Quote Originally Posted by Martok
In Viking Invasion, the Almos' AI was switched from "aggressive" to "defensive" (or whatever the opposite designation is). They start with the same assets as they do in original Medieval, but they rarely try to attack anymore (except the occasional invasion of Portugal, and/or to retake lands lost to another faction). That's why you can smack them around so easily with VI installed.

Well, I suppose it's more historically accurate, in that they were more into enriching their level of culture within certain territories, rather than being expansionist aggressors. Still, it's a pity about the change in VI. I'm going to miss being the English and encountering camels in Aquitaine

This next bit really belongs in the 'Pics & History of your Empire' thread but I'll stick it here for the time being, as I referred to it on page 2...

The French crusade has made no further forays since its second time of being repulsed and is reduced to suffering desertions in Hungary. I must track down the French king to see what his influence is now. They reduced the English to just Scotland and finished the HRE, so they're otherwise quite a power in this game. I'll soon have enough troops spare to expand into Hungarian lands and I wouldn't mind betting that the remnants of it will still be around to play a part in the defence against me.

The Spanish crusade surprised me by not using the Italian ships after all. Instead, it came over land, via the Papal States. A daft thing to do as this allowed me to reconnect my ship lanes and have a spare turn in which to shuffle units around to get precisely the mix of troops I wanted and get the right general in place.

I had a keep under construction in Naples, which was 2 years from completion in the turn I expected their actual attack and contemplated cancellation when they failed to take the sea route to Sicily. The bad news for them was that I just about matched their troop numbers, which made me a bit more gung-ho, so I let the build continue. We won but with considerable use of reinforcements, an unimpressive ratio of 2.5 to 1 but casualties of around 700 (give or take my captured men get returned to me). More pleasing was that the 750 they had left didn't make a second attack and the keep is now completed. This allows me to leave a small garrison behind and either redeploy excess troops elsewhere or say 'screw the trade' and make a bid for Rome.

My Byz holdings are now close to being on a par with their historical peak, as seen in a TV programme about their fire-ships, which I watched avidly, the other day. Tunisia will complete the North African picture, once I've dealt with the three stacks of Spanish currently holding it. Rome is beckoning, if not historically a part of it. Khazar and Crimea are mine. Pereslavl has been strangely empty for over ten years and I could have walked into it at any time in the past five but didn't want to weaken Khazar unduly. I gamesaved with an 'attack' in progress but my one-and-only remaining ally, Novgorod, have made rapid advances against rebels recently and are positioned next door to it too. If we both grab on the same turn, it could turn nasty on the northern border.

The Reliqary is complete in the Capital and the Cathedral is under way. Should be finished by 1197. Trade is good, 6-7 destinations on most export lists, profits around 6500 per year. Balance is under 20k but that's because just about every province is busy building something. Spy training starts year after next. Peachy.