Welcome to the last Asatru-practicing duchy in the world.




Erik III 'the Heathen' Munso is a Prince of Sweden, but has not adopted the new Catholic ways of his Nephew, King Erik II, or his sister, Queen Mother Ingrid Emundsdotter.  In fact, the Norse religion that once reigned over all these lands but a hundred years ago is now being pushed out by Catholic missionaries.  Only a few counties practice the old ways, and of those only Erik III and his vassals openly resist Catholicism.




By the way, I think I know why they refer to the religion as Asatru and not Norse.  Paradox has reserved the term Norse to apply to the Norse culture group and I doubt they wanted the confusion of a religion and a culture of the same name.

Speaking of culture, one of the high points of the new expansion is the new fluid culture system.  Culture's can converge, diverge, and you can have acceptance to one or many on a variety of aspects that I haven't even kept up with all the way.  So this game will try to highlight the changes and illustrate my discovery of the new system.




We start the game as Swedish culture, which according the game diverged from Norse culture back in the year 1000.  Norse culture only remains on Iceland in the 1066 start date.  Highlighting a few things that make Swedish culture unique, let's look at the culture screen.  We can see that our nephew, the King, is the haed of Swedish Culture, and so he'll be making all the decisions about which technology we research and maybe some more that come with the new cultural mechanics.  Before the only thing that would separate cultures was their technology but now we have an Ethos, Cultural Pillars, and Traditions, each with their own bonuses and stats to make the cultures play in their own unique manner.  Open the spoiler for more details on Swedish Culture in particular.

Civilization Genre HD Video Series:
Welcome to the second episode in a huge video series years in the making where I show you how to play each classic Civilization genre game (including spinoffs like Colonization) in 1080p HD, while showing off some of their best scenarios and mods along with their interesting and sometimes very different console conversions, plus also trying to play as the Barbarians in each game too. Naturally this second big main episode is about Sid Meier's Colonization! I'll also be looking at fan games and naturally at some point I'll get to the more modern Civ games that don't require any tricks to play in HD and will still tribute them too of course! In many cases there's simply too much to cover in one main episode so I'll also be making special extra bonus episodes to compliment the main episodes in the series, so stay tuned!

• Main Episode 01 - Civilization 1
  
• Main Episode 02 - Colonization (You are here!)
  
• Main Episode 03 - Master of Magic (Coming soon)
  
• Main Episode 04 - Civilization 2 (Coming soon)
  
• Main Episode 05 - Civ2 Test of Time (Coming less soon)
  
• Main Episode 06 - Alpha Centauri (Coming less soon)
  
• Main Episode 07 - Civ Call to Power (Coming next year)
  
• Main Episode 08 - Call to Power 2 (Coming next year)
  
• Main Episode 09 - Civilization 3 (Coming next year)
  
• Main Episode 10 - Civilization 4 (Coming next decade)
  
• Main Episode 11 - Civ4 Colonization (Coming next decade)
  
• Main Episode 12 - Civilization 5 (Coming next century)
  
• Main Episode 13 - Civ Beyond Earth (Coming next century)
  
• Main Episode 14 - Civilization 6 (Coming next lifetime)
  
• Main Episode 15 - Old World (Coming next lifetime)
  
• Main Episode 16 - Humankind (Coming next lifetime)
  
• Misc Episodes - Civ Fan Games - FreeCiv, FreeCol, FreeMars & More (Coming very soon)
  

• If everything looks too small then you're probably viewing this video on a small screen or phone. Colonization has built in zoom controls you can use or you can lower the Windows XP resolution inside the Virtual Machine and the game will resize to fit.
  
• Sorry it takes so long to get to the actual game the video is about. I just really wanted to let Col fans know about all this other great similar stuff out there! Not to mention try to rebuild the community!
  
• If it feels a bit choppy and slightly schizophrenic that's because '3 different Blakes' worked on it haha! Basically I made the video in 2018, then came back to it in 2019 and added lots of stuff, and then came back to it again in 2021 and deleted a bunch of stuff & added even more new stuff lol! I tried to intermix and smooth out the transitions between old and new footage as best as I could so hopefully it's not too bad.
  

1. Setup a Windows XP VM using VirtualBox. Below is a video guide on how to do that:
youtu.be/7RQyhgvbqKY
(NO I will not illegally give you a copy of Windows XP, use google search lol)

2. Download a copy of Colonization for Windows (NOT DOS), copy it's files into a folder in the XP VM, and test it to make sure it works.
(NO I will not illegally give you a copy of ColWin, use google search lol)

3. If you want music you will need the original Colonization for Windows CD or a iso/bin/img cd image file of the CD (although I think iso files are pure data and do NOT contain CD music tracks so the game CD rip needs to be a bin or img or similar possibly with a cue file listing track positions) which you can mount to the VirtualBox VM virtual CD drive. I had some weird troubles with this part (VirtualBox ignored both my real cd and bin image music when I mounted them) so in the end I usually just played a youtube video of the soundtrack in the background.
Col Windows CD Soundtrack Youtube Video
Col DOS Midi Roland-MT32 Soundtrack Youtube Video

4. Pressing right ALT+F should resize your Windows XP virtual machine to your native Windows resolution (eg on my Windows 7 machine its 1920x1080). If you then start the game it should resize to the new high resolution of the virtual machine and Colonization will be in HD!

Example shot of how things should look!

Link to post #2 with useful stuff






This game we're Saxons.



What follows is my stream of consciousness on what I feel like saying on Saxony's history; you have been warned. I am also writing all of it from my head with a bit of wiki on the side, and I am by not means an expert on anything of it, so please forgive (and correct) possible inaccuracies.



Saxony is the German state that I happen to live in (for quite some time already), although, relevantly, I hail from the other end of the country and don't quite always blend in with the true locals. This is not the Saxony where the latter half of the Anglo-Saxons come from; in short, that Saxony used to be the largest duchy within the HRR, until their most famous duke Henry the Lion got on the wrong side of the emperor Barbarossa and most other princes and the duchy was splintered. After a few centuries the title of Prince Elector of Saxony travelled east through dynastic succession, to the counts of Meißen. Meißen is just a few miles downstream from the current Saxon capital of Dresden, where I live.



The area used to be Slavic speaking in the early middle ages. That is much reflected in the names of places, including Dresden, which Wikipedia tells was originally Drježdźany, meaning swamp dweller .  To my understanding, a lot of German settlers moved in during the later middle ages, same as in regions like Bohemia or Silesia, to the point of achieving cultural predominance. As far as I am informed this process was rather peaceful though, as the local rulers actively sought for the settlers. However, the slavic language of Sorbianhas survived until this day, mostly in the eastern regions of the state, and in fact it is the only language that has an official status exlusively in Germany (German itself being official in Austria and Switzerland plus some places where it's a minority language). This is actively cultivated; in my (urban, Germanized for centuries) neighbourhood there is a Sorbian speaking nursery, and more to the east in places like Bautzen or Zittau (and the rural surroundings) the street signs are bilingual and there are Sorb tradition societies and the like. It's although taught in some schools.



The thread title and the opening picture allude to a 6 episode TV series, Saxony's Splendour and Prussia's Glory, produced in the 80's German Democratic Republic (GDR, Commie East Germany). It was one of if not the biggest Eastern German film production. I have to admit that I have not watched it (and hardly will in the near future), but apparently it's all the rage among the (older?) natives. The guy in the middle I believe is supposed to be Augustus II the Strong, who was the prince elector on the turn of the 17th to 18th century and got himself elected to king of Poland. Baroque in every sense, he is known for supporting the arts, sciences and a long list of mistresses, as well as for eating and drinking in impressive quantitities. He also broke a horseshoe with his bare hands at a party once and issued himself a diploma on the feat. Although a mechanics professor I'm acquainted with claims to have proven that he cheated. Here he is anyways, most glorious:




That is an actual gold coating fwiw, which continues to be renovated.



As for another fun(?) fact(?), the Saxons by Augustus' time had become protestant; a protestant however could not become Polish king, so of course Augustus adopted the true faith when it was necessary. But now he was a catholic king with a protestant capital. Here is the cathedral that his son built:




Apparently a catholic king is supposed to make a procession on Corpus Christi, but the local citizens were not thrilled by the idea, and it was feared that even rotten eggs might fly. So for that purpose, the balconies you see proved very practical, letting the king walk in circles, high above anybody who could be offended by the sight. Or so goes the saying. You also see a bridge connecting the church directly to the residential palace (the towered structure to the right).



Augustus war efforts brought mixed results, but who cares when you can put yourself up on a horse on a pedestal, larger than life and covered in gold. With his son however it went really bad, and Saxony was repeatedly defeated by the Prussians and ultimately occupied during the Seven Years War (which Prussia really should not have won, but they drew a lucky tsar). The Saxon prince turned king then allied with Napoleon, and in the long run that didn't go too well either. And finally another one again was on the wrong side against the Prussians in 1866, leaving him with the honourful opportunity of fighting alongside Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War and submitting to the Prussian emperor (the kingdom of Saxony was continued until 1918, with some autonomy within the empire, until facing the prospect of democratic/socialist revolution the last king went off with the immortal words of "do your crap alone then" ("macht euern Dreck alleene", in local dialect). All that time however Saxony was very much a cultural center, and later on also one of the early heartlands of industrialization happened among the German states.

Saxony then was part of the Weimar Republic, the nazi state and the GDR until finally joining the Federal Republic as a state. Compared to the other former GDR states it is notably successful economically, although by far not to the standard of the south of the country or the old FRG states in general. The big cities are somewhat thriving, while the countryside has serious problems including depopulation and in particular youth wandering off. Nowadays it is rather infamous among Germans and I fear internationally for having what appears the most entrenched and violent far right movement within the country, to the point that many seem to view it as a lost cause, and some feel it is unsafe to visit. Living here I can attest that we are having issues with racists on a near daily basis. At the same time there are many wonderful people here, including those resisting that shit, sometimes heroically. Generally people have a nice down to earth and hands on mentality, many are actually ery interested in culture, your money matters less than in other regions. My son is starting to pick up the hideous local dialect of German which is becoming a problem.

So far for our theme for the game, although I'm very happy to discuss anything Saxon related. Maybe with the indidual cities I'll write a bit more, although that plan generally never materializes after maybe the first 2 cities.

Here is the link to the story my teammate started at civforum.de PB 90 - Kemet, das Land der ersten Hochkultur (civforum.de)
Where I will be barraging the German forum with my English posts 

This is an 18 player pitboss on the German civforum site. Very minor mod that is essentially Base BtS. Restricted leaders, randomly assigned There are some powerhouse civs/leaders in play, as well as some ... less than powerhouse.

I rolled France, of as-yet-unknown leader (3 possible). This is a very average result which shouldn't be targeted by the map makers for either nerfing or buffing. I am quite content with any of the leaders, but their musketeers offer some unique opportunities.

Based on what I have read about past custom maps on their site I expect the following:
• A decision on T0 to move to a plains hill
• Copper in the BFC of settle in place and the plains hill option


Some differences as compared to my historical RB game experience (specifically in the mods)
• Wonder failgold farming is not only allowed, but encouraged (2/3 available leaders have IND trait)
• Neighbors seems to be more aggressive in the early game on civforum
• Apostolic Palace resolutions are active, meaning beware of wars getting cut short, cities getting gifted away, and trade embargos. I'll have to look up the exact consequences when 
• Wonders are more powerful since they have not been nerfed
--> Great Lighthouse, MoM

My goals for the game:
• Have fun!
• Don’t die early
• Play a competitive game without achieving empire size that requires really long turns.
• I don’t necessarily have aspirations for world domination this game. Let’s have some fun playing with new people and new game settings.

PASSWORD:

CK3's next DLC is finally coming out in a little over a week!  Since the new patch is going to break old saves (and I've managed to get sick again so there's been little to no movement on Socotra), I'm not planning on continuing the Socotra game any further because the save is going to be invalidated in a little more than a week.  There was a lot of positive feedback from the Socotra game, and I plan on starting a new game with the Royal Court DLC.  I plan on using the game to explore some of the differences in culture and the new Grandeur mechanic.  Its an interesting combination because the culture changes encourage conquering and expanding, but Grandeur encourages "building tall".

What I would like your help on is deciding where I should start.  I plan on starting on the 1066 start date, and have a few ideas on starts that would be interesting to play with this in mind:

Count Herbert of Vermandois - the Last of the Karlings.  This will be a tough start, as we start as a one-province count under the King of France.  But perhaps we can return to some of Charlemagne's glory.

Beg Muhammad Abbaszde of Ghur - So this isn't actually the start I have in mind.  What I would like to do is to recreate the Khwarazmian Empire and bring them back to their former glory (maybe not kill the Mongol envoys this time), but I'm not at all certain which leader to start as in 1066 to be true to their origins.  I'm not an expert of the history and my internet sluething has only brought me to Anushtegin Garchai - an individual who supposedly they derive from, and was alive in the time, but whom I have not found in the CK3 1066 start.  So instead I would start with Beg Muhammad or someone similar and attempt to recreate my own version of the Khwarazmian Empire.

Prince Erik the Heatlhen of Sweden - one of the last Asatru rulers, making us one of the last true Vikings in 1066.  This could be interesting to play as a "tall" manner -trying to stay alive as the last Viking realm among a sea of Christianity.  Then again, just staying alive could be interesting as we are the only Asatru faith duke in the Catholic kingdom of Sweden.

Other?  Is there another leader or area you would like to see?

Hi Everyone,

Since this spell and creature does not appear in documentation, I am adding it for everyone service,

Thanks!

I am not sure it is a bug or not for Allora, who is a Champion with a bow, currently has magical ranged attack. but it seems a bit weird.
She should have physical ranged attack like Shuri (=Huntress).

And she must be superior-compatible to Shuri, but she is rather weaker than Shuri because she does not have a fixed ability of enhanced damage.
So she needs to have 'Powershot' ability like Shuri, and having 'Guiding Beacon' is also better because Champions are basically leaders.

And in my remember, she has +3 basic ranged and defence compared to Shuri in original MoM.
Her basic defence is 8 which is ok in this point but not for basic ranged. 
But her basic ranged needs to be increased to be better than Shuri's ranged.
I think this can be compensated if 'Guiding Beacon' is given to her.

Suggestion:

1. add loot when winning battles -> like gold and mana?
2. better diplomacy -> pay tribute (gold per turn) for peace?

Over at rpgcodex.com we are setting up a SMAC PBEM. If you want to play make an account there and then tell me here so I can add you to our PM on that forum.
SMAC = Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire, it's a really underrated and old style entry in the civ series but it has lots of deep mechanics like elevation, sea level rise, the ability to raise and lower terrain thus incidentally rerouting rivers, psionic combat side by side with mundane, ability to outfit unit chassis with different types of weaponry, army, and gear, and much more.