Crusader Kings 2 Redux

[Barrister]

If you want a fairly easy start, try the Picts again, but don't play as the king, play as his brother (or is it uncle?  or maybe nephew?) who has a big demense to the north of the lands held directly by the king.  You can easily rebel and overthrow the king and take his place.  After that, the only threat to you in the short term is Northumbria, but you really shouldn't have too much trouble with them.

Your suggestion worked out well (and makes me glad I wasn't a complete idiot playing).  I quickly usurped the kingship of Pictland.  Now I guess to try and probably move on to feudalism as opposed to tribalism (and move to a better succession law).

[dps]

If you want a fairly easy start, try the Picts again, but don't play as the king, play as his brother (or is it uncle?  or maybe nephew?) who has a big demense to the north of the lands held directly by the king.  You can easily rebel and overthrow the king and take his place.  After that, the only threat to you in the short term is Northumbria, but you really shouldn't have too much trouble with them.

Your suggestion worked out well (and makes me glad I wasn't a complete idiot playing).  I quickly usurped the kingship of Pictland.  Now I guess to try and probably move on to feudalism as opposed to tribalism (and move to a better succession law).

In game terms, the Picts are part of the Celtic culture group, which means that you have access to tanistry while still tribal, so there's no need to hurry to go feudal.  You might want to stay tribal until you conquer all of Britain and form an empire, unless someone from the continent gains holdings in the British Isles.  In theory at least, tanistry would let you stay tribal indefinitely, but in practice it would probably be best to switch to feudal before you have any major wars with continental powers.  Staying feudal means that you'd have mostly low-quality troops (predominantly light infantry) which will be fine in the early game when you're fighting Irish and Anglo-Saxon opponents, but they'll be more-or-less toast by mid-game when you're likely to be fighting the French and Ummayyads.

[Zanza]

Let's Talk About Sects. Monks and Mystics Coming to CK2
Newest Expansion to Crusader Kings Increases Your Faith

STOCKHOLM – 2 December 2016 – The bells of the abbey summon monks to prayer while, a continent away, the faithful are summoned by a muezzin's call. Religious practice imposes a schedule on the chaos of medieval life, and the routine adds harmony to a divided realm.

Routine and harmony. We can't have that, can we?



Monks and Mystics is the latest expansion to Crusader Kings II, the hit medieval grand strategy role-playing game from Paradox Development Studio. In Monks and Mystics, the religious aspect of the game is further explored with new mechanics and character associations that can tie a faith closer together or render it asunder.

The major feature of Monks and Mystics is the addition of Societies – secret and otherwise. Characters can join monastic orders, secret cults and Gnostic heresies. As the society gains members, it gains power and prestige for its leaders. Societies open new actions for characters and can lead to new event paths.

Monks and Mystics includes:
Monastic Orders: With lay offices available to non-clerical characters, monastic orders will increase your character's piety - but they have expectations.
Cults: Gnostic heresies may flourish and its is rumored that the worship of Satan continues in the darkened fringes of the world
Climb the Ranks: Characters work their way up the ladder of Societies, unlocking new abilities and triggering new event chains
Hunt for Heretics: Send your chaplain out to find secret societies that undermine the holy church and your realm. But what if the hunter is guilty himself?
Other New Councillor Actions: Your councillors have a fourth action that will make them more powerful and integral to sound rulership
And much more: Assassins, archaeological expeditions, holy relics, great treasures and more

Crusader Kings II: Monks and Mystics is coming soon to major digital retailers, including the Paradox Store.

Hmm, okay. Adding minor side-games to CK2 instead of strengthening any of the core mechanics. Not sure if that's the right approach, but as this is the second to last DLC for the game, so be it. I'll likely get it anyways eventually as I enjoy new content. I even got Reaper's Due and enjoyed it... 

[Valmy]

Attach the stone of triumph!

[dps]

I even got Reaper's Due and enjoyed it.

Burn the heretic!

[garbon]

I think people were hoping this would be playable theocracies but that appears not to be the case. Which, I guess makes sense as they don't really let you play anything that isn't dynastic based (even the merchant republics have a dynastic focus in CK2).

[garbon]

Mini-game looks silly but whatever, I guess it is flavor - though not likely content I'll care about.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/ck2-dev-diary-33-lets-talk-about-sects.986617/

CK2 Dev Diary #33: Let's Talk About Sects

Hi everyone!

It's time to spill the beans on some actual content in the upcoming expansion Monks and Mystics, which we announced last Friday at our Fan Gathering (I hope all the good folks who showed up had a fun time - I sure did!)

The genesis for this expansion came about a long time ago, when I started thinking about secret societies and conspiracies and wrote it down as one of several outlines for a couple of "mini-expansions". Now, for various reasons we never went ahead with that expansion model and most of the ideas have, by now, been used in bigger expansions. However, the concept of fraternities stuck and the time is now auspicious!

The core feature of Monks and Mystics is something we simply call "Societies". Societies are groups of like-minded characters who are working together for personal and mutual profit. Some Societies are perfectly legit (that's the "Monks" part in Monks and Mystics); others are perhaps viewed with some suspicion (e.g. Alchemists) but are hardly criminal. Finally, there is the subversive kind, of which the Demon Worshippers are certainly the worst. (Such shadowy and outright evil cults can be actively combated through a new job that can be given to the Court Chaplain.)

The basic loop goes like this; you put out word that you'd like to join a specific Society. After a while (immediately, for open Societies), you will be approached and offered membership as a novice. At this lowest rank, you usually don't get many new abilities (but if the Society is secret you can now at least see the leader and the other members.) Now and then, you will be given missions that will further the goals of the Society. If you complete them, it will give you more power within the Society, which should eventually allow you to "level up" in Rank. The new Rank will give you access to at least one new special ability. Using these abilities (they are basically just a special type of Decision) can also increase your power within the Society, and so it goes, all the way up to being the leader of the whole Society.



Of course, members of the same Society tend to like each other, and will sometimes (depending on the nature of the Society) even be obedient towards members of higher rank; or at least not hostile. This creates a whole new way of discouraging factions and pave the way for loyal vassals (or even a loyal Pope!)

That's all for now. In a later dev diary I will go through the actual Societies and talk about their particular powers and abilities...

Be sure to check out the funny teaser trailer for Monks and Mystics, and remember the Livestreams later today, where Emil and Steven's quest for the best German cookie continues, followed by the Norman adventures of Chris, David and yours truly!

[Tamas]

Dark Power?

[garbon]

Some seemed really happy about summoning familiars...

[garbon]

Actually I'm wondering if all this fantasy ridiculousness is to encourage us all to think that the CK2 dev cycle should be over.

[Zanza]

I actually like the fantasy stuff as long as you can turn it off. It gives the game a new dimension to explore, but I wonder why they do it so half-hearted. Just say that you make a fantasy DLC with wizards like Merlin, dragons, seamonsters, giants, witches like Morgaine, etc. If you do a fully fantasy DLC it's easy for those that want it to buy and for those that don't want it to just skip it.

[garbon]

Yeah that makes sense.

[Syt]

Alternatively, make the "supernatural" in such a way that it's easy to be explained away as superstition or creative explanation of a natural phenomenon (like the old "portal to hell" event that was "just" a magma fissure or some such).

[Josquius]

Emphasising the supernatural is the only way to make this work imo.  Not everyone's thing but some people enjoy that in the game.
Keeping it historical and... it's just dull and silly.

[garbon]

Emphasising the supernatural is the only way to make this work imo.  Not everyone's thing but some people enjoy that in the game.
Keeping it historical and... it's just dull and silly.

Do you have any arguments to back up those assertions?