View Full Version : How to smash the French and avoid Excom?
AgentBif
10-02-2002, 18:21
When you play English, do you find those big fat blue provinces as annoying as I do?
Me want smash French!
But that darned Pope keeps bugging me.
How do you end up manipulating things so that you can take the French territories? I see all the Christian factions pillaging each other's territories with impunity, but that silly Pope just won't let me join in the fun!
In reality, the English ravaged French lands and nobody ever bothered them significantly for it.
bif
[This message has been edited by AgentBif (edited 10-02-2002).]
do what i do.
it takes a little time, but build up some sizeable armies (at least 600 in each) and then in one turn. move each of your armies into each indivdual french land. one big sweep, and the french almost gone in one turn. you have to do it quiet early in the game though.
first you should be nice to the french, don't forget that in the end they kicked the brits out
second, if you still want to grab the nice and lush french provinces (who could reasonnably blame you for that?), I'd say wait for your king or the pope to be old (after 70's) and attack : you'll get excommunicated, but as soon as any of the 2 dies, the excom is removed...
I've never tried to assasinate him myself, but it can be done
be careful though, I tried that with the Danes... and my king lived to be 95! http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/eek.gif
Had to live with excommunication alot longer than planned!
what about arranging a little 'accident' for grand dad? (like a mindless dance in front of arbalesters - I don't do it myself though, I try to play historical even when my king is crap, and believe me, with the italians I have a bunch of degenerates)
The best way to avoid excom is to grab a piece, go some where else, and then come back for more 10 years later. In Eng vs Fr (early)I start off taking Wales and Scotland then build up my forces to take Flanders and Tolouse. The key is getting some merc. catapults so you can take these provinces before the two years is up. After that, build up some fleets and go after Denmark as a start point for Sweden and the Baltic states. By taking Flanders and Tolouse you've crippled France so when the ten yrs are up go back and take a few more of their provinces. Then go back and secure as much of the Baltic as you can and build up a nice trade network....
Pragmatic
10-02-2002, 21:14
If you want a "cheat," go after Aragon. Get involved in a protracted battle. The Pope will send you a warning. Once you get that warning, pull back and make peace.
Why go after the Aragonese, when you want to take out the French? Easy. The Pope gets fixated on one warning/excom at a time. If he's warned you about the Aragonese, he won't give a care if you go after the French.
At this point, you'll have twelve years to take out the French. Use every moment of that.
And if you end up taking out the Aragonese, as well? Their province has Iron, and they make excellent Gungalleys for mid- to late-game. (Navarre, also, has Iron. Two good provinces for upgrading your units...)
ravenking
10-03-2002, 00:21
You had trouble with crappy italian kings too? You can try the "suicide charge" with just your king into big armies of spearmen, but you may be surprised at how many men that one little royal knight can kill. My Italian king went from 1 valor to 8 in that one battle, then died a glorious death.
Just bide your time and build up an infantry force in Wessex and a combined army including cavalry in Aquitaine.
Sweep into Flanders and Ile De France in the same year. Use your cavalry to cut off and butcher any retreating armies in Ile De France and remember not to get stuck into a long siege in Flanders.
Brittany can wait for 12 years, I didn't attack Toulouse as the Aragons had taken it already.
No more French http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif
Take them on the very first time. You may be out numbered but with some skill you can dust off the french quickly, and the same can be done on the english as the french. This involved leaving provinces empty for first turn but the ai rarely makes a move first turn.
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I am crap at doing signatures so shit happens.
Forward Observer
10-03-2002, 05:39
Since I play an aggressive game, I just live with excommunication until I can get to Rome, and whack the Pope. Of course then I had to deal with the Pope showing up every couple of years with a bunch of high tech knights to try and get Rome back.
Just by accident, I discovered how to eliminate these re-occurring "goodwill tours"
by the old Popester.
After taking Rome, and the current Pope is dead, immediately raise taxes to the max, and back out all of your units to the surrounding provinces, but one. You want encourage a small peasant revolt. Once the peasants revolt, just leave them there, and go on about your pillaging of the rest of the known world.
In my current campaign as the French, this happened by accident, and I didn't have the time or men to retake Rome right away. After about 7 or 8 turns, I realized that as long as I left the little rebel army in Rome, the Pope seemed to be staying away. That was 40 or 50 turns ago--still no Pope.
When I am about to finish up the campaign, I plan to go back and eliminate that little band of rebels as one of my last battles.
I cannot guarantee that this is 100% failsafe, but so far it has worked like a charm for me. I think that in a way it is simular to the strategy of leaving each one remaining province for each faction, so you don't have to deal with them re-emerging periodically at the worst possible times.
Cheers
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Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.
[This message has been edited by Forward Observer (edited 10-02-2002).]
I took Flander on the 3rd year after starting the game to establish a landing point from Wussex. My trick to escape the excom thingy is to take and hold the land within 2 year. In tat way, u have fullfill the pope request of stopping aggression by the end of 2 year. If the French try to take back flander, they get excom instead which happen to my case http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif
After tat I proceed to conquer the other 2 state north of Wussex including Scotland while leaving French alone. 20 years of massing up armies and I finally eliminate French with the help of my German ally.
Off topic but
THE FRENCH OWN THE ENGLISH !!!
favedave
10-18-2002, 08:52
Here's a complete startegy to winas the English on any difficulty setting:
as the English, take Flanders right away! In the 3d or 4th year at the latest.
You must take it in two turns or you will get excommmunicated.
So, invade it in one turn, then assault the castle the next turn. You NEED Flanders for the income and movement ability.
after that you have 2 choices:
1. Build up all your provinces like wessex and Mercia. Build spearmen like crzy and archers, too, as well as Hobbies in Aquitane. The, after 10 years go by, attack all the rest of France and take each province in only 2 turns, just like you did with Flanders. Then you won't get excom'ed.
2. Then attack Toulouse. These are the 2 most important strategic provinces. Flanders for the income and Toulouse for the gateway to the Med. You need that port!
Then slowly build up and just keep attacking France. Beware their counterattack. They will come back at you with many Royal Knights at some point. You will get excom'ed but just ignore it! At this point your only neighbors will be Aragon and HRE. Send your princesses and marry/ally with them. Keep your borders strong. This should protect you from any crusades. Then eventually the excom will go away when the pope or your king dies.
The excom is no big deal as long as you can stay friends with your other neighbors besides France. It will go away by the time you build ports and ships and get your trade routes going.
But in either case: DON'T TAKE CHAMPAGNE. The income ain't worth it. You do not want to eliminate ANY FACTION completely from the game! Otherwise they reappear at inconvenient times and force you to fight costly battles. (The only exception to this is Aragon since they're so tiny. Just keep large garrisons there for the whole game.)
Then, after you take France - bribe Wales to join you. If that doesn't work, then attack them. But AFTER you take France! You need the income first.
After Wales, ignore Scotland and Ireland - they are too poor. Go after any neutral COASTAL PROVINCES that you can that have trade goods. They will make you thousands in trade money and win you the game. Take Norway, Sweden (iron), Lithuania, etc. But only if they are NEUTRAL or REBELS or Orthodox. Stay friends with all the Catholics because you need trade partners.
Once you have taken all available neutral coastal provinces, then take Scotland and Ireland.
Keep building ships and make a trade route to EVERY SEA ZONE IN THE WORLD. Expecially Venice and the Black Sea. Eventually, you want at least 2 ships in EVERY SEA ZONE so that when storms happen, your trade won't be disrupted.
You will be making a minimum of $12k + a turn in profit with only England and a few other provinces.
Then go after an orthodox or Muslim country. But ONLY TAKE COASTAL PROVINCES. Try to leave every faction with one province left.
Build up all your new provinces with trade and you'll have $40k or more in profit a turn eventually.
Try to make only one enemy at a time.
Keep that up till you've taken almost every coastal province in the game. By this time, you'll have millions of $$$$ saved up and can go 100 years without income from trade.
Then take the final few inland provinces.
There you have it.
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