Crusader Kings/Deus Volt

Yes, the game I was complaining about a couple of days ago in the EU: Rome thread.

Back in ye olde days there were quite a few of us playing this. AFAIK all of us gave up on it. Too simplistic, too many problems, too many gaping great holes.

It was always a wonderful idea for a game. Playing a medieval dynasty through hundreds of years of history? Characters with traits and personality? A more realistic take on aspects like warfare and politics? I wasn't along in shouting, "Yes please!" and preordering a copy.

Oh dear.

Several patches later and I'd had enough. Barely anything had changed in a positive way, and it was clear that many of the issues would never be addressed. Game over. The end. CK was filed amongst the most disappointing games in my collection. The only good memory was the way it inspired me to my first true work of fiction, a complex and huge story filled with characters a hell of a lot deeper than the paper-thin

Then came the completely unexpected expansion, Deus Volt. Unexpected because Paradox (then) didn’t do them. I ignored it. It fixed a lot but not enough for me to care.

Then, by chance, I heard about the existence of a mod which allowed proper, functional and historical female inheritance. That fixes a couple more issues in one fell swoop.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Oh, the irony - the way to get it into the game is to break the AI coding around another law of succession. Do that and the eldest surviving daughter of the king will inherit (or if there are no surviving daughters, the eldest granddaughter) but only when there are no eligible males. Precisely as it should be. Take that, "I don't care if there's loads of evidence for this happening historically, and I don't care that it would improve the gameplay no end, I say it didn't happen and so it didn't EVAR!!!!1!" crowd.

So, where does that leave us?

Diplomacy implemented and actually functional? Maybe check.

An end to the stupidity that enabled armies to march through the lands of their religious foes without challenge? Check, provided you don't install the latest beta patch because that flips the code switch and resurrects the nightmare.

Characters with actual character? Check. Lots of new traits added, and the system handling character growth is entirely redone.

Court intrigue? Check.

A crusade system which doesn't force endless, frantic, exhausting warfare as you scramble not to lose all your piety in the time it takes to sail from Ireland to Jerusalem? Check.

Ledger so you don't go insane trying to keep track of everything? Check.

Integrated bride finding program so hunting for high stat wives is no longer the main time sink? Check, and again the system has altered a bit so high stats are no longer vital as a child will gain stats independently of its parents.

Tweaked research so you don't spent 80 years waiting for someone to invent the road? Check, or so I hear.

Events that are interesting? Check, hundreds of new ones and most of the old ones are redone.

Heiresses to marry into your family so you can absorb their lands? Check.

A way to avoid having a country cousin (crap low-stat character) generated and dumped on you if your ruler died without an heir? Check, provided you have a daughter or granddaughter.

Other big gaps in the historical fabric filled? Sort of check. It's now possible to send your children out to other noble houses for fostering and to accept fosterlings yourself, for example.

A game which is actually a game, not a program where you click "ok" a lot, hunt for 16 year old girls with high stats, and then click "ok" on another 60 windows before repeating the process for your other 7 unmarried men? Very possibly.

A whole lot more I can’t be bothered to type? Yes.




Now I find I have been gone and brought the expansion, dug out the CD, and reinstalled the cursed game. :wall:

This will probably end in tears.

I wish thee luck, Lady Frog. ~:cheers:

Just to clarify, does this mod require the Deus Volt expansion as well? Also, what's it called?

Tears of happiness, or disappointment? ~:joker:

I just bought CK (Not DV. I can't afford it on my student salary.. ie nothing) and I have to say I have not stopped playing it since (with the result that I am now in the middle of doing Latin work due tomorrow... damn paradox). I am planning on doing a mega-campaign linking all of the games together. All I have to do now is buy CK and Victoria and Revolutions. Then the world shall be mine!

I must say that your write-up has made me want to get DV more, but the newest beta patches are quite unstable (Though Johan has said that a second one is on the way which should fix numerous CTD issues). After those are fixed and I earn myself some money I shall get it.

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Originally Posted by CountArach

I just bought CK (Not DV. I can't afford it on my student salary.. ie nothing) and I have to say I have not stopped playing it since (with the result that I am now in the middle of doing Latin work due tomorrow... damn paradox). I am planning on doing a mega-campaign linking all of the games together. All I have to do now is buy CK and Victoria and Revolutions. Then the world shall be mine!

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Don't forget Hearts of Iron!!! Using nukes is great fun :yes:

Deus Vult! You heathen. ~;)

Picked it up for a song last week, definitely worth it, from Duke to King of Wales in two generations and from Count to King of Jerusalem in three was a hell of a lot of fun. And the best part it keeps me away from Uni work! :2thumbsup:

What's this mod you speak of though?

There are a couple of female inheritance mods. Drachenfire's Damsels not in distress mod is the best IMO, as it works in a more historically accurate fashion. There's a link to the other one, Divine Shadows, in that topic. It's a DIY 'edit a bit of text' mod, and it doesn't require DV.

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Originally Posted by Raz

Tears of happiness, or disappointment?

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At this point I couldn't say. I haven't plucked up the nerve to try the game.

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Originally Posted by CountArach

the newest beta patches are quite unstable (Though Johan has said that a second one is on the way which should fix numerous CTD issues). After those are fixed and I earn myself some money I shall get it.

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The DV beta patches are a no-go for me as the latest one once again allows armies to march through the lands of religious enemies provided they are at peace. Stupid does not begin to describe they way this plays out.

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Originally Posted by Rythmic

Picked it up for a song last week, definitely worth it, from Duke to King of Wales in two generations and from Count to King of Jerusalem in three was a hell of a lot of fun. And the best part it keeps me away from Uni work! :2thumbsup:

What's this mod you speak of though?

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I'm enjoying my game as Duklja (Just to the NW of the Byzantines). Currently almost half of the Byzantine Empire is in revolt, including 70% of Greece and half of Anatolia. I'm just worried that they will weaken themselves so much that the Turks will just waltz in and clean up - leaving me alone to fight them.

I think my favourite addition in Deus Vult is the ability to make someone you've defeated become your vassal rather than taking their land as your own.

This makes civil wars much easier (not that, thinking about it excessive difficultly has ever been one of CK's problems)... but it stops the vassal revolts because of high Bad Boy rating > Defeat Him > Bad Boy rating increases > Vassals get annoyed by even higher Bad Boy rating and rebel cycle, which I was never too fond of.

I dont think its too far wrong historically either, to just slap around a rebellious vassal and tell him to behave, rather than utterly destroying his realm and replacing him with the first person to wander in through the doors of your utterly empty court.

Makes it easier to expand in Christian realms as well, whilst conversely its harder to take Other Relegions provinces because you now score Bad Boy points for taking their land.

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Originally Posted by RabidGibbon

whilst conversely its harder to take Other Relegions provinces because you now score Bad Boy points for taking their land.

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I always saw that as silly though, you'd be seen as great in the eyes of your religious fellows not as a bad. There really should be two sets of reputation, one for your rep with those of the same religion and one for those of differing religions.

Wait a minute here. You wrote CK off because it lacked female inheritance?

Besides that, DV is fail for the aforementioned fact that it now costs BB to annex stuff from religious enemies. In a game where so much revolves around warfare (lacking complex economics and diplomacy like, say, Vicky), that's some epic failure right there.

Ah, no. I wrote it off because of that big 14 point list up there :questiong: