Computer-Controlled Factions: Best and Worst?

[Martok]

I believe this is the case especially in MTW 1.0 without the VI expansion installed. Last year I bought the Battle Pack but I played a long Byzantine campaign in 1.0 first (I didn't know that VI+the patch added so many really nice features ) and then the Almohads defeated the Spaniards and England ruled over France. I've never seen those two countries expanding after installing the expansion pack.

I believe this has been the experience with most players who played the original MTW and then got Viking Invasion later on, myself included. With the original Medieval, there were very few games where the western half of the map wasn't dominated by the Almohads--the Caliphate's AI was not only aggressive, but it was also simply too good at taking advantage of the fact that it had the best troops in the Early period, particularly its urban militia.

On the other hand, England's troops aren't anything special in the Early perioed. This didn't matter, however, because in the original Medieval, the French AI was so weak that the English could've beat them with the proverbial one hand tied behind their back. This was the other major reason why the Almos were able to push into Western Europe so easily.

Once I installed Viking Invasion, though, I noticed that the Almohad and French AI's were essentially reversed. The French became much more aggressive (hence one of the reasons they get ex-commed so often), and the Almos generally reverted to fighting on the defensive against Spain and Aragon. With Viking Invasion installed, about the only times I see the Almos take any kind of offensive actions is that they sometimes invade Portugal (which of course is a foolhardy excercise, especially if they haven't converted the Portuguese first), or to retake a province that's been conquered by someone else. Aside from that, I never see them in an aggresive posture at all anymore.