Getting off cheat codes

[Seabourch]

I need help. I find myself addicted to cheat codes. Everytime I start a campaign, I use cheat codes, it killed the fun in the game whenver I used. Now that I've stopped using them, I need to play a campaign that could get me up. Any idea which faction I should be playing as?

[Tran]

If you want immediate action and constant war, then pick Holy Roman Empire. Almost guaranteed that all the neighbours (surrounding) factions will sooner or later attack you.

However, you might also want to try Sicily, it is relatively "safe" and close to the Pope. You can immediately send a diplomat to bribe him and keep your relation with the Papal State high all the time. That way, other Christian faction will be more reluctant (they might eventually attack you, but the Pope will be favor or support you more than the others). You also need a good navy to expand since most of the nearby territory are located in an island or Africa, but it should add the challenge factor.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

May be should ask the AA for some help.

Just kidding. The easiest campaign to start with is England. Conquer the British Isles and some rebel towns on the continent and your off to have some fun.

[Zenicetus]

Yep, England is one of the two easiest, and the other is Spain. Actually I think Spain is the easiest faction in the game. The Iberian peninsula is strategically somewhat isolated. You have a Muslim faction right next door that you can attack without angering the Pope, and your priests will level quickly on Muslim lands. The riches of Timbuktu are within fairly easy reach. Portugal will remain passive if you grab Iberian rebel and Moor territory before they do. You can starve Portugal out with spies and assassins, while slowly conquering territory in North Africa. The Moors aren't much of a challenge. By the time you take on France and Milan, you'll be the strongest faction in the game. Spain also has great units, including one of the best early light cav skirmishers.

Portugal is also easy for similar reasons, although it will take a few turns longer to accomplish what you can do with Spain in the very early game, due to their separated starting provinces.

For weaning off cheat codes I'd recommend a M setting for strategy, so relations will normalize towards neutral. That will let you better choose the time and place of wars, instead of being constantly attacked.

[WhiskeyGhost]

ditto, to get off the cheats, usually i have the person start a short game with it on easy or medium, that way they don't get pushed into thinking they need cheats to win. Then after that, its usually easier to resist it on harder difficulties, since it helps break the habit of cheating when the odds look bad.

[The_Baron]

I'm not entirely sure why, but whenever I press too many buttons (it seems to be any keys in random amounts) the game loads my oldest save. It's (as far as I can tell) totally unfixable. It really stopped me using cheats, which is a blessing in disguise. I still use toggle_fow cheat though; I'm one of those people who get scared when they can't see what's going on.

I'd imagine that Milan would be good to get you back up to speed simply because they have pwnage economy, pwnage military and so many expansion opportunities. Milan just pwns all.

Good luck,


-Max