SP Campaign - favorite set up

[Tony]

Hi Guys,

I have been messing about with the SP campaign settings and a few other mods and found a setup that suits me in SP. I want to throw this at the cunning minds in the Guild for comment/suggestions.

I would really like to hear about the set ups other players have been using in the SP campaign and the advantages / disadvatages you have found.

Here's what I do:

I like the HIGH period best for the many great units, but also enjoy the establishment and progression phases you get from starting at EARLY. I also want to have the computer factions still in the game when LATE rolls around, so I set my dates as follows:

Start date: around 1150 (EARLY)
Switch to HIGH: around 1200
Switch to LATE: around 1280
End of game: 9999 (I don't want to play to beat the clock).

There have been a number of problems:

1) I need to work around the scripted events, such as the Horde invasion around (1220?) and gunpowder (1260). Is there a way to control these? I know how to remove the restrictions for compass and gunpowder, but I would rather reset the dates instead of removing them.

2) It can be a struggle to build the infrastructure necessary for the cool units in the reduced timeframe to get to HIGH. Even at Expert, the AI struggles a little. It does not appear to do specialist production very well?
As a partial workaround, I mod the start so that every capital for a major factions has a level 5 castle and a Grand Mosque / Cathedral at the start. This allows the AI to focus on the unit producing buildings in this province. This helps, but isn't perfect.

3) The factions that have strong units in EARLY (Almohads / Egyptians / Byz) are disadvantaged, while those that have uber soldat at HIGH and LATE (just about everyone else) are better off by these changes.

To compensate for 3) I make a number of changes...

a) I make Janissaries available to ALL muslim factions. Why should the infidels and Turks have a monopoly on decent foot soldiers? By removing the Military Academy requirement for Jannissary, the AI WILL produce Jannissaries as Almohad or Egypt eventually. It does seem to struggle with the Military Acadamy requirement, however.

b) I make Varangian Guards available in LATE as well as EARLY and HIGH for the Byz.

c) I also give the Russians CMAA (they need some sword swingers to go with the Halberdiers in the later part of the game). I remove Novgorod and replace them with Russia as a major faction from the start. One of my favorite factions to play - Boyars rock - archers + decent melee + chase down pesky foot troops. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

This gives all factions a chance to have some kickass foot soldiers in HIGH/LATE. I also allow Cathedrals and Grand Mosques to be non-unique. This allows multiple Military Acadamies per faction, which allows MORE JANNISSARIES http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

Well, that's my story. What are the rest of you doing in the SP campaign?

[Brutal DLX]

All nice and well, but not quite my cup of tea. But if you enjoy it, that's the most important thing
Just two remarks:

1) I think those events such as gunpowder and Golden Horde are hardcoded, so you can't mod those, perhaps you need to change your Era starting dates a bit to adjust.

2) You stated that you removed the Military Academy requirement for Janissaries. Then in the last paragraph you state that you allow for multiple Military Academies to be built, to produce mroe Janissaries... Isn't that a bit redundant then? In general, I wouldn't give Janissaries to other Muslim faction, as it's not so historically accurate and furthermore it takes away from the flavour, if all Muslim faction get to use the same units... I would suggest making Arab Infantry available for all epochs, and maybe give Saracens or normal Spearmen to all Muslim factions to represent a good spear unit.


As for my campaigns, I basically play the standard setup, only enabled the Early Varangian Guard and Chiv Footknights and Gothic Footknights to be built in the provinces that give a bonus to these units (Brandenburg and Ile de France).

[ShadesPanther]

the end of c) is a bit strange


Quote[/b] ]I remove Novgorod and replace them with Russia as a major faction from the start. One of my favorite factions to play - Boyars rock - archers + decent melee + chase down pesky foot troops.

The Novgorodians( http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif ) are exactly the same as the Russians and so get exactly the same units except they get vikings (dunno about VI havent seen them with vikings).


There are some nice thought out ideas. I dont really like the Jannisaries availablilty but then its your game and you can do whatever you wish

pssst Lads lets sneak round to his house and destroy his PC for no agreeing with us

[Hoplite]

Quote[/b] (ShadesPanther @ July 10 2003,00:32)]The Novgorodians( http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif ) are exactly the same as the Russians and so get exactly the same units except they get vikings (dunno about VI havent seen them with vikings).
Except that Novgorod gets Rus Spearmen and Vikings, the Russians don't. They have Round Shield Spearmen instead.