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[FritzPL]

A standard, fun start for me is to go as the Petty King Harald Fairhair of Ostlandet in the Old Gods start. You have it all - a realm larger than most of your neighbours (in the latest version Sigudr of Sjaelland owns 2 provinces next to you, which might be a problem), a pagan religion focused on raiding that allows you to sail down rivers and raid the HRE, a starting ruler with very good stats, a rather easy way to reform the religion and plenty of room to expand later. The holders of areas you subjugate - because as a pagan you get a free CB on everyone in Norway if you take the ambition - might prove troublesome entertaining later on.  I like to form Scandinavia, then turn my eyes to the Isles, maybe becoming a ruler of two Empires, Britannia and Scandinavia. But I haven't gotten around to that yet, I lose my motivation once I got Scandinavia up in ~980 ;p

[LordSlowpoke]

eternal Serbia run

you know what to do

[Descan]

I'm 3500 prestige and a couple provinces away from forming a Mordvin Empire in place of Russia, with a Mordvin Suomenusko ruler.

Not sure what to do after that. Also debating whether to include Finland in that Empire. Probably will.

[GreatJustice]

Ireland in CM or 1066 is generally pretty straightforward, with a clear, relatively easy goal to achieve and should help you get a handle on the basic mechanics. I think 1066+ Spain isn't too bad either. Don't go OG Ireland though, they tend to get repeatedly raided and annexed by Vikings.

The major Viking powers in OG tend to be easy-modo, though they require slightly more micromanagement than Ireland. The Sons of Lodbrok and Harald Fairhair are both particularly good since they have the the benefits of easy raiding/conquest targets and being the strongest in the neighbourhood, respectively.

If you want a fairly easy but somewhat more powerful (if complex) early start, try either the Ummayads in CM or the Ummayad heir in Seville. As the heir, you can safely expand southward against infidels while helping to secure your position in Spain, and as the Ummayads proper it isn't hard to take Asturias and then push into France (though they aren't quite as strong as they used to be, so you generally have to wait for Francia to explode as the result of a Karloman/Charlemagne succession crisis, which I find happens within about 30 years from the start in 90% of games).

[Digital Hellhound]

Having the Ilkhanate/Mongols as an ally as a reformed Pagan is a godsend. Take on the greatest powers of Christian Europe and laugh! I just have to be patient and wait for them to ride across the map to my wars, but when they arrive...

I think their AI is bugged, though - they only do occasional single-province conquests. I also think I saw the mythical levies bug for the first time, keeping them un-warlike, but went in and dismissed that one levy regiment. Still no great Mongol invasions, though. Golden Horde only spawned as a country-less stack in Cumania. All this is playing in my favor, though - I have an ally that's not threatening me or wasting those beautiful event-spawned doomstacks in their own wars.

[chaoticag]

Good news everyone, the levies disband once more.

Also, Magyars forming hungary got nerfed. And seduction is less silly.

[Sartain]

And seduction is less silly.

Thank god. I'm pretty sure that nobody in the entire realmwas faithful in the 300 years I played my Italian game.

[chaoticag]

Not sure whther or not the AI will take it more often, but it's got better chances of failing against the spouses of more powerful rulers, and leads to scandal more generally.

[Sartain]

I hope they reduced the occurrence of seduction in general cause the game was kinda starting to resemble a porn version of Game of Thrones, just without the graphic parts.

[chaoticag]

I remember playing this with a friend where, no joke, he spent two sessions in two different games doubting that his wife had his kids. Once as an umayyad, the other as an abassad. So yeah, it was silly, but entertaining.

[Descan]

I'm 3500 prestige and a couple provinces away from forming a Mordvin Empire in place of Russia, with a Mordvin Suomenusko ruler.

Not sure what to do after that. Also debating whether to include Finland in that Empire. Probably will.

Reform the religion by capturing ALL the holy sites?

Did that already. You can't form a feudal kingdom as a tribe without being a reformed pagan or non-pagan.

[Sartain]

I'm 3500 prestige and a couple provinces away from forming a Mordvin Empire in place of Russia, with a Mordvin Suomenusko ruler.

Not sure what to do after that. Also debating whether to include Finland in that Empire. Probably will.

Reform the religion by capturing ALL the holy sites?

Did that already. You can't form a feudal kingdom as a tribe without being a reformed pagan or non-pagan.

I was actually unsure if forming it through the Form a New Empire/Kingdom options bypassed that.

[Descan]

No, you can form a new Kingdom/Empire as a tribe, but I'm a non-tribal kingdom now because I reformed the Finnic religion. Still, my main Kingdom of Mordva is a custom kingdom, yeah. I did that before I reformed the religion.

[Iceblaster]

I believe this is necessary for the eternal serbia run.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

On another note, I've been playing a world on observe and occasionally playing a few characters in various kingdoms that come about. What's the average year the HRE forms? The wiki of course has a date where a decision comes about, buuuut it never hurts to know what other people's experiences are

[Culise]

But...but...how do you remove kebab if kebab never comes to Europe?