Many enemies :\

[Aurimas]

Hi

I am new in this game. I have been playing it only for several weeks.
I'm usually playing campaign and i havent ever completed it, becouse of one problem.
I usually play with France. My playstyle is agressive, expansionism. I'm trying to keep goood relationship with my neighbours ( trade rights, alliance and etc. ) and if I play with France, i start attack spain or england first. And after 20-30 turns, when my all forces all concentrated in these regions suddenly all my neighbours from west start attack me and i have to open many fronts from all borders of my country. You know that is very hard to play like this. They brake alliances and everything and siege my cities so it makes very complikated situacion. I'm trying not to get excommunicated with pope. And when Im trying to ceasefire they always dont agree even if I offer them money. I dont know what to do. As I play compaign I always get in that . Please help me. Say me what im doing wrong.

Thanks for your answers

[Doge Domenico]

The AI is prorammed to go after if u get too big. Its CAs way of stopping you from steam rolling everyone else

[The Source]

try a mod- i recomend kingdoms grand campagin and stainless steel

they add new factions with new units, AND the AI isnt a backstabbing idiot who declares war with you and ceasefires with you,

[eXistenZ]

even when you don't play aggresive and nly take rebel cities they will backstab you

[Valandur]

AI is not to be trusted, and can do the most stupid things.
Today I recently started playing M2TW again, vanilla, I was England, I own Rennes and Caen on the mainland (failed horribly at taking Bruges), and France attacks Caen. I have my own decently sized army lurking nearby, hit them hard and they retreat. Next turn they ceasefire, I accept.
Few turns later, they besiege Caen with a large force and because my roaming force no longer exists (they came to a sad sad end), and my garrison is left to defend itself. I win the victory, next turn, France ceasefires again and reluctantly, I accept.

AI is unpredictable, one minute they could be friends, next minute they could be your most hated enemies. An easy way to deal with them and amend any situation: kill them all.

[painter]

You should have bought Angers from France at the first opportunity. You can buy it from them for 220 florins for 20 turns at turn 1 by using Laurence Bidell to negotiate with Paris. Avoid Princess Constance for this one as she will demand more. Since Anger's initial income is more than that, it is essentially a freebie, with the exception of its garrison upkeep.

The next time I replay England, I would consider neglecting Caen's castle development so that I may turn Caen into a city sooner.

As for the AI, yes, it can do very stupid things. Like Sicily, an ally, laying siege to Bologna that was defended with 6 spear militias, with only 2 units.

[Silverheart]

It´s very simple - every other faction wants you dead.
Alliances and such is just for show, an attempt to fool you into putting your focus elsewhere.
Eventually, they will always betray you.
The key is to maintain good realtionships and keeping your border regions well fortified, so that the enemy becomes less prone to attack. It also helps having a "trustworthy" reputation.
That way, your alliances will last a LITTLE longer.
But you should never ever expect the AI to honour an alliance, or a ceasefire - trust no one, because no one trusts you.

[FootSoldier]

Heh. Sympathy to you Aurimas - this happens to newbies and experienced players alike.

In short, you will always need to keep an army in the West. The army that goes south to fight Spain (and maybe Portugal) will need to be an extra army. Your economy will need to be strong enough to afford this, so you will need to build it up first.

The longer bit - if you are an aggressive expansionist from the start then this will always happen, despite alliances. Your big mistake here seems to be taking all your troops to one place (Spain), and leaving your territory undefended in the West. An aggressive expansionist will need to trust no one, keep garrisons on all their borders, and hold back enough cash to either train a lot of troops quickly, or to hire a lot of mercenaries. As Doge Domenico says, it's like a balance of power thing. When one faction gets too big the other factions gang up on it, especially if it has a bad reputation.

This will inevitably slow down your expansion. It simply isn't possible to expand wherever you want and forget about the rest. You will need to expand, consolidate, expand, consolidate, all the while keeping an eye on everyone else.

However, it is possible to win without allies, and after a bit you will get used to fighting on 2 or 3 fronts. Then you will start to relish it :d

So to play France as an aggressive expansionist you will need some different tactics. Try not to go to war with more than one faction at a time, and try to get ceasefires before you go to another war. Remember, a ceasefire is not a promise of non-aggression. It is a simple truce - stopping the war for now until one side or the other feels strong enough to win.

The big challenge for France in the early game is Dijon, and you will always need to have an army near it. You can't let anyone else have it. If you take it then you will have war with Milan very soon, and then with the HRE when it gets the chance. The HRE and Milan are not good allies for France at the start of the game.

Instead, ally with the Danes, and let them have Antwerp.

This is why the army you take to fight Spain will need to be an extra one.

Other tactics should be tried.

As painter suggested - buy Caen instead of starting a war with England. I've now done this as the Danes following his tip, and it was cheap.

Be aware of the rebel territories that other factions will fight for, even if you make an alliance with them.
- Rennes: safe-ish for France to take if England is allied, and you don't take Bruges
- Bruges: safe-ish for France to take if England is allied, or out of Caen
- Antwerp: wanted by the Danes (and the HRE). The Danes will definitely fight for it sooner, not later
- Dijon: wanted by Milan and the HRE. Milan will fight for it straight away, and the HRE when they get the chance
- Metz: wanted by the HRE
- Bordeaux: wanted by Portugal
- Zaragoza: wanted by Spain and Portugal

Rebel territories are not simply up for grabs. Someone wants them. You need to pick and choose the territories you want to take, and make alliances based on this. If, as France, you take all of the rebel territories around then you will find yourself fighting a lot of people very quickly.

To keep alliances for a long time you will first need to pay attention to your reputation (it should always be Reliable or better, ideally Trustworthy). To do this you will need to:
- occupy, not sack, cities
- release prisoners, not ransom them or execute them
- never attack an ally
- get the other faction to start the war
- marry their princesses to your faction heir, and your princesses to theirs

and so on.

Secondly, you will need to maintain good relations or better with your allies and neighbours. Usually this means:
- giving them money
- giving them map information
- gifting attacks against other factions (the rebels is an easy one)
- gift them territories you can spare
- don't march your troops across their lands, even crusade armies
- don't get caught spying on them

and so on.

After this you still need to do more:
- don't ally with their enemies, even if they are not at war
- don't take territories they want
- don't wear the colour purple on Wednesdays

and so on. For example, the Pope hates anyone who allies with Sicily, regardless that they may be allied to him, and relations are perfect. Expect to see Inquisitors shortly after you do this if you are catholic.

A lot of it you will have to work out, which is the game. But, there is a lot of info on the forum about it.

The Diplomacy Guide
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=225712

Reputation Wiki
http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Reputation-M2TW

Good luck, and let us know how you get on!

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I believe it's ok to add to your last post rather than double post (I read Ishan say so somewhere).

So, a quick question for painter about buying Caen - what do you do about the departing English army that hangs around Caen and can't get home?

There is an English army under Phillip of Tisbury crouched in ambush between Caen and Bruges. He's been there for 20 turns without causing devastation. There's 5 MK's, LB's and a load of peasants. I don't think he's going to go anywhere, and since he was 22 years when spotted, and I'm playing on 6 months for a turn he could be there for 80 turns!

I don't move characters, so wonder what you've done. I've thought of assassinating him in the hope the army will go rebel without leadership, of seducing him with a princess (one coming through soon) and so on.

What did you do?