Best Campaign You've Had

[Nazgûl Killer]

Now, I don't mean factions, I mean the best CAMPAIGN you've had, any faction, anything, any campaign you're 'proud' of, or want to share, pictures would be appreciated, sadly I can't host any, so I stopped trying.
My best campaign is with Portugal;
At the first few turns (Took me 17 turns), I uprooted myself completely and ferried all my troops, by sea, in two fleets, to the Holy Land. I left Lisbon for dead (Open revolt) and Pamplona I held on tight, recruited troops but took the general away (To give to the Mongols! Plan ahead, people!), anyways, at about turn 17 I reached Acre, and took it, continued to Antioch and afterwards Damascus.

I renamed Acre - New Pamplona and Damascus - New Lisbon, after taking those 3 cities, I annexed Nicosia (Which I renamed to Cyphrus) from the Byzantine Empire, and soon enough the Egyptians attacked me, which forced me to declare a crusade on Jerusalem, and with mercenaries I almost tripled my force, in a matter of 10 turns I took Aleppo and Jeruslaem, also Adanna. I made a ceasefire with Egypt, and they gave me Jedda (Jordan's current location), Gaza and Alexandria. I renamed Gaza Henria after my faction leader Henrique and Jedda Affena after my faction heir Affonso. After a few years of ceasefire, I attacked Egypt by surprise, taking out over two thirds of its army, and took Cairo.
I will soon march on its last castle, Dongola.
Current state of my empire:
Treasury (income) - Stable.
Military - Two full armies, one half full army, seven fighting generals, and plenty troops on the way from Henria and New Pamplona.
Economically - I must admit I cheated in here, in 2 turns I went from 10K to -20K, so I gave myself a little... Papal endorsement.
Faction Size - I control present day Syria, Jordan, Egypt (Aside from southern part), Israel and a small part of Turkey.
How Long Did It Take Me? - I'm at turn 50. And I can't wait for the Mongols... Yummy...
Political State - I am in a very strong alliance with Spain, Byzantine Empire and Turkey, enemies with Egypt, developing relations with France, Venice and Milan.
The World - Milan has almost completely taken over Italy, the rest of the factions are fighting in between themselves.
The Pope - He wants me in his bed, pronto.

[jsktrogdor]

When you say you "renamed" settlements, you just renamed them in your own mind correct? Have I gone years playing this game without realizing I could be renaming cities?

EDIT: Oh and if I had to list a "campaign" im proud of it would probley be my english campaign (BORING) to take control of the far north east. I had vassled Ireland and Scotland early, so of course had obscene amounts of funding. I had the whole western european hansiatic empire deal going. I should of invaded italy but then that crusade colony in lithuania that I'd been ingoring caught my eye. So naturally I shiped 30,000 troops in the form of what was about 10 stacks and a dozen fleets across a 15 year sea trip in a mongol style invasion of Norvgood, Kevian Rus, and the Cuman Khanate all at once.

[claudius2007]

Sorry to break it to you but you can rename cities in the city scroll. Just click on the name and a magic edit bar will appear.

[jsktrogdor]

Sorry to break it to you but you can rename cities in the city scroll. Just click on the name and a magic edit bar will appear.

DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[miniwally]

Sorry to break it to you but you can rename cities in the city scroll. Just click on the name and a magic edit bar will appear.

DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Nazgûl Killer]

Hehehe, I know how you feel, I felt that when I first found out... Your first thought must've been; "How did I not try that!?"

[BubbleBoy]

My best campaign has to be my Genoese one. I took florence and marsille, cant remember if I took sardina, then there was a crusade called on Cairo, like there always is on my campaigns. So i joined the crusade with a full stack, decided to take Alexandria too, and somehow took most of Egypt and vassalled them. Meanwhile, I was at war with the Moors ( they started it), so I took over the Moors, with a little bit of help from the factions in Iberia. Then the Mongols appeared, and unfortunately, not long afterwards, there was a Jihad called against me in Mecca. And guess what happened next, the Mongols joined. Luckily I had a diplomat near Egypts remains ( probably the one I used to vasal Egypt) and so I gave Mecca to Egypt because I was scared of the Mongold killing me. After that I focused more in the catholic lands, so called a crusade on somewhere in the HRE ( they were excommunicated) and took most of the Holy Unholy Roman Empire. Then I made peace with them and did the same thing to France, except i didn't call a crusade on them.

And after all of that, the world looked like this:



So the Order Of The Knights Templar were doing very well, the Mongols haven't done much, but all of there many stacks are staying in one massive group. Novgorod are doing well, Aragon are also doing well, and of course, I'm doing well.

[D.B. Cooper]

I also felt like slapping myself after realizing you could rename cities. It was so simple, yet I never thought of it.

[Viking Prince]

I must be weird --

I know how to rename but have never wanted to. No justice in this world, is there?

[Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu]

I must be weird --

I know how to rename but have never wanted to. No justice in this world, is there?

Sometimes, just sometimes, I rename. Often it comes when the city gives me a lot of trouble, and I end up 'letting my men loose', so to speak. For example, I had difficulty as the Scots taking London, but when it finally fell, I named it 'Arseland'. It didn't really make me feel better, I'm afraid.

Anyway, on topic: my best campaign thus far was a Norway campaign in Stainless Steel 6.1. I fought tooth and nail the entire way, eventually taking the British Isles and holding off the Danes in Scandinavia. I was too weak to expand further so I sent stacks down to Iberia to sack cities and just try to earn money in general. The game never really went anywhere, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of it.

A close second would be a Khwarezm Shah game in Broken Crescent - I managed to completely defeat the Mongols. There were a few battles that stand out even now. One, I fought off a Ghaznivid stack outside of Samarkand against a river and a cliff - it was spectacular visually. I also had another hard-won victory against the Mongols outside of Bukhara. The battle took place in driving rain and my veteran missile troops destroyed the Mongols. The last great battle was for Baghdad. When you take a city like that, it called for celebration.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Nice guys, those campaigns truly sound awesome. My second best campaign would have to be...
Sicily.
After taking the two isles to the west of Italy and Tunis, I went down and took Lybia, that part was just... Boring... But afterwards started the fun part! Venice started a war with me, so I sent sacking troops to Ragusa and Durazzo, and took them (Sacked) under their noses, however they had 2 full stacks there, so I had to retreat quickly. Using the money that got me, I recruited a large navy and set to Iraklion, Rhodes and the Byzantine castle in Greece (Venice took it) and took all those 3, after that it was just exchanging those 3 lands between ourselves... I fought, really, tooth and nail, as they were MUCH stronger and had wayyy bigger armies and fleets than myself, I always found myself retreating to Rhodes and retaking Iraklion and that castle, and than again taken away and stuff like that, I was holding them off long enough to stage a land invasion, taking Venice, Zagreb and soon after Ragusa and Durazzo, thus annihilating the Venician empire. After that, I mobolized all my armies to the holy land under the sign of the cross to crusade upon Jerusalem, which had a full stack in it, it took me 3 armies and 1500 soldiers killed to take Jerusalem, needless to say it was worth it. Soon enough I took Damascus, Acre, Gaza and Alexandria and moved on to Dongola, Jedda and Cairo, taking Antioch later in another crusade. I established excellent relations with the Turks, I gave them major fundings in their wars against Hungary and Russia (Byzantine Empire was destroyed) and from time to time I even supplied army assistance, Hungary couldn't retaliate, it had all its armies in a war with Russia and Turkey (Warring triangle, I loved it), so supplying Turkey with military and financial aid made them really love me, and as the Mongols came, I gave the Mongols a city I captured in Iberia, I believe it was Valencia (I captured it in one turn, it was still rebel for some reason, just to give it to the Mongols), on their way there they were attacked by myself, Turkey, Hungary, HRE, France and Milan, eventually as they reached Valencia, over 2/3 of their army was destroyed, and a crusade called on Valencia finished them off completely, as Spain, Portugal, England, France, HRE, Milan, Hungary, Poland and myself answered the crusade's call, the Mongols were wiped out. Eventually I took Hungary (Aside from 3 provinces which the Turks took, Nicaea, Constantinopole and Sophia), I took Russia, Poland and Denmark too, and attacked the HRE from 3 fronts, Italy, Poland/Hungary and Denmark, crushing it, and mobolizing my entire army afterwards to take France and the Iberians, I left the Moors as they were harmless, I went to England and destroyed it, afterwards I took the Moors (That was just tooooo easssy), Even though I hated myself afterwards, as they were such good allies, I killed the Turks and won the game (While taking the Turks I killed Rome). So... World domination... One of the best campaigns I've ever had. (It was rather short too, for world domination anyways)

[claudius2007]

I have to say the campaign I am playing now as the Moors on SS 4.1 (YES I KNOW 6.2 exists I just don't have enough space to install kingdoms ) might be the best one ever. I have managed to get into a CIVIL WAR and have lost Lisbon and another wooden castle to the Rebels. My generals started getting traits of either : "Royalist" or "Rebel" so I quickly took all the Rebel generals and abandoned them in the Saharan sands. :violin2:

Now the problem is that the Royalists are really ** generals so I have to cope with that as being part of the challenge to my empire. I later realized why the whole civil war started. The heir to the throne died in battle and a REGENT was named the new heir (the son-in law of the king) someone who is not of royal blood. After that all of the generals in the REAL lineage started getting the Rebel trait and eventually rebelled or were killed in "special reconnaissance missions" .

The sultanate is now led by the biggest incompetent ever Sultan Ubalda who literally only has one dread and one piety. LOL

[jsktrogdor]

I have to say the campaign I am playing now as the Moors on SS 4.1 (YES I KNOW 6.2 exists I just don't have enough space to install kingdoms ) might be the best one ever. I have managed to get into a CIVIL WAR and have lost Lisbon and another wooden castle to the Rebels. My generals started getting traits of either : "Royalist" or "Rebel" so I quickly took all the Rebel generals and abandoned them in the Saharan sands. :violin2:

Now the problem is that the Royalists are really ** generals so I have to cope with that as being part of the challenge to my empire. I later realized why the whole civil war started. The heir to the throne died in battle and a REGENT was named the new heir (the son-in law of the king) someone who is not of royal blood. After that all of the generals in the REAL lineage started getting the Rebel trait and eventually rebelled or were killed in "special reconnaissance missions" .

The sultanate is now led by the biggest incompetent ever Sultan Ubalda who literally only has one dread and one piety. LOL

I had that problem with my english campaign, its kinda fun. You might of noticed it already, but a few turns before your king dies (late 50's, 60's) then your generals are going to start making up their minds. I lost my best general in the middle of the campaign I mentioned higher in the page, its hard to replace a man like that especially when he's half way around the world.

[claudius2007]

Yeah the son of Ubalda is now Sultan and he is pretty chill. Only 3 command but full authority and piety and 5 chivalry. The Moorish Civil War is over and there is a completely new lineage now (the original biological sons of the first sultan have been completely removed from power). It is pretty cool because now the Empire is literally led by the dynasty of a COMMONER that was adopted in the family a while ago.

Here is a pic of the devastated family tree after the Civil War.

http://www.imageno.com/9yyznlyv9ehnpic.html

[Nazgûl Killer]

Now THAT must suck. O.o

[Nazgûl Killer]

Question: How the hell did that happen?
Did all your family members die and a non-bloodline general got the crown or what? This never happened to me.

[claudius2007]

Yeah, basically the only bloodline heir died and the son in law of the king became the new king. After that most non-bloodlines became Royalists and supported the coup and the bloodlines became Rebels. I eliminated the bloodlines and now the former non-bloodlines have the new bloodline lol. It's complicated and a real mess to get into. A rule of thumb is to remove non loyal generals from cities and castles immediately so the cities don't rebel.

[Nazgûl Killer]

Nice. I -HAVE- to try this.

[Muagan_ra]

After a Sim City 4000 sabatical, my thirsting for blood finally got the better of me. I started a new campaign as Portugal, and I think it's the most interesting campaign I've ever had.

At first it was a bit too easy. I married my princess off to the Spanish, which was the beginning of a beautiful friendship - they left me well enough alone while I conquered all of the rebellious territories in eastern Iberia, and were content to expand near Rennes instead.

I booted the Moors uncermemoniously out of Spain very quickly. They start off ridiculously weak, and with my Jinettes I was able to take control of Cordoba and Grenada, and permanently oust them from Europe with the help of a little thing called the Crusades. I made peace with them, and havn't heard a peep from them since.

The French decided to attack me a few years later, via one of those futile little one-turn blockades the AI is so fond of performing. They where swiftly excommunicated, and soon found a maurauding hoard of pissed-off Portugeese Crusaders at the gates of Toulouse. They then begged me for peace, and astonishingly quite gladly gave me Bordeaux as part of the peace settlement. But then I worked a few more diplomatic wonders, making an alliance with the English in which they agreed to hand over Caen in exchange for an alliance!! Better yet, the French later just handed me Angers in exchange for my military might at their back.

I treated my allies very well, with plenty of gifts, and for the first time ever I had a reliable reputation! Never have I known such diplomacy in a campaign!

I Crusaded to Jerusalem, and carved a Crusader state between Gaza, Jerusalem and Acre, then made good with Egypt. But, it had to go wrong, and it did...

Milan (of course) attacks out of the blue. I piss all over them, but then they made vassals of France, loosing me one ally. Then the English appear out of no-where and attack Caen. Then the Spanish betray me with yet another single-turn bloackade. Egypt soon follows suit.

So now I have three major engagements to fight in three different theatres. I'm moving to elimate the Spanish in Iberia with one army, with another I have to destroy both the English and the Milaneese in the Caen/Angers region (where they have a combined force well over three times that of my own) and I've landed my Crusader army at the mouth of the nile, and am facing down a massive Egyptian stack on the river outside Alexandria. The Mongols have arrived in Armenia, sure to be ransacking the Turks - but I know that they will eventually come for me with a 15 stack horde.

But not to worry, as I've come to really like the Portugeese army. Jinettes are wonderful, not quite the equal of Sipahi, but close. They have a nice selection of light and heavy infantry. I've got two Knights of Santiago chapter houses in Europe and one in Jerusalem.

And can there be any more brutally overpowered shock infantry than Dismounted Portugeese Knights? I think not!

I'm positively frothing with Latin-esque over-excitement, if you can't tell.

[Viking Prince]

Sound like fun.

When completed you can play the Eastern European version of the Jinetes with Polish Nobles, Russian Boyar Sons, and Hungarian Nobles. Light cavalry javalin chucking units are really my favorites even though they have a very limited shooting range and number of shots. They are the best general killers in the game regardless of the faction.