Byzantine Succession Game

BYZANTINE SUCCESSION GAME

-Lands to Conquer
-VH/VH

Active PLayers:

-Askthepizzaguy
-decb
-TheFlax

Oh... if only I had room on my computer to reinstall Rome I would join in. This is precisely the kind of game I would love to play if I were to play Rome again.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

D'oh... alas all my screenshots, versions of M2TW, and Itunes music has killed my disk space. Not to hijack the thread, but what's the quickest and cheapest way to backup my files so I can reinstall Rome? anyone know? private message me.

Hmm, if you get enough interest going i might be able to join in. I'd have to reinstall Rome, and I probably dont really have the time, but I would enjoy this kind of thing as well.

I suppose we would be using vanilla (shudder) rather than some sort of mod which keeps the three families?

Rome does not seem to be too popular, have no fear though I have another idea knocking around..

The Republic of Sicily

Medieval II TW

Simple succession game, users picking a character and playing as him/her holding councils of nobles to discuss the future of Sicily including elections, laws, expansion etc.

Anyone interested in that?

I'm not a huge fan of Sicily... however, I would love to do a Turkish Succession game, being Sultan numero uno of the Turkish Sultanate/Ottoman empire, as long as it's on Lands to Conquer so that the game isn't insanely easy.

Other factions I'd be interested in... hmm... Byzantium. Revive the real Roman empire!

Byzantium.. sounds good, Lands to Conquer.. is that a mod? If it is then a nice download link would be appreciated, anything in the name of fun is my motto.

Lands to Conquer is basically a fixed version of Vanilla. Everything is the same except some loopholes are closed, and things are more expensive, and the AI seems a bit stronger.

I have to go to work, I wonder if someone else can post a link

I thought I had posted but it appears I have not, Yes I am all for a different faction, is lands to conquer a mod? If so can I have a link to it please?

Whoops, sorry about that. Thanks ATPG!

here is a link to LTC:http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=302

Thanks Elite Ferret!

Do we have anymore interest or suggestions?

I'd like to get things started off as the Byzantine emperor. Decb, you can go next. Any takers after that? We'll need more interest.

I pick Lands to Conquer, for the challenge. But I'll go first maybe to make it easier, unless Decb wants to.

I can join in if you need an incompetent ruler for a time. :clown:

Seriously though, I'd like to try my hand at a sucessor PBEM.

OK so we have 3 rulers. Thats a good start.

Lands to Conquer, Byzantine Empire VH/VH

Turn order?
I volunteer to go first. Decb, since this is your baby, why not you go second. Flax, if you want to go third?

How long do we rule the empire? each turn is like 1.5 years, so 30 turns would be 45 years, which is the most a king could probably rule before he dropped dead.

Alternatively, when the faction leader dies, someone else takes over. But if I recall, the ERE leader is about to die when things first begin, so why don't I just do the 30 turns and if the faction heir dies, I will defer to Decb.

Is everyone on board with this?

Sure are Captain. Can we not make it vanilla vh/vh? we have two incompetants and you :P

That just makes it more fun. I'll get us off to a good start, ok?

I also believe TheFlax is just being modest. His empire is larger than mine in the BC1 hotseat and he's richer...

Unless you seriously object to LTC in which case, it's your baby.

OK, downloading LTC now, take us away ATPG!

Let's see, 4 hotseats, 4 duels, LoTR, succession game, and a singleplayer Turkish blitz in BC.

I'm a busy boy.


I'd like to open the floor for debate. What are our immediate priorities, or should I just go at it with my default plan?

Propose your default plan dear ATPG

you are busy :beam:

The idea is basically to accept missions (if any) to boost troops or money, secure whatever easy rebel provinces are mission-applicable, and take any economic powerhouses in range, prepare for the inevitable Venetian/Sicilian assault, secure border with Turkey, counterassault the Italians, secure peace with the Papal states, build defenses in northern Greece, prepare for the inevitable betrayal by Hungary, and begin the religious conversion of the east and west.

Priorities will be determined by in-game events. I will update this thread when I've made significant progress.

That sounds very.. sensible. I agree whole heartedly.
NB I can have up to 4000 troops on screen at any one time without it lagging.
NB2 Is there an option to change difficulty? I cannot locate it.

I usually keep it on the default unit size, and difficulty is determined by the person who begins the campaign. I set it to VH/VH... is that ok>

I will survive, not sure about the game though :beam: Where is the fun without the challenge?

Turn 3- 1/10th complete

Took mission-related castle of Smyrna. Made alliances with Turks and Hungarians. Massing huge naval forces, heading west.

Turn 6- 1/5th Complete

Declared alliance with Poland, HRE, Venice.
Began converting Turkish Capital to Orthodox Christianity
Married Polish Princess to Faction Heir
Married Byzantine Princess to 16 year old male, highly loyal, chivalrous, good commander.

Naval force is at 13 ships, we have begun a pre-emptive strike to destroy Sicily.

We have enough ships in place to not fear a counterstrike.

Which campaign are you doing?

Ahh good, cover your back with the Turks alliance. Sounds a nice start.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Askthepizzaguy

I also believe TheFlax is just being modest. His empire is larger than mine in the BC1 hotseat and he's richer...

---

You didn't mention that Georgia never had to face a full scale war, unlike the Sultanate of Rum.

As for the war plan I'm in agreement going after those pesky Venetians. Purge the italian scum. :smash:

Also, I suggest that we change the name of the thread to something more appropriate if possible. :yes:

I was thinking the same about the thread title, I will pm a mod. Byzantine Succession Game?

I'm not exactly sure how to change the name of a thread. Someone want to ask a moderator that one?

Turn 9- 3/10ths Complete

Made alliance with Papal States, Milan, relations with Pope near perfect.
Took Naples, Italy. Ready to beseige Palermo.

The Sicilian navy has been batted away with all their defensive forces still on it... they will be wiped out forever.

Reputation: mixed, lots of allies.

Naples is near rebellion, but we should find a way to take care of that once Sicily is dead and gone. We will begin the conversion of Italy soon thereafter.

Any thoughts on our plan of action?

Turn 12- 2/5ths complete

Made alliance with France.
Destroyed Sicily.
Sank Sicilian Navy with all hands aboard.
Restored Public order in Italy.
Moved Capital to Thessalonica for managerial reasons.
Reputation: Mixed, lots of allies.

Conversion of Italy begun...
Conversion of Anatolia: 40% at Turkish Capital.

Turn 15: Halfway through First Reign

Venice and the Holy Roman empire proved what allies they are... by betraying us. I am about to take Bologna, and then move against Venice itself. Our fleet was decimated in the ocean, somewhat on purpose to solve a budget crisis.

Turkish capital nearing 50% conversion.
Naples at 25% conversion.
Built Explorer's guild at Constantinople.
Took Florence, gave it to Moors because we could not hold it. Gained favor with Moors.

We would have already moved against the Pope but we have too many other priorities.

Turn 20: 2/3 through Reign

Took Venice and Bologna, managed to get public order back to a reasonable point, sent 5 priests in to convert.

Turkish capital nearing 60% conversion.

Accepted mission to take Cagliari, preparing to attack Papal States so we can destroy any chance of Crusades. Turks still pacified, Hungary honouring our alliance so far.

Faction Heir and Leader both still alive and well, our family has greatly expanded in size through marriages and adoptions. Should have lots of children on the way soon.

Amazing work ATPG!

Though moving the capital from the great Constantinople to Thessalonica is a bit sad. :clown:

Maybe you think I'm not incompetent, but I can't acheive the third of what you did in that timeframe. The Byzantines are in good hands. :yes:

Turn 30: Emperor Askthepizzaguy Komnenos' Reign complete

The faction is stable, making money every turn, and there are plenty of defensive troops.

There is a crusade active towards Antioch, but the AI seems content to ignore ERE.

Decb, you are now handed the reins of power.

http://www.mizus.com/files/pbm/Succession-30.sav

Password is 1... sorry I have hotseat enabled and I didn't feel like turning it off just for this game. just be careful not to leave your troops exposed, because the computer can pick them off. Use forts if you dont want to lose troops.


TheFlax, I encourage you to look at the save file, even if youre not playing it yet...

Thanks ATPG I will try to keep us on the straight and narrow.

I am a Member!

3 turns in nothing happened as of yet. Crusade passed through on its way to Antioch.
In future I will have to look out in future for the just be careful not to leave your troops exposed, because the computer can pick them off. I now realise that you do not get to fight the battle if you are attacked. I lost 6 units of spear militia :thumbsdown:
Signed a peace treaty with Venice worth 1000F.

URGENT COUNCIL

https://i288.photobucket.com/albums/...cialcopy-1.jpg

It appears we are in a financial mess, do we hasten to blitz a few provinces? (As far as I can see that will mean going to war with Milan or Venice, or breaking an aliiance with either Hungary Poland or Turkey) Or, do we disband some military? Please vote as we will be in the red soon if nothing is done to prevent the downfall.

If you want to take a look for yourself then here is the save; http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/succession-33.sav

I advise that we eliminate unneccessary troops, if we can, and also focus on farms. I note that our farm income is abysmally low.

Be careful to note who is likely to backstab you, this is all the harder because it's LTC, VH/VH, with no ability to defend, only attack.

The perfect storm... :laugh2:

I advise that you send some spies to scout the HRE or France or Hungary and see if it's feasible to attack them, but if it's not going to be easy, then we need to focus on our economy and conversions.

Name change! Decb- Byblos

I agree totally, Milan look to be quite weak and also Venice must be to ask for a Ceasefire. The next few turn then will see me scouting Hungary. I feel that taking HRE would leave us over-extended, and with no defence. I will check what troops we can disband. A few mines wouldn't go amiss, the only problem is they cost a fortune compared to what we have got.

Just need to check if TheFlax agrees.

Couldn't we finish off Venice? I know you just paid for peace but they will be coming back for us eventually. I'm going to get the mod now and check out the saves.

If they look weak then provided we do not care too much of our reputation.. ok, I will be unable to take the save today again today. I'll pick it up tomorrow morning, GMT.

After seeing the save, I maintain that getting rid of Venice once and for all would be good. If we are to reconstruct the Roman Empire, we need Illyrium and it would connect our lands. :yes:

I agree, and the Venetian navy is getting to be a royal pain in the arse. If we destroy them they will go rebel or disappear and thats always a good thing. I couldn't afford to keep our huge navy afloat, so I saved us thousands of florins per turn by demolishing them against Venice.

OK, carrying on with the save.

Turns 3-6

Garrisons in safe areas minimised, general disband of the army, back earning a profit which was used to queue farming upgrades, spies moving towards the lands of Venice and Hungary, standing armies also moving towards that front.

The blitzer ATPG meets the turtle Byblos!

Hitting a CTD regularly on turn 7..

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/Succession-30.sav

This is ATPG's when he handed it over to me. turn 37 seems to be my problem.

That is really, really odd.

I'm terribly sorry if we cant get this game running again. I'm no technical expert. Maybe we have different versions of the game?

No, he can play 6 turns. If he had a different version he could not load up the save. (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure about this.)

I would try it on my computer but it stopped working about one hour ago, so I can't play until it gets fixed.

I know, that is the weird thing I can play 6 turns, maybe I just hit something that was unstable?

See if you can play past 6 turns ATPG, hopefully you can get your computer fixed Flax and try it also.

I will get right on it.

EDIT: Turn 33

No errors yet of course, but report:

Venice has been destroyed. Several family members, including our Prince, died taking their final provinces. But it is worth it... our economy is booming and we once again rule our seas, and we have a connected Eastern Roman Empire rising...

I made it to turn 38. No problems. Seems like the issue is with your computer, Byblos.

Here's the save. Let me know what happens.
http://www.mizus.com/files/pbm/Succession-38.zip

Report:

Venice destroyed, Milan is on the ropes (down to Bern), Pope retook Rome but patience, Viceroy, patience... he will die.

Our forces are massed and deployed in northern Italy, and we are massing more forces in Ragusa and Palermo. We need to annihilate the Pope and then disband.

Emperor Alexius the Conqueror is dead, age 63. The new heir is ready to take the throne.

Oh good! Thanks ATPG. Oh :clown: I have reinstalled m2tw to install SS 4.1 for lotr. Downloading LTC now.

Let's hope everything works correctly! If it does, good luck with the Pope, Byblos. :smash: