End of a Great Journey

by on February 10, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Computer games

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.

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Team of Rivals

by on February 6, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

It’s hard to say there’s too many books about Abraham Lincoln, but there certainly are an awful lot of them. Doris Kearns Goodwin manages a slight of hand to emerge from the pack by spreading her net to the four primary Republican candidates for the 1860 presidential campaign, one of whom is elected, and the other three end up in his cabinet.

This does cause a few oddities. She starts (after an in medias res opening during the Republican 1860 convention) with the early life and careers of Lincoln, Seward, Chase, and Bates. But, it stops with the death of Lincoln, so it is a biography of him, and partial biography of the others.

I will admit that I am somewhat disappointed in this book. I seem to have expected something more like Massie’s Dreadnought, which brought a large, complex cast of characters to life. Goodwin does do some of the same here, but with a much more limited cast.

My disappointment does not mean it’s a bad book. However, I’ve am reasonably well read on the period, and there is not a lot new here for me. As a general-audience book, there will be a lot that’s new for that audience, and the high concept does put it all together in a new format. For me, Chase is probably the one I knew the least about, and he’s also the most contentious figure in the cabinet. Also: Goodwin spends more time than is sadly typical on the First Lady, Mary Lincoln, and gives a better-rounded picture of her than the usual.

The central thesis, meanwhile, is how Lincoln pulled together the best his party could offer, and tied them together as a team. This is well served, with a lot of the book being about how various members had their various ambitions, and how Lincoln increasingly tied them together in respect and friendship. While it’s obvious this is unusual, it’d be nice to be pointed at some examples of other examples of this kind of high-office relationship. Or, if it really is that singular, some thoughts on how that works. But this is a more general-audience book, and like that audience, I’d probably be put to sleep with too much political philosophizing. Which again, points up the need to point out some concrete comparative examples. Just a quick look at how Jeff Davis performed as president of the Confederate States could have been illuminating.

For those less well-read on the 1850s-1860s, this should be a very good book, especially if all you know is the military side of the ACW. I do also wish that Goodwin had talked more about the rest of Lincoln’s cabinet, though certainly Stanton gets a good amount of attention, once he comes in. For those better read, it’s still an enjoyable book and well put together. I will note that many chapters have an illustration from the time, and they are ones you generally don’t get to see today, and that is a very good touch as well.

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Vendetta

by on February 2, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

I can remember, back in the day, hearing about the producers for ST:TNG at conventions giving some of their own thoughts on certain subjects (it’s only cannon if it makes it to the screen…). It had been said that the doomsday machine (from the original episode of the same name) had actually been built as an anti-Borg weapon.

I have some problems with that (dealing with the original episode), but there are things to recommend the theory. Vendetta, the last of the giant novel Star Trek prestige format, is basically built around that theory.

Now, this was written around when fourth season was going, so a fair number of things hadn’t happened yet. In fact, part of the novel anticipates “I, Borg” in season five. That warp 10 was infinite speed, and unattainable for that reason, had been established, but we’re years away from Voyager‘s evolve-into-lizards story. Peter David has a different idea about what getting to warp 10 means, and I do like that version and how it helps end the story.

So, we have the Borg, the doomsday machine, and an ‘unattached’ Borg all as story elements. Oh, and a replacement for Locutus. The first two are the focus of the story, combined with an extra MacGuffin that he nicely references as inherently possible from bits of alien tech seen in previous episodes. Of course, we have to go even bigger and nastier on a bigger doomsday machine here. I don’t think that was really necessary, though the story does demand a pilot for this one, so it does need to be different. (Treknobabble annoyance: Back in “The Doomsday Machine”, Commodore Decker emphasizes it used a beam purely of anti-protons. David makes a point of it here, and equates that to inherently being very powerful. That’s just bunk. Power will depend on how many anti-protons you’re using. All anti-protons might be an impressive technical accomplishment, and there’s reasons to think it’d be very efficiently destructive, but you still need it to be a very concentrated beam to do better than anything easier but less efficient.)

There’s a good theme of obsession going on here that would pay off with better writing. We have Delcara (AKA “Vendetta”) with her single-minded pursuit of vengeance against the Borg, we have the Borg themselves, obsessed with absorbing all distinctiveness into their collective, we have Korsmo, Picard’s rival back in Starfleet Academy, who’s obsessed with how Picard’s career (and success against the Borg) have far surpassed his. With better development, this could all better reflect each other, with Picard holding a middle, largely balanced ground to hold a mirror against all of these at the same time. Better yet, not yet healed scars from his time as Locutus could send him reeling off balance into an obsession like Delcara’s, and the act of pulling back from that be the catharsis of the novel.

But that’s beyond Peter David’s abilities here (or possibly just beyond his writing schedule to do what would be a heck of a polishing job). Worse, there’s a Ferengi subplot and the rescued ex-Borg that do add to the final action, but don’t really add to the structure of the story. With better development, you could add them into the mix I outline above, but part of my point there is to use Picard as fulcrum of all these competing views, and he just doesn’t have the interactions with them for that to happen. (He is already quite busy in this novel! He also slips out of character, which also needs a round of polish to help.) So, it’s good, with possibilities to be more, but it would need a big rewrite to start approaching that promise.

After all that, you’ll understand when I say the writing here is weaker than the other four giant novels. Since it doesn’t have the plot-wrecking ending, I still like it better than Metamorphosis, but I put it below the three TOS giants. Metamorphosis gets a recommendation if you want to see the high concept, as its well developed but is otherwise a skip for destroying its own plot. Enterprise: The First Adventure gets points for it’s high concept as well, and is the best version of that one I’ve seen, and is generally well done. Final Frontier invites a few quibbles, but is very well done and excellently written. Strangers From the Sky is even better and one of my top Star Trek novel recommendations (and frankly, Final Frontier is up there too).

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Indigo Rain

by on January 29, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

While getting started with this novella, something was tickling at the back of my mind. Shortly after the first chapter, I realized that I recognized the names “Raneadhros” and “Ranea”. This is the same world as his early stories “A Gift of Fire, A Gift of Blood”, and “The Lighthouse”. It’s good to be back. (Watts, get these stories into ebook format; I know the former is available free in HTML, but they both deserve a good portable reading format.)

Like Watts’ other stories, Roulette is a fairly typical person. No amazing abilities or other hooks to make Roulette ‘main character bait’. She grew up in a backwater area of the empire, and wants more than living on the family vineyard will ever get her. She is attractive (if you go for curvy raccoons Procya), and knows how to dance. She’s using this to earn money to travel to the capital and find herself a rich husband.

However, in the human-dominated province of Achoren, she runs into trouble when a need for a bit of extra money turns into a private dance, assault, and death. Roulette has run straight into explosive local politics with stakes higher than she can willingly credit.

The political side is sadly even more familiar today than back in 2013 when this was written. But this is still a character-driven story, and as ever, Watts has given us a good cast of characters to follow. The action (because of course there’s action) is good, Roulette does spend a little too much time trying to duck the story she’s in, but Rissi is a nicely complicated character, who drives much of the middle.

I don’t know that this could hang together as a longer story, but it makes a great novella. Recommended, and I do hope we see some of the characters again someday.

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Anime Fall 2025

by on January 25, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Anime

Running behind on getting this out, but as usual at this part of year, my “season switchover” is running behind too.

Apocalypse Hotel — We finished the rewatch/show to the guys a little bit ago. Baron and Dave enjoyed it a lot, and it’s a remarkable series that can remain itself while occasionally visiting completely different anime genres.

The Owl House — We’re now over halfway through second season and things have gotten more complex. We have a lot of secondary motivations from secondary characters that are becoming more important. I also found the main episode with Luz’ mother very interesting, and hope we see more in that soonish.

MHA: Vigilanties — A bit late, we got to watching the My Hero spinoff. It was a very good self-contained story, with some nice twists set up early that pay off towards the end. I definitely recommend it.

My Hero Academia — And we’ve started the final season of MHA, but we’re still mid-way though it. I often don’t appreciate stories that turn up the power level too high, and that is true here. Now, it is good, and there’s a lot to be said for the conclusion we’re headed for, but the off-the-charts power level does irk me.

Kipo In the Age of Wonderbeasts — Smudge and I started watching this a bit ago, and we’re now in the middle of second season. It’s surprisingly good, though there’s a few unanswered questions, like what exactly caused all the mutated animals in the first place. However, other things are getting answered, and it’s obvious we’ll get to this at some point. Kipo herself is a great main character, full of energy and a desire to go see everything about her.

Wakfu — We’re now about halfway through the fourth season, now that we can just watch it on YouTube (no thanks to Netflix). As ever, well done, Yugo has gotten an age-up that has been kind of promised for a bit. However, see my comments on My Hero above about power levels. New threat, new power source, etc. I mean, yes, it is dangerous, but that’s a worn trope as well. Thankfully, the writing is there, and as it gets past a somewhat long establishing section, the writing is still carrying it well.

She-Ra — Unfortunately, this is getting pulled from Netflix in under a month (apparently more the studio going under than anything else), so Smudge and I tried it out. It has been good, and is miles ahead of the original. We’re currently in the middle of season two, and it has its problems, but overall has some very good characters, and the ‘sides’ aren’t as clear-cut as normal, with some well done characters with the villains. Sadly, even hurrying through it, we probably won’t get through season three, much less five.

Ranma 1/2 — I can’t shake the feeling that second season skipped things purely to get to Ukyo as fast as possible. It’s good that they included the classic school play/Romeo & Juliet story, but there was no reason to reshuffle it to near the end. Also, they started by skipping Ryoga getting the breaking point, and tended to just use him as a random guest appearance. On the other hand, the insanely fast pacing they’re going for reduced the main Happosai story to one episode.

Blood Blockade Battlefront — Smudge talked the guys into watching this, and we’re just before the end of first season. Dave has been unsure, but seems to have warmed up to it as the main story takes over and major character threads tie in nicely. I remember going through the same process myself the first time. The early going is pretty rough, with just enough sympathy for Leo to keep you going. The overall story though is very good, and makes the series well worthwhile.

Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express — We recently went through this in a couple weeks as it’s a bunch of very short episodes. The original Milky☆Highway short is good, but this has time for a few more characters, though the action is just as ridiculous. It’s a bit faster paced (visually) than I really like, and being short keeps it from outstaying its welcome.

Pokemon: Horizons — We’re now into part 3 of Search for Laqua, and we’ve technically been on main plot for the last few months with the Brave Olivine repaired. However, we’re still not seeing nearly as much of the adult cast, and that does hurt the show.

Dr Stone — Okay, new world and Amazon showdown. As usual, I have a lot of problems with what’s going on, but they’re part of the younger shonen audience aims. The later part with the final showdown and revival from scratch was well done, though I’m having problems believing the healing properties of the petrification can handle the amount of physical trauma some of the characters were subjected to. (This did open the door to a really big long-term question, so its not entirely uncalled for.)

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