Several questions

[Roguedragon]

Hey I just had a few questions that I can't figure out the answer to:

1. How does squalor work? What makes it increase and what makes it decrease?
2. How useful is it to build trade buildings(I.E. Market) when looking at the projected economic growth from these buildings it seems amazingly small(with the exception of paved roads)
3. How do you fight the mongols as the Kwaresmian(spelling?) empire(started from late campaign)


Thanks!

[Meneth]

1) Population, and some traits, increase it. Health, and some traits, decreases it
2) It's usually larger than what show. It will also increase the trade income of any cities trading with it, so it's definitely a good idea to build trade (and especially in coastal cities)
3) Sacrifice a few settlements, then halt them with a stronger army at some other settlement. Getting a peace treaty for a couple of your settlements is also possible.

[Ichon]

Hey I just had a few questions that I can't figure out the answer to:

1. How does squalor work? What makes it increase and what makes it decrease?
2. How useful is it to build trade buildings(I.E. Market) when looking at the projected economic growth from these buildings it seems amazingly small(with the exception of paved roads)
3. How do you fight the mongols as the Kwaresmian(spelling?) empire(started from late campaign)


Thanks!

Squalor increases directly with population and decreases with health buildings or some traits and ancillaries on governors.

Building trade buildings has practically no effect if you don't have some other city with trade buildings to trade with. The more nearby trade buildings in other cities the more income that comes in. So even if you don't have trade agreement with other faction within your own regions you can build trade. Seaports usually generate the most trade because they can reach anywhere nearby not needing to be restricted only to the roads and gain access to more valuable resources. In the beginning trade is slow to grow but after a couple levels of buildings in some bordering regions trade adds +300 or more typically. Later part of the game with well developed buildings in all cities and numerous trade routes trade income can be in several thousands.

It is tough in 6.3 Mongols numerous stacks are a real challenge. As K-Shah you need to grab all rebel territories as quickly as possible while developing a couple fortress near planned front lines (map choke points) and getting enough economy to support massive fighting. Fighting Mongols is like fighting vs 3-4 ongoing Crusades/Jihads at once. Personally I tend to group most of K-Shah generals together with armies at the front leaving only a couple FM in biggest cities to increase income. Having 3 HC per defensive army that regrow their numbers helps a huge amount.

Then find battlefields with cliffs, big hills and bridges. Setup a constant flow of reinforcements. You'll need to field practically 3-4 full stacks all the time which is difficult on your starting income but you get a few turns to prepare. Not much but the full force of the Mongol invasion takes a bit to get going. The hardest part if the first 35 turns. Make it past there and get steady reinforcements going and it actually gets boring unless you are backstabbed by Fatimids or Turks at the same time.

I think capturing Baku is important as then you can launch raids into Mongol lands and divert several of their stacks every few turns.