Crusader Kings II

[Chaotix]

Just started a new game as a Norse pagan. Absolutely loving the raid feature, I love seeing a foreign province turn from green to a dull red economically. Any other tips when it comes to playing as Norsemen? Right now Im trying to take over Norway, though I seem to have lost the "conquest of Norway" casus belli that I had before I took over my first province.

You can only do one conquest per ruler's lifetime, unless you take the "become King of X" ambition. Then you can do as many conquests as you want within that kingdom.

You can also use the Prepared Invasion on non-Norse rulers, which is good if you want to make a big land grab somewhere outside of Scandinavia.

You can reform the faith so that you can use the Holy War casus belli if you take at least three of the five holy sites (One in Norway, one in Denmark, one in Sweden, one near Hamburg, and one in Zeeland).

All in all the Norse are pretty much the easiest religion group to play as in the Old Gods start, you shouldn't have too much trouble building an empire.

[Hooahguy]

Raided Rome, though I didnt make off with that much, only about 200 gold. Which is strange since they are really, really rich. I was there for about 2 months and only had to leave when I saw an army of 8,000 on its way so my force of about 4,000 wisely decided to skedaddle.

[Hooahguy]

It is, though I really gotta bring a bigger army next time, especially if I want to raid southern England. My last raiding party got jumped by a massive English force and was defeated.

[Chaotix]

Here's my Doux of Epirus campaign, as promised:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It's definitely a tough start. This guy is my first king, and the game started about 80-100 years ago. The Kingdom of Greece is so big that right now I hold just barely over half of its provinces, which I needed to form it.

The Byzantines in Nicaea bounced back early on and wound up becoming a major competitor to uniting Greece. Then they got eaten by the Rum Sultanate. And then the Rum Sultanate got eaten by the Ilkhanate, but they survived as a vassal and the weak Ilkhan's son let them go in an Independence demand.



Think the Ilkhanate looks scary? It was even scarier. They have invaded Hungary twice, and won twice. Each time it has taken a full crusade to win it back. They also had a fully connected empire through Mesopotamia for a very long time. It is only recently that they are starting to weaken. They got stuck with a child ruler and got hit with both a crusade (for Hungary) and a Jihad for Mesopotamia at the same time, of which they lost both. Then there was the Turkish independence, and I also Holy War'd them for the Aegean Islands, which I won because they just couldn't get an army out there.

They are still strong in numbers, but they can't move their troops quickly enough across their empire and the attrition-free doomstacks are gone. If they get hit with more than one war at once, they can't handle it.

Rum looks small, but they are an absolute pain in the ass, because they have the Ghilman as vassals. This late in the game, and they can pull 20000 troops (including 5000 horse archers) out of nowhere. Not fun when you're expecting to go up against maybe 5000 and you bring your entire 25000 man levy as insurance, just to watch them get crushed by those horse archers. They actually forced me to surrender in an offensive Holy War. Next time, I bring my own mercs at the start.

As for the rest of the world: Abbasids are looking strong, poised to take even more away from the Khan. Georgia is tougher than they look. They survived a Tengri Great Holy War, mostly because the Khan himself didn't join in. The HRE is only a little weaker than the Ilkhanate in terms of troops. England is gone, completely fractured into duchies. Lithuania is a pagan kingdom somehow, having defeated the Teutonic order and re-converted themselves.

Overall, a fun game so far. I don't intend to expand beyond Greece, so I may port this one to EUIV.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

What do you do with prisoners?

In one of my games I noticed that I have almost 20 prisoners and about 5 of them had been in my dungeons for more than 20 years. On poor woman have been prisoned more than 40 years (I guess it was during some war)! Many times when I try to ransom them I get negative response and that is how they stay there. I can't execute them because of the penalties. I did found it to be a very good way to keep couple of dukes from getting children (since their wives were prisoners of mine). This trick does not work against the Muslims though.

So, what do you do with them and what is the longest someone have been your prisoner?

[Myth]

So about that succession game, does anybody have some suggestions for people we should play as?

I want to nominate Raynald de Châtillon.

Having played Antioch with that start date and getting to form the Kingdom of Anatolia after a Crusade (but ended up being squashed by the ERE Basilea, who was my liege and started revoking titles from me left and right) I can tell you guys that we'll be in for a doozy. However the start is what really matters with this duke-level independent faction with a complete moron for a dynasty founder.

[Visor]

You could also try Michael, Doux of Epirus in the Latin Empire start.

It's a very tough game if you start at the Latin Empire bookmark, akin to Antioch or El Cid. It's a bit easier if you start about 20 years later once the Latin Empire breaks up into micro-states, but still rather difficult as you have to contend with whoever wins out over the Byzantines or the Seljuks.

I've been playing a game as them myself. About a hundred years in and have formed the Kingdom of Greece. Maybe I'll put up a screenshot later today.

I didn't find El Cid particularly difficult (but then again, I played him a fair while ago), but I joined the Kingdom of Castille almost immediately and built up my power in there.

Independent from start to finish would be a challenge.

In any case, get a thread up and lets get it running.

[rickinator9]

Ugh, I hate prepared invasions. So what you're saying is that the 3 most powerful monarchs can't defeat the duke of Jorvik? BS!

[rickinator9]

Crusader Kings II: Sparkly Vampires Unit Pack
Crusader Kings II: Underworld Invasion
Crusader Kings II: Witches and Wizards Unit Pack
Crusader Kings II: Songs of the Northern Trolls

The new DLC has been spotted on the horizon. Will this be another debacle like Sunset Invasion?

[Hooahguy]

Sunset Invasion was a debacle?

[rickinator9]

Sunset Invasion was a debacle?

Of course it is. It has nothing to do with CKII. I must have gotten my history wrong since I haven't heard about Europe being invaded by Aztecs.

[Hooahguy]

Yeah, and last I checked the HRE didnt take over the British Isles and Spain either.

Edit: What Im trying to say is that other than the initial starting points, the game does not strive to represent what accurately happens. I dont see the harm in releasing an optional DLC pack which adds some variety to the game.

[rickinator9]

I hope it is CK2:Z. I have no problems with zombies and such, but how will the others view it?

[xploring]

Become enlightened on Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham’s features and mechanics with the Paradox Development Studio team in a brand new developer diary:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...e-of-Cardinals

Plunge into the powerful and profitable world of Papal politics, appointing your bishops, gaining influence with the College of Cardinals and reap the rewards of the Pope’s money and favours. Show your devotion with the Holy Orders; their clout will come in handy when you want to expel troublesome relatives to a monastery! Pick sides of the Islamic debate, choosing to follow the rationalist Mutazili or opposing Ashari or play as a Jewish lord and restore the Kingdom of Israel. Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham features hundreds of new religious events no matter what doctrine you follow!

Get ready to get spiritual as you crusade your way to greatness in the name of YOUR one true god!

Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham will release on all major digital-download portals on November 18, 2013.

[komnenos]

I'm really glad to see that they are still expanding this game. By this expansion this game hasn't miss any religion.

[naut]

Oh hell yes!

[Monk]

Hell, it's about time.

[Myth]

Looks good. But what about the good old fashioned way of beating the Pope into submission and installing your vassal on the seat, thus making the Pope your vassal? It's great for the HRE for example (and anyone else who manages to make a Catholic empire).

I can't wait for the news about holy orders!

[xploring]

Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham - Dev Diary 2 - Holy Orders, Heresies and More

We have given each non-heretic religion in the game at least one Holy Order. This includes the various pagan religions, though most of their Holy Orders are rather fanciful. The Catholics also get two more in addition to the old ones; the Knights of Calatrava and the Knights of Santiago, both of which are mostly active in Hispania. Holy Orders are no longer activated at a certain date, many will start showing up once the Crusades/Jihads kick off (which is also more dynamic now), or when certain conditions are met. For example, the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre (an Orthodox Holy Order) becomes active if Antioch and Jerusalem are Orthodox and held by Orthodox rulers. Holy Orders are now much more active in world politics, and both their internal and external mechanics have been altered. You can now borrow money from certain Holy Orders (like the Knights Templar), or donate money for Piety. They, in turn, will make various requests (and if you owe them money, it is hard to refuse.) For example, they can ask that one of your sons join them, or that you give them the right to build a castle in an empty holding slot in one of your counties. Internally, Grandmasters are no longer randomly generated characters, but chosen from among vassals and courtiers, many of which will now be important members of European nobility. Having a Grandmaster of your dynasty will give you a monthly amount of prestige. Castle holdings under the Grandmaster are no longer hereditary, but appointed to a "Commander" for life. We have also added some minor rules and decisions, like if you happen to be the king of Jerusalem, you now have the option to vassalize the Templars and the Knights of St John. Lastly, if you think that an Order has grown too powerful in your realm, you can expel it forever, seizing its castles (a very impious act.)



Somewhat related to the Holy Orders, you now have the ability to order any courtier to take the vows and become a monk or nun. The character will then either become a regular monk or nun (traits), or go off to join one of the martial orders. Either way, he or she will be disinherited. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to do this against characters who stand to inherit titles (like younger sons under Gavelkind); unless you imprison them first!



As I mentioned earlier, the Crusades will no longer necessarily kick off after a certain year; it now depends on the actual situation in Europe. For example, if Constantinople or Rome have fallen or the Moors are pushing into France. Similar conditions now apply for the Muslims. The Pagans - if they can have Great Holy Wars - will get them after the Crusades and Jihads are both active.

We have also improved on the heresies; most of them are now more distinctive and some of them even have their own heads of religion. For example, the Cathars can appoint female bishops and the Ibadi can now have their own Caliph, etc. The events that control the spread of heresies are different if you have Sons of Abraham; heresies tend to be more localized and it is also possible for minority view non-heretics among your courtiers to spread their faith (i.e. an Orthodox courtier among Catholics, etc.) Perhaps the most drastic change to heresies though, is that they can now take over as the new orthodoxy if they hold more provinces than the current mainstream form of the religion. If, say, more counties are Waldensian than Catholic, Catholicism will become the heresy and its Holy Orders will join the Waldensians. Oh, and we also decided to add "regular" religious rebels who are not trying to spread a heresy, just to gain freedom from the religious oppression of their overlords (e.g. Sunni rebels in a Catholic realm.)

Catholicism may have received the most attention in Sons of Abraham, but we have not forgotten the Muslims. They get a choice between two rival schools of theology and the conflicts that arise out of taking a stance. On one side, you have the Mu'tazili school, which espouses reason and rational thought inspired by the ancient Greek philosophers. Opposing them are the Ash'ari, who belive in the eternal, uncreated word of Allah. Historically, the Mutazilites lost out after some fairly brutal conflicts and draconian measures like the Mihna , arguably bringing to an end the Islamic Golden Age. In game terms, Mutazilites get a Learning bonus for research, whereas the Ash'ari gain Piety, and members of opposing schools tend to loathe each other.

[xploring]

Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham - Dev Diary 3 - Jews, Pilgrims and Events

It's Tuesday and time for another dev diary on the latest expansion for Crusader Kings II; Sons of Abraham. The topics of the day are pilgrimages, Judaism and religious events. First off though, for those who read last week's diary, we've changed how the Ash'ari and Mu'tazilite traits are handled a bit. They are now much more significant, because an Ash'ari no longer gives decadence to his dynasty, and the Learning bonus for Mutazilites is correspondingly higher (currently +5).



Right, so, on the subject of Islam, one thing we were quite happy with in Sword of Islam was the addition of the decision to go on the Hajj, with the little adventure and the special trait you got at the end. Naturally, a lot of people thought we should add a similar thing for Christians, so that is exactly what we have done in Sons of Abraham. Christians get to choose between several different holy places. For example, Catholics can go to Canterbury, Santiago, Cologne, Rome or Jerusalem. During the journey, a regent will be appointed for pilgrim rulers and various adventures will unfold. Going on a pilgrimage costs a bit of money, and there are of course risks, but successful pilgrims will enjoy monthly piety and respect from their brothers and sisters of the faith for the rest of their lives. There could also be some unexpected benefits...



In the same vein, we have added tons of events dealing with religious life, for Christians especially. Some are complex event chains (for example, there is one inspired by Joan of Arc) and others are simple (e.g. monks cure your illness.) There are events about relics, immoral priests (of most religions), the crusades, etc.

However, the feature in Sons of Abraham that appears to have garnered the most attention is probably the addition of the Jewish religion. Prior to the addition of the 867 start date in The Old Gods, adding Judaism to the game seemed relatively pointless due to the lack of significant Jewish rulers. In 867 though, there is indeed a powerful Jewish state; the Turkic Khazar Khaganate, which we previously represented as being of the Tengri faith, but which was historically well into the process of converting to Judaism at the time. (I think it is plausible enough that they did this in order to counteract foreign interference justified by Muslim and Christian proselytizing. Furthermore, it can be very beneficial for an empire to have a religion of its own as a vehicle for cultural cohesion and dominance.) Now, playing as the Khazars is not easy even in 867, due mostly to their powerful and aggressive neighbors, like the Pechenegs and the Cumans, but there is also a real risk of religious internal strife. In other words, it's a worthy challenge, like playing as the Zoroastrian House of Karen.



Of course, there is an even tougher challenge available, even for those who do not have The Old Gods; one last Jewish Khazar duke is still clinging on in the Saray region in 1066, vassal to the Cumans. Now, Jewish players have similar goals to strive for as the Zoroastrians; you can try to restore the ancient united kingdom of Israel and Judah, restore the High Priesthood under the Kohen Gadol, and even rebuild the Temple.



Apart from the Khazar Jews, there are also the Ashkenazim and Sephardim, in the form of learned men and courtiers who can show up in your court. If you run out of money as a non-Jewish ruler, you can also choose to borrow money from Jewish merchants. If you do not want to pay them back, you can actually expel the Jews from the realm (similar to what you can do with the Holy Orders.) You will, however, stop getting the benefits of having remarkably skilled Jewish courtiers to serve in your council, and you and your descendants cannot borrow any more money from their community. Obviously, this is a pretty terrible thing to do, but it does, unfortunately, have several historical precedents.



I believe that about sums up the features of this little expansion. Next week I'll go through all the stuff we're giving you for free!

[Monk]

Hooooly crap this is shaping up to be fantastic, maybe even better than Old Gods. Having sons/claimants join Holy Orders sounds a lot like Norse joining the varangian guardsmen in Constantinople. Good change. I also love the idea of the Grandmaster no longer being hereditary, and actually a title which shifts around Europe. It would be pretty awesome to have a prince you sent away to the crusades suddenly become grandmaster and return home with immense power and influence.. which may go against your plans.

The ability to vassalize the Holy Orders as Jerusalem is a MUST in my opinion. If you start at a date where Jerusalem is already founded, the KoJ has this already. But there's no legitimate way for the player to do this at all currently. You have to use console trickery, which sorta defeats the spirit of the game.

The changes to heresies also sound really great. This is gonna be awesome

[xploring]

Sons of Abraham: Video Developer Diary 1


Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham Livestream Highlights

[Monk]

The ability to specifically request crusades?

Christian Adventures?

College of Cardinals?!

Oh man. I need to finish my Germany play through so i can hit this DAY ONE.

I also love the idea of heresies becoming a new orthodoxy.

[Hooahguy]

Ahhh, Jewish moneylenders. This will be fun!

[Myth]

Ironman mode - say no to save scum (it's been hard for me to do it... But now the game will give me IRON WILL)

Gotta love 4 Catholic Holy Orders. Imagine the vassalization of all 4 - that would be around 60-80 thousand elite troops (mostly knights). Coupled with a massive retinue and a knight focused culture like the Franks or Germans a strong Catholic empire will be a huge threat to anyone but hordes of horse archers. And the ability to call a Crusade is something i've been wishing for so much during my East Francia > HRE game. When do the Crusades start in the current game? I'm a bit reluctant to go to war with a huge Muslim faction over one miserable county... Not that I can't beat them, but the micromanagement of the army is intense.

Also, I'm still beating myself up for not buying CKII when we had that 75% off on Steam, because now I don't have all the packs and stuff and I've discovered Steam to be much more convenient for these things. If it pops up again (doubtful with the coming expansion) can someone PM me to let me know?

[xploring]

When do the Crusades start in the current game? I'm a bit reluctant to go to war with a huge Muslim faction over one miserable county... Not that I can't beat them, but the micromanagement of the army is intense.

Also, I'm still beating myself up for not buying CKII when we had that 75% off on Steam, because now I don't have all the packs and stuff and I've discovered Steam to be much more convenient for these things. If it pops up again (doubtful with the coming expansion) can someone PM me to let me know?

the Crusades will no longer necessarily kick off after a certain year; it now depends on the actual situation in Europe. For example, if Constantinople or Rome have fallen or the Moors are pushing into France. Similar conditions now apply for the Muslims. The Pagans - if they can have Great Holy Wars - will get them after the Crusades and Jihads are both active.

I missed out too on the CK2 pack sale, they are usually on Amazon and they were on sale just after xmas last year, hopefully same thing this year with all the new DLCs included.

[Monk]

When do the Crusades start in the current game? I'm a bit reluctant to go to war with a huge Muslim faction over one miserable county... Not that I can't beat them, but the micromanagement of the army is intense.

The Crusading Era begins in 1090. Anytime after that can spawn a crusade. The First crusade usually begins (in my experience) around 1100. But i've seen the AI call in 1090 right as it had its first chance.

Muslims can call Jihad any year after 1187.

Pagans and Zoroastrians can launch Great Holy Wars any time after 1100.

[Beskar]

My first goal in this DLC - Recreate the Kingdom of Israel.
It is the new special 'Kingdom of Jerusalem' afterall but with more outcast

I have my Israeli flag to hand so I can wave it upon success.
Edit: I found it whilst re-arranging cleaning out the room today, from my trip there a couple of years ago.

[Myth]

I started playing as Venice (Old Gods start) because I wanted a break from the norse and my Karling supremacy game made it so I own 2/3 of Europe as the HRE (which means I can crush face, but since I don't want to bother with 1 county wars there is nothing to do, bar the occasional excommunication of annoying counts who start getting big ideas)

Merchant republic mechanics are very refreshing and while some of the events are mildly annoying and written as if from forum posters (which just might be the case, like with the Odin encounter for the norse) I find them really different (and thereby - fun).

So, I have a couple of questions. First of all, since I started late I haven't kept up on patch changes. Now google searching for trade post seizure gives me outdated information.

I grew pretty quickly and I've seeded the sea region around venice with my trading posts. All but 2 of them are the property of my family. And those last 2 are really triggering the OCD perfectionist in me since I want a monopoly in that region before moving on the next one. But I don't have a way of getting them, since the miserable family that holds them just has those two and I'm much larger than them. And most of the time I'm Doge too.

I don't get a plot to take it over, and I can't declare war for the posts if by some chance I'm not Doge either. I fabricated a claim and managed to nab one of the counties as the local Duchess rebelled from Karling rule for a short time (the Empire of Francia owns half of Europe however so that won't last long) but the only thing that this got me was the option to upgrade my enemy's trading post using my own gold which somehow doesn't seem like a good idea...

Since the Basilea of the ERE decided to burn down one of my ports AFTER taking 100 gold in a bribe, I decided she should have a little accident. And so she did. And recently since i've become Doge and my house got a ton of quality members my assassination plots have become very successful, especially within the Republic. I got a horrible event where I lost my precious 24 year old son (all positive traits damn it!) to my nemesis. And since I stopped save scumming I decided I'd just plot to kill off that entire family as revenge, and in the process also see what will happen to their trade posts. A dozen assassination plots later (some with 450% plot power right off the bat) that family is no more but another one sprang up (which I knew would happen) and took their existing trading post infrastructure (which I didn't expect to happen).

So how do I take trading posts from smaller families within the Repuiblic? FYI the other merchant Republc got stomped by a Muslim Caliph and therefore is no more, so we're the only ones out there doing the trade thing.

edit: after a good while of searching and reading it appears that one must be weaker (ie. have fewer posts) than the rival family to grab their stuff. If you're the top dog (which you will be because you prioritize keep upgrades and tech heavily into trade practices and the AI doesn't seem to do so) and have the most TPs then you're basically screwed and have to sit back and let the AI outgrow you to get its stuff.

When you are weaker you have several options:

1. Be dodge and ask to take their ports (the AI tried to do this to me. I've since decided to never ever let it be Doge again, not to mention that I had an enemy Doge live up to age 86 after I decided I'd let him have the republic at age 71 since "how much would he live, really" and those 14 years of vastly reduced income really set me back) - must have fewer posts than them

2. Be a regular family and plot to take a larger family's post.

3. Be a regular family and declare war on a larger family for one (or all? Not sure) of their posts.

So yeah, rapid expansion like I did might not be the best idea. Having an early core of fewer but more upgraded posts might actually work better but only if a single other family gets that sea region. If 5 different families litter the sea around Venice it will become worthless. I still don't know if there is a way for me to get those TPs other than wait and hope a ruler would destroy my rival's TP and I'd notice it before they rebuild (highly unlikely).

[xploring]

Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham - Dev Diary 4 - Patch 2.0

So folks, we are releasing the fifth expansion to Crusader Kings II, on Monday next week; Sons of Abraham. In the previous dev diaries, I have gone through the various features we've added in the expansion, so today I'll speak of the 2.0 patch. Usually when we release expansions for Crusader Kings II, we add a lot of free stuff in the patch as well, and this time is no exception. It's almost funny how many features we plan for the expansions that we end up putting in the patch instead, simply because they alter the core gameplay too much. Now, where to begin?

Perhaps the biggest - yet quite subtle - change we did was to reduce the amount of levies you get, particularly from your vassals. There are several changes to the rules; first off, levies from outside your de jure capital region get progressively smaller in stages (county, duchy, kingdom, empire, outside). Secondly, vassals will not give you any levies if they don't have a positive opinion of you (previously the threshold was -25). On the other hand, you now always enjoy a big opinion boost if you are being attacked by foreigners, particularly by infidels. This means that you can usually raise something approaching your theoretical max while being attacked, but not when you are doing the attacking. (Incidentally, this also means that factions tend to be less dangerous while the whole realm is under threat.) Lastly, the ruler's martial skill has a direct and significant effect on the size of the levies that can be raised from his or her demesne.



We have also added whole new feature to improve the military side of the game; terrain bottlenecks. This is a system where the defending side in a battle has sometimes found suitable terrain before combat commences. The chance of this depends on the main province terrain and leader skill (there is even a new commander trait for this.) Each flank may have a narrow approach, preventing the attackers from attacking in numbers greater than the number of flank defenders (their number at the start) during the melee phase. The main reason we added this feature is that being outflanked is now much, much more devastating than it used to be, particularly if you are being outflanked from two directions, or through your (fallen) center. We have also updated all mercenaries and holy orders so they actually have three regiments instead of one (and can thus fill a battle line on their own.) Mongols and Aztecs also arrive with more but smaller regiments, etc. What else? Oh yes, we unleashed Wiz (Martin Anward, who improved the EUIV AI) on the military AI to see if he could kick it up a notch...


Another really nice thing with the 2.0 patch is of course the addition of Ironman mode, like in Europa Universalis IV. To complement this, we added 50 Steam achievements that you can only get in Ironman mode. The multiplayer metaserver, however, will be discontinued. RIP.

Now, as you know, playing Crusader Kings II is a pretty cheerful and lighthearted experience, so we thought it was high time to bring in some much needed tragedy. Thus, there is now a chance that women might die in childbirth, either at once or after a period of illness. Infants can also be born "Sickly" (new trait), which means it is unlikely they will live past their third year. Surprisingly, we are not simply doing this out of pure malice; there are interesting gameplay effects where marriage alliances can suddenly be reset and you don't know if your sickly heir will actually survive to adulthood.

When characters convert religion, there is now a chance they will be tolerant of their old faith. These are new traits which affect the opinions of both the character and of other characters. For example, a former pagan king might get no opinion penalty versus pagans, nor will they of him.


I know I'm forgetting stuff here, but you can all read the change log for yourselves when I post it. Needless to say, it's full of bug fixes and modding improvements as well.
And in case anyone missed it, Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham will release the 18th of November.
That's all for now, but there will be a live stream with yours truly on Tuesday, the day after release!