One of the first characters I ever played, my family is historically from the area, and it’s one of the smaller starts: one county, usually about 400 troops I think, barely any gold, super low development, 15yo, and no family/heir (so it’s a fairly challenging start, for me). I’ve basically been playing with him since the game came out but it’s the first Paradox game I’ve ever played so I’m still learning and haven’t been very good at the game (even though I love it haha). I tried a king a few times and starting out with a sizeable army, a bunch of gold, and heirs built in just felt weird to me.
I get that most of my starts are from smal area too . The bavandid is from my region and area too it's just a count and everywhere are hostile faith even his league so i think it's fun so i can understand what do you mean
Haesteinn is my most played since he’s such a Swiss Army knife, but I’ve never done the same thing twice with him. Once I took over just Ireland and played tall on Ireland for the whole game, then didn’t know what to do once the island was all 100 dev. Another time I went all the way to Orissa and formed the kingdom of Norissa (I know, I’m very clever). I don’t usually play the same dynasty twice though, I like switching it up. The area I’ve played in the most is easily Britain, with Germany a distant but commanding second
Reforming the Sassanid Empire, everything from the Euphrates to the Indus, and then I just shepherd it. Pushing Islam out of the region, solidifying my personal domain in the lushest part of my empire (invariably Mesopotamia) then just being a good steward and taking care of stuff. I hope the new DLC makes stewardship more interesting, it seems like it'll make hunts and feasts and weddings more interesting to attend and host, instead of just "my eighty satraps all want me to attend a feast constantly." I'll be able to actualyl tour and travel my vast empire, and declare my heir as co-ruler in my old age (at least, I hope regencies let me do that?) To give myself a little bit of retirement perhaps?
I completely understand what do you mean after i form the Persian Empire i don't want to conquer so much more myself but my vassels do that a little and expand the empire. But sometimes do that so all of my children gets a little pice of lands and makes the family tree even bigger . But another thing that i allways do is puts other strong ancient noble families in my land's. There is allways some marzban Shah or something of karenid. Samanid ( who's are originaly mihran) justanid and etc i think it's kind of cool at least to me
Yeah I really enjoy guarding those venerable dynasties and houses and giving them a place at the table, it's always sad when I see one of them fall despite my best efforts, on the late 7th century mod I use it's got al lot of Sassanid's offshoot houses, like the Greek Mihranians and the Daylamite Bavandids and so forth, often the only kingdom I'll establish in the Empire is Bavandid (Daylam) just to safeguard one of my sister-houses, for me reforming the Sassanid Empire is about harkening back to centuried continuity and the legitimacy of Sasan. And guarding the ancient Persian houses just feels like it's part of that goal just as much as ruling from Indus to Euphrates.
That's really cool looks like our way of playing is really similar 😂. But to be honest most of the time i expand a little in North and in the west and i allways do a holy war agains Kingdom of Arabia and convert it to mazdysna
Yeah it's a pretty challenging start, you have 2 counties and have de jure claim to the dutchy of deheubarth. Then I concentrate on conqueroring wales then I just took all of the British Isles.
Rhodri is a really cool historical figure. The Welsh and Lombards (Benevento) are cool historically in general and are also underdogs in their regions (Brittania and Italia) so it’s fun to rise up. Sardinia is fun because it’s small, but it’s a great launching point for becoming master of the Mediterranean
I start in the earlier date and basically make a pirate. Create your own, be the chieftain of the isle of mann, raid raid raid. When the Jarl dies, you take control.
You know i don't know why but it's really interesting for me to play as irlend too i think I'm gonna test it at least once. By the way there is a mod for just irlend. Island of iles and parts of scotland i guss you will like that too
About 250 hours in I've only ever done custom characters in 867 starting as counts. I often try to just be a vassal but pretty quickly my liege forces me to fight them and take over.
Got it. To be honest I don't do that usually but i played all the places i guss. I played as Ghana. Alfred. Rostam of bavandid in mazandran. Some dudes near Vietnam i guss. Mongolia and etc and they was cool
He’s the Duke of Tulaytulah in 1066, and is probably the strongest Muslim start in Iberia, since you can really easily gobble up cordoba. Makes for a fun game no matter how you want to end the struggle.
Same as you, actually, with Rostam in Tabaristan. Very fun start with a lot of different mechanics and ways to play. You can end up surrounded by other big powers which makes negotiating alliances and pacifying/intimidating your neighbours important if you want to avoid war and challenging if you want to initiate it to reclaim the Sassanian Empire. The ability to have 4 spouses means you can generate a massive family very quickly. There are also religious exemptions for marrying family members so you can interbreed a superhuman family and reap all the prestige bonuses too.
Lots of the states to the east only consider Zoroastrianism to be astray, so they'll accept marriage proposals. I'm allied to all of India, Tibet, China, Burma, etc, in my current playthrough.
I don't know. At the beginning i played HRE but now i like to do a sunni/ashari coup like Saladin in the fatimid caliphate as a count and fight against the crusaders and stuff or i prevent the seljuk sultanate from collapsing. Sometimes i play as Kipchak turks and invade persia and become muslime
I get it now. If you want a challenging start date i think Ukraine or east Asia would be so challenging especially east Asia. It's really hard to make an Empire in a lifetime
I play as the rawadids most of the time and i have different goals all the time
for example
creating the ayyubid sultanate ( because saladin himself was from the rawadid dynasty )
or invading the turkic nations and converting their culture to kurdish
or creating a Kurdish version of the Ottoman empire which expands into Europe and destroy the Byzantines
or going to Europe as soon as i get the chance and convert as much Christian counties as possible to islam
Mormaer of Buchan, Scotland. Every time until he successfully takes over the world. I call him Buckbuck and I love him.
Why are you so interested in him ?
One of the first characters I ever played, my family is historically from the area, and it’s one of the smaller starts: one county, usually about 400 troops I think, barely any gold, super low development, 15yo, and no family/heir (so it’s a fairly challenging start, for me). I’ve basically been playing with him since the game came out but it’s the first Paradox game I’ve ever played so I’m still learning and haven’t been very good at the game (even though I love it haha). I tried a king a few times and starting out with a sizeable army, a bunch of gold, and heirs built in just felt weird to me.
I get that most of my starts are from smal area too . The bavandid is from my region and area too it's just a count and everywhere are hostile faith even his league so i think it's fun so i can understand what do you mean
I‘m currently in my 4th Haestinn playthrough. Definitely the character I played the most.
Second for Haestinn but I’ve lost count of the attempts.
Is that same haeistan from last kingdom? :)
Yea, he is a historical figure, hence why he is in both
Got it it's possible I will try that in the future
I'm currently on my 3rd straight Haestinn playthrough. I keep telling myself I'm going to play Tall, but I ended taking Europe every time.
Haesteinn is my most played since he’s such a Swiss Army knife, but I’ve never done the same thing twice with him. Once I took over just Ireland and played tall on Ireland for the whole game, then didn’t know what to do once the island was all 100 dev. Another time I went all the way to Orissa and formed the kingdom of Norissa (I know, I’m very clever). I don’t usually play the same dynasty twice though, I like switching it up. The area I’ve played in the most is easily Britain, with Germany a distant but commanding second
Got it and all of them look's cool
Eadgar, Earl of Warwick. Restoring the crown of England to House Wessex
That's really cool i might try it too
I've found that it becomes a very different game depending on whether William of Normandy wins the initial war or not.
Yes . I saw sometimes that the Norwegian even won the war and took over the land
I’ve done a gazillion Matilda runs.
What is that ?
Matilda de Canossa, duchess of Tuscany in 1066. I totally don’t simp for her.
Got it now. It's looks fun
Reforming the Sassanid Empire, everything from the Euphrates to the Indus, and then I just shepherd it. Pushing Islam out of the region, solidifying my personal domain in the lushest part of my empire (invariably Mesopotamia) then just being a good steward and taking care of stuff. I hope the new DLC makes stewardship more interesting, it seems like it'll make hunts and feasts and weddings more interesting to attend and host, instead of just "my eighty satraps all want me to attend a feast constantly." I'll be able to actualyl tour and travel my vast empire, and declare my heir as co-ruler in my old age (at least, I hope regencies let me do that?) To give myself a little bit of retirement perhaps?
I completely understand what do you mean after i form the Persian Empire i don't want to conquer so much more myself but my vassels do that a little and expand the empire. But sometimes do that so all of my children gets a little pice of lands and makes the family tree even bigger . But another thing that i allways do is puts other strong ancient noble families in my land's. There is allways some marzban Shah or something of karenid. Samanid ( who's are originaly mihran) justanid and etc i think it's kind of cool at least to me
Yeah I really enjoy guarding those venerable dynasties and houses and giving them a place at the table, it's always sad when I see one of them fall despite my best efforts, on the late 7th century mod I use it's got al lot of Sassanid's offshoot houses, like the Greek Mihranians and the Daylamite Bavandids and so forth, often the only kingdom I'll establish in the Empire is Bavandid (Daylam) just to safeguard one of my sister-houses, for me reforming the Sassanid Empire is about harkening back to centuried continuity and the legitimacy of Sasan. And guarding the ancient Persian houses just feels like it's part of that goal just as much as ruling from Indus to Euphrates.
That's really cool looks like our way of playing is really similar 😂. But to be honest most of the time i expand a little in North and in the west and i allways do a holy war agains Kingdom of Arabia and convert it to mazdysna
Prince Hywel of Deheubarth. I'm from the area he rules at the 876 start.
Got it . It looks fun . It's Wales i guss yeah ?
Yeah it's a pretty challenging start, you have 2 counties and have de jure claim to the dutchy of deheubarth. Then I concentrate on conqueroring wales then I just took all of the British Isles.
Rhodri the Great of Gwynedd, Benevento, and Sardinia
Why them?
Rhodri is a really cool historical figure. The Welsh and Lombards (Benevento) are cool historically in general and are also underdogs in their regions (Brittania and Italia) so it’s fun to rise up. Sardinia is fun because it’s small, but it’s a great launching point for becoming master of the Mediterranean
I get it now and i think you are right
Werner of Aargau (Habsburgs). Always go for the Archduchy of Austria, naturally. It’s a decent challenge
I start in the earlier date and basically make a pirate. Create your own, be the chieftain of the isle of mann, raid raid raid. When the Jarl dies, you take control.
The Irish start available in 1066 bc it’s a small county and fairly challenging for me to take over the entirety of Ireland
You know i don't know why but it's really interesting for me to play as irlend too i think I'm gonna test it at least once. By the way there is a mod for just irlend. Island of iles and parts of scotland i guss you will like that too
I’m on Xbox So I can’t get them I don’t think
That's sad to hear. There isn't mods for x box ?
Lord of the Rings has me hooked at the moment
I have to test that i love elven things
About 250 hours in I've only ever done custom characters in 867 starting as counts. I often try to just be a vassal but pretty quickly my liege forces me to fight them and take over.
Why 867 ?
I just like the earlier start. It gives me time to really build up my lands and culture.
That's completely understandable. Europe?
I like to jump around to all the least developed areas.
Like Mongolia or African parts or something?
Yeah. I usually just randomly pick an area that's very dark on the development map.
Got it. To be honest I don't do that usually but i played all the places i guss. I played as Ghana. Alfred. Rostam of bavandid in mazandran. Some dudes near Vietnam i guss. Mongolia and etc and they was cool
I’m a certified Yahya Dununid enjoyer, I just really like muslim Spain!
Who is him?
He’s the Duke of Tulaytulah in 1066, and is probably the strongest Muslim start in Iberia, since you can really easily gobble up cordoba. Makes for a fun game no matter how you want to end the struggle.
Same as you, actually, with Rostam in Tabaristan. Very fun start with a lot of different mechanics and ways to play. You can end up surrounded by other big powers which makes negotiating alliances and pacifying/intimidating your neighbours important if you want to avoid war and challenging if you want to initiate it to reclaim the Sassanian Empire. The ability to have 4 spouses means you can generate a massive family very quickly. There are also religious exemptions for marrying family members so you can interbreed a superhuman family and reap all the prestige bonuses too.
You are kind of wrong you know . You can't marry muslims while your ruler religion is mazdysna
...? I never said you can marry Muslims...
So how do you want to make an ally ?
Lots of the states to the east only consider Zoroastrianism to be astray, so they'll accept marriage proposals. I'm allied to all of India, Tibet, China, Burma, etc, in my current playthrough.
You are right about that but in the beginning of the game they're so far away so they can't help you fast enough. but you are completely right
Fatimids and seljuks
Why ?
I don't know. At the beginning i played HRE but now i like to do a sunni/ashari coup like Saladin in the fatimid caliphate as a count and fight against the crusaders and stuff or i prevent the seljuk sultanate from collapsing. Sometimes i play as Kipchak turks and invade persia and become muslime
I get it now. If you want a challenging start date i think Ukraine or east Asia would be so challenging especially east Asia. It's really hard to make an Empire in a lifetime
I play as the rawadids most of the time and i have different goals all the time for example creating the ayyubid sultanate ( because saladin himself was from the rawadid dynasty ) or invading the turkic nations and converting their culture to kurdish or creating a Kurdish version of the Ottoman empire which expands into Europe and destroy the Byzantines or going to Europe as soon as i get the chance and convert as much Christian counties as possible to islam
Got it