Estonia Suicidal [Finished /w Videos] detailed Walkthrough

[SuitedQueens]

TURN 85. WORLD NEWS REPORT at the end of the post. 15 turns pass since the last one.

Our main stacks continue their move. I split up 4 Peasants to hold my potentially Rebelious Generals or Generals with unknown Loyalty. They will be providing FOV and staying in high Local Loyalty Allied Provinces. Our Vassal Levonia produced a new batch of units. I'll request them to boost up stack to 100 and put in the Capital. We peaked at Vitebsk, Novgorods Vassal, stack Combat Power. Novgorod itself doesn't look impressive. Thats what you get for playing without Custom AI. I will be DOW'ing Byzantines next turn!! I start Insulting Pechenegz to improve relationships with all Crusaders and Castilia for Jihadists.







Sweden trolls me. My Priest converts back to Pagan and instantly to Christianity again. Capital Province finishes Temple and Story Teleller this turn. 2nd Province goes for Peasant Roundup. 3rd Province for Worship Place. No new RGDs.



World affairs:

1) Seljuks dealt with their natural enemies and Absorbed couple of Vassals. Now they advance into India and Byzantine. The later is beneficial because Byz will be distracted.



2) Fatimids dealt with their problems and expanded south before Crusaders arrival. Oman progressed.



3) North Africa pushed out Byzantines completely. Ghana still holds onto a single region. Comeback is unlikely. Zirid and Apulia somehow hanging on.



4) No new progress in Spain, with France, England and North Europe. HRE (Franconia) still has 2 regions. Their Absorb clause is only 222 BP, so I can buy them out later in the game. Nothing new in Caucuses mountains.

[SuitedQueens]

Pskov doesnt land us troops last turn. And thats why I wanted them in the first place. Instead of garrisoning they ran away. Now I have to guess which weak region Novgorod would go after. Most likely Livonia because Poland can generate more garrisons. Historical Crusade starts. I agree to Bavaria Alliance proposal and I "join" Crusade by DOW'ing Byzantines.








Heres the theater of action territorial overview for Byzantines and our own territory. What you have to keep in mind is how Roads and Fortifications work. You can bypass Fortifications without fighting or being halted by garrisons if you are at least half their combined Combat Power. Road bonuses work only if you start your Impulse on the terrain with Roads. To use tier 2 roads bonus you can start on any road type, donnt have to be both tier 2s. Novgorods army can spend 6 movepoints in the next worst case scenarious (one region has river that increases their move cost by 1). I place Peasants with Generals on their way in case they decide to cut their pathing short, so I can Sally Out. My Vassal stack with Defensive General covers weak region where I can unite with my Vassal troops in case of attack.






You have to understand the core concepts about WARs in Kingdoms especially as a small nation:

The most pressing matters would be Characters Secede chances increase, Court Expenses modifier increased for all regions for Size and number of buildings, the fact that Rebelion has a chance to produce a big stack belonging to original owner instead of meager default Rebels. Lets go in details in order of importance:

Abandon action is your best friend. That will cost you Legacy, but prevents issues described above and deprive them from Legacy sources. Now some context:

When you conquer regions of different Religion and small regions you have Abandon option. Abandon ALWAYS prioritized/Replaces/Overwrites Pillage when region has Just Conquered modifier. You will have to wait for 5 turns before Pillage activates. That's why you have to sandbag some regions strategically, Abandon others to create chokepoints.

Furthermore, when you wait for 10 turns Abandoned regions become fully neutral. The logic is the same as with Rebels taking over or 3rd side neutral to Original owner hitting 2nd side that temporarily occupies Original owner region. Abandon makes sure region won't return to them after Peace deal. So it's to cripple big Empires without overstretching your Demesne limit by a wide margin.

Take a note that you can use Absorb Minor to get them later. And if opponent captures that region between the turns Abandon happens anyway on the next turn. You can chose to Abandon regions with no walls (or queue up Perma FortificaTion destruction) in order to Retaliate against them infinitely for XP points. If Just Conquered status elevated AND region above 50 Loyalty you will have Raid option that triggers at the end of your stack movement. Pillage and Abandon obviously triggers before your stack moves.

RAID is your roll against their roll. Modified on your side by Combat Power. On their side by AntiRaid structures bonus, Garrison Combat Power, Regional Fortification Value multiplied by 3, Stack that sits on top Combat Power. So thats why you want to have about x1.5 higher than their Garrison STR.

If you Pillaged region after big combat or Foraging roll fail, then you can't Abandon. Its prudent to take extra utility Peasants to boost Siege Value when needed, place 1 Peasant on top of the almost starving (negative food income) region and move out to GUARANTEE sortie on the next turn, which returning stack gonna put down in the field instead of city walls. The last thing is leaving one Peasant in the Pillaged region, so they can Abandon it on the next turn while you main stack moved on already. And use Peasants to assign disloyal Generals, so if they Secede they won't tag away your proper regions.

In Empires and Kingdoms Administrative Burden/Court Expenses calculated off:

- your current bracket = the optimal one is coffers filled with lower than 2000 gold, but you are fine up to the 4000 gold. If you can't stay below that watermark you are not playing efficiently. One of the best money dumps = having high Combat Power (300+) stack in your National Capital with 75+ Loyalty General AND/OR constant Gifts AND/OR Regions/Units buying off the opponents (look for the overseas launching pads first). Authority above 50 introduces a new bracket of the extra 10%. Authority above 90 is even more suffering = 25%. Court Expenses are moving average similar to how CDR in Empires was, so you might not notice changes immediately. So you see gradual moves to the new stabilization point.

- nation size = regions formed in provinces half that penalty, but difficulty increases it AND you have free 10 regions discount. Sometimes giving up/exchanging regions is a good idea. As Byzantines on Very Difficult and above you want to create natural buffers by donating to the Nations neutral to the ones bordering you e.g. wall off from Seljuqs to curb stomp their chances of DOWing you. That way you can dispose of low value low loyalty regions that otherwise require major investments. On top of that you don't have nearly enough Governors to oversee them, you need free up Demesne limit for the conquests AND outvalue Court Expenses.

- Buildings amount which punishes densely populated regions. Thats why you need to restructure your regions into value buildings listed in the message above after the initial growth focus IF you don't rush. The food needed to grow an additional population is cubic to city size (quadratic for small cities), and soon becomes much larger than infrastructure cost. The real reason to have Infrastructure focused regions are Metal, Iron, Wood, Tools, Marble, Stone, Glass, Copper. Thats why my initial message vouched to Prioritize Infrastructure and Commerce Regions, while food regions bonuses are not significant due to the structures produced goods AND can be replaced by Import from AIs who love to spam them. Likewise, the contribution to Court Expenses of a structure is proportional to # of structures^0.75. That is, the benefit of a buliding rises with the number of Tier 2 structures of same type in the region, while the cost rises with number of structures (across all types) in the region. It is therefore optimal to have as few types as possible in a region.

- Civilization level, where higher is more painful, but you can't do much about that except going for perpetual Renaissance. Typically you want to progress unless you are rushing for Sudden Death wins, in which case Ascending status of your starting Government Tier is the only realistic goal. RULER Administration value better be above 2, where 2 is the cut off point. Assign your Ruler to lead your suicidal armies that has compositions like 8 Peasants, 4 Light Archers, 4 Xbows (another way to dump the extra cash) to maximize his chance of dying. Unfortunately in Kingdoms chances were lowered due to constant complaints on Steam. Use Assassinate Ruler on self without Deploying Spy Network or having tons of Luck producing structures. Going into Negative Authority never really worth it.

Loyalty degradation from Mercs is overstated. its a rare chance to have -5 Loyalty trigger mostly later in the game.

Relevant factors that influence the chance of Secession are Character loyalty, National Authority (or Local Authority as extra factor if a Peer of the Realm, even if deployed as general), Character Treasury and units under his command (mercs increase a chance), Ruler Administration, Ruler Piety (only if not pious and the would-be rebel is), lack of son for the ruler and a loyal general with units in the capital with at least 100 Combat Power.

The latter is very important as an army with a loyal general in the capital will improve the chance of resisting a coup by 50%, and help Generals to Rebel less often. If you are over Demesne limite, chances increase significantly with each region over.

A less able ruler (with some Administrative scores of 0 or 1) is more likely to be overthrown in a coup while an able ruler (with some score of 4 or 5) is less likely to be affected.

No new RGDs. Capital Province = Rustic Fort and one more peasant converted to Christianity by Sweden. New Cult Site appears at Province 2 and they start initiation ritual. Province 3 builds first copy of Beads trader.

[SuitedQueens]

Novgorod choose one of the best paths for us, altho they triggered autoappearance of Garrisons, so I got minus Authority from the losses. I received all units from my Vassal, so I instantly Disband all archers and send fleets to port to Disband next turn. My goal is to have 100 Power stack to place at Capital. My garrison gets 2-0 General for this turn to come out and hit Novgorod for major losses while my supports speeding to finish them off and remove Cult Site.





Here's my turn by turn plan for Byzantines for the next 8 turns. I will be getting 2 frontier regions permanently (the ones where stack shuffles back and forth) to Pillage and Recruit back ups. I split my Rough stack in 2 to cover City and Mountains frontage for quicker conquest. Every other regions will be Abandoned and likely assimilated by Hungary. I will be insantly Dissassembling all buildings to reduce Court Expenses trend.




Another Epidemic was contained, I continue Insulting Jihad and Crusades targets to improve relationships with multiple nations. Capital Province = Hamlet to amend Manpower issues and last Pastoral Council. Province 2 = Traders Borough. Province 3 = Pigsty. No new RGDs multiple turns in a row.



I noticed smth: Despite Peers of a Realm no longer lose AMP stats when out of their provincem but in your borders, they PERK stop working for the entire Province!

[SuitedQueens]

Yea. Novgorod has the perfect Infantry and 2 Defense general for Woods. So my Sortie combined with starvation strong enough to deteriote them but ultimately fails. My stack doesn't catch up in time and they run away to Smolensk territory triggering more Authority losses by passing by our regions, the feature from 1.6.0.1 that I really like.







On Byzantines front we have some issues taking Perma Fort city. We lose 1 Defensive Spearman to bad rolls, so have to stop and replace 1 Archer and 1 Infantry slots from our Rough Optimized stack. Meanwhile we get our 4th Neagtive token and Alliance proposal by our last german neigbour, so only Sweden and Novgorod will be perpetually backstabbing us from now on I guess. I disband most useless units from our intercepting stack and prvoide example of how I dissasemble a new regions.











I get 3rd Declare War Goal RGD, while Livonia soldiers resolve Cult Site on the first try, so they can move on to the national Capital. Novgord on Smolensk territory. Cpaital Province = Hamlet and finishing Pastroal Council. Province 2 = finishing Traders Borough. Province 3 = Hamlet and Bone Diviner.

[SuitedQueens]

Luckily our ally Smolensk territory is easier to capture, so Novgorod and Vassal drawn there. I didn't know thats possible, but Civil for losing Fragmented status didn't happen. Usually those Civil wars are harmless if you are small nation with homogeneous population and regions close to the capital. Ruler never dies as result of Civil war without betraying General. Instead we become most Pious among Pagans, altho I don't see a leaderboard for that.





We have to alter our plans slightly because Pillage Forage roll prevented Aabandoment of the region. I split off 1 Peasant that wil lgo to the mountains to Abandon next turn after the Blizzard ends. Blizzard also covers our preffered path for red stack, so I will readjust later.



Thieves appear in one of our regions, but thats not much. We don't want to see upgrade to hide out for Authority drain. Bandits event spirngs up in Capital Province. I build Salthouse, Dancing Ritual and Trance Ritual instead of Hamlet from the last turn. Our situation with Manpower is fine. Province 2 builds Amber Merchant and Fruit Gathers for bonuses and Legacy. Province 3 grows.
I actually go and destroy few Craftsmen Boroughs where Tier 2 roads are done and few more Horse Herds and Villages because there are better buildings for now.

[SuitedQueens]

Another time Byzantine Slingers autogarrisons punish our units by focus firing, so we have to wait. Novgorod slided in their weakish Peasant boosted stack (No Custom AI) in attacking position, which blocked my Generaled up Peasant. I hope they will issue Assault of the region, which unknowlingly to them triggers City Assault of the first region in their way. I accept Polotsk Alliance proposition.





Hungary reveals Byzantine Retaliation stack with suboptimal composition and Attackign General dragging feet slowly because Light Artillery. Hope I can get a drop on him with my chilling stack. I send scout Peasants, and Utility Peasant Abandons regions in the back.



Spy Network reveals Kito Loyalty. 2 Gifts brought him up to 92. All our Generals are above Civil War Threshold except Son who tilters at 74 instead of 75. Capital Province goes for Mask Maker, finishes SaltHouse and builds Beekeeper. Province 2 grows. Province 3 grows and goes for Sacred Altar.

[SuitedQueens]

Novgorod steps into landmine. In the latest patches losing Assault doesn't cancel your move forward, so they treat same as a draw. On the other hand you can't do unwalled city into city assault in the same turn like before. So first Novgord loses Assault super hard, then they collide with stack that waits for them on their true destination. After 1 Draw we defeat them decisvely and kill their best General. Novgorod stack disintegrates since they can't retreat to a friendly or neutral region.













Byzantine stack suffers some casualties, but I ignore them menwhile contiuing my cinquest. I split another Peasant to Abandon region that was AutoPillaged on the next turn. No significant combats with Byzantines besides us crushing their Garrisons. Look at how much Authority we gained from the last turn. Religious SUpremacy was a single turn bug I guess.





Epidemics and Unrests on Byzantines territory, but we don't care gradually Abandoning them. Another Corrupt Governor and Lord decides to queue up Roads after 90 turns wait. Slaves were sent to the region we Abandoned already. Capital Province does roads and Noble Houses. Province 2 and 3 keep growing. Next turn a few slots will free up from Disassembly. No new RGDs... Smolensk keeps Novgorod in check.

[SuitedQueens]

I direct 100 Combat Power to resolve Bandit and Thief issues around my Kingdom. On Byzantine front continue with a plan. Unrest triggers in one of our not yet Abandoned regions. Hopefully worse case scenario of full fledged Byzantine Rebel stack won't happen... Court Expenses are 245 Gold already...



Insulting Crusade target Pechenegs, having Coop, Alliance and Full Coop with Papacy boosted my Relationships with many Christians to 50+. So I send out Coops to sign Passage Rights later, potentially have Alliances to reduce AI backstabbing. I have to reestablish the same with Sweden too. I will be trying to Peace Out with Novgorod



No new RGDs 3 turns in a row. I Capital Province = Warriors Contest, Peasant Roundup and finishing Noble Houses. Province 2 for the last Chief House. Province 3 = Exchange Post.

[SuitedQueens]

Byzantines hide on Pechenegs territory, but they shouldnt jump me because they besiege this town for multiple turns already. We dodge another bullet by Abandoning Unresting region. I get Religious Supremacy bonus again.





Province 3 = Burial Ritual and Warriors Contest for Legacy and Bodyguards (lowered Coup chances and death in the field chances). Province 2 grows. Capital Province catches Comunal Larder in rotation and I go for Improved Bodyguards + garrison on the border. I play From Peasant to Freeman in region with Beads. Our Ruler health level drops, so Bodyguards become more necessary.

[SuitedQueens]

Hungary stacks pull Byzantines close to Capital. I have a new plan. Religious Supremacy is consistent theme atm, so maybe one turn it was missing was buggy. We receive negative Token and Decision to reduce Heavy Cav gold and metal cost, which is PERFECT. I concuct a new plan for the next 4 turns. Leave peasants to Abandon region that were AutoPillaged.







After combat another Slave Workforce sent to Abandoned region. Honestly I wish I woud get lucky and get them near my capital for food. Corupt Governor no longer the case in our Capital regions. We signed Peace Deal with Novgorod. Smolensk keep chasing them. Burial Ritual and Exchange Post queued up. Province 2 goes for Burial Ritual too. Province 3 finishes Warriors Contest and goes for Goats Heard.

[SuitedQueens]

That Byzantine stack is scary on their own territory. The reason is that AutoGarrisons join them and fill up their skirmisher slots. Frontline is pretty tough combined with 1-2 General, so my plan is to continue on schedule and avoid them. Peasants drag behind to Abandon regions.



Capital province constructs Hunting party and Cattle Herd. Province 2 Initiation Ritual. Province 3 Runner Relay and Rustic Fort. I play Sap Authority on Seljuks to keep Stable for longer while grinding Authority via Combats. I expect some Extorting to help me out next turn.

[SuitedQueens]

Sap Authority succeeds, but we offset another Negative token we gained this turn.. I merged 2 stacks and put Leader away to not risk loss in a big battle. I can use 2-0 as well. Trying to cut off their stack and destroy him, so he can't reconquer Abandoned regions. Because if I let him in I won't be able to catch him sicne there are no rivers in this mountains and roads almost everywhere. OFC that can help to grind more War Score, but I prefer to save time of conquest.





Bandit Lair removed by my stack. We move on to remove Woodsmen. I get my first Prospect resource, but I have to bank it. Capital Province = Burial Ritual and Peasant Roundup. Province 2 grows. I start building Elders which is a meh structure unless you are in top 3rd Authority ranking.

[SuitedQueens]

1st Stack and Stack 2 continue plan. Last turn we saw accumulated stack from the capital pushing back on Hungary. It actually will be nice if they decide to target them for a while.



Capital Province = Initation Ritual, Peasant Roundup. I play Prospect for Resources on the centrilized Forest region. Bank my Forge Claim for the better times when I need to boost past 50 Authority. Province 3 = Bowyer. Province 2 = another Sky Observatory. We know all Characters Loyalty. No 30s in our roster, so we are safe.

[SuitedQueens]

Hungary Peaces out with Byzantines, so we have two non-Province regions in our back which I don't care about tbh. I toss up my forces to get 6 Move stack for hunting. While 4 move stack will be clawing through the garrisons. Heavy Cavalry is perfect at destroying Garrisons too, but mainly opponent stacks with tough Generals. All Mercenary 12 Combat Power Massed Bows go with Cavalry for max impact. I play Recruit Non-Standard units to fill up our ranks after big combat and to account for the fact that we will be fighting in more open terrains soon.

We gonan perform merge on the move because it takes more Impulses for avangarde stack to advance. Byzantines played Draft Levies last turn.













Prospect for Resources found Beasts. Woodsmen are gone and Storyteller immortalizes this event. I can station my stack in the Capital to reduce Coup chances. Capital Province = Elder and Shaman. Provine 2 grows. Province 3 = Beekeeper.

[SuitedQueens]

Good thing that we created 6 Move stack. AI when facing superior CP sack predictably ran away again. And thats why my Custom AI can help to have a balance between aggressive full fledged stacks and those little baiters. Daughter is born, which is not that powerful when you on SUicidal as small nation who got good Diplomacy game going already. Royal Marriage is like Full Coop with no downsides beside Weak Heir scenarious. We pursue runners at full speed.







We get 50 gold from death of noble random event. Capital Province builds Hunting Party and Caravan. Wood Cutting in Province 2 for lack of better options and future expected Wood consumption. Province 3 = Sacred Altar. No new RGDs. Bunch of Rituals end, so our Manpwoer income rops into negative for now.

[SuitedQueens]

T100. World affairs report at the end of the post

We reveal multiple Byzantine stacks that finally can focus on reconquering their lands after Peacing out with Hungary. I can't get get on drop on him if he will run into one of those 2 regions, but I will catch them on the next turn no matter what. Their frontline is solid, but it depends on the terrain where we get them. In difficult there will be ab easier line up of Mediums oppsoing our Heavy Knights.





Our Ruler faces sudden demise. Luck from Elders didn't save us. His son is a mixed bag, but more on the positive side. First we won't be able to extort anymore since Bad Diplomat drops all transactions by 20%. On the positive Character Force Pool is increased by 1 as well as SAUs limit, so we pay less for being overboard. As you can see we gained a ton of coins from Extortion. A new slot Character has really good trait, but I can't use him without Gifting at least one time first due to his unknown Loyalty.














Bad Administrator is a big hit for our Economy Food production and Court Expenses.. More importantly it becames harder to float in the lower tier of Authority, but we are climbing actively by participating in wars. 0 Administration score tells me that I have to keep like 200 CP stack in the capital to prevent Coups and load up on Body Guards from Warrior Contests. Why is that the case? I want my Ruler to thrive cuz he has a Stingy trait, which covers all Negatives. From negative on all resources i instantly go to a decent positive.







Capital Province = Pigsty. Province 2 = Bone Diviner. Province 3 = Grows. No new RGDs. ACtually Dipomacy penalty applied to Passage Rights, Alliances, Royal Marriages. In regular Transactions it rather insignificant.





What goes around the world:

1) Seljuks beating up India, peaced out with Byzantines grabbing a few territories. Fatimids pressed by Crusaders heavily.



2) Rus beats up Cumans. Zichia (Kessog) expands inti Kipchaks who became Cuman Vassals likely after Royal Marriage.



3) Pechenegz holding on unexpectedly, Croatia fallen. Apulia managed to Vassalize Capua, but Papal state make progress and Apulia was Excommunicated. Crusaders captured Jerusalem. Bunch of targets for Jihad and Crusades going on.





4) French lost a bit of territory to rebelions and overseas invasions. Scotland expanded, while England consolidates. Danemark starts offense against former vassal Jutaland. My allies in Germany make some progress.



5) Reconquista halted. Sweden fights with Norway. nothing new in the eastern Europe.

[SuitedQueens]

Unfortunately I can't target any of their stacks because there is a possibility that they will jump into Plains. Their move there will be faster and I can't cover that frontage, which gonan lead to my army being outflanked and destroyed. So I decide to move into the region from where I can chase down their 2 and 4 move stacks on the future turns. Their 4 Move stack has solid frontline for Open terrains, but still enough Mediums to make sure we see Cavalry only on flanking squares, so at least one easy win is ours.








Jihadends against one of the nations. I call troops from Vassal to beef up my Capital stack. Capital province = Temple. Province 2 = Burial Ritual. Province 3 = Transe Ritual. No new RGDs.

[SuitedQueens]

As expected Byzantines scattered around. I go after 2 move stack to force his hand into Plains if he doesn't want to get caught. If he goes north thats fine cuz I will take back regions. Some Abandoned regions finally become fully neutral. I can take them back and trade away to Vassals, so Byzantines will never get them back. First priority is hunting their stacks tho and getting up to 1000 Warscore. I hope that Unrest won't spawn Byzantine stack in our backyard, because they have a single very low percentile chance to do that.






Livonia declines sending troops this turn despite 99 Relationships. We find out that Loyalty of Ansas, Character we boosted twice is at 87. Capital Province continues Temple. Province 2 Mask Maker, province 3 Sky Observatory. I change a few RGDs by loweringtheir chances to Very Low in order to get more Gifts and Send Councilors to boost my new Character with unknown Loyalty & Sap Authority for tokens.

[SuitedQueens]

Big combats this turn. Unlucky with skirmishing rolls. I show the losing results in screens. First was a draw, which is BAD because he squeezed in Heavy Infatry for 2nd Impulse fight. Right now goal is to retire stack to chilling on Hungary territory and reconquering Abandoned regions to form a Province in order to Move Capital there.
















I disabnd all Vassal troops except these 4 units for Combat Power score. Capital Province last turn on the Temple. I get Reinforce a March which I will play on Byzantine territories once I get them soon. Province 2 = Shaman. Sky Obeservatory continues in Province 3. Rebels kicked off our German neighbor, so time to restore justice.

[SuitedQueens]

My main stack targets Byzantine stack to reduce their options. The only safe way they can run to is Mountains because of how Impulse system works. Their stack has 2 Move Points. Unless Forced March played all stacks start moving at Impulse 3. My stack has 6 movepoints, so it takes me 6 Impulses to move into mountains from 3 to 9. He will get there super quickly from 3 to 5, so I can't catch him. Thats the benefit of low speed stacks in high costed terrains.





Our stack moves to Hungary, but stays in Abandoned region for 1 turn. Thats combined with virtually no Extortion successes last turn puts us in peculiar position. Our 0 Administration Ruler costs us some Court Expenses. Powerful noble dies for 50 gold. No Bodyguards gain from the Warriors Contest ending. Capital Provicne = Wild Beast Merchant and Initiation Ritual. Province 2 grows. I get Develop Region RGD which I'm gonna use on new Byzantines options later on. Province 3 = Scarification Ritual.