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Cheetah
04-07-2004, 00:57
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04-07-2004, 00:57
Simon Appleton


Group: Member
Posts: 947
Joined: Oct. 2002
Posted: Oct. 07 2002,08:56

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Just stumbled on a remarkably effective early strategy for France. Previously I've played as England and thought I would try France as it is listed as hard in the early period.

The presence of the English in France and consequent isolation of two provinces (Brittany and Toulouse) is intolerable and ejecting them from the continent the main priority. What complicates it is the strong presence of HRE next to France's two best provinces (rich Flanders and troop building centre Ile De France). The consolation is that in the early game, the English in France are isolated from their home Isles and so are actually very weak (eg they often garrison a province with one or two hobilars). When I noticed this, first time round, I launched a quick blitzkrieg which was remarkably successful - only problem being, next turn HRE invaded Ile de France. Game over.

Second time through, I stumbled on an easy and very effective strategy. Essentially it is a rush strategy predicated on building such a large army you can reconquer the French provinces occupied by England and still be strong enough to deter the Germans.

Here is my building strategy:
Flanders - use this as your cash cow to fund your armies. Despite almost continually building units in 4 provinces, I never saw my gold fall significantly thanks to this. Build up the land to 60%, make a trading post... forget about building non-economic stuff. Put your best general here (you should get a 5star urban militia almost immediately).
Ile De France - you want spearmen and archers from this place (urban militia early on); it is good land, so a 20% upgrade is sensible and getting hobilars is nice but in the end I did not use them to fight. It is the most important place to garrison due to its buildings.
Champagne - upgrade the land a little and get a spearman producing building to add bulk to your HRE deterring main army.
Brittany - build spearman, archers and the odd urban militia; I built an inn but did not need it.
Toulouse - build spearman and a few urban militia; I have built a mine and upgraded the land to 20%.
Early on in Brittany and Toulouse recruit a fair number of peasants to deterr attack and bulk out your forces.
A few watchtowers are nice to monitor the enemies' forces.
Your 3 connected provinces should each have a balanced defence - eg 2-4 spearman, 1-3 archers, 1-2 urban militia, the peasants and ballista's you start with, a royal knight (king and sons) and later maybe a hobilar.

Continually pump out troops in Brittany and Toulouse until you are strong enough to overwhelm the 3 English provinces in one turn. Doing this, I realised that I could invade using forces from just these two provinces plus a smattering (eg the king, the 5 star leader and maybe one or two more) from Flanders and Ile France. This means that the border with German will still be secure. The best defended province will be Aquitane - I sent 3 spears, 3 archers, 2 urban militia and 1 peasant. The enemy included hobilars and a fair amount of worthless peasants so they fell easily before my arrows+spears.
After winning all 3 provinces in one go, you should be able to storm any besieged forts in the next turn. Loyalty doesn't seem to be an issue and the Pope never bothered me.

The door to Wessex is now open and most of France is reunited. You are now in a stronger position than I was when playing England on early. The three ex-English provinces are quite rich agriculturally and will help pay for the large army you raised to liberate them.

I plan on confining England to Northumbria if the Pope allows and then pushing back the HRE - having them in Lorraine is too much of a threat to Ile de France and Flanders. Depending on how the war with HRE goes, I may turn to the Iberian peninular to get some iron and to create a buffer zone around Toulouse, where I plan to build towards chivalric knights. Alternatively or additionally, driving towards Switzerland for their pikemen sounds attractive.

I suspect such a rush strategy will be effective in most early games. It probably makes for a rather dull game, but with the intolerable starting position of France, it is probably excusable.

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starkhorn

Knight

Group: Member
Posts: 102
Joined: Sep. 2002
Posted: Oct. 07 2002,10:02

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Yeah I did something very similar when I played early French.

The only thing that I did differently was the first thing I did with my emi was send it to Wales and bribe that army with the 3 longbow men. They are great but you must protect them as they are the only longbow men that you'll ever get in the game and Wales gives you a great place to attack England. Lower taxes to very low is a must as you'll have a rebellion otherwise.

Then on one turn I invaded and captured Mercia (from Wales with loads of peasants, longbowmen and 1 spearman unit), Wessex (From flanders with spearmen and archers),
Normandy (From Brittany), Anjon (From Ile De France) and Acquitane (from Toulouse).

Normandy and Acquitane was a real tough battle but the AI on normal level retreated from Mercia and Anjon. The English faction survived as I captured the english king and got a 14K ransom for him. Needless to say that I was very happy with that turn.

THe only problem was the pope which meant I had to assault each castle to avoid incurring his wrath.

I left 200 peasants in each of provinces with HRE and he didn't do anything which was also a surprise. It was normal mode so perhaps that was it.......

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Let your manhood be seen by the push of your pike Owen Roe O'Neill at the Battle of Benburb 1646
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Shumeisan

Man at Arms

Group: Member
Posts: 60
Joined: Sep. 2002
Paris, France Posted: Oct. 07 2002,10:43

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I did something very similar excepting that I used Flanders and later Toulouse as my main ships building provinces in order to help my future crusades in Middle-East (and to improve income ). And after having secured Normandy, Anjou and Aquitaine (in 3 turns), I launched many crusades vs Almohads in Spain (having one ready after the previous reached is goal, putting my cursed heirs into, taking some good troops en route (from Germans, Aragones and Spanish), stopping to Egypt. After that I launched crusades to Constantinople which had been conquered by Turcs, I am now trying to secure Tripoli, Chypre and Palestine.
I wanted to avoid a war vs HRE, focusing on a war to free Jerusalem, but when HRE Emperor has been excommunicated in my game, I made a rush on Burgundy and Provence.
(I forgot to say that English turned to rebels after my early rushes and that I used my emissaries to conquer the brittish islands...)

I would like to have only help Spain to free its territory from Almohads but unfortunatly you can't do that in the game using an army (or i didn't realised how to do)
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Yoko Kono

Count

Group: Member
Posts: 294
Joined: May 2001
UK Posted: Oct. 07 2002,16:03

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strted a new game on early, expert as france last night and payed til 7am this morning
i used flanders tolouse and ille de france to produce troops then over whelmed the three provincs with my princs and the 4 and 5 star urban militia u get right away with france
ive since conquered scotland and ireland and have no allied with the spansih and lauched a crusade to portugal to help slow down the almohad war machine and it huge hordes of AUM streaming up the iberian peninsular
right now the HRE, the spanish and the pope are all good freinds with me and i have just over 20k in the bank with a modest trade empire on the go
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insolent1

Duke

Group: Member
Posts: 347
Joined: Aug. 2002
Eire Posted: Oct. 07 2002,21:15

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you can do it in about 5 moves
build forts everywhere
build spearmaker in ille de france & build a milita unit
send all troops except king & ballista to flanders
attack normandy with general from brittany(lower taxes in brittany as this might revolt if they are on very high)
attack anjou with your king & leave ballista in ille de france
end turn
the french will retreat in normandy & anjou & you will capture the army in normandy
move your militia unit from ille de france (lord bouilion if I remember correctly)to flanders
give the general in normandy the dukedom & give the newly produced general the dukedum of ille de france
lower tax rates in normandy & anjou
send pesant from normandy to anjou send a pesant from flanders to normandy & send ballista to anjou
build militia unit in ille de france
end turn
You might have a loyalist revolt in anjou but I had no problems crushing it as it should be small
spearmaker is built so only build spear for a while
build a keep in ille de france
move new militia unit to anjou
end turn
mass troops & use your general in normandy to attack aquitane make sure you have at least 2 spear as there will be holilars
move spear to flanders as the english king will probably attack

This will only work under a certain starting situation - if the english have ranked generals in normandy & anjou it will NOT WORK, you can exit game & restart & you might get the desired effect
it works on all difficulty levels
You will probably find that the english king becomes suicidal against your spear in flanders
The HRE will not attack but the argonese will soon enough

katank
05-31-2004, 02:02
I suggest hitting the English on the very first turn.

Use the 5* UM from Brittany and entire Toulouse force to hit Aquitaine and the rest goes to Anjou led by the king.

only the peasant in flanders stays put.

train a UM in Ile-de-France

and queue up towers and then border forts in all provinces except for flanders which goes for inn.

send emissary to try to bribe welsh longbows.

both brit forces retreat

assault castle in Aquitaine and leave enough peasants to maintain loyalty in Anjou and attack Normandy.

move 5* UM hero to Flanders.

next turn move as many troops to Flanders as you can and the Welsh longbws should be bribed.

similarly, hire up as many mercs as you can in flanders and let the 5* lead an invasion into Wessex and try to have the Wales force attack Mercia at the same time.

this allows you to go for the kill and often you can wipe out the Brits without excomm.

then, consolidate and go from there.

Why Anjou and Aquitaine?

Anjou since attacking this and another would cause the forces in the other to be ransomed and it's too difficult to win in all 3 provinces in 1 turn.

Aquitaine since the British hobilar production is more important than that extra star from Normandy.

Blodrast
06-07-2004, 22:38
France High:

seems really tough to me; why ? can really only produce troops in Ile-de-France, with other 2 provinces that cannot produce _any_ troops. Your first priority should be to build some inns in these (Normandy, Champagne).
Tough also because you'll inevitably be attacked by the English (very very soon), Germans, and possibly, depending on your luck and strategy, Italians and Aragonese.
You will also have to fight the Egyptians if you want to hold onto Antioch and Tripoli.

General ideas for Antioch and Tripoli: personally, I found that being too greedy and trying to get Edessa (which is also very rich) proved to be too much of a stretch, eventually leading to my being overwhelmed and losing both Antioch and Tripoli. However, when I pumped troops like crazy in both of them, I managed to keep them for over 40 years, without ever being in any serious danger even though the Egpytians would attack me every 2-3 years. A good thing is that if you hold on until about 1233, you're pretty much off the hook, because the Mongols will give them enough trouble and they won't have as many troops to send against you.
However, the hardest part will be well before 1230.
My suggestion is to immediately start pumping units in them, even UM's. This will most likely delay the Egyptians' attacks on you, and this, combined with the fact that your crusade troops that you start with are pretty good (at least compared to what the Egyptians throw at you), should last you long enough for you until you can produce at least Feudal Sergeants (FS), FMAA, and Xbows. that's really all you need, plus a few hobilars.
You should use each of the 3 provinces (Cyprus, Antioch, Tripoli) for building Hobbies, Xbows and UM's in the beginning. Then FS, FMAA.
Also keep in mind when defending that you will get excellent defensive positions both in Antioch and Tripoli. Make them walk all they way to your steep hill, and shatter them with concentrated fire from your archers. At least a few of their units will rout before engaging in melee, and you'll have minimum losses.
Following these lines I caused them huge casualties on Expert.


General ideas for the European part:
this is really tough. Obviously there are several tactics, and I will only give you one suggestion.
Q: What should your objectives be ?
A: Start with what you have. Look at your own situation, and at that of your neighbours. The English and the Germans will attack you rather sooner than later (esp. HRE).
Except for Ile-de-France, your other provinces are crap. Flanders is good because, well, it is Flanders, and it's gonna make you loads of money, but in the beginning it can't build any troops. You have to hold on to these two, no matter what.
That being said, this pretty much excludes a possible strategy aiming towards the rich and iron-offering provinces of Spain and Aragon. Why ? Because you would stretch into a line, practically having borders in each of your provinces, which requires lots of troops in each province, which you simply won't be able to afford.

Instead, look at the good provinces around you:
HRE: Burgundy is very well developed (esp. in terms of troops, which is all you'll need in the beginning; money you should get enoough from Antioch, Tripoli, Flanders and Ile-de-France), so it should be an objective. None of the other provinces that HRE owns is worth the effort of getting (and trying to keep) in the beginning, from several reasons:
- they are poor/undeveloped, right now your position does not allow you for long-term development, you need troops NOW to consolidate your position.
- they are small (Swiss, Tyrolia, Friesland, etc), this means more provinces that require defensive garrisons.

The English: their main province is Wessex. Only Aquitaine is capable to produce some troops, all their other provinces are crap. Moreover, if you struggle to kick them from mainland, you'll have a very hard time, since they will keep bringing reinforcements from Britain, where they produce them unhindered by anything. It will take you many good years and troops to chase them away, and when you have, that will leave you with their 3 continental provinces in shreds (consider yourself lucky if in the process of conquering them (and possibly losing them occasionally to the English back and forth) they can still build any troops in the end), and the English with a smaller army, but with the capability of building a larger one faster than you can in their home provinces, where they had all the time to develop in peace.
Keep in mind that you will at the same time be at war with the HRE, so you will be hard pressed for troops.
Yet another factor that should make your objective even more obvious is the fact that they can't get back troops _from_ mainland to their islands.
So your objective is Wessex. Let them flex their muscles in their 3 continental provinces, get many troops in Flanders from the inn(s) in Normandy and Champagne and from production in Ile-de-France and possibly Flanders itself, and invade Wessex first chance you have. They will have few if any troops (they reinforce their continental positions every chance they get). A few FK will get the job done, with a couple of FMAA. You can of course afterwards get Mercia one or two turns after Wessex, they will most likely retreat further north. That will leave them with practically no production capabilities in Britain, while you have secured a great province (Wessex) which will give you money and quality troops (instantly, minus what got destroyed when you conquered it, ofc), while at the same time cutting their reinforcements lines.

Some of their island provinces may also rebel, being cut from their King, who is on the mainland. This only helps you, of course.
Do not waste your time trying to get Wales, Northumbria or Scotland; Wales has a relatively strong army of rebels, and you don't have troops to spare. Scotland will require you to station a good number of your troops in there for a few years, and you don't have troops to spare.
Also, your situation is already stable and safe in Britain, and you should direct all efforts to make it the same on the continent now.

You will be very stretched for troops (and money, since you'll be using lots of mercs). You should make no economical dev, except for troop buildings.

At this time, if money allows you, you can start pumping out some ships to get some trade income in the North Sea. Most likely you won't afford it though.

Now that Britain is quite secured, your next objective should be acquiring Burgundy. You will have already been attacked by HRE, so you don't risk anything by attacking Burgundy. They won't dare attack IdF or Flanders (you're keeping them well defended, remember ? you lose either of them, and you lost the game in Europe).
Have no fear in letting the HRE get Champagne and Toulouse from you. This will only stretch their already overstretched forces even more, and leave fewer units in each province to defend it, making it easier for you to take it. At the same time, their number of unit-producing provinces will stay constant, but the number of provinces they need to defend will increase, because neither of those 2 provinces is any good at this stage (Toulouse can produce some troops, but not good enough). Anyway, their attacking and taking either or both these provinces will allow you to easily take Burgundy. Once you got it, hold on to it, because it's quite rich and you can produce good troops in it (CS, CMAA, xbows, etc).
This will also allow you to better defend your really important provinces, since if you have a lot of units in there, even if the AI does attack you, it will instantly retreat (decide that they can't win...)

Once you got Burgundy, the HRE's attacks will be quite feeble. Yes, they still have lots of troops, but they need them to defend their provinces, otherwise greedy hyenas like the Aragonese or Italians will steal them. And mostly their troops will not be too good quality, lots of UM and peasant troops.
Even if they do attack you, you should not have any problems fending off their attacks.

Therefore, the obvious next step is to get rid of the English pest, in order to not have to fight on several fronts anymore, and consolidate your strategic position.
You can take your time, most likely however they will attack you, but with the influx of troops coming from Normandy's inn, Flanders and Wessex which is now supplying you with troops, you should be able to defend until you build a large enough force to overwhelm them.

In the meantime, if you want it and can afford it, you can take back Champagne and also get Lorraine. Why ? It reduces your border (the number of border provinces): you'll only have to defend on Flanders, Lorraine, Burgundy and (later on) Toulouse or Provence.

Watch out for the Aragonese, they have stabbed me in the back and broken their alliance all the time...

You might get excommunicated when bashing the last remnants of the English. Ignore it, or deflect it by attacking the insidious Aragonese, who are likely to have less than half your number of provinces, and who will attack you eventually anyway.

By this time you're already a force to be reckoned with; don't overstretch by getting the HRE/Italian provinces in a rush, you won't be able to defend them. Many small provinces is bad, few big provinces is good ;)

well, this should help some, i reckon. good luck.

blodrast

Lanemerkel1
11-16-2004, 20:04
I did better than charlemagne and napoleon combined when I played the french on late first I started training all the best troops I could as quick as I could while building fortifications towers and building up my economy then when I felt safe enough to do so I BLITZKREIGED the english slamming Aquitane with my best troops then once the english were off the mainland I bribed the scots started training highland clansmen there while making temporary peace with england by the time my highlanders got up to a 1000 strong I had a good fleet so i sent an army into ireland taking it without a problem then I started training kerns and gallowglasses there once i had 1000 kerns 1000 gallowglasses and 1000 highlanders I swooped northumbria with highlanders wales with kerns and wessex with gallowglasses took those 3 provinces without a problem I sent a new army of 500 newly trained highlanders from scotland sent them to northumbria while i still had 500 gallowglasses and 500 kerns in ireland i sent the gallowglasses to wessex and the kerns to wales then sent the initial invasion force of what was left of those 3000 men and CRUSHED mercia with NO PROBLEMO all the while of this making chivalric sergeants in ile de france,champagne and lorraine then I used the germans own tactics against them blitzing into germany it took a while to finish that up (17 years) then i had enough men in england that the main force of gallowglasses,kerns and highlanders and i sent them to crush denmark a viola it worked soon i had them down in swiss territory crushin the swiss however they had taken heavy losses by then so i backed them up with CMAAs from burgundy i drove the swiss out of switzerland but they had the province north of it so i blitzed it then i renforced the gallowglasses,kerns and highlanders back up to 3000 strength by bringin in newly trained ones from the ireland and scotland then they marched full strength into italian territory runnin them off the main land i then with an army of CMAAs from aquitaine and provence i blitzed the argonese soon they were done for just after i finished the war with argon my king died and my excomm for invading the HRE was over so i launched a crusade to antioch using my fleets line from toulhouse to the holy lands i enforced it with a army of 5500 strong CMAAs then i was in antioch immedietly and the eggys holding it had no chance then launched another crusade with some 3000 Chivalric Knights to tripoli captured it no problem then i sent one for edessa with some 3000 strong gallowglasses,kerns, and highlanders mixed with some knights templar and hobilars edessa was mine 2 years later once that was done i launched one of seismeic proportions to palistine a total of some 7000 strong roman gladiators (i created that unit myself) also some 1000 order foot soldiers and 500 knights templar ended up in the holy lands once my forces in france were rebuilt and for some reason the spanish excommed i invadied spain but this one was hard a 45 year long war with some 12000 casulties against me however i conquered spain and started rebuilding my forces and getting my funds up then i waited a few years until both sides of the golden horde-russian war had been decimated then i blitzed both pleasing the pope so from my holy stronghold in the mid east i built up my forces by training every type of unit i could and hiring turcopole mercenarys then i finished off the eggys and then looked north and crusaded constaninople which had been taken by the turks from there i used the old sayings SURROUND and conquer and DIVIDE and conquer as by taking constaninople i divided the turks holdings in europe from their ones in turkey and i had them surrounded by having a succesful crusade launched to moldavia which they had then i blitzed into a 32 year long war the turks fought hard but i beat them next on the menu BYZANTIUM i gobbled them up in 2 years i just finished a "world war" the catholics ME,the PAPACY,and what was left of ITALY, vs. the excommed HUNGARY,POLAND,and the ARAGONESE in sicily that was the only 6 nations on the map then and thatwar lasted 67 years with me and the italy sunk the argonese and huns at sea while me and the pope split their land masses then me alone crushed the poles i took what was left of that century to rebuild my shattered economy once it was back up and my forces reconstructed turned on rebel provinces everywhere got them and then smashed the italians off the map crushing them with gusto then i wope out the popesta my arquebusiers making him "HOLY" (in other words full of holes) and that ended my campaign in a big VICTORY

Spartakus
11-17-2004, 00:05
Lanemerkel1: You know, your post really needs more than 8 commas to be readable, and then some punctuation, before you divide it nice and orderly into several paragraphs.

In the present condition your text is near impossible to read through. I would like to learn about your campaign as the French, they're one of the more interesting factions with such a dramatic starting location, but I don't think anyone can keep at pace with what you're trying to tell us in that veritable waterfall of words. :juggle:

Lanemerkel1
11-17-2004, 06:29
SPARKATUS is this better? i wrote that in a hury so i didn't take the time to make it readable (for some reason i thought no one would read it)

I did better than charlemagne and napoleon combined when I played the french on late, first I started training all the best troops I could as quick as I could while building fortifications towers and building up my economy then when I felt safe enough to do so I BLITZKREIGED the english, slamming Aquitane with my best troops then once the english were off the mainland I bribed the scots started training highland clansmen there while making temporary peace with england, by the time my highlanders got up to a 1000 strong I had a good fleet so i sent an army into ireland taking it without a problem, then I started training kerns and gallowglasses there once i had 1000 kerns 1000 gallowglasses and 1000 highlanders I swooped northumbria with highlanders wales with kerns and wessex with gallowglasses took those 3 provinces without a problem, I sent a new army of 500 newly trained highlanders from scotland sent them to northumbria while i still had 500 gallowglasses and 500 kerns in ireland i sent the gallowglasses to wessex and the kerns to wales, then sent the initial invasion force of what was left of those 3000 men and CRUSHED mercia with NO PROBLEMO, all the while of this making chivalric sergeants in ile de france,champagne and lorraine, then I used the germans own tactics against them blitzing into germany it took a while to finish that up (17 years) then i had enough men in england that the main force of gallowglasses,kerns and highlanders and i sent them to crush denmark a viola it worked! soon i had them down in swiss territory crushin the swiss, however they had taken heavy losses, by then so i backed them up with CMAAs from burgundy, i drove the swiss out of switzerland but they had the province north of it so i blitzed it then i renforced the gallowglasses,kerns and highlanders back up to 3000 strength by bringin in newly trained ones from ireland and scotland, then they marched full strength into italian territory runnin them off the main land i then with an army of CMAAs from aquitaine and provence, i blitzed the argonese soon they were done for just after i finished the war with argon my king died and my excomm for invading the HRE was over, so i launched a crusade to antioch using my fleets line from toulhouse to the holy lands i enforced it with a army of 5500 strong CMAAs, then i was in antioch immedietly and the eggys holding it had no chance then launched another crusade with some 3000 Chivalric Knights, to tripoli captured it no problem, then i sent one for edessa with some 3000 strong gallowglasses,kerns, and highlanders mixed with some knights templar and hobilars, edessa was mine 2 years later once that was done i launched one of seismeic proportions to palistine a total of some 7000 strong roman gladiators, (i created that unit myself) also some 1000 order foot soldiers and 500 knights templar ended up in the holy lands, once my forces in france were rebuilt and for some reason the spanish got excommed, i invaded spain but this one was hard a 45 year long war with some 12000 casulties against me however i conquered spain and started rebuilding my forces, and getting my funds up then i waited a few years until both sides of the golden horde-russian war had been decimated, then i blitzed both pleasing the pope so from my holy stronghold in the mid east i built up my forces by training every type of unit i could and hiring turcopole mercenarys, then i finished off the eggys and then looked north and crusaded constaninople, which had been taken by the turks from there i used the old sayings SURROUND and conquer and DIVIDE and conquer as by taking constaninople i divided the turks holdings in europe from their ones in turkey and i had them surrounded by having a succesful crusade launched to moldavia which they had then i blitzed into a 32 year long war the turks fought hard but i beat them, next on the menu BYZANTIUM i gobbled them up in 2 years. i just finished a "world war" the catholics ME,the PAPACY,and what was left of ITALY, vs. the excommed HUNGARY,POLAND,and the ARAGONESE in sicily, that was the only 6 nations on the map then and that war lasted 67 years with me and the italy sunk the argonese and huns at sea, while me and the pope split their land masses then me alone crushed the poles, i took what was left of that century to rebuild my shattered economy, once it was back up and my forces reconstructed, turned on rebel provinces everywhere got them and then smashed the italians off the map, crushing them with gusto. then i wope out the popesta my arquebusiers making him "HOLY" (in other words full of holes) and that ended my campaign in a big V for VICTORY!!!!

Don Corleone
12-21-2004, 23:55
I've been trying to play as the French: Early, Hard, GA lately. I never realized how challenging the French GA were, quite possibly the most fascinating part of the game I've faced so far.

Beyond the normal homelands, conquest and crusades, you've got to: 1) build a citadel in Tripoli by 1200 2) build a cathedral in Ile de France somewhere between 1150 and 1250.

The 2nd one isn't that big a deal, I'd quit playing if I couldn't do that, but still, I like the historically accurate aspect of building Notre Dame to make France the religious capital of Christendom.

The 1st, however, is a bitch. Think about it for a sec. Assume the Eggys (or the Turks for that matter) don't tech up beyond fort in Tripoli (very likely). That means when you conquer it, you'll knock the fort out. In order to build a citadel, you have to spend 4(fort) + 8(keep) + 12(castle) + 16(citadel) = 40 years!!! prior to 1200. That means you must take Tripoli by 1160, preferably with a crusade.

Now, I don't know about all of you, but personally, I never march my crusades across Europe. I've had one too many go kaplooey on the way, and that is disastrous for morale and influence. So I wait until I build a chain of ships from where I want the crusade to start until I've reached where I intend to drop it. This also doesn't give the target faction 15 years to beef the province up while you're slowly chugging along. You've already declared to them where you're headed, and you might have to fight through all sorts of border territories that weaken your crusade to futility on the way. This takes a LONG time and a lot of cash to build all these ships.

It can be done, but even so, you must keep Italy, Byzantium and Sicily happy. If you tick off one of them, you're toast, because they'll start sinking your ships, possibly putting you past that critical 1159 date.

All in all, very, very interesting. I've taken to roleplaying and quit trying to wipe everyone out, just taking what I need. Makes it harder, but more realistic and more fun.

Boris of Bohemia
12-22-2004, 01:59
If you ever finish the krak, I'd like to hear how. Seems like you'd need a chain of luck as long as the chain of ships. You'd need there to be a war between Egypt and somebody else, and you'd need the war to go just so... Once, playing Aragon, Antioch revolted fairly early so I bought it. Might have built a citadel, but couldn't hold the place.

TwinMfg
12-31-2004, 19:04
EARLY, GA, NORMAL

I hadn't played the Froggies before, and from reading this thread it seems that building the Krak is rather difficult. Therefore, I decided to give it a shot. I know, I'm playing on normal difficulty, but I'm still relatively new to the game.

I did not want to conquer the world, but rather focus on all the GAs. But I felt it necessary to have a strong starting position in Europe. Therefore, I followed Katank's advice and attacked England on turn one. Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitane fell quickly. Wessex was not much tougher. I bribed the Welsh longbowmen soonest, which were ready to attack Mercia along with my forces in Wessex. The pope gave the stop command when I invaded Wessex. Since I'm playing the good catholic, I stormed the fort in Wessex and stopped there. Ah, but Mercia rebelled and the Brits retreated, so I walked into Mercia. The Brits were down to just Northumbria.

While waiting for the 10 yrs to expire, I build defensive armies consisting of 4 spears, 2 UM, 2 archers, and a 1-2 cav (RKs or Hobs). Toulouse, Brittany, and Wessex build toward ships. Flanders is my cash cow. Other provinces build units, and 40% agriculture.

After the 10 yrs are up, Northumbria and Scotland are mine. Still building ships and pushing them directly to Tripoli so I can crusade. Once Toulouse is pumping boats, it builds a chapter house.

A small delay occurred when HRE attacked Flanders- and only Flanders, the fools! I knew I couldn't win the battle and I didn't have enough room in my fort for all my units. So, I fought a retreating battle, raining arrows from 360 archers into their advancing units. I defeated the first wave, but retreated while their reinforcements were deploying. Next turn, I retook Flanders and invaded Freisland, Lorraine, Bugandy, Prov(whatever is next to Toulouse). I now have a nice 4-province eastern border, and never suffered a slowdown in my ship building.

I had ships in the eastern Med just after 1130 AD. I built a crusade in Toulouse and launched it to Tripoli. The Eggys had a keep there, which I suspected would be reduced to a fort once I secured the province. Well, surprise, surprise! They finished a castle the turn I invade. It is reduced to a keep by the time I'm done fighting (in a very tight battle. See the Praise to the camels thread), but that still saves me 12 yrs, and its only around 1137 AD. I immediately launched another crusade at antioch and will soon do the same to Palestine and Edessa, followed by every other Eggy province. Then the only other GA goal is conquest, so the Turks will be next. ~D

Don Corleone
01-02-2005, 06:13
Well, I finally finished my GA game as the French. I was less agressive than TwinMFG, I focused on throwing the English off the continent, then sued for peace. They had a civil war and collapsed anyway, so I went ahead and annexed the Brittish Isles, to save them for civilization, of course.

The Italians attacked in 1134, just about the time I got my ships to Sicily. Between this naval struggle, and some unfortunate weather patterns, it took me a little longer to reach the Eastern Med, I arrived in 1134, during the reign of Charles IV. I immediately launched a crusade which was successful. For some reason, this really angered both the HRE and the Spaniards, who attacked me. I got a great battle in Aragon (annexed that in 1124 when I destroyed the Aragonese). I didn't take any Spanish territory, even though they attacked me with an alliance in place. Normally, my role playing has me take two provinces from a backstabbing ally (I take one from a neutral party). Likewise, the HRE were allied, so with them, I did take Burgundy & Provence. They wouldn't listen to reason and kept offerering ceasefires, then breaking them, so I taught them a lesson and took Lorraine as a lesson. That was then end of it, they were good neighbors after that. Once Tripoli is taken, it's a simple matter to build the Krak, it's just a matter of time and proper building queues. Ditto for the Cathedral of Notre Dame.


Anyway, even though I tried very hard to NOT to take very much territory, apparently I took too much. Nobody would ally with me. All in all, I was a little disappointed. It was fun to roleplay the game and keep focused on the GA goals, not conquest, but it could have been a little more exciting and realistic. The lack of steady allies was disappointing.

High period has sucky GA goals. They're all conquest. I'm going to investegate some of the Late ones next, they have some cool ones (Brittish have to establish a monopoly on wool, etc). I'll start a thread in the main hall to discuss the Late GA goals as this won't be focused on just the French.

Au Revoir...

Don Corleone
01-02-2005, 06:14
Erh, I'm sorry, naval chain reached the shores of Tripoli and the Crusade were launched in 1144.

British Mutt + Viking
06-20-2005, 01:33
I used to play French a lot and I found a unique strategy of trading one space for another. I took out the English provinces. but not to keep the lands, but to eliminate the English as a faction when stage two is done. Stage two, I build up some extra troops, then deconstruct most of the buildings in France for the gold. I mass all, and I do mean all, my troops in Flanders and then invade and crush all of England, including Wales and Scotland. In the meanwhile, the Germans generally go crazy and invade my french lands, but it is ok, for as long as I can hold onto Flanders, I am ok. Now, I convert England into my new "base." This way, I lose the farming revenue of France, but I need only worry about defending Flanders, and then I can building up my trade-links, and so on. Once I bring Ireland under my control, I have all I need to smash the HRE out of France. The idea is simple. I trade rich but hard to defend France for poor but easily defended England. England doesn't have the resources for me to conquer the world, but it does have the resources for me to reclaim France and then the world.
The advantage is protecting your infrastructure, by placing your production centers in England, out of harm's way. There is just enough money in England to fund a reclaimation of France later, and once you secure France, you have all the money you need to conquer the world. You will be able to concentrate on building soldiers and farms, not protecting your production centers. As long as Flanders is in your hands, the door to England is closed, if you fail to reclaim and hold onto France, you can just try again later

British Mutt + Viking
06-20-2005, 01:52
The lack of steady allies was disappointing.
Just a note, steady allies were rare in reality, but the issue with the game is that there is no simple "hand-slap" option, in which a battle is fought just to make a point, like "if you put too many troops in this province, Ill destroy them, but thats all." It is all extremes. You are either in total war, completely neutral, or the best of buddies, whereas in reality, you could fight your best ally more often than your enemies and still be friends. What I would like is a raid feature, in which you can attack a province, but in exchange for not being able to "conquer it," you do not become official enemies, your general does not register a defeat for withdrawing after the battle, and if you win, you gain prestige and discourage the target, and if you lose, you lose prestige and the other guy gets gloating rights.
More than once I would like to have been able to "slap the hand" of the French army massing in Flanders threatening to invade Wessex. All I wanted to do was convince the French to not invade my lands, not lose my trade-links, and spend a dozen turns trying to get a cease-fire and re-establish my alliance. The French have far too often been too busy massing 5-6,000 men in Flanders for 50 or more turns just threatening Wessex while the rest of their empire falls apart around them.

katank
06-22-2005, 03:13
That's a good idea. More diplomatic options has been a dream for a long time.

As for strategy, I find taking Lorraine to shorten the border.

British Mutt + Viking
06-22-2005, 18:42
I agree, TW's only real flaw at this point is that more attention is placed on the fighting side, and the strategy map is neglected pretty badly. I have heard a few of the improvements in RTW are quite good, but they are just that, few in number. Features like handinga province over to allies (or enemies) is something I have been begging for since I first picked up STW, but there are still many more that I feel are really important to the improvement of the game as a whole.
But I am also aware that fighting is what really attracts players, not the diplomacy and such, so we cannot afford to neglect the improvements to fighting as well.
As for France, I think it would help to take Lorraine, but that does guarantee conflict with the HRE from the start, which is risky to say the least. The real key to victory in France is skillful use of "economy of force," in which a player's generalship skills allow them to defeat enemies with only a small number of troops. I am talking about player skill, not stars on a general, though that helps. If you have the skill to take a couple of units of archers and militia or something, and defeat larger armies of enemy, then La Gloire des gens de France is certain. If you can take Lorraine, then with just a couple of units, hold off any attack by the HRE and use the majority of your troops to beat the English out of France, that is a good thing.

Advo-san
07-19-2005, 14:16
I used to play French a lot and I found a unique strategy of trading one space for another. I took out the English provinces. but not to keep the lands, but to eliminate the English as a faction when stage two is done. Stage two, I build up some extra troops, then deconstruct most of the buildings in France for the gold. I mass all, and I do mean all, my troops in Flanders and then invade and crush all of England, including Wales and Scotland. In the meanwhile, the Germans generally go crazy and invade my french lands, but it is ok, for as long as I can hold onto Flanders, I am ok. Now, I convert England into my new "base." This way, I lose the farming revenue of France, but I need only worry about defending Flanders, and then I can building up my trade-links, and so on. Once I bring Ireland under my control, I have all I need to smash the HRE out of France. The idea is simple. I trade rich but hard to defend France for poor but easily defended England. England doesn't have the resources for me to conquer the world, but it does have the resources for me to reclaim France and then the world.

Aren't u affraid of re-appearing factions? If the English reemerge and attack your probably poor defended english inland you ll be between a rock and a hardcase imho...Defeat guaranteed...

The french have always been my favorite faction, because Geoffrey de Bouillon (the first 5star general) is my favourite hero.

But my strategy is to ally with the english, garisson flanders and chew down a bit of HRE or Iberia... The continental english provinces are little menace, as long as I keep the way from flanders shut..The english will be annexed but later in the game, after I crusaded, after I reached my frontiers to provence swabia friesland, franconia...

Sometimes I actually haven't fought any cathies, if they r either my allies or busy in other frontiers I go straight for my beloved "goldmines" of tripoly and Antioch and I start shipping to Europe Turkopoles, in order to have a blast with early cathy infantry... ~D

dgfred
07-26-2005, 16:04
I like playing the French (mother's family name= LaRoque) I swamp the English
on the continent asap, build up economy and then either slap the HRE or the
Spanish. The Spanish generals are especially tough ~:eek: , so most times
it is the HRE that gets the :smash: early, I'll pop the Spaniards later :leer: .
Smacking the Germans does open up many other options, but it seems the
other AIs like to get in on the action. I usually just build up afterwards and
sometimes slam into Denmark, who are usually still weak at this time. As soon
as the Alo's distract Spain a little, I'll go after them. I agree with the earlier
post that the Citadel in Tripoli is almost impossible, I have yet to accomplish
that goal :embarassed: .
I love the $ that the French can generate, it is much different than my other
favorite- HRE. I also seem to do well as the Danes, but that is usually bad
news for the HRE too. Viva la France! :moustache:

rotorgun
11-13-2005, 06:02
Hello, I'm new to this thread but would like to ask....

Is anyone still playing the French out there? I need to know that if you miss your first GA of building a citidel in Tripoli by 1200, does this mean you'll probably lose the campaign when playing for "Glorious Achievments"? It is 1173 and I've secured all of historical France except for Burgundy. I'm at war with the Germans, have conqured almost all of England, and bribed the Welsh longbows, but have yet to start my efforts towards a crusade to Tripoli. Is it to late? Should I move on to the next GA?

I'd appreciate any advice.

The Darkhorn
11-13-2005, 07:47
Hello, I'm new to this thread but would like to ask....

Is anyone still playing the French out there? I need to know that if you miss your first GA of building a citidel in Tripoli by 1200, does this mean you'll probably lose the campaign when playing for "Glorious Achievments"? It is 1173 and I've secured all of historical France except for Burgundy. I'm at war with the Germans, have conqured almost all of England, and bribed the Welsh longbows, but have yet to start my efforts towards a crusade to Tripoli. Is it to late? Should I move on to the next GA?

I'd appreciate any advice.

It's not too late to get the points for actually making crusades. These can be awarded anytime between now and 1205. However, it's likely way too late to build Karak unless there's already a well developed Antioch that won't get wiped out too bad in the inevitable destruction following capture....and that only if you don't have to take 10 years marching accross Europe. If you captured it next year via sea invasion, but were left with nothing after capture, it would take 40 years to build a citadel from scratch....and that's building NOTHING else, no farm upgrades, no trade, no watchtowers, and no TROOPS, which you will desperately need, especially if you cannot reinforce by sea. In fact, now that I think about it, I believe Karak's points are only available till 1200 (I got screwed once thinking it was 1205 and I had five extra years to build....so in the end I traded points for a pitiful church....spew). You'd have to capture Antioch by 1282 or 1283 (doable), and there MUST be a castle left afterwords. If not, it's too late. Even if you captured next year and were left with a keep, there's not enough time to build a castle then citadel.......just go slaugher them anyway and take out your frustration....Palestine yields the most points for successfully completing the Crusade, but doesn't yield trade like Antioch or Tripoli. ~:cheers:

The Darkhorn
11-13-2005, 07:54
It's not too late to get the points for actually making crusades. These can be awarded anytime between now and 1205. However, it's likely way too late to build Karak unless there's already a well developed Antioch that won't get wiped out too bad in the inevitable destruction following capture....and that only if you don't have to take 10 years marching accross Europe. If you captured it next year via sea invasion, but were left with nothing after capture, it would take 40 years to build a citadel from scratch....and that's building NOTHING else, no farm upgrades, no trade, no watchtowers, and no TROOPS, which you will desperately need, especially if you cannot reinforce by sea. In fact, now that I think about it, I believe Karak's points are only available till 1200 (I got screwed once thinking it was 1205 and I had five extra years to build....so in the end I traded points for a pitiful church....spew). You'd have to capture Antioch by 1282 or 1283 (doable), and there MUST be a castle left afterwords. If not, it's too late. Even if you captured next year and were left with a keep, there's not enough time to build a castle then citadel.......just go slaugher them anyway and take out your frustration....Palestine yields the most points for successfully completing the Crusade, but doesn't yield trade like Antioch or Tripoli. ~:cheers:

Replace Antioch with Tripoli in my post and it will make sense. ~:rolleyes: ...so frustrating to be new and unable to edit!~;)

rotorgun
11-13-2005, 15:38
Replace Antioch with Tripoli in my post and it will make sense. ~:rolleyes: ...so frustrating to be new and unable to edit!~;)

Don't fret Darkhorn, you'll be given editing rights soon enough, judging by the evident quality of your advice and the seeming maturity level as well. I'm not exactly sure how these things are decided, but I doubt you'll have too much to worry about. Just keep sending in those posts.

Thanks for your counsel about the "Tripoli" affair. I got so engrossed in the fight for survival that I neglected to look after my first GA assignment. Isn't it a bit early anyhow for such a mission? Historically, the first crusade was sent towards Constantinople at the request of Pope Urban. It's goal was to take back Saracen lands from the Seljuk Turks, such as Antioch and Edessa, ultimately conquering Jeruselam. There was no mention of Tripoli. It was also more of an international effort involving England, France, Germany, and to some degree Italy. I just don't see how that can be achieved in the Game with all the infighting going on.

~:confused:

Librarian
12-01-2005, 08:28
Hi all,
because i am currently playing with version 1.0, i would like to ask if other versions (or mods) do actually change the gameplay at all?
Game is French, GA victory, difficulty hard, started early period, now in year 1258. Although i am a bit back at score it doesn't seem very possible that any of the other opponents will survive for long time, Spain was strong but recently lost 4 provinces due to rebels, Germany is almost eliminated from the same reason too. Byzantines look ok too, but have really bad developed provinces at the moment. I have fought with Sicilians and Danish only up to now, apart from rebels, respected other factions Crusades at full, have 3-4 allies all time. No threated from anyone at the moment, unless all together will attack me, a year ago British tried it but they lost a battle of 1050 troops vs 480 of mine:P, and i don't use cheats.
All i mean is, unless AI will cheat or something, do new versions give anything more challenging? or it will go like that up to 1453?
thank you~:)

lugh
12-01-2005, 14:13
Historically, the first crusade was sent towards Constantinople at the request of Pope Urban. It's goal was to take back Saracen lands from the Seljuk Turks, such as Antioch and Edessa, ultimately conquering Jeruselam. There was no mention of Tripoli. It was also more of an international effort involving England, France, Germany, and to some degree Italy. I just don't see how that can be achieved in the Game with all the infighting going on.
Tripoli was captured only about 2 years after Jerusalaem. The Krak des Chevaliers wasn't in the city either, IIRC it overlooked the major trade route through the Principality. It was one of the few fortresses that was never cpatured by Saladin I think.
I thought the First Crusade was mainly French with a large contingent of Sicilians? The fighters anyway. The two peasants that were slaughtered in Anatolia had a lot of Germans I know.

@ Librarian the game cheats allright. As you gain more territory, the AI grows increasingly hostile and you suffer lowered happiness and revolts become quite common.

Just to add something to the tactics aspect. This is how I go about the crusades.
In my most recent French campaign, I've stopped advancing beyond modern France's borders, sort of. So as far as the Iberian bottleneck and only taking possesion of the French-sounding provinces in the east. All the while, buyild a powerful navy and forge your way to the Holy Lands, eliminating Sicilian naval power along the way if you can.
Now depending on the Egyptian disposition, you're going to need a very large army to take and hold all four crusade goals. Go for Tripoli by at least 1145 to give you breathing space in which to build the Krak des Chevaliers. I took a single 6ooo man army of all high quality troops as the Eggies invariably block your sea route so you won't be getting reinforcements. In the 3 other target provinces, concentrate on inns and farming rather than fortifications. You're going to be under attack an awful lot and the forts just aren't cost effective, they get interupted and you leech money quickly. Between them, the inns and increased farming ought to let you supplement your crusaders with mercs, the inns should be very busy considering the location.

After that, you need to start waging naval war in the region, it'll be expensive but try and eliminate all the major non-Catholic naval powers and the Sicilians. Outremer is very susceptible to big dips in loyalty every time the sea lanes are disrupted.

Librarian
12-02-2005, 08:07
Lugh, t
hanks for your response, although it seems that u didn't rembemer in which year i am right now, or should i say yesterday:) Well, i was in1258, i have passed the Krak achievment (didn't bother at all) and I just completed the Ile de France one.
In my yesterday's game i went on 20 more years, English my only enemy, attacked me strongly but i threw them out of Europe, they only have 4 provinces now, Danish attacked my Sweden too, took it back, pity I lost some valuable buildings.
As far as i can see, your game seems very different, and that's logical, otherwise it would be too boring. But my main problem was too find out if newer versions (patches etc) are a bit more challenging. You see in the year 1277 or so, i never had serious problem and i am curious cause French supposed to be hard faction+ hard difficulty = I expected to struggle:)
In other words, I have around 10 provinces, enemy is only English, most of the other nations are really busy with their wars among them, there are around 10 rebelled provinces in the 70% of the map that i can see and the GA score is balanced among 4-5 factions included mine, which apparently increasing all the time. I cannot see any possibility of losing this game unless i will have 5-6 enemies at the same time!

lugh
12-02-2005, 15:55
The crusade bit was just general info, added for anyone new to the faction really.

The patches mainly add bug fixes and tweak the AI a little, nothing dramatic.
For a more signifigant challenge you might want to try the full mods. BKBs Supermod, VikingHordes XL Mod and Wes' Medmod are the three major ones that keep to the Medieval setting. They all involve major changes to factions, untis and the campaign map AI. Have a look at the respective threads in the modding dojo for more.

If you have only 10 provinces, then that may be part of the problem. AI aggression is at least partially linked to the size of your Empire, it's most noticeable when you conquer 60% of the map but I think it may be a scaleable factor.
You could just wage war of your own accord rather than waiting for the AI to see you as a threat.
I never understood why the French were ranked as hard difficulty. In the very first years you can be crushed by an aggressive combination of England and the HRE/Spain, but once you've managed the first few decades and expanded troop production a little, the precariousness is gone. I find them a pretty easy faction, good potential bottlenecked borders and an acceptable troop roster.

Try the HRE, they're quite a bit more challenging I found.

rotorgun
12-02-2005, 23:11
I thought the First Crusade was mainly French with a large contingent of Sicilians? The fighters anyway. The two peasants that were slaughtered in Anatolia had a lot of Germans I know.

As I discovered from further research in response to your post, it was, although largely a French dominated venture, an international effort. I was incorrect about the Germans however. I quote from an article found at www.medievalcrusades.com entitled Medieval Crusades The Church and the Crusades:


At this point, we need a list of players. Many went along, but only a few are worth remembering. It was an international group, with members from France, Italy and England. From France, we have Hugh the (not so) Great, Count of Vermandois, brother of the French King of Northern and Central France, and a man of little character with no other importance to our story. With him were Godfrey, Baldwin and Eustace of Bouillon, sons of the Duke of Lower Lorraine-descended through their mother from Charlemagne-along with their cousin, Baldwin Le Bourg. Also from France, we have Raymond IV of Saint Gilles, Count of Toulouse, who had already fought the Moors in Spain. His mother was a princess of Barcelona. He was the first to "take the Cross".

From England, we have Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conquerer. From Italy, we have Marcus Bohemond, Prince of Toranto, son of Robert Guiscard, a Norman who had not fallen too far from his barbarian tree, and also his nephew Tancred.

There was also a disorganized mob of pilgrims, preists, and peasants that rampaged through Europe under one Peter the Monk, from France. They slaughtered many jews on their way to the Holy land, stealing their wealth to help finance the "pilgrimage". They were the ones you speak of. I'm not sure about the Germans though. I'll have to do a bit more searching.

I hope you don't mind the "lecture". I thought you might be interested in any case. You should check out the website I mentioned. It's a great site to begin a study of this fascinating period of history.

Have a nice day!
~:) Rotogun

lugh
12-06-2005, 00:06
Not Saxon-English, it was French-Normans who's liege was the Kinf of England. Meh, I'm going to say Normans from France, Sicily and Italy and be done with it!
You could argue that Godfrey was German not ethnically though, he held lands in Lotharingia and was beholden to the HRE, not Philip I.

Loucipher
01-24-2006, 21:17
I have recently started an Expert Early French GA Campaign, just to give it a try to actually build that Krak (sounds like a daunting task).
I haven't yet hit 1100s, and the English are history already. I have never asked them to be allies (I can't afford my Influence being hit as the alliance is inevitably broken), so the only option available was to gather the men and start the slaughter. So, as my chronicles recount...
"La Guerre de Unite", or "The War of Union" as it will later be referred to, broke out in 1094. The loyalist forces comprised led by Lord Godfrey de Bouillon struck towards Anjou. The other army, under command of Lord Grand Chamberlain de Chabannes, marched towards Normandy. The last contingent, led by Lord Baldwin de Boulogne, invaded Aquitaine. The English forces surrendered both Normandy and Anjou, while in Aquitaine the defending Lord Despenser put up a decent fight. It did not save him, however. His forces, beaten in the field, were slaughtered to a man a year after. Recalled from his conquest in Wales, William II himself led his armies to Flanders. King Philippe I, who was commanding the defence at the time, decide that discretion would be the better part of valour, and conceded the province. This allowed Lord de Bouillon to mount a counterattack in 1096. The Battle of Amiens, fought on the rainy day of August 15, 1096, was the last day of the English royal line. Lord de Bouillon used the damp weather to ambush the English army, made predominantly of archers, in a forest. The personal retinues of King William and both of his sons managed to inflict heavy casualties on the attacking French militiamen and spearmen, but eventually failed to break their positions and turned tail. Only 5 out of 60 knights saw the end of the battle. King William died in battle, as his younger son, Prince Henry. Prince William, the older English heir, was captured. English archers, seeing the demise of their masters, retreated into the woods, but were pushed out of them by valiant French soldiers.
The local English lords saw this defeat of English royal line a reason enough to withdraw their support. They refused to pay ransom for Prince William, who was subsequently put to the sword, together with 223 commoners and knights who were taken prisoner in this battle. The English line ceased to exist.
The year is now 1097, and new greatness awaits France...

nanoc
01-31-2006, 15:20
Well, one of my first posts....

I started a campaign (GA, Hard) with the french, after a time spent in the middle east (played as the Bizantines, the Egiptians and the Turks).... it all seems strange now... as, "who are those black guys and why are they killing my men????"

I started hitting hard, hiring mercenaries to kick the british out of Europe... and bribing el Cid in Valencia (not very accurate, historically speaking, i know) to set foot in the Peninsula. It took me about 10 years to get rid of the English (who went to a civil war, lossing wessex), and erase the Aragonese (I mean, have you eveer been to Barcelona??? that's a great city, we are talking about!!!!)

Then, I decided i should attempt to get some GA points, so i sent a Crusade headed straight for Tripoli. I put a lot of mercenaries in the crusade, as well.

When i got to Trebisond, I realised conquering Tripoli was not going to be easy: i had to pass through Turkish territory (Lesser Armenia and Siria) to avoid the big, badass armies the egyptians had in Armenia and Antioch. i finally got to tripoli (after loosing half of my men) and actually managed to set it free from the muslim evil, but then the Egyptians attacked with a 2000+ army.

I tried to face them with my 1000 men, and it was the worst defeat I've ever suffered. I don't know what went wrong, I ambushed the eggies from behind, with my best cavalry, and they took great casualties but dispatched my horses without routing nonetheless.... their camels made a mess of my mercenary italian infantry and order foot soldiers. They butchered my men and got to my general and butchered him, too...

When the dust settled, the Egyptians had lost 600 men, while I had lost 550.... but the worst part was seeing my templars run for their life like sissies.....


So, the crusade was rereleased (i don't know why.... don't crusades dissolve once the target has been conquered???) and sent to Valencia. The same year, the big pain in the &%$ known as the HRE, decided they didn't want to ask for a Visa when visiting Paris, and invaded Ille de France, and Toulouse. My king decided to seek refuge in Paris, and wait for reinforcements but, guess what: the reinforcements decided it was a good time to get rid of the &%hole that had sent 2000 men to die in Tripoli, and organised a civil war. So I lost Toulouse, Aragon, Valencia, Aquitania AND Flanders, along with my best generals (3 five stars, which was all i had at the moment). I managed to send an army of mercenaries to help my king (who had lost influence like you wouldn't believe)... but it cost me Anjou (courtesy of the HRE). Then, while trying to recover Anjou, Ille de France got attacked by the rebels in Flanders.... i hired more mercs in Anjou, and got rid of the Rebels in Ille de France (I accidentally killed them all, oops!) and Flanders. I used Flanders to hire more mercs.....

And so, started the excecutioning of the rebels.....

i managed to end the civil war and a second one while, at the same time, repelling the annoying german invasion.... after about 20 years of doing so, the germans went to civil war and got excommunicated (twice, actually), so i managed to grab some land and send a couple of victorious crusades.

but I haven't been able to recover Aragon, as the aragonese have re-emerged and seem to be in a very good shape.

And i lost Valencia, as the traitor who replaced el Cid (after his death) won't accept my bribery and remains loyal to god-knows-who.


It's about 1130... My stupid king and his Council of One (me) have managed to loose an Empire and forge a new one. Week, but so are our nighbours. We should be able to regroup, forget about Holly Land, and build up our economy enough to crash our enemies under the weight of our armies....

The wheel of history takes yet another turn.

Asmodai
02-08-2006, 18:08
Hey everyone.

I just build Kerak! Date 1177 of our Lord! Two years later i build Notre Dame in Ile de France.

This is my history:

I wiped off the british from the continent. Few years of training army and building troop producing buildings and the war has begun. Army from Brittany and Flanders quickly secured Anjou and Normandy. Then, my 5 star general with some spearmen and archers secure Flanders, efectively bottling up the rest of English on british isles, and King with the rest of troops from Anjou attacked Aquitaine. I was warned by the pope, but finishing the english was higher priority. But winners are favoured by our great pope, cause i didnt get excom after siege in Aquitaine. English counterattacked few times but only to be heavy massacred. Most of their royal knights meet their end at spearwall.

My emissary sealed ceasefire with english. Next on my list was germans.
Key to western germany lies in burgundy. This province is well developed for troop building, and attack from the heartland of france is difficult.
But the germans made their move first, invading Flanders. I beat them, taking several hundreds of prisoners(i butchered all). My first couner was to strike Lorraine, and Provence. German garrisons retreated to forts. When Genuese, Poles and Danes invaded german lands, i knew that this war will be easy.
But conquering Burgundy wasnt easy at all. Despite attacking from Lorraine and Provance mainly, Germans held the position firmly. My army was voctorious, but that losses....I lost one heir, near half of my royal knights, and my spearmen units lost about 30-40% their original number. But i secured French border in the east. From Flanders in north, to Provance in south, with southern army blocking Spaniards and Aragonese in Tolouse.
It was about 1110, and i headed to my objectives...Holy land.

Brittany, Flanders, Normandy and Tolouse was set to fleet production, while Burgundy is set to troop producing. Anjou, Champagne, Provence and Lorraine gives me considerable income from farms. In Ile de France i builded all religious buildings (chapter hause) and quickly fortyfying Paris to Citadel, and raising the cathedral..Notre Dame.
In the meantime, chapter hause produced for me couple crusades, six, to be precise. And when my fleet reached the muslim shore, i immediately declared my first crusade, to Tripoli. Two years later, crusade and all my spare units from heartland landed on egiptian shore. They meet resistance. I taken about 300 prisoners, and near 1000 muslims lay dead on the field. My losses are about 250 men. I was prepared to siege battle, but egiptian counterattack prevented my move. But, in that battle, muslims lost the whole Holy land i think.
They had two stacks of troops, mainly consisting of beduin camel warriors, and saharan cavalry. they had few units of saracen inf, and few units of desert archers also. My crusaders consisted 2 units of knight templars, 3 order foot, many peasants, 2 fanatic mobs and other crapy stuff. But my regular army, that supporting crusade had many units of hobilars, urban militians, spearmens, archers, even few royal knights. Muslims massacred their cavalry and camels on my spearwall, while my archers peppered them with arrows. As they broke, hobbys and royal knights pursued the remnants of their first wave. I take near 600 prisonres, and killed the sultan.
And the rest of the battle was bloody hunting. While muslims tried to form battle line, they were intercepted and anihilated by my hobbys and royal knights. In final outcome i had far above thousand prisoners. I slayed them after that battle without mercy. They lost near 1500 troopers in single battle.
And i sacked Tripoli in next year. Immedietely afterwards, i declared another crusade, this time to palestine. 3 years later, the jerusalem was in chrisians hands.And another crusade, this time, to Antioch. And next was to Edessa.
When i finished 4 crusade, i was attacked by three stacks of bizantines....and the war isnt over yet. I lost edessa, but i hired many mercenaries in Jerusalem. I conquered Syria, securing Tripoli. War with bizantines was (and is), my biggest problem. They have better troops, and much better generals than me. My best general in Holy land have 4 stars. Their have 9.... Hard times..

Uff,
Sorry for my english.

This is probably the longest post ive ever written.

rvg
03-03-2006, 22:41
A quick tip on defending your outremer provinces in High:

Build a chapter house in Cyprus and get a couple of crusade markers. Whenever Eggies attack either tripoly or antioch, retreat to the fort and hit the province with a crusade. Even though you have the fort, the province is officially egyptian, and is fully crusadeable.

The reason why I build crusades in Cyprus is because it's very difficult for the eggies to get to it, thus insuring that your crusades never get gutted.

Asmodai
03-06-2006, 12:14
Thanx for advice. Cyprus is in French hands.

And War with biz are ending. I launched 2 succesfull crusades(recapturing edessa and capturing eggys heartland in Egipt(that caused great mass rebellion in all muslim lands - even almos lost 30% of their teritory to the rebels). Egypt is no longer a threat, so i concentraded all my efforts for wearing down Bizantine armies. 3 full stacks of mercs were hired, and reinforcements from crusades and from France slowly take the upper hand. First, and very bloody battle was in Rum, where the Biz emperor was slain by javelin. My losses were horrenduous(for every biz soldier, i lost 2 of my men in return, thankfully mostly mercs). When my mercs battled with biz(heavy losses on both sides) i consolidated my crusader goal provinces, establishing the new Jerusalem Kingdom border from Sinai, to Edessa and Siria.

And then, using my crusade units and reinforcements from france, and freshly recruited turcopoles, i secured that borders. And massacred my mercenaries on Constantinople raid(i attacked constantinople directly, and i razed all provinces in progress(nicea, trebizond, even greece. As for constantinople, i leaved only castle structures, leveling every other buildings, effectively breaking the backbone of bizantines.

Horatius
03-07-2006, 15:15
rotorgun most of the soldiers in the First Crusade where French, although not all of the leaders came from France.

Anyway it was sent to recapture Jerusalem, and it was suppose to help the Byzantines recapture their land from the Turks along the way, Pope Urban II did not care about Saracens, especially since to him Saracens where nothing more then the people who destroyed the Holy Sepelchure.

Empirate
07-15-2006, 15:35
In one of my earlier games as French on High, Expert, I actually managed to destroy Egypt without ever using a crusade. I held onto Tripoli and Antioch like crazy, Lord Cadoc helping a lot, of course (he's the good general commanding a unit of Order Foot). For a while it was touch and go: I'd lose one of the two provinces (withdrawing to the castle), then take all troops from the other and reclaim it, only to lose the other on that same turn... My main goal was to beat the Egyptians in a steeply-uphill, nigh-impossible war of attrition. I'd try to keep my army intact and do as much damage as possible to the Egyptian armies.

Whenever I was able to actually fight them on the field (neither one withdrawing before the battle, that is), I would trounce them as thoroughly as possible while conserving my forces. This is not easy of course, but the AI's tendency to make mistakes can be exploited, as well as Egyptian generals be killed. After killing all good generals the Egyptians ever had and a lot of their better troops, I kept facing still large, but quality-wise quite manageable armies.

This was when I decided to attack Edessa (with a smaller secondary army) and Syria. I groomed another general up from nothing, repeatedly going on raids into Edessa or Syria: Conquer, burn, leave. When he had two stars and the Expert Attacker virtue, I emptied the provinces I had to go to Edessa and Syria on the same turn. This allowed me to take two provinces in one turn while losing only one (Tripoli, withdrawing to the castle). Then I took most of the troops from Edessa to reinforce Syria and used the Syrian army to reclaim Tripoli. I got lucky in that there was no rebellion in either of the newly-conquered provinces (converting them to Catholicism beforehand sure helped!). I now had four provinces but still only two that bordered the Egyptians. After that it was just usual warfare, building more troops, finally killing a lot of Egyptians in a stout defense of Syrian desert dunes, followed by the final push into Palestine, Sinai, Egypt (ransoming the Sultan), then Arabia to finish it all off.

Several things must happen for this to work.
1. You must not lose a single battle. Worse, you must not take too many casualties in any single battle, else it's already over. Use Pause liberally.
2. Build inns in both provinces first. Hire every merc you can, even Urban Militia. You need every warm body you can get. Use junk mercs to draw Egyptian fire if necessary.
3. The Turks must be friendly with you. And stay that way.
4. Build up to shipyard in Cyprus ASAP, and shuffle over troops from this, your third province in the east.
5. Some luck in battles will doubtless help a lot. Capturing the Sultan once or twice can really keep your economy afloat.
6. Perhaps most importantly, you must also win the war in Europe at the same time. You must destroy the English as quickly as you are able. Your French provinces are there to save your fiscal bacon. The eastern provinces can't support their own financial needs, as you'll be relying on mercenaries a lot.

Once your eastern armies have conquered the Egyptians, you're in a very interesting situation: You have two bases from which you can operate, and both are mostly self-sustaining. Ever thought about launching a crusade FROM Palestine? You can do it now. And there sure are a lot of juicy targets close by! This might enable you to beat the game that much faster. You could expand west and towards Spain from your ex-Egyptian holdings, while pushing east and north from France itself. If you want, you can even give up France and try to conquer the world using only Eastern-French units!

GeoBeeChamp
07-16-2006, 05:31
KILL THE ENGLISH!!!! Quick!!:furious3: :wall:

GeoBeeChamp
07-16-2006, 05:35
Also,my first 2 posts

Empirate
07-17-2006, 10:39
One would hope for the first two posts of a new member to be a little more constructive... ~:rolleyes:
Anyway, does anybody think you could probably get a decent, or at least a more-or-less manageable start without killing the English first? I actually never tried: It seems so obvious you have to annihilate them or at least take all their continental holdings. But would it be possible at all not to? You could try to join Ile-de-France to Toulouse by taking Burgundy, and wage war against the HRE, trying to stay at peace with the English. Or you could just stay put and try to develop your provinces first, build some agriculture and trade, recruit some armies, then launch some crusades against the Almohads. Has anybody ever tried that?

Lucjan
07-17-2006, 19:19
...You mean people actually play as the french? I always thought they were there for everybody to trounce on and laugh. :saint:

Sirron
07-18-2006, 11:53
To Empirate:

In my view that would be quite un-strategical approach. Without attacking and destroying English continental holdings, your armies would be tied for defence and you would need to build another army, just for attacking HRE/Almohads, while having some good troops stationed in your French provinces.

However, it would make for a challenging RPG element to not to attack English, say for 50 years or so...:2thumbsup:

Empirate
07-18-2006, 12:44
I just started a new French game and was immediately attacked by the English. I couldn't help it: I had to shove them off the continent. I honestly wanted to leave them alone. But then I decided I just had to kill them, otherwise the game would be unplayable, RP approach notwithstanding. Then I bribed Wales and also took Wessex, which was menacing Flanders too much for my taste.. Mercia had by this time fallen to rebels in a civil war, so I found it was OK to invade. Scotland was bribed as well, for Highland Clansmen (I love them!). The English were left alive in Northumbria, tying up one of my armies. I sought and got an alliance from Germany, which they haven't seen fit to break yet. All the better, coz it left me a free hand in the south to deal with the Aragonese (they had, quite predictably, tried their hand at invading Toulouse) and quickly after that take rebel-held Navarre.
After that I decided to only strike out against the infidels, never attack a christian-held province. Ile-de-France is producing Crusade markers one after another. Crusade 1 went to Granada and took it easily, despite a massive counterattack from Morocco to relieve the besieged fort. Crusade 2 then went towards Morocco, but the damn Spanish took it before I got there. Did you ever notice that your King loses influence just as if the crusade had failed if it is dissolved this way? Crusade 3 took all the men that were freed by Crusade 2's demise and marched through Spain towards Algeria, taking it without a fight. Crusade 4 has been commissioned to take Tripoli, but has only just started (I only managed to finish a chain of ships just now). There I will build the Crac des Chevaliers, after which I think Palestine, Antioch and Edessa will be due to be CRUSADED!
I had never used crusades much before. I remember Fargo over at Gamespy describe crusades as stirring up a lot of excitement, destroying much, being a general pain in the ass for your neighbours, creating a big noise but ultimately accomplishing very little. I only now realized how much fun it can be to send crusade after crusade after crusade... And the French are probably best situated to do so: There's always at least one neighbour whose troops you can suck up, but there's also ready access to sea lanes bound for the holy land.

r johnson
07-18-2006, 13:18
...You mean people actually play as the french? I always thought they were there for everybody to trounce on and laugh. :saint:

Lol:laugh4: I've only played the French once and i fount it really easy, only playing as the Spainish was easier.

Sensei Warrior
07-18-2006, 22:57
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucjan
...You mean people actually play as the french? I always thought they were there for everybody to trounce on and laugh.

:laugh4:

The French are rather worthless when the Comp controls them. If you play them they can kick major tail. Lots-o-cash, good units, although mostly standard for Catho factions. In my Campaign I swept the English off the continent and banished them to the Island. I will definately agree that they are one of the easiest Factions to play.

Lucjan
07-18-2006, 23:43
lol. "The Island." That's awesome...

England shall henceforth be known solely as THE ISLAND. Any attempt to counter this edict shall be met with swift and deadly force...and if that doesn't work, we'll just go right ahead and banish you to the island with the rest of those ingrates.

Sensei Warrior
07-19-2006, 00:17
LMAO :laugh4:

I second the above motion. The Islanders have no reason to be in Aquitaine, Anjou (I mean the Provence even sounds French), and Normandy, and there expulsion should always be made post-haste.

Lucjan
07-19-2006, 12:30
As a brief side note - though I do endorse the banishment of all anglican naives to the island, I do not recognize the right of the french people to exist, their lands shall be taken swiftly and justly by the mighty Polish hordes...after we take Germany first that is...

Empirate
07-25-2006, 16:07
Well, so much for my "crusade them to death" approach! My crusades had by now taken Granada, Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli, Antioch, Palestine, and Edessa. Another one was on it's way to Egypt, and bang! "your king has died of a disease, leaving no male heir blablabla". Just great. I hadn't been having as much fun with this game in a long time, and now it's over. Damn. Frenchmen just don't seem to be virile enough to manage a family!

Lucjan
07-26-2006, 12:48
Thats what happens when they're too busy crusading and not home enough to spend some quality time with the wife. :laugh4:

The Darkhorn
08-01-2006, 22:30
Aggravating. I once had a great French GA going. Had continental France and all of the middle east from Egypt to the Big C and Georgia. Fine crusading and killing the infidel. Was waaaaaaay in the GA points lead. Died without an heir in 1442. AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH.:stupido:

SithMarauder
08-31-2006, 12:43
Hi all,
Its the first time I've played as the French. I think my campaign has started reasonably well at the moment.

French, Domination, Hard

The French in 1087 managed to defeat the English on the continent, I didn't take any prisoners :skull: :laugh4: I did have a fun battle with the the English fielding 4 or 5 hobilars and some spearmen, they originally held the highground. My units were 2-3 UM, archers and RK, I sent my RK around the base of the hill, focusing part of the English forces on my RK. While my infantry slowly crept up the hill so that the English were in range of my archers. There was utter chaos in the English forces, seems the AI was all confused about who to attack or where the pesky arrows were comming from. They were just standing there then reforming their lines all over the place. So my RK :charge: the English flank as my UM marched over the crest of the hill, the spearmen where nearly wiped out to a man by a single UM unit. The hobilars were then :charge:by my UM's and RK, using my RK to kill the enemy general. The English were forced off the hill, the hobilars were stubborn lot :charge: up the hill to be driven back by my archers with my UM guarding them. The English finally decided to :surrender: the field.

By 1093 Flanders was pretty well defended against an English counterattack, while I built up fortifications along my borders with other factions. My emissary was busy bribing the Scottish and Welsh. The English sued for a ceasfire in 1094, by offering their princess. I decided to decline the offer, the English were busy putting down revolts up until 1097. While I was having small skirmish battles with the HRE, who decided to call a ceasefire and form an alliance.:2thumbsup:

In 1097 the English thought they could teach me a lesson, by invading Flanders which was heavily defended with Spearmen, UM Sarge's and archers plus whatever RK I could field that weren't guarding Ile de France. The English army crashed headlong into my centre, it turned into a real slugfest. You invade my provinces then no quarter will be given, the English are no more. The French are now the masters of what was once English dominion. With Sweden, Norway, Prussia, Lithuania joining my fledlging Empire.

Its 1114, there is peace in Western Europe, should I go on the offensive or wait until the HRE attacks me. I plan to build up my fortifications in the border regions while building superior troop building in poor income provinces, building improved economic buildings in the richer ones.

Though I am considering a blitz then scorched earth move, against HRE provinces with keeps, troop building facilities etc

rvg
08-31-2006, 17:44
Taking and keeping Lorraine and Burgundy might be a good idea. The rest of HRE can be safely left to the vultures (usually Italians and Hungarians).

Tsavong
09-02-2006, 14:05
I try and get as much of the HRE as i can, most of the time trying to avoid being excommunicated it also helps to attack when others are attacking the HRE as well

Oshidashi
09-11-2006, 14:54
There was also a disorganized mob of pilgrims, preists, and peasants that rampaged through Europe under one Peter the Monk, from France. They slaughtered many jews on their way to the Holy land, stealing their wealth to help finance the "pilgrimage". They were the ones you speak of. I'm not sure about the Germans though. I'll have to do a bit more searching.

I hope you don't mind the "lecture". I thought you might be interested in any case. You should check out the website I mentioned. It's a great site to begin a study of this fascinating period of history.

Have a nice day!
~:) Rotogun

You'd better pick another website because the information on the first Crusade with Peter the Monk is inaccurate. In short, they didn't kill jews but fellow Christians (mostly in the balkan region). They didn't need their wealth to finance the pilgrimage because they had aquired huge wealth before going on Crusade. The fighting with fellow Christians occured cause of several reasons, I gotta go now, but I can reccommend the book "The Crusades" by Robert Payne.

doctrellor
05-19-2007, 14:58
Yeah, I also tried as the French, but I think luck just wasn't on my side..

Playing XL Mod )of course)

I blew thru Normany/Anjou immediately and stocked up for Aqua.
At this point, HRE allied with me, so I knew my east border was generally secure...

I pestered the English king with both princesses and actually got the English to ally with me, so I thought I was good.. but just wait...

I was cranking out troops and went after the Genoese and finally said to heck with it and took out the Papacy as well..

So while I took out the Genoese/Papacy, the Germans took out the Venetians/Hungarians and followed me down the Adriatic.

At this point, the ALmos had conquered the Spanish, and the Aragons..

So the Almos had 8 armies sitting on the border and built up a large Atlantic Navy and wiped the English Navy out...

Guess who they went after while I was finishing up the Papacy... you guessed it.. me...

They suprised me in taking out with multiple attacks, took me out of Flanders/Normany while I fought them back out of Aqua and I even took over Navarre/Aragon...

The seem weak in the rest of Spain, since out batles have been EXTREMELY bloody...

From the movement of his troops, I know he easily have 5 more full stacks, so if I hit him in the north , he'll just re hit me in the south and retake his provs I took off of him...

So It was looking a bit grim.. I felt lucky when the game blew out instead of saving..:P

+++++

So as far as Blitzing the English, I also did it quite fast with XL, and just pester them for an alliance, so they leave you alone.

Boombox
05-25-2007, 18:23
HI, new to this forum, as well as new to the game...
I started off allying the English, and then the Milanese(bloody traitors) and the Spanish. The Portugese got wiped out very quickly...and HRE remained neutral for a long time. So i was able to muster enough troops to defend against the traitorous Milanese, took Genoa(lots of trade established by the enemy..hehe), then did the same for the Danes(Brunges).

I want to expand..since im ranked 2nd after the Mongols in military and economy...but i risk excommunication! I've seen NPC states being excommunicated, but they've never been..crusaded upon. So should i just do it? The Milanese is really annoying, as well as the Danes. I reckon i can take out Spain too, cos they're also fighting the Moors, whos my ally.

BUT EXCOMMUNICATION!

BTW, Scots guards blew my mind out...used one unit against 2 units of peasants...took out nearly one entire unit before melee, and still win...crazy

mps247
05-09-2008, 20:41
My only experience with playing the French is in GA mode. I agree, get rid of the English - only from the continent (leave them the island). The pope will warn you, but give the English a princess for a ceasefire.

After two years you should find defense of your kingdom far easier. Now is the time to start training troops (actually, you should have been training from the first turn) and get trade routes set up (3 of your coastal provinces should be building ships). At the same time, you should build towards a chapter house in Ile de France, as successful crusades make up quite a lot of your GA points. Also, you get GA points for building Notre Dame, so this serves two purposes.

Make sure that one province builds archers, another spears, and another cavalry. You should have enough provinces. Also, urban militia should be built everywhere, as the town watch keeps loyalty up, so serves two purposes.

Farming upgrades and trade routes are vital - it will allow you to save money in the early years. It will be enough to see you through a lot of the wars you will be forced into. Make sure you have defensive armies set up on all your bordering provinces - you don't have to worry about coastal provinces so early. Also, the AI is quite bad at amphibious attacks. However, you should try to maintain a strong naval fleet close to them to blockade any invasions.

Your first crusade should be sent to Tripoli. If you have managed to get your ships lined up all the way from Toulouse to the Middle East, then its a bonus. However, I never manage it, and end up marching my crusade across Europe. This has never been a problem. Actually, once I was at war with the Holy Roman Empire, and managed to absorb quite a lot of their troops due to the high zeal in their provinces (even if you are at war, the AI faction will let you pass as long as it is Catholic).

As your crusade makes its way to Tripoli, make sure you do your best to get a line of ships from mainland France to the Middle East. If your crusade is successful, build a port first - the Egyptians are likely to attack you.

Building the citadel should be no problem if you give this priority after the port is complete. It may take up to 40 years, but you will manage it easily. Just make sure you hold Tripoli. If you lose it, you have probably lost your chance to build the Krak.

Hopefully the Byzantines are winning their war with the Turks, allowing your crusade safer passage. Be careful about low zeal in Byzantine territory - it will reduce your forces. You are not advanced enough at this point to raise zeal in provinces.

Next, crusade to Palestine, Antioch and Edessa. I would do them in that order. You should be building Notre Dame and the Krak at the same time. Also, a crusade to Syria would help to reduce the number of borders you have (even if it isn't one of the GA goals).

Strange thing happened to me after I launching my crusade to Edessa. The Egyptians lost the province to the Byzantines, and I ended up declaring war on them automatically. So, my crusade ended up fighting its way through Constantinople. I captured it (the AI abandoned the province as it moved most of its troops to Bulgaria on the previous turn), and sacked the place... I felt so dirty... the money was too good, but history will judge my king harshly... :no:

The HRE will invade. So will Aragon. Just defend. If you can, take some of their provinces (I managed to grab 3 from the Germans before asking for a ceasefire). Basically, turtle in Europe until you have sorted out the Middle East. Then look for opportunities for further expansion (ex-communicated factions are a good start).

gollum
02-15-2010, 19:14
For vanilla, the fastest way to domination is to get rid of the English (and indeed dont conquer England more than perhaps Essex), then gather as many mercenaries as possible and get rid of the Aragonese, and if the HRE doesn't attack you the Spanish too. Then take out the border regions of the HRE, and then the Italians. After that, take care of the Almohads (if they have not collapsed under a civil war as it usually happens) and consolidate, giving Switzerland priority for troop production (Swiss halbs) and using the rich Iberian and Italian regions for maritime trade (after building farms), while making CH.knights in Ile-de-France and Toulouse. If you play expert, someone may bother you at this stage (may well be Byzantium), and you'll need to fight them. Eventually, however your eastern foe will be in trouble at 1230, in which time simply stretch your tentacles all the way to Constantinople via Hungary and secure also Poland that makes a perfect border region for the steppes (unlike the rebellious Lithuania). It is then a matter of time and taste to conquer the rest with the army composition of your choice.

For GA, there can be many ways, and the campaign can be quite fun and exciting, expecially if one mods the peasants out and is not bent on conquering more than GA goals ask him to. It is well known that France has the most fun GA goal set.

:bow: