Just picked up this game and noticed their is no way to learn to play and the UI is very.. strange, for me atleast. Any help for learning how to play or where to start?
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I'd recommend watching the first couple of videos from this let's play. It'll help get you started on basic concepts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfRBe7atENs&feature=channel_video_title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfRBe7atENs&feature=channel_video_title
Thank you very much. I've viewed a few AAR's and this game looks so fun, but learning some paradox titles kills me.
I was the same way, but for me, this has been the easiest game to get into of all the other titles that I have played. (HOI, HOI2, EU, EU2, EU3, Vicky) I also believe it it the most fun game from the very start. Not that the other games weren't fun from the start, but the vested interest I have for my lineage got my attention from the get-go. I think you will love it!
Well, you can try what I did for my first game:
1. Start as a little guy, a Swiss Count. Lie low and don't do anything in particular except watch your family grow.
2. Rebel from the King of Germany when he gets into trouble.
3. Get wiped out by the King of Germany after he gets out of trouble.
Simple!
1. Start as a little guy, a Swiss Count. Lie low and don't do anything in particular except watch your family grow.
2. Rebel from the King of Germany when he gets into trouble.
3. Get wiped out by the King of Germany after he gets out of trouble.
Simple!
Well at first I decided to rebel from my master in southern italy when he died. I was briefly crushed by the new ruler.
Next time around, my Count had a bastard son, but then died and his throne was instead inherited by some random man I've never heard of before. This random man then inherited the throne of the entire duchy of south italy, with claims to napoli, firenze, and sicily. Do I win? I think I win.
And only at the cost of assassinating my brother and my nephew!
I still get events for the bastard son though. Why is that? And how can I find him again since.. you know.. his father is dead and I have no knowledge of tracing through the family tree well in this game.
Usually an independent duchy or small kingdom are good choices to learn the game at first. They are big enough for you to have stuff to do, but not so big that you get confused by having 55 vassals. Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Apulia are usually good starting choices. All have pagans/muslims nearby to beat up on and expand your realm.
As for the random dude ... he is your 'country cousin'. When you do not have any heirs at all (doesn't work like this under elective law), the game will generate a random character of the same dynasty to take over. His stats are usually crap, which is why he was labeled a 'country cousin'.
As for finding the bastard, unless you know how to find the father somehow (through relatives) he is going to be difficult to find, as your country cousin does not have any links to the former ruler except his name. So you can't navigate to him via the character screen of your ruler.
But if you still get events for him, then I imagine he is still at your court. Is he still underaged??
I believe he is underaged, but I'm not sure if he is at my court or not. I will check on that...
Could you explain a few things for me, if you would be so kind?
Does the prestige/piety/money of any non-ruler character make a difference?
How do titles work with all the upsurping/grabbing? Whats the difference? How do I know who will inherit things etc.
Basicly everything to do with titles and inheritance.
Thank you. Nice icons btw
Could you explain a few things for me, if you would be so kind?
Does the prestige/piety/money of any non-ruler character make a difference?
How do titles work with all the upsurping/grabbing? Whats the difference? How do I know who will inherit things etc.
Basicly everything to do with titles and inheritance.
Thank you. Nice icons btw
I believe he is underaged, but I'm not sure if he is at my court or not. I will check on that...
Could you explain a few things for me, if you would be so kind?
Does the prestige/piety/money of any non-ruler character make a difference?
How do titles work with all the upsurping/grabbing? Whats the difference? How do I know who will inherit things etc.
Basicly everything to do with titles and inheritance.
Thank you. Nice icons btw
Well, courtiers with high prestige might get an event where they defect to a different court, giving YOU a negative prestige bonus! Other than that, not really to my experience.
Grabbing costs more prestige and badboy, because you're fabricating claims that are bullshit; and your fellow rulers know.
Usurping means that you own a substantial part of the lands that belong to the specific title, which I think was 66%. For example; if a duchy consists out of three provinces, and you own two, you can usurp the title. This is costs lests prestige and less badboy.There's a page in the ledger that tells you which members of you family are in line for what title, and which number in line they are.
How inheritance works depends on which law your dynasty follows.
Well, courtiers with high prestige might get an event where they defect to a different court, giving YOU a negative prestige bonus! Other than that, not really to my experience.
Grabbing costs more prestige and badboy, because you're fabricating claims that are bullshit; and your fellow rulers know.
There's a page in the ledger that tells you which members of you family are in line for what title, and which number in line they are.
How inheritance works depends on which law your dynasty follows.
How do I know the law that my dynasty follows? Is that the one I pick or the one that my liege picks? How do I find out my badboy, since I didn't even know that existed.
So if the ledger says I'm 1 in order, that means I'll inherit next?
To your last question, yes, but when your dynasty expands and your sons marry fair maidens from other realms, it will tell you how many others you'll still have to assassinate.
If you click on your Coat of Arms next to your ruler at the top of the screen, you'll go what I call the 'Control Your Realm'-screen, where you can assign courtiers to position on your council, manage your economy, etc. At the left of that screen, you'll see a scepter and a globus cruciger. If you click on those you'll get a screen where you change laws.
Badboy is an invisible stat, which reflects how countries consider you. If you have done a lot of conquest or nasty things, the badboy will rise. If it goes beyond a certain treshold, you -will- be in trouble. You can find your badboy in the savegame, but perhaps also if you press 'f12' and enter 'badboy' in the console.
If you click on your Coat of Arms next to your ruler at the top of the screen, you'll go what I call the 'Control Your Realm'-screen, where you can assign courtiers to position on your council, manage your economy, etc. At the left of that screen, you'll see a scepter and a globus cruciger. If you click on those you'll get a screen where you change laws.
Badboy is an invisible stat, which reflects how countries consider you. If you have done a lot of conquest or nasty things, the badboy will rise. If it goes beyond a certain treshold, you -will- be in trouble. You can find your badboy in the savegame, but perhaps also if you press 'f12' and enter 'badboy' in the console.
Your reputation (honorable, respectable, tarnished, etc.) is also linked to you badboy, and gives a rough estimate of it.
To your last question, yes, but when your dynasty expands and your sons marry fair maidens from other realms, it will tell you how many others you'll still have to assassinate.
If you click on your Coat of Arms next to your ruler at the top of the screen, you'll go what I call the 'Control Your Realm'-screen, where you can assign courtiers to position on your council, manage your economy, etc. At the left of that screen, you'll see a scepter and a globus cruciger. If you click on those you'll get a screen where you change laws.
Badboy is an invisible stat, which reflects how countries consider you. If you have done a lot of conquest or nasty things, the badboy will rise. If it goes beyond a certain treshold, you -will- be in trouble. You can find your badboy in the savegame, but perhaps also if you press 'f12' and enter 'badboy' in the console.
Is badboy linked to only the current person I am playing? So if I rack up a huge badboy and then die and give everything I own to my son, will he take the badboy, or just the rewards? I feel like I might breach this soon :x
How do I see my reputation?
Badboy is linked to the dynasty. If your ruler was a powerhungry bastard who kept assassinating little children, they will distrust his generous, amiable son with a martial ability of 0.
You can see your reputation on the same 'Control Your Realm'-screen.
You can see your reputation on the same 'Control Your Realm'-screen.
Ah, thank you very much.
Sadly though, my great conquest of Sicily came to a roaring halt when a mystical C++ runtime error called upon something that did not exist, and the game came to a halt.
I began the conquest so I could grasp more of war, and not like killing infidels is a bad thing. So after paying the horrendous price of mobilizing my entire army (and that of most of my vassals who would) I paid the even worse price of sending them on a boat. Fast forward 15 years, and all but one of the lands of Sicily were under my banner, and the last 3k muslims from Granada were dieing to my 5k. In all, we both brought about 15k to the battle. This brings even more questions (yay!)
Should I really pay attention to the number of unit types in each army? Are European soldiers stronger than Muslim ones? Should I be allied with the Duke of Bavaria, King of Germany, and Duke of some small state next to croatia? Why don't my allies help me when I declare war? What is the price of not helping my ally defend or attack someone when they do (because Germany is at war with everyone...)
How many vassals should I grant land if I am only getting 50% of the revenue of my land? Should I grant it to an already powerful vassal or keep them one vassal per province? What does a diocese bishop do? What does he do if given his own land?
And finally - is there a way to avoid this game crashing error?
Thank you kindly!
Sadly though, my great conquest of Sicily came to a roaring halt when a mystical C++ runtime error called upon something that did not exist, and the game came to a halt.
I began the conquest so I could grasp more of war, and not like killing infidels is a bad thing. So after paying the horrendous price of mobilizing my entire army (and that of most of my vassals who would) I paid the even worse price of sending them on a boat. Fast forward 15 years, and all but one of the lands of Sicily were under my banner, and the last 3k muslims from Granada were dieing to my 5k. In all, we both brought about 15k to the battle. This brings even more questions (yay!)
Should I really pay attention to the number of unit types in each army? Are European soldiers stronger than Muslim ones? Should I be allied with the Duke of Bavaria, King of Germany, and Duke of some small state next to croatia? Why don't my allies help me when I declare war? What is the price of not helping my ally defend or attack someone when they do (because Germany is at war with everyone...)
How many vassals should I grant land if I am only getting 50% of the revenue of my land? Should I grant it to an already powerful vassal or keep them one vassal per province? What does a diocese bishop do? What does he do if given his own land?
And finally - is there a way to avoid this game crashing error?
Thank you kindly!
Well, if you have Deus Vult + the latest beta patch, crashing should be minimal. It still happens though, from time to time. It's wise to set autosave (which can be found under 'options' in the menu) to yearly.
As for your other questions...
I don't really pay attention to the nummbers, at least as long as you have more than your enemy, you should be fine. This is not a game like EU or HoI where encirclements or troop compositions matter. In the early game muslim armies are generally stronger because they are more advanced. This balance is gone around the 1150's.
Furthermore, you should always have an efficiency of at least 90%, because otherwise the benefits don't weigh up to the downsides. 50% efficiency means less money (but also less soldiers, if I'm not mistaken) and generally call up bad events where your ruler becomes stressed and depressed. Regarding vassals, I always try to find a balance between a couple of powerful vassals and a lot of weak ones.
Allies can help you, but not always. If you're the count of Gelre, and Ostfriesland is allied with you, don't expect him to help you when you declare war on the German king.
As for whom to ally with, if you're a duke yourself, go with a duke. If you're a count, go with the kingdom. At least, that's what I would do. Kingdoms can help you out against stronger foes, while a duke is more helpful against your German/Eastern-European rivals. Allying with a kingdom usually, unless you're a king yourself, means trouble.
As for your other questions...
I don't really pay attention to the nummbers, at least as long as you have more than your enemy, you should be fine. This is not a game like EU or HoI where encirclements or troop compositions matter. In the early game muslim armies are generally stronger because they are more advanced. This balance is gone around the 1150's.
Furthermore, you should always have an efficiency of at least 90%, because otherwise the benefits don't weigh up to the downsides. 50% efficiency means less money (but also less soldiers, if I'm not mistaken) and generally call up bad events where your ruler becomes stressed and depressed. Regarding vassals, I always try to find a balance between a couple of powerful vassals and a lot of weak ones.
Allies can help you, but not always. If you're the count of Gelre, and Ostfriesland is allied with you, don't expect him to help you when you declare war on the German king.
As for whom to ally with, if you're a duke yourself, go with a duke. If you're a count, go with the kingdom. At least, that's what I would do.
Kingdoms can help you out against stronger foes, while a duke is more helpful against your German/Eastern-European rivals. Allying with a kingdom usually, unless you're a king yourself, means trouble.
Ah beta patch, I didn't see that. I hope its save compatible!Well, if you have Deus Vult + the latest beta patch, crashing should be minimal. It still happens though, from time to time. It's wise to set autosave (which can be found under 'options' in the menu) to yearly.
As for your other questions...
I don't really pay attention to the nummbers, at least as long as you have more than your enemy, you should be fine. This is not a game like EU or HoI where encirclements or troop compositions matter. In the early game muslim armies are generally stronger because they are more advanced. This balance is gone around the 1150's.
Furthermore, you should always have an efficiency of at least 90%, because otherwise the benefits don't weigh up to the downsides. 50% efficiency means less money (but also less soldiers, if I'm not mistaken) and generally call up bad events where your ruler becomes stressed and depressed. Regarding vassals, I always try to find a balance between a couple of powerful vassals and a lot of weak ones.
Allies can help you, but not always. If you're the count of Gelre, and Ostfriesland is allied with you, don't expect him to help you when you declare war on the German king.
As for whom to ally with, if you're a duke yourself, go with a duke. If you're a count, go with the kingdom. At least, that's what I would do.
If I could write an AAR for this, you bet I would.
Sadly the only powerful count in my duchy is also my rival by random event, even worse, his entire family makes up the next 5 sucessors of my crown. Its a sad day for me indeed.
Thank you very much for your help!
No problem. It's good to help new players.
And why don't you write aan AAR about it? I wouldn't mind to read it.
And why don't you write aan AAR about it? I wouldn't mind to read it.
Hmm alright I think I may! Although maybe a new game where I could get screen shots and names, unless I simply make up new ones. Just had a civil war when the king died actually, because the new king (who was a real original family member, not a country cousin) had made rivalries with most of the vassals. The civil war brought my reputation down quite a bit, but now only my direct family and a bishop rules the Kingdom of Sicily.
Am I supposed to just ignore the fact that my court is now massive, and I need to get marriages for many people all the time? Its irritating having so many people who I don't even know how they got there! Also, does my court comprise of all of my vassals courts, or all of their children etc.? Because its simply filled to the point that there is no easy way to read through it. Now I cannot wait for CK2!
Am I supposed to just ignore the fact that my court is now massive, and I need to get marriages for many people all the time? Its irritating having so many people who I don't even know how they got there! Also, does my court comprise of all of my vassals courts, or all of their children etc.? Because its simply filled to the point that there is no easy way to read through it. Now I cannot wait for CK2!
No, those are not all of your vassal's courts, it's your own court and it's crowded. At some point disease will spread, thinning their ranks. Personally, I think this is the only one of two times where the 'die' cheat is not considered cheating, since it's rather silly you can't throw courtiers out, you're the ruler!
What would help, though, is not marrying daughters/nieces to court members. That'll slow growth of the court down.
What would help, though, is not marrying daughters/nieces to court members. That'll slow growth of the court down.