Forum popping.

As I previously said, there are usually many mods for Paradox games. For instance regarding Crusader Kings Complete,

<span class="bold">Crusader Kings Deus Vult Improvement Pack</span>

<span class="bold">Crusader Kings Mappa Regnorum</span>

Here is the original Crusader Kings forum.

Grrrrrrreat release! A game of thrones indeed! :D Thanks for the links! It's been a while since i played CK (have the retail version) without any mods so the next time i revisit it, i'll make sure to try them! ;-)

Can someone provide some insight as to how Crusader Kings is different from Europa Universalis?

I have played only EU3 in its first three iterations (out of five total), and the CK screen shots seem to have many UI elements that seem similar to EU3, and the time period seems to be covering roughly the same era.

In CK, the emphasis is really the dynasty and your ruler, not the land he rules. You play as a ruler, and when he dies, you then play as his/her heir, as long as s/he has some lands somewhere on the map. You get to play with succession, matrimonial alliance, internal backstabbing between families, plots... You get some of those in EU, sure, but in CK, they are the main focus of the game.

If you play the King of France, then have one of your relatives backstab you and seize your crown, then you continue to play as a lowly count/duke, while the bastard who stole your stuff is your new liege (and the kingdom of France becomes an AI country). But you will be able to get back to the top with a plot of your own.
If your niece puts herself at the top of the succession line by slaughtering your sons, then murders you, you will get to play as the murderous niece (your official heir) as long as she is officially part of your dynasty. (Happened to me once. Everyone hated her for her ruthless ways, so I/she quickly lost the crown, and I was stuck playing "the kinslayer duchess" and her heirs)
If the Moors invade the country and kill your character after seizing his lands , then maybe your son will become a count in Armenia because your wife inherited some lands there a few generations ago. He will have a claim on the throne, and powerful allies (the other members of your dynasty, and the family of his wife), but the path to revenge will be a long one. Or maybe you will build a new place for your family in these new lands; Or try to join the Crusades, looking for lands and glory.
If your heir is a toddler, or an inbred idiot, or an heretic, or a bastard, prepare for a rough ride

If you die without heir, if your heir is from another dynasty, or if you lose all of your lands, then it's game over.

It's really more RPG-heavy than most grand strategy games. Which I like :)

Wow... very intriguing!

That seems much more reminiscent of the way families worked in Medieval: Total War, only much more in-depth. Definitely have CK in my sights now. Thank you!

Yeah, there are some reminiscence, even if the focus is different, and as you say it's much more detailed. In CK, you'll pass more time ensuring you have a decent heir or planning the murder of your neighbour's children than fighting his armies.

Hope you'll like it. The game is strange (it has a very slow pacing, sometimes a full generation will pass without much happening, very different from the initial rush you find in Civilisation for example), and it's clearly not for everybody, but it's pretty unique, in a "Game of Throne" way :)

Always wanted to try CK2, guess this will do until they get off Steam and make it available here...

How is this compared to CK2?

I believe it's difficult to judge CK after CK2.
If you compare CK Complete (with the Deus Vult addon) with a CK2 up-to-date (with all DLCs), that CK2 has a lot of features more than CK.

For instance, in CK vanilla (like CK2 vanilla) you cannot play Muslims or Pagans kingdoms. In CK2, there was DLCs to play Muslims, Pagans, Jewish kingdoms, while in CK there was a mod. The CK mod is obviously a bit incomplete compared to the dedicated DLCs.

The thing is that a up-to-date CK2 is an improvement in many ways. But to have that, you must have a lot of DLCs.
CK has its own improvements but they are community mods. I personally prefer the Europa engine (like HoI, HoI2, AoD, DH, EU, EU2, FtG, CK, Vicky) than the Clausewitz engine (for newer games) because of the 'boardgame feeling' that I don't see in newer games.

Like I said in another thread, you can (if you have the specific games) play your nation from 1066 to 1963.
CK -> EU2 -> Vicky -> HoI2; or
CK -> EU3 -> Vicky -> HoI3; or
CK2 -> EU3 -> Vicky 2 -> Hoi3; or
CK2 -> EU4 -> Vicky 2 -> HoI3...

I believe that the gaming sequences that fit the best are:
CK -> EU2 -> Vicky -> HoI2 (full Europa Engine, old school sequence)
CK2 -> EU4 -> Vicky 2 -> HoI3 (full Clausewitz Engine, up-to-date sequence, before the release of HoI4 which will replace HoI3)

But regarding every releases so far, you can have the 'old school sequence' full DRM-free, while the second one needs Steam (EU4 Steam-only, CK2 Steam-free updates stopped, and so on).

Ugh..I wish they could merge all these variations in 1-2 titles with options\modes..

It would be difficult because, while the games could share the same engine, and have the same goal (survive and prevail), the manners to succeed are very different from a game to another. In CK, the game map isn't worldwide too. And do not forget that a single game can dig hundred hours, so if you melt all the game in one, it would be thousands hours :p

That's why I added "options\modes" (ex: choose map size, time period, gameplay options, etc).
They would sell less games, however, so it's just an impossible wish. : (

Nah, I would prefer them to go for depth (i.e. "more interesting things to do as a christian king from 1000 to 1500") than for breadth ("and you can also play a thai tribe in -200 BC, but it will be super bland!"). That's the reason I would have prefered new games about India or the vikings, rather than CK2 DLCs that put them on top of the rest, for example. Sure, there's more stuff in CK2 this way, but I think the experience would be better with a game specially designed around those ideas.

So aggregating CK + EU + Vic... would be a terrible idea i.m.o. Better have each of them do their stuff well than diluting the experience into some unbalanced mess.

Well.. if you only think at bad examples, it would be obviously bad! :P
That small thai tribe would be skipped, but maybe you could play a pharaoh in -2500 BC, without the need of a Nth samey game.

Anyway, if CK2 has already optional DLCs that expand its "scope", that's great (even if I usually hate DLCs).