Danish campaign 1301 looking for advice

[gaijinalways]

Well, I have been turtling along, but no longer. The Alomonds decided to call a jihad aganist Portugal and started a naval battle (which I should win:beam: ), but now I have to decide how to go aganist one of the two big brothers (the Byz are still sitting on the sidelines).

I have just taken some mercs on, and am pushing men out like mad. Getting ready to hit the Alomonds where their rich provinces are. Of course, I can not hit too many areas too fast until I clear the seas:wall: .

Any good ideas? Remember, I have a small rich empire (13 provinces), w 120k (minus the merc money) , but now set to lose 11k a turn until I wipe out the Alomond navy. I am thinking some razing income would offset the merc funds, and also piss the alomonds off so they attack, where hopefully my great defensive skills come into play:whip: :beam:

I have some spies, but not a lot, none extra at the moment, though I could pump some out of 3 provinces if needed.

[caravel]

Consider replacing your mercenary units (except perhaps artillery) with your own standing army, to reduce costs, before making your next move. I'm not that clear on your position or whom it is you want to attack apart from the Almohads, perhaps put up a screenshot?

:bow:

[gunslinger]

As a general rule, I only purchase mercenaries as a temporary "quick fix." My favorite use for mercs is to buy all of them I can find in one or two turns and send them directly into an attack. I make sure the mercs are in the first wave of said attack, and I leave my general (maybe backed up by one spear unit and one archer) near the place where reinforcements will enter the map. That way, the mercs, with their expensive upkeep, take the brunt of the casualties while the enemy army gets exhausted and disorganized. As reinforcements come on, I join them up in a formation with my general, and go mop up. This leaves my own units intact to form the garrison for my new province or move on to the next conquest. As far as those shattered merc units go, I save them all for the castle assault. Just group up four or five of those 10 man units and send them toward the gate, or the hole in the castle wall, and let them do what they can. Again, saves casualties on your own troops. After that, I disband them of course.

To bring this back to your original question: I would definitely get those mercs into battle as soon as possible. Even if you aren't going to win the battle, or you can't hang onto the province after you do win it, just spend their lives as quickly as you can. Ten units of mercs can easily cost 1000 to 1500 florins per year in upkeep, so use them to cause some damage quickly, and then start reaping in those extra florins to either build your own units or hire more mercs to send straight into another battle. After all, the upfront hireing costs are usually pretty reasonable.

[bamff]

I'm with you gunslinger. Mercs are also really handy in seige situations - hire 'em and send 'em straight in. No tears if they get chewed up as the "forlorn hope"...

[Adrian II]

Well, I have been turtling along, but no longer.I certainly hope so, my dear gaijinalways.
I do not want to discourage you, but shouldn't you own 31 provinces by now, rather than 13?
At this stage maybe you should consider chopping up one of two of your ingrateful Catholic neighbours in order to expand and replenish your purse.

Screenshot Danish 1302

https://img472.imageshack.us/img472/3058/screenshotdanish1302si3.th.jpg (https://img472.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshotdanish1302si3.jpg)

As you can see in this screenshot I have been turtling somewhat more succesfully. In my Danish campaign (Early, Expert, GA) the year is 1302, the one you are planning for right now. I own over 40 countries and have easily fulfilled my GA goals.

My new GA goal is to make loads of trade profit with my Kalmar Union. This would have been a problem if I had allowed the Spanish to stand. They owned the south of Britain and France, all of Spain and Africa, large chunk of the Middle East and some Mediterranean islands. They refused to make peace with me despite three efforts, including a marriage proposal from princess Ingrid, our 'double-barrelled Danish delight' as we call her.

After suffering this affront from the effeminate Sancho I secured my naval supremacy with a mixed fleet of barues and caravels, then cut the Spanish snake in half with two simultaneous invasions in Toulouse and Aquitaine. Sancho came to the rescue of his endangered provinces and walked right into my Valour 5 Chivalric Sergeants. They beat me alright, but it was too late.

Chivalric Sergeants 1 : Sancho 0...

After which his Kingdom fell apart into two score of rebel provinces who are dying to trade with me again.

Think along those lines, gaijiinalways. Think big. :laugh4:

[gaijinalways]

Different approaches for different folks. First time for me to play the Danes as well. Yes, this is the longest I have gone with taking so few provinces (3 battles all game!), but I still feel my position is viable. Have good infrastructure in most provinces, lots of good trading provinces and some decent farmland. I hold Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Livonia, Lithuania, Norsogard, Freisland, Saxony, Mercia, Northumbria, Scotland, Ireland, and Portugal. As noted in the vikings battle help thread, I attempted to bribe other territories, but was rebuffed by loyal generals and had some emissaries assasinated (usually the Alomonds, I believe:furious3: ).

I need to hurt the Alomonds quickly as I don't think their bank account is so good, certainly not as good as mine. Yes, I took some provinces from the Norsogard, but needed to bring some troops back for defense (the Alomonds have the largest standing army, of course that is all provinces) of Freisland, Saxony, and Mercia. Caravel, as to using my own men for raids, I don't have enough right now. And Adrian II believe it or not, even with weakened Catholic neighbors, an excom right now would just make things worse with loyalty dropping like mad, don't need it at the moment. Also believe it or not, the pope has been giving me a few gifts of 1k a few times:beam: .

Gunslinger, yes, I plan to use the mercs for attacking and razing (if possible). I actually held off on hiring the mercs as yet, and here is why. I am currently mopping up the Alomond navy (I outnumber them in almost every sea:2thumbsup: ) and actually plan to bring the mercs in when I can transport them closer to Portugal in one shot. I have an inn in Portugal, but right now it isn't showing any mercs to hire:wall: . I have troops there, but they might not be enough to hold off a major jihad assalt, hence getting an army in closer to help out and distract and maybe attack the jihad force itself. I also wonder if raiding their ports and ship building capability might be a good idea, but I don't know necessarily if those are the richest Alomond provinces. Some of those are close to portugal as well (Leon, etc),　so that would serve a double purpose.


I would post a screenshot, but I am technically challenged and working under the additional burden of a Japanese OS. The Alomonds hold most of Europe except for three Polish provinces (2 west of Saxony) and one in the southeast and most of Africa. The Byz hold all of eastern Europe going into Asia, as well as northeastern Africa. The English have 1 island (Sicily maybe), the Pope has 2 provinces, the Hungarians also have 1 or 2 provinces in Eastern Europe.

Side note: One thing I wish maybe I had done was put a better general in Portugal, but I'm not sure I feel like replaying the buggy naval battle (a few crashes on one save, finally used one version where I made all the naval moves with no extra save) and going that far back (though I could:juggle2: ).

[Adrian II]

And Adrian II believe it or not, even with weakened Catholic neighbors, an excom right now would just make things worse with loyalty dropping like mad, don't need it at the moment.Alright, I hear you. You are stuck between and a rock and a hard place and because of your Japanese operating system you can't even show us where the rock and the other place are.

Judging by the outlines which you gave us, you have a decent set of buildings in most provinces. Use them to build some megastacks because the Almohads, by the sound of it, will soon be sending myltiple-stack armies across your borders. And as the Danes, you can't even crusade against them! Since the Islamic armies'strength is in their horsies and artillery, you should train more spears than swordsmen and only the sort of cavalry that is suitable for mopping up enemy archers.

Use your spare money to invest in agriculture, not trade, because even with your uberfleet you won't be trading much as long as the Almos control most of the shores.

I am afraid this is about all I can do for you. Let's hear the outcome one of these days, gaijinalways, and good luck! :thumbsup:

[gaijinalways]

I hear you, I recently put a freeze on building except for inns (for access to mercs, of course). I might do some more farming in the more profitable areas, will check on how quick the cash is bleeding after I have eliminated the Alomonds fleet (which shouldn't be more than a turn or two except for ships that run away). I don't think a screenshot would show you that much, it's pretty much as I have described it.

As to buildings, Denmark and Sweden are very built up with citadels, Norway as well though it doesn't have as many auxilary buildings (for producing troops). I made wish to armor up some more provinces later, but again, depends on the cash situation. I don't think the rock is that hard, just have to knock the Alomods down a notch or two. When I rock a few of their provinces, they'll probably get some rebellions surfacing I imagine. That and the razing will raise some cash here and there:smash: :idea2: :2thumbsup: .

It's always a balance in some games between building a trading empire, which often is precarious but can be very profitable until one of your neighbors decides they want a province! Then suddenly all goes to hell.

Right now I am raising also some specialized troops; kerns, clansmen, vikings as they are cheap and fast (good for the desert!:egypt: ). We'll see what happens and I'll keep you posted on events as they progress.

[Agent Miles]

In my current Danish Campaign, I also deliberately expanded slowly. It’s 1361 now and I only have 20 provinces, although I have the most GA points. My plan is not to blitz until 1400.
Read Meglagnome’s post about using arb’s to defend:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=70948
I think that eight demi-culverin are even better than arb’s, but this should keep the Almo’s in check.
I use FSScreen to take screenshots. It’s a free DL and is very simple to use. A jpeg is worth a KB of text. Good luck!

[gaijinalways]

Managed to go up to 1314. Have taken over the Iberian pennisula from Alomonds 'willing' to shed blood for my dream. Will be storming Valenzia game time as we speak. Have lost a few men, tough fighting. Another problem is for some reason all the big battles are crashing, so I have been autoresolving generally, but c'est la vie:gah2: . (Is MTW2 more stable?) I hold from Navarre and Aragon though to the African continent up to where the Byz are (2 past Morocco I think) near Cyrenica.

Still pumping out soldiers, better troops available in volume with Castille and company in my control (and many of the better farming areas). Thinking of taking down the English as they have been excommed for attacking the pope,
though they hold only two provinces, but they would give me a foothold farther out in the mediterrain as well as closer access to Byz shipping lanes (more vulnerable position for one penisula post and one island province though). I reign in the seas except for a few scattered English ships and the Byz ships in the East with equal parity south and east of Italy (and 1 Hungarian ship!:2thumbsup: ).

Thinking of damaging th Alomonds further, possibly to extinction as the trade with the Byz, pope, and the English is still ongoing. My cash is at 48K but I have also built more farms and trade buildings as well as building armor and sword buildings in Sweden and Denmark (to　be completed) and the needed defensive buildings and churches in newly acquired provinces.

Any ideas of best approach? I stand now with maybe 20 provinces, quite a few guys though for defensive purposes on some brodering areas (though I notice the Alomonds are attacking the remaining Catholic nations now, the Polish and the Hungarians, so I think they are getting a bit desperate).

Thinking to hit Wales (longbows), Wessex (just to fill out the neighborhood~:yin-yang: ), and Flanders (farming and trade income) next as this complements my holdings there already (Scotland, Ireland, Northumbria, Mercia) and gives me a direct access to an increasing mass of Alomond provinces with less coastal areas (and less income productive provinces) to support his own raids and battles. Probably will keep farming and building merchant buildings as they are propping up the cashflow as well as new provinces, though I have been resisting razing and have been instead capturing and using them as new bases of operations.

I think I have plenty of time:yes: , and am not worried. Also plan to raise an army and more cash reserves with more offensive and defensive buildings in selected provinces with more advanced buildings:duel: .

So again, any suggestions for plans of action:coffeenews: ?

[Agent Miles]

It's wise to take the rest of the British Isles and Flanders. Then you can hold at choke points like Navarre and Aragon while you conquer North Africa and the Middle East over to Khazar/Serbia/Bulgaria. Then take everything east of Lithuania/Kiev and you'll be giving us advice.:beam:

[gunslinger]

I'm pretty sure you can't build longbows unless you are the English, even if you do take Wales.

[Martok]

I'm pretty sure you can't build longbows unless you are the English, even if you do take Wales.
If one is playing vanilla MTW/VI, then no, you can't train longbows unless you're the English. Some of the mods, however, change this. I know that in XL, for example, that anyone who owns Wales can train Longbowmen.

[gunslinger]

Thanks MartoK! I'm playing XL now, and I didn't know that. Based on my past experiences with vanilla, I probably wouldn't have even considered building up Wales for longbows after I conquered it. You may have just helped me re-structure my plans for my current French campaign.

Is this also true for billmen in XL?

[Martok]

You're very welcome, gunslinger. :bow: If memory serves correctly (it's been a little while since I last played the English), Billmen are still recruitable only by the English in XL.

[Adrian II]

(..) all the big battles are crashing, so I have been autoresolving generally, but c'est la vie:gah2: You have my sympathy, you seem to be facing some impossible odds.

As for the big battle CTD, you may want to read this message (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1410038&postcount=85)which I posted some days ago.

[gaijinalways]

Oh well, no longbows, will have to make do with arbalasters:smash: ! Also considering the production of more agents, but primarily for defensive purposes. that and I need to consider which places to pump troops out of for better quality and to save on construcion costs in unneeded military production buildings (love those mercs though, they're doing a hell of a job, at least until they die:laugh4: ).

[caravel]

Armies larger than 960 men causing a crash, so what's all that about then? It may be helpful if some specs were posed up here? Have you tried older graphics card drivers? The newer drivers, expecially for ATI, cause some weirdness in my experience.

The wierdest bug I've had recently was: Fire up Byzantine late campaign. Send invasion to anatolia, fight battle, win/lose battle. Return to campaign map, click on constantinople province, CTD. There was also a bit of corrupt graphic along the buttons on the left hand side (the crown, GA goblet, florins etc round buttons). Tried several times with same result. Tried vanilla MTW/VI, the same. Tried MTW v1.0, the same. Tweaked every graphics card setting known to this man, the same. Danced around the house chanting voodoo, while beheading chickens, the same. So eventually I downgraded to the Catalyst 5.7 and that fixed it. The problem I have though is slow campaign selection process. It takes an age to get through choosing an era and a faction. The delay is about 30 seconds between each click. All other menus are fine, and the game runs fine.

@Adrian II: So your battles no longer involve reinforcements. That could be part of the problem somehow...

[Adrian II]

Danced around the house chanting voodoo, while beheading chickens (..)~D
So your battles no longer involve reinforcements. That could be part of the problem somehow...I think it has to do with number of slots, somehow. Occasionally my battle screen will turn black even though I have brought only 960 men. This happens when the enemy army is composed of lots of small, decimated units, like three UM, 17 Archers, two RK, 9 Arbalests...

But like I said in the quoted post, I 'restyled' my game to meet the 960 limit and this really increased my tactical acumen, so to speak.

EDIT
And yeah, it is probably a driver issue, but I don't want to reset drivers on a computer which I often use for other purposes than gaming.

[gunslinger]

The problem I have though is slow campaign selection process. It takes an age to get through choosing an era and a faction. The delay is about 30 seconds between each click. All other menus are fine, and the game runs fine.

I have this issue as well. I thought it was normal. The only other consistant problem I have is about a 50% probability of CTD when I hit escape on the strat map. I have to use Ctrl+S every time.

[gaijinalways]

Where my problem seemed to come from was when I switched to XP:furious3: , which another Org member mentioned causes problems. When I finally get a new power cord for my Gateway laptop, I can go back to using that (it's running on ME, no major problems running MTW).

As to the campaign itself, successfully took Wales and Wessex, up to perhaps 25 provinces now, navy slightly bigger, 39k in the bank (may have to slow the building down again). Still pumping out troops, but am wondering in 1317 (if I remember right), should I still use clansmen, glassgows, and kerns? Is it worthwhile in your opinion (in other words, I could just simply use these provinces for ship and agent building):juggle2: ?

Also, wondering which provinces are better to focus on for troop building. Right now Denmark and Sweden are pretty beefed up and getting better, perhaps Leon and Castille too? I will report back on other structures too, as obviously building time makes a difference.

Impending crisis situation; the alomonds are teed off (wonder why:beam: ) and have brought 4k men to Flanders (can you spell confrontation) I have just dumped heaps of men on Wessex (the choke point, right?) and am expecting a big battle. I am hoping the ai will attack, giving me the advantage of defending. I have lots of arbalesters, some xbows, a few halb, many fuedal men at arms and feudal sergeants. A few cav here and there.

Any tactical suggestions for the battle in Wessex? I noticed the ai has some AUM, Hashishin, arbalesters, desert archers, ghazi infantry, and Ghulam cav. If you like I could report back later with actual numbers:yes: .

[gaijinalways]

Good progress, took Flanders and Pomeria. Many Alomond provinces in the interior are rebel now, and the English have resurfaced in Aquitaine. I have one last coastal province to knock off on the North side near Sweden and northeast of Livonia as I got tired of the Alomonds disrupting my trade for a few turns with a single ship each turn:furious3: :dizzy2: .

Took income in provinces I attacked and razed, now lead the Byz slightly in points. The Norsogord still refuse even a cease fire with me, and the Alomonds, well, they're struggling with the Byz battling them as well. The Turks keep popping in and out.

I have approximately 26 or 27 provinces. Bank account sits at 16k, still have quite a few soldiers, and am building a bit to increase trade and farming in Flanders as well as trade in a few provinces on the Iberian Penisula, as well as building up some more military production buildings. Stopped producing most troops except in Denmark and Sweden, and I may start producing more agents, especially spies again.

Looks good, been enjoyable except for the problems with the bigger battles.
Plan to take up a few provinces perhaps from the Alomonds as they get weaker.

Thanks for the help. Enjoying the slow ride:whip: :beam: !

[Agent Miles]

I think that by 1217 I would have Chivalric sergeants and MAA's, so you should tech up quick. I still think that Steppe Heavy Cav from Muscovy would be a good addition to any Danish army. Valor 2 Gallowglass are great in the desert. Good luck!

[gaijinalways]

Campaign is doing well, maybe it's around 1360. I have taken on some more provinces, Pomeria, Prussia, and now Provance (bribed it). The Byz and the Alomonds are still bickering, am debating on whether to take more Norsogard territories or use them as a buffer to the Byz. The pope still rewards me now and then, though he is allied with the Alomonds now but at war with the Byz.

I am building up my army, buildings, and building up my number of spies and religious agents. Because of this, my cash is not growing quickly, but new farming and merchant house upgrades are keeping pace with the added military. Yes, I am bringing in some new troops, but I am wondering how long I should wait before I start a new offensive. I am looking at my building queues, and the ones for military related buildings are almost finished.

I am considering hitting the Alomonds first, as they are weaker after losing the last number of skirmishes with me. Also now knocking them again will affetc my trading situation less as they no longer have a navy and few coastal provinces as the Byz took some as well as yours truly. Just wondering how long I should wait.

Agent Miles, as to heavier cav units, I personally don't use cav units a lot, but I will keep that in mind. Now the sons I have coupled with some other lighter units I raised do fine for taking artillary down and capturing routers. I will also consider making more CMAAs (have some now being pumped as we speak) and might consider using Chiv sergeants (I can build the last building for them easily in a few provinces), though I tend not to use them enough, I think. Have a few halbs as well, which I am pumping out of Denmark.

Any other ideas on how to ready myself for the final Byz battle (they and the Alomonds are the only two close ot me on GA points).

Adrian, I did read that thread, and I am having crash problems even without reinforcements, as I said I believe due to the XP OS on my new desktop. I was getting problems before in my last campaign, though it could also be too many fragment files (my wife already cleared that up a week or so ago), though the crashing problems have been quite a bit more prevelant since switching to the xp OS.

[caravel]

I have this issue as well. I thought it was normal. The only other consistant problem I have is about a 50% probability of CTD when I hit escape on the strat map. I have to use Ctrl+S every time.
What type of graphics card do you have?

[Agent Miles]

Steppe Heavy Cavalry are actually heavy horse archers, which the Danes cannot produce otherwise (unless you take the holy lands and make Turcopoles, which are crap). These would be useful against the Byz or anyone else. Unlike HA's, once you are done skirmishing with them, the SHC are still very good cavalry for melee. Also, they get a point of valor with just a Master Horse Breeder.

[gaijinalways]

Agent Miles posted
These would be useful against the Byz or anyone else. Unlike HA's, once you are done skirmishing with them, the SHC are still very good cavalry for melee.

That sounds good, Muscovy here I come:beam: :smash: . Though sometimes with the way I abuse my cav, they might be getting a bit smashed up as well:laugh4: !

[Adrian II]

Adrian, I did read that thread, and I am having crash problems even without reinforcements, as I said I believe due to the XP OS on my new desktop.You know what, I think you are bang on. I have been asking around about the issue among some game-wise friends and they told me to check the sys reqs on the original game. They also warned me not to tamper with any codes in this set-up, so I'm afraid I will not be able to mod the idiotic 'faction re-emergences' I complained about in another thread. But I have stored the answers I was given by members and will give it a try at some future date. I am looking to buy a slightly older computer with enough power but no XP.

Boy, the lengths to which people will go for this game... :dizzy2:

[gaijinalways]

Ugh, well I took a victory in spirit:smash: , kept trying to save further in, game kept later crashing to the desktop. I had probably close to 60% (almost all of Europe and most of Africa) and led on points in 1385. Very annoying to have to play without being able to save. I had the same problem before in my last English campaign, the game becomes more unstable as the game progresses.

I really need to get that Gateway cord (been busy and missed a possible day due to a mistake at work with my schedule:oops: ). That's when you know you're addicted, you want to use a computer to play MTW!