Why do so few people play CK2 multiplayer compared to EU4?

[glorioso2011]

It seems as if the EU4 multiplayer forums are way more active.

 

[Runite]

Desyncs happen more frequently. Imagine having to reload for every 5 year autosave. That pretty much sums up the CKII mp experience. You can pull all the shenanigans with the "proper" setup but you will face a desync no matter what.

In vanilla EUIV, desyncs are usually predictable and preventable in most cases.

 

[jjjdddsss]

Desyncs happen more frequently. Imagine having to reload for every 5 year autosave. That pretty much sums up the CKII mp experience. You can pull all the shenanigans with the "proper" setup but you will face a desync no matter what.

In vanilla EUIV, desyncs are usually predictable and preventable in most cases.

I don't think it helps that you are stuck on slower speeds either, or that the game sometimes requires pausing at random.

 

[Sergeant Flutter]

This game is usually played slower. Also, these campaigns, from my experience, are much longer.

 

[Dahoota]

It might be worth noting for anyone interested in MP that 2.5.x has been waaaay more stable in MP, certainly at least for the group I play with.

Also the cross-OS desyncs are gone altogether.

 

[Azarias59]

Because I need my mods.

 

[jfoytek]

I can't imagine playing CK2 with a bunch of randoms on the internet...

A) It takes far to long to complete, what are the chances a bunch of strangers area actually going to be dependable and finish a game!
B) Play style varies immensely in the CK2 database, could you imagine playing a fun RPG style multiplayer keeping your dejure kingdom dejure purposely as this other guy is pretending to be ghengis khan painting the entire world....
C) Peasant Rush! If you played games like Warcraft, Age of Empires etc a standard multiplayer tactic was to do a peasant rush to kill the other players, could you imagine someone in game deciding to take out another player early on???

So to sum up, I see so many ways a multiplayer game could go really badly. So I refuse to play mutliplayer with random people I don't know, I stick to friends on Team Speak I have known and gamed with for a long time that I can trust won't peasant rush, and won't pretend to be ghengis khan and will enjoy a civil game.

 

[Bernard95]

I used to be involved with several CK2 MP groups. The one I had personally ran with a friend always had the problem of just getting people to show up in the first place. You talk to them or play with them once, then you would never hear from them again. Once in awhile we would draw a decent crowd but then we would end up losing half the players due to de-syncs regardless.

Meanwhile I had another friend who ran an AGOT Mod MP group that would get away with an almost daily game with 20-odd players with zero issues.

My point however is that I've encountered quite a few groups in my time. For rabid AGOT fans, there's a rather healthy community for players even if you just count the famous but strict Official AGOT Mod MP Group

 

[Audoucet]

It seems as if the EU4 multiplayer forums are way more active.

I loved playing with my friends, but we just got disgusted by desync.

 

[WSnova]

It was plagued by desyncs, it was supposedly fixed. But it was a case of it being too late and all people interested moving on.

 

[Accrsd]

i see alot of people talking about Dysnycs.. and it's true.. even with a great internet connection and two very good and comparable computers it's just wasn't that stable over internet.. maybe local networks play different but it's exactly what i experienced.

 

[yourworstnightm]

Because EU IV multiplayer is way more stable than CK 2.

 

[Sweawm]

I've been lucky enough to play a couple of LAN games of Crusader Kings 2 (Well, LAN as in we were in the same room, same network. No Dysnycs thankfully). Even then, you basically have to make sure everyone is happy to play by a few house rules to keep the game from going off the rails the second someone gets bored and decides to assassinate the court of other players on the opposite side of Europe just to give them something to do.

 

[Fulmen]

Like others have already noted, EUIV MP is a lot more stable.

Also, having organised many MP campaigns in both games, I've noticed that a lot of the competitive MP players gravitate a lot more towards EU4; they just don't like CK2.

Personally I like and play both, as well as the other PDX grand strategy games.

But I'd still say the desyncs are by far the biggest issue.

 

[Monphat]

EU4 has a classic competitive strategy design where you control one entity throughout the game and the end goal is pretty much the same for every player: world domination and elimination of your rivals. You know what is your goal, you know how to achieve it, you have a game designed for that specific goal and all you have to do is to outsmart other players. Other factors: connection is better, vanilla suits just fine for a session and MP playerbase is way more active and organized.

CK2 is a weird strategy/RPG hybrid where you pretty much set your own goals and play out your own scenarios, usually with a heavy set of accompanying mods. Needless to say, it is much less suited for shared gaming experience.