Strange Game - What's my future?

[Seth Infinite]

Playing Early / Hard / Conquest / Spanish.

The year is 1360 and I haven't had a fight with the French yet. But, the world is down to 6 factions.

1 region - Sicillians
1 region - Italians
2 regions- Hungary
1 region - The Pope
? region - French
41 regions - Spanish

I have a feeling it's going to get bloody real soon. Massive Spanish and French armies all over the map. I control Spain and everything south and around to Lesser Armenia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Kiev and The Crimea. I think my navy is slightly better than his but his army is larger. Long term I think I'll win because of my bank account and my constant construction of of happy houses. Once the battles begin and he's forced to move armies I think he'll have massive revolts. (I hope)

The questions are, how long before we go to war? Is it possible the AI won't attack me (haha). Should I be planning a major pre-imptive strike? And, just out of curiosity, how long have you gone in a game like this and not fought your neighbor?

[Kaatar]

I once went a hundred years as the English without attacking or being a attacked. I follow the golden rule:

Good fences make good neighbours

Once you bulk up your borders they usually don't bother unless you're a super power.

I recommend you strike first and hit them really hard in the first year. It seems to me that attacking a neutral or allied fleet means that they're less likely to run away because they're not expecting it. It's better to hit them startegically rather than wait for them to hit you where it hurts.

[insolent1]

AI superpowers are very easy to beat it normally only takes a few years. Most important is the seas you should seize control of them & stop the AI from moving troops. It will also cause a lot of the AI's provinces to revolt so you will have hurt him badly without even a land battle fought. Once you have control of the seas the AI will be very quickly in debt(if they can ransom back prisoners they are not in debt).
There will also be the obligatory faction reappearances which will hurt the AI a lot. Once they start to loose provinces (unless they are the byzantines) they will have a civil war.

I'd attack first but prepare for it by having more ships in teh sea zones that they have & have an army or two ready to take the AI's home provinces if they are lightly defended.

[Accounting Troll]

Once you decimate the French fleet, they will be forced on the defensive, as they will be unable to mass enough troops to conquer Denmark, Navarre or Aragon without leaving them vunerable to a sea-bourne attack elsewhere. Denmark is probably the most vunerable of your border provinces, as the terrain is pretty flat.

In your situation, I would move large armies commanded by my best generals to border provinces, wait for my navy to grind down the French navy and then I would hit the French behind the lines in mainland Britain, attacking all five provinces in a single turn. This will leave the French on the verge of a civil war.

The other surviving factions will attempt to take advantage of the war between you and the French, so don't forget to maintain strong garrisons in your provinces bordering their territory. The Italians and Sicilians are likely to stab you in the back. They tend to build large navies so they can cause you massive problems in the Mediterranean if you don't have a large army on their borders.

How the heck did you manage to avoid a war against the French for over 170 years?

[Seth Infinite]

How do you avoid the French for over 170 years?

When playing the Spanish my first priority is Cordoba, presenting a single point of attack for the ElmoHeads.

The second priority is to secure my northern border. This is Navarre and when the opportunity presents itself, Arragon. Beef up the forces in these 2 regions and the French (or English) will leave you alone.

Third goal is Morocco. Again, a single point of attack and from there on it's just a march across Africa.

My first encounter with the French was around 1225. We both invaded Sweden on the same turn. I had the larger army so I got the prize. Then it was probably 1275 before we crossed paths again in the Middle East.

This brings up a question. We both had Crusades going at the same time, mine for Lesser Armenia and his for Antioch. At this point he already had Antioch so it was a Christian region. He got to Lesser Armenia one step ahead of me, the Egyptians lost and BOOM...there goes my Crusade (3000 men)with a message that the target country was now Christian. So, why did his Crusade not disintegrate when Antioch was a Christian country?

[Accounting Troll]

Had Antioch Castle fallen to the French? A crusader target province isn't regarded as being in Christian hands until the castle is taken.

[Seth Infinite]

Mr. Troll.

Yes, the castle was actually destroyed 5 years previous by the French. Also, my Crusade was disbanded when the French moved through Lesser Armenia and fought the Egyptians. The French did not take the time to conquer the castle.

[bighairyman]

heh, in my last game, i was the russian and i was allied to EVERYBODY, that was NO war for almost 150 years No war at all, it started to get boring so at 1228, the Swiss attacked me, and they were easily repulsed, but then the next year 1229, the French also invaded me, and also got beaten back, and so the next year (THE year)1230, Boom, the Mongols appeared so now i'm at war with the mongols, Swiss , and the French and NO allies left , Well my Russian Empire stretch from Northern Europe( Sweden, scotland included) to whole east, ( where the mongols appeared), to hungary, to germany. so far i have spared the polish who have one county(poland). It's gonna be GREAT


But for your question, are you bordering the French with counties like Argon? , lvl up the castles, and upgrade them, when the french invaded, get inside the castle, with VI, the AI assaults more often, so let your castle defenses kill those frenchies. Shift your armies to the west and prepare to have a showdown with the french at Turkey. Good Luck, and remember ALWAYS FLANK

[insolent1]

Quote[/b] ]This brings up a question. We both had Crusades going at the same time, mine for Lesser Armenia and his for Antioch. At this point he already had Antioch so it was a Christian region. He got to Lesser Armenia one step ahead of me, the Egyptians lost and BOOM...there goes my Crusade (3000 men)with a message that the target country was now Christian. So, why did his Crusade not disintegrate when Antioch was a Christian country?

Thats one of the risks of crusades that if the province comes into catholic hands(not your faction) it has been achieved as a goal for Christianity so your crusade disbands & your king takes a drop in influence. You can use this to put AI factions into civil war by taking the province before the crusade gets there. If you launch a crusade to a province & before the crusade arrives you capture the province the crusade is not disbanded but must continue to the province & it becomes a successful crusade giving all the benifits of the crusade.

[son of spam]

Quote[/b] (bighairyman @ May 03 2004,15:34)]Good Luck, and remember ALWAYS FLANK

What's with all this flanking business? The real way to win is to put all your units in wedge formation and double click on the enemy gen

[bighairyman]

Quote[/b] (son of spam @ May 03 2004,17:36)]

Quote[/b] (bighairyman @ May 03 2004,15:34)]Good Luck, and remember ALWAYS FLANK

What's with all this flanking business? The real way to win is to put all your units in wedge formation and double click on the enemy gen

I play MTW with Hannibal strategies: the whole point of ANY battle is to route the enemy- destroy his will to battle, routing the enemy is more important than killing alot of enemy soldiers( Most of the times), The real killing is after one side routes, and the other chases it.

In my battles, i often flank, it costs huge penalties and routes even the most elite of soldiers. This is how my Boyars army routes SAPs

[slackker]

once u hold the southern stretch, u pretty much win the game as no1 can match u 4 income and as the spanish u wld hav 4 provinces with iron. its juz a case of whittling down the french navy, once u rule the seas, u can effectively quit the game as its all urs.
betwn i'm pretty inspired bu hannibal battles with the romans, go 2 try his tactics one day...pincer movement
kill every last man