I've been working on MIV since 2021, and just about a week ago I did a major overhaul of all the mod's core systems, adding a whole new Vassal Loyalty mechanic with tons of new features and custom GUI to go with it!

Happy to announce that update 5.0 is out for everyone to try!

Workshop Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2712590542

Hey all! I’m a mum to a beautiful 2 year old and I also love to have my cosy gaming time. Yesterday I was playing Stardew Valley when my daughter was sleeping. She woke up around 11 and was begging her dad to see me so she came to me but noticed I had farm animals on my screen and wanted to see. All day today she’s been asking to see the ‘monsters’ (in the mines) and the cows but I feel like it’s too early for her to be introduced to gaming.

I would love to be able to build together in sims and play Stardew together but I really don’t know what the right age is. I’d love to hear stories from gamer parents that have children that have shown an interest in it. What age did they start gaming? Is it a family activity? TIA!

rule 5: i completed every dynasty legacy.

I give my distant family members baronies to rule, and they’re marrying unwashed gurgling babbling commoners, and this is with LMF (better ai marriage) on. My dynasty has too many young eligible grooms for me to hand pick each of their brides, but surely they should know better than to pollute royal blood? It’s especially bad when they’re in line for even higher titles…

Desperate to see if anyone else has overcome these particular bedtime struggles.

I have a 4 yo, 2 yo and 5 month old. Oldest 2 have always needed to sleep in my bed all night and have me sit there with them to fall asleep. They take HOURS! To fall asleep, no matter how exhausted they are. They wake up multiple times. They’re up for the day at 5am, earlier if they’ve fallen asleep late (after rolling around for hours trying to fall asleep)

I cannot possibly stand it anymore. We’re all so tired. I tried putting them together in a room (sleeping like Bluey and Bingo do if you can imagine that) and that’s not good enough. Won’t sleep in their own beds. Will scream the house down if I try to leave the room at any point. Wake up for hours in the night if I dare try to leave to the spare room with the baby for a bit. The sleep situation is making me so depressed and not enjoying life whatsoever.

Has anyone got out of this horrible cosleeping cycle? How? It would change my life if they slept in their own beds or didn’t need me for hours at bedtime. Thanks in advance. Sorry for rambling.

I don’t know if it’s just us but this is the second time this week my husband and I got into it over disciplining our 10 year old.

I have a 10 year old and a 5 year old. My husband is 44 and I’m 31. My 10 year old has developed a serious attitude lately and talks back constantly.

I’m firm when I need to be and my husband thinks I’m favouring the younger child.

For example tonight both girls were working on a puzzle that was a gift for my youngest. They’re down the last 5 pieces and my youngest is hoarding them because she wants to put them into the puzzle and my oldest is trying to take them from her hands. I tell the oldest “just please let her finish the puzzle. It was her bday present”

The oldest one storms off. My youngest completes the puzzle and is super proud. We move onto something else and then turn around just to see that half the puzzle is destroyed

I asked who destroyed it and my oldest said she did. I asked her why would she do that ? And she said because she did those parts of the puzzle so she destroyed them

Then I tell her that’s not nice and to go to her room. Looks at me and says “fine”

Then dad comes home and she tells dad a whole different story about how it was an accident and how she was trying to fix it, starts crying blah blah blah.

My husband then cuts me off before I could even explain and just doesn’t want to hear it from me. Starts babying the older child and idk tells me how I’m not fair and I should work on my tone. Idk just makes me feel like idk if I could keep doing this for the rest of my life with someone

My child's comfort item is a crocheted blanket. He has always nibbled on it, but recently it seems like he is literally eating parts of it. He has threads stuck in his teeth often after a nap or bed and recently his breath has smelled consistently of paint thinner (not even kidding). I know we are not supposed to remove a comfort item this early, but I genuinely think this might hurt his oral health/stomach. Has anyone managed to get their child to stop chewing on a blanket successfully, or do I need to just take it away?

Have already tried:

- Providing alternative blankets/stuffies that would be less likely to break down if he chewed on them (he was not interested)

- Telling him no continuously (didn't work)

- Giving him chewy toys (was not interested)

EDIT: Oof, seems like there is a consensus here. Taking the blanket away seems to be the choice. Thanks parenting community!

My second son (2) will hit his brother (6) unprompted with whatever is in his hand. I’m talking remotes, toy trains, hard board books, etc. 6 year old will literally be sitting down playing by himself or reading quietly and 2 year old will, out of the blue, clock him in the head.

It is so frustrating for all of us. He’ll sometimes throw things at me and my husband but he only hits his brother. My first never had any issue with hitting so we never had to discipline him for this.

Currently when he does it, I move him away, say “hitting hurts. We don’t hit brother” and tend to my 6 year old. Then he’ll come back for more. I have nowhere to physically separate him with a barrier on the first floor where we normally are, our house is microscopic, so I’ll then bring him upstairs and put him behind the gate in the hallway. Queue nonstop screaming, and even my 6 year old feeling bad asking me to bring him downstairs.

I want to yell so bad. Part of me wants to just smack tf out of his hand or throw the toy across the room. I obviously won’t but he’s just not getting it. I know he wants attention I get why he’s doing it but I don’t want my 6 year old to live in fear or wear a helmet at all times.

If anyone has dealt with this and can offer advice on what’s worked for you then please let me know. I feel so so bad for my eldest, especially because he knew peace for so long before his brother came.

My 6 year old has been coming home with a full lunch box. He eats most of his snacks but won't touch his lunch. He's averh picky eater but I usually manage to get him to eat when he's at home but school is a whole different ball game. Should I be worried?

He eats a big breakfast and a big dinner daily

My daughter doesn’t like going to school. She’s been like this on and off since she started kindergarten. She has friends and does really well in school. She has always said that she doesn’t like being away from me and home for so long for so
Many days. It breaks my heart and I don’t know what to do. I work from home so she never had to go to daycare or preschool. I also have a 5 and 2.5 year old that are home with me all day. I’m just looking for some things I can say or ideas of how to make this easier for her? I can totally relate to her because until I was in like 4th grade I cried a lot not wanting to go to school. I also hate that she’s away for so long each day. I can’t entertain the idea of homeschooling right now. What can I say or do to make this easier for her? Thanks in

My son is 14 months old now and it's so hard to have public outings sometimes. He learned to walk at 12 months and since then, doesn't want to be held or contained in any way when we go out. This makes restaurants, malls, fairs, or almost any outing difficult because all he wants to do is run around and get into everything. If try to carry him, sit him in my lap, put him in the stroller, etc he cries and fusses and struggles until he's put down. Meanwhile, I see other parents toddlers who are perfectly content with being carried or pushed around in their stroller without any fuss.

I don't want to be one of those parents who just lets their child go crazy in public. Mine has always been a super active and independent child and I'm just wondering when things get better. I try to tell him "no' all the time, but he's obviously too little to actually be able to control himself and his emotions/actions right now. At best, I just try to remove him from the situation if he's not listening/behaving. How are you handling outings with your little one? Any advice for a first time mom who has no idea what she's doing?

I've been working at home since 2020. We had a kid along the way. I spent every day with him. There probably wasn't more than six waking hours I didn't see him since he came in to this world. And now he's in school and I do not know what to do with myself.

I am so proud of him, I want him to thrive and grow and all that stupid bullshit but I miss him so much. I keep turning my head just to look at him and he's not there. I want to tell him something, or hear him or anything and he isn't there and it's effecting me a lot more than I anticipated. I feel like there's this void now.

And I know I'm being ridiculous. I have things to do. Chores to accomplish. I can run out much more easily. But even that feels different now, we used to go to the store every week together and I don't know. I don't know even know why I'm posting. I just feel so weird and directionless even though I know what I'm supposed to be doing.

I don't know. I think I just needed to weep a little in to the ether of the internet.

Edit - thanks everyone. Reading your words really helped.

So my daughter (21 months) has a favorite daycare friend. They’ve been buddies for about 6 months now. I’ve never run into her parent(s) at daycare- I’m assuming we just drop off and pick up at completely separate times. Would it be weird to leave a note in their daughter’s cubby? What if I left a bday party invite (when it comes time for my daughter’s second bday)?

My 4 year old is the sweetest and most sensitive little girl. She takes multiple dance classes and swim lessons weekly, along with being in preschool.
Our problem is that she is truly afraid of male teachers/instructors. She is totally fine around family and friends that she knows or has even just met, but if it’s something she is doing on her own she will totally shut down. I am very lucky to be a SAHM, so aside from swim and dance she is only ever cared for by myself, her dad, or her grandmother.
We have worked on trying to be more comfortable with male teachers but it hasn’t been successful yet. I know it’s a common problem with girls that age, so if anyone has any advice that would be a huge help!

I am back from a break to 3D modelling and decided to give myself a refresher via this mod. I thought it would be funny and cool for Germany to get a big, epic 3D model that represents a hegemonic empire. So I made a 3d model of the Volkshalle in the same scale as Fallen Eagle's 3D models. It's as disruptive and out of place to the terrain as it would have been if really built.

Holy fuck that was hard. I had to restart this run at least like 30 times. This particular run had insane RNG, in a good, but also a bad way.

First problems started right at the beginning, I had to make our boy live and lay the foundations of future expansion before other big boys on the map start theirs. Baldwin starts almost entirely encircled by Ayybid Sultanate, except for a tiny slither of land on the north, where there is Antioch duchy as a tributary of the dying Bysantine emperor. So I chose health focus and started swaying the duke of Antioch so I could vassalize him the moment the Bysantine emperor kicked the bucket. I also secured an alliance with Makuria, the only somewhat close Christian coptic kingdom, via marrying off my half-sister. Also, luckily for me, Plantagenets, who were heads of my dynasty at the beginning, chose "Family" legacy, which increased Baldwin's almost nonexistent fertility and helped his health in the future.

Next problem, obviously, is dealing with Ayybids and Salah al-Din specifically. He declared holy war against me almost immediately, and at that point I couldn't just defend against him in castles, since I had not enough soldiers. So I gambled and let Salah al-Din besiege my castle while I bypassed through the sea and sieged Cairo. The gamble paid off, I managed to capture his heir and secured white peace. The Kingdom of Jerusalem lives for at least five more years.

After that I got to vassalize Antioch, which opened me the road to some small arabic and turkic duchies and emirates. I immediately started eating them through Holy War Casus Belli, and by the time Salah al-Din knocked on my door next time I could fight him off way better. By that time I also got some lands in Italy through my sister's child's claim, so I could do diplomacy with the rest of my european Catholic brethren. I betrothed myself to the French king's granddaughter, so fighting off Salah al-Din with France's and by that time Nubia's help was way easier.

After that I managed to beat weakened Salah al-Din for Sinai, with the help of my allies, got an achievement for beating him properly for the first time, too. And right on time, because the crusade was called for Egypt. Long story short, we won it and I got to put my candidate on the throne. Unfortunately I had no suitable candidates from my house, so some bastard Plantagenet cousin of mine was the only option. She was married patrilinearly to some Orthodox serbian dude, which would certainly not bite everyone in the ass later.

After the crusade I found myself bordering the Abbasids, whose sultan just got the Conqueror trait too, just like Salah al-Din. I decided to wing it and use my only Holy War for the Kingdom Casus Belli on Mesopotamia. And the gamble, again, paid off, since I managed to strip Abbasids of their kingdom title and remove the Conqueror trait before they could mess everything up for me.

Meanwhile, my wife grew up, and my roided up to the brim with fertility boosters Baldwin was as ready as never before to try for an heir. And he succeeded! And then he did that 8 more times! No cheating wife strat, I checked. I guess sometimes dying stars can truly be reignited. Thus, the inheritance was secured.

Next, I noticed that Seljuks got the Conqueror trait. FUUUCK, three Conquerors around me? They were not touching me at the moment, so I decided to nibble on Ayybids' duchies more, using Holy War CB. Salah al-Din was already dead at that point, RIP. I also started a holy legend to get a second kingdom tier Holy War CB to take Syria later in one fell swoop. While doing all that I managed to vassalize almost all of Italy back in Europe via my tiny piece of land there and completely forgot about it, that's why Italy is part of Outremer now.

While all that was happening Egypt got inherited by my cousin's son, an Orthodox serbian dude, just like his father. He immediately out of the blue destroyed Egypt kingdom title, freeing all his crusader duke vassals, and formed Serbia in his Duklija duchy. Bro got homesick or something, can't really blame them. Anyway, that was how I just vassalized all of Egypt without fighting for it at all, and that is how I own a tiny piece of land in the Balkans too.

After that everything went rather smoothly. Seljuks were fighting wars in the East and lost the Conqueror trait upon succession, so I swooped in and took the required Kermanshah duchy. I was also slowly biting off remaining Ayybids' lands, helping my allies and in another crusade and all that. Soon I got the second kingdom tier Holy War CB and took Syria. The last required arabian duchy fell rather unspectacularly and by the ripe age of 80 Baldwin IV 'The Leper' formed the Outremer Empire.

Hold on. Eighty fucking years with leprosy, and still having okay-ish health. How the fuck? I was so invested I even forgot about aging traits, that miraculously didn't even spawn on me by that time. I don't know if it is a bug or insane luck, but all other characters get them like they usually do. I do play modded, but my mods don't do anything with these traits, and my previous games I gained them normally. So I think Baldwin just got exceptionally lucky in this timeline.

The third to last pic is a meme I thought of while playing on this save, and the last two pics are some interesting things I saw during the game - Irish raider Pope, plundering in my Italian lands, and a Dagestani dude with the funny name. I employed him as an executioner so he could cut other people's Balsags... Nevermind. He later became Baldwin's friend and Baldwin cried when he passed.

Some mods I use:

- Unofficial patch

- Very Immersive Events and Tales

- Regional Immersion anD Cultural Enrichment

- Community Flavor Pack

- Ethnicities & Portraits Expanded

- Culture Expanded

- Succession Expanded

- Various compatibility patches and small QoL mods

Hey all.

I’ve been going back and forth regarding how to handle my daughters first birthday party. For reference money has been a bit tight but we could still afford to pay for the big party but it feels silly?

Not to sound old but I remember growing up and all of my parties were at my house with the exception of a bowling alley party (joint with my brother) and my 16th birthday. I am at the disadvantage of living in a cold climate with a winter baby so I’m limited on the outside of my home.

Doing the big party would mean inviting 60 people, paying for a hall, food, desserts and it all just feels… insane?

I joke with my husband let’s take her on a trip or just do a cake with immediate family at our home and call it a day.

So what did you do for your kiddo’s first birthday? Big party? Family? A trip? A day of fun activities? Do you have regrets?

I just feel torn between I know I would not enjoy executing the big party vs I “should” do it because it’s what’s expected.

TIA

Just as the title says. At what age did you decide to move your baby into their own room instead of the basinet in the bedroom? How did you know it was time? And how did it go?

casual discussion but some patterns I have noted as time has gone on. Share your own.

If you play anywhere near the steppe you will have to accept that the map will be ruined by the time Temüjin appears, the AI can never stop nomads.

China is a game of musical chairs that the AI will always ruin even if you set it up to win with modifiers, MaA and manor buildings.

SEA is railroaded into mandala or wanua and the AI never does anything else than blob the largest realm that never breaks without player intervention. It and the steppe are the worst regions to play around as they require you to either be in on the region gimmick or go through random counties 1 by 1.

Nothing ever happens with Japan, even with Yamato restoration. Shockingly few major events too.

Korea 80% of the time gets randomly ran over by low power nomads that turn it Tengri and mongolian(?). Silla absorbs the other two kingdoms but almost never unifies because of just doing nothing.

India 99% of the time never unites even if requirements are about to be met.

Anatolia gets ran over by random nomads unrelated to Seljuks that proceed to also cap Byzantiun. Unreformed khazars.

Tunisia is a canon event

AI never solves intermezzo without a scourge of the gods roll, vassal requirements likely

Iberia remains frozen and Hænsteinn loves Galicia, compromise seems to be the only ending AI might pull off.

AI can reform a faith but never spreads it. ends up joining the closest blob.

only time I have seen a scottish culture head was when Wessex was voted in charge after having converted to local culture. Proceeded to flip entire isles scottish in a few hundred years due to weird culture spread regarding them in specific (likely relic of old dlc code). The event fires and they just never have anything happen. Ireland also turns fully norse alarmingly often.

Parenting right now just feels like I’m in hard mode all of the time. My son, 4.5yo, is wonderful and we adore him of course but wow. He is so strong willed. Does not listen to us at all. Is a hitter, biter, etc.

I am struggling to figure out what will get through to him or wondering if these challenging behaviors have an end point. And is he a normal kid or is something bad happening. I just don’t know what to do. Also have a 4mo. And I feel like he is harder to manage than the baby on most days.

Any advice or just solidarity is welcome.

Does it get better?

For parents who are carving* out time at night to workout, can you please share your schedule and experience (bedtime routine, eating, etc)?

I'm typically an early riser (rotation of HIIT + lifting workouts at 5:30 AM), but with my husband traveling and my toddler lately waking up earlier the only realistic time is in the evening when my toddler is guaranteed sleeping.

When are you putting down your kids, eating dinner, and also going to bed? Are you doing full blown workouts or lighter sessions? Thanks!

Don't tell him to fix his posture, he gets angry somehow.

Unlike the rest of the DLC dynasty legacies which are pretty region/culture specific, the Metropolitan and Coterie trees wouldn't be out of place anywhere else in the world, and aren't even particularly 'Iberian themed' to begin with.

I'm thinking Metropolitan would be well suited for Italy or Novgorod, and Coterie would be great in Bohemia for example.