When comparing Empire: Total War vs Crusader Kings 2, the Slant community recommends Crusader Kings 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best Grand Strategy games on Steam?” Crusader Kings 2 is ranked 2nd while Empire: Total War is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Crusader Kings 2 is:
The game allows for one to make their own choices with there being many "win" conditions in that you can choose to progress how you like. Want to take over all of Europe, that is possible, want to create a successful lineage of family that keeps to themselves, this is also possible.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Combines real time with turn based strategy
The combination of turn based combat and real time works well with this game dues to how it plays out. The player starts off planning in a 4X type strategy game that once a battle commences they take charge of the troops in real time combat.
Pro Multiplayer is the strongest part of the game
Not having to deal with the poor AI is a good thing, which is what makes the multiplayer stand out as it is now time to use real tactics instead of cheap exploits to get ahead. This can make for really challenging games depending on who your opponent is and can be a real blast.
Pro Freedom to play how you like
The game allows for one to make their own choices with there being many "win" conditions in that you can choose to progress how you like. Want to take over all of Europe, that is possible, want to create a successful lineage of family that keeps to themselves, this is also possible.
Pro Massive online multiplayer
Crusader Kings II has a whopping 32 player online multiplayer mode. Something not often found in games of this sort which can make for a very intense and strategic gameplay session.
Cons
Con Poor AI
The AI in the game is not very smart, which can give an upper hand as well as hold one back. If one chooses to not go into a real time battle, but let the AI take charge for their own troops it can lead to disaster. On the other side of things when going into manual controlled battle the enemy AI can often be exploited, which also lessens the experience of the game.
Con Extremely complicated
Crusader King II is a very complicated game that seems overly complex at first and may take a while to really learn as there are quite a lot of things to not only balance in the game but also figure out how to do either through in game tutorials or reading online.
Con No naval battles
No naval battles, which reduces the advantages of being an Island nation.