Why on earth is there no real fighting

[BeeSting]

The conditions presented in this game, both in the battlefield map and the campaign map, are too sophisticated for the AI to fully exploit.

[Quietus]

If you occupy it, you would then have to defend your existing border plus the new province (salient).

That's why you put your army in the middle of their territories to bait them into attacking. Without the armies, you simply stroll in!

I am sure you understand all this when you mention North Africa, because in MTW the key thing about North Africa as a path for conquest was that you could attack and occupy provinces without widening your front and hence without numbers.

As for the "North Africa" tactic, that is too easy because of the fact that you are fighting on the map edge with the sea to the other side... You only have to worry about getting attacked from the army in front of you or a naval invasion.

The "North Africa" is the best strategy not just because it is the easiest, but it is also the most logical.

1) Trade - The richest provinces are in Byzantine, Egyptian and Spanish territories. The Almohad and the Turks are not bad either. You must have to control the mediterranean for those lucrative trades.
2) Happiness - Place the faction leader in Spain or Constantinople and with control of the mediterranean and the north seas, then you don't have to worry about mass rebellions.
3) Easiest Path- This was the easiest path as was mentioned before.

Without the first two, I won't go through NA. I've never played HRE because they don't have interesting units, but I've played the English and the Danes. I still went through NA. Even if I play HRE today, I will still invade Spain!

You must be talking about a Weaker faction like Aragon, or The Danes then, because I have rarely ever experienced a time when a single battle killed off a faction that wasn't already crippled beyond help.

No, all factions. Take province where it borders all the other enemy armies, they will attack the next turn. If the AI has other holdings far the place, of course they will survive if they have heirs, but the very least, they are crippled.

Sometimes I have seen it do something very unexpected, such as sinking some ships and then sending around six stacks across the ocean towards one of my lightly defended backwater provinces, rather than doing a straigtforward counterattack on my front line.

I always aimed for complete dominance of the seas (and I've did it in all my campaigns). My personal rule is 2 ships per lane (in case there is a storm). If there is a neutral ship there that is not physical threat to my armies, then I just add ships (at least one more than the enemy).

With the North Africa Strategy, the Italians are harmless. When I attack the french or the Germans, I simply sink all their ships at the same time (always two more ships than the enemy), then I attack their lands. But only when I'm ready for invasion the very next turn.

Unlike RTW, those counterattacks in MTW *could* actually win at times on expert. The battlefield AI was a lot stronger in MTW. When the AI saw it had a large advantage it generally used it. It wasn't particularly subtle, but it did tend to overwhelm the player at times.

Trading space for time, and to stretch out the resources of the attacker is a textbook way to beat an invader.

If you have at least medium units with a full stack, you are really invincible. If you place your army in the middlelof their provinces, they will attack at the same time. This is as opposed to pushing them back all the time, until all their stacks are in few provinces.

Of course I don't let the enemy grow enough to make humungous numbers of stacks. I attack as fast as possible. I just make sure I already know what the AI's options when I attack, as well as my own capabilities: Can I build enough reinforcements? Can I build Spies, religious agents and emissaries for every province I take? Do I have control of the seas?

I'm also a builder, so all the provinces are building non-stop. The rush tactic is there only because there are no other options but wars.