I take it you're either playing a Catholic Byzantium or a Catholic kingdom that's taken Constantinople?
Crusader Kings II - Paradox Entertainement (02/12)
- Thread starter Tellus
- Start date
Sorta both. Started as a Lombard Duke at the Charlemagne start, was aiming to form the Italian Empire, and eventually the Latin Empire, but ended up accidentally marrying the woman who inherited the Byzantine Empire (her brothers both died in battle against the Caliphate) after taking control of Italy.
I had thought I could seperate them again, but she had converted and took the Empire with her.
So my (lunatic) character decided to implement the "Pants Act," outlawing the wearing of pants throughout the Byzantine Empire and ordering all pieces of that garment burnt. Shortly thereafter, the empire explodes into revolt, demanding lower crown authority, and presumably also in protection of their pants.
SLAY ALL THE TRAITORS! DEATH TO EVERYONE! KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL!
SLAY ALL THE TRAITORS! DEATH TO EVERYONE! KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL!
Oh damn.
So on my game that I mentioned before as the Doux of Athens, I kept playing it until his death, as I felt I'd hit a road block with him, i.e. it was becoming more and more difficult for me to obtain land, what with the Fatimids and the Seljuks proving too dangerous to pursue a claim war with.
So instead I swapped over to another character, the Duke of Portucal, Poncio the Wise. Anyhow, since then, England won the Crusade for Jerusalem, and initially didn't form the Kingdom of Jerusalem until a few years later, with the King's little brother becoming the King I believe.
Jerusalem also possesses land inside of England, controlling the County of Wiltshire which the King of Jerusalem was the Count of, so that's a bit bizarre.
But that's only the beginning.
Not long after its formation, Jerusalem was stricken with revolts in the south, and later pursued a war against England for the King of Jerusalem's claim to the English throne. Surprisingly, Jerusalem has been doing well, as Wiltshire hasn't been occupied by the English yet, with Jerusalem even occupying some of the counties surrounding Wiltshire and London.
But now, the King of Jerusalem has caused a bit of a muck-up. He seemingly changed his culture to Levantine Arabic, despite being Anglo-Saxon through and through, and thus the Kingdom of Jerusalem is now known as the Sultanate of Jerusalem.
It isn't Muslim, the entire Sultanate is Catholic now, but it's bizarre to see Jerusalem become a Catholic Sultanate with an originally Anglo-Saxon Sultan. Any idea what might have caused this?
So on my game that I mentioned before as the Doux of Athens, I kept playing it until his death, as I felt I'd hit a road block with him, i.e. it was becoming more and more difficult for me to obtain land, what with the Fatimids and the Seljuks proving too dangerous to pursue a claim war with.
So instead I swapped over to another character, the Duke of Portucal, Poncio the Wise. Anyhow, since then, England won the Crusade for Jerusalem, and initially didn't form the Kingdom of Jerusalem until a few years later, with the King's little brother becoming the King I believe.
Jerusalem also possesses land inside of England, controlling the County of Wiltshire which the King of Jerusalem was the Count of, so that's a bit bizarre.
But that's only the beginning.
Not long after its formation, Jerusalem was stricken with revolts in the south, and later pursued a war against England for the King of Jerusalem's claim to the English throne. Surprisingly, Jerusalem has been doing well, as Wiltshire hasn't been occupied by the English yet, with Jerusalem even occupying some of the counties surrounding Wiltshire and London.
But now, the King of Jerusalem has caused a bit of a muck-up. He seemingly changed his culture to Levantine Arabic, despite being Anglo-Saxon through and through, and thus the Kingdom of Jerusalem is now known as the Sultanate of Jerusalem.
It isn't Muslim, the entire Sultanate is Catholic now, but it's bizarre to see Jerusalem become a Catholic Sultanate with an originally Anglo-Saxon Sultan. Any idea what might have caused this?
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Did Byzantium get nerfed? I'm sure I used to be able to revoke Ducal level titles for free but I can't seem to. I have a few Ducal feudal titles that I'd like to revoke and reinstate as Viceroys but I get tyranny if I do. Am I missing something or is this just gone now?
Byzantium went absolutely ape against the Slavic Balkans countries, Croatia included, and they've also expanded far in the east all the way to the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus, despite having been on the losing side of a Holy War by the Fatimids who conquered the entire de jure Kingdom of Anatolia as a result.
For the record, the Fatimids have since lost it to the Holy Roman Empire in a crusade, who are also completely ape right now, conquering much of the Lowlands from France (who keep having trouble with Aquitaine repeatedly becoming independent) and the Papacy.
Other than the little slip-up against the Fatimids, the Byzantines have had MUCH success, and are slowly creeping up the Balkan side of the Adriatic towards Venice. On the other hand, they keep suffering from revolts every one or two decades as a result of factionalism, mostly to do with lowering Crown Authority.
For the record, the Fatimids have since lost it to the Holy Roman Empire in a crusade, who are also completely ape right now, conquering much of the Lowlands from France (who keep having trouble with Aquitaine repeatedly becoming independent) and the Papacy.
Other than the little slip-up against the Fatimids, the Byzantines have had MUCH success, and are slowly creeping up the Balkan side of the Adriatic towards Venice. On the other hand, they keep suffering from revolts every one or two decades as a result of factionalism, mostly to do with lowering Crown Authority.
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Well, in my current game, I have finally reached Majesty lv5, which means I am now able to pass Imperial Administration if I wish. Thing is I first need to switch to Absolute Crown Authority. Thus, I decided to put a stop to my conquest to better focus on internal policies. I had even decided to only answer allied calls for help. When Emperor Thibaut II of Francia died, I was expecting his son Jacques to have a rather peaceful reign...
Boy, was I wrong!
I've spent the entirety of Jacques' reign fighting one war after another and so far it's also been true for his son Thibaut III... I've had several peasants' revolt (Bloody peasants!), several wars I fought on the side of my cousin the King of England & Jerusalem (including a Djihad), a Great Holy War launched by the Suomenusko against me for Lithuania, a war to help a cousin conquer the Dukedom of Morray from Sweden (Most of de-jure Scotland belonged to Sweden at one point) and several wars to help the Byzantine Emperor who is my ally because of several marriages between Francia and Byzantium. All those wars have ended but I think I've been constantly at war (nominally at least) for nearly half a century... Hopefully I'll get some peace now.
Small thing to note with my family: my current son and heir is wedded to the half-sister of his mother, who also happens to be the half-sister of my current wife as well as the half-sister to my brother's wife... Seems my family really loves to marry daughters of the Basileus... (For my defense, he had a ton of legitimate and illegitimate children thanks to the Seduction focus and it's a bit hard to keep track of lineage outside of your dynasty).
Other things I have noticed:
Boy, was I wrong!
I've spent the entirety of Jacques' reign fighting one war after another and so far it's also been true for his son Thibaut III... I've had several peasants' revolt (Bloody peasants!), several wars I fought on the side of my cousin the King of England & Jerusalem (including a Djihad), a Great Holy War launched by the Suomenusko against me for Lithuania, a war to help a cousin conquer the Dukedom of Morray from Sweden (Most of de-jure Scotland belonged to Sweden at one point) and several wars to help the Byzantine Emperor who is my ally because of several marriages between Francia and Byzantium. All those wars have ended but I think I've been constantly at war (nominally at least) for nearly half a century... Hopefully I'll get some peace now.
Small thing to note with my family: my current son and heir is wedded to the half-sister of his mother, who also happens to be the half-sister of my current wife as well as the half-sister to my brother's wife... Seems my family really loves to marry daughters of the Basileus... (For my defense, he had a ton of legitimate and illegitimate children thanks to the Seduction focus and it's a bit hard to keep track of lineage outside of your dynasty).
Other things I have noticed:
- Every possible Catholic Holy Order is currently led by a cadet member of my dynasty. That said, since I rule over 75% of Catholicdom, it's hardly surprising...
- My cousin the King of England has crowned an Anti-Pope named Clement III. He has so far stayed Antipope despite four regualr popes having been elected in the mean time.
- Still speaking of Popes, shortly before Antipope Clement III showed up, the elected Pope (Symmachus II I think) was the son of a previous Pope (Formosus II I think). A legitimate son. The explanation is simple: Formosus became a clergymen after his marriage and the birth of his son, and then got elected Pope. Symmachus just followed the same path. Remains to be seen if Symmachus' son will follow suit.
- The Mongols have arrived. And as usual, they're OP: the Ilkhanate has already conquered much of de-jure Persia while the Golden Horde has gobbled up the Kingdom of Perm.... In less than 40 years. Fortunately for me, there are still a bunch of small Kingdoms as well as the pretty big Jahangirid Caliphate in their way. Besides, there was also a Golden Horde-Ilkhanate war rather early on.
- Abyssinia turned Yazidi at one point. But now it's back following Sunnism.
I can still do this for Byzantines (while I have imperial administration), but I also don't have Charlemagne or Way of Life yet.
Yeah. Revoking ducal positions now results in tyranny, though revoking vice royalties does not IIRC.
Thought I'd upload an image of my game on CKII as the now King of Portugal, as of 1152.
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So in my slightly insane quest to invade Britain from Greece to stop those damn Scandinavians I seem to have accidentally unleashed my vassals on the British Isles. Currently we have conquered a little over 2/3 of Britannia, including all of Ireland and Wales.
Oops...
Zachanassian
Gone Fishin'
Does anyone know of a game mod that breaks apart large realms when they have bad rules? I am sick and tired of the HRE, the Fatimids, the Byzantines, and the Seljuks expanding to huge sizes and then lasting for hundreds of years despite slews of rebellions, civil wars, and incompetent rules.
In my most recent game it made me angry enough that I used the console to break apart the Seljuks (who spanned from Syria to Algeria and from Ethiopia to Sicily) and the Holy Roman Empire (who controlled the rest of Italy, Northern France, Denmark, and Poland). I mean, an inbred, idiot Holy Roman Kaiser had converted to Lollardism. I had expected the realm to fall apart, but instead every single HRE noble converted as well. To add even more insult, the Seljuks had had a series of child rules due to assassinations with not a single far-flung province breaking away in the chaos. To be fair, the Byzantine Empire had collapsed within the first 100 years being reduced to a single province in Crimea by the 1160s (with the Emperor being a crippled French Catholic former mercenary).
I mean, seriously. It's gotten to the point where the only threat to these super realms are the Mongols, and that only has one blob get replaced by another blob. Even more infuriating is the fact that India seems to be immune to this absurd blobbing, with large empires rising and falling on a regular basis unlike the rest of the map.
In my most recent game it made me angry enough that I used the console to break apart the Seljuks (who spanned from Syria to Algeria and from Ethiopia to Sicily) and the Holy Roman Empire (who controlled the rest of Italy, Northern France, Denmark, and Poland). I mean, an inbred, idiot Holy Roman Kaiser had converted to Lollardism. I had expected the realm to fall apart, but instead every single HRE noble converted as well. To add even more insult, the Seljuks had had a series of child rules due to assassinations with not a single far-flung province breaking away in the chaos. To be fair, the Byzantine Empire had collapsed within the first 100 years being reduced to a single province in Crimea by the 1160s (with the Emperor being a crippled French Catholic former mercenary).
I mean, seriously. It's gotten to the point where the only threat to these super realms are the Mongols, and that only has one blob get replaced by another blob. Even more infuriating is the fact that India seems to be immune to this absurd blobbing, with large empires rising and falling on a regular basis unlike the rest of the map.
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From a 8th century start I was able by 900 to consolidate Byzantine to a nice stable foundation. I own the Balkans from just outside of Trieste on the west to Wallachia to the North. Gained all of Armenia, Antioch, Georgia, and the Azerbaijin region. As well as the north shore of the Black Sea. I stopped expanding northward use due to all the tribal lands I was conquering. It was very expensive to convert those to civilized lands by building. I also owned Sicily, Sardina, Tunis, and the toes of Italy.
I had my sight set on whittling away the Lombardy blog in Italy when the the giant Abbasids started declaring Jihad. At first I panicked but soon found a strategy that worked at beating them.
I would march 20,000 troops in two separate stacks to the Antioch region. My western provinces would muster about 3,000 men and I would send them to attack the Abbasid North African provinces. Finally I would gather the eastern troops into a 5,000 stack and try to keep the Abbasid off balance in Armenia their usual target.
The key where the stacks in Antioch. I played a careful game of cat and mouse and used them to destroy the Abbasid mega stacks one by one.
The worse Jihad came when a civil war to lower authority erupted just at its start. I won both wars but at the price of a 15 year two emperor reign fight to mutual exhaustion.
Luckily I had a fat treasury and a year later I launch a Holy war of my own to recover Jerusalem and won. Then the Abbasid had a civil war and they were replace by House Ali who launched a Jihad of his own against me. Strangely they ignored Jerusalem and went after Armenia again.
My treasury was not as full so I waited a few years and then launched a war to take Alexandria which succeeded.
My tactics were the same. March 20,000+ troops to Antioch. Since 3,000 to 5,000 to the far west and far northern reaches of the Caliphate with the focus on taking provinces. The Caliphate A.I. continues to march mega blobs towards Antioch which I in turn destroy for the battle victories.
My main problem is a lack of grown heirs. The most effective way to grow the empire is to create a bunch of exarchs (kingdoms) and assign them to your grown heir. He takes care of the factions while I, as the emperor, take care of expansion.
The viceroyalty system has been a godsend in this. Because now I can grant kingdom level viceroyalties without having to create rival branches of the family. The vassal limit is making the game far more challenging as well as the limits on retinues. The tribal mechanics are an effective deterrent from immediately conquering all the slavic lands to the north.
I don't like the mega blobs not breaking up. Although the Carolingian lands shattered pretty effectively. I need to beat down the Caliphate before the Lombards take over the west.
The Avars still exist as of 950 and have a small blob of their own. The Russian have a larger Ruthenia kingdom and as well as a large Kingdom of Poland. Norway is broken up but Sweden is together with the Germanic religion reformed. England has also formed and is slowly uniting Britain. Finally the Ummayyd crushed the christian states leaving only a Lombard Aragon as a toehold. They managed to transformed from a kingdom to a empire.
I had my sight set on whittling away the Lombardy blog in Italy when the the giant Abbasids started declaring Jihad. At first I panicked but soon found a strategy that worked at beating them.
I would march 20,000 troops in two separate stacks to the Antioch region. My western provinces would muster about 3,000 men and I would send them to attack the Abbasid North African provinces. Finally I would gather the eastern troops into a 5,000 stack and try to keep the Abbasid off balance in Armenia their usual target.
The key where the stacks in Antioch. I played a careful game of cat and mouse and used them to destroy the Abbasid mega stacks one by one.
The worse Jihad came when a civil war to lower authority erupted just at its start. I won both wars but at the price of a 15 year two emperor reign fight to mutual exhaustion.
Luckily I had a fat treasury and a year later I launch a Holy war of my own to recover Jerusalem and won. Then the Abbasid had a civil war and they were replace by House Ali who launched a Jihad of his own against me. Strangely they ignored Jerusalem and went after Armenia again.
My treasury was not as full so I waited a few years and then launched a war to take Alexandria which succeeded.
My tactics were the same. March 20,000+ troops to Antioch. Since 3,000 to 5,000 to the far west and far northern reaches of the Caliphate with the focus on taking provinces. The Caliphate A.I. continues to march mega blobs towards Antioch which I in turn destroy for the battle victories.
My main problem is a lack of grown heirs. The most effective way to grow the empire is to create a bunch of exarchs (kingdoms) and assign them to your grown heir. He takes care of the factions while I, as the emperor, take care of expansion.
The viceroyalty system has been a godsend in this. Because now I can grant kingdom level viceroyalties without having to create rival branches of the family. The vassal limit is making the game far more challenging as well as the limits on retinues. The tribal mechanics are an effective deterrent from immediately conquering all the slavic lands to the north.
I don't like the mega blobs not breaking up. Although the Carolingian lands shattered pretty effectively. I need to beat down the Caliphate before the Lombards take over the west.
The Avars still exist as of 950 and have a small blob of their own. The Russian have a larger Ruthenia kingdom and as well as a large Kingdom of Poland. Norway is broken up but Sweden is together with the Germanic religion reformed. England has also formed and is slowly uniting Britain. Finally the Ummayyd crushed the christian states leaving only a Lombard Aragon as a toehold. They managed to transformed from a kingdom to a empire.
Dirk
Banned
Man, I'm having a blast as King Uros the Strong in a 1337 (lastest start) playthrough. Snagged Epeiros and Styrmon off of Epirus and Bulgaria, respectively, then helped the Byzantines against an Ottoman holy war for Thrace, then swore fealty to Byzantium because of roleplaying.
A Bogomilist rebellion destroyed the Bulgarian army, and the Duchy of Moesia was suddenly ruled by a new Bulgarian Bogomil count. I immediately declared a holy war against him, usurped the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and took Vidin to make my borders look nice.
By this this time me and my brother are both married to Byzantine princesses, and my son is betrothed to one (his mother-in-law and aunt's sister). Then all of a sudden I become ambitious and zealous and--why my oh my, the Byzantine emperor has become Catholic somehow.
So I declare a war to depose him and put his son, my daughter's husband, on the throne. I win handily, crushing another Ottoman holy war just outside the walls of Constantinople, take three holdings in that county, and force the Catholic to peace.
Then I fabricate a claim on the Byzantine Empire through plots because, fuck it, why not? I directly own more than half the country and control two thirds. And my son-in-law folds to my demands and suddenly I find myself Count of Constantinople and Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, and Romans. Fuck yeah.
An actually competent holy war for Nikea against the Ottomans followed. Things are looking good. Except for Venetian Ionia and Frankokratia Greece, but that can be dealt with.
Funnily enough Venice lost the City of Venice early on to a mercenary invasion, the Aztecs (yeah, whatever, it's fun and mixes things up a bit) are doing more harm to the Muslims in north Africa than anybody else, and the HRE has been in a state of constant civil war for the past 20 years. Oh, and the King of Sweden is also the King of Norway, a realm completely united.
A Bogomilist rebellion destroyed the Bulgarian army, and the Duchy of Moesia was suddenly ruled by a new Bulgarian Bogomil count. I immediately declared a holy war against him, usurped the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and took Vidin to make my borders look nice.
By this this time me and my brother are both married to Byzantine princesses, and my son is betrothed to one (his mother-in-law and aunt's sister). Then all of a sudden I become ambitious and zealous and--why my oh my, the Byzantine emperor has become Catholic somehow.
So I declare a war to depose him and put his son, my daughter's husband, on the throne. I win handily, crushing another Ottoman holy war just outside the walls of Constantinople, take three holdings in that county, and force the Catholic to peace.
Then I fabricate a claim on the Byzantine Empire through plots because, fuck it, why not? I directly own more than half the country and control two thirds. And my son-in-law folds to my demands and suddenly I find myself Count of Constantinople and Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, and Romans. Fuck yeah.
An actually competent holy war for Nikea against the Ottomans followed. Things are looking good. Except for Venetian Ionia and Frankokratia Greece, but that can be dealt with.
Funnily enough Venice lost the City of Venice early on to a mercenary invasion, the Aztecs (yeah, whatever, it's fun and mixes things up a bit) are doing more harm to the Muslims in north Africa than anybody else, and the HRE has been in a state of constant civil war for the past 20 years. Oh, and the King of Sweden is also the King of Norway, a realm completely united.
Evilprodigy
Donor
People dislike it because the ability to get the title Emperor of India does not destroy the other empire titles, It just adds a new titular title which is entirely pointless.
That... that's the only reason? Not because earlier on the expansion was prone to blobbing? Not because adding so many new polities and characters makes the game slower? Not because of other game mechanic issues due to the difficulty of translating an entirely new group of cultures and subcontinent into an engine originally made to handle medieval Europe? Not because of crypto-racist/xenophobic bigotry from the frequently ethnocentrist Paradox forums?
The reason it's disliked is because the current engine isn't able to handle new abstract imperial titles?
The reason it's disliked is because the current engine isn't able to handle new abstract imperial titles?