Want to return to this game

[Yenzen]

I've left this game behind for over a year. Currently I have:

- Sword of Islam
- Legacy of Rome
- The Republic
- The Old Gods
- Sons of Abraham

I've already decided that I want to start in 1066 or the one save before that and that I don't care about playing as a steppe nomad, Indian or viking or anything. I don't care about the Charlemagne start date itself.

So, what DLC should I grap to make the game fun? I'm thinking about Charlemagne (for viceroys) and Way of Life. Rajas of India and Horse Lords don't seem relevant, and the very negative Steam reviews means that I'm reluctant to buy Conclave.

Overall many of the new DLC make me fear that I can either chose an incomplete experience where I'm hopelessly gimped, or a 'complete experience' where the weird direction CK2 has taken will leave me nostalgic for 'old times'.

Any thoughts on must-have DLC for someone who just wants to have fun in Medieval Europe and do a little crusading and see some new content since he last played the game? Are the DLC choices logical? How is the game these days anyway?

 

[kmh42]

I'm thinking about Charlemagne (for viceroys)

Don't! I find the start-date OK but viceroy are not so good in my opinion. Currently they are a little bit bugged.

and Way of Life

Definitely a good choice.

Rajas of India

Feel free to not buy it.

Horse Lords

look this thread

Conclave

I can recommend that! Most bad reviews are about the patch that come with conclave

How is the game these days anyway?

Many things chances in the resent patch 2.5. Some of those things are not a quite good as it could be but it's fun to play.
When you have the patience you could wait for 2.6 but there is no release date yet. THe next patch should hopefully tweak some stuff and you can change the rules before you start a game.

 

[shiro the bushi]

I think @kmh42 summed it up nicely, most buy charlemange for the start and to play as the zuns, viceroys are a tad buggy with the latest version of the game, so i would wait till the next patch for that.
Way of life is great now that the patched seduction and i would always recommend it.
Rajas is a pretty good dlc with a lot of flavour but its not really necessary.
Horselords changes the world nicely and the nomadic goverment is interesting but as it says in the link that KMH42 provided, its definitely optional
The Dlc itself is great for Conclave but its the patch that people arent fond of
The game is still fairly fun, though some of the stuff that came in the conclave patch are annoying, horsearchers are nerfed and horde events tend just to sit around, but there are always mods to fix that

 

[thekaje]

I think @kmh42 summed it up nicely, most buy charlemange for the start and to play as the zuns, viceroys are a tad buggy with the latest version of the game, so i would wait till the next patch for that.
Way of life is great now that the patched seduction and i would always recommend it.
Rajas is a pretty good dlc with a lot of flavour but its not really necessary.
Horselords changes the world nicely and the nomadic goverment is interesting but as it says in the link that KMH42 provided, its definitely optional
The Dlc itself is great for Conclave but its the patch that people arent fond of
The game is still fairly fun, though some of the stuff that came in the conclave patch are annoying, horsearchers are nerfed and horde events tend just to sit around, but there are always mods to fix that

What mods are those?

There really needs to be a thread that is constantly updated with a list of all bug-fixing mods for the current version. There are so many annoying things in the current release, and you just know the next patch will have even more. But I can't figure out which mods are the best for fixing certain bugs / design mistakes (e.g. auto call-to-arms).

 

[shiro the bushi]

What mods are those?

There really needs to be a thread that is constantly updated with a list of all bug-fixing mods for the current version. There are so many annoying things in the current release, and you just know the next patch will have even more. But I can't figure out which mods are the best for fixing certain bugs / design mistakes (e.g. auto call-to-arms).

ck2plus, HIP most notably...there are smaller mods like no defensive pacts

 

[Naughtius Maximus]

I mean the Indians are interesting themselves, should you ever choose to play as them. People of course just don't have much interest in the subcontinent (including me.) I'll get to it eventually, but at the moment it's Zorastrian campaign. Maybe Ibadi next.

Indians, although from what I've heard very interesting if you dive into their subcontinent, keep to themselves. If you don't plan to play in the subcontinent all it'll do is create massive lag. I mean it already will since the game will have the subcontinent regardless of DLC, but yeah. One of the reasons why people rate it poorer than others.

I like it because it makes playing a minority religion bearable. If I remember correctly it allows you to convert to attacker's religion? Can't easily play Zoroastrian, Jewish, Nestorian, or any other marginal religion without it.

Horse Lords.....I haven't played as a Nomad yet, unfortunately. They're terrifying though as a Zoroastrian, and unprofitable to invade.

Conclave is a pretty good DLC which finally provides more options to play as a vassal. If you play without Conclave you'll soon notice every Christian King or Emperor adopt elective 20 years into the game. That's because vassals really have nothing to faction for for more power. Conclave gives them something as well as a check (council war declaration) which massively delays this, if not outright stops it.

Way of Life adds much flavor to your character, but I find it fairly overpowered even after seduction got nerfed. The key part here are stat gains in each focus. They can get quite overpowered as it becomes easy to get 30 in one primary stat and 20 in another after a few generations.

Without Way of Life you can only max out with 8 in your deficient stats, then rely on RNG for the rest. This keeps the huge stat bonuses in check. Conclave mitigates this as the child stat gain from guardians gets diluted for the most part, eliminating the massive stat carryover between generations.

It'll still happen over time, but much slower than the WoL + old education. Where it only takes roughly three generations it takes to have characters with mid 20s in one stat and 15 in a secondary. In their teens.

Charlemagne. Viceroyalties have their perks. I personally love them, though I am weaning myself off the Byzantine group.

The key part here is the time period. Playing Charlemagne is like rolling the dice. More so than any other start anything can happen. Muslim Europe. Heretic Europe. Miaphysite Egypt. Dominant Pagans.

About the only constants in Charlemagne are a Byzantine Empire that will never fracture, a strong Muslim kingdom/empire in Spain, and the Mongols. That's almost all you can count on.

Oh, and Indians doing much of nothing outside of their subcontinent. As usual.

 

[Mike Louis]

If you decide to get Conclave, I would recommend getting the More Councillors mod (I happen to be the creator) and the Factional Balance and Crown Authority Destruction mods by SM_Unlimited for more immersive domestic political experience.

 

[Dakilla TM]

If you want some nice and cheap DLC to make your game more visually appealing, I highly recommend all of the portrait packs. They add nice variety to the faces you see and I can't imagine playing the game without them. With the current Steam Summer Sale I'm sure you can snag them for dirt cheap!

 

[CannotresistDLC]

If you decide to get Conclave, I would recommend getting the More Councillors mod (I happen to be the creator) and the Factional Balance and Crown Authority Destruction mods by SM_Unlimited for more immersive domestic political experience.

Thanks for mentioning that stuff... it makes me actually tempted to buy Conclave. I'll post the reservations I still have (& can remember off the top of my head) in another thread, maybe.

If you want some nice and cheap DLC to make your game more visually appealing, I highly recommend all of the portrait packs. They add nice variety to the faces you see and I can't imagine playing the game without them. With the current Steam Summer Sale I'm sure you can snag them for dirt cheap!

X2 on buying portrait packs and any similar small DLCs you may be interested in right now.

 

[OBRkenobi]

Conclave and Horse Lords are your top priorities. Followed by Charlemagne, Way of life, and (maybe) Rajas of India.
It also may be worthwhile to pick up the customisation and ruler designer DLC's eventually for replayability purposes and a good laugh.

*mumble* Sunset Invasion *mumble*