Campaing Strategy for the Hungarians

[d1ng0d0g]

After finishing with the Scots (though not victorious, it ended in a horrible defeat due to a revolt) I'm thinking of giving the Hungarians a shot at world domination.

I'm planning to turn them into the most dreaded proponent of Catholicism, by destroying the Byzantine Empire and crushing the Turks and driving back the Egyptians from the Holy Land.

I am considering to write an AAR (without pictures as I have to play the game at a crappy resolution and pictures won't even improve it).

Are there any specific strategies I should attempt to follow, and are there any special requests for this AAR ?

This will be the first AAR I write and I am slightly strapped for time, so not many updates can be expected, but I will try to finish the campaign and tend to "roleplay" a bit.

The rules I will play by:

The game is modded to equal one turn per year and will be run on VH/VH

1. No expanding into territories controlled by other Catholic powers.
2. Give no quarter, expect none. Execution is the only anwser to your enemies and those that fail you.
3. Refuse audiences to and do not initiate relations with any non-catholic power.
4. The Pope is the true representative of God on Earth. This means that whatever the pope says goes, and there will be no assassination of servants of the Pope. Enemies of the pope are your enemies. Regions captured in this way are spared the usual treatment of execution and released, and returned to their owners or presented to the Papacy for no reward, but their thanks.
5. Treat your fellow catholics with respect and dignity. Use no assassins or spies should you ever come in conflict with them. Spies and assassins trespassing on your territory as well as merchants are free game though.

So, what do you think, is the AAR worthy ?

Dingo

[Dayve]

Good look treating your Catholic brothers as friends when they blockade your port with one unit, lay siege to your cities with peasants, and refuse to accept ceasefires, thus lowering your standing with the pope.

[kaasbris]

It sounds cool! I am looking forward to read it!

[d1ng0d0g]

Good look treating your Catholic brothers as friends when they blockade your port with one unit, lay siege to your cities with peasants, and refuse to accept ceasefires, thus lowering your standing with the pope.

Keeping the Pope as your friend is very easy as he's truly a money-grubbing friend. Besides, you won't get excommunicated or even lose standing for driving away enemies besieging your cities. It's forbidden to take offensive actions, so you must let the enemy army first lay siege to one of your cities and castles, then you can drive them away.

If you do not start any wars against your neighbors and keep a good standing with the Pope, you have a much larger chance of having the ceasefires accepted. When I played Spain and was in an almost continuous series of battles with the Moors and later on Egypt, occasionally Crusading (at my request) I conquered the entire non-catholic world for my victory without having any serious conflict with my catholic neighbors. The one conflict I did have was with the Portuguese, whom I turned into a vassal after assassinating their King (on demand of the faction heir) and they still had Lisbon, Pamplona and Bordeaux left as well as peace with the rest of the Christian world.

All other situations were resolved by sending diplomats who negotiated a cease fire and no other relations. The army I left parked at Zaragossa in case the rest of the world would get frisky never had to move for anything more threatening than rebels.

Not accepting any treaty with those you plan to make your enemies also keeps your trustworthiness high. Keeping your borders with the other catholic nations small also seems to work quite well. Offers that are too generous are an indication you are up to something that they won't like, pushing an offer through their throats is also not the way to do business. And most of all, don't get caught doing anything (I think this includes coverting) on lands you do not control.

Okay, enough of my observations, but keeping friends with the Catholic nations isn't that hard. Keep small garrisons over your towns and castles. Don't move troops in any direction unless you intend to use those troops. And another point is that quality is more important than quantity, since it seems that having a large quantity of troops makes your neighbors quite nervous, especially if you keep them next door.
This last bit is an observation from being completely at peace with the known world with the Scots controlling england, until I moved a Crusader army into the Danish controlled region of Antwerp consisting of a very full stack, immediately my relations with *all* other Catholic factions dropped (well except for the pope). The Danes were excommunicated and while the Crusading army went on it's way, I formed three more huge stacks of elite troops and let them board my fleets moving them into Danish territory. I had no relation with the Danes by this time, nor had the Danes any relation with any other faction. The turn after landing these three armies, my reputation with all catholic factions dropped again. After conquering Antwerp from the Danes and releasing all captured Danes, my reputation the next turn dropped again. The HRE decided that I wasn't a nice person and attack one of the stacks, and after my victory, their non-allies the french (also my neighbors) betrayed the alliance I had with them too and also attacked. The only other factions with whom my relations from this point on dropped where the factions allied to my enemies. But the minute I boarded my ships and withdrew my large stacks, the french and HRE (I park diplomats next to my neighbors) accepted cease fires and relations slightly improved.

Well enough ... ranting observations and other things in the wrong post.

This is about trying to write a nice AAR with a nice background for the Hungarians and I'll try to stay on topic.

Dingo

[Orda Khan]

Then do your duty to the Hungarians and use those Magyars to great effect

......Orda

[katank]

Good luck with inquisitors though. They seem to just be psycho and will attack no matter how good you are. You may need to use surround and crush with military units strategy to deal with them (block off all areas around them with singleton military units and then moving a unit into the space the inquisitor is occupying to kill him).

[The historian]

If you dont want to have prob's with other catholics bloking your way take the rebel settlements to your east and south first and fast that's my advice after that head through the byzantines and asia minor at full speed.Good luck