Welcoming Suggestions Tips 4 My Current Game

[strife1013]

I'm thinking about playing an early era game as England. I plan to take over all of the British Isle and Ireland. After that I was thinking of setting up another Empire in the Holy Lands. The only problem I foresee with that would be the distance between capitals. Either having London or Jeursleam as my capital as unrest on either side would be huge! What do you guys think? Or is that too far apart and its better to caputre the British Isle and Ireland than focus on France and Spain, etc...?

[-Aquila-]

If you are going to do that you will need alot, and i mean loads of money. As when I did it, I was successful, (but took a very long time), it just kept eating my money. And this only stopped once I had completly wiped out the muslims. So just make sure the British isles are making lots of money before you advance with your plans.

[strife1013]

What will cost a lot of money?

[-Aquila-]

keeping everything in order, the armies, building up your faith in a place that starts wid 0%. It all costs alot of money. With the distance problem it will increase unrest so then you will have to keep spending money on happiness buildings.

[METALED]

what i do in my games, is for example in your case with england, make a lot of sub-empires (one in the british isles, another in holy lands, another in russia, another in africa and so on, i hate having a big mass of empire, and having lot of sub-empires make it more difficult to mantain order and so, i have lot of fun defending from a lot of factions.

[strife1013]

what i do in my games, is for example in your case with england, make a lot of sub-empires (one in the british isles, another in holy lands, another in russia, another in africa and so on, i hate having a big mass of empire, and having lot of sub-empires make it more difficult to mantain order and so, i have lot of fun defending from a lot of factions.

Interesting.....I have kind of thought about that. Perhaps taking some of the Byz. Empire on the way to the holy lands. I gues I kind of dont like my whole empire split into two...hmmm I havent tested it so I am not sure, kinda leaves you more open to attack.

[Aldwen]

Indeed, like spartan-johnny said it's going to cost you quite a bit of money to do this. It will likely be some of the most fun you will have in SS though.

I did this a few campaigns ago as Ireland and the initial cost of sending a few full stacks way far away is rather staggering so be sure your towns on the islands can support a large inactive army for some time. Then you have to deal with everyone once over there and when you first set up shop there be prepared that you may have to send reinforcements from back home! Usually you'll have to send generals and some of your better units by way of boat until you get settled in.

I've found the easiest way to supply your troops is to capture an island somewhere in the Mediterranean before you even begin setting up plans to invade. This way by time your troops are en-route to the Holy Lands your city-state-island has established itself enough to at least supply decent troops as reinforcements. Not only that but if you do get push out of the Holy Lands you have somewhere close to fall back to and recover.

The money issue is the biggest hump in the beginning but after you get settled you have to deal with the distance from the capital and the general unrest of everyone hating your guts over there. Then there will be the fact that Muslims will be pouring out of the wood-work to push you into the sea. The safest route is to capture a fortress and hold on to that thing as if it's your last city on earth. At least with that you can push back.

If you're lucky the Templars will have established themselves somewhere nearby and they will prove to be invaluable allies/meat shield. :

All in all though it will be a blast if you enjoy a challange! My best campaign SS was that one


**Edit**
Oh part of that "huge cost" is that you're going to have to leave fairly large garrisons in every city just to maintain order. Once a city starts getting big you're going to have to continually add more and more troops to the garrison. Sometimes it gets ridiculous, and worse yet sometimes a city will become completely dependent on its governor for order.

I once had one of my best generals retire to Alexandria to maintain peace. The city prospered but the turn after he died I had a rebellion. Even a full army from Gaza couldn't quell the rebellion. I had to kill everyone when I took it over again from the rebels.

You'll sometimes welcome a plague or two down there in the desert.

[Caesar Clivus]

In my campaign as the English I did exactly that. I captured Jerusalem in the first crusade and then proceeded to capture most of the middle-east while at the same time taking over France and the Iberian peninsula. Like spartan-johnny said, it can be expensive and a bit tricky to balance your finances but England has an advantage there: once you control the British Isles you have yourself a nice little economic powerhouse to fund your wars. Also, merchants in the middle-east can make a LOT of money from the resources around there. I had merchants earning about 1000 florins a turn each.

[DanMLee88]

I am also playing as England at the moment, and having attempted this in the past campaigns, I could offer my two cents.....

First off, capture a castle in the middle east. I know it is tempting to go straight for Jerusalem, but that makes taking over the holy land much more difficult, since muslims will be breathing down your reinforcement-less neck within a couple turns. England militia is relatively low-grade in comparison to other factions, and most of your good units (longbows forever!!) are going to come from your castles. Plus, castle is much easier to maintain in terms of civil order.

I recommend asking the Popo (typo intended) to direct a crusade against Gaza. If you are lucky, it may be a castle (or even a fortress!!) when you get it. Early fatimid units are no match for crusader army, so it should not be too much. Once you have the Sinai peninsula, you can start cranking out troops and priests (it may be wise to get your general on the southern french coast before the start of the crusade, and also have with him a batch of freshly recruited priests just before you start the war, so they don't come to holy land as 50 something year olds).

Once you capture Gaza, the fatimids are effectively castrated. Really. Although they do have two other castles, they are futher down south and takes awhile for any forces to reach gaza. In all my games I found that gaza was the most developed. If you really want to nip them in the bud before they start fielding ghulams, mamluks, and tarbardariyya, make it your priority to take out two other castles with quick blitz.

Other than that......use mercenaries!!! Also, no english army should be without longbows...or any army for that matter they can take care of those pesky horse archers.

Again, TAKE GAZA. lol

[Caesar Clivus]

That's a great tip from Dan actually: if you're going to take Jerusalem make sure to take Gaza and the castle to the north of Jerusalem (cant remember its name right now). This way you can easily defend Jerusalem when it comes under attack and you can easily recruit your best units.

[DanMLee88]

Acre would be the one to the north of Jerusalem. Be weary though; templars may have already taken it, and even the basic rebel garrison is no push over (3/4 almost a stack).

Another thing I forgot to mention: Aside from taking fresh batch of priests with your crusading army, take merchants too. Farther away from the capital the resources are, more income they generate, and since London is on the other side of the map...my friend you just hit the gold mine (literally, since there is gold in middle east....look further below kerak)

[Caesar Clivus]

Sugar and spices are also great resources to plant your merchants on too

[Gorrrrrn]

In my English campaign I have Jerusalem but nothing else in the middle east. I use it to spawn merchants and keep an eye on things. I'm at peace with the fatimids which is good for trade income.

Elsewhere I have England and Scotland but have left ireland alone (by turn 200 they'll probably have spammed an entire stack of ridire heavy cavalry and have lots of other troops just standing around waiting for someone to attack them.) So if you're going to take Ireland take it early.

I'm nearly finished taking Iberia - Portugal and Aragon are long gone, the Moors are keeping to north africa and I'm having a hard struggle against L-C, not least because I can't afford to field the elite armies they have. still it's fun to watch feudal knights crashing into (upgraded) levy spearmen in spearwall/ en guard formation.

I have southern Italy and Sicily and Tunisia and Libya but am under constant attack from the Moors so that's a struggle too. I took 3 lithuanian regions before deciding I wanted a quiet life there and so I watch lithuanian and Polish armies crossing my territory on their way to attack each other.

I pinched Lund in southern Sweden coming back from Lithuania as it had gone rebel!

I control most of France but again the French are proving a devil to destroy completely, every time I get near the pope calls a ceasefire and I can't afford an ex-comm'ing. Also have Venice and Bologna and Palma.

Only about 70 turns left and I have 51 regions. Money is tight (esp when settlements get besieged by full-stack armies) but bless the longbowmen and their stakes and armoured spearmen for without them I would be really struggling. (Feudal knights - can't afford them.) (but have plenty of hospitallers and merchant cavalry for mopping up routing troops.)

[strife1013]

I've thought about playing as the French since they have such a huge selection of units and they have Scots Guards which can be produced in castles and cities.

Thanks Dan for the tip, I have thought about that already, what good is a city if I cant create good units to protect it. Also being in the holy lands you get to call crusades all day long which in turn makes your generals demi-gods and getting those castles into fortress or citdeals is no problem with the popluation boost.

As as France I have thought about taking key settlements in France and not expand east into HRE since I dont want a war with them right now ecome friends with them. Take out England and Ireland and than send my troops over to the holy lands. I think I might two wars at once. One against England and send another to the holy lands at the same time. Still deciding on that though!

[Gorrrrrn]

spam priests as well if going to the "Holy Land".

you might as well fight HRE - it seems everyone else does and they (HRE) do get ex-comm'ed very frequently. Until they are destroyed.

I'd agree about avoiding fighting on too many fronts, but having garrisons dotted around makes it easier to spot regions going rebel and grabbing them.

[strife1013]

One thing I noticed is that unless most of the holy land is taken away than you can not call crusades against ex-comm'ed factions in the east. Which i suppose in real life makes sense but for game play value its kind of annoying sending your whole army east and than having to come back west again lol.

[Kyias]

Castles take much less work to keep order, so if you are intent on having a Holy Lands empire, setup shop in Nicosia right off shore and focus on taking Acre as your land base.

From there train priests and send them out to do conversions, once the land you want is at 50%, use your castles to make some troops and take that piece then repeat


By making a castle your main base you decrease the cost of unrest and allow yourself to develop at your own pace while still maintaining a foothold.

[DanMLee88]

just as Richard the Third took nicosia then Acre then Jaffa (he did...right? correct me if I am wrong), you can do the same. historical figures can still teach us a thing or two

I also played french in the past, and I found that once I first take over the British Isle and convert it into my cash cow island (almost all cities), then I make peace with HRE and Iberian factions, take rich Italian Cities, from where I launch crusades to maintain a crusade state in the holy lands. This way, unlike england, you are closer, richer, and more powerful by the time you are crusading and more than likely be able to wipe out fatimids in several turns even with their advanced troops.

You're welcome strife happy TW-ing

[Gorrrrrn]

DML88 - hmm make that Richard the First as the crusading English king.

I'm about to have a similar re-run of history - there's a jihad on jerusalem and I have 2 Khwarezmian stacks and a Fatimid one besieging me. It's not looking good.

Khwarezmian control

Jerusalem fell again in 1244 to the Khawarezmi Turks, who had been displaced by the advance of the Mongols. As the Khwarezmians moved west, they allied with the Egyptians, under the Egyptian Ayyubid Sultan al-Malik al-Salih. He recruited his horsemen from the Khwarezmians, and directed the remains of the Khwarezmian Empire into Palestine and Syria, where he wanted to organize a strong defense against the Mongols. In keeping with his goal, the main effect of the Khwarezmians was to slaughter the local population, especially in Jerusalem. They invaded the city on July 11, 1244, and the city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrendered on August 23.[11] The Khwarezmians then ruthlessly decimated the population, leaving only 2,000 people, Christians and Muslims, still living in the city.[12] This attack triggered the Europeans to respond with the Seventh Crusade, although the new forces of King Louis never even achieved success in Egypt, let alone advancing as far as Palestine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...Middle_Ages%29