Crusader Kings III

They really need to fix Italy IMO. The cultural and de jure setup is atrocious and merchant republics sorely missed. Playing as Savoy the lack of Arpitan culture is aggravating.
 
I'm recently trying to come up with some challenges that could make for some interesting and fun campaigns starting in the 867 bookmark, here's what I got so far:

Bernard's Revenge: Starting as Count Pepin of Vermandois become king of Italy
The Far Traveled: Starting as any Norse Asatru character establish a kingdom in the Caspian or Black Sea region
Le Conquérant: Starting as a Norse Asatru character in Scandinavia win a Varangian adventure for the duchy of Kent or Wessex, convert to Christianity and make a hybrid culture with Anglo-Saxon. Then become king of France.
 
Anyone here has some good mods to recommend? I'm mostly interested in mods that improve the cultural/religious setup, and historical accuracy as a whole.
 
Anyone here has some good mods to recommend? I'm mostly interested in mods that improve the cultural/religious setup, and historical accuracy as a whole.
Graphically, you have to go for the Community Flavor Pack and the Ethnicies and Portraits Expanded mods. They don't really change anything gaemplay-wise but both essentially add a lot of historically accurate clothing to the game. EPE also bother to rework ethnicies so that you end up with far more diverse looking characters compared to the broader categories used by Vanilla. And I don't remember which of the two does, but they've also added specific Court graphics for a few cultures with the release of Royal Court. It's not much given it's graphical but it helps a lot with immersion. The best part is that the two mods can be combined via the use of a patch they've been developping jointly and keep udpated frequently.

More Holding Graphics basically does the same as the above, but with holding graphics instead of character ones.
I'll add Armies of Europe: High Medieval European Unit Pack and Armies of the Crescent: High Medieval Ismalic Unit Pack, whose name says it all.

Ibn Battuta's Legacy is based on the mod with the same name done for CK2 and aims to improve the map of the game to make it more historically accurate. It's not just a complete map redraw as it adds a few cultures as well.

Muslim Enhancements is basically what it says: an improvement of the flavor for Islamic characters and religion.

Very Immersive Events and Tales (VIET for short) adds more events to the game, some of which are based on history. It can also be fully tailored via the use of game rules if you want to avoid the more silly events it includes.

The Catholic Trinity is a mod that adds back the mechanics of the College of Cardinals, Anti-Popes and Sainthood that you could find in CK2. That adds a supplementary layer when you're playing Catholics, and also apparently makes the Papacy playable if that's your thing.

Succession Expanded is a mod that comes from the same team that developpe EPE. As the name says, it's a mod that reworks the existing succession laws a bit while also adding a few new ones to add flavor to the game: Imperial Succession (based on Byzantium), Kurultai (Mongol Elective), Mahestan (for Zoroarstrian Persia), Outremer Elective (for the Crusader States), Eldership (as in CK2) and Co-Kingship.

There is a mod called Res Publica that makes Republics playable and also adds different forms of Republican governments. It also comes with a submod that adds Banking into the game, which can be done by Holy Orders like the Templars or by certain Houses in the late medieval era.

In the same vein as the above, Governments+ adds more form of government to the game. Bureaucratic/Autocratic for the Byzantines and Romans, Eranshar for Zoroastrian Persia, Nomadic, City-States, Islamic, Caliphal and Gupta. Originally it's a submod part of The Fallen Eagle Total Conversion, which you might want to check out as it aims to simulate the Dark Ages (in game that means what happend between 395 and 867) as historically as possible.

Sinews of War is a mod that reworks completely the way the economy works with the goal of being more realistic and thus historically accurate. Fair warning: this is completely different from the way the game works in Vanilla.

Asia Expansion is technically a Total Conversion, but with the goal of expanding the map eastward. In their words, they add up to Mandchuria and Japan in the North to parts of Indonesia and the Philippines in the South. It's very much work-in-progress to my understanding though: they are mostly focusing on the 867 start date and while the map is done and works, they are still in the process of expanding the lore and flavor and being as historically accurate as possible.

More Traditions is a mode that add a few cultural traditions you can pick when you decide to Expand/Diverge/Hybridize your culture. Not sure it's really what you're looking for nor if it's necessarilly done for Historical Accuracy, but it plays with the cultural set-up of the game technically.

Count to II - Not really what you're looking for as it adds Numerals to Count-tiers and below. But personnally it kinda annoys me that Counts don't have numerals when they historically did in parts of the world...

Hagia Sophia & All Cathedrals enabled for All Christians - What it says. In the Vanilla game you apparently can't control these Cathedrals if they aren't on your Holy Sites.

More Names Mod - Also pretty specific on what it does; it adds new names to a few existing namelists.

And that's where I'll stop because that's all the mods that I've subscribed to that feel close to what you're looking for. Not sure they really do because only a handful of them add new religions/cultures. A lot of them also are more mechnical additions to the game, but generally done in the name of historical accuracy which is what you seem to be looking for. And of course, a few I suggested are purely cosmetic but that kinda counts...

Fair warning though: I haven't tested them all nor am I sure they are all compatible with each other.
 
Graphically, you have to go for the Community Flavor Pack and the Ethnicies and Portraits Expanded mods. They don't really change anything gaemplay-wise but both essentially add a lot of historically accurate clothing to the game. EPE also bother to rework ethnicies so that you end up with far more diverse looking characters compared to the broader categories used by Vanilla. And I don't remember which of the two does, but they've also added specific Court graphics for a few cultures with the release of Royal Court. It's not much given it's graphical but it helps a lot with immersion. The best part is that the two mods can be combined via the use of a patch they've been developping jointly and keep udpated frequently.

More Holding Graphics basically does the same as the above, but with holding graphics instead of character ones.
I'll add Armies of Europe: High Medieval European Unit Pack and Armies of the Crescent: High Medieval Ismalic Unit Pack, whose name says it all.

Ibn Battuta's Legacy is based on the mod with the same name done for CK2 and aims to improve the map of the game to make it more historically accurate. It's not just a complete map redraw as it adds a few cultures as well.

Muslim Enhancements is basically what it says: an improvement of the flavor for Islamic characters and religion.

Very Immersive Events and Tales (VIET for short) adds more events to the game, some of which are based on history. It can also be fully tailored via the use of game rules if you want to avoid the more silly events it includes.

The Catholic Trinity is a mod that adds back the mechanics of the College of Cardinals, Anti-Popes and Sainthood that you could find in CK2. That adds a supplementary layer when you're playing Catholics, and also apparently makes the Papacy playable if that's your thing.

Succession Expanded is a mod that comes from the same team that developpe EPE. As the name says, it's a mod that reworks the existing succession laws a bit while also adding a few new ones to add flavor to the game: Imperial Succession (based on Byzantium), Kurultai (Mongol Elective), Mahestan (for Zoroarstrian Persia), Outremer Elective (for the Crusader States), Eldership (as in CK2) and Co-Kingship.

There is a mod called Res Publica that makes Republics playable and also adds different forms of Republican governments. It also comes with a submod that adds Banking into the game, which can be done by Holy Orders like the Templars or by certain Houses in the late medieval era.

In the same vein as the above, Governments+ adds more form of government to the game. Bureaucratic/Autocratic for the Byzantines and Romans, Eranshar for Zoroastrian Persia, Nomadic, City-States, Islamic, Caliphal and Gupta. Originally it's a submod part of The Fallen Eagle Total Conversion, which you might want to check out as it aims to simulate the Dark Ages (in game that means what happend between 395 and 867) as historically as possible.

Sinews of War is a mod that reworks completely the way the economy works with the goal of being more realistic and thus historically accurate. Fair warning: this is completely different from the way the game works in Vanilla.

Asia Expansion is technically a Total Conversion, but with the goal of expanding the map eastward. In their words, they add up to Mandchuria and Japan in the North to parts of Indonesia and the Philippines in the South. It's very much work-in-progress to my understanding though: they are mostly focusing on the 867 start date and while the map is done and works, they are still in the process of expanding the lore and flavor and being as historically accurate as possible.

More Traditions is a mode that add a few cultural traditions you can pick when you decide to Expand/Diverge/Hybridize your culture. Not sure it's really what you're looking for nor if it's necessarilly done for Historical Accuracy, but it plays with the cultural set-up of the game technically.

Count to II - Not really what you're looking for as it adds Numerals to Count-tiers and below. But personnally it kinda annoys me that Counts don't have numerals when they historically did in parts of the world...

Hagia Sophia & All Cathedrals enabled for All Christians - What it says. In the Vanilla game you apparently can't control these Cathedrals if they aren't on your Holy Sites.

More Names Mod - Also pretty specific on what it does; it adds new names to a few existing namelists.

And that's where I'll stop because that's all the mods that I've subscribed to that feel close to what you're looking for. Not sure they really do because only a handful of them add new religions/cultures. A lot of them also are more mechnical additions to the game, but generally done in the name of historical accuracy which is what you seem to be looking for. And of course, a few I suggested are purely cosmetic but that kinda counts...

Fair warning though: I haven't tested them all nor am I sure they are all compatible with each other.
CFP + EPE crashes at start, even with the compatibility patch, do you know why?
 
CFP + EPE crashes at start, even with the compatibility patch, do you know why?
Two possibilities come to mind.

The first one is that you need to load the mods in a specific order, which is possibly not the case. In case you don't know where to change the load order, it's in the playset tab of the launcher and you just have to drags the mod in the order you want them to load. As for the order itself, it seems to me that it's supposed to be CFP first, then EPE and after both the CFP+EPE com patch.

The other possibility would be more bothersome as it would probably be down to the two mods not being completely up to date with each other. As I write this though, EPE and the Com Patch just had an update so that may have fixed your issue.
 
Two possibilities come to mind.

The first one is that you need to load the mods in a specific order, which is possibly not the case. In case you don't know where to change the load order, it's in the playset tab of the launcher and you just have to drags the mod in the order you want them to load. As for the order itself, it seems to me that it's supposed to be CFP first, then EPE and after both the CFP+EPE com patch.

The other possibility would be more bothersome as it would probably be down to the two mods not being completely up to date with each other. As I write this though, EPE and the Com Patch just had an update so that may have fixed your issue.
In case it's the Mod Load order, here's the correct order...
CFP
EPE
CFP+EPE Compatability Patch

If it's not that, I have no idea...
 
Two possibilities come to mind.

The first one is that you need to load the mods in a specific order, which is possibly not the case. In case you don't know where to change the load order, it's in the playset tab of the launcher and you just have to drags the mod in the order you want them to load. As for the order itself, it seems to me that it's supposed to be CFP first, then EPE and after both the CFP+EPE com patch.

The other possibility would be more bothersome as it would probably be down to the two mods not being completely up to date with each other. As I write this though, EPE and the Com Patch just had an update so that may have fixed your issue.

In the end, I had to rename the mod folders and the descriptors, IDK why but their default names didn't work.
 
Anyone here has some good mods to recommend? I'm mostly interested in mods that improve the cultural/religious setup, and historical accuracy as a whole.
the Regional Immersion and Cultural Enrichment(RICE) is one I recommend.

I will be biased and say I do like Dharmachakra(my own mod) and Rajas of Indochina(which I contribute to). Dharmachakra focuses on South Asia and the dharmic religions. Rajas of Indochina focuses on including South East Asia(though the recent patch has brought in China and more of the steppe).
 
the Regional Immersion and Cultural Enrichment(RICE) is one I recommend.

I will be biased and say I do like Dharmachakra(my own mod) and Rajas of Indochina(which I contribute to). Dharmachakra focuses on South Asia and the dharmic religions. Rajas of Indochina focuses on including South East Asia(though the recent patch has brought in China and more of the steppe).

Cool, I haven't played in and around India so far because I know very little about the region, especially so far back in time - any character or challenge you'd recommend?
 
The most obvious Struggles I can think of to add are the fate of Anatolia/Rum post-Manzikert, the Crusades in the Levant, and the Investiture Controversy in Central Europe.
 
What was the Investiture Controversy?
The reason for the Crusades, the separation of Church and State/Two Swords Doctrine, why the Papacy exists as an independent political institution, why celibacy was rapidly adopted in Catholicism, and why the HRE didn't centralize. Its absence mocks the idea of the game even attempting to model Medieval Europe; it's the most important European conflict/crisis between the Reformation and the Fall of Rome. "Investiture" came down to whether the Emperors or the Popes had authority over bishops, and the resolution was that the Emperor was the Bishop's liege in his role as Prince-Bishop, but the Pope gave him spiritual office; traditionally symbolized by investment with "ring and pallium" IIRC.

Basically, in 867 the Carolingian/Ottonian dynasties appointed the Popes (and other bishops) and treated the church as an arm of the state. This lasted up until the Popes took advantage of a regency to push through Papal election reform (among other things) and try to assert control over Central Italy. The Emperor came down the Alps and tried to depose the Pope, but ended up getting humiliated by Matilda and having to walk barefoot in penance to the Pope. Didn't stop the Hohenstaufens from trying to subdue the Papacy later, and the Papacy from then spending half a century destroying the Hohenstaufens despite having cooperated with them at times against the Welfs and a Roman city state.
 
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The most obvious Struggles I can think of to add are the fate of Anatolia/Rum post-Manzikert, the Crusades in the Levant, and the Investiture Controversy in Central Europe.
I could also see a Struggle be added to the British Isles. The 867 start is all about the conflicts opposing the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes while 1066 is the Norman Conquest, so it kinda feels you could do something with that.

The splintered Carolingian Empire could also be the center of one in the 867 start date, to better simulate the collapse of central authority that led to the rise of Feudality while also touching on the dynastic struggles between the various Carolingian princes.
 
I could also see a Struggle be added to the British Isles. The 867 start is all about the conflicts opposing the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes while 1066 is the Norman Conquest, so it kinda feels you could do something with that.

The splintered Carolingian Empire could also be the center of one in the 867 start date, to better simulate the collapse of central authority that led to the rise of Feudality while also touching on the dynastic struggles between the various Carolingian princes.

According to the latest Dev Diary, dynamic struggles can appear and happen anywhere on the map, so... :p
 
I want this game so badly but it's so expensive on Steam, even on discount.
It's honestly not the worst Paradox Games in that regard... For the simple reason it's still early in its life.

With all their DLCs, EUIV, HoI4, Stellaris or even CK2 are by far more expensive.

Hell, the only game that I see as cheaper compartively is Imperator Rome and that's because development for it stopped pretty early.
 
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