Charlemagne - Extremely hard

[Kaiserlicher Ritter]

I have played the Charlemagne campaign before, three times, I was largely successful. To follow the accurate historical events, indeed it was hard, but I've managed.

Anyhow, now I've been trying a fourth time, and it has been unbearably impossible to play! Why has this been changed?

I have factions demanding independence with 500% power. I didn't piss anyone off and the campaign begun about 3 years ago, I've been trying my best to please everyone. Even people who like me +30 are hating me and joining factions, that makes no sense. Nobody agrees to change the law, my levies are so weak and pathetic I can't do anything without increasing crown authority a lil' bit.

Money gains are so insignificant now I feel I'll die of old age and not be able to create the proper duchies to make my vassals stay within the limit.

 

[Sergeant Flutter]

Give the council War Declaration. Then place the most powerful vassals from the factions on there. They'll be kicked out.

That'll make the faction weak, so two things will happen.

1: It won't fire.
2: It'll fire, but be weak. You'll be able to win.

Also, the A.I. won't use a faction if you're fighting an external war, be aware of that.

 

[Iron Chariots]

+30 isn't a high opinion at all. Of course your vassals who are only at +30 are joining factions if they want something. +30 is basically "eh, yeah he's alright I guess." Try to get them up to 60, or if they're already in a faction, 80.

 

[SigurdStormhand]

The difference is that they lowered opinion buffs, halved them in fact.

A number of us think that was a bit too much - a 25% reduction would likely have been enough.

 

[JRHaggs]

I agree, OP. Post-Conclave Charlemagne is a real challenge.

It took me a couple of tries to get a handle on it. I'm currently in the early 10th century with a largely stable HRE and a weak claim on the ERE (it's elective, sooo.... probably wishful thinking). I have managed to avoid succumbing to any council power factions... so far.

Vassal management now takes very deliberate, very frequent attention. Basically, you should not rely on being able to get someone out of a faction. The key is to identify which ones you really need to have your back and favor them early and heavily. I've started using the carousing focus for the first time ever. It aids in buoying the opinions of your vassals as well as allowing for the diplo-nuke, friendship, as a possible outcome. But try to keep them out of factions in the first place, rather than trying to get them out of factions they already support. Also, don't even bother humoring the guys who hate your guts.

The second problem with the Charlemagne start is the vassal limit. Once you acquire Italy, you will be forced to make some tough decisions. You'll need at least one king-level vassal. I went with a bunch of early king-level vassals while holding only Middle Francia. The thinking here is that the immediate diplo-boost of granting kingdoms is sufficiently substantial to offset the threat of large vassals later on. Yes, this makes disentangling Sicily from Italy and reorganizing de jure borders of western Europe a little more of a labor, but, again, there are compromises everywhere.

If you're looking to form the HRE, the final conundrum is piety. In order to have as many de jure kingdoms in the Empire as possible, you need to hold the kingdoms you want included in the de jure HRE when you form the Empire. Accumulating enough piety to pull this off is surprisingly difficult. Compounding this issue is that the pope has to have a 100 opinion of you to form the HRE. That opinion is augmented by the piety you have to spend to get the kingdoms you need to create a stable HRE. So as you spend piety on kingdom titles, you are, at the same time, decreasing the pope's opinion of you. You pretty much have to give the pope Orvieto in order to get his opinion of you high enough.

Avoid tyrannical actions, arrest everyone you can in order to revoke titles, and be ready to raise and consolidate your armies before a faction fires.

Good luck.

 

[vandevere]

The difference is that they lowered opinion buffs, halved them in fact.

A number of us think that was a bit too much - a 25% reduction would likely have been enough.

I'm hoping that's one of the things you'll be able to check off in the upcoming patch. When they nuked Opinion like that, it made it almost impossible to play as a small realm...

Which was kind of the opposite of what they were apparently trying to do at the time.

 

[Iron Chariots]

I'm hoping that's one of the things you'll be able to check off in the upcoming patch. When they nuked Opinion like that, it made it almost impossible to play as a small realm...

Which was kind of the opposite of what they were apparently trying to do at the time.

Honestly, I've found small realms super easy to play post-Conclave. Yeah, you have to sacrifice one or two council spots to less than competent people sometimes, but most powerful vassals will be at least okay at one job.

 

[Sonmi]

In all honesty, the best way to go in a Charlemagne campaign now is to murder/execute the duke of Flanders as soon as possible (tyranny be damned), and then securing an alliance with the Lombards.

 

[Sergeant Flutter]

In all honesty, the best way to go in a Charlemagne campaign now is to murder/execute the duke of Flanders as soon as possible (tyranny be damned), and then securing an alliance with the Lombards.

Don't you need to invade the Lombards to form the HRE?

 

[JRHaggs]

Don't you need to invade the Lombards to form the HRE?

You sure do.

I think getting NAPs with Aquitaine and/or Gascogne is far more critical, as they are immediate threats from within the realm. I have never seen Lombardy cause a problem for Frankish Europe in CKII.

 

[Naughtius Maximus]

That Aquitane guy is particularly important, as he has the -50 hate. Fortunately however his immediate heir is somewhat flagrant about matrilineal marriages.......

 

[Alcadizzar19]

Honestly, I've found small realms super easy to play post-Conclave. Yeah, you have to sacrifice one or two council spots to less than competent people sometimes, but most powerful vassals will be at least okay at one job.

Small realms are easy cause even if a baron is a "powerful vassal" barons (except for Merchant houses, I think, I rarely play republics) can't faction anyway. "Powerful" barons can be pretty safely ignored from the council angle even if the game is telling you that they are battering at your gates.

 

[Iron Chariots]

Small realms are easy cause even if a baron is a "powerful vassal" barons (except for Merchant houses, I think, I rarely play republics) can't faction anyway. "Powerful" barons can be pretty safely ignored from the council angle even if the game is telling you that they are battering at your gates.

Yep. If they're decent at something I'll consider giving them a seat anyway for the extra troops and income, but otherwise who cares what a baron thinks?

 

[Kaiserlicher Ritter]

I don't have Conclave DLC, so I thought, I might just be missing that so I'll miss all nice stuff and only get the downside of it, therefore, I reverted to an earlier version on Steam, now I have another problem, should I really play the old version, because there are no non-aggression pacts, and I really liked that way of forming alliances and make it impossible for allies to refuse your call to arms.

 

[Sergeant Flutter]

I don't have Conclave DLC, so I thought, I might just be missing that so I'll miss all nice stuff and only get the downside of it, therefore, I reverted to an earlier version on Steam, now I have another problem, should I really play the old version, because there are no non-aggression pacts, and I really liked that way of forming alliances and make it impossible for allies to refuse your call to arms.

If I was you, I'd get Conclave, it makes the most recent version 100x better.

If finances are tight, I'd still play on the most recent patch. I like the additional layers, I know not everybody does. That's just my two cents.

 

[RelVleDy]

I personally didn't have any issues playing the Charlemagne campaign (w/ all the DLC), although I'll admit my approach to the game is somewhat different. First, I enjoy Ruler Designer starts as females with the attractive trait, which gives a flat +30 opinion boost towards the opposite sex. This is huge for women, since men are the power-brokers in CKII. I'll take the Wounded and Stressed traits to off-set the age penalty (unless I'm using the mod "Ruler Designer Unlocked", in which case, to hell with it).

Second, I emphasis seduction focus first not only to seduce a good husband, but to provide an additional attraction bonus. I prefer husbands with high diplomacy, since half of their diplomacy stat gets added to my own once I marry, and diplomacy increases opinion modifiers and the effectiveness of gifts. Later, I transition to Carousing focus. You can't reliably carouse targets unless they're around +20 opinion or higher, so I'll sometimes gift them, then carouse them, or I'll give them a ward for education, or honorary titles -- anything to hit that +20 mark. Only invite your favorite council members and vassals. There's a pretty good chance you'll become friends with one of them, but friendship is random, hence it's better to limit your carousing to just a few people.

When giving land, I prefer vassals with the Content trait, mainly for the huge liege opinion boost, but also because the trait makes their AI more passive. Avoid giving too much land to any one character -- it's better to spread it out. I find any more than four territories is pushing it.

If the Council wants more power, I don't mind giving them some, but try to find opportunities to reclaim the power during times of peace.

I also love Elective succession to ensure my most diplomatic family members get elected. Plus, diplomatic characters naturally win more favor with others anyways, making them easier to vote in.

I could talk on forever on this topic, but those are my basics.

 

[Kaiserlicher Ritter]

I personally didn't have any issues playing the Charlemagne campaign (w/ all the DLC), although I'll admit my approach to the game is somewhat different. First, I enjoy Ruler Designer starts as females with the attractive trait, which gives a flat +30 opinion boost towards the opposite sex. This is huge for women, since men are the power-brokers in CKII. I'll take the Wounded and Stressed traits to off-set the age penalty (unless I'm using the mod "Ruler Designer Unlocked", in which case, to hell with it).

Second, I emphasis seduction focus first not only to seduce a good husband, but to provide an additional attraction bonus. I prefer husbands with high diplomacy, since half of their diplomacy stat gets added to my own once I marry, and diplomacy increases opinion modifiers and the effectiveness of gifts. Later, I transition to Carousing focus. You can't reliably carouse targets unless they're around +20 opinion or higher, so I'll sometimes gift them, then carouse them, or I'll give them a ward for education, or honorary titles -- anything to hit that +20 mark. Only invite your favorite council members and vassals. There's a pretty good chance you'll become friends with one of them, but friendship is random, hence it's better to limit your carousing to just a few people.

When giving land, I prefer vassals with the Content trait, mainly for the huge liege opinion boost, but also because the trait makes their AI more passive. Avoid giving too much land to any one character -- it's better to spread it out. I find any more than four territories is pushing it.

If the Council wants more power, I don't mind giving them some, but try to find opportunities to reclaim the power during times of peace.

I also love Elective succession to ensure my most diplomatic family members get elected. Plus, diplomatic characters naturally win more favor with others anyways, making them easier to vote in.

I could talk on forever on this topic, but those are my basics.

You do realise I'm talking about playing CHARLEMAGNE, not just his date start, also playing it 100% historically correct, conquer everything that he ever did so?

 

[RelVleDy]

You do realise I'm talking about playing CHARLEMAGNE, not just his date start, also playing it 100% historically correct, conquer everything that he ever did so?

Nah sorry, I didn't. You mention you were playing the campaign. The start date is literally called Charlemagne.

 

[SigurdStormhand]

If I was you, I'd get Conclave, it makes the most recent version 100x better.

If finances are tight, I'd still play on the most recent patch. I like the additional layers, I know not everybody does. That's just my two cents.

The game is significantly easier running Conclave, you have favours to force people to do things, the Council to prevent powerful vassals joining factions and laws are easier to change once you have the tech.

Whether that's a good thing or not is another matter, personally I prefer the added difficulty of having to deal with the Parliament/Thing/Moot/Senate when I want to change a law vs just the 5-7 guys on the Council.

 

[Kaiserlicher Ritter]

The game is significantly easier running Conclave, you have favours to force people to do things, the Council to prevent powerful vassals joining factions and laws are easier to change once you have the tech.

Whether that's a good thing or not is another matter, personally I prefer the added difficulty of having to deal with the Parliament/Thing/Moot/Senate when I want to change a law vs just the 5-7 guys on the Council.

The Reichsfürstenrat! A bit off-topic, I know, but can any of you tell me how youse got those animal in armour avatars?