ETW SO SO EASY

[hathanhson]

so easy to win Grand Campaign on VH/VH than any other previous Total War.

Trade a lot, buy province. Avoid war.

Trade a lot: quite obvious, try to get trade agreement w/ lots of factions early on. within ten turn you should get like profit of 100k or 200k. after 20+turn, as UP my profit is like 500k a turn.
Avoid war, no no, war is bad, any one near you dislike you, gave them gift,

And buy provinces: early on, those island on caribe worth like 30-80k. and guess what. Cuba alone bring me 50k per turn. buy all those caribe island.

and buy all province in South america from new spain. much better way than started a war. also, when you buy province, they hardly revolt (no need for huge garrison, i love it)

Build up a huge armies. each theater i have like 5 full stack on ready to go status.

I play quite peaceful for the first 20 turn, only building and trading economy. and when my armies is ready, i pick on weak opponent with few trade partner and no allies. just buy all their province, they only keep capital, prepare your armies --> declare war --> move in. I can destroy a nation in a single turn. so actually my list of enemies is very few. always only 1 or 2.

sum it up, money rule, and be diplomatic, save your friends and alliance for the last war.

I feel AI so dumb. they let me do the same tactic again and again. As UP, i hit otoman, russia, marathay, Mugal, Persia, all the same way.

that's why i feel so bored, and bad. why would a nation ready to sell all their provinces. i bought all ottoman, anatolia, egypt, syria, palestine, for like 1millions = 2 turn profit. so cheap. most province AI would sell for 100k, strategic province, maximum is like 300k,

well, i feel bad for exploit this tactics so much as UK, France, UP, Marathay, Ottoman, i mean this tactic work almost for any faction. Just get the caribe island first.

AI got no sense of strategic thingking. Much like playing chess with an old computer, u can just make a sacrifie and win the game.

I expected some thing more.

And CA should have some hot key build in more. oh god, clicking mouse is so tired. And a feature of update all, or something. each time i got a new technology, i have to cycle through so many farm and town and mines and ... or dear. so many times lost for micro repeated task.

[Ishmael]

500k a turn?! 50k from Cuba?! I didn't know it was even possible to get that much from a single region.
As the Marathas, with all of India, the Carribean, and Sth/Central America fully upgraded (except for some of the american regions) I still only get 110k a turn. And this is all workshop buildings, except for enough pleasure buildings to maintain order, as well as trade with everybody possible. Are you doing something special here?
Last thing, you can use the autobuild button and the computer will build and upgrade for you. With that much money coming in you probably wont be that fussed about what it builds, so it saves time.

Oh yes, and Welcome to the Org!

Hey, nifty, 100th post. YAY!!!

[maestro]

I have to be honest: I have a REAL HARD TIME believing those figures 100k PROFIT by 10 turns? I doubt you'd be getting much like 100k income, never mind profit Half a mil profit by 20 turns? No way. Simply not possible. And 50k PROFIT, PER TURN? From one island?

You're gonna need to back up those outlandish claims with some pictars innit

[pevergreen]

Pics or it didnt happen.

E:TW is harder to win.

Patches will make it harder as well. (no more buying provinces as much etc)

[Miracle]

This guy is obviously a troll inspired by this earlier, similar thread.

[Turbosatan]

It always boggles my mind when I read posts like the OP's.

Sure it's possible to play like this, but why in the sacred unknowable name of dog would you want to? To "prove a point"? To "prove CA are cheating" you?

The point is to build troops & fight battles,right? So why would you avoid this? WHY man, WHY?


Ahem.

[Ishmael]

It always boggles my mind when I read posts like the OP's.

Sure it's possible to play like this, but why in the sacred unknowable name of dog would you want to? To "prove a point"? To "prove CA are cheating" you?

The point is to build troops & fight battles,right? So why would you avoid this? WHY man, WHY?


Ahem.

Nice use of the dramatic 'Ahem,' there Turbosatan. Well done.
Ill second your point there, they did call the games 'Total War' for a very good reason. Still, I suppose you should play however you like to.

Ill also second the others in calling for screenshots-500k a turn seems too good to be true.

[Dayve]

First of all, i have a hard time believing you are making 500k a turn. 50k a turn i could believe easily because i have done it as Great Britain, but only when i was very developed in industry and had conquered many lands from France and Spain, but 500k a turn sounds like an exaggeration, and a big one at that.

Second, one of my pet hates, exploiting the AI and then complaining about it. Simply put, don't exploit the AI. You've only yourself to blame for your games being boring. 5 full stacks in every region you own is unrealistic to begin with. A full stack in this game should represent around 30-50% of your nations entire military strength, no matter how big, unless you're playing as a nation that has 6 or 7 other factions on its borders, then it's alright to have 3 full stacks to cover the borders.

Third, buying provinces. You said it yourself: Why should the AI want to sell its provinces? It shouldn't, except under certain circumstances, so don't do it.

[Beskar]

"get lots and lots of trade... as UP!"

It's impossible, as trade is heavily restricted via sea in number, especially as UP as it is only one port worth of trade routes.

It is an obvious troll.

[anweRU]

The only way to get more trade ports as UP is to capture Flanders -> France, or Hannover->Brandenburg or Denmark.

I can believe 150K/turn profit, which I achieved in my Swedish game with only ~30 provinces. BUT in 1745! With all industrial and enlightenment techs maxed out (except for abolishion of slavery), all ports, plantations, farms & industries maxed, and trading with almost every surviving European power (Prussia, Russia, Poland, Courland, Saxony, Crimea & Denmark KIA) + Marathas.

[nafod]

Is it easy? Of course it is. Especially if you play a nation that's main theatre of activity isn't mainland Europe. I'd lump GB and the UP into this category, Spain and France tend to struggle a bit compared to these superior starting positions.

[DisruptorX]

Pics or it didnt happen.

E:TW is harder to win.

Patches will make it harder as well. (no more buying provinces as much etc)

Harder than what? Certainly not Rome, where you had to leave full stacks in every corner, since all cities rebelled on a 5 year rotation, or MTW 2, where profits rarely kept up with army costs unless you played certain factions. Now, I don't think that easier access to money is necessarily a bad thing. Just saying. Game is ridiculously easy.

[Skott]

The TW games are not meant to be too difficult or too hard to beat IMO. CA has to strike a balance to appeal to gamers of all difficulty levels. CA does allow for modders however to make the game more difficult through various ways. Given time you'll find some mods (if they are not already out there) that'll give the hardcore more challenges for their money. I find the AI, although not perfect (No game AI is), is better than past TW games. Thats just my opinion though.

As for the OP's original claims of profit... I'll take the stand others earlier have said, Show me proof. Its not hard to make money in the game once you learn the ins and outs of trade and taxes but I'm not seeing it anywhere near the levels the Op is claiming.

Also, to keep five full army stacks in the field you dont need to make the profit levels the OP claims. I usually keep four or five full stacks in the field on much less once I got a decent empire going. Its not that difficult. In the beginning years, yes, but not in later years.

[G^2]

I wonder where Pizzas at taking over all three theaters in 5 turns. . . .

[DisruptorX]

The TW games are not meant to be too difficult or too hard to beat IMO. CA has to strike a balance to appeal to gamers of all difficulty levels. CA does allow for modders however to make the game more difficult through various ways. Given time you'll find some mods (if they are not already out there) that'll give the hardcore more challenges for their money. I find the AI, although not perfect (No game AI is), is better than past TW games. Thats just my opinion though..

I loathe this argument, that games shouldn't be hard because there are people who can't play on hard, its a fallacy. Difficulty is what difficulty sliders are for. If "Hard" in your game isn't hard, its too easy.

Example of a game that has a real hard mode: Dynasty Warriors 6. The hardest difficulty setting is barely doable. The easiest is exactly that, easy.

Example of a game that is too easy: Empire Total War. You can't lose!

[hathanhson]

wow, that big a forum and no one exploited it.

sure, give me 12 hours, I'm at office now, you will have your screen-shot.


i'm just a die-hard fan, since shogun, and i feel bad for ETW kind of unbalanced.

I love battle of course, in MTW, i used to conquer most europe and prepare for the mongol to showup, oh how i miss the mongul, that twist at the end, i need to have 2,3 time that number to counter them.
And one thing, before battle can fight with more than 2 full stack. now, i can not fight with all my stacks, just wait for reinforcement, and you know what, i broke the bank for the PC to play ETW, yes it's true. i got a corei7, 6gddr3, hd:1tb, vga: 4870G.

my strategy starting from MTW, where you can play that tiny island Sicily and still rule the world. same thing, build up your economy, get a massive army, and steamrolled.


I really like RTW exp, when the western empire start big, and being pushed on so many fronts. with so many unrest at home.

This one, the diplomacy is just great, you can bribe them and not get attacked that sudden. give them state gift. that save a lot of money to build up economy early on.

It's much easier to get to tipping point on this.

it get so much like CIV now, and anyone play CIV know, try to trade as many tech in the first 3,5 turn. and now, you dont have to send a diplomat. wow, things have indeed change.

auto-built: yes, i turned it on later, but they keep building naval hospital on those drydock i prepare to build 1st rate. (u know, the techs for 1st rate, quite long to research)

[Dayve]

Once again, simply don't exploit the system.

I can savage any faction on the map, rape their land and bully them for 50 years, then give them a 10,000 state gift (which isn't even a scratch on my treasury) and all of a sudden they're my best buddies, calling me every day asking if i want to go for a beer and telling me i should date their queen.

That's an exploit. I shouldn't be able to rape a nation hardcore and then give them 10,000 and make them my best friends, so you know what? I don't.

I also don't trade with everybody i can. I don't trade with nations who are trading with my enemies. I don't steamroll my enemies or my economy. I don't keep more than one school. I pick my wars carefully and always fight slowly and steadily.

Do all this, and you'll get your challenge.

[hathanhson]

yea, the are few good things about ETW though.

the battle, once, i got jumped by those natives American. wow, reinforcement spawn from every where, i cannot maintain a line so most my unit form square, the whole group try to maintain a giant square. i lost, army destroyed, but it was fun. waves after waves of native swarm in.

i would really like the old system of battle, many stacks can fight at once. wow, will be nice to have a line across the map and moving in.

[Dayve]

Unrealistic though, the enemy would be denied the option of flanking you due to the invisible edges of the battle map which units cannot go across.

[hathanhson]

have 2 saved game for UP campaigns. cant open the trade details, only the gov details. nothing i can do. CTD. the pix is huge. on 1920-1080. 5mb something each. on my wife flickr. :).

1. Turn 25, income 400.000, exp 50.000. profit 350000=350k

europe: bough flander, another port but dont last long. france soon attacked, and i have nothing inn europe at that time. so about to die ... and no other saved game. I think and I think, and i decided to give it back to Spain. wowla, perfect buffer, france can not move to Amtersdam.

India: bad investment, have bought the entire right-hand side provinces of subcontinent, but very few income.

America. got all the caribe, all central and south america.




2. Turn 60+ something. income nearly a mil, exp: 250. profit 720k.

ofcourse i hit 500k profit much earlier but just dont have the saved game, i hope u accept it as proof that it can be done.

America: Nothing left. I got it all.

India: Mugal and Marathay allow to have a single region left. I bought it all, no blood shed (I should get a Nobel peace prize, right? non-violence)

Europe: Got like 95% as u can see. just get out of a bloody war with russia. I got many region but some of their stack just keep guriella warfare. annoying. So another eploit. give the peace and load of money. all their army will move back to their province. another frontal attack. all done. At the screen. I'm gearing up for Ottoman. Poor them. My old friends, and longtime trade partner. Just because i got so bored. i'm sorry.
[IMG][/IMG]

[hathanhson]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85944891@N00/3467511979/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85944891@N00/3468274258/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85944891@N00/3468271854/



try the link, i'm not sure how the posting pic work, 5mb is over size limit ?

[hathanhson]

langue barrier ?? hey, i'm not native english speaker. maybe we get the term wrong.

by 500k, i mean by 500 grands = 500*1000 = 500.000, right. 6digits.

[TinCow]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85944891@N00/3467511979/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85944891@N00/3468274258/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85944891@N00/3468271854/



try the link, i'm not sure how the posting pic work, 5mb is over size limit ?

Ok, that's nuts.

Can you explain in more detail how you did this? Particularly how you got your economy that large so quickly. Do you save all your cash and not build any units or buildings during the start-up phase?

[anweRU]

Only the top picture works. The other two have been reduced in size so much that the text can't be read.

790K in trade? You can't get that much from owning all the plantations in Europe, Americas & India. I assume you spammed IM and grabbed the trade slots, and kept adding ships, which I also do as GB, UP & France. However, the commodity prices should have crashed. Commodity prices are proportional to demand & inversely proportional to supply. The world population (i.e. your trade partners) should not be large enough to support that much demand in 1736 (at least, it isn't in any of my games!).

[AussieGiant]

Yes that is officially a ludicrous amount of trade.

[Wandarah]

pics are 'shopped!

[TinCow]

For convenience, the screenshots in an easier to access manner. They don't look photoshopped to me. In Turn 63, he owns pretty much all of Europe.

Turn 25 (1712):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Turn 63 (1731):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[AussieGiant]

They certainly don't look doctored to me.

The last shot is just incredible with Orange covering most of Europe. That I can sort of believe. It's the first two and the numbers in them that are just mad.

[Dayve]

Well come on... look at what you've done. You've teched up 100% in everything and conquered the world, which in itself is not the aim of these games. Of course you're making 1 million a turn with the whole world conquered except for Constantinople.

Play properly, as realistically as is possible and resist the urge to take advantage of the stupid AI and this won't happen.

Here's something fun to do when an enemy refuses peace or attacks you; March through their lands with a massive army, which you'll need because you will take a lot of casualties doing this. March in to their capital region, cut off the roads, destroy their farms and workshops and garrison large armies in them, destroy happiness buildings like churches and inns, leave the school up and you will effectively cut off the enemies trade entirely and royally piss off the population. Keep this up for several turns and if they still refuse peace, capture some remote profitless dump on the edges of their land and then trade it back for peace, they always accept.

You will have dealt your enemy a blow and at the same time helped the AI not be completely dumb. You will have practically bankrupted them, halved the size of their army and then forced them to make peace.

I did it to Wurttemburg in 1704 in my latest French campaign. Unfortunately for me they had no other provinces i could take to force them to make peace so i destroyed the faction in 1710, but i gave it straight to one of my German allies, Bavaria.

[Beskar]

He has a modified version of the game for sure. Especially when he says he "bought" provinces and every single game I played the AI wants over 50,000 for the crappiest of provinces.

Trade is never ever that profitable either.