(Complete) The Last Nestorian King -- CK2 w/CharlDLC 769

Started by JasonPratt, October 15, 2014, 09:23:23 PM

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JasonPratt

#31
Not yet. There isn't anywhere around that a 100 troops would accomplish anything, and that's all my one galley can carry.

I might be able to sail up the Sea and go after some of the African tribes (other than Ethiopia who isn't tech'd up as far but has far more troops and great defensive terrain.) But they're still fellow Christians, and I don't think this king would do that without due cause which they haven't given.

The Muslim Berbers would have been absolutely the perfect initial target (though not with only 100 troops landing at a time days apart), but King Gosh squashed them by a miracle with a splinter army that couldn't get back to Abyssinia. Now they're part of the Abyss. Great for him, not so great for me.

Shir would get support from Awardid across the strait, which in this game my galleys can't block. King Gosh would probably help; any territory I got, I might let him have later if I could fight back onto the Arabian mainland successfully.

After that, Awardid -- but they're a good 9 times bigger than I am. But also exhausted from 12 years of land fighting, for themselves and for the Abbasid Caliph. It's an open question whether attacking Awardid would trigger a giant crush from the Abbasids: I don't want to ticc off the largest Empire on this side of the planet, but I don't know what kind of alliances may be in effect there.

I could try invading India, but that's a lonnnng way away and I'd want to pick my target carefully. Also, India never did anything to hurt the Nestorians (we actually helped them a lot); but like any other Christians we have a permanent cause for war with Muslim factions due to them overrunning peaceful areas a few generations back.


Most likely I'll cruise along a few more years, letting my shipwrights build up my fleet and looking for opportunities. If I get all 6 galleys up I'll initiate a war on Shir; otherwise I'll let King Gosh do that first (since he's probably inclined), and then ferry over whomever I can to help him, thus picking up more prestige (for aiding) than for initiating a fight myself.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

#32
Year 781

With Ath's mission to King Goth not going anywhere, and Taizz's sheik back to being -11 toward me, I migrate Ath back to Taizz at the start of the year.

The Awardid Emirate has been having trouble with Muscatian Peasant revolts for a while, and around April 1 (ha ha) a rebel rouser name Fadil pulls together about 270 troops in Taizz. They try to move out of the area into Bayda, the county immediately eastward, because Sheik Talib is doing a good job kicking their asses. That's because Talib by himself could potentially raise 1740 troops, though all would be weaker than level 1 -- not counting the garrisons of his four cities in Taizz, nor counting the troops of any of his allies. This is not a small point for someone trying to figure out how to best go about reclaiming the Arabia...!

Anyway, if I'm reading the data correctly, Talib has levied the city of Mocha, and while those 432 troops are down to 290, it's enough to send Fadil packing off to find a weaker target if possible. By May 1 it's all over: Fadil has been imprisoned and his little army dispersed. On May 15 he is banished from Arwadid lands, which is kind of surprising: not killed.

On September 6, one of our new Muslim courtiers, Samir Samirid -- also known as the worst troublemaker at court -- decides he would make a better grand marshal than loyal Shaiban. While this is technically true (17 vs 12), Shaiban is nothing but loyal to me (92 opinion), and adds more skills elsewhere than Samir could ever dream of. Frankly, I'm going to find the old man a wife if I can (who may bump up his stats even more)! Samir can go jump in the sea, and I let him know I'm in charge here. This is going to make his attitude toward me worse.

After checking around for available women close to his age, I settle on:



Rabiya the Impaler!

...what? She has good stats, and her traits are mostly good. Mostly. Shiban is delighted, everyone's happy. Maybe I'll let her practice on Samir if he keeps causing problems. Her Muslim Caliph or Emir or whoever is happy to get rid of her, and flatters me amazingly in the process. Hopefully Shiban will live happily ever after with Widow Mistress Rabiya and her creepy daughter who happens PURELY BY COINCIDENCE to look like Wednesday Addams.

Speaking of flattering, my practice at public speaking in front of a mirror (from a few years ago) has paid off, and so my diplomacy sucks somewhat less than it used to. I wondered if this would fulfill my diplomacy ambition, but since I'm still only 5, not yet 8, I guess it continues to run.

So ends year 781. Still only 1 galley.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Martok

Quote from: JasonPratt on October 26, 2014, 12:47:15 PM
and her creepy daughter who happens PURELY BY COINCIDENCE to look like Wednesday Addams.
Bwahahaha!!  I do so enjoy your "slightly aside" commentary, Jason.  Good show.  :2funny: 




Quote from: JasonPratt on October 26, 2014, 12:47:15 PM
So ends year 781. Still only 1 galley.
Man, those bloody things are taking forever! 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

JasonPratt

Year 782

Still no forward movement on various points (or not enough to count as distinct progress yet), but I notice that my vassals and court generally have a very high opinion of me, enough to easily absorb a -20 drop. So I raise feudal taxes from none to large, thus increasing the tax income by 20%. This will be helpful later I hope!

Weirdly, it seems to have no effect at all, not on tax income, and not on my vassal's opinion, even though I'm locked out of changing laws again for another couple of years. Double-checking my ledger, I see my feudal tax has certainly not kicked in. Maybe it doesn't until the start of next year.

I pick up another 2 diplomacy again in October; still short of the 8 I need to fulfill this ambition I guess, but it's good for other reasons, too.

On Dec 25, Ath's mission to Sheik Talib comes through again -- and while looking for my next diplo target I notice that the opinion of everyone on the southern coast of Awardid seems to have notched up toward me substantially.

After checking around, I discover this is because several sheiks and the local Emir Yazd have recently died, leaving very young boys under regents as their heirs. Who have almost no opinion of me at all!

I promptly send Ath to their capital, Sanaa, and consider my options. A really good vizier can fabricate claims on even a dukedom. I don't like the word "fabricate", as it implies falsity, and I have a legitimate claim to the area though not so far as the game is concerned. I shall have to ponder this. At any rate, Ath can't change tasks for half a year. Though he'd have almost a 20% chance of succeeding in making the claim if he did.

And so the year ends... WITH TWO GALLEYS NOW! For all the fat lot of good that will do me, but at least I have options.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Year 783

Nope, the taxation didn't start up in January either. THIS IS SUPER WEIRD! Have I run into a legitimate bug?

I decide Spymaster Musa has been hanging around Hajr too long, and send him back to Damascus for a while. I wonder if having picked up some tech points from a county invalidates tech points being ever picked up again there? -- unlikely, but is there a limit before the possibility resets? I do have a couple of other options 6 months from now; places I don't think he has been to which could provide some points.

Theoretically he's also sending back tech information helping me to advance my techs from the 'other' side, reducing the cost by developing them farther. Why my actual researchers aren't capable of doing this, I have no idea: they only seem to generate tech points, not direct research on the techs upon which the points would be spent. Are there structures which would help with this? No idea.

On Jan 26, I receive some priests and officials from our Patriarch -- who frankly ought to be falling on his knees every night and every morning that our faith has produced even one king, even though I'm hidden off on a faraway island. But maybe that's the problem: he only has one king to try to influence, and so he's trying a little too hard out of eagerness and/or desperation.

My wife, who by the way agreed to my demand that she publicly renounce miaphysitism for our orthodoxy (which has understandably colored her opinion of me ever since, and which I regret doing)? -- God bless her heart, she suggested I rebuild a church on our island.

Whereas Bishop Halil, my court chaplin and feudal lord of the temple-city of our island, thinks I ought to scare our Patriarch by talking tough and showing I won't be pushed around. Seriously, what the hell?? Gen is upset by this advice, and she'll be more upset with me if I take it, though I would gain 10 prestige, which frankly I need more than I need more piety.

Still, she'd only be a little upset (-15 to the total) for a couple of years. And I took a MASSIVE prestige hit to marry her, which I have only recently been able to climb out of (56). Whereas if I take her advice, I might possibly increase my learning (20% chance) and gain a trait (content) that I really don't know what good it would do (mainly it affects people's opinion of me by a lot in my favor when they have it!) or even whether the game would allow me to slot it into my trait list which looks reaaaalllly full already. Halil will be happy either way, since the church that would get rebuilt would be his! -- so the fact that his own opinion is to talk tough to the Patriarch carries quite a bit of weight with me. (This is a coincidence of the game, by the way.)

I tell the Patriarch his knees ought to be cracking when they hit the floor thanking God I exist at all.

A few months later Gen is pregnant again. So that didn't turn out too badly!

On the other hand, a book I've been illuminating myself with for about a year seems to be digging at my mind. This seems like cursed frogurt. Neither option gets rid of the book, or clearly spells out the results, but I go with the less madmannish answer and hope for the best.

At exactly the same time as both these events... this happens.




Really, game? Is this connected with the book? Is this punishment for talking smack to the Patriarch? Or for having ridiculously high piety? I DIDN'T WANT 381 PIETY!

I know enough to know there is no way this doesn't end badly.

Fasting and praying to the Blessed Virgin at best gives me a 50% chance of nothing, and a 50% of Suspected Demon Spawn. Apparently I'll lose -20 public opinion either way on that.

Consulting Halil, the other option, doesn't seem to do anything. But no obvious risk either. Sigh. I consult Halil.

Great, now my options are certainly bad no matter what: divorce and imprison my wife, with Scetara gaining "bastard" status (and a reason to hate and fight me); or they pick up "Suspected demon spawn" and "suspected witch" status automatically and I lose 200 piety and -40 general opinion. Neither of which helps Scetara.

The hell of it (so to speak) is that in this game the charge is probably true! And of course Gen is pregnant again with another child. Which she'll bear in prison and in disgrace now.

Well, my piety can take the hit: I'm literally more pious than the Patriarch or any other religious leader right now. My best bet in the long run is probably to have little Scetara assassinated, but I'm going to be faithful to my wife.

A few days later I figure out more of the book and become a mystic; which does by the way add another trait, though the little icons are starting to overlap. This is interesting information in itself! -- it means trait-gaining options are still viable. (It also means my intrigue ticks up a few points.)

By the way, my law for taxing my vassals still hasn't gone into effect. On the other hand, I didn't lose the general opinion, my wife and daughter did. So that's a plus, in a way.

How awesome is my son Athanasios, by the way? So awesome that he has convinced a 2-year-old boy that I am benevolent and peaceful! Yay!

Time to arrange some betrothals?? I have a charitable daughter. And a "slow" possible demonspawn.

Since it's late May, I decide to hold a summer fair. Oh, and Scetara gets a new nanny from nowhere. This nanny is not long for this world: I'm having her assassinated pronto.

On the other hand, she does have a bunch of good traits and skill stats. But I can't take the risk. The game is saying she's trouble.

Spymaster Musa is down with this plot, and so is his wife Zabel. Athanasios, not so much. My Steward's wife Jahaira wants in, as does some random woman named Shahzadah. YOU KNOW RABIYA THE IMPALER IS READY TO GO! (Come to think of it I should have probably just imprisoned Julienne and let, um, nature take its course.) I'll probably bring Musa home later this summer to build a spy network; he seems a bit burned out tech spying anyway.

Bishop Halil complains a few days later about too many peasants entering the city. I point to the belly dancers and tell him to be quiet, I talked smack to the patriarch for his sake, and my wife is currently pregnant. And thanks to him, people think she's a witch now. So shut up.

(The fact that I'm plotting to kill the mysterious spy who showed up to nurse Scetara does not make me a hypocrite about this. Also there are belly dancers, as I could prove from the screenshot announcing this plot if I cared to do so.)

The plotters all decide to go with the plot over the next few days. We'll see what happens.

My little granddaughter Rashida needs a guardian now, which in this game means a tutor: why they don't just say "tutor" I don't know as that would remove some potential confusion. Anyway, normally I'd send her to my wife the suspected witch, who is the awesomest person in my kingdom except for my son who is already tutoring someone -- except I'm worried she really is a witch, and I want to dodge further bullets along that line.

Oh, actually the most awesome person is now Julienne, the suspected witch I'm trying to murder. Sigh.

Hey, great, Ath can tutor two wards! Excellent, he has nothing but great traits and skilz.

A monkey show goes horribly wrong, and I pay the guy to leave which somehow earns me 5 prestige. It's possible that the belly dancers are making me distracted.

On July 1 I decide to pick up some prestige by delegating my busywork to my councilors: this socks them for -15 opinion, but only for 5 years and the worst any of them have to start with is 41. Partly because my taxation still isn't running what the hell.

I've been saving economy tech to go to Town Infrastructure II, which would increase my tax rate from towns by 12.5%; but looking over my various options for increasing my gold income I find that by simply going to Improved Keeps II, which I can do right now, I'll open up a bunch of further economic improvements which will only cost gold. So I do that.

First up, I spend 72 gold on upgrading the walls of Tamrida, since that will make me the most gold in the long run. I can do the same for my castle of Qualnsiyah and for the Churchtown of Qadub, too, with similar potential results, but I'll probably go with the bishopric next as it makes the next most money. At any rate the walls won't be ready for more than a year.

On August 15 I bring Musa home to set up a spy network and give him a break in spying for tech, which he hasn't had much effect on for years.

Athanasios actually manages to improve a different sheik's opinion of me before the time when I can change his mission. The young Emir cannot marry an infidel, and cannot marry matrilineally (or however the French spell that ;) ), so I instruct Ath to start making a case for my claim to the duchy or at least to the county of Sanaa. I'm just going to ignore that the game calls this "fabrication".

A white hart is seen in Socotra, because I was stupid enough to spend money on a winter hunt here (when I should have been saving that money on infrastructure improvements {headdesk}), and apparently imported a white hart. Having released it into what passes for "the wild" in our little island jungle desert hills, it is soon found with much fanfare and excitement in court. I send my best hunter, the malcontent Samir after it whom really I should have had imprisoned on general principle; this gives him 20 prestige, and he hates me somewhat less. I should have gone after the thing myself and picked up 10 prestige, but the game isn't always clear about who will get the prestige or piety or whatever and I thought I'd get more for letting him go.

I do find a stag of my own while out hunting -- just how many stags did my contact import?? 5 prestige. I'll need 3 years to earn enough money to set up more wall improvements THAT'S WHAT I SACRIFICED FOR THIS STUPID HUNT!!

Then Mayor Jabil wants to talk about deer parks. I CAN'T AFFORD DEER PARKS YOU NIT! Wait, hold on... I haven't borrowed money from Jewish merchants yet. I should probably do that. Still told Jabil to get real; he'll lose 10 opinion of me for 10 years, but that's okay. My local temple vassal Bishop Halil isn't happy about me borrowing money from the Jews, but he'll get over it, wasn't a bad hit. I immediately set the walls of his church to be improved, he'll like that! I'll owe the merchants back 350, but I can pay it whenever. 11.67% interest to be paid back whenever isn't bad terms.

On my actual real-life birthday, Gen bears us (IT HAD BETTER BE US!) a son. She likes the name Khaireddin. Hopefully not because it sounds like the Gaelic phrase Cair Ettin, or giant of the tomb!

So ends year 783... NOW WITH THREE GALLEYS! Apparently these will be Christmas presents for me for a while.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

undercovergeek

oh man you know what youve unlocked here dont you?

JasonPratt

From reading around previously, I have a good chance of having unlocked either a sorceress or the outright Anti-Christ. And I don't know of anything that can stop this, except maybe assassinating her nurse. And I'm not sure about that!


Year 784

Okay, I think I've figured out the "feudal vassal tax" problem: the other tax categories are for cities and for temples, so this only affects the taxes I would get from castles held by my sheiks -- but I don't have any, I hold the local castle.

On Jan 31, Spymaster Musa tells me I really ought to stop going out at night to pick fights in bars (or something). My only option is to refuse his request, instead of doing the sensible thing, which socks him for -15 opinion for 10 years. He can take the hit but I don't like this. What am I, the Dark Knight Returning?

This doesn't bode well. On July 24, after a fairly non-eventful year, Jahira, wife of my steward Aram, died of a great pox. Not only does this tick down his quite terrible stewardship score, but she was one of my key plotters against whatever (literally) the hell Julienne is doing.

I retire Aram, and hire a new courtier Ibrahim as steward. His stewardship stats are still dirt average (only 8 ) but that's better than Aram's (6), and I may be able to find him a wife to help, plus Ibrahim only has good traits. Aram will still be moderately in my favor with an opinion of 8... uh, whoops, I miscalc'd that somehow! More like -8. I marry him to one of his co-conspirators, who herself wants to get married while Aram wants a son.

I have suddenly come to realize that when I set my counsel to research tech, it doesn't mean they're adding to my tech points at all. It means they're increasing the spread of my tech through my counties, OF WHICH I ONLY HAVE ONE!

This whole time they could have been doing something more useful... sigh. Well, when my steward's reassignment slot opens up early next year, I'll port them all somewhere more helpful.

Oh, crap, something tried to kill my oldest daughter, Sanaa, and in game terms it was most likely Scetara. No options yet.

There's a peasant revolt in Dhofar (in Oman, up on the coast), but by the time I went up there to help the Awardids would have stomped it I think. More to the point, anything unrest up there helps me in the long run in case I have to do military action.

However, the new Abyssinian king has also started a new holy war campaign in Shirazid.




THIS MAY BE MY OPPORTUNITY AT LAST! Maybe. I could send 300 troops over, and maybe go get some more.

Tadjoura would be the weakest county to attack, but also the one with direct access to the mainland. But also the one with most exposure to problematic enemies. Zeila would be the strongest, and also the one with the most developed cities, but their total levies are only about half what I could call up.

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to split my castle levy troops into fewer than 300 troops. Or at all really. Which means I can't load them onto my galleys. Actually it means that even if I get my full 6 galleys I WON'T BE ABLE TO LOAD THEM ONTO MY GALLEYS!

That's messed up. I guess from a game-engine perspective it makes things a bit simpler; and of course I could call up my puny levies from my city and temple, they could go easily, but they wouldn't be able to do much once they got there.

Sigh.

This also means I can't possibly have enough ships to get anything done for several more years, because I'd need to build shipyards at either my city or my templetown (maybe both), which are busy improving their walls for a while longer. And then ships would have to be built there. Fortunately I would only need one or two more ships, but those would still have to be constructed. Which clearly takes about a year apiece.

So ends 784. Still trapped on the island.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

undercovergeek

im waiting for the 4 witches with 100+ in each stat to turn up

then its war!!

JasonPratt

Heck, maybe I'll marry them! Might as well go for a harem, apparently I've already married a witch. THE BONES SHE PAINTED ON HER FACE AFTER OUR WEDDING SHOULD HAVE BEEN A CLUE I GUESS?? I just didn't want to seem racist.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Year 785
--------
On January 1, I hear that Iconic Eastern Orthodoxy has become a de facto heresy, with Iconoclasm becoming the new Orthodoxy. "The bickering of fools does not concern me!" I grumble. The sad little retarded anti-Christ in my palace concerns me.

And now I have a harsh choice. I can spend more than half my ducats to build a city shipyard, and in a year I'll finally be able to project military power. Or I can wait a little longer and upgrade my city guild hall to a toll both, more than doubling my gold income (adding 3) per month once it's finished -- but use all my gold. I would need another 3 years minimum to gain enough gold and use the build time for ships. But then again I need a minimum of another three years anyway (more like four or five), as the ships don't appear automatically! I won't actually be delayed much, and I could use the gold income increase. Sigh. Going for the gold... (Which I'll still need another year to collect before starting this!)

On August 19, King Rema of Ethiopia, a fairly noble man to be fair, succeeded in taking down both Harer and Tadjoura next door in one fell swoop -- also getting rid of a countersiege going on in Asayita where he staged the assault from. Only the capitol county of Shirazid remains. (I'll have a screenshot further down the comment which will remind readers where those places are.) I could do nothing to help, so I get nothing. sigh. Good for him, though; the area really did belong to him originally.

I seriously think about sending him gold so that I could improve his opinion of me enough to have him agree to betroth his teenaged daughter to my Athanasios -- which wouldn't be too weird, they're only 10 years apart -- without King Rema insisting on matrilineal marriage. But I don't know that that would gain anything over in Ethiopia, since he has a male heir already. And I don't really want land over there anyway; I want Arabia back.

On mid-November, I gained another 2 points in diplomacy, pushing me over the average 8 target (to 9), and fulfilling that ambition!

Next ambition... hmm... well it's either improve my learning or become king of Arabia, and the latter definitely isn't going to happen in my lifetime! The former probably won't either, but at least I'll be adding a few points every few years.

So ends year 785.


Year 786
--------

Oh for pity's sake. On March 2, someone murdered my little 2 year old boy, apparently Scetara. That plot to murder her nanny had better get cracking.

On March 22 someone or something (apparently Scetara) goes after Saama again. Sigh.

By May 3, 5 ships of my personal levy have been completed; though I now have near 930 troops from my castle alone, not counting another 110 or so from my other two towns. 110 could not be enough to strike even at a weakened county on the mainland, not and also hold it; and the game doesn't allow me to raise partial levies, so I'd need a minimum of 10 ships to move my main levies. At least they'll be fairly asskicky whenever I get enough fleet to send them anywhere...

Okay, I've changed my mind from earlier last year: I might as well go ahead and make the city shipyard instead of waiting later to make something that will take nearly two years to build and THEN having to earn enough money back to build the city shipyard which will take another yearish to build plus then another yearish for each ship. I'm losing too many opportunities by not being able to push power out onto the mainland.

My retarded demon baby girl turns 6 in late May, and would normally need a tutor now; but if she's going to grow up to be trouble I'd rather her stay untutored. Sorry, but giving her good traits is no guarantee she won't turn out to be the anti-Christ: I'm convinced her nanny is a witch and she has great traits! Much less am I going to amp up her competency with good stats. Right now, being "slow", she has stats of 0 down the board. I'm sorry for her, but I'm sorrier for my dead and terrorized children.

Ath is pestering me for a wife again, which is perfectly understandable but I don't want him to suffer a further prestige hit for marrying a 'lowborn' woman again. And there are no adults from Great Houses within diplomacy reach. I do however find a daughter of the high chief of the realm of Kassala, who by a quirk of helping old King Goth during his assault on that poor Jewish enclave (God rest their souls), also happens to own the county of Siemen up in the mountains where the Jewish ex-patriat Temple was built and I DEFY READERS NOT TO MAKE PUNS ABOUT THIS! (I think that grammar added up correctly...)

The only drawback is that she's currently 13. But I can arrange a marriage for later; she has only two traits so far but good stats for someone so young. This will ally me with her father, which could be a problem later as if he gets in trouble I may not be able to reach him without invading someone first.

Oh well. Boy needs a wife again, if he can just wait another three years, and everyone's happy with the arrangement. Ath won't inherit anything (probably), but he we won't lose the island either. I make the arrangements.




As December nears its end, Gen becomes pregnant again. IF YOU'RE SENDING YOUR DAUGHTER TO KILL HER SIBLINGS WHAT'S THE POINT, DEAR!! #5thworldproblems

Thus ends 786.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Martok

LOL!  I don't quite know how to define your narration style, Jason, but either way, it's definitely entertaining.  O0 
"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

JasonPratt

(Yes, I'm certainly not doing a normal narrative AAR here, unlike with WW1 Ethiopia and the Blood Bowl Amazons. Whom I want to get back to someday by the way.)


Year 787
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I hate to say that my retarded daughter's nurse needs to die, but she needs to die and soon (if it isn't too late already). My plot power is already over 75% but I've seen no forward movement on the plot at all since I set it up, and neither have I been given any special options (though the game said with higher plot power would come more options). Maybe I have to get the power over 100% before anything at all happens. Unfortunately, up to now I didn't dare invite anyone else because they were either incompetent at intrigue (thus possibly spoiling the whole thing) or else, like my son Ath, would have been against the plot in ethical principle.

But this is giving me grey hairs. Or old age is. One of them.




I love my little skeletora-faced witch-wife to death, but the nanny has to go. Fortunately, checking around at the start of this year I see we've added a couple of new people at court who should be on board for the plot and who don't suck at intrigue. I invite them in. By early February, both have agreed: the French kisser Julienne must die.

Just in time? Or not? By March 7 I've fallen ill. Well, I turned 50 this year after all, I'm horribly old and my days are numbered.

By mid-July, the shipyards of Tamrida have been built, and already have produced 2 more galleys. I lack only another 2 more before I can send out my 904 levy troops somewhere: yes, because of game design I can't get rid of those 4 extra troops, so they'll need their own galley. More room spread out for everyone I guess; not that this will help their morale while at sea.

My next immediate goals are purely economic: upgrading my three cities to increase effective tax incomes, starting with Tamrida (since its return on investment will be best). I'll need more gold to do that, and should probably wait until I have a surplus of around 30 in case of an emergency. This is a project I will bequeathe to my son, as only by a miracle from God could I survive to see it done. But I will have given him, at long last, the ability to pursue feats of arms on the mainlands: may he or our heirs reclaim Arabia for Christ!

On July 27, Gen gives birth to our first son, whom we will name Philemon. I might as well name him Doomed, for his older brain-dead sister will probably kill him at night. Thanks ever so much, Gen. (Someone misunderstands my satirical babbling and the baby is Christened "Doommed". Like Ahkmed, but with more doom.)

By mid December, as I feel the winter rains soaking into my life -- a miracle from God after all! My illness passes, and I am restored to health! TAKE THAT YOU FRENCH NANNY WHOM I CANNOT IMPRISON WITHOUT MY TENDER-HEARTED SUBJECTS THINKING I AM ONLY A TYRANT!

So ends 787.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Year 788
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The year is ginning along without event, when all of a sudden the nice young Emir of Arwadid whose court Ath has been camped at for years searching for a way to produce a claim on his dukedom, decides to declare war on us. This doesn't seem to be connected to Ath's mission; it may simply be that our island has been part of their Emirate's territorial ambitions for generations, and has held off their piratical attempts all this time -- though to be fair, in my lifetime they have not been pirates at all but much more civilized. Likely enough, his counselors have prodded the seven-year-old boy to issue the war declaration.

Ath proposes a daring plan of traveling the Arwadid lands building up diplomacy again while at war, hoping to bring the young Emir's vassals to reject the attempt. I doubt this will work but it seems more productive than trying to suss out any claims I could have on Arwadid. Ath quickly discovers more than 1300 troops on the march to Bayda, presumably to embark on galleys there for invading our nation. We will likely see them in late October, so we have a little time to prepare.




Honestly, we don't have much hope. Each of those territories could be, and probably is, sending hundreds of soldiers to their docks to embark on galleys to flatten us.

On the 20th of September, Gen announces she is pregnant again, and enough galleys to ferry 900 troops appear off the coast of Taizz, along with another 115 soldiers. Fortunately, the troops in Taizz have turned around and are marching back into Sanaa, which will delay their embarkment by another few weeks -- though whether that will make any difference in the end, who knows?

Still, the war hasn't started at the end of 788. Maybe we can talk or procrastinate our way out of it after all.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

undercovergeek

you have money for mercs? how many provinces does the aggressor have?