Crusader Kings II Spirit-all

Mr Bismarck wrote:

This is really a good release state for a game. For Paradox it's a miracle.

Agree 1000%

You guys' stories are awesome.

I've mostly been playing short stints in various places to get a feel for the game. I played the Duke of Flanders for about 4 or 5 years and the Count of Evreux who spent all of the 3 years I played fighting in England (at a ripe old age of 80!) and the Duke of Acquataine for five years. I'll probably play something in Spain and in Eastern Europe before settling down to my first "real" game. Not sure where though.

Son of a Female Doggo, these long-winded but awesome AAR's are cracking my thin veneer of willpower in resisting a purchase of this game.

ARGH.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...

Paradox wrote:

Now when Crusader Kings II has been released it's time for an After Action Report (AAR) contest. Write an AAR for Crusader Kings II and submit it before February 22th. Because on February 23td, all the entries will be included in a poll and the two AAR's with the most votes before Febrary 27th will win a Paradox Complete Bundle on Steam.

Please post your AAR as a new post in the AAR forums here: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/... and link to it in this tread.

Looking forward to reading your AAR's.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Paradox

I HATE YOU ALL!

I already have a massive pile, and nowhere near wrapping up my current game (Skyrim). MUST...NOT...OPEN... STEAM... WILLPOWER... FAILING.........

Yeah, that's my problem; money isn't the issue right now, time is. Too many good games, and Mass Effect 3 and SSX 2012 are just around the corner, and both will immediately consume all the time I can afford to give them.

This game is tremendous. I got very little sleep last night. CK2 definitely has the one more turn factor.

My first game so far: King Alfonso of Leon in northern Spain, the year 1066. I have no wife, no heir, Moors all around and a brother and a sister who have designs on my kingdom. In the first 2 years of my reign, I married a princess of the Holy Roman Empire, I put down a rebellious vassal and am currently engaged in a war with my traitorous sister. I had to nearly bankrupt my crown hiring mercenaries to assist my war effort when no one would come to my aid. I can't wait to see what happens next The emergent story aspect of this game is awesome.

Damn, awesome stories, guys. Makes me really wanna dive into this, especially for the character aspect of it.

I totally forgot about the point when I hired mercenaries company and did not release them before I ran out of money. Then they went on a rampage across England. Most I was able to defeat but one caused me serious problems for awhile, so I had to have the mercenary captain assassinated.

pseudointellectual wrote:

I totally forgot about the point when I hired mercenaries company and did not release them before I ran out of money. Then they went on a rampage across England. Most I was able to defeat but one caused me serious problems for awhile, so I had to have the mercenary captain assassinated.

"And then I went home and played Crusader Kings II."

This game sounds great. I am on a game buying embargo for now but when i decide to lift it this will be high on the buy list.

I decided to try out Duke William, and didn't hire any mercs (although it turns out I should have made the investment).

I had an army of around 9000, and I raised 33 ships, or 3300 worth of transport. I had to move the troops to Kent in three groups. After the first landing, a force of Englishmen headed towards me from London; after the second, they turned back. With the third, I unified my force and took Kent and the surrounding provinces, fighting off many attacks. I then split into three columns, and used one to chase the English around, and two to besiege.

The problem became one of attrition over the next 6 years of campaigning. I eventually got most of southeastern England, and reached a war goal score (tracked by a shield in the lower right of the main window) of 97%, but I could not close the deal. Eventually I was run to ground and gave up the game. Had I reached 100%, I think I could have forced Harold to capitulate, but no such luck. Probably I should not have attacked King Harald's force (badass Norwegians) when it besieged an area I'd captured already.

Next time I'll stack the deck with the mercs for a year or two.

Wow. I caved in.

You filthy, filthy enablers!

Robear wrote:

I decided to try out Duke William, and didn't hire any mercs (although it turns out I should have made the investment).

Yeah, I've taken England without mercs, but it's so much easier to hire a couple of companies. With all the money you'll get from ransoms you won't lose too much money anyway.

My England just descended into Chaos. I'd taken a lot of England and a good chunk of France, and then my heir turned out to be just an absolute moron. The ensuing Civil War and excommunication left me a duke again, and he's a homosexual so he's not making any heirs. I think I might try either the King of Norway or the King of England next.

I fired this up just after work last night, and *POOF* magically, it became 1:00 AM.

I'm still finding my feet in my first game, as Sweden, but I've learned a few ways to squander good money and had a successful small-scale war. I've also gone hunting.

I think the character-level aspects of the game are completely awesome, and will really give it some long-term playability. The 'down-time' in EUIII, Hearts of Iron, or other Paradox titles seems to be taken up here by ambitions, and by marrying off your courtiers to foreigners they've never met before.

It's magnificent.

I want this game really, really bad. But I promised myself this would be the time I would commit to Skyrim (major patch, CK is out)

Lets see if I can make it through

I keep telling myself "wait." Then I read an AAR, and I waver. I mean, it's only $40, and I haven't bought a new game in a month and a half...

Chaz wrote:

I keep telling myself "wait." Then I read an AAR, and I waver. I mean, it's only $40, and I haven't bought a new game in a month and a half...

What, you think you are gonna live forever?! Seize glory now!

Barab wrote:

I want this game really, really bad. But I promised myself this would be the time I would commit to Skyrim (major patch, CK is out)

Lets see if I can make it through

Aw, that is so cute. You think you can resist! Tee hee hee.

ZaneRockfist wrote:
Barab wrote:

I want this game really, really bad. But I promised myself this would be the time I would commit to Skyrim (major patch, CK is out)

Lets see if I can make it through

Aw, that is so cute. You think you can resist! Tee hee hee.

Skyrim was one of those rare games that was quite effective at getting me to ignore everything else for a month or two. It might work.

Farscry wrote:

Skyrim was one of those rare games that was quite effective at getting me to ignore everything else for a month or two. It might work.

I know, I know, but think of all the havoc and mayhem one could incur upon medieval Europe and North Africa!

ZaneRockfist wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I keep telling myself "wait." Then I read an AAR, and I waver. I mean, it's only $40, and I haven't bought a new game in a month and a half...

What, you think you are gonna live forever?! Seize glory now!

The thing I'm sticking to is that I need to get through the demo at least once or twice and enjoy it before I lay out money for the game. Just finding the time to do that is delaying a purchase quite a bit.

So, yeah, I caved.

I've never played any of the other games of this ilk. It's..... different. I'm having problems even deciding what I should be attempting to do. But no worries, my earl-of-whatever-terrority is going to make it through! Just need to find a wife first, I think.....

There is multiplayer, as a Paradox games vet I'd be willing to walk people through a few years of play with voice chat for a live tutorial.

Prozac wrote:

There is multiplayer, as a Paradox games vet I'd be willing to walk people through a few years of play with voice chat for a live tutorial.

I would really appreciate this. I find the game to be very fascinating but equally overwhelming.

ZaneRockfist wrote:

Aw, that is so cute. You think you can resist! Tee hee hee.

Hah! Okay, I'm officially enabled.

While we're waiting for a bed at the hospital for Mrs Prozac to get induced I've been playing my Aragonese King.

My king Sancho the first had an AWESOME son Prince Sancho, with a heap of virtues and great stats. He also had an ambitious 2nd son Prince Bertran who kept trying to assassinate the heir. Eventually the second son got excommunicated for his actions. The first son, being awesome, got the excommunication on his treacherous brother that had repeatedly tried to kill him lifted.

Bertran died a year or so later (I wish they gave more info on the nature of the deaths though!)

About 5 years passed with Aragon participating in a series of defensive wars against muslims and getting in good with the pope for it.

The now infirm and doddery King sancho looked to hte succession. His son would be a great ruler, however he had a very ordinary wife who had given him no sons that followed the Sunni faith!

The king, in his infirmness decided to eschew a life of good works and assassinate his daughter in law in order to pave the way for a beneficial political marriage and hopefully secure the succession.

The assassination went off without a hitch and the king arranged the marriage he wanted for his son.

However before he got a reply Prince Sancho unexpectedly married another woman. King Sancho tried to assassinate her as well but the assassin failed and ratted him out. This caused a lot of tension between everyone and the doddering old king. So much so that his son even began plotting against him. The king, figuring the end was near anyway and that he had nothing to lose imprisoned his sons wife, executed her and forced his son into the marriage he wanted him to have all along.

King sancho was feeling secure, knowing that he had led a pious and prestigious life and had done what he had to in order to secure the future of his dynasty...

Then Prince Sancho died at age 35! DAMMIT!

The King died within a few months and the realm passed to the Son of Bertran, who was crowned King Sancho the second at the age of 10.

King Sancho put down a rebellion from his grandfather's younger brother Mendo, count of Molina and expected his most powerful vassal and the pretender to the throne, his uncle Domingo the Duke of Barcelona to revolt at any moment! Luckily for Sancho the 2nd Domingo had caught the Crusading bug and was marching across Africa to Mecca and in no position to dispute his nephew's rule.

Another King Sancho, this one the King of Leon, decided to press a claim for one of his vassals to try and seize the Duchy of Barcelona, this had the added effect of strengthening the relationship between Sancho II and Domingo as Sancho was defending his uncle's domain while they were away crusading.

The war was horrible as Leon's greater armies destroyed my forces at every turn. Sancho stopped raising troops, trying to strengthen the levies before sending them out. This left the Army of Leon, one 3000 strong stack free reign to besiege my provinces. In a stroke of luck the wife of Mendo, who had been imprisoned for years came to me with a ransom large enough to allow me to hire a mercenary band strong enough to go toe to toe with the army of Leon.

Sancho sent in the mercenaries!

Sancho ran out of money!

Sancho bit his nails nervously praying that the army of Leon would be destroyed before the mercenaries turned on him. The mercenaries defeated the army crushing all of Leon's troops in a mighty battle and the King of Leon promptly surrendered losing prestige and giving me the vassal that had claims on Barcelona to imprison. I could safely disband the mercenaries and pray for a quiet life!

At the age of 19 Sancho the second has not had a day of his rule that wasn't in a state of war!

Prozac wrote:

Enabling AAR.

That sounds amazing.

I keep asking myself: "Will I even play this if I buy it? If yes, will I play it before it inevitably goes on sale? Probably not."

Must stay strong...

So... The Iberian Muslims were kicking my butt once again, Seriously it's only through luck and wheeling and dealing to hire mercs that have held the Christian line.

As I was saying, This time Luck was on my side as a marriage I arranged back when Sancho was 10 finally bore fruit when my brother in law inherited a title and was willing to come to the aid of my struggling state.

IMAGE(http://img15.mediafire.com/e5daa9de8d33631e343fe8236838dce1bebf309fa35c04ada4134e054c0a714a5g.jpg)

Awwwwww Yeah

England is on your side now? Nice play there.

Yeah, they saved my bacon (not that my enemies would have eaten it ;)) And as soon as I accepted the white peace with Sevilla Leon drew straight into another holy war this time with Mauritania. I jumped in as Leon already has a warscore of 40% and the piety I'm racking up will let me hire a Holy Order to fight muslims, which I will use to press my de jure claims on the Sevilla held Cordoba.

Seriously Holy orders kick major butt. 7000 top tier heavily armoured troops for 126 piety?

I gotta admit, this game is sure interesting. I know they made a Game of Thrones mod for the previous version of this game, if they make one for this version, well, let's just say I'll need to clean my pants.