Crusader Kings 2 Redux

[Viking]

My heir Count William of Anjou has it all. He is Count of Anjou, Heir to the Kingdom of England a Duch of Normandie, he is betrothed to the infant Duchess of Lothian, he is a Mastermind Theologian, Genius, Zelous, Just, Patient and Craven and rates 12;14;15;10;27 in stats and is without a doubt one of the best heirs I have yet to see in this game. Genius alone gives +5 to everything.

So I thinking this is gonna go straight to hell, cuz it always does when you hav good heirs. Well, he turns to Lollardy. Now I'm pretty sure I can probably pull that off and survive, but I'd rather be catholic. So... I arrest him offer him conversion he refuses. I start looking for a competent heir, none are around, primogeneture means that my family members end up as spinsters, bishops or convicts. Drat, so I hope my King can get on with fucking his bride. Meanwhile his royal crapness (good soldier useless at everything else) has another drop in stats and I go over the demesne limit again. So while cursing my luck I remember that I have a perfectly good title dump on hand, my imprisoned Lollard son. If I can't get another heir and kill him he inherits and his land stays within the family and if he dies first and I get an heir my heir gets that land eventually. Perfect, I'll make the imprisoned lollard duke of Anjou and Count of Norfolk.

Naturally one afternoon when Maude the Gaoler tosses in slops through the roof of the oubliette he adds a few deeds making him Duke of Anjou and Count of Norfolk. All of a sudden the Zealous William finds it in his heart to convert back to Catholicism. He is immediately released.

I can't wait until he is king.


Edit: It goes without saying that William died fighting a pointless dynastic war in scotland making his younger and decidedly mediocre younger brother (duke of brittany by marriage) is now heir. Since Williams son (now due of anjou and heir to lothian) is in my dynasty I think lothian still falls to my kingdom (I hope)

[Queequeg]

Is there anyway I can speed up cultural change?  I've reconquered most of Anatolia, but it is still Turkish even after it has converted. 

Also, it seems like cultures convert to the direct controller of the province, right? I give it to an Armenian family, and it becomes Armenian, or if I give it to an Italian it becomes Italian right?

Also, I just inherited Hungary.  The area is poor as shit-I've been making a ton of money and building cities all across the Aegean, so the entirety of Hungary provides less troops than my demense.  How much of this is because they are still Catholic, even though I converted the Douxs to Orthodoxy, and how much because of the cultural divide between Emperor Nerses I Megas and the various lords of Hungary?

Also, what are the advantages to giving land to Kinsmen?  I've been doing it a lot, though mostly because they have awesome stats.

[PDH]

Not sure, maybe, maybe, a bit, various things.

[Martinus]

So in my Sicilian game, my six year old King has his mother the Spymaster with only 8 intrigue (since he was ruling his own fief after his father died) as the regent. The Queen Regent also happens to be Arbitrary, Cruel and Greedy.

Cersei anyone?

[Zanza]

I had not played Crusader Kings that much before and finally had some time with 1.05 now. Bonifacio III di Canossa, King of Italy, just won the crusade against Jerusalem. It was actually a lot of fun against a rather big Shia Caliphate which constantly brought in new monster stacks. Lots of Christian dukes joined in and a few minor kings too. It took several years of unprecedented slaughter to win.

However, peace at home actually made it easy enough to stay in the war for a long, long time. I could raise levies time and again and because Italy is freaking rich, I could even afford to have one or two smaller groups of mercenaries in the field all the time. I wonder if I should split my kingdoms between my sons...

[garbon]

I wonder if I should split my kingdoms between my sons...

I always like to do that eventually.

[Viking]

The Holy Roman Emperor just inherited the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Empire collapsed shortly after. Fucking Greater Serbia...

[Martinus]

Here's a great opening gambit as Apulia in 1.05:

- wait long enough to be able to switch to Primogeniture (should be a very short period as Robert is already considered to rule for several years in 1066)
- use plots to revoke counties up to your demesne limit to increase your gold income
- collect enough gold to create Kingdom of Sicily
- swear fealty to the HRE (as a Duke you can do it to any King/Emperor)
- create yourself the King of Sicily
- pick up Salerno, Naples and Capua by using the King's claim while the emperor picks up Palermo, Syracuse, Grigenti and Trapani with Holy Wars
- conquer (via internal HRE wars) the counts the Emperor places in Sicily (using the royal claim)

Conclusion: you control the entire de jure Kingdom of Sicily without having to fight any muslims or being attacked by any muslims.

[garbon]

Looks like they just released yet another hot fix.

I'm still waiting till they got everything nailed down.

[Syt]

My recent game as counts of Macon is a bit of a test in patience.

My first count died aged 29 (syphilis contracted during a tournament), so there's 12 years of regency till his kid is old enough.

The son has murder stats, but dies, aged 22, of pneumonia while campaigning with the French King in the Pyrenees. Fortunately, he has twin kids! Still, fifteen more years of regency.

Only the son dies aged 4 of typhoid fever, so it's up to his dwarf sister. Her son actually makes it to adulthood. Though due to a botched marriage to a countess he's out of our court and keeps trying to kill his mommy. She has little in her arsenal to counter it.  Oh, and the Cathars have taken root in my county. And my husband, the court chaplain, has converted to them, so I had to put him in jail. And I'm only in the 1120s.

[jimmy olsen]

So, how is 1.5?

[Martinus]

Is this game out yet?

[Jaron]

I haven't played this since February. I was thinking of starting a new game. How is the gameplay/stability right now?

[Martinus]

Was stability ever an issue? I thought that Crusader Kings 2 has been constistently well polished in this regard.

The gameplay in 1.05 is improved compared to the earlier versions so I'd recommend giving it another go.

[Jaron]

With Paradox one can never be sure.