Since CK was released Europa Universalis Rome and Sengoku have come out. Are there any features from those games which have made their way over to CKII?

Off the top of my head, this is what we took from those games: From EU Rome, we took the entire concept of imprisoning characters, executing them and banishing them. This felt like it would fit naturally in a medieval setting, after all, who doesn't think of damp dungeons when they see a castle? Another interesting thing we took from EU Rome was the idea that characters have ambitions they want to fulfill. From Sengoku we took the concept of characters plotting to fulfill their ambitions and to destroy others'. Another important lesson from Sengoku was the experience we got in improving and changing the interfaces, it has given us some very solid ground to stand on.

Will there be separate campaigns in CKII as well as the main campaign, or will it be a historical sandbox like the original?

The original had three separate starting dates, while CKII will feature what is technically almost 100,000 different historical starting dates, and each of these has hundreds of playable characters. In this sequel, you can start with any Christian count, duke, king or emperor in Europe or the Middle East at any given date from 1066 to 1337. We are giving players a huge historical sandbox with endless replayability.

The original game had a multiplayer mode, will that be returning and if so can you tell us a little bit about it?

All our games support multiplayer over direct-IP or LAN and through our own matchmaking server. The game supports up to 32 players playing together in the same campaign. Since this is a game that is not finished in a few hours, players usually schedule set times to meet up and continue their campaign. This is kind of similar to how people raid in MMOs. Of course, playing against other humans takes the game to a whole other level of fun. Think of how ruthless, conniving and backstabbing you can be towards and AI player, and then imagine 30 other humans behaving like that...

Are there any other changes returning players can expect?

There have been quite a lot of changes in the game compared to the original one. Some of the most major changes include the revision of combat, where you can now have more control of how your army will fight, as you can arrange who goes on flanks and in the center before battles. We also have more direct actions for your court, so that you can send them on tasks for you instead of just giving you bonuses. The final thing I'd like to mention is the enhancement of the feudal structure where we added Emperors at the top Barons at the bottom, to bring the feudal ranks up to five.

Beta sign ups started on the 11th, when will the beta start?

That part of the beta will start in early November if the stars are right and what is dead can eternally lie...