I think the thing thats really sad is that when you start a new campaign you get 'Miss Whiplash' pop up and give you a strategic briefing which actually makes the game sound like it has some structure to it.

I've just started an Austrian Campaign and I recall being told that Austria was in the frontline against muslim incursion from east, that Austria's role is to defend the true faith and protect its Catholic neighbours from the spread of the protestant faith from the west and the muslim faith from the east, and to ally with its catholic neighbours to provide mutual support.

Can't remember if those were the exact words she used but that was the gist of it, and Turn 1, I actually tried to follow her guidance. Except that none of my Catholic neighbours were really interested in mutual support or alliances, or even trade, so I ended up trading mostly with protestants and muslims.

Then you Press End of Turn and everything just goes to hell in a handbasket. In my case, Poland, the very country I was charged with protecting from the evil influence of Protestantism, Othodoxy and Muslim influence immediately declared war on me, and from that point on every faction you play seems to just degenerate into a pointless slug-fest.

The only solution that seems to work is to play at reduced difficulty levels (e.g. Normal), in which case the Campaign AI seems to take a valium and go into a stupor for the duration of the game. Its just as stupid, its just too lazy to act on its own stupidity.

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