[TW Guide] MTW: The Aragonese (Early)

[the Black Prince]

Author: morble
Original Thread: Not Available

MTW: The Aragonese (Early)

I think the Aragonese are the hardest faction to play in all of MTW:VI. The AI would seem to agree with me, since I have never seen the Aragonese become even a regional power. All the other factions, even the Sicilians, sometimes manage to gain a few provinces and become a force to be reckoned with, at least locally. I have never played a game wherein the Aragonese were able to lay claim more than 2 or 3 provinces at once—and that for only a short time. Typically, they end up attacking my faction out of their sole province of Aragon or Sicily sometime late in the game (and getting trounced for their efforts).

The Aragon starting position is pathetic, with only your king and a couple hundred troops in Aragon, and a pittance of income. The only rebel lands nearby are Valencia and Navarre. Well, you can forget about El Cid on expert level. Even sending your emissary to him on the first turn, you will not be able to afford him. The Spanish will beat you to the punch in offering him a bribe, which he will refuse, and he will demand about 5500 florins to defect by the time you contact him. You will not see 5500 florins in your treasury for a long, long time. Eventually, the Spanish will invade Valencia and conquer him—and the Almohads will usually take advantage of Spanish losses from this action to invade Castile and set off the war for the Iberian Peninsula.

Save a year of your time, and send your emissary directly to Navarre. You are desperate for lebensraum and the income any extra provinces will provide. You could possibly invade Navarre, but the province is completely undeveloped, and you will not make any profit from the conquest to pay for your military casualties—so you then won’t have enough men to hold the province, either. Thus, you should bribe Navarre asap.

Next, send your emissary around to look for marriageable princesses, even though you won’t have a prince of majority age for a few years yet. Your dynasty is far from secure, so you want to marry your prince as soon as he turns 16, and put him to work making babies. Save your princess for scouting duties; don’t marry her off until she is approaching 30.

In Aragon, build a watchtower, then an inn, then a spearmaker. Both Aragon and Navarre have iron, so you want to build spearmakers in each to unlock the armorers and metalsmiths. With a watchtower in Aragon, you don’t need one yet in Navarre, so start that province building a fort and spearmaker right away. While waiting for the spearmaker to come online in Aragon, build 5 archers.

Your two puny provinces now control the Pyrenees and all access between Iberia and Western Europe. This means that England and France will not be able to directly fight the Almohads, and the Spanish are on their own against the Muslims. I prefer to seek an alliance with the Almohads, particularly in Early Period when the AUM are so strong. This means Spain will be neutral to you, but the Almohad threat will keep them from attacking you, at least for now. I also accept any alliance offers from any other faction, except the English and French.

Your next decision will greatly affect your game. You need to decide whether to go on the attack as soon as possible, or to bide your time and wait for an excommunicated or weakened target. If you choose the more passive rout, there are numerous scenarios, because the Italians and HRE are prone to excomm, while the English and French hate each other’s guts, and the Almohads and Spanish are each on a mission from God to destroy the other side.

While waiting for your chance, you will want to quietly bide your time, developing your economy, building a second inn in Navarre, and occasionally adding to your armies. This is a somewhat tricky balancing act, because if you build up your armies too much, you will not have any profits to spend on development. But if you don’t increase your defenses, you will be victimized by your stronger neighbors. Try to build a royal palace asap so that you can build emissaries, and the Chamberlain title you get from it will help increase your income.

You need the emissaries so that you can see what is going on around you. You cannot couterpunch if you can’t see the punch coming. It is rarely appropriate to invade another faction just because you checked the diplomacy scroll and found that it was at war with someone. Instead, you must wait until one of the combatants is weakened, then you can swoop in like a desert vulture and grab some goodies for yourself. So, you need the eyes of your emissaries to see who is losing battles, how big their armies are, and where those armies are located.

Here, you must think like a jackal or hyena. These animals are carnivores, but they rarely kill for their meat. Instead, they let a predator do the work for them, then move in with stealth and superior numbers. Although individually weaker, a pack of jackals can scare a leopard off its kill and take it for themselves. Similarly, you are weaker than your neighbors, so you must pick your opportunities carefully. Either attack the stronger faction once it has started to overextend itself and is having trouble subduing provinces. Or else, join with the stronger faction to destroy the weaker one, with the intent that you will be able to grab a share of the spoils.

Depending on the ground you gain from your strategy, you may emerge from the conflict with enough martial and economic strength to start throwing your weight around. On the other hand, your limited resources mean you are unlikely to be able to make great gains unless you are very lucky, and you may have to continue in this mode for a while. That’s OK, because there are plenty of opportunities around you, including far-flung provinces that go rebel.

Whenever you judge rebel forces are large enough to hold the province by themselves, then you do not need a line of ships to that province. Just send your emissary to bribe them, and build peasants there until you can stabilize the province at high taxes. (A caution, however, is to check the color of the rebels on the map. Rebels of the same color belong to the same rebel faction, and will move between provinces and attack you. Rebels of different colors, e.g. pink versus blue-gray, are separate factions, and these do not care if you go to war with the differently-colored faction.)

Eventually, you will be forced out of your opportunistic game when another faction attacks you. Usually two or three factions will attack you simultaneously. It’s as if there is a meeting of all the faction kings that plays out like a sitcom episode wherein the male has been dating three girlfriends, and then the girlfriends meet and start to talk. “Well, the Aragons said this to me.” “Oh, really? They said the same thing to me!” “Well, they told me the opposite!” Pretty soon the whole gang is mad at you for playing them like puppets, and you end up in a 3-border war.

This is survivable, if you have been careful to keep your defenses strong, but it is definitely a scramble. You must try and try again to get a ceasefire against the strongest enemy with your princesses, bishops, and emissaries. Meanwhile, you must also try to ally with others who share borders with your enemies. And, most importantly, you must win the defensive battles—so you need lots of spears and archers on hand, and enough luck to find some strong mercs at your inns. If you have let your vigilance slip and let yourself get overextended just before the gang turns on you, then you will lose the game. And your enemies will soon be sprinkling your ground-up bones over their morning porridge. So, the passive approach does not necessarily lead to a quiet game.

If you decide to play the aggressive approach after bribing Navarre, then you must move forward with haste. Your first order of business should be to attack the French in Toulouse. Until the French can conquer English Anjou, or German Burgundy, they have no way to reinforce Toulouse. So what you see is what you get when you go to fight in French Toulouse. Also, once you have conquered the province and its fort, the war with France will end due to lack of contact. You can now turn your attentions to your next victim.

The English own a line of provinces, from Normandy to Aquitaine, which border your lands. These are all very nice provinces. Aquitaine has 1 trade resource, salt mining, and is often already developed to build horses (Not that the Aragonese can build any low level cav units—yet another Aragonese disadvantage—but it’s a start towards mounted sergeants). Anjou has two trade resources, although it is land-locked. Normandy has quite good agriculture.

I usually go after the English, because then I don’t have to worry about this faction for the rest of the game. Once I take Flanders, I post 700 men or so in the province, and I don’t hear a peep from the English thereafter. However, attacking the English early means that Flanders will usually remain in French hands—and Flanders is one of the very best provinces in the game. As another option for consideration, conquering Spain down to Cordoba will give you very rich lands indeed, and a pretty defensible position—provided you can hold off the Almohads at Cordoba.

One, perhaps the only, advantage to having such a small kingdom is that the Pope will not interfere with you when you attack Catholics. You can attack any Catholic neighbor as much as you want, as slowly as you want (although slow is not recommended), and the Pope will not warn you until you own double or more the number of provinces that your enemy does.

As noted, I prefer to grab the English continental holdings in this variation, starting at Aquitaine, and moving north to Normandy. Really, though, you must attack Aquitaine as early as you can to follow this strategy. The English will be speed-building hobilars in Aquitaine, adding a new company of them nearly every year. Hobies are excellent cav this early in the game, and if you wait until the English have 5-7 companies of them, you will have a very difficult time in your quest to blaze a path of conquest toward Flanders.

This is why you built the inn in Aragon. Buy mercs—especially a catapult, if available—and invade Aquitaine at the earliest possibility. Keep building spears and archers in your two provinces, and hope you can hold on to Aquitaine once you conquer it. If you attacked early enough, you can afford to wait out the siege. Expect the fort in Aquitaine to have a motte and bailey—meaning fort defenders will fire arrows at your men during any assault. So, if you do assault the fort, you really want to have a catapult present to take out the arrow tower in the center before you go for the walls.

As soon as possible, press on into Anjou. The English will sometimes oblige you by posting nearly all their troops in Normandy. Once you conquer Anjou (the English usually abandon the province), there will be a concentration of English troops in Normandy, and you must remove this threat.

Mercs are again the answer, even though their maintenance will force you to halt your provincial development. Pay special attention to hiring good cav, like Khwarazmians and Faris, and good spears, like Rus spearmen and Italian infantry. These match up exceptionally well against hobilars. You should also have your king and princes participating in the battles with the English. The English army in Normandy will likely be composed almost entirely of hobilars and peasants. With good spear and cav mercs, and your RKs and archers, you can smash the English and exile them to their island.

With a bit of luck, you will have trapped the English king in Normandy. This is especially likely if the English have previously gone to war with the French, and the English king’s ransom will finally give you a breather economically. Like Richard the Lionheart’s ransom, this payment will nearly bankrupt the English, and they will spend most of the next decade without being able to build any new troops or buildings. Throwing the English out of Normandy will also end the war between you and the English, as your two factions will then be out of contact.

Now that you have a little money and some land, it’s time to push hard on your development. (It is almost certainly too late to seek out El Cid; the Spanish will have destroyed him.) Develop Aquitaine to build ships, since this is nearly the only place you can put a trading port. I build a royal palace in Aragon, and build towards chiv knights and RKs there, because of the iron. Similarly, I build Navarre towards CMAAs. I also build towards mounted sergeants, then chiv knights, in Toulouse, since the chiv knights get a valor bonus there. The other two provinces can develop spears and archers. (Note, however, that in Early period you will not be able to build the advanced units, even if you have built the buildings, so temper your training development.)

While developing your lands, don’t forget to continue building spearmen and archers to hold on to your territory. A number of your provinces are likely to already have an inn—and if not, then build some, because you will need the mercs. The French virtually surround you, and are still powerful if they were not forced to fight the English. The only thing keeping them back from attacking your strip of lands is the HRE army. You need to be able to show credible defenses to the French, Germans, and Spanish or you risk an attack from them, be they your allies or not. About 3 archers and 3 spearmen is enough to protect each province.

Also, you must work hard to develop your lands in order to get your income up. Building agriculture, salt mines, and trade should take precedence over building advanced troops for now. Archers and spearmen are sufficient to defend your borders at the present time. Note that the game allocates money from the northernmost province on the map downwards. You will probably have to force development in Navarre and Aragon by leaving the building queues open in the more northern provinces.

Be mindful of what you build for troop development. The Aragonese do not get many of the standard builds. For example, no horse archers or mounted crossbows, no light horse of any kind until mounted sergeants, no armored spearmen, and no crossbows. The only special build you get is Spanish javelinmen, a unit similar to jobaggy or kerns, but which fail to impress me. So, right click on the building before you build it to determine if you actually get a troop upgrade from it, or will have to build the next level of building, also. It is a misuse of your very limited cashflow to strain to build a third level spearmaker now—and then to find out you can’t build anything better than feudal sergeants until High period. Your money is better spent developing your nascent economy, building an armorer, then the next castle level, and only then building the two spear upgrades.

You must plan on your conscripted armies consisting of feudal sergeants, archers, militia sergeants, RKs, and possibly, mounted sergeants. That’s all the Aragonese get until High period. Thus, you should pay special attention to discovering opportunities to conquer provinces with special units, such as the Scandinavian provinces with their Viking carls and thralls, the Slavic lands for Slav warriors, and the Steppe provinces for their Steppe cavalry.

To win battles, you must plan to have superior numbers most of the time, especially on the attack, because of your low quality of troops. You also should have a relatively large number of inns in your lands, especially in the least developed provinces. Mercenaries prefer the shadows. The more developed your castle is, the fewer mercs will show up at the inn.

Mercenary troops allow you to punch up your military strength with a large variety of units that you would otherwise not have access to. Of course, mercs cost double the annual maintenance, so you can’t afford to have them hang around long after the invasion. Aragon must therefore plan its wars carefully; it cannot afford a 100 Years War. But the sudden purchase of a large number of mercs, followed the next turn by a declaration of war and multiple invasions, allows you to plaster over any weaknesses in your regular army, and does not give your targeted enemy any time to compensate for your sudden increase in troops.

After warring with the English (or destroying the Spanish, per your preference), you must stay quiet for a time and develop your economy. Also, send your princesses and emissary around to try and mend some diplomatic fences. The French and English will not have forgotten your wars with them, so they may well refuse to ally. The Germans and Italians are likely to be allied with you, while the Spanish probably dropped their alliance with you when you attacked either the French or the English. All of these last three, allied or not, are looking for an excuse to attack you, so be wary.

You must also be very wary of any faction (usually the Italians) that is able to put a ship off the coast of Toulouse/Aragon. In these early times, this may well be the first warning of a surprise invasion from the sea. If you are building Aquitaine towards shipping, it will be a long time before you can get a ship posted off the coast of Toulouse. Try to ally with other naval powers in the area to provide a little protection, get some of your strategic pieces into the provinces of the faction with the ship, so you can watch for troop build-ups, and keep Aragon and Toulouse defenses strong.

One way to tell if one of the AI factions is considering going to war with you is if you see a number (typically 4 or more) of strategic pieces suddenly present in one of your provinces—especially when the princesses won’t marry one of your bachelor princes. You are being scouted for an attack. Assassinate the enemy pieces if you can (but in this case, you probably don’t have assassins yet). Otherwise, put as many men as you can afford into the province being scouted. If the AI thinks it can easily beat your defensive army, you will receive a little visit next year. But if you have a large number of troops present, it will just leave the strategic pieces there and re-evaluate the situation next year.

Outside pressures will force you to slowly increase the size of your army, and also the size of your annual maintenance. As your bank account starts to shrink, you need to plan your next attack. Your only options, if you earlier attacked the English, are likely the French and the Spanish. Look for the emissaries and princesses of these factions to see if they are spying in one or more of your provinces.

Strike first by spending your last couple of thousand florins on mercs. For the French, plan simultaneous attacks on Flanders and Brittany, then follow up with Isle of France. For the Spanish, attack Castile and Valencia (careful, Valencia is a double bridge battle with lots of hills), and follow up with Cordoba—and Leon, if you have enough men. Portugal, because it is one of the most rebellious provinces on the map (Lithuania, Scotland, and Livonia are the others), should be handled separately, after you have secured the surrounding area.

The Spanish will have a lot of troops, and usually, very good generals. These will be difficult battles in very hilly terrain. Take lots of archers, feudal sergeants, and RKs, to match up against their jinetes. The provinces of Spain are very rich, and the Spanish will continue to grow large armies. If you leave them alone, they will usually have no trouble whipping the Almohads into submission. Ideally, you want to attack them when they are at war with the Almohads, but they will often have plenty of troops to still give you a very stiff fight.

If you leave the Spanish alone and set your cap for the conquest of Western Europe, the Spanish will very likely become your best trading partner—until they attack you. Every Spanish province will end up with a port, and the faction will have a big navy. If you are trying to link up Toulouse and Aquitaine, the added trade income you get by encircling the Peninsula is a boon to your game. To the north, the French have already been weakened by the loss of Toulouse, the Germans have few coastal provinces, you prefer to own Scandinavia yourself for its special builds, and the English are a backward nation (thanks to your stripping them of all their Continental holdings) who will need substantial time before they can put ports in all their holdings. Thus, there are no likely prospective trade partners along the North and Baltic Seas.

So, I usually attack northwards, through France, the HRE, and the Danes. You can hold off the inevitable Spanish attack for a number of years by keeping a large stack of troops in both Navarre and Aragon, and posting 2 ships in every square around Spain. You will only be able to sail barques until High period. These are primarily defensive ships, with attack of 1 and defense of 2, so they suit your purposes admirably. At this point, you want to expand your sea presence and create trade routes, not foment a naval war. Even though barques have speed of movement, it is best to simply let them sit in each ocean square until such time as they are called upon in the national defense.

Once you have conquered France and Flanders, another option is available to you. You can continue on eastward to attack the HRE immediately, or you can attack the English. Much depends on the state of the HRE at this point. If the HRE is a threat, then it is best to continue your path of conquest across the continent. However, if the HRE is beginning to disintegrate and/or has gotten itself excommed, then the invasion of England is a possibility.

England is likely to be a rather easy conquest at this time, because it still will not have recovered from your earlier attacks. This will be even more true if you earlier managed to capture and ransom the English king in Normandy. Once having conquered England, you can allow Mercia to go rebel (by vacating it), which will usually generate Sherwood foresters and huscarls. Bribe them with an emissary, and you have some excellent troops that you cannot obtain in any other way. And, from England, you only need a single ship to transport your armies into Scandinavia, where you will be able to build carls and thralls.

The downside is that there is always the possibility that the English will resurge—particularly in Ireland, which probably does not have a port, and so, cannot be bribed. Thus, this is a risky tactic. But if you really need some primo missile troops, it may well be worth doing. The other disadvantage is that you will need to rely on Egypt and the Italians as trade partners when the Spanish do attack you. If you take the Continental path of conquest, you can usually ward off the Spanish attack until the English have built ports in their cities and they can become your new source of trade income during the Spanish war. If you already own England, though, you may have some revenue shortfalls during this period, until you can shift your navy to the Mediterranean. (The Russians and the HRE cannot be depended on to reliably build ports in Northern Europe.)

Whichever path of conquest you choose, you will next subdue and destroy the HRE, then press on to the Poles and Hungarians. You might also decide to simultaneously attack the Egyptians along North Africa.

Winning the game by Glorious Achievement is difficult for the Aragonese, because the only special points they get is for a successful Crusade to Antioch. You should certainly build a chapterhouse or two, in your highest zeal provinces, and build some Crusades. However, if you immediately set your Crusaders’ goal as Antioch, the Crusade will invariably fail. Antioch is just too far away, and protected by too many Muslim provinces.

Instead, plan sequential Crusades. If you own Tunisia, after vanquishing the Spanish, then target the first Crusade for Cyrenicia, the next one for Egypt, and so forth. With naval transport, this will allow you to get your Crusades to their targets without a lot of attrition. Time the passage of the Crusade so that it moves immediately and directly to its targeted province, and attack that province with your army on the same turn as you attack with the Crusade.

You can then have the special troops that are released from the Crusade join up with your army in the newly-conquered province, and press on with your next attack. You get a new batch of Crusaders with your next Crusade, and you can thus, year by year, “walk” your faction colors across the map until you are adjacent to Antioch. With a large army next door to support it, your following Crusade will successfully conquer Antioch and give you your GA points. Depending on your progress in Europe, though, you may not get these points before you reach 60% ownership, and claim your Aragonese victory by conquest.