I'm surprised no one has started a thread on this release. Been out a couple days. Since CK2 is about the funniest and best game Paradox has ever done IMHO I'm glad to see an overwhelming posative score on Steam--which is no easy feat. Looks like a lot of fun too. here's one review:
> Join Satan's Own
> Stumble upon immortality (Worship Satan forever with no repercussions? Sweet)
> Become High Priest of Satan's Own
> People never discover what I truly am, leading His Dark Legion for almost a century
> Convert every major ruler of England
> Kidnap the Pope then do horrible unspeakable things to him until he join's the Legion
> Stick a demon in the Pope to make sure he always stays loyal
> Satan asks me to chose a mother for the Antichrist
> Chose my hot italian wife, becoming the defacto father of the Antichrist
> Over the next 5 years, excommunicate everyone in England I couldn't convert
> After 150 years of darkness, the Pope comes to visit only to discover the demon plans to overthrow me, Pope stabs me in the back. The end of almost two centuries of rule.
10/10 Would spawn the spawn of Satan again
I got that and the fixed Conclave DLC. The new patch also adds tons of new free stuff, especially the new game customization options before game start which is really neat.
Yeah, it has the demonic stuff but also Secret Societies and orders and you can collect relics and other stuff.
Patch notes:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fforumcontent.paradoxplaza.com%2Fpublic%2F232679%2Fmomy_ck_update_2_7.jpg&hash=5ac48db746f8788556a46705f0df7d41a40d13c2)
###################
# Expansion Features
###################
- Societies:
- Join Societies to gain different bonuses and access to a wide set of various powers, each unique to the different types of Societies!
- Power has to be earned however, complete quests given to you by the Society in order to gain Society Currency, which can be used to increase in rank or spent on the powers available to you
- All Societies come with new clothing unique to them, which brings more variety to the existing portraits!
- Monastic Societies:
- Join monastic orders such as the Benedictines, Dominicans, the Community of Saint Basil, or Dharmic orders such as the Advaita Matha
- Members may enjoy increased Learning or Stewardship and increased Piety gain!
- Quests include the following:
- Do Penance or Meditation to show your devotion
- Build a Temple
- Go on a Pilgrimage
- And more!
- Powers include the ability to:
- Toggle Celibacy
- Inviting a Holy Ascetic to your court
- And more!
- Devil Worshiping Societies:
- Join and worship the evil side of your religion with Societies such as Lucifer's Own, the Fellowship of Hel, the Plaguebringers and others
- Members may enjoy a bonus in increased Intrigue!
- Quests include the following:
- Corrupt a Pries
- Perform a Sacrifice
- Desecrate a Temple
- And more!
- Powers include the ability to:
- Abduct people
- Perform a Dark Divorce
- Summon a Familiar
- And more!
- The Assassin Society:
- Serve the grandmaster and plot against those who would interfere with your plans, or rise high enough in ranks to become grandmaster yourself!
- Members of the Assassins may enjoy the benefit of increased Intrigue, Plot Power, Personal Combat Skill, and more!
- Quests include the following:
- Murder a designated target
- Convert counties to the true faith
- Collect the debt of another member who has yet to pay back
- And more!
- Power include the ability to:
- Borrow Money from the order
- Raise an Army
- Intimidate Rulers for Favors
- And more!
- The Hermetic Society:
- Hermetics focus on learning and are always trying to discover hidden truth, may it be in looking at the stars, performing alchemy, or understanding the divine
- Members of the Hermetics enjoy the benefit of increased Learning!
- Quests inlcude the following:
- Gather Ingredients
- Build a Laboratory
- Find a rare Scroll or Tablet
- And more!
- Power include the ability to:
- Perform Scrying
- Make Horoscope
- Write a Magnum Opus
- And more!
- Artifacts:
- Be visited by a great goldsmith, who can craft magnificant crown jewels for any worthy ruler who can affort it!
- Hire the assistance of a weaponsmith, who can craft a wide set of different weapons to boost your performance when leading armies!
- Learn of relics thought to be long lost and set out on a quest to aquire these important artifacts and put them in the safety of you Treasury
- Additional Council Jobs:
- Perform Statecraft:
- Your Chancellor will improve your relation with vassals, neighboring rulers and your liege, as well as increasing the speed at which Threat decay!
- Organize the Army:
- Your Marshal will seek to train you commanders and reduce the maintenence cost of your Retinue/Horde units!
- Administer Realm:
- Your Steward will strive to improve your demesne by increasing culture conversion rate and Prosperity gain!
- Sabotage Province:
- Send your Spymaster to sabotage a county by reducing Prosperity, lower the defence to make it easier to siege, or increase the revolt risk!
- Hunt Apostates:
- Have your Court Chaplain search for heretical Societies to reveal the members and have them punished, while also increasing your Piety gain!
- AI Orders:
- As a primary participant in a war, you are now able to give orders to your allies
- AI allies will peform the orders they recieve for as long as they don't have wars of their own that they deem more important
- In the Province View, you can use the order "Siege" to have an ally siege the selected county
- In the Selected Army window, you can use the order "Attach Army" to have an ally attach to the selected army
- Added "Allies in Wars" tab in the Military View
- Lists all allies you have in ongoing wars and what orders they have, if any
- Allows you to give the orders "Focus on Sieging" and "Focus on Hunting Enemy Armies"
- Child Naming Buttons:
- When a child is born, you have new options of choosing an appropriate name
- Random: Will randomly pick a name from the culture list
- Name after Parent: Will name the child after the father/mother
- Name after Grandparent: Will name the child after any grandfathers/grandmothers
- Name after random Ancestor: Will randomly pick a name from any member of your dynasty
- Prisoner Management:
- With the new Prisoner Management tool, it is even easier to get rid of all those useless characters filling up your dungeon!
- Set various filters to handle only the prisoners you want to, enabling you to avoid potential penalties or executing someone who can pay ransom by mistake
- Mass Release: Release all prisoners according to your current filter settings
- Mass Ransom: Ransom all prisoners according to your current filter settings
- Mass Execute: Execute all prisoners according to your current filter settings
- Added Dharmic Pilgrimage Event Chain for all Dharmic religions
###################
# Free Features
###################
- Religious Cults:
- Gone are the days when you are forced to abandon the old ways, as you are able to falsely confess to a new religion while still keeping true to your faith in secret
- When you convert, you can choose to secretly still worship your old religion
- With enough Prestige, a ruler with a secret religion can create a cult to recruit more members
- Powers include the ability to:
- Evoke Sympathy for your secret religion in other rulers
- Induct rulers to your secret religion
- Openly Adopt Faith to openly convert to your secret religion, forcing other members within your realm to do the same
- Treasury:
- Rulers now possess a treasury, a place in which to store collected artifacts and items
- Several old items that used to be Character Modifiers have been replaced with actual artifacts and will instead be placed within the Treasury
- Map Update:
- The Ural mountains are now impassable
- Removed the duplicate island of Kolguyev, in the Barents Sea
- The most northern part of the Onega is now properly filled with water
- The mountains in southern Abyssinia no longer stretches onto the frame of the map
- Fixed an issue in the lower part of the river Don, where the river bed would go above water level
- Removed a bunch of trees that were placed in major rivers
- The terrain around lake Balkhash has been smoothed, to avoid sharp/rough edges
- The terrain around lake Baikal has also been smoothed, no longer will the steep cliffs surround the lake
- The Indus and the Ganges have both been cleaned up:
- The terrain now matches the actual river
- Smaller rivers no longer flow so far into the major rivers
- The borders of the rivers has been made smoother to avoid sharp/rough edges
- The Danube has been redrawn, to better respresent its actual location (!)
- The county of Constantinople is now only located on the western side of the Bosphorus, merging the eastern side into the county of Nikomedeia, connected with a strait
- The duchies of Samos and Cibyrrhaeot are now de jure part of the kingdom of Anatolia, rather than Greece
- The duchies of Trebizond and Armeniacon is now de jure part of the kingdom of Trebizond, rather than Anatolia
- Removed the kingdom of Taurica
- The duchy of Crimea is now de jure kingdom of Khazaria
- The duchy of Cherson is now de jure kingdom of Khazaria
- The coastal counties of Croatia and Serbia have been adjusted and moved slightly to better represent their actual locations
- The eastern counties of Hungary and the surrounding area has been moved and adjusted in order to properly place the kingdom within the Carpathian mountains
- Changed the name of b_mirabel to "Majdal Yaba"
- b_mirabel will be named "Mirabel" if ruled by most European cultures
- b_mirabel will be named "Antipatris" if ruled by Byzantine cultures
- The county of Tobruk is now only located along the coast
- Moved the northern part of c_dalarna to c_herjedalen
- Moved k_venice to de jure e_italy
- Improved the character finder:
- Added a "Reset Browser Filters" button
- Added a "Diplo Range" filter
- Added a "Join Court" filter
- Characters that will join your court if bribed now get a yellow hand rather than a red thumbs down
- Added functionality for saving and loading a set of filters. Allowing for up to four slots of different configurations. These persist across campaigns
- The "Great House" character filter now includes the option "Not Mine" to avoid characters of your dynasty to to appear in the search
- Improved the game rules screen:
- Now possible to filter the rules by a variety of groups
- Now possible to save and load sets of rule options
- Updated the Intrigue interface:
- Now shows 7 decisions rather than 4
- Decisions can now be marked as important/not important, allowing you to decide what decisions you want alerts for
- Your plot and backed plots has been moved to a tab of its own
- Backed plots now show their target
- Known plots have "Join Plot" and "End Plot" buttons
- Auto-stop Plots has been moved to the "Known Plots" tab
- Now shows 6 prisoners/threats at a time instead of 5
- The plot choice list now shows 6 plots at a time instead of 5
- Added an on-map Combat Indicator:
- The indicator will show if a battle will happen in a county as a result of the movements of adjacent units
- The indicator will highlight any defensiv bonuses, river crossing or strait crossing
- Added an "Embark All" button when having multiple armies selected. It loads as many of the selected units as possible onto ships
- Added alert for councillors having no job assigned to them
- Remastered the volume of all existing songs and sound effects for an improved soundscape
CONCLAVE:
- When selecting councillors, you will now be able to see what voting archetype they're likely to pick
- You can now send law changes to consideration by the council
- The council view tells you how your councilors are voting (or would vote) on a law change
More: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/update-2-7-released-checksum-whgq-not-for-problem-reports.1003442/
I don't know whether I'm getting old or grumpy but I loved this game, still do really but the constant changes and updates make me think I'll never understand it fully and stops me starting a new game
Quote from: undercovergeek on March 09, 2017, 05:36:02 AM
I don't know whether I'm getting old or grumpy but I loved this game, still do really but the constant changes and updates make me think I'll never understand it fully and stops me starting a new game
You are old and grumpy because I know I am and I feel the same way.
Just need to sit down and concentrate on it instead of
SQUIRREL!
Lmao - it's no so much attention span more 2 weeks of click this for that and click here to get that but a month later it's no no, click there now and click this for that and don't try to be this anymore because these new penalties and remember how you were supposed to do this when republics were cool, not any more now build churches so you can be a monk and so on
But I just relearned this for the 40th time last week!!!!!
Sounds like a good DLC, with all that extra fun added to the game. ;D \m/
Is there a way to turn off the overly supernatural effects? I was not a big fan of having an actual anti-Christ leading armies of darkness being regularly triggered by one of the DLCs (Sons of Abraham?) which otherwise expanded the religious aspects.
I like the expanded religious aspects (Satanic, neutral, and other), but I don't always want to start sliding over into Warhammer-lite. :-\ It is possible to have one without the other. {points at actual history}
Quote from: JasonPratt on March 09, 2017, 09:53:37 AM
Is there a way to turn off the overly supernatural effects?
Yes, and a bunch of other options like disabling 'Shattered Retreat'. You can even tailor the effects of other things like epidemics to be dynamic, historical or random.
You can also save and load custom rule sets.
I think I've reached culmination with these DLCs. This game is easily the most expensive in my collection, and I just know I'm barely scratching the surface of it, even about 100 hours in.
Is there a way to turn off the overly supernatural effects? I was not a big fan of having an actual anti-Christ leading armies of darkness being regularly triggered by one of the DLCs (Sons of Abraham?) which otherwise expanded the religious aspects.
I like the expanded religious aspects (Satanic, neutral, and other), but I don't always want to start sliding over into Warhammer-lite. :-\ It is possible to have one without the other. {points at actual history}
The option to turn off supernatural events have been there for some time.
Option to turn off supernatural events is where...?
At the start of the game. It isn't available during.
Having said that-now that the game has been played a while there's a ton of negatives. Only the Satanic cults are really done.
Miaphysites, Nestorians, unreformed pagans, and other major religions that actually need secret cult mechanics do not have them. Instead, secret cults of secret worshippers are only available to Catholics, Sunnis, and other super-strong, super-stable religions that rarely need to practice in secret. (Thankful exceptions include Jews and Zoroastrians, who can form secret cults -- but why do just Zoroastrians when you could have done the historically secret Miaphysites??) -suejak
Oh and by the way: You might spend a lot of time collecting alchemy ingredients, but they can't be used at all, despite pre-release promises.
[/hijack on]
Hey GR,
Back in the Wargamer days, you had mentioned a full-on vampire city add-on for Morrowind. Is that still out there and do you know where I can find it? I've been getting back into Morrowind with the MGSO mod.
[/hijack off]
Well that's a blast from the past--but back in my modding days and fellow member of AGM was Qarl's The Underground. Most of the mod takes place in dungeons-with a bar located under Balmora. It's an "adult" mod and pretty large--and pretty hard to complete.
http://mw.modhistory.com/download-35-11514
I had The underground 2 (not compatable) on my HD for years but lost it on a HD fail. I don't believe Qarl ever officially released it-- but it can be located above.
Qarl's no longer with us-and it's a shame AGM's RPG never saw daylight. He was quite talented as your see in playing the mod.
.
Thanks man, that's it.
I picked this up today and have put about 4 hours into it. I started a early game as the persians for the Zortarian religion and to explore their features in this DLC. I'm about 20 years in a 792 A.D. Joined The Hermetic Society- the only other choice was Satan. Here learning is your main focus and your tasked to build a lab. This is expensive but allows you to move up in ranks. Other tasks I've done is mostly searching for relics and text-with one quest for alchemy components. My wife immediately joined when i did and became my apprentice. I'm already leader now of the society. My wife graduated and i choose a new apprentice. My children are yet adults at this stage but I imagine if they were I could choose one of them.
With the society I can do a horoscope on each of my children--which helps mold them in learning to be with the stars. There's also a new tasks for conselors--and that GUI has been reworked where now you just highlight the task--the only time I had to pick a province was in fabricating claims. Otherwise they just perform their tasks without physically appearing in a province-- as far as the new tasks go anyway. Studying tech in other provinces still works the same...etc.
Other than having an apprentice and doing horoscopes I can spend points to read my future--and hold grand meetings. Now leader of the cult I can also write my Magnus Garter or whatever they called it--haven't done that yet.
Other than that gameplay is basically the same--with the added features generally buffing my learning skills. Since your much more busier doing all this the game pace slows--it's hard to accelerate time with so many pop up decisions.
I feel it's added some depth and generally I like this portion of it. But from what I've read only Satanist are fully fleshed out and are overpowered but I'm not really in the mood for that right now and i haven't came across any in this game--thus so early in I would think not. But probably will start a game up in early norway and become a raiding demon at some point.
It's really really getting based hard on the paradox forums, with a 17 page bitch thread of how awful the whole thing is. Frankly since you can turn off the demon stuff and supernatural events (2 seperate options) about the only real bitch i can see is the lack of content for any secret sect outside of demon worship. Since none can counter the warlock and witches I can agree with the point---but the rest is just haters being haters as far as I can tell.
CK2 is one of my most played and favorite games so the added depth was worth the $15 bucks to me. And the dev's response should tell the rest of the tale:
Virtually no new mechanics of any note. Nothing even remotely interesting except retreading monastic ground which they've already covered in a past expansion. There's so much more interesting ground that they haven't touched on, which could've been tackled.
A bunch've horrible, supernatural events, like they think they're making a Game of Thrones mod or something and completely departing from even the pretense of historical realism.
Overpriced at that, for what basically amounts to a bunch've lame events.
CK2 did not need to add magic. What it needs is something like, I don't know. Naval warfare? It's amazing to think that I beta tested this game, years and years ago, and remained active doing so through the first 5-6 expansions, and it had so much promise - and lately it's just turned to complete crap.
All they're doing these days is offering a bit've artwork, and a few lame modded events/decisions, and they're passing it off as a $15 DLC. I will not be buying this.
Should Paradox care? Maybe. I've bought every other expansion except the Aztec one, and I've had a considerable investment in the series both as a player and a beta tester. Given the cliche, mediocre and simply wrongheaded design direction of this one...It's amazing to think that people have jobs and are being paid money to push out DLC content this shallow and worthless. It's amazing anyone is buying it, when they could just go download the GoT mod for free, if they wanted a fantasy experience.
Howabout putting out an actual expansion which adds even marginally to the historical experience? And not just putting out what amounts to essentially a bunch've poorly written, overtuned events, some new decisions, and one semi-new, poorly thought out mechanic that does jack shit. Like the last one with the plagues, with building the retreat.
The last decent DLC was the one that added nomads to the game. But none have been quite so insulting to our intelligence, as this one. It's like they're trying to figure out the exact least amount they can do, and think the majority of people will still buy it. That's fine from a business model standpoint, but it's hardly inspiring.
I've been a loyal Paradox customer for way too long, given my join date, and the latest content, given the stylistic and design directions they've taken in HoI 4, Stellaris and the latest CK2 DLC jsut leaves me stone cold. I'm no longer at a place where I reflexively buy everything Paradox puts out just to support the company.
At some point, you can't just keep charging people $15 every time the interns, who have clearly never read or seen anything about the era in question beyond say, watching Game of Thrones on television, cobbles together some typo-ridden event chain and you add some artwork to it. Where's the actual vision?
Where is even the pretense of trying to bring history to life, that the game's original release and most of the previous DLC paid at least token lip service to? This just reminds me of a return to the bad old Republic DLC, which devs admitted was done so poorly. I.E, the dlc where they thought the best event chain for a feuding merchant republic in the 11th century would be to model it after Romeo and Juliet in the Renaissance era, and the trade posts were (and still are) horribly implemented.
But at least the Republic tried. This is just flagrant, supernatural bull-crap best left to modders, like Aztec Invasion. It's like Paradox has more artists than they have people with any ounce of real creativity or drive to make a decent product. - damocles
Dev response:
I'm sorry to hear that some of you dislike the DLC. As one of the many Content Designers who worked very hard to see this finished, this is a great personal disappointment. It is, however, of course entirely your prerogative to disagree with the direction this DLC took, and we hope that any future DLCs we make might be better to your liking. However, I would like to point out that:
- There were no interns working on this DLC.
- M&M is the largest single amount of scripted content we have ever added to the game. You may have any opinion on the quality or the artistic vision, but please do not insinuate that it is 'little content'.
- M&M involved a tremendous amount of Content Designer (and other) work to make, and I would like to combine this with the previous point to dispel the notion that we "do the least we can get away with".
- If I am not mistaken it is, in fact, the Hermetics that have the most content, and not the Devil Worshipers (though the latter are more prominently advertised).
- We were aware that some people might not like the Devil Worshipers, and therefore added a specific game option that allows you to disable them. This was specifically detached from the supernatural option, so that people who enjoyed the rare supernatural event could still enjoy those without feeling forced to play with DW's as well.
Bratyn, Yesterday at 09:07 #15
Entire thread:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/worst-expansion-since-the-aztec-invasion-one.1004257/
My dev response (if I was the developer) would have been: "if you don't like it, son buy it. Of you bought it, disable it in the opening screen. If you just want to cry, whine and bitch, head over to the steam forums with the rest of the 16 year olds.
:DD "the only other choice was Satan"
Something about that just struck me as hilarious.
lol. I think the bashing is far more unbalanced than the DLC. Sure-perhaps all that buffed learning I get should be taken away somewhere else-say my martial skill-and yes, perhaps joining satan's band of evil do'ers should come at some price-which apparantly it doesn't from what I've read and yes- a straight faith catholic should have some way to battle the demon armies---but that all can come in future DLCs and patches. But the DLC effects two groups i like to play. The persians---battling back from the Muslim invasions and trying to rebuild the church and faith--and the Jewish religion- trying to reach their goals like create Isreal-etc...are challenging options in CK2 and ones I like to play-so the fact BOTH are included here is far enough for me.
And when i'm feeling a bit weird and nasty it's nice to have lucifer options----this is the dark ages afterall and like the RPG Darklands it's damn fun when a game takes the common beliefs of the period and makes them real. That was darklands draw- and there's no reason it can't be a draw here as well. These bitchers seem upset that my wants got addressed while their 'stick to history' drive wasn't. They are kidding themselves. No Paradox game does that-- from Hearts of Iron to Victoria. It's ability to alter history--to see what you can do- has always been the draw.
And in this latest game as I map the stars and learn the mysteries I'll marry all my daughters, have my concubines and drive Islam away and restore Persia to it's rightful glory. Why anyone doesn't see the fun of that is beyond me.
(https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder58/48367058.jpg)
Quote from: ghostryder on March 11, 2017, 09:06:28 PM
And in this latest game as I map the stars and learn the mysteries I'll marry all my daughters, have my concubines and drive Islam away and restore Persia to it's rightful glory. Why anyone doesn't see the fun of that is beyond me.
Restoring Persia sounds fun, but I bought the DLC and I'm the Holy Roman Emperor in 1081. Of course the really notorious HRE Emperor who was very far into arcana, Rudolf II, was a late Renaissance figure. On the other hand, the aristocratic families that were very proud of their demonic ancestors (in some cases counting Wodin/Odin or even Wada the (Supernatural) smith...extend from the early middle ages (the Merovingian Sea- Monster ancestor and Mesuline) clear to the Angevins. So the demonic thing is really more "historical" than it sounds at first audition.
Really? Can you recommend any books on that? Sounds like incredible stuff.
Quote from: Gusington on March 13, 2017, 08:41:57 PM
Really? Can you recommend any books on that? Sounds like incredible stuff.
There is at least one good book on Rudolf II. For the others, it is very hard to find a book that is both scholarly and all about the demonic
origins of various aristocratic lineages. The most recent thing I saw was about Richard I and had some royal figure (Richard?) joking about
his ancestor Wodin. Wodin does occur as the ancestor of various royal lineages in Ango-Saxon geneologies and by around 1150, the
Angevins (French, but ruling England) apparently saw this as kind of funny -- but then they might have known about the sea-monster ancestor
of the MErovingians and the demonic snake-lady stories related to other French lineages. The joke with Wodin would be that officially, pagan gods
were "demonic" -- but safely in the past -- just as many "Saints" (Crispin for example) and Arthurian Knights have lots of attributes taken over
from pagan gods. Anyway, there's a lot to recommend a generous dose of demonology in any chunk of alternative MEdieval history -- or even
Late Renaissance history ( see Rudolf or John Dee etc.).
Don't mind the topics; they're historical enough (if kind of early in implementation, as noted). Just wanted options to nix how they operate if I don't feel like playing a more dark-fantasy game.
Especially since there seems to be no balance (yet?) on how they work. If the (nominal) good-guys don't get ways to fight back once the dark side gets going, then there's little challenge to playing the dark side, and playing non-dark requires wanting to sign up for a verrrrry particular and difficult type of dark fantasy storyline.
Still, good to hear confirmation there are multiple options for activation/deactivation. I'll probably pick it up someday once the patching process stomps things.
Relatedly, I wonder how much went into normal patching/updating? ???
Interesting thread.
You know, based in large part on the rave reviews here, I picked up CK2, and despite three or four enthusiastic attempts, I could never make it through the Tutorials. The GUI left me confused and squinting (is the game not made to be played at 1920 x 1080 resolution, or is my eyesight just going?), and I'd be danged if I could figure out how anything I was doing affected anything.
I like games where there's a lot under the hood. I just never seemed able to find the car keys for this one. Maybe I'm getting old. Kids do that to a man... :)
Thanks Meng - I read that book on Rudolf II - The Magic Circle. Good, unique book if anyone here is interested.
Quote from: Gusington on March 14, 2017, 12:11:18 PM
Thanks Meng - I read that book on Rudolf II - The Magic Circle. Good, unique book if anyone here is interested.
In a day?
Quote from: Gusington on March 14, 2017, 12:11:18 PM
Thanks Meng - I read that book on Rudolf II - The Magic Circle. Good, unique book if anyone here is interested.
I haven't heard of that one. There's another that's more about "Prague Mannerism" and has all the latest crazes from the 1580s: John Dee, Westonia Polyzena the Hispanisizing Hottie and so on. I think it is called Rudolf II and his World.
We may be talking about the same book.
Quote from: Gusington on March 14, 2017, 08:03:53 PM
We may be talking about the same book.
There's this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Rudolf-His-World-Intellectual-1576-1612/dp/0198225164
And this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Circle-Rudolf-Astrology-Renaissance/dp/0802715516
And even a few more!
The 2nd one is the one I read. Great book. Will look further to further into that first one - thanks for the link.
Quote from: MengJiao on March 13, 2017, 08:38:42 PM
Quote from: ghostryder on March 11, 2017, 09:06:28 PM
And in this latest game as I map the stars and learn the mysteries I'll marry all my daughters, have my concubines and drive Islam away and restore Persia to it's rightful glory. Why anyone doesn't see the fun of that is beyond me.
Restoring Persia sounds fun, but I bought the DLC and I'm the Holy Roman Emperor in 1081. Of course the really notorious HRE Emperor who was very far into arcana, Rudolf II, was a late Renaissance figure. On the other hand, the aristocratic families that were very proud of their demonic ancestors (in some cases counting Wodin/Odin or even Wada the (Supernatural) smith...extend from the early middle ages (the Merovingian Sea- Monster ancestor and Mesuline) clear to the Angevins. So the demonic thing is really more "historical" than it sounds at first audition.
Restoring Persia is lots of fun. i've yet done it. There's only one count that is the Zotoroastrian faith at the the early age and your a vassal of a huge Muslim leader. So first thing up is to not get slaughtered. but build up enough provinces until you can fight for your independence. Using religious claims is suicide as it'll draw all the muslims down on you. you must then slowly wait to get claims one by one.
After that you need to spread to the 5 holy sites to restore the church -- Playing as Zoro is now harder due to shattered retreat so holy warring Samanids with initial troops is no longer advised. You need lots of coin to max out merc hiring. And even then it's damn tough. Restore the High Priesthood and become the Saoshyant.
Rulers can marry close relatives, which gives the ruler an opinion bonus (+5) with Zoroastrian vassals. I frequently marry sisters and use daughters as Concubines. And when I give land to sons I marry them to their sisters.
With Monks and Mystics, Mazdan rulers are permitted to join the Hermetic Society. But it's still a tough go--requires a lot of luck along with strategy.
Quote from: ghostryder on March 15, 2017, 04:54:20 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on March 13, 2017, 08:38:42 PM
Quote from: ghostryder on March 11, 2017, 09:06:28 PM
And in this latest game as I map the stars and learn the mysteries I'll marry all my daughters, have my concubines and drive Islam away and restore Persia to it's rightful glory. Why anyone doesn't see the fun of that is beyond me.
Restoring Persia sounds fun, but I bought the DLC and I'm the Holy Roman Emperor in 1081. Of course the really notorious HRE Emperor who was very far into arcana, Rudolf II, was a late Renaissance figure. On the other hand, the aristocratic families that were very proud of their demonic ancestors (in some cases counting Wodin/Odin or even Wada the (Supernatural) smith...extend from the early middle ages (the Merovingian Sea- Monster ancestor and Mesuline) clear to the Angevins. So the demonic thing is really more "historical" than it sounds at first audition.
Restoring Persia is lots of fun. i've yet done it. There's only one count that is the Zotoroastrian faith at the the early age and your a vassal of a huge Muslim leader. So first thing up is to not get slaughtered. but build up enough provinces until you can fight for your independence. Using religious claims is suicide as it'll draw all the muslims down on you. you must then slowly wait to get claims one by one.
After that you need to spread to the 5 holy sites to restore the church -- Playing as Zoro is now harder due to shattered retreat so holy warring Samanids with initial troops is no longer advised. You need lots of coin to max out merc hiring. And even then it's damn tough. Restore the High Priesthood and become the Saoshyant.
Rulers can marry close relatives, which gives the ruler an opinion bonus (+5) with Zoroastrian vassals. I frequently marry sisters and use daughters as Concubines. And when I give land to sons I marry them to their sisters.
With Monks and Mystics, Mazdan rulers are permitted to join the Hermetic Society. But it's still a tough go--requires a lot of luck along with strategy.
A worthy cause, but far beyond my abilities. I'm barely hanging on as Holy Roman Emperor. The Pope hates me. My council is discontented. The Investiture Contest is coming up. I let Matilda take Tuscany -- go take it. Quit scaring the council!
Quote from: ghostryder on March 15, 2017, 04:54:20 PM
Restoring Persia is lots of fun. i've yet done it. There's only one count that is the Zotoroastrian faith at the the early age and your a vassal of a huge Muslim leader. So first thing up is to not get slaughtered. but build up enough provinces until you can fight for your independence. Using religious claims is suicide as it'll draw all the muslims down on you. you must then slowly wait to get claims one by one.
After that you need to spread to the 5 holy sites to restore the church -- Playing as Zoro is now harder due to shattered retreat so holy warring Samanids with initial troops is no longer advised. You need lots of coin to max out merc hiring. And even then it's damn tough. Restore the High Priesthood and become the Saoshyant.
Rulers can marry close relatives, which gives the ruler an opinion bonus (+5) with Zoroastrian vassals. I frequently marry sisters and use daughters as Concubines. And when I give land to sons I marry them to their sisters.
With Monks and Mystics, Mazdan rulers are permitted to join the Hermetic Society. But it's still a tough go--requires a lot of luck along with strategy.
The two times I attempted the Zoroastrian leader, the surrounding Muslims all started attacking me in short order. :buck2:
Maybe the start is a bit smoother now, since that was a few DLC packs and patches ago?
I really wanted to do the Persian thing but the start was just a huge dog pile. Watched a vid of Arumba's start on it, to get an idea of how to survive and improve, but my situation just never went that good and he still had to fight like a madman to survive for awhile. I gave up after getting my ass kicked too much. :hide:
Ok, going to slightly hijack this thread.
I'm playing with all the DLC, except M&M. Playing as Poland, I've made Kiev my capital. Converted it to Polish and Catholic (my religion). How do I turn the tribe in Kiev to a Castle so I can then adopt feudalism. Yes, I have a stone hill fort.
NM, I didn't need the castle to convert. I was dealing with a revolt and needed to be at peace first.
The DLC helps because you can get a few points into diplomancy at times...but overall it's learning points you earn. I'm at 810 a.d. in my current game with seven provinces. Still a tiny speck surrounded by giant empires who hate me. And i just received a pop-up about the Zoroastrian religion is now concidered heretic. I have only 1 holy site and the others are several provinces away. Nail biting time :pullhair: