just ordered CK

[lord of the mark]

I also find myself attacking mainly muslim held provinces in europe. Not so much for rep, as cause I dont want to fight Germany/HRE yet, and they tend to hold the provinces I most want to expand into. But recently they lost Venice to a Seljuk vassal, and I grabbed it.

the game severly underestimates the difficulty the muslims had operating across the Med. Thats the neg of leaving naval warfare out entire, it misses the importance of the rise of the Italian maritime states, among other things.

[lord of the mark]

im up to 1320 now and the Piasts hold the thrones of Poland, Lithuania, and Bohemia, and a couple of counties short of Portugal and Naples, and hold a batch of counties in Leon and Castile, in Italy, 3 in Egypt, several in Austria, Russia as far as Moskva, and the Kiev dukedom.

Im starting to contemplate continuing in EU2. Note aside from the Polish state ready to start far bigger, the Polish ethnicity has gone far as well - LIthuania and Bohemia are now almost all ethnically Polish.

[Ecthy]

Did you get those crowns by inheritance or by conquering those lands piece for piece? How'd you manage with the mongols / Il-khans?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Did you get those crowns by inheritance or by conquering those lands piece for piece? How'd you manage with the mongols / Il-khans?

Mainly conquering, some vassalizing. Vassalizing isnt that hard with friendly counts or even dukes - being very big and very rich helps, I guess. I have not got the knack of gaining land by inheritances - Im not patient enough with assasinations - I think thats more useful when youre a little count trying to build up - Ive been big enough, long enough, war is far easier.

the mongols - the horde was a pain for a while, got into several wars - took a while figuring out how to deal with the huge armies. Also timing for war with them, cant wait TOO long - did some reloading for that Finaally Germany (which is HUGE in my game - the only real competitor to greater Poland - France is weak, England no longer seems to exist) attacked Horde, and between Germany, me, and Russian princes, the Horde went down. The Il Khans never went anywhere.

My biggest hassle has been keeping the vassals happy, managing a large empire with a limited demesne, and trying to not build up to big a BB while expanding. I alternate attacking christians (which build bad boy when I annex) and muslims (which does not). By 1340 Ive declared the thrones of Naples and Portugal, and am on my way to the thrones of Egypt and Castille. And the bubonic plague is past, though the pneumonic plague is a problem.

THEN Germany attacked. I thought I was big enough to take them on, but I got sloppy at the beginning, and shamefully I didnt strategize as well as the AI. The AI focused on the south, on Italy and its approaches where the richest demesne provinces (on both sides) are, and gave up on the north european plain - while I hesitated. Resulting in major initial setbacks in Northern Italy. He's more on interior lines than I am - his domains are mainly Germany, Hungary, North Italy - while Im pulling troops from Iberia and Egypt, dealing with the gap between my northern domain (from Austria to Livonia) and my holding in central and south Italy, etc.

Then, after dinner tonight, I come back and the game is gone.

QOTM: Oh yeah, I needed to do something on this machine, Im sorry, I closed your game.
LOTM:!!!!!

I could have gotten upset, but its not really her fault, I SHOULD have saved, I just didnt want to during a war I was losing, and I COULD have played some ancient game on the dino in the basement - though only if shed told me she needed the "new" PC (the laptop is damaged and Im avoiding touching it till POTM takes it to the shop to either get it fixed or get parts so she can fix it herself)

Now I have the excuse to refight the war the RIGHT way (my previous save was right after the German DOW)

[lord of the mark]

shoot, I tried again and this time fought the war really as well as I could (though perhaps paid too little attention to vassal loyalty, but real that micro managing is TEDIOUS esp during a big war) And despite that I couldnt win, and the Emperor wont entertain peace.

I tried again from an earlier save, 1339 instead of late 1340, and it seems like theres no way to avoid war. Im weakened by a new ruler, and disease everywhere, and the AI knows this is the time to pounce.

Which is GOOD, of course, and I wouldnt complain except not only does the AI turn down my peace proposals (Admittedly generous only in terms of the war score, not in terms of the larger strag situation) it fails to make any peace offers of its own. The "Yasser Arafat model AI" I guess.

Makes for a tedious war, as I inevitably lose, but cant make a deal. Maybe I should try again, and this time make a REALLY generous peace offer.


Oh, and the thing thats the biggest pain, is how the vassal AI seems to ignore inbreeding when making marriages - it really loves marrying cousins.

This is annoying, cause lets say Ive got an older rule, his son has been given a significant fief (to build up prestige) and then the eldest grandson comes of age. The AI playing for the son will always marry the grandson to a cousin, meaning inbreds the next generation. For most of the game Ive managed to keep inbreds off the throne, but just now a sequence of inconvenient plague deaths has brought to the throne an inbred ill minor, resulting in nasty realm duress, just as Germany attacks. feh!

[Dinner]

Believe it or not I've gone back to playing Victoria: Revolutions. It's just a great game that entertains even if it is years old.

[Nikolai]

Yeah, I did the same a few days back. The Scandinavian Empire reigned northern Europe.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Believe it or not I've gone back to playing Victoria: Revolutions. It's just a great game that entertains even if it is years old.

I think I will get Rev at some point, though right now Im starting to feel "Paradoxed out"

BTW, I got out of my problem above - solution - assasinate Germanys spymaster, then the German king - the new one is a heretic, watch Germany fall apart. Make peace, go back to expanding elsewhere- Piasts are now kings of Egypt (1348)

Ive still got a dynastic dilemma. Younger son had great stats, but contracted illness, doesnt look good. Elder son, inbred, has lousy stats, but HIS kid has great stats. I dont look forward to managing the Piast empire while the elder son rules though, even if its not long.

[Ecthy]

Current game: civil war