Okay, I started it. It’s turn 26 and we have 21 regions.
Yes, you read that right.
Mr. Kobayashi gets to mow the rest down. Nobody hates you. Everyone loves you.
And we’re playing to beat the Timurids, not conquer the world, right? Where have you expanded to?
Um. Well. You see, I kinda expanded…everywhere. I have a hold in Northwestern France, up into Russia, a couple places in the Middle East, some in Germany, up around the Black Sea.
So yeah, we expanded a touch.
We started with 2 regions and now we have 21. If memory serves me right, it should be 23. We had a rebellion in Algiers and one in the large Middle-Eastern state in the very lower right.
We’re not at war with anyone. That’s nice, with a massive empire and the need to turtle for a bit (which I was working on as of turn 22, I swear).
Oh, my. What’s working for you tactically? Are you using lots of Polish Nobles, or what?
My WAG is he’s abusing crusade mechanics & mercenaries 
Diplomacy. The problem with the Poles in the beginning is that their units are good in the beginning, but overpriced. If you go on a spending spree, you’ll go bankrupt. You need t build a town hall or a bowyer before you get into attacking anything. I id get some Polish nobles. That was the small army I have left in northern Germany. I took over northeast France with woodsmen, Lithuanian archers, and spearmen. That’s it.
Another problem is when you get a territory way far away from your homeland and it’s staffed with mercenaries. The upkeep costs don’t help at all. In that case, build a town hall or a bowyer as fast as you can and get it stocked with cheap troops with little (or no) upkeep.
Also, I ignored the first crusade that the Pope sent out. I didn’t have the troops to do it. That and I hadn’t talked to the Egyptians yet, so I didn’t want to piss them off before I pimped them out of land.
I’ve covered my diplomacy strategies in the previous Total War campaign thread.
Oh, I do love those woodsmen. They did a lot of heavy lifting for me when I was playing as Russia. You have to keep them out of the line of fire of the enemy archers, but since they’re practically free (170 recruitment and only 70 upkeep! That’s cheaper than peasants after paying three or four turns of upkeep!) you can afford to lose a whole bunch of them in any given battle. And 13 attack and armor-piercing, if I remember. I have fond memories of using spearmen to stop a general’s charge, then flanking that general with woodsmen from both sides.
Also, my research is showing no difference at all between Polish Knights and Polish Guard except that Polish Knights cost less upkeep. Can we all agree to standardize on the Knights when it comes time?
I had an all woodsman and Viking army when I was the Danes. That was a pretty badass army with some cavalry and archers sprinkled in.
Those Danish Vikings are great! Cheap, plentiful, and armor-piercing. Can’t go wrong there.
Can whoever is after me PM me their email and I’ll send over the save file?
Muwhahaha. Exactly how I planned. War broke out after my effort.
I’m very glad that I built up that area in France. I’m sure that helped you a bunch when working down towards Spain.
Good work, kind sir.
Indeed. I launched the attack on the Portuguese from Bordeaux/Angers. I’ve been recruiting armies comprised largely of Polish Nobles (who have surprisingly good melee abilities; once they’re out of ammunition, ram them into flanks, rout city) and Srzerchysomething, the crossbow ones who are also good for wheeling around the flanks - the usual horse archer caveat applies with those, though - stay well away from melee.
The state of the Polish Empire, 1170 A.D. The Iberian front pictured. Once we’ve got Zaragoza we can march south and take out the Moorish presence. A Polish reconquista? Only on the SDMB.
I’m annoyed that I lost Durazzo, but there was nothing else I could do. We’re in quite a good position to attack the Byzantines though; down from Hylach/Iasi and across from Adana/Nicosia.
Diplomatic assessment: Don’t trust any of our allies as far as you can throw them. Denmark, France, England, Hungary, Turkey and Spain all have adjacent borders, meaning there’s a possibility any of them could attack at any time. Keep a particular eye on the large English force in Bruges menacing Antwerp, and the Danish forces milling about around Thorn.
War is very likely with Milan, Venice (and then France, should they side with their new friends) and the Moors, should we push further into Iberia.
Here’s the order-of-play list reposted from the other thread:
Least Original User Name Ever
Ludovic
Mr. Kobayashi
Interconnected Series Of Tubes I
Gukumatz
Kinthalis
appleciders
I didn’t think we’d get to be able to keep Durazzo. It’s a shitty territory I got from the Byzantines anyways.
If ISOT can make his turn wednesday or thursday, I can do mine friday afternoon. After that it looks like I’m off for jul with my parents. (So, skip me if ISOT can’t make it before like 5PM GMT+1 this friday)
I rarely succeed in keeping Durazzo. It’s a lousy, indefensible little piece of worthlessness. Not profitable, not useful, just not worth it.
It’s useful to the Italians and Greeks as a stepping stone into each other’s peninsulas, but that’s about it. Not worth it until it naturally grows into a city by whomever conquers it unless you’re going thataway anyway.
Sometimes it can get overlooked and you can build it up. I almost always get it in negotiations.
For some bizarre reason I can’t PM Interconnected Series Of Tubes, if he’s (?) reading this can y’all send me the email you want us to send the save game file over to?
I’m having issues PM’ing Gukumatz, but I did get your IM Guku, send me your email and I’ll write you there.