Thanks for the pointers!!! It might be very hard and sometimes counter intuitive, but I will try my best to avoid these AI exploits. The more I know about how and why the AI does things in MTW, the more I can try to equal the playing field. My ultimate goal in every game is world conquest, but it is so much more fun if the game is challenging. That is actually why I have come back to MTW. The AI, despite its flaws in this game, seems to be the most competent and offers the best challenge. You can give the AI unlimited funds in RTW and M2TW so that it can build 100 stacks, but it is very very sad that it does not know what to do with them. Most will wander around the 3D campaign map aimlessly. In MTW, AI Stacks are confined to provinces. They reinforce each other well and guarantee epic battles. If you do not exploit the AI, the battles will be even more epic!!!

Sorry to go off topic here, but I got a quick question: Do agents in MTW cost any upkeep? (I am on a tight budget) I dont intend to spam them to exploit the AI. I need them to bring up the loyalty and religion in my newly conquered territories. This too may be an exploit. In the few games I have played, I have seen the AI have a lot of trouble keeping peace in territories that they take. They can take the territory ok, they just move too much of their army away from it before it is totally loyal. The province then rebels and defeats the tiny garrison, and then the AI has to take it back....rinse, repeat.