A piecefull alternative

I read an old thread a while back by some one who described there game style as just sitting on your borders being a good boy and just enjoying defending your little corner of the map . I must admit to thinking this was a bit odd until now. The reason being I find mysef enjoying campaigns less and less as I expand . All that micro management and keeping your own generals in check can be hard work. Then remembering that old thread I decided to give it a go. i first played as the English and had great fun tecing up my land patroled by small armies of quallity troops building up cash through trade and destroying my enemies ships at sea.I then played as the spanish and after conquering Andelucia I stoped and played the same way.Again great fun being squeazed on two fronts fighting defensive battles with a smaller quality army. Give it a try.

true, having fun with agents can work too.

with packs of high valor inqs and assasins roaming around, I made sure that much of the map was rebel and no one had a talented general! (defined as above 0* for many factions).

yep, that's been my preferred play style for a while. I play as England and Spain mostly too. I've expanded it to include defending my Catholic neighbors like France and Germany who always seem to have a hard time staying alive. Italy is often the same. I have to save Spain sometimes, but not as often. I more often have to save the French from the Spanish.

The English (and the Spanish to a lesser degree) are great because their homelands are fertile and they have several unique or almost-unique troops. England has Hobilars and Longbows, Spain has Jinetes, Lancers, and all those Iron deposits.

I've also found that bunkering in your homelands and then Crusading all over the place to be a lot of fun.

the problem is the potential for diminishing returns.
at some point in the game, some factions turn supe powerful, and despite your ability to beat a superior invading army, you will incur losses while the AI, with its greater resources, can just keep invading and invading.
the only way to really play a defensive static game successfully is, ironically, to have the most land and resources to draw from in the first place.

I agree this does happen when I play this way. I try to combat these results by first establishing a healthy economic base so that I'm able to repel and reinforce without too much difficulty. Depending on what nation your using, this could involve some heavy duty aggression at the beginning. Maybe it's not playing the same way then, because I like to redraw my empires boundary quite early and that could involve taking many provinces. I also keep an elite army on standby (when affordable) to jump at any surprises that may befret my good people.

I recall a game where I was Italy, and Spain just wouldn't let up on me. They were the big boys, owning 25% of the world. I was just a small rich nation, with good tech units. The numerous defeats Spain suffered trying to take Toulouse from me lead to a mass rebellion. The French moved in shortly after and Spain never regained her supremacy. I really enjoy the power struggles in such campaigns.

Fester, I tried that too, but I found out good boys tend to become fat boys to the point where all your nice little model armies are sporting huge signs saying "My leader stinks, please attack!". I'll admit that it can be fun to try and upgrade your gluttonous king or eternally pissed general by sending him into battle while keeping him out of harm's way just enough to hide his lesser qualities, but only occasionally. You know, the easy easy catchy routing enemy thing, with the old rag being held in the saddle by servants on either side and hiccuping "P-peasants? I though you s-said ph-pheasants!" :charge:

This tactic is also good as the Russians or especially the PoN if u make em playable.

well, in reply to Soly's post, of course you get beaten....that's the whole point of it. At least for me. I set some limits, and don't expand, get only certain territories, enough to have a decent economic base, but not enough to be considered (by myself) a superpower. My whole point being to sit and not-quite-watch-but-neither-kick-everybody's-ass-in-50-years.
Occasionally, sure, I get defeated. That's definitely part of the challenge. ~D
And sometimes it's fun. There is no question that I can beat the AI anytime I want, the fun (for me, nowadays) is trying to beat it under challenging conditions.
Several things have been suggested, like giving money to the AI factions, or using -ian and playing them for a few years, or even switching from one to another after a while, all great suggestions.

In this particular example, I get my fun from having fully upgraded troops pulverizing armies 10 times bigger, or routing the enemy w/out even moving one unit, wreaking havoc and confusion and falls and risings with my agents, etc.

Getting defeated every now and then, having really really bad (read: "powerful") re-emergences in the middle of or next to your land, and trying to keep your bad-vices-loaded generals and king under some control is part of the fun and challenge, in a twisted sort of way ~:)