Actually that's another problem I should mention. I've had three separate rulers but without fail, whenever one starts a faction, the Emperor asks them to leave the faction and there's no option to stay as leader.

The idea of waiting till he's weakened by another war though may work. And I've been working on building up the marital ties, so hopefully that will work. Unfortunately it may take a while. There's no large enemies of any size nearby. The Abbasids disintegrated a while back into several satellite emirates and kingdoms, so there's no real threat that can weaken the Empire enough.

 

Pay close attention to how many troops the Emperor can summon, as well as the strength of his other vassals. If you're stronger than your ruler, they usually let you go without much of a fight, and whomever are the strongest dukes/kings should be the ones you are focusing on building an alliance with.

 

Depending on how old he is you could always wait for him to die. No matter how popular his heir is the heir will have much fewer levies to raise than his father.

You could always speed things up and just assassinate the current emperor, if you got the gold, that is.

 

Well it looks life I'll have to wait anyway. Absolute Crown Law has been passed and there's no option to start factions anymore. If I'm lucky he'll die soon while his heir is still a child.

 

In that case I'd go with the last resort of Sowing Dissent in the capital and hoping to hit a Duke enough that he starts a rebellion.

 

Doesn't Sow Dissent hit the vassals of the person in that area or is at least biased towards them? Even if a Duke is a member of court how likely are you to pull this off?

 

Point. At the very least you'd have a better chance of pulling off a plot to assassinate the Emperor. The -30 hit to opinion can be enough to sway the borderliners and bring some of the more favourable vassals to the point where they can be bribed to join.

 

I've played until near the end of my guy's lifespan and should be ready to hand over the file to GL in a few hours.

 

I'll get cracking on it when I'm back in this evening, or late tomorrow failing that.

You posting pics and general prelude?

 

Yeah, as per the parameters of this Succession game, I'll be posting relevant pics (since F12 is ridiculously easy) and general info in our shiny, new thread.

 

Sometimes this game is annoying: Currently on my second ruler with an Old Gods start in the Byzantine Empire, using HIP modpack, partially inspired by the started succession game. Second ruler had four wives, three died without my intervention, the fourth one is the current. First three had a total of five daughters, the fourth wife was so I will not be reminded about it. Then at age 60, I get a son, then my ruler decides he needs a mistress, who gives him another son. Now I am over 70, and hoping I can hold on till my eldest son reaches 16, about 5-6 more years.

And the emperor is plotting to steal my ancient and most built up county, even after I was his regent, taught him and gave him one of my daughters...

 

They added India.
On related note, the old saves are now incompatible.

Woop-de-do.

And yes, there's an older build 'beta' mode, but I still stared at the screen in surprise when I couldn't hop on on one of the older games instantly.

 

Rajas of India is out, so yay! But I won't be able to play it for a while right now. :<

Whoever is playing it, please post how the extended map is and also how good the new mechanics are. I am especially interested in new units system, attrition and the temporary title in rebellion. Also, the new sect system included for Indian territory.

The feedback may influence my decision to either say fuck it to this semester and play it, or resist it for a ..while. (And freak, your opinion won't count. D

 

I am gonna wait a little before I buy it, so I am not going to give you any opinion.

 

Well now, let's see... the last interesting round of AGoT for CK2 that I played was as Stannis Baratheon. In the end, it was loads of fun.

Obviously, I started in the period when all those kings started popping out, and thus had the honor of kinslaying Renly. If I had my way, I'd have burned him to death. Whatl was he thinking, allying with the same people who once tried to starve him and Stannis to death?

Alas, it was but a shadow-babby which killed Renly and thus the Stormlands fell in line with my agenda. When I called the banners, and acquired some sellswords from across the sea, in grand total I had around 50, 000 men-at-arms.

You'd think I wouldn't have stood a chance against the Lannisters and their allies, since they after all had so many allies and coin of their own to buy more swords if need be.

Sadly for Joffrey and his true parents, that proved false, as I went straight to King's Landing and stormed it with my Stormlander army. Oh how they quickly bowed down when a true Baratheon sat on the Iron Throne.

And oh how they wailed when I burned them to death as offering to R'hllor. Joffrey, Jaime and Cersei... names to be stricken from Arya's list.

I was fair though, I didn't burn Tommen and Myrcella, merely kept them as my wards at court, along with one other Lannister whose name I forget. Tywin had no other heir but Tyrion. I'm sure that must have galled him. In case he wished to remarry and make another heir, I had him killed by some brigands on the road. All for the good of the realm, of course.

My troubles were far from over though, and no king should ever rest easy or complacent on the Iron Throne. Robb Stark still waged the war for his independence and the return of his sisters, a foolish notion which I crushed by raping the Riverlands (like they weren't used to it by now), while he was still on his way, until Robb submitted and begged for peace. Once we had peace, I returned Sansa to him and then later on Arya popped out in Harrenhal and went back North as well.

I probably should have taken someone as hostage, but I arranged a matrilineal marriage between Shireen and Rickon Stark and it would prove a wise decision further on in the game, when Sansa Stark started plotting against her own brother and was exposed by Rickon and Shireen.

Yet even as I settled matter with the North, the Reach began stirring. Apparently, Mace Tyrell fancied himself one of the Gardener Kings of old and thought it a good idea to try and exploit Stannis' temporary benevolence (really, it was more ignorance than anything else, I had some krakens on my mind to fry first). With the aid of the Vale and the West, I crushed the Tyrell uprising and decided it would be best to just put them all to death. Of course, I burned them, not out of religious fervor, but rather the pragmatic outlook for the favors that R'hllor could bestow upon me. Tarlys became the new Warden family of the Reach, but I kept my eye on them all the same.

And amidst all of this happening, Selyse actually managed to conceive not once, but five times. 3 strong sons and 2 healthy daughters. Whether it was this or something else, I do not know, but Stannis fell in love with his homely looking wife and she with him. Once, a man tried to seduce her, but she put him in stocks and I burned the wanna-be-adulterer as yet another offering to R'hllor.

Now comes a bit of hilarity, for Aegon and his Golden Company, all 10,000 of them, decided to land in the Stormlands. Where my armies had yet to disperse from squashing the Tyrell's rebellion. Where 60,000 Stormlanders, led by Stannis, the R'hllor's Chosen, quickly descended on the mummer's dragon and killed him personal combat. The Golden Company was crushed, and many of their numbers were sent to the Wall or simply fled from Westeros altogether.

But there was a matter to be resolved yet. The Ironborns. They no longer waged war with the North, but they remained independent and a fractured realm I would not abide. The poor sods never knew what hit them as over one hundred and fifty thousand men descended on their barren lands and made them all the more barren of life as we know it. The Greyjoys were a sorry lot by the time I was done with them, and I had the pleasure of encountering Euron and slaying him in personal combat. Theon, Asha, Balon, Victarion... all dead and burned. I will suffer no vermin in my realm. Would that I could put all of the Iron Islands to death, for they gave nothing to the Seven Kingdoms, and only lived by taking from others what was not theirs to take.

Finally, there was peace, or at least a lack of wars, in Westeros and as Stannis I had scheme and plot more than it was necessary, solely that my bloodline would survive the treacherous ways of courtly games. How I wished to burn the whole of King's Landing down... maybe Aerys had it right, though his reasons were misguided.

My three sons... Steffon, Robert and Godric, with Steffon as the heir, all married noble women of good standing, of the proper behavior. Steffon was offered a Hightower, the first and only child that they had at the moment, and I accepted gladly, but when the time came for a dowry to be paid, I asked nothing from them, and funded the wedding of my own coffers.

Initially, I had married Robert off to Myrcella Lannisters - though the notion of bringing incestspawn into my family disgusted me - to quell any notion that someone could have a claim to the Throne through her children, but I was pleasantly surprised when the girl-turned-woman proved to be anything but like her mother. Faithful to my son, a devoted mother to boot, she gave him many sons and daughters, and their marriage became one of love, even though it had begun as political prudence at first.

Tommen had been sent to the Wall to prevent any sort of potential uprising.

Godric, however, was a bit of a problem... inherited more of his uncle's traits than my own. 2 bastards of his own before reaching 17 and the silly child wanted to go and become a Septon - even though I had the Red Priests slowly, but surely, converting the Crownlands and Stormlands to R'hllor's faith - for some reason, something which I would not allow. What if his brothers and their children were to perish? What if something happened to Shireen? No, I would not indulge a child who had already been indulged too much. For honor, perhaps even justice, I had him marry the noble-born girl who bore him his first child, a Velaryon of all things, and made sure that the other was well taken care of, for it would not do to keep the bastards of my bloodline away and poisoned against the main branch.

For more than 20 years, perhaps even 30, peace reigned. Laws were followed, uprisings crushed before they could begin. I did everything that I could to keep my realm safe and secure, to rebuild and renew the land. These latter efforts included rebuilding Harrenhal, something which took many, many years and many funds that could have been directed elsewhere perhaps, but I thought it best to fortify what would be the seat for one of my own sons. After Harrenhal was dealt with, I turned my eye towards Summerhall. A place with a tragic past, I colonized it all the same and spent even more funds and time on it than I had on Harrenhal. And something quite unpredictable happened to me.

I had found a dragon's egg in the ruins of Summerhall.

My new ambition was to hatch it, to bring forth a dragon to Westeros once more. It was by sheer fortune that no had died in the process of hatching. Gold and black were its scales. Apt, or so I thought at the time.

Two years I waited. Two years until it grew to maturity, until it could be tamed. Thus Stannis Baratheon, R'hllor's Chosen, became a dragonrider.

And thus my conquest of Essos began.

Strange how so many of them surrendered to me without ever seeing a single man from my armies cross the sea. All were afraid of Stannis, of the King from across the sea who had beaten down so many uprisings, quelled any treacheries before they could bear fruit. All feared the devastation that dragonfire could bring.

With a dragon by my side, I forged empires on Essos. One of my sons would become the ruler of Yi-Ti, another would be granted the newly reforged Valyrian empire that stretched across the vast Essos continent. Nearly all that I could behold on the maps of the world was mine to rule, for my sons to inherit. Nearly all.

Meereen. The only place that resisted. The only threat to my dominion. Daenerys Targaryen ruled there, with her three grown dragons to enforce her laws, and over the course of many years, many were her husbands, who all seemed to die in 'mysterious' ways. Yet for all the years that had passed, she had no children to her name. When she died, there would be nothing to preserve her legacy.

Meereen. How could I not conquer it? With armies as strong as five-hundred thousand - and even more approaching from vast distances- I descended upon them, with Stannis Baratheon, all but the God-Emperor of this world, riding his dragon into battle against hers.

So many lives were lost, so many chances that Stannis' could have died, and his dragon almost crippled or killed. So many lives... and for what? For a unified world. All of it was mine now. All were ruled by the Iron Throne and the bloodline of Baratheons. Storm Kings and High Valyrians. No one could oppose us.

In my conquest of Meereen, I had captured Daenerys Targaryen and brought her back to King's Landing, to that place which she desired above all, but I doubt it was ever imagined she'd arrive in such a manner. Gilded was her cage, but a cage all the same. A cage which Stannis Baratheon watched over obsessively, until obsession gave way to desire and the Targaryen girl bore him twins, with heads of silver-gold hair and violet eyes.

And so I ended my game, for there was nothing left to be done. At the end of things, Stannis Baratheon was well over 80 years old, yet still he lived, still he ruled.

 

Impressive.

I don't think I've ever reached age 80+ in Game of Thrones mod with any of the book characters I tried. The main game - sure. The mod, not so much.

There's usually some sickness or battle that goes wrong, and I have to follow up with a heir. Heirs tend to live longer than their parents, though.

Then again, play times are nearly incomparable.

Note to self - play more GoT mod.

 

As I mentioned more than once before, these kinds of games are really the exception for me. One time, my character died, childless, during a hunt. Another, someone plotted against me and arranged that some bandits come across me on some road and slit my throat. Shit happens.

The one thing that I have noticed is that playing as Robb Stark gets you killed pretty quickly, so you best hope you wed him to someone right after starting the game and she gave birth to a boy, because you just know there's some kind of disaster awaiting him.

 

If I'm doing the War of the Five Kings scenario with Robb I usually find the best person to marry him to is Arianne Martell even if it's completely OOC. Dorne will generally answer your call to arms and Arianne has a pretty good stat line, so I'm not about to complain about it though!

On a completely unrelated note has anybody had any luck with Daemon Blackfyre in the Blackfyre Rebellion scenario? I've tried it twice and failed both times. Based on how outnumbered you are in that scenario I tried to rush to Kings Landing and capture Daeron for a quick finish, but I can never seem to actually capture him.

 

I'm not bothered by acting OOC, no matter what character I play, but why ally yourself with Dorne? By the time they get to you to help out, the North might as well be fucked sideways by any invading army, since they're far closer than Dorne, that's for sure.

As for the Blackfyre thing, I managed to win it just the one time, but promptly got bored. I don't know, there's just something about those grand events in history which makes them boring for me to reenact, especially if they can be concluded so swiftly. Plus, I don't enjoy playing as a Targaryen, bastard or otherwise.

Haven't tried playing in the Dance of Dragons event though, can't really see the appeal since there's so many fucking dragonriders around, and I prefer finding and hatching my own from scratch rather than getting them handed to me. Mind you, if I do decide to play the event I'd probably ally myself with the Greens.

 

I generally ally myself with Dorne so they can create problems for the Reach and Stormlands while I take care of the Lannister army. I'm never too worried about defending the North because attrition will fuck up any invading army. Other than that there is no real reason except Arianne has certain traits, mainly attractive, that are good to pass on to my kids.

I've never played the Dance Scenario and thats mostly because I don't want to have to deal with so many other dragon riders to absolutely wreck my armies. I've played most of the other ones though and the Faith Militant Uprising was probably my least favorite while the Bleeding Years was probably my favorite. For that one I played as the North colonized Oldstones for the claim on the Riverlands then proceeded to completely wreck the Freys and later the Boltons when they rebelled, I just told myself I was saving Robb the headache they'd cause later. And much later in the game I was able to conquer the Vale and Westerlands before I ended the game.

I only played the Blackfyre Rebellion because it is an interesting military situation, but after that I don't really care too much about establishing a Blackfyre Dynasty.