So I found the 1000AD scenario that comes with the game to be quite interesting. Small fractured European nations facing barbarians, Mongol hordes and a new world across the sea. After playing a few times I decided to post here to see what everyone else thinks about it. Better yet, to put a challenge to you all to see how you do with a specific civilization with a specific goal in mind. Play the Holy Roman Empire with the goal of conquering the lands that the Old Roman Empire held at its height.

First off, lets give everyone the big picture:

You start as Frederick of the Holy Roman Empire, (I change my name to Charlemagne to be closer to the time period). To begin, you have the French to your left (those rowdy Gauls!), the Spanish to your Southwest, the Russians to the east, and the Arabian Empire all along the coast of Africa.

You also have the Byzantine Empire to your right, and the Vikings to the north. There are also quite a few barbarian tribes in the area as well.

The Crusades are about to start, and the Arabian Empire is weakened. However, they hold Jerusalem, the site of the Holy Shrines of Judaism and Christianity, and Mecca, the holy site of Islam. These religions are very well spread out, especially Christianity.

Now the goal is to conquer enough land to roughly equate to what the Old Roman Empire. Lets put a few common elements in play so everyone knows what they need to do.

First off, this may not be entirely accurate, but we can change it later if people don't think its accurate enough. I'm not exatly a Rome scholar.

Ok, so to begin, you have to defeat the Byzantine Empire, and retake the old Greek world, including Asia Minor. You also have to take western europe, and the bottom two english cities. Last, you have to conquer the African coast from Algeria through Egypt to Asia Minor. I'm not sure how far down the Arabian Peninsula the Romans got, but for now we'll leave it at that. No eastern movement is required.

So there you have it, see how well you do. Currently I've retaken asia minor all the way round to jerusalem, and have just finished off the Gauls. I'm on my last spanish city, and then need to decide if I want to take on Saladin of the Arabians now, or finish off the english first to cosolodate the north.

Here are a few tips to start out with, because some things about this scenario are confusing at first:

First, there are two minor nations in the game, (the Vikings and Basil of the Byzantines). You can't talk to either one, and you're constantly at war, so watch out, they'll come at you. No dimplomacy is possible.

Second, bide your time with the European powers, they're very powerful. Also, to declar war you have to alt-click on thier name on the main screen. Watch out, this declares war right away, without asking you if you're sure, so be sure!

Third, you start at war with the Arabian Empire, but you can end it after a while if you want. Use them a lot to cause trouble with yoru european friends :)

Lastly, Jerusalem has two holy Shrines! Since most of the European world is Chirstian, this means a lot of money. It might be a good idea to snag it quick. But if you don't, keep an eye on who controls it, they're making a lot of money. Leave it in Saladin's hands, and you may find yourself facing a very stron opponent when it comes to retaking africa.

Also, this is a VERY large map, (earth size) so your computer may not be able to handle it.

There you have it, enjoy the resurgence of the Holy Roman Empire!

I prefer taking the spanish, start with a hefty number of Knights. taking the african coast and down the line killing off Mansu. I also got dragged into killing off the byzatines. (who held Jerusalem)

Then i settled all of Africa, and caputred barbarian cities south of China.


But you can dream eh sounds like a good plan.