Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam

[Gusington]

^It expands the map and adds features to the combat system, according to Paradox.

Those are good details listed above on the changes to gameplay SoM, thanks.

So would you say CK II is more streamlined than the Paradox games that have come before it?

[tgb]

^It expands the map and adds features to the combat system, according to Paradox.

The free patch does the same.  So what I'm asking is if you don't care about playing as Muslims, is there any reason to buy the expansion?

[Bison]

I don't have any desire to play an Islamic country either. 

[Martok]

^I am usually the same way with most games.  I wait till they are patched several times or have a good deal.  Unfortunately then I miss out on all the discussions about the games right after they come out.  By the time I want to discuss a game its old news to everybody :)

Yes, that is unfortunately one of the trade-offs one makes in waiting to purchase.  Decisions, decisions... 

^It expands the map and adds features to the combat system, according to Paradox.

The free patch does the same.  So what I'm asking is if you don't care about playing as Muslims, is there any reason to buy the expansion?

From what I've read, no.  The new DLC appears to be almost exclusively geared for the Muslim factions. 

[son_of_montfort]

^It expands the map and adds features to the combat system, according to Paradox.

Those are good details listed above on the changes to gameplay SoM, thanks.

So would you say CK II is more streamlined than the Paradox games that have come before it?

I would say that CKII has the most friendly UI of the ones before. The complexity comes mostly from the dynasty planning (and keeping track of all they dynastic issues and connections). It certainly does not have all the insane detail of the world market that is in Vicky II and you really only have to keep track of a few unit types, unlike the Hearts of Iron series. Part of the issue with the EU, HoI, and Vicky games came from the large number of trade goods and merchant systems. You don't have to worry about that in CKII, which makes the game easier to pick up.

Grab it cheap in that Paradox pack. You can't go wrong with $12 for that many games.

[Gusington]

^Kewl, I'm sold on this. Despite current events Muslim history fascinates me and I do enjoy playing as Muslim factions.

[Martok]

^Kewl, I'm sold on this. Despite current events Muslim history fascinates me and I do enjoy playing as Muslim factions.

Ditto.  Egypt was my second-favorite faction in Medieval Total War (after the Spanish). 

[Nefaro]

So would you say CK II is more streamlined than the Paradox games that have come before it?

It's better in many ways, compared to the other Pdox games using this engine over the last few years. 

Not sure what you mean by "streamlined" however.  Are you asking about how friendly the tutorials & such are when you're first getting into it?

[Gusington]

^Yeah pretty much. I remember in the first EU game being bombarded with pop-up messages and not feeling like I was really playing anything. Looking to see if that has changed.

I enjoyed many MTW Muslim factions. I won my quickest campaign by playing Egypt in the M2TW Crusades campaign. IIRC I won the campaign in under 25 turns.

Also love the Persians in Stainless Steel but most of you already know that, as I have professed my love for them (in-game!) many times.

[Nefaro]

The tutorials are probably some of the better ones Paradox has made, but that may not be saying much.   They interactive in places, walking you through how to do something kinda like EU3 did.  But there is more content in the CK2 tutorials than all the other ones that I recall (which were mostly just reading text).

[Gusington]

If the meat of the game is done well enough then I will push myself through uninspiring tutorials.

[Nefaro]

If the meat of the game is done well enough then I will push myself through uninspiring tutorials.

The consensus is that the 'meat' of the game is super-awesome bitchin' dude.  ;)  Watch yo' back!  Because everyone's out to stab it!

[Gusington]

I can't really argue with super-awesome bitchin' and such :)

[Arctic Blast]

Gus : Two absolute essentials for starting with any Pdox game.

1. Check out the wikis. Here's the one for EU3 : http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/Main_Page 
And here is the one fr CK2 : http://crusaderkings-two.wikia.com/wiki/Crusader_Kings_II_Wiki

People do a great job throwing a pile of information on those for how to play the game, suggested early turn moves, guides for every single country and so on.

2. Youtube How to Play videos. Just go over to YT and type in How to Play Crusader Kings to (or EU3). Watch, learn.

You'll still make horrible mistakes as you learn how the game world reacts to what you'll do, but at least you'll know what the buttons do and where to go to change tax rates and so on.

Actually, I haven't played CK2 in so long that I should probably take a bit of a refresher...

[Gusington]

^That's the great and terrible thing about modern PC games like these...we all could make careers of playing them. Thanks for those links, I will definitely be using them. Wish they existed back in 2000 when I needed one for EU.