Crusader Kings II

[Monk]

Oh dear. I've discovered a huge downside to being on the east end of the map. Even if you happen to beat the Mongols in their initial invasion.. it seems the Khans of the east are quite vengeful.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It looks like I can expect a new batch of doomstacks every ten years or every time a new khan comes to power, at least until 1300. This invasion was much smaller than the last with only 40,000 men. I easily destroyed their push at the battles of Sherkala and Iber-Bolgar.. but that doesn't mean the next will be as easy.This effectively grinds my dynasty power plays and foreign war fighting to a hault. There's no way I can wrestle with the HRE/ERE while dealing with a resurgent mongol threat every 10 years.

For those wondering the Khan character is essentially off the map. You can see him in a certain province but he has no court, and assassinating your way through the line is typically a very bad idea thanks to how the spawning events work. Maybe I can convert him with my court chaplain, i wonder if that still works if the targeted character has no court, we'll have to see. If i can I've heard that stops the free reinforcement events from firing.

Until then it appears that I've had the quite unofficial title of "Guardian of Europe" thrust upon me. So be it. I'll stop each and every invasion dead in it's tracks. Not one step backward!

[rickinator9]

Interesting interview: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...A+Steam+RSS%29

Apparently, they might release DLC to make all of the eastern factions more detailed.

[Monk]

Interesting interview: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...A+Steam+RSS%29

Apparently, they might release DLC to make all of the eastern factions more detailed.

Paradox needs to hurry up so they can take more of my money. Also i hope they beta test the patches a bit more this time around, i'd rather not have a repeat of 1.05 where no less than five game breakers were introduced. I'm quite glad they fixed them all within a week or so but come on!

[rickinator9]

Believe me, beta-testing is more difficult than you think. I have beta-tested a hl2 mod.
1. Different computers get different bugs. I can understand that the PCs on the office are all the same model.
2. You don't really know if something is intentional or not.
3. You gotta be lucky to notice it when it happens.

Anyway, I have had a disaster happen to me. I married off an uncle to a duchess as duke of connacht(1081 start). The uncle went to a scottish duchy. The scottish king thought:"Hey, I can finally send my kilted crazies against some poor guy again!". And this way, I was left with one little county I just conquered the year before

[Monk]

ARGH *flips the table* Ahhh well it happened, my poor Russian dynasty is no more. Well I take that back the Alexandrovs are fine, with many branches still living out happy lives throughout Europe. The Rus Kingdom is what is dead. When my heir, Andrei II came to power it kickstarted a massive civil war for control of Hungary. This in turn spiraled into half a dozen independence attempts by vassals all along the western border. One by one my large armies were whittled down, little by little the state was weakened. And then the dreaded enemy returned. The Third Mongol Invasion snapped the power of the centralized Rus state and obliterated all opposition in the east to their rule.

Alexandrov cadet branches are still ruling in Hungary, Sicily, Croatia and Denmark. I've checked most of their successions and they are pretty secure! I wouldn't be surprised if my custom dynasty ends up ruling in half of those kingdoms until game end, however, the main line has lost pretty much everything.

Andrei's daughter, Catherine, still rules in Moskva as a duchess but she is now a Mongol vassal. Andrei himself was killed in the early moments of the third invasion, a plot by the Swedish Queen over god knows what, I'm not sure. Most of the former Rus vassals tried to rebel after the war's end but they were all put down. Funnily enough the only Russian culture characters who are now still ruling independent states free of the Golden Horde are of the Rurikovich dynasty. Talk about salt in the wound!

Oh well. I could keep playing but I think this is a good spot to stop. The rise and fall of the Kingdom of Rus - it was a fun ride

[rickinator9]

I have united ireland. When I became king all of those dukes and counts quickly flocked to my cause. Now to get some overseas ambitions...

[Ishmael]

I have united ireland. When I became king all of those dukes and counts quickly flocked to my cause. Now to get some overseas ambitions...

Hint: Don't get overconfident and think you can take on England and/or Scotland single-handedly. It won't end well, as I've (repeatedly) learnt from personal experience.

[The Stranger]

nah :P i went from king of ireland to king of france to emperor of germany. all using military force!! you have to take m on when they are weak!

[rickinator9]

Hint: Don't get overconfident and think you can take on England and/or Scotland single-handedly. It won't end well, as I've (repeatedly) learnt from personal experience.

I noticed England is very unstable when the old king dies and the new king is crowned. They have a civil war every 25 years. As for Scotland, same story but less frequent.

[Ishmael]

Yes, in my new game as Ulster calling England a unified nation is a bit misleading - various parts of it belong to various independent duchies, Norway, Scotland, and Castille (!). I might actually have a chance this time around. In my previous two attempts, England was incredibly powerful and controlled much of Scotland and all of Wales, whilst in the other England and Scotland unified - made it a bit tricky to take them on.

A question for you guys - what do you think is the most cost-effective troop building (out of light infantry/archers, heavy infantry and cavalry)? I tried an experimental all-cavalry approach earlier, and a smaller Welsh army mopped the floor with me before I could hire mercenaries .

[Monk]

A question for you guys - what do you think is the most cost-effective troop building (out of light infantry/archers, heavy infantry and cavalry)? I tried an experimental all-cavalry approach earlier, and a smaller Welsh army mopped the floor with me before I could hire mercenaries .

In provinces that I am devoting to military building I will usually focus on two areas: Light Cav -> heavy infantry. They are the two heaviest hitters in the dice rolls, barring heavy cav and Horse Archers. The latter you can never get in high numbers unless you hold a Holy Order title, or are the Mongols. Only once I have both of those building lines up to 2 will I focus on my culture specific buildings or my light infantry/archers, depending on where I started.

One of the first things I always do, however, is establish castle towns to level 1 or 2 in each of my personal castles. The way I see it, the higher my income, the more mercs I can hire, and for longer. Only once I get a good economy do I build up my military. Unless I am in Iberia, in which case all bets are off and it's military from day one!

[rickinator9]

In provinces that I am devoting to military building I will usually focus on two areas: Light Cav -> heavy infantry. They are the two heaviest hitters in the dice rolls, barring heavy cav and Horse Archers. The latter you can never get in high numbers unless you hold a Holy Order title, or are the Mongols. Only once I have both of those building lines up to 2 will I focus on my culture specific buildings or my light infantry/archers, depending on where I started.

One of the first things I always do, however, is establish castle towns to level 1 or 2 in each of my personal castles. The way I see it, the higher my income, the more mercs I can hire, and for longer. Only once I get a good economy do I build up my military. Unless I am in Iberia, in which case all bets are off and it's military from day one!

Pretty unrealistic though. France alone had thousands of mounted knights(Heavy Cav). I would really like it if they buffed the numbers of the HC.

[The Stranger]

meh kinda depends really, many of those poorer knights would probably be classified light cav. the true shockers would be the retinue's. but ye the number is still quite low. but I found that if you mod the castle to give 25 heavy cav on each upgrade (the numbers stack, so a lvl 4 castle will provide 100 cav multiplied by the levy size modifiers) which gives a fairly accurate number of heavy cav. and give a similar number to the square lists, effectively meaning that france and i think germany can get about 2x as much heavy cav as any other nation. and would not be very unreal to throw an attack bonus in there to resemble their skill.

[rickinator9]

Hmm, this game might be very good for a ancient time mod like roman times. This game would represent the Seleucid satrapies very well one might think.

[Chaotix]

Hmm, this game might be very good for a ancient time mod like roman times. This game would represent the Seleucid satrapies very well one might think.

But unfortunately, the Romans would be unplayable! Unless it was modded, of course.

Incidentally, is there an easy-fix to make Republics playable in vanilla like there is for non-Christian dynasties?

[Ignoramus]

Is it actually possible to turn your state into a republic? And if you do, what happens? (says he who still only has the demo)

[rickinator9]

You might be able to do it if you make a city-county your capital, although I'm not sure why you would want to do it. I don't think republics can be made playable, but that might be a feature for future DLC. You can always simulate playable republics with the elective succession.

[Monk]

Is it actually possible to turn your state into a republic? And if you do, what happens? (says he who still only has the demo)

Circumstances beyond your control can combine to throw you into "Open Elective" succession laws. Under this succession law EVERY character in your realm, right down to the good for nothing courtiers, get a single vote to cast for the next ruler. This is essentially republic rule in CKII and happens if a Doge comes to power in another realm. For instance if the Doge of Venice were to be voted the next Emperor, you might see the HRE turn into an open republic. It's also possible if a bishop becomes a King or Emperor, as bishoprics usually run under open elective successions as well.

Open Elective differs from the normal Feudal Elective options quite a bit. Under Feudal Electives, all vassals who occupy one social rung beneath the ruler of the realm get a single vote. So if you are a King, all you dukes will get one vote each. If you are a duke, all your counts. Empires work differently in that it's two rungs below, not one. So if you are Emperor, kings and dukes each get one vote. You cannot choose to become Open Elective, however, you can choose to become a Feudal Elective.

Open Elective is not an option for the player beyond some extraordinary circumstances that i mentioned. The game engine right now recognizes your dynasty losing power as a Game Over, as such Open Elective would be a nightmare and republic play would probably be pretty stressful. I wouldn't mind seeing them properly introduce this succession type for players who want to rule republics but it would require a bit of an overhaul to how the game recognizes a failure state. At least for non-feudal powers.

[The Stranger]

But unfortunately, the Romans would be unplayable! Unless it was modded, of course.

Incidentally, is there an easy-fix to make Republics playable in vanilla like there is for non-Christian dynasties?

nope because its a dynasty game and its quite hard to keep your dynasty in power in a republic.

[The Stranger]

Circumstances beyond your control can combine to throw you into "Open Elective" succession laws. Under this succession law EVERY character in your realm, right down to the good for nothing courtiers, get a single vote to cast for the next ruler. This is essentially republic rule in CKII and happens if a Doge comes to power in another realm. For instance if the Doge of Venice were to be voted the next Emperor, you might see the HRE turn into an open republic. It's also possible if a bishop becomes a King or Emperor, as bishoprics usually run under open elective successions as well.

Open Elective differs from the normal Feudal Elective options quite a bit. Under Feudal Electives, all vassals who occupy one social rung beneath the ruler of the realm get a single vote. So if you are a King, all you dukes will get one vote each. If you are a duke, all your counts. Empires work differently in that it's two rungs below, not one. So if you are Emperor, kings and dukes each get one vote. You cannot choose to become Open Elective, however, you can choose to become a Feudal Elective.

Open Elective is not an option for the player beyond some extraordinary circumstances that i mentioned. The game engine right now recognizes your dynasty losing power as a Game Over, as such Open Elective would be a nightmare and republic play would probably be pretty stressful. I wouldn't mind seeing them properly introduce this succession type for players who want to rule republics but it would require a bit of an overhaul to how the game recognizes a failure state. At least for non-feudal powers.

it would pretty much require you to be able to play as a baron. in that way, if you lose power, you would always be able to fall back to the barony.

[rickinator9]

Just something as feudal elective. If someone else gets chosen, does your dynasty retain control over all other titles other than the title with the elective succesion?

[The Stranger]

i think it does.

[Monk]

Just something as feudal elective. If someone else gets chosen, does your dynasty retain control over all other titles other than the title with the elective succesion?

The game will warn you which titles you are about to lose upon succession with one of the pop-up buttons. Might be worth a look next time you're running an elective monarchy or want to experiment.

[Ishmael]

Would anybody here know if one can run multiple mods at once? Some of the smaller mods look quite nifty, and I figured I may as well try them out together if possible.

[rickinator9]

Would anybody here know if one can run multiple mods at once? Some of the smaller mods look quite nifty, and I figured I may as well try them out together if possible.

I don't know. I haven't touched modding that much. I can only barely run the game without them.

[Chaotix]

Would anybody here know if one can run multiple mods at once? Some of the smaller mods look quite nifty, and I figured I may as well try them out together if possible.

Not totally sure since I don't have any myself, but my best guess is that yes, it's possible to run multiple mods at once, since you turn them on using checkboxes just like DLC.

The problem is, you do have to make sure that specific mods are compatible with each other, because it's entirely possible that two different mods can modify the same files, in which case you'll either get a crash, or one mod will just overwrite the other and you'll miss out on the effects of one of them.

[Ishmael]

I might just download them and see if they work together - there shouldn't be any problem with conflicting changes, as it's all small stuff like more form-able empires and new nicknames (Duke Ishmael the Impaler ). And they shouldn't have too large a download size, which is good.

[rickinator9]

I might just download them and see if they work together - there shouldn't be any problem with conflicting changes, as it's all small stuff like more form-able empires and new nicknames (Duke Ishmael the Impaler ). And they shouldn't have too large a download size, which is good.

Good luck getting that Nick, I never even got the impaler trait. I guess it has to do with killing/executing a lot of people.

[Monk]

Word from the official forums is that 1.05f is currently going through QA, so we should expect it in a week or so. If you guys want to preserve the integrity and/or balance of your current campaign, you may want to switch steam over to tell it to ignore updates until you are finished. Just a heads up.

I never even got the impaler trait

Have you ever gotten the event where a neighboring baron complains about your demense size so you can either: send him roses (piety) or nail his emissaries' hats to their heads (prestige)? Choose the prestige option, this will start you down the Impaler path. Then when the follow up event happens, choose "I wonder what will happen if I do this..." You will get numerous chances to atone for your behavior, but each time one comes up just choose the one that sounds more cruel/has you continuing your new gruesome hobby. Eventually you will be rewarded with the Impaler trait. Alternatively, if you turn away from your "evil" path, you can get the gardener trait as you character has found other ways to work out their problems.

The event id for this path is 5020, if you want to trigger it in campaign for a certain character, open the console and type in "event 5020" and it will start you down the gardener/impaler path. Have fun!

[The Stranger]

i got impaler and the epiteth "The Dragon" :P