Slitherine

In my current campaign I'm playing as England. It's turn 260 and I'm in fifth place in legacy. Seljuks and Byzantines are in 1st and 2nd place.

My problem is that I'm having doubts about ever catching either of them in legacy. I'm currently getting about 600 legacy a turn, but both the Seljuks and Byzantines get around 1k a turn. My legacy rate is slowly growing, but by the time it reaches 1k the game will be nearly over. They are both about 110k legacy whereas I'm only about 64k.

As England, I am currently a young unruly Empire. I control modern England, (not Wales or Scotland), and all of western and southern France. I also have the province of Navarre in Iberia. My regions are well populated and developed. I'm currently trying to maximize legacy by building legacy structures whenever possible and maximizing Piety and Stewardship. I'm on good terms with all my neighbors including France.

I have two 600+ strength Field Armies in France with very experienced troops, with small forces in Ulster and London.

My question is what is my best strategy to try to win, given my current situation?

I was thinking about getting an alliance with the Byzantines to use their territory as a base and sending the maximum sized force to the Middle east to try to beat down the Seljuks, then turn on the Byzantines. Is that a viable strategy? Has anyone else transported a large army that far away?

I realize i have to be careful about supply, both enroute and at my destination. That's why I figure an alliance with the Byzantines would help.

The only other option I can see is to concentrate on legacy building and hope that the Byzantines and Seljuks destroy each other. They have been at war off and on for a long time. But it has seemed to harm either of them.

Thanks in advance for any tips and observations.

Patrat wrote: ↑Tue Jul 08, 2025 6:48 pm Thanks in advance for any tips and observations.

You should read my AAR as Estonia on Suicidal. I secured Alliances and Passage Rights with multiple nations before turn 50. Poland, Hungary were the most relevant ones allowing me to get to Byzantines. Lucky for me HRE was out of the game early locked within 2 regions for the rest of the game. So I used Diplomacy to get me 8 Heavy Cavalry Early Knights, 4 Heavy Infantry Offensive Early Spears and the rest comprised from my national troops laundered through vassal for discounts and to bypasss a 5 SAU limit.

I arrived at Byzantine Balkan borders at turn 85 IIRC. My advantage was in the fact that Pagan religion allowed me to Abandon Christian and Muslim regions. Look at strategemas for conducting the wars that are heavy on Abandon action linked in my first post. I basically had only 2 stacks, which allowed me to conquer bunch of Abandoned territories + spend gained War Score to trade for their Capital and more provinces in Peace Deal. That the best way to cut off their Legacy gain and get you some more.

Once you halved their territory therefore reduced Legacy gain the next bounce back and forth wars between Byzantines and Seljuks will be done to gain 1000 WS to cash in for 10000 Legacy Concessions. With the amount of stacks you have it will be easy to do. As Estonia at turn 150 I won two wars against Byzantines and could support 4 Rough stacks or 2 Plain frontage stacks. At your turn is way higher than that. So yes, your though process is alright. But you can't wait for low percentage chances Alliances or Passage Rights, so maybe have to DoW nations on your path to move through them.

Great. Thanks for the tips.