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July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 3:06 pm
by Pocus
Will you manage to restore the Byzantine Empire (or rather the Basileía tōn Rhōmaíōn)? The year is 1208 and the empire has collapsed. Its absence has been filled by small independent tyrannies and opportunistic crusaders. The Seljuqs dislike you, but remain at peace. You only have 5 regions left, all scattered.
Post a screenshot or two when you are satisfied (or are throwing in the towel) with your difficulty level. Bonus for players using the new suicidal difficulty.
https://1drv.ms/u/c/a2bafb04b388aaee/ES ... A?e=kDEYqr
PS: A thank you and an apology to the player who, at some point, shared this saved game with me for a bug report. If you recognize your game, feel free to chime in!
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2025 4:07 pm
by Surt
5 Regions ... OMGZ how did you do that?
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 10:04 am
by Surt
Minor detail, when the Mongols arrive they immediately defeats the Seljuqs who then become vassals for a few turn and then nothing happens.
But the Seljuqs are big and shouldn't fold unless they got multiple large defeats or 10% for example of their territory is occupied by Mongols.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:23 pm
by SuitedQueens
Surt wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 10:04 am
Minor detail, when the Mongols arrive they immediately defeats the Seljuqs who then become vassals for a few turn and then nothing happens.
But the Seljuqs are big and shouldn't fold unless they got multiple large defeats or 10% for example of their territory is occupied by Mongols.
That was always the case even in 1.0. Mongols has built in scripts that grant them a chance to autoVassalize AI nations after winning "major" battles.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:48 pm
by Surt
Next issue, I wanted to see if Tmutarakan had answered so went to diplo, then opened their peace, which looked like the last, went to counter proposal.

- Peace.JPG (222.72 KiB) Viewed 1074 times
Eh I previously send a counter proposal as you can see I demanded Constantinople, but its not in the list.
saves available.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:49 pm
by Surt
SuitedQueens wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:23 pm
Surt wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 10:04 am
Minor detail, when the Mongols arrive they immediately defeats the Seljuqs who then become vassals for a few turn and then nothing happens.
But the Seljuqs are big and shouldn't fold unless they got multiple large defeats or 10% for example of their territory is occupied by Mongols.
That was always the case even in 1.0. Mongols has built in scripts that grant them a chance to autoVassalize AI nations after winning "major" battles.
Yeah I know, just its ridicules with an empire of 100+ regions.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 7:13 am
by Pocus
Surt wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:48 pm
Next issue, I wanted to see if Tmutarakan had answered so went to diplo, then opened their peace, which looked like the last, went to counter proposal.
Peace.JPG
Eh I previously send a counter proposal as you can see I demanded Constantinople, but its not in the list.
saves available.
It's often difficult to follow what you do, sorry! You imply that you sent a request to Tmu ("see if Tmu had answered") but then you open the diplo panel and you "open their peace", meaning they have a pending proposal for you?
Please post the current turn, turn before yes, and make a bullet points list of action/events, so that my feeble mind follow your mind-blowing moves!
And yes I do agree that Mongol win should not always lead to vassalizing, I'll look into that.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2025 9:23 am
by Surt
Pocus wrote: ↑Sun Jul 13, 2025 7:13 am
Surt wrote: ↑Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:48 pm
Next issue, I wanted to see if Tmutarakan had answered so went to diplo, then opened their peace, which looked like the last, went to counter proposal.
Peace.JPG
Eh I previously send a counter proposal as you can see I demanded Constantinople, but its not in the list.
saves available.
It's often difficult to follow what you do, sorry! You imply that you sent a request to Tmu ("see if Tmu had answered") but then you open the diplo panel and you "open their peace", meaning they have a pending proposal for you?
Please post the current turn, turn before yes, and make a bullet points list of action/events, so that my feeble mind follow your mind-blowing moves!
And yes I do agree that Mongol win should not always lead to vassalizing, I'll look into that.
they offered peace 2-3 turns ago(don't remember).
I then made a offered peace.
Then later I wondered if I missed their answer and saw that there was a peace offer, so I clicked it and saw it was the same as before, so I assumed I had to renegotiate it.
So I opened counter offer and saw the picture, I didn't send it again and waited for next turn.
Next turn they accepted my original offer.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2025 4:27 pm
by Surt
OK finished, 82 regions, that is +77, but not that good, hampered by 2 civil wars that I should have avoided.
Finished as #10 because none of the missions were done for most of the game and only one succeeded (but not registered), not even standing army was achieved.

- Byzant440Sui.JPG (332.08 KiB) Viewed 958 times
On suicidal of course ... ill try again on balanced, but doesn't expect to win.

- Dioclea.JPG (298.41 KiB) Viewed 958 times
Dioclea exist in the Crete, so it doesn't count we got the land ... hmm, how do we know that they are not a resurrected realm? from earlier games I think I made them a vassal and that counted.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2025 9:50 am
by Pocus
Congrats in any case, in Suicidal this is quite an achievement!
Dioclea: It's the phrasing, but Greece or not Greece, Dioclea must be entirely gone.
Re: July challenge - the new Belisarius?
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2025 3:44 pm
by Surt
A glorious comeback on balanced

- GloriousComeback.JPG (201.02 KiB) Viewed 539 times
6th place with111209 legit

- recaptured.JPG (358.57 KiB) Viewed 539 times
A bit more reconquered, but could have been more, it depends on if you get an absorb minor on turn 2, which has a very large return on value, which I had to wait for 5-6 turns to get.
Also a quicker reconquest of Constantinople might have been optimal.