Basic Multiplayer tips wanted

[jutetrea]

Interesting, since I haven't got to the end game of an MP game yet most of my strats are based of SP which, well...just won't work

In regards to raiding, is it generally considered "worth" it to be an annoyance? Taking a province, not defending it, jacking the tax rate, and moving on? Or is it "better" to take it, pillage the heck out of it and then move on if you do not have full scout intelligence of what the enemy will hit you with?

From the above, it seems that early expansion is worth it if you can get big enough to be scary. How about if you can only reach middling status, but in doing so you may provoke attacks?

Stupid, subjective question: how often do you find that people are betrayed by their own coalition? I would think the coalition would work to keep everyone relatively equal and take everyone else out before "resetting" the alliances? Not so?

[Velusion]

I'm not a super expert like QM is but...

jutetrea said:
In regards to raiding, is it generally considered "worth" it to be an annoyance? Taking a province, not defending it, jacking the tax rate, and moving on? Or is it "better" to take it, pillage the heck out of it and then move on if you do not have full scout intelligence of what the enemy will hit you with?

Pillage it only if you don't plan on keeping it anytime soon... Usually I just up the tax rate and move on to raid more. Raiding is always useful because it puts them on the defensive and ties up troops they have. Often times you'll find that areas you thought they should just take right back they can't/won't.

jutetrea said:
From the above, it seems that early expansion is worth it if you can get big enough to be scary. How about if you can only reach middling status, but in doing so you may provoke attacks?

Early expansion is extremely important in MP. More areas = more gold = more troops = stronger military = bigger stick. You should always be taking at LEAST one indy province a turn in the early game. Many nations will be taking 2/3 per turn. To answer your question: Middling status is always better than smallish status... you never want to have the smallest empire... it's just a target on your forehead because they know you don't have the gold output to match them troop for troop.

jutetrea said:
Stupid, subjective question: how often do you find that people are betrayed by their own coalition? I would think the coalition would work to keep everyone relatively equal and take everyone else out before "resetting" the alliances? Not so?

Totally depends on the group dynamic and personalities. The larger the coalition the harder it is for it to work. In my experience... once the immediate threat of "super-empire" is gone the coalition falls apart.

[quantum_mechani]

Velusion said:

Pillage it only if you don't plan on keeping it anytime soon...

I would even extend that to not using the pillage command under almost any cicimstances. If you have a military force in enemy territory, it is almost always more productive to simply take another province rather than hang around. 200% taxes works plenty well for disrupting the enemy and gaining a quick cash boost.

[jutetrea]

agree on the pillage, never once used it in SP (or my limited MP)

Good tips.. couple questions on the miscellaneous tips:

Don't use cav or low prot infrantry - beyond the obvious chaff that you expect to die, could you elaborate? Even high prot cav with a lance/hoof?

regarding infantry I always thought spear/repel was good, recently there was a series of posts where they actually did the math and it looks like crap. What is generally regarded as better, glaive, broadsword, morningstar (few) or what? Is having a shield always better than not unless you have a 8+ or 9+ 2H?

Does the comment regarding human rainbows include lich/master?

regarding decoys...is more better? 1-5 clumps of 1-5 units to draw fire/melee?

Thanks for the tips folks, keep em coming... diplomacy bits are great too. Obviously everyone is different and group dynamics will rule, but general tips are still good.