For our Mod Author feature this week, we’re talking to ElminsterAU best known for one of the essential tools for modding Creation Engine games. The xEdit application has become a staple in the toolkits of modders and mod authors from Oblivion to Fallout 76. Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game with RPG elements developed by Paradox Development Studio. This Crusader Kings II Wiki is a repository of Crusader Kings II related knowledge, useful for both new and experienced players and for modders.
is (somehow) now five years old. Adam last month in celebration of its half-decade anniversary, so I thought I’d delve into its modding community to mark the occasion too.
Much like the digital empires depicted in-game, many of its mods have risen and fallen since my last visit, however the following list sends the best into battle. Given how involved CK 2 can be at times, I’ve tried my best to link videos where possible so as to properly showcase each mod’s worth. NB – Note that some mods can only be accessed via Paradox forum accounts.
You’ll have access assuming you own the game, so remember to sign in. Let’s start with a wild card.
A wild card, not in the sense that the CK2 Generator mod is temperamental, but that it’s intentionally unpredictable. Last year, Adam rightly compared yemmlie’s work to Dwarf Fortress in that instead of portraying the world as we know it against what the history books might tell us, CK2 Generator spawns an entirely new history of humankind from scratch. In turn, this lets you grow your own entirely fictitious societies and landmasses and watch them procedurally generate before your eyes. Like Dwarf Fortress, you’re free to transfer your new creations over into Crusader Kings 2 and watch them take flight further still. “Basically the tool will generate, from scratch, a completely new history of humanity from its first exodus from Africa as a new mod to be playable in CK2,” explains yemmlie.
“These cultures will then spread throughout Europe, mutating and changing as they spread, words and language, religions, ethnicity, cultural ideals, laws, looting, river sailing, incest, religious heads, holy sites, wives, concubines and everything, all morphing, mutating and branching off as humans spread through time and land.” By CK2:AGOT Development Team. Sticking with fictional landscapes, CK 2’s A Game of Thrones has been going since 2012 and brings the famous book series and television show’s bounds to Paradox’s historical grand strategy. It expectedly intertwines George R.R. Martin’s fantasy drama with the game, however also tweaks its base mechanics so that the realm is less likely to fragment into multiple kingdoms over time – in turn in-keeping with its inspiration, as players vie singularly for the Iron Throne. At present, the A Game of Thrones team has designed the mod so that players can kick things off up to 300 years before Aegon’s Conquest, all the way through to the beginning of The Feast of Crows – Martin’s fourth book.
The A Game of Thrones mod featured on RPS’ list of the last month. By Elder Kings Dev Team. From Westeros to Morrowind: the Elder Kings total conversion mod transports the world of Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series to Crusader Kings 2. Set in wider Tamriel, Elder Kings sees players take control of “one of the many fledgling countries of the Interregnum,” so reads the mod’s description. While still in development (and probably due an update), Elder Kings boasts two playable scenarios both contained within the series lore’s Second Empire.
The Interregnum takes place towards the end of this era with Cyrodiil in disrepute following the emporer’s murder. The Colovian, the Nibenese, the Bosmer, and the Argonians are but some of the races locking horns here in a bid to conquer Tamriel. The Kamal Invasion, on the other hand, follows on and sees the Kamal Snow Demons invading Tamriel for the first time, and the fallout this incurs from the Akaviris, the Nords, and the rest of the realm. A Fourth Empire scenario – Skyrim’s The Stormcloak Rebellion – has been in the works for some time. NB – as this is a work in progress, its creators warn bugs may be present. It’s perhaps worth bearing this in mind before installing. By CK2: MEP Team.
I swear we’ll get back to the real world soon. But if Game of Thrones and the Elder Scrolls are a shoe-in for Crusader Kings 2 total conversions, then so too must be Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Featuring bookmarks throughout the Third Age, this ‘un’s map covers the main areas of Middle-earth as it’s known in the books and films. “Will you play as the descendant of one of the noble families of Rohan or Gondor?” asks the mod’s creators. “Will you try to reforge the ancient kingdoms of Elves in Eriador?
Or will you try to destroy all the Free Peoples, and claim Middle Earth for Morgoth?” Whatever you answer above, the Middle Earth Project offers seven races – Humans, Hobbits, Dwarves, Orcs/Goblins, Elves, Nazguls/Sauron, and the Istari – and five scenarios by way of The Last Alliance, The Fall of Arnor, The Kinstrife, The War of the Ring, and The New Shadow. If you’re familiar with LotR lore, you can probably guess what some of those entail, however full details of what they’re all about can be found in this direction. Besides being a pretty brilliant and intuitive mod, Crusader Kings Z has a fun story too.
After Paradox released a teaser for the fictional Crusader Kings Z as an April Fools’ Day joke in 2013, modder Korbah (who is also involved in Elder Kings mentioned above) decided to make it A Real Thing. The result is something similar to Paradox’s own Sunset Invasion DLC as it creates an alternate timeline for it events to unfold within. At some stage after the year 1000 AD an unexplained zombie outbreak occurs in Ethiopia which quickly spreads from Africa to Europe. Enter you, the player, and supposed world saviour as you scramble to form armies strong enough to combat the spreading infection and restore peace and, you know, humanity to the world after ridding the globe of the walking dead.
If it feels like zombies are in everything these days, that’s because they are. But they’re also good fun.
While it could be argued 2017 fits this bill more than any other era to date, Enlil’s When The World Stopped Making Sense is a lovely mod which reinterprets the at any date between 476 AD – which aligns with the fall of the Western Roman Empire – and 700 AD. From here, players can play through till the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire centuries later in 1453 AD. This is definitely one for the history buffs and while other Crusader Kings 2 Dark Ages mods tend to follow a typically predictable historically-accurate arc, When The World Stopped Making Sense allows for more player autonomy as you craft yet another alternative timeline. It’s still in development, however ten multi-century-spanning bookmarks are planned in total. By CK2Plus Team. Perhaps the most essential Crusader Kings 2 mod available for those after a challenge – CK2+ changes host of things about the base game with the aim of “deepening the CK2 experience”. In practice, this means making the base game more challenging without straying too far from what makes it enjoyable.
Historical accuracy somewhat takes a backseat along the way, but the upshot is a more involved game. For example, one of the most obvious tweaks CK2+ brings with it is the reduction of vassal limits. In turn this means managing larger empires is significantly more difficult, and makes the decision to increase Crown Authority far more important. Retinues are also smaller, thus more difficult to maintain, and the usefulness of technologies has been capped.
Furthermore, more considerations have been applied to factions, meaning they now bore more common interests. “Do they want peace and wealth?” asks the mod’s creators.
“Do they want a strong ruler with lots of prestige? Do they want a pious ruler who doesn’t change from the old ways?” These changes mean there’s less chance of players gaining wider personal power, as they become more reliant on vassals. By MonteCristo Speaking of vassals, MonteCristo’s No Hassles Vassals is a simple but very effective mod which lets players distribute both county and barony titles with just one click. This is likely one which needs to be experienced in order to appreciate its worth, however NHV uses targeted decisions which in turn means you’re no longer required to run with your rule from one county to the next. I’m actually going to turn you over to YouTube person Arumba here, who does a fine job of talking us through exactly what this one’s all about. While I’ve enjoyed watching the world burn several times in Ofaloaf’s After the End mod, part of me worries it’s more prophetic than I’ve given it credit for. As depicted elsewhere on this list, Crusader Kings 2 is perfect for recreating alternate histories, fantasy or otherwise, however this one opts for an arguably more ominous alternative future.
We know that didn’t happen in the past, but this could happen in the future, right? Hopefully not, because after an Extinction Level Event of cataclysmic proportions years prior, the world as we know it in the year 2666 has apparently gone to shit. North America now attempts to rebuild its disconnected societies – which sees a host of new-age cultures on the rise, as players get to grips with over 900 provinces, 25 kingdoms, four republics, one theocracy, five tribes and 14 religions. “The setting also allows for the introduction of salvaged modern technology in the mostly neo-medieval setting and several invasions and events that change the game-world as time goes by,” reads the mod’s description. Honourable Mentions By ManiacTehGreat While the contents of this list so far has focused on CK 2 total conversions, ManiacTehGreat’s RIP targets some of the game’s finer details. Well worth your time.
By Silverino Make everyone pretty. By JordanDoes.
Go on a holy-war. It will be fun and you can probably form a new duchy afterward. Alternatively, if the guy has a claim on a duchy, give him a county and then press his claim.Sadly he died of an illness and his child somehow came after his brother in the line of succession. Cue my god-awful luck with plotting to kill (it was up for two decades, only fired once and it was a failure that gave away my involvement) and the brother has started LARPing as a rabbit and has too many kids to reasonably take control of the duchy. I also decided to try a holy war because 'hey, the Abbassids are busy on the other side of the world fighting a different war, what could possibly go wrong?' I siege one holding before a 14k stack waltzes over and demolishes my 16k stack with ease.
I think I'll be taking a break from the game for a while. Sadly he died of an illness and his child somehow came after his brother in the line of succession.
Cue my god-awful luck with plotting to kill (it was up for two decades, only fired once and it was a failure that gave away my involvement) and the brother has started LARPing as a rabbit and has too many kids to reasonably take control of the duchy. I also decided to try a holy war because 'hey, the Abbassids are busy on the other side of the world fighting a different war, what could possibly go wrong?' I siege one holding before a 14k stack waltzes over and demolishes my 16k stack with ease. I think I'll be taking a break from the game for a while.What kind of soldiers do you have in your 16K stack? If you have lots of light infantry, your stack looks bigger than it fights as (though it sieges better), whereas if you have lots of heavy cav, heavy infantry, and pikes, your stack fights above its weight. Archers and light cav are the only soldier types that deal damage in all 3 phases, so they can help wear down enemy morale before the heavies clash, but they tend to lose moral and health quickly once heavy units enter the fray.
Also, what kind of general was leading your stack? I find that good generals can make an army fight at about 1.5 times its listed size. Good, in this context, meaning 15+ martial.
If your enemy has a good general, you might be utterly doomed. From what I have seen of the newest expansion. Not worth it. Not adding enough features that I would like. Adding things that feels completely ahistorical (providing you get the 'Emperor of China' screen even in Europe and not only playing in India (or China)). SO, no I will not be getting that.
It's the third expansion I have opted out of and the first one that I have done so because of 'Meh'. Sunset Invasion: Not picked up because no, ahistorical, just weird, and well. Not to my taste at all Monks and Mystics: Ahistorical, too much magic (completely ditching the 'Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane' that the few 'Supernatural' events have had until that point). This one: Just not interesting.
SO, no I will not be getting that. It's the third expansion I have opted out of and the first one that I have done so because of 'Meh'. Sunset Invasion: Not picked up because no, ahistorical, just weird, and well. Not to my taste at all Monks and Mystics: Ahistorical, too much magic (completely ditching the 'Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane' that the few 'Supernatural' events have had until that point).
This one: Just not interesting.Generally I don't mind the Ahistoric/Magic/supernatural stuff, but I absolutely understand why others might be less inclined to enjoy that kind of thing. One of the good things about Crusader Kings II that's often criticized by people who dislike Paradox's DLC policy is that the DLC is modular. You really don't need to buy every DLC available.
Just the ones that you think or believe will adhere to your interests and you can do so with little real drawback. Would buying a few of the missing DLC work better on steam?
If I need to get some? Is there some instructions for modifying it so members of certain religions all despise one another, and that some nations/kingdoms cannot be formed except by certain groups? (APOLOGIZES for Any UNDEAD behavior) Also, can I some links to CR 2 Let's Plays that are still active on this forum, That way people who haven't decided if they want the game and DLC's can see it in action. That encouraged me to buy the game to play, and have fun with it. There's some pretty great LPs on SomethingAwful but they randomly require a paid membership to read threads at various times and are also SomethingAwful, so.
This one's on the LPArchive. Same site also has a tutorial LP that's like three years out of date or I'd link it too. I'm not sure how you bought the game originally but Steam Sales are great for picking up DLC, especially older ones like Sons of Abraham or Horse Lords that have hit 50% off range. I don't know anything about modding but it certainly seems like it would be trivially easy to either increase the 'wrong religion' opinion malus between characters or add in new modifiers that apply to specific religions (Catholics disliking Muslims more than they dislike Buddhists, say.) There's also a few cultural restrictions on forming certain titles already in the game, so that also seems feasible.
(The Holy Roman Emperor title can only be formed by Christians in the German or Latin groups, I think, although once formed it can be inherited or usurped by others. Catholics can obtain the Byzantine Emperor title, but they can also, unlike Orthodox or Iconoclasts, swap it out for the Latin Empire honorary title. I'm positive that the Mongol Empire can only be formed by Altaics. And so forth.) So that functionality is in there.
You might check on the Paradox Plaza forums for modding tips. I got through every event flawlessly (admittedly with some save-scumming, but what benefits a man his honour if it costs him immortality?), got to the garden. Whether I try to bribe the traitor or give a passionate speech (and I've tried both twice), I fail the quest. I've even tried the 'give up' option in case it was some kind of secret test, but nope, the mystic leaves and the event chain ends.
I don't want to waste hours repeatedly trying the same two options if there's no chance of success, but I'd also feel pretty silly if I gave up my one chance of playing an immortal character just because I overlooked something. Everything is save-scummable; if your mystic is a fraud, your odds of success are still present but pretty negligible for everybody that isn't willing to spend a truly spectacular amount of time reloading. If you have a save from when you had just started the chain but before the mystic showed up you can enormously improve your odds by getting a mystic that's the real thing (you can sort of tell by their base Learning stat, if it's terrible they're probably a sham, if it's high they're probably real; the Learning mystic you can tell 100% because if they're real their base Learning is sky-high). Speaking of, I got immortality in my latest game, but it. Maybe it's just me, but it's sort of made the game pretty boring? Dealing with succession and a fractious realm is half the fun of Crusader Kings, when you live forever and you have a +120 Long Reign bonus everything feels sort of. I find myself hoping the Mongols will show up early to at least provide a challenge for the vast Norse realms and their immortal witch-queen.
I guess it is fitting that my immortality, though long sought-after, has brought me no joy. There's also a few cultural restrictions on forming certain titles already in the game, so that also seems feasible.
(The Holy Roman Emperor title can only be formed by Christians in the German or Latin groups, I think, although once formed it can be inherited or usurped by others. Catholics can obtain the Byzantine Emperor title, but they can also, unlike Orthodox or Iconoclasts, swap it out for the Latin Empire honorary title. I'm positive that the Mongol Empire can only be formed by Altaics. And so forth.) So that functionality is in there. You might check on the Paradox Plaza forums for modding tips.I feel that it's important to note that even though some titles have certain formation conditions; anyone can inherit or claim it under the right circumstances. I have seen Sunni Byzantine Empire on more than one occasion and I have even managed to do a Shia Byzantium in the series I've been working on for (don't.don't watch it.
It's awful, but it's there if anyone's interested). That's sort of a fundamental problem with CKII in general. Once you have any sort of real power, everyone hating you kind of stops mattering.
Even once you have one full de-jure Empire, you just have so many troops and so much wealth that you can throw one, or the other, or both at a problem and generally fix it.It can easily be tamed by trying to play at least a tad realistically. Don't throw yourself in there metagaming. Roleplay your current character and you'll grow slower just from that (Don't go 'In 200 years my goal is to have all of England' but instead 'This count's primary goal is to become best friend with the king, not to overthrow him. So I'll stick to that'). Also to not always reload when disasters happen. If your kingdom is split into 3 parts.
Let it happen, don't reload until your king somehow survives the pox and becomes 92 years old. It can easily be tamed by trying to play at least a tad realistically.
Don't throw yourself in there metagaming. Roleplay your current character and you'll grow slower just from that (Don't go 'In 200 years my goal is to have all of England' but instead 'This count's primary goal is to become best friend with the king, not to overthrow him. So I'll stick to that').
Also to not always reload when disasters happen. If your kingdom is split into 3 parts.
Let it happen, don't reload until your king somehow survives the pox and becomes 92 years old.It can be temporarily curtailed, but unless you permanently gimp yourself for the entirety of the game; you will eventually reach that point. CKII at it's greatest extent is a nearly 700 year log game(769-1453) and preventing yourself from becoming really powerful in that time period either requires extreme dedication to not expanding very much(if at all) or a disaster. There's also the fact that there's a fairly large region on the map that mostly requires you to expand as quickly and as much as possible or get swept away by The Mongols. Everything is save-scummable; if your mystic is a fraud, your odds of success are still present but pretty negligible for everybody that isn't willing to spend a truly spectacular amount of time reloading.
If you have a save from when you had just started the chain but before the mystic showed up you can enormously improve your odds by getting a mystic that's the real thing (you can sort of tell by their base Learning stat, if it's terrible they're probably a sham, if it's high they're probably real; the Learning mystic you can tell 100% because if they're real their base Learning is sky-high).As I understand, if the Mystic is a fraud you automatically fail on the last test, (because they are a fraud), even if you pass all the others. It can be temporarily curtailed, but unless you permanently gimp yourself for the entirety of the game; you will eventually reach that point. CKII at it's greatest extent is a nearly 700 year log game(769-1453) and preventing yourself from becoming really powerful in that time period either requires extreme dedication to not expanding very much(if at all) or a disaster.That woudl appear to be the case, My first (and currently only) game (admittedly on easy) is to hundred years from the end and, well.
Again, it depends on how you play. Admittedly I tend to only start in 1066, because quite frankly I find pagans frakking annoying both to play as and play against. I simply find them uninteresting at best and a pestilence at the worst.
Anyway, I have only once managed to create the Empire of Scandinavia, and although my Swedish kingdom tend to be rather large (most of baltics, most of finland, all of Denmark I usually grow too slow to both conquer Denmark and Norway (I have to choose, and quite frankly Denmark is so SO much richer).I have never, in any of my 1000 hours of playing, have had enough money, prestige or land to form a custom empire. I either suck at this game, or you guys metagame far more than you admit.
I did mean it along the lines of realizing, not 'afraid to admit on a forum' My favorite tactic for growing my empire is finding some poor lost heir to a throne, inviting him to my court, killing off his wife and kids, matrimarrying him to my female cousin, and then pressing his claims in rapid succession until I have taken his brother's 4 kingdoms. I never actually did that, but I did manage to get a single heir to afghanistan, baluchistan, arabia, and nubia once. I managed to take 3 of the kingdoms before the plague hit and killed him. Or maybe I took one of the kingdoms and then the plague hit and the only survivor only had a weak claim so I ran out of time on war declarations for some reason. This was in an Alexiad game, so I started out as a fairly powerful Byzantine empire (though I think I white peaced my first couple conquest attempts and I ended up with an Islamic Empire in all but name controlling everything from Egypt to Afghanistan). Then I did things like putting my cousin on the throne of Khazaria or Cumania and things just got a little silly. I almost wish I had gone Altaic for the more cavalry based armies.
I mean, using advantageous marriages to collect whole swaths of land at once was sort of the Habsburg's modus operandi, and taking in claimants and pushing their claims in exchange for favorable conditions was Medieval Politics 101, so neither are really metagaming. (Also the best ways for Catholics to collect land amongst themselves; claim fabrication is essential early on but it is slow) On the other hand using an antipope to vassalize the pope the second you become an Empire and then using that to invade and conquer the Holy Roman Empire in one shot totally is metagaming, but I do love getting the little popup that declares that the Papacy is now de jure your vassal.