I have recently been playing Crusader Kings again, in my work laptop, of all places, though not at work. Crusader Kings cannot be fruitfully played at work.
My previous history of playing CK is not very successful. I lost 4-5 games just learning the mechanisms, and one game probably had some system error.
Anyway, I do not really mind losing games like CK. That’s part of the charm. I was just reading a de Hauteville story about being King of Sicily and dying without heirs, excommunicated by an ex-vassal/ rival Bishop.
So, I tend to pick steep challenges. I mostly choose a county blind and play on. My first game was as King of France, whom I managed to get dethroned in like 3-5 years. Latter games were with the Duchy of Berry, County of Angouleme, Principality of Ryazan etc., most ending in defeats, by lineage extinctions and being gobbled up and whatnot.
One of the games I blindly picked up was especially nasty – with the County of Rugen. Rugen is a weak, typhoid-infested island County off the coast of Germany, initially a part of Denmark, inhabited by Slavs living within the larger German ethnic area, known as Wends. This was the Third Crusade scenario (starting around 1187 AD), and calling Rugen weak is an understatement, really, especially looking at the kind of stronger neighbors it was surrounded with. The County could only muster around 300 troops for any battle, and money was scarce.
At this point, I was playing using the highest speed possible (which I no longer do; I now play at the slowest speed possible, to savor the game
), which made it somewhat more bearable to stick with this ugly choice. I just sat there, couldn’t do anything. Tried once or twice, ending up losing a lot of money. Do keep in mind that even at this stage I really wasn’t aware of most of the game mechanisms. I mean, I did go through the manual, but there is a difference in the practical game. I am not complaining, just saying.
From what I remember (there was a 3-4 month, real life, gap in playing the first and second spell of this dynasty), my first real break came when a ‘friend provided me with two thousand’ Wend troops (Rugen being a Wend Catholic area, these were like local militia); a Crusade was going on and these troops might have been provided for religious purposes as well. The Wizlawid Lord of Rugen (or may be his son, Barnuta, who is a real life Rugenian hero too and the current ruler) quickly used up some of his prestige and engaged in some small brushfire wars to gain Osnabruck.
This was soon followed by opportunistic pagan fighting which initially went badly but then gained Barnuta all kinds of new territory, earning some prestige and piety in the process but losing some reputation, which is now-a-days the only thing keeping him from gobbling up European Pagandom en masse. The Wizlawids gained Angermanland, Lappland, Jamtland, Satakunta and Tavasts within a 3-4 year period, thereby tarnishing the reputation. Barnuta Wizlawid now has his eye on Heldesing (or some such Norwegian county), which will allow him to claim the title of Duke of Jamtland, allowing him consolidate his seven-county demesne which is now running at 40% efficiency and resulting in Thieves Guild and Smugglers’ Rings in Osnabruck. Also, the Pagans of Satakunta are revolting, but these would be put down, and Barnuta had enough time to prepare for a bright future.
This rags to riches story is what gets me all excited about Crusader Kings. It’s slow, complex and sometimes boring, but the game can engage you quite thoroughly with the promise of Duchies and Kingdoms. This virtual living-space really eats up your time, but I really appreciate this.
My previous history of playing CK is not very successful. I lost 4-5 games just learning the mechanisms, and one game probably had some system error.
Anyway, I do not really mind losing games like CK. That’s part of the charm. I was just reading a de Hauteville story about being King of Sicily and dying without heirs, excommunicated by an ex-vassal/ rival Bishop.
So, I tend to pick steep challenges. I mostly choose a county blind and play on. My first game was as King of France, whom I managed to get dethroned in like 3-5 years. Latter games were with the Duchy of Berry, County of Angouleme, Principality of Ryazan etc., most ending in defeats, by lineage extinctions and being gobbled up and whatnot.
One of the games I blindly picked up was especially nasty – with the County of Rugen. Rugen is a weak, typhoid-infested island County off the coast of Germany, initially a part of Denmark, inhabited by Slavs living within the larger German ethnic area, known as Wends. This was the Third Crusade scenario (starting around 1187 AD), and calling Rugen weak is an understatement, really, especially looking at the kind of stronger neighbors it was surrounded with. The County could only muster around 300 troops for any battle, and money was scarce.
At this point, I was playing using the highest speed possible (which I no longer do; I now play at the slowest speed possible, to savor the game
), which made it somewhat more bearable to stick with this ugly choice. I just sat there, couldn’t do anything. Tried once or twice, ending up losing a lot of money. Do keep in mind that even at this stage I really wasn’t aware of most of the game mechanisms. I mean, I did go through the manual, but there is a difference in the practical game. I am not complaining, just saying.From what I remember (there was a 3-4 month, real life, gap in playing the first and second spell of this dynasty), my first real break came when a ‘friend provided me with two thousand’ Wend troops (Rugen being a Wend Catholic area, these were like local militia); a Crusade was going on and these troops might have been provided for religious purposes as well. The Wizlawid Lord of Rugen (or may be his son, Barnuta, who is a real life Rugenian hero too and the current ruler) quickly used up some of his prestige and engaged in some small brushfire wars to gain Osnabruck.
This was soon followed by opportunistic pagan fighting which initially went badly but then gained Barnuta all kinds of new territory, earning some prestige and piety in the process but losing some reputation, which is now-a-days the only thing keeping him from gobbling up European Pagandom en masse. The Wizlawids gained Angermanland, Lappland, Jamtland, Satakunta and Tavasts within a 3-4 year period, thereby tarnishing the reputation. Barnuta Wizlawid now has his eye on Heldesing (or some such Norwegian county), which will allow him to claim the title of Duke of Jamtland, allowing him consolidate his seven-county demesne which is now running at 40% efficiency and resulting in Thieves Guild and Smugglers’ Rings in Osnabruck. Also, the Pagans of Satakunta are revolting, but these would be put down, and Barnuta had enough time to prepare for a bright future.
This rags to riches story is what gets me all excited about Crusader Kings. It’s slow, complex and sometimes boring, but the game can engage you quite thoroughly with the promise of Duchies and Kingdoms. This virtual living-space really eats up your time, but I really appreciate this.
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