CKII is released.

[Malakal]

I absolutely loved CKII to bits at first, but the passion died almost overnight after 2-3 weeks of near-constant playing.

Same here.

well yeah, im into a fully updated EUIII nowadays.

Me too. Its as fun as CK1 was but I wasnt a big fan of CK1...

 

[oscar]

When the Mongols sack Baghdad is it more than a flavour event? Because in real life it was pretty catastrophic and irreversibly changed the area.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I don't know, but I think it IS possible to at least destroy holdings in an area.

 

[RedScum]

New expansion announced - Legacy of Rome.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...Announced!&s=6b911b9316cafb3c79c4f23b4e64102d

 

[IDtenT]

Interesting. Very good additions. I just wonder how they will implement this neutrally, as they have said DLC should be.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

It'll probably end with the pendulum swinging from Muslim roflstomp to Byzantine roflstomp.

 

[IDtenT]

Are those factions going to be Byzantium-only or everyone will have them? I find lone one-county counts revolting against THE MIGHTY EMPIRE OF ALL SURVEY a little ridiculous.

Likely everyone. It seems to be replacing the plot system. So factions will still have to unite behind an idea.

 

[IDtenT]

At least playing Georgia or Russia will become more interesting.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

Interesting. Very good additions. I just wonder how they will implement this neutrally, as they have said DLC should be.

Well it does say expansion as opposed to DLC that if I remember correctly SOI was called. And looking at what they are implementing I'm guessing it's a regular old style expansion pack.

 

[Malakal]

Their "expansions" always were glorified DLCs at best. Seriously, Hoi2: Armageddon or EU3: DW/HTTT anyone? Its just a naming convention change since their fans dont like the word DLC*.

*This does not include their more classic DLCs like sprite packs or music packs.

 

[Garm]

New Faction System: Join a royal faction and use your allies in the party to enhance your strength and tear down rivals
Raise Standing Armies: You will now be able to use retinues to have standing armies in your domain: the size of which is determined by technology
Experience Factional Revolts: No more easily defeated rebellions. Disgruntled vassals will now band together in revolt against your rule through their faction
Appoint Orthodox Patriarchs: Orthodox kingdoms and empires can now control their own heads of religion and their powers, instead of being dependent on the patriarch of Constantinople
Streamlined Mobilization: You will always raise a single, larger levy from your direct vassal; no need to worry about the opinions of the lower vassals
Leader Focus on Combat: Appoint your generals wisely, their traits and skills are now of vital importance on the field of battle. More commander traits are now added to increase the importance of your choice of military leaders
Byzantium Comes Alive: New sets of decisions and events specifically designed with the Byzantine Empire in mind
Improve your ruler: You can now actively strive to improve your skills or traits through the new Self-Improvement Ambitions

1.) Sounds cool...if only this expansion had 3 or 4 other new mechanics.
2.) ...So big ass empires become more unstoppable? Great...
3.) This would be nice...but I have a feeling that Standing Armies will make this completely pointless.
4.) Does the Orthodox religion even have any powers? I thought all they could do was excommunicate...or do they have something similiar to crusading?
5.) Hmm...could be good. Though CK2+ will totally change this feature.
6.) Generals becoming more important is good.
7.) *yawn* Does anyone really play as Byzantium? Why the hell would you want to start micromanaging something that big off the bat?
8.) Lol. You already can do this with the ambitions mod...I wonder if they'll make the modder stop updating it now.

This expansion doesn't even sound remotely worth it--I'm not noticing any new mechanics that would make the game better. Fuck more flavor events for Byzantium.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, it'll probably be pretty cheap though, and some of the new features will probably be good for modding. But yea, fuck focusing an expansion on Byzantium. I'll probably even have to dig up my old nerf-bat (seeing how it seems I'll just have to tough it out and patch my mod with this expansion, since they haven't patched Sword of Andhaira's roflpwning Muslim invasion of Europe yet).

 

[Malakal]

It may not necessarily strengthen blobs, that depends on how effective the new faction-plotting-revolting system is going to be. If Emperors now will face real opposition to centralization they may even end up weaker than before.

Also you know what would work well to nerf Byzantium? More problems with nomads. And by nomads I mean turcomans. Long before Manzikert they were raiding whole Anatolia and there was nothing BE could do to stop them. Bordering nomads should be a real pain in the ass with whole event chains about raids looting your provinces, decreasing income and manpower.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, I've already did a bit of extra for the Russian duchies, in regards to more accurate borders (several counties were not Russian or Christian for over two hundred years from gamestart) and making the pagan neighbours more dangerous early game (not in the conquest sense, but the Raid casus belli they use will do sizable monetary harm, so it's actually a very good idea to get rid of the easy pickings ones in the Baltic, the ones further East are more dangerous as their neighbours tend to be as well). Generally the issue with CK2 is that Pdox has just made it swing from one extreme roflstomp to another (Gorramn Mongorians being the only relatively constant one), from Byzantium and Catholics at first to Muslims currently.

 

[Trash]

While I dig the Byzantines I really had hoped for a Pagan DLC and simulate a second Wend uprising aka Burn Down Central Germany with rampaging heathens. At least the expanded importance on generals and faction politics look nice. Byzantines getting some love also makes sense as they are now a bit the red headed stepchild in the game. I also really, really hope they add more plots and ambitions for everyone in the simultanious to be released patch. They're a bitch to mod in and the game simply needs them.

I think they will roflstompoverpowered one 'faction' after the other untill they have made DLC for them all. Then hopefully we'll see a balance patch of some sort. As it is I like how they add more flavour and personality to the game with each DLC.


Still want childbirth deaths, nastier diseases, declining/destroyable holdings, more plots and ambitions to get into the base game as well though. CKII still can get quite a boring mappainter without them.

And I'll update my Memento Mori mod when it appears to be compatible. Will even expand it a little bit to have some more effects on holdings and provinces during wars and when your coffers run empty.

 

[Garm]

Still want childbirth deaths, nastier diseases, declining/destroyable holdings, more plots and ambitions to get into the base game as well though. CKII still can get quite a boring mappainter without them.

Just download CK2+ and the More Ambitions mod. Only thing they don't do is the holdings bit...but I think Magnate Lords (or another one) does stuff with holdings and is compatible with CK2+.

 

[oscar]

Have had holdings destroyed now and then in CK2+ during sieges.

 

[Trash]

Yeah, several mods including mine have stuff like that. I would just like to see it implemented in the base game. Or we need a DVIP for CKII. None of the mods do for CKII what that one did for CK.

 

[Malakal]

Its highly unlikely to ever get implemented in the base game. Paradox is trying hard to contain the number of characters to avoid bloating and slow downs. Those ideas would require greatly increasing the number of children for those children only to die in their childhood. Quite pointless really, just to please historical buffs.

 

[Luzur]

Well, it'll probably be pretty cheap though, and some of the new features will probably be good for modding. But yea, fuck focusing an expansion on Byzantium. I'll probably even have to dig up my old nerf-bat (seeing how it seems I'll just have to tough it out and patch my mod with this expansion, since they haven't patched Sword of Andhaira's roflpwning Muslim invasion of Europe yet).

hey Vaarna, since you are the event coder extravagance i was wondering about this idea i had for an event, a "Heir is taken by foreign agents and now you are forced to either declare war, pay a huge amount of cash or cede the province the enemy desires to get him back." kind of event.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, it'll probably be pretty cheap though, and some of the new features will probably be good for modding. But yea, fuck focusing an expansion on Byzantium. I'll probably even have to dig up my old nerf-bat (seeing how it seems I'll just have to tough it out and patch my mod with this expansion, since they haven't patched Sword of Andhaira's roflpwning Muslim invasion of Europe yet).

hey Vaarna, since you are the event coder extravagance i was wondering about this idea i had for an event, a "Heir is taken by foreign agents and now you are forced to either declare war, pay a huge amount of cash or cede the province the enemy desires to get him back." kind of event.

That is going to require a very large chain of events, but I think it can be done. Question would be what triggers kidnapping in the first place. Personally I think it'd be better to tie this with the heir having a Guardian who hates you first, or being taken as a prisoner of war (then fired by decision).

 

[attackfighter]

some guardian with a motive sounds good

either because he hates you or because he's greedy, ambitious, etc.

or a combination of those

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

some guardian with a motive sounds good

either because he hates you or because he's greedy, ambitious, etc.

or a combination of those

Well, Ambitious is likely to make them hate you, so there's really no need for a mechanic beyond relations.

 

[Trash]

Check out the siege event mod on the official forums. That modder has all sort of imprisoment events regarding heirs and sieges. Good groundwork for anyone looking to do stuff with kidnappings and so on.

 

[IDtenT]

A new Dev Diary is out, detailing the limitations of not owning the DLC. Personally I feel it's in contradiction with their previous statements, of keeping the checksums the same, but I'm willing to let it slide. I'm guessing this means people who do not own the DLC will get the features if they play Multiplayer with someone who does.

It's Wednesday, and time to answer some questions about the upcoming DLC for Crusader Kings II:Legacy of Rome. The focus of this mini-expansion is going to be the Byzantine Empire and the Orthodox church. First off, in order to clear up any confusion from the original announcement, it's a bit smaller in scope than the Sword of Islam so the price is set at $5.99. While I say it's smaller in scope, if you include all the stuff we're adding for free in the accompanying patch (v1.07) it's probably about the same size as Sword of Islam (SoI) and v1.06.

So, let's take a look at what's in the Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome DLC and what's in patch 1.07...

CRUSADER KINGS II: LEGACY OF ROME DLC

• Retinue system. If you don't have the DLC, you won't see the new interface and you cannot hire retinues (and neither will the AI.) The technology that controls the max size of your retinue and relative decrease of normal levy sizes simply does not have this effect without the DLC.
• Orthodox Councillor models
• Major Decisions for the Byzantine Empire
• Byzantine Events

Oh, and we're taking another tack with the DLC this around - if you don't own the DLC, the AI won't be using the new mechanics or events either. Also, from now on in multiplayer mode, the host will control which DLCs are active.

PATCH 1.07

• Faction system. Replaces many existing plots and normal revolt mechanics with factions.
• Personal Improvement Ambitions
• Orthodox Patriarch system
• Have both a Plot and an Ambition at the same time
• Revised levy raising. (You raise a single, large levy from each direct vassal. The opinions of vassals of vassals are irrelevant.)
• Leader Focus on Combat
• More Cultural Buildings
• Improved AI
• Bug fixes (of course)

I will talk about all these features in detail in upcoming dev diaries, but for now, that's all!

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/content.php?1068-Crusader-Kings-II-Legacy-of-Rome-Dev-Diary-0


So, when are we going to multiplay this new expansion?