Starting with England

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

What were your first moves when starting with England,
personally i built up a small army and attacked york, then sent a diplomat to get the french princess to marry my heir, then i sent a diplomat to scotland to marry cecilia to the scottish heir, then built up a strong navy and stomped the rebel navys destroying trade.

Next i built an army and sieged Caernervorn, until the last turn where they attacked me, the welsh longbows were attacked by heavy cavalry and routed immediately, then spears from my frontline charged their spears, and my mailed knights flanked them and sent them routing, and then the battle was a series of slaughter and... well... more slaughter.

Then i built up an army and defended at the siege of Caen, then led a series of raids on french ports and now i am where i am now
This happened in a period of 15 turns.

[Jasper The Builder]

I always remove my troops from Caen and send them back to England, Just leaving Prince Rufus, Get an Alliance with France so they won't attack Cean. Empty London and move its garrison to Nottingham along with William the Bastard. Move that Prince or General based in Nottingham to London.

Always build the tanner first turn at Nottingham, Ironclad the troops and organise the attack upon York around turn 5, Take York with ease, Next two turns take Caernarvon. Reorganise the men, And attempt to attack the Scots.

The sooner you wipe out the scots the better, But even on VH/VH, The Scots hardly ever cause you trouble, So its down to you, Sometime i leave them and use them as Allies, Giving them Antwerp or some other mainland European settlement just so they look to attack other factions rather than you and at the same time attacking the French and Germans

Anyhow, Once I've taken the British Isles, I look to the Med Sea islands to secure for future "Crusade's".

and bla de bla, Ive ranted enough

[Monsieur Alphonse]

England

Build two militia in London and two units in Nottingham (one mailed knight, one hobilar. Merge these units with the army north of Nottingham and take York. Usually a mission which will earn you some mailed knights. Leave the peasants behind as defender of the realm. Once York is yours, leave it lightly garrisoned and head for Caernarvon and take it. By now one of your ships is sailing in the Irish sea and you should use it to attack Dublin. Sail back to civilization and prepare to attack the Scots. By now you should have build a ballista maker and trained one that is on its way to Scotland. Attack the Scots, if they haven't attacked you, and destroy them. Since the English have plenty cavalry (generals and mailed knights) it should be an easy victory. Once the British Isles have been united change all castles in to cities and become stinking rich.

The continent

Build one mailed knight, one hobilar and one levy spear. Sent your diplomat to Angers and offer those frogs an alliance in exchange for +/- 4000 florins per turn (three turns), trade rights and Angers and Toulouse. The French will happily accept this and sell all their castles at once to you. Dedicate Caen as your main heavy infantry production facility and Angers to produce your archers. This to attract the woodsmen and swordsmith guilds over there. With your troops in France capture Rennes and if possible Bordeaux. After that capture Bruges.

You now have a decent starting Empire and are ready to take on the world.

[Ramses II CP]

Go directly to Edinburgh with all the troops you can spare and capture it as quickly as possible. If you kill Scotland while they're still stuck on one city you won't get any Papal warnings, and you can wrap up the rest of the isles at your own pace.

I convert every settlement on the island to a city as well, it's too irritating to have to constantly ferry troops across aboard ships. Just train what you need at Caen and keep England full of militia.

Get Bruges and Antwerp after Scotland falls, they're economic powerhouses. From there the world is your oyster.

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

Is this strange or are the AI Stupid? I was looking over my regions to see if any were under threat, when i saw the French king lingering on the border with no army just his Generals bodyguard. I rounded up 4 groups of mailed knights and Robert and pounced on his troops, they decided to fight back. I put 4 of them into wedge and my general as normal and charged, the majority of the frnech horses fell in the first charge, and good ol' Phillip died seconds later at the hand of Robert. There were no survivors.

Next turn another French family member turned up, alone once again. I sent the same army and used the exact same tactics, this time there was only 1 survivor.

Are the AI just stupid or are they purposely trying to put the pope against me or something??? I think milan saw this too and declared war on them. Then after a few more turns, france tried to make me a vassal?! just when im winning! AI i think has a few bugs...

[Fookison]

Go directly to Edinburgh with all the troops you can spare and capture it as quickly as possible. If you kill Scotland while they're still stuck on one city you won't get any Papal warnings, and you can wrap up the rest of the isles at your own pace.

I convert every settlement on the island to a city as well, it's too irritating to have to constantly ferry troops across aboard ships. Just train what you need at Caen and keep England full of militia.

Get Bruges and Antwerp after Scotland falls, they're economic powerhouses. From there the world is your oyster.

I totally agree with this tactic. I try to get Scotland off the Island and then work on setting up the plunge into the rest of Europe by using Caen, Antwerp and Brugges as my bases. The rebel areas on the Island can be dealt with at your leisure. Another fun way is to skip getting into France and head to Scandinavia and deal with the Danes, HRE and Polish. Then plunge south.

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

An interesting tactic, but i like to give Scotland a fighting chance before i destroy them... It makes the game seem more realistic and it in turn makes it more entertaining