KotR - Unanswered Questions

[AussieGiant]

Interesting, I always felt that Venice was the prize Leopold sought in return for his change of heart.

Oddly enough Heinrich's run was the first time Leopold and Otto cooperated, a detente soon to evaporate in the strike against Pope Gregory. It did set the table for their later cooperation though, helped along by AussieGiant's originial, avatarless, character.

Specifically, in exchange for Austrian support during his own run for Chancellor, Otto made the acquisition of Ragusa by Austria a main goal of his term. Even after reconciliation when we had to tread carefully, Ragusa was a target, despite Pope calling for an end of hostilities against the Venetians. Otto owed a favor and it was a highly strategic castle.

This was the first of many examples of Bavarian-Austrian cooperation.

I remember that now!! Wow...that's some time back.

I believe my avatar less "Merchant of Venice" character did speak to Leopold/Ituralde about what happened there. I vaguely remember Ituralde saying to me that it was an unconditional apology at the time. I do certainly remember having a few back room PM's with Leopold about the land allocation and how unbalanced it was and especially when we had no castle complex at the time.

It seemed very sporting to me that Ragusa, a Citadel was quickly taken when Otto came to power as a result.

[GeneralHankerchief]

I believe my avatar less "Merchant of Venice" character did speak to Leopold/Ituralde about what happened there.

I hated that guy.

There were a few reasons why Heinrich really didn't give that much to Austria in the beginning of the game. Some of them, which he explicitly stated in the Diet, were correct. Some of them went unsaid and were more subvert.

a) He really believed in the geographical allocation system. I, both as GH and Heinrich, remember taking a small amount of heat in the beginning of the game, but I stuck to my guns and it worked out pretty well in the end.

b) Austria wasn't our priority. Back then, most of our wars were either in Italy or up north (and later on, in Swabia). There was no reason to give Austria an army and land if she didn't need it, which leads directly into...

c) He wanted the Houses as weak as possible. As Kaiser, I fought tooth-and-nail to keep the Reich as centralized as possible and to keep as much authority in my hands as long as I could. Getting Austria a castle when they didn't have priority gave them more power and independence. Since most of my Dukes were unfriendly and powerful, I figured that an unfriendly and weak Duke in Austria wouldn't be that bad. Ultimately, his weakness would need him to rely on the central figure - moi. Kind of like the way US states are so dependent on the federal government for funding, that's the way I envisioned a Heinrichian HRE.

Unfortunately, with the advent of the House Armies, my strategy didn't work out too well to plan, but I did manage to get TinCow as Mandorf to agree to give me an unofficial House Army to make sure Operation: Papal Smackdown went flawlessly. I still have those PMs when TC and OK discovered the plan and we coordinated everything.

[Privateerkev]

Unfortunately, with the advent of the House Armies, my strategy didn't work out too well to plan, but I did manage to get TinCow as Mandorf to agree to give me an unofficial House Army to make sure Operation: Papal Smackdown went flawlessly. I still have those PMs when TC and OK discovered the plan and we coordinated everything.

Reading the Diet around that time, I saw that Heinrich opened an emergency session to get the 1st crusade going. In the beginning, Heinrich and Mandorf mention something of a deal. And Mandorf mentioned a threat he would carry out if Heinrich did not open the emergency session.

What did Mandorf threaten to do if Heinrich refused to let the Reich save it's soul with a Crusade?

I've always wondered this.

[GeneralHankerchief]

TinCow would know better than me.

From what I remember, I think he threatened to use his Chancellor powers to stick me in a fort in Franconia if I didn't comply. Heinrich made some reply that he wasn't scared and probably threw some legal argument in there saying that Mandorf wouldn't be able to do it (this was around the time when TC posted it in the thread).

The private stuff went on for a while until TC basically got fed up and told me OOC that the Crusade would be good for the game, in which case I saw his point and agreed.

-edit- Ah, now I remember the argument I used. At the time, central Italy was pretty devoid of commanders (Otto & co. had moved north of the Po) and I changed Rome to the capital, gambling that Mandorf wouldn't have the stomach to risk the capital falling (as opposed to a newly-conquered prize), robbing it of the only commander in the area. I forget his reply. It might have been when we did the OOC thing.

And yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's why I changed the capital to Rome. Strictly a political move.

[Ferret]

I think he threatened to use his Chancellor powers to stick me in a fort in Franconia...

why is Franconia always the place to Punish people, it's not that bad