[Collective] General campaign guidelines

Hello:

So far I have played about half a dozen fractions on VHard/VHard and found them quite easy if I expand VERY FAST. I always meet the short campaign goal in the range of 15 - 25 years.

I would like to share a few of my "routines" and perhaps it will help a few people here, who always find the AI having endless full stacks. I seldom see full stacks - they were all dead or bribed before that. I don't know whether my general routines will apply to difficulties other than Vhard/Vhard, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be too cautious.

(1) Identify your friends and neighbors.

For Roman fractions this is quite easy, but for other fractions you really need to decide who is your major enemy and who is your secondary enemy.

A general rule of thumb :

- Whoever makes a direct LAND CONTACT with you is a major enemy. The more contact, the more hostile they become.

- Whoever does not share a border with you - perhaps across the sea, perhaps buffered by another fraction - is a FRIEND.

Note: Definition of a FRIEND: even if you just killed their fraction leaders of 3 generations, they will AGREE TO ALLY WITH YOU ONE TURN AFTER.

Then, list the sequence of destruction. Starting from the most hostile, to the least hostile. Always at war with the most hostile (maybe more than one), and always stay allied to any other fractions. This will save a lot of trouble for you throughout the game.

If you are too late to make an alliance, then the AI fractions will ally first - huge pain. As you can see, you will need at least 3 or 4 diplomats from the start, so you can ally with as many "secondary enemies" as possible. I always end up with 3 rows of allies (more than 8 allies). That brings to the 2nd point:

(2) Sell your maps to the world!

You will need a lot of money constantly if you want to expand fast. So, sell your maps (offer "map information" + demand "a single payment"). I heard people can sell maps for 30-40k, but I could only sell for 3k at the beginning (alliance brings you another 1k). As your empire expands, you can sell for a higher price, or sell again to an old friend or foe. Selling maps are really the best income source for you for the first 10 years.

(3) Army no.1 !!

If your territory is small enough - always pool your existing army together in the first turn - this is your Army No.1. Leave the least number of garrison in your starting towns (your other family members are more than enough).

Army No.1 is powerful enough to crush ANY of your neighbors troops in any of their towns, because AI don't combine troops like you do. So, city after city will fall before your Army No.1. In 5 years, you should have expanded at least twice as much. Keep Army No.1 going because it will stay invincible for a long time.

Never choose to "simply occupy" unless it is a small town and extermination makes little differences. Enslavement until you hit 6000 pop. in your starting troop producing city, then extermination every single city in the future.

If your territory is too big to pool together ONE army, then at least try to concentrate them into 2 groups. You will need to fight harder, but never stop the attack.

You might think the rebel towns are sweet, but you will get much more income by going towards your main enemy first. You can also weaken them a lot this way. The AI grows troops much faster than you, so you must take over at least one or two of their towns early.

You only need 1 troop producing province at first. So in the meantime of your expansion, you should gradually build up your powerful army no.2, 3, etc. You can send them for other campaigns, and they will also crush anything that comes in your way.

(4) BRIBE!

You don't have to bribe everything because you cannot afford to do so. To reach the maximal efficiency here is what you want to buy:

(a) Foreign diplomats.

Friend or foe, they will bribe away your diplomats (I have never seen they bribe cities or armies, but I suppose they will because others said so). Bribe them before they do that.

A better way is to assassinate them. Last time I saw the Spanish stocked ~ 20 diplomats around their capital - and I didn't have an assassin. It was such a pain.

(b) Cavalry lead by captains.

A lot of cavalry (archers) will give you a lot of pain, so you really want to bribe them before they hurt you on the battlefield. Usually these little armies are sent to join a family member. So you can estimate how much helps you can allow so the AI will still crumble before you Army No.1, 2, etc.

(c) Troop types that can join you

For a price cheaper than their training, you get an instant boost of army. Rebels popping up in your starting territory belongs to the same culture as you, so they can join you afterwards. For Roman fractions, bribe your ally's army, too. They will be very happy to help you.

That's about it. Oh yeah - never tax any less than your people can tolerate. Tax income will be your biggest income for quite a while, because you expand too fast, and haven't upgrade ports yet ;)