CKII is released.

[Vaarna_Aarne]

As far as I know Finnish pagans (apparently other pagans as well) had some very hardline attitudes towards bastards due to how offensive their existence was seen as. The final rune of Kalevala also deals with this (while being a metaphor for the coming of Christianity), where Väinämöinen condemns the Jesus metaphor to death for technically being a bastard child. Hey, that's a good idea for an event (Gates of Hell style)!

 

[Phelot]

GRRR That Gates of Hell event ruined my awesome Byzantine game I had going. Endless loop.

 

[IDtenT]

Autosave Phelot?

 

[eric__s]

Man, I keep getting a million children and grandchildren when I play as Muslims and they all contribute to my decadence score so I have to land them, but that just means they'll have more children and I'll have to land them too. It's gotten to the point where every barony in my territory has someone from my dynasty and I've got so many people who need to be landed that I have to be at war 24/7. How do I stop this cycle? Execute family members? How do I keep my dynasty small when they just won't stop having kids?

 

[Malakal]

Marry old women?

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Man, I keep getting a million children and grandchildren when I play as Muslims and they all contribute to my decadence score so I have to land them, but that just means they'll have more children and I'll have to land them too. It's gotten to the point where every barony in my territory has someone from my dynasty and I've got so many people who need to be landed that I have to be at war 24/7. How do I stop this cycle? Execute family members? How do I keep my dynasty small when they just won't stop having kids?

Can't you turn them into Imams or something? Or it doesn't work like in the West?

 

[IDtenT]

Man, I keep getting a million children and grandchildren when I play as Muslims and they all contribute to my decadence score so I have to land them, but that just means they'll have more children and I'll have to land them too. It's gotten to the point where every barony in my territory has someone from my dynasty and I've got so many people who need to be landed that I have to be at war 24/7. How do I stop this cycle? Execute family members? How do I keep my dynasty small when they just won't stop having kids?

Can't you turn them into Imams or something? Or it doesn't work like in the West?

I guess you can, since mosques work like normal holdings for the Muslims. Even with that double number of holdings you still suffer.

 

[darkpatriot]

You can imprison your good for nothing relatives at no cost(except for a relation hit to their parents). That allows you to keep decadence down. You can also make use of some events that drop decadence. The tournament and fasting for Ramadan. Fighting wars also drops it down. Also make sure to imprison, revoke the land of, and execute any relatives that stray from the faith. You don't need to resort to gaming it by marrying old infertile wives.

The decadence mechanic makes for a different play experience but it isn't really that hard to manage once you figure out the ways to keep it down. Mine is generally between 0-5.

 

[Tigranes]

Sooooo. Worth it, or not?

 

[MetalCraze]

Yeah can anyone give a short overview of how exactly muslim gameplay is different from christian gameplay and whether it's viable to play as small countries facing big christfag empires.

Because judging by my christfag game (and what other people write) only western muslim countries can expand north to Spain, since anywhere east it's all empires.

 

[Spectacle]

Sooooo. Worth it, or not?

It's definitely worth it if the idea of playing as a Muslim interests you. Only costs a small amount of jewgold, and provides a fairly different experience compared to playing the Christians.

 

[curry]

Here's my updated Seljuk Mod.

It's a mod that makes the Seljuks an Empire instead of Kingdom. It makes them more stable because all the starting vassals in Mesopotamia will be de jure vassals so they don't start rebelling before the Seljuks get to make a move. It also has the necessary history files so vassals are linked properly to e_persia instead of k_persia and also localisation update so it's Seljuk Empire and not Khaganate.

Works really well.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I'll have a look see and steal it if it suits my eventual modding return.

 

[scratchmonkey]

You can only execute/imprison your brothers for no hit -- if they're your sons, you still take the hit, so you either have to land them or assassinate them.

It does play differently, there seems to be a lot more inter-family maneuvering, although I've only played a couple games so far. You will get ROFLstomped by the Holy Orders at some point, that's a real kick in the face. I've managed to get the Kalbids to take over Sicily and a large section of Southern Italy. Croatia has made inroads there though and keeps calling down all of Christendom on me.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

This patch brought some interesting stuff. The Byzantines have really taken a beating in my current game, it seems they are no longer a guaranteed unstoppable juggernaut of a super power. At a 1066 start they initially expanded into Sicily, but later lost it to the Fatimids. And have lost both the Kingdoms of Armenia and Anatolia. Though they have retaken some ground later on. This region seems to play out much more differently now, quite good.

However in the west Spain is worse than ever. The Christian Kingdoms really need something to help them. They are usually all gone by 1100 by now. It's ridiculous.

The new cultural buildings are a nice touch as well. I really like that housecarl building for Scandinavians and Saxons, thats some crazy juiced up heavy infantry.

 

[Whisky]

Castille-Leon usually manages to survive if they are merged, but only just barely. Somehow, Navarre survived in my latest game until 1250, despite the Muslims owning everything in Iberia but Navarre and most of Castille.

 

[Kane]

yeah, iberia need a reconquista mechanic.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Kane]

 

[Whisky]

Totally inaccurate. Andhaira would never betray his Muslim roots by drinking. Plus his harem would be full of "hot Russian bitches." And is that Syphilis he has? (Okay, maybe that would explain a lot)

EDIT: No it's not Syphilis. It's insane or something like that; just noticed it was a straight-jacket. I've just never had it appear with any of my rulers yet.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

It's Lunatic (btw, it's absolute cheese with Ruler Designer, it does pretty much nothing but it comes with -70 points to your total, which is naturally used to afford Andhaira traits he deserves, like Strong, Attractive and Genius).

Andhaira is strong. Andhaira is mighty.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Btw, the Decadence mechanic is great fun, makes playing Muslims far more interesting than those who do not know Djinn exist. After Andhaira there died, his favored son succeeded, and the next five years were civil war after civil war as he offed all of his still-living brothers. Still have to go to town with their children though.

 

[Tigranes]

Bought Sword of Islam, time to get back into it. Muslim Impressions soon.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Ooohkay, it seems Muslims are wayyyyyy overpowered now. So far the ONLY Christian country I've seen fight them off for extended periods has been... The Byzantine Empire.

For fuck's sake.

 

[Kosmonaut]

At first they are overpowered, but in my game, with constant infight caused by the decadence system, an aggressive France, and the widespread of heretic muslim religions (caused by low Sunni/Shia church authority) has made the game more easier.

In my current gameplay, there are only two or three african emirates left. Most of the African continent, from Ghana to Berbery has been conquered by France, Barcelona (one single county) and me (Aragon). I don't know, maybe is my game, but with this new decadence system, muslim infighting is more common, and islamic church authority drops steadily.

All of the Jihads has been lost. Bizantyne and Fatimid Caliphat are on a eternal salemate (most of their wars en on white peace). Also, one muslim branch can call Jihad agains the other one (Sunni vs Shia), and in fact happened twice to me.