Why am I so hated ?

[Negator_UK]

Playing MTW on my Laptop when away on business, leaving RTW at home

Decided on a Hard game with Late France.

Surrounded by countries who seem to just wait a few turns and attack me. Italy doesn't wait, I am invariably invaded by turn 2. The swiss follow later on. The English, Aragonese later and finally the HRE. When Spain gets a single clear shot at any territory it takes it with no delay - 4 stacks !!

Eventually I am at war with all my neighbours, no way of stopping it.

After several games where I lose or give up I find that by building spearmen and auto fighting my battles I can actually stay alive and start winning.

Still, it peeves me, why does this happen - is there no diplomatic game on Hard - is it just a slugfest for everyone when they play France ??

Note I do try to use princesses and Diplomats, but they start off in Ile de France, so not next to a port. By the time I get one to Italy They have already invaded me.

The pope never excommunicates them even when I don't fight back. When I do fight back on my own territory he excommunicates me even if we are allied (he often offers me an alliance, I always accept).

My question is - What am I doing to incurr this mass hate ??? I want to learn diplomacy, but my neighbours keep attacking me, en-mass and quickly.....

Ta

Negator.

[Agent Miles]

Welcome Negator!
I haven't had that kind of bad luck as France. Try the MTW Guide thread for the French. Lanemerkel1 gives a step by step blitz approach that should keep you out of trouble. Good luck!

[Martok]

First off, welcome to the Org!

Still, it peeves me, why does this happen - is there no diplomatic game on Hard - is it just a slugfest for everyone when they play France ??

[clip]

My question is - What am I doing to incurr this mass hate ??? I want to learn diplomacy, but my neighbours keep attacking me, en-mass and quickly.....

I'll level with you, Negator_UK--the French are probably one of the factions least suited to playing a diplomatic game. (The HRE/Germans are another faction to avoid, as they too get ganged up on a lot.)

As a general rule, factions that share a border with several other factions have a harder time getting treaties and are more likely to be attacked by them. This is especially true for larger/more powerful factions (and France in the Late period qualifies).

Factions that only border 1-3 other factions usually have an easier time of it, and their emissaries have a tendency to get more favorable replies from other rulers. Also, smaller factions are generally more successful in getting treaties, and aren't attacked as much.

EDIT: Also, having the game set to Expert probably makes it considerably more difficult as well--the AI factions generally seem to be much more aggressive at that level.

[Mithrandir]

Welcome

[Innocentius]

I think Martok summed it up well, however I feel I should add that a downside of the TW-series actually is the lack of proper diplomacy. Sure you can make alliances and pick smart targets for your attacks, but the AI reacts in a really stupid way when being offered an alliance: the bigger and the more powerful you are, the more often they will refuse, which is utterly stupid as they would, with all common sense, want to ally with the most powerful kingdom.
Also, never count on alliances. All alliances do is drop your influence if you break them, and at best they delay war with a few years. No AI faction will ever hold their alliance if their economy is doing bad, they are losing provinces to yet another faction or they just feel like being a pain in your *ss.

[Loucipher]

To add to Martok's treatise on how the larger Catholic factions are so badly gutted I'll describe somewhat devious monkey thinking of the AI that lies at the base of such situation.
As a matter of fact, the AI gangs up on factions which are vulnerable enough to be attacked by at least 3 AI opponents and are big enough so as not to provoke a Papal warning. This is precisely why HRE on Early or some other factions in Late (like the French) have such a hard time. On the other hand, factions that start out small never seem to get that much of a beating.
But what to do when you are the biggest in the lot and the others start gnawing at you?
As the fate of many a ruler teaches, never wage war on multiple fronts - that's suicide. Concentrate your efforts on just one opponent, selling your territory as dearly as you can vs the others. When you concentrate against the chosen opponent, head for terminating his royalty. Especially in earlier battles, the AI likes to risk their rulers at some point. If you catch this opportunity, make sure the enemy king dies in that battle and leaves no heir. Rebels are much more complacent
Once you have a wall of Rebels to shield you from one side, regroup your armies and go after another opponent. Usually taking just one of the gang out makes others rethink their behaviour. In my recent French campaign, I was ganged up on by HRE, Spanish and Hungarians. I decided to take out the Spaniards - they always build insane stacks of units, their Jinetes have been always royally p*ssing me off, and the Rebels provide just as good buffer zone against the Almos. In a most fortunate course of events, the Spanish king decided to lead his forces to Aquitaine. And then, my trap sprung off.
In turn 1 I immediately responded with hitting Navarre and Aragon with everything I had. And I have to admit I could throw in forces from literally everywhre, with my fleet almost everywhere and ports in nearly every province. In Aquitaine I retreated my forces to the stronghold, to keep the bad Spaniard king from moving away. In Aragon and Navarre, the Spaniards did the same. Thus, the king was trapped in Aquitaine with nowhere to retreat - God, I love those bottlenecks
On turn 2, I scheduled the castles in Navarre and Aragon to be assaulted, and hit Aquitaine with troops that I had ordered to be built last turn. The Spaniards, however, responded with hitting Navarre with 4-stack army (I had 2 stacks there), apparently trying to unlock their ruler. Too bad for them that Navarre is just a dream to defend: my forces were positioned on such steep a mountain that any enemy force trying to climb up was dispatched almost effortlessly. In the meantime, the battle in Aquitaine went exactly as planned: the Spanish were swarmed and butchered to a man. Before another turn, I was informed that "The Spanish King has been killed in battle. He had no heirs and..." the usual blahblahblah.
Now that I had the Rebel buffer zone and two defensively favourable provinces, I could shift forces against the Hungarians (they had the strongest stacks at the moment). But that war never broke out: the Hungarians got backstabbed by the Byzantines and sued for peace, while the HRE has only limited itself to a small border dispute about Friesland, which it lost eventually. Well, having a 1800-men strong Crusade marching through their land, ready to skin them alive at the faintest sight of offence, must be a royal tranquilizer for some
I have to admit that my empire was already quite built-up by then (fleets everywhere and ability to bring lots of soldiers from almost every province), but the general rule stays in place: kill one opponent's royalty, and the rest goes silent for just long enough to let you catch some breath. The same trick pulled against the English earlier has let me build fleets and structures unhindered for almost 40 years!

[caravel]

This from one of my old posts. It relates to both the English and French strategy:

The English and the French fit the category of those that need to rush their neighbours, but they are not in such a desperate situation as the one province factions, nor can they afford to rush too soon. The English really do need to wipe out, or at least suppress, the French ASAP though, because war with them is inevitable and they will end up launching a sneak attack into your vulnerable continental provinces. As the English you should push out Fyrdmen (or Feudal Sergeants if you don't have VI), UM, Hobilars and archers, and rush the French provinces ASAP. A two front attack is necessary, as this will prevent him consolidating his forces, and you should make for Ile de France early on. In the south you should take Tolouse also. After this you have them badly weakened and should be able to clean up. You need to act fast, attack assault and end it, before the pope starts to complain. Both Navarre and Aragon are good early aquisitions, because the Spanish will backdoor you if you're not careful.

As the French it's a similar strategy except that you should hit the province of Anjou to cut the English continental provinces in half, followed by Aquitaine which now cannot be relieved, making sure that flanders is well garrissoned to prevent any invasion coming from Britain. Normandy is not a priority, if you're careful about it, Brittany can take care of itself for the time being, it is more important to unite the southern provinces. On top of all of this you will have to watch the HRE as well. War with them is a bit of a lottery. For both factions shipping is important, to protect their coastlines.

As the French you can expect to be friendless, though if you completely remove the English you may see alliances starting to form. Personally I tend to push the English back to Britain and secure the French Territories. I then go for the HRE and Take Burgundy, Provence and Lorraine from them. The Spanish are also a problem. They will likely attack from the south, so it is a good idea to secure Navarra and Aragon as these are mountainous provinces that are easier for you to defend. One of your key provinces is Brittany. This province must hold out on it's own. There is a good general there, that you should give the title of Ile de France, so increase his command starts further. You should tech up the province so that archers can be trained to add to it's defence. War with the HRE is a lottery because it often occurs when you least expect it and really don't need it. If you're excommunicated you may see an HRE crusade coming your way. You can avoid getting excommunicated if you purge the English fast and then fortify and garrison Flanders to prevent them moving in there. The other priority is to build fleets to defend the coasts, this means that you don't need strong garrisons in provinces such as Normandy and Brittany, enabling you to redirect those forces to the frontier provinces. Once France is secure you should concentrate on teching up and crusading, before moving against the rest of Europe. The crusades will improve your leaders influence and produce some good heirs, and keep the military happy.