Paradox games but definitely NOT GAMES OF THRONE

[JasonM]

Well the best way to deal with gavelkind is get rid of gavelkind.

Two ways to do it.

1: Conquer all the religious centers and reform (or whatever its called) your religion, it will make it organised and give you the option to choose any kind of sucession law.

2: Second way which is completely unviking-like is to try to change your religion to one of the more organised kinds. Marry to a catholic/muslim/orthodox wife and have her tutor the kids, there is a change your kid will take over her faith. (and culture)

[GhostMachine]

Latest news on my Desmond game:

Its 1080, and two sons lie dead: Cormac, second in line for the throne, plotted to assassinate his older brother Tadg, and I decided not to do anything about it because I (me, not the character, in this case) didn't care for Tadg too much. The Mayor of Cork arranged the scheme that succeeded in killing Tadg (mysterious circumstances), and I ain't having that. Cormac and the Mayor (who happened to be my Chancellor and Spymaster, respectively) both got the smackdown laidth on their candy asses, as I had both imprisoned, had Cormac's fucking head chopped off (in case any of his younger siblings get any ideas), and made sure the Mayor died in prison with an assassination plot (died trying to escape). My heir is now also the Mayor of Cork. Unfortunately the now heir (the son that's going to be a great military leader) has no kids. I did an assassination plot on his wife (faked highway robbery) and married him to someone else, as he had been married 4 years. Made sure his new wife has the Lustful trait, since it can't hurt. And within 6 months of the marriage, the new wife is already plotting to assassinate someone else in the court. I had to make sure who it was, since the courtier in question has the same name as me. (The guy she wants to whack is of no importance, so I'm not going to put a stop to it. I've only stopped one assassination plot so far)

I've also avoided going to war, but now its not because I want to avoid it: its because the 3 of the frickin' claims that have come up naturally have all been locations too far away to even bother and the other one I didn't have enough ships in the fleet to make it worth trying unless I wanted to take 6 months to get there and 6 months to get back.

And decided not to bother with an Anti-Pope game, as I did it and not a damn thing of note regarding having an AP happened within 2 years. So I stopped that game and went back to my save from right before I made one. The one thing that did happen is my favorite son (who is now my heir thanks to what I mentioned happening) died of natural causes at age 19.

[Mongrel]

How old are you, and how old is your son?

I got a little bit caught up in my game last night, and played it a lot...

Last time, we left with the homosexual King Garðar I of Iceland taking a blow to the skull, and leaving his eight-year old son Sturla has the new King of Iceland.

Thankfully, King Sturla the Holy, as he came to be known, led a fruitful and successful life of pillaging frightened coastal towns during his sixty-year reign as King of Iceland. Although he didn't achieve much by way of conquering (I suck at that), he did manage to conquer County Connacht, as part of his failed attempts to meet the mighty Scots head on. He also happily watched on as his second and more talented son plotted the death of his absolute clunker of an heir Toke.

His death in 976 paved the way for a tumultuous period in Iceland, as his successor, King Garðar II, was perhaps unfairly dubbed "The Unready". Much like Garðar I, "The Unready" also took a blow to the skull in battle and died at the age of 52 - just eight years into his reign.

His only son, Sturla, became King Sturla II, had an uneventful twelve-year reign that ended at the age of 41 following a short illness.

Sturla II's death meant it was the third attempt for a Garðar on the Iceland throne, with King Garðar III posing a special problem indeed insofar as he was Slavic for some reason. Nevertheless, he managed to take Ulfhildr, first in line to the Norwegian throne, as his wife, and the two had a son - Gudbrand I - before Ulfhildr died at the age of just 21.

That left the game in a very odd position indeed, with my direct heir now also first in line to the Kingdom of Norway. King Björn I, however, managed to father a daughter out of wedlock, who became his new successor, and then trounced poor old Garðar III to take Austisland - his birthright. Björn I was soon succeeded by Halla I, who reigned for just three months before she was killed as part of a plot. At the age of 2. I don't like what this game makes me do.

That put me in the interesting position of having sworn fealty to a Norway, whose King happened to be my direct heir, too. In fairness, I got a bit gamey here, and decided to declare war on my own son in the hope I'd die quickly. I did, meaning that against all odds, I'm in control of King Gudbrand I of Norway and Iceland.

[GhostMachine]

How old are you, and how old is your son?

I'm up to 1085 now and there's a new ruler in town. The starting ruler died at the age of 56 or 57 while defending an attack from Ormond in 1083. The new ruler is 27, and so far has one daughter, no sons.

Made one mistake with my previous post: the heir was NOT the new Mayor of Cork. In fact, I'm considering doing away with that individual because the jerk hates the new ruler and I can't get his opinion higher than -49. Really pissed me off when he refused to attend a feast.

Somehow Connaught's ruler (its still King Aed, alive and kicking at age 70) got excommunicated and two different countries (Desmond wasn't one of them) went after him. There were a few battles, and Connaught got occupied for a few months, but the excommunication got called off.

The heir's (now ruler) wife plotting that assassination actually failed to make it happen, but the guy she was trying to bump off died of natural causes or illness. I forget which. She's dead now, as I had her imprisoned and eventually executed while playing the father. However, while still playing the father I married the now ruler off to a 50+ year old Russian to bump up his Prestige (since his previous wive cost him Prestige), and when the son took over he decided to bump off his wife since she couldn't have kids. It took several failed attempts before it eventually happened, and I married him off to someone else without taking a Prestige hit.

Right now, my main goal is to get all of the starting ruler's children to adulthood. I still have 2 or 3 to go, and it will take about 11 or so more years I believe. If nothing major happens by then, I may either start a new game or switch to a different country using the same saved game.

[Noah]

King Eddie died 2 years ago and I only just realised

England is now one territory in northern france, a decent bit of land in southern france and 3/4s of Ireland.

The rest is part of the Aztec empire now.....and they've just declared war on me again.

Who would want to pick on poor, innocent Scotland.?

[METALMAN]

NERDS ASSEMBLE! THERE IS A SKEERIM MOD!

[TKz]

Meh.

I finally conquered all of Ireland (I failed with brute force, reloaded my save... everyone just accepted vassalation. >_>) but everyone fucking despises me for being a god damn titan of asskicking. Like, seriously, -100 opinions all around. Is there anything I can do with this outside of waiting for my current guy to die and hoping they hate my son less? I've ran a few feasts and so on, but half my vassals just don't bother to attend. >_>

I was hoping someone could give me some pointers on who they give titles to and who they their family members too. It seems like I keep getting people gunning for my claim because I married my brother off to some random prince. I've also got Ireland split up between a bunch of random vassals now. Should I be aiming to organise it with like, my family members as rulers of each duchy with a few titles each or what? What's the best course of action?

[Ruki]

You can bribe them.

Or you can plot to have them killed.

Or imprison them.

[METALMAN]

You can also grant them titles or fight for their claims.

I normally just try to wait it out.

[Ruki]

I hate fighting for claims because they usually leave my kingdom!

[TKz]

Yeah, I've done a bit of those two, but there's honestly not enough titles or gold to make them love me. Seriously, I've conquered Ireland and every single vassal is at -100. >_> That's a lot of bribing. Guess I'll just wait it out before trying to take Scotland or something.

[Noah]

I tried to get my friends in Norway to help with the Aztecs......something something rotten corpse.

Don't think they want to help

[Gazz]

Playing as the Duke of Champagne (Cristal, naturally), managed to club together enough faction support to declare myself independent of West Francia without having to go to war.

Now, to the west of me I have West Francia, to the east Lotharingia, East Francia and Baiern and to the south Aquitaine and Lombardia.

All the rulers of those kingdoms are Carolingians (Karlings) and are all allies.

This could be either be very painful or they could all start beating each other up and leave me alone.

[Gazz]

It was painful.

Possible new DLC announcement today (22nd). The teaser picture shows the Roman Colosseum burning...

[METALMAN]

Guess it will be Goths then.

I don't want to play that! The fall of Rome is the lowest point in human history!

[NobBe Nobbs]

Guess it will be Goths then.

I don't want to play that! The fall of Rome is the lowest point in human history!

And the Holocaust?

[METALMAN]

Well, I don't really want to cause a big fight, but the fall of Rome was the main reason for Europe falling into a dark age - economically, scientifically and culturally - that it wouldn't properly emerge from until the Renaissance a thousand years later, when things finally returned to the level they were at during the Roman Empire. So, yes, more so than the Holocaust.

[NobBe Nobbs]

Well, I don't really want to cause a big fight, but the fall of Rome was the main reason for Europe falling into a dark age - economically, scientifically and culturally - that it wouldn't properly emerge from until the Renaissance a thousand years later, when things finally returned to the level they were at during the Roman Empire. So, yes, more so than the Holocaust.

I see, different definitions of "lowest point".

[METALMAN]

Yes, that or you trying to manufacture an argument around a flippant post.

[TKz]

Well, I don't really want to cause a big fight, but the fall of Rome was the main reason for Europe falling into a dark age - economically, scientifically and culturally - that it wouldn't properly emerge from until the Renaissance a thousand years later, when things finally returned to the level they were at during the Roman Empire. So, yes, more so than the Holocaust.

Haven't people started discussing the idea about how the dark ages weren't really all that dark, though?