Slitherine

So we caught Byzantines last turn. Lucky that Retreat pushed them in bad position. Otherwise they could run over from us everywhere collecting Abandoned regions. This time Skirmishing spread around fairly, so we get easy W against them. My recently gotten Vassal stack arrives at our target at the same time as Vassal, so we are lucky again. I will be feeding away region next turn. Have to disband their forces cause we can't sustain them. Last screenie show the worst case scenario. I can't cut them off properly cuz bad weather pushes Blizards over mountains.











Capital Province = Scarification Ritual. Province 2 grows. Province 3 = edict for Bone Diviner. No new RGDs. Authority situation improves to reasonable levels.

Draft Levies stack runs on top of neutral region we moved out from. AI can read minds just like that. But that fact leads to their downfall. Because River it takes me extra 1 Impulse to move to the next region, and AI though that he catched me. We had Impulse to make it count - and we did. VICTORY pushes them back to the original region where my 2nd stack claps them again.


















Despite completely destroying their Front Line potential they manage to beat Neutrals after 2nd retreat, which locks me into having only 2 out of 3 regions for the potential Province I wanted to form there. Otherwise I will have to strike a Peace deal or wait for the another 14 turns to pass in order to turn this region to Neutral. I start to land grab and try to finish off his stack that likely to run again, but their Power is diminished. I send my weakened units to leak their wounds on Hungary territory. We see another major Byzantines stack and recruitment efforts. Unfortunately they likely to get another Light Artillery to speed up their stacks escapes...





Sweden DOWs me 3rd time as expected. They have rather small stack on our borders, so we don't care. Caravan moved to another region, but we don't care much because we don't have Commerce modifiers anyway. I cast Ennoble Landowner on the central region for Gold increase since we have Beads there and to improve chances of getting Authority event. Capital Province = another Sky Observatory. We about to enter the focus stage. So for regions that about to graduate I start tearing down non-food buildings. Food will follow suit once all of them complete the lap.

Byzantine tried to ruin my day. They leveraged Light artillery speed up to arrive at regions I wanted, but luckily were destroyed by Bandits. My 2nd stack finishes them off no problem. Guess their remnants bounced off activating 2 Bandit regions.









I start recuperating Abandoned regions with full neutral status until Dioclea or Hungary get ahead of me. I will use them for Diplomacy exchanges. Maybe Form a Vassal since I got a new decision for that this turn. Arrows show the worst possible scenario. Last turn Byz casted NonStandard units. SO if they meerged and advance full speed I can still cover priority region. Weird Sweden advances repelled.





All regions will be growing for 9 more turns before specializing. I dissasembled a few Hamlets and Warrior Assemblies to balance out Gold with manpower. I cast banked Develop Region and Reinforce march on our new permanent region!

2 funny thing happen during turn resolution. First is that random Poland army that somehow perused the whole Hungary territory slides in on the region my Peasant Abandoned, so it becomes theirs. Since they are not in war with Byzantines in 9 turns they will receive a Permanent control. 2nd thing is Dioclea arrives to the mountainous region faster because their stack capped at 4 Moves compared to mine at 6.. Now lets see if they go for the Ultimate troll move and capture the region I want but can't get right now cuz it strapped Byzantine. If thats the case I will have to exchange it Byzantines pulled up strong frontile stack, which means with AutoGarrison supports will be hard to deal with on their territory.



3rd Negative token. I have to deal with Descent from the Releligious zealots in our conquered lands. I can't Pillage them away for 4 more turns due to reinstated Just Conquered status. Pechenegs got a claim on us. Given -99 Relationship they are likely to start draining Authority by Hostile Claims, so I 'm gonna Insult Prussia from now on, which is another target of Crusaders.





Our Governor becomes Corrupt in the same region 3rd time in a row, but its only 3 turns malus. Boosted region Infrastructure inflow allows us to queue up Pastoral Council. Peasant Roundup appears and Fortification boosted by 5 points, which stands for 15 for AntiRaid. Province 3 edicts for Traders Borough. Province 1 and 2 continue to grow.

Worst case scenario happens. Dioclea who outside of my zone of influence gets region I wanted. That means that we can't trade for it. Byzantines pulls up with incredible frontline potential stack. The issue is that I can't grind through them because of skirmisher rounds. I can't win fast against full line of Heavies and Heavy Cav after I dealt with a few Mediums in Difficult terrains. My goal is to grab as much land as I can before Peacing Out.



Another Negative token and DOW by Byzantines new Vassal. I start trading away new regions. Capital Province goes for Craftsmen Borough. Province 2 edicts for the Initiation Ritual. Province 3 grows. Thieve Gangs appear in one of our regions. Peasants converts back to Pagan, but Priest still Christian after being converted by Sweden many moons ago. I assign new character as Governor and play newly gotten Send Councilor to brick him up from potential 30 Loyalty.

So. Its time to propose Peace so we can gobble up crossed out territories since we have too many competition undoing our hard work. Here's the proposal:







The gist is to get the highest quality regions with Tier 2 Authority producing structures, Land Grants (5% Court Expenses reduction each) and Venician Commerce Hubs (3% Commerce bonus faction wide) that are part of the Provinces, so we can assign Governors and get further Court Expenses discounts. 2 small regions close to Seljuk border will be given to Form Vassal in order to launder troops near them. I can't force move Capitals of my 2 other vassals unless I buy out all their territories on the North.





As we saw by Dioclea actions Hungary are in war with Byzantines again, so my stack can't run if its gonna be attacked. No Rivers either, so we gonna be caught on Hungary territory. The issue is that AutoGarrison will join and replace our Heavy Cavalry slots. Hope they won't cause Loss or Draw. Our priority goal is to sweep up as many Abandon regions as we can, so we move from both sides.



Our ship roster updates, which doesn't bring anything new as I said in the first episode research. Good thing is that almost all regions I will be getting from Byzantines either have advanced Harbors or can build them. Its very difficult to get above lvl 0 Transport ships as tribes because they have access only to Small Harbors. Altho Character with Relentless trait (+2 MP) can help us with transportaion). Leader Health degrades to the status where sudden death is unlikely. Our Provinces will be growing till turn 120 before I full stop and specialize them. Our new regions goes for Worship Place to speed up Religious conversion.

Weak region draws Byzantines to attack us as expected. AutoGarrison landed us a single Medium troop which is good. Heavy Cavalry failed a bit, but thats fine. Otherwise we knocked them back. Next turn Peace happens, so they won't target us. I will try to pick up as many Abandoned regions as I can. Tough to race against multiple stacks tho.









Third token in a row and we fall into Unstable for Legacy penalties, but nothing new really. Lower Loraine agrees to our deal. New Thieves gang and no more Corrupt Governor. All regions continue on their previous course of growing till turn 120. Another Send Councilor decision on Relentless char. I can use them as General now safely I guess.

We become Unstable quicker than last time. Gain major chunk of Treasury by getting Byzantines Capital in Peace Treaty. We have to deal with multiple turns of Discent and being over Demesne limit. I will be sweeping the remaining regions and trading them away for more regions. I pause all buildings and cancel Disassembly last moment to save resources.







Daughter is born, which is ok since we have 2 sons already. Royal Marriage works on the other Pagans only, so not much we can gain from improving Relationships with them. Someone played Insite Revolt on Byzantines last turn, so I hit with double Unrest and can't do nothing. I'll recruit 1 peasant just in case. Here's the overview of regions that stay with us. I don't Disassemble Food building in regions which I intend to grow a bit. Unfortunately I can't risk Pillaging because some rare worthwhile buildings for Tribals can be purged.



















While playing Move Capital I noticed that that Englad casts Call Crusade on me. Ok, thats fair I guess. Time to rotate suboptimal character by giving him away to Vassal. We assign High Piety governors to new Provinces. I raise Convert to New Faith in Expert mode.









Im gonna store Absorb Vassal for the future.

Byzantines snatches one of the region. Blizard cover their next potential target so they might move away and leave it to me. I disband slow Heavy Infantry, Peasants and Archers with no discount. My Retinue slots should be preoccupied by Early Knights exclusively. Crusades starts, but so far England is the only member. My net of Alliances and Full Cooperations saves me so far.







I send Exchange Proposal to Byzantines. Unfortunately Peace relationships capped at 25, so due to Crusade they fallen down, so I can't trade Manpower. We are not Neibhours with Vassal, so I will send him a region later on. Their stack looks Magnificent. Especially those Knights for half of the price. We get better General with superb perk as our new Char tho.





In my new regions with free slots I focus down Piety buildings to speed up Conversion. Bone Diviner and Chiefs House go into queue. I won't post their graphics since you heard about them million times already. New regions pops up Unrest, but our Garrison can deal with it for sure. I play Recruit Local Units in Crimea just in case double Unrest can trigger smth negative.

Another Negative token. We instantly get Light Horses Reform with our first batch. I send troops to reduce Unrest in Crimea. On sweeping operation I try o capitalize on the fact that Byzantines released 2 regions to the rebels. Livonia eats Sweden island territory so I'm completely safe to remove the last 100 CP requiring Impediment.











I try to get region thats close to me to trade it away to my new Vassal Tripoli. I accept Halych Alliance proposal. Economy goes as usual. Our old provinces still try to growth, while new one wait for Dissasembly to free up slots. No new RGD. I send Coops to a few tribes in my sector.

I will postpone World Affairs review till turn 120 to synchronize with finish of my initial 3 provinces Growth stage. AI heavily trolls me again. Byzantines take back one of the region and proly head for the one I intended to keep. So that fact puts us at potentially 3 regions I want to get from them. They declined turn 113 40%+ proposal, but I will wait for the next turn to see if I have trade for the region or not. I pull my troops towards my new Capital.





Hungary breaks Alliance despite 99 Relationships. Seems like they gonna join Crusade next turn. Oopsie, but thats not a given. Christians and Muslims control less than 3 Holy Sites. That means Papacy suffers Authority penalties and Pious nations get negative Religious Supremacy mods. We get Medium Cavalry Harass upgrade!! Nobles produce Assassinate Ruler decision which I will bank since I like my guy as I said before. All fresh Christians region edict for or build Piety structures.

Phew. Byzantines turn around and leave me the region I desired. Thats why I can contact Zichia (Kessog Chiefdom now) to dump off my regions and complete Crimea province. I gift region that I bought from my Vassal Livonia to my Anatolia based Vassals in order to unlock Forces Laundering close to Byzantines and Seljuks. I try to give Hungary's region back to them and sign Peace with Sweden for 3rd time.









I continue developing my regions by focusing Christians on Piety structures whatever I get, while native ones on high value structures, but mostly growth till turn 120. I get another Form Vassal decision. I'll use to purge low quality Character in the future and create another laundering point in Seljuks territory.

We finally get our Heavy Cavalry region. Slave Workforce isntantly gone which is bad for sure. They truly help in developing Provinces. I evacuated last relevant governor from our old territories. Other than that I pull my forces towards the capital. We have 200+ CP stack nesting on top for Coup chances reduction already. I get another Send Councilor to ensure that Relentless Character above 75 Loyalty. This is paramount when you are so many regions above your allowance.





Continue sliding in Stewardship structures with nice perks from time to time. Sometimes Wood Cutting to boost Production per province to 85 at minimum. I send my Crimean stack to put another Unrest. Cast a long time banked Remove Hostile Area on mountain range.

What a concidense. After I sent my proposal Hungary and Vassals managed to land lock me by their conquests. I can't escape, sign Alliances or Passage Rights because I'm under Crusade. Anyway, I have to wait a bit to reDOW Byzantines. Rebels were laughtably weak btw. We are in slight positive income on Authority after all shenanigans.





I start requesting troops from my Vassal and sending them the best available Troops for Laundering. No Cavalry in the list this time. Maybe Hungary will ignore their region, so I can trade them away for a path out of this trap. Economy follows previous turns course until t120.

Ok. Hungary predictably got their region back faster than me. But I notice that they let off Pechenges regions, so I instantly Declare War on them and my stacks move to the border. I want to unite them for war with Byzantines anyway since we gonna be fighting mostly on Plains and Hills.





I start Specializng my initial Province. I tear down all non-Horse non-Livestock food and health. Noble Houses since we don't care about Freeman production. Manpower generators like Hamlets and Warrior Assemblies to free up as many slots as possible. I played Ennoble Landowner on Byzantines territory to speed up Ethnical Conversion. Low POP Mountain regions establish food and infra before focusing Piety.





Vassal doesn't land his troops this time. We have 50% every turn, so sooner or later they will cede.

Turn 120. World Affairs review paper at the end of the post.

Pechenegz will be a quick elimination. I will their territories to Tripoli in case Byzantines gonna kill their distant regions. Crusade ends btw, but Crusaders are in war with Byzantines. I wont DOW them before 10 turns for temporary ownership passes. I cast Recruit NonStandard RGD on Byzantines territory to get some Heavy Troops. Court Expenses gradually reduce after we given up extra lands that were bearing down on Authority and gold.









Tripoli declines sending troops again. But we get our first batch of Heavy Cavalry sent for laundering. I send them to all 3 Vassals because i can use them later to protect my original homeland. Manpower excess allow me to get better gold deals, but I still Extort. I send Coop to Novgorod and Hungary. Alliance is 0% chance because we have too many Allies already.





Cult Site spawns in my Mountaneous province. I cast Remove Hostiles trying to remove Thief lvl 2 hideout that drains Authority. We receive 1st Sneak attack which isn't all that great against AI. It would be more powerful if it could bypass the Peace deal.





Here's the example of original province further renovations. We don't dismantle Horses because Warrior Contests Need them. I want this structure in every region. Our Province 2 and Province 3 need 2 more turns to grow because of Food redistribution..






NEWS REPORT:

1) Byzantines and Crusaders start fighting after Crusade has been proclaimed a success after taking Jerusalem and lasting for 45 turns. Fatimids lost some territory in Alexandria as well.



2) We hold down Constantinople, so neither Religion has 3 Holy Cities. We as Pagans don't gain any bonuses from Holy Cities, but their Religious Supremacy suffer to negative or became 0.1 instead of 1.0



3) Papal States lose Authority, but they conquered vast chunks of territory. Apulia almost finished, Capua gone, many small Dutchies and Marquisates absorbed. Only my Ally Spoletto holds on. Veron cleaned up North Italy, but Venice still alive.



4) Seljuks turn into Grand Caliphate. They defeated rebirthed Ghazanavids and expanded into India a little. They absorbed most of their Vassals, while Byzantiens created some, which makes their conquest easier since you can kill vasslas for territories without Peace Deal.



5) The last place with major changes is steppes. Cumans signed Peace deal which left them on a brink of collapse. Kipchaks pushed badly as well. In the other parts no big events since the last report.

We get another Black token, but our Discent normalized and we gonna start gaining Authority from combats. Non-Standard RGD pulled not the best units, but thats smth nonetheless. I rearrange units and merge on the move. Recruit in batches to fill up my 2nd stack that has 11 units left after poaching. More arrive from Crimea. I recruit there as well to conquer Byzantines last region when we DOW them on the next turn via Sneak attack. Epidemic hits 2 regions of Crimea. 1st stack will be Pillaging. 2nd sits to Pillage on Pechenegs lands while waiting for reinforcements to arrive.











We successfully remove Thieves and Storytellers immortalize this moment. Examples of specialization of the previous Capital province. And renovation of 2nd Province starts. 3rd Province on the way next turn. Crimea constructs temporary structures like Material Gatherers to help development and gradual renovation. Our vassal refuses to land forces again tho.

I had to merge on the move, so our first combat wasn't perfect. Losses were acceptable considering I have to cut a bit of fat anyway. Outracing Hungary is a priority.







I loop my path to end up in the region where Pillage available on the next turn. Last turn I got 500+ gold from Pillages and 750 from Diplomacy. This turn 2 Pillages expected and proly on the next. We roll in into Crimea to skoop up the last region and disband tempo Levies next turn. We get unlucky with Gale condition in the coastal waters, but Relentless general should help to catch up next turn.
Authority is decent and we will be getting more.









I use our Heavy Cavalry Mercs to send proposal to Hungary and send more to Vassal while having a choice. I cast Sneak Attack on Byzantines and Forge Claim to get more Authority next turn. We get Hire Mercs decision which I bank for better times. Our Sons graduated to age where they can lead armies and become Governors. In the end I post screenie of Ledger tab to show which buildings I construct this turn.

Oof. Unlucky Pechenegz Rebels spawn ruins my Assault order for the future region. Next turn Pechenegz won't exist anymore. Here's the combat results from their capital and Crimea. We also see that Byzantines rolled in on our territory fro the Fog of War last turn. I send peasant to the open sea to show whats up on the shores.











Pillages fil up our treasury with 1000+ gold per turn. Vassal grants me his troops at the end of the last turn, so new Maintanance hit my manpwoer reserve hard. Good thing is that only 1 deserter reported (-1 Efficiency). Weak rebels, but our Authority will be drained because garrison SAUs disappear after combat. I return some Volunteers to Vassal. I have to cast Hire Mercs because I won't be able to escape Byzantine stack in case of attack. Combined Power should be higher than garrison, so my trap have to work i.e. force AutoGarrisons to come out.











I try to ship Pecheneg regions to Cumans in return for resources. Start sending Gifts to my potentially best General with unknown Loyalty. 3 Gifts/Councils to use him with big stacks. Again, I love all my roster, so no Kill decisions or assigning them to armies to force rebellions or feeding to Form Vassal decision. Forge Claim from the last turn missfired. ANother showcase of regions development. Growth stage officially done for the WHOLE game. Almsot all Food and Health buildings are dissasembled. After renovation stage I will start tearing down Infrastructure.









I don't ruin my Military related to Skirmishers and Horses. Improved Equipment and removing Levy status boosts their Siege stats almost 2 times and propels Support value to 4 by increasing it to 11 or 12. Furthermore contributes to character pool and quality.

Boom. Mercs arrive on time to trigger autogarrison and completely devastate Byzantines. We got hit by 1.0.6.1 feature (that was fixed for 1.0.6.2) which is overall positive for Authority system with exception of garrison counted as losses when they disband automatically.







My 1st stack goes to the region which I will give up to Venice for the last Pillaging mission and merge on the move. 2nd stack advances to Assault and drops 1 units to engage in Abandonment of region inbetween. I can't support those Mercs, so lets get some value and Disband them on the next turn on Byzantines lands to avoid Bandits forming. Clouds forming on my eastward region, so I assign defense general which will be merged with autoGarrison in case of assault. I hire 2 more Medium mercs just in case. I disband Crimean levies. On the Vassal portion I will do a circle Abandon to get some decent WarScore. Next turn General we gifted 3 times Relentless trait gonna apply.







We have Corrupt governors, couple of Unresests and mitigated disease. More serious random event are clearing of the Impediment, Thieves gangs and Pskov (Vassal) destroying Rebels instantly.