How do I capture Wales?

[ThePeach]

I'm playing as England on Early (GA mode). I don't really want to mess with the pope, so I'm crusading like a mad man and also stomping any rebels in sight. All of britain is mine... except for Wales. Wales doesn't have a port, so I can't land troops there and it's an island, so theres no land-access route. So how do I conquer those bloody rebels?

[DonCoyote]

Presumably you mean Ireland as Wales is not an island but the former is. also, when invading across seas a port is not required in the destination territory - it is only required in your province you wish to launch from.

if you lift up an army from a coastal province all possible destinations will "light up".

back to ireland - invade or bribe if you have the money. if you cant invade it means that you dont have the required ships lined up - though if you control wales all you need is a port there & one ship in the irish sea.

Don Coyote

[katank]

yep, since it has no port, bribing isn't an option.

just invade from wales with ship in irish sea.

tip: never invade with king or he will be stranded there for four years and your loyalty level drops through the floor.

[ThePeach]

thanks, i did mean ireland...
i have ports in all my provinces in the british isles, and a ship in the irish sea, yet i still can't land a single fyrdman in ireland. its not that big of a deal at the moment, the sicilians have just been excommed so I've been goin crazy on them...

thanks anyways...

[ChaosLord]

I can't remember, but do any English provinces put their port into the Irish sea? If they don't, you'll need a ship in the sea zone where that provinces port is, as well as ships in the sea zones leading to the Irish sea to be able to launch a naval invasion of Ireland.

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (ThePeach @ May 24 2004,21:47)]thanks, i did mean ireland...
i have ports in all my provinces in the british isles, and a ship in the irish sea, yet i still can't land a single fyrdman in ireland. its not that big of a deal at the moment, the sicilians have just been excommed so I've been goin crazy on them...

thanks anyways...
Hmm, a possible (but unlikely) explanation is that there is a rebel ship somewhere between your forces and the irish coast... Sometimes they do muster up a few boats: if a province with ship-yard gets taken over by rebels.

It could also be another enemy of yours that is blocking the sea somewhere.

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (ChaosLord @ May 24 2004,22:04)]I can't remember, but do any English provinces put their port into the Irish sea? If they don't, you'll need a ship in the sea zone where that provinces port is, as well as ships in the sea zones leading to the Irish sea to be able to launch a naval invasion of Ireland.
Wales puts a port into the Irish sea. However, you still need at least a boat and clear sea (from enemies) to land an attack to Ireland.

[Sociopsychoactive]

Ireland is tricky.

You can't bribe them, no port means no travel for emmisaries of any sort, so you have to kill them. Taking wales, putting a boat (one will do) in the irish sea and making sure theres a port in wales will do, but it is still tricky because Ireland will have terrible loyalty for the first 5 years or so after you capture it, meaning that for all the time you don't have a prt there (4 years minimum) you need a large stack of troops, and they can't move from ireland at all. Also because you have been so busy building a port, you probably havn't built watch towers/border forts, meaning you don't get the HUGE loyalty boost they provide.

My advice, invade with loads of crappy units, vannilla spears and such, with a couple of light cav to actually win the battle for you (kerns fall easily to cav). Buld the port first and foremost followed immediately by loyalty increasing buildings and once the port is up get the cav and the general off, siphoning off everything else gradually.

As to you not being able to invade it, try putting a ship in the north sea and in the ocean zone east of england (I forget the name) and going around that way. If ther is a rebel or enemy boat blocking you in the irish sea you should be able to get to ireland without having to go through the irish sea at all.

Joe

[katank]

very true.

I would say pure cav.

hobilars are good and cheap.

the spears would get massacred by the gallows.

the 4 kerns can be easily run down by hobilars and maneuvering hobilars can produce rear and flank attacks upon the gallows who have pathetic defence adn morale, making them break fast.

besides, the hobilars are only 125 a pop and are really effective for their price and build reqs.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Or try amassed Urban Militia, works *nearly every time*
-Capo
*Not garenteed to work every time. Will work with vastly suprerior numbers.

[katank]

massed UM?

why?

the gallows aren't heavily armoured so I see no reason to use UM

UMs also have crap morale so will get routed easily.

hobilars are the cheapest way to go in being able to run over the kerns with ease and then charging the gallows from flanks/rear

[Mightypeon]

The main use for UM is in defensive battle with lots of woods. Or to kill spears if you do not have Swords.
Neither Skrimishers nor unarmoured non spear troops qualify as their target of choice.

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (Caporegime1984 @ May 31 2004,21:14)]Or try amassed Urban Militia, works *nearly every time*
-Capo
*Not garenteed to work every time. Will work with vastly suprerior numbers.
UM on attack? :) Well, I guess, mass them up, givem them a good general and auto-resolve. That should really work every time :)))

[katank]

I would use slav warriors instead of UMs.

they are great for autocalcing and their speed makes them fine for catching skirmishers for inf.

their large units size also allows for flank wrapping etc.

you can have them maneuver and kill other units.

I doubt that a gallow would be able to take two SW units on both flanks charging.

they have too low a morale to be charged on both flanks or having one unit charge them in the rear.

outnumbered penalty woudl also be severe.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Also if you have got hold of Scotland bring some highlanders over for the attack, they are handy for a good scrape http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[katank]

yep, clansmen are great.

I like to use rebels to subdue other rebels.

I use bribed welsh longbows to kill the clansmen in scotland, the clansman to kill the gallows and kerns in ireland, and finally use all of these to crush the peasant hordes in the holy lands.

I always like to kill the Eggy for the crusade points and with their quantity of trash units, it's like destroying a peasant rebellion so I consider them rebels also http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[andrewt]

Just bring tons of cavalry and peasants. Cavalry to kill the kerns and gallows and peasants to garrison. You can err on the side of bringing too few troops to garrison as you can always ship some in but you can't ship them out until you have finished building a port.

[katank]

I like to ship the peasants in the turn after I take the province.

[HopAlongBunny]

I think you need a fleet in the N.Atlantic to invade. Easy to take and needs a good garrison.

One option is to use it as a training ground (if you really don't care about Gallow's) Revolts easily and often ;)

[katank]

you don't need north atlantic to invade.

irish sea is more than enough.

north atlantic, like the africa coast or whatever that place west of morrocco is called is only useful for connecting up scandanavia and africa respectively quickly by using deep sea ships in the atlantic ocean.