Golden Horde

[rasoforos]

i am playing my first completely post-patch game and i noticed something different , when the golden horde appeared they appeared only in 1 province , the strange is the size of their army WHICH IS 17 almost full armies . is this a bug or something or is natural? i think its too much. has anyone else encountered these numbers before?

[The Last Emperor]

Don't be overwhelmed by that number of Golden Horde, it may look fearsome at first but they do will get check fast since their conquered land rebelled quite easily. I actually feel they aren't aggresive enough with the pace of their conquest & expansion. They don't really attack at end of each turn even though the garrision of the land around they may be small.

[solypsist]

I felt the Golden Horde in pre-patch wasn't powerful enough, as did enough testers so that it was strengthened. Remember the original Golden Horde, historically, reached Austria and Turkoman land, and the new Horde strength reflects their potential to steamroll their way there.

But gamewise, if you know they're coming (between 1220 and 1240) then you can prepare if you're in the provinces where they appear. The King is easily assassinated early (try it) thus reducing them to impotent rebels.

[Orda Khan]

Just thought I'd mention this on reading the above. The Horde that I faced turned up in 1230 with a massive army and then took one of my provinces with a victory on the field of battle. Ok I should have abandoned the province but I wanted to see these guys and so my 157 soldiers stood against over 1500 Mongols. To date I have met them 23 times in battle and lost just 4 of them. I drove them out at first but they re emerged a couple of years later and yes, they attacked 2 or 3 times a year. Personally I'd like to see them tougher than they are, in my last battle I herded their 8 heavy cav and millions of horse archers to a corner of the map and then watched 5 units of horse archer reinforcements enter the field and immediately withdraw.

.........Orda http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[rasoforos]

i agree that this new huge horde is much more realistic and cool , it was just a surprise to see so many of them. the good thing is that they dont bother me and they just weaken the byzantine empire and keep it out of my way http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Dijeeh]

I have never played a faction that is anywhere near The Hordes entry point by the time they arrive, my attempt at Egypt ended when i got bored and desired France again.

[rasoforos]

some years later and they massacred the byzantines up north and reached my borders , they seam to be weaker now but they still have 2-3 armies in every province

[solypsist]

I haven't bothered checking, but just how does the Horde work into game mechanics? They don't seem to build or buy mercs (which is appropriate), so do they just keep going until attrition grinds them down, or do they operate like the Mongols in STW:WE where victories/money bring them reinforcements?

[Orda Khan]

Soly, I'll check my logfiles to see what units they used because I know they fielded units in at least one battle that were not the standard Heavy cav, Horse archer, Warrior units. During their stay they had rebellions in the provinces they had taken, so I can only assume they set up in much the same way as any other faction

.......Orda http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[Lord Toranoga]

What provinces do the horde first appear in?

[Orda Khan]

They turned up in Kazar 1st

.....Orda http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[Lord Toranoga]

Thanks, I am in northern russia as the English, and the Byzantines are giving me a tough time.

[HopAlongBunny]

The new horde is quite different. Almost 10 times the size

I'm not sure if they build much, but they do take advantage of armour upgrades-no idea if they built those facilities in Constantinople or not. The last Horde army I bought contained an arbalaster which I don't think they come equipped with.

Prepare for cavakry rush tactics and you should be fine

[Major Robert Dump]

I thought they did hire mercs, or at least bribe rebels, because I have fought some interesting mixed mongel armies. Also, the horde will buy back its king if you capture him so I figured they had money coming from somewhere....

[HopAlongBunny]

Update http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Present game- the Horde has stayed around for ages. I don't want to grow too big and the AI seems to just ignore them. The greatly diminished Horde is beginning to get Warriors back; no new Heavy Cav have been built although when a new heir takes over he gets a full unit.

[rasoforos]

success recipe :
1)assasin
2)tons of money
3)ambition
4)horde chan
5)20 emissaries


use 1 to kill 4 before he gets too much of 3 , then use 5 and 2 to get your own horde, talking over the world in no time ( not tested but i m gonna test in this week)

[w00tage]

that will take one hell of a lot of money http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[rasoforos]

my maximum during my last game was about 7-800.000 florins , i finished the game with 400.000 and i am building like crazy, even in landlocked non-important provinces. i believe this amount of money would be more than enough ( especially after you kill the chan and make em rebels)