CKII is released.

[RedScum]

I think it's a good addition. Simple as that.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Yea, ultimately all these "fucking Vikings in Africa" complaints are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. The new startdate is in general more interesting and gives plentiful opportunity for

Also, I guess the viking thing in my Venice game might be due to my house being essentially Medieval Mafia, having single-handedly brought down the Karlings through intrigue assassinations and thus left all of the usual major Catholic powers in a state of clusterfuck. The motive was simply "I don't want to get half of Europe on my doorstep when the master plan to capture all of Italy leaves Muslim/Byzantine beatdown phase". This of course has led to the Venetians interfering in every single civil war in Italy to their own benefit. Though I guess I might have kind of fucked up, since the king is now my Doge's grandson and part of the dynasty. Oh well, I'd already have to fabricate claims anyway since all but two coastal provinces in Italy have been taken.

 

[Kukulkan]

Yea, ultimately all these "fucking Vikings in Africa" complaints are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. The new startdate is in general more interesting and gives plentiful opportunity for

For what?!

Playing the Old Gods now. Very fun. Tried to bring back hellenistic paganism but ended up being too difficult of a task.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Oh, seems my thoughtflow got sidetracked there.

Anyway, plenty of opportunity for all new interesting hijinks and situations. The fact the game now starts in multiple Mexican stand-offs between religions makes it more interesting in general.

 

[XenomorphII]

Old Gods is a great addition. The vikings sometimes do great, and sometimes fall flat on their faces. It just depends on when/if they reform and what goes on with the Karlings. My only complaint is that sometimes adventures with claims on you can spawn on your capital. They should always be forced to leave and come from an outside area (either that or you should have the ability to arrest their happy asses and kill them).

 

[Wise Emperor]

In a tiny Republic of Amalfi some Patrician with bag of gold, using only Archaic Latin, claimed that he is descendant of old Roman family. In a couple of decades his dynasty quickly raised to prominence, took the mantle of Serene Doge of Cyprus and started slowly pushing out barbarians of Italian peninsula, turning their eyes towards the city on 7 hills...

Love the Old Gods, the overhauled technology tab, religion and landless adventurers. Pdox could nerf Vikings and mix a bit Carlings, but everything other is great.

And fucking Roman culture!

 

[Borelli]

Piety increases Levy Size and Retinue Strength.
Moar Holy Orders.
Grant Knight Titles for increased Martial Skillz.
Double Damage against enemy of faith.

And game is over when your first char dies

Pdox did a great job of transplanting the feudal dynasty game into a republic with the patrician families, however i don't see how that would be possible for theocracies although there is some potential for Teutonic holy order since they owned land and were more knights than priests. It could be similar to republic gameplay, top title(grandmaster of the order) is elective based on prestige,age,martial and a little bit of politics while the nobles have their own holdings.

 

[Zeriel]

I do like the earlier startdate. Kind of a sucker for really long games. Not sure how I feel about how Byzantium starts out, though--after playing so much EU3, it feels wrong to be Byzantium and actually be a top dog from the beginning.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Piety increases Levy Size and Retinue Strength.
Moar Holy Orders.
Grant Knight Titles for increased Martial Skillz.
Double Damage against enemy of faith.

And game is over when your first char dies

Pdox did a great job of transplanting the feudal dynasty game into a republic with the patrician families, however i don't see how that would be possible for theocracies although there is some potential for Teutonic holy order since they owned land and were more knights than priests. It could be similar to republic gameplay, top title(grandmaster of the order) is elective based on prestige,age,martial and a little bit of politics while the nobles have their own holdings.

Three words:

House of Borgia

 

[Zeriel]

So, just as an update for anyone who ends up googling this like I did: Varangian Guard decision has a startdate, around 950's, while the Old Gods timeline starts about a hundred years earlier. This lines up historically with when the VG first showed up, incidentally.

 

[RK47]

Byzantine starting to crumble, stole revolting Sicily in the chaos, also Italy went Cathar after the Pope is evicted by the Mali invasion on Sicilian coasts.
I decided to step in and capitalize, stole Venice, Pisa and Genoa in one swoop.
Now I have all 3 Republics under me.

Sunni Andalusia is having a showdown with Shia Egypt.
I hope Andalusia loses so I can finally take their core provinces in Spain.
West African Moral Authority 100.0%
Shia 74.0%
The Rest of the World < 39.0%

 

[Zeriel]

Sunni Andalusia is having a showdown with Shia Egypt.

What the ever loving fuck, your game sounds way more interesting than mine. I guess that's what I get for not playing as a 1 province minor for once.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Byzantine starting to crumble, stole revolting Sicily in the chaos, also Italy went Cathar after the Pope is evicted by the Mali invasion on Sicilian coasts.
I decided to step in and capitalize, stole Venice, Pisa and Genoa in one swoop.
Now I have all 3 Republics under me.

Sunni Andalusia is having a showdown with Shia Egypt.
I hope Andalusia loses so I can finally take their core provinces in Spain.
West African Moral Authority 100.0%
Shia 74.0%
The Rest of the World < 39.0%

ITZ came

 

[RK47]

 

[Zeriel]

Good to know Seljuks blob out in every game.

... Yeah, not sure how I feel about the historical railroading they do in all their franchises. I know some people say there isn't enough, but my problem isn't so much with historical railroading (it's fine, I like history!) so much as it being implemented in a really weird (read: lazy) way.

Seljuks, for example, start their initial "oh boy, he's good at fighting!" event with a minor province in the middle of nowhere, and then he just miraculously takes over the entire Khanate? I didn't have a spy in that part of the world, so I'm curious if they did it in the Total War style (where they spawn doomstacks for the mongols that can actually be defeated), or whether it's just automatic conversion of same-culture provinces at a set rate.

I'm also missing the clusterfucks of bad things that could happen to snowball empires in EU3. In CK2 so far it feels way too safe once you are at a certain size, nothing like 10 different majors declaring war on you while 15 war exhaustion pops out 30 rebellion provinces like you'd get in EU.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Seljuks are, as far as I know, like the Mongols, meaning that they spawn with a large number of doomstacks and have access to the prepostrously powerful Invasion CB (annex everything within target De Jure kingdom title).

The doomstacks, which are free and suffer no attrition, are also the reason why Mongols and Seljuks are so extremely stable, as rebel stacks of any type are very unlikely to ever put them down.

 

[Zeriel]

Yeah, ironically I feel like the reason CK2 is intensely easier than EU3 once you ignore the rising-from-Count-to-Emperor artificial difficulty you can impose on yourself is because the AI mostly has to follow the rules of CBs, which are way more restrictive in CK2. CBs throttle when and where you can declare war, unlike in EU3 where you either have constant access to good CBs or can just ignore the stability loss if you really want to. End result, chances of half the world declaring war on you constantly is pretty damn low.

 

[Tigranes]

I think the AI needs to intrigue against you more (assassinating you, your children, stealing claimants, etc), and the penalties against breaking truces should be of a different kind - at the moment they are far too easy to bypass, especially with an old ruler. There should also be more ways for external states to fund, support and instigate internal uprisings - Dukes' civil wars against you remain fairly trivial, but it would be different if AI states were able to fund their mercenaries, etc.

As it is, I think the best way to play CK2 is a lot of house rules, or quit when you get to a 'safe' state. But then, I felt EU3 was pretty easy after a certain size too...

 

[Zeriel]

I think EU3 just has a lot more rules to punish lazy play, especially when you reach a certain size. Being immense has costs in addition to benefits, like war exhaustion being able to poop out rebel armies far in excess of anything you're facing from legitimate enemies.

 

[Wise Emperor]

New patch 1.102+ Celtic & CoA dlc's available.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...m-reports!&s=b30fd9dab49cd16480787d4c47ed3804

 

[RK47]

1098, as Italy crumbles under the onslaught of united Mali, tragedy struck, the virtuous Emperor of Mali passes away. The Ultimogeniture succession is going to be tested - a 1 year old Emperor rose to the throne.

"Gooo gooo gaa gaaa"
"What did his Majesty say, Regent?"
"He wants us to send assassins to slay the Sultan of Umayyads."

And slay they did. When the counter-assassins return, they only managed to maim the 1 year old boy.
To soothe his vassals' burning ambitions, the Emperor divide the plunder of Italy among his chiefs.

As Italy stares doom in the face - the Umayyad Sultanate crumbles to the whim of a 2 year old baby.

 

[Sranchammer]

RK, why do you only play with Vanilla? Are you some sort of masochist?

 

[Fens]

he wouldn't be playing mali if it were vanilla... or do you mean mods ?

 

[Delterius]

RK, why do you only play with Vanilla? Are you some sort of masochist?

Its all a very elaborate meta joke.

 

[RK47]

It's time...