Miaphysite Pentarchy and Abyssinia in general

[High_King]

I started a new game today as House Zagwe, Kings of Abyssinia, and have a couple of questions regarding the new mechanics and playing the region in general.

First off I think it's really cool that African Christians now have their own religion entirely; I assume, like Orthodox and Catholics it doesn't grant the Holy War Classus Belli against other sects of Christianity but, its a cool new edition to the game. Something I noticed though was that in the religion tab, as well as there being a Coptic Pope who nominally rules the Church from the See of Alexandria, the five seats of the Orthodox Pentarchy are vacant; meaning that it is potentially possible to replace the standard Pentarchy with five Miaphysite bishops, answering not to Constantinople or Rome but to Alexandria. Does anybody know what happens when this occurs? There is no button to "Restore the Pentarchy" for Miaphysite factions, so is this just a design oversight in a religion that resembles standard Orthodoxy or is there something that happens if the five holy sees have Miaphysite bishops?

My second question stems from the fact that, having discovered the Miaphysite Pentarchy mechanic, I decided to go forth and create a pentarchy under my rule. Within a few decades the Fatimids took offence at the idea and stamped all of Christian Africa into the dust. So I ask, as has probably been asked a million times before me, can anyone offer any suggestions on how the Heck to play as Abyssinia and not get curb stomped by the Fatimids as soon as they realise you're down there? Is there any way to survive the early game AT ALL? I did not play an aggressive game; I took my time working on my military buildings as much as possible, realising I'd need all the manpower I could muster with mercenaries nowhere to be found. Axum started beating the war drums (they attempted to fabricate claims on my land; I was prepared for the eventuality of a pre-emptive strike to re-unite the territories of Abyssinia before they could act on any false claims they drew up against me), but before they could get a CB the Fatimids decided to put them out of their misery. Forcibly. I breathed a sigh of relief and continued working on my holdings...whereupon the Fatimids declared against me and crushed me before I could finish saying my prayers.

Should I be more aggressive next time? If so, who should I focus on? The Muslims to the east or the Axumites to the north? Is there any way to buy myself time before the Fatimids Blitzkrieg me into the stone-age? Is there anything that can be done, at all???

 

[Sleight of Hand]

Try my mod! I just updated it to improve East Africa.

 

[Alexandre_007]

i'm playing as Abyssinia aswell.. well, the thing with the Fatimids is, keep the caliph happy. and by that i mean, pay him a sort of tribute, give gifts to him, and he won't bother you, and invade the other guys in the arabian peninsula anywhere it's possible. don't hurry, take your time, and think diplomatically, surround yourself with good allies. that shall do
good luck

 

[Vortex_13]

Take out the Sheikdom of Harer. An easy win since you have more manpower than they do. After that get Axum back into the fold and then later Holy War the Muslims to the east. That and judicious use of marriage alliances is how I usually play.

 

[tman144]

2 things, one, Abyssinia and Axum start related to each other, so picking one and killing the other will get you both. Two, it costs piety for Muslims to attack you, so assassinate Muslims with lots of it.

I play as Axum. I tend to survive by doing weird things the Ethiopians never had to do, like swearing to the ERE.

 

[Alexandre_007]

Take out the Sheikdom of Harer. An easy win since you have more manpower than they do. After that get Axum back into the fold and then later Holy War the Muslims to the east. That and judicious use of marriage alliances is how I usually play.

i did the same, but instead of holy war, i forged claims. then took those guys in the arabian peninsula (forgot the name) and later, Oman.

 

[Tijean]

The best way to survive is to get an permanent alliance with the byzantine empire. It really hard to achieve, you have get a lot of children ready to marry with every stupid dynastie of the byzantine empire. The fatimid would never be able to beat you in 1,7 because the byzantine are OP. Your main problem would be a civil war in byzantine empire or in your own land. But the IA is stupid and they rarely attack you in critical moment.
In my current games, i manage to secure aswam and a part of arabie. But Sweden got Egypt in an crusade(well i help a lot by back stabbing the fatimid). I'm loosing land really often, but i almost get it back when fatimid get in a civil war. The game got easier since the Golden hordre convert to orthodox and become a potentiel allied.

I must say, the ethiopian are almost impossible to play. They have no merc, no only hordre. Each time you attack the fatimid they kick you ass with free holy order. This is really annoying.

 

[generalolaf]

i did the same, but instead of holy war, i forged claims. then took those guys in the arabian peninsula (forgot the name) and later, Oman.

No need to forge claims (unless you think you're likely to get a Duchy claim). Either press your de jure claims, or holy war (there aren't any sizeable Sunnis nearby).

 

[gornard]

What do you have to do to get mercs in ethiopia?

Is it based on where your capital is or just the lands you control?

Has it anything to do with culture or religeon?

 

[Olaus Petrus]

What do you have to do to get mercs in ethiopia?

Is it based on where your capital is or just the lands you control?

Has it anything to do with culture or religeon?

It's based on the distance between your capital and capital of the mercenary company. In similar manner Iceland and Northern Norway lack access to most mercenary companies, because those are too far away from capitals of the mercenary companies. Moving Ethiopian capital to Alexandria should give you access to mercs.* Usually the best time to attack against Egypt is when crusaders are trying to conquer the Holy Land, because with luck crusaders can destroy some of the Fatimid doomstacks.

*EDIT: I just tested with ruler editor (I changed the religion of the Muslim duke to Miaphysite) to which companies Alexandria would give access and unfortunately only Bulgarian companies are close enough. You need to move your capital closer to Europe if you want access to better companies, but IMO (for roleplaying reasons) Alexandria is more suitable capital for a Coptic ruler than European cities.

 

[High_King]

I'd definitely make an East African update a priority ahead of any Pagan/Republic/Whathaveyou DLC in the future. Nothing special just something to balance out their impossible position - maybe access to a cheap and powerful Ethiopian mercenary band or program the Fatimids to leave Miaphysites alone for the most part. It seems to be an unjust waste of the Devs time and resources to make a Coptic Orthodox religion all on its own, specifically for the Eastern Africans, but to have it only affect factions that die out within the first 40 years. As it stands the Ethiopians look more like an ornament to make Africa look unique than an actual playable faction.

But thanks for the tips, I REALLY want to make a run of it playing as Abyssinia - I've never seen a Christian, African Kingdom of Egypt before, and I really really want to. I'll play my next game nurturing relations with both the Eastern Roman Empire and the Caliphate, see what's what.

 

[Comradebot]

I'm making good headway in my attempt with Nubia. I've taken Alexandria and restored the Coptic Pope as my vassal, Egypt is now completely under Nubian control (managed to snatch up Sinai from the Seljuks on my second attempt, thanks to a few wars they were already fighting), and in a ten years I'll finally be able to release Abyssinia as an independent state under House Azim control... which isn't so much part of it as its just something I want to do for the sake of borders and making the map a bit more fun (while France and the HRE do the opposite with their typical stomping of Iberia and North Africa...)

The problem I've run in to is the rest of the Pentarchy: a semi-strong Levantine Syria has been formed and holds Antioch, Rome is obviously still in the Pope's hands, and the ERE has not only retained Constantinople but did a ninja-style holy war for Jerusalem, despite not having any land anywhere near it. Basically, the only one that'll be an easy take will be Antioch, but its rather distant up the coast and I'd honestly prefer to just make a natural progression north through the Levantine Coast to get there. Similar for Rome... I plan to launch an invasion of Siciliy and work my way up to it, no fun if I just fabricate a claim on Rome and press it. Sadly, my first attempt to holy war the Muslims of Trinacria had to be aborted due to dual Jihads for Egypt, involving a truly terrifying number of Sunni.

 

[gornard]

It's based on the distance between your capital and capital of the mercenary company. In similar manner Iceland and Northern Norway lack access to most mercenary companies, because those are too far away from capitals of the mercenary companies. Moving Ethiopian capital to Alexandria should give you access to mercs.* Usually the best time to attack against Egypt is when crusaders are trying to conquer the Holy Land, because with luck crusaders can destroy some of the Fatimid doomstacks.

*EDIT: I just tested with ruler editor (I changed the religion of the Muslim duke to Miaphysite) to which companies Alexandria would give access and unfortunately only Bulgarian companies are close enough. You need to move your capital closer to Europe if you want access to better companies, but IMO (for roleplaying reasons) Alexandria is more suitable capital for a Coptic ruler than European cities.

Thanks, i've been wondering how this worked for a while. It seems a bit odd that christians don't get access to some mercenary groups in africa/middile east, you'd think there would be some in Armenia or Jerusalem at least.

As an aside, i wonder where on the map gets you the maximum number of mercenaries?

 

[Olaus Petrus]

Thanks, i've been wondering how this worked for a while. It seems a bit odd that christians don't get access to some mercenary groups in africa/middile east, you'd think there would be some in Armenia or Jerusalem at least.

As an aside, i wonder where on the map gets you the maximum number of mercenaries?

For Christians it's probably somewhere in the Central Europe like in Bavaria or Austria, so you can get companies from the British Isles, France, Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe.

 

[roerd]

Alexandre_007 wrote that it's possible to stop Egypt from attacking you by paying them tribute. That's actually closed to historical reality, so I think the current way the game handles this is good in this respect. The only thing that should change is that Ethopian AI rulers should be smart enough to do this.