Right so... presently working on a pretty successful Muslim Merchant Republic, and I'm considering getting Reaper's Due. Would it be wise to wait until I'm finished with this (started in earliest start, about to close in on the year 1200, no Aztecs or Mongols yet) and then buy it, or add the very real possibility of getting immediately hammered by the Black Death in my current game?
The Black Death was cool, but a little underwhelming. I expected a bunch of cool accompanying events, but all that happens is a ton of characters die, massive attrition for armies, provinces get "depopulated" (less levies + taxes, but it goes away after not too long) and... I think that's it. You hide in your castle until it goes away, and all is well. One time I had a maxed out hospital in my capital by the time the plague hit, so it didn't even enter my capital province. YMMV, but I found it quite lackluster.
EDIT: This was on 2.6.1, dunno if 2.6.2 added much to it, but going off the patch notes, it doesn't seem like it.
Yeah disease in general did not live up to hype. There was one small touch however that I found immensely pleasurable, that of how disease is contracted based off of where the character location actually is and not their holdings. My capital holding was rather hygienic, isolated in the mountains and my character healthy - however he was a talented marshal, and got summoned to the Caliphate HQ in Bagdhad, right in the centre of the silk road.
Thus ended his life when plague struck
Generations later my characters had managed to stealthily conquer all of Jerusalem under a Christian banner from rival vassals, however my liege Caliph wanted to educate more and more of my children. I would have accepted however he wanted to educate my heirs too, bringing them to Bagdhad whilst there was an outbreak of plague. My continual rejection of his offers soured his mood immensely and convinced him I was rebellious, forcing me to ally with some rebellious heretics and one vassal whose wife cheated on him with the Caliph, thus sparking a civil war
The little things add up to big things nicely