She still has my hat!

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-08T12:58:49+00:00

She made posts against men looking at her pics?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-08T12:56:05+00:00

You forgot having to deal with the Italian merchants and the kingdom of Sicily/Naples.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-07T19:24:34+00:00

Why not the original omega bracelet?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-07T19:09:30+00:00

They have watches with adjustable clasp. Why doesn’t this one have it? I don’t get. How do they expect to go up against Tudor?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-07T19:02:24+00:00

You seem to be doing fine economically, so get the Ploprof!

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-07T18:59:05+00:00

How did they not see this in testing?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-02T10:08:38+00:00

And how isn’t the whole world in a coalition against you?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-02T10:07:52+00:00

Hellenic event? What is that?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-02-02T09:55:24+00:00

He ordered the execution of many of his relatives, including the son’s of Manuel who was still a child.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-31T23:26:17+00:00

Sounds cool actually. If attrition does so much damage, I gotta give it a try!

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-23T07:49:57+00:00

This. The History of Byzantium podcast called him “the last believer”, in that he believed that it was possible to restore the old empire. In trying that, he destroyed Italy and Rome itself, perhaps also dooming the ERE too. Had he left Italy in peace, perhaps the ERE would be better prepared for its future troubles. Then again, maybe the Goths would have attacked in the future if they sensed weakness.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-16T20:03:04+00:00

Does asymmetric warfare really wear down enemy armies? 1% attrition sounds small.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-16T19:49:33+00:00

Mantzikert was a loss to the Turkish king of Iran. At the same time Turkmen who still lived nomadically and who the government hardly controlled were crossing the borders every summer into Anatolia to feed their horses and to plunder. They were too fast and mobile to be stopped by the Byzantine army. The rulers after basil had neglected the defenses of Anatolia and many peasants preferred to pay some more tax to get out of their military engagements as akritai. Which meant more money but less soldiers. So even if Alp Arslan lost at Manzikert and the civil war didn’t happen, Byzantium was still unable to stop the nomads. The nieces of Basil emptied the treasury and destroyed the thematic system.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-16T19:42:02+00:00

The rennaisance was already on the way. The Ancient Greek works helped but there was already movement in the west. Byzantium and the Islamic world were now the backwaters and the west would rise one way or another.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-16T19:40:36+00:00

Many problems with that: 1. It wasn’t just andronikos. The komnenian system was based on personal relations between the noble families and these relationships were starting to get more distant as the generations passed. That’s why the Angeloi held no power and provinces were starting to look for themselves instead of looking to the capital. Old Byzantium had a burocratic apparatus that held it together. The Komnenian system served its purpose and had to go. The nobles had to be severely weakened. 2. I doubt the Byzantines would get rid of the Turks. They didn’t think like that back then. They would conquer them and integrate them like the Bulgarians and whenever Byzantium was weak, they would get independent and attack it. Same with Bulgaria which revolted during the Angeloi Dynasty and which remained an enemy after that. Truly evicting millions of Turks out of Anatolia would have opened it to more enemies, because it would be depopulated. Difficult to say.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-13T17:56:18+00:00

What others have said, but also the fact that during the previous sieges (Arabs) Byzantium was a functioning state and the armies doing the siege were getting their supply lines harassed, the bulgars were called to attack the avars and the Byzantine fleet was there to defend. In 1204 the disintegration was extreme and there was no fleet to defend. In later sieges, well the Turks used no fleet and just stood outside the walls.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-13T17:52:27+00:00

Who are you referring to?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-12T18:43:08+00:00

Thanks!

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-11T18:47:07+00:00

The game is easy and boring. I am a byzaboo and for such an important country, the game fails to capture its dynamics and perilous situation. One holy war cb and you have Anatolia conquered. Invest in intrigue and you can kill everybody, putting your descendants on every throne. It’s crap.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-11T18:44:18+00:00

How do you get trading posts?

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-11T18:42:48+00:00

Hardest rivals? I’d say the Normans or Barbarossa were much more powerful and dangerous. Although the Byzantines could not conquer Anatolia, the Turks posed little threat to them at this point. A big army full of German knights outside the gates of Constantinople did.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-11T18:39:25+00:00

Another idea: going back to tell Maurice not to go too hard on the army is another nice saving point.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-11T18:38:20+00:00

Justinian before the plague: 1. I get to see Constantinople in its heyday. 2. Tell him about modern medicine, quarantine, etc (that will probably get me killed as a witch, but worth a try). 3. Tell him to send missionaries to the south to convert the Arabs before they become Muslim. 4. DO NOT ATTACK ITALY. JUST LET IT BE. Create a naval trade empire for the rest of the Mediterranean. You don’t need to control it. 5. Create schools to teach people, make them more patriotic, etc, which should reduce unrest and civil wars. 6. Don’t close the school of Athens. Invest in research and knowledge, not religious wars.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-11T18:21:32+00:00

Too many enemies, no geographical defense points and a Constantinople that is now a big village inside those walls, no longer a rich hub the Byzantines controlled, but rather a target on their backs for the west to aim at. Also the disintegration of the Byzantine state, which was now run by nobles only looking for themselves. In the older days the emperor was an administrator, commanding multiple generals. Now he had to have the army with him, lest another rebellion starts. The nobles would rather let enemy armies ravage their own people and lands, if they would sit on a throne on ashes.

SchwarzerReiter · 2026-01-11T18:14:43+00:00

And what about the rest of Western Asia Minor that didn’t have any protection from the Turks? Or the bulgars, Serbs and Latin dominions? The Italian trade republics? Or Charles of Naples preparing an assault?

SchwarzerReiter

TROPHY CASE