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Hiya, folks. Long time no see. Knuc U Kinte here with another update in my Republic Tutorial. Last time, one of our most productive Doges died on the battle field fighting against the wicked HRE, who have been squatting in Italy for too long!
Our new Doge Gabrino realises he has big shoes to fill and makes it an explicit goal.
Unfortunately, Gabrino?s opening move is a foolish one. In attempting to divert the riches of Pisa?s churches away from the Emperor, I adopt free investiture. I?m basically cutting off my nose to spite me face here because I can now no longer get claims from the Pope in lands that have Papal Investiture.
The Pope is still Italian though, and is happy to grant us claims to his liege?s lands.
My chancellor informs me that he has been successful in greasing up the Muslims in North Africa. I?m doing this to cheapen the cost of building trade posts in their land.
During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land I get word that the Sultan of Africa fancies the might of the Muslim faithful against my bottomless pockets.
I forgot to screen cap it, but this is actually a Jihad for all of my African holdings. The HRE?s beef was with my predecessor, and the pious emperor is quick to put aside old grudges and aid in our defence. It?s a token gesture as by the time he gets here, my holy orders and mercs will have destroyed the main horde.
Rule one of Crusader Kings 2 never underestimate the Muslim clown car.
Never underestimate the value of gold, high quality troops/leaders and defensive terrain bonuses either.
The clown car is halted beneath the walls of Cairo, where it repeatedly tried to crush the smaller, but dug in Pisan troops and failed each time. A great victory, that helps Gabrino earn his moniker ?The Great?.
As Great as he was, Gabrino did not secure the succession of a della Gherardesca Doge and a Visconti kinsman accedes. I actually had enough to win the campaign, but the calculation for next ruler is not accurate. The best remedy for this is to go a few hundred gold over the campaign threshold for victory, to be sure.
Allesandro is another della Gherardesca ubermench oltreuomo
Sinibaldo tries to seize one of my numerous trade posts. The della Gherardesca?s do not elect fools to the head of their house, and a veiled threat from Alessandro sends him packing. High stewardship and diplomacy would have allowed us to tell him to take a hike also.
Some interesting shit happening in the HRE. The Kaiser has fallen for a moor, perhaps he captured her in the Jihad, or a Crusade that happened behind the scenes of this LP.
Alessandro grows tired of the Doge?s incompetence and hires some assassins to remove him from power. Pisa cannot prosper without a della Gherardesca at the helm. I literally spent every penny I had to kill him. I really didn?t want him getting up to anything stupid, especially considering the AI is really dumb at managing mercs and we are surrounded by enemies.
The family dues are costing me a fair chunk of change, so I raise taxes in the cities. I cannot stress how important gold is to a republic. Yes it?s nice to personally own baronies in a capital to keep your own core army strong, but it?s gold that will win your wars.
I commission construction of the final upgrade to our family palace. This thing is now an incredible asset. Check this out to see the bonuses that are being applied to our patricians. out to see the bonuses that are being applied to our patricians. Of particular note are the stat upgrades. +2 to every stat is fantastic, not to mention the myriad other bonuses we are getting.
Good lord! Our heir is a shambling horror. He?s insurance at the mo because I literally have 184 gold to my name. Luckily we are young, so a good year of saving up, and we?ll be able to nominate a much more suitable younger candidate.
It doesn?t take long. Hopefully Alessandro?s life is long and fruitful.
The next few years of Alessandro?s reign are spent trying to kill this guy. I kid you not when I say more than half the edited out screenshots from this period were assassination failure messages.
You won?t die? I respect that.
I return to picking on our old friends the de Hautvilles. Gotta circumvent those truces.
Our attempts to kill Odo haven?t gone unnoticed and he feebly tries to burn down one of our trade posts. He is soon killed by the plot and more of his ancestral land is taken to be used to fuel the seedling of capitalism.
Something much more interesting happens, and we are called into war against the HRE. Remember when I said fuck with these clowns at every opportunity? Always Be Clowning on the HRE.
Della Gherardesca men do not sit in the palace when there is war to be won.
Oh, of course. I get a badass battle doge and he goes from brave to craven in a matter of months.
No matter. I capitalise on the weakened state of the HRE and attack them for Spoleto.
They capitulate quickly.
And that?s that for today. We?re well on the way to forming Italy right now, and Sicily only has 4 provinces left for us to conquer before we can usurp it for ourselves.
Next Time: We go back to Africa and face our most difficult war to date.