True, but you don't need to buy such structures in all your areas. I pick a few key areas to build castles and troops. As for the others, I check which of the lands behind my lines have the highest annual income and build as many farmlands as I can there, it's also smart to raise taxes in loyal provinces while dropping it in..uh.. unloyal or newly conquered lands.

Inquisitors are really annoying, the other factions always send some, and they just sit there in your province accusing your generals of heresy and trying to burn them.

I never make more than one spy and one assasin. It make it easier to keep track of them. The higher I got is 6 rank for an assasin and 5 for a spy.

I just find that the farmlands need too long to pay themselves off, the increase in profits is simply too small.

I always build spies and assassins in huge numbers, that way I always have a pretty clear picture about who's messing with me. (I even had the pope try to assassinate one of my bishops :D )
I never build emmissaries untill I need them though, they always get killed before long, so I finally figured, what's the point, they're just a money sink.

Emmissaries are way better spies, they don't get killed just for standing in another faction's territory.

They can also be very usefull.

In my most recent game, I sent an emmisary to bribe the army guarding the papal state. The pope was caught by surprise and the next turn I controled rome had killed the pope.

ABout those inquisitors...how do I get them to accuse an enemy general of heresy? All they ever do for me is preach. Do I just drop them on an enemy general?

That would be the correct approach Mem.

I'm surprised though that you've never noticed them starting an inquisition.

I once conquered constantinople using nothing but 7 spies, 8 inquisitors, 10 bishops and 2 emissaries. In two years I had the castle, and no enemy troops in the land,meaning by year three it was mine.

How does that work BoB?

Christian rebellions, as soon as I moved any one military unit(a group of cavalry in this case) the rebels in the land(some 2k of them) sided with me and I got the land with the empty castle(I got mistaken in my previous post).

You managed to spark a Christian Rebellion in Constantinople? That's pretty impressive [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]