ON the XL Mod

I followed the above advise in my game that just blew up on me...:(

step 1) Ally France, Portugal, Almos
step 2) Take out Spain
step 3) take out Portugal/Almos

Since I took the slow road, and built up, this took me to 1190

Now the next 40 years went by fast as I had already built up a strong econ to do what I did

France was my longterm Ally and was unstable as England and the Danes pounded France mercilessly... as France pounded the Genoses/Venetians/Papacy

so Toulouse rebelled, and I took it at 1200

33 years left...

I was building up a fleet and ringed the Western Med with ships as I intended to take out the ALmos out of North Africa.. but things worked out differently...

I went after the Danes and Genoese...

The Danes took out the Almos and Corsica/Sardinia.. to I had to slowly destroy the Danish fleet and land troops...once I took out the Danes, I then worked on the Genoese...

Until the French backstabbed me and Declared a Crusade...

I then took 2 stacks to go after North Africa and head to Egypt where the Almos seemingly took out the Eggys..Lucky I bought like 2 stacks of Mercs.

and I had 6 stacks for France

So when the game blew up, I basically owned the Western Med with fleets, and I owned North Africa & Corsica/Sardinia & Southern France/Provence while the Danes/English owned Northern France

The French blew up (just as Golden Horde/Mongols arrived) and went civil war in 1233 when my game blew up..:(

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Summar for guide...

Early Game:
Take ownership of Iberian Peninsula

Mid Game
Take out North Africa + Genoese/Sicilians since those ALWAYS seem to tick off the Pope and get themselves ex-communicated

That way you have the Western Med locked up tight as you head to Byz/Eggy for the riches