Well fuck me if the game of thrones mod isn't just the best thing ever.
I must say, the satisfaction reaped from this game rivals Dwarf Fortress.
I started off with Lord Stannis 'the Mannis' with 2,300 soldiers, Dragonstone and a few other counties.
I thought I would play the game and end up much like the show with some tough legalist bastard, but I just ended up dishonourably fabricating claims on minor lords for scraps of power and even ended up getting rid of a red priest who wanted to convert Stannis to Rh'ollor. This last decision may have doomed Stannis to fall short of greatness.
Dragonstone and Driftmark's economy was built up and Stannis's armies continued conquering until Dragonstone held a scattering of coastal and island territories and over 3,400 troops, with the respect of all of my vassals. Fathered 7 daughters and groomed the eldest grandson to become a formidable commander, giving him so much land under the impression that he would inherit Dragonstone ready to rule. Things got complicated when Stannis fathered his own son, shortly before his death from severe stress at age 57.
This led to the rule of Ormund, at the time a small child. Ormund had to deal with his older nephew who was relatively much more powerful and a far more experienced commander, in addition to King Robert Baratheon (who amusedly had executed Queen Cersei after Cersei led a failed rebellion) and the Renly line. All the vassals of Ormund also hated him and plotted to kill him many times because he wasn't nearly as experienced at ruling as Stannis. Things weren't good.
With the onset of three more powerful Baratheons presenting a threat in the West (with Robert even halting every attempt at expanding the lands of minor Westerosi lords), Ormund looked East.
All in all, the East was not appealing. They did not lack for power and all tended to have several tens of thousands of soldiers, Dragonstone would never be able to conquer a single one.
There was one appealing target in the south however; the Summer Islands. To be true they too outnumbered Dragonstone's forces by a large margin, but their lands were divided across many islands. I presumed that since their lands were so divided I could possibly use a crack force of dragonstone troops and ships to siege their weakest points and withdraw before resistance grew too fierce. A sound plan, and it definitely was better than simply waiting to die and fade into oblivion in the face of the other three greater Baratheon family lines. With the plan in action, with the claims fabricated and the troops ready - war was declared. The Dragonstone fleets set sail south to conquer the summer islands and make a name for Ormund.
I was somewhat alarmed then to see that the Summer Islanders had their own fleet of hundreds of ships containing many thousands of soldiers heading north.
If those soldiers landed in Dragonstone it would all be over. I nervously shadowed the fleet with one of my own, determined to see where this would end.
As it turns out, through my infinite noobiness I had just uncovered the most devious stratagem deployed in the narrow sea. Under Stannis's rule I had expanded anywhere that permitted expansion, no matter how minor. I had even taken two of the islands in the stepping stones from the pirates; they never did amount to much, providing little to no troops.
They won the game for me. The summer islander army landed on the West island, taking it by siege in short time. Then they began their trek towards the East island and it dawned on me that a glorious opportunity was at hand! The islands in between were still ruled by pirates and the Summer Islander army was suffering horrendous attrition from having to cross it! Quickly, I took back the West island and ferried troops from left to right and right to left, never allowing the Summer Islander army to rest. If they attacked they would have been attacking across straits into a mountain - there would be no way to win. If they didn't, which they did, they starved to death to the last man.
Summer Islands fell bit by bit, having defeated their tens of thousands, losing only hundreds of Dragonstone's own.
With the Summer Islands subjugated at last Dragonstone had great power of her own, but the time to conquer was not yet at hand. The natives of the southern seas were somewhat angry at their subjugation and constantly rebelled; this was of no consequence, their own soldiers could be used against them and they were brutally suppressed whilst those who converted to the Westerosi religion and customs were given the right to rule. There weren't that many, as those that did tended to get assassinated by the locals.
At last King Robert died, and surprisingly I became an independent Kingdom. So began my days as warlord of Westeros; I cunningly supported my allies in their wars against rival lords and made sure to seize their lands once their troops were gone. With the Summer Island auxiliaries at my beck and call I could challenge them all, and over several years eventually grew to absorb nearly all of Westeros, taking the Iron Throne for myself. I left the Stormlands (with their descendents of Renly intact) whilst I conquered all else, occasionally coming across some of Ormund's sisters who had not fared well with the fall of power.
Ormund began colonizing eastwards, setting up several failed colonies - but two managed to survive, and became the bases of operation for future expansion. Becoming known as the Great Stag, Ormund seemed invincible. After suppressing another rebellion in the Summer Islands Ormund decided to allow one prisoner the right to a trial by combat.
A blind summer islander killed Ormund the Great Stag in a duel.
This passed down the Crown to Queen Megga. A son was born to King Ormund after his death, and I tried my best to make him a good ruler but he was merely too incompetent and kept getting captured by rival lords so I let him be. Megga on the otherhand, under the guidance of three highly competent stewards (with the first two having been killed/supplanted by their replacements) grew to claim the title Great and for good reason.
Megga had the benefit of learning from the mistakes of Stannis and Ormund. To not aim small, and to not aim too high. To not be lost in humility or to be lost in hubris.
Megga consolidated her power a great deal better. Much of Westeros had to be reconquered as all the lords I trusted to keep the Kingdom together claimed their own independence. Megga got rid of lord paramounts entirely and assumed the role of absolute overlord; to guarantee loyalty she abandoned the oppressive brutality of Ormund and instead waged a cultural war by spreading the faith of the seven. She conquered all of the seven kingdoms, even taking over the wildlings beyond the wall (don't do this, it's not worth it - infinite rebellions, so many that the highest cause of death amongst rebelling peasant deaths was each other) and colonizing everywhere that Ormund had started off.
From Stannis I had 3,400 troops. From Ormund I had 80,000 troops. From Megga I had 500,000 troops.
I began waging war with impunity on all of Essos, seizing the lands that presented themselves to me; freeing the world's slaves when I was able. Few things are as satisfying as landing hundreds of thousands of troops across the coasts of Pentos and Braavos in wave after wave.
My onslaught on Essos seemed limited to how many casus bellis I could find.
Then everything changed when the Aztecs attacked.
Hundreds of thousands died; the Aztecs cut the hearts out of some of my greatest commanders and were as close to victory as moat cailin and white harbour. I sent virtually everything, everyone from as far as Skull Island in the east to the farthest corners of the Reach, Braavos and the Summer Palace. It was almost not enough.
Through sheer force of numbers the Westerosi military machine grinded down the superior aztec fighting force to a meagre few thousands, ready for a final decapitating blow. Yet in spite of winning the war, so many had died that it ended most of Megga's imperial ambition; probably for the better. The prospect of having to fight the gargantuan khalasar in the East after fighting the Aztecs in the West was not too appealing.
Queen Megga the Great decided to use this time of peace to her fullest potential: LET THE FREE MARKET FIX IT!
Taxes: DOWN!
Infrastructure Investments: UP!
To make matters even better, Megga began creating her own Westerosi trade republics to counter the Free Cities, in addition to subsuming the Astapori republic into a slave-free Empire. There is so much coast unused in Westeros, once the republics are all formed and all the coasts are used - Westeros will be unstoppable in sheer force of money.
One hopes that Megga will live long enough for civil war to not end her project prematurely.
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Topic: Crusader Kings 2 is released. (Read 2091735 times)