Picked Up CKII, What Mods and DLC Are Needed for a Good Experience?

[HelicanV]

That's it really...

What mods fix game shortcomings, which DLCs fix things broken or provide needed content for a rich experience?

 

[Bernard95]

Mod-wise, you might just want something for the map or the font but you really don't need any to enjoy the vanilla game. Once you get some hours under your belt, you may want to branch out to something like CK2+ or HIP if you want some challenge or maybe AGOT or Elder Kings if you want something completely different.

DLC-wise, Way of Life is pretty much essential at this point. Conclave is highly recommended once you learn the basics of the game, and beyond that Old Gods, Reaper's Due and Holy Fury are excellent nice-to-haves. Anything else is pretty much optional and is really just focused on unlocking additional government types or religions. That said, I'd just as soon tell you to buy one of the bundles so you have yourself some money.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

It depends on what interests you in general, but I can't imagine playing without Way of Life. It's just too essential, and it has an effect on every single game from start to finish. Reaper's Due is also a good one because of how much it does no matter where or what you're playing, but you probably want to have a better grasp on the game before picking those up.

Aside from that, it kind of depends on what speaks to you as far as where you'd like to play. If playing as a Pagan is something you really want, you'll want to pick up The Old Gods, if you'd like to play as a Muslim, you want Sword of Islam, etc.

 

[Serenity84]

If something is broken it will be fixed in a patch. DLCs add more systems to play with or allow you to play as new religions or governments:
https://ck2.paradoxwikis.com/Downloadable_content

Stuff that gives you things you can use as everyone:

• Conclave
• Way of Life
• Reaper's Due
• Legacy of Rome (for retinues)

The Old Gods and Holy Fury are also great. Must haves to play as pagans, but Holy Fury also adds lots stuff for Christians

Monks and Mystics and Charlemagne aren't bad (at least when you get them at a discount), but aren't essential. Sons of Abraham adds some flavor for Christians and Muslims


The rest mostly depends on if you want to play in certain areas or certain religions/governments:

• The Republic (merchant republics)
• Sword of Islam (muslims)
• Horse Lords (nomads. Without it nomadic realms are tribal. Also adds the silk road)
• Rajas of India (for Indian religions, but that extends north into Tibet)
• Jade Dragon (if you want to play in the eastern half of the map)

You can hold off on those for now. Plenty of things to just as Christians and Pagans

There are some nice bits and pieces added by various DLCs like the silk road, ally orders, rally points or new CBs, but it's not really worth it to get a whole DLC just for that

 

[junassa]

I just recently started using mods and I like them a lot. Keep in mind that using mods means you can't earn achievements.

After you Holy Fury I think you should play vanilla at least once to get the hang of reforming religions. After that, a few mods you might want to use are:
1. a mod that "fixes" animism. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/mod-animism-fix.1133324/
2. A mod that allows you to pick more doctrines.
3. A mod that "fixes" how temporal works with ancestor veneration. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/ancestor-veneration-how-it-works.1129634/
These mods are on steam.

 

[Naughtius Maximus]

None are needed but the two more universal DLCs are Conclave and Way of Life. Useful on any character.

Conclave is by far the more impactful of the two regarding how it'll change the way you play. It is often better to just play with Conclave's mechanics than to get used to the archaic non conclave ones and then adapt gameplay afterwards. For example, the old mechanics made it take decades to pass an unpopular law, whereas with Conclave that gets resolved in a year or two max, depending on what you wish to offer in exchange.

I find Reaper's Due more about flavor, but to be fair death and disease affects everyone (mostly) equally.

I agree with Serenity's post, but again would like to emphasize which DLCs you should prioritize depending on your needs.

Also would like to emphasize how close you would be in order to be in Jade Dragon's Range. Right around Persia would be where you'd start being within interaction range of China. Realistically the Emperor would have some tributaries, so don't be too surprised when you can interact with China after a successful Crusade for Jerusalem.

 

[DPS]

You should get all of the DLCs except Reaper's Due, Monks and Mystics, and Sunset Invasion.

 

[MateuszS]

Songs of Yuletide, obviously.

Jokes aside, everything can be found here:
https://ck2.paradoxwikis.com/Downloadable_content
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/updated-dlc-tier-list.1127525/ (Sunset Invasion as "the best DLC ever" is a joke, though )

The most important, IMO, are:
- Monks and Mystics
- Sons of Abraham
- Conclave
- Way of Life
- The Reaper's Due
These DLCs give general features that you can enjoy no matter of the other add-ons (SoA is restricted to Abrahamic religions, but these are majority of the game, though).
If you want to play as pagan and fully enjoy enhanced reformation, you will need not just Holy Fury, but also Charlemagne and/or The Old Gods (earlier start dates = more pagans) as well as either Rajas of India or Jade Dragon (the latter gives more features, though) as both enable heir designation as pagan reformation feature.
You will need religion-enabling DLCs to unlock most of random religions in random world scenario in HF.

 

[Dimitri Cosmos]

In the order of usefulness and my personal preference:

1. I agree with others that Way of Life is almost mandatory, because it makes things less random and provide ways to substantially improve your character and relations. I also think Legacy of Rome is almost mandatory, because the retinues are extremely useful, powerful and make this game easier, which considering how often the RNGs screw you over, is something to wish for. On Steam, you see a lot of players complaining that Conclave makes the game too difficult, but I think those players just don't know how to play it. If you use it correctly, I think it actually makes the game easier and reduces the randomness, as you get useful additional councilor abilities and you can educate children in the way you want. Reaper's Due is another DLC the players complaint about, saying that it ups the mortality and morbidity rate, but actually you can tone it down in the settings. Plus you get specific diseases instead of just being ill, a court physician to cure/alleviate them and with certain Way of Life focuses you have a pretty good chance to boost your health and even remove diseases completely. With Reaper's Due you also get to build hospitals and improve the prosperity of your provinces. So, in overall it's another DLC that reduces randomness.

So this is my mandatory anti-randomness quartet: Way of Life, Conclave, Reaper's Due and Legacy of Rome.

2. If you like me like to play as pagans, then for the full experience you will need: Holy Fury and Old Gods, and if you want to play AND prevail not only as Germanic pagans, also Sons of Abraham (Holy Orders for everyone) and Charlemagne (earlier start date before the Age of Vikings, when Germanics start to expand into the Baltics and elsewhere).

3. Monks and Mystics: societies are useful after all and, if you don't like secret cults and demon worshipers, you can turn them off in the settings.

4. Jade Dragon and Horse Lords bring in additional mechanics that are somewhat useful for everyone (tributary states, boons, Silk Road, etc.). Rajas of India not only allow to play in India, which many consider a boring region, but also allows to convert to the religion and culture of the capital.

5. Merchant Republic: allows to play as a Merchant state, which has its advantages and disadvantages.

6. Swords of Islam: useful only if you want to play as a Muslim. They have different governments and the decadence system, and the Assassin's Order.

7. Sunset Invasion: my least favourite one. I bought it the last and only to have extra reformation doctrines.​

 

[Dimitri Cosmos]

(SoA is restricted to Abrahamic religions, but these are majority of the game, though).

Sons of Abraham is required for all the pagan holy orders, except the Jomsvikings

 

[Serenity84]

as well as either Rajas of India or Jade Dragon (the latter gives more features, though) as both enable heir designation as pagan reformation feature

That's probably a bug. Even if not, it's not worth getting a whole DLC for one small feature

Another way Conclave makes the game easier is opinions on law changes. Without it people will permanently dislike you for high taxes, which makes sense. With Conclave they will only be annoyed for a few years

 

[MateuszS]

That's probably a bug. Even if not, it's not worth getting a whole DLC for one small feature

Another way Conclave makes the game easier is opinions on law changes. Without it people will permanently dislike you for high taxes, which makes sense. With Conclave they will only be annoyed for a few years

Nevertheless, JD gives also more artifacts, so it may be worth to get it.

 

[Lord Hoosier]

Legacy of Rome, Way of Life, Holy Fury, Sons of Abraham, Old Gods, Conclave, Reaper's Due, Jade Dragon

 

[moscal]

For play as slavic pagans I suggest my mod.

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/better-slavic-pagan-mod.1056961/

 

[quigleyer]

Nevertheless, JD gives also more artifacts, so it may be worth to get it.

How many more artifacts? Like would anyone suggest this?

I own everything except for Sunset Invasion and Jade Dragon. I kind of assumed I'd never get either- how much extra stuff is added?

 

[Dimitri Cosmos]

How many more artifacts? Like would anyone suggest this?

I own everything except for Sunset Invasion and Jade Dragon. I kind of assumed I'd never get either- how much extra stuff is added?

You give things to the Chinese Emperor (artifacts, money, concubines, eunuchs). It gives you favor points. The better is your gift, the more points you get. You can spend those points to ask for artifacts. Sometimes you'll get artifacts from events.

There's a cooldown for the type of gifts that you can give.

Is it worth to purchase the DLC just for the artifacts? I'd say no, because there's plenty of artifacts that you can get elsewhere. And, frankly, at some point, it just becomes hard to manage them, because some of them also have disadvantages or become obsolete or have very specific activation criteria (e.g., being lunatic). Also, sometimes you lose them on succession.

But if you have every other relevant DLC and have tried them all, you might as well get "Jade Dragon", which has 50% discount on Steam now.

 

[quigleyer]

But if you have every other relevant DLC and have tried them all, you might as well get "Jade Dragon", which has 50% discount on Steam now.

I didn't know it was on sale, thanks for the heads up. I just bought it, appreciated.

 

[Cardolam]

Avoid Sunset Invasion and get all the rest!

 

[aragon150]

I think the Sunset Invasion DLC is underrated like its ahistorical but, the entire point is to give Western Europe their own Mongol invasion. Way of Life and Conclave are probably the only real must haves.