OK, it's time for some questions

[sherbs]

What's the usual tactic when the Pope says he'll excommunicate you if you attack a faction while they happen to be seiging one of your towns?

Someone declares war on me, I attack them and our relations get worse. I attack again and relations get even worse. We're at war, how can relations get any worse? What's up with that?
Connected with that is when I move an army across a neutral country or send a priest into a non-catholic area, a message usually tells me that my relationship with that faction has worsened. Can I do the same when someone does the same to me?

After a few battles my fleet of cogs may show the numbers 25-10-4-24. Is there any way to bring the numbers back up to 25 or when a fleet gets down to 4 should I just disband it?

I've looked at faqs and the manual and sorry if I'm missing something simple.

Cheers.

[DisgruntledGoat]

If I am sieging a city and the pope tells to to cease hostilities I usually drop the siege and get out of the province asap. Then wait on the border until the mission is over and get back to sieging it. Any action taken in the factions provinces (siege or battle) will lose the mission. As will sea battles (if you instigate it).

No you can't send messages. They are kinda pointless from the players perspective. The AI doesn't care that you are displeased. The best way to deter the enemy from crossing borders is strong garrisons in the border settlements.

You can retrain your fleets. Get them to a port that can train those units and simply retrain them like any other unit in the game.

[Black Prince IV]

To my knowledge you can still attack an enemy when he is in your territory as it counts as defending.
Don't really inderstand about the relations part is that you can't move an army into neutral or ally land unless you have military access or you lose some relation.
You can always retrain your fleet by moving it into a port and go to the recruitment tab for that city.

[Lost Crusader]

What's the usual tactic when the Pope says he'll excommunicate you if you attack a faction while they happen to be seiging one of your towns?

IIRC (it's been some time since I played a catholic faction), the Pope won't react if you attack somebody on your own territory. The same things goes for attacking a navy blockading your port.

Someone declares war on me, I attack them and our relations get worse. I attack again and relations get even worse. We're at war, how can relations get any worse? What's up with that?

You can be at war with someone, and still have a good relations ... at least for a while. As the war drags on, your relations will slowly move towards abysmal.
You can check the relations on Diplomacy tab.

Connected with that is when I move an army across a neutral country or send a priest into a non-catholic area, a message usually tells me that my relationship with that faction has worsened. Can I do the same when someone does the same to me?

No. I mean, you can start hating the faction, but there's no way to tell them that you do

After a few battles my fleet of cogs may show the numbers 25-10-4-24. Is there any way to bring the numbers back up to 25 or when a fleet gets down to 4 should I just disband it?

You can retrain your ships, just like you can retrain other units. To do that, your fleet must be in your port.

[Captain Spanky]

First Question: When you have that mission you cant attack your enemy, but you are free to assault any of their armies sieging you, either through a sally battle or using another army to relieve the siege. You are also free to attack an enemy fleet which is blockading your ports. None of these will result in your excommunication, but any other military action will.

Second Question: As far as I am aware, the lower relations are, the less chance you have a negotiating a ceasefire, so it can be useful in some respects.

Third Question: The AI sends you these messages as a way of letting you know that you are going to provoke an enemy assault by having forces/priests where they are. Theres no use in you telling this to the AI.

Fourth Question: To retrain navies, simply move them inside a friendly dock. They will then be available to retrain from the corresponding settlements retraining tab. Make sure that the right ships are at the right docks however. For example, to retrain a Holk you will need at least a Shipright, they cant be retrained at simple Ports.

Hope this helps.

[sherbs]

Thanks for all the help.

It's a shame you can't send messages to factions. If I'm not happy with an ally in my territory, it would be great to be able to send a "I'm not happy" message and then the AI could decide whether to provoke me further or not.

Well, I'm off to kick the Spaniards off my land and Pope be damned.

Cheers.

[Lost Crusader]

Agree, it can be real pain in the butt. It would be nice to have a "Get off my land, or else...!" diplomacy option.

[Trajan]

It would be nice to have a "Get off my land, or else...!" diplomacy option.

That's all I want. Maybe will see something like that in Empires.

[Rabain]

You can also bring units up to full strength by dragging another unit of the same type on to it. For example you have two units of Welsh Spearmen, one at 75% and the other at 50% strength. Drag the 50% one onto the 75% one to have one unit at 100% and another at 25%.

This is useful when retraining a full stack as it will reduce the overall number of turns required to bring the stack back up to full strength.

[zemzero]

You can also bring units up to full strength by dragging another unit of the same type on to it. For example you have two units of Welsh Spearmen, one at 75% and the other at 50% strength. Drag the 50% one onto the 75% one to have one unit at 100% and another at 25%.

This is useful when retraining a full stack as it will reduce the overall number of turns required to bring the stack back up to full strength.

This is also extremely useful when you have two or three stacks in enemy territory that need to be retrained. I usually swap units around between stacks to get the most effective army out of it. Usually I'll have at least one full stack and a second of reserves, this enables you to keep pushing forward with minimal loss of time.

[NobleNick]

You can also bring units up to full strength by dragging another unit of the same type on to it...

This is useful when retraining a full stack as it will reduce the overall number of turns required to bring the stack back up to full strength.

Good points by Rabain and zemzero. I move stacks around or bring recruits up and get the veteran stacks up to full strength; but I try not to lose a unit in the process. Then I run the partial unit back to camp to get retrained to full strength. Sometimes the unit only has 1 to 4 men left. These make excellent (VERY cheap) scouts; costing only 1 to 10 flourins per turn, instead of 100+ for a spy, diplomat or assassin.