So I decided that after all these years I was going to do an ironman game as Venice and play through the entire game and get the achievement, so far this game has been rather surprising. The fall of the ERE early on and the emergence of Carpathia as a major power, and their subsequent conversion to Catholicism, made for a confusing map of Europe and the middle East. So when I'm some 300 years in I got tired of feeling bloby and gave away the Empire of Italy to the King of France keeping Venice and Jerusalem. That's when I started to notice what the Holy Orders were up to. There's five of them now and they're fighting each other... Border wars in Jerusalem, fights in France, Alba and Germany. At the moment the Teutonic Knights are based in Ghana (!) so they seem to be escaping their aggressive brothers amongst the Templars and Hospitalers but why are they fighting each other? Shouldn't Holy Orders be a tad more focused on all those pesky infedels? Why are they allowed to fight each other? I would be able to stop this nonsense if it wasn't for this idea that now a days you can only vassalise one HO, I've vassalised the Templars but they sure as heck aren't listening to me and I've got no way to stop them from fighting other HO.
On the subject of HO I was also a bit upset when I fought a long and bloody holy war for Sardinia after which the Knights of Sardinia (the Hospitalers held Sardinia for a bit before loosing it the a uprising and then the Muslims took it) asked if they could have it. I felt that it would be in line with my pious Emperor so I gave it too them and in exchange for giving them 1 duchy, 5 counties and 13 baronies I got a thank you and +25 relationship...
Another observation is something that's been a gripe for ages, I find it more than a little absurd that the incapable Sultan of Tunis is still reigning in Tunis after I've sieged all his holdings. I don't know how this bedridden coma patient is staying hidden from my 20000 man army but apparently his governing capabilities are quite something. The man's not even in hiding, he's ruling his now occupied capital right out in the open but for some utterly unclear reason I can't capture him. The inability to capture enemy rulers is extremely annoying, and of course there's the instant teleportation between armies where I massacre every single man in his army but he somehow survives and teleports to another army on the other side of the world. This is nothing new but it's still bloody annoying, I think maybe it's about time we got a serious increase in the likelihood of capturing enemy leaders whether it be in sieges or at the very least when you've wiped out the army they were leading.
Lastly there's the ongoing inability of the AI to manage marriages. In my current game the Karlings managed to squander every single Kingdom within 150 years due to matrilineal marriages and the lack there of. This lead to all of Francia being inherited by a Muslim Khan... I wish I could say it's rare for the AI to send suggestions of betrothal when they want to engage their only male heir at 8 years of age to a chaste 38 year old woman but the AI is seriously bad at marriages. The notion that they refuse to accept a marriage because of the loss of prestige or that they want a better non-aggression pact might be all right if it wasn't for the fact that it then leads to them never getting married! The continuation of their House never really seems to be a priority for the AI.
Edit: I forgot to ask about the relationship bonuses for feudal rulers applying to HO instead of theocratic bonuses, seems like they should count more ans theocratic than feudal. I guess it might have something to do with it being easier to give titles to feudal lords so that's why the game considers them feudal? Or maybe it's just becaouse I haven't bought HF yet.
On the subject of HO I was also a bit upset when I fought a long and bloody holy war for Sardinia after which the Knights of Sardinia (the Hospitalers held Sardinia for a bit before loosing it the a uprising and then the Muslims took it) asked if they could have it. I felt that it would be in line with my pious Emperor so I gave it too them and in exchange for giving them 1 duchy, 5 counties and 13 baronies I got a thank you and +25 relationship...
Another observation is something that's been a gripe for ages, I find it more than a little absurd that the incapable Sultan of Tunis is still reigning in Tunis after I've sieged all his holdings. I don't know how this bedridden coma patient is staying hidden from my 20000 man army but apparently his governing capabilities are quite something. The man's not even in hiding, he's ruling his now occupied capital right out in the open but for some utterly unclear reason I can't capture him. The inability to capture enemy rulers is extremely annoying, and of course there's the instant teleportation between armies where I massacre every single man in his army but he somehow survives and teleports to another army on the other side of the world. This is nothing new but it's still bloody annoying, I think maybe it's about time we got a serious increase in the likelihood of capturing enemy leaders whether it be in sieges or at the very least when you've wiped out the army they were leading.
Lastly there's the ongoing inability of the AI to manage marriages. In my current game the Karlings managed to squander every single Kingdom within 150 years due to matrilineal marriages and the lack there of. This lead to all of Francia being inherited by a Muslim Khan... I wish I could say it's rare for the AI to send suggestions of betrothal when they want to engage their only male heir at 8 years of age to a chaste 38 year old woman but the AI is seriously bad at marriages. The notion that they refuse to accept a marriage because of the loss of prestige or that they want a better non-aggression pact might be all right if it wasn't for the fact that it then leads to them never getting married! The continuation of their House never really seems to be a priority for the AI.
Edit: I forgot to ask about the relationship bonuses for feudal rulers applying to HO instead of theocratic bonuses, seems like they should count more ans theocratic than feudal. I guess it might have something to do with it being easier to give titles to feudal lords so that's why the game considers them feudal? Or maybe it's just becaouse I haven't bought HF yet.
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