A few questions

[RunAway!!]

Ok, I'm playing Byza, expert in early period, and I have a few questions about certain things.

#1. How do ports work? I've got the entire mediterranean linked up with ships, with multiple ports from other factions, and my port in Constantinople still has a return of 0? The stranger thing is that I have another port in Greece that is giving me 7. They're both connected to the same areas, so why the difference? I also have merchants in both the territories, and I'm fairly sure the ports must be affecting them, so maybe the income generated number on the port shouldn't be there?

#2. Is there any way to eliminate a crusade? After totalling devastating a Spanish crusade, it now sits in one of my ally's territories, and I'm forced to garrison an army in order to ensure that it doesn't attack again. I had a German crusade that attacked until it wiped itself out after I stopped the initial assault, but this Spanish one seems content to sit and wait.

#3. How do I stop crusades from rampaging through my territories? The same German crusade was aimed at a territory on the far side of my empire. It moved in, conquered a province, so I sent troops in to deal with it. It responded by moving farther in and conquering another province. This went on until I managed to surround it with mercenaries. Is there any way to bring Crusades to battle, and force them to stop their rampaging through my territories?

Thanks for any replies.

[Naagi]

Ok ill try and help some here.

#1 Not much i can say here, just need a port, trading post, line of ships, and other faction has to have a port i believe.

#2 The crusade will sit there until the men in it deplete, which if you watch goes down some each year. I have a French crusade stuck in Hungary right now because i have a huge army in Bulgaria.

#3 What you speak of here is what happens to me when factions reappear. They tend to run through my countryside destroying buildings unless I wipe them out fast. As to how to stop them, just gotta get a big army on the border before they enter your territory.

Hope this helps some.

Naagi

[KukriKhan]

Hi RunAway, welcome to theOrg http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

First, I assume you have downloaded the patch.
Second: I'm no expert, but I've played the Byzie's, so I'm just taking a stab at answering your questions.

#1: when you have the campaign map up, press v...that lights up each ocean area where you have a ship. You need an unbroken string of them. Make certain you have trading posts and ports. You get more florins from provinces you don't own. If you own both Greece & Constantinople, you only get the land-based trade rate, even with a ship between them. Consider expanding you fleet.

#2: You'll see several Crusades that sputter and just sit for years without reaching its objective (mirroring history), slowly losing people year-by-year. I've always kept a superior force next door, in case they get frisky, but they never have after sitting 2-3 years. I just check them each year to make sure their guys are deserting.

#3: Crusades aren't very concerned with amassing land assets (like regular armies are), only getting to their objective (then holding that province as long as possible). As you've no doubt seen, they build huge armies usually; esp the English, because they pick up volunteers from the other Catholic factions along the way, so they're massive by the time they get to Byzie-land. If they're going to a province I don't own, and I think I don't have what it takes to stop them at my door, I get out of their way, let them pass, then retake control after they're gone.

Edit: Oops, stepped on Naagi's toes. Sorry m8. Great minds think alike http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[rpasell]

#1 is easy, your port won't show the trade income, your merchant building will.

[Musashi]

Also remember that the little bit of water in the straits at constantinople is it's own sea province, it's easy to mistake it for part of the black sea or the sea province to the west that I forget the name of. Make sure you have a ship in there http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

-Musashi

[Stygious]

@#1rpassel is right, you're merchant income increases with the ship trade routs. Port income is tax from other factions trading with your port.

[RunAway!!]

Thanks for the replies.

#1. Like I posted, I have most of the mediterranean linked now, but in the process I've sunk every other fleet there, so that would be why I'm not getting any taxes? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

#2 The crusade did die out, and Hungary has been crushed for allowing them to sit there.

#3. I've been trying to keep a large army in every couple of my border territories now, and its been working well for keeping crusades out. I wasn't really concerned about losing the province for a turn, it was that the Crusade was destroying buildings and taking my tax money that annoyed me. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

And for a new question...

#4. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this already, but are certain units / buildings not available until the different time periods, or just not available in certain provinces? Right now, I've got several provinces that have the abilities to make crossbowmen and higher, but they aren't an option. Also, Constantinople can't make a Metalsmith, and an Italian province I just conquered can? From the chart, there doesn't seem to be any prerequisites for it, and Constantinople only has Level 4 buildings left to make.

[Naagi]

Heh maybe i can beat Kukrikhan again. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif Anyway, i think if you've patched there are time frames for certain units. I also am playing a Byzantine campaign now, but dont know what buildings each faction can produce. So no help there. I on the other hand havent patched yet, wanna beat this campaign first.

Naagi http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[Foreign Devil]

A tip for the trade income thing- if you press v, it shows you sea regions that you control in green, ones that are contolled by another faction in brownish yellow, and ones that are in dispute in red.

[HopAlongBunny]

For a metalsmith to be a possibility the province must have iron. Check for the little iron ingot in the provincial summary-Constantinople doesn't have it; Tuscany does.

Only thing I see missing from the trade tips are: you do not get any trade from ports owned by factions you are at war with; you may get trade from a rebel port, if they are neutral to you. It seems to me, once you squash a rebel faction, you are at war with all rebel factions.

Good Luck http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Qilue]

Regarding #1

Also check the Straits of Sicily, the Malta Channel and the Aegean Sea. Also check to see if coastal provinces you don't own have ports and whether or not you are at war with them.

Regarding #2

If you know the origin province of a crusade, simply invade it and destroy the chapter house. The crusade it spawned will instantly disband.

Treatise on Border defence.
First, have as few border provinces as possible while owning as many as possible. This may not make much sense, so I'll explain.

On the campaign map, certain provinces or groups of provinces when owned formed choke points. Serbia/Bulgaria, Kiev/Lithuania and Egypt. If you have a large fleet, those provinces and all others to the edge of the map, you only need five armies to defend a huge area with your ships protecting all the others.

From Egypt, you can take one at a time until Cordoba and still only need to defend five provinces. With Navarre and Aragon, the number increases to six. With Pomerania, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Navarre and Aragon, you effectively own half the map and only need to defend six provinces. Take the British Isles and Flanders and you can defend at Flanders. Scandinavia and the choke point is Denmark.


Finally, always remember that walls made of wood are stronger than walls made of stone.

EDIT - fixed error.

[woodsman22]

Playing as Italians I had a crusade that could not reach the objective of egypt. Got stopped by the turks. I took one province and ended up watching the crusade dwindl into near nothing. I decided to disband each unit of the crusade and It was called a failure. (I'm sure his holiness was very disappointed) http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif but I did keep the one turkish teritory. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[fodder]

Quote[/b] (RunAway @ Dec. 04 2002,14:20)]#3. How do I stop crusades from rampaging through my territories? The same German crusade was aimed at a territory on the far side of my empire. It moved in, conquered a province, so I sent troops in to deal with it. It responded by moving farther in and conquering another province. This went on until I managed to surround it with mercenaries. Is there any way to bring Crusades to battle, and force them to stop their rampaging through my territories?
A crusade will only take over a province if there is no defending army. If you keep at least one garrison unit in each province you shouldn't have this problem. Also I think it will attack if you are at war with the country.
When a crusade first moves into your land you should get a message asking if you want to let it pass through. If you say no you will go to war with the crusaders.

[eeL ylleK]

Quote[/b] (KukriKhan @ Dec. 04 2002,14:56)]Hi RunAway, welcome to theOrg http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

First, I assume you have downloaded the patch.
Second: I'm no expert, but I've played the Byzie's, so I'm just taking a stab at answering your questions.

#1: when you have the campaign map up, press v...that lights up each ocean area where you have a ship. You need an unbroken string of them. Make certain you have trading posts and ports. You get more florins from provinces you don't own. If you own both Greece & Constantinople, you only get the land-based trade rate, even with a ship between them. Consider expanding you fleet.

#2: You'll see several Crusades that sputter and just sit for years without reaching its objective (mirroring history), slowly losing people year-by-year. I've always kept a superior force next door, in case they get frisky, but they never have after sitting 2-3 years. I just check them each year to make sure their guys are deserting.

#3: Crusades aren't very concerned with amassing land assets (like regular armies are), only getting to their objective (then holding that province as long as possible). As you've no doubt seen, they build huge armies usually; esp the English, because they pick up volunteers from the other Catholic factions along the way, so they're massive by the time they get to Byzie-land. If they're going to a province I don't own, and I think I don't have what it takes to stop them at my door, I get out of their way, let them pass, then retake control after they're gone.

Edit: Oops, stepped on Naagi's toes. Sorry m8. Great minds think alike http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
What does the 'patch' do and where can I get it?
How come nothing happens when I press'v'?
How do you know how much money a port is making?
How come I don't know any of this stuff?
Any help would be appreciated

[Naagi]

The patch can be found at www.totalwar.org or at gamespy.com, as well as various other places. I doing this after I beat my Byz campaign. The v only works on this patch, as well as some other cool features I cant remember. Might can do a search here for patch and find all the upgrades to the game, I think cavalry became the shit after the patch. Your just getting started here is all, be patient, lots of cool stuff to be found here.

Naagi http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

ps. oops forgot about the money from ports. Click the button with the stack of coins, this will list your provinces, move your cursor over one that your trading and it'll show how much its making, as well as what all provinces its trading with.