Crusader Kings 2: a new high! (Part 2)
Size of my realm ("Alba"):
Emperor of Alba was my primary title. When I created the Empire of Britannia, it was renamed Alba because, apparently, it's a Scottish thing. As more and more non-de jure land drifted into Scotland, my percentage holding of the de jure Empire of Brittannia grew ceteris paribus and eventually enabled me to create that title. Otherwise it would had been a slow progress because only England left unconquered within the empire.
Incidentally, I had never seen Byzantine Empire this small! They lost Kingdom Greece and Anatolia to Muslim rulers, which later triggered crusades by the Pope.
I started off as Duke of Moray and my initial thought was simply to support my king. However, I discovered that, for reasons unknown to me, I had a claim on the title King of Scotland. When I also realised that my army is slightly larger than the king's, I created a faction to install myself as king and then pressed my claim. Surprisingly, the king willingly abdicated "for the good of the realm". Well, that was easy :)
Soon after that, England declared war on me to claim a county. Despite trying hard (with several reloads), I simply couldn't win this war. Hence, I gave in almost immediately and thus the earl of the county became the English king's vassal i.e. the county became part of England. However, the funny thing was that the earl's heir was one of my dukes and vice versa. Fortunately, that earl died first and so the county reverted to Kingdom of Scotland :)
For the reason above, much later I switched to High Crown Authority the moment I risked losing vassals due to inheritance. Even much later, I discovered and remembered that even this is not foolproof because the applicable Crown law is of the de jure kingdom.
That was the only time I lost territory. The greatest test of defense was when Fatimid (Kingdom of Egypt) waged war on me. Their leader, also the Shia's caliph, held the title of King of Syria and so was claiming Syrian territories that I held. I needed to save after every battle and every few weeks, whichever came first to eventually force him to abandon the campaign (white peace, I think, in my favour).
Thus to prevent him from using that casus belli again, I usurped that title from him and granted it to a kinsman. I also usurped the titles King of Leon, England and Castille (in that order). On a slightly related note, due to a civil war in Lithuania, a courtier, who married my kinswoman, became its king, and due to some strange reasons, he became my vassal! No, he wasn't a kinsman.
I offered vassalisation to the following independent rulers (my title in bracket):
Emperor of Alba was my primary title. When I created the Empire of Britannia, it was renamed Alba because, apparently, it's a Scottish thing. As more and more non-de jure land drifted into Scotland, my percentage holding of the de jure Empire of Brittannia grew ceteris paribus and eventually enabled me to create that title. Otherwise it would had been a slow progress because only England left unconquered within the empire.
Incidentally, I had never seen Byzantine Empire this small! They lost Kingdom Greece and Anatolia to Muslim rulers, which later triggered crusades by the Pope.
I started off as Duke of Moray and my initial thought was simply to support my king. However, I discovered that, for reasons unknown to me, I had a claim on the title King of Scotland. When I also realised that my army is slightly larger than the king's, I created a faction to install myself as king and then pressed my claim. Surprisingly, the king willingly abdicated "for the good of the realm". Well, that was easy :)
Soon after that, England declared war on me to claim a county. Despite trying hard (with several reloads), I simply couldn't win this war. Hence, I gave in almost immediately and thus the earl of the county became the English king's vassal i.e. the county became part of England. However, the funny thing was that the earl's heir was one of my dukes and vice versa. Fortunately, that earl died first and so the county reverted to Kingdom of Scotland :)
For the reason above, much later I switched to High Crown Authority the moment I risked losing vassals due to inheritance. Even much later, I discovered and remembered that even this is not foolproof because the applicable Crown law is of the de jure kingdom.
That was the only time I lost territory. The greatest test of defense was when Fatimid (Kingdom of Egypt) waged war on me. Their leader, also the Shia's caliph, held the title of King of Syria and so was claiming Syrian territories that I held. I needed to save after every battle and every few weeks, whichever came first to eventually force him to abandon the campaign (white peace, I think, in my favour).
Thus to prevent him from using that casus belli again, I usurped that title from him and granted it to a kinsman. I also usurped the titles King of Leon, England and Castille (in that order). On a slightly related note, due to a civil war in Lithuania, a courtier, who married my kinswoman, became its king, and due to some strange reasons, he became my vassal! No, he wasn't a kinsman.
I offered vassalisation to the following independent rulers (my title in bracket):
- Earls in Ireland (King of Ireland)
- Earls in England (King of England)
- Dukes in England (Emperor of Alba)
- Duke of Castille and Duke of Navarra (Emperor of Hispania)
I won all crusades that gained me territories (can't remember the chronological order): Portucale, Andalusia, Greece, Anatolia, Arabia and Egypt. I also won a few holy wars, for the sole purpose of trying to create a contiguous realm.
These were the de jure kingdoms at the end of the game. As stated before, because of Tanistry, I ensured no other titles were of equal rank to my primary title. For the longest time, my primary title of King of Scotland. As a result, there were many non-de jure counties that drifted into Kingdom of Scotland (in blue) e.g. all counties belonging to Kingdom of Portucale and counties in Kingdom of Greece. Note that I just needed Kingdom of Africa to finally joined the vast majority of my realm :)
Similarly, some non-de jure counties also drifted to Empire of Alba (in brown). The next empire that I was closest to creating was the Arabian Empire (about 69%, short of the 80% required). Yes, it was a late game objective for me that coincided nicely with my primary aim of connecting my realm as much as possible.
These were the de jure kingdoms at the end of the game. As stated before, because of Tanistry, I ensured no other titles were of equal rank to my primary title. For the longest time, my primary title of King of Scotland. As a result, there were many non-de jure counties that drifted into Kingdom of Scotland (in blue) e.g. all counties belonging to Kingdom of Portucale and counties in Kingdom of Greece. Note that I just needed Kingdom of Africa to finally joined the vast majority of my realm :)
Similarly, some non-de jure counties also drifted to Empire of Alba (in brown). The next empire that I was closest to creating was the Arabian Empire (about 69%, short of the 80% required). Yes, it was a late game objective for me that coincided nicely with my primary aim of connecting my realm as much as possible.
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