0% loyalty bug?

[Deus ret.]

I don't know where to post this so I start a new thread here. Something really strange occured to me yesterday evening while I was enjoying my old MedMod/HRE campaign. I had sent a crusade to Prussia and simultaneously launched an invasion of Livonia to complete the "Drang nach Osten" goal in 1205. The invading army in Livonia was led by my newy-crowned emperor who nonetheless already sported 9 influence; the Cumans retreated and I sieged them. Since Livonia had no port I transferred the ruler to Prussia, which had one, to re-establish connection with my empire to avoid loyalty drops. too late, the next turn I got uprisings/re-emergencies in EACH AND EVERY of my provinces with at least two stacks appearing per territory. wow! okay, I reloaded the save on the turn before and noticed that loyalty had gone to 0 in my whole (!) empire. when I ended the turn, the uprisings of course happened again, but although the next turn my emperor in Prussia was "connected" to the rest of the empire, loyalty was still at 0%, notwithstanding the partly sizeable garrisons.

I'm the dominating power but don't own that many provinces, certainly not enough to trigger chain rebellions like at 60%. so I quit and loaded a late English MedMod campaign (still i its early stages), only to see that loyalty was also down to 0% upon reloading.

...what the hell? has anyone ever had an issue like this? It seems that the whole game has become bugged because I can't reload a saved game, they're all at 0%. If I start a new one it's ok, but who knows for how long? Might the use of -ian have something to do with it? In any case it's really frustrating to have to stop at 1203 :wall:

[axel]

Hi mate,
I dont know this mod is it for MTW VI ???

[axel]

:oops:
Damn sry mate i think i drink to much ~:cheers:
No i never did have this problem but is this the med mod from Wes??
If so did you put both patches on see here :

Install this to your Total War folder, unless you didn't install Medieval to the default folder it should already have the appropraite path selected.
http://wes.apolyton.net/Medmod_IV_v4_Maptex.exe

Then install this
http://wes.apolyton.net/Medmod_IV_v4.07.exe
i hope this helps

[Kavhan Isbul]

Deus Ret, I have never been able to get the HRE this far - usually I only fight multiple enemies on all fronts, trying to survive and barely keep my homelands, and things such as the Holy Roman Empire and Drang nach Osten were simply not possible to pursue. What is your trick, how did you manage to secure your borders and then start a Crusade?

[naut]

Are all your save games like that? If so they sound as if they have been corrupted.

[nara shikamaru]

Yeah I have to agree with Rythmic, cuz from whta i remember of my game it was corrupted for a bit, anytime I'd try to load a save game or a new one the game crashed almost as soon as it got to the camp map. Though if its not corrupted then thats on helluva mystery gang.

[Deus ret.]

Thanks for your answers, everyone. I did a complete reinstall of MTW yesterday and lo: it works! Let's see whether and when this annoying bug shows up again. But in any case it means that there was some kind of flaw in the game, not in my saves. Maybe I should leave -ian out, it seems to produce some unwanted side-effects in the long run....

@Kavhan Isbul: I posted an account (which sounds rather frustrated in the retrospective) here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1188309&postcount=38)

It's quite some time back but I remember it vividly. The hardest campaign I've played so far. I had to start over several times because I was quickly smashed to pieces and in the end I had to break my own house rules. It's essential not to let unit production stop, and to serverely punish anyone who goes to war with you (they'll all do it anyway). 'Severely punish' means invading and razing their heartland, at the very least; I did so with the Poles right in the beginning and with the Hungarians when they attacked. Seen from the aftermath, it wa a perfect action movie: whenever a given war was about to finish (i.e. turn into a stand-off), the next one started. Thus, I battled my way clock-wise through Poles, Hungarians, Venetians and Genoese; while fighting the latter the Danes attacked and were also vanquished. I know it's funnier to leave some small factions around but since everyone hates the HRE they'll attack even against all odds, and have no enemies besides you. This (and GA goals) were the reason I had to push into Southern Italy to get rid of those annoying Sicilians who can really ruin one's day with their uber-cav, as you rightly mentioned in some other thread. man I was glad when I had the first surviving set of ships in the sea squares bordering Northern Italy!

The downside is that once those chaotic chain wars cease and your position is secured, there won't happen very much from there on (mid-1150's in my case). So I added some colour to the scenario and moved the Pope to a ceasefire via -ian, enabling me to crusade again which makes things a lot more funny. So I'm sitting there, raking in GA points and waiting for the horde. It's a pity that there are no regular halbs in High but it won't be too hard anyway given all those fancy units I got in 1205 and which enjoy +3/+3 upgrades in my core provinces. Those +1v Imperial Knights from Bavaria, I tell you...! Quite unfair but then my armies aren't that big due to my still mediocre finances. all those wars eat away trading partners, now the Byz are the only significant power who trades with me.

The general pace of events on the remaining map is slow. Eastern Europe has remained the same since the Kievans swallowed the Poles. Even the Cumans just sat there for ages on their huge inland empire, doing nothing until I took Prussia and Livonia from them. there are only two wars in which I'm not involved, one is Byz vs. Seljuks, with the latter doing surprisingly well (I have a good watching spot in Palestine where interesting outremer units can be recruited) and the other is Spain vs. Aragon (with the latter being militarily inferior but nevertheless they keep three stacks in Languedoc, their sole border province with me :dizzy2:). The map seems just too small for two other super-powers to clash, so I guess I'll have to slug with the mighty Byz one day.

Don't know yet what I'll do with the horde. They'll likely go straight for me, and not relent until one of us is extinct. But I really don't feel like conquering all of the steppes....

Honestly, the HRE has a really hard standing but their units are also excellent and make up for a lot. I would be more interested, though, in how you carved out such a nice empire with the Pech since their units are not quite the crème de la crème, at least when I fought them....

[Kavhan Isbul]

Thanks Deus. I actually find the Pecheneg units quite nice, especially the Bulgarian Brigands which are a uber unit in early. In MedMod they actually have a pretty good melee, making them perfect for ambushing cavalry in the woods. The Balkan Nobles cannot compare to the Knechte, The Norman Knights and the Destriders, but they have a bonus when attacking other cavalry, which comes in handily when you have pinned a unit of Kataphraktoi or Stratioti down. The Szekely are one of my favorite units too, second only to Byzantine Cavalry in terms of horse archers in this mod. The other units as you have discovered are quite poor, but still it is a relatively balanced roster. The major problem for the Pechenegs as for any other faction are the Byzantines, and the only way to deal with them is to conquer Bulgaria on the very first turn and then defend it against all odds against their uber armies and jedi Emperor and heirs. I disocvered that +1 valor Bulgarian Brigands from Bulgaria can be quite effective against Kataphraktoi in the woods, and I play on expert. After a two or three battles the Byzantines will get in war with the Seljuks and they will start transferring troops to Asia Minor, and might even accept a cease-fire. In the mean time the Kievans will attack you in Moldova, and contrary to any logic the key is to retreat and then attack them over a bridge, enticing their army on the bridge. After a battle or two they tend to give up, as they are surrounded by enemies and soon in war with almost all their neighbors.
From then on things start working in your favor - the Hunagrians main armies are somewhere in Bavaria, and the Serbs try to attack them, which allows you to take advantage taking a few provinces from the Hungarians. Then you need to act quickly to push the Byzantines out of the Balkans and you will need a small fleet to prevent them from transferring troops from Asia Minor, as by that time they would have probably almost finished off the Seljuks. Once the Balkans are secured by your navy (the Sicilians need to be cut off, otherwise their monster cavalry will arrive in Aechea and give you tons of trouble), the rest of the Pecheneg neighbors are quite manageable - the Hungarians have the same roster, and there is a nice river to defend you once you get Panonia, and the Poles have an even worse roster and the tendency to implode in the beginning of the game and then fall apart in Civil Wars. Then come the Danes, who usually do quite well against the HRE, but their slow infantry suits my Szekely HA tactics quite well. The only problem until the high period is securing the Baltic provinces, as you cannot have a fleet there. Finally, there are the Cumans followed by the Horde, but in High you get arbalesters to complement the Bulgarian Brigands, plus an OK spear unit, and that pretty much is all you need from then on to counter the superior cavalry of other factions.
To sum it up, dealing with the Byzantines is the key.