14 DAY TRIAL // I am currently Vratislav the II of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the year is 1128 from the birth of our Catholic lord.
It’s January so I take a look at my kingdom and evaluate the problems I will have to solve during the year, as long as I have the resources and the will.
My first issue is to deal with a rebellion that arose because of my apparent tyranny, which is easy to do given the rather impressive military-oriented infrastructure I have developed in Prague and the strength of the mercenary companies I can bring over to my side using money from the treasury.
My son Benes, who is also the Count of Olomuc, makes the mistake of leading his armies in the field, which means that I might capture him in order to end the war, but that fails to happen so I settle for a long and boring siege against two provinces.
Unfortunately, my quick and decisive action tends to make other vassals a little nervous and I am quickly faced with a bigger rebellion.
I have little trouble killing the individual armies, but my plans to do some intrigue and diplomatic work during 1128 are disrupted by the incessant fighting.
As the year draws to a close, I have occupied my enemies’ lands and only need to wipe out one small army in order to draw to an end a war that made the year a very busy period.
Crusader Kings III also has years when almost nothing happens and I throw a banquet or go on a hunt just to see whether an interesting option or message comes up.
It feels at time like the development team at Paradox Interactive was actively trying to create boredom at certain points during the game in order to actively push players to do things that they would otherwise avoid.
And I am pretty sure that many actions of rulers during the Middle Ages were, at least in part, a result of actual boredom which makes the game reach a level of realism that might have never been intended but that feels very appropriate.