Spain

[sir smudge]

Ok I've been playing on and off for a while and this is where i have gotten up to playing on med/med.

I first started by takeing the rebel citys with the idea of leaving the Portogease alone and forcing the Moors out of Spain. but strangly enouth the Portogease attacked me so fair nuff i says and wipe them out . then befor i get a chance to attack the Moors the French attack me so of i go and take the two citys the other side if the Piranees which i then give to the Pope to make my northern border safe so then i can get around to killing the Moors, Who by the way have been quite happy to sit there while my so called Christian brothers try and kill me.

So anyway I claer out Spain and then start working on north Africa destroying the Moors. meanwhile I sent a crusade to Jerusalum which is held by the Mongles. now these blokes are tough! their the only faction that has given me porse and so far altough my armys win the inital battle it always seems that there are like three other Mongle armys waiting in the wings. Who then come along and kick my butt

so heres my plan I'm building up a number of armys who will then all be sent off to the Holy land at the same time. I'm hopeing this might stand up to the Mongles.then time permiting i'll take England if they get exed again and then on to sunny south America.

One thing I have notice is that the Spanish pikemen and the sword and buckler chaps suck! they die supper quick in a fight any one else notice this?

[Benandorf]

One thing I have notice is that the Spanish pikemen and the sword and buckler chaps suck! they die supper quick in a fight any one else notice this?

I have to disagree about the Pikemen; they seem to be very good at what pikemen are supposed to do. However, unless I'm missing something, Sword and Buckler Men are completely outclassed by units you get before them. Is there something I'm missing, or should I just stay with Chivalric Knights and forget about S&B Men?

On that note, why does everyone say Proffesional Gendarmes are so great? From my experience and the looks of their stats, they're quite mediocre, and outclassed by Chivalric Knights. Same for Knights of Santiago. So what is it that I'm missing?

[sir smudge]

I have to disagree about the Pikemen; they seem to be very good at what pikemen are supposed to do.

I found that up against the mongols they got creamed by their cav so unless thats using them wrong then personally I'm going to stick with earlyer units that seem to fair better in a fight.

[Quillan]

Personally I love the Tercio and the S&B guys. Everything tends to get creamed by Mongol cavalry, so don't use that as a measuring stick of quality. Sword & Buckler men are less armored than dismounted knights, but faster moving (slightly) and cheaper with superb combat capability. As Spain, by the time Gunpower rolls around, I usually start a full transition over. My late armies are a core of Tercio pike with a large element of S&B men and musketeers, a couple of cannons, 1-2 units of heavy cavalry (bodyguards, knights or gendarmes) and 2 heavy cannons (culverins or basilisks). They worked quite well for me, but I never faced the Mongols either.

[Captain Pugwash]

Playing spain for the first time.

How / when do conquistors arrive.

Does the heavy armoury (top level) serve any purpose? as it seems nothing requires what it produces.

whats the best troops to take on the mongols.

ta

[Iavorios]

The conquistadors are available only in the new world (that means after turn 160), from towns, citys and so on. But any way the DCK are way better, so really you don't need them in the old world. As for the armor, you need only master armororer, for upgrades, but if are rasing for the swordsmith HQ you will need the factory. The mongols are problem. In fact the only weakness that Spain has in this game is the lack of heavy spearmen. And you will need spears against the mongols, so most probable use merks or crusader ones, since you don't have any (exept militia but these won't do). Also you can use tercio pikemen. They will die like flies from the arrows, but you have many. Basically use CK, DCK, spears or pikemen and passive crossbowmen. O, or muskets if you can. They rule. There is a lot of topics on how to fight mongols and timurids here, so search.

[ixidor]

I am playing Spain in H/VH. I am in the turn 48 i think and Right now i conquered all the Iberian Peninsula (the portuguese survived though, they still have Bordeaux settlement), destroy the Moors, got Timbuktu (and start getting all the money i can from my merchs) and went right ot Sicily. I decided to close my borders in the Pirineus and use Africa as base instead. Right now i took Tunis, Naples and Palermo, destroying the Sicily. Milan attacked me so i took Cagliari from them. I also bought Bolonha from the HRE for 15k but it worth it since it's one less enemy to fight right now, it was full of spear militias and will very good to make milan's life in hell. The pope is spanish right now and it's very young in fact, 38 years old i think. His nomination was quite funny since he was not even cardinal until the election (even though he had 8 piety for converting moors to good christians), and then, just like that, he was elected cardinal AND pope in the same turn... Anyway, i got Palermo with my spies and with few casualties, and guess what, i got a Citadel, something i had not, in fact i had not even a Fortress yet. I will use the citadel to produce my sword and buckler man, pavise crossbowen and chilvary knights.

Also, my tactics are based in heavy cavalry only. Why? In 2 missions for the nobles' council i got 4 knights of santiago, ah, i forgot to tell, i did a crusade to marakesh and so i got this guild in Leon and Lisbon, and after got Palermo i got more 4 Chilvarics Knights. Also, i bought Tunis from Venice, to avoid fight them since our trade gaves me so much money (and it was quite cheap, 3k from a settlement that is giving me more then 1k per turn...) i got 5 extra mailed knights units, so with all these knights, my tactics are based in 1 deadly charge followed by a massive routing and tons of prisioners, lol.

Now i will hit Milan hard in his heart, i will attack Genoa and Milan in the same turn. The pope will complain about it but without these 2 cities Milan is reduced to Florence and Ajjacio, so hardly an opponent for me after that. The only problem right now is Milan's navy, who is protecting their costs quite well. Without it i would have destroyed them already. Mighty naval battles are happen in the Mediterranean Sea right now, but it's only a matter of time until i break through Genoa (i don't want to risk my king and a full stack until i have destroyed most of his navy).

As soon as a get Milan and Genoa i will start expanding North, from Pirineus. I will give the final blow in Portugal, take Toulose and Marselha. Then, after getting all Italy for me and kicking Venice' ass out of Italy i will attack the HRE and the North of France at the same time. I am not counting to see the Mongols right now since they still have some factions to play against but if they come this way i will just guard my bridges and cities with full stackes and lots of Pavise Crossbowmen and Sword and Bucler Men, avoiding the open field.

[Mete Han]

The conquistadors are available only in the new world (that means after turn 160), from towns, citys and so on. But any way the DCK are way better, so really you don't need them in the old world. As for the armor, you need only master armororer, for upgrades, but if are rasing for the swordsmith HQ you will need the factory. The mongols are problem. In fact the only weakness that Spain has in this game is the lack of heavy spearmen. And you will need spears against the mongols, so most probable use merks or crusader ones, since you don't have any (exept militia but these won't do). Also you can use tercio pikemen. They will die like flies from the arrows, but you have many. Basically use CK, DCK, spears or pikemen and passive crossbowmen. O, or muskets if you can. They rule. There is a lot of topics on how to fight mongols and timurids here, so search.

The conquistadors have less heat penalty though so maybe they are better than dck at the holy lands and at the new world.