Strategy for Alania

[bigtrouble77]

I've realized that I'm quite poor at the this game and really need some help getting going...

So I'm trying to build a great empire out of Alania. This is an interesting area for me because it's in the middle of Crusade-land, but far away from the non-sense going on in western europe.

I've realized a couple things:
- I need to build a marriage alliance quickly to thwart Muslim incursions
- I should probably build an Alliance with Georgia as they always seem to attack me. It would be nice to have an ally so close.
- Be careful not to piss off Cumania or Seljuk empires too early


When I start the game I immediately get a notice that I have a De Jure Ducal claim on Sarpa. When investigating further, it appears that I cannot declare war because Sarpa is independent. How do I get around this? Why would I even get the message if I can't act on the claim?

I had two games now where I've fabricated a claim on Sarpa, but, once the other guy surrenders, that county is never included in the terms. In one case I fabricated the claims while I was in the middle of a conflict with him and the other time I fabricated the claim with led to him declaring war on me. Both times I did occupy the county to the point that my units were no longer sieging.

Who is a good ally for Alania? I've been hooking up with Mordvins who have been the best allies by far.

Finally, why is it that when the muslims attack me (because they hate me) they are free to occupy my once conquered, but I cannot claim land that I conquer when I win these conflicts. Getting Sarpa has been a huge frustration, I must have conquered that county about 8 times in 3 separate games.

Any suggestions would be a great help. I love the game, but there are some things I just don't fully understand to enjoy it to the utmost.

Thanks.

 

[Ritzzz]

Having played some successful games with Alania, here's my 2 cents worth of advice:

- I generally dont like to ally with Georgia, because they are weak in game, and their lands are better off incorporated into yours.
- Go after derbent whenever possible. It's very high tech, and with provide a much needed booast.
- Plot to revoke every county in Alania asap, so as to increase your own powerbase.
- When you are still small, always standby 150 gold. This is so that if someone slightly bigger decides to DOW on you, you can hire some mercs to defend yourself. This saved my ass countless times.
- Always have an alliance with the Byzantine empire. Second best options would one of the larger Rurikovich dukes and Hungary.
- You should only go for the OP cataphract retinue. But when you are still small, your best bet is the cavalry archer heavy merc (turkic company or something like that).
- I tend to prefer to expand into Taurica/georgia as they are easier to defend once you have a sizable navy.

To answer your question:
- Sarpa: it is dure part of the duchy of Alania so you can press de jure claims. But it starts out as under the high chief of Azov which is a vassal of the Khan of Cumania. So unless the high chief of Azov is independent or Cumania is in a civil war, you must DOW on the Khan of Cumania to gain Sarpa (which isnt very advisable unless Cumamia is in heavy civil war). But dont worry, because so long as you remain as the duke of Alania, you can always press de jure duchy claim on Sarpa.

 

[unmerged(617449)]

I've had some fun games with Alania. I'll just add to what the above poster has suggested, as it's all good advice.

Offer to join the wars of Byzantium, if you can boost the relationship high enough, you can always depend on the best ally in the region (and also loot the lands of the enemies without having to declare war). Also check for married brothers and daughters of the Emperor who have moved out of the capitol for easy assassination and marriage to your dynasty for sneaky alliances (this saved my bacon in my first attempt when three high chiefs of Cumania DOW'd me at once).

Once you can afford the four monies a month upkeep, keep the Bulgar mercenaries hired at all times (until you have enough of a foothold not to worry about defensive wars).

Milk defensive wars for everything you can get from them. Keep looting the lands of the attacker until you need the troops for some other purpose. Never settle for a white peace when you can rake in enough money for improvements in two to four counties just from the terms of surrender.

Derbent is a great target, but I like to cause instability in Kartli as soon as possible to get that second duchy and form the Kingdom of Alania (and also to set up some easy offer vassalization targets).

Once you have enough power to take down a High Chief of Cumania, start assassinating the King of Cumania to spark succession wars. If you plan these when other Christian powers in the neighborhood are occupied, you can sweep nearly the entirety of the Cuman territory at very little cost.

The best ally amongst the Russian Dukes seems to be Ryazan, but you'll have to pray the Duke isn't entangled in other affairs when you need help.

edit: Further information regarding your question about Sarpa: if you are the defender, you can never ask for land in the surrender agreement. Sarpa seems to be one of the last things I take from Cumania, for whatever reason.

 

[bigtrouble77]

Thanks so much for the great info! This is going to give me a lot to work with moving forward- excited to get a new game going. Any suggestions on how to best prepare for the Mongol Hordes (assuming I can make it that far)?

 

[Kapt Torbjorn]

Thanks so much for the great info! This is going to give me a lot to work with moving forward- excited to get a new game going. Any suggestions on how to best prepare for the Mongol Hordes (assuming I can make it that far)?

Move your entire court to Iceland.

 

[PerciXal]

Funny how I started an Alania game earlier. How convenient!

 

[unmerged(617449)]

Thanks so much for the great info! This is going to give me a lot to work with moving forward- excited to get a new game going. Any suggestions on how to best prepare for the Mongol Hordes (assuming I can make it that far)?

Unless you want to do it the hardest way possible and only have one kingdom title (which is my current challenge game with Alania), make sure to form kingdoms as soon as you can make them instead of allowing duchies to drift into de jure Alania. You'll thank me later. A lot of people would suggest leaving a buffer kingdom between you and where the Mongols appear, it's not a bad idea, but it's not absolutely necessary.

Also, as much as possible, you want to be planning long term, that means always researching tech. It's a long way up from 0,0,0.

A somewhat cheesy maneuver that can be used along-side the earlier suggestion of always building cities is to build cities in the counties of counts that are not under your direct control. While maintaining direct control of mayors from the counties other counts/dukes/kings will give you a malus, if that count/duke is not your direct vassal, the malus is essentially meaningless but you still get the largest taxes possible. This will give you a massive income boost, allowing you to fund improvements and fabrications more quickly to get ahead of the Russians and any possible break-aways from the Byzantium empire (Trebizond first and foremost).

Around the turn of 13th century, you'll want to tie up all the loose ends of successions (you'll get the warning about ten years before the initial invasion), have a strong leader, as many Alani/Halani vassals as possible, and it doesn't hurt to have family members on other thrones (my first game had a bloodline relative on the throne of Byzantine, Hungary and Poland). I'd also suggest becoming familiar with the strengths of elective succession/absolute authority.

This setup helped me smash the Golden Horde in 20 years of legitimate fighting.

 

[Delta107]

I suspect Alania is one of those (very)difficult countries to play with. The point is that even if you're successful the HORDES(MANY horse archers) are on the way. I played once with Byz and I stroke at them when they appeared, and I must say that war was far from over when I quit the campaign. I guess this is perhaps the only way. You must beat them before they gain a lot of counties and hence levies. And frankly I don't believe Alania could muster such resources.

 

[PerciXal]

I suspect Alania is one of those (very)difficult countries to play with. The point is that even if you're successful the HORDES(MANY horse archers) are on the way. I played once with Byz and I stroke at them when they appeared, and I must say that war was far from over when I quit the campaign. I guess this is perhaps the only way. You must beat them before they gain a lot of counties and hence levies. And frankly I don't believe Alania could muster such resources.

It's in the Caucasus region and is Orthodox surrounded by pagans and muslims, so it'll be a challenge. Luckily you get a nice retinue, and you're close to a strong Orthodox empire.

 

[Ritzzz]

Thanks so much for the great info! This is going to give me a lot to work with moving forward- excited to get a new game going. Any suggestions on how to best prepare for the Mongol Hordes (assuming I can make it that far)?

I was really lucky as the mongols went for the northern territories before going for hungary-greece my ally instead of me (maybe the fact that I had the biggest manpower in the east helped). So I helped them by seiging all of Moldau which was mongol territory, thus preventing the mongols from gaining 100% warscore and forcing the mongols to come to moldau to capture back Moldau. There I placed my 20k cataphract retinue of the best commanders and rest of my army in ships in the black sea. The moment the GH doomstack came I landed the rest of my troops, resulting in me whooping that doomstack