Knights of Honor

A successor to Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign was announced by THQ Nordic 2019 at Gamescom for 2020. It is being developed by the Bulgarian studio Black Sea Games, which is composed of former developers of the first part.

Game content

The game takes place in the Middle Ages , the primary task is to conquer medieval Europe province by province. Alternatively, you can (similar to Master of Orion ) have a council of the most powerful states elect you as the “true ruler of Europe” in order to win the game.

The map of Europe is divided into 168 provinces and these have different landscape formations (desert, plains, mountains or forests) depending on their location. The main object in the provinces is the fortified city that must be besieged and occupied in order to conquer a province . There are also farms, villages and monasteries and - in the case of coastal provinces - ports which produce raw materials; they can in case of war by the attackers pillaged and plundered , are making their raw materials to the marauding fraction hike and the respective object is burned for some time.

The raw materials used in the game are money , books and piety at the global level, and food , tools and workers at the local level. The raw materials are required and produced differently, for example the player needs money, workers and tools to build buildings in the provinces, while villagers, food and gold are needed to create units. The global raw materials piety and books mostly serve domestic political measures such as religious conversions or the integration of inhabitants of conquered provinces.

There are also eight other raw materials on the map (fishing grounds, pasture land, arable land, game grounds, silver ore, brine, marble rock, mineral rock) that are required in the provinces for the production of goods (e.g. wool, wine, honey). The availability of these goods in a state enables various achievements (e.g. three-field economy, secret society, etc.) which have an impact on the production of game-relevant resources or provide bonuses for various game aspects such as population growth, trade or satisfaction in the provinces.

Another important point is the knights . These form the player's asset and have individual skills. They can be used as marshals (military leaders), merchants , clerics , spies, as well as builders and landlords, and offer the player additional opportunities to administer the provinces, conduct trade or pursue active foreign policy (wars and espionage). Knights used as marshals also gain experience in combat, which gives them special skills for further battles. Knights used as spies are appointed as knights at their court by other realms and can then initiate negative events under the control of the player; so a spy as marshal z. B. to instigate an army revolt or a spy who has been appointed by another kingdom as a spy to the court, murder members of the ruling family.

Foreign policy measures include alliances and agreements with other states as well as peace negotiations. Furthermore, the player has to take care of dynastic issues. The respective head of state can marry and produce descendants who succeed to the throne after death due to old age or battle death or serve to marry into other kingdoms. In the latter case, there are also inheritance claims to provinces in the event of death, the approval or rejection of which can strengthen or ruin relations between states. In addition, a computer-controlled faction can ask him to attack another faction or at least break the contracts with them. If the player declines, the AI may make a counter offer (e.g. gold payment , ceding a province or declaring war on another country).

Also religion plays a role. The possible religions in the game are Catholicism , Orthodox Christianity , Islam and Paganism . All religions show small differences, for example Orthodox Christianity is subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople , while Roman Catholic states are only loosely tied to the papacy . The Pope can also proclaim crusades and excommunicate Catholic states . After the death of the Pope, it is possible that one of the player's clerics will be elected as the new Pope and thus the official acts of the Pope will come under the control of the player (if he is a member of Catholicism). As a compensation, Muslim states can call for jihad, whereby hostile armies in the provinces are attacked by peasant armies emanating from the mosques and villages. Orthodox empires, if they do not own Constantinople , can declare their church independent. To do this, they need a five-star cleric who will then become the patriarch of the independent Orthodox Church. Unlike the Pope, the patriarch carries out the same orders as a cleric. If the patriarch is killed or exiled on conversion , another five-star cleric must be available. If this is not the case, the Church immediately becomes dependent on Constantinople again.

Single player

In the single player mode there are two different types of play: "Conquer Europe" and "Battles".

Europe can be conquered in three different epochs: in the early, in the high and in the late Middle Ages. Depending on the era, the player can play one of the states represented on the map, such as Byzantium or the Ottomans . The only exception to this is the Vatican , which can only be played after a cheat . The player can win on the one hand by achieving all achievements or the election to the "true ruler of Europe" (this is called "small victory"), on the other hand by conquering all provinces ("great victory").

In the "Battles" game mode, historical battles can be re-enacted or battles can be carried out on different terrain. A distinction is also made between open field battles and sieges (both as attackers and defenders). The armies used for this are equally strong, but randomly composed of all divisions that can be recruited in the game.

The game mode Conquer Europe offers a relatively simple political system, whereby you can be on one of the following five levels with another faction:

War: As soon as two opposing generals meet, a battle ensues; one can besiege the cities of the enemy and vice versa; a warning is displayed when an enemy army enters its own province
Peace: No special effects; Normal status
Trade agreement: You can order your own trader to trade with this realm in order to receive special resources or gold for your own realm. The more powerful the trading partner, the more gold the dealer will bring in for the player. Although the AI can also send traders into its own realm, this will of course not cost gold (and vice versa).
Non-aggression pact: always contains a trade agreement; Makes it much less likely that this nation will declare war. If you break a non-aggression pact, the influence in your own empire suffers (you receive less taxes and the citizens are more dissatisfied, which increases the risk of insurrection).
Alliance pact: always contains non-aggression pact and trade agreement; You can be called to arms by your allies (if you refuse, the alliance pact is broken and your influence in your own realm suffers); you can call your allies to arms (they could refuse, but unlikely). Warning: An alliance pact is not to be confused with an alliance, you can be allied with two warring parties. If you are called to arms by one, you will lose one of the allies regardless of the decision and influence in your own realm will decline.

In the game mode Conquer Europe, you can either simulate the battle or play it yourself if your own army is besieging an enemy city , an enemy army is besieging your own city or an enemy and your own army meet. If you decide to play the battle yourself, you will be switched to the battles mode, with the difference that here the armies are not generated randomly, but correspond to the divisions that the generals have with them. In the case of a city attack / defense, the respective defensive structures (for example city walls) that were built in the city are added.

Multiplayer

Knights of Honor can be played over both LAN and the Internet . The game type “conquer Europe” is not available here. Up to 6 players can fight battles in multiplayer mode.

Web links

Knights of Honor at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Michael Graf: Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign - Medieval strategy game announced, all information. In: Gamestar. August 20, 2019, accessed June 5, 2020 .

[1] Michael Graf: Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign - Medieval strategy game announced, all information. In: Gamestar. August 20, 2019, accessed June 5, 2020 .