Pics & History of your Empire

[Gilrandir]

I looked yesterday and couldn't figure out why the pics weren't coming up, but I see them now.

You gotta be kidding, Drone. You looked YESTERDAY and the pics can be seen only NOW??? Do you keep this thread open for 24 hours???
I'm glad the pics are lookable, though.

[daigaku]

Hi to all,

here some attempts to get rid of unwanted Norse Princelings ;-)))[/ATTACH]


...no easy task to get them killed.....

greetings daigaku

[Plato]

Now, I prefer my women beautiful and sexy, however that does not mean that they have too be that in order to still be women somehow (sadly enough). Still, I certainly do prefer them to be, if given a choice... Same thing applies to games.

Beats me why you don't create your own Matriarchy Mod where the gender roles are reversed:

Empires are run by Queens - from young dominatrices to 'take what they want, won't take no for an answer' cougars
Spies are honeytrap specialists
Assassins become femmes very fatale
Religious units are replaced by hot nuns
Imams / Alim are politically correct and wear a burkah / niqab
and the only men are pasty milksop princelings; worthy merely to be married into other factions.

Or maybe you already have.

I need a lie down.

[Trapped in Samsara]

Hi Gilrandir

Great siege battle pics!

Can I ask what graphics card you have installed in your PC, and what resolution(s) you play the strategy and battle map games at?

Thanks and best regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

[Axalon]

Beats me why you don't create your own Matriarchy Mod where the gender roles are reversed:

Empires are run by Queens - from young dominatrices to 'take what they want, won't take no for an answer' cougars
Spies are honeytrap specialists
Assassins become femmes very fatale
Religious units are replaced by hot nuns
Imams / Alim are politically correct and wear a burkah / niqab
and the only men are pasty milksop princelings; worthy merely to be married into other factions.

Or maybe you already have.

Well... The workload involved pretty much killed the idea of incorporating more female hotness into da game (just making the princesses and all their portraits for Redux was a Herculean task). The engine can't handle it properly anyways due to names and how they are structured in the designs. Essentially, one would have too rely on initials like "A. Bolingbroke" the "spyess" etc. etc. However, I would be lying if I said that it has not crossed my mind at some point... I did she-hulk as a yummy princess, that has to count for something...


- A
---------------
I guess we both are pretty crappy at keeping things on the topic here.

[Gilrandir]

Hi Gilrandir

Great siege battle pics!

Can I ask what graphics card you have installed in your PC, and what resolution(s) you play the strategy and battle map games at?

Thanks and best regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

Woah! That was a hit below the belt. You seem to have forgotten the level of my computer literacy if you are asking such questions. But I'm not so easily daunted. I have looked through the documents I was provided with when I bought my computer. The graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 AGP8X (I feel like a spy transmitting coded information about the enemy's tanks deployed somewhere) and the resolution is 800*600.
As for the pictures, they are somehow larger and more distinct on my display and the posted ones are less legible and cosequently less impressive.

[Trapped in Samsara]

Woah! That was a hit below the belt.

You passed the test with distinction!

Best regards
V

[Hemant A]

FAction : SIcily (Early)
Glorious Achievements mode

BY observation of the early map I decided on my short term goal to dominate the Mediterranean Sea. Though with only a 1 ship fleet so that I can grow a large treasury early on. Decided only on fighting the Byzantines in Naples and Greece. I grew strong in trade and won attrition victories against the Byzantines and wrested Kiev, Moldavia and Bulgaria. All iz well till now. HAd allies with Only Aragon , Denmark and the Pope. Poor diplomacy and Bad understanding of religion would cost me dearly for the next 100years this i realized in 1199AD. Rhodes , Cyprus all fell to me giving me the Ship building provinces i wanted.

THe great sucker punch comes when I opportunistically took advantage of the Pope excommunicating Italy to lanch a Crusade against them and to initiate a Naval war with Italy(because they too had 1 ship fleets on my naval squares . I understood from the Pope that Italy fought France and Germany and that bought about their excommunication. But the Balkan catholics were eyeing the Black sea and they attacked me (Both Poland and Hungary). To my horror my slow response to their offensive resulted in MY EXCOMMUNICATION. and the erosion of all Alliances with me . I was left with Enemy states all around me and then once my king died(no more excommunication. To be frank nobody Dared to crusade against me) I married my young King to a beautiful Fraulein who was touring Naples . THis secured my long term alliance with Germany. Aragon and Spain followed suit but all my overtures to Hungary and Poland were turned down. Everytime they attacked K,M and G i got the EXCOM warning.

In the Mediterranean Sea i built up my Home Islands to superior technology to safely churn out high level troops. I didnt realize until 1220AD that Hospitaliers are A crusading only unit . whereas i built all my Crusades from Naples. But I decided that Pope will scream all he wants for a crusade on the holy Lands but with hostile factions around It I deemed it a waste of Florins. I chose on the province hopping crusade and decided to eliminate the Byzantines from Constantinople once and for all. for the time 1133-1190 they remained a useful buffer b/w me and the muslims (esp Turks) . I took pride in sending a supporting army to Cyrenaica to aid the Spanish in their African Crusade to Jerusalem. This angered the Egyptians and my pride took a serious beating when their Dhows sank most of my experienced galleys. Still the SPanish Crusade failed and i had to ransom back my army to rhodes. The reply of that battle I can give you on request.

Civil war amongst the Spanish meant that I could sweep Cyrenaica, Egypt for myself. A huge number of priests in all provinces kept loyalty. I deduced correctly that Faithful governors alone can keep Provinces loyal without a large garrison. It freed a lot of troops to send to Africa where the Egyptian Jihads await me. Now the prevalence of Catholics in the Holy land coupled with continuing defeats for their JIhad have left their sultan with NO INFLUENCE. Now(1230) the holy land is controlled by arab rebels with top of the line troops. The spaniards took advantage of the revolt to seize Algeria and Tunisia. But they are my allies so i repose faith in them.

After the fall of Constantinople and the death of the Emperor the remote province of Khazar fell under rebel control and they never bothered my inferior infantry. I decided to encircle Poland- Hungary by going all the way upto FInland. But my new ally the NOvogrod prince took FInland with me but gained control of it. Meanwhile taking advantage of the death of the Pope the bloddy POles invaded MOldavia and HUngary invaded Bulgaria along with their Turkish allies. Prince Adam and the Governor of Rhodes (an former prince who was off Royal BLood but dropped out of line when his Brother died after giving birth to 4 sons and 3 daughters ) defended the bulgaria. MOldavia fell and the remanants evacuated to Kiev. THe Voivode laid his life in the fort. But now i realized that the earlier decision to march upto Finland conquering Lithunaia, Pereysslavi and Ryazan opened myself upto the horrifying spectre of a huge Mongol invasion in 1230AD. Several stacks of tatars appeared in Khazar ( now Turkish occupied) . 2 turns later a Turkish army of 1400 which was there {including the Crimean contigent which I defeated in 1230AD} where completely annihilated. My priest in Georgia{ nearest Turkish province} informed that no survivors remained .

Iam faced with the trifle of evacuating all my men from the russian states and going on to make a last stand at Kiev. Now i stand poised at Kiev facing an imminent double bridge River battle should the Tatars invade from Khazar....... Give me strength to defend Kiev as i cannot withdraw across the sea to constantinople thanks to the Turks blockading me (thanks to a 3 ship dhow fleet which gives them the Black sea. But I have 5000 troops in Kiev now and intend to defend it to the last. I wasn't building a castle in Kiev so that puts me at a distinct disadvantage. Seems like a Crusade to Khazar may be a wise option to bolster Kiev and also take on the Mongols head on. MAybe just maybe they might accept my2 honour emissary who is offering them terms of an alliance from My King who has a influence 8 and I believe that the ongoing crusade to antioch (on which I had my full attention) before the Mongols came is now in Nicaea sweeping through Anatolia (fully turkish controlled).

Well my brave warriors I hope that these Tartar hordes will not be having any reinforcements from Asia but only what they have. I may bear the brunt of one attack maybe {the expected bridge battle} but that is all that would be wise in their opinion. When my Emissary reaches the court of Batu Khan, he will know of the army arrayed in grey. He will hear great tales of the mighty successor to The Roman Empire, He will learn . He will hear the vast swathes of land we control and he will learn of the greatness of christianity. Undoubtedly introduce my EMissary to all his generals in that process. My emissary will report to me on his Batu's weakpoints. {A miracle is that my emissary is atleast 150yrs old, and been with me since the start of the game. He has served the first king} I will then decide on the right man to bribe and I will incite a civil strife among BAtu's forces, THat and a crusade through the BAlkans {HIgh zeal everywhere thanks to my active Inquisitors} will gurantee atleast 5000men to eliminate the Mongols if they do not chance at my Olive Branch of peace in 1232AD.

I'l load my map one i can take a full screen shot of it !!!

[ferdi]

You made some mistakes... when the horde comes u don't put your biggest army on their ofron/on. When u put lest army they send little part of their army. some clues about horde"
1- han/kağan always attack on volga-bugaria by himself.
2- they send bigger amies if they see bigger armies.
3- they attack at most nicea not further more.
in mtvw xl- they always attack on Bagdath(as it was in the history).
4- it is easy to beat because u know when tehy emerge where they'll come, where they attcak.
so they are not a big opponents.
nowadays ı'm playin MTV XL campaigns. I played eary kievians and high Russians campain.
In early times like u start it is so esay to beat them but in high(so u start in 1205) u dont have much time to prepare. and also during they come your king will die and it reduces everything. so ı do't attcak on Cumans. I prepare my army to defend my land. and put the best army in Volga-bulgaria with the best commander(my prinence with 6 star and 2 more attacikng stats). In MTV XL horde comes with 15-20.00 man. so their army is almost twice times of yours. ıf u direct their army on u it is a big mistake. putting smallest but best troops is the best way. and they orient towards anatolia. so after they distrubute their army in 5 years u beat them.

[Hemant A]

Ferdi

You made some mistakes...
.

naaah not quite because after all we are playing a game. Not anticipating the opponents strikes. I dont have to chicken out from fighting the mongols i can take them on with my brave warriors. I did fight the expected battle ........here's how it transpired

I have progressed now from 1231AD to 1234AD. The bridge battle did not go as planned. Despite having numerical advantage My bombard cannon self imploded routing 2 of my spear units with 50% casualties {one sergeants and one spearmen} and that too on my main bridge. After the mongols gave up on the 2nd bridge lost most of their heavy cavalry , they started throwing Steppe cavalry at the main bridge I thought that I can counterattack them with knights by crossing them from the 2nd bridge. But that backfired and the Steppe cavalry routed my royal/feudal knights despite being caught in b/w my spear units and them. That panicked even the goddamn general and everybody routed. I though i can hold a line near the end of the map but the game crashed before the bitter end !!!!

I decided this strategy is not going to work because i saw Ferdi's reply. I decided to retreat em all to Bulgaria leaving the poles and the hungarians to fight them { Remember Mohi and Legnica} The MOngols refused my allaince offer. THIS MEANS WAR !! TOTAL WAR !! . Their faction leader is Ogedei khan and not Batu !!! The evacuation was facilitated by the turks advancing their fleet into the straits where my 3star 3 ship dromon fleet waited them. I attacked and destroyed them all for the loss of one.

The Mongols indeed send an army similar to the one they intend to oppose. But i thought that because of the nearby remergence of the Byzantines in crimea . I might have it easy in Kiev. But noooo Ferdi was right. They walloped the Kataphraktoi's in just one turn. THe Emperor was dead in just one turn. Because i kept only ine steppe cavalry in Kiev they sent one HC And MLC to deal with me.. I glorious retreated them all into MOldavia crushed the poles in a lopsided battle. Poland is all set to be eliminated when I storm the fort at Moldavia in 1235AD

The crusade to antioch goes well nicely. I found out that one of my generals in Sicily is a certain Roger de flor is a heavily stat general. 6 ACUMEN ; 6 DREAD ; 4 COMMAND ; 5 Loyalty { no problem I GOT a wife for him } ; 7 Piety. He will be tasked with controlling troublesome NIcaea {recently conquered} and very rebellious. I hope the Two inquisitors there start an inquisition there quickly so that the majority Muslim populace will be quelled into obedience seeing heretic Christians being staked...... I Advance now into anatolia with 1197men and an army of 956men in support.

[ferdi]

we want pictures Hemant ..

[Hemant A]

Attachment 8437

It seems I only got screenshots of my Kingdom at AD 1204. I.e. just before the Chivalric period I presume. I was pretty well off at this situation . Crete shows Egyptian control but my garrison Is stil there. It was in this turn I got a real heads on dose about Naval warfare. 3 Egyptian would sink around 4 galleys and i was training dromons everywhere... The beginning of my string of naval victories starts at Cyprus where you can see the Dromon fleet ready to attack the Dhow. The turks where quite until this point as I was busy with my Conquest of Constantinople.

Attachment 8438

I can't make head or tail of what this image means but..... I would much appreshayte it if somebody can transliterate it for me......

A review of my situation at 1204AD
The Spanish are into their Civil war and As I Correctly observed it was a failed crusade that bought this war upon them. The aragonese my allies are holed up in Aragon but didnt use this chance to gain ground in Spain. Possibly they risked losing me as an Ally as I was allies with both Spain and Aragon. THey would be eliminated 5 years later only to re-emerge in 1225AD.
THe Egyptians meanwhile are launching a JIhad to conquer my lands. For me it was a deathtrap at Cyrenaica. I foolishly launched a seaborne invasion to Cyrenaica to help my Spaniard friends with that crusade of theirs. But their crusade failed in front of a JIhad and they perished in Egypt. I retained Cyrenaica. But those JIhads were all weak and after the naval power was in my grasp I reinforced Cyrenaica. It would take me 12 more years b4 finally sealing the deal in Africa. those years saw my trade collapse my finances fall. To prevent my army from getting continuously attrited I Kept numbers up by training... Started building a fortress in SIcily.
My armed forces are peaked everywhere now . the poles, hungarians, and the egyptians are at war with me. Venice fell to me when that province rebelled against the Pope in 1200. I launched a seaborne invasion and snapped it up. The French have SMolensk thanks to a crusade to take it. They are seriously in trouble with the English but they wont ally with me. I took Burgundy from them when It also rebelled against their rule. A castle in burgundy means a strong presence in France as well.

In the east it looks awkward but i have control of Lithuania , Moldavia, Bulgaria and Constantinople. The King is at Moldavia and has an influence of 6. But the damn poles will not accept my ceasefire. " I thought gaining more provinces will raise my income. But didnt realize those provinces are not the fertile ones of the 20th century

[Gilrandir]

A huge number of priests in all provinces kept loyalty. I deduced correctly that Faithful governors alone can keep Provinces loyal without a large garrison.

Spies are more efficient than priests. They propel loyalty the second year after they appear in the province. And you need only one spy per province. As for the generals, dread is more impotant than any other features in keeping a province loyal.

[bamff]

Great to return to these hallowed halls and see that tales of battles won and lost are still recounted in this thread... Here's hoping that we will all enjoy many more tales of conquest and tragedy, of empires risen and fallen. Long may it be so!

[drone]

Welcome back, bamff!

[Ingersoll]

Glad to see I'm not the only one still playing.

[Axalon]

Re-posted here, as it covers both original MTW, XL and Redux - all at the same time... Enjoy folks...

Hello again all, I found some stuff that I thought was interesting enough to share here, hopefully people visiting here will agree...

Below are some old pics, the results of a test/experiment I did in Jan 2013 as to evaluate Redux and its overall challenge-levels. The experiment (or test) was essentially: “can one achieve victory in raw MTW within 100 turns? Even if the difficulty is maxed out? If not, how close can one get then? Can one do it with Redux? How will raw MTW compare to Redux in this regard? What are the actual differences between the two in this context? What conclusions can be drawn from the results?” etc. etc. I also tried XL for additional and broader reference (while I never came around to do a Redux-campaign at that point in time. I did it later on however). These were the combined results….




Raw MTW, playing as Spain (a hard faction), Early-era, expert level, default unit-size... Full throttle enabled... 80 turns in (1167 AD), I was offered victory. I was amazed at the result as I did not expect it to be that easy, as things had actually turned out. Thinking back, I remember I was essentially swimming in florins all the time, no matter what I did. I was constantly at war ever since turn 5 or 6. I never ever used any mercenaries or crap troops like peasants for garrisoning, I never built any save, 2-3 units of spearmen at start up - I had little choice, no other troops were available at that point. Once I could build feudal men at arms, I used little else for infantry and my armies.



Same Spanish campaign in raw MTW... 94 turns in (1181 AD), I was offered total victory. I was surprised at the speed it all have happened, some 40(!) provinces conquered in just 14 turns... All this while the famous "rebel-bug" was in full swing (causing some minor problems, but it was never much beyond that, due to the overly effective watchtowers and some additional spies)...



MTW-XL 3.0, playing as Armenians (a hard faction), Early-era, expert level, default unit-size... Full throttle enabled... 96 turns in (1176 AD), I was offered (minor) victory. I did not bother pursuing a total victory after that as I already had the info I was looking for. Its possible that I could have shaven off some few turns, if I had been more experienced with both XL and the Armenians... All I remember is that I killed the Turks first and then killed the Egyptians while at war with Byzantium too. The Turks and Egyptians were a joke in regards to troops once I could get my hands on some functional cavalry, then it was all over... After Constantinople every faction was fair game, as I was done playing nice and went berserk across XL-Europe.

Raw MTW was slightly easier then XL. I had little problems with cash, troops, order, rebels and buildings in neither - I could build whatever I wanted without any fuss or protest anywhere, this at any given time - although it certainly took time to build stuff. Building-time, more then anything was the greatest obstacle in these two campaigns. Ships take like forever to build, and so I basically ignored a building a big fleet and do trade - I had no time for it (in this context), nor did I seriously need it. AI-factions was typically no threat on, or from, the seas anyways. I also remember that I was in constant war, all the time, with two or more factions as a rule. At first I started them, later it was the AI all the way... I never made peace or dishonoured an alliance, in either two campaigns.




MTW-Redux using a 1004-prototype (about 3 months later, Apr 2013)... Playing as Spain, veteran level, default unit-size... Full throttle enabled... 100 turns in (800 AD), I have managed to scrape together some 13 provinces, and securing the Iberian peninsula and a buffer zone in France and Morocco but little else (save Flanders!). This screen shows the northern borders into France... My armies are hardly spectacular nor superior to my foes (here or elsewhere). In fact the French armies are actually better then mine at this point and so my troops get slaughtered every time I actually try to attack French held territories... My troops are simply outclassed in terms of equipment to the Frankish knights. I managed to build my very first unit of royal spearmen which is probably the only thing that will break these well equipped Frankish knights in battle, since little else will (at least from Spain, save archers, of which I don't have enough to pull it off). In short, Spain's armies are still in internal disorder and in need of upgrades due to the massive pressure during the first 100 turns, especially from the Moors. Spain has little or no reserves, and its armies are still very much under construction to cover past losses. Plenty of cheap units still around as I basically could not afford quality units at the rate I had lost them, and I had to get new troops to survive...



Same Spanish campaign in Redux... The southern borders in Africa... Spain under my reign was hardly mighty, and it is first now slowly recovering from some 80+ turns of multiple wars (on several fronts), constant shortages, battles and rebellions. Spain was never strong enough to wipe out the Moors when it had the chance - not enough troops to do it. The economy has for the most part on the verge of collapse as it has been is overstretched by various demands, needs and plans. I had to fine-tune taxes many times just to maintain some internal order and avoid rebellions. I simply had no troops to deal with that too... I have been fighting for survival multiple times against the Moors, who damn near wiped me off the map - had it not been for a series of spectacular/fancy wins that ultimately saved Spain from annihilation. I mean, I could have lost the entire game some 5-6 times at least, had I lost any of those crucial battles. The initial Moorish onslaught was relentless and without mercy, I was fighting for survival. After some 100 turns of toil and serious struggle in Redux, what did I have to show for it all?

...Some 9,974 florins and 13 provinces - hard earned.

- A

- A

[edyzmedieval]

Not exactly my empire, but I found a picture of alpha MTW. A bit of MTW history.

[Axalon]

I (recently) did another set of reference/research-games in raw MTW - more (experimental) lightning-war/wins basically...


Background...

Previously I have managed to achieve a turbo-win with Spain in less then 100 turns (see my previous post), this at supposedly maxed out difficulty in raw MTW - now I wanted to find out if it is/was possible to achieve a win even at the magic 60-turn barrier, or close to it. In other words, to achieve any kind of win at the extreme rate of/or a close equivalent to 1 province per turn (or close), and that in the first 60-turns (or close)... Obviously, this at expert-setting, default unit-size and the early-era for a combined maxed out difficulty/challenge. Furthermore, I use no cheats, no mercenaries, no peasants, or any other unserious troops allowed as garrisons (e.g. spearmen, urban-boys etc. etc.), no alliances have been/or can be betrayed... And, only troops that I am seriously willing to deploy in combat is/was used/allowed/built, this at all times... All the usual stuff when I do this kind of experiments...

I already knew that all this will (probably) never happen in modern versions/betas of Redux (see my previous post), even to achieve a win south of a 100 turns seems really impossible regardless what you do, so obviously 60 turns would be an even more hopeless scenario. However, in raw MTW the circumstances are different and I thought it was worth a shot as it would/will bring new light, interesting contexts, perspectives, references on raw MTW and Redux alike (and possibly even other work done for MTW). All stuff that I think are well worth further discussion somehow, or so I would argue....




The Italians... First I decided to try this stuff with Italy... Overall, I think I ended up with a good run as I was offered victory at 71 turns - however that is nowhere close to a success in regards to the goals as specified in the intended context here. I started my first war in 1100 AD and was at war from that point onwards with at least 1 faction all the time... I had a constant shortage of cash the initial 40-50 turns, and I could not produce enough troops, or these fast enough, to have any honest prospect of reaching a win at the magic 60-barrier... The Papacy, which was the very first faction I killed, re-emerged on me probably 10 times and typically with lots of troops that was much better then the ones I had - as a result my casualties was high every time (I actually never managed to tech-up that high in the entire campaign! No time, no cash!). I was thus forced to have a standing (serious) army available in the area all the time - troops I certainly could used much better elsewhere - especially in this given context...




The Danes... Having learned some valuable lessons on my Italian run I concluded that a different and even faster approach was clearly needed (and that without bending/disregarding the outlined rules). The Danes - due to their Viking-units - were probably the best shot I would get at this, despite all things, such as my inexperience of the faction, for starters. After all, it would be the first time I ever tried to play the Danes (seriously) but all the same I believed that the Vikings would still be the thing that would eventually decide the outcome here and not my inexperience with that particular faction. Besides, the Viking-units have all the traits needed to get a decent shot at the 60-barrier, they are easy to build, cheap and good enough in battle at the same time - just the very stuff one would need in this context....

Anyhow, I started my first regular war at 1100 AD with the HRE as they had Saxony and that was my only way out (I had no ships). Once Saxony was secured I put that war on hold and turned east towards Russia - which was the first faction I actually killed in this campaign. Once that had happened I could finally get my hands on some much needed (steppe) cavalry units, which I tried to build as fast as possible too. I had a serious and constant problem with cash-flow to build all the troops necessary for expansion and taking ever new provinces. Resulting in that my tech-development was typically very low, which in turn meant that I had to make due with Vikings regardless until I managed to conquer some castle with a little more tech-development. I had no cash or time for any serious development anywhere basically... It would take me some 40 turns at least before my economy was not in constant state of crisis, but even then it was still not strong enough to actually keep up with events. It only got that strong in my 5-10 last turns or something...

Anyhow, after have expanding like crazy from Russia southwards to the desert, and westwards towards France, HRE and Italy, and building ridiculous amounts of troops in the process - every turn - I was closing in on the 60-barrier. At turn 50, I realized that I actually had a shot at it - If I somehow managed to expand/take 3-5 provinces every turn up to that point (and then keep them). Long story short, after some very tough last turns I was eventually offered victory at turn 59!!! It just seemed incredible to me that I would actually manage to go south of the 60-barrier but apparently that is exactly what I did with the Danes... I doubt that any other faction would enable a repeat of that deed (or close to it). Ergo, I basically think that the Danes are probably a condition for this kind of lightning-war/win-stunt... Anyhow, I smell a record here somewhere....

Thoughts? If any?


-A

[drone]

Anyhow, I smell a record here somewhere....

Pretty impressive! Did Maltz play MTW? I remember from Rome onwards he was the king of the rush.

If it was going to be possible, Danes/Early would be the faction to do it. Vikings are good troops and very spammable, and longboats help with mobility. A few Mounted Sergeants and Feudal Sergeants thrown in with Vikings can get you pretty far, you don't need missile units at all.

How did you handle sieges/castle assaults?

[Ludens]

Impressive, indeed .

If it was going to be possible, Danes/Early would be the faction to do it. Vikings are good troops and very spammable, and longboats help with mobility. A few Mounted Sergeants and Feudal Sergeants thrown in with Vikings can get you pretty far, you don't need missile units at all.

Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.

[drone]

Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.

It might be possible, but the Danes have the advantage in location and resupply. It's easier for them to limit their front lines, and they can reinforce from any province with a Fort. You don't need to spend time and money teching up provinces.

[Axalon]

Thanks guys, yup its pretty crazy... :)

Did Maltz play MTW? I remember from Rome onwards he was the king of the rush.

I don’t have a clue and I would not know. All I know is that you can achive totally ridicolous wins in MTW2, like less the 10 turns even due to using obviously unconcidered flaws in the designs on jihads etc. I know I am typically a fat critic on MTW in many things, but I think they did that part right in MTW, or well enough anyhow...

A few Mounted Sergeants and Feudal Sergeants thrown in with Vikings can get you pretty far, you don't need missile units at all.

Obviously, this context is all about extreme and unusual circumstances, but I certainly had plenty of battles I wished I had some of that (often I had pure Viking-armies by sheer necessity), and every time I had some of it, my army/battle-power were better off because of it. I also knew that I had to have some fast cavalry to effectivly kill the missile-heavy factions like the Turks and/or Egyptians – or I would take extra casualties and the battles would take virtually forever. Besides, there are few places to take cover behind in the desert... Anyhow, I agree – archers does strike me as redundant in this context. They are hardly worth the effort and attention they basically crave to be somehow useful at all, especially so in this context and particularly with those weak MTW stats.

How did you handle sieges/castle assaults?

As you surely can imagine most castles around were at fairly low levels (they had little time to grow), and so I typically (if at all possible) cut my way thru the palisade from all directions to get in. Storming the defenders from several points, thus dividing the defender as much as possible. If the castle were at higher levels, I basically autoresolved with massed Viking formations, drowning the defender by weight of numbers, while my precious cavalry (if any) moved on/transfered to another battle/front... Something like that...

Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.

I might not be an expert on raw MTW-byzantium but I think they will probably be too slow in producing enough truly useful troops to actually keep up with the speed neccesary to get even close of the 60-barrier (and there will probably be several undesirable yet “do or die”-battles in this context, so you will probably need troops that can fight seriously somehow). I don’t think byzantine infantry have what it takes all over... For starters they require way too much tech-development (fort+keep+watch+spearmaker+swordmaker. Some 18 turns in total, right?) and that takes both time and cash – you (probably) have neither in this context - and that are their main weaknesses here, or so I would argue. Basically, I offer more of the same of what Drone have already pointed at on this note.

If given more time, byzantium could probably go south of the 100-barrier at least, or that is what I believe. I doubt there are any faction in raw MTW that could not go south of the 100-barrier if played by a skilled enough player. The 60-barrier however, is another beast all together and obviously a much more demanding scenario all over. Sheer player-skill alone will probably not be enough, you need some unit just like the Vikings in order to have any serious prospect at all on reaching the 60-barrier (or close). You have virtually no time to spare before you must act, simply to enable the expansion needed to get anywhere near it, and that takes alot of troops, a lot... That takes cash and you constantly have not enough for it to happen properly etc. etc. And in the case of Byzantium, it will also require higher tech-levels before any of that stuff really happens. So, nah I don’t think they could do it...

- A

[edyzmedieval]

Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.

I very much often play with the Byzantines and the problem with them is that they always have at least 2 fronts + a Crusade to deal with in the first 50 turns if you decide to take up Antioch or Tripoli.

And as Axalon noted, it's the problem of teching up. Byzantine Infantry are good, but it takes some time to develop, and in some cases they're not even that capable. (against heavily armoured units they're no match)

But otherwise, impressive stuff Axalon!

[Valer]

Hello there,
I was hanging out on boards and when I saw this thread, and that you were talking about byzantine campaign, I couldn't resist to register myself and post this screen of my byzantine campaign, in expert difficulty



It's not below 60 turns but I think I could have catch a few years with more aggressivity. I will give an other shot later :)

[Axalon]

Well done! I didn't think the Byzantines had the capacity to reach the 60-barrier. You have proven otherwise. Interesting and impressive! If there ever was any doubts that all factions of raw MTW can finish up/win the game before 100 turns - there can hardly be any rational doubts left at this point.

- A

[drone]

Very nice! What units did you mainly rely on for the rush?

[Valer]

Thank you both ! I mainly relied on spearmen then on byzantine infantry as soon as I get swordmaker. It is true that byzantine faction need more tech-developpement but in the other hand you can recruit powerful units at Constantinople very early, you have very good economy, it's easy to get control of the sea and of course you already have an empire.
I think most of the factions can reach the 60- barrier :)

[Valer]

So I tried to go under the 60-barrier with egyptians, still in expert difficulty, early period :



To say the least egyptians are very good, they have rich provinces and a perfect initial situation, with an important kingdom and only 1 front (Almohades aren't a threat).
So I was super aggressive after 4/5 turns, was constantly at war against 2 or 3 kingdoms, and never did alliances. I used cheap units, like peasants, urban militia and mostly nubians spearmen. Then I recruited saracen spearmen, one of the best units in the early period, as soon as I get Spearmaker's workshop. It worked very well since I won after 44 turns !

[Age]

Those are some nice camps.