Paradox games but definitely NOT GAMES OF THRONE

[TEOL]

I understand that my diary is an education in itself, you should be ready to go.

[gunnar hendershow]

I just started playing this, it's going to take awhile to figure out isn't it? I started a game as the Holy Roman Emperor but the task is so daunting in the sense that there's so much to pay attention to I think I'll be better off with a smaller-sized game. Any recommendations from anyone?

[JasonM]

I just started playing this, it's going to take awhile to figure out isn't it? I started a game as the Holy Roman Emperor but the task is so daunting in the sense that there's so much to pay attention to I think I'll be better off with a smaller-sized game. Any recommendations from anyone?

The HRE is a daunting way to start out for sure, since you get thrown into the biggest backstabbing pool of dukedoms, kingdoms and whatnot. Everyone wants to become ''the chief'' and most of the time you have a hard time keeping control of the situations.

I have found the most enjoying beginner games being either an Irish Count, it's a nice way to start at the bottom and work your way to Dukedom and eventual kingdom.

France is another example of starting out like a king, but not without eventual problems due to the dynasty starting as a kid with some extremely strong and backstabbey vassals.

One of the three Spanish king is a nice way to dip your toes into being a king, having family around you and also being able to fight the muslim hordes for the middle and south of the Iberian Peninsula. And it's pretty fool proof since even if your direct family dies, you continue stronger as one of your brother kings to the side of you.

Finally maybe a country like Poland if you like to start out in the east, Poland is a good spot because you get to fight plenty of pagans to the north and east of you. And gives you plenty of time to forge a strong family by marrying around with the likes of Hungary and Croatia for strong allies for the greedy danes, the Orthodox kingdoms and also the eventual arrival of the Mongol hordes.

An intermediate challenge would be the Duchy of Apulia, you get to fight the Muslims in Sicily and the north of africa, and also give you close proximity to Jerusalem if you want to mix into the crusades and gives you the long term goal of uniting Italy under one King.

[Thrilla]

A county in Ireland or Scotland I generally find to be a good starting point.

[JasonM]

A county in Ireland or Scotland I generally find to be a good starting point.

Scotland I would class intermediate because there is plenty you can do wrong and you will have an upstart England and an extremely powerful Norway that love to take your lands. But there is plenty of expansion into Ireland and maybe even Iceland if you are bold enough.

[Thrilla]

I never had a problem with Scotland on my first game, think I started with Gowrie and the couple of places its linked with. Your brother(?) turns on you pretty early on but he's easy to beat then you can usually pick up the rest of Scotland while England is still in the midsts of civil war. Norway never bothered me until I tried for the Shetlands.

Obviously that's just based off the times I've played.

[TEOL]

I just started playing this, it's going to take awhile to figure out isn't it? I started a game as the Holy Roman Emperor but the task is so daunting in the sense that there's so much to pay attention to I think I'll be better off with a smaller-sized game. Any recommendations from anyone?

Yeah, you don't want to jump in at the top. It's much better to start as someone with only a little territory under your control so you can get the hang of things. As has been said, Ireland's a popular choice, which was the point of using it for my diary.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah I'll look towards Ireland to start, I was misled by them saying HRE had a low difficulty rating.

[Toe]

I find Spain tough. Declaring war on the Muslims too early can just destroy you. Ireland is too fun to start with.

[KevinStorm]

I find Spain tough. Declaring war on the Muslims too early can just destroy you. Ireland is too fun to start with.

Whenever I start in Spain, I lose the inevitable civil war against the other 2 brothers.

[The Lusophone]

I wouldn't start as the King of France. You face a civil war almost immediately.

The guy causing the war, the Duke of Burgundy is a good starting point, as are both of the southern French dukes, Aquitaine who is probably the most powerful man in France if you keep your vassals happy, or Toulouse.

Gallicia is probably the easier of the 5 (not 3) Spanish kingdoms. Only one vassal, who will rebel but it's pretty easy to beat him.

And my biggest tip for you if you're starting in the early game? Marry the Duchess of Tuscany. She usually rebels along with most of Italy against the HRE, and manages to keep her lands, so your kids will then inherit them, doubling your holdings.

[TEOL]

One of my first games was as some Dutch count who ended up becoming Duke of Flanders and then King of France in short order. France is very prone to imploding for some reason. They were probably nerfed after being so powerful in previous games, but that's only served to reduce the ability to counterbalance against the HRE.

[EddieG]

My first game in Holland actually led me to find out my hometown used to be the unofficial capital of Holland.

[TEOL]

It's edutainment!

[JasonM]

I myself am in a game as the Duchy of Apulia.

My first leader was Ennio de Apulia (after music legend Morricone) and I managed to conquer the island of Sicily and Malta from the mean muslim peoples.

Just before he died I managed to create the Kingdom of Sicily and when he died his son Luigi took over the kingdom.

Luigi I quickly made his presence felt in the first crusade of Jerusalem dumping my entire army at the holy city and managing to capture it and the pope gratefully awarded it to me, and I in turn gave it to Luigi's brother Mario.

Luigi got maimed in the war though and it only took 2 years for him to find the grave and thus Mario I took over both Sicily and Jerusalem. And during his quest for glory he also managed to conquer modern day northern Libya to add around 5K extra troops to the domain and a nice foothold into the rest of northern africa.

The problem now is that Mario is looking at the final years of his life and his deadbeat son Conone is looking to take the throne. The problem with him is that he is a count in Scotland, imprisoned for rebelling against the Scottish king and perhaps the toughest thing is that he is just a piece of shit who has stuff like Wroth and Cruel.

So with Mario being close to death, and the odds of Conone dying before Mario being slim to none. I am most likely facing a huge kingdom crisis with plenty of vassals probably going to rebel when he ascends to power, and also the muslim hordes looking to profit from my kingdoms weakness by most likely jihading Jerusalem first chance they get.

I can avoid a bit of the problem because Sicily is an electoral kingdom. But switching the King there would cause me to end up losing Jerusalem to a family member for life since the best dynasty members is a far flung cousin of Conone. I would lose a levy powerhouse in Jerusalem which would probably still be attacked by the Fatimid's next door, or I could try to survive with shitty Conone and try to keep both titles or split my kingdom trying.

I am in a bit of a pickle, to trust in Conone's ineptitude or to hand Sicily over to a more effective family member causing me to lose control over Jersusalem... Decisions, decisions.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Jasonmufc

[lanky316]

Fourth expansion just been announced... Earlier start date and allows pagans to be played, finally. I'm tired of looking at all these random chieftanships and being forbidden from playing them just to watch the inevitable disaster unfold.

[Gazz]

Can someone explain to me why the Republics can declare war on me for my cities that they don't have any claims/claimants on?

[lanky316]

They have new reasons for declaring wars. I think there's one which is essentially "monopoly" were they can claim pretty much any coastal region to expand their coastal territories. It's made them pretty quick at expanding now. Especially with the AI using mercs more often.

[Gazz]

Yeah, I sort of figured it out after I posted, they're stealing cities to build trade posts. Unluckily for them, once my lands have expanded, they're going to feel the full might of a Sicilian style assfucking...

[The Lusophone]

The Elder Kings, a mod set in the Interregnum of the Elder Scrolls lore has finally been released. Should be good fun. Includes all of Tamriel and parts of other continents.