This game can be so annoying sometimes

[wolfpost]

I always start with a single county or two. Usually in Wales. Always at the earliest time period. It is so dam annoying when I am having a good start and out of no where Alba comes down and ends my game with 8000 dudes out of nowhere.

So now I am in stubborn mode and just keep starting at the same spots. LOL. Sometimes it happens almost right away. Other times I might get two or three successions in. Everything is going fine and then I get the message they declared war on me. And it feels just random. I have had as many as 3500 troops and another 3000 because of alliances. But it's never enough. Sigh.

The last time I played before now was a year ago. Several times I had all of Wales and much if not all of everything south of Scotland. So, I know it's possible. But the dam succession rules got me those times.

Not looking for any tips but feel free to provide them. Just mostly venting my frustration.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Years ago i did the Rags to Riches from Gwent(to get the Pendragon handle for uniting Britannia as Welsh). Did it again when Rags to Riches to Rags to Riches dropped.

Gwent offers opportunities to both increase your land and your Dynasty quickly, but your starting Ruler is old so ya gotta act fast. Use his claims asap, marry your newly acquired Dynasty right, and you'll be Duke of Deheubarth in no time.

I only play IM/no mods, so i restarted many times. After a dozen times you get a feel for what all your right moves hafta be, like that first attack: If you use the Duchy CB your Nephew keeps the land. If you use the County CB, you capture him & his brothers(all 3 nephews of your Ruler). But your starting Dude is only gonna live maybe 4-7yrs, tops.

Its a difficult 1-county start but highly rewarding when you pull it off.

[Fenris]

I haven't played in a little over 2 years (just reinstalled to start again), so I know a lot has changed. But does murder still work? I know in the past if someone who was becoming a threat to me was way too strong to defend against, I'd end up doing murder scheme after murder scheme until their realm exploded into everyone fighting each other for power.

Yeah, I know it is a cheesy way to play. But sometimes murder is fun ... in game :D. Usually once the king ends up being a child, no one wants a 3 year old as their ruler and multiple factions start to install someone else.

But, like I said it has been a few years so I don't know how effective that is anymore. Maybe try marring one of your kids into Alba so they won't attack?

[Deusmodeus]

Originally posted by wolfpost:

I always start with a single county or two. Usually in Wales. Always at the earliest time period. It is so dam annoying when I am having a good start and out of no where Alba comes down and ends my game with 8000 dudes out of nowhere.

Sounds like he triggered the conquer trait/bonus and/or got a strong alliance in Scandinavia

The big thing is you have to take risks. Dont be afraid to third party a stronger nation if they're distracted with another war.

if your having trouble taking land directly, force tributaries. Its a easier war to win, lets you siphon gold, and prevents your neighbors from attacking you until your next character.
That gives you time to build and and prepare your invasions.

[Devil_JCS]

Sounds like Alba is getting conqueror status. I can't remember if parts or all of the king of Alba's personality are randomly generated, but he is tribal. That right there makes it more likely he'll get conqueror if it shows up. If he gets a warlike personality, his odds are pretty high of getting it.

I've seen Alba end up turning into a monster just like what you described. It's really the only way the AI can jump from the I think 2-3k starting troops to 8k+ in the blink of an eye (heavy MMA investment and mercs; conquerors always do that). It's usually not Alba that gets conqueror from my experience though; it's one of the sons of Ragnar, the most powerful duke of Wales (I forget his name; older ruler with the nickname "the great"), Haestienn (very rarely) or Charles the Bald (also rarely). That's for western European rulers btw; I'm not going to cover everywhere else. That's just too much lmao

But yeah, I agree, the game can be annoying when it does that. Conquerors popping up in your backyard before you're ready to deal with them is just cheap.

[wolfpost]

Sheik-I always make a custom character when I play and I try to be somewhat realistic with things as the immersion factor is broken for me otherwise. I really enjoy watching my custom characters family tree get bigger and bigger. LOL. I am just saying that is me and not judging how anyone else enjoys playing. But yes, I do go for Gwent as soon as possible. Or the southern Dutchy in Wales. The issue I have is if I am part of Gwent, I get swallowed up and die when Alba comes a knocking and I have no say at all in the matter. This happened fairly quickly 3 or 4 times in a row. I usually start in that county right next to the island in the north part of Gwent. This County has lots of room for buildings. Or the two middle counties inside of Gwent.

So, the other spots I like to start in are either the SW or SE corner counties of Wales. This works out better as far as Alba goes as I don't get swallowed up by them and watch it happen right in front of me. LOL. But the problem is if I take the SE county, the SW one is being very aggressive taking over all the southern part of Wales. If I take the SW, same thing from other side. By aggressive I mean they often have taken two or three counties before I can even get my first CB. But this is challenging and not impossible and in my current playthrough I started SW and subjugated the SE guy who already had 4 counties to my 1. Of course, he just surprised attacked me to get out from under the subjugation after him saying he was fine 3 turns before and I am in the process I of re-subjugating him. Meanwhile, Alba has just arrived to wipe out Gwent. LOL. I am married into the Alba family but it's a very minor dude. Curios to see if this helps at all.

The play through before this I got to my first succession at 66 years old. I had all of southern Wales. 6 counties. I had 3 male heirs but it didn't give any land to the third one for some reason. My oldest got the Duke title and the main county and the second son got all the rest. It was obvious the second son got the better deal. And he had much better stats and looked cooler. LOL. So I played as him and was about to attack the oldest, which I was going to easily win and guess what happened? M'Fing Alba is what happened out of nowhere. And why I started this thread. LOL.

The time before that I had one Dutchy and a second I hadn't made into one yet when succession came along. It auto made the other one a Dutchy and screwed my succession all up. Man was I pissed because I hadn't planned on that happening succession wise and it was the whole reason I didn't make the second Dutchy.

Maybe this is just me but the computer toons seem way more aggressive than from the last time I played.

Fenris- it seems the murder scheme is much more involved than I remember it. There are like 5 or 6 agents that you need to convince to join in to do it and at most only two are willing for free. The others you either got to get their relationships up and or pay them more money than I can afford to get them to join. Like 50 gold each or more. The dude I wanted dead was going to die of old age before I got all this done. LOL. Now, I only dabbled in it so I am sure others know better than I.

Deusmodeus-LOL, I never knew about the bonus thing. But Alba comes down and attacks like every time?

I am light on the risk taking I will admit. But the thing is, even with alliances, this happens so quickly, I am lucky to have 2000 peeps when Alba attacks. I keep thinking he will remember I attacked him for later? I guess this is wrong thinking?

"if your having trouble taking land directly, force tributaries." It's not that I am having trouble taking land. It's that I am starting as a county and it takes forever to get the money for a CB. The game I am playing now I did do a tribute thing with a guy with four counties. As I said above. But out of nowhere he refused to pay any more. This after 3 years, probably less. So I had to re attack him and am 90% done reapplying it. I am new to tributes so I have no idea why he stopped wanting to pay out of nowhere? And it's so early, his counties have no infostructure and he is giving me next to nothing. LOL. I mean in 4 counties he has I think 3 or for buildings. All castles.

Devil_JCS- So, there is not much I can do if this is happening except wait it out and hope he doesn't notice me? It doesn't happen every time but at least 75% of the time. Probably more like 90%. Rarely is it not Alba but it has been others once in awhile. Uhm, when I last played a year ago, it usually was one of the Norseman that did it but not nearly this often. What is fun is if you watched the show Vikings or The Last Kingdom, I recognized many of the names from the show. A year ago, Ivar the Boneless was the main dude that did this for me. These playthroughs, I have seen Ragnar several times but he never goes wild like Alba is doing now.

This has been actually fun going through this and learning stuff from you guys. I myself really don't see the point of making nations like Alba blow up peeps games like this so often. A year ago, it was like 25% of the time. But now, you put all that work into crafting your civ and some random monster comes down and wipes it out in minutes, often for no reason you did or can stop. That is just not fun.

[wolfpost]

Just so you know, every time my truce ends with the tribute ruler, he tries to stop paying me. So, it's basically useless to me as it is.