(I am that friend)

I'm mostly curious about these Merchant Republics, they seem intriguing, but I don't know if that would be difficult for a first game or not

JadenSinclair does. Who knows if he'll actually check his damn pings, but

I was honestly expecting nothing but the howling of the wind here

Haha, fair enough. Justin's into all sorts of strategy games, so...

Ah, good to know. Ordinarily I am not big on strategy games, let alone the Grand Strategy genre, but Crusader Kings II just looks so damn fascinating that I can't help but be intrigued

I haven't played the Merchant Republics, but I believe they play kind of differently than the normal groups. I'd recommend starting with one of the basic nations for a first game. I've heard Ireland is good.

OH MY GOSH, A JUSTIN APPEARED

Yeah, Ireland's been what I've heard as a good starting point. I have a buddy who played from the 769 start date and wound up forming the Kingdom of Ireland himself

He immediately changed its name to Fooland, changing all the counties and duchies within to be places like Wit, Jape, etc, because that's where his priorities lie

*Foolland

fucking foolland

funnily enough, that buddy is also named Justin