I've been trying to play as the French: Early, Hard, GA lately. I never realized how challenging the French GA were, quite possibly the most fascinating part of the game I've faced so far.

Beyond the normal homelands, conquest and crusades, you've got to: 1) build a citadel in Tripoli by 1200 2) build a cathedral in Ile de France somewhere between 1150 and 1250.

The 2nd one isn't that big a deal, I'd quit playing if I couldn't do that, but still, I like the historically accurate aspect of building Notre Dame to make France the religious capital of Christendom.

The 1st, however, is a bitch. Think about it for a sec. Assume the Eggys (or the Turks for that matter) don't tech up beyond fort in Tripoli (very likely). That means when you conquer it, you'll knock the fort out. In order to build a citadel, you have to spend 4(fort) + 8(keep) + 12(castle) + 16(citadel) = 40 years!!! prior to 1200. That means you must take Tripoli by 1160, preferably with a crusade.

Now, I don't know about all of you, but personally, I never march my crusades across Europe. I've had one too many go kaplooey on the way, and that is disastrous for morale and influence. So I wait until I build a chain of ships from where I want the crusade to start until I've reached where I intend to drop it. This also doesn't give the target faction 15 years to beef the province up while you're slowly chugging along. You've already declared to them where you're headed, and you might have to fight through all sorts of border territories that weaken your crusade to futility on the way. This takes a LONG time and a lot of cash to build all these ships.

It can be done, but even so, you must keep Italy, Byzantium and Sicily happy. If you tick off one of them, you're toast, because they'll start sinking your ships, possibly putting you past that critical 1159 date.

All in all, very, very interesting. I've taken to roleplaying and quit trying to wipe everyone out, just taking what I need. Makes it harder, but more realistic and more fun.