Crusader Kings III

[Josephus]

CK3 had promise but it looks they are squandering it for no apparent reason.

this.

[Tamas]

One Proud Bavarian drools all over the latest dev diary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uda8-wCztzY

I do like that they are embarking on a rebalancing of actual game mechanics.

[Jacob]

Not watching the video, but the dev diary sounds reasonably promising to me.

[Syt]

Looks promising. I'm cautious about the building rework. While I think it's a good direction, I also think it will eventually create a new meta, which provinces to take for best bonuses etc.

The vassal attitudes look nice, though I wish they were a bit more granular. And it depends on how much they really matter in the big picture. If you stack bonuses etc. you can currently reach a point where your vassal personas matter little, because they're either too afraid of you (building dread), or because they're awed by your splendor.

I like the ability to get rid of artifacts, though, and I like that they tie it into the iconoclast tenets.

Still, I think that tying characters to their locations and make those matter more is still the biggest change, and if anything I worry they don't go far enough. If I go to war - can I take my wife with me (at risk of her being killed/captured) if I'm desperate to conceive a heir? They mentioned it will not affect schemes, though I hope it will matter for romance schemes at least - it's ridiculous that I can romance characters in Constantinople, London and Stockholm in the same week.

[Zanza]

Not sure how they came up with six vassal stances, seems few, but overall the concept looks promising.

The other mechanics updates also look good, although you will quickly run out of building slots in early starts with both domain and slots limited at first. I rarely play long games, so late game variety is less important for me.

[Jacob]

So far I've only played vanilla, but I'm just starting a new game using mods.

Mostly I just added some of the top subscribed events/ flavour packs from Steam, and the one where you can give your custom character a family to start with (I ended up with a bunch of UGLY sisters).

Since I can't play for achievements I made a very high point starting character too, just to indulge myself.

... but, I'm also using ObfusCKate and damn... I can't see the armed forces of any of the other realms, I only see A+/A/B/C/D/F ratings of my courtiers and family . It's ? for pretty much anyone else (and I can't see their personality traits either). Normally I start off my games marrying siblings and courtiers to beef up my advisors and potentially vassals, but that venue is closed off because I can't identify useful candidates. I normally only run half-hearted eugenics programs (and no inbreeding), but that strategy is basically closed off.

Even more challenging, I can't see what kind of armies are available to anyone around me, making it MUCH harder to pick invasion and raid targets. I started with way more Men-At-Arms than I expected for a one county Norse ruler... maybe because my character has high Martial? Normally, this would kick off a conquest of weak neighbours, but I don't KNOW that they have low levies/ MAAs.

I think I can get info by sending my spymaster out to spy and by various other schemes, but damn this is MUCH more of a challenge than what I'm used to. Good times...

Anyhow, I'm doing this as an RP run - starting off with an OP female Norse ruler in Naumudalr. She's going to run around getting in fights and try to swing a female dynasty (with no changes in default game rules, so I guess she'll have to try to reform Asatru some time before she dies).

[Syt]

I've shied away from that mod, because if e.g. you look at the people finder and sort by attribute it will still sort by the "hidden" stats, and I guess I don't trust myself not to exploit it

There's a number of great immersion mods. Check the expanded series, which mostly seeks to expand existing systems and adding more variety. And of course VIET events for more random events (be sure to set the game rules section for it to your liking, though - it has some "silly" events otherwise including some inspired by Elder Scrolls, but usually is fairly grounded and offers optional background on the historical origins of its events - its Elder Scrolls events work great with the Elder Kings mod, though ). And there's of course RICE (Regional Immersion and Cultural Enrichment) which adds flavors and events to various parts of the map (e.g. a Greenland/Vinland events chain for Icelandic rulers).

Cybrxkhan's modlist is a good starting point: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2228632710

Though I don't like all of the items in his list, like Recruit Courtiers, and In my Humble Opinion might break your "obfuscation" RP - it shows what your player character's opinion of another one is and also opinions any character has of any other.

[Syt]

Oh, and I see Inherichance has finally been updated: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2569507763

Depending on settings it lets you play as a random heir after your player character dies, or as the one inheriting the least (or most) holdings after death.

[Jacob]

I've shied away from that mod, because if e.g. you look at the people finder and sort by attribute it will still sort by the "hidden" stats, and I guess I don't trust myself not to exploit it

That won't work, because sorting is turned off completely.

There's a number of great immersion mods. Check the expanded series, which mostly seeks to expand existing systems and adding more variety. And of course VIET events for more random events (be sure to set the game rules section for it to your liking, though - it has some "silly" events otherwise including some inspired by Elder Scrolls, but usually is fairly grounded and offers optional background on the historical origins of its events - its Elder Scrolls events work great with the Elder Kings mod, though ). And there's of course RICE (Regional Immersion and Cultural Enrichment) which adds flavors and events to various parts of the map (e.g. a Greenland/Vinland events chain for Icelandic rulers).

Yeah, I have a bunch of those in my list. Didn't realize you could change their settings, so now I'm dreading the arrival of annoying high-fantasy or pop-culture related ones

Cybrxkhan's modlist is a good starting point: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2228632710

Though I don't like all of the items in his list, like Recruit Courtiers, and In my Humble Opinion might break your "obfuscation" RP - it shows what your player character's opinion of another one is and also opinions any character has of any other.

Still worth giving it a look. Thanks

[Jacob]

Oh, and I see Inherichance has finally been updated: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2569507763

Depending on settings it lets you play as a random heir after your player character dies, or as the one inheriting the least (or most) holdings after death.

Oh THAT would switch things up alright. Yeah, sure you can stack the succession to keep family power but that doesn't mean YOU get all that power

Might be fun for a fully RP run at some point.

[Zanza]

Current cycle feels too slow to keep me constantly interested in the game.

[Syt]

Well, Sunset Invasion, Republic and Legacy of Rome for example weren't that amazing IIRC.

[chipwich]

Those ck2 dlc would be unacceptably small by modern standards and ck3 released with most of their successful  content.

[Valmy]

Well, Sunset Invasion, Republic and Legacy of Rome for example weren't that amazing IIRC.

I actually really like Republic and Legacy of Rome 

It was the first time ever we could play Republics in the CK series...and I generally just like Byzantium.

But I still refuse to buy Sunset Invasion. I wouldn't use it even if they gave it to me. Terrible idea, I am glad they never did another stupid Alt Hist thing like that again.,

[Syt]

But I still refuse to buy Sunset Invasion. I wouldn't use it even if they gave it to me. Terrible idea, I am glad they never did another stupid Alt Hist thing like that again.,

Yeah, thank god they don't include silly alt-hist stuff in their games anymore ....