beating the game...

[Noir]

Nice mini-guide,
some innaccuracies from my point of view;

1. AUM are more similar to Chivalric men at arms than feudal men at arms - essentially a high era unit given with low requirements in early.

2. The Byzantines are perfect for Blitzing - their borders are clearly defined and before long you can wipe out the Turks and the Egyptians and find yourself safe with Egypt-georgia-constantinople after which you can move through Mahreb to Iberia or take out the Huns and Poles and slice the map in two.

The only faction that is actually hard to blitz with are the Germans since they have too many neighbours and concentrating on one quickly tempts the others. The fact that all their neighbours are catholics doesnt help either.

Noir

[Geezer57]

1. AUM are more similar to Chivalric men at arms than feudal men at arms -

FMAA: 3/3/2/3/2 Elite Unit Cost 175 Florins (Charge/Attack/Def/Armor/Morale)
AUM: 3/3/3/4/2 Non-Elite Cost 200 Florins
CMAA: 3/4/3/4/4 Elite Unit Cost 250 Florins

AUM are somewhere in the middle between the two MAA - you be the judge which to which they're closer.

[Trapped in Samsara]

Hi

I don't disagree with anything Empirate et al have said in their last few posts, but I just want to point out that if rushing is taken too far, too quickly, such that insufficient garrisoning / lack of 'happiness buildings' occur, etc., you'll quickly find out that your new subjects may not be very happy under your rule.

The AI factions regularly fall victim to their own landgrab lust, overreaching themselves and overstretching their resources, and then imploding as rebellions and re-appearences kick in.

Regards
VGB

[caravel]

Correct. In order to blitz successfuly you have to priotitise the massed construction of happy buildings and train of spies. Otherwise once you get to around 60% your empire will dissolve into rebellion.

Personally I hate blitzing, spamming and razing as they ruin the game. You will soon become bored of blitzed campaigns but if you play the game with some self imposed rules and turtle then it will outlive your expectations of it.

FMAA: 3/3/2/3/2 Elite Unit Cost 175 Florins (Charge/Attack/Def/Armor/Morale)
AUM: 3/3/3/4/2 Non-Elite Cost 200 Florins
CMAA: 3/4/3/4/4 Elite Unit Cost 250 Florins

AUM are somewhere in the middle between the two MAA - you be the judge which to which they're closer.

AUM are closer in performance to CMAA, this is due to the armour and defence stats alone, plus the large shield. Morale is a factor but a decent general or other morale upgrading buildings can compensate for this. As a whole AUM are real killers.

[drone]

Correct. In order to blitz successfuly you have to priotitise the massed construction of happy buildings and train of spies. Otherwise once you get to around 60% your empire will dissolve into rebellion.

This is one reason why the Danes can do it better than most. They don't need to waste time with military buildings to get a really good front line unit, they can focus on social infrastructure as they cut a swath. It a shame the AI can never really run the Danes well.

I don't like a pure rush either, but I will be pretty aggressive to create a better strategic situation. Minimizing borders, crippling a potential threat, increasing income. Generally as a smaller faction you have to make some quick moves or else bankruptcy is in your future. Larger factions have more exposure early on, and a rush can leave you vulnerable.

[caravel]

Indeed as the Danes you can concentrate on such buildings and on those buildings that improve morale as well as on armour and weapon upgrades where possible. This gives you a force that can still compete well into the high era. A campaign as the Danes can be a blast, though it's a good idea to set yourself a rule to avoid the VI units. Once you start churning out Huscarles, the campaign get's boring.

[drone]

I rarely build any of the VI units aside from Huscarles and Horsemen. Carls aren't as good as FMAAs and can't be maintained once High comes around. Landsmenn are a little better than Vikings, but not by much and again you essentially lose them in High and can't build them outside Scandinavia anyway.

I have a weird psychological hangup with Huscarles. I know they are good, but I also know that I lose them in High so I will hoard them. I'll pump them out from Sweden with upgrades, but then I tend to use them sparingly. Can't waste a single one, might need them later! They are my precioussss.

Huscarles should probably be a 2 turn build.

[Fagar]

I have a weird psychological hangup with Huscarles. I know they are good, but I also know that I lose them in High so I will hoard them. I'll pump them out from Sweden with upgrades, but then I tend to use them sparingly. Can't waste a single one, might need them later! They are my precioussss.

Huscarles should probably be a 2 turn build.

I am exactly the same with Huscarles.
They are so deadly and can be dominant right up till the end, the problem is building enough of them.
I normally pump them out of as quick as possible but then find I don't rush them into battle, I don't use them in castle assaults and I move them out of provinces were I am siegeing...Basically not doing all the things they are best at...Drives me crazy

I agree probably should be a build time of 2 years.
If Varangian guard are then Huscarles certainly should be as well.