Good post, Balin... As England, I always get all of England a.s.a.p., Wales for lbows and Scotland specifically to have a worthless province - to make ships from, and build up trade quick. (I hate being conflicted in what I want to build from a region.) My handful of worthless early provinces like this crank out ships for decades and go on to make cannons and then uber boats (Finland's another, being good only for trade).

After the Isles (I do Ireland whenever I can get a round to it), Sweden is always a natural next, then Finland, what the hell. And move down through Denmark and stop at Saxony (if it's easy to get) unless and until it's time to greatly expand the borders. It's lovely how you can hold these 2-4 countries with one border.

Those are really good rules, Tozama In my own eyes, I'd bump up the importance of how a war would impact trade.

For me, Aragon and Spain are an all or none decision... Ultimately you only need to hold two provinces to have strong borders in the north (Aragon and Navarre are the strongest pair, but Toulouse and/or of course Aquitaine as England are also possible). The other border province can ultimately be swung all the way over to Sinai. Still, it can be a good holding pattern to regroup and beef up, to just attack the Aragonese first. I love how Valencia is a guaranteed bridge battle; I love attacking or defending across bridges. All told, Spain is a natural after the nordic lands. Katank, I really need to get around to reading your guide

When expanding further, get any great trade provinces of convenience, of course. (By this time, you should have ships all over.) A fair number of times I've seen Sicily go rebel; it's a lovely place to take.

Past that, one might move on several fronts. Russia is a mess at first, but ultimately highly defensible with only three border provinces. The middle east is messy too, but as a move out from Spain, ultimately adds only one more border province (if capturing all the way from Sinai, to Constantinople plus Georgia or Khazar). Italy is always somewhat fun to take.

My two cents. Conquer on