Crusader Kings

[cartman]

So, about 10 minutes after I posted, my Chancellor finally was able to trump up some charges. I raised the levies, and got an army. We won the battle, and started the siege. I had 2700 troops on my side, they had 800. I got tired of waiting, so I clicked the option to assault the position. Big mistake. Got routed, and then their reinforcements showed up and put an end to my campaign.

[Arles]

Assault works best with "skirmish" style units (ie, archers) and you really need a 10-1 advantage to use it. It's best used for mercenary units at the end of a long war when you have a big numbers advantage.

[Peregrine]

I find it's not too bad when the opponent is reduced in morale and you just need to finish them off, also.

[cartman]

Oh, and to make matters worse, that county was run by my 10 year old granddaughter

[Umbrella]

Originally Posted by cartman

So I took the plunge and picked up the game. I ran through the tutorial to get a feel for a game. I couple of intro guides suggested starting in Ireland for your first game. I must have the worst Chancellor ever. He's been trying to fabricate a claim for invasion for nearly 20 years on a neighboring county.

If your chancellor sucks, but you have a high intrigue, here's a complicated way to take over a county. Check and see if the leader has a daughter. Marry your son to his daughter, or even marry her yourself. Then kill said leader, and any sons in front of his daughter. Voila, instant county in your family. Just make sure she has a kid before she dies, or else the county will leave your realm.

[dubb93]

Started a new game tonight and just had one of the craziest wars I have ever experienced in this game.

It started out innocent enough with my character the Petty King of Connachta in Ireland declaring war on the Count of Tir Eoghain who was a child of just two years of age. I had swallowed up four counties and the Count only possessed a single county. The advantage for me in terms of military was roughly 3-1. We assembled and marched north and made short work of his rag tag bunch of men who barely even wanted to fight for their child ruler. We then begin to siege the castle of Ailech and what should have happened was we whittle down his defenses and take over the county. What actually happened was all hell broke loose in ways that I could have never predicted.

The Earl of Laighn, a powerful figure from eastern Ireland and the possessor of Dublin no less (besides myself he one of the three men in Ireland that had more than 1 county at the time), decided that with the Count of Tir Eoghain no longer having much of an army that this was HIS chance to push the claim of one of his buddies on the land. He marched north with his army and we dug in to await their arrival. We slightly outnumbered their forces AND we have the advantage of the hills so I feel pretty confident. Still they marched north and we clashed. We routed them at the same time some Pagan Vikings landed in one of our counties and began to loot it. Following that victory our army moved to run off the Viking horde (that we greatly outnumbered) but we got intercepted by the army of the Petty King of Gwynedd who had just joined the war on the side of the Earl of Laighn.

At full strength the Petty King of Gwynedd's army would be more than a match for our army. After fighting several wars and having been caught off-guard we were no match. Our army is routed and disbanded as the Petty King of Gwynedd laid siege to Tir Eoghain and the Viking Horde looted our land. Desperate I take out a loan with the Jews and bring in The Irish Band. The Irish Band are a mercenary army roughly 2/3 the size of that of the Petty King of Gwynedd. The Earl of Laighn reinforced the Petty King of Gwyneed and I raised my own army and met the Irish Band. We meet in Tir Eoghain.....and my army is once again routed from the battle field....and worse yet my king is captured and taken as a prisoner back to Gwynedd. At this point it hits me. I'm not going to win this war. I send my army home and begin the process of getting my king out of the Gwyneed dungeon.

The war in the north gets partially resolved. The buddy of the Earl of Laighn is named new Count of Tir Eoghain and both the Earl and the King of Gwynedd send their troops home. I raise enough capitol to buy my king out of the dungeon and we march north again..but with only about 1/3 of our army after suffering significant losses in the last war.

The new Count of Tir Eoghain is in bad shape. He has taken over the land but he has very little military to speak of due to the war(he just destroyed this area's defenses and this army in order to obtain it). Even with just 1/3 of our military we outnumber him roughly 30-1. We quickly rout his army and begin what should be a fairly uneventful siege......Then the Earl of Cill-Dara (land locked county in central Ireland) declares his claim for Tir Eoghain and marches north with his army. His army is full strength and rested and their numbers match ours in strength but he also calls in his brother-in-law the Petty King of Sorcyar whose army matches what our army would be at full strength. We are in trouble. Our army gets a defensive position in Tir Eoghain and fights off the army of the Earl of Cill-Dara...but we are no match for his reinforcements from Sorcyar and they rout us. I disband my army and begin to wonder if I can possibly win this war.

I have one daughter that isn't married so I look for a marriage alliance (I clearly can't win this battle on my own) and find one with Scotland....but that won't work out too well I don't think as he is busy fighting a civil war. It's all I have so I offer a marriage which he accepts. I then call him to war which he also accepts. We might have something here....but he's in no position to send troops due to his own battles. The King of Scotland joining the war seems to enrage the Petty King of Sorcyar who calls his troops out of Ireland and marches them into Scotland to fight his bitter rival the King. That's a win for us...probably not the King of Scotland...but definitely for us. I quickly call up my troops and march them north to Tir Eoghain. We lock horns with the Earl of Cill-Dara and nearly have him routed when the Petty King of Sorcyar comes marching across the Irish Sea to save the day. We are defeated again. In the meantime my wife passes away during childbirth so I look for a new wife and hopefully a major ally in the process.

I look around and I decide to make a deal with the devil. I marry the sister of the Petty King of Gwynedd and ask him if he will join the battle so we can save face. He agrees and marches his troops in to Tir Eoghain where we join him to route the army of both the Earl of Cill-Dara and the Petty King of Sorcyar. During the battle my King is maimed. He would not recover from his wounds and would die before the end of the war. I felt bad that the King who started all of this didn't live to see the end of it. In the end we are victorious and the son of the man who started the war claims the country of Tir Eoghain as his own.

[Izulde]

Huge Humble Store offer on CK 2 and other Paradox games:

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p...+Mid+Week+Sale

[Grover]

So after 1200 hours into EUIV, I'm ready to try CK2.

I know they're very different beasts.

Which DLCs are necessary?

[Umbrella]

I've done this post before, but CK2 is one of my favorite games, so I'll rank the DLC's in what I think are the best.

1. Old Gods - Best bang for the buck. You can play as a pagan (Vikings!), you can start 200 years earlier. You can be a Viking. If you can only get one, get this one. It is a far cry from second.
2. Legacy of Rome - Mostly for the retinues. It give some more flavor to the Byzantines, if you like playing as them.
3. Way of Life - Some people would think this ranks too high, but I like the extra flavor events that you get, and I like being able to choose my own focus.
4. Sons of Abraham - Once again, gives more flavor to the religious side of the game. If you want to play as a Jew, this should rank higher.
5. The Republic - Playing as a Merchant Republic is a different game, and fun in its own way. However, it is a bit overpowered, and you can become pretty powerful quickly.
6. Charlemagne - Earlier start date and custom kingdoms. Since I had Old Gods before Charlemagne, I don't know if you can play as a tribal without Old Gods, but playing as a tribal is a little different experience. I prefer the Old Gods start date over Charlemagne, but that is more personal preference.
7. Sword of Islam - Allows you to play as a Muslim. The decadence mechanic was pretty flawed, and I haven't played as a Muslim since they made some major changes to it, so it may be better.
8. Rajas of India - I have only played one game in India, and it didn't get me engaged. I would leave others to comment who have more experience with this DLC.
9. Sunset Invasion - If you wish you could have the Mongol invasion happen in western Europe, this DLC is for you. I personally don't like it at all, and it is the only one I leave turned off.

For me, I really like the flavor stuff, so the first four I would call must have. If the flavor events aren't for you, I would say that Old Gods is the true must have DLC. The others allow for different types of game play, which are fun in their own ways, but even vanilla CK2 can give you many hours of gameplay.

[Umbrella]

New DLC announced. Horse Lords will allow us to play as nomadic steppe tribes. Sounds interesting.

[Peregrine]

The new Horse Lords DLC is out - seems like it might be good but $15 seems pretty pricy for a DLC. I guess it comes down to whether or not you are really interested in playing Mongol and steppe type lords.

[bronconick]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

The new Horse Lords DLC is out - seems like it might be good but $15 seems pretty pricy for a DLC. I guess it comes down to whether or not you are really interested in playing Mongol and steppe type lords.

For CK2 and EU4 I wait for the holiday/summer sales.

[corbes]

I see that CKII is $7.99 at the moment and I'm intrigued. Does anyone know if the game will work if you've got an Intel graphics card?

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by bronconick

For CK2 and EU4 I wait for the holiday/summer sales.

I have basically circled my wagons around Paradox and am happy to support them. CK2 is probably the bed of the bunch but so hard to get going as a lowly count.

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by corbes

I see that CKII is $7.99 at the moment and I'm intrigued. Does anyone know if the game will work if you've got an Intel graphics card?

I *think* it does.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by corbes

I see that CKII is $7.99 at the moment and I'm intrigued. Does anyone know if the game will work if you've got an Intel graphics card?

System requirements - Crusader Kings II Wiki

[whomario]

would this not be a good use for steams new re-fund system in any case ?

[muns]

Originally Posted by whomario

would this not be a good use for steams new re-fund system in any case ?

It would be. I bought Blood Bowl, played it under 2 hours, wasn't impressed and got my refund into my steam wallet 2 days later.

[corbes]

I've basically gathered that my card does NOT meet the minimum requirements, but that people with my card have reported that the game nevertheless works. Any obstacle to my buying the game now would be that it seems almost hopelessly complex for the amount of time I have to give. But my taste in games over the years has essentially been FOF ... other sports (FBCB, OOTP), and old-school Sid Meier (Civ, SimCity, and the golf game). I'm intrigued by the idea of something to replace Civ.

[corbes]

Dola, didn't understand what whomario and muns were saying about the refund, but now I do. Thx for that.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by corbes

Any obstacle to my buying the game now would be that it seems almost hopelessly complex for the amount of time I have to give. But my taste in games over the years has essentially been FOF ... other sports (FBCB, OOTP), and old-school Sid Meier (Civ, SimCity, and the golf game). I'm intrigued by the idea of something to replace Civ.

Well, it's grand strategy, and the sheer number of options allows you to just dip your toe into any given scenario and see if you can immerse yourself in the historical context. You only have to make it as complicated as you want it to be--the game will prompt you to do the essentials.

[Grover]

Originally Posted by Dutch

I have basically circled my wagons around Paradox and am happy to support them. CK2 is probably the bed of the bunch but so hard to get going as a lowly count.

Ditto.

Paradox can just have my wallet, really.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by corbes

I've basically gathered that my card does NOT meet the minimum requirements, but that people with my card have reported that the game nevertheless works. Any obstacle to my buying the game now would be that it seems almost hopelessly complex for the amount of time I have to give. But my taste in games over the years has essentially been FOF ... other sports (FBCB, OOTP), and old-school Sid Meier (Civ, SimCity, and the golf game). I'm intrigued by the idea of something to replace Civ.

There's a huge learning curve, but if you invest the time, it's more than worth it. I printed out a couple (100+ page) guides to help get me started and had a couple of friends playing at the same time. I think I understood about 70% of what was going on, but that was more than enough to really enjoy the game.

It's weird, because you can't play it like you do Civ and that was what I kept wanting to do. It's not all about conquesting other lands, expanding your empire, etc. Parts of it can be, but it's almost more like a grand RP/strategy game than a pure strategy game.

[corbes]

I took the plunge and am overwhelmed but interested. Graphics work fine, though the CPU sounds like it is melting while the game is running.

[MrBug708]

I needed to basically buy a new laptop for OOTP, CK2, and FM. CK2 ran, but even the very fast wasn't going very fast and I love fast simming

[Peregrine]

Well I set some kind of weird new record today for CK2 - my english king and his wife have had eight (!!) daughters and no sons so far. I guess a female heir it is.

CK2 rules!

[tarcone]

I was playing the tutorial. They wanted me to attack an island. Hire some ships and go.
I couldnt find the mercenaries. I couldnt load my ships.

I havent played since.

What I am doing wrong?

[MrBug708]

Need more info. What country?

[tarcone]

It was the start scenario. I was in Northwest Spain and attacking the canaries.

I hired the mercenary navies. But couldnt find them on the map. They were not in the one province that bordered the sea.

[spleen1015]

I played that a little tonight.

My mercenary ships were in the water space just north of the province bordering the sea.

[MrBug708]

I usually try and click drag a square and see what shows up.

[thesloppy]

Holding down Alt while you drag will only select naval units, if that's any help. That was somewhat of a revelation when I figured out how to use it. Zoom out, and alt-drag a whole swath of the map, if you can't find a pesky naval unit (or to select your entire naval fleet).

[Scoobz0202]

I've been playing this recently after letting it sit in my library forever. Watched some lets play tutorials and read a few guides after being overwhelmed at first and that helped immensely.

Did the "easy mode" with starting as a county of ireland and just created the Kingdom of Ireland. It may be the easy mode of the game but having tons of fun. Game is so deep.

I will spread my wings once I have a much better grasp of the game.

[PilotMan]

Ireland is a great place to start a game. You're protected and isolated enough at the same time you get to dabble with other features too. I haven't played in a long time because I don't stop once I start. Actually, that's why I don't play a lot of the games I own. It's sad.

[Umbrella]

I don't know what DLC you have, but Ireland is a great starting spot to learn the game, but only for the 1066 start date. The earlier dates, and you tend to get constantly invaded by the vikings.

[Peregrine]

So I'm looking at the Pope in my current game, and I notice he has the peasant leader trait. As far as I knew you only get that by leading a peasant rebellion - but how does he go from there to Pope? I'd like to hear that story!

[MrBug708]

I bet he was an archbishop at one point before getting elected

[bhlloy]

I put this one down due the ridiculous number of Lollard heretics that made playing the early start in the British Isles completely ridiculous (defeated a stack of 2000 that have somehow managed to pop up inside your realm in the 9th century when that's probably more people than lived in your country at the time? How about 4000 more!)

Anyone know if that was squashed at some point over the last six months?

[Peregrine]

I am playing in Britain around that time - have seen a couple of ugly waldensian and fraticelli uprisings but nothing that bad. In fact the Fraticelli took over (religiously) several provinces. I do agree that the numbers seem pretty high for the religious revolts though.

[bhlloy]

Yeah, it was a known issue that the size of religious rebels was way out of whack with the size of armies for the early game, plus the Lollard modifier was way too easy to get and basically guaranteed a never ending stack of rebel spawns (think the initial modifier was 30% and then went to 70% at some point)

I had a promising game that had the entire of England go Lollard 80 years in and then hit my lands with a stack that was 4x my armies at the time, pretty much game over. I'll have to see if it was fixed when I get a chance, thanks for the info

[Arles]

So, I've pretty much had success with most scenarios/situations in CK2, so I was trying to find a different angle for the game. I came across this mod and love the idea:

[RELEASE] A Game of Thrones v1.1.2 : General Discussion

It's called "A Game of Thrones" and is a GoT mod for CK2. Has anyone had experience with this or have any thoughts?

[MrBug708]

Best mod I have ever played.

[Peregrine]

I have fun with Game of Thrones mod - it can't really win me over from the real life setting but it's fun to play with sometimes.

[Arles]

OK, I've never done a mod before on CK2. Can you toggle between the AGOT mod and the normal game once you install it?

[Umbrella]

Originally Posted by Arles

OK, I've never done a mod before on CK2. Can you toggle between the AGOT mod and the normal game once you install it?

I haven't played in a while, but I think now when you start the game, there is an area in the loading screen to choose which mods you want to use.

[Peregrine]

Yeah, what Umbrella said is correct - there's a screen where to choose what mods to activate so you can toggle.

[Groundhog]

I haven't touched the mod since way, way back when the game was relatively new. Interested to see how much it's improved actually - it was kinda fun back then, but not a lot of actual content outside of the world map and house names.

[bhlloy]

So yeah, I've just confirmed that the ridiculous number of Fraticelli revolts in the British Isles is still in the game - just had two revolts of 1600 men in 789 in my Glamorgan/Wales game. Fucking awesome, another morning of gaming completely wasted, and this goes back on the shelf.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Crusader Kings II: The Kotaku Re-Review

[Ajaxab]

CK II is probably the only game I have ever put 50 hours into and still don't feel like I know how to play. I'm not sure whether to keep on digging or put this one on the shelf for good. I appreciate what it is trying to do, but its systems can be pretty opaque.