Quote Originally Posted by [b
Quote[/b] (Lacker @ July 14 2004,12:27)]yeah, but honestly, how often does the CPU decide to let breaks go your way? That's why I posted this, because it's so uncommon I keep thinking maybe my game is broken

A
Maybe if you played as a different faction, you'd find things would be different. Factions that start small, like Denmark (or even Spain) are easy to defend and rarely become targets early on.

For example, in one of my campaigns as the Byzantines/High/Expert, I found myself attacked by enemies on all sides (even before I became large). Just after I had defeated Turkey, the Hungarians launched an unprovoked attack and the Italians destroyed most of my fleet. Then the Mongols came in from the backside and I found myself conducting a desperate defense of Constantinople itself A few years later the huge Egyptian army was attacking from the south, while I was already locked in a land war with Hungary, Italy, and Germany to the West, and trying to build a navy that could match Italy's That was not an easy situation to get out of.

In my English campaign (Early/Expert), Spain had been eliminated as I fought with the Almohads, taking most of Spain (but leaving Navarre held by rebels). While I was locked in a death-struggle with the French, the Spanish suddenly re-emerged in Navarre with a huge, extremely tough army, and within a few years they attacked the surrounding provinces, which I could not defend. Later, when the Aragonese dynasty was eliminated after attacking me, they re-emerged the very next year in a rebel-held territory with another large and tough army, and attacked me straight away I had few allies and many enemies in that campaign, and suffered from excommunications.

Yes, the breaks can go against you. You just have to try a tougher faction - and remember, starting small doesn't necessarily mean the challege will be greater; often, it's the other way around.