[Three of Seven]

In a recent dev diary, Paradox have released the top 20 mods for CK2: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...metry.1016606/

The Game of Thrones mod came out on top, it is also 4th for the most popular start date! They have also mentioned in here, ways to make things easier for modders, including a new console command.

[Kerry Malone]

Whilst the news of AGoT and CK2+ being top mods isn't a huge shock, I was surprised to see Sketchy's Cheat Menu in the top 5.

I use Ruler Editor Unlock myself sometimes when I can't be bothered to play the game properly. It allows you to add traits to your character through the edit module that are otherwise locked through events or not available to your civilisation type - like "Born into the Purple" and whatnot. It does allow you to create your starter character as something of a demi-God if you are so inclined, but since you can't edit heirs and other characters, once your principle dies - you're forced to play the game as intended.

I tried Purchase claims, and its great if you're a super gold generating dynasty, as you can purchase claims on other territories giving you a right to go to war with someone to take their land. However, if you're not a super gold generating dynasty, it is very expensive, and once you have it - you can't do anything about it since you're too broke to go to war. Plus the claim only lasts on the character you purchased it on - and isn't inherited.

Damascus Steel + Ancient Swords is pointless - wouldn't bother with it. Just gives you an unviewable relic sword that gives a +1 to +3 bump to your martial skill, and can be passed on to an heir.

A Sensible New Family is quite good if you're using the Editor, as it gives you the option in the opening act of forming your family history, so instead of being a parentless oddity that appeared from God's loins somehow - you get a father (often deceased), a mother, and siblings. The later can be a problem, as depending on your selected option - they get a strong claim on your titles. You have to nobble them very quickly, or make them incredibly loyal, or you'll face a pretender war later on.

Lastly, I've tried Sketchy's Cheat Menu, and yes its very interesting, and yes it allows you to be somewhat uber in the game - allowing you to do things like add gold, prestige, piety, tech points, doom stacks, super ministers, super commanders, cheat traits, super children, amazing spouses, right click take titles/add claims/etc.

However, it doesn't half make the game incredibly dull if you always use it. You can take over a country simply by right clicking on the monarch and going "Abdicate to me" and you get EVERY SINGLE TITLE they hold. You can raise mighty doom stacks of 100k soldiers at a time, to create ultimate mega-stacks of 1 million men. Not even the Muslim nations can do that! Not to mention you can create 90-100 martial point commanders to put in your armies with amazing combat modifier traits that make them virtually unbeatable.

Kind of defeats the point if you own half the world by 1069.

[Noram]

Damascus steel is only popular because it's basically porting the hereditary sword system from the AGOT mod to the base game.

It's a really interesting set of stats, and it says a lot about the quality of the AGOT mod. Nearly half of all players play with at least one mod, and of that group, half of them are playing with the AGOT mod...A quarter of all the people playing CKII yesterday were playing with this one mod.