You get that in EUIV, very much more robust and flexible warring system compared to CK2. You can declare war without CBs but suffer a hefty penalty to diplomacy and stability. Best thing is you don't need 100% warscore to claim land. Each province has a certain % for u to trade your warscore for, more valuable provinces require more warscore. And you can break up huge blobs and powers in EUIV by releasing nations with warscore, e.g. demand Britain to release Scotland and Ireland as independent states. So massive blobs like CK2's HRE are fair game just the same, though u need multiple wars to break up a big blob.

Hmm. That sounds interesting. I may have to give EU IV a try at some point. I shall read more about this.

Haha, yeah, I mentioned about BBB on this post:
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/crusader_kings_2_over_1_million_sold_7_million_ck2_dlc_sold/post212

I had an Ironman game as Muscovy, began the routine conquest to form Russia and I colonised all of Siberia to reach China. And holy crap, I saw AI Austria, aka the HRE dismantle France through several wars. France was no match in that game I had, they lost the initial great war and were crippled since. Austria had broken France up into pieces. They expanded into Spain through lucky union and destroyed Portugal. I always had an alliance with Austria from the start. But once they reached power overwhelming status, they broke the Alliance, put me as rival but did not invade me. I had the most armed forces due to Russian bonuses so they didn't declare war, they had the 2nd most and fast catching up with me. I couldn't expand Westwards because all of them are in coalition against me. So I went East but did not play since. Only matter of time before they start a great World War with me, comparable to Operation Barbarossa. :D

I normally see France as OP, first time I actually see them get destroyed in the games I had lol.

it seem quite epic there. i admit im guilty to always put france as my main target early on haha

Humble have got some good deals on Crusader Kings 2 (plus all DLC) for £24.59, for anyone missing any DLC. Still a bit pricey for my budget but I'm sure there are others missing DLC.
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/crusaderkings2collection_storefront

They've also got EU IV for £8.74. I may have to plump for that one myself at that price, sounds pretty interesting.
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/europauniversalis4_storefront

Also, my Danish conquest is going well. I've conquered Tyrconnel (I think) in Ireland, and the Kingdom of the Isles along the west coast of Scotland. Might be a bit difficult to hold on to with the whole foreigners thing. They're all ready forming factions for independence, but hopefully I can keep them under control. Not sure where to expand next, I'll probably consolidate for a bit and then try and unify Ireland, maybe invade Scotland. Unfortunately my direct neighbours are a bit too powerful to challenge at the moment, but maybe in a while.


Edit: Ok, I bit and bought EU IV. But it's just for research for the game I'm planning... have to check out the competition you see... <_< >_>
Damn.

Started playing the Umayyad faction in the Old Gods era. Muslim factions, they don't have succession laws, so you don't ever have to worry about succession, just give the most power and land to the heir you want to succeed you. Bloody win-win if you ask me. They can change laws without people voting, another win. Decadence is a big disadvantage, but so far I've stopped family members from being decadent, even if they don't, I simply imprison them.

Thing is though they don't get Holy Orders. Playing in Spain vs the rest of the Catholic factions who are all Karlings are kinda ridiculous. When the Christian Holy Orders appear, everything goes to shit fast. Even small nations will summon 9K-10K troops thanks to the 8K Holy Orders, let alone the giant Karling nations that have a big army and also can buy Holy Orders. To make matters worse, the Pope can ask for a crusade if you inch into France. I don't even know how to proceed after conquering Spain.

They actually do get a holy order. Every religion has one, but Catholics have, like, eight. You should go for Italy. It can be rough, but if things go well, you can tank the Catholic's MA.

I like the fact that the Muslims can attack neighbouring counties without fabricating a claim.
Italy's a Karling as well. The moment I declare war on any Karling, all the other Karlings come at me. That essentially means I'm at war with whole of France, Germany and Italy. So unless I'm Genghis Khan, I doubt I can actually pull off any wins :D Not sure why I had no problems with the Karlings on my English campaign when I took the Francias, maybe their line died out, also they can't use Holy Orders on the English. Also no crusades.

I fabricated a claim of southern Ireland and took a province, gonna see if I can steamroll Ireland and take mainland England without the Pope ordering a crusade on me.

cw8:
England has a Catholic holy site, so you will probably have a Crusade against you if you take it.

They're probably all dancing and singing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvS351QKFV4
I'll take every province except that if I can :D
I'll wait till I have excess levies of at least 50k before I dare arggo the Pope. I'm also allied with almost every major Sunni faction including the Caliph right now. :D

Well no, they already have succession benefits. I never had to worry about succession. They also can conquer single bordering provinces for 50 piety without fabricating any claim. Pretty damn good already. Except no Holy Orders, yet. Decadance if you manage it and maintain at <20% (not sure if that's the actual %) actually gives benefits for troop morale and income.

Empire so far, they start out having 3/4 of Spain anyways, just Holy War the rest. I took Ireland pretty quick. Painful thing is the conversion of provinces which is pretty slow. 7/8s of Spain is Sunni now.
http://oi57.tinypic.com/24yvlhs.jpg

Since I don't need to fabricate any claims, I'm free to use my Chancellor to kiss the Pope's butt. It's hilarious to see the Pope having +100 relations with me while I take Catholic Ireland. I'm not sure if he still crusades you if you're on good terms with him. Good news for me is that France is now longer Karling but they're allied with England which kinda halts my progress into Britain. I can launch a Holy War into Idrisid who are Shia. Burgundy, who is Karling, is Cathar, lmao. I wonder what will happen between them and the Pope. I'll be damned if the Pope launches a Crusade against me instead of him first.

EDIT: I just checked 0% Decadence gave +47% demesne troop morale bonus. Imba imo.

Filled up a survey by Paradox. Last few questions bother me, it's as if they want to go into mobile development. My general comment:

You make great games but do you really have to come out with so many DLC instead of a few exppacks that contain all the DLC. Also what's with your stance with DRM-free? You used to be very against DRM. But now seem to hail steam as the only platform to distribute your games. While it's cool that the game itself is DRM-free on steam, your DLCs require steam to work. Have Paradox considered distributing games on other stores like GOG?