Anybody playing Crusader Kings 2?

[Oberon]

I've seen this one before:

[Hottentot]

They have a forum full of threads filled with good ideas for DLCs and they go with that?

Please tell me this is a joke.

[Drewcifer]

I agree my stomach rolled when I seen this. Because of how great the base game was I vowed to buy all DLC to support them... but now I'm going to have to amend that vow to "I'll buy all RELEVANT DLC"

[Crécy]

After three days, I finally realized that I posted this in the wrong thread...

Crusader Kings II Patch 1.08 released.

Patch 1.08 is now live on Steam and GamersGate!

The GamersGate version is up now, though it might take a while for it to show in the launcher.

(GamersGate Mac version)

Old save games should be completely compatible.

CHECKSUM: JQDK

2012-11-15: v1.08
-----------------------

MAJOR:
- Added Nahua culture and Aztec religion

MINOR:
- Retinues no longer get free leaders
- Liege levies raised via the province view are now raised in the selected province
- You can now forbid your council from leading armies
- Optimized succession calculation, which could cause massive slowdowns in big dynasties with many landed members
- Intrigue plots vs barons or their courtiers can now include their liege's courtiers and other vassals
- Fixed Scottish Schiltron building giving 10x defensive bonus to pikes
- Fixed Dutch cultural retinue lacking pikes
- Fixed an issue with AI strength calculations the first month after loading a game
- A bit more randomness in the size of the rebel reinforcements in civil wars
- The Pope now receives even less war contribution score in Crusades
- Fixed a crash with a null war list in Province View and Diplomacy View
- Mercenary regiments and Holy Orders will now automatically get a new leader when the old one dies
- Less likely that the captain of a merc regiment gets reassigned to lead something else
- Kingdoms no longer assimilate out of de jure empires that have no holder
- Fixed a bug with not being able to move capital back to your title's preferred capital
- The Imperial Reconquest CB now only works for the restored Roman Empire
- The Imperial Reconquest CB no longer clears out all rulers under the title
- Disbanding multiple selected units will never disband retinues if there are non-retinues in any selected unit
- Liege levies will now disband if their owner is at war with the owner of the unit
- Retinues no longer reinforce if their owner has no money
- Diplo AI: Imprisoned vassals or below will always accept a demand for religious conversion, and go free from prison
- AI: Much better at assigning flank commanders for important armies
- AI: Less likely to go overboard with Crown Authority
- AI: Not interested in Lower CA plots in irrelevant kingdoms/empires
- AI: Fixed a bug with it not dismissing liege levies when done with them
- Army AI: Fixed a bug with invasions not happening when they should
- Ledger page with independent rulers now shows troops including retinues
- Shift or Ctrl clicking buttons in Ruler Designer coat of arms designer now multiplies the frame change by 5 or 10
- Fixed bug where byzantine unit pack was replacing all eastern europeans
- Raising troops via raise all or raise on province will now merge units
- Now allowed to ask to join tribal invasion wars
- Fixed bugged altaic culture building modifier
- Fixed the history of c_sodermanland
- Fixed consistency issue with German characters name Philipp
- Fixed faulty employment date for Robrecht van Gent
- Fixed broken Ua Conchobair dynasty
- Province of Bira no longer stays Orthodox for the entire game
- Fixed bug where imprisoned underage rulers could kill their regents
- Gave The Two Saltuks from Erzurum their correct names
- Corrections to Phillip IV of France and many related characters
- Sigrid Ylving no longer has the wrong mother
- Fixed the deathdate of King Charles IV of France
- Added missing Ecumenical Patriarchs
- Fixed a bug where courtiers of landless characters would be listed in a weird location
- Fixes and additions to various Frankish and Occitan dynasties
- Fixes and additions to the Hunfirding dynasty
- Missing marriages, mothers, children of Valdemar II and Erik V of Denmark added
- Fixed a rare crash in 'on_siege_over'
- AI: The independence faction does not present an ultimatum until it has at least 33% of the liege's strength
- AI: De jure vassals of your culture and religion, except kings, will not start or join independence factions
- Reduced the chance of massive rebel reinforcements for the Independence faction
- Diplo AI: Mongols and Aztecs will no longer revoke titles off human players just for having the wrong religion or culture
- Armenian, Georgian and Alan cultures updated with new names, name linkings and patronymics
- Fixes to the County of Melgueil
- Ingeborg Magnusdotter now has the correct gender
- Sartag Khan now converts to Nestorianism instead of Orthodoxy
- Corrections to the religion of several Zirid characters
- A few Catalan name fixes
- Changes and additions to the Godwin dynasty
- Fixed a bug with Primogeniture when tracing back through the current holder's mother
- Fixed a very rare crash with Holdings with no holder
- Fixed an issue with inheritance by landless characters when there was no de jure vassal title they could take off the previous holder
- Diplo AI: Much more careful about imprisonments
- Imprisoning characters no longer affects their position in the line of succession
- Fixed a bug with the event pictures on Mac and Linux
- Added blinded trait to historically blind characters in the database
- Added missing space to Armenian dynasty prefix and Irish male patronym
- Byzantine, Armenian and Georgian character fixes and additions
- Fixed wrong liege for Duchy of Champagne and County of Gevaudan at certain dates
- Welsh/Hiberno-Norse Dublin character fixes and additions
- New dynasty for the Kurdish Shaddadids, extended Mirdasid pedigree
- On player agreement, the game now sends information to the Paradox backend when you start a game, containing the names of the DLCs and Mods you run (can be toggled with "dont_track_data = [yes/no]" in settings.txt)
- AI: The leader of a claimant faction will no longer leave the faction in an elective realm where the claimant is currently the heir
- AI: Fixed a slight bug where current heirs would not back claimant factions for themselves
- Spymaster Scheme job has been overhauled and simplified
- AI: Fixed an issue with the number of available galleys check
- Fixed an issue with part of the de jure drift mechanic not being cleared on resign

FOR MODDERS:
- The criterion for determining who can lead troops is now determined by the allow trigger for 'job_marshal' (so women can now be modded to lead armies)
- Added trigger 'is_adult'
- Added trigger 'is_marriage_adult'

[Oberon]

1.09

MAJOR:
- Merchant Republic gameplay (Duke or higher tier Republics with a coastal capital)
- Added a 'Grant Independence' diplomatic interaction
- Titles can now automatically change name depending on the culture of their top liege
- The Reign length opinion modifiers are now dependent on how long a character has been the liege of someone, not how long the primary title has been held
- Added 1241 Bookmark - "The Mongols"
- Save file transfer now works on Mac
- Reduced max demesne size from ruler tier, especially for Dukes
- Reduced the effect of Stewardship on max demesne size (now 15%, down from 25%.)
- Added a max demesne size bonus (+1) for dukes with more than one duchy
- Increased the Prestige effects of a rank difference in marriages by a factor of 5
- All merc regiments now grow in max size over time
- Added more mercenary bands: Finns, Lapps, Abyssinians, Nubians, Lithuanians, Scots, Irish and Alans
- Added Ultimogeniture succession law
- Added Tanistry succession law

MINOR:
- Fixed a bug with religions that have become or stopped being heresies not being correctly reset on reload
- Sunset Invasion: Slightly increased the arrival strength of the Aztecs
- Increased the strength of the Timurids
- Added a hidden event that clears diplomatic immunity from faction members if the faction leader dies while waiting for the liege response to an ultimatum
- When forming the Roman Empire, de jure assimilation into the Byzantine Empire is now carried over
- Fixed a bug allowing you to declare excommunication wars on lieges above your immediate liege (the war would then invalidate)
- AI: Will not attach units to allied units unless they are in the war target area
- Fixed a bug where a king who was also emperor lost the empire title in a civil war, but retained all dukes as vassals under the kingdom
- Fixed a crash in the province view
- Retinues no longer cost maintenance when you are out of money ( since they do not reinforce when you are out of money )
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur when a character was exiled from the last existing republic
- Fixed a bug with de jure withdrawal out of empires where the counter would reset and nothing would happen
- AI: Infinitesimal chance that the AI will fold to faction demands from tiny factions
- Fixed some bugs with the outcomes of the Imperial Reconquest CB
- Fixed a bug with characters not always returning correctly from foreign courts
- Fixed a CTD with the GamersGate in-game store API if there was a network error
- Forbidding councillors from leading armies is now saved
- Forbidding councillors from leading armies will no longer lead to an out of sync in multiplayer
- Fixed issue where a settlement could be awarded to an enemy after a siege was won
- Character screen no longer moves to front when it updates its data
- When creating a new unit one subunit will automatically transfer over if the selected unit has at least two
- Added a message for when someone takes over as a faction leader
- Prerequisite building missing text in building tooltip is now localized
- Fixed issue where character browser was showing some rulers when set to "all characters" and "no rulers"
- AI: Fixed a somewhat borked odds calculation vs attached units
- Army AI: Fixed an indecision issue - will be more determined to hunt down certain armies
- Army AI: Fixed a bug with splinter armies putting the whole agent into retreat mode
- Army AI: Fixed a rare collection livelock issue if a splinter army was besieging a holding
- Army AI: Fixed a glitch with the potential target province calculation due to moving enemy units
- Claimant Factions are no longer valid for non-elective titles if the claimant has no claim
- Fixed a confusing "any demesne title" trigger tooltip
- Removed the kingdom of Pommerania from the de jure HRE
- Liege levy maintenance cost is now shared with sub vassals
- The old liege now only gets weak claims on members of successful independence factions
- Fixed a rare crash in AI flank leader unit assignment
- Fixed an issue that could allow vassals of vassals to launch independence faction wars
- Independence faction wars are now invalidated if the pre-war liege becomes vassalized himself
- Fixed a bug where the successor of an Ecumenical Patriarch (or a vassal Pope) could change religion to the liege's.
- Vassals of vassals can no longer start claimant factions for claimants in another realm
- You now correctly gain Piety for granting bishoprics to courtiers
- Muslim rulers no longer get Piety for creating a random mosque holder
- Hamburg and Celle now have ports
- Province of Alexandria adjusted to include the site of the actual city
- Gender corrections to certain characters
- Added missing parents for Roupen I of Armenia Minor
- Fixed broken House Oitir dynasty
- Fixed several Mongol characters having the wrong religion
- Constantine de Hauteville is no longer female
- Gytha Thorkelsdottir now has the correct deathdate
- Louis d'Evreux now has the correct mother
- Fixes to Václav II and descendants
- William 'Adelin' now has the correct deathdate
- Miscellaneous database corrections to the de Luxembourg dynasty
- Miscellaneous database corrections for the Normans and the 1st Earl of Chester
- Fixed the birthdate of Saint Louis IX of France and his brother Robert of Artois
- Switched culture for two characters from Irish to Scottish
- Fixes to Danish and Norwegian bastards
- Added the Hvide Bishops of Roskilde
- The culture of Khwarizm now changes to Turkish at the correct date
- Updated the Jarls of Västergötland
- Fixed various issues with wrong or missing mothers for Frankish characters
- Fixed the lineage of Erik III of Denmark
- Added new Maghreb Wikipedia links
- Tweaked deathdate of Mubashir, Duke of Mallorca, and made him eunuch
- Fixed the spelling of the de Cuiseaux dynasty
- Corrections to the Af Sverker family
- Fixes to the ruler history of the Perigord and La Marche counties
- The Pirate King Kyrillos is now correctly imprisoned when captured through event
- Added dynasty and descendants to Umar ibn Khattab
- Fleshed out the the Rassid dynasty of Yemen
- Additions to the Banu 'Amir dynasty and its descendants
- Various changes and additions to the Hammudid dynasty
- Added the Mayzadids of Hillah
- Updated the Scottish name list
- Minor changes and additions to the Italian name list
- The Umayyad and Hashimid now have Muslim-style Coats of Arms
- Added some missing Dukes of Brittany
- Namechanges for several Scottish characters
- Constantinople is now protected by the Theodosian Walls
- Some corrections to Swedish kings and their families
- Links for Hungarian names added
- Changes to the Baltic pagan setup
- Corrections to Birger Jarl's family line
- All Armenian characters are now Miaphysite
- Added descriptive texts of all buildings
- Fixed issue with certain buildings referring to an obsolete Seljuk title
- Updated the credits
- Basra and Tigris now have the correct ruler in 1152
- Blocked claimant factions for vassals of vassals under Medium or higher crown authority
- Blocked most factions for vassals of vassals under Medium crown authority in addition to High and Absolute
- Fixed a problem with the limit of children for heirs
- AI: Fixed a bug with it not dismissing liege levies when done with them
- The pre-spawned 1066 conquest armies in England now suffer normal attrition
- Event spawned civil war armies now suffer normal attrition
- Made the bastard birth event (450) more common
- If married, women now fool their husbands about the parentage of children born from the bastard birth event (450)
- Fixed a bug with kingdom adjudication and barony tier titles under lieges with split allegiances
- Lowered the inheritance chance a bit for most congenital traits
- Fixed some glitches with the Mongol conversion events
- There is now a chance that the Ilkhanate will convert to Nestorianism
- There is now a small chance that the Golden Horde will convert to Nestorianism
- AI: Tweaked the effect of the Content trait on the creation and joining of Claimant factions
- AI: A bit smarter about launching claimant ultimatums
- Diplomacy View: Fixed a minor prestige tooltip issue when marrying lowborn characters
- AI: Vassals of a conqueror's title should not support claimants of another culture
- DoW AI: Now more aware of the possibility of mercs and the military value of Gold
- AI: More keen on using mercs if even slightly outnumbered
- AI: Very rich states are now more likely to use multiple merc regiments if needed
- Renamed the merc fleets after sea zones
- Added a hidden event to disband William's special invasion fleet
- AI: Lords and their heirs always answer each other's call to wars
- AI: Fixed a bug that could prevent the passing of laws
- AI: Smarter about trying to institute Agnatic-Cognatic law
- Retinues are now correctly passed on to the _player_ successor, not the primary title successor
- Fixed a crash bug in the Diplo and Province views with character with a null list of enemies
- Fixed a bug where characters inherited debts
- Fixed a minor bug in the effect 'vassalize_or_take_under_title' that would allow vassalization of unvassalizable titles like the Hashashin
- The religious CB now vassalizes lords of your own religion in the target Duchy
- AI: Fixed an issue where lords would marry off their councillors matrilineally to lowborn courtiers
- Fixed a bug with succession law opinions of children not of their parent's dynasty
- Optimized the line of succession calculation code
- AI: Fixed some bugs with elective successor choices
- Fixed (hopefully) a gross bankruptcy bug with the 'transfer_scaled_wealth' effect
- AI: External powers now more aggressive against civil war revolters
- Various code speed optimizations
- Fixed another bug with dead character in the Allies list
- AI: Husband and Wife always answer each other's calls to war
- Reversed the order of rulers in the Title History View (latest now on top)
- Invasion AI: Fixed a bug where fleets were afraid of loaded armies on enemy fleets
- Army AI: Fixed a brain death issue when under invasion by a Mercenary company whose unit was destroyed
- Army AI: Fixed an issue where it would not raise its own demesne ships
- AI: Will tend to hand out the latest acquired baronies rather than the oldest
- The Traitor opinion is now inherited by ruler successors
- Calling someone to war now makes them dislike you by the same amount you will like them for answering
- Conquerors (rulers of conquered titles) can now call on rulers from back home (Cultural Bonds) while defending against other cultures
- Fixed a rare crash in the Diplomacy View
- The 'vassalize_or_take_under_title' effect now correctly restores the taker liege afterward
- Fixed a bug where certain event effects in CBs could take Patrician titles
- Fixed a bug with the backend poster not having a HTTP POST timeout
- Fixed a bug with the random seed in event effect descriptions not matching the actual effect
- Fixed a bug where rampaging mercs would make an invalid DoW
- Fixed a bug preventing you from nominating bishop successors
- Muslim pulse events are now triggered correctly
- Fixed misplaced IF in decadence_invasion
- Added additional rulers to Chalkidike in the history database
- Chancellor event while improving relations is now properly triggered
- Fixed error in polygamy event
- Fixed issue with event where a character tries to free his/her spouse
- Added missing parents to several Arabic characters
- Added additional Alan dynasties
- Fixes to several Welsh dynasty names
- Some Armenian dynasty names are now Greek as intended
- Fixed the dynasty of Udalard de Besalu
- Characters older than 50 will no longer fight in tournaments
- Fixed pronoun error in Guardian event
- Removed superfluous church opinion effect from several Muslim-only event modifiers
- Fixed issue where the wife of a courtier could suggest a new Lord Spiritual
- Fixed option effect in event 1009
- Added additional Irish and Welsh dynasties and characters

FOR MODDERS:
- The event trigger and effect 'any_faction_backer' without a 'faction' field now work for the backers of all factions
- The 'copy_title_history' effect now also copies de jure assimilation
- Fixed some bugs with the 'de_jure_liege_or_above' and 'de_jure_vassal_or_below' triggers
- Character event flags are now shown in the portrait debug tooltip
- The modifier 'assassinate_chance_modifier' on the acting ruler now has an effect
- Added trigger 'is_at_sea'
- Added trigger 'is_patrician'
- Added trigger 'is_merchant_republic'
- Removed unused on actions 'on_siege_won' and 'on_siege_list'.
- Added on action 'on_siege_over' which triggers for all characters in the province
- Exported PATRICIAN_CAMPAIGN_FUND_FACTOR to defines
- Exported DOGE_SUCC_RANDOM_FACTOR to defines
- Added effects 'embargo' and 'lift_embargo'
- Added trigger 'has_trade_post'
- Added event target 'trade_post_owner'
- Added event effect 'seize_trade_post'
- Added 'attrition' field to the 'spawn_unit' effect. This is an attrition multiplier.
- Added 'cuckoo' (impregnation) console command
- Added 'culture = random' to 'create_character' and related event effects
- Added 'rep_trade_posts' Plot type
- Added define 'ENFORCE_ONE_OF_EACH_HOLDING' (Require players to build at least one City, Temple and Castle in each province)
- Added event target 'plot_target_province'
- Added a 'capital_holding' event target
- Added trigger 'num_of_trade_posts'
- Added trigger 'num_of_trade_post_diff'
- Added event trigger 'any_trade_post'
- Added event effect 'any_trade_post'
- Added event effect 'random_trade_post'
- Added 'same_religion = yes' field to the effect 'vassalize_or_take_under_title'. It will only vassalize rulers of the taker's religion
- Added 'is_patrician' filter to events
- Increased max demesne size limit for Patricians by 1 (define DEMESNE_MAX_SIZE_PATRICIAN)
- Added trigger 'any_attacker' (war scope)
- Added trigger 'any_defender' (war scope)
- Added 'inherit' field to opinion modifiers

Increased the strength of the Timurids

[Raptor1]

- The Pirate King Kyrillos is now correctly imprisoned when captured through event

So you can do that. Think you should purge your navy now?

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

So you can do that. Think you should purge your navy now?

Where's that Greek fire, I have some Dromons to visit...

[Hottentot]

Anyone else have experiences from the relatively recent Republic DLC? I got it myself a few days ago and have been testing it this weekend.

Playing a republic feels suitably different, but I can't help feeling that Paradox has made a somewhat half-baked job. It's like they put up a skeleton and didn't bother adding too much meat to it.

Sure, the republics are different. The concept of competing with the other patrician families over controlling the trade routes is cool. Certainly a refreshing change from the feudal noble inheritance game and the muslims' "Durr, kill all stomp stomp stomp" map painting. But it's also super repetitive. OK, I can build trade posts. Nice. I can plot or go to war to capture trade posts from other families. Cool. Then I can build more trade posts. And hope I'll one day be elected Doge. While waiting, let me build a few more trade posts. Oh, I got an event saying I got 100 gold. Cool: I'll use it to build more trade posts. Damn, another event says I lost 50 gold. Oh well, I guess I'll have to build more trade posts to make up for the loss. What, another event saying I lost 50 gold? Wait, it's exactly the same event as the last one! Oh well. Let's build more trade posts...

I just can't see how I'm living in a city when there is nothing related to the city happening. All I get is events saying I either gained or lost gold. Then at some point I became Doge and guess what I got? More events saying I either gained or lost gold. And guess what I did? Yeah, build more trade posts. Meanwhile I also got into feud with another family through an event chain. Other than the cool event chain where I got to throw the other patrician out of my party pretty much nothing happened. I was like "Oh [beeb]" when my mortal enemy got elected Doge after me. I waited and waited until finally...he appointed me as steward and granted me a city for my loyal service? Uh...

The republics also feel weirdly chosen. The republic of Gotland in the North has no competition whatsoever. On the other hand the Mediterranean is ridiculously overcrowded with Genoa, Venice and Pisa all stuck next to each other. And then there is the HRE to the North of them who every now and then just says: "LOL, I declare war on you for no apparent reason."

OK, I get it: it's just a 10€ DLC. For such price it's totally worth the price, if only to get a momentary respite from trying to murder your eldest imbecile son to get his genius half brother inherit instead. But it's also why I'm thinking the new Paradox policy of not doing large expansions but cheap DLC packages isn't the right direction. Perhaps they are going to flesh out the republic gameplay in patches later, but at the moment the DLC feels more like a minigame rather than a decent alternative.

[Hottentot]

Sorry for the monologue, but this is just getting silly now even by my standards.

Got bored of getting smashed around by the HRE and being an ass to the other republics, so tried Gotland instead. Got elected the big boss again. Now I don't even need to plot to acquire the trade posts from the other families, I can simply take them. Sure, I still need to have a formal plot and 3 supporters, but I alone have over 1000 % plot power and I can ask my own courtiers and sons to support my plot.

I'm racking so much money I don't even know where to spend it. Every time it seems someone is going to bypass the member of my own dynasty in the elections, I simply shove ridiculous amounts of gold to the elections and boom, inheritance secured again. The other families are not even upgrading their trade posts properly, so they can't keep up with the income war. More income means more stuff and more stuff means more income. And this is only my second generation, for goodness' sake!



See that? Everything in the blue is mine and keep in mind that it took a while to get the snowball rolling. If a complete dolt like me can achieve that without intentional powergaming, then what can an actually competent player do?

Paradox, fix or do sumfink?

[Raptor1]

I've only played a couple of rather short Republic-based games so far (always as Gotland with the goal of forming the Hanseatic League), so I can't comment on how these go in the long term, but I have noticed the AI is utterly incompetent at conducting trade port wars. They always send their troops after the Republic's main holding, which I suppose makes sense if you're the ruler of it but doesn't actually do anything if you're just a Patrician, while allowing you to freely rampage through their trade ports.

As for them not upgrading trade ports, I have actually seen the AI do it. I know because I find it cheaper and easier to let other Patrician families build trade ports and then grab them in a war than to build them myself.

Anyway, I'm sure Paradox will balance it better and improve the AI with patches. If not, there are always mods...

[Hottentot]

For anyone thinking of buying this game, there is a series of multiplayer videos going on where three of the developers are playing the game in Scandinavia and also explaining stuff as they go. Granted they are all playing Kings, so one of the major parts of the game is missing (rising in ranks and the challenges of being a minor power inside a huge kingdom), but all in all it's very nice and gives a good picture of what CK2 is like.

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by Hottentot

Anyone else have experiences from the relatively recent Republic DLC? I got it myself a few days ago and have been testing it this weekend.

Playing a republic feels suitably different, but I can't help feeling that Paradox has made a somewhat half-baked job. It's like they put up a skeleton and didn't bother adding too much meat to it.

Sure, the republics are different. The concept of competing with the other patrician families over controlling the trade routes is cool. Certainly a refreshing change from the feudal noble inheritance game and the muslims' "Durr, kill all stomp stomp stomp" map painting. But it's also super repetitive. OK, I can build trade posts. Nice. I can plot or go to war to capture trade posts from other families. Cool. Then I can build more trade posts. And hope I'll one day be elected Doge. While waiting, let me build a few more trade posts. Oh, I got an event saying I got 100 gold. Cool: I'll use it to build more trade posts. Damn, another event says I lost 50 gold. Oh well, I guess I'll have to build more trade posts to make up for the loss. What, another event saying I lost 50 gold? Wait, it's exactly the same event as the last one! Oh well. Let's build more trade posts...

I just can't see how I'm living in a city when there is nothing related to the city happening. All I get is events saying I either gained or lost gold. Then at some point I became Doge and guess what I got? More events saying I either gained or lost gold. And guess what I did? Yeah, build more trade posts. Meanwhile I also got into feud with another family through an event chain. Other than the cool event chain where I got to throw the other patrician out of my party pretty much nothing happened. I was like "Oh [beeb]" when my mortal enemy got elected Doge after me. I waited and waited until finally...he appointed me as steward and granted me a city for my loyal service? Uh...

The republics also feel weirdly chosen. The republic of Gotland in the North has no competition whatsoever. On the other hand the Mediterranean is ridiculously overcrowded with Genoa, Venice and Pisa all stuck next to each other. And then there is the HRE to the North of them who every now and then just says: "LOL, I declare war on you for no apparent reason."

OK, I get it: it's just a 10€ DLC. For such price it's totally worth the price, if only to get a momentary respite from trying to murder your eldest imbecile son to get his genius half brother inherit instead. But it's also why I'm thinking the new Paradox policy of not doing large expansions but cheap DLC packages isn't the right direction. Perhaps they are going to flesh out the republic gameplay in patches later, but at the moment the DLC feels more like a minigame rather than a decent alternative.

So you don't like Trade Posts?

[Hottentot]

Why, I love trade posts! Why else would I be spamming them from Finland to the Western coast of Ireland? Other than not having anything else to do with my pocket money, that is.

Oh, I love them so much that I just went to war over one. The Hanseatic League appeared and took a bunch of my posts with it through an event (obviously needing a kickstart since it appears in the middle of the game when Gotland has already established its dominance.) So I said "nuh-uh" and started a war to get my property in Gdansk back.

It was a short and one sided affair which resulted in Gdansk becoming firmly blue again. But then the weird thing happened: just as I was planning on attacking them again before they had time to grow into a threat they...disappeared, for the lack of a better word. All the provinces they had trade posts in were now empty again and there was no sign of the League to be found anywhere. I had already saved money to bribe the king of Denmark to embargo them, but all I could ask him was to declare war on one of the Mediterranean republics.

It's as if, after losing one war, they just packed up their gear and vanished into thin air. No idea if this is a bug or intentional, but I was honestly excited of the idea of finally having some serious competetion.

[HunterICX]

And here we go...Pagans!!!

http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/cr...about_game-tab

Description

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods, the fourth expansion for the critically praised strategy/RPG, finally enables you to play as a Pagan or Zoroastrian ruler, with particular focus on the dreaded Vikings and their tradition of pillage and adventure.
Crusader Kings II explores one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by Paradox Development Studio, the masters of Strategy. Medieval Europe comes to life in this game of knights, schemes and thrones.

Features

• Play as a Pagan chieftain and ravage your weak neighbors. If you remain at peace for too long, your people will grow restless...
• New special start date in 867 AD: The Viking Rurik has founded the kingdom of Rus and the Great Heathen Army under the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok rampages through England.
• Play as a Zoroastrian lord and restore your ancient religion to prominence.
• Adventurers: Landless characters can gather armies and go off to carve out new realms on their own.
• Prepared Invasions: Declare your intention to invade and watch your armies grow with adventurers and restless warriors, but don't wait too long to start your war or it might all fall apart...
• Rebels with a Cause: Rebels are no longer a faceless menace – they are now led by characters with agendas.
• Loot and pillage provinces. Burn down their cities and take their gold!
• Sacrifice to Odin at the great Blot!
• Christians and Muslims can dispatch missions to convert the depraved heathens.
• New beautiful Pagan interface skin.
• New events and decisions: berserkers, sejdr, curses, omens, divinations, runestones and much more.

HunterICX

[Oberon]

Fffff, between this and Heart of Darkness for Vicky II...my wallet was doing so well...