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[gaijinalways]

I decided to push on after reaching 60%. Normally I stop at this point as there are no other big contenders, but I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I had plenty of spies already circulating, and I kept most of my provincesa at 200% loyalty, so only one recently conquered province rebelled, but I quickly put down the rebellion and built a tower. I had also put guard towers in all of my provinces a turn after reaching 60%. I was still building units and ships. Now I finally allowed just spies and a few units to be built, and watched my bank drop from 680k to 288k by game's end.

I had left islands of factions, who strangely all agreed to cease fires after I withdrew from their provinces. The only ones eliminated were the Eggies, who died too quickly in battle ( the Danes disappeared some years before). So I had these faction osaises and the few Mediterrain islands held by the BYZ and Malta by the Sicilians.

Did I mention earlier I couldn't go to Malta earlier? Finally got that sorted out as I was training assasins (I know, forgot earlier) and bribed the castle, even though a larger army stood outside. Once I took over the castle, suddenly I could land on Malta and quickly put the Sicilians boat sinking days behind me.

100%, didn't know it could be so easy in 1271. Never did see those pikemen.

[chrisRRR]

Hello everybody, thought I'd contribute to a thread instead of my continued lurking :D

I started a campaign as the Sicilians/GA/Early/Normal/VI(Vanilla). This has been one of my most enjoyable campaigns yet, I think because I've learnt a lot more about the game (through these forums). Big thanks to frogbeastegg for his unit guide, helped me a lot.

Anyway, I started out by building up a navy to get my trade going and some $$'s. I then trained up a small army to take Naples from the Byzantines, don't really know why... I just felt the need to expand. That went well, so I decided to attack them at their mainland and quickly took Greece, bribed the army in Serbia and took it straight to Constantinople (which was so poorly defended I practically trotted in with half an army).

I saved the game shortly after in the year 1123 (not wanting to take any chances). I then played on until 1139, but I didn't like where the campaign was going so I decided to leave it at that and come back to the 1123 scenario later... probably tomorrow xD

>.< I have an picture but it appears I'm not allowed to post it... oh well, I'll post it in the update I suppose!

I'd like some advice, the Egyptians are fairly huge, just massing an enormous amount of troops in their homelands (which are my crusade goals...), and at war with the Byz. Should I go after them/finish off the Byz or head west into Europe and smite my fellow Christians?

[I of the Storm]

While smiting is generally encouraged in this game, doing so against other catholics will sooner or later get you warnings from the pope that require either a 10 turn ceasefire against that specific faction or will result in your excommunication. You should rather try either ceasefire with the Byz or destroy them and try to capture your Crusading Goals while you're still in the early period. You won't get any points for capturing the Holy Land after 1205 IIRC. So save up Europe for later.

Edit: And welcome to the Org, chrisRRR

[chrisRRR]

Oh really? I think I saw about the crusades, I suppose I should go for those damned Egyptians then! And in that case, I'll probably take out the Byz in the process...

Can anyone give me any pointers for large scale battles? I'm okay at the small battles (controlling up to about 8 units), but if it gets to the stage where I have reinforcements I crumble to bits... Anything would be much appreciated!

And thanks for the welcome, this is such a lovely and knowledgable place :)

[I of the Storm]

Not really actually except maybe: try not to get lost. Better to fall back on a ridge closer to your edge of the map and defeat the waves of the enemy than chase routers and get caught off guard by arriving reinforcements. Also, when you have reinforcements yourself, note that they will appear in the exact order you put them before the battle (you can arrange the order of your troops in pre-battle screen, this was added with VI I think).

[Jxrc]

I'd like some advice, the Egyptians are fairly huge, just massing an enormous amount of troops in their homelands (which are my crusade goals...), and at war with the Byz. Should I go after them/finish off the Byz or head west into Europe and smite my fellow Christians?

Would suggest to go against the Biz since their are usually tougher than the Egyptians. Egyptians army is often huge but it is usually a rable. Likewise their generals are not as good as the Byz. The Egyptians do get at least a couple of very good ones general but the AI can be dumb enough to put them in a stack with a two stars king (same is true for the Byz but the emperor has very often at least five stars). Getting to Egyptians to go into civil war is also much easier.

If you go after the Byz, you need to make sure that you have a good chance of getting rid of their fleet (if they win the naval battel be prepared for all sorts of trouble). Once you have destroyed their fleet, take their three island (usually poorly defended). You can keep those without too much trouble if the link between them and your king is not cut by an enemy fleet. Those island usually have inns that can turn handy for hiring mounted crossbowmen. I am not a huge fan of those but they are a big bonus agaisnt the byz since it is not uncommon to see a byz province with an eight-star general as its sole garrison. IF you launch a regular attack the AI will pull out but if you only attack with one or two units of MC, the AI will accept the fight. Provided you do not make any blunder, you can easily kill the high value general with a little patience (shoot, run away, shoot, etc.). Even if you fail, you've only lost an expendable unit

Can anyone give me any pointers for large scale battles? I'm okay at the small battles (controlling up to about 8 units), but if it gets to the stage where I have reinforcements I crumble to bits... Anything would be much appreciated!

Besides what Lord of the Storm already told you, keep you infantry grouped as much as possible (no point chasing routers for long with those, they will only catch a few and get exhausted in the process, only do it if the AI has no reinforcement of substance), do not let you cavalary get exhausted chasing three archers, remember that the pause button is your friend.

Hope it helps,