Crusader Kings II

[MengJiao]

I've always favored Brittany as a good beginner realm. Nice, manageable number of vassals and territories. Independent duke ("petty king" technically), so you can aspire to establish a true kingdom. Not too hard to stay on good terms with France and England, playing them off against one another to avoid conquest by either. Some nice realms in Ireland you can conquer by fabricating claims.

  Burgundy in 759 was pretty good, I thought.  I just sorta did whatever it seemed Charlemagne would like and did okay.  Maybe I'll go back to Burgundy after the patch and see what's what.  I think its about 763 or so.  I had plenty of dubious vassals (my half-brother for example), but my seemingly utterly incompetent spy-master (an 11 in spy mastery as I recall) was very lucky and I kept plenty of people in jail.  As I remember they were all out of jail.  I had some cunning plan where their various ambitions and fiefs somehow kept them all in mutual check.  I took up gardening after some Saxon Pagans nearly killed me.  But I'm okay now.  I think.  Name's Theodoric (or something like that) oddly enough.  I'm a genius and so is my wife.  Naturally we have no children.  The rest is history.

[Nefaro]

The Russian Rurikovich princes, descendants of the Varangian Viking lords who invaded generations before, are a nice start in 1066 for an independent Duke who can carve off some neighboring Pagan lords and become a Kingdom before long.  The area is awash in Rurik descendents who are Dukes, and you will probably begin the game allied with some of them (being your brothers, cousins, etc) 

I believe the Duchy of Polotsk is specifically a great start for a Journeyman CK2 player since you can become the Kingdom of Lithuania after a little expansion.  The larger Rurikids like Novgorod and Kiev tend to become rivals with each other, so you can stay out of the spotlight, and your neighbors to the West are likewise engaged elsewhere for a time.  None of them care if you expand at the expense of the smaller Baltic coast pagans.

There are quite a few of the lot to choose from, so there may be others that look more interesting than Polotsk, depening on preference.  You also don't have to worry about dealing with the Pope or your bishops funneling their income to him instead of you since you're Orthodox although the lands aren't generally as wealthy as some parts of western europe.

[Toonces]

  I just faff about, find a few wives for people, hire some tutors, send off some weasel to manufacture claims or whatnot and then just sit there, waiting and waiting, and waiting for something interesting to happen ...

Well, TBH this is sort of what the game essentially is. 

You kind of guide your strategic plans, but the meat of the game (for me anyway) is a lot of sitting and watching things develop, listening to the awesome soundtrack while sipping an adult beverage.   

[MetalDog]

That's how I play CK2 AND EUIV.  There is a lot of pausing for decisions and what not, but, I keep the timer moving at fill tilt with my fingers hovering over the Space bar to pause.

[Nefaro]

That's how I play CK2 AND EUIV.  There is a lot of pausing for decisions and what not, but, I keep the timer moving at fill tilt with my fingers hovering over the Space bar to pause.

I am SO glad they finally put the "Pause on Event Requiring Decision" feature back in.  Got annoyed at having to be Johnny On The Spot with the space bar when those would pop up while the game was still going at high speed somewhere behind the pop-up window.  That feature had been missing since EU2!   >:(

Between that, and setting all the events that could possibly spark new orders to pop-up and pause, the Spacebar gets much less of a workout these days.  Takes awhile to set all those message settings up though.

[Toonces]

Ok starting out as York, I am now Warwick with 4 duchies (7/3 demense so I'm hurting).  I'm 42, wife 44 and I have 3 daughters.  My 1st daughter, my heir, just came of age unmarried.

So if I understand this right I want to marry her off matrilineal, despite the prestige hit.  If I marry her off to a normal guy with normal male succession, her sons will inherit my properties and I will end the game upon my death, correct?  Unless I go matrilineal in which case I can still play as her children through a different marriage...

Despite a young, fertile wife and two affairs I just couldn't close the deal with a son dammit.

[sandman2575]

Yeah, that's my understanding. If your daughter-heir's offspring are of another dynasty (ie she does not marry matrilineally), that's Game Over.  You could try marrying her off partrilineally to a male of your own dynasty, even if he's a vassal, if that's an option.

Sounds like it's time for your 44 year old wife to meet with an 'unfortunate accident'...

[undercovergeek]

thats what id do, bump off the old girl, get a 19 yr old wench from 'fertile' list of available women and have at it

[Nefaro]

thats what id do, bump off the old girl, get a 19 yr old wench from 'fertile' list of available women and have at it

It could be the traits and decisions of your own character that is giving Fertility penalties.  Just sayin.. if it's real bad then it may have been taking two to not tango.

[endfire79]

Occasionally you have siblings who are complete asshats and wish to be king instead of you.  I love to tick them off by having a go with their wife, and then demoting him after he presses a claim, or trouncing him if he rebels.

As Mel Brooks said, it's good to be king!

[Nefaro]

Occasionally you have siblings who are complete asshats and wish to be king instead of you.  I love to tick them off by having a go with their wife, and then demoting him after he presses a claim, or trouncing him if he rebels.

As Mel Brooks said, it's good to be king!

Occasionally?!

Dunno how many times my own children have tried to kill one of my characters.  The wife.  Siblings.  All of them! 

IIRC Pdox reduced the 'Same dynasty' relations bonus right before CK2's first release.  They really wanted lots of murder being plotted.  :o

[RooksBailey]

New DLC announced...yes, seriously!  LOL!


Crusader Kings II: Way of Life announced - Patch 2.3 BETA will be open to anyone!

Hi everyone,

Today we’re announcing that we’re in the midst of developing something new for Crusader Kings II, a project that will allow you to get even deeper into the role-playing aspects of the game. Way of Life, the next DLC for CK2, will let you become a better (or worse!) ruler and grant you more power over personal relationships than ever before.

Sure, it’s nice to have someone cozy up to you and be your lover while you’re sitting atop the throne, but what if you could choose who to seduce? Or, after getting into that relationship on the side, what if you discover that you just need some space and had a way to break it off? You know, without having your soon-to-be ex-lover assassinated. These things and much more, including hundreds of new events, are coming to Way of Life.

With every piece of DLC, we always issue a patch for the vanilla game that allows everyone to take advantage of the changes being made to CK2, and this will be no different EXCEPT this particular time we’re asking for your assistance by helping us test out the patch ahead of the launch of Way of Life. The beta test will begin next week and we’ll have more details on how to fabricate a claim to beta test soon, so be on the lookout.

- Paradox Development Studio & Paradox Interactive

I still haven't picked up Charlemagne!   ;D  Is it safe now?  I heard the initial release was very buggy.

[Nefaro]

New DLC announced...yes, seriously!  LOL!


<...>

I still haven't picked up Charlemagne!   ;D  Is it safe now?  I heard the initial release was very buggy.

IIRC there's been a patch or two since Charlemagne was released.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

So I'm trying to play this stupid game again.  Once again, I'm just sitting with my thumb up my arse, waiting, and waiting, and waiting for my idiot flunky to fabricate a claim so I can go to war.  Started the game in 867ad, it's now 900ad and the idiot still hasn't managed it.  BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Barthheart]

What level are you playing Duke, Count, King? What country?

If you want excitement play as William the Conqueror in 1066. Lots of action there.