PDOX Games VIII: Communism Will Win

[Danubian Peoples]

Biggest thing yet

I did it.

I finally did it.

I am now emperor of the Slavic Union, and have united the ancient lands of the three Slavic brothers. It's been a difficult journey, with wars of attrition against the nomad hordes, plucky infidels raising arms at every step, and the known world realizing my undeniable superiority over them-and banding together to resist it. The internal machinations of the realm cannot be ignored either, as daggers were pulled from so many cloaks, each one trying to land on an unfortunate back. Mountains of gold spent on securing new conquests against the nomads, while mountains more are handed of to vassals, lest the alternative. I have surmounted the great rivers, the high mountains, the wicked conquerors, the Jews of the steppe and the northwestern Germaics, and even the mighty cross of the Latin lands. Blood truly is thicker than water.

[Impaled Nazarene]

Biggest thing yet

I did it.

I finally did it.

I am now emperor of the Slavic Union, and have united the ancient lands of the three Slavic brothers. It's been a difficult journey, with wars of attrition against the nomad hordes, plucky infidels raising arms at every step, and the known world realizing my undeniable superiority over them-and banding together to resist it. The internal machinations of the realm cannot be ignored either, as daggers were pulled from so many cloaks, each one trying to land on an unfortunate back. Mountains of gold spent on securing new conquests against the nomads, while mountains more are handed of to vassals, lest the alternative. I have surmounted the great rivers, the high mountains, the wicked conquerors, the Jews of the steppe and the northwestern Germaics, and even the mighty cross of the Latin lands. Blood truly is thicker than water.

My first time seeing that. Didn't expect it to be green.

[Bralia]

Dude, I frickin' called it with marines. Very HoI4-like.

[Danubian Peoples]

A 'lil update to my Slavic Union

Yes. I Great Holy Warr'd Egypt. For whatever reason Sunni Islam's moral authority was at zero, so it was kinda a pushover, 20K troops against 50K, and even then nly 15000 enemy soldiers showed up. The Tulunids were the ones I believe holding Egypt before I smashed them. A cadet branch rules as Miaphysite sultans of Jerusalem, tributaries of the decidedly not Miaphysite Byzantines, from which I yanked Constantinople as my grandfather. This guy is actually the culmination of a careful bloodline snagging program, he has an Ancestor Veneration bloodline, the Slavic Union bloodline and the Silent Killer bloodline. I used Ancestor Veneration liberally, so I can get positive opinion modifiers to anyone who requests and make it easier to find bloodline-bearing boys I can matr-marry m daughters to. I got hit witha Teutonic crusade as this guy, some 33000 troops showed up and were promptly demolished by my 35-40000 troops. Unfortunately that was not a 'real' crusade, so no Moral Authority gain (doesn't matter, still have 100 MA). Also tried to conquer Rome, but the Christians of Italy banded together (no Defensive Pact though) and repelled my advance. My grandad (the same one) did repulse a real crusade, mainly by storming Roman beches with 18000 men while the rest of the cursading armies were stuck warring in Germany. So woo! Pagan Fury achievement. I could not get this one as Scandinavia because I had blobbed so far that the crusade threshold of 80% was never reached.

[Impaled Nazarene]

endsieg is fun but I have no motivation for paradox lately. it all seems lacking

[Danubian Peoples]

The Exception is coming, brace for impact
Some pics of some great characters. I had done very little expanding actually, mainly just holy warring the German holy site and pressing fabricated claims on Iceland. And taking that Silk Road Trade post in Ukraine. Nothing much, really. I owe most my territory changes to my vassals, who annexed Hungary, swallowed Scandinavia (except for north Finland, which is Cuman for some reason. Oh and Jutland too) Defensive pacts are insane, but when you can potentially obliterate Any-religion-but-Slavicdom with your levies, one's pretty reasonable to band together with his neighbor against this foe. As one can notice, the continents have changed a lot. The last legacy of that Orthodox Karling king of Burgunfy has been snuffed out by the illustrious Of Mercia dynasty, emperors of Britannia. They, besides the Byzantines pose the most threat to me, and are the biggest problem spot for any expansion plans in the west, as their 50K levies when combined with the levies of Catholic Europe can be a very big number very fast. The Byzantines, who I've kicked out of Constantinople are somehow going strong still, and consistently turn up 80K troops. Orthodox MA has imploded recently however, due to perhaps constant raiding from the Kingdom of Thrace (a vassal of mine) Can't confirm however, I wish Paradox would just let me see the moral authority of all religions in detail. In the east, the 'exception' I listed earlier is the Mongols, historical events are on so Ghengis Khan popped into existence recently. He has 190K event troops and will be a real challenge, unless of course he gets bogged down in the chaotic Eurasian steppe and all his men attrition themselves to death or something. Africa is my (as the Slavic religious head) domain. The emperor of Mali converted 1 character back, his realm got split in two due to differing succession laws I think, but the new emperor of Mali was an African pagan, so he of course converted again, he then annexed his brother's empire of Kanem-Bornu in a war. Meanwhile my vassal king of Egypt is having a grand time thrashing the many fiefdoms of East Africa. The Solomonids had been extinguished for a while now (they took their blood with them too), so there was no real power in Abyssinia stopping them. The large Catholic Nubian kingdom proved to be a pushover, unlocking the gates towards the divided Ethiopian lands. The Malinese conversion really claned up the messy religion map the collapse of Sunni Islam had generated, due to mass conversion being 'mass conversion' it converts large swathes of provinces at once. Overall a pretty decent period. Now I just have to hold out for 250 or so years.

These are mainly some, as the spoiler is titled, things I'd like to see in the dynasty simulator franchise that is Crusader Kings. Without further ado, let's get to it.

RELIGIOUS

-More variety in pagan reformation options. My top picks are a Free Love option, which would, to me, disable adultery penalties, have rulers incur piety maluses for turning down affairs, and automatically legitemizes bastards. Maybe throw in a nerf to the spouse attribute mechanic too. Some religions already practice free love in CK2, like Mazdaki and (I believe) Cathar. But the lack of a dedicated mechanic means that despite married practioners of these faiths incurring piety maluses for turning down affairs, they'll still be chastized by their significant others when the scandal breaks. I'd also like an option to implement the Muslim decadence system, which would allow for some very interesting things, like those giant refomred pagan monster-blobs to suddenly implode, saving your small (in comparison) Christian fiefdom from certain doom.

-Religious melting pot mechanics. Allow more than one faith to be practiced in any single province. Like, if you and your friends are say, Sunni Muslims and your neighbors are all Samaritan Jews, but all their neighbors are Nestorians, but the Taoist baron in charge of your city has been pushing his religion lately, and his liege is a devout Zunist who's dead set on converting his lands, what religion is the province then? Make it so that there's a population mechanic, influenced by the number of available building slots, the things in those slots, as well as prosperity and other factors, and that any given faith will hold a certain percentage of that slot. Proseletyzing would make that percentage go up. In this case, the Zunist count (he's an independent count) is proseletyzing in your province, over time this'll raise the number of Zunists in this province and eventually get his Taoist baron to join in on his religion too.

INTRIGUE

-Move the decisions (at least the non-intrigue related ones) to some different tab. What is so intriguing about holding a feast? I mean, is HOI4 planning to put the espionage system in the decisions tab? it's frankly really weird that 'kill my wife' and 'bribe the pope' fall under the same header. It's really convenient but also kinda weird. This is just a nitpick however and it's not too high up on the 'must-change' list I have in my head.

-Context-sensitive plots. I know that CK3 is planning to add a bigger variety of 'things I can do behind backs,' and I'd like it if the things you could do or their results were sensitive to whatever you, your co-conspirators or the target. Using CK2's plot system for example, let's say you're planning to kill someone. You've gathered enough people who don't like this guy for an opportunity to strike to be exploited. Say he's been put in charge on some soldiers, and is seiging some castle somewhere. Perhaps you could, instead of weakening the non-existent balcony, pull a false-flag operation and have some mercenary assasinate the guy under the guise of an enemy soldier, or if he were the defender, incite chaos within the locals to make them riot and trample your target. Say he's a Muslim and on a Hajj to Mecca. You could have highwaymen cut him down on the way, lay a trap at the destination, or ransack his supplies and have him starve to death in the searing desert. I know CK2 already does this to an extent, with maids being bribed to smother babies and zealous Muslims never drinking wine, but it really bothers me when the guy is in the middle of the literal Eurasian steppe and you can put him on a boat made to sink.

COMBAT

-A big one. FIX DUELING. If I have an arm chopped off, lost an eye, have an infected wound and is walking with a peg-leg then no, I should not be able to kill a bear. The same applies for the reverse. Warrior lodge-trained, battle-hardened heirs to legends bearing 150+ PCS should not be beaten by someone with 5.. On the subreddit, I always see some passage that goes, 'The best swordsman fears not the second best swordsman, but the worst swordsman because he doesn't expect what he's going to do.' In other words, dumb luck exists. But is it dumb luck if the no-armed, no-legged, blinded, bleeding, badly injured, pox-ridden, plague-bearing mangled imbecile eunuch kill someone in a duel?

GOVERNMENT

-Nomads, they're nomady nomads. And they're outcompeting everyone else. Go ahead, cite Ghengis Khan. I dare you, I double, triple, quadruple dare you. Because allowing nomads to continue like this means allowing them to more easily restore the Roman Empire than any Byzantium or glorified Germany. Seriously, I have seen feudal armies get stomped by these guys, be they mine or someone else's. I mean, they can burn down the entire world's worth of holdings and instantaneously convert any province to their culture. No MTTH, no proseletyzing mechanic, nu uh, nada. Like, do the millions of people in Constantinople just, vanish? Yep, apparently.

-Make Republics and Theocracies playable. This is more a critique of Crusader Kings as a 'dynasty' simulator, because allowing these to be playable means allowing Crusader Kings to be decoupled from the dynasty. But this would also mean not having giant holes of literally unplayable splattered all over the map. The Republic of Novgorod is the worst offender, an influential and very big realm, rendered totally unplayable. Any start it exists in means a large chunk of Russia and Finland is just, no longer there in a sense. I've heard of players getting game-ended because they inherited a temple/theocracy or something like that. That must be really terrible, isn't it. Because it is. I'm not sure how they would handle inheritance, but perhaps they would make it so that your game would be tied to your primary title rather than the dynasty.

[Ostroeuropa]

Just did an Equestria at war game as Hellquill -> Wingfried.

I feel bad. Conquered all of Griffonia except Mareland and am now in a cold war with the Solar Empire owning all of Equestria, so called it quits.

[The Huskar Social Union]

I would like to wish every denizen of the Paradox thread a good christmas tomorrow.

Yes even you Batavia.

Hope you all have your fill of good food, successful murder plots and sufficiently adequate presents.

And have a happy new year.

[North German Realm]

Something I hope we see (and know we've talked about at least at some point) is dynamic melting pot cultures. In addition to hoping we see more of cultures than in CK2 (Where the primary difference between Norse and Egyptian, other than their skin color, was "Norsemen can naturally raid and raise runestones"), I hope to see more dynamic melting pots. If a Norseman conquers, say, England, it shouldn't just switch the country's culture (i.e. trigger events where a province becomes Norse) but create a culture (Anglo-Norse, maybe).

[Genivaria]

Something I hope we see (and know we've talked about at least at some point) is dynamic melting pot cultures. In addition to hoping we see more of cultures than in CK2 (Where the primary difference between Norse and Egyptian, other than their skin color, was "Norsemen can naturally raid and raise runestones"), I hope to see more dynamic melting pots. If a Norseman conquers, say, England, it shouldn't just switch the country's culture (i.e. trigger events where a province becomes Norse) but create a culture (Anglo-Norse, maybe).

This reminds me of the mod When the World Stopped Making Sense, which features cultural melting pots just like you say.

[Genivaria]

Also. CHINA. UPDATE. WHEN!?

[Washington Resistance Army]

Also. CHINA. UPDATE. WHEN!?

All the big in development mods are gonna release before the China update lol

[Genivaria]

Also. CHINA. UPDATE. WHEN!?

All the big in development mods are gonna release before the China update lol

The PRC is offended by the idea that anyone but Commies could win China and thus is sabotaging the mod.

[Ifreann]

All the big in development mods are gonna release before the China update lol

The PRC is offended by the idea that anyone but Commies could win China and thus is sabotaging the mod.

Tencent does own a big stake in Paradox...

[Danubian Peoples]

Also. CHINA. UPDATE. WHEN!?

As the learned say:
'Soon +2 Weeks'

Which China update are you railing about? Is it KR4 0.8? If not, then the above quote is irrelevant.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Last time i give seasons greetings to you buggers

*kicks tinsel*

[Ifreann]

Last time i give seasons greetings to you buggers

*kicks tinsel*

Bah, humbug.

[Abserdia]

Last time i give seasons greetings to you buggers

*kicks tinsel*

Bah, humbug.

Bah, habsburg.

[Valrifell]

Forgot to grab screenshots, but I formed the Empire State in AtE starting as House Wayne in the Republic of Gotham.

I, of course, renamed it to what it should have been all along, so North America fears the might of New New York *laughs trade republic empire*

[Impaled Nazarene]

I hope CK3 is everything that I hope it isn't.

[North German Realm]

Something I hope we see (and know we've talked about at least at some point) is dynamic melting pot cultures. In addition to hoping we see more of cultures than in CK2 (Where the primary difference between Norse and Egyptian, other than their skin color, was "Norsemen can naturally raid and raise runestones"), I hope to see more dynamic melting pots. If a Norseman conquers, say, England, it shouldn't just switch the country's culture (i.e. trigger events where a province becomes Norse) but create a culture (Anglo-Norse, maybe).

This reminds me of the mod When the World Stopped Making Sense, which features cultural melting pots just like you say.

Idk, I haven't played the mod. That said, I do certainly hope Cultures matter more than just the -10 opinion modifier for people not of said culture. Also, hopefully the religious mechanics (pagan reformation, pilgrimage, etc. etc.) don't get axed. Oh, and pagans with the appropriate religious head mechanic (the one where it's not autonomous or temporal) should also have coronation ceremonies.

[Danubian Peoples]

RNGesus praise thee!

Update to my Slavic Union game. This madlass of a Tsaritsa is somehow still alive and kicking. I first inherited a Great Holy War for England from my predecessor at a young age (below 16), then I later ventured off to Britannia to gain a legendary bloodline, spammed 'Inspire Melliorism' on all my close relatives (I still have yet to gain the bloodline, am I doing it wrong), rebuilt stonehenge, continued improving my University, and started a hunt for the White Bear (still not succesful). I was swimming in prestige and coin (more of the former, the latter was spent frequently to upgrade demense and for prosperity decisions), when the Heir to Alexander event fired. I bet all in on both the search and the announcement-and I was somehow still alive to see the results. I have these bloodlines scored now. Bad news, you'll be seeing a lot of Tsaritsas for a while because Matrilineal transfer. During her legendary journey, Dobroslava also battled cancer and had the disease cured by getting her court physician to disfigure her face. I can only guess the tumor was located in that region. A rivalry duel then had her lose a leg, and she at that point had accured many, many scars. Meanwhile her vassals blobbed to heck and beyond, Egypt poised to become the Empire of Abyssinia (all conditions met by vassal, now only if they were independent and actually took that decision). The Empire of Mali to my 'West' was unfortunately caught in a vicious cycle of unpopular rulers and civil wars, but for the time bein, all has calmed down after I bailed them out of a Jihad (Umaayad caliph is a vassal of Aquitane so about 30K troops marched into Africa). To my east, the Mongols stand strong (but not strong enough to face my 245K army!), and the Yuan Dragon just as if not more. Fortunately placid emperors and a peace deal keep them from invading my lands. Dobroslava is also Leader of the Warriors of Perun, and has been for at least 20, 30 years. She's set up more duels than anyone else, and has more than enough experience in impromptu arm-wrestling and flyting matches. Soon maybe I'll smash the hordes and perhaps.. perhaps I will invade the Jade Dragon.. Or maybe I'll continue being heavily scrutinized by the known world because holy probably not Jain deity because Jain is all but dead in this run those Slavs are dangerous! Overall, perfect ruler, maybe she's a closet immortal or something, maybe the game borked and Dobroslava has a health stat of 1000 or something. Who knows? It's also getting to the point where CK2 is beginning to struggle with the immense weight of my dynasty and the rest of the known world, the game takes a while to resign and return to menu, which I can only guess is an issue with my dynasty of over 2000 members or something.

[Fuyujima]

Hope you all have your fill of good food,

But I don't want to lose the temperate trait.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Hope you all have your fill of good food,

But I don't want to lose the temperate trait.

Fuyujima has gained:

[United Muscovite Nations]

Victoria II is still the best Paradox game. I wish it had updated graphics, and that's really all that I would require to be changed, because that's all that feels dated tbh.