The next update will take a little while yet, alas, as it's pretty complicated to write. In the meantime, here's a little appetizer - the current ranking as of February 10th, 1169:
And thanks for your comments, everyone - constructive criticism is very welcome as well, if you have any.
However, please don't be too impressed with my accomplishments. The AI in 1.02 is very weak, so the only things standing between me and the WC right now are 1) my own mistakes, and 2) the *huge* BB hit you get from conquering Christian realms. Military opposition, on the other hand, is no problem.
I expect that to change somewhat in the next century, of course.
The excommunication incident struck me as pretty odd at the time, as well, since the Orthodox were considered schismatics and there seems to be very little point in excommunicating a schismatic. I consider it more like a Papal sanction to wage war against "the heretical Greek Empire which just happens to be a major military threat to the Papal States", or something along those lines.
Ironically, Basileus Alexios was also a Crusader at the time, so we had an excommunicated, lustful, zealous, crusading grey eminence as the Basileus Romaion. Definitely one of my best Emperors so far.