Reading through the forums, I get the impression that the overwhelming majority of the players here play games from the 1066 start and not after. I was wondering if anybody else, like me, prefers to start at certain later dates, and why? Or, heck, why do a lot of players seem to prefer playing from the 1066 start (or at least that's my impression)? I guess it's simply to have a longer, and thus more rewarding game?
I like to choose later dates for different roleplaying purposes, I suppose, or rather to put myself into scenarios that I personally find more interesting; for instance, in one of my games, starting in 1337, I played as a Renaissance-era Italian noble seeking to unite the fractured Italian states - I succeeded in creating a Kingdom of Italy, though the game ended with my Middle Eastern-looking king reigning over a Kingdom that just recovered from a bloody series of civil wars following the death of the first king; in another game, starting right after the Byzantine reclamation of Constantinople, I played as a generation of loyal Byzantine dukes trying to help the Emperor/Empress return Byzantium to its former glory (no matter how terribly atrocious the Emperor/Empress was). I also suppose I also have a bit of an obsession with wanting to start a game when the Byzantines are under the Komnenian or Palaiologan dynasties, and not wanting to start a game when William the Conqueror's position isn't secure (I have a bit of a soft spot for him for some reason).
I like to choose later dates for different roleplaying purposes, I suppose, or rather to put myself into scenarios that I personally find more interesting; for instance, in one of my games, starting in 1337, I played as a Renaissance-era Italian noble seeking to unite the fractured Italian states - I succeeded in creating a Kingdom of Italy, though the game ended with my Middle Eastern-looking king reigning over a Kingdom that just recovered from a bloody series of civil wars following the death of the first king; in another game, starting right after the Byzantine reclamation of Constantinople, I played as a generation of loyal Byzantine dukes trying to help the Emperor/Empress return Byzantium to its former glory (no matter how terribly atrocious the Emperor/Empress was). I also suppose I also have a bit of an obsession with wanting to start a game when the Byzantines are under the Komnenian or Palaiologan dynasties, and not wanting to start a game when William the Conqueror's position isn't secure (I have a bit of a soft spot for him for some reason).