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So in demo i tried 6 times to survive as ethiopia. Every one of those attempts failed. Any good suggestions for release?
You mean Nubia? Yeah I've died within 1½ years pretty much every time. One suggestion I've read was to marry the daughter of the Kaiser - and when the Caliphate DOW the HRE will step in and ease the pressure on you. Haven't tried it though...
 
Start as the middle state, the duchy. You've got a couple years to offer fealty to the Caliphate before they smash you - once you're a vassal, you're a lot safer, and you have some time to build yourself up for independence. Even better, the Caliph will usually grant you titles on some of the adjacent provinces, since you're already the de jure leader and have the proper culture.

If the Caliph sets up new vassals in the rest of Abyssinia (and he usually does), you can also expand - they don't have any crown authority, so they can't stop you from picking a fight with the other vassals. Though keep in mind that the muslims in the area can hire mercenaries and holy orders, and you can't.

Occasionally the Caliph will demand conversion or send his imams over to convert your court; it's just a problem you'll have to deal with. Not a serious issue unless your heir gets converted just before taking power. Really, the Caliph is a pretty reasonable guy. Tends to offer me the position of Cupbearer. He just wants to be liked.
 
Could you try swearing fealty to a mega power like one of the Roman Emperors and hope that the Shia Caliph is too intimidated to touch you, maybe?
 
Seems a bit gamey to me -- what's Nubia start with in terms of unmarried dynasty members? You might be able to drag in a few allies with quick marriages.
 
Seems a bit gamey to me -- what's Nubia start with in terms of unmarried dynasty members? You might be able to drag in a few allies with quick marriages.

Unlikely. I know that in my game as Rostov I couldn't get any alliance marriages for my son and their position is a lot better than Nubia's albeit only a duchy vs a kingdom. So much for my usual ck1 marry Zoe plan...
 
Uh, are you sure kings can't swear fealty to emperors? I know for a fact kings can be the vassals of emperors.
I am speaking from direct experience. Kings can be vassals of emperors if they begin as a vassal duchy and form a kingdom without declaring independence, but kingdoms cannot swear fealty. Try it yourself.
 
This is what I did in my last game as the Duchy of Axum. Immeadetly declare war on the Duchy of Harer(they are muslims) and draft your armies but dont enter the enemy land because his force matches yours and you cant hire any mercenaries. Instead wait until the Kingdom of Abbyssinia declares war on Harer as well, with your new "ally" you should be able to conquer the enemy. A warning though, your forces must be first to beseige a province otherwise the Kingdom of Abbysinia will take it so be sure to immediately move your army to the next province once you(with the help of the forces of Abbysinia) have conquered it.

By doing this i managed to take Harer for myself. However I knew I was vulnerable and therefore I pledged alliance to the Byzantine Empire thereby hoping to prevent an imminent muslim attack. Due to your conquest you aslo have enough land to usurp the title "Kingdom of Abbysinia" from your neighbour. However pledging alliance to the Byzantine Empire was not as good as I had hoped. No one dared to declare war on me as I wanted but instead the Byzantine Emperor sent his court chaplian to my provinces and began converting my courtiers and vassals, including myself. Because I abandoned the monophysite heresy I got rebellions in all my provinces since all my provinces follow that faith.
 
Is it not possible through terms of wars to relinquish the title of King, being given title of count and then building up on that a treacherous comeback?
The only way I have been able to survive as Nubia is to give your son the southern county which the Caliphate has no claim on. Then you just sit and wait for your doom as Kingdom of Nubia and then you will play as your son, the count. Now that you are count you can pledge alliance to anyone, like the Byzantine Empire perhaps. But be warned, you will be the count of a low income province and I got bored pretty quick.
 
Survive as the king

You might call it gamey, but I have survived for over 10 years as the Ethiopian King. I had failed 2 times before. When Harer DOW'd the other Ethiopian Duchy, I declared war on Harer. I converted it into monophysit religion (I had a lot luck there. One province converted in one month. It was unbelievably fast, much fater than the probabilities told by the game). Other Ethiopian Duchy was conquered by the Caliphate. I married a princess(to become my queen) with high intrigue then appointed my spymaster to the province in which the caliphe resided. I sent 3 assasins. The first two were caught and I lost a LOT of credibility. The last one killed the caliphe. Then I killed a few of his children, this time without getting caught. Some factions tried to kill me by their assasins but I survived. New child caliphe is not liked by his Emirs and has three independence wars in his hand. I conquered one independent arab state, now I am trying to convert it. I have also repelled one holy war for Harer that came from Arabia.

Strange thing is that after succession of the first King, new King gave the duchy of Harer to his first son. This son declared war on an independent state to conquer it. I did not know he could do that with his own initiative. I do not seem to be at war. Daddy is proud(their fill his eyes).
 
There is already 2 threads here how to do it with Nubia. With beard designer is is easy. Without it is much trickier but still possible. Any other start place in Ephiopia is much-much simplier. Axium can swear fealty to Abbisinia or any megaempire, Abbisinia is second strongest after Egypt in region, Harer is muslim and all is sayed with it.

P.S. Looks like developers created Nubia for people who want to suffer, and endeed if you wanna play it prepare to suffer, ratio of successfull atempts is like 1 to 8.