Help! I'm playing Granada and I get my butt kicked!

[tkorsvold]

Playing Granada on very hard is, well, very hard. I've been able to force Castilla to give up Andalucia, Murcia and the Canary Isles a few times (using two loans to buy troops). But they keep coming back. Almost always, they ally with Portugal. When they declare war again I'm still in the process of paying back loans so I don't have much to buy or support armies with.

Result: I get my butt kicked. Every time.

Any advice on how to play Granada in the GC without going bankrupt? (I suppose I could beat Castilla / Portugal if I took 5 loans immediately, but I don't want to go bankrupt.)



regards, Thorstein

 

[Mad King James]

The first thing you need to do is lay seige to Madrid, thus threatening the Spanish Capital. They'll withdraw to Madrid and now you can rush back and relieve your capital. This will buy you some direly needed time to regroup. Now grab some money and gain cavalry superiority, and take Andalusia. If the Spaniards send their army down to Andalusia, your cavalry-heavy army will give them a bloody nose, and you can sweep up into the mountains. Grab a big force and park it on Madrid, that'll keep the Spanish busy forever. Then try and cover all the Spanish provinces so they can't build anymore, and seige them one by one.

Keep a good force of cavalry sitting in Andalusia so you can stomp the Portugese if they join the war.

 

[FrosT37]

Originally posted by tkorsvold
Playing Granada on very hard is, well, very hard. I've been able to force Castilla to give up Andalucia, Murcia and the Canary Isles a few times (using two loans to buy troops). But they keep coming back. Almost always, they ally with Portugal. When they declare war again I'm still in the process of paying back loans so I don't have much to buy or support armies with.

Result: I get my butt kicked. Every time.

Any advice on how to play Granada in the GC without going bankrupt? (I suppose I could beat Castilla / Portugal if I took 5 loans immediately, but I don't want to go bankrupt.)



regards, Thorstein

without going bankrupt? max ur "To Treasury" slider u wont get bankrupt that way

of course you'll get some inflation but ur ass won't get kicked each time

 

[tkorsvold]

Taking their capital first might be a good idea. I think I'll try that.


regards, Thorstein

 

[Prince Eugene]

break please... just kill them on day 1 and kill them hard. The ai isnt that difficult..

 

[Castellon]

Here is some tips for you.
Granada Thread1
Granada Thread2
Granada Thread3

 

[tkorsvold]

Attacking Madrid did the trick. Thanks! I now own almost all of the Iberian peninsula. Time to do some converting. Mwahahaa!


Thorstein

 

[Galleblære]

Make sure you unite the iberian penninsula first, then stab into the heart of still-weak france. And while you are at it, advance on italy, and eventually take Papal states.

THEN...after converted all of iberia, release Spain and Portugal (as muslim) vassals, and let them start colonizing the new world for you. Then, every once in a while, politically annex them to gain new lands in america. (You have iberian culture ) Then, you can start colonizing on your own, or if you are lazy and more interested in European affairs, re-release Spain and Portugal as vasslas, and let them continue. Eventually, the world is muslim, and world peace.

 

[Castellon]

Very Nice Idea!
As long as you do not let them get out of hand size wise.

 

[Galleblære]

Hence the "politically annex every once in a while"

 

[unmerged(5664)]

Try not to take any loans! Max your treasury slider instead if you have to. Otherwise the AI will attack on the expiry of the 5 year truce, and you won't have enough money to build up your forces.

 

[Mad King James]

hmm I wonder if a muslim portugal can still seize catholic colonies in 'their' land

 

[Kasperus]

Originally posted by Mad King James
hmm I wonder if a muslim portugal can still seize catholic colonies in 'their' land

now they receive their orders from the kalif instead of the pope perhaps?

 

[Galleblære]

Never tried this myself, too lazy. But since the treaty of Tsomething simply hands out cb shields, it should still work, even if portugal/spain are muslim/whatever.

 

[Castellon]

Originally posted by Galleblære
Never tried this myself, too lazy. But since the treaty of Tsomething simply hands out cb shields, it should still work, even if portugal/spain are muslim/whatever.

ToT shields are very different from CB shields.

 

[Galleblære]

Yes, but I doubt they have religion triggers.

 

[Castellon]

Originally posted by Galleblære
Yes, but I doubt they have religion triggers.

Don't know!
Never been in that position.
It would be a little strange though to have a it affect Catholic nations when Portugal is muslim.
In fact I would call it a bug!

 

[unmerged(4766)]

I think I should warn you not to COMPLETELY annex the Portuguese, castilians and Aragonese. I did just that while playing Granada, and after I took every island and southern Italy from Aragon, and some 20 TPs from Portugal I annexed them and got a horrible BB war that crashed me so hard I gave up playing. Imagine me with tech 5 against 100k tech 12 French and Austrian armies. It's doable, but terribly frustrating...

 

[Faeelin]

Odd. I led tech in Europe as Grenada by 1500.

I guess I got lucky, though. The north african allies actually helped, and Portugal and Aragon only joined the war after I took Madrid.

 

[Galleblære]

Tech is not reallt a problem, as Granada is in the latin tech group in 1.05. And, annexing 2-3 states in iberia is not a HUGE problem, as you have cb shields on their capitols I think. Just don't go annexing anything else in the close future, and you should be fine. Also, remember, after converting the capitols, you losee BB points when you set them free.