Too Easy?

[DarkPhoenix]

If you demand difficulty for it's own sake then get CKII+. I personally don't like a lot of things about it but it brings a few nice changes and it certainly makes the smallest objective inordinately more difficult.

That is not what I said. I just like the game the way it was designed (and CK2+ goes a little overboard for me, too), and it certainly isn't too complicated even with factions (heck, I don't even play on anything but normal), especially not compared to almost *any* other P'dox grand strategy titles. Too many people (but not the majority of all players by far, luckily) demand changes that would lead to a different game - less about internal struggles, politics, betrayal and power, and more about degrading vassals to mere troop producing entities to power your military campaigns. It would be quite sad if this one-of-a-kind game would lose its specialness (which I like to describe as "noble Sims in the middle ages") to become just another conquer-all strategy game (not that this is bad per se).

I think many people facing problems ingame with plots, factions, etc. just focus on the wrong part of the game - your realm's internal affairs are not just some embellishment that can be neglected while you go and expand your territories, they *are* the game as far as I see it. Admittedly, this might resonate so well with me because I am a roleplayer, and it really is so easy to see your vassals and kinsmen as real people, even without any dialogue lines or even voice overs (I'll just say "evil uncle plotting for your life, and titles").

Hm... I'm afraid it always comes down to personal taste.

The AI should get a prestige and relations hit though for breaking the betrothal.

I'm not 100% sure, by I think there already is a negative opinion modifier in place when you break an betrothal. And about the prestige loss... well YOU got turned away, so I guess it#s not the bride's father that should suffer from a loss here . (what a perfect, and historically plausible way to start a war )

 

[Jeltz]

I see plenty of people asking on the forum for more developed internal politics within your realm. For example one of the of most popular feature requests is cadet branches. Look at the 1.09 wishlist thread to see some examples of what people wish to see. Sure there are also plenty of people who wish to have an easy time managing their blobby empire too, but you are far from alone.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?646373-1.09-Wish-list

 

[DarkPhoenix]

I see plenty of people asking on the forum for more developed internal politics within your realm. For example one of the of most popular feature requests is cadet branches. Look at the 1.09 wishlist thread to see some examples of what people wish to see. Sure there are also plenty of people who wish to have an easy time managing their blobby empire too, but you are far from alone.

Yeah, I know, and i am glad about it . Just don't get me wrong - I am not criticizing "blobbers" for how they like to play (that is personal taste, after all). But CK2 is quite unique in its approach, and it would be sad if this was lost in the process of "mainstreaming" (my god, now I sound like a old, bitter man... ).

 

[diceyy]

I don't think ck2+ is that much of a step up from vanilla.

 

[laiziras]

Hate this game after what just happened, was doing great as Castille held half of todays Spain when my king died and shortly after the new king died too. Its now 15 years later and i only hold 2 provinces and now france declares war because some bitch that has no claim on my throne pulls one out of her ass and now theres french 20k doomstack knocking on my door. Uninstalling this game as i type, not the first time this has happened either.

 

[DunkFunk]

Hate this game after what just happened, was doing great as Castille held half of todays Spain when my king died and shortly after the new king died too. Its now 15 years later and i only hold 2 provinces and now france declares war because some bitch that has no claim on my throne pulls one out of her ass and now theres french 20k doomstack knocking on my door. Uninstalling this game as i type, not the first time this has happened either.

to be fair the game does say for ages 10+

 

[wizaerd]

Hate this game after what just happened, was doing great as Castille held half of todays Spain when my king died and shortly after the new king died too. Its now 15 years later and i only hold 2 provinces and now france declares war because some bitch that has no claim on my throne pulls one out of her ass and now theres french 20k doomstack knocking on my door. Uninstalling this game as i type, not the first time this has happened either.

Isn't this kinda the point of the game? Things happen, and you either successfully deal with it, or you lose. Just think, all those wars you yourself started using this very same tactic, and if the AI could ragequit like that... Actually, that'd be pretty funny if an AI ragequit because they didn;t like how the game was progressing for them.

 

[laiziras]

Isn't this kinda the point of the game? Things happen, and you either successfully deal with it, or you lose. Just think, all those wars you yourself started using this very same tactic, and if the AI could ragequit like that... Actually, that'd be pretty funny if an AI ragequit because they didn;t like how the game was progressing for them.

Problem is that i had no chance to deal with it, also i didnt start any wars during this playthrough. I inherited all the land i gained and had great relations with every neighbour but when my kings dies it all goes to hell and nothing you did with that king seem to matter anymore

 

[Heartsbane]

Problem is that i had no chance to deal with it, also i didnt start any wars during this playthrough. I inherited all the land i gained and had great relations with every neighbour but when my kings dies it all goes to hell and nothing you did with that king seem to matter anymore

It's pretty common to see your Kingdom fall to pieces during succession if your King dies unexpectedly, especially with large empires. It's one fo the rare challenges for Western nations in the mid-late game. It sucks to see your Empire fall apart ( I know this feeling all too well) but you could always just reload if things go really bad; it is a game after all. I don't know why there is some negative stigma about reloading. I try not to do it but when I was a kid playing Final Fantasy or what have you, if I lost a battle I didn't start from the beginning of the game just to maintain some semblance of realism.

 

[grisamentum]

No, it's not easy. Even if they like you they still want to depose you. It's actually dumb. Even dumber when they first depose you, then the same people reinstall you, then depose you again, the reinstall you again.

This happens to me all the time in the ERE. Become emperor. Get overthrown in favor of my brother. Overthrow my brother. Get overthrown in favor of my brother. Etc etc etc.

Honestly it's stupid. People shouldn't be participating in factions unless they actually have something to gain.

 

[NewbieOne]

I haven't played 1.08 just yet. But something I noticed in 1.07b (with LoR) is that it seemed too easy to have everyone (my vassals and court) liking me. At one point, as a duke, I had six or so vassals all at 100 opinion and my entire court had positive opinion bar one that was imprisoned for herecy. Maybe I just had a lucky play through. I remember in earlier versions, it was a constant balancing act trying to keep everyone happy. Now it seems I can just plod along through the years with minimal effort.

Another thing I wanted to mention is I felt that, as the player, I had an unfair advantage when selecting wifes. When you can browse through the list of available partners and select someone with super stats/traits, it's easy to start producing super heirs, which in turn choose a partner with superior stats and eventually you almost filter out any bad qualities. This wouldn't be so much of an issue except, when I look to the other counts and dukes, they have terrible stats, sometimes many not over a score of ten. Then to make things worst they select a slow, maimed criple as a wife, and so their line inevitably deteriorates. A sign of good AI is when you look all around, and see your rivals have equal chances of success. At the moment, I'm not seeing this in CKII.

Finally... some food for thought. Imagine not having all the stats at hand. They are still there, but we can't see them. Perhaps we can only see one or two stats or traits when viewing the list of potential spouses. Then after marrying and as time progresses, more stats and traits are revealed. Same could apply to those in your court. The more dealings and time spent with them... the more stats/traits are revealed. Don't get me wrong... I love stats. But perhaps this suggestions would produce more hit and miss results. More randomness. I mean, how strange is it to look at a list of wives (like a menu at a restaurant) and see every last detail and quality of tens/hundreds of women? Who ever had it that easy?

PS: Something that just crossed my mind. Perhaps I'm experiencing this easiness because I'm playing as as counts and dukes. Perhaps things do become more tricky when managing larger realms.

Well, I still got poor stats in 1.05 or 1.06 from some really huge stat mongering.