f13.net

01 - Basileus is a Dinosaur from our Imagination...
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/829607/CK2/LATIN/01/emprah.png)
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople (original Latin name: Imperium Romaniae, "Empire of Romania") is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261. The Latin Empire was intended to supplant as titular successor to the Roman Empire in the east, with a Western Roman Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox Roman emperors. Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, was crowned the first Latin emperor as Baldwin I on 16 May 1204.
- Wikipedia

3. Do Nothing, Ready for Anything
 

4. The Bulgar Assault
 

5. Momentary Peace
 

6. Curse of the Fourth
 

7."I didn't lose, t'was my Brother." - Henri I
 

Yeah, if you have a stronger neighbor with claims on your stuff, then you really need to press the advantage when they get into civil war. Civil wars are your neighbors way of asking whether you'd like some free land.

8. The Great Revival
 

9. This is our Crusade
 

10. Brothers in Arms
 

11. Heroes of Antioch
 

Seriously, where do they keep coming up with these crazy reinforcements?

The bigger your empire, the more 'manpower reserves' you can draw from. And in this case, the Ayyubids controls the whole Egypt and lots more in middle east. 10k is around 8 counties worth roughly. And it regenerates as it depletes, and since it took us months to take out a stack of them, it's not a stretch to say that they have a near unlimited amount of pool to draw from.

However, if a liege keep drawing lots and lots of manpower - he'll eventually deplete the vassal's loyalty - and there lies the problem. The lower the loyalty, the less tax & levy he'll pay the liege and the more likely he'll revolt / plot against the liege. Bribes would start to become a necessity in form of titles / sending the chancellor to sweet mouth them.

If that fails too, and he forms a faction within your empire, then you need a Spy to Scheme and convince these guys that it is a BAD idea to do so. It's your last chance basically to tell them to drop it.
If not, you have to face them in a civil war. It could end in a military victory - or a dagger on his back through assassination.

12. Arise, Antioch!
 

14. The Jagged Alliance
 

15. The Lost Opportunity
 

16. The Empty Hands (1240-1243)
 

17. What were you doing, Shepard? (1243-1248)
 

18. Shepard and Sons 1248-1251
 

19. Hawke of Flanders (1252-1255)
 

21. End of Line (1259-1261)
 

22. Hawke the Apostate (1261-1263)
 

23. The Latin Rome 1263-1265
 

24. Clash of Empires 1265-1269
 

25. Loyalty and Reward 1269-1271
 

26. Chaos in the Levantine 1271-1273
 

I finally got into Crusader Kings 2 after dancing around the fact for awhile.  I was sick and stayed at home for the day, and decided maybe I'd pass the time by playing a game a bit.  I spent almost 13 hours straight building my Croatian dynasty that somehow came into control of Hungary and then the entire Byzantine empire.

In other news, I love this Radicalthon.

27. The Times of Turmoil 1273-1276
 

28. The Eternal Foe 1276-1282
 

Aargh, May 28th can't come too soon :argh:

ToG is probably a good attempt at fleshing out the Pagans. I'm definitely tempted, but will not pick it up at full price.
After playing Latin Empire, I need a long break.

30. Ascension 1283-1286
 

I love these rk47.  These make me want to play these games more than any review.  Thanks for this. 

31. One Empire 1286
 

Yah go out for the night, have a little to much to drink, then BAM!  Next thing you know, you wake up as a Frank'ish prince in one of their prisions.

I'm still confused how the Pope ended up as your vassal in the first place. As I understand it, since the antipope was not of your dynasty, claiming the Papacy should have made him independent. Mod or did I miss something?

An Emperor can make the Pope his vassal since the Papacy is only a King-level title. This is the most recent change that Paradox made.

Oh, so it's automatic now when you install an antipope as an emperor? Good to know. I thought it was like regular titles, where if you press a king level claim for someone then he won't be your vassal unless he already was a vassal king or a dynasty member.

32. For the Imperium!
 

33. Best Byzantine Ever 1287-1289
 

34. Kebab Rising 1290-1291
 

35. X-Com: Byzantine Defense
 

36. In the name of God
 

37. Vassals of the Empire
 

Venice. Those filthy, greedy commoners keep expanding and need to be brought back under a proper ruler, as god intended. Also, empire must fight republic.

Your around the same point I am now with my Byzantine game.  Though keep in mind, I started it as a Croatian game, then managed to inherent Hungary due to murderous trickery, then while my heir was off being king of Hungary before I died as king of Croatia, they managed to marry their heir off to the queen of the byzantine's.  So now my Dynasty has taken hold of the empire and converted it all to Catholic.

Kind of bogged down right now though.  I cant really declare war on any large hunks of land, only one county or two from the various states surrounding me, so its a long tedious war slog to capture single county by county.......  Not sure if I will continue, since I've managed to take my small dynasty and achieve glory.  I'm pretty much able to put down any revolt easily now and exert all the influence I want.  Guess if I just start declaring holy war after holy war against the muslims that might make it more difficult.

I'd love to do the recreate Roman empire event, but again, I'd have to conquer all of Italy and the Holy Roman Empire parts 1 county per war at a time....

38. Onward, to Sicily!
 

it's all fine and dandy while you have a good ruler (and an heir) but a few key deaths and you can suddenly be playing a bed-ridden imbecile with most of the nobility revolting against you for one reason or the other (which is what makes this game great)  :why_so_serious:

39.There can be no peace
 

Can you just steamroll all that crap south of the Holy Roman Empire? All those colors clash terribly.

Yeah I was thinking of that, but the pay off is pretty poor, just beautiful map painting. Hmmm.

40. Trust is for the Weak
 

41. Whatever, we bang, Ok?
 

42. The Emperor's Manhood
 

Marry a 40 year old.  They never get pregnant.

43. The Princes of the Empire
 

44. Emperor's Will Made Manifest
 

45. An Era has passed
 

46. Kaidan - King of Kings
 

Heh, will be interesting to see where you stand at the end of all this.  And if anybody creates a tool to convert CK2 saves into EU4 games.   :awesome_for_real:

47. Return to the Holy Land
 

48. I will take everything
 

Why are Pisa and Venice allowed to hang around?

The reason is due to casus belli. I really have no desire to mobilize my army for anything less than a kingdom.
The gains are too small and it's not even worth going for.
And once you get that county you're bound by a 5 year truce.
Fuck that.

Nicely done sir!

Does breaking the truce annoy your vassals or just rulers outside your empire?  Because when my guy is 70 years old he really doesn't give a crap what other Emperors might think.  :awesome_for_real:

It annoys everybody since they're all Christian in my game.
Yes when you're 60+ go for it.
Not when you're just 40 and still have 10-20 more years.

MOAR

Seriously, I could read your Radicalthon for this game every day.  This thread is what got me to buy it.  I am now trying to shepherd my 2yr old queen through a mess of plotting uncles and courtiers, rebellions, assaults from outside nations and sickness.  Difficult times for the Kingdom of Denmark.

I think I'm pretty much done bro, there's barely anything else to do in this game that would interest me.
Crusader Kings II isn't a game where there's an end (well there's that 14th century end but meh) - you just set yourself a goal and gauge where you start and how you end.
I think I pretty much accomplished everything I wanted in this playthrough. The Mongols will never threaten the West, the West is nearly united under one banner... and the Muslims are completely shattered.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/829607/CK2/LATIN/50/00.jpg)

Thank you for reading.

It was a nice AAR and worth the read  :awesome_for_real: