Kingdom Management

[Riblet]

I have recently started playing MTW and really enjoy the game. It's richness is great, but can be overwhelming once one's kingdom reaches a certain size. I normally start out in early and have success in GA mode until about 50 to 60 yrs into the game when the number of things that need to be reviewed per turn/year gets to be unmanagable. Even with factions that start out with few initial provinces (Danes, Poles, etc.) get large eventually with conquest and bribery.

I'd like to hear others talk about how they manage all the things that need to be done per turn. I've begun trying to methodically make my way through the tasks. It might go something like this:
1. New buildings needed?
2. Train/retrain troops & agents
3. Princesses & agents
4. Troop movement/Crusades

Anyone have any further suggestions on how they keep this portion of the game from being an overwhelming task? Do you keep notes? Do you assign some functions to automatically be done by the computer?
Tks.

[Heidrek]

The simplest way is just to queue up a few things at a time.

If you are working towards a certain militray unit for example, queue the necessary buildings if you can. You can't always do this (you may need the first building to be complete in order to open up the other ones you need), but if you can, It'll help smooth things out.

For example: Ireland has been taken and you want to start producing those wonderful Gallowglasses asap, then beef them up with armour and morale upgrades. Get to the point you can build a Swordsmith, then queue it up, followed by an armourer and Church

Similarly, with conquered provinces, select two or three units you want to build instead of one at a time. If you're going for a garrison, set up a Pesants, a couple of sword/spears and a missile unit or two.

Managing armies is harder, but I tend to trya nd jeep my number of firld armies to a minimum, while having decent garrisons in most front line provinces. this allows me to draw together a defensive army if necessary, but doesn't tie up my time. Have one or two big forces with your beest generals and concentrate on them, you can pretty much ignore the rest of your kingdom unless something happens like a province gets attacked.

I know what you mean thought, the depth of the game is great, but it can be a very time consuming exercise managing it all.

[Peasant Phill]

Having dedicated provinces, standard armies and short borders also help minimizing the management.

- You should use a few provinces to produce a specific troop type while using the others only for your economy. Say you are the English, then use Mercia for your spear units (and later for Billmen of course), Flanders as your prime trading province, Wales for your bowmen, ... and the rest just for farms and the occasional inn. This'll make your building ques a lot simpler.

- Use standard armies for garrison duties and for battle. I'm not saying that they should always be the same, only that every army should be similar when facing a certain threat (facing desert battles => lightly armoured troops, facing mongols => lots of arbs, polearms and spears, ...). That way you instantly know the size and composition of your armies on the map and so don't have to puzzle with your troops before an attack or when setting up a defensive line.

- Make an empire with short borders. This'll make it easier to defend your lands and you'll have less armies to keep an eye on. You're playing GA so conquest plays a lesser role. Find a good position on the map (defendable, economically rich enough for your needs, relevant to your GA goals) and then concentrate on your GA goals.

[CrazyGuy]

I 'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the problems that arise when trying to keep a track of your general's. Esp. when you have many armies, its very time consuming keeping track of who has gained what attribute. If you don't of course, you suddenly discover that all of your nobles get their kicks from eating babies...

Is there a way around this?

[Riblet]

The only problem with queueing up several things in advance is that if not carefully done, you'll have a negative cash flow for several years and can get yourself in a bind financially. Upon further thought, the first thing I usually do at the start of the year is take a look at cash flow, because that dictates what units and buildings can be constructed without bankrupting the country. Gotta have them florins.

I do already have provinces that are dedicated to either producing income or a specific unit. That does help in simplifying things.

Good comment about the generals. I find that I have to continually guard against low piety generals and provencial governors getting burned at the stake.

[Bregil the Bowman]

It shouldn't be too much hassle. If you have so many territories and generals that micro-managing them is a fag, you can probably get away with the odd mistake. If you are hanging by a thread, chances are you won't have much to manage.

One of my tricks is only to build ballistae/catapults on the castle walls only when there is nothing else I want to build in a province. Then, when I quickly scroll through the provinces, I can see at a glance the ones that don't need attention.

As for generals and governors, I tend to be lazy and leave them to it unless a) they offend me or b) a period of peace inspires me to conduct a domestic reform. At this stage I usually keep all my non-general governors around the king, tends to keep them more honest. But in the early stages I keep them too busy fighting to think about dishonesty.