The Spanish campaign(s)

[Tony Furze]

Hello.
Here s a fairly typical campaign since I started in Dec.
Spanish/Early/Easy

I get I beria okay,leaving out Portugal.I take Navarre. This is my fifith attempt at this campaign-four times I ve "lost"

I carry on against the al Mohads,taking Morrocco, all the way to Cyrenecia. I ve learnt not to use the Crusade option until necessary. So I ve used it only once so far against the al Mohads in Granada,mainly to trap them in Cordoba.It went well.

After Cyrenecia the al Mohads disappear for a while.At this stage money is really low and I have to decide whether to put up with the insufficient funds message,or give up. I decide to stick it out.

I mange to build ships 2x2 from Castille then from Leon stretching around the N Sea. In come begins to improve.

The French send a Crusade to Portugal where the al Mohads have reappeared.I remove all my troops from the provinces the Crusade route,then attack with the French,who only have 500 men against my 1000+We win and I get the province.

Then I see a way to Ireland and send an army there.Beat them.

I send my second Crusade to Tripoli-the Egyptians.

My king dies of a "disease".There are only two little girl heiresses,end of campaign.

Before I ve lost due to lack of funds-a state of bankruptcy.
Also once I (foolishly) committed my princes to battles.
Then I even got to post 1400 in a showdown with the French but my kingdom fell apart with multiple rebellions.

Questions: should I have stabbed the French in the back in Portugal?
how do you make money quickly?

[R'as al Ghul]

how do you make money quickly?

You could capture some nobles and sell them back. You could have tried to capture the Almohad leader or a prince.
Making money quick is difficult, better is to build up your economy before waging war. You could make peace with France and build up an atlantic trade route or use your crusades to gain profitable provinces in the holy land. Sometimes, when you are a good christian, the pope will send you some money.
There're also some guides in the M:TW section that are worth reading.

[Tony Furze]

Thanks R'as al Ghul.
How do you "capture" nobles and a leader?
I built up the agriculture as well as I could but barely got above 10 000 fls in the whole campaign. It all ended well before 1205.
The Pope DID send around 3000 fls(where did it go?On maintenace?)which was quite generous. There s a problem of my balancing the accounts/books I feel.
I even retrained alot to save expense of new troops,and kept to low level armies as we were fighting in the desert.
TF

[caravel]

Hello.
Here s a fairly typical campaign since I started in Dec.
Spanish/Early/Easy

I get I beria okay,leaving out Portugal.I take Navarre. This is my fifith attempt at this campaign-four times I ve "lost"

You should first try and sieze Navarre and Valencia, then work towards taking Aragon because if you leave it too late it will be full of Early Royal Knights, while building up to crusading against the Almohads. The Aragon and Navarre northern border will provide you with a good mountainous defensive point.

I carry on against the al Mohads,taking Morrocco, all the way to Cyrenecia. I ve learnt not to use the Crusade option until necessary. So I ve used it only once so far against the al Mohads in Granada,mainly to trap them in Cordoba.It went well.

You should use the Crusades against the Almohads, and take almost all of their provinces, just leave one. The crusading will boost your kings influence, thus reducing the likelihood of civil wars.

After Cyrenecia the al Mohads disappear for a while.At this stage money is really low and I have to decide whether to put up with the insufficient funds message,or give up. I decide to stick it out.

Don't bother with Cyrenacia, if the Almohads were there then it was an ideal place to leave them.

I mange to build ships 2x2 from Castille then from Leon stretching around the N Sea. In come begins to improve.

This is important, you will need good fleets to surround your coastlines, and then extend them to those seas containg the most ports in order to start bringing in the trade income.

The French send a Crusade to Portugal where the al Mohads have reappeared.I remove all my troops from the provinces the Crusade route,then attack with the French,who only have 500 men against my 1000+We win and I get the province.

This is the problem, the Almohads reappeared. If you'd have left them with that one province this wouldn't have occured. Also portugal should be one of your prime aquisitions. It should be taken, garrissoned with as many peasants as necessary, then you should build militia buildings, a church, and a brothel if necessary, keeping it on very low taxes. When spies are available, place one in there to improve loyalty. All of the Almohads ex provinces should be above 120% loyalty or the Almohads will reappear (this is why they can reappear when one of their ex provinces is rebel).

Then I see a way to Ireland and send an army there.Beat them.

Ireland is too distant and will tie up one of your armies for not alot of return. You will have to build a port, and develop it. It's best avoided until you've conquered Britain.

I send my second Crusade to Tripoli-the Egyptians.

Not a good crusade target, again a distant province, and you're not strong enough in your homelands. The egyptians will put you under immense pressure trying to retake the province and may declare a jihad, you will need a strong navy connecting to these lands in order to bring in your reinforcements. If your fleets were controlling those seas then it might have been a good idea, at a later stage.

My king dies of a "disease".There are only two little girl heiresses,end of campaign.

Before I ve lost due to lack of funds-a state of bankruptcy.
Also once I (foolishly) committed my princes to battles.
Then I even got to post 1400 in a showdown with the French but my kingdom fell apart with multiple rebellions.

This can happen to anyone, don't worry about it!

Questions: should I have stabbed the French in the back in Portugal?
how do you make money quickly?

You probably should have got to Portugal before them. You may have had an opportunity to use spies in portgual and try to trigger a rebellion (with a possible almohad reappearance!), this would have given you an excuse to crusade. Taking on the French would have been an option. Don't worry too much about alliances.

How do you "capture" nobles and a leader?

When you fight a battle and win you may capture fleeing enemy troops. The ransom on these is higher if they are nobility or royalty.

I built up the agriculture as well as I could but barely got above 10 000 fls in the whole campaign. It all ended well before 1205.

You should only build up the agriculture in those provinces which will give a worthwhile return. It should be done quite early on before you start going to war. Spending several 1000's of florins teching Cyrenacia up to 80% farmland wouldn't be a good idea for example.

The Pope DID send around 3000 fls(where did it go?On maintenace?)which was quite generous. There s a problem of my balancing the accounts/books I feel.
I even retrained alot to save expense of new troops,and kept to low level armies as we were fighting in the desert.
TF

The pope sends money when he has it, though you can't rely on it. Your economic game is probably not up to scratch, but when I started playing this game neither was mine, nor anyones. Eventually you'll get used it all, and prioritise how/what/when/where you construct/train/invade etc.

Regards


Scrotus

[Tony Furze]

Chez (I prefer Chez)
Thanks,and more thanks. This is what I need. Im up to my eyeballs in MTW guides and I ve read them all at least once. Im really really really bad at translating words to practice.

My dealing with the French Crusade was purely intuitive-"Don t let them use any of your troops,"said the small voice,"then you ll get Portugal".

In one of the other campaigns I bribed both Portugal and Valencia (theCid). It worked quite well, and the bribes were affordable.

The 2x2 ships I remembered from your advice-keep two in each region.

May give it another go tonight or try another faction for a break.

Very best wishes and thanks again.
TF

[tigger_on_vrb]

Good advice from CheziScrotus XVI, but I'd like to add my own opinion about Portugal. Heres my strategy and it has served me well:

Take all of the Iberian penisula which is rebel except Portugal and without declaring war on anyone I always bribe El Cid. Meanwhile build up an army and ports+ships where possible. Have a bishop in each province of Iberia and maybe the first 2 provinces in north Africa.
The Alomohads will get restless with the teritories they have and will want war, but in my experience the AI will always take rebel provinces before war with the player. This means eventually they will attack Portugal. This is not easy to do for the computer because of the army there and the fact they will get solid christian uprisings. Once they have worn themselves out and reduced there forces sufficiently THEN you attack. The perfect time to do this is when you have seen a large rebellion in Portugal and you invade the Province directly below your holdings (name anyone?). Between you and the rebels you shouls wipe out most of their forces. If you time the attack well the Alomohads will have very few forces left to challenge you.

After taking out the Alomohads I wipe out Aragorn in 2 turns (so you dont get excommunicated) and then go for Egypt. Jinettes, feudal sgts, archers and a few feudal MAA are an awsome desert force.

[jadast]

I bribe Navarre and Valencia then attack Aragon. Ships I build out of Valencia not Leon because I want troops being produced in there due to the iron advantage. By this time Portugal and the Almohads are usually fighting. I try to take advantage of them both at this time to lock up the remaining provinces. Moving to Africa at this point and driving through to Tunisia. This will give you 3 provinces that can become big money producers. In the 3 African provinces and Aragon I build up all the mines and farming improvements.

By this time England or France should be fighting someone - hopefully themselves. If so I try to poach Toulouse or Aguitaine from whichever appears weakest.

At this point I crusade. Typically Serbia first. It is close enough to support if I am pumping out ships and is close to the Greece and Constantinople just in case I get a chanch to grab either. Crusades are then launched to Pomerania, Prussia, and Lithuania. My target here is Lithuania to get turcopoles.

From here I settle into a war or attrition with who ever is in my way in Europe. I try to knock out as many Catholics as possible as soon as possible. This policy does at least 3 things for me: 1)keeps the Pope out of my business, 2) it keeps foriegn crusades from soaking up my troops, 3) gives me non Catholics to crusade against.

Love to crusade and get those Knights of Santiago!

[Tony Furze]

I did try the HRE but my heart wasn t in it and it was tooooo different from what I d been doing.

So Im on Spain again-a little more optimistic.
I ve reached 1119 (year) and 17505 florins.

Taken the whole of Iberian Peninsula including Portugal and Aragon which was full of Royal Knights but I whipped them. This time I bribed the garrison in Cordoba (al Mohads) and used the army to get the province.

Im building ships from Leon.I ve left whats left of the al Mohads in Cyrenecia...

Crusaded twice:for Granada and some rebels (592 strong) in Tunisia.
Thanks for all the help.TF