yeah, you need vassals asap. with charm previously broken, that was hard as hell. granted now, its kindof just bugged the other way. walk around giving 1 denar to lords to rank up charm..
My update in that last post. skipping quite a bit of time.
after I left Batt, to take mecalovea Castle. I kindof hit and ran took a couple more. take one. payoff for peace.
Vlandian went on the offensive and hit Battania hard. While Southern empire crushed khuzite. wiped them out. 6k down to 200.
Then Southern empire turned west. started crushing vlandia, who was pushing 7k power.
Battania was down to 400 or so... with just Rhotea left. but, that was enough to keep em alive.
While Southern empire was hitting vlandia, taking city after city. Battania declared war on them too. Vland is down to 3k now. Battania actually took some back...
I had sturgia go random hostile on me, during this.. And I used it to take a castle, but it was hard fought. I lost a bit.
But I also hit rank 4. and enacted the +army size policies. sturgia going to war, I had 150man party size. +2 companion parties at 66 each... after.. 320 party size, and +3 companion parties. t
I saw this was the last chance. southern empire is hostile vs two at the same time, and crushing vlandia, the last real threat.
I had a few options.
1. I could go hostile, and take local castles. 2. I could go down there, go hostile and aide the fighting directly.
I choose the later. thinking, my army is much better at smashing open field fights, and if I smashed their armies, I could clean up undefended armies on the way home.
however, I was still only at about 120 units. and 2 allied parties. I had not gotten a chance to grab a new companion yet. (ended up just taking the healer I had i my core party, and giving her a party.) and just grabbed every recruit I could along the way..
This strategy failed almost utterly... I got down there, and found 1 decent army. a 200 man one I did crush. But the rest were like 5-6 loose 50 man parties that just ran away. There was no fight I could really aid.. so I turned back, and did take two castles close to home... But in doing this, southern empire and its 231232 fucking vassels hit one of my original castles.
and then a second one, and while I was taking one of those back, took one of the ones I had just grabbed back... took 2 lost 2.. I quickl made peace, as 2 more of my castles were under attack.. I lost a decent amount of units. And did almost nothing to stop the tide.
morale crushed. I was almost ready to give up. I couldn't see much of a way to stop the Empire. I considered the only way would likely to massively abuse the attack, make peace..
But then, a random southern empire army runs by. I stop and say, hi friend, did you know I am the true Empress of the North? Holy shit. -60 relations, and it works. Clan Aroros bends the knee. And brings 3 armies. 130 man, 80 and 70. lol.
I had been trying to get a Vassal for days. nothing..
So, I gather my party before adventuring forth, and immediately sack Epicortia, then turn and take back Mecalovea Castle. I gave that to my new friends. sure they hate me, but that was my dear home. having the vassels here was key. as soon as I took the city, I disbanded the army. letting loose 4 60ish man parties, while I went and took the castle alone. the parties kept them off my back, and from hitting other castles a bit.
And here is Empress Rhagea coming to take Epicrotea back...
60k the price of 1 charm and peace.. lol. (also the game keeps crashing now.)
Crash does seem to be related to making peace with her giant fuck off party. multiple reloads, every time I talk to her, make peace,a nd try to move on the map, crash.
I was able to revert to a save right after taking the castle, and found a southern empire noble hanging out in my throneroom in Epicrotea for some reason... talked to him, made peace, and been moving around, without crashes.
So yeah, one city may not exactly be saving the world from Empress mommy yet. but, the vassals make all the difference. when I took the castle, with the vassals loose, they ran off and starting attacking villages, and other armies. Distractions. Enemy armies are going to be responding to that, instead of taking castles, or going after me instantly now.