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Thread: England

  1. #151

    Post Re: England

    after previously playing as Venice and milan, i tend to forget that my militias aren't up to par with, sometimes, even rebels... any way just started as England , M/M, 1st 20 turns

    *1st turn, it's nice to have the british isles for myself, so to do that asap, *Scotland has to go.
    *Spy gets as much exp. as he can so get him to work.
    **London goes for a Ballista maker for a quick strike, w/o papal interference.
    *Prince goes for rennes w/ reinforcements
    *Same goes for the other guy in york . both wait it out.
    **diplomat gets an alliance w/ the french. i wanted them to betray me. Dip. then makes a beeline to rome.

    *York sallied as did rennes later on, but w/ added reinforcements no problem.
    **1 starter cog to the west of rennes, picks up heir w/ some troops headed for bordeaux.
    *Henry who gained chivalry replaces th king at London
    **Other starter cog + additional 3-4 takes the 1st ballista, king, picks up all available troops and heads for edinburg

    *Scots by turn 6, failed to take a 2nd settlement, and my spy was able to open the gate, so the king and his troops were able to siege scottish capital w/o the ballista (not have made it).
    **The scots were out early on turn 6.
    )**The french left bordeaux alone, so i attacked w/ th heir.
    *The Danes were next. I left wales and inverness for my leisure.
    *Alliance w/ the Pope, spanish and the HRE were negotiated.
    *Nottingham became a town.

    **Around turn 10-ish, assault army led by the king, in 10 cogs heads east.
    **Turn 14, the french captured both dijon and metz, giving them 7 provinces.
    A diplomat of mine then purchased angers, toulouse and rheims, took me 2 tries. about 2000 gold in 11 turns.
    *Yay! Caen and bourdeaux can now become towns, to try and compensate lost cash.
    *8Grand fleet, which cleared some pirates along the way,separates into 3, each having a ballistae

    **Turn 16. Simultaneous amphibious assaults went well. Flushed the danes out of arhus, hamburg and stockholm.
    *News of faction destroyed meant the Danes didnt get a 4th settlement
    Cheers!
    *But, the french decided to backstab me early, w/ the heir by himself assaulting toulouse. I thought they'd at least let me finish paying for my purchased territories.
    *I tried to guickly send reinforcements (w/ a ballistae) from the Brit. Isles.

    *I sallied from Toulouse and killed the heir, then defended northern France + Rheims from... the French... awaiting for reinforcements to counterattack Paris.
    *A succesful jihad on baghdad by the egyptians... eh?
    **Turn 20, After multiple French offensives were repulsed, i besieged and attacked Paris, w/ a good-sized army.
    *Defense had the king in it.
    *When Paris fell, the French blue suddenly became, rebel gray!!!
    I guess there was no chosen heir, despite thm having loitering generals...
    **An unexpected early exit for the French
    *Pope calls for a crusade at Egyptian Antioch.
    *My faction leader dies in stockholm, my new king was readying an assault on a now rebel marseilles.
    He'll be the perfect candidate for a crusade.

    *I took a quick toggle-fow, before I hit the sack.
    *the danes and the french's early exit left a large stacks of rebels...
    I might receive a nasty ambush if i'm not careful.
    *Milan moves a huge stack towards Dijon. I should prepare for the worst.
    *Portugal's army went missing, and their princess approached me earlier w/o offering nothing... i hope it's just me being paranoid.
    *Venice is th biggest threat overall, taking Vienna, bologna, durazzo, zagreb.
    The italian cities could become the bane of me.
    I'm #1 in everything except overall (Venice). Strange
    **Metz antwerp bruges are my top priority to connect my territories and i need a castle too.
    *Milan's demise may seem to be a higher priority compared to th crusade.
    *oh, and inverness and wales are still rebel.

    So far so good, i g uess

    GAMEROOM
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    VINLAND SAGA

  2. #152

    Default Re: England

    My second English campaign continues:

    I was able to buy off Milan with a ceasefire which let me focus on the HRE, and took a few cities. However as it was very difficult to get excommunicated, my progress was mostly getting reorganized and getting my forces through the Alps.

    Unforunately I made a mistake and got excommunicated after Milan was reconciled, however in the exact same turn I was reconciled. This meant I had a 0 in my papacy rating for a few turns and badly needed to raise it, my luck was that the Pope called crusade on Milan and taking Rome benefitted me greatly once I gave it back to the Pope. Unforunately it killed my ceasefire with Milan, which I was never able to get another (so far).

    As a stroke of luck, I got a ceasefire with HRE and took Florence then Milan but unforunately the ceasefire only lasted maybe 10 turns with the HRE and now they are on my backside again...

    To complicate matters, I am dealing with the Black Death which has killed off two of my kings, a couple of family members and severely weaked my city garrisons. On top of that, it harmed my income greatly so I had several turns of next to no profit (even one turn in the red) which meant I couldn't rebuild my armies to take on HRE..

    I had two really cool battles though, one was in the Alps where I fought defensively and my 600 men took on 900+ Milanese, I took a defensive position on a hill and my catapults and archers massacred the advancing Milanese. Ironically enough my own catapult killed my general and the enemy's catapult killed their own general.

    The other was defending Marsielles against Milan, I had a bunch of archers and set everything on fire. A siege tower, some ladders and a bunch of ram happily littered in pieces in front of my walls. I only lost maybe 30-40 from enemy archers, I only had to send out some knights to take care of the rest.

    Milan has hand gunners now, which massacres my missile troops while HRE seems to not have been affected by the plague and is pumping out armies on two seperate fronts, it is currently fighting England (me) and Poland but it seems to be holding its own unforunately. Likewise nobody is excommunicated right now, every time they get excommunicated they are reconciled within a turn and I am trying to keep in the Pope's good graces to get some new Cardinals. Currently I have none.

    I am probably going to end my campaign and start a third, considering I fudged up alot of things about mid-campaign and its left me pretty bad off right now.

  3. #153
    Warrior on the edge of time Member kitbogha's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by GC1CEO
    To complicate matters, I am dealing with the Black Death which has killed off two of my kings, a couple of family members and severely weaked my city garrisons. On top of that, it harmed my income greatly so I had several turns of next to no profit (even one turn in the red) which meant I couldn't rebuild my armies to take on HRE..
    Milan has hand gunners now, which massacres my missile troops while HRE seems to not have been affected by the plague and is pumping out armies on two seperate fronts, it is currently fighting England (me) and Poland but it seems to be holding its own unforunately.
    I am probably going to end my campaign and start a third, considering I fudged up alot of things about mid-campaign and its left me pretty bad off right now.
    1) The Black Death effects everyone, the HRE are just as effected as you are. Sit tight as it sweeps through your lands and then rebuild. It does help to have all the health buildings (town halls etc) as they reduce the devastation. Once it passes you can rebuild. The first England game I played I was in the red for ages it seemed, due to the plague, but I still went on and showed them who was the dominant force in the world. You can do it!

    2) Attack handgunners with artillery and light cav units and watch them rout...Neither Milan or the HRE are unbeatable, go for the throat. If you have "spare" armies, use them to take out castles etc as these are producing all their best units. Without their best troops they are much easier to beat. You can always recruits arquebusiers etc as mercs if you want gunmen.

    3) Don't give up. Sit back, plan your next ten-twenty moves and take the fight to them. No general ever won a war by saying "I could have done things better, I think I'll start again".....
    "I like a man who grins when he fights"
    Winston Churchill.
    "It is not sufficient that I suceed - all others must fail.”
    Genghis Khan

  4. #154

    Default Re: England

    England are my 1st faction, not much has happened yet apart from me taking York and securing trade with Scotland. I think that i'll allow them to build up a bit as I am reluctant to make war. Next turn i will try to get trade with France and maybe other factions if I can reach them. My immediate plan is to take whatever settlement is located in Wales then maybe Rennes or other Rebel towns.

    My first mission is to give Nottingham a 6 units or more garrison for some troops. Should be easy with 5 turns to do it.

    Very good game so far!

  5. #155
    Senior Member Senior Member Quintus.JC's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom0
    England are my 1st faction, not much has happened yet apart from me taking York and securing trade with Scotland. I think that i'll allow them to build up a bit as I am reluctant to make war. Next turn i will try to get trade with France and maybe other factions if I can reach them. My immediate plan is to take whatever settlement is located in Wales then maybe Rennes or other Rebel towns.

    My first mission is to give Nottingham a 6 units or more garrison for some troops. Should be easy with 5 turns to do it.

    Very good game so far!
    Bruges and Antwerp are good choice, although this might drag you into a unwanted war with other major factions, but the revenue is superb. Be wary of the Scots, try to destroy them quickly to prevent future trouble.

  6. #156

    Unhappy Re: England

    Can someone tell me what to do if,when you enter medieval 2 total war is showing a video,its going fine and menu the same.When i enter the game everything is moving dead slow,except the mouse,mouse is moving fine.So can someone help me please? by the way i have windows vista.

  7. #157

  8. #158

    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom0
    England are my 1st faction, not much has happened yet apart from me taking York and securing trade with Scotland. I think that i'll allow them to build up a bit as I am reluctant to make war. Next turn i will try to get trade with France and maybe other factions if I can reach them. My immediate plan is to take whatever settlement is located in Wales then maybe Rennes or other Rebel towns.

    My first mission is to give Nottingham a 6 units or more garrison for some troops. Should be easy with 5 turns to do it.

    Very good game so far!
    Destroying the Scots serves two ends:

    1) They are going to attack you anyway, so you might as well get it over with early (as soon as Billmen and Longbows become available) and quickly (bring siege equipment, even Ballistas, and try to take them out in one turn to avoid Papal wrath).

    2) With the Scots gone, you can leave town militia or peasants behind and empty the Isles of quality troops as soon as they are conquered.

  9. #159
    Warrior on the edge of time Member kitbogha's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by QuintusJulius-Cicero
    Bruges and Antwerp are good choice, although this might drag you into a unwanted war with other major factions, but the revenue is superb. Be wary of the Scots, try to destroy them quickly to prevent future trouble.
    Plan for 1st moves:-
    1) Take York. Consolidate towards taking Scotland, you will need a good sized and well constituted army (ie ballistae, longbowmen,heavy cav, sergeant spearmen etc). At the start of the game the northernmost Scots town (Aberdeen?) is a rebel settlement, so you can always send a small army up by boat to take it.
    2) Build for invading Wales. They should present little in the way of opposition if you go tooled up.
    3) Rebel settlements in Europe-Antwerp and Bruges are tempting targets but are often difficult/expensive to retain, as for some reason they are prone to rebelling, so you blow a lot of cash building happiness buildings, lowering taxes and keeping very big garrisons. They also are targets for the Danes, so you will inevitably come into conflict with them if you take these settlements. That's no reason no to, but do be aware. I would tend to expand south and west rebel settlement wise. By this time you may well be at war with the French anyway, so you can take their towns/cities, they are quite frankly a big disappointment on the battlefield...
    Last edited by kitbogha; 02-25-2008 at 17:53.
    "I like a man who grins when he fights"
    Winston Churchill.
    "It is not sufficient that I suceed - all others must fail.”
    Genghis Khan

  10. #160

  11. #161

    Default Re: England

    So far my campaign is:
    1. Take York and que up a ballista maker in London.

    2. Once the ballista is ready take it and some troops for Nottingham to York,
    from there proceed to Scotland. Normally the Scottish army is out side of the
    I by-pass them and take the city in 1 turn, poof no more Scots-no pope
    warning. This by turn 10 at the latest.

    3. Take care of the rebels who where the Scottish army. Then retrain re-equipt
    and on to Wales.

    4. Next block the land bridge to Oslo-Stockholm, If lucky a crusade will have
    been called by then and I use that army to take both of them. I use that
    to train my merchants since no other merchants can get to them. I have
    seen as many as 5 trying to get across at one time.

    From there it is on to Dublin and then Northern Europe. The French were my
    allies, but betrayed me early and went for Caen. I fought them off and that
    is where I am at.

  12. #162
    Rout Meister Member KyodaiSteeleye's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    One little hint-et on English Unit roster:

    Artillery and Sieges

    Mortars are not really much good in field battles, but are fantastic in defending wall assaults. Stick a couple of units behind the wall section being assaulted and target either the engines or the units - once in range they are suprisingly accurate and will blast big chunks out of the enemy. As attacking armies will retreat once you've destroyed their means of attacking, you may want to just target the men, and let them keep coming (as long as you are confident you can defend the walls). Obviously, i'd suggest blatting any rams as soon as they get in range, as you probably don't want the enemy taking route one into your settlement/fortress.
    KyodaiSpan, KyodaiSteeleye, PFJ_Span, Bohemund. Learn to recognise psychopaths

  13. #163
    knighthood Squire Member Redz " Preatorian Knights"'s Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    dont get it?been playing english now on h/h, i mean i never had a problem on conquering the french, they attack me in the first place, and well if and when the pope say i should stop i stop and just wait untill the time expires and on i go again...
    all this talk about strategy... well for me it simple:
    strategically:
    1. sure you can make allies, especially the pope... but hell sooner or later you'll be at war with your own allies anyway so why bother? pope? its simple to play with the pope, stop when he tells you to, and resume your blood lust when the time expires, anyway it gives you time to regroup and restore your strength
    2. go for the rebels? ha... those rebels are a mile away from my armies ....people!! attack the most usefull faction you know you would benefit the most, denmark or france to gain foothold on europe(maybe?)
    3. wait wait wait.....

    sorry guys, just finish fighting the poles here with heroic victory, had killed all there western armies and cut off 2 provinces with enveloping tactics...
    well 'till later

    oh... one more thing, about the cavalry.... well i just charge a full stack spearmen, should it really do some damage on them i mean should my charge halves there unit strenght?if the game works that way, as you say, well might as well have all your armies be all cavalry...

    see my AVATAR....
    its more of a peasant than a member...

    For the Kingdom and the Power, all Glory is Yours
    Almigthy Father......
    -Praetorian Guards Creed-

  14. #164

    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by Redz " Preatorian Knights"
    oh... one more thing, about the cavalry.... well i just charge a full stack spearmen, should it really do some damage on them i mean should my charge halves there unit strength?if the game works that way, as you say, well might as well have all your armies be all cavalry...
    Charging cavalry into spearmen, especially if they have their spears set, will just get your cav killed. You might get some of them, especially if yo have lances down, but after the initial charge you'll just be massacred.

  15. #165
    Warrior on the edge of time Member kitbogha's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by Redz " Preatorian Knights"
    oh... one more thing, about the cavalry.... well i just charge a full stack spearmen, should it really do some damage on them i mean should my charge halves there unit strenght?if the game works that way, as you say, well might as well have all your armies be all cavalry...
    That is a terrible move, best way to get your cav wiped out.
    "I like a man who grins when he fights"
    Winston Churchill.
    "It is not sufficient that I suceed - all others must fail.”
    Genghis Khan

  16. #166

    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by kitbogha
    That is a terrible move, best way to get your cav wiped out.
    Yeah we're basically talking about the modern day equivalent of the following: Fire Team on the streets begins taking sniper fire from (it seems) building structure approximately 400 yards due north. Instead of finding cover, identifying the shots and attempting to flank the position...you just scream "charge" and send your entire unit running towards the assumed enemy position firing...running down the middle of the street on full auto fire. Naturally, several of your men will be swatted like flies immediately...but hey- One of them might get a pot shot off and kill the sniper right?

    It's just...insanity

  17. #167

    Default Re: England

    hmm cav into spears.. no thanks

  18. #168

    Default Re: England

    Well, I'm a little over halfway through my first MTW2 campaign and I have had a really easy time with the English. I have only skimmed through the first few pages of this but I have found that I used a more unique strategy.

    Since I am approaching my victory conditions already and have already vanquished or crippled all of the Western Euro factions, I must be doing something right, so here is my strategy (it was influenced highly by numerous RTW campaigns):

    England is in a poor monetary state and would require years of effort and an inordinate amount of cash you don't have to develop into a trading superpower like Venice, however, you do have access to some powerful early game units such as longbows and mailed nights almost immediately and the council is more than happy to grant you decent military units for obeying their missions.

    Basically, your first objective should be basic infrastructure development and rapid militarization (I became the most powerful nation within a few turns without even trying, I was just using my old RTW strat). Avoid war at all costs, but be sure to deny France control of the Atlantic and channel coasts as quickly as possible by capturing all available rebel settlements. (To prevent immediate war with France, I married my faction heir off to their princess which should buy you some time, but they still betrayed me eventually) Since your goal is to expand without ruffling other factions, or the pope's feathers, avoid war with Scotland as no matter how powerful they get, you can usually crush them in one turn when the time is ready (and its best to let them spend their own money developing Edinburgh before you take it from them).

    YOUR ECONOMY WILL STAGNATE. Mine did for close to 20 turns, but your immense military power will be your crutch. Keep cranking out those feudal nights and longbowmen , sacking every settlement you capture to keep your head above water.

    Eventually, what ends up happening once you become so powerful is that alliances start forming all around you and it becomes inevitable that the war will begin: Let it. Let them damage their own reputation with the pope and for every offense they deal you, take one of their cities to counterbalance. The pope will not view you as the aggressor. Obey the pope's every wish as it is critical to remain in his favor when using this strategy. Risking excommunication is risking death, even when everyone is already against you.

    On the topic of war, France should be the first to betray you, and the HRE soon after that. Portugal, Spain, Denmark, and Milan soon dogpiled onto the *charlie foxtrot* within just a few turns, but as you are in the pope's favor (you remembered to do this right?), laugh as the pope excommunicates the hapless bastards and proudly declare open season on the enemies homefront. As you are a military behemoth at this point, a poor one but an immense one at that, you can use the money you gained from the conquests to begin developing your own homefront. It takes a little while to get it kick started, but once you do, you will become a trading superpower.

    Focus your efforts not on defeating the enemy outright, but on reducing your fronts. Pushing France into the Mediterranean reduces your fronts to a manageable two, and from there you can isolate and annihilate your enemies with impunity.

    Since the pope will start to hate you if you continue your pillage and burn strategy across Western Europe, focusing your new found economic wealth on the construction of Cathedrals and tributing the pope will keep him forever on your good side.

    And one more thing, kill, kill, kill the enemies family members. There is no penalty from attacking French/Spanish/German/Danish/Portuguese/Milanese settlements that have suddenly gone rebel from lack of leadership. I have never had much luck with assassins, but knowing where to send your army to cause the most damage is a definite advantage.

    Hope that helps somebody.

  19. #169

    Default Re: England

    all this talk about strategy... well for me it simple:
    strategically:
    1. sure you can make allies, especially the pope... but hell sooner or later you'll be at war with your own allies anyway so why bother? pope? its simple to play with the pope, stop when he tells you to, and resume your blood lust when the time expires, anyway it gives you time to regroup and restore your strength
    2. go for the rebels? ha... those rebels are a mile away from my armies ....people!! attack the most usefull faction you know you would benefit the most, denmark or france to gain foothold on europe(maybe?)
    3. wait wait wait.....

    sorry guys, just finish fighting the poles here with heroic victory, had killed all there western armies and cut off 2 provinces with enveloping tactics...
    well 'till later

    oh... one more thing, about the cavalry.... well i just charge a full stack spearmen, should it really do some damage on them i mean should my charge halves there unit strenght?if the game works that way, as you say, well might as well have all your armies be all cavalry...
    Most of us dream about being Alexander the Great. You seem to be trying to emulate Joe Stalin!

    I won my first campaign in 180 turns as the English. I never attacked a Catholic faction that didn't attack me first, never sacked a Catholic city, stayed at 70% or better with the Pope the whole time, with provinces that very rarely showed anything but a green icon, and in all measures was the greatest faction through most of the game.

    I suppose I could have cut a swath across the map and sacked and exterminated all before me...but why play a strategy game unless you intend to use...ummm...strategy?

    Random Generic

  20. #170

    Default Re: England

    Ha, ha!!!

    But Stalin was far less astute. Exterminating all his own officers and causing starvation in main farming regions by forced collectives. Dismantling of buffer states in order to extend area controlled (Poland/Finland) at cost of huge losses, and giving the most dangerous enemy a free hand in west to avoid economic difficulties due to it's military buildup. Then trying forward defense, when even the Tsar's were bright enough to retreat and use time & space, stretching invaders supply lines.

    So actually, re-reading it again, a certain Austrian Corporal who fought for the Kaiser in WWI seems a better fit; "hell sooner or later you'll be at war with your own allies" and "just finish fighting the poles here with heroic victory, had killed all there western armies and cut off 2 provinces with enveloping tactics..."

  21. #171
    Member Member RollingWave's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    finally got my hands on the game (after a long while without a usable computer arragh)

    Here's something i realize, when defending a seige. have a group of longbow man lay down stakes at the gate. that's just plain evil and completely eliminates the chances of the enemy bursting through your gates via a calvary charge (which they often likes to do. and they'll just impale their general on the stakes) and it also breaks up infantry formation and charge. leaving them easy prey for your own infantry.

    also it's kinda silly that your own cavs charging through the stakes will be equally painful. are they THAT dumb?

    anyway some basic thoughts on the English so far. it's pretty easy :P (granted I played all the series quiet extensively)

    the paths are pretty obvious, your first stage is obviously to take the British isles while stalling the French. send your diplomate towards Rome ASAP. marry your daughter (or vice versa) to the Spanish / Portugal / Danes / HRE / which ever comes first.

    take York immediately, seige Walsh if you don't have ballista and/or enough infantry at that stage. if they try to break out just steam roll over them with a massive calvary chage.

    I sailed to Dublin and took it before the Scotts, I waited till I allied with the Pope and was somewhat builtup before I launched a surprised attack on them and finished them quickly before the Pope could intervene.

    on the Continent I build up Caen a little and seiged Renne fairly early. in the early going it is worth while to wait out seiges if your not confident. with stone walls you could defend against most attacks with a decent mix of infantry and even the most vinilla archers as long as they don't bring along a significant amount of heavy infantry. take Burges if the French don't come knocking, they'll come soon enough. so might as well have 3 settlements where you could play hit and run with them.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    After securing the Isles with 3 settlements on the Continent your second stage is to expand into Europe . I noticed that Oslo and Arthurs were still rebel towns so I sailed two army over and took them. but I didn't attack any other Christian faction (the Danes still had Stockholm) ignor missions that ask you to attack settlements owned by neutral or ally factions. (unless you can fashion together some sort of diplomatic deal, unlikely though) my war with the French saw me taking seige after seige in the early stages while I was still trying to finish up the Isles and build up . but the French repeated tried to assault and repeated go slaughtered. as long as you can stake up the gates there's really not much to worry unless you got massively out numbered AND outclassed. I find that even a bunch of militas with a few Long bow sprinkled in is usually more than enough. the only thing you might need to worry is if they bring in heavy infantries on seige towers.


    after reinforcement from the Isles arrived the war turned quickly and I scored a massive victory after taking Angers. the French then stalled me for awhile though VIA massive assasination waves. that was painful as I had just about every family member on the continent stabbed to death. OUCH. after a massive assasin / spy buildup of my own to counter that I finally made more progress, as the French were left with only 2 settlement it was me and Milan running the show. then Milan allied with the French and attacked me ... soon after they attacked the pope and got excommuicated ... helping me out big time as they got swarmed by Venice and Spain and Poland. they made a even dumber move by taking Rome. promptly having a crusade declared on it and my army is now crusading toward Rome, (one via land one via sea) and blowing away most towns before me)


    I left the French one last town (Borduex) and called a cease fire with them after they broke up with Milan. I think it helps to have a buffer between me and Spain at this point. I figure to take as much of Milan as I could now and then build up for another Crusade to the Holy land to finish this campaign.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    a few quesiton though.

    a. does having a lot of Priests in a region help against Inquistors?

    b. does having Spies in your army / towns help against assasins' chances of killing your general like MTW and Shogun? or are they only good for spotting Assasins to send your own assasins against?

    c. how do you get more cardinals promoted? just keep killing Heretics and Witches?

  22. #172

    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by RollingWave
    c. how do you get more cardinals promoted? just keep killing Heretics and Witches?
    Train a bunch of priests and send them to provinces with low amounts of Catholicism. This is harder for the English because there are no such provinces nearby. Your best bet is to ship your priests to either the Iberian peninsula and convert the Muslims, or to Stettin and start converting pagans.

  23. #173

    Default Re: England

    Spies do help against assassins, and wen a cardinal dies, the pope apoinst the priest or bishop (these come from cathedrals) with highest piety for cardinal. Regardless of his nation(as long as it is catolick afcorse).

  24. #174

    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by RollingWave

    After securing the Isles with 3 settlements on the Continent your second stage is to expand into Europe .
    I might disagree. I leave the Scots be and follow the rest of your plan, taking Bruges for the final conquest of stage one on about turn 12 or 13. It seems to me that about this time a Crusade comes into being, I think the second stage is to conquer and secure the Holy Lands. It takes awhile to make it pay, but an aggressive campaign can reap huge rewards.

    Not only is there some real economic advantages, the favor gained from the Pope can have real consequences. If you have 100% favor with the pope, and can maintain it, you can often goad one of the countries on the Continent to attack you and they will be excommunicated for a few turns. This is when having a few ballistas and heavy garrisons hanging about bear big fruit...In a few turns not only can Paris and Rheims be English soil but those recalicitrant Scots can be put out of their misery too, all while keeping your reputation sterling.

    The added advantage of taking the Holy Lands early also come clear when the Mongols invade. Although I must admit, I usually abandon the Holy Lands if they are serious about taking them and invade the Byzantine provinces with the armies.

    Random Generic

  25. #175
    Member Member RollingWave's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    well I'm running into some challange now...

    after taking Rome and taking much of Milan's land in a crusade. I gave Rome back to the Pope like he asked and I traded Milan back to .. well Milan and had them become a Vessal.. but then I screwed up and accidently tried to assinate one of their agents and the vassel broke (DOH)

    then I asked for a Crusade. that wasn't hard as I sailed a elite army with my heir and took Jerusalem easily as there was no one defending. and then I realize i'm stuck in the middle of the enemy lands with no allies anywhere near and only 1 town and 1 army. (the Mongols overran Egypt at this point). I sallied out of Jerusalem and took Gaza (Which was citidal) in the hopes of retraining my troops, only to get the Mongols seiging it every single turn (immediately following it after i beat back one wave) and during one of the many assaulst i lost my heir... DOH!. (weird, i had all sorts of bonus on him for HP and he died in a melee against archer units... zzzzz ) after that i give up on this futile attempt and demolished what i could in Gaza (as i had in Jerusalem) and disbanded everyone.

    Another reason is because that while doing this I did some Island hopping and took all the Islands west of Italy in hopes of buidling a launching pad to reinforce the middle east and perhaps strike into North Africa . Sicily was at war with the Pope and a lot of other Catholics (and was amazingly not excommunicated) so I figure i wasn't going to be a problem. but then Spain and Milan BOTH back stabbed me... great. ah well now I cut the losses in Middle east I can focus on re-establishing my authroity in Europe and wait till the next time I can call a Crusade.

  26. #176
    Warrior on the edge of time Member kitbogha's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    Quote Originally Posted by RollingWave
    a few quesiton though.

    a. does having a lot of Priests in a region help against Inquistors?

    b. does having Spies in your army / towns help against assasins' chances of killing your general like MTW and Shogun? or are they only good for spotting Assasins to send your own assasins against?

    c. how do you get more cardinals promoted? just keep killing Heretics and Witches?
    a. No. The only hope against The Inquisition is to have high piety levels. These can be achieved through the old "burning squinty eyed old women as witches" route or converting the heathen in Orthodox/Muslim areas. Of course, the Inquisitors are maybe less likely to visit areas where the population has a high level of Catholics. It seems a fairly arbitrary thing, often Inquisition are launched when you p*** off the Pope, by not doing as he tells you.

    b. Yes, I think so.

    c. Yes, and of course the converting heathen thing always helps. A sneaky ploy I have used is to kill off opposition factions' Cardinals to make room for yours in the College of Cardinals.
    Last edited by kitbogha; 05-05-2008 at 13:52.
    "I like a man who grins when he fights"
    Winston Churchill.
    "It is not sufficient that I suceed - all others must fail.”
    Genghis Khan

  27. #177

    Default Re: England

    I'll post a few thoughts about England and my early strategy.

    - I only build roads before Henry comes of age (with the King in London as seems to help the traits he gets). I also build 1 or 2 levels of farms in Nottingham and Caen so I can get Longbowmen and Billmen for the expected France betrayal.

    - I marry the Princess of France to my Hier as she's a 5 or 6 heart Princess. My heir then gets the stay at home trait (improves chances of children) which seems to give me the 4 children quite quickly which I want to keep the bloodlines going and arrive around the time i'm looking to expand past the UK isles.

    - After York I go for the Scots extremely early looking to get all there male family involved, basically doing an assasination job on there family to turn Edinbrough into rebel if I can't take it. This removes the chance of the Pope giving you the Excommunication mission.

    - I'm quite slow to build up early, prefering to run more units to capture the Isles. Spending 1200+ on Archery range for pesant archers (I don't like them with Longbowmen at the next level) or the same in Caen for Billmen isn't worth it for me early. Save the money for the town's you take.

    - I tend to just Occupy most of the Isles and sometimes sack Edinbrough depending how I need money (have France attacked yet?).

    - Once isles are secure i'll build up longbowmen, levy spearmen and a few Billmen and cavalry and look to go on the offensive in France (rebel prov's first). I'll save money using longbowmen and not training for above for a long time and go for Armoured Swordsmen in Caen as a priority.

    - Roads -> Farms -> Port are priority for my Isle cities to aid movement and get pop+taxes up and trade. I leave markets for a long time.

    - I tend to not storm a city directly unless its garrison is lacking, prefering to let them sally although I can't use the longbowmens ground pikes.




    Some comments on early units and stacks:
    - Levy Spearmen, I find I don't use them as much as Militia as you can leave militia for free in towns. I'm not if Levy Spearmen don't have the penalty that the Spear Militia have (didn't know till I read about it here) against infantry. I suspect they have the lower penalty of Town Militia but then have the vs cav bonus to be better than the militias.

    - Longbowmen last me aggeesssss. They're a huge improvement over other archers and I find the following improvements are much smaller for the cost increase (of building and unit), longbowmen will dominate for a long time. With building Woodsman Guild (in Nottingham for me) they can be made even better. This allows me to build up my economy more and concentrate on going for Armoured Swordsmen in Caen.

    - Billmen. I read a few posts here about them being poor, but the units they compare them against come at the following level. They're cheap and while die a lot compared to the spear units are useful early, especially with there charge. When used with longbowmen I like them because I hate micromanaging cavalry to make sure they don't spear themselves on pikes when attacking the rear of the enemy line.

    - I used to use loads of cavalry (mainly because the missions gave me loads as reward) but have started to slim down to a max of 4 + general. The early cavalry is good enough for me so stables arn't a priority, fance usually have stables to use once captured. I prefer to load up on more archers and sword, with a few archers sacrificed for seige (catas or trebs) for city assaults.

    - Spear units are lacking so I prefer to play quite defensive to use the Longbowmens ground pikes and sword units. I hire a lot of the spearmen from France once my economy is up and running.

    My typical europe stack (not sure if good for crusades yet) is:
    1x General
    4x Cav
    6x Longbowmen
    9x Infantry.

    Where Infantry early is mostly militia/spearmen with a couple of Billmen and once Armoured Swordsmen come along only 2 or 3 spearmen.

    My basic battle plan is like Agincourt but with spearmen to protect the flanks and cavalry to harrass enemy archers and attempt flanking (beware of your own longbowmen pikes). With the longbowmen I try to force the enemy to attack me since with 6 of them i'll decimate there units before attacking if they sit there waiting for me but it seems to depend on the AI's attitude (seems like scots always attack while others sit back and wait). I like a couple of high attack AP units even if billmen to flank safely near the longbowmen pikes where cav would risk spearing themselves.

    I like this stack as it works for seige battles where I will lose 3 units (archers/cav/inf depending on garrison of target) for art/trebs. Previously I loaded up on Cav and between them and archers it made seiges hard or a lot of unit changes rather than just 3 unit changes.



    The main point I think that helps me is longbowmen and saving money not training up above them. Longbowmen are a big step up and the later versions are more like a small upgrade. Get longbowmen then concentrate on swords even if Nottingham (or whereever else you aim to get woodsmans guild) grows to next level.

    Fairly standard I think but hope this helps someone.

  28. #178
    Member Member RollingWave's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    on Mortar: I think it's probably the best well rounded artilery in the game, able to do everything fairly effectively. while they're not quiet as devastating as Culverins on the battlefield they are a little more reliable in

    a. not shooting your own men to shreads

    b. reliable regardless of angle / terrain

    c. usable behind your men

    as for Billman, the main gripe most people have is that they simply die like flies to too many things to be effective in most circustances. if they get shot at... they're dead... if they get charged. they're dead. if they fight most other infantries head on, they're dead. they only shine when the can fight without being seriously retaliated. (on walls, flanks .. engaged horsemans... etc..) unless you get several levels of armors on them they're just a very risky unit to rely on. the English roster weakness is usually against heavy horse armies, but the normal billman tends to die like flies if they recieved a charge even by lesser horsemans.

    They're not completely useless of course, but given the relative situation I'd take a sergent spearman over them in that particular spot on the roster.
    Last edited by RollingWave; 06-18-2008 at 04:03.

  29. #179
    Makedonios Ksanthopoulos Member Privateerkev's Avatar
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    Default Re: England

    England is by far my favorite faction. It fits my campaign style (safe homelands with ability to get 'colonies') and battle style (archers.)

    I've played the first 10 turns an absurd amount of times. I think I have finally hammered out a good early game strategy to set England up to do what ever you want in the middle game. There is a way to get the island fast (~10 turns) and keep your economy building.

    Turn 1. Move diplomat towards Rome. Move merchant towards wine in Angers. Move Princess by east ship to Caen. Move west ship to the direct west sea spot from Caen. Move outside Caen stack, minus peasants, to ship. Move peasants to Caen. Move Caen castle stack, minus Robert, to ship. Move Robert next to ship, buy crossbow mercs, move Robert and mercs into ship. Move peasants in London towards Nottingham. Move King as far north as possible. Move town militia from London towards York. Move Nottingham troops towards York. Move spy up to Scotland to spot. Do whatever you want with cardinal (I put him in London). Move Rufus to York, buy crossbow mercs, take York, move as far north of York as possible. Buy basic economic buildings. Ports, roads, farms, ect...

    Turn 2. Refuse offer from French Princess because you want your own Princess to get credit for the deal you will make. Accept offer from Scotland just for the heck of it. Move merchant to wine. Keep moving diplomat to Rome. Move Princess to French Princess and go for trade rights and map exchange first. Then go for marrying the French Princess to Rufus. Caen is now quite secure for decades. Move Princess on a diplomatic tour (I send her to Italy because there are 5 factions there). Move west ship towards Ireland. Move east ship towards York. Move peasants to Nottingham. Move town militia towards York. Move stack that came from Nottingham to Rufus. Move King to Rufus. Get Rufus as far north as possible. Use spy on cardinal or Scottish stack. Laugh as Iverness thrown 2nd Scottish stack back. Keep building economic and don't bother recruiting.

    Turn 3. Move diplomat towards Rome and keep Princess on tour. Move west ship to Dublin port. Move Robert to Dublin and siege it. Move troops from ship to Robert. (the men tend not to have the MP to siege the village so I have Robert do it first.) Recruit crossbow merc and kern. Take Dublin. Move west ship next to Dublin. Move east ship next to Edinburgh/York border. Move King stack next to the ship. Move town militia into York. Keep the taxes high and economic buildings flowing. Don't recruit. Keep spy spying if he isn't dead yet.

    Turn 4. Same moves with diplomat and Princess. (it's a long walk...) The Scottish situation should be as such: They should still have just Edinburgh, 1 stack on the English border, and men in their city. By now, they usually have moved men from the city into their one ship. This is good for you. Move King by east ship to Edinburgh. Take now empty east ship, and try to sink the Scottish ship full of troops. Move King to siege Edinburgh and build all the siege you can in one turn. Edinburgh should just have Scottish King and one spear. Keep spy spying if he isn't dead yet. You now have 2 choices with Robert. If Scotland is more powerful than what I mentioned, you can sent Robert to the west coast of Edinburgh. But if Scotland is in the situation I described, just sent Robert to Wales and build a ram and siegetowers for a couple turns. Have Robert buy a welsh spearman too.

    Turn 5. Same moves with diplomat and Princess. (it's a really long walk...) Assault Edinburgh. Scotland is gone. The Scottish stack on the English border will go rebel. Move Rufus and most troops towards Iverness. Keep building siege towers for Caernorvon. Move ships back south to shuttle things to Caen later.

    In 5 turns, you've just knocked Scotland out of the game. In a couple turns you'll have the last 2 provinces on the Isles. This is where you have choices. You can go full turtle and disband your whole army. Once the diplomat gets to Rome, you can bribe the Pope into giving you a Crusade. (Give him 1000 a turn until the Pope-o-meter is up to at least 8) That way you can send Robert and troops to Antioch with free upkeep. Disband your mercs. You can take the rebel settlements in France if you want. Go to North Africa. Go to rebel Scandinavia. The sky is the limit. In 10 turns or less you've taken all of the British Isles and have 8 provinces. I turn Iverness and Caernorvon to towns. You only need the 2 castles. You can easily fund a full stack of troops while keeping building steady in all provinces. Use that stack however you want.

    Hope this guide helps.


    Knight of the Order of St. John
    Duke of Nicosia

  30. #180

    Default Re: England

    I don't know if this epic post go up but here it is.


    Ok I breezed through England on M/M and H/H and now I am breezing through on VH/VH.

    Here's my strat thats worked wonders.

    Conquer Early Rebel Settlements: Rennes, York and Caernforn

    On first few turns take rebel settlements Rennes, York and Caernaforn. Recruit men if you need to...no need to wait for ballistas at that early stage siege building will do just fine.

    As far a Bruges and Antwerp - I leave them alone...Why? because the amount of armies there are too big and will result in a costly battle. Plus you get into it with the Danes or HRE early on as a result. Let someone else waste the armies and you'll take it from them after they build it up for you.

    Diploamts: Alliances and Trade Rights with as many nations as possible
    Money is the key to this game so you need to acquire as many trade rights and alliances as possible. Sure eventually they'll break down but get the trade money while you can.

    Thus,on the first turn send a diplomat to the Scots - make an alliance. You'll betraying it soon enough but no need for a fight and it gives you trade income. Send a diplomat to the French...preferably your princess and get another alliance.

    It is also important to build about 3 other diplomats. One is sent to the Ibeiran pennisula to forge at best an alliance...at worst trade rights with the Spanish, Portugese and Moors.

    Send the second Diplomat to the Pope in Italy in order to forge at best alliances at worst trade rights with Milan, Venice Sicily and the Pope. Ultimately leave the Diplomat next to the Pope - use the diplomat to gift money (400-500 every so often) and map info to please him for your indescretions vs. other Catholics.

    The third Diplomat goes east to forge at best an alliance and at worst trade rights with the HRE, Denmark, Russia, Polish, Bzyantines...you get the drift.

    After taking Early Rebel Settlements: Eliminate the Scots - and the UK is yours.

    Seriously the Scots should be out of the game by turn 10. After you take out Carnaforn and York you should have a big army sitting in York. The Scots if they are lucky will have taken Inverness, but in all likelihood will still have only Edinburgh. Send your army there and take it out. Any free standing Scot army will turn to rebels after its only territory falls. Now all you have you deal with is rebel settlements in Inverness and Dublin. **Note convert everything to cities but Nottingham for the cash.***

    Now Onto Mainland Europe: Step 1 -The Key to defeating the French - Bordeux and Toulouse.

    If you are moving aggresively under this strategy you should have a large army in Rennes and Caen should be building up inexpensive units - Levy Spearmen, Hobilars and Archers. ***Build Archery buildings in Caen and Nottingham ASAP - u want to get Longbowmen - a very effective unit.***

    With the Units in Caen and Rennes send a big army down to Bordeux a fortress- it should be a Rebel settlement. Once you do that focus on Toulouse which is another fortress. If you get to Bordeux around this time the French in all likelihood will attack you. But if you take Toulouse...you will essentially cut off the french's ability to make military units. I think only Angers remains as a fortress for the French and with Caen, Bordeux and Toulouse at your disposal Angers will fall fairly easily. Once Angers is taken the French are only left with Cities and ERGO they are toast. Pick up the remain cash cows like Paris at your leisure.

    The other advantage to Bordeux and Toulouse is it gives you control of the two militay outposts along to protect you against Portugal or Spain - whichever decides to turn. Hopefully they wont even bother to attack- but that unlikely. Those two fortresses gives you the military might to repell them.

    Building a Financial Empire: Low Taxes, Build Trade Buildings, Ports and Ignore Merchants

    Okay while you are slowly acquiring Fortresses in France. You should be building up you finincial centers. Markets, Ports and Roads are must for each city. Also set you taxes to low and only raise them if you know for a turn or two you need extra capitals to fund an army. Low taxes will get the cities to expand as soon as possible. Ignore buildings that worry about public order or happiness (except for the basic church) you can build them later and the low taxes is more than enough to keep people happy. The sooner you have good water trade...the more effective all your alliances and trade rights are.

    A note on Merchants--- a total waste at 550 a pop the value is not worth trust me do land clearance for 600gs. It will serve you better in the end.

    Spies - Are a wonderful resource build them and use them.

    Talk about a good investment. This is the best early specialty unit in the game. They are essentially mobile watchtowers. I build a bunch and send them all over my bordering enemy's land because they will do two things. Act as watchtowers - you will see who is marching towards your cities many turns in advance in order to prepare for a counter attack. Second - once you decide to take out a enemy's city I flood several in before the attack in order to open the gates. Third you once you can build assassins te embedding spies dramatically increase the ability of an assassin to destroy their buildings like Ballista towers!

    Strategery - How to take out the rest of Europe and ultimately the world.

    The key is taking out the other countries fortresses and cutting off they're ability to develop military units. Like I described above with France..every country can be taken out the same way. For example the HRE in Bern and Stauffen. Once they can not attack you, you are more than prepred to go in and SACK their cities. (you get mad gold that way) Also don't ransom back prisoners...execute them. It gets rid of of their much needed armies and forces them to spend even more to recruit new soldiers. Also once you have cleared out a geographic area...like say the whole of france... feel free to convert those fortresses that are not along an enemies borders into cities. You wont need them to make soldiers anymore might as well convert them into cash cows.

    Battle Strategy - My preferred battle stack

    I am a huge advocate of artillery, archers basic infantry and light calvary.

    My battlefield lineup would be

    Cannon-Cannon -Cannon -Cannon
    Arch -Arch-Arch-Arch-Arch-Arch
    Spear-Spear-Spear-Spear-Spear
    Calv.Calv Calv. Calv.

    On a Battlefield I lead with my artillery and hammer down the opposing force followed closely behind by archers and then levy spearmen. If the enemy seeks to charge my archers are set to fire at will and will mow down their forces and ultimately caused them to hold their position and force them to be cannon fodder. If they continue to attack I send my infantry to take them out and pull back my artillery. More often then not, the enemy just chickens out and allows me to pepper them.

    As for my cannons in order of preference I have them destroy 1) opposing artillery 2) enemy general/king 3) heavy infantry/spearmen and then artillery.

    Once the cannons are done. I let the archers dump their remaining arrows on the enemy. Once their quivers are empty I send in the spearmen full assault with horses on 1 enemy unit at a time. The overwhelming force causes a quick rout. Once they rout the horses quickly capture them and I move onto the next enemy force.

    ***Note it is a great attack strat for the dreaded Mongols and Tims as well. Cannons and Archers are the key along with fast horsemen to track down routed armies.

    I use mostly spearmen with a sprinkling of dismounted knights because of the high numbers ability agaisnt enemy calvary and low cost.

    Defending a city


    I use essetially the same lineup. With that many archers you place them along your walls and bring out your cannons and place them right along side the outside walls. Once again use you cannons to destroy them armies in the order I just suggested. Once again the archers will take out any charging armies. Once the artillery and archers are expended. Send in the infantry and horses...the enemy should be so decimated that they wont stand a chance.


    Attacking a city.


    Again same lineup. If you have at least 4 artillery you not only can easily pummel the front gate but also take out towers and a few walls. Unless it is a fortress I use up all the artillery to take out any forces standing in front of destroyed walls as a stop gap. I then send archers to take out the stragglers. If youve taken out the towers there should be no opposing fire for the archers to worry about. Then once again send in infantry and horses to clean up the rest of the mess.

    ***Note I do enjoy sieging a city until it falls. If I am not in any great need of money I'll use this tactics to slowly whittle down their army while preserving mine. Be mindful of other armies marching towards you to help their besieged city.****


    Attacking the Milanese (i.e. Archer laded armies)

    My aforementioned battleformula is perfect for them. Crossbowmen, while good, are no match for artilerry and will be shredded by a artillery/archer combo. Finally the best troops to rout them are calvary and if you send a pack of 4 calv after pounding with arrows and artillery the crossbowmen are no match. Honestly, they are my favorite/easiest types of stacks to fight against.

    Giving them the Old' Jihad - How to destroy the Muslim world

    Once you take over the whole of Europe they game is for all intents and purposes is over. You will control the majority of the wealthiest countries and you'll have money coming out the wazooo. So where do you go from here.

    Step 1: Control the seas.

    Build armadas (we're talking Carracks here) to destroy every Muslim factions ship and blockade their ports. (Obviously don't take them all out at once...try a faction at a time) But honestly the goal is to prevent them from doing any trade.

    Step 2: Shock and awe

    Once you control all their ports...you mobilize all of your bored military units who have no one to fight in Europe and load them on the extra armada ships you aren't using to blockade...Bring them over enmass (we're talk 4-5 stacks per city) to totally wipe out each coastal city.

    ***Note since one victory condition is Jerusalem...that is the city I focus on first. I control that sea area and then drop 4 stacks of guys right on the shore....GAME OVER***

    Remember at this point it my be best to exterminate those cities rather than sack. Too many muslim inhabitants leads to mass revolts.

    Step 3: Priest and Catherdrals lead to a Happy Christian World.

    Dont underestimate preist and catherdrals and other public happiness buidlings in the Middle East and Africa. You'll need them because of the crazyt ideological difference. Have enough of them and there should not be any revolts.


    Other issues: Taking out Timurid Elephants
    Cannons - if you follow my formula you will have those things running amok in no time. All cannons should focus on the elephants first when battling the Timurids.


    Survivng the Plague

    When the Black Death hits whether its in one country or in the world wide event later in the game remember 4 things.

    1. Stop Moving All Units - this just spreading the disease and making it worse

    2. Put everyone into the cities - this is the best way to combat the spread and keep people healthy

    3. Lower all the tax rates - it keeps people at max happiness

    4. WAIT IT OUT - As the saying goes...this too shall pass...and it will. Usually when the black death hits I put everyone in the nearby castles/cities, clear all queues and keep hitting the end turn button until it passes. Once it end you will have lost lots of people (BUT so has everyone else) you will be in debt but after a few more end turns with NO building you'll be back in the black and making mad cash (since you wont have very much army upkeep costs) in no time.


    Ok that should be my little manifesto...Happy Hunting Viva La England

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