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I've been enjoying easily my most successful CK2 game yet, at least if you're measuring that by land conquered. I control the Abbasid Empire and became so powerful that I successfully vassalized just by asking. I now control all of Arabia moving west in Egypt, I'm creeping on the Byzantine Empire's doorstep and I just took a huge lump out of Hungary's eastern kingdoms.

 

But I wasn't paying attention to decadence (in truth, I wasn't sure how it worked). Gulp.

 

I suspect my fall will be so calamitous that I may just resign and start another game. I might go for vanilla next time. 

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I knew I wanted to convert a CK2 save to EU4, but then I heard about the customization DLC and decided to go all out.

 

You're welcome, Europe.

 

dKcZyJM.jpg

 

My original goal was to conquer all the world before 1066, but once I had steamrolled Eastern Europe and Greece I decided that was too easy. I decided I am just going to conquer Europe and let it ride. Once I've conquered the lingering farts in Italy, Lotharingia, and East Francia I will put the game into observer mode and run until EU4 era.

 

Looking forward to that.

 

Oh, and here is the religiosity:

v92jrvW.jpg

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So I've started playing this and I'm having a great time. Maybe playing as a loowly French count was a bad idea, but I couldn't resist a Dynasty in which every leader for ever and ever was named Archambaud. I've done pretty well for myself: just had my first succession and since my son had inherited his mother's claim to Auvergne, I've now got two counties. The problem is that France is in a serious civil war situation and it's confusing as fuck.

 

Here's the situation: the (former) King of France is an ally of mine. He's my new heir's brother in law by two connections. Problem is, one of his Duke's deposed him. So now my liege is the new King Robert of France, but my ally is the old (now Duke) Philip. Then the Duke of Toulouse went and started a war to put Philip back on the throne and all hell is still breaking loose. Toulouse is occupying both of my counties, which I don't understand because Philip is my ally. But I guess I can't join the war? When I click on the war, it's tough to tell if Philip or Robert is my enemy. Can anybody help?

 

Also, if a holding in our of your counties is occupied, is there anything you can do about it?

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Here's the situation: the (former) King of France is an ally of mine. He's my new heir's brother in law by two connections. Problem is, one of his Duke's deposed him. So now my liege is the new King Robert of France, but my ally is the old (now Duke) Philip. Then the Duke of Toulouse went and started a war to put Philip back on the throne and all hell is still breaking loose. Toulouse is occupying both of my counties, which I don't understand because Philip is my ally. But I guess I can't join the war? When I click on the war, it's tough to tell if Philip or Robert is my enemy. Can anybody help?

 

Also, if a holding in our of your counties is occupied, is there anything you can do about it?

 

You are King Robert's vassal before you are Duke Philip's ally. The only way the latter trumps the former is if you are called into the war by Philip (or declare war on your liege yourself). Presumably, since you're a one- or two-province count, he doesn't see fit to call you, which means your troops and money are supporting Robert the usurper. There might be an option in Philip's diplomacy menu to ask to join his war, but the circumstances of that option appearing feel inconsistent to me even after seven hundred hours.

 

Also, if one of your holdings is occupied by someone who is at war with your liege but not technically with you, no. There's nothing you can do, besides nurse a grudge or declare war on your liege yourself. That's feudalism, I guess!

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Thanks for the help! One last thing: does the game update automatically or do I need to manually download patches?

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Thanks for the help! One last thing: does the game update automatically or do I need to manually download patches?

 

Steam version updates automatically, although patches usually coincide with new DLC. Gamersgate I don't know, I think it's manual.

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Just spent all this time taking over La Marche, trying to found the Duchy of Bourbon, only to realize that I can't create a title that is the same rank or higher than that of my liege. My son is married to my liege, the Duchess of Aquitaine. When I die, will I be able to control Aquitaine or will it just be his wife and I'll have to wait for my grandson to take power?

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Dangit.

 

Patience! You're playing the long game. Just make sure your daughter-in-law doesn't raise your grandson to be an idiot.

 

Aww, who are we kidding? AI? Idiot? Your grandson's going to be a 2/3/1/1/4 Detached Priest. Nothing you can do about it now.

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I've been using the Thumbs start (Murchad of Munster in 1066) and having a pretty good time! I managed to create the Kingdom of Ireland while Murchad was still alive, but I may have lived too long. Early on, Brian started some plots against me, but I usually just persuaded him to give them up. I even managed to change to primogeniture, so he was the heir to everything. As time went on, I was letting him go on hunts (for the prestige), got him a wife with pretty good stewardship, and he had a few kids with pretty good stats. At a few of my feasts, Brian was the one throwing up on my shoes, and he eventually got the nickname 'the Drunkard'. I wasn't really paying attention to his other stats, but he seemed ok.

 

About a year after I formed the Kingdom of Ireland (~1099), I got a popup for a new heir! What happened? 'Brian ua Briain has died of Depression' Somewhere in the past, he had become Infirm, and along with being a drunk, also become depressed. I guess I lived too long!

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That's perfect, and I might have suggested assassinating him if he hadn't died on his own.  It seems to me advantageous to keep a long rulership, it allows you to spend less time in the negative Short Rule and more time in the Long Rule which is why I prefer the voting system, so you can vote into power a young guy with good stats instead of whoever your son happens to be.

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Yeah, I'm thinking about changing to some kind of elective for that reason. My heir now (one of Brian's sons) actually has pretty good stats, but you can get boned by terrible first-born stats in primogeniture.

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Yeah, I'm thinking about changing to some kind of elective for that reason. My heir now (one of Brian's sons) actually has pretty good stats, but you can get boned by terrible first-born stats in primogeniture.

 

As long as you're smart and careful, Elective is the best succession law, especially if you breed for the diplomacy stat. One of your sons or nephews will end up with twenty-plus in it, which makes them a virtually unassailable candidate for the crown. I only ever switch to Primogeniture (preferably Agnatic Primogeniture) once I have three or four crowns and I start getting worried about a split vote at an inopportune time.

 

As a side note, I know it's still the consensus on the Paradox forums to breed stewardship for max demesne, but I prefer diplomacy for three reasons: i) all traits that give diplo are positive/neutral traits, so your diplo heir will be virtuous and well-liked; ii) the twenty-plus opinion bonus is useful for maximizing vassal relations and taxes; and iii) high diplo plus a high chancellor lets you fabricate claims in a couple years, allowing you to fabricate county claims on entire duchies between truces. Those matter more to me than ten more gold a month.

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I also tend to breed for high diplomacy, unless there just aren't any good wives out there. then I'll go for stewardship or intrigue.

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When you're breeding for high diplomacy, would it be better to raise your heirs with the highest diplomacy person in your court, or are the advangages of doing it yourself still better even if you have lower diplomacy?

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When you're breeding for high diplomacy, would it be better to raise your heirs with the highest diplomacy person in your court, or are the advangages of doing it yourself still better even if you have lower diplomacy?

 

Always raise heirs yourself. Later patches have made the AI better at raising them, but it's nothing compared to the focus a player can give to it.

 

The only reason you should ever have the AI raising your heir are if you have the wrong education yourself (like Martial or Clerical ones) or if all your stats are so very low (and I mean sub-ten) that it's worth taking the risk for the higher chance of incremental stat improvements.

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Always raise heirs yourself. Later patches have made the AI better at raising them, but it's nothing compared to the focus a player can give to it.

 

The only reason you should ever have the AI raising your heir are if you have the wrong education yourself (like Martial or Clerical ones) or if all your stats are so very low (and I mean sub-ten) that it's worth taking the risk for the higher chance of incremental stat improvements.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. I definitely wasn't paying enough attention when I re-married Brian, so I'm mostly getting Martial education stats. I read somewhere else that you could game the system by moving a character's education to someone with Diplomacy (Grey Eminence, say) right before they come of age. Does that still work, or was that patched out?

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Thanks, that makes sense. I definitely wasn't paying enough attention when I re-married Brian, so I'm mostly getting Martial education stats. I read somewhere else that you could game the system by moving a character's education to someone with Diplomacy (Grey Eminence, say) right before they come of age. Does that still work, or was that patched out?

 

As I understand it, now the game makes a secret check on the guardian's education sometime from age twelve onward, which determines the ward's education. That still gets you through the first half of the raising process and can count for even more, since education events have a drastically reduced chance of firing after your child has four or more.

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Always raise heirs yourself. Later patches have made the AI better at raising them, but it's nothing compared to the focus a player can give to it.

 

The only reason you should ever have the AI raising your heir are if you have the wrong education yourself (like Martial or Clerical ones) or if all your stats are so very low (and I mean sub-ten) that it's worth taking the risk for the higher chance of incremental stat improvements.

 

Also, if you're wanting a different culture or religion for some reason.

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Another question about wars: when my liege goes to war, do my armies automatically go to help them? I haven't seen anything of mine physically moving around on the board, but are there modifiers or something that drain resources from me? What if I'm my liege's marshal?

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Yes, a certain percentage of your troops (based on crown laws and your relations with the king in question) are taken and balled into his armies. You also have the option to raise your own armies and go to war to help him, if you so desire.

 

If you are his martial, chances are that you're leading one of his armies, which really gives you no control or benefits but instead the disadvantage of possibly dying in combat.

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Oh okay. I kind of want this guy to die anyway. My grandson is going to be Duke of Aquitaine. And then I will make him King of Aquitaine.

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Good things in store with the 2.0 patch that is going to accompany the Sons of Abraham DLC. Levies more dependent on opinion and less on realm size, flanking is now more important, death in childbirth and sickly children now added, and converted characters have tolerance! These are all positive changes. Short of a fix to factions, which I doubt Paradox will ever implement, this is pretty much every item on the wishlist fulfilled.

 

 

EDIT: Oh shit, looking at the full changelog, this is even bigger than I thought. Highlights:

  • a new +30 opinion bonus for marriage alliances that makes marrying your daughter to a vassal worthwhile
  • +50 opinion bonus during defensive wars
  • theocratic and republican vassal caps
  • most heresies now have unique features and religious heads
  • adventurers are now less common
  • the "assassination plot discovered" penalty is greatly increased
  • characters use their own money for a ransom and get a small opinion bonus for it
  • kings and emperors now set up their own antipopes if the current pope hates them
  • AI will try to concentrate their demesne in as few duchies as possible
  • fixed succession law in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
  • fixed Latin Empire bookmark

THIS. IS. HUGE. Pretty much every non-transformative gameplay, interface, and AI improvement from CK2Plus is in here. I knew that Paradox hiring Wiz would pay off someday! Monday is going to be sweet.

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