A Little help?

[talonferguson]

Ok.. So I'm playing my second campaign, Early Era, Difficult setting ( One short fo the worst ) As Poland.

I expanded FAST from the start. Grabbing Pomerania, Prussia, Silisia, Maldavia, then everything east from there.

Then I went south via Georgia, grabbing Trebizond, Errrm... Some I cant name =P then Syria. Then straight out to those rich Holy land provinces, I grabbed all but Arabia & the Sinai, Including Egypt.

The Holy land provinces seem to be a royal pain in the butt, I sent bishops there and converted the lot of them, I also keep a spy in each, but they still require a large garrison, Any suggestions there?

I owned east from Venice & Saxony, minus about 3 provinces ( 1 for each faction, didnt want them reappearing. ) all the way to Egypt, by year 1200. when my new favorite unit arrived =P Yay for arbalesters.

& the golden horde arrives.... keep in mind, i wasnt expecting them. so I draw back my forces to Lithuania & Kiev ( nice bottle-neck ) & Georgia. & I instead kept pushing West, I'm as far as flanders, Il De france, Belgium? & Genoa. But I lost most of my sea trading when Italy attacked me randomly? at sea.

So I have some questions. My economy is in the red... Not by much, but I've really been sustaining myself through agressive expansion =P At one time every province had a keep, a town watch, border forts, and was 90%+ Catholic, & had at least 100 men to garrison, SOme had 1 spy. THis wasnt Enough to prevent rebellions, I was never excommunicated, either. ANy tips on preventing rebellion?

My economy is red. Just just a few hundred florins each turn, I have 15,000 stocked from my recent push into genoa, belgium, flanders & Il de france the last turn. Most of my provinces had 20% farming, Originally I started sea-trading, but got into a fierce sea battle with both Germany & Italy, I won, but am low on boats, and really have no trade network to speak of.

I have large standing armies, Just a bit more than I need to defend myself. But not enough to take back the Steppes, & BARELY enough to keep pushing west, I might be able to push to the Spanish Peninsula, Italy is really Beat down at this point, as is Germany.

Ok I'm just rambling too much here.... Let's simplify this... I'm spread too far to comfortably keep expanding, I need more money ... Should I take my 15,000 florins & invest them in Farming, Or attempt to take back to the seas? I do own some great trading provinces, but I'm worried about how long establishing trade will take. I have at least 4 Shipyards ( capable of producing caravels ) & about 8 ships, 6 in the Baltic, 2 in errrmm.. that Bay area east of switzerland =P

& how can I further prevent rebellion beyond what I mentioned? Border Forts, garrison, Solid catholic populace, a spy, Town watch, & even low taxes in some... Why r they still rebelling? Seems like it's scripted in just to bother me at the worst times =P

By the way, How hard is it to kill the pope? He's suddenly sprung back up & is bothering me =P

[Geezer57]

how can I further prevent rebellion beyond what I mentioned? Border Forts, garrison, Solid catholic populace, a spy, Town watch, & even low taxes in some... Why r they still rebelling? Seems like it's scripted in just to bother me at the worst times =P

Sounds like you're beginning to suffer from the "Bloat Syndrome". You've already started doing many of the right things, but a good navy should be among your first priorities - if nothing else to keep your King in good contact with all those remote areas of your empire. He can't exercise his Influence otherwise, and loyalty will suffer. There have been several previous threads that cover this topic - try searching the forum for them.


By the way, How hard is it to kill the pope? He's suddenly sprung back up & is bothering me =P

The Pope isn't that hard to kill, it's just that he always comes back - there's no way to eliminate him permanently. So save him for last - kill him at the end to complete your conquests! :idea2:

[Roark]

Yeah, sounds like you're getting hammered by the bloat effect...

Set your taxes to Auto. This will ensure that you get maximum profit each turn, within the happiness levels required to keep your provinces from rebelling. It may not be enough though, so hold down the shift button each turn to see which provinces are in danger of rebelling as circumstances change for them.

Try to start building shipping routes that emanate out from your provinces which are rich in trading goods. The more provinces that have ships in them, the better.

Just keep pumping out the happiness buildings (inns, watchtowers & forts, Religious buildings, Militia etc) and income buildings (merchants, farming etc).

Position your king in a central location with good access to most, if not all, provinces.

[m52nickerson]

To big, to fast. Yes as Poland you need to expand quickly to survive, but as a general rule for my Polish game once I take the Steppes I tend to work on my trade network and tech up. That way by the time I ready to expand again the provinces I do have are super loyal because they have been under my rule for a long time.

[ajaxfetish]

Trade becomes less reliable the bigger you get. Eventually nobody wants to ally with you, and even those who are neutral have a strong tendency to *randomly* attack your navy. Farming is a lot more reliable, especially in the late game, and should be the foundation of your economy, though trade can take it to extreme heights in peacetime.

As the horde thin out your best option may be to retake the steppes. It'll allow you a more consolidated empire with fewer borders to defend (and more connection to your holy land provinces), and you can reduce your yearly expenses by employing any troops not absolutely necessary elsewhere in fighting the Mongols, and thus reducing the size of your standing army.

I'd agree that for the most part it's time to consolidate and get your finances in order before taking on any more ambitious expansion campaigns (though I have a tendency to play a more conservative game, so it may be that talking). The spies, border forts, town watches, and garrisons all sound good, you probably just need to give your lands a little more time under your rule to calm down (keep a close eye on your king's influence as well since that has a big effect on your kingdom's loyalty). Keep it up and good luck.

Ajax

[Sir William Wallace]

I have run into similar problems before. They can be fixed with time and patience.

First I would start building traders and merchants in every province for some quick florin increases. Then build ports in every province that allows for it and then build the shipyards to get some ships.
Next, try to make alliances with the factions that have ships int he waters near you so they wont be tempted to engage in sea battles. While you are doing this, begin building ships. The ports will increase your florin count each turn, however, be mindful that the farther away you ships are, the higher the support cost is for that ship.
Now, I am assuming your loyalty is down in your recently conquered provinces and probably some outside religion has caused some problems due to your rebellion situation. First look at your loyalty in all your provinces. If it is low then I suggest lowering taxes for a while in those provinces. You will lose some money but it will keep the rebellions from coming. Check your religion situation in each province. If you see large contingent of other religions than your own, then I suggest building churches in the problems areas and stockpiling bishops in those areas as well (this is also a great strategy when you conquer lands that are predominantly a different religion than yours, just keep a huge amount of bishops on the desired land to conquer until you see your religion become the dominant, then conquer the provence and you shouldn't have any religious bandits pop up).
Hopefully by now you have built up your ports and made some ships. Now I suggest building farms up to at least 40%, but reccomend 60% once you can afford it. This should set you going and try and keep military unit building to a minimum unless you need it. Sit tight for a while until you get out of the red and expand your fleet as far as you can when you can afford it, believe me, if you get ships across the map, your income will rise to an insane amount, as I accomplished this with the Danes on Expert and am up to an excess of 500,000 florins. Good Luck.~:cheers:

[talonferguson]

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[talonferguson]

Hey I wanted to thank everyone for your tips, I played it out last night, & got hammered hard, lol... The pope ex-communicated me, & though I made a suicidal bee-line straight to him, & killed him about 5 turns later, 40% of my provinces fell into rebellion, & these were some hellacious, 1000+ men Knight + Halberdier rebellions :wall: I withdrew to hold only my richest provinces, and just as it seemed I'd be overrun, A huge amount of rebel provinces rebelled under me!?!? Like, a dozen or more provinces, Produced 2000+ men armies EACH for me. It was weird.... & it put me at like... a -6000 florin defeicit per turn. It was that many men. :dizzy2:

It just seemed really cheesy, I mean, maybe it was from my killing of the pope, but it seems the rebellions tip in the favor of the under-dog, just to keep the game going.:inquisitive:

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

now, I'm steam-rolling the thinned-out HRE forces which overtook my abandoned provinces.

It was 2 am So I had to stop, but I think I'll re-take all of europe & eur-asia in 4-5 turns, with armies to spare...

I did smash the HRE & Italian navy's all by myself, tho =P But I'm wondering who exactly Im supposed to trade with now =P Constantinople is the only Ally I've seen in a long time.

By the way someone said something about Inn's producing happiness? Unknown to me, what buildings produce happiness/reduce rebellion?

By the way I got my first 9 star jedi general + expert defender status:laugh4: , He's held up & surrounded in flanders with 1500 men =P Hardy har. He survived the onslaught & took out 4000+ HRE men .

Once again, you guys are great, thanks

Talon