Zardnaar
Deity
Half the fun of Paradox games are playing the minors. France nah Dithmarscen or death.
Ottoderps. Nah give me Byzantium or Athens if you're feeling like a challenge.
What videogames have you been playing? version 1.22: What's with that plural?
- Thread starter Gori the Grey
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Half the fun of Paradox games are playing the minors. France nah Dithmarscen or death.
Ottoderps. Nah give me Byzantium or Athens if you're feeling like a challenge.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
Well, played a bit more and finally reached baldur's gate city which was my main target. Hardest part was to figure out you must enter in the portal in three turns or get turned into an octopus in that fight in the rest camp just before entering the city map. It is nice to make the players think but sometimes the game explains too little.
The city is amazing and beautifully made to the last details, and it is so big with so many npc it causes me some kind of mental fatigue only to imagine all the work and coming and goings ahead, specially after having gone through so much things in the first acts, so I think I will rest a bit of the game for now. Will retake it at some point probably thought but not in some time. Some years ago I would have been hooked for a month 24/7 with this game, but I am getting older and I have other things to invest my time on.
Anyway if you are in hardcore RPG computer games I would recommend this one without any kind of doubts.
Have you been fan of BG 1 and 2? I am worried, because I like BG 1,2 too much and I feel that I have to be dissapointed. I am really curious about turn based combat and skill usage.
I have started Divinity Original Sin 2 to get an idea. Still on the ship.
I have started Divinity Original Sin 2 to get an idea. Still on the ship.
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Thorgalaeg
Deity
I have played many old RPGs. I think you will be happy.
I would have thought Kyriakos would play the Doux of Thessaloniki, make Thessaloniki the center of power within Byzantium, and, when the time was right, usurp the title of Emperor for his own line.
I think my first-ever CKII game was in the demo version as a duchy within Byzantium, which would mean as Michael (the future VII) Doukas, and it was a fun time. I agree that starting as a superpower Byzantium would be boring, but playing in the hot mess that the more chaotic periods of the empire can be, as a mid-level vassal of the Emperor, can be quite enjoyable. Rebuilding after Manzikert or the 4th Crusade is also an interesting idea.
In my game, Byzantium has finally calmed down, after a 20-year period of turmoil. Gennadios "The Black", kinslayer of his own family, survived two serious challenges to his rule, but apparently weary of near-constant conflict, finally acceded to a faction demand to put an Isauros princess on the throne. Sardinia revolted against her, but by and large the vassals seem to be glad to finally have a ruler who isn't an infamous tyrant in charge.
I think my first-ever CKII game was in the demo version as a duchy within Byzantium, which would mean as Michael (the future VII) Doukas, and it was a fun time. I agree that starting as a superpower Byzantium would be boring, but playing in the hot mess that the more chaotic periods of the empire can be, as a mid-level vassal of the Emperor, can be quite enjoyable. Rebuilding after Manzikert or the 4th Crusade is also an interesting idea.
In my game, Byzantium has finally calmed down, after a 20-year period of turmoil. Gennadios "The Black", kinslayer of his own family, survived two serious challenges to his rule, but apparently weary of near-constant conflict, finally acceded to a faction demand to put an Isauros princess on the throne. Sardinia revolted against her, but by and large the vassals seem to be glad to finally have a ruler who isn't an infamous tyrant in charge.
Zardnaar
Deity
Byzantium still fairly easy as a Duke after a generation or two or even 1.
Count is more fun.
King and Emperor often means you've won already.
Partially agree, but for a first game, I'd recommend a duke. The sense of overcoming obstacles is certainly greater as a count, but while you're still figuring out the game, it's better to have a few territories and an ability to bounce back more easily from poor decisions.
Unless perhaps you are on Tutorial Island (Ireland), then I would of course recommend choosing one of the counts. Kyriakos wouldn't be starting in Ireland, though.
(Not that I entirely followed this advice myself; after that Duke-level demo game [20 years of game time], I played the Count of Pfalz. Which proved to be a great choice and game, though I'm still a bit surprised I didn't lose early)
Partial agree in general because I'm finding a duchy to be quite fun right now, within the very large pond of the Abbasid Caliphate. As the most powerful duke vassal within the kingdom, or even an average power one, there may not be that much ground to climb, but here...
I'm 70+ years in and definitely feeling the heat when the Caliph sends that "I'd like to revoke your title, you will agree now, won't you?" message. And begrudgingly marrying my eldest daughter to his eldest son to create a non-aggression pact (while secretly converting to Yazidi), because even though my fully-replenished force size would be over 9000, his power level is so much greater than mine that resistance is futile.
Henri Christophe
L'empereur
I started a new play on Pokémon Blue. (yeah the old one game)
I'm wondering if I can win this game just with weak pokemons that I like
I'm wondering if I can win this game just with weak pokemons that I like
EgonSpengler
Deity
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Baldur's Gate 3. I know the game has eschewed the age-old D&D Alignments system, and I'm fine with that. I also know the game allows you to steal from people and deal with the consequences, which I assume usually means getting attacked. It occurred to me as I was playing the other night that I'm not sure what the options are for playing the campaign as non-heroic. I was asked to go rescue someone, and I did, because I'm choosing to play that way, but as I was heading off to find the quest marker it occurred to me, "What if I'd said no?" I assume I just wouldn't have gotten that mission. Are there missions I'll end up turning down because I'm choosing to play a benevolent character? So far, I don't think there've been a lot of missions I've turned down. I haven't been asked to assassinate someone important, or been offered a map to break into a village church's sepulcher. Can you be 'evil' in this game? Can you become some kind of 'Sith lord' or something? Or does being 'evil' just mean being a [donkey], with no upside, as is so often the case in RPGs? It'll be interesting to start a new game, and try to do everything the opposite of how I've done it so far, just to see what happens.
EDIT: As an example, I gave my benevolent noble a high Persuade skill. Do you get different results, either in specific instances or over time, if you use Intimidate in conversations instead of Persuade?
EDIT: As an example, I gave my benevolent noble a high Persuade skill. Do you get different results, either in specific instances or over time, if you use Intimidate in conversations instead of Persuade?
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There are some very evil options. I haven't really gone down that route but for example
Spoiler big Act 1 spoiler :
EgonSpengler
Deity
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- 11,719
Okay, good example. I didn't do that. Are there different rewards? Does doing that have an effect on the narrative going forward? That's the sort of thing I'll try doing completely differently on a later playthrough.
I was also thinking about a conversation I had with Karlach, where it seemed like I could've maybe encouraged them to lean into being a demon. I don't remember the specifics, now.
The example given will affect which place and its merchants will be available to you and there is a companion associated with each. You can't recruit both of them.
I know that there are different endings, including premature ones, and that companion quests can have different endings too. I'm trying not to spoil myself so I haven't looked at details of anything beyond Act 1.
I think compared to a Skyrim or a NWN there are a lot more choices that have effects but I suspect theres also a bit of hype atm.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
You can do so e evil things but at the end of the day you must kill the evil bosses to pass to the next act so you must side with the good guys somehow. I think all RPG are similar.
Bonyduck Campersang
Deity
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- Dec 11, 2022
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CK2's Random World generator is far superior to that of EU4, which is why I find the former more replayable than the latter, though EU4 is more fun once you get a game going. Sadly, I can't bring myself to try out other nations besides my favourite dozen, and after a heartbreaking Mamluk run in EU4 I'm back to CK2.
Spoiler Playthrough so far :
) and declared war on the Orthodox Kingdom of Jerusalem for a measly province. Back home a bunch of peasants rose up, stormed the capital and killed all 4 of the Sultan's wives and all 3 of his sons (oddly enough leaving only his 3 daughters, whose betrothals to powerful vassals were the only thing keeping the Sultanate from fragmenting). Muhammad reluctantly made peace despite having 51% warscore, returned home, crushed the rebels and did some hasty wedding ceremonies. The rest of his reign was spent in crushing peasants and and heretical fanatics, until he died suddenly in his 30s.
Path of Exile team in Germany for Gamescon
bene_legionary
Searching for the daguerrotype of God
Back in FTL: Faster Than Light, I just had a pretty good run with the Federation Cruiser. Mostly forgetting about the Artillery Beam that's the whole gimmick of this ship and just sticking it on in case it gets me out of an asteroid-field laden situation, I got a lot of Rockmen and Mantis crew early on and decided that boarding was the way to go this time. And hell yeah, is it a good strat (if you can manage it...) since recovering ships intact is far more profitable in scrap materials than destroying them and picking up the pieces, every ship I encountered game me upwards of 60 scrap after I bought the Teleporter. It's pretty much a systems upgrade after every ship encounter. I came across some pretty annoying ships in a Rock Controlled Sector 7 (annoyingly not the Rock homeworlds... Ruwen won't be able to go home, sorry); I nearly ran out of fuel and was on one hull point until I found a store beacon just before the exit beacon to the Last Stand... so that was very lucky.
I got lucky with the repair beacons in the Last Stand as well, getting two of them and repairing to full hull before facing the Rebel Flagship. This time around, boarding is pretty amazing because you can send your crew to the weapons systems of the Flagship and straight up disable its most powerful weapon, the missile launcher. So that's what I did. The only issue was the Rebel hacking drone that had targeted my teleporter and kept sending my boarding crew back to my cruiser. Combined with an ion bomb and a pike beam, it wasn't hard to get rid of the shields and take down the first stage with a little bit of damage.
The second stage (which tends to be the most annoying because of the drone surge) wasn't that hard, because I disabled the drone systems early on and then disabled the missile launcher again. The third stage was where I thought I had messed up, because my boarding crew kept getting mind controlled by the Rebels before they could get to the teleporter and destroy the missile systems, meaning that missiles kept coming and didn't stop coming for about 5 minutes and the mind controlled crew kept destroying the medbay and teleporter. I also didn't know ionic bombs could take down the Flagship's supershields and took a lot of extra damage waiting for my lasers to miss the flagship. Supershields prevent boarding action, too, so the missiles were loose for a good while. After taking a fair bit of damage and faffing about with my mantis crew killing each other I managed to destroy the missile launcher before the supershields popped back up, and then waited for my lasers to destroy the flagship.
Soon, the Zoltan Cruiser...
I got lucky with the repair beacons in the Last Stand as well, getting two of them and repairing to full hull before facing the Rebel Flagship. This time around, boarding is pretty amazing because you can send your crew to the weapons systems of the Flagship and straight up disable its most powerful weapon, the missile launcher. So that's what I did. The only issue was the Rebel hacking drone that had targeted my teleporter and kept sending my boarding crew back to my cruiser. Combined with an ion bomb and a pike beam, it wasn't hard to get rid of the shields and take down the first stage with a little bit of damage.
The second stage (which tends to be the most annoying because of the drone surge) wasn't that hard, because I disabled the drone systems early on and then disabled the missile launcher again. The third stage was where I thought I had messed up, because my boarding crew kept getting mind controlled by the Rebels before they could get to the teleporter and destroy the missile systems, meaning that missiles kept coming and didn't stop coming for about 5 minutes and the mind controlled crew kept destroying the medbay and teleporter. I also didn't know ionic bombs could take down the Flagship's supershields and took a lot of extra damage waiting for my lasers to miss the flagship. Supershields prevent boarding action, too, so the missiles were loose for a good while. After taking a fair bit of damage and faffing about with my mantis crew killing each other I managed to destroy the missile launcher before the supershields popped back up, and then waited for my lasers to destroy the flagship.
Soon, the Zoltan Cruiser...
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AnthonyBoscia
Emperor
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- Feb 7, 2010
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- 1,847
It took thirty years but finally got my Megalopolis.
You have died of dysentery.
That's right, I've been playingOregon Trail Crusader Kings II. The game has really heated up. The key moment was Emir Nezam, later known as "The Unready" ascending in 844. He thought his brother Vistap was an inept ruler, having failed to expand the realm and losing a duchy to the Caliph. But Vistap had planted the seed for the rise of the Yazidi realm, and Nezam would adopt the Yazidi faith in about 855.
Surprisingly, by that time, it had grown from a handful of members in 844 to about 30 members, and it just kept growing. Perhaps not least because among its secret adherents were the Caliph Mirza, and his wife, who led the underground Yazidis. How can you be underground if the absolute monarch and his wife both are part of your faction? Well, the Caliph was already branded as an apostate, an unusual state of affairs if ever there was one, so the imams had to be mollified.
In early 865, a damnable portal of antediluvian evil opened in the fields outside Mosul, spewing fire and brimstone. Many predicted the end times had arrived, sooner than any had imagined. Some blamed Nezam's breaking of a truce in 862, saying this was his divine punishment. A select few knew that Nezam had recently been reading the Necronomicon, and were certain that was the cause of all this trouble. None were reassured when Nezam, after inspecting the chasm and nearly falling into the abyss, proclaimed, "It's just a hole in the ground, right?" and went about his week.
On March 24, 865, the Yazidis announced their religious coup - reinforcing the likelihood of the end times for faithful Sunnis - and from there things sped up quickly. Within two weeks, the Egyptians had announced a revolt. And within two months, the Abbasid Caliph-turned-Yazidi-Sheikh had excommunicated Nezam "The Unready", sullying the latter's view of the new faith.
Instead, Nezam concluded that between the betrayal by the Caliph-Sheikh and this portal to the underworld on the edge of his capital, perhaps it was time to worship Shaytan, to harness the power that was right there for his dynasty.
----
The Egyptian revolt was crushed, but then another one arose in the east. The Caliph, now the Sheikh, died under suspicious circumstances in 866; his heir soon faced another revolt. At one point, the Sheikh had a major revolt going on, as did both of his most powerful emirs, in Egypt and the Barmakid Satrapy, as well as a couple peasant and adventurer revolts. It was chaos everywhere. Somehow, all the incumbents held on.
In 871, the new Sheikh died of the gout, and Aarif "The Tormenter" took over the Abbasid Sheikhdom. In 872, Azam "The Mutilator" launched a revolt seeking the throne for himself, supported by Egypt and the Hejaz, a serious revolt especially with the Abbasid treasury now running on exhausted horses.
It was in this environment, after Azam and Aarif had fought a few battles, that Nezam "The Unready" decided in 874 to send his demand for independence. Along with his factional ally (sadly, two others had quit), he demanded independence, expecting to be granted his wish, but it was not to be.
So, Nezam brought his armies to fight. They did, but poorly, losing a major battle. He would get 99.8% warscore from defending his lands, and occupying some Abbasid lands but could not convince the Sheikh to admit defeat without losing a battle or waiting three years. He hired more mercenaries and fought again, but lost again. As the third year wound down, he started not feeling so well. He called upon Shaytan to carry him through, and marched his yet-again-reinforced army deeper into Abbasid territory.
Finally, with less than two months until the magical three-year mark, he found an Abbasid army, strong enough to count as a major battle yet weak enough to almost surely lose.
He ordered his army to march, but was not feeling well, not at all. Had Shaytan betrayed him, too?
Hours before the armies were to engage, he died of dysentery.
The armies stopped. The war ended inconclusively.
And worse, all but four vassals declared independence on hearing the news, from both the Satrapy and the Abbasids.
Sheikh Aarif still had a major problem with Azam's revolt, which was stuck at 96% war score in the revolter's favor, but he had dodged an arrow at the 11th hour with a little help from dysentery.
----
Now, in 879, Nezam's son Mozaffar, who hasn't dabbled in anything nefarious, is trying to put the pieces back together. Three vassals have already been reunited; six remain.
Meanwhile, the world watches curiously to see whether Islam will splinter as Catholicism has. Four different heresies have risen to account for more than half the number of provinces that the Pope commands, meanwhile the number of provinces following the Yazidi faith has gone from three to eighteen in less than 15 years. Azam "The Mutilator" could yet restore orthodoxy with his revolt of 7+ years, but if he fails, then perhaps the prophecies of the end times really will prove accurate.
That's right, I've been playing
Surprisingly, by that time, it had grown from a handful of members in 844 to about 30 members, and it just kept growing. Perhaps not least because among its secret adherents were the Caliph Mirza, and his wife, who led the underground Yazidis. How can you be underground if the absolute monarch and his wife both are part of your faction? Well, the Caliph was already branded as an apostate, an unusual state of affairs if ever there was one, so the imams had to be mollified.
In early 865, a damnable portal of antediluvian evil opened in the fields outside Mosul, spewing fire and brimstone. Many predicted the end times had arrived, sooner than any had imagined. Some blamed Nezam's breaking of a truce in 862, saying this was his divine punishment. A select few knew that Nezam had recently been reading the Necronomicon, and were certain that was the cause of all this trouble. None were reassured when Nezam, after inspecting the chasm and nearly falling into the abyss, proclaimed, "It's just a hole in the ground, right?" and went about his week.
On March 24, 865, the Yazidis announced their religious coup - reinforcing the likelihood of the end times for faithful Sunnis - and from there things sped up quickly. Within two weeks, the Egyptians had announced a revolt. And within two months, the Abbasid Caliph-turned-Yazidi-Sheikh had excommunicated Nezam "The Unready", sullying the latter's view of the new faith.
Instead, Nezam concluded that between the betrayal by the Caliph-Sheikh and this portal to the underworld on the edge of his capital, perhaps it was time to worship Shaytan, to harness the power that was right there for his dynasty.
----
The Egyptian revolt was crushed, but then another one arose in the east. The Caliph, now the Sheikh, died under suspicious circumstances in 866; his heir soon faced another revolt. At one point, the Sheikh had a major revolt going on, as did both of his most powerful emirs, in Egypt and the Barmakid Satrapy, as well as a couple peasant and adventurer revolts. It was chaos everywhere. Somehow, all the incumbents held on.
In 871, the new Sheikh died of the gout, and Aarif "The Tormenter" took over the Abbasid Sheikhdom. In 872, Azam "The Mutilator" launched a revolt seeking the throne for himself, supported by Egypt and the Hejaz, a serious revolt especially with the Abbasid treasury now running on exhausted horses.
It was in this environment, after Azam and Aarif had fought a few battles, that Nezam "The Unready" decided in 874 to send his demand for independence. Along with his factional ally (sadly, two others had quit), he demanded independence, expecting to be granted his wish, but it was not to be.
So, Nezam brought his armies to fight. They did, but poorly, losing a major battle. He would get 99.8% warscore from defending his lands, and occupying some Abbasid lands but could not convince the Sheikh to admit defeat without losing a battle or waiting three years. He hired more mercenaries and fought again, but lost again. As the third year wound down, he started not feeling so well. He called upon Shaytan to carry him through, and marched his yet-again-reinforced army deeper into Abbasid territory.
Finally, with less than two months until the magical three-year mark, he found an Abbasid army, strong enough to count as a major battle yet weak enough to almost surely lose.
He ordered his army to march, but was not feeling well, not at all. Had Shaytan betrayed him, too?
Hours before the armies were to engage, he died of dysentery.
The armies stopped. The war ended inconclusively.
And worse, all but four vassals declared independence on hearing the news, from both the Satrapy and the Abbasids.
Sheikh Aarif still had a major problem with Azam's revolt, which was stuck at 96% war score in the revolter's favor, but he had dodged an arrow at the 11th hour with a little help from dysentery.
----
Now, in 879, Nezam's son Mozaffar, who hasn't dabbled in anything nefarious, is trying to put the pieces back together. Three vassals have already been reunited; six remain.
Meanwhile, the world watches curiously to see whether Islam will splinter as Catholicism has. Four different heresies have risen to account for more than half the number of provinces that the Pope commands, meanwhile the number of provinces following the Yazidi faith has gone from three to eighteen in less than 15 years. Azam "The Mutilator" could yet restore orthodoxy with his revolt of 7+ years, but if he fails, then perhaps the prophecies of the end times really will prove accurate.
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Sheikh Aarif's troubles persisted in the 880s. He destroyed the Sultanate of Egypt, and went on a rampage against the power of his vassals, revoking at least 18 titles. Vassals who are furious at you are no longer a problem if they aren't vassals anymore (well, except for plots...). He chose an interesting strategy for how to redistribute all these titles - making one supervassal out of them.
Persia, recently re-formed, started receiving more and more land.
Soon, the Sultan of Persia controlled not only Persia, but three other kingdoms as well, for four in all. I'd never seen a vassal with so many kingdoms to their name in CKII. Clearly, Aarif thought this would solve his problems - and to some extent one could see the logic in it. The Sultan of Persia was, unsurprisingly, quite pleased with how things were going.
But eventually the camel's back broke. The Emir of Aswan decided he wasn't giving up without a fight, and refused to lose his titles, inviting nearly every other vassal other that Super Persia to join him in revolt. Most did.
Mozaffar, the "Lord of Mosul", did not. He had just finished putting Humpty Dumpty back together (or at least, 95% back together), and sought not to remain in the Sheikdom, newly surrounded by Super Persia on all sides, but independence. Super Persia did not have as many troops as Mosul yet, but that did not seem like something to rely on over the medium term.
Instead, a few years later, Mosul declared independence, just after adopting Assyrian culture at the court.
It was a surprisingly peaceful revolt; neither side engaged in a major pitched battle, and Aarif did not attempt to force the matter by occupying Mosul. Mozaffar accomplished what his father did not, gaining independence, and declared his newly-independent-and-Assyrian realm to be the Duchy of Nineveh.
With his main goal now accomplished, the permanent mercenaries that the Emirate had employed for the past... oh, close to 20 years... could finally be dismissed. Although perhaps not before the next reforms. One, religious - decadence was becoming a liability, as was the ongoing Sunni-Yazidi split, and what better was to sidestep the problem that to adopt the Nestorian Christianity of his Assyrian subjects? And two, forming the Neo-Neo Assyrian Kingdom at long last, about 1500 years after the fall of the great city.
Persia, recently re-formed, started receiving more and more land.
Soon, the Sultan of Persia controlled not only Persia, but three other kingdoms as well, for four in all. I'd never seen a vassal with so many kingdoms to their name in CKII. Clearly, Aarif thought this would solve his problems - and to some extent one could see the logic in it. The Sultan of Persia was, unsurprisingly, quite pleased with how things were going.
But eventually the camel's back broke. The Emir of Aswan decided he wasn't giving up without a fight, and refused to lose his titles, inviting nearly every other vassal other that Super Persia to join him in revolt. Most did.
Mozaffar, the "Lord of Mosul", did not. He had just finished putting Humpty Dumpty back together (or at least, 95% back together), and sought not to remain in the Sheikdom, newly surrounded by Super Persia on all sides, but independence. Super Persia did not have as many troops as Mosul yet, but that did not seem like something to rely on over the medium term.
Instead, a few years later, Mosul declared independence, just after adopting Assyrian culture at the court.
It was a surprisingly peaceful revolt; neither side engaged in a major pitched battle, and Aarif did not attempt to force the matter by occupying Mosul. Mozaffar accomplished what his father did not, gaining independence, and declared his newly-independent-and-Assyrian realm to be the Duchy of Nineveh.
Spoiler :
With his main goal now accomplished, the permanent mercenaries that the Emirate had employed for the past... oh, close to 20 years... could finally be dismissed. Although perhaps not before the next reforms. One, religious - decadence was becoming a liability, as was the ongoing Sunni-Yazidi split, and what better was to sidestep the problem that to adopt the Nestorian Christianity of his Assyrian subjects? And two, forming the Neo-Neo Assyrian Kingdom at long last, about 1500 years after the fall of the great city.
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