[HELP] Ideas for Byzantium/Roman Empire - CK2 converted game

[CzokletMuss]

A real shame they will be converted to standard animist though - if they survive, that is.

But back to topic, does anyone have any suggestions about the ideas? I'm not so sure about Administrative (is coring bonus really worth it?) and about the order in which these ideas should be taken (I'm thinkin about ideas 4-8, first three ones are vital).

 

[arthurs towel]

I too was skeptical of the administrative coring cost, but it really does seem to pay off. To top it off the merc cost reductions are rather nice, and Admin has some really nice events tied to it.

Now it really depends, in my current Prussian game the HRE mechanics make Diplomacy supreme. Vassalizations and annexations are the rule of the day. In your game though? With the religious problems you face (large swaths of pagans, no other significant orthodox presence) diplo-vassalization is probably not very helpful. As such there will probably be fairly large chunks, especially in Italy, where you have to direct conquest. So if you plan on using the religious CB against pagans, get Admin, it will pay itself off quickly. I've seen something like a 40-50 admin point cost reduction in coring central Germany. YMMV naturally.

 

[balmung60]

A real shame they will be converted to standard animist though - if they survive, that is.

But back to topic, does anyone have any suggestions about the ideas? I'm not so sure about Administrative (is coring bonus really worth it?) and about the order in which these ideas should be taken (I'm thinkin about ideas 4-8, first three ones are vital).

If they survive, do a bit of console cheese to reform them really fast and hand back the provinces to their original owner.

Administrative is great. The coring cost is definitely worth it, and the extra advisor and discipline (from a decision) are also nice.

As for other idea groups, you probably only need Exploration OR Expansion. I'd say drop Expansion and use the extra slot to add either Innovative or have both Offensive AND Defensive.

I also have to agree that on your map, Diplomatic Ideas probably isn't going to bring much to the table.

 

[CzokletMuss]

I too was skeptical of the administrative coring cost, but it really does seem to pay off. To top it off the merc cost reductions are rather nice, and Admin has some really nice events tied to it.

Now it really depends, in my current Prussian game the HRE mechanics make Diplomacy supreme. Vassalizations and annexations are the rule of the day. In your game though? With the religious problems you face (large swaths of pagans, no other significant orthodox presence) diplo-vassalization is probably not very helpful. As such there will probably be fairly large chunks, especially in Italy, where you have to direct conquest. So if you plan on using the religious CB against pagans, get Admin, it will pay itself off quickly. I've seen something like a 40-50 admin point cost reduction in coring central Germany. YMMV naturally.

So I shouldn't worry about vassals and just Holy DOW everything? Huh, maybe you are right. And really, 50 ADM for coring in HRE? This is great! Did you get this result with Administrative only or did you use some other boosts (besides claims)?

If they survive, do a bit of console cheese to reform them really fast and hand back the provinces to their original owner.

I'll consider this - after all they kinda deserve some reward for surviving so long, now don't they?

Administrative is great. The coring cost is definitely worth it, and the extra advisor and discipline (from a decision) are also nice.

Which decision exactly?

As for other idea groups, you probably only need Exploration OR Expansion. I'd say drop Expansion and use the extra slot to add either Innovative or have both Offensive AND Defensive.

Wait, but don't you HAVE to have Exploration in order to get conquistadors and explorers? How am I going to even find Asia or Americas without this idea?

I also have to agree that on your map, Diplomatic Ideas probably isn't going to bring much to the table.

Extra diplomat means extra annexation slowly going on in the background, though I can get one through Aristocracy too..

 

[arthurs towel]

I said coring costs reduced by 40-50, not that they were 40-50 :rofl: though I can see how you got that. The lowest I've yet seen in HRE was around 62 for, I believe, Anhalt. That was with high stability, same religion, claim, etc. Still being able to core that cheaply in HRE isn't too shabby.

The decision is the Milita Act, requires full Administrative group. +6% dicipline for +5% stability cost, your ruler must also be leading an army.

As for diplomats, sure vassilization annexing is still a feature. As you won't have many targets for dipplo vassalizaion though it does change the math, since it may often be cheaper with AE to just annex instead.

 

[balmung60]

Which decision exactly?

Wait, but don't you HAVE to have Exploration in order to get conquistadors and explorers? How am I going to even find Asia or Americas without this idea?


Extra diplomat means extra annexation slowly going on in the background, though I can get one through Aristocracy too..

The Militia Act

Wait for knowledge to spread, not that there's much left colonizeable in the New World after 2.0.4's changes to the converter. Of the two, I'd take Exploration, anyway, since that New World is going to give you lots of Pagans to smack around with the CB it gives.

3 diplomats is usually enough. Though, assuming you're up for modding it to not suck, Aristocratic could well be a better choice.

For a non-cheaty example of a not-completely-sucky version of Aristocratic:

aristocracy_ideas = {
	category = MIL

	bonus = {
		[B]cavalry_power = 0.2[/B] #Since it provides twice the cost reduction that Quantity does, it should provide twice the power bonus Quality does.
	}

	trigger = {
		OR = {
			government = monarchy
			government = noble_republic
			government = theocratic_government
			government = papal_government
		}
	}
	
	noble_knights = {
		cavalry_cost = -0.20
	}
	local_nobility = {
		enemy_core_creation = 1.0
	}
	serfdom = {
		global_manpower_modifier = 0.25
	}
	noble_officers = {
		[B]free_leader_pool = 1[/B]  # Much more useful than +1 leader shock
	}
	international_nobility = {
		diplomats = 1
	}
	noble_resilience = {
		war_exhaustion_cost = -0.20
	}
	military_traditions = {
		mil_tech_cost_modifier  = -0.1
	}
	
	ai_will_do = {
		factor = 1
	}
}

 

[CzokletMuss]

I said coring costs reduced by 40-50, not that they were 40-50 :rofl: though I can see how you got that. The lowest I've yet seen in HRE was around 62 for, I believe, Anhalt. That was with high stability, same religion, claim, etc. Still being able to core that cheaply in HRE isn't too shabby.(..) As for diplomats, sure vassilization annexing is still a feature. As you won't have many targets for dipplo vassalizaion though it does change the math, since it may often be cheaper with AE to just annex instead.

Oh, okay. But still, 40-50 ADM less is half a year per cored province - that's quite a lot. I don't think annexing is a good idea (OE) unless you meant by that annex-release-annex cycle.

The Militia Act

Wait for knowledge to spread, not that there's much left colonizeable in the New World after 2.0.4's changes to the converter. Of the two, I'd take Exploration, anyway, since that New World is going to give you lots of Pagans to smack around with the CB it gives.

3 diplomats is usually enough. Though, assuming you're up for modding it to not suck, Aristocratic could well be a better choice.

For a non-cheaty example of a not-completely-sucky version of Aristocratic -snip-

Thanks, this is indeed a cool decision
Hmm but with Europe destroyed so much there ain't any vanilla colonizators (GB, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia) left - unless discoveries work in a different think I think they do I don't think I'll be able to discover the Far East at all without Exploration.
And thanks for the modded Aristocratic but I think I'll be using only vanilla EU4, maybe with some small graphical fixes and flavor mods but nothing which changes the game substantially.


BTW - this may be a silly question but where can I change the name of a country (so that I can change "Roman Empire" to "Imperium Romanum" for example)? Somewhere in localization files?

 

[arthurs towel]

Looking at your region I figured I'd add some info about core costs. With the admin power, claim, and the third HRE reform coring provinces in Lithuania is costing me ~15-20 each. That's at a 60% reduction, but considering you likely face northward expansion it'd be useful for you. Granted that's because they're largely low tax base provinces there, but just FYI. Central Europe is still more costly, but fairly reasonable if no better options exist (i.e. no valid releasable vassal states, as the only existing cores for current state.)

So while it is often preferable to use vassalization, administrative pays off for times when it doesn't. Plus the other bonuses are generally useful.

 

[balmung60]

Oh, okay. But still, 40-50 ADM less is half a year per cored province - that's quite a lot. I don't think annexing is a good idea (OE) unless you meant by that annex-release-annex cycle.

Thanks, this is indeed a cool decision
Hmm but with Europe destroyed so much there ain't any vanilla colonizators (GB, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia) left - unless discoveries work in a different think I think they do I don't think I'll be able to discover the Far East at all without Exploration.
And thanks for the modded Aristocratic but I think I'll be using only vanilla EU4, maybe with some small graphical fixes and flavor mods but nothing which changes the game substantially.


BTW - this may be a silly question but where can I change the name of a country (so that I can change "Roman Empire" to "Imperium Romanum" for example)? Somewhere in localization files?

Yep, in the localization files.

And I think that Aquitaine and Scotland will colonize (or at least try), so that's something. That said, they're only going to be able to colonize a handful of provinces because all of the tribes are pretty well blobbed.

 

[CzokletMuss]

Thank you both very much! I have one more question concerning modding however - how can I change the units used by the High Americans? I know that I can manually change them editing pips but is there some more effective way to change vanilla units for units from some other techgroups preserving their gfx?

 

[delpiero1234]

There will be no challenge left once you import your CK2 game to EU IV.

 

[Calad]

There will be no challenge left once you import your CK2 game to EU IV.

Pretty much this. How about instead expand ck2 timeline so you can have longer and cooler AAR?

 

[CzokletMuss]

Well, I'm going to buff the AI states a lot, especially the Horde and the Aztecs, and use several mods which will make it a little harder for me to play so that I won't end just conquering everything in sight.