I've got it but not had the time it requires to get stuck in properly yet.

That really is the worst tutorial ever.

Just started a game. Still confused. England are being annoying so i've started funding the Cornish nationalists, which is pretty cool.

Started again as England, although i'd be more accurately described as the city-state of London. I can't decide how i feel about it. I know i'm not very good at it. Fucking awful, in fact. Cornwall has merged with Devon and Somerset to declare independence, and i've been forced into signing a ridiculous peace treaty with Scotland, whose borders currently stretch to Derby. The bank won't give me anymore loans, which means i can't afford any diplomats, which may in part be responsible for all the stupid farm subsidies i've somehow ended up giving to the Welsh, who won't even talk to me anymore because i don't have enough 'prestige'. Inflation is at 18% and Kent has plague. Starvation is widespread.

I can't really grasp the mechanics of how one formulates and executes a gameplan, because it's evident you really need one in this, but for so much of the time your progressive options feel hugely constrained, as if a downward spiral is inevitable. 

And just as i finish typing this i've been told the new type of ship i invested in heavily doesn't actually float. And Henry VII is always drunk? So much random stuff is happening and it's never in my favour.

I feel there's something immense beneath the surface, but it's just so damn hard to reach. There's a huge amount of options and things to tinker with, but due to the way they're all interlinked you can still feel very constrained.

For example, you might decide you want to sell Scotland to Venice, but the option's blacked out because Venice doesn't want a 3rd world economy, so you try to improve the economy by building markets and harbours, but the option's blacked out because you need to unlock those types of buildings from the ideas tree, so you consult the ideas tree but all the options are blacked out because you need a certain amount of 'monarch points'- which are unlocked through meeting targets- to coordinate projects on occupied soil, so you check out the quest screen and are told one target is to increase your global standing by increasing territory, so you try to build a settler, but you can't do that until your country is more stable etc etc

That's a fictional example. It's hard to remember the exact dynamics of something you don't understand, but perhaps you get the gist.

Hard to say. I can't tell if it's my sort of thing either, although i sort of want it to be. It's really not very accessible.

Did you ever play Rise of Mankind mod for Civ4? Or maybe it was Rise and Fall? I forget. It's a bit like that, but instead of having turns you adjust the speed of time passing.

You choose a state that's existed roughly between 1500 and 1800, and then play through their history, changing things along the way.

@Noxy

More long updates please.

I'm really tempted by this, as Banished isn't quite turning out to be what I thought, but £40 seems like a big chunk to risk... is it on Mac?

The picture tells a story

That's exactly what will happen in 50 years if the Scots get independence. It'll be London and then Scotland.

Crusader Kings 2 is apparently by the same people. It looks very similar, but perhaps more accessible, and is based on royal bloodlines rather than nations. Has anyone tried it?

Maybe talking to myself here, but anyway...

I'm playing as King Harold, or at least i was. It's still very confusing, but from what i can gather my brother, Duke Rannulf of the Swans, was very unhappy at being stripped of his title. I offered him the position of court jester but that made him even madder, which left me with little choice but have him locked up. So that's where he is now, along with my sister-in-law and two of my cousins. 

Just about to have my wife executed. This is pretty cool.

Keep it going Noxy, I think there's a thread on Crusader Kings 2 which Kilted Moose started.

You have this, Live?

Any link to the other thread?

I've come home drunk. Bit annoyed at how much a pint costs these days, therefore going to execute all living relatives. 

Can't understand how the fighting works in this. I'm not even able to complete the tutorial

Wondered where that post went. Meant for the TVthread but my phone keeps doing that annoying jump loading thing.

Imma change my post to make you all look cray cray, y'all see!