Crusader Kings 2 Thread III: Keeping Up With The Karlings

[Aotrs Commander]

Thanks for the info. Seems I should wait for the bug fixes to come out. I might as well finish my Conclave game first.

Actually, with Conclave, you shouldn't have problems with v2.6, since the biggest one is for people who don't use it.

Btw I don't see the problem with scattered retreats. And the big problem with defensive pacts, as far as I can tell, is that it's non-historical?

I think the biggest problem with shattered retreats is when fighting with enemies who are unlanded, like the various hosts - because you have to chase the frackers down and fight then several times to be able to win that war and it's just annoying.

Defensive pacts are either immensely annoying or utterly irrelevant. If you fight normally, it means that you can only fight a war every ten years or so, or as soon as you start, everyone and his uncle will jump on you. And if just blitz-siege the enemy with your retinue and assault, the defensive pacts are basically pointless, since the wars are over before the enemy can bring any troops to bear.

It was just a pretty badly-implemented mechanic that does not emulate EUIV's colilitions and aggressive expansion like I think it was intended.

As for the computer problem: It's a Paradox problem, but it's not specific to this patch; if you google the problem it has happened seemingly randomly to random people since Patch 1 way back then. This time it just happened to be my turn.

Huh. Okay, well, I'll bear that in mind for future, since I haven't been playing Paradox game that long.[/QUOTE]

[Valley]

Well, I have a question. The Byzantine Empire does not have Antioch but the Orthodox Church's Moral Authority is now 100%. I was very confused and found this:

Spoiler: What?

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Spoiler: What? What! WHAT?!?!

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I am so confused. How would the local rulers even allow that? And can I visit it?

Oh, and I saw this and had to make a cartoon.

Spoiler: Get it? Get it?!?!

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[IthilanorStPete]

Well, I have a question. The Byzantine Empire does not have Antioch but the Orthodox Church's Moral Authority is now 100%. I was very confused and found this:

Spoiler: What?

Show

Spoiler: What? What! WHAT?!?!

Show

I am so confused. How would the local rulers even allow that? And can I visit it?

Oh, and I saw this and had to make a cartoon.

Spoiler: Get it? Get it?!?!

Show

Realm laws probably don't allow revoking titles from heretics/heathens. As for Moral Authority, it's also increased by holy wars, among other things.

[Valley]

Realm laws probably don't allow revoking titles from heretics/heathens. As for Moral Authority, it's also increased by holy wars, among other things.

I see, so the Islamic Rulers still have foreign Nobles and such among their populace and one of them got Antioch. Just like I have Muslims among my Middle-Eastern holdings.

The game is both interesting and scary. I was testing out an idea for a After Action Report story I was planning to do here, so I did a test run. I am a fan of Xena Warrior Princess and was making a female ruler in India based on her. No, really.

I made a Greek Buddhist with a scar and some skills (and allowed her to change the laws and have some extra cash before starting the game and a kick butt Family Shield).

Spoiler: Xena

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In the TV series Arminestra was the name of Xena's past life in India. Dysnomia is the Demon of Lawlessness. Get it?

I plan to try to have female rulers, if I can, which means a lot of males will join holy orders or whatever. But I lucked out and the first baby was a daughter. And the computer picked a great name for her.

Spoiler: WOW!

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That is right - she got named the Greek name in which 'Gabrielle' is, in fact, the French version of.

Now, excuse me, I plan to go hide under the bed before the Crusader Kings 2 Game demons get me.

[Aotrs Commander]

Dangit.

I rush home from wargames and then find myself at a loose end... I've gotten so use to playing an hour or three of CK2 (and before that EUIV and before that AoE2) that now I'm stuck waiting for the patch fix, I don't know what to do with myself.

...

Guess I'll go watch some more Pokémon...

[Flickerdart]

Dangit.

I rush home from wargames and then find myself at a loose end... I've gotten so use to playing an hour or three of CK2 (and before that EUIV and before that AoE2) that now I'm stuck waiting for the patch fix, I don't know what to do with myself.

...

Guess I'll go watch some more Pokémon...

Get HoI4? It's good stuff probably.

[Valley]

Question. If I make somebody a Commander and then have them become the Captain of a mercenary company, can they refuse that position if they don't like me and is there a chance they may die in battle? I think you know where I am going with this.

[Rockphed]

Question. If I make somebody a Commander and then have them become the Captain of a mercenary company, can they refuse that position if they don't like me and is there a chance they may die in battle? I think you know where I am going with this.

I believe that anyone commanding a battle can be killed in it. It is not, however, a reliable method of executing your unwanted relatives. If it were, using your character as a commander would be really stupid.

[Valley]

I believe that anyone commanding a battle can be killed in it. It is not, however, a reliable method of executing your unwanted relatives. If it were, using your character as a commander would be really stupid.

True. Though, if you want the stats for combat you do, sooner or later, have to go run a army. But point taken.

Oh, and I final have a Emperor I like. The Muslims declared a crusade for Egypt. Problem is they were talking about the provinces the Byzantine Empire that were my newly taken provinces. Darn them. So I pictured myself slowly being overwhelmed by the dozen or so Kingdoms who had joined in the crusade against me. And unlike the crusades carried out by the Empire (and the Pope) the Muslims mostly won their crusades. So I figured I was doomed.

But the new Emperor DID something. As in tens of thousands of Imperial Soldiers fighting in my provinces! We won! Or I should say the Muslims failed.

Yet..the poor guy isn't going to last very long. Even if he gained the title 'The Hammer'.

Spoiler: The Hammer!

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He is so doomed. And seems like a nice guy too. Too bad he is related to me and wants my stuff. Otherwise I might try to help him.

Does that happen? You end up with a character in game you LIKE yet...know he has to be destroyed?

[Flickerdart]

What is that heart with the little crab? Seafood lover?

[Artanis]

What is that heart with the little crab? Seafood lover?

I believe it's cancer, one of the diseases added with Reaper's Due.

Apparently it's all the rage among under-30 rulers in the new expansion

[Valley]

I believe it's cancer, one of the diseases added with Reaper's Due.

Apparently it's all the rage among under-30 rulers in the new expansion

What the kitten said. Though seafood lover would have made for a interesting event chain.

Spoiler: Out of CRABS!

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"The cook says that he has run out of the giant crabs you like...."

[We must send for some more!] Lose 10 Coins.

[I guess I can live without it...] Gain Depressed.

[We must build a crab pond so I will never run out of them again!] Lose 50 Coins. Gain "Sea Food Lover In You" Trait.

[Leecros]

Apparently it's all the rage among under-30 rulers in the new expansion

I had my emperor undergo experimental treatment twice when he had cancer. The first time he lost his eye and the second his leg.


I was beginning to think that my court physician was just removing body parts for the heck of it and selling them on the black market.

[Guancyto]

Well, on the bright side, you are 2/3 of the way to becoming a pirate.

Sometimes those treatments do work, though! On my game, removing Hastein's leg cured his cancer, which was definitely the exception in terms of the treatment fitting the disease...

(No, Physician, goat gas does not cure pneumonia. Yes, I'm very sure.)

[SZbNAhL]

I was beginning to think that my court physician was just removing body parts for the heck of it and selling them on the black market.

Logically, if a king's touch cures plague, a king's severed leg should be part of every doctor's toolkit, no?

[Sian]

As i haven't really played CK2 since early '14 (stopped playing regularily around SoA and at all just after RoI), and have primarily played EU4 since then ... is CK2 currently at a spot where its good to get back into, and what dlcs are highly rated and needed to get the best experience?

[Eldan]

I'd get Way of LIfe, certainly. Everything else pretty much depends on what you want to play.

[Aotrs Commander]

Conclave is especially devisive; a lot of people think what it mostly does is up the difficulty. (It's the only DLC I haven't bothered with, but I got basically everything on sale.)

The latest patch (and accompanying DLC) has been very well recieved, however.

[Leecros]

Conclave is especially devisive; a lot of people think what it mostly does is up the difficulty. (It's the only DLC I haven't bothered with, but I got basically everything on sale.)

My thoughts on Conclave is that it probably does a better job at emulating what being a Feudal King would have been like compared to the way that it was before. Kings ruled through power during the Middle-Ages and couldn't just do whatever they wanted without Vassals getting annoyed. It's important to keep in mind that The Divine Right of Kings wasn't really a thing until the 1500's. I mean, it existed as The Pope was a huge influence during the time period, but vassals had their own rights as well.Absolute Monarchs didn't come about until much later.

Honestly, I think the biggest issue with the council changes is that it should have been in the game at the start. I don't think anybody would have blinked an eye at it, or at the very least it wouldn't be such a big deal. However, players have been allowed to rule over their land as an absolute monarch for four years and conclave took that away from them.

Personally, I like the changes and I don't really think it makes the game that much easier or harder. As it is, I find it far too easy to abolish the council's power and the ability to give your most powerful vassals a huge opinion boost by putting them on the council is also really useful to stem rebellion. Or if you'd rather keep council power, vassals on the council can't rebel as long as they're content. which means that you pretty much never have to worry about a huge rebellion taking off as long as the council is happy.

The revised education system is just good all around. It takes away some of the min-maxing for a bit more of a variable approach and characters with max level education traits don't become super rare by the end of the game.

[Valley]

Personally, I like the changes and I don't really think it makes the game that much easier or harder. As it is, I find it far too easy to abolish the council's power and the ability to give your most powerful vassals a huge opinion boost by putting them on the council is also really useful to stem rebellion. Or if you'd rather keep council power, vassals on the council can't rebel as long as they're content. which means that you pretty much never have to worry about a huge rebellion taking off as long as the council is happy.

The revised education system is just good all around. It takes away some of the min-maxing for a bit more of a variable approach and characters with max level education traits don't become super rare by the end of the game.

Agreed on both counts.

Also I noticed that putting a person on the Council can makes things worse. I had a guy who was -30 something opinion of me. He was a nobody who had liked me till I gave him a title and then he felt he was powerful enough to be on the Council. Wanting him to like me again and I put him on the Council and he dropped down to -60. He felt so entitled he just wanted more! So now I have decided to be REALLY careful about who I put on the Council. And of course who is on the Council will decide how easy it is to pass laws. Want to tax the cities? Well, if you have a bunch of Mayors in the Council, good luck with that. It becomes a balance between skills and opinions.

And I love the new education system. You still can pick who teaches them (because it can change their culture) and still have events where you can shape your own kids if you want.

[Aotrs Commander]

From what I understand, Conclave gives you less control of what your wards become - and it was that, even, more than the council, which was why I was not so bothered about it.

[Artanis]

From what I understand, Conclave gives you less control of what your wards become

If anything, Conclave education is the opposite: the educator has less influence over how the kid ends up, but the PLAYER has significantly more control because now you can set areas to focus on and you can 100% guarantee what category of education trait the kid gets.

[Aotrs Commander]

If anything, Conclave education is the opposite: the educator has less influence over how the kid ends up, but the PLAYER has significantly more control because now you can set areas to focus on and you can 100% guarantee what category of education trait the kid gets.

As I generally personally educate anyone of value (and don't ironman), that doesn't really do much for me. Leecros is not the only one to observe that it allows less optimisation in your heirs... And I WANT to be able to optimise my heirs! Short of making my current ruler immortal, of course...

[tonberrian]

As I generally personally educate anyone of value (and don't ironman), that doesn't really do much for me. Leecros is not the only one to observe that it allows less optimisation in your heirs... And I WANT to be able to optimise my heirs! Short of making my current ruler immortal, of course...

What if your ruler was immortal... with straight 0 stats?

[Guancyto]

My objection to the Conclave education system is how few events there really are. It's usually about two or three per kid, exclusively to turn their childhood traits into adult ones, and then maybe one that lets you give them Ambitious, Patient or Diligent at cost to yourself. But gone is the massive number of child-rearing events, or the ability to deliberately sabotage a child's education (whether for the evulz or to cripple a dangerous claimant).

[russdm]

I know this is for CR 2, but due to computer limitations and money limitations...

Is the complete set of CR 1 worth it? Or is it more worth it to just wait until having the money to acquire computer that can actually run CR 2? I am considering getting CR 1 complete, because I can get it and it ought to work on currently owned computer.

Back to CR 2

Wondering when the DLC for playing earlier like maybe BC or BCE periods will be available. Doesn't the idea of playing as a king in Assyria or Babylon not sound interesting? I know that Charlemagne pushes the start date back to the 700s to 800s. What about earlier or even during BCE period? Or is that getting more towards making a separate game, one to play during the BCE period up to Charlemagne then continuing on to Crusader Kings?

[Sian]

I would say that they've pushed the mechanics loads already with Charlemagne (hell, even Old Gods is a push), given that the feudalistic system doesn't fit many places, specially on the steppes, non-Roman Europe and western Africa ...

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Given that I've just returned ... anyone got a good suggestion where i should play to not be overwhelmed by all the new features that have arrived since SoA? is Tutorial Island still a thing? (although given that I already know most of the basics and are still playing EU4, I'd might be better suited to a level above it)

[Driderman]

Wondering when the DLC for playing earlier like maybe BC or BCE periods will be available. Doesn't the idea of playing as a king in Assyria or Babylon not sound interesting? I know that Charlemagne pushes the start date back to the 700s to 800s. What about earlier or even during BCE period? Or is that getting more towards making a separate game, one to play during the BCE period up to Charlemagne then continuing on to Crusader Kings?

I would much rather that they forego this as DLC and do something like this as their next game in their pseudo-historical series instead.

[Sian]

For such ideas, i'd probably say that EU4 with Extended Timeline mod, is the least terrible option currently ...

[Eldan]

I would say that they've pushed the mechanics loads already with Charlemagne (hell, even Old Gods is a push), given that the feudalistic system doesn't fit many places, specially on the steppes, non-Roman Europe and western Africa ...

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Given that I've just returned ... anyone got a good suggestion where i should play to not be overwhelmed by all the new features that have arrived since SoA? is Tutorial Island still a thing? (although given that I already know most of the basics and are still playing EU4, I'd might be better suited to a level above it)

Tutorial Island is absolutely a thing still, yes. At least in 1066. Before that, you'll be stomped flat by vikings.