I've been playing this since vanilla, and akways regarded the game as something getting bigger and better with each patch and expansion. The Sword of Islam expansion and accompanying patch was kind of an apex moment for the game as a whole. Ok, so maybe the muslim invasion CB was a bit overpowered - but overall, it greatly expanded on the game without altering the fundamentals.
This might very well be the case with the Rome expansion and the 1.08 patch, but so far it's given me nothing but headaches, because it feels like some fundamental rules have been changed, but no one's told me what the new rules are.
I get retinues - standing armies with a set upkeep that doesn't count towards the "no raised levies to declare war" rule. But what I don't get is how everyone can seemingly conjure up ridiculous doomstacks that are much larger than what they should be able to raise given the size and development level of their holdings. What am I missing here? Waging war has become utterly impossible, because I'm always outnumbered, and no amount of commander abilities and martial score changes the inevitable outcome.
Then there's factions. I thought the plots of old were a good way to represent the latent internal tension and growing pains of territorial powers, but the faction system lets it run rampant. It's one thing to just be a subject, even if it means incessant full-screen message spam about how Some Dude has joined The Twenty-Seventh Plot to Lower Crown Authority in Realm X. Trying to actually rule has become impossible, because no matter what I do, everyone either wants the crown authority to be so low that you get one megavassal gobbling up all the others (what's wrong with just keeping it on medium?), or they want to be independent (for five years until the Blob Next Door chews them up), or they all want my retarded cousin to be Emperor instead of me, even when it's an absolute given that he'll run everything into the ground before he's finally deposed. I get that the AI is supposed to be adversarial to rulers (particularly non-AI ones), but their sense of self-preservation has gone from weak to absolutely zilch in the wake of the power invested in vassals by the faction system.
Have I just been awful at the game all along? What's the old mindset I need to drop and the new one I need to adopt in order for CK2 to remain fun in a post-1.08 world? Right now it just feels like Crusader Kings 2: No Fun Edition.
I mean, yes, I've got more than my money's worth already, with 400+ hours logged. But I'd like to continue to enjoy the game even as it develops.
This might very well be the case with the Rome expansion and the 1.08 patch, but so far it's given me nothing but headaches, because it feels like some fundamental rules have been changed, but no one's told me what the new rules are.
I get retinues - standing armies with a set upkeep that doesn't count towards the "no raised levies to declare war" rule. But what I don't get is how everyone can seemingly conjure up ridiculous doomstacks that are much larger than what they should be able to raise given the size and development level of their holdings. What am I missing here? Waging war has become utterly impossible, because I'm always outnumbered, and no amount of commander abilities and martial score changes the inevitable outcome.
Then there's factions. I thought the plots of old were a good way to represent the latent internal tension and growing pains of territorial powers, but the faction system lets it run rampant. It's one thing to just be a subject, even if it means incessant full-screen message spam about how Some Dude has joined The Twenty-Seventh Plot to Lower Crown Authority in Realm X. Trying to actually rule has become impossible, because no matter what I do, everyone either wants the crown authority to be so low that you get one megavassal gobbling up all the others (what's wrong with just keeping it on medium?), or they want to be independent (for five years until the Blob Next Door chews them up), or they all want my retarded cousin to be Emperor instead of me, even when it's an absolute given that he'll run everything into the ground before he's finally deposed. I get that the AI is supposed to be adversarial to rulers (particularly non-AI ones), but their sense of self-preservation has gone from weak to absolutely zilch in the wake of the power invested in vassals by the faction system.
Have I just been awful at the game all along? What's the old mindset I need to drop and the new one I need to adopt in order for CK2 to remain fun in a post-1.08 world? Right now it just feels like Crusader Kings 2: No Fun Edition.
I mean, yes, I've got more than my money's worth already, with 400+ hours logged. But I'd like to continue to enjoy the game even as it develops.
As for finding wars unwinnable, I will only ever go to war if I'm certain I will win, so I haven't experienced that.