The Roman Empire in this timeline failed to survive its age old vice. Civil War was always its biggest weakness. Too bad here, you had a good run though. 
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Specialist290 said:...Ouch. Well, it was good while it lasted. Looks like the Byzantines fell victim to the classic vice of hubris and payed the price...
(BB of 425?!?
One word. Rebellions. Often, a rebellion would spring up, declare independence while I was off fighting someone and didn't have the manpower to deal with them, so I left them - generally because my armies were majorly cavalry, (all my slider moves had been designed to get me good, cheap cav) and those mountain rebellions tended to make mockeries of my cavalry. Then they declared independence, and I took them right back.
That, and early on, minors were MUCH easier targets than majors. My BB shot up early-game. I only just managed to get the Empire powerful enough before the BB-wars began. Just.
And the thing is, with civil war, normally it's not so bad. However, with all my overseas expeditions, and the huge, huge, huge poor luck of EIGHT THOUSAND troops remaining loyal (On Cyprus, no less, when my entire fleet was overseas as well), I simply couldn't do anything to stop the rebellion.
And the fact was, one more war, and I would've crushed Austria. I had deliberately ceded a Hungarian province to them, which I had claims on, so I got a CB - my next goal was to march over Austria, take most of it, and raze the rest to the ground. Then Poland and Lithuania.
The funny thing is, I was unstoppable at the time. France, Austria and Spain united couldn't stop me. Poland and Lithuania actually joined into that war - and I beat them back with minimal efforts. My armies were so large, my morale so good, I could take countries in a matter of a few months. I wouldn't mind reloading, but it always feels like cheating to me. And besides, if I did, I'd just conquer the world. There's no way that I couldn't.
EDIT: It's funny. Because what just happened is an unlikely reversal. The irony is painful.
Well this was a little jewel I wish I had noted earlier. A fine story and a real shame that in the end the Empire collapsed of it's own weight. As so many times in Imperial history civil war rears it's ugly head and ruins Roman dreams. All in all it was a fun read. The assassin part was pretty darn good. Who knew I would inspire such a nice little vignette there?
Pity it is over. I was enjoying both the history lessons and the Alexios stuff. Hm...Alexios....Wouldn't happen to be a bit of play from Leonides Alexios would it? Especially him being a captain and all? You had mentioned the assassin from my story inspiring you, I was wondering if Alexios was the same kind of deal....
Pity it is over. I was enjoying both the history lessons and the Alexios stuff. Hm...Alexios....Wouldn't happen to be a bit of play from Leonides Alexios would it? Especially him being a captain and all?
You had mentioned the assassin from my story inspiring you, I was wondering if Alexios was the same kind of deal....
Hi Lordling, I've caught up with the last 2 updates only now. You're great. It was all so... Unexpected . Like Amric said, this is a jewel.
And yeah, 425 BB is something really... Unimaginable. Damn.
Great AAR!
. Like Amric said, this is a jewel.And yeah, 425 BB is something really... Unimaginable. Damn
.Great AAR!
Lordling said:
I nearly killed myself when I read this, telling myself "did he seriously just steal those lines?"
But the whole parody was very amusing, and the AAR itself quite interesting, despite the unfortunate fall.
Amric: Alexios was actually a name off the original list of Byzantine Emperors, so I figured I'd run with it.
Emperor_Krk: I honestly think I'll start another AAR. Maybe in AGCEEP. With the Fantasy Byzantium events.
Rzeczpospolita: Actually, I stole those directly. This movie was the "300" of the new, Roman world.
And now, I think, I will start another AAR. A AGCEEP AAR. Unfortunately, I have no experience playing Byzantium in AGCEEP, so I expect a swift kicking to death by the Ottoman Empire. However, it should be a tad more fun, at least.
Actually, I've been playing some AGCEEP, and it seems to be.. well, impossible. Whereas you can generally claw your way back from a bankruptcy in vanilla, AGCEEP ensures that, if I take ONE loan, I will HAVE to take another. And another. And another. And go bankrupt. But it doesn't stop there. Because I have to get a loan after being bankrupt. For some reason. And go bankrupt again. Repeat ad infinitum, until inflation sits at a pretty 200%, despite having removed all troops, and set the government to minting.
... I don't like AGCEEP anymore.
Emperor_Krk: I honestly think I'll start another AAR. Maybe in AGCEEP. With the Fantasy Byzantium events.
Rzeczpospolita: Actually, I stole those directly. This movie was the "300" of the new, Roman world.
And now, I think, I will start another AAR. A AGCEEP AAR. Unfortunately, I have no experience playing Byzantium in AGCEEP, so I expect a swift kicking to death by the Ottoman Empire. However, it should be a tad more fun, at least.
Actually, I've been playing some AGCEEP, and it seems to be.. well, impossible. Whereas you can generally claw your way back from a bankruptcy in vanilla, AGCEEP ensures that, if I take ONE loan, I will HAVE to take another. And another. And another. And go bankrupt. But it doesn't stop there. Because I have to get a loan after being bankrupt. For some reason. And go bankrupt again. Repeat ad infinitum, until inflation sits at a pretty 200%, despite having removed all troops, and set the government to minting.
... I don't like AGCEEP anymore.
Yeah, I've found AGCEEP to be a little tough to deal w/ myself--which is a real shame, because the concept of the mod in general greatly appeals to me.
At any rate, whatever you decide to do, be sure to keep us informed
At any rate, whatever you decide to do, be sure to keep us informed
Ah, it takes some delicate play to win as Byz in AGCEEP. It starts you out a bit truer to how the Byzantine "Empire" really was at that point: Utterly pathetic.
But if you have the fantasy events enabled, then my advise should hopefully help here.
As soon as the game starts, you MUST go for Smyrna. DOW Ghazi for it. You may have to reload a few times here - everybody usually does, but you'll get them eventually, and Karaman in most of my games will just sit there and let you beat them. Take Smyrna from them, and vassalize Ghazi if you can for a wee bit of extra income.
Karaman or the Ottomans will usually annex them in a while though, so don't ally with them. After this, disband all but a small part of your army. You don't want a big force sapping your treasury right now. If you can spare it, send personal gifts to the Ottomans to keep your relations as high as you can.
When a few years pass and your BB settles (around 1424 - 25 hopefully.), attack Albania, assuming they do not have an alliance with the Ottomans. If you've played right up till now, and are a bit lucky, you should be able to raise a big enough army - about 20,000 hopefully, and defeat them. Annex em'.
From here its really tough. Many people do different things, but what I did in my AAR on this forums, back when it was game-focused, was go to war with Venice. Now the only reason I did this was because they had annexed Athens. If you can avoid a war with them I'd advise doing so.
Anyway, attack Athens when your BB is again low enough, and vassalize them - DO NOT ANNEX THEM. If I remember correctly, there is an AGCEEP event where Athens will submit to you, allowing you to diplo-annex them via event, with much less BB.
By now, Morea should have been your vassal for about 10 years. With Athens under your control, you can now annex them. You now have five provinces! If you want, you can grab Theodoros and make it six. Regardless, if the Ottomans haven't dowed you yet, count your blessings, blockade the straits, and kick some Turkish ass.
Those are my start up tips for a new AGCEEP player. Hope they help!
But if you have the fantasy events enabled, then my advise should hopefully help here.
As soon as the game starts, you MUST go for Smyrna. DOW Ghazi for it. You may have to reload a few times here - everybody usually does, but you'll get them eventually, and Karaman in most of my games will just sit there and let you beat them. Take Smyrna from them, and vassalize Ghazi if you can for a wee bit of extra income.
Karaman or the Ottomans will usually annex them in a while though, so don't ally with them. After this, disband all but a small part of your army. You don't want a big force sapping your treasury right now. If you can spare it, send personal gifts to the Ottomans to keep your relations as high as you can.
When a few years pass and your BB settles (around 1424 - 25 hopefully.), attack Albania, assuming they do not have an alliance with the Ottomans. If you've played right up till now, and are a bit lucky, you should be able to raise a big enough army - about 20,000 hopefully, and defeat them. Annex em'.
From here its really tough. Many people do different things, but what I did in my AAR on this forums, back when it was game-focused, was go to war with Venice. Now the only reason I did this was because they had annexed Athens. If you can avoid a war with them I'd advise doing so.
Anyway, attack Athens when your BB is again low enough, and vassalize them - DO NOT ANNEX THEM. If I remember correctly, there is an AGCEEP event where Athens will submit to you, allowing you to diplo-annex them via event, with much less BB.
By now, Morea should have been your vassal for about 10 years. With Athens under your control, you can now annex them. You now have five provinces! If you want, you can grab Theodoros and make it six. Regardless, if the Ottomans haven't dowed you yet, count your blessings, blockade the straits, and kick some Turkish ass.
Those are my start up tips for a new AGCEEP player. Hope they help!