some technical questions from a new player

I'm just starting out and still have some questions:

*for some of the battery units, an upkeep price is listed with "(if militarised, £x)" beside it -- what does "if militarised" mean in this context?

*when does the "trade year" begin and end? what are the important calendar dates and deadlines to be aware of?

*what is the harvest schedule? i see that surplus or deficit crop returns show up in June and extra needs to be allocated by November, but I don't fully understand the big picture or what the other relevant time points are

*are there any other time-of-year specific order restrictions, deadlines and feedback loops aside from the ways weather and seasons impacts travel and war?

*when playing a historical leader, what aspects of my person, my historical family and advisors are pre-existing traits/characteristics, and which ones do i have a role in determining at game start?

*would diplomacy with vassals, and internal/local/domestic nobility for that matter, take place through letters or through more general orders? or is that a matter of taste/player preference?

I'd appreciate any insight y'all might have!!

A militarized battery is fully crewed by military personell. Otherwise such things as transport is handled by civilians and their slow oxen. So militarized should be generally faster but more expensive to operate.

Trade year begins in January and ends in December. Investments made early will be more effective, giving higher dividends. All expenses are paid in April, so make certain you can cover this. You can overdraw your treasury by 1,000,000 of your own currency (unless you are a pirate). Any more than this will cause serious issues, bad stuff, avoid like the plague.

Your farmers will plant and harvest their crops without your input but if you want to plant extra grain you must do so by November and you will know by June the following year if your attempt produced a surplus or not.

No specific time of year restrictions but celebrations, festivals should be held at their "real world" date.

You can play your leader any way you choose, your followers, underlings, nobility is something quite different and they may take offense if you deviate to much from the path they expect you to take.


Diplomacy with other players and game position NPC (that other players can take over) are through letters. Contact with your own nobility and non game positions are through orders.

Hopefully that was clear. Welcome to the game and good luck.

There are several guides in the forum as well. I wrote a big one which for whatever reason didn't get stickied, but you should look for it.

Keep asking questions. The learning curve can be a bit steep, but the game is deep and rewarding if you manage it.

When doing a position set up, most take the historical family as written. For smaller positions you probably have a lot more room to deviate.

My wife played Burma for a while and she got to define the whole royal family.

In game 8 I started as King Pedro of Portugal, and I just pulled the entire royal family from his wikipedia page!

Thanks for the clear explanations! Super helpful.

Deacon -- which of your articles are you referring to? Could you post a link to it, or the specific title? (I read your musings on honour a few days ago and it was helpful in starting to visualize some of my long term plans and character trajectories)

my game guide

Feel free to ask more questions. The mechanics can take some getting used to.

Out of curiosity how did you find the game? google?