New and Improved Hauteville Empire

[Attalus]

I think it could be a good thing to start with the first war
You could hint at the various things you did in the first 30 years while starting the story in medias res

 

[Yenzen]

Yeah, could start with the intelligence briefing of the new Empress (or Emperor) following an unexpected succession at the start of the war or something to that effect. The first 20-30 years tend to be *very* identical and we don't need to be reintroduced to the most basic of technologies or first new colonies and contacts with extraterrestrial life again.

 

[stnylan]

I vote for the first significant war.

 

[TheAnguishedOne]

First notable war sounds about right, maybe the prologue serving as an infodump of your tech and neighbors.

 

[hjarg]

Here we go- third Hauteville Empire!
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/even-better-hautevilles.1011270/

I think it could be a good thing to start with the first war
You could hint at the various things you did in the first 30 years while starting the story in medias res

That is brilliant idea! So, i'll be following this one!

Yeah, could start with the intelligence briefing of the new Empress (or Emperor) following an unexpected succession at the start of the war or something to that effect. The first 20-30 years tend to be *very* identical and we don't need to be reintroduced to the most basic of technologies or first new colonies and contacts with extraterrestrial life again.

That is pretty good idea too, but Attalus's one- throwing you in blind and filling the backstory eventually, seems more fun
But yes, unless you get absolutely horrible starting conditions, it tends to be just expansion and exploration. And neigbours with different kinds of nastyness.

I vote for the first significant war.

First war is significant. You don't have the Power Overwhelming yet and winning requires some tactics. Then, there will be 30-40 years of overkill

First notable war sounds about right, maybe the prologue serving as an infodump of your tech and neighbors.

Infodump coming a bit later!