@Blodrast

Your guide link did not work for me. If you have a summary saved somewhere, do you mind copying to this thread?

@Katank

I tried your "blitz the English and Egypt on turn 1" with mixed success. It can definitely work, but I did not manage to pull it off totally. I took Anjou in turn 1 (besieged it to be accurate), but I did not venture an assault and waited for it to fall in 3 years. I simply did not have enough troops to simultaneously assault Brittany and Aquitaine. The English longbows are deadly, and I had no counter to their FMAA other than my Jedi king! So I waited until after Anjou fell and I got a Prince. And then I made my move against England. I did win in Brittany (barely), and would have captured their King if I won in Aquitaine too. Alas my King could not defeat their superior force. Although I lost badly, under different circumstances (e.g different terrain) I think I can win that battle.

As for the Egyptians, I did capture Syria and Palestine (with its castle intact!). But did not push into Sinai for fear of rebellions in the newly conquered provinces and the fact they had Gulam units of 80 men (yes, eighty! I didn't know you can build 80 cav in a regular campaign). I am happy with having Tripoli and Antioch secured. And with the extra provinces I may just outproduce the Egyptians.

@Blodrast again
I have not tried the "attack Wessex" strategy. I may try it if the other approaches fail. Taking Anjou has the benefit of protecting one side of Ile De France, which we all agree is crucial for French success.

@Psychosocioactive
A quick and deadly blow to the HRE is definitely tempting. I think, however, that it would stretch forces too much. If you wait till a decent merc force materializes, it may be too late. If you have successfully done it on high, I would like to know more detail on the build and attack sequences.

Keep the comments flowing. THanks for the help.

A few things I discovered:
1. Egypt will not try to land a marine force into Tripoli (although they can) as long as I had a nominal garrison there (100 peasants!)
2. At least for the first 4-5 turns, the HRE will leave you alone. I did, however, leave some troops on the border as a (nominal) deterrent. Had HRE invaded, I would be toast.

A few mistakes I made:
*I Built an Inn in Champagne instead of NOrmandy. It was totally dry, presumably because there was no war with HRE.
*I produced a ship from Toulouse thinking that I was gonna lose that province anyway and at least I could salvage a ship from it. Turns out that nobody attacked it, even though it only had 100 peasants. In hindsight, 3 UM's or even 3 peasants from it could have tipped the balance of the battle in Aquitaine that I eventually lost.

BTW, I did use peasants as flankers in a couple of battles and they sure made a difference. WHo said they are totally useless!


again, thanks.

CHeers
Afrit