Blitz All Challenge

[Askthepizzaguy]

1. All old world provinces (106) must be taken by a certain turn number.

2. The current record is 28.

Score: (turn number)

75: Fair
65: Decent
55: Good
45: Very Good
35: Exceptional
28: CURRENT RECORD
Below 28: Show me proof, and the title is yours.

Version: 1.2 Vanilla
No mods. No cheat codes. No mercy.



Hints:

Ballista weren't used, much.
Spies can't move fast enough.
The Pope is your friend.
Catholic faction.
Captain promotions.
Endless recruitment.
Excommunication equals death... unless you can survive!
Diplomacy before you backstab.
Troops will be lost to desertion.

[zaher]

I started as Sycily and took Constantinople by turn 9 but got dissapointed by fact that lack of manegement bored me and stopped Fun was with my princess - she got charm 9 at age 20 .

[Paradox]

Now here's a great challenge, I'm gonna have to try this.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Now here's a great challenge, I'm gonna have to try this.

Are you armed with the knowledge of crusading loopholes in vanilla?

1. you have 10 turns to leave a crusade and join it again. Use this wisely.

2. ending a turn inside a freshly captured settlement, and leaving a non-crusading general or captain in command of the garrison turns all crusading units into non-crusading garrison. Which can be used against Catholics. Basically, with good management against Muslim, Orthodox, and excommed Catholic settlement capturing, you can crusade through and against fellow Catholics.

3. You can move in any direction you like for 10 turns. If you wish to avoid troop loss to desertion, leave/join the crusade again.

4. Leave/join/leave/join until your chivalry is at maximum. Doesn't help you except in battle and keeping settlements from rebelling, though.

Also:

5. sack, sack, sack, sack, sack.

6. Exterminate only as a last resort to prevent rebellion.

7. Don't get excommunicated. I've said it before, I say it again. But dance on that thin blue line as much as possible.

8. Popey needs a bribe.

9. Promote captains against rebels and wandering enemies.

10. Every single general must be his own crusading stack.

11. The ten turns between crusades are critical. You must keep the Pope happy and keep your troops healthy. Sack your way out of debt or nearly out of debt. Then bribe him again and do another crusade, and have every available troop join.

12. Massive levels of free troops is the ONLY way to win.

13. Adopted generals tend to pile up after a while. keep recruiting militia troops and mercenaries so they can join the crusade as well, and split off into 2 or more stacks.

14. A large crusading army versus rebels. Take half of your stack, no general, and attack. Promote the captain. Join the crusade.

Now you have two crusading armies for the price of one.

15. Even if you know how to do it, it is a maddening race against time. You do not have a moment to spare, and you never ever ever have enough troops.

16. If you need additional hints, I'm here.

PS: Stunningly, most of those loopholes continue to work even in the patched versions, and later versions of Lands to Conquer. Blasphemy? No, just the harsh truth. Only one that I am aware of that got fixed is the free chivalry for joining and leaving the crusade over and over.

[Paradox]

Is disabling fog of war considered to be a cheat? How can I promote captainss? I never knew I could do that.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Is disabling fog of war considered to be a cheat?

I did my campaign without doing so.

However, if you feel it will help you, by all means. Just make sure you note that when you post your completed campaign screen. I do not feel it will give you enough of an advantage to make the challenge significantly easier. As said previously, even if you know what you need to do, doing it is difficult. Planning is tricky here. You cannot have one front. You will have many, many fronts.

Every single turn, every single general, captain, agent, and unit MUST be doing something to capture a settlement, or preparing for a crusade. It will take 2 or 3 crusades to win.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I started as Sycily and took Constantinople by turn 9 but got dissapointed by fact that lack of manegement bored me and stopped Fun was with my princess - she got charm 9 at age 20 .

Management is still possible. But since most of your resources will be focused on military concerns, troop recruitment, military buildings, agent recruitment, fast expansion, and so forth, the economic side of the game will not happen until you've taken about a third of the map or so, and then only for purely selfish gains like building ports for a quick trade boost.

Sicily isn't a good faction for this. They will not be able to crusade through many excommunicated Catholic factions, a key element to rolling up the map.

I recommend England or France, as I've personally completed the challenge with them. However, I feel it is possible to do so with the Holy Roman empire, Venice, Spain, Portugal, Milan, Poland, and Hungary. Maybe Denmark.

The key is owning all of central Europe very quickly, as crusades to the corners of the map take care of the rest. I found the best way to do so was a mix of ending crusades with 4 or 5 stacks inside Catholic territories, then massively backstabbing them, or crusading and abandoning the crusade after capturing a settlement, thus turning all those troops into non-crusading units for a while.

You will need to be fielding roughly 15 stacks ASAP. By the end of the game, you should have at least 25 offensive stacks, and of course militias keeping order at home.

You will go into debt, but you must conquer your way out of it. Troops are more valuable than florins.