Favorite Province?

[Lacker]

I was wondering if any of you have a favorite province? I thought of this last night as I was playing as the Brits. I was trying to keep the Almohaads from invading lower Europe and found that Navarre is an incredibly defendable Province. With the country of Aragon to the East (whom the AL were allied with) Navarre is the only route into Europe from Spain. With it's steep terrains I found I could easily defend against up to 3.5 times my number. It helped my General was amazing and that I had some Welsh long bowman to give a bit of weather before they even approached my front. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif It has a coast which makes it accesible via waterway, and borders only three provinces, making it difficult to attack.

I'm also a big fan of Morroco for a similar reason, that it's the only road into Spain if the seas are held. Cordoba is wealthy (though admitidly not as wealthy as Castile) and borders LOTS of provinces in Spain, especially Portugal which seems to be prone to rebellion no matter what the tax or garrison levels are. One strong unit in Cordoba can defend nearly all of Spain.

As a side note, does anybody know what the wealthiest province is? I know it depends on Accumen and all (as discussed earlier today) but I'd be interested to see what kinds of insight folks have.

Thanks
A

[Basileus]

One of my favorite provinces is Hungary, and the wealthiest province after its trade bonus must be Tripoli it has had an income of around 10/11k if i remember right..

[Demequis]

Considering the small number of people in montana, the smaller number of people that play mtw, and the even smaller number of people that post on this board....it's cool to see someone from that state Go Montana :) One of my good friends lives in Lewiston (town?).

Anyhoo...
I really like Kiev because of the bridge battles versus the horde.

My favorite province overall has to be Georgia
It's a great anchor for the northern, or southern (depending on who you're playing http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif ) portion of your empire. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-smile.gif
Janissary Archers are also my friends.


edit: typo

[lancer63]

Egypt, Sweden, Navarre, Sicily and every prov. that has a long enough river to use as defense. But the best by far must be Sweden imho. Great trade to be made, iron for weapons, great variety of units counting early vikings if you're catholic. Privileged position to dominate the northern seas. A must if you're the HRE and want to become invincible. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[The_678]

I agree with lancer63 in that Sweden is the best province in the game. It has everything, Iron, Vikings, Farmland, Trade, and only 2 entrances. It's perfect http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif It's especially well suited for Denmark and Germany. In early it's amazing pumping out max weapon Huscarles from here. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif

[ichi]

For some reason my favorite province has always been Mimesaka, I always tried to build my largest fortress there. But I'm pretty sure you meant Favorite MTW province, so . . .

I'll say Constantinople. Nice chokepoint, usually built up by the Byz.

ichi

[gaijinalways]

I imagine it may depend on your starting province and how much trader figures into your strategy,. Withe English, Flanders and Isle de France were great farming areas that delivered cash regardless of the number of wars you were conducting (remember, people at war don't trade).

With the Italians, Venice is a great starting province, and the Turks should try for Constinople if they can get it

I remember seeing a thread where someone calculated for making income the best provinces and some of those already mentioned (in this thread) are on it (the main forum).

[Thoros of Myr]

I agree about Sweden, as a province it has the works

Strategically Sinai is a good province as is the whole of Ireland and ofcourse Constantinople.

[Phatose]

Sweden is a killer province, but far from my favorite because it annoys me. Build up trade, and you're not making use of the valuable iron for improved armies. Build up millitary, and you're not making use of the valuable trade options. Build up both, and the game is over before either one it done.

As for favorite, I'll say Rum. It's not a great province, but given the way I expand, I know that once I take Rum, there are no more muslims and I'm through fighting in sandboxes. That makes me and my heavily armored, devoutly catholic Spanish cavalary very happy.

[Ragss]

Whales cause i have a longbow fetish hahaha.

[PseRamesses]

Sweden ofcourse

[caspian]

When Im in the East I always have my eyes set on Byzantine/Constantinople. Dunno why, in one game (as Poles) I even gave up my home provinces just to protect Constantinople. Its not the money or how big the Citadel is but having the last great Roman city as you HQ is a must for me.

When in the West, well... Switzerland. Gotta have the Swiss infantry because the Catholic spears are next to useless.

[Sun Tzui]

Ireland

You know what units you can produce there once you control it....don't you? *grims and rubs hands together* http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-devilish.gif

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[maestro]

Quote[/b] (gaijinalways @ Feb. 12 2004,00:17)]I remember seeing a thread where someone calculated for making income the best provinces and some of those already mentioned (in this thread) are on it (the main forum).
Don't suppose you remember where that was do you?

I've had a look in the main forum but I can't seem to be able to find i t http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wall.gif

[Lacker]

we talked about it under the Building an Income topic in the entrance hall briefly.

Thanks Demequis for the welcome I play in a band that spent the night in Lewistown last weekend, on our way over to Glendive. It's 9 degrees and snowing here.....sigh....

So lets swap this around and ask what peoples LEAST favorite province is.

Mine has to be Syria, burried in the corner, nothing happens there, but you gotta take it and comit to holding it. I also don't like Portugal but that's because of all the revolts I mentioned earlier in the thread

[The_Emperor]

My fave province in MTW has to be Constantinople... It is just too important at the crossroads of Europe

Least fave has to be that Rebellious province near Novgorod (Something begining with L I forget its name), nothing of value up there worth taking or heading towards. Better to leave it to the rebels and come back to it later...

[fruitfly]

Quote[/b] (Lacker @ Feb. 12 2004,15:49)]So lets swap this around and ask what peoples LEAST favorite province is.

Mine has to be Syria, burried in the corner, nothing happens there, but you gotta take it and comit to holding it. I also don't like Portugal but that's because of all the revolts I mentioned earlier in the thread
Welcome to the org Lacker. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

Are you serious about hating Syria?

Hating Arabia I could understand, useless godforsaken patch of incomeless desert that it is, but Syria? I just love the +2 valour assassins you train there.

Once I start pumping out 5* killers nothing can stand in my way, especially the Papacy. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

My favourite province usually depends on the faction I'm playing, but I love Antioch for the income, Sicily and Constantinople for their positions and the Spanish ones for their iron (and the ability to train jinetes there if you're a Catholic). Swiss troops come in handy too.

Hmm... that looks like quite a few provinces I've listed, but then again there's no one province that I always try to capture early on.

[Voigtkampf]

It probably comes from too much campaigns played with HRE, but my favorite would be probably Flanders; great income and a place to secure traffic from England towards the continent and vice versa. It's a narrow spot you are just bound to take and hold.

[Lacker]

Fruitfly, You know I havn't really used assasins much. I know they can be usefull but the onlyl people I ever suceed in bumping off are little generals guarding an outpost in Khazar or somewhere like it. Do any European powers have good Assasins? Are there tricks to using them because I've always figured they'd be great to use on the pope so you can avoid excommunication etc.

[Basileus]

well the least desirable province has to be finland heh, do we have any one here that takes and holdes that province?

ive only used it to train generals http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-yes.gif

[Revenant69]

It has to be Constantinople .....errr...Istanbul. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-smile.gif I always play on early and if I play an eastern faction then the Eternal City is the first one I head for usually. It is well developed from start and can rake in cash with trade and farms like no tomorrow.

Besides that I usually like any province that can bring in over 5000 florins a year http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

Rev

PS Just saw that someone doesnt like Syria. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-stunned.gif This province has immense strategic value as you can strike 5 (or is it 6) neighbouring proivnces from there and also not to mention the Syrian assassins. This province is truly a marvel and I think after MArco Polo event it gets some trade goods so can be quite profitable but I am not sure.

[Teutonic Knight]

the City of Constantine of course the Bridge between East and West

[fruitfly]

Quote[/b] (Lacker @ Feb. 12 2004,16:29)]Fruitfly, You know I havn't really used assasins much. I know they can be usefull but the onlyl people I ever suceed in bumping off are little generals guarding an outpost in Khazar or somewhere like it. Do any European powers have good Assasins? Are there tricks to using them because I've always figured they'd be great to use on the pope so you can avoid excommunication etc.
I think Syria's the only province that gives a bonus to assassins, but being a bonus of +2 it's quite a good one.

I like having an assassin in every one of my territories so that I can bump off foreign emissaries and bishops/alims that are spying around or trying to convert my loyal subjects away from the true faith.

Sometimes you have problems with the AI moving these units around and your assassin following them to an enemy province, but the higher the valour of your assassin the better their chance of evading capture at a border fort, and the better their chance of successfully completing their mission.

As a Catholic, there's nothing worse than having an enemy inquisitor or grand inquisitor burning his way through your generals so it always pays to have a few hired killers around to take care of them.

The good thing about Syria is that because you can train assassins with 5-valour you don't need to spend time honing their skills. In a few years you can get a squad together and by targeting 4-5 of them at the same person you're pretty much guaranteed to kill any general/king you target. Sometimes I get petty and do that to generals who refuse my bribes.

Also, what Revenant said about Syria's strategic location. As Turkey in early it's a fantastic province to hold as you can target so many of the Egyptians wealthy provinces whilst only having one to defend yourself. It's just a shame there's no coast there, because with a port and trade it'd be an awesome province to hold.

[Lacker]

Fruitfly,

thanks for the tip on assasins, me thinkst me found a hobby. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Jeff]

My favorite province has to be Constantinople. It's the last bastion of the old Roman Empire. So for me it's usually a must that I take it at some point over the first hundred years. I don't really have a least favorite. Unless I'm playing the Novs or Poles I usually stay away from Upper Russia and the likes until late in the game. They are usually the last provinces I take every time.

[Cebei]

I am a big Syria fan too. It is so easy to stick your nose into Egyptians' business hwne you get Syria http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/ht_charge.gif

[YunDog]

Love constantinople - no matter who Im playing I always head there for some great battles

not a fan of hungary - see my thread from the early days - Hungarian death trap - once you take it - you get massacred trying to hold it - the invader always gets the high ground and the only elevated ground available is right at the edge of the map - urrghhh I have suffered some famous defeats there http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wall.gif

[Phatose]

I don't know...without V.I., none of the agent valour bonuses actually work, so Syria's pretty close to useless. Not as bad as Arabia though.

[Chaffers]

Its certainly Ireland and Sweden for me. A star on your general, trade income and brilliant troops versus even more trade income and iron... Both are strategic locations but I'd go for Ireland due to the star.

[Eastside Character]

1 Sicily
2 Egypt
3 Burgundy

Regards,
EC

[scudknight]

Don't know why but my favorite province to hold is Aquitaine. I put the most effort there. Second to that I like holding Scotland, Ireland and Denmark. I suppose you could make a personality test based on our favorite provinces in the game.

[Chubb]

I always like to build up Defnas in VI, simply because I live there. I like to hold Navarre and Aragon because I go on holiday there a lot. For actual in-game us the best is Constaninople... loads of money, massive castle etc.

[Crazy Duke]

Most of the province at Middle East, and Constatinopol of course
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[MerlinusCDXX]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif

i always try to get the big C (const.)in MTW camp. & Orc. Ulster & Manau in VI (orc= assn/spys location Ulst= income , & Man= iron& rc upgrades) i play vikes but i'm gonna try other factions, as vikes are way too easy even on hard.

[katank]

const. and sweden are biggies for me as well as the holy lands and kiev, khazar.

scandanavia, ireland, and navarre/aragon are also pretty far up my list.

first group is mostly income but second is units and strategic chokepoints.

[Somebody Else]

Currently I quite like Burgundy - purely because I trashed three Italian armies there in WesMod recently, killing almost 4000 men for about 800 casualties in total. (The third battle didn't go as well - but I did kill their Doge)

One avenue for attack has a river, on the other side, a massively defensible valley. Ideal for crushing foolish AI armies.

I try not to base likes on silly things like income - if I did, then obviously Constantinople, Flanders, Tripoli, Antioch, Egypt, Venice etc.

I don't have any provinces I'd try to take for no reason but that I like them, I only ever take a province if it fits into my greater plan.

I generally prefer coastal provinces, because I can deploy reinforcements from and to them much more rapidly.

I'm somebody else without much use for Syria - isolated place that it is. I dislike using agents - I regard them as a very minor part of the game - only to be used when excessively bored. I prefer to meet my enemies properly, on the field. If their agents are causing trouble, just wipe the faction out entirely.

Well - there you have it, I have an irrational dislike of agents, cavalry and spearsmen.

[katank]

why dislike of cavalry? they are the most tactical flexible units and you get amazing kill ratios if you know how to work with cav and manipulate the enemy through maneuvering.

as for syria, it's a great province, even without bonus for assasins.

it has good farming and trade goods.

it is also a nice consolidation of the crusade bloc if playing a cathollic faction.

it allows for rapid deployment and reinforcement between the four crusader states.

[Powermonger]

My favourite province would be Lithuania due to it's size as it makes a great staging/storage area for my troops to amass. It also makes a nice spearhead to conquer the Black Sea and other eastern european provinces. It's income is not too shabby either.

[katank]

lithuania is an interesting choice.

don't forget three trade goods and valor bonused woodsmen

[shakaka36]

Constantinople- very rich, and a great strategic point,

and

Khazar_ reasoanbly rich, and you can build steppe cavalry, one of my favourite units

[deathdoom56]

Constantinople. Its built up even in the Early period and is a huge economical bonus

[cutepuppy]

Castile: iron, good trade goods, good farm and the base of my favourite faction: the spanish.
Sweden is also good.

[Cazbol]

My favourite one is probably Kiev. This choice is probably heavily influenced by my current Polish campaign, where I've been clinging to my precious life over there.

Other favourites would be Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, Ireland and Constantinople.

Rome sits at the bottom of my list because of the unavoidable massive respawns of the pope.

[shakaka36]

i to hate rome, its a lousy poor province, and it brings you naugt but trouble

[katank]

rome is 400 base income and starts with a castle in early with some nice buildings.

just take it and leave a decimated papacy alive in papal states.

Rome is actually quite nice for a province although its strategic position isn't great.

[shakaka36]

yeah i was being a little harsh in my description of it

[English assassin]

As a group of provinces together, the British Isles, because you get free valour upgrades for so many handy troops. (Not so good if you aren't playing as the English and can't build billmen or longbowmen I admit).

V1 Billmen and Gallowglass infantry backed up by V1 Longbowmen is pretty close to being an all purpose army.

[YAKOBU]

Hi everyone http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

Although I play as the English I have looked at all the provinces and have 3 as contenders for the title:

Constantinople
Antioch
Flanders

All 3 have base farm income over 300 with Constantinople top closely followed by Flanders.

All 3 have 3 trade goods from Early which is important. I know other regions can get more goods but this is later in the game. Antioch has the most valuable goods followed by Constantinople.

None of the regions has resources but their farm and trade benefits put them well above fixed rate resources. With the right tax rate and acumen levels they can easily outstrip those regions with resources.

On the basis of what I have said so far I would rate Constantinople the top. Now the further topping on the cake, Constantinople gives a valour bonus to Kataphraktoi as well as a provincial title with 2 added to command.

Now can anyone beat that ??

I declare Constantinople the winner

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Oleander Ardens]

1) Khazar

Lovable place, nice trading easy-to-bribe province with a nice stack of units for a low cost. A good place for a fortress, a good place to welcome the horde...

2) Sweden

Explained above


3) Sicily

Great position to control trade, an Island and a very nice trading province very good early income and many trading partners nearby

4) Malta

Starting a crusade form Malta with a nice fortress on it just gives you the right Crusader feeling. Eggy be aware http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[ah_dut]

Big C all the way constatinople rocks

[Degtyarev14.5]

Least favourite: Cyrenacia. Yeah, that worthless one down there beside Egypt.

Good for one thing: +1v to Saharan cav. Useless for anything else.

A.

[tombom]

Favourite: Constantinople. I'm just quite fond of it http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-smile.gif

Least favourite: Sinai. What is the point? A poor, useless little province. Oh well, at least it protects egypt and gives one prov border.

[Ard-Ri McCullaugh]

Ireland, Brittany, Scotland and Wales.

Mostly because of my love of the Celtic culture...
But you gotta love Rhodes, last bastion of the Byzantine Empire. You'll get generation after generation of Emperors ruling from Rhodes, gives Byz. some longevity.

[Tricky Lady]

All-time fav.: Constantinople.

Also the Golden Crusader Triangle: Antioch - Tripoli - Syria. A&T for trade, Syria for the extra assassins valour.

Least interesting: Sardinia-Corsica. Too much bother (but some mines though)

[katank]

I actually like Cyrenacia a lot when playing muslims and esp. the almos.

I find that v2 saharan cav with a bit of armor actually works better than ghulam cav for me and they can perform heavy cav duty reasonably while retaining light cav speeds http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I do agree that Sinai is worthless though.

I think that I modded in Iron so it's actually valuable in being the onyl iron province for some distance in the south east.

[Vincenzo]

Sweden: 3 tradable goods and two resources, including iron.
The only border to defend in Denmark (of course, Norway is owned by me http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Lord Dazed & Confused]

Constantinople and Khazar when the GH arrive http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[VikingHorde]

Constantinople takes first place, sweden second. Northen parts of spain are allso good.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Love having the Celtic countries like Ard-Ri McCullaugh.

Also Constantinople, venice and castille due to the wealth. Wessex and Bohemia as well.

In the map i made i love having samogitia(the mass rebellioms are a joy putting down) and gascony which gives (and when playing as blighty) a good chance against Aragonese and French enemies http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[alman9898]

By the time I get to Constantinople, it's already been trashed by constant war among other peoples. I love Sicily. Excellent trading spot. But Castile and Aragon I do adore as well.

[Ragss]

Constinapole...In both my turk and byz campaign it has served me well, raking in 2000+ in times of peace. It also comes with a citidel, and provides an excelent choke point to the turkish homelands.

edit, syria rocks too..nothing like having the map crawl with a hundred 5 star assassins.