Crusader Kings II Expack Announced

[LongBlade]

Just got this press release:

Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome is a new expansion which will breathe a dose of hot, spicy, Mediterranean fresh air into the deliciously dark world of the critically acclaimed strategy/RPG, Crusader Kings II. The Byzantine Empire is receiving some tender loving care from Paradox Interactive and Paradox Development Studio with the new expansion pack, which will add a wealth of features to the game and build upon Crusader Kings' glory.

In the rich politics of Byzantium, you'll find your cranky and disgruntled vassals split into factions, which will band together in revolt against your rule (they're getting smarter)! Thankfully, your generals have improved to match them. Legacy of Rome introduces Leader Focus, with generals' skills carrying more importance than ever before. This may prove useful if you have any generals that are (I) competent and (II) not plotting to drown you in a lake.

As for the wealth of features, let's talk about wealth! You'll be able to appoint your very own Orthodox patriarch instead of depending on that miserable old patriarch of Constantinople, plus you'll have greater control over where you demand levies from your vassals, and, of course, indulge in new, Byzantine-specific events and decisions. You'll need your regent to be at the top of their game, so it's a good thing there are now Self-Improvement ambitions for them! It's almost as if not everybody in the kingdom is out to get you.

The last gasp of the Roman Empire is in your hands, dear leader. Try not to screw it up.

This second expansion pack for Crusader Kings II arrives Q4 2012 on all major digital download portals for the suggested retail price of 9,99 USD.

[Nefaro]

Hrmm.

Gotta admit, I've not messed with any of the Byzantine rulers yet.  I suppose that will change soon.

[son_of_montfort]

When I read "Mediterranean air," I got very excited. When I got to "Byzantium," the excitement vanished. I've never been a fan of Byzantium. The word Byzantine doesn't mean ponderous and overly confusing for nothing.

[besilarius]

Oh, come on, SOM, John Julian Norwich can't be all wrong.
Mutilations, imprisonment, blinding, ransoms, it's all there.
You, too can be Basil the Bulgar Killer.  Blinding 99 out of every 100 prisoners, and leaving the hundredth one eye to lead the others back.
What a reputation you can have!
If the game is really free form, think of the creative punishments players like Jarhead and Starfury can improvise!

Jolly good fun, eh what?

[TheCommandTent]

Sounds like some interesting things will be add.  I am sure I won't be able to pass this one up.

[son_of_montfort]

Oh, come on, SOM, John Julian Norwich can't be all wrong.
Mutilations, imprisonment, blinding, ransoms, it's all there.
You, too can be Basil the Bulgar Killer.  Blinding 99 out of every 100 prisoners, and leaving the hundredth one eye to lead the others back.
What a reputation you can have!
If the game is really free form, think of the creative punishments players like Jarhead and Starfury can improvise!

Jolly good fun, eh what?

Have you ever read Luitprand of Cremona's version of the Byzantines? He makes them sound like dissolute lay-abouts. Also, Procopious doesn't paint his own culture in a very good light.

[MengJiao]

Oh, come on, SOM, John Julian Norwich can't be all wrong.
Mutilations, imprisonment, blinding, ransoms, it's all there.
You, too can be Basil the Bulgar Killer.  Blinding 99 out of every 100 prisoners, and leaving the hundredth one eye to lead the others back.
What a reputation you can have!
If the game is really free form, think of the creative punishments players like Jarhead and Starfury can improvise!

Jolly good fun, eh what?

Have you ever read Luitprand of Cremona's version of the Byzantines? He makes them sound like dissolute lay-abouts. Also, Procopious doesn't paint his own culture in a very good light.

Anna Comenius makes them sound pretty adventurous.  Bohemond (who was part Byzantine IIRC and whose real name was something more Byzantine like "Mark" obviously not "Legendary Giant-Guy" (which is IIC what Bohemond -- a nick-name based on folktales that itself became legendary) didn't mind fighting them or working with them.  Anna writes about Bohemond, I think.  And of course her father, the Emperor.

After checking in Wikipedia:

Bohemond was nicknamed Bohemond (after the legendary giant Buamundus gigas).
And Anna's father was Alexius I, who was defeated from Dyrrhacium to Orchidius by the youthful Bohemond, red-haired monster
of Anna's adolescent dreams.

Okay, after more checking in Wikipedia:
Bohemond was not red-haired.  He was not vain about his hair at all.  Had a Norman haircut -- short.  Not like your average "barbarian" (says Anna).  And that's Anna Comnenius not Comenius (no relation to the Comenius who invented
Kindergarden  -- Jan Amos Comenius).

[Rayfer]

Yikes....I feel like an intellectual dolt, I have no iclue what SOM and others are writing about.....regardless, I'm looking forward to this addition to already great game.

[Gusington]

John Julius Norwich's books on Byzantium and Venice are some of my favorites. Always love gaming the Byzantines and reading about them. With a good editor (like for Norwich) the reading is great.

I really, really have to crack CKII open to at least keep abreast of the expansions.

[MengJiao]

John Julius Norwich's books on Byzantium and Venice are some of my favorites. Always love gaming the Byzantines and reading about them. With a good editor (like for Norwich) the reading is great.

I really, really have to crack CKII open to at least keep abreast of the expansions.

Yep.  It has now become clear to me that I will try to play CKII at some time in the next year or so, after Alea Jacta Est and CM: FI.

It would be nice to try to run a Bohemond-like train of events -- which reminds one that:
the first crusaders were not kings
their allies and foes included Christian Emperors (eg. Alexius I)
and muslims like Ghazi Gümüştekin of Sivas (who also was an ally of sorts -- thanks Wikipedia!).

[Gusington]

^On that note, this game is making me interested reading up on the initial military spread of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries. That's why I love gaming...brings to life eras and events that my own imagination would never come up with alone!

[Senex]

When I played CK I, I played the Byzants almost exclusively.
They rock!

[besilarius]

The most intriguing time, to me, for the East Romans (they never called themselves Byzantines) was the wars between the PErsians and Heraclius.
If they hadn't fought for years, and to exhaustion, then Islam could not have come on like a tidal wave.
It hit the two empires while they were both played out from their own war.  As a result, it was easy pickings in Persia, totally bowled them over and out. 
The East Romans lost everything south of modern day Turkey, Egypt and north africa.
If the two ancient foes were not worn to nubs, how far could the Islamic expansion have gone?

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I still haven't picked up the Islam expansion.

I keep tinkering with the game, but I find I'm still fighting with my unfamiliarity with the system more than anything.  Someday it'll click....someday.

[MengJiao]

The most intriguing time, to me, for the East Romans (they never called themselves Byzantines) was the wars between the PErsians and Heraclius.
If they hadn't fought for years, and to exhaustion, then Islam could not have come on like a tidal wave.
It hit the two empires while they were both played out from their own war.  As a result, it was easy pickings in Persia, totally bowled them over and out. 
The East Romans lost everything south of modern day Turkey, Egypt and north africa.
If the two ancient foes were not worn to nubs, how far could the Islamic expansion have gone?

It's a neglected period -- perhaps because it really is a very strange time.  I mean the time of Heraclitus was odd.
For one thing the 6th century (ie just before Heraclitus) is pretty strange.  Recent historians have said things about it such as
"in 500 AD you still have the Ancient World, by 600 it is completely gone."  Perhaps the big plague of the 540s did most of that
damage.
So, with the clock ticking on the "Ancient World" (particularly its biggest remains, Sassanid Persia and the East Romans), it was
probably just a matter of time before something like the Islamic expansion occurred.  You could even argue that Islam was
a relatively non-cataclysmic (sp!) way for Persia to collapse.  Certainly civilization didn't crash as completely in the Levant as it did in
say the British Isles, Gaul, and Iberia in the Collapse of the Western Empire.
But that still leaves the even more puzzling case of the East Romans.  How on earth did they survive the 7th century much less for
another 800 years?  One answer seems to be they always seem to have had plenty of cash.  Heraclitus notoriously had as much
gold stripped from churches (and temples?  were there any left?  There were still plenty of antique monuments and spolia in Constantinople) as he could and apparently he had a lot of mercenaries such as Franks.
Well.  it all seems very odd to me.