Crusader Kings II

[Bison]

One of the issues with the UI is that you are limited in the number of windows that can be open at one time.  You are generally limited to two screens, which means you have to remember the characters/nations you want to interact with diplomatically and end up doing a lot repeating steps to review multiple screens.

The vassel action that can be a huge pain in the ass is educating your kids/wards.   I find myself wanting 4 screens open so I can compare guardians.  This could be solved if PI has another layer of sorting on the character screen used to compare 2-4 characters.

All in all though I'm actually very much enjoying the game.  Unless there are some major bugs hidden toward the end game, PI has released a fairly polished game this go around.

[son_of_montfort]

One of the issues with the UI is that you are limited in the number of windows that can be open at one time.

Have you hosted a summer fair yet? OMG, the game pops up like 4 windows at a time for the span of a few months. I like all the cool events, but having to decide four different things and getting several different hits to rep or stats can be a real pain, especially if you haven't been thinking about your King's traits in a while.

The vassel action that can be a huge pain in the ass is educating your kids/wards

I can't agree more. I was really ticked off when I kept getting spammed by potential educators. I don't know what that spam is all about either, the decisions don't seem to do anything - so I wonder if they are just trying to remind you "hey, I could educator your kids!" But it always seemed like the guys were disloyal vassals, so the last thing I wanted to do was to foster my children in their court!

Unless there are some major bugs hidden toward the end game, PI has released a fairly polished game this go around.

I agree. I had a CTD last night, but I am 98% sure that it was actually windows deciding it wanted to update and restarting my computer without permission (and not CKII). I'm not really big on the constant chiming mailbox and the mail I get seems to be rather unimportant (and it will forget to notify me of a death of a vassal and a revolt). I have noticed that the character browser doesn't always update immediately. If you used it to open up a character's menu and promote them to count (for instance) then the pic won't be of a count until you open and close it again. I had a vassal die and he stayed in the character browser for a while until it "refreshed." Don't know if that is a "bug" per se, but it was a little strange.

[Bison]

One of the issues with the UI is that you are limited in the number of windows that can be open at one time.

Have you hosted a summer fair yet? OMG, the game pops up like 4 windows at a time for the span of a few months. I like all the cool events, but having to decide four different things and getting several different hits to rep or stats can be a real pain, especially if you haven't been thinking about your King's traits in a while.

Yeah, but I just talking strictly the vassel screens.  You are generally limited to 2 screens.  You can get a 3d screen that will list character options.  However if you want to look at one of the characters in detail you lose the other 2 screens once you open the detailed character screen.  If that make any sense.

[W.S. Hancock]

I have put about 30 or more hours into the game at this point, and I am extremely impressed.

Clearly the best Paradox release in terms of game state, stability, polish, etc.

I am no Medievalist like SoM, but I am having a blast, still on my first game just made it to 1150.  Started as William DeCrepon, Count of Hereford, and from there, have led my family to the titles of Duke of Hereford, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Somerset, and now finally, Duke of York.  Through a number of strategic marriages, was able to get the King of England as my son in law, and another King as Uncle.  Fabricated claims on Somerset, then did two assasinations to put the Duchy in the hands of an infant girl, then made my move while the King was out on Crusade, and took the lands and title.  Have already seen three English Civil Wars in the aftermath of the death of William the Conqueror and his heirs, as the Dukes very realistically fought to reduce the Absolute Crown Law authority that William had established.  In one contest, I actually declared war on my Leige, William II 'the Unready' (the game gave him this moniker) with the war goal of putting my own candidate on the throne.  As The Unready was already at war with several other dukes, as well as my ally through marriage the King of France, my candidate, young Prince Tancred, 3rd in the successon, was eventually installed, and Tancred (later 'The Apostle') rewarded me with the appointment of Marshal of England.  (Tancred later developed the trait 'homosexual' which left him no heir, and as marshal, I had to repeatedly come to his aid to fight off would be claimants)

As my characters have had high martial skill, they are often in the forefront of combat, and many have been wounded, or maimed, and two of my lieges actually ended up being completely incapacitated by their injuries, the realm run by a regent, all very realistic.  Thankfully the deCrepons are a fertile bunch, and I have had to banish/execute/assasinate more heirs to get the right guy in place, as opposed to worrying about my line dying out.

Right now, in a strange twist of fate, I am the Spymaster of England, and sworn vassal of the King, and at war with my own wife because of it.  I married the Duchess of Anjou, whereby I get the claim on York, and the title passes to my son Thomas, now an infant.  But my wife the Duchess has started her own Yorkist/Angevin rebellion against the King, and I am now leading my troops in the field against her Yorkists and Frenchmen, defending Warwick and Winchester against attacks led by my own wife's forces, in defense of my own King.  Thanks to that bitch, I have now received maiming wounds in battle at age 22, which means that the incapacitating wound might not be far away, which will likely be the end of me.  Thankfully, I have a son set to inherit it all, plus her realms, and the game doesnt seem to let you linger on very long as a vegetable, so if I do get permanently knocked out, it will likely be merciful short and Thomas' regent can take over.  Of course, his regent will be my brother, who desires the realm himself, and unlike Thomas, does not have the rights to York . . . .

This kind of drama really sets the game apart from other empire builders, and really adds a very strong RPG element.  Plus, you get tech researching, dozens of building decisions to improve your realm, military action, spy/subterfuge/plots, an occasional Crusade, and numerous random events from fairs to hunts to great feasts to spice it up further.  So far, this really is a game I find it hard to break away from, want to play until 3 a.m., and cant wait to get back to.

Overall, I give it a 9/10 in its release state, one of the best games of the past several years.  While it initially takes some study to get in to and learn all the differnt things you can do, managing your realm, vassals, and dynasty, once you break the learning curve barrier, it all makes sense and is not WITPAE level difficult at all.  In my above game, I made countless mistakes, learned many things along the way that I wasnt doing right, or neglected to do, and still had a blast, managed to keep my dynasty alive, and even prosper.

Three things I think could be improved upon in a patch/expansion would be as follows:

1.  It is too easy to get the most talented courtiers in Europe to come to your dynasty's service through arranging matrilineal marriages.  The willingness of courtiers to accept matrilineal marriages to anyone other than female blood members of your own dynasty should be adjusted way down.
2.  There is ample room for more events and intrigue to be added, through modding or expansion, and the sky really is the limit.
3.  The religion part of the game can and should be expanded out further. Right now, you have excommunications, papal divorce grants, Cathar and other heresies appearing in your lands, the ability to do inquisitions, and papal crusades.  While all of these things are good, I think they need to be fleshed out and made more important than they currently seem to be in my game.

Finally, as a footnote, the interface, graphics, music and atmosphere are all top notch.  Stability seems rock solid, I have had no CTDs whatsoever.

Paradox has done an excellent job with this one, and all of the very valid criticisms of past releases such as HOI III and Vicky II must have had an impact and been listened to by Johan and company, as I see none of those problems there.

[son_of_montfort]

Great write-up Hancock!

(Tancred later developed the trait 'homosexual' which left him no heir, and as marshal, I had to repeatedly come to his aid to fight off would be claimants)

Boy I hate it when that happens, the sudden onset of the trait of homosexuality...  ;)

Overall, I give it a 9/10 in its release state, one of the best games of the past several years.

I totally agree!

I also agree with your three "weak points" - more events, more religious strife, more... well.. everything!

One criticism I have is that it might be a tad bit too easy to assassinate. Read my story below for more on that...

Well, it's been interesting for Charles I of Anjou, King of Sicily.

In a divergence from history, my Charles managed to avoid the Sicilian Vespers and keep control of a content Sicily (four counties) under his direct rule. I partitioned parts of the lower Italian boot to various vassals and had most of them rather pleased with me. A few Prince-Bishops still bore grudges against me, but it was relatively smooth sailing.

I managed to marry Charles II, the lame, to his historical bride Maria of Hungary, the third daughter of King Steven of Hungary (whose reign I expedited through a knife to his father's back). My second son, Phillippe was given the Duchy of Anjou and seemed content. At some point Pisa lost control of Sardinia to the heathen Moors from North Africa, and - being the faithful steward of Christianity that I am, I vowed to liberate these Christian lands from Moorish perfidy (declarations of holy war against Islamic and other non-Christian foes do not require a Causus Belli or a claim on the territory). The Sultanate of Africa was wracked with rebellion and war and I called upon my ally and brother Louis IX of France to aid me in the fight. It was a quick war and within the year the Sultan offered me control of the counties. I formed the Duchy of Sardinia (including Corsica) and gave control of the Duchy to my heir, Charles II.

In an effort to become a man exalted among men (get 1000 prestige), I hosted a great hunt. Unfortunately, wolves attacked and I was permanently maimed and temporarily wounded. It was a great failure, but the fortitude of this monarch is strong, and time will erase the wounds, and I will fight on despite the maimed leg. About this time, I noticed some discontent stirring in the dynasty. The younger child Phillipe was well known to be a maniacal schemer and he had hired the services of an efficient and ruthless spymaster. Tucked away in his castle in Anjou, he sent out assassins to remove his brother, the heir apparent, and his brother's son (named Phillipe at his birth, in honor of his uncle and would-be slayer). Phillipe clearly wanted the throne of Naples and would not be content with inheriting my titles of Duke of Anjou and Duke of Province. (NOTE: Actually Phillipe succeeded multiple times in murdering his nephew AND his brother. The first time it happened, I had no idea what was going on and reloaded, thinking that I had done something myself to get both of them killed. The event text decided it would not tell me about my grandson's death, so I was ignorant of it for quite some time. The next time I realized what was going on, and as I am trying to play a semi-historical game - I want Charles to get the throne as it was in history - I reloaded again and tried to prevent this.) Thankfully my spymaster, who I sent to protect my son and grandson from plots, caught the assassins trying to kill my grandson and informed me of the worst - it was my other son who was the culprit. Heartbroken, but unable to tolerate such a gross act of cruelty, I sent my bailiffs to arrest my second son.

Phillipe, however, would not be so easily taken. He escaped from the castle moments before the guard arrived and rallied his counties' forces in rebellion against me! Charging his older brother with the task of raising troops against the rebels, he solemnly rode to fight, brother-against-brother in the cold northern lands of Maine. My troops boarded boots drawn from Sicilian cities and went the long way through Gibraltar, up the Atlantic and disembarked from the bay of Biscay. It was a long siege of two well fortified counties. During this time, a few upstart counts in Italy decided to take advantage of my divided attention to declare independence, and I was forced to hire mercenaries to crush them. After about a year, the Italian rebels and my younger son capitulated - being sent to prisons in Naples to await my judgement.

I did not have time to judge the deeds of my younger son. Languishing in prison, he was found dead a mere few months later. It was always rumored that his older brother had repaid Phillipe's treachery in kind, succeeding against him where the older Phillipe's attempt against Charles's son had failed. But I was too heartbroken at the affair to see it, or to imprison my only remaining son for an understandable act of vengeance.

[Bison]

Good sized patch put out today.  Lot's of little fixes.

[TheCommandTent]

You guys are really making it harder not to buy this game.

[Bison]

Once you get attached to your characters, the game gets much more interesting.  Until that happens, it's just a list of names with numbers.

[son_of_montfort]

Huge tip - do not assign landed titles of major import to second or third sons.

I have found that, if I keep the second sons in my court, I can make sure they do not assassinate my heirs by keeping my spymaster in the capital to uncover plots (which is basically the best thing to have him doing, as a default, unless you need to assassinate someone or spy on a province). If you grant second and third sons a duchy (which would have been common in medieval kingdoms), they will have enough revenue to "spam" assassins toward those that stand in-between them and the throne. I tested this out and the difference is stark (but not Eddard Stark) - in one game where I gave my sons comparable duchies, the second one killed off his brother and his brother's son. I reloaded to before I assigned the duchies, only assigned one to my eldest and heir - no assassin spam.

This really isn't a "bug" per se, although i think that the assassinate option is a little overpowered.

Also, my ruler contracted Syphilis after a Grand Tournament. Being a syphilitic hunchback makes him really unpopular with the ladies.

[Martok]

I've been hearing assassination is both too frequent and overpowered (especially among non-heirs, as you said).  I don't suppose the new patch addresses this at all, does it? 

[Bison]

Well hopefully they address it sooner and better than they did with EU Rome.  The assassination frequency was really a game breaker for a long time and was really never fully resolved.

[son_of_montfort]

I've been hearing assassination is both too frequent and overpowered (especially among non-heirs, as you said).  I don't suppose the new patch addresses this at all, does it?

It looks like it doesn't succeed as frequently as it did before. But, with enough money and a complete lack of caring if you are caught, you can simply hit the assassinate button until you get a hit. They probably need to make the penalty for getting caught a Casus Belli (if you catch a person in your own realm, you can imprison them). I'm not sure how to handle it, frankly. In CK 1, it was too hard and too expensive to make it a viable option. But making it too easy and too cheap leads to the sudden death of an entire family over a month's time. I suppose you could add a "cool down" (like after a failed attempt, the target steps up the guard patrols) or make subsequent attempts after a failure drop to a very low success rate.

[jomni]

Can someone explain to me Matrilinear Marriage and how it is used to one's advantage?

[TheCommandTent]

I bought and dld the game while I slept last night.  ( I could not resist any longer)  So as long as I don't get called into work today my entire day off is shot :)

[son_of_montfort]

Can someone explain to me Matrilinear Marriage and how it is used to one's advantage?

Yes. I can.


Oh.. you mean you WANT me to explain it, now?  ;)

Matrilinear Marriage is a somewhat ahistorical game element where the man getting married takes the dynastic name of the woman, rather than the standard marriage where the woman married into the dynasty of the man.

Why would you want to do this? Let's say that I am playing Queen Joan of Naples, of the d'Anjou dynasty. At some point, she is unmarried and the dynastic head of the d'Anjou dynasty. If I were to arrange a marriage with James of Majorca, who is of the Barcelona dynasty (just an example), then my monarch would become the Barcelona dynasty and their children would be of the Barcelona dynasty - thus ending my line and my game (at least I think, I haven't had this happen yet). Instead, I could use the matrilinear marriage to bring James into my dynasty - thus saving my line (and the Children would be of the d'Anjou name).

You can also use this to bring lower level nobility into the family without losing a sister or something to a foreign dynasty. This is a bit "gamey" but a choice you can make. I do think it is harder to convince a noble to agree to matrilinear marriage.