I started a game as Zazzau because I adore its burgundy colour. The ruler was like a diabetes-inducing icing on the cake. I soon noticed that the amazing queen is also an amazing general, and went on a mad conquest spree, high on power.
It didn't take long before the unrest spiralled out of control, and the Kanuri(?) revolted during a very vulnerable time for me:
Yeah. No army to speak of, no money to speak of, no manpower to speak of. But I'd sooner be damned than just give those provinces up as well as losing that major war I was in, so I took up a huge amount of loans and hired a similarly huge amount of mercenaries — much more than I'd have needed to just win the war.
The result was... not pretty.
I eventually succeeded, but Timbuktu declared war, and I was still hemorrhaging money from those loans, and Timbuktu was the strongest regional power, aside from yours truly. War exhaustion makes a potent toxin when combined with low religious unity, and a second Kanuri(?) revolt was all but inevitable.
I'd still not recovered from the first time. My economy was practically non-existent, my mercenary army sustaining itself on state loans and the occasional brutal raid on wealthy Timbuktu. I tried to fight the rebels, but it was futile — my army wasn't large enough, and I couldn't afford to hire more mercenaries to reinforce it, as I was on the brink of bankruptcy.
In the end, I was forced to surrender to the rebels, in order to sustain the war effort. Four provinces were lost, and the aesthetic appeal of my borders mutilated — and as if that wasn't enough, I was making a measly .2 ducats per month, being bogged down in interest and needing to sustain at least a nominal army in order to prevent my vassals from thinking bad thoughts. Furthermore, my inflation was sky-high.
My economy took about sixty years to recover completely from this time of troubles, but Zazzau emerged more powerful than ever:
Countless ADM points spent to keep inflation under control, countless ducats lost to interest — mostly because of rebels. And by God, was it fun.
It didn't take long before the unrest spiralled out of control, and the Kanuri(?) revolted during a very vulnerable time for me:
Yeah. No army to speak of, no money to speak of, no manpower to speak of. But I'd sooner be damned than just give those provinces up as well as losing that major war I was in, so I took up a huge amount of loans and hired a similarly huge amount of mercenaries — much more than I'd have needed to just win the war.
The result was... not pretty.
I eventually succeeded, but Timbuktu declared war, and I was still hemorrhaging money from those loans, and Timbuktu was the strongest regional power, aside from yours truly. War exhaustion makes a potent toxin when combined with low religious unity, and a second Kanuri(?) revolt was all but inevitable.
I'd still not recovered from the first time. My economy was practically non-existent, my mercenary army sustaining itself on state loans and the occasional brutal raid on wealthy Timbuktu. I tried to fight the rebels, but it was futile — my army wasn't large enough, and I couldn't afford to hire more mercenaries to reinforce it, as I was on the brink of bankruptcy.
In the end, I was forced to surrender to the rebels, in order to sustain the war effort. Four provinces were lost, and the aesthetic appeal of my borders mutilated — and as if that wasn't enough, I was making a measly .2 ducats per month, being bogged down in interest and needing to sustain at least a nominal army in order to prevent my vassals from thinking bad thoughts. Furthermore, my inflation was sky-high.
My economy took about sixty years to recover completely from this time of troubles, but Zazzau emerged more powerful than ever:
Countless ADM points spent to keep inflation under control, countless ducats lost to interest — mostly because of rebels. And by God, was it fun.
. Between occupation transfer, autonomy in low income provinces and good old fashioned strong unit control you can pick up a lot of territory fast w/o TOO much rebellion threat.