Seljuk Turks campaign

[edyzmedieval]

XL Mod 3.0 - Expert

Seriously, it is crazy. I managed to rake in very good profits from the trade system and the upgraded farms and this enabled me to defeat the Mongols when they invaded, so take a look at the numbers. Dizzying. :dizzy2:
Apart from that, the Almoravids have conquered almost half of Europe and now they find themselves in the position where almost every province rebelled against their rule.

First Mongol Battle

https://img860.imageshack.us/img860/6003/firstbattle.jpg (https://img860.imageshack.us/i/firstbattle.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (https://imageshack.us)

First Casualties

https://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5840/firstcasualties.jpg (https://img340.imageshack.us/i/firstcasualties.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (https://imageshack.us)


Second battle (casualties only pic) - 21000 Mongols vs 19500 Seljuk Turks ~:eek:

https://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5388/beautifulfp.jpg (https://img402.imageshack.us/i/beautifulfp.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (https://imageshack.us)


Overall profit per turn - Constantinople and Tripoli make 5000 denars per turn out of trade

https://img16.imageshack.us/img16/57/traderevenue.jpg (https://img16.imageshack.us/i/traderevenue.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (https://imageshack.us)



Once I reach 1250, where more points will be counted, I'll start doing quick reports on how this is progressing. So far I lead with my points but there's an interesting problem with the Almoravids. They give me the most trade money and yet they're threatening my top spot for points. This will be very very interesting as it evolves. :yes:

[cogre]

that looks crazy intense man. love how full that third pic is

[gollum]

And i thought S2 was just out :laugh4:

thanks for sharing edyz ;)

[drone]

Second battle (casualties only pic) - 21000 Mongols vs 19500 Seljuk Turks ~:eek:

https://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5388/beautifulfp.jpg (https://img402.imageshack.us/i/beautifulfp.jpg/)

Looks like a rave in Georgia. :yes:

[gollum]

Lots of tickets sold. DJ edYz.

[edyzmedieval]

Lots of tickets sold. DJ edYz.

:laugh4: :laugh4:

Thank you for the laugh.

I'm loving this campaign. Not sure what to do later on, I just want the Mongols to expand but they've spent 20.000 men just on me and they don't have that much power to advance further on. Almoravids are crumbling due to rebellions and factions are reappearing, which means great fun later on. Byzantines have been eliminated after i killed their King in battle but I expect them to return soon.

[gollum]

Just take the steppe and then work your way west.

[edyzmedieval]

Just take the steppe and then work your way west.

That's the issue with the Steppe.

1. I'm allied with the Cuman Khanate, I don't want to break it since they bring some trade profit and plus they're allied with almost all of the countries on the map.

2. I want the Golden Horde to live and expand eastwards. Unfortunately, they're just sitting there.

3. I only have 280.000 florins. I want to reach 350-400.000 florins before I attempt any expansion eastwards. Right now I'm using agents to sow unrest, particularly Alims.

4. Fighting against the Almoravids right now is a bad decision - they have huge armies (I have the most, but still) and if I go to war with them my 15.000 florin profit per turn will suddenly go down to 1000.

I will have to wait for the moment and expand wherever I can (rebel provinces).

[gollum]

if you want to make omelette, got to break some eggs edyz :)

Your options seem to be:

1. Rush the Mongols and the Cumans and take on the steppe, and still make profits from elsewhere

2. Rush the Almoravids and crush them sink their boats, slaughter their armies and sleep with their women. This is pobably the less financially viable option as i guess you make the most profit fromtrading with them

3. Wait to build up more money base and troops.

I'd go for 1. Mongols give good battles when they still have troops and you have to attack them in the steppes. Butchering the Cumans afterwards with a backstab would also feel good :)

[edyzmedieval]

I waited, I waited and then I attacked the Pope who kept invading Eastern Europe. Took Serbia and another province and I've been trying to incite revolt in Wallachia and Moldavia so I can take those as well. Mongols stopped attacking me but I need to have three full stacks in Georgia to prevent them from entering my territory.

[edyzmedieval]

I had to cheat :shame:

My Sultan wouldn't produce any heirs so I was left with only one who came to the throne when he was 36, so I had to spawn a heir or else my journey would be completely over.

Otherwise, epic battles between the Bohemians who have inland Europe and the Almoravids who have Spain and all of the coastal European provinces.

[gollum]

That doesn't count, especially with the Muslims with whom you can't get around it with incest.

Throw us a screenshot when you find time; it sounds real fun battling all those Almos with the Turks. I love muslim vs muslim wars, Sultan vs Sultana and Khaliffa vs Khaliffa.

[edyzmedieval]

That doesn't count, especially with the Muslims with whom you can't get around it with incest.

Throw us a screenshot when you find time; it sounds real fun battling all those Almos with the Turks. I love muslim vs muslim wars, Sultan vs Sultana and Khaliffa vs Khaliffa.

You're lucky, I haven't started my battles yet. ~D

It's 1286 so far, every turn to finish takes me 5-6 minutes and then another 3-4 minutes until the game computes everything that the Almoravids and the Bohemians have to do. In 1300 or sooner I will launch a full out attack on the Almoravids, in conjunction with the Papal reappearance. That way they lose territory not only from my armies but from the Pope's armies as well.

I have almost 800.000 florins in my treasury, after another 14-15 turns with 20k per turn I will have around 1.000.000 florins, enough to start a huge all out campaign of warfare.

Can't wait for epic battles!

Screenshots will be indeed provided. :bow:

[gollum]

shivering with anticipation :)

[edyzmedieval]

Turns out the Almoravids are losing the grip on their empire which means that successive rebellions even in their home provinces enabled me to sweep in and take a couple of extra points. And just when I wanted to attack and crumble their empire, here come the Bohemians who steamroller ahead of me 40 points with 120 years to go. It's a fight between three empires with the Papacy in the middle who's trying to survive and unify Italy under their banner. :book:

Here's a couple of pics for you guys to enjoy.

Sultan Osman III

https://img576.imageshack.us/img576/7179/sultan.jpg (https://img576.imageshack.us/i/sultan.jpg/)

Revenue just from Tripoli - Master Merchant + 80% farmland improvement

https://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3056/incomefromtripoli.jpg (https://img25.imageshack.us/i/incomefromtripoli.jpg/)

First attempt at battle with the Bohemians

https://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8917/battleeg.jpg (https://img101.imageshack.us/i/battleeg.jpg/)

State of the empire in 1327 after the battles - Ottoman Empire

https://img854.imageshack.us/img854/3630/state.jpg (https://img854.imageshack.us/i/state.jpg/)


I got my backside handed against the Bohemians the first time out. I lost badly, 6500 troops dead compared to 3000 from the Bohemians. It was all because the commanding general had 9 stars which gave almost all units valour 5 or even more, so they were very hard to kill, especially with the morale bonus from the Expert level. I lost a full unit of 200 Saracen Infantry with 2nd tier armour and 3 valour against the 21 Royal Knights of the commanding general. ~:eek:

I took the reserve stacks from my other provinces, connected through ports and baggalas. I crushed them the second time, but I had 16000 men against 8000 (they reinforced through Austria and Croatia). Lost 6000 men but they lost 6000 as well, but it was a huge difference this time. :knight:

With the remaining troops I took Austria, Croatia, Carpathia and Switzerland. I'm keeping Switzerland on low troops high taxation to make the Swiss appear in the game, and then I will conquer Burgundy to do the same. ~D

[cogre]

that sounds like a tough but fun campaign man,

[Trapped in Samsara]

Hi Edyzmedieval

Did you send that 9* m*%£$!@>#&~r Bohemian general to Valhalla? It's not clear to me from your account. Clearly he put up a great fight against your company of SIs - and they are tough hombres in my experience.

Have to say, looking at the initial deployment rosters, you must rate yourself as a general to go up against a 9* with just a 3* of your own, and your king at that. Me, I'd have spent 20 years inciting, bribing, assassinating and generally pulling every low-down, dirty, cowardly trick known to MTW rather than take on those odds.

Regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

[edyzmedieval]

that sounds like a tough but fun campaign man

You bet! :idea2:


Hi Edyzmedieval

Did you send that 9* m*%£$!@>#&~r Bohemian general to Valhalla? It's not clear to me from your account. Clearly he put up a great fight against your company of SIs - and they are tough hombres in my experience.

Have to say, looking at the initial deployment rosters, you must rate yourself as a general to go up against a 9* with just a 3* of your own, and your king at that. Me, I'd have spent 20 years inciting, bribing, assassinating and generally pulling every low-down, dirty, cowardly trick known to MTW rather than take on those odds.

Regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

The first time I played the battle, I got my backside handed badly. That 9 star general offered huge morale bonus to the Bohemians and it was a disaster! I had 500 extra men, no match. Second try, 4000 extra men, still got defeated! ~:eek:

Third try, 16000v8000, auto resolve, I won. So I won eventually but after the third painful try and by then I lost 20.000 men. :dizzy2:

But from there it was much easier because a chunk of their army was trapped so in 20 years a huge Bohemian empire got wiped out by me and the Almoravids.

But now...1348. Almoravids are suddenly neutral because they are allied with the newly emerged HRE. And this will be VERY interesting, considering the fact that I now have the lead in the points and our armies are more or less equal in number.

Can't wait to start the mega battles. :book:

[edyzmedieval]

I'm winning! But it started to get boring.

In 1353 I have an advantage of 8 points over the Almoravids (172 vs 166) but it will shift furthermore in my favour because of the upcoming missions destined for the Ottoman Empire.

There's only three factions left however, me, the Almoravids and the Papacy. Meaningful factions that is. There's still the Irish but they are relegated to Wessex with 4 stacks, the Danes who re emerged in Ile de France (:inquisitive:) and the Germans who have half a stack and are relegated to Brandenburg. Cumans have three units of Heavy Cavalry (the Khan and his heirs), and that's it, in one province.

My alliance with the Almoravids is now in tatters so we are only neutral, bringing my trade revenue down to 4000 florins per turn. I have 1.2 million so money is not an issue.

However, I will refrain from any military action until I manage to spawn the Burgundians and Swiss which unfortunately I cannot even with constantly having the populace control under 120%. They just won't emerge!

[drone]

However, I will refrain from any military action until I manage to spawn the Burgundians and Swiss which unfortunately I cannot even with constantly having the populace control under 120%. They just won't emerge!
If I remember correctly, to get a reemergence (or in this case, just an emergence) the happiness needs to be below 100%. 120% is to keep a province from getting added to a reemergence, but there has to be a "seed" province that is under 100% to get the ball rolling.

[caravel]

I'm winning! But it started to get boring.
Isn't that always the way...? You get powerful enough that victory is inevitable. This is why once I've gotten established and the remaining battles are just going to be huge, with lots of "autocalced apathy", I tend to start again with a new faction.

You're highly advanced and look to be facing only two or three major factions. I would pick your battles carefully as if you push in huge stacks, they will simply retreat - leaving you with huge battles later on and massive counterattacks.

:bow:

[Trapped in Samsara]

My alliance with the Almoravids is now in tatters so we are only neutral, bringing my trade revenue down to 4000 florins per turn. I have 1.2 million so money is not an issue.

Hi

The implication of this statement is that you can't trade with neutrals. I'm pretty sure that is incorrect.

Regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

[edyzmedieval]

If I remember correctly, to get a reemergence (or in this case, just an emergence) the happiness needs to be below 100%. 120% is to keep a province from getting added to a reemergence, but there has to be a "seed" province that is under 100% to get the ball rolling.

That's what I've done in the end, but the problem is that rebels keep coming along. I left the province rebel for a couple of years but nothing happened...


Isn't that always the way...? You get powerful enough that victory is inevitable. This is why once I've gotten established and the remaining battles are just going to be huge, with lots of "autocalced apathy", I tend to start again with a new faction.

You're highly advanced and look to be facing only two or three major factions. I would pick your battles carefully as if you push in huge stacks, they will simply retreat - leaving you with huge battles later on and massive counterattacks.

Indeed, but I want to finish a campaign. Despite my extensive play time I never finished a MTW campaign, the closest I got was 1450 but then the MTW v1.0 would CTD on me. :shame:

I have the Almoravids who are probably the biggest challenge I ever faced, and even with spamming troops from every province I still don't have enough peace of mind for my core provinces. I will attack later on once I built an extensive point lead to make sure I win.


Hi

The implication of this statement is that you can't trade with neutrals. I'm pretty sure that is incorrect.

Regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

Not at all. You trade with neutrals but the problem is that your trade income is heavily reduced, 50% less I believe. I still garner income now, mainly from farming, but from the peak of 33000 florins profit per turn (~:eek:) to 7500 florins which I have now, it's a long way.

[caravel]

Not at all. You trade with neutrals but the problem is that your trade income is heavily reduced, 50% less I believe,
That's totally new to me. I thought there was simply trade with allies and neutrals and no trade at all with enemies?

:bow:

[edyzmedieval]

That's totally new to me. I thought there was simply trade with allies and neutrals and no trade at all with enemies?

:bow:

No trade at all with enemies, but the alliance racks up the income you get from trade. It's quite a significant improvement and whenever possible try and get treaties and build ships at the same time. 50% on the plus is I believe quite true, since the turn before I had 17000 florins and then it dropped to 8500 and now to 7500.

The AI will not betray you in MTW, won't break the alliance (very rarely) so as long as you have 10-12 or more allies and lots of ships sit back and relax for the next 50 or so years as you fill your coffers.

[cogre]

not my experince at all, the ai is always breaking alliances with me

[edyzmedieval]

not my experince at all, the ai is always breaking alliances with me

I was lucky. My alliance with the Almoravids lasted around 100-120 years and it gave me the 1.2 million florins that I have now. :yes:

[PershsNhpios]

Thank you for carrying the AAR torch awhile brother Edyz, it is important that a tale is always being told in the Hall, and your efforts at the head of the Seljuks are quite epic even by the number of your forces.

If Ζεύς 'υψηβρέμετης permi'th thee, please continue in your work...

[caravel]

not my experince at all, the ai is always breaking alliances with me
It quite honestly depends on how you play the game. If you're a slow expander that turtles the campaign and plays very defensively, you may be able to keep the peace for very long periods, if you're more of a blitzer though, peace is much harder to maintain as your armies are more likely to be over-stretched making more tempting targets for the AI. A strong navy is also the key to keeping peace. Always have at least two ships per province, preferably three. Lone ships get picked off, even by your (former) allies. For some reason the AI just can't resist them.

[cogre]

that is funny, because i play in the middle of those, blitz than consolidate, blitz than consolidate....

[edyzmedieval]

Thank you for carrying the AAR torch awhile brother Edyz, it is important that a tale is always being told in the Hall, and your efforts at the head of the Seljuks are quite epic even by the number of your forces.

If Ζεύς 'υψηβρέμετης permi'th thee, please continue in your work...

Not quite an AAR, just a little story to show how my MTW campaign goes on. :bow:

Now I'm stuck between an MTW campaign and a S2TW campaign, so we'll see how that goes. Most probably the MTW will be finished first since I really want to complete it.


If you're a slow expander that turtles the campaign and plays very defensively, you may be able to keep the peace for very long periods


That's how I played. Not very defensively, but I stayed in my shell and when the opportunity presented itself I took everything I could.


that is funny, because i play in the middle of those, blitz than consolidate, blitz than consolidate....

You get a particular reputation with the AI if you do that, regardless of your influence. Otherwise I can't explain the behaviour of the AI. Turtle early and make sure you attack just one single faction. And take every rebel province you can.

[edyzmedieval]

War has started! :knight:

5 turns after breaking the alliance the Almoravids started sinking my ships. I lost almost all of my fleets (they had huge superiority despite me having Booms and them using Dhows) but the ground war is swinging in my favour. They still have huge military resources but their failure to ransom their princes suggests otherwise. I've been winning battles and I've been conquering provinces to add to my points score, so I hope that my 9 point lead will expand.

Nevertheless I have a bigger problem than the Almoravids.

CTDs. :shame:

It took me 3 hours to go from 1360 to 1370. CTD four times and one time when I exited in order to save my game. :furious3:
Because of all the battles and all of the bribing that I've done, the game conflicts in the source code and the text I believe so it CTDs on me quite regularly.

Nevertheless, I'll push on. I want to see those Almoravids destroyed. They even had the peskiness to attack Constantinople, my best city, the gem of my empire. Such foolishness will not go unpunished. :knight:

Pics soon.

[cogre]

any reasons why the ctd's? i know they are frustrating but i don't usually get em from mtw

[caravel]

CTDs. :shame:

It took me 3 hours to go from 1360 to 1370. CTD four times and one time when I exited in order to save my game. :furious3:
Because of all the battles and all of the bribing that I've done, the game conflicts in the source code and the text I believe so it CTDs on me quite regularly.
Did you install the button fix? Even if you think you don't need it - install it anyway. I have seen those up/down arrows it replaces have different effects on different hardware. I had an old graphics card where they only caused visual corruption and with another it only crashed when you actually click on a province where they're visible. It's worth a go if you haven't installed it already.

Also if the crash is occuring when you go the menu, try changing the desktop colour depth to 16 bit - that's what Medieval uses IIRC. Also try setting the desktop resolution to the same as the game and the campaign map and battle map resolutions to the same.

:bow:

[I of the Storm]

Hint: Those "back-to-menu" CTDs can probably not be prevented completely but to avoid losing my game progress I made it a habit to press CTRL+S before going to the menu for saving the game properly.

[edyzmedieval]

Did you install the button fix? Even if you think you don't need it - install it anyway. I have seen those up/down arrows it replaces have different effects on different hardware. I had an old graphics card where they only caused visual corruption and with another it only crashed when you actually click on a province where they're visible. It's worth a go if you haven't installed it already.

Also if the crash is occuring when you go the menu, try changing the desktop colour depth to 16 bit - that's what Medieval uses IIRC. Also try setting the desktop resolution to the same as the game and the campaign map and battle map resolutions to the same.

:bow:

I'll try and install it but it's surely not from that. Same goes for the 16 bit. It comes from specific executions whenever I bribe, I exit to save the game, I return from a battle or others such as when ending a turn. Since I have Vista 64-bit, it's even worse for me, but it's manageable since the CTDs only occur during "high stress" aka lots of things to plan during my turn.


Hint: Those "back-to-menu" CTDs can probably not be prevented completely but to avoid losing my game progress I made it a habit to press CTRL+S before going to the menu for saving the game properly.

Thank you for the hint. :bow:

There's still one problem with them - Quicksaves always cause CTDs for me. I save them out of habit rather than extracting any usefulness from them.



Back to my campaign. I managed to fire off another 3 turns, slowly munching through the Almoravid troops and conquering another two provinces. Two more years and the vital point count comes, if I can distance myself to at least 15 I get enough breathing space. :sweatdrop:

Unfortunately, I'm very vulnerable to sea attacks and I've lost half my treasury already through recruiting and bribes. I'm losing 45000 florins a turn so if I dont start disbanding my troops I'll go bankrupt in around 12 turns. Argh.

Once I'll deal with the Almoravids and make sure their troops are vanquished, I will retreat from the provinces and let the rebels take them on. Next 5-6 turns are vital.

[edyzmedieval]

Almoravids are almost destroyed, I lead now 195 points to 182, but it's a disaster what's going on in the whole of the map.

Rebels.

Rebels always spawn AT LEAST one full stack and rebellions are so common I get around 5-6 per turn. My Sultan has maximum influence (no dread however) and it's a disaster. I have to keep a full stack in each of my provinces or risk to lose it. :inquisitive:

There's four factions left. Ottomans, Almoravids, Papacy and Lithuanians.

[edyzmedieval]

And here's some piccies for you. :yes:

Here's my Sultan. Sultan Bayezid, the infamous Bayazid the Conqueror. In the game he's labelled as Bayezid the IInd, but he's actually Bayezid the Ist historically.

https://img847.imageshack.us/img847/821/sultanw.jpg (https://img847.imageshack.us/i/sultanw.jpg/)

Unit card of the best unit available for the Turks. Apart from the fact they look badass, they're a perfect combination of strong infantry and deadly bowmen.

https://img28.imageshack.us/img28/7135/badassey.jpg (https://img28.imageshack.us/i/badassey.jpg/)

[edyzmedieval]

Breakthrough!
I killed the Almoravid Khalifah and his son in the Siege of Groningen, and so, the Almoravids have disappeared from this planet.

Only two turns before, the Lithuanians, Germans and Cumans reappeared on the map, so it will make it interesting in the final 40 years. :yes:

The year is now 1410, I lead with 225 points, the Papacy is second with 28. ~D

[Trapped in Samsara]

Not at all. You trade with neutrals but the problem is that your trade income is heavily reduced, 50% less I believe. I still garner income now, mainly from farming, but from the peak of 33000 florins profit per turn (~:eek:) to 7500 florins which I have now, it's a long way.

Hi Edzymedieval

I have tested your proposition, that trade with a neutral faction earns less than trade with an ally, and found it unproven.

I loaded a year in my most recent campaign - Caravel 2.2, Byz, hard, glorious achievement - and noted Constantionople's trade with Rome. I then made an alliance with the Papacy. In the following years there was no change in the value of exports to Rome, which remained owned by the Papacy.

Best regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

[edyzmedieval]

Hi Edzymedieval

I have tested your proposition, that trade with a neutral faction earns less than trade with an ally, and found it unproven.

I loaded a year in my most recent campaign - Caravel 2.2, Byz, hard, glorious achievement - and noted Constantionople's trade with Rome. I then made an alliance with the Papacy. In the following years there was no change in the value of exports to Rome, which remained owned by the Papacy.

Best regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

Perhaps you could try it with a bigger faction? The Papacy doesn't provide to much of a bonus (it has a special status in the game), try it with Almohads, Spanish, English or French who have a bigger kingdom and more access to the waters.

Back to the campaign - it's 1420 and there's no big update, small petty wars around the block between the expanding Germans, Cumans and Lithuanians.

I started disbanding my troops, I had HUGE armies (probably over 100.000 men ~:eek:) and I left provinces to rebel so I can retreat only to my core provinces now and defend those.

[edyzmedieval]

Sultan Selim IV.

https://img820.imageshack.us/img820/5339/mynewsultan.jpg (https://img820.imageshack.us/i/mynewsultan.jpg/)

He came to the throne in 1407 and so far he's a very efficient Sultan. (it's 1420, pic has been taken in 1408)

[edyzmedieval]

And so comes to an end my first completed Medieval Total War campaign, 9 years after I bought the game. :bow:

My last Sultan, Sultan Aybak the IInd.

https://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2057/lastsultan.jpg (https://img820.imageshack.us/i/lastsultan.jpg/)


The Ottoman Empire, a couple of years before the end.

https://img153.imageshack.us/img153/952/empirew.jpg (https://img153.imageshack.us/i/empirew.jpg/)

MTW Victory message.

https://img40.imageshack.us/img40/2072/victorya.jpg (https://img40.imageshack.us/i/victorya.jpg/)

Overall, I've greatly enjoyed my time playing this campaign, even more so that I finished one after 9 years. The battles have been epic, and matter of fact I had one 10 years before the end when the Papacy reappeared, 9000 Ottoman soldiers vs 8200 Papacy soldiers, mainly Swiss Pikemen/Halberdiers and Handgunners.

I'll take a short break from MTW, going back to focus 100% on my work but I will return with a couple of more mini-AARs, in my Campaigns thread.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?134569-Campaigns

Bottom line, Medieval Total War is the best TW game.

Hope you enjoyed. :bow:

[Trapped in Samsara]

Well done Edyzmedieval. You have demonstrated your stamina and fitness in the MTW arena.

Best regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace

[edyzmedieval]

Thank you. :bow:

I just wanted to mention that I finished with 314 points overall, which is a pretty good ranking to be honest.

[drone]

Well done, edyzmedieval. :2thumbsup:

[cogre]

woohoo congrats, i always have mixed feelings at the end of mtw campaigns.