I AM STUCK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!

[The Warrior King]

Since starting medieal total war i have had no successful campains i have however had some luck playing fractions like the almohads, the english and the french

sucess with the english has been hammper by the lack of wealth and the french ,
ive had i campain with the english where i managed to wipe out the french but by 1329 my sucess was hampered by the imensive military power of the hungrians and the weakness of my provinal armies

with the french i conquered alot of land but not enough

my success with the almohads was also hampered by the success of the french


please please please help

[Tozama]

You give little detail as to your troubles except to note lack of money in one.
Read the forum guides here and look up the economy 101 post.
This will help you resolve the money issue - which normally will resolve all your issues since $$$=better buildings=better troops=winning armies in the field.

hampered by the imensive military power of the hungrians and the weakness of my provinal armies
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

Ummm...The Hungies when ruled by the AI are the last worry I ever have in MTW.
Read above - same issue I'll bet. If your armies are inferior to the Hungarians you are way too low-tech which likely due to lack of florins.

[katank]

read guides forum. use my bltiz strats.

the carving up of a nice amount of land and ransoming usually cures all your florin problems even on expert.

[Si GeeNa]

Hi,

Is your difficulty in the Strategic or the Tactical aspect of the game?

If you are not generating enough wealth, then it is Strategic. Press 1.

If you are not winning battles when odds are 2:1 or better, and therefore require standing garrisons of 2,000 men; then it is Tactical. Press 2.

If you are not teching up your units to best the AI's units,then it is Strategic. Press 1.

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

From your basic desciption, it looks like your English campaign got bogged down due to inadequate wealth.

When building units, pay close attention to your Cash Flow. As in any business venture, assets are of little value if you have no liquidity. Too often, we focus on building stuff and forget to keep our eyes on the Cash Flow.

A simple solution which i propose is that never let your Cash Flow fall below 500 florins for the next turn. If you can, place governorships into leaders with acumen of 4 or more. This is especially helpful for provinces which have the potential to be rich cows, such as Tripoli.

How immense is the AI anyway? I often see stacks of peasants and Urban Militia but you will never need to match them man for man to best them. Employ better units in better fashion to defeat them. They may have 2,000 UM and assorted Archers. All you need is 300 good Cav and some FMAA to despatch them.

I hope the above has been helpful but its still early from the look of things. HAve fun while attempting mastery of the game. Don't sweat the small stuff...

[Louis VI the Fat]

Unless you can be more specific, your best bet would be to browse through this board for general guidelines and tips.

However, one thing struck me:


'my success was hampered by [...] the weakness of my provincial armies'


You don't need provincial armies.

Armies serve three main purposes:

To prevent rebellions. Only use peasants or other cheap rabble in your safe provinces to counter unhappiness. The quality of the garrison is not taken into account. In the words of my ex-girlfriend: 'It really is only size that matters...sorry'http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

To defend bottleneck provinces. No need for it to be any better than what the guy across the border has.

To pound your enemies with on the war front.


My guess is that you're combining the first two - and thereby having the worst of both. Lots of armies that are too expensive as garrisons troops and too weak to put up a serious fight.


Anyway, keep trying and good luck http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

[RedKnight]

Hiya WK,

I repeat what everybody said...

And we all welcome you to the Org http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

Take a look at the guides and let us know if you still have trouble. It might seem hard at first but after you learn more about how it works, it'll be lots of fun - cuz you'll be kicking @$$ http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

[barocca]

Guides to playing MTW - factions, units, economics and more... (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=SF;f=34)
there are 2 versions of economics guide, condensed and long versions,
condensed is pinned, long is not pinned (scroll down)

spies and peasants can prevent revolts in backwater provinces where you have no borders, especially usefull for english faction.

welcome to the Org
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif
Barocca

[Maeda Toshiie]

For starters, sitrep with details like era, difficulty level would help us gauge your level.

Some basic tips:
1. Never train peasants, except for internal garrison, loyalty and bandit deterrence (together with fort).

2. Never autocal Fight all battles

3. Use a combined arms army.

4. Do not waste money on building up all provinces. Have certain provinces specialising on different types of units.

5. Build farmland on your richer provinces

6. Do not be afraid to raise taxes to high and very high. Just make sure loaylty maintains at above 120%

Since starting medieal total war i have had no successful campains i have however had some luck playing fractions like the almohads, the english and the french

sucess with the english has been hammper by the lack of wealth and the french ,

1. Take Flander from the French within 10 years. If possible, less than 5.

2. As the English, smash the French asap. If early, destroy them well before they can get pass their initial build up of peasants.

ive had i campain with the english where i managed to wipe out the french but by 1329 my sucess was hampered by the imensive military power of the hungrians and the weakness of my provinal armies

1. Only have border garrison armies and internal police armies consisting of peasants.

2. Learn to fight out-numbered.

3. Train your heirs. (And improve your royal line)

4. Build ships to protect coast at least if not to trade.

5. Finally, kill the Pope if he sqeaks.

with the french i conquered alot of land but not enough

my success with the almohads was also hampered by the success of the french

1. Nubian, desert archers, ghazi and AUM.
2. Destroy the Spanish right at the start (for iron). Aim at Egypt or France at your own descretion, though I would rather knock out the Eggies.

[Blodrast]

also, try to make a point in getting rich provinces within your range (e.g. Flanders and Ile-de-France if you're English, Wessex and Mercia if French, Castile, Leon, Valencia, Cordoba if you're Almohad). Then develop farming and trade in them (see the guides for how to trade).
Two or three good provinces with max farming and some trade will support your entire army for many years...

As everybody can tell you, if money is the problem, then trade is your game. Certain factions like the English, the Danes, the Italians, the Sicilians and the Spanish all have great opportunities for trade. Of course all factions can trade.

Having to face a superpower (will almost always happen) ?
No problem. If you're not confident you have the economic/military power to face them directly, in combat, stab them in the back. Learn how to use agents.
If they are catholic, burn their generals/kings/princes with your inquisitors (Grand Inquisitors built in Castile reach 5-6 stars with 1 or 2 kills, and they _rock_).
They are not catholic or you can't build Grand Inquisitors ?
No problem. Use assassins (Syria allows you 2-star assassins out-of-the-box, and with all the requirements built you can get them at 5 stars...good enough to kill their kings/heirs/generals).

No high valour assassins ? Ok, there's always spies. Although nerfed seriously in VI, high valour spies can still cause rebellions in enemy provinces. The bigger the superpower is, the more provinces it will have, and the bigger its loyalty problems will be. Just find the right provinces, drop your spies in there and voila, here come the rebels

Look for threads on spies/inquisitors/assassins on these forums, there's way more info than you can digest anyway ;)

Good luck