Currently my favorite strategy game. It has some depth without being bloated. I love the music and the graphics are cool.

So far im not seeing any problems in not funding any crusades. I led one and got a vassal and some ugraded troops and that was cool.

Seems the best way to make money is through bolstering trade but friendly nations turn on me pretty quick.

Am i shooting myself in the foot by not leading my own armies?

Is this actually good? I loved the first one, it had very simple gameplay, but loads of SOVL. Second one looks fucking soulless.

>>2102542
The main criticisms seem to be that 2 is more like a remaster of the original. The graphics in the original were cooler but it kept crashing after a few hours of gameplay so i bought this one one sale.

>>2102588
The OST is nowhere near as good too. The first one had really good music, same composer as Baldur's Gate 3.

>>2102281 (OP)
based

I really love this game, it's criminally underrated. You put it perfectly too, that you can play it without needing to commit to a 40 hour campaign to get anywhere.

You probably already know it but it's best to trade w/ nations that you can avoid having any kind of border crisis or succession crisis w/. Trading it a net benefit for both you and the target country, so you don't want to bolster the coffers of an eventual enemy if you can help it.

>>2102612
>The OST is nowhere near as good too
Seems like a common theme these days

>it's best to trade w/ nations that you can avoid having any kind of border crisis or succession crisis
The only other paradox game i played was EU 4 and i had been hoping to absorb them. Huge mistake.

Right now im thinking the op lineup is 4 marshals, 1 spy, 1 diplomat, 3 merchants. Keep trying to go heavy on the merchant side but i find i need a lot of armies.

Only thing about only having one spy is i need another one to bust him out of jail.

>>2102281 (OP)
>Seems the best way to make money is through bolstering trade
Back in my days, it used to be by joining random wars and looting

>>2102777
Youre right and im retarded

>>2102281 (OP)
Eh. It's like a Paradox game for the utterly braindead. The low limit on how many leaders/knights you can have feels like an entirely arbitrary, boardgamey restriction. Also combat sucks shit, either abstract it away or make it good, not this half-assed nonsense.

>>2103344
What paradox game should i play for combat? I think i own crusader kings 1 or 2 but never got around to it. I put 100 hours into eu4 before deciding it wasnt worth continuing and or buying expansions.

>>2104183
None? None of them have anything close to good combat. It's just automatic calculations.

>>2104183
HoI is most focused on modern war, there is nothing really war-focused in earlier time.

>>2102542
It's literally the first with shittier engine that chokes. The small handful o QoL changes aren't really worth the issues the game has on technical level.
>soul souless
Meaningless, 2 is simply worse on technical side of things, with just absurd requirements for what it really is and how it plays.
Also, AI is twice as dumb in 2