I love the unpredictability of this game sometimes.
The best way to play it is to simply ride along with anything that happens.
So my ruler suddenly becomes wounded in combat, a few months later he dies, in the critical moment of a military campaign, and with realm duress growing in the realm. His heir is about as unlikeable as you can imagine - weak-willed, coward, vengeful and deceitful, and only 11 years old. It doesn't take long until his courtiers start to leave, regiments abandon the campaign and vassals revolt. So I'm forced to settle for a peace treaty giving me much less than I had planned.
He grows up and more and more courtiers leave the court, at one point he has only two courtiers that still have a positive loyalty gain (and I made sure to make them steward and spy master, despite really low scores in stewardship and intrigue, I've learned the hard way what disloyal courtiers in these positions can do).
Yet two decades later, he is the most succesful ruler the dynasty has ever had. He managed to achieve gaining that king of Croatia title that I had been aspiring for for nearly a century, and neither of his predecessors had managed to accomplish. His court is still small, but there are enough loyal members to keep the court positions filled and his vassals are devotedly loyal. The stability of the realm has gone from -1 to +3 under his rule and he has maintained a good reputation throughout all his conquests.
I so appreciate that there is never any need to give up or reload - even the worst of rulers can become successful as events unfold and you can never predict the destiny of your realm. His heir looks very competent, but could become the one who losses control of the entire realm...
The best way to play it is to simply ride along with anything that happens.
So my ruler suddenly becomes wounded in combat, a few months later he dies, in the critical moment of a military campaign, and with realm duress growing in the realm. His heir is about as unlikeable as you can imagine - weak-willed, coward, vengeful and deceitful, and only 11 years old. It doesn't take long until his courtiers start to leave, regiments abandon the campaign and vassals revolt. So I'm forced to settle for a peace treaty giving me much less than I had planned.
He grows up and more and more courtiers leave the court, at one point he has only two courtiers that still have a positive loyalty gain (and I made sure to make them steward and spy master, despite really low scores in stewardship and intrigue, I've learned the hard way what disloyal courtiers in these positions can do).
Yet two decades later, he is the most succesful ruler the dynasty has ever had. He managed to achieve gaining that king of Croatia title that I had been aspiring for for nearly a century, and neither of his predecessors had managed to accomplish. His court is still small, but there are enough loyal members to keep the court positions filled and his vassals are devotedly loyal. The stability of the realm has gone from -1 to +3 under his rule and he has maintained a good reputation throughout all his conquests.
I so appreciate that there is never any need to give up or reload - even the worst of rulers can become successful as events unfold and you can never predict the destiny of your realm. His heir looks very competent, but could become the one who losses control of the entire realm...
