Crusader Kings II

[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.

[Secura]

Will it show duchies?

When you take the mapshot, it will display whatever viewing mode you had active at the time; this is pretty simple block colours when it's de jure kingdoms or player view (as you can see in Tiaexz's screenshot), but I guess it would end up looking like a patchwork quilt in duchies view mode. :P

[rickinator9]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Paphlagonia after the inheritance of Charsianon.

I'm about to have my biggest gain yet. My heir will inherit the duchies of Paphlagonia and Nikaia. I appropriately named him Basileus 'Anatolikos' Komnemnos. I had to invest about 800 gold to take all of the male members of the Nikean Doukos branch down. But despite the kind of protection you have, the knives of Paphlagonia will always get you! But that isn't even the best going on in the empire. The emperor is old and will probably die within a few years. His heir is a very bad heir. He's an imbecile, he is incapable and needs regency around the clock. I'm pretty sure that when he succeeds, I'm not the only one who sees an opportunity.

The emperors estates are pretty weak, Thrace had been lost by them about 100 years before this picture, now the imperial court is in northern Bulgaria.

[Fisherking]

I just started a game as the Marshals. Maybe I can get one of all those sons to have an heir.

I just want to see where it goes.

[The Stranger]

anyone wants to play a multiplayer game?

[rickinator9]

I don't know how but if you live in GMT +1 I can join. Just need to do the testweek and then I will have some more free time.

[The Stranger]

I don't know how but if you live in GMT +1 I can join. Just need to do the testweek and then I will have some more free time.

yup. gmt+1 amsterdam time zone. perhaps it would be fun to play a game with other orgahz who are playing ck2

[Monk]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Paphlagonia after the inheritance of Charsianon.

I'm about to have my biggest gain yet. My heir will inherit the duchies of Paphlagonia and Nikaia. I appropriately named him Basileus 'Anatolikos' Komnemnos. I had to invest about 800 gold to take all of the male members of the Nikean Doukos branch down. But despite the kind of protection you have, the knives of Paphlagonia will always get you! But that isn't even the best going on in the empire. The emperor is old and will probably die within a few years. His heir is a very bad heir. He's an imbecile, he is incapable and needs regency around the clock. I'm pretty sure that when he succeeds, I'm not the only one who sees an opportunity.

The emperors estates are pretty weak, Thrace had been lost by them about 100 years before this picture, now the imperial court is in northern Bulgaria.

Very impressive.

In my game while I expanded my personal power in the east, the Emperor (or should I say, Empress? The Imperial court had a female ruler for over 120 years!) expanded her powers just as adeptly. She ruthlessly imprisoned nobles and stomped out plots so effectively that no one could do anything. In fact.. she instituted absolute crown authority really quickly and from there, it was near impossible to plot anything! The best I managed was two duchies before it became clear I wasn't going to be moving up in the world.

I think I'm gonna try one of the Russian principalities next. They look like a really interesting game.

[rickinator9]

Very impressive.

In my game while I expanded my personal power in the east, the Emperor (or should I say, Empress? The Imperial court had a female ruler for over 120 years!) expanded her powers just as adeptly. She ruthlessly imprisoned nobles and stomped out plots so effectively that no one could do anything. In fact.. she instituted absolute crown authority really quickly and from there, it was near impossible to plot anything! The best I managed was two duchies before it became clear I wasn't going to be moving up in the world.

I think I'm gonna try one of the Russian principalities next. They look like a really interesting game.

I stopped with that save, as I noticed the emperors had pretty much expanded into Iraq. I wanted to recreate the roman, or at least the byzantine empire to it full glory. That dream subsequently collapsed. Anyway, after I gained Nikea, I inherited the duchies of Adrianopolis and Thrace(Constantinople is mine!) through my heir. I gained my independence and all of my counts loved me. After the old ruler died, disaster struck. The heir was a woman! After fighting several civil wars and wars against the Byzantines, Paphlagonia was exhausted. Still there was the possibility of civil war, so I joined the byzz again. That was the point where I quit.

I have started a new campaign in 1100. Against all odds(most of the middle-east was ruled by the seljuk dynasty), I took out Rum in the 1140s. I took little Armenia from Aleppo. I conquered the Syrian coast from the little states and the Shia caliphate. I took Edessa from Edessa(former aleppo, after losing some land to huge damascus).

A game as the russian principalities seems nice. The AI usually unites into the Rus. Nothing can stop them. There also doesn't seem to be any mongols to tame them, the event pops up but I don't notice anything.

[Monk]

A game as the russian principalities seems nice. The AI usually unites into the Rus. Nothing can stop them. There also doesn't seem to be any mongols to tame them, the event pops up but I don't notice anything.

Forming the Kingdom of Rus seems a forgone conclusion for someone. The problem is being the one to get there. The Pagans might be divided but they are no push over, and in the early game they can levy way more troops than you can. Which means you can't just go crazy conquering your fellow Rus, you have to keep a good balance between choosing enemies and making friends. Its an interesting and unique campaign thus far, one that's been filled with surprises.

Has anyone else noticed Poland going berzerk post 1.04? Every game i've played they expand quickly and become truly frightening by 1120.

[rickinator9]

I play on 1.03b and poland is very tame.

I tried to play a game as rostov, and I took out the brown pagans to the east. The strength of the rus is that they are all the same dynasty, and can help themselves out. I quit the game when another family member from galich attacked me and destroyed all the levies I could get.

After that I started a game just before the byzzies retook constantinople.

Edit:

· Buffed the Caliphates and the Seljuks. Nerfed the Byzantines.

Damn you!

[Arjos]

A game as the russian principalities seems nice.

I got bored of my Hauteville game (controlled everything from the Atlantic to Arabia and from the Alps to Africa) and started a Novgorod game days ago :)

Thanks to the alliances it's going smoothly, but Hungary claimed most of Turov, Kiev and Galich, backed by the HRE: pretty scary combo :P
Good thing Poland started a war with them ^^

had a lot of trouble keeping territories under it's banner

Give duchies to your kinsmen and you'll see assassinations daily XD
I think they are pretty stable at the start date, because that's how it was in history, iirc by 1070ish they gained most of the Middle East...

[Beskar]

Give duchies to your kinsmen and you'll see assassinations daily XD

Admittedly that is something I dislike about the game in many respects. In order to have the best vassals, you simply go to character panel, search for same culture and religion, then give it to the guy with the highest stats. I want to give lands and titles to my children, brothers, uncles, to have the entire dynasty run through the core of society, then have them marry into other families across Europe, spreading their seeds, power via blood.

Instead, you end up having a child who is a psychopath which kills all your family and your heirs if you give them a duchy title.