need a bit of info

[vlad_demstra]

frist of, I was wondering on how to own a sea.. or back it blocked off to others as the turkish since i am at war with them.

second, how are asassians leveled up. becuase mine keep getting cought.

3rd... I am playsing as the hungarians and notice they have alot of generals and princes popping up. I was wondering when Vlad shows up. also, where. for i need some one good becuase the war with the turkish and polish is killing mine and the byz army and crippling the defences. I am also afriad my aly, the germans, will attack soon becuase of my weak defence in the past 5 years and past 8 battles between the polish and turkish.

[Phatose]

1. If you have a boat in the area, they can't trade through it or use it as a link in a naval chain for invasions. That's all there is to it.

2. With successes. Can always make em pick of bad generals at home before sending them out, since it's usually border towers that cause assassins to get caught. Do you have VI? If not, you'll probably not get too much use out of assasins, simply because getting one to a usable valour it so hard.

3. I have no idea.

[Crash]

It's not good to have three questions in one post. It will get very confusing when different people are answering different questions in the same thread. One question per post is better.

1. You can't deny access to a sea to anyone. But you can control it by being the only faction with ships in it.

2. Assassins get ranked higher by successful assasinations, the tougher the target the better.

3. Never payed the Hungarians befoer. Vlad huh? Ugh, don't know if I would want him on my side, but then I wouldn't want him on the other side either.

[Ludens]

1. You cannot own a sea zone like you can own a province. But you can block trade and invasions by enemies through it if you have one or more ship stationed there(independent of the number of enemy ships in that zone). This applies to your enemies as well.

2. Assassins are leveled up by successful missions. If they keep getting caught, the probably run into border forts, spies or high valour targets. You can get better assassins by upgrading your taverns or building them in Syria (+2 valour, VI-only). The English also have a hero assassin: Guy of Grisbourne. The first assassin the English recruit after 1205 will be Guy of Grisbourne.

3. Vlad Tepes is born in 1430, so he will come of age at 1446. The first unit that is finished in or after 1446 will have Vlad as its leader. So make sure you finish at least one high quality unit in 1446, or else you might have Vlad leading a group of peasants (heroes will be automatically signed to the highest quality unit that is finished in the year the hero comes of age).

[katank]

1. fleets question already answered in that if the turks don't have ship there and you do, you auto blockade the section and you have to sink any turkish ships there to maintain blockade.

2. assasins. if VI, syria is a must. else, try to whack emissaries, princesses, and religious agents in your provinces. Cancel the mission if you have to leave your own territories. Do this until reasonable valour.

3. Ludens is right. For all the historical heroes, look in the \campmap\names directory and browse the text files there to find their birth dates.
I would personally try to train only royal knights the year the hero appears in my best province so he gets the best armor and weapons available.
royalknights or equivalent is the best as they get updated throughout each era and hence doesn't become obsolete.