Sometimes I hate this game!

[Satyr]

I am in 1250 on an early, hard, spanish game. I control most of the world. I have NOTHING going on except that I am trying to seige a German castle which takes about 3 turns. By turn 2, much of Persia/Armenia/Kazar is down to loyalty 40 with very low taxes, from 120+ with normal taxes. My king didn't die, I had no shipping lane to lose, nobody got assasinated. So what the HECK happened? I lost 7 territories that I had held for many years in one turn.

[solypsist]

Your generals became disloyal.

[Azrael]

Hello Mary,

Curry favour with them. If you own half the world, there should be plenty of titles knocking about.

Marry your princesses to them. Such token flattery endears them to you greatly.

It's easy to get carried away in conquest. I was having a super game with the English until I let my guard down, forgot to check up on loyalty, and found myself smack in the middle of a Civil War, with my lands split 50 /50.

Hope it's all salvageable.

Azrael

[Satyr]

This was NOT a civil war. My generals are as loyal as ever. My populations have become disloyal and I, can't for the life of me, figure out why

I had just finished off the Mongols so my pop should have been happy that this threat was now gone. Instead, they all go bonkers.

And actually I gave someone a title and the province lost 40% loyalty right then and there. What's up with that? Is it that they can't stand a christian govenor in an orthodox province? If so, then this is something I will have to start watching.

Also, pre-patch, if you took a province, you had a turn to get the loyalty up so the locals would not rise up. Now it happens the same turn you take the province. Is this fair?

[Azrael]

Ahh, Mary, you raise an important point.

It's essential to keep an eye on the Faith Ratio in your provinces.

This is something I neglect terribly. You suppose correctly when you say that an Orthodox population will not be happy with a Catholic Governer (or Muslim for that matter).

Get your Bishops and Inquisitors in there fast.

When attacking, I usually have the forsight to get Bishops into an area beforehand if they are of a different faith.

While post-patch has made it alot harder to provoke rebellion with a high volume of spies, I have managed to do it with a high volume of Imams while playing the Turks.

Get your Clergy spreading the Good News in your conquered provinces, especially those who need to "adjust" their perspective on Religion.

Good Luck.

Azrael

[Highlander]

I had the same thing happen except as the English. The Mongols had invaded the west, which I mostly controlled and had for several years. I had my best generals in the region with large armies to face the mongol threat. So far, I had contained them to just two provinces, though their hold on Kiev was extremely strong. The populace had been very content with my rule. I hit end turn and boom. 4 of my Russian provinces revolted with Mongol armies I went back and loyalty had dropped considerably for some unknown reason. I had garrisoned troops but taxes were up. I lowered taxes as low as possible in the rest of my Russian provinces, marched my troops in to deal with the Mongol rebels, and, with a less that stellar general (who I didn't care about getting bad vices) launched a diversionary attack into Kiev. I still haven't figured out what caused the drop in loyalty among the commoners, but the Mongols aren't a threat anymore http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Hosakawa Tito]

Also be aware that the further a province is from your King, the more rebellious they will be. Factor in religious differences and it's like lighting a match in a powder magazine. Some provinces are also programmed to be more fractious too, Portugal and Scotland comes to mind, and I'm sure there are others. Follow the excellent advice posted above, and you may be able to salvage the situation.