Some raw data on Influence
In my current Expert French Early GA campaign, I decided to take some notes on my kings' Influence. Figured I'd post my findings, so when I have a question about how Influence works in another 15 years I can find this old post and remind myself :P
I'm basically turtling, just going after GA points, not attacking any neighbors, and only going for Crusades in terms of military conflict (until the 1160s, when England attacked me).
Philippe I starts off in 1087 with 4 Inf, which he maintained until his death in 1120. During his reign he acquired a couple of allies (Poland, HRE, Aragon, England) and got the "happiest populace" message, but none of that moved his Influence score.
Philippe II began his reign in 1121 with 4 Inf.
This dropped to 2 after a failed Crusade in 1127. However, it raised to 3 in 1132. This could be because his second Crusade eliminated the Almohads the year before, but I'm not sure.
That Crusade's success in 1136 was followed by a raising of his Inf to 5. Next year, the Egyptians counterattacked and the Sultan was slain in the battle; this may (or may not!) account for the fact that the king's Inf raised to 6 the following year. The king's Inf increased by 1 point every year thereafter, until it reached 9 in 1141. That year, Philippe II died.
His heir, Jean II, took the throne with 5 Inf. in 1142. A failed Crusade that year dropped his Inf down to 4, but over the next 3 years it raised one point per year until it hit 7 at 1146. The next Crusade succeeded, and increased his Inf to 8 in 1151. In 1152, however, the wraparound bug struck, and Jean's Inf dropped to zero.
Fortunately this was temporary. In 1153 it raised to 2. That year the French were greeted with the "largest military" message. In 1154 his Inf rose to 4; in 1155 it jumped to 6; in 1156, to 8. In 1160 it was 1 (wraparound bug again), and in 1161 it was 3.
Since I've never paid close attention to the Influence levels on a per-turn basis, the steady, continuous increase was something of a surprise. Again, I'm simply following GA goals, and have only conquered 3 provinces (all by Crusade: Tripoli, Palestine, Antioch). Of course, I *temporarily* captured lots of provinces on the way to getting those 3, as frequently I forced the Egyptians to retreat to a fort, etc., but I wouldn't think this would have an impact, since I'd lose those provinces the following turn anyway, so any Influence benefit would be immediately cancelled out.
It may be significant that this steady Influence growth only began once my first Crusade succeeded. My first king's reign, in which he accomplished nothing other than holding on to the starting provinces, didn't see any Influence increase. But maybe the game decides to drip-feed you Influence as long as you win, and maintain, a Crusade province? Possibly only the "red" ones in the Holy Land count for this purpose? It'd be interesting to see if a Crusade to, say, Almohad territory, or Russia, would have kick-started Influence growth.
Incidentally, I noticed something else for the first time in this playthrough. The English were recently excommunicated. When I got my 3rd Crusade ready to head to Antioch, I noticed that the (English-held) province of Aquitaine was glowing red, like the big 4 Crusade targets (Antioch, Edessa, Tripoli, Palestine). Aquitaine is one of my homelands at this point; I can't remember if Anjou & Normandy ( the other English-held provinces) are also my homelands. But regardless, it's interesting that Aquitaine is specially called out in this red highlighting - suggesting that perhaps it, too, is particularly important, possibly even granting auto-growing Influence?
Anyway, this is quite preliminary, and I'll update as events continue!
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Originally Posted by CountMRVHS
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