Come on! It is not serious...

[dedmoroz]

Hi all

I am currently playing Egypt on expert (my first time on expert, before it was normal- too easy and boring).
Year is about 1170 or something. By now, Almo and Turks already dead for a very long time - I finished almo alone while Byzantines finished Turks with my little help (i invaded 2 Turkish provinces when I knew they going to die anyway).
I pushed towards rich Spanish and Aragonese provinces because I wanted those damn iron provinces like Leon Castile etc.
Eventually I managed to wipe the Spanish and took all aragonese provinces except one – Aragon.
By that time things were going great for me – I had about 70K money, I had huge armies on borders with French, arago and byz, I had the highest income and technologic achievements and was in state of war only with arago, which as I said had only 1 province so they were no real threat.

Then in 1 turn everything changed – I was attacked by Italians, French and Byz, they invaded 6 of my provinces and almost all of my ships were attacked, cutting my trade routes and blocking the possibility to move my army through my stretched empire in 1 turn.

If not enough, French declared crusade against me which started to move through my lands.
In 1 turn I found myself in a world of pain
By now (1180 or something), each turn I am fighting like 3-4 ground battles and the same amount of sea battles, and all I do is struggling to hold all my provinces together.
I have no allies, not even 1.
On the sea, I have a huge problem because I cant produce the same amount of ships that French Byz and Italians can. So they can launch amphibious attack on almost any of my provinces. And believe me they do that very efficiently.
On the ground, I am holding pretty well but fights with byz and French cost me few hundred solders almost every time.
AI just went insane and decided to kill me by any means
I tried to make peace with each of those factions – but heck they are not willing to even talk with my emissaries.

My question is – can I do something to make peace with at least 1 faction so I could fight only 2 or preferably one? Or is it expert difficulty which makes the world go crazy and attack me from every direction? If so, it’s quite lame because it depletes the whole diplomatic aspect from the game. No more it matters what faction you fighting, because eventually they all will declare war on you.

Please advise because I am already very tired of this constant attacking which was lunched against me by the whole world
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[motorhead]

Yer up sh*t creek. I'd recommend consolidating your empire, try and cut loose any provinces that are too far away (if you have large army there, send them out in a blaze of glory and try and have them fight their way back to friendly lines, destroy everything in province before you leave). Diplomacy is kinda weak, the AI factions basically only respect strength. Once they break the peace it's very difficult to get it back. If possible, concentrate on building up a fleet large enough to defend your coastline, expand your empire overseas only when you have a larger navy. I require minimum 2ships per sea, always try and outnumber the AI navy in each sea you share with them.

[dedmoroz]

hi motorhead,
well u right i am in huge troubles know http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif
1 question though - it seems that i cant destroy buildings in province if enemy still has fort or something under siege...
it means that even if i took the control over some province, i must finish the siege eather by attacking the fort or by waiting till it will fall eventualy.
can u confirm that or i am doing something wrong?

[Cebei]

No one wants a powerful Egypt. How can a world remain allied to the only Muslim country spreading like hell and posing great threat to rest of the world? You must cut the head of the snake while it is infant they say. You must keep that in mind when playing with a Muslim country. Any sign of power will create a reaction and think about a powerful empire including all the Holy places and having all the means of protecting them. They simply wont let you. And this is why expert is difficult. Creating a huge income and huge armies is not always good on expert. On the contrary, being a modest empire until you have all the infrastructure to advance to the next level is better. Also if you plan for world domination on expert, expect to fight every faction at the same time, hence
Quote[/b] ]I have no allies, not even 1.

I dont see much comeback from this, unless you fight miraculously and defeating each and every enemy, until they get bored and leave your provinces.

Also eliminating other Muslim factions is very wrong. THey can protect you from crusades if you employ a well diplomacy. And you can counter other factions through a powerful Muslim alliance. Almohads can fight better without thinking about Egyptian incursion, and Turks defeat Byzantians, if they can survive until 1200. WHat Egypt must do is to build a grand mosque in Egypt and spread islam as wide as possible on TUrkish and Almohadian provinces, which will increase the likelihood of a triple alliance.

As this is not normal difficulty, you cant charge into rest of the world with your sword swinging http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

Oh and you are not doing anything wrong. That is how the siege thing works. Wait until the fort is taken or attack. But in your situation I wouldnt recommend wasting your troops in a castle assault, so better wait (dont capture everyone routing, and let the whole army flee. this way you the fort will fill at maximum capacity and fill fall the next year).

[dedmoroz]

OMG cebei you are so right m8.
I had a thought that destroying other Muslim factions was not such a good idea, but Turkish was dead anyway by the hand of Byzantines and Almo was my only real option to expand (Byzantines were too strong to mess with...).

Currently i am around year 1190 and i have another huge problem - Spanish heir popped up in Portugal with 4 full 800-900 men armies (no peasants - mostly feudal sergeants and good cavalry).

I am pretty sure they will attack my ass next year – only mighty Allah will help me now arghhhhh…..
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Pindar]

I think you are being punished by Allah for your demonstrated impiety in attacking fellow Muslims and violating the Ummah.

[flyd]

Hey, you are trying to conquer the world, right? Well, you can't do this if you're at peace with everyone. The other factions are just helping you acheive your goals by entering a state of war. Now you can expand to all sides, as there are enemy factions everywhere. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Cebei]

Quote[/b] ]I had a thought that destroying other Muslim factions was not such a good idea, but Turkish was dead anyway

Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. You should have done everything to help Turks. I would send my horse archers to cause attrition damage on Byzantians rather than destroying with a bigger army. Turks and Almohads ARE your defences and also your biggest enemies. But fight should be reserved for a time with a puny catholic power.
Byzantians will let crusades through, Turks will not. You could take out a great deal of the Byzantian army with horse archers (attack, fire missiles, when you are out of ammo, withdraw) so that they could not hold the captured Turkish provinces (you could offer alliance to Turks when they were being spanked, which would be accepted surely. And when Byzantians can not hold the existing provinces thanks to your attrition damage, Turks would emerge more powerful with the rebellions and tadaaa...as your ally). Horse archers are excellent tactical units and egyptians have both Mamluk HA and Faris.


Quote[/b] ]Currently i am around year 1190 and i have another huge problem - Spanish heir popped up in Portugal with 4 full 800-900 men armies (no peasants - mostly feudal sergeants and good cavalry).

There are several provinces in the game that should not be taken (at least taken when you have conquered everywhere else). Portugal, Livonia, Arabia (if you are non-muslim) and Tyrolia are among them. These provinces produce much headache in normal already, and you captured the place in hard Portugal is not worth holding if you dont have 5 full armies to station there. So you can leave the province.

For now, just try to hold your main provinces. They are already very fertile lands (eastern mediterranean) and you wont need to capture additional places with a planned economy. Allocate money on improvement, army can come second. Just have an army to fight some crusaders and maintain order in existing provinces. I would recommend mamluk horse archers, faris and saracens as your standard army. They are good units.

Restart the game, play as I've written. Current game can teach you nothing, you wont make the same mistakes in the next game and will advance level.

Keep us informed on your progress. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[desdichado]

Quote[/b] (Cebei @ Sep. 29 2003,07:52)]Restart the game, play as I've written. Current game can teach you nothing, you wont make the same mistakes in the next game and will advance level.
what??? Most people complain the game is too boring and easy and when the AI is finally showing some sense and creating some havoc you recommend to start game over so you can win and play a boring game.

Dedmoroz is only at year 1190. Plenty of time to recover from some setbacks. How much better is it to overcome adversity and win than to just start a new campaign. AI can't do this and this is little better than relaoding from a saved game to change your moves.

Dedmoroz - keep playing as these are the best games when not everything goes your way. Hold where you can, give up what you can't keep and attack when you have strength. Trust me you learn more from these types of campaigns than ones where you make all the right moves and don't give AI a chance.

Besides, I love it when an isolated army has to fight through enemy territory with no reinforcements and casualties depleting units. I imagine my men suffering hunger, lack of sleep, forced marches, comrades dropping in battle, fighting at half strength, no cavalry or missile support cause they got killed yesterday. This is why I play MTW.

[dedmoroz]

Hello guys,
Actually I had no intension to start the campaign all over again - not till my last soldier dead (or shell I say retreated from the battlefield when there is no friendly provinces around http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif )

Cebei, thanks for the tips, I am sure next game i will be much smarter, but for now i managed somehow to balance the situation.

I am now at 1206, and things starting to shine for me once again.

these are some major things occurred from 1190 to 1206:

1. I declared Jihad on Portugal where Spanish heir popped up. Simply I didn’t want his huge army to sit near my borders and backstab me one day. It was one hell of a fight (around 4000 men each side). i had 8 stars general and Spaniard had only 2 stars.
at the beginning I used 12 units of Faris to pepper his main ground force with thousands of arrows, then I switched them for more infantry and cavalry and attacked - best fight for me so far in this campaign because i managed to slaughter more than 3000 of his soldiers with minor losses on my side (about 300 men only).

2. I launched heavy attack on Byzantines with my huge armies (6000+), and eventually took Georgia, Trebizond, Constantinople, Nicaea and Anatolia.

3. Slowly i gained control over most parts of Mediterranean Sea and also Black sea, leaving only 2 possible routes for Byz to attack me - through Constantinople or Georgia. This also allowed me to gain control over such isles as Cyprus, Rhodes and Crete.

4. At around year 1200 most of my provinces rebelled, but it was no big deal (about 100 rebels each - i was able in most places to defend with initial garrisons).

5. French declared Crusade on Constantinople - here i made my most smart strategic move of this campaign, i just left COns destroying everything 2 turns before crusade got there. Now i have 2 French armies trapped there (700 soldiers each) and huge 6 Byz armies sitting in Bulgaria and Greece with no possible route to attack me before they get through French forces. muhahahhaaa. Each turn I see Byz moving their armies back and forth between Greece and Bulgaria and can do absolutely nothing.

6. Meanwhile, I made amphibious attacks on khazar and Crimea destroying everything in those provinces.

7. Italians are no real threat anymore because they too occupied with war against Sicilians.

These are my goals for next few turns:

Hit French ships scattered around former Spanish coasts with my huge fleet I made for that purpose.

Replace weaker units in my armies with stronger ones available from 1205.

eventually launch an attack on French territories.

I will keep you informed on further progress.

P.S.
A question: I am waiting for Mongol Horde appearance as i think it will help me to deal with Byzantines. Which year it suppose to happen?
Thx in advance.



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

[dedmoroz]

Oh, and on a matter of helping allies – I wish that there would be more options to help your allies, these are few ideas:

*You can give money to your ally or you can propose alliance with some amount of money with it – more money better chance they agree.

*You can give armies at your ally’s disposal – lets say by dropping an army on ally’s strategic agent, or by dropping army on my own strategic agent and then moving him to ally’s king or something.
*Vassal system – lets say I don’t want to destroy a faction but rather making them pay me some amount of money each year. This way you could move freely through vassal’s provinces, if at war u can demand from them military help etc. also it save your own faction from annihilation and you will have hope that 1 day to come you will be able to overrun your tyrant and get free from your dependency.

Just few thoughts …

[Hobot]

The mongols come at 1230-1232 I'm fairly certain, and they come into Khazar (for sure) and also sometimes into Georgia, Armenia, and Volga-Bulgaria...so since you probably own some of these lands right now...watch the arse of your empire, cuz they are going to ride straight up it and spread it wide open http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

Vassal idea is really cool, I haven't heard this one before, hopefully Rome:TW impliments that, would be awesome http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

About your Constantinople move...why is it that the French are trapped, can't they now move into your lands in Turkey? Personally whenever I take Constantinople I like to hold it, one of the richest provinces in the game, it's usually very well upgraded, and incredibly well stratigically positioned...always a huge boost when I can take it over http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

Also, are you playing the regular version or the modded? AI hardly builds any ships without mods I find http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

Fun descriptions, keep em coming http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif

[Dhepee]

Hold out hope for a few lucky stacks. If you had a province for awhile and built it up but then lost it, you might get a few stacks out of it randomly. Your province will miss you so it will have a rebillion. You can't count on it happening, but it's saved me a couple of times.

[Cebei]

Quote[/b] ]what??? Most people complain the game is too boring and easy and when the AI is finally showing some sense and creating some havoc you recommend to start game over so you can win and play a boring game.

Ahh...dont....hit....hurts....gah....aaaaahhh.... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

OK, but hes playing on expert the first time and he has done mistakes that can be done only once, so hes not suffering from extra exciting super AI, hes just gaining experience. I just didnt want him to build his experience on small mistakes.


DEDMOROZ:



Quote[/b] ]I declared Jihad on Portugal where Spanish heir popped up. Simply I didn’t want his huge army to sit near my borders and backstab me one day. It was one hell of a fight (around 4000 men each side). i had 8 stars general and Spaniard had only 2 stars.
at the beginning I used 12 units of Faris to pepper his main ground force with thousands of arrows, then I switched them for more infantry and cavalry and attacked - best fight for me so far in this campaign because i managed to slaughter more than 3000 of his soldiers with minor losses on my side (about 300 men only).

What is this Portgual love anyway? Are you Portugese? Something will always pop up from Portugal. ou may be a great commander, but your sucess is in vain if you dont hold Portugal tight. I would advice not taking Prtugal, but since you did, do everything you can to hold it.


Quote[/b] ]I launched heavy attack on Byzantines with my huge armies (6000+), and eventually took Georgia, Trebizond, Constantinople, Nicaea and Anatolia.

Hmmmm... With another good diplomacy, Byzantians could deny crusaders passage as well. So that crusaders will first have to taste the lance of the kataphraktoi. Man you are simply destroying your own defences http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif Now you are open to catholic incursions..


Quote[/b] ]At around year 1200 most of my provinces rebelled, but it was no big deal

Build alims, mosques etc. Rebellion in large number of provinces (though small) is not good. Try to increase percentage of muslims or station 500 (for example) muwahid foot soldiers in each province. You are playing on expert.


Quote[/b] ] French declared Crusade on Constantinople - here i made my most smart strategic move of this campaign, i just left COns destroying everything 2 turns before crusade got there. Now i have 2 French armies trapped there (700 soldiers each) and huge 6 Byz armies sitting in Bulgaria and Greece with no possible route to attack me before they get through French forces. muhahahhaaa. Each turn I see Byz moving their armies back and forth between Greece and Bulgaria and can do absolutely nothing

I fear about Byzantine ships. Destory their ships wherever you see them, so you can watch them bankrupting.



From rest of your post I understand that you dont want to play the harmless egyptian. You are already in a state of world war sort of. What can I say? I guess you will suffer more from rebellions, re emergences and even financial trouble....and of course prepare to fight everyone at once.