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This is the thirteenth in a series of reviews looking at the evolution of Crusader Kings II. See the previous reviews here:
Crusader Kings II: The Second Crusade
The Old Gods: That Old-Time Religion
Sons of Abraham: A Little of Everything
Rajas of India: My Elephant for a Kingdom
Charlemagne: Back in Time
Way of Life: The Short Way
Horse Lords: For the Horde
Conclave: Lords of the Realm
The Reaper’s Due: Crusader Kings: Pandemic
Monks and Mystics: Secret Mystic
Jade Dragon: Off-Panel Dragon
Holy Fury: Expanded Fury

After Holy Fury came out, development continued on Crusader Kings II. There were no more expansions planned, but Paradox supported it with three more major patches, each of which added a new major feature to the game.

Patch 3.1 came out April 2, 2019, patch 3.2 on May 28, and patch 3.3 on October 19. The game became permanently free as of the release of patch 3.3 as part of the push for the just-announced Crusader Kings III, though you still have to pay for expansions. This review will look at the content of the last three patches, and give my recommendations for the best expansions.

Great Works

The focus of the first post-expansion patch was great works, monuments. They constitute a fourth type of special holding (along with trade posts, forts, and hospitals), and can be built up in stages. There’s a number of different types (temples, statues, etc), and they all generally have four stages which then provide a constant monthly bonus for the possessor. There’s a number of generic and unique features that can be added to them as structures in the holding.

There are new game rules to overall turn off great works, and to turn off or restrict the historical ones. And yes, a number of historical ones exist in the game from the start, including such things as the Great Pyramid and the Hagia Sofia.

This is largely a later game feature for after technology and new buildings have increased the income and money available. It most resembles the hospitals as an extra structure that can consume a lot of money. However, it also borrows ideas from Stellaris: Utopia with its four-stage megastructures. The bonuses granted aren’t as big, but with the extra structures, can be more flexible.

The Iron Century

The 3.2 patch focused on a new bookmark, exploring a “missing” century between the standard 1066 start and The Old Gods 867 start. The particular date (936) is set for the crowning of Otto I of Germany. He is at that point the most powerful of the successors of Charlemagne’s empire, but is far from the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire that would dominate much of European religious and secular politics for centuries.

In Africa, the Fatimids are just getting going, and the Abbasids are still a major power in the Near East. Much of the Balkans and the Black Sea coast is under the Bulgarian Empire. Hungary is a large and growing state, but still a century away from the tribes truly settling down under a more feudal system.

England is in good shape under Aethelstan, and the Battle of Brunaburh is but a year away… if the historical coalition of other powers combines to challenge him.

Overall, I don’t think this bookmark is quite as exciting as 867, but as ever there’s a lot to explore, and I’ve only scratched the surface.

Monarch’s Journey

The third post-expansion patch coincided with the announcement of Crusader Kings III, and the base game became free at that point.

The patch introduced what would be a temporary feature. Every other week, a ruler was picked by the design staff, and featured in the start game menus. Players were encouraged to play the game as that character, and try to achieve certain goals. These goals then generated points that would unlock extra portrait cosmetics in CK III.

It was a neat idea, and a good way to keep interest up while CK III was being worked on. Unfortunately, it was all shut down later, and while you can look up what the challenges were, and find the character in-game to do the same thing, there’s no easy way to it, and no reward or tracking.

Expansions

As this is the end of my series of reviews of Crusader Kings II, it is time to give overall advice on the best expansions to get for the game. Paradox has since officially broken up their expansions for various games into different categories, but that came as CK II’s time was ending and I unofficially break their expansions up into three categories: scope expansion, event, and personal (all the music, portrait, and unit model add-ons that I don’t cover would be a fourth category; if you’re into the game, I generally recommend the portrait assets and the main-line music ones).

The early add-ons were generally scope expansion DLC. These generally accompanied a patch that made the game bigger, and make your options much wider. Similarly, your first couple expansion purchases should be in this category, as they can take you far afield of 11–14th century Christian Europe. The biggest highlight is The Old Gods, which lets you start in the wilder world of 867, and lets you play as a pagan ruler, either to try and reform your religion to resist the wave of “world religions” sweeping across all else, or converting to one at an opportune time.

Sword of Islam doesn’t do much besides let you play as a Muslim ruler, but that is important by itself, and the mechanics and events around it are well done. Rajahs of India and Horse Lords are similarly placed as letting you try out more unusual positions, and are well done, but are only must-gets if you have an interest in that part of the world. Charlemagne mostly just gives the 769 start date, but it isn’t nearly as interesting as The Old Gods, and I largely rate it as skippable. The Republic gives you a very different style of play, and didn’t really get a lot of attention with later updates, but I do actually recommend it, other than that there are plenty of better options.

The event DLC mostly add… events. Some of it is bigger items, but they tend to have a large number of random one-off events that you may not see that often. The over three hundred new events of Sons of Abraham make it the clear winner in this category, though this includes a lot of “supernatural” events, and you will need to set up the rules if you wish to skip that side. I also highly recommend The Reaper’s Due as a very good replacement of the (already good) wounding and sickness system, and for its enhancements to contagious disease handling.

Legacy of Rome is good… but outside of retinues, you won’t notice unless you’re playing in/as the Byzantine Empire. Holy Fury has some very good additions to crusades, and the new coronation decisions for Christian kings is great, but is overall kind of limited. Jade Dragon is also largely just an interface for dealing with off-map China, and a skip unless you’re playing in the east (which means having Horse Lords or Rajahs of India first). Finally, Sunset Invasion is a completely ahistorical DLC. I do like it, but only get it if you feel a need to introduce an equivalent to the Mongols to western Europe (for most purposes, playing in 867 with The Old Gods will do nicely, but if you’re actually getting a couple centuries in on your plays, you might want the Aztecs showing up).

The personal DLC are generally later releases, but may be the early ones to consider, as they open up more options for the person you’re playing as. Way of Life is the winner here, adding a lot of great options without complicating the game unduly. Conclave is also very good and recommended, but is a little more complicated, and will tend to tie your hands as the council gets in your way. Monks and Mystics is a good idea, but quickly wore out its welcome for me.

As a final reiteration, the game is complete and very good all by itself, and a new player should not get any expansions until used to the base game (and making sure it’s one you want to invest even more time time in). By that point, you should have an idea of what category of expansion interests you most. Personally, I think the essential collection is The Old Gods, Sword of Islam, The Reaper’s Due, Way of Life, and Conclave, but those are all optional as well.

Conclusion

Crusader Kings II was a surprise breakout hit for Paradox. The higher standard of presentation with the Clausewitz 2.0 engine helped get people to notice, and the improved interpersonal systems of the game gave it a good “medieval soap opera generator” ability while HBO’s Game of Thrones series was coming out.

It was also the game where they shifted gears to lots of little expansions from the more traditional big packages. This also was the right choice, mostly because the new method lets you skip anything you don’t think is interesting enough, instead of having to get the earlier expansions to be able to use the later ones. The number of DLC they generate per game has since come under attack, but overall, it’s a good way to do business and enjoy a game.

The funding of further development through expansions also let the game grow and change over time, though CK II stayed closer to its original play than some later games did. There were some big changes early on (to province looting and the such), but the major systems were modified rather than completely rewritten for the bulk of its seven year life span. And those initial systems were very good. I still need to spend real time with its successor, CK III, but it is hard to believe they did a rewrite anywhere near as good as the change from the original game.

The biggest missed opportunity is the holdings. They are a great way to subdivide a map without having to actually subdivide it ad infinitum, but this was never really explored. A few counties are split between owners at the start, but there’s no support for just taking that one city in the peace deal. The special holdings were a good addition, but they too remained a mechanical ad hoc solution.

Since the game is now permanently free, there is absolutely no reason not to check it out. Some people accuse it of just being a spreadsheet (they’ve obviously never played Out of the Park Baseball), but is much closer to a more common ‘dudes on a map’ style game, just with lots of personal dynamics thrown in. The limitation is that these are all very mechanical dynamics, but the series is one of the few games where that actually works. Give it a try, and see how it feels when you discover your disloyal court is trying to murder the one vassal who likes you.