Crusader Kings 2 (Fair be warned thee that enter here wall of text ahead)

[Vedli]

There are for me, two kinds of new games. Games which are only ever played once for at max an hour before I get bored and go back to something else and games which suck me in so much that when I'm distracted by something (like say an itchy back or hunger pains) I end up thinking "hey, why is so dark all of sudden? I thought it was Summer. What do you mean it's 3am? Oh bugger I forgot to eat!" Crusader Kings 2 is firmly in the later part.

 

So for those who are unaware Crusader Kings 2 is a grand strategy game from Paradox games. In it you take on the role of a medieval dynasty, playing the head of that house until that character dies and you then play as the heir (normally your first born son) lasting from 1055 to 1453 you only get game over if you lose all your land or have your character die when you have no dynastic heir.

 

What your precise goal is however is left up to you may decide you quite happy to just outlast the game as a Duke of France or You may decide you'll settle nothing less then been crowned Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire or you may decide you want to start as Kaiser and hold that throne for as long as possible.

 

Whats interesting to me though is that the various other Earls, Dukes and Kings that litter the game are never really "the enemy" there just the huddles to be dealt with, the real enemy is history.

And so as an example it's time for story time and my first playthrough that I like to call "The rise, fall and rise again of House Ua Conchobair"

 

I started out as the Earl of Connacht in Ireland because that looked like a good place to start out (I was right as well since Ireland has been nicknamed "Tutorial Island" in the Paradox forums).

 

After some false starts I figure out how best to conquer Ireland, namely to use the surprisingly large amount of money I have to hire merc armies to crush my enemies. Since the other Earls hate each they never unite together to try and stop me and once I have the majority of the country under my control my third character is able to simply demand the other Earls swear loyalty to me and with them as my Vassals I declare myself King of Ireland.

 

Interestingly things have been going on in the outside world. The thing I notice most when I look out into the wider world is that William the Conquerer failed in his invasion of England and King Harold still rules and historically that really mixes things up. Can't spend to much time navel gazing at other Kingdoms though I have my own to run.

 

I enter into a routine of make sure everybody is happy with my rule putting down the odd rebellion from peasants or a greedy Duke who wants the throne and when everyone is happy I invade a county in Scotland. I would of conquered the whole damn country as well (maybe England as well and would of had what I would lovingly call the Irish Isles) had things not gone massively tits up.

 

The problem starts when Ulster Rebels and given thats one of the more powerful duchy's in Ireland this is going to be hard to put down. Then my current character chooses the most inconvenient time possible to drop dead at the mere age of 24 leaving his infant son as the new King whose bastard Uncle decides thats the perfect time to launch his own civil war to grab the crown for himself and every other duke seemingly agrees leaving me hopelessly out-matched.

 

I choose to surrenderer on my own terms rather than let him win the war and strip me of everything meaning I keep the Duchy of Munster and can rebuild. The new King proceeds to balls everything and Scotland manages to recover it's lost lands and launch a counter invasion seizing county Leinster in the process (much to my own glee). During Scotland's Second invasion I some how (I don't know how) find myself independent and although independence has it's perks to be sure it's not easy to survive by yourself and since even in it's weakened state I can't take the Irish King and his armies alone.

 

Thus I do the thing most likely to piss him off I declare fealty to the King of Scotland he welcomes me quite happy since now his finished his conquest of southern Ireland ahead of schedule. Needless to say the King of Ireland goes ballistic but there is bugger all he can do about it. With me leading the way we conquer one more county in Ireland.

 

Then the current King of Scotland dies and the same pattern plays out since every King afterwards is a greedy bastard who is constantly pissing off his other vassals and thus starting civil wars which he is only able to win due to me and my now sizable armies (Since I've figured out in the between time how to build stuff in my territory increasing the size of my armies and I own most of Southern Ireland and Southern Wales which I conquered when I wasn't putting down rebellions.

 

Eventually during one of these civil wars I refuse to help and instead declare independence. Since the Kings army is busy fighting other angry dukes he can't send anyone to stop me and I easily win the war of Independence and discover to my own amazement that I own enough of Wales to declare myself King of Wales! Happy days! Although this is a very odd "Wales" made up of southern Ireland and southern Wales. The Scot is not happy and does eventual try to invade since he wants to claim back my lands and my new title (greedy Scottish bastard!)

 

I humiliate him in the war since while his army is bigger mine is better trained and my bank account is larger meaning I can hire mercs to make up the difference I crush his armies with my own left mostly intact and begin to attack his own territory winning convincingly and causing him to lose his claims on my land leaving Wales free and clear!

 

Now its time to expand but how? Well My current ruler is a Queen (my first ever female ruler) and I notice the King of France has a two sons the second of which is unmarried now he would never marry his first son off in a maternal marriage (meaning all children born of the union been of the mothers dynasty) but his second sure, nothing to lose after all gets rid of what could be a problem for his heir and little Wales could never press his claims and threaten mighty France, one of THE most powerful nations in Europe... right?

 

I begin a campaign of shadows and manage to succeeded in assassinating the current heir to the throne, his only son and the King of France himself with no trace back to me and leaving my Queens husband as the King. They then have a Son who is now heir to both Thrones and my next character! The crafty Queen eventually and sadly dies leaving a very grateful son who's first problem is a new invasion from Scotland he asks his dad for help who says no. Wrong answer dad! My characters dear old dad soon after refusing to help dies in an strange accident when he fall down a flight of stairs and oddly enough all the injures from the fall look like knife wounds.

 

Scotland quickly gives up any hope of conquering Wales and all thats left is to get the acceptance from the French nobility. Not an easy task but the pope comes to my aid and declares a crusade for Egypt I raise all of Frances might for this holy venture and damn near single handedly win the thing. An ecstatic Pope grants me the entire Kingdom of Egypt increasing my own prestige immensely and greatly impressing the French nobility who decide that yes this lad Irish of Irish culture and from a (supposedly) Welsh Kingdom will make a fine King of France.

 

After that it's just ride out the game till the end with not much happening aside from the odd rebellion from southern Spain (which is one part of Frances vast holdings). And also to collect the titles the old Kings of France never did. And so as the year hits 1453 and the Renaissance sweeps Europe signaling the end of the Medieval period I end the game as King of France, Wales, Aquitaine, Portugal, Egypt and two other who's names escape me (lol).

 

I would like to point out this is a very truncated account of my first game and could write a novel if wrote about everything that happened to my characters in this first play-through alone. Honestly it is fantastic fun if like this kind of strategy game with all it's political intrigue and constantly try to stay one step ahead of every one. If you like Grand strategy I think you'll like this game. Heck do you like "A Game of Thrones"? then you may want to give it a try. Personally I it like just for the epic tales it has given me.

[windpl]

It is fun game, but I'm missing friends feature from CK1. I have read that they add something similar in last patch but it is way less significant as it was in CK1. Seriously, in this game anyone with lower rank than you - dream to kill you.

 

I love to start as low rank and climb. I wish that they add mayor as playable option

 

 

As for my last gameplay, I started as count climbed to duke, then king and reunited hre (because I set it in chaos before ) under my despotic rule (yep absolute law in HRE ;D)

 

EDIT:

And I almost forgot, THIS GAME NEEDS TRAIT FILTER badly.