Maratha CAN dominate Europe!

[petsman47]

As Maratha , I conquered all India , Persia and Ottoman Turks.
By the time I step in Europe the Prussians had 1 province and the Austrians were eliminated by the Polish. So Europe had 3 major powers. British, France and Poland.
Russia was having a hard time fighting Sweden who have expanded east.

Maratha was underpowered ,military speaking, BUT i used their military Pros:

1. FULL STACK armies with 5+ star generals.
2. Army composition: Sikh Musk. , Swordsmen ( excellent to outflank the European elite infantry), Great - Organ Guns and Heavy cavarly to surround them (India have good cavarly) and Hillmen as light infantry.
3. Have yours thugs assassinate their multistar generals before you fight them.
4. Sabotage their advanced barracks.
5. Use Afghan/Kurdish Hillmen as light infantry( not jaegers but they do their job well if used wisely)
6. Fight defensive battles mostly.
7. Finally, remember that human intelligence is always superior that any CPU A.I.....!

I crashed the Polish and French (yesterday I took Paris, now the french are starving in low level provinces like Alsait-loraire and Flanders). Now I will fight my way with the British....

[Fisherking]

Welcome aboard!

Monster Nations! Have you gone into the Americas yet?

[A Nerd]

I was tempted to try Maratha in my next campagin. Up to now I have never made an attempt to take any of India, just trade with it. Also, the lack of gunpowder infantry units had been turning me off.

edit: I also thought they couldn't raise much of a navy. But from reading several posts it would seem that I was wrong...

[petsman47]

Welcome aboard!

Monster Nations! Have you gone into the Americas yet?



I have taken both pirate islands. When i conquer in europe the last 2 french territories I will go for their holdings in America. But i have to decide if first i start a war with the British in europe. Its tough!

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I was tempted to try Maratha in my next campagin. Up to now I have never made an attempt to take any of India, just trade with it. Also, the lack of gunpowder infantry units had been turning me off.

edit: I also thought they couldn't raise much of a navy. But from reading several posts it would seem that I was wrong...

They cannot recruit Heavy First Rates, Rocketships, or Steamships. With the new tech tree, this means that going for the Steam Drydock is not as important for the Marathans. Naval hospitals are available earlier and do fine for the Maratha side. If you want any of the Heavy 1Rs etc., you'll have to acquire them. They'll be rare as the AI builds them very little.

[petsman47]

I want to add something. I play the Maratha campaign ,described in first post, on H/H difficulty. I believe that Europe for Maratha is a no-go..

[petsman47]

I want to add something. I play the Maratha campaign ,described in first post, on H/H difficulty. I believe that Europe for Maratha is a no-go..

I Mean is a no-go for VH/VH difficulty..

[Kanamori]

It isn't. London is a great staging ground, as well as Rome and Venice.

[Master Magic Mage]

Yeah, but he careful for the European Navies. They're usually more developed than the Maratha Navy, and can VERY annoying if your trying to transport your horde to Europe.

[petsman47]

Paris is good staging ground and a rich one...

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Yeah, but he careful for the European Navies. They're usually more developed than the Maratha Navy, and can VERY annoying if your trying to transport your horde to Europe.

Depends where you are going. Morocco can be reached in one move. For the others, if you can afford a few turns delay, you can go bakc and forth up the Atlantic transit zones (to America the back to Europe) doing most of your on map movement on the almost always vacant American fringe. Iceland is a one move destination from the top transit box. If you're making for England/Norway, then head North around Iceland -- usually leaves you out of their tripwire range. Yes, Euro navies under AI control have that unerring beeline for your fleet capability that is SO annoying.

On the other hand, 2nd Rates are the backbone of your fleet and well handled can face anything up to a Heavy first rater. With good fire discipline and a little micro managing, it will beat anything afloat that isn't smart enough to run.

[A Nerd]

How does the Maratha stack up against the Muhgals? Why do they always roll over them?

[DisruptorX]

How does the Maratha stack up against the Muhgals? Why do they always roll over them?

Play a campaign as the Mughuls and you will quickly see why they fold against the Maratha under AI control. All of their developed territories are north, requiring long distance marching for their better troops. Their starting armies are slightly smaller than the Maratha, meaning that when its auto-calc, they will likely lose.

Also, their troops are.....not good. The have not a single unit that can form squares. Even if they lasted long enough, they have no units that can use bayonets or fire by rank. Their swordsmen, who are the best melee unit in the game, are still weak against horses, and can only be built from a high tier barracks. Really, their only stellar unit is camel gunners, which aren't exactly unique.

Though, if you want to play as the Mughuls, I'd recommend that you instead play as Persia or Mysore, because they don't start off with so many territories and are thus much harder. Mughul's main problem is that player control nullifies most of their weaknesses, but in straight up auto-calc, their subpar units get destroyed.

[A Nerd]

Interesting! Can you suggest any unlocker mods that work with 1.6?

[Master Magic Mage]

What makes me laugh is usally the Mughals collpase into a Republic, it's quite funny. When that happens, you know it's over for them.

[DisruptorX]

Interesting! Can you suggest any unlocker mods that work with 1.6?

I got mine from Total War Center, in the startpos mod section. And I'm 95% sure I'm still using the 1.5 unlocker and it still works.

[A Nerd]

Cool! Thanks! I'll have to check that out!

[Ratwar]

They cannot recruit Heavy First Rates, Rocketships, or Steamships. With the new tech tree, this means that going for the Steam Drydock is not as important for the Marathans. Naval hospitals are available earlier and do fine for the Maratha side. If you want any of the Heavy 1Rs etc., you'll have to acquire them. They'll be rare as the AI builds them very little.

They also lack a shipyard without either first ripping out a trade port or waiting for a new port to develop, which can hamper them in the early game at sea. Still, they can be the equal of any European Navy with a large enough investment.