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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   2724 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 20, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Posted a few weeks ago about trying to figure out Crusader Kings III. Some 50 hours later, I'm pretty entertained. My first "real" campaign was as the de Bessas in Northeast France, became King after a few generations but got too bogged down by factions and decided to give another character a try. Played as a duke (doux) in the Byzantine Empire, conquered a few Kingdoms (Despots), but massively underestimated how big the de jure Byzantine empire was. Then tried out a count in Skane, a duchy in Denmark, in 867. Realized tribal plays very differently, depends a lot on prestige which is hard to come by. Starting as a count, it can take a while to build up an army that can raid effectively depending on how well your leige does setting up alliances for himself. Remains to be seen how this plays out, but might just start as a Duke in Scandinavia instead.

Fun game, but I'm still shocked how many people have 2000+ hours in it. The core gameplay loop seems like it could get repetitive very fast. Make babies, marry them off for alliances (thanks @orthoxerox for the tip), fabricate claim on county, invade, make higher and higher tier titles, rinse, repeat. Is the appeal to the diehard fans just how many various ways there are to roleplay? Far more than any of the Civilization games at least.

I have dabbled in the total conversion mods. A Game of Thrones is almost too bespoke to believe, has ever a game complimented a novel series so perfectly? With the Tours and Tournaments DLC you can even host your own Red Wedding. Now there's a bookmark that triggers a civil war after Viserys I dies (the Dance of the Dragons). After The End is very original, set in a post-apocalyptic New World in 2666 where people practice religions vaguely associated with their geographic regions. Nevadans worship UFOs, the people of Svalbard pray to their seed vault, rust belt Americans worship the 19th century industrialists. That said, these mostly seem to just give you different ways to roleplay. The core gameplay loop is the same.

I've heard CK2 is better but I've tried it and just find the graphics and UI hideous and outdated.

I can still see myself getting 100+ hours of enjoyment out of CK3 though so feel free to recommend specific starts, mods encouraged.

Most of the people with thousands of hours in CK3 stopped playing it like a traditional strategy game a long time ago. I like to use the gameplay as a scaffolding around which I build a grand narrative that exists mostly in my own head. I'll start with an obscure count and raise his dynasty to greatness, then manufacture a succession crisis and civil war. I'll lean hard into characters' traits and make horrible decisions, then revel in the ensuing drama. CK3 is basically an ongoing creative writing prompt for me (oh no! The promising young king I had planned to conquer France with died unexpectedly to smallpox, along with all his children! Now the throne is held by his fat, cowardly brother, but the dead king's older sister is married to the most powerful duke in the realm and has ambitions of her own....).

Ck3's gameplay loop is kinda immersion breaking once figured out. You start seeing the same events over and over.

Two solutions

  1. Roleplay as your character. Instead of minmaxxing you're stats ask instead how your character would respond. Take joy in long plots to murder every single one of your rivals family before kidnapping him and making him die of old age in the oubliette.
  2. Set weird or interesting goals for yourself. Form the kingdom of Jerusalem and then eventually Outremer. As Norse go to India. Creating a tall Brittania with the goal not of expansion but instead of crusade to spread your dynasty everywhere. Form New England. Play a hyper tall Wales.

Of cultural note relevant to this forum specifically. CK2's After the End mod actually had a bunch of rat references. Yudkowsky founds the empire of California, founds a religion whose focus is to emphasize different teachers but no singular authoritative source, and you start with the rare artifact "Meditations on Moloch"

The CK3 mod did away with all of this and I believe the cultural uniqueness of AtE is worse for it.

One of my favorite self-imposed challenges in CK II was to roleplay a Norse lord who got banished to Northern Africa, and whose sole goal was to restore his lineage to the throne of Norway.

Its nearly impossible to make decent progress with your starting character, and so you end up marrying other Northern African lords and the hybrid kids that result are not exactly likely to make a convincing case to the Norwegians that they are actually related.

I've never actually pulled this one off because the layers of machinations that are required to get yourself in position to actually invade the North lead to all kinds of distracting shenanigans.

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