Sheogorath
11-13-2006, 06:08
Well, my best story thus far is with Spain.
I was somewhat dubious about Spain from the start. Only two provinces, not exactly a killer starting unit setup, and Ive heard that those Portugese are nasty customers.
I was right, of course.
However, my initial success was quite astonishing to me, within the first few turns the Moores were out of Iberia. It only took the fall of their capitol and a strongly worded note for them to give up Granada and march their armies to Morrocco, or whatever it was called in 1080.
I then set about consolidating my hold on Iberia, snatching up the rebel provinces and then taking a breather, disbanding all the mercenaries I had aquired over the years and downsizing my ultra-expensive knight corps just a teensy bit.
This was, apparently, a mistake. I should have realized it when, from the start, the Portugese and French refused to deal with me. Portugal rebuffed all attempts at diplomacy, and France would only accept a trade agreement.
I did, however, immidiatly start rebuilding my knights when I noticed the Portugese diplomat making a beeline for France, and the Portugese army loitering near by border looking suspicious.
Sure enough, next turn I get the announcement "France and Portugal have allied". Big suprise.
Next turn, Portugal sieges Cordoba and France blockades two of my ports. Three turns after that the Moores, who I had a nice peaceful relationship with, helped along by a half stack of elite troops at Gilbatar, took it upon themselves to blockade some ports as well.
It took a while, and I lost a city once, but I finnaly managed to capture Lisbon, and kill the Portugese king. They decided to recognize my superiority and surrender. Of course, once Im done with the French and Moores Ill be back to slap them down for being jerks.
Right now the Moores armies in the west have proven pretty inneffective, their infantry are easy prey to concentrated arrow fire from merc. crossbows and peasant archers, and they cant muster enough cavy to deal with my knights and jinets.
France is proving to be an issue though, especially in sieges. Their knights simply roll over my spearmen and, when they lack knights, they usually have at least half a stack of infantry whom they are only too happy to pour into the breech, usually overwhelming my own piddling forces.
What happened to the good ol' days, when you could line up a spear unit behind a gate with the full confidence that they would hold back the enemy forces for at five minutes?
Whilst occasionally frustrating, M2TW has proven very rewarding. Im happily ranging through Southern France sacking cities for cash to feed my growing army, and Ive re-adopted my old RTW strategy of making an army of one or two units of missile cavy to harrass larger enemy armies, whittling them down to the correct size, IE: Smaller than my larger armies.
Fourtunatly England came to my aid, willingly or no, when they decided that Brittany really should have some Britons in it. Im hoping the Pope will give me a ceasefire, but it seems unlikely. My evil plan to make Timbuktu Spanish may not work out :P
I was somewhat dubious about Spain from the start. Only two provinces, not exactly a killer starting unit setup, and Ive heard that those Portugese are nasty customers.
I was right, of course.
However, my initial success was quite astonishing to me, within the first few turns the Moores were out of Iberia. It only took the fall of their capitol and a strongly worded note for them to give up Granada and march their armies to Morrocco, or whatever it was called in 1080.
I then set about consolidating my hold on Iberia, snatching up the rebel provinces and then taking a breather, disbanding all the mercenaries I had aquired over the years and downsizing my ultra-expensive knight corps just a teensy bit.
This was, apparently, a mistake. I should have realized it when, from the start, the Portugese and French refused to deal with me. Portugal rebuffed all attempts at diplomacy, and France would only accept a trade agreement.
I did, however, immidiatly start rebuilding my knights when I noticed the Portugese diplomat making a beeline for France, and the Portugese army loitering near by border looking suspicious.
Sure enough, next turn I get the announcement "France and Portugal have allied". Big suprise.
Next turn, Portugal sieges Cordoba and France blockades two of my ports. Three turns after that the Moores, who I had a nice peaceful relationship with, helped along by a half stack of elite troops at Gilbatar, took it upon themselves to blockade some ports as well.
It took a while, and I lost a city once, but I finnaly managed to capture Lisbon, and kill the Portugese king. They decided to recognize my superiority and surrender. Of course, once Im done with the French and Moores Ill be back to slap them down for being jerks.
Right now the Moores armies in the west have proven pretty inneffective, their infantry are easy prey to concentrated arrow fire from merc. crossbows and peasant archers, and they cant muster enough cavy to deal with my knights and jinets.
France is proving to be an issue though, especially in sieges. Their knights simply roll over my spearmen and, when they lack knights, they usually have at least half a stack of infantry whom they are only too happy to pour into the breech, usually overwhelming my own piddling forces.
What happened to the good ol' days, when you could line up a spear unit behind a gate with the full confidence that they would hold back the enemy forces for at five minutes?
Whilst occasionally frustrating, M2TW has proven very rewarding. Im happily ranging through Southern France sacking cities for cash to feed my growing army, and Ive re-adopted my old RTW strategy of making an army of one or two units of missile cavy to harrass larger enemy armies, whittling them down to the correct size, IE: Smaller than my larger armies.
Fourtunatly England came to my aid, willingly or no, when they decided that Brittany really should have some Britons in it. Im hoping the Pope will give me a ceasefire, but it seems unlikely. My evil plan to make Timbuktu Spanish may not work out :P