MTW: The glorious English empire!

Player: Dell19
King: William II 1088-1107

As my King came to the throne at the age of 51 it was time to make at impact on the world and consolidate the English kingdom and provide a base for my son to be able to expand this glorious empire.

My first task to bribe the rebel army in Wales, build several Inns in France and also to develop our home province. After 5 years on the throne the Inns were beginning to generate mercenaries which play a huge part in my plan to destroy the French. With an emissionary and a princess spying in France it was time to launch our attack as their armies were heavily reliant on archers and peasants.

The first year of war saw the Ile de France and Flanders taken. The French King was then trapped to the east and was soon captured. The French had no option but to ransom their King back but the French King was once again trapped to the west and again he was captured and ransomed back. With one French province remaining and the pope threatening excommunication I paused from my attack and settled down to wait 10 years before I could attack again.

During this time the rebels in Scotland and a Spanish province were bribed whilst with the 20 000 florins from the French king’s ransoms were used to start an extensive building operation. Our home province can now begin to build a trade empire to fund our armies as it can now build ships and several other provinces will also be able to build ships soon. My plan, which I hope my son will continue is to create a shipping empire than surrounds Europe, giving us a huge income and also invaluable information as to the state of the other European nations.

As William’s health began to deteriorate, he called for a messenger to send his final order, finish off the French. So as King William II died in 1107 so did the French empire as it was finally crushed by the mighty English armies.

Some notes: The Germans are strong but we could defeat them if we rush built troops. Once again the pope has issued us a non aggression against Christian nations warning so you may wish to not attack anyone for 10 years whilst building up a navy. Be careful that you don’t let rebels or the French reappear and finally continue our glorious empire. Oh and also the mercenary armies have generally been disbanded but you may wish to replace these troops further if you are not going to fight anyone for awhile.

The saved game for napoleon526:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/TheKingofEnglandI.zip

Player: napoleon526
King: William III 1107-1136

King William III acended the throne of England at the age of 33. His reign would be one of consolidation and maritime expansion. William obeyed the wishes of his father and began construction of a large English trading fleet. Trading posts and merchants were constucted in the newly aquired French provinces, allowing additional income from taxes on trade. By the end of his reign, English shipping interests stretched from the Baltic Sea all the way to the Straights of Gibralter, and the English treasury contained over 40,000 florins. William III had aquired the virtue of Magnificent Builder as a result of his efforts to expand the infrastructure of his empire.

However, some lesser powers were jealous of the power and wealth possessed by the English King. In 1111, the Spanish invaded Navarre and defeated the garrison stationed there. King William led his forces and easily ejected the filthy Spaniards 2 years later. Unfortunately, the Holy Father issued a warning to King William not to continue his war against the Spanish. William, fearing excommunication and possible crusades against his empire by the Germans, agreed and made peace with the Spanish King.

William also expanded on the gains of his father, leading an Invasion of Ireland. The Irish were soon defeated and English power over the island was established. William did not have time to rest on his laurels, though, as 3 years later a huge peasant revolt broke out in Brittany. Strangely enough, the last heir of the French Kingdom reappeared at the same time, also in Brittany. The peasants defeated the French army, while William watched and laughed as his enemies fought themselves. 2 years later, another French army appeared in Brittany, and was again beaten by the rebels. By this time the peasant force had been severely reduced, and Prince Edmund led English forces in glorious victory over the rebels and reestablished dominance over the province.

Soon after that, another peasant revolt broke out in Ireland. The Irish army consisted of more than 2600 men, and English forces in Ireland stood no chance at all, and so Ireland was abandoned. The occurence of 2 peasant revolts so close together led William to the conclusion that enemy agents were operating in his empire, encouraging the rabble to take up arms against their betters. On the Kings orders, all provinces in the empire constructed Border Forts, reducing the chances that enemy spies and assassins could move from province to province undetected.

Towards the end of his reign, King William oversaw the invasion of Norway and Sweden. These provinces have many goods, and in time will become valuable parts of the English trading empire.

Before he died, King William advised his son Edmund that the infrastructure was in place to finnally launch an attack on either the HRE or to get revenge on the treacherous Spanish. England has the most wealth, the most troops and the most technological advancements in Europe. Use them!

I'll post the saved game as soon as I can upload it successfully.

Here we go:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/thekingofengland2.zip

If metalhead gets his game underway quickly ( hint hint ), I should be able to get mine finished and zipped back here before I go on hols tomorrow afternoon.

Actually I'm really looking forward to playing this one.

Since you have a special case you can go next and then Metalhead after you.

OK I will play this evening and zip it back forthwith.
Excellent, chivalry and valour await!!

Hey Napoleon, I dont think you zipped that up right, at least, there's nothing to download.

So, here's what we'll do:

Metalhead can go next.

I will start a new empire (Byzantium), Early, Normal, and you can use that as well...

...and I'll see how it's going when I get back

...so, Napoleon, if you sort out your zip with metalhead, that'll keep things moving and I'll also post my zip here with a 'King Of Byzantium' update, and you guys can deal with that (or not, it's up to you).

Yeah you have zipped it up incorrectly as the file size is 0.

Oops, that's weird. I didn't even notice that. I'll try it again.

Well if you can get the zip up by say 10.00 p.m. GMT I'll carry on with your zip. I'm on a dog-slow connection and only just downloaded the patch so, I'll check back in an hour or so.

cheers

Dammit! Whenever I upload the saved game it always says the size is Okb! Alright, I give up, somebody tell me how to correctly upload a saved game file.

Go to something like

C:\Program Files\Total War\Medieval - Total War\SaveGames\KingofEngland.cpg

on your pc, and zip it up onto your desktop to make things easier.

Then go to the post reply page, click on the browse button by the file attacher next to it, and attach the zip file from your desktop.

That should do it I think, unless that is what you've been doing?

edit: anyway, I've started the Byzantine thing so maybe metalhead can take it?

sorry guys! here I go. Be warned, I've had a couple beers, so this may not turn out all that well

OK, it's not working for me, either

Sorry about the mix up, guys. This SHOULD work:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads4/The_King_of_England_II.zip

got it, Nap! let's see how lucid a story I can write at the end....

Glad it worked. Turns out i was trying to upload the file unzipped, which was why it wasn't working.

Good luck, Guy Who Creates Awareness Of Duff!

The glorious reign of Edmund III has just ended with the monarch's tragic death, and his reign has been an eventful one, to say the least. Having ruled for 35 years, he guided the English empire through some early challenges to the brink of utter dominance over the European world.

The beginning of his reign saw the emergence of two threats - the Aragonese and the Danes. The Aragonese had threatened several provinces in the south of the burgeoning mainland empire, and their many heirs' bodyguards drove back Edmund's Anglican armies to the northern provinces. However, his skill and tenacity, along with the benefits of the large treasury left by his predecessor, allowed his armies to carry the day and reclaim those lands for England. Aragon was left teetering on the brink of extinction at the hands of the English when a messenger from the Pope arrived at Edmund's doorstep threatening excommunication if hostilities against Aragon continued. Edmund relented, sparing Aragon for the moment, but having successfully killed off all of the many heirs to the throne of Aragon in battle, England was able to easily seize Aragon when their monarch died a few years after hostilities had ceased.

The Danes posed a similar threat - many heairs meant many difficult units of royal bodyguards, and several fierce battles ensued for control of Sweden. In the end, however, England's vast resources proved too much for the fledgling Danes, and they suffered a fate similar to that of the Aragonese - annexation by the English. The only difference this time around was that the English army succeeded in taking all Danish lands before the Pope could intervene.

After those two threats had been dealt with, the monarch turned his eye to economic concerns. Much of his large treasury had been exhausted by ongoing war, and Edmund hoped to rectify this situation. A few skirmishes with the Italians and Sicilians provided minor setbacks, but subsequent alliances allowed Edmund to keep his fleet free from attack, and to extend his trade routes all the way to the hallowed shores of Constantinople. This newfound wealth enabled Edmund to acquire Ireland with no bloodshed - bloodless conquest being Edmund's preferred method, although during such brutal times, it was rarely practical.

Although the before mentioned accomplishments would be enough for any monarch to take his eternal rest with a light heart, Edmund had yet greater ambitions. To the East, Novgorod had carved out quite an empire for herself. However, she left a few rebel provinces on the coast that were begging for Edmund to pick. And pick, he did. It took many bribery attempts, which ran the treasury down to a mere few thousand florins. But Edmund had gotten the foothold he needed to launch a full scale attack against Novgorod, and he began in earnest to do so.

His army began a campaign which would consume the last 15 years of his reign, but upon his death, having already captured half of the lands belonging to Novgorod, he left England poised to take the rest with little or no trouble, and to make herself the pre-eminent Medieval power.

History will argue whether his greatest contribution was his vast expansion of the English territory, or that he was able to expand over 35 years while increasing England's national income, and leaving the throne with the treasury as rich as it was when he acceded. One thing is certain - only the most slope-headed, thick-browed monarch could take Edmund's empire and do anyhing but succeed!

Here is the minimap, and belive me, I am thoroughly disgusted that the Byzantines have disintegrated to the point that rebles are in control of Constantinople!

OK, I need some help posting the save - it's too big for the post upload function. Ideas?