In Progress Let's Play Crusader Kings 2: I want to be a Basileus!

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heh...

he had some computer trouble; check the thread on the science forum.

MONGOLPOST:

I figured out why those two get spared. It's not just because they're strong; it turns out that empires are sort of Mongol-proof, due to the way the Mongols' invasion mechanics are coded. Basically, in a Papal invasion, winning means that you get your target's primary title, as well as any captured territory for your personal demense. Invade the HRE and win--congrats, you are now Kaiser. But with Mongol invasions, winning means that the target becomes the horde's vassal.

This is a weird mechanic. It presumably makes the Mongols less of an apocalyptic threat if you're playing the Russians, which seems reasonable. But it also means that a successful Mongol invasion tends to be immediately followed by a civil war. (Ilkhanate invades Persia -> Sultan becomes the khagan's vassal -> Sultan is mad at this dick khagan who declared war on him! Time to rebel!)

It gets weirder with empires, because khagans are ranked equal to imperial titles. This means the kaiser can never be a vassal of the Golden Horde. So even if the horde wins an invasion against him, they only get the territories they conquered. So to conquer an empire/caliphate, they have to win not one but a long series of wars. Combine this with the inherent strength of late-game empires, and overthrowing an empire is an unlikely proposition.

I think the AI generally doesn't understand attrition. Given that, and the fact that the hordes' initial targets are a bunch of low-supply counties (~5K, in the Ilkhanate's case), making the hordes attrition-proof is probably the most straightforward workaround. Otherwise, each horde's 100K-strong expeditionary force would starve to death within a few years of its arrival.

Don't worry everybody. This will resume!

It will probably be later this week though as I am currently trying to redownload everything that was on my computer after having to do a fresh install of windows. No worries though, I made sure to back up everything pertaining to the LP so it should be able to continue later this week (when hopefully my internet not in use as much). Expect updates to resume sometime this weekend (maybe even Friday). Apologies for the delay.

ανώτατος ΒΡΩΦΙΣΤ

yeeaaaah!

I believe gentleman KickAss has quite eloquently expressed my thoughts on this recent development.

Update 45- Veni, vidi, vici

Complete lack of resistance, eh? The lapdogs of the False Emperor might as well have put a corpse on the throne.

And yeah, the war score mechanics are just all-around silly.

Anyway, congrats on your new title, Basileus Xeno.

Shame the Game don't reflect the fall of Frankish Papacy, Having the option to create Ecumenical Patriarchs in liberated Rome, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria and rebranding Latin Christianity as heresy after Ecumenical Council would be sweet.

and please keep going until you restore The Glorious Roman Empire

Not to advertise on Xeno's turf, but you might be amused by a trick I pulled in my own LP, sort of along these lines.

Wow, that was a terrible war, though not your fault. That would probably be the point where the save loses all appeal for me. Hope they fix that.

Looks like if you get France & BE, it's pretty much World Conquest. Perhaps the Mongol hordes will stay intact and give you some trouble?

Well it kinda was my fault. I did assassinate the rather well liked former emperor who had had a long reign, replacing him with his idiot son with oh so many red traits, which not only threw them into civil war, but also significantly reduced the levies they could call on (- relations from all his vassals for highest crown authority, short reign, and each of his red traits). I will continue the game at least until the Roman Empire proper (Gaul and the Eastern Empire) are brought under my control beyond that I doubt if even the Golden Horde can muster the umph to really present much of any challenge to me (the ledger shows the Byzzies with 150k so add that to my 80k, France's ~75k, and the HRE's 70k and the Horde turns into a speed bump for me even if they expand very aggressively in the years that it takes me to replace the nobles in the HRE and France.

Mini-Update 4-State of the Family

Very nice work, looks like you're set for unification so long as you can keep the HRE together -- consdering how blobby they are under the AI, I suspect that it's easier than it looks.

In my current game, starting as the Count of Braunschweig, I've managed to become the Duke of Holstein and have a number of claims on Denmark proper with the eye of grabbing that kingdom. Imagine my surprise when the staid gray of central europe suddenly snaps to fuschia. Yup, the Bizzie emperor had a claim on the HRE and he successfully pressed it. They have a realm size of 800+ and span the map from Eastern Turkey to Iberia. Time to work on my finagling-succession skills.

the blood is thinning

It is. Due to how rebellions are handled separately and the ease of getting a white peace, there's absolutely no concern to be had. Which is why I think *only* total victory should end with vassal retained.

This is the point I usually would lose interest in playing any further. Special events and mechanics giving a harder time for way too large empires to hold themselves together would be very welcomed in CK2.

Update 46-The Slow Slow Slough (Part 1)

Update 47- The Slow Slow Slough (Part 2)

This is the part of the game when it becomes to tedious for me to continue and I just quit. My game as the Duke of Sicily went a some what similar path, but after invading the HRE it just became to much.
Have a bro fist for carrying on through this.

So many counties, so many rebels. Although, to be fair, it shouldn't be so easy to claim the HRE in the first place.

Why don't they ally in a war for independence (with a random new dynasty OR separate baronies/counties according to how much they hate themselves)?

I think (could be wrong and I am going off of something I saw awhile back) that in 1.05 people can ask to join wars that are in progress (and as an offshoot of that I think independence wars work together too, but I could be wrong not having tried it myself yet) but if I update it won't be save game compatible (well not safely anyway).