Tough situation with Spain; advice needed

[Piazzo Cappiaro]

I cannot post pictures, but, here's the general situation.

I own all of Iberia, plus two regions in southern France. I'm under attack by the papal states, the scottish and possibly the Holy Roman Empire. I've got plenty of gold to spend, any advice to help out my campaign?






(Not sure if this is the right forum, I just joined.)

[In3x]

I cannot post pictures, but, here's the general situation.

I own all of Iberia, plus two regions in southern France. I'm under attack by the papal states, the scottish and possibly the Holy Roman Empire. I've got plenty of gold to spend, any advice to help out my campaign?






(Not sure if this is the right forum, I just joined.)

Buy troops, attack.

[=Bright=]

You got gunpowder already?

If yes: Musketeers, covered by Heavy Infantry. Use some cavarly to outflank the enemy. Works in any case.
If not: Heavy Infantry, Heavy Cavarly and some Light Cavarly to chase archers. Works in almost any case.

As for invasion plans:

Send two armies with mostly Heavy Infantry, some Heavy Cavarly and good Generals to the heart of Italy. Either conquer or destroy everything that comes in your way.
Send another army into Scotland and destroy them. Shouldn't be hard to do I guess.

I also suppose that Toulouse and Bourdeaux are still castles/fortresses/citadels, right? If yes: great. You can recruit your best troops and the the two are very hard to take.

[Piazzo Cappiaro]

You got gunpowder already?

If yes: Musketeers, covered by Heavy Infantry. Use some cavarly to outflank the enemy. Works in any case.
If not: Heavy Infantry, Heavy Cavarly and some Light Cavarly to chase archers. Works in almost any case.

As for invasion plans:

Send two armies with mostly Heavy Infantry, some Heavy Cavarly and good Generals to the heart of Italy. Either conquer or destroy everything that comes in your way.
Send another army into Scotland and destroy them. Shouldn't be hard to do I guess.

I also suppose that Toulouse and Bourdeaux are still castles/fortresses/citadels, right? If yes: great. You can recruit your best troops and the the two are very hard to take.

A few things: Musketeers and such are not available, only cannons and so-so. I have basiliks.

I have an army in the new world. Toulouse and bourdeaux are not fortresses, one might be a citadel, though. Toledo and pampalona both have master swordsmith guilds and are Fortresses.

As for going into Italy, I sent two armies. One got bribed and went boom, the other got killed after like a billion battles. As for heavy infantry and cavalry-I sent that. They spammed crossbows on me and killed my infantry, and papal guard murdered my cavalry. Scottish invasion not plausable at the moment; they already have an army in France.

Edit:It seems I can build some buildings to make hand gunners; and it seems Mercenary Arquibusiers are avaliable.

[ChargerFlanker]

A few things: Musketeers and such are not available, only cannons and so-so. I have basiliks.

I have an army in the new world. Toulouse and bourdeaux are not fortresses, one might be a citadel, though. Toledo and pampalona both have master swordsmith guilds and are Fortresses.

As for going into Italy, I sent two armies. One got bribed and went boom, the other got killed after like a billion battles. As for heavy infantry and cavalry-I sent that. They spammed crossbows on me and killed my infantry, and papal guard murdered my cavalry. Scottish invasion not plausable at the moment; they already have an army in France.

I would go defensive in this situation. The disadvantage is that your economy might run dry if the upkeep is too high. However, you do not face resupply problems. Also, the enemy can only have so many troops, and if their cities are poorly garrisoned, they might back stab each other

Send two (maybe a third if your armies aren't good) armies into Southern France. The crusading armies won't get through that defence. Your armies should also hold off any naval landings. The army in the new world should be used to capture cities and generate extra cash, but beware of resupply problems.

As for going on the offensive (later on perhaps?), make sure you resupply after each battle if possible even if it is slow. IIRC, Italy has barely any castles. Mercenaries will have to fill the ranks of depleted armies. I have never fought the Papal States though I assume chasing the crossbowmen down with cavalry should do the trick; any Papal guards should be counter-attacked by infantry

This works great in theory, but I'm not sure how well it will work in game.

[Charles V]

Attack papal first or wait for pope to die then bribe others to vote for a Spanish cardinal then other factions would not attack you because there is a Spanish pope in the papacy

[Bozzy73uk]

Attack papal first or wait for pope to die then bribe others to vote for a Spanish cardinal then other factions would not attack you because there is a Spanish pope in the papacy

How do you bribe others to vote for you mate?

[Drustan]

During the election, there should be a list of all the factions with Cardinals. Right click on the faction banner and click enter diplomacy.

[Bozzy73uk]

Thanks dude

[Bozzy73uk]

During the election, there should be a list of all the factions with Cardinals. Right click on the faction banner and click enter diplomacy.

Thanks dude

[Primo]

Just bribe the papal states to make peace with you. Happiness bonus in every Settlement

[tudor93]

Just bribe the papal states to make peace with you. Happiness bonus in every Settlement

NO, the Pope is a douche, kick his ass !

[Primo]

NO, the Pope is a douche, kick his ass !

No. To kick his ass he needs an invasion army, and many turns. To bribe him he needs just a few turns while success is garantueed.

[Silverheart]

That´s easy!
I assume the southern french regions are the two castles in the south/ south-west?
You just fortify those and build up large forces there. Then, after the enemy attacks appear to lessen, you send out those large forces to counter attack.
You don´t even need to conquer anything if you want to maintain the strong border, just sack or exterminate some cities and the leave - when they revolt, you´ll have them as buffert zones between you and the enemy.
Otherwise, conquer and just occupy, then build up a small/moderate force of militia troops and send out your professional armies to conquer some more.

Also, since you "got plenty of gold to spend", I would advice you to build up two additional armies, except for the ones in southern France - One in Valencia and one in Granada (I assume those are still castles. If not, just use militia forces for the armies, it will work just as good).
You send the one in Granada south to attack and conquer Moorish lands - preferably aim for the subsaharan settlements of Timbuktu and Arguin.
Meanwhile, you send the Valencian army with a strong fleet (recruit from other settlements, then sail to Valencia - around 5-6 ships should be enough) straight eastwards and attack the Pope in the heartland of his domain - preferably aim for Rome and Florence. Ignore Corsica and Sardinia, you can take those later with another army, or after you give Rome back to the Pope in exchange for reconciliation...
Should you have the finances for it, recruit yet a third conquest army in Toledo, and send it with a fleet secretly (stay as far out to sea as you can the whole time) north to land and make conquest on the British isles - aim for the Highland regions to effectively weaken the Scots, and Ireland or Wales to establish easily defendable footholds on the Isles.

Another method is to only defend, by building up forces in the south-french regions, and try to handle it diplomatically.
Wait until the Pope is dead, then see if you can´t manage to get one of your cardinals to be the new pope (Bribe other factions to cast their cardinal votes for you. Also, don´t forget to recruit a bunch of priests and send them to all over the nearest non-christian regions to increase your number of cardinals) Build new churches and Cathedrals, and offer lavish monetary gifts to the Pope, to increase your papal favor.
Or, alternatively, send your king on a suicide mission to ensure his swift demise - this will make the pope reconcile your faction, and might make it easier to establish ceasefires with, for example, the Holy Roman Empire. I wouldn´t worry too much about Scotland - they become pretty outdated later in the game.

PS.
Although you have no screenshots, a more detailed explanation would be nice.
For example, how much land does Scotland and the Papal states hold? What´s the status of the factions which where originally there? (for example, France, Milan, Venice, Portugal)
Also, get some Musketeers. The spanish ones are the best gunmen in the game, and a good force to have standing on the flanks of artillery or other missile troops for support. You can get them in cities only, though...
DS.

[Piazzo Cappiaro]

PS.
Although you have no screenshots, a more detailed explanation would be nice.
For example, how much land does Scotland and the Papal states hold? What´s the status of the factions which where originally there? (for example, France, Milan, Venice, Portugal)
Also, get some Musketeers. The spanish ones are the best gunmen in the game, and a good force to have standing on the flanks of artillery or other missile troops for support. You can get them in cities only, though...

Okay, thank you for asking! Pleasure to explain. France, milian and portugal are destroyed. Edit:And england, scotland has taken over northern france and all of norway.

Papal states own alot of middle europe, and scotland owns all of the british Isles and the western half of norway. Moors are also destroyed. Anything else?


Edit:If you want pictures, you could tell me how to upload them. I saved an image of my map with Paint on my windows XP.

[Piazzo Cappiaro]

Small, but, it's the map. Enjoy.

[OnlySleeping]

Go Scotland!

Not often you see them doing that well. I see the mongols are already tearing up the steppe regions on the eastern side of the map. Have the Timurids arrived yet? Personally, I'd recommend taking those English towns in Northern France. It'll be easy enough to send an army form Bordeaux to take Rennes (North-west) and the one slightly closer. It looks like Caen has been turned into a city for some reason from that picture, whereas it should be a fortress (At least) by now. That'll make taking those other two settlements easier though.

What is the state of your diplomacy with the Papal States and other neighbours?

And yes, conquering Marrakesh would probably be a good idea too.

Good luck with your campaign, hope you're having fun

[Piazzo Cappiaro]

I am out of money.
The english lands are actually scottish, my map just sucks.

Papal states hates me. The pope wants me dead. Yeah, everyone hates me. I am allied with useless mongols. Timurids have arrived.

[Charles V]

Ya I always bribe cardinals. Corruption at its highest.....

[ZealotsACH]

never knew u could bribe factions to vote your cardinals in as pope. nice bit of info there! thanks!