Zoroastrian & Persian Empire Capital - need advice

Wolfmaster1979

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #1

I am doing an Ironman Zoroastrian playthrough and I finally had enough land to create the Persian Empire. My current capital is the duchy of Khiva. Now I getting to the point where I want to move my capital. I was thinking of moving it to Hamadan, since it appears to have very good defense and take another neighboring duchy. Or would I be better with the Esfahan, the de jure capital of the Persian Empire??

I have 2 big blobs to the west of me. That being: (1) Arabian Empire (2) Byzantine Empire, as seen below. That screenshot is 20-30 years outdated as I have grown and chipped away some of the Arabian Empire and the Byzantine Empire as grown. (I will replace this screenhot with an updated screenshot, when I get home from work.)

Screenshot updated...


In any case, can someone suggest a good, rich, defensive, high tech Duchy for my Persian Empire? I would love to have it in the mountains and have it fairly centered in the Empire for conquest and defense purposes.

Thanks in advance!!

 

Last edited: Sep 16, 2014

Damarrocarion

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #2

By befault, Eshefan is probably best for you due to Capital bonus. You can then keep a secondary duchy on the side like Fars or Tabaristan. Alternatively, individual wealthy counties like Baghdad & Tigris work as well.

 

Wolfmaster1979

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #3

Damarrocarion said:

By befault, Eshefan is probably best for you due to Capital bonus.

Click to expand...

What bonuses do you get with Eshefan, that you do not get with others??

Also, which bonuses do you get?

 

Damarrocarion

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• #4

Wolfmaster1979 said:

What bonuses do you get with Eshefan, that you do not get with others??

Also, which bonuses do you get?

Click to expand...

Don't "de-jure" capital provinces get the usual +25% levy reinforcement bonus and whatnot if held by you?

 

Tristana

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #5

Rename Baghdad to Tisfun (Ctesiphon) and follow in the footsteps of the Arsacids and Sassanids.

 

yourworstnightm

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #6

Persepolis of course (Fars).

 

S

skunkpuppy

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #7

I like Rayy a lot. So many holdings! But the problem with Persian capitals is that they are not coastal =(

 

Frogspawned

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #8

Personally, I like to de jure drift Basra into the Kingdom of Persia and claim it and Fars as my Demesne.

It's not got the most, but it has a respectable amount of holdings, and it gives a solid base at the north of the Persian gulf.

 

Lord_P

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #9

As the heir to the Persian empires of old, I suggest you drive your spear (no, not that one) right into the heart of the Romans and make Constantinople your capital. Do what the Sassanids never managed to do! Restore the glory of the Achaemenid!

 

JonStryker

ɹǝʞʎɹʇSuoſ

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #10

Connected counties with as many holding slots as possible. Not necessarily within 1-2 duchies: Just destroy all duchies you hold land in. The more provinces adjacent to an ocean the better (more money from cities).

 

Zolotaya

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #11

It really depends if you want to expand to the west (which it looks like you want) or the east into India.

For the western expansion I made Tigris and Basra duchies my demesne with the addition of Baghdad county as my capital. I also drifted Mesopotamia into Persia kingdom but you have already made the empire so that may not be warranted. This allowed me to concentrate my levies and mercenary hires when needed against the hordes and incursions of the competing powers.

For an eastern expansion, the duchy at the mouth of the Indus (Sindh I believe) is awesome - it is both coastal and you get the river defensive bonus. The second duchy can be either the one to the north of that or the one to the south-east or if you want to min-max you can take pieces of both of those and form a "greater Sindh" with the best of three duchies as your demesne.

If you want to stick to your fortress capital idea, I'd make Rayy the capital and then take Fars duchy as my second for my demesne.

 

Concrete

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #12

Tristana said:

Rename Baghdad to Tisfun (Ctesiphon) and follow in the footsteps of the Arsacids and Sassanids.

Click to expand...

This is the go alright.

Spoiler

If this wasn't ironman I'd probably change to Punjab, which is Zoroastrian and Persian; formed by an adventurer. I blocked them off from abusing their event stack to make a weird northern Indian snake of a nation, but I think it would be neat to be one of two independent Zoroastrian nations in the world; and the absolutely tiny and relatively insignificant one at that.
At least until the AI tears the Persian Empire apart.

 

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IsadorBG

General

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Dec 19, 2011

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #13

Mecqua. You know you want it...

Or if you feel nostalgic. Athene or Sparta your choice.

 

Scotty the Scot

Angry Wannabe Scotsman

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #14

Persian Emperors chose their capitals to suit their needs, and it would change with every Emperor.

Just choose the one that you think is best.

 

Wolfmaster1979

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #15

Thanks for the input... I checked out the duchies and it seems like most of them have building already built (lots of castles and temples) in the de jure PE capital. I was hoping to build cities for the cash, but it doesn't look like I can do it. However in both Kermanshah & Khorasan, there is still room to grow (I mean build my cities), so I am thinking I can move there. Plus Kermanshah has both river crossing and mountains for defensive fighting (if needed). That sounds really nice to me... It is also centered for me to expand in both directions (east & west).

Wolfmaster1979 said:

I will replace this screenhot with an updated screenshot, when I get home from work.

Click to expand...

The map is updated...

Zolotaya said:

If you want to stick to your fortress capital idea, I'd make Rayy the capital and then take Fars duchy as my second for my demesne.

Click to expand...

Why take Fars? What is the benifit of doing so??

 

S

Steelbadger

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #16

Personally I generally go with Baghdad as my capital duchy in a Persian Empire. It has a ludicrous number of holdings and is one of the most heavily developed duchies even at game start. Once fully upgraded it has the same power as a proper kingdom. Once I get enough legalism I also take personal control of Tigris. Between those two that leaves me pretty much unassailable in Mesopotamia which makes me hard to oust from the Persian Empire leadership. Sure Persia is, I think, more powerful and defensible than Mesopotamia but I prefer raw numbers and the ability to combine my levies quickly into large stacks over the defensive benefits of mountainous terrain.

Also, Mesopotamia is generally closer to the 'front line'. Assuming you continue to expand out to Jerusalem, it's nice to have the capital in Mesopotamia simply because it cuts reaction time in half in the event of a crusade.

 

yourworstnightm

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #17

Wolfmaster1979 said:

Why take Fars? What is the benifit of doing so??

Click to expand...

Persepolis was there, and thus it's a blasphemy for a Persian king/ emperor not to control it directly.

 

Federalist girl

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #18

Change between Cteiphon (gone; now Baghdad), Ecbatana (Hamadan I think), and Susa (I forget the modern name) depending on season.

Edit: Persepolis actually isn't in Fars, or at least not the Fars county seen in the game. Look at its coordinates on a map: it'd fall in Shiraz or Esafahan. In fact, I think Shiraz has a temple holding named Persepolis.

 

Wolfmaster1979

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #19

I think for the time being I am going to have Khorasan as my Duchy and Rayy as my capital. I gives me 2 slots for building, so I can build some stuff. With that in mind, what should I build there? Any suggestions? Currently there is 2 castles, 2 temples and 1 town... I was thinking of building 2 more towns for the tech bonuses...

later on, I might go for Bagdad, but for now I think this location fits my current goals (expanding westward and cutting down the big green blob...
(as seen in the screenshot)

yourworstnightm said:

Persepolis was there, and thus it's a blasphemy for a Persian king/ emperor not to control it directly.

Click to expand...

I see, so it is more for Role-Playing purposes than anything else??

 

Last edited: Sep 16, 2014

yourworstnightm

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• Sep 16, 2014

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• #20

Wolfmaster1979 said:

I see, so it is more for Role-Playing purposes than anything else??

Click to expand...

Yup