My tips on efficient campaign play

[ichi]

Good thread, afrit. Glad to see that you have changed your mind on auto-tax. Simply set each province - I try to never use Very High - and then check using the shift key before each turn ends.

I never use auto-merge units feature as I want to be able to manage the recomibination process. Remember that valor/morale is tracked by individual, whle armor and weapons upgrades are tracked by unit, so how unis are combined is very important. Once I have taken care of the important recombinations, I just hit M on the province and the rest recombine automatically.

Peasants as garrison. OK, but there are better options. Peasants are worthless in battle, and with only peasants as garrison you are vulnerable should an enemy break your main line. Never lose your main line??? Then you are probably overbuilding armies on the frontier, which quickly zaps your savings from leaving peasants behind.

I try to garrison interior provinces with a high acumen governor (unless he is a good general) and another unit. This usually means I have a 60-man Urban Militia or Archer unit along with a slightly depleted Slav Warrior unit or some similar group. I add an archer or other odd unit to those provinces that generally have loyalty issues (Portugal, Scotland, Arabia, etc).

My tip for a successful campaign is to build money first, the upgrade provinces, then build the best troops before expanding. Of course there are endless variations, but I find it best to get trade and province $$$ upgrades like mines and farms and trading posts FIRST. Economy is the engine that drives your empire.

Once the money is there, then upgrade the provinces. I like to use small armies of very high quality troops. The AI uses a Soviet style strtegy of buildings lots of cheap units. Properly used, a few high quality troops will sweep them fields of masses of rabble. And it is a less expensive army to maintain. I frequently disband obsolete units unless I think they can serve as garrison troops, and I rarely build peasants or other militia.

ichi

[Ludens]

Remember that valor/morale is tracked by individual

How do you know that morale is tracked per individual? From the log-files?

[maestro]

My tip for a successful campaign is to build money first, the upgrade provinces, then build the best troops before expanding. Of course there are endless variations, but I find it best to get trade and province $$$ upgrades like mines and farms and trading posts FIRST. Economy is the engine that drives your empire. Once the money is there, then upgrade the provinces. I like to use small armies of very high quality troops. The AI uses a Soviet style strtegy of buildings lots of cheap units. Properly used, a few high quality troops will sweep them fields of masses of rabble. And it is a less expensive army to maintain. I frequently disband obsolete units unless I think they can serve as garrison troops, and I rarely build peasants or other militia.
ichi

Wise w0rds. Thass what I do, too. The only problem you get, of course, is that the game is too damn easy.

I try to aim to have a massive annual profit with a 1/4 million in the bank and all the upgrades you need to build the good, high era troops like CMAA etc, with upgrades where possible by the time high comes around in 1205. Keep things small, but extremely high quality and then as 1205 arrives you're ready with a load of dosh to build some serious kick-ass troops that'll just wipe the floor with anything the AI will throw at you for some time. Then you can get onto massive expansion

[afrit]

I never use auto-merge units feature as I want to be able to manage the recomibination process. Remember that valor/morale is tracked by individual, whle armor and weapons upgrades are tracked by unit, so how unis are combined is very important. Once I have taken care of the important recombinations, I just hit M on the province and the rest recombine automatically.

Peasants as garrison. OK, but there are better options. Peasants are worthless in battle, and with only peasants as garrison you are vulnerable should an enemy break your main line. Never lose your main line??? Then you are probably overbuilding armies on the frontier, which quickly zaps your savings from leaving peasants behind.

ichi

ichi,
good replies. I agree with you on the auto-merge. At the time I initially posted, I was not aware of the M shortcut. Now I do exactly what you suggest.

As for tax, in the early stages of a campaign you can do custom-tax, but later on I think auto-tax is way easier. I personally still use auto-tax.

Peasants as garrisons. The one advantage of peasants is that they can always be produced by the conquered provinces with just a fort. I nowadays have a "spearhead" of good quality troops that I use to conquer new provinces followed by waves of peasants for garrisoning and keeping loyalty. Then move on to next provinces. When my main frontier gets breached, I scramble a defense as needed.

While that may not be the best, in sense of winning, strategy, I prefer it for its efficiency. And by efficient in the initial post I meant strategies that shorten the real-life time of a campaign so they take days instead of weeks.

cheers,
Afrit

[Sir Toma of Spain]

I know that to get the steward virtue the governor has to be in his provence and you have to build a farming upgrade but how do you get the trader virtue, i find it impossible.

Oh and by the way great thread learnt a lot of stuff

[Ludens]

I know that to get the steward virtue the governor has to be in his provence and you have to build a farming upgrade but how do you get the trader virtue, i find it impossible.

You get the trader-virtue for building mines.

[katank]

I prefer cheap troops like spears and archers. I save on maintenance and can defeat AI knights and MAA very cost effectively.

@ ludens, I hope by high quality you don't mean crank BG units like crazy. I found that perhaps the number 1 mistake players make in bankrupting themselves.

Economy is key. good farming and mines to finance ships and major trade boom.

[Ludens]

@ ludens, I hope by high quality you don't mean crank BG units like crazy.

I am sorry but I have no idea what you are refering to. Perhaps you are confusing the post of another member with mine?

[katank]

sorry ludens, I think it's ichi's post.

just wanted to clarify as often people think BG units like RKs or Ghulam guards as high quality and pump them out like crazy while turtling and that just kills the economy like nothing.

[Sir Toma of Spain]

You get the trader-virtue for building mines.

Really, i'll try that hope it works

[katank]

pick a province with salt mine (ie. not worth much) and build the basic mine and strip it down again and again to get the trader virtue easily.