Cowhead418
01-14-2006, 19:32
I wanted a challenge so I started an HRE campaign on Expert in Early (XL mod). You have a large income to start off with but an unbelievable amount of borders to defend and several enemies surrounding you: the French, Danes, Venetians, Genoese, Hungarians, Polish, and Bohemians. You also start off with somewhat rebellious provinces, lots of unloyal generals, several under-developed provinces, and a relatively crappy troop arsenal at the beginning.
So I begin by building up infrastructure and making lots of troops in an attempt to secure all my borders. A few turns in the French invade Lorraine and win a close battle. I take it back the next turn. Two turns later my small garrison in Friesland is bribed by the damn French and I have to send troops to defend. I win there but lose another close battle in Lorraine to a French invading army. The next turn I take it back and have most of my troops on my western front. I manage to take advantage of a French civil war and capture Ile-de-France.
Earlier I had built a ship from Provence - HUGE mistake. A Venetian ship attacks and gets blown away by mine. The Genoese had taken a province from the French and have two half stacks there. A few turns later a Genoese ship attacks and also gets sunk by mine. On my eastern front I had some armies but I was worried by the large armies of Hungarians, Polish, and Bohemians. Suddenly another one of my garrisons is bribed, this time by the Venetians. I move in troops to defend.
Now is about the 15th turn and this is when all hell breaks loose. The French sally out from their keep in Ile-de-France and move in with relieving forces. The Genoese also send an invasion force in and team-up with the French. The Bohemians invade Franconia with a very-good quality army where I have a pathetic defensive army of Spearmen, Archers, Urban Militia and some Feudal Men-at-Arms. The Venetians send a larger force to where they bribed my army, and then my ship is sunk. I retreated from Franconia and didn't feel like fighting in Ile-de-France so I auto-calced and lost. I auto-calced against the Venetians but lost too.
I feel I could have won two of those battles if I fought manually but it wouldn't have mattered. I was being attacked from all sides and it was only a matter of time before I was over-run. A civil war would come and my empire would collapse. I wasn't in the mood to see a collapse so I quit the campaign. Any tips on how to play the HRE on the XL mod?
So I begin by building up infrastructure and making lots of troops in an attempt to secure all my borders. A few turns in the French invade Lorraine and win a close battle. I take it back the next turn. Two turns later my small garrison in Friesland is bribed by the damn French and I have to send troops to defend. I win there but lose another close battle in Lorraine to a French invading army. The next turn I take it back and have most of my troops on my western front. I manage to take advantage of a French civil war and capture Ile-de-France.
Earlier I had built a ship from Provence - HUGE mistake. A Venetian ship attacks and gets blown away by mine. The Genoese had taken a province from the French and have two half stacks there. A few turns later a Genoese ship attacks and also gets sunk by mine. On my eastern front I had some armies but I was worried by the large armies of Hungarians, Polish, and Bohemians. Suddenly another one of my garrisons is bribed, this time by the Venetians. I move in troops to defend.
Now is about the 15th turn and this is when all hell breaks loose. The French sally out from their keep in Ile-de-France and move in with relieving forces. The Genoese also send an invasion force in and team-up with the French. The Bohemians invade Franconia with a very-good quality army where I have a pathetic defensive army of Spearmen, Archers, Urban Militia and some Feudal Men-at-Arms. The Venetians send a larger force to where they bribed my army, and then my ship is sunk. I retreated from Franconia and didn't feel like fighting in Ile-de-France so I auto-calced and lost. I auto-calced against the Venetians but lost too.
I feel I could have won two of those battles if I fought manually but it wouldn't have mattered. I was being attacked from all sides and it was only a matter of time before I was over-run. A civil war would come and my empire would collapse. I wasn't in the mood to see a collapse so I quit the campaign. Any tips on how to play the HRE on the XL mod?