Spanish AI to week in Sp?

[Brother Derfel]

Hi,
I don't know if the rest of you suffer from this, but whenever I play Sp campaigns the spanish never last more than about 10 years against the Almohavids before they are completely crushed. This might not sound that bad to you but it makes the Almoh's far too powerful in the early stages. They soon have the entire Iberian penisula and most of north Africa before any of the other factions have even started to build an empire worth noticing.
It just gets me down a bit, when Historicaly the Spanish were a huge force in Europe and the arch rivals of the British at sea, and I would at the least like my English to have a small war with them before they are decimated.

Am i just being paranoid or does anyone else think that unless you play the Spanish, they are just not strong enough?

Thanks for any replys

[Alrowan]

i tend to find that its about 60-40 in the way of tha alamohads.. spains starting provs arent the strongest

[Knight_Yellow]

hmm i whent the alhomads once just to see what it was like and i left spain alone as i didnt want crusades being launched at me so i took the egyptians out then the turks and byz and finaly the russians so i control half of the map but ive noticed that the spanish had taken the rebels in portugal and round about them so i invaded but unfortunatley they where too strong as ive lost the beach and they have started to invade me wiping out every defence i try to put up, im now abandoning my last original alhomad province and setting up a defence in egypt but the italians are launching crusades at constantinople.
so i think that if the spanish r left to themselves for a while they eventualy become one of the strongest attackers in the game, now im off to try and land on all those little islands and get the pope at least if i can capture him i will reciever much needed florins to set up a defence. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[MacGregor]

For some reason the Spanish always waste the Alom's in my games. Pre-patch I only saw the spanish survive their assualt once, but since then they kill the alom's everytime.

[Lord TangMo]

In my post-patched, spanish seems to improve quite a lot. They know how to use the crusade wisely. So, they crush Almo most of the time.

[ShaiHulud]

I think the key to Sp defeating the Almos is to strike before they can produce too many militia. Cutting them off from Aragon is a must, so take Valencia, not Portugal. They move quickly and will take one of them about as fast as you can.

An early build of an inn is valuable so mercenary hires can
speed your build-up.

Then, I think you must strike them fast and take out Cordoba, which is their most advanced province. This puts them in the hole on production. Bypass and isolate Granada and hit Morrocco. Without a (Almo) navy, Granada is easily taken after you've built armies sufficient to hold all the fronts. Likewise, any infra the Almos build there will be lost to them and any troops they can produce there will be of inferior types.

Not every eventuality is covered here, but it has worked for me.

[solypsist]

it's always different. in my current game the Spanish have control of 1/3 of the map. last game they were wiped out in 50 years.

[Kraellin]

for a bit of variety, try my mod, K_s_EarlyRussiaQ.zip, which is now posted on the .org downloads. this removes the land bridge between morocco and granada/cordoba. this makes it much harder for either faction to wipe the other out. i do give the almo's a ship in the straits of gibraltar to start with, but in my games now, it's pretty much a toss-up as to which faction will control spain. i've had it go both ways and i've had it as a stalemate. in one stalemate game, the spanish actually launched an attack on brittany, by sea, against the french, because they just couldnt advance against the almo's. quite fun :)

K.

[RunAway!!]

With the patch, I don't think I've ever seen Spain go down to the Almos. Usually, they wipe them out quick, then Egypt, then the Turks, but after that they stall out, or they've left their home provinces so undefended I feel obliged to relieve them of the burden of Spanish rule. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[Foreign Devil]

In all the games I've played except one, the Spanish always come out on top, and the only thing that keeps them from expanding across north africa is me. That said, in my campaign as the Almohads, I managed to completly wipe out Spain by 1100.

Edit: It actually took me a little longer than that to defeat the Spanish- I'm thinking of my french campaign where I pushed the English completly off the continent by 1100.

[AndersSchm]

Similar results - Almos dominated pre-patch and post-patch the Spanish seem to demolish them with palestine bound crusades (playing on goals objective - not tried total domination since patch).

[Vlad The Impaler]

yes is quit dizzy to play danes and after u set up at least some kinda kingdome to see Almohads in Saxony;

[LordKhaine]

In my games post patch the almohads are often wiped out, but they usually hold 2-3 africa provinces. Certainly much better than before the patch where the almohads were always a super power.

[ShaiHulud]

As the Almos,I wiped out Spain in the first year of battle, attacking Castille and Leon before trying to take on the rebels. The king and his heirs all died in battle.

It was surprising... it was like I threw a giant blow and hit tissue paper.

[Spetulhu]

If both sides are AI controlled it`s pretty even after the patch. They don`t seem to have enough ooomph on their own to really wipe the other out. So last game the Almos took out Spain, but they couldn`t use it for anything. Portugal rebelled, and it wasn`t many years after that the Spanish reappeared in Aragon... And the Almos can`t afford to attack them since they started a war with my Egyptians http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[LadyAnn]

Stop complaining about Spain too weak, or you will have the Lancer beefed up further http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Annie

[pyhhricvictory]

Lately the Spanish have been crusading like mad catholics and usually wipe out the Almohads and Egyptians pretty quickly in my games. Their problem comes either with a reappearence or the French or Argonese hitting them in Iberia. They seem to do pretty well and will set up a Spanish kingdom in the middle east unlessthe Turks or Byzzies decide to slap their paella eating a$$es back to Morocco.

[Katasaki Hirojima]

In all of my games as a Mediterranean Civ I'v had my armys faceing off against Spanish hordes. The Almohods have never dominated one of my games yet. 0o; strange.

[Cooperman]

Usually whichever AI faction out of Spain and Almohad's attacks portugal first and gets it's armies slaughtered by rebels loses while the other goes on to dominate half the map, it's so nice having those 4 spanish iron producing provinces churning out your military but it seriously unbalances the game.