What Video Games Have You Been Playing VII: The Real Ending is Locked Behind a Paywall

[Ajidica]

Playing a Medieval 2 game as France and attempting to go for a defensive/turtle strategy. France's best units are mid/late game and they start with plenty of territory that needs some work to get developed. I'm at about turn 40 and all of France is unified apart from Caen which is under the heel of English barbarians. I was about to do a lightning strike with siege engines to grab it, but I got distracted by Spain and the HRE declaring war on me with Milan sniffing around Dijon. So I ended up killing two Spanish generals and their armies and grabbed Stuafen after the HRE left it guarded with their faction heir and a damaged crossbow unit.
Somehow I've actually managed to keep the diplomacy system vaguely under control! I have a strong alliances with Denmark and Poland (counterweight to HRE) along with mediocre alliances with Venice and the Pope.

 

[Takhisis]

You can keep a Total War diplomacy system actually under control?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

You can keep a Total War diplomacy system actually under control?

Every time I've said something like that in fairly short order I was thinking of them as famous last words.

 

[cardgame]

not M2, the AI is hardcoded to be warmongering pricks, but R2 seems to be pretty controllable.

 

[Akka]

I don't remember the details (it's been a very long while since I played Medieval II, especially since Rome II has become actually fun), but there was a very short change to do to an AI file to make them much more reliable (from memory, it was something about removing a random chance to make them declare war each turn, or at least something on the same ballpark of dumb).

 

[EgonSpengler]

I noticed that Steam is giving away Crusader Kings II this weekend (not just a free weekend, you get to keep it, for free), and the DLC are all on sale, 30-50%. It's making me think about starting a new game, which I really don't need right now...

This game is very 'flavor to taste' when it comes to the DLC, and if you're a completionist you'll be spending a lot of money, even with the sale. Many of the DLC unlock new playable factions, which could be vital or not. For instance, there's one that enhances the gameplay for Muslim countries, another that adds stuff for the Indian kingdoms, and another that adds merchant republics. And on and on.

DLC I have:
Sons of Abraham, which expands the religious game for Christians, Jews, and Muslims
Way of Life, which adds a bunch of roleplaying features

I bought both of these when I bought the base game, so I've never played it without them.

DLC I'm considering buying:
Conclave, which enhances the domestic politics gameplay. Your domestic politics are a bigger part of this game than I've ever seen in a strategy game.
The Reaper's Due, adds disease outbreaks, including the Black Plague, which I assume is more fun that it sounds.

 

[rah]

adds disease outbreaks, including the Black Plague, which I assume is more fun that it sounds.

Thanks, that's just the type of fun concept I needed to start this Friday.

 

[Lexicus]

Thanks @EgonSpengler I bought the base game for half price ages ago but I held off on the DLC. Now seems like the time to pick some up I guess.

 

[Arakhor]

The Reaper's Due does comes with a very rare immortality chain (I've never managed to complete it) and 'fun' things that can happen when you're unwell, as well as a whole litany of traits instead of just "Ill".

Definitely get Way of Life, Conclave, The Old Gods and Legacy of Rome. They have the most mechanical changes and allow other useful things (such as playable pagans and standing retinues).

 

[Akka]

It might have changed quite a bit, but I remember Conclave being a pretty awful expansion, adding nothing but frustration.
I love the complexity of Paradox games, and I love the idea that they spend a long time working on their game after release, but I really hate how it actually translates (buggy release "we'll fix it later", and then they mangle the games with constant tinkering and changes, and you're left with either having to deal with an unfinished buggy game in limbo, or follow into an haphazard bloat that will ruin just as much as it fix).

I'd really like them to, you know, FINISH their game before starting to mess with it with DLC and core changes.

 

[Snerk]

I played Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes with some peeps yesterday and it was quite fun. Hectic, but a lot of laughs.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I think there are a couple of CKII expansions that add some fantasy elements (well, I suppose fantasy is sort of the whole point of the game). I've heard there's something that can turn you into a werewolf and another that features an invasion from across the Atlantic by a strangely seafaring Aztec Empire.

 

[Arakhor]

Sunset Invasion is the alt-history Aztec expansion, which does actually serve a useful mechanical function if you're looking to shake things up, in as much as it makes the West vulnerable to assault, just like the East (the Mongols) or the South (various Muslim super-blobs).

 

[Commodore]

not M2, the AI is hardcoded to be warmongering pricks

To be fair, the game is "Total War" not "Total Diplomacy".

 

[Yeekim]

It might have changed quite a bit, but I remember Conclave being a pretty awful expansion, adding nothing but frustration.
I love the complexity of Paradox games, and I love the idea that they spend a long time working on their game after release, but I really hate how it actually translates (buggy release "we'll fix it later", and then they mangle the games with constant tinkering and changes, and you're left with either having to deal with an unfinished buggy game in limbo, or follow into an haphazard bloat that will ruin just as much as it fix).

I'd really like them to, you know, FINISH their game before starting to mess with it with DLC and core changes.

I really like Conclave.
It adds some little amount of challenge to vassal management.

 

[Takhisis]

It might have changed quite a bit, but I remember Conclave being a pretty awful expansion, adding nothing but frustration.
I love the complexity of Paradox games, and I love the idea that they spend a long time working on their game after release, but I really hate how it actually translates (buggy release "we'll fix it later", and then they mangle the games with constant tinkering and changes, and you're left with either having to deal with an unfinished buggy game in limbo, or follow into an haphazard bloat that will ruin just as much as it fix).

I'd really like them to, you know, FINISH their game before starting to mess with it with DLC and core changes.

You're posting this in a Firaxis/Civilization forum…

 

[Ajidica]

Every time I've said something like that in fairly short order I was thinking of them as famous last words.

I'm about another 50 turns in at my attempt at diplomacy is working out well. I am *technically* at war with all of my neighbors except Milan.* However, my alliance with Poland and Venice are holding well and they are putting pressure on the HRE/Milan and distracting them. The odd Milanese stack steps into my territory but then quickly leaves, I suspect because Venice sent a stack into their territory. I haven't seen an HRE stack seriously attempt to threaten one of my castles in a while now. I'm not advancing into their territory to maintain a buffer between me and Poland. Spain sees the odd skirmish but nothing threatening because Toulouse and Bordeaux are both castles and have a rather nice stack of dismounted feudal knights and crossbows to deter Spain. Spain hasn't had a serious war with Portugal or the Moors yet so they haven't done much. If it wasn't for Toledo being one of the fastest growing castles in the game they would be completely harmless.

England ended up attacking me but after a series of battles in my territory to keep the Pope from getting grumpy I had whittled their forces down enough to quickly seize Caen. The English AI dropped a couple small stacks off in Bruges/Antwerp but those were dispatched pretty easily due to France's excellent cavalry. (And England somehow hasn't gotten Longbows yet. Armored Swordsmen are nasty but no match for repeated flank charges by Noble Knights.) I just grabbed London after a surprisingly bloody battle and a spy indicates that England doesn't have much else available.

Hungary could become a problem late game. They have a nasty late-game roster with cavalry that rivals my own and have started blobbing. The Russian AI has done nothing the whole campaign, grabbing two other cities -and no castles! Sucks for them because the Russians have a crap city roster until late game with Berdiche Axemen and Cossack Musketeers. The Mongols, despite spawning in southern Russia and immediately going to war with the Hungarians, have just sort of faffed around.


*Usually Milan blobs like crazy but I think I kept them bottled up because I took Dijon early and nabbed Berne after their attempted siege went badly.

 

[Takhisis]

my attempt at diplomacy is working out well.

*ducks for cover*

 

[Commodore]

Got a random itch to go back and play The Suffering again, but since I don't have my PS2 anymore I tried to play it on my emulator. The game doesn't play on emulators well. That's when I found there was a PC release of the game and its sequel, so I looked to see if it was available on Steam. It wasn't. So I looked on GOG since I remember hearing a lot about GOG having much more variety in the way of older, more obscure games than Steam. Both The Suffering and its sequel were there for only ten bucks each so I signed up and bought them.

Gotta say, I'm liking how smooth the whole process of signing up, purchasing, and downloading is with GOG. I still think Steam will be my primary method of acquiring new PC games, but GOG is definitely going to be my "if Steam doesn't have it, I'm looking there" service.

 

[Takhisis]

You should go for ‘if GoG doesn't have it, I'm looking on Steam’.