I'm converted

[Martok]

That is a pretty huge ransom and it was all because of the Sicilians. I have never had a lasting alliance with them and when ever I reach them in the water they almost always start a fight . The rats won’t even roll over in 2 years to save you an excom .

Yes, I also hate the Sicilians (with the fire of a thousand supernovas). I despise them more than any other faction in the entire game, including the Turks. (No offense to the MTW players of Sicilian and Turkish descent out there; I just don't like dealing with your ancestors from 900 years ago. ) I usually make a point of destroying them as soon as it's practical to do so. This is when it's nice to play as the Italians or the Pope (I have Medieval installed with the XL mod).

Despite the Sicilians and the Pope, however, I really had no one to blame but myself for letting my Crown Prince get captured like that. Having him engage in that particular battle was admittedly of questionable intelligence to begin with. I was outnumbered approximately 3-to-1, which was risky enough (although I had the better general and higer-quality units). My biggest mistake, however, came during the battle against the Papal army. After gaining the upper hand in the opening stages of the engagement, the tide of battle gradually turned against me as the Pope's reinforcements gradually wore down my men. I eventually realized victory was no longer possible and I gave the order to withdraw, but it was already too late. In what turned out to be one of my most humiliating defeats I've ever suffered playing MTW, the Vatican's forces ran down my crown prince and captured him along with his knights.

And yes, 55,000 florins is a huge ransom--a hefty price to pay for my pride and arrogance. Nice to know this game can still teach me lessons in humility, even after all this time.