Surviving as a single-province ruler.

[unmerged(60878)]

Ok guys, any tips on how to survive as a ruler who starts off with control of a single province?

I've tried several times and each time, within less than a year, a more powerful neighbour has declared war on me, crushed my army and conquered my one province, causing me to lose the game.

They never accept my offers to pay tribute, and I really don't have anything else to negotiate with.

Is the only answer to start off with the most powerful ruler in the area, or are there any other tricks?

 

[Kaleidoscope]

The fact is that Dukes and Kings exist for a reason - to protect the little guys. If you want to survive long term you need to either expand, or pledge yourself to a powerful ruler until you're strong enough to stand alone.

You should also set AI aggression to "Coward". Most people I've spoken to recommend this anyway, since the AI goes a bit insane on any higher level.

 

[jordarkelf]

As above.

Also, as a count you cannot rely on conquest (at least not of fellow christians). Find a country which uses a semisalic law and has no male heirs, and marry yourself or your oldest son to their oldest daughter. If no sons survive childhood (which you can encourage ), your (grand)son will inherit both countries.
You can also try crusading for a weak pagan or muslim, but bear in mind your liege tends to sign peace when it least suits you, and will steal sieges.

 

[TempestDK]

Also remember that if you pledge to a larger realm, that you will not be located right next to his personal realms. He will eventually grab claims on vassal titles that are immediately neighbouring his personal demesne .. and you don't want to be there as a single province count.

Of course you cannot be certain that borders will stay as they are when you pledge, so it is a matter of getting up in the food chain fairly quickly.

 

[unmerged(60878)]

I'm beginning to think that surviving the first few years is largely a matter of luck, even for a duke with several provinces.

Even if I start out relatively powerful, there is always someone more powerful nearby, who has a significant chance of annihilating me with me having no way to resist. Pledging allegiance to a king in the hope of protection does not always work, as even if they could protect you, there's no guarantee that the will...

Also, does the AI ever accept peace proposals when it is winning? I've tried offering it all my money, and the titles of any provinces it has claims on, and even when the value of this is far greater than the actual warscore, they still always refuse and keep fighting without mercy until they conquer all my lands.

 

[TempestDK]

I'm beginning to think that surviving the first few years is largely a matter of luck, even for a duke with several provinces.

Even if I start out relatively powerful, there is always someone more powerful nearby, who has a significant chance of annihilating me with me having no way to resist. Pledging allegiance to a king in the hope of protection does not always work, as even if they could protect you, there's no guarantee that the will...

Also, does the AI ever accept peace proposals when it is winning? I've tried offering it all my money, and the titles of any provinces it has claims on, and even when the value of this is far greater than the actual warscore, they still always refuse and keep fighting without mercy until they conquer all my lands.

Sometimes they will ...but if they are winning, there is no guarantee that you can buy them off first.

Thought you might want to spam them with offers of your whole treasury. You might get lucky that he will accept one of them.

When i play Nubia, half of North Africa will always declare war in the first few years. A war that I have no chances of winning. What I do then is let him come with his piece-meal regiments and beat one or two of them, and then offer my entire treasury. That usually works, and buys me peace with that realm for a few decades.

Which realms are you trying out as?? ... some are much more difficult than others.

As for counties to try, you could consider Lübeck. Mecklemburg pagans have a claim on them and their rulers are rivals, so you'll need to pledge to either Germany or Denmark to survive. I chose Denmark as it was easier to claim independence from them than a mighty Germany.

Pledging to them kept the pagans next door from declaring war for a few years. Enough time to build up my own forces (and Lübeck is quite a rick province) until I could take them on, with some help from Denmark.

If you are a vassal, the liege will ALWAYS declare war on the agressor, and should come to your defence. Well he might actually rather go for his own glory, than actually trying to keep your lands from falling.

 

[unmerged(60878)]

The realms I have tried playing so far are:

Irish duchies: Leinster and Munster - a couple of times England declared war on me in the first year and kicked my ass, a couple of times it went OK, but I got a bit bored because Ireland is so poor it takes forever to have enough money to actually do anything.

Duchy of Salerno (I think?) - Very Bad Idea because the ruler starts out excommunicated, so everyone declares war on him and courtiers' loyalty goes right down. I tried playing as his son who is his vassal and successor (Count of Grisson?), in the hope of inheriting the duchy, but never managed to survive long enough to do so (or the Duke's lands got taken over by someone else before I could inherit them.)

I'm trying the Duchy of Barcelona, but fear it may be too hard with all those Muslim kingdoms nearby...

I'm finding it very hard coping with the huge army upkeep costs compared to the amount of income it is possible to get. Even if I am successful in a war, my treasury is down to about -500 by the time I've conquered one enemy province, so I get all kinds of bad events and am unable to do anything else for ages. This doesn't seem to bother the AI at all, as they are able to stay at war for ages with large negative income with seemingly no negative consequences.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Duchy of Salerno (I think?) - Very Bad Idea because the ruler starts out excommunicated, so everyone declares war on him and courtiers' loyalty goes right down. I tried playing as his son who is his vassal and successor (Count of Grisson?), in the hope of inheriting the duchy, but never managed to survive long enough to do so (or the Duke's lands got taken over by someone else before I could inherit them.)
.

I think you mean the duchy of Lombardia, its ruler doesn't start in excommunication though. He probably gets excommunicated by the PC, the duchess of Tuscany, who is his neighbour.

 

[unmerged(60878)]

I think you mean the duchy of Lombardia, its ruler doesn't start in excommunication though. He probably gets excommunicated by the PC, the duchess of Tuscany, who is his neighbour.

Yes you are right, it was Lombardia. I tried Salerno too, can't remember what went wrong with them but I know I didn't last very long.

And you are right about the excommunication as well - the flag is not there to start with, but after a few starts, they always seem to get excommunicated within the first few days.

 

[unmerged(158620)]

Yes you are right, it was Lombardia. I tried Salerno too, can't remember what went wrong with them but I know I didn't last very long.

And you are right about the excommunication as well - the flag is not there to start with, but after a few starts, they always seem to get excommunicated within the first few days.

I have had or actual still have sucessfull games as Lombardia, Barcalona and the count of Bourbon.

In the Lombaria game both my first and second ruler was excommunicated. After the second one I went to war and brought down the King of Germany on her, problem solved.

I think it's where you start mixed with luck and your actions.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Yes you are right, it was Lombardia. I tried Salerno too, can't remember what went wrong with them but I know I didn't last very long.

And you are right about the excommunication as well - the flag is not there to start with, but after a few starts, they always seem to get excommunicated within the first few days.

I have played a game as Lombardia and was pretty succesfull with it. You start in a rather good position

1. You have some rather wealthy provinces
2. You are vassal of the king of Germany and as long as you stay his vassal people will not easily attack you, even if you are excommunicated.
3. It is very likely that several vassals of the king of Germany (most likely the duchess of Tuscany) will break from Germany. You can then take advantage of that, by taking some provinces/titles from her.

 

[unmerged(84239)]

I'm trying the Duchy of Barcelona, but fear it may be too hard with all those Muslim kingdoms nearby...

Barcelona (and iberian christians in general) is not really hard.

What you should notice that muslim-muslim wars are much more common than a muslim declaration of war on a christian.
Just save up some money for a war, stay alert, and when you see a muslim vs. muslim war, DoW, move in, and grab those undefended provinces

You can also get those 1 province independent sheikdoms easily.


If you are still not certain in yourself, you can always go to France and become his vassal, France will defend you. (it can happen that France creates the crown of Aragon for itself though)

Even if I am successful in a war, my treasury is down to about -500 by the time I've conquered one enemy province

1. this is only like this in the first 50 years or so. Later you can extract lots of gold from 1 province rulers. Early in the game the provinces are not developed and every improvement is cheap. So AI rulers will spend lots on developement and don't have huge treasuries. Later, when they want to build a fortress, they have to save up 1500 gold for that. When you attack, and overwhelm them, they are happy to give you that for their survival.

2. you shouldn't really care about negative treasury, the worst thing is a loss of a province improvement or a regiment. You will get lots of events where you can come back from debt.

 

[unmerged(61650)]

I have been playing beeing the Count of Urgell and I attacked Zaragoza ( Zaragossa ) because I wanted to be a Duke. I succeed in it and also started to attack other places like Valencia. After all I started to attack all the south ,and I started a war with the Emirate of Sevilla, it is very hard to beat it and I had over -6000 of gold and stability of -2 (in the screen I have recovered a lot of money with events and beeing married).
I didnt succeed it because he wanted a lot of troops and I didnt, we make a peace and my prestige decreased a lot .
After this I attacked Navarra because I wanted to be the King of Navarra & Aragon.
After this a lot of people offered to be my vassal, very strange, just take a look.

 

[unmerged(84239)]

@ Sir.Roosevelt:

patch your game, this is a bug!

 

[unmerged(61650)]

Oh ok, thanks I forgot to do it !
PD: Its 2.01 beta :S

 

[GaiusC]

I tried Salerno too, can't remember what went wrong with them but I know I didn't last very long.

They tend to have crazy expansionist Norman neighbours


Still, there's worse than being a 1-province count that has to pledge allegiance to duke or king to survive: being a 1-province kingdom, like Aragon, with annoying neighbours, some of them claiming your throne, others being Muslims

 

[unmerged(133776)]

also @ Sir.Roosevelt:

I just cringed when I saw you ONE Diplomacy stat (and Severely Wounded and Realm Duress? correct?). You're in for one heck of a ride now. lol

If I could offer one suggestion (which you can't do now, but maybe next time). You've got plenty of heirs sitting there, so instead of a young wife for your 2nd marriage, I would have gone shopping for the best Diplomacy wife I could find, of any age. A Chancellor of 20 or 21 would not be impossible to find (or higher). Those plus 8 or 9 to the total Diplomacy would be their weight in gold right now, in regards to your dealings with your vassals.

 

[unmerged(61650)]

Yes I am severly wounded and my vassals arent my friends hehe, I have had 4 wifes, I hope this will make suicide or something like that I cant make an assasination because I havent money ( -2000 +- )

Realm Duress ? The other blue shield is Crusader, but I dont know whats Realm Duress sorry >_< ( I have used the translation to Spanish )

 

[unmerged(133776)]

Realm Duress ? The other blue shield is Crusader, but I dont know whats Realm Duress sorry >_< ( I have used the translation to Spanish )

Ah, Crusader. And you're perfectly fine. I'm no-where near expert enough to tell at a glance what those Icons are. And if you haven't gotten Realm Duress yet, then you're doing great so far (tho I have a feeling you'll find out what Realm Duress is soon enough).

 

[unmerged(61650)]

Look how Im now :
I returned to stability -2 , I have plenty of years of peace, but they attacked the Count of Plasencia so I attacked them, I spent more time than I have calculated with my troops because the King of Zirina and Duke of Mallorca attacked me, too prestige

very bad reputation