Funds for Huns on the run

Hi all,

Just completed my 2nd BI campaign; this time it was a victory, as the Huns, on H/H ~:cheers: . It was around 440 when I completed all my objectives, but I feel I won just by the barest of margins -- Ravenna was under siege by the Goths when I took Rome, my 15th province; Athens was in a state of constant revolt; and my funds were dropping at an alarming rate.

My first move in this campaign was to try and eliminate the Sarmatians. Sadly, one of their family members had slipped away, but I sacked their settlement and got no trouble from them thereafter. Following that, I moved straight for Constantinople to pick a fight with the ERE. I chose to settle there, but was kicked out a few turns later by a rebellion -- loyalty was abominable. Eventually I took it back and got control of the Balkans and things seemed to stabilize.

It was around this time I noticed I was in a financial/loyalty catch-22. Practically every settlement I conquered showed a red face, so I Exterminated the populace every time. However, I'm guessing the lack of population really hurts your income.... so I was forced to conquer another town quickly.... and forced to exterminate again. In fact, the only way I was keeping myself in the black was by this method of looting and pillaging. I suppose it ultimately worked, but there were several touch-and-go moments. Plus, this method doesn't exactly help you in the long term. I had enough money to support a single decent field army; the rest of my funds were spent supporting garrisons in my conquered settlements -- which constantly needed to be increased because I was *still* having loyalty problems. My original capital was Thessalonica; but at the end of the game I saw the abundance of red faces in my settlements along the Rhine and moved it to Mediolanum -- at which point Constantinople, Thessalonica, and Athens took a huge loyalty hit. Fortunately I kept my head above water until I took Rome, but I think there has to be a better way...

Never really had any difficulties on the tactical side of things. My field army was made up of several Hunnic Heavy Cav, some lighter cav like Lancers or Tribesmen, and Horse Archers. I only got to use the Hunnic Elite Warriors at the end, and only rarely used infantry. It's fun to use a cav-heavy army in the RTW engine and not feel like you're "cheating" -- when I play a Roman faction I consciously limit my cav production to reflect a more historically accurate composition in my armies. But with the Huns..... :charge: :charge: :charge:

It was a fun campaign, but the endgame was rather tough as I was paying for my inexperience in running a nomad-style economy. Should I have waited a little longer before settling down? Sacked more towns first? I imagine if I'd done that I'd still be in a similar position -- sacking is nice, but as with exterminating you tend to go through that money quick. Anyone manage to stay out of the red as one of the nomad factions?

CountMRVHS

Using the Hun horde, it's best to march on something really big (like Rome or Constantinople), wait a few turns before you capture it (to convert them to your religion), and then capture/exterminate. The Horde stacks you will have left will help provide law and order, while still recieving a good chunk of money from the high level ports and markets.

I agree with kekvitirae, I took Constantinople by siege, and waited the full 8 turns to starve them out. By the time I took it the population was pretty mu pagan, and knocking down the christain building and building one of our temples was enough to quell serious unrest and if 9 horde spearmen units I could set taxes to very high and still amintain order...

Mind you I did exterminate, well it seemed appropriate!!

With three settlements; Constantinople, Athens and the one in between them I have a stable kingdom and a positive economy...

This is on H/H...

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I have captured, exterminated, abandoned and recaptured to reexterminate both Constantinopolis and Rome in my recent Hun campaign. Just can't resist the urge I guess.

http://www.thelib.com/gallery/albums...cs/impaled.gif http://www.thelib.com/gallery/albums...alatorivm1.gif http://www.thelib.com/gallery/albums/userpics/GAH1.gif
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Its just doesn't feel like Total War if you can't sack Constanstinople at least once... In my game with the Sarmatians I took the easy(cheap) route and just sent all my Horde Horsemen and one of my two Cavalry Commanders of Genius chars. The smaller force lured them out to try and kill me and they got slaughtered on the field of battle. That allowed me to just waltz in, grab the loot, kill a bunch of people and walk out.

I just started up a VH/H Hun campaign and defied convention a little by swinging the Horde to the east.

Took out the Roxolani, wiped out the Sassanids, then ran the table from Antioch to Alexandria. The ERE is in shambles: all its cities in the east have been sacked at least once or revolted except for Esphesus, which I currently have under siege.

Constantinople was sacked by the Sarmatians, who I think we're horded up by the Rox. The Vandals and Goths seem to have gone afer the WRE, and one of them has sacked Rome.

Once I finish sacking the 3 cities I haven't got yet in Turkey, I think I'll settle down in Antioch-Jerusalem-Alexandria.

I'm not in any rush because there are still remnants of ERE retaking cities and my dream is to see the entire East covered in rebel grey.