Cultural Capital of the Civilized World

[soibean]

is it just me or does it seem that Aragon is the place to be? just about every time I need a princcess or an emissary for a country I can go there and find a variety. This effect does seem to go away if you play as them or if aragon is canceled by a rival nation though...

[KukriKhan]

Agreed. Aragon seems to be the place to go for variety in wivery (is that even a word? :) ) Didn't one or two of Henry VIII's wives come from there?

[English assassin]

Well, it is a nice, sunny spot. If you've got to do diplomacy you might as well do it in comfort. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[Blodrast]

tsk... the million $ question:

if YOU were surrounded by your friends'/enemies' territories all around you, all of them more powerful than you, and would be stuck in your only province, what would YOU be doing all the time ?
(Hint: you're the king, you can do anyone...erm, anything you want)

[Xiphias]

Yeah, Aragonian princesses seem more willing to marry than others too.

[katank]

that's a nice tip.

I'll keep that in mind.

however, all too often, they are wiped out by the Spanish if I'm not playing as them in which case half the map is painted pink.

[soibean]

wiped out by the Spanish? either one of two things always seems to happen for me. The Aragonese attack the French and take over Toulenese ( I think thats the name of the province right above it ), take Navarre if not currently taken, and then continue to expand northward. Or if I'm playing at Late Period the Args. expand northward and eventually take on the church with the Italians who are usually cast out of the church by now.
the second thing that happens, or 3 for those that are counting, is that they go to war with the Spanish and take over Valencia before being wiped out by the Ahlmohads.

Ive yet to see a computer Spanish take over the Args. and the only times that I can think of when the Spanish even had Aragon was when it was swiped from a country that had previously conquered the Aragonese

You'll have to excuse me for all the mistypes on the Provinces and country names, I just started playing the game and haven't gotten them down yet.

[nizar]

Henry the VIII wife is Catherine of Aragon, I think. Mother to queen Mary.

[Martok]

Quote[/b] (katank @ June 14 2004,17:29)]however, all too often, they are wiped out by the Spanish if I'm not playing as them in which case half the map is painted pink.
Really? I pretty much never see Spain take out Aragon unless I'm the Spanish. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Aside from that, the only computer-controlled factions that I've ever seen conquer Aragon are the the English (who would have also subjugated France by that point) and occasionally the Almohads. Otherwise Aragon usually carves out a kingdom in northern Iberia and a good-sized chunk of France. They usually don't expand much beyond that, but they generally hold their own as well. They're almost always still standing unless I come along and decide I want their lands.



P.S. Hey, it's my 100th post http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-party2.gif

[Zortanius]

Catherine of Aragorn, mother of Mary Queen of Scots.

Catherine was beheaded eventually as was Mary I think.

Also, Ferdinand of Aragorn married Isabella of Castile to join the 2 crowns and form the unified kingdom of Spain.

Cheers,

[Inuyasha12]

Yes spain is always too busy with the almohads or the almoravids(in bkb's mod) to bother the aragonese. The aragonese always just sit there and slowly build up a powerfull army. They are opportunists. I was playing as the french once and the war with the english wasn't going very well. The Aragonese saw a chance and swiped 'toulouse'from me. Luckily my french paladins(bkb's mod) stole the show as they wiped out the aragonese and the navarrese.

I think the aragonese are set to catholic_defensive.
Pretty good defense they got.

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

[mcv]

Quote[/b] (Zortanius @ July 01 2004,19:24)]Catherine of Aragorn
Wrong movie.

(Okay, good movie actually, but not related to MTW in any way.)


mcv.

[Drake]

And Danish princesses are the easiest to marry a slong as you have 4 influence.

[Assassins_Shadow]

I don't know if this is a coincidence, or if CA made Aragon a cultural capitol(as you call it) on purpose. During the medieval period, the common view(steriotype) that many people had of the Argonesse was that of a stuck up, connosourish(probably not a word, oh well), prick like people. If you have read Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice you might know what I'm talking about. Any way, with an attitude so attuned to the fine arts and stuff, that could be why they are a cultural area. Or... it could just be a coincidence.

[Papewaio]

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

Just read your quote:


Quote[/b] ]When the Pope takes over half of Christian Europe in a malicious war-mongering campaign, you know that it is time to take it easy on the modding...

I have the Pope who has taken over Sicily and most of the Italian holdings... and it isn't even modded... now the funny thing is he is having trouble with all the Muslim uprisings in the Papal States due to my -one- Iman their... have one Iman in each province of modern day Italy.

[Papewaio]

Aragon is both a bottleneck and a well traveled cross roads, thus it is a valuble piece of real estate to hold. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

[Nowake]

I don't see it as more valuable than Valencia for example. The key of the iberian peninsula is Cordoba.

[Papewaio]

Coroba is the bottleneck at the Southern end of the pennisula.

Aragon is more important then Navare. The reason is that Aragon is on the med. This means if you map out a path of shortest number of moves (by land) from say Coroba to Ile de France you pass through Aragon.

Valencia on the other hand is not a bottle neck point.

More obvious bottlenecks of high worth are Flanders and Constinapole.

[Nowake]

Aragon is indeed more important than Navare, but Valencia is a bottleneck at the level of Castile same as Aragon is at the level of Navare.


As to important bottlenecks in general, Syria would be another one.

[garion]

Bottlenecks in Spain are less important then others, because you can invade evry provence in spain and borthering spain by sea and there are usually not so munch boats protecting these regions, as there are with england

[7Bear7Scar]

Quote[/b] (Zortanius @ July 01 2004,19:24)]Catherine of Aragorn, mother of Mary Queen of Scots.

Catherine was beheaded eventually as was Mary I think.
Oh dear...someone did not pass their history exam I think.

Nizar was right - Catherine of Aragon married Henry VIII and was mother to Mary I of England (Mary Queen of Scots was the Cousin of Mary/Elizabeth/Edward, and her mother was, iirc, Marie d'Guise). Catherine had previously married Henry's older brother and heir to the throne of England, however - it was tradition that on the death of the older brother, a princess would then marry the next heir, if he was available. So it wasnt a love match.

Catherine could only provide Henry with one living child, daughter Mary. When he found out that his mistress was pregnant (wife 2: Ann Boleyn), he wanted to divorce Catherine. The Pope would not allow it. So Henry broke away from the Catholic Church (although his heart was always there), started the Church of England (still the predominant religion in England today) and divorced Catherine anyway. Catherine was not beheaded, unlike unfortunate wife Number 2.

The daughter Mary tried desperately to return England to the Catholic faith, marrying Philip of Spain, but died of a tumour without producing an heir. Philip then tried to court and marry Elizabeth, the new queen, with no success -Elizabeth was not Catholic, not interested, and turned him down. When Elizabeth died (of old age) without an heir, the throne passed to the son of Mary Queen of Scots (who had been beheaded), James the I of England and VI of Scotland.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[tombom]

Very off topic, but how did you become a senior member with 32 posts 7Bear7Scar?

I agree with absolutely everything in this thread - except for the piece of bad history. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[7Bear7Scar]

Maybe because I dont post much, but I've been around the multi-player community for a while ;)

Or perhaps the HOF, no idea.