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Kerns=Jinettes=fast javelin spam=:2thumbsup:
I've been playing around with the Irish in Early XL. Bonnies are great for chuck and charge troops. Even on expert they can make decent units rout with a volley or 2 at close range. Amazing!
This thread encouraged me to play around with the Irish and I was able to get to almost 60% using kern spam before I teched up to bonnies. By that time I didn't need them because I had broken the Saxons and Mercians.
The more I play the more I realise what golden advice has been given in this thread so thanks for all the input. My last campaign was going well and somehow I was raking in about 6000 Florins a year from Laigin alone (about 225 trade from each other province on the map) Unfortunately I didn't realise the game ended at 1066 and so when I received the 20 year warning at 1045 I was on 700,000 Florins but had yet to leave Ireland!
A few attempts later and I have taken a different approach to my latest campaign. At the very start I noticed there are rebel factions on some eastern provinces in Britain so at the earliest opportunity I invaded them knowing it wouldn't provoke any factions so I made my mark on Britain. As has already been stated this prevents a faction from becoming stupidly large as I can keep them all in check and attack or use my agents on armies that grow large. Gradually I've invaded more provinces and now have about 10 provinces in Britain under my command and I'm now having great fun sending out my agents to manipulate the remaining factions. The Mercian’s are reasonably strong as are the Saxons but neither are bothering me allowing me to secure and cultivate my British provinces. The Northumbrians and Welsh are now almost non-existent and the Vikings have just invaded the Picts in the South.
Its hard work playing in this way and I find myself reloading quite often if things don't go to plan but I don't think I will have any problems capturing 80% of the map because I already have secured many provinces in Britain and its not even ad 900 yet. From previous efforts though I won't be taking anything for granted though! I'm having great fun sending out agents to weaken the remaining factions and forge alliances so I can continue undisturbed. Do the Irish provinces count towards the map percentage?
My cash flow is also in very bad shape and I'm just about breaking even every turn. It would be nice to make Laigan a gold mine as it was in my previous attempt but even with a merchant I'm only making 1100 florins a month. I have all of the provinces on the eastern side of Britain which have many resources and tradable goods as well as merchants so how can I trade with myself and other factions to make large profits to fund Mercenaries? Talking of mercenaries I wouldn't have been able to progress in this campaign without them as at the very start I built Inns and used them to invade rebel provinces disbanding the expensive ones when my borders were safe.
My biggest question at this point is what is best order to secure a province when it’s just been invaded? What should I build and how should I man it to minimise the risk of it being invaded by someone else? I'm a bit unfamiliar with keeping men garrisoned and its benefits in preventing invasion.
Also, I can't seem to occupy every section of sea namely the sections surrounding the Vikings land. They are yellow and even with ships in the section next to them I am unable to move across.
I've never launched a crusade as I'm not sure how to. I think crusades will be very important for me under the circumstances so any pointers on this?
Thanks!
Your ships will not be able to move into the Nordsaer region, this is a technological limitation on non-Viking factions. As such, it is very difficult to eliminate the Vikings, but actually taking over their 2 provinces is not necessary for total victory (they don't count towards the "100%", that's only the British Isles). The only way to take the Viking provinces is to cause a rebellion using spies, bribe the rebels, then beat the remaining garrison.
There are no crusades in the Viking campaign.
I got the success meassage saying I had taken control of over 75 percent of the map at ad906 but I'll carry on to see how it all unfolds!
:medievalcheers:
Go, Irish, go! :beam:Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie the Shrubber
The key points I noted with Ireland:
1/ Secure the Ireland Island + Manau: this mostly means Naval Superiority in Muir Eriu, Muir Celtire and Seafern Mutha (spelling?). Getting quickly allied with the viks and sticking to this alliance will help a lot. Otherwise, build stacks of boats and sink everything. YOu'll get 4 stars naval commanders! You'll have then three provinces with Iron (Manau, Ulster and Munster)!
2/ Make sure that neither the mercians nor the saxons take over the other. The Northumbrians are next in line. If they get big, they'll have the big huscarles
3/ The invasion of the main Isle should start south, as the provinces are richer.
4/ Woods can be good friends as you don't have much cavalry and archers.
5/ In battle, the javelins are good, but they get slaughtered in close combat due to their low defence... You'll need spears in addition tio the irish-specific units