Crusader Kings II - Paradox Entertainement (02/12)

[Planet of Hats]

Not so different from when vassals with highly positive opinion join factions trying to overthrow you or curtail your power if you ask me...

That's why I don't play with Conclave or Way of Life.

Factions are fine without Conclave, in my mind, and I generally find the council irritating - ie. you'll get situations where you win a war and have too many counties in your demesne, which angers the council, but you can't give the land away because the council is angry.

 

[Death's Little Helper]

Reaper's Due: Major epidemics - Delayed Random adds a bit of worry but not too much as I've got at least 50 years to prepare.
Reaper's Due: Minor epidemics - Default
Mongol Invasion - Delayed Random
Sunset Invasion: Aztec Invasion - Delayed Random
Turkic Conquerors - Historical
Reaper's Due: Non-epidemic diseases - Default.
Shattered Retreat : On
Defensive Pacts : On
Gender Equality: Default.
Supernatural Events: Usually off, but sometimes I switch it on for shits and giggles
Dynamic De Jure Drift: Restricted.
De Jure Assimilation Duration - Default
De Jure Requirement - Default.
Horse Lords - Nomad stability: Stable, as it helps prevent border gore.
Culture Conversion - Default
Religious Conversion Speed - Default.
Raiding - Unrestricted
Adventurers - Normal.
Interfaith Marriage - Restricted.
Matrilineal Marriages - On.
Chalemagne: Custom Realms - On.
Charlemagne: Story Events - On, but it usually doesn't matter as i rarely use that start.
Vassal Republics - Restricted.
Vassal Theocracies - Restricted.
Invitation to Court - Default.
Diplomatic Range - On.
Provincial Revolts - Normal.
Provincial Revolts - Strength - Normal.
Defensive Attrition - Enabled.
Pagan Reformation - Allowed.
Regencies - On.
Assassinations - Plots only.
Way of Life: AI Seduction - Off
Way of Life: AI Intrigue - On
Way of Life: Dueling - Default
Release Prisonners After Punishment - I switch between the two depending on the game.
Titles Named After Dynasties - On.
Cultural Title Name - On.
Demesne size - Default.
Vassal Limit - Default.
Grant Independance - Restricted.
Monks and Mystics - Devil Worshippers : Usually off but sometimes turned on for shits and giggles
Monks and Mystics - Secret Religious Cults: On.

 

[Yorel]

That's why I don't play with Conclave or Way of Life.

Factions are fine without Conclave, in my mind, and I generally find the council irritating - ie. you'll get situations where you win a war and have too many counties in your demesne, which angers the council, but you can't give the land away because the council is angry.

If you ask me, Factions have always been a pain to handle. But there were always two ways to get rid of them: bribing and having a good spymaster to stop all the plotting. Neither Conclave nor Way of Life has changed this. The only faction I have a problem with are the council ones and that's because they seem to be coded so everyone in the damn realm wants to join, even if they like you... Council Factions are the only ones I fail to disband in general.

As for the Council, while it's a bit frustrating, they recently made a patch that allows you to see the stance people you name on the council will adopt: as such, it's easier to choose people who have the Loyalist stance. It doesn't guarantee the council won't pose any trouble (just because someone is a Loyalist doesn't mean he'll make for a good coucilor, you sometimes need to name a Powerful vassal on the council to keep his power in check, etc...) but it makes it more manageable. Furthermore, Council Votes makes more sense in my mind than the previous system which forced you to have every single person with lands in the de-jure realm to vote... That basically made larger realms nearly impossible to manage (The Iron Throne in AGOT mod could for example never change laws because it required at least 300/400 people to give their agreement before Conclave...)

In regards to Way of Life, there are only two features that are problematic: Seduction and Intrigue. But these two rarely posed me a problem: maybe I got lucky. Still, these are only two foci out of ten: the other foci work just fine. And with game rules, you can now swicth Seduction and Intrigue if they are really game-breaking so...

 

[Lord Insane]

No playable Western Protectorate in JD, alas.

 

[Neoteros]

I've been starting and quitting games all week, but I've finally been able to do it:

Matilda di Canossa is Queen of Italy, and she's in a matrilineal marriage with a member of the House of Godwin who ended up on the English throne, so her son Cesare will inherit two kingdoms.

And, I granted the County of Lombardy to some random lowborn courtier, and he became the very first member of house Visconti. Weird, but fitting.

Elsewhere in the world, Bohemia and Provence have declared and maintained their independence from the Holy Roman Empire, even though Moravia split off from Bohemia soon afterwards

 

[Nagisaki]

I've been starting and quitting games all week, but I've finally been able to do it:

Spoiler: Image

Matilda di Canossa is Queen of Italy, and she's in a matrilineal marriage with a member of the House of Godwin who ended up on the English throne, so her son Cesare will inherit two kingdoms.

And, I granted the County of Lombardy to some random lowborn courtier, and he became the very first member of house Visconti. Weird, but fitting.

Elsewhere in the world, Bohemia and Provence have declared and maintained their independence from the Holy Roman Empire, even though Moravia split off from Bohemia soon afterwards

WTF happened to Byzantium?

 

[Neoteros]

WTF happened to Byzantium?

Nothing, I was just using the duchies map.

And of course, my game had to come to an untimely end when Matilda's grandson proved himself to be a complete trainwreck with shit stats and traits, hated by everything and everyone; revolts happened, first he lost England, then he was forced to hand over a lot of power to the council in Italy. My eugenics-fu is weak, it seems. How can I make my dynasty not implode due to a shortage of functioning brain cells after only a century since the game's start?

And, what are some interesting characters that I could play as? Founders of historical dynasties, people with great AH potential, etc.

 

[GoukaRyuu]

I never play eugenics, other than going "ooh this daughter of a king I want to ally with anyway has quick!" Hell, outside of a few scenarios I largely don't educate my own children either.

 

[B-29_Bomber]

I never play eugenics, other than going "ooh this daughter of a king I want to ally with anyway has quick!" Hell, outside of a few scenarios I largely don't educate my own children either.

Indeed. I use brute force to hold my lands together.

Thank God we live in such enlightened times!

 

[Neoteros]

Indeed. I use brute force to hold my lands together.

Thank God we live in such enlightened times!

When I try to do that, revolts happen when I'm at war with someone else, and I have to throw mercenaries at the problem.

I've restarted my Canossa game; I've created the Kingdom of Italy even earlier than before, but France keeps annexing bits and pieces of Muslim Spain in every fucking game, and it triggers my inner history Nazi so fucking much. Even more so than Hungary ass-shagging the Pechenegs and reaching the Black Sea.

 

[Tyler96]

When I try to do that, revolts happen when I'm at war with someone else, and I have to throw mercenaries at the problem.

I've restarted my Canossa game; I've created the Kingdom of Italy even earlier than before, but France keeps annexing bits and pieces of Muslim Spain in every fucking game, and it triggers my inner history Nazi so fucking much.

That's better than France, Pisa and Genoa annexing all of North Africa east west of Egypt (does that still happen? I haven't played vanilla for a while).

 

[Neoteros]

That's better than France, Pisa and Genoa annexing all of North Africa east of Egypt (does that still happen? I haven't played vanilla for a while).

It still happens.

Is there any way to fix the border gore?

And, is there any mod that reduces or prevents mid-late game lag?

 

[Nagisaki]

That's better than France, Pisa and Genoa annexing all of North Africa east of Egypt (does that still happen? I haven't played vanilla for a while).

Wait, that's a thing?

 

[Neoteros]

Wait, that's a thing?

They probably meant west of Egypt.

Anyway, I got this mod, and not only it looks great, it also improves performance - maybe because it gets rid of the water.

The HRE stretching all the way to Apulia is my doing, I want to be king of both Italy and Sicily and then, when I'm powerful enough, declare independence from the HRE alongside my Bohemian buddies. Not my doing: France in the middle of Spain, the messy implosion of the Cumans, Poland being reduced to half its usual size.

 

[Tyler96]

Wait, that's a thing?

They probably meant west of Egypt.

Indeed I did. I've been up all night writing an essay so even I'm even more out of it than usual. East of Egypt does sound better though (alliteration is always awesome).

 

[Neoteros]

That feeling when your daughter and heir with killer stats, who you married off to a random Alan from the steppes with the "Genius" trait, turns out to be both chaste and homosexual.

Why did her mediocre sister have to get the "Lustful" trait?

At least House di Canossa isn't as inbred as the OTL Habsburg. Yet.

Edit: she finally had a male heir. Hopefully he won't be killed by disease or intrigue.

Some weird but not ASB shit from my game: Pomerania was unified under a single pagan king who managed to preserve his kingdom's independence for almost a century; his descendants have however converted to Catholicism. Prussia stayed pagan and annexed neighbouring Polish land; a Rurikid was crowned king of Ruthenia - they're the only Orthodox polity aside from the ERE now.

Also, my council's a real pain in the ass, they somehow gained the ability to veto my granting of titles and how can I reduce the size of my demesne and appease the council if I can't even give people a few pieces of land? Jesus fucking Christ.

Edit: I rolled back many of the "democratic" reforms, but now the Holy Roman Emperor is somehow a Shi'a. What.

Edit #2: the Emperor's a Catholic again, and...

 

[Lord Insane]

Jade Dragon it is. Mostly for the regions near China, though I suppose the Chinese artifacts could wander west, the Silk Road does stretch a bit longer, and rally points and casus belli are more universal.

 

[Shiva]

Has anyone played the Mod of Ice and Fire recently as a Blackfyre? Because now they have a feature that lets you 'erase' the Kings born from Daeron II, but it doesn't replace them with all of the canon Blackfyre claimants, only Daemon I himself.

When you play as Daemon himself and use the button you erase ALL the Kings of Westeros, but somehow Daemon Targaryen becomes a King of Westeros.

Is there a way to fix it?

 

[Milo]

Has anyone played the Mod of Ice and Fire recently as a Blackfyre? Because now they have a feature that lets you 'erase' the Kings born from Daeron II, but it doesn't replace them with all of the canon Blackfyre claimants, only Daemon I himself.

When you play as Daemon himself and use the button you erase ALL the Kings of Westeros, but somehow Daemon Targaryen becomes a King of Westeros.

Is there a way to fix it?

I haven't but how does the mod compare to the GOT mod?

 

[Bonnie Prince Charlie]

Has anyone here gone from tribal to republic before? I've encounter a bug where trying to open the law tab after switching causes a ctd. Some cursory googling reveals that this was a common bug right after Charlemange was released, but there was a patch that was supposed to fix it. Obviously, whatever the fix was isn't fixing my save game for some reason.

My only guess is that it has to do with the fact that only three families spawned when I transitioned. Should create an additional two duchies to try and spawn more families?