There are some mods (CKPlus) that solve this problem of big realms being far too stable really well.
Unfortunately as you yourself admitted you haven't had enough experience with the game so far bc of only two serious runs. I can assure you your experience is not typicalI have no idea what people are complaining about.
Given i have only played 2 serious run's , One as france and the other as britanny.
Either way in both games the Muslims are a joke. As France i completely crushed them. Utterly destroyed the African muslim nations and was easily able to take and hold Egypt + Jerusalem. The only threat on the map , as it is in most games is ERE , and a various times the Khans.
As Britanny the Muslims are getting owned by Iberia + France + Me (conquered England and Ireland with ease , now just rofl stomping the east pagans).
Overall i think the Muslims are still far too weak. They just don't seem very strong considering they are supposed to be really advanced in their tech's. My one complaint and thing i agree with is i think ERE and HRE pretty much never crumble. They never pose a direct threat to me in any of my games , and its usually easy to get a claim on HRE (they marry their princesses off like they are nothing) and wait till a civil war to take it (which makes the game boring once you have it). But if the player doesn't intervene , none of the AI nations like Poland or Hungary or even the Muslims ever take advantage of HRE and ERE's periods of immense weakness. So i don't think the problem is with them being too strong or vassals not rebelling enough (they rebel every time emperor changes). I think the issue is the fact the AI are content to sit within their own little kingdoms and the Muslims are only ever interested in Iberia , and any occupied lands that are de jure part of the muslim world (successful crusades). Maybe the Muslims were not historically invaders (i really don't know) , but it wouldn't hurt to see other countries get a bit ambitious.
I've seen a Polish-Hungarian-Lithuanian-Denmark blob (yep, 4 kingdoms) for a decade or so...I've had quite a few games where the Caliphates and Euro-Blobs just deteriorate into an unstable mess after every succession.
No that's ordothox christian and they had seprate pope.
Byzantine Empire was Orthodox not Christian, however Orthodox is part of the Christianty. So that means only Christian Orthodox were beaten badly.
With this logic you can say that russian are mongols. And that all westren cultures are the same.
You know what I mean, but in a way you are right they were part of the Christianty.
Well, being a two-province king like Navarra can be fun. Especially since he can't just casually assassinate his way to half of Iberia like Castille or Leon can.why did you start as a king thats boring as hell >.>
Everything was funny, execpt this.
Really please prove that muslims ever invaded european soil, since that is nonexistent
Only Ottomans have done this, and that was long after this period.
This doesn't solve the problem of over-powered blobs however. The king/emperor of even a low authority realm can usually raise substantial numbers of levies from his vassals, leading to the HRE conquering massive tracts of land. I don't think you should nerf this as such; you don't want an HRE that can't defend itself against Denmark for example, but on the same hand it is problematic currently. I would suggest that (at least at lower levels of crown authority) vassals should only provide levies for a non-personal casus belli. For example, a king going and pressing a claim, vassals don't provide levies because it is a purely selfish war. The empire under attack: Emperor can raise levies in defence of the realm. It would mean that the playing field is somewhat levelled in terms of expansion, because kings and emperors, like everyone else, would only be able to use their personal levies for most conquests, and it would help smaller nations defend against these incursions.
I like this idea, and it makes sense. Sometimes it only takes one man stepping forward to unleash a storm of resentment...One problem is that there aren't enough wars to lower crown authority specifically. These were by far the most common forms of rebellion by barons (getting a king to stop ruling in such an arbitrary/tyranical manner). The plot to lower crown authority needs to be strengthened, and I think the default position for any noble should be to support this plot if crown authority is above low. Should it come to war, then nobles nominally supporting the king at the start should have the option to support the rebels, meaning that even a relatively weak plot can become a strong rebellion.
I think the major issue with Emperor vs Rebels is that there is absolutely no sideways loyalty in the AI. If every Duke in the Empire revolted at once, the Emperor could still easily win because his own troops from his own demense is still far larger than ANY ONE of his rebelling vassals. If all of the vassals got together and piled their forces into a single doomstack, they could actually give him a run for his money. But no, they all try to go it alone. "Divided they fall".This doesn't solve the problem of over-powered blobs however. The king/emperor of even a low authority realm can usually raise substantial numbers of levies from his vassals, leading to the HRE conquering massive tracts of land.
"For example, a king going and pressing a claim, vassals don't provide levies because it is a purely selfish war."
This is a good idea but I think it shouldn't be entirely banned. Rather the King should have to call on his vassals as if they were independent rulers. So if he has married a vassal's relative and has good relations with them (and they have bad relations with his enemy) they might assist but they would be doing so by choice, not by obligation.
Uh, no, it's not worked in as Crown Authority.
Crown Authority means that a King can levy troops without any potential interaction with the Dukes/Counts. It's instantaneous, and they have no say in the matter.
And the complete lack of tactical loyalty upwards means that an autonomous rule results in the Dukes and Counts NEVER levying their troops in order to aid their King. Not unless they're a player, anyways.
This is already worked into crown authority. At autonomous, they give you levies only if they like you (0% required)