[MTS]

Gothos, on 07 March 2013 - 08:44 PM, said:

I found that after I restored the Roman Empire completely I had absolutely no incentive to continue that particular game anymore. a bloody million levies is... well, wow.

Yeah, I'm progressively losing incentive to continue the game. If the Hordes continue to leave me alone I'll shelve this particular game and start a new one. I'm thinking maybe the Venetians or the Genoese.

[Cyphon]

Let me put some cream in your coffee folks...

http://www.moddb.com...thrones-ck2agot

[MTS]

My possessed but otherwise brilliant Duke of Lombardy just started hearing the Devil while on Crusade. Haha, I love this game.

[MTS]

Been having a ball with the Old Gods, really liking the new tech system and the revamps to the pagans. Raiding is quite fun and profitable, although potentially treacherous, as I've had to make some quick manoeuvres to avoid getting curbstomped by the West Francians. The new subjugation and invasion CBs for pagans seem way too powerful though, I've had a stupidly easy time carving up the petty Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as Jorvik.

[Satan]

Have any of you tried the expansion The Republic? It looks like it could be really good, but it could also go the other way.

This post has been edited by Satan: 29 May 2013 - 07:14 AM

[Gothos]

I now feel like a total knob for having bought the republic a few days ago at full price. 75% off on steam today. Also bought the old gods, gonna launch it now (got a day off, too!)

The Republic is pretty cool, though I'd say Legacy of Rome was better. Still, the merchant republic system is pretty unique. Certainly a lot more fun than Swords of Islam.

[MTS]

The Republic is quite good I think, it adds a nice flavour to the game, particularly with the personal mansion concept and the trade post system. They are quite overpowered though, as you can make extraordinary amounts of money if you play it right, and the ability to buy elections and choose your heirs means that unless your leader dies unexpectedly you shouldn't ever lose the election for Doge. Also, the only real danger for republics once they get started is being embargoed by the Byzantines or HRE, as they're able to gain territory like any other feudal power, except make way more money doing it (as their primary titles are cities as opposed to castles).

Personally I'd remove the ability to buy elections and their ability to own territory outside their de jure republic, as in most of my games Genoa and Pisa end up carving up little empires in eastern Spain and North Africa, but anyway, none of that makes it a bad DLC, just hopefully Paradox nerf them in future patches. Overall I think it provides a nice change from playing the same old feudal powers wherever you are.

[Morgoth]

The Old Gods is an awesome expansion, and I'm especially enamoured with the new tech system.

Raiding as the vikings is a lot of fun, and I've set as my goal to create a greater Norway using funds I'm to receive from sacking Rome and Constantinople.

[Gothos]

Worst thing about the pagan factions is being forced into gavelkind. Also, no more killing off family members to manage gavelkind either. So now after founding the kingdom of Norway it appears that my heir will only get the kingdom of norway title, and one lousy county. that's not even my capital. his little brother born of a concubine will get the full jarldom of ostandet....... really.

[MTS]

Gothos, on 29 May 2013 - 03:17 PM, said:

Worst thing about the pagan factions is being forced into gavelkind. Also, no more killing off family members to manage gavelkind either. So now after founding the kingdom of Norway it appears that my heir will only get the kingdom of norway title, and one lousy county. that's not even my capital. his little brother born of a concubine will get the full jarldom of ostandet....... really.

Yeah the way inheritances are divvied up by Gavelkind is just weird. The primary heir only gets the highest title and one county while the other sons get all the rest. If you could choose which sons get what (but have requirements on what each has to get) then it would be much better. I got around that problem though by carving up England so before I died I could give my other two sons a single duchy with all its counties (Northumberland and Lancaster), which meant my primary heir would get York and Bedford. I avoided concubines for the very reason you described. More kids = more headache.

[Gothos]

I dare anyone to play as the zoroastrian guys down in Khiva... I double-dare you, motherlovers. Wedged between Cumania and Persia? yeah, right...

[Morgoth]

I've found the best way to go about it is to conquer Irish territories and dumping my sons in the temples.

[MTS]

If you can be bothered, get the Hymns to the Old Gods music pack. It's very good. A bit jarring when it reverts back to the regular music after the Norse stuff, but oh well.

Also, Charlemagne may have been awesome, but his descendants are total douches...

[Morgoth]

And with Norway unified by Harald Hårfagre I now have enough men and ships to be a true terror. Constantinople, Jerusalem and Rome are all in flames. The Emperor's only child, a daughter came home with me as my third concubine. A nice young greek girl to warm the ageing kings bed. It will amuse me to form Ireland and gift the kingdom to my future children of that bloodline.

This whole Viking business might just be going to my head

[Vengeance]

Morgoth, on 30 May 2013 - 05:19 PM, said:

And with Norway unified by Harald Hårfagre I now have enough men and ships to be a true terror. Constantinople, Jerusalem and Rome are all in flames. The Emperor's only child, a daughter came home with me as my third concubine. A nice young greek girl to warm the ageing kings bed. It will amuse me to form Ireland and gift the kingdom to my future children of that bloodline.

This whole Viking business might just be going to my head

Kind of like you where born to it eh...

[Morgoth]

The big challenge is to strengthen the realm in such a way it will survive the succession. I do not yet have the strength to challenge Sweden and Denmark for their holy sites and until then I wont be able to reform the Norse religion and change my inheritance laws for the better.

So, what I plan to do until then is to spread my lineage far an wide. I might not end up in control of the British isles, but at least it'll remain with the family.

Incidentally I sacrificed the queen of West Francia at my latest Blot. The king shouldn't have left Paris all soft and waiting to get burned to the ground. Amusingly, he sent assassins after me in an attempt at revenge. It failed, but my spymaster insisted on retaliation so I ended up assassinating him instead. Now West Francia is in the mother of all succession crises.

[MTS]

In my game the Karlings are quite powerful. West Francia controls Aquitaine, Burgundy, Lotharingia and Italy while East Francia controls Burgundy. The two are brothers so they always join each other's wars, leading to some funny occurrences. For instance one of the East Francian lords raised a rebellion against the King pushing the claim of his brother in West Francia. West Francia ended up siding with East Francia, essentially fighting against his own claim to the throne.

[Morgoth]

The problem I'm facing as Norway, and which I'm sure is rather historically accurate, is that once Norway has been founded my ability to expand further is severly limited. There's the British isles, ripe for plucking. Alas, they're rather poor as territories go, and will be hard to hold until I've been able to reform the faith.

So, I can raid and bring in great quantities of cash, strenghtening my territories, but while I'm doing that Sweden is expanding east. And I need Upsalla ( a Swedish territory). So, I can simply wait until Sweden enters a sucession crisis, or end up fighting a stronger enemy.

Hm, perhaps I should simply hurry the process along by assassinating the Swedish king. With the sort of cash I've got from all the raiding I should be able to push that sort of thing into happening.

[Morgoth]

So I've reformed the faith, and not a moment too soon. My staunch ally, the King of Jorvik died and his son is a thrice cursed catholic. So now there are but two Norse nations left; Norway and Sweden. Thankfully we're tied close together through cooperation and a series of marriages, and have so far been able to handle threats against us.

Continous raiding have made me the scourge of christiandom, but also filthy rich. As a result I've been able to hire a couple of mercenary companies that made the subjugation of Ireland a quick matter.

Alas, I'm embroiled in Sweden's holy war for Denmark and until that decade long monstrosity ends I can't change my inheritance laws to elective monarchy. And the king has six sons, so if he was to die before all my work will crumble.

I've also discovered a deliciously cruel way to fuck with Europe. Raiding gives me a lot of noble children as prisoners. As it turns out, it's possible to tutor these children, thus turning them into good norse pagans. So, the King teaches the girls, giving them good traits and makes them into concubines once they turn 16. Amusingly, or perhaps disgustingly is better, they have a +20 modifier because the King is their teacher. They produce a couple of children with the potential for weak claims, and then I send them back home to wreak havoc on the sucession. Sardinia is ruled by a Norse pagan now.

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 04 June 2013 - 06:35 AM

[Gothos]

I like the captive concubine thing. Looove me some taking prisoners. Wreaking political havoc with them? Brilliant.

Me, I gave a few tries to the zoroastrians.... managed to survive until like 904 AD so far. Subjugated the whole dejure kingdoms of Khiva and Turkestan. Persia just formed, sadly, and they outnumber me 3:1 for now. Got to wait for a succession crisis. Abbasids are close by as well, making religious wars in the west tricky. Hard game.