I present to you: Sakastan.
This is a note of Strategy for those trying to attempt either the White Hun achievement and/or reforming the Zunist Religion.
Once you expand your Demesne from the starting point of County of Mohadavasaka into at least a Kingdom (Duchy only is too small in my opinion), you should consider shifting from Hindu religion and instead to a Zunist pathway for the remainder of the game. This simultaneously puts you on path for a 2nd achievement to Reform the Zunist Religion as an Emperor level liege (you can't just reform Zunist, must also be an Emperor to trigger the Achievement btw).
Considerations in this strategy:
- Gaining new counties comes quicker, since as a Pagan you can do quick-hitting wars of "Conquest" of counties, without triggering entire Holy Wars. This matters when you're small as a growing Kingdom trying to expand northward to meet the requirements of the White Hun achievement.
- The Zunist Holy Sites are all localized near your starting point of Mohadavasaka, so this is the absolute best pathway to gain a Pagan religion plus reform it the fastest from all available choices.
- You need an offset against both Eastern Religions you start with, plus an allied defense against the Abbassid Empire with enough combat power to rival and beat back that horde of Muslim armies that will come for you. Going Pagan Zunist and allying with the Afghan Zunists early as possible in the game, not only gives you a longer-term ally in the region for your expansion purposes, but also ensures that Zunist NPCs are preserved so you can pull them into your Court and thus enable your Main Character to have a Concubine that makes it possible to switch religions to Zunist at the right time.
- Put a Zunist in charge as your Tutor once you achieve Duchy or higher status since you'll want to grow Zunist children into your Court and across your holdings, in preparation for switching to Zunist religion for your main character.
- Beware switching to Zunist Pagan too early, because a dominant Hindu Liege will Revoke your holdings and end the game quickly. You must look for weakness in your Hindu Liege, civil wars, combined with expanding into the Jain counties to the South/Southwest of starting county of Mohadavasaka. Get claims on those opposing Jain counties while you are Hindu early on, to impress your Hindu liege in the early game.
- Focus your Main Characters and 100% of all children and grandchildren in your Dynasty, to Martial training. All of them. Don't shift at all because you need your entire Dynasty "ready to fight" and the Zunist religion you will shift into, has expectations of warriors. You are going from a single county to expand in the face of both Religious and political opposition all around you. You can find good NPCs to be Counselors, so there is no need to focus any Dynasty member outside Martial training.
- Once Zunist, and expanding as a Zunist Kingdom that will become an Empire, ensure you bring in any and all Pagans with Bloodlines into your Court. Having a robust bloodline assortment inside your Dynasty will be essential. Don't waste daughters and granddaughters on alliance marriages unless it's critical to staying alive, as you want matrilineal marriages and the dynasty growing with bloodlines brought in.
- Use Loyal Commanders found by your Marshal, to take over key Counties and Duchies, empower them as new Vassals and insta-create nobles out of them as result. These non-Dynasty strong-skilled Commanders are what you need as Zunist nobles going forward. If you put Dynasty members into land holdings, they will break away from you, cause civil wars, etc. It's better to expand via Loyal Vassals.
- You are close to China, so generate Grace with high-stat Commanders and potential Eunuchs, along with bearing many daughters so you can also earn Grace with them as well. You should easily be able to gain 100% of all Chinese Artifacts on a play-through in this area of the map. You will also become powerful enough to dominate China, should they attack you when you are a Zunist Emperor (you can gain many Horse Archers as Saka Culture).
See Screenshot for my footprint just after forming a Custom Empire that I named "Sakastan" as a custom name. Note the sprawl in 2 separate land masses. I conquered and brought in the Afghan Zunists to the Northwest of Mohadavasaka, and gained all the Jain lands in Gujarat and then bounced back northward. I have gained 4 of the Zunist Holy Sites at this point, which I needed in order to Reform the Religion. You must also have Moral Authority of 50 or higher to Reform the Pagan religion, which is difficult unless you get 4 of the sites plus win Holy Wars (I defeated Abbassid in defense of a major Holy War for 3% Moral Authority gain that took me to 50% for the triggering effect).
To put in perspective the Combat Power you can generate as a Zunist, this screenshot is just after a defensive Holy War against Abbassids, which I won, and took the Abbassid leader from over 60K total troop strength down to 19K. The key defensive thing is your leader such as my Main Character here, must gain the Warrior trait for Zunists that gives him boosts in both Desert and Mountain terrain (essential for beating Abbassids in their own territory). Plus, you must generate enough gold so that you can hire a Mercenary army full of Horse Archers (superior to Elephants if you get Saka Culture expanding in your demesne). You can defend with half the troop strength against Abbassid and still win Defensive battles this way.
This is a note of Strategy for those trying to attempt either the White Hun achievement and/or reforming the Zunist Religion.
Once you expand your Demesne from the starting point of County of Mohadavasaka into at least a Kingdom (Duchy only is too small in my opinion), you should consider shifting from Hindu religion and instead to a Zunist pathway for the remainder of the game. This simultaneously puts you on path for a 2nd achievement to Reform the Zunist Religion as an Emperor level liege (you can't just reform Zunist, must also be an Emperor to trigger the Achievement btw).
Considerations in this strategy:
- Gaining new counties comes quicker, since as a Pagan you can do quick-hitting wars of "Conquest" of counties, without triggering entire Holy Wars. This matters when you're small as a growing Kingdom trying to expand northward to meet the requirements of the White Hun achievement.
- The Zunist Holy Sites are all localized near your starting point of Mohadavasaka, so this is the absolute best pathway to gain a Pagan religion plus reform it the fastest from all available choices.
- You need an offset against both Eastern Religions you start with, plus an allied defense against the Abbassid Empire with enough combat power to rival and beat back that horde of Muslim armies that will come for you. Going Pagan Zunist and allying with the Afghan Zunists early as possible in the game, not only gives you a longer-term ally in the region for your expansion purposes, but also ensures that Zunist NPCs are preserved so you can pull them into your Court and thus enable your Main Character to have a Concubine that makes it possible to switch religions to Zunist at the right time.
- Put a Zunist in charge as your Tutor once you achieve Duchy or higher status since you'll want to grow Zunist children into your Court and across your holdings, in preparation for switching to Zunist religion for your main character.
- Beware switching to Zunist Pagan too early, because a dominant Hindu Liege will Revoke your holdings and end the game quickly. You must look for weakness in your Hindu Liege, civil wars, combined with expanding into the Jain counties to the South/Southwest of starting county of Mohadavasaka. Get claims on those opposing Jain counties while you are Hindu early on, to impress your Hindu liege in the early game.
- Focus your Main Characters and 100% of all children and grandchildren in your Dynasty, to Martial training. All of them. Don't shift at all because you need your entire Dynasty "ready to fight" and the Zunist religion you will shift into, has expectations of warriors. You are going from a single county to expand in the face of both Religious and political opposition all around you. You can find good NPCs to be Counselors, so there is no need to focus any Dynasty member outside Martial training.
- Once Zunist, and expanding as a Zunist Kingdom that will become an Empire, ensure you bring in any and all Pagans with Bloodlines into your Court. Having a robust bloodline assortment inside your Dynasty will be essential. Don't waste daughters and granddaughters on alliance marriages unless it's critical to staying alive, as you want matrilineal marriages and the dynasty growing with bloodlines brought in.
- Use Loyal Commanders found by your Marshal, to take over key Counties and Duchies, empower them as new Vassals and insta-create nobles out of them as result. These non-Dynasty strong-skilled Commanders are what you need as Zunist nobles going forward. If you put Dynasty members into land holdings, they will break away from you, cause civil wars, etc. It's better to expand via Loyal Vassals.
- You are close to China, so generate Grace with high-stat Commanders and potential Eunuchs, along with bearing many daughters so you can also earn Grace with them as well. You should easily be able to gain 100% of all Chinese Artifacts on a play-through in this area of the map. You will also become powerful enough to dominate China, should they attack you when you are a Zunist Emperor (you can gain many Horse Archers as Saka Culture).
See Screenshot for my footprint just after forming a Custom Empire that I named "Sakastan" as a custom name. Note the sprawl in 2 separate land masses. I conquered and brought in the Afghan Zunists to the Northwest of Mohadavasaka, and gained all the Jain lands in Gujarat and then bounced back northward. I have gained 4 of the Zunist Holy Sites at this point, which I needed in order to Reform the Religion. You must also have Moral Authority of 50 or higher to Reform the Pagan religion, which is difficult unless you get 4 of the sites plus win Holy Wars (I defeated Abbassid in defense of a major Holy War for 3% Moral Authority gain that took me to 50% for the triggering effect).
To put in perspective the Combat Power you can generate as a Zunist, this screenshot is just after a defensive Holy War against Abbassids, which I won, and took the Abbassid leader from over 60K total troop strength down to 19K. The key defensive thing is your leader such as my Main Character here, must gain the Warrior trait for Zunists that gives him boosts in both Desert and Mountain terrain (essential for beating Abbassids in their own territory). Plus, you must generate enough gold so that you can hire a Mercenary army full of Horse Archers (superior to Elephants if you get Saka Culture expanding in your demesne). You can defend with half the troop strength against Abbassid and still win Defensive battles this way.
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