Crusader Kings II

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LordMortis
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by LordMortis »

Thank you DLC costs for CKII are intimidating to say the least.
Torfish
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Torfish »

Apollo wrote: Tue Apr 10, 2018 7:37 pm I bought this game on release and ponied up for a lot of DLC a year or two later, but never really got into the game. I would put about 10 hours in, get frustrated by the title inheritance mechanics, quit and boot up EU IV. It always seemed like it should be more interesting than EU IV, but was too frustrating in reality.

However, this weekend I took one more shot. I bought most of the DLC I had missed since they were on sale, and then spent a couple of hours watching "TIps for new players" videos. I learned a lot and it has made a huge difference in my enjoyment of the game. I only had 35 hours in the game over about 6 years until this weekend. Now I'm sitting at 70 hours played and I'm totally hooked! I highly recommend watching some of the "let's play" videos for anyone who has never played or had trouble getting into the game. And I second the notion that starting as a Count in Ireland is a great way to get your feet wet.

This game takes a bit more effort to learn than most, but it is definitely worth it. And it has tremendous replay value, so any money spent is a wise gaming investment. :wink:
Thanks for this info. I've always been interested in Crusader Kings II, but never pulled the trigger because of the steep learning curve. I love the civ games and games that are deep and rewarding the more you learn it. Your post has put this one on my radar list.
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Redfive
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Redfive »

I usually catch freebies on the various sites when they appear but I missed this one which is disappointing. I've watched this game for years now but could never pull the trigger for fear of having my eyes glaze over when I saw the interface.

Perhaps this one is better admired than played but I wish I had not missed the opportunity.
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Holman
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Holman »

I love love love CK2, especially with the CK2+ mod or the Game of Thrones mod.

My one complaint--and it appears to be something that no mod can touch--is the player's 100% accurate knowledge of the stats of every character in the world. (Yes, it's the 11th century and you've never been more than 100 miles from your castle in northern England, but somehow you know that the third daughter of the steward of the most minor lord in Croatia has a higher Diplomacy rating than any other marriageable target in Europe...)

I'd love to see a change where some stats are hidden or only approximately known based on distance from your territory, or even have some known only after someone comes to your court (for marriage or for hire). It would make the game less of a min-max spreadsheet.
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Apollo
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Apollo »

Holman wrote: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:58 pm ...My one complaint--and it appears to be something that no mod can touch--is the player's 100% accurate knowledge of the stats of every character in the world. (Yes, it's the 11th century and you've never been more than 100 miles from your castle in northern England, but somehow you know that the third daughter of the steward of the most minor lord in Croatia has a higher Diplomacy rating than any other marriageable target in Europe...)

I'd love to see a change where some stats are hidden or only approximately known based on distance from your territory, or even have some known only after someone comes to your court (for marriage or for hire). It would make the game less of a min-max spreadsheet.
I would have to disagree. There are so many things to consider when making decisions in this game that not knowing the stats of characters from other realms would be a nightmare, IMHO. Choosing from hundreds and hundreds of other characters is hard enough and personnel decisions are never obvious anyway when you have sooooo many factors (Age, culture, claims, stats, traits, health, etc.) to consider! In addition, even making flawless decisions on who to add to your court only grants you the smallest of advantages. It's not as if stacking your court with highly capable individuals is going to have a big effect on game difficulty.
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Holman
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Holman »

What I imagine is a range of uncertainty. Rather than being told straight which characters have a Diplo of 17 and a slew of excellent traits, show me that they have "16*" (a possible range from say 14 to 18), and keep one or two of their traits randomly hidden until they join your court. You'll have a sense of who the person is, but not enough to make every choice a strictly spreadsheet calculation.

Think of all the royal marriages where the partners literally never set eyes on each other before the betrothal was a done deal. That's impossible in CK2.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

Holman wrote: Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:29 pm What I imagine is a range of uncertainty. Rather than being told straight which characters have a Diplo of 17 and a slew of excellent traits, show me that they have "16*" (a possible range from say 14 to 18), and keep one or two of their traits randomly hidden until they join your court. You'll have a sense of who the person is, but not enough to make every choice a strictly spreadsheet calculation.
Sort of the way it is done in Out of the Park Baseball when you have scouting enabled. You have a general idea of the person, but not a specific handle on the actual stats. This would of course lead to a new feature in CKII, the scouting envoy :D.
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Apollo
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Apollo »

So, I slowly unified Ireland (769AD start) and even grabbed the Isle of Man as a prelude to invading England and trying to grab some territory there. At that point, around 966AD, the Swedes invaded Ireland with a massive force and made quick work of my pathetic little army. In no time at all they had conquered all of Ireland, leaving me only two scattered provinces in England. I had been having a lot of fun but at that point I decided to start over, this time as the county of Kent.

Wow! Things went much easier this time around. It's 843AD now and I have conquered about 80% of England. I highly recommend starting as Kent for those who want to start with a single county and grow from there. Playing as Kent means that a lot of your neighbors are easy targets, so it's easy to start expanding and you don't have to worry about converting to Feudalism since you start as a Feudal state.

Wish I had learned the proper way to play this game sooner, but I'm definitely having a blast now!
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Octavious »

I love this game, but I have to be in a certain mindset to get back into it. Once I do I can't stop playing as it's so addictive. I really should roll this up again soon. I think I can slice some time out of the 1,100 hours I have in pubg. :shock:
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by LordMortis »

Octavious wrote: Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:40 am Once I do I can't stop playing as it's so addictive.
That's me and every game. I throw myself into it completely and obsess over it until I move on to the next one. That's part of what makes it difficult to come back to things. I have too many things I want to obsess over in line.
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El Guapo
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by El Guapo »

Apollo wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:29 pm So, I slowly unified Ireland (769AD start) and even grabbed the Isle of Man as a prelude to invading England and trying to grab some territory there. At that point, around 966AD, the Swedes invaded Ireland with a massive force and made quick work of my pathetic little army. In no time at all they had conquered all of Ireland, leaving me only two scattered provinces in England. I had been having a lot of fun but at that point I decided to start over, this time as the county of Kent.

Wow! Things went much easier this time around. It's 843AD now and I have conquered about 80% of England. I highly recommend starting as Kent for those who want to start with a single county and grow from there. Playing as Kent means that a lot of your neighbors are easy targets, so it's easy to start expanding and you don't have to worry about converting to Feudalism since you start as a Feudal state.

Wish I had learned the proper way to play this game sooner, but I'm definitely having a blast now!
Heh, one of my favorite games I played as Sweden (well, a Swedish province then King of Sweden then Emperor of Scandinavia) where I conquered Ireland. I guess that's in vogue. One of the amusing things that I discovered when conquering the British Isles is that there are a few provinces of Scotland / Ireland where, once you conquer them, it changes their province names to Swedish ones. I think those are provinces where Scandinavian / Viking invaders built more of a long-term presence.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

Announcement from Paradox about the newest expansion to CKII, Holy Fury (via Blues News). What struck me was this item, "Shattered and Random Worlds: Start your game on a fictional map of Europe as a small realm fighting for space, or on a random map with historical analogues for the great kingdoms of yore". Fictional map? Interesting :coffee:
Crusader Kings II: Holy Fury is the newest and one of the most wide-ranging expansions to Paradox Development Studio’s beloved medieval grand strategy role-playing game. Take charge of a body of righteous warriors in Holy Fury, leading your army on a Crusade for the faith, or defending against attackers. Holy Fury takes its inspiration from the Northern Crusaders of Catholic Europe against its Pagan neighbors. Play either side in a new holy war.

In Holy Fury, Pagan rulers who reform their religion instead of converting will have a chance to design that new Reformed Paganism. A religion of peace or one of war? Will you be guided by the stars or bow to the whims of bloodthirsty gods? Who will lead this new church? Build a new creed on the ashes of the old ways.

Other features in Crusader Kings II: Holy Fury include:
  • Shattered and Random Worlds: Start your game on a fictional map of Europe as a small realm fighting for space, or on a random map with historical analogues for the great kingdoms of yore.
  • Warrior Lodges: Join a Pagan warrior lodge and raid your way up the ranks, unlocking access to powerful allies and greater military skill.
  • Legendary Bloodlines: Descendants of great warrior heroes will have bonuses that match the accomplishments of their forefathers, including historical bloodlines of Charlemagne, Genghis Khan and others..
  • Sway or Antagonize Your Neighbors: Try to win a reluctant vassal through charm and persuasion, or provoke someone you want to push into conflict.
  • Sainthood: Pious Catholics can become canonized, passing on their glory to their descendants and making their resting place a site of great value.
  • Coronations: Feudal kings and emperors must find clergy to crown them, since all power descends from the heavens.
  • New Crusade Events: Deeper gameplay for the religious wars of the era.
  • New Succession Laws: A Pagan Elder Council may have the final word in how a realm is divided among heirs, or a ruler may challenge his brother to combat to unify a realm.
  • And much more: Changes to religion, custom names for people or objects, deeper baptismal mechanics, lists of people you’ve killed, and other small changes for flavor and variety.
Like all Crusader Kings II expansions, Holy Fury will be accompanied by a major free update for all Crusader Kings players, including changes to how Crusades work.

Holy Fury is coming in 2018 for the suggested retail price of $19.99.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

The Crusader Kings II: Holy Fury DLC released today. It retails for $19.99 USD on Steam, but you can also get it on Green Man Gaming for 21% off.
Spoiler:
Christ may rule in Rome and Constantinople, but Northern Europe is still home to the old gods of war and the hearth. These faiths will collide in fierce combat as the Prince of Peace brings conversion by the sword, and Gods of Nature demand unnatural sacrifices as the price of their favor.

Holy Fury is the newest expansion to Crusader Kings II, the celebrated medieval role-playing grand strategy experience from the masters of strategy, Paradox Development Studio. Lean on your war lodge for support in your conquests, bow before the Pope to claim your divine throne or establish a legendary bloodline that will echo through the ages.

Features in Crusader Kings II: Holy Fury include:
Shattered and Random Worlds:
Start your game on a fictional map of Europe as a small realm fighting for space, or on a random map with historical analogues for the great kingdoms of yore.

Warrior Lodges:
Join a Pagan warrior lodge and raid your way up the ranks, unlocking access to powerful allies and greater military skill.

Legendary Bloodlines:
Descendants of great warrior heroes will have bonuses that match the accomplishments of their forefathers, including historical bloodlines of Charlemagne, Genghis Khan and others..

Sway or Antagonize Your Neighbors:
Try to win a reluctant vassal through charm and persuasion, or provoke someone you want to push into conflict.

Sainthood:
Pious Catholics can become canonized, passing on their glory to their descendants and making their resting place a site of great value.

Coronations:
Feudal kings and emperors must find clergy to crown them, since all power descends from the heavens.

New Crusade Events:
Deeper gameplay for the religious wars of the era.

New Succession Laws:
A Pagan Elder Council may have the final word in how a realm is divided among heirs, or a ruler may challenge his brother to combat to unify a realm.

And much more:
Changes to religion, custom names for people or objects, deeper baptismal mechanics, lists of people you’ve killed, and other small changes for flavor and variety.
Also available is the free 3.0 update, details in the spoiler:
Spoiler:
**************************
***** 3.0 Holy Fury ****
**************************

Free Features
- Added army movement lock system. When a unit has progressed 50% with its movement into a County, the order cannot be canceled. While movement locked, further moves may be canceled or queued up. Army movement lock can be disabled via the game rules
- Redesigned the character screen to provide more space for traits and modifiers, as well as opening up space for a handful of new interface elements, including personal combat skill and a more distinct artifact modifier entry
- Elector window added to the law view for elective succession laws
- Added artifact history, keeping track of who has owned any given artifact
- Added region-based pilgrimage event pictures on old pilgrimage events.
- Added Religion Head Actions, letting you easily interact with the Religious Head to Request Claims, Request
Money, Request Divorce, Request Invasions, and Request Excommunications. Which of these are available depends on your religion
- Scripted granular AI behavior for religious heads when determining willingness to engage in special actions such as Request Claim, Request Money, Request Divorce, Request Invasion, Request Excommunication, and Lift Excommunication.
- Most organized religions will now attempt to defend their religious head if attacked by someone of a different religion
- Added Groomed/Uncouth traits to work as non-inheritable equivalents of Fair/Ugly.
- Added Harelip portrait effect.
- Added special crown artifacts tied to famous titles (Persia, Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empire) that show on portrait when worn.
- Added genetic lefthanded trait, increasing character's combat_rating.
- Added genetic freckles portrait effect (with variations) for some graphical_cultures (Norse, Celtic, Saxon and Uyghur)
- Added non-genetic sturdy trait (opposite of Robust and Frail), giving special portrait visual.
- Added fat and malnourished traits (with portrait graphics), that can be gained or lost depending on a character's lifestyle.
- Added extensive flavor events tied to pregnancy and pregnancy complications (mothers no longer suddenly die of childbirth out of nowhere), as well as some post-birth flavor.
- Revamped Issue Declaration of Repentance decision, resulting in the Pope asking one of several possible requests in exchange for lifting a ruler's excommunication.
- Desert portrait background frame tied to location rather than religion. Martial headgear visual tied to in_command status.
- All elective successions (Feudal Elective, Elective Gavelkind, Tanistry) have been unhardcoded and the AI behavior for them has been completely revamped, allowing electors to select their candidate in a clearer and more rational fashion.
- Added Imperial elective succession and government for the Byzantines and Romans. The Imperial Court and Commanders receive a variable voter strength, with the Emperor's close relatives and Commanders being all potential candidates.
- Added more mercenary bands for Africa
- Updated Game Rules:
- Split the 'Supernatural' game rule into two: 'Supernatural' which controls events such as the Demon Child, and 'Absurd' which controls events such as Chancellor Glitterhoof
- Added the 'Generate Families' Game Rule, with the purpose of filling in historical blanks when it comes to historical families. When set to 'on' (default) most characters who start without any recorded historical family will have a spouse and a few kids generated. This prevents early game-overs and kickstarts the marriage game to initiate earlier.
- Added an extra setting to the 'Chinese Interactions' game rule: Restricted, which restricts the diplomatic range of China to the eastern portion of the map permanently.
- Removed the "Restricted" setting from the 'Dueling' game rule, so it now only has two modes:
- "Default", requiring your target to be a logical one, and penalties are applied for dueling "unsuitable" targets (such as priests or non-warrior women).
- "Unrestriced", allowing you to duel almost anyone, while the heavier penalties for unsuitable targets are removed.
- Added the ‘Exclave Independence’ Game Rule, with the purpose of eliminating disconnected land on succession. As long as the new ruler during a succession isn’t at war, their exclaves should be set independent according to the setting. If the AI is at war during succession, they will try to remove exclaves once every year until such a time they are no longer at war (does not apply to Players). Settings:
- Off - The default option, no removal.
- Limited - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless they are connected to the Capital area with gaps no larger than one County, via a naval path or part of the characters primary De Jure territory.
- Limited (Naval) - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless they are connected to the Capital area with gaps no larger than one County, via a limited naval path (1000 distance units) or part of the characters primary De Jure territory.
- Significant - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless they are connected via a naval path or part of the characters primary De Jure territory.
- Harsh - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless as they are connected via a limited naval path (1000 distance units) or part of the characters primary De Jure.
- Total - Exclaves of Independent Rulers at peace will be removed on succession unless as they are connected via a limited naval path (1000 distance units). Disables Achievements.
- Revamped Crusades for Catholics and Fraticelli
- A new preparation phase added before the Crusades launch, where characters pledge to join the Crusade and the Pope try to gather as many Catholics/Fraticellis as possible to support the Crusade
- Added a new "pot" mechanic to the Crusades, which will spread out prestige, piety, gold and artifacts after a successful campaign, to all the most participating members of the Crusade
- A player can now have a dynasty member as their Beneficiary for the Crusades, which will be their recipient if the Crusade is successful
- The Crusade Titles will be split between the beneficiaries of all the most participating members of the Crusade, and the "Crusader King/Queen"
- The Crusader King/Queen is decided by the most participating member of the Crusade, it can either be the participating Crusader, their beneficiary or the official papal Crusade recipient
- If the player is the most participating Crusader and give away the titles to their Beneficiary, they get an event which will let them start playing as their Beneficiary, the new Crusader King/Queen
- Added new Crusade events
- A chance for Crusader States to appear
- The Shepherds Crusade has been reworked
- Holy Orders
- Holy Orders have their own government form to make them more distinct from normal Feudal characters
- Holy Orders will no longer stick around if they feel their liege is unfit to rule
- The Knights Hospitaller really wants an island
- Rebalanced the money borrowing from Holy Orders
- Revamped Dueling
- Personal Combat Rating now ranges roughly between 1-100 instead of the old 1-5.
- The outcomes of duels are calculated more carefully.
- Duel events have been completely rewritten.
- High enough Intrigue unlocks a special option that can be used to affect the outcome.
- Revamped Battle events
- Personally leading a flank of your army now gives the army a 10% morale boost
- Old battle events have been remade and rewritten.
- New battle events have been added, often to allow dueling on the battlefield.
- Outcomes are better calculated.
- Added blood and mud splatter portrait effects.
- Map Update to Africa
- 63 new provinces spread across the continent
- Reshaped all existing provinces for increased geographical and historical accuracy
- Updated the names of a large number of provinces and titles for increased historical accuracy
- 6 new cultures: Daju, Kanuri, Zaghawa, Hausa, Songhay, and Soninke
- Reworked North Africa
- New empire of Maghreb, consisting of the kingdoms of Maghreb (Mauretania) and Africa
- 5 new duchies
- Reworked West Africa
- 2 new kingdoms, Ghana and Songhay
- 4 new duchies
- Added the region of Central Africa
- New empire of Kanem-Bornu
- 2 new kingdoms, Kanem and Hausaland
- 7 new duchies
- Adjusted rivers to accomodate for the newly added Lake Chad
- Map Update to Poland
- General overhaul to the DeJure territory of the Kingdom of Poland
- Vistula (major) river tweaked to be more geographically accurate
- (Minor) river Oder tweaked for more geographical accuracy. (Minor) rivers Warta and Bug added
- 6 new provinces, mostly improving granularity in Mazovia and Lesser Poland
- All old provinces moved and reshaped for more consistency
- Some updated provincial Coats of Arms
- Map Update to Pomerania & Eastern Germany
- (Major) river Elbe tweaked to be more geographically accurate
- Province of Bytow added to the Duchy of Pomeralia and province of Neumark added to the Duchy of Pomerania (both now at 3 provinces each)
- Bohemian / Czech provinces moved down south a bit to be more geographically accurate
- New province of Lausitz in the Duchy of Meissen
- Reshaping of provinces neighbouring reshaped Elbe (especially Brandenbourg which is a bit less blobby now)
- Map Update to the Baltics
- Major overhaul to the Baltic region (mostly encompassing the Kingdom of Lithuania's DeJure territory)
- (Major) river Daugava moved and reshaped a bit for more accuracy
- Minor river crossings in Lithuania reshaped for more accuracy
- 7 provinces added to enhance pre-Livonian Order flavour
- New duchy of Latgale added
- All old provinces in the DeJure Lithuanian Kingdom's territory have been reshaped for more historical & cultural accuracy
- New kingdom of Estonia, formable by holding the duchies of Estonia and the new duchy of Kalava
- Map Update to Finland
- 8 new provinces in Finland, improving mobility and spread noticeably in the area
- 2 new duchies in Finland (Ostrobothnia and Savonia)
- 1 new province in Lapland, in the duchy of Kola
- Map Update to Upper Burgundy and the Swiss area
- 7 New Provinces added
- 2 New Duchies added
- County of Bourgogne split into 5 parts (Varais, Portois, Amous, Escuens and Montbeliard), all five moved into the new Duchy of Franche Comté
- Schwyz (old Grisons), Zurichgau (old Schwyz) and Thurgau (old St. Gallen) moved into new Duchy of Upper Swabia
- A part of the County of Lombardia has been cut off to make the new province Bellinzona
- A part of Montferrat and Savoy has been cut off to make the new province Aosta
- Map Update to Norway
- 6 New Provinces added
- 2 New Duchies added
- The new province Gudbrandsdal opens up a new pathway across the mountains to make it easier to get between the western and eastern parts of the country
- Map Update to Denmark
- 5 New Provinces added
- 2 New Duchies added
- New pathways across the Duchy of Sjælland
- Map Update to Sweden
- 6 New Provinces added
- 1 New Duchy added
- Map Update to Bavaria/Austria/Carinthia
- 13 New Provinces added
- 5 New Duchies added
- 1 New Kingdom added
- Brenner's Pass opened between Trent and Tyrol
- Map Update to Wallachia
- Overhaul to the Wallachian/Moldovian region
- Dniester major river moved to a more geographically accurate location
- 7 new provinces added to the DeJure kingdom of Wallachia
- 2 new duchies added to the DuJure kingdom of Wallachia (Oltenia & Bessarabia)
- Duchy of Wallachia renamed to "Muntenia"
- Duchy of Moldau renameed to "Moldovia"
- Map Update to the Pontic Steppe
- New empire of "Pontic Steppe" added in the eponymous geographical region
- Kingdoms of Khazaria, Alania and the new kingdom of Crimea make this DeJure empire
- New duchy (Wild Fields) added to k_crimea
- 3 new provinces added to the region
- Map Update to Russia
- Major overhaul of the whole russian sphere
- All major & minor rivers reshaped
- e_russia is now created through 5 kingdoms (Ruthenia, Novgorod, Vladimir, Chernigov & Galicia-Volhynia)
- 3 new kingdoms : Vladimir, Chernigov, Galicia-Volhynia
- k_rus renamed from "Rus" to "Novgorod"
- 4 new duchies (Cherven Cities, Karachev, Novosil, Murom)
- 37 new provinces added to the general area
- A few titular russian-tribes-themed duchies added for earlier startdates
- Map Update to Italy
- 9 New Provinces Added
- 1 New Duchy Added
- 1 New Kingdom Added
- Map Update to Volga Bulgaria
- 6 New Provinces Added
- 1 New Duchy Added
- Map Update to Iceland
- 2 New Provinces Added
- In 769 Iceland now starts populated by Irish theocracies, representing the papars. Norse characters will during the Viking Age get the opportunity to take it over.
- Map Update to the Steppes
- Major Overhaul of the Steppes and Permya
- 112 New Provinces Added
- 38 New Duchies Added
- 2 New Kingdoms Added
- 2 New Empires Added
- Map Update Anatolia & Georgia
- 11 New Provinces Added
- 5 New Duchies Added
- Map Update British Isles
- 18 New Provinces Added
- 3 New Duchies Added
- Map Update France
- 13 New Provinces Added
- 2 New Duchies Added
- Reworked Major Rivers in France
- Map Update to Iceland
- 2 new provinces
- Reworked the sea zones around iceland
- Updates to Icelandic history
- New titles
- Principality of Antioch, available for Catholic rulers in charge of Antioch
- The Hansa is now available for players through a decision
- A kingdom tier Swiss Confederacy is available through a decision
- New cultures
- Crimean Gothic
- Dalmatian
- Carantanian
- Coptic

Conclave:
- Added call in favor for succession support character interaction for elective succession laws.

Due to limitations in how long you can make Steam announcements I must ask you to go to our official forum for a full changelog including bug fixes, balance changes and more - Full changelog here![forum.paradoxplaza.com]
Update: By the way, supposedly this is the last content DLC for CKII.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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GreenGoo
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by GreenGoo »

My son pre-ordered this and hasn't shut up about it for the last week. His last words when leaving for school this morning were about his excitement to get home and load it up.

So...good, I guess? He really really likes CKII.
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Crusader Kings II

Post by Isgrimnur »

I look forward to the spring announcement of CK III.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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jztemple2
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

A couple of new and for me, most interesting features are the ability to start with a random world, which gives a new look to everything, or alternatively to start with a Shattered World, where the entire map is broken down into small, equal entities. Of course in each there are a bunch of options. This might give the new player, or someone like me, who hasn't played in quite a while, an opportunity to start off with a small territory without having to worry about some next door giant trying to gobble me up.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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Sepiche
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Sepiche »

Yeah, the new world building options add a LOT more replay value to CK2 for anyone that thinks the historical map is getting a little stale.

Also, there's a fantastic easter egg people found... when you're generating a new world, look for the culture option on the left. Keep clicking the change option button and it will look like it's cycling through the options a couple of times, but keep going and the Animal Kingdoms option will show up. That will add Duck, Cat, Dog, Elephant, Horse, Bear, Hedgehog, and Dragon animal people cultures to the mix.

So far Duke Sepiche of the house of von Furrington and his army of loyal cat warriors are almost in control of all of Ireland. :D
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by El Guapo »

Sepiche wrote: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:11 am Yeah, the new world building options add a LOT more replay value to CK2 for anyone that thinks the historical map is getting a little stale.

Also, there's a fantastic easter egg people found... when you're generating a new world, look for the culture option on the left. Keep clicking the change option button and it will look like it's cycling through the options a couple of times, but keep going and the Animal Kingdoms option will show up. That will add Duck, Cat, Dog, Elephant, Horse, Bear, Hedgehog, and Dragon animal people cultures to the mix.

So far Duke Sepiche of the house of von Furrington and his army of loyal cat warriors are almost in control of all of Ireland. :D
C'mon, you seriously went with cat over dragon?
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Sepiche »

El Guapo wrote: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:13 am
Sepiche wrote: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:11 am Yeah, the new world building options add a LOT more replay value to CK2 for anyone that thinks the historical map is getting a little stale.

Also, there's a fantastic easter egg people found... when you're generating a new world, look for the culture option on the left. Keep clicking the change option button and it will look like it's cycling through the options a couple of times, but keep going and the Animal Kingdoms option will show up. That will add Duck, Cat, Dog, Elephant, Horse, Bear, Hedgehog, and Dragon animal people cultures to the mix.

So far Duke Sepiche of the house of von Furrington and his army of loyal cat warriors are almost in control of all of Ireland. :D
C'mon, you seriously went with cat over dragon?
Duke von Furrington will deal with you after his midday and afternoon naps.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

I saw this over on the CKII Facebook news feed and thought it was worth posting:

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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Isgrimnur »

Paranoia, multiple personality disorder, and suicidal tendencies are nothing to play around with.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by morlac »

His name is Roger a Muirebe. In death a member has a name and that name is Robert a Muirebe.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Isgrimnur »

Image
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by LordMortis »



Roger discovers he takes a hit out on himself to foil Roger's plans to ruin Roger's life?
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by morlac »

I also like how the obvious and ONLY choice is:

Expose him Immediately!


Which should be quite amusing.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

OK, it's been a while, but I saw this on the CKII Facebook feed and couldn't resist. The text with the images says "Have you played as an imbecile much? There are some great events you can only get as someone with this trait! Thanks u/Kalleboi69 for pointing this one out."

Image
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

A new update is coming called Iron Century which will add a new start date bookmark of move the earliest start date bookmark to 936 AD. Today the devs posted the article CK2 - Dev Diary #124 - Recommended Characters in The Iron Century
We know a lot of people have asked for a 10th century bookmark, and similarly we have long wanted one as well, as the 10th century had a lot of interesting history to offer. It is the birth of the Fatimid caliphate, the fall of the Abbasid caliphate, the rise of the Ottonian dynasty and the decline of the Karling dynasty...
Image

There is also this related article, Thankmar's Rebellion - An Iron Century Mini-AAR
Last edited by jztemple2 on Mon May 20, 2019 5:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Sepiche »

jztemple2 wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 5:22 pm A new update is coming called Iron Century which will move the earliest start date bookmark to 936 AD.
I presume they just adding a new start date, and not removing the two earlier start dates (769,867)?
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

Sepiche wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 5:28 pm
jztemple2 wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 5:22 pm A new update is coming called Iron Century which will move the earliest start date bookmark to 936 AD.
I presume they just adding a new start date, and not removing the two earlier start dates (769,867)?
Sorry, I should have been more clear, and yes you are right, there are still the start dates of 769 and 867. I've started so many times at 1066 that I forgot about those :oops:. I'll fix my previous post and thanks for point out the error.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

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Apollo wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:29 pm So, I slowly unified Ireland (769AD start) and even grabbed the Isle of Man as a prelude to invading England and trying to grab some territory there. At that point, around 966AD, the Swedes invaded Ireland with a massive force and made quick work of my pathetic little army. In no time at all they had conquered all of Ireland, leaving me only two scattered provinces in England. I had been having a lot of fun but at that point I decided to start over, this time as the county of Kent.

Wow! Things went much easier this time around. It's 843AD now and I have conquered about 80% of England. I highly recommend starting as Kent for those who want to start with a single county and grow from there. Playing as Kent means that a lot of your neighbors are easy targets, so it's easy to start expanding and you don't have to worry about converting to Feudalism since you start as a Feudal state.

Wish I had learned the proper way to play this game sooner, but I'm definitely having a blast now!

Arise! I just started playing this vanilla for the first time, having played CK a long time ago. With no DLC, I started in 9... I started trying to play as the Duke Dorchester with a single county but the only way to expand my holdings with a neighboring county was to declare war on the king of England. Google/Reddit assured me the King would not care about squabbles related to my birghtright because I was also an English Vessel. That was not the case. The king promptly sent 15,000 men to take on my less than 1000 and that was that. So I decided to play a petty kingdom of one county in Wales. After a few decades, I had enough money to hire mercs and took one of my cousins counties. Then Norwegians declared a holy war on the part of Wales controlled by England and I'm sitting on the very bloody sideline. It started all Norway but then England turned the tide. In mean time, I have to spend another some odd decades building a treasury to hire more mercs to get a 3rd county from the only remaining small kingdom around me while assassinating all of English who keep forging claims to my throne. When all is said and done, if this actually pans out over a few centuries, I'll wish I had vanilla EU IV to keep going. Maybe by then I'll buy it.

Discovery of how drastically different this is from my memory of CK is interesting when I am playing iron man. Will the several hundred dollars in DLC become a "CKII complete" $40 game when CKIII is released? :D
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by El Guapo »

LordMortis wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 1:41 pm
Apollo wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:29 pm So, I slowly unified Ireland (769AD start) and even grabbed the Isle of Man as a prelude to invading England and trying to grab some territory there. At that point, around 966AD, the Swedes invaded Ireland with a massive force and made quick work of my pathetic little army. In no time at all they had conquered all of Ireland, leaving me only two scattered provinces in England. I had been having a lot of fun but at that point I decided to start over, this time as the county of Kent.

Wow! Things went much easier this time around. It's 843AD now and I have conquered about 80% of England. I highly recommend starting as Kent for those who want to start with a single county and grow from there. Playing as Kent means that a lot of your neighbors are easy targets, so it's easy to start expanding and you don't have to worry about converting to Feudalism since you start as a Feudal state.

Wish I had learned the proper way to play this game sooner, but I'm definitely having a blast now!

Arise! I just started playing this vanilla for the first time, having played CK a long time ago. With no DLC, I started in 9... I started trying to play as the Duke Dorchester with a single county but the only way to expand my holdings with a neighboring county was to declare war on the king of England. Google/Reddit assured me the King would not care about squabbles related to my birghtright because I was also an English Vessel. That was not the case. The king promptly sent 15,000 men to take on my less than 1000 and that was that. So I decided to play a petty kingdom of one county in Wales. After a few decades, I had enough money to hire mercs and took one of my cousins counties. Then Norwegians declared a holy war on the part of Wales controlled by England and I'm sitting on the very bloody sideline. It started all Norway but then England turned the tide. In mean time, I have to spend another some odd decades building a treasury to hire more mercs to get a 3rd county from the only remaining small kingdom around me while assassinating all of English who keep forging claims to my throne. When all is said and done, if this actually pans out over a few centuries, I'll wish I had vanilla EU IV to keep going. Maybe by then I'll buy it.

Discovery of how drastically different this is from my memory of CK is interesting when I am playing iron man. Will the several hundred dollars in DLC become a "CKII complete" $40 game when CKIII is released? :D
FWIW starting as a count / duke I would recommend starting in Sweden (I imagine Norway would work well). I started as a Swedish count, and I was able to expand by hiring mercenaries and waging war on the pagan heathens that start in Sweden / Finland. By doing that I was able to amass enough territory to declare myself a duke. Once that was done, because Sweden's crown is elected, if you maintain good relations with neighbors you can start competing to get elected King of Sweden (or just wage enough war within Sweden to usurp the throne). Of course, once you're able to get the Swedish crown you need to carefully manage domestic / vassal relationships in order to keep the crown in your family, at least until you generate enough muscle to change the monarchy to hereditary rather than elected.

Anyway, highly recommend Scandinavia. Eventually was able to get myself declared Emperor of Scandinavia, and then conquered the British Isles. Also kind of neat how when you conquer certain parts of Scotland / Ireland the game automatically changes the territory names to Scandinavian names (presumably to reflect viking / scandinavian settlements in the area).
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by LordMortis »

El Guapo wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 2:33 pm FWIW starting as a count / duke I would recommend starting in Sweden (I imagine Norway would work well). I started as a Swedish count, and I was able to expand by hiring mercenaries and waging war on the pagan heathens that start in Sweden / Finland. By doing that I was able to amass enough territory to declare myself a duke. Once that was done, because Sweden's crown is elected, if you maintain good relations with neighbors you can start competing to get elected King of Sweden (or just wage enough war within Sweden to usurp the throne). Of course, once you're able to get the Swedish crown you need to carefully manage domestic / vassal relationships in order to keep the crown in your family, at least until you generate enough muscle to change the monarchy to hereditary rather than elected.

Anyway, highly recommend Scandinavia. Eventually was able to get myself declared Emperor of Scandinavia, and then conquered the British Isles. Also kind of neat how when you conquer certain parts of Scotland / Ireland the game automatically changes the territory names to Scandinavian names (presumably to reflect viking / scandinavian settlements in the area).
Not sure if Sweden is an option without DLC. If/when I crash and burn, I may look in to it.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by El Guapo »

LordMortis wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 2:39 pm
El Guapo wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2020 2:33 pm FWIW starting as a count / duke I would recommend starting in Sweden (I imagine Norway would work well). I started as a Swedish count, and I was able to expand by hiring mercenaries and waging war on the pagan heathens that start in Sweden / Finland. By doing that I was able to amass enough territory to declare myself a duke. Once that was done, because Sweden's crown is elected, if you maintain good relations with neighbors you can start competing to get elected King of Sweden (or just wage enough war within Sweden to usurp the throne). Of course, once you're able to get the Swedish crown you need to carefully manage domestic / vassal relationships in order to keep the crown in your family, at least until you generate enough muscle to change the monarchy to hereditary rather than elected.

Anyway, highly recommend Scandinavia. Eventually was able to get myself declared Emperor of Scandinavia, and then conquered the British Isles. Also kind of neat how when you conquer certain parts of Scotland / Ireland the game automatically changes the territory names to Scandinavian names (presumably to reflect viking / scandinavian settlements in the area).
Not sure if Sweden is an option without DLC. If/when I crash and burn, I may look in to it.
Pretty sure the base game lets you play as any Christian power (from count to King). I don't think you can play as pagans without DLC, but you should be able to play as a Christian Count (which is what I did and was suggesting).
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Re: Crusader Kings II

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There was only one Scandanavian king I could play and I didn't want to play a king. No counts. I tried Ireland for a bit but I didn't like starting as a tribe and the dynamic of changing from tribal to fuedal, so I wend back to Wales. After many a false start relearning the game, I have survived onto 3rd generation of king of Wales who now needs to figure how to keep his son in power in an elective monarchy of two kingships. I'm guess dramatic failure will ensue again.

I continue to make brutal mistakes. I had a quick son with a genius wife groomed to take my place but I made him a commander to subside his prestige and income and then accidentally, you know, sent him in to battle. I am currently playing as his not so quick only son who took 14 years to control the throne he took at age 2 after grandpa died, presumably of broken heart, sending his not so combat ready son off to war to die.

Next game, assuming this one hits brutal annoyance failure, I'll know to either stick with first son kingships or not to make England a kingdom until it if firmly under my thumb.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by jztemple2 »

My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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Re: Crusader Kings II

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Missed this. Dammit.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by Isgrimnur »

LordMortis wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 8:37 am Missed this. Dammit.
Still available, probably until the regular reset at Noon CDT.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by El Guapo »

Isgrimnur wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:44 am
LordMortis wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 8:37 am Missed this. Dammit.
Still available, probably until the regular reset at Noon CDT.
Yup.
You can add it to your account permanently for zero currency units until 13:00 EDT March 9.
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by LordMortis »

At work. ten minutes to go and no way to get it. Hi salt!!!!
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Re: Crusader Kings II

Post by LordMortis »

Once of my daughters turned in to a bear. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

Edit: and know I have a grand cub.
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