Best focus for young king of little Kingdom?

[jpinard]

Paradox forum - you guys have been amazing this week. So I thought I'd push my luck with yet another thread

My King just died and my 19 year just took over and I am stuck in a focus rut. I keep using the same couple of focus's and have been doing this for 4 generations of kings because I'm afraid of wasting 5 years on a bad focus.

So my current situation is what you see in the image below. Good overall stats, Vassals are OK, Bishops don't care for me yet. Trying to stay ahead in the tech game, trying to build up a warchest, trying to build up country to handle inevitable war with Umayyad's. I had a fantastic alliance with the Byzantine, Lombard, and French Empires, but those all went away when my king died (I did not know that would happen)

I have no pacts and no alliances. My wife is pregnant, and my oldest child is a genius (wife is genius), but she became chaste this year. I don't know if I should try to have a ton of kids in the first 5 years, focus on money ala business focus, go for learning, seduction, no clue. I need your help! I also don't know what different events come with different focus's but with my King being so young (19) I need to nurture him as best I can and not waste these years on a focus that won't be productive. Any ideas would be wonderful! (hope you can read the stats)

 

[Matthias_Wlkp]

If you still have blood ties, you should be able to rebuild the non-aggression pacts and alliances trough diplomatic decision. Better do it quick...

IMHO, your priority should be to stop the Umayyads - I'm quite sure you are in their top3 targets for holy wars.

As for focus - I'd go most likely for Business - you will need cash for Mercs and if you die, your next in line is a genius.

OR - convert to Islam and join the party.

This is why I'm not really a fan of Charlemagne bookmark...

 

[DarthDanMan]

How are you sayyid? Carousing focus is another option. With it you would be able to be become a Grey Eminence if RNG allows it.

 

[Boodas]

off-topic but could you tell the story about the custom AI kingdom of Belgrade?

 

[StarSword]

I'd go with Business for your first little while for the money. There's also a chance through the "build a tower" event chain to get a trait that improves your proficiency at sieges.

Switch to War if the Umayyads become a (more?) direct threat: the buffs to Martial from war games and the like can pay off. Hunting is another good one: Martial points, chances to recruit commanders, health buffs, and IIRC the "Holding a Grand Hunt" option is a good way to raise vassal opinions.

 

[jpinard]

How are you sayyid? Carousing focus is another option. With it you want be able to be become a Grey Eminence if RNG allows it.

When I started the game I began as the Duke of Provence. I created a custom character that had the traits "Quick" and "Sayyid". I always choose Sayyid when making a custom ruler as it makes them easier to spot. In a search if they're Euro-white and have the Sayyid or Mirza symbol, they generally came from me

If you still have blood ties, you should be able to rebuild the non-aggression pacts and alliances trough diplomatic decision. Better do it quick...
IMHO, your priority should be to stop the Umayyads - I'm quite sure you are in their top3 targets for holy wars.
As for focus - I'd go most likely for Business - you will need cash for Mercs and if you die, your next in line is a genius.

I did not know I could rebuild an alliance through old blood ties cool! <edit> Well I just tried to do that with Lombardy and Byzantium (non-aggression pact) and they both said no. Not sure why? And the weirdest thing is I cannot find my relative in the Byzantium Empire anymore. Is there an easy way to do a search through their Empire for my relative? Or in Dynasty page or something? It's like she disappeared, but I'm guessing if I can ask for non-aggression pact she must be in there somewhere?

See I wasn't sure if maybe I should go the Seduction or Family focus to try and have a lot more kids or not. I switched to "Agnatic-Cognatic Elective" a while ago so I'm not worried about having to divvy up my properties to a bunch of different sons. I'd hoped it would mean I can always choose the best candidate for king/queen from my kids, but maybe I'm in for trouble - lol.

I don't know how the learning focus's work, but if I didn't have to worry about the Umayyad's would one of those have been good to jump-start a character that would give me more positive traits faster? Also, I have never used the Rulership, or Scholarship focus's because they seem crappy compared to their siblings.

 

[jpinard]

off-topic but could you tell the story about the custom AI kingdom of Belgrade?

That started with Jeno Jeno under Khagan Tarjan of Magya. He was executed on May 6, 778 but not before the game had generated his kids from that early start. His oldest son, Dexo Jenofi, died at 44 leaving a few kids. He ruled several counties in the Magyar realm. His wife was murdered at age 55. Jeno Jeno's youngest son, Elek somehow became King of Belgrade. He was Khanate of Bulgaria, and also Count of Belgrade. He lived to be 66 and died of natural causes though at that point he was possessed His wife however only lived to the age of 55 as she was murdered as well like the previous generation's mother. King Elek did not remarry and I'm surprised his wife lasted as long as she did seeing how she had 11 kids!

Of those kids, the oldest was a girl who got nothing, the second oldest was a son named Borisz who later became "the Shadow". He inherited that throne and he has a ton of claims (see screenshot). His titles include the Kingdom of Belgrade, the Duchy of Raskha, and the County of Belgrade. Of his siblings, Konrad died at age 45 under mysterious circumstances, and Konrad's wife sits in jail. She's part of the Zoroastrian heresy so it's not known if she was jailed due to that or because her husband tried to take a title. Anorher sibling, Tarjan Elekfi died in battle against Khagan Gellert of Magyar at the young age of 19.

The kingdom of Belgrade is in trouble. King Borisz and his wife never had any kids. He's now 54, his wife Sofija is a whopping 63, and the current heir, Adarn is 52 years old, who's wife is in jail and they too have no children. In fact of all those 11 children, not a single Prince has had a child. The oldest siser however has 3 sons and a daughter. Something that seems to define this family is way too many are chaste, and several are homosexual. The family is smaller now than a generation ago.

 

[Azarias59]

You know you can re-negotiate those alliances, right? (If only paradox gave the AI the same capability).

 

[Boodas]

Wow that was more than I expected. Thank you.

 

[jpinard]

You know you can re-negotiate those alliances, right? (If only paradox gave the AI the same capability).

I now see that. I also found though the pact wasn't in my own pact screen, when I went to Byzantium screen and checked under pacts my girl was there. Now if I can just get them to agree to non-aggression then I can go for alliance.

Wow that was more than I expected. Thank you.

Hope it was entertaining

 

[furytale]

I'd say diplomatic education is useless now (and you can't level it with carousing btw, only family), you should go military early game and stewardship later on. Rulership is always good for young kings (to get diligent/ambitious/just), switch to hunter if you got stressed or already got diligent. Diligent is required to get +1 health from training your dog later. Just can be obtained from hold a feast decision.

But for rulership you need to have some money and some vassals for it. In your situation I'd go for business or hunting straight away and try to neutralize umayyad treat by capturing some christian neighbours, improving demesne in terms of levy numbers and building larger retinue.

 

[jpinard]

Awesome thanks furrytail. Any suggestions on how I can decrease the size of my court? I'm afraid I've gone way over the limit. I'd prefer to trim it without cheating.

 

[furytale]

Awesome thanks furrytail. Any suggestions on how I can decrease the size of my court? I'm afraid I've gone way over the limit. I'd prefer to trim it without cheating.

It's usually not a problem, as it neither affect your ability to have children nor limits their number. Just clear your prison (release if you can't ransom), and don't marry your courtiers. As the game progresses it starts to kill any unlanded unmarried jobless characters.

 

[jpinard]

Oh awesome thanks! I was afraid I was not going to be able to have children with my king and aqueen since the court was at 59.

 

[Robert II]

I'd go with business now and hope for some luck with the minting coins event firing so you have some money. Does the Ummayad ruler have a young daughter? With a favour you might be able to get a marriage for your son and an alliance. Use the muslims to expand a bit before stabbing them in the back.

Scholarship I try and use once per ruler for the massive amount of techpoints you get.

 

[jpinard]

I'd say diplomatic education is useless now (and you can't level it with carousing btw, only family), you should go military early game and stewardship later on. Rulership is always good for young kings (to get diligent/ambitious/just), switch to hunter if you got stressed or already got diligent. Diligent is required to get +1 health from training your dog later. Just can be obtained from hold a feast decision.

But for rulership you need to have some money and some vassals for it. In your situation I'd go for business or hunting straight away and try to neutralize umayyad treat by capturing some christian neighbours, improving demesne in terms of levy numbers and building larger retinue.

When you say diplomatic education is useless now. Are you suggesting I never have my children choose either of the blue focus's when they're growing up? Is it useless because you can get those as an adult?

So I did really well with business focus. I don't have a tower built for me, but I did earn the trader and business contacts perks. Will I lose those if I switch to hunting so I can do grand hunt?

 

[StarSword]

So I did really well with business focus. I don't have a tower built for me, but I did earn the trader and business contacts perks. Will I lose those if I switch to hunting so I can do grand hunt?

No, you keep any perks you earn through foci after changing, though some of them have expiration dates.

 

[Strangedane]

Scholarship I try and use once per ruler for the massive amount of techpoints you get.

I always go scholarship on all starting characters.
The tech advantage early can be absolutely cruhing.

And on the random chance of finding a mad arab, you'll be so much ahead that it's not even funny.
+200 mil, + 200 economy and + 600 cultural tech in the first 5 years of the game is a really big deal.

 

[furytale]

When you say diplomatic education is useless now. Are you suggesting I never have my children choose either of the blue focus's when they're growing up? Is it useless because you can get those as an adult?

So I did really well with business focus. I don't have a tower built for me, but I did earn the trader and business contacts perks. Will I lose those if I switch to hunting so I can do grand hunt?

First, diplomacy is hard to level up, in case you finish with less than perfect education. Second, state diplomacy gives very little bonus to opinion about you. Imho it's better to have good traits (diligent+just+brave+kind) than to have high diplomacy stat. Therefore, I usually choose Struggle(martial) or Thrift(business) as childhood focus. Business is easy to level up with Rulership or Business, and Martial... well it's even easier but risky You can end up craven maimed incapable for next 20 years.

I'd recommend to read Education_(Conclave) and Focus wiki articles if you want to fully understand what are you doing with education.

 

[jpinard]

First, diplomacy is hard to level up, in case you finish with less than perfect education. Second, state diplomacy gives very little bonus to opinion about you. Imho it's better to have good traits (diligent+just+brave+kind) than to have high diplomacy stat. Therefore, I usually choose Struggle(martial) or Thrift(business) as childhood focus. Business is easy to level up with Rulership or Business, and Martial... well it's even easier but risky You can end up craven maimed incapable for next 20 years.

I'd recommend to read Education_(Conclave) and Focus wiki articles if you want to fully understand what are you doing with education.

Fantastic, thank you. This really helps me understand the system better.