Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Tawa]

Ah, Mathilda of Flanders. Supposedly she was like 4 feet tall. IIRC some analysts looked at her skeleton a few years ago and discovered that she was actually pretty of normal height, but I appreciate that the game references the height thing.

[ZeroGravitas]

Way of Life is a must have, since it gives you something to do when you’re not managing war and bothersome vassals. Conclave I think was the one that added the education stuff, making that a bit more interesting too.

Not really sure what other one I would choose. Retinues seem to be quite highly valued round here, I personally don’t see much point to them. Expensive troops you’re paying for all the time; if they get in one fight you’re haemorrhaging cash even at half recruitment speed. They’re only really useful when you can get lots of them, and by the time you can get lots of them your demesne holdings are likely going to be giving you just as much bang for your buck.

I like pagans and early starts, so it’d probably be Old Gods. Republics aren’t all that interesting, Muslims are entertaining, as are nomads. India can be hit or miss, but you tend to be dealing with Eastern religions, and have to go up against the Muslim blobs if you want to expand westward so isn’t all that great. Tribes can be fun too.

1. retinues provide an unbeatable stack when you're large
2. levies are terrible when you're large because fighting one decent battle with them means all your factions' power ratios suddenly skyrocket and they try to enforce their demands in your other war

[scriver]

I hope I'm ot spoiling but I thought it would be wise to mention that women become infertile at 45.

[smjjames]

Yeah they are promoting a DLC sale while they're at it.

I didn't have this game, so very happy about it. How necessary is the DLC, is the base game fraught with issues?

The base game doesn't have a lot of issues, which is nice.

But let's have yet another DLC overview:
-Sword of Islam: Do you want to play as Muslims? If yes, get it. Otherwise, skip.
-Legacy of Rome: Adds some events and mechanics for the East Romans and Orthodox Christians, but, far more importantly, it adds Retinues (think small-scale professional armies) into the game. A must.
-Sunset Invasion: Aztecs invade at some point for unbalanced hilarity. Grab if you want, or don't.
-The Republic: Much like Sword of Islam, it only added mechanics (that the AI will use even if you don't buy it) for a new type of government: Merchant Republics. Much like SoI, grab it if you want them.
-The Old Gods: Makes all Pagans (and Zoroastrians) playable. Also adds a new start date in 867, makes revolts more complex and adds adventurer claimants. Pretty good all around.
-Sons of Abraham: Makes Jews playable, but the real draw is a bunch of mechanics and events for Christians and Muslims, and a scant few for Zoroastrians, including stuff like Muslim schools of thought and the Catholic College of Cardinals. Good stuff.
-Rajas of India: Lets you play as Hindus, Buddhists, Jain and Taoists. Just go up and read what I typed for SoI.
-Charlemagne: Adds a new start date in 769, viceroy mechanics, and the ability to make custom kingdoms and empires.
-Way of Life: Oh boy, this one is actually pretty damn important. Y'see, it adds these things called Foci. You pick one for your ruler and get a bunch of events and mechanics based on it. Doesn't seem like much, but it helps a lot in breathing some life in your medieval drama.
-Horse Lords: Play as nomads (if you don't have this, they'll be tribal instead), plus dynamic mercenaries, raiding adventurers and tributaries. The last one is pretty important for some mods.
-Conclave: Probably my favorite one. It revamps how the Council and liege-vassal relations work, as well as reworking both laws and the child education system. Also favors. Get it.
-The Reaper's Due: Adds a host of events while also revamping the disease system allowing for stuff like epidemics, medics, hospitals and closing the gates to your demense. Very, very good, but not critical.
-Monks and Mystics: Adds societies (some secret) that you can join and take part in, a fourth activity for each councilor to perform, the ability to set goals in wars for your allies instead of letting them run around on their own, mass executions/ransoming, and artifacts (there are a few in the base game, but most are here). It may seem like a lot, but it's one of the simplest DLCs around.
-Jade Dragon: This is a bit curious in one aspect: if you don't have Horse Lords, it also gives access to tributaries. Aside from that, it adds China as an off-map power that you can interact with, plus new Casus Belli.

Aside from that there's the Ruler Designer and Customization Pack, which are fun but very much optional. On the comstic side of things you have music, portraits, units and dynastic crests. Of these only the portraits will heavily impact your enjoyment of the game.

I'm bored and could get into this, though I already have CKII

Are any of the unit packs recommended or needed?

Way of Life is a must have, since it gives you something to do when you’re not managing war and bothersome vassals. Conclave I think was the one that added the education stuff, making that a bit more interesting too.

Not really sure what other one I would choose. Retinues seem to be quite highly valued round here, I personally don’t see much point to them. Expensive troops you’re paying for all the time; if they get in one fight you’re haemorrhaging cash even at half recruitment speed. They’re only really useful when you can get lots of them, and by the time you can get lots of them your demesne holdings are likely going to be giving you just as much bang for your buck.

I like pagans and early starts, so it’d probably be Old Gods. Republics aren’t all that interesting, Muslims are entertaining, as are nomads. India can be hit or miss, but you tend to be dealing with Eastern religions, and have to go up against the Muslim blobs if you want to expand westward so isn’t all that great. Tribes can be fun too.

1. retinues provide an unbeatable stack when you're large
2. levies are terrible when you're large because fighting one decent battle with them means all your factions' power ratios suddenly skyrocket and they try to enforce their demands in your other war

And I suppose it would also represent the eventual rise of professional armies vs part-time soldiers.

Also, admittedly, I never actually played it very much, only like 22 min according to steam, lol.

[smjjames]

Are there any mods that fix the resolution for 1280x720? Because some things get cut off at the bottom of the screen.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Are any of the unit packs recommended or needed?

Unless I'm missing something they're purely cosmetic. So I won't stop you if you buy them to make the game look prettier but you aren't missing anything if you don't get them.

[Cruxador]

Are any of the unit packs recommended or needed?

They're purely aesthetic, and you'll usually be zoomed out too far to notice the difference.

And I suppose it would also represent the eventual rise of professional armies vs part-time soldiers.

Levies would have been more or less professional too. They might have had other sources of income but it's not like the lords just rounded up whoever wasn't in the field that day.

[smjjames]

Okay, but is there anything that fixes some things going off the screen a bit in 1280x720 resolution? Sometimes some pretty important information gets cut off at the edge of the screen.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Do you have screenshots of what exactly is happening?

[pisskop]

I hope I'm ot spoiling but I thought it would be wise to mention that women become infertile at 45.

used to be 40?

a hidden 'fecund' and 'barren' trait that altered this would be nice . . .

[smjjames]

Here's two examples, spoilered because big images

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[USEC_OFFICER]

Doesn't look like any exists. So you have two options:

• Fiddle with the resolution and window type options until you find something that is tolerable and displays everything you need.
• Learn how to make a UI mod yourself.

Sorry.

[smjjames]

The technology screen is problematic as the buttons for the bottom ones are cut off.

[hector13]

Bit of a bummer since the ones at the bottom are miliary organization, which is a nice one to keep high for the morale bonus; construction, allowing hospitals; and legalism, admittedly only useful up to level 5, but allows laws to squeeze every last drop from your vassals.

Do you have to play with that particular resolution?

[smjjames]

Bit of a bummer since the ones at the bottom are miliary organization, which is a nice one to keep high for the morale bonus; construction, allowing hospitals; and legalism, admittedly only useful up to level 5, but allows laws to squeeze every last drop from your vassals.

Do you have to play with that particular resolution?

It's the one I use all the time and prefer, so, yes.

I did find a way to force it to run in 1024x768 via settings, but now it looks terrible on widescreen, and the font is on the small size for me Also, in fullscreen, I can apparently now flip it to a resolution that makes the UI fit properly.