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[umiman]

That's the way.

Can't conquer the world without sacrificing some lives.

[kaian-a-coel]

I'm nearly to the point where I will be able to create an Empire, the only problem is that there is pretty much only me and Cumania left, and taking them apart one county at a time is going to be painful.

Also I dismantled Georgia in two wars: Great Holy War and an Invasion.
The Byzantine empire didn't appreciate me taking over a kigdom that is de jure theirs, so they holy war'ed a county out of me.

This game is going to be all-out crusading it seems. So far:
-Crusade for Aquitaine against the Umayaad, successful (Aquitaine becomes independant again)
-Crusade for Jerusalem against the Abassid, successsful (Knight Hospitaliers get the kingdom)
-Djihad for Jerusalem against the Knight Hospitaliers, successful (Abassid get Jerusalem back)
-Tengri Great Holy War for Alania against Georgia, successful (Turkestan get the kingdom)
-Djihad for Armenia against the Bizantium Empire, successful (Abassid get the kingdom)

The last two occuring simultaneously.

All of that before 950 A.D.
The catholics, sunni, tengri and norse holy orders have been founded already.
Oh boy.

EDIT: forgot to mention that my ruler died, in bed. More accurately in his second wife, thirty-four years her junior.
My current character had the pleasure to have his uncle as a ward, together with his firstborn son, who is several years older than his great-uncle...
I greatly apprehend the 1200s too.

[Sheb]

Dude, you have a over two centuries before that. You'll be so big, you'll curbstomp the mongols.

[Stuebi]

So, I got a few questions for the veterans, if that's allright. Excuse my total lack of knowledge, I only recently started to play CK II seriously and my first few attempts went terribad, except for the times I played with friends.

- Is there any reliable way to conquer land besides fabricating claims? Sometimes it quite literally takes ages to wait for my Chancellor to finish fabricating the claim. It's especially annoying since im trying to work my way up from counts.

- Im a bit puzzled on what to DO exactly in regular Gameplay. Maybe the game is a bit more reactionary that im used to, but im getting the feeling that I miss a lot of opportunities with my playstyle. Mostly, I fabricate claims, try to get good guardians for my kids and then upgrade my main holdings in between wars. In short, a lot of my playtime is spent wating for stuff to happen.

- Is there any way to influence Battles beyond choosing leaders? I got away fine by simply having around 1.5x the amount of soldiers compared to the Enemy, but I saw much smaller Armies beat bigger ones, and im curious how this works. There seem to be mechanics for flanking and setup, but I have no idea how that works.

- How do my Leaders Stats influence Gameplay? Martial is pretty straight forward, and there are the council position of course. I tend to focus on one so my liege (If I ahve one at the time) chooses me for a seat. But im curious how these stats influence the game beyond Council Positions.

- Is there a way to get rid of certain traits? Craven tends to be a big thorn in my side for leaders, same with Lustful.

- Is it wise to fiddle around with taxation and Levys? The Game defaults to normal with them, and I didnt dare to touch them yet. I've heard a lot of different opinions on the matter. Some favor more money over Vassal opinion, others the opposite because appearantly having happy Vassals is better than tons of money.

[Korbac]

So, I got a few questions for the veterans, if that's allright. Excuse my total lack of knowledge, I only recently started to play CK II seriously and my first few attempts went terribad, except for the times I played with friends.

I've played quite a lot of CK II, but I'm not sure I'm the best authority. Still, here are some answers.

- Is there any reliable way to conquer land besides fabricating claims? Sometimes it quite literally takes ages to wait for my Chancellor to finish fabricating the claim. It's especially annoying since im trying to work my way up from counts.

As a Count, this will probably be where you start, unless you are on a Pagan fringe region and can Holy War them (you will probably need good allies.) You only get de jure claims after you're a duchy, and you can't fight wars for other people's claims because you can't vassalise other counts as a count.

- Im a bit puzzled on what to DO exactly in regular Gameplay. Maybe the game is a bit more reactionary that im used to, but im getting the feeling that I miss a lot of opportunities with my playstyle. Mostly, I fabricate claims, try to get good guardians for my kids and then upgrade my main holdings in between wars. In short, a lot of my playtime is spent wating for stuff to happen.

The game is a lot of waiting - usually I chuck it on Speed 5 and then pause when stuff happens. The general setup you've described works well, although make sure to check in on your factions every now and then and possibly snoop around for ways to inherit some land.

- Is there any way to influence Battles beyond choosing leaders? I got away fine by simply having around 1.5x the amount of soldiers compared to the Enemy, but I saw much smaller Armies beat bigger ones, and im curious how this works. There seem to be mechanics for flanking and setup, but I have no idea how that works.

As you've said, numbers are the biggest factor. Martial scores don't really affect battles unless the disparity is quite large. With flanking and such, just make sure you have a leader and a reasonable army on every flank - if a flank routs, the center can then be attacked by the enemies' flank, which deals bonus damage. Terrain is a very important factor - try to defend on hills / in forest across a river whenever possible. The enemy will receive something like a 60% malus.

- How do my Leaders Stats influence Gameplay? Martial is pretty straight forward, and there are the council position of course. I tend to focus on one so my liege (If I ahve one at the time) chooses me for a seat. But im curious how these stats influence the game beyond Council Positions.

Stats are actually rather important, or, at least, Stewardship, Martial, and Intrigue are. Stewardship affects tax incomes, but it also affects your demesne limit, which allows you to own more land, resulting in more levies and prestige (levies are very important.) Martial used to be rather useless when the game first came out, but now the amount of levies you get in your personal holdings are related to your martial skill, it is also very important. Intrigue affects your defence against getting assassinated / plotted against, and as such is very useful for avoiding a chump death. It also helps you kill other people without resorting to war. Diplomacy grants an opinion bonus with other characters, but it is heavily outweighed by traits in it's importance. It also lets you have certain reactions to events where people complain, but that's not very significant. Learning increases tech rate and can help in some events where characters convert to heresy, but it's really a minor contribution to the realm.

- Is there a way to get rid of certain traits? Craven tends to be a big thorn in my side for leaders, same with Lustful.

I can't entirely remember now, but I think you can remove Craven via certain options during a Grand Hunt. Otherwise, it's mostly luck and responding to events. Sending your leader into battles where you heavily outnumber the opponent may also help - he'll be in the battle but his malus to martial shouldn't hurt that much. Lustful's personally one of my favourite traits, but I'm not sure how to really get rid of it effectively, short of having an affair and then renouncing it (something like a 45% chance of chaste.)

- Is it wise to fiddle around with taxation and Levys? The Game defaults to normal with them, and I didnt dare to touch them yet. I've heard a lot of different opinions on the matter. Some favor more money over Vassal opinion, others the opposite because appearantly having happy Vassals is better than tons of money.

In terms of money, I'd tend to keep things as standard. Money is great, but it's not as important as levies imo. For levies, I tend to leave City & Church as Normal, and crank Feudal to Max because it only gives a -5 penalty for something like a 20% boost. Vassal opinion is important with counts and up because they provide you with lots of levies, but if you pee off a mayor and he rebels, you're not going to have much trouble with that.

Hope you're enjoying the game!

[kaian-a-coel]

-Holy warring, crafty marriages (the first don't work against the same religion, the second is quite hard). De Jure claims are also efficient, you need to get 51% of a region 80% for empires), pay a few hundred ducats, and then you have a claim on the remaining 49%. Meaning that for a 3-counties dukedom, once you have two, you can declare yourself duke of that dekedom and then claim the third county as part of your rightful lands.

- The game is a sandbox, you have to fix your own goal. Mine for this playthrough is to become an emperor and survive the mongols, and probably dismantle the byzantine empire.

- You can choose leaders (traits matter much more than the martial score. The llittle orange square are battle traits, and then Patient and Brave give you bonus defence and moral. Avoid Craven leaders as they give a malus to moral. Leaders used often will pick up battle traits), and choose the terrain. Defend on hills and mountains, and across rivers. Conversely, try to avoid river crossing, hills and mountain on attack, and amphibious landing. Those give -10 to -20% attack maluses (that stacks. Major river+mountain+forest=PAIN). Pay attention to your leaders too, if they have bonuses in hills and forest, fight there (preferably on defence). If they have bonuses for flanking, don't put them in the center flank.
Besides that, the battles are outside your control. You can only control the setup.
There is also different types of units, but it rarely come into play as the mix is around the same for everybody. It's just the retinues and holy orders that have a large majority of certain unit. A christian holy order may be largely heavy cavalry for example, and as such able to crush larger armies. Peasant revolts tend to be mostly light infantry and archers, and are weaker.

-They can give you opportunities to choose certain outcomes in events if they are 8+. Diplomacy improve opinion of your vassals, Martial increase your levy size, the green gold one increase your demesne size, Intrigue increase your chances of suceeding in plots and evading assassinations, learning probably increase tech but I don't really know there. Traits are important beyond stats as they can influence vassals' opinion. A Kind, Patient, Brave, Gregarious, Just (etc) liege get massive bonuses in opinion.

-In the intrigue panel you can decide to go hunting or organize feasts. Those give opportunities to change around traits. Pilgrimages can work too. Otherwise you have to educate your heir well. Do it yourself to chose the right traits, then pass him on to someone else on the final month if you have a low-level education (like indulgent weasel or somethin) to give him something like Grey Eminence.

-Yes. Happy vassals is definitively better than money (if you have lots of vassals), but you can have both with a good character (kind, patient, gregarious, etc...). Only Feudal tax and levy are really important, the other only have an effect on your own demesne. Max feudal levy is a good thing to have, as well as a feudal tax if you can afford the opinion. Remember you can bribe people and give them honorary titles. They have no effect beyond a bonus opinion and a ridiculously low upkeep (be careful, there is a "jester" title that give malus opinion). Feasts also give temporary bonus opinion, but you can have one every year.

[Reudh]

I think I can help. I'm assuming you're playing Catholics at the moment.

- You can petition the Pope for an invasion, but that's difficult to pull off. Additionally, if the area you're invading is heretic or infidel, you always have the Holy War casus belli. Otherwise, you're going to have to rely on fabricated claims.

- Well, besides upgrading holdings, finding guardians and fabricating claims, you should be using your other councillors. It's also worthwhile marrying off your courtiers to introduce new stock into your court - you can get some pretty damn good statted people out of that. Also, on the Intrigue menu, you can do certain events during the year to shake things up a bit - the Grand Hunt essentially is chance at large prestige gains for gold, the Summer Fair costs a lot of gold but lowers peasant revolt risk, and the Feast basically gets everyone in your Demesne and Levy to come and eat with you for a mid-length buff to opinion (5-15, i think). After a certain point you can also do the Grand Tournament, which is much the same as the Great Hunt, but also gives opinion buffs to all who attend, and stronger buffs to the winners.
You could also plot to kill someone if it will help you, but that's tough to pull off without them being extraordinarily hated / you being loved.

-Between 1.5 and 2.0x you'll pretty much always win with leaders of similar martial skill. Terrain affects negatively and positively combat in areas, as well as mountains. If you're attacking across a river while the defenders are in mountains, you're going to suffer a big loss in combat ability while they gain about the same. This can make or break a campaign - even a huge army will take pretty heavy losses but win, in such a battle. You want the battle to be somewhere where you, or failing that no-one has the advantage.
A battle where no one has the advantage, and the leaders are of identical martial skills - will pretty much always go to the bigger army. (Very large armies suffer Attrition, where they're too large to be effectively fed and kept healthy in that region. They usually lose about 7.5% of their army size every month, which generally means it's better to send smaller blocks in and only bring them together if needed in combat.

Finally, flanking pretty much is just a random event influenced by martial skill that assists the battle. (Oh yeah, Heavy Infantry are pretty awesome. I focused on them and they win battles pretty damn well.)

-Your leaders stats, your wife's stats, and your councillors' stats contribute to many things.

Diplomacy: (State Diplomacy, when counting your wife and your Chancellor's diplomacy too)

Quoted from the wiki:

Diplomacy empowers all things diplomatic and is the determining attribute for Chancellors. A high diplomacy attribute:

    increases everyone's opinion towards you
    gives you prestige (0.01/month per point)
    gives a boost to Cultural technology acquisition

As such it is one of your most important attributes as it helps you survive succession and reduces the chance of rebellion.

Stewardship:

Stewardship helps you manage your realm and is the determining attribute for Stewards. It determines:

    your tax income (+0.02% per point)
    your demesne limit.
    gives a boost to Economical technology acquisition

Having a low stewardship attribute can cause several bad events to happen.

Martial:

Martial skill is an indicator of how good you are at warfare and combat, and is the determining attribute for Marshals

    it has a sizable effect upon any battle you lead,
    increases or decreases the strength of levies you raise.
    gives a boost to Military technology acquisition.

Intrigue

Intrigue is a measure of how good you're at plotting and avoiding plots, and is the determining attribute for Spymasters. The higher your intrigue:

    the harder it'll be to plot against you,
    the less likely you are to be discovered when plotting.
    increases base plot power

It does not give any technology boost.

Learning:

Learning is a measure of your character's knowledge and is the determining attribute for Court Chaplains.
A high learning attribute gives:

    Piety (0.02/month per point)
    a boost to all technological acquisitions.

There are also two hidden stats, "Health", and "Fertility". Health starts off usually at around 5.00, and is dropped by injuries and illness. A high Health stat ensures old age and disease resistance.

Fertility starts off at a base of 50%, and is boosted or dropped by certain traits. Lustful is a significant bonus, homosexuality drops it, celibacy puts it to 0%. It's used to determine when or how often your wife (or you, if you're a female) can get pregnant. Both parent's fertility is checked, so a gay king married to a lesbian queen will probably struggle to produce a child, where a lustful Midas Touched pair of parents will probably be popping out babies until they can't anymore.

-Some traits are not removable, but Craven is. Craven is removed by doing risky things like the Grand Hunt, the Grand Tournament or fighting alongside your men in wars. Lustful is a great trait to have if you need a big dynasty, so most people don't remove it.

-While you're still learning, it's wise to leave taxation untouched until you're good at keeping your vassals very happy.

[kaian-a-coel]

Forgot to point out that some traits are congenital, like strong, genius, quick, and their opposite weak, imbecile and the like (they are in green/blue hearts). Strong is a HUGE bonus, as well as genius (+6 to all stats!), so try to find strong/genius wives to get your heir the trait. It's very hard to do though.

[Sheb]

Only Feudal tax and levy are really important, the other only have an effect on your own demesne.

Well, not entirely true, each category affect the respective vassals (So church affect bishops, prince-bichops etc, city affect mayors and doge...). Normally most of your vassals are going to be feudal though.

[Werdna]

- You can petition the Pope for an invasion, but that's difficult to pull off. Additionally, if the area you're invading is heretic or infidel, you always have the Holy War casus belli. Otherwise, you're going to have to rely on fabricated claims.

Be careful with this... the pope's opinion of you nosedives if you request one (I forget by how much but I think it was a healthy dip).  In my attempt to unite Spain at some point I realized I could swallow Aragon whole if I simply Requested Invasion, and the Pope granted it.  However, his opinion of me cratered into the negatives, so the King of Aragon had me instantly excommunicated.  All the other Spanish kingdoms united with Aragon instead of me (pulling in even the Irish from familial ties), and my own kingdom sank into civil war.  In the ensuing chaos, the Muslims of course took that opportunity to raise hell.  I had to empty the treasury to hire half the mercenaries in Europe to recover, it was pretty brutal.  I have to admit it was one of the more gratifying wars to win by the time it was all over, but it was also the most unexpected war I had gotten myself into and nearly ruined me. 

[forsaken1111]

Unrelated: I once pressed my own antipope who happened to be my cousin. I succeeded in sacking the papacy and installed my pope. I then forced him (being my vassel) to empty the holy treasury to the tune of ~6000 gold and promptly vacated the premesis. I was only in it for the cash.

[varnish]

Not quite a death, but apparently being a German count in a kingdom that goes through a successful Frankish liberation revolt means game over. Unless you cheat without shame. Which I did.

But without the cheating, it would have been all over.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Crusader Kings 2

[Descan]

... Heh. Wrong thread. Technically.

[varnish]

Oh dang. And the strange thing is, I went to this thread first, thought "oh wait, wrong thread", and then I thought I went over to the other. Apparently my brain is what last died.

So... cheating! Is it ok when you're playing a mainly interactive observation game, and just use it to continue? That's something to discuss, right?

[Descan]

I cheat. Kind of.

Like, when I'm playing a certain type of game, I'll cheat. Like a certain culture/religion, if the game keeps fucking me over and changing my heir, I'll console him back to what I want. I see it as just, "I want to play the game the way I want," and "Either I cheat here or I just have to restart, so might as well".

I DO try and survive bad circumstances, but after a few tries I'll just cheat :v