Hundred Years War (Aggh The French!)

[The_Emperor]

Hi been playing the Hundred years war and I did all of the English battles 1st time round, then I started as the French and I managed to win the first battle on my second attempt (1st time round I was too slow and got outnumbered, and I changed tactics accordingly).

But the second one is proving to be a real problem, A couple of my cannons got knocked out by direct Ballista hits from those towers... The other 3 managed to take down the walls in 2 places (before one cannon blew up, and the other 2 ran out of ammo) and I sent the troops in, suddenly I found myself outnumbered by just the forces in the outer Castle (and I could see that there were many more in the inner Keep area)

It was all over when Joan of Arc decided to run away from the battle and leave the rest of her army to it...

Any hints for this mission? It seems to be nearly impossible (the French are just totally outclassed)

[Dogmeat]

argghh playing as the French goes against all my natural instincts http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif But i too have tried to complete that 2nd level, and i too have failed... repeatedly. There is just too many English, i very nearly win but i'm always eventually outclassed. I was going to have another go, but then i released VI erases all your historical campaigns and i couldn't be bothered to play the missions to unlock that one just yet.
I remember hearing one way however is turn off the 'limited ammo' toggle in the options menu. And destroy every wall and tower in the castle with your demi-cannons, and whittle down the English camping there too, then finish them off with your troops. But as i said, i haven't tried this yet.
i'd like to know if anyone has completed this mission without using this slight 'cheat' of an option? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Hakonarson]

Is that the one where you have to outnumber the English inside the castle?

There's no need to cheat if it is - firstly ignore the outer defences

Concentrate on knocking over the wall at the back of the castle in 2 or 3 places - ie where there's no outer defences.

then pour in through the gaps with everything you've got - infantry & cavalry the English troops in the outer defences do not count for the victory

[Leet Eriksson]

french historical camapign is tough as nails,compared to the english one,and i'm still having a problem finishing the first mission

also Chiv sergeants getting routed by royal knights at first contact now thats PATHETIC

EDIT:minor typo..

[ShadesWolf]

I gave it up as a bad job, I got as far as the second French battle- That Castle

[The_Emperor]

Ahh well I guess I'll move on and do the Saladin/Lionheart Campaigns instead... I take it they are at least beatable

[Portuguese Rebel]

Quote[/b] (Samurai-ninja_fusion_of_doom @ May 11 2003,15:17)]It's a pity its not a modern game. The french would just hide in their baguettes then
Pfff shame on you...

[el_slapper]

Samurai : such jokes are not funny anymore. That is simply a racist insult. Next time, I'll ask mods to delete it.

[Gregoshi]

el is correct in that those jokes aren't funny anymore. They have been over done in the past couple of months to the point of being hurtful, whether intended or not. Wise-cracks such as this that have a tie-in with current events only serve to inflame others and derail the topic like this one has done. So much for getting anymore tips on winning the French 100 years war campaign. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[Gregoshi]

This talk of the French campaign got me interested in giving it a try. I see what you mean by difficult.

I've got a question about the first battle. I thought I only needed to destroy the 4 ballistas and have Jean de Arc survive. I did that (or so I thought) but the battle didn't end. At the end I had destroyed all 4 ballistas and managed to get Jean back into the city - 14 French knights left in the whole army. Am I missing something?

[Monk]

now thats a hard campaign... i managed to win the first battle, but the second was far to hard. seems no matter how many times i try it i always end up with my army in rout. i guess ill just move on and complete the Golden horde campaign.

[Matt Deckard]

Apoligies, i admit, it was pretty tasteless, and i do have a twisted sense of humour. I deleted the post, and am sorry if I offended

[Makkadam]

I have completed all the campaigns EXCEPT the french one.

That bloody castle...

[Gregoshi]

Yeah, okay guys, I get the idea...that bloody castle http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

But what am I missing to win the first French battle so I can get to that bloody castle? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[Roga Danar]

Gregoshi, on the first french battle, all you will need are the two sets of knight units...send one foward right away to the seige engine in front of the castle. Send the other to the left to get that seige engine. Then just maneuver your two knight forces around to destroy the english seige egines, while avoiding their forces. Once those two engines are destroyed, hopefully the other two on the right will be open...you can move the one unit behind the castle or use it to feint attacks here and there while your other unit (the one you sent foward from the get go) cleans them up.

As far as winning, make sure you have actually destroyed the siege engines...even if the operators run away, you still have to destroy the actual engine.

[Gregoshi]

Thanks Roga. I was doing something similar, but the English were guarding the last ballista with just about eveyone they had, so I had to use the rest of the forces to lure them down to the city. I thought for sure I had destroyed the physical weapon, but maybe I missed the last one as the English turned around and were closing in on me fast.

Now hopefully I can get on to that bloody castle. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[The_Emperor]

Gregoshi

The thing to remember is that speed is everything in this... the English will quickly bring in scores of Knights to attack you, (and you have no hope of killing them in open combat)

So send out your cavalry around the other forces to attack the Ballistae... your other forces should try and pin the enemy down and offer a distraction.

Go for the two opposite your castle and then circle around to the ones at the side.

Good luck mate.

[Gregoshi]

Alright. I finished the French campaign/champagne. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I'm kind of disappointed in the campaign. Only the last battle was a real battle.

Thanks to Hakonarson's advice, that bloody castle wasn't so bad. Knock plenty of holes in the castle walls to let the English out. If they don't come, then just dance Jean back and forth near a breech and the English will come out like a pack of rabid dogs (that they are http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif ). The French enter opposite side of castle and win. Okay, so I didn't exactly plan it that way...Jean was cut off from the rest of the army - and yes, she was routing off the field when the victory came. History is written by the victor and I'll just have to alter a few facts. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

The last battle is a smaller one with the French having only 8 units and the English a few more. I had a nice see-saw battle - some French rout, then most of the English rout, then some French rout and finally the English rout completely.

I've only played the two 100 Years War campaigns and overall they seem too easy - or did I miss a difficulty setting somewhere? I won most of the battles on the first try and honestly I don't know how. My maneuvering skills are terrible. Attempted flanking moves not given enough clearance and getting jammed up in frontal assaults, etc. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif But I won them anyway. Only Orleans in the French campaign and Agicourt in the English campaign gave me any problems.

Oh well. On to the other campaigns.