Mongol invasion campaign....

[Gunner]

Hi all. Perhaps someone has asked these questions before, so would appreciate a link to the thread.

But my beef/question is...Im an experienced STW - I've been playing it since it came out so long ago (posted on this board when it was in an Ezboard, or whatever it was), and have been chuffed to bits since the Mongol expansion pack came out....so right now Im on the Invasion campaign. Its not that hard to win a battle, with the right terrain, etc...but now I've got about half way through - but sodding Kahn wont send me any more reinforcements, so in the end, I end up 5:1 in every battle, and with most of the troops at 3-4 honour, still theres no chance. How the hell do you get reinforcements? Is there a particular way of doing it? I know you must give kahn his loot, but i've conquered half japan, but still the greedy ingrate wont help me out. Also, all i want is just enough troops to keep the game interesting now - are there any cheats? Just so it could be at least cut the odds to 3:1 perhaps? Thanks.

[JAG]

many ppl (includidng me) have said that the mongol invasion is far too easy for the mongols to win! all u need to do is keep marching forward and u will get plenty of reinforcements. . u will have maybe one or two very big battles where u face around 2-4 thousand samurai but if u win them it is far too easy to win as mongols!. . i say just keep going! they will arrive!

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Watch out for that. . . . . Dam too late!. . . the story of my life!

WarlordWarrior

[Otokomi Innue]

I did the mongol invasion as soon as I installed stw:we. Yes, it was and yes, I too received no reinforcements after a certain point. I still licked the hojo, but the reinforcements stopped coming about half way through.

[Gunner]

Thanks for the replies all.

Jag - just 2 big battles? Im constantly being harrased by about 3-4 big hojo armies, always getting very large reinforcements....sure u did it on expert? http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif I can go and beat them, back as soon as i take 3 provinces say, you either have to leave 2 units there to get the loyalty up (then hopefully just the one) and by then you lose about at least a third of your army....and since you have to leave a lot of units in one province since you are facing a opposing ones in different areas....diffcukt to progress with absolutely no reinforcements. Rather stumped me!

Otokomi Innue - how did you progress? If i leave a province with no units, could i manage to do this?

[jomni]

I'm half way through the campaign as mongol and reinforcements come one in a while (and its quite difficult if you ask me). I guess the logic there is that you should continue capturing provinces to please the Khan. If you stop, reinforcements will stop.

I usually put most of my men in the front lines. I don't leave units behind to "keep the peace". I just let them revolt. I also keep a small army for the purpose of quelling rebellions. Rebellions are quite simple to manage since rebels armies are usually made of 1 unit (at the start). Ronin Rebels and Hojo Loyalists (two types of rebels) also fight each other.

The reason why I allow my provinces to revolt is that quelling an uprising will give you another opportunity to plunder. That means more money to send to the Khan... and eventually more reinforcements. = ) Ain't that nice to hear?

[BSM_Skkzarg]

The key to the mongols is speed. Both in battle and in the strategic side on the map. It doesnt matter how much you own, only what you send to the Kahn. If you are stuck and cannot progress, ie. take more provinces for loot, then you have one option. Camping ain't it! Pull your line BACK, splitting off one group that will be large enough to make a breakthrough. The rest of your men can remain defensive. Concentrate your forces, smash through the Hojo wherever its possible, dive deep into their underbelly behind their main line where they have no garrisons, split your groups and run, Run, RUN! Every turn move out of one province into another. Dont worry about defending these, as your only after the LOOT! Spread out, damage as much infrastructure as you can, garner as much cash as you can, and then try to get your army back together. if you can, then you have a chance to avoid the pursuing Hojo. Even if they can catch and destroy your maruaders, in one shot or in pieces, you will have mucho loot to send back to the Kahn, and he will reward you accordingly.

The key to winning on the expert level is simple. If your Hojo, you HAVE to bottle up the Mongols ASAP, or else they will overwhelm you. If your Mongol, you have to spread like wildfire and always remain mobile. Never get in a corner with no way out. And Remember, if you do nothing but hold the western island, but have 2 armies running around in the east, you can keep reinforcements coming in to then break any hojo bottleneck.

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BSM_Skkzarg
"A mind is a terrible thing to taste."

[Gunner]

Thanks for you replies there...very interesting. It seems that my tactics have been kinda wrong, i thought i must squash every single province and keep them, and I just cant do that. So....even though i lose a province, the kahn wont be worried about it? What is the point of the invasion? Just to get as much loot, or conquer japan? I guess if i can just get as much loot as possible, then maybe consider destroying the entire country.

I certainly will stop my tactic of keeping one unit in every province, just not feasible now (I had 2 reinforecments lately after winning 12 provinces).

[jomni]

Mongols are a NOMADIC people. All they do is plunder and get loot. I guess that's the logic behind our strategy when playing Mongols.

[solypsist]

funny thing is, province loyalties (to the Mongols) increases the further your Mongol armies are. Keeping a huge horde in one province lowers the loyalties of nearby provinces, so its pays (in many ways) to start heading out and keep heading out, rather than spending a lot of time hanging around. the faster you conquer provinces, the faster reinforcements will come.

[UglyElmo]

Here is a helpful hint playing as mongols. Try to capture provinces that have many buildings and especially castles. They seem to be worth more. Also, use your arrows and skirmishers wisely. Do not waste them fighting hand to hand unless you have an easy rout going with a flank. Also, when you start to run into the hojo horde, concentrate on one province at a time and just load up on it. The battles last a long time but they should be easy to win. Also, once you rout the initial hojo army, start scouting out where reenforcements will arrive and hit them with everything you have. Normally it they will come out 1, 2 or 3 at a time so you can outnumber the units easily and kill them with few losses. Remember to keep your men together as much as possible. Good luck, http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif PS. Skirmishers are your best unit. When you attack with foot troops after shooting up enemy with arrows make sure your skirmishers are right behind your foot troops. They will kill many of the enemy very fast.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Elmo is on the money.Hit and run is the way to win as the Mongols.Especially target the Castles and training facilities.If you get to the point in the campaign where you receive a small force in Dewa,don't sit there with them hoping for more reenforcements before attacking with this small force.Use them to attack the aforementioned castles in Hojo's rear areas.Knock out his training facilities and move to the next castle.Don't lay seige to a castle,storm it the next turn,and then move on.Use your skimishers to take out his best units,Yari spearmen and Yari Cav.Hold the enemy in place with your spearmen and have your skimishers decimate them with those javelins.Don't use thunderbombers to attack castles,their grenades will bounce off the walls and kill themselves LOL.It's better to use them from a height advantage,or in a bridge attack;lead with a unit of spearmen,stop just before crossing the bridge.When the enemy charges you have either your skimishers or thunderbombers stand behind your spearmen and waste them.When they rout,follow up with your Cav,and charge them to keep them from reforming.

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Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell so that they look forward to making the trip.

[solypsist]

?

[Kiwi]

I just played my first game as Mongol on Normal last night and it was quite easy. I usually had between 5-8000 koku each time the 'master' called and was able to get great re-inforcements right through to the end of the game.
I left a small unit in Kyushu(sic) to run around putting out bushfires but that was easy as it was only small uprisings. One thing I did notice is that if you instantly attack the uprising you get no Koku. Wait one turn and you 'lose' the province and then when you take it back you get rewarded.
I was regularly getting amazing results on the kill ratio and I had to change my attitude to attacking; 300 against 800 - no worries.
So be agressive and use the speed of the cavalry. The foot soldiers of the Mongols are generally crap apart from the Javelin throwers who run out really quick.
Back to play expert tonight.

[Gunner]

Hi all. Well, i took your advice...trying to be a nomadic warrior. It was fun, so I dont have the contant headache of leaving a few units in a province....but after going up and down in Japan light a yo-yo, killing the diaymo (bastard had a son) and pillaged rougly 50,000 koku...any reinforcements? zip, zero, zilcho, absolutely nothing. Well, tbh I think the mongol invasions sucks, crappy graphics too, all the units look pretty samey to me http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/frown.gif Oh well, the crusades sounds alright, just as long as they add a few ideas.