Crusader Kings II

[Busby]

Hm. The only advantage I can see then is for switching a duke for one who will like you more and breaking up larger states when they are vulnerable. A waste of time then. But speaking for breaking up larger states:



King Alfons just died of syphilis at the ripe young age of 77, leaving the kingdom in the hands of his 57 year old son, King Ramon Folc III. He made massive gains for the country, taking over huge tracts of land as you can clearly see, and by stabbing and a cleaver marriage, Brittany is now ruled by his great grand-daughter. The main attraction though is that France is a little under the weather. Turns out giving one of your claimants that hates you territory when all your other dukes hate you too is a bad idea. Said claimant is now my vassal, and somewhat winning, though the French civil war has been going on for a while and is currently at a stalemate. I wonder what happens if he wins though, has any one else had a vassal win a claim on a kingdom before?

[n0z3k1ll3r]

Busby: Give the claimant some of your titles so they're your vassal, then install them. Should work fine.

[comradegrumpy]

Just discovered the fun of sending your spymaster to Steal tech from Byzantium. I've been pushing my Irish Count campaign, and my present Duke (King) created the Kingdom of Ireland, and then through some clever De Jure wars, some Duchy usurping and a quick plot to kill the poor bugger I'd been to war with, has united the Green Isle with relatively little actual pain. I then idlt checked the tech level in my original province, Tyrone, now the capital of Ireland. It's at Mil 7/ Econ 8/ Culture 6. Byzantion, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, on the other hand, is at 10/18/16. Off you pop, Spymaster old chap, and steal me some of that tech stuff. Maybe we'll learn to write one of these days.

[Busby]

@n0z3k1ll3r, Yea it does work, thanks for that. Now a whole bunch of claimants have a nice summer home along the Mediterranean. Just mind the angry Muslim locals that hate your Christian, foreign butt and enjoy your time in the sun! Now to deal with my 55 year old heir before my king kicks the bucket and the heir's son who still isn't married at 33, derp.

[comradegrumpy]

Irish update - after 4 generations of trying to breed the 'Genius' trait into my monarchs, I think I've succeeded. My current King and his only son and daughter so far are all geniuses. This is sorta disturbing, but rather satisfying.

[Imperial Honour]

Kingdom of Abyssinia Update
After many years of inner peace and prosperity the Shia Caliphate has fallen in to a state of civil war as several strong vassals attempt to secure freedom from the Caliphate, just as a new (weak) leader came to the throne. Fortunately for me the Dutchy of Axum happens to be among them, so guess who is currently snapping up counties in the Dutchy of Axum. After conquering the remnants of the Emirate of Harer I was looking around the map to see where I could possibly strike next and the Dutchy of Axum just happened to breakaway at the right time. Luckily even if the Shia Caliphate does make a comeback in the Dutchy of Axum I will have still gained some more lands and increased my power, with my military strength now 4,000+ strong and growing. So what is next you ask? Gobbling up more of the Dutchy of Axum of course!

Should things continue going my way I may soon complete the De Jure Kingdom of Abyssinia. Here's to trying to make my heir an insanely good Steward so I can have a larger acceptable demesne.

Edit #1:
I forgot to mention you should have seen how many times I've changed my wife. One of my courtiers absolutely either loves assassinating royal wives, or knows when and how to do her liege's bidding without me even instigating a plot. Three children and no male heir? You better hope my crazy courtier hasn't heard about this dear wife! Though I only want the one male heir since I got a while to go before I can make my Crown Authority high enough to possibly change the Gravelkind succession laws.

[Busby]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012...lam-interview/

Sounds like fun. Can't wait for the changes to combat and more empires to play with.

[Kirjava]

Not only does is this excellent, with the addition of playable Muslim factions and a bigger map in Africa, but he mentions four more expansions to come! w00t! Ok, guesses everyone! Soooo... a Pagan expansion, an Orthodox expansion aaaaaand... anyone got any other ideas?

[LoneWolf666]

Playable Republics? Probably not, doesn't tie into the dynastic theme of the game...

[n0z3k1ll3r]

There was some talk of republics being playable, also monastic states. Also Orthodox is already playable.

[Imperial Honour]

Bigger map in Africa you say? You know what that means! Depending on how significant the expansion of map and playable characters is (looking good so far), I think I may very well have to play as another African dynasty when the expansion comes out and attempt to grow their power like my current Abyssinians. Expanding on the Pagans in another expansion seem pretty obvious with the demand for it, and I would like it if they could expand upon the Italian City-States (or Republics in general rather) since I wouldn't mind playing as Venice or Genoa. I am not so sure what the other two expansions could be expand upon, but expanding upon Monastatic states so they are playable sounds like a decent idea too.

[Imperial Honour]

The Sword of Islam patch is out on Steam, and the DLC shall be following suite soon one would be lead to believe. Torn about whether I should start a new campaign as the Abyssinians to get the full benefit of the new features and expansion of the (playable area) of the map in to the domain of Songhay and co. My current dynasty has gone so well compared to so many other Abyssinian dynasties, but those new features are quite enticing. Also, patch notes in spoiler tags below.

Spoiler

MAJOR:
- Muslim Decadence System
- Muslim Polygamy
- Added new provinces, titles and history for Mali, Songhay and Ghana
- Added the province of Aprutium (split off from Spoleto)
- Added the new creatable Empires of Russia, Britannia, Spain, Francia, Scandinavia, Persia and Arabia
- Strong and Weak Claim System
- Overhaul of game text for Muslims
- Added plots to claim titles
- Split up the former Kingdom of Khazaria into many de jure kingdoms
- Split the Kingdom of Rus into the kingdoms of Rus and Ruthenia
- Added the duchies of Susa and Latium
- Revised murder plots completely. No decisions, just events.
- Commander traits added
- Heavily revised combat tactics
- Loads of new events

MINOR:
- AI: Much more eager to join Crusades/Jihads if it has de jure interests in the target kingdom
- AI: Much more eager to join Crusades/Jihads if in the same realm as the religious head
- AI: More stubborn about fighting decadence revolters
- AI: Tweaked Crusade targetting - will no longer target kingdoms with 0 'holiness' value for that religion
- AI: Non-Muslims will not accept marriages for female relatives with Muslims, unless they are vassals
- AI: Now prefers giving baronies/counties to courtiers with static dynasties rather than creating random characters
- AI: Vassals of vassals can now correctly revolt to depose their liege
- AI: DoW now factors in the strength of enemies of enemies
- AI: Willing to join another rebelling vassal's war for the crown only if they'd like them better as _liege_
- AI: Vassals should no longer start wars (except for revolts) if the whole realm is under attack from outside
- AI: Caliphs will now be more aggressive with calling Jihads
- Army AI: Will now assault when appropriate
- Army AI: Fixed a problem where you could trick AI armies into ping-ponging while it was trying to gather its forces
- Army AI: Fixed some issues where it would not count attached units properly
- Army AI: Better at moving across land without marching together with other armies, causing unnecessary attrition
- Army AI: Improved attrition check in targetting calculations
- Army AI: Fixed an issue where it would merge armies to huge sizes by not considering attached forces
- Invasion AI: Fixed an issue where it would choose poor secondary targets if the target province was too heavily defended
- No longer possible to call lieges to war against their own vassals
- Fixed a bug with the succession message not being shown for the ones who inherit titles
- Fixed an issue with the de jure law vote message not going away when trying to approve it
- Slightly increased merc reinforcement rates
- Fixed a memory leak with timed opinion modifiers that time out naturally
- Moved the county of Chalons into Lower Burgundy and Grisons into Upper Burgundy
- Fixed a bug with the depose liege CB sometimes making the new ruler independent (bug in the effect 'abdicate_to_most_liked_by').
- Fixed a bug with the effect 'abdicate_to_most_liked_by' that would invalidate outside wars
- Fixed a bug with the 'grant_title' effect which would assign the liege to the liege of the granter
- Fixed a potential infinite loop in war name generation
- Fixed a bug with the Feudal Elective law being tolerated for Republics
- If the loser in a war is imprisoned, he is now automatically released on peace
- Fixed a bug with created characters sometimes getting duplicate education traits
- People who avoid imprisonment will now always flee to another realm
- Added a whole bunch of cleaned up title coats of arms
- Muslim coats of arms should now use better colors
- No longer allowed to grant titles to prisoners
- You can now correctly press the de jure claims of vassals of vassals
- Fixed a bug with being able to call vassals of vassals of the enemy into wars within the same realm
- When winning (enforce or reverse) a war, all prisoners from your realm held by the enemy are now released
- Added opinion modifiers 'Imprisoned my Child' and 'Executed my Child'
- No longer allowed to ask to join outsider wars against your liege
- Fixed a bug with the depose liege CB in republics and bishoprics
- Rulers deposed with the 'depose' casus belli no longer get any land from their old vassals to remain rulers
- Fixed an issue where a ruler could not offer peace to a rebelling vassal if he had holdings occupied by another (loyal) vassal in a separate war
- Fixed a bug with the hostility icons for loyal vassals in separate wars with rebelling vassals
- If a vassal is at war with another vassal who is rebelling, the war no longer ends if the liege wins and the rebellion is crushed
- Fixed a bug with lieges ending up in two wars if a vassal revolted while a revoke action was pending
- Blocked excomm wars against revolters
- Fixed some issues with succession not being recalculated after certain event effects
- Peace Offers now make it clear whether it's a demand for surrender, white peace or surrender
- Cleaned up all CB tooltips
- The initial Seljuk-Byzantine war is now a full invasion of the de jure kingdom of Armenia
- Added "Scarred" trait
- Fixed a bug allowing rulers of a hostile religion to vote for de jure laws even when not de facto vassals
- Toned down base attribute gain of children from guardians
- Optimized the CPU heaviest events
- Fixed a nasty old crash bug with the defection of the Victual Brothers
- Fixed a hostility bug with allies helping to defend against a revolter
- Fixed an issue with Gavelkind inheritance in baronies, where the youngest child would inherit first
- Fixed an issue with the random seed in delayed events
- Fixed a bug allowing you to usurp titles from your own vassals
- Fixed an issue with vassals of vassals gaining independence when you pressed their claims
- The titular kingdoms of Naples and Trinacria are no longer creatable in-game
- The Ecumenical Patriarch will now refuse to excommunicate a character who has repented, even if the Emperor asks
- Merc navies will now disband when not getting paid
- Fixed an issue with the lower Crown Authority plot when the liege folds to the ultimatum of a vassal king
- No longer possible to grant duchies to barons
- The event effect 'destroy_landed_title' now gives the current holder a strong claim on the title
- The events where the Mongols receive reinforcements no longer trigger if the titles are held by non-Tengri or non-Mongol rulers
- Fixed an issue with attached units and siege outcomes
- Fixed a bug with Revokation plot wars against vassals who lose the title to someone else
- Fixed a bug where a vassal in revolt against his liege would sometimes have the war end inconclusively when the liege got a new liege
- Fixed an issue where children would change guardian if they became landed
- AI spouses of lower rank than you will now always accept education requests- In feudal elective titular realms, _all_ vassals of the appropriate tier are now electors
- The death of a spouse no longer makes characters lose their jobs
- Characters who end up leading the troops of their enemies should now automatically return home
- The opinion penalties for revoking a title are now applied whether or not the target accepts or refuses
- If a vassal refuses a title revokation and wins or achieves a white peace, the 'declared_war' opinion modifier is now cleared (meaning the liege does not get a 'free' title revokation)
- There is no longer a cooldown for calling allies to war who _accepted_ a previous call
- Primogeniture: more heirs should now be listed
- Gavelkind: fixed a glitch with grandchildren
- Removed impassable terrain between Kartli and Albania
- Fixed unit position in the Irish Sea
- Made Sviatopolk Rurikovich (count of Zaozerye in 1066) a legit bastard
- Heretics and infidels are now barred from inheriting anything that the religious head holds
- The portraits for undiscovered murderers should now be hidden in the event window
- Mercs and Holy Order commanders should no longer be shown in the quick marriage window
- Now always allowed to attach your units to your lieges' units
- Added an event where a ruler converts to the native culture
- Adjusted and improved the events where provinces change culture
- Reactivated the lifting FoW for allies in wars
- Doubled regular assassination costs
- The "Arrange Marriage" button now shows random courtiers if there are too few interesting women around
- There is now a slight chance of a random education outcome
- Fixed some issues with war invalidation for banishment of landed characters
- Can no longer banish mercs, holy order heads, or religious heads
- Attached units that are not in the same province as the master unit are no longer hostile to the master unit's enemies
- The spouse will now get a message on divorce
- Fixed some historical issues with Chios and Lesbos
- The liege should now get pressed claims on _all_ titles of characters who declare independence
- If an ally could legally call you into a war, you should always be able to ask to join as well
- Battle Death should now show the unit owner rather than the unit commander
- Vassals of lieges who are fighting their liege will no longer revolt
- Holy War CBs are now valid for Catholic vassals of Orthodox lieges, etc
- Added automatic county conversion events for Muslims (35500 and 35501)
- Pathfinding now prefers friendly territory to enemy territory
- Vassal vs Liege wars should now end with a _mutual_ truce

FOR MODDERS:
- Exported inbreeding trait gain factors to defines
- Exported most relevant files under common to their own folders, so they can be broken up into multiple files
- Added 'immortal' flag to traits; stops aging, character will not die of age or poor health
- Added 'pilgrimage' flag to traits; the character is away and needs a regent, but can still be a guardian, etc
- Added 'name_tier' to landed titles, so that empires can be called kingdoms, etc
- Added 'pass_effect' to decisions and laws, which is not run by automatic functions (useful for setting opinion modifiers when passing laws.)
- Added event target 'fromfrom'
- Added trigger 'in_revolt'
- Added 'divine_blood' flag to dynasties, which allows full consanguine marriages and tells the AI to prefer keepin' it in the family
- Added 'founder_named_dynasties' to cultures
- Can now script marriage consanguinity rules in religions
- Added a 'potential' trigger to Job Actions
- Added 'dismiss_trigger' to job titles
- Added a 'potential' trigger to traits
- Added trigger 'num_of_realm_counties'
- Added effect 'vassalize_or_take_under_title'
- Added trigger 'death_reason'
- Added event target 'killer'
- Added event effect 'objective_succeeds'
- The trigger 'can_be_given_away' is now more restrictive. Checks occupation or sieges of constituent Holdings, contestation in wars, etc.
- Added history command 'conquest_culture'
- Added trigger 'plot_power_contribution'
- Added trigger 'random'
- Added trigger 'any_potential_tribal_county'
- Added effect 'any_potential_tribal_county'
- Added effect 'random_potential_tribal_county'
- Added 'new' target in effects ( character = new ) for newly created characters
- Added death reason 'death_hashshashin'
- Added effect 'make_primary_spouse'
- Added trigger 'has_strong_claim'
- Added trigger 'has_weak_claim'
- Added effect 'add_weak_claim'
- Added effect 'add_weak_pressed_claim'
- Added trigger 'has_regent'
- Added trigger 'is_contested'
- Added event effect 'any_spouse'
- Added event effect 'random_spouse'
- Added trigger 'any_spouse'
- Added trigger 'is_main_spouse'
- Added a 'distance' trigger

[Langy]

- Added plots to claim titles

This makes me happy

[Busby]

That makes me very, very happy too. Just need the DLC now.

- Army AI: Better at moving across land without marching together with other armies, causing unnecessary attrition
- Army AI: Improved attrition check in targetting calculations

Uh oh. Now the HRE's super stacks are going to actually make it to your territory.

[Kirjava]

Is my saved Bohemia game going to be unplayable after the patch?

If so, I'll start an England or Wales one and be a little more patient than last time... or maybe play a minor Islamic power and take Byzantium for myself.

[Imperial Honour]

I checked my saves games and they were playable, just without some of the new features brought in by the new patch, so you could be able to continue your Bohemian game. So it may be more of a question of whether or not the features you miss out on by continuing a save game are greater then the worth of the progress made in the save game.

[Kirjava]

I am King of Bohemia, Bavaria and Croatia, Duke of Bohemia, Moravia and Austria, and my armies rival those of the Holy Roman Emprah! Sir, I will not throw that away!

It is also the game where I assassinated like eight Emprahs in a row.

Also thanks

[Busby]

So I just picked up the DLC and got rolfstomped by the Duchess of Tuscany after losing 3 of my wives within the first year of game play. But I like what little I've seen so far. Going on the pilgrimage thing is a fun, choose your own adventure story that is impacted by your traits. Combat is actually more tactical now thanks to leadership traits, but also terrain and such do play a much larger role it seems, my heavily outnumbered army still managed to bloody the Italian ladies nose by being in the mountains. Sad thing though, being gay means you can get an event that raises your decadence by 2%, which seems rather scary.

[Kirjava]

It's always me necroing this thread...

Two points. Has anyone noticed that plots have been rightly nerfed, but nerfed into oblivion? In an attempt to kill an unworthy heir, I summoned about 150% of plot power... and then nothing happened. For years and years and years. The guy died of an illness before anything came of my plot. Apparently it's a result of ridiculous times and extra zeros in the MTTH (Mean Time To Happen) settings for plots, and it's incredibly annoying.

Also I just had to share this. Check out the name of the new Pope.

[Misiok]

Maybe your plot worked so well, even you thought he died out of ilness?

[Busby]

Sadly my lastest games I don't have much to show. I end up rage quitting because my heir's heir always ends up getting educated by a foreigner with terrible base stats and even worse traits. So annoying.

[Kirjava]

How do you think I feel? My first king of Wales was a profligate shagger who had nine kids! The eldest, my super heir, went to the great toasty kitchen in the sky waiting for his dad to die of old age, so my King's grandson inherited. His stats weren't what I'd hoped for so I married him to a high stewardship wife so at least he'd get a bigger demesne. This guy turned out to be chaste. He spent most of his reign getting events related to trying for a baby with his wife, only to end up stressed. An uncle and his son were the next two in line to inherit, so I did some strategic murdering and now the current king is another grandson of the original king- the only son of Maredudd, the fourth son (and sixth child) of my starter. Fortunately, Gruffydd and his Polish wife Maria are performing with a little more... vigour. They have one son already, with another on the way! Then I can start playing my game of thrones again...

The war for England dragged on for twenty years this time! Norway dropped out fairly quickly due to rebellions at home, while Harold and William slugged it out for years. Harold died halfway through but it took until 1086 for his successor to reconquer the last bit of English soil. Now the Duke of Lancaster is the most powerful man in Britain and France has imploded. Onwards!

[LoneWolf666]

@Kirjava: From yesterday's patch notes:

- The success chance for kill plots now increases drastically past 100% Plot Power

So that's probably fixed.

[Kirjava]

It's not the success chance that's the problem, it's the fact that by going from a decision-based system to an events-based system (a good move, if it didn't need fixing) there's no sense of agency if the events don't actually fire. So I know I've got a good chance of actually killing the bugger- if anything ever happens. I hope that it's the frequency of events firing and not just the success chance they're talking about.

[Busby]

Screw you, game. Screw. You.

[LoneWolf666]

I can't stop laughing.

[Kirjava]

Crusader Kings 2 to Busby: "Trololololololololol." What happened- were all your heirs wiped out by a freak meteor storm before your ruler contracted a lethal case of Wounded (the Killer 5%)?

Now, I was talking about the new implementation of Plots earlier, and I can confirm the patch fixed them. I can confirm it because I have a horrible tale of Welsh cunning and Saxon complicity to tell.

Behold: Britain at the dawn of the 12th century. Under my dynasty, Wales (and the Isle of Man) is united under a single king. England survived the twenty year-long wars with Norway and William the Bastard, but boy, have they ever written the book on over-mighty subjects- check out Lancaster. Scotland continues to be riven by internal turmoil, and the English are encroaching on their southern territories. Ireland is as divided as it ever has been, but there are the first blossomings of conquest and unification in the south.


This is the matriarch who has led the House of Lancaster to such a high: Ælfrida I. I would be impressed by her survival and considerable achievements- were it not for the fact that she is my next-door neighbour to the east, and could crush me if she chooses. My king would prefer to showcase the glory and strength of the newborn kingdom of Wales by heading west and taking lands in Ireland, but this red Lancastrian behemoth is giving him sleepless nights. He frets for his fledgling realm, and knows full well that, should it come to war, Ælfrida's spears could trample ours into the dirt. Our solution, then, must be more subtle...


This is Ælfrida's young son, Æthelweard, a boy of 12. He's brave, kind and absolutely adores his mother. He is also her heir. If we were to marry him to one of our daughters, we could, at the very least, gain a claim on the Lancastrian lands through the bonds of wedlock! Perfect... except that his mother has bigger plans for him and will not consent to a regular marriage, let alone a matrilineal one. Welsh hopes lie dashed on the rocks of Swansea...


But wait! Æthelweard has two sisters. Ælfrida turns out to be more than willing to betroth the eldest, Eegfrida, to our heir Arryn. Excellent. So once Eegfrida and Arryn come of age, we should have a claim, at least to some territory in England, and an alliance with Lancaster. And yet a terrible thought, unbidden but unshunned, seeps like pus into our king's head: why just a claim? Why not more? Surely it is Satan himself whispering in his ears, but the king cannot help himself- he dispatches picked men draped in dark cloaks with heavy purses of gold to Lancaster. Their purpose: to convince those closest to the young heir to aid in a little "accident".


To the shame of the House of Lancaster, many are willing to line their purse with Welsh gold in exchange for murdering their future liege. But it is their own Spymaster's willing participation which truly makes the plot worthy. A courtier proposes an elegant solution: what if the young lad were to have a "tragic hunting accident"? A man of bright looks but dark deeds is found for the task, and planted in the court of Lancaster. Then, one fateful day in October...


Poor young Æthelweard- as the huntsman told it, they were stalking a magnificent stag in Grizedale Woods when a serpent bit the boy's horse. He fell and broke his neck. The Lancastrian court is in mourning at the news of this tragedy, but privately, the Welsh king's thoughts seem a little... troubling!


Nevertheless, our plot succeeded. Our son Arryn is now betrothed to the next-in-line to the vast Lancastrian domains. We shall see where this takes us...

[Busby]

Nope. What happened was I started playing the game as a custom duke, and died of phenomena before even having a chance to knock up my wife.

[Kirjava]

...ouch. I feel for you. Almost as much as the 12 year old boy I just had murdered.

Speaking of murdering (and I'm sorry if anyone feels like I'm spamming this thread, I just enjoy sharing my tales of dastardly deeds)...

This crazy lass is Eadhburh of Hereford, a vassal of the Duchess of Lancaster. Why is she crazy? Because the silly bint has had her Chancellor sneaking around and fabricating documents so that it looks like she has a claim on Welsh territory! We cannot stand for this (and will completely ignore the fact that I do it all the time).



There's room for everyone in this 'ere plot. So many plotting enthusiasts, in fact, that we have totted up over 500% plot power! Our cunning collective has a surplus of schemes, as we shall see...



Option A! We do a straight-up assassination and riddle her with arrows.



Option B! Personally, this one catches the imagination- using poop as an explosive? Inspired.



'Death by perforation' comes out on top- totally worth it when you get JFK assassination references like this though!

[LoneWolf666]

There was most definitely a second bowman.

[Busby]

13 children. And he sired all of the adults before he became a hedonist. Shame he died when he did though. I had just got a claim on a nice independent duchy I had been eyeing up for a long time and spent 500g on the fabrication. That's most of a brand new city, wasted. Ah well. My demise is nearly full on cities. Only Trakai and Vilnius need some urbanization. I can deal. Now I just need town infrastructure level 1 so I can spam universities.



The new plot system is both effective and fun. As you can see, I'm giving the French a green middle finger by murdering my way into Burgundy. All of those dead brothers (and two dead sons) are my doing. My favourite had to be sabotaging one of the brother's coach. I like to imagine that it went screaming off the cliff while on fire.

Edit: Oh yea. And I killed that guy too when he decided rebelling against me was a good idea. Poo bombs ftw.

[Trizzdog]

Doing a muslim run now. +100% fertility (using the custom leader) + 4 lustful wives = INFINITE BABIES.

[Busby]

Your decadence is going to be crazy Trizz. I hope you have a large dungeon.

[Trizzdog]

I already killed a few of them through events (the "finding child in old tower" event is of particular note). Who said I need to keep them? Bigger baby pool = more picks for my heir.

[Quak0r]

Soooooooooooo..... you guys are aware of this, right?

[Kirjava]

Very much so, but I only started playing last month- it'll be a while before I have time for that mod!

[Skullcap]

Well I had a short play lastnight and I can say I'm quite baffled with just the entire diluge of information thrown at you and the multiple interfaces. I may have picked also the wrong location to start off with, I'd selected a holy roman empire fella who had low differculty on his bar, but it seems he has...like..a billion court in his pocket.

I noticed in the other thread it seems preferable to start off with a count or duke it seems to, so that could be another reason why I'm abit bewildered with it at the moment.

So is there some type of tutorial or beginners guide for CK2, just so I can get setup alittle and get to grasps with the game o.o, I understand the fundmentals in that I have to garner a bloodline and that each land has either temple,town,castle or combo of all 3 and understand what they do, but hm, I just see alot of pop ups and messages stating so and so has accepted this or that >.>

Maybe I need to play abit more of it, but if you good folk have any n00b friendly startup tips then that would be helpful

On a plus note, it looks indepth enough for me to lose quite a few hours once I get to grasps with the basics.

[Langy]

CK2 has a tutorial right in the game. It's decent enough, and gives you everything you need to know about how to control the game.

[Kirjava]

Ireland is often mentioned when people are looking for good starting regions, Skullcap. For quite some time (usually), England is involved in a three-way war and its attention is elsewhere. Scotland has its own little tiffs to sort out, and Wales rarely even manages unification on its own (in my experience anyway). Ireland, meanwhile, is full of two-county Dukedoms, making it fairly easy to manufacture casus bellis and expand. You've got space to learn the ropes and an easy environment to do it in.

My best advice is just to forget you need to sleep and play until you've figured it out. I installed the demo and re-did the Bohemia option about ten times. By the end of that I had a pretty firm grasp on what I ought to be doing

[Skullcap]

Alrighty, I didn't realise it had a tutorial, didn't seem to be a outright go to tutorial area like other games, but when I had started with the holy roman empire fella popups were all over explaining a few things but didn't quite feel like a tutorial >.>, I'll have a bash at it again later tonight and also try ireland as a start.

[Doomrider]

Mmmm my heir is a stats monster. Ambitious, Genius, Strong, Patient, Humble, Just, and Gregarious. Between all that and me tutoring him he is at 25 19 16 12 16, all at the age of 13. BOOYAH

[Busby]

He is going to die before hitting 20.

[Skullcap]

If anything this game would twist it so he died at the age of 20 facedown in a gay brothel with knifes in his back from two jealous older sisters who wanted incestious love with him so they could gain some type of inheretence to the throne. >.>

[Doomrider]

well had to kill him sooner then expected... Fucker had a decadence of .3 and that was WITH a kingdom under his belt, fortunately he had twins before his accident one of which shows the same promise...

[Kirjava]

Bitch, I conquered Jerusalem. Got a motherlode of provinces too! Am running out of Bohemian courtiers to give provinces to... now comes the epic challenge of holding the Holy Land.

[Nanaki]

I picked up this game alongside all the expansion packs, and considering I know the clausewitz engine in and out, I was able to pick apart this game's mechanics pretty well...

Regarding the doom stacks: One of the things I overlooked initially, but I later got a crash course when I used an exploit to become the King of Venice and was stuck with only one province for many years, was that holdings are very fucking important. To elaborate: My Venice only has one-star techs, and only 5 of the 7 holdings were built up (Castle, Church, City, City, City, so not exactly levy-friendly), yet fully developed the entire province provided me about 5,000 troops (given, I had direct control over the entire thing). By itself. On top of that, my minor kingdom was raking in so much cash that I was running out of places to throw it, and annoyed because fabricating titles was getting more and more expensive. At one time fabricating a title cost me about 700 gold. Also, I find that as the game progresses and you grow your holdings, your kingdom eventually becomes more and more difficult to rule. Not exactly game difficulty, but rather the micromanagement becomes rather silly. I am rather suprised that the game seems to completely lack the ability to delegate tasks and functions. Its easy to order construction tasks on 5-10 holdings, but when your having to order construction on 20+ holdings, eww.

About Heirs: It is always a good idea to groom heirs yourself. Usually, from age 6-15.9 you want the heir under your control so you can control what traits they get. A few weeks before they turn 16, you can send them to get the educational (Midas touched, Grey Eminance, etc) trait that you desire. If you get a really bad heir, you can toss him to a chapel so his lineage does not continue.

About Republics, Theocracies, and Pagans: They ARE playable. You just have to use game mechanics in unexpected ways to sploit. I became King of Venice after, being a one-province count of the Pope, I gathered 500 piety and asked the pope to let me invade them. 200 gold got me a 3000-stack of mercs that, combined with my 500-large levy, utterly rolled over the Republic's defenses and thus, I become the new King of Venice. On top of that, I get a nifty 'The Conquerer' title. Pagans, I believe you have to swear fealty to a pagan, than convert over to his religion (there is a 'convert to liege religion' event I believe). The only problem with this is that it cuts you out of a lot of events and decisions and such, because you are neither Christian nor Muslim. However, you do get a nifty casus belli which allows you to invade someone for the lulz (no worries about getting title claims), but the Muslims also get that CB I believe (although then you have to deal with decadence).

About score of only 4: Thats nothing. You can easily end the game with a score in the negatives.

About custom leaders: What? None of you figured out a way to have a leader with starting stats in the 40+s? The only shame is that the created leader only matters for the first 50 years of your game, after which it becomes almost enitrely irrelevant, although children born to that leader will likely have amazing stats as well, they wont be as high.

[Rotlung]

I just tried the demo, and got thoroughly overwhelmed. I'm not the most familiar with big/grand strategy games (mostly 4X ones like Civilization, GalCiv2, SotS, Rome Total War), so perhaps I need a bit of time to familiarise with stuff. Perhaps it's because I'm not too familiar with this period of Europe, so terms like casus belli, de jure pretty much jump at me and I need to figure out what they mean via context or wikipedia. I spent some time on the tutorial and it does explain some mechanics, but there seems to be so much to do that when I start a game in the demo, I'm just wondering "what should I do, apart from arranging a marriage to make sure I can get some heir?"

[Skullcap]

Well for starts, as you mentioned if your leader you picked isn't married then get him married up so the heir making machine gets into motion. Then you want to take stock of your location and look about, see who your enemy is, who is ally and where would be the next favourable chunk of land. Once you find a favourable location you want to take over check and see if you have a casus belli (excuse to declare war and take over location) since sometimes you have a popup at the top centre of the screen which tells you of claims of other lands.

At this point you'll obviously find out weather or not you got a casus belli and so you can start planning accordingly, at this point I would goto the council tab and set them up in locations around the Kingdom. Send the chancillor off to fabricate claims on the targetted land you want(he creates casus belli's), next place your military advisor into a land controlled by you which hasa fairly low army value, clicking on the land can tell you this it probably in most cases will be 250/1k, have him train troops.

Next one slips my mind but I believe he can get gold or boost economy tech, if not at war go for economy tech if at war get him to collect taxes. Next along, spymaster, now here you have a few options, but the best option is to send him off to a muslim land to boost technoloy, why you do that is because all the muslim lands will have 5 or more in each technology stat, so stealing technology from them is good, ofcouse the drawback is eventually you piss them off and you get the whole jihad going on.

I believe the last one was the religion fella, just send him off to either technology research or improve religious relations for the time being.

Beyond this you want to click on your ruler and setup any ambitions, if he's not married then he'll probably have a ambition to get married, if he is married then he probably want a son or daughter, preferrable son so you can continue the bloodline. For here I'd click the technology tab and pick a favourable technology to research in the 3 I think it was trees and then its just a matter of unpausing the game and letting things go into motion.

For there you pretty much just wait around for children to be born, deal with the pops ups and keep a eye on messages, eventually your casus belli will becreated for that land mass you had your eyes on and you can go womble off and declare war and take over thel and, hopefully with not the entire european landmass coming to the aid of said land you attacked.

Beyond this, its just a matter of getting used to the game and managing anything and implementing ideas in your head for some twisted rulership of europe. >.>

[Kirjava]

Hey Riotlung, who are you playing in the demo? I remember there being an Italian dude in there, but I played the Duke of Bohemia. The Holy Roman Emperor will keep raising your troops to smack down the pagans in the north and the Muslims in the south, but other than that it's a fairly safe environment to learn the rules. Poland and Hungary can be fairly easily kept on -side given that they're unlikely to attack a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor, and Crown Authority gives you free reign to beat on Bavaria and Austria at your leisure. First, get married- either marry for a powerful alliance, marry a lustful or hedonistic lady for surefire heir production (never marry a chick with Chaste or a venereal disease!) or marry someone with a high Stewardship stat (this adds to yours and can increase your demesne size). Then get your council to work. Your chancellor should fabricate claims on lands you want, your marshal should research tech or train troops, your steward should collect taxes or research tech, your spymaster should uncover plots (until you get the hang of other things, he's best used to keep you and your heir safe) and your court chaplain should either be sent to Rome to increase the Pope's opinion of you or he should be researching tech as well.

When picking a place you want to invade, before you waste time manufacturing a casus belli, make sure you can beat them! If they have a bigger army or strong allies they can call in, you'll probably lose and end up having to pay them money, which is to be avoided.

Pick Ambitions carefully to buff your stats or aid your plans of conquest. If your wife isn't giving you sons, you could plot to kill her; if one of your vassals is giving you lip, you could plot to revoke his title. If you're someone's vassal, wanting to become Marshal or Steward will buff your stats and give you prestige. There's a range of things you can get up to.

I'm running a Let's Play to take people through the stages of starting a new game, and there are a lot of tips on the official Paradox forum as well. Or you could chill here and ask Dolts

[Rotlung]

Thanks for the tips guys! I'll give the demo another go soon to get the hang of things, and if I start enjoying it, I might get it should it get another sale.

I started off with the King of Poland since it was apparently of a lower difficulty than that of the other interesting personalities available from the demo, but there was so much to manage that I quit and tried the Duke of Bohemia. After fumbling around with ambitions and stuff (set him to become a paragon of virtue, and realised that he was heading in the opposite direction where piety was concerned), he assassinated his own wife for the heck of it (only to get married again shortly after), established some marriages all over the place, randomly imprisoned one of his vassals and got disliked by everyone, then thought about how to get himself out of the situation until he kicked the bucket and his brother took over.

It was indeed annoying since most of my council was sent by the Holy Roman Empire to lead armies and stuff for some reason so I couldn't send them on my own operations unless I appointed new council members. A pity I couldn't save in the demo, but I'd try another kingdom in the meantime, thanks!

Edit: It seems that even though you can randomly go about doing your own stuff, you can get rewarded for these actions if you were to choose an ambition and work on that, instead of working on said ambition without actually selecting it. In the case for plots, there's something more to it though, involving backers and stuff like that.

Edit2: Flash sale 75% off! But without Sword of Islam (I'm not keen on the other stuff, they offer only cosmetic additions right?). Has Sword of Islam gone on sale before?

Edit3: Okay I caved, bought the collection, so I have all the additional stuff except Sword, will wait on a separate deal for that one.