Money issues

[Totalwarplayer96]

No matter who I play as I always find myself in the negative with no hope of recovery, but You are probably going to say this to me:

[DevrimJan]

Build roads, markets and farms. Get trade rights with everyone. Expand quickly or dispand your army and build your economy. I generally set taxes to low every where, but that's just me.

[Totalwarplayer96]

Roads are insanely expensive

[DevrimJan]

Well, you can build those later when your economy is very strong.

[Yesman101]

Use the armies you have to take a few cities and sack them for cash. Your rep will suffer but your coffers will fill nicely. Also, when your at war with someone, don't necessarily take the city immedietly- if its heavily guarded, place armies around the city and occupy all forts in the region.

When you build up economy, Always save for roads, as they are your life blood. It will be slow, but once you lose armies and capture cities, you should be able to build a road for every city per 2 turns, enough to capitalize on their benefit. When the roads are done, max out on farms, ports, shisha bars, etc.

If your having particular trouble with certain factions, then there is a faq here somewhere that gives you a good idea on your first military move.

[Totalwarplayer96]

extreme trouble with Ayyubid surrounded either by future enemies or factions with poor relations and those that are friendly are too far to trade

[Chinaski]

Send diplomat far away to negotiate trade rights. With the Ayyubids I personally sent all my forces against Makuria in the first turns. It's a good way to decrease your army upkeep because of losses, and their cities should make your economy more viable. From then, you only have the Franks to deal with.

Also, faction members' units are really expensive in this mod. It's a good idea to refuse any adoption or marriage in the first years. You can also use several generals in your army to serve as your cavalry instead of leaving them in cities, you will save money on cavalry and these guys replenish their unit by themselves, which is pretty useful.

Beware that after a while things can get too easy quickly, so you might want to spare Makuria and stop using several generals after a while to save some challenge.

Good luck!

[Yesman101]

extreme trouble with Ayyubid surrounded either by future enemies or factions with poor relations and those that are friendly are too far to trade

Not as Far as you may think. As others said, you can get trade rights from at least the ERE and from Abbasids, who normally send merchants to your lands. Same with Kyptracks, and Seljuks of Iraq. Also, the KOJ will normally try to take lands in the north before going to war with you. If you wipe out Makuria first, your campaign will go alot more smoothly, and you will be able to better trade with Oman.

[Totalwarplayer96]

and PS: why Egypt religiously divided? Is this representing the divesion with Shiite Fatamid vs. the Sunni dominant Egypt?

[DevrimJan]

As the Ayyubids you could get trade agreements with Oman, the Abbassids, the ERE, Armenia and even the Kypchacks. Also get trade rights with everyone else, for when you get a settlement from which you can trade with them, you'll be getting more moeny immediately.

[Totalwarplayer96]

ok, but what about the jungles of india and desert hills of the Afgan?

[Yesman101]

If this is concerning trade rights, get them with EVERYONE. They will always have merchants moving around the map, and if you have a merchant on your land that belongs to a faction you have trade rights with, you get a bonus on income.

If you want strategy on how to do those campaigns, I need to know if you are using 2.3 or 2.02.

[Totalwarplayer96]

2.3

[Yesman101]

Ok, Well, concerning the four factions that inhabit Afghanistan and India, my personal expirience is with the Ghurids and Ghaznavids, since I am not a fan of the elephant bodyguards of the Rajput states and how easily you can lose a general to even levied javelins. I normally play on H/H and this plan has always worked well for me. (play Vh/Vh at your own risk )

-As Ghaznavids, my personal thought is that you should keep the war up with the Chauhans and make peace with the Ghurids, since trying to fight them at your strengh is like the Turks of Rum trying to fight the Eastern Romans. Seize the rebel city in between you two and Swiftly take Dheli with spies and your best infantry armies (they have a nice elephant unit ready for you) Try and make peace with the Paramaras and get an alliance (shouldn't be hard) while you simply defend Dheli against the Chauhans. Meanwhile, use diplomats to get alliances with the Seljuks of Iraq, the Omanis, the Abbasids, and the Khwarezmids.

Next, if Sindh isn't at war with you yet, try to take as many indian provinces as you can until all of India is occupied. If Sindh did declare war, leave only infantry and archers to defend Dheli and mobilize your forces completely against Sindh. They have alot of Javelins so try to avoid bringing your elephants with you, your horse archers, infantry, and Hindu units will work wonders against their very.... light army. Just use your horse archers to get distance and always try to get them behind your enemies army since they will always do the most damage shooting at an enemies back.

Sindh should never really expand beyond 5 cities if they declared war with you. If you declared war, it is likely that they are fighting the Omanis and have expanded along the southern persian coast, though this is unlikely. Always finish them off.

From here all of the Punjab should be yours, and you have access to their good Jargidir horse archers and Soomro warriors. If Dheli approached you with a ceasefire, take it and attack the Ghurids now, since they are likely fighting the Kharezmids at this point (always keep alliance with Kharezmids, you see later) If they are still fighting, send a diplomat to the Paramaras and give up any city you have conquered in India past Dheli to get them to attack the Chauhans.

From here, focus on the Ghurids. The Khwarezmids will normally be absorbing several of their stacks, and you can normally occupy Kabul and Ghazni before they start taking you seriously. Build two stacks of armies (include elephants... Ghurid AI isnt as crazy about javelins as Sindh), send one stack to Ghazni and central Afghanistan while sending another stack south to take the Ghurids southern Afghanistan cities. The Ghurids normally have better offensive infantry then you but with your elephants, horse archers, and (if you got them) Ghazni lancers, your army is usually more mobile. try to fight their stacks in the field, and keep them away from your cities.

Keep pushing the Ghurids until you have Firuzbad, Herat, and Balkh under your control. once it gets to that point you practically castrated the Ghurid's military capability. Let the Kharezmids and the Seljuks of Iraq finish them off. Move your armies back to India, finish off the Chauhans, and then turn on the Paramaras. It will be tough (it will be easier if you got the Paramaras to fight the Chauhans) but if you use the javilin mercs and units from the Sindhi territories you can easily kill their generals and demoralize their armies.

From there, just develop your territory and keep your armies in Afghanistan to prepare for the mongols. If your lucky, they will forget all about you and keep killing the Kharezmids. If your unlucky, they will normally send half their armies to capture balkh. Let them lay siege and use your spearmen+ archers to do maximum damage in the streets of your city (however, keep in mind that they may still take the city. Yes, they are that badass ) . Limit your counterattacks, wait it out until their elite stacks are worn, and then take the cities they captured from the Kharezmids and everyone else.

From that point, your practically unstoppable and on your own I havent played the Ghurids, but really they are kind of a mirror of the Ghaznavids IMO except... you wipe out the Ghaznavids. Ill try to expirament with them later to give you more feedback.

...God this was alot. Hope it helps, and good luck.

[Harith]

If u wanna play in India.. I think playing as the Ghurids will be the best... I never played but their unit roster is unstoppable.

[Yesman101]

If u wanna play in India.. I think playing as the Ghurids will be the best... I never played but their unit roster is unstoppable.

Thats kinda why I am not crazy about the Ghurids myself. They have no spears (thank god) but a well coordinated and balanced ghurid army has very good horse archers, excellent offensive cavalry, and some of the best infantry in BC. they have no weaknesses when properly used (you can always use diffrent methods to eliminate chargers) and can steamroll anybody now that they start with two fortresses and almost all of afghanistan.

All I can say is that I hope the advent of the Kara-Khitai threatening the northern borders of Afghanistan balance this super faction out. that, or their swordsmen get a debuff.... they are too good

[Harith]

Thats kinda why I am not crazy about the Ghurids myself. They have no spears (thank god) but a well coordinated and balanced ghurid army has very good horse archers, excellent offensive cavalry, and some of the best infantry in BC. they have no weaknesses when properly used (you can always use diffrent methods to eliminate chargers) and can steamroll anybody now that they start with two fortresses and almost all of afghanistan.

All I can say is that I hope the advent of the Kara-Khitai threatening the northern borders of Afghanistan balance this super faction out. that, or their swordsmen get a debuff.... they are too good

don't worry in my campaign, the rajputs and especially mongols put a stop to them (VH/VH).

who u really need to worry about is Rome and their 20 STACKS !!! damn.... Im in turn 160 and I am the third largest empire... but I only have functional stacks.... of course I have several 13 star generals I win a lot of heroic victories especially in siege defense.

[Rat-tail]

Keep only a small standing army in your cities and focus on your economy