Odd Strategy...

I kinda came across this on my own time.

If you build a huge army at the beginning of the game and then move out from your home territory and exterminate the other cities. Then you just leave a small garrsion behind since there is no one there to revolt. Then you keep doing that all the while your income builds up. I just kept upgrading my castles and occassionally my cities (but not even very often), then I would get better troops and I just keep conquering. Eventually I would add to the garrisons that I had left behind in the conquered settlements and then when it came time for revolts, I would just let them turn into rebels I would seige the city and exterminate them again, and again it would be a huge boost to the economy. Since its inside the empire, I don't build troops there anyways so I don't care about the population size. I just keep moving along and no one can oppose my huge force so the game finishes quite fast and easy, somehow I feel empty by the end of it, but it works like a charm.

Hmm what difficulty are you playing?

Hmm... i dont think that it would work that well on vh since unrest gets alot higher. Also, when larger cities rebel they usually get from a half to full stack garrison so i dont think your built militia can retake it. It is better to sack all cities to get the money for hiring tons of mercs and killing everything around you. You can leave garrison behind since you'll have plenty of money to support mercs

If you killed everyone in the beginning, you won't be able to fight their cool units later on! :laugh4:

I'm playing on hard, I usually leave a cannon or some sort of seige weapon in there so I can get back in fast. I don't just have Militira, besides they just turn into Militia, I leave my injured stacks, say if I had 50 Dismounted Feudal Knights I would leave them, behind, if I had 79 Broken Lances then I would leave them behind, and I would retrain the ones I could before the rebels completely take over. As far as I have seen, unrest is a great way for me to pillage from me...

Takes the fun out of the game IMO

Yeah it really does... That's probably why I feel unsatisfied by the end of it. Using this stragety I don't have to build anything but a few farms, merchants, and military buildings. In fact, if they are not newly conquered provinces I never upgrade, the walls fall easier for the eventual re-seige.

Plus you don't get to see major powers develop into foes that will be a pain in the backside to defeat.

Letting cities rebel intentionally always seemed like a bit of an exploit. Repeated sacking can lead to huge cities with 400 pop! Alas, it feels fairly cheesy. It certainly works though. You can even emphasize farms to make them grow faster and base your economy not around trade but massacring of your own citizens.