What to do when you can't lose a campaign

[mfberg]

What do you do when your armies control the world, your ships control the seas, and AI is in the "retreat when you see the whites of their flags" mode?

[NewJeffCT]

Sometimes, to have fun, I will invade with 2 or 3 really teched up units against a rebellion of 1600 peasants & archers just to see how far I can whittle them down.

Other times, I will mod opposing unique units mid-game to make them tougher. An example would be if I am playing the Turks and blitz through Egypt early, then march across Africa to Morocco and snag Constantinople, I am in pretty good shape. I look across the board to see if any faction is emerging to challenge me. For example, if the English are emerging, I would maybe mod billmen & a few catholic units to make them a tougher foe on the battlefield.

Other times, I try to colonize. If I play the English, I try to snag a few territories in the Holy Lands early and hold on to them for dear life. Or, if I play the Turks or Egyptians, I try to get Sweden & Norway early and hold on to them... something far away where I will have major loyalty problems if I don't keep my supply lines open.

[Tricky Lady]

I usually play total conquest games, but rarely play until 100%. When I'm clearly winning and decide to finish the game, I keep on going till I conquer the last province.

[ThijsP]

I like the beginning of a campaign the most, and i loose interest really quick.

[Imperial Buffoon]

I go on playing and tend to focus on battles rather than micromanagment. The game will become more challenging on its own with mass revolt and bad governor vices, although I also tend to prefer the beginning of the game.
This said, I tend to get bored around the 80% mark

[katank]

like ThijsP, I love the start of a campaign.

I love to see how much I can do in the first king's lifetime.

my first king is always a conqueror who rushes and establishes a fair sized empire.

[gaijinalways]

Managing a kingdom is fine, but the battles is what gets my blood pumped up. Rarely will I autoresolve, unless it's late and I got to hit the sack or I have overwhelming odds and feel I can't manage the attack on my own any better.

I really wonder how many people finish the game so early (by 1160) but I generally play GA games now, so I wouldn't know. I feel I am pretty good, but there is still the ocassional times when the AI whupps me with some good moves or just overwhelming valor(I play only expert)

[katank]

1160 is called focused, constant rushing with pure spear/archer/UM armies.

the spear wall protects your archers which kill most everything and whatever makes it to you gets flanked by the UM.

the AI rarely builds enough good units in early.

some light cav can also help and your royal BGs can all help towards even more maneuvering which means dead AI. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

the sustained rush is also somewhat merc dependent for heavy troops and gets boring fairly fast.

[gaijinalways]

I find managing the cash flow is problematic with games like that. I have had a few games where I burned out a good stretch of turf, but eventually I had to retrench and give up some areas by resorting to a scorched earth strategy. Hence, I have never finished a game that early.

[katank]

actually, 1160 game was one in which I played semi GA with the Brits and actually built trade and crusaded, only attacking when I was first attacked except for early rush of French and HRE. I also had build up period after intial rush

I think if you sustain rush, you can conquer map by 1140 or so, depending on faction. kinda boring though.

[Ulair]

Well, if the other factions would leave me alone I'd sit peacefully and spread cultural enlightenment throughout my modest empire...

...but they never do, so... I kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I find the monochrome map very pleasing...

[VikingHorde]

I mostly start a new campaign if the game is to easy. Early period is a bit to easy, so I mostly play in high period. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

[Ellesthyan]

I never have the time to play one campaign for long, as after leaving it a week I've lost interest and I start a new one. Still, it's extremely satisfying to see Europe in one bright, new color http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-devilish.gif