Lack of Confidence... By the Player!

[blackfire83]

Hey there everyone,

I'm new to the boards, and to M:TW, but I must say it is a superb game, and quite addictive to boot. Anyway, I've been playing a SP campaign as the Byzantines for awhile and have made some good gains into Rebel territory. I run the combats on my own, as I think that is the most enjoyable part of the game, and I seem to do very well. However, I cannot get over my fear of attacking another faction. I get this feeling that the Rebels are pathetic, and even though I can beat them down fairly easily, another faction will tear me to pieces. Are my fears unfounded? Are there any veterans who can offer some tips for my lack of confidence? I know I'm not the best player, but I'm not even sure if I can hold my own. Thanks in advance for the help. I hope that maybe someone can ease my fears and I can make a push into Central Europe or even Africa...

-blackfire83

[Vanya]

GAH!

Attack another and their allies will no longer support you. Its a fear that sometimes comes home to roost. Although, sometimes the allies abandon your foe.

Of course, piss off a catholic faction and you'll soon have a pilgrimmage of crusades heading your way from Blarney to Timbuktu.

GAH!

When in doubt, cut their heads off. Dead men can't fight.

GAH!

[solypsist]

you can always "cheat" by saving your game, attacking a faction, and if after a few years things go badly, reload and just don't attack (and consider those battles practice.)
the best thing to do, IMO, is to just wait until a faction attacks you, defend and deplete his attacking army, then counterattack his now weakened province and take it for yourself. From that point on, the other faction is the one who should be worried (if the AI could actually worry)

[blackfire83]

Thanks for the help, guys. I guess I'll just give it a shot, though I'm still apprehensive that things will turn out bad. Oh well. No harm in trying, I guess...

Soly - I hadn't thought of that, but it is a very good idea. I'll see if I can "prod" any factions into unwisely attacking my border provinces, and we'll see where it goes from there. I'm still afraid, however, of them bringing in reinforcements that I don't know about and slaughtering my whole army. Oh well. Thanks anyway for the advice. I'm gonna see if I can rub the Egyptians the wrong way and steal some provinces from them. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.... Wish me luck... ;-)

-blackfire83

[Cheetah]

Well, if you really want to boost your confidence then play custom battles against the AI. This way you can practice without consequences. If you want to boost your confidence even more then play online ... http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[1dread1lahll]

Gah! goodluck 83.... get online though, its better........

[NARF]

this gah! thing is getting out of hand. someone please adopt it. everyone else, never say it again

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What is it that makes a complete stranger dive into an icy river to save a solid gold baby? Maybe we'll never know.

[hawkeyega]

I broke that fear by playing the Elmoheads. I took out some neutrals, then carefully planned my attack on Spain and destroyed them in 2 years. Good fun. Then built up again and the french were next...

Bad idea: Attacking Egypt next. Yeesh! That caused problems. But thank you Golden Horde for coming and opening the second front on Egypt!

[Stu35]

My wars are crafted, planned and clear cut 5-6 years before they happen - my Armies are set up, my fleets eliminate the enemy navy in one single blow, and my soldiers force the enemy into submission in a turn or two...


What im trying to say is, have a plan of action, play to your strengths - try to attack the enemy first is my advice, because when they attack you it is almost always before you were "quite ready" for them - wheras if you know when you want to strike them, where, and with what units, you can defeat them.

If it has nasty reprucussions you didnt consider (papacy, allies, jihads... whatever), then rather than reload, i would play on - see where you can get,

it is better to take the risk and loose it all, than it is to back away and always wonder what could have been.

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Stu35s MTW Site - Hints,Lists,Facts,And Porn (http://www.angelfire.com/games4/mtw) (one of those is a lie)

http://www.geocities.com/wolflord_uk/stu35

Alba Gu Bragh

[This message has been edited by Stu35 (edited 09-21-2002).]

[s&d&r&r]

No offence (pardon the pun) but you are suffering from what used to be known in AOE forums long, long ago as the TURTLE effect i.e. hole up until you have ovewhelming might/upgrades etc. before you attack.
Got the Tshirt.
Give this a try.
As with the pattern of Shogun you don't often loose out by trying the following:
If you have a large army sitting at the border of a province you plan to take from the AI and assuming you can hold loyalty with what you leave behind just push your excess armies out even if the odds seem a bit in the AI's favour. I have found that in many cases the AI will retreat. If it does not and you really can't risk the losses just withdraw from battle. If you are a bit wary of surrounding provinces being invaded on the AI turn keep in mind that their defence if sensibly managed by you will usually yield a 2 to 1 advandage in your favour.
The tactic I have described works even better if you can go for a few provinces on the same turn. You will usually get at least one of them for free.

[Alrowan]

what i do when i want to take land from a bigger catholic faction...

send in the spies, cause revolts, watch ther armies deplete, and take thier land

[Vlad The Impaler]

impale the opponents in and put them in order to look as an army; in this way they cant fight http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

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One sword to behead the white ruler sitting on the white throne in the Vatican.
One sword for the ruler who will come and unite us under the sign of the cross
with broken arms. Eleven swords to behead eleven lords and rulers of the land
united under the blue banner. A hundred swords to defend our southern
boundaries against black plague and half moon.
And one axe for me to defend my stronghold, and may I call this axe, "Bane of
Christendom" soon.

[blackfire83]

As per the need for reducing the number of posts, I offer this thread up for closing by the mods. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

-blackfire83