Pellinor
10-07-2002, 17:02
For the record, I'd like to mention an irritating experience I had this weekend in the SP campaign.
The Situation: HRE, early, expert. It's about 1203, and I have everything west of a line Sweden-Venice-Malta. I've been crushing the Pope every time he reappears, but am now sick of it, so I have formulated a cunning plan to allow the Pope to exist in a non-threatening way.
The Plan: Rome has a large Pope-killing army (spears, arbalests, light cavalry, 6-star general). The Papal States are empty except for a fort and enough troops to keep loyalty at about 100%. The Pope will appear in Rome and the States, so I will defeat him in Rome and let him take the States. He can then sit there and be no threat, but allow Crusades etc.
The Result: The first phase goes by the book. The Pope's replacement now holds the Papal States with about 800 men, and I have been excommunicated. I therefore want to kill him, and ideally leave his replacement with about 10 spears and 2 archers.
I therefore decide to destroy the Pope's army, and kill him, but allow him to keep the States.
On the first attempt, I drove him to the castle, but the survivors became rebels rather than electing a new Pope.
After reloading, I tried again. I crushed the Pope's army and killed him, then withdrew. His ragged remnants rallied and pursued: on my table edge I turned to kill off the pursuing knights (about 6 of them), and routed them. When I withdrew, ending the battle (with Papal units still on the field, but routing), it came up as a victory for me. However:
THE BUG: on the strategic map the Pope still held the States with the 800 men he'd had before the battle, and none of my men had died. It was as if the battle had never occurred.
I tried again. This time I was careful to leave the Pope (or rather his 2i/c) with a formed unit of spears when I withdrew. These however spontaneously routed, with the same strategic result: no casualties to either side, no battle has occurred.
I didn't think to save replays, unfortunately.
The common feature seems to be that if one army routs ("the enemy are fleeing the field") and the other withdraws from the field the first routs off, the battle is effectively not resolved.
The Situation: HRE, early, expert. It's about 1203, and I have everything west of a line Sweden-Venice-Malta. I've been crushing the Pope every time he reappears, but am now sick of it, so I have formulated a cunning plan to allow the Pope to exist in a non-threatening way.
The Plan: Rome has a large Pope-killing army (spears, arbalests, light cavalry, 6-star general). The Papal States are empty except for a fort and enough troops to keep loyalty at about 100%. The Pope will appear in Rome and the States, so I will defeat him in Rome and let him take the States. He can then sit there and be no threat, but allow Crusades etc.
The Result: The first phase goes by the book. The Pope's replacement now holds the Papal States with about 800 men, and I have been excommunicated. I therefore want to kill him, and ideally leave his replacement with about 10 spears and 2 archers.
I therefore decide to destroy the Pope's army, and kill him, but allow him to keep the States.
On the first attempt, I drove him to the castle, but the survivors became rebels rather than electing a new Pope.
After reloading, I tried again. I crushed the Pope's army and killed him, then withdrew. His ragged remnants rallied and pursued: on my table edge I turned to kill off the pursuing knights (about 6 of them), and routed them. When I withdrew, ending the battle (with Papal units still on the field, but routing), it came up as a victory for me. However:
THE BUG: on the strategic map the Pope still held the States with the 800 men he'd had before the battle, and none of my men had died. It was as if the battle had never occurred.
I tried again. This time I was careful to leave the Pope (or rather his 2i/c) with a formed unit of spears when I withdrew. These however spontaneously routed, with the same strategic result: no casualties to either side, no battle has occurred.
I didn't think to save replays, unfortunately.
The common feature seems to be that if one army routs ("the enemy are fleeing the field") and the other withdraws from the field the first routs off, the battle is effectively not resolved.