Last night, I was playing Crusader Kings 2 as the Byzantine Empire. I had just conquered Jerusalem in a holy war (after the Catholics failed to take it in a crusade, ha!) and everything was good. I had tons of money rolling in, I was secure in my realm with a son groomed to inherit, and I was thinking about expanding further south to take Alexandria. I figured it was a good time to call it a night at about 11:30pm.
I was just squashing a peasant uprising before going to bed when suddenly the Shia caliph -- the same guy I just stole Jerusalem from -- declared a jihad for Anatolia! Their armies start moving north into Armenia and Anatolia and while I was trying to get enough of my troops in one place to fend them off, some vassals decided to shift their votes and nominate the Exarch of Greece as heir to the empire instead of my son. Stupid elective succession.
I had to get rid of him, because I was about 45 years old and sick with pneumonia. If I lost the empire then my son would just be a random duke with a few counties. It'd probably be a generation before I could retake the empire. But my council wouldn't let me revoke his title because too many of them owed him favours. I had him excommunicated, but that didn't help, and I couldn't imprison him because I'd almost certainly fail and I couldn't have him rebelling while I'm fighting the Muslims.
So I spied on him until I got a chance to abduct and imprison him. Great, now what do I do to get rid of him without angering all my vassals? Executing him would incur tyranny. Should I blind him? That's a big deal to Greeks; they wouldn't vote for a blind emperor right? Or just throw him in the Oubliette and hope he dies before I do?
Next thing I know it's 1:30am and I have to be up in the morning.
And Europa Universalis IV, the sequel in the series, has you leading one of the nations at the dawn of the European Age of Colonization. Colonial genocide, holy wars, force-conversion, and state executions to quell rebellions are all explicit game mechanics.
I was just squashing a peasant uprising before going to bed when suddenly the Shia caliph -- the same guy I just stole Jerusalem from -- declared a jihad for Anatolia! Their armies start moving north into Armenia and Anatolia and while I was trying to get enough of my troops in one place to fend them off, some vassals decided to shift their votes and nominate the Exarch of Greece as heir to the empire instead of my son. Stupid elective succession.
I had to get rid of him, because I was about 45 years old and sick with pneumonia. If I lost the empire then my son would just be a random duke with a few counties. It'd probably be a generation before I could retake the empire. But my council wouldn't let me revoke his title because too many of them owed him favours. I had him excommunicated, but that didn't help, and I couldn't imprison him because I'd almost certainly fail and I couldn't have him rebelling while I'm fighting the Muslims.
So I spied on him until I got a chance to abduct and imprison him. Great, now what do I do to get rid of him without angering all my vassals? Executing him would incur tyranny. Should I blind him? That's a big deal to Greeks; they wouldn't vote for a blind emperor right? Or just throw him in the Oubliette and hope he dies before I do?
Next thing I know it's 1:30am and I have to be up in the morning.