Strategy as Provence

[unmerged(137173)]

Hi there everyone! As you might be able to tell from my post count, I am very new to the forums after lurking for quite awhile and playing Paradox games for even longer.

I just wanted to say hello to the community whose advice and help on these pages has enriched my experience of Paradox's already fantastic products and also ask a specific question.

I am planning on starting a game as the Duchy of Provence in the Hastings scenario, latest DVIP with no other mods, and wanted to gauge the waters for what experienced players think would be a good strategy for them. I might even turn it into an AAR (speaking of which, how is one able to post on the AAR forums?).

My initial location is pretty good and I think going for the Burgundy Kingdom title is a legitimate path if Germany gets in trouble quickly and the de Bourgoune's rebel against France. Otherwise, Italy is another valid choice with tons of potential. The only other option I can think of off the top of my head is trying for the Med. islands and maybe North Africa.

Would anyone care to share some quick pros and cons about the respective paths open to me? I should mention that I am not that interested in powergaming and intend to keep my expansion reasonable.

 

[unmerged(81763)]

Well...the Duke of Toulouse revolts from France often.

Waiting for Genoa/Savoy to revolt (which they do often enough) is another way to go.

The Duchy of Torscana is another great way to expand.

All those require claims though....

Getting Italian lands and then fighting the German King for the title would be easier than trying to get the crown of Burgundy. Italy is far richer too...

 

[unmerged(75409)]

Is Toulouse still in Burgondy? I think it's in Occitania. Getting the Burgundian titles may require you to fight Germany several times and to fight France also. An interesting path, certainly, and you could also try to marry your way to titles.

A mediterranean strategy, taking Muslim lands mostly, would require less grabbing of titles, virtually no marriage strategy, and less wars against Christians. I love destroying the Muslim kingdoms for that reason... it's so easy, with free DoWs and no claims required. Mallorca f.ex. would offer an easy target with a duke-level title, for starts. You could aim for the titles of Africa, Sicily, and later on maybe Andalusia or Aragon once the Muslims start to slack off. However it may feel gamey and if you have already done the Muslim-bashing-run from Tanger to Jerusalem before then it may at some point feel like the same old, same old routine.

 

[unmerged(135995)]

A Corsica/Sicily conquest would give you a nice base, even though those provinces (Sicily excluded) do not give you much of a bonus to fighting. It's just more of a 'hinterland' to retreat to when things get sour.

As a strategy otherwise... I just tend to seize chances as they come up, as you can never expect the game quite well. Heinrich might occassionaly keep the Empire together and even smash France, or vice versa. Best thing might be to stay out of the Imperial/French visor in the early stages, lest chances for repercussions are great.

As an average player, I feel that taking the fight to the Empire is perhaps easier than charging on the muslim lands. I always feel that until the seventh or eight crusade or so the muslim countries are too powerful to take on yourself for an extended period of time, them being more advanced and all.

Germany however is, especially when the HRE crashes down, a patchwork of smaller and medium-sized countries, all of a similar level as you. I'd go for that route.

 

[unmerged(84239)]

with Provance, I bought a claim on Genoa (duchy and county), when they revolted, stoped them.
A bit later got Venice as well.

Things are much safer if you have 2 filthy rich provinces in your personal demense

 

[unmerged(75409)]

The muslims are easy pickings once the bug blobs have dissolved a bit. The area Mauretania/Africa/Tripolitania also have no depth so it is fairly easy to beat up a breakaway emir. Many of the counties in Tripolitania and south of Tunis are poor so with four Italian regiments, concentrated in one place, landing in the same spot, declaring war only the second you cross his border, led by a good marshal, you can easily wipe out a six-province Emir and add his lands to yours in one swipe. The lack of strategic depth means that as you attack neighbours along the African coast, their troops will arrive to the fighting in peacemeal, one or two regiments at a time, and you can bash them to pieces if you concentrated your troops before declaring war. Keep them on the run (half your army does sieging, the other half chases the enemy and prevents him from recovering morale) and you can defeat realms which muster more troops than you.

You do however need a big purse, because concentrating your troops from a mediterranean realm always requires long distance shipping which is costly, and it requires upkeep so your regiments don't suffer 10% attrition for every month at sea. It is expensive so the strategy is only viable after you own a few rich provinces like Genoa, Milan or Montpellier.

Revolts also become a problem if you have a realm that is spread out with no depth. You will need to build ports to reduce shipping cost and speed up sea travel, and road nets to speed up travel along the coast, so you can get loyal vassal troops and demesne regiments to the fight quickly.

 

[unmerged(137173)]

Thanks so much for the replies! This really helped me plan out my strategy as I considered my first moves.

In all, I think that I will likely go the northern Italy route, with only minor stops in the Med. islands. Mallorca seems like a really good early conquest iuf they don't ally to one of the more powerful emirs of Spain. Corsica and Sardinia are also open if I can get some claims!

Otherwise, I plan to bide my time until Germany fragmentation begins, Savoy and Genoa always seem to rebel in my other games and I think I could take them if the timing was right or they were already involved in another war. By taking them, I could have a large enough tax base to support more far flung operations like North Africa and the weaker sheiks there.

Again, thanks to everyone for their input, I will try to put your advice to good use in my campaign.

By the way, does anyone know the answer to my other question? What sort of requirements are there to posting in the AAR sections of the website in terms of post count or time registered? Thanks for any help!

 

[unmerged(135995)]

I think it's about 10-20 posts, I don't remember when I was able to post. But somewhere in that range is about right.

 

[unmerged(137173)]

Thanks for the help friend! I will work my way there in no time at all.