Just bought Crusader Kings.

[Ecthy]

Yeah but there is also an offical status as to who is occupying the province. With only 400 men it is possible your ally has already made separate peace and your army is too weak to properly occupy the county.

[beingofone]

My ally is still at war with my enemy.

There was another county in his that he was at war with first.
Does it matter who enters the county first? We both have claims to his title.

[Nikolai]

The target must not be occupied by another country, ally of yours or not. You must control all his provinces, and I think he must not control any other provinces(that he don't own, but if he is at war with someone else, this might be it). Also I take it you do have a claim, right? I assure you that this is not a bug, I've never seen it since I began playing CK right after it's release. As long as you have more war score than it costs to claim the title(s), you'll get it when you ask, even if your opponent has an army waltzing around(yeah, I know, it's a but cheesy ).

[beingofone]

Originally posted by Nikolai
The target must not be occupied by another country, ally of yours or not. You must control all his provinces, and I think he must not control any other provinces(that he don't own, but if he is at war with someone else, this might be it). Also I take it you do have a claim, right? I assure you that this is not a bug, I've never seen it since I began playing CK right after it's release. As long as you have more war score than it costs to claim the title(s), you'll get it when you ask, even if your opponent has an army waltzing around(yeah, I know, it's a but cheesy ).

Thanks

[Nikolai]

No problem mate. And just post if there's anything more.

[El_Cid]

I'm growing to love this game - more so than EU even!

I've had it for a while now(around six months) and things started slow like they did with EU. I install, play around for a few hours, read the manual, scratch my head and realise that often your success boils down to who you chose to play as

I would just say the manual is terrible, no where does it tell you how to send your army back into 'resting mode' once you've clicked on it in the province window. And the only option you have is 'disband'(with no explanation of that) which can make you think you will lose all the men in that army. Anyway it took me a while to work out that 'disbanding' isnt a bad thing, and is the action you need to do after a battle and peace has settled.

Still those kind of things aside, and after some intensive gaming of the horribly addictive type; i think this might be one of my favourite strategy games i've played.

The Dynasty thing is kind of genius, and is where its all at for me, this can be the thing that makes or breaks your kingdom and i realy enjoy trying to find the right mariage partners for my offspring. I'm trying to stay away from those third-party 'find best spouse' type programs that some fans have written, but it can get overwhelming doing it the in-game way - maybe a feature worth polishing?

I tried playing as Duke of Gwenydd for a while, the aim an independant and strong wales united under a welsh king. Quite a task in the vanilla game - impossible with the new patch(mass English Invaisions around 1080-90's). So after a few days trying to realise this impossible dream(although i did unite all the welsh counties in the vanilla game - just didnt have the cash to create the title of King of Wales), i've decided to swallow the horrible pill of playing as William of Normandy

The aim is to use marriage as a means to eventualy getting welsh blood as welsh king(english king as a bonus!), even if that blood will be part Norman/Saxon(french/German - just so you angles understand who you are and what exactly the concept of being english really is ).

I really dont give a fig about the Pope and all that crusade stuff - the task at hand is to unite all of the kingdoms that make up todays united kingdom under one ruler, preferbly of mostly celtic bloodline. So far i havent got close and i've been enjoying every moment of it - the scheming, balancing act that it entails is incredible fun. Do you grant your heir their own province early on, to ease the burdon from your own shoulders, and give them valuable experience to build their own rating? Or maybe its best to wait until you can find suitable wives to sire the next generation of kings? Once they have their own freedom they will choose their own wives so you lose that bit of control.

From starting out not thinking much of it, especialy in comparison to EU, i actualy like it better at this point in time. Maybe if i find out i cant carry out my plan due to a game 'feature' i might change my mind, but its always been my main misgiving about the Paradox games - they are so involved with re-creating actual history, that in many cases its virtualy impossible to change history. EU wasn't a great game for playing as Wales either, or wanting to re-instate paganism as the state religion

[El_Cid]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Anyone else ever seen this? When you care more for nternal issues and slow feudal expansion than for warmaking and international relations, all the big kingdoms disappear (France, England, Germany, Byzantium) and Muslim empires conquer big shares of European land.

They need me as a major player.

Yep i've noticed it too. After the crusade era has been declaired you see a slow unsurpresable rise in the rankings of the arab nations. I've got 2 in my game placed 2nd and 3rd, only Byzantium has been able to fend them of so far. France has been trying its best and been sending armies for a few years now, but makes no headway. The province the pope wanted liberated has remained under muslim control.

I as an at heart pagan king of England(and wales now) chose not to send any troops, i have the pretty tall order of uniting all of the uk under one flag to occupy me.

If you play William of Normandie i think the first most useful move is to assasinate your first born son, as he is pretty useless stat wise. Richard as second inline has a great intrigue rating(important in the 1.05 patch version - this now determines how many provinces you control directly, its not stewardship anymore) and makes a very capable leader if you can fend of the prospect of england descending into civil war when he takes over from William.

In my current game all Williams sons have married into the welsh royal family bloodline so my plan for a celtic kindom are under way. The origonal welsh faction still has two provinces to itself in north wales, sadly they keep refusing vasselisation, even with a good 10-15 years of inter marriage and relative peace between us(i did take Gwynedd, which was my only hostile action against that main branch of welsh royalty).

The other welsh faction in south wales(which is no more in my game) seems to have its roots in Ireland and Italy, which is interesting as there definately is a connection in south wales today(in real life).

I've got my claims ready to have a go at east and south Ireland during my current kings reign. I waited untill pretty much near the end of Williams reign before grabbing the claims - that action can be pretty lethal to your reputation and cause all sorts of problems on the home front, so you need to choose carefuly who you pick as target and dont do too many at once, or you might have rebellion on your hands as your rep plummets.

It all gets very machevelli as you end up having to assinate quite a few people to steer your kingdom in the way you want. Like to set up the marriage's with the welsh line i had to take out three wives of my sons(as independents they will pick their own wives). A good assasin/spy master in the court is essential.

I found a young lady in the court of one of the spanish kingdoms with an intrigue score of 16. She was married to Williams first born, then before a baby could appear was tasked with killing her husband to set things up for Richard. All quite nasty really - but pretty much how it was in RL.

Its an interesting game, at first it appears you cant actualy do much, and that may be the problem of playing a smaller power for much of the game? Still as a major player, you can manipulate the situation to acheive your aims, just keep an eye on your reputation and dont try to do everything at once; if you manage your bloodline well you can leave things for your descendants to do. So thinking on a dynasty level seems to be the way to go.

[El_Cid]

Well after 80 years of game start i managed to get my Welsh king on the throne of England. After spending a lot of effort trying to marry the right people into the Royal bloodline i think i prefer to chose the 'Elective' inheritance model - this way it basicaly comes down to whom ever has the most/best titles will inherit the Kingdom. You as current king can then groom your succesor by granting titles - it just gives you more control.

Also moderate the amount of titles you try to grab at one time, as each one really damages your reputation.

At this point in time i'm King of England, Ireland and Wales with nearly enough of france to claim that kingship also(france got wiped out by succesive muslim counter attacks). I've had to put down two massive civil wars that threatend to rip the kingdom apart - all down to me not knowing just how much laying claim to titles can cost your reputation.

This game really isn't helped by it's manual - it tells you hardly anything actualy useful. Still part of the fun is finding stuff out for yourself.

We've had 20 years of Welsh king rulership, mostly peaceful and building lots of stuff. Still the plague has ripped through most kingdoms now and is still persisting in a few of my key provinces. I couldn't really afford to wage a war just now, even though i'd like to take up the task of completing Frances liberation and bringing Scotland into my realm to complete my personal mission.

I've not gone on a crusade - and finaly at this stage(around 1180) my abstinance from crusade has started to cost me in my piety score. I had been able to keep it around 200 for a good while, but the pope has been on my back and even with the maximum amount of gold donation to the church, my lack of crusading has caused a deficit i cant make up.
Never mind - my character isn't a follower of the white christ, and as the most powerfull 'christian' faction i figure as long as my vassels stay loyal i can live with the Popes disaproval.

The earlier comment about looking at this game like a role playing game is true to a large extent.

Still my biggest issue with the game so far is the built in 'lack of control' - its very much a game where you cant get into the detail of ever being able to totaly control your kingdoms destiny. Much is down to chance and you only have real control over your immediate family.
It would be nice to be able to arrange marriages for all your court and those of your vassals - many times decent characters die out because the AI often doesnt marry them. And a good kingdom is only as good as its vassals.

I'm looking forward to when the mongols turn up - they will be a much needed check on some of the most powerfull muslim nations.

[El_Cid]

Hmmm ok i seem to have a limit of 5 kingships. nearly 300 years after game start i am the King of England,France,Scotland,Ireland and Wales. And with my third welsh king on the throne i have set about the liberation of Spain from the Muslim hordes that had taken it over.

Still i dont have a problem with the muslims in general, in fact my family has now married into muslim blood(my third daughter to my muslim and rather excellent marshal; a 'brilliant tactician' with a martial score of 21!). My wars are always for the richer territories and the aim of adding more kingships to my realm. It was just spains turn.

Still even though i have enough of the territories i cant seem to create anymore kingships, i have a choice of King of Aragon,King of Castille - but cant do it, so maybe i have a limit? I cant even create them to give away which is a bit annoying as i was hoping to give them to a few of my sons who will never inherit the main kingdoms.

I still have refused to go crusading - and after gaining control of the papacy have finaly been able to get rid of my excomunication status. I dont know how i got control of the pope, but it came at the right momment - i was having a problem with my reputation for 4 important vassals.

midway through the 13th century i'm waiting for the mongol hordes to rip through the east and weaken themselves on the large muslim empires that are there. Hopefuly by the time they get to western europe i will be able to muster a huge army to defeat them. The combined manpower of the united kingdom(which it is now technicaly), france and most of spain.

General points:

selecting your advances doesnt seem to do anything - you will only ever learn random technologies.

Lack of control outside of your immediate family is frustating, even if it's an attempt to model the real world situation.
On that note its quite incredible that a vassal you could easily crush is not able to be persuaded to your point of view.

reputaion loss across all your vassals for the removal of a title is a pain - why would the Duke of Cumberland mind so much when a rival gets stripped of a title(for example). Maybe you would get a small dip, but they were all rivals for the kings/queens attention, so i think the effect should be less sweeping.

when conducting a war that forces you to rally many troops, at great expense, you can disband an army before the start of a new month and avoid the hit in wages, then muster them again. Thats a bit of a cheat really.

[Nikolai]

If you can't make the king titles, you probably is out of money. They cost 250 gold each IIRC, perhaps you've lost too much money in your wars? The other reason might be that you don't own enough provinces.

Selecting your advances will make the advances you select be more probable to come to your lands, but it's still heavily influenced by the other factors involved.

A tip: Don't ask your vassals for their troops, take it. It will lower the loyalty by 20% or something for each regiment, but you don't have to pay upkeep and the %'s will be regained soon if the loyalty bonus is normal.

[El_Cid]

Well i have more than enough gold! - 10,956!
You always need 66% of the provinces to create the kingship.
Of the two titles i was after in spain i have 11 out of 17 on one, so maybe i need one more if it rounds down the maths?
The other i have 3 out of 4 i think - i'll check to be sure.
At some point i will finish taking spain - the job of my next king i suspect, so it might resolve itself when that happens. I need some years of peace for now.

And yes i usualy just take the vassals armies when i need them, as long as you can afford the rep hit its all good.
They use up their own cash, and the lower the amount of cash a vassal has, the easier and larger the increase in their reguard for you when you give them a gift of 100 if you need to improve the vassals relationship to you at any point. You can throw lots of money at a rich vassal for little rep change.

This is especialy usefull when you get excomunicated. So yeah try to keep your vassals poor but loyal.

And the advances thing might be working the way you suggest, but so far it appears random - even the way the tech spreads from province to province. e.g that good province in north eastern italy(the high gold yield one) discovered 'mint' tech and the next province to get it was Lothorian(sp?) in scotland?

At first i was changing my advance list but even with it selected on a specific field i would always get other things. just leaving it in the same field of tech has made no difference i can tell. I just discover all sorts of stuff in random provences.

I am using the latest patch, but i have a feeling either the feature isnt working properly or the calculations for it are too random?

Still it's not(surprisingly) detracting from the game so far - although when the sophisticated mongol hoards turn up my king might turn to the scientists and ask why his troops dont have the best armour and weapons, but instead can plough a mean field of turnips!

All in all i'm enjoying the game as i'm finding it, it can be hard work and the lack of direct control can be annoying. Still i've discovered if you really find a situation with your vassals not behaving as you want, you can just load up your save game, choose to play as said vassal, make the changes and save, then load back the vassal save but choose your king again. Its a tricky work around, one i mostly use when bad marriages have been made(as breeding good leaders is key) and the downside is your king might do some mad stuff with his 'independance' while you play the vassal.

Cheating? me? if i could control more as king i wouldn't need to feel i should. But i can see what they are trying to model with this method

[Nikolai]

11 of 17 is not 66%, it's roughtly 64%. As for the other, I'm not sure why you have the problem.

BTW, you're saying you're using the newest patch, is that the vanilla one or the improvement packs/betas too?(the ones that eventually will become the 1.06 patch, it's found in the public beta forum) I haven't played CK for a while, so I haven't had the time to try out the new betas.

[El_Cid]

The last complete patch 1.05 - not betas. But its good people are still working on more patches - CK is a fine game, with more patches i'm sure it could compete with EU2 quite well for most people.

I've had a look at the tech advance thing again - it might be a bug as normaly when you click the rosette seal thing it will grey out to indicate its been selected(like when you change your inheritance laws) - but that never happens in the tech choice screen? not sure really as that could be because once you've changed a law it cant be changed for a period of time, so that might be why it stays greyed out? I still dont think the tech choice is working properly though

I'm on a Pirates of the Caribbean break - but will get back to CK soon, i need to consolidate spain before the Hordes arrive!

[El_Cid]

no one else is playing this game?
I'm still 'giving it a break' - the thought of the hard work it will be to maintain my huge empire once the mongols arrive is kind of keeping me away

[General Ludd]

So let your empire fall apart. It's more interesting that way.

Then convert it to EU2 and play a game with mongol europe.