I bought it at -50% hours before it switched to -75%
I am not angry only because it is still worth what I paid for it.
anyway, for my first game I decided to do something easy and play william the conqueror.
after a slightly bloody war ( I thought it was very bloody, but I had to reconsider later), I am king of england, and most of southern england is in the hands of my sons. There is a little expansion in wales, but otherwise I am content with what I have, and instead wait for the "recently conquered" modifiers to expire.
New king, new missions : crusades start!
I assemble a 6000 men army, and together with my vassal in normandy, who crusaded independently, we sailed to the holy land. by far the biggest crusading army.
we got annihilated so hard that it isn't even funny. the muslims had stacks of 12k soldiers!
and so I plotted my revenge. I built new castles, and expanded the ones I already had. I nurtured my vassals, and after my king dies and the throne is inherited by his grandson ( that guy died older than 70!), a new crusade starts! this time, I can muster 15k-20k soldiers, with the help of holy orders. sadly, the enemies have double their previous army too. but the other crusaders are also stronger, and we can wear the enemy down. the army dies fairly quickly, but I summon another. and another. and then mercenaries, holy orders again and so on.This despite my vassals fighting each other for the silliest reasons, robbing me of many precious men. after years of strenuous fighting, we finally manage to conquer Jerusalem and acre, under the lead of my king. other crusaders free other provinces too and the caliph is forced to surrender.
Long story short, I am king of jerusalem now.
and my third son, still unlanded, is going to have a very pleasant surprise... I can't keep a big demesne , so I'll give most of the land to vassals. except for Jerusalem, which I'll keep.
the cities and castles there are MUCH better than anything in europe! I won't get many taxes from my vassals, but soldiers will be plenty.
fun game!