Nazgûl Killer's M2TW Total Guide

[Nazgûl Killer]

Hello, and thank you for stopping by to read my faction guide.
I have decided to write a guide for the (Playable and unlockable) factions of M2TW.
This guide's purpose to go faction by faction and tell you pretty much what are the strong points and what are the weak points of that faction, and how to exploit the strong points. Also, its purpose is to tell you pretty much what you need to do early on, and from there, you're on your own.
I have played M2TW since it came out, and I also rely on other people's experience while writing this guide, I have also played every faction in this game, and won with every faction in this game, so do not fear, for my guide is true. I hope it will come of use!


Now, as for the count... Counting the earlier thread this was on (45 replies and 847 views), I have had 935 replies and 59753 views! Thank you everyone, for staying for so long. You make this worth while.
Table of Contents
Faction Guides, B-M.(Without Milan)
Faction Guides, M-S.
Faction Guides, S-Z along with General Guides.
General Guides and Milan guide

- Post Table of Contents
The Byzantine Empire
Denmark
Egypt
England
France
Holy Roman Empire
Hungary

The Byzantine Empire

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire starts out with too many risks to count, a very tough starting position and the fact it is surrounded with nations with opposing religions, definitely does not help. It is probably one of the toughest factions in the game.

Starting off: Your capital is the biggest and most profitable city in the known world, it is your pride and glory, it is your center, it is your might, but it also your weakness.
Constantinople (The capital, of course) is a prime target for Jihads by your 'best friends', the Turks, and I have seen it crusaded some times before, however the Pope does not like turning on his Christian friends, Orthodox or not. Near this grand city of yours, there are textiles, trading nodes you might call them, and they are the most profitable in the early game, building a merchant or two and monopolizing trade of them early on will be a very smart move, however, it is very likely they might not bring you as much income as other resources farther away, perhaps in the Middle East. It will be very wise to throw a lot of merchants around.
*MERCHANTS* - Merchants are extremely helpful in the Byzantine campaign, as you can reach Egypt's gold and ivory supplies rather easily compared to other factions, and those two are, literally, gold mines later on in the game, they will each give you (At least) 700 Florins later on. Also, Merchants do not cost upkeep, just tell them where to go, and forget about them. One only needs to remember his merchants, when they die, or get blocked. Regularly checking on them every 5 turns is not a bad idea either, as the Egyptians like having their stack step on them and love moving them around, sometimes it looks like Merchant-ball out there...
Playing as the Byzantine Empire (Or any other faction for that matter), you should train a lot of merchants not only because of the use of their upkeep-free income, but also because you have easy reach to a lot of the riches of the world. The gold near Durazzo, marble near Venice, Gold and Ivory in Egypt, Slaves in Russia... You can easily get to all of those, while other factions might not, so it's a field worth investing in.
*PRIESTS* - These agents are extremely important for the Byzantine Empire, they help removing pains such as public order from your mind, and easing your way to victory. Having between 4 and 8 of them, cannot hurt whatsoever.
However, since every single nation around you (Aside for Russia) will have a different religion than you will, these agents become more and more important as the game progresses and as your conquest into Asia Minor, or Europe continues. 4-8 priests at the earlier parts of the game is a good enough start, but not nearly enough later on. I often find myself with 20-30 priests once I have around 30 provinces. I suggest having a priest per two regions under your control, I might exaggerate in my games with the number of agents, but I love agents and find them very useful, so I tend to get dozens of priests and other agents.
Speaking of religion, your only fellow-Orthodox nation, Russia, would be the ideal choice of starting an alliance with, having relatively close yet far regions from each-other and together making The Black Sea your trade hub, is a very good way to start an excellent trade and good relations. You should make them your first ally, very quickly.

*DIPLOMATS* - Arguably the most important of all agents, one must have at least one or two at his disposal, and in strategic locations around Europe. First send them to Venice and Russia, and onward to the rest of Europe, to start meaningful and powerful relations and alliances with everyone you deem worthy. Trade can't hurt either.
I advise to keep them mostly around Venice, The Holy Roman Empire, Russia, Denmark or Sicily and even Egypt.
*SPIES* - Whilst not as vital as the Priests or Merchants, spies rarely do harm either, whether it is to watch your borders from your cunning foes, or look out for Jihad armies, spies can be left out there, to be forgotten, but they will always do you good, they have a very good line of sight, and putting them near cities or castles, makes it so you can see whether the enemy is posing to strike at you, or not.

*ASSASSINS* - Whilst not too important, these agents are extremely helpful. They can help you diminish the threat of a Jihad by assassinating generals on one, thus causing most of the army, if not all of it, to disband or rebel, causing even more problems to your enemy and increasing the chance of a failed Jihad.
There is also a rather useful preemptive strike you can initiate with your dearest Assassins, by annihilating your foe's best generals, you can quickly diminish the threat they pose to you.
Trade: As I have stated already, or will state, the Byzantine Empire has the potential of becoming an economical power of epic proportions, with reaches in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Holy Land, the Byzantine Empire could become the main Monopoly of the whole of Europe.
Starting massive building of ports and roads will secure your trade powers with the Egyptians, Russia and several other countries from beyond the sea, now, after doing that you should look towards the islands, as both a good point for strong trade and a military stronghold against Italy - What I mean by that is take over Iraklion, Rhodes and Sicily, this will boost your sea trade to epic proportions. However, take into account that Sicily might just prove a valuable ally against Venice, so make sure you make the right choice if you choose to attack them. I suggest to avoid fighting both Sicily and Venice at the same time, despite the fact that that might sometimes seem inevitable.
Taking over Italy will bring you immense trading options with France, Spain, the Moors and the Holy Roman Empire, allowing you more economical strength.

One of your main problems, is your religion. With religion having great impact on public order, sometimes income and rebellions in M2TW, you must maintain it, best you can, so the smartest thing would be making Orthodox chapels/churches your first priority. This will help ensure the surviving of the Orthodox religion, however, a better idea would be to implement that which I have said earlier, and also recruiting around 5 - 7 priests, and moving them around to your cities (And cities' regions), and also to the places you will soon conquer, in order for you to be able to continue your conquest, instead of sit around and hope that the populace will not rebel. However, do not make the mistake of staying with 7 or so priests even in the later stages, recruit more as you conquer more. I suggest having a priest per two regions under your control.

Now, to the military threats;
Jihads: With the constant threats of Jihad against Constantinople from your dearly beloved Turkish Empire in Asia Minor hanging over your head, you will never rest in peace, and there are multiple solutions to these problems;
You can just charge at them early on, weaken them by taking Trebizond (And if you want, the three other mountain settlements) and Iconium. Iconium is Turkey's trade capital and main income facility, and Trebizond is its route to the Black Sea, taking those two will eliminate Turkish resistance near Constantinople, for a while, and if a Jihad will indeed come to pass, it will decrease their chances of actually reaching Constantinople or any of your other cities without meeting heavy resistance. The Turks will rise up again after that, but it will take them time. Time long enough for you to regroup, and prepare your forces, for your next campaign.
One must not forget, that this relatively small campaign in Asia Minor, leaves you almost completely exposed to an attack coming from Hungary or Venice or maybe even both. If these two start an alliance, you must understand that an attack will come... As a very wise man once said; "When you see discord amongst the troops of your enemy, be of good courage; but if they are united, then be upon your guard. When you see contention amongst your enemies, go and sit at ease with your friends; but when you see them of one mind, string your bow, and place stones upon the ramparts." (Moslih Eddin Saadi)
Your second solution would be to prepare massive forces for the assault, and once your foe declares a Jihad on you, launch a full scale assault from Rhodes, Cyprus, Nicea and Constantinople in such a way that will leave your foe devastated. This swift strike should help you contain the war and assure that you will conquer at least 3 settlements without meeting too much of a resistance. This approach also improves your reputation by not initiating a war.
Your third solution could be to reinforce your Turkish front to such a level that they won't be able to take any of your cities, this approach should be taken if you wish to first pay attention to other wars (Hungary, Sicily, Venice...).

It's time to consider your other threats; Hungary and Venice.
With your great castle at Greece, and your cities Thasselonica and Constantinople, you can easily recruit a powerful force to strike at Durazzo or Sofia, to your west and north (Respectively), and one must always keep this in mind.

However, starting wars against such strong factions is not a wise thing, Turkey you can easily counter because their cavalry archers are equal to yours, and you surpass them in almost any other field (Especially at the earlier stages of the game), but Hungary has very powerful heavy infantry and crossbowmen, making them a true powerhouse against you if you find yourself on the offensive. Your rather swift armies are useful and strong against Hungary's more European-styled armies, yet the exact same thing can be said about them facing off against you! They are strong where you are weak, and you are strong where they are weak.
Venice, with its mighty fleet and militia units, is a force not to be trifled with too early, however, if you feel a preemptive strike is appropriate, Hungary should be your prime target. The later you are in the game, the stronger Hungary becomes... This is also true about Venice, but with Hungary it's much more critical as they become better and better where you never improve, and vice versa.
The Hungarians will not go down without a fight, and the main threat about them is the sheer size of your frontier lines with them, stretching from the Black Sea all the way to Durazzo, this will leave half of your kingdom under peril of assault. Anticipating where they will come from is very hard, and that's the main issue at hand. If you wish to strike first, you will have to take one, very powerful campaign from Constantinople northward from Bucharest and Sofia, forcing them to go on the defensive.
Now, Venice. Venice is an absolute naval powerhouse and a true economic superpower. Facing off against them will force you to take strategical moves; Incapacitating their trade, their fleets, and harassing them. "Harassing them?" Yes, harassing them. And this is how:
Send one fleet over to Iraklion, besiege the city - Don't feel urgency in taking it. It's good enough to stop it from creating troops to backdoor you when you attack the Italian mainland, but to spare your resources you might as well take it.
By sending two powerful fleets to the Adriatic, blockading Venice's port and another port of your choosing will be very smart, add two armies to those two fleets and put them ashore. Capture a city deep within your enemy's lands and divide his troops while attacking him at Durazzo at the same time. This will harass your enemy and force him to send two different campaigns against you, one of which will fail.
You should send out another fleet, massively stronger than your other two, to search and destroy opposing Venetian fleets. This will not allow them to land forces at Durazzo swiftly, and neither bring reinforcements from places they've already captured. Crippling their naval power is key to defeating them.
Final move: Assault the Italian mainland by sending a powerful army along the Eastern shore of the Adriatic, taking all in its path.
The reasons the war with Venice and Hungary will be a tough one are basically the sheer size of the conflict, by land (Hungary) or by sea (Venice) and the amount of money it will cost you to sustain all those armies. This is why I urge you to avoid fighting Venice and Hungary at the same time.
*COMPARISON*
Venice
Very strong fleet.
Powerful militia all game long.
Direct access to Greece, Thasselonica, Asia Minor and Constantinople.
Very powerful starting position, with a castle at the ready, Durazzo in reach and to eliminate them, one must invade middle Europe, which can be a very bad idea.
Extreme hatred towards you, and Milan is a neglect able enemy, usually.
Can easily invade you by sea and blockade all your ports.
Very rich.

Turkey
Good fleet.
Okay infantry.
Direct access to your three major cities.
Very good starting position, advantage of terrain.
Extreme hatred towards you.
Can invade you by land and strike when you are least ready.
Rather rich.
Extremely powerful cavalry.

Hungary
Neglect able fleet.
Powerful heavy infantry halfway through the game and on.
Direct access only to Thasselonica and Constantinople.
Terrible start, with Sofia and Bucharest under rebel control, and you can easily grab those two settlements before they do.
Relatively high hatred towards you, with troubles with Poland, Holy Roman Empire and Russia usually.
Can't do anything against you by sea.
Very poor.

This shows you why Hungary is the prime target for a preemptive strike.

Rebel Settlements - You have rebel settlements all around you, Rhodes, the settlement to the north of it in Asia Minor, Durazzo*, Sofia* and Bucharest are at your doorstep and should be the prime targets for your expansions, but first you must take the one in Asia Minor and Rhodes, for they are a good stronghold against both Turkey and Venice.
* - The ones marked with a star are settlements that will lead to war, if you take Durazzo, you will face a war with either Sicily (Easy war) or Venice (Hard war), if you take Sofia you have a good chance of facing a war with Hungary (Hard war), and for some reason Hungary does not seem that interested in Bucharest.

Navy - Building a Shipwright at Constantinople should be your top priority, Fire Ships are literally the only thing standing between you and total annihilation by Venice. Yes, they are that strong. Fighting with Fire Ships is the Byzantine Empire's best shot against Venice at sea. Your starting ships do not lack in quality either and will allow you to face off with most fleets early on in the game, but once again, it is the Fire Ships that will give you the edge and the power to fight even the strongest navy.

Armies - Your city, Constantinople, is important for a reason: It is also one of the biggest training hubs, fielding the first heavy infantry for you, and the best soldiers you can find.
In the war against Venice, that will surely come sooner or later, you will have to recruit forces from Greece, Constantinople and Thasselonica.
In the war against Turkey, which will come, without a doubt, you will have to recruit forces from Cyphrus, Constantinople and Nicea.
In the war against Hungary, you will need to recruit forces from Sofia, Constantinople and Thasselonica.
As you can see, Constantinople is your primary training hub, and it will remain like this for a long long time.

Terrain - You can easily utilize your terrain to your advantage, being very mountainous and having a big forest between yourself and Hungary, you can use forts to create choke holds and ambush your enemies, use Asia Minor's terrain to your advantage also. The Turks do not like you, but they do not like mountains either.
Be mindful of the size of the border between yourself and Hungary however! This will prove your undoing if you fail in anticipating their moves.

The Pope - Keeping the Pope happy is completely optional, he rarely cares, and a crusade is rarely called, however it has happened before. Your choice.

After all of this, comes the threat of the Mongols, and there are only two ways to face off with that threat; Insanely massive armies with spears and archers, or many, many many Assassins, whichever works best for you.

The Byzantine Empire's Strong Points:
Navy - Fire Ships.
Army - Very powerful horse archers and cavalry, strong and relatively early heavy infantry and good, cheap, spearmen.
Agents - Fields a great position for spies and merchants.
Income - Many large cities, which generate a lot of income.

The Byzantine Empire's Weak Points:
Surrounded with enemies.
Surrounded with different religions.
Prime target for Jihads.
Secondary target for Crusades.
Will enter war, very early, with three very strong nations.
In order to truly eliminate its enemies, it must invade central Europe and the Middle East, which will, undoubtedly, cause more wars.
Has only one true ally - Russia.

Overall - Very strong faction, very hard, will take some work.

Denmark

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Denmark

The Danish people are strong, hardy folk, that are centered in one city at the start at this campaign, and in order to truly make this nation an empire, much work must be done.

For starters, Denmark is located at a prefect spot to start a trading empire, and it is also in the perfect natural stronghold and that makes it, sometimes, one of the toughest nations to destroy.
The fact that Denmark can boast very strong heavy infantry from a relatively early time gives it a significant advantage over the other factions, its mighty cavalry force is not to be disregarded either, it is tough and can change the fates of combat.
The Danish fleet is amazingly strong, boasting strong ships from the start and later on gives you almost complete control over the Northern sea.

Getting Started: The first order of business with Denmark is always to take Hamburg. Hamburg not only supplies a first line of defense against any nation who wishes to attack you, it also provides great military training that Denmark will so desperately need later on in the campaign. After taking Hamburg, taking the regions in Norway and Sweden is mandatory, and you will encounter little resistance as they are all rebels.

As Denmark, you should build ports as quickly as possible. Your only main land-trade is via Hamburg, which is really not cost-effective. Via ports you can trade much more goods and at much better prices, the main nations you will trade with will be Russia, Scotland, England and Poland. France, The Holy Roman Empire, Hungary and Spain will be smaller trading partners, and likely not to be significant for you yet.
Also, after establishing strong trade, the ports will be used to building a fleet, and one might say that the Danes are the undisputed rulers of the seas, and I might just agree. Their strong fleet boasts a gigantic threat to England, Scotland and any other naval based nation, and your arm can reach as far as Italy if it must. Not only an offensive weapon, your amazing fleet will ensure you will not be taken by surprise by an attack from the British Isles, and secure your only true vulnerability; Naval invasions.

Denmark has two very strong enemies to fear, England and the Holy Roman Empire. Whilst the Holy Roman Empire can only attack Hamburg and cause minimal damage at first, the English can easily invade your lands and take you by surprise, and they have done so in the past.
It is important, however, to solidify Hamburg by taking the rebel settlements around it as to avoid a full frontal assault by the Holy Roman Empire that will take you by surprise, and will start a momentum for them to crush you totally.
Denmark also has two not-so-strong enemies, that should not be forgotten, Scotland can also quite easily surprise you in an assault that you will never see coming, the desperate Scots cannot wait to get off the rock they call Britain and out of the English hands. Poland can also field a strong assault against Hamburg with a blink of an eye, and can also attack your ports in your bordering seas, and maybe even invade Norway, whilst this enemy is not to be taken too seriously earlier in the campaign, it is not to be taken lightly, either.

*COMPARISON*
England
The people you need fear most, are the English. They are very sneaky.
Strong navy.
Okay cavalry.
Magnificently strong bowmen.
Strong infantry units.
Strong trade.
Strong starting position.
Great position to assault you head on.
Vulnerable to attacks by you, they are an island, and you can easily flank them because of that.
Navy is weaker than yours.
Very rich.
Has an enemy right next to it.
Boasts a strong army, mostly in quality.


The Holy Roman Empire
The people you need also fear, they are not as sneaky, but incredibly massive.
Weak navy.
Strong bowmen.
Extremely strong cavalry.
Very strong infantry units.
Moderate trade - Mostly land trade.
Weak starting position.
Great position to assault your first line of defense early on and head on.
Whilst not in the best starting positions, they are not too vulnerable to attacks by you (Denmark).
Navy much weaker than yours.
Rich.
Has plenty of enemies around it, many wars to fight.
Boasts a very strong army, both in quantity and quality.


Scotland
They are people you need not fear just yet, but you need not forget them either... They have learned a few sneaky tricks from their English foe.
Small and weak navy.
Okay cavalry (Bodyguards), little cavalry variety to choose from, making that side of their army weak.
Okay bowmen. Not something they learned from their English foe.
Very strong shock and heavy infantry units.
Can get strong trade, but they rarely do, so their trade is pretty weak.
Okay starting position.
Fine position to start a sneak attack against you.
They are vulnerable to attack by you, as you can land near Edinburgh and simply take it in a heartbeat, or to their north in Inverness, to their west in Ireland... Just take your pick.
Has one enemy to fight, which will keep them occupied for some time as it is much stronger than they are.
Boasts an okay army, mostly in quantity, lacking in quality.


Poland
Whilst not the most fearsome of your enemies, they are sufficient enough to be kept an eye on, they can easily surprise you and take Norway and Sweden from your, or Hamburg.
Normal navy, rather small though.
Good cavalry - Very strong cavalry archers.
Okay bowmen - Not any different than any other faction in that field.
Okay heavy infantry and infantry - They are no match for you in that field.
Nice trade, mostly land with Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire (If they are not at war).
Nice starting position - Whilst on an ongoing war with Russia at all times, it has a good ally by its side and their position is very stretched out, so taking them out will take time.
Good position to attack you.
Vulnerable to attack by you - You can easily invade them by sea and take their northern fortress, and from Hamburg strike at the center of Poland.
Has a very strong enemy to fight - Russia - and if the Holy Roman Empire joins in, they will likely be so busy with their wars and stuff that they won't notice you, or they will be happy you are not attacking them from behind.
Boasts a strong army, very powerful against armor and extremely strong cavalry archers, whilst this will be bad for you as it will cause significant casualties to your troops, it will not be enough to break down the mighty Danes.

With England as your biggest enemy, it is one of the best invasion targets. England has many benefits that will attract your eye to it: two very strong recruiting hubs (Nottingham and Caernarvon), a very strong trading hubs (London) and two other small outposts which will grow mighty over time. It will also extend your reach and will allow you to strike at your enemy, the Holy Roman Empire, at two fronts with rather ease. This will not be an easy task; taking down England will require a coordinated attack on two or three places at the same time, with mighty armies and swiftness of the arm, so they do not have time to prepare themselves, and after taking down England, Scotland should be easy.

Now to speak of the natural fortress Denmark has, as it has been mentioned earlier, the only way to attack this fortress successfully is by sea, and if you have a sufficient fleet that is nigh-impossible too. With Hamburg as your main defense depot, you must keep the task of attacking it as impossible as attacking you by sea. Building forts at the bridges that link your pretty castle and the vile enemy will be a wise idea. Keeping a garrison there to hold off the enemy will be even wiser. Whilst it is costly, forts can force the enemy into a bottleneck, or cause the enemy to find a new route, which will take him twice as long, or even three times as long, to complete. Just enough time for you to get your army ready.

What has to be done with your agents:
*MERCHANTS* - Denmark is a very strong trading nation, and this is clearly seen with their merchants, sending your merchants to Constantinople, which isn't too close, and has a nice supply of textiles, along with using the amber in Norway can really boost your economy and is highly recommended.
*PRIESTS* - As a newly Catholic nation, Denmark needs two or three priests in its home regions first, in order to solidify their position as such, and to win the favor of the pope. Sending your priests to Norway, Sweden and Denmark itself, will not be forgotten soon by the Pope.
*DIPLOMATS* - Denmark relies heavily on its diplomats due to its fragile nature early on, sending them to the Holy Roman Empire, Scotland and England should be your top priority, and from there to Poland and Russia, also to France and the Italian states, will solidify your trade and you might just gain some good alliances.
*SPIES* - Spies cannot hurt Denmark, at all. Keeping a spy near London or Nottingham and near Edinburgh will tell you exactly what's going on at your greatest enemies' courts, and will tell you if they have a navy moving towards you, which can really help if you are to counter attack or defend, also, sending them to Poland and the Holy Roman Empire will help keep your borders safe.
*ASSASSINS* - A pure luxury for Denmark, as they are not really that much needed. Assassins could be nice for killing people you deem worthy of death... Or unworthy of life... But they are a pure luxury and a good way to make the AI spend their money elsewhere (Sabotage).

Alliances - As stated before, sending your diplomats running around cannot hurt you, especially with Denmark's fragile nature early on. Setting up trade with Scotland, England and France can be very beneficial, but what alliances to pick?
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend": this quote applies here perfectly.Russia, Poland's biggest enemy, will be your biggest friend, a great trading partner, hardly any chance of a fight and a common enemy/hate subject, will make you best friends forever.
Also, France, can supply a very good ally against England or Scotland, and if you decide to take Antwerp and Bruges some day, they can help you defend your borders, not to mention the fact that France and the Holy Roman Empire are at an almost permanent war.
Another alliance to consider is one with Venice or Milan, both of which despise one-another and the Holy Roman Empire. I advise taking Venice.

The Pope - Very important for Denmark to align with the Pope and have it on their side, they are fighting only Catholic nations, and having the Pope on your side is like having a nuke.

Something that may count as a weak point for Denmark, or may not, is that in order to effectively fight cavalry, they must rely on mercenaries, especially early on, this is sometimes not too cost efficient, but it is the most cost efficient ways that stand before the Danes.

Now, to finish up:
Denmark's Strong Points:
Very powerful navy.
Very strong heavy infantry and relatively early in the game.
Very strong heavy cavalry and relatively early in the game.
A natural fortress which makes them almost impenetrable for attack by land.
A very solidified expansion early on in the game.
Very strong trading hub.
Has an easy access to expand into Europe (Antwerp and Bruges).
Can take England if it feels like it, and start an even bigger trading empire, and England itself can be very well protected if played right.

Denmark's Weak Points:
Four Enemies to face off with, two of which can easily sneak up on you.
Two of the above mentioned enemies, are two of the strongest nations in the game (Arguably).
Fragile start.
Must prove itself to the Pope.
Has much work to do in order to become a proper empire.
Hamburg, the place Denmark must take in order to survive, will undoubtedly spark a war with its two nearest neighbors.
Must rely on mercenaries early on for certain fights.

Egypt

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Egypt

Egypt starts off at a great position, alone, only the Turks are close, and even they are seven provinces away from you, it has great trading resources or nodes, a very good expansion option and a position that allows it to strike at its enemies with a ferocity rarely seen in Europe... However, it also a prime target for crusades, and the people of Europe can also be furious and powerful...

Getting Started: The main thing you should do with Egypt, is relax and gather your patience, as the early start can get very boring. Egypt starts out strong and unified. Rich and carefree. Sending a small force down to take the castle to the south of your two cities would be a smart idea, having that castle develop from very early on can help you later on when you become under constant attack by Crusades. Sending the rest of your forces to the Holy Land and its surroundings is almost mandatory. I mean, what other expanding option do you have? The main cities you should take (First) are Jerusalem, Acre and Antioch. In that order, after that, roam free and take what-ever city you see fit. The reason I say you should take those three first is because they become very important in later stages, so investing in them early on should help solidify yourself as a powerhouse in the Middle East.

*Important! Expansion to the west will undoubtedly cause a war with either Sicily or the Moors. Keeping to the east will probably be the best choice, because there isn't much income in the west anyway.

Trade - Egypt is a trading gold mine, a trader's every dream! The castle you have to your south has ivory and gold around it, and there's nothing better in M2TW than pure gold and white gold. Using those resources can only do you good.
After taking the Holy Land, building ports is very important, especially in cities, the immense trade income that will come to you from trading between your own cities, Greece and Asia Minor will soon be enormous, and will give you all the money you need to build yourself a proper army.

Navy - Egypt's navy is about as strong as they come; it has a navy that can rival Venice's navy and it has both quality and quantity in its navy. Your navy also serves a valuable strategic resource; if you go into war with one of the Italian states, the Byzantine Empire, or even Turkey for that matter, you can simply board your armies on ships, and sends them where-ever you want them, and with Egypt, it's just that simple, and it's just that cost effective. Having a strong navy and investing money in a navy are very wise decisions early on.

Army - Egypt is said to rely on heavy cavalry a lot, and that it has poor infantry. They were right. Egypt is a completely cavalry centered nation, and this gives you an enormous advantage over your European foes. Being effective against armor, quick, versatile and agile, Egypt's cavalry is undoubtedly the strongest force in the Middle East. Turkey has no power over you and will not be able to rival you. They will probably be your best friends anyway, which leads me to my next point.

Alliances - Alliances with the Moors and Turkey would probably be the wisest things to do, but keeping the Pope happy will be just as good, Egypt is a gigantic crusade-beacon, and if you keep the Pope happy, he will be less likely to throw a crusade at you, but that's for your choice.

Crusades - The threat of Crusades is always upon you, the nations of Europe will want the Holy Land, and they will stop at nothing to obtain it, and that is why you must get ready with armies, and have at least one and a half full stacks ready, at all times (Preferably in Jerusalem and Acre). The Crusading armies move quickly and it will take them a minimum of seven turns to reach you. Not sufficient time to raise an army that will face off with two to seven crusading stacks.
The crusaders will come with quality and quantity, in the thousands and with the best armor, so your best chance is to utilize your own lands against them...

Terrain - If you have captured the Holy Land and Antioch, you are a natural fortress.
The armies that will attack you at Antioch have to pass a river with only two crossings, making it impossible for a multi-armied assault, you can easily cut them off at the northern bridge and fight them in bridge battles, cutting them down and using strategic advantages of your lands against them. Keeping an army at the south bridge will force them to attack from the northern one, and even if it won't, it will result in a bridge battle, either way.
If the enemy is to reach Jerusalem, they must first pass near Adana, a small choke point, in which you can cut them off and kill many of them at once. If they pass that obstacle, there is the bridge between Antioch's river and the plains of Syria and Lebanon, it is immediately after Adana, in which you can force them into a bridge battle, fighting them and killing them, or at least, holding them back for a while. Your true force, your main force, should be held in the mountain pass in the Golan Heights. Your foes must pass through those, near Acre, forcing them into another bridge battle, or near Damascus, catching them by surprise before they can even reach Jerusalem.
If all those defenses fall, you stll have the city itself. Jerusalem is not an easy city to take, its huge walls go high and high, its towers are strong and the Egyptians will fight to the death.

Agents - Agents are an important piece of Egypt's survival.
*MERCHANTS* - Very helpful for Egypt, can run all around your empire and use the great merchandise you have.
*IMAMS* - Very important, if a crusade does take your city, you will need to take it back, and making it rebel is a good idea, also, your nation will become gigantic, so you will need to keep public order, one way or the other.
*DIPLOMATS* - Important if you want to try and keep the crusaders off your back, and boost your trade. Sending them to Turkey, the Byzantine Empire and the Moors first will be the best choice, Sicily and Venice will come afterwards, and the Pope won't be a bad idea either.
*SPIES* - Setting up a spy web around the Byzantine Empire's location, and near Turkey, will give you a great idea of where the attacking armies will come from, how strongly, and where can you kill them.
*ASSASSINS* - The 'Cheap' way of finishing crusades, is to kill the crusading generals, and this system has been proven useful, however, in order to assist your (most likely) ally, the Turks, it will be wise to kill them on Byzantine ground... However... If your Turkish neighbor is getting too strong... The general might accidentally get a knife in the back while camping near Iconium... And his army might get discouraged and take Iconium instead... Not like you had anything to do with it...

The Pope - Keeping the Pope happy might stop crusades, but it is not crucial, at all.

*COMPARISON*
Egypt's Strong Points
Powerful trade.
Powerful navy.
Powerful cavalry.
Amazing terrain for defenses.
Strong against armor (Crusaders)
Agile and fast armies.
Strong starting position.
Amazing expansion option.
Very very rich.

Crusaders - Strong Points
Powerful armies, usually all-round.
Huge armies.
Must attack, no advantage of terrain.
Slow armies.
Heat disadvantage, will tire more swiftly.
Strong morale, due to being on a crusade.
Will probably have many spearmen.

England

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

England

England is arguably the easiest faction in M2TW, however, as some might say, it can be sometimes the hardest. England has a very good starting position with a trading location that suits the mightiest of kings, and more enemies than one can even count...

Starting Off: A stronghold needs to be set in front of Scotland, they need to know who's boss. The first move you should make is attack, with all your available force, at York. Taking York will not be too daring, but it will keep the Scots where they belong, in the north, and will give you time and space to do what you will. After York, taking Caernarvon is almost mandatory, and Dublin also. Once that is done, if it hasn't been taken yet, Inverness is fair game, however it is recommended you use a ship, not to anger the Scots... Yet...

On the French front, moving your force from Caen to take Brittany (The region to the west of Caen) will be the best thing to do, making more trade available and solidifying your position in France. From there, you have two options: Bordeaux or Bruges and Antwerp? Bordeaux will make your forces in France even stronger, and will undoubtedly help in the war to come against them, taking Antwerp and Bruges will start a war with the Holy Roman Empire sooner or later, and will solidify your trade and income, but will not reinforce your troops in France... You have those two options because this is early on, you do not have the military supplies for a double-ended campaign yet.


Trade - One could not ask for a better trade lane. England is at the center of the European trade, Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, the Holy Roman Empire, Poland, Russia, the Moors and the Italians are all your trading partners, needless to say your trading income will be enormous. Sending diplomats and setting trade rights with everyone you can, is the best thing you can possibly do with England, in addition to that, upgrading your ports will not be bad either, more goods to trade... And better ships against your foes...

Navy - Without a doubt, England is in threat. Whilst it has an okay to a strong navy, and a capability to get a very strong one, Denmark surpasses its navy by tenfold at the start of the campaign, this means you must act quickly. Upgrading your ports to Shipwrights will be the best thing to do, and getting Holks will be even better. Denmark is your biggest naval threat, because they are the (arguably) undisputed rulers of the northern sea, and something must be done about that if England is to ensure its victory against higher powers, without having the threat of a seaborne invasion dangling over its head.

Army - England's strong point has to be with its infantry and archers. Whilst having a poor cavalry variety, England has some of the best heavy infantry in the game, and the best archers in the game, and both must be used in coming battles if victory is to come. The best thing for England right now is to make Nottingham its central training hub, with Caernarvon and Caen its secondary, and create massive training facilities for archers and heavy infantry, or England's doom will be at hand...

Alliances - An alliances with the Holy Roman Empire can be most profitable, as it is a prime enemy for both Denmark and France, but the Holy Roman Empire is not your most trustworthy ally, quite the opposite, so using them and throwing them away is probably the best solution. Spain is a great ally for England, being an enemy of France and Portugal (Who likes to attack you through sea some times), and together you can form a mighty empire.

Terrain - England has a very good starting position and terrain on one hand, and a very terrible one on the other. Being an island, England is almost immune to attack from the Holy Roman Empire, Italy and France, but is extremely volnurable to attacks from Denmark and Portugal, who can sneak up on it and attack it when it's not looking...

England's main enemies are numerous, and must be divided into groups of evil, greater or lesser, and the two nations it must fear most, are Denmark and France...
*COMPARISON*
France
Powerful cavalry.
Powerful land units.
Pathetic navy.
Okay trade.
Terrible starting position.
Many enemies, two of which are Spain and The Holy Roman Empire.
Attacked on many fronts.
Relatively vulnerable capital to your attacks.
Vulnerable to your attacks.
Terrible location to attack you.

Denmark
Powerful cavalry.
Very powerful land units.
Very powerful navy.
Excellent trade.
Very good starting position.
Quite a number of enemies, however, two of them are quite pesky (Poland and the Holy Roman Empire) and will likely keep Denmark busy.
Attacked on only one front.
Not too vulnerable to your attacks, neither is their capital.
Excellent location to attack you.
Without a doubt, your biggest threat.

The Holy Roman Empire
Powerful cavalry.
Very powerful land units.
Pathetic navy.
Terrible starting positions.
Many enemies, two of which are Denmark and France.
Attacked on many fronts.
Vulnerable to your attacks, mainly the capital.
Terrible location to attack you.
Not your biggest threat, but not your smallest threat either.

Portugal
Strong cavalry.
Okay land units.
Strong navy.
Terrible starting positions.
Only two enemies, but both are very strong and will attack Portugal repeatedly.
Attacked on two fronts.
Very vulnerable to your attacks.
Great location to attack you.
Not your biggest threat at all, they will throw random raiding parties at Caernarvon and Dublin, but nothing more.

Scotland
Okay cavalry.
Strong land units.
Pathetic navy.
Okay starting position.
One enemy aside yourself, but you are its main threat.
Attacked on one front.
Extremely vulnerable to your attacks.
Okay location to attack you.
Not your biggest threat, at all. In fact, it is your weakest threat, and you must deal with it as soon as possible, to keep this pest out of the way when you reach for greater empires, and for the Americas.


Now, onwards to the agents...
*MERCHANTS* - Hardly any use to England, England has a powerful trade as it is, but it cannot hurt to send a few merchants over to France and Italy, gain some coin.
*PRIESTS* - Britain is extremely catholic, so you will hardly need them, but for the conquest of France... You might...
*DIPLOMATS* - Without a doubt very important, setting trade rights and alliances whenever possible, very important for England.
*SPIES* - Keeping an eye out for an attack you know will come but you don't know where from, is a good idea. England has many enemies, and keeping an eye on all of them cannot be bad.
*ASSASSINS* - Extending your reach beyond Britain is not bad at all. Using your assassins against Denmark and France will inflict so much pain that it will take them a long time to strike at you.

The Pope - Keeping good relations with the Pope is very important for England, you are fighting only Catholic nations, and the Pope must be on your side!

To wrap up...
England's Strong Points:
Powerful navy.
Powerful infantry.
Amazing bowmen.
Great trade.
Great starting position.
Great expansion options.
War is inevitable on all fronts - Eliminates the element of surprise.
Has a great position to cause its enemies to fight each other (The Holy Roman Empire and France... Portugal and Spain... Denmark and The Holy Roman Empire).
Strong economy.

England's Weak Points:
Bad cavalry.
Too many enemies to count.
Attacked all the time.
Must always watch its back.
Must destroy a faction early on, not a favorable thing for the Pope.

France

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

France

The French are a people torn with wars and conflict. All around them enemies lie and stalk, just waiting to steal lands from the French king... All around them, kings watch for the perfect time to strike...

Getting Started: France has relatively few expansion options aside from the mandatory one; Attacking Bordeaux and Metz early on can be the key to victory in this campaign, taking Bern too will stop the Milanese from attacking you, and Dijon is also an important place to take. Britanny (To the west of Caen) is rather important, and will not spark a war with anyone. Antwerp and Bruges are cities of luxury, if you can, take them, if you can't, don't feel bad.
The French have a rather good land trade, and have the potential of becoming a sea trading empire, building ports will be very helpful, but focusing on roads and markets early on will be the best choice for you, as the new king of this nation.
France has multiple military threats: Starting from the Normans at Caen and ending with the Spaniards are Iberia, between them are the Portuguese, Milanese and the Germans... All of those are factions that either start very strong, or can become a terrible threat if not dealt with properly. And none of them like you.

Trade - France's main trading power is at land, setting up trade lanes with the rich Italian states could be the decision that will change the course of your campaign. Building roads at your cities is a very wise thing to do, as your in-nation trade will be your main trading income early on, and right now you have to figure out who your enemies are.
Building ports early on will not cast an immediate improvement, but it is the basic foundation and a fantastic investment for the future on your way to founding a trading empire that will overthrow the English's undisputed trade empire crown. Building ports at your southern provinces and getting trade rights with the Italian states is rather important, and building a port at Britanny and Bordeaux can give you even more riches. With trade rights with Scotland, England, Portugal and Spain, you can get quite a little income.
As you can see, I have mentioned many trading partners, but most of them are also your enemies, and that is the true problem with France, early friends become later enemies.

Navy - France does not start with a strong navy, but getting one will be a good, solid step at gaining the upper hand on your Spanish, German and English foes. Getting a good and powerful navy will be very difficult with the looming threat of the Italian states, but if you are to maintain your trade lanes in the south one must upgrade one's ports very early and get some strong Holks at your side, if you are to face off with the Milanese war galley.
The English also pose a seaborne threat, although not as severe. Their fleets are high in quantity but lacking in quality, which cannot be said about the Italian navies, which are sufficient in both.

Army - France, whilst not fielding the strongest army in Europe, and being forced to face off with three of the strongest land powers in the known world, will be forced to rely heavily on its land army, and especially its cavalry. Your two castles, Bordeaux and Toulouse, will become your two most important settlements as they are your land training facilities, and Paris will become your special unit training hub, upgrading its unit production buildings will be wise, as the Scots Guard are archers that even the English longbow men will have trouble facing...

Alliances - One of your strongest allies could be Scotland, having a mutual interest against England could unite your two nations and striking at both ends of the English kingdom could weaken it severely.
A secondary ally could be the Portuguese and also Venice, both having mutual interests with you, Venice against Milan and the Holy Roman Empire and Portugal against England and Spain, those two can also become rather strong allies of yours, and while the Portuguese are unlikely to betray you because of their weak starting position, if you get too close to Venice, the rich and powerful nation might reconsider their allegiance...
Denmark might also be a good and sturdy ally, having to face off against the Holy Roman Empire and England all alone can be a daunting task, and they will need a hand. They can easily attack both of them and they are very strong in trade, which can help you a lot.
During my latest campaign with France, Denmark has been a great help against the English, forming an alliance with them is truly a wise thing to do, as attacking them is truly not wise at all, in addition, trading with them can grant you income you never thought of.

Terrain - France has a terrible starting position, the Normans at Normandy, the Germans and the Milanese pushing at its borders, the conquering Spanish to the south, all make France a very bad place to start, however, France's many forests can be used to your advantage. Setting up watch towers all across France, and ambushing armies in the forests, could help you immensely when on the defense, and the Spanish have only three routes to use to get to France, moving through the mountains, and all those three routes can be blocked off;
Pamplona's Pass is the west pass into France, it is filled with forests, and if entering a war with Portugal or Spain, it will be wise to keep an ambushing force there, if not to give you a heads up, at least weaken your enemy a bit before he attacks.
Middle Pass - The middle pass is the pass between Zaragoza and Pamplona is the one most likely to be used by the Spaniards if they are to attack, building a fort there, in your territory, and keeping a garrison there to stop them from attacking, will ensure that even if they do attack, you will either weaken them, or have a sufficient warning before they come.
The Eastern Pass - The eastern pass is the east pass, the last of the three, it is half blocked by sea and half blocked by mountains, leaving a choke point for them to pass, however, the cunning Iberians can easily launch a sneak attack from there and take your most beloved southern city, Marseille. Keeping a small force there or a watchtower or two, will be a very wise choice.

Concerning England, if you are to eliminate the English threat from your lands, you are either to strike hard and fast at Caen, making sure the English never come back, or leave a very strong force at Paris, ready to strike if they do, it is your choice. The English are less than likely to attack you by surprise, as they have Scotland to handle, but if they take Antwerp or Bruges, or both... Better watch your back, they will want to defend... And expand... Their borders.
The Germans are cunning, stronng and massive. They have two ways to attack you, either through Frankfurt, the long way 'round, which can lead them directly to Paris or Rheims, or through Metz, which will lead them directly to Metz and Dijon. There are hardly any ways of blocking those two routes, however, you can set watch towers in the forest to the north of Rheims, keeping an eye out, and keeping an ambushing force there, utilizing your small terrain advantage to the best you can. To block them from reaching Metz, you have three choice, either block the bridge with a big force inside a fort, take Bern, recruit forces and make sure that if they attack, you can launch a counter attack and take their castle, and move on to Metz and save it, or just keep a garrison at Metz and the surrounding and wait for the assault, this will less likely annoy the Germans, and is probably the best solution, as it guards you from Milan also.

Now, it is time for your earliest and (arguably) biggest threat, Milan. The cunning and wealthy Milanese people always seek to expand their borders, and their wallets, so they will undoubtedly target Marseille, Dijon, Bern (If you took it) and Metz, and the best defense against them is knowledge. Setting watch towers in the three mountain passes, the southmost leading to Marseille, the middle leading to the depths of your land, and the northern to Dijon, will be very wise, and leaving a garrison in Bern, Metz, Dijon and Marseille will also scare them off, or at least give you enough time to halt their attack before it gets out of hand.
If you do go to war with Milan, their navy will attack, without a doubt, so you must build your navy quickly enough for it to either withstand the attack, or attack first and totaly eliminate them. Milan's biggest weakness, IS Milan. It is surrounded by enemies, and leading a sneak attack to attack Genoa and move on to Milan, will undoubtedly crush them, even if they have more territories left, all their trade will be eliminated, and you will gain a strong foothold in Italy, to face of against the Reich, if needed.

Whilst France has many enemies, the best thing about France is that not all its enemies must be enemies, one can manipulate the Holy Roman Empire to become your greatest ally, same could be said about the Spaniards, however, this is not the case with England nor Milan...
*COMPARISON*
The Holy Roman Empire
Very powerful land armies.
Pathetic fleet.
Can-be strong trade.
Excellent spot to attack you.
Excellent spot to be attacked by you.
Has multiple enemies, and one can manipulate that in order to remove the threat of the Holy Roman Empire, in peace or in death.
Capital is extremely vulnerable to your attacks.

England
Very powerful land armies.
Strong fleet.
Incredible trade.
Excellent spot to attack you.
Okay spot to be attacked by you.
Has two enemies that will keep her busy, long enough...
Capital is not really vulnerable to attacks by you, but if a sneak attack occurs... London will not stand.

Spain
Strong land armies.
Strong fleet.
Okay trade.
Okay spot to attack you.
Okay spot to be attacked by you.
Has two enemies, Portugal and the Moors, which will keep her busy, for a while, but if she unites with one of them... Get ready for war.
Capital is extremely not vulnerable to attacks by you, you will have to travel through Pamplona and Toledo in order to reach Leon, but once again, a sneak attack by sea can help...

Milan
Strong land armies.
Very strong fleet.
Very good trade.
Good spot to attack you.
Great spot to be attacked by you.
Has two enemies that will keep her busy, and forming an alliance with either (The Holy Roman Empire or Venice) will make their job even harder, but will make them look towards your land in refuge...
Capital is very vulnerable to attacks by you, a seaborne attack can eliminate them easily, and an attack from the mountains can also help, but it will be harder.

Portugal
Okay land armies - Very good cavalry.
Strong fleet.
Okay trade.
Okay spot to attack you.
Excellent spot to be attacked by you - Easily eliminated if you want.
Has two enemies that are almost three times stronger than her to keep her busy, forming an alliance with either will not be a wise idea, for they both want you dead.
Capital is extremely vulnerable to attacks by you, you can easily take down Pamplona and send a seaborne invasion to Lisbon, eliminating this faction for good.

Agents - Agents will undoubtedly play an important role with France, some more than others.
*MERCHANTS* - Using Merchants wisely with France can increase your income in such ways you never thought possible. The wine in your lands can give you a nice early trading income, the resources in central Europe also, and the resources you can get at Northern Africa, which isn't too far away, can also boost your economy.
*PRIESTS* - Mostly fighting against Catholic nations, you will need priests to keep the Pope happy, if nothing else, and the Pope dislikes France because it tends to declare wars on everyone around her, so getting Priests and converting regions, boosting their piety and getting into the college of Cardinals will be one of the best decisions you will make with France.
*DIPLOMATS* - France is heavily reliant on diplomacy, how you play it will be the end of your nation or the rise of your empire. Starting negotiations of trade lanes with the Italian states and the Iberian states, will be very wise indeed, and getting alliances with important factions can shift the tides of war.
*SPIES* - France has plenty of borders to share with its enemies, sending spies to those borders can help, a lot, and you will know when a strike will come at you. Having a very small terrain advantage, the advantage of knowledge will be your best weapon as France.
*ASSASSINS* - Wreaking havoc in your enemies' cities and lines will always be a good thing as France, as I have said before, you start rather weak, so killing generals and destroying buildings can cause confusion amongst your foes, and will hold back their attacks... For now...

The Pope - The Pope, unless played right, will hate you. You are fighting five Catholic nations, getting priests, building huge churches (Preferably in Paris) or cathedrals and converting your populace can very well help with the Pope, declaring a crusade on the Holy Roman Empire (Which will almost absolutely will be excommunicated) or Milan (Same story as the Holy Roman Empire) and participating in it, not only will lead to a critical strike against your foes, will also improve your relations with the Pope. Keeping the Pope happy is wise and recommended as France.

For conclusion:
France's Strong Points:
Later on, gets powerful land units.
The potential to become a wealthy trading empire.
Does not have too many permanent enemies, can shift the tides of war using diplomacy rather easily.
Filled with forests, ambushing will be very effective, and also, all its enemies' routes to her lands can be blocked, with some expenses.
Very strong cavalry.
Will have very good allies.

France's Weak Points:
Okay to bad land units early on.
Terrible starting position, three major nations always threatening you.
Terrible relations with the Pope - Must always uphold them.
Trade must be upgraded in order to give sufficient income.
Its training hubs are to the south, excluding Paris.
Paris is very vulnerable to English attacks.
Every expansion France makes, will cause a war. Taking Bordeaux might annoy the Spanish, Dijon; the Milanese, Metz and Bern; the Holy Roman Empire, Antwerp and Bruges; the Holy Roman Empire, Scotland, England and Denmark.

The Holy Roman Empire

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire is arguably one of the strongest, if not the strongest, factions in the game. It has expansion possibilities without boundaries, enemies beyond count and problems in the thousands, starting from which faction to trust and continuing on how to spend your money...

Starting Off: As mentioned before, the Holy Roman Empire has many expansion options, and the best thing to do right now is to take Bern and Prague, also, if possible, Hamburg. Taking Prague will ensure you have a strategic outpost and a trading post with Hungary and Poland, taking Bern will ensure a first line of defense against France and taking Hamburg will severely cripple the Dane's military ambitions.
After taking those three (If you managed, if not, no matter), Metz will be a prime target for your next conquest, along with Antwerp and Bruges, if you have taken Hamburg, taking Antwerp and Bruges will not only be wise, it will be highly recommended, giving a supply line to Hamburg and increasing your income, whilst Hamburg can easily protect them, even if you didn't though, taking those two cities will be a good idea.
Spending your money on land based trade in cities and in castles on all possible troop recruiting buildings will be a very wise idea, and now you must ask yourself one thing; Do you have the strength to fight both at the Italian front, and the German front (Which consits of four)?

If you said yes, than keeping Bologna will be ever so wise, keeping a trading port in Italy, along with a nice military stronghold to frighten your opponents.
If you said no, selling Bologna might be the best move for you, and now you have a choice. Either sell it to the Pope, and get your relations up with him, sell it to Milan, hoping that they will be able to take down Venice, or sell it to France, to make three of your mortal enemies face off (Milan/France/Venice), either option is good, as long as you get rid of Bologna as it is a war magnet.

Trade - The Holy Roman Empire has an extremely powerful land trade, upgrading that and getting trade rights with Poland, Hungary and Venice can give you quite some riches. If you have Antwerp and Bruges under your control, getting ports there and trade agreements with England and Scotland cannot hurt you either, they will fill your coffers magnificently.

Navy - Don't even bother. The Holy Roman Empire is the last faction you need to start a naval development with, which will end in a naval war. Your massive and powerful land armies don't need navies unless to ferry from one conquest, to another. There are reasons behind this:
A) Getting a navy will do you no good, as the faction you will mostly face off with are Denmark and Venice, who are, without a doubt, completely superior to you with their navies.
B) Getting a navy when you are in the middle of Europe and you have only one, maybe two, regions with a shore, is completely useless, you are not sea-reliant, keep it that way.

Army - The power of the Holy Roman Empire truly lies on its land based troops. Your troops are strong, full of morale, fearsome and sturdy, and you will rely heavily upon them for multiple reasons:
A) You are completely superior to most of your enemies when it comes to land armies.
B) Your navy is useless against your foes.
C) Most of your enemies (99.9%) will fight you mostly on land.
D) You have only one, maybe two or three, regions with a shore, and the rest (Seven or eight) are shore-less. Navies can't travel on grass or sand, land armies can.
E) Your mighty Teutonic Knights and Gothic Knights are two of the most powerful units in the game, utilizing them completely to your advantage will give you the edge over most factions.

Alliances - Setting up alliances can be tricky, because all your expansions will result in wars, however, your most trustworthy allies can be England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal and Sicily, I shall explain;
England - England can help you greatly in your plight against the French and the Danes, they can also set up a nice trade with you once you take Antwerp and Bruges.
Scotland - Scotland is like a mini England, it will mostly help you with the Danes, but it will supply a good trade with you, so keeping them on your good side, if you can, can be nice, if you can't, kill them.
Spain - Spain is a strong ally to have, which completely hates France. Having Spain as an ally can boost your trade and get your the assistance you need against your foes.
Portugal - Having Portugal as an ally is nothing more than a vessel to improve your relations with either England or Spain, as Portugal poses no real threat, once they go to war with either Spain or England, betray them in favor of those two, and boost your relations with the two.
Sicily - Sicily can be fearsome in fights against the other Italian states, which will be, sooner or later, your enemies. They can also boost up your trade and send you some military help, especially at sea.
How could I forget? The Byzantine Empire; They can be such great allies, supplying you with wars against Hungary and Venice, keeping them busy, and also they can become one of your best allies later on in the game. Not once have I seen the two empires unite power against their common foes and fight them off with a ferocity fitting of Emperors.

Terrain - The terrible terrain the Holy Roman Empire is on makes it very vulnerable. The only factions that can't attack you with ease, are the Italians, they have to pass through the Alps, and in the Alps you have a mighty castle to help protect your borders.
The Holy Roman Empire's terrain can hardly be used against your foe, the best thing you can do however, is use the relative close proximity of your cities and castles to quickly dispatch forces throughout your empire to assist.
Utlizing your enemies' terrain against them, could be your wisest choice. Hiding forces in the forests in France, blocking their bridges and mountain passes, hiding forces in the forests near Hamburg or Warsaw... The only way you can truly use terrain to your advantage, is on the offensive.

The threats the Holy Roman Empire faces are numerous;
Milan - Possibly the earliest of all threats, will immediately try and take Bologna from you, having a nice force in Bologna (If you decided not to sell it) will be a wise idea, and sending a strike force to strike at Milan and Genoa once they do attack, will easily destroy them.
Venice - Your most terrible threat. Venice can attack you at two fronts, Vienna and Bologna (Including the Alps), and the fact that Venice has a great terrain to fight you makes them a hard target. They have a very powerful navy, rendering your sea forces useless, but you have a great advantage over them; recruitment. Their recruitment capabilities are not nearly as good as yours, you have three times more castle than time, and using that to your advantage can, and will, shift the balance of war.
Hungary - Your weakest threat. They will usually be in a very good relationship with you because of the trade you share, they have enough trouble with Poland, Venice and the Byzantine Empire to worry about you, so keeping them on your good side until you are ready to decimate them could be a wise idea.
Poland - Moderate threat. Poland will not necessarily try and attack you quickly, but you must fear it if they do, they are most effective against armor, and you are very armor reliant. A good way to strike and destroy Poland will be a swift strike at its toughest points, Warsaw and Thorn.
Denmark - Your most annoying threat. I deem them annoying because whilst they cannot do you too much harm, if you leave them unchecked for too long, they might just do your harm. Taking Hamburg early on will completely cripple their military capacity for the first forty turns, that way you can easily forget about them, however, they have heavy infantry that rivals yours, cavalry forces that match yours, and naval powers that are supreme compared to yours. The natural fortress that is Denmark will be hard to take down, so the best way to actually kill them, is to take Hamburg early on (Before they can), and if a war starts, take Arhus and leave them be, if you do that, they will be completely crippled.
France - France, the only faction that might just rival you. Their terrain is so annoying to attack and is so useful on the defensive that it will make your job of destruction all that much harder, however, keeping a good alliance with England and Spain might rid you of some of those problems. A good way to strike at France is to reach Rheims and Dijon (If Milan doesn't have it) and take them down, from there, taking Paris could also be a wise idea, and will render them completely useless, no money, means no army. No army means no threat.
France however, has a very mighty land army, which will undoubtedly threaten yours, so your best shot against them is, once again, to use the advantage of recruitment you have over them, the same quality, but double the quantity, and you will win.
England - England, whilst not being a big threat and possibly your best ally, needs still be included as a threat. England has a strong navy, powerful land forces and extremely long reach, they can easily attack you by surprise, but if you keep them happy, and keep fighting their enemies, this is less than unlikely to happen.
Scotland - Whilst not really a threat, they are usually best friends with France, Scotland should be considered a threat because they can cause harm before being destroyed, but they are a good tool to keep the English happy. Killing the Scots will annoy the French, and make the English elated, both results good for you.

*COMPARISON*
Milan
Strong militia.
Powerful navy.
Good trade.
Terrible position to attack you.
Excellent position to be attacked by you.
Vulnerable capital.
Has two strong enemies, France and Venice, which will undoubtedly keep her busy.

Venice
Strong militia.
Very powerful navy.
Very good trade.
Okay position to attack you.
Okay position to be attacked by you.
Relatively vulnerable capital.
Has two strong enemies, the Byzantine Empire and Milan, which will keep her busy for the time being, but not for too long.

Poland
Okay infantry.
Bad navy.
Okay trade.
Okay position to attack you.
Excellent position to be attacked by you.
Capital is protected quite well.
Has a strong enemy that will definitely keep her busy, Russia and Poland will fight until they both burn.
-Very good against armor.
-Very good cavalry.

Denmark
Strong infantry.
Powerful navy.
Good trade.
Okay position to attack you.
Bad position to be attacked by you.
Capital is not too well protected.
Has two enemies that are unlikely to keep her busy, fighting mainly at sea.
-Is your only true rival in the Heavy Infantry field.
-Very good cavalry.

France
Strong infantry.
Okay navy.
Good trade.
Good position to attack you.
Okay position to be attacked by you.
Capital is protected, not all too well.
Has many enemies, that will keep her busy for a long time, but they don't like you at all a war will definitely spark between you two sooner or later.
-Surpasses you in cavalry.
-Is no match to you in the field of infantry.

England
Very strong infantry.
Good navy.
Great trade.
Okay position to attack you.
Bad position to be attacked by you.
Capital isn't protected that well, a strong attack through sea will bring it down.
Has three enemies, two of which will hardly keep her busy, the only enemy to stops her from attacking you is France.
-Not really a threat to you, can become your best ally.
-Surpasses you in bowmen.
-Is a match for you in the field of Infantry.
-Is no match for you in the field of cavalry.

Scotland
Okay infantry.
Okay navy.
Okay trade.
Bad position to attack you.
Bad position to be attacked by you - Whilst it is very vulnerable to attacks by sea, you hardly have any sea to use to attack them.
Capital isn't well protected, at all, one good strike by sea and it's gone.
Has an enemy that will, undoubtedly, keep her busy. However, her love for the French will spark a war between you sooner or later.
-Not a match to you on all fields.
-Can provide a sneak attack that will cause damage, but not too much damage.
-Can be used as a great tool to make the English happy.


Agents - Agents can come into play with the Holy Roman Empire quite well, as the Pope doesn't like you too much, Priests can help, and you have plenty of enemies to look at, so Spies are also quite effective.
*MERCHANTS* - The Holy Roman Empire can send its merchants all over Europe, nothing is too far, so building a few merchants, sending them wherever you want and forgetting about them will help you, significantly. You need the money.
*PRIESTS* - The Pope doesn't like you, at all. Sending your priests all over and converting the populace will help, a lot.
*DIPLOMATS* - Sending your diplomats where-ever you can will be a wise idea, your prime targets should be Spain, England and the Byzantine Empire, sending one to the Pope and the Italian states will be a wise idea also.
*SPIES* - Creating a spy web all across northern Italy, eastern Europe, northern Europe, western Europe and England will give you plenty of warning and a good news report of what's happening all over, and you can coordinate your attacks or relations accordingly.
*ASSASSINS* - Having so many enemies makes the Holy Roman Empire a hard faction to play, assassins can make it all so much easier. Assassinating important targets, sabotage, killing diplomats and priests, all of those can lead to a downfall of your enemy, killing their merchants will also send it on an economic downfall. Using your assassins, wisely, can be very good... And if you don't like the Pope... A crossbow... Might just fire. And accidentally hit it. Not your fault.

The Pope - The Pope hates you, as I have previously stated. Giving him Bologna if you don't want it can be a very good solution to keep him happy, building Cathedrals and priests will not hurt, keeping the Pope happy, will keep your populace happy, and will reduce the chance of (even more) attacks.

The Holy Roman Empire's Strong Points:
Very powerful heavy infantry.
Strong cavalry.
Strong bowmen.
Good land trade.
Recruitment capabilities surpassing most, if not all, factions.
Many allies to choose from, the number of enemies is equaled, or doubled, by the number of allies.
Can get very rich, very fast.
Good expansion options.

The Holy Roman Empire's Weak Points:
Many enemies.
Terrible sea trade.
Lack of good navy.
The Pope hates you.
Every single expansion, however good and important, will lead to war.
Has too many fronts.
Must move quickly if to eliminate some of its threats early on.

Hungary

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hungary

The Hungarians are a proud people, sticking to their religion fanatically, and having to fend off the opposing religion, and also oppose the threat of empires to its south, west and north, Hungary has a lot on her hands...

Starting Off: Hungary has little expansion options early on in the game, this is much 'thanks' to the threats to its south and west. The best option for you as Hungary is to quickly take Bucharest, Sofia and the other castle to the north east of your starting castle. Taking Zagreb will also be a wise idea, but it will also be a dumb idea;
Taking Zagreb will increase your income and province count, of course, including trade... However... Taking it will also increase the chance of going to war against Venice or the Holy Roman Empire, and these two nations are the two you must fear most!
Creating a good land-based trade with Poland, the Holy Roman Empire and Venice will bring you good income later on. Building recruitment buildings at your castle will help you in your war against the Byzantine Empire, getting good relations with Venice, will do the same thing, so a smart thing to do, is form an early alliance with the rich Italian state, Venice.
After doing that, you need to look over the Black Sea and to the village of Caffa. Caffa is located to the east of you, at the northern bank of the Black Sea, getting an army there and taking it might prove useful later on in the campaign.

Trade - Hungary literally has no sea trade early on in the game, and getting a good sea trade means taking on Venice, and winning, which is a daunting task early on, so the best thing to do is to upgrade your land trade and set up trade agreements with the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, Poland, Venice, Milan and the Turks. If you want, the Byzantine Empire could also be a good trade partner... If you are lucky...

Navy - Hungary's navy is worse than useless, it is in a state of non existence. You have no sea access aside Bucharest and the other castle you just conquered, and building a navy for any offensive purposes will be a waste of money so early on, if you are to build a navy, do it for defensive purposes, so the Byzantine Empire cannot easily blockade your port (If you even have one).

Army - Hungary's pride is in its land army early on. You will get heavy infantry relatively early on, your faction is amazing against armor, which will ultimately be the downfall of your foes. You have some horse archers which can come to use, but relying too heavily on them might just destroy you. Your other ranged infantry units are very powerful, your melee infantry is amazingly powerful and cost effective, and your cavalry is just what you need, good enough, yet not great.

Alliances - The best alliance you can form early on must be with Poland. Your Polish neighbor shares your pious devotion to the religion, and is highly unlikely to attack you because of the imminent threat of Russia, in addition, your two capitals border each other, making trade very profitable between you two.
Your second best alliance will have to be Venice. Early on, your rich neighbor supplies you with immense trade and much support against the Byzantine Empire, however, once he gets tired of it, he will likely betray you. Never trust Venice, not as Hungary. Taking down Venice however, will not be too hard once you advance enough, your soldiers specialize in anti-armor tactics and weapons.
Another alliance with a potentially great outcome will have to be the Holy Roman Empire. Whilst it is large and has a tendency to invade, the Holy Roman Empire has enough on its hands, and will gladly have a new ally to its side, aligning with them will help your trade also, and will secure one border as you focus all your might (You will need to) on your wars with the Byzantine Empire.
Later on, when you get tired of Venice or the Holy Roman Empire, good allies could be Milan or Denmark (If Venice, Milan, if the Holy Roman Empire, Denmark).

Terrain - Hungary has a great defensive terrain. In order to reach Sofia and Bucharest, the Byzantine Empire must pass a river and a mountain ridge, both easily blocked off with forts, in addition to that, in order to read your capital, one must also pass through a river, which, again, can be easily blocked off. Attacks to your north will be blocked by a mountain ride (Your border with Poland) and a river (Your border at the northern most region near the Black Sea), both easily blocked with Forts. Using all of this to your advantage makes your homeland, a natural fortress that will take a while to be breached.
In addition, your starting castle is surrounded by mountains, use this to your advantage! If you are attacked, set up forts, block the enemy, force them into a choke hold. Mastering your terrain will be the demise of your enemies.

Threats - Hungary's biggest and most deadly threat is the Byzantine Empire. This nation starts off strong, but it needs to face off with you, Venice and the Turks all together. Forming an alliance with the Turks or Venice for a while, can be a good solution to the Byzantine issue. A good way to cripple Byzantium will be to strike at Constantinople and Thasselonica at the same time, crippling all its naval capabilities and taking its two most important settlements.
Hungary's second threat is Venice. Your rich neighbor might like you as long as Byzantium still stands, but some day... He will stop liking you... And in that day, he will strike. Whilst your troops are very powerful against armor and Venice has nothing but armored troops, this enemy is not to be taken lightly! The best course of action is a coordinated quick assault at its biggest settlements, or to cut off the serpent's neck, taking Zagreb and Ragusa at the same time will cut Venice from the rest of the empire (If there is a rest of the empire) and you can now easily take Durazzo (If it has it) and any other settlement it has, and if you want, or if you have the time, take Venice, and be rid of that snake once and for all!
Turkey - After Byzantium's defeat, Turkey might expand bigger and bigger, and it might look at rich Hungarian soil for its newest campaign, if this sleeping giant never wakes up, best keep it that way, but if it does, it must be struck down and fast. They have heavy cavalry and cavalry archers that will rip your army to shreds if you do not get spearmen, and spearmen is the only medicine against such dangerous foe. The Turks are tough, and will not give up without a fight, if they ever become your enemies, mercy must not be shown.
The Holy Roman Empire - If you have set an alliance with them, do not think you are out of the woods. The Reich always seeks for new lands, and your lands are extremely fertile. Blocking them off with forts can be an easy job, but if the Reich is determined, those forts will be noting more than kindle. The Reich is extremely strong, however, heavily reliant on armor. Your troops will be more than a match against them... However, one must also remember, that the Holy Roman Empire, does not want even more enemies, so an attack is unlikely... But even the most unlikely of events, happen.

*COMPARISON*
The Byzantine Empire
Strong heavy infantry.
Strong cavalry.
Strong navy.
Okay archers.
Many enemies.
Capital very vulnerable to your attacks.
Is in an okay spot to attack you.
Is in an excellent spot to be attacked by you.

Venice
Strong heavy infantry.
Okay cavalry.
Powerful navy.
Strong archers.
Whilst not having too many enemies, all its enemies are in close proximity and are very dangerous.
Capital not too vulnerable to your attacks.
Is in a great spot to attack you.
Is in a great spot to be attacked by you.

The Holy Roman Empire
Very strong heavy infantry.
Strong cavalry.
Pathetic navy.
Strong archers.
Its enemies are so many that it is easier to count who isn't their enemy.
Capital is not vulnerable to your attacks.
In a great spot to attack you.
Is in an okay spot to be attacked by you.

The Turks (If the Byzantine Empire has been eliminated, it is a true threat, if not...)
Good heavy infantry.
Very powerful cavalry.
Great navy.
Strong archers.
Its enemies are not numerous at all, giving it the opportunity to grow and evolve.
Capital not vulnerable to your attacks.
In a bad spot to attack you - Unless the Byzantine Empire is eliminated.
Is in an okay spot to be attacked by you.

Agents - Hungary does not rely heavily on agents aside for Priests, however, it is one of the few factions that can actually put all its available agents to good use.
*MERCHANTS* - Sending your merchants to the textile resource near Constantinople will give you a great starting trade income, sending them into Asia Minor and to find resources there is even better.
*PRIESTS* - Vital to Hungary's survival. Being surrounded by heretics, Hungary must always keep their people Catholic, also sending priests ahead of your main attacking force to the Byzantine Empire's cities will not only cause trouble to your foe, it will cause comfort to you.
*DIPLOMATS* - Having two diplomats is a good idea for starters, sending one to Europe and another to Italy, setting up trade realtions and alliances with all I have stated above, will do you nothing but good.
*SPIES* - Knowing is a powerful weapon, and being surrounded by so many nations, Hungary must know all and at all times. Sending spies to the Holy Roman Empire's borders, to Venice and to the Byzantine Empire will only help you in your campaign.
*ASSASSINS* - Having assassins can cripple Venice's trade and recruitment severely, same about the Byzantine Empire's, sabotaging will be your main goal as assassinations will rarely help you, Crusades and Jihads are rarely targetted against you.

The Pope - The Pope will always love you, but keeping him happy is always a wise idea, Hungary is very pious, and for that you have the Pope's favor, don't throw it out of the window, nurture it. The Pope naturally loves you, you usually fight the Byzantine Empire, which is not favorable by the Pope, at all, and if you fight the Turks, all the better! However, getting a few priests here and there is not a bad decision at all, cathedrals and churches, not bad either.

And, for conclusion...
Hungary's Strong Points:
Infantry very good against armor.
Early heavy infantry.
Can get a massive trade lane with many nations.
Has a very good ally as its neighbor (Poland).
You can dictate how, who and when to attack, using Venice against Byzantium and double-crossing them will give you the edge you need.
Strong cavalry.
Loved by the Pope.
A great inclination to chivalry helps your populace's happiness and increase in growth.
Great defensive terrain.

Hungary's Weak Points:
No navy.
No sea trade.
Three neighboring nations with a possibility or likeliness of war.
Needs priests to efficiently conquer and fight the Byzantine Empire.
Relatively weak start.
Enemies have a great defensive terrain.

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[Nazgûl Killer]

Post Table of Contents
The Moors
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Scotland
Sicily


The Moors

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Moors

The Moors are a strong people recently united from their nomadic previous existence to the kingdom they are now. The Moors have a lot on their hands if they are to turn their small kingdom into a might empire, and their biggest threat... Comes from the north...

Getting Started: The Moors have very few expansion options, and the best option for you is to take Tunis and the city to the south east of it as soon as possible. The Moors have the Spanish and the Portuguese to worry about, so in order to actually have a very good chance, the Moors must unite with one of the Iberian nations to fight the other... Lest we forget however, that the Sicilian threat lies just at our doorstep. Sicily wants Tunis with all its heart, and the Pope is willing to help. Improving your relations with the Papacy will probably decrease the level of threat there... And the likeliness of a crusade, will drop.
Sending a good force down to Timbuktu will be a wise idea, the Ivory and Slave Trade down there is a perfect thing for your merchants.

Trade - The Moors have very few trading regions, their trade is almost non-existent, and this situation is easily rectified; Taking Tunis and its neighboring province, building ports there and getting trade rights with the Italian states will boost your trade up to no end, setting up a port at Cordoba, Marrakseh and Granada will open a whole new trade lane also, getting trade rights with France and the Iberian nations will be a wise move for the rest of your campaign.
One might also consider improving relations with the Byzantine Empire, they can supply you with great trade, and when you take down Sicily, Venice might just be a large obstacle that would need be dealt with...

Navy - The Moors have the potential of getting a great and powerful navy, as all Arabian states, and the Moors will need this navy in their wars against Sicily, for Sicily strikes through sea, and to reach Sicily by lands means getting through most of Europe, which is, at best, a terrible decision.
Getting a strong navy early on can ensure the survival of the Moors in their war with Sicily, sending troops through battleships, stopping the massive Sicilian fleet, and possibly even blockading a few trading ports, will severely damage the Sicilians, and will cut them off from the rest of their provinces, completely.

Army - The Moors' true power lies in its cavalry. Their powerful missile cavalry is devastating towards armor, they are also swift and numerous. In addition, the Moors have great spears and light infantry, so you are boasting an army reliant on cavalry that can easily counter cavalry, an army that will not be easily taken down.
The lack of armor in the Moorish army is clear, however, not critical. The variety of armor in the Portuguese, Spanish and Sicilian armies is also very clear, and will be their demise. Their armor makes it so they run slower, making them an easy target for your horsemen, and the heat effect can be used to your advantage also. You have an army built for hit and run, use it.

Alliances - The Moors must choose their early path quite swiftly, setting up an alliance against Spain with Portugal means utter destruction for Spain, and vise versa for Portugal. Choosing which of these to ally is critical, because if they unite, while not impossible, it will be very hard to take the Iberian peninsula.
France, for now, can be a very good ally against Spain. The Spaniards and the French have no love for each other, and using that to your advantage can boost your relations with this mighty faction while destroying the Spanish kingdom and turning it to dust, in addition, France can also help you if you feel like taking Britain.
England could also be a fine ally, however, against Portugal. The English and the Spanish have good relations and setting up a triple alliance with them against Portugal early on will be wise both economically and strategically. Getting good relations with the English early on helps later on, once the Portuguese are dead, and the Spanish no longer bother you (You can choose to destroy them or not), your next target might just be France, and the English would never object to that.
Venice and Milan are both extremely powerful naval forces and trading empires, getting trade relations and aligning yourself with one of them (Trade doesn't have to be restricted just to one) could help you greatly in your wars against Sicily, as much as the Italian counterparts rarely interact... This does not mean they share a mutual love... The flame of greed and hate burns through their hearts, and one less faction out of the way, so they think, means one step closer to their glory. Using that to your advantage can be extremely wise.

Terrain - The Moors have the advantage of heat. Every single faction the Moors will fight will suffer from heat due to their armor, the Moorish home is a desert, the sun will burn anyone who comes through without proper clothing, and the Moors are perfectly suited for such a thing, having no heavy armor, swiftly moving and lightly clothed, using this terrain advantage, well, to your advantage, could mean the difference between a crushing defeat, and a heroic victory.

Threats - The Moors have three immediate threats, this might seem daunting, but those three might turn into two; Sicily, Spain and Portugal (Or, Sicily and Spain/Sicily and Portugal).
The Spanish and the Portuguese are to be treated firmly and swiftly, you must be strong and decisive. Pick a side, choose your ally carefully, align your military efforts with the ally, and turn the other one to dust.
The Sicilian front will mostly be fought at sea, however, they might try and invade you at Tunis and Algiers, and you must retaliate with an attack on Caligari and Ajaccio (If the Sicilians even have it). An attack on Naples or Palermo must be done through the sea, and the Sicilians will attempt to defend those two settlements at all costs.

*COMPARISON*
Sicily
Strong heavy infantry.
Strong cavalry.
Okay bowmen.
Strong navy.
Good trade.
Perfect position to attack you.
Okay position to be attacked by you.
-Is a complete natural fortress, three-four islands, very hard to take down.
-Doesn't have any natural enemies aside yourself.

Spain
Strong heavy infantry.
Very good cavalry.
Good bowmen.
Good navy.
Very good trade.
Great position to attack you.
Great position to be attacked by you.
-Powerful early army, will be hard to take down too early.
-Has only one more natural enemy aside yourself, France, which will hardly keep her busy.

Portugal
Strong heavy infantry.
Very good cavalry.
Good bowmen.
Great navy.
Good trade.
Okay position to attack you.
Perfect position to be attacked by you.
-Not as strong as Spain, but not to be under-estimated.
-Has only two natural enemies, you being one of them, and the other, England, will not keep her busy, at all.

Agents - The Moors have a great supply of resources for its Merchants and is in great need of Imams and Spies.
*MERCHANTS* - Sending your Merchants downs to Timbuktu and using the Ivory/Slave Trade down there will boost your economy up by the thousands, and this is something you desperately need if you are to fight three different nations at two different fronts.
*IMAMS* - Your Imams will be in great use for your conquest of Sicily or the Iberian nations, you must have at least five Imams if you are to win this war, or at least, utterly crush the enemy.
*DIPLOMATS* - Yet again, sending diplomats all over will be a wise idea, but the best thing for you is to send them to Portugal and Spain first, figuring out who will be your first ally/foe, afterwards to England, France, Italian States, Byzantium, Turkey and Egypt, getting trade rights from all of them and setting up alliances as I have said above.
*SPIES* - Your spies will be greatly needed, dropping them at Naples, Caligari, Palermo, Toledo and Lisbon will be the key to your victory, watching over every corner of your enemy.
*ASSASSINS* - Your Iberian foes field a wide variety of spies and assassins themselves, and in addition, quite a few cardinals and priests, so using your assassins can be of great use, getting rid of those pesky converters and assassins...

The Pope - Having a good relationship with the Pope is purely optional, but rather easy as the Moors. Setting up a good trade lane with the Pope is easy, and in addition, getting him happy will decrease the chance of a crusade against Cordoba, Tunis, Granada or any other important city or castle you have...

For conclusion...
The Moors must use all their strong points in order to breed victory, sadly, they have very little recruitment hubs, so you must use Cordoba, Algeirs and Granada as such, quickly developing them into recruitment and trade hubs so you can face off with all your opponents.
The Moorish Strong Points:
Potential of becoming a grand trade empire.
Excellent against armor.
Heat effect in home lands.
Great navy.
Amazing cavalry.
Great spears.
Has a variety of allies and foes to choose from.
A great hub for your merchants, Timbuktu, is right at your doorstep.
Does not have to listen to the Pope.
Has a great position to launch an attack at any of your early enemies, and many of your late ones also.

The Moorish Weak Points:
Having to face off against three rather strong factions early on.
Low income early on.
Slow start.
Enemies field many agents.
Terrible expansion options.
Must rely on navy.

Poland

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Poland

The Polish are a proud people with a powerful heritage and a great pious inclination. They have great neighbors to their south and terrible enemies to their north, facing off with menacing empires and mighty seafarers is no easy task, but it is one Poland must take...

Starting Off: One thing you must remember as the leader of this proud people, is that your powerful neighbor to the north is your sworn enemy, Russia will strike at you whenever it can, however it can, to defend against such things Poland must press all its advantages and build a web of agents beyond most factions'.
The first thing you should do is quickly take the village to your west and the castle to your north (Of Warsaw), afterward, striking at Kiev might just prove useful, and steering clear of Hamburg will be also.
Sending diplomats over to Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark (In that order) and setting up trade and alliances with these mighty three will be a wise decision; The Holy Roman Empire can defend your borders from western attacks, the mighty Danes, after solidifying their position in Norway and Sweden, can help you with Russia later on in the game, and Hungary will probably be your closest ally in your campaign due to its strong need of a powerful ally to guard its borders, its later toughness at fighting the Holy Roman Empire and the immense trade possibilities you have with each other.

Trade - Land trade is your only way. Setting up a strong land trade with the trio (Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark) will prove ever so profitable, in addition to that, you must strive to gain control of a shore-side region in the Black Sea if you truly want powerful trade. Sadly, your trading options are very limited as Poland.

Navy - As you have literally minimal sea access, you will not use your navy to anything aside small ferries across certain tough spots, so advancing your fleet is hardly in your best interest early on in the game.

Army - Poland's might is at its horse missile troops, strong nobles throwing javelins are extremely devastating to armor, the rest of your archer cavalry can easily out maneuver your enemies and strike from a distance, in addition to that, Poland boasts very strong melee cavalry and infantry powers, spearmen and heavy infantry so powerful none would dare oppose them unprepared, and your light infantry prove ever so effective against armor, making Poland deadly from the start!

Alliances - Sadly, as Poland, you have a small variety of profitable alliances to pick from, much like your trade and enemy options.
Your strongest alliance will be with Hungary, both of you will be fighting two factions who are extremely fond of each other (The Byzantine Empire and Russia), so forming a line against them will stop their advance into Europe and possibly even trap them, causing their demise.
Your second alliances should be with Denmark, the mighty Danes could easily be crushed by you as you out maneuver their armies and you are extremely deadly to armor. The Danes should provide a nice trade, and if you build a small port in your northern conquered castle, the sea trade will help, but it won't make much of a difference.
Your third alliance should be the Holy Roman Empire. The mighty Germans do not like you and will try to invade you, but early on they are important allies, keeping your western borders safe. Whilst they are very strong, they are also heavily reliant on cavalry and armor, both things you easily can destroy. Also, Denmark and Hungary are your best allies right now, so a three-way assault at the Holy Roman Empire will crush it completely.

Terrain - Poland has one of the more interesting terrain types of all factions, a big forest near its capital and all around it, huge plains to the east, mountains to the south... The forests can easily trap attackers wanting to surprise you, however, the plains offer no cover at all, that is why your fights against the Russians will be the fiercest.

Threats - Russia and the Holy Roman Empire are your only initial threats, Poland's selection of everything is very limited, but this is the only good part about it. Having a few enemies will make your life easy, for you can get used to fighting them, and get the hang of it quite quickly, however strong they may be.

*COMPARISON*
The Holy Roman Empire
Powerful cavalry.
Reliant on cavalry.
Reliant on armor.
Powerful infantry.
In a great position to attack you.
In a good position to be attacked by you.
Capital not too vulnerable to your attacks.

Russia
Very powerful cavalry.
Reliant on cavalry.
Not too reliant on armor, almost non-reliant.
Okay infantry.
In a great position to attack you.
In a great position to be attacked by you.
Capital is not vulnerable to your attacks.
Your complete counter part, you two are very similar in many ways, that is why fighting the Russians will be extremely hard at times.
Has a clear advantage - Its lands are spread wide, making it very hard for the assailant.

Agents - Poland must have spies and merchants in order to survive this, spies looking after the massive lands of the Russians and the Germans, and merchants sent to all corners of the world, trying to get some money back to their proud nation in need...
*MERCHANTS* - Sending your merchants to trade slaves near Kiev and Amber south of Warsaw (In the forest, near the ridge's passing) will be the two best business decisions you will make early on, sending more to Constantinople to utilize its textiles later on will be even better.
*PRIESTS* - Poland is extremely pious and fights an enemy with a different religion, making priests a must. Sending priests all over to your enemies lands will wreak havoc and make it that much easier for you later on in the campaign.
*DIPLOMATS* - Poland's relative distance from most factions makes her completely isolated, the only factions you truly need to send diplomats to are Denmark, Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire. The rest are optional, and you might want to start alliances with them while planning the rest of your campaign later.
*SPIES* - Sending spies to the vastness of Russia will be wise, seeing where your enemy is, also sending spies to Germany, to watch for a sneak attack, might just save you from a premature demise.
*ASSASSINS* - The icing on the cake. Assassins are the best agents at Poland's disposal, wreaking havoc through the Russians, who start rather poor early on, will do you much good, assassinating German generals will make their campaigns at distant borders harder, and will sway their attention from you to the other factions it must fight.

The Pope - The Pope loves you, you are a very pious nation fighting the very unholy enemies, no matter what you do the Pope will hardly ever excommunicate you, but building cathedrals is still wise, both to fight your enemy and to appease the Pope.

And for conclusion...
Poland's Strong Spots:
Strong land based army, mainly cavalry.
Strong spears.
Extremely effective against armor.
A few foes.
Foes are unfavorable of the Pope, making him love you even more.
Very reliable and powerful ally to your south.
After dealing with Russia, has all the space it wants to develop and wait for the time it wants to strike, without anyone dictating the rules.
Has an extremely good variety of land based units later on in the game, making them a very formidable force.

Poland's Weak Spots:
Horrible navy.
Horrible sea trade.
Bad trade overall.
No options, same enemies, same allies, no options to choose from early on.
Starts weak relatively to the Holy Roman Empire.
Has to fight in the immense plains of Russia.

Portugal

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Portugal

Portugal is a young nation, forged only relatively recently, as such, it is relatively weak compared to its neighbors and must unite with one of them if it is to survive the other, however, Portugal has the potential to become the greatest sea power, and land power, this world has ever seen...

Starting Off: The Portuguese are strong on both land, and sea, utilizing this to your advantage will be your enemies' downfall. You have many options of trade, multiple alliance options, however, your expansions are limited.
A strong strike at Zaragoza (And taking it) will not only block off the Spanish, it will give you greater income once you send a diplomat to the French and get trade rights. Also, allying with the French will undoubtedly help you in the war of Iberia.
Now you must choose, either gain the Pope's favor and unite with Spain against the Moors, or drive the Spanish off Iberia, destroying the ones who has oppressed you for so long and fight shoulder to shoulder with the proud Moors... The choice is yours!
Sending diplomats over to the Spanish, or Moors, early on will ensure your survival in the Iberians, your next targets of approach should be France, England, the Holy Roman Empire and the Italian states, all of them, in that order, I will explain:
The French and English can supply military support and will give you immense trade, and relations between you and England (And France) are easily maintained.
Relations with the Holy Roman Empire needs to be upgraded early on, so incase you want to strike at the French, you have an ally that would appriciate that (Two even, England as well), sending an emissary to the Italian states and getting trade rights will boost your economy greatly, and forming an alliance with Milan or Sicily will supply you with help against the French or the Moors, respectively. Venice is just a powerful trading empire, you want a cut of their trade.
Making the Pope happy can make your raggedy start very easy, as he will send you gifts here and there and approve of you, other factions will not attack you light headedly.

Trade - As stated before, Portugal has the power to become a gigantic trading empire, after taking Zaragoza you should start building trading buildings at both Zaragoza and Lisbon, this includes ports. Pamplona should build a few roads and a port, but nothing more for now.

Navy - Portugal has a very powerful navy, one that can easily overpower most of the European ones, this will be one of the corner stones of your new empire. Building ports is vitally important for your success later on, upgrading your port at Lisbon and building(Upgrading) your port in Pamplona will ensure two seas under your control and the complete boxing in of the Spanish, getting a navy early on is not vital, for your will be mainly in Iberia, but later on it becomes very vital, you might want to expand, and looking for the riches of England or Italy... Is not shooting for the stars...

Army - Powerful cavalry mixed with later strong infantry make Portugal a force to be feared. Your missile cavalry are very strong and effective against armor, at least in the early game period, much like the rest of the Iberians', so utilizing them to your advantage will be very hard as they will be counter acted with other Iberian forces' missile cavalry, you must use them only as a means to tone down the other armies' missile cavalry, if you can, use them to destroy their infantry, but they are best used against other missile cavalry, you will later gain far more powerful heavy cavalry, which can match and even out-do the Spaniards'.
Your later infantry make you a very strong force, this could greatly help you against both the Moors and the Spanish, if you evolve quick enough. Utilizing spears will cripple both of those armies for they are quite reliant on cavalry, as Portugal you will have a struggle on your hands, but utilizing your infantry and naval advantage might just give you the edge you need.

Alliances - Several powerful alliances can be done with Portugal, either Spain or the Moors, the consequences are shown above and I will repeat them shortly, would be strong allies against the other.
In addition, a strong alliance with France can ensure a safe northern border and some possible help with Spain, a strong alliance with England will not ensure military assistance against Spain, but it will ensure military assistance against France. In addition, it will strengthen your trade and allow you to expand further, with more money in your pockets.
A strong alliance with Milan or the Holy Roman Empire can also ensure a strong military assistance against France and a gigantic increase in trade.
Alliance with the Pope is mandatory - Great for relations with him.
Alliance with Sicily will give you military assistance against the Moors in many levels, by land and sea. It will also increase your trade to a very high extent.

Terrain - Portugal has only one good terrain advantage: Rivers.
Pamplona, Zaragoza and Lisbon are all blocked by rivers who have one or two entrances, blocking them off with forts will supply you the defenisve edge you need. Also, the forests at Lisbon will allow you to repel most attackers.

Threats - Spain and the Moors are the obvious earliest threats, however, another threat may consist of France.

*COMPARISON*
The Moors
Great cavalry.
Great against armor.
Weak trade.
You and Spain are its only enemies, keeping her busy depends on your decisions.
Good navy.
Okay infantry.

Spain
Great cavalry.
Heavily armored.
Good trade.
You and the Moors are its only enemies, keeping her busy depends on your decisions.
Good navy.
Good infantry.
-Powerful all 'round, very rich and favorable by the Pope.

France
Powerful cavalry.
Heavily armored.
Good trade.
The English, Milan and the Holy Roman Empire are its threats, undoubtedly will keep her busy.
Okay navy.
Very powerful infantry.
-Rich and powerful, its production rate is immense.

Agents - Portugal can field strong assassins and spies and will have to send out its priests out of their homes to the whole of Iberia.
*MERCHANTS* - Sending some Mercants to Timbuktu might help your trade, and the wine in France can too, but it is not mandatory nor unrecommended. It will be a wise move, but with no utter fate changing consequences.
*PRIESTS* - These are very important if you are fighting the Moors, the Moors will send Imams to you to convert your religion, countering this with priests in their lands and in yours will counter them and make life that much harder for your foe.
*DIPLOMATS* - Nothing more to say than moderately important, sending them to your targetted allies can greatly help you.
*SPIES* - Extremely important, your spies will keep an eye on your much stronger foes and will make sure you know everything that's going on, and can stop armies in a Jihad against you, or against your ally (Crusades also apply).
*ASSASSINS* - Vitally important, they will kill Imams and strong generals, cripple the enemy's defenses and trade, these agents are, without a doubt, your best and most needed agents.

The Pope - The Pope loves you because you are hostile towards the Moors, he will love you even more if you go to war with them, however, let this not affect your decision, you have the entire game to make the Pope happy, you don't have to start from day one.

And for conclusion...
Portugal's Strong Points:
Strong cavalry.
Very powerful navy.
Strong infantry.
Very strong trade.
Choices of alliances and enemies.
The Pope likes you early on.
Has a great terrain advantage, rivers that are easily cut off.

Portugal's Weak Points:
No option but to fight one of its neighbors who are stronger than her early on.
Hardly any rebel-expansion choices.
Any decision you make early on will shape your entire game later.
Heavily reliant on agents such as Assassins and Priests.
Two lands that are completely separated from each other.
Lisbon quite vulnerable to attacks.

Russia

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Russia

The Russians of Novgorod are a proud and sturdy people, they are mighty and have various terrain advantages to use against their foes. Their weakness lies in their religion, being one of the only two Orthodox factions in the campaign, strong alliances are scarce, and Russia will be tested, again and again...

Starting Off: Russia's expansion options are numerous, but the first two regions you must take control of are the castle to your north west, and Moscow (To your south east), from there, advancing down to Riga, Kiev and the castle(s) in between. With the same force you took Riga, take down Vilnius, securing a stronghold against the Polish invasion.
Now, after doing all that, send a (Strong enough) force to start taking territories to your east, and with your main force, keep the Polish border at check at all times. Taking Caffa with the force you sent east (South east of Kiev, near the Black Sea) will secure a strong trade lane later on with the Byzantine Empire.

**(Exception, especially for Russia) - Russia is a very unique faction, Poland is your sure enemy, so don't be afraid to attack it if it took one of the cities I mentioned above, also, the best way to be rid of Poland is to flank it from the west, advancing toward Thorn and Warsaw, and striking hard, taking either or both of those settlements, while attacking also from the east, this will neutralize Poland for good, however, you should not strike at Poland too early, doing so will be your demise, you must wait until you are powerful enough to send a full stack down the west to strike at Thorn and Warsaw, and a powerful force to strike in the east.
If Poland strikes at you first, be prepared for a massive fight and go into a massive recruitment spree, you armies are completely equal, so the fights will require much greater numbers on your side or a better strategy.

Trade - Russia has, literally, no trade early on. Its closest neighbor is its worst enemy, causing that Russia has only in-nation land trade. In order to fix that, taking the settlements to the west of Novgorod, with a shore, will be a wise choice to set up a trade lane with Denmark, also, taking the settlements to your far south (Caffa) will secure a later trade lane with the Byzantine Empire, however, while you do all that, it will take a long time until you have a viable sea trade, so your best option is in-land-in-nation trade, upgrading roads and markets is the best thing you can do right now, but don't expect a lot of income too early.
Also, sending a merchant or two down to Kiev for the slave trade is a good early on way of getting income.

Navy - Russia doesn't have, and has no need for, a navy. Later on in the game, as you advance down the Black Sea to reach your ally, you will need your navy, however, in the meanwhile, all your battles will be fought in land.

Army - Your might is in your Boyar Sons, dismounted or mounted. They are very powerful, strong ranged cavalry or infantry, extremely versatile. Utilizing your early on units, Woodsmen and spearmen, and your early on missile cavalry units in an effective strategy together will be the end of Poland, you must master the arts of the ranged horse and the weak infantry if you are to win this war.
Your bodyguards are extremely devastating against Poland's bad infantry early on, using them also for repeated charges will demoralize the already cowardly foe and will easily make them route... However, be careful, most of Poland's army will be spearmen... Watch yourself, or should I say, your generals.

Alliances - Your only strong alliance early on must be the Byzantine Empire, they are your only religion counterpart, and this contributes greatly to the Byzantine Empire's relations with you.
Another good ally would be Denmark, using them later on to fight the Polish or the Holy Roman Empire will definitely be your enemies' downfall, and in addition, they are your only northern trade lane outside of your nation.
The Holy Roman Empire can be a good temporary ally also, if you need them. The Holy Roman Empire wants to attack the Polish, being allied with you will give them the excuse, and you the edge.

Terrain - The vastness of the forests and plains in Russia can be easily used to outflank and outmaneuver most enemies, however, this forms a different problem; Of conquest. Early on, you must run a force strong enough through the entire land of Russia and the southern parts of it, to properly start your campaign, this will take a very long time and will likely not be completed by turn 20 or 30.

Threats - Your only immediate threat is Poland, this is both good and bad. The Polish are completely equal to you in any field of land combat, but, if you destroy them, down goes your only threat and you have time to upgrade yourself and your economy, and to emerge out of your slumber to crush the rest of Europe!
Another threat, however quite unlikely, is the Turks. You have a good interest in attacking them; To help the Byzantine Empire and to expand further into the world, securing more trade and money, the Turks are a very strong people and will be very hard to take down... And you must consider: Are they worth it?
I must include the Mongols in your list of threats, for they have a big chance of spawning in your lands, which is bad. The Mongols, as you might know, are almost invincible, but I will tell you how to defeat them, later on...

*COMPARISON* -
Poland
Completely equal to you in any aspect of land combat.
Your earliest enemy.
Quite vulnerable to your attacks, this includes their capital.
Hates you, very very much.
Has a very strong ally which is a very strong enemy of the Byzantine Empire, all the more reason to attack them.
Is your gateway to the rest of Europe, all that seperates you from glory.

Turks
Superior to you in cavalry, but definitely not in infantry nor archery.
Has a potenital of becoming your enemy, your choice really.
Its strong terrain in the east of Asia Minor makes them a bad target for attacks, however, they rarely have a strong garrison there.
Doesn't hate you too much, hates the Byzantine Empire though.
Has a strong ally which is, undoubtedly, one of the few factions you do not want to fight early on.
Is your gateway to the Middle East and Africa, gold and white gold.

The Mongols (THIS IS VALID ONLY IF THEY SPAWN IN YOUR LANDS!)
Completely superior to you in all fields, ten full stacks with very strong cavalry and infantry.
Not vulnerable to your attacks.
Will hate you.
Has no allies.
Is not your gateway, you are most likely theirs.

The Mongols (SPECIAL FOR RUSSIA) - The Mongols, if spawned in your lands (If not, don't worry about them for now), are extremely strong, beyond you capabilities unless you spent your entire campaign preparing for them, which I doubt you have, however, not all hope is lost, there are many ways of defeating them:
1) Conquering a random settlement far far in Europe, and once they arrive, give it to them and watch them run to it and wreak havoc, or be destroyed along the way.
2) Giving them one of your settlements while surrounding it with about three of your stacks, once given to them, taking back the settlement (Make it far from them, so they won't have time to reach it) and killing the Mongols... Now you have ten full stacks of rebels running through your lands... Better than Mongols any way.
3) Assassins - Assassinating the Mongols will take a long time and about thirty assassins, but it is worth it. It is the most cunning way to kill them and the way you will lose far less than any other.
4) Face them in the open! Gathering big armies and preparing for their arrival and facing them in the open will not only be tough, it will be nigh-impossible, but I've seen people pull it off (I managed to pull it off, with different factions though), also I assure you, it is the funnest way of all, seeing a clash of five full stacks, there is nothing more satisfying in this game.

Agents - Russia is huge. Using agents can be vital to your survival, especially against the Mongols.
*MERCHANTS* - Sending them to the Middle East and to the slave trade in Kiev will give you the (So desperately needed) economic support. Also, sending them to Constantinople to their textile trade will give you even more trade income.
*PRIESTS* - You are fighting enemies that are all in a different religion than you, you must recruit priests if you are to appease your public. Sending them across your lands or to your enemies' lands will always be useful.
*DIPLOMATS* - Since you have a sworn enemy so early on, you must send diplomats to seek assistance, the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark should be your prime targets.
*SPIES* - Sending your spies to your border with other nations will be completely vital. The only other way of monitoring your entire land is to build watchtowers all over, and as we all know, moving watchtowers isn't really possible.
*ASSASSINS* - Very good against the Mongols, a perfect strategy against them, also sending them to far lands to rid yourself of your enemies may not be a bad idea either.

The Pope - He naturally hates you, and there is literally nothing you can do about it, and you don't need to do anything about it. He will rarely call a crusade on you, I have only seen this happen once, so ignoring him will be the key to a healthy campaign.

And now, for conclusion...
Russia's Strong Points
Very powerful cavalry units.
Good against armor.
Good trade when Poland dies.
An extremely reliable ally at your disposal.
The vastness of your lands allows you to maneuver easily and flank your enemies.
Can ignore the Pope, completely.
Overall, one of the funnest campaigns in the game.

Russia's Weak Points
Completely matched by your earliest enemy early on.
You have a very powerful first enemy.
You have a very powerful threat to an enemy (The Mongols).
Your lands are completely spread out and managing them can be a pain.
No trade early on, at all.
Only one good ally that you can actually trust.
Must conquer in order to get any access to anything in this campaign (You may think: All factions do, not true, England doesn't, the HRE doesn't... I can continue the list).

Scotland

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Scotland

The Scots are a people at constant war with their 'beloved' neighbor, England. Years of oppression have drove the Scots to take up arms and fight for their right of proper living, and fight they will...

Starting Off: Sending your diplomat over to the English will have to be your first step, whilst it is true that they are your mortal enemy, for now they can be your mortal enemy that supplies you with trading rights.
Sending (All) your army to strike at York will have to be your first military move, you -HAVE- to take York because England wants it too, and taking York will harm their economy to no end.
After the capture of York, putting a small garrison there and leaving to Caernarvon would be a very wise thing, taking Caernarvon down will give you sufficient troop recruitment to fight off and destroy the English and deny that from the English themselves. While the siege continues, you need to move your navy next to Caernarvon.
After taking Caernarvon, use your ship to ferry to Dublin (This will be a very hard fight, mercenaries are mandatory), afterwards it's just a matter of four to five turns until you also have Inverness (Yes, attack it ).
Now, sending your diplomat to France will also be a very good idea, and starting the recruitmenet (And retraining) of troops will be wise, because your next step... Is taking over England...

Trade - Scotland has the potential of becoming the northern trade hub, it has (A lot of) shore access, rich in-nation land trade and possible expansions with ports.
Your first goal with trade would be to upgrade York as soon as possible, get better ports and roads in Inverness, Caernarvon and Edinburgh, also upgrade Dublin as soon as possible (Put York and Dublin on low tax rate, it hardly affects your income, but it greatly affects your population growth), now you will set up a very powerful trade base. (This is to represent what you must do if you accomplished what I have said above, or at least half of it, and before the war with England).

Navy - Scotland has an okay navy, it has little naval recruitment options, but its navy is as good as the English's navy early on, and with your eyes set on taking the whole of Britain, your navy will be your main lifeline and power in this campaign, upgrading it early will be a very wise idea, meaning, focus on getting ports, and as many as possible.

Army - The noble and proud Scots have pride in their strength of arms and power of swords, they are mighty warriors, feared even by the worst of savages. Focusing on heavy infantry early on will be your victory in the campaign against England, as England lacks heavy infantry too early, and will mostly focus on spears. Utilizing your powerful infantry to that advantage will be the doom of the English.
One must remember also, that the English are (Vastly) superior to you in the field of archery, I am not saying do not use archers, for the Highland's archers are strong, however, I am also saying, use your cavalry well, taking out both the English's spearmen and archers at the same time will mean that you will take London, and Britain, by the hour.

Alliances - Your greatest and most powerful alliance will, undoubtedly, be with France. The French and the Scots have always united in their one specific goal: The destruction of England. Achieving that goal will be much easier with France pushing at Caen.
Your second greatest ally might just be the Danish. Whilst they have a tendancy to invade Britain, the Danes are also mighty in their trade, uniting with them could also mean forming a three way alliance with them and France, strengthening your armies even more.
Your third ally could possibly be either Spain or Portugal, or maybe both! Allying with these mighty sea and trade powers will give you all the trade income you need and all the support you will need in future campaigns, it will also ensure safe passage to the holy lands if you wish to embark on a crusade.

Terrain - The Highlands are, well... Highlands. Your are set on a very mountainous terrain, using this to your advantage in battles could mean the difference between victory and a flawless victory. Only a madman would attack the Scottish Highlanders in their Highlands.
You have also a forest and a running stream of water seperating you from Nottingham, blocking the entrances through the stream could block off your foe from your lands for good. In addition, another channel of water blocks Caernarvon, blocking it off might cut off the English's attacks for good, and will give you the initiative.

Threats - Your only threat is England, without a doubt. This nation wishes to oppress you again, and letting it do so means more years of agony...
Your second threat might be, and this is a big "if", the Danes. They love invading Britain, but mostly when under English control. Getting good relations with them early on can stop this from happening.

*COMPARISON*
England
Poweful heavy infantry later on.
Very powerful archers.
Okay spears.
Good navy.
Great trade.
Very vulnerable to attacks by you.
Can easily launch an attack at you, the question is, will it make it?
Has three main enemies, you, the Danes and the French.

Denmark
Extremely powerful heavy infantry on all stages.
Good archers.
Very powerful cavalry.
Okay spears.
Very powerful navy.
Great trade.
Vulnerable to attacks by you.
Can easily launch a successful strike at you.
Has two main enemies, England and the Holy Roman Empire.

Agents - Scotland can make great use of all agents, starting from merchants sent to France or other lands within Europe, priests to appease the Pope and also spies to look at your friends and foes alike, from a better view...
*MERCHANTS* - Sending these agents all across Europe will give you great trading income, something you gravely need in order to square off with England, and not end up as its vassal. Getting three to eight of those will do wonders with your economy.
*PRIESTS* - Mainly to appease the Pope because you are fighting a Christian enemy, these agents will be handy... Up to a certain limit. Getting two or three of those is a good choice.
*DIPLOMATS* - Scotland needs allies, and it needs them fast. You must set a diplomatic web with the Papcy, France and the Danes as soon as possible, sending emissaries to the Iberians might not be a bad choice either. Getting three of these allows you quick access to everyone, and will be a wise idea.
*SPIES* - These guys can watch over the English at London and Nottingham, also in Caen, making sure you are strong enough to take them down is a vital step before actually doing so. Sending them over to the French and the Danes might also be wise, making sure they are behaving well... Getting three to six of these can be a very good idea.
*ASSASSINS* - Will hardly come of use to you aside for some mindless fun, sabotaging enemy settlements and killing generals from afar is very pleasing, you shoudln't get too many of these.

The Pope - The Pope will not like the fact that you are fighting England, but he pretty much likes you early on, continuing to make your peace with him and keeping him appeased will be a vital step to the continuum of your campaign.

Now, to wrap things up...
Scotland's Strong Points:
Very good heavy infantry, early on and later on.
Has the potential of becoming the largest of all trading empires.
Has a wide variety of allies to choose from and only one natural enemy.
Edinburgh is a trading hub.
The Highlands are great for defending.
Easy way to block access from the English to Caernarvon, York and the rest of Scotland.
Can field a proper and succesful attack at almost any point in northern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula.
Very, very good use of spears.

Scotland's Weak Points:
Natural enemy is very strong.
Cavalry is poor.
Compared to its enemy, the bowmen of this faction are pathetic.
Starts with a riggidy economy early on.
Taking over England is a daunting task.

Sicily

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sicily

Sicily has a clear advantage over the rest of the factions, its terrain. The terrain it is in forces your enemy to assault you at three navy fronts at the same time, this makes a daunting and near impossible task, in addition, you take control of the mighty Norman Knights, to which rivals are few...

Starting Off: Your power is in your navy, sadly, you are also highly dependent of it.
Upgrading your ports in Palermo and Naples should be your very first move, boosting your trade and navy, you are in a perfect position in the Italian Peninsula also, you are close to the Papacy, you are far from the greedy Milanese or Venicians, making you a far less appealing target, in addition, you have the capacity to mount a naval invasion few have ever seen before.
Sending (all) your army (Aside for one unit per settlement for garrison, you decide which) to Caligari and taking it will further establish a strong point in Southern Italy, now you face a choice:
Taking Ajaccio, another castle, boosting up your entire military infrastructure and a distinct possibility of a very early war with Milan, or taking down Tunis, boosting up your economy and trade, giving you a foothold in Africa and risking a (Late) war with the Moors.
The latter is the more conviniant choice as you choose the place of engagement and the time of engagement, the Moors have enough trouble in the Iberian Peninsula, they don't want to fight you, yet... However, the greedy Milanese have the power and the economy to strike at you, hard, fast and early, risking a power struggle with them too early will be the end of you.
Your diplomat(s) are to be sent to the Papacy, Milan, Venice and the Byzantine Empire in that order, from there on, it's your choice.

Trade - The power of the Italian states is in their trade, they are very rich and have a perfect position for trade, you, as Sicily, are no different, however, you are capable of trade in a much smaller scale.
Sicily starts off weak, trade-wise, and must conquer a city or castle or two in order to really boost it up, gaining trade agreements with the Iberians, the Papacy, Venice, Milan and the Byzantine Empire will be your first move, France and The Holy Roman Empire with Hungary, will be your next.
You must upgrade your ports as they are pretty much the only way you can trade, and guard your borders at the same time...

Navy - Sicily must rely on a powerful navy for two reasons:
Number one: The ultimate power of any Italian faction is in its navy, to be able to face off with the rich Italians to the north, you must have a proper navy.
Number two: Your first, second and third lines of defense are your ships and navy. You are a kingdom of isles, defending the isles can be done most effectively from the ocean, mastering the arts of naval warfare will bring you safety.
Sicily, luckily, has the typical-powerful Italian navy, but has a much better navy recruitment option than Milan or Venice, use this to your advantage and get War Galleys as soon as possible, and you will dominate the Mediterranean.

Army - The might of your early land army lies in your Dismounted Norman Knights and Muslim Archers. These two combined reach devastating effects, the Norman Knights and Dismounted Norman Knights are amongst the strongest of earlier units, this allows you a proper naval invasion of multiple lands.
Taking Caligari was, undoubtedly, your best move, you have now boosted your military infrastructure and production completely, and recruiting a lot from Caligari and Palermo, regularly, will make you powerful enough to mount an invasion, and to take the whole of Italy (Don't mess with Rome).

Terrain - The power of Sicily is in navy and terrain, and those two are linked in an almost unbreakable bond.
The fact you are (mostly) an isle kingdom, causes you to be heavily reliant on navy, yes, but it makes it nigh-impossible to destroy you. Your enemies must mount a three front assault at you, Naples, Caligari and Palermo, at exactly the same time in order not to allow you to rush to the rescue, in addition, your enemy must field a gigantic navy to stop yours from assisting and transporting troops, all of these elements together make Sicily a gigantic navay fort, which no wall can rival, and no rampart destroy.

Alliances - Your, undoubtedly, most powerful alliance will be with the Byzantine Empire. These Roman remnants, whilst not favorable by the Pope, are extremely powerful both in trade and in army, assisting them against Venice will mean two things:
One: Allowing the Byzantines to expand and develop, creating an extremely mighty ally.
Two: The Byzantines will kill every single Venician they see, they share no love for them, thus giving you unbelievable military help, that you so greatly need.
Your second alliance should be the Holy Roman Empire, allying with them allows you to invade Northern Italy and have some sort of an assistence from Bologna and the Alps.
Your third alliance chould be the Iberian states, they are powerful indeed and are a very bad enemy for the Moors, and aligning with those two nations against the Moors will gain Papal favor to all three of you, in addition, the utter destruction of the powerful Moors.

Threats - You are facing off with nations twice your size and twice your stength, in the earlier section I showed you how to align with stronger nations, in order to destroy those who are just a bit weaker than them, and a bit stronger thna you... Confused? Let's make it easy:
*COMPARISON*
Venice
Extremely rich.
Very powerful navy.
Powerful land army.
Okay cavalry.
Okay archery.
Strong production.
Very strong trade.
Okay position to attack you, your capital is quite vulnerable.
Good position to be attacked by you, capital is quite vulnerable.

Milan
Extremely rich.
Very good navy.
Powerful land army.
Okay cavalry.
Okay archery.
Okay production.
Strong trade.
Okay position to attack you, your capital is quite vulnerable.
Excellent position to be attacked by you, capital is quite vulnerable.

The Moors
Not too rich.
Good navy.
Very powerful land army.
Very good cavalry.
Good archery.
Okay production.
Miserable trade.
Okay position to attack you, your capital is not too vulnerable.
Excellent position to be attacked by you, capital is not too vulnerable either.

As you can see, these factions are (In most areas) stronger than you, that's why you must be as cunning as a fox and as brave as a lion, in order to strike fast and hard, and eliminate them for good... Use your allies, turn your enemies against each other... And you will gain glory...

Agents - Sicily, as most Italian nation, fields a good position to spread agents all over, Assassins are extremely fun as Sicily and Merchants are highly effective.
*MERCHANTS* - You are far away from everyone, but because of your navy, you are also very close to everyone, what do I mean? You are far enough to get a lot of money from your merchant trade nodes all around the world, but you are close enough to transport them easily to those positions! Fun, eh?
*PRIESTS* - Sicily has trouble with its religion early on, getting a lot of priests (4 - 6) will make the Pope extremely happy and your citizen extremely Catholic, a very good move early on.
*DIPLOMATS* - You must set a web of alliances early on, getting three to four Diplomats and sending them to Iberia, Byzantium and Germany (Papcy as well) must be your first move. Your need of a web of alliances comes from the power of your enemies, setting an alliance with the Papacy will cause the excommunication of the other Italian states, and thus you can declare a crusade on them, making your fight against them that much easier.
*SPIES* - These are hardly of any use to Sicily, putting them at Iberia and other Moorish states, in addition to Northern Italy will tell you when to strike, but since all attacks against you will likely come from sea, you cannot use the spies to tell you who's going to attack you and when. Getting three to four, putting them in Northern Italy and the Moorish regions will be wise... Just don't rely on them too much.
*ASSASSINS* - Ahh, the utter fun of Sicily. Creating a gigantic army of Assassins, landing them in Northern Italy and starting to pick off generals, merchants and sabotage buildings will utterly cripple the rich Italian states and will cause them to face off with each other (In search for riches), you need to target buildings of trade and strategic importance, this will cripple them completely, you can operate your Assassins from afar and see your enemies scramble and run around, helplessly, and you didn't even have to deply an army!

The Pope - Forming an alliance with him early on will be the best thing to do, it will cause the (later) excommunication of the other Italian states, in addition he will be a buffer state for you in the war between Venice or Milan, forcing them to strike by sea.
The Pope naturally loves you because you face off with the Moors rather early on and you are forced to have about six priests early on, but keeping him even more appeased with some gifts will help you later on.

Addition - Sicily is a very fun faction, you can easily launch a successful crusade on the Holy Lands, invade and conquer there, you can also conquer France, the Iberian States, North Africa, Greece and its surroundings, England... And the list goes on (If you feel really adventorous, Denmark!), your navy should be amazing, overpowering any othe faction... And the last thing: This is the best faction for fun. Landing Marine invasions, Assassin assaults, far away lands conquered by your hand, will all contribute to a very, very fun campaign.

Sicily's Strong Points:
Strong navy.
Strong trade.
One of the funnest campaigns.
Powerful early units.
Can field a lot of agents with great effectiveness.
Has strong allies.
Can easily appease the Pope.

Sicily's Weak Points:
Heavily reliant on navy.
All its enemies are stronger.
The second expansion will start a war with either Milan or the Moors.
Limited expansion options early on.
Must form strong alliances with strong empires.

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Post Table of Contents

Spain
The Turks
Venice
Economy Guide
Combat Guide
Religion Guide


Spain

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spain

The Spaniards are a strong people, riddled with wars within the Iberian peninsula, their Portuguese neighbors can be their most valuable allies or their worst enemy, and the same could be said of the Moors, pushing from the south. The Spaniards are also mighty seafarers and horse masters, powerful both in pride and in arms...

Starting Off: Your earliest and most important decision is 'Which Side?'; the future of your nation will be decided on the manner of how you take back the Iberian Peninsula, either join up with the Portuguese, ally with the Moors or fight both of them for total domination, that's all up to you, but one must remember that your decision will not only affect how you will control the Iberian peninsula, it will also determine how powerful your allies will be, and how much the Pope will love you.
The true power of the Spaniards lies in their cavalry and ships, they are mighty in both these fields and utilizing both of them to your advance will, without a doubt, signal the demise of your foes.
Sending a diplomat over to both the Portuguese and the Moors to choose your allegiance early on will be a mandatory move, in addition, sending borders up north to the French and the English, getting trade rights and an alliance (With England, further explanations will come in the Alliances section) will calm your northern border until you are powerful enough to deal with it, another diplomat must be sent to the Italian states, securing trade with these wealthy seafaring empires will give you a very good income boost and a strong ally (Sicily) against the Moors.
You only have two expansion options and you must act quickly to take them, Valencia will be your prime target to block the Moors off and supplying you with a great base of operations to send a sneak attack, Zaragoza will be your second, wrap up with Valencia quickly and run to Zaragoza, take it before the Portuguese can.
If you can, you can also launch an attack on Bordeaux and take it before the French manage, will completely block off the Portuguese and supply you with a great position to attack the French later on.

Trade - The Spaniards are in a perfect position for sea trade, they are both in the Mediterranean, and in the Northern Sea, what do I mean, you ask? How is that even possible? You have ports at both the north west of the Iberian peninsula and the south east of it, supplying you direct trade routes to both Italy and England, in addition, your expansion options boost up your trade in magnificent ways, land and sea trade with France from Zaragoza and land and sea trade with the entire Iberian peninsula and France + Italy (Respectively).
Spain has the potential of becoming a trade empire, but in order to preserve this trade, one must have a powerful navy to guard it...

Navy - As Spain, you are a perfect seafaring power, your mighty navy and navy production possibilities make you a rival to even the mightiest of navies. Upgrading your port at Leon early on, taking over Valencia and Zaragoza, and also getting ports there as soon as possible will make you a formidable force in the waters.
Also, Spain has one of the best navies when it comes to differentiability, I will explain: You start off with those normal Cogs everyone has, but before you know it you command mighty Lanternas and soon enough, Carracks with amazing power, the Spaniard navy is truly one of the best.

Army - Ah, the true pride and joy of the Spaniards. The Spanish land army starts off very strong compared to your neighbors, your production capabilities from the start are quite formidable, and the power of your heavy infantry and cavalry mid-game is quite amazing.
Spain goes through rather nice transformations:
At the start of the campaign, you have powerful ranged skirmish units along with some rather nice militia units and powerful early cavalry archers, who can cripple the opposing army from afar, utilizing thier very fast sprint and very powerful attack, they are also extremely deadly against armor... However, after the early start of the campaign, they are almost useless as your heavy cavalry become so vastly superior... At the mid-game campaign you have very powerful heavy infantry and strong cavalry (Most notably, Gendarmes and Conquistadores), to support your rather powerful archers.
Later on in the campaign you field very strong gunpowder and cavalry units, most notably the Knights of Santiago.
Spain seems to be a combination of all factions, I will explain:
Spain has the very good Pavise Crossbowmen, usually seen in Italian factions, to supply a strong backbone for all the rest of the army, in addition, the Spaniards have the mighty French Gendarmes, extremely powerful cavalry units, that only a few can defeat, in addition they also have powerful skirmishers early on, normal Iberian units, and Sword and Buckler men, powerful early heavy infantry units, also quite common for the Iberian factions.

Addition - The Spaniards are really diverse in their choice of armies, they are the ultimate faction for all of those who do not know what their style of gameplay is yet, the Spaniards have an amazing combo of powerful cavalry, powerful heavy infantry, extremely powerful cavalry archers, magnificent skirmishers and strong archers, allowing almost any strategy to work when playing as this mighty faction.
In addition, the extreme power of the Spaniard naval units, allows you to field strong invasions to distant lands and to match even the most powerful of all navies.

Terrain - You have very little terrain advantage over your Moorish or Portuguese foes, aside for river passings being easily blocked, you are all in one big flat peninsula, making it almost impossible to use terrain advantages agaisnt them.
The French have only three ways to attack you, the middle mountain pass to Zaragoza, the eastern one from Toulouse to Zaragoza and the western from Bordeaux to Pamplona, blocking off these three is very easy and can easily create a choke-hold against the French.

Alliances - Your earliest alliance will either be with the Moors or the Portuguese, these two are your most likely allies early on and choosing one of them will completely alter your campaign (See more in the addition after this section).
Your secondary allies should be England; England is a trading power beyond belief, securing trade and good relations with them will bring your very powerful income early on, and in addition, the English share no love for the Portuguese, once you want to take over the entire Iberian peninsula, the English will be the best choice for an alliance.
Your third ally should be Sicily, the powerful sea power in southern Italy; The Sicilians share no love for your Moorish foes, and can easily keep them busy at Algeirs and Tunis while you strike at them in the Iberian peninsula, even if you want to side with the Moors, you will eventually want Cordoba and Granada... So taking up arms and joining with the Sicilians is a very wise choice.
In addition, the Sicilians are mighty searfarers, creating a barrier between yourself and the other Italian states, and providing you a gateway to the Italy and the states beyond, aligning with this power will allow you greater invasion freedom later on in the campaign.
Your fourth allies, the Holy Roman Empire and Venice or Milan. I will explain:
The Holy Roman Empire are mighty, and they completely hate the French, the French do not love you or them either, so securing a strong alliance with these mighty Germans could mean the demise of the French when you decide to attack.
Milan or Venice - Choosing one of them wisely would mean extremely powerful trade early on in the campaign and a strong base of operations in Italy available to you, you must choose one as these two are mortal enemies, and will undoubtedly fight, taking sides in this struggle could mean a possibility to crush the French from two sides.

Addition - Choosing the Moors - If you choose the Moors as your starting allies, you will have a very tough faction, with amazing cavalry units by your side, however, you will not gain the favor of the Pope and you will eliminate the only natural enemy (Portugal) the Moors have that can keep them busy, meaning that you are now the prime target...
Choosing the Portuguese - The Portuguse are not as powerful as the Moors, but they are not weak. The Portuguese field very strong heavy infantry and cavalry, in addition to very strong naval units, in addition, if you choose them, the Pope will grant you his favor. Choosing the Portuguese means siding by your Catholic and most natural allies, and striking at the heathens to the south, pushing them out of the Iberian peninsula for good.
The Portuguese will less likely attack you later on because you are about ten times stronger than they are, and you can easily squish them as if they were a bug, in addition, they can be very good allies (See the "How to make your worst enemy your best friend" guide in later posts) if handeled correctly.

Threats - Spain has a few threats, but they are extremely deadly, strarting from the powerful French to the north, and ending with the mighty Moors and Portuguese at your doorstep.
*COMPARISON*
Portugal
Powerful naval units.
Very good cavalry.
Very good infantry.
Good archers.
Very good skirmishers.
Good position to attack you, your capital is quite vulnerable.
Perfect position to be attacked by you, their capital is extremely vulnerable in comparison.
Has only three enemies, you, the Moors and England, the Moors are likely to keep them very busy, you are also, the English will supply random attacks, but nothing more.

The Moors
Okay naval units.
Very good cavalry.
Good infantry.
Good archers.
Okay skirmishers.
Good position to attack you, your capital is not vulnerable however.
Perfect position to be attacked by you, taking Valencia will supply you with a perfect edge to launch a quick attack at both Cordoba and Granada, their capital isn't too vulnerable though.
Has only three enemies, you, Portugal and Sicily, Sicily will hardly keep her busy, Portugal can't really, so it's all up to you.

France
Okay naval units.
Very strong cavalry.
Very strong infantry.
Very good archers.
Bad skirmishers. (None)
Bad position to attack you, your capital isn't vulnerable at all and you can easily block their mountain passes.
Good position to be attacked by you - Taking Bordeaux early on will allow you a great base of operations in France, in addition, you can easily perform a sea invasion to Marseilles and easily taken down Toulouse with a surprise attack. Their capital is not too vulnerable.
Has many enemies to keep her busy.

Agents - Spain has almost no use for agents such as Spies, but has an extreme use for Priests and Diplomats... Merchants and Assassins are a good addition, but no more than such...
*MERCHANTS* - Having 3 - 5 of these is always a good thing, sending them to the African lands to trade gold and white gold is even better, in addition, you can launch them over to the Middle East with your fleet and reap the benefits.
*PRIESTS* - These are highly important whether you are fighting the Moors or not; The Moors love sending over Imams, whether they are your allies or your enemies, countering this with a big bunch of priests will grant you the Pope's favor and the edge in the oncoming wars.
*DIPLOMATS* - These are highly essential for Spain, sending them over quickly to Portugal or the Moors could determine your campaign, also you need about three in order to head over to England and France, the Holy Roman Empire and the northern Italian states, and also The Papal States and Sicily.
*SPIES* - These agents will come of little importance; Maybe having one in your northern border with France will be a nice idea, but nothing more. The close proximity you are in with your enemies allows you to easily replace these agents with watchtowers, who do the same work for less money.
*ASSASSINS* - These agents are good for taking out Imams or striking at France's early fragile trading economy, but nothing more than that.

The Pope - The Pope will love you if you face off against the Moors and hate you if you face off against Portugal with the Moors at your side, building multiple priests and churches (Chapels too) will help you greatly in the relations with him, and in addition will help you in the war against the Moors (Even if it doesn't happen), to counter the Imams.

And now, to wrap it all up...
The Spaniards' Strong Points:
Powerful navy.
Very powerful cavalry and cavalry archers.
Great skirmishers.
Great heavy infantry and light infantry.
Has multiple alliance choices.
Can easily become the greatest trading power in Europe.
Clear terrain advantage when fighting the French.
Great faction for all-'round strategies and newbies.
Two very strong starting settlements.

The Spaniards' Weak Points:
Hardly any terrain advantage not easily bypassed when fighting the other Iberian nations.
Has too few expansion options without fighting other nations.
Its main expansion option (Valencia) is a very tough one also.
No neighboring friendly faction from the start.
Must build up its trade from scratch.

The Turks

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Turks

This strong nation is located at a very good terrain, and its good horsemen make the terrain even better for hit and run and to tire out enemy armies, utilizing these two separately or together would bring you utter victory even against the most powerful of all armies...

Starting off: The power of the Turks truly lies in its strong missile cavalry, however, later on you have the magnificent Janissary troops, and those troops are amongst those who are most revered...
The Turks have a lot of expansion options, expanding to Baghdad and its surroundings, Adana, to the east and to the north will all be good ideas, and will not risk unnecessary wars;
The wars with the Byzantine Empire is expected and will happen no matter what you do, so you might as well expand eastwards.
A war with the Egyptians is highly unlikely, they are subject to a lot of crusades, and if anything, will need your help rather than fight you.
A war with the Russians is unlikely unless the Byzantines actually ask ti from them, the Russians have Poland, Hungary (Possibly) and Denmark (Possibly) to deal with, they will not be quick to attack you.

Addition - Expansions - The Turks can easily expand southwards, northwards and westwards, taking over islands, lands and gigantic peninsulas.
Expanding northwards will risk a war with the Russians and will make sure you will have to face the Mongols.
Expanding southwards will bring you great riches but might just make you a crusading target also.
Expanding westwards will be frowned upon by the Venicians and the Byzantines, the Byzantines are your enemies no matter what, but the Venicians might just strike at you after the Byzantines are gone...
To conclude this; The Turks have magnificent expansion options, able to bring them riches and total dominance of trade, choose your expansions wisely.

Trade - With access to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, The Turks are a complete trading empire.
Getting trade rights with Hungary, Venice, Sicily, Russia, Egypt and Milan (Not necessarily in that order) will be very wise, your ports reach all of them and will bring you much income.
Your land trade with Egypt and Russia also is quite powerful, upgrading it along with your ports will support your much needed economy, and will not hinder you at all, it will repay its entire cost three or four turns later.
In addition to all that, the Turks are in a position with a magnificent variety of trade resources, the Middle East, the Egyptian lands, the Slaves at Russia, Silk at Constantinople, all of these, sending Merchants to them will make you very very wealthy.

Navy - Your navy is strong, you have many ports, powerful navy units early on, and you will need your navy if you are to fight the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire might be able to rival you in navy, so you must use every bit of spare ships you have to fight them, using your ships and taking Rhodes early on, in addition to attacking Greece, will give you a great base of operations in within the Byzantine Empire for the war. (Greece is Byznatine - controlled)

Army - Your army, early on, relies on cavalry mostly. Your cavalry units are very strong, and your high selection of ranged cavalry allows you to great strategies of 'hit and run' to wear out your foes and strike at them from a distance with quick and agile cavalry, in addition, you get Janissary units later on, very strong units who are extremely versatile, utilizing them to your advantage will allow you to beat almost any army.

Terrain - The rocky terrain of Asia Minor allows you great advantage over your foes when defending, you can easily outrun them and use hit and run tactics with your good cavalry, or use armies on the campaign map, and forts, to force your foes into a choke point, and crush them in one fell swoop.
Also, Asia Minor is huge, taking care of all of it is quite annoying, so one thing that is very important if you wish to choke your enemies in a choke point - watchtowers.
Watchtowers are a great idea for the Turks to look after their massive borders and gigantic lands, you need them at one spot, most of the time, and you need them with a good line of sight, making watchtowers a great idea rather than spies.
In addition, watchtowers can be placed on hills or mountains to increase their radius, viewing over even more lands.

Alliances - Venice, Hungary and Egypt would be great allies to you at the start and at the continuum of your campaign;
The Venicians and the Hungarians can both assist you in the destruction of the Byzantine Empire and they are also great trading partners, fighting side by side with them will make your job much easier.
The Egyptians are fantastic trading partners, especially if you take Rhodes and Nicosia, they are also great military allies, against the Mongols later on in the game.

Threats - The Byzantine Empire is your immediate threat, and the Mongols are also one of the worst threats you will face. (I do not speak of the Timruids, I've had too little experience with them).
*COMPARISON*
The Byzantine Empire
Powerful infantry, early and late.
Powerful cavalry, early and late.
Good navy.
Good trade.
Too many enemies, that are also too strong, will be kept busy for a long time.
Capital quite vulnerable to your attacks.
Almost no terrain advantage.
Your capital is vulnerable to their attacks.

The Mongols
Okay infantry.
Very powerful cavalry.
(From now on, IF gets a capital)
Good navy.
Great trade.
Will fight anything it sees.
The rest is dependent of the capital it chooses to take.

Agents - The Turks have an amazing position for agent-established economy and warfare, in addition, its main enemy is a different religion, so the Turks can easily throw Imams at them and wreak havoc across their lands. Imams are important to the kingdom's welfare as well as its warfare...
*MERCHANTS* - Sending these most valuable agents over to the southern Egyptian lands at Dongola and using the Ivory and Gold there, or sending all across the Middle East to the Spices, Sugar, Iron and many other things found there, can easily make the Turks the richest nation in the known world.
Your surroundings are packed with good resources, utilizing the agents you have to your advantage as I have already said, will make you far superior to your enemies, with a stronger economy, comes a strong army.
*IMAMS* - The Imams are very important to the Turks for many reasons:
1) The Islam is a minority religion in Medieval 2 Total War, so keeping your lands at maximum Islam can hinder your foes' attacks, and help you defend your lands with unrest, in case they take them.
2) Sending Imams over to the Byzantine Empire's larger cities and castles, will make them an easy target for conquest or, if you feel like it, just raise the unrest in that region an cause it to rebel, that way you can just take it without even declaring war!
3) Imams can declare a Jihad, and, a Jihad is a magnificent way of sending a cry for aid from your Egyptian allies, an aid you will likely need later on in the campaign, or even early on.
All of these together make Imams very important to the Turks, or at least, very effective to the Turks' survival.
*DIPLOMATS* - These are quite important, establishing trade lanes all across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea with Russia, Venice, Hungary, Sicily, Poland, Venice, Milan and the Egyptians will bring you much wealth. In addition, you will need some allies to take down the Byzantine Empire, Venice and Hungary, with Egypt, are your prime targets for alliances. After taking down the Byzantine Empire and becoming larger, having good relations with the nations of Europe can only do you good.
*SPIES* - Spies are quite important in Asia Minor, your land is huge, and looking after all of it is quite tiring, for this, you have your watchtowers (See the Terrain part for more info), spies can be very good for infiltrating your enemies' cities and, along with your Imams, cause unrest and eventually the city to rebel, and you will conquer it without even declaring war.
Spies are also important because the Turks have gigantic borders, so looking even beyond these borders can prepare you for an attack by the enemy, use these agents wisely, the Turks might just need them.
*ASSASSINS* - These agents are powerful indeed, can contribute to even more unrest in cities through killing governors, destroying buildings and so on, hastening the rebellion.
In addition, these agents (In massive numbers and greatly trained) can take care of the Mongols for you, and a good way of taking down the Mongols is with these strong agents, this is one of the ways to destroy the Mongols. (If you want to see more, go to the Russia guide, it has a very detailed explanation of how to take down the Mongols, or, look at my guide "How to Bring Down the Mongols" in the next post).

The Pope - You don't care about the Pope, and he doesn't care about you. He usually declares crusades on your allies, the Egyptians, so setting up some good trade with him will not hurt you, but it really won't matter, either.

Addition - The Crusades - The Turks are the European gate to the Holy Lands, and prime Crusading targets, and as that you have two options:
1) Stop the Crusades.
2) Let them pass.
I will explain:
The first option will allow you to stick by your most wealthy ally and help him in his wars, in addition to that, might even boost up your relations with them (The Egyptians), stopping the Crusades before they even reach their target is a very daunting task, Crusading armies are usually huge, and taking them down will take a force equal or stronger to them, you must choose your enemies wisely though, if they are weak enough for you to take down, if they are far enough from you to actually affect you (England, France, Denmark) and so on and so on...
If you allow them to pass you will risk your ally hating you, and you will risk a crusading army that had to leave a crusade because it just got finished, roaming around your lands, which is not a good thing to have. Also, if you allow them to pass you will risk the European nations taking over the Holy Lands, and allowing them to strike at you from two different fronts, beware.

And, for conclusion...
The Turks' Strong Points:
Great trade.
Great navy.
Great land army.
Powerful terrain advantage.
Only one natural foe early on.
Can utilize many agents in a variety of great ways.
Great expansion options.
Great alliances able to be formed.
Prime ally is one of the richest nations the known world has.
Can easily control the access to Crusades.

The Turks' Weak Points:
Powerful early enemy.
The natural enemy outdoes them early on in cavalry and in infantry.
Huge lands to take care of, sometimes too big.
One of its prime enemies are the Mongols.
Is a religious minority and will have to recruit many Imams.
Needs plenty of Spies.

Venice

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Venice

The Venicians, powerful, greedy, rich and well armored, are also one of the (Arguably) strongest powers in Europe. Their seafaring abilities are difficult to match, their army is extremely powerful and well armored and their militia units will best even the strongest of people...

Starting Off: The Venicians have very few expansion options, however, every single option is good for them, I will explain:
Taking over Zagreb (North east east of Ragusa and west of Venice itself) will help your trade in ways you cannot even imagine. It will link up Venice and Ragusa, while also supplying a very strong trade route to central Europe and eastern Europe. Taking over Durazzo (Small village to the south east of Ragusa) will give you a foothold in Greece and a perfect place to launch an attack against your mortal foes, the Byzantine Empire.
In addition, taking Durazzo will stop the Sicilians from assisting their formerly-Roman trading partner. The Sicilians really want Durazzo, so taking that will also stop one of your enemies from having another base of operations against you.
Taking over Florence (South south west of Venice) will give you a powerful trade lane with the Papal states and further access to the seas, however, in the opposite direction this time, increasing your trade even more.
In the Iraklion area (The city you have in the Cretes), taking over Rhodes will supply you with a naval base of operations and a possibility for a naval invasion of either Asia Minor, or the Byzantine Empire's lands in Cyprus, Greece or near Constantinople, while doing all of that, it will also supply you with (Yet even more) trade opportunities with the mighty and rich Egyptians, and the ever so powerful Turks, who will also be a very good ally against the Byzantine Empire.

Now, building ports in your newly acquired cities or existing ones will allow you to become an even greater sea and trade empire. Building roads in Zagreb and Ragusa will allow you trade to the almost whole of Central Europe, giving you more income than you ever imagined.
Upgrading Ragusa and Rhodes, being your only castles, and getting Drill Squares and other military buildings will allow you the military production you need to overpower your Milanese foes and to match the Byzantine Empire's military production.
Drill Squares are also good in cities, the Venicians have mighty militia units, and utilizing them to your advantage, will subdue your foes easily. These militia units are cheap, effective and powerful, great early advantage for Venice.

Trade - Venice is a complete trading empire. Building ports and roads early on will make you a total monopoly and give you so much money that you will swim in Florins. The worst mistake you can possibly make with Venice, is not upgrading your ports, this will cripple your trade, and navy...

Navy - Venice, without any doubt, is the grand authority and power at sea. It is only matched by the powerful Danes, but they are so far away from you that you need not concern yourself about them just yet.
Upgrading your foes will give you a supreme advantage over Sicily and the Byzantine Empire, the Sicilians are sea dependant, and destroying the Byzantine Empire at sea will give you a great advantage and the possibility to create shore landings that would put D-Day to shame.

Army - Your land army is fast, sturdy, powerful, cheap and ever so full of hate to the Byzantines. Your militia units will be able to counter the Byzantines very early, and later on, getting your heavy infantry will completely destroy the Byzantine Empire, who cannot match those powerful knights. Your miltias are, however, matched by the Milanese militias, but you have one clear advantage: Production. Your army production rate are immense compared to the Milanese army production rate, overpowering them with numbers will truly destroy them.
Sadly, your cavalry are not the best, but you make up for it with crossbowmen, these soldiers, excellent against armor, will destroy anything that comes near, another clear advantage you have over the Byzantine Empire.

Terrain - Sadly, the Venicians hardly have a terrain advantage. In Iraklion, you have the sea seperating you from an attack, and with your mighty fleet, this should be a great advantage, in Durazzo and Ragusa, you have a very mountaneous area, and you can perform at least four choke points, however, aside from a small river in Zagreb, you literally have no other terrain advantage, not in Northern Italy and not in Greece's area.

Alliances - Sadly, trustworthy allies are in short supplies for Venice, but the might of your newly formed empire, will not be easily subdued, allies or not...
Your prime, and most powerful, alliance would be Hungary. The Hungarians share no love for the Byzantine Empire, and using them as allies early on will give you even more power over the Byzantine Empire, and also the Holy Roman Empire. The Hungarians, however, will probably want your lands too... Once the threat of the Byzantines is gone... One must take good care of one's borders... If he is to sleep soundly at night...
Your second ally could be the Holy Roman Empire, however surprising as these Germanic people are also your threat, and ally... They share no love for the Milanese, utilizing this to your advantage could mean the utter destruction of your Milanese counterparts.
Your third ally would be France, these people have extreme hate for both the Holy Roman Empire and Milan, the French would be considered your most powerful ally, however, they are not in close proximity to you and have so many enemies to take care of, that the military aid they will supply you will be (Compared to the Hungarian aid) neglect-able.
Your fourth alliances could be with Portugal and Spain. These are also quite the strong empires in names of trade, and having good relations with them cannot be a bad thing, if you wish to spread to western Europe.
One must also consider an alliance with Sicily. Whilst the Sicilians share no love for you and are both a threat and ally, the Sicilians can provide an important trade lane and help against the Milanese, and whilst it is obvious Venice and Sicily will become foes, using them early on, is not a bad idea.
And how can I forget the Pope? The Pope is probably your best ally for one reason: It will not betray you. It is extremely powerful in trade, keeping a great alliance with the Papal States will cause excommunication of your Milanese and Germanic foes, and the fact you fight the Byzantine Empire will make the Pope adore you.
Even more foolish of me was to forget the Turks: The Turks are mighty and rich, establishing a good trade with them through Iraklion and Rhodes (Cyprus too) can really boost your economy, and also, establishing a strong alliance with them means three things:
1) You just opened another front for the Byzantines, hastening their defeat.
2) You have a very strong ally which will serve as a buffer between you and the Mongols
3) You have just set up the united Asia-Minor Italy alliance, breaking this will not be hard, it is nigh-impossible.
The Turks are overwhelmingly powerful later on in the game, maintaining your alliance with constant gifts and profitable treaties (Maybe making them turn against the Russians, and than help them in that fight too) will not only benefit both sides, it will benefit you, especially. Your best friend, is the one you perceive to be a threat, yet wish to keep closely, The Turks answer just that. An alliance with them could also mean the demise of the Hungarians.
From personal experience, the Turks can be a very profitable and reliable ally, and to make them a better ally, giving them a city from your conquests will boost your alliance and will make the Turks think very highly of you. (Thank you very much, Spartacuz, I completely forgot about them).

Threats - Your threats are numerous: The Holy Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, Hungary, Milan and Sicily. Some of these could be your early allies too, and all of these will not like you, eventually. Treating them as both friends and enemies, will be the best bet.
*COMPARISON*
The Holy Roman Empire
Very strong infantry.
Very strong cavalry.
Okay archers.
Okay trade.
Horrible navy.
Numerous enemies, will be kept busy for a long long time, but will look to your lands as a refuge, least likely to attack you.
Capital is not vulnerable to your attacks, at all, whilst your capital is extremely vulnerable to their attacks.
A distinct terrain advantage over you, the Alps and forests (Vienna), and an advantage in production.

The Byzantine Empire
Very strong infantry.
Strong cavalry.
Good archers.
Good trade.
Good navy.
Three very powerful enemies, you amongst them, will be kept busy for a while, but will attack you first, second most likely to attack you.
Capital is not too vulnerable to your attacks and your capital is not vulnerable to their attacks.
A small terrain advantage over you (Mountain areas) that can be easily bypassed by an attack by sea, has a small production advantage over you.

Hungary
Very strong infantry.
Good cavalry.
Okay archers.
Bad trade.
Bad navy.
Only one true enemy, and one option of an enemy (The Holy Roman Empire) and a very powerful ally to its north, will not be kept busy, at all - The most likely to attack you aside Milan and the Byzantine Empire.
Capital is vulnerable to your attacks and yours isn't to theirs.
No terrain advantage over you, and definitely no production advantage over you.

Milan
Very strong infantry.
Okay cavalry.
Strong archers.
Great trade.
Very good navy.
Has three true enemies, but you are on the top of the list, they are the most likely to attack you.
Capital is very vulnerable to your attacks, and same will be said about yours to theirs.
No terrain and no production advantage over you, at all.

Sicily
Strong infantry.
Okay cavalry.
Okay archers.
Good trade.
Good navy.
Has only one true enemy, making you a prime target. Least likely to attack you (Yes, the Holy Roman Empire and Sicily have the same likeliness to attack you).
Capital is quite vulnerable to your attacks, and yours is quite vulnerable to theirs also.
No terrain advantage and no production advantage, taking out their navy will completely cripple them.

Agents - Sicily can send out agents to the whole of Europe, but rarely needs it, aside from just a few...
*MERCHANTS* - War or no war, sending them to Constantinople will give you immense income, also, sending them to Ragusa, in the mountains to the gold resource, will also be a great source of income.
*PRIESTS* - Will be needed to fight the Byzantines, however, will not be needed to appease the Pope early on (See "The Pope" section after "Agents" section).
*DIPLOMATS* - Venice has almost no true allies, these will come in handy for trading, sending them over to Egypt and Turkey will give you great trading opportunities, same will be said about the Iberian Peninsula and France.
*SPIES* - Sending one spy to Milan and two to Hungary and the Byzantine Empire will give you an exact read-out on your foes, something that might just be needed, but is not totally necessary.
*ASSASSINS* - These are not mandatory, at all. If you feel you need them or want them, getting them will not be a bad idea, however, only one or two will be needed, to counter the Byzantine Priests... But still not mandatory, at all.

The Pope - The Pope naturally loves you because of three reasons:
1) You are fighting a most unholy enemy, the Byzantine Empire.
2) You are fighting an almost unholy enemy, the Holy Roman Empire which are very likely to get excommunicated.
3) Your Milanese foe will undoubtedly get excommunicated for fighting you and France, making the Pope love you even more.
Keeping the Pope happy, should be no problem at all.

Now, to wrap things up...
The Venician Strong Points:
Very strong infantry.
Very strong milita.
The most powerful navy early on.
A trade empire from the start.
Favorable by the Pope.
Can establish a very strong trade with Egypt, one of the biggest trading empires.
Good crossbowmen.
Can overpower the Milanese with its superior production rates with ease.

The Venician Weak Points:
Too many enemies and hardly any allies.
Powerful enemies from the start.
Sometimes must rely on navy.
Bad cavalry at times.
All its neighbors are its enemies, early on or later on.
Will probably fight about three to five factions at the same time.
Must capture three settlements quickly to ensure its survival in Northern Italy and the wars with the Byzantine Empire.

Economy Guide

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Grand M2TW Economy Guide


Economy - The base drive for all conquests, the foundation of every true army and the lifeline of every nation... What is it exactly? How does it work? Well, here I will explain, everything.

Trade - The trading system in M2TW is quite simple compared to say, E:TW (Empire Total War); You build a port, it starts to trade.
Important thing: The trade is apparently NOT run by your own government but by inside merchants, so having trade rights with a nation doesn't matter that much, it will not stop you from trading with said nation, however, it will grant you more income.

The fact is, that even if you do not have trade rights with a nation, you will trade with it, only you will have less trade routes with it and much less income, allowing your people trade rights with their will boost your income and will allow you even further trade with them.
A question I have been hearing lately a lot is "Is trade really that good?" Yes. (I know, sounds like a commercial...) I recall several times in which I got well over 20,000 florins a turn from just naval/land trade, I'm not speaking of Merchant Trade just yet.

Trade is also influenced by several things:
Resources - What indigenous do you have in your lands, the more, the better, the pricier, the more money you get.
Ports - Naval trade is highly reliant on your ports, your ports allow you more base income from your trade, meaning that you will trade more goods and make more money from specific routes, BUT, they do not give you extra trade routes.
In order to get more naval trade routes, you need to build a Merchant Wharf and its upgrades, the only port upgrade this does not apply to is Docklands, as it provides you both base trade income and trade routes.
Roads - Land trade is reliant heavily on roads, without roads the trade will either be minimal or non existent. With dirt roads your trade will improve, but as said in naval trade before, you will have approximately 2 - 3 trade routes, when you get paved roads, this will develop to about 6 - 8. Land trade can be very productive and a very good source of income, a source of income you rarely have to care about as the only ways it can be blocked is if the roads are destroyed or the city is besieged, and if either of those happen... You have much bigger troubles to think of than land trade.
Marketplaces - These buildings give you a hefty bonus to BASE trade, this means it allows you further trade in land and sea, also it boosts your trade in ways you didn't even imagine, allowing you even more money from trading partners.
In addition, Marketplaces give you more Merchant agent limit to allow you to build more of them, but more on that, later on.
Wars - Pretty obviously, a nation at war with you will not trade with you, and vise versa.

Blockade - A blockade on one of your ports blocks trade and access to that port, but not land trade.
Siege - A siege blocks ALL trade relating to the besieged settlement.

In a single trade route you can get endless resources, depending on what that province has to offer, a province with no natural resources will give you resources from its farms and markets, also known as Common Goods. Common Goods are the least profitable of all resources, however, no trade is a bad trade.

Merchants, or Merchant Trade, is probably the best means of income in this game;
Merchants can 'stand' on resources to start trading them, and can generate from 5 florins per turn to 2100 (The most I've ever seen) per turn!
Merchants, in addition, are free of upkeep, meaning they do not cost you any money to maintain per turn, so sending these Merchants around to valuable resources all around the globe and forgetting about them won't really hinder you.
Which resource is best, one might ask, and one will get the following answer: Ivory. Found only in N. Africa in three different spots, Ivory is the best resource in the game, followed by either the Silk in Constantinople or Gold all around, these are followed by Slaves. Those are the four best resources.
How can I tell how much I will get? Hovering your mouse over a resource you had 'discovered', meaning you have it in your line of sight or had it in your line of sight before, or you got map information from your fellow nations, will tell you how much exactly can this Merchant generate out of this resource, also, the amount of florins generated from a certain resource will vary in according the Merchant's finance level.

Taxes - Taxes will be your prime monetary generating tool (Arguably, as Merchants can generate almost just as much), taxes are collected from every settlement you have through-out your kingdom each turn from your people, in castles, the taxes are permanent on "Normal", whilst on cities, you can change them according to whatever you feel.
Taxes are very good for many reasons:
1) It allows you control of your population happiness.
2) There's rarely a difference in income between High and Normal tax rate, or Normal and Low, allowing you to control your civilization's happiness with minimum monetary problems.
3) Taxes do not rely on anything aside your population size, and since (For most cases) population size only increases, it is a very reliable source of income.
Now, taxes are blocked by sieges but not by blockades, making them sometimes also quite vulnerable, but not too much.

Farms and Mines - These two are a very good money generator for you, they are available at almost every settlement and can never be a bad thing.

Farms - These allow you further growing of your civilization by giving you a bonus for health and sanitation, thus allowing your citizens to reproduce more. Farms also generate a lot of "Common Goods" resources and allow you further inland and by sea trade.
I have heard one advice, sadly, a stupid one, and I advise ALL of you not to heed it: "Do not build farms because they boost squalor", squalor can easily be countered by traits your generals have, tax level or improvements to your city, clogging down one of your best money production resources, farms, for stopping squalor is not ill advised, it will be your demise.
Mines - Mines can only be built in provinces where there are resources that can be mined, such as Tin, Coal, Gold, Iron and so on and so on. Mines are also a very good source of income, however, also a very costly one. The mines give you a certain income level depending on their level, the monetary value of the mine-able resources you have and how many of said resources you have.
Mines boost your trade by giving you more and more of that resource and allow you to trade it more, however, as far as I can see, merchant income does not increase by mines.
Important thing about mines - They usually cost in the 2000s, or even more, so getting a mine to gives you 100 florins a turn for 2000 florins right now is a waste of your money, however, mines that give you 350 per turn for 2000, is money well spent.

Traits - Your generals get economy boosting traits or ancillaries either when they are spawned or when they stay long enough in a city, the traits usually say:
"+10% to tax income"
or "+10% to trade"
This means, that the tax income you get per citizen will increase by 10% and (or), that the income you get from each trading resource will also increase by 10%.
There is also the "+1 to farming" trait, which gives you literally +1 to farming, meaning more bonus for citizen reproduction and common goods for trade.

Upkeep - Upkeep plays a very big role in Medieval 2 Total War and greatly affects your economy, building too many troops and not being able to support them with your income will easily throw you into bankruptcy, and buying too little troops could mean your demise against your enemy, so you should find a very nice balance between both.
How do you do this? Easy! Open your financial expectation menu, look at the total "Income" and "Expenditure", it should be at the bottom part of the scroll, in bold black.
Now, this should easily tell you how many soldiers you can keep supplied and ready, with these few brief pointers:

Instead of starting to calculate how much each unit costs, there are arbitrary numbers, in average, of how much every branch costs in upkeep.
Earlier and cheaper archers cost around 100 upkeep (Per unit), when more expensive ones (Later) cost around 200-300.
Earlier and cheaper infantry (Light Infantry usually, this includes Spearmen!) cost around 90-150 upkeep, and the later, more expensive (Mostly heavy infantry) cost up to 400-500 upkeep.
Earlier heavy cavalry cost around 200-300 upkeep, and the later ones cost up to 1000 - They are easily the most expensive unit branch in the game.
Light cavalry and missile cavalry cost around 300 - 400, even 500, to all stages of the game.
Artillery units cost around 400 - 600.
Ships can cost up to 1000 or so, Cogs around 200-300.

You can average up all these numbers, and easily find out how much of your army you can support, if between your expenditure and income you have a (positive) difference of 2000, meaning you get 2000 florins per turn, you can support a half stack of an army, with about 3 archer units, 1 light/heavy cavalry and 4 infantry.

These calculations will become far simpler as time passes, and you won't even have to remember the numbers since you will remember from past experiences.
However - You must remember that the numbers you calculate with are arbitrary average numbers, meaning that the costs can easily divert to both sides, so it is far safer to take around 100 florins more than the average, this way you will easily avoid bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy - Bankruptcy is a situation in which you and your nation go into the "Red Minus" section of your balance, meaning, you spend more money than you should, or you spend more money than your income allows you, and as I had already covered the ways to try and avoid it, it is time to address the way of how to get out of it.

Most players panic when going into bankruptcy, and you shouldn't. You have plenty of ways to get out of it, and the most common way of getting into it is going on an all out war, and building too many troops.

So, the solution is right here? Isn't it? Wrong.
You still need to support your war, don't you? So here's what you should do.
1st stage - You have just reached the "Red Minus" section of your balance! This is usually caused because of lack of trade, so your first step should be getting trade rights from whoever you possibly can.
2nd stage - At the same turn, go to all your large cities (Bigger than Large Towns) and turn them to "High Tax Rate" or "Very High Tax Rate" as long as the population happiness DOES NOT go under 120%!
3rd stage - Go to the rest of your settlements, find those with 140% population happiness (Or more), and disband units there until you reach 120% (No less). Now, if you have already moved the taxes to "Very High" or "High", DO NOT disband units there as you will need anything you possibly can to keep the population high.
In addition to that, do NOT disband units who are in free upkeep slots! (Background of unit card in the settlement is blue instead of gray) - It will help you if you need an emergency response army to an attack while not affecting your upkeep.
4th stage - Cut down your army.
Yes, you have a war, and you are most likely on the offensive if you lost all that money, so what you should do is cut down on the offensive.
If you had 4 full stacks roaming around, demolish 2 of said stacks and use the other 2 to conquer CITIES, not castles. If you conquer cities, you will help your economy recuperate, and in addition to that, removing half of your army or so will drastically improve your income.
Important! If you have ONLY 2 full stacks (Or less) - DO NOT cut down in your army as it will most likely cause you to lose the war, instead, simply fall back to your settlements and bunker up until this crisis passes.
5th stage - I'm in the green!
Great work, you're now in the green, BUT, you are not out of the woods just yet, you just passed the swamp, but the woods are still filled with bandits.
You need to now develop your economy sufficiently to once again go on the offensive in this war, so what you should do is build the least expensive trade generating or income generating buildings (Markets, roads, ports... And the likes) in anywhere possible, meaning, if you have 3000 florins and can build Dirt Roads in 3 cities, or one Paved Road in one huge city, build the 3 Dirt Roads instead as to boost up the overall trade, you will easily get back on your feet.
6th stage - Now that you get around 2000-3000 florins per turn, you can regain the offensive.
7th stage - This is just a pointer really - Try not to move your armies in open fields too much, capture cities as fast as possible, both to avoid too much upkeep costs and to reduce the chances of being ambushed by a far superior army.
8th stage - Another pointer.
Merchants.
Merchants will easily keep you out of bankruptcy, simply throw them on a resource and forget all about them, they cost you no upkeep and they become far better in what they do over time, giving you more and more income, so building about 3 - 4 of them will easily keep you out of bankruptcy and also (If, for example, each of them generates only 100 florins per turn) give you the ability to support around 1/5 of a full stack, and whilst this may not sound like a lot, remember that 1/5, out of 20 units (In a full stack) is 4 units. 4 units is a lot of money down the drain.
What I'm trying to say is, the more merchants, the better.

This should easily bring you out of your bankruptcy and keep you out of it, good luck!

This is the end of this guide! If you have any questions or if you see something I had forgotten, please tell me!!

Comprehensive Combat Guide - I'll add more to it later on, but this will have to do for now.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Nazgul Killer's Comprehensive Combat Guide

Let me just say that this guide is one guide I have been anxiously waiting to write, and will possibly be the longest of my secondary guides.
In this guide, I will cover battle formations, battle situations, terrain advantages and siege combat experiences, meaning, all battle aspects, I will focus on the utilization of units in the battlefield, certain formations which I had found best and several veteran experiences I would like to implement.

**These battle formations or tactics have NOT been tested on multiplayer! This guide is for SINGLE PLAYER!

Battle Formations

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This section will include many battle formations, from what I had known to work to what I believe can work in theory (I will test those our personally), with image-type descriptions (As informative as possible) and text descriptions.

The Box
Whilst so many players may call this a "Noob tactic" or "Annoyance", this tactic (Formation) is by far the best and most effective defensive tactic there is, and that's why so many player hate it.
The Box is a nice formation, forming a rather powerful defensive line, in the middle of it your archers and artillery stand. The lines of defense mostly consist of spearmen at the flanks, heavy infantry at the front and light infantry at the back, and I will explain why:
The Front - Mostly spearmen and heavy infantry. The front will, most likely, take the strongest blow, thus, it must have sturdy and powerful troops to stop the charge, heavy infantry are pretty much as good as they come, the spearmen are for anti-cavalry charges, making the front quite a hard line to breach.
The flanks - Consisting mostly of spearmen. The flanks will, most likely, be attacked by cavalry, meaning that you need a stopping force for those cavalry in order for your archers and artillery not be trampeled, as we all know, spearmen are the best people for this job, not only because they are usually cheap, but because they are just good at stopping cavalry charges.
The back - The back will be attacked the least, however, defenses in the back must be, so sending your light infantry there is the best.
Light infantry are the worst shock absorber or combat infantry in the game, however, they are many as they are cheap, the back will most likely be attacked only at one spot, so once that spot is attacked, you can break that entire formation to swarm the attacking force and prevail, putting your cheap soldiers to use.
Also, your light infantry at the back, if have not come to defensive use, can charge down to the front and demoralize the enemy troops whilst supplying aid to your own, giving them an even greater value.

*Pikemen - The Pikemen are rarely of good use aside for stopping cavalry charges, this means they can be placed in the front line and be put to very good use, or at the edges of the box, I will explain.
Putting your pikemen only at the flanks will expose their flanks for an attack, and pikemen are not that good at hand to hand combat, they are a good shock absorber though, thus, putting them at the front will cover their flanks and help you stop cavalry or infantry charges.
Also, putting them at the edges of the box (One battalion to the flank, one to the front/back line, in the edge) will cover each other's flanks and support your box formation with a nice shock absorber at its most tender spot, the edges.

*Cavalry - You should utilize your cavalry in such a way as to send them to either of your flanks (Preferably just one flank) and move them so they flank the attacking enemy and crush them against your lines, and a different battalion of cavalry move to the further back, to sweep the remaining foes.

*Archers and artillery - Your archers should be placed as lines of archers, in a "Zig-Zag", meaning that one line near the middle but leaning to the front, and another behind it, starting at the half line of the earlier, but more leaning to the back, and again and again, your artillery should be placed between them for maximum protection on the most valuable unit - artillery, and also, not to get in the way.
The picture will explain if this confused you.

*Skirmishers - If you have Skirmishers (Javlinmen), those should be placed between the archers and the front or back lines, if at the back, they can easily support the light infantry at the back from incoming assaults, but if at the front, they will be most effective against the oncoming assault.

*Missile Cavalry - Should be used the same way as regular cavalry, aside from a few hit and runs that are completely at your discretion.

***The Enemy - The enemy will most likely fire at you from afar with his archers, which yours can easily take care of along with your artillery, afterwards possibly charge head on with his cavalry, that's why you have your spearmen, or try and flank you with them, that's why you have the rest of your defensive units in the formation.
The enemy will most likely send all infantry to the front and focus the heavy infantry on the edges and flanks, that is why it is your weakest point, but that is also why you have your cavalry.

The Terrain - This formation works best on a hill or at an incline, meaning that the back will be higher or level with the front, giving your archers much better range and protection.

This picture will explain the formation I had just tried to explain (Hopefully, successfully) with words.

Brown - Cavalry
Yellow - Artillery
Orange - Archers
Purple - Heavy Infantry and Spearmen
Light Green - Light Infantry
Blue - Spearmen
Pink - Possible movements of attacking enemy
Black Outlines - Positions where your pikemen should/possibly be incase you want to use them. (The outlines are supposed to be inside the lines, but I did not want to confuse you... Too much... )

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Standard Line Formation
The Standard Line Formation is a versatile formation, useful for mostly assaults but also sometimes for defenses (Mostly hasty ones with a handful or archers) - This formation utilizes great use of a defensive line and a very good flanking action by your cavalry whilst supporting skirmishers and archers, however, unlike the Box, this formation is extremely vulnerable to attacks from behind or the flanks, which means that unless you micromanage your troops at all times, things can get very messy.

SLF 1 - Assault
The Standard Line Formation at an assault mode will consist of your cavalry and missile cavalry to the sides, archers and skirmishers to the front and infantry behind them.
Your archers will run until reaching range and start showering down death on your enemies, and your skirmishers run up close and harass them from up close, whilst also your missile cavalry will move from the sides and weaken them.
Your skirmishers will make their archers firing at yours run back and hide and inflict damage on them, in the meantime, the rest of your ranged units will continue firing.
The rest of the army will move together, the cavalry to the far flank, moving in from behind enemy lines, and the infantry marching until reaching the enemy lines, head on.

On the assault, you need to make your line formation stretch, meaning that it will be at least 1.5 times longer than your enemies, so you can flank them with your infantry also.

Orange - Skirmishers
Yellow - ENEMY archers
Gray - ENEMY infantry
Sewage Green - ENEMY Cavalry
Brown - Cavalry
Red - Archers
Black - Missile Cavalry
Blue - Main Infantry Line

(Dotted line - Ranged attacks, archer not marked!
X mark - Stop ranged attacks
Normal arrow line - Movement)

Part one - Skirmishers assault, archers volley.

Part two - Archers hold fire, infantry come closer, skirmishers and cavalry archers harass, cavalry begin flanking action.

Part three - All ranged units fall back, infantry engulfs enemy infantry and cavalry finish them off. (NOTICE, ALL RANGED UNITS HOLD FIRE, IN ORDER NOT TO MAKE A HUGE MESS I DID NOT MARK THIS)


Part three version 2: Backup plan, continue firing with your skirmishers, as they are the least probable to hit your own troops. (NOTICE, UNITS HOLDING FIRE ARE MARKED BY AN X WITH THEIR CORRESPONDING COLOR AND ABOVE THEM)


SLF 2 - Defense
For defensive purposes, there is no formation that I'd suggest LESS than the Standard Line Formation, for several reasons;
Minimal covering of the flanks and back
Easily engulfed and destroyed (As seen in SLF 1 - Assault)
Easily broken line of defense.

With that said, I would never presume or say that it has no virtues, the Standard Line Formation allows excellent archer firing over-heads of the soldiers, somewhat good maneuverability and the freedom to allow your most expensive units to escape whilst your cheap ones die. (I'm not brutal... I'm realistic... )

The most important thing on the defensive with this formation is to watch your flanks and be sure not to get engulfed, meaning, either engage the flanks of the enemy with yours, making it unable for him to engulf you, or make sure your line of defense is bigger than his, meaning that if someone will get engulfed, it would be him.
Covering your flanks will be immensely difficult, if not impossible, this is the main reason I would not recommend this formation.

The main formation of this formation should be as such:
Infantry soldiers and spearmen at the front, spearmen preferably to the sides (Red - Spearmen, Purple - Spearmen and Infantry)
Archers behind them (Includes Artillery) (Yellow)
Skirmishers between the two (Orange)
Cavalry and missile cavalry to the flanks, running down the flanks of the enemy. (Cavalry - Brown, Missile Cavalry - Black)
Pink will represent enemy movements (Infantry), Teal will represent cavalry enemy movements.
Enemy archers are UNMARKED, as their role is obvious (Stand behind their lines and fire)


As you can clearly see, the enemy can easily outmaneuver even your cavalry and destroy your flanks, making your infantry, archers, skirmishers, heck, your entire army, an easy target and easy pegging.
Highly unrecommended.

This formation, however, has a very interesting alternative, a hybrid of the Standard Line Formation and the Box, putting your spearmen in a line at the flanks, supplies minimal coverage but does not hinder your main line of defense.
Also - Do not expect said spearmen to survive the fight.

(For forest fights, the general will be BEHIND the archers, rather than the flank, see below)
This, however, still has a gigantic drawback, the enemy can (And will, the AI is smarter than you think) flank you and attack your back sides, making this formation vulnerable at best.

Overall, this is a very unrecommended formation, unless you are hopelessly outnumbered or you simply do not have enough troops to pull any other defense off, this is the most hasty of all defense, it is quite maneuverable and easy to make, but what's easy to make, is just as easy to break.

Bridge Battles

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Bridge Battles are, without a doubt, the easiest type of battle to win and also to lose (If on the offensive), the main tactic of bridge battles lie in choking the enemy on the bridge with your infantry while pummeling him again and again with your trebuchets, cannons, catapults, mangonels or whatever other artillery you use, archers cause a bit less area damage but are just as effective, a prime tool in bridge battle defenses.

Now, as for your defensive formation in said battles;
Placing your infantry and spearmen (I find pikemen extremely effective in such defenses) on the bridge or at the entrance to the bridge, your archers at the flanks of said soldiers and behind them, and the artillery behind them, yet close enough not to hit your own troops accidentally.
The archers at the flanks will make it so that it is possible to hit the enemy very effectively (from the sides) whilst it is approaching, the archers at the back will fire at their front, causing a morale decrease, and the artillery... Well... Do I really have to explain what a flaming boulder might do?

The problem with bridge battles is that you rarely get to use your cavalry, not missile cavalry, but cavalry. The issue is as such: If you rush your cavalry into the gigantic ball of many troops hacking and slashing, there's a very good chance they won't come back, in addition, they have no room to properly charge.
The only way you can actually use your cavalry in said situation is to run over the fleeing foe, or, supply a final and desperate push in hopes of victory.

Skirmishers should be placed between the Archers and the Infantry, Skirmishers are highly effective in this kind of battles as they got a lot to aim at and little chances of killing your own troops, use them well!

Enemy Movements
Archers and Skirmishers
Spearmen, Infantry and Pikemen
Artillery
Cavalry
Missile Cavalry


Now, as you might see, I have placed the Missile Cavalry to the flanks of the infantry and spearmen, this is, in case there is a breach, you can use your cheap missile cavalry to hold off the attackers until your main pushing force arrives, the cavalry. A good diversion and a very nice distraction, useful and handy in a tight spot.
In addition, the missile cavalry are far more accurate than your archers due to the fact they are taller and smaller in numbers, so putting them up close so they can fire at close enemies is much wiser than allowing your archers to do that.

Your artillery shall be placed BEHIND the archers so it does not hinder the archers' aim.
In addition, the artillery should be used to target generals, whilst this may be a sort of abuse for some players, they rarely hit the general specifically, but if they do... You can't say that's a bad thing, right?

Your spearmen and infantry should be placed in 3 lines of defense:
Pikemen and infantry at front
Spearmen and infantry at the middle
The rest at the back line, the back line is simply a backup, the first line is the shock absorber, hence the pikemen, and the middle line is the auxiliary shock absorber and cavalry slayer, hence, the spearmen.


Now, as for the Offensive... I really have little advice for such a situation, aside from two things:
A) You can choose to abuse the AI by positioning your missile units on the bridge and firing at them.
B) You can charge head on and try and breach their lines.

Sadly, offensive bridge battles can be sometimes frustratingly hard, however, having cannons or other siege equipment really helps, as the enemy will likely have no choice but to attack or rout.

Forest Battles

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Forest battles in M2TW do not carry a gigantic military nor strategic changes as do bridge battles and sieges, yet, you cannot fight with regular strategies in a forest battle for many reasons:
1) Visibility - The player cannot see what goes on, on the battlefield, unless he zooms in completely or watches the radar, this hinders your strategic thinking and or strategic decision making, I will teach you how to counter this.

2) Wood Cover - Soldiers can hide behind trees in order to evade arrows, or, simply hide and be made unseen until it is too late, I will teach you how to counter this as well.

3) Artillery is Useless - Using artillery in forest battles can breed one of two outcomes - Amazing success or terrible failure, your artillery will most likely fail to do their job as the tree cover will make it nigh impossible to hit their marks.

4) Formations are Often Useless - Fighting in a, for example, Box Formation at plains or mountainous terrain is a very good implementation, however, you must always micromanage your formation, make sure there are no faults and to block all said faults, make sure your soldiers hold their lines and your archers protected - Due to terrible visibility, this is nearly impossible at forest battles, making such defensive formations almost useless. I will teach you the formations I find best at such battles.

5) Cavalry Charges - The cavalry charges are simply not as strong, as an experienced and award winning horse back rider, I can tell you that horses are afraid of almost everything, so making them ride, in a single column or a special formation, holding down your lance AND charging at your enemy is a task that simply cannot be done unless you are very lucky, this is clearly shown in Medieval 2 Total War as horsemen need a lot more room and fields to gain up a proper charge, and even then, it is usually interrupted.

6) Archers and Skirmishers - These two units are very useful and are also a gigantic pain when your enemy uses them, now, if you are attacking the enemy, they can rip you to shreds, and if you are defending, they can ALSO rip you to shreds. The problem is, that archers and skirmishers are also troops that can remain hidden in forests, but when they rise up, you will not see them, you are in their range, but you will likely not see them, meaning they can shoot and shoot and shoot until you finally find them... And by then... Who knows? However, this can be also a great advantage if you are on the defensive, or feel like harassing. I will teach you how, and how to counter them.

7) Stakes - Oh... The Stakes... Cavalry bane and general killer of the finest order... Impossible to spot in the forest. This is the worst enemy you have in the woods and is extremely hard to counter for the sole reason you simply cannot spot it, however, there is a way to counter it - Instead of flanking with your cavalry (Charging from the side), simply move them to the flank and past the enemy lines, converge them back parallel to the enemy, and charge. This will, most likely, allow you to evade certain death. (This does NOT apply to mods who allow deploying of stakes even in a battle!)

Now, with that said, the only true strategies I can offer you for forest battles are: Complete mayhem or stealth.

Complete Mayhem
When on the offensive in a forest battle, the best thing you can do is disorient your foe, and this can easily be done by moving your cavalry units (ALL cavalry units) to the flanks, and move them parallel to your main army.
Your main army should be formed as follows:
Archers at the front - Whilst the forest may hinder the archers' capabilities of harming your foe, unless you use them, they are useless, and there's nothing worse than an unused useless troop on the battlefield.
Infantry at the back - Behind your archers you should place your infantry, once your archers are in range, you have two options, either continue the march towards the enemy with your infantry, or, stop everyone and let your archers fire until they finish off their ammo.
Red - Archers
Black - Cavalry
Blue-Light Blueish - Infantry/Spearmen
Pink - Enemy


Once engaging the enemy, try and make it so that your infantry/spearmen form a "C" shape around the enemy lines, meaning, covering their front and left/right flanks, with your cavalry, move up from behind and to the sides of the enemy, and charge.
The forces at the flanks will be caught off guard as they must fend for their lives in the fight against your troops, and the forces at the back will not even see you, thus creating complete mayhem and utter destruction of your foe.
Red - Archers
Black - Cavalry
Blue-Light Blueish - Infantry/Spearmen
Pink - Enemy
(The little X above the archers means they are holding fire)



Notice that it doesn't matter if you use heavy infantry, spearmen or just light infantry in this, as this strategy relies heavily on speed and accuracy, rather than quality.
Note also that it does not matter whether you have bigger or smaller numbers, all you need is to envelop the enemy into a big ball and close it tightly, and you should be able to easily rout them.
In addition to that, notice that you can use your archers if you must, to fill in the ranks.

Stealth
When on the defensive, you should place your general directly behind your main line of defense, and place the line of defense in a box or standard line formation, your general being behind your archers. (See above with the minor change of general behind archers)
Now, make sure all your troops are hidden, or, if some cannot hide or there are spots which do not enable them to hide, make sure they are IN FRONT of the general, meaning, at the center of the formation! Thus making sure your foe attacks the center of your formation - Your toughest spot - Instead of the flanks - Your weakest spots.
The rest of your cavalry (All of them, all types) should be hidden, all of them, in the flanks, not too far away from your formation, but far enough for random troops not to reveal them, in addition to that, they should be a bit further than your formation, meaning that they can just charge at a straight line into the flanks of the attacking enemy.
With that - Your cavalry archers should be put on "Hold your fire" so they don't accidentally give in your location.
Red - Archers
Black - Cavalry
Blue-Light Blueish - Infantry/Spearmen
Pink - Enemy
Orange - Stakes


Once the enemy engages, move all your cavalry and attack their flanks (Preferably ONE flank at a time, meaning, concentrate all your cavalry at one flank, this is due to the lack of effectiveness of cavalry, making up for it with numbers, in addition to that, the lack of your general in their ranks also demotes their power, meaning they should have the maximum numbers they can), after you cause said flank to rout, send your light cavalry/cavalry archers and your general after the routing units, and use the rest of the heavy cavalry to gain momentum again (Move them back) and charge at the enemy, whilst doing that, move the rest of your infantry/archers and block off the enemy's escape route, killing them all.
Red - Archers
Black - Cavalry
Blue-Light Blueish - Infantry/Spearmen
Pink - Enemy
Orange - Stakes


Using stakes with this strategy can be unbelievably devastating, placing the stakes at the front of your lines (Far in front of your infantry line, for example) and then running back to your lines, the cavalry will be incredibly hindered.
However, if you want to use stakes, MAKE SURE that your cavalry, flanking the enemy, DOES NOT engage into the stakes, for if you will, you will be forced to facepalm, and I will be forced to facepalm with you, and no one likes facepalms.

Overall Religion Guide

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

M2TW is a game highly reliant on religion for many things, amongst such are public order and Papal favor, which the latter contributes to the first also.
Religion isn't all that complicated, but it can be at times, so I'm here to help you sort things out and get your started!

Priest class agents are agents you can recruit from Chapels, Churches, Orthodox Churches/Chapels and Mosques/Masjids.
These agents are necessary, no matter what religion or faction you pick. Using these agents you can 'set up the soil' for an invasion, what do I mean? You can send your priests over to enemy territory you want to occupy, or neutral territory you want to occupy, and start converting them to your religion. This helps in two aspects:
1) You will have a major public order boost once you do take this settlement.
2) You easily raise the chances that the settlement will enter open revolt and thus will be an easy target for your army, in addition to that, you will not have to declare war to take it down.
Also - Priest class agents in Islam can declare Jihads once they have enough piety and Priest class agents in Catholicism will enter the College of Cardinals once a seat becomes vacant if they have enough piety - Giving you more control over the Papacy and far more Papal favor.

So, you're probably thinking "That's all great, in theory. How the hell do I raise piety?!". The answer's far simpler than you think.
Send your agent over to a land who has a certain percentage of 'rival' religion to convert (Preferably under 30% of your own religion) and forget about him. Eventually he will grow amazingly.
Also - Having a priest is never bad, they can execute heretics and thus gain even more piety, while stopping your regions from being converted into heresy.
Now - It is not 'bad' to send your agent over to a land with 80% of your religion, but if you have a land with around 50%, 30%, 20% or even 10% of your own religion, he will grow far better and faster, while converting the religion of the people he will start believing in it more and more.
Also - The higher the piety of the priest - The faster the population will be converted.

Sadly, the Orthodox have no main use aside 'religion warfare', no Papal standing, no Crusade, no Jihad, but this does not make them any less important.
As an Orthodox nation you will have the toughest time, as both of those nations are surrounded with Catholics and Muslims, so fighting the war of the religions will be twice as important for you and twice as hard.

Inquisitors - Inquisitors are agents of the Papacy set out on making your life a living hell, executing low piety generals and agents for the heck of it, and it usually does not matter how much favorable the Pope is to you, they will kill whomever they want. The higher the Piety of your general, the lower the chance the Inquisitor will succeed.
An important note is that if you put a Priest in a general's army, it will gradually increase his piety with various traits. It is very good to have when you wish to evade Inquisitors.

Religion - Who To Pick?
This is a tricky question for the sole reason that you will never know if you like a religion or not.
There are three types of religions - Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim. Russia and the Byzantine Empire are Orthodox, Turkey, Egypt and the Moors are Muslim, and the rest of the factions are Catholic (I'm not counting Timruids nor Mongols).
Now - Each religion has its own bonuses which add up and will pretty much tell you who you want to pick, I will start with Islam.

Islam
As an Islamic nation you will undoubtedly be a crusading target and will be forced to (Sometimes) fight wars that are so big and tough you will exhaust all your resources, but, you have plenty of positive aspects of Islam in this game.

Imams - Imams are the Muslim 'priests', they convert religion to Islam.
Imams can also declare a Jihad once they reach more than 4 piety with no one to answer to, meaning they can declare a Jihad whenever you want, as long as it is not too soon since the last Jihad, without getting a mission which says "Join the Jihad or face my wrath!" from some Pope.

A Muslim nation-based religion is not a bad religion to be in, but it is disconnected from the rest of the world, causing major wars between them and the Catholics, also being a crusading target doesn't help... CA made up for it with that that each Muslim nation has PLENTY of space to develop and expand early on.

Orthodox
As an Orthodox nation you will have your share of wars, and you will have a hard time, but you are -NOT- a crusading target, once bright spot at the end of the tunnel.

Orthodox Priests - The Orthodox Priests hold no real big impact aside for the above mentioned religion-war... But are, sadly, VERY important for your survival as an Orthodox nation.

An Orthodox nation does not have a lot of room to develop early on, but it has enough.
The Orthodox nations are indeed tough and full of wars, but are not a crusading target so you won't have to worry about taking on the whole world at once.
They are, however, Jihad targets. The Turks hate you, oh so dearly (Whether you're with Russia or Byzantine Empire), and will take every single opportunity they have to strike at you and kill you. Watch yourself, as the Turks have only one big/major enemy to fight, you are their prime target, especially as The Byzantine Empire.

Catholic
Ah - The main religion of the game.
Almost all of the game's factions are Catholic, but as much as this can be perceived as a good thing - It can be quite the opposite.

Priests - Your priests are one of your more important tools. Aside from the religion wars (Especially if you're Hungary, Poland, Venice, Sicily, Spain or Portugal), they will be elected Cardinal when they have enough Piety and also, eventually, Pope! (If you're lucky or smart).
The Catholic Priests are high in numbers, so if you are playing as a West-European nation aside Portugal, Spain or Sicily, you have nothing to fear of religious negativity as you are surrounded by Catholic nations.

As a Catholic nation, however, you are met with a very big obstacle; The Pope.
The Pope hates his 'children' fighting amongst themselves and will pull no stops at stopping your squabbling, he will hate you, excommunicate you or even declare a crusade at you after you're excommunicated if you act -REALLY- naughty.
There is a bright spot though - You can unleash the wrath of the Pope at your enemies by gaining his favor. Giving the Pope generous gifts (Not offers, GIFTS) of 3,000 - 10,000 florins once in a while can only do you good and will only do you good.
In addition, allying with the Pope on the first few turns and giving him a gift of 250 florins for 1000 turns on the first few turns will not only help your relations with him and solidify your alliance (And prevent you excommunication problems in the future), it will also improve your global reputation greatly (For more on this, see Rebel6666's grand guide on "Tips on Reputation")

A good way of getting more Papal favor is building a Cathedral.
These are EXTREMELY costly buildings that grant you amazing Papal favor and sense of pride, these are wise to be built in large-far-from-the-frontier cities (Leon, Lisbon, Edinburgh, London, Paris and so on) - Your capital cities usually.

Another good way of getting Papal favor, however small, is to recruit more and more priests while building more and more churches/chapels. Now, each time a building/training completes of the previously stated agents or buildings, your Papal favor will rise by a bit, but when building 3 chapels or churches at once, you will see how your relations with the Pope improves significantly.
Contrary to popular belief, when the Pope sends you a mission "Build a small chapel" or "Build a small church" - It DOES NOT give you an extra bonus compared to just building one WITHOUT the mission, it gives exactly the same bonus, so waiting for the mission makes no sense unless you really want that 500 extra florins.

Being on the good side with the Pope, aside from relative defense against Catholic nations, will also provide you with random gifts from him which can range from 1,000 to 3,000 florins and a hefty bonus in public order, the opposite is right when excommunicated - The Catholic nations will target you and your public order will deteriorate considerably..


Now, onwards to the interesting part!
Crusades
You can join a Crusade with a Catholic nation as long as you have an army with a general/family member inside and 8 units including his bodyguard unit. Once joining the Crusade, your army costs you 0 upkeep (The crusading army) and any new mercenaries you hire cost considerably less with 0 upkeep and are in much bigger supply.

An army in a Crusade gets an amazing boost for morale, meaning they will not rout as easily and will fight battles better and usually - To the death.

Crusades are also what I like to call "Chivalry generators". As mentioned in Rebel6666's reputation guide, if you have your faction leader with high chivalry, your global reputation will rise amazingly, this is why I usually send my prince/king on a Crusade whenever possible, unless I am in the middle of a big campaign... I'll explain:
Entering a Crusade gives your general special traits and ancillaries, amongst them are "Templar Knights", "Crusader" and "Defender of the Faith" - These all add to Chivalry and Piety, not only increasing your global reputation, but decreasing the chance that an inquisitor will successfully denounce them.
Important to add, the COMMANDING general of the army joining the crusade gets MOST (If not all) of the traits and ancillaries! This is why I make 2 armies, for my King and Prince.

It is not mandatory however that your king/prince be sent to the Crusade, you can send whomever you want.
In addition, it is also not mandatory/necessary to send someone to the Crusade, as the damage done to the Papal relations is easily fixed with a hefty gift.

You can also use a Crusade to kill a nation, how you ask?
By calling a Crusade you (Usually) guarantee that 6 - 7 Catholic factions will join said Crusade, unless you called it too soon since the last one or too early on, this means that there's a relatively high probability that the Catholic nation you want to attack will send an army or two to the Crusade or its allies would, meaning the forces you will be up against will be quickly and noticeably diminished.

Jihad
Jihad is exactly the same as a Crusade aside from the fact that you don't have a Pope to answer to.

Desertion
A main problem with Crusades and Jihads is that they tend to desert, A LOT, and there are several reasons why:
1) The army is discontent.
2) You stayed in one place too long.
3) You diverted off course.

All of these are easily fixed - Starting with the 3rd.
What you should do is WALK, do NOT use naval forces or they WILL desert!
In addition to that, always try to stay on the same general course of the crusading destination.

The 2nd:
Don't stay in one place. Your army MUST remain in motion, at all times.
However, if you do not want it to remain in motion, let it fight someone or siege a city, they will be content and will not desert.

The 1st:
Now, an army can be discontent if any of the above is done, and the answer is already given - To make an army content, attack someone, siege a city, or make sure you make your way up to the destination as soon as possible!

IMPORTANT NOTE: No matter what you do with a naval invasion Crusading crew, unless it is on a very short distance (Example, Naples to Jerusalem), THEY WILL DESERT! If you try to reach Jerusalem from London, Toulouse (West side), Spain or Portugal (West side), THEY WILL DESERT. The problem is that your navy will be forced to go in a straight line downwards (South) for far too long and they will think they are not heading towards the direction, so they will desert. This is why a straight line in sea WILL work (Again, Naples to Jerusalem) whilst an L shaped line will not (London to Jerusalem for example).

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Other Recommended Guides:
The Great Informative Thread - By Rebel6666
Reputation - M2TW - By TWC Wiki
TWC Wiki

[Nazgûl Killer]

Post Table of Contents
Milan Faction Guide
Your Worst Enemy - Your Best Friend?

Milan

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Milan

Milan is a rich Italian city state, and as such it boasts a strong field of powerful militia, skillful crossbow men, an active economy and wealthy trade, however, it is not all pink in the Milanese territories... Rivals and enemy twice its side and ten times its strength push at its borders, Milan must arm herself for war, for it is upon her...

Getting Started: The two rather rich regions of Milan and Genoa supply immense trade due to its close proximity to other factions, however, this trade will not be sufficient in order to continue your campaign.
The first order of business will be to take the city of Florence, limiting the Venician expansion further into central Italy, creating a new border with the Papal States, for more trade and setting a good place to launch a retaliation strike against whomever dares attack you. The second order of business will be to take the island just south of Genoa, Ajaccio. Taking this island will boost your trade while allowing you easier access to more troops, and taking it, whilst not vital, may help you in your wars and extend your reach even as far as Spain if you must.
Building ports early on is vital for your survival as Milan, also roads will not harm you too much. At Genoa you are to focus on ports and military academies, at Milan, roads and military academies, at Florence, both ports and roads and at Ajaccio, ports and military barrackses.

Trade - Milan is a trade power, as all Italian nations are. It is very rich, it has the potential of becoming the greatest trading power in the known world and has plenty of trading partners. Your trading partners will vary from France, Spain and Portugal, to the Moors, Sicily and the Byzantine Empire, however, for now, Venice is your main trading partner, as much as you hate that idea. Focusing on roads and ports early on will support your economy and bolster your ranks later on in the game, it will fill your coffers and keep worries off your mind as you set out on new campaigns...

Navy - Milan is a sea power in all ways, trade, access and military. Your navy is one of the strongest in the known world, and is the only true early rival to Venice's navy, so upgrading your navy and building Shipwrights early on will help you in your oncoming war against the other Italian state and dominance over its trade. Utilizing Milan's great advantage over other factions at sea will be your best thing, you will be able to strike at distant lands, taking distant islands and take over trade lanes that your enemies possess.

Army - While also having a good navy, Milan has a powerful land army. Skillful crossbowmen and powerful militia units make Milan's army cheap, quick and powerful, as all Italian factions, however, you have a clear disadvantage; Recruitment. Your Venician foe is much more productive than you are and can get an army fairly quickly and early, so getting an army early yourself might not be a bad idea at all.
Milan has a great advantage over the Holy Roman Empire and France - Spears. Milan's spearmen are sturdy and strong, and the Holy Roman Empire and France are very reliant on their cavalry, using this to your advantage will give you the edge you need in those battles, one must remember that you are facing powers twice your size and ten times your strength.

Alliances - Your best alliance can be with Sicily. Sicily is a mighty trading partner which usually keeps to herself and stays clear of central Italy, in addition, it hates the Venicians, giving you a powerful military alliance. Setting an early alliance with this faction can bring your riches, joy and prosperity, however, as all Italian factions, Sicily is greedy, and if it searches for new lands to conquer, make sure yours are heavily guarded, never let your guard down.
Two other important allies Milan could have are England and Spain. England and Spain usually have great relations with each other and are both trading empires, in addition to that, England fights both the Holy Roman Empire and France, while Spain fights only the French. Setting up an alliance with both of them can lead to military help by their side and, without a doubt, trading profit of both sides.
If manipulated correctly, you can get Spain to assault the Moors at Iberia and you can easily swoop in and take their northern Africa posts, setting up an even bigger trade lane.
Another important alliance you could have must be the Byzantine Empire or Hungary (One must choose), the hatred between the Byzantine Empire and Hungary will force you to choose which side you want, and whilst the Hungarians are mighty and truly hate the Venicians, the Byzantine Empire is much bigger, can be a great trading partner and will, without a doubt, be in a war with Venice. One must also consider the close proximity of Hungary, which can be your demise or your uprise. Hungary's close proximity can be used against the Holy Roman Empire, but once the pious Hungarians lean towards you... War will be inevitable. The Byzantine Empire has Hungary, Venice and the Turks to take care of, so it is far less likely to declare war at you, it will need your help against Venice, and possibly against Hungary.

Terrain - The Italian terrain in the Alps completely isolates the Holy Roman Empire from Bologna, its little 'ambassador' in Italy, using this to your advantage can be the creation of your northern Italy empire. The other mountains to your west can be easily used at choke holds against France and the Holy Roman Empire. Sadly however, Venice and yourself will be crowded together, and none of you have a terrain advantage, so your fights will be brutal and even, on all fields of battle.

Threats - The threat the Milanese must fear most is the Holy Roman Empire, but the immediate threat it faces is Venice. Your Venician counterparts do not like you, and will want your land, expecting a war with them will be a wise thing to do as it allows you to branch your alliances further to all corners of the world.
The Venicians - Your rivals and counterparts, you two are completely equal on all fields of battle, however, while you are far richer, Venice is far more productive and can spring troops much faster, so taking a few years to get your armies ready might be a better idea than just attacking and hoping your production rate will be fast enough.
The Holy Roman Empire - Your German foes are very powerful, much more powerful than you are, so using your terrain advantage and not pushing into their lands will be the key to your victory. Blocking off the Alps and taking Bologna at the same time will ensure the death of the Italian foothold the Germans have, but pushing into their lands will be very unwise, they have the advantage of defense, and going up against an empire ten times your strength in their lands will be your demise.
The French - The French are the enemies you need fear least, they are possibly your greatest foe, but they are so vulnerable to attack by you that it is unlikely they will attack first, nonetheless, one must always remember that the French have a clear advantage over you, size, strength and production. One must also remember that you have a clear advantage over them, navy, spearmen and trade. Utilizing your advantages to take Marseilles and Toulouse quickly will signal the defeat of the French, however, one must carefully consider risking provoking the might of the French, they are nearly as powerful as the Holy Roman Empire, and if you strike either of these empires too early, and you will be destroyed.
One must also remember about the French that you dictate if you want a war or not, the French are highly unlikely to attack you, however, taking their lands is a strategic move that could be of great importance, both for alliances and trade.

(This is an extra feature just for Milan, because it has so many options)
**Expansions - The expansion options for Milan are not numerous, they are endless. You can either choose to press down to southern Italy and destroy Sicily, dominating the Italian trade, push eastwards and destroy the Venicians, push north (When you are strong enough) and challenge to Holy Roman Empire or push west and challenge the might of the French. You also have the options of taking over Africa, Iberia and... Well... The whole world. Taking over England will completely monopolize trade of all of Europe, taking over the Holy Land will destroy the Egyptians, however, one must always remember that you are, for now, feeble and weak. Challenging the large empires will surely be your demise.

*COMPARISON*
The Holy Roman Empire
Very powerful land armies.
Pathetic navy.
Okay trade.
Not vulnerable to your attacks.
In an okay position to attack you.
Has many enemies that will keep her busy.
-Reliant on Cavalry, you can easily counter with Spearmen.
-Terrible sea trade.
-Far superior to you in production rates.

Venice
Powerful land armies.
Very strong navy.
Great trade.
Very vulnerable to attacks by you.
Is in a great position to attack you.
Has a few enemies, unlikely to keep her too busy for too long.
-Completely equal to you in any field of battle.
-Has much better production rate than you.

France
Very powerful land armies.
Okay navy.
Okay trade.
Not too vulnerable to attacks by you.
Is in a good position to attack you.
Has some enemies, most of them are very strong and will undoubtedly keep her busy.
-Completely superior to you in production rate and strength.
-Heavily reliant on cavalry, much like the Holy Roman Empire.

Agents - Milan can field a great spy web all across Europe, and her merchants can be extremely effective.
*MERCHANTS* - Sending these Merchants all across the globe will increase your trade even more, and by percentage it will give you so much more money that you never even imagined.
*PRIESTS* - Keeping the Pope happy is wise, and the Pope doesn't like you. At all. Getting Priests and throwing them all across your lands or your-soon-to-be-lands, will be a wise choice.
*DIPLOMATS* - Setting a diplomacy web to your advantage can greatly help you in your wars with the Holy Roman Empire and France, two nations almost completely superior to you.
*SPIES* - Milan relies heavily on intelligence as all its enemies are stronger than her, sending your spies to the Alps, to Venice, Naples, Marseilles, Dijon and the surroundings could mean the difference between life and death!
*ASSASSINS* - These agents can help you in completely monopolizing trade. Setting sabotage in Venice and blowing up their trade buildings will help you monopolize trade for the entire Baltic, and I doubt you will mind that.
The Venician generals and Merchants can be very good, assassinating them is a good idea to win this war, and also, using the Assassins against your much greater foes can give you just one more edge in your wars.

The Pope - The Pope hates you, very much. You must keep him happy! Go on a Crusade, or declare one, once in a while, build many churches and cathedrals and throw your priests all over, if the Pope likes you, everyone likes you, and the least enemies you have, the better.

Now, to finish up:
Milan's Strong Points:
Powerful trade.
Powerful navy.
Powerful militia.
Great expansion options.
A wide variety of alliances to pick.
Two of your main enemies do not conceive you as a threat, so are unlikely to actually do something about it.
Strong spears.
Sturdy crossbow men.

Milan's Weak Points:
Facing off with the mightiest of empires.
Lacks cavalry.
Lacks infantry variety early in the game.
Weak start.
In order to expand, must go to war with greater factions.
Has a bad production rate early on.

Your Worst Enemy - Your Best Friend?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

How to make your worst enemy, your best friend?

We all know, in all Total War games, that every single faction has an early enemy to start with, I'm going to teach you how to make your worst, first and most natural enemy, your best and most powerful ally.
To start off:
Develop your relations early on, getting an alliance and a trade agreement (Even if you must add some florins on your part to the equation) will be your first move, don't move any armies around its borders and only take half the settlements you wanted to take that are bordering you (For example, if you are England, take York or Caernarvon, not both, so the Scots can have one of those).
The best way to start an alliance to get him to be your best friend is marrying your faction leader/heir to their princesses or vise versa, the more marriage alliances the better!

Now, after this, fight off your ally's natural enemy, in some positions it is tough, as you are its natural enemy, but this is doable. I will give an example:
France, worst enemy? The Holy Roman Empire. Oh wait, I mean, best friend
Take Metz early on and let them take Bern, now, after that, wait for someone to attack them (For example, Milan) and crush them under your fist, charge full strength ahead, call a crusade! Doesn't matter, just crush them and your ally will love you.

In addition to that, your allies love money, so giving them regular gifts (A regular tribute of 400 for 20 turns may sound a lot to the AI, but it really isn't if you get 4000 florins per turn) or military assistance as a gift can really boost your alliance, now, in addition, you can offer to trade settlements or give them settlements, and before you say it's a bad idea, here's why I say it's a good idea:
For example, you just conquered Gaza, Jerusalem, Acre and Antioch. You need a buffer state between you and the Egyptians, right? Give your ally Gaza! As a gift, or as a (Generous) trade for another city, if needed, give him florins so he will be extra happy. If the deal is balanced, they will be happy that you show such devotion, if the deal is generous they will really be happy and if the deal is very generous they will never, ever, double cross you again.

Now, once you trust your ally a lot (It hasn't attacked you and is attacking your enemies all the time), it's time to take your relationship to the next level! Military Access! This is mostly taboo around M2TW players, but the key to this is having mutual enemies and giving them (Small) gifts (That look big to the AI). Military Access can help you in so many ways, in my latest campaign, with England, I had just invaded the Danes because they invaded Scotland (My ally), my full force was at Norway and Sweden, fighting off the (gigantic) Danish armies, and guess what? France decides to attack me! 10 turns earlier, I gave Scotland Bruges and Antwerp. Guess what happens? Not only do the Scots attack the force which is besieging Caen, they charge at Paris and Rheims and take them down, crippling the French. Our relations were Outstanding and Perfect, and have remained that way for over 30 turns, unchanged!

It seems a daunting task to make your best friend happy, but it really isn't. When you can, go to wars in his name. When you can, give him a gift. When you can, generously trade him cities while supplying your own need for a buffer state or a good trade alliance, also, when you can, military access (WHEN YOU TRUST HIM! Don't start a military access with him right away and come back screaming that it didn't work!), and this is my guide to making your worst enemy, your best friend...

However... One must remember one thing... Amongst one of the evils being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised... Don't rest when you see you're friends, don't be afraid to show your power and go to war, or no one will be afraid of you, and one must always remember that your current best friends, was once your worst enemy...

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Other Recommended Guides:
The Great Informative Thread - By Rebel6666
Reputation - M2TW - By TWC Wiki
TWC Wiki

[Abel12512]

Keep it up! Looking forward to the next updates!

[Nazgûl Killer]

Thanks Abel.

[Silent Assassin]

Yes I did the same thing with my first Great Thread, but I don't think you had too much, was there something wrong with it or you just remembered what happen to my thread??

[Nazgûl Killer]

Nope. It showed I reached the maximum of 100K characters.

[Nazgûl Killer]

I will start working on Poland ASAP

[Silent Assassin]

Don't rush just make sure your work is nice and clean, there will be no medal......

[Nazgûl Killer]

Hehe
Edit: added Poland!

[Silent Assassin]

If you don't mind I have asked a Mod to delete your previous thread

[Nazgûl Killer]

Ah... Okay... I hope people will find their way to this one

EDIT: Starting Portugal now! Yay!

[Henry of Grosmont]

+rep.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Thank you

[Nazgûl Killer]

Starting work on Russia and Scotland now.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Triple-posting failure, yes, however, done with Scotland and Russia

[Ascarona]

Could you just hurry up with venice

[Pink Beard]

You might also want to add to Hungary that its main advantage is that the Byzantine Empire is Orthodox, meaning the pope could care less if you killed them or not

[Nazgûl Killer]

You might also want to add to Hungary that its main advantage is that the Byzantine Empire is Orthodox, meaning the pope could care less if you killed them or not

I already mentioned that about 5 times

I will try and hurry up with Venice, but I got like 4 more factions until I reach them.