Paradox games but definitely NOT GAMES OF THRONE

[Gazz]

Nothing?

You can conquer the whole of Ireland in a generation or two.

[The Lusophone]

Indeed, and it's a good place to delve into stuff like plots, factions, the College of Cardinals etc.

[The Lusophone]

Alternatively, try the Duchy of Apulia in southern Italy. Loads of relatives meaning loads of potential allies.

[peteypirahna]

Played about 10 hours of this and I'm pretty sure I've been trolled or something, this is a complete clusterfuck of a game that is just not fun in the slightest.

Are people finding fun in nations just deciding to slaughter you on a whim, ruining 4+ hours of progress? I summon my armies and only seem to be able to gather about 3000 troops, only for TINY NATIONS TO THE NORTH OF ME to summon 15k armies.

And why do people keep recommending Ireland when no matter what year you start in, the difficulty level is still around 70%? I'm seriously struggling to do anything on very easy mode.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I finally understand what I'm doing! I still suck at the moment though. Need more practice.

[Noah]

Scotland is best.

[The Lusophone]

Scotland just needs to avoid being fucked by Norway (easy enough as they seem to suffer from as many civil wars as France and Hungary do) and fucked by their own civil wars and they can do pretty well.

[GhostMachine]

I wish I could get a decent game going as Denmark or Sweden.....

[The Lusophone]

What start date are you using and what problems do you usually run into?

[JasonM]

Alternatively, try the Duchy of Apulia in southern Italy. Loads of relatives meaning loads of potential allies.

And plenty of ambitious relatives that want to fuck over your plans because they want that bum ass county.

It's still fun to play with Apulia though, since the family tree grows ridiculously fast and if you can get elective monarchy you can easily make a very strong lineage of genius strong attractive dukes/kings.

[The Lusophone]

Alternatively, try the Duchy of Apulia in southern Italy. Loads of relatives meaning loads of potential allies.

And plenty of ambitious relatives that want to fuck over your plans because they want that bum ass county.

Sure, but just marry your relatives off to the relatives of the kings of Croatia, Hungary and the HRE. Marry males off matrilineally and you should be fine if you survive the first generation or so.

[peteypirahna]

Alright, I decided to give it another go after reading a lot more into how to play it, and seem to be learning from my mistakes.

I messed around with the console commands for a bit to play about with it, before having another shot at Ironman Ireland, which resulted in me getting the whole of Ireland until I accidentally inhereted a part of Germany through marriage that resulted in the Holy Roman Empire just deciding to declare war on me, and while I'm trying to bat them off three counties revolt and end up with such a colossal mess that once I died I just gave up and ragequit.

Then I tried again, got as far as taking over 6 counties before attempting to take over a minor county with near enough 1000 gold in the treasury and a full strength army to back me up, which somehow resulted in a crushing defeat for me when they managed to pull 4000 men out of nowhere. Again this was another ragequit because there was absolutely no reason for them to be able to defeat me like that when I was on the cusp of forming Ireland.

I still don't understand how someone can declare war on your actual country, not just a single county, because it's not like I can just take over the capital of Scotland and that's Scotland taken over.

My Norse game on the other hand was a breath of fresh air, given that I'm punished for NOT going to war every 2 years so I had no reason not to barge in and try and conquer everything... until a group of 2000 peasants managed to destroy my standing army + mercs, killing me and causing another complete mess.

It really has a habit of completely fucking you over with a chain of awful events in quick succession just when you think you're in control, it just looks like I'll have to play it with console commands from now on

[peteypirahna]

The Great Blot is the greatest thing about Norse games.

That vassel/family member who has been pissing you off for most of the game? How about we sacrifice them to Odin with no negative consequences and getting piety + reputation for doing so!

[The Lusophone]

Charlemagne DLC hits in about 4 hours (9am EST).

And this was free to play the first weekend in October.

[peteypirahna]

Alright, has anyone had any major success in establishing kingdoms without the assassinate button? This just feels like one patch too far, especially after I'd just mastered how to use the assassination button to my advantage.

[Gazz]

Yeah.

I never use it. Plots all the way.

[The Lusophone]

Marriage ties. Have lots of kids/siblings and marry them off to all the kings and queens in Europe and beyond. Helps so much. Suggestions for either of the 1066 starts in the spoiler below.

Malcolm III of Scotland or any of his 3 sons aged 6, 5, and 4. His brothers Donald Dunkeld and Malmure (who is Earl of somewhere) both 27 are unmarried and have claims they usually try to press. A marriage to any one of the three adults allies you with all 3 (unless they are at war, I spose).

The Duke of Moray also has a claim (from the line of Macbeth iirc) and is 18.

William the Conqueror has 3 unmarried, under age sons and 4 daughters the same.

Eadgar Eadwardsson, 16, unmarried with a strong claim to the throne of England through Edward Ironside. The line of Harold was not extinguished at Hastings, he has 5 sons and 2 daughters, all unmarried and young. And Knut's line continues, with Aelfwine a 30 year old probably illegitimate son of Harold Harefoot, Knut's son.

Phillippe of France is 14 and unmarried, as are his brother and sister.

The sons of Ferdinand the Great are all unmarried, Garcia of Galicia, Sancho of Castille and Alfonso of Leon - as are there sisters. Their cousin the King of Navarro (either Antio or Anzio or something similar) is unmarried but has 4 sons and 1 daughter also.

Also in Spain, all the sons and daughters of Berenguer Ramon II (named in reverse incorrectly in the game - that was his twin brother, imaginative man, their father, also called Ramon Berenguer) Duke of Barcelona are unmarried and young.

Two of the sisters of the Holy Roman Emperor are unmarried. If you're looking to expand your holdings via succession then Duchess Matilda of Tuscany is a good bet. She is unmarried, has good stats and holds two duchies plus the potential for more. Just make sure she keeps her lands.

Almost all of the De Hautevilles in Sicily/Apulia. There's hundreds of the buggers. Better to start with them if you're trying to marry as many as you can (or as Denmark, but more on them later).

The only child and therefore sole heir to Croatia is 2 years old and obviously unmarried. King Kresimir's sister Cicca is 25 and unmarried.

Whilst the King of Hungary has been snapped up (Before he's even of age) by a sister of the HRE, he almost always faces a fight to keep his throne. You've got his brother Prince David, 12, unmarried. A bastard brother Gyorgy Andrasfi, 29. His cousins Duke Laszlo of Transylvania, 19, and Duke Lampert of Ungvar, 15, have strong claims. Princesses Adehaild, 16, Maria, 16, and Zsofia, 4, all have weak claims.

In Poland your only choice is Duke Wladyslaw of Mazovia, 23, who is brother to the king (and heir at the start of the period).

The De Hautevilles aren't the only ones who breed like rabbits. The King of Denmark has 12 bastard offspring, and he's legitimised all of them. Adding to the fun is the fact that Denmark (like Norway and Sweden) is an elective monarchy, so any one of the 9 sons could inherit. They range from 23 to 2 in age.

Erik II of Sweden starts at war with another Erik who wants his throne. The former is 20 and unmarried and usually wins. His 3 brothers are 19, 18 and 16 and all unmarried also.

Magnus II of Norway is unmarried and 18. His sister is unmarried and 20, his brother 16 and unmarried.

Only non-catholics you should be looking to marry (as a Catholic) is a member of the ruling Byzantine dynasty. As far as I've found its pretty random whether the Doukas family remain in power (in real life their rule was interrupted many times) but if they do then Anna Doukas 13, Androikos, 9, Theodora, 8, Konstantios, 6, and Zoe, 4, are all available - the latter two being born 'in the pink' which apparently puts them at the front of the succession but the eldest son (who I haven't mentioned cos he's married) is listed as heir to Byzantium at the start of the game, so maybe it's bugged.

Also good vassal management. Do you use the realm tree at all? It lists all your vassals in order of power. Keep the ones at the top happy.

Oh, or hold three duke level titles and have a shit load of money and prestige, then you can create a new kingdom.

[EddieG]

Great sale for the game + a bunch of DLC.

http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/crusader-kings-ii-bundle/

[JasonM]

So, I got back into the game after getting Charlemagne cheap. And I found out a nice yet ridiculous challenge for anyone who wants a very slow start of the game.

Take the earliest start date, Faroe Islands, Ruler Designer.

Take a whole different religion if you want an even tougher game.

I went the route of creating a Jewish Pict on the Faroe Islands, and you start out independent with no one giving a shit about you. I spend a lot of time just grinding in small amounts of cash and sending my spies off to get event tech points. And the first thing I invested in was a market for +0.5 tax income, which still ment I was mostly SOL in terms of moneys.

At least in the meanwhile I managed to max out every law by way of having zero vassals that can undermine my actions.

Afterwards I invested in a shipyard, and now I make small amounts of cash as a band of ''scary'' Jewish Vikings raiding every unprotected piece of coastland.

I'm aiming to get as much cash as I can to max out the market town, hopefully then turning the tribal society into a merchant republic, before looking to control the entirety of northern Europe trading.

Since my family has been breeding like rabbits, and I have 16 members already, I don't think we'll have many problems expanding with trading posts.

[KevinStorm]

I've been really hoping for Charlemagne to go on sale. It doesn't seem like it adds enough to be worth $15 and I'm broke as it is.