Confused by Ships/ Emissarys

[MedievalBear]

Hello people!
Couple of things confusing me with MTW, can someone help? I am new to this type of game so bare with me please!
In my current game I am playing as the Almohads
First, ships? What are you meant to do with them? How do you transfer troops with them?
Second, emmissarys? Other factions come and offer me alliances etc, however when I try to do the same, I need to bribe the leader in question? Why? Is this faction sensitive?
Ok, one more thing, The Papacy came back from the dead and reclaimed Rome from me, I decided to wait before reclaiming it, as I was busy crushing Hungarians. 1 year later though, my friends the Egyptians, won Rome back for me and just handed it over? How did they do that? Can I repay the favour? If so how?????
HELP!!!!
Great game though, fantastic.
Cheers People, hope you can help.

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'Merely a flesh wound'

[Ulug Beg]

1) Put your ships in the sea zones to establish trade routes which can bring in lots of taxes. To transport an army by sea all you need is to have a continuous line of your ships between your province and the province you want to go to, then select the army and drop it onto the target province. Note that you must have a port in the province your armu starts in, but you don't need one in the target province, and if there are any enemy ships sharing a sea region with your ships the effectively block passage.
2) To offer an allaince to another faction you must drop your Emissary on the their King, if you drop him on one of their generals you are trying to bribe that general to join you.
3) Players can't give provinces to the AI. Pity that, it would be nice to reward allies and keep them sweet, then maybe they would be more likely to take your side in any disputes.

[Paladin]

Quote Ok, one more thing, The Papacy came back from the dead and reclaimed Rome from me, I decided to wait before reclaiming it, as I was busy crushing Hungarians. 1 year later though, my friends the Egyptians, won Rome back for me and just handed it over? How did they do that?[/QUOTE]

It's one of the perks of having an ally. I played the Byzantines and I was allied with the Hungarians who helped me in a battle. Sadly, I showed them gratitude by wiping them out. I can be cruel. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/frown.gif


Quote Can I repay the favour? If so how?????[/QUOTE]

Yes, by going into the diplomacy screen and noting who they are at war with. Then, go and attack those people. But if you don't want to get into a major conflict, be sure the people you attack don't have alliances with other factions otherwise you could do what I did in one game: spend almost 200 years in constant war.

That was not fun because my treasury was drained down to -157,000. I still won but it was not enjoyable.