Let's Play the Megacampaign

[The Vortex Empire]

Well that's good to know. Well then, it'll be far more difficult for anyone to invade us now. On to Wales! Try not to get shot by their ridiculous longbowmen!

[FaxModem1]

So, we have the whole island now?

[doom3607]

Not quite. The southern duke loves us, but isn't quite ready to sign up yet. Don't worry, I'll have him in the kingdom by the end of the next update. FYI, England appears to only be capable of sending over about two thousand troops, and France appears the same. If that's true, we are now unconquerable.

[OmegaChief]

In which case I really do recommend my Wales strategum, once we have that sorted we can work out if we want to go and kill the moors some of if we want to work on Scotland.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I agree with the good Colonel, the Welsh strategem seems the most prudent at present.

[doom3607]

Err... I meant Ireland is unconquerable. The island, not the kingdom. England could quite easily drop ten thousand troops on Wales if it wanted to. I suggest we go on a little crusade out in Spain, then try to snag a couple of the royal titles in the area. If we could conquer all of Spain, that would be five royal titles and a large enough empire to get the Pope to make us, well, an Empire. As in the equivalent of the Holy Roman one. As an added bonus, at that point we'd horrificaly outclass basically everyone excet for the Mongols, whenever they decide to appear.

EDIT: The Mongols were completely OOC, no way in hell the King would know about them. The rest was semi-IC, convert to drunken Irish king-speak as you will. I'll try to make my IC more obviously not-me.

[HMS Sophia]

Agreed. After the unification is complete, Wales is the way to go.
However, I would advise prudence. We want to outnumber whichever territory we aim to overrun, but without crippling our own defences.

[OmegaChief]

Yes we're well aware of the potentially precarious condition that a landing in Wales might cause, but the issue is getting involved on the mainland is even more risky at this stage and opens us up for forces greater then the English attacking us.

Now depending on how the Wales campain goes, we can then resassess and see if we want to strike out into Spain or some other region.

[FaxModem1]

Okay, well. Allies are great, but they're not as good as subjects. I suggest finishing off South Ireland, by hook, crook, assassination, marriage, invasion, whatever. Ireland United.

[doom3607]

All right then. Next update, which should be early tommorow: The unification of Ireland and a foothold in Wales. Count on it.

[Kingmaker]

*Falls out of time portal*

Ahem. Far be it from so humble a man as myself to suggest underhanded tactics, but for the present it might be best for us to pursue our interests on the Isle of Britain and on the continent through indirect means. It would be imprudent to engage in military adventures when other methods could be successfully employed, especially so early in this kingdom's history.

(OOC: I don't know how extensive the espionage options are in Crusader Kings, but it wouldn't hurt to get whatever intelligence capabilities the game allows up and running. And if it allows for more active things, like fomenting rebellion, I would point out that it's only been a few years since the Norman conquest in Britain. And looking into acquiring some allies on the continent wouldn't be amiss.)

[doom3607]

We can assassinate people for exorbitant sums of cash and we can make an ally or two to get their line of sight. There's your espionage for you.

[doom3607]

THE MEGACAMPAIGN: CRUSADER KINGS: DEUS VULT

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Chapter the Third: United at Last

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In June of 1075, Ireland stood behind a common King at last, except for the last hold-out in the south. It took but a single month for a weak Duke in Wales to see the light and join the rising star that was Ireland of his own accord. But the south of Ireland still was not united with the rest, and this the King could not tolerate. Action would have to be taken.

In September of the same year, he grabbed claims to two of the Southern counties, and began making his final preperations for the last true war of Irishman against Irishman. He was ready by the first of April, of 1076. On that day, he marched, with the full might of the new Royal Army behind him, six thousand strong.

By November, the south had fallen. Ireland stood united, and at peace, at last.

---

That was easy. I found out it was because the south's army was off fighting Navarra. We never even got into a fight. And thanks to me setting us to work on siege technology, things went by very fast indeed. Anyway, I did what I said- we united Ireland and have a foothold in Wales. So... what now?

[HMS Sophia]

Wait.. the welsh joined us on their own? Brilliant. Action should be our last resort, but we should never forget it.
Now, can we see a map of Wales? I want to see how the provinces are aligned over there. Also, can what sort of army can we levy over there? I'm thinking we send one over to defend our foothold.
What things can we work on other than siege equipment?

[doom3607]

That was in the introductory post when I showed the stats for the original Duke, the court, the treasury, etc. I can do another infodump if you want.

[Eternal_Freedom]

We should fortify our Welsh province as much as is reasonable. It's a useless fotthold if someone can throw us back into the sea. This includes actual fortifications and a heavy garrison.

Until we have united all of Britain under our banner, we should avoid any continental adventures. If nothing else, it's a far longer supply line to maintina to Spain than it is to Wales.

[doom3607]

Ah... that will be difficult as hell. I can advance fortification tech, but I can't garrison the place. Armies are either in the field or in their home province- you can't leave them somewhere to garrison the place unless you're willing to pay the maintenance and accept the loyalty penalties. Not to mention, soon enough they'll start deserting, or dying off from attrition. Garrisons don't work in CK. It's not until EU3 where we can ditch the whole 'levy' bullshit.

[HMS Sophia]

Don't worry about the infodump, I'm happy with siege stuff.
As for the welsh garrison thing... well buggery. At that point we want to be spreading out ASAP and conquering new territories, so that we have a bugger between our foothold and the enemy. Are there any weak provinces nearby?

[doom3607]

No, our Welsh territory is penned in by the English and a good friend of theirs. I believe you may have heard of the Kingdom of France? What you didn't hear of was it throwing ten thousand troops across the Channel to help England beat the shit out of Scotland.

I still vote we go beat up the Spanish Muslims, and maybe the ones along the north of Africa. The way the game works, we don't need a reason to go to war with people who follow another religion. We can conquer all we want without a reason, and all we lose is the gold to pay our army.

[HMS Sophia]

Well I suppose if we cant go anywhere with the welsh foothold, I think we should simply hold that strongly, while going to find more territories. Can I see a map of western Spain? (where Portugal is) as well as the where the weakest Muslim province is over there?

[doom3607]

Maps it is, then.

Round sheilds are Muslim.

[HMS Sophia]

Ouch, yeah, it doesn't look like we will be hitting England any time soon. They are much bigger than us.
There appears to be a small bunch of light blue Muslims down in North Africa. How do people feel about dropping a large army on their faces?
It appears to be that or the scots, but the scots are on the way out... So I think North Africa after actually viewing the map...

[doom3607]

Blue and dark green Muslims, perhaps?

EDIT: There's another reason for taking on DG. You see their little bit on Spain? DId you notice it bordered a two-province kingdom? One of those provinces is what was formerly either Aragon or Navarra. The other is... well, the other. It's a two-province, two crown steal. If we can get a claim to their thrones. I think I can. And then... IRISH EMPIRE!

[HMS Sophia]

Blue and dark green it is. Start with the blues though, since they are all little and such.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Agreed. If nothing else, bashing Muslims will make the Pope happy.