Scotland

[PuppetMaster]

YO Scotland can be NUTs if you play them correctly (lol seems like all factions are like this haha).

I played as Scotland on a H/H and I ended up in America fighting Aztecs with nasty upgraded highland nobles and noble swordsmen (which was awesome to watch, haha). Not to mention, it was EXTREMELY entertaining to click on a group of troops and to hear 'assemblin the lads' in a strong Scottish accent as aztec jaguar troops were running right at me haha.




To respond to an earlier post, the Scots DO crusade. As a matter of fact, I played as the turks once and the scots launched a crusade and took constantinople from me....twas a day of sadness haha.

[TeutonicKnight]

Playing Scotland with vanilla 1.2 patch installed, one year per turn.

My first time as a Scot. Usually they are just targets. I take a measured pace in growth, establishing alliances and only going to war against people who have declared on me. Scotland is turning out to be the exception, and I'm having a lot of fun doing it.

I started out like all the rest, taking York, Caernevon, Dublin, and then Inverness in that order. I actually expected the English to hold to the alliance longer, because they were already at war with with France in the Angers region. Unfortunately, the bloody English thought otherwise, and took York and Caernevon simultaneously while I was seiging Inverness. After taking Inverness, I quickly retrained what I could, and headed south.

My spy in York saw the main English army leave, heading north. I couldn't reach it that year, so instead I picked a likely piece of woodlands and prepared an ambush on the off chance I could catch the English army on the march.

The next thing I knew, I'd done it. I caught their army in an ambush, and destroyed it to a man. I charged them with my spear militia from one side, and when they turned to face them, I charged my highlanders from the other side (their rear), and my two generals charged the head of the line. Not even the enemy general made it out alive. Hell of a battle, and a total massacre, but I am quickly learning to love Highland axes.

After that, recovering Caernavon and York was a cakewalk, but I needed another refit before I was able to have a go at Nottingham. By now though, France and England had settled their differences, and I knew I would soon be facing more troops, likely veterans from their campaigns in France.

Sure enough, by the time I get my feild army back to Nottingham, it's nearly fully garrisoned. Mailed knights, longbowmen (damn those guys to hell), and levy spearmen. I think about it, and decide odds are not in my favor, and move my spy and army to London. I figure they'll either ignore me, chase me, or take York again, but I'll get London either way.

I lay seige to London. Of course the army chases me, but doesn't attack that year. It's just far enough away not to be able to reinforce London. The next year, I attack, and my spy opens the gates for me. London falls almost instantly, and sacking brings my treasury back into a decent level for the first time in ages. The English army retreats to Nottingham where it dies a slow beseiged death over the next few years.

Now about the year 1200, I've got France down to Marseille, and I've taken almost all of western Europe from Hamburg to Staufen to Pamplona. :)

My opinions on the Scots:

They seem to be excellent ambushers. I've managed to pull off more ambushes with the Scots than any other faction I've played. I'm not sure if it's because I'm trying more due to their lack of spears, or if I'm getting lucky, but I've completely destroyed at least three full stacks with minimal losses, and numerous smaller ones. Highlanders pwn anything in an ambush. :)

Unfortunately, they are very cash poor starting out. I was desperate for every florin once my starting cash ran out. Sacking was next to useless as most towns in the early years in England don't have any wealth. I had to deliberately choose military troop training to keep my war going with England, and several years went by before I could start building again. Once you've sacked London though, and can get merchants going in England, your cash worries are over.

Crusades are far more a tool of politics than a means of expansion. I've been the catalyst for every crusade after the first one. I've targetted Venice, Milan, Staufen, and Pamplona as nations are excommunicated. I've only participated in (and taken) Staufen and Pamplona. The two crusades on Milan and Venice were excellent ways of breaking up major alliances and sowing discord among my enemies. Venice, Milan, France, and Hungary formed major power blocks twice, but after the last crusade, they are firmly at war with each other for now. I kept my trade and didn't break my relations with any of them by not actually crusading against them. Apparently calling a crusade doesn't matter, it's only if you join it that counts against you in relations.

Unit wise, I prefer the noble flavors more so than the regular. Of course for archers and pikes, it's a no brainer, but normal Highlanders are armor-piercing. Noble Highlanders seem to perform better though, esp in a frontal attack, despite their lack of armor-piercing. Border Horse are just plain awesome. I've got two units of Border Horse that are now up to two gold chevrons, and they make very short work of routers and archer units. They are awesome flankers. Pikes are another very nice thing to have for once too. I was expecting them to melt in front of archers, and they do, but they are numerous enough to last a while. Noble Pikes can even handle most archer fire, except crossbows. Pikes will stop anything cold. A line of pikes to take the charge, and a line of Noble Highlanders behind to charge through the ranks and take on the stationary attackers works really well for me. For cavalry, forget everything else once you have Templars. Those are the best cav you can get, and you won't want anything else once you get them. I've got a Templar HQ in Nottingham pumping out +2xp Templars every chance I get. I don't retrain them, I merge and replace. They move fast enough to keep me in cav so far.

The major issue I am foreseeing is when gunpowder arrives. Scotland's lack of gunpowder units is simply going to compound the lack of armor piercing missile units. I'm hoping to have myself established enough by then that I can make up the lack with artillery. Otherwise I'll be spending a crapload on mercenary units and hope gunpowder makes it onto the merc roster. So far, I've survived on the fact that no other European power has been able to reach high tech units. I don't see how my NH archers will be able to compete with Genoese xbows or the like.

[Shifty66]

I cant wait till i buy this game next tuesday so i can use the scots.
Just a question When you go to that page where you can unlock the scots etc With the nonplayable countrys if you move them into playable does anything happen?

[Stuperman]

I cant wait till i buy this game next tuesday so i can use the scots.
Just a question When you go to that page where you can unlock the scots etc With the nonplayable countrys if you move them into playable does anything happen?

yes, in the descr_strat file if you move the scots to playable you can play with them straight away.

[Shifty66]

haha yep i knew that, sorry i probaly did not make much sence. What i meant was if you put say the rebels into the playable group will you be able to play them?

[Shifty66]

Woops i meant slaves

[TeutonicKnight]

No.

[John_Longarrow]

TeutonicKnight,

A note on Scotish archers. They are better in hand to hand than just about any one elses. That means when you face large numbers of crossbows, you CHARGE. Nothing like laying down a constant barrage of arrows on an enemy then going straight at them to discourage enemy archers.

[Shifty66]

Hmm ok im trying to tweak the Descr_strat file. When i try to save it after i have changed it. It says i am denied access.

[Sir Robin the Brave]

shifty66 the file is set to read only, you need to uncheck it in properties

[Shifty66]

oh i see! lol well i finished a campaign anyway so its all good.

[samiosumo]

I started by taking York and Caernovan. Then Dublin came down and I made it my capital. I've ignored inverness for now as it's garrison is really big.

[samiosumo]

the popes called a crusade to Jerusalem. My merchants are making me loads and i'm the richest and strongest in the game. The english are annoyed after several assassinations and sabotages in Nottingham. Won't attack me! How can I get them to?

[JohnTravoltaTotalWar3]

Well i rekon if you called them benders over the headset they willl try to bang you out!





Also a new member boasting you name is saying that you have a cave! how obsered, you cant get caves on TotalWar except using the cheats on JohnTravoltaTotalWar3

[auzlin]

I love playing the Scots, so this is my second time around. It’s funny how a minor change in strategy can change the coarse of history. You’ll see what I’m talking about below…enjoy!

I started with the standard approach, taking York and Wales. The English approached me about trade rights, but I’m not a big fan of them in this game, so I send them on their way. I follow this up with taking Nottingham and London off their hands. I then move north and take Inverness and Dublin. An interesting note here. While I was playing with the English I noticed that Portugal kept trying to take Dublin. I think 4 tries in total.

Immediately after securing Dublin I moved down to take Caen, finishing off the English once and for all. Their full stack never made it back in time to protect it, so now they are wandering around my countryside. Several attempts to bribe them have failed, but I’ll keep trying.

At this point I sent out my diplomats, spies and assassins. I decided to keep my assassins busy by limiting the French royalty. This should benefit me later. My diplomats opened trade routes and I decided that an alliance with Spain would be an interesting twist this time around. They readily agree.

Next I realized that Portugal had managed to take Rennes. That was interesting, as it ties in with their attempts on Dublin. I decide that this city can be easily protected from Caen, so I take it as well. I immediately follow up with a ceasefire agreement, as I don’t have time to go down to Portugal and take the rest of their civilization. They didn’t forget the attack though, as seen below.

Considering the amount of money I am making each turn (about 6000 florins), I decide to try something new. I bought Bordeaux from France for 1000 florins for 5 turns. I probably shouldn’t have done this, as it gave them too much money to build up their troops. However, I have never bought a castle before and thought it would be fun. Besides, I thought it would keep the French off my back for a bit while I think about what to do next. Little did I know how much they didn’t like that deal.

Before I go there, I want to talk about Bruges next. My assigned missions usually include the taking of Bruges, but due to my attack on England before taking Inverness and my attack on Portugal, my next mission was to blockade one of Portugal’s ports. This puts an interesting twist into my game that I have not seen before. In the past, Denmark had played a key role in my game, as they would land troops on my island constantly and attack my cities. London was a particular favorite. However, I attribute my lack of conflict with them thus far in this game to Bruges. The French have it, and Denmark wants it (as they always do). I figure I’ll let them bicker over it, effectively keeping my island free of invaders.

Now here’s where I find my first hurdle. I have purchased Bordeaux and I previously attacked Portugal. While they are not allied, they end up hitting me on the same turn. France blockades my port in London and Portugal attacks Bordeaux. I immediately destroy the blockade and attack Angers in retaliation. Portugal’s attack on Bordeaux fails, but leaves me wounded. I end up taking Angers the next turn, but Portugal still has two almost full stacks running around Bordeaux and Angers.

At this point I have 3 castles on the Mainland and 1 city. Yes it’s hostile, but not that hostile. I convert Caen, my least developed castle into a city. I leave Angers and Bordeaux at this time because they are fully loaded fortresses and I cannot bring myself to change them. BTW, my only castle on the islands is in Wales. I will leave that there until I rid myself of the Danes.

This is where I am, and it’s fun so far. My plan is to wipe Portugal from the face of the Earth as my assassins keep the French in line. I will use my alliance with Spain to secure Military assistance, as it will take a while to get down to Portugal’s two remaining cities.

After Portugal is gone, I expect to wipe out France. This is for no other reason than they don’t like me and I don’t feel like fixing that problem. This leaves me back were I used to be, which is a conflict with Denmark over Bruges. I could give it to them as a gift and then conquer the Southern parts of Europe, but that’s not really my personality type. So, I guess Denmark is next, which I find to be fairly boring. Then I can start the fun again. My guess is that this time I will go through Spain and take the Moors in Northern Africa. Then again, I’m really tired of the pope, so maybe I take all the cities in the giant boot. We’ll see, at least I don’t expect to face the Mongols. I can’t stand the Mongols!

[Gibb The Great]

Ok this is my 1st post here. To get to Scotland i played with England until i beat Scotland.

So i started my Scotland tour after reading all your posts. So rather than "beating" England to York and the Wales castle, i just combined both free standing armies and march past York to Nottingham, why beat them to the punch when you can just flat out beat them up. Not before sending my diplomat to the princess and getting her to marry my faction heir (which turned out pointless anyway).

I attacked Nottingham with both Generals and other units (can't remember which ones exactly). While waiting for siege equipment to be built i was attacked by 3 small English armies. When the battle started i had two armies behind me and one in front, the setting was in Nottingham forest raining and stormy. I charged the smallest army in front of me so i could turn around and fight the other two coming up my rear. While doing so i lost sight of my generals and thought they were in a safe place, wrong. In short both generals were killed but i won the battle fending off 3 armies while taking the castle. Lucky for me there are two generals to be in my tree line to start off so as long as i keep my King safe i was golden.

With the Pope warning me and worried that the English would attack i sent my diplomat to London and bargained a ceasefire, which the accepted. I sent my spy to Wales to keep an eye on the English attacking them, they kept getting beaten back. So i sat there after a few turns of building up troops, once the English attacked and were beaten away i would attack the next turn. Its was piss easy.

After taking Wales and Nottingham i asked England for an alliance they accepted with a "its finally to be allied with somebody trustworthy" i laughed abit. Since the English and French were at war and weren't attacking me i took York and got 3 Knights reward. I completed another mission and got 3 more Knights. I took those Knights to Dublin and sacked it.

After that I took London easily, then i thought i may travel North to take the last castle on the island. Just as i reached them the Nobles told me to take them and 2500 bonus if i do, score.

Now its "My Island", I have only 1 castle on my island and the rest are cash cows. I have agents on the mainland gathering trade rights and knocking off people. I have a ring of fleets around me to sink anything that i'm at war with.

Some notes
I have the richest faction
The Pope loves me
The English have been banned
My generals are breeding like rabbits

[Magraev]

Welcome to the org Gibb.

Good luck with the scots.

[John_Longarrow]

Gibb,

That "They breed like rabbits" line is EXACTLY what my Girlfriend said about the Scottish generals!!! LOL

[McJohnny]

Hi guys...I'm sort of new here, too...


So...let's start...

After completing a short with Spain (quite enjoyable, but not so easy, not even on M/M...but it was my first, so...), I decided to try H/H (the second H doesn't really count as I automatically resolve most of the important battles...).
I chose Scotland because I enjoy hearing their accent, and because they have a great starting position...


First thing to do was sending some of the troops held in Edinburgh to both of my armies (and balance them out a bit, too), and I also added 1 merc unit at each army. I sent them down to York and Wales, and took both cities without much problems...

Meanwhile, I concentrated on income in Edinburgh, and also on recruiting Diplomats.

"Diplomacy tactic:" Sounds silly, but...well, I sent three diplomats on the Continent, and made alliance with ALL European factions + Moors and Turks (+Trade Rights & Map Info.). On the start, this is easily done, since all factions consider your alliance offer as "very generous". I've managed to get from each faction 2000-3000 florins (either straight away, or as a regular tribute), which helped my development very very much.

Of course, I couldn't do that in just a few turns due to slow Diplomats...so there is another...

...meanwhile, I reinforced my armies on the borders and Edinburgh, and sent the army on the North on a mission to Inverness (and then Dublin afterwards), and the army on the South to Nottingham, that was practically undefended (English were concentrating on the continent...). I took Nottingham, retrained my forces, and immediately attacked London...I got excommunicated, but I didn't care really...I had the British Isles under my control...

Then I converted Welsh castle to a city to generate more income, and I sent all my units not needed in cities (almost all except militia) to London, and recruited some in Nottingham...I sent them to the continent seeing that Caen was undefended, too...I took it, but saw that England conquered Rennes, so after some turns, I took Rennes, and exterminated English faction. What a pleasure... :P

After the English were gone, I concentrated on still rebel towns east of Caen. Antwerp was a mission, too. But the s***-heads Germans surprised me, and attacked Antwerp with a huge army...but they didn't assault, because my rescue party was on it's way+the army in Bruges...

So I just HAD to take revenge, and the opportunity was perfect: the Pope requested my leader to join the Crusade, and I did. I got half of my army at a Crusader discount price, and since GHE got excommunicated, too, I conquered Frankfurt, Nuremburg and Prague without any desertion on my way down (I would get to Jerusalem far far back anyway)...after that, I was only one region away from a victory, but I didn't notice that at all...forgot to count After around 10 turns I turned to polish who were hated by all anyway, and conquered one of their cities and won the Campaign...


So, I must say that despite I was playing on H/H, it was MUCH easier than with Spain...and I did it in only 53 turns...but it surely was enjoyable!

[Benandorf]

Started a Scottish campaign a few nights ago, and so far I've been loving them. Had no real problems with the English, and now I control all of great Britan and am about to start taking English settlements in France at turn 45.

I've found that it's best to quickly take the two southern rebel settlements before moving north, simply so you'll be able to get those southern settlements. Once you have those (and those to the north, including Dublin), fill up those two stacks you started with and march on Nottingham and London at once. With some luck you can take them both in a turn or two, and the Pope won't be too angry. At that point it's fairly simple to move on down into France and push into mainland Europe.

Another big help is to send a few diplomats into Europe immidietly with the goal of getting trade rights with everyone, and alliances with all you can. After doing this, I've had no problems with money at all, and hopefully this will protect from any multi-front wars.

One problem I've had is sieges. I just can't seem to win them without taking huge casualties. So I have a question: Is this just how it should be for Scotland early on, am I simply too used to Spain's way of fighting, or what's the deal? Am I just awful at sieges?

[Brusilov]

Build up a fairly good army and then call a crusade (I usually pick a region, such as Antioch, that is rebel). Choose that army as your crusading army and park it on the border of England. Hire crusading mercenaries to boost the power of your army. All the units in the army will be free from upkeep, allowing you to park them on the border of your enemy without any cost to your finances. Once the crusade target has been taken (usually by Venice, as they are closer), steamroll all over England with your knights.

If you build a crusading army it needs to keep moving towards the target of the crusade. If you don't then the units will start to desert.

I have found that the AI regularly marches armies all over the place and does not appear to be affected by this. I've been playing M2:TW 1.02.

[McJohnny]

If you build a crusading army it needs to keep moving towards the target of the crusade. If you don't then the units will start to desert.

True.

I have found that the AI regularly marches armies all over the place and does not appear to be affected by this. I've been playing M2:TW 1.02.

Not so sure 'bout that.



@Benandorf - Well, nice to hear I'm not the only one that sucks at sieging...you need some practice, and it'll go better...also, take your time, do not rush into the walls. Leave the archers to shoot for some time and take as many enemies down as possible. DO NOT rush with battering ram and siege towers and ladders...enemy will probably take them on fire before you'll get to the walls/gate, so I THINK it should go like this:

->send out your archers to shoot at the units on the walls-keep them in a long enough distance so your enemy won't take them all down
->keep your cavalry behind...for now
->when you feel the moment of truth is coming, send the archers closer, and send all infantry running towards the wall, and at the same time, send you siege machinery in attack (so they will distract enemy's fire missiles)
->if needed, send out your general's cavalry on FAST run around your towers/rams (so they will, hopefully, distract enemy's fire missiles if they turn attention to you siege machinery...)
->when you breach the gates, if there's waiting cavalry, send out your spearmen, or in you don't have them, cavalry...do NOT use other infantry, you'll be smashed
->if there are spearmen behind, take them out with all your infantry (except for archers of course...)-do not forget to take charge bonus advantage if possible
->if there are any other infantry units such as town militia, archers, that doesn't have bonus for fighting cavalry, take them out with your charging horse riders...they will beg for mercy!
->if there are lots of infantry units (not necessary which units...if there's alot, it doesn't matter so much...), TRY to run your cavalry through all the massacre at the gates, and charge at the infantry from behind...


These are my tips, BUT note that I'm FAR away from being an expert (main reason is that I mostly automatically resolve battles... ).

Please, anybody that can give any more advice, and/or correct my strategy, feel more than free to do so.

[Benandorf]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll work on those, I think (from what you've said) my biggest problem is that I start moving towards the walls ASAP instead of softening them up. And I'm inexperienced in it because I've pretty much auto resolved any sieges that have more than one wall, or is completely one sided.

I do know that those english longbows on the walls really make my Highlander archers hurt.

[McJohnny]

I do know that those english longbows on the walls really make my Highlander archers hurt.

Yeah, that could very well be one big problem, so, start distracting them and send the siege machinery into action...I think :)

[Benandorf]

Ug, siege equipment is such a hassle to carry around (and to make early on). Makes my quick conquests turn into "sack, walk for 10 turns, sack, walk for 10 turns, repeat till death by old age".

On the other hand, that would be very nice. The AI sucks at taking units off breaking walls.

[McJohnny]

Ug, siege equipment is such a hassle to carry around (and to make early on). Makes my quick conquests turn into "sack, walk for 10 turns, sack, walk for 10 turns, repeat till death by old age".

On the other hand, that would be very nice. The AI sucks at taking units off breaking walls.

Not sure if there was any misunderstanding, but I was talking about siege towers and rams and ladders.

[Benandorf]

Ah, I thought you meant Catapults, Ballistas, Cannons, etc.

[ninjahboy]

one of my favourite factions the scotts :D
my strategy take the isles then build up strength for a several full stacked invasion of the mainland then spread like a plague into Europe :D
dont go straight into Europe go along the coasts then move in that way you have your flanks covered and you minimise the front that ou fight on. always a problem when invading Europe :(
Fully upgraded noble swordsman heavy plate or whatever and the best arms etc on guard mode infront of the castle gates - can dfend against an entire army ;)

[Joh]

Hi everybody!

I just started a Scott game, and my intention is to respect the English for as long as possible to make for an interesting game. Has anybody tried this approach before?

My first moves are the typical ones.
Military: Take York, Wales (even though the English beat me to it, they failed to conquer it), Iverness (turned to city) and Dublin in that order. Fortified settlements are sieged until they sally, whereas settlements without walls are taken within the turn.
Diplomatic: Build a diplomat to ship it to Spain (allied), then Portugal and South European countries countries and Papal States (trade rights). With starting diplomat, first get trade agreements with England and ship it off to continental Europe for trade agreements with as many countries as possible.

Then, I do not go for the English as I play the good Christian and think it will be funnier to have a better challenge later in the game. I move to present Norway, conquering Oslo (converted to city). At present time (turn 25 maybe???) moving to modern day Sweden.

As it can be seen, I favour economic development rather than militaristic. I have build merchants and trained them in Nottingham (wool???) and Norway (fish???) for getting monopolistic traits, them moved them to the amber deposits to get the big cash. Then train some more until agent limit is reached.

Probably I will explore Finland and conquer it if rebel, then depending on the status with England start some crusading against Rusia (never used crusades that much before, so it could be fun) or fend off English attacks. Probably won't be able to do much counter attack as my best units are in my attacking army in Scandinavia now.

This is possibly not the way to beat the game, but it is going to be very interesting in mid and late game due to a poor Scottish unit rooster. Maybe it is actually the way to go, to develop a power house economy to finance all the missile mercenary units Scotland is going to be needing in the future.

Let me hear your comments on this strategy.

[Barbarian]

It is close to strategy, which I once used. But I only didn't fought English until the year 1270 or something like that. I had made alliances with every faction in the Europe (until they started killing each other ), also with papal states. In fact, I only waited for England to strike me first, because then I wouldn't loose a support from pope.
Unfortunately, I decided that the end of the 13th century is the best moment to destroy english.