[Mini-Mod] Nerfed Fatimids and a makeshift Baqt.

[Cetan]

Since the dawn of time (approximately the 14th of February 2012), medieval rulers have lived in fear of a great, green menace. First known as The Shia Caliphate, they now masquerade with a new name, the Fatimid Sultanate. From the heart of Egypt, they strike out, tumbling great civilizations like the Byzantines, the Spanish kings, and the Italian peninsula. Even going so far as to push into the land of the Franks. NO MORE!

Nerf Fatimids v1.02 - Requires 1.07b - 11/1/2012
This mod no longer works with 1.09. I have no interest in maintaining it; please check out the modding forum for mods that better approach this game problem, as well as problems with other super-blobs.

Spoiler

This mod aims to nerf the Fatimids and bring them in line with other kingdoms, in order to create a more enjoyable experience when playing. Especially so, with the release of Legacy of Rome and the focus on Byzantium. The fact that the Caliphate comes a-knocking 20 years into the game, and conquers half the Empire, is game breaking in my eyes. This mod also incorporates a makeshift version of the Baqt, the treaty between Muslim Egypt and Christian Makuria (Nubia in-game). No longer will Nubia disappear in 1067.

I call this a mini-mod, as there are only a few files tweaked, and the majority of the changes are minor text changes. There is no new content, no new systems, no major overhauls of existing systems. The goal is to feel exactly like vanilla, and for the most part, to make changes that would likely appear on a Paradox patch notes post, should they ever decide to address the overpowered Fatimids themselves. I do not recommend playing as the Fatimids with this mod enabled, as a better player-controlled Fatimid Caliphate isn't in the scope of this mod. (Unless you want a kind of hard mode. )

CURRENT CHANGES
Caliph al-Mustansir I
- No longer starts with the Strong, Charitable, Diligent, Gregarious, or any random traits.
- Now starts with the Slothful, Greedy, Deceitful, and Arbitrary traits.
- Base diplomacy lowered to 5.
- Now starts 1500 gold in debt.
- Fatimid dynasty starts at 60% decadence.

Mamluks
- No longer direct vassals of the Sultan of Egypt. (Increases Hire/Maintenance costs.)
- Changed to Cuman culture.
- Total Strength reduced from 6300 to 2700.

CB Types
- Egyptian Shiite Muslims can no longer declare Holy Wars on Ethiopian Miaphysites.
- Egyptian Shiite Muslims can no longer declare Muslim County Conquests on Ethiopian Miaphysites.
- Egyptian Shiite Muslims can no longer request Invasions on Ethiopian Miaphysites.
- Muslim Invasions now target Duchy titles instead of Kingdom titles.

Province Changes
- The County of Aswan is now a part of the Kingdom of Nubia's demense.
- The Duchy of Aswan is now a de jure part of the Kingdom of Nubia.
- The capital of the Kingdom of Nubia is now Aswan (to match the Duchy.)

Holy Orders
- The Knights Hospitaller become available for hire in 1099.

1.02 CHANGE LOG

Spoiler

Holy Orders
- The Knights Hospitaller become available for hire in 1099, in line with vanilla post-1099 start dates. (The Knights Hospitaller were historically active in 1099, just not formally recognized. Reduces the 23 years of unopposed Hashashin down to 9.)

CB Types
- Muslim Invasions now target Duchy titles instead of Kingdom titles. (A suggestion offered many times by multiple people in various threads.)

------

Two small tweaks, one that is popular in many of the Muslim threads present, and one I personally feel is appropriate. The Hashashin can be as big a problem as the Mamluks, especially if they are fighting non-Muslims.

1.01 CHANGE LOG

Spoiler

- Updated for Patch 1.07b

Mamluks
- Changed to Cuman culture. (After consulting Wikipedia following Sleight of Hand's suggestion.)

CB Types
- The Shia Religion can now call Jihads again. (Following Paradox's 'Jihads only after 1187' change.)

1.0 INITIAL RELEASE

Spoiler

Caliph al-Mustansir I
- No longer starts with the Strong, Charitable, Diligent, Gregarious, or any random traits.
- Now starts with the Slothful, Greedy, Deceitful, and Arbitrary traits.
- Base diplomacy lowered to 5.
- Now starts 1500 gold in debt.
- Fatimid dynasty starts at 60% decadence.

Mamluks
- No longer direct vassals of the Sultan of Egypt.
- Changed to Turkish culture.
- Total Strength reduced from 6300 to 2700.

CB Types
- Egyptian Shiite Muslims can no longer declare Holy Wars on Ethiopian Miaphysites.
- Egyptian Shiite Muslims can no longer declare Muslim County Conquests on Ethiopian Miaphysites.
- Egyptian Shiite Muslims can no longer request Invasions on Ethiopian Miaphysites.
- The Shia religion can no longer call Jihads.

Province Changes
- The County of Aswan is now a part of the Kingdom of Nubia's demense.
- The Duchy of Aswan is now a de jure part of the Kingdom of Nubia.
- The capital of the Kingdom of Nubia is now Aswan (to match the Duchy.)

This is my first real attempt at a public mod, so please report any issues/bugs you may encounter. I'm pretty confident in my modding on this part, but it is my first time playing with actual coding in the CB types. If there are issues, it'd likely be there.

Feedback is cool too! My thoughts and commentary are behind the spoiler.

Spoiler

The trait changes to the Caliph are needed to properly create the sort of tension between him and his unrelated vassals. In vanilla, the combination of traits he starts with nets him around a +50-80 opinion with all his vassals. Swapping out those traits for more negative ones help present a more turbulent period proper for the Caliphate at that time. Also in line with history, is the 1500 gold debt. The Fatimids at this time period were so heavily in debt, they were selling palace art and valuables in order to pay their armies. It's hard to reflect that in CKII's systems, so this number was chosen, as it will take around 10-15 years to clear out that debt, plus add an appropriate morale malus to the Fatimid army. Finally, the change to the Fatimid decadence is also meant to promote the proper unrest within the Caliphate, and to degrade the morale of the Fatimid army (I'd be pretty unhappy if I wasn't getting paid properly!). It's set somewhat high to counteract the AI reducing it by 10-15% through events within the first few months of gameplay.

The Mamluks were a large part in the Fatimid's early game power, commanding an army the size of a large nation with a low hire cost and very low upkeep cost. The problem is, historical Muslim Egypt's military is predominately these Mamluks and other slaves, but a very small percentage were actual Egyptians (levies). Yet, the Caliph can pull upwards of 8k levies at the 1066 start. So, I personally believe the Mamluks can be represented with the game's levy system, and have turned the Mamluks into an above average mercenary band. They're no longer vassals of Egypt, in order to make them have a proper hiring/upkeep cost.

The changes to Casus Belli types is to imitate the Baqt, a treaty between Muslim Egypt and Christian Makuria (Nubia in vanilla CKII). The Fatimids were among the greatest supporters of this treaty, making it incredibly... wrong for the Fatimid Caliphate to declare Holy War, Muslim Conquest, or even a JIHAD on the Miaphysite Ethiopians south of Egypt. So, now they can't. One last change, was adding Aswan to Nubia's holdings at 1066, and drifting the Duchy of Aswan into a De Jure Kingdom of Nubia. Unless this was done, the Fatimids would then just get around the above changes, and declare a De Jure Ducal/Kingdom claim. There are other mods that recreate Abyssinia far better than this simple change, but, a redone Africa is beyond the scope of this mod.

Finally, the Shia Caliph can no longer call Jihads. Primarily for balance, and to prevent a Fatimid Greece. There's also some support that Shia Islam didn't/wouldn't call for actual land-conquering jihads in that time period, based on some of the postings by people far more learned than I am on the subject. So, whatever works for you as a player! -- Obsolete, Paradox changed Jihads in 1.07b to only happen after 1187 in vanilla CKII. I consider that a fair enough change, so I've re-enabled Jihads for the Shiites.

 

[MylesSCP]

Wow, that looks more like a castration than a nerf.

 

[dorimi]

lol. Change topic title to "Removing Fatimids"

 

[Cetan]

Wow, that looks more like a castration than a nerf.

lol. Change topic title to "Removing Fatimids"

Despite all that's been done, they still hang around for quite some time. The Seljuks are often too broken to focus attention on the Shiite lands, and everyone else nearby is too small to take on a resource-rich Egypt. Most of the time, they only collapse when a really crappy ruler comes along in the later 1100s and rockets the decadence up, forcing an invasion.

Once 10-15 years or so pass, they're pretty much back to a normal kingdom's speed. They just lose the steamroll momentum they have in vanilla.

 

[Sleight of Hand]

I think the Mamluks would probably be better as Cuman (to represent Kipchak) than Turkish culture.

 

[LarryLeica]

Maybe also look at changing some of the province religion to a christian type at a 1066 start as at least 50% of the area was still christian.

I'm just starting first play as Nubia with these changes, so fingers crossed. I've not survived more than 3 years so far.

 

[theKing1988]

I'm most certainly in favor of the three CB changes in regard to the constant roflstomping of East Africa. Other than that, i'm not sure. The Starting debt sounds a bit intriguing

 

[unmerged(75409)]

Cool mod!! I must try this out once I get around to play the game some more. I always thought the Fatimids were totally weird in vanilla CK2, both the rulers and their Shiite faith were way too strong, and this was not at all in line with a historical game start. In 1.04 it wasn't so bad though because back then Muslims did not have those vastly overpowered invasion CBs yet. The HRE or France usually overran them some time in the 12th or 13th century. IIRC only SoI turned this into a serious issue with game balance.

Maybe also look at changing some of the province religion to a christian type at a 1066 start as at least 50% of the area was still christian.

I'm just starting first play as Nubia with these changes, so fingers crossed. I've not survived more than 3 years so far.

I don't think the area was Christian, rather the fellakh/peasants and the city populations would have been 50% Christian. The warrior classes, priests, administrators, scholars, the landed gentry and so on would all be Muslim at this point though, so making the provinces Muslim is okay (from a game stand point).

 

[unmerged(75409)]

Something that just crossed my mind:

Is there any way of making "Baqt" something that a player can decide to cancel? Like, creating a global game flag "baqt_exist" or "baqt_cancelled"? You could "reward" a player for upholding the Baqt, by making a special Nubian merc regiment available only to him, at discounted cost, while the Baqt exists. As a sort of incentive to keep the Baqt.

I think you could try if you can make it so that the mercs are only available to Egypt, when the global flag "baqt_exists" is active. Or if that does not work, maybe turn it into a character flag which each new Egyptian ruler would get upon his accession to power.

 

[theKing1988]

Something that just crossed my mind:

Is there any way of making "Baqt" something that a player can decide to cancel? Like, creating a global game flag "baqt_exist" or "baqt_cancelled"? You could "reward" a player for upholding the Baqt, by making a special Nubian merc regiment available only to him, at discounted cost, while the Baqt exists. As a sort of incentive to keep the Baqt.

I think you could try if you can make it so that the mercs are only available to Egypt, when the global flag "baqt_exists" is active. Or if that does not work, maybe turn it into a character flag which each new Egyptian ruler would get upon his accession to power.

A nice idea actually, a particular reason why the baqt was strictly upheld until the 1180-90's was that it was actually advantageous to the Fatimids to do so.

 

[Hackworthy]

I like this, the Fatimids are annoying.

 

[Cetan]

I re-enabled Shiite Jihads, since by 1187, the Catholic world will have Holy Orders to help out, and the Byzantine Empire should be more than capable of resisting it by then.

 

[Cetan]

Is there any way of making "Baqt" something that a player can decide to cancel? Like, creating a global game flag "baqt_exist" or "baqt_cancelled"? You could "reward" a player for upholding the Baqt, by making a special Nubian merc regiment available only to him, at discounted cost, while the Baqt exists. As a sort of incentive to keep the Baqt.

It sounds like a good idea, but a bit beyond the scope of the mod (and my coding ability, truthfully, otherwise I might consider doing it.) I was personally just tired of seeing Nubia disappear before 1067, and denying the Fatimids a few free provinces in the beginning fits into the category of nerfing them.

My reasoning for the Mamluks change, and what I would say for the Nubian merc company, is that the levies that Egypt is able to raise in-game for that time period would predominately be those Mamluks and Nubian slaves, with only a small portion of them actual Muslim Egyptians. It's not visually represented, but in my mind and this mod, that's my line of thinking.

I'm most certainly in favor of the three CB changes in regard to the constant roflstomping of East Africa. Other than that, i'm not sure. The Starting debt sounds a bit intriguing

Unfortunately, the starting debt doesn't impact them as much as it sounds. It's a slight morale drop for Egypt's armies, and that's really the only reason I've kept it around. Beyond that, it does very little. Prevents Cairo and whatever other provinces the Caliph doesn't give away from upgrading holdings for 15 years (his vassals still can upgrade theirs), and I don't think he can observe Ramadan or hold a Tournament. Not very impacting changes for something that sounds so severe. The Mamluks did need a definite fix though. A nearly-free 6300 troops on top of his already high levies is extremely strong, and is only really matched when Holy Orders make their debut if you're Catholic. If not... well...

 

[Cetan]

1.02 RELEASED

Holy Orders
- The Knights Hospitaller become available for hire in 1099, in line with vanilla post-1099 start dates. (The Knights Hospitaller were historically active in 1099, just not formally recognized. Reduces the 23 years of unopposed Hashashin down to 9.)

CB Types
- Muslim Invasions now target Duchy titles instead of Kingdom titles. (A suggestion offered many times by multiple people in various threads.)

------

Two small tweaks, one that is popular in many of the Muslim threads present, and one I personally feel is appropriate. The Hashashin can be as big a problem as the Mamluks, especially if they are fighting non-Muslims.

 

[Hackworthy]

Is there a new version compatible with the latest patch in the works? I really don't want to play without this mod.

 

[mudcrabmerchant]

I like the idea of this, but parts of it appear more like a hotfix than a long term, elegant solution to the Fatimid problem.

Some suggestions:

Disable all Muslim holy war and invasion versus African Miaphysites, and vice versa. The two groups shared amiable relations since the time of Muhammad, and so more is warranted than just a forced peace between Egyptian Shiites and Makuria.

If the Fatimids really were in so much trouble, then 60% decadence seems light, especially given how easily you can burn off decadence with the kind of major wars the Fatimids are prone to get caught up in.

Invasion CB should still be kingdom-level, as such conquests did happen. However, they should be much more costly, only wageable against neighbors, and issue calls-to-arms to co-religionists of the invadee, assuming that they're of a different religion than the invader.

As for the Mamluks: Perhaps they should be strengthened, rather than weakened? Given a few landed holdings in Cairo and maybe other regions where they were historically employed, accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the regional levies. That way, they will provide a major boon to whoever controls them, but if you screw up (high decadence, low relations, lose wars/territory), you not only lose the backbone of your army, but face a revolter in the heart of your realm, a revolter who is more likely than not to have a larger and more skilled army than you, who will be spawning this army right on your capital, and who has an invasion CB that will let them take your entire kingdom.

This would not only weaken the Fatimids, but also allow something like the historical Mamluk state to arise, and make playing in Egypt more interesting in general. You'd have the choice of either relying on this amazing cheap mercenary army, or spending the money to develop your levies and retinue so that you're not at the mercy of these upstart slave-soldiers.

 

[Sleight of Hand]

Shouldn't the Mamluks be Sunni, too?

 

[Gagik]

Some suggestions:

Disable all Muslim holy war and invasion versus African Miaphysites, and vice versa. The two groups shared amiable relations since the time of Muhammad, and so more is warranted than just a forced peace between Egyptian Shiites and Makuria.

This is a really good idea and would greatly balance that region in the matter of game and history. Take a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baqt

Also pls do the same with ERE - on starting date 1066 it is way too strong, compared to historical reality - I dont know if its possible but i would empty a huge part of levies that would be avilable for raising (so that the Emperor would have to wait for them to be reinforced)