Crusader Kings II

[VirtualWeasel]

I've had this game for a long time, but I'd never really gotten into it. Recently, I finally got around the massive learning curve it has, and started playing it regularly, and holy [&@%!] it is incredible.

So, here you can share your CK stories, ask questions about game mechanics (because it is certainly a complex thing), or be willingly converted to a player of the game. >_>

Currently I'm playing as the Kaiser of the HRE. Formed it from East Francia with my first king a while back, and since I've conquered all of Europe east of the Elbe aside from Hispania, Burgundy, Aquitaine, and Brittany (not counting Britain and Scandinavia).

[AKB]

I'm currently in between games, although, since quite a few of us have it, how about a succession game? Say, I'll start a character, play it as I will, then pass it onto the next person. If anyone is interested, feel free to respond so we can talk about this more.

[Unionhack]

>currently downloading the game

Wanna learn how to play it first, of course. So a little solo play is in order.

[Velvet LeChance]

>about to unwrap the game

I'm the same as above: I'm going to get a solo run in first before I get in on this.

[MARS]

You poor souls. It took me nearly 20 hours in the game to think "okay, I think I got the basics".

[Velvet LeChance]

I've played other Paradox Studios games (Europa Universalis). It can't be that different, right?

[AKB]

If anyone else is interested but doesn't have the game, it's on a deep discount over at GMG until tomorrow. If you buy it from them, they give you a Steam key (getting it on Steam right now if forty bucks).

I've played other Paradox Studios games (Europa Universalis). It can't be that different, right?

Europa is the easiest one in the series, with CK2 being harder, followed by HOI, and finally Victoria.

[Hargrimm]

I'm down for a succession game, as a lapsed addict. Also willing to field any questions I can remember the answer to

[VirtualWeasel]

You poor souls. It took me nearly 20 hours in the game to think "okay, I think I got the basics".

This, oh god, this.

Cardbird gifted me the game a year ago, and I started to actually play it in May of this year.
The [&@%!] learning curve is extraordinary.

[philfredobob]

I got this game for free off of a magazine. My brother had a subscription that got him a free game or some such, and he gave it to us.

It took me a few weeks to figure this game out, but once you get it it's actually really easy.

[Sav]

I'd totally be down for a succession game! Sounds like a great idea.

[AKB]

I certainly thought so!

We obviously have a bit of organizing to do for this, but let's start talking about potential starts while we organize this. I do want to say, unless we all have some specific mods, that we remember to keep starting positions limited to base game areas (no pagans or 867 start, for example).

I've been thinking Brittany during William the Conquerer's invasion would be really fun to do, what about you guys? Suggest whatever you're sure we can do and we'll see what's most fun.

[Unionhack]

I'm actually still on my first game, up to my 5th ruler, so I've little experience outside of running a smallish Kingdom (England).

Loving the Hawke dynasty though, it's great fun.

Anyway, I'm down for a succession game. I assume we switch players every successor, right?

[AKB]

Yes, you play your character, and once you die, you pass it off to the next player in line. While the last player can make it clear what they have set up to get done, the game is then under their control (unless you make us lose, then we'll revert or start over). So it's a balance between doing what you want, while not being a prick to past and future players. As long as your after action report is suitably entertaining, I think we're going to forgive most any blunder, however.

[Sav]

Brittany sounds like it'd make for a fun game.


What about one of the kings in Spain? The king of Galicia or Castille would be pretty interesting, with all the holy wars and such. (Same date as William the Conqueror)

[AKB]

I have not played the Christian side of Iberia before, so I would be into it

[Velothi]

We could do HRE but instead of the Kaiser, we're the various vassals attempting to subvert Imperial rule.

Spain, Byzantine Empire, Seljuks, Poland, Hungary and France are all good 'starting' areas

[philfredobob]

Yes, you play your character, and once you die, you pass it off to the next player in line. While the last player can make it clear what they have set up to get done, the game is then under their control (unless you make us lose, then we'll revert or start over). So it's a balance between doing what you want, while not being a prick to past and future players. As long as your after action report is suitably entertaining, I think we're going to forgive most any blunder, however.

For this thingy, why don't you guys try playing the sheik of Tabaristan? He's a Zoroastrian dude at the bottom of the Caspian sea in 867 with only two counties, but he's got a Muslim duke-level liege so he's not in that difficult a position cause he has some protection from holy wars. You could try and do the old Persian Empire thang, and then maybe try for India.

I dunno, I prefer playing in or around the Holy Land or the middle east, or just the east in general. To this day, I still haven't bothered to play as anyone in central Europe.

[Hargrimm]

For this thingy, why don't you guys try playing the sheik of Tabaristan? He's a Zoroastrian dude at the bottom of the Caspian sea in 867 with only two counties, but he's got a Muslim duke-level liege so he's not in that difficult a position cause he has some protection from holy wars. You could try and do the old Persian Empire thang, and then maybe try for India.

I dunno, I prefer playing in or around the Holy Land or the middle east, or just the east in general. To this day, I still haven't bothered to play as anyone in central Europe.

A Zoroastrian may be a little too unusual for the number of fairly new players we have, and being such a religious minority can lead to some frustrations.

I think someone in Spain should be interesting. The situation there discourages boring games due to the frequent holy wars, but you can also have enough allies in the area that you always stand a chance.

[philfredobob]

Playing Zoroastrian is pretty much the same as playing anyone else, really. The only difference is that you focus more on developing your own military rather than using allies. You still use the same old tactics and stuff. All you have to do is stay under a Muslim liege, and be sort of like the true power in the background rather than the official head of the nation, and then eventually take over when you're tough enough and then do whatever you want. Aside from the ''being completely alone'' thing, the biggest difference they get is incest marriages.

However, I'd now say it's probably not the best idea for the kind of playthrough you guys are aiming for, but not for the reasons that were stated. It's a pretty slow game as a Zoroastrian or a Jew, and if you're playing a succession game it's probably more fun to play as a character who can make alliances.

Georgia is another nice game. It's a nice balance of difficulty; they have opportunities at expansion, but can also make alliances with the people around them (Like Hungary, or Byzantium). At the same time, they've got a lot of bad guys around them, and have to beware of Muslim and Cumanian blobs.

[AKB]

Please keep this in mind,

I certainly thought so!

We obviously have a bit of organizing to do for this, but let's start talking about potential starts while we organize this. I do want to say, unless we all have some specific mods, that we remember to keep starting positions limited to base game areas (no pagans or 867 start, for example).

I've been thinking Brittany during William the Conquerer's invasion would be really fun to do, what about you guys? Suggest whatever you're sure we can do and we'll see what's most fun.

[philfredobob]

Please keep this in mind,

I certainly thought so!

We obviously have a bit of organizing to do for this, but let's start talking about potential starts while we organize this. I do want to say, unless we all have some specific mods, that we remember to keep starting positions limited to base game areas (no pagans or 867 start, for example).

I've been thinking Brittany during William the Conquerer's invasion would be really fun to do, what about you guys? Suggest whatever you're sure we can do and we'll see what's most fun.

I already shot down my own suggestion anyways. But Georgia still works, they're Orthodox, so they're playable. And they're fun. But if you're all adamant on playin' in Europe, fugged abou'did.

For another suggestion, you could do Novgorod. They have dynastic allies around them (like the Spanish), but are the only ones without claims on their family members (unlike the Spanish). But they have a whole bunch of pagans to do holy wars on. The only problem is that, sometimes, those pagan dickheads can just surrender to your religion when they start losing and you get nothing out of the war.

[Per]

Blobbing out against pagans is boring anyways, the intrigue is where it's at.

[philfredobob]

Nah, I hate the intrigue in this game. I always thought it was the dullest part, which now that I think about it is probably why none of my CK 2 games last a long time; since I just go for obtaining claims (through marriage or fabrication) and then warring for them. I also think the Intrigue is far too poorly implemented, so I never bothered with it.

But ehm... I'm not taking part in this event anyhow, so it doesn't really matter what I like or don't. I'm just throwing stuff out there.

[AKB]

Alright, let's talk about some of the details of the campaign:

Location

As a rule, I'm going to try to stick with Catholics so we don't have to worry about expansions that much. If interested players would provide a list of expansions they have we can plan out some extra locations. Also going to keep away from vassals in case the game just goes to overly wrong

• Apulia: Usually forms Sicily fairly quickly, and from there he has plenty of fun options for invasions into Africa or the Balkans.
• Brittany: Sees you start out in control of one of the best duchies in the game, and have some easy expansion options in Ireland. You also have a strong claim on the neighboring duchy of Normandy, which you can use to liberate it from the Norman king if he takes over England, or if you find France in a moment of weakness.
• Croatia: I've yet to try them, but their start looks very fun.
• Georgia: Okay, this start has a ton of problems, but a lot of fun if you survive.
• Ireland: Starting in Ireland is fairly typical, but almost everyone is bored of this start as everyone has done it.
• Norway: Involved in the war for England, which if they win, they still usually lose the land. Can then expand into Pagans or Sweden.
• Spain: There's a number of options to do here, but most of them have some issues. They all kind of play the same, but if you're not playing as a Jimena, the region is not much fun.
• Poland: Some good expansion targets from the word go, and a strong ally possible through the HRE.
• Sweden: Plenty of Pagans to rob land from/fun court intrigue. Also interesting political conflicts with Norway and Denmark.

If you have any other suggestions, feel free to throw them in, or make your thoughts known on these options.

Rules

• Players will start at the beginning of the reign of their character, and will have a week to complete the character.
• Each round should be recapped to us in an after action report, screenshots and a detailed textual description of the events desired. Remember that we're not playing the game when you do, if you don't tell us about your plot to inherit France by murdering the male heirs and pushing for a grandchild's claim, your successor might not discover your plans until it's impossible to fire them.
• You're responsible for uploading your own save, and making it available to your successor.
• Name your children after other confirmed players, try to ensure your most likely heir will have the name of the next in line. No problem if you fail with the latter objective, but let's ensure player names are used.
• When it is your game, while it can be fun to screw around with your successor's options, don't be a complete jerk. If you marry the next player's character to a lowborn inbred mutant from half way across the world and then release every other vassal under you before the succession, we'll most likely revert to the previous game.
• If the game ends due to loss of last title/end of dynasty during your turn, we'll either restart from the last save or altogether.

Players

A question mark will denote if I'm unsure if you're in. Please make it clear if you're interested.

• AKB
• Unionhack
• Velvet LeChance
• MARS?
• Hargrimm
• VirtualWeasel
• philfredobob?
• Sav
• Per?
  
  If you know anyone else on the site with the game, feel free to ask them to join in.

Other Stuff

I still need to test how the game reacts to someone playing a save with different DLC enabled, to see which ones are safe to use without knowing what the next player will have.

We should decide on campaign goals, so the game isn't just "Blob out over whole world".