Need help guys

**man_2012** · February 22, 2012, 04:12 AM

I'm thinking of starting a new grand campaign as Grand Duchy of Kiev or as Novgorod, on Gracul AI settings, on H/H.

So for those veterans out there, could you please share with me some tips on how to play well on Gracul AI?

**Slaya** · February 22, 2012, 04:39 AM

play as Kiev , and turn ur capital in a castle , so ull have great inf in early period , make ally with Novgorod and Cuman . if u get attacked by ur neighbor , take border settlment and sell it to their ally for 15000+ florins or maybe fatmid faction they are loaded with cash !

**ash874** · February 22, 2012, 05:15 AM

with kiev you should buy caffa from byzantium
would cost about 7000 but will remove their presense from your vicinity
very important later on
your southernmost wooden castle has a high growth rate so keep it a castle
the other one turn into a city or else it wont grow for ages
take serdobynskaya in the east and you will have enough of a defense against the cumans

important! make alliances with novgorod byzantium cuman kahanate poland and hungary
do not make an alliance with lithuania
except if you can exploit it make them conquer the city west of kiev for you (happened to me)
in any case once they fight someone else youre allied with immidietly drop them
they are the perfect fall guy for kiev

**k/t** · February 22, 2012, 07:08 PM

I disagree. Ally with the Cumans and crush Novgorod. Then Lithuania. There is no point in expanding east.

**Javiar** · February 23, 2012, 12:44 AM

expanding east is so fun!

"Woot I just took all the eastern lands!"

The mongols have arrived!

...

**Ichon** · February 23, 2012, 01:15 AM

Kiev is fun because you can go all different directions. First of all your best bet is ally with Novgorod or Byzantines as Gracul AI nearly everyone will attack you so you need something in common. Personally I think its pointless to ally with Novgorod unless you want a northern buffer. Buying Caffa and allying with Byzantines is best. Usually they will war with Hungary and you can pile on as Orthodox you are immune from Crusades(but not Jihads) that will also limit Byzantines expansion into Europe- keep marrying your princesses into the Byzantines or your Heirs to their princesses to keep the alliance strong. After that Byzantines will have more than enough enemies to keep you fighting someone. Get into Caucuses and you can cut off Byzantines expansion east, they will spend lots of time fighting Fatimids and you can turn on your allies now or wait to have a strong enemy and fight Byzantines then Mongols. That will be about 50 turns of hard battles. Remnant Hungary makes a good vassal to keep away Poland and HRE if you don't want to go into Europe.

**ash874** · February 23, 2012, 07:24 AM

after reading this comment i realised i made a mistake in my own
obvioulsy do not ally with hungary
dont know why i wrote that

**man_2012** · February 23, 2012, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by k/t

I disagree. Ally with the Cumans and crush Novgorod. Then Lithuania. There is no point in expanding east.

I see your point there. Cause spamming your troops to defend your eastern borders against the Mongols can be quite futile sometimes. Why not expand to the West instead right?

**man_2012** · February 23, 2012, 10:10 AM

And on the units, which unit should I train first?

**Ichon** · February 23, 2012, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by man_2012

And on the units, which unit should I train first?

Any type of HA you can get is the strongest early on- later your have decent medium cavalry and even heavy cavalry and infantry but it takes awhile to get those.