Nick Breckon

Crusader Kings II: The Triumph of Ragnar

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It's incredible that we live in an age where we can play incredibly detailed bizarre simulation video games and stream them over the internet and capture perfect moments like the one at the end of Part VI. When I was younger, I'd describe things I did in video games to my friends at school and I know those little shitheads didn't believe a word I had said. 

 

But nowadays it can be viewable online for effectively forever. I swear I must have rewinded to 42:54 of Part VI like, four or five times and laughed hysterically every time. 

 

This very specific moment:

 

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That's real human emotion there. Guys, this was the Citizen Kane of video game streams.

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It's awesome to see how much fun they're having with the game.

 

 

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So when I read what happened here, I couldn't help myself. I was made late to work by reliving the life of Ragnar's final years. This needs to be a movie.

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"In a world where no one's wife is safe, a simple gardener becomes involved in a plot that will change his life, and the history of the country, forever."

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So when I read what happened here, I couldn't help myself. I was made late to work by reliving the life of Ragnar's final years. This needs to be a movie.

 

Honestly, I would watch a movie about political intrigue among the petty kings of Ireland in the Middle Ages several times over, no matter what the quality. There are so many amazing stories there, but Hollywood wastes all its time making movies that are all like, "Can one man defeat an entire army to save his homeland, making some surprisingly modern observations about gender discrimination in the process?"

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"Can one man defeat an entire army to save his homeland, making some surprisingly modern observations about gender discrimination in the process?"

 

As Sean I paced the battlements, he mused to himself, "Perhaps it's not the best idea to kill all the wives."

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Just a heads up, Crusader Kings II and all its DLC (including, for the first time, The Old Gods) is 75% off on Steam for the next forty-eight hours. You can get the base game and everything ever released for it for $33.50 or so, but everyone should at least get the four big DLCs if anything: Sword of IslamLegacy of RomeThe Republic, and The Old Gods.

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Just a heads up, Crusader Kings II and all its DLC (including, for the first time, The Old Gods) is 75% off on Steam for the next forty-eight hours. You can get the base game and everything ever released for it for $33.50 or so, but everyone should at least get the four big DLCs if anything: Sword of IslamLegacy of RomeThe Republic, and The Old Gods.

 

SoB! ahh well :P  still reasonably happy at getting the two dlc packs i lacked at 50% off in the summer sale despite this.

 

The game is just a insanely good story generating system.

 

side note: Gormongous do you know of any way to check the exact date a province was taken or other significant event happened in the course of a characters life after the fact?

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Just a heads up, Crusader Kings II and all its DLC (including, for the first time, The Old Gods) is 75% off on Steam for the next forty-eight hours. You can get the base game and everything ever released for it for $33.50 or so, but everyone should at least get the four big DLCs if anything: Sword of IslamLegacy of RomeThe Republic, and The Old Gods.

 

Ragnar just sold me on Crusader Kings II, but the 'cheap' trait I inherited from my father prevented me from buying the expansions. Should I reconsider?

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side note: Gormongous do you know of any way to check the exact date a province was taken or other significant event happened in the course of a characters life after the fact?

 

Title histories are the only way to check events like that after the fact. Just click on the shield, the button second from the right along the top in the "title information" screen that comes up will have a list of holders and the date they took power.

 

Ragnar just sold me on Crusader Kings II, but the 'cheap' trait I inherited from my father prevented me from buying the expansions. Should I reconsider?

 

I think the four gameplay DLCs I listed above -- Sword of IslamLegacy of RomeThe Republic, and The Old Gods -- are a must if you're going to play the game more than a couple of times. They all unlock different gameplay features and, except for Legacy of Rome, give you new lords to play as (Muslims, patricians, and pagans, respectively). They cost just under ten bucks all put together, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

Add to that the Ruler Designer if you want to make your own custom lord, which I never have, and Sunset Invasion, if you think that Aztecs wrecking western Europe is hilarious. The rest of the DLCs are cosmetic and honestly pretty hit-and-miss (Norse and Mongol facepacks look great, Mediterranean facepack is so ugly and clumsy that it's kinda embarrassing a professional studio released it, and so on).

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Ragnar just sold me on Crusader Kings II, but the 'cheap' trait I inherited from my father prevented me from buying the expansions. Should I reconsider?

 

I think there's no hurry to buy the expansions. They add extra flavor for when you're tired of vanilla, but they're not a must-have right away. There will always be other sales, buy them when you get bored.

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In my game (which stared in 867 because of the DLC) Sean Vanaman became king of the Kingdom of Tara for a day before dying of 'natural causes'. His son, Sean mac Sean Vanaman took his place.

 

This is a good video game.

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In my game (which stared in 867 because of the DLC) Sean Vanaman became king of the Kingdom of Tara for a day before dying of 'natural causes'. His son, Sean mac Sean Vanaman took his place.

 

This is a good video game.

 

That does happen. It's fun sometimes to type "charinfo 1" into the console and discover that your character's hidden health value is 1.8, therefore making it a series of increasingly improbable dice rolls that he lived past infancy, let alone into his forties.

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That does happen. It's fun sometimes to type "charinfo 1" into the console and discover that your character's hidden health value is 1.8, therefore making it a series of increasingly improbable dice rolls that he lived past infancy, let alone into his forties.

 

I should clarify: Sean Vanaman was 50 years old and had just claimed the throne.

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It was his time, then.

 

The nicest part about Elective succession is that you can skip a generation. Or two.

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I'm really loving these videos, well done. 

I think the four gameplay DLCs I listed above -- Sword of IslamLegacy of RomeThe Republic, and The Old Gods -- are a must if you're going to play the game more than a couple of times. They all unlock different gameplay features and, except for Legacy of Rome, give you new lords to play as (Muslims, patricians, and pagans, respectively). They cost just under ten bucks all put together, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

This is false. Sword of Islam and The Republic only unlock the appropriate group so that the player can play them (Muslims and merchant republics respectively). The gameplay features were added in patches that were released at the same time as the DLC. The same mostly goes for The Old Gods except that it also includes the 867 start date.

 

There is no must-have DLC for CK2, although the complete collection is so cheap right now that you might as well get it + the Old Gods and any other of the new DLC that isn't included that tickles your fancy.

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This is false. Sword of Islam and The Republic only unlock the appropriate group so that the player can play them (Muslims and merchant republics respectively). The gameplay features were added in patches that were released at the same time as the DLC. The same mostly goes for The Old Gods except that it also includes the 867 start date.

 

There is no must-have DLC for CK2, although the complete collection is so cheap right now that you might as well get it + the Old Gods and any other of the new DLC that isn't included that tickles your fancy.

 

I was more referring to the features associated with playing each new gameplay group (decadence, trade posts, and so on). I worded it poorly, though.

 

That said, I'm still half right. In addition to the 867 start date in The Old GodsLegacy of Rome unlocks retinues, which are pretty important for any player. The fact that they had to be left out of the core game is proof to me that Legacy of Rome is the weakest content DLC, but then it costs pennies right now, so who cares.

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There is no must-have DLC for CK2, although the complete collection is so cheap right now that you might as well get it + the Old Gods and any other of the new DLC that isn't included that tickles your fancy.

 

the old gods expansion is definitely must-have if you are from norway, or scandinavia/iceland. or, I guess also if you are from a number of other european countries. I don't expect no history/culture americans to understand. :lol:

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I grabbed all the dlc (i think) and started an earlier start date game and roving vikings (? I think? my history is kind of the pits) are total jerks. have had to bankrupt myself twice just to raise mercenaries to fend them off.

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I grabbed all the dlc (i think) and started an earlier start date game and roving vikings (? I think? my history is kind of the pits) are total jerks. have had to bankrupt myself twice just to raise mercenaries to fend them off.

 

Yeah, the Christians are pretty weak in the 867 start, somewhat unhistorically in my opinion, to let players who bought the DLC to play pagans have their fun. They'll settle down once England converts around 1000, though.

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I grabbed all the dlc (i think) and started an earlier start date game and roving vikings (? I think? my history is kind of the pits) are total jerks. have had to bankrupt myself twice just to raise mercenaries to fend them off.

I may be misremembering as well, but isn't this how Normandy more or less got made? French appeasement of raiders?

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I love giving advice, but the chat on the stream drives me crazy sometimes. Between Nick and them, some really terrible decisions get made. Still, that was a fun few hours of politicking, even if the crown of Ireland grew but little.

 

After a while, I started making a template for all of Chris' kingly sayings:

 

thumbs_coat.jpg

I may be misremembering as well, but isn't this how Normandy more or less got made? French appeasement of raiders?

 

Yeah, Duke Rollo in 911! Sadly, there aren't really any mechanics to settle adventurers in defense against other adventurers, which would be super cool.

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