Crusader Kings II [1] – I Have no Idea What I’m Doing

The title says it all. Thanks to many a /vg/ grand strategy thread, I was extremely interested in this game. Since I’ve won it on reddit during the sale, I finally got the chance to try it out last night. After playing it for a couple of hours, I can say two things.

  1. I have no idea how to play it right.
  2. I loved every moment of not having any idea how to play it right.

Seriously, the complexity of the game makes it an extremely engaging and interesting experience. Since games where I can play as Croatia are rarer than shiny pokemon, I decided to try my luck as the Trpimirović dynasty. I manage to survive for a decade or two, but then the Holy Roman Empire asked me to join the war against Hungary. Most of the neighbouring regions of Hungary have gone independent, though, so I couldn’t go to war with them. I thought there was no danger, so I foolishly tried to conquer the Serbian regions. Since again, I had no idea what I was doing and I’ve converted my realm to a heretic variation of Catholicism, I decided to call for a holy war.

The outcome was horrible. Serbia and just about everyone else around me were just regular catholic, so pretty much the whole of Europe went to war with me. Suffice to say, I did not last long.