Okay, I'm a little, little, REALLY mad.
So I was messing around in Ironman as the Byzantine Count/Duke of Mallorca in the earliest start, trying to build an Orthodox Visigothic little chunk of land. For a few generations, so far so good, right? Well, I slowly start marrying into various landed families and ensuring that their daughters end up on the throne, at least of counties. I do this, and at one point, my ruler's grandsons end up in the court of their mother, my daughter-in-law. She does not let me educate them (making them Greek), and when my ruler then she finally expire, she's married off the sons matrilenally.
So when I play as the son, I attempt to plot to murder his (landless) wife, as I soon realize that these three heirs (one son and two daughters) are not of my dynasty. I get up to 300% assassination score, but nothing happens. In fact, the idiots in the plot keep blabbing about it, making my wife -1800 towards me just on attempted murder alone. I switch to Seduction focus, hoping to get some illegitimate children I can legitimize. I do, she hates me even more. I finally just imprison my wife and execute her, which angers my vassals (though they're just baron-level, so no threat). I go, whatever and remarry. No children for a couple years, but I've got the illegitimate kids to legitimize if I need it. I decide to imprison and execute the only son I have from the matrinlenal marriage, and to make sure it works, I park my marshal on my little province of Mallorca. 77%, it says. "good enough" I think, and click to imprison him. It fails, and he flees to a Sunni court somewhere (???). I cannot plot to kill my son even though he's a faithless matrinlenal child. Still doable though, I don't think he'll be popular as an Orthodox Visigoth in a Sunni Bedouin court. My ruler suddenly gets Infirm. I panic. He gets Incapable a day later. I panic again. He dies just three days later and I lose because my eldest son is of a different dynasty. I yell at the computer screen.
I try again, this time as the Visigothic Catholic Count of Narbonne in Carloman's kingdom in the Charlemagne start. I'm doing well for the first 9 years, I've got a few heirs, had Hunting focus, got a few cool events, and just in case, my ruler also has a few illegitimate children as a backup. Suddenly, my liege the Duke of Toulouse demands my my province. I'm annoyed, but I have stockpiled up gold for the "Amass Wealth" ambition, so I hire a 150 gold mercenary troop, and gather my regular troops to stand against my tyrannical liege. My troops are broken easily, and flee to the north while my liege sieges Narbonne. I get a loan and hire even more mercenaries, and beat back my liege's forces, unsieging my holdings (I had one left before defeat), and I go one province north to siege my liege's provinces, because it seems like the threat is over, and I don't have much money left so I want to end the war as soon as possible. What I don't realize is that my liege's troops just came back to siege my now unprotected province, and they do so and I lose.
Ugh, sometimes I hate this game. And love it at the same time.
