I'm pretty new to C4C and AoD2 but I can only imagine many other players are doing the same thing I do - play money games with the king. Also known as, try hard not to have a big pile of money sitting around waiting for him to ask for it.

So I line up expenses for when a ship reaches the Homeland, then sell just enough stuff for what I need atm (with a little left over for pioneers), and then might go on to buy a little silver from natives for cheap, to lock up a few more dollars where the king can't get to it. It's pretty common for a ship to leave the Homeland with a cargo slot still full, because it would have left money "exposed" where the king could get it.

BTW in another game I refused to kiss the ring a bunch of times (10?) and, although the king got angry, he never did anything. Can I always refuse him without any effect at all?

Comments appreciated,
MK

The game engine seems a bit wonky, I admit. The only real negative is the King won't help you out with cheap Regulars (a sort of pre-fabbed dragoon) and it is reflected in how fast the REF builds up and how often you get hit with big tax increases. Admittedly some kings are worse than others for panhandling for cash, the English king is coded to drive the player into a ravening frenzy for independence, whereas the Dutch King less so. Overall, I am less than impressed by the coding in the vanilla game engine. One of th first times I played I refused every tax increase and never gave the King a single coin of gold, I won the game all the same with hardly any effort. Not quite an epic fail on game design for Firaxis, but pretty damned close.