A Newbie in Ireland

[Saul]

Hello,

I've watched several hours of tutorials on YouTube and read lots of posts and articles. I think I have an understanding of the basic principles of the game. But I can't make any real progress.

I've started (several times) a game in 1066 as the Count of Deasmhumhain in Ireland. I'm trying to become the Duke of Mumu. I would like to achieve this by force because, as of now, I'm not skilled in expansion by marriage and succession (although I have married or betrothed all my children to other dynasties in Northern Ireland, in the hope that something may come out of it).

So I've fabricated a claim on Locha Lein and declared war on the Duke of Mumu (in 1075). I instantly (the game was on slowest speed) raised all the available levies I had, a total of almost 1000 men. The Count of Locha Lein had around 700. Just to make sure, I paid 150 gold to get an additional 1600 mercenaries.

I merged all three units and sent them off to Locha Lein. However, before they even got there they got attacked by an army sent by the Duke of Mumu which defeated them very quickly.

So I am at a loss. I know what I'm supposed to do but I just can't seem to understand how to do it. I don't want to start with a duchy because I feel I should learn the ropes first with a small land.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[eastcoastceo]

^ Yeah, keep giving it a try, you will eventually find a play style that works for you.

I know my earlier post was long, but maybe the best solution here is to just play as the Duke of Mumu instead of the count of Deasmhumhain. The Duke of Mumu was where Arumba started in his classic 2013 YouTube tutorial video, so it is a solid choice for learning the ropes.

Also, the Duke of Mumu already has a free CB to attack Deasmhumhain: The CB called "De Jure claim on Deasmhumhain" will make that county part of your realm.

Of course, after the war, the Count of Deasmhumhain will be mad at you for a decade for declaring war on him, so he may try to kill you or rebel against you. If you want Deasmhumhain for yourself, you will need to fabricate a claim first, then you can attack him.

[Jiks]

Saul - one very powerful tool you might not be aware of is the character finder button, bottom right of your screen by default. In there you can find people outside your realm willing to join you for free or for gold, usually 15.

There you can often find better commanders or councillors which is very handy ... a marshal with 20 in that skill training troops can increase your army size significantly, for example.

[xycotta]

1) Post screen shots of your commanders
2) What is your levies and merc troop makeup? Light infantry, archers, heavy infantry
3) use terrain
4) What traits do the enemy commanders have
5) Having the mercs guard is kind of a waste, if they are strong enough to hit the duke army use them while you fight the count.

I think you can win this numberwise, something is off somewhere

[Admiral Obvious]

Originally posted by Saul:

1Maybe I've got it wrong, but most beginner tutorials suggest focusing on expanding within the De Jure duchy of your starting county. I also found it more logical (expanding into a neighbouring county rather than a county which is weaker but further away).

2Do you mean this because of the higher number of troops he can levy (from 3 counties vs 1 = more soldiers)?

3When I click on the "Select Commander" button I get a very limited list of people and my heir isn't among them. Does the list exclude people who are busy elsewhere (such as being chancellor or spymaster)?

Originally posted by eastcoastceo:

If you have the Sons of Abraham DLC, you can borrow 300 gold from the Jews

4I only have two DLCs (not that one) and I try to play with them deactivated to learn the base game first. But I've seen someone on YouTube do that, hoped it wasn't the only option...

Off to try this again...

1. The reason people reccomend expansion into De Jure territory is the fact that you can form the next tier of title. Usually, if you're attacking into another higher tier title, you've got good reason to, such as enough power to usurp that title. Expanding outside of De Jure territory is fine, as it will increase your personally held titles, and therefore power.

2. Generally, more titles means more men. More men means faster sieges. It also means more income overall.

3. Chancellors on active jobs can't lead armies. The Marshal automatically comes with a commander title too, but in order to lead an army, he can't be doing any other job like training, or anything like that. Other councilors can lead armies, but they need the commander minor title, and they can't be "at work".

4. Sons of Abraham gives you the "I want money now button", which pretty much enables you to win whatever war you want initially in Ireland. It's definitely more of a challenge to do without, obviously, but that's part of the game.

[Shrombor]

so i did the same route you did watch vids lookin at strats and all that and it did make things more clear but it did squat in actual gameplay i kept having real short games however in a battle there is all that troop moral,whose attacking what, and tech everyone is saying but it aint that useful it usually boils down to whoever has the bigger number.

[Saul]

Thank you all for your comments. Finally managed to do it!

I had to wait a bit more to have 400 gold. Then I sent the whole force on the Duke's army instead of Locha Lein, got a victory, and then started sieging Locha Lein. Every time the Duke's army would come back I'd fight it again, because I managed to split the force into roughly 1000 and 1400 which was enough to handle both fronts. This got my war score up pretty quickly. Took two years, but the mercs were still around and I finished with 100 gold in reserve.

Now of course I'm discovering the problem of succession, gavelkind and how on Earth I'm supposed to actually keep the spoils in the family... But that's another issue entirely.

Thanks a lot again for your time and patience!

[xycotta]

Congrats!

[jodidosciervos]

You should try to make an alliance with some duke or count close to you,that helped me a lot when I was new in this game. Use a marriage to create a non agression pact,try to build up relations with your chancellor and sign one alliance ,takes luck and time sometimes but is totally worth it,I was lucky and I got one alliance with some petty kingdom/duke on Wales and those extra troops in every war were a great help.

[Saul]

A few game hours later (plus tons of wiki pages), I'm wondering if I could have avoided the following: I managed to win another war and hold 3 of the 4 counties in the Duchy of Mumu. I was hoping the game would offer me the possibility of becoming duke. This didn't happen. Instead, my demesne size is now 3 (with a maximum of 2). I thought I'd give one county to my heir but when it happened I realised he could actually become my enemy (there was a 10 years truce delcared). In the Duchy of Mumu page the "Usurp" button is grayed out because the Duke of Mumu is at war – a crusade actually, which could take years to end.

My question: is this avoidable? If I choose the path of gaining land as a count in the hope of becoming a duke, do I need to make sure the duke doesn't go to war so I can usurp the duchy?

[eastcoastceo]

Originally posted by Saul:

my demesne size is now 3 (with a maximum of 2). I thought I'd give one county to my heir... In the Duchy of Mumu page the "Usurp" button is grayed out because the Duke of Mumu is at war – a crusade actually, which could take years to end.

My question: is this avoidable? If I choose the path of gaining land as a count in the hope of becoming a duke, do I need to make sure the duke doesn't go to war so I can usurp the duchy?

Sometimes the timing doesn't work out, but you are doing all the correct things.

You are correct to not give away your 3rd county to your heir, which would just make him independent and leave your realm. Once you are a duke, you can give counties away, and they will stay your vassal.

Assuming that the war the duke of Mumu is involved is the First Crusade for Jerusalem, it should end relatively quickly, as the Pope usually wins the first one when starting from 1066. Then usurp before the Duke of Mumu starts another war. In the meantime, just hold onto that extra county, as the penalty isn't too bad for just being one over the limit.

You may also want to look for ways to raise your stewardship so you can continue to hold that 3rd county indefinitely. You can marry a high stewardship wife (10+ stewardship will add one to your domain limit), or see if you can change your centralization laws (may need to be a duke for that). If you had Way of Life DLC, you can choose the business focus, which will add +2 to your stewardship, and give you a chance to boost stewardship even higher through events.


TL; DR- just keep doing what you're doing, and it will work itself out soon enough.

[Saul]

Originally posted by eastcoastceo:

Originally posted by Saul:

TL; DR- just keep doing what you're doing, and it will work itself out soon enough.

Thank you. This is most reassuring! I finally had the duke assassinated only to realise that his heir was continuing the very same crusade. But it finally ended and my usurpation worked out. This is a fascinating game. Thanks again.

[KB]

One Thing is, that you cannot declare war with Levies raised, however with Mercs, Retinues and Event Troops, you can, so hiring the Mercs before you declare War might be a good Idea. Also, as a Count, and even a Duke, it can be quite tricky to pay for Mercenaries, don't be afraid to use the borrow money Decision in the Intrigue tab, the 300 Gold can easily support a small group of Mercs for a small War. Also, use the Charachter finder, filter for People willing to join your Court, and then sort them by their Martial stat, Don't settle for Mediocre Commanders. (I don't know if outher people already said those things, i don't have the Time to read all comments, sorry.)

[kaiyl_kariashi]

You could always swear fealty, then tear the duchy apart from the inside.

Just sit back, and build up your personal holdings, and keep an eye out easy conquests in Ireland. Make the realm bigger. Even if it's making your liege stronger overall, it'll eventually be yours when you take over.

If you're stuggling as independant, then be a vassal instead. You lose a little bit of freedom but gain protection.

So if you wanna take ormand, you could just swear to the duke, now you're vassals under the same liege and then just attack him, and the duke can't do anything about it. Then once you've got most of the duchy under your control, you can simply rebel and take over.