Crusader Kings II - Paradox Entertainement (02/12)
- Thread starter Tellus
- Start date
So as it turns out, Queen Gauntlindis of France died at the venerable age of 72, on August 4th, 825. This thus gave her eldest son Marcomer the best and worst birthday gift on his life as he just turned 55 that day. Best gift: he became King. Worst gift: his mother died.
I was in the middle of a Holy War against the Cathars of Poitou when that happened. A war that Marcomer finished without too much trouble thanks to hired Mercenaries. Not much went on in France during his rule after that: Marcomer was already pretty old for Medieval times when he ascended the throne, and I'm generally keen on starting with the "See the Kingdom Prosper" ambition so his reign was a period of peace. To be fair though, my expansion in Poitou also made me threatening so I had to wait for that to decrease a bit too...
I once again chose Papal coronation forgetting how much I need in the bank for that... It cost me 350 gold for Marcomer to be crowned. My income would probably have gotten me in the positive in two years' game-time, but one of my vassals offered to pay me 300 gold in exchange for the Dukedom of Berry, so it kinda solved my financial issues.
Other than that... Well, not much since Marcomer died on Septemer 19th, 830. After only five years of rule. Marcomer's eldest son Yves had died as after having been rendered comatose during his grandmother's wars, so now it's Yves' son François that ascends the throne. He'll be turning 20 in just two months game-time.
Going to save a bit of money for now... A coronation ceremony done by the Pope is really not cheap.
Status of Catholic Moral Authority: a bit under 50%. Still a bit too low for my tastes but at least it's higher than the various heresises...
To create one of the de-jure Empires, you generally need to own 80% of the de-jure territory, two kingdom titles or another Imperial title and the money and piety to create the title. Some of these Empire however have special conditions: in the case of France, one of the titles you own mustn't be one of the four primordial constituents of the Empire (France, Aquitaine, Burgundy and Britanny).
In practice, that does mean you can create the Empire of Francia without having one of the four kindgoms mentionned... In reality though, since you need 80% of Francia's territory, you're still pretty likely to create France, Aquitaine, Burgundy or Britanny at one point... Also, the 769 start provides an easy way to create the Empire as it also includes Middle Francia/Lotharingia and Frisia within its borders.
I was in the middle of a Holy War against the Cathars of Poitou when that happened. A war that Marcomer finished without too much trouble thanks to hired Mercenaries. Not much went on in France during his rule after that: Marcomer was already pretty old for Medieval times when he ascended the throne, and I'm generally keen on starting with the "See the Kingdom Prosper" ambition so his reign was a period of peace. To be fair though, my expansion in Poitou also made me threatening so I had to wait for that to decrease a bit too...
I once again chose Papal coronation forgetting how much I need in the bank for that... It cost me 350 gold for Marcomer to be crowned. My income would probably have gotten me in the positive in two years' game-time, but one of my vassals offered to pay me 300 gold in exchange for the Dukedom of Berry, so it kinda solved my financial issues.
Other than that... Well, not much since Marcomer died on Septemer 19th, 830. After only five years of rule. Marcomer's eldest son Yves had died as after having been rendered comatose during his grandmother's wars, so now it's Yves' son François that ascends the throne. He'll be turning 20 in just two months game-time.
Going to save a bit of money for now... A coronation ceremony done by the Pope is really not cheap.
Status of Catholic Moral Authority: a bit under 50%. Still a bit too low for my tastes but at least it's higher than the various heresises...
If I remember right, it's a problem that already existed in Vanilla before Shattered World became an official part of the game. Big Empire have a larger territory to cover and thus they have more troubles to deal with because you can't control everything that goes on in your Empire. The thing that makes it a bit easier to handle is that at least you've got the money and troops to deal with most of your troubles.
Not really. It's more that the tooltip for the Empire creation isn't really clear.
To create one of the de-jure Empires, you generally need to own 80% of the de-jure territory, two kingdom titles or another Imperial title and the money and piety to create the title. Some of these Empire however have special conditions: in the case of France, one of the titles you own mustn't be one of the four primordial constituents of the Empire (France, Aquitaine, Burgundy and Britanny).
In practice, that does mean you can create the Empire of Francia without having one of the four kindgoms mentionned... In reality though, since you need 80% of Francia's territory, you're still pretty likely to create France, Aquitaine, Burgundy or Britanny at one point... Also, the 769 start provides an easy way to create the Empire as it also includes Middle Francia/Lotharingia and Frisia within its borders.
Oh God I had forgotten how annoying Adventurer could get... I got a fucking reminder...
TWO of them showed up in my realm. Not one, two. And they both have 5k troops. That's as much as I can levy in my own kindgom! Paradox should put a limit on how many troops they can assemble, this is just ridiculous...
Might be the salt speaking for me... Doesn't help that I'm currently playing François' underaged daughter Gisela... François barely ruled a year before he died of food poisonning... Gisela was a few months old so I've been spending years doing nothing as I wait for her to become an adult...
TWO of them showed up in my realm. Not one, two. And they both have 5k troops. That's as much as I can levy in my own kindgom! Paradox should put a limit on how many troops they can assemble, this is just ridiculous...
Might be the salt speaking for me... Doesn't help that I'm currently playing François' underaged daughter Gisela... François barely ruled a year before he died of food poisonning... Gisela was a few months old so I've been spending years doing nothing as I wait for her to become an adult...
Yeah, I definitely think Adventurer's scale too well to your realm levies. It doesn't make much sense especially when you get some literal no-name getting a band of 60k to attack the Byzantine Empire somehow.
I'm playing as Giacopo Orsini, the lone feudal vassal of the Pope in 1066... well, the Pope just became the father of a bastard, whose mother is none other than Giacopo's daughter. But I'm allied to both Pisa and Venice, and my demesne is as big as the Pope's own, I'm so going to kick the Holy Father's arse now.
Oh man, it'd be ironic if you took over Rome and then got a kingdom and then made an antipope and thereby made the pope your servant, lol.
Anyone have dlc recommendations? I currently only have the base game and am think of buying a couple that are on sale on steam. Which ones are the good ones and which ones are terrible?
The new one, Holy Fury, is pretty much indispensable, it changes so much. Also, Old Gods, Legacy of Rome, and Sword of Islam are really good.
Most of the DLC is basically essential at this point due to the sum effects of Paradox's policies, sadly. However, the essential ones right now are IMO Old Gods, Legacy of Rome, Sword of Islam, Monks and Mystics, and Holy Fury. (the "content packs" are basically cosmetics)
Less essential but very important for non-Catholic European Feudal games are, in order of importance: Conclave, Jade Dragon, Rajahs of India, Way of Life, Horse Lords, Sons of Abraham, The Republic, Reaper's Due, and Charlemagne. Rough order except for Charlemagne which is basically "earlier start date" and not much else.
Sunset Invasion is nonessential and ahistorical BUT makes playing in western Europe more of a challenge in late game, which makes playing Catholic fun again. Or did before Holy Fury added new mechanics.
Less essential but very important for non-Catholic European Feudal games are, in order of importance: Conclave, Jade Dragon, Rajahs of India, Way of Life, Horse Lords, Sons of Abraham, The Republic, Reaper's Due, and Charlemagne. Rough order except for Charlemagne which is basically "earlier start date" and not much else.
Sunset Invasion is nonessential and ahistorical BUT makes playing in western Europe more of a challenge in late game, which makes playing Catholic fun again. Or did before Holy Fury added new mechanics.
In my opinion, none of the DLCs are really bad but some are more interesting than the others.
Here is personnally how I would rank the major DLCs in terms of how much content I feel they truly had to the game.
Holy Fury: It may be the most recent DLC, but it's probably the one that added the most content. You not only get reworked Crusades as well as a lot of flavor added to Christiannity (and particularly Catholicism) but it also made a huge change on how to reform Pagan faiths. And last but not least, it gave us Shattered World and Random World, which are basically another way of playing the game outside of Total Conversion mods if you're tired of Vanilla.
The Old Gods: That DLC unlocks the 867 start date, which thus gives you 200 more years of gameplay, as well as new start date. Historically, it's also the DLC that made Pagans playable and also added Zoroastrianism.
Charlemagne: This DLC unlocks the 769 start date and I believe it's also necessary if you want to play a Tribal ruler.
Sword of Islam: The DLC that made Muslim playables and is still required to play a Muslim.
Rajas of India: The DLC that added India originally. It's required if you want to play anything in the subcontinent.
Horse Lords: The DLC that added Nomads and is still required to play Nomads.
The Republic: The DLC that added and is still required to play Merchant Republics.
Jade Dragon: The DLC that originally made the area in Tiber playable. It also adds Chinese Interaction mechanics.
Legacy of Rome: Adds a lot of flavor to Byzantium and also gives you the possibility to restore the Roman Empire.
Sons of Abraham: The DLC that added Judaism and all the mechanics linked to it. But it also includes several mechanics linked to Christiannity (College of Cardinals, Monasteries) and also a few linked to Islam (Mutazilite vs Ashari)
Conclave: It's a bit of a controversial DLC as it reworked how education, Councils and Laws worked and thus made the game harder. But it also adds a lot of flavor in my opinion.
The Reaper's Due: It adds epidemics but also the mechanics of prosperity? This might not seem like
Monks & Mystics: It adds secret societies for better (Monastic Societies, Hermeticists, Assassins) or Worse (Devil Worshippers)
Way of Life: Mostly favor but it gives you character a focus. It's also pretty great for roleplay in my opinion.
Sunset Invasion: A silly but fun DLC where the Aztecs can invade Europe in the XIIIth Century should you let them via Game Rule. Which is also why I rank it at the bottom because, ultimately, the fact you have a game rule to turn it on or off means it's not that essential.
This ranking is of course highly debatable and truth to be told I'm not all that sure about the rankings of certain DLCs myself... But that's mostly how I'd pick them now if I got the chance.
There are also a lot of minor DLCs that come with the game, with even great packs reuniting them all. In the case of those, I recommend picking them after the major DLCs and in that order:
Songs of Yuletide: Not really necessary but it's a free DLC so I don't see why you shouldn't pick it.
Ruler Designer: Allows you to design your own ruler to play as. Which basically gives you another option to play.
Customization pack: Rename and customize all the things to your liking.
Portrait packs: Mostly graphical, but it's probably the most visible graphical change as you'll be spending a lot more time looking at portraits than units.
Music packs: They add tons of musics to the game. It's not that relevant but you'll be less likely to hear the same musics over and over. Also, some of the songs are GREAT.
Unit packs: Another graphical DLC, though it changes the way your soldiers look on the map.
Dynasty Shields: Adds new Coat of Arms for historical families. Like portrait and unit packs, it's nothing but graphical flavor but I feel it's the least important of the three despite how historically accurate the CoAs might be.
Crusaders Kings II -Europa Universalis IV converter: At the bottom because it depends on you having EU4 or not. Also, it's mostly there if you're really interested in continuing to play your Empire past 1453.
Sunset Invasion is 'essential' because it is very useful for the After the End mod.
Apparently it is a controversial opinion, but I couldn’t go back to playing the game as it was before Conclave.
Monks & Mystics was the most disappointing of the major DLCs for me. It seemed like Paradox put most of their effort into the Satanist society, and it was so pulpy and overpowered that I found it really jarring if you ever ended up as a Satanist. At release the Hermetic Society and the monastic orders seemed bereft of content and pointless, but perhaps they’ve been improved since.
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Imagine all the dlc there will be for victoria 3
I'm just hoping we can link CK2 to the new Rome game they're releasing, and then to EUIV, and from there to Vicky 3, and from Vicki 3 to HOI5.
Two Millenia of Games, with the prescripted events growing increasingly less relevant.
Hermetic is better now.
Holy Fury is pretty great and I agree, Conclave is/was excellent. Then again, I think it when the AI actually opposes me.
Holy Fury is pretty great and I agree, Conclave is/was excellent. Then again, I think it when the AI actually opposes me.
