Seven Wars!

[Son of Charlemagne]

Hi I'm new to the boards, not the game.

This following is first for me...I thought you might find it interesting...

I am France in the year 1167 and I am currently at was with SEVEN factions The funny thing is, I'm playing on Glorious Achievements Mode and I am not interested in conquest. I just want to keep the mainland of France unified. The only place I have conquered outside of the Eurpoean Mainland is Tripoli on Crusade.

Anyway, everyone wants a piece of France's heartland I guess...

1. I've been at war with England since the beginning. I've got them crumbled onto the British Isles, but they have a three star ship in the English Channel. It destroys every barque I put in the water, so I cannot trade out of Flanders or Normandy. The Pope forbids me to attack them.

2. The Turks have been my enemies since I sacked Tripoli.

3. The Egyptians tried to capture it from me and failed, but have the province surrounded.

4. Italy recently attempted an invasion of Provence and I repelled them. They are attacking my ships along the southern coasts of Europe.

5. Sicily has gotten a foothold in Milan and stacked up to invade Burgundy. They are also battling my ships around Spain.

6. For some reason, the Germans recently sank one of my barques. The funny thing is, they only have one ship in their navy

7. Finally, Spain jumped on the KILL FRANCE bandwagon with an invasion of Aquitaine. That has by far been my single most embattled province since the start.

All of this and it's not like I'm aggressive or passive. I have firm control of Western Europe but am not trying to expand in too many places.

[Son of Charlemagne]

Excuse me. WAR not WAS.

[AssasinsShadow]

Ouch, that's wacked, what difficulty are you playing on? I've never been at war with more than 3 factions at a time... then again, i've also never finished a game

[massamuusi]

They think you are a weakling, which is true, you let them attack you without fear of retribution. I say you need a punishment expedition. March to berlin and sack it, march to london, sack it too, and go home. You will retreat within the time pope gives you, and you looted their capitals, their infrastructure is wasted and you swim in cash. Also, you get respect from them.
Or, you could simply conquer few countries, to permanently shut them up.

The thing is, I make nice kingdom, and everyone is my pals. Then they stop liking me cause I have so nice empire, and I must go and conquer them to stop them from attacking me. And my new neighbours respect me. One day they turn against me, and I have to silence them aswell. Get new neighbours again.
It's a vicious cycle. You either conquer or you will be conquered. If not by your neighbours, maybe by some distant foreign power that takes your weak neighbours. And they will crush you with their overwhelming power. Grind you. That's why expansion is vital. You need to be powerful to fight off powerful enemies.

[Son of Charlemagne]

I'm playing on Hard from the Early Era. I'm not sure what the deal is.

I think being France invites that somewhat. You've got England to the north, west, and in the middle when you start. You've got HRE to the east. You've got Aragon to the south, and once they're destroyed, its only a matter of time before Spain or the Almohads (whichever one wins that war) attacks you. You've also got Italy to the south east if they defeat the Germans in that region. Finally, you've got the Crusades, which never make you popular with the Islamic factions.

But I've never faced seven at one time before. It's odd.

[massamuusi]

According to my experience they are not special in any way. Only difference is their central position in europe, they are The Centre. Even HRE is not equally centre, as they have only Poland in the east, and loads of rebels behind Polish, and Polish are so easy to wipe out, whereas France will see tough resistance in all directions.
Then again, they have massive income, and generally good troops. Good troops- able to afford them = mighty nation.

Like I said, only thing you're doing wron is that you're not aggressive enough.

[nick_maxell]

If you are worried about the pope and need to build troops instead of asassins - attack when your king or the pope hit 65 yrs of age - the excom won t last long and you can hit them with a stick during that time teaching them some respect (and getting some influence/money) - the eggies will jihad you anyways so try to make peace with the current naval power in the med to be able to reinforce. The amount of opponents is odd but I guess you grabbed Provence too soon and italy got nervous.

anyways GL - may the better general win the game ;)



nick

[Despot of the English]

I often find that the French-held lands at the start of the game, being very rich, are the target of many factions in a mass land grab although I often find that the HRE do not always attack so early( probably because of problems of their own against the Poles and Hungarians).

As the French you must get rid of the English asap and it also helps to extinguish the Aragonese threat because those pesky little blighters love to invade the south - they've caught me with my pants down several times as my attention has often been on the English.

But the French GAs are some of the best in the game, especialy the Krak des Chevaliers. I begin raising large armies for crusade when I start making large profits only to have a faction invade right at the moment I was going for God and glory .

[Leo]

Quote[/b] (massamuusi @ July 26 2004,03:10)]March to berlin and sack it,

Nothing to sack there as Berlin doesn't exist at that time. Just a big swamp.

[massamuusi]

That's cause I already sacked it with my turkish horde

[Sociopsychoactive]

Are you going only for GA goals/ so not conqueing anything other than our helands, or crusader states? That makes it more difficult than you;d think, but makes for an interesting game. Depending on the pope I;d do a few attacks on your neighbours just to eliminate the bulk of their armies, then withdraw without sieging and sit on your borders.

[Son of Charlemagne]

Yeah I'm using raids to hurt their armies. I don't want any new provinces to manage, I just want to keep their armies hurting.

Don't get me wrong, fellas. I'm not complaining or looking for a solution to a problem on this one. I just think its funny that I'm at war with seven factions.

[massamuusi]

I've been in war with all of them....

[Makuri_Dog]

I agree with Massamuusi that if not attacking then you will be attacked and attacking and withdrawing can give you some respite (they may also be more inclined to ceasefire?). Also if those provinces rebel then its not really conquering if you take them after that...really.
I have been at war with this many factions before but not usually in early era and biggest problem i had then was NO TRADE. So if intent on GA and not conquering then ceasefire missions maybe needed, although they don't seem to work very often.

[Son of Charlemagne]

Quote[/b] (Makuri_Dog @ July 26 2004,14:49)]I agree with Massamuusi that if not attacking then you will be attacked and attacking and withdrawing can give you some respite (they may also be more inclined to ceasefire?). Also if those provinces rebel then its not really conquering if you take them after that...really.
I have been at war with this many factions before but not usually in early era and biggest problem i had then was NO TRADE. So if intent on GA and not conquering then ceasefire missions maybe needed, although they don't seem to work very often.

Yes

That's why being friends with Spain is so important. They've defeated the Almohads and now rule all of Iberia and the African Coast.

[massamuusi]

You need naval supremacy. All great nations need navies. When I say navy, I mean Navy. Whoop their fishers ass. Bow to no one.

[Son of Charlemagne]

By way of updates...

I now rule all of western europe, all of the british isles, and tripoli, palestine, and antioch.

The aragonesse are gone, as are the english. I also crushed the italians.

i have ships in every coastal sea province.

[massamuusi]

You learn quick,young jedi... Good... good... Let the anger control you