Crusader Kings 2

I am incredibly disappointed that the DLC for CK2 didn't go 75% off like I expected it too. I have over $13 in my Steam wallet now, and I was waiting to gobble up the CK2 DLC that makes up nearly a quarter of my wishlist

 

I meant give the crap to new courtiers who don't hate you because they're oblivious.

 

Well, I was kind of wondering what succession law I should aim for when I can get out of gavelkind.

Any suggestions on that? I have one empire title and two kingdom titles to deal with...

 

always elective

 

elective elective elective

 

Is elective really that good? I've had a couple bad experiences with particularly ambitious dukes voting my dynasty out of office.

 

You only need medium CA for it, you can pick your best son (or even nephew), it gives vassals already +5, and as long as you keep the opinion of half of them up, its easy peasy to stay in power. You need to please vassals anyway to avoid factions.

 

if i'm minmaxing i do elective, if i'm rping i do primo

 

Its far more difficult to control the vote with Tanistry though, and you need the proper culture.

 

Well, of course, which is why I was comparing it to Elective.

Elective is quite possibly the best succession law.

Ultimogeniture is also great; it has primo's advantages but since it only picks the youngest child the heirs will generally be younger and therefore have longer reigns. More importantly, ultimo gives you a bit of choice as to your heir; once you get a desireable heir you can just stop having children.

RP-wise primo and gavelkind are probably the best.

 

As long as you want to hold only one main title I feel that Gavelkind works quite well for an expanding dynasty. You can conquer and keep a good number of provinces, which is great if you have to gobble them up to create a duchy or kingdom. It also seems that your heirs are far less prone to kill each other (or you).

...which is rather important for me. I once lost a game because all my eldery dynasty member murdered each other after I switched to Seniority Succession. I think I played 10 different characters within 4 years, then two plagues rolled over my land and killed off the rest of my dynasty. I was left with a 8 year old boy who was quickly "succeeded" by his regent - Game Over.

 

Ambitious dukes can be a problem all the time, Elective or not.

*Low CA.

Tbh I think that Elective is by far the best succession law, you get to choose your heir from all your closest family (or, if you land them, everyone from your dynasty), the choices are incredible, you can always raise everybody to have great traits and then vote for the best, after a while it's quite easy to go generations always with a genius on the throne.

And the vassals will always vote for your heir if they like you, and it's easy for them to like you with good enough diplo and good traits. And since you're the one choosing your heir, chances are you can always get great heirs that are always liked by vassals.

 

You could be correct, havent played in a while, and before that it were only muslim and india games, so succession there is pretty obvious. In which case its even better

I dont understand why ultimo is considered that good? I havent used it yet, but only difference with primo is that you dont need high CA. But the main risk of getting an heir that you dont want remains, and an untimely death results in a regency with older siblings that dont like you... I remember my shortest reigning period was one of 3 days when i suddenly became a eight year old ruler....

 

Well, my Hungary game went to hell pretty quickly.

My ruler was aging rapidly and I wasn't going to get to institute elective before he died, or at least it didn't look like it was going to happen.

I had two heirs, neither was a son since I had no kids. The first heir was set to inherit the empire title and a couple of counties. The other heir was set to inherit BOTH the kingdom of Hungary and the kingdom of Wallachia. I was going to have to play as the Emperor heir. I couldn't get enough plot power to kill off either one of them so, in an effort to manage the gavelkind mess that was about to happen, I granted the empire heir one of the kingdom level titles (Hungary).

Not my smartest move but I didn't really know what to do.

Then my wife, who I didn't even realize was preggo, pops out a son! And then another one!

My ruler, shocked and appalled that this has happened, promptly dies.

Now, I am playing an infant emperor with NO kingdom titles, NO duchies, and a couple of counties (I have the capital county at least...). My two uncles almost immediately declared war on each other and decimated the fighting age population of the empire while I watched helplessly.

I may revert to an earlier save on this one or I may give it up. I don't feel like sitting around for 15 years with limited options and an intrigue score of 0.

 

Ultimo is flat out better than Primo. Besides the CA requirement, its a lot easier to get a desireable heir into power. If you get a good son, you can just stop having children via divorce or (one) assassination and that kid is now your heir. Whereas if you get a bad first son in primo, you have to murder him and any subsequent ones to get the right child.

While an untimely death is more likely to get a regency, your rulers will generally live longer and get long reign bonuses because they come to power young. A good education always helps. And if you inherit as a minor you can still choose your guardian.

 

So I downloaded the Game of Thrones mod and randomly picked the New Ghis in the far east to play. Turns out half the art is unfinished in this area so most of my knights follow the brave question mark into battle. It's not exactly the core focus of GoT, though, so it's forgivable.

Some of the troop numbers are insane, though.

 

I like the slave camps. Thousands of LI who also decrease build costs.