Welcome friends to yet another post containing my unsolicited opinion. For your edification, here are some tips to being the most brutal conqueror you can be.
1. Landing the first blow
The AI is completely vulnerable at the beginning of the game. If you are intelligent and prepare yourself well, you can bum-rush even the mightiest faction before they know what hit them. As Scotland, you can wipe out half of England before they can muster a defense, as your beginning forces on the Isles are superior to theirs. Sail down past their front line and smash their capital, rape and pillage, then burn their city to the ground and go after Nottingham. If London revolts (it probably won't if you lower taxes), so much the better, as the English would have to recapture a well-defended rebel settlement instead of your poorly defended one. If you destroy their military buildings as you leave, when they recapture the settlement (if they do) they cannot retrain troops or recruit, further crippling their ability to fight. Leave the economic buildings intact if you plan on retaking the city soon.
This tactic of using rebellions to your advantage is outrageously unfair. That's why I like it. I am creating the maximum amount of pain to my enemies with a minimal amount of effort. It is the strongest tactical move. This also works against human opponents, who are more difficult to defeat, and more richly deserve an unfairly crushing blow. Nothing destroys your ability to fight like losing your greatest cities and their military and economic support. You must now waste time recapturing them, making your war defensive rather than offensive; a very uncomfortable position to be in, especially fighting against a brutal invader who is only concerned with destroying you quickly, not holding your cities. This tactic is equally good against AI and human opponents.
2. Trapped inside their walls
Depending on the circumstances, walls can be a dream or a nightmare. Notice how the HRE starts with a decent amount of troops inside Bologna. These forces sometimes stay within the city walls because there aren't any reserve or relief forces nearby. Often times they build up their forces before moving them out. Now is the time to strike!
They don't even have any impressive troops yet. So much the easier. Seige the city, and their forces are trapped inside. Now you can wait them out, starve them to death, and you can afford to wait for reinforcements of your own. They cannot recruit and their finances are cut. They are in a tactically weak position. So they have to either wait for relief forces or sally forth. I know what you are thinking; "duh, we already know this".
But consider this: Sallying forces must rush through their gates, making them temporarily get bottlenecked. This also severely limits their mobility. If you have cavalry, rush forward and pin them at the gates, surround them on 3 sides if you can. Get your infantry forward asap, and surround them. They are now in a situation similar to reaching the other side of the bridge and are now surrounded by enemy forces. Even superior forces, in number or in quality, can buckle under this stress. In these situations, the best way to sally is from a different gate. But if they do that, they sometimes leave themselves vulnerable to ladders (this is a seige after all) who can rush and take their walls, open the gate, and allow your forces to take the city. In any case, the added distance and the need to charge the entire way tires them out, and you get to fight defensively. I've also noticed that the AI rarely rushes out the side gates.
3. Be a viking raider
Not typically my playing style as it involves a navy, but hopping from city to city along the coastline looking for soft targets to destroy is an effective way to soften up several enemies when preparing for a real invasion.
Try not to think of your front line as being simply your border. Sometimes the enemy is weakest behind their front line, so the best way to hit them is to avoid their standing armies like the plague and smash their less-defended settlements.
If you hop along the coast, sacking and demolishing cities, you are severely weakening your foes and weakening their ability to fight. You can also make a tidy profit selling off their buildings for cash.
Send a unit of cavalry ahead before making your move through enemy territory. This springs any ambush in your path. Use spies to look for any large stacks of troops that can threaten you. In general, fight like a coward. Avoid serious battles and destroy as much as possible. You could always just send wave after wave of disposable troops towards your enemy and kill as many as possible, and then just spawn more troops, but that takes time and money. I like to get as much destruction from my troops as possible before they die bravely for my empire.
You can supplement this shore-hopping strategy by sending wave after wave of town militia by boat to reinforce your new holdings. This makes it difficult for the enemy to reconquer their territory, and allows you to hold your new coastal acquisitions for as long as possible.
4. Be a better horde of destruction
One stack of troops is generally enough to cause misery all along the countryside, but what of those instances where you have a large, well-garrisoned city in the way and relief forces nearby? Sometimes you bite off more than you can chew this way, and you can trap yourself deep in enemy territory.
Two stacks of troops may be a better idea. But how do you manage two stacks of aggressor forces? Two generals with similarly laid-out armies?
I prefer to manage my two (or more) stacks in complimentary fashion. And I never let the AI control my generals. They are too suicidal.
I let the AI manage my giant stack of infantry and archers. The AI seems to be able to handle that well enough. Make sure these troops are well armed, but cheap and disposable. Such as a big horde of spearmen with light mail armor. Even militia works here.
I personally manage my general's stack. I typically have at least two or more general's units, and I treat them all as my lead general's personal bodyguard. Then I like to have a whole MESS of cavalry with a decent charge, and plenty of melee cavalry to pin the enemy down, and some horse archers or light cavalry to take care of routers, smash up enemy archers, and generally maneuver around the enemy defenses. As a last resort, they can also be used to tip the balance in a close fight with another wave of charging horsemen.
Using the two armies in conjunction, I allow the infantry and archer division to actually lay seige to settlements while my cavalry division takes care of standing armies in quick fashion. (Unless I intend to open the gates and charge directly to the city center with my cavalry while the enemy is on the walls, in which case I use most of my cavalry and a couple infantry units to lay seige.)
I keep the two stacks together, and I send a scouting unit and a spy ahead of me to prevent ambushes and provide recon.
Sending 3 or 4 good spies doesn't hurt either. You can lay seige to a city and take it on the first turn this way, pillage, burn it to the ground, and move on. There's no better way to brutalize the enemy than by taking down half of their empire in a mere 4 or 5 turns.
Safeguard your cavalry while using this tactic. Allow the AI controlled infantry to take most of the damage, and just use the cavalry to break the spine of the enemy and mop up routers (thus gaining experience with the fewest casualties). The infantry are your disposable army, easily replaceable with mercenaries (sometimes mercenaries are your better infantry anyway... do you hear me, Russia?).
Good cavalry is hard to come by. Notice that your general units replenish their strength after a couple turns. I sometimes use them as shock cavalry, to be the first to smash into the enemy line, provided it isn't into a pile of good enemy spears. The general is great at both charge and melee, and as long as you have a couple generals or more, there are enough bodyguards there to hold off the enemy for a long time. Your general becomes the first hammer, and then the anvil, of the cavalry army. Charge and pin with your general's bodyguard and smash with your other good cavalry. Your general gains mucho experience, good traits like brutally scarred, brave, etc, and earns the respect and trust of his men. This can turn your general into a Jedi knight.
If you use the above strategy, your troops will
A) last longer
B) cause more destruction
C) gain more experience
D) provide numerous oppurtunities for your infantry army to promote captains.
Use your cavalry army as backup on auto-resolved battles and send your captain-led all-infantry army into battle against standing armies. You will promote more captains to generals this way. An endless supply of young, experienced, battle-hardened, and largely loyal warriors for your royal family.
I like playing my faction as a meritocracy. Sometimes the royal line gets a little diluted and we need fresh blood, and competent generals.
5. Don't forget to clean up your mess
Keep moving, always. Once you smash the enemy, move on to press your advantage. You can send an all-infantry militia army as the next wave to mop up anything that might be left, such as the occassional rebellion or reconquest by inadequate enemy forces. As long as you destroy the enemy troop-producing structures, you should fare well against any possibility of a counterattack. When you are on the attack and the enemy has no chance of turning back your main assault force, the war is all but won.
Never just sit around using your impressive assault forces as babysitters in freshly conquered territory. These are invaders, pillagers, and conquerors, not town watchmen.
Sacking and demolishing useful enemy structures impairs the ability of the enemy to fight back. Resistance is futile.
6. Using agents
A brutal conqueror with a strong military can overlook the ability of spies, diplomats, and assassins to make your conquest even more destructive. You can sometimes send spies and sabateurs to soften up any large (even superior) enemy empires by causing their loyalty to go in the toilet and smashing thier public order buildings. While they are busy reclaiming their own territory, you have a free hand to conquer your inferiors. (Although I must confess, it is not that often that I am dealing with a superior empire).
Since the AI is going to fall to your superior abilities anyway, why not do it in the most crushingly efficient and overwhelming way possible? Instead of a slow war of attrition, I try to take a sledgehammer and smash my way across an entire continent in the most devastating way possible, demonstrating little regard for human suffering. It's my chance to roleplay as Evil incarnate. The fewer troops I lose in the process, and the faster the enemy falls, the better.
Pillaging and exterminating builds dread anyway. Why not go with it?
=============================================
A good companion piece to this brutality thread would be tips on how to be a successful and merciful leader. Everyone knows how far honesty and integrity goes with this game, though. (sarcasm, anyone?)
I am curious as to how much integrity a chivalrous leader would have to sacrifice in order to win wars as quickly and decisively. Obviously using spies as rebellion instigators will allow you to conquer more territory from your rival nations without sacrificing too much reputation. But it seems devious to me.
Unless we count duplicitous machiavellian leaders as chivalrous, this seems to be an incongruity.
On a personal note, I have difficulty enjoying a slow, chivalrous campaign, as I hate sitting still and waiting for the enemy to come after me. It seems way too easy to just build your economy while sucking up to every other nation and repelling the occasional weak-willed invasion, then taking over your rivals piece by piece as they turn on you. Something smells of lost initiative and cowardice there.
Granted, the enemy will put up more of a fight once you finally decide to attack them, but by then you have massive amounts of money, well-armored troops, and better troop types. I suppose it is not without it's charm, but I personally haven't been able to enjoy the long drawn out half-hearted conquest of the map through diplomatic, chivalrous, and merciful means. To play with chivalry almost feels like playing Medieval 2: Total Peace Except For the Occasional Witch Burning Or Riot Suppression.
Blah... I'm too bloodthirsty and obsessed with destruction to play with honor.
The few times I do take the chivalrous path are to lull the enemy into a false sense of security and get them to lower their defenses. Then I become evil on a level never before imagined. I sometimes exterminate giant cities of my former allies just to get the point across. Hmm... maybe I have issues that I need to work out.
I hope you enjoyed the read. I try to make my posts as entertaining and informative as possible.
P.S: Please do not reply with quote unless you plan on isolating the few sentences you are responding to... I notice that sometimes people reply with quote and leave a little blurb like "good post" or "I disagree" after quoting a post that is over a page long. Seems a little silly to me.
07-15-2007, 07:09
CMcMahon
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Honor and chivalry? Bah. That's no fun, especially when everyone hates you anyway.
07-15-2007, 07:57
Ars Moriendi
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
As you said in another thread, different styles of play here, to be sure ~:)
I tend to favor expensive elite armies over the cheap disposable throwaways, and almost never took a city unless I intend to keep it. I don't exterminate or destroy buildings either, as getting elite armies requires high population and technology levels.
This doesn't get my family members paramounts of chivalry though : I have a thing for assassins (mostly to keep the map clutter down and get rid of those annoying diplomats and princesses with their constant bowing at my cities) so the leader is as high in dread as it gets. The other generals aren't very nice characters either : I tend to fight battles for the fast mass rout then methodically mop all the routers, so it doesn't make much sense to release and fight them again, the POW's usually get the axe.
When Kingdoms arrives it will offer more opportunities for roleplaying, so I'll try some raider warfare (maybe Norway in Britannia), your very extensive and bloody-minded post(*) makes it sound like fun.
Oh wait, why not try the Mongols right now !? hmmm, burn cities yeah, die europeans, die hahahaha rape and pillage yeah !
(*) I particularly like this part "I try to take a sledgehammer and smash my way across an entire continent in the most devastating way possible, demonstrating little regard for human suffering.". You're scary.
07-15-2007, 08:04
Askthepizzaguy
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Quote:
Originally Posted by CMcMahon
Honor and chivalry? Bah. That's no fun, especially when everyone hates you anyway.
:yes: :2thumbsup: :beam:
The man has a point! What is honor among the honorless AI? The only faction worth allying with is the Papal States, and that's only if you're catholic and don't feel like slaying his pontificating pontiff right away.
Oh, but the pope is fun to slay.
Hey, I just thought of something fun to add to the game.
Since his papal pompousness is so keen on calling crusades, wouldn't it be nice if your King could offer a bounty on an enemy character?
The rules are, you can only have one active bounty at any given time. Your own troops cannot accept the bounty mission, as they already serve you. You must have the florins on hand to offer as a bounty, and once a bounty is offered, the florins must be set aside until the bounty is claimed or has expired.
To respond to your bounty, rebel mercenaries or other factions may attempt to kill or capture the object of your bounty. If successful, they claim the bounty from you. Rebel bounty hunters would be a neat addition to the game. Now those would truly be independent mercenaries, loyal to no one except coin. As an added bonus, any city they capture is not yours, but becomes the property of the faction who claimed it, including the rebels.
I would be thrilled with being able to place a bounty of 30,000 florins for the army who slays the pointy-headed one. Especially if he excommunicates me or calls a crusade against me. The fool!
What a nice addition to the game this would be, yes? The higher the bounty, the more likely rebel mercenaries or rival factions will attempt to claim the bounty, except of course if they are allied with the object of your loathing, in which case it would take an excessively large bounty for them to even consider responding.
07-15-2007, 09:16
Monsieur Alphonse
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Quote:
Originally Posted by CMcMahon
Honor and chivalry? Bah. That's no fun, especially when everyone hates you anyway.
I agree. Playing on higher difficulty makes everyone hate you. If they don't love let them hate you. In my Turkish campaign all my generals had the mean leader trait. My sultan is a killer or a tyrant. We are fighting a war. War is for guys who have molten lead for breakfast, nail soup for lunch and roasted babies for dinner. I find those threats about nurturing the generals in to high chivalry guys very boring. It is like playing simcity. My reputation is always very untrustworthy or despicable. :whip:
Al tough I don't know how I did it, in my current Spanish campaign most of my generals have lots of chivalry. May be I should attack the Moors and burn everybody. In the 18 or 19 century there was a king in Africa who wanted to have fresh heads on stakes on his wall every morning. There were 60 stakes. I suppose he had 10 dread. :evil: :evil2: :evil3: :evilgrin:
07-15-2007, 09:43
Askthepizzaguy
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
When I crusade like an insane zealot, I often get high chivalry. I try to get as many generals as possible 10 chivalry. Which is possible if you have a general with at least 1 or 2 starting chivalry, go on a crusade with that general and leave/join/leave until you get +5 chivalry (version 1.0 exploit), and then capture the crusade target with that general. (Ancillaries +2 chivalry, grand crusader + chivalry, etc).
Of course, that is the cheap and exploitative way to get 10 chivalry. I've noticed it is possible to do so and still have traits involving the ruthless slaughter of little children, sacking and pillaging cities, exterminating entire populations, and something about torturing prisoners and then feeding them to their captured leaders, chunk by bloody chunk, etc.
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
Flesh is burning, da na na na na na
(repeat ad infinitum)
Sorry, just got lost in the moment there for a second.
MMmmmm.... nonsequitur.
Yes, I agree with you about how focusing on economy and general traits feels more like the Sims and Simcity than a blood n guts medieval war game.
"Hey guys, this morning I finally got my third lieutenant general up to the level of decent administrator! Tomorrow, I am going for the gold...
ABOVE AVERAGE ADMINISTRATOR"!!! cuts to dramatic prairie dog *dunn dunn dunnnnn!*
"Now instead of only collecting 1173 florins per turn, I get to collect 1245!"
*YAWN!* points crossbow at own head
Good-bye, cruelty-free world...
New signature line?
:elephant: This is the only way to demonstrate how insane I am.
07-15-2007, 11:02
Grog
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Another good read, I like the purple dancing elephant~
I tend to be a turtle player prone to brief flashes of crazed blitzkrieg. Recently venice attacked my peaceful (*cough*) empire one time too often, and that pope fellow gets a bit annoying, so I took the entire venice>scicily in around 5 turns with 2 armies when the plague was in full bloom. One thing I have found useful when blitzing territory 'to keep' is to run a stack of priest-piloted milita behind the dreadlords, and throw in a 5 stack free garrison before the smoke settles.
Another thing I look for when expanding is a 'free walk in' ie: if an enemy general is sitting close to a town in my potential expansion sphere, I'll hit him hard with a horse army, draw the garrison out, chop them all to shreds and walk into town unopposed, no need for spies/slow siege gear (although I am guilty of 3 spy + cavalry stack invasions all the time)
Anyway, another challenge seeing as you have done the 20-30 turn blitzkrieg crusaders to the death :dizzy2:
Pick any faction (1.2 vanilla), be the simcity happy nice guy uber governer chivalrous type, only fight defensive wars/rebels and don't use diplomats to 'talk up' a war, turtle/quick turns until the mongols arrive. Fastest time from 'a new horde in the east' to 'faction destroyed' message for both mongols and timurids would make good reading.
If you want some house rules, try no crusades/jihads vs the horde, 20 province max empire, no ai armies or massed ai stack autoresolve.
What I'd like to see is a merciless execution of the hordes in the fastest time possible using the least resources, ie: instead or 'out hordeing' the horde, a bit of good old 'divide and conquer' is in order.
07-15-2007, 12:52
Lacessit
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Hahaha! Isn't it just great how the game actually accomodates BOTH styles though? I like the amount of fun you're having with the brutal tactics (though I am more the boring simcity-man myself:2thumbsup: ) And I like the fact that I can ALSO play it in my own boring simcity way :beam:
07-15-2007, 17:06
Ramses II CP
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
I think it would be interesting to try out being an actual merciless conqueror sometime. Grab an isolated island for your lone base, land a stack or two on the mainland, and take every province, exterminate every populace, sell every structure, and annihilate every other faction, and leave the entire continent a mass of flaming rubble. Call it a dystopic look at the Dark Ages. ;)
Come to think of it, maybe that's what I'll try next. :egypt:
07-15-2007, 23:21
Gaius Terentius Varro
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Or you could buy a hamster pop it into microwave and watch the spectacle.
Really now, in 1.0 anyone could take over the world with an army of peasants.
I am sort of saddened by all the hitler wannabees posting here. I guess the older crowd got tired of the game and moved on. I will do the same. farewell
07-15-2007, 23:54
Askthepizzaguy
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaius Terentius Varro
Or you could buy a hamster pop it into microwave and watch the spectacle.
Really now, in 1.0 anyone could take over the world with an army of peasants.
I am sort of saddened by all the hitler wannabees posting here. I guess the older crowd got tired of the game and moved on. I will do the same. farewell
Yes, you're right. Enjoying a medieval war game and roleplaying your character is exactly the same as really being Hitler. I know that whenever I buy a game whose object is global domination, I don't attack anyone, I just sit at home and build ever larger marketplaces and attempt to raise my governor's piety to maximum. That, after all, is why we buy war games.
Shame on anyone who thinks otherwise! You tell them, Gaius. This has been gnawing on my mind for some time now. All those people enjoying warfare... it is really quite sickening. Don't they know that simulated death is evil? It definitley is on par with real animal cruelty or the actual Holocaust.
I applaud you for putting those sickos in their place. God forbid anyone try to enjoy a simple computer game without offending the political correctness police.
LOL
Seriously though, Gaius, it is all in good fun. No one is getting hurt here. There's no actual violence, raping, or pillaging taking place. I'm not abusing drugs or planting bombs. So, you know, loosen up, maybe? It is just a game.
Note: There's nothing wrong with expressing an opinion, it is a forum for the free exchange of ideas. By that same token, rebuttals should be allowed.
No hard feelings, Gaius.
Hahaha! Isn't it just great how the game actually accomodates BOTH styles though? I like the amount of fun you're having with the brutal tactics (though I am more the boring simcity-man myself:2thumbsup: ) And I like the fact that I can ALSO play it in my own boring simcity way :beam:
Of course! To each his own, my friend.
I begrudge no one who likes the turtle style. I personally find it to be a little boring, and I rarely play that way unless I am preparing for an eventual betrayal.
Everyone has their own style. The great thing about this forum is we can come together and share our experiences, and in most cases, enjoy each other's attempts at humor, dark though it might be.
:2thumbsup:
07-16-2007, 03:14
Privateerkev
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
I was contemplating quoting your whole post in full and replying with something lame but I thought otherwise. :laugh4:
As usual you do an awesome job at showing how to maximize the physical limitations of the game in order to get the most amount of territory in the shortest amount of time. As some others have said on here, its just not my way. I'm glad the game can accommodate both styles of play. I will admit that your style is infinitively more fun to read about.
Plus it helps that you have such an obvious passion for brutal conquering. :beam:
*edit*
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaius Terentius Varro
I am sort of saddened by all the hitler wannabees posting here.
I am not sure how playing MTW2 equates to actually exterminating well over 12 million humans in real life as well as starting a massive global spanning war that was responsible for the deaths of millions of other humans.
07-16-2007, 04:17
phonicsmonkey
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
I always try to stick to the standard debating rule that the first one to mention hitler or the nazis automatically loses the argument
07-16-2007, 04:50
Kadagar_AV
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaius Terentius Varro
Or you could buy a hamster pop it into microwave and watch the spectacle.
Really now, in 1.0 anyone could take over the world with an army of peasants.
I am sort of saddened by all the hitler wannabees posting here. I guess the older crowd got tired of the game and moved on. I will do the same. farewell
On one hand we have a guy being responcible for killing X million jews and starting ww2, on the other hand we have some people playing a computer game... Yeah, I can see the resemblance.
I just had to post in a legendary thread:laugh4:
PS: Phonicsmonkey, that signature together with what you wrote made me laugh so hard my GF woke up:/
07-16-2007, 12:59
sapi
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Quote:
Originally Posted by phonicsmonkey
I always try to stick to the standard debating rule that the first one to mention hitler or the nazis automatically loses the argument
I almost always tend towards the chivalrous side of things.
I don't sack unless absolutely necessary, never exterminate, and almost always occupy cities. I generally release, sometimes ransom, and never exterminate prisoners. I rely some on spies, but not extensively, and hardly ever use assassins (unless I'm playing an Eastern campaign). I never break a treaty, though I will chose what side to stick with when two allies go to war based on my own evaluation of what helps me most. When the enemy does attack, I'll fight them until they ask for a ceasefire. Then I'll grant it, though it will cost them as much as they are willing to pay. I try not to dispose of factions, but sometimes it occurs.
Guess I'm the opposite. I like turtling up, waiting for someone to get the balls to attack, and then I make them pay for it dearly. Plus I like high-end troops over the same [mailed knights - spearmen - peasant archer] generic armies.
07-16-2007, 19:53
Askthepizzaguy
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Privateerkev
I was contemplating quoting your whole post in full and replying with something lame but I thought otherwise. :laugh4:
As usual you do an awesome job at showing how to maximize the physical limitations of the game in order to get the most amount of territory in the shortest amount of time. As some others have said on here, its just not my way. I'm glad the game can accommodate both styles of play. I will admit that your style is infinitively more fun to read about.
Plus it helps that you have such an obvious passion for brutal conquering. :beam:
I am not sure how playing MTW2 equates to actually exterminating well over 12 million humans in real life as well as starting a massive global spanning war that was responsible for the deaths of millions of other humans.
I am glad you decided otherwise. It is a pet peeve of mine. :2thumbsup:
Does anyone agree that the forum looks bad when there are multiple posts quoting other long posts without hiding it with spoilers or isolating the relevant parts? Maybe it's just me, but I like to keep the threads organized for easy reading.
Sometimes I do aim to get the most territories in the minimum amount of time using the basic troops you have available, losing the least amount of life on my side and destroying the maximum amount of life on the side of the enemy. However, this particular thread may not be all about blitzing; this one is basically a guide that shows you how to take advantage of the worst weaknesses that your enemies have. I've seen that it is not necessary to engage in battle with superior or even similarly capable forces. If you are good at maneuvering on the campaign map, you can spot ambushes, avoid the main forces of your foes, take advantage of their defenseless cities, cripple their infrastructure and pillage through their heartlands, load up on a boat and move on, leaving your enemy devastated and in full retreat to recapture what's left of their own cities.
Doing this allows you to avoid losing massive amounts of good, loyal troops while on campaign, while inflicting the most devastating of blows to your enemy. You can even maneuver all through their territory, taking down their great cities one at a time, and then, when the fools finally decide to properly defend themselves by huddling together behind some city or castle walls, you beseige them. They have no backup, no ability to recruit, and are in the most tactically disadvantageous position imaginable. They must sally forth, and by then you have recruited enough mercenary spearmen with all your pillaging florins that you should be able to rout the garrison without losing more than a couple of your own brave troops. Make those mercs EARN their pay.
And in the early game, the mercenary troops ARE your best friend. They make the perfect shock troops. They have good morale, excellent defense (except those crappy mercs in Hungary/Greece) and are so expensive to maintain and are made up of foreigners that have no loyalty to you, that you don't mind tossing their lives into the most dangerous part of the battle. The more you lose, the less you have to pay for. On the other hand, the fewer you lose, and the more you use them, the more experience you gain. Combining well-experienced mercenary spearmen into full-strength units over and over again almost feels like cheating. They just get harder to kill, better at killing, and they remind me of an indestructible Roman legion. If you use them properly, that's what they are. They are my favorite early-game heavy infantry. Good for what ails ya!
Part of being a brutal conqueror is assuring the safety of those out conquering for you. It really irritates me when I have taken huge chunks out of the enemy on the campaign map, only to be turned back because I don't have the troops necessary to continue the conquest, like Napoleon.
So avoid those big stacks of enemy troops. Let them cut their teeth on their own cities after you take them and leave behind a single mercenary unit. While they are busy screwing around re-taking their own territory, you are elsewhere destroying more of it. That's a war they cannot win.
PS- thanks to all for posting on my thread. I enjoy reading your responses!
:elephant: This is the only way to demonstrate how insane I am.
07-16-2007, 22:40
The Teacher
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
dear sir - have book marked this as its so evil - keep up the good work!
07-16-2007, 23:29
Askthepizzaguy
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Teacher
dear sir - have book marked this as its so evil - keep up the good work!
An interesting note: In real life, I am an ardent pacifist except in cases of self-defense or in preventing an atrocity, the complete opposite of my M2TW persona.
07-17-2007, 00:14
John_Longarrow
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
askthepizzaguy
I think the best gift anyone here can give you is a couple save games from turtle players. Say around T120 or so and still in their original territory. That way you can try out all those nice shiny toys later era armies get while you try and rampage across Europe!
07-17-2007, 01:53
Ramses II CP
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
I have a feeling it may've been my 'burn it all' idea that was the last straw before Gaius' forum fit. If so, :shrug:. I'm not playing 1.0 (Didn't even buy the game until 1.2 came out) and I've tried out just about every possible style of play.
I suspect the game isn't much fun when you worry about how everyone else is playing it, but it wasn't my intent to offend anyone with that idea, just proposing something that struck my fancy at the moment.
07-17-2007, 03:23
Askthepizzaguy
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramses II CP
I have a feeling it may've been my 'burn it all' idea that was the last straw before Gaius' forum fit. If so, :shrug:. I'm not playing 1.0 (Didn't even buy the game until 1.2 came out) and I've tried out just about every possible style of play.
I suspect the game isn't much fun when you worry about how everyone else is playing it, but it wasn't my intent to offend anyone with that idea, just proposing something that struck my fancy at the moment.
No need to apologize, Ramses II Trojan Magnum Shiek.
No one was offended by your comments. After all, we're all friends here. And everyone is free to post whatever they want so long as they don't lay down a lot of shouting or cursing, or directly insult people for no reason; on my threads those are the rules anyhow.
Don't worry about Gaius. After all, he's a big boy, he can handle it.
07-17-2007, 03:37
Askthepizzaguy
Re: How to be a merciless conqueror
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Quote:
Originally Posted by John_Longarrow
askthepizzaguy
I think the best gift anyone here can give you is a couple save games from turtle players. Say around T120 or so and still in their original territory. That way you can try out all those nice shiny toys later era armies get while you try and rampage across Europe!
It might be an interesting challenge. Of course, I still havent gotten around to finishing the HRE rush like I was supposed to... I had finals this week.
So we might just have to wait and see on that.
Oh, what the heck. Just make sure I've got a citadel or two, all the best armor producing facilities, and the right troop recruiting facilities. Then I will show you what I can do with it.
If I could pick a faction, perhaps Denmark. I haven't done a Denmark game in a while.
