Crusader Kings II

[johnhughthom]

It was on sale on a few other websites before the Steam sale, unfortunately thay have finished.

Is it Steam itself unavailable in Iran, or just CK2 through Steam?

[komnenos]

It was on sale on a few other websites before the Steam sale, unfortunately thay have finished.

Is it Steam itself unavailable in Iran, or just CK2 through Steam?

Yes Steam is itself unavailable in Iran because I tried M2TW and Call of Duty but again I didn't see Iran in the list. In addition to Iran some countries like Iraq wasn't there.

[Beskar]

You could use a proxy and pretend to be in another country, lets say, America. I believe that is a way.

[rickinator9]

Achaemenids: Attempt #1

So, I started as Kurush. I first started attacking Khiva, for the duchy of Khiva(The muslim states to the south were occupied in a war). I, of course won. After this, I saved up a whole lot of money, as the wars to the south had only left one dominant muslim state: The Saffarids. As I expected, they quickly DoWed me, but with the money I stocked up, I was able to get some mercs, which helped me defeat the 10000 man doomstack(in this context, it was). I was able to drive up the warscore to 100% by destroying their army and I even had the luck of killing the enemy ruler in battle.

A few years later, the turks from the north attacked. I hired some Horse archer mercs and set out to battle the turks. They were defeated so decisively, that I made peace and followed up with an holy war. That was to be that last of the turks. In the meantime, I took all the land of Khiva. From that point on, I didn't expand. The affairs with the Khivans and the Turks meant that I wasn't able to attack the Saffarids, which I should have done. The Saffarids were promptly defeated and now, the Caliph held most of Persia.

The only opportunity that popped up against them was a decadence invasion, but I was soundly defeated because for some reason, the AI sent all their armies to me. The decadence invasion succeeded and was followed by civil war, but I wasn't able to take advantage of this. Whenever I went to war(with the son of the now dead Kurush) my vassals revolted. I decided to stop the game at this point, as my vassals randomly started making factions.

[Chaotix]

Yes, I have found the Zoroastrian Karen Satrapy to be very difficult to succeed with myself after several trials today. But it seems you made it further than me - I always got bogged down fending off other countries' Holy Wars. First I tried to go south into the Tahirid Satrapy for an immediate land-grab in Zoroastrian lands (so little turnover to give me troops), and that worked for a while - even got myself a Genius daughter of the Satrap and his sister - but I got mauled by the Cuman Khan and the Saffarids at the same time. The second time I went for an early war against Khiva but I took the single county left in the Duchy of Merv (probably not a great idea), and then everyone outpowered me. I was starting to think it was impossible without swearing fealty to the Khivan Shah before your proof.

Something I have discovered - the Saffarids always start at war (Invasion of Persia) with the Tahirids, and will take all of their land if they win, leading to that blob problem you have. And unless someone else is supporting the Tahirids, the Saffarids will probably win, because they are significantly bigger.

Also, the Horse Archer mercs are super-helpful, and I've found they can take down armies about 1.5 times their size with the right commanders.

So the way to succeed may lie in making sure the Tahirids and the Saffarids stay separate - because divided, you can conquer them, but together they are just too much.

Anyway I spent a lot more time yesterday with Harald Fairhair, and here's what I've accomplished:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That's Harald's grandson on the throne now. Completed the Norse reformation within Fairhair's lifetime, and since his son died young I've been mostly defending the Fylkirate until now. I plan to let Denmark de jure drift before I create the Kingdom; Norway is enough for now. I also had the Holy Isle of Zeeland until just about 6 years ago when the Queen of Lotharingia holy-warred me for it and called in all of her Karling cousins. One Karling I could have handled, probably even two or three with Sweden's support, but the entirety of Europe rallied with the infidel witch.

Not sure what I'll do with Harald II now. Maybe I'll invade Scotland and get rid of the heretical Old Norse living there. Definitely want to stick it to the Karlings and take all of Holland soon. By the way - as soon as you reform, you're considered "organized religion" by the game and get the huge supply limit penalties in other pagan lands. Found that out the hard way when I went for Mecklenburg after reforming.

[naut]

Well, I came here to see if I should purchase Old Gods and your fun games have tipped the balance out of my account and into Paradox Interactive's eager palms. Now I just need the friendly modders for PB, SWMH and VIET to update!

- Birth rates have been reduced a lot

That's probably a good thing. My last game as the von Pruessen Kings of Vendiland each king produced about 9 children, maybe more... Although I'd prefer it if rather they kept the birth rate the same, but instead increased infant mortality. In fact, I may just try implement that myself!

Also, the Horse Archer mercs are super-helpful, and I've found they can take down armies about 1.5 times their size with the right commanders.

Horse Archers are the second most powerful unit type, their stats mean they're approx half as powerful as knights (and 35% stronger than LC and a whole 78% stronger than pikes). The fact they have high skirmish numbers means armies are very susceptible to taking big loses initially, and then never recovering. In short, yes they're good!

[Myth]

I gave Antioch a try or two in the 1087 scenario (third crusade), however each time I got my arse handed to me by Salahadin, he simply called a Jihad on my weak, two county state, and stomped me effortlessly. What do I have to do? One time I made it up until the Teutonic Order was formed, but I still lacked the 120 piety necessary to get their delicious, free, Muslim-slaying armies.

[rickinator9]

Yes, I have found the Zoroastrian Karen Satrapy to be very difficult to succeed with myself after several trials today. But it seems you made it further than me - I always got bogged down fending off other countries' Holy Wars. First I tried to go south into the Tahirid Satrapy for an immediate land-grab in Zoroastrian lands (so little turnover to give me troops), and that worked for a while - even got myself a Genius daughter of the Satrap and his sister - but I got mauled by the Cuman Khan and the Saffarids at the same time. The second time I went for an early war against Khiva but I took the single county left in the Duchy of Merv (probably not a great idea), and then everyone outpowered me. I was starting to think it was impossible without swearing fealty to the Khivan Shah before your proof.

I'm gonna try it with PB now. I found out that along with their larger size the Saffarids also get 4000 free troops. I cheated them away and stopped the war between the two satrapies to just give the Tahirids time to prepare.

There's a juicy target to your southwest. The Alavids are Shia, so that means they can't call in too many muslim allies.

Edit: I can actually have my sisters and daughters as concubines...

[Monk]

I'm gonna try it with PB now. I found out that along with their larger size the Saffarids also get 4000 free troops. I cheated them away and stopped the war between the two satrapies to just give the Tahirids time to prepare.

There's a juicy target to your southwest. The Alavids are Shia, so that means they can't call in too many muslim allies.

Meneth has made some really great balance changes to the 867 start. I'm impressed. Wouldn't mind giving it a go myself.

I can actually have my sisters and daughters as concubines...

It's not only allowed, it's encouraged. Taking sisters or daughters as wives gives a large opinion boost to Zoroastrian vassals.