Tried playing some more Elder Kings 2. It's pretty fun, though still feels a little bare-bones. But it's basically v1.01, so hopefully it'll get more fleshed out over time. I was up in Orsinium when I got notified that the rebellion against the Imperial Potentate failed, so I scrolled down and saw this:
I don't know enough about the lore to say this couldn't happen, but it does feel like this timeline is now cursed. The funniest part is that since the fort level is so absurdly high, nobody can do anything about it.
In other total conversion news, After the End got a beta release for CK3. It seems like some of the religious/cultural mechanics aren't implemented completely (couldn't do anything regarding patrons/blessings as an Atomicist, for example), but the project seems like it's shaping up pretty well. I enjoyed the mod back in CK2, so I hope it does well in CK3, and it seems like they're making good use of the new Religions/Faiths/Cultures systems.
Oblivion was actually filled with many Goblin tribes. They were supposed to have many more mechanics, but they didn't get finished so basically nobody even realises that the random goblins they are fighting are actually XYZ tribe, with defined territory on the map.
There was actually a planned system for Goblin Wars, where a tribe might steal the sacred shaman stick from another tribe and they'd fight. It was even intended that the player could sneak in, steal a tribe's shaman stick, and then plant it in another Goblin tribe - essentially starting a race war for luls. Or even potentially take the goblin religious totem and hide it in a city to trigger Goblin raids. Goblin tribes could have conquered eachother in what was planned to be a dynamic system. But it never got implemented except for one quest where two tribes are fighting and settlers are caught in the middle.
In some alternative timeline, "I united all the Goblins and then had them take over the Imperial city" is probably something someone actually got to do. So I'd say this fits.
Kind of late on my end, but basically the way cream API works is that it hooks steam's own API that it uses to communicate information about achievements, DLC/DRM, etc. In other words, it tricks the game into thinking "oh, Steam is telling me that DLCs XYZ are active, so I should enable them," when it's actually a fake DLL talking to the game instead. As far as I'm aware, cream API doesn't actually interface with steam itself in any way, so there shouldn't be any real risk of a ban.
There have been instances where developers can try to circumvent it - for example, CK3 (last I checked) doesn't work with cream unless you use a specific launcher version. In that case, it's Paradox who's likely checking specifically if the DLL files are legit and does something to prevent their use.
I'm not super familiar with the specifics of cream API itself, but I've been using it for awhile now and that's my (probably slightly retarded) understanding of how it works.
There have been instances where developers can try to circumvent it - for example, CK3 (last I checked) doesn't work with cream unless you use a specific launcher version. In that case, it's Paradox who's likely checking specifically if the DLL files are legit and does something to prevent their use.
Tried playing some more Elder Kings 2. It's pretty fun, though still feels a little bare-bones. But it's basically v1.01, so hopefully it'll get more fleshed out over time. I was up in Orsinium when I got notified that the rebellion against the Imperial Potentate failed, so I scrolled down and saw this:
I don't know enough about the lore to say this couldn't happen, but it does feel like this timeline is now cursed. The funniest part is that since the fort level is so absurdly high, nobody can do anything about it.
In other total conversion news, After the End got a beta release for CK3. It seems like some of the religious/cultural mechanics aren't implemented completely (couldn't do anything regarding patrons/blessings as an Atomicist, for example), but the project seems like it's shaping up pretty well. I enjoyed the mod back in CK2, so I hope it does well in CK3, and it seems like they're making good use of the new Religions/Faiths/Cultures systems.
My last post in this thread was sperging about CK3 in general, but EK2 is CK3^2 in terms of problems.
The original Elder Kings mod for CK2 is very fun. It's a mod made by people who have followed the series from before it was popular, and even used lore from out-of-game sources. It blended 'what do obscure lore books say', 'what makes sense in-universe', and 'what would make for a good experience'.
Elder Kings 2 is simply made by another group of people, with only a few devs carrying over. It's fun if you turn off your brain and map paint while looking at the pretty colours. The new devs are people whose Elder Scrolls experience is Skyrim and Elder Scrolls Online, and who have latched onto it because it's popular.
In EK1, every character had their species/race be a trait. An ethnic Imperial would be considered as such by the code. Intermarriage was rare, and offspring followed in-universe rules.
In EK2, this is removed and replaced by covert modifiers, hidden from the player. The end result is that, as seen above, a goblin (vieved as vermin worse than plague-bearing rats) can rule one of the greatest cities of the world without any friction - the same would be the case for any other hated race, including their former slave-drivers who were genocided into non-existance because of how shitty they were. At the same time, this goblin cannot mate with non-goblins - even though the species/race traits were scrubbed due to current year, they were still sane enough to implement some measures to prevent even the most casual of players from going "Huh?".
EK2 has ignored many other 'unsavoury' parts of the setting, to the direct detriment of the gameplay. Entire cultures built on extreme xenophobia and cultural traditionalism are now wholesome 100% - we're talking about people who would make the Taliban blush. The demon-worshippers of the KING OF RAPE are as respectful of the fairer sex as everyone else. Men don't inherit before women, as they did in EK1 - which leads to the AI marrying off its heir daughters to bare-footed paupers, tearing apart empires in the process.
One might hold out hope and say "this is just because it's early in development!", but the she/her devs have explicitly stated that they're deliberately not changing these things.
Which leads to the the worst part of the mod - the developers know what's best for you. The option for a religion to look side-eyed at homersexuals is removed from the game - they are actively working on a way to hide this change as well. The hard-to-achieve way of getting courtiers of so-called 'dead' cultures that people figured out? Despite being purely aesthetic, it's imperative that it was removed. Mods touching on holy cows such as these cannot be discussed or propegated on their subreddit or Discord without getting banned. Even if these aspects are only small parts of what a mod does, they are still verboten. Which mods are supported, then? Well, a mod giving people cat ears was released a week before the mod was.
In brief: the developers are swits and I would not Admire them.
The hard-to-achieve way of getting courtiers of so-called 'dead' cultures that people figured out? Despite being purely aesthetic, it's imperative that it was removed.
The end result is that, as seen above, a goblin (vieved as vermin worse than plague-bearing rats) can rule one of the greatest cities of the world without any friction - the same would be the case for any other hated race, including their former slave-drivers who were genocided into non-existance because of how shitty they were.
I wouldn't put much stock in my dumb image being evidence of problems relating to how the races get along, though I do think there are some. Everybody there still hates the goblins, due to both their religious differences and cultural differences (though, playing as an Orc, we're actually a little agreeable). It's just that the Potentate was getting bled out by Attrebus, and then whatever random event or faction demand (I'm assuming it's the later, caused by unrest due to occupation and maybe some poor councilor skills) being accepted by the Potentate due to him having a cowardly personality, being in a losing war, and having his army decimated. And since the Imperial City has something ridiculous like a fort level of 13 at the start, along with a bunch of levies and garrisoned troops, now he can't take his city back. If it were just some random county, they'd get crushed. It's just a bizarre convergence of bad luck for Cyrodiil.
I agree with your overall point, though. It's an unfortunate fact that modding, especially for Paradox games, is filled with the terminally-online, which brings in the dregs of trannies and all that bullshit that entails. That's even obvious just looking at the Steam Workshop page for the mod, with it showing off the devs' avatars, fagflags and all. At the very least, so long as Clausewitz runs on a bunch of .txts, modding a mod isn't that hard. I can set every faith to be Male Dominated with just a find-and-replace, and while they've hidden away the doctrine on homosexuality in-game (which can probably be shown again, I just haven't dug into how), you can still find-and-replace it to be shunned or criminal (though the latter might only apply to sodomites, and not women). I haven't seen the AI do anything too stupid with female heirs, but funnily, EK includes a Suitable Party doctrine for marriage that could help prevent the AI from marrying off heirs to nobodies, but it seems like every faith just has it set by default to "anyone can marry" rather than "at least one needs to be landed." Changing that might help.
In other total conversion news, After the End got a beta release for CK3. It seems like some of the religious/cultural mechanics aren't implemented completely (couldn't do anything regarding patrons/blessings as an Atomicist, for example), but the project seems like it's shaping up pretty well. I enjoyed the mod back in CK2, so I hope it does well in CK3, and it seems like they're making good use of the new Religions/Faiths/Cultures systems.
Sadly even they aren't completely immune to the political correctness scourge that has gripped our society (though they are nowhere near as bad as Elder Kings 3. It all had to do with the Holy Columbian CONFEDERATION and the changes made to it to deny any relation at all to the original confederacy. I'll let Tv Tropes explain it from here:
As said above, the Holy Columbian Confederacy was perhaps the most affected by these changes in attitude over the years by the Fan Fork developers. A Southern realm inspired by the Confederacy, wearing Confederate hats, led by a dynasty with a family name inspired by a man who cooperated with the Klu Klux Klan, and with a vassalized mercenary company named the Knights of the Golden Circle suddenly became less acceptable after the death of George Floyd and the unrest that followed. The Holy Columbian Confederacy remained in Fan Fork as a post-racial realm united more by Christianity than race, but it has changed dramatically, with much of the Neo-Confederate flavor dropped in favor of leaning more into Southern genteel chivalry. The most notable changes were perhaps the change of the HCC flag from a Confederate inspired cross to a more American inspired eagle and the change in race of the HCC's founder from white to black. This trend for the HCC continued with the Crusader Kings 3 mod, where "Confederacy" was dropped in favor of the less politically-charged "Confederation".
Also, Homosexuality is far more accepted in post-apocalyptic America than it should be, to the point that even Tv Tropes had to point out how weird it is:
Gay marriage and homosexuality are accepted across the map on a much larger scale than in Fan Fork, especially in the western half of the United States. This is somewhat strange when it applies to more rural and conservative areas such as Wyoming and Montana, as all Trailwalker faiths have gay marriage accepted.
Sadly even they aren't completely immune to the political correctness scourge that has gripped our society (though they are nowhere near as bad as Elder Kings 3. It all had to do with the Holy Columbian CONFEDERATION and the changes made to it to deny any relation at all to the original confederacy. I'll let Tv Tropes explain it from here:
Also, Homosexuality is far more accepted in post-apocalyptic America than it should be, to the point that even Tv Tropes had to point out how weird it is:
The Confederation thing might have been a necessary evil to not have the mod get drowned in controversy and maybe even get banned, but the gay marriage thing is just plan stupid, why not make that something people can work for, why just make it accepted out the gate?
The Confederation thing might have been a necessary evil to not have the mod get drowned in controversy and maybe even get banned, but the gay marriage thing is just plan stupid, why not make that something people can work for, why just make it accepted out the gate?
Ngl i know nothing about this mod, but the idea of a post-apocalypse in a Crusader kings game seems stupid, do they simulate firearms or did whatever happen magically make everything stop working and send us back to the bronze age for no reason?
Ngl i know nothing about this mod, but the idea of a post-apocalypse in a Crusader kings game seems stupid, do they simulate firearms or did whatever happen magically make everything stop working and send us back to the bronze age for no reason?
In fan fork (CKII) there were still guns. I can't remember exactly how they were used, but basically they were family heirlooms a few nobles had. A single 1911 with some bullets and such things.
Basically, whatever happened was so devastating that it almost wiped out the Human population. So it took many hundreds of years to repopulate, and in that time civilisation totally decayed due to lack of population density. It's only just getting back to the mediaeval era after going through a tribal era, by like the year 3,000 (I think?)
Ngl i know nothing about this mod, but the idea of a post-apocalypse in a Crusader kings game seems stupid, do they simulate firearms or did whatever happen magically make everything stop working and send us back to the bronze age for no reason?
The setting is deliberately vague about what happened in the apocalypse, so you can fill in what you want, but it was probably a major plague. It's mostly just an excuse to play a stylized Medieval version of the United States (like cowboy horse nomads or literal Southern knights) but the setting doesn't make any real sense as a serious story.
I think the worldbuilding has some problems where it's arbitrary (and political) what got remembered and what didn't. The player is supposed to believe that Dixie peasants wouldn't remember whose on Stone Mountain, yet the Anabaptists would still have Batenburgers (an obscure Reformation-era cult) running around. Similarly the Evangelicals have a "Treaty of Westphalia," as if anybody would care about that, instead of giving it a more appropriate name like the First Amendment. I'm not a huge fan either of how the cultures are characterized, they're drawn heavily from colonial era influences instead of modern ones, and often too exaggerated.
This video raises a question for me. Where do most nu-paradox fans come from? I stumbled into it because I played Total War a lot as a kid so it was a natural progression for me to take an interest in games like EU3 due to community overlap. How did these people find it? I know paradox is much more popular and has a much bigger reach than they used to be, but even watered down mobile phone games they put out these days should still be relatively obscure.
On another note, Victoria III is almost off the top 100 active players list on Steam already. Most of the other flagship paradox titles are still going strong, but their newest title keeps slinking ever further down the list with each passing day. I wonder if a DLC will even be able to bump it above the other titles. If When they mess up HOI 5 and EU 5 they may actually be doomed.
Where do most nu-paradox fans come from? I stumbled into it because I played Total War a lot as a kid so it was a natural progression for me to take an interest in games like EU3 due to community overlap. How did these people find it? I know paradox is much more popular and has a much bigger reach than they used to be, but even watered down mobile phone games they put out these days should still be relatively obscure.
Its uncertain when the Event (as its called in universe) happened. The world of AtE is an alternate history though, and apparently the most agreed upon date for when history diverged currently is somewhere in the year 2000, so no, not the 90s.
I've been away from Stellaris for a year or so and decided to pick it back up. Is it just me or did the game get way, way, way, way, WAY harder? I know the AI got better, but that's not what I mean. I used to play on scaled Grand Admiral with midgame in 2275 and end game in 2350, with victory year being 2450. I could win pretty consistently and I didn't even consider myself a particularly good player. I turned down the difficulty by two and it took me 2 or 3 attempts not to get steamrolled, and I STILL ended up losing to an Awakened Empire who are about 5 times as deadly as I remember. I'm not even making it to the Crisis.
The main thing seems to be that, beyond the normal and expected the resources advantages, even a standard AI faction can just instantly crap out fleets of arbitrary size with absolutely no regard for what numbers are actually possible. I'm seeing 2 or 3 times my fleet power AT LEAST in every single war I fight.
