Any first impressions?

[Planet of Hats]

I really, really like what I'm playing so far.

Started off as the Akhun Uyghurs in 769 and hacked and chopped my way southwest until I got control of Fergana, Kashgar, Hotan and a bunch of steppe garglemesh, then quickly feudalized and formed the custom Kingdom of Fergana. So far I've had a few Chinese exiles chance by my court, I've had a visit from a Chinese scholar who taught my wolfchild son to be Erudite, I had said son in the first place with a Chinese princess after currying favour by sending the Emperor my mom as a concubine, I took a two-year kowtow and I went to war in Kashmir for unjust reasons just because I wanted to extend my reach into the Pamirs. Tibet feels like a moderate looming threat and China feels like living next to a surly bear whom you have to placate with honey sometimes, or else he might take a swipe at you when you least expect it.

The China songs are phenomenal, especially Green Valley. The Chinese and Tibetan facesets are absolutely gorgeous, as was my Chinese princess wife.

By far the best part is the new map. Playing in the Tarim Basin, the world feels like there's stuff in it now. It's no longer just a boring forgotten corner with certain death to the north and a chokepoint at Fergana cutting you off from everything else; there are possibilities for relations with Tibet, China and Khorasan as I try to hang on as a Manichean state surrounded by Buddhists. The expanded mechanics for Manichean also feel worth playing.

I'm especially impressed by the decision to make the northern Nubians extended tributaries to the Abbasids. Before Jade Dragon, the Abbablob would just devour the entire Nubian world within about five years through vassal-driven wars by Egypt. In this playthrough, it's been about 50 years and Nubia hasn't even been touched. Makuria and Abyssinia are actually getting chances to expand. They even kicked the Shirazids out of Ethiopia.



The only downside so far is that I'm not sure how well it plays with the non-Conclave education system. I haven't raised a ton of kids myself yet, but the few I'm raising are growing up with completely random education traits. Then again, I might've just gotten a quirky RNG in both cases, and I'm not sure it's borked. The other thing is that I can't find the option to appoint a court educator.

 

[zach6844]

Personally having a ton of fun with the new additions. playing in the east feels different, but good.

 

[Comartin38]

Buddhist ruler can declare holy war against Taoist ruler.

In 1241 bookmark, Mongol ruler can send Ögedei's son as an eunuch.

In 1241 start date, Mongol ruler can request incestuous imperial marriage.

In 769 bookmark, Satanist chief of Iceland can abduct Chinese character(diplomatic range on).

Characters from "Water Margin"(水浒传).

 

[The_Meme_Man]

Chinese women portraits looks good. That's all that matters.

So do the men.

 

[Planet of Hats]

Chinese women portraits looks good. That's all that matters.

So do the men.

My Chinese princesses are awfully dignified and elegant.

 

[Griff Lancer]

Welp, my favorite 876 start date is acting wierd, have no idea whats going on with Magyar/Bulgaria

Anyone else getting this?

And I wanted to play a Hungarian game :/

If I can't play ten seconds without finding a really wielrd bug, then I think I'll just wait till the next hotfix that cleans up this stuff

Don't feel confident in the code to dump several hours into this yet

 

[_Perun_]

Also, the Abbasids fell in 816 in my game... Francia didn't form, and while the Umayyads ate all of Asturias there are still some Christian vassals there (why they used a Muslim invasion instead of holy wars I have no idea)

According to the patchnotes, the Muslim HW works like duchy invasion now to allow long requested manual revocation.

 

[M.Kanon]

This game is inaccurate. The head of the Outlaws of the Marsh doesn't have 107 characters in his court.

There's also the fact that Taoists don't have Holy Order, though if you're a Taoist, you're mostly likely a tributary of China and can raise Chinese regiments when you have to defend yourself.

 

[PaulMClem]

Before I get too involved in my current campaign, what would folks say is the best bookmark for playing Bon in Tibet? I'm currently using 1066.

 

[Damarrocarion]

Before I get too involved in my current campaign, what would folks say is the best bookmark for playing Bon in Tibet? I'm currently using 1066.

867 hands down as you have two Bon kings controlling bulk of now-fractured Tibet.

 

[PaulMClem]

867 hands down as you have two Bon kings controlling bulk of now-fractured Tibet.

Ok, thanks. I'll fire up a new game and take a look.

In general, are Pagan religions meant to be played from earlier bookmarks?

 

[Yeekim]

Wouldn't recommend it - new provinces. That almost inevitably breaks saves.

I did, inadvertently, and was surprised to experience no problems.

 

[Damarrocarion]

In general, are Pagan religions meant to be played from earlier bookmarks?

No but it usually makes things easier depending which Paganism you choose.

 

[IntoTheMaelstrom]

Some interesting input. I am afraid we are seeing different female portraits, because about 1/3 of female set in my game seems to be based on turkic women (with their nose, which ruined the looks, I never seen such flat and thin nose in any person on any photo, sans deformities)

So far court guardian onfortunately is "normal" title, if it was "yellow" I'd get a notice when no one is filling the place - like with regents, doctors, aprentices.

Music is great and it seems to play very often in the steppes

 

[DukeDayve]

Hosts are out of control (inside Tibet anyway, can't say about anywhere else as I've only played Tibet). They show up every 2 years with an army twice as big as yours and if you don't negotiate with them and give them a county they literally go around your entire kingdom and loot every single county and holding you own. Their army numbers don't seem to be affected by attrition and they don't lose any soldiers at all. If they do, they grow back to full numbers within 30 seconds.

 

[Sonmi]

Tibet is crazy powerful in 769, as is to be expected.

New CBs lead to the world being more dynamic, but there's very little incentive to use Fabric Claims anymore.

Dharmic religion rebalance is great, though I'm pretty sure the new Buddhist duchy-targeting holy war CB is bugged, I used it to gobble down the whole of Transoxiana in the matter of a few years, and had only generated threat with the county-level CB.

Chinese artifacts are great, in fact, there's close to no reason as to why you shouldn't dump most of your Grace in them, for 500 a pop, you'll quickly become extremely powerful.

I'll echo the sentiment that Dragon Amulets are everywhere, which is odd.

New achievements are better than they ever were, pushing for a more focused and long-term plan than a singular, rather simple goal.

Taoism seems extremely weak. Lack of Holy War CB and of religious orders means they often get trounced by their Buddhist neighbours, and the +2 stewardship bonus seems way too small to be worth losing your CBs. Jains do the "stability over aggression" shtick a billion times better.

I kowtowed to the Emperor, thinking it would only be the equivalent of a pilgrimage (a very long one, it turns out), and ended being a tributary because of it. I now wish to be free of the protectorate, but I have no idea as to how many troops the Emperor sends against you if you try to free yourself.

 

[redtide]

Changes to Pikemen, Horse Archers, War Elephants, and Camel Cavalry. I don't remember seeing that in the notes, but then again they are long.

I haven't checked combat tactics yet.

 

[jfb8300]

Still no notification of which Commander leaves/dies, just a warning that a position is open.

As said earlier, court tutor needs a pop up when vacant too.

 

[_Perun_]

No idea if thats been said but the new Khotan color is pure dope.

 

[Larva]

Never saw such stuff before Jade!