Your Favourite Macro-Strategy

[Colovion]

What is the strategy that you most like using in a campaign? Something that you either find really effective or that you just like doing.

The kind of thing I like doing is finding a rebel province far from my empire, bribing them, and seeing how long I can hold on to that province - which makes the enemy usually concentrate on that province than their borders. It's easy when you're someone like the Byzantines or Turks in Early and can bribe almost any army easily, but it works nicely if you choose the right area, sometimes you can build a foothold that can be exploited if left alone by the surrounding factions for longenough.

[Blodrast]

i usually like to hole up in some corner and play nice to everybody until i get strong enough, and tech up all i want, and just blow up and start expanding at one point, and only stop when everybody else is dead.
i like having fully upgraded units, and I also like trying to manipulate the other factions, see if I can change who's gonna get stronger and who will be wiped out. For instance, I try to mess up powerful factions with agents (kill their royals, or incite rebellions) in such a way that they end up being dragged into a war they can't win (not with me), or weak enough that other AI factions have to seize the opportunity and attack them. For me, it's fun when I do that to an empire stretching over half the map or so, and see them collapse into civil war and the rest of the guys picking up the pieces...

[maestro]

I love to cause rebellions with Catholic factions by using agents. Assassination, Spying and - my favourite - burning heretics with 6* grand inquisitors!

Once you take out their generals and royalty they'll either die out completely or have a civil war

[Doug-Thompson]

Blitz openings.

[eddeduck]

I like to find a very rebelious province that will rebel against any invasion and use it as a training ground for my best general so he ends up with super stats and then use him against my enemies.

[Accounting Troll]

I like to hold on to somewhere easy to defend such as the British Isles or Denmark, and tech up so I can produce high valour units with gold armour and weapons upgrades, then I steamroller my way across Europe when the game reaches around 1350.

I train up my royal heirs by invading highly rebellious provinces, withdrawing and waiting for the next rebellion. My king executes all the captured rebels so he gets the no justice vice with a massive loyalty penalty which means the Scottish or Portugese will never decide to accept my rule.

[Tricky Lady]

I like to hold on to somewhere easy to defend such as the British Isles or Denmark, and tech up so I can produce high valour units with gold armour and weapons upgrades, then I steamroller my way across Europe when the game reaches around 1350.

Hey, that sounds just like a carbon copy of my preferred tactics!

Applying the tips in the forum's guides section (initial blitzes) I try to build up a solid empire with easy defendable borders, and then I start teching up and fending off the incoming crusades (I tend to play the Eastern factions). Once I feel strong enough, I start moving through Europe.
I usually accept the lesser victory, if I ever get there.

[Silver Rusher]

The kind of thing I like doing is finding a rebel province far from my empire, bribing them, and seeing how long I can hold on to that province - which makes the enemy usually concentrate on that province than their borders.

I agree. In MTW I used to always bribe provinces like Sweden, and Portugal, and on the high period, definately constantinople. I dunno, I guess I just like to have an empire which exists far and wide so that I have an eye and an influence on other parts of Europe.

In Rome however, I think I'm mainly gonna use underhand diplomatic techniques, i.e. making factions do stuff for me then backstabbin' 'em, mainly the 'demand and conquer' where I demand loads of stuff from a faction in return for offering myself as protectorate status, then the moment I get all that stuff immediatly rebel and kill the enemy, already having much of their lands, troops and denarii.

EDIT: Btw, all this stuff you are posting sounds very turtly, and what are Blitz Openings?

[ichi]

What is the strategy that you most like using in a campaign? Something that you either find really effective or that you just like doing.

Chokepoints. Like Flanders, or Constantinople. I like to expand out to a chokepoint and once I have a secure border then tech/economy up, then rapidly expand out, secure, and then tech/economy up, then repeat.

Other than exploiting the chokepoints, I try very hard not to simply beat the game using cheesy tactics. I build units that are not the most effective just to have done it. I don't raise taxes to very high 'cause I don't ike to pay very high taxes, I remove Guvs with bad vices like greed and outlaw, as a Catholic I try not to get excommed, and I never attack an ally.

[Colovion]

Blitz Openings is when you go all out from the beginning - surprising your opponents which are usually nto able to take you on in the beginning (and it's a tough battle for yourself too).

In my Turkish campaign I had to blitz the Egyptians so that I would have time to reform and attack the Byz before they started getting really awesome troops. It was a tough war but eventually I won by using my HA to my advantage as they had ntohing that could really counter them. Once I had the heartland around that area I was making loads of money just from owning them, once I got trade in the Med going I was rolling in the cash, bribing everyone through the steppes and Sweden. I found a rebel French army in Burgundy and bribed it. I made such an awesome foothold that I took out Lorraine and held it until my save file was corrupted after reinstalling windows.... lost that campaign - so annoying...

[Silver Rusher]

Oh, if that's what a blitz is, then that's always what I do. As the Almos, I blitz the Spanish completely, attacking all their provinces at once, with overwhelming force, which went wrong slightly when they expanded into navarre and bribed the Andalucians in Valencia, led by the accursed El Cid (I think he's too good...) but I got 'em anyway. The French had already destroyed Aragon and conquered Aquitaine, which was perfect for me because I could exploit the constant rebellions in those two provinces.

[Papewaio]

Create a solid nucleus of provinces with a nice wall around them... and then set up individual rich port provinces... Sweden and a couple of others near there, Portugal and a couple along the Med... then increase farms and mines with the surplus trade... hit back hard anyone who attacks... typically if they take one province, I leave them with one province.

[katank]

I usually blitz and find a nice rush from risking everything to smash a neighbor.

I usually define blitz to be attack from turn 1-5. Mine usually are in early and start in turn 1 or 2.

I pick on the neighbors to get defensible borders (minimum number) as well as lands to which are rich economically or are good strategically, iron, units, good point for reducing ship upkeep, etc.

Then I build up and try to play a bit of GA but usually find myself conquering too fast. An eye for an eye and the world's mine.

I'm trying turtling now and I can't say I like it much. The blitzing will usually make your royal line much much stronger at the beginning due to quick influence boosts and turtling means my royals don't become as jedi as quickly.

[Adrian II]

Colovion, my choice of strategy depends on my mood, the expected amount of time I can devote to a campaign (I prefer to play in a few long sessions, preferably over the weekend) and the faction I'm playing. I like to blitz now and then, particularly with the French who are my favourite European faction and who start out with English armies on their borders (or rather, on their lands) begging for some good old rout & ransom action. At other times I experiment with being a "good boy" and not upsetting my neighbours and those friendly Sicilians and the nice gentleman in Rome, all the while pursuing my GA goals whilst playing in the domination mode (and always on expert). Like Katank though, I find my royalty growing fat watching tv and my generals and governors getting all the lazy vices for sitting on the porch and waving at the Joneses for too long. I hoist them in the saddle, vices and all, to get a good run for my money. In other cases I try building an island empire in the Med, which is fun and requires a lot of all-round skills (diplomacy, naval build-up, spying, &cetera).

But the best game (which requires some real quality time and reflection) is trying to control and manipulate the other factions. I can recommend that to Katank since it is a challenge of the first order. You have to some serious calculation, examine stats of those provinces and map areas where you have limited access until mid-game, inquire into the nature and number of heirs of specific dynasties, etcetera. High valour assassins, crack troops and good naval deployment are essential as you start intervening "surgically" in other factions' affairs. Imagine the fun if you play the English and succeed in bringing down a mighty Byzantine empire on the far side of Europe, turning them into harmless rebels without committing huge armies and conquering countless sqaure miles of desert or steppe.

Well, to each his own, luckily the game allows for that.

[katank]

Well, I tried strategic agent spamming.

I was the French (also one of the factions I like) and had Castile cranking out Grand Inqs and Syria pumping out assasins.

I managed to keep about 90% the map that wasn't owned by me rebel and absolutely no faction had more than 4 ships in the water due to being eliminated so often

[Adrian II]

Well, I tried strategic agent spamming.

Katank, lol, seems you've mastered that strategy better than me! I try to take Malta asap as my forward base in the Med. This is well before I can pump out high val inqs and assassins, so it's fun trying to figure out how to take it without upsetting anyone bar the Sicilians. As the French, I'd combine this with a blitz v English, doing Papal waltzes of one turn in, one turn for the kill, and one turn to get h*** out and prevent excom. Also, the early English kings tend to go it alone on the battlefield, even during sieges. Once I sent a bunch of peasants out of Ghent Castle who lured the English king into my walls, whereupon I closed the gates and my militia general took care of his Royal knights at his, ehm, discretion.

[Dimeola]

I tend to be conservative at first. I think the economic system starts off very behind at first so I build my warchest. I provide a sound economic base and then work diplomatically and militarily. But then games differ and you need to be responsive to the circumstances. Your foes arent always obliging...buggers!
D

[katank]

the motto of try, try, try again works particularly well with inquisitors.

if the suckers don't fry the first turn, they likely will the second.

there wasn't any who could stand up to my 20 odd inqs and grand inqs each at v4 or v5 save this Hungarian king who somehow managed to get born again and had a crazy base piety of like 6-7. I ended up assasinating him. ha! sucker didn't build a border fort and my Syrian boys finished what my inqs couldn't.

inqs are in most cases preferable to assasins on catholics though.

I managed to also keep catholic europe full of 0* generals except for me who have 7* and 8*'s dotting the landscape.

the AI wars were so unproductive. deadlocks of 0* on 0* was so funny.

[CherryDanish]

I've been playing around with various strategies. I find that strategic agents in the catholic factions are very usefull. I use cardinals and bishops to create strong christian followings in muslim and pagan lands, the muslim provinces seem particularly prone to religious uprisings. A few years of this and the muslim factions are pretty much toast. Use emmisaries to bribe rebels and compliment the rebels with crusade forces and you won't even need to pause your conquest in the North to get the desert provinces and break the backs of the muslim factions. The downside to this is you help the muslims build powerfull generals. I usually keep twenty 3 star assassins on the border with the papal lands in a province I usualy try to target early (especially venice, but naples, genoa and milan all work, sea access is key though). If I get excommed (I made a point of NOT getting excommed), the pope dies next year. Assassins were also usefull in killing faction leaders if they had no heirs and then allowing me to attack and take claim to rebel provinces without getting excommed. I used grand inquisitors to attack generals and kings, but vanilla inquisitors to raise zeal. Starting at 0 valour all my GIs had 7 * valour, they tried to burn someone every round, never resting. Leaving low loyalty generals and guys with low acumen and dread, I managed to stir up loads of rebellions in neighboring factions, but the downside was that largely the factions I sent my inquisitors after became very passive and lacked aggression. I could not bait them into attacking me to get excommed so I could open up on them even though we were at war and I was kicking their allies butt all over the map. Defensively, I found the combo of one bishop, one spy, one assassin to be very awesome in all my home provinces. I had one general assassinated the whole campaign and that was while being spammed by my guys killing papal agent messages. I have no idea how 3 provinces can make so much agent fodder. The upside was that my agents got valour for finding all these agents so I had some pretty solid spies and assassins. As to being defensive, I had one faction re-emergance in my controlled territories (still a mystery to me, loyalty was at 200) and no rebellions, even portugal was at 200% loyalty at very high taxes. Lastly foriegn religious agents trying to do what I was doing to their factions found it impossible with all tghe bishops I had around. As a bonus, I had bishops and emmisaries everywhere, so I knew everything that was going on and could react accordingly.

As the muslims I found agents less attractive, but still usefull. Defensively I liked having the spy, assassin, alim (sp?) combo I had used for christians (subbing the lower level muslim religious agent for the lower level catholic agent) and found I had NO rebellions and no re-emerging factions. Offensively, the only benefit was having provinces fully muslim before invading, lowering the chance of rebellion. I did not use spies to open sieges and I rarely used assassins as there were no excom issues.

I have yet to try orthodox agents in this test.

EDIT: FYI, do not bother burning bad HRE faction leaders as regardless of heirs, they'll just elect a new one. You can't kill the faction with agents easily.

[ichi]

Nice post Cherry

A Spy, Bishop, and Assassin in each of my provs, and a Bishop, GI, or Emissary in all the AI provs, has proven to be the best way to help prov loyalty and make the game go faster and easier.

I also like the 'spam-the-Pope if excommed' trick.

ichi

[Quietus]

My best "Macro-Strategy" is to go through North Africa. From Iberian Peninsula to Constantinople and Kazar or vice versa. Makes the campaign so much easier.

With appropriate ships on ALL lanes, the game is relatively over when you hold those regions from front on end.

Reminds me of the 3 essential province chokepoints in STW.

[The Grand Inquisitor]

I like to find a very rebelious province that will rebel against any invasion and use it as a training ground for my best general so he ends up with super stats and then use him against my enemies.

Pereyaslavl is great for this as the Hungarians: conquer, withdraw, uprises with one or two units, return with a couple of units of szekely to defend the river crossing! Repeat. I usually use this type of tactic to train the heir.

[The Grand Inquisitor]

I love to cause rebellions with Catholic factions by using agents. Assassination, Spying and - my favourite - burning heretics with 6* grand inquisitors!

Once you take out their generals and royalty they'll either die out completely or have a civil war

My most successful year's burning was King William IV, Prince Stephen and Prince Henry ... and that was the end of the English. Needless to say I use this tactic a lot. Tip: when starting out with an inquisitor burn any available target with a low piety, regardless of its strategic importance just to gather the *s. Once you have 5 or 6* inquisitors, then you can go after Royals/high piety generals.

[gaijinalways]

Hi all,

I play GA games and in these I like trading for the points and money it brings. So, I don't need to rush anyone and I can build up slowly. Yet, I like to take advantage of provinces that are rich for trade that rebel as I can take them over without causing a war! Often I look for oppotunities near my borders but also farther away.

The agents are great for keeping peace in your own land and causing trouble to go away. Causing rebellions also is sometimes fun, especially if you can get the rebels to attack another faction when the faction tries to invade. I use the rebel lands (the nonproductive ones, i.e. low on trade and with no valuable resource) as buffer zones so that ideally all my neighbors are rebels.

In addition, sometimes you can provoke attacks by not attacking. The AI doesn't like my looks and goes on a suicide rampage if it thinks I am ;

--too rich
--have too many provinces
--too close to his border
--disagreeable about making a treaty with it

Longer games allow you to use many units and managing the economy is a lot of fun (not that I don't like the battles too)!