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

[XenomorphII]

In CK1, the succession laws of the Byzantine Empire were sufficiently malleable to your interests that you could get yourself elected the next Emperor after Doukas Emperor kicks it. Is this not the case in CK2?

The Byzantine Empire is not elective at game start (and I have never seen it go that way). Besides I would rather be the Western Emperor.

If CK1 is any guide, if the AI is capable of managing to find his way to the battle at all, it will be a giant mess because of the effects of Siege-Stealing. If there isn't any siege-stealing anymore, then it will STILL be a giant mess if they start sieging anything you wanted.

Well first of all, in CK2 you cannot take territory if you are the defender in a war. Second, siege-stealing isn't a problem because you go to war over very specific claims, so your ally is fighting for your claims alone and cannot make a separate peace.

I think today's update will clarify this later point significantly (I am working on finishing it now).

 

[Hellraiser]

The ragheads declare war on you? Have they learned nothing?

 

[Azira]

Death to the infidel ragheads!

 

[XenomorphII]

Update 21-Herp Derp: How I Managed to Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

You BASTARD!

Looks like I'm about to get raped, and it won't be tasteful either.

I am going to wait a bit before raising my levies (they are kinda drained and two of my dumbfuck vassals are fighting each other in Sicily right now, weakening us further) and let the enemy come to me. After they take some of Tunis, I will then deploy my troops behind them and hopefully cut them off from any more troops and let them drain themselves on sieges.

REBELS!!!

They may actually be good for me, as long as the enemy heads there and has to fight them instead of me.

More rebels! These I will have to deal with. I hire some mercs and use them to put down both groups, as the enemy still isn't coming for me.

As my mercs move out...

An enemy army arrives. It is significantly (like about 10k or so) smaller then what I expected. If this war goes well enough I may counter-attack them for their territories along mine, and if I win there... well they will be fucked.

FINALLY! I have been hoping for this for awhile. Now I no longer have revolt risk in Napoli. Yay!

Damn rebels!

Alrighty let's do this. And stuffies...

Hire more mercs (my first band has been nearly wiped out by rebels) and raise our levies...

We are nearly 12k strong. I will smash their puny army.

There is the rest of their army. We are going to fuck them up. (I hope)

As everyone is coming together...

One of my vassals takes the ducal title for Sicily from the Muslims. Good for him, glad I didn't spend the money on it. Also I hire more mercs.

And our rallied army:

We will pick the mercs up and Napoli then head for Tunis to smite some heathens.

Just as the army arrives...

A siege is lost to the smaller enemy army.

The Great Battle of Bizerte (and rebels pop up in Sicily):

YES!! We lost nearly a third of our troops, but they lost lots more! Suck it!

I pursue the enemy remains to wipe them out.

But in the process...

I take a prisoner, more rebels pop up, and another enemy army shows up. I head back into Tunis in light of this to destroy the enemy there.

We pretty much wipe them out and...

Retake our lost holding. Now to deal with what remains of the enemy army. I doubt they will pursue this folly much longer.

Small group down.

They get reinforced a little, but it won't make any difference.

The battle:

We not only win, we get lots of prisoners too! YAY! I take this opportunity to execute every single one of them. Death to the HEATHENS!

After dispatching our prisoners, wiping out what remained of the enemy force we had fought, and dealing with the rebels in Tunis, another small enemy army shows up. Right now they are not yet willing to accept a white peace. I want one and fast, so that I can hopefully, counter-attack and take territory for myself.

Another victory, and another dead duke. Good. They still aren't willing to accept peace.

In family news...

That is our Italian Catholic (yuck!) son who is in Beneveto right now. So I send him to confess his sins so that I don't have more Italians Catholics running around. I also realize at this point that the Pope has Absolute Crown Authority so territory cannot be inherited outside his realm. I will have to conquer that little barony in Beneveto at some point.

At present my army sits in Tunis waiting for the warscore to go up high enough that the enemy will accept a white peace. The rebels in Sicily have taken a province so I hire some cheap mercs to deal with them and they do. I continue to wait.

Finally. I may not be able to counter-attack though. My army is pretty drained, and so is my bank account.

He agrees. We didn't get raped after all. After thinking a bit I realize...

That this is probably my best chance to strike them. I raise my troops and hire some mercs...

The army as it gets ready to head to Tunis. I hired a 4500 strong group of mercs.

We lay siege to Annaba. I expect the enemy will bypass my army and head for Tunis unless they are significantly stronger (they shouldn't be).

Also two more groups of rebels pop up, but I'm not going to worry about shots for them.

The first siege is won! Now to destroy the enemy force that marched into Tunis on us.

They take a beating! Back to Annaba to finish the besieging (or at least get more of them done).

Oh shit.

The battle:

I disband the tattered remains of my army. I will re-raise them later.

We lose our siege. The enemy refuses a white peace and...

Surrendering is not an option. I cannot go 820 gold in the hole.

I...

Call both my allies in. I hope they answer the call this time.

They don't.

I am going to have to let them run rampant in Tunis while my levies rebuild, as I lack the funds to hire enough mercs to deal with their large army.

We lose a siege while waiting.




And that is this update!

Tune in next time to see if I am able to defeat the enemy army and if I am forced to pay 800 gold for my folly.

 

[Kayerts]

Besides I would rather be the Western Emperor.

The HRE's definitely the tougher empire for you to take. Generally speaking, stabbing your way onto the throne of Constantinople is probably the easiest way to go from count to emperor in CK2. All you need to do is to marry your heir to some third- or fourth-in-line princess, then make her first in line, then make her empress. You need around a thousand gold to safely bankroll the assassination campaign, and that's about it. Your leader will probably die from revenge assassinations, but it is better to die for the Empire than to live for yourself.

Taking down the HRE will be a lot harder. Agnatic inheritance laws make it really hard to run a peaceful takeover, and since the HRE is Catholic, you can't use the invasion mechanic. Your best bet is probably to get a Catholic heir (yeah, I know), then after he ascends to the throne, get the Pope to bless an invasion. And you'll need tens of thousands of levies and mercs to pull this off, so it's very much a long-term plan.

 

[XenomorphII]

Besides I would rather be the Western Emperor.

The HRE's definitely the tougher empire for you to take. Generally speaking, stabbing your way onto the throne of Constantinople is probably the easiest way to go from count to emperor in CK2. All you need to do is to marry your heir to some third- or fourth-in-line princess, then make her first in line, then make her empress. You need around a thousand gold to safely bankroll the assassination campaign, and that's about it. Your leader will probably die from revenge assassinations, but it is better to die for the Empire than to live for yourself.

Taking down the HRE will be a lot harder. Agnatic inheritance laws make it really hard to run a peaceful takeover, and since the HRE is Catholic, you can't use the invasion mechanic. Your best bet is probably to get a Catholic heir (yeah, I know), then after he ascends to the throne, get the Pope to bless an invasion. And you'll need tens of thousands of levies and mercs to pull this off, so it's very much a long-term plan.

My actual long term plan (that probably won't pan out) is take Africa and Muslim Iberia. Then worry about the non-French Christians in Iberia and pushing France back some. Then eat the pope (he is actually very dangerous because of his huge income to hire mercs with), and then lastly try to get a claim on the Imperial title by marriage (I have done it before in other games), take it through war, then systematically remove all non-Greek Orthodox nobility by provoking them to rebel and title revoking or banishing.

 

[Kayerts]

Sure, that could also work. Subjugating all Muslims west of the Caliphate is definitely your best mid-term goal, anyway.

 

[rogozhin]

Generally speaking, stabbing your way onto the throne of Constantinople is probably the easiest way to go from count to emperor in CK2. All you need to do is to marry your heir to some third- or fourth-in-line princess, then make her first in line, then make her empress. You need around a thousand gold to safely bankroll the assassination campaign, and that's about it. Your leader will probably die from revenge assassinations, but it is better to die for the Empire than to live for yourself.

Yeah, it is actually extremely easy. I'm currently playing as the d'Hautevilles and after creating the kingdoms of Sicily and Italy and conquering Croatia, Jerusalem and (most of) France I married a sister of the young, childless Emperor and decided to start a little assassination spree with my 25 intrigue spymaster. Now I just have to wait until my wife dies and we'll have a Norman Catholic on the Byzantine throne..

Then eat the pope (he is actually very dangerous because of his huge income to hire mercs with)

This isn't really a problem as long as you act quickly. You just need to attack his mercs before their morale fills up and assault his holdings. You should get more than enough levies for this from Sicily and Tunis if they're built up a little.

 

[XenomorphII]

Update 22-A Great Smiter's Last Smiting

While waiting around for our levies to replenish...

Another siege is lost.

Things may look bad, but if I can get my troops replenished, hire a couple of the cheap merc groups (1500x2 at 75 a piece and costing ~13 gold a month is doable), and engage the enemy force before they push to 100% warscore, I might be able to go on the offensive again and win this.

Anyway. Waiting, waiting, waiting...

An event, and more importantly, my military screen. Looks like its time to sally forth (I sure hope this works).

First, mercs...

I chose those two that are at full strength and are cheap. Then I raise and rally.

As everyone come together...

She wants the Duchy of Calabria. I decline, as it would hurt my relations with her a lot unless I also gave up Messina and Reggio.

Another holding falls. Hurry up troops!

Jacked up and good to go.

The battle:

This is going to be a big win. I can feel it...

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Time to dispense some justice on some heathens (that means they are getting the axe unless they can pay).

The pursuit goes well too.

Proceeds made:

Heads taken:

Now to retake our holdings and start to take from the enemy!

As I siege:

An enemy army seems to be rallying next door. I thought about hiring mercs, but most either would cut into my funds too much or are not at full strength (so I have to overpay initially for them), so opt to wait and see.

Siege won, and they are still rallying.

Another siege down, the enemy has wandered off now. That kinda worries me.

Last siege done, enemy has reappeared. Let's "enlighten" some Muslims.
By cracking their skulls open.

The battle:

Alright. Time to pursue and kill some more of them. Our prisoner is able to pay his 70 gold ransom. Lucky for him I feel like I need to build up my warchest.

The pursuit...

Goes well! Both of them pay the 25 gold to avoid the chopping block. They'll get theirs though later, I am sure.

I take the opportunity to...

Hire another group of mercs. My idea is to disband my personal forces soon (after they finish the pursuit of the enemy), let the mercs come together and siege, then re-raise my levies to assist them.

Our army that has been fighting after disbanding my personal forces from it. The other mercs are going to be meeting them soon.

United, but looks like they are about to bite the dust. Shit. I should have waited on disband my own forces. Oh well.

The battle as my levies rally together:

Could have been worse. At least the enemy is wounded.

We rally:

Another battle:

He is ransomed, and we finally get around to laying siege to the enemy. I need these to go smoothly. If I can get the territories under my control the warscore should shift into my favor (right now the gradual buildup for my enemy holding the territory is killing me).

Shit. I just lost my claim on Beneveto too. Oh well. Need to focus on the heathens.

We are now...

Despot Sergios I of Sicily(not to be confused with Duke Sergios I of Capua). Let's smite heathens.

A siege is won! The progress here buys me time (notice the warscore now that I have struck back).

Incoming! Shit, they just keep coming!

I think I will let them come into our territory then go around them, retake that area, then attack them. That may work.

Our wife is pregnant and...

Our eldest son dies (natural causes, he was sick).

Then easily win their siege and march into our mountain ranges to die. I let them, and retake the siege they just won. Notice the little skull they have and that they have already lost a few thousand men. I'm going to return to Tunis with my forces and wait until they are drained down then strike.

I haven't touched them and look at how much they have bled out. I will wait some more I think.

I hire more mercs to fill out my lines.

And march out. Let's crush the enemy.

Victory! Time to pursue, pursue, then siege, siege, siege.

We have a daughter and achieve our ambition. New goal...

Become a great man.

Another siege won! I move to defeat that army nearby. Don't want those bastards to rally against me again.

I catch part of them, but I'm not going to run that deeply into enemy territory. Back to our siege.

An event. It would have cost me about 50 gold, and I don't feel like I can afford that right now. Too bad.

That is glorious! We also get rebels in Leece, which is not.

Territory taken! Now we fight the enemy! I sure hope we win!

You know what? With their reinforcements, I think it is time to run away. Hopefully they will pursue me, and I can drain them, allowing them to follow in the footsteps of their last army.

We successfully retreat to Tunis, and they lay siege.

To be continued...

Again.

I really will get to a family update eventually. Just as soon as I don't end an update mid-war.

 

[Ashery]

Bump for next page

 

[Yeesh]

So much death and sorrow, so many shattered lives.

 

[kazgar]

Another bump, keep up the good work, don't think I have the time to get obsessed involved with something like this right now, but watching someone else go through it is all of the ride, with none of the effort!

 

[Hellraiser]

The champion of orthodoxy strikes again!

 

[scratchmonkey]

Bump for the bump god!

Your guy has some...interesting stats. How much of an effect will the low, say, Martial score have in terms of continuing your conquests?

 

[XenomorphII]

Bump for the bump god!

Your guy has some...interesting stats. How much of an effect will the low, say, Martial score have in terms of continuing your conquests?

Martial doesn't seem to be a particularly important skill for a ruler (besides Alexandra had a 1). He just won't ever be leading my army.The stats that are most important for rulers (so far as I can tell) are diplomacy (to keep the vassals happy), stewardship (to maintain a large demesne), and intrigue (for protection and plot detection).

 

[Cornflakes]

3 more comments to bump to next page, I think.

#1

 

[Fafnir]

Bump

 

[Fafnir]

Your Rulers stats also grant a bonus to tech improvements Martial increases military, Stewardship Economic and I believe diplomacy increased culture.

 

[Hellraiser]

Bump once for orthodoxy.

 

[oldmanpaco]

The hell is going on here? Should there not be an update?

 

[XenomorphII]

The hell is going on here? Should there not be an update?

It is inbound. Was going to be out of town this weekend, but no longer, and with the update installed, things should resume daily again. (Barring unforeseen circumstances) (my laziness may be one of those circumstances)

 

[XenomorphII]

Update 23-We Have Always Been at War With Mauretania

Game is now updated to 1.04. Hope that doesn't screw me. Let's see, where were we...

Ah yes. Needing reinforcements, and staring at what is likely to be a major defeat.

First thing I do, is disband my personal levies to let them replenish.

Next...

I hire some cheap mercs to deal with the rebels while my levies recover.

The first siege is lost as my troops rally at Tunis. I should have plenty of men to deal with the enemy army.

We head for the enemy.

The battle:

The prisoner is ransomed for 70 gold. Now to pursue...

And to assault...

Which goes well. Now we move to Constantine and start the siege there.

It has a fairly large garrison. This could take awhile.

They just keep coming. Damn. Time to run.

I escape with the army, but I have no clue how I am going to win this. Personal forces are once again disbanded. I will let them recover while the enemy tries to retake his territory.

While we wait for our forces to recover, the sieges at Annaba are lost to the huge enemy force and they move to Medjerda, where they promptly start taking attrition. Looks like it is time to raise rally and attack again.

The rallied army. Time to wait and let attrition do our dirty work. In the meantime we move to Annaba.

A few assaults later, it is quickly retaken as the garrisons are weak. Also some rebels pop up in Tunis.

The rebels in Tunis are dealt with and I notice some rebels in Constantine. They will hopefully have the garrison weakened for us. But before we come to that we need to deal with the enemy army...

They attempt to flee.

In unrelated news, the Muslim Jihad for Alexandretta has ended.

Back to our war.

The enemy is caught at Annaba:

As we pursue the enemy:

Yet another enemy army shows up! I may be forced to settle for a white peace at this rate, as I am simply unable to lay siege to the territories I need.

Although as long as the rebels are taking Constantine, I may be able to pull this off.

An event:

That we turn down. I need my money right now.

Yet another battle:

We managed to win, but we were injured in the fighting. Hopefully Sergios will make a full recovery. The enemy meanwhile, runs to Annaba and we pursue. They must pay for wounding our Despot.

The pursuit goes well, except that Sergios is maimed in the battle, lowering his martial and health by 2. We continue to pursue the enemy. These defeats are gradually wearing them down, and after suffering so much we must win.

Yet another enemy comes for us as we lay our siege.

We win yet again, but out army is all but gone now. I pursue the enemy hoping that the annihilation of this force will get him to agree to our terms.

Our son and heir come so us for his education.

As we wipe out the enemy army...

Yet another appears. We retreat for Tunis. Hopefully we are able to evade the enemy until we can recompose ourselves.

As I tactically withdraw (we never run away!)...

The rebel siege is won, and the enemy decides not to pursue us. I suspect that this means that they will be getting more reinforcements.

We made it Tunis in one piece. More or less. And most importantly we made it there without giving the enemy a battlefield victory. I disband my personal levies, so that they may recover, and...

That's this update. I really think that if I can keep winning the battles like I am, that in this next update after another fun round of this stuff, they might actually be ready to give me my land. Maybe. (I really do not want to just white peace out at this point, because they no longer have a peace treaty with me and will probably launch their own counter-attack.)

Hopefully we can get past this war soon. I feel like it is getting kinda boring and repetitive, since for like 3 updates now I have been doing the same thing over and over and oh so gradually pumping my warscore up.

 

[Tigranes]

I have no idea how you keep getting all those buckets of cash, but I guess time is passing by a lot quicker when you scroll through the screens. Just plop the dollars down for some big mercs and make one big push.

Ironically, if you were Catholic you'd be bulldozing them with holy orders by now.

 

[oldmanpaco]

OK that's about 3 straight updates with you attacking retreating attacking retreating attacking and retreating.

 

[Cassidy]

Wish they used a more detailed and less "Superior Numbers = INSTAWIN" strategic combat model

Reminds me of the infinite and limitless mobilizations of Austria, Prussia and Russia in Vicky 2 older versions.