Hungary

[invalidopcode]

Expert/Hungary/Total Conquest

Any hints on how to win a total conquest game with these guys? By the time I absorb and throw back the Byzantines heavy cavalry and get my economy churning and iron-enhanced troops, the Horde arrives. Then I have to do the same thing with them. Mind you, it is super-fun to have to battle so much but I find that by the time I am about to reach the Late period, the rest of the world has passed me by.

It is especially challenging in Expert mode since the AI has a morale bonus and lots of heavy calvary charging down my throat

I have had 2 2 1/2 hour battles in Kiev against the Horde. The first I pushed back and made them run like the cowards they are. The second, I ran out of archers/artillery before he ran out of horse archers. Needless to say, when I finally lost the bridge, the valor on my guys was super high.

Speaking of troops characteristics, how come troops get tired just standing there? My General just sat there the whole battle and when it was time to try to use him, he was so tired (1 bar) his morale dipped so low he ran like a yellow-belly...

[Red Harvest]

I've not yet tried the Hungarians in VI. I modded them to playable in the original MTW though, and did decently with them in expert. The provinces are terrific. They were in a tough position though so diplomacy was touchy. I tried to take out any rebels nearby ASAP before the AI could get them. One thing that is a problem is that nearby AI factions will be very afraid of you and aggessive too. As allies they build whole stacks on your borders while allowing an enemy to tear up their rear.

High armour units tire more quickly in arid or desert climates even if they don't move. This is particularly noticeable with heavy cav/royal bodyguards. When you got to the desert bring lightly armoured high valour units. It is best to keep some provinces with all (except armour) upgrades to build light troops just for the desert.

[Cheetah]

I am just playing with the Hungarians, though it is just a normal game, I am not an expert as yet http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Anyway, I conqured the rebel provinces ASAP: Croatia, Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia, Kiev and Lithuania. The first two and the last two are especially important and you have to take Moldavia to get to the last ones http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif I made alliences with all my neighbours except the byzantines. Then I teched up, made a good army with mil.serg and szekely and attacked the byzantines. I guess because it is normal I hardly met a byz inf or vguard, and thus I defeated them pretty easily. In the meantime the Egyptians defeated the turks and were attacking the byzantines too. I took Bulgaria, Greece, Sevastopole, Constantinaple and Nicea the egyptians took the rest. Just as I finished with the byzantines the sicilians tried to invade Serbia http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif so, I had to take them out http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Conquered both Naples and Sicily, btw Sicily is a golden mine, take it as soon as possible. Luckily the silly sicilians attacked the Pope as well, thus they were excommed, I was the greatest friend of the Pope, he even helped me to conquer Naples (I had a bigger army then his http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif). In the mean time built up my ports and my navy, when I finished with the sicilians I had the biggest navy. Had no time to rest though, this time the silly egyptians attacked Nicea and Constantinaples. A few turns later all of the former byznatine provines were mine http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif and I landed a big army in Jerusalem. The egyptians fell apart, but the turks re-emerged with an insane army (4 full stacks of cavalry and archers). Now, around 1190 I conquered all the eastern medditerenian except Edessa (which the turk held), I have a solid income from the medditerenian trade, and I have started to build up the baltic trade from Lithuania. I am in peace with every chatolic nation, and I am sure that I will have both the resources and the force to repell the Golden Horde. Not to mention that I left the Novgoridians alive to absorbe the first wave http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
I know it is just normal, expert must be more difficult, but imho the key of early expansion is to take those rebel provinces ASAP, and build up all the mine and mine complexes you can.

[invalidopcode]

Hey Cheetah,

Sounds to me like it is time for you to switch from Normal to Expert... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Red Harvest]

I'm playing the Hungarians (Early) now in Expert in VI (rather than my mod.) I'm not that many moves in and I can't tell how it is going to end up. The Poles and I raced to pick up nearby rebels. Poles got Kiev. Then I turned on the Byzantines. That was a nasty business. They had many more men than me and better generals so I got ejected from Constantinople when they counterattacked. Their Byzantine Infantry and Kat's were unstoppable by the spearman/urban militia and horse archers I had available. I switched to an almost entirely mounted force when I got enough mounted crossbowmen, and my mounted missile units cut them to pieces using Mongol Horde tactics. I finally got a couple of FMAA, and with them I killed off the counterattacking Byzantine king and heirs (Kat's suck in the woods don't ya know...) Constantinople and Nicaea are secure and I think my Turkish allies will leave me alone a few turns.

The concern now is that the Poles, Germans and Italians each have double stacks on my borders. It's just a matter of time until one of them decides to attack. The Germans are excommed, so they might go rebel first. The Italians are bad about attacking by sea if memory serves, so I'm being careful about my Serbian and Greek garrisons while I tech up. With Constantinople under my control I should be able to build up cash flow quickly.

[HopAlongBunny]

I have only played one game as Hungary, so take this for what its worth http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

There are no secure boundaries for Hungary so you have to build them. I really didn't feel safe until I took Egypt; secures the south, and you can stop your desert adventure there...if you want.

I was lucky, the Byz and Egyptians absorbed the first shocks of the Horde. The strategy from there was pure opportunism. Whatever looks weak gets attacked. I was able to secure the East by letting the others fight it out then scooping the remains.

The Balkans are frightening You always seem to be weak somewhere. I guess the priority is always to keep Hungary safe, or strong enough to repel any intruder...incl crusades eventually. This meant some raiding into Polish possessions. The goal was to keep them around, but so weak they could never harm me. The pope can be your friend. If the Papacy is strong that keeps Italy and Sicily busy.

Hard position to play, but a lot of advantages too. Good luck http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif