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Holy poo poo, this game. It's probably good I got it when I was unemployed because I'm completely hooked. It took me awhile to get over the more Civilization series-esque "these are win conditions" and to realize it's more about the experience and efforts than anything else, and once I cleared that hurdle, holy poo poo. I started out on Ireland, became king, and eventually wound up with way too much inbreeding and was watching my dynasty drop like flies before someone finally hit the throne who wasn't hated by everyone and facing constant death threats or so inbred that they couldn't make it past 10. Now I'm trying to figure out what to play next. For someone who's moved slightly beyond the basics but still isn't an expert is there any particular start date/person combo you'd recommend for an interesting experience that isn't just "hope your neighbors don't beat you up before you have a chance, shitlord"?
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Aug 23, 2015 04:56
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Tendai posted:Now I'm trying to figure out what to play next. For someone who's moved slightly beyond the basics but still isn't an expert is there any particular start date/person combo you'd recommend for an interesting experience that isn't just "hope your neighbors don't beat you up before you have a chance, shitlord"? Duke Robert of Apulia or King Alfonso of Leon, both 1066. As Duke Robert, you are one county away from becoming the King of Sicily.Take a single county and then use claims/holy wars to consolidate your realm. The Island/Duchy of Sicily is a great demense, Palermo can hold 4 castles. After that, you can aim for Croatia or the Kingdom of Africa for expansion opportunities, while grabbing small pieces of Italy when the HRE is weak to eventually form the Empire of Italia. The Byzantine Empire may declare war on you since Sicily is de jure Byzantine territory, so allying with the HRE is advisable. As King Alfonso, murder your brothers in the right order and you'll have 3 kingdoms extremely quickly. After that, holy war your way to the Empire of Hispania and expand from there into France or Mauretania. Pivotal Lever fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Aug 23, 2015 |
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Aug 23, 2015 05:26
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Awesome, thank you. There are so many choices that I can't pick. I'll have to try one of those once I'm done getting my realm fragmented because my wives have too many goddamn sons.
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Aug 23, 2015 06:01
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Tendai posted:Awesome, thank you. There are so many choices that I can't pick. I'll have to try one of those once I'm done getting my realm fragmented because my wives have too many goddamn sons. That fragmenting is a likely cause of being under Gavelkind succession. If you can help it, you want to get away from Gavelkind as fast as you can. 
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Aug 23, 2015 06:06
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Tendai posted:Holy poo poo, this game. Apulia 1066 is the best novice Catholic start, the above post explains it well. Byzantines 1081 is a fun start where you begin with a lot of power but face big problems. You might lose eventually but it will be interesting regardless. Branching out from Christianity, Svitjod (proto-Sweden) in 867 is an easy and fun Norse start. Any Muslim in Spain in 1066 is a good introduction to Islamic rulers. Most of the other religions don't really have easy starts, or most of their starts are functionally equivalent. If you want to play as a Republic, any of them will do - they all start in similar positions and present similar challenges.
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Aug 23, 2015 06:08
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Odobenidae posted:That fragmenting is a likely cause of being under Gavelkind succession. If you can help it, you want to get away from Gavelkind as fast as you can. This game is amazing. Jazerus posted:Apulia 1066 is the best novice Catholic start, the above post explains it well. Byzantines 1081 is a fun start where you begin with a lot of power but face big problems. You might lose eventually but it will be interesting regardless. EDIT: Question. Is there any penalty to joining a crusade to score sweet papal opinion points and then doing sweet gently caress-all since you're so far away from the action nothing touches you, aside from simply not getting the territory if the papal forces win since you didn't contribute? Tendai fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Aug 23, 2015 |
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Aug 23, 2015 06:28
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e:: ^^ Nope, no penalty at all. It may be within your interests to send an army lead by your ruler, marshal, and anyone else you want to give a nice martial bonus to to the target kingdom of the crusade. As soon as you step off the boat onto the target, the commanders of any armies you land there will get the "Crusader" trait, giving them +2 martial and a couple other nice bonuses, even if you disband the army immediately and they never see combat.Tendai posted:Oh yeah, I know. It was my own dumb mistake, he had like 6 girls and 1 boy and was around 50 years old so in a panic I changed it to absolute agnatic and then suddenly his geriatric rear end got his wife pregnant and she had two more sons while I couldn't change the succession. So I killed them both once I got so old that I was afraid I might die. Everyone hates me, but at least they like my (one) heir. Harald Fairhair (Ostlandet, southeastern Norway) in 867 makes for a pretty fun start. Norse/Germanic is one of the most fleshed-out religions in the game, for one thing. As Halfdan, you're surrounded by neighbors that are all slightly weaker than you, and Catholics are a kind of distant threat. With the "become King of Norway" ambition, you can easily conquer all of Norway within a few years. This makes you a very powerful ruler and from there the world is your oyster. You're in a good position from there to reform the Norse faith and you'll have big enough armies that raiding will be incredibly profitable. Pakled fucked around with this message at 06:47 on Aug 23, 2015 |
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Aug 23, 2015 06:43
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I can't play this game anymore unless I'm 769 Ghana and try and perfect slam the fastet Mali to attempt to reform faith before the Umayyad get some BS amount of land through marriages. This accounts for my last 16 hours of play time... I've gained all of Africa right up until the 4th holy site and then its always a 10k of islamic madmen
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Aug 23, 2015 07:03
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Tendai posted:EDIT: Question. Is there any penalty to joining a crusade to score sweet papal opinion points and then doing sweet gently caress-all since you're so far away from the action nothing touches you, aside from simply not getting the territory if the papal forces win since you didn't contribute? You can't do peacetime stuff like feasting, demanding religious conversion, etc. This is generally a total nonissue but can be a pain if, for example, your genius chaplain goes heretic and the Crusade drags on forever so you can't order him to convert back. This is obviously a downside of any false war, though, not just crusades. Edit: A huge benefit to doing this is getting Crusader if you siege for a little bit within the target kingdom though. You can rotate all of your adult dukes through command slots and get them all Crusader, which gives an opinion bonus to other Crusaders - so now your vassals all actually like you and each other! It's like a medieval corporate retreat which mostly involves standing outside of Acre and yelling threateningly at the walls. Jazerus fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Aug 23, 2015 |
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Aug 23, 2015 07:17
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Jazerus posted:Edit: A huge benefit to doing this is getting Crusader if you siege for a little bit within the target kingdom though. You can rotate all of your adult dukes through command slots and get them all Crusader, which gives an opinion bonus to other Crusaders - so now your vassals all actually like you and each other! It's like a medieval corporate retreat which mostly involves standing outside of Acre and yelling threateningly at the walls. This is the best thing about Crusades, +25 with every vassal is awesome.
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Aug 23, 2015 07:30
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One minute you suddenly end up ruling half of England as well as your vaguely insignificant Polish duchy because of a lucky marriage by your heir, the next minute you get lunatic and voice of Satan in close succession. I got this.
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Aug 23, 2015 08:34
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As a question of historical accuracy, which may not be worth considering for gameplay reasons, the east-west schism happened (or maybe better to say concluded) in the 11th century. There were a lot of events leading up to it that led to a distancing of the Bishop of Rome from the other leaders of Christianity, but with the start dates for games getting earlier and earlier, does it make sense at a certain point to start with a united Chalcedonian Christianity (with the Orthodox mechanics) and then have events leading to the Bishop of Rome consolidating more and more power to himself, resulting in the split between Roman Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity? Or were the historical disputes the led to the "final" split significant enough to warrant them being separate sects of Christianity even by Charlemagne's time? I think, in any case, that a schism event chain for pre-1100 starts might be interesting.
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Aug 23, 2015 13:34
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GunnerJ posted:As a question of historical accuracy, which may not be worth considering for gameplay reasons, the east-west schism happened (or maybe better to say concluded) in the 11th century. There were a lot of events leading up to it that led to a distancing of the Bishop of Rome from the other leaders of Christianity, but with the start dates for games getting earlier and earlier, does it make sense at a certain point to start with a united Chalcedonian Christianity (with the Orthodox mechanics) and then have events leading to the Bishop of Rome consolidating more and more power to himself, resulting in the split between Roman Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity? Or were the historical disputes the led to the "final" split significant enough to warrant them being separate sects of Christianity even by Charlemagne's time? I think, in any case, that a schism event chain for pre-1100 starts might be interesting. I've had this thought too - although one big obstacle is that the Pope title always exists, and HAS to, since a lot of random events trigger from it (even things that have nothing to do with Catholics). I imagine the technical difficulties in adjusting the system to split the east and west churches after a certain point in time is why they didn't already do it with Old Gods/Charlemange.
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Aug 23, 2015 15:46
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I'm going for Gardariki->Merchant Republic, but I don't have the Charlemagne start date, so I've been starting as Rurik at 867. I've been having a drat hard time at it, though, between the fact that my tribal provinces in the frozen steppes are dirt-poor, and that it's hard to build up a strong enough army to conquer the holy sites I need to reform the faith. I can barely keep my vassals in check, it's just one civil war after another. 
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Aug 23, 2015 16:06
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...I didn't know you could become a werewolf. Or at least think you did. And that duke started out as so loved, before he turned into a lunatic and started murdering people at night thinking he was a lycanthrope.
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Aug 23, 2015 16:31
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Anyone else have the Imperial Administration Law disappear on them? I still have the effects, its just no longer around on the laws screen. Don't have Charlemagne because I prefer the way IA works without it. EDIT: This was when I pressed my claim externally. And it does look like there are a few others going by the bug reports forum, though I presume they have Charlemagne. lurksion fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Aug 23, 2015 |
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Aug 23, 2015 16:48
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I keep getting cucked.  I'm only two generations into a new game and my vassals have hosed my wives or concubines on at least four separate occasions.
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Aug 24, 2015 01:25
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Become Greek, start castrating until you are the only one who can cuck.
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Aug 24, 2015 01:43
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Clochette posted:I keep getting cucked. Yep. That's the way it's supposed to work.
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Aug 24, 2015 02:40
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Clochette posted:I keep getting cucked. Am I the only person this doesn't happen to? I've never had a big problem with people cuckolding my wives.
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Aug 24, 2015 06:04
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So, Khazaria in my game has apparently moved north. They are now situated just below Perm. Also they are now Germanic. Still nomads I'm sure. It took a while but I kicked the rear end of Lollard Aragon so more than double the size of my realm, though I don't feel comfortable trying to pick a fight for independence just yet. Khazar Sunni Greece is still going strong, and while their borders are ugly, Sunni Byzantines seem to be holding on fine all things considered. A whole lot of the steppes are Sunni now too. France, my liege, is holding off the Ummayads pretty well, and Abyssinia has almost all of Egypt, enough to bring the Order of St. Anthony into existence at least, but with those exceptions this seems to be a Muslim world.
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Aug 24, 2015 06:12
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Eric the Mauve posted:Yep. That's the way it's supposed to work. Is it because of Way of Life?
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Aug 24, 2015 06:17
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So far in my Aquitaine -> Byzantine -> Roman Empire game, I think every one of my rulers (aside from the children) have had lover's pox as soon as they came into the throne due to Seduction, and one of my rulers went through about five wives after divorcing each one for adultery As much as I like Way of Life, there's probably something to be said for toning down the rampant adultery some
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Aug 24, 2015 06:26
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I just had the Shia Uprising event fire, but their doomstack is just wandering back and forth between 3 provinces and not actually doing anything. You jackasses were supposed to break up the Abbasids for me! 
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Aug 24, 2015 08:13
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Has anyone ever actually seen the Shia win in recent builds? I get the notification all the time but I don't think I've ever seen them successfully break away. I'm tempted to just console it in, next time.
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Aug 24, 2015 08:20
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I've seen the Shia win twice in 2.4.3, but I did remove the morale bonus Muslims get at low decadence.
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Aug 24, 2015 08:35
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Mr.Morgenstern posted:Am I the only person this doesn't happen to? I've never had a big problem with people cuckolding my wives. Your probably not paranoid.
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Aug 24, 2015 08:45
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simonwolf posted:Has anyone ever actually seen the Shia win in recent builds? I get the notification all the time but I don't think I've ever seen them successfully break away. I can recall the Shiites winning once, but it was in a very small Kingdom of Africa that was easily gobbled up by the Umayyads. I've seen the Shia event hit the Abbasids the same time a Decadence revolt hit them, and the clowncar stomped both of them. 
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Aug 24, 2015 09:09
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Tendai posted:Holy poo poo, this game. For quick "go big or go home" gameplay, there's no beating Haesteinn of Nantes (867 start). You are a one-province Norse Germanic count in Brittany. However, unlike most Germanic rulers, you start out feudal, have free reinforcing event troops and a free fleet (excellent for raiding), and have enough prestige to Prepare Invasion against anyone you want. You have an excellent Martial score, the Viking and Quick traits, a son to carry on your line, and tech progress that isn't totally lovely. There's really no limit to the fun you can have with this world traveler. Easy mode: Use your prepared invasion on Brittany, take Cornwall as well, and become the King of Bertángaland. Nab three Germanic holy sites as quickly as possible using the subjugation casus belli and declare yourself Fylkir. Call Great Holy Wars for any kingdom you want. Bonus: Take the Pomeranian coastal counties so that the Jomsvikings will spawn later. As the sole Germanic holy order, they'll enable all manner of Germanic prepared invasions and holy wars to be successful. Enjoy watching your religion explode across the map. Normal mode: Take any duchy you want, possibly by breaking truces (prepared invasions grant more troops if you're a higher rank than count). Launch a prepared invasion of Scotland or any of the English petty kingdoms. They'll have fairly few allies, and you should have no trouble steamrolling their pathetic levies. You'll have a good chunk of land, you'll have access to several nearby Germanic allies in Suðreyjar or Jorvik, and people in Catholic Europe are unlikely to bother you. It's like the 1066 Ireland start, but much more fun. Alternately, invade Asturias and prepare to fend off both Catholics and Muslims alike. Hard mode: Take Brittany piecemeal by breaking truces, then prepare an invasion of one of the Karling realms. The ~10,000 event troops you get prior to the invasion should be more than enough to swat down the armies they will feebly try to piece together against you. Example: Prepare an invasion of Frisia (against King Louis the Stammerer) and siege down every non-Frisian capital barony of his. You will occupy almost all of his land, but the "King Louis controls Frisia" warscore penalty will keep him from surrendering. Then take any Frisian county you want. Bam, instant 100% warscore, instant surrender, and you now have a major foothold in Europe, with a Norse Germanic capital along the Frisian coast (and a ton of holding slots). Raise crown authority by any means possible so you can revoke any remaining Catholic nobles' titles and replace them with loyal Odinists. Create a vassal republic in Brittany or Normandy for sick cash. You can also try converting to Norman or Breton first for the knight retinue. Build an army of mounted, armored warriors with sword and lance ready to die for Odin's glory (and get ready for the inevitable crusades and Catholic revolts you'll definitely face). Harder mode: Take Sicily and piece together the kingdom. Move your capital, convert to Orthodoxy, and plot your way to the Byzantine throne. Rename your title to something suitable, like "Kæsar". Let the Norse offspring of Haesteining be the inheritors of Rome's legacy. You can't castrate prisoners, but who gives a poo poo? Expert mode: County-conquest your way to India, raid until you capture a Buddhist woman, prepare your invasion of England, conquer it, make the Buddhist woman your concubine, and convert to your concubine's religion. Become the Norse Buddhist emperor of Brittania. This is the easiest way to get the "British Raj" achievement. Insane mode: Raid Mauretania for a Shiite woman, prepare an invasion of Mauretania, take it, make the Shiite woman your concubine, convert to Shia Islam, and mercilessly conquer the false Caliph's lands by breaking truces. Declare yourself the Shia Caliph, then share the good news with your Norse brethren. For extra bonus points, do this within Haesteinn's lifetime! A millennium later, some of the descendants of Haesteinn will proclaim: Det finns ingen gudom värdig att dyrka utom Gud och Muhammed är Hans sändebud. You can get the "Viking Ummah" achievement this way. Mandatory: Whatever else you do, always raid Rome, always capture the Pope, and always ask him "where is your Blessed Virgin now?" as the hangman readies his rope. Aschlafly fucked around with this message at 12:55 on Aug 24, 2015 |
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Aug 24, 2015 12:53
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lurksion posted:Anyone else have the Imperial Administration Law disappear on them? I still have the effects, its just no longer around on the laws screen. Don't have Charlemagne because I prefer the way IA works without it.
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Aug 24, 2015 13:38
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Aschlafly posted:Expert mode: County-conquest your way to India, raid until you capture a Buddhist woman, prepare your invasion of England, conquer it, make the Buddhist woman your concubine, and convert to your concubine's religion. Become the Norse Buddhist emperor of Brittania. This is the easiest way to get the "British Raj" achievement. Not since Horse Lords. Start as Turkestan, invade a county in India (give away counties to other clans until the invasion CB is unlocked by being at 90% or more of your max pop), raid until you get a hindu/buddhist/jain concubine, convert, then head west, either by conquesting your way through the Suomenuskos or leapfrogging via an invasion of Volga Bulgaria if the Bolgars haven't been conquered. Subjugate whichever Norse power is biggest, raise their boats, move all your hordes to England. Invade whoever's convenient, move your capital to England, then give away all your non-English counties to other clans then make them and your Norse vassals independent. A horde in England is like a fox in a henhouse - nobody there can stand up to thousands of cavalry. Remember to make Pictland a tributary at some point while you're there to grab Go West Young Mongol while you're at it. 
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Aug 24, 2015 14:48
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simonwolf posted:Has anyone ever actually seen the Shia win in recent builds? I get the notification all the time but I don't think I've ever seen them successfully break away. I've had the Shiites take Egypt in one game from the Hashimids and once take Khiva. In both cases they sit there with a huge amount of event troops, but then once they lose them they get eaten fast.
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Aug 24, 2015 17:05
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I'm about to give After the End another go and want to play as the country/ies with the most fleshed out mechanics, any recommendations?
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Aug 24, 2015 17:12
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Vichan posted:I'm about to give After the End another go and want to play as the country/ies with the most fleshed out mechanics, any recommendations? The Voodoo religion has some fun mechanics and there's a Voodoo merchant republic in New Orleans that I had a lot of fun playing.
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Aug 24, 2015 17:33
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Vichan posted:I'm about to give After the End another go and want to play as the country/ies with the most fleshed out mechanics, any recommendations? Any "ports" of vanilla religions are going to have most of the same features. Catholic for obvious reasons is pretty full of content. Ursuline too, and they both get crusades. The Norse are a blast because you can raid up and down the Mississippi and Great Lakes iirc Americanists have pilgrimages and the Presidency, where any Americanist can be elected the head of the religion. Miclantec has a lot of cool things currently. They get vision quests like a lot of other religions, but they also get to have sacrifices and your rulers can become avatars of various gods. Sagrado Corazon just got some new content, like being able to challenge people to a luchador duel  . And Cetic California is in the middle of a political clusterfuck, which is an interesting challenge. They get a unique government type that allows for free ducal revocation, Buddhist sin-removal ambitions, and four philosophical paths that work like the Dharmic sects. Probably my favorite area to play in already, and the West Coast is a pretty recent addition. The Great Lakes comes close though.
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Aug 24, 2015 17:58
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Seconding California. Trying to restore imperial authority as the Cedic emperor makes for a very fun game. Had to stop because the current github version is really CTD prone, though.
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Aug 24, 2015 18:46
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I started a new game after a break from playing, and I've been getting a lot of events about catching my vassal with one of my courtiers. So I take a look at my court and... all of my unmarried female courtiers are pregnant.  By this dirty old man:  I've just played two years! I want to mod in a "Registered Sex Offender" honorary title to give him, requiring him to stay 1000 yards away from my castle and courtiers at all times.
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Aug 25, 2015 04:42
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simonwolf posted:Has anyone ever actually seen the Shia win in recent builds? In recent builds? I've never seen them win ever. Meanwhile:   I have the biggest alt-history boner right now, you guys have no idea  no idea
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Aug 25, 2015 14:08
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And it's still 851. I can't imagine the economy of a Merchant Republic of that size. To say nothing of it's retinues. And the Silk Road too. Gods.
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Aug 25, 2015 14:27
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simonwolf posted:Has anyone ever actually seen the Shia win in recent builds? I get the notification all the time but I don't think I've ever seen them successfully break away. I've seen them win in Old Gods before, but usually it's against the Umayyads or Aghlabids, not the Abbasids.
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Aug 25, 2015 14:32
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