County to Kingdom in one lifespan.. game is too easy.

[Squashbuckler]

I know this has likely been said many times, but a fix to this issue would be good. It really takes the fun and challenge out of the game.

Many arguments can be seen below, but in my view, this is not a role-playing game( If it was, it would be considered abysmal. This is a grand strategy game, and for strategy players like myself, we want to feel proud of our achievements, and they should not be handed over easily. In this game, you can reach the end with your eyes closed. Little to no "strategy" is needed. Its just a waltz in the park. Some of us want to take a cautious stroll to avoid potholes and dangers. Nothing like that is presented here, it is all given far too easily.


UPDATE: I have been working with a coder and now use this fantastic mod!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2896014998



I could not imagine playing without it.

I also use Shattered Realms, for the record. I also random my ruler and play from the county start.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2304431938

[Narrowmind]

Instead of making all the achievements hard, why not try some of the achievements that actually are hard?

[Theandal]

There is no real hard mode, but you could try the characters in the front pages labeled as Hard, or try to do the Jewish achievement 'Beta Israel' in east Africa, I think that is supposed to be somewhat hard.

[Mentos]

Resist the temptation to be at war all the time constantly expanding and it will take more than one lifetime.

[The Former]

I refer you to this post.

[CaptainSpacetime]

what is the issue the OP is even having? becoming a king is too easy? i guess? it's not really that "hard" of a game if you're just treating it like a map painter.

[Mentos]

Originally posted by Lockfågel, the Paradox Knight:

I refer you to this post.

This is a fantastic post. I spent a bit of time trying to rationalize with the imperialists back in CK2. But to no avail unfortunately. In my current Barcelona run I'm about to be on my third character, not even remotely close to becoming a king...let alone gaining independence from the Karlings. (And that third character is going to be terrible, awful stats)

[NewbieOne]

It's doable in the game, it's doable in real life (and has been done), it's a matter of opportunity, skill and how many moral inhibitions or taboos you're willing to violate. Or, if there are no questionable deeds to commit, then how much sacrifice you're willing to make (and make others make).

[Mentos]

You could have a threesome with your son and your mom if you slow down to enjoy the game a little.

[Uhrenkerl]

Originally posted by Theandal:

There is no real hard mode, but you could try the characters in the front pages labeled as Hard, or try to do the Jewish achievement 'Beta Israel' in east Africa, I think that is supposed to be somewhat hard.

No it is not, like not at all:

https://youtu.be/Noxy8ykrHx4

And I still think the "just restrict yourself" approach shows the bad design of the game (e.g. all the balancing issues) and is not a good advice for general play. In my opinion using everything that the game offers you to your advantage is the right way to play any game. The problem is you dont even need to min-max anything in CK3 to be way to strong since the AI just is way to bad at, mostly but not only, managing the stability and eco of their realm. Like its not uncommon to see the AI sitting on enormous amounts of e.g. gold (highest I have seen was 4k I think) while their army is not maxed out neither are their holdings

If you want to do a challenge while achieving X (for example only defensive wars and becoming emperor of e_hispania thru inheritance only) its fine as a funny challenge run idea, but if you just want to do a casual game it is not, atleast in my opinion

[Mentos]

The "just restrict yourself" approach is logical. Do you really think every opportunity was taken by every ruler in all of history to conquer everything in sight just because he had the numbers to do so? Absolutely not. Few had the audacity to imagine themselves as Kings or Conquerors even when they might of been able to do it.

Although one thing I would like to see added is a popular opinion hit for losing wars.

[Myth Alric]

Originally posted by Uhrenkerl:

And I still think the "just restrict yourself" approach shows the bad design of the game (e.g. all the balancing issues) and is not a good advice for general play. In my opinion using everything that the game offers you to your advantage is the right way to play any game.

You are not really restricting yourself though, because the goal of the game isn't to conquer the entire map. The game is more a sandbox, but if there was a goal it would likely revolve around your dynasty.

Just as an example, if you take over the entire map and then give all your land to one child and the rest of your children are left to die off alone, with no land, no children and no prospects, and you do that generation after generation is that really winning?

It is possible you have your family do better and live better lives as a kingdom of ten counties than in an empire of 50, if you properly manage them. So people are not really telling you to restrict yourself, they are saying, "Hey there are all these other aspects of the game, why not try them out too?"

Also, some people kind of cheese things by expanding really quickly, then getting bored and quitting before the consequences of their actions come back to hit them. Is it really winning if you make a massive empire that is just going to collapse and splinter all apart in a couple of generation, but you quit just before it happens?

[Exocrime]

becomming king is really easy in most part of the world, i think you should try something in middle europe as catholic. this is way harder to king because you need time to get the claims to do war. or why not play as jerusalem and get free vom islam. this is hard.

[Lord of ice and fire]

I'm sure at some point they will release a difficulty mode: hard. There are already difficulty modes, but the highest is just "normal". They may be waiting for other big game mechanics to be implemented already to balance that out. At least I think.

With a game where numbers are an important part of the gameplay components, it doesn't seem difficult to me to make a hard mode. Increase penalties, decrease bonuses.
Increase AI aggressiveness. Increase disease rate, dangerousness. etc

[°｡💗Nikki Minx💗｡°]

Would the option to begin the game as a king be available if the lone objective to "win" the game was to become a King? It's obviously not hard to become a King, or Emperor for that matter. Playing comfortably on the hardest setting it really shouldn't take you no more a hundred years to make King.

Crusader Kings is not EU or Civ6 or any of those other map painting games. Its more about role playing in the time period and rewriting history via diplomacy and the historical characters and relationships of the time. Its hard to explain the concept, much less for some to understand it, since CK is a one of a kind game but there is a lot more to it than just painting the map.

For those of us who aren't too keen as it pertains to role playing and utilizing their imagination to recreate their own historical events, the best I would suggest is to look through the list of achievements and attempting to complete some of those tasks. Many of those achievements present a much greater challenge than just jumping in the game willy nilly with the only objective being that of paining the map. The way I see it, those achievements are Paradox's way of providing alternate options to those who seek a greater challenge in the game.

[AdahnGorion]

Originally posted by Squashbuckler:

I know this has likely been said many times, but a fix to this issue would be good. It really takes the fun and challenge out of the game. Any mods, etc to fix this? or is it just inherent in the way the game is made? Can devs include a hard mode?

You could try to roleplay and not exploit the mechanics. Then most likely the game would be a completely different experience to you.
If you just want to "paint the map" then sure it is easy, but that is not really its strong suit.. I would recommend playing EU series or even HoI4 if you want another type of challange, that revolves mout about either "painting the map" or in hoi´s situation, "warfare"

This game is, well all game is.. very easy to control if you want to exploit.. you could take over the world in CK3 within the span of 100 years if you wanted too... but what would be the point of that I ask? This is a game that allows you to create a story, play a dynasty (the character roleplaying is essential to the experience in my opinion)

Again.. you can either try and set your own goals or try roleplaying (create a story with synery and allow the mechanics to give you various random developments) or you could even just don´t abuse the mechanics.

It is all up to you ofc.. if you wanna paint the map, do so.. I just feel like EU4 would be better suited for that.