I believe Lindsey is next up.

 

Yes, Please.

 

Props for the eagerness when called upon. Though we have to respect Xiph who got the save and in no time at all, played through his character and provided multiple posts of detailed epic.

Enthusiasm abound.

 

I'm playing this now.

Holy shit I am in a bad position. Everyone hates me, I'm broke and I'm in the middle of the war.

My play through may be quite quick.

-buckles in for the ride-

-------------------------------------------




Journal Entry One:
My Court Chaplain told me I should write a journal to help me, an 8-year-old boy, run a kingdom. I have no idea what I am doing...

I may be young, but I do understand basic maths. We have almost no money! I was unable to buy the toy I wanted because of this war my father put us in. And of course, my brothers hate me because I was put in charge before them. Wow. Being a king is hard. I think I will have to white-peace Leon, or so my advisors say.



Journal Entry Two:
Today I was told that I was betrothed to the daughter of a duke. I am told she is very smart. I hope she likes me.



Journal Entry Three:
We are at war. Well, not me personally, but the whole Holy Roman Empire. A message has just come in. We are to fight England for the kingdom. Wow.



Journal Entry Four:
I am finally an adult. I can finally make some decisions on my own as my regent would not allow me to make any decisions when I was under his thumb. I can finally be free. I shall build my castle up to be the best in the land while improving my marshal ability.



England has fallen.


Wut... Those damn secret Catholics...


Oh dear lord. I'm gonna be a father.


The Mongols have arrived. They are terrifying. However, if they shall approach my doorstep I shall meet them blade in hand.


Uh-oh... There are the heresies popping up.


And of course, my father-in-law is one as well... and my wife. Joy. They asked me if I would join the war, but I just can't. I cannot just give up my religion.


And alas, the war has begun.


Barcelona time!


One of my priests has been giving me private tutoring of the bible. It has been thrilling and glorious. Then... he tells me what I have been learning is not Catholicism but a forbidden branch. Suddenly I am not sure of what to do. This is different but so exciting, and I do agree with many of the teachings... Should I? Dare I? Perhaps I should just study this in secret...

Oh, whatever should I do...

(Lindsey: I actually had to stop here for the night, so I haven't made this choice yet. Would people be interested in going forward with the new 'patch' and starting up a secret society? They are super broken right now, in our favor).

 

Journal Entry 152:
Catholicism has become corrupt... Paying indulgences for sins is a horrible practice that should be stopped at all costs. I want a kingdom that is fair, equal and plentiful. This means stopping the Catholic church and providing equality for all.

However, I must also be smart. If I go public now, the world will hate me. Look at this heresy being put down at this very moment! I must be quiet and spend the rest of my life to get others to turn to the true religion. I will keep Catharism secretly and bide my time. At least I am not alone, the priest who taught me the true path agrees and supports this movement.


To celebrate, I decide to hold a summer fair. I want this song to be played dammit!


Journal Entry 163:
Using the summer fair as an entry point, I start to implement my plan to convert the locals to the true religion. I also begin to drop notes to my fellow dukes and counts to see if they may be interested.


War. It is time to claim my rightful ownership of the duchy of Barcelonia.


Journal Entry 165:
The war is going great. We are running down the enemy easily. I also managed to find a great artist to make me a wonderful painting. It may be expensive, but I have the gold. I plan on covering it with symbols to show my loyalty to Cathar.


SUCCESS! Turns out the freaking emperor is also a Cathar and part of my secret cult. This is already turning out well. My child is also interested. The war is won as well.


My land is converted! Everything is going so well!


Uh-oh. A little less trying to convert people?


Journal Entry 208:I am feeling not too well. I am in bed with a cold. I feel both hot and cold. I should be fine though, I am still young and healthy and my kingdom is thriving.


God damnit. The faction that has been going on for 20+ years has finally popped. It's okay though. I have money, many troops and I am a great leader once I am healed.I shall destroy those who rose against me, including that damnable count of Barcelona. I shall take his land for betraying me.



Fuck. I did notsee that one coming.I'm 32! 32!!!!! Half my freaking reign was with a regent who wouldn't let me do anything. Sigh.

Who am I sending this to?

 

Good run, Lindsey, finally Barcelona is in glorious white.
Bantam is up next.

How does this work if Bantam doesn't have the DLC you were using, Lindsey? Will the save be playable?

 

Which DLC are we using now anyways?

 

It was Vanilla but Xiph used WoL and Lindsey used Monks and Mystics so Idunnolol.

 

The DLC I don't have is Horse Lords, Conclave, Reaper's Due, and Monks & Mystics. Shows how long it's been since I've played.

 

I used no DLCs.

Religious secret societies were included in the base patch. I also had no problems playing the game after Xiph used many of his DLCs. I was quite surprised.

Banta should have no trouble. I'll send you the file once I get home from work.

 

Ah, sweet. I grabbed it when it came out and assumed it was just a part of the DLCs. Anyway, if there's no conflict there's no harm in people running DLCs.

 

Received the save from Lindsey, and good god, are our vassals a mess. I'm half tempted to inspire revolts from everyone just so I can redistribute all the titles.

 

The whole freaking land is a mess, haha.

At least you are in a middle of a revolt right now.

 

I'm going to be done soon--one revolt ended and two sprang up to take it's place, and I think a third is waiting in the wings. Who gets this mess next?

Or maybe not!? I wish I'd remembered to take screenshots...

Edit: And done! I actually lived a hell of a lot longer than expected. Things have been modestly expanded and consolidated, though parts of Ireland broke away at one point. Right now, the Pope has declared a crusade for Italy (because fuck the HRE), France is getting even more blobby, and I just started a war for four counties in Italy (that may not have been the best idea thanks to the crusade, but I died so that war is maybe over).

I did not get a chance to change the succession laws (because giving everything to the youngest is just Bad News), so whomever is taking over gets to start as a 1 year old brat! Considering he's sickly, I suspect it won't be a long turn...

So Seratin who gets the file next?

 

Apologies, Bantam, for some reason I forgot to reply and was wondering what was happening.

Save file goes to Nemrut next. Drome has ruled herself out due to irl and staff responsibilities so after Nemrut that's the end up less we roll it around to me and repeat the cycle to see how far we can go.

 

So I got the game and am doing my run now.

*opens game



Well, that doesn't look too-



oh no


So, losing two wars and my vassals are trying to force through elective monarchy. Maybe wrong decision but my initial call was to refuse their offer, for which they immediately went to war. Seeing that I didn't see myself winning, had to surrender as half my arms was gone now, revolts had started all over Ireland and continental europe and I was already embroiled in two other wars where each faction had more soldiers than our faction.

After which, two vassals separately called me a pretender and and rose up in revolt.

Well, the liege intervened thankfully and forbade any infighting for a while. Then we focused on the papal armies and beat him. This took a few years.

Right after that war ended, before I had really any chance to recover and before my attempts to get my vassals back to my side, well, two of them revolted.

I tried for 2 years to fight a hopeless war until my char died of the plague at the age of 11, and now the game will continue as one of the usurpers.

So yeah, I was awful at this xD. Haven't accomplished anything and in fact was busy losing pointless infighting.



Seratin, you want to go again?

 

I've always favored elective monarchy; it lets me pick and choose which of my kids/grandkids inherits everything. What we had in game--the youngest kid always inherits--is crap IMHO.

If we call it here, who's up for another?

 

As I was the one who choose our inheritance system I very much like the younger ones become the heirs.

While elective has many advantages it is situations like these that make it dangerous. Vassels revolting. The bigger the emipre the harder it is to get out faviourite heir.

That is why I always go with ultimogeniture because ultimogeniture is best.

 

Proper vassal management makes getting your preferred heir easy no matter how big your empire. Ultimogeniture is shit since your heir is almost always a brat and the game doesn't let you do anything fun until you come of age.

 

Sure if you breed nonestop that happens. Which it dosent if you play accordingly. And not getting another child is way easier that managing a giant empire. Elective is simply too risky.