Best place to invade continent Europe?

[Marcus Furius Camillus]

I'm playing as the Scottish, I'm around turn 30 or something. No factions destroyed except for HRE. I've cleared Ireland and England of enemies and got excommunicated twice for that (hurray ).

Anyway, my main enemy, England only has one base left which is Caen. They sporadically send armies but they're not a big deal. Currently, I'm rebuilding my army to invade the continent but I can't decide where to begin.

In the beginning of the campaign, the advisor said something about getting a foothold in Scandinavia but I've been reading lots and lots about the uberdanes and I don't think I'm ready for 'em. Caen would make sense since it's the closest for supplying troops but that way I'll get wedged between France and the Danes. Invading Africa seems a bit risky and I don't think I would be able to pull that off with my current financial state (hovering now at 15 000 florins).

I was hoping some of the tacticians amongst you would have some tips on which position is the most suitable for invading Europe.

[Sham]

Caen ! Play it like D-Day and go to Normandy !
I have a scottish campaign too, and I choose a neutral settlement as objective (Bruges or Anvers, don't remember) just right of Caen. That was a wrong move as I was at war with the Danes, the French and what was left of English.
So if the English in your campaign have only one base left, just go for them ! Remove the English from the game, then go to other side of France to get an access to Mediterranean Sea. Try also to be an allied of Spain or Portugal, you don't need their cities. And don't forget Ireland ! It's a good starting point to discover to the New World.

[Angmar_nite]

I'd advice you to go for spain, plenty of Moslems to convert, already cramped so no particularly strong faction, and if you can wedge a ship at the Gibraltar Moors can't reinforce. Or is you economy strong? A dual invasion into scandanavia AND Caen would be very nice.

[pero]

yes spain is a good idea.
try to stay from middle of europe for when the plague comes.

[Endeav]

I would suggest taking Caen and hunkering down in that castle until you can expand. With one castle on the mainland, it doesn't matter how many enemies you make, just wedge yourself in there and start heading south Turn all of England, Scotland and Ireland into cities and just use Caen for troop production. Invasion of England would be unlikely since the enemy AI doesn't seem to do that many water landings, and if you have a small fleet it should be able to fend off any invasion force anyways.

[Tiwaz]

I used to good success (being british admittably) strategy Nottingham-London-Caen.

Nottingham started building troops, London provides siege engines and Caen finishes up the army.

Just start training, take general to Nottingham, take troops, move to London, pick up sieges, sail to Caen and reinforce to full. (at which point you theoretically could be already doing next batch in Nottingham)

Send armies to conquer from there. Later on duplicate on other location (though I prefer to keep this system since those 3 cities end up with very high upgrades)

Other cities in the isles should be cities to make as much gold as you can.

[Lavastein]

clearly spain is the best choice. NOt only is it good for defencive purposes but its clear of inquisadors giving you the clear edge.

[ColbytheConqueror]

spain, its heavily divided, so there is no 1 powerful enterprise to kick you out.

[Ambrosius]

my favorite way to take europe is to take the two islands off the coast of italy, then take palermo. you can cut off the land bridge to palermo either with an army, or a naval force.

then youre free to make incursions north into italy... worst comes to worse, you can always fall back to your three 'islands'. once you take all of italy its very defensible. i like to try and keep a single 'front'. this is why the HRE's starting position gives me fits.

[SIlver General65]

I say spain the majoratie does so go to spain if have not so ya...

[Revan The Great]

It depends on who is expanded where, what factions are strong. Example: If France is currently warring with Milan and on the edge of collapsed, land around Normandy. Likewise, if you land in Scandinavia and work your ways downwards they can only come at you one way. I would particularily advise a twopart invasion. One lands at Arhus, the other in Scandinavia to take out The Dane's heartland.

[King Pie]

I'm in a similar situation at the moment. I'm playing as England and I have conquered all of the British Isles. I'm not exactly sure about what I should do next. I've sent some guys down to the Mediterranean, and I've taken Sardinia, Corsica, Rhodes and Sicily

I'm trying to finish off the Sicilians in Naples at the moment, but I keep having to call my attacks off due to threats from the pope. The Sicilians also have no way of getting Palermo back, because I just keep a massive fleet at the crossing between Italy and Sicily. I've thought of taking Cyprus, but it currently belongs to Byzantium, who I have a good alliance with, which I'm not sure I want to destroy. Crete is another option, but its the Venetian Capital in my game, and I'll probably have to face excommunication if I do attack them.

[Skipper]

Skip Caen, go for Spain. France will wear you down forever in a day with back and forth battles because they are very strong in that area. Spain is very contested though and ripe for the picking.

[NoSiS]

MARSEILLE!!!

this settlement, especialy if you can get it in time to convert it to a castle, is a huge defensive strongpoint

it can work as a literal sanctuary that you can keep pumping troops out of, while defening the bridges to not let anyone even get close