Never played as Muslims...any tips?

[unmerged(569711)]

I played a couple times in Iberia but I always got smashed by some Catholics. then when I play as a catholic I get smashed by the Muslims:angry:

but thats another story

I was hoping in this thread you could tell me just how different a Muslim plays than a Christian, then share any tips if you have them so I can be the best gosh darn Muslim in CKII

 

[Casiru]

Most problems as a Muslim come from high decadence and your family. Your wives will try to kill each others children and your brothers will be your worst enemy. Muslims tend to go into a major succession crisis when the next child inherits and if you somehow end up playing a female character you've lost the game already (no matrimarriages). Everyone is capable of declaring war on you and you'll prolly have to fight off the other muslims wanting to take a province from you.

Hajj and Ramadan are important decision and should be taken asap.

Some rulers are a lot harder than others in the 1066 start, for example the emirate in Algeria is very strong for its size with a stable realm while the king of Marrakesh has a super duke who owns all the good holdings and a very aggressive southern neighbor. If your playing in Iberia you need to kick the Jimenas while they are infighting or you will have a huge alliance chain trying to show you hell.

You can play the marriage game and get lots of alliances by marrying the princess's of various nations since you can marry 3 or 4 wives.

That's probably enough for you to be getting on with so I'll stop the rant there.

 

[l3ol3o]

Only land a single son who you plan to make your heir. Imprison or kill the other male members. They won't be a problem early game but once your empire grows they will cause big problems. This was a big adjustment for me as I love to land all my family members when playing Christians.

 

[Shadowhope]

If you want to start as a OPM, I suggest Tunis. There are a lot of great opportunities for aggressive expansion.

 

[cybrxkhan]

If you're not against a late start, Anatolia 1307 and after is a good place to start - there are plenty of small Sultanates, and the nearby Balkans are, well, Balkanized into a bunc hof petty kingdoms and duchies (and the declining Byzantine Empire), so it's a great place to learn the ropes as a Muslim - think of it as the Ireland of the Muslims. The only thing is that it's a late start, which some players are against.


As for other advice, the only thing I can think of is don't marry too much. Marry just enough - or even less despite the consequences, since you'll be having tons of kids anyways. The less males there are, the less trouble you'll have, period, so it's better in the long run.

 

[hannibal_barca]

Don't even bother until 1.07c comes out, assuming it fixes the following issue. If you essentially any muslim state besides the sejuk turks or fatmids, get ready to have ur game over in by 1200 when the inevitable French or Holy Roman Imperial blob comes annexing every Muslim state with 50k plus armies.

 

[minke19104]

The only fun Muslim game I had was the last starting point as Ottoman dynasty. Basically keep on pushing Holy Wars and Invasion on the severely weakened ERE, until you replicate the Ottoman Sultanate. So much wars, so no need to worry about decadence. Although i have to say i did it before 1.07b so dont know how factions will play into this.

 

[yourworstnightm]

Always imprison all your sons when they turn 16.

 

[Comradebot]

Only land a single son who you plan to make your heir. Imprison or kill the other male members. They won't be a problem early game but once your empire grows they will cause big problems. This was a big adjustment for me as I love to land all my family members when playing Christians.

That advice can become trickier to follow the larger your realm goes and the higher your rank (thus, the more wives). Sons give a hefty decadence contribution, and you very well may end up with more than you can hope to put on your council (and some that are just so god awful that it's difficult to justify putting them on the council). So you can either eat massive tyranny for imprisoning them, or you can land them. Though if you do so, just remember to give them as little as possible... its about mitigating how much decadence is trickling in, you don't typically need to give them so much that they're giving 0%, nor do you want to risk them getting strong enough to become heir. In my early game, I had no problem with em'... it was later, when decadence is atrocious due to the boost from realm size and I was a Shahanshah with four wives popping out constant brats that the pinch started to be felt.

Don't even bother until 1.07c comes out, assuming it fixes the following issue. If you essentially any muslim state besides the sejuk turks or fatmids, get ready to have ur game over in by 1200 when the inevitable French or Holy Roman Imperial blob comes annexing every Muslim state with 50k plus armies.

While a bit extreme, it's also not entirely inaccurate: France and the HRE just love to blob into Iberia and North Africa. I'd love to play a game in North Africa, but I've seen the HRE holy warring into it as early as the 1080s. Once the HRE or France have Sardinia, its a matter of time until they have Tunis (and once they have it, it's really only a matter of time until they have freakin' Mali). The only times they don't blob into those two areas is if the Catholics actually win out in Iberia (even then, expect a French foothold) or if the Fatimids conquer either region. One time I saw Sicily conquer North Africa... and once the Hammidid dynasty launched a successful invasion of Italy... which was promptly smashed with a Crusade, and in time the HRE once again conquered North Africa.

 

[Apocal]

So you can either eat massive tyranny for imprisoning them, or you can land them.

You don't get tyranny from imprisoning male relatives as a Muslim.

 

[brxbrx]

Jail your children and kill them on succession.

Granting relatives land quickly becomes a pyramid scheme, as they reproduce exponentially and continuous conquest just becomes unfeasible.
I hope Paradox will give us the option to form cadet dynasties, or implement realistic contemporary rates of child mortality, because as it is playing Muslims rapidly because a hassle.

 

[Comradebot]

You don't get tyranny from imprisoning male relatives as a Muslim.

Pretty sure you do if they're your sons.

EDIT: Yep, just double checked, imprisoning your sons WILL net you 40 Tyranny.

 

[Comradebot]

Also, amazing how many people in this thread are advising to imprison your sons. I have to wonder how many of them have actually played Muslim.

 

[brxbrx]

Also, amazing how many people in this thread are advising to imprison your sons. I have to wonder how many of them have actually played Muslim.

I have, and imprisoning my sons (on adulthood) was a viable and even necessary option to contain decadence.

 

[Fishman786]

But you get tyranny from imprisoning your sons. Isn't it a better idea to wait until succession, then bump off all your brothers?

 

[brxbrx]

I'm pretty sure you don't get tyranny for imprisoning your adult sons. I'll have to check.

 

[Sir Tornado]

I have, and imprisoning my sons (on adulthood) was a viable and even necessary option to contain decadence.

You should just give the unwanted sons a city...

 

[Comradebot]

I'm pretty sure you don't get tyranny for imprisoning your adult sons. I'll have to check.

It was an adult son I tested it on.

 

[Yxklyx]

I'm pretty sure you don't get tyranny for imprisoning your adult sons. I'll have to check.

Yes you do. I don't find imprisonment of sons a viable option. -40 opinion to all vassals is way too much and if you have more than one son not really feasible.

Decadence among all dynasty members is reduced if the head of a Dynasty has a small demesne (but not size of 1 at least in last patch). So, if you're demesne limit is 12 and you only hold 6 counties you can get a significant reduction. As you grow in size though you will get to a point of no return where nothing can be done (other than letting go of Kingdoms, etc...) to prevent a large increase in decadence every month.

To cut down on sons you might want to start divorcing and going down to fewer wives - taking the prestige hit is probably worth it with a very large empire.

Dynasty members don't generate decadence if they are in a court of a non-Dynasty member so if you can somehow manage that... Maybe if you can make them hate you so they will be invited by someone else.

[note that my experience with decadence is before 1.07]

 

[Comradebot]

Yes you do. I don't find imprisonment of sons a viable option. -40 opinion to all vassals is way too much and if you have more than one son not really feasible.

Decadence among all dynasty members is reduced if the head of a Dynasty has a small demesne (but not size of 1 at least in last patch). So, if you're demesne limit is 12 and you only hold 6 counties you can get a significant reduction. As you grow in size though you will get to a point of no return where nothing can be done (other than letting go of Kingdoms, etc...) to prevent a large increase in decadence every month.

To cut down on sons you might want to start divorcing and going down to fewer wives - taking the prestige hit is probably worth it with a very large empire.

Dynasty members don't generate decadence if they are in a court of a non-Dynasty member so if you can somehow manage that... Maybe if you can make them hate you so they will be invited by someone else.

[note that my experience with decadence is before 1.07]

If you can get a reason to imprison them, I believe its tyranny free to banish someone who has no land. So you might be able to excommunicate your own unlanded sons and then banish them, or if you can catch them plotting... I know I banished a son as a Catholic earlier without any tyranny, but I can't speak 100% for Muslims.

That said, you need a reason first. If you happen to be or vassalize a religious head, that'd make it super easy. If not, well... that's why if you make your most awesome son the heir. Should you be strong-armed into landing crappier sons, they'll probably be less likeable and thus not generate much in the way of support come succession time. And if they don't immediately revolt, you can then imprison them with the new ruler.