How do you play CKII?

[DocDesastro]

So far my Abyssinia (an empire-tier title, by the way, because if I didn't conquer my Nubian allies the Egyptians would have gotten to them first and I needed to get Egypt anyway to get the Coptic pope to Alexandria) is completely Miaphysite in terms of nobility that is there and most provinces are being converted to Miaphysite if they are not already.

My Ireland campaign, as Munster, ended with me being king of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, France (but not Aquitaine), Andalusia (via crusade), Jerusalem (via crusade) and Leon, though I never held an emperor-tier title (I had Primo succession so everything stayed as one big realm anyway). Ireland is a great start for global conquests.

[/QUOTE]

Before the viking ages however it is a bit tedious. But having 16/16/16 tech in Dubhlin at 1000 AD is neat. Meanwhile, I gobbled up the Duchy of Deheurbarth and gave it to my brother. Elective Monarchy is nice. Since I am going for Wales I guess Cornwall is next on my shopping list. Still have male kinsmen left

 

[Arona]

I usualy play as foreign culture and religion on that region with custom made character. If i play at india I play as white character and catholic religion and norse culture or slavic. If i play norse region i play as african culture and islam religion and african skincolor. So i like challnce. I usually establish stong dynasty then switch to random character and play that and after 50-100 years i watch how my custom dynasty is developed or died.

 

[DàbiànLājīdàrén]

I have actually not played in Europe since TOG. Pretty much all of my games after RoI have been in Persia and then nomads since HL.

If China really does get added in the future I probably won't even look at Europe anymore.

 

[adriankowaty]

I prefer Norse (due to the most expanded mechanic) and Romuva (due to easy reformation) and typically tend to reformation and then to form a merchant republic. Most my games I've started as Lettigalian high chief of Curonia or Ragnar Woolen Shorts' father. As Norse, I typically unite whole Scandinavia (including Iceland) and try to do a Dominium Maris Baltici (controling whole Baltic area) including all kingdoms bordering Baltic See. As Balt, I try to form Kingdom of Lithuania first, then control whole Baltic, then controle whole Scandinavia (to provoke excintion of Norse faith). After that, I play until 1453, convert and play game in EU.

 

[n00bypl4y3r]

I once finished a no-DLC Ireland 1066 game but that was it for me. I'm hoping to get through to the end with my current game, though.

Furthest I've ever gotten (in total time through game) was 1300 as ironman mode Mercia, starting from 769. By that point I controlled Britannia (de jure Empire of Mercia), Jerusalem, the Papacy, Egypt, and Iceland. I had taken over Hispania, Francia, Saxony, and Denmark at various other times, but I put a dynasty member in control of each and released them. I had gone so far that all of those aforementioned realms had become almost entirely Anglo-Saxon in culture, except for Saxony. Saxony stayed Saxon, because I had temporarily moved my capital there, become Saxon, and formed k_saxony to get the "Saxons Everywhere, Unite!" achievement for being Anglo-Saxon/Saxon and being king of England and Saxony at the same time. A Saxon family member was made king there. There were so many Anglo-Saxon characters that an adventurer of that culture had taken over a kingdom in India, staying Catholic.

The Aztecs invaded Hispania and Norway, ruining part of my dynasty there. I was in the process of liberating the Hispanian holdings when I just got tired of the game. It took an absurd amount of time to get through even a year, and no one could beat me anymore. Catholics? Excommunicate, plot to kill, done. If I have to fight, retinue of 10,000 + levies totalling around 90,000 = total domination. I had one great, climactic battle against the Aztecs, 60,000 Mercians vs. 55,000 Aztecs in the Empire of Hispania's last holding, which ended with my victory and complete collapse of the Aztecs. After that I could go on the offensive, taking Iceland in preparation for EU4 conversion and colonization of North America.

I prefer Norse (due to the most expanded mechanic) and Romuva (due to easy reformation) and typically tend to reformation and then to form a merchant republic. Most my games I've started as Lettigalian high chief of Curonia or Ragnar Woolen Shorts' father. As Norse, I typically unite whole Scandinavia (including Iceland) and try to do a Dominium Maris Baltici (controling whole Baltic area) including all kingdoms bordering Baltic See. As Balt, I try to form Kingdom of Lithuania first, then control whole Baltic, then controle whole Scandinavia (to provoke excintion of Norse faith). After that, I play until 1453, convert and play game in EU.

I had one fun game as the old leader of the Tribe of Lettgalians title. I never formed Lithuania, I modded my own kingdom in (it was before formable kingdoms were in game) called Latvia. I grew to around the size of Poland-Lithuania at their height, but instead of Polish and Lithuanians, it was the Latvian-Pruthenian Commonwealth. In the west, all nobles were Prussian. In the east, Latvian. I reformed Romuvan faith. I converted that game to EU4, despite being a dirty heathen I was so powerful that everyone in the HRE tried to ally with me, and I kept getting dragged into their wars.

I had also taken over Sweden and Norway in the course of the game, putting converted Romuvan Norse characters in control and releasing them. I thought they would be my allies in a converted EU4 game. Nope, they rivalled me and actually hated me more than all the heathens.

 

[Greyjeth]

Are you going to reform the faith?

I am working towards that yes in my next part I start going into that. Never really reformed the slavic faith without cheats, so this will be fun

 

[StarSword]

My favourite brand of Scotch is not drinking Scotch because I'm underage. But anyway, did you just have Ireland and Scotland, or did you have other places as well?

It's Talisker, by the way. I like the smoke.

By the time I got bored with that game it was about 1050 AD. I had Britannia (Alba), the Orkneys, Iceland, most of Hispania (courtesy of winning the First Crusade for Andalusia after the Umayyads had de jure-drifted most of the duchies into k_andalusia), most of Lithuania (because my son acquired a weak claim to k_lithuania from his mother*) and a toehold in Norway courtesy of landing a Catholic Norse claimant after holy-warring a successful prepared invasion of Lothian.

* Quite a brilliant piece of work, I must say. About the time the crusades unlocked, Catholicism was making inroads in Scandinavia and the Baltic, which was causing unending religious wars by the way. The Kingdoms of Sweden and Lithuania were briefly held by a Catholic af Munso, and I married his youngest daughter. Then he died and the whole kingdom collapsed, but Emperor Rian mac Conchobar Mac Gabrain's empress acquired a claim which she passed to their son Crown Prince Sechnassach. Meanwhile Lithuania was now under the control of a tribal Romuva king but several of the southern lords were now feudal Catholics and he tried to revoke them. This sparked a war, the counts were losing, but then suddenly I joined the war and the Irish Imperial Army landed on the Baltic coast and pounded him into the pavement in short order. The King of Lithuania was forced to abdicate to his prepubescent son, and I promptly declared war on him and installed Sechnassach mac Rian as King of Lithuania. Then Sechnassach handed it to the Duke of Latgale as a viceroyalty when he inherited.

So North Asia and East Europe are all reformed Slavic nations?

That was the plan, but I didn't get further than Rus, Ukraine and bits of Poland because real life got in the way: been working out of town and the save file is on my tower at home, not my laptop.

I actually want to try to do that now. I'll add it to my to-do list.

It's a fun game. You start in 769 as Persian, either Khalid ibn Barmak, the Emir of Mosul, or his son Yahya, the Emir of Azerbaijan (who actually controls Tabriz for some reason) under the Abbasid Caliphate, then snap up k_mesopotamia and create the sultanate. The Abbasids' bulk shields you from the only major threats (nomads and the Byzantine Empire), and you can easily adopt Kurdish culture then move your capital to Baghdad. The rest of it is just abusing open succession's incredibly high claimant production to conquer enough of the other emirates to have all five Yazidi holy sites (Mecca, Jerusalem, Nishapur, Fars, and Mosul, the last of which is required to create the sheikhdom) and be able to create Persia.

 

[abauer2]

It's Talisker, by the way. I like the smoke.

Good man. Smoky whisky is the best.

In my game, the Magyars are looking to get in on the fun with the other big empires in the West, and they have now spread far enough east to become allies with a couple of my rival hordes. Since I'm trying to RP a bit, I'm hoping to get an ambitious or zealous ruler to expand my territory a bit otherwise the Magyars might take over all of the steppes. The Great Khan cometh!

 

[DocDesastro]

Good man. Smoky whisky is the best.

Amen. Talisker is decent, but Ardbeg top that - Islay rules!

 

[frolix42]

Personally I like to start with a historical character ruler of a single small county at the earliest start date and see how far I can go with Ironman. When I'm done, either because I'm dead or I'm bored, I start again in a drastically different part of the world.

 

[Alfy]

I still get my kicks from taking a small count anywhere in Europe, but it's getting a bit too easy. Just this weekend, in a pre-conclave game, starting as the Count of Burgundy, I ended up as a triple Duke after just the one generation, getting Tuscany and Lombardia, despite some bad luck. Sure, it took every trick in the book, including switching to ultimogeniture to avoid a very awkward succession, but still, after that many hours of playing the game, it's more about the story than the challenge, because there is little of that.

I have to say that as others in this thread, I seldom finish my games. I usually take them a couple of hundred years at most before tiring of them. I still love the game and keep coming back to it, though.

 

[StarSword]

Amen. Talisker is decent, but Ardbeg top that - Islay rules!

Well, Talisker is what you can get at a small town liquor store in the States, so...

 

[LordDamien]

Currently I am trying to unite ireland.. Its been about a hundred years and progress had been made but ireland is not united yet. But hopefully that will change in the next generation since my current char Grandsons will hopefully get a claim on tara..Since my char son married the current Heir to Tara.. And they will get the claim afterwards. also currently the electors of the tanisty want some 60 year old aunt of the current Ruler to be the next Duchess... Even though she is a lunatic

Ill then turn my eyes to Scotland.. And England afterwards.

 

[hagagaga]

I generally don't play many Catholics aside from Venice. I like playing Byzantium in earlier start dates. If I play Venice in those start dates, I will often swear fealty to them. Aside from them, I often try to form k_sweden and e_scandinavia as pagans. Taking out Carolus Magnus's empire with a prepared invasion is glorious.

 

[abauer2]

Taking out Carolus Magnus's empire with a prepared invasion is glorious.

I did this a while back with a CK2+ game as Sjaelland->Denmark, and I was able to capture Charlie, occupy a bunch of land, then I decided to execute him right before ending the war. The Karlings were extinct by 850.

 

[kmh42]

I the last year I stop playing with gameplay mods and concentrated on vanilla/ironman to get all achievements. I never before played a game for all achievements. So is looked the the list and started a game where I could make as many as possible in one playthrough. This way I played so many different games I couldn't imagine. On a sidenote, there is only one single achievement left. When I have 100% i probably devote myself to HIP.
Besides that CKII inspires me to read and learn many medieval topics on wikipedia and then I play with those realms or dynasties.

 

[dulahan]

I tend to like playing smaller vassals or tiny 'count' level powers and seeing where it ends up. I also tend to get bored with playing larger powers, so by the time I somehow stumble into a Kingship or inherit Byzantium (Seriously, this has happened more than once through my marriages, completely unexpectedly too since I rarely pay much attention to who I marry my sons off to aside from stats)

 

[hagagaga]

I the last year I stop playing with gameplay mods and concentrated on vanilla/ironman to get all achievements. I never before played a game for all achievements. So is looked the the list and started a game where I could make as many as possible in one playthrough. This way I played so many different games I couldn't imagine. On a sidenote, there is only one single achievement left. When I have 100% i probably devote myself to HIP.
Besides that CKII inspires me to read and learn many medieval topics on wikipedia and then I play with those realms or dynasties.

I've been doing that too.