How do you make a kingdom self-destruct?

[psyghamn]

So in other paradox games if a nation got annoyingly blobby I would sometimes take control of them briefly and engineer their collapse. In eu3 I would have people take out a bunch of loas, declare stupid wars, and enact policies to piss off the populace. I'm not sure the best way to do this in ck2. I try imprisoning and/or executing a bunch of vassals, declaring wars and such. But it never has much effect other than short term instability. Powerful blobs (HRE, Fatimids, France) seem resistant to my cheating ways.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Here's something I sometimes do for fun.

1. Play as vassals of blob you want to destroy. Declare wars of independence.
2. Play as blob ruler. Surrender.


It doesn't do much (if the blob is strong enough it always comes back to conquer its de jure territory), but it's a start.

 

[whosthebestcop]

If you can get a ruler of a blob excommunicated especially when he is a brand new ruler. He will easily be looking at -45 vassal opinion.

So typically assassinate the current realm ruler until you get one who has bad traits then if you are on good terms with the pope you can get him excommunicated. Usually all of the AI leaders are using free investiture so if you leave papal on then your chances are higher with the pope.

Excom is -30. I think short reign is -15 or -14. And if the ruler has 1 or 2 bad traits with the new faction system it will only be a matter of 1 or 2 years before there are mass rebellions.

 

[unmerged(545031)]

If he's got a decent number of vassals, then engaging in unrestricted, pointless tyranny should help. imprison and then execute random, unimportant members of the court (and/or mayors). Preferentially target any that have decent skills, so you can whittle away his available council members. Make sure to include at least one family member. Execute his wife and marry him off to someone completely incompetent (unless she's completely incompetent already). If you can have him marry a young woman with serious genetic defects and execute any previously existing heirs, that's even better. Delightfully, all of this can be done during a pause except for the marrying - and even that can be done during a pause if you have an incompetent, genetically defective wife on hand in the court already.

If you want to be a cheap about it, leave any nobles that he might have that are landless (or can be made landless) with decent stats. The depth of their hatred for him should make them relatively easy to invite to your court when you head back to your own character.

 

[vincentc]

Random acts of tyranny every now and then helps a lot. Waste the treasury by hire mercs and then dismiss rinse and repeat or better yet,
try to assassinate your own family members. You get to waste tons of gold AND if you're lucky, you get kinslayer traits and big juicy hit to relations.

 

[stars2heaven]

Can't you just destroy the titles?

 

[yourworstnightm]

child monarch. The factions will go nuts, and the kingdom will self destruct in a series of never ending civil wars.

 

[justin6477]

Set them to Muslim via the console code, and give them a hefty amount of decadence.

Never done it, but I imagine it'll wreck them like nothing else.