I am jealous of my girlfriend's ex because he is better at Crusader Kings than me.

When I was playing some CK3 the other day, my girlfriend saw my screen and asked me if I was playing Crusader Kings. I was surprised because she is an archaeology major and doesn't know anything about gaming. She explained that her ex-boyfriend was into "map painting simulator" and played it all the time.

Apparently, he is an Emp (Emporor) and used to do world conquests and grand tours for fun. I feel extremely insecure now because I struggle to even stay at a Duchy level and my gold treasury is hovering around -100 most of the time. My gf keeps assuring me that my lack of titles doesn't bother her, but every time I lose a defensive war, I keep thinking about how her ex would have casually stackwiped his enemies instead.

I just can't get the image of him effortlessly conquering the world out of my head. Every time he declares a war, wins battles, hears the victory "clank" and sees a green "100%" on his screen, he must smile and think about how much of a loser his girlfriend's new boyfriend is.

I am afraid that he raised the bar so much that I will never live up to his standard. My girlfriend will always compare his hegemony titles to my county titles, and she will never be satisfied with my tiny baronies.

Do you have any tips on how I can get better than this guy? Should I spend more than 400 points in character creation to create a strong ruler, or do you think it's futile and I will always live under this guy's shadow?