How to get the Irish to expand?

[Vladimir]

Yes. But remember, they're Irish! Giving them a longboat to start with should help them.

[macsen rufus]

I'm on about my fourth XL campaign now, and the Irish always, but always, just sit on their island waiting for you to invade them... I've not tried giving them a boat, but sounds like it might be worth a try Or maybe increase the income a bit, cos they tend to look a bit cash-strapped, too.

And welcome to the org, Faramir

[caravel]

I'm on about my fourth XL campaign now, and the Irish always, but always, just sit on their island waiting for you to invade them... I've not tried giving them a boat, but sounds like it might be worth a try Or maybe increase the income a bit, cos they tend to look a bit cash-strapped, too.

And welcome to the org, Faramir

I think if we put any faction on an island (or indeed in any single province situation) without a huge supply of "invasion force" units, and some fleets to guarantee they can leave, the same would occur. The Hospitallers are often the same. I've noticed that they sometimes go for Nicaea and often fail, or just sit there and go into the red. As a rule with Island factions, they simply need more ships, otherwise they'll be stuck there. It's a pity that reemerging factions can't sometimes reemerge with ships also...

I've an Irish campaign going at the moment, and am occupying the former English lands, except Aquitaine, as well as Scotland and Wales. Basically I began by training Fianna Eireann and Gael Gaedhils backed up with some Irish Horsemen and Bonnachts and went straight for Northumbria. Why did he go for Northumbria you ask? Well That seems to be their best trading province and is also the border with Scotland. My presence there prevents either power from expanding into the other's territory and provides me with some useful trade income, denying it to the English. Next up Wales revolted form the English, so I moved in there, followed by quick invasions of Mercia and Wessex. After this I secured the British Isles by Conquering Scotland while sinking all of the English shipping in the channel. The next stage was to hit Normandy which proved to be far more difficult than I had anticipated and my men were sent packing by a 7 star general's army of Fyrdmen and Royal Knights. The second attempt proved much more successful due to my taking along some more of my own spears, which I had lacked on the previous attempt. Utilising the Gael Gaedhils as flankers I managed to secure Normandy from the enemy, but was driven out again the following year! A counter attack featuring all of the usual suspects retook the province and wiped out the faction. The following year we moved into Anjou and that's how it stands now. The French have refused alliance so far, and I'm rather wary of them, though if the do attack I may turn my attentions to Scandinavia and leave France to the French.

[Kavhan Isbul]

I think that if you go into the startmap files you will see that the Irish are Catholic Isolationist. I am not sure how much this affects their chances of expansion, but I have never see them try and only once I saw them building a single sheep. When controlled by the AI their usual role is to get the English or sometime the Danes excommunicated (same as Scotland's role). I have also noticed that the irish rarely accept an alliance proposal, even when you offer them a princess and they have 5 unmarried heirs.

[caravel]

I'm not sure to what extent the AI types affect the different factions, apart from what they build and train. For example the Byzantine are 'orthodox_stagnant' which would lead one to believe that they are a passive faction that does not do much to improve it's ecomony orstanding in the world, yet experience tells us otherwise. The English are down as 'catholic_crusader_trader' (from memory, apologies for any errors) yet I've found that they crusade less than the HRE, the French and the Spanish. They also trade poorly to start with. This may be down to (bad)luck. The English are thrown into conflict with the French from day one, so they may not have much opportunity for trading and crusading. The only AI that really makes much difference is the 'barbarian_raider' (Mongols). They don't seem to build alot, which is why I think the AI types are limited to building and trading, and nothing else. One could say that the KGH are much more aggressive, though that can be attributed to them emerging into one or two provinces with a massive force. Any AI faction would be highly aggressive under those circumstances, as it's been proven that the AI attacks alot if it has alot of units at it's disposal, and it's stacks outnumber the enemy's across the border by a large proportion.

[satchef1]

Im thinking about putting land bridges to all the islands to fix this. The AI handles ships terribly so any factions that get confined to an island tend to stay there and build troops instead of ships (except Sicily for some reason)

I'd like to see the AI create an Irish or Hospitler empire every now and then!

[caravel]

Im thinking about putting land bridges to all the islands to fix this. The AI handles ships terribly so any factions that get confined to an island tend to stay there and build troops instead of ships (except Sicily for some reason)

I'd like to see the AI create an Irish or Hospitler empire every now and then!

I had often thought about landbridges between between the following provinces in addition to those already in Vanilla MTW/VI:

Greece/Crete
Sicily/Malta
Scotland/Ireland
Nicaea/Rhodes

Personally I think that Third spearman from the left has it right in this thread https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...t=69416&page=2 and that some of the sea zones need to be removed to make it easier for the AI to cope. A few mods have done this already so it's not unheard of. Linking the islands to the mainland would remove their tactical importance. The English channel for example was always a natural defense for England, the landbridge present in vanilla MTW/VI negates this entirely, yet Ireland is still a true Island. Ridiculous that the French can cross to England without fleets, yet the English need fleets to invade Ireland. This is why I, personally cut all landbridges except the one between Sweden and Denmark, and create a new one between Sweden and Finland.

[BrSpiritus]

I think that if you go into the startmap files you will see that the Irish are Catholic Isolationist. I am not sure how much this affects their chances of expansion, but I have never see them try and only once I saw them building a single sheep. When controlled by the AI their usual role is to get the English or sometime the Danes excommunicated (same as Scotland's role). I have also noticed that the irish rarely accept an alliance proposal, even when you offer them a princess and they have 5 unmarried heirs.

In my current campaingn they asked for an alliance after 5 turns and when I offered took my princess that was 1 turn away from spinster. Maybe they like the ugly hosefaced ones with a moustache? I playing Byz/Early/Normal



~BrSpiritus

[Martok]

@Don Corleone:

You deliberately go for Lithiuania early on? Odd; I didn't realize you were the type who enjoys constant uprisings.

@BrSpiritus: The Irish actually asked for an alliance? Wow; that's got to be the first time I've even heard of that happening. In my XL games, they always tell me to buzz off (to put it politely )!

[BrSpiritus]

@Don Corleone:

You deliberately go for Lithiuania early on? Odd; I didn't realize you were the type who enjoys constant uprisings.

@BrSpiritus: The Irish actually asked for an alliance? Wow; that's got to be the first time I've even heard of that happening. In my XL games, they always tell me to buzz off (to put it politely )!

yeah it was funny, had never seen that before myself, but then this is my first campaign with an Orthodox country. Maybe the Irish just hate the other catholics?

BrS