Is it closer to Crusader Kings I combat or EU3 combat? Basically, is it just a game of “Get lots of troops. ROFL stomp all,” or are there some strategic decisions which actually matter?
I didn’t play that much EU3 so can’t really say. There are still the phases of combat and strategic decisions with regard to terrain etc. Also later in the game when you have more authority you are able to appoint specific people to lead your armies with a higher martial stat, when at lower levels the people with the highest rank will just assume command. But you don’t have any direct effect on combat once it is joined, no. Like I said, combat is only one part of a game that is actually about your dynasty.
Well on the basis of this thread I have played the demo and have had a blast. Now it looks like I have a new game to buy. I just had a few queries that I wondered if anyone could help with. How do marriages work? I’m not sure who I should marry my children off too. I see people on the CK2 forum talking about ending up with titles from them, how does that work? Also how should you educate your children? Does it matter who you chose?
Anyway despite those small issues, it is still a lot of fun. Although if I can waste as much time as I have with just 20 years, I’m dreading the full game!
Fantastic! I feel like I’ve done my bit for the game (and I’m not a shill, I promise :D)
Marriages - your female children are bargaining chips for creating alliances with other families. It’s best to marry them to someone who you would potentially want to call on for support should you go to war (bear in mind this ability goes two ways so don’t do it with someone you would have no desire to support militarily). Your male children are the same in terms of creating alliances, but there is the added consideration that you could potentially end up becoming one of them through the succession laws depending on what they are, so you have to be careful what position you put them in i.e. don’t set your heir or second in line up in a crappy marriage to some old bint who can’t have kids. Finally there is the issue of prestige, when you propose a marriage between your child and another person the child will either gain or lose prestige depending on the relative status of the person and that person’s dynasty. For example, if you’re a duke your children will lose prestige if they marry down to the level of a count, baron or courtier, but will gain if they go up to marry a prince/princess.
Inheriting titles through marriages can be tricky, it requires the children of the marriage of you child to be first in line for a title so they can acquire, giving you the potential to lay a claim on it or inherit it should they experience an “accident”. Killing people you’re related to is pretty poor form though, so if you’re discovered don’t expect people to look favourably on it. A word on matrilineal marriage - if you have no male heirs and your succession laws don’t allow you to pass your titles to females (and changing the succession laws is pretty drastic so don’t do it for the sake of one generation) then marry your daughters matrilineally so that their name comes before their husband’s and their hopefully male children can inherit your title. No-one of any status will take a matrilineal marriage, so you’ll have to pick some low ranking schmoe, or possibly someone of rank but who is miles away from inheriting within their family (if you’re doing that at least try and get someone with good stats to pass on to that child who may end up being your heir).
Education - two major factors are that the person who educates your child will influence what traits (personality ones, of course) and stats they get, you can mouse over them on the trait bar of the potential guardian to see what impact they would have. The child will grow up to be like that person, so don’t give your important children to people with lots of negative traits. The other one is the person who is selected to be your child’s guardian gets an opinion boost towards you for doing so, so in a situation where you have a few likely candidates maybe it’s better to think about giving it to one who is a vassal and powerful (those 20 opinion points aren’t to be sniffed at!). If you’re educating your heir it is VITAL that the guardian has the highest stewardship possible, with diplomacy and martial second, and as few negative personality traits as possible. If that means choosing your current character as the guardian for the child then so be it.
Illuminatiprimus have you played through to the Mongol invasions yet? If so are they still horrific? That was the best/worst part of the old game I thought. If you’re in Eastern or Central Europe, you had best be at peace with your neighbors when they show up. Those are some baaaad dudes. (historically speaking too).
No I haven’t, in this or the original. I’m looking forward to what I’m sure will be a challenging experience 
Regarding inheritance through marriage:
Here’s one way I figure it works (haven’t had time to take a look to see if this is how it works or not, so I’m asking): You marry your heir to the eldest daughter of a man who has no sons and who allows women to inherit. The daughter’s father dies and she inherits his stuff. Then her heir (also your heir’s heir) will inherit her stuff when she dies. So when you become your heir’s heir, you will have acquired the new lands. Correct?
(Can be hastened through assassinations… which, btw, were assassinations specifically for inheritance of titles that common back then?)
Are there other ways to inherit through marriage? Or do you just have to be on the lookout for the sonless guy with an unmarried eldest daughter? And hope they’ll agree to marry your heir…?
Thanks for the help. Will have to play some more tonight.
My advice…pray.
outofeight.info gave it an 8/8. How can I resist? Installing now.
It’s getting top reviews from everyone - I’m glad as they’ve obviously put the work in for this product to make it as good as they reasonably can for launch. It was probably out of necessity given the fact that their products are tainted with so much launch suspicion now. I can’t help but wonder if the outrage generated at Sword of the Stars 2 (no, not an internal product, but they published it) being sold full price as a game when it was barely at a beta stage has had any bearing on how they handled CK2.
I bought the game and am playing a count near Norway who has the option to create a duchy with a de jure claim on the neighboring land. It’s slow going because of the gold requirement and that no one likes me very well. I have arranged a few well placed marriages though so over a couple generations I should be able to expand a bit. My current heir is married to a duchess so I think my grandson should be inheriting both. We’ll see how it goes!
Watch out–a lot of the laws in Scandanavia are elective instead of primogenitive.
Thanks. :). A game I gave up quickly was playing a Spanish king. All of my neighbors were my siblings and they all hated each other. Plus the Muslims south of us kept attacking. I was in way over my head there.
When I get home, my next decision is whether or not to let my mother out of prison. My father jailed her when I was the heir and her ambition was to kill me.
I wouldn’t. If history has taught us anything it’s that you should always have your enemies executed when given the chance. Letting them live never works out well for you.
In my current game, I started out as an independent Welsh count. My chancellor manufactured a claim to the next-door county (also independent). A brief war (with the help of some mercenaries), and it was mine. That gave me two of the three counties of a Duchy–so I usurped the current Duke. And then got him to accept vassalization. And that gave me three of the six counties that are a part of Wales–so next I created the Kingdom of Wales. And the other Welsh Duke agreed to be a vassal under the new King (me). It felt like the medieval equivalent of a leveraged buyout.
After that, I’ve been slowly chipping away at William the Conqueror’s England. He’s been in full-out wars with either France or Norway most of the time. (Norway currently holds most of Scotland.) He doesn’t have many troops to deal with little Wales taking a county here or there.
I don’t have any external existential threats, but we’ll see how the inheritance goes. It’s gavelkind, so my sons will split things. I don’t think they’ll get claims on each other (unlike primogeniture, for example), so they should be allies. Hopefully they’ll be able to hold more of Britain.
I still have no clue what I’m doing in this game, and I’ve dropped about 20 hours playing it. I’m having too much fun to bother reading the manual, though I’m sure I’ll get around to it one day.
I have no idea what “gavelkin” and “primogeniture” are, but I do know that my 65 year old duke is having a torrid May-December affair with a countess who previously spent most of her time plotting against him. She’ll likely end up on the gibbet after he passes, but until then all he’s worried about is keeping his shiny new 18 year old wife from finding out. Well, that and keeping his miscreant, syphilitic son from murdering his heir.
I find that playing a small, weak duchy is even more fun than being a kingdom builder. It’s a challenging mix of toadying, scheming, and outright murder.
Gavelkind is where your titles are divided amongst your children, with the biggest going to your heir. It’s pretty much impossible to keep a kingdom together for many generations with that system of inheritence, so it’s popular with your vassals and children as it means they get to share equally. Primogeniture is when all titles held by your character go to your heir, the main variations being whether women can inherit or not. England is primogeniture at the start of the 1066 game, so it’s pretty easy to keep that together through your dynasty without too much disruption.
What I’m struggling with in the game is understand how claims get inherited. For example, I’m an English monarch with primogeniture, and I married my son to a French princess, and they also have primogeniture. Under the laws of our crowns the claim she has on the French throne should have passed to my son, but it doesn’t seem to have done. What gives?
I’ve also recently learnt how to make use of the “claim war on behalf of” casus beli which I think has the potential for a lot of expansion. I just need to make sure members of my dynasty marry the right people so I can press their claims and voila! Instant vassal
I did that as well. I found someone with a claim on a county, invited them to my court, married them to a relative (I think it was a niece) and pressed their claim.
I’ve also gotten around the title loss on succession rule by doing a land grant of the title to my heir.