PDX Games IX: The Pacific Bread Centaur

[North German Realm]

Reformation does seem interesting. You get concubines with Muslim or Dharma rulers as well, so that's not too exciting.

No actually, Muslims have extra wives. Different and actually not as exciting.
Also gavelkind is not actually mandatory. Some of them get good elective laws, and Zunists can use ultimogeniture before reforming.

My problem is less with the gavelkind thing and more with the elective part tbh.

[Impaled Nazarene]

That's the plan! Once I vassalize Muscovy, at least. Don't want competition. I competed with Nogai for successor status to the Golden Horde and it bit me in the ass in the long run...protip, joint partitions are really useful for scooping up easy land, but they create monsters that will ultimately want to slay you just as much as you want to slay them.



Defensive coalitions were the worst addition to CK2, and I have them turned off in every playthrough.

I still feel like CK2 is the hardest paradox game to mappaint in, though. That or there's just some secret trick to mappainting that I haven't figured out yet, because I commonly see posts on here and pdoxplaza that seems WAY more ambitious than anything I've been able to accomplish in 300 hours of the game.

Here's what I've found
1) Germanic prepared invasions very much help you get that initial ball rolling, if you can use them.
2) Sometimes, claimants will just wind up in your court. If their title is below yours, you can land them and then their claims also become your vassal when you win.
3) Pagan subjugation CBs don't care whatsoever about title rank, so if you have the ability to use them, you can take out a weaker kingdom as a stronger independent duke.

Or play as a Muslim Caliph and farm piety for the semi-invasion CB. Or just play North Korea mode and use the free Holy War CB and break as many truces as possible.

[Cisairse]

Here's what I've found
1) Germanic prepared invasions very much help you get that initial ball rolling, if you can use them.
2) Sometimes, claimants will just wind up in your court. If their title is below yours, you can land them and then their claims also become your vassal when you win.
3) Pagan subjugation CBs don't care whatsoever about title rank, so if you have the ability to use them, you can take out a weaker kingdom as a stronger independent duke.

Or play as a Muslim Caliph and farm piety for the semi-invasion CB. Or just play North Korea mode and use the free Holy War CB and break as many truces as possible.

I've found the Holy war CB to be disappointing because it usually calls in half of the world when you use it

[Impaled Nazarene]

Or play as a Muslim Caliph and farm piety for the semi-invasion CB. Or just play North Korea mode and use the free Holy War CB and break as many truces as possible.

I've found the Holy war CB to be disappointing because it usually calls in half of the world when you use it

In my experience its vital to world conquest because if you have a big enough army you can wipe out the manpower of neighboring nations and make their destruction easier. Also you can exploit the neighbors being at war so they're less likely to help in any meaningful way.
In some regions its easier, in some its harder.

[Cisairse]

I've found the Holy war CB to be disappointing because it usually calls in half of the world when you use it

In my experience its vital to world conquest because if you have a big enough army you can wipe out the manpower of neighboring nations and make their destruction easier. Also you can exploit the neighbors being at war so they're less likely to help in any meaningful way.
In some regions its easier, in some its harder.

Ohh I never thought about it like that. That's a classic Vic2 trick (declare war on a winnable tiny country that has an enemy as an ally, occupy them & sit on their provinces for a decade so they don't have any population/industrial capacity for years, thus permanently gimping them compared to you for the rest of the game). It never occurred to me to try it out in ck2

[Impaled Nazarene]

In my experience its vital to world conquest because if you have a big enough army you can wipe out the manpower of neighboring nations and make their destruction easier. Also you can exploit the neighbors being at war so they're less likely to help in any meaningful way.
In some regions its easier, in some its harder.

Ohh I never thought about it like that. That's a classic Vic2 trick (declare war on a winnable tiny country that has an enemy as an ally, occupy them & sit on their provinces for a decade so they don't have any population/industrial capacity for years, thus permanently gimping them compared to you for the rest of the game). It never occurred to me to try it out in ck2

It's extremely dangerous if you get attacked on multiple fronts though. This makes the Alavids in 867 aka one of the most interesting normal starts in CK2 damn difficult. On one hand the Abassids are likely at war with 2 nations at once or 1 nation and a revolt, on the other hand they'll Holy War you in a month and you have to restart. This time I was lucky and even though i got warred on within one month i captured the caliph and survived.

[Cisairse]

Ohh I never thought about it like that. That's a classic Vic2 trick (declare war on a winnable tiny country that has an enemy as an ally, occupy them & sit on their provinces for a decade so they don't have any population/industrial capacity for years, thus permanently gimping them compared to you for the rest of the game). It never occurred to me to try it out in ck2

It's extremely dangerous if you get attacked on multiple fronts though. This makes the Alavids in 867 aka one of the most interesting normal starts in CK2 damn difficult. On one hand the Abassids are likely at war with 2 nations at once or 1 nation and a revolt, on the other hand they'll Holy War you in a month and you have to restart. This time I was lucky and even though i got warred on within one month i captured the caliph and survived.

Interesting. Well, I know what I'm doing after my Novgorod EU4 game. I'll find an interesting tribal/pagan and see what I can do.

[Impaled Nazarene]

It's extremely dangerous if you get attacked on multiple fronts though. This makes the Alavids in 867 aka one of the most interesting normal starts in CK2 damn difficult. On one hand the Abassids are likely at war with 2 nations at once or 1 nation and a revolt, on the other hand they'll Holy War you in a month and you have to restart. This time I was lucky and even though i got warred on within one month i captured the caliph and survived.

Interesting. Well, I know what I'm doing after my Novgorod EU4 game. I'll find an interesting tribal/pagan and see what I can do.

In the early dates Muslims have a really long diplo-distance for mass conversions and if you're really lucky a Shia ruler will pop up and you can get access to the strongest religion in the game excluding reformed pagan faiths. You can also go through the Assassins route but they don't give you free conversion for all provinces so its not that useful unless you get good society rolls.

[North German Realm]

Guess what species is 10-15 years away from full on extermination...
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/541280857361612803/698606508962873405/2020_04_11_3.png

[Cisairse]

Interesting. Well, I know what I'm doing after my Novgorod EU4 game. I'll find an interesting tribal/pagan and see what I can do.

In the early dates Muslims have a really long diplo-distance for mass conversions and if you're really lucky a Shia ruler will pop up and you can get access to the strongest religion in the game excluding reformed pagan faiths. You can also go through the Assassins route but they don't give you free conversion for all provinces so its not that useful unless you get good society rolls.

What makes Shia so powerful? All the Muslim runs I've done so far have been Sunni or Ibadi.

[The Huskar Social Union]

War in heaven is on boys and i decided to go down the road of the non aligned league.

Hoping they kill one another till my empire is back in shape to take them on, im back in the positive for alloys, minerals, food and special resources but still in the red for ec and consumer goods so trying to focus on that and just hoping i wont get smashed by them.

[The Imperial Reach]

Armies can be separated to fit in smaller fleets...?

I'm talking about the AI

Why are you assuming the AI has no idea how to use this feature?

IMO, playing tribes is a bitch because of mandatory gavelkind and weaker holdings. Pagan is pretty meh but you're more or less stick with a lame County Conquest CB which isn't much. Only thing appealing about Pagans is concubines, raiding, and of course reformation.

Reformation does seem interesting. You get concubines with Muslim or Dharma rulers as well, so that's not too exciting.

Polygamy is worse than concubinage, actually. I know they seem similar but Islamic Polygamy is a downgrade. Not sure if Reformed Pagan Polygamy works the same way, but Secondary Wives in Islam have a tendency to pester you about who should be first wife. Then there's the fact they will straight up murder your sons if you had them with another wife. Despite being "wives" only the first counts as a true wife so you can only get an alliance from her family too, which makes Secondary Wives basically far more annoying Concubines than anything else.

Concubines on the other hand can be abducted from raids/sieges and you don't lose prestige from taking lowborns as concubines. They also don't pester you about their status, you can set them aside with no cost and take a new one with no cost when they can't have any more children, and they don't constantly murder your sons.

Concubinage > Polygamy

In the early dates Muslims have a really long diplo-distance for mass conversions and if you're really lucky a Shia ruler will pop up and you can get access to the strongest religion in the game excluding reformed pagan faiths. You can also go through the Assassins route but they don't give you free conversion for all provinces so its not that useful unless you get good society rolls.

What makes Shia so powerful? All the Muslim runs I've done so far have been Sunni or Ibadi.

Islam is already incredibly OP, especially in the early start dates. They make bank off Jizya taxed counties allowing them to buy mercenaries more readily and they can holy war other Muslims without losing much of value besides a few drops of piety here and there.

Shia in particular have access to the Assassins. Now you don't have to be Shia to be in the Assassins, but the only other option is to faux-convert to Shia so as far as anyone is concerned you're still Shia. I've never played as Shia, let alone joined the Assassins, so I'm not sure exactly how much of an edge the Assassins provides but I believe it makes plots easier. If you're keen on assassinating lots of dudes that'll likely come in handy.

[Cisairse]

Reformation does seem interesting. You get concubines with Muslim or Dharma rulers as well, so that's not too exciting.

Polygamy is worse than concubinage, actually. I know they seem similar but Islamic Polygamy is a downgrade. Not sure if Reformed Pagan Polygamy works the same way, but Secondary Wives in Islam have a tendency to pester you about who should be first wife. Then there's the fact they will straight up murder your sons if you had them with another wife. Despite being "wives" only the first counts as a true wife so you can only get an alliance from her family too, which makes Secondary Wives basically far more annoying Concubines than anything else.

Concubines on the other hand can be abducted from raids/sieges and you don't lose prestige from taking lowborns as concubines. They also don't pester you about their status, you can set them aside with no cost and take a new one with no cost when they can't have any more children, and they don't constantly murder your sons.

Concubinage > Polygamy

Ah, I see. The Dharmic faiths have true concubinage, not polygamy, so I'm familiar with the mechanics — although, I guess, not as familiar with polygamy and how the two differ.

What makes Shia so powerful? All the Muslim runs I've done so far have been Sunni or Ibadi.

Islam is already incredibly OP, especially in the early start dates. They make bank off Jizya taxed counties allowing them to buy mercenaries more readily and they can holy war other Muslims without losing much of value besides a few drops of piety here and there.

Shia in particular have access to the Assassins. Now you don't have to be Shia to be in the Assassins, but the only other option is to faux-convert to Shia so as far as anyone is concerned you're still Shia. I've never played as Shia, let alone joined the Assassins, so I'm not sure exactly how much of an edge the Assassins provides but I believe it makes plots easier. If you're keen on assassinating lots of dudes that'll likely come in handy.

Very interesting.

[Impaled Nazarene]

In the early dates Muslims have a really long diplo-distance for mass conversions and if you're really lucky a Shia ruler will pop up and you can get access to the strongest religion in the game excluding reformed pagan faiths. You can also go through the Assassins route but they don't give you free conversion for all provinces so its not that useful unless you get good society rolls.

What makes Shia so powerful? All the Muslim runs I've done so far have been Sunni or Ibadi.

Well unlike EUIV religions don't have lengthy mechanics but in CK2 location often determines the strength of religion. Shia appears in small pockets all over the Muslim world and thus are weak but their strength is a fascinating one.

The Shia are heavily centered around the Prophet and his family so pretty much every major landowning Shia dynasty owns the Sayyid trait, Fatimids, Idrisid, Alavid, etc. Sayyid is not exactly a powerful trait but it is a pure bonus that is inherited.

Now that's not much of a strength but here's the kicker, the Hashimids are Shia in multiple start dates and they ALWAYS own the Holy Land so as a Shia you have a boost to moral authority at all times, combined with the Fatimids owning the Damascus holy site in the 867 start date (and a few others I think) you have enough MA to avoid the problems of Heresies and revolts. Muslims get the holy war and invasion CB against other Muslims and as such get to exploit this much better than the other Muslim sects. Sure Sunni is stronger in both MA and land but they most often are surrounded by other Sunnis so they are without a ducal conquest CB unless they are the Caliph with the Caliph subjugation CB. Shia can expand much faster and easier in the Muslim world than anyone except the Turkic invaders who have the Manifest Destiny CB

Ibadi have similar strengths but outside of the 769 start date in North Africa they have minimal presence and are always surrounded by massive neighbors which stifles their growths which sucks because there's a lot of room for shenanigans.

If you can survive the initial Sunni onslaught or get good rolls you will dominate once you start warring because the AI will almost never break truces. Managing the truces is the key to victory and once you hit critical mass the world is yours unless Turkic invaders, Mongols, or some other mega blobs show up.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

This is probably the first time in my few years playing this game that I've seen so many primitive cultures next to each other.

I once played a fanatic xenophile xenophobe materialist, and the whole galaxy was filled with primitive, luddite cultures!

[North German Realm]

This is probably the first time in my few years playing this game that I've seen so many primitive cultures next to each other.

I once played a fanatic xenophile materialist, and the whole galaxy was filled with primitive, luddite cultures!

Meanwhile the Xenophobe Materialist in me sees those three planets and goes "welp: we'll help them become space-faring and then -hahaha, no. Food, food, and food.". Which makes me laugh for some reason because like, think you're living your life back in the freaking middle ages dealing with the local feudal liege and whatever, and then this weird-ass army of peacock-like creatures just descend from the heavens. You think thank god, angels are here to save me but then the fucking birds start making steaks out of you.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

I once played a fanatic xenophile materialist, and the whole galaxy was filled with primitive, luddite cultures!

Meanwhile the Xenophobe Materialist in me sees those three planets and goes "welp: we'll help them become space-faring and then -hahaha, no. Food, food, and food.". Which makes me laugh for some reason because like, think you're living your life back in the freaking middle ages, and then this weird-ass army of peacock-like creatures just descend from the heavens and start making steaks out of you.

Derp, I meant xenophobe materialists... Words, who needs them?

[The Rich Port]

I wanted to take a map screen of my game but apparently 1.29 broke the map mode?

Apparently if I go fullscreen it'll be fixed. Anybody have a fix for that in case it doesn't work?

[Cisairse]

I wanted to take a map screen of my game but apparently 1.29 broke the map mode?

Apparently if I go fullscreen it'll be fixed. Anybody have a fix for that in case it doesn't work?

What game? Map screenshots work fine for me in eu4

[Cisairse]

what in the heck

[Genivaria]

Hey so I'm thinking of starting a Fascist USA game, does anyone know if the civil war has been fixed?

[Cisairse]

Poland is now an OPM in Dobryzn, which makes this the weirdest Europe I've seen in awhile.

EDIT:
It gets weirder

[Grenartia]

This is probably the first time in my few years playing this game that I've seen so many primitive cultures next to each other.

Pretty sure I've seen more than that, before, though admittedly, not by much. If you have the Gods and Guardians mod, they could be a good way to farm influence.

[Ifreann]

War in heaven is on boys and i decided to go down the road of the non aligned league.

Hoping they kill one another till my empire is back in shape to take them on, im back in the positive for alloys, minerals, food and special resources but still in the red for ec and consumer goods so trying to focus on that and just hoping i wont get smashed by them.

This is usually where I give up on my games. I really must turn down end game crisis strength, because every time I find myself as by far the strongest empire in the galaxy yet utterly unable to resist Awakened Empires or any other big scary boi.

---

Poland is now an OPM in Dobryzn, which makes this the weirdest Europe I've seen in awhile.

EDIT:
It gets weirder

(Image)

Once you pay the Danegeld, you will never be rid of the Dane.

[Cisairse]

I have all the provinces required to form Russia, but institutions have made it so it costs 880 points to upgrade in technology. So I'm stuck at ADM 8, and you need ADM 10 to take the decision.

Once you pay the Danegeld, you will never be rid of the Dane.

They figured it out.