CK2+ or HIP?

[PJ]

There is probably a ton of discussion on this matter, but I can't seem to find them so please bear with me if I ask something that's probably been discussed again and again.

I used to play CK2 (and CK1 long before it) a lot, but I abandoned it for reasons about a year or a year and a half ago. I'd like to get back into it, but this time I'd like to try to enhance my experience with a big overhaul mod. I'm currently choosing between CK2 Plus and HIP, and I'd like someone to tell me which should I use.

I'll try to explain what I would like to see.
I like playing out historically plausible games that go if not historically accurate but well, plausible. I don't really like seeing Nomad Aztec Miaphysite emperor battling the Judaist Indian King of Sweden over the crown of the British Empire while sacrificing everyone to Satan and hurling mystic spells at his wife - or things like that in general. While I understand it might be fun to play out a weird scenario or a tough challenge, I'm still not a fan of elements of occult or fantasy in the game.
I also don't seek bigger challenges nor any gamey elements that some players like to use to expand their empires. I'll take a nice story over a map of Europe painted my colours. I mostly see CK2 a not a game of conquest, but more of a RP game about nurturing you dinasty, making rivals and friends, bickering with the Church, maybe going off on an adventure like a Crusade once in a while. The more flavour/RP events and desicions, the better.
I'm mostly interested in Catholic post-1000 starts. I don't really care about India or nomads.

So, in your opinion, which mod should I use?

Thanks and sorry for the long post.

[Tom1561]

Personally I only play CK2+ of the 2 so I'm pretty biased. But depending on the amount of dlc you got. You can tone the settings of a new game. So you can disable for example the aztec invasion or devil worshippers. CK2+ has extra settings and also has a sub-mod which will cut away india. This mod is generally speaking harder then vanilla but it's not punishing.

[Sandvich]

Haven't played HIP yet, but I'm having a lot of fun restoring the abbasid caliphate in the 1000 start. CK2+ adds some new events, decisions, plots, and factions. Some of the big things you'll notice right away with CK2+ are the new plots and new factions. You can plot to kidnap or fabricate treason. Some new factions are added that behave like stellaris factions, they all want something. If you give them that something, they become happy and can reward you. If you don't give them what they want they can start a civil war.
Just try them both and see which one you like.

[Lord Peter]

Hmm, that might actually be tricky to say in your case.
I also have more experience with CK2+, but I'll try to list which mod does what about your requests:

1. Historical Outcome
Point probably goes to HIP. It has an entirely new map setup (SWMH module) with a focus on as much historical accuracy as possible (to me it looks like 99%, but they are still redesigning ^^), and mechanics that try to make a historical outcomemore likely. You can still change history of course, as nothing is railroaded; but generally, AI will behave more historically correct than in vanilla.
CK2+ on the other hand does not enforc ahistoricity in any way, to the contrary, it puts up more restrictions (e.g. on seduction) so results also tend to be more historical than vanilla. However, since it also adds a ton of new features and fluff (e.g. ability to play Celtic/Ancient Egyptian pagans), results can and in general will be more random than in HIP. Map has also been improved, but not to HIP extent.

2. RP vs map painting
I'd personally say this goes to CK2+. HIP nowadays includes more new gameplay than it used to (partially because of recent collaboration between both mods), but CK2+ easily beats it in terms of content amount. In CK2+ you get coronations, new ambitions & flavour events, and lots more RP stuff. HIP also has some, but it really is more about "grand strategy" with less RP elements.

3. Catholic Start Dates post 1000 and no India
That would mean you can play both. HIP - when played with the SWMH module - offers no start dates before 1053 or so. CK2+ on the other hand, has the 769 and 867 start dates, and also 1000 and with a submod three more before 1000. If you don't care about that, HIP and CK2+ will both suit you, though with a finer grained map in Europe HIP will allow you to play more different catholic rulers (counts) than CK2+.
HIP (SWMH) does not have India on the map, and CK2+ offers it only as an optional module, so you can play without India with both mods.
Anyway, if you are interested in very deep church interaction, then I would again point to CK2+: It has unified Chalcedonian Christianity (!) pre-1050, with the split occuring under certain circumstances, and with the Rex Teutonoricum submod you get more events and gameplay resolving around Papal-HRE interaction, investiture controversies etc.

In the end, you must probably decide what is more important to you: Roleplaying or Historical Accuracy.
But both mods offer a splendid gameplay way better than vanilla, and you might simply want to try out both to see which one suits you better.

[Huntlol]

ck2+