Playing other games

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

Turns out I was wrong about how long it would take to get enough Piety to change religions in CK3. Can be done in a single lifetime, if you have the right starting point. Just did it in a fresh game as a Norse ruler:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kt4134ettr7zw ... 1.jpg?dl=0
Main thing that made it viable was the Human Sacrifice tenet in Asatru - you get Piety from executions. Accumulated just over 5k Piety by the time my character was at death's door, which was enough to do most of what I wanted. Incidentally well worth taking the Know Thyself perk, so you get a year's warning of when death's imminent. Just enough time for one last raid along the coast of the Baltic, grab a few more captives & execute them on the spot for a bit more Piety.

I agree, it's been pretty easy once I unlocked the theology skill that halves the reformation cost.
I saved just before converting to try some different options: went for concubines, but I honestly prefer monogamy. Very nice tenet is Ritual Celebrations, which increases the number of feasts and the number of hosts at feasts: a lot of opportunities in those kind of events.

[GCU Grey Area]

I agree, it's been pretty easy once I unlocked the theology skill that halves the reformation cost.

Yeah, it's pretty much essential for Tribals to be able to reform their religion fairly quickly after starting a new game - can't progress to Feudalism without a religious reformation first.

I saved just before converting to try some different options: went for concubines, but I honestly prefer monogamy. Very nice tenet is Ritual Celebrations, which increases the number of feasts and the number of hosts at feasts: a lot of opportunities in those kind of events.

Same here, saved then spent the next hour or so trying different combinations. Eventually ended up with Carnal Exultation, Mendicant Preachers & Unrelenting Faith as tenets, with Polygamy for marriage type (i.e. primary wife with high Stewardship & past child-bearing age + 3 younger secondary wives with good inheritable traits and/or alliances). All crime doctrines set to 'accepted', no bastards & unrestricted marriage. Did consider that feasting tenet, however in my last game ended up being invited to an awful lot of them when my empire got big. Quite a lot of my rulers in the latter half of the game ended up dying early due to obesity, presumably due to all the feasting they were doing.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

...

I was wondering if you know if it's possible to have a list of casus belli I have against people and filter them to hide holy wars, as I alway have 30+ of them and I'd like to see only the counties I can claim for myself, my vassals and my courtiers.

Now in the process of unlocking absolute monarchy to pick the best heir possible, because firstborn isn't usually optimal.

[GCU Grey Area]

I was wondering if you know if it's possible to have a list of casus belli I have against people and filter them to hide holy wars, as I alway have 30+ of them and I'd like to see only the counties I can claim for myself, my vassals and my courtiers.

Not sure that's possible. I generally ignore the big list of potential claims on the Issues tab & just click directly on the rulers for bits of land I'd like & see what claims are available.

Now in the process of unlocking absolute monarchy to pick the best heir possible, because firstborn isn't usually optimal.

There's always the 'disinherit' option for removing The Disappointment (usually for me an heir who fails to have high enough Stewardship to hold the core realm together) from the line of succession. Makes them really angry, but keeps them around just in case e.g. they have useful genetics, or high Prowess so they're still a decent Champion/Knight, etc. Recently been using it quite a bit. It's much quicker than a murder plot, more reliable & most generations I'll end up using that option at least once until my primary heir is the best of the lot. Consolation prize for his older brothers tends to be a bag of gold & title to an obscure county as far from the capital as I can find. Found it's become particularly necessary in my current game due to recent religious changes. Carnal Exaltation (+25% Fertility) + 4 wives = LOTS of kids.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

I was wondering if you know if it's possible to have a list of casus belli I have against people and filter them to hide holy wars, as I alway have 30+ of them and I'd like to see only the counties I can claim for myself, my vassals and my courtiers.

Not sure that's possible. I generally ignore the big list of potential claims on the Issues tab & just click directly on the rulers for bits of land I'd like & see what claims are available.

Now in the process of unlocking absolute monarchy to pick the best heir possible, because firstborn isn't usually optimal.

There's always the 'disinherit' option for removing The Disappointment (usually for me an heir who fails to have high enough Stewardship to hold the core realm together) from the line of succession. Makes them really angry, but keeps them around just in case e.g. they have useful genetics, or high Prowess so they're still a decent Champion/Knight, etc. Recently been using it quite a bit. It's much quicker than a murder plot, more reliable & most generations I'll end up using that option at least once until my primary heir is the best of the lot. Consolation prize for his older brothers tends to be a bag of gold & title to an obscure county as far from the capital as I can find. Found it's become particularly necessary in my current game due to recent religious changes. Carnal Exaltation (+25% Fertility) + 4 wives = LOTS of kids.

Too many people to disinherit, my lastborn is the best one, even if it's still obscure (he's 3 years old, but has got Genius trait and a mother / guardian with all skills at 12+).
I'm curious to play as a child, eventually (my health is poor, but I need to stay up at least 4 years to get the absolute monarchy law passed).

[GCU Grey Area]

Too many people to disinherit, my lastborn is the best one, even if it's still obscure (he's 3 years old, but has got Genius trait and a mother / guardian with all skills at 12+).
I'm curious to play as a child, eventually (my health is poor, but I need to stay up at least 4 years to get the absolute monarchy law passed).

Did that recently. Was quite interesting. Queen Svanhildr (the one who setup her own religion) got the throne at the age of 2, after my first ruler died (gout) just 5 years after the start of the game. Annoyingly had spent well over an hour looking round the map, pondering the options, trying to decide who to pick as a starting character. Don't think he lasted anywhere near that long after I finally started the new game.

As for that religion, think I may well end up reverting to the save just before I locked in it's tenets & try something different. Was interesting to see the consequences, but just ended up with far too many kids to be sustainable with the basic confederate partition inheritence system (15 of them by the age of 48). Disinherited the first couple to get to one I liked, then tried to conquer new lands, so I could hand out new duchies to rest (& therby keep the core territory intact for the next ruler). However just couldn't keep up with the rate at which they were being born - very best I could manage was that the next ruler would inherit Kingdom of Norway title, but only a single county with just one barony (i.e. domain size=1).

[GCU Grey Area]

After reverting & taking different options for the new religion found something which, so far at least, seems to be quite useful for restricting the number of claims for succession. If you take the 'Head of Faith: Temporal' option it adds a rather useful new succession law. Heirs need to be of exactly the same faith, presumably because they also become Head of Faith when they inherit the throne.

Consequently managed to effectively disinherit my ruler's first 2 sons (without the usual negatives), by simply failing to Demand Conversion (they both stayed Old Asatru). Also ruined my 4th son's chances of inheriting anything by giving them a guardian who still followed the old religion (one of his older brothers) & asking him to convert son #4 to Old Asatru. As a result, now only have one son as a viable option for heir (the 3rd, who just happens to be the genius in the family). He currently stands to inherit absolutely everything, even under confederate partition in a moderately big family. Only downside so far seems to be incredibly minor, just a -5 opinion penalty with sons 1,2 & 4 due to religious differences.

Shouldn't be too much trouble if anything bad happens to #3, I'll simply Demand Conversion of the next best. Only concern currently is if one of the others decides to convert to the new religion all by themselves (at that point might need to formally Disinherit, or makes sure they have an unfortunate accident). However, it's been several years since the new religion was founded & that still hasn't happened yet.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

After reverting & taking different options for the new religion found something which, so far at least, seems to be quite useful for restricting the number of claims for succession. If you take the 'Head of Faith: Temporal' option it adds a rather useful new succession law. Heirs need to be of exactly the same faith, presumably because they also become Head of Faith when they inherit the throne.

Consequently managed to effectively disinherit my ruler's first 2 sons (without the usual negatives), by simply failing to Demand Conversion (they both stayed Old Asatru). Also ruined my 4th son's chances of inheriting anything by giving them a guardian who still followed the old religion (one of his older brothers) & asking him to convert son #4 to Old Asatru. As a result, now only have one son as a viable option for heir (the 3rd, who just happens to be the genius in the family). He currently stands to inherit absolutely everything, even under confederate partition in a moderately big family. Only downside so far seems to be incredibly minor, just a -5 opinion penalty with sons 1,2 & 4 due to religious differences.

Shouldn't be too much trouble if anything bad happens to #3, I'll simply Demand Conversion of the next best. Only concern currently is if one of the others decides to convert to the new religion all by themselves (at that point might need to formally Disinherit, or makes sure they have an unfortunate accident). However, it's been several years since the new religion was founded & that still hasn't happened yet.

Nice trick with religious conversion, I like it. But first, I need to conquer two holy sites (I'm in the christian religion, so wars to conquer two of Rome / Jerusalem / Cologne / somewhere in Spain are going to be pretty expensive).

[GCU Grey Area]

Nice trick with religious conversion, I like it. But first, I need to conquer two holy sites (I'm in the christian religion, so wars to conquer two of Rome / Jerusalem / Cologne / somewhere in Spain are going to be pretty expensive).

Sounds like a tough fight. Much easier as a Viking - all the holy sites are conveniently close to Scandinavia.

As for the religious conversion disinheritance trick, one thing to watch out for (caught me out) is new kids appearing just before the end of a reign. 3rd wife popped out 2 extra boys in rapid succession when my king was almost 70. Should have divorced as soon as I got the pregnancy notification for the first, but didn't think of it at the time (also hadn't noticed quite how old my king was getting). Gave both an appropriate guardian to educate them in the wrong religion, but not enough time left for the religious conversions - generally takes a few years. Bought one of them off with a duchy & a county, so he wouldn't pinch any core territory. However, as soon as his father died, the other one created the Kingdom of Denmark for himself (did not exist until that point) & thereby gained independence. Not bad going for a kid less than 1 year old at the time...

[Alan Phipps]

I'm beginning to think that CK is needing its own thread.

[Mightysword]

I find the current discussion interesting. I had never played the CK series, I tried to watch a few let's play video it never once remotely come close to the kind of game I think I would enjoy playing. Yet the story from the people playing it always sounds so fascinating.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

Nice trick with religious conversion, I like it. But first, I need to conquer two holy sites (I'm in the christian religion, so wars to conquer two of Rome / Jerusalem / Cologne / somewhere in Spain are going to be pretty expensive).

Sounds like a tough fight. Much easier as a Viking - all the holy sites are conveniently close to Scandinavia.

As for the religious conversion disinheritance trick, one thing to watch out for (caught me out) is new kids appearing just before the end of a reign. 3rd wife popped out 2 extra boys in rapid succession when my king was almost 70. Should have divorced as soon as I got the pregnancy notification for the first, but didn't think of it at the time (also hadn't noticed quite how old my king was getting). Gave both an appropriate guardian to educate them in the wrong religion, but not enough time left for the religious conversions - generally takes a few years. Bought one of them off with a duchy & a county, so he wouldn't pinch any core territory. However, as soon as his father died, the other one created the Kingdom of Denmark for himself (did not exist until that point) & thereby gained independence. Not bad going for a kid less than 1 year old at the time...

Well, you know... Some kids want to be astronauts, some superheroes... Yours wanted Denmark. Perhaps growing up he just goes and study to become a vet or something like that...

I find the current discussion interesting. I had never played the CK series, I tried to watch a few let's play video it never once remotely come close to the kind of game I think I would enjoy playing. Yet the story from the people playing it always sounds so fascinating.

It's a kind of game having a specific niche of players, providing stories for a lot broader audience.

[GCU Grey Area]

I find the current discussion interesting. I had never played the CK series, I tried to watch a few let's play video it never once remotely come close to the kind of game I think I would enjoy playing. Yet the story from the people playing it always sounds so fascinating.

Glad you're enjoying the discussion. For me CK2 was something I often enjoyed watching other people play, but when I eventually got it for myself found it wasn't really my sort of thing (no great loss, got it as the 3rd game in a 3 for not much at all deal). CK3 though is a different matter entirely. Really enjoying this one. Much stronger character focus. In some ways plays more like an RPG (a very Machiavellian RPG at times) but with a world map to conquer, rather than dungeons to explore.

Well, you know... Some kids want to be astronauts, some superheroes... Yours wanted Denmark. Perhaps growing up he just goes and study to become a vet or something like that...

Hope he had fun while it lasted (about 4 years). Couldn't let him keep it though, was the last bit I needed to form the Empire of Scandinavia. Gaining an Imperial title is a vital step. Now if anyone manages to get a kingdom-level title they remain a vassal, rather than becoming independant. Have also instituted the Scandinavian Elective law in Denmark & thoroughly bribed/blackmailed the electorate to ensure they vote correctly (got to love democracy in action). Now off for a quick raid in West Francia to refill the coffers. Really enjoying the different mechanics you have access to as a Viking, contrasts quite a lot to my last game. Ironically doing a lot less murder playing as a Viking - less need to since Court Chaplain is a revocable title, rather than a job for life (a life which, in my previous game, tended to end after about 12 months if they didn't have at least Learning 15).

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

I find the current discussion interesting. I had never played the CK series, I tried to watch a few let's play video it never once remotely come close to the kind of game I think I would enjoy playing. Yet the story from the people playing it always sounds so fascinating.

Glad you're enjoying the discussion. For me CK2 was something I often enjoyed watching other people play, but when I eventually got it for myself found it wasn't really my sort of thing (no great loss, got it as the 3rd game in a 3 for not much at all deal). CK3 though is a different matter entirely. Really enjoying this one. Much stronger character focus. In some ways plays more like an RPG (a very Machiavellian RPG at times) but with a world map to conquer, rather than dungeons to explore.

Well, you know... Some kids want to be astronauts, some superheroes... Yours wanted Denmark. Perhaps growing up he just goes and study to become a vet or something like that...

Hope he had fun while it lasted (about 4 years). Couldn't let him keep it though, was the last bit I needed to form the Empire of Scandinavia. Gaining an Imperial title is a vital step. Now if anyone manages to get a kingdom-level title they remain a vassal, rather than becoming independant. Have also instituted the Scandinavian Elective law in Denmark & thoroughly bribed/blackmailed the electorate to ensure they vote correctly (got to love democracy in action). Now off for a quick raid in West Francia to refill the coffers. Really enjoying the different mechanics you have access to as a Viking, contrasts quite a lot to my last game. Ironically doing a lot less murder playing as a Viking - less need to since Court Chaplain is a revocable title, rather than a job for life (a life which, in my previous game, tended to end after about 12 months if they didn't have at least Learning 15).

In one of my "versions" of the new religion, I played with concubines and usually only took concubines from the prisons I was filling in war times.
It was fun, but the number of children was too much even for a game!

[GCU Grey Area]

In one of my "versions" of the new religion, I played with concubines and usually only took concubines from the prisons I was filling in war times.
It was fun, but the number of children was too much even for a game!

Had one ruler who ended up abducting the wife of an enemy he defeated in battle. Impressive woman, good stats & giant trait. Unfortunately hopes for a next generation of genius robust giants came to naught. Always check every detail - turned out she just wasn't all that interested in men.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

In one of my "versions" of the new religion, I played with concubines and usually only took concubines from the prisons I was filling in war times.
It was fun, but the number of children was too much even for a game!

Had one ruler who ended up abducting the wife of an enemy he defeated in battle. Impressive woman, good stats & giant trait. Unfortunately hopes for a next generation of genius robust giants came to naught. Always check every detail - turned out she just wasn't all that interested in men.

Had one homosexual wife too. I tried to sway her, but could never seduce her and I didn't understand why. Then King Tommaso of Italy asked her why, and she replied something in the lines of "WATCH THAT F**ING ICON, YOU GENIUS!!!"
I didn't even divorce her, she was such a good person...

[GCU Grey Area]

Had one homosexual wife too. I tried to sway her, but could never seduce her and I didn't understand why. Then King Tommaso of Italy asked her why, and she replied something in the lines of "WATCH THAT F**ING ICON, YOU GENIUS!!!"
I didn't even divorce her, she was such a good person...

Got that problem with my current heir. Been married for 3 years now (wife's officially 'Beautiful' too), but still no sign of children. Sigh - only one thing for it, going to have to seduce his wife myself. Do my best to make sure they have at least one child. It's not that I want to do it, it's for the good of the realm...

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

Had one homosexual wife too. I tried to sway her, but could never seduce her and I didn't understand why. Then King Tommaso of Italy asked her why, and she replied something in the lines of "WATCH THAT F**ING ICON, YOU GENIUS!!!"
I didn't even divorce her, she was such a good person...

Got that problem with my current heir. Been married for 3 years now (wife's officially 'Beautiful' too), but still no sign of children. Sigh - only one thing for it, going to have to seduce his wife myself. Do my best to make sure they have at least one child. It's not that I want to do it, it's for the good of the realm...

Fun fact: I couldn't seduce her, but with my bonus to fertility plus her bonus to fertility, we have 10 children. I mean, is she really sure about being homosexual? King Tommaso deserves the trait "bed-sniper", I guess. (sorry mods, I had to)

[GCU Grey Area]

Damn! Heir's now become a bloody Drunkard. Rapidly becoming a Disappointment. Historically bad things have happened to such individuals in my current dynasty. Also have a new favourite, who's exactly what I need for the Strengthen Bloodline decision:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/voa7cg92m8d8o ... 1.jpg?dl=0
Unfortunately she's something like 7th in line for the throne. This could get bloody. Think I may start by sending out my current heir as commander of a raid, with a single county's worth of levies to back him up...

EDIT: Even better, just found the button to spilt off different regiments. I now have the 2nd Raiders of Middelburg, which consists of precisely 1 knight (the Dissapointment). No sense wasting some perfectly good levies. Now lets see how well he does...

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

Damn! Heir's now become a bloody Drunkard. Rapidly becoming a Disappointment. Historically bad things have happened to such individuals in my current dynasty. Also have a new favourite, who's exactly what I need for the Strengthen Bloodline decision:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/voa7cg92m8d8o ... 1.jpg?dl=0
Unfortunately she's something like 7th in line for the throne. This could get bloody. Think I may start by sending out my current heir as commander of a raid, with a single county's worth of levies to back him up...

EDIT: Even better, just found the button to spilt off different regiments. I now have the 2nd Raiders of Middelburg, which consists of precisely 1 knight (the Dissapointment). No sense wasting some perfectly good levies. Now lets see how well he does...

We believe in him!
That's funny how they're perfectly fine with suicide missions like those... But what if he wins the battle?

Anyway, if I see my heir is really bad, I trigger absolute monarchy just before death, pick the best heir then let them give my heir, the new king, an ultimatum to restore high crown authority to switch it back.