LOL! Best start in SP campaign ever.

[afroide]

So I started in early as the turks and managed to eliminate the egyptians by like 1103

I was sending peasant attacks to thin the egyptians in Antioch prior to my regular forces moving in, when Egypt deided to commit almost all of it's troops in a preemptive strike against Syria... Where I just happened to have 4 spears and 10 archers Apparently it is possible to eliminate a leader AND all of his heirs in one battle if you have enough arrows. I might have been a naysayers regarding archers before this, but now I'm sold. I still think they are useless when attacking. While defending, however, they are disgustingly potent.

[katar]

Quote[/b] ]Apparently it is possible to eliminate a leader AND all of his heirs in one battle if you have enough arrows.

hhhhhmmmm........ regicide http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

yep, it can be done, gives you a nice warm feeling when you get to wipe out a whole dynasty in one battle, nice one mate. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[Thon]

ya, very fun to wipe out an entire dynasty in a battle.

i started the same game as you the other day, early turks. i cut the egyptian sultan off in antioch and then finished him off there.

btw i've been wondering about the turks, are they pretty much screwed for a non-spear infantry unit untill 1205? the almohads have their urban militia, and both they and egypt have arab infantry.

[Gregoshi]

It isn't so much fun when you are on the receiving side. In the only MTW campaign I ever finished, early in the game as the Spanish, I attacked the Alhomads. In order to get the strongest army together and insure victory, I threw in the king and his two princes - all very good generals. I lost the battle and the whole royal house. Game over. It seemed like a sure victory at the time... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-no.gif

[Monk]

Quote[/b] (Thon @ Jan. 25 2004,10:06)]btw i've been wondering about the turks, are they pretty much screwed for a non-spear infantry unit untill 1205? the almohads have their urban militia, and both they and egypt have arab infantry.
No, they have Saracen Infantry which are a good spear unit (if low on Morale).


Quote[/b] ]Game over. It seemed like a sure victory at the time

It's Game over man Game over http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

1231: the year is mostly filled with terror and fear from the steppes. however, not when their Khan comes over the river with his only son ALONE Silly mongols, after the slaughter *cough* i used bribary to ensure the services of a lot of his horde and with that i conquered Constantinople and most of Asia Minor.

Good times http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[metatron]

The arrow respects no man.

[Basileus]

Quote[/b] (Thon @ Jan. 25 2004,09:06)]btw i've been wondering about the turks, are they pretty much screwed for a non-spear infantry unit untill 1205? the almohads have their urban militia, and both they and egypt have arab infantry.
Like Monk said Saracen Inf but you also have Muhawid Inf which are quite good.

[Dillinger]

Saracen are too slow, and don't pack the offensive punch that the Muwahids do. I love the Muwahids, but am so-so about Saracens.

[Gregoshi]

Quote[/b] (metatron @ Jan. 25 2004,14:23)]The arrow respects no man.
I love that line It sounds like a good sig. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

It respects imperial storm troopers. Everyone does.

[afroide]

As great as the feeling is, I prefer to simply hamstring and marginalize (early on anyway). Having an heir pop up in the middle of your empire (along with a few thousand troops) is far too distracting.

This campaign is by far the most fun I've played thus far. Egypt reappeared and attacked me, but they were beaten back easily, and are now rotting in egypt. The Byzantines went after me, so I sent about 10000 mercs rampaging across their empire to weaken them, then seized Constantinople. The biggest challenge yet is the damn golden horde. I'm glad I took Georgia, as those mountains, along with a cubic arseload of archers, is all that's keeping them at bay. I'd hate to have to go on the offensive against them at this point. Combine all this with zealous Crusader armies, and I'm having a blast ;) There's something satisfying about holding your own with 0 allies while at war with 6 or so other factions.

To whoever mentioned the lack of early non-spear infantry... I think the turks are ideally suited to a quick expansion then a long period of consolidation. Seize Georgia, constantinople, and the one below palestine, and you have a large and RICH empire that only has 3 points of entry. I'm not going on the offensive until I have my Jannisaries :)

[o_loompah_the_delayer]

Quote[/b] (Dillinger @ Jan. 25 2004,16:47)]Saracen are too slow, and don't pack the offensive punch that the Muwahids do. I love the Muwahids, but am so-so about Saracens.
Man for man muwahids are probably better, but you need the saracens if only because of the unit size 100 to 60 and IIRC they are better armoured and so better at making up the front line.

[Doug-Thompson]

Re: Archers on defense.

I was congratulating myself on a hard-fought victory recently — until I watched the replay.

The fool Egyptian sultan wandered into range of a huge-size unit of 120 of my Almohad Saharan archers. He was soon the sole survivor of his Gulam bodyguard unit. He fled, destroying the morale of his army. He was in the center.

I was heavily outnumbered in that battle and was fighting hard on my left. Turns out that one unit of archers practically won the battle on their own while I wasn't even looking. The enemy sultan got the good runner vice too. His faction never recovered and was soon eliminated.

[Lord Xelous]

Quote[/b] (Thon @ Jan. 25 2004,09:06)]btw i've been wondering about the turks, are they pretty much screwed for a non-spear infantry unit untill 1205? the almohads have their urban militia, and both they and egypt have arab infantry.
About your comment, I would not give tuppence for Arab Infantry, they're not of use to my battle strategy, I have to hold them inreserve to charge off a broken enemy.

The lack of spear bearing infantry is the major achilles heel for the turk, I believe the best infantry in general though lies in the arab world, though having not completed the game with every faction yet I'd have to settle with Egyptian generc infantry being the best thus far.

[Kampfen]

I don't know if this is a good start. Expert early era game, English. Turn one, William II and entire army of Wessex invades Flanders while entire army in Normandy Invades Ile de France. Bills' Knights ride in loose formation over top of almost everybody and only eleven archers make it out alive. The attack from Normandy is called off. Next turn in 1088, Bill's army goes to Champagne while he and his Rough Riders meet up with the returning army from Normandy in Ile de France. The French army in Champagne decide they cannot win and retreat, but not to Ile de France, (where, I don't know) and William the second leading the Normandy garrison have no trouble killing Phillipe, who has no heirs in 1088. French faction ended in 1088

Note: Very important to clean up Brittany and Toulouse quickly as Louis the sixth will be back soon to kick you're English arse with some Futile Knights, futile for you if you don't. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wall.gif

[squippy]

Nay, I say. I'm playing a Turks game, started in high, and am relying on mercenaries to provide the aggressive melee punch in the middle of the line. But I think the Turks have a really very comprehensive array of spear-carrying infantry that is surprisingly effective, given that your primary opponents are all cavalry based. The Byz and Mongols both rely on very heavy cav, and Egyptians build a lot of camels which your cav are less effective against. Its really crusading Chiv. MAA I'm worried about.

I have not really decideed whether I prefer Saracen Inf or Muwahids; so far I have not seen really major distinctions. The Muwahids are really good as aggressive anti-cav spears, and the Saracen Inf as line-holding spears, but I have used them aggressively as well. The Muwahids sustain more casualties though and I no longer even have a full unit in operational deployment. If I was caught by surprise, I'd rather have the Saracens.

All that combined with good medium cav from Armenia makes the Turks a pretty solid faction IMO.

Edit: on topic for the original post, my best SP campaign start was as the Danes. everyone was picking on the HRE from the get go, so I thought I'd take the brood of extremely costly sons out to Saxony to see what we could see. Low and behold, there was the Emperor, and after driving him into the fort and then storming it, I bagged a clean 18+k florins. This is a HUGE boost for the Danes at the start of the game as it obviates their slow infrastructure build.

[Thon]

well 1205 has come and gone, and i'm lovin the JHI. the archers are ok for now(it'll still be a while before i have swordsmith guilds to make the infantry).

i went on the attack to drive the italians from a very strategic location(they threatened 2 of my provinces with 5,000 troops). outnumbered 2 to 1, my JHI took the fight to them on their small mountain.

JHI don't know what retreat is, although some of the units wavered when 90% of their men were dead and they were surrounded. at the end of the battle, the italians were sent packing back to venice, with a third of their army destroyed.

[The Tuffen]

Quote[/b] ] French faction ended in 1088

I've never done that well but have managed to defeat them enough so that they have had civil war - afterwich they either can't recover or I leave them for a few years and build a force to eliminate them.