View Full Version : Report!
PershsNhpios
03-16-2009, 10:33
The players on this forum have an entertaining and very interesting treasury of experience; which can be explored in a number of ways but only if the information is shared with detail.
Garnier has shown many new techniques to me simply by writing briefly about his current campaign - chiefly regarding the subversion of the King.
So I am asking very enthusiastically that everyone who reads this message, and who plays Medieval: Total War in any form should press the quick-reply button and write everything they would share about their current campaign in the game.
If they are busy, and have no campaign - please, mention your last one!
Strange developments, new methods, old methods, surprises, drama, difficulty - satisfaction - bring everything worthy of note about your current or last campaign here - please!
It need not at all be an AAR, it is not necessary even to structure your input.
I would place my current campaign here, but it is quite obviously somewhere else already.
Which reminds me.. I have some bad news to report there.
Please! Tell me!
https://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1782/catapult1.jpg (https://img5.imageshack.us/my.php?image=catapult1.jpg)
Great stuff Durango!
Talk about succesful Civil Wars - if only the player was as succesful as the AI in self instigating them (especially the HRE AI).
:laugh4:
Ah the fabled catapult rebellion! Brilliant.
I must report a saddening occurence, as I said in the Campaign History thread, I had a famous knight of Aragon who had just killed the English king, and had slain hundreds through his lifetime, he was killed by arrows fighting the English in France. I am going to work on the career of another of my knights though, hopefully turning him into another famous warrior and general.
My main general for the entire game so far has been the line of El Cid, with 8 command stars and +3 and +2 on attack and defense, respectively. However, he now has the Coward trait and the Not so Bold trait, which among other things make me want to retire him...
8 command stars? You can try playing with the -green_generals addition to your MTW shortcut - this gives degraded stats to generals as they die over the years as well as degraded traits.
Coward and not so Bold - this must be -12 morale - even Knights turn into jelly. :laugh4:
Well he sort of makes up for it by being a gentle knight with 8 command stars, that adds 8 + 3 I think. But yeah, time for a new general.
I used to play with green generals, but I heard that it sometimes causes problems, maybe CTDs or something. Is there any technical reason not to use it?
Not that i know of Garnier - never caused any problems for me.
Rumor has it that green_generals hurts the AI, since it has a hard enough time as is keeping and grooming generals.
Hmm.. maybe I could help the AI by making titles that confer a lot of command stars, and then simply not use these titles myself. Maybe this discussion should not be in this thread though.
:bow:
Turbosatan
03-16-2009, 21:18
Rumor has it that green_generals hurts the AI, since it has a hard enough time as is keeping and grooming generals.
I too have heard this mentioned, but when you've only got a two- or three- star general because your unstoppable killer hero git has just popped his clogs to be replaced with a fresh-faced young pup, I find it balances the game out in the long run.
Otherwise by the late era you're bound to end up with a plethora of undead nine star zombies who -- in 1450 -- are still gaining the plaudits they earned in 1106, which I just find a bit sad really.
Anyway, keeping this on-thread, current campaign is still that Pocket Mod French one I was blathering on about t'other day. Civil war left a crusade stranded in Greece as the True French (it helped that there was four thousand troops along for the ride) apart from one tiny outpost in Normandy; since last I mentioned I've taken Constantinople & Nicaea & bravely faced off against the unstoppable hordes of the Fatimids, who have about eleventy billion troops. 'Tis, as they say, rather hard.
However, my king's just died, teleporting the new laddie back to Good Ol' Europe & leaving his brave men stranded in the desert.
I have no ships.
That's a convincing argument as to why to use green_generals Turbosatan. It does cut down on AI jedi generals as well.
I haven't used it for years so I cannot remember the exact effects. I know that stats get reduced, but what happens to vices/virtues?
:bow:
They also get reduced so a humanist turns back to great thinker.
:bow:
bondovic
03-16-2009, 23:16
Hungary, early. Modded the TAO (Tyberius' add on) so that each faction now has a more characteristic unit roster with very harsh homeland restrictions. Exception being made for HRE that is in deep enough Barney as it is (didn't help them though - dead by the hands of EVERYONE, as usual). Also bumping the 'rebellious' value by 2 for all regions. This means that e.g. Livonia oozes a hefty rating of 4 in this aspect. Makes expansion harder and the sorting-out-period longer.
PershsNhpios
03-16-2009, 23:47
Grand, Bondovic! I wish I had time and knowledge to play with modding..
From what I have experienced, the baltic people are quite vicious and barbarous as they are - without needing to make them more so.
I have never bothered to try taking Pomerania or Prussia in XL!
I am about to test the MedMod on the advice of Asai.
However I have a second copy of MTW ready if I wish to go running back immediately to XL.
Is the MedMod the same as what you are using in that screenshot, Durango?
And I am sorry to hear about your brave sir Knight, Garnier, if it were me, he would have been replaced by 33 green sir Knights long ago, that I could rely on the unit in a proper charge.
But then I do often neglect to train units well in valour, I rely on the stars of my general.
Is the MedMod the same as what you are using in that screenshot, Durango?
It looks like the Medmod and i know that Durango plays that mod, so it's a safe bet that it is.
:bow:
Glenn: Yes. that's the MedMod IV right there. Excellent work by Wes, as many already attest to.
The changes to the game are quite substantial, but my own home-mods also add to the flavor of it in much the same way as Bondovic's does. Especially regarding the upped rebelliousness which really makes expansion a more risky affair. However, I you love XL/Tyberius, the MedMod might not be to your tastes. Primarily due to a more restricted unit roster (ca. 6-8 units per factions per era), homelands and other things like fewer crusades. The "supermods" offer more content and breadth than does the more focused mods like MedMod and Asai Nagamasa's Pocket Mod (since it is based on vanilla).
But the battles....of my! :2thumbsup:
The battles are very balanced and competitive in the MedMod IV. Top stuff for the tactician, since virtually no unit is unneeded and/or completely overpowered IMHO. I lost about 50% of all my battles against the English in my most recent Celtic campaign on Early/Expert when you get no decent archers to go up against the English regulars.... couple that with enemy stacks that are pretty much equal to yours in terms of army composition and some rough terrain and you could be in for a smacking whenever you least expect it!
My Celtic campaign on the whole was chaotic. I was struggling to get enough Claymores to counter the English when my provinces in the north was barely holding on while being outnumbered 2:1 and with them having the better generals. Started with an early defeat when I invaded Nurthumbria thinking it would be a close victory as my previous experience would lead me to believe. Big mistake. The terrain was like a ski slope at some alpine resort and covered with trees none the less. Up I march, trying to scout ahead, but to no use. The AI did exactly as it was supposed to do, flanked me out of the trees with Claymores from two sides and annihilated me :beam:
Ahhh... the joys of old AI at play.
(Btw, if you are wondering about the province lettering on that sceenshot, it's my own. I've changed the campaign map to look cleaner and more interesting at places.)
I started a new HRE campaign today after rethinking some of my modifications. I upped the rebelliousness everywhere by +2, like bondovic did. I have a ton of other tweaks and stuff, but one important aspect is the farming upgrades and province loyalty. I removed the happiness bonuses from everything except a +10 for the militia building, and +5 for each of the religious buildings. Then I made the farming upgrades each do -5 more than the one before, for a total of -20 at 80%. This makes rich provinces harder to maintain authority over.
So, starting an HRE campaign with these settings made ALL of my provinces under 100% loyalty to start with even on very low taxes. However, I have persevered so far and am conquering scandinavia. I get very little money though, so it's an interesting game. I had a lot of trouble taking Denmark, the initial battle was a very close affair, and then there were four subsequent rebellions all of which cost me a lot of men. I expanded too fast into Sweden and Norway, I lost Norway and am retaking Sweden at the moment.
PershsNhpios
03-17-2009, 05:34
Durango, since my post I have installed and started an early MedMod campaign, just as a test.
I like it very much - and I have not even played a battle yet!
I did not realise that the battles and units were more balanced - indeed, I would prefer that to XL.
I also like the steps which Wes has taken to slow down productivity in building.
Coupled with rebellious populations and homelands, this will make the game much more realistic!
I shall not be crusading for a little while!
Hopefully it means that I can trust my neighbours more too..
You have reminded me of a question;
On Hard & Expert difficulties, does the AI get huge unit stat bonuses and become insanely aggressive as in RTW, or is it simply new tactics and more intelligence which is added to the opposition?
I have only ever played on Normal, because RTW ruined my trust in higher difficulties.
PershsNhpios
03-17-2009, 06:06
If I might add something new here, since I was just kicked out of MTW MM to this thread, I am having a problem.
I tested a Venetian campaign in early, but since I had not made a definite decision for my AAR, I started another as the Pechenegs.
Or so I thought.
The game freezed in the loading screen, whereafter ALT+TAB I found a message telling me that a certain Pagan Image could not be found and that the Default Image was instead being used.
Happy that the issue was resolved without a crash, I pressed enter and saw my new Pecheneg Kingdom.
I right-clicked on Moldavia, the game froze, the same message appeared after alt+tabbing and thereafter the game crashed.
What to do?
Will this happen each time I so much as investigate a pagan faction?
-------
I am very happy to see these campaigns being explained in detail, thank you for your input!
Durango, since my post I have installed and started an early MedMod campaign, just as a test.
I like it very much - and I have not even played a battle yet!
I did not realise that the battles and units were more balanced - indeed, I would prefer that to XL.
Wes and a heap of other people have spent many hours rebalancing and tweaking the game to make sure that redundant units are either removed or reworked. An example would be the exclusion of certain hybrid units that the AI cannot use properly, and changes in stats so that missile troops are more distinguished from one another.
There is a very real chance of losing battles now, which I very much like :yes:
I also like the steps which Wes has taken to slow down productivity in building.
Coupled with rebellious populations and homelands, this will make the game much more realistic!
I shall not be crusading for a little while!
Hopefully it means that I can trust my neighbours more too..
Crusades are more expensive, but you in turn get more troops. As far as neighbours are concerned, they seem to be a bit more reliable than normal, and actually sue for peace more often it seems.
You have reminded me of a question;
On Hard & Expert difficulties, does the AI get huge unit stat bonuses and become insanely aggressive as in RTW, or is it simply new tactics and more intelligence which is added to the opposition?
I have only ever played on Normal, because RTW ruined my trust in higher difficulties.
You can always check out the MTW numerology thread (or Frogbeastegg's Unit guide) for in depth info on the AI and difficulties, but off the top of my head I'll say that on Expert the AI gains +4 morale on the battlefield making them harder to rout. There has always been a bit of a debate whether or not this helps the human player more though, due to the fact that the AI stays around longer to be....well....killed which gives the player Valour quicker.
But personally, I think the bonus makes things more challenging and should be considered if you want tougher battles. Also, the AI on Hard and above gets access to actual better tactics on the battlefield so it's really no contest between say Medium and Hard. I sometimes play Expert, sometimes Hard.
The game freezed in the loading screen, whereafter ALT+TAB I found a message telling me that a certain Pagan Image could not be found and that the Default Image was instead being used.
Happy that the issue was resolved without a crash, I pressed enter and saw my new Pecheneg Kingdom.
I right-clicked on Moldavia, the game froze, the same message appeared after alt+tabbing and thereafter the game crashed.
What to do?
Will this happen each time I so much as investigate a pagan faction?
Ah, that is a known bug I'm afraid.
It happened to me too when I tried out the Pechenegs. The problem lies with the culture and religion association of the pagans (I would think it applies to all of them). What I did and you should try as well is to open up your Early.txt (found in Campmap\Startpos) with notepad and find the part where the faction cultures and religions are declared.
Hit Ctrl-F (Search) and type REL_PAGAN and you will see a list of factions. Find the Pechenegs and
note that their religion says CATHOLIC instead of PAGAN. Change this, save the file, and try another campaign.
When I found the bug, it seemed that the Town Watch line of buildings was the cause of the bug, but I could play the Pechenegs anyway since the error message only popped up during play and could be clicked away.
On another note, the Pechenegs need to quickly expand in order to increase their income. Their starting lands of Wallachia and Moldavia are poor and pretty underdeveloped, so your enemies will outproduce you unless you seize some lands early on. I'd set my sights on enemies that neighbours your more open borders, such as Kiev to the east. To the north lies the Carpathian mountains, valuable for defense and to the south is the Danube river that closes off Wallachia to the Byz and Serbs.
:bow:
You have reminded me of a question;
On Hard & Expert difficulties, does the AI get huge unit stat bonuses and become insanely aggressive as in RTW, or is it simply new tactics and more intelligence which is added to the opposition?
I have only ever played on Normal, because RTW ruined my trust in higher difficulties.
As Durango says, on Expert the AI gets a +4 morale bonus, as well as better tactics. In addition, on Hard, the AI gets a +15% bonus to combat stats (attack and defense), and on Expert they get a +30% bonus.
Haccapelite
03-17-2009, 17:21
Currently I haven't got a campaing under work since all my campaing saves disappeared after a parent-related mishap on the computer, but I had a very interesting campaing going as the French before that.
I started on early, playing on hard difficulty (my first proper attempt on that difficulty) and I have to say that it was one of the most fun campaings I have had. The first decade I spent gathering enough troops to launch a full-scale assault on the English.
The next 30 years were pretty much continuous fighting, after wiping out the English from the mainland and destroying their faction under rather suspicious circumstances (the English king bravely lead his enormous army of 100 spearmen against my three times larger army.) the Germans decided to attack me.
After crushing the main body of their army and conquering a couple of regions from them (not too many, I was hoping they would still provide some competition later.) I started to plan on a series of crusades on the holy land and maybe even giving a try on the Crak des Chevaliers.
I managed to grab a foothold in the holy lands where I held Palestine and Tripoli, and had some very very (very very) annoying battles against the Turkish. Blast those horse archers! While starting to develop Palestine into a troop production center I started immediately to upgrade Tripoli towards Krac des Chevaliers.
Meanwhile back on the home front, the king of Spain had got some delusions of grandeur and decided to attack me. I beat his armies back four years in a row, each assault lead by the king himself. After that he had gained enough morale-dropping vices for his entire royal family. I then decided to attack Spain and conquered Aragon and Navarre.
Unfortunately this is where the history of France is cut short by the unfortunate disappearance of the French Chronicles. Following events can only be guessed by the future generations: Was the Krac des Chevaliers finished in time? Did the Spanish king manage to gain even more vices on the battle fields against the French? Did king Pierre the Pretty find his lost court-wig before the grand ball? I sure would like to think that all this and even more could have been achieved in the future of the campaing.
Ah the memories, I think I'll start a new campaing again, maybe even today, since I found a copy of Medieval from the depths of my hard-disc with the Tyberius add-on. Maybe I'll give the Hungarians a try, or possibly the Scots.
PershsNhpios
03-17-2009, 22:49
Grand, 'akkapelites!
I have never successfully led a crusade, but I hope to change that soon enough.
I am very much enjoying this unit roster in MedMod - it isn't exactly varied - but it means that going to war with certain cultures has certain advantages, and going to war with similar cultures means one hell of a hard fight.
With great difficulty I have been trying to start a campaign worthy of an AAR.
Oh but I have fear! Fear that I shall be wiped out soon..
For my faction has defeated two of the neighbouring states, but is now left with 500 troops to guard a very long four-province border with a jilted ally, who has 2400 men and is capable of successfully marching into war at any moment.
I have three turns to wait before I shall have enough money to recruit more troops!
Oh the calamity! I would not start an AAR that ends in defeat so soon..
But I have a very good idea that should see me through such embarrassment - so I think this particular faction will be my choice - I will start a write-up.
----
This campaign is Normal, but if you all think the bonus to unit stats is worth seeing the extra tactics, then I will use Hard on the next campaign.
Faremisch
03-19-2009, 11:14
I have played MTW for years now, although on a rather low intensity. I´ve played Vanilla, BKB, XL, Hellenic and NTW. I really appreciate these mods. The last weeks I´ve started playing Redux and MedMod. I honestly haven´t had time to try them before, and I am surprised with the great feel of these two mods, especially the homeland-refrm of medmod adds to the fun.
I play as HRE in both campaigns. In Medmod I´ve played some 30 years into an early/expert campaign. I managed quite well. Allied with the English and beat back simultaneous attacks from France, Denmark and Poland. I managed to grab three provinces from France and Poland and hold on to what I started with (Don´t like giving up provinces). Hungary attacked and took Austria, I took it back. I was building up and managing quite ok, piling up Archers, Knechts and german spears. My economy slowly grew as I started trading with the English, easily fending of the Danish longboats coming from the north.
Then all those Italian states decided to attack me simultaneously. I held my ground but took some beating. Stretched to the limit I got excommunicated. Not exactly sure what I did to upset the pope, but upset him I did. The English broke our Alliance and marched into Lorraine, the Swedish decided to land a massive contingent of Vikings into my northern territories. The italians crossed the alps into two of my provinces. In four of my provinces I have large stacks from four attacking factions. The Polish, Hungarians and danish are all hostile and have piled up stacks right outside my borders to grab whats left of me once I hit the end-button. I have no reserves. Only the french have enough problems with rebellions and the English to stay away.
Rough years to come for the german states.
chris34au
03-19-2009, 20:05
i started a Sicilian campaign last night but i don't know whether to stick with it or to try another faction. i love their starting position and the income from their 3 starting provinces is insane but i don't know what to expect from their unit roster when the late and high eras hit. from what i've heard, you're pretty much stuck with the basic Catholic unit roster when playing a Sicilian campaign.
reading Glenn's NTW AAR has left me really curious about the NTW mod and the Hellenic mod sounds really promising too. i hope this isn't considered OT but can anyone tell me more about the Hellenic mod(either in this thread or a PM) or where to find more info on it? TIA
PershsNhpios
03-20-2009, 11:06
I would very much like to write about the organisation of my armies in my Portuguese campaign - but there isn't any!
Why?
Because little organisation is required for the use of two light armies!
I would instead like to ask anyone familiar with the MedMod;
How does one make money in this mod?
I have control of the entire peninsula, (See the campaign thread), and my armies consist of 2900 men overall.
Yet I am only just making 1050 florins in a year, when in XL I would have 2200.
This is obviously intended, but there must be some way of making currency here!
I cannot afford another army, and I need another army to expand, what I have is the minimum requirement for a sufficient defence against a very probable Byzantine attack (They are colossal!).
Farmland seems useless.. Trade will take much time to develop, as will upgrading every province to 60% farming.
What to do?
I believe medmod places some deep sea zones at the straits of Gibraltar and perhaps in other areas (?). This will be severely restricting your maritime trade income and naval transportation - which is a very good thing indeed. Try optimising your provincial governors, build mines and disband any useless units you do not need. Check the income parchment to see how much you are grossing per year then look at what is costing the most. Fleets can be very costly. If you have too many ships and they're not really brining you in anything worthwhile in trade then you should reduce them. Two ships per sea zone is usually enough.
Medmod has been tuned up to not give the huge bloated income of vanilla and some other mods. This is why it's much more challenging. The SW mod is similarly hard and the income in my Asai campaign has been abysmal so far.
PershsNhpios
03-20-2009, 13:56
I have since extended my borders to hold southern France, which move allowed to me three armies and 1000 florins per turn.
I used this to increase the navy, and I then assisted my German allies in a war with Venice, where I lost all of my fourth army troops in a massacre.
The Italian units were simply far superior.. it was not fair.
But nevermind income!
Nevermind the Italians!
The Eastern Roman Empire, quite restored and holding more than half the known world, having provinces on all seas, has just declared war on little Iberia.
I am disillusioned, but I suppose the devastation of everything I created before the 13th century should make for a good AAR.
--
Is it normal for the HRE and Byzantines to do so well in MedMod?
It is truly like the Western and Eastern Empires have returned - Venice and Portucale are the only middleweights left!
Very good advice from Asai as usual. The deep sea zones are very important to note when planning your campaign.
The North Sea is in contrast to vanilla, a deep sea zone that restricts which type of ships can enter and leave the Baltic. The Adriatic ocean is blocked off, further dividing the Mediterranean. And finally, the Gulf of Cadiz is removed so that you have to cross the Atlantic Ocean to get beyond the Gibraltar (Or conquer the Costa Verde zone to bypass it). You need deep sea capable ships to get by all these zones, which is the Caravel in the high period if I remember correctly.
I can only concur about the money shortage in MedMod. This is, together with much better unit balance and Homelands, what I like most about it. You can't just keep pumping units every turn non-stop and expand relentlessly to support them, but you have to carefully consider what you will need as well as taking risks when fighting other armies.
If you continue to wait for a moment when your enemies are weaker than you so that you can comfortably outnumber them (like in other mods), you get outproduced and surrounded fast, and could quite possibly suffer serious setbacks due to the much improved AI army composition.
When building armies and invading, take very careful notes on the enemies exact stack composition, his total number of units, the terrain and landscape of invasion routes and other variables. In MedMod (and I guess in SW), you need to maximize the advantages that allows you to take on superior and larger forces such as the killer Italian spears or the fearsome French cavalry.
War is costly and carries serious consequences, like it should :2thumbsup:
Also, considering what provinces to invade is more important. Study the potential of provinces you wish to conquer, and set top priority on certain ones. Trade centers are a good idea to set your sights on.
For an increased challenge (:skull:), you can also play with increased province rebelliousness. By raising it, the campaign becomes very, very strategic when coupled with limited income, forcing you to enter nerve wrecking battles that are absolutely crucial to win!
CrowleyHammer
03-20-2009, 18:22
That sounds quite difficult Durango, not sure i'm up that sort of challenge just yer personally.
Playing one of my first ever games as the Vikings, this being my first ever games im learning as much as i can in this play thru.
I managed to take Ireland permanately destroying the irish and the scots in the process, the welsh kicked me out of wales, and i had a reblellion in the northern home province, this has crippled me for the moment, its good fun raiding however i would do things a lot differently in another campaign.
My battlefield skills definately need work, I cant seem to deal with Archers very well. also after a complete failure of a spanish game i can safely say i cant deal with spanish jinnettes(sp?) either.
That sounds quite difficult Durango, not sure i'm up that sort of challenge just yer personally.
Indeed it is, CrowleyHammer, and very rewarding. Welcome to the forums :beam:
My battlefield skills definately need work, I cant seem to deal with Archers very well. also after a complete failure of a spanish game i can safely say i cant deal with spanish jinnettes(sp?) either.
What about archers do you find problematic? Here are some pointers I can think of:
1. Standard Archers work well against unarmoured targets, but do very poorly against heavier troops. You need Crossbows and Arbalests the most, usually.
2. Archers can fire over the heads of friendly troops in front of them, so take advantage of screening troops such as spears.
3. To maximize the accuracy of missile troops, try putting them in shallow ranks of 1 or 2 to allow as many men as possible a clear view of the target without making the formation too cumbersome.
4. Archers are naturally vulnerable to cavalry, so use light and fast cavalry to run them down.
5. Generally, if you are playing vanilla MTW, the Longbowmen are some of the best archers, and the Arbalest/Pavise Arbalest are the most used of the later missile troops. Arbalests and Halberdiers are a good combo that works well against many different opponents.
6. The skirmish function is best left turned off for missile troops, and instead they should be on hold position, with fire at will turned off. This way you can direct their fire, which is useful for letting several of your missile troops concentrate their attacks to quickly reduce an enemy unit that is vulnerable.
An example would be to have 3-4 full units of Arbalests shoot at 1 unit of Chivalric Foot Knights to quickly wear them down. Skirmish might be useful sometimes though, such as when using archers as bait by letting them run away from the enemy while heavier troops pound them from the side as they pursue.
7. Always strive to get the high ground with missile troops, since they get increased range.
CrowleyHammer
03-20-2009, 22:20
Cheers for the Hints mate, ive put some of the suggestions into practice aready, I started an English game up on early\normal vanilla, bribed scotland and wales into joining me (saves me many men as all the times ive tried to take wales i always seem to come a cropper to their Longbows.
Now i needed a way to reinforce my men on the continent, so i sent an army into flanders scaring the french out, i spent the next few years consolidating my position, the French decided to invade Normandy, this was my second chance at killing the king after an earlier scuffle in flanders had left the king desperately running away with only 5 of his bodyguards remaining.
I sent one of my lesser Generals in to attack as i needed my king in flanders to make sure it was safe from any french attacks, This battle unfortunately took place on a bridge, i made use of my longbows range as much as possible with 3 units on the filed pummeling the french kings unit eventually killing it, after a few more volleys to whittle down the french archers i sent my peasants across the bridge to soack up the punnishment, to my shock they actually managed to get the fench to flee!!
Now i am consolodating my gains and trying to secure a ceasefire, hopefully they wont accept as i will then be forced to use stronger methods to force the new french kings hand.
PershsNhpios
03-21-2009, 01:16
I am very Glad to see you here, Crowley!
Certainly, until you have learned more, do not attempt the Medmod - it will frustrate you!
It may not be as delectable for you either, as the unit roster is more similar to Shogun - in that each culture has a set unit for swords, spears, ranged units and light or heavy cavalry.
(I will recommend to you the XL Mod of course, with Tyberius 2.0 patch - but you can discover these later.)
That is the first time I have seen anyone call a bridge battle unfortunate!
Eventually you must perfect a method that will see your bridge defence impossible to the enemy, this can be done with two feudal sergeant units, two archers, some cavalry and a catapult or two.
Generally, the idea is to use a valoursome, strong infantry to hold the enemy right at your end of the bridge, and thereafter give the massive throng of charging enemy units such a storm of arrows, bolts, javelins and bolders that he simply flees.
And then the cavalry gives chase.
Of course, it has not been so easy in MedMod.. the bridge battle..
As any faction, Crowley, you must be careful when using your king away from the homeland - if the french sever your naval link and you have no troops at home - Wales or Scotland could very easily rebel.
I once invaded Corsica with my King as the French, and after the Genoese fleet destroyed mine, I found that although the island was perfectly loyal to my King, what was once France was now a big grey and pink blob on the map.
I became the King of New Corsica.
----
Durango!
I don't dare press end turn in my campaign currently, until I update my AAR thread.
I believe I am about to lose a very nasty war.
But I have a question regarding cultural unit rosters;
The French have the best heavy cavalry; The English the archers; The Italians their Spearmen/Pavisers;
What are the best assets of the others?
Truly, does Portucale have one good unit in Early, a triumphant card?
Bellatores are very good, Navarrese bowmen also.
Yet the Italian archers defeated my men-at-arms! Let alone their spears! Ahhhh!
And what can I expect from a Byzantine war - when I have three armies and they have about twelve balanced?
Can I expect the same horrible disadvantages that I witnessed in Tuscany?
On a better note; I found the Portuguese units wonderful to begin with, for the Almoravid units simply crumbled before the Bellatore.. But elsewhere I am out of my depth..
Get yourself off to Honshu, then you'll understand the meaning of "out of my depth". I'm fighting some very difficult battles at present. It's humble pie all round. :thumbsdown:
-Edit: Strangely Portugal have always been a rather difficult faction in pretty much any mod.
Eventually you must perfect a method that will see your bridge defence impossible to the enemy, this can be done with two feudal sergeant units, two archers, some cavalry and a catapult or two.
Generally, the idea is to use a valoursome, strong infantry to hold the enemy right at your end of the bridge, and thereafter give the massive throng of charging enemy units such a storm of arrows, bolts, javelins and bolders that he simply flees.
And then the cavalry gives chase.
I agree, but personally I'd bring a lot more archers with me and replace the catapult with a unit of arquebusiers if possible (or another unit of archers even). Not only would say 6 units or archers be much more effective than 2, but they operate better with the assistance of a unit of gunpowder infantry. It works like this:
https://img13.imageshack.us/img13/285/bridgebattle.png
The gunpowder infantry makes some of the attacking units to hesitate and sometimes rout back and forth, giving your large archer force time to slaughter the enemy units out on the middle of the bridge without hitting the enemy general with a catapult sniper shot that makes their entire army run away.
This way, they get annihilated instead, and it has helped greatly in a couplle of late era MedMod campaigns of mine. If you play early however, this is seldom an option. But anyhow, a great archer force is always present in any bridge defence of mine.
Durango!
I don't dare press end turn in my campaign currently, until I update my AAR thread.
I believe I am about to lose a very nasty war.
But I have a question regarding cultural unit rosters;
The French have the best heavy cavalry; The English the archers; The Italians their Spearmen/Pavisers;
What are the best assets of the others?
As far as my experience tells, that's a difficult question to answer without examining the stats of the units properly. But I would say that it's a nice and challenging feeling having to experience the enemy units firsthand. I found out about the quality of English Archers when they almost defeated my Celtic spears 1 on 1 in melee :sweatdrop:
Truly, does Portucale have one good unit in Early, a triumphant card?
Bellatores are very good, Navarrese bowmen also.
Yet the Italian archers defeated my men-at-arms! Let alone their spears! Ahhhh!
Sorry, I haven't played as the Portuguese, so I can't offer any hints. I recommend looking at their unit roster in the factions readme in the "Charts and Readmes" folder.
And what can I expect from a Byzantine war - when I have three armies and they have about twelve balanced?
God help you.
Strangely Portugal have always been a rather difficult faction in pretty much any mod.
True, but they are a good faction to pick if you are a Mongolophobe :yes:
CrowleyHammer
03-21-2009, 15:41
Cheers again for the tips!, not sure whether what i said was clear, i was attacking the bridge not defending it, however all is well, the pope got involved and the war was forced to end, not before france made some desperate attempts at grabbing Normandy, Flanders and Anjou, i was sieged in both Anjou and Normandy but took a massive beating in Flanders, to be fair all i had was a group of peasants anf some frydmen.
I managed to lift the siege of both all three provinces and on also took ill de france without incident, that was very pleasing to say the least, the fench will be destroyed soon i think seeing as the Argonese have decided to get involved with them as well as Germany.
https://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m135/crowleyhammer/map1.jpg
My Borders need protecting, but im allies with everyone around me for now so im not *too* worried at the moment about being attacked (wont stop me reinforcorcing my borders as quickly as possible tho).
Thanks Glenn for the tip about the king being cut off from England, i will bear that in mind as i almost did come a cropper to what you described!
PershsNhpios
03-22-2009, 06:44
You are doing very well, Crowley!
Have you decided where you should next look for enemies?
Will the Germans or Aragonese become more ambitious when France is eliminated?
By the appearance of your coffers I would suggest you recruit either a new army or a strong navy from the homeland.
Your British kingdom will never succeed without a good naval force, and you must start the training of this very early.
I believe you are a competent strategist, but for the purpose of this thread topic I will relate what I would do in your position;
One of the two allies you have, Aragon or the Romans, must become your enemy - and if you are unlucky - both shall.
If I wished to fight Aragon, and begin a conquest of Iberia, (Be nice to Portugal), I would be creating as much shipping as possible before the end of the war with France.
Then you must have a third army levied and placed in Flanders, a perfect place to oversee the German movements, your first and second armies must hold Aquitania and Tolosa.
By this time you should be occupying the coasts of Northern Iberia with strong fleets, and levying a fourth army, which may put you in deficit.
Nonetheless, ensure they are prepared for combat and take Navarre from whichever Iberian Faction, and move the army from Aquitania into Aragon.
At that stage, you can ask yourself; shall I continue past these mountainous fortifications?
For then you will hold the plug on whichever Iberian faction plotting to move north, and you can focus on the East.
----
I have tried a new mod!
Having witnessed despair and dread in my Portuguese campaign, and being afraid to press, "End Year", I downloaded Hellenic: Total War!
I read of a few faults which I was prepared to ignore.. I found them, but I shall persevere!
I am working on a translation of Kurou Anabaseos currently, so it is very fitting!
I tried to play a campaign as the Argoi, in the Pro-Classical era, before Persia came to power.
Lakedaimon and her allies to the south declared war very quickly, but not before I made safe the Twelve Islands and Mitulene, and supported Samothraki with a navy.
I begged the Koinon Achaian for alliance, which they accepted, and a tight bond between Korinthos kai Athenai te kai Argos formed.
The three good states, fighting righteously against evil Thebai kai Lakedaimon te kai Ambrakia.
But it was not to last!
Not even ten years did the state of Argos last!
For the Basileus had set the difficulty to hard, which is rather silly in pushy phalagks warfare!
The first wave of Spartans and Neodamoi attacked Argos, and were with great difficulty defeated.
Then many mercenaries and new 'Oplitai were ordered for in the state, whilst Elis and Plataia sent hundreds of men to their deaths in Messenia, and much naval strife occurred around Pulos.
Eventually, ten years after the start date, 1700 men of Argos and 2100 men of Korinthos marched against 1900 men of Lakedaimon.
The scene was set in Messenia.
(Perfect I thought! Nearly 6000 men were about to meet, I was having so much fun! Sparta was going to lose!)
But ... Hooo Bacchos! Hoooo! Harees!
Here were the gathered allies, and there were the Lakedaimonioi - 500 feet up on an impossible plateau!
Yes, they had predicted well, the Fates, that some maps gave the horrid advantage of a barely-scalable cliff-face to the defender.
No matter, there were several ways up, and we had cavalry!
So off we go to flank the enemy, but of a sudden; the allies of Korinthos decide to scale the most vertical face available to them - and what is more; here come the Spartans scaling down the face to meet them!
If they don't plunge to their deaths, I believe they shall win!
So the 500 cavalry from Ludia are sent off into the north to find a way up, whilst the Argan King leads the 'Oplitai to assist his hapless, 'aplos allies!
Indeed, they scale up just beyond the Spartans and grab at their flank - but the phalagks can not form on a cliff-face - so the melee becomes very scattered.
And for this reason, the AI Bonus on Hard became unbearable.
The ally, under the weight, (Literally), of so many troops decides to flee, and Argos alone is left to fight on.
Everyone is tiring and preparing to rout; when the cavalry, having circumvented over the plateau, charge down the cliff-face and into the backs of the Spartans!
Ha ha ha, not so impossible after all!
And indeed, it should not have been - were this Normal.
But it was not Normal.
The Spartans kept on, aided by their stat bonuses, who frequently gave them everything they required for battle as they fought on two fronts.
And hereafter the battle was kept up for an hour, the Achaiai coming back with reinforcements and attacking the backs of the enemy.. but it was futile.
At the end of this battle, no single Argos remained alive, all Achaiai were fled, and 100 Lakonioi stood their ground.
---
I am not disappointed. I lost. It seemed unfair, but I liked it!
In fact, the situation turned out completely realistically, unfortunately!
Just as in those times, these ambitious Hellenic states warred with each other and in each battle completely destroyed the manpower of all countries, "Both sides claiming the victory, yet neither reaping any benefit"*.
On Normal however, it may be more beneficial.. I must see!
I will be updating the Portuguese campaign shortly enough.
*Xenophon, Hellenica.
Turbosatan
03-22-2009, 10:56
Slightly off-topic, but I do love it around here. It's got to be the most well-read computer games forum on t'internet. I have never read an AAR for any computer game that had a quote from Xenophon.
Thanks Glenn.
CrowleyHammer
03-22-2009, 21:48
Well Glenn mate i *was* doing well lol, not so sure now.
Please bare in mind this is really my first ever proper go at a campaign.
My problem is i play a lot (too much really) Crusader Kings and this i feel is definately impacting on how i play MTW, for instance in Crusader Kings Excommunication is something to be avoided at all costs, consequently im terrified to start wars in this game lol, another thing is in CK you have to be patient...very patient and i feel this is another thing holding me back as i dont think ive yet learnt when to press onwards. im happy just sitting back building my economy and not really challenging the status quo at all, i guess im still adjusting to the way this game is meant to be played, enough of this on with the game session!
Ok i left Frances king cowering in brittany, he was completely cut off from the rest of his country and had no way to get to any other provinces, i sent assasins in to finnsih the job and succeded but only after his heir came of age!!! this was a mistake that would bite me hard later on.
Now forced into a peace with them i turned my attention to building my empire andbrining my various armies up to scratch and reinforcing all provinces, also beginning to build a fleet of ships, this takes a while with not much happening to be honest HRE mullered the remaining french provinces and then were excommed, i nabbed some rebel french lands and began raking in some serious cash.
Some years later it very much starts going a bit wrong, The aragonese pitch up and want aquataine i defend my land fairly easily, but the french reckon they can have Normandy back, i put them strait quickly forcing the king back to brittany, by this point im fed up of these one province wonders and invade them with everything i can spare.......dear god that was a big big mistake, i end up routing my entire army off the field sharpish with their cavalry running me down as i go..no doubt they will dine out on that for years convieniently forgetting about the many defeats i inflicted on them. Back to the Aragonese and i take toulouse off of them and press on to their homeland, i dish out an almighty defeat and come back to the map screen only to see the ope give me my two year warning and see that the siege will take 3 years.
Option 1: Carry on the siege get excommed and then make sure the pope has a convienient accident (some ally he is anyway!!!!)
Option 2: Abandon the siege and let the spanish take whats left of the argonese defend the border and try once more to wipe out France.
Not sure yet, but this war with the argonese sure did wipe out most of my Alliances.
Just one question how do you build Longbowmen? im certain i have created the buildings i need acording to the printed pull out poster tech tree that came with the game, this is with M:TW and VI vanilla early.
Just one question how do you build Longbowmen? im certain i have created the buildings i need acording to the printed pull out poster tech tree that came with the game, this is with M:TW and VI vanilla early.
Longbows are available from the High era (1205 onwards).
:bow:
CrowleyHammer
03-22-2009, 23:40
oh nuts, well..thats been a complete waste of my time then lol, and that makes my loss against the French even more devastating..sigh.
PershsNhpios
03-23-2009, 00:02
You should remember that when you receive a papal warning, it is not so much an immediate order to stop your aggression so much as a casual notice of, "I will look the other way for two years, just make sure you are done by then!".
Simple enough! You could have taken the Pyrenees in two years!
A cornered faction with a large army simply cannot be trusted.
If you want to spare the life of an enemy, make sure you have him besieged in his last province with <300 men, and then retreat away.
Otherwise your heirs shall inherit the Hundred Years War.
Also, there is one thing which held me back for a very long time in RTW and MTW;
Being afraid to lose provinces to siege.
Surely, it is different in RTW, but in this game having a province besieged is damaging, but it sometimes is crucial to a better success.
If leaving one province unprotected whilst you send an army deep into the heart of the enemy land means that it will be besieged on the next turn, it is well worth the victory.
This may not be problematic for you, but I know that I still despise seeing someone else colour my lands!
Simply create good fortifications, garrison them weakly, and try always to have one army available to all provinces.
For example, in the event of war with the Romans, you could fend them off decisively with one army in flanders, because that province has such fine access to others.
Of course, this is only a strategy for Europe. Naval steps should be taken to ensure that the homeland is never touched.
Hmmm! I should get back to my Portuguese game!
You should try your hand at that, Crowley, the Byzantines control everything east of Venice excepting the far north, and they have also taken a great slew of land which borders on the baltic sea. (Prussia, Pomerania, Lithuania).
Worst of all, they have a navy surrounding mine, armies ready to strike anywhere, and when I recently retreated from an italian province, they took it 'from my faction' and now we are at war.
I wish I could convince the computer that I did not want the province! It is ok! I forgive the Eastern Emperor!
This is my current campaign. Hopefully some crusades, Mongols, Hungarians or others will soon be heading my way. But first I have to deal with the Byzantine.
https://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3628/00000030o.jpg
PershsNhpios
03-23-2009, 02:30
Is that a mod of your own, Nagamasa?
Or what mod is it that gives so many provinces in the east?
You must also tell how one deals with both Egyptians and Byzantines at once, for I failed at that trial.
Yes, it is my own personal mod.
Visible Byzantine provinces clockwise from bottom:
Cyprus
Antalya (including Rhodes)
Nicaea
Constantinople
Thessaly (or Macedonia)*
Sinope
Trebizond
Seljuk provinces clockwise from left:
Konya**
Rum**
Armenia**
Georgia
Mosul
Aleppo
Antioch
Lesser Armenia
Edessa
*Greece is divided into Thessaly, Epirus, Athens and Morea
**Starting provinces (1087)
The trick to taking on the Egyptians and Byzantine at once is to focus on the former. In Vanilla MTW the Byzantine usually won't ally with you at first but they will not attack you for a good many years (in this campaign the Byzantine have not attacked me as yet), the Egyptians will always ally with you but will almost certainly attack as soon as they are able.
:bow:
Nice campaign, seems you are poised to strike.
:bow:
PershsNhpios
03-24-2009, 23:11
It is a fine map which you have made, Asai!
Please give an update of it soon!
--
Well! I think it is obvious to see how my Portuguese campaign will end!
I was completely off-guard when the AI hit me with four proper amies.
They each had four infantry, four spears, four archers, two horse archers and two heavy cavalry, usually with great trains of cavalry and spears behind.
Excepting at Aragon, where they brought also a great many Trebuchets, which were used very effectively.
Thankfully the Spanish infantry is very similar to the Byzantine in early, so I inflicted at least 6000 casualties on them overall in the war.
Unfortunately, the Cumans withered under their assault, and I am now likely to watch Europe herself fall to the Empire.
I believe this was a freak occurrence - only look at my screenshot of 1121 - the Byzantines were cut apart by the Turks, who then wore down briefly and the Greek just happened to gain the upper hand.
I was completely off-guard when the AI hit me with four proper amies.
They each had four infantry, four spears, four archers, two horse archers and two heavy cavalry, usually with great trains of cavalry and spears behind.
Sometimes, I even think "I couldn't have put together a better army myself!"
It's a testament to your skill that you managed to slay so many of them despite this.
It is a fine map which you have made, Asai!
Please give an update of it soon!
I will post up a screenshot tonight if I get time. I think it will appeal to yourself in particular Glenn, as the Byzantine are receiving a thrashing from my Saracens, Ghazis, Futuwwa, TH and AHC. I now hold the three choke points of Constantinople, Georgia and Jerusalem. I have held off from finishing off the Egyptians for now. The Byzantine Kataphraktoi Princes were hard going. One valour 5 general had to be pinned by Saracens surrounded by Ghazi and charged repeatedly by AHC. When he still wouldn't lie down I send the General's Ghulam Bodyguards unit and the Futuwwa after him in a downhill charge. Finally when down to one man, he routed off the field alone, with a stream of Ghazis hot on his tail. :laugh4:
I'm past 1205 now and in a strong position so the next stage is to tech up to Janissaries and build a decent navy.
:bow:
-Edit: The horde will arrive soon as well...
Originally posted by Asai Nagamasa
Finally when down to one man, he routed off the field alone, with a stream of Ghazis hot on his tail.
Thats the only times i dislike HAs - their attack is too low and such precious prisoner targets escape them. Alans on the other hand are great for the exact same reason - no prisoners no matter what their BGs are escape them, Sultans, Khaliffas, Popes, HREmperors, Kings all are caught in their mighty net :2thumbsup:
In fact Alans are slightly overpowered as a unit and if they werent so sparsingly available id be tempted to stat them down.
However its like the Alans and the Almughavars that mercenary units should have been - exclusive, worth it, available from few provinces. In this way they would add flavor for the player without being disavdantageous for the AI.
:bow:
We are in danger of getting into another "let's redesign the game" thread here. Yes the game has a lot of flaws and many of these are in the east of the map: Tons of rebels, imbalanced factions, many units assigned to the wrong factions etc, but the end of the day unless you mod the game there's no option except to live with it.
Back to the topic at hand though. I will start recruting some Steppe Cavalry for chasing down routers once I've finished with the Horde.
Sorry Asai Nagamasa and Glenn,
old habbits die hard - after all who told you to shut off the PocketMod threads? At least i could post there all that stuff...:laugh4:
The latest:
https://img231.imageshack.us/img231/6661/00000000.jpg
It looks good.
Perhaps tech up to JHI to give a hand with the Mongols if the Byzs have left a master spear maker in Const.?
The Byzantine have left me with a "spearmaker"... and the best unit I can train in Constantinople is TH...
:toilet:
-Edit: But that won't stop me....
I'm glad to see that you dealt with that Kataphraktoi Prince, I hate fighting those dudes. I had to deal with a 9-valour Byzantine King once and the damn thing just wouldn't die,he seemed to be able to crush everything in his path..
Originally posted by Caravel Asai
The Byzantine have left me with a "spearmaker"... and the best unit I can train in Constantinople is TH...
-Edit: But that won't stop me....
I see... well, at least got the Citadel :laugh4:... now time to fight the Mongols; SI, S, AHC, Cs, TH and DAs, TF with a few GBGs to top it off... and off you go to party with the Khan...:belly:
I was surprised to hold onto the Citadel, I did expect it to undergo the usual scenario where one of my men rests against a stout beam after a hard won victory only for the whole citadel to collapse and somehow accidentally rebuilt itself as a castle.
Update:
The Mongols arrive in Armenia and Khazar:
https://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1289/00000003.jpg
I decided to fight them in Armenia and pulled the entire Georgia garrison of over 6000 men back to Armenia.
https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/9315/00000004.jpg
The Saracens and AHC held out very well, with the Futtuwa and Turcoman Foot hammering the enemy relentlessly, then being withdrawn and replaced when their quivers were emptied.
Now I have the garrison back in Georgia with the border sealed to await the next onslaught. English and German Crusades are also sitting in Thessaly.
-Edit: And as you can see, the money came in useful as well.
Nice :laugh4:
EDIT
Usually the Constantinople Citadel doesnt downgrade at first hands change because it has the Barbican.
PershsNhpios
03-27-2009, 01:37
A fine effort, Caravel!
How do you defeat so many horse archers.. how can you capture them?
I also have never managed to use reinforcements effectively in battle, they are always either unnecessary or the battle is carried to far away.. and my units are all routed before one can be replaced with another..
I would enjoy crushing Mr. Lionheart so heartily!
Mr Lionheart? Who do you mean Mr Glenn?
PershsNhpios
03-27-2009, 01:52
That red-haired old sod from the Thames who intends to march across Europa and claim the lands of the noble Turk!
Good job that the Austrian locked him up!
(Let's not be too far off-topic though!)
I will start a new Hellenic Campaign soon, and also continue with my Portuguese campaign.
However I am waiting for a spare hour or two before I play the next turn for that..
Thank you for your posts, Caravel!
Right the actual Lionheart, i see. Thought it was a manner of speech for someone else.
PershsNhpios
03-27-2009, 08:34
I played two turns of my Portuguese campaign.
I really do not want to play anymore!
Perhaps I should not spoil the events for my AAR, but nonetheless.. there simply remains little purpose for the next turn.
-----
Can anyone tell me what they have thought of Hellenic: Total War, or Ancient: Total War?
I have not tried the latter, but I am interested in the Hellenic campaigns there also.
These mods seem to have been greatly popular, yet none of the remaining players have ever mentioned them whilst I have been here.
I find Hellenic: Total War very charming - if frustrating when you are put on a mountainous map..
-----
No word from Crowley.. He must be locked up in the Tower of London!
Pitty it was a very nice campaign, that kept us in our toes tips.
Thank you and well done Mr Glenn.
HTW as well as ATW are both very nice and interesting mods...
:bow:
I played two turns of my Portuguese campaign.
I really do not want to play anymore!
Perhaps I should not spoil the events for my AAR, but nonetheless.. there simply remains little purpose for the next turn.
In that case, why not do the unthinkable for a change and cheat like there is no tomorrow eh?
You could "receive" 1 million florins and workers who are not afraid to work sundays....
Just to see the surprised (but sadly not rendered) faces of the Byz as you smash their pitiful armies into dust and claim supremacy for Iberia!
:clown:
Oh Noble Durango, what dark thoughts you lay upon a troubled brow. Do you not see that the weariness by the damnest Byzantines malcontent, their warmongering? Let him who has understanding leave those dark corridors for better times...:stupido:
PershsNhpios
03-28-2009, 00:03
Indeed, you have not understood, Durango!
For the situation is such that, even if I did have 1,000,000 florins, I would no place to spend them, and no workers to be paid!
I may be able to pry two more updates out of this mess!
Then I can test your modification of the MedMod, Durango - I doubt if I should then last even to 1180..
(Unless I started in High - ha ha ha ha! Harumph..)
no fish - pay in cash please
Once a gollum, always a gollum.
*dangles fressssh fisssssh in the midst of thread*
Glenn, for what it's worth I think you should play an easier campaign until you get used to the mod. Once you're fully fluent in all of the ins and outs you should be able to take on a hard faction like Portugal. I haven't played the Medmod for years, but I'm sure that Señores gollum and Durango will be able to suggest a decent faction to start out as.
I've never played HTW. I remember downloading, installing, firing it up, looking, closing, uninstalling...
Unfortunately I've done this with a lot of mods and there are many more that I haven't tried at all. I probably haven't given them a chance and have been put off by minor details. :embarassed:
I suppose I judge many mods by the SW mod's standards and I also don't go in for the "more factions, more units, more graphics" type of thing. Also when playing many mods I always get put off by "personalisations". The SW mod doesn't really have these, it just looks and plays like it should. You get the feeling that no one went out of their way to concentrate on a particular area to add units, factions and provinces in regions that interest them. The same can't be said for most other mods.
:bow:
Oh Noble Durango, what dark thoughts you lay upon a troubled brow. Do you not see that the weariness by the damnest Byzantines malcontent, their warmongering? Let him who has understanding leave those dark corridors for better times...:stupido:
Ill news is an Ill guest!
Indeed, you have not understood, Durango!
For the situation is such that, even if I did have 1,000,000 florins, I would no place to spend them, and no workers to be paid!
I may be able to pry two more updates out of this mess!
Then I can test your modification of the MedMod, Durango - I doubt if I should then last even to 1180..
(Unless I started in High - ha ha ha ha! Harumph..)
Use the -ian trick, switch to the Byz and delete all their buildings.
:laugh4:
There is unfortunately no high in MedMod. Unless you get high when you play it, that is...
Glenn, for what it's worth I think you should play an easier campaign until you get used to the mod. Once you're fully fluent in all of the ins and outs you should be able to take on a hard faction like Portugal. I haven't played the Medmod for years, but I'm sure that Señores gollum and Durango will be able to suggest a decent faction to start out as.:bow:
Good idea! For Glenn, I recommend playing as one of the Italian factions in either early or late (I prefer late, since they get some nice and rare handgunners right at the start). Also, a decent strategic position, spears you don't argue with, access to the sea and some lucrative trade.
Money, money, money....must be funny......in the rich man's world....
I suppose I judge many mods by the SW mod's standards and I also don't go in for the "more factions, more units, more graphics" type of thing. Also when playing many mods I always get put off by "personalisations". The SW mod doesn't really have these, it just looks and plays like it should. You get the feeling that no one went out of their way to concentrate on a particular area to add units, factions and provinces in regions that interest them. The same can't be said for most other mods.
:bow:
Let him who judges be judged thyself! The PM mod has more than a few extra provinces in the middle east.... :laugh4:
Originally posted by ID-Chameleon
Once a gollum, always a gollum.
Today Caravel, tomorrow who knows who?
*spits rotten fish back*
Originally posted by Durango
Money, money, money....must be funny......in the rich man's world....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkOmcIl79s
Hoorah for Sweden! :laugh4:
Originally posted by Caravel
I suppose I judge many mods by the SW mod's standards and I also don't go in for the "more factions, more units, more graphics" type of thing. Also when playing many mods I always get put off by "personalisations". The SW mod doesn't really have these, it just looks and plays like it should. You get the feeling that no one went out of their way to concentrate on a particular area to add units, factions and provinces in regions that interest them. The same can't be said for most other mods.
Thats an interesting point. In fact i think that vanilla MTW has good potential (unrealised without modding) to reach this status. Its a pitty that it wasnt tweaked better by the developer - but on the other hand thats what the main hall and modding are for.:2thumbsup:
Let him who judges be judged thyself! The PM mod has more than a few extra provinces in the middle east.... :laugh4:
Indeed and I don't mind being included in that. This is why with my mod, I tried to get others involved as much as possible. The layout of the near east and north africa was the result of the inputs of many individuals (including Mr gollum here). More importantly I totally reworked Iberia and Greece, areas I know next to nothing about and this was mainly done of my own accord. The additional provinces were mainly added for gameplay reasons only, this was because those areas lacked provinces or were badly laid out.
No can we get this thread back on topic. I dion't see many people reporting as to how their campaigns are going, which I believe was Glenn's original intention for the thread?
:bow:
PershsNhpios
03-29-2009, 00:25
A fine observation, Caravel! I was just wondering about that myself.
Gollum, Durango - have either of you a campaign which you would like to briefly illustrate?
I am waiting for the tweaked version of Durango's MedMod to be prepared, so I may begin a new 'Ellenos campaign meanwhile.
I have found the battles to be very difficult in HTW.
In my last campaign as the Phrugioi, I found that my men were armed with stones compared to the new age settlers of Thettalia and the land of Pelops.
This of course was a problem of imbalance - but I can be a very good roleplayer.
Nonetheless, wood-framed skin shields gave way to the 'Aspis and I found my beloved Pergamos becoming the capital of a new Athenian colony.
I do enjoy it!
I look forward to a new Wes Campaign however.. perhaps an islamic one.
I am undergoing a *detox* period from TW at the moment Glenn. Whenever i play again i ll post about it here, be sure.
:bow:
Same as Gollum here, I'm not playing much MTW at the moment. And as for an account of the experience of playing some of the Italian factions, I can only say this from memory: Playing as the Venetians you have oppurtunities for lots of money if you develop your trade. This is helped by the strategic position, consisting of a bridge to your main island, Venice, that can only be assaulted from the province of Verona to the north (which you own at the start).
Further, there are rivers to the west and southwest, as well as the alpine mountains to the north and northeast. If you spend some trade money on a formidable defensive force in Verona, potential enemies will have a hard time assailing your position....
From then on, you can build a navy with which to land invasions onto other faction's soil. My personal approach playing in Late is to tech up to Italian Heavy Infantry/Italian Pikemen and use those together with handgunners in the classic 16th century pike and shot formation aka. Tercio. Only the Italian nations together with Mamluks and Russians get gunpowder infantry in MedMod, and they are quite good).
Another reason for playing a late game is that the Byz are weaker overall, and as Gollum pointed out they lose Jedi status from late and onwards. The Byz caused you grief in the Portuguese campaign, but with the Venetians you should have a good chance of breaking them :2thumbsup:
Noble Durango you reminded me those killing machines of Doom the Italian Heavy Infantry of MedMod!
~:eek:
Terror is their name - killing is their business and... business is good :laugh4:
They just wont go down - the fact that they are slow hardly matters.
Anyway thats my resentment with the Medmod - way too high morale for SP... flanking only - match ups do not matter much with 15+ morale units...
Noble Durango you reminded me those killing machines of Doom the Italian Heavy Infantry of MedMod!
~:eek:
Terror is their name - killing is their business and... business is good :laugh4:
They just wont go down - the fact that they are slow hardly matters.
Anyway thats my resentment with the Medmod - way too high morale for SP... flanking only - match ups do not matter much with 15+ morale units...
Smeagol kills them nasty spears while they sleep so sweet.... yesss they does...?
I agree, which is why I have taken out all morale upgrades from buildings, and nerfed general stars. I believe you have done much the same in your homemod?
There is however a problem with the usage of say spears for bodyguard units. In the MedMod, the Italians have their great spear units be their bodyguards, with full manpower. This causes the upkeep to rise significantly more than in vanilla since the cost is counted per man, and in vanilla the standard BG unit is cavalry around 20 man in size. I now understand why that is!
With the rich Venetians for ex. that is no problem, but for smaller nations it can kill the economy when they get full strength heirs... but I have not really found an easy way to change this in MedMod.
BTW, in the Samurai Warlords mod, is there a good "beginner" faction recommended? I have gotten the impression that many of the clans are somewhat equal (more so than original MTW) in starting positions.
:bow:
(Also, Glenn, if you want to whip the Byz (and everyone else) you can give the Mongols a go in Late. Armour piercing HAs..... muhahahaha!)
Yes thats a very good approach Noble Durango, indeed.
However as a rule SP game has another source of bonuses that cannot be muted, the general command stars. Hence its best to drop the *intended* moral level and stats 2-4 points lower than the ones wants the game to operate to. In the Medmod IV the creators in their desire to make all units useful, have made them of decent base stats ie base stats are already to the level the unit is intended to operate. Now add the general stars bonuses and you end up with certain battles that match ups dont exactly matter.
The Uesugi are the easiest of the lot - as well as other clans that are based on the *eastern* end. Thats because the eastern end is far more rich while it has few provinces and approaches to it and so its very easy to expand from there.
:bow:
Gah!
https://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5110/00000007h.jpg
Though I have a cunning plan to rescue my faction from oblivion...
cunning plan? Does it involve metaphysics? :laugh4:
It involved reloading from a previous save game and it worked. :beam:
I had an heir that only needed three years to mature. The campaign is becoming dull however and I don't think the janissary units that I'm teching up to, will make it any more interesting.
:bow:
Well here is the final overview:
https://img16.imageshack.us/img16/7996/00000008t.jpg
The Byzantine are now gone and enemy is still sending crusades against me. The last attempt by the Spanish crusade on Epirus was a disaster. The English crusaders are sitting in Serbia doing nothing.
I have Constantinople teching up to Janissaries but to be honest the campaign has become predictable. I will start a new one tomorrow. I may even do an AAR or continue the SW Asai campaign.
PershsNhpios
03-31-2009, 23:44
Oh.. You spoil us, our blessed, goodly 'public servant'.
How can we deserve you, giving so many AARs and reports to us in this way..
I have yet to see any Turkish units attack and take the British Isles.
Today I am very busy, but I must try a hand at a new campaign too, which I will sketch here.. I will make a new AAR when I have MedMod v4 - The Durango Edition (revised).
Thank you Caravel.
Today I am very busy, but I must try a hand at a new campaign too, which I will sketch here.. I will make a new AAR when I have MedMod v4 - The Durango Edition (revised).
Hi Glenn. I too am very busy this week, and I can't do the changes you wanted as of right now. But I expect the oppurtunity to come before the weekend is over, however.
In the meantime, may I suggest starting a new campaign with the vanilla mod instead? It's challenging as it is, already...
:bow:
Something that some of you may find interesting. I tried handing over control of my faction to the AI for one year only. The results were very odd. The AI Turks invaded Granada, Naples and Serbia, which was fairly predictable, but the very odd part was the stack composition of the army it sent to Granada. Prior to this I had single unit UM or Spearmen garrisons in most provinces. I also one or two glutton/good runner governors with some of these garrisons. In a single year the AI stripped out these garrisons and sent them overseas to the invasion of Granada with the glutton/good runner governors. When I took back control of the faction the mess was as I predicted, but this selection of all of my garrison units and sending them to that particular province was odd. I can only think that this is a bug or a result of poor programming. It might be that the AI first selects the units it has inside the castles, before it moves to the units outside, but one would think the AI would select it's best units.
I doesnt surprise me - i think that in STW too the AI would frequently stack good generals in one stack that was wasting their boosting of honour/valour big time. In addition they would often get killed in one battle including the heirs resulting in those easypeasy clan eliminations. The only thing that the MTW engine has to deal with this is the many general/heir/king hit points, that actually hurts the game as it skews the match ups irreperably.
These are the (unseen) areas that TW could focus to make the AI shine - but it wasnt to be - already since RTW this became established with the 2 hitpoints of BG units.
:bow:
gaijinalways
04-07-2009, 13:54
Italy, early, expert, now about 1191. I have set up a good trading network, have some 174k in the bank, a large army, lead in GA points by a slim margin over the Alomonds 68 to 61 and have the following territories;
in the North:
Denmark (which I took from the pesky reemerging Danes after they tried to bribe their way into my Sweden), Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Novgorod (tried to bribe Livonia, but the eggies beat me to it)
starting central southern area:
Genoa, Tuscany, Milan, Venice, Tyrolia, Switzerland (hoping to get pikemen at some point from both of the last two), Naples (bribed this from rebels) Constaninople (took this during a crusade after the Sicilians delayed me and I waltzed in:idea2: and left troops to hold it from the Eggies)
I wanted to take Provence and Toulouse when they rebelled, but the English moved in on both, actually outbribing me in Provence:shame:.
Middle East:
Antioch, Tripoli (took both in crusades, have a crusade nearing Edessa, and another on deck suited up for Egypt)
Some odd things;
Went to first some 40 years without attacking anyone, just building my trade network. Ther Sicilians attacked me first in the sea.
Three times when I've suited up crusades, the Sicilians attacked me, disrupting my route to the Middle east. They hold only Malta, which for some reason I can not land on right now:wall:.
The Alomonds have attacked me twice in the sea, both times seeking a cease fire shortly after.
The eggies have attacked my navy now and again, but generally I have the upper hand as they have almost no ships (one now) after I took some of their cash cows (Antioch and Tripoli).
Wondering where should I go next. I'd still like to get, for example Croatia, Serbia and Greece, which would connect Constaninople to my burgeoning empire in the South. Later grabbing Nicaea, Antolia, and Lesser Armenia would complete that chain. Up north, haven't bothered with the squabbling between the bleeding HRE, the French, and the English, though Flanders always looks fat and tempting. I'm hoping to bribe some more places later and slowly move in without disturbing the 'wa' (harmony) anywhere.
Whew, glad my CD drive was repaired, maybe my last chance before I get busy with teaching at uni again (and maybe return to writing the book I'm supposed to finish:whip:).
gaijinalways
04-09-2009, 16:29
Well, the years went by (and so did one post, lost that one), and I had a visit from the Horde. Yikes, I forgot about that! Some 13k plus barbarians on my Khazar (well, I had by that point taken most of the map, a little annoying incident with the English, and since the French were excommed at the time, and the pope? Well the new puppet pope didn't appear for some time, until after I had exiled the English to Ireland.
So, there I was suddenly rushing all manner of units back to cover my lapse. The Egyptians had returned earlier, but they weren't a major threat yet, just holed up in 4 provinces with a lot of peasants, 2 of them near Khazr. I managed to scrape and bleed some 5k troops into Khazar, and waited with bated breath. Seems the HRE couldn't wait to attack me (they got their butts kicked in Tyrolia), the French tried to break out of he stranglehold I left them in in Brandenburg by attacking Franconia again, and now the Horde.
Started off good, I had good kill rates, and the Horde were coming, but it seemed manageable. They'd attack, and I'd keep killing off mostly heavy cavs, and shooting their warriors and other troops. Later on it got dicey as my troops got tired, and at one point I had mostly xbowmen coming on at the same time (ouch) as replacements. At some points I actually used them as fighters, worked somewhat. Later on I was hiding in the woods quite bit as I was outnumbered and no longer had a number of arbs to pot them from a distance. I actually had a chain rout at one point in the woods! Fancy that, even as I was killing off chunks of heavy and medium cavs. Part of it was I surprised a few times, the cavs are quick, with the AI sometimes using even his horsearchers as attackers after doing quick feints back and forth!
Finally I got down to my last units, and I was concerned as there was still a good chunk of time on the clock. By that time the kill numbers were closer, perhaps 1.4 to 1 in my favor (the routers a few times didn't help, especially when my general routed half way though the battle, even though this was much after the Horde general had met an untilmely arb related death).
Finally we had a face off with his two horsearchers and a few units of my own, including 2 urban milita and a few other units that were fuller in number. I actually let one of my genovese sailor units come too close in for pot shots and they got routed before I could come to their aid. But those were the last 2 enemy units, as I shot the horsearchers to pieces and watched the clock run out with no more Mongol units to come.
I forgot to mention that this was all done with Italian infantrymen, arbs, xbows, some xbow cav, and some extras (they were livng in the province when the Horde 'visited'). I won't have silver armored halbs for a few years yet as I took both Tyrolia and Switzerland later.
The horde is dead, long live the Italian empire. With around 700k in the bank and more units coming online, even the Alomonds don't scare me much. Hell, they even sunk a few ships again. Might be time for total war again!
gaijinalways
04-12-2009, 03:04
I decided to push on after reaching 60%. Normally I stop at this point as there are no other big contenders, but I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I had plenty of spies already circulating, and I kept most of my provincesa at 200% loyalty, so only one recently conquered province rebelled, but I quickly put down the rebellion and built a tower. I had also put guard towers in all of my provinces a turn after reaching 60%. I was still building units and ships. Now I finally allowed just spies and a few units to be built, and watched my bank drop from 680k to 288k by game's end.
I had left islands of factions, who strangely all agreed to cease fires after I withdrew from their provinces. The only ones eliminated were the Eggies, who died too quickly in battle ( the Danes disappeared some years before). So I had these faction osaises and the few Mediterrain islands held by the BYZ and Malta by the Sicilians.
Did I mention earlier I couldn't go to Malta earlier? Finally got that sorted out as I was training assasins (I know, forgot earlier) and bribed the castle, even though a larger army stood outside. Once I took over the castle, suddenly I could land on Malta and quickly put the Sicilians boat sinking days behind me.
100%, didn't know it could be so easy in 1271. Never did see those pikemen.
chrisRRR
04-15-2009, 10:02
Hello everybody, thought I'd contribute to a thread instead of my continued lurking :D
I started a campaign as the Sicilians/GA/Early/Normal/VI(Vanilla). This has been one of my most enjoyable campaigns yet, I think because I've learnt a lot more about the game (through these forums). Big thanks to frogbeastegg for his unit guide, helped me a lot.
Anyway, I started out by building up a navy to get my trade going and some $$'s. I then trained up a small army to take Naples from the Byzantines, don't really know why... I just felt the need to expand. That went well, so I decided to attack them at their mainland and quickly took Greece, bribed the army in Serbia and took it straight to Constantinople (which was so poorly defended I practically trotted in with half an army).
I saved the game shortly after in the year 1123 (not wanting to take any chances). I then played on until 1139, but I didn't like where the campaign was going so I decided to leave it at that and come back to the 1123 scenario later... probably tomorrow xD
>.< I have an picture but it appears I'm not allowed to post it... oh well, I'll post it in the update I suppose!
I'd like some advice, the Egyptians are fairly huge, just massing an enormous amount of troops in their homelands (which are my crusade goals...), and at war with the Byz. Should I go after them/finish off the Byz or head west into Europe and smite my fellow Christians?
I of the Storm
04-15-2009, 12:00
While smiting is generally encouraged in this game, doing so against other catholics will sooner or later get you warnings from the pope that require either a 10 turn ceasefire against that specific faction or will result in your excommunication. You should rather try either ceasefire with the Byz or destroy them and try to capture your Crusading Goals while you're still in the early period. You won't get any points for capturing the Holy Land after 1205 IIRC. So save up Europe for later.
Edit: And welcome to the Org, chrisRRR:smash:
chrisRRR
04-15-2009, 13:46
Oh really? I think I saw about the crusades, I suppose I should go for those damned Egyptians then! And in that case, I'll probably take out the Byz in the process...
Can anyone give me any pointers for large scale battles? I'm okay at the small battles (controlling up to about 8 units), but if it gets to the stage where I have reinforcements I crumble to bits... Anything would be much appreciated!
And thanks for the welcome, this is such a lovely and knowledgable place :)
I of the Storm
04-15-2009, 14:31
Not really actually except maybe: try not to get lost. Better to fall back on a ridge closer to your edge of the map and defeat the waves of the enemy than chase routers and get caught off guard by arriving reinforcements. Also, when you have reinforcements yourself, note that they will appear in the exact order you put them before the battle (you can arrange the order of your troops in pre-battle screen, this was added with VI I think).
I'd like some advice, the Egyptians are fairly huge, just massing an enormous amount of troops in their homelands (which are my crusade goals...), and at war with the Byz. Should I go after them/finish off the Byz or head west into Europe and smite my fellow Christians?
Would suggest to go against the Biz since their are usually tougher than the Egyptians. Egyptians army is often huge but it is usually a rable. Likewise their generals are not as good as the Byz. The Egyptians do get at least a couple of very good ones general but the AI can be dumb enough to put them in a stack with a two stars king (same is true for the Byz but the emperor has very often at least five stars). Getting to Egyptians to go into civil war is also much easier.
If you go after the Byz, you need to make sure that you have a good chance of getting rid of their fleet (if they win the naval battel be prepared for all sorts of trouble). Once you have destroyed their fleet, take their three island (usually poorly defended). You can keep those without too much trouble if the link between them and your king is not cut by an enemy fleet. Those island usually have inns that can turn handy for hiring mounted crossbowmen. I am not a huge fan of those but they are a big bonus agaisnt the byz since it is not uncommon to see a byz province with an eight-star general as its sole garrison. IF you launch a regular attack the AI will pull out but if you only attack with one or two units of MC, the AI will accept the fight. Provided you do not make any blunder, you can easily kill the high value general with a little patience (shoot, run away, shoot, etc.). Even if you fail, you've only lost an expendable unit
Can anyone give me any pointers for large scale battles? I'm okay at the small battles (controlling up to about 8 units), but if it gets to the stage where I have reinforcements I crumble to bits... Anything would be much appreciated!
Besides what Lord of the Storm already told you, keep you infantry grouped as much as possible (no point chasing routers for long with those, they will only catch a few and get exhausted in the process, only do it if the AI has no reinforcement of substance), do not let you cavalary get exhausted chasing three archers, remember that the pause button is your friend.
Hope it helps,
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