Crusader Kings 2 Redux

[garbon]

I don't know why you'd feel terrible if you were playing as France instead.

[Queequeg]

France tended to have messy stuff like actual civil wars.  Byzantium had a lot more politically conniving catamites who ended up slaughtering entire families in the quest for power. 

[Tamas]

Wasn't there a lot of intrigue between the Arpadok and Komnenoi?  I think that might actually be reason enough for a CB, although I usually just do it by marrying a Hungarian princess and murdering people until a toddler inherits.

That kind of conflict was already covered in the game: the Byzantines supported the claim of some of the pretenders.

[Martinus]

France tended to have messy stuff like actual civil wars.  Byzantium had a lot more politically conniving catamites who ended up slaughtering entire families in the quest for power.

Yeah, pretty much. Execution and assassination of nobles was viewed as wrong in Western Europe - when it happened, it was a big thing and usually galvanised support for the victim's faction (like the assassination of John the Fearless or Thomas Beckett). In Byzantium it was part of the HR policy.

[Queequeg]

And that's why the pre-Basil II Empire and the Classical Ottomans were both way more stable than contemporary European states. Murder, blinding, castration and forced retirement were all usefull tools. Fewer pesky cadet branches.

[Jaron]

The way my Citi Mastercard operates, I need to enter a separate code sent to my mobile by text every time I make an online purchase, so there is no risk of the data being stolen anyway. I sometimes notice that Americans are a bit backward, compared to Europe, when it comes to online payments.

How so? I don't think you actually believe that at all.

[Martinus]

And that's why the pre-Basil II Empire and the Classical Ottomans were both way more stable than contemporary European states. Murder, blinding, castration and forced retirement were all usefull tools. Fewer pesky cadet branches.

Yeah, and modern day China is more stable than France but that does not mean it's a good place to live.

[The Brain]

America has famously low security when it comes to payments.

[Queequeg]

Wasn't there a lot of intrigue between the Arpadok and Komnenoi?  I think that might actually be reason enough for a CB, although I usually just do it by marrying a Hungarian princess and murdering people until a toddler inherits.

That kind of conflict was already covered in the game: the Byzantines supported the claim of some of the pretenders.

Not totally sure it is that unreasonable. To the Byzantines, everything in the Old Empire was up for grabs provided the state was strong enough to expand. I think Hungary would be a logical endpoint of a Byzantine Balkan Reconquista. Its what the Ottomans did.

[Tamas]

Wasn't there a lot of intrigue between the Arpadok and Komnenoi?  I think that might actually be reason enough for a CB, although I usually just do it by marrying a Hungarian princess and murdering people until a toddler inherits.

That kind of conflict was already covered in the game: the Byzantines supported the claim of some of the pretenders.

Not totally sure it is that unreasonable. To the Byzantines, everything in the Old Empire was up for grabs provided the state was strong enough to expand. I think Hungary would be a logical endpoint of a Byzantine Balkan Reconquista. Its what the Ottomans did.

The Ottomans did that because they were a slave state military dictatorship working effectively only until there were new territories to conquer and loot. They didn't stop at Hungary because they tought the eastern borders of the former Roman Empire are nice and cozy but because they were not allowed to progress further.

Byzantines felt everyting was up for grabs they could make a half-assed excuse to get, exactly like everybody else in the period.

[Martinus]

Yeah. Ottomans tried to conquer Austria, Dalmatia and extended as far as Barbary Coast in Africa. I don't think they were really consciously self-limiting their expansion.

[Faeelin]

The thing I love about playing as a Byzantine is that I can use phrases like "murder people until an infant inherits" and not feel terrible or engage in anachronism.

I feel like the Byzantines did make a grab for Hungary in this period, but am I just imagining that?

[garbon]

The thing I love about playing as a Byzantine is that I can use phrases like "murder people until an infant inherits" and not feel terrible or engage in anachronism.

I feel like the Byzantines did make a grab for Hungary in this period, but am I just imagining that?

Sure they did. Not sure why that's worthy of a special CB though.

Different note - I see you can go all emo-kid with the commit suicide option for depressed rulers.

[Faeelin]

Sure they did. Not sure why that's worthy of a special CB though.

I would really be interested in knowing about the Byzantine view of a just war.

Holy War, Jihad, Crusades; these were all considered proper in societies at the time. Same for claiming your title. But the Byzantines spent this period mostly on the defensive, so when did they view offensive wars as okay?

[Fireblade]

Am I the only one who thinks the African faces DLC is racist as hell? It's like they had someone taking those old racist caricatures of black people and scanning them in.

Bjorn Racistsson: "Hmm.. okay, I made the faces pitch black, add the big wide nose and giant red lips.. let me put a bone in those noses.. still not African enough.. OH! Let me add giant splotches of ooga booga face paint."

Johan: We're ready to ship!

And as an added insult, everyone south of Egypt literally looks the same. The only difference is that some of them have bones in their nose and face paint and some don't.