Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

[Swarbs]

Well if you want to have a perfect leader with max chivalry, using assassins isn't the way to do it . Personally I don't use them or spies to open gates, it's part of my house rules. Oh and be sure to send one of your merchants to Tunis and "appropriate" the gold there.

Here's the pic you asked:

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Fatimids just captured Rome! I guess the Pope isn't all too pleased about that. And the poor little English couldn't hold the mighty juggernaut that is Scotland at bay

WTF?! Was it a jihad, or did the AI actually launch a proper naval invasion across the Tyrrhenian?

Also how are you managing to keep Palermo so happy? I had a 10 dread general in there with a full stack of Alamanoi and Scoutatoi and it still rebelled! Damn Mafia

[jurcek1987]

WTF?! Was it a jihad, or did the AI actually launch a proper naval invasion across the Tyrrhenian?

Also how are you managing to keep Palermo so happy? I had a 10 dread general in there with a full stack of Alamanoi and Scoutatoi and it still rebelled! Damn Mafia

Hehe. They actually sent a full stack by ship and it must have been a powerful army, the Pope had an almost full stack of Swiss guard and lost.

Palermo first had a plague and then I exterminated the population upon capture so currently it's stable. But I guess that'll change in the near future. Oh I also tinkered around the unrest levels, I lowered the distance to capital penalty in cities by 50%. To me it was much too punishing, even in Thesallonica which is very close to the capital I had I think a 15% penalty. In distant cities the distance penalty, combined with high unrest was just overkill.

[Swarbs]

Hehe. They actually sent a full stack by ship and it must have been a powerful army, the Pope had an almost full stack of Swiss guard and lost.

Palermo first had a plague and then I exterminated the population upon capture so currently it's stable. But I guess that'll change in the near future. Oh I also tinkered around the unrest levels, I lowered the distance to capital penalty in cities by 50%. To me it was much too punishing, even in Thesallonica which is very close to the capital I had I think a 15% penalty. In distant cities the distance penalty, combined with high unrest was just overkill.

Ah, that explains it - I think Palermo has the max 125% distance to capital penalty for the ERE, and as a huge city it gets so big that the garrison bonuses are very small when it reaches its full size, even for a full stack.

I could probably have controlled it over time, by continually recapturing it after rebellions and exterminating it to give me time to build up the library and barracks. But when it rebelled it caused a Sicilian respawn with three full stacks, so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle and just blockaded the port so they couldn't go anywhere. Once everything else is dealt with I'll be back with some uber stacks to wipe them all out for the win

[bigdaddy1204]

Ah, that explains it - I think Palermo has the max 125% distance to capital penalty for the ERE, and as a huge city it gets so big that the garrison bonuses are very small when it reaches its full size, even for a full stack.

I could probably have controlled it over time, by continually recapturing it after rebellions and exterminating it to give me time to build up the library and barracks. But when it rebelled it caused a Sicilian respawn with three full stacks, so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle and just blockaded the port so they couldn't go anywhere. Once everything else is dealt with I'll be back with some uber stacks to wipe them all out for the win

Ah yes, I used a little bit of 'light' cheating to solve this problem. If you type in process_cq Palermo, it instantly builds whatever building was under construction. In some cities, you may find that the public order buildings are not well developed, and it would take many tens of turns to build everything you need (which is impossible if the city is about to rebel the next turn). So I just upgrade the buildings instantly using that command. By doing that, I've upgraded from say a tier one barracks to a tier 7 barracks. And the same with town halls. Upgrading from the basic building, all the way up to like a level 5 or 6 structure in a single turn. I think, as long as you've got the money, why not? You're the Emperor, after all. If you command something to be built urgently, why should it take 40 years to go through all the levels?

[Swarbs]

I tried doing that once in my Fatimid campaign with a usurper king. Ironically though, despite deliberately sending him into battle after battle against rebel stacks across the empire, he kept surviving the battles! He kept winning, despite being just a bodyguard alone against a whole army. And any time he lost, he always managed to get away by routing. Thus my repeated attempts to kill him failed. But ironically, all those battles had started to markedly increase his positive traits, including authority and command. I could see my generals were starting to gain loyalty as well. Eventually, I decided to put him at the head of a real army and send him on a rampage across the Mediterranean, commanding the army in person. With each battle, his authority and command points increased, until within a few turns he had blossomed into a great ruler, and he actually lost the usurper trait. By the later years of his life, he had become a genuinely respected ruler with fully stacked authority!

Yeah, I would try the same with my emperor, except he's current in Hadrianopolis which is miles away from any enemies! Current plan is to drop him off on Sicily, move the fleet away, and see how he holds up against three Sicilian full stacks. Only problem with that is it then leaves my heir next to Damascus, and also miles away from any enemies! And with even worse movement

Ah yes, I used a little bit of 'light' cheating to solve this problem. If you type in process_cq Palermo, it instantly builds whatever building was under construction. In some cities, you may find that the public order buildings are not well developed, and it would take many tens of turns to build everything you need (which is impossible if the city is about to rebel the next turn). So I just upgrade the buildings instantly using that command. By doing that, I've upgraded from say a tier one barracks to a tier 7 barracks. And the same with town halls. Upgrading from the basic building, all the way up to like a level 5 or 6 structure in a single turn. I think, as long as you've got the money, why not? You're the Emperor, after all. If you command something to be built urgently, why should it take 40 years to go through all the levels?

Yeah, don't really like cheating tbh. If there was a gameplay option to rush the construction for a higher cost then I'd go for that, but changing values and using cheat codes just undermines the value of the game for me. Also massively reduces the challenge of holding a huge city like Palermo. As I said in my post I know I can control the city with enough strategy, time, effort and resources, so there's no real need to cheat.