Gormongous

Oh, it's a perfectly valid strategy in the short term. There's just no way you're going to get through a succession with taxed vassals, so you've got to end it sometime.

In case you were wondering (and I'm sure you were), the movie Ironclad from 2011 is not very good, neither as an entertainment experience nor as a historical document. Just about the only good moment is about an hour and a half in, when Paul Giamatti as King John rants about the divine right of kings for two minutes solid. He actually scores some good points, but we're supposed to start cheering and flashing our American flag/Union Jack tattoos because the rebel at whom he's yelling shoots back some shit about "freedom" and "the people." God, I have no patience for historical epics these days...

Blah blah, I doo not lyke the colour off the cheque, I speke the Kyngs English juste lyke a propere Brittish personne.

Generally speaking, it's always not a bad idea, but it requires a lot more work than does giving away all your duchies to counts. If you have more than a few kings, half your realm can revolt and coordinate in a way that wouldn't be possible if they were all dukes, so it's vital to breed diplomacy-focused heirs and feed any kings constant gifts to keep them happy. Basically, you can't play as fast or rough once you start having kings under your thumb. Even though you're probably right to look askance at giving out crowns, it actually didn't occur to me that the negative consequences you mention are likely to happen, because I never start as an emperor and by the time I become one, my breeding and building programs are far enough along that every heir comes to the throne with eighteen-plus diplomacy and a thousand gold. I'm sure if I was starting at 1066, I'd get my ass kicked too. Also, worth a mention that if you're one of those crazy bastards that taxes their feudal vassals, handing out crowns is a terrible idea, because you're cutting yourself off from all duke-level income. But then, that's only a last-ditch measure for most. EDIT: Also also! Making sure none of your vassals are related to each other (and therefore can't call each other into civil wars) does wonders for a stable realm.

I'm up for anything, whenever! I was so sad that no one showed up for Monaco last weekend.

I played a few games of Infiltration and a few of DungeonQuest. They're pretty close to each other in that they're competitive loot-'em-ups in dangerous settings, but I don't think they play identical at all. There's so more player-on-player friction in Infiltration because you're all progressing along the same path, which changes a lot of the dynamics, especially in the early game. Still, I'd say DungeonQuest is the better design. There is virtually no character differentiation in Infiltration besides the starting item, plus there is a sure-win strategy that takes all the other players noticing and reacting to counter (hang back, pick up people's scraps, and drive up the alarm level). Then again, it's a lot lighter and shorter than DungeonQuest, which might be important for you.

What? Feminism represents a wide-ranging core of beliefs that are quite sensical for identifying and defining a person. Labeling yourself a gamer, meaning just that you play and enjoy games, is not even close to the same thing, although just as valid in the end. Also, the mainstream media is marketing stuff to feminists now? Color me interested. Where can I find these feminist products for purchase?

That's my favorite Junior Senior song.

Yeah! I love how Ireland is Tutorial Island in 1066 and Hard Mode in 867. But hey, that's how history (in video games) goes! You should play a pagan next, Nick. They don't really have claims or treaties like the Christians. It'd be much more the game you want to play.

When I first saw them, I thought they were just for dwarves. Come to think of it, I'm kind of sad they aren't.

Yeah, I agree with all of this. If you find the narratives in Crusader Kings II interesting at all, there's no reason you shouldn't at least try and read the first book, A Game of Thrones. The principal reason the genre trappings exist is just because Martin didn't want to have to be confined by the actual historical events in the War of the Roses.

Well yeah, but you can do that in the bride browser, too. All the bride browser does is filter out all the automatic "no" answers.

That's actually not that useful. The bride browser already filters for anyone who won't accept your proposal. In rare instances, you might find an eligible wife from someone who needs to be bribed to let you marry her, but I don't really think it's worth the effort. Badfinger, I say give it to your son, flag all his children as "important" so that you know when to educate them yourself, and then go from there. Your son might even inherit your title before it becomes an issue at all.

They don't have any of the DLC. Retinues come with Legacy of Rome.

He's got a really big dick.

I read the first three a couple years ago as part of a prose-reading project. I liked the first one more than I could ever have expected, then got diminishing returns with the subsequent books so that I decided to lay off after The Farthest Shore. It's funny, I like Le Guin's writing style, the universe she employs it to create, and the stories that take place there. I like it a lot. But her chapter-to-chapter execution tires me out more than bigger, more pompous fantasy epics. I'm sure I'll finish the series sometime, but it's more that I liked what I read just enough to stop and preserve those feelings.

I'd rather think Ken Levine just changed his mind, rather than some weaselly "Infinite won't build on the story of Rapture. Rapture will only be a location you visit and part of the reason behind a couple major plot elements and the setting for a DLC spin-off."

Yes, a grandson from a matrilineal marriage to a son of the Holy Roman Emperor would be in the line of succession and have a claim to the throne, regardless of dynasty. Only Tanistry and Seniority are not dynasty-agnostic, but they both have their own pronounced weaknesses instead. Anyway, that's why chat is always asking them to do stuff like that, even though Ireland is really too small to be able to press a claim against any kingdom right now. What's more, the Holy Roman Empire is Elective, so an Irish baby is very unlikely to get many votes. I think it mostly seems like Nick's (and chat's) ambition and cupidity, rather than any realistic goal. It's hard to deny that the Thumbs haven't been doing great with their marriages. They marry too much of their family within the court or to local dukes in the hopes of getting a claim, and now that they're under attack, they only have one (albeit large) ally who currently can't respond to their call to arms, for whatever reason. I say, better to use daughters to breed alliances and sons to breed claims, but I guess some people are always reaching for the brass ring.

After all the confusion among the Thumbs about how the de jure system works, I figured I'd just throw together a quick tutorial here. With pictures! Each different piece of land in the game is a county. Each county in the game is part of a duchy. Holding a county gives you control of that piece of land. Higher titles like duchies do not give you control of land, but they do give you control of people in control of land, even if that control is often theoretical. Here is the de jure map of duchies in the British Isles. You can access this map mode by hitting the I key. If you remember in the game, you controlled the counties of Glamorgan and Gwent in the duchy of Deheubarth in southern Wales. Since that constitutes over 51% of the duchy, you have de facto control of the duchy, but to gain de jure control you needed to usurp the duchy title formally. Once you have de jure control, you can assert that over the rulers of the remaining counties by vassalization offers or by war, even if at any point you lose de facto control of the actual counties. Here is the de jure map of kingdoms in the British Isles. You can access this map mode by hitting the O key. Each duchy is part of a de jure kingdom. Unlike de jure duchies with their counties, you do not need 51% of a kingdom's de jure duchies to form or usurp the kingdom, only 51% of the counties that constitute those duchies. Like duchies, kingdoms give you de jure control over its counties, which you can make de facto through vassalization or war. Since, by controlling the duchy of Deheubarth, you and your vassals hold three of the eight counties, you will need two more counties to form Wales, at which point you will probably be able to usurp the duchy of Gwynedd anyway. Here is the de jure map of empires in the British Isles. You can access this map mode by hitting the P key. Each kingdom is part of a de jure empire. Like de jure kingdoms with their duchies, you do not need any of the empire's de jure kingdoms or duchies to form or usurp the empire, only 80% of counties that constitute those kingdoms and duchies. However, most empires have a special requirement that must be fulfilled to create them. Usually, it involves holding a kingdom title from outside the de jure empire. All other de jure rules described above apply. Except for the Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Persian Empire, none of the game's other de jure empires begin formed. They are typically seen as the endgame for most players. When you click on any title shield in the game, you are sent to the Title Information screen. This screen exists for all titles, both created and uncreated. If the checkbox at the top right of that viewer labeled "De Jure" is empty, you are seeing the de facto situation of that title. The shields lined up along the top right above the checkbox show, in order from lowest to highest, the higher titles of which it is a current de facto part. The central box will contain all the de facto titles that are subordinate to the title you are viewing. You can see the overall de facto status of your realm by hitting the F key to view the "Direct Vassals" map mode. If you check the "De Jure" checkbox on the Title Information screen, you are viewing the ideal de jure situation of the title. This includes along the top right the higher titles of which it is a de jure part and in the middle the lower titles over which it has de jure claim. Much of the internal political game in a mid- to large-scale kingdom is the efforts of vassals to be as close to that "ideal" de jure state as possible. Dukes will want to control all their de jure counties, by proxy through vassals they directly control if they cannot control it by themselves. If two dukes marry together into one super-duke (a very technical term), they will seek to consolidate their lands into the de jure territories of both their duchies. Hence, AI behavior is the tension between two forces: the need to expand and the need to control as much de jure territory as possible of the titles they already hold. Satisfy one and you don't really need to worry as much about the other. EDIT: Yeah, I know. Just skim over the pedantic parts, if you can.

Same here, two skills on the Rifle tree never showed up for my character. Like I said before, it's got a lot of weird little usability things that I hope they fix up.

I'm pretty sure the 5750 is better. Basically, the first number is the generation number. The second (and third) are what's really important. The 5750 is a higher-tier card, the newer architecture of the 7570 will not make up for it. Just make sure you have the power to run it!

It's like Red Letter Media! Some people think that what makes Plinkett great is that he's old, creepy, and sexist.

Fixed it for you (also being absurd).

If being a gamer wasn't thought by a decent number of people to define someone in some way, they wouldn't make "gamer grub" and "gamer gear." I mean, think about that. We don't have "watcher wear" or "reader food." Sorry, I couldn't alliterate with the last one.

I love how eight out of the twenty titles are "Rebel/Rogue" something. Gotta leverage Star Wars brand identities to tap into that youth market! EDIT: And eight are "Jedi" something, too! mikemariano's right, "Rebel Jedi / Jedi Rebel" is the clear apex of this sample.