PDOX Games VIII: Communism Will Win

[Auze]

I've never had the pleasure, as I never got around to picking up Reapers Due.

I feel like Catholicism in my game might be doing a bit better if the Pope were to Crusade for Aquitaine or Frisia though. For some reason he keeps periodically calling Crusades for Egypt, which the Catholics are in no position to actually win.

Yeah Paradox seems to have fucked things up and so they always crusade for egypt. Venice tried to change it for Byzantium, but my piety (as a baby) told them to fuck off.

IIRC Egypt was the original target for the 4th Crusade, so that makes some sense at least.

[The Olog-Hai]

Yeah Paradox seems to have fucked things up and so they always crusade for egypt. Venice tried to change it for Byzantium, but my piety (as a baby) told them to fuck off.

IIRC Egypt was the original target for the 4th Crusade, so that makes some sense at least.

Venice eventually succeeded at the cheese, given that the game wouldn't let me change the target to Africa. And so, the juicy juicy Byzantium who I was planned to invade on succession, shattered. The pieces are hell to pick up, though I do want to squeeze an SPQR into this run (and so I'm going to have to cheese some conversions when I gain more land, which is hard as fuck now.) Thanks, asshole in venice.

[Bralia]

I'm actually very impressed with how game-changing this one new building coming to EUIV is.

[Danubian Peoples]

Playing CK2, trying to replicate some past acheivements of mine, and it just feels, wrong. Half the things I succeed at and show off here require many levels of 'things go my way.' I've tried to replicate the things I've done several times, all of them ending in failure. Starting as Iron Century Ogliastria yields a subjigation by Muslim forces from the south, then a holy war that revokes my titiles, game-ending me. An Italy which refuses to just 'die' and promptly barges into my island. Trying to play as 769 Esfehan is a slog. Despite the profitability of your province you'll have a smaller army than everyone else at game start and its downright impossible to fight your liege when he decides to revoke your titles. Steiermark games are really just praying to whoever one believes in that the electors don't come for you. There's this sort of 'filter,' to borrow a term typically used in solutions for the 'Fermi Paradox,' that's really hard to surmount at game start. Getting past that hard spot is when you actually get to have better chances of succeeding. At least that's what it looks like to me. Some of you can effortlessly surmount that filter, invading China and restoring Rome by 1000 or earlier. Every game I show off here is an anomaly, because I've run the same scenario over and over again and was always met with day 1 defeat. Well not 'day one,' but a lot shorter than 100 years.

[Bralia]

The person responsible for everything cat related in CK2 speaks to us today about CK3.

[North German Realm]

The person responsible for everything cat related in CK2 speaks to us today about CK3.

You know, I'm starting to really like what we're seeing of the CK3 GUI. It looks pretty neat, and I for one can't wait be disappointed when the game itself doesn't look that good. Also, Wanderers and Guests. Interesting, but not as much as they might end up annoying (if your fifth son, for example, goes to another court and declares war on ya 5 years later and all).

[Bralia]

The person responsible for everything cat related in CK2 speaks to us today about CK3.

You know, I'm starting to really like what we're seeing of the CK3 GUI. It looks pretty neat, and I for one can't wait be disappointed when the game itself doesn't look that good. Also, Wanderers and Guests. Interesting, but not as much as they might end up annoying (if your fifth son, for example, goes to another court and declares war on ya 5 years later and all).

Gotta be careful about how many kids you have even with the best succession laws now, I would suppose.

[Impaled Nazarene]

The new ui is going to be even worse than CK2's isn't it?
Something tells me I'm going to be manually pausing the game a lot to deal with all the little things.

[Danubian Peoples]

The new ui is going to be even worse than CK2's isn't it?
Something tells me I'm going to be manually pausing the game a lot to deal with all the little things.

Well isn't that all of Paradox games basically? You let the game run for a while, watching numbers tick up and armed folks go at each other (or not). And then something new happens. Your military has successfuly whistood the enemy onslaught and is ready to go the offensive! You have enough of some currency to build shiny new buildings, take fancy decisions, improve on existing technologies! Some crazy event gives tells you that something really bad has happened somehwere really important and you need to process this and its consequences ASAP. Or you just think that your current direction needs some changing and you therefore flip a couple switches in a policy screen, or move around your 'I want stuff to happen here' markers to more important locations. Paradox games (at least the ones I have played, CK2, HOI4 and Stellaris), are chock full of pausing the game (or at least slowing it way down) and moving things. Whether it be researching new tech, changing army orders or intense battle micro to exploit every opportunity ever.

EDIT: On an unrelated note to the above, it appears Paradox games have an endemic issue with scaling these currencies. IIRC, in Stellaris, it costs 10000-40000 alloys to build a megastructure stage, when I could be pumping out 10s or 100s of battleships, craft probably far smaller than Dyson Spheres or RIng Worlds. Of course, scaling in Stellaris in generally pretty poor, the graphics one sees are obviously stylized, with stars orders of magnitude smaller than they would be compared to their satellites, and colossi capable of obliterating worlds-at most, sometimes dwarfing the size of suns. Multiple star systems far to compact, and stellar remnants (black holes, white dwarves, neutron stars) far too large compared to the planets they host. In CK2, trying to appease a child with the secret to life everlasting can take you to giving aid to a poor soul-enough 'aid' to build an entire city that is. And she'll still think you unworthy of her knowledge. Meanwhile it apparently takes as much gold to write a book as it does to build entire compounds housing elite soldiers, or expand large cities with new housing-depending on how much bank one makes of course. It appears the problems in CK2 stem from some, but not all, price tags being tied to a character's income, which, if taken to the extreme, will most likely result in insanity wherein writing a book will cost you more than becoming heir to Alexander. Has anyone tried that? Becoming so rich that the simple act of writing will cost one more than becoming Alexander II?

[The Olog-Hai]

The new ui is going to be even worse than CK2's isn't it?
Something tells me I'm going to be manually pausing the game a lot to deal with all the little things.

Well isn't that all of Paradox games basically? You let the game run for a while, watching numbers tick up and armed folks go at each other (or not). And then something new happens. Your military has successfuly whistood the enemy onslaught and is ready to go the offensive! You have enough of some currency to build shiny new buildings, take fancy decisions, improve on existing technologies! Some crazy event gives tells you that something really bad has happened somehwere really important and you need to process this and its consequences ASAP. Or you just think that your current direction needs some changing and you therefore flip a couple switches in a policy screen, or move around your 'I want stuff to happen here' markers to more important locations. Paradox games (at least the ones I have played, CK2, HOI4 and Stellaris), are chock full of pausing the game (or at least slowing it way down) and moving things. Whether it be researching new tech, changing army orders or intense battle micro to exploit every opportunity ever.

EDIT: On an unrelated note to the above, it appears Paradox games have an endemic issue with scaling these currencies. IIRC, in Stellaris, it costs 10000-40000 alloys to build a megastructure stage, when I could be pumping out 10s or 100s of battleships, craft probably far smaller than Dyson Spheres or RIng Worlds. Of course, scaling in Stellaris in generally pretty poor, the graphics one sees are obviously stylized, with stars orders of magnitude smaller than they would be compared to their satellites, and colossi capable of obliterating worlds-at most, sometimes dwarfing the size of suns. Multiple star systems far to compact, and stellar remnants (black holes, white dwarves, neutron stars) far too large compared to the planets they host. In CK2, trying to appease a child with the secret to life everlasting can take you to giving aid to a poor soul-enough 'aid' to build an entire city that is. And she'll still think you unworthy of her knowledge. Meanwhile it apparently takes as much gold to write a book as it does to build entire compounds housing elite soldiers, or expand large cities with new housing-depending on how much bank one makes of course. It appears the problems in CK2 stem from some, but not all, price tags being tied to a character's income, which, if taken to the extreme, will most likely result in insanity wherein writing a book will cost you more than becoming heir to Alexander. Has anyone tried that? Becoming so rich that the simple act of writing will cost one more than becoming Alexander II?

No because there are hard caps on how much everything can cost in CK2, typically. It usually scales, but to a point. The bigger cost for Alexander is prestige out the ass, anyways. I'm talking 10k in my case (which crusades make far too easy to sink). In synopsis, if you're playing the score game, go Catholic...

[Bralia]

Atenção, cidadãos do . . . something something . . . look, I know Portuguese when I see it, don't ask me to even try to say something coherent.

[Bralia]

It makes me intensely happy to see that nobody has expressed any interest in Portugal.

[Valrifell]

It makes me intensely happy to see that nobody has expressed any interest in Portugal.

Hm? Sorry don't know her.

[Danubian Peoples]

I did another thing

This time its becoming Tsar of the Empire of Rus as Polotsk, and gaining the Russkaya Pravda achievement, though once again the game decides Vhelky Vohd (however one spells or says that) is more important. Like, if the pope were emperor of China or something, would he still be addressed as pope in game? Nomads have been rather restrained, maybe this is just a side effect of the 867 start. They still raid Kiev just as much, but they haven't expanded into core Russian territory-merly held on to the core Russian lands they already held. Besides my capital is decidedly not Kiev. Overall, pretty great I guess. Also I'd like to point out that these nomads are actually nomads, and I didn't diable Horse Lords like I threatened to earlier. I make this point again in the Imgur album, so, a bit redundant to have it here too I guess. Now, I have some avenues for expansion. My highest-tier empire title and the rapid upswing in Slavic rulers means 'Force Vassalization' can be used liberally should I wish, which I can hopefully use to gun for the Slavic Union. I could also turn east and form Russia. Both of these do involve confronting the nomads however due to the aformentioned core Russian lands. And even with 25k troops at my command (mostly through vassals joining wars) they're all paper mache- I mean light infantry, so I have plenty of reservations about facing them. I could goad the hordes into swarming into my territory first, then taking advantage of the 60% defense buff an Unyielding religion gains when fighting in their homeland. BTW when I reformed, I went for:

-Temporal so I can call Great Holy Wars
-Ancestor Veneration because Eldership
-Children of Perun, riverboats are cool and so is Mellorism
-And Unyielding, for defense buffs and resistance to proseletyzing, as well as the allowance of Great Holy Wars

Anyway, I also have some quaims about the banners used by Ruthenia and the Empire of Rus, they have that Rurikid dynasty shield thingy, despite the fact that you can create these titles as anyone from King Dyre to Ghengis Khan. Of course you can just be Muslim and use your dynasty shield as the banner instead. Or is it the Bedouin culture?

[Serrus]

It makes me intensely happy to see that nobody has expressed any interest in Portugal.

That's because I forgot TO SAY HOW AWESOME IT WAS!
Blue Portugal is so awesome I will expressly bring it into being, and the United Communist Iberia is something I've been wanting since the beginning of the game! And now I'll have it! AND I LIKE THAT A LOT!

[Impaled Nazarene]

Atenção, cidadãos do . . . something something . . . look, I know Portuguese when I see it, don't ask me to even try to say something coherent.

Portugal, with a focus tree... This is like the majority of mods where a random ass country has indepth focus tree because someone lives there and is a bit nationalist.

[Genivaria]

It makes me intensely happy to see that nobody has expressed any interest in Portugal.

Honestly my biggest take-aways were the early ability to intervene in the Spanish Civil War and the Royal Iberian Alliance.

[Serrus]

Atenção, cidadãos do . . . something something . . . look, I know Portuguese when I see it, don't ask me to even try to say something coherent.

Portugal, with a focus tree... This is like the majority of mods where a random ass country has indepth focus tree because someone lives there and is a bit nationalist.

Hey, a Portugese focus tree to go with the Spanish one makes sense!

[Danubian Peoples]

Forming titles via decision should really come down to owning a certain amount of the counties in that title, the same system used for duchies, kingdoms and empires formed the more traditional way.
The above is a little nitpick I have about titles, and a picture of my current size. I'm still only the Empire of Rus despite owning a considerable amount of the counties required to form the Slavic Union. The same can be said for numerous other 'form title via decision' decisions. Anyway, Force Vassalization is pretty neat, especially when you leave some dukes alone and they snowball into huge domains ripe for the picking. Once again, Defensive Pacts are holding me back, which is fair, considering I've swallowed up most of the Slavic world (barring the south Slavs, but there is no 'Serb' brother or 'Cro' brother so who cares/s). The Khazars are proving troublesome, I've tried to take land fromt hem but both times I lost, first time their units proved too much for my light infantry swarms to handle, well that and attrition taking whole swathes of my armies. The second time looked like it was gonna be a repeat of the first, but several revolts fired across my empire in rapid succession, so I white peaced out of my war while I could and went to town with the revolting forces. I'm currently building up my demense and preparing to become feudal, its the 900s and many of my vassals in the west are chock full of castles, so they'd have no problem converting. Also, my vassals haven't been going beserk as I'd expect, playing as Scandinavia, my vassals would just, 'Ey my liege has a big coalition against him, but I'm gonna take all of France anyway.' This time they're pretty restrained, could be because 867 Karlings are a lot stronger this time around. Something else happened too. The Danish have managed to reform the Germanic religion and have crowned their king as Fylkir. Despite his smaller size he has a considerable amount of troops compared to me, and as such has not joined the Defensive Pact Against Empire of Rus. So now there are two reformed faiths around. Despite this, Catholic MA is actually doing pretty well, I'm guessing the viking raids haven't been so directed towards them. That Orthodox Karling King of Burgundy has had a large impact, Aquitaine and France are Orthodox, and so is Italy. I'm assuming they're taking the brunt of the raids, and as such are the reason as to why Orthodox MA is in the 60s-70s. Slavic MA is at around 82 right now, it used to be much higher when holy wars were waged with impunity by all Slavic realms. Old Slavic is still pretty numerous, I'm guessing I should've took Proseletyzing. Old Slavic Moral Authority, not so much. right now I have 4500 odd troops to my name, and an additional 35000 I can call up from my vassals.

[The Huskar Social Union]

til you can search for traits in the ck2 character finder

[Genivaria]

til you can search for traits in the ck2 character finder

Yeah that's really fucking cool innit? Just learned that myself the other day.

[Impaled Nazarene]

til you can search for traits in the ck2 character finder

unless it was recently updated it doesn't work consistently/not all traits can be searched.

[Danubian Peoples]

Does anyone know how to fight nomads? Tried for a third go as the Empire of Rus, now with 40K stacks of fodder. And it's getting tough. For some reason, 90% of nomad land is empty, and as such cannot be seiged for occupation score. This is frankly REALLY annoying, as this means the usual tactic of pooling 10000 men in one spot and assault seiging provinces en masse is just, not workable. Battle warscore only goes up to 75 percent so that remaining 1/4 of occupation warscore is a pain to get. You have to seige down the various capitals of the vassal khans, and those are usually far away from each other. Meanwhile the hordes will have probably unseiged the rest of your occupied provinces and you'll now have to retake those. And repeat ad infinitum, until the mounting revolts and wars is just too much and you white peace so you can redirect to more useful things.

[North German Realm]

til you can search for traits in the ck2 character finder

Wait shit really? How?

[Bralia]

til you can search for traits in the ck2 character finder

Wait shit really? How?

Just type it into the search. All the geniuses in the world will be listed before you.