Crusader Kings 2

[absinthia]

Well, right now Rus is pretty large, pretty much controlling half of everything east of Kiev. Hopefully they'll be able to whittle down the Mongols to a more manageable size.

the Rus can not stand up to the Mongol hordes and a great unified Russia is a big problem when the Horde arrives. by one single invasion they gain all of Rus and instantly become super charged.
if Rus were divided they would have to attack all of them, which would by others some extra time and possibly see them turn in another direction.

i believe the best hope is that some Russians still hold their titles and can be aproached and befriended. then marrying women with good intrigue skill into the Mongols families and use them for ploting against the Khan.
once the Mongols have settled down and the next generation comes of age, then they are ripe for plotting. building up sevaral powerblocks within their realm and killing the one keeping it all together. the initial Khan will float on prestiege due to his success of invasion, an underaged son will not have the same unifiyng ability.

[eXistenZ]

How bad are the mongols in CK2? Cause in medieval 2 they anoyed me endlessly. I know they arrive with a stack of like 100k, but how bad are they once they are settled?

Cause im definetly gonna play a game as a russian duke/count. How feasible is it that you survive? Although i have heard that apparently forming russia is too easy?

[absinthia]

in my experience both Ilkhanate and Horde are unbeatable when they first apear, but soon stop their rapid expansion once initial target is defeated. they usually get stuck in Persia and Russia, yet in this state it is unwise to attack them.
once they overextend and break out into civil war, they can be dismantled and defeated by a reasonably sized realm - HRE should have no problem handling 2nd-3rd generation Mongols as long as they are not underestimated and your forces split up. 20k retinues/mercanaries mobilized close to their borders, ready to attack their forces before they stack-up should make the day. this will give your levies time to mobilize, while the Mongols can not.

[Ferdiad]

Both the Mongol hordes converted around the same time in my game, Nestorian Christianity and Sunni.

[Pethom]

Two strange, and probably caused by bugs, things happened to me today. When I was playing a Count in Denmark I received a notice that my leader's Spymaster wasn't working for him anymore. I hadn't received any info about his death or anything so I checked people in my leaders court. I found the wife of the former Spymaster and used her to find him. To my surprise he had become a Baron in Sweden while she was still in my court.

Later on when the danish King had given my leader the title Duke of Mecklenburg I get the info that his Steward doesn't work for him anymore. I check the notifications in the right corner and notice that his picture has changed. When I check him out I see that he has become a Duke on Ireland.

Neither the Spymaster nor the Steward had any connections to their new Lieges (Sweden and Ireland) and their opinion about my leader was far from bad. Both of them liked my leader by about 40 or 50 points or whatever it's called. So how they could become a Baron and a Duke is beyond my understanding.

[EmperorBatman999]

After restoring almost all of the Roman Empire, I find myself out of motivation to play. I want to, but after doing something as grand as that, everything I want to do seems less grand or important.

[Ferdiad]

Play a mod?

[General Maximus]

That is true. Once you retake all the territories of the old Roman Empire, there is no opponent left that is powerful enough to be a challange. The only challenge at this point is to keep vassals in line and crushing peasant rebels. I guess not even Golden Horde with all it's magic troops can win from you.

[Ferdiad]

Once you get 700~ holdings nothing can stop you.

[Gusten Grodslukare]

After restoring almost all of the Roman Empire... but after doing something as grand as that, everything I want to do seems less grand or important.

That is true. Once you retake all the territories of the old Roman Empire, there is no opponent left ...

What you could do is a large banner to add to your profile saying "I restored The Roman Empire in Crusader Kings II" so everyone in the forum understand what a good thing you have acomplished. If you want a new challenge in the game, why not decide to convert everyone in your empire to pagans, a minor christian sect or muslims. But you could let your current leader die first and give this task to his successor. That would cause a bit of interesting things happen in your empire and give you something new to accoplish. That would most likely cause religious rebellions in your empire. But you have already accomplished what you wanted, so losing parts of your empire shouldn't matter any more.

Two strange, and probably caused by bugs, things happened to me today. When I was playing a Count in Denmark I received a notice that my leader's Spymaster wasn't working for him anymore. I hadn't received any info about his death or anything so I checked people in my leaders court. I found the wife of the former Spymaster and used her to find him. To my surprise he had become a Baron in Sweden while she was still in my court.

Later on when the danish King had given my leader the title Duke of Mecklenburg I get the info that his Steward doesn't work for him anymore. I check the notifications in the right corner and notice that his picture has changed. When I check him out I see that he has become a Duke on Ireland.

That sounds interesting. So they were basically kidnapped by the AI and given holdings. Kind of sounds like how the Ottoman Empire used to do with young men from SE Europe during medieval times. Kidnap them and give them positions in thier empire. I even guess that some of these SE European men were fighting for the Ottomans in their wars.

[eXistenZ]

If i ever gonna play republic, im sure as hall gonna do it as gotland. those guys seem to have a field day every gamme, making tradeposts everywhere. When they run out of space in the north, they just go to the meditteranean.

Just made an independent (modern day) Italy, except for papal lands. Probably go for somewhere in france, russia or scandinavia for my next game

[EmperorBatman999]

That is true. Once you retake all the territories of the old Roman Empire, there is no opponent left that is powerful enough to be a challange. The only challenge at this point is to keep vassals in line and crushing peasant rebels. I guess not even Golden Horde with all it's magic troops can win from you.

No, I made it to the end with my Roman Empire. It's starting back at 1066 with another faction that is the problem. When you have a huge empire and you can do almost anythin with it, starting out as a little duke or count is a pain.

[General Maximus]

No, I made it to the end with my Roman Empire. It's starting back at 1066 with another faction that is the problem. When you have a huge empire and you can do almost anythin with it, starting out as a little duke or count is a pain.

I was not saying otherwize.

[Sir Adrian]

That is true. Once you retake all the territories of the old Roman Empire, there is no opponent left that is powerful enough to be a challange. The only challenge at this point is to keep vassals in line and crushing peasant rebels. I guess not even Golden Horde with all it's magic troops can win from you.

What about the Aztecs and their magic troops?

[General Maximus]

What about the Aztecs and their magic troops?

A player should be able to at least hold off most of their attacks with an empire of that size, if he has prepared and organized his army for such attacks. Although I have not tried Sunset Invasion till yet, I can say that it requires a large amount of work before Aztecs can be beaten.

[Ferdiad]

Aztecs get 200k HI/LI.

[General Maximus]

Aztecs get 200k HI/LI.

By God, that is too much. Can they be beaten using a large stack of Cataphracts?

[Ferdiad]

Yes, catas get either the Charge or the HA event. These mean you do insane damage, I think it's 300% for Heavy Cav attack in the charge event.

[General Maximus]

Which means, in barely the starting phases of battle you can kill more than half of their troops?

[Ferdiad]

These are the events.
Charge

charge_of_opportunity_tactic = {    days = 6
    sprite = 5 # index of icon
    group = charge
    
    trigger = {
        phase = skirmish
        is_flanking = no
        days = 10 # duration of combat >= 10 days
    }


    mean_time_to_happen = {
        days = 3 # this has nothing to do with days, it just represents relative chance of selecting this tactic, higher is better
    }


    change_phase_to = melee
    
    knights_offensive = 3
    horse_archers_offensive = 3
    heavy_infantry_offensive = 1.2
}

Swarm

swarm_tactic = {	days = 18
	sprite = 7
	group = swarm


	trigger = {
		phase = skirmish 
		horse_archers = 0.01
	}


	mean_time_to_happen = {
		days = 3
		modifier = {
			factor = 1.5
			flank_has_leader = yes
			leader = {
				martial = 8
			}
			light_troops = { 
				who = horse_archers
				value = 0.7
			}
		}
		modifier = {
			factor = 1.5
			flank_has_leader = yes
			leader = {
				martial = 12
			}
			light_troops = { 
				who = horse_archers
				value = 0.6
			}
		}	
		modifier = {
			factor = 1.5
			flank_has_leader = yes
			leader = {
				martial = 16
			}
			light_troops = { 
				who = horse_archers
				value = 0.5
			}
		}	
	}


	light_cavalry_offensive = -1.5
	horse_archers_offensive = 3	
	archers_offensive = -1.5
	enemy = {
		group = volley
		factor = 1
	}
}

There are others which basically boost your HA attack by ~250%