Crusader Kings takes a big step straight backwards. In CK we are not dealing with ministries, nationalities, and grand policy – we’re dealing with households, families, and the Byzantine patchwork of fealty relationships. This is an entirely more intimate strategic world in which to operate. The goal here is not territorial (well not totally) – it’s about the much more personal goals of prestige and piety.

Firstly, Crusader Kings will cover only the Old World. While maybe too Eurocentric for diversity-focused academics, the choice is a reasonable one. Historically Japan and China were probably the only other powers at that time that might have had a technological/economic ability to compete with European powers for dominance of the later world, but both were either introspective or busy with other issues of survival to be interested in the sort of ‘evangelical’ behavior displayed by European monarchs. But don’t think this is just going to be a chopped down map from EU with a few more low-tech units – no, the manner in which provinces are going to be managed is going to be characteristically different from that of any previous EU title. Each region will have a Count or a Bishop (more on them later). These Counts are loyal to the individual person of the head of the royal family (the player). Above counts are dukes, kind of the middle managers of the feudal process, extending the administrative reach of the monarch in exchange for a cut of the tax revenues, and a little issue of reliability and loyalty. Paradox has deliberately limited the feudal levels to these three to give the player a realistic feel of managing a complex tree of relationships, without bogging them down in the tribulations of more ranks.

Rather than summoning national armies and equipping them from the state pot, CK counts will take the revenue they’ve gleaned from their cut of the county’s royal taxes and actually buy the levy that they are obligated to provide under the terms of their fealty. These forces are finite – call upon them too many times and not only will you exhaust the resources of that Count, he’s going to start wondering if he’s working for the wrong guy. The military forces are raised at the county level, each county producing an indivisible regiment (the composition depending on the culture, social groups, and other factors unique the county), which then are grouped into armies. Of course, if you have deep pockets you can always leave your troublesome nobles at home and hire some mercenaries to do your dirty work, the mercenaries in CK will be an integral part of the system, rather than the cobbled-on version from EU.

There are far more troop types available as well – heavy cavalry, light horse, archers, heavy infantry, pikemen, and siege trains will populate your armies. Like a giant game of rock-paper-scissors, all will require special employment to reach their most useful potential. Combat itself will be a variation on EU’s theme, a linear progression of phases with certain units able to participate in each phase in turn. The military character of the time was completely different, and you will not see the giant standing armies of EU2 in CK, either. Armies of the medieval era were brittle, usually good for one campaign before disbanding to go home for the harvest. Your King will have to manage carefully the loyalties of his dukes and counts to make sure that an effective defense is always available.

Yes, loyalty of the individual Counts (and of the dukes who in turn control a number of counts on behalf of the king) will be a dynamic thing. The Counts are not faceless entities; they are characters in an almost RPG sense of the word. Each will have stats relating to his military skill, morale, loyalty, experience, etc. which will change over the course of the game. Unlike the scripted appearance/disappearance of historical leaders, the Counts will grow up, marry (hopefully well), grow old, and die. If you’re lucky, they will leave heirs behind to manage the County. Treat them with respect and deference to their status and they will hopefully become loyal retainers in turn. Treat your counts badly, and you will have trouble, since their loyalties will naturally flow to someone who appreciates them properly.

Of course, no game about the medieval era would be complete without a thorough treatment of religion (and particularly the Catholic Church as a secular entity). The Papacy will exist as a non-player state, whose control is granted to whomever the Pope has the greatest loyalty. Of course, this makes the whole process of Papal selection (from the investiture of Bishops at the county level, to the installation of Cardinals who in turn eventually vote for and select the pope) a complicated and long-range project. Whole games have been based on simpler concepts, and CK is going to have it as just one ingredient in a churning political brew.

The main ability of the Pope of course is to call a Crusade, and this will play a big role in the dynamic of the game. Of course he may also sell indulgences (trading a little piety for cold hard cash) or excommunicate naughty kings, but as you might guess from the name, Crusades are pretty important. Usually, they will be staffed by kings desperate for prestige and piety, or by dukes that kings have decided are much more useful far, far from home (and whoops, if they get killed, well that’s not too bad either). Created by historical event, the religious military orders (Templars, Hospitallers, etc.) will also frequently act as the cadre around which Crusades will coalesce. Functionally, they are free and skilled mercenaries for the Pope. Successful crusades spawn Crusader states, and will ostensibly gain a great deal of prestige for the participants. The Pope is not, of course the only religious leader. The Byzantine Emperor wields pope-like powers (parallel, not precisely the same) in the Orthodox regions, and the Holy Roman Emperor is a secular leader whose temporal authority extends far enough to sometimes counter that of the Holy See.

Beneath all this additional religious detail will exist the already rich EU religious system, cheerfully pumping out Casus Bellii for infidels, heretics, and excommunicates while the faithful (or merely opportunistic) AI-controlled states look for chances to increase their prestige, piety, and wealth at player expense.

The changes to the EU engine don’t end with geography, military, politics, and religion; the economic system also undergoes significant changes. Each county will have distinct populations of four different social tiers: Nobles, Burghers, Peasants, and Clerics. Each will have varying incomes, power levels, and loyalties.

Example: County of Cornwall, Tax Value 15:

	Loyalty	Power	Taxation
Burghers	80%	3	100%
Peasants	70%	1	100%
Clerics	78%	3	0%
Nobles	90%	8	10%

The income from Cornwall province is thus 4.8 ducats. The Earl (Count) of Cornwall is 100% loyal to the King, so he pays 50% of that to his liege lord, which in this case is the King himself, meaning that 2.4 ducats from Cornwall end up in the royal coffers.

Beyond this, EU players will note that trade is not nearly as important in CK as it was in EU1 or 2. Trade in the period was so burdened by the dangers of sea travel and the constant rapacity of brigands (or even whatever noble you happened to be passing), the revenues were simply not significant. For this reason, it will be present but abstracted at a very low level.

The technological system also is addressed. Rather than the linear tech development found in EU2, CK players will be able to direct their efforts. In each century there are five available techs to develop in only four areas of advance: Military, Industrial, Cultural, and Commercial. Each tech advance takes a flat amount (currently 200 ducats, but I’m guessing this will be tweaked during play testing) and a variable amount of time to achieve (but all five of a century’s advances must be achieved before starting on the next).