I did not think they could make it any harder than the 1st - and still make it possible to win. WRONG! This game's depth is amazing! You now have to choose what areas are going to be militarily strong, or economically strong (or neither).
Also, rather than the being limited to only reaching other regions bordering yours, you now have a move space limit - which is MUCH smaller than most regions - some of the islands are smaller than your move limit and thats about it. Also, terrain, type of unit, and how developed your roads in the area are all affect movement. If you have an army, it only moves as far as the slowest unit can move in a turn.
Also, let's say you are about to be utterly destroyed by another faction - you can become it's vassel and try to rebuild yourself before declaring independence again (hopefully if this ever happens it will be early on, if you have been playing for a while, you will not win anyway).
You also no longer get automatically excomunicated (if your a Catholic faction) for warring with another Catholic nation. Rather, the largest determination is how much favor you have with the Pope (which you gain by completing missions he gives you or having a cardinal from your faction become Pope in the new election you can partake in, or voting for the winning Pope). Also, if the Pope warns you to stop attacking the faction, but they keep attacking you, it recognizes that and THEY get excommunicated. Then, you can feel free to open the door to a world of pain and vengeance with the Pope's blessing
Ships play a MUCH larger role if you want to actually get everything done in time. Unless you are going DEEP into a landlocked region, it is MUCH faster to travel along the coast in small ships. Naval battles are a lot more common as well. Unfortunately, you don't have direct control - just try to have the most numbers and the best leader.
Special unit types (Welsh longbowmen, etc) no longer are so hard to get - one of the very few things they made easier, and even then its mostly because its clearer on how to get them - not that the process is easier.
CUTSCENES!!!! Mostly basic, but some of them are good (and none are horrible), especially the assassination attempts - particularly when they go awry. At the same time, watching a successful one feels really creepy - not because its graphic or anything, but you do here the person either scream in fear of their lives or struggle before they die - think Psycho - you see little, and it actually makes it worse - and you may feel guilty despite it being a game.
Before every battle, you can listen to your commanding general give a speech to motivate his men. These can either be awe-inspiring (in a cliche kinda way, and the mediocre at best voice acting often takes away from what would have been a great speach) or comical. "THEY FEAR YOUMEN! DO YOU KNOW WHY THE FEAR YOU?....uh BE-C/...uh....BECAUSE...THEY FEAR ME AND KNOW ME COURAGEOUS...and...and...THEY KNOW THAT YOU MUST BE THE SAME OR I WOULD NOT FIGHT WITH YOU!!!! *notes to self should prepare speech in advance*"
Control interface is much easier as well.
You can only choose between five factions (at least from the early period) but if you beet the campaign, you will unlock more, and especially if you buy the expansion.
Also, in addition to the improved graphics, each person in a unit actually somewhat thinks for his own and you, if you want, can actually zoom in and pick any two guys going at each other - attacking, blocking, parrying, injuring and finishing (the downside obviously being you can't watch the whole battle as well and if you get carried away may forget to check up on it every now and then and not react to the enemies movements and find yourself flanked or suddenly being rained down on with arrows as your foes retreat and reinforcements come charging in). However, all of this can be VERY taxing on your system - average store bought packages WILL experience quite a bit of choppiness in the thousands on thousands battles.
Anyway, if you like strategy - intense strategy anyway, this game is a must have. I know it's been out for a while, but because of that, you can pick it up pretty cheap ($20) and it is still a great game.
