Crusader Kings II

so how is the muslim expansion? any good?

It's really good. €10 isn't that much for unlocking 1/3 of the world and generally getting an unique experience.

i agree with muslim expansion though i think they should have had it all form the start, alas thats the way of the gaming industry now a days.

hooah as far as misguided warrior def could be worse options.

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Originally Posted by Centurion1

i agree with muslim expansion though i think they should have had it all form the start, alas thats the way of the gaming industry now a days.

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It's called Crusader Kings 2 for a reason. CK1 didn't even have muslims.

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Originally Posted by Centurion1

hooah as far as misguided warrior def could be worse options.

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Martial is generally useless as a king, unless you want to be Alexander the great. Most kings have courtiers or vassals to do their dirty work.

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Originally Posted by rickinator9

It's called Crusader Kings 2 for a reason. CK1 didn't even have muslims.

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I must have dreamt all those muslims inheriting titles in the British Isles then. I'm pretty sure the game was also moddable to make them playable.

its quite hard to have a crusader game without muslims :P unless it was only the teuton crusades XD

You didn't mention the moddable muslims were christians with another religion.

Edit: This mod looks really interesting: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...Invicta/page27

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Originally Posted by rickinator9

It's called Crusader Kings 2 for a reason. CK1 didn't even have muslims.

Martial is generally useless as a king, unless you want to be Alexander the great. Most kings have courtiers or vassals to do their dirty work.

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Thats a horrible reasoning for not having them. they did it for a quick buck....

and i said there are worse traits to have. not that it was awesome.

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Originally Posted by Centurion1

Thats a horrible reasoning for not having them. they did it for a quick buck....

and i said there are worse traits to have. not that it was awesome.

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I doubt it was that calculated from having looked through the game files. It's pretty clear paradox had to cut a bunch of stuff they wanted to include at launch like viceroys, a relic system tied directly into crusading, choosing regents and expanding that role in your government, ect. Most of this stuff is actually in the game files but incomplete. Lots of localisation calls left unfinished or event chains that end abruptly, or link to events that don't exist. CK2 is probably going to get a lot of mini-expansions, and i'm fine with that, considering how good the vanilla game was to begin with. Paradox has done enough good to endear themselves to me as a customer that I'm willing to put up with DLC, and the quality of their DLC thus far has only confirmed that decision.

While I like SoI but Paradox sorta shot themselves in the foot in the way they chose to implement it. They gave it to everyone with 1.06 but then asked you to unlock what was essentially already downloaded to your hard drive. Ack. That's going to get under some people's skin for sure. However, the new events, CB types, family system and the decadence mechanics added a lot of depth to the muslims. Something they desperately needed since playing them before didn't feel any different than playing the as the west. There are now two distinct ways to play based on what religion you've chosen and I felt that was more than enough to justify a $10 DLC. Some people probably feel differently though.

I'm not bashing paradox they make some of my favorite games. And I'm happy to see them make money because I don't want them failing

GODDAMN UPDATES! Argh, that's the third time I've had a really enjoyable dynasty made unplayable because an update knocks over my save file. Anyone know a way to roll back to the previous version (using steam)?

And to make it worse, it's all crappy mutliplayer fixes that I care not one iota for! Insult meet injury. =/

Rolling back isn't an option on Steam.

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Originally Posted by johnhughthom

Rolling back isn't an option on Steam.

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This unfortunately. :no:

Turn off auto update for CK2

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Originally Posted by Alexander the Pretty Good

Turn off auto update for CK2

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Useless when your game is already updated, and doesn't work like that anyway. All that means is that the game won't update automatically, it'll still update next time you start the game. The only real way to ensure Steam doesn't update your game is to put it on offline mode before the new update comes out. Unless they've finally listened to the thousands of complaints about the feature and done something about it.

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Originally Posted by johnhughthom

Useless when your game is already updated, and doesn't work like that anyway. All that means is that the game won't update automatically, it'll still update next time you start the game. The only real way to ensure Steam doesn't update your game is to put it on offline mode before the new update comes out. Unless they've finally listened to the thousands of complaints about the feature and done something about it.

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Not to mention that if you tell the game to verify your cache, automatic updates get turned back on without you knowing or steam bothering to tell you. Steam does a lot of things right, but updates are not one of them. :no:

At least not for games of this nature. For MP games the auto update is great

I had just won independence from the Fatamid Sultanate and had designs on becoming King of Syria! =(

UGH. WHY DO THEY DO THIS TO US???

I just finished 20+ years of civil war in the Kingdom of Scotland!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...5B23307631655/

Funny, and this patch was supposed to be "fully compatible with 1.06 save games".

My Rum Sultanate game is still going strong, so I actually believed them until I checked this thread. :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Hooahguy

UGH. WHY DO THEY DO THIS TO US???

I just finished 20+ years of civil war in the Kingdom of Scotland!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...5B23307631655/

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I'm pretty sure they are angry because they don't have their de jure counties. I can see some of the counts are de jure of the dukes are 'independent' under your rule. This is what makes them angry.

I myself discovered the benefits of having feudal elective succession if you don't have too many vassals. You can basically just pick the best heir out of your family.

I always found trying to please all my vassals really difficult in terms of what to give them. Oftentimes they want something, or have a de jure claim on, something else that someone owns.
So why should I throw one vassal under the bus to make another one happy?

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Originally Posted by Hooahguy

I always found trying to please all my vassals really difficult in terms of what to give them. Oftentimes they want something, or have a de jure claim on, something else that someone owns.
So why should I throw one vassal under the bus to make another one happy?

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More often than not, said vassals have really bad traits. The absolute worst one is Ambitious, with gives a whopping -50 opinion and makes the vassal demand more and more stuff. These are the guys who you do NOT want to put into a position of power. At the very least, make them a Count and transfer them under the rulership of a Duke and let the poor Duke deal with the ingrate. Choose vassals that compliment your own skills. If you are Brave, other Brave vassals will like you more, but Cowards will hate you.
Smaller kingdoms are much easier to manage, since you can own the number of counties up to your demesne and not take any penalties. Use this to secure a (relatively) large chunk of land close to each other without having to deal with the hassle of Counts or Dukes.

And when in doubt, spark a civil war. When you win (and you should), imprison the traitor, strip the primary title from him, and leave him to rot in the oubliette. As a last resort, give the most important counties, except your own demesne, to your heir.

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i.imgur.com/iF65f.jpg

A screenshot from my mod but not really resulting from any changes I've made, just the AI acting organically. Complete byzantine collapse before 1100 by way of a Shia Jihad AT THE SAME TIME as a Sunni Jihad. Shia muslims went for Greece, Sunnis went for Anatolia. Not even the Byzantines could hold them both off. :no:

I'm thinking about messing with the starting Fatimid decadence.

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Originally Posted by Hooahguy

I always found trying to please all my vassals really difficult in terms of what to give them. Oftentimes they want something, or have a de jure claim on, something else that someone owns.
So why should I throw one vassal under the bus to make another one happy?

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A good rule of thumb is to keep 2 adjacent Duchies and all Count titles under those Duchies in your ruler's control. This will enable you to command a large personal army to put down revolts and fight wars. Also ensure that no vassal has more than 1 County each and they are within their de jure boundaries. This will ease realm management. In the screenie below I own all the Counties and Baronies for Tripoli and Antioch (and additionally Jerusalem and 2 baronies there). My personal levies are 10K. My vassals account for an additional 18k, but each vassal is a Count of 1 title and no more, so the most they can individually raise is in the region of 1.5k. =)


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Originally Posted by Monk

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i.imgur.com/iF65f.jpg

A screenshot from my mod but not really resulting from any changes I've made, just the AI acting organically. Complete byzantine collapse before 1100 by way of a Shia Jihad AT THE SAME TIME as a Sunni Jihad. Shia muslims went for Greece, Sunnis went for Anatolia. Not even the Byzantines could hold them both off. :no:

I'm thinking about messing with the starting Fatimid decadence.

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Yep. This is my current game. The Byz get almost instantly attacked by Muslims, for me it was the Fatamids (Akbarids).

Attachment 6090


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Another thing I've noticed is Sweden always collapses under internal and Norwegian pressure? Anyone else get this?

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Originally Posted by Psychonaut

Yep. This is my current game. The Byz get almost instantly attacked by Muslims, for me it was the Fatamids (Akbarids).

Attachment 6090

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I saw your screen on steam. Yeah, I'm not sure if I want to touch them or not. They seem to be able to swing either way. Sometimes the Byz stay together and sometimes they just get crushed under someone and collapse.. I sorta like that flexibility. Lots more testing I feel like before i can come to a conclusion there.

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Another thing I've noticed is Sweden always collapses under internal and Norwegian pressure? Anyone else get this?

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Norway has been a monster since 1.05's balance. Sweden is unfortunately stuck with a lot of poor provinces and dynastic troubles whereas Norway has none of that. If they pacify the northern pagans they (norway) have a pretty good chance to run over Scandinavia.

Well I gained Syria! Murdered the Egyptian sultan and a full blown civil war erupted allowing me easy pickings. =)

why do the genoese always expand so fast while the venetians who have a similar CB never expand at all :S (starting scenarios 1066)

Hi friends,

I have recently started playing CK2 and it is great fun.
Even so, I am sometimes dazzled and confused about things that happen which I really dont understand why. I guess I will come here more often in the furture seeking help and understanding.


One of the things that puzzle me are the colours in the dilomatic view.
I figured out that green is my own realm, blue are allies and red are enemies.
But what are the brown and black colours representing ?

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/attac...7&d=1341580674

Any help would be very wellcom
Nigel

Black means the country has no relation, Yellow/brown means you have a cassus beli. against them.

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Originally Posted by The Stranger

why do the genoese always expand so fast while the venetians who have a similar CB never expand at all :S (starting scenarios 1066)

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Interesting, I've experienced the same, the Genoese taking much of north africa while the Venetians sit pretty. =/

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Originally Posted by Psychonaut

Well I gained Syria! Murdered the Egyptian sultan and a full blown civil war erupted allowing me easy pickings. =)

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I'd love to see a screenshot! :grin2:

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Originally Posted by Greyblades

Black means the country has no relation, Yellow/brown means you have a cassus beli. against them.

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I had no idea that the colors meant this. I thought that yellow meant they liked you or something.

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Originally Posted by Hooahguy

I had no idea that the colors meant this. I thought that yellow meant they liked you or something.

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That's what the opinion mode is for. It's a great mode to see who hates who. You just click on someones holdings and you can see their relations with the world.

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Originally Posted by Monk

I'd love to see a screenshot! :grin2:

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/attac...3&d=1341622966

Most of Anatolia revolted, but they've managed to regain a foothold and I'm sure it won't be long until they regain the entirety. Importantly for me Aleppo revolted, giving me a free pass to get that sweet, sweet de jure land I needed! There are a few other Duchies (Jerusalem, Jourdain, Damascus) that I am hoping to gobble up, but I need to consolidate and reorganise what I have first.

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Originally Posted by Greyblades

That's what the opinion mode is for. It's a great mode to see who hates who. You just click on someones holdings and you can see their relations with the world.

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Doesn't help if you're Muslim, almost everyone hates you! =3

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Originally Posted by Psychonaut

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/attac...3&d=1341622966

Most of Anatolia revolted, but they've managed to regain a foothold and I'm sure it won't be long until they regain the entirety. Importantly for me Aleppo revolted, giving me a free pass to get that sweet, sweet de jure land I needed! There are a few other Duchies (Jerusalem, Jourdain, Damascus) that I am hoping to gobble up, but I need to consolidate and reorganise what I have first.


Doesn't help if you're Muslim, almost everyone hates you! =3

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Your screenie is broken for some reason but i spied it on steam, very impressive! I'd be worried about a counter attack from Egypt within the next few years, but it looks like you weren't the only one to slip away. Hopefully they stay occupied so long they lose their claims on you. :yes:

In the middle of an HRE game at the moment. Started as the lowly count of Freisland on my way to forming Germany from within the HRE, breaking away, and hopefully completely taking over as a highly centralized state. Locking the HRE to Autonomous Vassals has had some interesting and very cool results. For one most of the AI there stays on Gavelkind, which means that a lot of the vassals stay broken up and small. Sorta like how the HRE eventually became as time went on. The new way to centralize after locking them out of CA is to play the diplomatic game. Switch to elective monarchy asap and slowly start forging claims on your neighbors. Its a very slow game but very fun. The HRE also doesn't blob out of control since they cant raise their CA anymore thanks to my changes, but they still have the potential to be really strong. All in all, great changes and something i'm keeping going forward.

Been to the Paradox forums. Looks like 1.06b attempted to balance Iberia to be a little more fair. Personally I didn't see it myself, but lots of players are reporting a more stable Iberian experience. I still like my version of Iberia better but it's nice to see Paradox are listening to feedback. I think I'm done messing with balance, it's way too tedious for my liking. :yes: Let's me focus on much more "fun" things, like event coding. Woo.

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Originally Posted by Monk

In the middle of an HRE game at the moment. Started as the lowly count of Freisland on my way to forming Germany from within the HRE, breaking away, and hopefully completely taking over as a highly centralized state. Locking the HRE to Autonomous Vassals has had some interesting and very cool results. For one most of the AI there stays on Gavelkind, which means that a lot of the vassals stay broken up and small. Sorta like how the HRE eventually became as time went on. The new way to centralize after locking them out of CA is to play the diplomatic game. Switch to elective monarchy asap and slowly start forging claims on your neighbors. Its a very slow game but very fun. The HRE also doesn't blob out of control since they cant raise their CA anymore thanks to my changes, but they still have the potential to be really strong. All in all, great changes and something i'm keeping going forward.

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My last game was Lübeck, may have to return there. Changes sound very, very interesting. I resorted to editing my save file to keep the HRE at autonomous vassals, but your tweak is much better.

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Originally Posted by Psychonaut

My last game was Lübeck, may have to return there. Changes sound very, very interesting. I resorted to editing my save file to keep the HRE at autonomous vassals, but your tweak is much better.

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I love it personaly. The gameplay is much more dynamic and diplomatic. You're now forced to fabricate claims a lot more, use plots for titles, and plot to kill people who are blocking your rise to power. In short, it makes you use ALL of the game's tools to remain effective. The only downside is the Emperor loves to take one of my counts and make him a duke in his own right. Ugh. WHY YOU DO THIS AI? Oh well. It's an easy De jure war to re-establish power. Just odd.

The HRE's power fluctuates much more realistically i've found when you make this change. If they can stay together by way of a strong emperor they become a real force to be feared, but because of autonomous vassals they are always trying to deal with internal problems. The Ai is constantly fighting and pushing the bounderies of power and the emperor is trying to keep them in check. It's how the HRE should have been from the start imho. ~:)

I'd like to see the Fatimids nerfed a bit but I won't be the one to do it. Balancing iberia was enough trouble.

Speaking of which, a few new changes to my test build demanded a new game so here it is:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Aragon - 1138

https://i.imgur.com/gFeZO.jpg

Iberia hard mode: start as a custom character in control of the Kingdom of Aragon, 1066, dont go crazy with buffing your stats. The kingdom of Aragon is in such a sorry state at the start of the game, even with my buffs, but they've got great potential.

Pushing de jure claims against the one province muslim minor powers of the north is obviously the best way to go. But then you're stuck with a bunch of muslim counts! I decided to push to medium CA asap so that I could revoke infidel titles and clean up my internal organization while pressing continuous de jure claims against the southern muslims. What resulted was a court at home who LOVED me for continually winning wars and an ever growing demesne as i mercilessly revoked any title that was held by a sunni character.

Ever since tinkering with the HRE i've come to love elective monarchy. Did your first born get saddled with the imbecile trait? No problem, elect his genious sister instead. As long as you play the diplomacy game correctly (as in, your duke vassals like you) they will always back whoever you're voting for. The downside of course is if you get saddled with no good candidates, next generation might see another dynasty on the throne of your kingdom. :no:

I've had to strike a good balance between expanding my own personal power and fighting in defense of Christendom as a whole. Castile has gotten into some serious hot water twice now only for me and my men to come riding to the rescue. The King of Castile owes me big time. The biggest challenge was waiting for a good time to seize the duchy of barcelona. I had a claim on it (fabricated claim on an entire duchy, Thank you high diplo chancellors!) but they were much more powerful than I was and they had great commanders. That's when the Pope declared the most hilarius crusade in history: A crusade for the Kingdom of Pomerania...

What. :laugh4:

I didn't care! Threw every character I had into that and got some seriously nice buffs to my martial commanders, when Barcelona got entangled in a war to help out Castile in their holy war for Badajoz I jumped them. They called in Castile but I spammed mercs at them and destroyed them with determination and overwhelming fire power. I've spent the last twenty years consolidating my power in Iberia but unfortunately so have the muslims.

The Almoravids have moved into Granada and are just as powerful as I am. Holy Orders should even the score but if they called in the other powers of Iberia into a fight, then not so much. Iberia is a powder keg - all of the south is allied, all of the north is allied, the next war is gonna set off a huge explosion of violence no matter what the CB is.

Meanwhile:

https://i.imgur.com/SkBnj.jpg

I'm not even mad at this. I can't be. This was the greatest power play i've ever seen the AI pull off. The Fatimids weren't expanding much, dealing with internal decadence problems. They looked like they were going to fall into an invasion soon or at least suffer a pretty big succession crisis. The Seljuks were at war with the Byzantines, they succeeded in taking Armenia but were having trouble locking down Anatolia - and that's when the Fatimids struck...

An invasion of Mesopotamia after the Seljuks had been fighting the Byzantines for at least a decade. In one fell swoop the Fatimids broke the Great Seljuk Empire in half and sent it spiraling into a half dozen independence wars. The Seljuk dynasty lost control of everything and has faded into obscurity.. and now the Fatimids have been slowly absorbing the Seljuk successor states.

God help us all.

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use plots for titles

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Is this actually possible in the vanilla game? Or only in a modded version?

I seem only to be getting plots to kill someone. It would be great to have plots to obtain titles, or even just plots to obtain claims (as an alternative to fabricating them).

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Originally Posted by Nigel

Is this actually possible in the vanilla game? Or only in a modded version?

I seem only to be getting plots to kill someone. It would be great to have plots to obtain titles, or even just plots to obtain claims (as an alternative to fabricating them).

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Yes it is possible, it may depend on the level of crown law though.

Keep meaning to get this but it's hard to justify the money. And to think I missed a 50% (or 60% or somewhere around there) sale a few weeks back.

It will most likely be on sale on steam soon.

Also I think Amazon has it on sale now, though that deal might be over.

But its totally worth it.

Well, I couldn't resist and went ahead and got the game. Going to try it out tonight.

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Originally Posted by Zim

Well, I couldn't resist and went ahead and got the game. Going to try it out tonight.

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As per anyone i will direct you to pages 2-5 as they have the greatest concentration of "noob" knowledge than the other pages. Not that they aren't worth looking at either, mind you! If you have any questions feel free to drop back here.

good god, we're up to 23 pages :confused: :grin2: Orgahs I am proud.

I'll give them a look. I guess extensive EU3 knowledge is worthless?

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Originally Posted by Zim

I'll give them a look. I guess extensive EU3 knowledge is worthless?

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That's right. If you want to have a 'safe' start, it is generally advised to take one of the Irish minors.

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Originally Posted by Zim

I'll give them a look. I guess extensive EU3 knowledge is worthless?

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Yeah. The best way to compare the two is that EUIII focuses on the evolution of statehood and nations, while CK2 focuses on the evolution of characters and personal relationships within a medieval government. Aside from a few mechanical similarities (needing a CB to declare war, ect) they are both very different games which attempt very different things.

I am amazed to see how much the Orgahs love CK2, makes me cringe since I don't have enough time to play it. I still need to get around and review Sword of Islam expansion; is it worthy of CK2?

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Originally Posted by Voigtkampf

I am amazed to see how much the Orgahs love CK2, makes me cringe since I don't have enough time to play it. I still need to get around and review Sword of Islam expansion; is it worthy of CK2?

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My only gripe with SoI is how it was delivered. Paradox gave it to everyone in the 1.06 patch, but then asked you to pay to actually unlock it. It ruffled some folks feathers, partly very understandably. They need to find a way to uncouple their DLC from their content patches imo, which added the best stuff (combat that actually works and isnt a number grind) for free.

As for whether SoI is actually worth $10? A resounding yes. Balance concerns aside (because you can fix them with mods. Hint hint. ~;) ) it has effectively split Crusader Kings 2 into two very viable and different games. Playing as a muslim ruler feels completely different than playing as a Christian one, which just wasn't the case pre-SoI. It added pretty much everything a mini-expansion should: new mechanics, art, events and CBs.

Sounds just about perfect, thanks! Looking forward to trying it out. :2thumbsup:

Alright, loaded up as an Irish minor. Which to pick was easy when I noticed one of the starting rulers was a distant relative.

So far I've done all the intermediate tutorials and am just getting started with my game. I'll be back later with my tale of woe after my inevitable destruction. :clown:

An Irish minor is a good start. That was my first successful game. Ended up taking over all of Ireland and a part of Scotland over 100 years. Then patch 1.06 came out.

Quick question. Do characters ever give up an ambition? My character's wife wants to be spymaster, but is terrible at intrigue.

I dont think so. At least I havent seen it happen. Maybe it wears off with age.

Here's hoping.

Update: I gained a claim on a small Welsh Duchy, pressed it, and won! But, it turns out it was just to put my daughter in law in charge there, and she now has a higher rank than me. Too bad it wasn't my heir's spouse. :clown: Still, a nice lesson in the game's warfare and diplomacy. Also rid me of some of my spare family members as they joined the new court.

Also, it's tough to find good marriage partners. Minus 40 prestige to marry my son to a courtier and no other women around.

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Originally Posted by Zim

Quick question. Do characters ever give up an ambition? My character's wife wants to be spymaster, but is terrible at intrigue.

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All characters can cancel their ambitions to gain new ones as time goes on, but the AI is pretty stubborn. Unless your wife decides she wants to kill someone and starts to plot against them it's likely she will keep her current ambition. There's no penalty for denying a character their ambition unless they confront you about it via events, which doesn't happen often with spouses.

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Also, it's tough to find good marriage partners. Minus 40 prestige to marry my son to a courtier and no other women around.

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Learn to love betrothals. They were implemented to give players a bit of a jump on the AI. The AI will find good matches for all its important characters within a few weeks of them hitting 16, but are coded to specifically not use betrothals. Keep an eye on the up and coming children of the world and snag them for a betrothal before they hit 16.

Still, sometimes you have to marry a nobody to get a decent spouse with stats. :shrug: The prestige hit is only bad while you stay on the count tier. If you can move up to duke it will barely affect you.

Ok. I'lll keep an eye on her and any events. It may be a moot point soon as the Earl (of Desmond) isn't getting any younger. I'll be switching to his son soon.

Won my first piece of land from Munster. Go allies plus mercs! Funny, Munster's ruler is still a Duke and I'm still an Earl despite having twice the land. ~;p Apparently I can usurp the title for the Republic of Munster, I just need some more money first...

Edit: And...I'm a Duke!

Just so you know, there's a new CKII wiki here

Alright, I bumbled my way along about 100 years over the last day. Lots of ups and downs, the latter of which were mostly my own doing. Revolts, bankruptcy, worries about a shortage of heirs and, most recently a war between my character and and his only heir, a nephew with delusions of Grandeur and a petty dukedom.

Now the Kingdom of Ireland and succession are both secure and I'm not sure what to do. I expanded a very little bit into Wales but I'm not sure if I want to continue. May just focus on trying to get my family members' abysmal stats up.

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Originally Posted by Zim

Alright, I bumbled my way along about 100 years over the last day. Lots of ups and downs, the latter of which were mostly my own doing. Revolts, bankruptcy, worries about a shortage of heirs and, most recently a war between my character and and his only heir, a nephew with delusions of Grandeur and a petty dukedom.

Now the Kingdom of Ireland and succession are both secure and I'm not sure what to do. I expanded a very little bit into Wales but I'm not sure if I want to continue. May just focus on trying to get my family members' abysmal stats up.

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Unify the Celts!

Well, I do have a number of claims on Scottish Duchies. I'll need to save some money for a merc army or two to put the odds in my favor.

Conveniently Brittany is still independent of France so there's another eventual target.

Alternatively, England is divided and I believe I have a claim on Northumberland. Might be interesting to go that way.

At any rate, short term I'll clean house and keep at Wales as fast as I can get claims. That should give me the boost I need for future conquests while still allowing a breather to improve at managing my vassals and family.

Mini Update: Played a short (1 hour or so) run earlier this evening and pressed the claim of one of my vassals to the Isle of Man. On the home front the Duchess of Ulster and Duke of Connacht married and between them hold a good chunk of my territory between them. I'll have to keep an eye on them, although I do have very high relations with the Duke.

Wait for their next succession. New kings in the british isles almost always have succession crises.

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Originally Posted by Zim

Mini Update: Played a short (1 hour or so) run earlier this evening and pressed the claim of one of my vassals to the Isle of Man. On the home front the Duchess of Ulster and Duke of Connacht married and between them hold a good chunk of my territory between them. I'll have to keep an eye on them, although I do have very high relations with the Duke.

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Kill the duke and marry the widow :grin2:

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Originally Posted by rickinator9

Wait for their next succession. New kings in the british isles almost always have succession crises.

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Ha. It does seem true this game. England has been a mess, depending on which of their duchies is gunning for independence. I'll have to consider it. I must admit there's a part of me that feels slightly leery of conquering too much because I'm afraid at some point it won't feel like I'm playing Ireland anymore. On the other hand if I want to be anything more than a regional player I'll need to. Decisions...

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Originally Posted by Monk

Kill the duke and marry the widow :grin2:

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Ha!. Too late unfortunately. I was wrong. That duke hated me and rebelled when I played a couple hours just now. I beat him, imprisoned him and eventually let him go in my infinite mercy. Then his wife declares was on me. :doh: Since my cruel then King passed and left his Kingdom to his wishywashy son I merely stripped her of her title. Apparently another vassal had her killed off, though, as she died under suspicious circumstances a year or so later. :clown:

Took another Welsh province, and have a claim on a third. I'm briefly helping England in a civil war, although we may butt heads soon as they have some Welsh provinces I'll be wanting. Meanwhile two of my counts/dukes are fighting it out over Ulster for some reason.

Sword of Islam review by yours truly Monk. Very nice work.

Ok, CK2 players, advise me.

CK2 is currently on sale on Steam (part of the summer sale). CK2 itself can be had for $10 USD, and there is an additional pack for $30 USD that includes the following: Crusader Kings II, Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Shields, Crusader Kings II: Mongol Faces, Crusader Kings II: Songs of Albion, Crusader Kings II: Songs of Faith, Crusader Kings II: Ruler Designer, Crusader Kings II: Songs of the Holy Land.

I'm interested in CK2, but currently occupied with other games and any purchase would be for playing later... and I might theoretically never get around to it. I'm fine with spending $10 and possibly never playing the game, but $30 is a lot more of a waste. Is that $30 pack good and worth the extra money?

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Originally Posted by TinCow

Ok, CK2 players, advise me.

CK2 is currently on sale on Steam (part of the summer sale). CK2 itself can be had for $10 USD, and there is an additional pack for $30 USD that includes the following: Crusader Kings II, Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Shields, Crusader Kings II: Mongol Faces, Crusader Kings II: Songs of Albion, Crusader Kings II: Songs of Faith, Crusader Kings II: Ruler Designer, Crusader Kings II: Songs of the Holy Land.

I'm interested in CK2, but currently occupied with other games and any purchase would be for playing later... and I might theoretically never get around to it. I'm fine with spending $10 and possibly never playing the game, but $30 is a lot more of a waste. Is that $30 pack good and worth the extra money?

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All the DLC is completely optional and, aside from Sword of Islam, is purely cosmetic and only adds small flair to the game. Most of the songs only play at certain points in the game and under different small circumstances. You will never hear "Songs of Albion" if you're not a character in the British Isles, for instance. Don't spend more than you have to.

Getting the base game for $10 is a steal though. Highly, highly recommended.

I think its mostly a waste.
Its mostly music and faces DLC.

Awesome, thanks for the info. Purchased the base game for $10 USD, and also picked up Legend of Grimrock for $6 USD. :bow:

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Originally Posted by Voigtkampf

Sword of Islam review by yours truly Monk. Very nice work.

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Thanks Voigtkampf. Reviews aren't really my thing but it was a fun experience. :thumbsup:

I really hope Paradox adapts a new DLC strategy soon. They need to find a way to uncouple their DLC from their free (and awesome) content patches. I'd rather not see large swaths of the game being locked unless you buy DLC.

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Originally Posted by TinCow

Awesome, thanks for the info. Purchased the base game for $10 USD, and also picked up Legend of Grimrock for $6 USD. :bow:

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:bow:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Monk

I really hope Paradox adapts a new DLC strategy soon. They need to find a way to uncouple their DLC from their free (and awesome) content patches. I'd rather not see large swaths of the game being locked unless you buy DLC.

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This is the new strategy. The old strategy is forcing everyone to buy patches expansions. I'm not keen about the new approach but it's an improvement over the old '3 features and a tonne of patching for £14.99' dealies.

I'm curious to know if Sword of Islam has appropriate music if you do not buy the music pack DLC. It doesn't look like it based on what I've seen, and I had review code for both so I can't test it myself. If you have to buy the music separately that's pretty crazy!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

This is the new strategy. The old strategy is forcing everyone to buy patches expansions. I'm not keen about the new approach but it's an improvement over the old '3 features and a tonne of patching for £14.99' dealies.

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Oh dear. :confused: Well in that case it's certainly an improvement but then again it's not hard to improve on terrible.

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I'm curious to know if Sword of Islam has appropriate music if you do not buy the music pack DLC. It doesn't look like it based on what I've seen, and I had review code for both so I can't test it myself. If you have to buy the music separately that's pretty crazy

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I have maybe 200 hours in CK2 and i am ashamed to admit I have no idea if they added new music in SoI. I never noticed if they did and play 90% of my games with the game's music off. I know they released "Songs of the Caliph" for a microtransaction but that only had two songs in it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Monk

I really hope Paradox adapts a new DLC strategy soon. They need to find a way to uncouple their DLC from their free (and awesome) content patches. I'd rather not see large swaths of the game being locked unless you buy DLC.

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I get your point, but this is the best way it can be done. There's people who actually play multiplayer. If they would not have the files on their build, while the guys with the DLC would, they would not be able to play together. Add more DLC and you have got a community that is so divided there's not enough players for multiplayer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frogbeastegg

I'm curious to know if Sword of Islam has appropriate music if you do not buy the music pack DLC. It doesn't look like it based on what I've seen, and I had review code for both so I can't test it myself. If you have to buy the music separately that's pretty crazy!

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I never noticed any new music whatsoever. I think that's what the music dlc is for.

FFFF- 75% off Swords of Islam.

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Originally Posted by Tiaexz

FFFF- 75% off Swords of Islam.

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This is truth. SoI can be grabbed for $2.50 for the next 34 hours on steam.

A few pics from my Ireland campaign.


The mighty Kingdom of Ireland, plus the Isle of Man and Welsh possessions. Since Irish unification the Isles have teetered between the three powers of Scotland, Ireland, and England. The last few decades have seen Ireland as the most powerful of the three as the other two Kingdoms were split between a King and independent dukes. However, just as Ireland enters a new phase of expansion both Scotland and England have gotten their acts together and if England finishes off the sole remaining independent Duke in their lands they may be on top again.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://img850.imageshack.us/img850/5904/irelandb.jpg

The King of Ireland, a trusting sort skilled at diplomacy but poor at intrigue.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3015/kingmq.jpg

The rest of the map. The two "Roman" Empires are the major powers. France has remained strong and is attempting to bolster a failing reconquista. Iberia is a mess. Meanwhile, in the east the Fatimids are undoing the French Levant.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://img43.imageshack.us/img43/7940/worldra.jpg

Very impressive maps, Zim! :bow:

Looks like the Seljuks have imploded, which may explain Byzantine dominance. Momentum in Armenia can really determine a number of things for that area of the map and i've seen it go either way, with a trend toward Seljuk/Fatimid dominance. Hopefully the Byz will slow down the Hordes, provided they stay alive!

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Originally Posted by Monk

This is truth. SoI can be grabbed for $2.50 for the next 34 hours on steam.

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Is that something I should be grabbing to along with my $10 CK2?

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Originally Posted by TinCow

Is that something I should be grabbing to along with my $10 CK2?

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If you ever plan to play a Muslim ruler than absolutely. I wrote a short review of it for Voigtkampf's site but allow me to sum up as best I can. SoI is essentially an expansion pack that splits CK2 into two very different but very fun worlds of gameplay. Playing Muslim is completely different than playing Christian with that DLC and is all sorts of fun. $2.50 is an unthinkably good deal for everything you're getting.

If you never plan to play on that side of the map, however, then feel free to ignore it.

Just picked it up. Guess I should play as a Muslim now. :P

its only 10 dollars now. i want to die.