Crusader Kings II

[cironian]

100% certain that as long as your heir is from anywhere within your dynasty (same last name, same dynasty coat of arms) it's not a Game Over.

Try the Seniority succession law for example: In that one the oldest person in the world who is part of the dynasty inherits (excepting bastards, I think), no matter how many degrees removed they are. And that's not a Game Over. In fact, this makes Seniority the "safest" succession law, since you can't lose as long as you have some living relative somewhere, but it's balanced by getting random old dudes on your throne and permanent short rule penalties.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Looks like it's got serious balance issues, everyone's posting pictures of republics with off the charts income.  Paradox really rushed this one out the door, balance to be patched later.

[Korachia]

Have you tried it? I was thinking of getting this DLC, but if its no fun, I will wait some time.

[proudft]

I've played Venice a little, like 30 years,  as the start ruler and his heir.   His heir got de-Doged when my starting guy died so there was some fussiness to figure out there.  It appears control of Venice itself goes to whoever is Doge, so the improvements I had built there are not helping me until I get re-elected.  And the new Doge promptly declared a bunch of stupid wars, which he is losing.  So the game might be doomed.   

Marriages are each costing 100-400 gold which is eating up a ton of money.  The main complaint I have seen in forumses is that if you can Plot to take someone's trade post reliably (at 150% success), you can take ALL of them.   My trade post taking-over plots are at like 30% so I have not experienced this yet.

[proudft]

Next DLC announced: http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/crusader-kings-ii-the-old-gods#about_game-tab

 

[satael]

Next DLC announced: http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/crusader-kings-ii-the-old-gods#about_game-tab

 

The DLC will include playing as a pagan

[Ruvaldt]

Looks like a great DLC.  I haven't played any of the others, but I might bite on this one if I can create a Zoroastrian empire in the middle east.

[Sjofn]

Ooh, I will buy that one. <3

[HaemishM]

Finally got back to this over the weekend. I started back on my Byzantine Prince Michael play. One of my vassals apparently hates the fuck out of me (opinion of me was -100). I've been trying to put together a plot to gank his ass since I started but haven't been able to get enough weight behind it for it to come off. So he fucks me. I appoint one of my courtiers to the Count of the holding north of the dickhead and he gets my Uncle to send me an ultimatum. Remove the new count or go to war. Fuck him, I go to war.

And lose. To the point where I am now in prison and my holdings are being run by a regent. My father, the head honcho of the Byzantine Empire is my heir. So if my guy ends up dying in prison, that means I get to keep playing as my old-ass father right?

[Ingmar]

Finally got back to this over the weekend. I started back on my Byzantine Prince Michael play. One of my vassals apparently hates the fuck out of me (opinion of me was -100). I've been trying to put together a plot to gank his ass since I started but haven't been able to get enough weight behind it for it to come off. So he fucks me. I appoint one of my courtiers to the Count of the holding north of the dickhead and he gets my Uncle to send me an ultimatum. Remove the new count or go to war. Fuck him, I go to war.

And lose. To the point where I am now in prison and my holdings are being run by a regent. My father, the head honcho of the Byzantine Empire is my heir. So if my guy ends up dying in prison, that means I get to keep playing as my old-ass father right?

Assuming you share a dynasty name, yes.

[Bann]

Has anyone tried out March of Eagles?

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/march-of-the-eagles

The map and few minutes of video I watched made me think it was CK II: Napoleon edition, but I dunno. I'd like to hear your opinion if you have played.

[cironian]

CK II: Napoleon edition

How so? Seems very closely like Hearts of Iron: Napoleon edition, but that's almost the completely opposite focus from CK2. Where Crusader Kings focuses more on peace-time scheming and long-term planning, here you are working with short-term wartime strategy.

Mind you, I'll probably want to try March at some point, but I'd hesitate to recommend it to a pure CK2 fan for that reason.

[Ingmar]

All the Paradox games are broadly similar in terms of the engine and such so if you're not familiar with the whole range of them I can see being reminded of CK2. My expectation is mechanically it would be more like an EU game than anything else, but I haven't looked at it in detail yet.

[rk47]

Fuck yes, won the game.

I admit, I can't continue playing it anymore. Too much shit to manage. I'd end up hating it, but man. what a ride. What. A . Ride.

[HaemishM]

I actually inherited the Byzantine Empire from my brother (who I was plotting to kill) early on - like 1076 or something. I lasted less than a year as Emperor. I go to imprison one of my 3 brothers who ALL hate me and have dishonored me (making their imprisonment righteous) and he rebels. No problem, he only has 3 counties to suppress. Then my other shitheel brother rebels before I can put the first one down and he has a SHITTON more troops. Like every province is full of his troops from out of nowhere. Fucker sieges Constantinople with 10k troops and the most I can muster in one place is 1k. I surrender and he imprisons my bitch ass, where I still sit, 10 years later.

[schpain]

For someone looking to buy this shortly (if steam sales don't hurry the f up...) should i bother with the dlc and expansions?  do they add alot to the base game or can they be skipped for the sake of saving a few dollars?

essentially im comparing to original civ5 compared to g+k, i find that the extra civs and religion, more wonders really add to the depth of civ5.

[rk47]

For someone looking to buy this shortly (if steam sales don't hurry the f up...) should i bother with the dlc and expansions?  do they add alot to the base game or can they be skipped for the sake of saving a few dollars?

essentially im comparing to original civ5 compared to g+k, i find that the extra civs and religion, more wonders really add to the depth of civ5.

hi , schpain.

whatever you do - do not  - i repeat - do not buy ass-tec invasion DLC.

1. Republic DLC - Adds playable merchant Republics as playable govt type - Money powered that focus on generating bucket of gold to hire mercs as military power. Not essential and can be unbalancing.
2. Legacy of Rome - Adds more Byzantine flavored events and retinue mechanics (standing army) - Highly recommended.
3. Sword of Islam - if you really care about playing as Islamic Kingdoms with different set of events and mechanics (decadence - multiple wives) this could be worthwhile. But since I have no desire to lead the Religion of Peace - I skipped this.
The rest you can ignore .
Up and coming expansion - Old Gods lets you play as Pagans with deeper raid mechanics. Vikings that use human sacrifices and pillage europe annually. I'm waiting for this.

[tgr]

Human sacrifices and pillaging of Europe?

My body is ready.

[cironian]

Keep in mind that the expansions only make their respective ruler types playable. The AI nations will have the added features even if you don't buy the expansions, so republics were OP (they were toned down a few days ago) even if you didn't buy it.

That said, I also recommend Legacy of Rome as the best of the three expansions yet. The Byzantine empire mechanics and story events are really fun and make a nice difference from your average catholic ruler. Republics have a ton of new features but were too OP to be fun when I tried then, maybe that's different now. Islam is the weakest expansion of the three, and only worth it if you find a 50% off sale or are really into that part of history.

And we do not speak of That Other Expansion.

[HaemishM]

I can't really compare the expansions to the vanilla game, as I bought all 3 of the expansions (and ignored the Aztec one) and only played a little as anything other than Byzantine. I will say though that the Byzantine empire is fun as fuck with tons of civil wars and intrigue options.

[schpain]

Cheers everyone, much appreciated.

[rk47]

The most important part of the game is having a good successor.
Marry a genius and pray for a good child. If not, go for Quick / Strong. Mix and match Genius with Strong spouses - for the ultimate ubermensch.
Spread the smarts around and suddenly your dynasty's fortune can turn around just like that. 

Diplomacy = Relations Bonus
Martial = Military Warfare
Stewardship = Economics
Intrigue = Good for Plotting and Defense against Plots.
Learning = Tech research Bonus

[cironian]

Watching the Old Gods stream right now at http://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive

They've put all CK2 stuff 75% off at http://www.paradoxplaza.com/shop , so if you still don't have it you can get the base game + the 3 main DLCs at about 16$ total. No idea how long the sale will remain up though.

[Pennilenko]

Thanks for the heads up on the sale. I have been reading about this game here for a bit now and man it is much more fun than i anticipated.

It is really complicated though.

[HaemishM]

They've put all CK2 stuff 75% off at http://www.paradoxplaza.com/shop , so if you still don't have it you can get the base game + the 3 main DLCs at about 16$ total. No idea how long the sale will remain up though.

FYI, this sale gives you Steam keys so if you are using the Steam version - presto chango, very easy. Got the Republic for $2.50, immediately activated it through Steam.

[Pennilenko]

I wish the Ruler Designer DLC was also on sale.

Also, I get jacked up pretty quick, even when I set the game to very easy. Bitches be taking my throne fast.

[rk47]

picked all DLC except for azztech. Good find!

[Pennilenko]

Where the fuck did the last 6 hours of my life go?

[cironian]

 

[Lucas]

A taste of Essos (Game of Thrones mod). And no, won't be released along with Old Gods

http://ck2agot.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/dev-diary-essos-1/

[proudft]

Release the Vikings!  http://youtu.be/Y53_GV2aAg8

[HaemishM]

So awesome. Trying to decide if I should wait for a sale or not.

[Reg]

I got it today but unfortunately it doesnt do much if you're resuming from a save file. I think to get the full experience I need to start a new game.

[satael]

Empire of Scandinavia 
(image spoilered due to size)

[Khaldun]

Actually even from a save file there are some interesting changes in the interface.