playing this game is kind of a downer...like once you conquer the world, there is no more to do and it makes me want to not conquer and just build...but you can't view your cities like in RTW and you can't customize buildings so that is kind of pointless. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Yeah, I really miss the city view, I love to watch my settlements grow prosperous
Even liked that from way back in Civ I!
Sooo nice!
Really got no clue why they took that out as well as dismounting before battle and tar and oil on the gates...
Anyway, I like to play less offensive and more Great Builder style.
Ususally, I take all the rebel settlements that are adjected to my territory (and race for them in competition to the other nations.
Then, I convert about every settlement that has access to the sea to a city for better trade income (Hamburg is an exception here when playing HRE) and only those landlocked regions that prove a strategically good position become castles.
Ususally, that will mean they are border regions and there is no other castle too close to them.
Also, any mountain regions or other hard to access or good for castles and I will focus on stables here, since that means I can move those units out there faster, as the mountains slow them down (try moving some balistae around the Alps when you need them ASAP...).
The cities will then receive almost no military buildings unless required (eg I need "barracks" to restore some order or such). I focus on trade so I can gather enough money to spend it on that handful of castles I have so they can be upgraded as much as possible (esp armourer).
I like that cities have a contingent of free upkeep units, which I make great use of (usually spearmen and some archebuisers (sp?) just in case).
Getting my ecomony way up to a powerhouse, I like retaining very good or perfect relations to my neighbours and wait for things to happen.
A call for a crusade (I ususally do not call them myself because I like to role-play a bit and don't want to force the Pope to it - I do give him little gifts of money from time to time, though) is a good reason to expand my empire and get my troops more battle-hardened than they are by merely fighting rebels...
If the Milanese mock up (they ALWAYS are doing that in all of my games, always bullying everyone thinking they can take the whole worlds...), I try to quickly subdue them by bribing their generals/settlements.
As my economy is ususally working nicely, I can easily afford paying some 50,000 for a settlement, maybe even more.
Should one nation become excommunicated (usually Milanese or Venice for some reason...), I may attack them if they have no other allies, but that depends on the situation.
If I can get a deal with the Pope (offering assitance at attacking them for X rounds for instance), that is the green light for me.
If not, well, maybe I can get some spies to get their cities to revolt so I can take them over, though I hardly build taverns and the like in fear of the bad traits my Generals may acquire (I ususally have one in each of my cities although I couold even manage vacant settlements).
While it is certainly possible to blitz your way around (getting the upkeep for your armies from raised settlements, then quickly moving on to the next) as with the Vikings in VI (MTW), it's just not fun, IMO.
EDIT:
Guess what I just stumbled upon:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=100329
