Blitzmaster Challenge

[Askthepizzaguy]

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1955815#post1955815

There is a new Blitzmaster, Grog, having defeated my previous record of 28 turns.

The new record is 25, and the old thread is linked above. Seems the Turks are the faction to beat, not the HRE.

Congratulations, Blitzmaster!


:balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon:

[Galain_Ironhide]

Congrats Grog

Hail the new Blitzmaster:knight:

So when does the crusade to retake the record back begin ATPG?

[Askthepizzaguy]

I'm retiring from the challenge. I do not believe Grog's record can be improved upon, nor do I believe that SirRethCir's 9 turn Long Campaign can be shortened.

Grog is now the reigning champion, and I'm hanging up the sword.

However, when our duel to the death ends, I will have his head once again.

[WarMachine187]

Congrats Grog.You guys are both extremely talented at blitzing.I occasionally do it but i always stop right in the middle.That thread with all them pics on just got me back in to it!

[Askthepizzaguy]

wow! some love for the former champ.

I regret I will slowly fade into oblivion now...

:smash:

[Grog]

Hail ATPG the Blitzmaster

Ah, but you truely are the overall Blitzmaster still. :2thumbsup:

Just look at your most excellent exploits in the BC mod, your utter blitz destruction of all opponents that dared face you in the open challenge duel to the death thread. Your current Darklord game is making me develop an evil chuckle (funny servile responses from your 'underlings' too)

You contribute far more to these forums than I ever will for a start..

In fact, this second attempt at a Turkish blitz was inspired by our current duel on LTC. I just thought I'd blast vanilla with the Turks to hone my fighting style and refresh my logistics after seeing your exploits on various threads, and sort of got a bit carried away by the momentum. (for the record, I can't get near your time with HRE, and Egypt are slower than the moors in my experience..)

For this Blitz, I used a similar structure to your HRE rush
ie: Jihad1 turns 2-9,
expansionism and general spawning turns 10-19
Jihad2 turns 19-25.

HRE have a better position in many ways, but Turks Horse Archers are the key here. Drill master general and 8 HA units on Jihad speed cover lots of ground. I rush deep into enemy territory, grab the biggest stack of crossbow/spear mercs, and nab a castle (easy to control). then expand and train from this point. Repeat everywhere and HRE can't match the pace or the turn 2 crusade.

Also, with a half HA stack and two generals as heavy cavalry the Turks can easily defeat any AI full stack early game just through attrition/skirmish and a few well timed general splits/charges, with relatively few losses.

I could go on in more detail , but its easier to post some saves up here if anyone is interested..

Could I beat 25? No idea, I made a few errors here and there, this is always balanced with luck and the AI doing stupid things in the long run.. didnt know I was going to beat 28 until turn 22/23..

Finally, to Factionheir. I apologise for the necromancy of the old blitz thread, but I'd rather stick it there with the rest of my blitzes for prosperity, rather than start a new thread.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Ok....
Grog....

If you think you've made errors...

I request that I challenge your Blitzmaster title one more time.

[Galain_Ironhide]

I knew you wouldnt be able to resist. :clown:

[Askthepizzaguy]

Status:

Turn 14, 41 provinces.

All of the middle east is mine, plus Egypt, tripoli, Tunis, Italy, Greece, half of Russia, half of Eastern Europe. Many provinces seiged, generals poised for assault.

Only one problem: I need generals and cavalry to zoom to Arguin. That's the final province I will be taking. I dont have anyone near there.

Grog made some early mistakes, where he sacrificed position for provinces. I managed to put some generals out further than he did, and I planned to use captains to take the missing ones. This plan has worked, and now I believe I have more forward-positioned generals than he had. However, I did not manage to get a general on the Arguin route. Closest one is my general at Ajaccio or Palermo.

I think I may be able to meet his record due to that error, but I doubt I can beat it.

EDIT: Turn 16, 48 provinces, many under seige.

Still need to get moving to arguin!!!

[Galain_Ironhide]

you are the turks right?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Yeah, Turks.

Problems though. Turn 17, looks to be out of range of Arguin, which spoils the entire run.

Gonna have to start over. I'll do a simulation to see how fast I can get to Arguin, but I'm going to have to restart I think.

[Grog]

Ah the Arguin problem :furious3:

I had this in hand but also made a mistake here.

I sent my faction leader Sultan Jalal on this path at Jihad speed:

Smyrna > Corinth > Palermo >Algiers. The first Jihad ended here. Then its 7 or so turns to run a general + HA to timbuktu.

I got lucky with 3 tribesmen that I recruited right at timbuktu before sieging . I'd been montioring the merc pool all the way down in case moors were fast enough coming south after me. Then it was the simple case of picking up Jihad speed again over to arguin. Once you have arguin this stack is wasted, but I moved it back to timbuktu anyway in case the moors came down.

My mistake here was using my faction leader for this stack (waste of a nightfighter) but I don't think you have much of a choice tbh to get here this fast otherwise, as his is your most westerly general unit on turn1.

Some hints for beating my time:

Aim for structure:
2-8 Jihad 1 (get into europe and secure NE/SE corners and make for timbuktu)

8-18 Build/expand for jihad 2. Go off path to make as many generals as possible. Have no defined aims other than major castles, push northwest and go with the flow.

18-24 Jihad 2. win.

I took around 50 provinces in 6 turns with my second Jihad, could have done better with different prep/strategy/luck. If you end Jihad 1 start this Jihad2 turn earlier than I did, could edge a 24 turn victory maybe.

I had about 4 'wasted' stacks at victory on turn 25. Should have commited to hungarys destruction earlier, would have saved time in long run.

I didnt replay any turns. I did reload my end save three times, once to make minor troop move I forgot, twice to make siege engines I forgot to build..(lisbon/paris)

I fought a lot of battles early (about 20 heroics this game) but autoresolved about 60% overall for the sake of speed, so you could improve efficiency here.

I took lots of risks with ship borne armies that paid off every time.

I had one spy rush (accident, but probably enabled the 25 turn win in retrospect).

I used no mobile siege units (made 2 by accident turn 23 in spain, they were already obselete)

Try to do it in <150 battles fought and you will beat my time :smash:

[Noncommunist]

Though I'm definitely not an expert at it, wouldn't the Byzantine empire be better since it too has lots of horse archers and it's closer to the center of the map?

[woad&fangs]

They don't have crusades.

[Askthepizzaguy]

If the Byzantines could conquer the entire map in less than 60 turns I would be most thoroughly impressed.

[Noncommunist]

What about Hungary or Poland with a centralized location, crusades, and horse archers be even better?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Too few starting generals/provinces

Too far from the Pope for a turn 2 crusade.

[Noncommunist]

So I don't have to ask about any more factions, is there a chart that shows the of blitzing capability of each faction and what factors take part in it? Also, has there been a blitzing attempt on the kingdoms campaigns?

[Askthepizzaguy]

There is no such chart, but bear with me, and I'll post something similar.

Writing it now...

[Noncommunist]

Thanks a lot! I'm not really a blitzer but it might be fun to try. In fact, on my first successful campaign on MTW2, I took all but the last 13 turns to get done with the short campaign of the Spanish. However, I have speeded up considerably since then.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Someone's messing with the database and totally messed up my post... it's now lost. GAH! I have to rewrite it.

Here's the short ranking:

Vanilla and similar games: (Non-Stainless Steel)

1. Turks
2. Moors
3. Egypt
4. Holy Roman Empire
5. France
6. Venice
7. Hungary
8. Poland
9. England
10. Milan
11. Sicily
12. Spain
13. Portugal
14. Scotland
15. Rebels
16. Byzantine Empire
17. Russia
18. Papal States
18a. Mongols
18b. Timurids

Broken Crescent

1. Seljuks
2. Ghorids
3. Ayyubids
4. Turks
5. Khwarezmids
6. Abassids
7. Ghaznavids
8. Imamate of Oman
9. Malikate of Sindh
10. Eastern Roman Empire
11. Georgia
12. Kypchaks
13. Jerusalem
14. Armenia
15. Makuria
16. Solanki Rajputs
16a. Chauhan Rajputs

I'll go down the list and explain why I ranked them as such... sure to turn a few heads, but I dont have time to explain right now. These are not my final rankings, those are my intitial ones. Those in small font are typically unplayable, but can be played if edited, and I'm ranking them based on their potential blitz strength.

[Noncommunist]

Thanks for the list and hopefully, my Dad will re-install XP on our iMac so I can play it again and give it a shot with a faction

[Askthepizzaguy]

A silence fills the Citadel...

For more than a thousand years the Muslim horde has spread it's religious teachings, and for a thousand years, we have suffered the existence of the Catholics, the Orthodox Christians, the Jews, the Pagans, the Hindus, the Buddhists, and many other heretical factions. Many centuries have passed since the Islamic civilization was ruled with an iron fist by the one known as the Caliph of all Islam, the bearer of the sacred bloodline, the next incarnation of Mohammed the Holy Prophet, servant of Allah, and the right hand of God.

For a brief time, the Catholics were united under the brutal and tyrannical reign of Kaiser Askthepizzaguy of the Holy Roman Empire, which took control of all of Europe in a devastating campaign unlike any ever before witnessed by the eyes of man...

However, there rose a mighty figure, whose powers were an even match for this Kaiser, and when tested in battle, the Kaiser was overthrown, and
Sultan Grog the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire rose to power.

Some seasons passed...

But then darkness fell upon the Ottoman Turks, for the wrath of Askthepizzaguy was beyond time... beyond space... beyond life... beyond death. From the ashes of the Holy Roman Empire... came the most sickeningly evil creature of them all...

the Death God Jalal of the Holy Islamic Caliphate!

EVERYTHING HAS BEEN UPLOADED, CAPTIONS COMPLETE!!!





Theme song for this campaign (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iKUAiT7rbs)



https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod002.jpg

Turn One: The epic campaign begins...

Sultan Jalal and one other general kick things off with joining the Jihad called by my Imam. Two stacks moving towards their targets on turn one, and my army expenses are instantly cut in half while my army size doubles. One heads for Nicaea, the other, Baghdad... Baghdad is under seige.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod003.jpg

Turn Two:

My Crown Prince joins the jihad and masses forces against Adana. My northernmost general also joins the jihad, making a total of 4 stacks so far. My Sultan lays seige to Nicaea. Baghdad is taken, my jihad forces move against Edessa. My northern general heads into the steppes.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod004.jpg

Turn Three:

Edessa is under seige. Nicaea fell, and the stack outside Constantinople was attacked, bringing the garrison out... I slayed them all, and Constantinople fell the same turn. Other movements made.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod005.jpg

Turn Four:

Selim al Rashid is ready to take Sarkel. My Sultan and his many Man of the Hour generals all split off into many directions in Greece.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod006.jpg

Turn Five:

My general leaves the jihad, and assaults Alexandria. My Jihadis act as reinforcements. Next turn, Alexandria falls.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod007.jpg

Turn Six:

The Death God Jalal assaults Bran, and prepares to turn the Hungarians into flakes.
I believe Ragusa fell this turn, I'm not sure... that map is so small.
My northern general heads into Russia.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod008.jpg

Turn Seven:

Going after Moscow. Bran is mine. Going after their Capital. Palermo has fallen. Cairo has fallen. Damascus, the Jihad target, has fallen. The Jihad ends turn 7.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod009.jpg

Turn Eight:

We declare war on the Moors. Northern Italy has fallen to us. Moscow falls. Other provinces fall.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod010.jpg

Turn Nine:

Marseille is under threat. Jerusalem falls. Heading for Dongola. Heading for Marrakesh. Heading for Norvgorod. Heading for Gaza.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod011.jpg

Turn Ten:

Hungarians eliminated. Landed in marrakesh. Dongola under threat. Invading the HRE.

Witness our faction's scroll. Frightening, yes? You haven't seen anything yet.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod012.jpg

Turn Eleven:

Vienna under threat. Invading western France. Dongola fell. Other movements.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod013.jpg

Turn 12:

Preparing to finish off the Sicilian fools.
Marrakesh under threat. Vienna and Zagreb have fallen. Heading for Jedda. heading for Northeasternmost province. Avoiding Norvgorod, (Too many Russian defenders) heading for rebel settlement in Russia.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod014.jpg

Turn 13:

Bordeaux under threat. Marrakesh falls. Movements against the HRE...

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod015.jpg

Turn 14:

Bordeaux falls, Splitting forces to invade all HRE provinces. Heading for Kiev. Florence fell, Tunis fell. Jedda falls (ship landed forces...) Advancing on Rome itself!

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod016.jpg

Turn 15:

Only Kiev remains in the east... and the center is crumbling. Invasion planned for Spain. General and some cavalry head south into Timbuktu. Island province under siege. 54 regions captured!

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod017.jpg

Turn 16:

Angers falls, rebel Russian province falls, HRE provinces fall, Island province falls, invading Portugal. Jihad next turn!

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod018.jpg

TURN 17: JIHAD TWO BEGINS

Jihad forces reach Timbuktu, Norvgorod, southern Poland, Paris, Bern, Rome, Portugal, Tripoli, Kiev falls, Paris falls.

Oh what delightful hordes I have to unleash upon thee....

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod019.jpg

Turn 18:

A wave of death sweeps across northern Europe. Timbuktu falls, Arguin is next. Tripoli falls, Caen falls, Norvgorod falls, moving forces into position in Spain. Invading England. Invading southern France, part II. Moving against HRE some more. Advancing on Helsinki.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod020.jpg

Turn 19:

Lisbon falls, Granada falls, heading for Arguin, London falls, Stockholm under threat, remainder of France under threat, remainder of Poland under threat, remainder of Moors under threat, remainder of Russia under threat, forces reaching destination targets.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod021.jpg

Turn 20:

89 regions have fallen. Remainder of Spain and Portugal under threat, France wiped out, Denmark under threat, Russia destroyed, Poland destroyed, remainder of England under threat, only Scotland remains unmolested.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/BLITZ22.jpg

Turn 21:

Mopping up Spain and cornering the HRE. Surrounding Scotland. Dublin falls. Edinburgh the Jihad target.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/BLITZ23.jpg

Turn 22:

It's the end for you, my master...
Edinburgh and Frankfurt under seige.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/BLITZ01.jpg

Turn 23:

Jihad ends, campaign ends in victory. 106 provinces taken.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod001-1.jpg

Final Score: Finances.

You can NEVER make this much money when turtling. I now have 203 turns to focus purely on economic development. What armies?

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod002-1.jpg

The Death God Jalal, the Immortal One, who has brought pain and suffering and destruction and conquest against all his enemies, is only 51 years old. My original Sultan, now Caliph of all Asia, Europe, and Africa.

https://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm303/ATPG-3/DeathGod003-1.jpg

Final Score: 700,000 points in 23 turns.

:balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon: :balloon:

[Galain_Ironhide]

And you said it couldn't be done!

Well done! :balloon2::balloon2:

[phonicsmonkey]

Terrifyingly efficient ATPG

Mad props to you

[Monsieur Alphonse]

The king (or should I say emperor) is back. :elephant::elephant:

[FactionHeir]

Well done ATPG. Now to get them pesky Aztecs, eh? :wink:

[uruk-hai]

all hail are new Sultan atpg.


well done .

[Grog]

Congratulations ATPG, the blitzmaster crown is yours once again :2thumbsup: :smash: :egypt:

Nice run with the Turks, impressive level of achievement with your first Jihad. As I said, I made a few errors here and there in the 25 turn run so I was sure a faster time would be possible.

I think the Turks truely are the blitz faction of choice of the Islamic factions (and overall), simply as you have a 'young' faction leader whilst both egypt/moors suffer the death of the sultan by turn 3-4. Also, Turks position is better than egypt and Turkish HA/turkomans/sipahi outperform the Moors desert cav in 95% of situations.

Jihad speed blitzing with Ha horse stacks is always makes me chuckle, especially when you rush through and hit an untapped merc pool :beam: This gives the edge over catholic factions, plus consistent turn2 jihad on tap vs a lucky turn3 crusade with HRE is a massive advantage.

What Jihad structure did you use in the end? I know one of my mistakes was 2-9/19-25, when I could have achieved nearly as much with 2-8 etc. Still 23 turns is impressive, I was expecting 24 :clown:

On a more general blitzing note, I'm going to set some times with a few other vanilla factions when I get the urge before making another turks attempt, so your record is safe for now from me at least. I may give Hungary a shot for fun Somewhere deep in an ancient castle in the carpathians, the lid of a old stone coffin grates open...

[Askthepizzaguy]

I propose that a title be granted to all those who hold the record for a faction, and the main Blitzmaster title be granted to the one who holds the overall fastest turn number.


King of England (106 provinces in X turns, England)
Roi of France (106 provinces in X turns, France)
Sultan of Africa (106 provinces in X turns, Moors)
Fatmid Caliph (106 provinces in X turns, Egypt)
Ottoman Emperor (106 provinces in X turns, Turks)
Righ of Scotland (...etc)
Koning of Denmark
Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire
Rey of Spain
Rei of Portugal
Re of Sicily
Duca of Milan and Genoa
King of Poland
Signore of the Republic of Venice
King of Hungary
Basileos of the Byzantine Empire
король of Russia

[Ferret]

I might go for the Russians title just because no one else will have the patience :clown:

[Askthepizzaguy]

as a matter of fact I did a blitz run with Russia already

I only managed to get 50 provinces before I left but it was a good time. Like 30 turns.

[BananaBob]

You guys have a crazy amount of skill. What version of the game are you using? Vanilla?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Vanilla 1.3, in fact.

The "semi-fixed" version of the game.

This strategy relies upon the fact that if you leave/join a crusade every turn for 10 turns, you can move in any direction without loss to desertion for 10 turns.

You must have at least one general and 7 other units in order to do so.

Also, you are allowed to reload. However, there are no other breaches of fair-play allowed in the blitzmaster challenge. If you open the console, and force victory, or move characters through cheating, or any other console actions, (besides toggle_fow I suppose because you're allowed to reload anyway... its the same thing as not having fog of war) then it's not actually a challenge.

The challenge is to see what is technically possible under normal game mechanics to do with your initial starting forces, to conquer the entire map in the most efficient and shortest way possible.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I hope the Blitzmaster Challenge isn't dead. Now that I have a new computer I will be doing some more blitz runs with factions other than the Turks.

Brave warriors, join me.

Sorry I've been absent all month... please dont close this thread just yet, o honourable moderator!

[yogol]

Silly question... Why end the Jihads/Crusades ? If you do a Jihad on a well-selected target far, far away west, can't you keep the Jihad going for alot longer then 5 turns without loosing alot of troops ? For blitzing, I was thinking about a scenrio like...

- turn 1-4 : no jihad, get like 7 or 8 cities, have Man of the Hours so you got 7-8 Generals, buy alot of cheap troops.
- turn 5 : Jihad on -say- London, let all Generals join. Move 3-4 Generals with some HA more-or-less toward London and 3-4 Generals without any troops to remote provinces (Arguin comes to mind).
- turn 20 when all Generals are in place : buy all Mercs you can and conquer all cities.

Maybe that way, with Jihad speed all the way, you'll get everywhere faster and not "loose" 10 turns without Jihad speed ?

[Askthepizzaguy]

1. waiting so long to join a jihad means wasted time. No jihad speed, and also, unit upkeep prevents new recruitment.

2. Cannot call a jihad on london so soon. It contains no Muslims, and is not a high priority target. When many catholics have been invaded or destroyed, deeper Catholics become priorities.

3. In order to get that many cities in so little time, 106 in 23 turns, you need almost 5 provinces taken every single turn. Good luck.

[Gajinah]

I started up a Turks game and had a problem with moving my forces as quickly as you did. It just didn't seem that they were able to get to any provinces in the first few turns. That's probably my inexperience with the game though as I bought it very recently and found this site even more recently. So how did you move so fast?

And what do you think about declaring a Jihad on Portugal (since I did)? I scrapped the game, but I thought that Portugal would be a good target because it would be constant westward expansion.

I assume that this method relies on sacking every town to get money and what, having every city trying to pump out cash and with little to no garrison so that you can afford mercenaries? Or do you actually waste time building units?

And I started another blitz campaign as Russia and I've taken out Poland, Hungary, and Denmark and currently in conflict with the Byzantines. I think I'm in the mid 20s turn-wise. It seems I've lost momentum though because I'm running out of funds without cheap Jihad mercenaries. And the map is so huge on that side, the only that moves halfway decently is all cavalry army.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I started up a Turks game and had a problem with moving my forces as quickly as you did. It just didn't seem that they were able to get to any provinces in the first few turns. That's probably my inexperience with the game though as I bought it very recently and found this site even more recently. So how did you move so fast?

You must first declare a jihad. Then take your generals with the most amount of troops (in your capital and in your castle next to baghdad) and recruit mercs as soon as you exit one square outside the province. Then, join the jihad and move slowly with your general only to lay seige to baghdad. Then move all your troops to join him, and build all rams and ladders seige equipment. Move your sultan towards Nicaea. Now, next turn, do the same for your northern and anatolian troops, go for Russia and Armenia.


And what do you think about declaring a Jihad on Portugal (since I did)? I scrapped the game, but I thought that Portugal would be a good target because it would be constant westward expansion.

You need that second jihad as soon as possible, but you also need to get your troops FAR advanced by the first jihad. 7 turns of jihad speed puts you in striking distance of Russia, Africa, and middle Europe.

To do it in 23 turns, you need 7 turns or so of a second jihad to finish the whole map.

You CANNOT take the entire map in one jihad. You need two, and the second one has more generals in it. Therefore you want to make that one the longest. Bout 7 turns of jihad, followed by 10 mandatory turns of no jihad, while expanding as rapidly as possible, then as few turns of jihad as necessary to conquer the map.


I assume that this method relies on sacking every town to get money and what, having every city trying to pump out cash and with little to no garrison so that you can afford mercenaries? Or do you actually waste time building units?

Every unit, EVERY unit, within striking distance of an enemy settlement before the game is over, is a help.

Hint: Units made in Baghdad on turn 15 are useless. Units made in Paris on turn 20 might have a use.


And I started another blitz campaign as Russia and I've taken out Poland, Hungary, and Denmark and currently in conflict with the Byzantines. I think I'm in the mid 20s turn-wise. It seems I've lost momentum though because I'm running out of funds without cheap Jihad mercenaries. And the map is so huge on that side, the only that moves halfway decently is all cavalry army.

Russia has no crusades and bad troops. Your best bet is to move quickly towards the center of Europe, capture all the HRe's castles and move your capital there. Dont even bother developing Russia.

Once you control central Europe, destroying Poland en route, use the HRE's castles to build a massive horse archer army, conquer France, Italy, and Hungary. Sack everyone.

[Gajinah]

Thanks for the help!

I see now why you need two Jihads, the first isn't just about territory as I had thought, but it's more about building a force of generals and placing everyone properly to finish the sweep.

With the mandatory 10 turn cooldown period for Jihad, do you think that it's possible to beat your score? Maybe have a longer initial Jihad by a few turns for more placement?

And I noticed that Russia was quite lacking rather early. I was disappointed that I couldn't join in Crusades at the least.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Yes, a 22 turn victory is technically possible.

If I had one army a little bit closer to Edinburgh/Inverness and another one closer to Hamburg/Frankfurt, I could have beaten the challenge one turn sooner.

However, it IS physically impossible to do it in 21 turns. I defy anyone to prove me wrong.

[TheLastPrivate]

Wait, don't you lose troops to desertion if you leave Jihad? Or can you join the next turn to avoid that?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Wait, don't you lose troops to desertion if you leave Jihad? Or can you join the next turn to avoid that?

Leave the jihad and rejoin it same turn, or rejoin it next turn.

[TheLastPrivate]

Leave the jihad and rejoin it same turn, or rejoin it next turn.

But I do have to finish the crusade/jihad in 10 turns right?

[Askthepizzaguy]

no.

as long as you have a general actively crusading, the crusade does not end. You simply cannot send any new generals on the crusade or rejoin it after 10 turns.

[Flying Pig]

Can you give us general tips for blitzing? Nine turns for a whoe campaign... how is that possible?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Sure. I can tell you everything you need to know about blitzing. That's why everyone got together in a very, very official ceremony and... I declared myself to be the blitzmaster.

Where should I begin? You wonder how it is possible...

First of all, it involves the intentional and blatant abuse of the crusade mechanic, but the underlying principle of blitzing is this;

1. You mass all of your forces together in one huge, powerful stack.
2. You rely on your unquestionable superiority over the AI in both campaign management and battlefield tactics to destroy much larger forces than your own, thus smashing your opponent's defenses and sacking his cities
3. This eliminates opponents, adds to your own empire's territory, recruitment, and finances.
4. The AI does not know how to properly assault you. Even a few basic militia can hold the walls against almost any foe. Just bring lots of spearmen and archers, and any settlement can hold except against cannons/artillery, which are too slow to matter against a blitz god.
5. As your empire expands, you fund your own military through pillaging, while your opponents rely solely on taxes.
6. You never ever stop recruiting... ever. Cavalry, spears, infantry, archers, spam them all into existence and continue growing your unstoppable horde. Dont bother with spies or artillery except in rare circumstances.
7. You will go into debt, but if you continue expanding, the budget will balance.

[Warmaster Horus]

Can't spies help for settlements? If there's a chance of them opening the gates, you can win a turn of siege, thus freeing your army, thus letting you expand faster.

But spies shouldn't be relied on. Just recruited when they can.

[Askthepizzaguy]

in some versions of the game, they move fast enough to help. In others, the crusaders move too fast for them to keep up. In that case, you are 99 times out of 100 going to want troops instead of spies.

Same for mobile seige equipment. Although I have found use for ballista in France (Paris) and northern Italy, and a use for a spy with the Turks to take Constantinople one turn faster.

Also, spies can open the gates that turn, but most turns its taking you the entire movement to reach the settlement, so you cannot move on until next turn anyway, and by then, you have ladders and rams and you take the city and move on in one turn.

If you take one city per turn (approx) with an army, spies and ballista will only SLOW YOU DOWN. And they are a waste of money at that point.

[TechStrider]

Well, I certainly hope to give this a go. I have enjoyed following the thread.

A bit more on the rules:

What are the settings made at the beginning of the campaign? Both for Battle and for Campaign?
Are you doing this at default or VH / VH or ??


Are there any other settings that are either part of the 'Official Rules' or recommended?


Thanks

[Askthepizzaguy]

I play on VH/VH, but honestly it makes little difference when blitzing. The AI can't handle a full frontal assault.

Other rules?

Reloading is OK, hacking game files is not. Posting falsified screenshots is a no-no. You dont win anything by being blitzmaster, and youre just lying to yourself.

[kublikhan3]

Holy smokes, I used to think I was good at this game. ROFL, this just easily blew away my best game. Of course I never used the Jihad/Crusade cheese either, but still that was mighty impressive. I'll have to give that a try in my next game.

[Marauder]

The AI is just too slow in the beginning. They don't (usually) spam units or tech up very quick. If you want more of a challenge you would have to mod the game to give them either more starting cash or more cash per turn.

As it is, it is an insane logistical challenge. Someone with knowledge of graph theory could probably decipher the minimum turns mathmatically possible to take all the cities. Just putting that out there in case someone wants a project =)

[Ferret]

Holy :daisy: , I used to think I was good at this game. ROFL, this just easily blew away my best game. Of course I never used the Jihad/Crusade cheese either, but still that was mighty impressive. I'll have to give that a try in my next game.

It might be a good idea to edit out that second word :wink:

And yeah, it can feel like you are doing amazingly well, taking over whole countries in just a few years, but that's because it's so far from real life, it would be logistically impossible to do what ATPG did, and CA would argue that gameplay comes first but I don't think this does add to gameplay, it lowers its gameplay value for me, which is why I'm turning to games like Europa Universalis, despite the lack of RTS battles.

[Freddybear]

Leave the jihad and rejoin it same turn, or rejoin it next turn.

Do you mean moving the general out of the stack and then back in again?

[Askthepizzaguy]

Nope. The same button for joining a jihad or crusade, also leaves the jihad or crusade.

[maerd2003]

here is my blitz, not 106 provinces but 45 including const+jerus in 10 turns. i calculated that non of my generals can reach arguin in 10 turns so i am staring over:embarassed:. but since i have 45 provinces, it is not that unsuccessful.

[maerd2003]

(i am sorry, previous post was my first, i couldn't post url)

[img=https://img42.imageshack.us/img42/3282/10turns.jpg] (https://img42.imageshack.us/i/10turns.jpg/)

[Csargo]

thread necromancy...