Crusader Kings II

[The Stranger]

All the people in the Game of Thrones game talking this up are making me seriously consider getting it. Does anybody know how large a download it is if I get it via Steam?

i bought it for the same reasons and i havent been dissapointed :)

800 mb depending on how fast ur connection is it would take around 1 tot 5 hours.

i once downloaded the witcher 2 via steam because i was too lazy to go to the store and i wanted to play it asap. terrible mistake, it took almost 2 days to download :S

gosh i hate steam.

[Fisherking]

i bought it for the same reasons and i havent been dissapointed :)

800 mb depending on how fast ur connection is it would take around 1 tot 5 hours.

i once downloaded the witcher 2 via steam because i was too lazy to go to the store and i wanted to play it asap. terrible mistake, it took almost 2 days to download :S

gosh i hate steam.

Wow! I thought mine was slow when it took about 40 min. I guess I did well.

[Beskar]

The Game I am enjoying at the moment from what started as a William the Conqueror game and took it from there.

I am currently King of England, Scotland and Wales (trying to get some Fabricated claims in Ireland). I currently own Normandy, Brittany, Holland, Flanders (so the channel is English ruled) and I currently own most of Southern Spain (I originally took gibrator and gave it to kinsmen and they just branched out and expanded from there, themselves).

Big Events so far:

HRE got decimated
Internal struggle, opportunist neighbours (France, Scilly, Poland) and Pagans (which Poland ate). Kingdom of Bohemia broke free, so did the duchies of Saxony (big area northwest), Brandenburg, Holstein, Bavaria and Savoy. Burgendy, Upper+Lorraine territories were lost to France. Poland took the lands which the Pagans of Pommeria took from the HRE.

Castile owns North of Spain, I own South Spain via Proxy Warmongering Vassal and Muslims are a thin line between them operating out of Toledo.

Siciliy owns itself, Italy from the HRE, and Tunis/Tripoli area. Their Queen is Queen of Siciliy, Italy and Africa. Though last time I looked, there was a big independence plot in the North (Italy part) so that might be crumbling.

Norway has fragmented into Pieces, Denmark is also now King of Lithuania. Sweden hasn't really done anything.

Pagans have been pushed back majorly by the Orthodox nations (mainly Novgorod). Byzantines are pretty much in Balkans and Asia Minor. Sejuk Turks owns from Persia to Damacus. Shia Empire owns from Eygpt all the way down to Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia area.

[The Stranger]

Wow! I thought mine was slow when it took about 40 min. I guess I did well.

oh well i dont know, i didnt download it. i installed from the disc so it took about 10 minutes or less.

however i did notice with the witcher that my downloads from steam are way slower than when i download from websites or whatever :S

[The Stranger]

The Game I am enjoying at the moment from what started as a William the Conqueror game and took it from there.

I am currently King of England, Scotland and Wales (trying to get some Fabricated claims in Ireland). I currently own Normandy, Brittany, Holland, Flanders (so the channel is English ruled) and I currently own most of Southern Spain (I originally took gibrator and gave it to kinsmen and they just branched out and expanded from there, themselves).

Big Events so far:

HRE got decimated
Internal struggle, opportunist neighbours (France, Scilly, Poland) and Pagans (which Poland ate). Kingdom of Bohemia broke free, so did the duchies of Saxony (big area northwest), Brandenburg, Holstein, Bavaria and Savoy. Burgendy, Upper+Lorraine territories were lost to France. Poland took the lands which the Pagans of Pommeria took from the HRE.

Castile owns North of Spain, I own South Spain via Proxy Warmongering Vassal and Muslims are a thin line between them operating out of Toledo.

Siciliy owns itself, Italy from the HRE, and Tunis/Tripoli area. Their Queen is Queen of Siciliy, Italy and Africa. Though last time I looked, there was a big independence plot in the North (Italy part) so that might be crumbling.

Norway has fragmented into Pieces, Denmark is also now King of Lithuania. Sweden hasn't really done anything.

Pagans have been pushed back majorly by the Orthodox nations (mainly Novgorod). Byzantines are pretty much in Balkans and Asia Minor. Sejuk Turks owns from Persia to Damacus. Shia Empire owns from Eygpt all the way down to Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia area.

nice, i love what spain somehow does to nobles who you give land. i gave one of my vassals the queendom of aragon, she then went on to conquere the kingdom of leon which was 2x as big, and then reconquered all the lands of northern spain that the kingdom of africa had taken from Castille. she expanded to like 4x the land of what i had given her :P

[Ishmael]

You guys talked me into it. It's been a hectic ride so far. I started off as Connacht, and managed to slowly expand until I had a little under half of Ireland. Unfortunately, this led both of the remaining Irish factions to simultaneously declare war on me. I'd just about got them under control through liberal application of mercenaries when my treasury ran out, and said mercenaries defected to my enemies. I had to surrender to one bunch and cede a province, whilst I managed to force a white peace with the other. Unfortunately, my king then died (at friggin' age 29), and the entire southern half of my realm split off and went to my brother. I managed to assassinate him and get my realm back (first try - lucky), and am currently in an uneasy truce with the other Irish powers...

...in other words, it's addictive .

[The Stranger]

hahaha yeah :P Connacht Rules!!! i started as them as well :P

have any of u guys gotten the multiplayer to work? i cannot join games of other people :S

[Sylon]

The progress of my current game:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Navarrese Empire, 1303. I have just emerged victorious from not one, but two wars against the Byzantines, taking advantage of their civil war to grab some of their possessions in Sicily. I also took the liberty of driving the French out of Africa, and crowning myself King of Africa and Egypt. The Beige colour in the bottom right hand corner of the screen is the Basque Kingdom of Abyssinia, which is ruled by a distant relative of mine of the house Jimena after I conquered it. The distance penalties were too great for me to hold any land or even keep my vassals from revolting there, so I gave it away. It's a bit risky, since they border the Ilkhanate in Somalia and Yemen, and indeed the Ilkhanate has declared war on them once before. I had to assassinate their ruler, plunging their realm into civil war, in order to save my hapless relative.

But that is but a mere footnote to what is about to happen. While on campaign in Naples, King Typhus II the Just brought his collection of scriptures from Alexandria and Tyre. As his troops battled the Byzantines and ravaged the countryside, he studied them fervently, and as the Byzantine host shattered and retreated from the western Mediterranean, he came to a startling epiphany. By studying the older scriptures of Christianity, he came to the conclusion that the teachings of Catholicism were false, and that true understanding of the word of God could only be attained by casting aside the excesses of the Church.

At this point, most of Europe heeded the teachings of the Holy See. The Muslim Caliphates had been destroyed, the Holy Land reconquered for Christianity. Even the Golden Horde of the eastern steppes had converted to Catholicism, their conversion while being the target of a crusade being hailed as a miracle sent by Christ. A ruler, should he find himself disagreeing with the church, would be wise in such an environment to keep such views to himself. But Typhus II was not a man to keep silent about matters of faith. Unable to contain his religious zeal, he openly proclaimed his new faith of Waldensianism, and called for all loyal Christians to cast down the Church and the false Pope and embrace the true faith.



The year is 1303. The Catholic world is about to be thrown into chaos, as the most powerful Catholic ruler has denounced the faith and called for the destruction of the Holy See. Blades are being sharpened. Forces are being marshaled. Which will triumph over Europe to become the true faith- Catholicism or Waldensianism?

[Subotan]

Hehe. After I declared independence from the HRE, the Kaiser decided to convert to Lollardism. The chaos that followed was awesome.

[Monk]

The progress of my current game:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Navarrese Empire, 1303. I have just emerged victorious from not one, but two wars against the Byzantines, taking advantage of their civil war to grab some of their possessions in Sicily. I also took the liberty of driving the French out of Africa, and crowning myself King of Africa and Egypt. The Beige colour in the bottom right hand corner of the screen is the Basque Kingdom of Abyssinia, which is ruled by a distant relative of mine of the house Jimena after I conquered it. The distance penalties were too great for me to hold any land or even keep my vassals from revolting there, so I gave it away. It's a bit risky, since they border the Ilkhanate in Somalia and Yemen, and indeed the Ilkhanate has declared war on them once before. I had to assassinate their ruler, plunging their realm into civil war, in order to save my hapless relative.

But that is but a mere footnote to what is about to happen. While on campaign in Naples, King Typhus II the Just brought his collection of scriptures from Alexandria and Tyre. As his troops battled the Byzantines and ravaged the countryside, he studied them fervently, and as the Byzantine host shattered and retreated from the western Mediterranean, he came to a startling epiphany. By studying the older scriptures of Christianity, he came to the conclusion that the teachings of Catholicism were false, and that true understanding of the word of God could only be attained by casting aside the excesses of the Church.

At this point, most of Europe heeded the teachings of the Holy See. The Muslim Caliphates had been destroyed, the Holy Land reconquered for Christianity. Even the Golden Horde of the eastern steppes had converted to Catholicism, their conversion while being the target of a crusade being hailed as a miracle sent by Christ. A ruler, should he find himself disagreeing with the church, would be wise in such an environment to keep such views to himself. But Typhus II was not a man to keep silent about matters of faith. Unable to contain his religious zeal, he openly proclaimed his new faith of Waldensianism, and called for all loyal Christians to cast down the Church and the false Pope and embrace the true faith.



The year is 1303. The Catholic world is about to be thrown into chaos, as the most powerful Catholic ruler has denounced the faith and called for the destruction of the Holy See. Blades are being sharpened. Forces are being marshaled. Which will triumph over Europe to become the true faith- Catholicism or Waldensianism?

Oh my. At the height of your power your Ruler has just thrown Christendom into chaos. I'm almost envious, no matter what happens that can only end in fun.

Stomping out heresy is probably one of the hardest things to do in this game (other than take down empires, heh heh). Lollardism was responsible for a nasty twenty year period of instability within my own realm. I thought i'd never get it under control, but I finally managed to imprison or execute everyone who was ever involved with it. It directly resulted in solidifying, once and for all, my Ruler's base of power in Castille. I'd broken up so many powerful duchies into little chunks and built such a vast array of inter-realm alliances that.. well, I already mentioned my 70,000 strong army.

Thats one thing about CKII that is infinitely rewarding, i think. Whenever civil wars come along, if you can win, you have the chance to become even stronger than before. But you have to be patient, you have to act with the correct tool, and you have to be a little lucky.

[The Stranger]

on what difficulty setting are you guys playing? and if you have tried different settings, does it make big difference?

[The Stranger]

ok... i just got defeated in 1,5 year after starting a game. i was a count on the lower part of sardinia and i had like 4 muslim nations declare a holy war on me :S before i could blink i had an army 5 times the men i could muster in my only province :O

[Beskar]

New patch update. It seems to be a couple of added Kingdoms, but the Wales kingdom is a big change in terms of gameplay.

What they need to add is a Kingdom de-jure CB. Will make things a little more.. "exciting". Also a way for you to realign vassals, so you have barons with the right counts with the right dukes who are with the right kings.

[naut]

I've lost and re-loaded an earlier save about 4~ times as the Duke of Barcalona/King of Aragon. Either I get a Jihad from Africa/Andulasia or invaded by France (although that shouldn't happen again with my chancellor constantly there + marriage into the Capet line).

Fun game.

[Monk]

New patch update. It seems to be a couple of added Kingdoms, but the Wales kingdom is a big change in terms of gameplay.

What they need to add is a Kingdom de-jure CB. Will make things a little more.. "exciting". Also a way for you to realign vassals, so you have barons with the right counts with the right dukes who are with the right kings.

Noticed this as well. I've already noticed much more CBs in the game so a kingom de-jure CB might not be out of the question. Maybe someway throught the plot system as well, will be interesting what they do going forward. What I like is they're already talking about 1.05 which is, apparently, coming soon and promises to be a "major" content patch. I cannot wait.

I loaded up my Castille game post 1.04 and there didnt seem to be any errors or oddities, but i'll still probably start a new game. I'd like to see how the new "nerfed" byzantines compare to their pre-patch cousins.

[Fisherking]

Noticed this as well. I've already noticed much more CBs in the game so a kingom de-jure CB might not be out of the question. Maybe someway throught the plot system as well, will be interesting what they do going forward. What I like is they're already talking about 1.05 which is, apparently, coming soon and promises to be a "major" content patch. I cannot wait.

I loaded up my Castille game post 1.04 and there didnt seem to be any errors or oddities, but i'll still probably start a new game. I'd like to see how the new "nerfed" byzantines compare to their pre-patch cousins.

Maybe I am overlooking the obvious but what is a CB?

The patch washed out my graphics. At least on the machine I first checked it on, which is not my best.

I wont get around to checking play for a day or two, however.


edit: never mind about CB... It took me a min.

[Sylon]

Noticed this as well. I've already noticed much more CBs in the game so a kingom de-jure CB might not be out of the question. Maybe someway throught the plot system as well, will be interesting what they do going forward. What I like is they're already talking about 1.05 which is, apparently, coming soon and promises to be a "major" content patch. I cannot wait.

The problem with a de iure kingdom casus belli is that it throws game balance out of equation. France will declare war on Brittany day 1, Mauretania and Africa will unite their respective ends of North Africa in a few years, and any vassal of an empire that manages to create a kingdom title will be able to steamroll over the rest of the empire. I say it works perfectly fine as it is.

[Monk]

The problem with a de iure kingdom casus belli is that it throws game balance out of equation. France will declare war on Brittany day 1, Mauretania and Africa will unite their respective ends of North Africa in a few years, and any vassal of an empire that manages to create a kingdom title will be able to steamroll over the rest of the empire. I say it works perfectly fine as it is.

Hm, thats true, i guess i didn't think of it that way. The last thing the game needs is out of control blobbing, especially since it feels like they're doing a good job of getting a handle on it.

[Fisherking]

The 1.4 patch, to me went sideways.

I think most of it was better before.

I know that the list of improvements looked promising but the implementation of some unannounced changes seems kind of odd.

Children now seem only about 50% likely to pick up the specialties of their tutors. Marriages are harder to make and can still go wrong.

I am not at all clear on why the BE was Nerfed, could be a mistake over all.

Much is not working as planed/stated. Vassals are fighting when they shouldn’t but the law penalties are still in place. And much, much more.

Also you will find it much more difficult to find counsel members or anyone with decent stats and occupations. Most NPCs have no traits and only a specialty.

[The Stranger]

ye ive been reading on it alot. i havent really played much since the patch been out.

i like the harder marriages, given that its harder for a count and easier for a king. cuz in 1.3 i could marry the royals as a count but not marry a count as a royalty. because they would want a better alliance.

[Beskar]

Me and Secura have been playing online as Scotland (me) and Connacht (Secura)

This one is a little out of date as I own Typhus now (my CK2 crashed so only Secura has the saved file) but this is how it is currently looking:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I currently recreated modern day Scotland, got high-crown authority, and a few other perks. Had the unfortunate string of deaths with rulers at one point which almost severely crippled me.
Secura is currently King of Ireland and Portugal.

I recently ran into a stroke of luck that my blood line now has a claim on the Kingdom of England (my original ruler was married to William the Conquerors oldest daughter) and after a really bloodly aftermath, all the lines of the sons have been wiped out so it appears I have my great-great-great-grandfathers (I think) claims upon the throne, which my rulers brother (Duke of Lothian) is actually in a winning war for. (England is broken up into many pieces with Lancaster, York and Bedford all with their own claims for the throne). So this might cause a mess since I might lose the duchy of Lothian to England which might be soon owned by my brother who naturally has a claim upon my own throne.

[Fisherking]

It might be in your best interest to see to it that your brother has an accident.

[The Stranger]

isnt it so that if you had pressed it claim that he will become a vassal of you?

[Secura]

Secura is currently King of Ireland and Portugal.

I had been making inroads into Wales too, on the verge of taking two of the bottom provinces (currently working on the one with Cardiff in, and the one to the left of that I already own but have to bring back into line due to a rebelling brother) which would then give me a claim on that duchy; I'm going to have to fabricate some more claims if I want to take the remaining Welsh duchy and then move onto claiming Brittany, though.

Ideally, I would like to move onto removing the Muslims from Spain, but it's so difficult due to Mega-Mauretania and the Iberian Catholics gaining more ground due to my conquest of Portugal. I recall marrying into the Galacean royal family though, which should ease the process if I inherit.

[Fisherking]

isnt it so that if you had pressed it claim that he will become a vassal of you?

Not for a kingdom, unless you are the big E of something.

[frogbeastegg]

Crusader Kings II: the unofficial training tool for org Forum Admins!

How are people finding the new patch? I haven't had chance to test it out yet, thanks to a few other things taking up the time I intended to play. It looks like it should shake the game up pretty strongly, between the CB changes, increased illness, and misc others.

I'm going to start a new game for the patch and can't decide who. I've played Sicily (worn down, isolated, then manoeuvred into effective defeat by generation 2), Meath (went so smoothly I sort of lost interest), and Kingdom of Jerusalem (death by 500,000,000 angry Muslims). I played Poland and Byzantium in the demo. I prefer to be an independent, relatively small without being too puny. Or I may throw all of that to the wind, and undertake the near-suicidal task of keeping Saxon England alive.

[Monk]

How are people finding the new patch? I haven't had chance to test it out yet, thanks to a few other things taking up the time I intended to play. It looks like it should shake the game up pretty strongly, between the CB changes, increased illness, and misc others.

Mortality has shot through the roof from illnesses. I've noticed that contracting a disease is a much bigger deal than it ever was - and now that "oh no i'm sick!" event is something to really dread. Case in point, i brokered a marriage alliance between my heir and the king of navarra with his daughter. She arrives in my lands and all is well and good, a week later she's dead. The only clue to her death is the Ill trait

I noticed at least half my cabinet dropping dead within 10 years of that. I'm not sure if someone was going assassin crazy or not, but many of them had the Ill trait. I wish there was causes of death...

I'm going to start a new game for the patch and can't decide who. I've played Sicily (worn down, isolated, then manoeuvred into effective defeat by generation 2), Meath (went so smoothly I sort of lost interest), and Kingdom of Jerusalem (death by 500,000,000 angry Muslims). I played Poland and Byzantium in the demo. I prefer to be an independent, relatively small without being too puny. Or I may throw all of that to the wind, and undertake the near-suicidal task of keeping Saxon England alive.

One of the Rus duchies if i may be so bold. Many of them start with claims on each other (due to their dynastic ties), and they offer a game on the "edge of civilization" as it were. Uniting into the Kingdom of Rus is difficult, so is dealing with the early Pagans who are practically knocking on your door. And then comes the horde! They look like a fascinating game and are my next stop after my current project.

[Monk]

First game post 1.04 and this time doing so as a vassal! Duke of Armenia, faithful servant of the empire.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Here's a look at the "direct vassals" map close to 40 years in game. I've expanded my own power considerably but there's still much more room for improvement. I've been focusing on economic and military build ups while I wait for a chance to do anything. The Emperor has been busy fighting wars almost nonstop, and i've helped here and there, but for the most part he's left me alone. He seems to focus on drawing his strength from the Western Duchies more often than the Eastern. That may change though, the more i build my power. Currently I'm the second most powerful Duke in the empire but I need to be careful. Someone has been assassinating my nobles all game, and they've been doing it unde rthe noses of my spymasters. I don't like it and its got me on edge.

Still. I've built a considerable web of alliances in the eastern empire and a growing power base in Armenia. My long-term goal is to eventually break away from Byzantium and form the Kingdom of Armenia, but that is centuries off I feel. Attempts to curb the Emperor's strengthening his crown authority thus far have been.. problematic.

I've noticed two things in this game. Number one, people die way more often. There's a ton more uncertainty in life now that Paradox has upped the mortality rates. Getting maimed is a huge deal. If you send a maimed character to prison dont be surprised if they die within six months. Health is now a erious issue and your characters are more fragile than ever. War time casualties seem to be around the same as before, however.

And two: vassal penalties for raising their troops has been significantly strengthened. You now get the penalty much quicker, and it rises faster. Makes prolonged campaigns a nightmare and is a huge incentive to build a strong demense of your own.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Reconquista has failed - France and the Holy Roman Empire have stepped up in a desperate attempt to keep muslim forces from breaching into southern France. The First Crusade was fought not in the middle-east, but in Spain. The HRE's strip of land there was the target. Poland is going crazy and has completely obliterated Hungary. My boss, the emperor, is jumping at the chance to mop up the remains as you might be able to notice.

Southern Italy has falen to invaders from Sicily and Matilda of Tuscany is leading the charge to try to drive them back. She's doing a good job actually, i wouldn't be surprised to see the HRE take over all of Italy before 1120.

edit: apologies for terrible screenshot quality, not sure what happened! Will get better quality screens next time

[Beskar]

f11 for the map one. Which is more clear on colours at least. Also a bugfix patch is out.

[rickinator9]

f11 for the map one. Which is more clear on colours at least. Also a bugfix patch is out.

Will it show duchies?

Anyway, I am playing as the Komnemnoi of Paphlagonia. My dynasty got a lot of land from marriages. I have the duchies of Paphlagonia, Trakesion and Coloneia in my pocket, and I will inherit the duchy of Anatolia soon. My heir will inherit the duchy of Armeniakon. I plan to take Charsianon next, either through marriage or war. The thing that's a bit weird is that there weren't any big civil wars since a usurped(from the Doukas family) took the throne of the heir of the beginning emperor. Whenever there's going to be a civil war, I'm gonna be in it. Pictures will be posted later.