you attack a castle without archers, your soldiers are an easy target for the archers from the castle walls. But if you took archers yourself....well they can also run out of arrows. So archers are a really tactical weapon with pros and cons.
Q: But will archers defending castles have any bonuses?
A: Yes they can shoot down from walls and through the height farther than the attackers from ground.
Q: I suggest we can see the people loading/firing from catapults,balistas trebuchets and/or any other war machines that you have.
A: You will see it in KoH.
Q: And i would really like it if we could really see archers or knights or soldiers on the walls in front of the gates and even make them patrol an area.
A: You will and the castle guards patrol on wall, towers and in front of gates.
Q: To make 100% clearence, the peasents will run when they get attacked?
A: They definately wont continue to work.
Q: What would be the size of a realtively large army?
A: The final max. unit number is not completely fixed yet but it wont be more than 3000 units all together in a battle. We make sure that they are not too less or not too mutch.
Q: Does that mean 3000 as number or could you realy count all 3000 man by man?
A: Every unit is one unit in KoH.
Q: How about reinforcing squard with many units lost?
A: You can refill your squads after a battle in a town.
Q: If i have a very experienced squad of troops and need to reinforce it - will its overall experience level not go down?
A: We have also experience levels for squads. When you mix squads of two different exprience levels then also the average will be calculated.
Q: Will there be ships or transportships?
A: There will be transport ships, boats and rafts. While rafts and boats are working quite the same. Rafts come into place while river crossing, boats in coastal landings.
Q: I was wondering about wheter or not there is a limit to how large an army you can have, when you have an army you also have to feed it!
A: Each army can have max. of squads. There is a Knight skill which is granting additional slots, depending on the level. Also you are right, army needs food. And each army carries
its own food, which can be refilled in towns/castles. If you keep an army from refilling food and the army starts to starve then the morale begin to drop = weakening of the army.
Q: So there should be an upper limit to the army's size?
A: That will be exactly in KoH.
Q: We know that army needs supply. But what about upkeep of army? I remember that in Lords2 there was upkeep in food and gold. What it will be in KoH?
A: Well, thhe King has Gold and you can give realms gold from your treasury to increase their capacity or to help on a shortcome.
Q: Well, is this means that certain realm supports army belonged to it with gold and food? Each realms will have separatelly economy?
A: You support army with food but if a realm can not efford food to give to the army, the king can grant some gold to the realm from which that realm could buy food.
Q: I have seen the unit for Teutonic champions, and was just curious if the Teutonic Knights will be playable as a "soveriegn entity" in the area of old Prussia, Pomerania, poland, Lithuania etc.? Or will this solely be a germanic unit within the HRE?
A: There will be a Teutonic Order as a playable Kingdom. But not in all three entry periods.
Q: Are they going to be foot soldiers or on horseback?
A: In KoH they are also on foot but they are called Teutonic Champion.
Q: If i see an enemy army marching towarss one of my realms, and i decide to ride out with a few calalry archers and shoot on them, will it lower the enemy army's morale to loose some men while marching?
A: Yes it is possible but a battle is a fixed event. Two armies meet, 1Knight and 1Squad of any troop type can be armies, then the battle starts. The army continues marching after the battle, if there are any survivors.
Q: I wanted to ask if we will be able to control individual units?
A: NO. You will always control a group (squads) of soldiers.
Q: I saw in the screenshots unit patroling the roofs of the towers how come is that?
A: Because it was in peace situation and the guards were patroling the walls.
Q: And anyway i think controlling also individual unit will add much to the game. Wouldn't it?
A: As much as it would steal from it. We decided for the squad system because it gives us much more tactical advantage over traditional RTS where individual units are controlled. Btw, it is very handy to control 25 units at once. Squad based fighting fits much better to medieval warefare.
Q: In two of the three new screenshots i've seen some white dressed men that are moving in the large map. Who Are they, are they peasants?
A: Yes, guys .. you got it. These are some peasants wandering around to enrich the map. They do not have any gameplay meaning. The "real" population is shown on top of towns as icons. While outlined empty places are missing population. When you train army you take from these and they replenish slowly back to their maximum (which depends on town level, governor skills, etc.)
Q: Will castles stores food and when it runs low will the morale of the defenders begin to get low too?
A: Yes, that it how it shall be.
Q: Will the morale of the attackers be affected?
A: No because enemy runs out of food but the attacker needs also enough food....if they run out of food their morale can drop too.
Q: How can our army be that numerous? When we recruit 5 soldiers from 15 "peasants" can we wait till realm population reach 15 again and then recruit them again?
A: One happy villager (icon) can be trained into one squad. But the villager is only meant iconic and does not represent one 'real' villager.
Q: Do units have a line of sight?
A: Yes they have.
Q: Do we have any limits of suqads?
A: The number of units in squad may vary also it is not fixed yet, due to the fact that it is a matter of balance. A max number does also not exist atm.
Q: Will the battles involve any blood, gores, effects or is this censored for Minors?
(eg. like Blood on the ground, body parts flying, blood squarking in the air, etc)
A: The units which die, just disappear. No blood, no gore....some units may burn when hit by boiling oil or fire arrows. It is our philosophy that there is no need for exaggerated death animations.
Q: In the "unit showcase" could specify what combat formations can perform every unit (if they can perform any)?
A: All unity types (except) peasants can perform one of the four formations: block, triangle, line, row (collum)
Regarding building showcase....please not yet, let's first finish the units.
Q: Only one each? Or all four formations?
A: All four
Q: So you can have a tight or a wide formation?
A: Yes and you can face and wheel.
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Buildings/Defenses Questions
Q: I feel the demolished walls look as if someone cut them down with some kind of laser knife.I.M.O. There is not enough debris remaining.
A: That is work in progress mate, don't worry.
Q: What do you use the Harbor for, since the trading will only be globally?
A: Visual enhancement. A harbor without ships would ****. When you switch to Close View on a harbor you will see them, when they get loaded & unloaded. In WV you see them moving between the harbors.
Q: Are there different building styles included in the game such as gothic,barok etc?
A: There will be one style of buildings. But there will be arabic and eastern european style buildings too.
Q: I also suggest we could build the walls, gates , towers where ever we want.
A: We do not want the player to micromanage castles. The game is about conquest. We have more than 150 realms in the game...imagine you building for each tower by tower etc.
Q: I really wnat to build my gates walls towers and other stuff everywhere I want.
A: You can build towers or ad new gates. But as a "whole" for a city, means you have a wall or dont have a wall. And you can upgrade the wall or you can build towers etc. We have now so many possible upgrades in the game, you would not even want to bother to build a single tower if possible. We had that opportunity in the game and in fact has not been used it.... So we discussed, decided and tested and found this solution fitting better to a global game as KoH is. If we would have only a few castles, it would be different but ... hey, we have a huge map with loads of castles/towns and you can still customize them.
Q: Are the upgrades going to be put in the same place for each castle?
A: Yes, exactly.
Q: How much Diversity is there for castles?
A: We have now 12 levels of development and different castle shapes and different styles of castles (arabic, western and eastern). So if you ask me, plenty of diversity
12-03-2004
Q: I really wnat to build my gates walls towers and other stuff everywhere I want. Is that posible?
A: You can build towers or ad new gates. But as a "whole" for a city, means you have a wall or dont have a wall. And you can upgrade the wall or you can build towers etc. We have now so many possible upgrades in the game, you would not even want to bother to build a single tower if possible. We had that opportunity in the game and in fact has not been used it.... So we discussed, decided and tested and found this solution fitting better to a global game as KoH is. If we would have only a few castles, it would be different but ... hey, we have a huge map with loads of castles/towns and you can still customize them.
12-03-2004
Q: so, the upgrades are going to be put in the same place, for each castle?
A: Yes, exactly.
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Resources Questions
Q: What is the ink for?
A: Actually that Ink is an Advanced Resource which you have to posses among others to get one of the Kingdom advantages.
Q: Can you find the advanced resources in all the realms?
A: The Advanced Resources are spread over Europe and not each Realm has one. You will need more than one to get
a Kingdom Advantage and some other kind of resource.
Q: Do trees fall when they are cut down?
A: The trees are falling.
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Official Site and Developer Questions
Q: Why can't i enter the Site?
A: You need a flash player.
Q: Wasn't there another developer making the movie scenes from KoH?
A: Yes, they are called Virgin Lands.
Q: I'd like to ask-who did those brilliant peaces of music?
A: Glorian did. http://www.blackseastudios.com/inde...team&memb=7
Q: Does anyone from SF actualy participate in the making of the game-i mean music, graphics, engine....?
A: No, KoH is fully developed by Black Sea Studios.
12-03-2004
Q: Who are the publishers?
A: The publisher of Knights of Honor is SUNFLOWERS.
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Interface/view Questions
Q: Is that computer left below neccesary, not very medieval like. I know it probably is the options button, but isn't a medieval scroll better for this?
A: I can calm you down. The whole bottom interface is a placeholder. It will be COMPLETELY exchanged, once it is finished.
Q: I was wondering if i could go into close view, and then scroll all over europe, or do i have to get in world view before thats possible?
A: Not possible. Think - if it was possible it would take hours to scroll all over it.
Q: But can't i scroll at all in close view?
A: You can but the map size is limited.
Q: So the castles I see in world view don't look the same in close view?
A: No, the World View is meant to be an iconic representation of the CV. For example you see in WV a level 7 town but in CV you would see a town which would represent a level 7 town, from a size point of view and type of walls, towers etc. But it is not an exact match, but I can assure you the castles are different and look great.
Q: Seems that the main INTERFACE changed. The three new screenshots show a new one with only 2 resources and 8 knights instead of 5, And that power-bar?
A: As you see - there are only Gold and Piety left in you Kingdom treasury. The wood and stone didn't made it to the game because we realized it is rather stupid to try to make lumber important in medieval Europe - where 90% of the continent was forest. Same with stone - it's practically more or less everywhere. The weapons are not a resource anymore but there are a lot of buildings in the town which are needed for you to make units. It is very logical, if the unit wields, f.e. shield, chain mail and spear, you need corrsponding workshops. You can get the picture. The food now is locally collected in towns and stored into towns storage. For example, it depletes during sieges making defenders starving. Also, the army can "load up" food reserve from the towns to eat during campaigns (plundering farms is still here:viking. The Fame is handled by the Knights themselves. So, you can improve skills of those who really deserve it. The vassality is back! You can have vassal kingdoms or you can be vassal by yourself, paying half of your income to your overlord. About the Knights. We had 5 marshals and 5 spies. But recently two new "proffessions" came out for good - Cleric and Trader. Of course, initially we created two additionial groups of 5 "slots" for them. After some playing it came to my mind that it is much more fun (and it damn is) to have only 9 "slots" and to leave to the player the choice what type of Knight he want to have there. Now look at the knights, they have different colored backgrounds - red is for marshall, blue for cleric, black for spy and gold for trader. The bar at left is called "Kingdom Power". It shows how well your state is working. For example, each time you do "bad things" it falls down. Let say you are attacking someone with whoom you have married you daughter - that's bad. Or if you refuse to help your allies - also very bad. Etc. Your total gold income is changed by "Kingdom Power" value so it can
decrease or increase, depending on if KP is positive or negative. Also chances for rebels to appear are affected. You can improve KP with spending piety and gold. The price depends on how many land do you have to establish your power into. So, vast empire means very expensive KP. That's in very brief, more - later. I know it is a lot of information and it is not complete. We will describe each of these features in much more detail as soon as we can.
Q: At what point can you move to the close view shown in this example?
A: At the moment you decided to lead the battle when two armies met in WV. You click on "I will lead" and the game view switches seamlessly into the Close View as seen on the screenshot.
Q: Is your army basically represented as an icon that slowly moves over time across the continent until the destination is reached or you encounter a random engagement with foreign troops?
A: The army is represented iconic but for each type of squad you see in WV a corresponding unit = number of units = number of squad. The army is one object. A battle starts either when army reaches destination or meet an army during marching. However, you get asked if you want to let the knight lead the battle (game does remain in WV), if you want to lead on your own (games switches in CV) or if you want to retreat (game reamins in WV too).
Q: I suggest maybe if you could populate the map(the big one) with a lot of wild animals like wolfs or bears which can really atack you sometimes.
A: We dont have that, sorry mate. The big map is already populated and a lot of things are moving.
Q: I also suggest maybe if you can place some of the mountains or seas or forrests just like in the reality (the Black sea, the Mediteranean Sea, the Black Forest mountains, the
Carpathian Mountains).That of course if you already haven't done that.
A: We have that.
Q: Will be in KoH places that persist through centuries like Stonehedge?
A: No, only the geography. If you ask about making stuff like that - NO. But there are some "beauties" on the map of course!
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Knights and other people Questions
Q: Can you reveal a bit about cleric and trader?
A: A Cleric is mainly there to convert religions to yours. But there is maybe another feature... but not finally decided. Once you have Trade Agreement does not mean you trade, you have the ability to trade. Imagine you have a trader, you assign him to a trade route (kingdom) you want to trade with. Then you tell him what to trade (gold or xxx). There you go... The distance plays a role too here.
Q: Does that mean pope or caliph will play some role in game?
A: Yes.
Q: Let's think of the situation that a king dies. He has no son, but a queen. So the queen will get a kick in her pretty butt and the next knight claims the throne?
A: Yes.
Q: How does fame work and Knight Skills?
A: Fame works like experience but it is called fame, as all is about honor and glory. The Knight who earns the fame, gets it. And the player can go and "spend" the fame on the skills
ONLY for that Knight. A Knight can have only a limited number of max. skills. But there are many more skills and depending on how you want to use the Knight you will have to choose wisely. The skills are special abilities.
Q: So we can make our own knights/King or rename them?
A: Sorry guys, but you cant name your own Kingdom, Knight or King. That has several reasons. One of them is that the Knights have a persistent data, which means when you meet them in the game they always will have the same attributes. It allows you to incorporate them in your personal strategy. Technically it would be a peace of cake but it is on intention. The Knights will have real medieval names and titles and there will be also local Knights. Means for example Knights with French names will come to your court once you own Realms on french territory. Regarding the Kings, the player will choose a historical King from a selection, depending on the choosen fraction.
Q: Do you rate somehow with some genetical problems with having children or simply impotence? And if you already know it, how many children in average a king can have? Is it limited? And to rebelions. Can knight-governor be a rebel?
A: The king will have different level of ages, four as far as I can remember. When the stage changes the player gets a notification. So player should start to worry when his king is "very old" and has no heir. King cant be impotent...it is no life sim mate. A king can have a max. of 3 sons and 3 daughters. A governor can become a rebel = declaring independence.
Q: I only wonder how you can set the age of the king without a time counter? So how long in real time hours will a king life (except he dies in war)?
A: Of course a clock is running in the background but to make the game working. But the player does not deal with time.
Q: So if you have more than one married daughter, is there some way to prioritize the heirs, or is it another case of picking one heir and the other being very unhappy with you?
A: Yes, one would be very unhappy.
Q: Will I have to open a audience-window with every king, write down his relationships, write down the country-names in a map and draw lines between them to visualize 'factions' and spot a diplomatic isolated enemy-kingdom or will the game do that for me? (that drawing stuff)
A: There will be an overview screen called "political map". Where you can apply several filters, including diplomatic. There you can see the "whole picture". Seeing it in the diplomacy windows is showing you only that very kingdom's relations. But you won't need to keep track of it manually....in fact it is changing constantly and you would be damn busy to do so. The political map will help you to keep the overview.
Q: Is it's possible to see the relationships a king might have toward other kings?
A: It is possible. You will see all the relations in the audience window.
Q: Are any of the royale bloodline correct?
A: No we dont have complete bloodlines of Royal Families...the feature was thought of but dropped....reasons were many but one was that the game has to be kept dynamic and another was it would require a sheer ammount of research to have it for all kingdoms or we would only focus on the most important. But hell, which families were important, which dont? I dont want to be the guy who decides about it.
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Nations/Faction Questions
Q: Is Lithuania in the game?
A: It is in.
Q: So how many nation can you play?
A: It depends on starting year. But in general I'd say that you can play with everyone. For the middle starting point - that makes 26 different Kingdoms. Of course, this might be
changed in the future if we decide to.
Q: Will Sweden be in?
A: Sweden is in, dont worry.
Q: What about Hungary? Will it be in?
A: No way that BSS would forget Hungary.
Q: Will Ireland be a playable faction/nation?
A: Yes Ireland will be there.
Q: Is Poland in?
A: Poland will be in 10000% sure.
Q: Is Croatia a playable faction?
A: Yes.
Q: Will shapes of realms we can see on screenshots change?
A: Yes, but not much!
Q: Does every realm has to have its own (heraldic)colours?
A: Yes and the newly emerged Kingdoms all have new heraldry and colors too. But you must have in mind that this is not a simple matter of giving each realm it's own heraldry. It is
more complex thing.
Q: What if they would like to fight each other? nice black flag against nice black flag? What a wonderful battle?
A: That is one of the problems which could happen giving a preset of banners to the realms.
Q: When i start the game, i've only a reign or some reigns?
A: You have more than one .. usually.
Q: When you start, are there any provinces they arent protected by anybody?
A: All realms belongs to someone. There is no "barbarian" territories, "gray" territories, "non-playable" factions, "minor" kingdoms etc.
12-03-2004
Q: Hmm will there be Baltic States or at least some of eastern Europe nations?
A: Whole baltic area will be in the game.
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System Requirements
Q: What will be the minimum PC specs needed to run this game without it lagging?
A: We can't commit to the exact spec's yet but you won't need a 3D accelerator and a 1GHz+ machine.
Q: What's the slowest testing-mashine you were able to play KoH on?
A: Here you go but it is NOT final spec's: The slowes machine we played KoH on was a PIII 700 MHz it may go up or down a bit.
12-03-2004
- min. 256 MB RAM
- min. 16 MB Videoram
- Win 98SE
- MP runs on every machine within the min. config
- Modem speed: tbd
- DirectX: yes
- CDROM speed: tbd
- Screen: 1024x768
- HD: tbd
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Multiplayer Questions
Q: So multiplayer skirmishes are only 1 vs 1? No, 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3, ect?
A: Not only castle assaults, there will be different type of battles in the MP mode. Some completely without a castle. And you can play the historical battles with up to 6 buddies.
12-03-2004
Q: Can two people team up against AI in Multiplayer?
A: Yes.
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Map Editor Questions
08-03-2004
Q: Will there be an editor to create your own scenarios and maps?
A: The release of the editor with the maingame and the featureset has not been decided yet. But closer to the release we will make a statement.
08-03-2004
Q: Will i beable to make my own unites?
A: No, you wont be able to make new units with it, because in order for you to create units you would need professional tools which BSS is using, which costs a few thousand dollars.
08-03-2004
Q: Do you use an editor yourselves?
A: Yes, the KoH Editor we use is awsomely easy to use, so if it's included then creating maps and using the existing units can be done by everyone - ofcourse you need an affinity to map editing.
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Other Questions
Q: Are we going to find the holy grail and Excalibur?
A: No Holi Grails and Excaliburs, friends! Those things do not belong to our game. They are really inspiring and perhaps our bards are singing about them around the fireplace during the long cold winter,but that's all.
Q: Will there be a Demo and When will it be out?
A: There will be demo but it will be announced, when, where etc.
Q: When will the game be released?
A: Quarter 3rd 2004.
Q: What are some of the ways to dominate in Europe?
A: Brute Force, Diplomacy and Espionage.
Q: How long will it take to walk from corner to corner?
A: 40+ minutes.
Q: Is it possible to enter the game whenever you want? like in 800A.D as Charlemagne or in 1273 as Rudolph of Habsburg etc?
A: Not quite that way. We have three entry points: Early, High and Late Medieval. Difference between them are:
a) the existing fractions
b) the land the fractions control
Q: Will there or will there not be micromanagment?
A: It has never been said that the game wont feature any micromanagement. It will have micromanagement where needed. Also the game has undergone a few changes the past few months and a lot of things which evolved will please you. However, it is a thin line when micromanagement will become pain and we do not want to cross this line for the sake of
having a micromangement beast. But I really can say there is plenty of micromanagement but from a King's point of view.
Q: Will it be possible to beat the game in short time?
A: It is not possible to conquer Europe in short time. Not at all. If you do it - it a MAJOR victory condition. But as a designer I'm trying to be sure that all we have fun doing it. And next time also. And if you loose - also.
Q: How strategical can you get in this game?
A: Deciding which battle to lead by your own is a strategic decision.
Q: Will you need speciall tradeships?
A: No you wont need, but there are tradeships.
Q: During war how will an ally reach you in time to help if they are in the next realm over or all the way acrose europe?
A: The alley feature has to be seen more globally. When you are in war, you ask your alley to help you, which means:
- He will send troops to your kingdom and fight marching enemy army
- He will attack the enemy kingdom / troops somewhere else
- If you dont ask for help, he may threat the other kingdom with war.
But let me remind you again that one lost battle does not necessarily mean a lost realm and definately not loosing the game (unless it is your last army or castle).
Q: Are there crusades?
A: There are some crusades!
Q: Is there Snow, will it snow?
A: No snowing, only snow as textures.
Q: When can get war tax?
A: You can claim war tax only in war.
Q: Can you also claim that from the enemy after a won war?
A: You can't claim it back - but you can demand gold as part of tribute your enemy is paying. If you won of course.
Q: Are there epidemics like the plague in this game?
A: We have random events in the game... What are these, we will tell you a bit later. But one could be for instance that your food production will sink about x% for a while and some
of your realms my have hunger and you have to buy them food to survive until the event is over.
Q: Is your gold and further treasery just in a vurtual place.....or do have to build special places for it?
A: No gold deposits, the gold are mainly taxes and come from trades. Regarding special deposits, we have those Realm Resources, like "Iron Ore". More about it later.
Q: I'm curious will there be civil wars and if so how will they work? Also are heirs and breeding a royal line part of the game?
A: In KoH we have rebelions. They can be lead by bribed Knights or by a leader. The reason for a rebelion will be shown to the player and he has several options to end the rebelion. When an old king died without heirs then it is possible that several people may claim the throne and that the kingdom will split. Yes heirs are important and daughters are a VERY strong "assett". And if a king does not have a follower but a married daughter, her husband can be one of the claimants for the throne too.
Q: Maybe you could use deplomacy and persuade other kings not to trade with a certain realm.
A: The trade in KoH is always Kingdom <-> Kingdom based. And you can ask another King to break all relations with someone else, which includes end of trade.
Q: When making peace treaties, will this game be more like the EU series or the TW series?
A: Somewhere in between.
Q: What role does the church play in this game?
A: A church or monastery is producing piety...but what you can do with piety will be revealed at a later stage.
Q: Are there Years, seasons, snow or weather changes in this game?
A: we will have permanent snow in some regions.
But the weather does not affect the troop behaviour. We did not want to make KoH to a military battle simulation. Dealing with weather effects would distract the player form his duty to rule an Empire.
Q: Will there be Tourneys?
A: No tourneys in KoH. There are many ways to influence your people happiness.
Q: IS the a day/night cycle?
A: Yes.
Q: Is there gunpowder?
A: We dont have gunpowder. The game is meant to be about honor and glory. When gunpowder came, the Knights died like weasels.There is quote from Arthur C. Clarke, I got it from Frujin once. It is: "Gundpowder gave bravery to the weak and coward". I think there is nothing to ad here.
Unit Questions
Q: You don't see any crewmen around the siege machine.What is going on?
A: That's because the shot is taken from a development build for E3 2003. The crewmen were simply not ready by that time.
Q: There is no one on the walls. I know it would be dangerous to be there in this situation, but still, it's the best place to harm the enemy.
A: Again, it is an old shot. There will be units on walls and fighting you.
Q: Will we get non- christian nations in this game, E.G: The Turks, the Mongols and the Moors and all the extra units and architectural styles that they'll bring?
A: In KoH we have units which naturally do not comes from Europe.
Q: Will the units in KoH also start screaming and running when they are near the enemy?
A: They scream and run when they charge enemy units.
Q: Once the laddermen have put the ladders next to the wall, can any type of footsoldier climb up?
A: Not every, only soldiers on foot. No cavalry or siege equipment. But this is how it is going to work, the laddermen (not armed) have to place their ladders, then the foot soldiers can climb.
Q: Can you resupply your ladderman with a ladder?
A: The ladderman has always one ladder. He places it and stands aside, holding the ladder. If he dies, the ladder disappears. However the laddermen come in a group (squad). They are the cheapest Siege units.
Q: Are ships in the game? Will they play any role in trade or war?
A: Yes, we have ships. They are mainly for transportation.
Q: Will we actually see soldiers and crewmen on the ships in KoH, unlike in many other games, where the ships are manned by an invisible crew, and with arrows shooting from the
bow, without any apparent archers?
A: Sort of. You will see them on the boats when they land on a foreign realm.
Q: Are there Naval Battles?
A: We have naval battles but they are rather simple. Two ships meet in World View and fight. One survives another dont. But you dont do play naval battles in the close view. Naval
battles in medieval were not that important.
Q: As the game will have three different startingpoints, I wonder will the units be consistant?
A: Yes the units will stay consistant through all periods.
Q: Will rebels decide to fight for independance?
A: Yes, Rebels may decide to fight for independency and assaulting the castle. If this would happen a new Kingdom would emerge.
Q: Do you see peasents with pitchforks besieging a castle?
A: A Knight can become a rebel too, you could bribe him to change sides... With his army, which can have of course better units than pitchforks. But imagine a large army, of highly motivated peasants who have pitchforks, assaulting a castle which has no outer wall build yet?
Q: Will you be able to put the spearmen in a kind of spike wall formation, where they can kneel down and stick their spears out, kinda like in braveheart?
A: We have a line formation.... which acts similar to that.
Q: Will archers kill their enemies instantly if they hit em with their arrows or will it be like age of empires where 100 arrows were necessary to kill a man?
A: If the arrow hits it kills instantly. And it doesn't make a difference between friend and foe.
Q: In the Medival were the Crusades, is it therfore possible to build for example Templars in Jerusalem (and not only in france)?
A: As "Western" King you can build in Jerusalem Western units but no arabic. While when you are an Arabic King you can not build a Templar.
Q: I've read that the archers can only carry a limited amount of arrows. Well, I think that's an interesting and realistic feature but how can I ensure the ammo supply?
A: The plan is that when a battle rises you have full refilled ammo. If you spent your arrows then the archers have to be pulled back out of danger or they can only fight hand-to-hand were they are weak. But when the battle ends then the arrows get refilled again.
Q: Won't there be any long lasting battles then?
A: It really depends. Archers are a very tactical weapon...if used properly. The battles are long enough that that the arrow limitation WILL play a role.
Q: How will you solve the problem with sieges?
A: There is no problem, a siege is no fight in KoH. A siege means that troops are camping outside of a castle and cut all supplies to the town / castle. This happens in the World View. If you decide to break out or enemy to assault, then the game switches into the Close View and the ammo limitation comes into place. You can give your archers the order not shoot, or to shoot only when enemy on sight, stand ground etc. That they dont waste ammo. If units run out of ammo they fight hand to hand with a short sword. But they are very weak.
Q: Even if the archers is attacked by a charging cavalery wont they flee if they are low on morale?
A: They flee and they may even surrender, depending on own condition (morale, enemy positions, attacking unit type, heavy losses etc.) and enemy condition (morale, unit count etc.).
Q: If the defending archers and crossbowmen have no more ammunition left the castle would be almost indefensible.
A: No, your towers can have a ballista inside. Also the drum towers can be equipped with catapults. And not to forget you can have also oil cauldrons. Also a battle is not lost when the enemy units passed the wall...the fight continues inside the castle of course. Also imagine, when you attack a castle without archers, your soldiers are an easy target for the archers from the castle walls. But if you took archers yourself....well they can also run out of arrows. So archers are a really tactical weapon with pros and cons.
Q: But will archers defending castles have any bonuses?
A: Yes they can shoot down from walls and through the height farther than the attackers from ground.
Q: I suggest we can see the people loading/firing from catapults,balistas trebuchets and/or any other war machines that you have.
A: You will see it in KoH.
Q: And i would really like it if we could really see archers or knights or soldiers on the walls in front of the gates and even make them patrol an area.
A: You will and the castle guards patrol on wall, towers and in front of gates.
Q: To make 100% clearence, the peasents will run when they get attacked?
A: They definately wont continue to work.
Q: What would be the size of a realtively large army?
A: The final max. unit number is not completely fixed yet but it wont be more than 3000 units all together in a battle. We make sure that they are not too less or not too mutch.
Q: Does that mean 3000 as number or could you realy count all 3000 man by man?
A: Every unit is one unit in KoH.
Q: How about reinforcing squard with many units lost?
A: You can refill your squads after a battle in a town.
Q: If i have a very experienced squad of troops and need to reinforce it - will its overall experience level not go down?
A: We have also experience levels for squads. When you mix squads of two different exprience levels then also the average will be calculated.
Q: Will there be ships or transportships?
A: There will be transport ships, boats and rafts. While rafts and boats are working quite the same. Rafts come into place while river crossing, boats in coastal landings.
Q: I was wondering about wheter or not there is a limit to how large an army you can have, when you have an army you also have to feed it!
A: Each army can have max. of squads. There is a Knight skill which is granting additional slots, depending on the level. Also you are right, army needs food. And each army carries
its own food, which can be refilled in towns/castles. If you keep an army from refilling food and the army starts to starve then the morale begin to drop = weakening of the army.
Q: So there should be an upper limit to the army's size?
A: That will be exactly in KoH.
Q: We know that army needs supply. But what about upkeep of army? I remember that in Lords2 there was upkeep in food and gold. What it will be in KoH?
A: Well, thhe King has Gold and you can give realms gold from your treasury to increase their capacity or to help on a shortcome.
Q: Well, is this means that certain realm supports army belonged to it with gold and food? Each realms will have separatelly economy?
A: You support army with food but if a realm can not efford food to give to the army, the king can grant some gold to the realm from which that realm could buy food.
Q: I have seen the unit for Teutonic champions, and was just curious if the Teutonic Knights will be playable as a "soveriegn entity" in the area of old Prussia, Pomerania, poland, Lithuania etc.? Or will this solely be a germanic unit within the HRE?
A: There will be a Teutonic Order as a playable Kingdom. But not in all three entry periods.
Q: Are they going to be foot soldiers or on horseback?
A: In KoH they are also on foot but they are called Teutonic Champion.
Q: If i see an enemy army marching towarss one of my realms, and i decide to ride out with a few calalry archers and shoot on them, will it lower the enemy army's morale to loose some men while marching?
A: Yes it is possible but a battle is a fixed event. Two armies meet, 1Knight and 1Squad of any troop type can be armies, then the battle starts. The army continues marching after the battle, if there are any survivors.
Q: I wanted to ask if we will be able to control individual units?
A: NO. You will always control a group (squads) of soldiers.
Q: I saw in the screenshots unit patroling the roofs of the towers how come is that?
A: Because it was in peace situation and the guards were patroling the walls.
Q: And anyway i think controlling also individual unit will add much to the game. Wouldn't it?
A: As much as it would steal from it. We decided for the squad system because it gives us much more tactical advantage over traditional RTS where individual units are controlled. Btw, it is very handy to control 25 units at once. Squad based fighting fits much better to medieval warefare.
Q: In two of the three new screenshots i've seen some white dressed men that are moving in the large map. Who Are they, are they peasants?
A: Yes, guys .. you got it. These are some peasants wandering around to enrich the map. They do not have any gameplay meaning. The "real" population is shown on top of towns as icons. While outlined empty places are missing population. When you train army you take from these and they replenish slowly back to their maximum (which depends on town level, governor skills, etc.)
Q: Will castles stores food and when it runs low will the morale of the defenders begin to get low too?
A: Yes, that it how it shall be.
Q: Will the morale of the attackers be affected?
A: No because enemy runs out of food but the attacker needs also enough food....if they run out of food their morale can drop too.
Q: How can our army be that numerous? When we recruit 5 soldiers from 15 "peasants" can we wait till realm population reach 15 again and then recruit them again?
A: One happy villager (icon) can be trained into one squad. But the villager is only meant iconic and does not represent one 'real' villager.
Q: Do units have a line of sight?
A: Yes they have.
Q: Do we have any limits of suqads?
A: The number of units in squad may vary also it is not fixed yet, due to the fact that it is a matter of balance. A max number does also not exist atm.
Q: Will the battles involve any blood, gores, effects or is this censored for Minors?
(eg. like Blood on the ground, body parts flying, blood squarking in the air, etc)
A: The units which die, just disappear. No blood, no gore....some units may burn when hit by boiling oil or fire arrows. It is our philosophy that there is no need for exaggerated death animations.
Q: In the "unit showcase" could specify what combat formations can perform every unit (if they can perform any)?
A: All unity types (except) peasants can perform one of the four formations: block, triangle, line, row (collum)
Regarding building showcase....please not yet, let's first finish the units.
Q: Only one each? Or all four formations?
A: All four
Q: So you can have a tight or a wide formation?
A: Yes and you can face and wheel.
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Buildings/Defenses Questions
Q: I feel the demolished walls look as if someone cut them down with some kind of laser knife.I.M.O. There is not enough debris remaining.
A: That is work in progress mate, don't worry.
Q: What do you use the Harbor for, since the trading will only be globally?
A: Visual enhancement. A harbor without ships would ****. When you switch to Close View on a harbor you will see them, when they get loaded & unloaded. In WV you see them moving between the harbors.
Q: Are there different building styles included in the game such as gothic,barok etc?
A: There will be one style of buildings. But there will be arabic and eastern european style buildings too.
Q: I also suggest we could build the walls, gates , towers where ever we want.
A: We do not want the player to micromanage castles. The game is about conquest. We have more than 150 realms in the game...imagine you building for each tower by tower etc.
Q: I really wnat to build my gates walls towers and other stuff everywhere I want.
A: You can build towers or ad new gates. But as a "whole" for a city, means you have a wall or dont have a wall. And you can upgrade the wall or you can build towers etc. We have now so many possible upgrades in the game, you would not even want to bother to build a single tower if possible. We had that opportunity in the game and in fact has not been used it.... So we discussed, decided and tested and found this solution fitting better to a global game as KoH is. If we would have only a few castles, it would be different but ... hey, we have a huge map with loads of castles/towns and you can still customize them.
Q: Are the upgrades going to be put in the same place for each castle?
A: Yes, exactly.
Q: How much Diversity is there for castles?
A: We have now 12 levels of development and different castle shapes and different styles of castles (arabic, western and eastern). So if you ask me, plenty of diversity
12-03-2004
Q: I really wnat to build my gates walls towers and other stuff everywhere I want. Is that posible?
A: You can build towers or ad new gates. But as a "whole" for a city, means you have a wall or dont have a wall. And you can upgrade the wall or you can build towers etc. We have now so many possible upgrades in the game, you would not even want to bother to build a single tower if possible. We had that opportunity in the game and in fact has not been used it.... So we discussed, decided and tested and found this solution fitting better to a global game as KoH is. If we would have only a few castles, it would be different but ... hey, we have a huge map with loads of castles/towns and you can still customize them.
12-03-2004
Q: so, the upgrades are going to be put in the same place, for each castle?
A: Yes, exactly.
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Resources Questions
Q: What is the ink for?
A: Actually that Ink is an Advanced Resource which you have to posses among others to get one of the Kingdom advantages.
Q: Can you find the advanced resources in all the realms?
A: The Advanced Resources are spread over Europe and not each Realm has one. You will need more than one to get
a Kingdom Advantage and some other kind of resource.
Q: Do trees fall when they are cut down?
A: The trees are falling.
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Official Site and Developer Questions
Q: Why can't i enter the Site?
A: You need a flash player.
Q: Wasn't there another developer making the movie scenes from KoH?
A: Yes, they are called Virgin Lands.
Q: I'd like to ask-who did those brilliant peaces of music?
A: Glorian did. http://www.blackseastudios.com/inde...team&memb=7
Q: Does anyone from SF actualy participate in the making of the game-i mean music, graphics, engine....?
A: No, KoH is fully developed by Black Sea Studios.
12-03-2004
Q: Who are the publishers?
A: The publisher of Knights of Honor is SUNFLOWERS.
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Interface/view Questions
Q: Is that computer left below neccesary, not very medieval like. I know it probably is the options button, but isn't a medieval scroll better for this?
A: I can calm you down. The whole bottom interface is a placeholder. It will be COMPLETELY exchanged, once it is finished.
Q: I was wondering if i could go into close view, and then scroll all over europe, or do i have to get in world view before thats possible?
A: Not possible. Think - if it was possible it would take hours to scroll all over it.
Q: But can't i scroll at all in close view?
A: You can but the map size is limited.
Q: So the castles I see in world view don't look the same in close view?
A: No, the World View is meant to be an iconic representation of the CV. For example you see in WV a level 7 town but in CV you would see a town which would represent a level 7 town, from a size point of view and type of walls, towers etc. But it is not an exact match, but I can assure you the castles are different and look great.
Q: Seems that the main INTERFACE changed. The three new screenshots show a new one with only 2 resources and 8 knights instead of 5, And that power-bar?
A: As you see - there are only Gold and Piety left in you Kingdom treasury. The wood and stone didn't made it to the game because we realized it is rather stupid to try to make lumber important in medieval Europe - where 90% of the continent was forest. Same with stone - it's practically more or less everywhere. The weapons are not a resource anymore but there are a lot of buildings in the town which are needed for you to make units. It is very logical, if the unit wields, f.e. shield, chain mail and spear, you need corrsponding workshops. You can get the picture. The food now is locally collected in towns and stored into towns storage. For example, it depletes during sieges making defenders starving. Also, the army can "load up" food reserve from the towns to eat during campaigns (plundering farms is still here:viking. The Fame is handled by the Knights themselves. So, you can improve skills of those who really deserve it. The vassality is back! You can have vassal kingdoms or you can be vassal by yourself, paying half of your income to your overlord. About the Knights. We had 5 marshals and 5 spies. But recently two new "proffessions" came out for good - Cleric and Trader. Of course, initially we created two additionial groups of 5 "slots" for them. After some playing it came to my mind that it is much more fun (and it damn is) to have only 9 "slots" and to leave to the player the choice what type of Knight he want to have there. Now look at the knights, they have different colored backgrounds - red is for marshall, blue for cleric, black for spy and gold for trader. The bar at left is called "Kingdom Power". It shows how well your state is working. For example, each time you do "bad things" it falls down. Let say you are attacking someone with whoom you have married you daughter - that's bad. Or if you refuse to help your allies - also very bad. Etc. Your total gold income is changed by "Kingdom Power" value so it can
decrease or increase, depending on if KP is positive or negative. Also chances for rebels to appear are affected. You can improve KP with spending piety and gold. The price depends on how many land do you have to establish your power into. So, vast empire means very expensive KP. That's in very brief, more - later. I know it is a lot of information and it is not complete. We will describe each of these features in much more detail as soon as we can.
Q: At what point can you move to the close view shown in this example?
A: At the moment you decided to lead the battle when two armies met in WV. You click on "I will lead" and the game view switches seamlessly into the Close View as seen on the screenshot.
Q: Is your army basically represented as an icon that slowly moves over time across the continent until the destination is reached or you encounter a random engagement with foreign troops?
A: The army is represented iconic but for each type of squad you see in WV a corresponding unit = number of units = number of squad. The army is one object. A battle starts either when army reaches destination or meet an army during marching. However, you get asked if you want to let the knight lead the battle (game does remain in WV), if you want to lead on your own (games switches in CV) or if you want to retreat (game reamins in WV too).
Q: I suggest maybe if you could populate the map(the big one) with a lot of wild animals like wolfs or bears which can really atack you sometimes.
A: We dont have that, sorry mate. The big map is already populated and a lot of things are moving.
Q: I also suggest maybe if you can place some of the mountains or seas or forrests just like in the reality (the Black sea, the Mediteranean Sea, the Black Forest mountains, the
Carpathian Mountains).That of course if you already haven't done that.
A: We have that.
Q: Will be in KoH places that persist through centuries like Stonehedge?
A: No, only the geography. If you ask about making stuff like that - NO. But there are some "beauties" on the map of course!
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Knights and other people Questions
Q: Can you reveal a bit about cleric and trader?
A: A Cleric is mainly there to convert religions to yours. But there is maybe another feature... but not finally decided. Once you have Trade Agreement does not mean you trade, you have the ability to trade. Imagine you have a trader, you assign him to a trade route (kingdom) you want to trade with. Then you tell him what to trade (gold or xxx). There you go... The distance plays a role too here.
Q: Does that mean pope or caliph will play some role in game?
A: Yes.
Q: Let's think of the situation that a king dies. He has no son, but a queen. So the queen will get a kick in her pretty butt and the next knight claims the throne?
A: Yes.
Q: How does fame work and Knight Skills?
A: Fame works like experience but it is called fame, as all is about honor and glory. The Knight who earns the fame, gets it. And the player can go and "spend" the fame on the skills
ONLY for that Knight. A Knight can have only a limited number of max. skills. But there are many more skills and depending on how you want to use the Knight you will have to choose wisely. The skills are special abilities.
Q: So we can make our own knights/King or rename them?
A: Sorry guys, but you cant name your own Kingdom, Knight or King. That has several reasons. One of them is that the Knights have a persistent data, which means when you meet them in the game they always will have the same attributes. It allows you to incorporate them in your personal strategy. Technically it would be a peace of cake but it is on intention. The Knights will have real medieval names and titles and there will be also local Knights. Means for example Knights with French names will come to your court once you own Realms on french territory. Regarding the Kings, the player will choose a historical King from a selection, depending on the choosen fraction.
Q: Do you rate somehow with some genetical problems with having children or simply impotence? And if you already know it, how many children in average a king can have? Is it limited? And to rebelions. Can knight-governor be a rebel?
A: The king will have different level of ages, four as far as I can remember. When the stage changes the player gets a notification. So player should start to worry when his king is "very old" and has no heir. King cant be impotent...it is no life sim mate. A king can have a max. of 3 sons and 3 daughters. A governor can become a rebel = declaring independence.
Q: I only wonder how you can set the age of the king without a time counter? So how long in real time hours will a king life (except he dies in war)?
A: Of course a clock is running in the background but to make the game working. But the player does not deal with time.
Q: So if you have more than one married daughter, is there some way to prioritize the heirs, or is it another case of picking one heir and the other being very unhappy with you?
A: Yes, one would be very unhappy.
Q: Will I have to open a audience-window with every king, write down his relationships, write down the country-names in a map and draw lines between them to visualize 'factions' and spot a diplomatic isolated enemy-kingdom or will the game do that for me? (that drawing stuff)
A: There will be an overview screen called "political map". Where you can apply several filters, including diplomatic. There you can see the "whole picture". Seeing it in the diplomacy windows is showing you only that very kingdom's relations. But you won't need to keep track of it manually....in fact it is changing constantly and you would be damn busy to do so. The political map will help you to keep the overview.
Q: Is it's possible to see the relationships a king might have toward other kings?
A: It is possible. You will see all the relations in the audience window.
Q: Are any of the royale bloodline correct?
A: No we dont have complete bloodlines of Royal Families...the feature was thought of but dropped....reasons were many but one was that the game has to be kept dynamic and another was it would require a sheer ammount of research to have it for all kingdoms or we would only focus on the most important. But hell, which families were important, which dont? I dont want to be the guy who decides about it.
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Nations/Faction Questions
Q: Is Lithuania in the game?
A: It is in.
Q: So how many nation can you play?
A: It depends on starting year. But in general I'd say that you can play with everyone. For the middle starting point - that makes 26 different Kingdoms. Of course, this might be
changed in the future if we decide to.
Q: Will Sweden be in?
A: Sweden is in, dont worry.
Q: What about Hungary? Will it be in?
A: No way that BSS would forget Hungary.
Q: Will Ireland be a playable faction/nation?
A: Yes Ireland will be there.
Q: Is Poland in?
A: Poland will be in 10000% sure.
Q: Is Croatia a playable faction?
A: Yes.
Q: Will shapes of realms we can see on screenshots change?
A: Yes, but not much!
Q: Does every realm has to have its own (heraldic)colours?
A: Yes and the newly emerged Kingdoms all have new heraldry and colors too. But you must have in mind that this is not a simple matter of giving each realm it's own heraldry. It is
more complex thing.
Q: What if they would like to fight each other? nice black flag against nice black flag? What a wonderful battle?
A: That is one of the problems which could happen giving a preset of banners to the realms.
Q: When i start the game, i've only a reign or some reigns?
A: You have more than one .. usually.
Q: When you start, are there any provinces they arent protected by anybody?
A: All realms belongs to someone. There is no "barbarian" territories, "gray" territories, "non-playable" factions, "minor" kingdoms etc.
12-03-2004
Q: Hmm will there be Baltic States or at least some of eastern Europe nations?
A: Whole baltic area will be in the game.
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System Requirements
Q: What will be the minimum PC specs needed to run this game without it lagging?
A: We can't commit to the exact spec's yet but you won't need a 3D accelerator and a 1GHz+ machine.
Q: What's the slowest testing-mashine you were able to play KoH on?
A: Here you go but it is NOT final spec's: The slowes machine we played KoH on was a PIII 700 MHz it may go up or down a bit.
12-03-2004
- min. 256 MB RAM
- min. 16 MB Videoram
- Win 98SE
- MP runs on every machine within the min. config
- Modem speed: tbd
- DirectX: yes
- CDROM speed: tbd
- Screen: 1024x768
- HD: tbd
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Multiplayer Questions
Q: So multiplayer skirmishes are only 1 vs 1? No, 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3, ect?
A: Not only castle assaults, there will be different type of battles in the MP mode. Some completely without a castle. And you can play the historical battles with up to 6 buddies.
12-03-2004
Q: Can two people team up against AI in Multiplayer?
A: Yes.
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Map Editor Questions
08-03-2004
Q: Will there be an editor to create your own scenarios and maps?
A: The release of the editor with the maingame and the featureset has not been decided yet. But closer to the release we will make a statement.
08-03-2004
Q: Will i beable to make my own unites?
A: No, you wont be able to make new units with it, because in order for you to create units you would need professional tools which BSS is using, which costs a few thousand dollars.
08-03-2004
Q: Do you use an editor yourselves?
A: Yes, the KoH Editor we use is awsomely easy to use, so if it's included then creating maps and using the existing units can be done by everyone - ofcourse you need an affinity to map editing.
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Other Questions
Q: Are we going to find the holy grail and Excalibur?
A: No Holi Grails and Excaliburs, friends! Those things do not belong to our game. They are really inspiring and perhaps our bards are singing about them around the fireplace during the long cold winter,but that's all.
Q: Will there be a Demo and When will it be out?
A: There will be demo but it will be announced, when, where etc.
Q: When will the game be released?
A: Quarter 3rd 2004.
Q: What are some of the ways to dominate in Europe?
A: Brute Force, Diplomacy and Espionage.
Q: How long will it take to walk from corner to corner?
A: 40+ minutes.
Q: Is it possible to enter the game whenever you want? like in 800A.D as Charlemagne or in 1273 as Rudolph of Habsburg etc?
A: Not quite that way. We have three entry points: Early, High and Late Medieval. Difference between them are:
a) the existing fractions
b) the land the fractions control
Q: Will there or will there not be micromanagment?
A: It has never been said that the game wont feature any micromanagement. It will have micromanagement where needed. Also the game has undergone a few changes the past few months and a lot of things which evolved will please you. However, it is a thin line when micromanagement will become pain and we do not want to cross this line for the sake of
having a micromangement beast. But I really can say there is plenty of micromanagement but from a King's point of view.
Q: Will it be possible to beat the game in short time?
A: It is not possible to conquer Europe in short time. Not at all. If you do it - it a MAJOR victory condition. But as a designer I'm trying to be sure that all we have fun doing it. And next time also. And if you loose - also.
Q: How strategical can you get in this game?
A: Deciding which battle to lead by your own is a strategic decision.
Q: Will you need speciall tradeships?
A: No you wont need, but there are tradeships.
Q: During war how will an ally reach you in time to help if they are in the next realm over or all the way acrose europe?
A: The alley feature has to be seen more globally. When you are in war, you ask your alley to help you, which means:
- He will send troops to your kingdom and fight marching enemy army
- He will attack the enemy kingdom / troops somewhere else
- If you dont ask for help, he may threat the other kingdom with war.
But let me remind you again that one lost battle does not necessarily mean a lost realm and definately not loosing the game (unless it is your last army or castle).
Q: Are there crusades?
A: There are some crusades!
Q: Is there Snow, will it snow?
A: No snowing, only snow as textures.
Q: When can get war tax?
A: You can claim war tax only in war.
Q: Can you also claim that from the enemy after a won war?
A: You can't claim it back - but you can demand gold as part of tribute your enemy is paying. If you won of course.
Q: Are there epidemics like the plague in this game?
A: We have random events in the game... What are these, we will tell you a bit later. But one could be for instance that your food production will sink about x% for a while and some
of your realms my have hunger and you have to buy them food to survive until the event is over.
Q: Is your gold and further treasery just in a vurtual place.....or do have to build special places for it?
A: No gold deposits, the gold are mainly taxes and come from trades. Regarding special deposits, we have those Realm Resources, like "Iron Ore". More about it later.
Q: I'm curious will there be civil wars and if so how will they work? Also are heirs and breeding a royal line part of the game?
A: In KoH we have rebelions. They can be lead by bribed Knights or by a leader. The reason for a rebelion will be shown to the player and he has several options to end the rebelion. When an old king died without heirs then it is possible that several people may claim the throne and that the kingdom will split. Yes heirs are important and daughters are a VERY strong "assett". And if a king does not have a follower but a married daughter, her husband can be one of the claimants for the throne too.
Q: Maybe you could use deplomacy and persuade other kings not to trade with a certain realm.
A: The trade in KoH is always Kingdom <-> Kingdom based. And you can ask another King to break all relations with someone else, which includes end of trade.
Q: When making peace treaties, will this game be more like the EU series or the TW series?
A: Somewhere in between.
Q: What role does the church play in this game?
A: A church or monastery is producing piety...but what you can do with piety will be revealed at a later stage.
Q: Are there Years, seasons, snow or weather changes in this game?
A: we will have permanent snow in some regions.
But the weather does not affect the troop behaviour. We did not want to make KoH to a military battle simulation. Dealing with weather effects would distract the player form his duty to rule an Empire.
Q: Will there be Tourneys?
A: No tourneys in KoH. There are many ways to influence your people happiness.
Q: IS the a day/night cycle?
A: Yes.
Q: Is there gunpowder?
A: We dont have gunpowder. The game is meant to be about honor and glory. When gunpowder came, the Knights died like weasels.There is quote from Arthur C. Clarke, I got it from Frujin once. It is: "Gundpowder gave bravery to the weak and coward". I think there is nothing to ad here.