Holy Man! This game is awesome!
Do you feel like the game is too hard? Is Attila himself annoying? Can't expand as fast as you want to? Frustrated?
I was too. But after trying and failing, playing on easy, cheating by reloading saves (Using army's to scout), and restarting if I lost a battle or settlement, I finally know how to play the game!
Play on HARD! Legendary even. Your goal might be world domination but guess what, everyone else has the same idea, expect resistance.
Expand slowly. Make some friends and do not betray them, even if they take a territory you wanted. Be patient, protect yourself, don't overreach and leave yourself open to counter attacks.
DO NOT USE SAVES! I'm guilty of doing this. I would save before declaring war and if it didn't work out I would just load that save and not declare war. If someone declared war on me, I would reload the save before and negotiate a non-aggression pact. DON'T DO THIS! If you dont want someone declaring war on you, watch their attitude towards you, give them gifts or something before it gets too low.
I recommend saving as little as possible. If you make a mistake deal with it. thats how real live works.
ALSO: MOST IMPORTANT! You WILL lose battles, generals, agents, and settlements. Deal with it, you arent invincible but you can take revenge and it tastes so sweet!