Crusader Kings II - Paradox Entertainement (02/12)

[Tellus]

I am sure this forum harbors many who played Crusader Kings, as we have quite a few Paradoxians in our midst.

Its about time we create a thread for this upcoming masterpiece.

I heartily recommend checking out this short after-action report detailing the rise of a young Scottish countess.

Those who want gameplay specifics should check out the 20 developer diaries.

I'll open the discussion by asking: who will you play first? I'm going with the Byzantine Emperor at the earliest start date for my first game

[Ageofbob]

I'm going to go play an old favourite, the Nubians, or even farther south the Ethiopians (there in the game, right?) and conquer my way to glory and splendor!

[Tellus]

Originally Posted by Ageofbob

I'm going to go play an old favourite, the Nubians, or even farther south the Ethiopians (there in the game, right?) and conquer my way to glory and splendor!

Yep. At 0:45 here you can see the game goes all the way to the horn of africa and includes an entire peninsula of heathens and sand to convert by the sword.

[Advernt]

Originally Posted by Tellus

I am sure this forum harbors many who played Crusader Kings, as we have quite a few Paradoxians in our midst.

Its about time we create a thread for this upcoming masterpiece.

I heartily recommend checking out this short after-action report detailing the rise of a young Scottish countess.

Those who want gameplay specifics should check out the 20 developer diaries.

I'll open the discussion by asking: who will you play first? I'm going with the Byzantine Emperor at the earliest start date for my first game

What will be your aims ? Restore the Roman Empire back to it's Eastern Roman Empire boundaries (or even more) , eliminate every Islamic State on the map , or (related) repeat Alexander the Great and Conquer everything from Egypt to Central Asia? (Which , if Islam is underpowered in the first version , might be shockingly easy once the Seljuks collapse)

[QuoProQuid]

Although I wish you could play as non-Christian nations or the Pope, I am still excited. Despite being utterly broken and ridiculous, the original Crusader Kings was pretty fun.

I just played a game where the Magistrate of Ferrara conquered Egypt and Tunsia while a royal house known as Von Empress took over the English throne. Also Azerbaijan ended up in Iceland for a while. Not really sure how.

[Tellus]

Originally Posted by Advernt

What will be your aims ? Restore the Roman Empire back to it's Eastern Roman Empire boundaries (or even more) , eliminate every Islamic State on the map , or (related) repeat Alexander the Great and Conquer everything from Egypt to Central Asia? (Which , if Islam is underpowered in the first version , might be shockingly easy once the Seljuks collapse)

I tend to have evolutive aims in these games, but at the start there is obviously a desire to consolidate the Eastern Empire and extend southwards in the Levant. I'd like for starters for the historical Kingdom of Jerusalem to fly Orthodox colors. Once that's achieved, restoring Imperial rule over southern Italy and Egypt should be in the cards.

Whether I can realistically shoot for more and try to recover Gaul, Britannia and Iberia will depend on what the game lets me do, of course. It may be a bit challenging to expect more than this for a first game. Also, I might be sidetracked by all these heatens and not feel like campaigning too deep into the Western Empire.

What would be really nice, I dunno if its even possible, but to seek a personal union between the Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium. If it's possible, I'll try to do it Imagine how lucky the heir would be "Yeah so the Empire's been divided for the better part of a thousand years, mommy has this half and daddy this half, eat your veggies and you can rule over it all"

Edit: Byzantium in 550... decent borders to shoot for

[Moridin]

Its Paradox Interactive, not Paradox Entertainment. Two separate companies with nothing in common since 2004.

[Advernt]

Originally Posted by Tellus

I tend to have evolutive aims in these games, but at the start there is obviously a desire to consolidate the Eastern Empire and extend southwards in the Levant. I'd like for starters for the historical Kingdom of Jerusalem to fly Orthodox colors. Once that's achieved, restoring Imperial rule over southern Italy and Egypt should be in the cards.

Whether I can realistically shoot for more and try to recover Gaul, Britannia and Iberia will depend on what the game lets me do, of course. It may be a bit challenging to expect more than this for a first game. Also, I might be sidetracked by all these heatens and not feel like campaigning too deep into the Western Empire.

What would be really nice, I dunno if its even possible, but to seek a personal union between the Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium. If it's possible, I'll try to do it Imagine how lucky the heir would be "Yeah so the Empire's been divided for the better part of a thousand years, mommy has this half and daddy this half, eat your veggies and you can rule over it all"

Edit: Byzantium in 550... decent borders to shoot for

Go one step further . Throw the Mongols all the way back to Mongolia once they reach Baghdad. Follow in Alexander's footsteps. Then Restore the Western Roman Empire!

Seriously speaking , once you reach the 550 Boundaries , AKA Justinian's Empire , if your situation is stable , you can probably chose to focus on either pulling off an Alexander the Great , and eliminate all Islamic states , or focus on the Western Kingdoms. That is , if the Mongols are not so successful that they've reach Baghdad and are knocking at your door. If so , you might need to focus on the East , and drive the Mongols out of the map. Hopefully , you don't collapse in the process.

Of course, you could crash and burn , and the Seljuks reaches Constantinople by 1080 or 90. All the best in avoiding that!

[Tellus]

Originally Posted by Moridin

Its Paradox Interactive, not Paradox Entertainment. Two separate companies with nothing in common since 2004.

Oops, my mistake. I knew that.

Oh well cant edit it, and its frankly a detail. Paradox is paradox.

That aside they just posted a new (funny) trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpAYY...layer_embedded

[yourworstnightmare]

Originally Posted by Ageofbob

I'm going to go play an old favourite, the Nubians, or even farther south the Ethiopians (there in the game, right?) and conquer my way to glory and splendor!

Yes, but the Ethiopian setup will be quite meh. (So will the Nubian one since Paradox apparently forgot there were two Nubian kingdoms during the Middle Ages: Makkuria and Alodia), but just wait until Mad King James get his mod done. Then it will be East Africa every game.

[Ageofbob]

Originally Posted by yourworstnightmare

Yes, but the Ethiopian setup will be quite meh. (So will the Nubian one since Paradox apparently forgot there were two Nubian kingdoms during the Middle Ages: Makkuria and Alodia), but just wait until Mad King James get his mod done. Then it will be East Africa every game.

PARADOX!

Oh well, mods will assuage my grief.

[Zioneer]

I'll probably play as Bohemia or one of the Byzantine princely families (Phokas or Angelos, my old favorites in CK1), or perhaps the Orsinis.

[Basilisk]

I wish the Eu3 map looked like that.

[Tellus]

Originally Posted by Basilisk

I wish the Eu3 map looked like that.

Really? Hm. The map's OK but its not my favorite. Victoria and Darkest Hour have the best looking maps IMO.

But Europa 3 does have some mods that change the map only that you might like. And if you dont have Divine Wind, well, that expansion pretties up the map quite a bit.

[Tellus]

Speaking of the map here's a pretty good view of the map. The Middle-east is off screen but you can tell whats included by the mini map. I'm not sure who spilled salt all over the Eastern Med tho.



The map comes with a question. The Polish/Danish borders I know are right but I thought that by 1066 Pommerania was officially Holy Roman Imperial. Do I have my dates wrong, or is this some creative licensing based on the fact paganism was still strong on the northern German coast at the time?

[Tangerine]

*sigh* The same old goofy map (take a look at Wallachia).

I played CK a lot but it's definitely broken. Within 50 years the entire world map devolves into a patchwork of unlikely states in unusual juxtapositions. I'm pretty sure the Emirate of Cyrenaica ended up in Scotland in 50% of the games I played, and I can't remember a single time I bothered to look up at Iceland when it wasn't controlled by the Lapps. A thousand more oddities greet me whenever I play it. If you willingly suspend belief it can be very fun though.

I hope CK2 has some of these problems fixed.

[yourworstnightmare]

Originally Posted by Tellus

The map comes with a question. The Polish/Danish borders I know are right but I thought that by 1066 Pommerania was officially Holy Roman Imperial. Do I have my dates wrong, or is this some creative licensing based on the fact paganism was still strong on the northern German coast at the time?

No, in 1066 both the Obordite kingdom (called Mecklenburg) and the Liutician Federation (Pomerania) should be there (and of course the Rani on Rügen). The Liuticians rebelled from the HRE in 983, but was in 1093 forced to become an Obordite tributary. In the 1120s the Poles started to move in from the east, while the Obordite hegemony collapsed due to an attack by the Rani that killed their powerful Prince Henry. During the 1100s both Polish and German exepeditions were sent to Pomerania which resulted in the rise of the House of Gryf.

[Tellus]

Originally Posted by Tangerine

*sigh* The same old goofy map (take a look at Wallachia).

I played CK a lot but it's definitely broken. Within 50 years the entire world map devolves into a patchwork of unlikely states in unusual juxtapositions. I'm pretty sure the Emirate of Cyrenaica ended up in Scotland in 50% of the games I played, and I can't remember a single time I bothered to look up at Iceland when it wasn't controlled by the Lapps. A thousand more oddities greet me whenever I play it. If you willingly suspend belief it can be very fun though.

I hope CK2 has some of these problems fixed.

It should have some improvements, if only because its casus belli is much stricter than before. Wars can only have a single goal, and that goal determines the outcome of the war.

So for instance a crusade against a middle statelet couldnt result in a counter-invasion where Muslims end up annexing a Catholic state anymore. This basically hard-codes some sanity into the results.

How sane itll be, we've yet to see, though.

Originally Posted by yourworstnightmare

No, in 1066 both the Obordite kingdom (called Mecklenburg) and the Liutician Federation (Pomerania) should be there (and of course the Rani on Rügen). The Liuticians rebelled from the HRE in 983, but was in 1093 forced to become an Obordite tributary. In the 1120s the Poles started to move in from the east, while the Obordite hegemony collapsed due to an attack by the Rani that killed their powerful Prince Henry. During the 1100s both Polish and German exepeditions were sent to Pomerania which resulted in the rise of the House of Gryf.

Thanks. Ill have to brush up, clearly the pagan periphery of this era is a weak point for me

[Sarantapechaina]

Originally Posted by Tellus

I'll open the discussion by asking: who will you play first? I'm going with the Byzantine Emperor at the earliest start date for my first game

So you can be ass-raped by feudal lords that wouldn't have even sniffed power in historical 1066? No thanks. I'm sitting out this one until they roll out a mod that doesn't apply some sort of screwy hybrid Franco-Imperial feudalism to all of Christendom.

[Grumpy young Man]

Just if these things do not happen and I'll be happy

1. Emirate of Bohemia/Scotland/Denmark
2. Christian Iberian Kingdoms get their asses handled to them by 1080
3. Byzantium the same but by 1070, with numerous vassals breaking up every time - all the courtesy of Michael "Derp" Doukas.