CKII is released.

[hoverdog]

After having much fun with *demo* version I've bought the game (with a nice potato discount for about 15 €). I'll gladly join you, just notify me when and how to do it.

 

[Luzur]

well i tried abit of this crusading business last night, together with Norway (ruled by my wife) and HRE (the Kaiser is married to one of my daughters) and well it went great at the start, the goal where a crusade against Antioch the pope wanted back, so i took 2500 levies from my own holds, and hired a Holy Order (7800 men)and sailed for the Middle East, met up with the Norwegian fleet south of Spain, i made a quick stop and took Malta, then arrived outside Antioch and disembarked along with some 20.000 HRE soldiers and 10.000 norwegians making a huge ass Crusading force of some 40.000 men or so, i took Acre, Aschalon fell to the norwegians and the whole duchy of Antioch fell into HRE hands, pope mailed us pics of his most holy hard-on and piety up our ass, the land was at peace and i celebrated by stabbing a pagan duke in Danzig.

well half a year later, JIHAD.

fuck me, is the game bugged? damn muslims had DOOM stacks of like 20 armies with 10.000 soldiers each, flooding the whole damn area up to my helmet in angry hordes.
not hard to figure out the outcome, the norwegian Duchy of Aschalon where overrunned within a month and all of their 10.000 men where swept aside into the deserts to die, Antioch had just some 1000 men left since the rest had gone home and prob didnt even try to put up resistance, and i fought with tooth and nails in Acre being the last to order my men to run to the boats to save themselves as best they could.

after the victory the muslim Shia OverLord moved his capitol to Acre, like some big FUCK YOU in my face, wasnt Holy Orders supposed to be able to sweep larger pagan armies aside like shit on a shovel? talk about waste of money, i heard they are in the service of the King of Aragon now.

but i still own Malta though, so a small victory was kept atleast.

 

[Malakal]

It all depends on who you are facing like always. Taking on the entire muslim world is comparable to HRE + France + England or even more. In my game muslims overran Spain and southern France, now threaten the very existence of France so... they ARE dangerous.

Timing seems to be crucial here - a good civil war in one major nation (like Shia Caliphate), Byzantine invasion and you are set to go. Alone vs them all? No chance.

 

[Luzur]

it was me, Norway and HRE against the Shia Caliphate, didnt think it was that big.

 

[Malakal]

Ahh yes, and watch ledger. If a nation has over 120k troops in there its not really a good idea to attack them. Pick on them when they are weak.

 

[Renegen]

After having much fun with *demo* version I've bought the game (with a nice potato discount for about 15 €). I'll gladly join you, just notify me when and how to do it.

I hope you bought the game through Gamersgate, less headaches that way. So first update the game and make sure you have the checksum KUMH, if you don't reinstall the game. Then form an account on the Paradox forums, register your game. Then join us in the steam chat of Codex Diversity Squad. To enter the multiplayer, enter the metaserver with the Paradox forum password. As mentioned we usually play afternoons for euro time and morning for kwa time. If we play during the weekdays, it's nighttime for euros and afternoon for kwas.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

it was me, Norway and HRE against the Shia Caliphate, didnt think it was that big.

Shia Caliphate is the other HRE of Muslims, only probably bigger and starts with more advanced tech than you.

 

[Luzur]

well when we started the crusades we met only like 500 men strong units at the most, no doomstacks was in sight, and the whole siege went along virtually unopposed.

but thats how shit goes.

 

[anus_pounder]

Multiplayer session is going well. Sort of. Both Renegen and I have agreed that shit will hit will the fans when our rulers die. Anyway, Renegen's Meissen is doing wonderfully taking over many Norway counties (didn't he also dismantle the Norwegian kingdom as well ?) Both of us are now in a prime position to rape Bavaria.

Bavaria is getting assaulted by rebels in one province, they have lost several to some other HRE Kingdom. Meanwhile, both Renegen and I have claims on several of their territories. Retribution for the previous war is incoming.

Lastly, I would like to defend my kingdom. I could have won the previous war without your help. But that would mean emptying my coffers hiring mercenaries and losing my entire army as well. Its better to say you saved from a phyrric victory.

Still, I cannot overstate how valuable my alliance (in-game as well as out-game) with Renegen is. He has made the game so much easier with both his tutorials and army. For all intents and purposes, he has Bohemia backing him all the way for the rest of the game.

EDIT : The Prince of Poland is the heir to both the Kingdom of Poland and the Byzantine Empire.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I feel like utter filth selling off one of my teenage daughters to some lecherous old king...almost gives me a hard on.

 

[oscar]

I always thought if Muslims start with higher economy and culture techs (as seems to be the case historically at the beginning of the period the game starts at), then shouldn't Western Europeans start with a few levels in armour? Does the Byzantine Empire start with really good weapons tech 'cuse of Damascus steel and all that jazz?

I'd also think no naval combat would eradicate the major advantage of the BE, it's naval control of the Mediterranean.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Byzantium is already ahistorically powerful, don't worry about it.

 

[oscar]

Well it's only real problem was a long-string of crappy emperors who weren't cut out to deal with the Muslim invasions (as is my pretty weak understanding of the Byzantine Empire)?

 

[Malakal]

Well it's only real problem was a long-string of crappy emperors who weren't cut out to deal with the Muslim invasions (as is my pretty weak understanding of the Byzantine Empire)?

There is no such thing as "bad luck with rulers", especially not that would last for hundreds of years.

BE problems were way deeper and influenced their economy and society as a whole. Unfortunately this is not well represented here.

 

[Tigranes]

To be fair, the problems with Byz would be harder than most to represent within the Paradox model of the world. I do think a fair bit of it would be solved if (a) crown authority was not so popamole in general, and (b) the manpower system was rejigged. AFAIK there is no long-term drain on province populations or levy limits, is there? There's only a short term drain of a set pool that refills? Or does frequent levying take a toll on the growth of a province pop? Right now it seems like the Empire can manage to raise tens of thousands of soldiers every 6 months for a civil war ad infinitum. It might also do to reduce populations in the European holdings to reflect the heavy dependence on Asiatic levies by 1066.

Another thing is that concerted uprisings seem to be rare, at least in the games I've played - it's 7-8 dukes and counts who all wage independent wars, though more or less at the same time. I have yet to see a true pretender rally half or more of the empire behind him, which in effect happened several times throughout Byzantine history.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

It would be smarter to give Byzantium a unique penalty building and modifier.

 

[hoverdog]

Hover3-DAWG's Guide to Taking Advantage of Potato CK2 Price

Do you want to buy CK2 for about 17 euros/22 dollars? Well then, Potatoland has just the thing for you! The only thing that can stop you is potato moonspeak. That's where Hover3-DAWG's Guide to Taking Advantage of Potato CK2 Price comes in.

The first part is easy.
Go here.

Click.

Click.

And again.

Fill in.

Accepting will get you to the paypal site, you should be able to manage there.
After your payment, you'll get a couple of e-mails. One is important.

Copy the code and enter the website.

Enter your email (the same you used for buying) and the code as shown.
The next part is a little tricky, as I've fucked up myself. Either you get to set a password, or you'll be taken back to the same screen. If so, repeat action, and when a pop-up appears, click OK. That will send you an email with a link to reset the password. Click and you're get yet another email, this time with your password.

Enter email and the password here.

Click.

This is the steam activation code. Open up steam, go to games -> activate a product on steam and paste the code. Voila! You've just saved 20 moneys.

 

[anus_pounder]

Potato delivers.

 

[Monocause]

To be fair, the problems with Byz would be harder than most to represent within the Paradox model of the world. I do think a fair bit of it would be solved if (a) crown authority was not so popamole in general, and (b) the manpower system was rejigged. AFAIK there is no long-term drain on province populations or levy limits, is there? There's only a short term drain of a set pool that refills? Or does frequent levying take a toll on the growth of a province pop? Right now it seems like the Empire can manage to raise tens of thousands of soldiers every 6 months for a civil war ad infinitum. It might also do to reduce populations in the European holdings to reflect the heavy dependence on Asiatic levies by 1066.

Another thing is that concerted uprisings seem to be rare, at least in the games I've played - it's 7-8 dukes and counts who all wage independent wars, though more or less at the same time. I have yet to see a true pretender rally half or more of the empire behind him, which in effect happened several times throughout Byzantine history.

Yup. In 1300s with my Achaia game - my dynasty is one of the strongest in Europe, only duchies though, no kingdoms - whole world is carved between few huge empires. HRE, BE, France, Poland. Muslims got totally stomped and get devoured by HRE in the middle, France from the west and BE from the east. BE even got as far as the arabian peninsula, should be long now before Egypt falls.

Regardless of how good or bad a ruler is, a feudal empire was always an extremely volatile matter. There should be a lot more infighting than there is now, and more vassals struggling for independence. Most of BE civil wars are failed attempts at becoming the emperor while independence should be the primary target.

One more gripe I have with the game is that you should be able to request a title/fief from your liege. Of course, it should be hellishly hard.

Oh well. Guess I'll play more with Achaia and conquer a kingdom in the middle east for myself and then start again with someone else.

 

[poocolator]

I was minutes away from taking advantage of a fucking claim that I had just fabricated when the fucker declared war on me. I won that war and took the county with towns/castles on which I had a claim, yet am unable to add that county to my peace demands. Fucking retarded. I suppose I gotta enforce the prestige hit the idiot will claim and then immediately declare war again. It doesn't help that the muslims are descending on his remaining territories like a pack of horny boars. Also, I am very butthurt about my wife plotting to kill me.

 

[Trash]

I have yet to see a true pretender rally half or more of the empire behind him, which in effect happened several times throughout Byzantine history.

Haven't seen it either so far. In the preview version the AI sometimes rallied half of Europe for plots. Which could mean that you suddenly had the HRE and France knocking at your door if some duke managed to get them in on his 'lower crown authority' plot. It was harsh and I liked it but have yet to see it happen now. Methinks this has been nerfed drastically?

 

[Spectacle]

I think plots require the plotters to have the same liege in the release version. More realistic perhaps, but also means plots will be weaker.

 

[XenomorphII]

I think plots require the plotters to have the same liege in the release version. More realistic perhaps, but also means plots will be weaker.

No. I was able to plot for the title of France (I had inherited a claim on it from marriages) and amongst the possible plot backers were the HRE, the Byzantine Emperor, and the kings of Leon, England, and Poland.

Of course, none of them supported me, due to poor relations with me, but they were options.

 

[Malakal]

I think plots require the plotters to have the same liege in the release version. More realistic perhaps, but also means plots will be weaker.

No. I was able to plot for the title of France (I had inherited a claim on it from marriages) and amongst the possible plot backers were the HRE, the Byzantine Emperor, and the kings of Leon, England, and Poland.

Of course, none of them supported me, due to poor relations with me, but they were options.

Rulers tend to have huge ----- due to not wanting to intervene in the internal squabbles of other nations. Its obviously a balance issue since otherwise any mere count could usurp king title with the help of his uncle the HRE.

 

[Monocause]

Needs serious tweaking with a shitload of factors involved. As it is now political alliances are meaningless - it's much better to keep your daugters at home, marry matrilineally and hope they'll have sons you can marry with baronesses/duchesses/princesses - or whom you can grant titles yourself if they turn out to be able so that they expand the dynastic holdings themselves. Going this way I'll soon overtake the Capets in dynastic prestige points. My dynasty controls some twenty duchies now around the world, forty counties and 70-something baronies. My court is filled with finely married sons and daughters who married claimants matrilineally and so I'm able to declare war on about a quarter of Europe to ensure that eventually a Murzuphlos would sit on one throne or another. Marry your daughter regularly and you get nothing of it outside of a measly prestige boost. Daughters with a proper claim are too precious and it is currently a no-brainer that it is infinitely better to keep them at your court.

The BE emperors have been my relatives for about a century, with house Murzuphlos providing a steady flow of girls to the Doukas-controlled imperial court - I was a father-in-law of an emperor twice and twice was the emperor my grandson, yet I could not use that as a leverage of any sort.

 

[Yeesh]

Dear smartasses,

What the fuck is with technology? I get it, seperate tech levels for each province, ok, but how does that work for stuff like troop modifiers? I mean the levies just get all mixed together anyway. And what about the one that speeds up sieges? There is no fucking siege equipment, is there?, so how do you know which of your provinces contributes its speed boost when you're sieging an enemy elsewhere? I assume you're not teching up to speed up sieges in your own fucking province.

Love,

Yeesh