World Conquest or No ?

[Lord Romulous]

Just thought id ask how people prefer to play the game.
do you aim for all out conquest or do u prefer to play most of the game as a middle power ?

Myself i prefer to be slightly behind the leading nations.
it is more exciting to know that i can be destroyed if two or more factions decide to declare war on me. makes for careful diplomacy, postion of trade routes etc

[Coldstream]

I'm a middle power. I don't get my kicks from conquering the planet.

[Gaius Julius]

I like being the biggest kid on the block.

[rasoforos]

most of the times i try not to go for total domination , the 60% would be enough. however the temptation is too big so i always end up going for total domination.

[Lord Romulous]

hopefully this poll will be helpful to the devlopers so that they understand that not everyone wants to conquer the world and adding elements to the game that reward the player who prefers to play as one empire among many would be benefical.

new goals aside from conquest could be most developed culture - instead of raising armies you fund artisans, architects and poets. you bring your culture to other nations, though trade etc. soon even though you dont own the world, the majority of the world sees your culture as superior and models their empire on yours. kind of like how the world saw the greek civilisation.

perhaps instead of building armies and conquering you prefer to invest in technology and soon become the leading supplier of armour and weapons in the world. more powerful factions you give you great sums of money to use your stronger but lighter armour etc.

[deejayvee]

I tend to be like rasoforos, except that it's the AI that makes me do it. Every game I decide that this one will be a peaceful one, build up heaps, lots of trade, etc. Then the Italians (usually) attack me and I'm at war with at least 1 AI faction for the rest of the game. They won't accept cease-fires, they waste their troops on my spears and if I don't invade them, those bloody Almohads probably will.

[solypsist]

I always play GA games, but because the way things are set up, I also always end up winning through total domination. The reason is that when I pull ahead (good empire management) the AI gangs up on me and I inevitably have to wipe them out to keep my own peace.

[Fate Amenable to Change]

Interesting - my current (second game of MTW) is GA Byz.
Trying to setup to produce large trade income, but several times found that all my careful marriages, alliances, diplomancy, etc wasted when damn Italians sink one of my ships (thus declaring war) then every other power in Europe deserts me Can't reverse this until I eventually get them to agree to a ceasefire.
So now find myself fighting much more than I would like, but to take revenge I go and assassinate every damn Italian Bishop and emissary I can find, esp the ones in my land

[Psyco]

I just try and kill as much as possible
i dont do stupid attacks just for a few kills but i love nothing more then slaughtering thousands like sheep

[Lord Romulous]

interesting that there is no small fry among us. I guess the Danish patrons of the board are still sleeping (timezones)

[LRossaLordJimi]

Many time i like to not destroy my enemies,because even few years they come back with terrific and strong army
My generals conquer the nation leaving if possible one or two prevences,easy to control
Ave

[Brutal DLX]

Well, in Total domination mode, I aim for just that...Total domination.
In GA, I prefer to be a middle power, if you are the strongest you might end up having to fight annoying border skirmishes all the time, but if you are smaller, you can still ally with some factions and be in relative peace.

As someone here gave the example of Byzantine GA campaign, I played one too, and I have to say it was the easiest and laziest of all my campaigns. I inevitably warred with the Turkish and Egyptians, humbled them and then just sat there collecting money and building up my provinces, occasionally having to repel some crusades to the Holy Lands...

[Basileus]

At the start i went for total domination not any more, just getting bigger teching up and having fun..

[Efrem Da King]

I like middle or at least one small fry verse giant war.

[Alrowan]

i like to be big, but big has problems, like defence, income and borders

[NagatsukaShumi]

"Wipe them out, all of them" I love that line, I employ it in MTW, I prefer been a scurge of God than a saintly King.

[kataphraktoi]

As a Byzantine Player I set my own GA goals up that go hand in hand with the AI's own GA's.
Goals such as:
Re-establish the Roman Empire
Re-conquer Justinian's Empire
Reclaim the borders of the old Eastern Roman Empire

after achieving that I settle down marry and pop kids out and train them in the arts of war, but that doesn't mean I am pacified. Instead of worrying about my own backyard when i go campaigning I raid and pillage my neighbours in an annual show of strength, annual meaning every year

I just sit back smoke some gold florins and wait for the armies to knock on my doorstep. fun fun fun

[Bob the Insane]

Leading Power....

What is the point of dominating European trade and politics if there is no one else left to appreciate it???

[Akka]

I like to have a lively Europe, and several neighbors. I just find depressive the end-game, where nearly all factions have disappeared.
Too few people left, it's like the end of a party when most people went back home.

Also, I share the problem that most of players seem to have : I would LIKE, from time to time, to be able to be at peace and to have LASTING alliance, but the "all vs player" (especially if he's leading) and the overly agressive AI makes it about impossible.

Sad :-/

[Lord of the Isles]

I like to turtle ... but my baby just loves to dance .. Oops, start again.

After some practise games I moved up to Hard then Expert and noticed a trend with most factions. I'd turtle, trying to build up my treasury so that by around the start of the High period I'd be set for conquest. Even though playing GA I usually end up giving up when I get 2/3rds of the provinces for the "limited victory", since at that point the GA win is usually assured. I would set up my trade Empire but on the way I'd take advantage of excommunicated factions, rebel provinces that were tempting targets and provinces I took in short wars when the AI attacked me. I found that it didn't take long before I'd grown so much that I triggered the AI-thinks-you-are-too-big flag and I'd be attacked by lots of factions at once. That caused trade to suffer and pretty soon I'd be struggling for money.

So I changed my strategy to refuse to take more than a few provinces that were big trade earners (e.g. Sweden when playing as England) in the first 100 or so years of an Early campaign. That keeps me small, the AI doesn't gang up on me and with few wars to fight my treasury regularly gets to 250,000 florins or more by the start of the High period, as well as my provinces being fully teched up for the High units (even Master Spearmaker, Master Bowyer for +1 valour units).

Do other Turtles find themselves doing the same? In other words, do others find it true that:

Sitting Pretty equals More In The Kitty?

Trouble is, of course, that this becomes monotonous after a while. Next campaign, I'm going to try some hardcore restrictions on trade, or perhaps try the Polish again, since they are truly the toughest faction to play IMHO.

[Monk]

i enjoy being one of the badest if not the best. holding my own in the world powers is enough for me. somtimes i take a few provinces then go totaly defensive, other times i go for total control (and i usually end up stretched so thin, that theres no way i can grasp victory) or i ally with the strongest and do away with the little guys. either way i play i end up being one of the strongest

[PanthaPower]

World Conquest

[HopAlongBunny]

I usually play GA. My attempts at laying low are always thwarted when the AI decides I must die. Normally in the process of eliminating one enemy I get more, as each is defeated the AI seems to get "impetuous" and just attack, w/o regard to any real chance of success. Normally, I get sick of it at 60% domination.

I have had one or two games go to the end...a lil disappointing because most late game GA's seem to either never work, or work one game and not the next

[Cooperman]

Every game I try and play for Glorious Achievements and am determined not to conquer the world but the computer keeps attacking me all game and somehow I always end up conquering the map without ever intending to

[el_slapper]

Or sometimes the reason is different. In my last GA game, I had the danes, sticked to strict conquest rules(only rebs, without port, with trade resources). So, In 1230, I only has Scandinavia, Prussland(sp?), Livonia, Finland, Ireland & Castille(a poor choice, as main GA for spanish) & fleet no further than Costa Verde. French & english had switched sides(English in France, French in England), cool.

But, at this time, I sent several bishops to scan the map. Ultimate horror. Despite the arrival of the horde, Egypt own more than 1/2 of the map & are advancing merciless. Only the horde seems to be able to stop them - for a while. So I had to weaken them to help my numerous allies. And I destroyed ther Western Army in Morocco(8stars generals are cool), but, to kill the remnants I had to push up to Tunisia, Algeria, Sahara(modded to be playable) & Grenada. Now they suffered a civil war, and are down to a normal power. But I fear I'm now too powerful, wich is what I wished to avoid.....

[Husar]

I most often try to cnquer the world, but I do that different depending on my faction.
As a "European" Nation(England, Germany,...) I always take a lot of rebelling provinces and grow up slowly, but I couldn´t play the turks without expanding very fast in the beginning of the game, because if you don´t wipe out the Egyptians and the Byzantines, they will overrun you after some time.

[Mori Gabriel Syme]

I used to play Total Domination, but it always ended up with me having to fight on all fronts. I'm playing my first Glorious Achievements campaign & having a lot more fun. So my vote is Leading Power.

& I love the idea of funding artisans & so forth. It could add to the influence you have if your court is one of the most cultured.

[Leet Eriksson]

just for laughs i chose the small fry(the only vote)

[The Marcher Lord]

I voted for Leading Power. I usually try to play as a moderate power with lots of diplomacy and trade rather than outright conquest. Trouble is that rival factions get greedy and try to cherry pick my wealthier provinces, this just makes me mad and I turn into a tyrannical despot bathing in the blood of my closest neighbours - so much for peace and good will to all folks

[Pretz]

World Conquest, but on the condition that the map is of only one country - such as Shogun's Japan or VI's British Isles, I don't like the idea of being able to conquer the world with a few conventional armies.