Crusader Kings II Thread IV: Time to Create a New Title

[Rockphed]

I bought the latest DLC today.
Now I just need to decide who to play as...

How far East do you have to go to interact with China?

I don't have it, but I think you should be able to interact with China if you have any Silk Road provinces. The silk road terminates in Jerusalem, Alexandria, and (I think) Crimea-ish. So, as noted, anywhere a little east of where Byzantine starts should do the trick.

One other thing: I started a game as Temujin without horse lords. I think there used to be a decision to summon more doom-stacks, but I cannot find it. Did it get removed, or do I need to wait for my ruler to roll over to use it? I currently control all 5 Tengri holy sites and have reformed the religion, but I am down to 15,000 event troops from 50K that I started with.

Also, any suggestions on which direction to expand would be welcome. I took Cumanina and Khazaria and Persia, but I'm at a loss of what to do next. I suppose I should take Perm and Mordvina. Maybe work my way in to Poland and the HRE (though I am trying to avoid triggering cursades or Jihads at me).

[tonberrian]

My current game is a bit stalled, as I don't know what exactly to do next. I successfully managed to get my independence from the Sunni caliphate through a handy favor from the kingdom of Egypt. And that's good!

Unfortunately Seljuk spawned, and that's bad.

I don't recall, is there any way to easily get rid of his doomstack? By murdering him, maybe? I only have 25k troops and he has ~68k.

[Leecros]

So i discovered yesterday that Umbra Spherae was updated for the latest version of CKII. I've had a pretty long history of playing the mod having played it way back before Raja's of India. However, since they restarted work on it; I have always had a hard time with stability. It's a very meaty mod and isn't all that stable. So I've been waiting for a release that's finally stable enough for me to play and so far(~3 hours of gameplay) it hasn't crashed once.

It's unfortunate that they had to cut out a large part of the new Jade Dragon mechanics to get the mod working with the game, but I would imagine that getting the offmap China mechanics to sync up and harmonize with the on-map China is quite the monumentous task.

I don't recall, is there any way to easily get rid of his doomstack? By murdering him, maybe? I only have 25k troops and he has ~68k.

I think the standard method of dealing with doomstacks is to wait for them to throw them at things other than yourself, but that's neither not always possible nor viable from a time standpoint.

[Avilan the Grey]

Anyone has ideas for interesting starts at the earliest start date?

[Maryring]

Start as one of the Scandinavian counts, try to resist being gobbled up by the swedish and danish petty kings and forge the empire of Scandinavia!

[tonberrian]

Sorkhab Bavandid is an interesting start for sure - the only available Zoroastrian duke-vassal of the Abbasid Caliph. So long as you don't piss him off, it's possible to thrive - look out for Zealous lieges and "asking" to raise one of your kids. Duchy claims and religious revocation are your friends. It's actually not a very difficult start if the Caliph is sufficiently appeased.

[Leecros]

Sorkhab Bavandid is an interesting start for sure - the only available Zoroastrian duke-vassal of the Abbasid Caliph. So long as you don't piss him off, it's possible to thrive - look out for Zealous lieges and "asking" to raise one of your kids. Duchy claims and religious revocation are your friends. It's actually not a very difficult start if the Caliph is sufficiently appeased.

What a coincidence. I literally just started playing as Sorkhab Bavandid today!


I managed to orchestrate the collapse of the Arabian Empire nearly in it's totality by timing my independance revolt with a well placed Shia Uprising in Iraq. All the while I was a Zoroastrian. There were a few tense years where people were constantly trying to murder my father(Sorkhab's son), but at the end of the day...I think this is a much more Zoroastrian-Friendly region to play in.

Barring that massive Egypt.

[tonberrian]

Yeah Bavandid has been my game for a few weeks now. Right now I'm about 6 provinces away from becoming the sayoshant...

...But half of them require attacking Seljuk and 40k event troops.

[Leecros]

...and then this happened. 2,000 hours in the game and I have to say: That is a first.

I guess it's not surprising considering "conquered as a claimant" and they were really weak but still...

Yeah Bavandid has been my game for a few weeks now. Right now I'm about 6 provinces away from becoming the sayoshant...

...But half of them require attacking Seljuk and 40k event troops.

I already have the Saoshyant achievement. I got it ages ago back in 2014. It was my absolute favorite game of CKII outside of like...the novelty and thrill of the first few games. This game that i'm playing now looks like it's going to be just as enjoyable. The Zoroastrians just have the perfect position on the map at enough of a disadvantage that I find them incredibly fun to play as.

(Also I really like the color of the Kingdom of Daylam. It's a nice change from the various shades of green in the region.)

[Avilan the Grey]

Thanks for the tips guys.

Thanks to the ongoing let's play here I am thinking maybe somewhere in India. Or Polish.

[tonberrian]

Hmmm. Well, good news and bad news.

Good news is I managed to knife the Seljuks for enough provinces to form Persia! Got my Moaban-Moab to do... whatever it is religious heads do. But becoming Sayoashant (sp?) is harder, requiring me to own all of persia de-jure, and that requires more knifing of Seljuks. But they've wasted their event troops, and now as an Empire i can expand without hitting that vassal limit so much. All in all pretty good.

Bad news is while I have two possible Quick female heirs, no quick male heirs at the moment. And also Persia's ugly green is ugly. I much prefered Daylum blue. But those are small complaints.

[Flickerdart]

...and then this happened. 2,000 hours in the game and I have to say: That is a first.

I guess it's not surprising considering "conquered as a claimant" and they were really weak but still...

I'm confused - what's the important part of the screencap?

[tyckspoon]

I'm confused - what's the important part of the screencap?

The Queen of Arabia is a Romuvan pagan of Baltic culture in a matrilinear marriage. That's.. probably unusual

[Leecros]

I'm confused - what's the important part of the screencap?

I probably should have clarified, but tyckspoon nailed it:

The Queen of Arabia is a Romuvan pagan of Baltic culture in a matrilinear marriage.

[tonberrian]

I like to take a moment to bask whenever I get a new fancy artifact. This time I got a Cup of Jamshid, which handily gives +1 to each attribute, +1 health, and +5 same religion opinion.

[Leecros]

Just a little update about the Romuvan, Lettigallian Arabian Empress. Sadly she was forced to adopt Islam and Syria exploded out of her.

Still...A Sunni Arabian Empress is still a special thing to see.

I like to take a moment to bask whenever I get a new fancy artifact. This time I got a Cup of Jamshid, which handily gives +1 to each attribute, +1 health, and +5 same religion opinion.

In my current Zoroastrian game, I had to briefly convert to Sunni to avoid being murdered by the caliph. The problem: I initiated a search for an artifact before I converted and It just so happened to end while I was Sunni. So I got a Sunni Artifact that I could only use for 5-ish years before I converted back to Zoroastrian via Secret Society.

[Flickerdart]

The Queen of Arabia is a Romuvan pagan of Baltic culture in a matrilinear marriage. That's.. probably unusual

Anything short of "immortal horse, child of Satan, and Cthulhu-worshiper" is pretty tame, these days.

[Leecros]

Anything short of "immortal horse, child of Satan, and Cthulhu-worshiper" is pretty tame, these days.

See, I'm kind of the opposite in a sense. I think that an immortal, child of Satan, Cthulhu-worshiper horse is really cool and all. However, it's something that the player typically orchestrates. The player can do pretty much whatever they want and can pull off these ridiculous and absurd things. I wouldn't even bat an eye at a player controlled Romuvan pagan of Baltic culture ruling as Empiress of the Arabian Empire. It's neat and all, but it was orchestrated by the player. It's something that's fully within the capabilities of a player.

But when the AI goes off on its own and pulls off these shenanigans within the core mechanics of the game without the player interfering. That is what gets me excited.

[Rockphed]

See, I'm kind of the opposite in a sense. I think that an immortal, child of Satan, Cthulhu-worshiper horse is really cool and all. However, it's something that the player typically orchestrates. The player can do pretty much whatever they want and can pull off these ridiculous and absurd things. I wouldn't even bat an eye at a player controlled Romuvan pagan of Baltic culture ruling as Empiress of the Arabian Empire. It's neat and all, but it was orchestrated by the player. It's something that's fully within the capabilities of a player.

But when the AI goes off on its own and pulls off these shenanigans within the core mechanics of the game without the player interfering. That is what gets me excited.

My favourite game was my Alexiad run when the mongols ended up going down through Persia. Somehow they ended up ruling England and Jerusalem as Catholics. Then in my last game, 90% of India was ruled by Jain at one point.

One thing I wish happened more is the AI creating merchant republics (either as vassals or as independent states). I think over the course of my last venice game I saw 3 merchant republics form that weren't duchies or kingdoms I had granted independence to. There was Galilee, Berbera, and Socotra. I think there also might have been one up in scandinavia. I guess there was probably Amalfi at the beginning of the game, but between the x6 level province revolts and my efforts to weaken the Bassilius, they ended up dead. I always like the building up phase of the game when I am doing things fast and loose without any real plan. The part of the game where I do things like declare war for the Byzantine empire because I can and they have like 3 civil wars going on anyway. But then my Polish king ends up emperor and I am torn over how to get back to my planned game of being big enough to turn the tide when the Mongols arrive.

I think I need to work harder at not becoming the Byzantine empire. Of my 4 games I have the strongest memories of, 3 involved either starting out as E_byz or gaining it by force of arms. Maybe I should figure out how to form a Welsh merchant republic. I get that massed bows is a bad idea, but would 30,000 support of 60% bow, 40% pike retinues be a force worth fighting with, or am I better off using scottish or irish retinues? Either way, I think Prydain is a pretty awesome place for a merchant republic. Something like 80% of the counties are coastal. On the other hand, most of the counties are only 4 or 5 holdings. I suppose I'll just need to implement plan "kill all competition" much earlier in the history of the republic. As in as soon as we have trade practices 3 and thus they can all build at least 4 trade outposts.

[Leecros]

Does anyone happen to know what's happening in my game to the Byzantine Empire?

there's three indepenant Anatolia's.

Regular Anatolia
Of Anastasiopolis Anatolia
Of Archelais Anatolia.

They just started popping out of Byzantium one at a time and they're ruled by three different families. The Anastasiopolis, The Archelais and the Palaiologos.

Another thing of note is that they're all Iconoclast and the actual empire is Orthodox.

Why can't they just decide which one is the real Anatolia?

[Artanis]

Does anyone happen to know what's happening in my game to the Byzantine Empire?

there's three indepenant Anatolia's.

Regular Anatolia
Of Anastasiopolis Anatolia
Of Archelais Anatolia.

They just started popping out of Byzantium one at a time and they're ruled by three different families. The Anastasiopolis, The Archelais and the Palaiologos.

Another thing of note is that they're all Iconoclast and the actual empire is Orthodox.

Why can't they just decide which one is the real Anatolia?

I guess the first question is whether or not you're running any mods.

Other than that, I notice that the guy you have selected has the Peasant Leader trait. Maybe three different revolts with "if the rebels win, they form a kingdom" conditions happened concurrently, and the game got confused and tried to form the same kingdom three times when they each won in turn

[Leecros]

I guess the first question is whether or not you're running any mods.

Other than that, I notice that the guy you have selected has the Peasant Leader trait. Maybe three different revolts with "if the rebels win, they form a kingdom" conditions happened concurrently, and the game got confused and tried to form the same kingdom three times when they each won in turn

Nope, no mods and the one that has the peasant leader trait is the only one with that trait and he's not even the first king of Anatolia.

Anatolia broke free back from the Egyptians in 777 after the area got conquered by Egypt who was at the time under The Arabian Empire. It was then seemingly conquered by peasants. Archelais Anatolia was formed in 820 and broke free from The Byzantine Empire. Anastasiopolis Anatolia was formed in 847, again breaking free from the Byzantine Empire.

[Artanis]

Nope, no mods and the one that has the peasant leader trait is the only one with that trait and he's not even the first king of Anatolia.

Anatolia broke free back from the Egyptians in 777 after the area got conquered by Egypt who was at the time under The Arabian Empire. It was then seemingly conquered by peasants. Archelais Anatolia was formed in 820 and broke free from The Byzantine Empire. Anastasiopolis Anatolia was formed in 847, again breaking free from the Byzantine Empire.

Beats me then

[Corvus]

Are the later two made up of three duchies? There is an option to form a kingdom if you hold three duchy titles.

Actually, is that an option for NPCs?

[Leecros]

Are the later two made up of three duchies? There is an option to form a kingdom if you hold three duchy titles.

Actually, is that an option for NPCs?

Usually, when it's one of the Create New Kingdom decision kingdoms, they get named based on the duchy that they're based in...But it's a bit more complicated than that for the AI. Instead of the 1,000 prestige and either 35 holdings or three duchy titles. They need a whopping 5,000 Prestige if they have ambituous or proud and a ridiculous 15,000 prestige otherwise.

To create a Custom Empire, they need 40,000(!) or 120,000(!!) prestige and the other requirements.

so while it's possible for them to create Custom Kingdoms and theoretically possible for them to create Custom Empires. It's rare for them to actually do so.

Sadly, it looks like the Three Anatolia Saga is about over. The actual anatolia has been a tributary to Byzantium for years and the other two are slowly being gobbled up by said Byzantines.

[russdm]

I picked up some more DLC for this game via steam. Now, I am just missing Monks and Mystics, Conclave, and Jade Empire. Plus some Content Packs for DLCs, and A few collections, other stuff.

One question for Modding:

If I put in a crusade weight for the Pope, will he continue calling crusades until each place that has one is made catholic? Or does he stop at some point?

[Malimar]

One question for Modding:

If I put in a crusade weight for the Pope, will he continue calling crusades until each place that has one is made catholic? Or does he stop at some point?

I think that crusades/jihads/great holy wars get declared even if there are no targets the religious head cares about. Even a target with a weight of 0 can get crusaded against. I've seen the Pope declare crusades for kingdoms in India.

[Valley]

I think that crusades/jihads/great holy wars get declared even if there are no targets the religious head cares about. Even a target with a weight of 0 can get crusaded against. I've seen the Pope declare crusades for kingdoms in India.

Wait, he could do that? I thought India would be too far away. HA! I would like to see him try it!

[Avilan the Grey]

I have all DLC except the ones I just didn't want.
So no Monks and Mystics, no Sunset Invasion. I have everything else game related.

[Rockphed]

Wait, he could do that? I thought India would be too far away. HA! I would like to see him try it!

I have seen the pope call and win crusades for kingdoms in India. If every kingdom west of the Hindu Kush is ruled by Catholics or Orthodox, the Pope calls crusades in India and Tibet.