Crusader Kings III
158 Achievements
2,250
173-230h
PC
Imperial March
As an Emperor, go on an Intimidation Tour visiting all of your Powerful Vassals
5
0.02%
How to unlock the Imperial March achievement in Crusader Kings III - Definitive Guide
Hirntoht
TrueAchievements
TrueAchievements
This can be done quickly in about 1.5 - 2 years of ingame time by starting a new game as an already existing emperor and doing the tour right away. I myself first did it during the late game of a regular long playthrough, but I regretted wasting the time and gold, since those tours get very expensive in the late game (costs scale with era and government type) and the intimidation tour is the least useful of the 3 tour types. It is supposed to help prevent rebellions, but 9 times out of 10 you are better off doing a glory tour instead to improve your relations with the visited nobles, befriend some of them and get a ton of fame in the process. Thus it's better to do this achievement in a short seperate game.
That said, here's what to do to get the achievement:
1) Start a new game in 867 (earlier era = cheaper tours), select "play as any ruler" and pick an existing emperor. I recommend Caliph al Mu'tazz from the Abassid Empire. He is young, sinful, dreadful at diplomacy and everybody hates him, but there are no active factions against him yet and he has enough gold saved to start a tour right away. You will be able to finish it before your bad reputation becomes a problem.
Alternatively, you could also pick Khagan Manasseh of Khazaria. He is a little better established and liked than the Abassid Caliph, but he doesn't have the necessary funds for a tour saved up. He is tribal though, so you can easily steal the required gold by raiding some of your weaker neighbours. I wouldn't recommend the Byzantine emperor because he starts with an ongoing war.
2) Hire a caravan master and a court physician. Pick a caravan master who contributes a high value to security, travel speed is less important here. If you play as the Abassid Caliph, also marry a wife with a high diplomacy score and have her assist you in court politics.
3) Look up who your powerful vassals are in the vassal list (those guys with the little fist symbol in the bottom of their portraits who are always complaining when they don't have a seat in your council) Then pick the grand tour from the events menue, chose the intimidation tour and make each of your powerful vassals a tour stop. You can see the little fist icon of your powerful vassals on the tour map, too.
CAUTION!: Vassals can only be selected as a tour stop if they are at home by the time you plan the tour. If they aren't available (because they are travelling to an event, personally commanding an army or are imprisoned), they won't even be displayed on the tour map when you select your stops, thus do check who your powerful vassals are beforehand and double-check if you really have selected them all. You may want to pick the two or three vassals that come next in your vassal list (which is sorted by power) on top of that, just in case one of your powerful vassals should die and his realm be split among his heirs before you finish your tour, which could change who your most powerful vassals are (this actually happened when I tried it with the Abassids, since one of the powerful vassals is very old. The heir of his primary title automatically took his place as a tour stop, but since his realm had been split in two, his heir wasn't among the 5 powerful vassals anymore and the former number 6 on the vassal list had replaced him).
4) Pick your travel options and maybe adjust your travelling path a bit to reduce risks. For the Caliph, I went with mercenary guards and a mountaineer and put in a little detour to avoid most of the flood plains.
5) Start your tour and enjoy the events. Pick the options that come with the least personal risk. The achievement will pop up when you finish the tour. Don't worry if one of your vassals refuses to host you or if you get a message that you need to skip a stop because the castle is under siege, they will still count as "visited". You also don't have to actually succeed in intimidating them. The only thing that can stop you from getting the achievement once you started the tour (beside the aforementionend change in who your most powerful vassals are) is your character's death or aborting the tour (if someone should declare war on you during the tour, just pick "I can manage things from here" and you should be able to finish the tour).
That said, here's what to do to get the achievement:
1) Start a new game in 867 (earlier era = cheaper tours), select "play as any ruler" and pick an existing emperor. I recommend Caliph al Mu'tazz from the Abassid Empire. He is young, sinful, dreadful at diplomacy and everybody hates him, but there are no active factions against him yet and he has enough gold saved to start a tour right away. You will be able to finish it before your bad reputation becomes a problem.
Alternatively, you could also pick Khagan Manasseh of Khazaria. He is a little better established and liked than the Abassid Caliph, but he doesn't have the necessary funds for a tour saved up. He is tribal though, so you can easily steal the required gold by raiding some of your weaker neighbours. I wouldn't recommend the Byzantine emperor because he starts with an ongoing war.
2) Hire a caravan master and a court physician. Pick a caravan master who contributes a high value to security, travel speed is less important here. If you play as the Abassid Caliph, also marry a wife with a high diplomacy score and have her assist you in court politics.
3) Look up who your powerful vassals are in the vassal list (those guys with the little fist symbol in the bottom of their portraits who are always complaining when they don't have a seat in your council) Then pick the grand tour from the events menue, chose the intimidation tour and make each of your powerful vassals a tour stop. You can see the little fist icon of your powerful vassals on the tour map, too.
CAUTION!: Vassals can only be selected as a tour stop if they are at home by the time you plan the tour. If they aren't available (because they are travelling to an event, personally commanding an army or are imprisoned), they won't even be displayed on the tour map when you select your stops, thus do check who your powerful vassals are beforehand and double-check if you really have selected them all. You may want to pick the two or three vassals that come next in your vassal list (which is sorted by power) on top of that, just in case one of your powerful vassals should die and his realm be split among his heirs before you finish your tour, which could change who your most powerful vassals are (this actually happened when I tried it with the Abassids, since one of the powerful vassals is very old. The heir of his primary title automatically took his place as a tour stop, but since his realm had been split in two, his heir wasn't among the 5 powerful vassals anymore and the former number 6 on the vassal list had replaced him).
4) Pick your travel options and maybe adjust your travelling path a bit to reduce risks. For the Caliph, I went with mercenary guards and a mountaineer and put in a little detour to avoid most of the flood plains.
5) Start your tour and enjoy the events. Pick the options that come with the least personal risk. The achievement will pop up when you finish the tour. Don't worry if one of your vassals refuses to host you or if you get a message that you need to skip a stop because the castle is under siege, they will still count as "visited". You also don't have to actually succeed in intimidating them. The only thing that can stop you from getting the achievement once you started the tour (beside the aforementionend change in who your most powerful vassals are) is your character's death or aborting the tour (if someone should declare war on you during the tour, just pick "I can manage things from here" and you should be able to finish the tour).
