Octopus Overlords

by **JonathanStrange** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 5:24 pm

Those DLC packs seem pretty gimmicky, but I do like the fighting Mongols. Any DLC really worthwhile?? Or are they pitfalls for the rubes?

by **Sepiche** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 5:40 pm

JonathanStrange wrote:Those DLC packs seem pretty gimmicky, but I do like the fighting Mongols. Any DLC really worthwhile?? Or are they pitfalls for the rubes?

Those are just a couple of release day DLC they made available. More elaborate ones are coming soon.

Here's a video about the first one due out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... vf8X_bXDHI

by **JonathanStrange** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:50 pm

That DLC looked fascinating: A character editor with a lot of cool options. I'd buy - shame that sort of thing seems like it might've been great to have it in the game in the first place. But medieval life was harsh!

by **Sepiche** » Fri May 11, 2012 11:37 am

The Game of Thrones mod is finally getting close to coming out:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/sho ... of-Thrones

A few teasers:

by **Sepiche** » Tue May 29, 2012 10:18 am

First version of the Game of Thrones mod is finally out:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/sho ... of-Thrones

Downloading now.

by **Baroquen** » Tue May 29, 2012 9:23 pm

I've got it downloaded. Started up a round, but then screwed things up trying to get a Maester (or whatever) appointed. Then went reading the "manual" and never got back to it yet. That said, it does look like it will be entertaining.

by **Sepiche** » Wed May 30, 2012 1:50 pm

I managed to play a bit yesterday. Seems pretty good, but still needing of a little time to get some of the little bugs worked out.

In other CK2 news I saw that Paradox officially announced the long expected DLC that makes Muslim nations playable:

The DLC will release at the same time as the next hefty patch which adds new features to the game, such as an expansion of the map into Mali-Songhay, differentiation on strong and weak claims, new plot, expanded combat and more.

Sword of Islam enables players to rule as the Muslim lords, delivering a wealth of specific new mechanics distinctive to these rulers, creating a whole new gameplay experience. Laws, marriage, holding, traits , titles and more will work completely differently.

Paradox Development Studio will post a detailed development diary each Friday where they’ll elaborate on the new features of the patch and the DLC in the official Crusader Kings II forum: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/for ... r-Kings-II

by **Carpet_pissr** » Wed May 30, 2012 2:01 pm

I guess if you're reading this far in the thread, you already have this, but for any lurkers:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085CD7BE?t=s ... slicinc-20

All for $12.49:

CKII
Magicka
Sword of the Stars I and II
Victoria II

and credits for buying (future) games: "Order this product and receive 2, $23 promotional credits good towards the digital video game download versions of "Europa Universalis III Chronicles" and "Hearts of Iron III Collection from Amazon.com"

by **malichai11** » Wed May 30, 2012 10:49 pm

Thanks, been waiting for this game to go on sale on Steam. Picking it up right now on Amazon.

by **Sepiche** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 1:04 pm

hehe If you have the character editor DLC and the Game of Thrones mod you can give yourself a dragon if you take enough negative traits to counter it's high cost. :twisted:

In my last game Sepiche Arryn Lord Paramount of the Vale was instrumental in removing King Aerys II with the use of his mighty dragon.

by **JonathanStrange** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:11 pm

The Amazon bundle is a GREAT deal. No wonder so many of us have more than one "copy" of games nowadays. Unfortunately, I already have all of these games already...Curse you and your great deals! :wink:

by **Holman** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:34 pm

The new expansion Sword of Islam is supposed to be coming out tomorrow (Tuesday June 26).

by **tgb** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:36 pm

Holman wrote:The new expansion Sword of Islam is supposed to be coming out tomorrow (Tuesday June 26).

I'm not all that interested in playing as a Muslim nation. I'm hoping all the other improvements are in the free patch.

by **Sarkus** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:06 am

tgb wrote:
Holman wrote:The new expansion Sword of Islam is supposed to be coming out tomorrow (Tuesday June 26).

I'm not all that interested in playing as a Muslim nation. I'm hoping all the other improvements are in the free patch.

If the gameplay differences are as significant as they sound then I think it will be worth the $10 they are asking. At any rate the patch is supposed to everything else not muslim related.

by **tgb** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 7:18 am

I question that this will even drop today. Neither Steam nor Gamersgate has it up for order.

by **Baroquen** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:57 am

Steam just auto-downloaded, so i think the patch is out at least.

by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:21 pm

Baroquen wrote:Steam just auto-downloaded, so i think the patch is out at least.

BAM!

by **Sarkus** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:07 pm

tgb wrote:I question that this will even drop today. Neither Steam nor Gamersgate has it up for order.

Gamersgate has it now, as does GameStop digital. What is interesting is that the GameStop version installs via Steam but Steam itself still doesn't have the Sword of Islam (or other two minor DLC's also released today) for sale. Just the patch so far.

Steam sucks in general for Paradox games at release, though. When Sengoku came out they didn't have it until the next day but they were selling it for a discount over the price everyone else had.

Edit: It's up now but kind of hidden on Steam. Its not listed in the new releases nor does it come up if you search "Crusader Kings." Instead I found it when I pulled up the main game via the store and then saw the new DLCs listed as options below. That was after a Steam restart, btw.

by **Holman** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:28 am

Apparently the free patch includes all of the changes included in the DLC except for those specific to playing an Muslim character.

by **tgb** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:05 am

Holman wrote:Apparently the free patch includes all of the changes included in the DLC except for those specific to playing an Muslim character.

Good. I was hoping for that. I'll have to give it a spin later.

by **hepcat** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:53 pm

I think I just need to dive into this one as I'm in love with the concept and I'm envious of the many AAR's I see across numerous game sites. But every time I start up a game, I'm quickly overwhelmed by the number of things I can do. I tried going through the tutorials, but that's a pretty major time sink in and of itself.

I picked up the Sword of Islam but the starting rulers for that seem even more difficult. I guess I should stick with a European ruler to start. Seems like the general consensus is Ireland for beginners.

by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 5:01 pm

I here Iceland is nice in mid-October.

by **tgb** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:22 pm

hepcat wrote:I think I just need to dive into this one as I'm in love with the concept and I'm envious of the many AAR's I see across numerous game sites. But every time I start up a game, I'm quickly overwhelmed by the number of things I can do. I tried going through the tutorials, but that's a pretty major time sink in and of itself.

I picked up the Sword of Islam but the starting rulers for that seem even more difficult. I guess I should stick with a European ruler to start. Seems like the general consensus is Ireland for beginners.

Devote a couple of hours to watching this. It's a lot more helpful than the tutorial. The only caveat would be that it seems to be based on the first release build, so things will have changed, but it will help you get started.

by **Holman** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:43 pm

I've only recently jumped into CK2, and I'm impressed with all the features. I'm even more impressed that they seem to work.

The interface is still kind of opaque to me, though. For instance, I've never declared war myself, but I'm always looking up and realizing that my liege has declared war on someone. I have to drill into the menus to find out who that may be, as there is no simple map overlay to show me our enemies. What's even weirder is that a little icon will tell me that I'm leading some of my lieges' troops in some far-off province, although I have no control over their movements and can't even click on my liege's battle to see how I'm personally doing (because even though I'm apparently a field commander, the troops are his, not mine).

There's also no simple overlay to show me what provinces I actually control. Or is there?

Still, I love that so much is going on under the hood, and I love when I get to have something to do with it.

by **tgb** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:36 pm

Holman wrote:I've only recently jumped into CK2, and I'm impressed with all the features. I'm even more impressed that they seem to work.

The interface is still kind of opaque to me, though. For instance, I've never declared war myself, but I'm always looking up and realizing that my liege has declared war on someone. I have to drill into the menus to find out who that may be, as there is no simple map overlay to show me our enemies. What's even weirder is that a little icon will tell me that I'm leading some of my lieges' troops in some far-off province, although I have no control over their movements and can't even click on my liege's battle to see how I'm personally doing (because even though I'm apparently a field commander, the troops are his, not mine).

There's also no simple overlay to show me what provinces I actually control. Or is there?

Still, I love that so much is going on under the hood, and I love when I get to have something to do with it.

Click on a province controlled by your Liege while the map is in diplomatic mode, and the provinces that are red are the ones you are at war with. As to easily seeing which are in your demesne, again, in diplomatic mode, they are the lighter shade of green.

Your Liege has the right to levy and control your armies. It's good to be the king (or duke). At the same time, you can raise and control the armies of your vassals (provided you have any).

by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 1:54 pm

So I'm guessing the $9.99 sale for this game at Amazon is worth it?

by **tgb** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:43 pm

Smoove_B wrote:So I'm guessing the $9.99 sale for this game at Amazon is worth it?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

by **Enigma** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:48 pm

It's a terrific game. BUT, make sure you have time to give it a chance. If you haven't played any previous games, there is a pretty big learning curve to try to figure out what to do and what is going on. Watching tutorials on youtube (like the one linked above) are really great and I think pretty essential if you are new.

One more thing. I found a bug (I'm using v1.06 on steam) that seems to be a known bug that isn't fixed yet. If you have active armies and SAVE or AUTOSAVE and then load that Save to start playing, your army units will all have zero morale and they will disband. If you look at them they will have normal morale listed, but it's really zero. So unfortunately what that means is that you can't really save the game when you have armies fielded. Really stinks. I hope they fix it.

by **dfs** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:49 am

Smoove_B wrote:So I'm guessing the $9.99 sale for this game at Amazon is worth it?

It's the most playable thing that paradox has ever put out.

If $10 has you on the fence, there is a demo that reveals both good and bad points of the game.

by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:59 am

What has me on the fence is that I've never played Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, etc... and I'm a bit nervous about the steep learning curve. I like the *idea* of the game (it really sounds cool), I'm just nervous the execution won't work for me. I had the same problem with Dark Souls. On paper, it sounded great, but after spending a few hours with it...totally not for me. I guess the issue is whether or not $10 is worth the gamble, though I didn't realize there was a demo. I'll have to check that out first then as this sale runs through 7/14.

by **Enigma** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:28 am

Smoove, if it interests you, I think you should just get it. It really is a great game and if it interests you at all, it's an easy decision. Just be willing to give it a few practice games and tutorials to get over the initial hump of "what the heck do I do and what in the world is going on".

by **tgb** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:46 am

Smoove, several posts up I posted a link to a Let's Play where the guy does a very good job of explaining why he's doing what he's doing, and what all those weird little menus and buttons are for. I suggest you watch a couple of episodes to get a good feel if this is for you.

by **Enigma** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:35 pm

I had an epic gaming moment in my recent game playing Galicia. A Duke Francisco I, an unhappy vassal, has been a thorn in my side forever and I've tried to gain his favor with no luck. I didn't have enough money to assassinate him and couldn't take the opinion hit by imprisoning him. So he was just festering within my kingdom. I had expanded quite a bit over time and was just finishing a small war, when an Arab ruler in north Africa declared a holy war on me. I raise my army of about 4000 and saw his army moving in from the south, about 10000 strong! I quickly called on the Pope to send me Holy Warriors which he did. 7700 Holy Warriors arrived in Coruna my capital. I moved my army out of harms reach until the Templars could deploy. Then my combined army marched toward the infidels... I was sure of victory. The next thing I know, the bastard Duke Francisco has convinced the Pope to excommunicate me and now the Templars whom I was counting on advised me that they will not work for a heretic!! Crushed and alone I had to change my strategy. I first tried to imprison the traitorous Duke but I was unable. I asked my allies to join me in my war. They said they would but never sent troops! Next I decided to let the invaders waste troops on sieges and attrition to help whittle down their numbers. My strategy was working pretty well. The invaders occupied my southern counties. I waited for my chance, hired a mercenary team and confronted the invaders. I won the first battle and started to liberate my counties but the invaders called their brothers to arms, and more armies are pressing upon me! I felt defeated and then i was advised that my nemesis, Duke Francisco I had just died at the age of 28, a maimed cripple!!!! Oh sweet, sweet joy. I am re-invigorated and will take the fight to me enemies and press them until I can win a white peace at the least.

[edited to add the correct name and Title - I'm still learning these things]

by **Holman** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 1:11 pm

As with most Paradox games, you really have to play it for the narrative and not for the goal of "winning." A really good player can probably conquer half the known world with a decent duchy, but that's not the point. The real fun is in wrestling with chance occurrences and with what the engine throws at you. This game is even cooler than most that way, since the events are so personal: e.g. your heir (whom you'll be playing next) turns out to be a literal imbecile, or you discover that your spouse and your spymaster are plotting to have you killed, or you look up from your well-running demesne in Flanders and realize that the Turks have come as far as Denmark.

It's no fun if you obsessively roll back to earlier saves when something goes wrong.

by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 1:19 pm

Stupid Flanders...

Holman wrote:It's no fun if you obsessively roll back to earlier saves when something goes wrong.

Nah, that's not my style.

tgb wrote:I suggest you watch a couple of episodes to get a good feel if this is for you.

I did and they actually freaked me out some more -- the level of detail is insane. However, it reminded me (a bit) of the old Europa 1400 game (which I really liked).

by **Enigma** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 1:19 pm

Holman, I couldn't agree more. The most immersive way to play is probably "harcore" mode with no reloading from saves.

While I was learning and still now, I have used reloads to learn the game mechanics and see what would happen if...

Update on my first real game:

At this point, the Muslim armies are overwhelming and i don't have a lot of options. I can't call on Holy Warriors (excomunicated), I can't afford mercenaries (i'm now broke), my allies aren't sending troops. I can't win any battles to convince the mulims to call off the invasion (white peace). I may lose my entire kingdom and have to wait for my next heir to try to rebuild my kingdom.

Wow, the invaders have crushed me. :oops:

by **Chesspieceface** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 5:00 pm

DLC worthwhile? The price is right, but if its not much I'll take the base game no problem.

by **tgb** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 5:52 pm

Chesspieceface wrote:DLC worthwhile? The price is right, but if its not much I'll take the base game no problem.

I assume you're talking about Sword of Islam. If you're interested in playing a Muslim ruler, you need to buy it. Every other change/improvement was included in the last free patch.

by **Chesspieceface** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 6:00 pm

The amazon deal had all the DLC except that and the African soldiers... But even ignoring the rest of the package CK2+ some DLC + Warlock:MoA for under $20 seems fair to me.... plus some filler for the backlog and the expansions to Majesty 2 I never tried... Should be a real change of pace from Diablo 3 that's for sure.

Watching the LP now... I have a weird history with Paradox... I really got into EU 1 & 2 and nothing since... I buy them and get bored fast, the distinctly different response to this game really piques my curiosity, and Diablo 3 has been so extremely hands on... that this could be a sweet break between ARPG's (TL2 I'm looking at you).

by **tgb** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 6:38 pm

OK. Other than Sword of Islam and the Leader Creator, all the other DLC is atmospheric - new music/sprites/shields etc. Whether the first two are of value to you depends again on how much you want to play as a Muslim faction, and how much you want to design your own leader's traits, stats, and appearance.

It sounds like you haven't played the game at all. Amazon has the base game by itself for $10. You might want to start there (again, the latest patch has all the improvements of Sword of Islam except Muslim playability), and if you decided you like it I'm sure Steam will have another Paradox sale before too long.

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