A little help for the English campaigne, please

[Goatboy]

Here goes...

I play my first campaigne with england (and first campaigne overall in M2TW), and it was going great all along. I conquered Brittish isles at the very begining, and the same goes for Brugges, Antwerp and Rennes. Soon afterwards I conquered the most of French territories leaving them only with Bern. Went on succesful crusade, conquered jerusalem, but left it to the pope so I get my relations better with the Pope, 'cause I was excomunicated for my war against French. I used the crusade army to make me a powerhouse at the mediteranean, conquering Cyprus (Nicosia), Cagliari, Ajjacio, Tripolis, Algiers and Marakesh. I also started pushing on Iberian pen. from the north and won Pamplona, Zaragoza and Valencia. I conquered Leon and Lisbon recently (and that moorish province on the south, forgot it's name), but Leon rebbeled and it's now filled with rebbels. Also Marakesh rebbeled too. I used a lot of priests on "infidels" ground, so I got like 6 cardinals and I now have "my" pope.

But... I'm now in (around) 1380. and I'm facing some problems (I'll go by bullets):

- Economy: I had an income of around 10.000 per turn (-+ 1.000), but all of the sudden, I'm in minus for the first time. I read a lot of threads here, and I paln to destroy some buildings the next time I play it, but my city/fortress ratio is good, my army isn't huge, and my towns have (supposedly) big income (my ports aren't being blocked). I don't know what's wrong, really. It posses a big problem because I'm at war with practically every fraction, and I can't build armies to fight them now. Can it be because of the plague? Should I hope for "the world is round" event?

- Some provinces keep rebeling even though they have big garrisons, generals, norlam taxes, happyness buildings, religion and no spies in them (Antwerp the most)... I don't count the cities that are distant from Capital here (like Nicosia).

- I seem to be anable to use my pope. Can it even be used?

- foreign merchants keep seizing my merchants goods, even though I have (well, had) great merchants, they've all been removed by the weaker ones.



Also, post any advice that doesn fit in the "bulleted" categories.


I keep readin how some guys can make 100.000 florins per turn... how do you make it?

[joe4iz]

First: build the max amount of priests.
It sounds like you have a lot of heresy if areas keep rebelling.

If your king is sitting on his rump in some town, check his authority rating. If the rating is low, then put him at the head of any army to attack, patrol or take over provinces.Either have him as a chivalrous king or a dread king. I prefer chivalry.

Secondly, if you control all of the British Isle, put all of your merchants there first. They will build up their abilities without anyone bothering them. Try to build all of the merchants out of one or two towns so that you get a merchant guild.

After I get one of each of the other guilds, I decline those guilds so I get the merchant guild.

Convert some of the castles in England over to cities.

You also should check out the guide thread as it has more indepth help.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Economy
If you have upgraded your cities (build all the necessary buildings) you should have a total income (not profit) of 100,000 florins per turn with 30 regions. If you click on the pot of gold you can see your total income.

Buildings that increase your income are: ports, mines (right click on the card to see the extra income), markets and farms. Farms give extra population which means more taxes and more trade. You should also build government houses (lower corruption) and churches to keep your population happy. Always check the amount of religion in your provinces

If you have all the British isles convert all the castles to cities, because you don't need castles there. I usually have Caen and Angers as castles.

Relocate your capital. The capital should be in the center of your empire.

Use units with free upkeep (militia) as garrisons in cities.

Rebellions.
Check the city overview (or something like that). You should see the amount public order and also what is causing trouble:
Distance to capital - relocate the capital
Religious unrest - send in an army of priests, kill the heretics
Unrest - there is possibly a foreign spy in the settlement. Place your own spy (or spies) in it to flush him out.
Squalor - build health buildings

The pope
You can't control him if he (or she) is your guy. You have to pamper him. Give him some money, go on a crusade. Never give him a province or he can go mad and conquer the world.

Merchants
Unless you control Dongela / Timbuktu / Stockholm, merchants are hardly worth there money. If you want to use them be aware that foreign merchants almost always win.

[Zarky]

Hint: After you reach population of 24000 and build biggest walls in cities, remove garrison and put taxes to very high and wait for rebellion, then take over the city and Exterminate it.

[Goatboy]

@joe4iz:

I already have religion contoled in all my regions, lots of priests/cardinals there, also theologians guild in Algier.

Also, almost all my provinecs are cities, except the ones that border with my enemies.

King thingy makes sense, since my king sits in Inverness and does nothing...

@Monsieur Alphonse (love your nick, reminds me of a great show that 'allo, 'allo was :) )

I already minded those economical things and yet I don't have that huge income, but I'll cehck mercenary soldiers, I think I have lots of them.

Also, I did relocate my capital to Dijon.

Only problem considering the rebellions are the squalor and (in some cases) distance from capital. And the problem with squalor is that I don't have enough money to upgrade those cities, so they get overp[opulated (I guess). So we're back at the economy...

@Zarky

Love that one, shame I didn't know it before Leon and Marrakesh rebelled.








Thanks everybody, but I have some new questions.

Is South America worth the effort? I mean, one friend of mine told me not to buggle with it, 'cause it doesn't pay off.

Also, one OT question, why does everyone massivelly use mods? What are the adventages of those (and can you recommend some)?




Thanks a lot for bothering with me! :D

[Monsieur Alphonse]

South America is just for the challenge. You will face stacks of insane warriors (extremely high morale) and lots of trees.

[Goatboy]

Ok, I did all that you adviced me to do, and it's working like a charm! :)


What I didn't notice earlier is that all of the AI cities (that were AI cities till I conquered them) had blacksmiths built. I destroyed all the blacksmiths, and got some money to start with. Also, I didn't destroy any buildings in fortresses. Which ones aren't needed in those.

Also, I moved all the troops from my towns that aren't militia. There I faced some problems. I read here thjat militia has free upkeep, while it seems that that isn't true in my case. Spear militia costs 125 florins upkeep, which is almost the same as for mercenary spearmen. Am I doing something wrong?

Also, Nycosia keeps making me problems. It has full stack of milita spearman, and yet they keep rebelling. My general there recently died, so that adds to the problem. The reason is insane squalor. I have some health/happieness buildings there, and I keep building them, but it seems I won't make it before the rebels take the town away from me. I'd try that trick with getting the army out, waiting for rebels to take it, and than strike and exterminate, but I think that rebels will have stronger army then, considering that my army consists only of militia spearman.




Everything else is going just fine... started to expand to the north, and have only cordoba to conquer to get the whole Iberia.

[joe4iz]

The background on the unit card on a "free upkeep" unit is blueish in color. They are the last units in the stack in a city. Any unit that is not free upkeep is grey on the background.

125 vs 185 for merc spearmen at cost per turn. Over ten turns that equates to about 600 florin difference for just one unit. Multiple that by however many units you have.

Not all units are free upkeep. If you do not have the proper building built, that unit may not be free upkeep. I do garrison some "trouble towns with almost a full stack myself.

Also spys and assassins in your towns will lower your unrest somewhat.

[Goatboy]

The background on the unit card on a "free upkeep" unit is blueish in color. They are the last units in the stack in a city. Any unit that is not free upkeep is grey on the background.

125 vs 185 for merc spearmen at cost per turn. Over ten turns that equates to about 600 florin difference for just one unit. Multiple that by however many units you have.

Not all units are free upkeep. If you do not have the proper building built, that unit may not be free upkeep. I do garrison some "trouble towns with almost a full stack myself.

Also spys and assassins in your towns will lower your unrest somewhat.

Sorry for probably a stupid question, but how do I get those free upkeep units? Never saw that blueish unit card. Perhaps I'm missing something... also, I didn't patch my game, can it have anything to do with that? (gone to get the patch :) )

[antisocialmunky]

Free Upkeep units are militia untis that can be built in that particular city. The number you get is indicated on your wall description.

[Goatboy]

Free Upkeep units are militia untis that can be built in that particular city. The number you get is indicated on your wall description.

Oh, I get it now! As I see, only cities can have free upkeep "slots", while castles can't, right?

So, those units that have free upkeep can be any unit I wish, not only militia units... not the question, just thinking out "loud".


Thanks, man.


Is there some unit that is best suited for keeping order in town, or it just depends on the overall quality of the unit?

[Cheetah]

I keep readin how some guys can make 100.000 florins per turn... how do you make it?

With merchant forts in Timbuktu.

[Cheetah]

Merchants
Unless you control Dongela / Timbuktu / Stockholm, merchants are hardly worth there money.

I slightly disagree. Other than the above regions Antioch and Constantinaple also worth the effort.

Goatboy, judging from your description you are the closest to Timbuktu. Just go south from Marakesh into the desert with a sizable army (you will have to siege a rebel town with wooden walls). Bring priest, merchants, spies too. The gold/ivory around Timbuktu can give you around +5k per turn with experienced merchants. If you are shameless enough to use merchant forts then multiply it with twenty (yes with 20) then you have around +100.000 per turn.

[Cheetah]

Oh, I get it now! As I see, only cities can have free upkeep "slots", while castles can't, right?

So, those units that have free upkeep can be any unit I wish, not only militia units... not the question, just thinking out "loud".

Thanks, man.

Is there some unit that is best suited for keeping order in town, or it just depends on the overall quality of the unit?

Check the city barracks of that given town. Any unit type that you can build in that town can be used as free upkeep garrison. Usually though they are all called militia

Only numbers count so spearmen are the best as they have the most men in a unit. Since free upkeep units have no upkeep *khm* I always try to build the best available, just in case you need them to fight.

[Goatboy]

Very helpful indeed! :)

I've already read about "merchant forts" in Timbuktu, so I'm already heading there. Haven't done that, ever. I just buil a fort near the gold icon, right?

So, does those merchant forts work the same way for other resources, like ivory? Is it worth it?

[Cheetah]

Very helpful indeed! :)

I've already read about "merchant forts" in Timbuktu, so I'm already heading there. Haven't done that, ever. I just buil a fort near the gold icon, right?

So, does those merchant forts work the same way for other resources, like ivory? Is it worth it?

Yes, and you fill up the fort with merchants. This way you have 20 merchant on 1 gold resoucre instead of 1. Obviously it works for any other reasource and worth it in case of the better ones (like ivory, silk, etc).
Some consider it as an exploit since forts were not designed for this, also the AI will never use it, and last but not least enemy merchants cannot attack your merchants while they are in forts.

but Timbuktu worth it even without merchant forts

[Rhyfelwyr]

Are you playing on VH campaign difficulty? That would explain why poorer AI merchants are defeating yours, they get a big bonus on VH, and a smaller bonus on H. Medium is the fairest setting to play at on the campaign map (VH on battlemap otherwise you get a bonus).

[Goatboy]

Are you playing on VH campaign difficulty? That would explain why poorer AI merchants are defeating yours, they get a big bonus on VH, and a smaller bonus on H. Medium is the fairest setting to play at on the campaign map (VH on battlemap otherwise you get a bonus).

Nope! I'm playing on M/M difficulty...