The birth of The Third Rome: County of Moskva

[Yozhik]

1.02 VH/N

House rules:
1. Marriages only within the Duchy of Vladimir as a Count, only within the Kingdom of Rus as a Duke, only within Orthodox religion as a King: Russians have always been reluctant to seek brides outside of their realms up until Peter the Great. The only known exception is Anna of Kiev, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054), found at the beginning of the game in the Court of Paris.
2. 100% emphasis on nobles and cavalry: Russian church has been under state's control until way after CK is over, and Burghers and Peasants have enjoyed fewer and fewer freedoms and privileges as time went on. Russians have depended mainly on medium cavalry up until late 1400s.

Moskva starts as a County in a Duchy of Vladimir. A weak army (375), a poor province (1 gold), and a middle-aged mediocre ruler. Can it survive the times, let alone unite the Slavs under its banners? We shall see.

 

[Yozhik]

Part I.
Georgii I The Matchmaker (1039-1079)
Cruel, Zealous, Illness, Gruff Diplomat
M: 4, D: 9, I: 8, S: 6

If there is one word to describe his 13 years on the throne, it's "marriage". No member of the Court could stay single for more than a week; and no member of the Court has left the demesne. Scouts rampaged first the Duchy of Vladimir, then all the Rus lands, looking for matches: young women - for the Count and select Court members, old women - for the "random cousins" with their -50 prestige, mature women - for everyone else. By 1079 Moskva was #4 on the victory point chart (F2).

In the long run this meant that Muscovian Court grew to be twice, thrice the size of any other Duchy around. This meant available people - be it for marriage or for duty. With illnesses and deaths striking left and right, it was a must.

For better or worse, but Georgii's activity was limited to marital affairs. His emphasis on knights has resulted in on an army rather powerful yet very slowly accumulating and very expensive to maintain: 20 gold a month with maximum income of 4 (excellent steward + prosperous event + several basic +gold techs and buildings).

Georgii believed that in this world he was destined to do three things:
1. Raise several sons.
2. Conquer a neighboring County, so that the loss in prestige does not fall on his heirs.
3. Become a Prince.

He has succeded only in the last one of those; it is a miracle he had any healthy progeny at all, both him and both of his wives hit with Illnessess, both dead at untimely ages.

He was survived by a 11-year-old Alexandrii, a bastard, and three daughters.

Final prestige: 643.
Final piety: 175.

 

[unmerged(2970)]

Will be interesting to follow this AAR, I suppose it's the first from the Russian lands.

So what county do you aim for your first conquering?

Don't let us waiting for too long without an update.

 

[Mike von Bek]

Ah, a true Moscow Man. Good to see if they can make it to the top. Sadly, the last game I played in the region saw them conquered by heathens. Not a good way to go.

 

[MichaelK]

Sorry to spoil a fun, but Moscow was founded in 1147.
Good luck all the same !

 

[Yozhik]

Sorry to spoil a fun, but Moscow was founded in 1147.
Good luck all the same !

The first written note of it is dated 1147 and refers to a settlement already constructed. So technically...

Plus we can't hold it against CK - just like any other game. It's just like with J. Vernes, a science fiction writer who intentionally messed around with some dates and names to make it more obvious that his books are sci-fi after all I mean, County of Mozhaysk ought to be 1 west of Moskva, not 5 east of it. But so what? This game rocks nonetheless!

 

[Yozhik]

Ah, a true Moscow Man. Good to see if they can make it to the top. Sadly, the last game I played in the region saw them conquered by heathens. Not a good way to go.

You never know They do have to start on an N, not A or F when it comes to aggressiveness to avoid being gobbled up by Novgorod within the first year - a fault(?) that CK inherited from EU2

 

[Yozhik]

Will be interesting to follow this AAR, I suppose it's the first from the Russian lands.

So what county do you aim for your first conquering?

Don't let us waiting for too long without an update.

The pagans, of course. It's way too costly to attack your own kind when it comes to prestige. And there was a Polotsk AAR earlier - which is technically a Russian one as well.

 

[Yozhik]

When Moskva reached 2000 victory scores by 1093 whereas the nearest competitor had only 900, a gnawing feeling that something is wrong pursued me. Thus came to be the Third House Rule.

3. Only those marriages that make common sense shall be accepted. E.g., No stealing other Count's advisors using your women. E.g., No marrying your random cousins to 2-3 old ladies to boost prestige.

I did have to restart after that, a usual situation in my AARs. You've been warned.

Part I (version 2)
Georgii I The Breeder (1039-1093)
Cruel, Zealous, Gruff Diplomat, Crusader
M: 4, D: 9, I: 8, S: 6 Pr: 349 Pi: 402

The years of his rule were very peaceful, for what state accomplishments can you expect from a father of seven sons (three bastards) and two daughters? He married Ksenia of Beloozero (M: 5, D: 8, I: 10, S: 9), a commoner, of the start-up courtiers.

They had nine children, omitting the bastards they are as follows as of 1093:

Son Georgii (1068): M: 7 D: 8 I: 6 S: 4
Energetic, Indulgent, Tough Soldier

Son Iaropolk (1070: M: 4, D: 7, I: 6, S: 5
Indulgent, Hopeless Spender

Son Iurii (1072): M: 3, D: 11, I: 9, S: 6
Indulgent, Grey Eminence

Son Nikita (1086): M: 4, D: 7, I: 8, S: 9
Court Education

Daughter Peredeslava (1074): M: 3, D: 10, I: 8, S: 9
Vengeful, Arbitrary, Gruff Diplomat

Daughter Anastasia (1075-1086): M: 3, D: 7, I: 7, S: 7
Illness, Court Education

As we can see, children's stats were in line with their parents.

Unfortunately, there was nothing more to report about the County: life went on. Technologies were discovered, picked among ones not found nearby as not to inferfere with spread. The title of Principality was purchased as soon as possible. An 185-strong Knight army was gathered, the strongest group around: a typical Russian County ignored Knights and a typical Pagan one had about 50. Based on other games, it's possible to say that these Knights shall easily smash through anything that resists them - but that's in the future. It is hard to support an army with maintenance of 22 gold for six months to two years necessary to subdue a Tribe when your income is only 3 gold a month, courtesy of Thief Guilds and reluctant-to-pay-their-taxes nobles...

The weirdest thing of the period: Principality of Galich first inheriting all of Novgorod then keeping it without giving out any new vassal titles (demesne: 11), yet still having only 0 gold income. And they were not at war: no standing armies.

 

[Drozh]

Nice start...go batter some pagan skulls!

Also strange how Galich inherited Novgorod so early in the game?

 

[unmerged(2970)]

The pagans, of course. It's way too costly to attack your own kind when it comes to prestige. And there was a Polotsk AAR earlier - which is technically a Russian one as well.

Yes, you are right about Polotsk AAR, it just happened that I missed it in the first place and only later I've noticed that it was started before yours.

 

[Yozhik]

Galich always seems to inherit Novgorod - perhaps because rulers do not wish to marry more than once in their life. I have to confess I've destroyed one dynasty in 1.01 that way when in times of lack of females a 16 year old Count married my 41 year old advisor... No kids, gone.

I've decided to take some time off writing (but not playing) so I don't restart this AAR 15 times as I learn more and more new tricks

Thanks for staying with me.

 

[Stuyvesant]

I like this AAR. It's in an area I'm not familiar with and I like the careful, small-scale start. It makes for a refreshing change from all the conquering sprees (and it has the additional attraction that I feel I could actually match your achievements, unlike restoring the Roman Empire or subjugating all the infidels/pagans ).

 

[Morpheus506]

This still going on? I hope so, it was looking promising.

 

[Yozhik]

Edit 3: I better shut up until I find a good, new host. Any tips?

 

[Morpheus506]

Angelfire, photobucket, and geocities seem to be popular around here. You tried any of them?

 

[Yozhik]

Not the 'bucket... what's the URL?

Thanks!

 

[Morpheus506]

www.photobucket.com, unless I'm horribly, horribly mistaken. The others are equally straightforward

 

[Yozhik]

Thanks

Ok... testing...

http://rysyonok.narod.ru/moscow1.html

If this works, I'll gladly finally do a good AAR

 

[unmerged(26933)]

I see the light,..... and it burns!

The screen shots turned out well (Game 1: Moskva grows into Sweden and Bulgar and Game 2: Moskva grows into Lithuania. Awful slow loading, but it works.