Do you play in Ironman mode? Why or why not?

[Dr Pablo]

Just found out what it is, and it sounds really interesting. Do most people play with or without it?

[Monkey89brains]

I only play in Ironman. This game has a steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it can quickly become very predictable. Having to actually deal with bad RNG is fun, I can't imagine save scumming, and it's not game over because something bad happens, your realm might fracture, heirs will die, your mighty herculean character might lose a duel to a crippled dwarf, but no one event ends a run, outside of a very early defensive war going wrong, and at that point it takes as long to restart as it does to reload. Those outcomes are what makes the game interesting.

[Elazul]

When I play CK3 I only play Iron Man mode for achievements and consequences to my actions. If I fail there is no temptation to save scum my way to success and sometimes it's the failures that lead towards the most fun outcomes.

[Rialm]

Always, I hate save scumming in a Paradox's game. You feel the pressure, and you need to make more careful decision.

[Azunai]

I usually play all paradox games in ironman. It's a somewhat different experience which i enjoy more. Higher stakes, more risk of messing up. Also makes for more memorable games when you make mistakes but keep going and come back after a setback.

[Kimlin]

I usually play in Ironman. It adds a small amount of difficulty and makes me have to live with my decisions.

[mb3]

Seems Ironman is winning the vote so far, I also play in Ironman because I like to get the achievements, but for as many who claim to play only Ironman, a lot of the hardest
to miss achievements only have little over 20% completion. That would show that most don't play ironman.

[TheFreaknd]

Always. All paradox games. Always.

[Monkey89brains]

Originally posted by mb3:

Seems Ironman is winning the vote so far, I also play in Ironman because I like to get the achievements, but for as many who claim to play only Ironman, a lot of the hardest
to miss achievements only have little over 20% completion. That would show that most don't play ironman.

Changing the checksum disables achievements too, right? So any mods outside of music/minor cosmetics will disable them. I don't use mods, but I'm under the impression the game takes nearly any modification, even complex cosmetic and such as a checksum change and disables them.

[Kimlin]

Originally posted by Monkey89brains:

Originally posted by mb3:

Seems Ironman is winning the vote so far, I also play in Ironman because I like to get the achievements, but for as many who claim to play only Ironman, a lot of the hardest
to miss achievements only have little over 20% completion. That would show that most don't play ironman.

Changing the checksum disables achievements too, right? So any mods outside of music/minor cosmetics will disable them. I don't use mods, but I'm under the impression the game takes nearly any modification, even complex cosmetic and such as a checksum change and disables them.

I play Ironman with mods, you are correct it disables achievements.

[Yhvh10]

I guess I'm gonna be on the outlier here but most often...

...no. Simply because I like playing with mods. I also dislike the end date.

However Ironman is quite clearly the purest way to play. It forces you to live with your actions, and actually ends up bringing alot of challenge to the situation. I find whenever I play Ironman, the game itself ends up feeling actually alot more satisfactory when I do something impressive or exciting.

[Emperor2000]

Originally posted by Dr Pablo:

Just found out what it is, and it sounds really interesting. Do most people play with or without it?

The only games I was playing in Ironman was CK2 with the Monarchs Journey.

But CK3, is too buggy for playing in Ironman mode for me, the AI will take stupid decisions, they should not take, like betraying their soulmate spouse, because the Devs have forgotten to add the "Might Cheat on Partner" trigger, to all events from the DLCs.

[Desdinova]

I've gotten the impression, based off completion rates of even the most basic achievements, that very, very few people play in Ironman mode (or at least without mods). And I've gotten the impression this is true for a majority of Paradox games.

[Twelvefield]

Playing in Ironman shows your faith in the bug-crushing abilities of the devs. If that faith has flagged, don't play in Ironman. I've had CK3 since day one, and a couple of weeks ago I decided to finally play my first Ironman run.

[Fart_Gas]

My reasoning for always playing Ironman is that if I'm going to spend my time gaming, I might as well get some achievements while I do it.

[mb3]

Playing in ironman isn't that dangerous, you can still save the game when ever you want. Just exit to the menu then reload, takes me about 10 seconds.