Crusader Kings III

[Syt]

My game in 1046.



I am Brittany, bitch. Actually, it was a bitch to get onto that throne, because I am not good at this game.

I gobbled up a bunch of duchies till I ran into the "too many duchies" limit. I was allied to the King of West Francia (who was also Aquitaine), and I didn't have the roops/allies to take him on, anyways, so my ruler (maxed learning, so you can buy claims with faith, if the Pope doesn't grant you claims), I claimed Brittany, the weakest nearby Kingdom. I had the levies and allies (and mercs!) to take them on, but they also had lands in England, so armies kept shuttling across the channel for years, there was attrition, and it was a silly game of wack-a-mole of sieges. Couldn't even force a decisive battle. Eventually we white peaced out.

Next I claimed Burgundy. His troop numbers were low, he had shitty allies, and even on recovery we outnumbered him. So off we go. It was messy here, too, because he was defending against a faction that had risen up that moved some monster stacks through his realm that were hostile to me too. So there was a lot of maneuvering and running around for a couple of years. And then he went and allied Byzantium who joined the war, tripling his troops. Ok, white peace again.

Meanwhile, Brittany had gone through a bad succession. They lost their lands in England, and a bunch of allies. My ruler died, but his son, while not great (and already 63 himself ... ) went to war, again. This time it was quickly over, and we claimed the throne of Brittany. I then spent the next few years sorting out my finances, vassal contracts, who should have which duchies, while securing some new alliances. My ruler died quickly, and his son took over (current ruler). He's intelligent, but he's also a bleeder.

I was looking at taking either Burgundy, Lotharingia or West Francia next, but they were all in really annoying alliances to sort out. Howver, now West Francia and Aquitaine have split. I'm still allied to W-F, but Aquitaine looks ripe for the picking. Tempting to jump right away, but they guy has 6 kids, and 4 aren't betrothed yet, so I want to wait a bit to see if he gets into more alliances before I take the plunge.

Looking at his offspring, his heir looks like this ... reminded me of someone (he doesn't have anywhere near the competence that Amos Burton would have, though ).



I've been lucky with my successions. It's still partions, but since my first ruler had to get rid of two heirs, my rulers have had one son and a bunch of daughters.

I hope my current heir makes it to adulthood. He's a genius, and at age 7 I think he has some pretty ok stats already ...

[Syt]

Never mind, ended up being fine. Conquered Aquitaine, then my alliance with West Francia fell through because my Aunt who was married to their King died. Usurped the title and asked all vassals to play at my house now, which they accepted. Now only to get claims on Burgundy and Lotharingia ...

Was a bit touch and go, though. I stepped on a miniature sculpture which severely wounded me (bleeder). Plus I fell ill. And my wife (aged 41) gave birth to a second son ... Fortunately worked out fine. Recovered from illness, my physician healed my wounds after a few attempts, and my new son was disinherited.

[jimmy olsen]

Started a game as Barcelona in 1066 with the Iberian DLC.

Despite getting my face maimed before inheriting, I'm doing pretty well.

I managed to get two Occitan duchies to swear to me. Speaking the same native language is what put it over the top.



My guy is a Thelogian who helped win the second crusade and put a cousin on the throne of Syria. As you can see the Byzantine Empire exploded. They were doing well until a Catholic inherited due to dynastic marriages with Poland and the Orthodox vassals all revolted.

[Jacob]

So the struggle mechanic in the Iberia DLC allows for a bit more cross-faith politicking, is that right? But only with a specific subset of cultures relevant to Iberia (i.e. those mechanics don't apply in Africa or India or the Slavic lands etc), is that right?

[Josquius]

I started my first game. Went with uppland. Duke to the south who was my friend went to war and had a bigger army so I lost. I need to figure out how things work properly in this as I feel I'm just stumbling about.

One thing I'm not getting is finding women for marriage or side pieces.

[Zanza]

It is limited by geography, so France or Morocco also get extra mechanics if they own part of the Iberian peninsula.

[Syt]

Well, only Lotharingia left to go:



I accidentally picked up the remnants of Galicia through a vassal's inheritance, so I kinda think splitting my time between attacking in Spain and in NW Europe.

I'm not really min/maxing anything at the moment, mostly managing my family, vassals, expanding my holdings and buildings and gobbling up lands when there's a chance.

[jimmy olsen]

So the struggle mechanic in the Iberia DLC allows for a bit more cross-faith politicking, is that right? But only with a specific subset of cultures relevant to Iberia (i.e. those mechanics don't apply in Africa or India or the Slavic lands etc), is that right?

Yeah, you can do crossfaith marriages and alliance. It can be quite valuabe in thr beginning of a game.

[Jacob]

Yeah, you can do crossfaith marriages and alliance. It can be quite valuabe in thr beginning of a game.

I'd love to have that extended across the game. Cross faith marriages were very important in pre-Christian Northern Europe. In fact, I've seen it argued that the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons was closely linked to rulers marrying Christian women. Pagan Norse magnates married both Slavic pagans and Christians with some frequency as well.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, you can do crossfaith marriages and alliance. It can be quite valuabe in thr beginning of a game.

I'd love to have that extended across the game. Cross faith marriages were very important in pre-Christian Northern Europe. In fact, I've seen it argued that the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons was closely linked to rulers marrying Christian women. Pagan Norse magnates married both Slavic pagans and Christians with some frequency as well.

The Gregorian Mission is a perfect example.

[Josquius]

Seems a bit less possible in the game than reality.
Maybe I am missing something but the lack of flexiability in war peace is a negative. That's where marriages should be sorted.

[Syt]

Ugh, I are a dumb.

I gained a foothold in Britain, and was expanding, when the Pope called for a Crusade against the vile Lollards. Yay! So I joined up, designated my daughter (in a matrilineal marriage with the - hopefully - future King of Lotharingia ... ) as a beneficiary. All good, England becomes de-Lollardized, and my daughter becomes Queen of England.

An event pops up, and I didn't check the options properly and then was confused because I got a ton of alerts and notifications and my council is gone and ...

... I picked the option to continue playing as my daughter instead of as the Emperor of Francia.

So yeah, pledged allegiance to daddy (that sounds ... wrong ... ) and now I'm unsure if I should continue (I'm playing Ironman), because I don't trust the AI to hold the Empire together till I've set it up that I play as the top dog of the Empire again ...

[jimmy olsen]

Queen of England should be able to muster a formidble army. Just join your father's civil wars if you think he'll lose.

[crazy canuck]

This keeps crashing every time I try to start it

[Tamas]

Make sure you are not launching any mods. One of them must be out of date