New Year’s Hangout: Crusader Kings II

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jan 14, 2016

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 24 comments

During the new year, we got together and watched Josh play some incomprehensible game about maps and dialog boxes? Or something? Anyway, here it is, for those who missed it.


Link (YouTube)

This is the first half of the hangout. In the second half everyone played Left 4 Dead. That will go up tomorrow.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be on Spoiler Warning with us, here is your chance to see for yourself. This is what we do every week before recording the show: Fifteen minutes of incomprehensible dicking around, troubleshooting inscrutable problems and cussing at wayward technology.

Josh: Okay, I'm streaming. Oh hang on. The audio is messed up. I fixed that, but now the bitrate went to crap and nobody can see the stream. Now that's fixed, but Bandicam crashed. Okay, bandicam is fixed, but now the game is running super-slow for no reason. Okay, restarted the game, but now The streaming software is broadcasting the desktop instead of the game. Okay, fixed that but no there's no audio. Oops, audio is working again but for some reason the game launched in 1024x768 and the aspect ratio is crazy. Okay, the resolution is changed but now the stream went down. Okay, that's fixed. It all seems to be working now. Nobody sneeze.

Shamus: We can't start. This took so long that Chris had to bio break and I think Mumbles fell asleep.

Josh: godamnit!

Chris: I'm back!

Josh: Okay. Let's start. I'm recording video, and... shit. I didn't set the audio bindings for Vent. Hang on.

Shamus: The stream just went down for me.

Rutskarn: Me too.

Josh. WHAT? Why? It's fine on my end. But I'll restart the stream.

Shamus: Oh! It's back again.

Rutskarn: I see it.

Josh: Well I just restarted it so...

Shamus: Gone again.

Josh: Like I was saying, I restarted it.

Rutkarn: Okay. Are we finally ready to start this.

Mumbles: Ready.

Chris: Ready.

Rutskarn: I'm good.

Josh: Here we go... Welcome to Spoiler Warning, I'm Josh...

Shamus: I'll be right back. Gotta refill my tea.

 


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24 thoughts on “New Year’s Hangout: Crusader Kings II

  1. The Rocketeer says:

    Unfortunately, I had to miss this one. I dropped into chat for a little bit at the beginning, but I couldn’t get the stream working before leaving to go enjoy some New Year festivities.

    Maybe I knew I wouldn’t be able to see it; I didn’t even do my Rocky Horror schtick when I saw the stream announcement post. It will be interesting to see it for the first time.

  2. Gm says:

    who is the guy who is quit? nice to see things even through i´m reading Revenant-worm-supreme-commander on spacebattles.com

    1. Lachlan the Mad says:

      Is this spam?

    2. Gruhunchously says:

      I need scissors! 61!

  3. SyrusRayne says:

    Yeah… CK2 might make a decent Text LP (assuming Josh could keep it going; he lacks stamina, that one) but video ready it ain’t.

    I do so love the game, though, and the way you can transition from it into Europa Universalis IV. Aztec-Britain trying to stave off Jomsvikings conquest? That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

    1. Aldowyn says:

      I think they’ve been lax keeping up with the converter, sadly. I think some people literally just convert it manually?

      I just went through most of a campaign on Ironman and had more fun than I had in ages due to some major limitations (mostly just not forging claims). Took me ~300 years to get from count of Maine (Maine or Anjou, I forget. I inherited the Duchy of Anjou and the other county from my brother 3 years in) to Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and Francia.

      There ARE people that regularly do video Let’s Plays of CK2, but without /extensive/ tutorializing it only even remotely works if your audience is already familiar with the game. Even then, most of them do a lot more EUIV than CK2 nowadays. You can’t make it accessible to a general audience the way you can a narrative text LP

      P.S. Sunset Invasion is silly :P

      1. Grudgeal says:

        The converter is notoriously shonky and is usually only updated for compatability months after the patches that makes the conversons non-compatible. Since it’s also not updated with the new additions of EU4 expansions (and only barely so with new CK2 expansion features), gameplay-changers like those found in Art of War, Common Sense and The Cossacks aren’t reflected either. For example, province development levels in a converted CK2 save will always be like those in a ‘historic’ non-modded EU4 start, despite how much you’ve personally been building your nation during CK2.

        Personally I prefer using the converter (if it works) for a lot of the basic issues (states and their provinces and then I brute-force mod it with a text editor in order to ‘tweak’ all the things that I want to change, like, say, making the HRE orthodox in my Schism Mended CK2 roman game.

        Also, thanks to some tags being changed around, an independent Lancaster in CK2 (LAN) will become Florence in EU4 (also tagged LAN). It’s just one of those things I notice.

    2. 4th Dimension says:

      Yeah CK and PAradox games in general are not suitable to video LPs because most of the time you will be paused thinking what to do next and slowly advancing. Thus still screens + copious amounts of text are most suitable. Which is how I consume CK and Paradox games now. Through reading AARs on Paradox forums.

      1. baseless_research says:

        I donno, EU4 is far more stream-able than CK2. Your map is actually the most important UI feature (unlike CK2 where the court(s) and relationships are), seeing the map change as countries conquer/disappear is a lot more dynamic than CK2, troops are more obviously losing/winning, manpower is an easier concept to grasp than vassal levies etc…

        1. General Karthos says:

          Unfortunately, EU4 is also (IMO) a lesser title from Paradox despite being its flagship game. This is due to far too much simplification of the rules (even when compared only to EU3) and the ability to spend “monarch points” to instantly convert provinces to your religion and culture. (There are MANY more problems than this alone, but that’s the one that really irks me the most. Like playing as Castille/Aragon/Spain, I can convert the Basque culture to Castillian or whatever for a handful of points in the early going, wheras IRL, 550 years later, it’s still Basque culture.)

          Yes, the learning curve is more gentle, but this is because there is less substance once you’ve mastered the curve.

  4. Cuthalion says:

    I watched this the other day. I greatly enjoyed it.

  5. Twisted_Ellipses says:

    If you ever play the game, it’s probably best to start with somewhere in the British Isles. The game has specific names (Spymaster, Tillancalqui & Mystikos are all the same council role for different cultures) and rules based on cultures & system of governance (decadence, born in the purple, invasions, raiding, etc), which is pretty overwhelming for new players. Even then, before I start a new game I tend to end up consulting a wiki to get some idea of the weird quirks of a civilisation. There’s a tutorial, but it only teaches the basics and the best way to learn is just to play. You do get a good return, but only on a massive investment of time…
    …quite honestly, it might be Stockholm syndrome.

    1. Aldowyn says:

      The traditional newbie start is the only duke (well, petty king) in Ireland at start, Murchad O’Brien of Munster. Another favorite of mine, if you want a bit of a faster, more wartorn start, is one of the Jimena kings in Spain – probably Alfonso of Leon, IIRC. Playing as a french, english, or imperial vassal would probably be fairly forgiving as well. Anywhere in catholic, western europe in 1066 will have effectively the same mechanics, though.

      1. Lachlan the Mad says:

        Alfonso of Leon is a great starting player, but keeping his kingdom together is a hassle and a half. He starts with bugger-all for Crown Authority and the King Lear succession rules, so you need to get used to either having only one son or shipping your kids off to the priesthood for a couple of generations until you get enough authority to fix the succession law. Not to mention that you have some very powerful cousins holding duchies who you have to pacify if you want to keep boosting that Crown Authority without having a revolt on your hands…

        1. Aldowyn says:

          hey, trial by fire! (seriously though that sounds like a good way to learn the importance of managing vassals and crown laws on a relatively short, smaller scale)

          1. Lachlan the Mad says:

            Not that fiery. The kingdom mostly holds itself together if you just sit back, stay cordial with the neighbours, and join in whenever they go on a holy war against the Moors. On the other hand, you can easily claim the neighbouring countries with judicious wars and assassinations… and then you crash into your crappy Crown Authority and tiny levies. Perhaps the best thing to say is that the difficulty is directly proportional to your ambition. Which is still a good lesson!

      2. McNutcase says:

        That’s who I started as in my latest run, and Ireland went thoroughly expansionist and is doing its utmost to take over the entire British Isles. It owns almost all of Wales, and Scotland has been pressed to a rump that will be exterminated soon.

      3. Grudgeal says:

        I think Matilda of Tuscany in 1066 is the ideal vassal start. As long as you remember to arrange a matrilienal marriage, you can end up the Queen of Italy (while still being a safe subject of the Kaiser) and aim for getting one of your descendants elected or just expand within the HRE.

  6. Aldowyn says:

    Man, I wish I’d known how quiet I was. I think I’ve fixed that since, but I imagine a lot of the people watching couldn’t hear me :(

    Like, I thought I was just a /bit/ quiet, but I am /way/ quiet.

  7. Jarenth says:

    Maybe you guys think that that tea line at the end is a joke, but it’s not.

    1. Phill says:

      Americans don’t understand that tea is never a joking matter…

  8. Dt3r says:

    A 4x, walking simulator, MOBA? Sounds like something Arcen games would make.

    Standard Arcen prediction:
    It wouldn’t sell well, the art direction would be ugly as sin, but it would have deep fascinating game mechanics.

  9. Felblood says:

    For a Cuftbert-style, live LP of CKII, I recommend being a Jian Maharaja.

    You start with a lot of land and useful claims , and your realm is initially quite stable, plus being Jian means you can get away with a few bad relationship traits.

    Then your first character dies and all hell breaks loose, thanks to your giant harem and the gavelkind succession.

    You’d better hurry up an marry your heirs daughters off to your half brothers, if you want any hope of bringing the kingdoms back together.

  10. Circa 19 minutes in, Josh confuses the notions of Doux and Viceroy. Doux is just the Greek cultural equivalent of Duke, a title which is passed down through the dynasty. The only reason it shows the emperor as his heir is because he’s currently the only member of his dynasty.

    A Viceroy, on the other hand, IS a title that gives the effective power of a king (or Minor Viceroy for ducal titles) but is not dynastic, and reverts to the emperor upon the death of the holder

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