Just played a very fun 20 years that makes me really wish the game wasn't a demo. I was determined to do everything in my power to keep the revolts from happening. And I did!
First off, I kept my court doing its damnedest to increase relations between Mike and everyone else; any other dukes that had a low opinion of me, and the Patriarch, just to be safe (does him having a high opinion of you have any good side effects, like increasing other Orthodox opinions of you?). Of course, as soon as the Patriarch got a high opinion of me, he died, and the new guy wasn't all that keen, but I was too busy converting my new muslim territories to care.
Then bam, just as I made some headway with making the other dukes happy, Mike died. Of course. Leaving his 2 year old son (born in 1068, so he'd only be 18 by the time the game ended. Agh) to pick up where he left off. I did manage to get him betrothed to a underage Duchess of Cyberawahteveroia who didn't particularly like him, that helped. Then, well before I was ready, grandpa died, putting this kid on the throne.
But, somehow, I managed to not have many vassals that wanted to revolt; as opposed to about a dozen who had low opinions whenever Mike took the throne, I only have about 4 or 5, who were easily placated with some land and titles (okay, lots of land and titles).
Held a feast, that helped out, too. And, lucky me, I inherited some prisoners to release from the Suljuk war. Speaking of the Suljuks, Mosul declared their independence and managed to hold it, creating a nice buffer state, so I never had to worry about an invasion. I spent the rest of my childhood conquering minor Muslim states (Edessa auto-peaced with me right as I was laying siege to their last county, obnoxious), and bribing people where necessary. I didn't conquer as much as I could have, since I was still paranoid of revolts. Also, I found that some people really liked it when I told them to stop their plots; is there a downside to constantly ordering people in your realm to stop their plots (so long as you make sure to only boss around the ones that will listen)?
I came of age, went hunting twice, married my duchess (who stayed in her territory, rather than come to court and let me inherit her lands. lame), and encountered a bug where I couldn't pick a new ambition (clicked the wrong one, cancelled it, all others were grayed out). I was going to aim for the prestige or piety ambition, too bad I already passed both (I'm hoping the release version will have higher tiers of those ambitions). Then time ran out.
All in all, a blast of a game. Even managed to outscore the 2nd dynasty on the score chart (Godwinson?). Wahoo.
