Paradox Interactive. CK2

Reiver

Got some of their games on Steam recently. Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis 4. Victoria 2 and Hearts of Iron 3. Only been playing the first 2 so far and god theyre hard.

I managed to unite Kerry, Cork, Waterford but it's a bloody nightmare trying to get the rest of Munster on my side. Is Crusader Kings 2 meant to be so hard?

Dave_The_Sheep

I believe so, yes. The learning curve is steep, at least.

pawrick

CK2 is a great game. Lots of cheats available too if you want to go that route. They are often on special offer so keep an eye out for the expansions if you don't have them already.

Zillah

Crusader Kings 2 is not a game about winning. Sure, conquering Europe is fun, but having your prodigy heir die and being reduced to playing the game as your dwarf nephew who gets killed and usurped by his regent is a different and unique kind of fun all of its own.

There's also a Game of Thrones mod.

VinLieger

I would advise watching some YouTube playthroughs before having a bash, it will give you a better idea of the tricks you need use to have a successful dynasty, check out some of this guys playthroughs https://m.youtube.com/user/J2JonJeremy
You don't need to watch the entire set of each run through but deffinitely go over the first few episodes of each as there's some key advice in them

CruelCoin

Reiver wrote: »

Got some of their games on Steam recently. Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis 4. Victoria 2 and Hearts of Iron 3. Only been playing the first 2 so far and god theyre hard.

I managed to unite Kerry, Cork, Waterford but it's a bloody nightmare trying to get the rest of Munster on my side. Is Crusader Kings 2 meant to be so hard?

You might be trying to go about it the wrong way.

The game measures success by the size and holdings of your dynasty (read family).You have to be more proactive in promoting the interests of your family as a whole, and not just those of your current ruler.

CruelCoin

Zillah wrote: »

There's also a Game of Thrones mod.

The game of thrones mod is excellent.

The Lannisters true to form inhabit very wealthy land, while the north is huge and poor as dirt.

My favourite moment was when i played as Tywin, engineered his death, killed cerscei and then took the iron throne as Tyrion.

mahoganygas

I recently got this game and it has me hooked! I've put in 55 hours of play but barely feel like I've scratched the surface.
So far I've dabbled with forming the Kingdom of Ireland and a couple of incursions into european politics.
The random events and humor are what makes this a great game. Yesterday the game told me my heir and daughter had the hots for me and asked if I wanted to visit her bedroom chamber!

I found the learning curve tough at the start. Sometimes I knock the difficulty level down to easy for a while.

I used the youtube playthrough's for tips at the start. This really helped. The tutorial really is lacking and it kind of just lands you into the game feeling hopeless.

The best tips I got from youtube players were:
- change your succession laws when you're old and near the end of your reign.
- keep an eye out for the genius trait in your potential wife.
- keep changing between holding a grand hunt and great feast every couple of months (if you can afford it).

mahoganygas

pawrick wrote: »

CK2 is a great game. Lots of cheats available too if you want to go that route. They are often on special offer so keep an eye out for the expansions if you don't have them already.

Could you recommend an expansion please? Are there any I should avoid?
Steam sale is coming up and i'd like to get something for CK2.

Cheers.

pablomakaveli

mahoganygas wrote: »

Could you recommend an expansion please? Are there any I should avoid?
Steam sale is coming up and i'd like to get something for CK2.

Cheers.

Depends on what areas of the map/cultures interest you.
Legacy of Rome adds stuff for the Byzantine Empire and characters.
Sword of Islam if you want to play as muslims.
The Old Gods for Vikings and an earlier start date.
Rajas of India if you want to play in India.
The Republic if you want to play as merchant republics like Venice.
Sons of Abraham adds stuff for the Abrahamic religions and you can play as the Jewish Kazars.
Way of Life adds more events and the ability to set a focus for your character.
Charlamagne adds an earlier start date again.
Sunset Invasion adds an ahistorical event where the Aztecs invade Western Europe.

There's also loads of cosmetic DLC.

quarryman

I picked up EU4 last week.

It's VERY difficult.

Started with a small nation to try expand. Got my ass handed to me.

Started again on easy difficulty. Still got hammered.

Tried Aragon then finally Castile now and apparently if I can't make progress with Castile then I should give up.

How does EU4 compare to CK2? I picked up EU4 as it was getting better reviews.

pablomakaveli

quarryman wrote: »

I picked up EU4 last week.

It's VERY difficult.

Started with a small nation to try expand. Got my ass handed to me.

Started again on easy difficulty. Still got hammered.

Tried Aragon then finally Castile now and apparently if I can't make progress with Castile then I should give up.

How does EU4 compare to CK2? I picked up EU4 as it was getting better reviews.

I find EU4 a bit easier than CK2. Try play as Portugal and ally yourself to Castille as soon as possible. With them placated theres not many nations that will touch you. Then focus on colonial expansion and building up trade.

Reiver

Thanks for the tips lads. Yeah I need to get it into my head that CK2 is more about the dynasty. And that losing is fun.

EU4 by comparison is much easier! I even managed to colonise Canada and reunite Ireland thanks to England pissing off most of Europe! The learning curve is still steep though. Good to see it's getting some love.

Anyone play Victoria or Hearts of Iron? What are they like?

mahoganygas

I'm looking for a bit of advice on playing as a King.
So far I've had a few play throughs as an Irish count or Duke. I managed to form the Kingdom of Ireland once before but that's about as far as I have progressed.

I'm currently playing a game in Brittany which I'm really enjoying. I started out as a count and have progressed up to forming the Duchy and Kingdom of Britagne. I'm not really sure where to progress from here as I've never really played as a King before.

The King of France is incredibly strong but he likes me. My heir is 15 and he has a few sisters in early teens. Should I start marrying them off to Irish, English, Scottish Kings to form alliances? Those Kings all have sons awaiting bethrothal.
Or is it better for me to arrange matrilinial bethrothals?

I'm not sure where to set my sights next? Should I try to invade another small Kingdom? Should I try to marry my son to an heir of a Kingdom and try to inherit a second Kingdom that way?

I probably should mention that I'm playing with no DLC and using the CK2+ mod.

VinLieger

mahoganygas wrote: »

I'm looking for a bit of advice on playing as a King.
So far I've had a few play throughs as an Irish count or Duke. I managed to form the Kingdom of Ireland once before but that's about as far as I have progressed.

I'm currently playing a game in Brittany which I'm really enjoying. I started out as a count and have progressed up to forming the Duchy and Kingdom of Britagne. I'm not really sure where to progress from here as I've never really played as a King before. If you manage to grab enough in France you can usurp the title of king of France.

The King of France is incredibly strong but he likes me. My heir is 15 and he has a few sisters in early teens. Should I start marrying them off to Irish, English, Scottish Kings to form alliances? Those Kings all have sons awaiting bethrothal.
Or is it better for me to arrange matrilinial bethrothals?

I'm not sure where to set my sights next? Should I try to invade another small Kingdom? Should I try to marry my son to an heir of a Kingdom and try to inherit a second Kingdom that way?

I probably should mention that I'm playing with no DLC and using the CK2+ mod.

Start getting your diplomat to create claims on titles on your borders or in the south of England, both those regions turn into a cluster**** in most games and when they do you can make cheeky landgrabs while they are rebelling and if you pick the right ones you can earn claims on more duchies giving you claims on more territory and just keep going from there.

While it's good to marry off relatives for alliances I try to not marry off to my immediate neighbours I share borders with as I'll likely end up trying to pinch some of their land at some stage.

mahoganygas

VinLieger wrote: »

Start getting your diplomat to create claims on titles on your borders or in the south of England, both those regions turn into a cluster**** in most games and when they do you can make cheeky landgrabs while they are rebelling and if you pick the right ones you can earn claims on more duchies giving you claims on more territory and just keep going from there.

While it's good to marry off relatives for alliances I try to not marry off to my immediate neighbours I share borders with as I'll likely end up trying to pinch some of their land at some stage.

Thanks for the great advice.
I see what you mean about the alliances. I think I might need to re-think some of my betrothals.

This might be a silly question. If I get a claim on a neighboring county in France, would I have to go to war with the King of France to get it or would I be at war with the count/duke who holds it? I always thought that once I was a King, I would have to fight the King of France which worries me as his army is 5 or 6 times the size of mine.

Thanks again. This game is highly addictive and has taken over my life!!

VinLieger

mahoganygas wrote: »

Thanks for the great advice.
I see what you mean about the alliances. I think I might need to re-think some of my betrothals.

This might be a silly question. If I get a claim on a neighboring county in France, would I have to go to war with the King of France to get it or would I be at war with the count/duke who holds it? I always thought that once I was a King, I would have to fight the King of France which worries me as his army is 5 or 6 times the size of mine.

Thanks again. This game is highly addictive and has taken over my life!!

If you get a claim that belongs to France you will need to go to war with the king which is why you need to wait for a rebellion so you can swoop in and pick it up while it doesn't belong to France, however if the rebellion ends before you finish all the sieges to take the region you will lose all progress, this also has no diplomatic repercussions in that the king won't be pissed once the war is over that you took the land but he likely will still have a claim so you need to keep him happy so he doesn't come after you for it.
You can also use your diplomat to create problems between rulers and their vassals so you don't have to wait for a rebellion to happen. However if your still within the first 100-150 years things should still be pretty messy.

A fun but risky one to do is assassinate a king that is well liked and has a young or weak successor and that should also kick something off