Conquest of the Whole World in 40 Years with a Duchy

[JonStryker]

Still, I think 40 years starting from a count (Navarra is a kingdom!!) is very, very unlikely. As I said above, there are not enough claimants. Kingdoms shatter a lot, mopping up the remnants takes time. Furthermore it takes pretty long to take all those damn Republican cities around the Mediterranean. The HRE is the way to go as it is the realm most difficult to take out. But if you start inside the HRE as a one county count (this is the only really rewarding way to do it ^^) you have to spend 20-40 years to become emperor.

 

[unmerged(726429)]

how is save scumming a few times per year not extensive

Well, some people save-load on every occasion..

Most of my loads were due to mistakes that I made, such as raising levies before declaring war etc.
Although I admit loading my game in the beginning when my King got killed in a small war, or when France declared war against me in the 5th year of the game etc.

I might try an iron-man game, but that's horrifying me due to the time-consuming nature of the game. Even a few tries might take ~500 hours (maybe half a year!)..

 

[Count Lake]

tl:dr

 

[unmerged(726429)]

I'm not going to say it's categorically impossible... but total conquest in 40 years from a Catholic count/duke-level start seems improbable to me. Two reasons.
1. Recently conquered penalties. They would make stuff like Holy Wars, Crusades, and Invasions far less rewarding if you're trying to compound over just a 40-year window. Conquered new territory? Great. But now you have to wait half the length of your game before it starts contributing, unless you change religions or it gets converted first. Similarly, you simply can't count on having heirs with religions / claims you need - it's entirely possible your starting ruler will live to age 80 or more, and you're stuck with him the whole time.
2. Existence of claimants. Until a starting ruler dies, most titles have no claimants. You can force claimants to be generated with an assassination, but... that will get very expensive, very fast. Even after one ruler has died, it's not uncommon to have no workable claimants for a title; it's not until after a few generations have passed that you can rely on finding claimants for titles.

1. It won't stop me. a) Retinue expands based on holding numbers and is not affected. b) Mercenaries are not affected. c) Lands acquired without wars don't get that penalties (acquisition by heirs). (You missed the part "Conquering by way of inheritance" part I guess)

2. Going heretic solves all those problems... Also in the first years, I plan to conquer Muslim Lands and after being strong enough (like 800+ holdings) going Heretic..

 

[JonStryker]

Well, some people save-load on every occasion..

Most of my loads were due to mistakes that I made, such as raising levies before declaring war etc.
Although I admit loading my game in the beginning when my King got killed in a small war, or when France declared war against me in the 5th year of the game etc.

I might try an iron-man game, but that's horrifying me due to the time-consuming nature of the game. Even a few tries might take ~500 hours (maybe half a year!)..

500 hours????
You can do a WC on a weekend.

 

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Truly impressive work. Thanks for the guide too.

 

[unmerged(726429)]

Still, I think 40 years starting from a count (Navarra is a kingdom!!) is very, very unlikely. As I said above, there are not enough claimants. Kingdoms shatter a lot, mopping up the remnants takes time. Furthermore it takes pretty long to take all those damn Republican cities around the Mediterranean. The HRE is the way to go as it is the realm most difficult to take out. But if you start inside the HRE as a one county count (this is the only really rewarding way to do it ^^) you have to spend 20-40 years to become emperor.

I also think you didn't read most of what I wrote as "tips & tricks".

To give an example:
I can conquer Pisa in 5 successive wars for 3 Duchies & 2 Counties (just example).
I would bring ~30k retinue-mercenary army with ships to Pisa's shores and unload them all on a County, assault-siege in a few days, embark, unload on neighboring County, assault-siege that one too.
(The lands I siege won't be the ones I claim btw)
When Pisa surrenders, I would start a war instantly and this time, I would unload ~4 x 7.5k army to 4 recently sieged Counties and assault them in ~5-6 days. (They would have zero garrison)
I would do this 4 times and the last time, I would claim the lands that I've been sieging all along.

And the whole operation would take a few months at most.
(I didn't know about this in the beginning, but used this on Seljuks..)

No months of marching, no army loss etc.
Aye, cheesy.. But plainly easy..

 

[CzokletMuss]

What about truce breaker? You would get -20 opinion to everyone and lost quadrilion of prestige

 

[unmerged(726429)]

500 hours????
You can do a WC on a weekend.

Well, I might give a few facts to make things clear. My game took ~200 hours.
Out of those 200 hours I've spent, maybe 30-40 hours was for inviting Courtiers (heirs, claimants and all the rest). Another 20 was for finding suitable wives for snatching.
I've also spent long hours for identifying wealthy people in the world and snatching them, finding ways to imprison them etc.
These are all boring, very boring repetitive procedures.

Now think that I've spent 100 hours (due to extra time spending for all those courtier works) and suddenly HRE starts to invade me when I am only ~100 holdings.. I should restart yet again.
Count a few unlucky incidents too. You'd get a 500 hours on your laps..

 

[unmerged(726429)]

What about truce breaker? You would get -20 opinion to everyone and lost quadrilion of prestige

Such as this?

Well, I was afraid of that till I realized that, as long as you're strong enough, you won't care for the opinions of other rulers.
Also for the prestige, each war also brings 100 prestige, so it won't matter. And as you break truces to wage wars, it won't matter.
If your prestige doesn't increase, it won't decrease either.

 

[JonStryker]

I also think you didn't read most of what I wrote as "tips & tricks".

To give an example:
I can conquer Pisa in 5 successive wars for 3 Duchies & 2 Counties (just example).
I would bring ~30k retinue-mercenary army with ships to Pisa's shores and unload them all on a County, assault-siege in a few days, embark, unload on neighboring County, assault-siege that one too.
(The lands I siege won't be the ones I claim btw)
When Pisa surrenders, I would start a war instantly and this time, I would unload ~4 x 7.5k army to 4 recently sieged Counties and assault them in ~5-6 days. (They would have zero garrison)
I would do this 4 times and the last time, I would claim the lands that I've been sieging all along.

No months of marching, no army loss etc.
Aye, cheesy.. But plainly easy..

I think YOU didn't read my postings too thoroughly as well. Yes, you can assault stuff. But all in all you have to fight many wars for minimal gain. Being a heretic helps, yes. Are you by any chance playing a version before 1.091 where you could completely disregard truces?
The best way to take over kingdoms/empires are claims. And there just aren't any early on for a couple of countries. Pressing a claim on Norway, Sweden, the ERE is going to be hard to do early on.

Edit: Didn't see the reply you gave regarding truce-breaking.

 

[unmerged(726429)]

I think YOU didn't read my postings too thoroughly as well. Yes, you can assault stuff. But all in all you have to fight many wars for minimal gain. Being a heretic helps, yes. Are you by any chance playing a version before 1.091 where you could completely disregard truces?
The best way to take over kingdoms/empires are claims. And there just aren't any early on for a couple of countries. Pressing a claim on Norway, Sweden, the ERE is going to be hard to do early on.

1.091
You can still disregard Truces. Only effect is, everybody hates you.. And Knights tend to join to your victims. And Pope might start a Crusade for your lands etc. But who cares?

Wars are 0 days if the defending garrison is 0 (which is the number on the same day of your peace. You load your army to ships, and unload to enemy lands again, to siege in 0-2 days).
The only time you lose is in the beginning, where you have to break the enemy forces. But you have to do this only once.

And no, the best way to take over Kingdoms/Empires are not claims. It's HEIRS... H E I R S. Snatching them and giving them a Duchy and waiting for their fathers to die, getting free Duchies..

 

[unmerged(726429)]

What about truce breaker? You would get -20 opinion to everyone and lost quadrilion of prestige

BTW, not sure if you meant to ask that, but No. Breaking a Truce doesn't affect your Vassals.. It also doesn't affect non-rulers or rulers of different religions.
It's just that, if you break a truce against a Christian Ruler, all Christian Rulers hate you.. So what? Their lands will be conquered soon..

 

[grisamentum]

This is why I play SWMH mod. 1) The vanilla map is not just not that big or interesting and 2) going heretic and using holy war is just way too easy.

 

[grisamentum]

BTW, not sure if you meant to ask that, but No. Breaking a Truce doesn't affect your Vassals.. It also doesn't affect non-rulers or rulers of different religions.
It's just that, if you break a truce against a Christian Ruler, all Christian Rulers hate you.. So what? Their lands will be conquered soon..

It does affect your vassals indirectly because it lowers your Diplomacy by 5 and costs a lot of prestige, both of which lower your vassal's opinion of you.

Also I was under the impression that you COULDN'T break a truce anymore if your prestige was too low but perhaps I am mistaken.

 

[Gagik]

Nice one, but to be honest I wouldnt be so proud because u used to save & load and started as a Duke of Normandy in 1066 which automatically makes u King of England in a matter of year or two. So its rather not a Duke start, but King start. But anyways, nice play and I admire your hard work on writing the story

 

[unmerged(726429)]

It does affect your vassals indirectly because it lowers your Diplomacy by 5 and costs a lot of prestige, both of which lower your vassal's opinion of you.

Also I was under the impression that you COULDN'T break a truce anymore if your prestige was too low but perhaps I am mistaken.

How does that happen? If you break 10 truces, you play with 0 Diplomacy?
I didn't see any decrease in my Diplomacy..

I broke like 100 truces during my reign. My prestige was 39k at the end..
If I didn't break truces, it might've been 49k instead, that's all.

 

[onodera]

I like every single one of your suggestions. You've just missed some of the forum favourites:
- a list of vassal/court strong claims you can press a la the list of weak claims you have now
- a list of all claimants in the world (with an invite all willing claimants button)
- an invite all willing plotters button

 

[unmerged(726429)]

Nice one, but to be honest I wouldnt be so proud because u used to save & load and started as a Duke of Normandy in 1066 which automatically makes u King of England in a matter of year or two. So its rather not a Duke start, but King start. But anyways, nice play and I admire your hard work on writing the story

Aye, Duke of Normandy is practically King of England. And also I finished in 82, not 40 years :}
But.. my first 30 years were nearly without a conquest, due to being a novice and not knowing how to expand..
Also factoring in all the other things I've learned over the course of the game, I reckon that I can do a 40 years with a Duchy in Spain.. (Or having a Basque to train my heirs, but starting as a Basque is easier)

 

[unmerged(726429)]

I like every single one of your suggestions. You've just missed some of the forum favourites:
- a list of vassal/court strong claims you can press a la the list of weak claims you have now
- a list of all claimants in the world (with an invite all willing claimants button)
- an invite all willing plotters button

I thought about those too :}
But if a game doesn't involve some grinding, they might also put an "I-Win" button..

I would be content with a one-click plot invite instead of inviting all plotters. But hey, right click, open diplomacy, invite to plot, click send, select new plotter etc..
That's way too time consuming.. Especially when I am plotting against someone in my court and try to invite ~200 Courtiers for a real fast (4k plot power) kill..