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Thread: Spain

  1. #1
    Senior Member Senior Member Cheetah's Avatar
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    Lional of Cornwall
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    "If you wish to weaken the enemy's sword, move first, fly in and cut!" - Ueshiba Morihei O-Sensei

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    Death before dishonour.

    "If you wish to weaken the enemy's sword, move first, fly in and cut!" - Ueshiba Morihei O-Sensei

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    Kraellin
    Shukan


    Posts: 2161
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    Registered: Nov 2000
    posted 08-22-2002 05:03 AM


    as i stated in that post a while back about what faction you were going to play first, i did indeed pick spain. i found it interesting that the various factions one can choose have modifiers to the difficulty rating you pick. if you pick easy and pick spain, you actually play at a higher difficulty rating because it's spain. byzantine seems the easiest, from i saw, english are moderate and dont really remember the rest of them.

    as spain, i made a fatal error to start my campaign and had to restort it about 8 or 10 moves later. this time i drove out the almohad in about 2 years and was even into morocco sieging the castle there. all that was left untaken of spain were the rebel provinces. my fatal error in the first game was trying to take the rebel province of portugal too early. beware of this, not all rebel provinces react the same way when first taken. portugal has a FIERCE loyalty to portugal, where valencia drops like a fly and stays that way. upon taking portugal i had a MASSIVE uprising the following turn that was about 800 men strong in the rebel army. sheesh wasnt counting on that at all.

    i'm currently playing a very simplistic campaign game. it's on easy and i'm playing almost entirely militaristically. build, invade, siege, raise loyalty, build. i took the southern province of spain and on the next tun i was offered something to do with mercenaries. not quite sure what's going on there yet, but i didnt seem to get them. i'll have to start reading the manual, it would seem
    all in all, the front end shld be fairly familiar to all shogun lovers. sure, there's new stuff, but the play is very familiar.

    and in the first game, like i said, i'm playing it militaristically, i had a couple daughter princesses but was pretty much ignoring doing anything with them, when all of a sudden i get this message that one of them has become a 'spinster' and 'is now retiring to less arduous tasks'...lol. that had to be target's doing
    cham, and magy, i'm playing everything so far in auto-resolve for the sake of speed in finding out other things, so i've only got that one logfile so far. shld i remember, or read this again tomorrow, i'll send it off to you.

    and to the guys at CA, this must seem something like a hollywood premier night. all the 'stars' come out of hiding to see the new show and then talk and write reviews and so on. so far, i'd say it's a hit
    K.
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    DarknScaly
    Samurai Hero


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    posted 08-22-2002 11:51 AM


    hehe
    Yeah Portugal is a serious hotbed of rebellion for its own ends... often end up ahving to throw in extra spies and extra troops just to keep the darn place quiet and peaceful.

    There's some others like that also... ;-)

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    Nelson
    Tai-Sa


    Posts: 906
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    Registered: Apr 1999
    posted 08-22-2002 03:15 PM


    Wouldn't you know, 12 kingdoms to pick and I took Spain too. I'm playing on normal difficulty.
    The first thing I noticed was that King Alphonso VI is a hell of a guy . Influential, smart, pious, commanding, and even a bit dreadful with a knack for defending in the field. Then I had to sort out the dukes and duchies and appoint a chancellor. This took a while because I had to examine each general. I gave Castile to the wrong man and had to officially take it back. So let this be a warning to all, bestowing titles (and princesses) is immediate, not when you hit the end turn button. You need to be very careful. The one usable daughter I have I packed off to Aragon to marry the king and hopefully secure my north east flank while I begin the Reconquista down south.

    With 8000 in the treasury I then had to decide what to build. This is when the tech tree comes in handy. I hope it's correct. Since on region can build Knights of Santiago with +1 valor I began the construction path that will let me raise them. I won’t see them any time soon. Until then, I will raise (very useful) jinetes there. In Castile I built watch towers to see what the Almohads and the Valencians were up to.

    After several turns I have taken Valencia from the rebel El Cid (maybe I should have bribed him) and captured Cordoba from the Moslems. The later was a pitched battle over two river crossings having 900 men on each side with the command edge going to Alphonso. Many fights in Owari prepared me for this and I suffered just 64 casualties and captured almost 500 prisoners worth 1400 florins. During this fight the jinites units were invaluable. Their javelin volleys tore the Almohad urban militia to pieces and their pursuit lead to all the captives. If the Almohads had had more cav this would have been tougher but as it was my cav could maneuver at will. When the javelins were gone they could charge home to good effect. In this battle the jinetes routed the enemy all by themselves as the infantry watched.

    Something had to go wrong and sure enough after leaving my coward of a son (-9 morale)in Valencia the rebellious locals revolted which will mean a bit of punitive work next turn by a better man than he.

    I have spent no money thus far on ports or trade but intend to once Iberia proper is altogether Spanish. I’d like to arrange a Crusade against the Almohads before long.

    The game has been a blast so far. The strategy map demands a lot of thought. I’m glad for that.

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    COGITOERGOVINCO

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    Kraellin
    Shukan


    Posts: 2161
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    posted 08-22-2002 06:06 PM


    nelson,
    the key for me in spain was send EVERYTHING you have towards the almohads on the FIRST turn and just keep on going south. drive them completely out of spain and even take morocco or further. do NOT let them start building and then attack them later on. their reserves down south are too weak and too far away to put up any decent resistance and they'll just start not even fighting, but retreating back to the next province. just keep em moving back while building up spain. you can then handle the rebel provinces much easier. keep one good army in the south to keep the almohads from attacking and you can then start concentrating on other directions. so far, that's been my best strategy for spain.

    when and if you go after portugal, do so with a huge force, spies and emissaries so that you can camp out there and build up the loyalty quickly. it's one nasty province.

    spain is apparently one of the hardest provinces to start in, but it's a key faction when it comes to trade routes, particularly by sea.

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    DarknScaly
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    posted 08-22-2002 06:17 PM


    Spanish farm lands are bloomin' marvelous also (you can go over 1000 florins per province and more with a good governor) - and the 3 provinces with iron deposits is a BIG advantage later on with weapons upgrades.
    Kraellin's tactics v the Almohads is the only way I have found to survive as the Spanish - the ALmos ALWAYS eventually come after Spain and if you let them build up then they will toast you.

    Once established though you ahve trade routes north and south(east), superb farmlands and good trade items, iron deposits and even silver and gold mines, especially once you roll over the ALmohads.

    Always keep an eye on the Aroganese though - they are notorious for stabbing you in the back and they'll invade any juicy province you leave vaguely undefended (at least they do on expert)..they also seem to breed heirs and princesses like rabbits, its almost frightening...surpised their kings ever find time to fight.

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    Nelson
    Tai-Sa


    Posts: 906
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    Registered: Apr 1999
    posted 08-22-2002 07:53 PM


    Thanks for the tips guys.
    My intent when I crossed the border into Cordoba was to hit hard and not stop. I attacked southward as soon as I had parity in numbers. The win was big and now the Almohads look weak in Granada so I'll push 'til they can stop me or until they are gone (assuming some other power doesn't drop by for a war in Spain). I'd like to get a Crusade going against them but I need the right infrastructure first. A bishop or two might also be a good idea to convert the Moslems. I may try bribing Portugal just to see how bribing works. If successful I won't need to divert forces from the south to deal with them. I need a low risk solution to my heir problem (don't want a bad heir day) so I may try letting the prince assault the castle in Cordoba before it falls in order to help correct his cowardly rep. His attributes are so good save for the pants pissing fear thing that I want to rehabilitate him if I can. I am also gambling that Aragon will stay friendly long enough for me to snuff the Almohs. If they don't I'll see what siege defense and relief is like The grand plan has the Almohads going down followed by the acquisition of a trade empire. After that I need to see how things look. I can foresee any number of ways the wheels can come off my cart as I reach for Spanish glorious achievements.

    You can spend a hell of a lot of time deciding what to do on the map. The options each turn can be staggering even with a small kingdom. You absolutely need a long range plan.

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    Kraellin
    Shukan


    Posts: 2161
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    posted 08-22-2002 09:00 PM


    ok, the almohads are now extinct and i own all of north africa, save egypt. portugal fell without any counter-rebellion. arogon is staying civil with me and i've finished my first goal...the land grab.
    i'm going to have to crack open the manual now and see about this trade stuff and diplomacy, now that i'm a faction to be reckoned with. i'm getting emissaries flooding my lands looking for alliances and marraiges and i'm warmly and cordially accepting all of them....so far
    i finally figured out how to get the mercenaries i kept clicking on. you have to also click on the 'hand' at the bottom to seal the deal and then they show up.

    i also captured the little rebel province to the north and have my northern border well protected. i've begun building ports and have been increasing my income production upgrades right along. i'm currently, by report, the wealthiest faction in the world, but lagging behind in tech tree and military. seems the germans are fairly militaristic and they hold that honor. the byzantines hold the highest tech level honor.

    but, by now having a nice potential land base to work from, i can begin to upgrade and improve tech and military. but the next goal is to establish the seas and trade routes and domination there and for that i'm going to have to do a little reading.

    gil, one thing about the multiplayer foyer. i'm an old fart and that text in there is a bit smallish and a bit garbled with one or two characters for these old eyes. raising it about 2 font points would be nice. or maybe include an option where the player could pick his font style and size? that would be the best. we also dont really need all that side dressing. could the chat area be expanded in width? i'd much rather have a full screen chat area than all the side dressing stuff. i know it looks nice and all, but function over aesthetics, always.

    well, now that the north american premier night is over and the reviews are pouring in, what's it looking like from your end at CA guys? gonna be able to pay the bills?
    K.
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  5. #5
    I wanna be a real boy! Member chunkynut's Avatar
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    Early, Normal

    The Spanish in my opinion are one of the easiest factions to play the peninsular is smack between the med and the northern seas so trading income is huge. The top 3 territories (Leon, Navarro and ??) all have iron so can produce troops of quality. A good general can be bribed in Valencia (El Cid) and lastly the main Spanish province borders the main almohad province.

    To set off well simply attack and hold Cordoba this reduces nearly all almohad troop production to nothing. Bribe El Cid and Navarro.

    Leave Portugal until you have the money and troops to leave about 600 men there for the first 5 - 10 years and build the province up and give it a good governor (it also has 2 tradable goods ).

    Take aragon and you have created a bottleneck to the north holding any French or English advance and with the peninsular under your control you can start taking those nice gold mined provinces in north Africa.

    Fortify and expand.

  6. #6
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
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    I agree that the Spanish are not hard to play. Hardly. They have the huge advantage of almost boundless room to expand against the Muslim factions at no excommunication risk at all.

    The Spanish should crusade early and often. They get the ability to build a chapter house for a reason.

    Crusading early accomplishes several things. First, influence and loyalty are no problem. Second, you get Order Foot Troops and Knights of Santiago in the opening moves -- a military force that just can't be beat by anybody's early era units, especially when those Crusaders are supported by Spanish javelinmen and Jinettes, who are deadly to the precious few armored units available in the early era.

    Unlike just about everybody else who plays, apparently, I never bribe El Cid. Paying 5K florins for a few jinettes, a decent general and a province that must be garrisoned is too much. I'd rather invade Valencia and spend the money on a chapter house and Crusades and get the above-mentioned uber-units.

    I also violate a cardinal rule of Crusades. I load them up with mercenaries when playing the Spanish. You don't have to pay maintenance costs while they're in Crusade, and I want to make sure the Crusades are successful. I also immediately disband the mercs when the Crusade is over.

    There's a real temptation to keep marching across North Africa once you've kicked the Almohads out of the peninsula and have them on the run. You should take Morocco because it's a good choke point. After that, though, it's probably better to do some consolidation, farm upgrades and fleet-building before moving on. You also need to take Portugal before somebody else does, and that will require a substantial garrison. Leave the Almos as a weak buffer between you and the Egyptians until you have a big enough navy to protect your own coasts and at least challenge the Egyptians along their coast. Then, take Egypt and Palestine.with Crusades.



    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  7. #7
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    I don't know about that.

    About a week ago, I played a Spanish early campaign for kicks and did full North Africa Crusade run, taking everything from Cordoba to crusader states and Syria with crusades.

    By the time I hit Egypt, I had about a full stack of kngihts santiago and 2 stacks of order foot as well as mountains of fanatics

    the eggy didn't even dare to fight half the battles.

    gosh I miss swiping.

    otherwise, my knights snatiago would be even more overpowered and like toned down lancers in early.

    it's funny how my knights can take out their camels and spears

    it's also nice that each crusade seems to give a knight santiago commander with 3 or 4*.

    I also find it not so worthwhile to bribe the cid.

    I mean it's cool to command the cid since he's the cid but otherwise, it's not really cost effective.

    BTW, pump jinettes if you can afford them.

    their javs counter things like RKs although santiagos can handle them and speed means very few enemies leave the field alive.

  8. #8
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] (katank @ May 04 2004,21:27)]it's funny how my knights can take out their camels and spears
    The trouble with camels is, they die miserably to other cavalry if their low morale breaks. They're too slow to get away, so the cav takes them all.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

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    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    it's true.

    my order foot maul the camels badly with just about no casualties for me.

    then my knights santiago can actually chase down the camels even though the camels are supposed to be counter units.

    unfortunately, the camel problem also applies to my favorite cav katanks. they can take most cav but when and if they lose, they can't run away

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    Member Member garion's Avatar
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    The Spanish Lancers (altough expensive) are awsome. Just be carefull not to waste them on spearunits
    insert signature here

  11. #11
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    be careful of polearms and other armor piercing units.

    that 9 armor that he's carrying around can actually be used against him.

    spears are actually less of a threat than the various halb types.

  12. #12
    Protecting the border fort Member Chimpyang's Avatar
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    Never foreget about little aragorn, I lost Castille AND Navarre to them during my war with the Almohads when most of my troops were in N. Africa. I promptly got excommed even though they attacked me.

  13. #13
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    never forget about them.

    once your crusade run took either Algeria or Tunisia, consider diverting some kngihts santiago and order foot back to sack Aragon.

    These essentially chivalric units in early are extremely strong and can knock out the Aragonese UM, archers, and spears with little trouble.

    Alternative is to hit them even faster.

    I like rushing Aragon right away just to take that small and annoying but also aggressive neighbor off the map.

    another advantage is that by taking Aragon early, you have access to Toulouse before the French can connect it.

    taking Toulouse when it's isolated means autoceasefire and also a nice farming province with valour bonused chiv knights which aren't that much worse than your unique lancers and are cheaper.

  14. #14
    Merkismathr of Birka Member PseRamesses's Avatar
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    As for an early Spanish blitz I usually do this:
    1087 AD Gather all your forces in Castile. Appoint the two peasants as govs for Leon and Castile. Build jinettes in Leon and arhers/ militia in Castile. Que a chapterhouse in Castile. Send your emissary to bribe El Cid in Valencia. If you´re lucky you can get him for around 3-5.000 fl.
    1088 AD Let your king and the entire army take Navarre. El Cid will join you this year.
    1089 AD Let El Cid take over your army and invade from bothe Valencia and Navarre. Now this will give you a two-bridge battle - no prob - just send El Cid over one and simoultainesly attack with your foot-soldiers over the other.
    1090 AD Assault Aragon castle.
    1091 AD Move king to Aragon while withdraw El Cid´s army to Leon with re-inforcements. Build crusade in Castile.
    1093 AD Invade Portugal and assault in 1094 AD.
    1095 AD Launch crusade against Cordoba and let El Cid lead it. Leave what troops you must in Portugal.
    1097-98 AD Let your jinettes invade Granada, shoot them up then withdraw to decimate their forces.
    1099 AD Launch second crusade to Granada.

    Now you have launched two successful crusades before 1100AD and all of the Iberian peninsula is under the Castilian flag. From here on I usually launch crusade after crusade all the way to the Holy Land while others like to venture into France. Whatever path you choose - good luck

  15. #15

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    @Doug-Thompson: interesting about the early crusading stuff, esp. w/ mercs. never occurred to me (duh).

    however, i wonder about one point some of you guys mentioned: kicking Aragon early. usually my strategy is to take Valencia (no way I'm gonna bribe El Cid) and then Navarre, as fast as I can (otherwise elmo's might take Valencia, and Aragon might take Navarre). I leave Portugal for the time being, it will keep the Elmoheads occupied trying to stifle the countless rebellions (my half dozen bishops in there help too ;P).
    however, by the time this is done, I lost a good bunch of troops getting Valencia and Navarre, I need yet another lot of troops to defend both these and my two original provinces (it sucks that they are all border provs), and I find myself w/out enough troops to take out the Aragonese, who, having just one territory, have all their troops in there - and they do have a decent amount of troops, not to mention half a dozen RK's.. (all princes, so pretty decent, and likely quite high valour troops).

    I usually leave them alone and start kicking the Almohads, who have lesser quality troops (albeit more of them), and are easy to drive out of Iberia...

    Afterwards, I guess it's just like everybody else's strategy: drive all the way to Egypt/Cyrenaica (leaving a province as buffer between you and a strong faction is indeed a good strategy, the AI otherwise may be easily tempted to start a war with you that you just don't feel like fighting at that time), and then the game is pretty much over; I have a strong position both strategically and evonomically, minimal borders, I can kick the Egyptians and get Asia Minor, etc.
    The war in Europe tends to be more interesting, since you are bound to get warned and subsequently excommed whenever you attack a European faction, because by now you have a rather large number of provinces. But it's quite a nice challenge, and worth playing.
    Therapy helps, but screaming obscenities is cheaper.

  16. #16
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    kill aragonese quickly or they shall become a major problem.

    they will stab you in the back at the most inopportune time and has ready access to Castille which will screw you royally.

    I try to take Navarre right away and then consolidate for a few turns with 1 spear, archer, jav, archer queued in Castille while Leon pumps jinettes.

    I hit aragon in year 3 and they have like 5 archer units, 2 UMs, and only 1 RK, the king.

    I pin with spear the king and pump him full of javs, match my UM against their UM and run over their archers using jinettes.

    my archer unit will provide covering fire and I managed to capture all routers with my ample jinettes and captured the fort intact without having to assault.

    I then grab Toulouse off the French and after autoceasfire, ally with them and focus my attention south.

    I kill El Cid in Valencia as he's not worth it IMHO and I bribe Portugal.

    I then rush Cordoba using crusades and go for Morocco before Granada as I get some ransom money and also Morocco chokes off renforcements easily.

    I crusade across to Tunisia and take a bit of a breath for ships or Itlaians will screw me.

    I ally with the French and when they are beating the Brits to a pulp, I take Aquitaine and usually ends with autoceasefire again.

    I then ally with the English to restrain the French and I have a neato 3 province border.

  17. #17

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    but katank, the aragonese are _bound_ to have a bunch of RK's. I haven't carefully checked them in each age (early, high, late), but I remember that in my early game with Spain, they had lots of heirs (just like I did). Not all of them are mature in the very first turn, of course, but they will be in a few years. So that 5year period might need a very careful examination.
    because, and i hope you'll agree with me, 1 or 2 extra units of RK make all the difference that early in the game (regardless of age, prerry much).
    Therapy helps, but screaming obscenities is cheaper.

  18. #18
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    yeah, they do have extra RKs very soon.

    they will have nowhere to expand but into you so you need to hit them before they get out additional RKs.

    this is exactly why if you read my post, I said to hit them in year 3 as no a single heir matured yet.

    time is of essence as a year later, he might mature.

    note that an heir cannot mature if they no longer own a province and are being sieged.

    even if you don't kill them all, no more RKs to worry about.

    I totally annihilated their force in the field without even having to resort to mercs on expert so this is quite doable.

  19. #19
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
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    Re: Aragon's RK.

    Jinettes have armor-piercing power for a reason.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  20. #20

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    you're right Doug-Thompson, i had forgotten about jinettes. Well, Spain was my very first campaign, what do you expect :P

    katank: ok, 3 years it is. I really have to try this, because it seems a bit of a stretch to me to get Valencia and Navarre and Aragon in such a short time...but if you say it's doable..
    Therapy helps, but screaming obscenities is cheaper.

  21. #21
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    not valencia.

    just navarre and then aragon.

    I attacked navarre the first turn and stabilized before making a move on aragon on the third turn.

    Aragonese were pumping archers all this time and got overwhelmed by my jinette rush.

    also, I managed to get a position that was uphill from their's and seeing my jinettes rip into their archers from there was quite satisfying.

    I actually used a spear unit to pin and peppered the king's RK (only one present as no heirs yet) with a unit of spanish jav men and he died rather than using jinettes who were off busy chaisng the 6 archers they had.

    I didn't go for valencia as the AI is cautious in expansion and the Almos frequently goes for Portugal first.

    after taking Aragon, I take Toulouse since it's isolated, auto ceasefire.

    it's rich farming with salt mine and later yields bonused CKs.

    I then ally with the French and after they are winning, I sack Aquitaine when the French take Anjou for another autoceasefire and I get a nice 2 province border that shields the heartlands of Iberia and I use exclusively crusades to kill the Almos

  22. #22
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] (katank @ June 15 2004,08:22)]after taking Aragon, I take Toulouse since it's isolated, auto ceasefire.

    it's rich farming with salt mine and later yields bonused CKs.

    I then ally with the French and after they are winning, I sack Aquitaine when the French take Anjou for another autoceasefire and I get a nice 2 province border that shields the heartlands of Iberia and I use exclusively crusades to kill the Almos
    Lordy.

    First you rip off the French, then the English.

    I like that. A lot.

    This opening kills one faction (Aragon), wounds two, and isolates a third (Almohads) for death without facing either excommunication or protracted war.

    The Spanish get secure borders, rich provinces and limitless room to expand across the south of the map with no excommunication threat at all and Crusades galore. Eventually, they get bonused knights from Toulouse that can be upgraded in the Iberian iron provinces.

    Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.



    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  23. #23
    Member Member MadKow's Avatar
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    Just tried it on normal, seems to work very well. Haven't got to Aquitaine yet though.

    On my games with the Spanish i seem to attract the expansionist Italians. I don't know if this is a pattern, but if i don't develop a navy soon enough i eventually have to handle landings from invading Italian troops. That forces me to keep garrisons i wouldn't need otherwise, because those are not my obvious border provinces.

  24. #24
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] (MadKow @ June 15 2004,09:24)]On my games with the Spanish i seem to attract the expansionist Italians. I don't know if this is a pattern, but if i don't develop a navy soon enough i eventually have to handle landings from invading Italian troops. That forces me to keep garrisons i wouldn't need otherwise, because those are not my obvious border provinces.
    One fleet off Valencia solves that problem. You directly protect one coast and their shore-bound galley fleet can't make an unbroken line to any of the provinces behind you. Just be sure to grab Valencia. They can go right through your fleet to land at a neutral rebel province.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  25. #25
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    yep.

    I have problems with expansionist italians too.

    I just use a single ship in the Ligurian as I usually have Toulouse.

    if I can't get to ships yet, then I have to take it as it comes although it's funny how the Italian Doge is usually involved and actually routinely arrive with a lone archer unit ofr company.

    he did this annually for about 3-4 times and I got some money this way.

    it's rather funny really.

    yep. Doug, I like that strat for this reason as Toulouse is an easy and tempting grab, the AI Aragonese actually isn't as dumb as we think for going there.

    Then, your borders become too long if you have that, Navarre, and Aragon.

    Pyrennes has two natural chokepoints at Navarre/Aragon or Aquitaine and Toulouse.

    I prefer the forward ones as that means I can have a buffer in front of my better developed iron provinces and Aragon especially due to strike ability into Castille and Valencia, the heart of my empire.

    The French almost inevitably wins the 100 year's war in a decade or two (ahhh, the irony). As allies, they actually helped me take Aquitaine a few times.

    taking these two souther provinces also deprive them of income etc. If they have these two, they woudl be far stronger and a united France within two decades is a fearsome adversary.

    I build a chapterhouse immediately and also crusade markers once I have 1 and a half markers, I start crusading the almos.

    I also try to bribe portugal if it's not too expensive. I got the force there for 2k once.

    It's actually a bargain early on and you can have some peasants stabilize it while you move the bribed force to reinforce the crusade.

    early mass at this point can help overwhelm the almos.

    take cordoba and then morocco and you'll have killed their advanced production centers.

    unite iberia by taking granada and then push across to algeria or Tunisia if you feel like it.

    I sometimes let the Almos live in Tunisia or Cyrenacia as a bufeer from the Eggy who I'll crusade later.

  26. #26
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
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    By the time the weakened French win their inevitable war with the English, they must be exhausted. Spain would be Crusading through the Holy Land all the way up through Antioch before they have a chance to recover. Brilliant.

    Build up some trade with a coastline stretching from the Aquitaine through Valencia and Egypt all the way to Antioch. I'm swooning just thinking about all that cash.

    Beef up, let the Golden Horde blow past, then beat everybody to death with your big bags of money. You can even Crusade some more against the Orthodox Byz and heathen Horde.

    I must try this.
    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  27. #27
    Senior Member Senior Member katank's Avatar
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    I tried this before.

    I think I stopped at Const. and Georgia, huge empire with far more cash than I coudl ever hope to spend although it meant instant excomm should I ever fight a Catholic, not that it mattered as Crusades are over GA wise.

    Yet to finish that game but envision hordes of gold-gold lancers owning the field.

    The French actually remained steadfast allies and exhaustedly fought the HRE and never quite finished off the Brits as the Brits hunkered down in fortress Britannica.

  28. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] (katank @ June 15 2004,09:22)]not valencia.

    just navarre and then aragon.

    I didn't go for valencia as the AI is cautious in expansion and the Almos frequently goes for Portugal first.
    duh
    you serious ? that's a real dumb decision i always went for valencia first, since it's rich and both elmo's and aragonese might grab it...i mean, navarre is good for the iron, but economically a big zero...
    whaddya mean the AI is more cautious in the expansion, would you care to elaborate on that ?
    Therapy helps, but screaming obscenities is cheaper.

  29. #29
    Typing from the Saddle Senior Member Doug-Thompson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] (Blodrast @ June 15 2004,15:34)]duh
    you serious ?
    Think it through: You take Navarre, Aragon and Toulouse. You destroy one faction and seriously weaken another, the French. You've also probably prolonged the inevitable English-French war while setting yourself up for an easy conquest of the Aquataine in the near future.

    In the meantime, the Almohads or the Aragonese might grab Valencia -- which will require a big force to beat El Cid and to garrison.

    If the Aragonese take Valencia, your conquest of Aragon will be simple and easy against their divided forces.

    If the Almos take it they'll have to defend two provinces instead of one — Cordoba. Stripping them of Cordoba and Valencia will be a snap.



    "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."

  30. #30

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    uhm, ok, now reading Doug-Thompson's post it dawns on me that my previous post might be misinterpreted, even more so when only partially quoted; so just to make it clear, it wasn't intended as an offense, except perhaps towards the AI ;)

    what my duh you serious ? that is stupid etc. was referring to katank's statement that the AI is more cautious in VI and to the AI's choice, not to katank's choice.

    hope it's clearer now ;)
    Therapy helps, but screaming obscenities is cheaper.

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