For instance, while there's a somewhat useful town summary screen, it doesn't show the presence of important things like garrisons or leaders. One of the more aggravating problems with managing your empire is that you'll spend too much time trying to build the big picture out of the details the game throws your way.
It might take you three days to get your forces from the center of your kingdom to it borders but you can form an alliance, set up a trade pact and get your allies to declare war on your enemies all in the time it takes to take a breath. You can even negotiate deals with far off rulers instantaneously. You can appoint marshals immediately and raise an entire army in a few seconds. Though the game runs in real time, the mechanics seem somewhat inconsistent in their adherence to this system. If the ruler hires them, you'll have an inside man who can foment rebellion or play a number of other dastardly tricks. You can promote your knights to spies and send them to try to find service among a rival ruler. The same can be said of the clerical appointees who increase a town's happiness. That you can increase the profits of a town by appointing a merchant manager is fairly obvious. Since some of these agents are members of your royal dynasty, you'll need to preserve them, even in war. In times of war, for instance, you may have to let your clerical and financial obligations slide a bit. You can only have nine of these managers at a time so you'll have to plan to focus your attention on a particular aspect of the game. Your knights and agents are your managers in the game and getting them appointed is a big part of the enjoyment in the game. A very thorough tutorial takes the player through most all of the game mechanics in a clear and concise manner. The really cunning player will even make use of spies from time to time. Acts of outright war are the most blatant way to expand your power but a cunning player will also make use of economic and diplomatic options. Sadly this breadth causes the game to lose some of its focus.Īs in Europa Universalis players are thrust into the position of the leader of a nation, large or small, and trusted to find their own point to it all. By mixing the real-time empire management of games like Europa Universalis with a tactical battle system that seems drawn from Impression's city-building games, Knights of Honor tries to offer a wide variety of experiences. Black Sea Studios has just released their own medieval-themed strategy game, Knights of Honor. We were pretty excited when we first previewed Lords of the Realms 3 a few years back and, though the title itself was a bit of a disappointment, the concept is still sound.