1. Crusader Kings 2 Piety Download

Current Trainers: Crusader Kings 2 V2 2.0.4 Steam Trainer +8 Crusader Kings 2 V2.1.1 Steam Trainer +8 Crusader Kings 2 V2.1.3 Steam Trainer +8 Crusader.

As in every strategy from Paradox, in Crusader Kings II you have to use resources to develop your domain. But on the contrary to most games you do not operate on wood, stone or food but on some symbolical resources affecting hero's opportunities. The list of all goods gathered by the player you may find in the upper right corner of the screen.

Wealth - measure of actual richness of the character. Kind a currency using which you can solve most of problems in the game. Every county generates some amount of cash, depending on quality and fortune of infrastructure and governor's abilities. The biggest moneys you can gain from cities smaller from bishopric and the least from castles. You also pay soldier's pay in gold: be careful with mercenaries, because they can rip every treasury. During the game pay attention to having at least 50 coins, what is a cost of an assassin who often is a best way to solve problems. How to gather gold is described in the chapter Economy.

Prestige - measure of fame and character's meaning. For this resource you can buy many different things: it's required for a chancellor who fabricates documents, calling up the antipope and many actions resulting from random character of a game. You gain prestige thanks to the victorious battles, random events, won wars and some amount of it is also generated by possessed and depended estates. High prestige affect also your vassal's attitude. In the moment of character's death all his prestige is added to the score. So it's a crucial resource.

Piety - defines level of religiosity of the character, affects esteem he has within an elite of the Church. Piety points are given mainly for interactions with Church persons (especially the pope). They are required for example for divorces or asks for cancelling the excommunication. You gain piety also thanks to conquered and depended bishopric, personal features of the character and his storyline choices. But the most piety points you can get in co-operating with the Church (crusades, distribution of land to the priests). The last one is even profitable if you can give an investiture, what allows you to choose personally next administrators for your churches 9it also decreases pope's meaning as a political opponent). In the moment of death, all piety points are added to the score, like in the case of prestige.

Demesne size - sum of all cities, bishopric and castles you have. Duchies, kingdoms and empires don't count in. Every character has a limited amount of estates he can control. If he cross it over, his lands will be tormented by bandits, thieves and other problems. There are two ways of increasing this limit: distributing the land to your subject or a marriage. The crucial thing is not letting a woman to have a land: after a marriage it will belong to her husband (unless the marriage was made in a matrylinear way - look at the chapter House: Succession).

Realm size - sum of the cities , bishopric and castles possessed by the player and all his vassals. This measure has no real influence in the game, but it was observed that the higher domain, the bigger chances for profitable marriage.

Crusader Kings 2 Piety Download

Score - sum of a piety and a prestige of all characters you've played during the single game. The only one goal of score is to defining the quality of a House, because at the end you can compare your result with the Houses judged by the Paradox studio.

Of Paradox's Grand Strategy titles, I dare to say that Crusader Kings II is the most unique. Essentially character based, it astoundingly simulates the interpersonal nature of politics in the Middle Ages before the advent of “nation-states”. The sweeping, human narratives and dramatic turns blur the line between RPG and Strategy without ever losing its 'Grand' pedigree. To be truly successful in this game requires more than just careful logistical planning of troops and supplies: it also requires playing the great chess game of courtly life.

To that end, my liege, whether you're a new count or a battle-scarred Crusader King, allow me to offer some of the most important tips for the novice and veteran alike. Advice is correct as of the most recent patch with all expansions.

SUCCESSION YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS

Unlike other games both in Paradox's stable and outside of it which ties your fate to a nation, in CKII, your fate is tied to a particular dynasty—and, more specifically, to one person at a time in that dynasty. Thus, even if your great nation controls the known world but your family loses control over any lands, it's “Game over, man. Game over.”

Securing that your titles are succeeded by someone in your family becomes your most primal concern at the start of the game and securing that your family succeeds to titles as it grows is one of the best strategies to “peacefully” acquire more control. This is especially important if you're starting a custom character which has no dynasty to rely on.

Most of the time, accomplishing this task is simple: get married (make sure it's matrilineal if you're a woman), have children, and sit pretty as you hope your children aren't idiots. However, here are some nuances to be aware of:

• Make sure your spouse loves you. Lavish him or her with gifts and other favours that will entice them to your side. This not only mechanically improves your chances of conceiving, but it also helps to ensure that you are not a poor cuckold.
• There's no real harm in Family focus for a longer period while you wait for heirs. The diplomacy bonus to it is significant enough to be a good focus in and of itself while helping you to conceive children.
• Don't be afraid to annul marriages that are barren. If you can get your religious head to be on your side to grant you an annulment, do not hesitate. After all, how can a realm breathe with no heir? Just be aware that divorcing your spouse will enrage their family against you. The only exception is if you're hoping to get a claim on your spouse's demesnes.

Finally, and perhaps most 'importantly', change succession laws. Gavelkind is perhaps the worst possible succession law ever invented by man. Cutting up one's realm between one's heirs is not only detrimental for larger realms that might split into various Kingdoms (and basically set back all the work you've done), but it might cause rivalries between children. Which leads us to our next major tip...

ELECTIVE MONARCHY ISN'T SO BAD

So long as you can control the majority of the electors through diplomacy or intrigue, Elective Monarchy almost always ensures that you select the best possible heir for your realm. Whether it's pure elective monarchy or the Imperial style of elective, I have found that this succession law helps to select not only well qualified rulers based on stats and traits (while avoiding those insane inbreds, of course), but also grants you the ability to choose young rulers which is essential for building up that long term legacy. Realms are often unstable after a new ruler ascends and Elective Succession Law helps to alleviate this concern by choosing younger candidates who reign far longer on average.

The game is all about building and cultivating loyalty and leading through awe rather than mere power. This is the radial ideal of Medieval Imperial ambition. The problem, of course, is that Elective Monarchy is high risk high reward. You will want to actively kill, exile, or otherwise bribe electors who don't support your candidate or 'eliminate' your rivals that aren't your ideal candidate. However, keep in mind that you don't need to worry so much if it's another family member that is being favoured. So long as your dynasty is on the throne, that's sufficient and the electors will almost never pick someone “so bad” that you'll immediately be beset by civil war. Don't be too hung up if your ideal heir is not selected so long as he's of your blood.

INDEPENDENCE IS OVERRATED; CONQUER FROM WITHIN

Sun Tzu said that to defeat your enemy through great strength is not the onus of Supreme Excellence; Supreme Excellence is to defeat your enemy without lifting a finger. Thus, learn how to “politic” your way to power.

Perhaps the best way to explain this tip is to give you an example from one of my playthrough: I started as a lowly count of Santiago who managed to wrest control of the Kingdom of Asturias. Unfortunately, the Muslim neighbours to the south were poised to destroy my tiny Kingdom. Instead, as soon as I had control of the crown, I bent the knee to Charlemagne who was all too happy to be my overlord. The Caliphate to the south would not dare entrench themselves in a war against a whole empire so I was safe to scheme from within. Since I was already a Kingdom with various demesnes, I was one of the most powerful vassals of the Emperor and set to work befriending enough nobles in the Empire to be crowned Emperor not too long after.

If I had remained independent, I would have had no hope against the Caliphate to the South and the Empire to the North. Instead, by working from within, I was crowned by the Pope. Not too bad for a lowly Count to accomplish in the span of twenty years. Which leads us to our next tip.

TARGET CHARACTERS, NOT INSTITUTIONS

You don't need to win over everyone. Simply win over the appropriate people to get your job accomplished. For example, if you need someone dead, befriend their spymaster. If you need someone deposed, befriend the most powerful vassals in the Kingdom. Focus on quality of characters rather than quantity. Focus your money on those who have influence and focus your military forces on those who are weak and you will find yourself rising to the heights of power.

Learn how to eliminate your rivals and to be selective about who you place in power even if they have great stats. Which dovetails nicely into one of the most important parts about managing your court.

CKII IS AN ARTIFICIAL EVOLUTION CHAMBER

Like learning how to breed beautiful flowers, playing CKII also invites the player to generate genetically favourable traits. Unlike some traits which are based on personality and experience (like the virtues and vices), some traits are genetic. These include Genius, Tall, Strong etc. If possible, learn how to consistently include these genetic markers into your family line.

This hoarding also applies to Bloodlines. Avoid bad traits and bolster good traits. Always avoid detrimental genetic traits like inbred, but, keep in mind, that choosing between a spouse that might be great genetically and one who has no negatives but is the heir or heiress to a title, it's almost always better to choose to pursue the title to expand your realm. Once you have control of most of the realms of your religion, that's when you can focus on genetic supremacy.

SOMETIMES, REBELLION IS A GOOD THING

Strange, you might say. Yet, I have often intentionally triggered civil wars for myself. Why? If you can be sure of winning a civil war by inciting a faction against yourself, you can actually eliminate the power base of rival dynasties. Whenever you win against a faction or vassal in a war, you can strip their members of one or two titles without suffering penalties and, thus, install one of your loyalists (preferably family members) in their place. This is especially useful if you're looking to replace cultures.

Learn how to properly prune out factions in your realm by targeting opponents and inciting them to rebellion by getting reasons to arrest them and attempting to arrest them with an intentionally low chance of success forcing them to raise arms against you. This is also a great way to accelerate cultural assimilation as you can choose a top tier vassal of your culture to lead the new viceroyalty or duchy.

Keep in mind that you can also raise your levies and position them in their demesnes even before you send out the arrest order so you can have a huge mobilization advantage over your opponent right in the beginning.

WINNING WARS IS SIMPLER THAN YOU THINK

Unlike other Paradox titles which require you to strategically deploy troops against fortresses and achieve wargoals, CKII rewards a player for winning decisive engagements. Huge amounts of “warscore” is awarded if you manage to defeat an enemy “doomstack” (their combined armies in one location): sometimes by as much as fifty percent. By capturing only one castle and squashing the rest of the armies, you could sometimes force a peace. Thus, with no fortresses to get in the way of mobilization, squash the enemy army first, attain a massive advantage in warscore, then while the enemy army is trying to regroup, capture enough castles to force a peace. Take note that you ought not pursue an enemy army too far into enemy territory as attrition will kill you. Wait until the doomstack is visible and then pursue it on your territory.

This is, of course, assuming you can defeat the enemy army. Thus, target opponents weaker than you are. It's easy to check by looking at their ruler and seeing how many levies they can raise in their character profile. Usually, most armies are equivalent in strength so determining by numbers is easy enough. Avoid fighting those with similar sized armies if you can help it since chance may easily turn your parity into a route. Almost always fight those significantly weaker.

If you can't find someone significantly weaker, either wait until they are involved in another war with a powerful opponent, raise religious levies against them if they're of another religion, or build up a massive war chest to employ mercenaries. Mercenaries are more unforgiving in CKII than in most other Paradox games so be careful.

The only exception to these tips is for fighting the “bosses” such as the Mongol Hordes, Aztec Invaders, and China. These entities with their special “event troops” don't suffer attrition and are generally of higher quality troops. Defeating them is the true test of a Crusader King and requires careful planning and preparation.

Unfortunately, Crusader Kings II is so vast that all the possible tips can't fit into one reading, but we shall cover some more in other articles including tips on how to defeat “bosses” such as China, how to navigate some of the more convoluted event chains (such as the Immortality event chain) as well as the mystic orders and their rewards, and a how-to-guide on creating an immersive storyline to maximize your CKII experience.

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