Quote Originally Posted by Doug-Thompson
I don't see any way to account for the very wide variety of experiences people are reporting with the strategy game.
Actually, it's quite easy and you explain it yourself below:

Hordes are wild. Crusades in M:TW were usually focused on the Levant provinces. If not, they had a specific region as a goal.

Hordes are just looking for a home. They might attack your province. They might not.
You explained it quite well :)

There's inevitably going to be a certain bit, indeed, perhaps major bit of randomness. Who do the Huns attack first? How well does that attack go? Where does that tribe go next? Do they attack another tribe or invade the empire? Which of your cities will revolt due to various circumstances - I've had different ones each game. That's not scripted I'm certain, there's randomness in all that.

I thought things were going well, I was making 5,000+ per turn as the WRE, then I get the Vandals, Goths and Huns all heading for Illyricum/Pannonia/N Italy. That was a bitch.