Almohad early years Stragedy help please

[jbmagic]

Any Stragedy tips when playing the Almohad campaign game in eary year?


thanks

[khurjan]

make alliance with egyptians and hammer the spainish by moving your troops to spain and take their two provinces asap within 4 turns than you will have breathing space and time to build up to face crusades or to unite moslem world

[Australianus]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif I suggest that you ally with the Egyptians but keep small army in Cyrenaica, just in case.
Bribe El Cid in Valencia and stand by.
Then you will have to judge by the steps the AI takes. Either go for Spain or Aragon depending on circs.
Leave Portugal alone in very early stages - very troublesome.
You can build trade income and powerful well armoured armies quickly.
Good luck.

[el_slapper]

I'd say that crushing Spain is important to do rather quickly. They're dangerous. Then pump up hordes of AUM, and invade the world.

...that was quick???

[ham&bacon]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif The AlmosSimply the best soundtrack of them all in the campaign map.Definately makes the effort worthwhileSeriously now:take it -relatively- easy.Build up your economy in Morocco and Cordoba, pump out ships from Tunisia (bonus on dhows) -no navy, no empire-, even bribe Valencia with El Cid and slowly *breed* aums (Granada) and berber camels (Morocco).Be the spanish' and egyptians' best friend.Around 1140 you can get really nastyClear Spain (they'll try to match your aum hordes with fs and fmaa - fat chance)Settle over the Pyrenees and pump out iron enhanced units.And to get really imperial you can then unite islam under your iron rule... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif

[Crash]

Granada has bonus for AUM (Almohad Urban Militia), so build Town Guard there as soon as possible to take advantage of it. Take or bribe Valencia first, then Castile, then Leon, then Aragon, finally Portugal. Stop and build up the agriculture in Castile, Valencia, and Cordoba, and then metalsmiths in Leon, Navarre, Castile, and Aragon. Then build AUM like crazy, they have the most bang for the buck of any unit in MTW, low cost and low maintenance, but effective against any other type of unit.

Ally with both Egypt and Spain in the beginning to get some breathing space. Spain will soon send a crusade against you. But it will be weak, just wipe it out with your AUM armies.

Nubians are good all around units good for both garrison and battles. Desert Archers are better than regular archers. Use Tunisia to build your navy, dhows get a bonus there. Cyrenaica has a bonus for Desert Calvary.

The Almohads have a lot of advantages - Spanish agriculture and iron, North African desert units, naval power, AUM, and short borders to defend. Leverage those advantages and keep a strong garrison in Cyrenaica, and you should get an easy victory.
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[The_Emperor]

One thing that is very good about the Almohads is that you can easily gain some influence with a new leader via Portugal...

If you pull out of Portugal chances are a rebellion will happen, then you can spark off a Jihad and attack the province. If Portugal has been made co-religious, they will peacefully hand over the Province to you.

There you have it, more influence and Piety and tons of new Units from the Jihad http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (el_slapper @ June 30 2003,09:44)]I'd say that crushing Spain is important to do rather quickly. They're dangerous. Then pump up hordes of AUM, and invade the world.
That's exactly right, in my opinion. khurjan has the right idea, too.

There are other points in this thread that I strongly disagree with, however.

1. Bribing El Cid.

More than 5,000 florins for a couple of Jinettes, a decent general and a province on the verge of rebellion?

Take the same amount of money. Build inns in Cordoba and Morroco for mercenaries and a keep in Granada so you can get some bonused AUMs someday.

You'll still have money left over to hire well-armored mecenaries to help destroy the rest of the Spainish and then conquer all of Iberian Penninsula, including Valencia and the Cid. Valencia is easy to rule once you've won an absolute military victory there and enslaved the leaders.

When hiring mercenaires, only go for the well-armored units.

2. Invading Aragon.

Aragon is a very nice neighbor. It's too small to be a real threat since you've trounced Spain into the ground, taken control of the Spanish provinces and have a nice army that includes armored mercs. Where's Aragon going to invade to make itself big and strong? France?

Even better, nobody can attack you without gonig through Navarre or Aragon. If they go through Aragon, they have to attack that Catholic nation and get themselves excommunicated.

It's really sweet when Aragon sometimes conquers Navarre while you're trouncing Spain, further securing your border.

3. Ally with Spain to get breathing space.

Obviously, I'm no fan of breathing space. Almohads are too poor to play the build-up game. Most of the provinces they have are in desert.

Destroy Spain. Build up enough mass to do so by stripping your internal provinces of their governors and lowering the taxes if necessary to maintain loyalty.

Conquering Castile and Leon will bring in far more revenue that setting taxes to very high in Cyrenia.

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Again: Destroy Spain. Destroy Spain. Destroy Spain. If this was a voice forum, I'd be yelling.