Let's Play the Megacampaign

[Eternal_Freedom]

Don't reset. Stablise ireland. We'll save the rests for, I dunno, a massive freaking invasion by sharks with frikking' laser beams on their heads.

Or something equally calamitous.

[doom3607]

If we carry on into space, that might actually happen if we decide to use SotS to simulate the Irish Star Empire. Frickin' Liir...

Not to mention some of the crazed species of Space Empires 5. Intelligent planet-burning space fungus, anyone?

[The Vortex Empire]

I say we fight it out. No need to reset until the situation becomes truly hopeless.

[doom3607]

All right then, I'll carry on unless a whole army of people appear and decide they want a reset.

[FaxModem1]

A United Ireland is a safe Ireland.

Don't reset. We're just in the beginning right now.

[doom3607]

All right then. Expect the next update... soon.

[doom3607]

THE MEGACAMPAIGN: CRUSADER KINGS: DEUS VULT

---

Peace

---

The King's court waited in the throne room, wondering what he wanted to speak to them about. And curious about them people standing on the other side of the throne room, these people who looked not a day older than when they'd appeared out of nowhere to advise the King- the old King, or rather the old King's father now, since there was, once again, a new King.

And look at where their advice had brought Ireland. It had united it, yes, but only at the horrific cost of more than a decade of incredibly violent rebellion against the old King, Murchaid. The fighting had only begun to end when the heretic died, and even then it took time for his son to beat the rest of the kingdom back into submission. But he had done it. The kingdom was whole again, and safe from rebellion, for the time being.

The quiet murmuring that had filled the room until that point suddenly quieted as the young king Donnchad entered, walked swiftly to his throne, and sat down. He said "Peace."

"It's a bit of a new thing for me, you see. The last time we truly had peace, I was barely ten. When I was finally able to begin ruling the Isle, the fighting had started. So I don't really know what to do with the peace. Which is why you're all here. My normal advisors, and my... foreign advisors. So. Advise me. How does one rule Ireland in times of peace?"

---

Finally. That was... not particularly fun, having to constantly spam clicks here, there, everywhere- no I won't make peace with you, yes I'll buy off Leon so they don't add in more than I can handle, attack here, rescue there, attack way the hell over there, raise troops here, ATTACKTHERENOWAAAGH- and I'm very glad it's over. So.. how should the king rule in peacetime?

[xthetenth]

Oh dear, I never properly introduced myself. Lieutenant von Meyer, Union army meteorologist, formerly of the Prussian army. Yes, you heard me correctly. My orders to go observe the situation in Mexico got lost when I disembarked in New York, and then I seem to have lost myself in a recruiting station. I have no idea how I misplaced myself this time. Where are we anyway? Ireland? Well, at least we've unified the nation, now we can worry about gaining foreign lands. I'd say the most important goals are increasing the unity of the people to make a proper nation-state, because trust me, I've seen fractured countries, and they just can't be major powers. Once that's done, taking prestigious foreign land is a good priority, and it seems Leon is likely to be our major rival. Therefore, attacking muslim spain should suit all our objectives, by denying a major rival expansion room, weakening their claim on prestigious titles, and enhancing our strength. This comes at the price of encouraging a confrontation, but it's best to take them on when you're at the height of your strength and the enemy can be singled out.

[FaxModem1]

Heirs, we need them. Lots of them. The king will like that.

Also, we need wealth. What are Ireland's assets?

[doom3607]

Depends on what you mean by assets. We have enough land for a reasonably high income and a respectably large army. We're also some of the best in the world at taking down fortresses, maybe even the actual best.

[FaxModem1]

All right, then we need some good taxation going on, and then we hit Spain.

[Kingmaker]

Can I suggest that a tax hike followed by raising the levies and sending them to a faraway country sounds like a recipe for disaster?

[FaxModem1]

Not at the same time of course, we get our taxes, then lower them and grab our army. The morale boost will help stop rebellion.

[doom3607]

Raising taxes and then lowering them back to what they were does not restore morale or loyalty to what it was. As it happens, our income is actually high enough to support our full force being in the field for a decade or so.

[xthetenth]

Raising taxes and then lowering them back to what they were does not restore morale or loyalty to what it was. As it happens, our income is actually high enough to support our full force being in the field for a decade or so.

How much do we have when we deduct the shipping charges to attack a decent target like Spain? It seems we need to balance our money and loyalty while still being aggressive enough to take advantage of opportunity before it disappears.

[doom3607]

...Less. I'll check on the cost of shipping the Royal Army to Muslim Spain. Although said army is rather understrength at the moment, since, as you may recall, people do tend to die in wars. Like we've just had for a full decade.

[doom3607]

Oh, a few things to be aware of:

1. Sea travel is much cheaper than the last time I tried to estimate, the trip to Navarra was wildly off my estimate. I'll do some experimentation to get better at estimating costs for that.

2. You may have noticed a lot of duchies cropping up in Ireland. Why? Simple. The last king went to all the trouble of fighting to acquire them, and apparently, that closed off the possibility of his giving them away, even though having dukes as vassals gives more prestiege than simply holding the titles. The new king gave them away because while the old king had mountains of prestiege gained during the fighting, he had almost none. Giving away the titles also made the recipients vastly more loyal, helping to end the rebellions faster.

3. Turns out there's a title called King of Wales. We nab three more territories over there and have 250 gold, we can claim it. Just thought you'd like to know. There are six Welsh territories, and 66% are needed to make the title.

4. I didn't say just how below-strength the Royal Army was. Our nominal pre-civil-war manpower reserves were in excess of seven thousand. Now we have barely over four. We may want to wait until that number starts to climb again.

5. For whatever reason, Muslim armies always seem weaker than they should. I have no idea why, but whenever I fight them they always seem to be half as effective as they ought to be and I don't know why. Probably memory failure on my part. I'll check up on that.

Anything else...? Nothing comes to mind. I'll post again if I forgot anything.

EDIT: Never mind, we're at over 7,400 manpower. Huh.

[OmegaChief]

Then I'd say we attempt to nab the title King of Wales, there seem to be a few none English/French terratries there now and a war on the British Isles is better then a war on Mainlane Europe.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Agreed, we should take Wales if possible.

[FaxModem1]

Agreed, let's grab Wales. How do we increase our army, and how do the locals take it?

[doom3607]

We increase our army by waiting. With the territory we currently have, it maxes at slightly under ten thousand troops.

FYI: Those 'independant' territories in Wales? The light blueish-purple ones belong to someone we'd rather not know, named Leon. The blue duchy belongs to someone else we should be even more frightened of. As I've said so many times before, I believe you may have heard of France? Never the less, with adequate bribery I'm sure I can take them anyway.

In other words: I can take them, but I'll need to pay France and Leon to not murder us. Is that acceptable?

[FaxModem1]

Well, open warfare has been our hat for a while, can we try some diplomacy and/or blackmail?

[doom3607]

As far as I know there is no way for us to get those two counties and the duchy to voluntarily join the Kingdom short of opening up the save but playing as them and making them do it. And that's basically cheating.

In other words: I know of no diplomatic/blackmail solutions. Anyone happen to know more about how that might work in this game than I do?

Gyah. Actually, I do have a diplomatic solution, it's just chancy and could take a long time. We wait until they have a daughter, then marry some son of our to their daughter, then murder all their other children and then once our son can inherit through their daughter murder them. Don't you love medieval politics?

[Eternal_Freedom]

I'm ok with paying Leon and France not to attack us. Run with it.

[Vanas]

A tinny, sing-song voice from somewhere at the back of the group pipes up. Quite how the speaker went un-noticed is a mystery, as it's 5'3, wearing an obviously home-made WWII US uniform and it viewing the room through four photoreceptors rather than eyes.

"Oh wow, you guys. His king-ness is all (deep voice)'Finally, we have peace' and you're all 'We suggest war'. Sure, fighting over in the fishy country's a lot closer, but it'll cost us and the money you spent last time led to all this rebellion stuff... I mean, if this doesn't work, we'll reeeally annoy two or three of the big people around. Maybe we should start getting people to like us? With diplomacy. And things. "