suggestions for a more intreasting campaign

[Hellenic_Hoplite]

if you wish post your suggestions that you think can make a campaign more intreasting/challenging.

migration campaign-an example would be if your were playing as sicily and had your entire army and all family members migrate to a far off city such as baghdad or london and give all of your old lands to another faction.

I would like to hear everyones elses ideas.

[Askthepizzaguy]

if you wish post your suggestions that you think can make a campaign more intreasting/challenging.

migration campaign-an example would be if your were playing as sicily and had your entire army and all family members migrate to a far off city such as baghdad or london and give all of your old lands to another faction.

I would like to hear everyones elses ideas.

Generally speaking, I think that in order to spice up your gameplay, you should do something like the above strategy. In other words, play outside of your usual comfort zone. If you are a crazy, mad, frothing at the mouth militaristic expansionist like me, you might consider playing a slower and more defensive game. I did that with Denmark and found it very interesting to defend against people from my starting position rather than pound into the dust people I have never met for no apparent reason other than wanton destruction. Or, if you're the cautious pacifist type, try an experiment and role play as a deranged dictator bent on world destruction, and see how bizarre that game goes.

If you're familiar with catholic factions, try a Muslim faction. Or vice versa. I've been mostly playing western europe, but I have never played a Moors game. I just can't identify with them. But... maybe I should, when I get bored. The Muslim faction I find challenging is the Turks! Go turks! I usually dont like the Muslim factions but the Turks I like.

And of course, who hasn't tried a Russian game and thought, "wow, this is a completely different game."

Russia is the most oddball faction. In the middle of nowhere with a single impoverished province and almost no decent troops. The rebels actually become your main enemy for a while. And then you end up fighting a giant Christian horde who hates you for apparently no reason. Go Russia! I made it all the way to Italy with them and then I called it quits.

Another tactic I have seen: Playing as a horde. Take your stacks of troops, line them up together, and go on a nonstop pillaging and destroying tour of the world, but dispose of all buildings for the cash and let the cities rebel. You're a horde, not a bunch of farmers. You recruit mercenaries and send reinforcements from your isolated patch of starting land. Or, if that gets conquered, whatever you happen to own.

Using agents rather than troops to conquer the world and expand your empire is another tactic. Spies and assassins, merchants to pay for them, diplomats to bribe (if you can... good luck), and priests/imams to cause disorder from religious dissent, or order in your territories. The rule is you can only conquer rebels.

Any others?

[Monsieur Alphonse]

I did this with England and have created the Holy English kingdom of Jerusalem and Antioch . I started with selling Caen to France. I left London undefended and made Nottingham my capital guarded by a peasant . Then I loaded up the two ships and sailed east. When I entered the Mediterranean I asked the Pope for a Crusade but the old fat one wasn't ready for it. So I sailed to Alexandria and Gaza and took them both. My first concern was to destroy Egypt asap and start to convert the population. Jerusalem gives you a permanent public order bonus of 15%. Because of my converting program I soon controlled the Vatican. My border are now expanding into souther Russia (Sarkel) and the Balkan. I have recently been visited by some strange looking yellow people that are looking for a new home and want something to plunder. They are currently a little lost and are wandering through the mountains of Anatolia complaining that I block all their movements. I am at war with Poland, Russia, Venice and France. France hasn't wiped out as usual so I am looking forward to meet them on the battle field.

All in all migrating is fun. And I am stinking rich. :2thumbsup:

[Guru]

Yes, migrating is fun, at least in-game. I have used the Danes to relocate in the British isles, the Portuquese (sp?) and the Sicilians to take the Holy Land And establish a solid kingdom there. I've dome some other "experiments", too. Building a catholic kingdom in the Holy Lands is a nice challenge. You're certain to get Papal support and many huge battles with those infidels. They'll all attack you anyway. (Sibni la wahdi, infidel!)
The Russians are an interesting faction. I played a guerilla-raiding warfare campaign with them. Early game is very interesting since you often have to beat the AI (artificial idiot) with inferior troops. Your later troops are supreme. Their cavalry is the best in the game if you ask me. 2 light HAs, 1 uberheavy HA, javelin cavalry, 2 melee cavalry units. Even the mongols will cry when they see Tsars guard, mounted Dvor and boyar sons.
How about migrating to catholic lands as a muslim? The Moors in Scandinavia? :jester:

-- Guru

[Augustus Germanicus]

I actually do this as my game plan for whenever I play as Sicily. I never could figure out the even semi-historical basis for the short game goals of taking down Venice and Milan so I instead migrate against the Byzantines and into the Levant. A Latin Empire in the Balkans and/or a Crusader Kingdom in Antioch, Edessa, Acre, and Jerusalem fuels my need for historical plausability while placing me at the center of most of the special events (crusades, jihads, mongols, ect.) that make the campaign more than just a set up for the battle engine. Plenty of action just trying to defend your boarders, and eventually Venice and Milan will come after you anyway, as they're 2 of the few factions the AI can actually be counted on to survive and thrive with, and (in my experience) the most backstabbing.

Beyond that, I never change settlement types to put me even with the AI as far as income potential, and recently I've been trying new ways to play factions, such as playing the HRE without an early blitz into Northern Italy. The hard part for this one (for me at least) is convincing Venice/Milan not to break their alliances and attack me within the first 10-20 turns. Why these "small but wealthy" "city-states" are, in 95% of my games, the most powerful, most aggressive AI controlled factions out there while France and the HRE face (again, 95+% of the time the AI controls them) nothing but defeats and economic failure is beyond me, but that's a rant, and I'm going to stop now.

I'm also now getting into a game as the Byzantines - Retake only the East Roman Empire's original former territory - which not only faces invasions from the North and West but also leaves a sizeable amount of land in the East and even South under hostile control - and hold it against all comers. Man I wish I had some gunpowder, it's a lot harder than in BI.

For me campaign changes and add-ons are the thing I'm most excited about in the upcoming expansion. I just hope we get some new diplomatic toys, special events, and victory options to play with, not just some new skinned units to kill.

Here's praying for something cool for the Orthodox factions to do, since Crusades/Jihads/Diplomacy are all pretty much out the window.

[Rhedd]

This may not be as much a campaign thing as a battle thing, but I've played one-and-a-half campaigns now using the "General View" camera for everything but defending siege battles. (With limited minimap usage, too.)

The effect on both the difficulty and immersion is staggering! I love it.

It forces you to think about where and when to deploy on the campaign map, because a thick forest or view-blocking hill can spell your doom.

It forces you to use more appropriate historical medieval tactics, since initial troop positioning and grouping becomes far more important when the battle itself is going to be a fight to maintain situational awareness in the confusion.

It's just so much more realistic than the superhuman, hive-mind-like coordination of your army caused by the more traditional RTS birds-eye perspective of control.

That, and it's so fantastic to be marching your army through dense evening fog, towards the suspected enemy position, and see faint torchlight in the distance. Is it an unexpected farmstead, or the enemy vanguard? Only one way to find out...

[Ars Moriendi]

It's just so much more realistic than the superhuman, hive-mind-like coordination of your army caused by the more traditional RTS birds-eye perspective of control.


The superhuman hive-mind-like coordination is there to compensate for the subhuman, no-mind-like stupidity of your units - it's not like you can count on them to do the right thing when not supervised...

I'll have to admit, though, that general camera is great for immersion and could do wonders for those complaining about the game being too easy : I tried it and liked the feeling ; couldn't get on with it because I got my ass kicked regularly by weaker armies, it became too difficult for me...

[Didz]

Well I decided to write a blog based on one of my campaigns and was quite surprised at how much impact it had my enjoyment of the game. the discipline of having to write down your plans and strategies and of course justify your actions and decisions seems to bring the game alive.

[Budwise]

This one is easier than it should be but become the papacy yourself. Work very hard to get nothing but cardinals, assasinate all the other cardinals you come across and don't expand too much. Also, try to keep a very good reputation and have no generals with any dread levels.

Another option is be the antichrist. Make alliances only to break them, if an ally helps in a fight or you help an ally, sit back and do nothing as they lose to the AI, then withdraw if its not your land or conquest. Hell, even cheat and make yourself filthy rich but raise taxes all the way up for spite. Execute all prisoners and always be at war. When asked for a ceasefire, ask for the most rediculous demands like the AI does to you and as a whole, be pure evil. Also, if you do cheat for money, buy badly needed providences that the enemy needs, burn them to the ground and then ceasefire agree to give them back to them.

Play as a nomadic horde - build a huge army and just go from on providence to another. Never keep the land but when you conquer one you exterminate the population and slash and burn everything. Do that until your the only one left. Use the slash and burn money to upgrade your population. Basically be the mongels but be more sinister.

[Budwise]

If you're familiar with catholic factions, try a Muslim faction. Or vice versa. I've been mostly playing western europe, but I have never played a Moors game. I just can't identify with them. But... maybe I should, when I get bored. The Muslim faction I find challenging is the Turks! Go turks! I usually dont like the Muslim factions but the Turks I like.



Yeah, I tried the Moors because I am so used to the English and I just couldn't relate either. I got as far as seeing the Aztecs but as far as the society or the army, I just don't get it. I couldn't really expand much because of foreign wars but I held most of Africa and all of Spain for a long time. I gave it up but its defininely made me a better player playing them.

[sapi]

This may not be as much a campaign thing as a battle thing, but I've played one-and-a-half campaigns now using the "General View" camera for everything but defending siege battles. (With limited minimap usage, too.)

The effect on both the difficulty and immersion is staggering! I love it.

It forces you to think about where and when to deploy on the campaign map, because a thick forest or view-blocking hill can spell your doom.

It forces you to use more appropriate historical medieval tactics, since initial troop positioning and grouping becomes far more important when the battle itself is going to be a fight to maintain situational awareness in the confusion.

It's just so much more realistic than the superhuman, hive-mind-like coordination of your army caused by the more traditional RTS birds-eye perspective of control.

That, and it's so fantastic to be marching your army through dense evening fog, towards the suspected enemy position, and see faint torchlight in the distance. Is it an unexpected farmstead, or the enemy vanguard? Only one way to find out...
I keep hearing great things about that camera mode; I'll have to try it :yes:

How exactly does it limit your view?

[TevashSzat]

What would be awesome is if the loyalty part of the game was expanded further. You could have an extremely large kingdom, around 30 provinces have portions of it secede from the kingdom due to a low authority king. You could employ the same system from RTW Barbarian invasion where the more battles your general wins, the more confident and egotistical he becomes and the higher chance that he will want to start his own kingdom and steal some of your territories

[Budwise]

Any other ideas?

[John_Longarrow]

Buy your way to success.

Limit yourself to ONLY EVER taking rebel territory near you and then only gain territory from other factions by buying it off of them. This would require you to build up a very large economy and an effective military for protection. It also means that you'd probably not want to get involved in any alliances, but would want trade with everyone.

I'm considering doing that as either the Scots or the Danes.

[heynow21]

I just simcity it. Perfect governors, experienced armies, far reaching merchants...the AI is just too bad to play for a challenge.

[Furious Mental]

Don't expand beyond 10 or so provinces until 1400. Then give every AI faction 900,000 florins and prepare to reap the whirlwind.

[Odin]

5 turns for succession. When your king dies, figure out an appropriate way to give yourself a small penalty. I use 5 turns where I dont do anything, no attacking, no new buildings. Not a great little house rule, but the problems of successions and the turn over isnt represented at all in the game.

[phonicsmonkey]

Buy your way to success.

Limit yourself to ONLY EVER taking rebel territory near you and then only gain territory from other factions by buying it off of them. This would require you to build up a very large economy and an effective military for protection. It also means that you'd probably not want to get involved in any alliances, but would want trade with everyone.

I'm considering doing that as either the Scots or the Danes.

I'm doing that now as the Moors - it's great fun. The only difference is that I also allow myself to create rebel territory to expand into by assassinating neighbouring royal families...mwuhahahahaaaaa