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Pretty much what others said, it might be frustrating when things go wrong, but if you outsmart AI eventually and come out on top, that's when you get the rewarding feeling.


My main cause for giving up games so far were..truces. in 1200s I reach bottleneck where there's barely anything to do. I could marry my kids for power and conquer whole Europe through that, but I rather avoid that as it's hardly believable that King of blabla would marry his daughter(heir) to my son for no reason, hence giving me kingdom with same size or bigger than my own.
 
Remember Lott's wife.

Generally, I'd either ride it out or start a new game, but if I did cheat (mostly because I thought the AI was stupid and/or annoying, or I was so early in the game it amounted to restarting, or whatever other rationalization I thought I'd buy) I would not look back.

Cheat, then forget about it. It's right there in the Bible.
 
I'm playing now as the King of Ireland and it is about 1320 in my first CK2 game. Started as the Count of Ulster. I had the same thing happen to me that happened to you. In fact I had both England and Scotland to this to me at different times in the game. I rapidly expanded and owned about 2/3 of Ireland, and that seemed to cause both England and Scotland to treat me as a threat. So I have spent time as a vassal of England and a vassal of Scotland. But in each case I was able to regain my independence after a while, both times when England and Scotland went to war against each other. But now things have stabilized. I own the northern half of Ireland and Scotland and England have split the lower half. Both are far stronger than I am. And they haven't gone to war in about 50 years. I have resigned myself to the fact that, barring something unusual happening, I will end the game as ruler of half of Ireland. There are things you can try. Once I got the heir to the throne of Scotland to come to my court. Why, I don't know, but he came. I immediately entered him into a matrilineal marriage with a single daughter. I thought I had done something good. But the heir died suddenly just a few months later. Hmmmmmm. Anyway I've had an interesting run and have enjoyed it.
 
It is a game, so I do what seems best at the time. Depending on how I feel I might relaod, or I might play on. It doesn't make me feel "guilty" to reload a game if something bad happens, its a game, not the Olympics.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm going to see where my game was at at the previous auto saves and give in to the inevitable and surrender to Scotland and see what happens.
 
Once I got the heir to the throne of Scotland to come to my court. Why, I don't know, but he came. I immediately entered him into a matrilineal marriage with a single daughter. I thought I had done something good. But the heir died suddenly just a few months later. Hmmmmmm.

Most likely, the King of Scotland at the time had an 'Oh Crap' moment and blew the whole treasury to assassinate his son.
 
The war was lost and the price was my crown and land. Effectively its game over.

Having spent so much time and effort in making it this far I was rather p*ssed off and not wanting my game to end, I cheated. I saved, reloaded as the King of Scotland, surrendered (therefore givng up the claim) and reloaded as King of Ireland again. Problem solved. However, now I've cheated I don't feel like continuing and simply can't be arsed to start a brand new game.

Question What would you have done?
What CB was he using? If it was an invasion CB, then yeah, you were pretty screwed. But if it was just a regular claim, couldn't you have lost your kingdom without losing your lower titles? I'd try reloading a savegame from midway through the war and surrender to him. Then you get the fun of plotting against your liege.
 
What makes this game fun is the true fun it can have, I lost out on inheriting Aquitaine as a Irish duke by the slimiest of margins. I have lost wars, but I rebuilt it, and using a few of my rulers tendency to produce a bazillion kids, good marriages, he is now betrothed to the heir to Aquitaine. So he will have Ireland, scotland, Portugal, Tripoli, half of Scility, Aquitaine (which is the entire southern half of France and Northern Spain), Iceland, all in his rule, and a lot of that property will be his personal property to dispose of. Then again, his mom is insane, perhaps due to the inbreeding that my clan is doing to tie in properties. Might end up having kids that are just bags of protoplasm soon. (the heir-heir will have 5 generations of neice-uncle or aunt-nephew inbreeding in six generations.
 
However, now I've cheated I don't feel like continuing and simply can't be arsed to start a brand new game.

I'm glad I'm not the only one...I find that if I keep playing, it keeps being interesting, although I'm way, way, way more frustrated for a while than any adult has a right to be over a video game. But if I do the reload cheat, I feel bad and stop playing for a week and then start again with some other dynasty. Bottom line is, cheating ends up costing me my game, whereas not cheating doesn't.
 
I've done similar things to the OP before, depending on what kind of 'game' I'm playing.
If I'm trying to make a nice narrative and orchestrate an alternate history Europe, then I'd reload.
If I'm just having a blast and playing things by ear, then I wouldn't reload.
 
I just played my first game without cheating (as Ireland, like all the cool cats seem to be doing) and was doing really well, building improvements, spending wisely... And then someone declared war on me. Ran out of levies, and hired a mercenary band without really checking the price. Couldn't pay them for very long, and they turned against me. The Breton band occupied two of my three counties in Munster, and I cheated.

But I told myself it was alright, because after I stopped the Bretons, I hired all the mercenary companies for as long as it took to drain my cash back down, and didn't build any improvements with the money. But I still feel guilty because I wanted to play a cheat-free game, but I was already two generations into this one..
 
Im not sure if anyone else considers assassination spamming cheating but i used it once.



HRE decided to randomly revoke a duchy from me. Playing in HRE is like watching paint dry , he rushes high CA and no one opposes it. I got frustrated with it and the revoke title was just icing on the cake. NOT one vassal ever rebels , its disgusting how cowardly they are in HRE.


So i assassinated the emperor (which is so fake l0l). He bugged out and had like 8 duchy titles (because he was a duke before getting throne i guess). It still took 4 months for anyone to rebel even @ -100 relations and HIGH ca / different culture. BUT finally HRE FOR the first time in my many hours playing had a mass rebellion.






I say all this because sometimes you have to cheat. This game is probably the most realistic depiction of the European feudal days ive ever played , but its still not realistic by a long shot. HRE vassals (the electors) would never bow and lick the emperors boot for free. And likewise if you could play on after being conquered by Scotland , IRL there is a very good chance the irish would immediately rebel and depose a Scottish king. Since its game over (i assume) , you never get a chance to be apart of that rebellion.



IF i were you id reload as another dynasty member though. OR if you don't have any other dynasty members , i would play as one of the other dukes and grant a dynasty member of yours some counties (dukes might realistically sympathize with a king that was deposed by a foreigner). Either way don't feel too bad about it , one king taking another kingdom wasn't something that happened that often.
 
If there was nothing I could do to win the war I would have accepted defeat and become a powerful vassal of the King of Scotland. Then I would build up relationships with fellow Irish vassal (who most likely dislike their new liege) as well as Scottish vassals who for one reason or another also dislike their King (being so young he probably don't have that good a relation with them). Then I would try to get an alliance with someone outside the realm through marriage. Then start a plot and bide my time... Once the Scottish king has gotten himself into some sort of trouble I would strike and take back the crown. Revenge and grudges carried for generations is what this game is all about ;)

This ^ as this is what the game was meant to be played like. It's not about "winning or losing" it's about the experience from beginning to end. Too many min/maximizers and gotta win at all costers playing. If you play it as it was meant to be played you'll find a world of fun and an ever changing world in the game. ;)

Im not sure if anyone else considers assassination spamming cheating but i used it once.

I don't consider it "cheating" since it is part of the game, but, I do consider it "exploiting" and taking "advantage" of the AI using it too much to get what one wants. I have house rules that require more waring than assassinating to get land and titles. I modded the cost of assassinations to 200gp but in the middle/late game even that is too little.
 
Started as the Duke of Connacht in 1066. It is now coming up to 1250. I never played a game this far in CK1 and I'm enjoying it. I have made it to being King of Ireland. Last night the young King of Scotland(he's about 5 or 6) declared war andI got absolutley stuffed. I raised all my levies, spent my cash on mercenaries and had a larger army than the main Scots force but got trounced in the battle, losing causalties at a rate of about 3:1. More scots arrived in Ireland and mopped up my remaining troops. The war was lost and the price was my crown and land. Effectively its game over.

Having spent so much time and effort in making it this far I was rather p*ssed off and not wanting my game to end, I cheated. I saved, reloaded as the King of Scotland, surrendered (therefore givng up the claim) and reloaded as King of Ireland again. Problem solved. However, now I've cheated I don't feel like continuing and simply can't be arsed to start a brand new game.

Question What would you have done?

Ok that's cheating. I've reloaded before but as myself not someone else. I would probably reload and find ways to win the war.
 
This will sound really bad of me and forgive the quote because I feel since the screening of the television counter-part it seems a little.. over done.

"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die; there is no middle ground." ~ Cersei Lannister.

Your fault was not betrothing a family member to the child or his family and planning his execution. In terms of war, you should have bottle necked them in ulster.
I have recently been playing Connaght and instead of going for scotland I spent my time building up wales and planning my usurping of cornwall. Marry into your surrounding neighbours and potential enemies.

Atleast from my experience anyway.
 
Never understood why people cheat in singleplayer (or MP),- it seems very childish.

Gaming is only fun if you take it seriously,- I would have continued.

You only learn from your defeats, winning all the time does not teach you anything new.

Actually some game are more fun with some cheat activated (San Francisco Rush on the N64, been one of them. Unlimited time, lower gravity and cone are mine was the way to go when playing with friends =p)
 
I am very interested in what happened to your army.

If you out numbered him by a substantial number, what happened to make you lose?

I would have figured that one out before I did anything else.

If you fought him at the crossing in Ulster you should have had the advantage.

Do you have any clue as to the cause?
 
I am very interested in what happened to your army.

If you out numbered him by a substantial number, what happened to make you lose?

I would have figured that one out before I did anything else.

If you fought him at the crossing in Ulster you should have had the advantage.

Do you have any clue as to the cause?

My main army stood in Ulster, the Scots landed 8,000 troops by ship behind me in Tyrone and I didn't notice because I was orchestrating my 1500 men beseiging the Scottish capital. The beseiging force never made it back to Ireland and my main force got trounced trying to lift the seige of Tyrone.

I played some more last night. My autosaves did not retrieve the situation, I had played on fast forward to sit out the original situation that just got worst. Anyhow, I decided to continue with the game as it stands at my last save. I'm now in the middle of a civil war. Sons and uncles have chosen their sides in a huge succession war.
 
Well, you lost in a legit way and not due to weird stuff, so I wouldnt have reloaded at all.
Perhaps you married children to him or his predecessors that had claims (since he took all your land, he can only do that if he has claims), not a good thing to do with a neighbouring kingdo
if you are clearly weaker.
Take the loss, start again and take your revenge. Much more fun.