Recent reviews by PrinceՖՖ Molestia

Great. Artifical Intelligence may destroy and enslave you. ENSLAAAVEE. It's a good game. You work with a dynasty. Your dynasty. In Europe and Africa. In High and Late Middle Ages. 1066 - 1453, 867 - 1453 with the DLC "Old Gods". You rule a country: From a small province to the greatest empire. You have your heirs, inherit laws and everything other, from taxes starting.

There are five levels of authority in the game; the four highest of which are playable at the start:
- Emperor, Kaiser, Basileus, Shahanshah, Khagan (highest ones).

- King, Shah, Despot, Sultan, Serene Doge, King Bishop, Khan, Prince Mayor. The title 'King' is equivalent to the title 'Archduke' if the holder bends the knee to an Emperor or person of equivalent title.

- Duke, Doux, Satrap, Emir, Doge, Grand Prince, High Chief, Prince Archbishop, Grand Mayor, Jarl, Petty King, Caliph.

- The second lowest rank is that of the Count – variations are Earl, Sheikh, Wâli, Marzban, Chief, Lord Mayor, Prince Bishop, Metropolitan (Orthodox).

-The lowest in-game rank of authority is that of the Baron – variations are Timariot, Shaman, Mayor, Bishop, Patrician – of which only Patrician is a playable rank if the player owns the The Republic DLC, as the government of only a single holding with no non-commoner courtiers to command would provide the player with very few or no opportunities for intrigue.

The basic provincial unit of the game is the "county". Each county contains a preset number of holdings, with the maximum being seven holdings in a single county, including the comital capital. The holdings can be of three types: castle, city or temple holding. A castle is ruled by a baron, a city is ruled by a Mayor, and a temple is ruled by a bishop (each one having their own cultural and religious variations, such as the Muslim Mosque). Generally, a county has a capital set on a barony, but some counties (most notably in Italy) have city or temples set as the capital (ex: Rome is a temple-capital county and Venice is a city-capital county). As the player incorporates a lay nobleman, it can only exert control adequate over counties with castles as capitals or he'll suffer the "wrong holding type" penalty in revenue – thus, city and temple holdings must be given to mayors and bishops. Exceptionally, Muslim rulers can control Mosques, which grant piety points. If the player owns The Republic DLC, the player can also take control of a coastal republic, like Venice, Genoa, The Hansa, Gotland or Cherson. In this case city holdings, instead of baronies, can be held without penalty.


Realm Laws
There are two kind of laws in the game: the Tax and Levy laws – which determine the taxes your vassals (feudal, burgher and clergymen vassals) must pay, and also the number of levies they must provide – and the Succession Laws – which can be of two types: gender and inheritance laws. Succession laws are of fundamental gameplay importance, as the game over condition is the player's inability of establishing a dynastic heir. As a rule, succession is patrilineal, which means marriage offsprings will always be from the father's dynasty, but there is the option of matrilineal marriages for female characters, which means the offspring will be from the mother's lineage.

Gender Laws are the following:
Agnatic – Only males inheirt
Agnatic-Cognatic – Females can inherit, but only if there are no eligible male heirs.
Absolute Cognatic – Women inheirt on the same grounds as men do. (this type of succession is only available to Basque culture characters and the rulers with Cathar religion)

However, although Paradox added Enatic (males are entirely excluded from succession) and Enatic-Cognatic (females have preference) succession, these are only accessible through modifications to the base game.

Inheritance Laws are:
Gavelkind – The most common law, in which the inheritance is divided among all eligible children, the oldest inheriting the primary title. This succession type allows for a 30% larger demesne, the disadvantage is that it fractures the demesne upon succession.

Feudal Elective – The heir elected by vassals holding elector titles inherits all titles. This type gives an opinion boost to vassals, but it might have an heir not from the players dynasty—therefore ending the game.

Seniority – the oldest dynasty member inherits all titles. The disadvantage is that it usually results in elder characters inheriting, potentially creating a quick succession of short-lived rulerships.

Primogeniture – the firstborn child inherits all titles, in depth-first search descent. Arguably the most advantageous inheritance type, but it incurs in a slight prestige penalty for landless progeny.

Agnatic Open/Turkish Succession – available to every Muslim character (and also the only type of succession available) – the son that holds most titles inherits all his father's titles.

Patrician Elective (With The Republic DLC) – the only succession type for Merchant Republics – the heir is decided upon by a calculation of age, prestige, and a unique campaign fund feature from the 5 patrician families. Only males can inherit.

Investiture - only succesion law for bishoprics where the successor can be appointent by the ruler if under Free Investiture or by the Pope if under Papal Investiture. If there is no appointed heir then the game will chose character from the court of the bishop or create a new character if there is no suitable characters in the bishops court.

Elective Open – the only succession type for Republics (and also some types of holdings under the player level) – the game will chose a character from the republic rulers court or create a new character if there is no suitable characters in the mayors court.

Tanistry – open to Celtic Culture group which, like the Elective system allows vassals to choose the heir but restricts the choice to members of the current holders dynasty.

Ultimogeniture – the default succession type for Ilkhanate, the Golden Horde and the barony of Altenburg, in which the youngest child of the ruler inherits all the rulers titles upon their death.

Appointment - Used by Holy Orders feudal vassals called Commanders. All feudal titles are granted by the Grandmaster and revert back to him after the holder dies.

Papal Succession - Pope's succesion law where elected Cardinal's chose the next Pope among themselves. Only used by the Pope if the player owns the Sons of Abraham DLC.

King and Emperor-level characters also have a special set of available laws, the "Crown Authority Laws", which simulate the power exerted by the monarch over his vassals. For example, with "autonomous vassals law", the monarch cannot revoke vassal's titles, and they only provide levies to their liege if they hold him or her in high regard. In "absolute crown authority law", the vassals are entirely forbidden of waging war against each other and foreign enemies and must provide a sizable amount of levies.

That's a really really good game for about 1894172381274109487128409 hours of gameplay.