Honestly though, despite the incest and murder memes CK is probably the least problematic Paradox grand strategy title and has one of the less toxic fanbases, relatively speaking. HOI attracts straight up Nazis and propagates anti-communist myths, while EU is deeply eurocentric and literally rewards you for doing colonialism.
Yeah, the part about the historical separation is definitely true. As for crusades, i think their impact on the game is really pretty minimal. I've always thought the name of the series doesn't really fit with what you actually end up playing most of the time. I mean you can play entire campaigns without ever really having to interact with an actual Crusade crusade depending on where and when you start.
Plus, crusades aren't even really that special because any at least somewhat militant faith gets its own version of holy wars, so in a way it's equal opportunity problematic (though that in itself could be criticized as a form of propaganda by projection, because in reality most of the rest of the world did NOT have their own version of the crusades).
I would say the most problematic aspect of CK is that by its very nature it puts aristocratic elites ("noble" families) in the driver's seat of history. It implicitly adopts a "great man theory" view on (pseudo-)history, and does it more so than any other Paradox grand strategy title. And that's not really fixable, it's built into the DNA of the game, as its whole gimmick is that it's character/roleplay driven.
You just have to be aware that what you're playing is closer to fantasy than actual history. That's probably also why it lends itself so well to fantasy mods.
That incest is btw mostly meme, it happens pretty rarily in game, though there is one incest achievement on steam. Murders also got (steathily?) nerfed at some point, currently it somehow ALWAYS surfaces even if done in utmost secrecy, if your character lives long enough sooner or later someone completely unrelated would come to blackmail you for it (and if that person is your own vassal better murder him ASAP too, since your vassal getting hook on you can potentially even wreck your entire gameplay, like when some 0 stat dude forces himself into your council).
Last patch btw got plots reworked now they are much better and less random.
Yeah, though i found landless characters blackmailing me not even very big problem, i don't remember any of the even demanding something dramatic. The real nasty blackmail is demanding council post, they can potentially drive you to bankrupcy or civil war or even death depending on their skill and post, and this can only be done by vassal, usually it's better to just get your secret revealed and eat up the maluses (only exception i think if you are vassal and the secret can make your liege to revoke your titles), or if you are good with inbtrigue accept and murder them too.
I mostly play with mods though and i like new system, recently i pulled out assassination with -1800 initial chance, though it took LONG.
It's not a big problem because landless adventurer NPCs don't really do anything atm, but the game doesn't pause when you get a blackmail and it is really bad to suddenly have your screen obscured by a popup window while in-game time is still passing.
I own it but have only played a tiny bit of Vic3. Didn't they end up having to nerf communism because it ended up being the most effective policy by far?
Communism comes in two flavours - cooperative ownership and planned economy. First is the best policy by far if you want to improve standard of living and second is IMO tied with laissez-faire as the best policy for rapid industrialization, especially in small states.
It's more of a historical materialism simulator with socialism being kind of an endpoint of development. Also, it is really good at making people hate landowners and to a lesser extent capitalists.
Honestly though, despite the incest and murder memes CK is probably the least problematic Paradox grand strategy title and has one of the less toxic fanbases, relatively speaking. HOI attracts straight up Nazis and propagates anti-communist myths, while EU is deeply eurocentric and literally rewards you for doing colonialism.
That's only gonna get worse with the new DLC
I think it feels like that because the historical separation is greater. The crusades are a thing in the game after all.
Yeah, the part about the historical separation is definitely true. As for crusades, i think their impact on the game is really pretty minimal. I've always thought the name of the series doesn't really fit with what you actually end up playing most of the time. I mean you can play entire campaigns without ever really having to interact with an actual Crusade crusade depending on where and when you start.
Plus, crusades aren't even really that special because any at least somewhat militant faith gets its own version of holy wars, so in a way it's equal opportunity problematic (though that in itself could be criticized as a form of propaganda by projection, because in reality most of the rest of the world did NOT have their own version of the crusades).
I would say the most problematic aspect of CK is that by its very nature it puts aristocratic elites ("noble" families) in the driver's seat of history. It implicitly adopts a "great man theory" view on (pseudo-)history, and does it more so than any other Paradox grand strategy title. And that's not really fixable, it's built into the DNA of the game, as its whole gimmick is that it's character/roleplay driven.
You just have to be aware that what you're playing is closer to fantasy than actual history. That's probably also why it lends itself so well to fantasy mods.
That incest is btw mostly meme, it happens pretty rarily in game, though there is one incest achievement on steam. Murders also got (steathily?) nerfed at some point, currently it somehow ALWAYS surfaces even if done in utmost secrecy, if your character lives long enough sooner or later someone completely unrelated would come to blackmail you for it (and if that person is your own vassal better murder him ASAP too, since your vassal getting hook on you can potentially even wreck your entire gameplay, like when some 0 stat dude forces himself into your council).
Last patch btw got plots reworked now they are much better and less random.
I think the game currently has a problem with landless characters blackmailing you too often, but otherwise the new plot system seems fine.
Yeah, though i found landless characters blackmailing me not even very big problem, i don't remember any of the even demanding something dramatic. The real nasty blackmail is demanding council post, they can potentially drive you to bankrupcy or civil war or even death depending on their skill and post, and this can only be done by vassal, usually it's better to just get your secret revealed and eat up the maluses (only exception i think if you are vassal and the secret can make your liege to revoke your titles), or if you are good with inbtrigue accept and murder them too.
I mostly play with mods though and i like new system, recently i pulled out assassination with -1800 initial chance, though it took LONG.
It's not a big problem because landless adventurer NPCs don't really do anything atm, but the game doesn't pause when you get a blackmail and it is really bad to suddenly have your screen obscured by a popup window while in-game time is still passing.
Victoria 3 is better IMO.
I own it but have only played a tiny bit of Vic3. Didn't they end up having to nerf communism because it ended up being the most effective policy by far?
Communism comes in two flavours - cooperative ownership and planned economy. First is the best policy by far if you want to improve standard of living and second is IMO tied with laissez-faire as the best policy for rapid industrialization, especially in small states.
Better how? It's a totally different kind of game.
I know next to nothing about the Vic series, but isn't it sort of an imperialism simulator?
It's more of a historical materialism simulator with socialism being kind of an endpoint of development. Also, it is really good at making people hate landowners and to a lesser extent capitalists.