Least attractive regions in M2TW

[Caliburn]

Durazzo is a gift for the Pope. You can make the Pope very happy when you lift a few sieges from their new settlements.

[Old Geezer]

Paris is surprisingly poor at producing a decent income. If you convert Metz to a city it will shortly surpass Paris in income and not much after that in population. Frankfurt never grows much either; certainly not as much as Vienna. Cairo is amazingly poor at producing florins unless you conquer Dongala and convert it to a city and take Jedda and improve it. Aguin and Bulgar are a waste of time and resources as is Timbuktu unless you need to eliminate the Moors or want to exploit by stacking merchants with a unit on the 2 gold resources there. Caen isn't much unless you convert it to a city; with Angers next door who needs another fortress in the neighborhood? (Same with Bordeaux) Oslo and Inverness are good places to give to the Pope (unless you are the Scots). Alpo (that miserable little town north of Damascus) is such a backwater boondock of a place by the time a western power can take it that it takes until after the Mongols are "history" until it is a large city.

I think Zageb is a great city. It is very strategically located. Lots of factions have it in their "to conquer list" so you can get them to be the aggressor easily and have the fun if you want of defending an assault and destroying the enemy with glee. Zagreb can grow rapidly in population and makes considerable geld. If you recruit merchants there it is a relatively short hop over to the gold mine in the Balkans and to the silk near Constantinople.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Helsinki for every faction besides Russia, Dublin for every faction, Arguin for every faction. Better to have them given to the pope (OR A VASSAL) so that you can get the foreign trade bonus.

I like Dongola because of the resources and ease of getting there, and to boost Cairo. I like the easternmost provinces because those are Mongol battle zones. You're going to end up there evenutally, might as well prepare some defenses!

[RollingWave]

Arguin is pretty solid as long as you don't keep much of a garrison there ( no need to anyway) the resources for merchants are nice. even the pope occasionally pop a few merchants to acquire you :(

It sucks that the port there doesn't work though, so unhistorical. the Moors traded along the west african coast all the time, i think it might have been an unintentional bug . if the port worked their income would be very solid (though they would then require a more reasonable garrison from potential sea strikes

most of the north east stepp is garbage in vinilla.

[Anonymous II]

It sucks that the port there doesn't work though, so unhistorical. the Moors traded along the west african coast all the time, i think it might have been an unintentional bug.

Well, it actually "works", but not until the seafaring carracks are available.

I'm not so sure if it's an "unintentional bug", because, if that port was open from the start, Timbuktu would be too easy to conquer early on without any warfare. This could, off course have been fixed by letting Moors own Arguin, or having Mali as a faction with Timbuktu as capital.

[sephirothno12000]

I personaly dislike the far eastern provinces as well, primarily due to the underdevelopment and unnecesarily large spaces, even though strategically it is pretty handy to have...assuming you have enough scouts/watchtowers of course. Since I like playing as the Teutonic Order, that tends to be somwhat of a pain in the backside.I personaly prefer the German provinces, as they tend to be in the center of attention, hahaha.

[Pater Familias]

Helsinki for every faction besides Russia

My beloved and most holy Roman emperor sent a small force against the pagan rebels in Helsinki early on and built a modest but capable defensive fort to discourage invaders, as well as a church. Our cadres of Helsinki-trained priests then went out into Orthodox Novgorodian lands and converted them to the One True Faith, quickly turning the priests into cardinals. Between that and donating a couple of troublesome duchies to the Church, Pope Gregor the Corrupt and his eight Imperial cardinals have ruled the Roman throne for over a decade, and I assure you it will be one of Gregor's pupils who next takes the crown of John the Baptist.
And when the Mongols weaken Novgorod from the East (they were first reported about 15 years ago), my invasion force, built up gradually over the years, will have easy access from out of Finland and will be welcomed as brothers in faith by the 80 percent of Novgorod's citizens who are Catholics, undoubtedly chafing under their heretical Orthodox masters. And my Helsinki-based navy in the Gulf of Finland will make sure the Imperial-Novgorodian War doesn't spill onto my home territories. It shouldn't take more than five years to polish them off, I think.
No, Helsinki's a fine little spot, if you're in for the long haul.

[Pater Familias]

I forgot who I was quoting ... of course ATPG doesn't do "long haul." My bad.

[Askthepizzaguy]

long haul?

I sat around with the map conquered waiting for the Mongols to show up... and massed 20 stacks of troops and put them in Sarkel. Then I waited for the invasion and waited and waited, and they just sat there. I picked them off one by one. In the end I still had some 15 stacks remaining, and I wasn't even conserving my strength or sending reinforcements.

Long Haul is waiting for the Timurids to arrive after you've accomplished all that. BORING!

[The New Che Guevara]

Long Haul is waiting for the Timurids to arrive after you've accomplished all that. BORING!:

Imagine that wait, multiplied by four. They arrived around turn 560... Why did someone tell me you could change the time setitngs... Albeit the only way I've conquered the entire map. I'm tempted to go for turn 1000.

[PBI]

long haul?

I sat around with the map conquered waiting for the Mongols to show up... and massed 20 stacks of troops and put them in Sarkel. Then I waited for the invasion and waited and waited, and they just sat there. I picked them off one by one. In the end I still had some 15 stacks remaining, and I wasn't even conserving my strength or sending reinforcements.

Long Haul is waiting for the Timurids to arrive after you've accomplished all that. BORING!

I suppose you could argue that this is the main reason for turtling; it gives you something to do while you wait for the Timurids to show up.