Returning player - lots of questions

[Ratwar]

1. It really depends on your long term plans for the Middle East, and who you're at war with. For example, if you're currently fighting the Egyptians, I'd recommend taking Acre next to give you a firm front against any Egyptian armies coming from the Nile Delta. If you're fighting the Turks, Adana will probably be the best way to go. If the Mongol horde is threatening to attack, then Aleppo is probably the best choice. It goes without saying that you must first pacify Antioch using the old sack+priest spam.

2. In my opinion, Vienna a very tempting target. It makes plenty of money (especially for an inland city). It may stretch your forces a bit, but if the Germans are already reeling from your previous offensives, it won't get much easier to grab a highly profitable province. Secondly, Vienna is pretty easy to defend thanks to Danube river. Any offensive from the North or East must cross the river, giving you an easily defended border, and the province is quite large to the South, giving you an early warning system. Finally being France, I'm assuming that you've already taken Innsbruck and Nuremberg, so the West shouldn't be a problem.

Prague is a bit of a different story, since it lacks the silver mines of Vienna. Economically, it isn't very strong, and it is harder to defend than Vienna. That being said, as a Rebel, one of the other factions will eventually take control of it. Strategically, it is probably best to just leave it as a buffer zone between you and Poland, but if I were playing, I'd probably take it since I'm almost hyper aggressive against Rebels.

[cathartic]

Oh well. I spent most of last night out with friends, so only a few more turns have passed, but as is typical with this game, plenty has happened.

Antioch is still being sieged (guess I had more time left on that than I thought). When I take it I'll follow the advice above, and try to secure it and take a few settlements around it, such as Aleppo.

I sent an army towards Vienna, only to find the computer had 2 full stacks there. I'll worry about taking the place later. So then I turned towards Prague only for the Poles to grab it before I arrived. On the Iberian front I successfully took a couple of cities from Portugal.

Lots has happened diplomatically as well. I've now secured peace with Milan, an alliance with Poland, but have new wars against Spain, Denmark and England. My central european army is now marching north to fight the danes, alongside the ragtag army of dated rubbish I've cobbled together to hold things until it arrives. Hamburg will make an excellent addition to my empire.