Poland campaign

[RJV]

Any suggestions?!?! Stuck for cash so bribery ain't an option, rebels are rebelling and not got enough priests to convert them to catholicism, my territories are v. poor as far as farmland goes, and I haven't got any ships yet - although I have got a port in Prussia....

Help!!!!

Cheers.

[moldndecay]

How far along are you?

[Cheetah]

visit the following thread:
http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/Forum14/HTML/000031.html

[RJV]

Mucho Thanko.

I'm still in early period, about to cross into High soon probably. What I've actually done is turn into Mr Defensive for a while and let the old bank balance get back into the black for a bit. Bishops are helping pacify the rebels a little now, which is nice, though the Novgorod, swines that they are, have taken advantage of my enforced absence and mopped up most of the remaining North-East provinces (but they are first on the hit-list...).
And can anyone explain why oh why oh why do Polish provinces suffer famine after famine after flu epidemic after famine??? No wonder the Prussians are fed up, they haven't eaten a decent meal for five years...
Oh yes, and my King fancies the arse off his daughter and his kids all have 11 (or is it 9) toes. Honestly, the lot of a Polish ruler isn't a happy one....

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There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers...

[moldndecay]

Not sure why you are being plagued, ba dum bum. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif I played the Poles 3 times on different setting trying different stratagies.

- First time Allied with HRE/Hungry/Danes then took the rebels in prussia, and moved to take all the Baltic sea ports including sweden for trade and iron bonus. Novgorod didnt put up much of a fight. This left the Byz and Turk empires the southern region and in the Mid game bogged me down terribly.

- Second time Allied with HRE and Byz right of the bat. Attacked Hungry and took the iron province they hold. Then took the north of the Black sea, Kiev, Crimea, Khazar. Plenty of trade and kept the Byz and turks at each others throats. By the time the mid game came around I had moved north and owned all the eastern europe.

-third time allied with HRE/Hungry/Novgorod and went straight for Kiev, Crimea, Khazar. Trade was up quickly and money was rolling in fast. Had to make sure not to neglect Poland and the other starting province, keeping troops there to keep the HRE/Hungry at bay. By the mid game had once again taken the north, but without the iron deposits taken early was somewhat behind in the tech race.

The one difficulty with having army group black sea north is that the Byz seem to not like anyone having shipping in and around the Big C. Build up some shipping in the black sea before spreading out.

Make Polish retainers in Poland. They are available very early in the game.

Thats all I can remember for now.

[Cardinal]

I tried out Poland first time yesterday, and have not gotten very far(1180s). First I conquered all neighbouring rebel land, but got kicked out by a mass rebel (2000 agains my 450. I was winning in the beginning, but the AI had held back a strong reserve, and my arse got well whipped). The problem playing Poland is that you get boxed in early. I chose to take on Novgorod (the pope had absolutely no objections), and they are down to their last province. As soon as I have built ships (in Prussia (rebelling bastards, had to keep a big force there for a long time)) its Scandinavia Ho!.

Tip: When you move an army out of a province, check the provinces moral after moving. It has probably dropped....to much?

[sassbarman]

just finishing my first camp. exp. early as poland just have to clean up the french and that should be it. you captured one of those rebel baltic provinces thats essential get pommern aswell if you can. build ports and ships and tadeposts and trade trade trade. put serios attention into upgrading those trade buildings, i was able to bank well over a million florins really important later on when the cash flow dries up. if the danes havn't taken sweden of norway yet get that next especially sweden lots of tradeable goods and an iron supply for and ironsmith for better weapons. that done look eastwards. good luck!

[Cadarn]

Been playing Poland on Normal today. First time round I tried expanding eastwards through the rebel states which was OK but I needed to maintain large garrisons which left no cash for civ improvements...so start with a new strategy.

This time, I went for Pomerania and Wallachia quickly and then built up a couple of armies. Allied with Byz and Italy, and then invaded Hungary on 2 fronts to stop them reinforcing too easily. I couldn't get the resulting seiges over inside the Pope's time limit so seeing as I was going to be unpopular I went on into Croatia to finish off the Hungarian faction totally. Their horse archers are a pain, but if you have plenty of foot archers with a couple of Retainers they aren't much bother.

With a source of iron for later on and my heartlands secure I just built up a bit and slowly spread eastwards to Kiev and eventually to Sweden and Denmark. I don't have much of a trade network though...

Never mind. Around 1150 the mass invasion of the HRE was launched on 4 fronts into Saxony, Austria, Franconia and Brandenburg. I had to fight off some counter attacks but not once did I have to retreat.

Now the Polish empire stretches from Smolensk in the east to Lorraine in the west. Let's see what the middle game will bring.

I like the Poles. The Retainers are great early cavalry units and combined with a healthy mix of Feudal Sergeants/Archers/Militia my armies are sweeping all before them.

[RJV]

Patience, patience, patience...

A few years later and all of a sudden it doesn't seem so bad. The Royal family are still a bunch of degenerates - a new heir matures and immmediately - not even a single turn later - he has a secret incest (with his unborn foetus of a sister presumably vice, together with Good Runner - perhaps he's a star in the Polish under 16s athletic team...
So, the campaign. Well, patience is definitely a virtue, as well as having a hit squad of priests systematically calming the locals in the rebel provinces to the east. There'll be a lot of rebel and Nov blood spilled there in the next few years, and Sweden is next on the list now that I have ships. My trick of generating a batch of peasants every few years has done the trick too - most of them aren't worth the pixels they're made from and have been positioned for spear fodder, but the new 8 acumen governor of Kiev made up for all that...
Polish retainers are cool - haven't yet managed to work out whether it's worth teching up in Lith to get Lith cavalry, it doesn't look like it, any experience anyone??
Oh yes, and famine is still a problem. Anyone discovered the 'Invents GM food' virtue yet?

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There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers...