The Economy way?

[fritsje5]

When I was still playing Medieval 2 it was nigh impossible to make your enemy stop spawning groups of Polish Nobles without taking over their cities before they had another stack ready. The AI was given a fixed amount per turn because it was too stupid.

My question is; Is it possible to defeat the the AI by cracking their economy or won't they even give a crap while you block their ports/trade routes/take over their colonies and tradespots.

[S-te-Fan]

Belive me, you murder them this way.

[Shadow8]

Belive me, you murder them this way.

INDEEDICUS!!!! playing as Austria i was fighting Prussia and Bavaria Brandenburg and i think it was Poland at the same time, needless to say i was not able to fight on ALL fronts at once. so what i did is after taking Brandenburg split a fullstack of calvalry into about six 2 unit armies. every turn i went in and raided their towns in their one remaining capital province (berlin) eventually they were forced to disband much of their armies and i was able to basically walk into berlin. this often takes more than a few turns to carry out successfully though

[Slepnyrl]

Yeah, the easiest and biggest way to lead your enemy by the nose is raiding his traderoutes and/or blockading his main ports

As the French on Hard/Hard, I was able to slam down the British's throat a peace deal + trade agreement + 4 regions of their 13 colonies (kicking them out of the america's. I had capture the 9 others) after I destroyed their navy and blockaded London

So yes, raid and destroy their economy and they'll be much more 'reasonable' in their dealings with you. At least with me. There's always the stuborn AI though...

[Kip]

Don't forget you can raid land trade routes too... blockade ports, torch farms/workshops, and raid trade routes (sea and land) and you can generally strangle them economically.

[Frederf]

I am completely unable to raid a trade lane at sea. I put a good half-stack navy on an enemy trade lane and leave it there for several turns and.... nothing. How can you do this?

As for starving the enemy economically...forget it. On H or VH the AI cheats way too much for money to be their "limiting reagent." You'd have to blockade most/all of his home trade ports to even see any effect.

[notger]

I have to object, Frederf.

Playing the Brits on H, I blockaded the French ports and raided their countryside. Only twice were they able to send an army under Marechal Villars against my army; the first time I was beaten but after I beat their army, they were not able to field another one fast enough to prevent me from occupying / raiding a lot of France. Finally, they had to settle for a peace with techs and provinces.

Crippling them economically works, even on H.