With this new flavor pack, we want to offer you the opportunity to truly decide the fate of the whole peninsula, either by reenacting history or creating an alternative that pleases you more. In order to model the complexity of the situation, we are introducing a new system, the Struggle.
It will be changing the rules and increasing the challenge for the rulers within the Iberian peninsula. You can have an idea of how the game will be affected in the screenshot below. The effects will vary a lot depending on the stage of the struggle, but we will go into details in the next dev diary
A new 867 bookmark features a revamped Iberian cast of characters, giving players the perfect place to jump in and deflect history as they see fit. The Struggle will persist into the 1066 start date as well. The bookmark lets you choose between different vassals, either from the Christian Kingdoms, or Al-Andalus. Each of them offers different starting challenges and choices.. For instance, in the south, Emir Adanis and Ibn Marwan are both Dukes under the Sultanate of Al-Andalus. But they also are neighbors and rivals. Starting with one of them will certainly imply crossing swords and scheming against the other.
The new 867 bookmark will be available for everyone, while being more interesting to experience if you own Fate of Iberia
We also seized the opportunity to update the map, refining the county and duchy divisions, as well as the cultures and faiths. This means the stage is more accurately set for the start of our game.
We mostly focused on the Northern part of the region.
I'm not sure how I feel about a brand new mechanic - the Struggle - applying to just one part of the map.
That said, though, more content for the Iberian peninsula is very welcome indeed. It's a pretty interesting area. Looking forward to seeing what they're gonna do with it.
I'm not sure how I feel about a brand new mechanic - the Struggle - applying to just one part of the map.
That said, though, more content for the Iberian peninsula is very welcome indeed. It's a pretty interesting area. Looking forward to seeing what they're gonna do with it.
OK, so, turns out, the Struggle doesn't apply to just one part of the map. It can pop up elsewhere as well. Although this dev diary isn't very clear on if it already will when the next update comes along or if it's going to in the future.
Ah, whatever. It's nice to know this system is definitely going to apply elsewhere as well.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
PC-side advice, of the "I'm sharing this because hopefully you don't go through the same bullshit I did" variety.
Playing this game through PC Game Pass (i.e. the Xbox framework in Windows 10/11, same as all PC Game Pass games), I ran into a BSOD-causing error (though the more I've looked into it, the more I think I could reproduce this on the Steam release too). The Paradox launcher, when attempting to update mods ("Syncing Playset") can cause a "BAD_POOL_CALLER" BSOD (which I ran into in both a Windows 10 PC and on Windows 11), likely owed to something happening when overwriting a mod downloaded through Paradox's website. Since the Steam version can also get mods from Paradox's website, I suspect it could happen there too.
The solution was actually really simple: just delete the mod folder, My Documents/Paradox/Crusader Kings 3 (and let the launcher redownload everything). In fact, it would probably be enough to just delete the culprit mod in question, though I went overboard and deleted my whole CK3 folder except for my saves. The Paradox Launcher will replace the mods (and at least in my case, not cause a BSOD).
So, yeah, hopefully someone else sees this and doesn't go through the same agonizing bullshit at the end of a long day.
I didn't think this game could get any weirder than some of the shit that happens in Royal Court but... well, I caught my adult son, naked and chained to the wall, being beaten bloody with a wooden rod by a servant wearing my clothes and yelling, "Yes, punish me father! I've been a naughty little son!"
Options are blackmail, walk away, or take the rod and start wailing on them yourself. This reduces stress.
Jumped back on to this after over a year, and right back into the tutorial (after 50 hours played according to Steam): this is definitely not a "once you learn how to ride a bike" type situation (though not as brutal as the first go through; just need a refresher on the systems).
. . .though, what the hell is up with the initial load time (to get into game)? I don't remember it being this nutty.
Jumped back on to this after over a year, and right back into the tutorial (after 50 hours played according to Steam): this is definitely not a "once you learn how to ride a bike" type situation (though not as brutal as the first go through; just need a refresher on the systems).
. . .though, what the hell is up with the initial load time (to get into game)? I don't remember it being this nutty.
The first major expansion (Royal Court) added a huge amount of underlying systems to the game that require more PC power. So much, in fact that they only implemented it for Kings and Emperors because trying to implement it for Duke level characters pretty much wrecked the game due to resources used.
Jumped back on to this after over a year, and right back into the tutorial (after 50 hours played according to Steam): this is definitely not a "once you learn how to ride a bike" type situation (though not as brutal as the first go through; just need a refresher on the systems).
. . .though, what the hell is up with the initial load time (to get into game)? I don't remember it being this nutty.
The first major expansion (Royal Court) added a huge amount of underlying systems to the game that require more PC power. So much, in fact that they only implemented it for Kings and Emperors because trying to implement it for Duke level characters pretty much wrecked the game due to resources used.
I spoke to soon. At least when clicking on resume you get back into the game real quick; same with loading a game once already loaded up.
. . .also spoke too soon regarding getting back into the swing of things. I think it took me several hours and a lot of dead future-Irish to unit Ireland the first go round. This time I've only attacked one ruler; the others I used my diplomatic skills on and we're looking at getting the look of the Irish in no time. Game is a lot "easier" when you're not just throwing brute force at things.
"Get the hell out of me" - [ex]girlfriend
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
Jumped back on to this after over a year, and right back into the tutorial (after 50 hours played according to Steam): this is definitely not a "once you learn how to ride a bike" type situation (though not as brutal as the first go through; just need a refresher on the systems).
. . .though, what the hell is up with the initial load time (to get into game)? I don't remember it being this nutty.
The first major expansion (Royal Court) added a huge amount of underlying systems to the game that require more PC power. So much, in fact that they only implemented it for Kings and Emperors because trying to implement it for Duke level characters pretty much wrecked the game due to resources used.
I spoke to soon. At least when clicking on resume you get back into the game real quick; same with loading a game once already loaded up.
. . .also spoke too soon regarding getting back into the swing of things. I think it took me several hours and a lot of dead future-Irish to unit Ireland the first go round. This time I've only attacked one ruler; the others I used my diplomatic skills on and we're looking at getting the look of the Irish in no time. Game is a lot "easier" when you're not just throwing brute force at things.
I think when you load up after a new patch that it has to do something to the files (maybe CRC related) and it only does it once, unless you change the checksum through another patch or mods.
In my experience with Paradox games there's commonly an oddly long start up time right after a reboot (and maybe after a long period of not playing), but if you start it up regularly you should be seeing decently fast load times.
That said, Stellaris has been starting oddly slowly lately for me so there may be something going on with it.
I've found it quit good, but
1) Iberia is one of my preferred areas to play, and its all focused in Iberia.
2) When I bought CK3 I got the big pack with the DLC included, and now a year later my perspective is that I didn't pay anything for it since I paid for it so long ago.
That said, the struggle system is pretty good. The system is divided into three phases. When it starts, its in a phase called "Opportunity" and every action every character involved in the struggle takes pushes it toward either the "Hostility" phase or "Conciliation" phase. Every phase has different mechanics, bonuses, and penalties. Some examples, in the Opportunity phase, you spend prestige to fabricate a claim instead of gold. In the Hostility phase, the Claim Liege Title option is automatically unlocked for all powerful vassals. Meanwhile, in the Conciliation phase, inter-faith marriages are available and give Piety. There are dozens of these effects for each phase.
Keep in mind all of that is only in Iberia. The struggle system is not available anywhere else, though they have said that adding new struggles to different areas is certainly on the table in future DLC releases.
Are dissolution factions new or did they get reworked for the patch? I've literally never seen one but during all my tests with the struggle in Iberia the HRE and Byzantine empires just both evaporated down to the duchy level a few decades in.
Dissolution factions are new and were added in with the patch that came with the DLC. I think they're pretty great myself, as it helps make large empires surviving more difficult. I think that they either don't take opinion of liege or opinion of liege counts for very little in regards to them, as in one of my games, the Dissolution faction against my liege was started by a guy who had a +28 opinion of him.
Keep in mind all of that is only in Iberia. The struggle system is not available anywhere else, though they have said that adding new struggles to different areas is certainly on the table in future DLC releases.
I'm willing to bet Paradox is waiting to see how the Struggle is received by the player base. If people like it, then, yeah, sure, there'll be new Struggles (I'm guessing Jerusalem is high on that list). But if people turn out to be indifferent or actively dislike it, then the Iberian Struggle can be seen as a single experiment confined to Iberia.
But people seem to like the Struggle so far. So I wouldn't be surprised if every upcoming DLC (or at least flavour pack) is going to come with its own appropriate Struggle.
While I generally like the struggle mechanic, I do think that it takes a little away from the sandbox feeling that CK3 has. A lot of the fun in CK3 is trying something crazy. The struggle feels very focused on Christianity vs Islam in Iberia and if you suddenly show up with your norse vikings, then what?
While I generally like the struggle mechanic, I do think that it takes a little away from the sandbox feeling that CK3 has. A lot of the fun in CK3 is trying something crazy. The struggle feels very focused on Christianity vs Islam in Iberia and if you suddenly show up with your norse vikings, then what?
WILDCARD!
Mine just had an event where I sent someone in search of viking cheese, so maybe there's some stuff with them?
While I generally like the struggle mechanic, I do think that it takes a little away from the sandbox feeling that CK3 has. A lot of the fun in CK3 is trying something crazy. The struggle feels very focused on Christianity vs Islam in Iberia and if you suddenly show up with your norse vikings, then what?
Well, that's actually covered. If you show up with your Norse Vikings you start out considered Uninvolved. You have no effect on it at all. If you move your capital to Iberia you become an Interloper, where your actions will effect the progress of the Struggle, but you only get some of the benefits and penalties associated with it. Outside of Christianity and Islam, if at least 80% of the existing counties that follow that faith/culture are present in Iberia, then it becomes Involved in the struggle and you are fully in it.
So, if you start in 1066 where there's like only a couple of Norse counties left in the world, then you bring your Norse Vikings south and take over 3 or 4 counties, then you become fully involved in the Struggle once those counties are converted over to Norse Viking.
Been playing the game wrong. Now, I know there's "No wrong way to play. . ." these games if you're having fun, but I was for sure not engaging the game in even a basic sense. I was too focused on short term gains instead of recognizing that this is a generational game (like STELLARIS, which really helped me appreciate what the "grand" in grand strategy means - or at least I think it means now). Instead of being too obsessed with my starting Petty-King, I started thinking long term and the game is much, MUCH more enjoyable and the systems now make more sense.
As an example, I was only ever concerned with making IRELAND, usually through vasallization, and didn't really pay much attention to titles and who inherits what. I couldn't understand why I was getting so weaker when my character died and my heir takes over, being under the impression that my heir would necessarily be as strong at the start as I was. This time around, I imprisoned my first heir as at this point everyone in my realm knew I was a murderer (killed mah wife), an adulterer (fucked my brothers wife and knocker her up) and practitioner of the dark arts, so throwing my heir in jail was no thing. I was actually going to have him executed (or just have him die) to make room for my legit-bastard, but didn't even know I could just force my son to become a monk instead. I liked this route because it did feel kind of scummy to do this to my kid after all the wars he fought and the fact he considered me a friend (and still does, which is odd - shouldn't the act of tossing someone in jail and causing them to lose their inheritance get you off the Christmas card list). I did all this because my bastard was coming along real nicely in my education of him and was clearly going to make a better heir; making my original heir a monk also meant my kid got all my titles so there would be no loss of the work I put into my holdings. . .
Which is something else I had been ignoring. I was largely in a Civilization mindset when looking at holdings in that I figured I didn't need to focus on something that was going to take YEARS to develop. Again, lacking a generational mindset when viewing progress. Although, even this was a misunderstanding of the game systems as holdings at the low levels don't really take THAT long to build especially given how long everything else in the game takes to progress (right now improving control in an area that'll take "eight years" and I'm like "Whew. . .not so long").
At the tail end of my first characters life, we got called to a Holy War. I've done one before but didn't really understand what I was working towards. I did see that just by capturing a few outposts and was setting myself up for a ton of gold, prestige and piety (managed to capture the war leader like in the first year of the war - no idea what those other newbs were doing). This was a NASTY war though, with a lot of rulers fighting personally. My guy died and my kid took over, but the other rulers were all dying in the war - like constant notices of "A new ally. . ." popping up. I had also set up a beneficiary, and didn't think much of it. . .until the war ended and all of a sudden my favorite Half-sister is now Queen of Jerusalem! Looking through the internet it seems this is working as intended as this can't go to anyone who already is landed or has titles for claiming. I was hoping to have another son to marry off to my sister but that's ok - her realm is way the hell on the other side of the world and I can't see her holding on to it for long (though she is clearly the strongest in the region) if someone takes the Sultanate next to her (which I'm sure they will as it's ruled by kids. . .given all the adults died).
So now, we're at a time of peace in Ireland. . .as we work our way towards taking over all the land in the isle. Next goal is to finish researching Chronicle Writing (another piece of the game I legit paid no attention to in previous game; I'm guessing there are default options selected so that nothing goes to waste) so I can move on to Royal Perogative so that I don't have to worry about succession issues anymore (I'd rather not kill anymore kids. . .err I mean. . .uh nevermind).
Really glad I picked this back up again - especially after STELLARIS and watching videos like this (he's got one about playing Ireland in the beginning as a "beginner" and explaining things that I feel like - as good as this games tutorial is - didn't really explain well). I knew this game had depth, but it's just so much more enjoyable approaching it the right way (as a dynastic game).
Been playing the game wrong. Now, I know there's "No wrong way to play. . ." these games if you're having fun, but I was for sure not engaging the game in even a basic sense. I was too focused on short term gains instead of recognizing that this is a generational game (like STELLARIS, which really helped me appreciate what the "grand" in grand strategy means - or at least I think it means now). Instead of being too obsessed with my starting Petty-King, I started thinking long term and the game is much, MUCH more enjoyable and the systems now make more sense.
As an example, I was only ever concerned with making IRELAND, usually through vasallization, and didn't really pay much attention to titles and who inherits what. I couldn't understand why I was getting so weaker when my character died and my heir takes over, being under the impression that my heir would necessarily be as strong at the start as I was. This time around, I imprisoned my first heir as at this point everyone in my realm knew I was a murderer (killed mah wife), an adulterer (fucked my brothers wife and knocker her up) and practitioner of the dark arts, so throwing my heir in jail was no thing. I was actually going to have him executed (or just have him die) to make room for my legit-bastard, but didn't even know I could just force my son to become a monk instead. I liked this route because it did feel kind of scummy to do this to my kid after all the wars he fought and the fact he considered me a friend (and still does, which is odd - shouldn't the act of tossing someone in jail and causing them to lose their inheritance get you off the Christmas card list). I did all this because my bastard was coming along real nicely in my education of him and was clearly going to make a better heir; making my original heir a monk also meant my kid got all my titles so there would be no loss of the work I put into my holdings. . .
Which is something else I had been ignoring. I was largely in a Civilization mindset when looking at holdings in that I figured I didn't need to focus on something that was going to take YEARS to develop. Again, lacking a generational mindset when viewing progress. Although, even this was a misunderstanding of the game systems as holdings at the low levels don't really take THAT long to build especially given how long everything else in the game takes to progress (right now improving control in an area that'll take "eight years" and I'm like "Whew. . .not so long").
At the tail end of my first characters life, we got called to a Holy War. I've done one before but didn't really understand what I was working towards. I did see that just by capturing a few outposts and was setting myself up for a ton of gold, prestige and piety (managed to capture the war leader like in the first year of the war - no idea what those other newbs were doing). This was a NASTY war though, with a lot of rulers fighting personally. My guy died and my kid took over, but the other rulers were all dying in the war - like constant notices of "A new ally. . ." popping up. I had also set up a beneficiary, and didn't think much of it. . .until the war ended and all of a sudden my favorite Half-sister is now Queen of Jerusalem! Looking through the internet it seems this is working as intended as this can't go to anyone who already is landed or has titles for claiming. I was hoping to have another son to marry off to my sister but that's ok - her realm is way the hell on the other side of the world and I can't see her holding on to it for long (though she is clearly the strongest in the region) if someone takes the Sultanate next to her (which I'm sure they will as it's ruled by kids. . .given all the adults died).
So now, we're at a time of peace in Ireland. . .as we work our way towards taking over all the land in the isle. Next goal is to finish researching Chronicle Writing (another piece of the game I legit paid no attention to in previous game; I'm guessing there are default options selected so that nothing goes to waste) so I can move on to Royal Perogative so that I don't have to worry about succession issues anymore (I'd rather not kill anymore kids. . .err I mean. . .uh nevermind).
Really glad I picked this back up again - especially after STELLARIS and watching videos like this (he's got one about playing Ireland in the beginning as a "beginner" and explaining things that I feel like - as good as this games tutorial is - didn't really explain well). I knew this game had depth, but it's just so much more enjoyable approaching it the right way (as a dynastic game).
Exactly the right attitude. Wars in CK come and go. The real fun is pulling off an inheritance you've been planning for 2 generations.
Been playing the game wrong. Now, I know there's "No wrong way to play. . ." these games if you're having fun, but I was for sure not engaging the game in even a basic sense. I was too focused on short term gains instead of recognizing that this is a generational game (like STELLARIS, which really helped me appreciate what the "grand" in grand strategy means - or at least I think it means now). Instead of being too obsessed with my starting Petty-King, I started thinking long term and the game is much, MUCH more enjoyable and the systems now make more sense.
As an example, I was only ever concerned with making IRELAND, usually through vasallization, and didn't really pay much attention to titles and who inherits what. I couldn't understand why I was getting so weaker when my character died and my heir takes over, being under the impression that my heir would necessarily be as strong at the start as I was. This time around, I imprisoned my first heir as at this point everyone in my realm knew I was a murderer (killed mah wife), an adulterer (fucked my brothers wife and knocker her up) and practitioner of the dark arts, so throwing my heir in jail was no thing. I was actually going to have him executed (or just have him die) to make room for my legit-bastard, but didn't even know I could just force my son to become a monk instead. I liked this route because it did feel kind of scummy to do this to my kid after all the wars he fought and the fact he considered me a friend (and still does, which is odd - shouldn't the act of tossing someone in jail and causing them to lose their inheritance get you off the Christmas card list). I did all this because my bastard was coming along real nicely in my education of him and was clearly going to make a better heir; making my original heir a monk also meant my kid got all my titles so there would be no loss of the work I put into my holdings. . .
Which is something else I had been ignoring. I was largely in a Civilization mindset when looking at holdings in that I figured I didn't need to focus on something that was going to take YEARS to develop. Again, lacking a generational mindset when viewing progress. Although, even this was a misunderstanding of the game systems as holdings at the low levels don't really take THAT long to build especially given how long everything else in the game takes to progress (right now improving control in an area that'll take "eight years" and I'm like "Whew. . .not so long").
At the tail end of my first characters life, we got called to a Holy War. I've done one before but didn't really understand what I was working towards. I did see that just by capturing a few outposts and was setting myself up for a ton of gold, prestige and piety (managed to capture the war leader like in the first year of the war - no idea what those other newbs were doing). This was a NASTY war though, with a lot of rulers fighting personally. My guy died and my kid took over, but the other rulers were all dying in the war - like constant notices of "A new ally. . ." popping up. I had also set up a beneficiary, and didn't think much of it. . .until the war ended and all of a sudden my favorite Half-sister is now Queen of Jerusalem! Looking through the internet it seems this is working as intended as this can't go to anyone who already is landed or has titles for claiming. I was hoping to have another son to marry off to my sister but that's ok - her realm is way the hell on the other side of the world and I can't see her holding on to it for long (though she is clearly the strongest in the region) if someone takes the Sultanate next to her (which I'm sure they will as it's ruled by kids. . .given all the adults died).
So now, we're at a time of peace in Ireland. . .as we work our way towards taking over all the land in the isle. Next goal is to finish researching Chronicle Writing (another piece of the game I legit paid no attention to in previous game; I'm guessing there are default options selected so that nothing goes to waste) so I can move on to Royal Perogative so that I don't have to worry about succession issues anymore (I'd rather not kill anymore kids. . .err I mean. . .uh nevermind).
Really glad I picked this back up again - especially after STELLARIS and watching videos like this (he's got one about playing Ireland in the beginning as a "beginner" and explaining things that I feel like - as good as this games tutorial is - didn't really explain well). I knew this game had depth, but it's just so much more enjoyable approaching it the right way (as a dynastic game).
Imprisoning does have a hefty opinion malus but isn't enough to completely override other modifiers. You will often have a legitimate reason to imprison someone and it may sometimes be demanded so not fully in your control. The default imprisonment for nobility is also house arrest so not exactly the harshest existence. Now throw someone in the dungeon and you get a bigger opinion penalty with the imprisoned and their family members.
Been playing the game wrong. Now, I know there's "No wrong way to play. . ." these games if you're having fun, but I was for sure not engaging the game in even a basic sense. I was too focused on short term gains instead of recognizing that this is a generational game (like STELLARIS, which really helped me appreciate what the "grand" in grand strategy means - or at least I think it means now). Instead of being too obsessed with my starting Petty-King, I started thinking long term and the game is much, MUCH more enjoyable and the systems now make more sense.
As an example, I was only ever concerned with making IRELAND, usually through vasallization, and didn't really pay much attention to titles and who inherits what. I couldn't understand why I was getting so weaker when my character died and my heir takes over, being under the impression that my heir would necessarily be as strong at the start as I was. This time around, I imprisoned my first heir as at this point everyone in my realm knew I was a murderer (killed mah wife), an adulterer (fucked my brothers wife and knocker her up) and practitioner of the dark arts, so throwing my heir in jail was no thing. I was actually going to have him executed (or just have him die) to make room for my legit-bastard, but didn't even know I could just force my son to become a monk instead. I liked this route because it did feel kind of scummy to do this to my kid after all the wars he fought and the fact he considered me a friend (and still does, which is odd - shouldn't the act of tossing someone in jail and causing them to lose their inheritance get you off the Christmas card list). I did all this because my bastard was coming along real nicely in my education of him and was clearly going to make a better heir; making my original heir a monk also meant my kid got all my titles so there would be no loss of the work I put into my holdings. . .
Which is something else I had been ignoring. I was largely in a Civilization mindset when looking at holdings in that I figured I didn't need to focus on something that was going to take YEARS to develop. Again, lacking a generational mindset when viewing progress. Although, even this was a misunderstanding of the game systems as holdings at the low levels don't really take THAT long to build especially given how long everything else in the game takes to progress (right now improving control in an area that'll take "eight years" and I'm like "Whew. . .not so long").
At the tail end of my first characters life, we got called to a Holy War. I've done one before but didn't really understand what I was working towards. I did see that just by capturing a few outposts and was setting myself up for a ton of gold, prestige and piety (managed to capture the war leader like in the first year of the war - no idea what those other newbs were doing). This was a NASTY war though, with a lot of rulers fighting personally. My guy died and my kid took over, but the other rulers were all dying in the war - like constant notices of "A new ally. . ." popping up. I had also set up a beneficiary, and didn't think much of it. . .until the war ended and all of a sudden my favorite Half-sister is now Queen of Jerusalem! Looking through the internet it seems this is working as intended as this can't go to anyone who already is landed or has titles for claiming. I was hoping to have another son to marry off to my sister but that's ok - her realm is way the hell on the other side of the world and I can't see her holding on to it for long (though she is clearly the strongest in the region) if someone takes the Sultanate next to her (which I'm sure they will as it's ruled by kids. . .given all the adults died).
So now, we're at a time of peace in Ireland. . .as we work our way towards taking over all the land in the isle. Next goal is to finish researching Chronicle Writing (another piece of the game I legit paid no attention to in previous game; I'm guessing there are default options selected so that nothing goes to waste) so I can move on to Royal Perogative so that I don't have to worry about succession issues anymore (I'd rather not kill anymore kids. . .err I mean. . .uh nevermind).
Really glad I picked this back up again - especially after STELLARIS and watching videos like this (he's got one about playing Ireland in the beginning as a "beginner" and explaining things that I feel like - as good as this games tutorial is - didn't really explain well). I knew this game had depth, but it's just so much more enjoyable approaching it the right way (as a dynastic game).
Exactly the right attitude. Wars in CK come and go. The real fun is pulling off an inheritance you've been planning for 2 generations.
Sometimes you get to watch a carefully considered plan come to fruition decades down the line.
And then sometimes you then get to watch that heir die of pneumonia as a child.
Yeah, when I imprisoned my son, he was like 100, but when you go to the actual breakdown it was like 170 something, which I'm assuming doesn't cap first and then calculate negatives (because that would be unfair) so - even to his death after pleading many times to be allowed to come home - never dropped below 100. . .poor bastard.
Exactly the right attitude. Wars in CK come and go. The real fun is pulling off an inheritance you've been planning for 2 generations.
I will definitely say that so far, war has not been my primary issue even though I tended to give it primacy; even before my first character died I had a really strong army that I knew could take Ireland, definitely Scotland with my heir and likely Britain (or whatever its Empire name is), but I still put most of my thinking in making sure that above all else was being focused on. . .instead of utilizing the Royal Court or REALLY focusing on developing my lineage more than two generations away.
. . .also something I realized I had been really neglecting in a "Oh shit!" moment was efficiently using my courtiers - not just in council positions but in making me future leaders. I legit before this moment didn't even think about investing in the people at court in terms of good marriages - in my mind all the traffic in court was there for me to basically have someone for knight duty or to teach my own kids, not to be invested in themselves. I really like the current character I have (third generation, originally disinherited but restored when I realized you shouldn't put a three year old in charge of an empire) I have, who has inherited the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his aunt (another mistake I almost made, was just giving this away to not have to deal with the region and the domain limit, but then realized I could just give away some of the weaker holdings to old men who weren't likely to have kids or alliances or be in a strong enough position to factionalize against me), has an inheritable intelligence trait and has both diplomatic and. . .genetic (/cough) strengths in the bloodline. However, I'm in the antsy spot where you want to restart a game using your current knowledge to conquer the past and rule the future.
Just layers upon layers I'm peeling through on this game. I wish EU and HOI were as accessible (I imagine their future installments will be like upcoming V3) so that I could go similarly deep in them (just on different kinds of games you want to play - dynasty, nation building or advanced warfare).
Yeah, when I imprisoned my son, he was like 100, but when you go to the actual breakdown it was like 170 something, which I'm assuming doesn't cap first and then calculate negatives (because that would be unfair) so - even to his death after pleading many times to be allowed to come home - never dropped below 100. . .poor bastard.
Exactly the right attitude. Wars in CK come and go. The real fun is pulling off an inheritance you've been planning for 2 generations.
I will definitely say that so far, war has not been my primary issue even though I tended to give it primacy; even before my first character died I had a really strong army that I knew could take Ireland, definitely Scotland with my heir and likely Britain (or whatever its Empire name is), but I still put most of my thinking in making sure that above all else was being focused on. . .instead of utilizing the Royal Court or REALLY focusing on developing my lineage more than two generations away.
. . .also something I realized I had been really neglecting in a "Oh shit!" moment was efficiently using my courtiers - not just in council positions but in making me future leaders. I legit before this moment didn't even think about investing in the people at court in terms of good marriages - in my mind all the traffic in court was there for me to basically have someone for knight duty or to teach my own kids, not to be invested in themselves. I really like the current character I have (third generation, originally disinherited but restored when I realized you shouldn't put a three year old in charge of an empire) I have, who has inherited the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his aunt (another mistake I almost made, was just giving this away to not have to deal with the region and the domain limit, but then realized I could just give away some of the weaker holdings to old men who weren't likely to have kids or alliances or be in a strong enough position to factionalize against me), has an inheritable intelligence trait and has both diplomatic and. . .genetic (/cough) strengths in the bloodline. However, I'm in the antsy spot where you want to restart a game using your current knowledge to conquer the past and rule the future.
Just layers upon layers I'm peeling through on this game. I wish EU and HOI were as accessible (I imagine their future installments will be like upcoming V3) so that I could go similarly deep in them (just on different kinds of games you want to play - dynasty, nation building or advanced warfare).
That military is pretty important though. Even if you never fight an offensive war with it, it deters others from declaring war on you. That includes your vassals who love to threaten war if you don't give them more power after your heir succeeds you.
Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
So I finally picked up Crusader Kings 3 and while I am enjoying it I think it might be too easy? Maybe it's just the year 867 start but it seems like if I can survive the first couple of decades it's pretty smooth sailing until I inevitably get bored and start over.
Just finished a game where I started as the count of Alto Aragon and ended as Emperor of all Iberia and most of France; got the cheevos for going from Count to Emperor and converting all of Iberia to christian. I really feel like starting as a Basque count should have been harder than it was.
Also, there aren't a lot of achievements that help guide your playthrough like there are in EU, mostly a lot of fairly generic stuff you might hit incidentally while playing as whoever. Makes it difficult for me to plan runs. Plus there are very few achievements specific to areas outside of Europe which makes me wonder why all this Asia was included on the map.
I mean the same could be said of CK2, especially after all the DLCs and patches.
With CK2, and now with CK3, I'm still of the opinion that they should really lean more into historical, cultural, and religious flavor. It seems both low effort from a development standpoint (you just need to like, hire a historian or two-which Paradox might already have-and code some events/event chains or decisions)
Also fix that fucking Jain sect that has all members be nudists, since only that branch of Jainism's equivalent of monks go nude. (Pet peeve.)
Iberia really benefits from the DLC pack. I felt it was far to easy before. Now it’s constant turmoil there with land constantly swapping between lords.
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited July 2022
Oh cool there's a single county on the Caspian still ruled by an independent Zoroastrian in the 867 start. Time for Ahura Mazda's big comeback tour.
Edit: Okay, I have found a challenge that will take a bit, time to start attempt 3.
I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say... what the fuck?
Well, they are in Sweden, who is gonna go into energy crisis like a huge part of Europe in a few months (Sweden energy costs are expected to double) so they are probably trying to find ways to account for that.
PSN|AspectVoid
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Zavianuniversal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered Userregular
edited August 2022
they're basically forcing people to buy the royal edition; I'm wondering if this is a result of people playing the vanilla version for 'free' on Gamepass
Iberia is fun but it doesn't really add a ton to the overall game, I don't see it being worth over $10
Only the individual packs, not the royal edition or the expansion pass.
The pass is already cheaper than royal court plus any one of the others, and the royal edition is cheaper than the base game plus royal court. And of course this is a Paradox grand strategy game and will eventually have a sprawling mess of 8,723 DLCs of varying price points split into several passes. Long term the economical options are going to be buy the passes or skip it all.
I'm glad a release date is finally confirmed. I didn't enjoy the preceding Victoria games, but I really like the time period. I'd be cautiously optimistic about it.
Posts
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/developer-diary/dev-diary-93-turmoil-in-the-peninsula.1521199/
That said, though, more content for the Iberian peninsula is very welcome indeed. It's a pretty interesting area. Looking forward to seeing what they're gonna do with it.
Dev Diary #94 - Anatomy of a Struggle
OK, so, turns out, the Struggle doesn't apply to just one part of the map. It can pop up elsewhere as well. Although this dev diary isn't very clear on if it already will when the next update comes along or if it's going to in the future.
Ah, whatever. It's nice to know this system is definitely going to apply elsewhere as well.
I also saw another one on Facebook, but I can't seem to find it on Youtube.
Playing this game through PC Game Pass (i.e. the Xbox framework in Windows 10/11, same as all PC Game Pass games), I ran into a BSOD-causing error (though the more I've looked into it, the more I think I could reproduce this on the Steam release too). The Paradox launcher, when attempting to update mods ("Syncing Playset") can cause a "BAD_POOL_CALLER" BSOD (which I ran into in both a Windows 10 PC and on Windows 11), likely owed to something happening when overwriting a mod downloaded through Paradox's website. Since the Steam version can also get mods from Paradox's website, I suspect it could happen there too.
The solution was actually really simple: just delete the mod folder, My Documents/Paradox/Crusader Kings 3 (and let the launcher redownload everything). In fact, it would probably be enough to just delete the culprit mod in question, though I went overboard and deleted my whole CK3 folder except for my saves. The Paradox Launcher will replace the mods (and at least in my case, not cause a BSOD).
So, yeah, hopefully someone else sees this and doesn't go through the same agonizing bullshit at the end of a long day.
Options are blackmail, walk away, or take the rod and start wailing on them yourself. This reduces stress.
. . .though, what the hell is up with the initial load time (to get into game)? I don't remember it being this nutty.
The first major expansion (Royal Court) added a huge amount of underlying systems to the game that require more PC power. So much, in fact that they only implemented it for Kings and Emperors because trying to implement it for Duke level characters pretty much wrecked the game due to resources used.
I spoke to soon. At least when clicking on resume you get back into the game real quick; same with loading a game once already loaded up.
. . .also spoke too soon regarding getting back into the swing of things. I think it took me several hours and a lot of dead future-Irish to unit Ireland the first go round. This time I've only attacked one ruler; the others I used my diplomatic skills on and we're looking at getting the look of the Irish in no time. Game is a lot "easier" when you're not just throwing brute force at things.
I think when you load up after a new patch that it has to do something to the files (maybe CRC related) and it only does it once, unless you change the checksum through another patch or mods.
That said, Stellaris has been starting oddly slowly lately for me so there may be something going on with it.
1) Iberia is one of my preferred areas to play, and its all focused in Iberia.
2) When I bought CK3 I got the big pack with the DLC included, and now a year later my perspective is that I didn't pay anything for it since I paid for it so long ago.
That said, the struggle system is pretty good. The system is divided into three phases. When it starts, its in a phase called "Opportunity" and every action every character involved in the struggle takes pushes it toward either the "Hostility" phase or "Conciliation" phase. Every phase has different mechanics, bonuses, and penalties. Some examples, in the Opportunity phase, you spend prestige to fabricate a claim instead of gold. In the Hostility phase, the Claim Liege Title option is automatically unlocked for all powerful vassals. Meanwhile, in the Conciliation phase, inter-faith marriages are available and give Piety. There are dozens of these effects for each phase.
Keep in mind all of that is only in Iberia. The struggle system is not available anywhere else, though they have said that adding new struggles to different areas is certainly on the table in future DLC releases.
I'm willing to bet Paradox is waiting to see how the Struggle is received by the player base. If people like it, then, yeah, sure, there'll be new Struggles (I'm guessing Jerusalem is high on that list). But if people turn out to be indifferent or actively dislike it, then the Iberian Struggle can be seen as a single experiment confined to Iberia.
But people seem to like the Struggle so far. So I wouldn't be surprised if every upcoming DLC (or at least flavour pack) is going to come with its own appropriate Struggle.
WILDCARD!
Mine just had an event where I sent someone in search of viking cheese, so maybe there's some stuff with them?
Well, that's actually covered. If you show up with your Norse Vikings you start out considered Uninvolved. You have no effect on it at all. If you move your capital to Iberia you become an Interloper, where your actions will effect the progress of the Struggle, but you only get some of the benefits and penalties associated with it. Outside of Christianity and Islam, if at least 80% of the existing counties that follow that faith/culture are present in Iberia, then it becomes Involved in the struggle and you are fully in it.
So, if you start in 1066 where there's like only a couple of Norse counties left in the world, then you bring your Norse Vikings south and take over 3 or 4 counties, then you become fully involved in the Struggle once those counties are converted over to Norse Viking.
As an example, I was only ever concerned with making IRELAND, usually through vasallization, and didn't really pay much attention to titles and who inherits what. I couldn't understand why I was getting so weaker when my character died and my heir takes over, being under the impression that my heir would necessarily be as strong at the start as I was. This time around, I imprisoned my first heir as at this point everyone in my realm knew I was a murderer (killed mah wife), an adulterer (fucked my brothers wife and knocker her up) and practitioner of the dark arts, so throwing my heir in jail was no thing. I was actually going to have him executed (or just have him die) to make room for my legit-bastard, but didn't even know I could just force my son to become a monk instead. I liked this route because it did feel kind of scummy to do this to my kid after all the wars he fought and the fact he considered me a friend (and still does, which is odd - shouldn't the act of tossing someone in jail and causing them to lose their inheritance get you off the Christmas card list). I did all this because my bastard was coming along real nicely in my education of him and was clearly going to make a better heir; making my original heir a monk also meant my kid got all my titles so there would be no loss of the work I put into my holdings. . .
Which is something else I had been ignoring. I was largely in a Civilization mindset when looking at holdings in that I figured I didn't need to focus on something that was going to take YEARS to develop. Again, lacking a generational mindset when viewing progress. Although, even this was a misunderstanding of the game systems as holdings at the low levels don't really take THAT long to build especially given how long everything else in the game takes to progress (right now improving control in an area that'll take "eight years" and I'm like "Whew. . .not so long").
At the tail end of my first characters life, we got called to a Holy War. I've done one before but didn't really understand what I was working towards. I did see that just by capturing a few outposts and was setting myself up for a ton of gold, prestige and piety (managed to capture the war leader like in the first year of the war - no idea what those other newbs were doing). This was a NASTY war though, with a lot of rulers fighting personally. My guy died and my kid took over, but the other rulers were all dying in the war - like constant notices of "A new ally. . ." popping up. I had also set up a beneficiary, and didn't think much of it. . .until the war ended and all of a sudden my favorite Half-sister is now Queen of Jerusalem! Looking through the internet it seems this is working as intended as this can't go to anyone who already is landed or has titles for claiming. I was hoping to have another son to marry off to my sister but that's ok - her realm is way the hell on the other side of the world and I can't see her holding on to it for long (though she is clearly the strongest in the region) if someone takes the Sultanate next to her (which I'm sure they will as it's ruled by kids. . .given all the adults died).
So now, we're at a time of peace in Ireland. . .as we work our way towards taking over all the land in the isle. Next goal is to finish researching Chronicle Writing (another piece of the game I legit paid no attention to in previous game; I'm guessing there are default options selected so that nothing goes to waste) so I can move on to Royal Perogative so that I don't have to worry about succession issues anymore (I'd rather not kill anymore kids. . .err I mean. . .uh nevermind).
Really glad I picked this back up again - especially after STELLARIS and watching videos like this (he's got one about playing Ireland in the beginning as a "beginner" and explaining things that I feel like - as good as this games tutorial is - didn't really explain well). I knew this game had depth, but it's just so much more enjoyable approaching it the right way (as a dynastic game).
Exactly the right attitude. Wars in CK come and go. The real fun is pulling off an inheritance you've been planning for 2 generations.
Imprisoning does have a hefty opinion malus but isn't enough to completely override other modifiers. You will often have a legitimate reason to imprison someone and it may sometimes be demanded so not fully in your control. The default imprisonment for nobility is also house arrest so not exactly the harshest existence. Now throw someone in the dungeon and you get a bigger opinion penalty with the imprisoned and their family members.
Sometimes you get to watch a carefully considered plan come to fruition decades down the line.
And then sometimes you then get to watch that heir die of pneumonia as a child.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
I will definitely say that so far, war has not been my primary issue even though I tended to give it primacy; even before my first character died I had a really strong army that I knew could take Ireland, definitely Scotland with my heir and likely Britain (or whatever its Empire name is), but I still put most of my thinking in making sure that above all else was being focused on. . .instead of utilizing the Royal Court or REALLY focusing on developing my lineage more than two generations away.
. . .also something I realized I had been really neglecting in a "Oh shit!" moment was efficiently using my courtiers - not just in council positions but in making me future leaders. I legit before this moment didn't even think about investing in the people at court in terms of good marriages - in my mind all the traffic in court was there for me to basically have someone for knight duty or to teach my own kids, not to be invested in themselves. I really like the current character I have (third generation, originally disinherited but restored when I realized you shouldn't put a three year old in charge of an empire) I have, who has inherited the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his aunt (another mistake I almost made, was just giving this away to not have to deal with the region and the domain limit, but then realized I could just give away some of the weaker holdings to old men who weren't likely to have kids or alliances or be in a strong enough position to factionalize against me), has an inheritable intelligence trait and has both diplomatic and. . .genetic (/cough) strengths in the bloodline. However, I'm in the antsy spot where you want to restart a game using your current knowledge to conquer the past and rule the future.
Just layers upon layers I'm peeling through on this game. I wish EU and HOI were as accessible (I imagine their future installments will be like upcoming V3) so that I could go similarly deep in them (just on different kinds of games you want to play - dynasty, nation building or advanced warfare).
That military is pretty important though. Even if you never fight an offensive war with it, it deters others from declaring war on you. That includes your vassals who love to threaten war if you don't give them more power after your heir succeeds you.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Just finished a game where I started as the count of Alto Aragon and ended as Emperor of all Iberia and most of France; got the cheevos for going from Count to Emperor and converting all of Iberia to christian. I really feel like starting as a Basque count should have been harder than it was.
Also, there aren't a lot of achievements that help guide your playthrough like there are in EU, mostly a lot of fairly generic stuff you might hit incidentally while playing as whoever. Makes it difficult for me to plan runs. Plus there are very few achievements specific to areas outside of Europe which makes me wonder why all this Asia was included on the map.
With CK2, and now with CK3, I'm still of the opinion that they should really lean more into historical, cultural, and religious flavor. It seems both low effort from a development standpoint (you just need to like, hire a historian or two-which Paradox might already have-and code some events/event chains or decisions)
Also fix that fucking Jain sect that has all members be nudists, since only that branch of Jainism's equivalent of monks go nude. (Pet peeve.)
Edit: Okay, I have found a challenge that will take a bit, time to start attempt 3.
I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say... what the fuck?
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Well, they are in Sweden, who is gonna go into energy crisis like a huge part of Europe in a few months (Sweden energy costs are expected to double) so they are probably trying to find ways to account for that.
Iberia is fun but it doesn't really add a ton to the overall game, I don't see it being worth over $10
The pass is already cheaper than royal court plus any one of the others, and the royal edition is cheaper than the base game plus royal court. And of course this is a Paradox grand strategy game and will eventually have a sprawling mess of 8,723 DLCs of varying price points split into several passes. Long term the economical options are going to be buy the passes or skip it all.
I'm glad a release date is finally confirmed. I didn't enjoy the preceding Victoria games, but I really like the time period. I'd be cautiously optimistic about it.