Paradox games but definitely NOT GAMES OF THRONE

[Gazz]

POP POP!

[MalaCloudy Black]

http://www.twitch.tv/arumba07

Arumba's doing an early look stream of the Horse Lords DLC.

[Mick]

Started a new game, I was married to the daughter of Greatjon Umber...

 

And she dies in childbirth before she can give me a son  . 

 

 

 

[MDK]

Becoming heretic also means that they can all declare war on you. It'll be a Holy War and you're going to get trounced by every Catholic ruler in Europe.

Catholicism is boned in my save. Since I control Santiago and Rome, moral authority is about 30%. I control Hispania and Italy. Aquitaine is Iconoclast (Orthodox heresy) somehow. Tengri, Norse and Slavic are all reformed so the Catholic kingdoms (West Francia, Middle Francia, Germany, Bavaria and Frisia) are all getting Holy war smashed from all directions.

The King of England is German too, you can imagine how popular that is.

I didn't die in two world wars for this to happen, rectify.

[Mick]

Bow down to the, bow down to the King!

 

 

 

[The Lusophone]

This is currently 80% off on steam.

As is the collection which is:

Crusader Kings II, Crusader Kings II: African Portraits , Crusader Kings II: African Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Byzantine Unit Pack , Crusader Kings II: Celtic Portraits, Crusader Kings II: Celtic Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Customization Pack, Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Shield II, Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Shield III, Crusader Kings II: Dynasty Shields, Crusader Kings II: Europa Universalis IV Converter, Crusader Kings II: Finno-Ugric Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Hymns of Abraham, Crusader Kings II: Hymns to the Old Gods, Crusader Kings II: Legacy of Rome , Crusader Kings II: Mediterranean Portraits, Crusader Kings II: Military Orders Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Mongol Faces, Crusader Kings II: Norse Portraits, Crusader Kings II: Norse Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Persian Portraits, Crusader Kings II: Persian Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Rajas of India, Crusader Kings II: Ruler Designer, Crusader Kings II: Russian Portraits, Crusader Kings II: Russian Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Saxon Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Songs of Albion, Crusader Kings II: Songs of Byzantium , Crusader Kings II: Songs of Faith, Crusader Kings II: Songs of India, Crusader Kings II: Songs of Prosperity, Crusader Kings II: Songs of the Caliph, Crusader Kings II: Songs of the Holy Land, Crusader Kings II: Songs of the Rus, Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham, Crusader Kings II: Sunset Invasion, Crusader Kings II: Sword of Islam, Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods, Crusader Kings II: The Republic, Crusader Kings II: Turkish Portraits, Crusader Kings II: Turkish Unit Pack, Crusader Kings II: Warriors of Faith Unit Pack

Edited July 16, 2015 by Mad Jack

[MalaCloudy Black]

Which DLC is it that allows you to choose a focus for your character, i.e. Hunter (+2 martial, +1 health) and War (+3 martial)? Is that from Charlemagne?

[Quom]

nah, it's Way of Life. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

Ah cool. I need to look up the patch notes for that - is that all it adds? 

EDIT: Yep. Basically. $8 for that? I'd like it, but not at $8. Probably wait and see if it goes on sale anytime soon.

Edited October 6, 2015 by Cloudy

[Quom]

You can get it here for 2.50 Euros

For some reason the link thing on the toolbar isn't working for me

https://de.gamesplanet.com/game/crusader-kings-ii-way-of-life-collection-steam-key--1857-4

[Gazz]

Here's new release of Modern Times mod for Crusader Kings 2 (Steam Workshop, Direct download).

It focuses on applying extra polish to a set of interesting starts. They're all marked as such in interface when starting the game. Here's some interesting characters to start as, for variety of difficulty levels.

Of course these are just some suggestions, there's a lot more other interesting characters to play as.

2015 - Modern Times

• Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - your newly proclaimed caliphate got to a good start, but it's surrounded by Christians, Jews, Shiites, and even Sunnis who just won't acknowledge your rule from all sides. 
• Vladimir Putin, tsar of Russia - there's Soviet Union to reunite, what else can be said?
• Petro Poroshenko, king of Ukraine - can you recover Crimea? Or maybe set your ambitions higher and reunite Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Commonwealth under different rulership?
• Nicola Sturgeon, queen of devolved Scotland - for how much longer Scotland will suffer under English yoke?

[MalaCloudy Black]

The new Conclave expansion came out yesterday, adding in things like childhood focus (the same as picking a focus for your character, only you pick one for your kids), and a bunch of new traits (Timid, Affectionate, Playful, etc.) added to the game.

Quote

 

Conclave, the latest major expansion for Crusader Kings II, will give your vassals some bite to go along with your bark, as the council that governs your realm will now demand some say in how you rule. Powerful dukes, regardless of competence, will require a seat at the table, and those left on the outside will be more likely to plot against you.

Keep your council happy, and the mighty vassals will resist the pull of faction and civil war. Dismiss their interests, though, and you may find yourself trying to hold together a council at war with itself.

Balance councilor skill and power to keep your dynasty safe and strong. Ignore powerful underlings at your peril, or simply buy their loyalty with favors. Conclave makes the royal council a force unto itself.

Main features:

Councils can now vote on changes to realm laws – or you can try to limit their power and influence
Revised education system for royal children, with new traits and events designed for childhood
New diplomatic system that prioritizes marital alliances and non-aggression pacts, as well as the possibility of coalitions
Improved military combat model with a greater emphasis on morale, as well as new rules for mercenary companies

Crusader Kings II appreciates the subtlety of court intrigue. Conclave will give you new avenues to test that skill.

 

It's $14.99 on the Paradox web store. I like the idea and all the new stuff, but I always struggle to justify dropping $15 on expansions like this - I usually wait for them to come down to $7 or less on Steam, and that's when I pick them up (hence why I only just got Way of Life like, last month ). It seems people are pretty divided on the whole "micromanaging your vassals" aspect of Conclave, which I can understand - sounds neat to me though!

EDIT: Here's the first part of a multiplayer let's play with Arumba, Steejo and Shenryyr2, focusing on Conclave and its new features.
EDIT II: Apparently opinion modifiers were nerfed with the Conclave patch as well, in an attempt to make it harder for you to be universally loved by all your subjects and such.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

So I got this over the Christmas holiday, just the base game, no add-ons yet. Chose to take a tiny little area of Sweden as a 4 year old lad with my dad helping to run things.

Get to 16, get married to a well-bred looker. Have a few girls and a boy. Wife dies in her 30s so get a new good-looking well-bred wife, marry off my first daughters as my second wife births another few kids.

 

All this time I've been dribbling along with just one county as the other got taken off me by the new King of Sweden. I have no real idea of what I'm doing and how to grow and then it turns out that I'm favoured in the Swedish court....and then the new Swedish King dies and suddenly I'm the King of Sweden!

 

Sometimes a situation happens in a game where you suddenly have far more to worry about in very little time and I find that kinda difficult....So I freaked out and haven't played since.

[The Lusophone]

Welcome to succession by election, makes Sweden and Denmark fun and interesting.

[Maxx]

http://kotaku.com/that-time-a-horse-conquered-the-ancient-world-1757913762

[MalaCloudy Black]

Since taking this I've taken on a seventh lover. My rival is one of the cuckolded husbands, and of course, my wife hates my guts. I have a -200 opinion modifier with her because I'm an adulterating lecher. Yet, she still keeps popping kids out for me - I have seven total, 2 illegitimate, and a few illegitimate ones that are unknown. In fact, my 2nd son is technically betrothed to his younger sister..

[Schlitzbrille]

5 hours ago, Cloudy said:

Since taking this I've taken on a seventh lover. My rival is one of the cuckolded husbands, and of course, my wife hates my guts. I have a -200 opinion modifier with her because I'm an adulterating lecher. Yet, she still keeps popping kids out for me - I have seven total, 2 illegitimate, and a few illegitimate ones that are unknown. In fact, my 2nd son is technically betrothed to his younger sister..

Making me proud

[MDK]

5 hours ago, Cloudy said:

Since taking this I've taken on a seventh lover. My rival is one of the cuckolded husbands, and of course, my wife hates my guts. I have a -200 opinion modifier with her because I'm an adulterating lecher. Yet, she still keeps popping kids out for me - I have seven total, 2 illegitimate, and a few illegitimate ones that are unknown. In fact, my 2nd son is technically betrothed to his younger sister..

Even in a game set in Europe you try to be as redneck as possible >_>

[MalaCloudy Black]

Oh! I also forgot to mention that my first lover is the Queen of England. Two of my other lovers are daughters of the King (from a previous marriage), and the rest are either Queens (Scotland aiyo) or Duchesses.

And I have the Lover's Pox, so most of them do too. In fact, I'm pretty sure I gave it to the Queen who gave it to the King.

[Mick]

Jeez, wrap it up, Cloudy.