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[Descan]

Vicky 2 and CK2 were not like that, though.

They've stepped up their game in that regard.

[Denzi]

So, got this thing a couple of days ago as I found the fact that it supports linux interesting.

I'm very, very, very annoyed with Paradox's DLC criteria, as there is a questionably big ammount of features dependent on it and it's ridiculously expensive.

As mentioned by other people most of the DLCs also included patches that added in more functionality. It's much better than Paradox's old strategy of 'release an expansion pack that you have to own in order to play with someone who owns it'. Also from my understanding if you have no DLC at all and you join a game hosted by someone who has the DLC you might be able to play their DLC while you are playing with them(I haven't tested this though, it just might be you can play in the same game but I believe I had a friend as a christian ruler have access to retinues without the appropriate DLC). So for just the price of the base game you can use all of the DLC so long as you have a host who buys it.

Not a poke at you but just an observation in general to make everyone think a little, and as a bit of a gripe at people I've seen complaining about the DLC before...

It's ~$25 dollars for what people would consider the core DLC (SOI, LOR, and Republic) and adding in the ruler creator and sunset invasion DLC only brings it up to ~$35. That means for $40 dollars you are getting a very good base game and then pay to 35 dollars for a pick-and-choose expansion pack. I think that is something worth noting because I've seen way to many people consider DLC bad just because it's DLC and not an expansion pack, even when all of the DLC put together is basically more content than you would get in a regular expansion pack.

Basically if you start CK2 up right now and pay $70 for the game and DLC you are paying the same price you'd pay if you bought the base game and a $30 expansion pack. Nothing really there to gripe about in my opinion.

Edit:

Really prefer this setup of DLC too by the way, given how paradox is going to skip making a non-steam version of their future games due to the costs involved (and the lack of purchases for the specifically made and maintained non-steam version of CK2) and I really do not want to have to buy every expansion pack they release for EU4 because a friend of mine bought it and can't uninstall it.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Didn't Paradox just release a press announcement saying they cancelled a bunch of stuff and that they will no longer release works-in-progess?

[Catastrophic lolcats]

I'm enjoying this new DLC model, it seems far more friendly to customers than the expansion back. Victoria's II new expansion for example has the ability to split your national stockpile into various different aspects, something that's solely missing from the game. In CKII's system that would most likely be released for free. There are some concerns with modding but it's generally not a massive issue.
I do think that CKII was released for too much at launch. If all the DLC is going to be around 5-15 dollars and you need about four of them for the "complete experience" it would be better to set the starting price lower to like ~25 bucks. Thanks to Amazon with it's crazy deals and the fact that I'm not a sucker who pre-order things I feel extremely satisfied with what I paid for the game.

On a change of topic I modded that game to have pirates and rebels. I wanted to see if they were playable as they have a few unique tags. Gaining either empire(!) title is quite strange, it will always make you lose the game even when you have another primary empire. The leader of faction will always become a non-char and will not be selectable, they will still have what ever families they have and will still be in the family tree. They appear to be immortal.
You cannot select this non-char if he's the leader of a feudal dynasty but you can with a merchant family. You can even play as a vassal of the rebel factions. You're hostile with everyone on the map and if you siege a province to surrender it will pay you tribute, your provinces cannot be captured by other nations.
It seems like there might be some worth in making The Pirates a merchant family since they'll be able to spawn units from mansions. In theory this means they'll be able to raid anywhere on the map and be annoying, although there would have to be complex events making sure they attack nations since the rebel factions seem to lose all diplomacy with other characters. Other possibilities include events that hand cities over to pirates who can use those to launch attacks on countries and having an event to remove them for a fee since they cannot be sieged out. I feel much safer messing around with the pirate faction rather than the rebel faction since they don't appear to have any purpose in the game and hopefully won't cause some strange things to happen.

[Denzi]

You might give the rebels another shot after the next DLC/update, from what I understand they're retooling rebels to be more interesting and to be headed by an actual character with an agenda. Would love to see some kind of workable rebels mod though, even if it was just functionally there.

[Mini]

Also from my understanding if you have no DLC at all and you join a game hosted by someone who has the DLC you might be able to play their DLC while you are playing with them(I haven't tested this though, it just might be you can play in the same game but I believe I had a friend as a christian ruler have access to retinues without the appropriate DLC).

If the host makes a game with some DLC enabled, all of that DLC is enabled for everyone. Even the ruler designer can be used by someone without it if the host has it activated.

[Knight of Fools]

The cool thing about the DLC for CK2 is that it usually involves partial implementation by means of free patch features for everyone. It's been a while since a game actually created patched content for a non-MMO game. Granted, it takes away cheaty/modded features, like being able to play Muslims, but hey. I don't mind it so much.

[Dutchling]

The cool thing about the DLC for CK2 is that it usually involves partial implementation by means of free patch features for everyone. It's been a while since a game actually created patched content for a non-MMO game. Granted, it takes away cheaty/modded features, like being able to play Muslims, but hey. I don't mind it so much.

Well, you can mod the Muslims to be called Mulsims in the moddable files (not in-game) and you get your pre-SoI muslims back. Without any of the new Muslim features of course.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

So there's finally a Dev Diary up for The Old Gods.
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?676756-Crusader-Kings-II-The-Old-Gods-Dev-Diary-1-A-Different-Europe

Not much is said but there's some interesting things already. There are now some navigable rivers which seem to be thin sea-zones running through landmasses which some mods have done already but still quite cool. There's now portages which work like reversed straights so I'm guessing we'll finally see a path to the Red Sea.
Pagans seem to have a different polygamy to Muslims as they can have a single wife and several "concubines" who's offspring may or may not inherit claims/titles, it's not clear on that yet.
Judging by the screenshots it appears that the Norse now have the ability to loot settlements and then drag that loot back to their lands, loot actually takes up space in galleys! Not only is this interesting by itself it might indicate with some modding magic we'll be able to have interesting pirates/sea bandits sea bandits terrorising the coasts! 

There does seem to be quite a few problems with the map already though. I understand it's not meant to be a full Dark Age simulator but rather CKII dragged back a few years but it just seems plain wrong to have Scotland, HRE and Burgundy in 867. Iceland is apparently also ahistorically colonised so we won't see any new events or mechanics that modders could cannibalise sadly.
I'm hopping that the Celts aren't generic Catholics (judging by their shields they seem to be however). They should really have their own Celtic Christianity heresy for this time period which should include polygamy at the very least.
I'm also hoping they Pagans can reform their religion as well. Not only converting but changing it to a more defencive insular format. It would be extremely silly to load up the 1066 start and see the last few Norse pagans still raiding settlements. 

I'm still a little skeptical about the DLC. I still think there was a lot more that should've been added to the 1066 start before they rolled back a couple centuries. I also think that now they're forced to balance for two different time periods and make sure mechanics make sense for both. Still it could be a bit of fun but it's likely going to disappoint a lot of fans of the time period who are wanting a full late Dark Age simulator.

[micelus]

Tired of once again executing your wife's brother? Getting bored of imprisoning your brothers just to decrease your decadence? Finished forming the Roman Empire for the 20th time? Had enough of the *kaching* *kaching* as a Republic? Wishing the Aztecs were more of a threat? Heard enough about the Old Gods?

If you agree with all these, then have some zombies!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yes, it is quite likely to be an April Fool's Joke. A man can dream, can't he?

Edit: In related news, Elder Kings (Elder Scrolls mod) has been released in an incomplete state and GOT has released a new update with Vanillamap starring as Essos.

[Rakonas]

So... THEY FINALLY RELEASED ELDER KINGS!
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?624367-MOD-Elder-Kings-a-CK2-Elder-Scrolls-mod
Surprised it wasn't an april fools joke. Downloading now.
Edit: Dammit, ninja'd by a 20 second quicker edit.

[micelus]

With the seemingly high demand-to-hate ratio about the zombies, I do believe there is a fair chance of Paradox actually making the DLC...eventually.

[lordcooper]

Spoiler: So I kinda messed up when installing the Game of Thrones mod.  I'm keeping it this way. (click to show/hide)

[Dutchling]

If that actually works I demand a let's play.

[lordcooper]

It seems to work, although I have no idea how much is being taken from vanilla and how much from the mod.  I'll experiment a little more tonight.