Kingdom of Englands next move.

**Ascarona** · January 24, 2009, 11:36 AM

So I finally decided if i should start playing Stainless Steal (the whole food thing is anoying btw...), today I started playing the English (Normal/Normal), after taking rebel settlements and getting a good economy and army up I started a war with scotland. Took Edinburgh and that other scotish town to the north-east (I can't remember all of those names, give me a break

) within the second turn of the war. I got a good garrison from london over there to replace my army and rallied it a little to the east of Invernes. Then I placed a few agents in the castle and sieged it. I could have attacked the place straight away since my spies got the gates open for me but I decided that I should give these new shiny light men-at-arms a try so I waited a turn for ladders to be made. Scotland brought its final army in the battle and rallied outside the castle to meet me in the open field. And since they were so eager to die I accepted

.

The battle was on the highlands with a few hills, I took the North-East hill and let em come towards me, placed my longbowmen and Armored Sergeants to plug a gap and put my ballista on the sides of the hill. Unfortunatly the hight didn't protect me so much as I hoped, a few spots on the sides of it were just an inch to short to keep away the scots so they came through, my light man-at-arms and billmen were running all over the place to try to kick them back.
(YAY I got the screenie! http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1227/screenie1nf1.jpg )

Now that all worked out and a few seconds later the enemy general got killed by one of my Armored Sergeants, not long after that the enemy start to mass rout. I send my hobilars (there were 8 left of em and they had gone from 2 bronze chevrons to 3 gold chevrons

) to capture them and most of the running infantry got taken including the last enemy general that was to stubborn to get on a horse.

Result: Heroïc victory for the English with 568 troops remaining out of 726 against a combined force of 1132 Scotish soldiers with 149 escaped soldiers.

I ransomed the poor idiots (I don't know why there was an option, I mean who can ransom them? The only one that might is a prisoner himself and after the ransom they die anyway because the faction dies, some things in this game are just odd) and after that a screen pops up saying that Kingdom of Scotland has been eliminated.

So now heres the whole point in this thread, what shall I do next? Invade Ireland or France? Or go after the remaining Scandinavian rebel settlements (By god those Norse are SLOW!)
I don't think I have the navy power to keep running from homeland to Scandinavia for reïnforcements but France is currently on a crusade and I want to keep the pope happy this time, and not piss him off or end up assassinating him 12 times

and Ireland has about 6 loans standing with me.

**Viking Prince** · January 24, 2009, 01:12 PM

It might be better to post on the SS forum. I have minimal experience with SS, but I seem to remember ignoring the Irish and just consolidate Britain, Wales, and Scotland.

My most memorable campaign was to then invade and conquor Lisbon and begin a great Iberian campaign. A castle region would be better though. It is a real pain to be supplying your military out of Nottingham, but it makes for a fun slower paced game. I can never see taking a great citadel and then popping out freshly minted English troops in another part of Europe anyways.

Good luck and keep us informed.

**Ascarona** · January 25, 2009, 06:16 AM

I haven't given Iberia a thought, yeah thats what ill do thanks for the advice Viking Prince

**Leonidas_I** · January 25, 2009, 10:59 AM

Take out France when the pope gets pissed at you just send your king at a rebel army.

**Ascarona** · January 25, 2009, 03:09 PM

What the hell just happend? 3 Turns after the invasion of Inverness and the destruction of Scotland, Bruges suddenly revolts ending in another settlement for me and an all out war with France, 3/4th of my troops are stuck up north resupplying and retraining and the armies that I have on the mainland are spread too thin in northern France.

Im starting to like this mod

**Callawyn** · January 26, 2009, 04:26 PM

If you're considering declaring war on an AI faction for further expansion, be sure to check the Diplo panel to see who they're allied with. You may find yourself in a bigger war than you anticipated. If they're allied with one of your allies, that 3rd faction will have to break its alliance with one of you.

Also helps to check the Pope-o-meter, if the faction in question is popular with the Pope, you may get those annoying Pope interference missions threatening loss of relations or even excommunication. If the Pope hates them, he may not care.

Any faction that is Excommunicated is fair game, think of them as a rotting carcass with you as a vulture. The Pope won't interfere and they're likely to be at war with a number of other factions as well (if not already, likely will be soon). Check the Pope panel here too though, if he's older than dirt and likely to die, it may not be worth it. Excom factions auto-reconcile when the Pope croaks.

Another option that's always worthwhile: check the Pope panel for Crusade targets. Even if you don't want to go to the Holy land, there's a chance of Crusades vs pagan provinces, excommunicated faction cities, or at a minimum something owned by the Moors. You get lots of Chivalry traits/ancillaries, free army upkeep, free xp, and +relations with the Pope.

**Viking Prince** · January 26, 2009, 10:39 PM

Do not forget that even if exommunicated, they may very well have alliances that will prove to create problems. The Pope may demand that the alliances be broken, but this is not automatic.

**Leonidas_I** · January 26, 2009, 11:07 PM

The pope had demanded alliances in my game to be broken, Dam that old man!

**ChewieMuse** · January 26, 2009, 11:50 PM

France always.... ALWAYS Take them out first.... You worry about Denmark later...

**Ascarona** · January 27, 2009, 08:57 AM

Well after Bruges revolted France tried to take Caen, 4 times

them monsieurs sure are stupid sometimes

After they tried taking Caen, I finally managed to get my northern armies to the south and take Angers, then the pope calmed the war down because France was still crusading.

Anyway I followed the old man's orders and stood down, rearmed my troops and set sail for Ireland as I noticed that those six loans were almost finished, I took out Dublin first then sprinted across the land to take their king out and their Heir, I was two blocks away when they merged and backfired, about 1100 Green boys came after my army of 700.

I fought them off but faced heavy losses so I had to abandon Dublin and set for Caernarvon for retraining, after 4 turns I came back with another army for resupplying should that be needed, I took Dublin again, then went across the island to take the castle to the west and then sprinted to the south to take over muirir or something. The entire siege for Ireland took about 12 turns. And two turns after that my faction leader died of old age

. So I took the veteran army and merged it with a new leader and well thats basicily where im now.

North-West France, England and Ireland are under control... so where do I go from here? I can't attack Iberia anymore as the Moors are fighting hard with Spain, the entire place is a battlefield now and their navy's are big as well. Its a bit too dangerous, I also want to keep the pope happy this Campaign so does anyone have an idea where I should go next?

**Viking Prince** · January 27, 2009, 09:50 AM

Even with the chaos, I would enter the fray in Iberia. Pound the Moors. Go on Crusade to do it , if possible. You might be able to slip in quietly with some catapaults on the Moorish castle.

With Angers as a military center, you might also consider converting Caen to a town for the florins. Also, have you converted all in the Isles except Nottingham? This may be a good time to consolidate and build up cash rather than continue of campaigns.

**Ascarona** · January 27, 2009, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by Viking Prince

Also, have you converted all in the Isles except Nottingham? This may be a good time to consolidate and build up cash rather than continue of campaigns.

Im not feeling so well thinking about that one, besides my economy is good as it is and I have alot of money as well. Only keeping Angers and Nottingham as Castles is a bit drastic in my oppinion.

**Callawyn** · January 27, 2009, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Ascarona

Im not feeling so well thinking about that one, besides my economy is good as it is and I have alot of money as well. Only keeping Angers and Nottingham as Castles is a bit drastic in my oppinion.

Really, its plenty. I keep Nottingham, Angers, Caen, Hamburg, Bern, Hohenstauffen and Toledo, and that's it for Western Europe. All other castles in Western Europe become cities.

**Ascarona** · January 27, 2009, 12:10 PM

alright, ill give converting a shot.
And I can now attack France, I noticed how much priests and Cardinals I have, all of the 6 cardinals that are currently in the college are English! The crusade is over as well. It was a waist of time for everyone except HRE, they managed to get to Jeruzalem in time to recapture it for Christianity again. As France failed big time and hasn't been on the good side with the pope for a long time Im starting to think that they will be excommunicated very soon, so Ill give conquering all of France a chance as well.