Considering purchasing CK2 - which expansions to get?

[graz]

I never got into the original CK, so when #2 came out I didn't pay attention, and as I've been in a land of poor internet and no chance of downloading / buying a hardcopy for years, I forgot about it.

But now I'm headed back to places with stores / decent internet, I'm thinking about it again.

So I can't afford to buy every last expansion, so what are the must have's?

Does getting expansion 3 (for example) include the stuff from 2 and so on? If so I could get the newest only.

Or does every expansion require the previous expansions, so getting 7 means I need to get 1-6? - means I'd probably just get the 1st and maybe 2nd expansion.

If it makes any difference I'd probably play Western European countries initially generally (EU 1-3 [yup missed out on EU4 too]) I play British, French or Spanish nations / minors.

Advice please.

 

[Avalon8782]

Each of the expansions is its own deal. Best advice is to wait until there's a sale on Steam, you can pick up a whole swath of them in one shot.

 

[Glanzor]

My advice is to get the base game and play that for a while, then get the expansions one by one when they are on sale in the order of your interest.

CK2 really isn't the kind of game where you need all the DLCs to fully enjoy it.
Most of them just unlock a different religion or goverment type to play as.
But individual playthroughs in CK2 tend to be rather long and you do not need any expansions to unlock characters that you don't play as right now. There is very little point in, say, buying the pagan expansion when you just started a muslim game, for example.

I would (and did) play a few games as a christian feudal lord with the base game first to get a feel for it and when that gives you a desire to play as a muslim, pagan, patrician
or whatever, then get the expansion that let you do that next.

 

[Lord_P]

There are a lot of threads like this on the forums. I suggest you do as Avalon and Glanzor said and wait for a sale.

 

[graz]

Thanks for the replies folks.

 

[Bernard95]

The Steam Summer Sale should be right around the corner, and for the price you might as well grab the Complete Edition (though do note the Complete won't have Horse Lords or Conclave in it, which are the latest DLCs). If you're trying to penny pinch though, the best advice is just to get what interests you. Most people that play this game will have a fondness for a certain part of the map, so if for example you have a thing for the Middle East you might want to get Sword of Islam in order to play Muslim characters (Vanilla game only allows Christians to be playable) and perhaps Persian Portraits and Units. Speaking of which though, there's basically two kinds of DLC- main expansions that generally unlock a certain government, start date, or religion and then there's the cosmetics which include character portraits, unit sprites, and music.

If you're looking for a break-down on the main expansions, search the forums since many threads about that topic have popped up over time. In general though the majority of people will tell you to get Old Gods (unlocks Pagans, Zoroastrians, and the 867 start date), Sons of Abraham (for Christian flavor), Way of Life (unlocks character foci which are great for different strategies and roleplaying), then Legacy of Rome (for Byzantine flavor and retinues).

 

[Headshotkill]

I suggest you wait for a good discount on a steam bundle that includes a lot of the DLC, deluxe edition or whatever. Humble Bundle is also a good site to check out for cheap deals when they're discounting.

 

[Mike Louis]

Learn the ropes first with the base game and once you get the basics down, go ahead and get the major expansion DLCs:

• Sword of Islam: for playable muslims
• Legacy of Rome: for Byzantine flavor and retinues (standing armies)
• The Republic: for playable merchant republics
• The Old Gods: for playable pagans and 867 startdate
• Sons of Abraham: for extended religion mechanics and playable Jews
• Rajas of India: for playable Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain rulers
• Charlemagne: for the 769 startdate, tribal rulers, viceroy system, and custom kingdoms and empires
• Way of Life: for improved roleplay mechanics
• Horse Lords: for playable nomadic rulers, tribute system, and Silk Road mechanics
• Conclave: for improved council mechanics, new child focus / education mechanics, and new internal law mechanics.

As for the portrait, unit, dynastic shields, and music DLCs, I would go ahead and get them even if you're playing with the base game since they add to the immersion of the game. As for the other DLCs, only get the Ruler Designer and Customizer if you want to either put yourself in the game, rename your realm or redesign your dynasty's shield. Only get Sunset Invasion if you're a Western European ruler and you want a late game Mongol horde style challenge.

 

[Naughtius Maximus]

Also would avoid Way of Life unless you pair it with Conclave. Game gets way too easy with WoL active + old education system. Extremely easy to get primary stat in high 20s....as a teenager. Them way of life allows you to acquire permanent stats over time.

Whereas without WoL you can only focus raising a stat to 8 in a poor stat.

In conclave education pretty much got nerfed in the sense that you cannot pump out said 20 primary stat teenagers at will. Meaning you should not get this DLC if you do not plan to pair it with WoL.

 

[Jak9090]

gotta catch-i mean get em all

 

[ExMachina]

Also would avoid Way of Life unless you pair it with Conclave. Game gets way too easy with WoL active + old education system. Extremely easy to get primary stat in high 20s....as a teenager. Them way of life allows you to acquire permanent stats over time.

Whereas without WoL you can only focus raising a stat to 8 in a poor stat.

In conclave education pretty much got nerfed in the sense that you cannot pump out said 20 primary stat teenagers at will. Meaning you should not get this DLC if you do not plan to pair it with WoL.

This is some interesting insight, thank you. I've been holding out on both these expansions (waiting for sale), but it's good to know they pair together like this.

 

[Lord_P]

One more tip: If you are thinking about the minor DLC, get them in this order:

Portraits > Coats of Arms > Music = Unit packs

My reasoning is that portraits are what you're mostly looking at in the game. Get them in the order that is most important to you. The Coat of Arms packs are great, but you should avoid the Charlemagne CoA pack if you don't own Charlemagne. Music and unit packs, you make the call. If you like looking at your little troops, get unit packs and if you like listening to more varied game music, get the music packs.

 

[Dakilla TM]

If you do want some spice to your game, I highly recommend getting the portrait packs, especially for Europeans since you have the base game only.

Get the following if you can:

Iberian Portraits
Mediterranean (Byzantine) Portraits
Norse Portraits
Russian Portraits
Baltic Portraits (Bundled with Conclave Content Pack)

And you can get the other portrait packs once you've gotten the other expansions like Sword of Islam and The Old Gods. But play as a Catholic ruler for a while to get used to the game, then you can try the other expansions. And of course, look out for a Steam sale!

 

[graz]

Thanks again for the replies folks, so if I'm to understand correctly, I don't need any DLC, as the patched base game is fine for playing Western European Christian lords, though Legacy of Rome, Way of life, Conclave (and maybe Sons of Abraham?) would add some stuff for me, and Old Gods / Charlemagne would let me start earlier and add stuff. The others are mainly for playing other nations with only minor changes for my intended first few games, is that fair?

 

[Avalon8782]

Sons of Abraham is really good.

 

[Bernard95]

Thanks again for the replies folks, so if I'm to understand correctly, I don't need any DLC, as the patched base game is fine for playing Western European Christian lords, though Legacy of Rome, Way of life, Conclave (and maybe Sons of Abraham?) would add some stuff for me, and Old Gods / Charlemagne would let me start earlier and add stuff. The others are mainly for playing other nations with only minor changes for my intended first few games, is that fair?

You would be correct. DLC aren't needed at all, though they do of course expand upon the base game or otherwise unlock new things. All of Christendom (Catholic, Orthodox, Miaphysite, Nestorian, and their respective heresies) however is open to you, with all free patch features.

If you're a little bit uncertain about getting the Complete Edition, then the base game itself would probably be around $5 during the Steam Summer Sale. Typically CK2 goes on sale constantly, so if you do want to get DLCs later there's no pressure.

 

[Dragatus]

Thanks again for the replies folks, so if I'm to understand correctly, I don't need any DLC, as the patched base game is fine for playing Western European Christian lords, though Legacy of Rome, Way of life, Conclave (and maybe Sons of Abraham?) would add some stuff for me, and Old Gods / Charlemagne would let me start earlier and add stuff. The others are mainly for playing other nations with only minor changes for my intended first few games, is that fair?

That's fair, yes.

I would consider Sons of Abraham if you want to play a Catholic. It adds papal elections, two new holy orders, the ability for the pope to grant you a claim to any duchy or lower owned by another Catholic, pilgrimages, borrowing money, and several event chains (including demon spawn child and getting your very own Joan of Arc). And I highly recommend getting Legacy of Rome if you wish to play in or as the Byzantine Empire. It adds flavor events, ability to mend the schism between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, and the ability to restore the Roman empire. Finally, it also adds retinues, which can significantly change how you fight in the late game.

Though in fairness the base game already gives you some 80%-90% of the full Christian experience.

 

[Gnasche]

I usually keep an eye on https://isthereanydeal.com when I'm looking for sales. I got most of the CKII expansions on a Humble Bundle deal when they were full price on Steam. It was only a 24-hour sale, too, so sometimes you have to be vigilant.

 

[NewbieOne]

I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about the merits of playing just the base game, unless as a sort of demo for a limited time, even though it's certainly doable. This is because you are better off not spending time learning mechanics that will be changed the moment you do actually buy those DLCs, which chances are you will.

Still, you can safely skip all of the following until you decide you want to play as whatever type of ruler they unlock:

• cosmetics: songs, unit models, portraits, dynastic shields etc.
• utilities: Ruler Customizer, EU4 Converter etc.
• Sunset Invasion, if you don't want to see Aztecs invading Europe (the only thing this does)
• Sword of Islam, if you don't want to play as a Muslim character (the only thing the DLC unlocks or changes)
• The Republic, if you don't want to play as a Republican character (which is not your ideal starter choice anyway)
• Rajas of India, if you don't want to play in India (the only thing this does, except for the ability to change your religion and culture to your capital city's)

This all should save you some big buck.

On the other hand you absolutely need the following DLCs:

• Legacy of Rome (only for Retinues, as it makes no point learning to play without them, due to their relevance and the way they affect your ability to withstand the Mongols; otherwise this would be a perfectly optional Byzantine flavour enhancement)
• Sons of Abraham (mechanics relating to Abrahamic religions, a lot of them; it makes no point developing a play style that fails to take advantage of them, and the DLC isn't expensive)

You almost absolutely need the following DLC:

• Horse Lords (nomadic government is just too fun to live without, even if you don't play it, which you shouldn't initially; and give up Silk Road? c'mon, no way!)

Whether you need the following DLCs depends on you alone (you can live without them, though the options are nice to have):

• Charlemagne (custom kingdoms and empires, viceroys — note that you can do without these; the 769 starting date, which is the earliest available)
• The Old Gods (you may not want to play as a pagan ruler, but the ability to convert pagans to Christianity or Islam is pretty significant; the 867 start date is cool to have; I don't remember to what extent this one affects Vikings along with their raiding/river-sailing special abilities)
• Conclave (council mechanics, changed child education, IMHO detrimental changes compared to base game, but I try to learn to play them to keep in touch with the mainstream game rather than living in denial)
• Way of Life (focus mechanic, which isn't necessarily that much better than old character ambitions, and it adds the whole Seduction mess, which is one of Paradox's most shameful screwups ever, especially considering they haven't fixed it for 1.5 years now)

Please note that at this stage it's difficult to remember/check what exactly is enabled by the paid DLC and what is patch matter, given how DLCs have been accompanied by patches and there were later patches etc.

Wikipedia article you can use as a cheat sheet, though it's not exhaustive.

In other words:

1. It's a totally bad idea to not have Legacy of Rome.
2. It's an extremely bad idea to not have Sons of Abraham.
3. It's a poor idea (IMHO, subjectively) to not have Horse Lords.
4. It's better to have Charlemagne than not have it.
5. It's probably better to have The Old Gods than not have it.
(all of the above will be included in any sort of complete edition)
6. The whole rest is optional. Depending on personal tastes some of them will be must-haves to some people. For example I can't image skipping historically accurate 'Dynastic Shields' (family coats of arms), and I'd rather not be unable to create a custom kingdom or empire. But some of them I use just because I have them, not because I need or want them.

Songs are in the unique position of being extremely worth it (at least the 99% made by that genius dude Andreas Waldetoft) but not gimping your game if you don't have them, as the default set is rich and pleasant enough anyway. It's a bit similar for unit models and even portraits, but I don't want to elaborate further on this because it's subjective. In short, you should judge on your own after carefully inspecting the screenshots on Steam.

 

[Kurblius]

Also would avoid Way of Life unless you pair it with Conclave. Game gets way too easy with WoL active + old education system. Extremely easy to get primary stat in high 20s....as a teenager. Them way of life allows you to acquire permanent stats over time.

Whereas without WoL you can only focus raising a stat to 8 in a poor stat.

In conclave education pretty much got nerfed in the sense that you cannot pump out said 20 primary stat teenagers at will. Meaning you should not get this DLC if you do not plan to pair it with WoL.

Interesting. Didn't know this. Thanks.