Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign

[Martok]

About damn time! 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/736820/Knights_of_Honor_II__Sovereign/

Become the King and wrestle over control of Europe in this fresh take on medieval real-time grand strategy.
Sovereign includes all the depth players desire while being the gate-way game to the grand strategy genre, presenting the world as a
living, breathing miniature, alive and ripe for the taking. Choose your royal court carefully and determine the destiny of your people,
be it riches, conquest, intrigue, trade, or defeat! Raise armies to defend your lands or take war to the enemy - even jump into
battle directly in action-packed RTS combat. The path is open: become the true Sovereign of your people.

Features

    Accessible Grand Strategy - All the depth of religion, diplomacy, city development, and more, with none of the confusion
   
    Real-Time Gameplay - Medieval Europe comes alive, no turns needed
   
    Royal Court - Appoint Marshalls, Clerics, Merchants, Diplomats, and Spies to exert your will across the land
   
    RTS Battles - Lead your armies directly in riveting RTS engagements
   
    Robust Multiplayer - Join with multiple friends to take on the challenges of medieval Europe

[mirth]

hawt

[Martok]

Yeah, this one went right to the top of my Steam wishlist (just below 3K:TW and AoW: Planetfall).  I'm definitely stoked. 

[bbmike]

Yeah, this one went right to the top of my Steam wishlist (just below 3K:TW and AoW: Planetfall).  I'm definitely stoked.

+1 

[Anguille]

One of my all-time favorite games (i must admit i haven't played it in a while). Can't wait to see it coming.

[Martok]

Same here, man.   

You heard anything yet about a release date?  Last I knew it was still coming out this year, but that was a while ago.  (And goodness knows how badly COVID has upset release plans for a lot of stuff.) 

[bbmike]

I've heard towards the end of this year.

[Martok]

[Martok casts Greater Thread Resurrection, Greater Thread Restoration]  (Sorry, I don't think I'll be able to top bbmike's awesome necromancy image. ) 






After a period of quiet, Black Sea Games are back with a new dev diary, and it looks like one a lot of folks have been looking forward to -- Intro to Tactical Battles: 


https://community.knightsofhonor.com/index/dev-diaries/devdiary-28-intro-to-tactical-battles-r36/




My current overall impression is that combat looks good. though of course there are some possible caveats: 


-  Battles look decent from a visual perspective.  There's something about them that reminds me of old-school RTS skirmishes, but overall no complaints. 

-  Combat is obviously won't be on the same scale as in Total War battles, but that's to be expected.  The devs have said from the beginning that they wanted to continue the original game's focus more on grand-strategy, and didn't want combat to dominate the game, which I respect. 

-  That being said, battles won't necessarily be small affairs, either:  Players can control 2 armies, and sometimes 3 (consisting of local defensive troops); and each army can have up to 8 squads, *plus* the commanding noble's cavalry squad. 

-  Fortifications (towers, gates, wall, etc.) can have a big impact in siege battles, but how much so is affected by how worn down they are by siege on the campaign map:  The longer a town/castle has been under siege, the less powerful fortifications will be. 

-  Even though the game pauses when combat commences, armies headed towards a battle can enter it as reinforcements.  Similarly, you can deliberately call in nearby armies as reinforcements as well.  I'm not sure how well this will work in practice, but it sounds pretty damn cool in theory. 

[bbmike]

Looks like the combat might be similar to Age of Wonders III and that would be okay with me. 

[Gusington]

GIG UH TEE

[Martok]

Dev-stream from a couple days ago.  We get our first glimpse of the tactical battles, and an extended look at the game in general.   


https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1531602904

[Gusington]

Thank you - I am thinking that a release this year is looking more and more...unlikely :/

What do you think Martok?

[Martok]

Unfortunately, I reached the same conclusion you did, Gus.    Going by both the pace at which they've been releasing dev diaries, combined with some of the comments they made in the above video, it strikes me as pretty improbable that the game is coming out this year still.  I'm not completely ruling out the possibility just yet, but I wouldn't bet money on a 2022 release if I were a gambler. 

[Gusington]

I'm going to try to watch some of that video today. it's worth watching?

[Martok]

You can now apply to participate in the beta!   


https://beta.knightsofhonor.com/



Interesting that they're starting a (presumably) larger beta now.  Depending on how long they're planning it last, it does make me wonder if they're going to try and release the game this year still after all?  Seems like it'd be a bit rushed, but what do I know.   

I'm going to try to watch some of that video today. it's worth watching?

I'd say so, yes.  It gives a decent overview of the game, and how well it's likely to appeal to you.  The vid gives you a pretty good feel for both the general gameplay, and the combat more specifically.  You needn't watch the whole thing either IMO; I skipped around a fair bit (especially the parts where the devs are just sitting there talking). and the loss seemed to be pretty minimal, to be honest.