Finances And The Almohads On Expert

[Cannibal]

Hi Folks,

The principal challenge on Expert is the small amount of florins in the treasury to begin. I have followed some of Katank's great blitz strategies before with other nations, and this often leads to trapping a leader in an isolated province and then capturing him for ransom. Pulling this off inevitably leads to a nice large influx of cash when it matters most.

The Almo's are a different kettle of fish, being poorly placed to pull this strategy off with their immediate neighbours. Most of the starting lands are not great producers, but they are blessed with mines for a steady uninterruptable income.

Blitzing the Spanish at the outset on Expert is almost a given; if you don't kill them quickly, they will happily clean your clock later. Senor Cid also has to vacate Valencia to meet a homeland GA goal, and I am not about to even consider bribing him-that would ensure early bankruptcy.

So you have 3 provinces to invade, the two Spanish ones should preferably be invaded simultaneously. You also need to provide sufficient warm bodies to hold down rebellions due to a different religion. The final target is to provide a choke point border based on Navarre and Aragon.

So tell me, what would you spend your starting 4000 florins on and in what order, troops, buildings, mines, other ???

Thanks,

Cannibal

[Quietus]

Beat the Spanish. You need enough AUM (about 4-5), but try to shoot the cavs with archers. Then take out the Rebels. Build ships. Attack Egypt. Make sure you have at least 2 shipwright/dockyard. While you're attacking on land, you're covering the shores with ships (ideally 2 ships per lane so when storms sink one, your chain is intact = no rebellion in newly conquered lands).

Leave your faction leader in Cordoba (don't move him EVER again; do the same thing to successor). Castille and Valencia are your Chokepoints. Don't start an army buildup contest (you will lose). Just build enough so you have relative troops to your neighbor. Aragon and Navarre are you buffer zone. IF the AI wants to attack you they have to attack them first (unless it is a crusade).

Make sure when fighting the Egyptians, you have enough AUM and Bedouin Camels. Nubian Spearmen/Muwahid FS are enough to protect your desert archers but for your flanks, you need those. Go for a quick strike in the desert because your AUM will be exhausted easily.

Your objective is to capture Constantinople and Kazar and provinces in between. You get a lot of florins out of those especially when you build your ship network along with ship invasion. After that, it is easy street. Just continue building your ships and cover all the sea space.

One note though. When you attack the Byzantine. Sink all their ships first in one single turn (surprise attack). Then proceed by land. If you plan ahead, you can ransom them multiple times. They will end up in cyprus or crete broke. Leave them there for the rest of the game. ~:)