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Thoughts?

Looking for a game that will kill a lot of time during my upcoming deployment. Steam has a good deal on it right now. Is it a good game?

It's a lot like Total War, but with much less focus on military conquest and city building and a whole lot more on internal and external politics. You'll spend most of your time managing your advisers, heirs, wife(s), vassals (and their families too), and interacting and navigating the politics of other kingdoms.

Then you'll look at the clock and wonder what you've been doing for the last 10 hours. Then you'll shrug and start plotting to assassinate that Duke on your border so that when his daughter inherits his lands they become your sons and thus yours once you die and your son is king

There is also an awesome mod for the game called Elder Kings, which is set in the Elder Scrolls universe

CKII and it's "follow-up" Europa Universalis IV (Ck is from ~600 AD to ~1452 AD, you can then transfer your save to EU IV and keep playing in THAT game until 1821) are absolutely stellar games but have not so much a learning curve as a learning chasm, especially EUIV. I'd still reccommend them, but beware that they are rather complicated. I've got 500 hours played on EUIV alone and I'm still learning new things about the game mechanics.

 djones520 wrote:
Thoughts?

Looking for a game that will kill a lot of time during my upcoming deployment. Steam has a good deal on it right now. Is it a good game?

Be aware that CK2 requires a very powerful computer to run smoothly.

 Sienisoturi wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
Thoughts?

Looking for a game that will kill a lot of time during my upcoming deployment. Steam has a good deal on it right now. Is it a good game?

Be aware that CK2 requires a very powerful computer to run smoothly.

Got an Intel I7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 2GB video card. I think I can handle it.

 djones520 wrote:

 Sienisoturi wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
Thoughts?

Looking for a game that will kill a lot of time during my upcoming deployment. Steam has a good deal on it right now. Is it a good game?

Be aware that CK2 requires a very powerful computer to run smoothly.

Got an Intel I7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 2GB video card. I think I can handle it.

You are allowed to take those with you in a deployment?

 Sienisoturi wrote:

 djones520 wrote:

 Sienisoturi wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
Thoughts?

Looking for a game that will kill a lot of time during my upcoming deployment. Steam has a good deal on it right now. Is it a good game?

Be aware that CK2 requires a very powerful computer to run smoothly.

Got an Intel I7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 2GB video card. I think I can handle it.

You are allowed to take those with you in a deployment?

Murica.

Yeah, deployments aren't like they were oh 15 years ago where you were stuck smack dab in the middle of the desert in a medium sized tent with 10 other guys with sand bag walls and a cot and a single power plug that either powers the light, the radio(which plays the same song every 4 hours, we timed it) or the clippers to give each other hair cuts, where you had to hike 2 klicks across hard sand in 120 degree wind to get to a phone trailer to call 1800 collect back to the States. I was shocked to hear they had mechanically heated water instead of sun heated rusty metal overhead tanks now days. They got it easy over there, I lost 50 pounds in six months simply due to lack of any creature comforts. Axis and Allies games lasted for days unless a dust devil turned the tent inside out. Now that was our entertainment. We built a 9 hole golf course, almost the whole thing was a sand trap with giant lizards in holes spread out, we used Humvees for golf carts. Laptops? You were lucky if a CD Walkman made it the whole deployment.

As to your game, doesn't seem to be enough strategic combat for me so I will stick to total war.

It's a very complicated game, with a lot of neat stuff. Unfortunately, I've never been able to figure out what's going on in combat, and almost invariably find myself losing battle after battle after battle. Even the battles that I start out winning usually see me ultimately lose. There have been exceptions (such as my William the Conqueror start in which I spent years chasing Harold around both England and Normandy), but they're few and far between.

Yeah, I've been noticing how compilcated. I need to just take an hour or two to sit down with it and figure it out.

I love Crusader Kings 2, but I feel like it's one of those games that you have to be accepting of some big flaws to love. Dynastic intrigue, backstabbing politics, and messed up family dynamics? It's got all of that, and more.

I've had a blast playing as a count and just watching where the game takes me. Went from count to duchess to king back to duke in a few generations, all without actually trying to do those things. Which is not to say that it's a passive thing, I was doing things. Just not those.

It's a game where you can very easily paint the map in your color once you learn how the system works, but I personally don't enjoy that factor all that much. It's all about being assassinated by my jealous uncle, and then my heir wreaking bloody vengeance on his branch of the family, for me.

Just got this game in the Steam Sale, seems like a lot of game for £8!

Also seems bloody complicated. But, I've managed to battle through old school strategy games before, and text adventures. Think this will need some hours over the weekend and several cups of tea.

Had a quick go on the intro/tutorial mission so far and it seems like you can do some pretty interesting stuff. The add-on packs are heavily reduced at the moment as well, so might well pick up the dark age and early medieval period packs.

Hmmm, I just looked into my Steam and realized that I've played it for ~600 hours so I think the game is cool
The game is really complex, you always should monitor what happens in your land, what's going on at the neighbors, who's you vassals, who's their child and their vassals etc. This game is much more difficult compared with Total War where you.
When a discussed this game with my friends I realized that we played absolutely in different style: I always try to build semi-democratic empire where everyone loves me and most of administrative power lies in my vassal's hands (I always create a lot of vassal kingdoms) and they fight for me. One my friend is playing tyrannically, everything in kingdom belongs to him, so he has significant military power with a lot of inner problems. Other one likes to star as vassal of other kingdom and devotes all the time intrigues, gradually taking over the throne and joined the new lands not with sword, but with dagger and dynastic marriages.
The game is very difficult for beginner and wants you to buy a lot of DLC's which add many new features (like any Paradox games).

To be honest, the tutorial might as well not exist. The game is fiendishly complicated.

I played through the tutorial at least twice and still have no idea how to play it. Love the idea of the game just not sure I am willing to put the time in to learn how to play it.