The Best Province Thread

[Agent Smith]

Well, I haven't seen one of these threads, so here you go. Name your favorite provinces and why.

For me, it's kind of a tie. After decimating the entire Mongol army with two stacks in a tiny region, I'd have to say my first favorite region is Antioch. Besides being the home diocese of my favorite saint, it is one of the most profitable regions and one of the most defendable. To the west is the sea, and a river traveling across the north and then down south gives three natural barriers with only three ways of attack: across a bridge, across a river ford, or invasion by sea (which can be protected against by simply keeping a decent navy stationed in port). The only open area is to the south, but the area is small and a single fort can slow down enemy progress so defenses can be prepared.

The money is amazing as well. There are two sugar resources and two cotton resources that generate a lot of income, and other good resources are jsut a stone's throw away in neighboring areas. All in all, a great place to have a city that is near impenatrable and a huge money maker.

Besides Antioch, I'm growing rather fond of Bran. It is completely encircled by mountains with only a few narrow valleys to reach the middle. A few well placed forts and a missile stack could allow a player to hold out in there for years. If an enemy every did break through to the middle, just leave the missile stack right up against a mountain to taunt them. If they go for Bran, then your missile stack can harass them. If they go for the missile stack, then they are going to have to climb a cliff while you pelt them to death. It's a great little area.

Anyway, throw your favorites out there!

P.S. - I would have mentioned Kiev, but that is more sentimental than for any other good reasons

[IrishArmenian]

Bran is a great region. Whoever holds Bran has the Eastern Balkans and North Eastern Europe at his mercy.
Stockholm is a cash-cow and the economic decider for the early game playing as one of the Northern European factions.
Venice is a huge trade hub as is Genoa.
I hold the Mongols well with Adana, because that is my base for attack when I'm going to sweep into the Holy Land.
Caffa can become a great Black Sea port.
Constantinople is delightful.
Corinth is always a great early B.O.P.
Yerevan and Tbilisi, because it has sentimental value for me to hold the Caucasus as the last Christian Bastion in the east as it was.
Timbuktu is great because of the many resources, it is a great economic holding.
Vienna, like Stockholm for the North. is pivotal for Central Europe. As with Stockholm, the many mines make income flow in great numbers.

[Skott]

Hmmm... An interesting question. I've never considered which is my fav province. So many to choose from too. I think it'll be faction specific too. I'll have to think about this for a bit.

[Kobal2fr]

Venice is a sweet, sweet city. Not only is it a cash cow, but the city itself is surrounded by river tiles (to simulate the city's layout) and accessible only through one bridge, which obviously is an even better defensive point than the city walls themselves.

Cordoba is also good, for the same reason : it makes a lot of dough, and almost all the ways in are protected by rivers.

I also love Heraklion (sp ? basically, Crete) as it's a great spot from which to threaten pretty much the whole known world, and make a lot of money as well since it will receive trade from pretty much everywhere. Easy to defend too, being an island.

Lastly, Stettin is a great place, but not to own : to keep neutral and cleric free as your own little Pagan paradise so as to get those Teutonics all riled up and begging you for an HQ

[Fußball]

Hamburg because it is an early almost fortress-ready castle early on, it is rather rich for a castle province and it has a bridge protecting the western approach to the castle. Other than that my only quarrel is why it was not a city instead of a castle, which does not make much sense.

Lastly, Stettin is a great place, but not to own : to keep neutral and cleric free as your own little Pagan paradise so as to get those Teutonics all riled up and begging you for an HQ

In my current campaign, funny enough, Stettin was my first province to become 90+% Catholic. Because I situated several priests ( who are now long since cardinals ) in the region to sow the Catholic seed. And prevent those damned pagan magicians from finding refuge in the form of my general's curiosity!

And lastly Kobal, I blame you, for you are the French.
That is all.

Tschüß!
Erich

[darth_napo]

Antioch = trade monster, interesting position, great challenge to defend since mongols always attack it.

[Kobal2fr]

Yah, forgot to mention that (SHAME ON THE FRENCH !! ) but Stettin is also obviously prime Preferatus Cardinal soil.

[Joshwa]

Constantinople by a mile. Loads of money (i think i managed to get 6000 florins a turn from it once, and im a rubbish administrator), easy to defend from asian attack, and you control the entrance to the black sea. Also, if you block both crossing points over to asia with ships, A) Noone can blockade Consantinople or Nicaea, which is also a cash cow, and B) wandering diplomats all tend to get stuck, meaning you can train your assassins on them, bwahahahaha

[Fußball]

Constantinople is even more nice when you do not own it and can park four 10 skill merchants on the silk resources and gain 2824 per turn!

Tschüß!
Erich

[Corbeau]

I always take Rhodes. ALWAYS! Dont know why, it does not matter which faction, Rhodes has to be mine! Its great as a castle for all wars in the holy land, minor asia, north africa, as well as italy and the balcan.

you can harrass your enemies from there quiet safe, and although it is not a cash cow per se, it turns out to be one as soon as you start sacking the mediteranian cities with troops you create there.

Antioch, wonderful, I love bridge battles and Antioch gives quiet some.
Tibilisi, wonderful stronghold.
Caligari and Corsica are also cash cows as cities and they also make a great base for western mediteranian actions!

[Lorenzo_H]

Toledo, despite being smack in the middle of Spain, has a port to the north of the Peninsula. Good position to control Iberia from.
Bern is near enough in the middle of the European action, giving whoever owns it good control.
The western/central mediteranean is the property of Palermo. Good place to crusade from.

[FactionHeir]

Probably Venice or Rhodes. For Venice just park a stack in front of the town and anyone attacking you gets your city garrison as a free bonus to fight. Good income and access to the eastern waters. Besides, its probably the best place to use as capital once you got most of the world.

Rhodes. Its an island and you can place single peasant units all across the landmass to prevent a land invasion. Not good economically but can be used to train units for warring the lands around it.

[Philbert]

In my current campaign as the Danes, Antioch was the first crusade target I conquered, and from it I have launched on the second crusade to take the holy city of Jerusalem from the Mongols.
Apart from being a military base, supplying swordstaff militia, crossbowmen and Norse war clerics, it is also a good source of income because of the mentioned sugar and cotton resources (I estimate that the guild-trained merchants from Antioch make 2.5k within the province alone, and my main merchant robber baron occasionally shakes down Mongol and Turk merchants for extra pocket money) Of course being the Danes, I have my capital at Arhus which is as far from Antioch as you can get (except maybe London or the Scottish capital) so even for 2 point merchants these resources already make a bundle.

So in my current campaign it is Antioch hands down.

[Thurak]

Timbuktu.

Senindg merchants there is one thing but to build all the market buildings, roads and a merchants guild will not only enable you to replace merchants faster but significantly increase your income.

Ok, it costs much to take (an army for tons of turns) but when you send a general with a few cavalary units only you are much faster and you can hire mercs down in the desert. But be careful: Don´t send an old general, he may die too early.

[Agent Smith]

In my current campaign as the Danes, Antioch was the first crusade target I conquered, and from it I have launched on the second crusade to take the holy city of Jerusalem from the Mongols.

Antioch is my favorite spot against the Mongols. My recent campaign, I had a full stack of militia units garrisoned there and a full stack of castle units at each river crossing. The Mongols made a b-line straight to Antioch, but went the whole way south around the rviers to get there. One stack sieged and assaulted ahead of the others, and my garrison took out that whole stack with some losses. It fell during the next assault.

However, immediately after it fell, the entire Mongol force was around the city and decided to clear the province of my Russian presence. It sent stack after stack at each of the river crossings from the inside. Those two lone stacks, with a few reinforcements the next turn from Adana and Acre, took out the entire Mongol force. Almost every last one of them. After three turns, I had retaken Antioch and sent the remaining Mongols packing towards Constantinople.

I love Antioch

[andrewt]

When I played the Russians, I loved Stockholm. I was making over 10000 florins a turn from just the city itself at the end of the game. I played Venice and am now playing Turks and nothing comes even close to that. I think Antioch at around 6-7000 comes the closest in my current game.

[PseRamesses]

Either Constantinople for the cash or Venice for defensive location.

[rvg]

City of Constantine.

The only city on the map that starts out as large and with proper management it becomes the first huge city, which translates into lots of advanced buildings and Varangian guards for the Roman Empire.