Crusader Kings 2

[Derpy Hooves]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but properly upgrading your castles and such is must if you want a lot of money, make sure you get the castle town and upgrades and the walls first in all your castles and you'll be at 50gold per month in no time, I personally never fealt the need to abuse ransoming because I always had a ton of money by the time I hold 8 or so counties for a while (and it leaves prisoners of war free to release for the vassal opinion bonus).

And if you EVER get control over a bishopric for a while (it will prolly give wrong type demesne) start the construction of a school (I think it's called a monastic school or something) it increases the tech growth rate in a province by massive increments.

 

[SouthernKing]

Starting a new game, any good suggestions? I played with Ireland(Munster) and Bosnia.

Try playing as Galicia and form Portugal. It really depends how well the Muslims in Spain can unite on how difficult that is.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but properly upgrading your castles and such is must if you want a lot of money, make sure you get the castle town and upgrades and the walls first in all your castles and you'll be at 50gold per month in no time, I personally never fealt the need to abuse ransoming because I always had a ton of money by the time I hold 8 or so counties for a while (and it leaves prisoners of war free to release for the vassal opinion bonus).

This. I control Smyrna in my game and have filled all of its extra slots with cities, and maxed out every one of them to the maximum level my current technology allows. Its total yearly income is 266, while the second best province is Athens (which I also own) at 167. Its 1319 and my total monthly income is currently 58.68.

 

[Antilogic]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but properly upgrading your castles and such is must if you want a lot of money, make sure you get the castle town and upgrades and the walls first in all your castles and you'll be at 50gold per month in no time, I personally never fealt the need to abuse ransoming because I always had a ton of money by the time I hold 8 or so counties for a while (and it leaves prisoners of war free to release for the vassal opinion bonus).

And if you EVER get control over a bishopric for a while (it will prolly give wrong type demesne) start the construction of a school (I think it's called a monastic school or something) it increases the tech growth rate in a province by massive increments.

Yeah, I've been doing the money infrastructure first then the troops, and I'm drowning in cash.

By the way, you can build those church monastic schools in counties you control (so long as you control the principle castle). I've built up monastic schools to level 2 and put small universities in all my towns in my core lands despite never controlling the churches and towns directly.

 

[Blue Emu]

Playing Castille in the Sept 1066 scenario.

My second son is awesome... at the age of six years old, his stats already total 45 points (+5 to each stat for Genius, +2 to each stat for Ambitious).

Not sure just what I should do... assassinate my first son? Our Papal Investure means that I can't just send my first son into the Church.

 

[Antilogic]

Playing Castille in the Sept 1066 scenario.

My second son is awesome... at the age of six years old, his stats already total 45 points (+5 to each stat for Genius, +2 to each stat for Ambitious).

Not sure just what I should do... assassinate my first son? Our Papal Investure means that I can't just send my first son into the Church.

I'm pretty jealous. Even when I breed strong, quick geniuses, the kids are unremarkable.

You can always change your papal investiture, send your first kid to the church, and then play nice and switch back after the Pope comes knocking.

 

[Blue Emu]

I'm pretty jealous. Even when I breed strong, quick geniuses, the kids are unremarkable.

You can always change your papal investiture, send your first kid to the church, and then play nice and switch back after the Pope comes knocking.

I don't think you can send your first son to the Church, under Primogeniture.

Here's the Wonder-Boy at age 8... total stats so far: 57 points

 

[Antilogic]

You just know he's going to keel over dead of the plague at age 15. Don't kid yourself.

 

[Relsden]

Oh my goodness this game is fantastic!

I'm nearly done playing through my first "successful" game as the King of Ireland and Scotland. I'm up to the year 1333 and think the Ua Conchobair family might actually make it all the way. As with everyone else, my first few attempts were comically bad as I flailed around trying to figure the game out. I got passed around like a blunt the first time I tried to conquer Ireland. Now, with primogeniture and medium crown authority in place, I'm able to keep my unruly vassals in line. Totally looking forward to taking on a more difficult starting position in my next game and salivating at the prospect of what future DLCs will bring.

 

[salty mud]

1333? You're not nearly done, you've still got to get to 1453!

 

[Relsden]

They'll get there, I just know it!

Ireland is about the safest place to establish your power base. Irish dukes are easy to put down and, as long as you've been careful to keep your females within your own dynasty, you won't have much trouble with neighboring Kings rolling in on your stuff. In fact I've had considerable success pushing things in the other direction -- I hold a couple of duchies in England to go along with my holdings in Scotland and Ireland.

 

[Antilogic]

Took a break from my Scotland game (it's saved around 1350 I think, still got a century to go), to try playing as the old Duke Robert in Apulia. Managed to push the Muslims out of Sicily by 1080, formed the Kingdom of Sicily and wrapped up the 3 independent provinces by 1082. I had the Duchy of Athens for all of five years, then finally the Byzantines wrapped up their civil war and declared on me, so I surrendered it without a fight (I had about 4.5k troops mustered ready to board ships, then I saw the second 10k stack and figured I couldn't pull it off). So with some clever marriages I got the Duchy of Provence, and now I'm working on the Duchy of Savoy. Also had a run of genius/quick rulers with great stats, it's been refreshing.

And then my sole heir was made into a bishop by the Duchess of Savoy and I rage-quit.

 

[Ninja Dude]

Umm... Had a bit of a weird incident. Managed to create the Kingdom of Sicily recently, and things were going well. And then suddenly the Mongols arrive... and I get +5000 gold, a bunch of random Mongol characters in my court, and control of some doomstacks on the sides of the map. What's up with that?

 

[Antilogic]

Umm... Had a bit of a weird incident. Managed to create the Kingdom of Sicily recently, and things were going well. And then suddenly the Mongols arrive... and I get +5000 gold, a bunch of random Mongol characters in my court, and control of some doomstacks on the sides of the map. What's up with that?

Did you get converted into the Horde somehow? Sweet!

I'd just terrorize anyone with the misfortune of sharing my borders for the hell of it.

 

[salty mud]

Umm... Had a bit of a weird incident. Managed to create the Kingdom of Sicily recently, and things were going well. And then suddenly the Mongols arrive... and I get +5000 gold, a bunch of random Mongol characters in my court, and control of some doomstacks on the sides of the map. What's up with that?

Either you illegally pirated the game or you haven't patched it for some reason, even though it came with a day one patch.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

You pirated it, I know because... you can fix it with a patch.

 

[SouthernKing]

The one thing I have noticed that could be done is that the Sunni Caliphate needs to be strengthened and the Shia Caliphate nerfed. It seems a bit uncanny to have one "caliph" controlling two shiekdoms and another controlling half the middle east.

 

[Antilogic]

I have only played three games, and two for more than a century, so my experience is a bit limited.

However, the Shi'a Caliphate seems to dominate the Middle East until the Ilkhanate shows up. Semi-related gripe: since all the land belongs to the Shi'a Caliphate, it's extremely difficult to replicate the Crusaders and take all the land required to form the Kingdom of Jerusalem due to 10-year truces. Especially when the First Crusade I participated in took us to... Alexandria. Come on, Pope, pick Ascalon! Pick Jerusalem!

 

[ZeletDude]

I made the Kingdom of Sicily and I am slowly advancing up the Italian peninsula, (a little above Rome right now).. and It's about ~1200 I love this game

 

[Blue Emu]

I've discovered the "Amass Wealth" exploit. My current King is less than 30 years old, and he already has a Stewardship of 24 (up from 12 originally!) and a State Stewardship (including his wife and councillor) of 53. His nickname should be Ragnar I The Obscenely Rich.