Khazaria 1 Year WC - Ruthless, Abusive, and Shameless

[jwalche]

The title says it all. I wanted to open a new level of exploiting game.
This is part 1. This part is rather technical and have too many screenshots for those who are looking for a good story.

Here are the settings: 769 Starting, Khazaria, CK2 Ver 3.3.2, All DLC, No Custom Mode Ever Installed.

Ironman Mode: Enabled, Achievements: Enabled, All Settings as Default.

The yellow area in the center is our realm. It's not big. But it will grow fast.

Like, this fast after 7 months, on August 1, 769.

And here goes our first ruler, Khagan Baghatur. Not so great stats. But his son and grandson are better.
I forgot to take a screenshot the first day. This one was taken 2 weeks later. Already leading a respectable army. You will soon see how it was made.

And the world is united by his son on December 25, 769

 

[jwalche]

Inviting nobles and debutantes costs only 1 ducat each, and is instantaneous. The starting fund of 100 ducats is plenty.

God three harts after a few dozen invitations. I have the counsel's full backup for whatever I do now, such as imprisoning all my vassal khans.

I can swap my martial and chancellor every time I want to move my martial to another county to suppress revolt. Because I am working as paused, I have to restart the game each time I move my martial to a new county.

When you have a new concubine to take for prestige, you can give her to someone else, such as your grandson, so he can get some prestige too.

I could give him a lot of prestige. But it takes a lot of clicking. I just gave him a little so that he will have more prestige than his father and become my heir.

I can take her from him and still get the same prestige.

So I had total 250 prestige. 50 starting and 200 from daughters of my initial vassal khans. My uncle had 6 counties. I revoked 4 and split 1. So he ends up with just one.

The new clan has risen, and I am very lucky. He has three sisters. After making his father inherit the clan, I can take the girls for 300 prestige.

But first I give him some counties to make him happy. It's a hard start because nomadic opinion depends on prestige a lot. And I don't have much of it yet.

But the counties made him very happy. And I can imprison a new vassal khan for 98% always, if he is happy. That means I can still fail once in a while. For that, I will save scum for just on day 1. I need a break. So please pardon me for this.

When all the males die and the clan has fallen, it leaves its starting horde of 500 men. It's small. But you can keep adding more.

After taking all the girls as my concubines, I imprison the eldest and banish her for the 100 ducats that she inherited from her father.

I grant my uncle independence because I am nice. I can do it while he is still imprisoned.

Basically, I let all my starting 3 vassals independent after I revoke / split all their extra counties, and keep splitting new clans from other clans, and killing them off for 500 men, 100 ducats, and some prestige depends on how many sisters the new vassal has. My piety sinks really fast. Before too late, I create two ducal titles, which will be vitally necessary very soon.

I will get a temporary wife. Her stat is so-so, but she doesn't cost precious prestige as she is a daughter of just died vassal khan, and she still adds 5 state diplomacy and 4 state intrigue. Divorcing her is cheap. I will get a new wife later.

 

[jwalche]

Here goes how I created my 80k starting horde, step by step.

First, this is the setup. I work on three counties, named A, B, C at a time. One vassal has two of that three counties, A and B. I have the third, C. The remaining counties are held by another vassal.

Step 1. Split county B.

Step 2. Give the new clan county C.

Step 3. Imprison the new vassal for always 98%. If it's less than 98%, give him gold and titles. If I fail here, I would save scum. I can't afford it on day 1. Later it won't matter to have a few revolts.

Step 4. Imprison his male family members. Start with father. The father is always the hardest due to "imprisoned my child" modifier. In the beginning, I would give him gift, place my martial on that county (and save & reload) and try. If I fail, I will just absorb the clan rather than risking a revolt. It gets easier as my prestige grows. I can have up to +100 opinion from prestige alone.

Step 5. Execute all the males so that the father inherits the clan, while being imprisoned.

Step 6. Go back to the first clan that you split, and execute the sole surviving male, the father.

Step 7. Take surviving daughters as concubines for 100 prestige each.

Step 8. Imprison and banish the eldest daughter for 100 starting ducats.

Step 9. Then set the new concubines aside.

Step 10. We are back to step 1 again. Keep repeating!

 

[jwalche]

Khazaria has 3 tributaries. They have to be released so that I can declare on them. This has to be done on day 1 before anyone starts a war.

Since I have gold, I will invite hundreds of debutantes and nobles. They will be used as spouses of my courtiers to land later.

And a few dozen commanders until I get 4 organizers.

I will invite all pagan relatives of rulers I can invite.

Especially the heir of Bulgaria. I will make him a king, so he can inherit Bulgaria and still be my vassal, when his father meets unfortunate demise.

I have many commanders and nobles to give the emperor, to get a strategist. If I get really lucky, one of my organizer will get way of tiger and become blazing fast.

For the type of strategist, I got really really lucky and got one with way of tiger, WITHOUT save scumming that I was actually considering.

Oleshye is a coastal county, and has better location than other counties I have. So it becomes my new capital.

My build order will be Hunting Parties -> Riding Contests. I won't have time to build anything else until I finish WC.

 

[jwalche]

This is an exploit that I didn't ask for. Because of integer overflow, the negative opinion flips back to positive and negative 100 at 32k interval.

Not that I mind it. Let's ask for some support from my grandson.

Do you see this guy has 30 courtiers? Half of them are what I sent to him. When I decision invited hundreds of courtiers, I asked hundreds of them to leave my court. And about 15 of them randomly ended at this court. Let's pack more courtiers by offering concubines to male courtiers. This is the basics of plot murder.

I started with only 750 horde. But now I have 88250. I inherited 87500 hordes by / 500 = 175 clans that went extinct.

It's time to declare some wars. I don't have invasion CB yet, so let's start with attacking for duchies.

My former tributary.

And another.

Tribal neighbors.

All the neighbors get it. No one is excluded.

This one is very special though. To expand fast, I first need at least two holdings; One for my vassal clan, and another for a dynasty member of a foreign ruler. This small realm gives me the two holdings. I also need at least one ducal title. Creating one is unreasonably expensive now, But I had created two of them while the cost was still manageable.

Let's not forget this tributary. Everyone gets equally.

Time to take care of my former vassal clans. The truce will end when I execute the rulers that I granted the independence.

They have large population that I can still with humiliation CB.

Executing my uncle will make me a kinslayer. So be it.

It's now time to create some NEW independent realms, because why not?

Oh boy. Khazaria is in a mess!

Look at the map. My realm looks pitiful now. But that's ok. From the ashes we will rise again.

 

[jwalche]

Sometimes they will just surrender without a fight. It's useful to see if they will, once in a while.

But for my other enemies, great battles start!

Let's not neglect scheming.

 

[jwalche]

Suddenly it hits me that I have not been very nice. Son of Komur Han. I don't like the sound of it. What can I do to save my soul?

With this many murders...

I will turn to one true God. I can do it however low my piety is.

And ask Pope for my absolution.

Now that I am a Catholic, I will invite some of my fellow Christians, especially those from great houses.

I have 10k population now. Let's teach this heretic the true Christianity.

Meanwhile, I am accepted to the Followers of Otso. Because I a warrior too.

Oh boy. I have that two tribal holdings now. And I have dozens of courtiers who have a count or duke relative somewhere.

While I want to be good, I also need to bring the world into Unity.

While I can only land my courtiers to holdings, there are simple steps to give them a county.
1. Give a holding to the courtier.
2. Give the county that has the holding to a clan.
3. Give the clan a holding. (See why I needed two holdings at least?)
4. Imprison the clan leader.
5. Optional, transfer a none-tribal ducal tier vassal to the clan. (The reason that I created two ducal titles in the beginning)
6. Imprison the clan leader
7. Absorb the clan. Now the baron gets the county through mechanics of nomadic clan settling. And if we did step 5, a titular kingdom title is given to the clan so that he can keep is ducal vassal.
After that, we are free to give ducal and kingdom titles to the new count.

Imprisoning the new unhappy vassal duke would be dangerous, if he was our direct vassal. Fortunately, he is not.
He had three count relatives. Because of very low state intrigue of Khazaria, it could take forever to just imprison and execute them all. So I take a break and revoke extra counties in between, to make the imprisoning a bit easier.

Our first absorption did not create a kingdom title because we did not have a ducal vassal. Not any more.

This is optional step 5 in the above.

And we have a feudal vassal king. His kingdom title will be given to a new courtier who has a duke relative, so that when he dies, the duke relative becomes our new vassal king. Because there is no war, there is no truce. And we can revoke our new vassal king's titles right away.

Khazaria is expanding! But I still have a dozen courtiers to process. We will become much larger by the end of today.

By the way, we are now Mercia's tributary because I inherited titles of a former Mercia tributary. It won't be long though, before that will change....

 

[jwalche]

I was lucky to invite a son of the only Zunist realm.

Favor inviting a distant relative of Abbasid netted me this duchy. This is a very important duchy. I can pillage each county several times for population, and reach 30k population for invasion CB faster.

Normally I could pillage a holding only once in every six months. But when the county's owner changes to a different clan, I can do it again right away.

I revoked a city here because I wanted a non-Catholic merchant republic to abuse.

I transfer bishop of that county to another vassal.

And give that county to a clan.

I give 15 more counties with only a mayor as my direct vassal, to the same clan. These 15 counties will become merchant republics when I have enough ducal titles, and I will be able to levy some ships.
I mean, what's a nomad without fleets?

A Tengri lord mayor. I will treat him specially.

With a kingdom title! Later I will keep murdering his vassals for 300 ducats each. But I am a bit busy now.

There are only 7 members in the Keepers of Flame.

I park my martial to where they live.

And start imprisoning them all.

I am doing this for my grandson. If it has to be done, it's better to do it now before they see my tyranny, so that I can imprison unlanded ones for 100% chance.

I got them all but one. I will get the last one eventually.

 

[randomguyplays]

holy shit this was a clusterfuck

 

[jwalche]

holy shit this was a clusterfuck

Sorry. Some people asked for specific, detailed guide for some of things I do.

 

[Liva]

Great stuff! Thanks for the descriptives.

 

[Liva]

Sorry. Some people asked for specific, detailed guide for some of things I do.

Maybe if you included something in the first post or title like: record attempt or non-narrative or gameplay abuse or something like that so that people are prepared. Most of the AARs here are these really bloated story driven... stories. So I think that a good few people will expect that when checking out this thread. Personally this is perhaps the most interesting AAR I've read. But then again I'm a big fan of exploiting game mechanics and speed runs.

 

[jwalche]

I can be story telling as well. Half of abuses have been explained anyway.

 

[jwalche]

Ok. I am on story telling mode now, with much fewer screenshots.

February 13, 769: With abdication of the grandfather, the horde is now at hand of Ezra. But as the final act before stepping down, we put the assignation attempt in motion. One has to go so that another can rise.

I am so ashamed that our great new ruler is a demon follower. Oh no. This is absolutely unacceptable. Ezra repents his wrongdoings, and leave the Plaguebringers.

Ezra doesn't want to be an evil man like his grandfather. He wants to live forever in history.

But first, he needs some ducats. Fortunately, his grandfather left this former prince mayor with a large wallet. A simple banishment will do.

The empire is in a bit of mess. But Ezra will take care of it pretty fast. Allahu Akbar! Yes. Ezra is a Muslim.

Ezra was looking at the world map, and found this very interesting kingdom in India. Their religion and culture is fascinating! Ezra is so happy that he gives little gift to the king, and all his direct vassals and courtiers too. Ezra is generous. Also, it helps to plot murder the king...

It was fun to be a Muslim for a while. But now the Zunist faith intrigues Ezra. Perhaps Ezra was a Zunist in his heart.

Or Suomenusko. Whatever. The Suomenusko Caliph Al-Mansur blesses Ezra!

Oh no! A revolt by a Christian Clergy Rodrigo. Guess there is no choice but to surrender.

 

[jwalche]

March 19, 769: I have been stuck at this date for a while, in real time. There is so much to do, and it takes so much planning. But this is when everything is scheduled to the end date, and today is the defining date for the success.

I have been focusing all the effort for this time. The realm doesn't look much for taking the world within the year. But it has a lot of preparation and is just ready to explode into the whole map.

 

[Specialist290]

Maybe if you included something in the first post or title like: record attempt or non-narrative or gameplay abuse or something like that so that people are prepared. Most of the AARs here are these really bloated story driven... stories. So I think that a good few people will expect that when checking out this thread. Personally this is perhaps the most interesting AAR I've read. But then again I'm a big fan of exploiting game mechanics and speed runs.

AARland is open to all manner of genres and presentation styles, as long as the work has some link to the game in question. In fact, back in ye olden days when the forums were new, game reports like this one were quite common indeed.

On a personal note, I'm enjoying this immensely I've never been much of an exploit gamer personally, but I'm always intrigued by the many different ways people approach the game, and I always enjoy seeing a master of their craft talk through their work.

 

[jwalche]

I think I can exploit to role play, tell story, and still conquer the world in a year.

April 15, 769: Fall of Byzantine. So far, so good.

 

[jwalche]

There are many ways to levy from your vassal, and it takes some creativity when you play nomad. Let me show you one of the method that I like, with a story.

It all starts with Grand Mayor Sartac. He used have 30 vassal lord mayors until 3 weeks ago. But now just 11. Sartac is actually a trainer. He trains new mayors for Khagan Bulan 'the Holy' of Khazaria.

Today, just as yesterday, Khagan needs a new lord mayor. But he doesn't want the current mayor because he has seen too much horrors of the world.
So the old lord mayor is first replaced, and the new lord mayor Yabghu is given a nice Kingdom!!! How lovely.

There is just one tiny problem. You see, Yabghu is now a Prince Mayor, which is how I like. But he is stubborn. There will no way to take his precious kingdom back, not for a while anyway. So he has to go. At least he doesn't mind much for my men taking him.

My lord Khagan, Quo Vadis?

Finally, third is the charm. Now we have a perfect Price Mayor with two cities, both inland to avoid creating another merchant republic. Let's transfer him all our dukes.

Next day came. Price Mayor Manar II has been working hard. I wonder how he did it in dungeon. He totally organized his levy as well as his liege levy for me. That's a nice size, and it grows quickly with my empire's expansion.

Not bad for fleet levy too. I mean, nomad needs nomad fleet. How can we move around with out our ships?

Shameless China has sent so many men. But we have more.

Now it gets more important. Prince Mayor Manar II has done what he was asked to do. Now it's Khagan Bulan 'the Holy' will take a good care of his retirement.
But first, he will be freed from the heavy burden of taking care the kingdom. Lets revoke his kingdom and county titles. Done. Nice and clean.

And now he joins his friends under the good care of County Karadakh Levidsid. It's sort of a retirement home. He will have a good rest of his life. His little court will be protected from the horrors of the world, and I get to keep the levy army and fleet.

Pretty sweet huh? Let's start over with another mayor for tomorrow's levy, because we need more men and ships.

 

[jwalche]

By the way,

April 24, 769: Empire of Francia and Kingdom of East Francia were found. Now the still hesitant Christian friends can accept my vassalization offers.

 

[jwalche]

How do I effectively, and efficiently manage a large empire? I mean, without spending so much time and effort?

I have a simple setup that can, and will take care of my empire no matter how large it becomes. In its heart, it has following main vassals;

"TD" stands for Titular Duchy. Nomad has its ups and downs, but being able to create as many titular duchy and kingdom titles is one of its unique blessing.
When I get or create new counts, I transfer them to TD Castles, TD Tribals, and TD Bishops depending on its government type. If the new vassal is a king or duke, then his top tier titles are revoked first.

TD Keepers keep whatever that I don't want to sort out now.

TD Utilities is a special vassal as he manages following count vassals;

Mayors, Barons, and Priests must be self-explanatory. Count of Breeder takes care of breeding barons for Genius, Strong, Bloodline, Dynasty, and so forth.

Count of Levied takes care of retired mayors who were once Price Mayors and supplied me fleet and army.

Count of Artifacts rules barony vassals with an artifact that I need to inherit later. I don't want it to slow down, so I just collect them to handle later. For convenience, that's usually when their opinion flip back to 100 due to integer overflow.