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Crusader Kings II | |
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Developer(s) | Paradox Development Studio |
Publisher(s) | Paradox Interactive |
Director(s) | Henrik Fåhraeus |
Producer(s) | Johan Andersson |
Designer(s) | Henrik Fåhraeus Christopher King |
Programmer(s) | Henrik Fåhraeus Johan Lerström Fredrik Zetterman |
Artist(s) | Fredrik Toll |
Composer(s) | Andreas Waldetoft |
Engine | Clausewitz Engine |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
Release | Microsoft Windows February 14, 2012 OS X May 24, 2012 Linux January 14, 2013 |
Genre(s) | Grand strategy, role-playing |
Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game set in the Middle Ages, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to Crusader Kings. It was released for Microsoft Windows on February 14, 2012. An OS X version, Paradox Interactive's first in-house development for the operating system, was released on May 24, 2012. A Linux version was also released on January 14, 2013.
It has sold over 1 million copies, which made it Paradox's most successful release before Europa Universalis IV.[1]
- 1Gameplay
Gameplay[edit]
The game is a dynastysimulator where the player controls a Medieval dynasty from 1066 to 1453, though the DLCThe Old Gods and Charlemagne allow for earlier start dates of 867 and 769, respectively. Through the strategic use of war, marriages and assassinations among many other things, the player works to achieve success for their dynasty. The game contains numerous historical figures such as William the Conqueror, Charlemagne, Genghis Khan, Harold Godwinson, Robert Guiscard, Robert the Bruce, Harald Hardrada, El Cid, Constantine X Doukas, Harun al-Rashid, Alexios I Komnenos, Richard the Lionheart, Ivar the Boneless, Alfred the Great, Baldwin I of Jerusalem, and Saladin, but allows for the player to choose less significant figures such as minor dukes and counts, and creation of entirely new characters with the use of the 'Ruler Designer' DLC.
Success is defined solely by the player. The only in-game objective is to obtain as many prestige and piety points as possible in order to surpass the various historically relevant European dynasties in a fictional prestige ranking (the three most prestigious ones being the Capetian, the Rurikovich and the Habsburg dynasties). The game ends when the player's current character dies without an heir of the same dynasty to succeed him/her, when all landed titles of the count rank or above are stripped from all members of the player's dynasty (including themselves), or when the game reaches its end in 1453.
The game employs a genetics and education system where children will inherit many traits, culture, religion and skills from their parents and guardian. This adds an additional layer of strategy to marriages, such that a player will attempt not only to form beneficial alliances, but also to select marriage partners with strong heritable traits to maximise the quality of offspring and thus strengthen the dynasty. This requires balancing sometimes conflicting interests. For example, while one possible marriage might allow some desirable alliance to be formed with another ruler, it may also require marrying a Spouse with some undesirable traits. Such a trade-off can occur in the reverse as well: one possible spouse could possess highly desirable traits but yield no new alliances for the player's dynasty.[2]
While the player can choose any noble with at least a county in their possession to play as, there are some Government types that are unplayable without modding the game. These include Theocracies (such as The Papacy), holy orders, mercenaries, and republics. The merchant republic government type, however, is playable with The Republic expansion. In addition, all non-Christian characters are unplayable without the purchase of the DLC that unlocks them, including Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Zoroastrians, Jains, Zunists and various Pagans.
Expansion packs[edit]
Name | Release date | Accompanying Patch | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Sword of Islam | 26 June 2012 | 1.06 | This expansion pack allows the player to play as Muslim rulers. It also adds story events involving Sunni and Shia Muslims.[3] |
Legacy of Rome | 16 October 2012 | 1.07 | Legacy of Rome is focused around the Byzantine Empire, adding new events and game mechanics. It also adds the 'Retinue' mechanic allowing the player to maintain a standing army.[4] |
Sunset Invasion | 15 November 2012 | 1.08 | The main feature of Sunset Invasion is the fictional invasion of more technologically advanced Aztecs, from the late 13th century onwards to the end of the game alongside a new religion and culture unique to them.[5] |
The Republic | 15 Jan 2013 | 1.09 | Makes naval-based merchant republics playable with their own unique play-style centering around wealth and elections. It also adds a few new casus bellis and events concerning Republican politics and familial feuds. |
The Old Gods | 28 May 2013 | 1.10 | Adds a new 867 AD start date and makes pagans playable with their own unique mechanics. Also unlocks new revolt mechanics and adventurer claimants. |
Sons of Abraham | 18 November 2013 | 2.0 | Gives further depth to the three Abrahamic faiths; Christianity in particular, but has also added some content for Muslims, as well as the Jewish faith. Also adds Holy Orders for all faiths alongside new Events. |
Rajas of India | 25 March 2014 | 2.1 | Makes Hindu, Buddhist and Jain rulers playable. Expands the map as far east as Bengal. With Patch 2.8, Taoist rulers will now also be unlocked by this DLC. |
Charlemagne | 14 October 2014 | 2.2 | Unlocks several improvements to narrative aspects of the game, custom kingdoms and empires, vice royalty and the 769 start date. |
Way of Life | 16 December 2014 | 2.3 | Improves role-playing and immersion, by letting player influence more directly the type of events that may happen, rather than relying solely on personality traits or randomness. |
Horse Lords | 14 July 2015 | 2.4 | Unlocks playing as a nomadic government. |
Conclave | 2 February 2016 | 2.5 | Improves interaction with your vassals, gives power to the council and overhauls the education for children system. |
The Reaper's Due | 25 August 2016 | 2.6 | Improves the Plague, epidemics, minor diseases, prosperity and interactions with your court. |
Monks and Mystics | 7 March 2017 | 2.7 | Adds societies, artifacts and relics, new councilor jobs and the ability to give commands to allied armies. |
Jade Dragon | 16 November 2017 | 2.8 | Adds interactions with China, new Chinese artifacts, new Casus Bellis, and Rally Points along with making the Tibetan plateau playable. |
Holy Fury | 13 November 2018[6] | 3.0 | Allows the player to 'design' Pagan religions upon reformation, introduces new crusade mechanics and events, mechanics for coronations, sainthood and bloodlines and also includes shattered and random maps.[7] |
Release and reception[edit]
Reception | ||||||||||||||||
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A demo was released on February 4, 2012, which featured four playable characters over a 20-year span.[12] A marketing campaign for the game featured light comedy videos on the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins.[13]
The game was met with generally positive Reviews and has attained a metascore of 82 at Metacritic.[14]GameSpot reviewer Shaun McInnis stated 'Through a complex system of diplomacy and backstabbing, Crusader Kings II makes every power struggle an engrossing one' and he lauded the gameplay while noting the 'lackluster tutorials'.[9]IGN summed up their review by saying 'An intense learning curve, but a unique strategy experience'.[10] IGN rated the gameplay and 'lasting appeal' a 9/10.[10] A reviewer for Rock, Paper, Shotgun stated that Crusader Kings II was 'probably the most human strategy game' he ever played.[15] Rob Zacny of PC PowerPlay, who gave the game a 7/10 score, called it a 'brilliant treatment of feudalism in terms of strategy and story' but also stated it 'requires major investment to overcome information overload'.[11]Kotaku named the game as one of their game of the year nominees.[16]
By September 2014, Crusader Kings II had sold more than 1 million copies, with the expansion pack and DLC sales totaling over 7 million units. According to Paradox Interactive, the game was played by an average of 12,500 players every day, with an average playtime of 99 hours per player.[17]
Modding[edit]
When a Crusader Kings II (CK2) game is launched, Paradox servers collect information about the game setup such as game version, single player or multiplayer, and what mods are in use.[18] Data collected on 23 April 2017 showed that at least 42% of users on that day had activated at least one mod.[18] Data also reveals that multiplayer 'cheat mods' are popular too, as are graphics or GUI mods. A number of realism mods have been produced by fans such as Historical Immersion Project and CK2+.[19][20]
A number of total conversion mods are available:
- A Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels, released in May 2012,[21][22][23] which 'has long been the most popular CK2 mod.'[18]
- Elder Kings, based on Bethesda Softworks's The Elder Scrolls video game series, released on April 1, 2013.
- Middle Earth Project,[19] based on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, released 2014.[24]
- Witcher Kings, based on Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series of novels, as well as CD Projekt Red's video game series.
- After the End, which is set in the 27th century in a post-apocalyptic North America.
- The Winter King, based on The Warlord Chronicles trilogy by Bernard Cornwell.
- When the World Stopped Making Sense, which is set in the Dark Ages and adds Pre-Schism Christian Denominations such as Nicene Christianity, Arianism, and Insular Christianity along with other religions such as Celtic Polytheism and Ancient Egyptian religion.
Paradox actively encourages such modding, and the company is 'constantly considering how we can ensure new additions to the game are moddable, and we often go back and tweak existing functionality to open it further to modding.'[18]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Zacny, Rob (September 20, 2014). 'How Crusader Kings 2 caught Paradox by surprise'. Archived from the original on September 22, 2014.
- ^Joe Martin (February 9, 2012). 'Crusader Kings 2 PC Preview'. bit-tech. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ^Hatfield, Tom (31 May 2012). 'Crusader Kings 2 Sword of Islam expansion announced, will let you side with Saladin'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^Petitte, Omri (30 August 2012). 'Crusader Kings 2: Legacy of Rome expansion lets you flex your Byzantium Maximus'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^Hafer, T.J. (31 October 2012). 'Crusader Kings II DLC sacrifices history, adds Aztec invasion of Europe'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^Horti, Samuel (13 October 2018). 'Crusader Kings 2's Holy Fury DLC release date announced'. pcgamer. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ^Donelly, Joe. 'Crusader Kings 2 unveils Holy Fury DLC'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
- ^'Crusader Kings II for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^ abShaun McInnis (February 16, 2012). 'Crusader Kings II Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ^ abcEric Neigher (March 5, 2012). 'Crusader Kings II Review'. IGN. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ^ abZacny, Rob (1 May 2012), 'Crusader Kings II', PC PowerPlay, Australia: nextmedia, no. 203, p. 52
- ^'Crusader Kings II Demo'. Fileplanet.com. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^Gonzalez, Christina (10 January 2012). 'Crusader Kings II: Greed Enters the Fray in The Latest Deadly Sins Comic Trailer'. RTSguru.com. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
- ^'Crusader Kings II for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
- ^Adam Smith (2012-02-23). 'Wot I Think: Crusader Kings II'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
When the consequences are so human they mean all the much more and this is probably the most human strategy game I’ve ever played. If it doesn’t wind up being among my very favourite games of the year, spectacular things will occur in the next ten months.
- ^Plunkett, Luke (4 January 2013). 'Why Crusader Kings II Should Be Game Of The Year'. Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
- ^Graft, Kris (September 18, 2014). 'Aiming for the 'niche' pays off for million-selling strategy game'. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014.
- ^ abcd'CK2 Dev Diary #49: Mods and mod telemetry'. 2018-01-18.
- ^ abDonnelly, Joe (2017-03-23). 'Best Crusader Kings 2 mods'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
- ^'[CK2] List of Mods'. www.twcenter.net. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ^Plunkett, Luke (28 May 2012). 'There is an Awesome Game of Thrones Video Game. You Can Play it Right Now'. Kotaku. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
- ^Adam Smith (May 28, 2012). 'A Mod Of A Game Of Thrones: Crusader Kings II'. Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
- ^'Crusader Kings 2's Game of Thrones mod update lets you feast on new scenarios | Mods, News'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
- ^'Paradox Wiki'. 18 January 2018.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crusader_Kings_II&oldid=901289828'
Crusader Kings 2 [official site] is (somehow) now five years old. Adam raised a glass to its humour and humanity last month in celebration of its half-decade anniversary, so I thought I’d delve into its modding community to mark the occasion too.
Much like the digital empires depicted in-game, many of its mods have risen and fallen since my last visit, however the following list sends the best into battle. Given how involved CK 2 can be at times, I’ve tried my best to link videos where possible so as to properly showcase each mod’s worth. Enjoy!NB – Note that some mods can only be accessed via Paradox forum accounts. You’ll have access assuming you own the game, so remember to sign in.
CK2Generator
By yemmlie
Let’s start with a wild card. A wild card, not in the sense that the CK2 Generator mod is temperamental, but that it’s intentionally unpredictable. Last year, Adam rightly compared yemmlie’s work to Dwarf Fortress in that instead of portraying the world as we know it against what the history books might tell us, CK2 Generator spawns an entirely new history of humankind from scratch.
In turn, this lets you grow your own entirely fictitious societies and landmasses and watch them procedurally generate before your eyes. Like Dwarf Fortress, you’re free to transfer your new creations over into Crusader Kings 2 and watch them take flight further still.
“Basically the tool will generate, from scratch, a completely new history of humanity from its first exodus from Africa as a new mod to be playable in CK2,” explains yemmlie. “These cultures will then spread throughout Europe, mutating and changing as they spread, words and language, religions, ethnicity, cultural ideals, laws, looting, river sailing, incest, religious heads, holy sites, wives, concubines and everything, all morphing, mutating and branching off as humans spread through time and land.”
A Game of Thrones
By CK2:AGOT Development Team
Sticking with fictional landscapes, CK 2’s A Game of Thrones has been going since 2012 and brings the famous book series and television show’s bounds to Paradox’s historical grand strategy. It expectedly intertwines George R.R. Martin’s fantasy drama with the game, however also tweaks its base mechanics so that the realm is less likely to fragment into multiple kingdoms over time – in turn in-keeping with its inspiration, as players vie singularly for the Iron Throne.
At present, the A Game of Thrones team has designed the mod so that players can kick things off up to 300 years before Aegon’s Conquest, all the way through to the beginning of The Feast of Crows – Martin’s fourth book. The A Game of Thrones mod featured on RPS’ list of the best total conversion mods last month.
Elder Kings
By Elder Kings Dev Team
From Westeros to Morrowind: the Elder Kings total conversion mod transports the world of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series to Crusader Kings 2. Set in wider Tamriel, Elder Kings sees players take control of “one of the many fledgling countries of the Interregnum,” so reads the mod’s description.
While still in development (and probably due an update), Elder Kings boasts two playable scenarios both contained within the series lore’s Second Empire. The Interregnum takes place towards the end of this era with Cyrodiil in disrepute following the emporer’s murder. The Colovian, the Nibenese, the Bosmer, and the Argonians are but some of the races locking horns here in a bid to conquer Tamriel. The Kamal Invasion, on the other hand, follows on and sees the Kamal Snow Demons invading Tamriel for the first time, and the fallout this incurs from the Akaviris, the Nords, and the rest of the realm. A Fourth Empire scenario – Skyrim’s The Stormcloak Rebellion – has been in the works for some time.
NB – as this is a work in progress, its creators warn bugs may be present. It’s perhaps worth bearing this in mind before installing.
Middle Earth Project
By CK2: MEP Team
I swear we’ll get back to the real world soon. But if Game of Thrones and the Elder Scrolls are a shoe-in for Crusader Kings 2 total conversions, then so too must be Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Featuring bookmarks throughout the Third Age, this ‘un’s map covers the main areas of Middle-earth as it’s known in the books and films.
“Will you play as the descendant of one of the noble families of Rohan or Gondor?” asks the mod’s creators. “Will you try to reforge the ancient kingdoms of Elves in Eriador? Or will you try to destroy all the Free Peoples, and claim Middle Earth for Morgoth?”
Whatever you answer above, the Middle Earth Project offers seven races – Humans, Hobbits, Dwarves, Orcs/Goblins, Elves, Nazguls/Sauron, and the Istari – and five scenarios by way of The Last Alliance, The Fall of Arnor, The Kinstrife, The War of the Ring, and The New Shadow. If you’re familiar with LotR lore, you can probably guess what some of those entail, however full details of what they’re all about can be found in this direction.
Crusader Kings Z
By Korbah
Besides being a pretty brilliant and intuitive mod, Crusader Kings Z has a fun story too. After Paradox released a teaser for the fictional Crusader Kings Z as an April Fools’ Day joke in 2013, modder Korbah (who is also involved in Elder Kings mentioned above) decided to make it A Real Thing.
The result is something similar to Paradox’s own Sunset Invasion DLC as it creates an alternate timeline for it events to unfold within. At some stage after the year 1000 AD an unexplained zombie outbreak occurs in Ethiopia which quickly spreads from Africa to Europe. Enter you, the player, and supposed world saviour as you scramble to form armies strong enough to combat the spreading infection and restore peace and, you know, humanity to the world after ridding the globe of the walking dead. If it feels like zombies are in everything these days, that’s because they are. But they’re also good fun.
When The World Stopped Making Sense
By Enlil
While it could be argued 2017 fits this bill more than any other era to date, Enlil’s When The World Stopped Making Sense is a lovely mod which reinterprets the Migration Period at any date between 476 AD – which aligns with the fall of the Western Roman Empire – and 700 AD. From here, players can play through till the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire centuries later in 1453 AD.
This is definitely one for the history buffs and while other Crusader Kings 2 Dark Ages mods tend to follow a typically predictable historically-accurate arc, When The World Stopped Making Sense allows for more player autonomy as you craft yet another alternative timeline. It’s still in development, however ten multi-century-spanning bookmarks are planned in total.
CK2+
By CK2Plus Team
Perhaps the most essential Crusader Kings 2 mod available for those after a challenge – CK2+ changes host of things about the base game with the aim of “deepening the CK2 experience”. In practice, this means making the base game more challenging without straying too far from what makes it enjoyable. Historical accuracy somewhat takes a backseat along the way, but the upshot is a more involved game.
For example, one of the most obvious tweaks CK2+ brings with it is the reduction of vassal limits. In turn this means managing larger empires is significantly more difficult, and makes the decision to increase Crown Authority far more important. Retinues are also smaller, thus more difficult to maintain, and the usefulness of technologies has been capped.
Furthermore, more considerations have been applied to factions, meaning they now bore more common interests. “Do they want peace and wealth?” asks the mod’s creators. “Do they want a strong ruler with lots of prestige? Do they want a pious ruler who doesn’t change from the old ways?” These changes mean there’s less chance of players gaining wider personal power, as they become more reliant on vassals.
No Hassles Vassals
By MonteCristo
Speaking of vassals, MonteCristo’s No Hassles Vassals is a simple but very effective mod which lets players distribute both county and barony titles with just one click. This is likely one which needs to be experienced in order to appreciate its worth, however NHV uses targeted decisions which in turn means you’re no longer required to run with your rule from one county to the next.
I’m actually going to turn you over to YouTube person Arumba here, who does a fine job of talking us through exactly what this one’s all about:
After the End
By Ofaloaf
While I’ve enjoyed watching the world burn several times in Ofaloaf’s After the End mod, part of me worries it’s more prophetic than I’ve given it credit for. As depicted elsewhere on this list, Crusader Kings 2 is perfect for recreating alternate histories, fantasy or otherwise, however this one opts for an arguably more ominous alternative future. We know that didn’t happen in the past, but this could happen in the future, right?
Hopefully not, because after an Extinction Level Event of cataclysmic proportions years prior, the world as we know it in the year 2666 has apparently gone to shit. North America now attempts to rebuild its disconnected societies – which sees a host of new-age cultures on the rise, as players get to grips with over 900 provinces, 25 kingdoms, four republics, one theocracy, five tribes and 14 religions.
“The setting also allows for the introduction of salvaged modern technology in the mostly neo-medieval setting and several invasions and events that change the game-world as time goes by,” reads the mod’s description. Ominous.
Honourable Mentions
RIP – Realm Intrigue & Politics
By ManiacTehGreat
By ManiacTehGreat
While the contents of this list so far has focused on CK 2 total conversions, ManiacTehGreat’s RIP targets some of the game’s finer details. Well worth your time.
CPRplus – Cultures and Portraits Revamped
By Silverino
By Silverino
Make everyone pretty.
Fantasy!
By JordanDoes
By JordanDoes
Make everyone not so pretty.
Unique Buildings
By Morrolan
By Morrolan
Adds a host of neat historical buildings and monuments to the game.
Bloodline
By Dorimi
By Dorimi
Inherit your own bloodlines.
Secret Society
By JordanDoes
By JordanDoes
Shhhhh.
And so concludes our battle chest of Crusader King 2 mods, fit for toppling kings, conquering nations and winning wars. But what mods were lost on the field? Herald your own favourites in the comments below.
Welcome to the final installment of the Gameranx Crusader Kings II guide. In the four previous installments, I've covered most of the moment-to-moment decisions you'll be making. But you also need to be planning where you want to be, and that can get complicated. Here's some of my advice on how to succeed over time.
![County County](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123755342/685376398.png)
First, links to the previous sections of the guide, for reference:
Part One:Introduction and Interface
Part Two: Laws and Factions
Part Three:Diplomacy and War
Part Four:Relationships and Marriages
Part Five:Long-Term Planning
Scoring
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Your long-term goals in Crusader Kings II are….whatever you want them to be. You can play in medieval Europe's sandbox. However, it does keep a “score” of your rulers' combined Prestige and Faith points. This is entirely possible to ignore, but most actions that you'll want to take will likely increase those scores anyway, so they're a decent lens through which to view long-term planning.
Land Acquisition
The most consistent way to build Prestige is to increase the size of your lands as well as your demense, and that's probably how most people would play Crusader Kings II. So let's look at a few of the most common ways to acquire land.
Ck2 Convert County Religion To Take
You've already seen one, back in the Military section: the De Jure Claim. That's the most consistent form of acquisition, but it's limited—you have to have the titles for that, so once you run out of De Jure claims, you need to work on new titles.
Acquisition by Marriage
The most peaceful form of acquisition is the marriage of two houses, with the heir eventually managing to take both, so long as the succession laws in both lands work out. In order to see how this works, we'll have to start a new game. The Duke of Saxony, in northern Germany, has an unmarried, adult male heir, which is what we need. So start a new game with him.
Go to your son's Arrange Marriage menu, and you'll note that women with titles are at the top of the list. Mathilde, the Duchess of Tuscany, happens to be at the top of that list. As another important duchy in the Holy Roman Empire, Tuscany would make a great ally and an even better addition to our lands. So arrange that marriage.
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As long as the laws remain the same in both Saxony and Tuscany, and the leaders aren't overthrown, this will lead to their child taking over both Duchies. That's two generations away, but it'll probably happen, and make you a local power.
That's enough with Saxony for now, though you can try it later if you want to. Let's reload our game in Aquitaine to check out some other expansion strategies.
Fabrication
Remember how I said that we should wait to use our Chancellor, back when I discussed the Council? Now's the time to use him. He has two major uses: he can Improve Relations in courts that he's sent to, but he can also try to Fabricate Claims on other counties.
Click on that option, then send him to Nantes, just north of our lands in the duchy of Brittany. You can see from the menu what the chances of Fabrication are. They're not great generally, but they can improve significantly with Chancellors with high diplomacy.
Ck2 Religion Codes
One important thing to note about Fabrications—they've got a high cost in both Prestige and money , and if your character doesn't make the attempt to press the claim before he or she dies, it's gone forever. The money cost can be especially prohibitive in the early game. On the other hand, they're one of the best ways for an aggressive player to expand quickly.
I chose Nantes because the Duchy of Brittany is isolated and should be fairly easy to defeat in a war, and it won't necessarily weaken France as a whole. Isolating weak leaders and picking off their lands is the general best strategy in Crusader Kings II.
Opportunism
Be the wolf. Be the cheetah. Isolate your rivals and attack when they're weakest. The key to this is to pay attention. When you see armies start moving around, or when you see kingdoms or empires suddenly break up, they're weakened. That's when you pounce. Remember when we started the war with Toulouse and the Count of Auvergne decided to launch his rebellion then? That's exactly what's necessary.
As it stands, in 1074, my Aquitaine game is a paradise for opportunists, as a quick glance at the map makes clear. France is in the middle of a civil war, with the Duke of Burgundy in the east making a play for the throne. Toulouse has a smaller war as well. To the south, the Spanish kingdoms are both defending against Muslim incursions and their own civil wars. And to the east, in the Holy Roman Empire, a massive rebellion focused in Italy threatens to detach huge chunks of land.
Picking which of these, if any, to take part in requires a significant amount of risk management. Here's the crucial issue: most rebellions fail. If you attack a rebelling lord, and he or she gets beaten before you can win, you lose all progress in the war—it just ends. On the other hand, if you attack the static party and they win their other, your war on them will continue, but they'll probably be stronger and can beat you more easily.
There are two ways you can manage this, one immediate, one long-term. Since our long-term goal is likely to become a king on our own—either of France or independently—this French Civil War may be a good time to declare independence. So if France is winning the war handily, they'll probably finish it off and we'll get smacked down and perhaps imprisoned/executed. If they're losing the war handily, then Duke Robert will take over and likely do the same thing. But if it's balanced, we can likely swoop in and gain our freedom.
In order to check on a war, click on one of the provinces of the people involved. In this case, that includes the entirety of France, so we can check it from our own provinces. Click on one, and notice that under the character portrait are the wars currently engaged in. Hover your mouse over them and you'll see the Warscore. In this case, it's a positive 11%, which means the aggressor is slightly winning, which the tooltip conveniently notes is Duke Robert. That's exactly the sort of score we want to see.
Now, look at the map next to the Warscore. We can see the French army and the Burgundian armies here, both stuck at around a measly 200 troops. Meanwhile, we know that we can rely on at least 1200 from raising our levies, probably more. All available information suggests that, if we want to open diplomacy with the King of France and declare a war for independence, now might be a very good for that—unless their allies Denmark are on their way.
Joining Others' Wars
The longer-term, relatively risk-free way to weaken—or support—rival lords is to Offer To Join wars where you can tip the balance to achieve the goal you want. Let's head east to the Holy Roman Empire to see how that works. If we're going to expand to the east, we're very likely going to need to challenge the HRE, and beat them. That's gonna be hard.
Empires in Crusader Kings II are monstrous, delicate things. With so many counties, comprising modern-day Germany, Holland, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Switzerland, as well as eastern France and Northern Italy, the HRE is a monster that, when stable, can summon armies of tens of thousands. On the other hand, because it's so huge, it's extremely difficult to control, and instability is constant. You'll want to take advantage of that insecurity when you can, yes, but you can also encourage it in a mostly risk-free fashion.
Right now, it looks like some of the French and many of the Italian possessions are fighting against the main HRE. Click on one of them to check out the war and Warscore. You can see that a whole pile of lords are fighting for Independence from the HRE, and they seem to winning. If we want to join the war, we'll have to find Lord Mayor of Bologna, who's leading the war.
This is a good opportunity to use the search button to find Bologna, which is pretty far from our current location. On the bottom right of the screen is the Find Title button, which looks like an arrow pointing toward a puzzle piece. Type in Bologna, and you'll see the Grand City pop up. Click on it, and you'll be taken to northern Italy and the county screen opened.
From there, open diplomacy with the Mayor, then Offer To Join War. Independence is the only option. Hover your mouse over it and you'll see the outcomes of the war. If your side wins, a bunch of lords become independent. And if you lose, the leader gets imprisoned, and you may lose some prestige, but that's it.
You can help possibly severely weaken the HRE for only the cost of a bit of prestige, the opportunity cost of not doing other things, and your vassals being unhappy with your troops being in the field if you use them. That's often a good deal.
Titles and Claimants
Inviting a disgruntled Claimant to a rival's title can be a decent way to break up powerful duchies or kingdoms, and occasionally add directly or indirectly to your own lands. Click on the county of Urgell, on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees and directly south of our possessions. Now, click on yellow and black checkered shield on the top left of the screen to be taken to the information screen for that title.
This Title information screen is one of more useful in the game for long-term planning, and as you've noticed, it's a little odd to get to. So let's check out what's available.
The first thing to do is to check the De Jure box. That will show what's within a title and what titles can vassalize it at a more conceptual level. With the checkmark off, it shows what's actually included in the title, which I've never found useful. Note that in this case, switching the checkmark on and off doesn't do much except change the shields on the top of the Title menu. With it off, there's only one, the Duchy of Barcelona. With it on, there's also the Kingdom of Aragon and the Empire of Hispanola. Those appear and disappear because the Kingdom of Aragon exists but doesn't currently have possession of Urgell, and the Empire of Hispanola doesn't exist. (How to create those will be discussed shortly, starting with the “Creating or Usurping Titles” section.)
At any rate, we're here to try to disrupt the County of Urgell. We can do that by clicking on the Claimants button. Much like the Invite to Plot option, this gives a list of relevant characters who can lay claim to the County of Urgell. Their willingness to become a member of your court is shown by a red thumbs down or a green thumbs up. You can also send them gifts to make that more likely. Notice that here I've got a couple people who would be happy to come to my court, notably Guillem d'Urgell. Click on him to be taken to the diplomacy screen and Invite him to Court. In a few days he'll accept and you'll get a message that he (and his wife and any children he might have) has joined you.
This serves two purposes. At a simple level, inviting characters to your court can keep you well-stocked with talent. Even if I never press these claims, I do this every so often, especially if my Council is looking week. Second, I can now press Guilherm's claim on Urgell. I discussed the usefulness of this the Weak Claim section in Part 3 of this guide (not terribly useful, if you remember) but there may come times when it's one of the best ways to subvert a rival's lands, as you'll discover through deeper playing.
Religious Wars
We've discussed breaking apart nearby rivals, but sometimes you want to prop up your neighboring kingdoms instead of weakening them. Look south to Spain, and you might see why—the Christian kingdoms are under attack from the powerful Muslim lords. So you may want to Offer To Join War for them, to prevent them from falling. Why is this an issue? Because if Spain falls, southern France is next, and using religion to expand is really easy.
You have a permanent Causus Belli and the ability to seize land from leaders of opposite religions by declaring Holy War. Scroll south a bit and click on Mallorca, the island off the Spanish coast. Click on its owner and go up in rank until you can find the liege to declare war on, and give that a try. You'll see that you have the option for Holy War for land in duchies that they own. This lets you take huge chunks of land, quickly. The land is usually largely useless after conquest, thanks to its inhabitants being unhappy to be owned by a new religion, so you'll have to go to your Council and use your Chaplain to Convert those provinces. But they're yours.
Here's the catch: any defender in a religious war can have their co-religionists join the war as though they're allies. And they will. More than that, the Islamic powers are, at the start of the game, significantly stronger than their Christian counterparts. So this is an extremely risky move on our part, especially before Holy Orders appear. Those come after the Crusades start.
The Crusades and Holy Orders
It won't take long for the Pope to start declaring Crusades for the Holy Land—1095, historically, less than 30 years after the earliest potential game start. Crusades offer good, relatively risk-free ways for Christian rulers to gain Prestige/Faith points as well as weakening the most powerful Muslim empires. (The AI may also be hard-coded to be more likely to join). If you want to join, just open diplomacy with the Pope and offer to join the war. Successful Crusades may lead to a Jihad, which in Crusader Kings II is simply the Islamic equivalent.
Holy Orders like the Knights Templar will slowly appear once the Crusades start. These are like mercenary armies, except they're especially large and effective. You hire them with Faith points instead of money, making them easier to acquire, although they still cost money to maintain. You can also only use them against non-Christians. Wise use of Holy Orders can help a great deal against the significantly more powerful Muslim states. The situation in Spain is tremendously volatile—I've seen an Islamic empire surge north through France and even into England, but I've also seen victories in Spain lead to a wider Christian conquest of the entire Mediterranean.
Creating or Usurping Titles
You may have noticed the drop-down on the top of the screen saying that you have the ability to create the title of the Duchy of Bourbon. Creating titles—or usurping them, if someone else already holds it—is one of the better long-term goals. In addition to increasing Prestige, it also offers you De Jure claims over any part of that Title that you don't have.
This is a major conceptual part of the game, so it's worth examining more closely. Click on the title creation button, and you'll be taken a the Title screen for the Duchy of Bourbon. If you have the De Jure box marked, you'll note that there are three counties in Bourbon, and since they're green, we own all of them. Hovering over the Create button will also show that we have 3/3 counties, as well as how much money it will cost and how much Prestige it will earn.
If the title already exists, but you still have enough land to create it, you're given the chance to Usurp it. This is an almost identical process, except that the person the title is usurped from isn't going to be a fan of yours.
Beyond the cost, there are disadvantages to creating/usurping duchies. We're still under Gavelkind succession, so multiple children would mean these duchies would be lost. Even if we weren't, more duchies under our control, and not under our vassal counts', would be a drag on our relations.
On the other hand, multiple duchies are much more manageable and even beneficial if you happen to be a king.
Climbing the Feudal Ladder
Ck2 Convert County Religion Online
Here's the basic form of how you climb the feudal ladder. If you're a count, you have a county. Once you have a few counties, you should look into become a duke. Once you have a few duchies, you should look into becoming a king. And once you have a few kingdoms, you should look into becoming an emperor.
Right now, we have a few duchies, and can create another, so becoming a king seems like a reasonable goal to work toward. There are two ways to do this: we can try to take over our existing king's job, or we can create our own kingdom.
The path to becoming the King of France is fairly narrow. We can work on/hope for a change to the succession laws to Election, and then win one. We can get extremely lucky in marriage politics, as discussed above. Or we can start a Plot or Faction to take it over. These are plausible, of course, but there are options outside of the Kingdom of France.
Let's see what it would take to usurp or create a kingdom. Click on your home province of Bordeaux again. Note that in the center of the County screen are coats of arms, both labeled “Aquitaine.” The bottom one of those, with a simple crown above it, indicates that Bordeaux is part of the Duchy of Aquitaine. The Aquitaine with the more ornate crown above it, on the other hand, is the Kingdom of Aquitaine. Well, how about that? Click on the shield to get taken to the Title info screen.
Now, notice how the map changes to show a golden glow surrounding almost the entirety of southern France. Those are the De Jure boundaries of the Kingdom of Aquitaine. It includes every single one of our possessions. As a matter of fact, we happen to control the bulk of the traditional Kingdom of Aquitaine.
Hover your mouse over the Create button. It says that you need to control 50% of its counties, and we already own 17/24, for 71%. That's the hardest part of creating a kingdom—so what are we missing? The red text shows the problems. Initially, we don't have enough money or Faith—those are simple enough, and come with time.
More pressing: “Cannot create or usurp a title of the same or higher rank than our liege.” That makes sense: if you want to be a king, you can't have another king still be your boss. In other words, if we want to make a play to create the Kingdom of Aquitaine, we're going to have to declare independence from France.
De Jure States
Hopefully by now you're mentally translated the commonly seen term “de jure” into “traditionally and legally a part of.” One of the most efficient ways to expand your power in Crusader Kings II is to capture enough of a title to claim it, and then to use the De Jure claims to consolidate that power. Using the coats of arms to get to the Title info screen is one way to access that information, but there are others.
It's time to head back to the map buttons on the bottom right of the screen. Use the + button to see the range of options available. The three we're looking for are the De Jure Duchies, Kingdoms, and Empires. Click on De Jure Duchies, then zoom out enough to start see both the color coding and the duchy names. Given the general rule that you need half of a title's counties to create/usurp it, you can use screens like this to plan where you want to make your fabrications.
You can also see what parts of the map are likely to be flashpoints by comparing the de jure lands with current borders that might not fit. Note that the Duchy of Anjou is evenly split between the southern French part and the northern part attached to Normandy, which is part of Norway in my game. Should either side get ambitious, that will likely trigger wars. Switch to the De Jure Kingdoms map, and you'll see that the Kingdom of Aragon, on the northeastern side of Spain, is criss-crossed with different borders, some of which belong to Christian kingdoms, others, Muslims. Thus, without significant consolidation, it seems clear that Aragon will not be a major player.
Finally, click on the De Jure Empires map. This—eventually—is our goal. There's nothing higher than the Empire level, so that's the most efficient way we'll be able to manage huge amounts of territories. (If you're using mods that slightly alter the game from the Paradox forums, like the CK2+ mod, these can dramatically change the De Jure duchies, kingdoms, and especially empires.)
Stay on Your Toes
I've framed most of this discussion as one of long-term planning, but one of the core facts of Crusader Kings II is that plans can fall apart constantly, and new opportunities take their place. I've played full games as Aquitaine before, and while it may seem like trying to create the Kingdom of Aquitaine is the most obvious path, that quickly got taken away from me.
Here's how: my first duke had a few children, then died before he could change the succession laws. The Gavelkind succession meant that I lost several of my northern counties, as well as the 50% of Aquitaine counties I needed to create that kingdom. On the other hand, I ended up being very successful at fabricating and pressing claims to the south, in Aragon. Eventually I ended up with enough counties there to become the King of Aragon, so I declared independence from France and became king.
I successfully expanded through Spain, while increasingly strong kings of France recaptured the Aquitainian lands. But that was okay, because I was also able to add the Kingdom of Leon to my possessions. As the game drew to a conclusion, I had a few weak rulers, who lost much of Aragon to the Muslim kingdoms, and then a huge chunk of the other Spanish possessions to a new kingdom, Castille. As Crusader Kings II nears its end, powerful kingdoms and empires consolidate all lands, leading to the creation of nation-states in the early modern era. I saw that coming as Castille dominated me, so I destroyed the title of king, and asked to be integrated into Castille as a duke, as it was the only way to survive.
The ebb and flow of power and goals from region to region, from strength to weakness, may have been slightly raised in the game I just described, but it's not rare or bizarre. Losing is fun, but so is winning. Crusader Kings II is about those stories/histories, and it encourages you to try to make cool, weird stuff happen, and it also forces some of that upon you. Be opportunistic, and also go with the flow, and you'll have a great time.
Conclusion
You should have a solid grounding for playing the bulk of Crusader Kings II now. There's plenty more in the game, but developing a fluency with it will let you sort what's important from what's not. And remember: experimenting and sometimes losing is fun.
And here are the basics of how to play:
• Pick a duke or minor king at the start of the game
• Develop infrastructure by using your Council to research technology and funding buildings within your demense
• Check on your laws, and change them as necessary for stable succession, as well as for either keeping vassals happy or demanding more money/troops from them
• Keep an eye on factions worth joining for yourself, or that need to be dismantled within your own lands
• Use marriage to build alliances
• Win wars quickly by defeating enemy armies in the field, and capturing/holding the target counties
• If defeated in the field, disband armies and wait for replacements until you can win. Mercenaries can tip the balance, if you can afford them
• Vassal happiness determines likelihood of civil war if it's bad, and amount of support, both for military and for laws, if it's good
• Vassals are made unhappy by ambition, personality conflicts, restrictive laws, and raising their army levies for aggressive wars
• Keep vassals happy on an individual level by giving them gifts of gold, honorary titles, or land
• Keep vassals happy in general by showing mercy to prisoners, throwing feasts or tournaments, and lowering restrictive laws
• Pay attention to your neighbors, and take advantage of their weaknesses
• Use your Chancellor to Fabricate Claims to increase your lands
• Create/Usurp Titles in order to gain power, prestige, and De Jure claims for further expansion
• Develop infrastructure by using your Council to research technology and funding buildings within your demense
• Check on your laws, and change them as necessary for stable succession, as well as for either keeping vassals happy or demanding more money/troops from them
• Keep an eye on factions worth joining for yourself, or that need to be dismantled within your own lands
• Use marriage to build alliances
• Win wars quickly by defeating enemy armies in the field, and capturing/holding the target counties
• If defeated in the field, disband armies and wait for replacements until you can win. Mercenaries can tip the balance, if you can afford them
• Vassal happiness determines likelihood of civil war if it's bad, and amount of support, both for military and for laws, if it's good
• Vassals are made unhappy by ambition, personality conflicts, restrictive laws, and raising their army levies for aggressive wars
• Keep vassals happy on an individual level by giving them gifts of gold, honorary titles, or land
• Keep vassals happy in general by showing mercy to prisoners, throwing feasts or tournaments, and lowering restrictive laws
• Pay attention to your neighbors, and take advantage of their weaknesses
• Use your Chancellor to Fabricate Claims to increase your lands
• Create/Usurp Titles in order to gain power, prestige, and De Jure claims for further expansion
Have fun!
When playing as a Pagan ruler with the Old Gods expansion in Crusader Kings 2, one of the options for female prisoners is to take them as a concubine. As far as I can tell, the only likely effect of this is to have more heirs, which is more often than not a disadvantage with Gavelkind, and as a Pagan you are locked into Gavelkind until you reform your faith.
Are there any benefits to taking a concubine then? Either before or after reforming your faith.
Macha
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1 Answer
One thing to note is you can force any female to be your concubine if you have them in prison. So, when you go raiding and capture a Catholic or Muslim then you have the option to get a concubine from a different religion. You, of course, also have the option to get other pagan concubines through asking or capture.
- You can take female rulers as concubines and any child born to a concubine will have the same rights in succession as other children, but will be viewed poorly by others. This is a pretty sneaky way to get territory to fall under your domain. Just be ready to fight for it later on due to the opinion penalties.
- Another benefit of stealing a ruler's wife is it denies them from using the wife's stats when considering state scores. So, if the wife is an Elusive Shadow and you snatch her away then the ruler is suddenly much worse at intrigue. Bonus points if she was set up as spymaster for the ruler.
- If you make a married woman your concubine it will break her marriage. I'm sure you can think of all kinds of chaos this might cause. I doubt you would have much luck getting the now single ruler to marry someone you want but it could work.
- It is a great way to change your religion. Once you have a concubine of a particular religion you should have an intrigue option to swap your religion to whatever the concubine's religion is. This is a very effective way to get out from the terrible Gavelkind laws of Paganism.
- As you mentioned, it can get you more children which can be a blessing and a curse. This is mostly helpful when you start as an older ruler who is married to an elderly wife. Usually, you have a pretty terrible heir already in line. Grab a concubine and get you a better heir, just beware the murder plots from your wife and other children. Of course you may have to do some murdering on your current heir, but that's Crusader Kings for you.
- If you force high ranking nobles to be concubines you can earn prestige (as mentioned in the Reddit thread)
Sources:
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