Just want to say that I am thoroughly enjoying the game and with that in mind I have a couple of suggestions for improvement.

I would suggest making blockading of ports only a decrease to relations instead of an act of war. As it is the AI kingdoms are more likely to declare war on you by blockading than by using an army to attack. They often blockade a port without having any army prepared to attack you which just leads to the person getting the jump on the computer, since many people play with house rules of not starting wars just finishing them .

The other suggestion is in regards to sieges, it is slighly frustrating to have cavalry inside the walls turn on the firing of the towers just by being close even when you have infantry on the walls or inside the tower in question. I for one would appreciate having the towers becoming inactive once you have captured one with infantry.

The last suggestion is, as it seems that guilds are randomly offered but that the thieves guild is always offered first, please change it so that other guilds are offered initially as well. I have found a thieves guild in almost every city I have seen either with spies or by conquering.

Thanks again to CA for giving me an excellent reason to sit at my computer for inordinate lengths of time.