Best Grand Strategy Game?

I like Crusader Kings or the Total War games.

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>Total War
Not Grand Strategy.
>Crusader Kings
I find that one the most fun, even if it's probably not the best within it's genre.

What would Total War be then?

An RTS/TBS genere mix.

Ok

Well, "grand strategy" isn't exactly descriptive of CK2 either, with its utmost focus being in dynasty-building, not grand strategy.

CK2 is my favourite as well. This India game is making me fall asleep, though.

>[...]such games go beyond simple warfare to deal with economics, geography, history and politics[...]
Sounds like CK2 to me.

>India
Why would you do that?

Get some event mods.

>tfw all you want from this life is for someone to make a hybrid between CK2 and Medieval 2 Total War

Even down to realistic troop numbers..

>Total War

Literally a spam more units than the enemy simulator and horse flanking sim.

That's all you need to win every Total War game

Grand strat is a terrible genre. TBS like Dominions has far more strategy involved.

>Grand strat is a terrible genre.
No.
> TBS like Dominions has far more strategy involved.
You're correct, but that doesn't make GS any less fun.

So how does de jure title works? I currently rule the Byzantine Empire and just conquered the Kingdom of Georgia for someone, which would make me their de jure liege, but when the usurper die and another takes the throne, the kingdom separates from my de jure empire. Is that normal?

cheevos

Maybe in 400 years I will be Samrat Chakravartin.

Total war is walking simulator

I just want total war with much deeper and complex politics and up to 8 players campaign.

Mount and Blade mah mang

How do I get my wife to stop firing councilors?
It's really annoying.

>kek

I just want Total Wa+Mount Blade

I'm trying to get into CKII, i have played EU4 but this is too complex. Where can i find a good tutorial vid ?

youtube.com/watch?v=MAvJJuv1hvM

Yes, grand strategical games go beyond the scope of strictly military matters because that's what the concept of grand strategy is about. That doesn't mean it includes everything that isn't military, however. If you now take a look at what Wikipedia says about "grand strategy", turns out most of the areas associated with grand-strategical decision-making aren't in any way involved in CK2 (with the exception of diplomacy, which takes place at a level of individuals or dynasties so its applicability to modern view of grand strategy is suspect).

In general, it's a pretty questionable concept to begin with. The boundaries of tactical, operational and strategical levels of war are very clear, but grand strategy is iffy. In many militaries grand strategical level is included in strategical one without distinction being made.

Vicky 2

You just stop being a cuck and ignore her opinion.

It's grand strategy/RTT mix you goof.

>grand strategy
How?
Go to /gsg/ and tell them. Post results.

Warfare wasn't really that interesting before the whole "combined arms" thing was invented.

That's when warfare stopped being interesting.

/gsg/ is not for shitposting user!

I have told them. It's just "go back to /twg/".

As for the question:
Tactical games are like the battles in Total War. You are given units and you must win with them. Most/many/some of the Men of War missions are tactical, Codename Panzers and Sudden Strike as well, to name a few games that has a great focus on it.

Generally "Strategy games" are games where resource management/economy is involved. See Starcraft, Command and Conquer and Age of Empires as usual examples. They usually play on a map, you train units and build an economy to pay for these units.

Techincally city building games are also strategy games, but that's another discussion.

Grand Strategy games have you play a campaign. Not a campaign as in "multiple missions/maps and some story that binds them together" like you see in most games. A campaign that has you lead a nation or an army on a much grander scale than a few "maps". It is Grand Strategy because you get the full picture the entire time and aren't "zoomed in" on one soldier, squad or town most of the time.

>this plebius maximus cant into formations

Doesn't explain how TW is GS.

CK2 is my favorite /gsg/ game, mainly cuz they pushed Stellaris to 4x.
Nothing better than fighting planning, marrying and plotting until you unite Europe under the Pope's grace and retake the Holy Land.

How so? I explained what a GS was and Total War has what I mentioned.

Or is this some /gsg/ meme?

It probably passed to a landed dude that was outside your realm. If the kingdom is de jure, you can just take it back since it's rightfully yours, but if it was de facto than you have to create a claim towards it. Don't know if Georgia is actually de jure part of byzantines though, haven't played in a while. You can enact a law that makes it so land can't be passed down to people outside of your realm

Don't see how the TW has "Grand Campaigns".
They are fairly simplistic.

I've been playing a more relaxed game recently. I set myself up as THE merchant. I pretty much drown in money. The year is 1002 and I have a monthly income of 163 gold. All I do is prise Odin and in return he keeps me safe from plague.

Fuck income scaling prices though.

Because it does to a degree involve grand strategical level of operations with diplomacy, economy, inclusion of peacetime rather than featuring one conflict from start to finish etc.

It doesn't have grand strategical FOCUS either, though, so it's not a useful way to describe the game. Same goes for CK2, it does have grand strategical component but the focus is in dynasty management or the old-fashioned strategy. Out of Paradox games, Victoria has almost complete focus on grand strategical level, Europa Universalis is more focused than CK2/TW and so is Hearts of Iron (which also includes operational level of war to a degree, unlike other Paradox games).

"grand strategy" has absolutely nothing to do with complexity or depth, it's a question of level of operations.

>tfw you decide to join the crusades even if you're a pretty minor spanish king
>send your whole host of 2.2k men
>tfw those 2.2k tip the scales in two of the three decisive battles, winning the holy land for the catholic church
I don't remember being this excited in a long time

also
>tfw your brother plots to kill your only child
I was fucking fuming irl. he's in the dungeon now. top notch game

You get the full picture. You see the entirey of europe. You move the armies. You (sometimes) choose the battles.
You rule the lands with your government (in some games). You build cities and mass legions. You conquer land and people alike.

A game that has all these qualities is a grand strategy game.
Remember that a game can have multiple genres, so just because it has tactical battles doesn't mean it's not a grand strategy game.

>the great questions of the day are not decided by speeches and majority votes, but by liquor and bureaucrats
memeing aside, I think Victoria 2 is the best since your actions can have an impact on the whole world, like shutting down uk liquor factories causing a world wide depression and riots

How the fuck isnt it grand strategy?
The only time I hear that is from people who play strictly games like victoria or hearts of iron to think they're better than people. I play both and total war is definitely grand if you re playing campaign mode.

If you're only doing multiplayer or just battles then yes RTS

>battles then yes RTS
Battles are by definition tactical

Best Strategy

kingdom come for xbox?it's an anime power trip though

literally the opposite

Darkest Hour and Crusader Kings 2 are my favorite. I honestly could never really get into Victoria 2, it's just too complex for me.

...

CK2 is probably the best. Really.
Victoria 2 is nice, but kind of broken.
EU is crap.
HoI is very different from the others. It feels like a grand scale RTS to me. With clear objectives.

Grand Strategy isn't really a well defined genre. It is mostly Paradox trying to sound different from the others. One of the things that they themselves said that defined GS was it being historical.

Source: I have over 2000 hours on CK2+CK1, EUIII, EUIV

>tfw East vs West died and all we'll get now is a half-assed $20 DLC for HoI4 plus $10 content pack

>defined GS was it being historical
What a load of bullshit.

Yep

>themselves said that defined GS was it being historical.
Not that they would've even noticed, but that just adds to the hilarity of Stellaris getting shitposted out of /gsg/.

this mate, total war already has auto combat, I swear some fuck please make this hybrid
but too bad it would be too much work and no one want to invest

The biggest problem with EU is that Paradox keeps changing the rules of the game.

There exists a game that gets really close to it. Knights of Honor.
The game does not stop (if you want) when in battles. You can even jump right out of them and let it auto-resolve.

the best for history is EU2 with AGCEEP. all of a sudden it gets real school-like, you know?

I'm glad they're finally changed technology.

yeah I watch some youtube video but the political system is not that dynamic, not to mention immortal characters making the game much easier

Just bought Vicky 2 after playing CK2 for hundreds of hours. Im having a lot of fun even though I have no idea why I win or lose battles.

>play crusader kings 2
>marry princess of wales
>dad says "hey let's form an alliance"
>like the idiot I am forgot to check if he was, y'know, at war with england or not

It was fun accidentally spearing my steward in the gut tho

Crusader Kings 2 with the map-enhancing mods from HiP is absolutely gorgeous, and with Conclave+Reaper's Due it feels like a genuinely full, solid game.

Make sure you get a lock on the Liquor market.

No it's not. It is a lot more than TW.

I like that the game can be basically eternal with your empire crumbling and new nations taking over.

If you don't play to win, just to amuse yourself, it can be very fun.

Why did you play EU4 for so long if you think it's crap? I'm not insulting, I'm just curious what made you change your opinion

Are both Conclave and Reaper's Due actually worth it? RD especially. I love me some plague action, but it sounds like it just makes everyone die of cancer constantly.

Speaking of KoH, are there are good mods for it?
It's a fun game, but once you grow to a certain size there's no point in playing further and it gets boring.

I hate playing Ironman because the world outside my realm always becomes a goddamn cluster fuck but Ironman is the only way I feel like I'm actually accomplishing anything.

Are the Supreme Ruler games any good?

Which one is best?

The only Charlemagne to 1453 playthough I ever did was as a muslim.

hehehehe

hehehe huehue

>-54%

Cancer isn't THAT common in my experience, but characters will get sick and die a lot more now, and the Black Death will really fuck your shit up (as it should). What really annoys me is syphillis being fucking everywhere and driving people insane, I thought it hadn't even been introduced to Europe yet.

Conclave is great because it enhances your ability to direct the management of your kingdom in ways that weren't there before the DLC, namely with laws and developing relationships with your vassals so the Council supports you. Conclave also gave us an overhaul of childhood education; kids are no longer dumped on a duke's lap and left to rot for 10 years, now they have "stages" of education that feel more flavorful and realistic than an Emperor personally training them.

Reaper's Due is fantastic; while the pop-ups can get a bit tedious after long sessions, the DLC really makes disease something to be feared, and has given us more control over how to handle disease. Curiously, one of the additions Reaper's Due added that I really enjoy is Prosperity, which is kingdoms that experience long periods of peace eventually begin to prosper (up to a Tier III) which can give you as much as a +30% bonus to taxation.

Conclave and Reaper's Due finally give you a reason to spend a decade or more at peace, which was something desperately needed after everything else focused on intrigue and warfare.

hohohoho

RIP in piece, Alexiad-start Seljuks.

The DLC activator for EU4 doesn't work for me any more
Anyone know any workarounds?

What mod add events that's not the meme extreme VIET?

if there's one thing I learned in this game it's Israeli geography tbqh

There's a hypothesis that it was around in Europe beforehand, but the better supported hypothesis is that it was brought over from the Americas.

historical game

Vicky 2 > all the other grand strats

>>>/gsg/

Someone give me a fun challenge in CKII.
I feel like I've already done everything.

Save Isreal from the non Jews

maybe it's the oldest one in the book but: RP your kings. play like you think they would, not like you think is best

I love how huge Italy got with HiP, and since they added SWMH-lite it runs extremely quick.

Has anyone here played this?

I want some vidya gamen about the 30 years war, this looks alright but since I haven't played it I don't know if it's actually any good or not

Been playing Vic2 quite a bit and want to get CK2. Question though;

Should I get the base game or complete edition with all the DLC?

Vanilla CK2 is boring as hell.

>Someone give me a fun challenge in CKII.

Play as a tribal lord from 867 (Duke of Mazovia's always a good one) and create your culture's kingdom.

From there, do absolutely nothing to expand your borders unless a particularly pretty double-kingdom border presents itself. Play the rest of the game as a dynasty simulator focused on giving your citizens the greatest life you can give them.

Honestly, I'd just get the DLC on sale but most people will recommend you get the base game and then pirate the DLC.

All the DLC besides Sunset Invasion and some of the music is worthwhile, you can pirate all of it even with a bought copy of the game though

>Should I get the base game or complete edition with all the DLC?

The general rule of thumb for Crusader Kings 2 is to buy the base game and pirate the DLC.

Be sure to get the Historical Immersion Project as well, and when it prompts you during mod installation choose to instal VIET Traits, VIET Events, CPRPlus, SWMH-Lite and Lindbrooks Texture Map.

You don't have to get every dlc, most of the features are included in patches. Pick the ones you feel like they're going to be fun for you. If you want to play muslims, buy Sword of Islam. Nordic cultures, Old Gods; etc.

Though I'd recommend buying Legacy of Rome for the retinues and Reaper's Due.

Buy the game, pirate ALL the DLC, turn off Sunset Invasion
Boom, decades of content

Is there anything fun about turning Sunset Invasion on? I know it's kinda retarded alt-history bullshit, but does it make for at least a slightly refreshing game?