Paradox Interactive Thread: V3 'Check out my sick Germany blob' - Games

Honestly what with a grand new update coming out some time soon, I'd say it's worth it to buy Stellaris. Hell, maybe we can all arrange a game together sometime

[QUOTE=SuperPlamz;50994811]What's your favorite start in CK2? I'm looking for ideas, as a player that is semi experienced but still quite shit. The Byzantines look interesting to me, but I'm not sure who to start with.[/QUOTE] Latin Empire, you're surrounded by people who hate you. Your claims on Greece also lead people who hate you to become your vassals. Quite fun.

You know I feel like CK2 would be much more interesting at the start if the HRE was modelled more like in EU4. I know that the HRE used to be more centralized but honestly the game isn't quite as fun when you're a vassal and it'd be a lot better to see all the different states on the map when you select.

Tbh I don't think the HRE was ever as centralized as CK2 represents it. It's probably one of those empires that needs a unique system to really simulate it.

[QUOTE=Anderan;50997852]Tbh I don't think the HRE was ever as centralized as CK2 represents it. It's probably one of those empires that needs a unique system to really simulate it.[/QUOTE] The HRE was on par with neighbouring feudal realms during most of CK2's timeframe afaik. It's really after the Golden Bull that things went downhill.

I played CK2 with a friend and took 3 provinces in Russia and got 15℅ threat, what's up with that

[QUOTE=Kljunas;50998497]The HRE was on par with neighbouring feudal realms during most of CK2's timeframe afaik. It's really after the Golden Bull that things went downhill.[/QUOTE] That's just the thing, there's nothing to emulate the HRE declining into what it became. The influence of the princes and the Pope were established fairly early on in the HRE's existence even if they didn't receive the same level they have in the era of EUIV until much later. There's no Imperial Diet, the Emperor acts pretty much just like every other ruler attempting to just centralize without any of the internal politics that existing in the HRE, instead of trying to maintain the current system like the Emperor did historically, the conflict between the Emperor and the Papacy isn't there ect. Sure you sorta get some of these things with factions and laws but it's just not the same. I guess that's just CK2 though, it represents most countries in the most generic way possible to allow for the most freedom. Most of the real differences come from different religions.

Question: if I want a game similar to Darkest Hour without the historical railroading, do you have anything to recommend? I bought DH believing it to be a sort of alternate history sandbox, and at first I loved the rich interfaces for controlling domestic policy, conducting espionage and interacting with other countries. But then I found most of my attempts at experimentation thwarted by railroading; forming alliances outside the historical ones seems nigh impossible, Most countries aren't playable, and giving away huge amounts of units/resources to smaller countries didn't seem to have any effect on their success or behavior. In one game as the Soviet Union I moved all of my troops out of the western territories and declared war on Finland, allowing them to conquer a massive area without resistance, only to then get a Winter War victory event causing them to surrender and instantly give it all back. So if I want a game where I can, like, conquer Africa with a Greco-Ethiopian theocracy, what should I buy?

Is it just me or is it much, much easier to play minors in HOI4? I easily conquered France as the Netherlands on medium difficulty.

[QUOTE=Anderan;50998905]That's just the thing, there's nothing to emulate the HRE declining into what it became. The influence of the princes and the Pope were established fairly early on in the HRE's existence even if they didn't receive the same level they have in the era of EUIV until much later. There's no Imperial Diet, the Emperor acts pretty much just like every other ruler attempting to just centralize without any of the internal politics that existing in the HRE, instead of trying to maintain the current system like the Emperor did historically, the conflict between the Emperor and the Papacy isn't there ect. Sure you sorta get some of these things with factions and laws but it's just not the same. I guess that's just CK2 though, it represents most countries in the most generic way possible to allow for the most freedom. Most of the real differences come from different religions.[/QUOTE] That's why I hate DLC like Charlemagne and Rajas. There's so much shit that's just generic for so many places that desperately need something unique. We needed a Holy Roman Empire DLC (maybe we'll still get it), we need a England DLC, we need a Spain DLC. EU4 was great with how it fleshed out vanilla nations, especially now that we're getting stuff with Prussia and such in the next update. It's why I've always seen EU4's DLC's as far superior to CK2's, despite liking CK2 more. Reaper's Due is certainly a step in the right direction to fleshing out what we already have, but I'd like to see some country focused DLC. Just one or two would flesh things out extremely. [editline]4th September 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Deodorant;50999278]Question: if I want a game similar to Darkest Hour without the historical railroading, do you have anything to recommend? I bought DH believing it to be a sort of alternate history sandbox, and at first I loved the rich interfaces for controlling domestic policy, conducting espionage and interacting with other countries. But then I found most of my attempts at experimentation thwarted by railroading; forming alliances outside the historical ones seems nigh impossible, Most countries aren't playable, and giving away huge amounts of units/resources to smaller countries didn't seem to have any effect on their success or behavior. In one game as the Soviet Union I moved all of my troops out of the western territories and declared war on Finland, allowing them to conquer a massive area without resistance, only to then get a Winter War victory event causing them to surrender and instantly give it all back. So if I want a game where I can, like, conquer Africa with a Greco-Ethiopian theocracy, what should I buy?[/QUOTE] Hearts of Iron 4 will let you do about whatever you want for better or for worst. [editline]4th September 2016[/editline] CK2 and EU4 also aren't anywhere near as railroaded. That's more of just a HOI thing. If you want to mod Darkest Hour however, then Kaiserreich is an alternate history mod where the Germans won WW1 and it has a FUCKTON of options. Like you can do so many things with almost every nation, it's actually really impressive. There's also New World Order 2 which expands the game to the Cold War and allows for a lot of alternate history. World in Flames 2 does sorta similar iirc. [editline]4th September 2016[/editline] Oh Victoria 2 you can do a lot more too. It's a bit more railroaded than CK2 or EU4 but not as much as some people say. You can be a Communist Byzantine Empire trying to colonize Africa or a Monarchist America fighting a fascist revolution due to the strain on your economy from your attempts to invade Japan. [editline]4th September 2016[/editline] OH OH OH and Mixed Mod adds a lot of flavor to every nation and facilitates a lot more alt history for DH too.

[QUOTE=TheBloodyNine;50999413]That's why I hate DLC like Charlemagne and Rajas. There's so much shit that's just generic for so many places that desperately need something unique. We needed a Holy Roman Empire DLC (maybe we'll still get it), we need a England DLC, we need a Spain DLC. EU4 was great with how it fleshed out vanilla nations, especially now that we're getting stuff with Prussia and such in the next update. It's why I've always seen EU4's DLC's as far superior to CK2's, despite liking CK2 more. Reaper's Due is certainly a step in the right direction to fleshing out what we already have, but I'd like to see some country focused DLC. Just one or two would flesh things out extremely.[/QUOTE] Well Sword of Islam, The Republic, The Old Gods and Horse Lords were kinda that. They made different parts of the map play differently. I would still love more culture-specific mechanics though.

i like how my court physician's idea of a radical new treatment for cancer was snorting the scabs from other people with the same symptoms.

[QUOTE=Kljunas;50999664]Well Sword of Islam, The Republic, The Old Gods and Horse Lords were kinda that. They made different parts of the map play differently. I would still love more culture-specific mechanics though.[/QUOTE] Those were fine for that reason, but then Charlemagne and Raja's double tapped us. I'd say even Old Gods could have focused more on fleshing out shit than pushing the timeline back.

[QUOTE=TheBloodyNine;50999413]That's why I hate DLC like Charlemagne and Rajas. There's so much shit that's just generic for so many places that desperately need something unique. We needed a Holy Roman Empire DLC (maybe we'll still get it), we need a England DLC, we need a Spain DLC. EU4 was great with how it fleshed out vanilla nations, especially now that we're getting stuff with Prussia and such in the next update. It's why I've always seen EU4's DLC's as far superior to CK2's, despite liking CK2 more.[/QUOTE] Charlemagne focusing on two characters instead of focusing on the HRE as a whole was an insanely bad idea and I don't know why that even got past the throwing ideas around a table stage. Why give huge amounts of custom events to only a few chars that only a few people will play and will die early in the game. Why base the entire DLC around it instead of basing the DLC around the empire Charles formed? Why add a start date even earlier than the Old Gods that only results in a huge blob forming in 5 years and really adds nothing interesting to the map (Besides maybe Saxony and their less than historical Zunist religion) instead of fleshing out a million other things in the game. The best part of the DLC was Viceroyalties and Custom Kingdoms, and those aren't good enough to carry the entire DLC.

I think the problem is ultimately the code for CK2 is a lot more byzantine (:v:) than say, EU4, which is much better put together thanks to PDox getting experience from CK2. Anyone who has modded both can attest to that.

Crusader Kings II is some of the most fun dynamic storytelling I've seen in a videogame since Dwarf Fortress. It doesn't feel like playing chess and just taking pieces, it feels more like roleplaying.

CK2 Need Tier: - The Old Gods - Sword of Islam - Legacy of Rome Good Tier: - Reaper's Due - The Republic Okay Tier: - Sons of Abraham - Horse Lords Skippable Tier: - Conclave - Rajas of India - Charlemagne

What does Legacy of Rome add thats needed?

[QUOTE=Tuskin;51004187]What does Legacy of Rome add thats needed?[/QUOTE] Retinues [editline]5th September 2016[/editline] You'd be surprised how helpful an extra 2-3k stack of cavalry can be

Retinues can be a million times better than levies if you spend time on their composition and what commanders you put in charge of them. Add the fact that you can position them right next to a country then declare war on them and instantly destroy their armies makes them the best kind of armies in the game. [URL="https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/comprehensive-retinue-comparisons-for-horse-lords-2-4-x.872371/"]Here's the most up to date guide [/URL](I know it says Horse Lords but they havent changed Retinues at all for Reaper's Due)

With the changes to provinces from Reaper's Due I'm going to see if I can't break 1000 Gold a year for a Khitan run. Highest I got was 725 a year, by 919.

[QUOTE=EnlightenDead;51005659]Retinues can be a million times better than levies if you spend time on their composition and what commanders you put in charge of them. Add the fact that you can position them right next to a country then declare war on them and instantly destroy their armies makes them the best kind of armies in the game. [URL="https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/comprehensive-retinue-comparisons-for-horse-lords-2-4-x.872371/"]Here's the most up to date guide [/URL](I know it says Horse Lords but they havent changed Retinues at all for Reaper's Due)[/QUOTE] Is there an actual comprehensive combat guide somewhere that explains Skirmish/Melee/Pursuit and all the traits better?

[QUOTE=Lone Wolf807;51006728]Is there an actual comprehensive combat guide somewhere that explains Skirmish/Melee/Pursuit and all the traits better?[/QUOTE] Yeah, i'd like one of these too, CK2 combat kinda confuses me, I just try to move larger stacks onto the smaller ones because i have no idea what else i'm supposed to do

Just improve relations with the UK during down time. If you have good relations you have a bunch of decisions and events to agree on borders and the UK will pretty much just leave you alone.

[IMG]https://65.media.tumblr.com/7655fda2a2044267948034e2a33c57db/tumblr_ocwlghcm8l1rmtwl0o1_540.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE=Lone Wolf807;51006728]Is there an actual comprehensive combat guide somewhere that explains Skirmish/Melee/Pursuit and all the traits better?[/QUOTE] [URL="https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/combat-mechanics.664959/"]This is from 2013 but the wiki still links it while referencing horse lords[/URL], the wiki also has the [URL="http://www.ckiiwiki.com/Combat_tactics"]Combat Tactics[/URL] page and the [URL="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11UQ_k0ZIZbIoPx-CxtzFUNTqEcyFdrYn3pA4yPz-2m4/edit#gid=0"]Spread Sheet on Combat Tactics[/URL]. I'm sure the wikis [URL="http://www.ckiiwiki.com/Combat"]Combat [/URL]page would help too.

[QUOTE=Atlascore;51006938]How do you play Victoria 2? I chose the USA and have been improvising as I go along, I have no what the fuck I'm doing, especially when it comes to the economy, I managed to wrestle California and the rest of the south-west from Mexico, after that things went smooth I guess?? But then I made it to 1855 and gave up because I got attacked out of nowhere by an alliance of UK, Austria, Greece, who then relentlessly fuck me on three fronts, they landed something like 200k troops on the east coast. I'm actually kinda impressed at how coordinated the AI is, they not only pulled off one naval invasion, but [I][B]two[/B][/I], landing massive numbers of troops in both Florida and Maine, on top of that they also had troops pouring in from Canada. All of this shit because the UK wanted.. Minnesota? Hahahaha, fuck.[/QUOTE] A few good ways to placate the UK is to build good relations with them and have low infamy. Another smart thing to do if the UK is being cheeky is to try and get an alliance with some of the major European powers. This will tie up most of the UK's armies in Europe allowing you to eat Canada with relative ease. Honestly the thing I usually try to do if I'm a major power in Vicky II is dismantle the UK so that they're no longer a threat. [editline]6th September 2016[/editline] The problem with dismantling the UK is that you may end up with disgusting Canada as pictured below [img]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/437235073102734698/19D1CED66D19886DDF605591FD173B6D5B50A73C/[/img] [editline]6th September 2016[/editline] or you might get clown vomit Africa [t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/442859083258753817/149E07A4834A8AA53E112C396535E09863401DCF/[/t]

As a Canadian, "Kingdom of Quebec" triggers me.

jfc gore is against the rules, snip that

[URL="https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/ck2-dev-diary-21-quarantining-the-bugs.967369/"]New CK2 Dev Diary[/URL] [IMG]http://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/public/192006/yay%20bodies.png[/IMG]