Crusader Kings II

[rk47]

[rk47]

Jew DLC is out guys.
Bought it last night.
Playing Orthodox now and noticed several new options under intrigue:
- Go on Pilgrimage, much like Muslims. Once in a life time.
- Borrow money from the Jews.
- Remove all jews from your lands. (This cancels the debts at diplomacy cost  )

[Korachia]

What do you think of the new levy system and combat system?

[satael]

My only complain so far is that the iron man mode doesn't allow the use of ruler designer even to name your dynasty etc. (I like naming the dynasty and the first ruler as something different and then seeing how those names pop up along the way during the game in the next generations)

[rk47]

What do you think of the new levy system and combat system?

Vast empire is no longer capable of rofl-stomping that easily due to increased levy upkeep cost and reduced levy amount if you are raising troops outside of dejure territories.
I've not experimented enough to go in-depth, but in general there's a marked loss of power for traditional 'blob' that would form in game.

I'm definitely itching for a restart, but my current navarran-bulgarian kingdom game is too interesting to abandon.

Also, don't skimp on martial skill. 0 Martial = -50% levy.

[HaemishM]

If you haven't gotten Sons of Abraham yet, it's on sale for 10% off on Green Man Gaming plus they have a 25% off coupon code (use code GMG25-DW6L1-6XGZ9) this weekend - total price is $6.75.

[rk47]

Catholics are broken.

[Mithas]

Man I have such a love/hate relationship with this game. I will play the shit out of it and I'm doing really well. Then I get one or two bad rulers and my country blows up. I ragequit and don't play again for a few months.

[Speedy Cerviche]

The fun part is dealing with adversity otherwise it's too easy. Ironman mode is great for this it really removes the temptation to save scum.

[Sjofn]

Man I have such a love/hate relationship with this game. I will play the shit out of it and I'm doing really well. Then I get one or two bad rulers and my country blows up. I ragequit and don't play again for a few months.

I do this too, I'll have a bad run of kings dying early (or occasionally, REALLY LATE, such that it's his great goddamn grandson taking over at age 3) and everything goes sideways and the AI of course smells weakness so EVERYONE IN THE WORLD declares war on me and then it's just a huge catastrofuck and I ragequit and sulk for a while.

On the other hand, when the rolling UR NOT THE BOSS OF ME revolts time themselves right, it feels pretty good to crush a bunch of them in a row.

[Khaldun]

I actually love it when things go bad, even if it sometimes means I just have to start a new game. It feels right.

[proudft]

I started a new game with the new DLC, picked the little kid in Alexandria under the theory that SOA has some new Muslim stuff.  He inherited a bunch of Egypt when he dad died after a decade or two.  Game's been going pretty well, on leader #3 or 4, and we have the Empire of Abyssinia now and it is just about the year 1000.  Best Muslim game I've had by far - usually I get stomped by Catholics immediately after starting.  So I expect it to fall to pieces soon.

[rk47]

I'm racing my Persian empire for the prospects of the Mongolian invasion while trying to purge the Muslims from Middle East as Persia.



By the grace of Jesus Christ, the Sole Protector of Man, the Blood Ravens shall not falter.

[satael]

Just had the work of 2 generations of rulers go down the drain when playing a variation of Venician merchant. I conquered Sicily and when my current head of the family died and I lost the seat of the patrician I declared independence but unfortunately the new patrician was really rich and could roll out lots mercenaries. As I was forced to accept defeat and my leader was imprisoned the final blow came when Italy suddenly declared war the following year (conquest of Sicily) and the patrician was powerless to stop them (and so I watched from the prison as Italy took all my holdings). 

[rk47]

I'm looking forward to the Mongolian invasion myself.
I've grown attached to my Empire and reveled in backstabbing every other neighbors and interfered with faraway Pagan affairs.
I just went Free Investiture to spite and install my own. Mwahahahaha. Soon, soon.

[Teleku]

Yeah, I REALLY need an ironman mode.  I am a save scumming addict.  I cannot help but save before important decisions, and go back to reloads when things go badly.  I cannot understand how you guys could rage quite the game before they added it in.  When things go bad, reload!  

I always keep telling myself I'll play a game where I don't, but then that always falls apart when things get rough.  Need to keep forcing myself to play Ironman modes only in all games if I can.  I was trying that with xcom, but after about 70 to 80 (no joke) failed Ironman classics, had to resort ot just normal classic so I could reload when I fucked up.

[satael]

Yeah, I REALLY need an ironman mode.  I am a save scumming addict.  I cannot help but save before important decisions, and go back to reloads when things go badly.  I cannot understand how you guys could rage quite the game before they added it in.  When things go bad, reload!  

I always keep telling myself I'll play a game where I don't, but then that always falls apart when things get rough.  Need to keep forcing myself to play Ironman modes only in all games if I can.  I was trying that with xcom, but after about 70 to 80 (no joke) failed Ironman classics, had to resort ot just normal classic so I could reload when I fucked up.

The most challenging part (and the most rewarding) of CK2 is when things go really wrong (and you are able to salvage a hopeless looking situation... though sometimes it takes many decades to climb back into power). Atleast for me the hardest part of learning to play CK2 was to learn to accept defeats and keep playing (instead of restarting).

[Teleku]

Oh I agree.  The most interesting games are ones where you accept what happens and dont reload.  What I'm saying is that I've come to the conclusion I'm physically incapable of doing that.  

[rk47]

oldie but goodie

[Korachia]

Well it would not be first time in Byzantine history that a loyal but popular underling was prosecuted by the Emperor.. He should be glad that it was only his balls that got cut.

[Speedy Cerviche]

Oh I agree.  The most interesting games are ones where you accept what happens and dont reload.  What I'm saying is that I've come to the conclusion I'm physically incapable of doing that.  

You get the best moments like that. Most epic was a trebizond/byzantine game, everything falling to pieces in a civil war, my levies shredded, heartland under siege, all I had left were my cataphract retinues, charged them into one of their armies at 1:2 odds, routed their center, and captured my brother the rebel leader, saving the day. Wouldn't of happened if I just save scummed to before the revolt started.

Sometimes we get too fixated on expansion, expansion, expansion and take any setback event too hard, just fixate on taking a bee line route from count to emperor in 3 generations. This removes a large part of the gameplay, and ultimately fun.

[Sjofn]

I'm usually content to be king (I only made one empire ever, the VIKING HORDES needed an emperor, obvs). The most fun I had recently was making Poland. I kept waffling on making it Catholic or not, though. I decided reforming our pagan selves was too big a pain in the ass eventually, though. Then I ate Hungary. Then I had three kings die in about four years. Didn't really hold shit together after that. :(

The silliest thing I did was give my heir Scotland (I was the ~queen~ of Ireland and Scotland at the time) just to see what he'd do. And he decided to declare war on England like a genius, which resulted in him getting a righteous ass kicking. Good job, dumb ass.

The most family murder I did (I don't usually murder shitty heirs/extra heirs/whatever, I try to roll with it instead) was when I was Croatia. There is some sort of moron gene in that family line, because my first heir was slow. His sister murdered him (after offing her other idiot brother, presumably as a warning shot) and became queen, which I was fine with because she was normal. But she had two idiot children and one normal one. Deciding that since she was ALREADY a kinslayer, I murdered the shit out of the two idiots and married the third one off to a GENIUS in the hopes that maybe the next generation wouldn't be stupid. This hope was futile, however, as her son's first son was also an idiot. So he got murdered too. That kid's brother was a genius, though, so he got to live. Clicking around in her family tree during a slow part, I noticed a LOT of people in her family seemed to be married to their cousins, which may explain why so many of my heirs were morons in that game.  

She eventually became THE GREAT and the Pope totally forgave her for being a kinslayer, so obviously she went to heaven. She was the best.  

[satael]

I'm usually content to be king (I only made one empire ever, the VIKING HORDES needed an emperor, obvs). The most fun I had recently was making Poland. I kept waffling on making it Catholic or not, though. I decided reforming our pagan selves was too big a pain in the ass eventually, though. Then I ate Hungary. Then I had three kings die in about four years. Didn't really hold shit together after that. :(

The silliest thing I did was give my heir Scotland (I was the ~queen~ of Ireland and Scotland at the time) just to see what he'd do. And he decided to declare war on England like a genius, which resulted in him getting a righteous ass kicking. Good job, dumb ass.

The most family murder I did (I don't usually murder shitty heirs/extra heirs/whatever, I try to roll with it instead) was when I was Croatia. There is some sort of moron gene in that family line, because my first heir was slow. His sister murdered him (after offing her other idiot brother, presumably as a warning shot) and became queen, which I was fine with because she was normal. But she had two idiot children and one normal one. Deciding that since she was ALREADY a kinslayer, I murdered the shit out of the two idiots and married the third one off to a GENIUS in the hopes that maybe the next generation wouldn't be stupid. This hope was futile, however, as her son's first son was also an idiot. So he got murdered too. That kid's brother was a genius, though, so he got to live. Clicking around in her family tree during a slow part, I noticed a LOT of people in her family seemed to be married to their cousins, which may explain why so many of my heirs were morons in that game.  

She eventually became THE GREAT and the Pope totally forgave her for being a kinslayer, so obviously she went to heaven. She was the best.  

Stories like this are why I can't really get into Europa Universalis (4). The characters and all the weird stuff they get into is what keeps me coming back to CK2 alot more than just the basic (by the numbers) empire building. 

[rk47]

I just broke 5 truces in a row. Like a bawse.

[rk47]

[rk47]

[satael]

The  real is that it has gotten 112 replies.

[rk47]

The  real is that it has gotten 112 replies.

It just got locked by a mod. 

[Speedy Cerviche]

It's a joke on the paradox forums to make these sorts of troll posts. Well done.

[Raguel]

I've had this game for awhile but I just started playing it awhile ago. I feel like I'm doing something wrong; I'm playing the ez mode Holy Roman Empire but everything goes to hell fast.

How do sieges work? The AI can land grab quickly but the only way I've managed is to just sit there and wait them out. I don't think the tutorial went over that, but I'll check again.

[rk47]

I've had this game for awhile but I just started playing it awhile ago. I feel like I'm doing something wrong; I'm playing the ez mode Holy Roman Empire but everything goes to hell fast.

How do sieges work? The AI can land grab quickly but the only way I've managed is to just sit there and wait them out. I don't think the tutorial went over that, but I'll check again.

Sieges: Attacker needs numerical superiority to accelerate the siege. If Defender > Attacker - you can never win the siege.
If you have more than 3-5 times the number, it might be a good idea to call an assault.
This will inflict high casualty but accelerate it.
Keep in mind that sieges favor archers. So if you have a high archer count, you'd notice sieges go quicker (projectiles how do they work?

To assault, click on the county under siege, next to the attacker is a red button. Click to assault.

[Mithas]

Managing a large kingdom is actually pretty hard until you get used to it. Even though the difficulty looks low on HRE, it is actually easier to start as a count. Ireland is popular for a beginner.

[satael]

Managing a large kingdom is actually pretty hard until you get used to it. Even though the difficulty looks low on HRE, it is actually easier to start as a count. Ireland is popular for a beginner.

If you have old gods dlc then an early start as some petty chief in Scandinavia is probably the easiest and lets you get into expanding your territory early on (compared to having to get a de jure claim as an Irish count etc)

[Paelos]

If I have king of Ireland as an ambition it says I get to use the Subjugation Cassisus Belli. However, I can never figure out how to use it as it doesn't come up in the options to attack my neighbor.

[Korachia]

That ambition only works against rulers of Irish counties who are not of your religion. So if you are Christian you can only use it on the Norse rulers in Ireland.