How to get the Irish to expand?

[satchef1]

Scotland/Ireland
Nicaea/Rhodes

Ireland/Wales makes more sense to me. That way Ireland can invade there quickly, giving them 2 provences. It won't make much difference to High or Late either because the English hold both Wales and Ireland

Nicaea/Rhodes is the only other one i'm putting in. It will stop the Byz getting trapped there in Early/High and aid the Hospitlers in Late.

Think im going to add these land bridges to XL.

[caravel]

Ireland/Wales makes more sense to me. That way Ireland can invade there quickly, giving them 2 provences. It won't make much difference to High or Late either because the English hold both Wales and Ireland

Either would be fine, or both as I did once. The crossing point between Ulster and Scotland is shorter though.

Nicaea/Rhodes is the only other one i'm putting in. It will stop the Byz getting trapped there in Early/High and aid the Hospitlers in Late.

Think im going to add these land bridges to XL.

Nicaea/Rhodes is sensible, though The Byzantines can still get trapped in Cyprus or Crete, and the Sicilians can get stuck in Malta.

A faction becoming isolated in the British Isles is not so much of a problem as that faction can expand within those provinces and rescue their economy, so the Flanders/Wessex one should remain cut IMHO (especially with Ireland linked up to Wales or Scotland).

[Mooks]

There anyway to mod the coding so that the AI uses ships wisely?

[Koval]

I once managed to have quite a successful campaign as the Irish on Hard difficulty (mind you i was using the BKB Super Mod). Initially i took Iceland and Scotland, and then, after assuring naval superiority in the region, moved on to take over Scandinavia and then the Novgorodians, most of Russia soon falling into the hands of the Irish. Eventually, I managed to claim a significant chunk of the British Isles after the English were excommunicated. Mainly, i took my time and preferably tried to spring at rebel provinces that sprung up, especially early on. I think i still have the save file, i might play it later.

[caravel]

There anyway to mod the coding so that the AI uses ships wisely?

Not as far as I know. That is hardcoded along with the rest of the AI. You could make fleets cheaper and faster to build so that the AI can produce more fleets more easily. Also the crusader_units_prod11.txt could be edited to encourage the AI to build more ships. That's it though. As far as behaviour is concerned there's not much you can do. The AI will still send it's few ships to the opposite side of the map instead of protecting it's coasts or building trade routes.