Knights of honor tipps: Beginner Tips For Knights Of Honor 2: Sovereign

Beginner Tips For Knights Of Honor 2: Sovereign

By Sara Ann

Published Dec 31, 2022

Getting into any real-time strategy game can be complicated, but these tips should make it easier for beginner Knights of Honor 2 players.

Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign is a medieval-themed game in the Real Time Strategy genre (RTS for short). The player takes control of a king and has to build their kingdom up from nothing and bring it to game and prosperity, all while managing their resources.

Many players will be able to instantly take to the game and be able to manage their kingdom well. However, other players are going to struggle a bit with the game and all of its intricacies. To help those players learn the ropes, there are some beginner tips that players need to know.

7 Learn About the Knights System

The knights system is absolutely fundamental in Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign, and it will greatly benefit a player to learn how the knights system works. The system can be a bit difficult at first, but it is worth learning.

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The main thing a player should know is that knights can have all sorts of different jobs. These can range from the Merchant, who signs trade agreements and imports goods, to the Spy, who infiltrates enemy kingdoms and gives the player access to important information.

6 Make Sure Each Knight Governs Something

Regardless of how many knights a player has, they should always ensure that every knight is governing something. This assures that player will be able to acquire all the resources that they need to succeed at running their kingdom.

Without a knight to govern a province, the player will be severely limited in how much that province can produce. In fact, provinces that have a knight governing them will produce resources ten times faster than a province without one. Considering this, it’s a no-brainer for a player to assign their knights to provinces.

5 Hire and Educate

The best thing a player can do for their citizens is to educate them. This is true for both real life and in Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign. A player should take every chance they get to educate their citizens.

By spending money on books to educate the player’s citizens and knights, they will be able to unlock a long line of skills for them to use. These skills can give all sorts of upgrades, such as being able to produce more resources faster. It is to the player’s advantage to have an educated population, as it will enable the kingdom to run more efficiently.

4 Learn Subjects’ Opinions

A good leader should always take their subjects’ voices into account. In Knights of Honor 2, the opinions that subjects have about the way their kingdom is governed can be surprisingly important. A player should not hesitate to learn more about the opinions of their subjects, as this will help them learn what to focus on next.

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Through their citizens, a player can learn about what they may need to do next. For example, citizens may want more housing, or to may want produce more. By fulfilling these requirements, players will be able to keep their citizens happy. Happy citizens can give all sorts of bonuses, which can include things like producing more materials.

3 Special Buildings Are Worth Constructing

Many players will initially balk at constructing special buildings. A few settlements will have special buildings available, and building them can be a bit expensive. However, it’s worth it to build these special buildings, even if they cost more.

These buildings give all sorts of special bonuses, depending on what has been constructed. Regardless of what a player has, though, any bonus is beneficial, so these buildings are worth constructing.

2 Keep Supplies Replenished

Keeping an eye on supplies is essential during gameplay of Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign. It is something that players will have to worry about during any real time strategy game, but with this game in particular.

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Supplies need to be constantly replenished if a player wants to make sure that their army survives. If a player is currently invading enemy territory, the quickest way to get more supplies is to conquer more settlements around them. If nothing else, players can least raid said settlements and see what they have to offer.

1 Take Time to Create the Army

A player should not leave their army creation for the last second. As is to be expected with most real time strategy games, a player will have to focus on building up their army, in case they are invaded by a neighboring kingdom.

Because the army is so essential, it worth it for players to take some time and fully explore what the game has to offer when it comes ot the army. The army building is surprisingly in depth, and a player can assign all sorts of workers needed to serve.

Knights Of Honor 2: Sovereign is available on PC.

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Knights of Honor II: Sovereign guide

If you look at the lower left corner, you can see a plus sign on the >>>. This means I’m playing 10x and that’s why I have so many notifications. Well, that and the whole «changing religion» thing.

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign isn’t as complex on the campaign map as most Paradox titles and features smaller battles than Total War. That doesn’t mean that it’s a simple game, and the tutorial messages may not always get all the subtleties through. Let this list of Knights of Honor II tips help you.

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign guide – Beginner tips and tricks

General starting tips

Get a merchant or two — Sending Merchant-class knights to countries that you have signed trade agreements with is how you make the big bucks
Inspect your towns for specialties — Check the Settlements/Features/Goods tab at the bottom of the screen. A town with castles is good for: a military line of buildings; villages for population; churches and shrines – religious buildings; and crop fields for farming.
Build Village Militia — It is a good building to improve local defenses without relying on constructing Barracks.
You spend books to buy characters new skills — They are upgraded via the same panel as they’re purchased, you just have to click on the skill you already have. This will cost not only books, but also gold.

You can check your province incomes in a handy table. Screenshot by PC Invasion

Non-Marshall knights don’t need military skills unless you’re really in a bind.
Only the king can die from old age; other knights stay with your forever unless they become king in some convoluted way, get assassinated, or die on he battlefield.
Sign trade and non-aggression pacts as soon you can with people you don’t think you’ll be fighting.
Trade agreements don’t do anything unless you assign a Merchant to trade with that country.
Your armies can cross neutral countries, but this will hurt their opinion of you. Non-aggression pacts allow you to do it safely.
A dismissed knight is gone for good.
If you get a prompt from your Knight about doing something (like bribing an enemy or doing a trade deal), the option to ‘think about it’ allows you to react to it later. Find it below the knight action panel.

Economy tips

Resources (gold, books, tradition, etc.) provide small benefits even when you reach their storage cap.
Food is important in many parts of the game, so maintain a steady green income via Crop Farming and other food-production buildings.
When you have excess food production, other countries may offer you to export it in exchange for gold.
All stable trade relations rely on your trade stat — view it as bandwidth. It can be increased the most via the Population set of buildings.

To get the most out of your limited merchant pool, try establishing trade with the greatest nations as they can have the most good that you may not produce natively. Screenshot by PC Invasion

Some buildings or building upgrades require you to have certain goods, like wool or ink. However, each good your country produces or imports also gives a certain small passive bonus.
You only have enough knights to govern 9 towns. Ungoverned towns are a lot less productive. However, switching which town is governed by who is free.

Knights of Honor II: Sovereign tips — War and diplomacy

War tips

Marshalls are best at leading armies, and other knights shouldn’t be taken away from their duties unless it’s an emergency or they don’t have anything to do (unlikely).
Everybody starts with peasant mobs. Village Militia is the fastest way to get better troops (Militia) while still lacking funds for Barracks.
Most troops need both local population and recruit pool expenditure to hire and reinforce.
Rivers in hostile territory take a long time to cross.
Troops and supplies don’t replenish automatically. You need to visit a friendly town and pay for it to happen.
Burning down Villages and Features is an alternative source of supplies on the go. They’re also a good source of gold (look for coin icons above them; three or more means the place is worth sacking).
A freshly conquered province can be rebellious and not give you access to building recruitment. An army can be used to put down the rebellion (cheap, but also bad), or a priest can attempt to adopt it (expensive, and may fail).

Battle tips

If you lose the battle, you lose the entire army. Better retreat manually and take some losses.
When an army takes an enemy capture point, it transfers to their side. So if you had a single point when an enemy had two, and you took one of their points, they would now need to take two points to defeat you.
A battle ends immediately once the last general on either side dies — that side loses.
A general is only considered dead when the last member of his unit dies. Unlike in older Total War games, you can’t lose the general without losing the entire unit.
You can tell units to close ranks (to protect against cavalry) or loosen ranks (to envelop enemies better).

Diplomacy tips

Marrying off children to friendly countries strengthens diplomatic relationships.
Non-aggression pacts and some other diplomatic things are voided when a king dies.
If a foreign ruler dies and one of your children ascends to the throne, you will be given the choice to press the claim on a territory — this may mean getting it for free.
Not pressing a claim improves relationships massively.
You can free prisoners to increase relationships with the country in question and your nobility.

You can become a great power even without conquering half the continent. Screenshot by PC Invasion

You don’t need to send a Diplomat to engage in most diplomacy options.
A diplomat can stay in your country and be set to increase your standing with your people.
Each population group — from merchants to peasants — cares about different areas of activity with regards to whether their approval rises or drops. Soldiers like victories, merchants like the kingdom accomplishing deals, etc. High approval is good for everything.
Crown Authority increases and decreases depending on how well you do in the game, but you can also pay for it by clicking the crown icon.

Espionage tips

You need a spy to infiltrate a country and learn its secrets.
Some spy actions — like killing knights — are only available if the spy has unlocked certain skills.
Witchunt action hunts for spies in your territory. There may be none.
Bribing a prisoner to start a rebellion will result in a much stronger rebellion.

That does it for our Knights of Honor II tips guide. It’s wise to note, however, that even with tips, sometimes the best teacher is experience. Best of luck.

Martynas Klimas

Always chasing that full-time-game-reviewer fairy. Perennially grumpy about Warhammer 40,000. Big fan of RTS, RPG, and FPS games. Has written for other sites. The only Lithuanian you know.

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Knights of Honor II: Sovereign guide — War and battles

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Old-fashioned strategy from the 2000s: Knights of Honor 2 review — Sovereign

In 2004, Black Sea studio released Knights of Honor, a real-time military-economic strategy in which you had to manage one of the states of medieval Europe, lead armies around the map, fight tactical battles and befriend your neighbors (or break their faces furiously). The game had every chance of becoming a cult, but fate turned out differently. First, it was torpedoed by Crusader Kings, which came out half a year earlier, and was able to offer a deeper dive into medieval squabbles. And a week before the release, a control shot with a pilum to the temple was made by Rome: Total War with its breathtaking three-dimensional battles. nine0003

As a result, Knights of Honor flashed across the gaming firmament, collected its sixes, sevens and eights in the press and disappeared from the radar, remaining only in the memory of some fans.

And now, 18 years later, the creators of the original strategy made a second attempt. The sequel was developed for so long that many even managed to forget about it. Fortunately, the game has not been canceled, and tomorrow it will reach the stores, albeit with a two-year delay.

But can 9Will 0034 Knights of Honor 2 — Sovereign surpass its predecessor or will it suffer the same fate? Let’s figure it out.

Greetings from the past
I’ll tell you right away — even though the number «2» flaunts in the name of the game, in fact, we have a banal remake. If we put aside graphical improvements, then the differences between both parts will have to be looked for literally under a microscope. Almost all elements, from the gameplay to the interface, migrated to the sequel without any changes. So if you once spent several dozen hours repainting a map of Europe, you will immediately feel like a fish in water. nine0003

For those who are not familiar with the original, you will have to briefly explain what Knights of Honor 2 is and what it is eaten with. The easiest way to describe the game is «Like Total War, but completely in real time and with an in-depth character system.» You control a country divided into separate provinces, rebuild cities, recruit armies, move commanders through forests and fields, and, if desired, fight enemies in tactical battles. At the same time, absolutely all actions, including those on the global map, take place in real time — just like in the Crusader Kings series. nine0003

Even with the games from Paradox Interactive, the strategy is related to the characters, on which the lion’s share of the gameplay is tied. You have a ruler with his own characteristics, his wife and heirs, as well as the closest advisers: diplomats, merchants, spies, generals and clerics. It is not difficult to guess that some are needed to establish strong ties with neighbors, others are engaged in trade, others are absorbed in intrigues and political dirty tricks, fourths lead armies into battle, and fifths are always ready to convert a newly conquered province into the only truly correct faith. nine0003

The maximum number of courtiers is strictly limited. Whether you’re playing as a single-province Irish county or sitting on the throne of the Byzantine Empire, you’ll only have eight councilors plus the ruler himself.

By itself, this system allows you to decide in which direction you want to develop, and at the same time severely limits the player’s options due to the need to sacrifice someone. Gathered to fight with the whole world and hired five generals? Then you have to say goodbye to income from trade. Have you sent a spy to all your ill-wishers? And who will protect your lands then? Even a couple of diplomats can come in handy to quickly conclude a military alliance with someone or straighten out a deteriorating relationship. Only the cleric, whose talents are required quite rarely, will be lonely in your council. nine0003

And this, in fact, is all that is in Knights of Honor 2 . Do not expect any special depth or thorough study of each faction from her. Before us is a real hello from the past — a very easy-to-learn strategy, the gameplay mechanics of which can be counted on the fingers of one hand. But they are all connected to each other, they work great and do not require you to play a hundred hours just to start understanding them at least a little.

Say no to microcontrol
Do you like microcontrol in grand strategy games? The developers of Knights of Honor 2 are clearly sick of him — there is no other way to explain the persistence with which they deprive the player of the need to constantly spend time in numerous menus.

Take, for example, buildings in cities. Each of them has several upgrades that give you additional resources or goods. And you need to «study» them only once, after which both already built and all future houses of the same type will be automatically «pumped». nine0003

Or take a look at the Expert Advisors. If you played Crusader Kings 3, then you know that there are also all these marshals, governors and diplomats. And although everyone can be ordered to perform some unique action, most often they are simply forgotten about. After all, what could be more boring than checking every five minutes whether your manager has finished changing the culture in the province or not yet?

In Knights of Honor 2 , character control was approached from a different angle. You only need to send them on a mission once, after which they themselves will offer some unique actions from time to time. Either a cleric will gather to visit the Pope for books, or a merchant will offer a particularly good deal, or a diplomat will want to make peace between your two neighbors. Most of all, the spy was lucky in this regard — the developers generously showered him with several dozen actions, from bribing other people’s advisers to unleashing wars between countries and killing kings. nine0003

In this case, no effort is required from the player at all — it is enough just to decide whether you are ready to spend money on the adviser’s offer or it is better to invest money somewhere else.

What is most beautiful is that this whole system adjusts to the events taking place. During the war, merchants will offer to resupply your armies that are fighting outside their native lands. Spies are always ready to burn supplies or open gates in a besieged castle. Does the neighbor have an uprising? Your spy is already right there — he offers to butter up the leader of the rebels so that the lands captured by him, in which case, do not become independent, but go under your wise and sensitive leadership. nine0003

Thanks to this system, you can focus on war or construction, instead of frantically remembering which button and which character you wanted to press a couple of minutes ago.

Friends, enemies and others
Another important aspect of any good strategy is AI. No matter how deep and elaborate the game is, it can easily be destroyed by stupid computer dummies, because beating babies is not much fun for anyone. nine0003

Well, in this regard, Knights of Honor 2 is also doing well. The world around you does not stand still — other countries fight, make peace, enter into dynastic alliances and fight again. Spies and merchants scurry around the cities, the Pope constantly announces crusades, and Muslims answer him with jihad. Neighbors are always ready to stab in the back and bite off a tidbit from your state, and yesterday’s ally, with whom you just happily smashed a common enemy, already demands to give him a couple of cities and threatens with an all-out war. nine0003

The situation is constantly changing. You can rule a prosperous kingdom and get along peacefully with your neighbors. And in five minutes your dynasty will be interrupted, stability will fly into the red, several uprisings will break out in the country, the marshal who manages one of the cities decides to secede and declare a war for independence, and several of your «sworn friends» will immediately take his side. And this is not a hypothetical situation, but a real story from one of my games.

By the way, there are no complaints about military actions either. AI actively recruits armies, gathers them into a shock fist, and if it cannot take a city, then it tries to burn and plunder its surroundings. Yes, sometimes he wedges himself and he gets involved in a losing battle, but this does not happen so often. nine0003

One head is good, but six is better
The main drawback of the original Knights of Honor, which eventually killed the game, was the lack of multiplayer. Fortunately, the developers understood that in the modern world, a strategy without network elements would not last long, and they made a huge emphasis on this.

Multiplayer settings in Sovereign — for every taste and color. There are many victory conditions for short games, and the ability to transfer to other countries after a defeat, and even such an exotic thing as choosing not a country to start, but a certain number of provinces in it. nine0003

At this point, I just have to thank the developers who sent the editors not one, but several keys. As a result, I managed to spend about two dozen hours in several online games and made sure that the multiplayer works flawlessly. Agree, bombing because an insidious neighbor stole money from your treasury and, through bribery, “wrung out” one of the locks is much more fun when a live player does it. On the other hand, in revenge, you can organize a couple of uprisings with him and then ask with a worried voice what is going on there and where did so many rebels come from in a prosperous country. nine0003

Of the shortcomings, I can only note rare out of sync, but all of them occurred either immediately after the launch, or as early as 3-4 hours after the start of the game. Yes, it’s annoying, but not fatal. In addition, the developers stated that they are aware of the problem and will try to solve it by the release.

What about tactical battles?
You may have noticed that during the course of the review I mentioned tactical battles in the spirit of Total War a couple of times, but never focused on them. The thing is, they… just exist. You can technically have a wall-on-wall massacre. But you are unlikely to do this after two or three trial attempts, because battles were made at Knights of Honor 2 is purely for show.

The maps in the battles do not shine with variety, and the clashes of armies are more like a showdown between passengers who, at rush hour, are trying to squeeze into a subway car. The battle always takes place according to the same pattern: the enemy units are head-on, ignoring the cavalry that is flanking them, and getting stuck in your infantry. After that, you send one detachment of light spearmen against the enemy commander — and victory is in your pocket. Yes, the generals in the game are represented by heavy cavalry. Yes, they prefer to attack head-on along with the infantry. And yes, when meeting with light spearmen, the commanders immediately choose chiseled peaks and quickly go to the next world. nine0003

As a result, tactical battles are more like some kind of cheat, with which you can grind enemy armies of equal strength almost without loss. And even if the developers mess with the AI, this will not solve the main problem — the battles will still remain as unspectacular as possible.

Fortunately, Knights of Honor 2 is fun to play without it. And in online games, tactical battles are completely disabled.

A bunch of minor flaws
After all my compliments on the game, one might get the impression that it is almost perfect. But it’s not. In Knights of Honor 2 , there are enough strange and illogical decisions and small jambs. Yes, they are not that many, but enough to sometimes significantly spoil your life.

The AI, for example, does not know how to trade goods at all, which is why some resources may not appear on the map at all. In one of my parties, for example, no one in the world produced salted fish, because none of the coastal states had their own salt, and they did not guess to buy it from other countries. Because of this, the «high state» strategy suffers greatly, because the best buildings and improvements require goods that the AI is 100% likely to be unable to produce. nine0003

The mechanics of dynasties also raise questions. Firstly, the developers have provided only four slots for children. Did your wife give birth to four girls? So say goodbye to your dynasty. No, the game will not be interrupted, but after the death of the ruler, you will receive a bunch of fines. Secondly, in Knights of Honor 2 there is no such thing as a regency. Died a couple of seconds before your heir became an adult? Say goodbye to the dynasty again.

I am silent about the fact that the rulers are aging at some unthinkable rate, while the rest of the advisers are obviously secretly growing fangs and drinking human blood. Otherwise, it cannot be explained why three kings can be born, grow old and die in one game, and at the same time the courtiers hired at the very beginning will remain alive and healthy. nine0003

However, almost all of these problems do not really interfere with the game and will most likely be fixed in the first patch.

So what’s the bottom line?
Knights of Honor 2 is a very old fashioned strategy straight from the days when the sky was higher and the grass greener. It does not cause a wow effect and is not able to compete on equal terms with the Total War series or with the best games from Paradox Interactive. But it has some kind of special lamp atmosphere, simple but working mechanics and gameplay that does not require clicking hundreds of buttons per minute. nine0003

Ten years ago, the sequel would have suffered exactly the same fate as the original. But today there is a lack of such strategies, and I really hope that Knights of Honor 2 will be able to find its niche.