Quote Originally Posted by Galagros
Hmm, yeah that worked. Not sure what happened the first time. *shrug* I started off as the Scots and got destroyed by England on turn 15 or so.

...it wasn't my best moment.

Now I'm on a Normal/High game as the Teutonic Order. It's proving to be difficult because the Golden Horde steamrolled over the Volga Bulgars, Cumans, Russians, and Novgoradians before attacking me. We fought over Lithuania for about 10 years and I just barely avoided being destroyed. I almost quit the campaign, but decidedc I would stick it out. Now I control Livonia, Lithuania, Estonia, Novgorad, Finland, and Prussia? ... I think.

Expanding any further will be very tough and the map is full of larger empires. The Danes had a huge empire going in Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, and England, but they lost a crusade and had a ton of revolts. Sicilly had North Africa, Italy, and the Mediterranian, but soemhow they got reduced to 2 provinces. The Crusader States had all of the Muslim/Byzantine areas, but the king died without an heir and all those places are now rebels. Now the game is the Golden Horde and France expanding very rapidly.
Glad everything worked out.

Yes, the Teutonic Order is a very difficult faction to play. For those players looking for a difficult challenge, this is one of the factions to play.

Some suggestions:

Attacking any large faction at this time may be suicide.

Be patient, turtle a bit and build up your income and strength, and upgrade. Ally with a couple of larger factions, and then let the big boys tackle each other. Then be ready to pick up any scraps they leave in the dust.