Crusader Kings II

[Strazos]

So, I totally bought this when it was on sale. I could never figure out the demo, but maybe someday I'll be able to make the full game work for me.

[Raguel]

Is it possible to repel the Mongols or do they just trample over everyone? Right now I'm using the "All Beyond Reach" defense. 

[rk47]

It's possible. The Mongols have been nerfed.
Now they gave them split stacks of 15k each.
So it's possible for the AI to spread itself too thin.
Previously they just drop 100k army stack and let it roam around, taking no casualty.
Now, I just bait them and can outmaneuver them with Organizer trait.

[schpain]

for what its worth, i've got 3 50% off CK2 coupons in my steamventory.

PM me if you want one.  i dont think the coupon is going to help you with the masses of DLC and expansions however.

[Sky]

I also have a -50% CK2 coupon up for grabs.

[Paelos]

I also have 3 of those. What's the deal?

[Ceryse]

I also have one of those coupons if anyone wants one.

Aside from that; recently gotten back into CK2 recently (picked up the new expansion and such while I wait for the EU4 expansion to hit later this month) and have been side-tracked from the main game by the Game of Thrones mod. Really surprised at the quality in the mod, given its a 0.5 beta version. A lot of nice ideas to it that would fit into the base CK2 game very well (duel system, education system, traits being more important and so on).

[Phildo]

Funny, I assumed one of you guys anonymously gifted me one last night.

[cironian]

Sooo... I just vassalized the Shia caliph. As a Catholic.


Anyone have a nice idea on what to do with him? I'm the heir, but I think the caliph title would be automatically destroyed if I got it, so the first thing that comes to mind wouldn't do much good.

NEVAMIND, it turns out I can be Caliph instead of the Caliph.


Unfortunately, it doesn't allow me to call Jihads.

Wonder how long it's going to take for the game to remember that I'm not supposed to have this...

I don't think this is supposed to be possible under normal circumstances, but war resolution got a bit wonky:
 - I joined an early crusade for Aragon
 - At the same time the Shia uprising also targeted Aragon
 - Crusade won, giving me the crown and all lands there. I filled it with vassals of course.
 - Then a few weeks later, the Caliph won his war and someone took Aragon and all vassals from me even though I was not the target of his war (I would say this is the problem)
 - After he lost his event troops the catholics I landed started a faction war to put me back on the throne, leaving the caliph my vassal

[HaemishM]

I have a 50% off coupon for Crusader Kings 2 on Steam good until Feb. 1st if anyone still doesn't have this excellent game.

[lac]

The excellent Game of Thrones mod for CKII got a huge update as well, adding in the Essos continent.

Patch 0.5 Notes

[Ceryse]

The excellent Game of Thrones mod for CKII got a huge update as well, adding in the Essos continent.

I've been playing that a bit lately. Fairly good, though there are still a few irritating bugs (the added education system just stops working entirely a few decades in, as an example). Mod has a lot of additions that really work well, though. The dragons, duel system, and the basic idea of upgrading castles, etc., are all pretty good. I'd probably still be playing it if I wasn't getting ready for the EU4 expansion by trying a world conquest game as Muscovy.

Just don't have Sunset Invasion turned on if you play the mod. Ruined one of my games as Robb pretty spectacularly when 40k+ Aztecs suddenly decided to show up in the North, followed by another 40k+ in the North controlled Riverlands.

[Speedy Cerviche]

^LOL

What scenario for this GoT mod has the most flavour worked in?

[Ceryse]

^LOL

What scenario for this GoT mod has the most flavour worked in?

I've only played the Clash of Kings scenario, personally.. as its the only scenario I was familiar with (I haven't read the books; I tried and found them rather shitty). It has a decent amount of scripted events.. but they won't always fire. My last game, where I played Daenerys, Renly never got killed and became King, executing Cersei, Tyrion, and Tywin, then losing the North and the Riverlands to Robb, which then saw Stannis' daughter take the Iron Throne through the war started by Stannis, Jaime becoming an independent King of the Westerlands, and setting the stage perfectly for me to swoop in after rebuffing some guy named Aegon (who eventually became kindling to my dragon).

Oh, and then the Iron Isles conquered the North. So Greyjoys became Kings of the North, and somehow Rickon Stark, who converted to the Drowned Gods, became King of the Iron Isles before waging a massive war to becoming King of the Riverlands (which he won, against his mother), before launching another large war to re-take the North.. which he won (against Theon). He then died trying to take the Iron Throne from me.. but did manage to kill two dragons ridden Daenerys's twin children (who were, of course, married to each other).

After awhile the scripted stuff stops completely.. but knowing a bit about the characters can lead to some hilarious moments due to natural CK2 mechanics (my favourite in that game was Jaime ended up married to Arya, who fell in love with each other, had four kids, two girls, two boys -- who ended up pairing off with each other, and were so godly stat and trait-wise that it helped them eventually topple the rule of Daenerys' grand-child because they all had 25+ martial and no stat below 15, were all duelists and formidable fighters.. and the two boys ended up having Valyrian swords which aided them both in taming dragons of their own).

[Speedy Cerviche]

Thanks, maybe I'll wait for a hotfix or two before I try a campaign.

[cironian]

Best name for an Anti-Pope, ever.

[Korachia]

I wonder what upgrades the mark 2 comes with..

[Stormwaltz]

I wonder what upgrades the mark 2 comes with.

[Korachia]

Haha that made me smile. It's way better than the fragile pope-mobile - especially for modern crusades against evil.

[rk47]

Paradox relations at work.



This cousin/nephew of mine isn't gonna last long as Georgian Basileus ruling over Greece.
Not sure whether to back him. Heheh.

[Hutch]

Alright, I picked this up during the winter sale, and I'm going to give it a whirl.

I'm starting off very basic, and probably easy-mode, as King Harold II of England.

Right off, the game is giving me the following things to deal with:
- My Demesne is too big, 8/4. It is affecting tax efficiency, and vassal attitudes. The hell is my Demesne, and how does one alter it?
- I can create 3 titles. Is this related to the Demesne issue? If I create titles, to whom should I give them? Vassals? My un-landed adult sons?
- Oh yeah, I have two "adult" sons (i.e. 16+ yrs) who don't have land.
So I'm thinking these first three are related? Is it as simple as creating the titles, and dividing them among my vassals and/or offspring, et voila, Demesne is back under control? Should I wait a year until my 15-year-old son becomes an "adult"?
- Additionally, I can press a de jure ducal claim on Cumberland.
- And I need to pick an ambition.
The ambition choices are pretty straightforward. Become a "Paragon of Virtue", i.e. Piety 500+, or improve one of my three "poor" traits.

Also, the Norwegians are assaulting York. I have an army in Leicester. Is there any intricacy in going to war in this game?

Any hints, advice, anecdotes to share? Thanks in advance :)

[rk47]

Alright, I picked this up during the winter sale, and I'm going to give it a whirl.

I'm starting off very basic, and probably easy-mode, as King Harold II of England.

Right off, the game is giving me the following things to deal with:
- My Demesne is too big, 8/4. It is affecting tax efficiency, and vassal attitudes. The hell is my Demesne, and how does one alter it?
- I can create 3 titles. Is this related to the Demesne issue? If I create titles, to whom should I give them? Vassals? My un-landed adult sons?
- Oh yeah, I have two "adult" sons (i.e. 16+ yrs) who don't have land.
So I'm thinking these first three are related? Is it as simple as creating the titles, and dividing them among my vassals and/or offspring, et voila, Demesne is back under control? Should I wait a year until my 15-year-old son becomes an "adult"?
- Additionally, I can press a de jure ducal claim on Cumberland.
- And I need to pick an ambition.
The ambition choices are pretty straightforward. Become a "Paragon of Virtue", i.e. Piety 500+, or improve one of my three "poor" traits.

Also, the Norwegians are assaulting York. I have an army in Leicester. Is there any intricacy in going to war in this game?

Any hints, advice, anecdotes to share? Thanks in advance :)

Historically you will lose. 

[Mithas]

England is definitely not easy mode for a beginner. Everyone always says to go with someone in Ireland. Pretty isolated in the early game and you can become King of Ireland fairly easily.

- Your Demesne is the land you control directly. Everything else is for vassals. You take a vassal opinion penalty if it is too large. The game really comes down to managing vassals, so I leave my demesne large if I can afford the penalty hit. As a beginner I would probably get it as close to what you are allowed as possible.

- Regarding titles, big question there. It really depends on what the title is. Sometimes I create titles, sometimes I don't. It is not directly tied to your demesne, however if you create ducal titles and such you could get a penalty hit.

- Regarding sons, you get a prestige penalty hit if your sons do not have land. I control my sons until I can arrange there marriage and then go from there. Maybe I give them land, maybe I don't.

- Regarding pressing ducal claims, if you feel like you can take a county, I press ducal claims whenever I can.

- Regarding traits, I always improve my poor traits first and move on to other things afterward. Not sure how others do it.

There are all kinds of intricacies to going to war. You need a Casus Belli to begin with (cause for war). Do you have enough troops to defeat the opposing forces? Do you have an unhappy duke who may rebel at the most inopportune time?

Stick with it. It is a complicated game, but once you get it and it clicks, it is a lot of fun. I have sunk hundreds of hours in.

[Korachia]

Regarding ambitions that improve stats, it depends on my realm's situation. Is it large with lots of vassals? Then it's diplo. Is it small and rather peaceful and I hold many counties directly? Stewardship all the way. Am I in a rough neighborhood where you get killed for just looking at them. I need my martial stat high for the troop boast, and If I don't have any alternatives for leading my men, I can also use him as a general. The 2 others I find less useful, and can be put on low priority.

[rk47]

Even with 8 martial skill u still get 10% penalty.
Diplomacy seems to be the best for all situations.

[Korachia]

Even with 8 martial skill u still get 10% penalty.
Diplomacy seems to be the best for all situations.

Even if you hold all lands directly in a rather small and/or centralized realm? The extra money provided by each stewardship point seems a lot more enticing. 

[cironian]

Levy size is 50% + (5% * Martial). So you need 10 to get the base size. This is unbounded, so a huge martial score also means huge armies.

Also, to actually respond to the discussion at hand happy vassals help a great deal with everything and state diplomacy may also keep your stronger neighbor from attacking you, so Diplo generally comes first unless your lands are small and stewardship is close to getting a demesne size upgrade, in which case that will probably help you more.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Doesn't your levy scale with the positive relationship? I haven't played a campaign in a while, but unless they changed it I remember getting a relatively larger levy from someone with a +100 opinion of me than someone with just a +15.

[Mortriden]

Doesn't your levy scale with the positive relationship? I haven't played a campaign in a while, but unless they changed it I remember getting a relatively larger levy from someone with a +100 opinion of me than someone with just a +15.

Yes, this is true.  I believe it's a penalty situation, where a low opinion reduces your levy from max, but ultimately a high opinion grants a larger levy.  Diplo is #1 for sure.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Yeah by far best for your immediate survival/expansion. Unless you are in a situation where you have no enemies, and no expansion plans, so just prefer to sit around and upgrade your own lands.

[Pagz]

As a general rule I find if I'm small (like one kingdom title or smaller) then I usually go for Stewardship so I can control more land and so raise larger levies and ducats, however any bigger then that and it's best to go diplo all the way. Although I tend to always educate heirs in the martial line since It's the only one (I've found anyway) that I can upgrade after their 16, but +diplo traits all the way.

[satael]

Next DLC announced: Rajas of India (announced at pdxcon)
-3 new religions
-300 new provinces

 

[proudft]

Holy shit. 

[Speedy Cerviche]

Very ambitious...wonder how this will play out because some of these expansions have been kind of unbalanced. Vikings had a cool theme but the micromanagement of looting was tedious. The huge amount of gold earning was also unbalanced. Same with republics. SoA not so bad since it mostly just added flavour not major economic mechanics. I have a feeling that adding so many new provinces, wealthy ones too, might be pretty blobtastic plus people will expect a lot of flavour from these exotic locales and I am not sure pdox will be able to deliver since it's just considered and xpac.

[Sjofn]

Holy shit is right!