Campaign Advice (Spain)

[Orbiter]

I have hit a brick wall in my Spanish campaign, currently I hold all of Iberia apart from Pamplona and Lisbon whixh Portugal still have. I am at war with The Moors and Framce and allied to Portugal. HRE, France and Milan have been excommunicated. My only castle is the fortress of Tolosa which has the ability to train ballistas feudal knights, dismounted knights although my armies consist of all cavalry, general 3 jinetes and 6 mailed knights which seem to be more cost effective than feudals.
Now the question is, should I go to war into France or Africa? France would mean a shake up of my military to accomdate more infantry whereas I could keep my currrent composition to go to war in Africa. I am currently upgrading my navy to combat the french which has been quite an annoyance so far.

[Silent Assassin]

I wouldn't go to war with France if I were you. Going on the offensive aiagnt another catholic faction will give you bad Rep globaly and with the Pope/ Unless France is excommunated. wait until France get's excomunated only defend and then ask the Pope to call a crusade agains France then and only then attack them.

Attack the Moors... To do so you will make the Pope more in your favor that will enable you to ask him for a crusade and your Golbal Rep with your fellow Catholics will continu to grow.

[NobleNick]

(I think this will be best served in the battle/strategy sub-forum. Moving....)
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Hi, Orbiter!

I've seen your posts in several threads; and would like to take this opportunity to say, "Welcome to the Forums!" I hope your stay is long and pleasant.

...HRE, France and Milan have been excommunicated... Now the question is, should I go to war into France or Africa? ...

I see Rebel6666 missed the 'excommunication' point you made. France is your enemy -AND- France is excommunicated ---> Crucify France!!! Do not pick up another enemy at this time.

...My only castle is the fortress of Tolosa which has the ability to train ballistas feudal knights, dismounted knights although my armies consist of all cavalry, general 3 jinetes and 6 mailed knights which seem to be more cost effective than feudals...

Your idea of using all-cav forces is a very good one. I would not artificially limit yourself to using it only against the Moors.

You want Feudal Knights, as they are much more cost effective than Mailed Knights. Let me show you why I say this....

Mailed Knights and Feudal Knights are identical except:

1.) Mailed Knights have armor of 5 (and get upgrades 2/3) and Feudal have armor of 7 (and get upgrades 3/4). This gives the Feudal Knights a 16-to-14 (about 14%) advantage over Mailed Knights in melee, and an 11-to-9 (about 22%) advantage against arrows. Giving extra weight to the melee stats, Feudals have roughly 17% better defense than Mailed Knights.

2.) Mailed Knights cost 680 + 250/turn, whereas Feudal cost 730 + 250/turn. The difference is a pittance. How much of a pittance? Well, to answer that we need to know, "How long does a Knight unit last?" It varies from player to player and situation to situation; but let's pull a reasonable number out of the hat: say an average of 8 turns. So, over that time, the Mailed knights will cost you 2680 per unit, and the Feudal Knights will cost you 2730. So the Feudal knights cost 50/2680 = 1.87% = about 2% more than Mailed Knights.

Would you pay an extra 2% to get an extra 17% better defense? That's a no-brainer for me. The Mailed Knights are certainly servicable, so use them; but don't make any more if you have the option to make Feudals instead.

...France would mean a shake up of my military to accomdate more infantry whereas I could keep my currrent composition to go to war in Africa...

You do not necessarily need to change your composition to take on France. In a recently completed campaign as the Moors, I raked France over the coals, using stacks of 1 general + 12 (Desert Cav / Grenadine Jinetes) + 3 Taureg Camel Spears. Mostly, it was Desert Cav, since I could not get many of the better Grenadine Jinetes until I was well into France. But Spain's Jinetes are much better than any of the Moors Javelin units, and Spains Knights are much better than the Camel Spears (which was the best mounted melee unit I could muster, at the time); as seen below:

(faction) unit (ATT total_DEF Armor Skill Shield)
(Spain) Jinetes    (8AP 15 4 7 4)
(Moors) G. Jinetes (8AP 13 5 5 3)
(Moors) D. Cavalry (8AP  8 0 5 3)

(Spain) Feudal Knights  (10 16 7 5 4)
(Spain) Mailed Knights  (10 14 5 5 4)
(Moors) T. Camel Spears (11 10 0 6 4)

So I'd say you have the horsepower (pun intended) to take on the French. Oh, you will still need infantry to run siege equipment and hold settlements. But the heavy lifting (especially in field battles) can be done by your cav. You can go either way: A JAvelin horde with a few Knight units to protect against the French knights; -OR- an all Knight army (with or without javelin support) to simply crush anything in your path.

...I am currently upgrading my navy to combat the french which has been quite an annoyance so far.

To each his own; but I would not put too much money into that... yet. The reason is that the 8-turn cost of a Holk (which is what I assume you are building) is 1700. So, for the price of 8 Holks, you could have 5 extra Feudal Knights in your armies which are maruading France. And the Knights will bring in more money in captured settlements. Besides, the more money France puts into ships (and ship upkeep), the less they have to put into knights. (Knights are their strength).

BTW, if you would like to get an inkling of what you can do with those extra knights, take a look at this link on Using Cav in Sneaky Underhanded Ways. Yes, it is for RTW; but, I assure you, the techniques transport very well to Knights in M2TW.

I hope that helps.

[Orbiter]

I certainly does Nick, excellent advice there. To France I march with feudal knights! I probably should have added that I was crushing the Moors with the mailed knights, putting myself off the upgrade to the more expensive Feudals. I am sure that the professional armies of France will be more of a challenge though.

[Hunter Makoy]

definitely take advantage of the Jinetes, that is the one main thing that u have now that France does not have.

also take Toulouse as the first target because i can safely assume it is a fortress right now. that gives u a good starting point into france. after that, especially if Bourdeax is either not taken, or nothing seems to be going on, just go streight for Paris. it will be a large city, it will give u lots of money, and there will already be a big infrastructure there.