Live Blogs Whatever Happened to the HRE? A Crusader Kings II Liveblog

ShieldOfDoom2012-08-14 14:53:37

I suppose I should offer some explanations of the game for those who haven't played it, so this update will contain plenty of that.

So, last time I talked about possibly trying to reform the Holy Roman Empire. While that is indeed a fine goal to work toward, it'll be a while before I can pull it off◊. You see, for people to recognize me as Holy Roman Emperor, I'll need to control quite a bit of the territory that is commonly recognized as being part of the de jure Holy Roman Empire.

For the record, here's a map of the de jure empires◊. You can see that in addition to the historical Roman Empires we've got Britannia, Francia, Hispania, Scandanavia, Russia, and Persia (the greenish-blue one in the south is Arabia, and it probably won't be formed anytime soon).

Now, time to deal with the issue of gaining control of the de jure HRE. Technically I could diplomatically vassalize the various dukes, since I do outrank them, but there's a bit of a problem with that. When I try to offer vassalization, any dukes I could offer it to get so many penalties to their chance of agreeing that I might as well not bother◊. The guy in that screenshot wouldn't agree unless I was both German and in control of the title that Brunswick is a de jure part of.

So I'm going to have to do this the hard way.

Now, if I want to take someone's land in a war, and they're a fellow Christian, I'm going to need one of two things: either I need a claim on their land that can be pressed, or I their land needs to be a de jure part of at least one of the titles in my realm. I don't have either of those for any HRE provinces, but I can fix that.

Let me introduce you to the most useful people in my realm: my council◊. There's one council member for each of the game's five stats, and they can be sent to perform various tasks. The council positions are as follows:

• The chancellor uses his Diplomacy to affect foreign relations—his Diplomacy is added to your ruler's Diplomacy when determining what other rulers think of you. The Chancellor can be sent to improve diplomatic relations with any ruler, he can fabricate claims on other realms (which I'll talk about in a bit), or he can sow dissent between a ruler and his liege.
• The Marshal uses his Martial skill for a number of different military tasks. He can be sent to suppress revolts in a specific province (which also improves your chances of arresting people...unless you're trying to arrest your Marshall), he can train troops in a single province (increasing their numbers and replenishing them faster), or he can research military tech to give your troops a bit of an advantage.
• Your Steward uses his Stewardship to assist in managing your realm. He can and should be sent to collect taxes to increase the income from a province, or if you don't like being rich for some reason you can have him hurry construction or research economy tech.
• The Spymaster is important for all Intrigue-related matters. Having a good, loyal Spymaster is incredibly valuable, because you really don't want your Spymaster to accept invitations to people's plots against you. The Spymaster can be sent to uncover plots of all types (handy when you've got a large family), he can build a spy network in a province to improve your ability to assassinate anyone in it, or he can steal technology from more advanced provinces.
• Lastly, the Court Chaplain is your spiritual advisor, and his duties use his Learning. He can be sent to convert the populace of a province to your religion, research cultural tech in a province, or improve religious relations with your bishops (so that they'll pay taxes to you instead of the Pope). Muslim rulers don't get this position, instead getting a Court Imam who can't be dismissed and works slightly differently.

For now, I send my Chancellor to Thuringen◊, because Thuringia is the weakest power in central Europe at the moment. If he succeeds, Ill get a strong claim on the county, which can be pressed at any time (unlike a weak claim, which can only be pressed under specific circumstances).

Later in the year, this event pops up◊, allowing me to end a rivalry I apparently had with one of my vassals. I chose to end the rivalry because he was my Spymaster, but I'm not entirely sure it worked. Oh well.

A bit later, my wife becomes pregnant◊. In addition to the obvious effect of producing a child, this gets me a bit of Prestige.

In February of ii84, one of my daughters comes of age◊. She's not especially great, but she is the daughter of one of the most prestigious noble houses in Europe. As such, the king of Frisia is more than willing to marry her◊, securing me an alliance.

A bit later, the duke of Upper Burgundy (one of my kinsmen) calls me to war◊ to install a courtier as Duchess of Alsace. I accept and take a look at the realm tree for Alsace◊, which lets me see all the duchy's vassals and their vassals, but more importantly lets me check how many troops they have. As you can see, this won't be much of a war.

The plan was a squiggly line drawn on a map of Europe◊. Those troops are just from my personal levy, because there's no point in making my vassals mad when I don't need their troops.

In unrelated news, I'm presented with a moral dilemma during a meal◊. I choose not to overindulge myself in hopes of becoming Temperate, but I don't gain the trait. A shame.

Also unrelated to the war is the birth of my latest daughter, Stanislawa◊. She's never going to inherit anything, but might be useful for political purposes later on.

Sometimes when you send your steward to collect taxes, he'll collect a tithe◊. It's nice when it happens, but not especially important.

Another nice thing that happened during the war was the first successful conversion of an Italian province◊. It'll be a while before the entire kingdom embraces Catholicism, though.

In September, a peasant revolt breaks out in Ravenna◊. I won't be covering all the various peasant revolts that happen, but rest assured that I will be putting them down. Any revolt you suppress for a vassal will get that vassal an opinion bonus, and you don't want your own provinces revolting all the time either.

In February 1185, my grandson and heir Trojden comes of age◊. He's not especially impressive. He is Zealous, though, so church opinions won't be a problem for him.

A few months later, Alsace loses the war◊. Not that their defeat was ever in doubt, of course.

The same month, I get the chance to invite a friend to a banquet◊. Naturally I do, and he shows up, pleased to have received an invitation◊. He could also have shown up late or not at all, with corresponding effects on my opinion of him.

That same month, my chancellor's work in Thuringen pays off◊. My claim is fabricated, war is declared, and Thuringia can't possibly defeat my personal levy◊.

Now, I set up camp with my troops and begin sieging holdings in Thuringen◊. This is pretty much what warfare in CK2 is like, with a few field battles followed by sieges against the enemy's holdings. You can wait the siege out or you can try your luck storming the holding, which usually leads to significant losses.

Apparently, the siege was so boring that Trojden decided he may as well die instead◊. The war won't end (any claims you're currently pressing will be inherited), but now a lot of my vassals hate me enough to want to revolt. That's not really something you can do much about, honestly.

Anyway, Trojden's still single, so I arrange a betrothal to this Swedish duchess◊. This was a serious mistake, but I'll wait until later to explain why.

The next interesting thing to happen is Cremona becoming Catholic◊. The reason you want to convert counties is to reduce their revolt risk (people don't like being ruled by religious enemies) and to reduce the time it takes for them to start producing money and levies.

I also decide to release this guy, who revolted long ago and has been imprisoned ever since◊. The ruler who he revolted against is dead, so I feel relatively safe releasing him.

Once Ingfrid comes of age I immediately marry her◊. She became an Intricate Webweaver (level 3 Intrigue education), but you'll notice that she has absolutely no Stewardship. That's why I said marrying her was a bad idea.

You see, half of your spouse's stats are added to your own. Since Stewardship increases both your income and your maximum demesne, you want to marry someone with lots of Stewardship. In this case I didn't, so Trojden's demesne limit is stuck at 7.

You can also see me collecting a Royal Aid Duty. If I'd refused to then I'd gain 50 prestige, but Poland is prestigious enough that I don't care about such paltry sums.

Anyway, life is boring up until the duke of Verona decides to revolt◊. With not soldiers whatsoever◊. What's he going to do, stare menacingly at me from the bottom of the screen?

At one point, a noble flees to my court◊. The money he's asking for to stay here is nothing, so of course I let him stay.

Also, sometimes my Marshal manages to get me a boost to my levy reinforcement rate while he's training troops◊. Nothing special, but it's nice to have.

The next noteworthy thing to happen is that I win my war for Thuringen◊. What do I do with it, you ask? Why, I give it to the power-hungry Doge of Saxony, who's been known to go off on his own conquering sprees for his de jure territory and who automatically gets an opinion penalty with all nobles because he's a burgher with noble titles, of course◊! What could possibly go wrong?

Well, that didn't take long at all◊. At least I learned my lesson about giving individual vassals too much power. The real loser here is the now-Count of Nassau, who didn't retain his independence for long after I noticed this war◊.

That same month, Trojden manages to impregnate Ingfrid◊. Guess he's good for something after all.

Spoleto's the next Italian county to decide that it ought to be Catholic◊. I really wish there was a way to speed the conversion process up, but there isn't.

Later that year, my son Siemowit is born◊. I won't even try to pronounce that.

In April, news reaches me that the Duke of Modena is plotting to usurp Italy◊. I don't know how he plans to do that seeing as there's fewer than 1000 usable troops in the entire country. I'm pretty sure he dropped the idea when I confronted him about it, though.

I get this event in May◊. I wanted Trojden to become Ambitious so he'd get the associated stat boosts, but he remained useless.

Every so often, you get demands like this one◊. Unlike in the first Crusader Kings, this event only pops up for people who are legitimately better than your current council, so I have no doubt that Odon here's a great chancellor. Unfortunately, my current chancellor is one of my vassals, and I really don't want to have to deal with the fallout for firing him, so Odon doesn't get the job.

Anyway, in October I notice that I have enough money for a project I've been planning. For a while now, my capital of Krakow has pretty much reached the limit of what I can do with it. If I want to expand the income and levies I get from it, I'll have to construct an entirely new castle there. So I do that◊.

In world news, one of the two Caliphs (I think that's the Sunni caliph, but I'm not sure because the Fatimids lost their Sultanate) lost a jihad for Syria◊. Better luck next time, I guess.

Meanwhile, Trojden Senior's daughters start coming of age. Here's the king of Sweden arranging a marriage between one of them and his son◊.

Here's one of Trojden I's sons coming of age◊. And here's the king of Lotharingia approving a marriage between him and one of his distant relatives from a different branch of the family◊. I mention this because I'm pretty sure that's the first bit of incest I've intentionally conducted this game (fortunately, they're distant enough relations that their children shouldn't have to worry about getting the "Inbred" trait).

In July of 1189, the Idiot Duke of Verona finally surrenders◊. In celebration, I decide to hold a tournament◊. Three random courtiers win the prizes.

Elsewhere in the world, the crowns of France and Castille have separated, and the Moors have forced Castille out of Spain◊. Things are no longer looking up for the Iberian Christians.

Later, I decide to fix a problem I've had for a while◊. Trojden I was confronted by his burghers about lowering taxes, and seeing as I'm using republics to increase my income I decided to give in to their demands and lower city taxes. Guess which vassals hate the idea of bringing them back up to normal the most. Go on.

My second son is even less pronounceable than my first◊.

Now, when I finish that new castle in Krakow it puts me over my demesne limit, so I need to take action. I usurp the duchy of Pisa from its current holder (I couldn't do that earlier because he was at war)◊, and hand it and the county over to the count of Piombino◊.

Anyway, here's my new castle of Skawina, building a castle village to increase its income◊. Anyone who thinks they have a better name for it is welcome to suggest one.

Nothing else interesting happens until the duke of Modena revolts the next year◊. He actually managed to call some allies in, not that they'd help.

I'm briefly distracted from my civil war by the formation of the Teutonic Knights, who should prove helpful in future Crusades◊.

Anyway, the duke of Modena is unable to mount any meaningful offensive against me, and before long his rebellion ends in my dungeons◊.

Anyway, I think I'll leave off here for now. Here's a shot of Poland at present◊.

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