How to keep influence high?

[bretwalda]

"It really is dam tough to keep high influence while staying the same size. I guess the game just isn't really built for that type of play."


I also like to turtle, role play with a mid-size empire. Any ideas how to keep the influence high?

[Joshwa]

I think if you still have lots of troops and lots of moola, your influence creeps up. Also when you get those "you are the richest" it is good. Breaking seiges where your allies are trapped gets you one point per time as well, and you dont have to expand to do it.

[matteus the inbred]

Crusading, if you can. Successful crusades usually result in considerable influence gains. The downside is if it fails, then you can find your influence dropping towards zero quite swiftly! Always plan crusades carefully and scout the target thoroughly.

[King Kurt]

I have always found conquering everything that moves solves my influence problems, but as you want to turtle, building things helps, especially happy buildings. Also, I would think that spies and diplomacy would help - marry off a few princesses, make some alliances.
However, in the end, you can't beat a bit of conquering - maybe you could engineer a small revolt, which could be crushed.:2thumbsup:

[Ironside]

Use crusades, jihads, save your allies when they're sieged and don't break any alliances. And get good hiers ~D .

It's often possible to keep your influence maxed out when doing a slow conquest of rebel provinces. Simply conquer enough to max it out, then slow down considerbly with your conquest.

The best turtler is muslim factions. Simply send enough jihads to max your influence in one swoop.

[tigger_on_vrb]

Go island nabbing! Either wait for rebellions, incite them with spies / religion or perhaps the most fun is attack an island belonging to a faction with a poor navy because the AI often loses contact with its island provinces by not building enough ships. If this happens you will be at peace with them the next turn as you have no contact with them.
Conquor islands and rebels slowly to keep your influence ticking over while you turtle.