Crusader Kings 2
There were many games on sale on Steam sometime during the last week of November (autumn sale), ranging from 25% to 75%. Never in my life had I bought that many computer games within a a few days! I, however, managed to stick to my buying games costing no more than USD10.
I bought Crusader King 2 for just below USD10 and that entitled me to the main game i.e. none of the DLCs (downloadable content) were included. I didn't purchase any of the DLCs mainly because I wasn't certain whether I would like the game enough to warrant getting its DLCs.
Well, it turned out I do like it :)
Ban, who purchased it earlier than me, did a quick research over the net and told me that one recommendation for beginner was to start playing as a character in Ireland. We later realised why: Ireland wasn't united as a kingdom then (default starting year is 1066) and thus didn't have a king. Morever, its neighbours, Scotland and England were still settling down as kingdoms (there were still powerful factions wrestling for the kingdoms) and Wales, similar to Ireland, wasn't united yet.
This grand strategy game ends in the year 1453 (approximately 400 years) or when your character no longer has an heir upon his death. Yes, you play as the heir once the existing character dies, so on and so forth. Oh, by the way, the game crawls day to day but luckily there's an option to speed the time dramatically and even pause it while you take some actions.
The game score is determined by the total amount of prestige and piety points gained by your line of rulers. At the moment, however, I would deem it a success if I manage to survive for 400 years judging from the various problems and issues the ruler has to contend with. My score currently is close to 50k.
In terms of expansion of my territory, here's what happen with 8 rulers to date (numbers correspond with those in the pictures below):
1. Started of as Earl of Dublin. Gained more duchies and eventually established the Kingdom of Ireland and later one conquered the Duchy of Ulster from Scotland to unite the entire island of Ireland.
2. Conquered most of Wales and established Kingdom of Wales. Conquered 1 more county a few centuries later. Didn't dare to do it earlier because England was very powerful then.
3. Joined a crusade and as the crusader who contributed the most to campaign, my ruler was awarded the spoils of war: Kingdom of Andalusia. Expanded by capturing 3 more counties from Castille but only with the help of some allies.
4. Joined another crusade and was awarded the Kingdom of Anatolia. Many years later, I willingly surrendered a county to Byzantine (opportunist!) as my ruler was fighting a tight civil war with his uncle, which he fortunately won with help from some allies.
5. In the latest crusade, my ruler was awarded all the counties belonging to England, which was then shockingly ruled by the Muslim kingdom of Fatimid! Oh my. I couldn't believe how far the English had fallen. From here, my ruler had the Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Brittany and some counties in the Arab peninsular.
I bought Crusader King 2 for just below USD10 and that entitled me to the main game i.e. none of the DLCs (downloadable content) were included. I didn't purchase any of the DLCs mainly because I wasn't certain whether I would like the game enough to warrant getting its DLCs.
Well, it turned out I do like it :)
Ban, who purchased it earlier than me, did a quick research over the net and told me that one recommendation for beginner was to start playing as a character in Ireland. We later realised why: Ireland wasn't united as a kingdom then (default starting year is 1066) and thus didn't have a king. Morever, its neighbours, Scotland and England were still settling down as kingdoms (there were still powerful factions wrestling for the kingdoms) and Wales, similar to Ireland, wasn't united yet.
This grand strategy game ends in the year 1453 (approximately 400 years) or when your character no longer has an heir upon his death. Yes, you play as the heir once the existing character dies, so on and so forth. Oh, by the way, the game crawls day to day but luckily there's an option to speed the time dramatically and even pause it while you take some actions.
The game score is determined by the total amount of prestige and piety points gained by your line of rulers. At the moment, however, I would deem it a success if I manage to survive for 400 years judging from the various problems and issues the ruler has to contend with. My score currently is close to 50k.
In terms of expansion of my territory, here's what happen with 8 rulers to date (numbers correspond with those in the pictures below):
1. Started of as Earl of Dublin. Gained more duchies and eventually established the Kingdom of Ireland and later one conquered the Duchy of Ulster from Scotland to unite the entire island of Ireland.
2. Conquered most of Wales and established Kingdom of Wales. Conquered 1 more county a few centuries later. Didn't dare to do it earlier because England was very powerful then.
3. Joined a crusade and as the crusader who contributed the most to campaign, my ruler was awarded the spoils of war: Kingdom of Andalusia. Expanded by capturing 3 more counties from Castille but only with the help of some allies.
4. Joined another crusade and was awarded the Kingdom of Anatolia. Many years later, I willingly surrendered a county to Byzantine (opportunist!) as my ruler was fighting a tight civil war with his uncle, which he fortunately won with help from some allies.
5. In the latest crusade, my ruler was awarded all the counties belonging to England, which was then shockingly ruled by the Muslim kingdom of Fatimid! Oh my. I couldn't believe how far the English had fallen. From here, my ruler had the Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Brittany and some counties in the Arab peninsular.
Comments
Hahaha there were no harems lah.