Tedo
5 Oct 2009, 20:40
I had this idea a long time ago and I have made several steps towards accomplishing it.
Because the game is relatively easy even at 'Hard' I've decided to use the cheats 'bsswitch' and 'bskinti' to develop the economies,armies and cities of all the kingdoms on the map and specialise a certain province depending on the resourses it has, and any other ways of making the game harder.After doing this with all the provinces - you
just choose your country and start playing ('bsswitch' cheat again).Yes,when you are developing all the countries the AI goes on just like in the normal game,and there's the tricky part:
You have to 'save' the original kingdoms by quickly using the cheats to stop wars,create armies fast or other things.
The whole procedure is a click-o-mania,but I think it's worth it when finally completed - to have strong enemies,who use not just cheap units,but more sophisticated ones,enemies with well-protected towns and with stronger economies.
WARNING: Do NOT use the 'bsai' and 'bsnoai' cheats - they stop the kingdoms from attacking one another,but when you try to clear them - you can't.Either you have kingdoms who won't fight,either the AI does stuff in your own kingdom.
(I screwed myself the first time,after completing the whole map perfectly - without losing any original kingdom)
Without using the 'bsai' and 'bsnoai' cheats it becomes much more complicated to save the entire map,because there are
much more rebellions and wars.The good thing is that once you have 'developed' kingdoms at war - they rarely overtake
one-another and are more likely to preserve the status-quo.
Note - when trasferring provinces - use clerics to clear nostalgia feelings
Note 2 - choose the country you'd like to play with before the game.This is because it'll be the only country with no AI.However be careful,because since it has no AI,when you switch to develop another country - your own
will just stand and do nothing.(And of course this is the most important country you should
look after.)
So here are my thoughts and what I've accomplished:
If there was a province resourse (for example silver) - build a silver mine; fertile soil - apiary,hemp field,etc.
-When there are little or no resourses - develop army structures.
-Every province should have at least 'Bulwark' as a defensive structure
-Buildings such as Cathedrals,Holy Mosques,Universities and Merchant Guilds are obligatory
-And anything else a person might think of.
Other things that came to my mind:
-Reunite kingdoms (I played in the 'High' Period,so I reunited Spain (Losing Castilla,Leon,Navarre and Aragon and pushing the Almohads a little to the south);Russia (while saving Golden Horde,Kazan and Novgorod - it's very tricky,but using the 'giving a province as a gift option' it's easier) and Byzantia (Losing the IV-Crusade states)
-Deal with pagan kingdoms - I made Cumans and Lithuania become orthodox(I know Lithuania is catholic,but there are very few othodox states.And I also converted the Golden Horde to islam (dunno why).
Hovewer I lost some of the states - some by purpose,other by carelesness:
-Wales and Ireland - they disappeared early in the game,now I'm trying to make them arise by creating rebellions,but it's a
tricky job
-Armenia and Jerusalem - I developed them very well,but the Fatimids conquered them and I was working at the other end of
the map,so I didn't see when this happened,however Antioch and Cyprus are (still) alive and I'm watching them carefully
- Naples - don't care about it anyway
- Pomerania - Germany conquered it,and since it's a historical German province I cleared the nostalgia and developed the town
- Teutonic Order - I sliced it between Germany (Prussia) and Lithuania (Livonia,Courland)
- Almohads - that got me mad,because I developed them perfectly,but they were vassals of the Fatimids,which are also big,
they probably had a spy as a merchant in the Almohad court and probably annexed them.I'm still trying to revive the Almohads
by rebellion...
-Epirus,Saloniki,Latins,Athens,Trebizond - Lost while reuniting Byzantia (Note:It's not reunited yet,but when it is -
it automatically annexes Cappadocia,Rum,Kilikia (Which in the 1200' would be Armenia,which I lost anyway) and Cyprus (I have in mind a way to save it...)
-Muscovy becomes Russia,states that need to be saved from the expansion after unification : Golden Horde,Kazan)
-Castilla,Aragon,Leon,Navarre - In order to reunite Spain
-Brittany - lost it without being able to restore it(too many time and nerve) and so I cleared the nostalgia and gave it to France
-Venice - goddamned Fatimids did it again - don't think that I'll be able to restore it
-Berbers - same fate as Almohads
I hope you find the project interesting.If there's such interest - I'll upload my map(~75% complete by now).If you
actually complete the map perfectly - please upload it too.
P.S - Screw you if you say I have no life :D - the 75% took some 4-5 hours and several beers to complete.
Because the game is relatively easy even at 'Hard' I've decided to use the cheats 'bsswitch' and 'bskinti' to develop the economies,armies and cities of all the kingdoms on the map and specialise a certain province depending on the resourses it has, and any other ways of making the game harder.After doing this with all the provinces - you
just choose your country and start playing ('bsswitch' cheat again).Yes,when you are developing all the countries the AI goes on just like in the normal game,and there's the tricky part:
You have to 'save' the original kingdoms by quickly using the cheats to stop wars,create armies fast or other things.
The whole procedure is a click-o-mania,but I think it's worth it when finally completed - to have strong enemies,who use not just cheap units,but more sophisticated ones,enemies with well-protected towns and with stronger economies.
WARNING: Do NOT use the 'bsai' and 'bsnoai' cheats - they stop the kingdoms from attacking one another,but when you try to clear them - you can't.Either you have kingdoms who won't fight,either the AI does stuff in your own kingdom.
(I screwed myself the first time,after completing the whole map perfectly - without losing any original kingdom)
Without using the 'bsai' and 'bsnoai' cheats it becomes much more complicated to save the entire map,because there are
much more rebellions and wars.The good thing is that once you have 'developed' kingdoms at war - they rarely overtake
one-another and are more likely to preserve the status-quo.
Note - when trasferring provinces - use clerics to clear nostalgia feelings
Note 2 - choose the country you'd like to play with before the game.This is because it'll be the only country with no AI.However be careful,because since it has no AI,when you switch to develop another country - your own
will just stand and do nothing.(And of course this is the most important country you should
look after.)
So here are my thoughts and what I've accomplished:
If there was a province resourse (for example silver) - build a silver mine; fertile soil - apiary,hemp field,etc.
-When there are little or no resourses - develop army structures.
-Every province should have at least 'Bulwark' as a defensive structure
-Buildings such as Cathedrals,Holy Mosques,Universities and Merchant Guilds are obligatory
-And anything else a person might think of.
Other things that came to my mind:
-Reunite kingdoms (I played in the 'High' Period,so I reunited Spain (Losing Castilla,Leon,Navarre and Aragon and pushing the Almohads a little to the south);Russia (while saving Golden Horde,Kazan and Novgorod - it's very tricky,but using the 'giving a province as a gift option' it's easier) and Byzantia (Losing the IV-Crusade states)
-Deal with pagan kingdoms - I made Cumans and Lithuania become orthodox(I know Lithuania is catholic,but there are very few othodox states.And I also converted the Golden Horde to islam (dunno why).
Hovewer I lost some of the states - some by purpose,other by carelesness:
-Wales and Ireland - they disappeared early in the game,now I'm trying to make them arise by creating rebellions,but it's a
tricky job
-Armenia and Jerusalem - I developed them very well,but the Fatimids conquered them and I was working at the other end of
the map,so I didn't see when this happened,however Antioch and Cyprus are (still) alive and I'm watching them carefully
- Naples - don't care about it anyway
- Pomerania - Germany conquered it,and since it's a historical German province I cleared the nostalgia and developed the town
- Teutonic Order - I sliced it between Germany (Prussia) and Lithuania (Livonia,Courland)
- Almohads - that got me mad,because I developed them perfectly,but they were vassals of the Fatimids,which are also big,
they probably had a spy as a merchant in the Almohad court and probably annexed them.I'm still trying to revive the Almohads
by rebellion...
-Epirus,Saloniki,Latins,Athens,Trebizond - Lost while reuniting Byzantia (Note:It's not reunited yet,but when it is -
it automatically annexes Cappadocia,Rum,Kilikia (Which in the 1200' would be Armenia,which I lost anyway) and Cyprus (I have in mind a way to save it...)
-Muscovy becomes Russia,states that need to be saved from the expansion after unification : Golden Horde,Kazan)
-Castilla,Aragon,Leon,Navarre - In order to reunite Spain
-Brittany - lost it without being able to restore it(too many time and nerve) and so I cleared the nostalgia and gave it to France
-Venice - goddamned Fatimids did it again - don't think that I'll be able to restore it
-Berbers - same fate as Almohads
I hope you find the project interesting.If there's such interest - I'll upload my map(~75% complete by now).If you
actually complete the map perfectly - please upload it too.
P.S - Screw you if you say I have no life :D - the 75% took some 4-5 hours and several beers to complete.