Game Discussion Thread

[Recharge]

Internet flash games are getting good all of a sudden...

Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure is the new gold standard of videogames.

Also, Treadmillasaurus Rex is more fun than it should be.

Both very entertaining.

[Gilgamesh]

http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/info/

An indie roguelike. Great game, but it's just released it's first edition. So it's not really a game just yet.

It's a very tiny, few seconds download to try the game. But don't judge it just yet, considering about that's about 5% of what is going to be implemented.

[Cind]

Sissy's Ponycorn Adventure is turning out to be really fun.

[janeshephard]

OK CK2 is awesome. My count died, and his successor had assassination of his father as his ambition/plot

[Recharge]

soon..ish

[janeshephard]

Yeah, it took about four or five hours for me to really get it, but things fell into place very rapidly after that.  The easiest way to learn the game (IMO) is by starting off as an Irish count.  You'd be on a pretty much even footing with most of your neighbours, won't have to worry about pleasing a liege, and generally have time to play around a bit before worrying about any of the superpowers.  Just try to gain control of Ulster ASAP to prevent the English/Scots/Normans gaining a foothold in Ireland and you should be safe enough at the start.  England starts off at war so is probably best left until after you've got a grip on the basics.  Scotland is a fairly decent alternative if you'd like to jump straight in as a king.

Were you able, as an Irish count, to raise a decent size army, and lay claim + siege? I wasn't able to. My army size was always too small to siege

[lordcooper]

Yeah, it took about four or five hours for me to really get it, but things fell into place very rapidly after that.  The easiest way to learn the game (IMO) is by starting off as an Irish count.  You'd be on a pretty much even footing with most of your neighbours, won't have to worry about pleasing a liege, and generally have time to play around a bit before worrying about any of the superpowers.  Just try to gain control of Ulster ASAP to prevent the English/Scots/Normans gaining a foothold in Ireland and you should be safe enough at the start.  England starts off at war so is probably best left until after you've got a grip on the basics.  Scotland is a fairly decent alternative if you'd like to jump straight in as a king.

Were you able, as an Irish count, to raise a decent size army, and lay claim + siege? I wasn't able to. My army size was always too small to siege

If you hold a demesne consisting of a single castle, you're definitely going to struggle to conquer anything in a straightforward battle.  There are a few options available to you.

1. Pay for the buildings that raise your amount of soldiers.  It'll take a while for you to be able to afford this, but it's a good habit to get into in my experience.

2. Hire some mercenaries.  They don't come cheap and you'll need to pay a significant upkeep fee, but even a small band of mercs will allow you to trample a count or two.  Protip: for maximum benefit, wait until you have several claims that you can press sequentially.  You'll need to lower your personal and vassal levies to declare war, but mercs can stay.

3. Tell your marshal to train troops (increases your levies temporarily), ensure the Bishop likes you more than the Pope and do whatever you can to increase your Mayor's favour of you.  Defenders get a bonus in hilly and mountainous terrain, so lure your enemy into attacking you and wage a war of attrition.  You'll need to lower your levies in order to raise fresh ones, but if pulled off correctly you should be able to win eventually.

4. Get some nearby allies by marrying close family members of yours to close family members of theirs.  Ensure they like you more than your soon to be foe, and call them to war.

5. Use intrigue to win.  Get a member of your dynasty to inherit the desired title through whatever means necessary.  Kill off enough people and eventually you'll inherit the title.  This may take a while in the early game, but later on it's a brilliant way to gain entire Kingdoms, or even Empires.

[janeshephard]

I did better as Scotland and until I decided I had no one else to press claims on except England haha.

Good game. Going to spend more time on it later and maybe read a guide or two. The whole inheritance thing can be confusing.

EDIT: Any other Paradox strat games like this? Essentially take 3-4 hours to begin to learn but REALLY fun after?

[lordcooper]

I did better as Scotland and until I decided I had no one else to press claims on except England haha.

Good game. Going to spend more time on it later and maybe read a guide or two. The whole inheritance thing can be confusing.

EDIT: Any other Paradox strat games like this? Essentially take 3-4 hours to begin to learn but REALLY fun after?

The genre is called grand strategy and Paradox are the undisputed king of them.  Europa Universalis 3, Victoria 2 and Hearts of Iron 3 are probably the games most worth looking at.  Many Paradox games allow you to import saves from each other to continue building your empire.

E: Oh, and there's a Game of Thrones mod for CK2.  You'll have to register your game on the Paradox forums to grab it, but it's pretty fantastic so far.

[jstorrie]

Finding it very confusing but I'm going to stick through it. Any good places to start? England?

I haven't played CKII, but in CKI I liked starting in these provinces:

- Madrid/any of the higher-level Iberian provinces: you start surrounded by the Cordoban Caliphate, which means you have a lot of foreigners to attack for fame, glory, and territory. Conversely, though, they're all probably more advanced than you, so this is a challenging yet action-packed start.

- Steiermark/any of the richer provinces in the Austria/Switzerland region - your province is fairly wealthy, and you're on the southern edge of the HRE - with allies to the north of you, and the juicy, rich Po River region to your south. Often in these games I'll expand southwards, claim Venice or Genoa, and then use the wealth of that city to hit way above my belt in the Crusades. You can then ply your Crusade glory into domination of Italy, including Rome, if you so desire.

- The Crimea region - if you want to take it slow, this is fairly remote and a cool-looking place to center a kingdom. The provinces tend to be pretty poor, though...

- Sjelland - I like the idea of my capital province being an island! To do well here, focus on developing your province while you keep throwing political wrenches up at the Holy Roman Emperor. Once provinces start rebelling, smash them for the Emperor, and create a duchy for yourself!

- Ireland - Ireland is fairly removed from most of Europe and a good place to quietly build yourself a kingdom. None of the provinces are particularly rich, but all you have to do is grab Alexandria in a Crusade and you'll be flush with cash anyway...

- The pre-Russian provinces around the Volga - very rich, especially if you grab the Ukraine, but the line of succession is an absolute mess. You have to be aggressive with both war and politics here to carve out a strong kingdom before the Mongols arrive.

[janeshephard]

... starting to get it. Figuring out the de jure titles, and fabricating for the right titles to have de jure claims... etc etc.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Is it me or has the Steam Sale so far pretty much sucked?  A few good games, but I already have them.

[Malken]

Is it me or has the Steam Sale so far pretty much sucked?  A few good games, but I already have them.

Well, I don't think it's the sale that sucks, it's mostly us who already have all the good games heheh..

I can't really think of a game that I would want and didn't already get because it's not/wasn't on sale yet..

But if this keeps up, I think I'm going to start a Kickstarter fundraising for my steam purchases.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Good point.  I've gotten a few DLCs for games I have for cheap, that has been nice.  Just no game that I've seen really has stood out.  I almost got the new Heroes of Might and Magic, but I already have so many strategy games to play right now.

[janeshephard]

So I'm King of Ireland with my son as the only heir... this is good.

My wife is the spymaster and she ROCKS. I've uncovered tons of plots. I gave my half-brother a county because it had no castle and players can't be barons -- also to shut him up. Then I discover he has a plot to take a dutchy from me... why couldn't he just ask man? So I gave him the dutchy. I figured my demense would grow smaller but it didn't.

What exactly happens if I still hold the counties but I give up a dutchy to someone. They just get extra income?

[chrisdcoulombe]

Dark souls: prepare to die edition for pc comes out august 24.

[Kastion]

So I'm King of Ireland with my son as the only heir... this is good.

My wife is the spymaster and she ROCKS. I've uncovered tons of plots. I gave my half-brother a county because it had no castle and players can't be barons -- also to shut him up. Then I discover he has a plot to take a dutchy from me... why couldn't he just ask man? So I gave him the dutchy. I figured my demense would grow smaller but it didn't.

What exactly happens if I still hold the counties but I give up a dutchy to someone. They just get extra income?

demense is measured by the individual holdings you have such as castles and towns. You have to give some of those away to mayors or someone to lower it. Also watch out for your wife as spymaster, your family will backstab you so fast your head will spin on that game.

[janeshephard]

So I'm King of Ireland with my son as the only heir... this is good.

My wife is the spymaster and she ROCKS. I've uncovered tons of plots. I gave my half-brother a county because it had no castle and players can't be barons -- also to shut him up. Then I discover he has a plot to take a dutchy from me... why couldn't he just ask man? So I gave him the dutchy. I figured my demense would grow smaller but it didn't.

What exactly happens if I still hold the counties but I give up a dutchy to someone. They just get extra income?

demense is measured by the individual holdings you have such as castles and towns. You have to give some of those away to mayors or someone to lower it. Also watch out for your wife as spymaster, your family will backstab you so fast your head will spin on that game.

So a Duke just gets income from holdings under him given to counts, and bishops and mayors?

Would it make sense, then as King of Ireland to give away dutchies to my close family (barring backstabbing) so they can deal with all the vassals and I just deal with them?

[Kastion]

So I'm King of Ireland with my son as the only heir... this is good.

My wife is the spymaster and she ROCKS. I've uncovered tons of plots. I gave my half-brother a county because it had no castle and players can't be barons -- also to shut him up. Then I discover he has a plot to take a dutchy from me... why couldn't he just ask man? So I gave him the dutchy. I figured my demense would grow smaller but it didn't.

What exactly happens if I still hold the counties but I give up a dutchy to someone. They just get extra income?

demense is measured by the individual holdings you have such as castles and towns. You have to give some of those away to mayors or someone to lower it. Also watch out for your wife as spymaster, your family will backstab you so fast your head will spin on that game.

So a Duke just gets income from holdings under him given to counts, and bishops and mayors?

Would it make sense, then as King of Ireland to give away dutchies to my close family (barring backstabbing) so they can deal with all the vassals and I just deal with them?

ya you get a percentage of the tax from the things under you which you can raise through technology or buildings and laws. The same applies for NPCs. Directly controlling castles will make you alot of money. You can spread your stuff out to relatives to help control it but allways make sure you have enough land to crush them whenever they rebel, cause they have a habit of breaking off one after the other when they think you are weak.

[lordcooper]

What exactly happens if I still hold the counties but I give up a dutchy to someone. They just get extra income?

It'll also give them de jure claims on all the other de jure counties in that duchy.  The best way I've found is to simply hold two large/powerful duchies that are next to each other yourself (any more starts giving you serious relationship penalties) and grant entire duchies to your vassals along with all lower titles.  Splitting up duchies can lead to loads of 'desires duchy x' relationship penalties and assassination/usurping plots.  Unless you want that kinda thing.  It can be beneficial on occasion.

[janeshephard]

So one more question....

When I have claim and go to war, and get 100% warscore. The enemy sometimes agrees to swear fealty to me and other times "gives up" the title allowing me to usurp it. Is there a way to always force them to give up their title? I end up provoking them so many times just to push them into rebellion. Pain in the ass.

[lordcooper]

When pressing a de jure (read: concerning law) claim you have no actual right to hold that title, it's just that the holder of the title in question is traditionally/legally thought of as being subordinate to you.  If you have an actual 'de facto' (concerning fact) claim on the title, you can usurp it.

E: FYI Holy Wars allow you to usurp ALL titles in the contested de facto duchy (but you'd better have a LOT of allies of the same religion as you), whereas using 'excommunicated ruler' as casus belli gives you a shed load of piety and deposes the enemy ruler in favour of their heir without you gaining any land whatsoever.

[janeshephard]

That explains it. If I fabricate all the claims then I can usurp it. If I do it over de jure I basically end up having to imprison and really fuck with people haha.

[janeshephard]

Wow, you can like invite people to your court and declare war on their behalf. I think I know enough now to go play some count in the Holy Roman Empire and kick some ass haha.

[Malken]

The Steam sales are a lot better to me these days now

Bought all the Company of Heroes for like $6 (Great game!), also bought Total War: Rome for like 2$ and Total War: Empire for 4$, there's also LA Noire for $5 and Thief for 2$...