Furtrapper
10-14-2002, 21:55
Aha! A new delight! Having trekked through the first 150 years of two Early Period campaigns, which are now on the backburner for a wee while, I thought I'd try a High Period one and was over the moon to see that I could play the Russians.
To anyone who hasn't given it a go, it's lots of fun. The one slight niggle is that the expensive Boyars (f625!!) are total rubbish. To the extent that an invading force of Boyars into Muscovy (40 of them meeting 40 steppe cavalry) was utterly trashed, not once, but twice: 40 reduced to 9 the first time (against 22 remaining steppe) and 40 reduced to 8 the second time (more valour on the steppe after the first battle). Boy was I relieved! I had taken my eye off the ball, but was saved by the steppe cavalry, which are cheap, fast and quite fab. Also, in this period, the Russians can build arbalesters and halberdiers straight off, allowing total early rampage of inadequate rebel forces.
In the space of just 10 years, my empire stretches from Finland to the Black Sea, from Sweden to the steppes. An English Crusade smashed itself to pieces on a strong army in Livonia and then I just walked in!
Now I have a nervous 80 years to prepare for the Golden Horde...
Hats off to the devs for creating such a compelling experience, and ignore all those daft rants about uphill bonuses and charging into spears and stuff. I've done some study in this area too, and the historical data is often so much supposition and theory. You've done a great job balancing all the factors and it works.
What next, Napoleonic Total War (with proper naval combat of course)? Hundred Years War? We wait with baited breath...
To anyone who hasn't given it a go, it's lots of fun. The one slight niggle is that the expensive Boyars (f625!!) are total rubbish. To the extent that an invading force of Boyars into Muscovy (40 of them meeting 40 steppe cavalry) was utterly trashed, not once, but twice: 40 reduced to 9 the first time (against 22 remaining steppe) and 40 reduced to 8 the second time (more valour on the steppe after the first battle). Boy was I relieved! I had taken my eye off the ball, but was saved by the steppe cavalry, which are cheap, fast and quite fab. Also, in this period, the Russians can build arbalesters and halberdiers straight off, allowing total early rampage of inadequate rebel forces.
In the space of just 10 years, my empire stretches from Finland to the Black Sea, from Sweden to the steppes. An English Crusade smashed itself to pieces on a strong army in Livonia and then I just walked in!
Now I have a nervous 80 years to prepare for the Golden Horde...
Hats off to the devs for creating such a compelling experience, and ignore all those daft rants about uphill bonuses and charging into spears and stuff. I've done some study in this area too, and the historical data is often so much supposition and theory. You've done a great job balancing all the factors and it works.
What next, Napoleonic Total War (with proper naval combat of course)? Hundred Years War? We wait with baited breath...