The little things.

[Om noml]

Just name the little things in the game that annoy or entertain you.

Personally, the watching the pope get shot with a crossbow with an AC like feel is rather fun. Especially when you get re-communicated by him in his will that he totally made.

[Il Medico]

a lot of the assassin animations are humorous. My favorite is the failed snake in bed attempt. When it crawls away I imagine him chasing after it saying "Attack!....Hey-hey, NO! Get-get back here you bloody bastard-Oh jesus in...ah!"

[Silverheart]

I like the Pope vid too, as well as all the vids where assasins are trying kill priests in cities (because they always try to kill them inside the church, and you don´t see those vids as often as the Snake or the Poison dart)

I´m annoyed by the fact that spies are so unlikely to succeed, even if they are skilled.
If I send a spy into a city, with 70% chance of success, he still fails and gets killed more often than not.
It´s like those 70% are actually the chance of failure! That´s why I don´t use spies very often, they´re too unreliable for anything other than scouting.

a lot of the assassin animations are humorous. My favorite is the failed snake in bed attempt. When it crawls away I imagine him chasing after it saying "Attack!....Hey-hey, NO! Get-get back here you bloody bastard-Oh jesus in...ah!"

Agreed.
One thing my brother I and came up with, though, is that it would be alot better if the assasin were to actually use those things in his retinue in the videos.
Like, dancers, young apprentices, dogs, handgun prototypes etc.
Instead of the snake, an experienced assasin could be barging in with a whole gang of companions!
I understand that the game makers probably considered such things an unnecessary effort, but it would have improved the game feeling, I think.

[painter]

It would also have increased the size of the "fmv/assassinate" folder from 500MB to several gigabytes. I think I can live with the limited options we have now.

As for the 70% chance, do you mean by failing and then reloading only to fail again and again?



As for my own input for this thread, I am terribly annoyed that it takes about eight years to travel from Marseille to Jerusalem with the crusading bonus and many more years without it. I am also annoyed that it takes several decades to cross the North Atlantic.

[Wilhelm Ritter]

As for my own input for this thread, I am terribly annoyed that it takes about eight years to travel from Marseille to Jerusalem with the crusading bonus and many more years without it. I am also annoyed that it takes several decades to cross the North Atlantic.

This.
I also hate the existence of heretics and witches in the game... Say whatever you want "it's realistic" or whatever... I just find it to be incredibly annoying. Once I have a huge empire (say 60+ territories) I always feel like I'm playing "medieval II: Total Police state" running around spending twenty minutes a turn burning heretics and witches and pushing down rebels. I get why it's in here on one hand, but on the other hand why does the King (myself of course) have to personally order every witches and heretic burned, why can't I hire some self-motivated priests??... It just really annoys me, and to me it takes away from the game really...
It's why I have a tendency to start like twelve games and play till about 1200 or so and then quit...

[voca]

This.
I also hate the existence of heretics and witches in the game... Say whatever you want "it's realistic" or whatever... I just find it to be incredibly annoying. Once I have a huge empire (say 60+ territories) I always feel like I'm playing "medieval II: Total Police state" running around spending twenty minutes a turn burning heretics and witches and pushing down rebels. I get why it's in here on one hand, but on the other hand why does the King (myself of course) have to personally order every witches and heretic burned, why can't I hire some self-motivated priests??... It just really annoys me, and to me it takes away from the game really...
It's why I have a tendency to start like twelve games and play till about 1200 or so and then quit...

This is especially so when a +5 piety priest turn into a heretic and there are no priest or assassins strong enough to kill him.

[painter]

This is especially so when a +5 piety priest turn into a heretic and there are no priest or assassins strong enough to kill him.

If you were not aware, you can trample enemy agents to death with military units. First surround him or her with military units then move a military unit onto him or her. With no way out, the only way they can go is to leave their mortal coils. You will need at least nine units if on open ground and less if there are some natural features blocking.

[eXistenZ]

The pope, he is a little annoying bastard

[Avatar]

The animation that happens on a merchant acquisition. Every time it pops up you know another merchant is going to be toast, and theres no way to skip it.

[EmperorRasputin]

I actually think the Pope and the whole college of cardinals is a great idea and really adds to the gameplay, a whole new dimension that makes it slightly more complicated than just playing as a Muslim or Orthodox faction.
Its a hinderence but gives the game more depth I think anyway.

[Leto Atreides]

I actually think the Pope and the whole college of cardinals is a great idea and really adds to the gameplay, a whole new dimension that makes it slightly more complicated than just playing as a Muslim or Orthodox faction.
Its a hinderence but gives the game more depth I think anyway.

If only the AI tried to get cardinals promoted. Whenever I play a catholic faction, I always end up with a majority of cardinals in the college.

[Eastern Spain]

If only the AI tried to get cardinals promoted. Whenever I play a catholic faction, I always end up with a majority of cardinals in the college.

I always forget and the AI (normally Milan or France) holds 7+ seats in the college.

[Silverheart]

Painter,
Yes, sometimes I try over and over again by reloading the game.
However, since I recruit spies in bundles (a bunch from several cities on a single turn) they ususally have the exact same experience and skill - and hence, the same chance of success.
I have seen up to ten spies with 70% or more chance of success, where only one or two actually made it.
And if I´m really unlucky, there´s an enemy FM in the settlement, who (of cooourse) immediately gains counter-espionage traits as soon as any of my spies fail.
It Is Annoying!

[painter]

Silverheart, treat the following knowledge with caution, as I have been spoiled by it and it has been difficult to wean myself away from such a cheating advantage.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I hope you were reloading the game and then do a random action to consume the current generated random number. Otherwise a spy who fails to infiltrate will always fail to infiltrate as the random number will always be the same on reload. A random action may be to move a unit out and in a settlement or move your capital city. For example, if you save the game, reload and then auto-resolve a battle, the battle results will always be exactly the same every time you reload. The only time it will change is if you do an action that uses up the current random number. And you may need repeatedly consume the next randomly generated number until you finally succeed.

With such knowledge and a little effort, even an assassin with a 10% chance of success can succeed at assassinating his target. Need to remove a troublesome pope? Not a problem. Need to assassinate five generals in a row to destroy a faction by eliminating their leadership? Not a problem.

Fortunately for me, I am much less tempted to do so for the last two goals. But when it comes to killing random characters, sabotaging buildings, driving merchants out of business, succeeding at spying...

[Calisthenis of Dyrrachium]

I was playing as Sicily once and I captured Rome and kept killing the Popes. With 2,000,000,000 florins of course.

When I was playing as the Pope, I went crazy and attacked everyone.

[Vice]

I refuse to have my generals die by Assassins. I will let them die just about any other way...such as the plague - in battle - and of course old age. But I just refuse to let them die by some crummy assassin! I always reload if they get killed that way!

[Noozooroo]

I hate the unskippable diplomat animations. First they walk up to your city.
Then, they wait for the other diplomats, princesses, assassins, spies, merchants, etc. to slowly turn around and face them.
Then, they nod at your city.
Then, they bow.
Then, they hold out a scroll.
Then, they nod again.
And nothing happens.

I've heard this is because they are attempting to bribe your city, so it shows you the whole action, like when an army attacks your army or city. However, the only time the AI actually did bribe away one of my cities, it didn't even show the diplomat walking up to it. I was so consumed by nerdrage that I reloaded the game several times to make sure that IT DIDN'T SHOW ME THE N ANIMATION.

[Medkirtys]

I hate the unskippable diplomat animations. First they walk up to your city.
Then, they wait for the other diplomats, princesses, assassins, spies, merchants, etc. to slowly turn around and face them.
Then, they nod at your city.
Then, they bow.
Then, they hold out a scroll.
Then, they nod again.
And nothing happens.

I've heard this is because they are attempting to bribe your city, so it shows you the whole action, like when an army attacks your army or city. However, the only time the AI actually did bribe away one of my cities, it didn't even show the diplomat walking up to it. I was so consumed by nerdrage that I reloaded the game several times to make sure that IT DIDN'T SHOW ME THE N ANIMATION.

OH GOD NO!!! Please, do not mention that from now on. I mean, OH GOD NO NOW I SEE THE ANIMATION I MY HEAD...

[Calisthenis of Dyrrachium]

I hate the unskippable diplomat animations. First they walk up to your city.
Then, they wait for the other diplomats, princesses, assassins, spies, merchants, etc. to slowly turn around and face them.
Then, they nod at your city.
Then, they bow.
Then, they hold out a scroll.
Then, they nod again.
And nothing happens.

I've heard this is because they are attempting to bribe your city, so it shows you the whole action, like when an army attacks your army or city. However, the only time the AI actually did bribe away one of my cities, it didn't even show the diplomat walking up to it. I was so consumed by nerdrage that I reloaded the game several times to make sure that IT DIDN'T SHOW ME THE N ANIMATION.

In a Moor campaign of mine I watched the Papal diplomat do the whole thing to Palermo EVERY TURN! (From when I captured Tunis)

[voca]

In a Moor campaign of mine I watched the Papal diplomat do the whole thing to Palermo EVERY TURN! (From when I captured Tunis)

Usually if I see this happenes for a few turns I will send an assassin over.