How to get rid of Byzantines?

[valthorionx]

Right now im a mercenary gradually building myself up. I plan to eventually take some land and hopefully get an empire (or at least kingdom) off the ground. the thing is.. the byzantines are just everywhere, and theyre hogging every area that seems interessting to settle in.
Id rather not have them breathing down my neck when i get started so how do i get rid of them?
I dont want to join them or take them over, i just want them to go away.
What are my options?

[brownacs]

Erm... you've taken away the obvious two. You could, I suppose, help their rivals out (give them money, join their wars, all that jazz), although then you'll just have them to deal with in place of the Byzantines, which isn't a huge difference. If anything, having to deal with say the Khazars in their place could be worse. Along the same line of thinking, you could try to destabilise the empire through a combination of repeated assassinations and military/financial support for rebellions, but then the scraps will likely be picked up by their neighbours and we're back to the previously mentioned problem.

Depending on your start date, you might get the 4th Crusade event, which, if the crusaders win, isn't unlikely to fragment the Byzantines, but then same deal but with the Latin Empire - and you'll probably be waiting a while if you've started in 867.

I'm wondering why you think the Byzantines own everywhere that's interesting? There's a whole world, so I kinda doubt they own all of it. Thrace is a pretty good duchy (bit small though), but otherwise most of the starting Byzantine land's a bit on the meh side. There are much better duchies you can take if you don't want to deal with them.

[valthorionx]

Well, i had an empire over in southeast asia (i left by picking new destiny) that i managed to get big and powerful enough that it doesnt seem like the ai is gonna fumble it anytime soon.

I wanted to get a fresh start over in europe but when igot there it was just... byzantines, byzantines everywhere, with HRE next door. There are a few independents here and there but generally europe is a little to... under control i guess. Thing were more interesting back in asia (china notwithstanding)

[brownacs]

Originally posted by valthorionx:

Well, i had an empire over in southeast asia (i left by picking new destiny) that i managed to get big and powerful enough that it doesnt seem like the ai is gonna fumble it anytime soon.

I wanted to get a fresh start over in europe but when igot there it was just... byzantines, byzantines everywhere, with HRE next door. There are a few independents here and there but generally europe is a little to... under control i guess. Thing were more interesting back in asia (china notwithstanding)

If the game's been going on for a while, it's not impossible that the Byzantines (and/or the HRE) have done quite well. The 'best' duchy in Europe's probably Bohemia, which is very likely going to be in the HRE. You'll also have the Mongols on the horizon most likely (what year is it?), and they might erase the Byzantines for you.

Once you get the hang of adventuring, it shouldn't be too difficult to take on the large empires. You can travel around the world, picking and choosing which cultural MAAs to get, stack a small mountain of gold, then either become a conqueror or go for a regular kingdom/empire invasion.

You could try to make one of those empires break apart, but it's probably faster and easier to just fight them, although you could get lucky I guess.

Also, and I know you said you didn't want to do this, but you should be able to buy a Byzantine estate, which'll then make you a landless administrative Byzantine vassal and let you work your way up from within. It's quite fun if you've never done it before - bit of a change from starting small and expanding via conquest.

[valthorionx]

I actually started back in 867, its curretly 1150 something i think? Iguess that means Mongol time is right around the corner (gonna be interesting to see how the old empire does against them) so i might just see how things play out with that. Merc jobs are entertaining enough in the meantime.

[brownacs]

Originally posted by valthorionx:

I actually started back in 867, its curretly 1150 something i think? Iguess that means Mongol time is right around the corner (gonna be interesting to see how the old empire does against them) so i might just see how things play out with that. Merc jobs are entertaining enough in the meantime.

Yeah, Genghis Khan should show up sometime in the early 13th century. If your old empire's in Southeast Asia, they might not get that far. They tend to hit China, the Middle East and Central Asia the hardest.