Reliably getting support as Thankmar.

[IndigoRage]

It seems to be totally up to luck whether Thankmar gets anywhere near enough support to win his rebellion. Oldenburg and Franconia are the only ones who reliably join (because the coding of the event forces them to) and I've even seen Franconia immediately re-absorb itself into Germany after pledging to support me. The event triggers pretty much immediately so I have very little time to set up. I've never even seen an instance of me getting as much support as in the Thankmar's Rebellion AAR. Is there a way to reliably make it so that other German vassals like me more than Otto or will I just have to reroll for hours until I get lucky with the relations given by random traits at the start?

 

[Keizer Harm]

I won it by allying with a couple of foreign kings, like Sweden and France. It was still a long war as they each had their own wars going on, so luck is still involved.

 

[TurboTT]

Just borrow gold for mercs, you have a time limit since money will run out. But within a couple of month with enemy riving crossing you will win.

 

[WJS]

Borrow for mercs, marry yourself and your siblings off for alliances, move fast, pick and stage your battles, and expect to lose your first one.

When I wrote the AAR, I didn't expect Gero to join, and he was a great help, but I've done it since without his help. On YouTube, One Proud Bavarian did a Thankmar's Rebellion play where he succeeds with just Oldenburg and Franconia.

It's not easy, though. It's not supposed to be easy. Historically, the rebellion was put down and Thankmar was assassinated within months. You won't be able to just slap your soldiers against Otto's and expect to walk away victorious.

And yeah, move fast. If Eberhard dies or once Danes invade Oldenburg (because that's pretty much guaranteed), your allies will drop out.

 

[IndigoRage]

Borrow for mercs, marry yourself and your siblings off for alliances, move fast, pick and stage your battles, and expect to lose your first one.

When I wrote the AAR, I didn't expect Gero to join, and he was a great help, but I've done it since without his help. On YouTube, One Proud Bavarian did a Thankmar's Rebellion play where he succeeds with just Oldenburg and Franconia.

It's not easy, though. It's not supposed to be easy. Historically, the rebellion was put down and Thankmar was assassinated within months. You won't be able to just slap your soldiers against Otto's and expect to walk away victorious.

And yeah, move fast. If Eberhard dies or once Danes invade Oldenburg (because that's pretty much guaranteed), your allies will drop out.

I wasn't expecting it to be easy and I didn't even read your AAR until a few attempts. The thing that actually made my expectations too high was getting really lucky with random traits giving me Frisia and Brandenburg at the start and then losing to bad luck. I was just wondering if it was possible in any way to influence them beyond just the roll.

My takeaway is: you can't rely on Germany to give you allies who will be useful for anything other than meat shields.(independent meat shields who get dragged in to supporting their allies in wars and run off to fight for them if your army isn't big enough to keep them glued on)

The thing I will have to actually re-roll due to luck for will be the ominous "would prefer a matrilineal marriage" modifier. That's what was keeping me from better alliances.

 

[jonjowett]

I had a weird (failed) run with Thankmar. I spent my 300 Jewish gold getting alliances with France and England. Then, when the event triggered and I rebelled, I couldn't call my allies into the war. And I'd already taken the loan, so no more mercenaries. Oops.

 

[IndigoRage]

Borrow for mercs, marry yourself and your siblings off for alliances

Hey, the event doesn't seem to take any allies you might have in mind? I've tried forming alliances with just about every power in Europe, and I never even have an option to even ask them to join.

EDIT: I keep trying and forming alliances seems to do literally nothing. I have no option to ask them to join. The best I've gotten is just getting lucky with random German vassals. Is there a way to actually ask them to do anything? Seems like a massive waste of resources to try that route when it doesn't seem to actually ask them for help.

 

[WJS]

It's possible that alliances are disabled. When I wrote the AAR, I used a beta copy so its functionality was still liable to change.