All is quiet on The Iron Throne

[tudor24]

A quick question: I’m currently playing my first game with this mod since 2014. Playing the latest version with patch 2.4.5

I’m almost 200 years into the current game, originally starting as Stannis Baratheon. I’m very impressed with how stable this mod is running but there is one thing bothering me:

There is almost no conflict or war concerning The Iron Throne itself. I’ve seen plenty of wars for minor titles but no big wars for the highest title. Even when a low House like House Staedmon came to the throne about 100 years into the game all remained quiet. I’ve seen factions forming and disbanding but even after three kings of House Staedmon with the latest having the Tyrannical trait, changing the laws of succession and revoking the royal title of no less than three Lord Paramounts there were no serious attempts made at fighting the throne.

All kings died of old age after reigning for 20+ years which makes for a boring game to watch/play

Anyone having the same experience?

 

[SchmittLenin]

For me it's usually the complete opposite : Nearly constant wars (I've once had a northern rebellion lasting 20 years, as King 'Black' Walder Frey of the Iron Throne, because all of my armies going through the neck died of attrition due to winter, giving the Boltons enough time to get fresh troops south...), peasant revolts, assassinations and foreign invasions led by the legitimized bastards descendants of Illyrio Mopatis (You know, the fat fuck) and Daenerys...

 

[KaiserNoncehelmIII]

I think this is an issue with all of CK2. The latest dlc, conclave, makes vassal management much harder so the next update will probably make factions far more powerful.

 

[tudor24]

For me it's usually the complete opposite : Nearly constant wars (I've once had a northern rebellion lasting 20 years, as King 'Black' Walder Frey of the Iron Throne, because all of my armies going through the neck died of attrition due to winter, giving the Boltons enough time to get fresh troops south...), peasant revolts, assassinations and foreign invasions led by the legitimized bastards descendants of Illyrio Mopatis (You know, the fat fuck) and Daenerys...

Interesting. I have seen almost none of that. Maybe it has something to do with the way my starting scenario is set up? I chose “The Crowned Stag”

 

[Wandering Sentinel]

Typically my games, regardless of what mod I'm playing and even in vanilla, once I become a king or emperor the only thing that happens is an estimated 20+ plots every 3-6 months, going off the assumption that my spymaster only uncovers 10-20% of them at most. Minor wars happen very rarely and nobody makes a move on my throne. It seems to be a surprisingly common thing for AI rulers to encounter the same sort of situation as well depending on the size of the realm. Something the size of the Byzantine Empire in vanilla, the Empire of Tamriel in the Elder Kings mod, or Westeros in this mod is practically guaranteed to remain rock solid unless something from the outside starts to destabilize it or it starts fractured as part of the selected bookmark.

 

[SchmittLenin]

Interesting. I have seen almost none of that. Maybe it has something to do with the way my starting scenario is set up? I chose “The Crowned Stag”

At the same time I roleplay a lot and I'm easily the worst CK2 military strategist I've ever seen, so that may not help the stability of my realm.
Afterall, I'm one of the few privileged individuals who can lose a war against an independent Skagos (Manpower = 1800 men, 3 goats and one humorous dwarf) while playing as the King Beyond the Wall (Manpower = 40,000 strong wildling Doomstack). I still don't understand what went wrong...

 

[MelancholyRoar]

At the same time I roleplay a lot and I'm easily the worst CK2 military strategist I've ever seen, so that may not help the stability of my realm.
Afterall, I'm one of the few privileged individuals who can lose a war against an independent Skagos (Manpower = 1800 men, 3 goats and one humorous dwarf) while playing as the King Beyond the Wall (Manpower = 40,000 strong wildling Doomstack). I still don't understand what went wrong...

Probably a tech difference. Wilding armies are very weak.

 

[Pokonic]

Usually, the only time I see the Iron Throne truly shaky is during the Dance of Dragons bookmark, as, from my experience, if there's five living Targs with access to dragons, at least one will try and press their claim and go adventurer, even if the claimant is your second cousin's daughter.

 

[SchmittLenin]

Probably a tech difference. Wilding armies are very weak.

Tech difference? There's no tech in the mod, as far as I'm aware...

 

[MelancholyRoar]

Tech difference? There's no tech in the mod, as far as I'm aware...

Sorry I meant cultural/unit type defines. I havent modded much since I stoped working on the LOTR mod but I remember certain units were deliberately set as being weak. For example 1v1 Orc Vs. Elf would aways lose because of its moral impairment and its damage was low. Im pretty sure this is also effecting the above. Wilding Armies are delicate compared to Northman etc.

 

[SchmittLenin]

Sorry I meant cultural/unit type defines. I havent modded much since I stoped working on the LOTR mod but I remember certain units were deliberately set as being weak. For example 1v1 Orc Vs. Elf would aways lose because of its moral impairment and its damage was low. Im pretty sure this is also effecting the above. Wilding Armies are delicate compared to Northman etc.

It could be it, but that I still don't think a 40,000 strong doomstack should be wiped out by a goddamn 2000 strong skaagosi army...

 

[MelancholyRoar]

If you were attacking a Skagosi army on their home turf its possible.

1.) Defending Army
2.) Crossing/Amphibious attack
3.) Mountainous terrain
4.) Culture difference.

It might be too high of a punishment but the math might just add up.

 

[Wandering Sentinel]

It could be you were unlucky and the person commanding the opposing army had a leadership trait that gave them a serious bonus to the terrain you were fighting on or the type of troops they were leading. I know for a fact that there's one that actually allows a leader to reduce the number of troops on each side that can engage their flank, making a numeric advantage much less effective unless you have vastly superior soldiers as well (heavy infantry led by a heavy infantry leader with high martial for instance) or have the flank led by someone who excels in combat in that terrain. The moral of the story is, don't attack a master of mountain terrain in the Dornish mountains and don't attack a rough terrain master in forests or hills.

 

[SchmittLenin]

Bloody hell, I didn't think about the amphibious attack modifier... Goddammit! See what I mean about being a terrible war commander?!

 

[Wandering Sentinel]

In fairness, with the right traits and a high enough martial skill it's technically possible to mitigate or even completely negate the amphibious attack modifier. I'm not sure what your army was mostly made up of, but if it was mainly light infantry, having a commander with the Light Foot Leader trait would give your light infantry a roughly 20% damage increase (subject to the commander's martial skill, I don't know the exact formula though)

 

[knuckey]

Factions to depose liege/install claimants will be somewhat more likely in the next version, so that should help with creating a little more instability.