For those who havent checked it out www.totalwar.org is a superb resource on everything Total War-related:)

Jorath: One more amusing detail is that your characters age at a rate of six months per turn, while each turn sees the passing of two years according to the in-game calendar:p The years/turn ratio can be change by modding some file which also gives you more time to finish the game.

Could it temporarily have needed 11GB for swapping during installation? You also need some extra free disk space for windows to run properly.
I think the ever increasing bloatedness of games stems from a combination of more in-game audio, higher resolution graphics taking up more space (compare the nubmers 1600x1200x16000000 and 800x600x256), and devs being lazier due to having more space to play with after the introduction of DVDs. Game mechanics and Artificial Intelligence are given an ever decreasing share of the resources:p

Game is OUTSTANDING. I've not had a single crash in almost 2 weeks of play, graphics are top notch on my a64-3000 with a 7800gtx, and the game plays OK on my Athlon XP with crappy 5700 card.

Combat is intense, AI is decent, other than some issues when you have second and third armies attacking a city or castle. (If those armies don't have siege equipment then they don't seem to ever DO anything... even if you run someone over to open the gate their attacking).

Actually, the AI is not that good at all, matter of fact, they are rather passive. I've had one of my cities attacked the other day, and the besiegers just stood there, they didn't even attempt to advance towards the citywalls, they also didn't bother to bring siege equipment. Even after i sent my archers outside the citywalls, and started taking out their infantry units one by one, they made no attempt to advance. Only after i sent out my cavalry on a full charge, they responded, and by that time they had already so many losses, that their will to fight was broken very quickly.

Well, I started playing it and I have to say it's really enjoyable so far - I have to turn the settings down to minimum to get about 15-20fps but I like the functionality. I was playing as England and was on the verge of taking Paris when I had my first crash. For some reason I can't get through that turn, so I have to start over. Anyone know what the Danes are like? I'm thinking of playing as them.

Well, playing as the Danes, you probably have your work cut out for yourself, seeing as they are surrounded by the Holy Roman Empire, France, en England, three major factions with the will to expand.

Well, I decided to expand in the area where there was no risk - north and northeast. I've now taken that Scandinavian area where Stockholm and Oslo are - there are HEAPS of resources there, one of them I'm getting about 40 florins a turn compared to 8 for the others.

I also did the land grab westwards and took Bruges and Antwerp before the Frogs did, and took Riga and Helsinki before Ivan did. The problem is, I now have a very broad front to defend. I'm guessing I might have to concede Riga and Helsinki if I get attacked as I really want to keep Antwerp and Bruges. I'm confident I can defend the Scandinavian homeland as my longboats rule the North Sea/Baltic Sea area.

So far I've survived with only having one castle - Hamburg (I made sure all the others were cities so I could up the taxes). What's everyone else's castle:city ratio? Mine's about 7:1 I think.

Playing as the English, i have two castles in Britain itself, and two on the European mainland. So far i've only conquered Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Flemmish cities Bruges and Antwerp, and parts of France. I have one army boarded for Jerusalem, which will, once captured, immediately be converted to a castle as well, because there's plenty of attacks to be expected in that region.

[ 12-18-2006, 08:08 AM: Message edited by: johnny ]

I'm on a crusade as well, bound for Venice (the buggers got excommunicated by the Pope, and as I have a perfect standing with him, he supported my call for a Crusade). I'm thinking I might not hold that particular city and might just sack it and go back home. [img]graemlins/evillaughter2.gif[/img]

Well, it's not exactly a crusade i'm on, Jerusalem just fell to a crusader army, but i wouldn't have a clue which nation took it. I'm sending an army anyway, because it's vital for finishing the campaign, and i don't really care who currently holds it, eventually i'll have to battle pretty much every faction present anyway, and i already am at war with the French, the Danes, and the Germans, so it couldn't get much worse anyway.

Playing as the English I have taken the British Isles, France, Jerusalem, Italy, most of north western africa and I'm now pwning my way through the Holy Roman Empire oh yes and I've also taken all of Scandanavia..... is there any way of attacking countries favoured by the pope and getting away with it???????????? :(