Finally got the game last night and installed it no problems. Now I have the red eyes from staying up till 3 to show for it.

Some questions, some of which will show how ignorant I can truly be, and some of which may impress you as to how quick a study I can be

1) After you install VI, is there ever a need to use the original 2 discs of MTW (other than maybe a reinstall or something like that)?

2) I played about 20 turns last night with the Italians because I figured money wise it would be interesting to see what all those buildings do. I cued up all these buildings and units to start producing, but I noticed that only some were built and others weren't. I understand that some buildings take longer to build, but even the ones that said 1 year sometimes took 3 or 4, even though I had plenty of cash to pay for them. Same with units. I'd cue up some galleys to build in Venice along with some spearment, etc. and it might take 5 or 6 turns to complete.

Is there some sort of logic as to what gets built first among your provinces (i.e. better governors, etc.) Or maybe I didn't have them listed in the proper order (i.e. cue the things that take 1 year to build first, and longer one are cued in the other boxes)?

3) I keep hearing about this Italian Light Infantry. Are they noted as such by name or are they simply "spearmen". I teched Venice up the wazoo with various buildings, and eventual Genoa and Milan as well, but never saw any of the specialized units like ILI and Genoa sailors.

4) Re: 2 year papal warning about excommunication. Do you have 2 years to simply conquer the provinence, or do you need to conquer all the provinces of the entire faction in those 2 years?

I attacked Germany who had a position in the territory to the left of Genoa, but didn't get a warning. A few years later, I attacked them in the territory a little north east of Milan (connects with Milan and Venice) and that's when I got warned. Why not on the first assualt on Germans, but then on the second?

5) I guess I was playing very conservative because on many turns I found myself not doing much of anything other than checking building and unit cues and maybe moving a ship around. Am I missing some major steps somewhere?

6) When you go into battle, is there an easy way to find the enemy so you can point your army that way? When I get to that place your army screen before beginning battle, I never know where to put them because I can't find the enemy. Am I too assume that the default setting at least has the troops facing in the right direction?

It was interesting because by turn 5 or 6, I was pretty much allied with every faction except for Germany and Byzantines. I took Serbia fairly easily and built a gold mine and port, and then I guess I got lazy because I was surrounded by allies. It was only when the Germans showed up that I went back on the offensive. I was too scared to invade Greece from Serbia becase the Byzs had several units spread over a couple of different provinces. So I was worried I could knock one out, but then that would leave Serbia open, which was not good because it was quickly developing into rich lands.

Anyway, great game. I can see where the next several hundred hours are going to be spent. I definitely need to work on my battle camera work and troop manuevering though.