Crusader Kings II Co-op Game Thread!

The Game Room
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AD 1106 I capture Saraqusta in January and take as prisonners three daughters of the Emir that I ransom for 138 gold. Unfortunately, an 11 500 men strong Almoravid army is marching my way. That’s more than I can handle. I must abandon the siege of Albarracin, and hire a mercenary company as large as I can afford to hire and then pay regularly. I regroup all my forces (about 12 000 men) in Saraqusta, put in command my best generals, and wait…and the Almoravid army heads back south. An even larger Almoravid army ( 14 000 men) entered Leon, while the king of leon only has about 700 men left.

I leave the mercenaries in Saraqusta and send the rest in Albarracin again. The Almoravid army comes back again. I withdraw again. The Almoravids leave again, presumably to fight the Abbadids. The month of may has come, and it’s clear that the Almoravids won’t let me occupy Albarracin. But if I don’t occupy Albarracin, I won’t be able to end the war against the Huddid Emirate. On June, the city of Alagon, in Saraqusta, falls. A comet appears. Good or bad omen? Caspe falls on October, and the castle of Epila, who had just been built and wasn’t yet properly garrisoned on November. I move all of my troops to Albarracin. Meanwhile, the small recreated Leonese army is crushed again and Porto is taken.

The proacted war in southern Italy ends. The Queen of Sicily is deposed and replaced by the lord of Bari my wife used to support. I assume it’s a good thing. My wife immediatly attack Syracuse for reasons I’m not privy to.

A 9th grandchild, Fernan, was born on September. A 7 yo boy turns up alone at my castle. I realize his father recently died, but why he came to my castle, I can’t tell. Studying his genealogy, I realize he’s the last remaining male of a prestigious lineage, the house of Castille that our own house had overthrown. I entrust him to my Marshall to make of him a proper knight.

My Chancellor found documents regarding Soria. But they look so fake that I would be a laughingstock if I produced them. And they’re sold for such a high price that I can’t buy afford them anyway. I tell me to give up. The improvement of my keep is finished.

The Almoravid army marches north again. Numbers are about equal, so I decide to make a stand this time.
AD 1107 : The battle, the largest I ever fought, begins on January 22. Both armies are equally strong, almost to the man. It begins badly, and I think I’m headed to a defeat. But my troops do surprinsingly well during the second part of the battle, and it becomes a massive victory. I lost only 3 800 men, the Arabs 7 700. I begin to chase down the retreating Arabs. On April, they lose ten times more soldiers during our second battle. On May 12, I’m badly wounded during a skirmish, but the Arab army is definitely anhilated 5 days later. I’ve 7 800 men left, and I finally begin the siege of Albarracin.

The king of Leon has again gathered a new army. There’s nothing he can do against the Almoravid forces in Portucale, but he wins a battle against a smaller Arab army in Galicia. On August, the Almoravids take Porto and their large army heads south. I hope I won’t see them coming for me later.

On October, a small detachment coming from Viscaya as reinforcements is ambushed by about 2 000 rebels in Saraqusta. I have to send troops to deal with them. I disperse them quite easily, but I again took loses. On November, my fears materialize : the 14 000 strong Almoravid army is heading toward me. I’ve only about half of that left, so I decide on a gamble. I order an assault on Albarracin, hoping that a quick success will force an Hudid reddition. The assault is a disaster, and with the Almoravids approaching, I don’t even have time to retreat in an orderly fashion. I disband the army, although I know many men won’t make it to their home.

During the sieges, I spent a lot of boring hours reading greek philosophers. It turns out to be much more interesting than I thought. I might now be able to understand my new chaplain’s discourses. I’m very satisfied with myself and certainly being able to quote Plato will add to my prestige. Antso comes of age and turns out to be a fortune builder.
AD 1108 : On February 14 my second wife, queen of Aragon, duchess of Sicily and Calabria, passes away. My dim-witted son inherits Calabria who happens to be besieged, as a result of the last war my late wife was involded in. He leaves the court with his spouse and his two children. His younger brother Antso inherits the duchy of Sicily. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken the time to find him a bride, and I’m sceptical about the choices a hot blooded 16 year old left to his own devices could make.

I decide that this time, my (third) marriage will be purely political. I’m already 66, and it’s unlikely I will have more children anyway. And I’m very lucky. Simon I of Bourgogne, king of France, wants to marry his young daughter Gisèle. An agreement is quickly concluded and my marriage and prestigious new alliance with France is celebrated on February.

This isn’t the only good new. My exploits against the Mahometans have become famous enough for the pope to send me 200 gold to support my fight. I had mentioned that the king of France’s demesne is very small. In fact, I suspect that some of my mayors might be richer than him. About a quarter of the amount sent by his holiness is enough to decide him to join the fact (or more exactly to tell his vassals to join it). I expect that this might turn the tide, but it does more than that. The mere knowledge of this alliance convinces the Hudid Emir to seek terms.

The agreement is a bit complicated. The county of Zaragoza (formerly Saraqusta) itself will become part of my demesne except for the castle of Epila that the Emir will keep. He will become my vassal, with the title of duke of Zaragoza, and his own sheikhs in Albarracin, Murcia and Almeria will receive the title of count. The sheikdom of Turtusha, in open rebellion, will stay independant.

This goes way beyond all my expectations. I only hoped to seize Zaragoza, and I end up with three other counties joining the crown of Aragon, albeit indirectly and under rather unhappy Arab rulers. Zaragoza and Albarracin are populated with Christians, but in Murcia and Almeria people are Mahometans. This will have to be dealt with in the future.

And as a cherry on the cake, the Almoravids withdraw and head to Portucale. They will defeat the king of Leon once again, but then will go south and although the war with the Sultan will linger on, they won’t be seen again, nor in Aragon, nor in Leon. My late wife death caused a cascad of unexpected events incredibly beneficial for the kingdom and even for Christiandom at large. It seems that the ways of the Lord are truly impenetrable.

It seems, however, that war is my fate. Antso is already facing difficulties, two of his vassals, the counts of Trapani and Girgenti having revolted, with the support of the duke of Benevento. Didn’t I marry my other son to his daughter precisely to avoid such a situation? Though all thing considered, having Ramiro as son-in-law might be a good enough reason to start a war. I propose to support Antso, and he readily accepts.

Gisèle is pretty lovely, but contrarily to my late wife, she’s of no help when it comes to rule the kingdom. Having too much work on my hands, I grant the county of Lleida to my son. He somehow manages to convince the old Walli of Cervera that I had left in charge to convert. I’m impressed.

Some other events of note : my eldest and genial grandson is now 16. My cousin Urraka Gartzez died at 68. I begin the building of a city guild hall in San Sancho. I’m concerned with the fact that the Chancellor of the powerful duke of Aquitaine has fabricated claims on the duchy of Navarra.

Finally, I must mention the Tengris. Those are savage heathens living long away, east of the Roman Empire. I had already heard their name, but it is said that they organized themselves and launched some sort of large invasion of the Byzantine Empire, following their idols and their priests. May God save the Greeks.

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AD 1109 I’m going to cross the sea once again. My army will debark in Sicily in June. Between June and September, I will easily defeat the count of Trapani in Palermo, and the duke of Benevento in Messina before laying siege to the capital of the count of Girgenti. During the last battle against the duke of Benevento, the final charge I led will impress my bannermen so much, and will be recounted so often that poems are written about it. Despite all this action, the wound I took in Zaragoza will finally heal, leaving only a scar.

I mentioned our enemies, but the kingdom of Sicily is in complete turmoil. Armies of all sizes, following all sorts of banners are roaming the countryside, battles are fought somewhere every other week, to the point that you could be excused if you came to forget who you are fighting yourself. I camped along troops fighting my enemies, or the enemies of my enemies, or sometimes even my allies.

Adosinda, my youngest daughter, is now an adult. The demented king Alfonso died, and my own granddaughter Jimena has been crowned Queen of Leon and Galicia. My cousin Antso, who served me well for many years as bishop of San Sebastian passed away aged 74, and so did another cousin, Erramun Gartzez. My generation is thinning. We were 23 cousins, together ruling all of Christian Hispania. Only four of us are left now, including my half-brother and my granddaughter wears a crown.
AD 1110 I will spend all this year in Sicily. I take Caltabellata and Butera. Win two battles against the count of Trapani. On November, the count and his allies accept my son’s terms. The next month, I sail back to Aragon. At some point, I captured the wife of the count of Girgenti. I tried to ransom her, but instead of paying the count answered me to please keep her as long as possible!
I keep reading when I’ve time to, and I discovered the “Confessions” by saint Augustine.

Leon has retaken all the places lost, and is even besieging Lishbuna, a port in the Aftasid Emirate. The Sheikh of Caspe converted to the true faith. He even became a bishop. I send my chaplain to evangelize Murcia.

On November, pope Formosus II passed away. Severinus II, who knows many women carnally, I’m told, rose to the throne of Saint Peter.

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AD 1111 Two wars have ended. Jimena of Leon signed a white peace with the Aftasid Emirate (and as a result the Almoravid Sultan). The duke of Aquitaine, prevailed against the duke of Gascony and seized his lands, with the exception of the county of Navarra. I don’t like much the rise in power of this neighbour.

Jimena, lacking children, named me as her successor. This is a nice gesture and a proof of her confidence, but it is very unlikely that I would survive my granddaughter. I wouldn’t want to, in fact.

I send back my grandson Nuño to his father to complete his education. He became a kind squire, and lost his tendencies to take foolish and arbitrary decisions.

Antso has revoked the titles of the counts of Messina, Trapani and Girgenti. It seems that the situation he found himself in two years ago taught him to rule directly, and with a hand of steel.

On October, I wage war on the Sheikdom of Turtusha. His army is easily vanquished, and I besiege is castle. The Amirid Emir, ruler of Mayurca, sided with him, but he isn’t a dangerous foe.
**AD 1112 **: The Holy See again sends me 200 gold to support my fight against the Mahometans. The Amirids simply avoid fighting. Tarragona is taken on September, and Tortusha on December.

The Holy Roman Emperor request my assistance in hsi war against the king of France, also my ally by marriage. Not having the means, nor the intent, to involve myself in such a war, I refuse. I send my Chancellor to Leiningen, seat of the Empire, to attempt to improve our now strained relationship. The countess of Rosello has fabricated some claim on the Empuries. She’s not so powerful that would feel worried. I order the building of a toll booth in San Sancho, to improve my income.

On September, my nephew and spymaster, Artal, is murdered. The culprit can’t be found, but surely he has been killed to prevent him from discovering some plot.

The words spread that the Tengris would have conquered a kingdom of the Greek Empire called Bulgaria.

This year, was born Margarita. My greatgranddaughter, no less. But even more pleasing is the new that my wife is pregnant. I’m 70, but still as green as my grandson :smiley:
AD 1113 : The sheikh submits. Tarragona has become part of the duchy of Zaragoza. Now that my war goals are achieved, I need to deal with my Mahometan vassals. The situation as it is too dangerous. Especially if I were to die, at which point my son we’ll probably have any enough problems already with Christian lords. My new “counts” are already organizing factions against me.

My first move is to get rid of my worst ennemy, Abdallah II, so-called duke of Zaragoza, but mostly the ruler of all my Mahometan vassals. I meet all my vassals to make sure that they will support me in this endeavour. All agree, of course, except my son! What is he thinking??? :mad: . In any case, I send a letter to Abdallah stating in no uncertain terms that he will have to renounce his title or to face our wrath. He submits. Of all the lands he once ruled, he only keeps the barony of Epila, which isn’t Worth fighting over. I keep for myself the ducal title, becoming the direct liege of the Mahometan counts.

The count Yayha of Albarracin is the easiest to deal with. He’s a pragmatical man, down to earth and easily contended. He agrees to convert to the one true faith.

On March, my daughter Armesinda is born. I became king upon the death of my father, on August 8 1063. I have been reigning for 50 years. 50 years! To celebrate the jubilee, I organize a great tournament, inviting all the knights of the kingdom to show their skills. To my irritation, all the prizes are won by Mahometan knights. At least it will make them happy, if not myself. The keep of the castle of Urgell has been improved.

My son Ramiro has, not surprisingly, lost his Italian titles. Although to his defense, this was the result of a war between the king of Sicily and the republic of Venice. There probably wasn’t much that could be done. He comes back to the Aragonese court with his family. I entrust my grandson Sancho with the education of my two nephews. I myself am tutoring my other grandson.

During fall, I plan the revocation of the titles of the count of Murcia and Almeira. This time, my son support the plot. Braver or stupider than Abdallah, he refuses to stand down. It will be war.
**AD 1114 **: The first battle takes place at Teruel in March. I outnumber the ennemy and has much better, seasoned generals, but having to cross a river impedes my army. I’m slightly worried at the beginning, but it’s a clear victory. I besiege Murcia in June, Almeria in September. The Aftasid Emirate joins the fight, but it’s too remote and not powerful enough to be a serious concern. I defeat the only army they send in November.

Twice this year my Steward collected a large tithe. This allows me to start the costly building of training grounds for knights in Jacca. This is going to take years. A new heresy appears in Barcelona. They call themselves Fraticelli. I send my chaplain to Barcelona, but I don’t have any hope that he will be as efficient as the old one had been with the Cathars.

My cousin Fernando of Navarra dies on May. We’re down to three.
AD 1115 One of my nieces, married away long ago, comes back to my court with a new husband in tow. I will have no explanation for this unexpected return. My chaplain didn’t uproot the heresy, but is very proud to announce me that he managed to convert some random courtier tempted by Cathar beliefs :rolleyes: A bit later, he accuses my son of being a heretic himself :rolleyes::mad: . I write to him to tell him to concentrate on his mission, which is dealing with the fraticelli agitation in the city, not searching for heretics in the castle’s halls.

On March, a plot by Hilal of Tarragona is discovered. I have him jailed. I visit him in his cell and offer him a choice : converting and keeping his title or dying here. He wisely choose to convert, along with all his relatives and courtiers.

Murcia falls on April, and I win another battle against the Astafids on June. Almeria falls on August. I have to bring in reinforcements, though, using my son’s levies.
The newly converted count of Tarragona himself convince the walli of Tortosa to convert too. Things are looking good.

Another granddaughter is born. She isn’t normal, though. She’s the daughter of my idiot son and the niece of Judith. This worries me a bit. Especially since my wife is pregnant again.

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AD 1116 On January, my 8th child and 4th son, Gartzia, is born.

Cartagena and Baza fall the same month. Ahmad surrenders. I take the for myself the title of count of Murcia but I give Ahmad the same choice I gave to the count of Tarragona. Either he and his court convert and he keep the county of Almeria, or… He converts. I also take from him Motril and Lorca, and make them into proper bishoprics. My piety is lauded.

Being unable, at my age, to rule such a large demesne, on March, I make my son Duke of Navarra, and Count of Najera and Viscaya.

The year of our Lord 1116, on the 11th day of June, the great and pious Sancho, first of the name, King of Aragon, Duke of Barcelona, Aragon and Zaragoza, Count of Alto Aragon, Urgell, Empuries, Zaragoza and Murcia died on the fifty third year of his reign. May he rest in the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

65

Now that’s a good long run. Just out of curiosity are you setting a minimum number of years per player or is it strictly from ruler to ruler? I ask because I once had a child king smothered by his regent after six days on the throne - while a lot of fun, it does limit the scope of action of the player if you stuck to a strict interpretation of reigns ;).

66

I might make some comments or answer questions later, but at the moment I’m just really fed up with Crusader Knights. Just three things, quickly :
-There’s an event I didn’t understand (see year 1108). I waged war against a nearby emir over my claim on Zaragoza. However, when he lost the war, instead of just giving me Zaragoza as I expected, he became my vassal, as a duke, and the three sheiks under him became sub-vassals. Why? If it’s relevant, the county I was claiming was the only one he was holding directly.
-There are a couple potentially interesting choices the next player could make when choosing his heir. He has a gifted (in fact, a genius) eldest son along with a couple others.

However, his half-brother holds most of Sicily proper (the duchy, and 4 counties IIRC). He has quite good stats too. He could make an interesting heir.

Finally, he can choose his niece, the queen of Leon and Galicia, so reuniting three kingdoms and essentially all of Christian Spain. I could have made the same choice being her grandfather, and agonized over it, in fact. I even wrote a post to ask for opinions but didn’t post it. On one hand, it’s a wonderful move. On the other hand, it seems too easy (although maybe in part because I had to take patiently county after county) hence not fun. I eventually decided against it because I had played my game with my son in mind and quite often fighting my relatives, so I liked it better this way for the role-play as well as the personal satisfaction. Coming with no bagages, the next player could make this move.
-I’d like to upload one or more screen shots so that people could see the situation by themselves (I would then pass the account to the next player so that he could do the same). However, I never used any service hosting pictures. Which one would you advise me to pick?

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Wow, almost had a posthumous son. Nice run there.

I’d say each player ought to get out of regency at the least. But after that, if you want to play long, you need to live long. Paranoia is a good trait for medieval lords. :smiley:

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We didn’t agree on anything. Personnally, it doesn’t bother me. If I were to die after 6 months, then so be it. I find this uncertainty rather, fun in fact. :slight_smile:
To say the truth I had been hoping to die for a while. I wanted a break. Normally, I would put the game aside and come back to it later. But in this situation, there was another player waiting, so I had to keep on.

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Are you sure your claim was against the County of Zaragoza?

The result sounds more like you pressed a de jure Kingdom claim against the Duchy. That is, the Duchy of Zaragoza (or whatever) is probably a traditional part of the Kingdom of Aragon. As King you asserted your right to be liege over the Duke.

As for choosing an heir, that’s your prerogative and what makes this fun. By default, all your heirs will get claims against all your former titles, so the next player can take corrective actions if they want. And it’s kind of traditional in Iberia anyway for family feuding, as your generation did. :wink:

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I suggest hosting the pics at imgur.com. [This is where I put my own pics for SimCity.] It’s free and anonymous.

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It certainly seems that it’s what I did, and the duchy of Zaragoza is indeed de jure part of the kingdom on Aragon.

However, I just loaded an earlier save, and the only options that appear to declare war are holy war or de jure claim on the cheikdom (not emirate) of Zaragoza. So, what gives?

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Feel free to send on the game file whenever. I have a lot of playing time available this week, as luck would have it.

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Done.

74

No need to even register? Great.
Starting situation

Spain in 1075

Spain in 1086

Spain in 1096

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Spain in 1105

Spain in 1115

The end

Final situation-Spain (the map has been much simplified)

Final situation-World (note the situation of England)
Next time, I’ll post less text and more pictures. Much better this way.

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By the way, even without the DLCs, the new features applies, since they’re included in the last patch. For instance, the new technology system. Notably the Tengri religion became organized in this game and launched a Holy War against Byzance.

Castles, cities, etc…seem to be much more advanced (more existing buildings at the start of the game) than I remembered. I understand this is a result of the new 867 AD starting date. Or maybe my memory is faulty.

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Who’s on the English throne? I’d guess it’s the Norwegians, and for some reason they made the English crown their primary.

Interesting that Constantinople is a part of Georgia.

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Honestly, I hardly ever paid any attention to what was happening beyond Spain, except for “the big blue” and even then mostly to check what the southern vassals were doing. The king of France is as weak as a king of France can be. He’s from the Bourgogne house, and controls exactly one county directly (Dijon), with the empty titles of duke of Burgundy and king of France. There’s nothing to fear from him directly, as if he does something it will be trying to regain some territory in France. More likely, he will be toppled by another dynasty. Not by the dukes of Toulouse or Aquitaine, it is to be hoped. Those are the two most powerful lords in France, by far. The rest is divided into smallish domains, comprising two to four counties.

I had to look up the history of England. During my reign, there has been 12 kings of England. That’s an average of about 4 years/king. The current king is from the house Godwinson, but it doesn’t mean that Harold prevailed. In fact the Normans won, but after about three kings, they were replaced again by the Godwinsons, who were kicked out by Norwegians, who dominated for a duration of four kings before being replaced recently by the current Godwinson king.

I don’t exactly understand how it happened but somehow the descendants of the king of Norway became kings of England instead while the Godwinsons became kings of Norway. Only some months ago, what you see on the map as “England” was labeled “Norway”, and the king of Norway (English) was fighting a war claiming the throne of England (Norwegian) by then reduced to a one county country. Obviously, he won this war, and became king of England and Norway. I’m not sure why England became the primary title. But in a tortuous way, the Godwinsons managed to conquer Norway rather than the other way around.

As for Byzance belonging to Armenia…:confused:…I hadn’t even noticed it until you pointed it out to me. How it came to be is a complete mystery to me.

Next time I’ll make sure to pay more attention to what happen in the world at large and to report about incongruous events like this.

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clairobscur, you’re really good about reporting everything that’s going on. Have you just been paying really close attention to the other kingdoms or is there some kind of world events summary page that I’ve been missing?

80

Yeah, he clearly knows something about the game that I don’t. I suddenly get the feeling that I’m brute forcing my way through a delicate dance.