White Hun achievement attempt - what DLCs would you turn off?

[Myll]

Now that more players will have the complete CK2 game, what DLCs among the complete game are best to turn off if a player wants to run through a game and earn the White Hun achievement?
Seems like Jade Dragon DLC (China options and related effects) may make the attempt more difficult, but I'm trying to confirm that.

[Merkatz]

Oh, I got this achievement with all of them on. The Western Protectorate can be a pain, but at the same time, you'll be choosing the earliest start date and the Tibetan Empire can actually bloody China's nose, but it feels like a 50-50 thing if they do or not.

Turning off defensive pacts definitely makes the attempt easier... but at the same time, you could just unify India first and by then, Tibet and the Abbasids/whoever succeeds them are usually too large to join defensive pacts and you'd have very easy control points against everyone else. (By controlling India you'd have no one to the east or south of you to worry about).

[Myll]

Originally posted by Merkatz:

Oh, I got this achievement with all of them on. The Western Protectorate can be a pain, but at the same time, you'll be choosing the earliest start date and the Tibetan Empire can actually bloody China's nose, but it feels like a 50-50 thing if they do or not.

Turning off defensive pacts definitely makes the attempt easier... but at the same time, you could just unify India first and by then, Tibet and the Abbasids/whoever succeeds them are usually too large to join defensive pacts and you'd have very easy control points against everyone else. (By controlling India you'd have no one to the east or south of you to worry about).

True, and that would be a "rebound" strategy that could work well, for certain. I'm doing a quirky play through where I'm going to try and stay Saka culture throughout as much as possible, although there will be some changes, but by the time I get Primogeniture in place, I think I could have Saka solidified. Truly a "White Hun" takeover, and not just marrying whoever/wherever.

[OathKeeper81]

I've been preferable to all expansions enabled except Sunset Invasion.

Be a true White Hun and go nomadic. Never relinquish your Saka culture and return to Zoroastrian:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrusaderKings/comments/ee8yk5/going_back_to_ancestral_roots_white_hun/

[Merkatz]

Originally posted by OathKeeper81:

I've been preferable to all expansions enabled except Sunset Invasion.

Be a true White Hun and go nomadic. Never relinquish your Saka culture and return to Zoroastrian:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrusaderKings/comments/ee8yk5/going_back_to_ancestral_roots_white_hun/

Zunist works too. The Hepthalites are believed to be the ones that brought his shrine to Zamindawar.

[Myll]

Originally posted by Merkatz:

Originally posted by OathKeeper81:

I've been preferable to all expansions enabled except Sunset Invasion.

Be a true White Hun and go nomadic. Never relinquish your Saka culture and return to Zoroastrian:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrusaderKings/comments/ee8yk5/going_back_to_ancestral_roots_white_hun/

Zunist works too. The Hepthalites are believed to be the ones that brought his shrine to Zamindawar.

To dive deeper into the renewed history search for truth on the White Huns, there was a recent assessment that the branch off to northern India was not part of the core Hephthalites and was actually a totally separate group (some argue had no relation to Hephthalites at all) but they also received a "White Hun" label simply due to skin color and mounted fighting style, from the Indians who first made contact with them, so technically - Paradox's portrayal is of that second branch and not the true/original Hephthalites. As for the core Hephthalites, they didn't write down much to retain their history, and what they did write was Greek alphabet usage whereas it was a localized dialect put into Greek looking words, if that makes sense (and not truly Greek), so there are arguments that the Hephthalites could have been Alexander the Great/Greek descendants who never went back home to Greece, while making themselves a melting pot of people/culture while they fought and controlled territory. They clearly had some bloodline connections to Mongolians as well, but were totally separate from Chinese culture (Asian bloodlines probably blended in broadly). As for religion, the giant Buddahs in Bamian (that Taliban blew up) were supposedly a Hephthalite construction project, yet some Hephthalites were anti-Buddhist and destroyed Buddhist areas (depended who was in charge at the time), as there are later some Nestorian (Christian) Hephthalites that work as mercenaries when the Hephthalite empire is waning, that tatood themselves with crosses to show their faith on their bodies. It looks like they took on Nestorian Christianity before the empire crumbled, in fact. I was just surprised that CK2 starts you as Hindu, and Saka. The starting religion should be Buddhist or Nestorian (since CK2 portrays them after fall of the empire), and should have an Asian/Greek mixed race that is unique, perhaps even simply named "Hephthalite" as their culture instead of guessing toward Saka/Iranian or Mongolian.

[TrickyFingers08]

Originally posted by Myll:

Originally posted by Merkatz:

Zunist works too. The Hepthalites are believed to be the ones that brought his shrine to Zamindawar.

To dive deeper into the renewed history search for truth on the White Huns, there was a recent assessment that the branch off to northern India was not part of the core Hephthalites and was actually a totally separate group (some argue had no relation to Hephthalites at all) but they also received a "White Hun" label simply due to skin color and mounted fighting style, from the Indians who first made contact with them, so technically - Paradox's portrayal is of that second branch and not the true/original Hephthalites. As for the core Hephthalites, they didn't write down much to retain their history, and what they did write was Greek alphabet usage whereas it was a localized dialect put into Greek looking words, if that makes sense (and not truly Greek), so there are arguments that the Hephthalites could have been Alexander the Great/Greek descendants who never went back home to Greece, while making themselves a melting pot of people/culture while they fought and controlled territory. They clearly had some bloodline connections to Mongolians as well, but were totally separate from Chinese culture (Asian bloodlines probably blended in broadly). As for religion, the giant Buddahs in Bamian (that Taliban blew up) were supposedly a Hephthalite construction project, yet some Hephthalites were anti-Buddhist and destroyed Buddhist areas (depended who was in charge at the time), as there are later some Nestorian (Christian) Hephthalites that work as mercenaries when the Hephthalite empire is waning, that tatood themselves with crosses to show their faith on their bodies. It looks like they took on Nestorian Christianity before the empire crumbled, in fact. I was just surprised that CK2 starts you as Hindu, and Saka. The starting religion should be Buddhist or Nestorian (since CK2 portrays them after fall of the empire), and should have an Asian/Greek mixed race that is unique, perhaps even simply named "Hephthalite" as their culture instead of guessing toward Saka/Iranian or Mongolian.

Thank you for the interesting post. 👍