One year, two battles. Our armies march into Aragon, but simultaneously the Portuguese sense an opportunity and Castille is attacked by every single soldier they can gather.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
I cannot believe it! There was one obvious best move for the Portuguese, and they actually go ahead and make it?! Unreal!
OK. It's not going to be easy, but it's doable given good map. But.. our map is not so good -_- Only scrambled hills covered by forests. I can only see one spot to my far left:
...yeah. I really don't understand what happened here. I did not expect that unit of CMAA too eat through my Feudal sergeants THAT quickly, but fair enough, miscalc. But for my goddamn Norman Foot Knight Elite general, out of all goddamn units, to rout at HALF unit remaining... Okay I REALLY don't understand what happened here. There was about 30 CMAA left at this point. My general, a unit of 20 foot knights, routed while facing 30 CMAA one-on-one. Sometimes I just don't get this game.
Mind you, I still would have lost the battle, but I could've easily inflicted like 2x as much casualties... If only my sheep general would have held down to 5 or even 10 men... Oh well.
There were a lot of things I did wrong. First, I think I should have just chosen the ridge I started as the place to stand ground, and faced the enemy that was sitting in the valley (albeit forested) instead of running to my far left. It was right in front of their catapult, but I think I could've just shot them down. I think it would have been a pretty comfy position overall.
Second, I should have noticed that the CMAA were valour 4 and shot them down. I should have known that they would eat up Feudal Sergeants like crisps. I should NOT have known that my goddamn general would rout!!! Though the battle was lost already. And I should have used my Longbowmen to attack (already when the CMAA was eating up my sarges), instead of run away.
Oh well.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Anyway, let's see if our second battle goes any better, shall we?
https://i100.photobucket.com/albums/...on17PHEWWW.jpg
PHEW! That was close!!! That was REALLY close! A lot closer than it needed to be. I was so caught up with the battle I even forgot to bring in reinforcements... I think I also let WAY too many of my Billmen die through my own arrows. But history remembers only who won, not who made the correct moves.
We suffer unexpected defeat under Castille, but perhaps an even less expected victory at Aragon. The whole Aragonese faction is in shambles as she deserves, while the Portuguese have grasped more than they can hold.
Nevertheless, our position is far from desirable. Our worst fear is that the French, still allied with the Aragonese and Portuguese filth, will pick up aggression against us, especially when saving an ally from enemy has been provided as a comfortable excuse. Castille must be recaptured at all cost, but soldiers are not overly plentiful.
For these reasons, our King has decided to cunningly retreat from the now near-defenseless Aragon, and return when Castille has been secured, hopefully wiping out the whole Aragonese royal line when they leave the Citadel to once again hopelessly defend their doomed existence.
Our King's first son becomes of age! Despite being accused of Hedonism, he is nevertheless surely a competent heir to the throne. Dispute among King's brothers is evaded, and a fresh start secured for when our King will leave this world for a better one.
Only one message brings worrying signs. The Neverending Crusade, having reached Lesser Armenia, is now inexplicably unable to move at all, neither East towards their destination by land, neither North or West, nor into the sea, the only obstacle separating them from their destination. This turn of events leads most to feel uneased, though some speculate that it might all be within God's omniscient plan.
1773, got involved in my first battle (I've had sea battles with Denmark and Holland before this, getting my ass kicked by Denmark at sea BTW) while trying to organise my economy in the British Isles and Hanover I disbanded all units except militia. I don't know what happened to suddenly caused an uprising but the English rebelled against the Hanoverian King George II, but they did in force. I think it was the high taxes.
800 British Line Infantry, 160 British Light Infantry and 50 Hussars rose up in Wessex where the King was stationed along with 200 Militia. I managed to bring in 200 Militia from Wales, 200 from Mercia and 200 from Ireland, but the Scottish and Northumbrian Militia couldn't beat the Danish blockade of the north sea to join their Royalist comrades. Also present at the battle was the bodyguards (20 in total) of King George II, Prince George, Prince Alfred and Prince Rowland.
I of course lost after putting up a very brave fight and killing the rebel General, King George II fled the battlefield only after every single member of his bodyguard had been killed, and every soldier of his army was routed. he fled to the Tower of London along with 231 of his militia army.
Heir to the throne Prince George died in the melee along with his brother Alfred who was next in line, and Prince Rowland, the youngest son was captured and ransomed to Ireland for 4700 francs, he is now Crown Prince and is trapped in Ireland due to the Danish blockade.
This is going to be a tough one especially as I have no army and the King can hold out for 3 years, I have to build troops from just two adjacent provinces and god help me if the Danes invade from the North Sea. Loving this game though.
11-07-2009, 02:17
warrior king
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Campaign - Conquest Mode
Faction - The Irish.
Before I start I would like to say the Irish are a good start for anyone new to Medieval Total War, they are a small and easy to deal with kingdom, that can grow to be the dominant power over all Britannia.
My opening move in the campaign was to secure the whole of Ireland, The Irish are a very small kingdom so need to secure the easy pickings on their island before making a move on conquering the mainland (that's my view anyway!) Once I secured Ulster, usually in the opening two years, not forgetting to keep the folks back home happy with some peasantry or two and beginning to build both my navy, strategic and military arsenals from Brega and Laigin. Once I had my emissaries available with a Royal Palace, I bribed the two rebel armies in Munster and Connacht. After gaining control of Ireland, it was time to secure the lands and get the best troops I had in position to make my first strike on the mainland. Once my navy was in postion, I used my emmissaries again to bribe the easy pickings of Manu and Reget. Now I had a foothole onto the mainland, it was time to do the three Rs, RETRAIN, REENFORCE, REFORM. Retrain my forces, whilst securing my new lands, then reforming to strike again. For anyone playing this campaign, repeating this process over and over every time is the best strategy in opinon. The key to remember is - your navy, this is your primary defence, as long as this is kept strong up to date and widespread , your realm will be impregnable from any sea bourne invasion. As for your borders, as your armies grow keeping a few behind to deter any counter attack should keep you safe, but I would recommend saving before and after any invasions. But as for this campaign in particular, wiping out the Northern most factions should be your first priority in the first half of the game, In my game by around the early 9th century, I had conqurered well over half of Britain. As I say wipe out the north, The Scots, The Picts, then head south, The Northumbrians, The Mericians(if they are still around) and so on. The Saxons are gonna be your bloodiest foe, but they should be easy to defeat but it will take several of your best units and your best generals in command. I destroyed them in around ten years, before finally wipping out The Welsh reappearance, and the game ended and all Britainia was under my rule by the end of the 960s.
Hope this leads you to glorified victory...........
Vuweni Spurus De Sumcarwe - I came, I saw, I tore the thick bastards limb from limb!
11-10-2009, 19:13
Vantek
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
I don't seem to have the time/energy to continue my story quite in charachter, but I figured I ought to finish what I started, so just a quick update.
Magically, after the Aragonese king was replaced, my stance with them became neutral and thus my personal rule dictated I leave them alone. Following that, I was JUST about to crush the Portuguese, when the Pope reappeared and gave me a warning!! Gosh... If the reappearance had been just a few turns later, I think I would probably calling the campaign won by now. Instead I have to wipe my mouth of Portuguese riches and look elsewhere as they hold on to the west coast of Iberia as well as Granada. At least the Pope was swift to accept an alliance offer from us.
Another good news is that the Neverending Crusade is about to reach a victorious conclusion after no less than thirty years of marching and imprisonment! The French conquered Antioch from the Ayubbids and lo and behold the crusaders were now able to move into this territory after being paralyzed for over a decade! The crusade has now reached Egypt and is about to enter Cyrenaica, their promised land! We have also crushed remnants of Ayubbids in Sinai and met the venomous Mongol snake creeping down south up to Arabia without touching the sea. They are likely our next target, and the question now is only wether to force the serpent to retreat inch by inch from the south, or cut it right in half through the Black sea.
Alas my young king is as of yet without proper heirs, only a sister! I tried to hook him up desperately from the start, but everyone turned down with depressing consistency! Come on girls, he may not be the most attractive man in the world but surely he beats the cloister! Perhaps out of sheer pity, a Crusader princess finally accepted, but the union is yet to bear fruit... Let us hope that the king doesn't show preference for young boys rather than girls and that the new queen is in good shape!
I have at least one ship in every sea and two or three in many. I'm making a filthy trade profit - close to 10K a year. The French, although nominally our allies, ironically remain the worst threat to our mission, or perhaps second worst after the possible emotional meltdown of the pope... But now that the crusades will soon again be at our disposal, the Golden Horde is sure to fall to us. After the pope's deadline expires, I will be able to remove troops from Iberia - either the Portuguese will prove their rebirth by remaining faithful, making the presence of large garrisons unnecessary, or they will give us the evidence of their rottennes necessary for us to justly crush them.
EDIT a few hours later: Sicilian king died heirless while being sieged by the Golden Horde in Constantinople. At this moment I was sieging Golden Horde in Bulgaria, and I managed to march into Constantinople, bribe the remaining handful of now factionless soldiers, and capture perhaps the only fortress on the map! (Not to mention one of the best provinces...) Unfortunately wars had done in the royalty buildings, which I'm probably better off sticking to Castille, or maybe good old London out of nostalgia.
Then Bulgarians reappeared in Bulgaria where I had left... And this bunch of mongols seems doomed. Also Italians have been demolished, first a civil war and then getting attacked by the Pope... As soon as I notice their king sieged I will try to bribe Crete (Citadel, only 2K florins) and hope the king will die before they manage to harm my fleet. For now I'll bribe&capture some ex-Sicilian islands, as I hate to leave islands to the enemy, it's so annoying when they are surrounded by ships.
Anyway looks like it's pretty much mopping up at this point - and hoping that I get an heir in time :P Well, I'll probably call it quits before my king dies but I want to crush a few more factions at this point.
I don't seem to have the time/energy to continue my story quite in charachter, but I figured I ought to finish what I started, so just a quick update.
Magically, after the Aragonese king was replaced, my stance with them became neutral and thus my personal rule dictated I leave them alone. Following that, I was JUST about to crush the Portuguese, when the Pope reappeared and gave me a warning!! Gosh... If the reappearance had been just a few turns later, I think I would probably calling the campaign won by now. Instead I have to wipe my mouth of Portuguese riches and look elsewhere as they hold on to the west coast of Iberia as well as Granada. At least the Pope was swift to accept an alliance offer from us.
Another good news is that the Neverending Crusade is about to reach a victorious conclusion after no less than thirty years of marching and imprisonment! The French conquered Antioch from the Ayubbids and lo and behold the crusaders were now able to move into this territory after being paralyzed for over a decade! The crusade has now reached Egypt and is about to enter Cyrenaica, their promised land! We have also crushed remnants of Ayubbids in Sinai and met the venomous Mongol snake creeping down south up to Arabia without touching the sea. They are likely our next target, and the question now is only wether to force the serpent to retreat inch by inch from the south, or cut it right in half through the Black sea.
Alas my young king is as of yet without proper heirs, only a sister! I tried to hook him up desperately from the start, but everyone turned down with depressing consistency! Come on girls, he may not be the most attractive man in the world but surely he beats the cloister! Perhaps out of sheer pity, a Crusader princess finally accepted, but the union is yet to bear fruit... Let us hope that the king doesn't show preference for young boys rather than girls and that the new queen is in good shape!
I have at least one ship in every sea and two or three in many. I'm making a filthy trade profit - close to 10K a year. The French, although nominally our allies, ironically remain the worst threat to our mission, or perhaps second worst after the possible emotional meltdown of the pope... But now that the crusades will soon again be at our disposal, the Golden Horde is sure to fall to us. After the pope's deadline expires, I will be able to remove troops from Iberia - either the Portuguese will prove their rebirth by remaining faithful, making the presence of large garrisons unnecessary, or they will give us the evidence of their rottennes necessary for us to justly crush them.
Perhaps .unfreeze. is one of the most historically accurate cheats in the game. You know, sometimes when the King has hardships in producing an heir, there must be some kind of... cough ... wonder. Perhaps a handsome page will make the things easier. And since men (that's a confession) are foolish beings... this heir can do a good work. On a different note, many homosexual Kings had heirs. ~:) Don't ruin your game! :beam:
11-10-2009, 23:01
Vantek
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Hehe, well my king is only 28 so I still have quite the hopes for him ^^ He would need to be a total runt to not get it done in 15 years...
12-07-2009, 15:33
Vantek
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Heirs are on the way so I'm safe for now ^^ I have reached the stage where I am mostly just peppering the enemy with enormous armies. Due to the special rules however, this time it certainly does not mean I have won... Because my lands are so dispersed, the French remain a huge threat due to their massive navy. I am allied with them (as well as the Pope, thank god), but that means very little in this world... If they decide to backstab me, I will have to face one turn of utter chaos as most of my empire will be blocked navally. I will be able to restore some order next turn but then it might already be too late!! And due to the personal rule, I cannot attack them myself... My only hope is that they clash with the pope without attacking me, so I can sink most of their navy before the blockade can begin to have an effect...
Me and the French happened to bribe different stacks on the same island (Sicily) :/ I have never encountered such a situation so I was worried sick... But I was relieved to find that there was no war, even though the French got another island and I had to ransom back the excellent general. Money is a non-issue right now.
I happened to be just messing around next turn and discovered that the Hungarians would one-turn-crusade a province I myself planned to take at that exact turn (Nicaea)! Since I was neutral and I was attacking by sea, I think this would have meant my army getting ransomed at best. So this was another annoying moment. I decided to not bother faking oblivion and replicating my plan as it would have only slowed my progress rather than done any damage.
I had a fun minibattle against I believe remnants of Byz where I needed to kill every single one of about 100 soldiers (mostly archers) to avoid a siege, I managed to pull it off with two of hobilars.
Next, I turned to the Golden Horde and took three provinces in one turn and one in the next, nicking it in front of the French just in time. They are now in civil war and about to get crushed, though thankfully they seemed to have managed to cause the French crusade for Kiev to fail. I am also spamming crusades against them. After I also take Bulgarians, I will run out of good targets altogether though. Maybe I will finally squint my eye towards the personal rule and just blitz the Portuguese and own them in two turns. They are an enemy who attacked and keep attacking me, so it's not a total breaking of that rule. But then I will just have to wait for an opening... Or abandon the rule.
I have been having an awful lot of fun with this personal rule (only allowed to attack non-catholic factions, rebels or those that have been excommunicated, except for strictly self-defense when they are being the aggressor). I highly recommend it.
12-09-2009, 23:22
Vantek
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Indeed I am now only moving stacks and taking personal command of only a very occasional battle. Once when I needed to kill the Golden Horde khan as well as his single heir in order to buy the garrison of Kiev Citadel, I was careless and suffered pretty bad losses but I completed my goal. The Golden Horde is crushed and I control a huge portion of their land... The Russians had reemerged on their lands and I grabbed one province from them, and defended a really fun river battle vs them where I inflicted 20:1 casualties and it was actually a quick battle.
Just as I was about to consider wether to attack Bulgarians or Portuguese next though, the Crusaders, my absolute longest allies decided to backstab me!!! This could actually be a good thing! They have a navy, but it's quite weak and HORRIBLY dispositioned, and their lands would be a very much appreciated addition to mine... Especially Egypt! On second thought I should have killed the Russian hostages, as money is not the slightest of issues but they now force me to keep a garrison near their border... Thankfully the pope chose to remain allied with me, not the Crus.
Of course, the French remain a lethal threat, and if the Crus' move is actually because I have reached the point where I'm so big that everyone decides to backstab me, I will likely collapse. But I won't go down without a fight! I should probably concentrate my navy between Iberia and Africa, and less so Britain and France. Money is so plentiful that I can just forget about trade...
EDIT: I just realised looking at the map that the French king is cut off from the empire! :laugh4: I need to pay attention! Wouldn't mind seeing them face a Sicilian+Genoese reappearance!
EDIT a day later: More unexpected developments! Although I got a warning (pffft) the Crusaders left Egypt and Rum without a fight! Ironically I need to leave Lesser Armenia to them. Sinai, Arabia and Mesopotamia fell to the Crusaders, but it was a bargain to me.
But most importantly, the French have been excommunicated! I need to seriously consider taking advantage of this! It will not be easy as their navy might quite possibly be even stronger than mine.
01-10-2010, 21:50
nzd07
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Wow, if I'm not mistaken, those look like the Crusaders!! Wow I'm very surprised. Every time i play they always end up playing defensive, usually getting eliminated(along with the armenians) after about 15 years. I'm very surprised. Looks like you've got a very good campaign going there. I might start a new one because it looks like this thread is dead :(.
01-10-2010, 22:16
gollum
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
This thread just winter-sleeps ;)
04-23-2010, 19:50
Prince Cobra
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Feast of vultures
A battle between the Almohad Empire stretching between France and Egypt and the mighty Byzantine Empire stretching from the Balkans to Georgia and Sinai. The Byzantine Empire has just stopped the Mongol Hordes and the Almohads had just conquered Normandy.
MTW/VI
Pulling the fur cloak tighter around himself to fend of the cold King Wladyslaw of Poland strode trough the snow heading to the small chapel not far from his royal home. Upon reaching its doors he quickly stepped inside and out of the howling winter wind. The candle light made shadows dance across the kings aged face. Shaking the snow off his cloak he made his way to the alter and knelt. Sleep had been eluding the King as of late. A growing fear gnawed at him.
His father had told him many times "The Kingdom will only survive if we are careful and trust in God. It is God who says not make transgressions against others. We need only defend our boarders and God will take care of the rest."
Now, many years after taking the throne and heeding those words doubt had creep in. The Holy Roman Empire, the Hungarians and many other kingdoms were expanding. Growing both in power and land. The king feared that if he did not change the course of his small kingdom it would soon become a foot note in history. To make matters worse his sons did not seem to have any type of killer instinct.
"I blame my self for this, I have made things far to easy for them." the King said lowly to himself looking up at the crucifix hanging above the alter.
Slowly he rose making the sign of the cross. It was decided. It would be war.
So a new Polish campaign and great possibilities ahead. I start by having King Wladslaw attack Moldavia by himself. The single unit of spears retreat to Volhynia. After taking a year to settle Moldavia The King's unit and a unit of HA move to Pomerania. Against a unit of spears and and archers the King drew the spears off as the HA move around to the rear of the archers keeping them just out of range. The King then turns, out runs the spear unit and charges the archers. They rout. The HA now start to whittle down the spears until the King's unit is at their flanks. Charged from both sides they also rout. Pomerania is now Poland's.
1090 and 1091 has me building more troops, Slav Warriors and Woodsmen, as well as building up Poland. I also ally with the HRE and Hungary. At the end of 1091 I attack Prussia with every thing I have, inducing the first of my heirs, a one star lazy prince. :shame: The Rebels retreat into Volhynia and Prussia is mine.
Now I send my emissary to Lithuania to bribe the rebels there. 1092 I bribe the standing rebel army. Then the next year I bribe the garrison troops. The result, Lithuania without any fighting and no lose of buildings.
By 1095 I have bribed the rebels in Kiev the same way I did Lithuania. I get ready to attack the large rebel army in Volhynia that I now have surrounded. In 1100 I attack with every thing I can. In the battle I use spears and slave warriors to pin the rebel spears while I flank with Royal Units, HA, and Lithuanian Cav. My horses hit the Rebel arhers and cross bows and drive them in to their pinned friends. A mass rout soon takes place. I then turn my attention to the rebel HAs. It takes so time but I manage to trap the all and rout them off the field.
King Wladyslaw's kingdom now stretches from Baltic to the Black Sea. The King dies in 1102 happy that he had left his son a strong Kingdom to rule.
Sorry, no pics this time. Stupid me was hitting Print-screen instead of F2.
05-09-2010, 18:13
m52nickerson
Re: From the Center Part II
In 1102 King Wladyslaw died and His son, Wladyslaw II took the throne. Many worried that the new king, a one star lazy king, would fail to continue what his father had begun. It turns out the Wladyslaw II would be the first King to rule over what could be called a Golden Age in Poland. Between 1102 and 1185 King Wladyslaw II and two subsequent heirs saw Poland build a hugly profitable trade network, expand to take almost all of the Steppes and remain at peace with it's neighbors. Novgorod had its prince die with no heirs and degenerated into rebels which were quickly bribed into the Polish kingdom.
Goodness! This thread isn't getting a lot of action these days, is it! nickerson is the only soul keeping the old tradition alive!
As I said in another thread, I can leave MTW for months... But I always come back to it :) And indeed - couldn't fall asleep yesterday so I dug out my old campaign! I think it's very realistic for me to win it under my special rules. But at this point, managing the huge empire is a real pain. I just experimented with a couple of options and collapsed with one but seemed to do OK with the other, despite about 3 random kingdoms declaring war on me in agreement. I think I will just declare this campaign won, and start a new one next time I feel like playing.
I'm happily busy these days though, so it will likely be some more months until that next time comes ><
EDIT a few days later: actually felt the need to go for 100% victory :P Sure enough, it was easy.
06-28-2010, 02:37
bamff
Re: From the Center Part II
Great to see that this little campfire still flickers on, and that mighty Generals still drop by with tales of campaigns fought and battles won or lost!
09-02-2010, 09:14
Vantek
Re: From the Center Part II
Decided to try the same rules (no aggression towards fellow catholics) with the Genoese in Late XL, but the crazy pope sunk my ship on turn five! God dammit! This nonsense shouldn't be allowed! I got so pissed that now the Venetians only exist I think on Malta and the Pope is sitting in Naples without a shipwright. Hope he never has the money to build one. Maybe then I can continue with my special rule, although roleplay is pretty ruined now.
Close thing though, my king was close to dying of old age and I don't know what trouble a succession would have caused. Some provinces were borderline rebellions due to the rush. The biggest obstacles left were a large Turkish army in Constantinople, the remnants of the English in Northumbria, and the Russians in Muscovy. The Iberian peninsula was random stacks of rebels, modern day Turkey was doable if I could reduce Constantinople and go around the back end from Khazar, the British Isles were well in hand. There was no way I could kill off the Italians, no fleets to speak of meant the Med islands were out of the question, and I had no chance on Africa/Levant.
I'll take 60% with the Swiss. Fun, challenging, and different. Confœderatio Helvetica ftw!
03-26-2011, 05:48
PershsNhpios
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Much appreciated father Drone, I see that the Swiss decided to bring their code of neutrality to all of Europe.
I never have reached that stage of the game, I think it would be quite entertaining in a sense, having to manage so many armies and battles being so overwhelming. It could of course be made much easier by auto-calculating but this ruins the fun for me.
Thank you for breaking the drought!
03-27-2011, 06:51
Ingersoll
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Anyone still posting to this thread?
03-27-2011, 16:56
drone
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ingersoll
Anyone still posting to this thread?
Can a sticky be necro'ed? ~D I like to think of this thread as a home for those of us too lazy to write up proper AARs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenn
I never have reached that stage of the game, I think it would be quite entertaining in a sense, having to manage so many armies and battles being so overwhelming. It could of course be made much easier by auto-calculating but this ruins the fun for me.
Normally, I would quit a campaign when the end result was a foregone conclusion. This one was different since it was a race against the clock, so I felt obligated to play it through to see if I could make it. Lots of huge battles and short finances meant lots of tedious micromanagement, and having to carve out time in RL to fight 3-4 big battles per turn. 12 years to 1453 AD, 60% of the map, and 1500 florins in the bank. :dizzy2:
I've got a Early/Hard Novgorod campaign going now, I'll post some pics when it gets interesting.
12-13-2011, 23:38
Durango
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Here are some random screens from my recent campaigns.
The Swedish march inexorably forward through the green farmlands...
Oh, you started already? Well, I won't take the glory from this field, I just want the prov...I mean the spectacle of your imminent victory, dear ally.
What's this? The "screw all GFX-mod"? Finally making the point that GFX is just cosmetics and have nominal actual value for a game as such, are we? Well it's true actually.
GFX has only two purposes….
1. Make things easier for the player to understand and play the actual game.
2. Making the game more attractive.
Now, I prefer my women beautiful and sexy, however that does not mean that they have too be that in order to still be women somehow (sadly enough). Still, I certainly do prefer them to be, if given a choice... Same thing applies to games.
- A
05-09-2012, 15:10
Gilrandir
9 Attachment(s)
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Well, I summoned my courage and decided to post some pictures. Of course, I'm not showing off .... No, I am.
This is the historic campaign, France (the Hundred Years war, battle II "the loire valley").
I breached the walls of both outer and inner castles and the English withdrew into the inner court (or yard?) Attachment 5495
Now they are ready to meet my onslaught. Attachment 5496
I pull my forces within the outer walls and ride down some of their peasants (on the right before the inner gate). Attachment 5498
Now I'm ready for a desperate attack (they have plenty of Chivalric foot knights on a higher ground) Attachment 5499
Lo and behold! It is all over! The condition of the victory was to have within the walls at least 100 men more then the English do.
And unexpected victory!!!
P.S. Sorry, guys, I don't know what it is all about. What is attached thumbnails? I didn't attach any nails!! I find that I can't view pictures larger than they appear in the thread, although I can do it on my computer. I knew it was no good showing off.
05-10-2012, 19:34
TinCow
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gilrandir
P.S. Sorry, guys, I don't know what it is all about. What is attached thumbnails? I didn't attach any nails!! I find that I can't view pictures larger than they appear in the thread, although I can do it on my computer. I knew it was no good showing off.
All your images open to full size for me when I click on them. Do you have a popup blocker enabled? If so, it may be preventing the full sized images from opening.
05-10-2012, 19:41
drone
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
I don't think you were doing anything wrong, I looked yesterday and couldn't figure out why the pics weren't coming up, but I see them now. Try a browser refresh/reload if they aren't working at the moment.
I looked yesterday and couldn't figure out why the pics weren't coming up, but I see them now.
You gotta be kidding, Drone. You looked YESTERDAY and the pics can be seen only NOW??? Do you keep this thread open for 24 hours??? :laugh4:
I'm glad the pics are lookable, though.:yes:
Now, I prefer my women beautiful and sexy, however that does not mean that they have too be that in order to still be women somehow (sadly enough). Still, I certainly do prefer them to be, if given a choice... Same thing applies to games.
Beats me why you don't create your own Matriarchy Mod where the gender roles are reversed:
Empires are run by Queens - from young dominatrices to 'take what they want, won't take no for an answer' cougars
Spies are honeytrap specialists
Assassins become femmes very fatale
Religious units are replaced by hot nuns
Imams / Alim are politically correct and wear a burkah / niqab
and the only men are pasty milksop princelings; worthy merely to be married into other factions.
Or maybe you already have.
I need a lie down.
05-15-2012, 14:33
Trapped in Samsara
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Hi Gilrandir
Great siege battle pics!
Can I ask what graphics card you have installed in your PC, and what resolution(s) you play the strategy and battle map games at?
Thanks and best regards
Victor
Sapere aude
Horace
05-15-2012, 15:23
Axalon
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Plato
Beats me why you don't create your own Matriarchy Mod where the gender roles are reversed:
Empires are run by Queens - from young dominatrices to 'take what they want, won't take no for an answer' cougars
Spies are honeytrap specialists
Assassins become femmes very fatale
Religious units are replaced by hot nuns
Imams / Alim are politically correct and wear a burkah / niqab
and the only men are pasty milksop princelings; worthy merely to be married into other factions.
Or maybe you already have.
:laugh4:
Well... The workload involved pretty much killed the idea of incorporating more female hotness into da game (just making the princesses and all their portraits for Redux was a Herculean task). The engine can't handle it properly anyways due to names and how they are structured in the designs. Essentially, one would have too rely on initials like "A. Bolingbroke" the "spyess" etc. etc. However, I would be lying if I said that it has not crossed my mind at some point... I did she-hulk as a yummy princess, that has to count for something...
- A
---------------
I guess we both are pretty crappy at keeping things on the topic here. :wink:
05-17-2012, 10:49
Gilrandir
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trapped in Samsara
Hi Gilrandir
Great siege battle pics!
Can I ask what graphics card you have installed in your PC, and what resolution(s) you play the strategy and battle map games at?
Thanks and best regards
Victor
Sapere aude
Horace
Woah! That was a hit below the belt. :sweatdrop: You seem to have forgotten the level of my computer literacy if you are asking such questions. But I'm not so easily daunted. I have looked through the documents I was provided with when I bought my computer. The graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 AGP8X (I feel like a spy transmitting coded information about the enemy's tanks deployed somewhere) and the resolution is 800*600.
As for the pictures, they are somehow larger and more distinct on my display and the posted ones are less legible and cosequently less impressive.
BY observation of the early map I decided on my short term goal to dominate the Mediterranean Sea. Though with only a 1 ship fleet so that I can grow a large treasury early on. Decided only on fighting the Byzantines in Naples and Greece. I grew strong in trade and won attrition victories against the Byzantines and wrested Kiev, Moldavia and Bulgaria. All iz well till now. HAd allies with Only Aragon , Denmark and the Pope. Poor diplomacy and Bad understanding of religion would cost me dearly for the next 100years this i realized in 1199AD. Rhodes , Cyprus all fell to me giving me the Ship building provinces i wanted.
THe great sucker punch comes when I opportunistically took advantage of the Pope excommunicating Italy to lanch a Crusade against them and to initiate a Naval war with Italy(because they too had 1 ship fleets on my naval squares . I understood from the Pope that Italy fought France and Germany and that bought about their excommunication. But the Balkan catholics were eyeing the Black sea and they attacked me (Both Poland and Hungary). To my horror my slow response to their offensive resulted in MY EXCOMMUNICATION. and the erosion of all Alliances with me :wall: . I was left with Enemy states all around me and then once my king died(no more excommunication. To be frank nobody Dared to crusade against me) I married my young King to a beautiful Fraulein who was touring Naples :smitten: . THis secured my long term alliance with Germany. Aragon and Spain followed suit but all my overtures to Hungary and Poland were turned down. Everytime they attacked K,M and G i got the EXCOM warning. :furious3:
In the Mediterranean Sea i built up my Home Islands to superior technology to safely churn out high level troops. I didnt realize until 1220AD that Hospitaliers are A crusading only unit :shrug: . whereas i built all my Crusades from Naples:rolleyes:. But I decided that Pope will scream all he wants for a crusade on the holy Lands :sweatdrop: but with hostile factions around It I deemed it a waste of Florins. I chose on the province hopping crusade and decided to eliminate the Byzantines from Constantinople once and for all. for the time 1133-1190 they remained a useful buffer :boxedin: b/w me and the muslims (esp Turks) . I took pride in sending a supporting army to Cyrenaica to aid the Spanish in their African Crusade to Jerusalem. This angered the Egyptians and my pride took a serious beating when their Dhows sank most of my experienced galleys. Still the SPanish Crusade failed and i had to ransom back my army to rhodes. The reply of that battle I can give you on request.
Civil war amongst the Spanish meant that I could sweep Cyrenaica, Egypt for myself. A huge number of priests in all provinces kept loyalty. I deduced correctly that Faithful governors alone can keep Provinces loyal without a large garrison. It freed a lot of troops to send to Africa where the Egyptian Jihads await me. Now the prevalence of Catholics in the Holy land coupled with continuing defeats for their JIhad have left their sultan with NO INFLUENCE. Now(1230) the holy land is controlled by arab rebels with top of the line troops. The spaniards took advantage of the revolt to seize Algeria and Tunisia. But they are my allies so i repose faith in them.
After the fall of Constantinople and the death of the Emperor the remote province of Khazar fell under rebel control and they never bothered my inferior infantry. I decided to encircle Poland- Hungary by going all the way upto FInland. But my new ally the NOvogrod prince took FInland with me but gained control of it. Meanwhile taking advantage of the death of the Pope the bloddy POles invaded MOldavia and HUngary invaded Bulgaria along with their Turkish allies. Prince Adam and the Governor of Rhodes (an former prince who was off Royal BLood but dropped out of line when his Brother died after giving birth to 4 sons and 3 daughters :dizzy2:) defended the bulgaria. MOldavia fell and the remanants evacuated to Kiev. THe Voivode laid his life in the fort. But now i realized that the earlier decision to march upto Finland conquering Lithunaia, Pereysslavi and Ryazan opened myself upto the horrifying spectre of a huge Mongol invasion :dizzy2: in 1230AD. Several stacks of tatars ~:eek: appeared in Khazar ( now Turkish occupied) . 2 turns later a Turkish army of 1400 which was there {including the Crimean contigent which I defeated in 1230AD} where completely annihilated. My priest in Georgia{ nearest Turkish province} informed that no survivors remained .
Iam faced with the trifle of evacuating :hide: all my men from the russian states and going on to make a last stand at Kiev. Now i stand poised at Kiev facing an imminent :pray: double bridge River battle should the Tatars invade from Khazar....... Give me strength to defend Kiev as i cannot withdraw across the sea to constantinople thanks to the Turks blockading me (thanks to a 3 ship dhow fleet which gives them the Black sea. But I have 5000 troops in Kiev now and intend to defend it to the last. I wasn't building a castle in Kiev so that puts me at a distinct disadvantage. Seems like a Crusade to Khazar may be a wise option to bolster Kiev and also take on the Mongols head on. MAybe just maybe they might accept my2 honour emissary who is offering them terms of an alliance from My King who has a influence 8 and I believe that the ongoing crusade to antioch (on which I had my full attention) before the Mongols came is now in Nicaea sweeping through Anatolia (fully turkish controlled).
Well my brave warriors I hope that these Tartar hordes will not be having any reinforcements from Asia but only what they have. I may bear the brunt of one attack maybe {the expected bridge battle} but that is all that would be wise in their opinion. When my Emissary reaches the court of Batu Khan, he will know of the army arrayed in grey. He will hear great tales of the mighty successor to The Roman Empire, He will learn . He will hear the vast swathes of land we control and he will learn of the greatness of christianity. Undoubtedly introduce my EMissary to all his generals in that process. My emissary will report to me on his Batu's weakpoints. {A miracle is that my emissary is atleast 150yrs old, and been with me since the start of the game. He has served the first king} I will then decide on the right man to bribe and I will incite a civil strife among BAtu's forces, THat and a crusade through the BAlkans {HIgh zeal everywhere thanks to my active Inquisitors} will gurantee atleast 5000men to eliminate the Mongols if they do not chance at my Olive Branch of peace in :rtwno:1232AD.
I'l load my map one i can take a full screen shot of it !!!
01-18-2013, 16:03
ferdi
Re: The Sicilian Empire of Hemant A
You made some mistakes... when the horde comes u don't put your biggest army on their ofron/on. When u put lest army they send little part of their army. some clues about horde"
1- han/kağan always attack on volga-bugaria by himself.
2- they send bigger amies if they see bigger armies.
3- they attack at most nicea not further more.
in mtvw xl- they always attack on Bagdath(as it was in the history).
4- it is easy to beat because u know when tehy emerge where they'll come, where they attcak.
so they are not a big opponents.
nowadays ı'm playin MTV XL campaigns. I played eary kievians and high Russians campain.
In early times like u start it is so esay to beat them but in high(so u start in 1205) u dont have much time to prepare. and also during they come your king will die and it reduces everything. so ı do't attcak on Cumans. I prepare my army to defend my land. and put the best army in Volga-bulgaria with the best commander(my prinence with 6 star and 2 more attacikng stats). In MTV XL horde comes with 15-20.00 man. so their army is almost twice times of yours. ıf u direct their army on u it is a big mistake. putting smallest but best troops is the best way. and they orient towards anatolia. so after they distrubute their army in 5 years u beat them.
01-21-2013, 09:57
Hemant A
Ferdi's suggestion and my tactical plan
Ferdi
Quote:
Originally Posted by ferdi
You made some mistakes...
.
naaah not quite because after all we are playing a game. Not anticipating the opponents strikes. I dont have to chicken out from fighting the mongols i can take them on with my brave warriors. I did fight the expected battle ........here's how it transpired
I have progressed now from 1231AD to 1234AD. The bridge battle did not go as planned. Despite having numerical advantage My bombard cannon self imploded routing 2 of my spear units with 50% casualties {one sergeants and one spearmen} and that too on my main bridge. After the mongols gave up on the 2nd bridge lost most of their heavy cavalry , they started throwing Steppe cavalry at the main bridge I thought that I can counterattack them with knights by crossing them from the 2nd bridge. But that backfired and the Steppe cavalry routed my royal/feudal knights despite being caught in b/w my spear units and them. That panicked even the goddamn general and everybody routed. I though i can hold a line near the end of the map but the game crashed before the bitter end !!!!
I decided this strategy is not going to work because i saw Ferdi's reply. I decided to retreat em all to Bulgaria leaving the poles and the hungarians to fight them { Remember Mohi and Legnica} The MOngols refused my allaince offer. THIS MEANS WAR !! TOTAL WAR !! . Their faction leader is Ogedei khan and not Batu !!! The evacuation was facilitated by the turks advancing their fleet into the straits where my 3star 3 ship dromon fleet waited them. I attacked and destroyed them all for the loss of one.
The Mongols indeed send an army similar to the one they intend to oppose. But i thought that because of the nearby remergence of the Byzantines in crimea . I might have it easy in Kiev. But noooo Ferdi was right. They walloped the Kataphraktoi's in just one turn. THe Emperor was dead in just one turn. Because i kept only ine steppe cavalry in Kiev they sent one HC And MLC to deal with me.. I glorious retreated them all into MOldavia crushed the poles in a lopsided battle. Poland is all set to be eliminated when I storm the fort at Moldavia in 1235AD
The crusade to antioch goes well nicely. I found out that one of my generals in Sicily is a certain Roger de flor is a heavily stat general. 6 ACUMEN ; 6 DREAD ; 4 COMMAND ; 5 Loyalty { no problem I GOT a wife for him } ; 7 Piety. He will be tasked with controlling troublesome NIcaea {recently conquered} and very rebellious. I hope the Two inquisitors there start an inquisition there quickly so that the majority Muslim populace will be quelled into obedience seeing heretic Christians being staked...... I Advance now into anatolia with 1197men and an army of 956men in support.
It seems I only got screenshots of my Kingdom at AD 1204. I.e. just before the Chivalric period I presume. I was pretty well off at this situation . Crete shows Egyptian control but my garrison Is stil there. It was in this turn I got a real heads on dose about Naval warfare. 3 Egyptian would sink around 4 galleys and i was training dromons everywhere... The beginning of my string of naval victories starts at Cyprus where you can see the Dromon fleet ready to attack the Dhow. The turks where quite until this point as I was busy with my Conquest of Constantinople.
I can't make head or tail of what this image means but..... I would much appreshayte it if somebody can transliterate it for me......
A review of my situation at 1204AD
The Spanish are into their Civil war and As I Correctly observed it was a failed crusade that bought this war upon them. The aragonese my allies are holed up in Aragon but didnt use this chance to gain ground in Spain. Possibly they risked losing me as an Ally as I was allies with both Spain and Aragon. THey would be eliminated 5 years later only to re-emerge in 1225AD.
THe Egyptians meanwhile are launching a JIhad to conquer my lands. For me it was a deathtrap at Cyrenaica. I foolishly launched a seaborne invasion to Cyrenaica to help my Spaniard friends with that crusade of theirs. But their crusade failed in front of a JIhad and they perished in Egypt. I retained Cyrenaica. But those JIhads were all weak and after the naval power was in my grasp I reinforced Cyrenaica. It would take me 12 more years b4 finally sealing the deal in Africa. those years saw my trade collapse my finances fall. To prevent my army from getting continuously attrited I Kept numbers up by training... Started building a fortress in SIcily.
My armed forces are peaked everywhere now . the poles, hungarians, and the egyptians are at war with me. Venice fell to me when that province rebelled against the Pope in 1200. I launched a seaborne invasion and snapped it up. The French have SMolensk thanks to a crusade to take it. They are seriously in trouble with the English but they wont ally with me. I took Burgundy from them when It also rebelled against their rule. A castle in burgundy means a strong presence in France as well.
In the east it looks awkward but i have control of Lithuania , Moldavia, Bulgaria and Constantinople. The King is at Moldavia and has an influence of 6. But the damn poles will not accept my ceasefire. " I thought gaining more provinces will raise my income. But didnt realize those provinces are not the fertile ones of the 20th century :laugh4:
01-25-2013, 15:43
Gilrandir
Re: The Sicilian Empire of Hemant A
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemant A
A huge number of priests in all provinces kept loyalty. I deduced correctly that Faithful governors alone can keep Provinces loyal without a large garrison.
Spies are more efficient than priests. They propel loyalty the second year after they appear in the province. And you need only one spy per province. As for the generals, dread is more impotant than any other features in keeping a province loyal.
06-12-2014, 03:27
bamff
Re: The Sicilian Empire of Hemant A
Great to return to these hallowed halls and see that tales of battles won and lost are still recounted in this thread... Here's hoping that we will all enjoy many more tales of conquest and tragedy, of empires risen and fallen. Long may it be so!
06-12-2014, 05:24
drone
Re: The Sicilian Empire of Hemant A
Welcome back, bamff! :bow:
06-30-2014, 08:21
Ingersoll
Re: The Sicilian Empire of Hemant A
Glad to see I'm not the only one still playing.
08-16-2014, 15:30
Axalon
Re: The Sicilian Empire of Hemant A
Re-posted here, as it covers both original MTW, XL and Redux - all at the same time... Enjoy folks...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Axalon
Hello again all, I found some stuff that I thought was interesting enough to share here, hopefully people visiting here will agree...
Below are some old pics, the results of a test/experiment I did in Jan 2013 as to evaluate Redux and its overall challenge-levels. The experiment (or test) was essentially: “can one achieve victory in raw MTW within 100 turns? Even if the difficulty is maxed out? If not, how close can one get then? Can one do it with Redux? How will raw MTW compare to Redux in this regard? What are the actual differences between the two in this context? What conclusions can be drawn from the results?” etc. etc. I also tried XL for additional and broader reference (while I never came around to do a Redux-campaign at that point in time. I did it later on however). These were the combined results….
Raw MTW, playing as Spain (a hard faction), Early-era, expert level, default unit-size... Full throttle enabled... 80 turns in (1167 AD), I was offered victory. I was amazed at the result as I did not expect it to be that easy, as things had actually turned out. Thinking back, I remember I was essentially swimming in florins all the time, no matter what I did. I was constantly at war ever since turn 5 or 6. I never ever used any mercenaries or crap troops like peasants for garrisoning, I never built any save, 2-3 units of spearmen at start up - I had little choice, no other troops were available at that point. Once I could build feudal men at arms, I used little else for infantry and my armies.
Same Spanish campaign in raw MTW... 94 turns in (1181 AD), I was offered total victory. I was surprised at the speed it all have happened, some 40(!) provinces conquered in just 14 turns... All this while the famous "rebel-bug" was in full swing (causing some minor problems, but it was never much beyond that, due to the overly effective watchtowers and some additional spies)...
MTW-XL 3.0, playing as Armenians (a hard faction), Early-era, expert level, default unit-size... Full throttle enabled... 96 turns in (1176 AD), I was offered (minor) victory. I did not bother pursuing a total victory after that as I already had the info I was looking for. Its possible that I could have shaven off some few turns, if I had been more experienced with both XL and the Armenians... All I remember is that I killed the Turks first and then killed the Egyptians while at war with Byzantium too. The Turks and Egyptians were a joke in regards to troops once I could get my hands on some functional cavalry, then it was all over... After Constantinople every faction was fair game, as I was done playing nice and went berserk across XL-Europe.
Raw MTW was slightly easier then XL. I had little problems with cash, troops, order, rebels and buildings in neither - I could build whatever I wanted without any fuss or protest anywhere, this at any given time - although it certainly took time to build stuff. Building-time, more then anything was the greatest obstacle in these two campaigns. Ships take like forever to build, and so I basically ignored a building a big fleet and do trade - I had no time for it (in this context), nor did I seriously need it. AI-factions was typically no threat on, or from, the seas anyways. I also remember that I was in constant war, all the time, with two or more factions as a rule. At first I started them, later it was the AI all the way... I never made peace or dishonoured an alliance, in either two campaigns.
MTW-Redux using a 1004-prototype (about 3 months later, Apr 2013)... Playing as Spain, veteran level, default unit-size... Full throttle enabled... 100 turns in (800 AD), I have managed to scrape together some 13 provinces, and securing the Iberian peninsula and a buffer zone in France and Morocco but little else (save Flanders!). This screen shows the northern borders into France... My armies are hardly spectacular nor superior to my foes (here or elsewhere). In fact the French armies are actually better then mine at this point and so my troops get slaughtered every time I actually try to attack French held territories... My troops are simply outclassed in terms of equipment to the Frankish knights. I managed to build my very first unit of royal spearmen which is probably the only thing that will break these well equipped Frankish knights in battle, since little else will (at least from Spain, save archers, of which I don't have enough to pull it off). In short, Spain's armies are still in internal disorder and in need of upgrades due to the massive pressure during the first 100 turns, especially from the Moors. Spain has little or no reserves, and its armies are still very much under construction to cover past losses. Plenty of cheap units still around as I basically could not afford quality units at the rate I had lost them, and I had to get new troops to survive...
Same Spanish campaign in Redux... The southern borders in Africa... Spain under my reign was hardly mighty, and it is first now slowly recovering from some 80+ turns of multiple wars (on several fronts), constant shortages, battles and rebellions. Spain was never strong enough to wipe out the Moors when it had the chance - not enough troops to do it. The economy has for the most part on the verge of collapse as it has been is overstretched by various demands, needs and plans. I had to fine-tune taxes many times just to maintain some internal order and avoid rebellions. I simply had no troops to deal with that too... I have been fighting for survival multiple times against the Moors, who damn near wiped me off the map - had it not been for a series of spectacular/fancy wins that ultimately saved Spain from annihilation. I mean, I could have lost the entire game some 5-6 times at least, had I lost any of those crucial battles. The initial Moorish onslaught was relentless and without mercy, I was fighting for survival. After some 100 turns of toil and serious struggle in Redux, what did I have to show for it all?
...Some 9,974 florins and 13 provinces - hard earned.
- A
- A
04-10-2015, 16:30
edyzmedieval
Re: The Sicilian Empire of Hemant A
Not exactly my empire, but I found a picture of alpha MTW. A bit of MTW history.
I (recently) did another set of reference/research-games in raw MTW - more (experimental) lightning-war/wins basically...
Background...
Previously I have managed to achieve a turbo-win with Spain in less then 100 turns (see my previous post), this at supposedly maxed out difficulty in raw MTW - now I wanted to find out if it is/was possible to achieve a win even at the magic 60-turn barrier, or close to it. In other words, to achieve any kind of win at the extreme rate of/or a close equivalent to 1 province per turn (or close), and that in the first 60-turns (or close)... Obviously, this at expert-setting, default unit-size and the early-era for a combined maxed out difficulty/challenge. Furthermore, I use no cheats, no mercenaries, no peasants, or any other unserious troops allowed as garrisons (e.g. spearmen, urban-boys etc. etc.), no alliances have been/or can be betrayed... And, only troops that I am seriously willing to deploy in combat is/was used/allowed/built, this at all times... All the usual stuff when I do this kind of experiments...
I already knew that all this will (probably) never happen in modern versions/betas of Redux (see my previous post), even to achieve a win south of a 100 turns seems really impossible regardless what you do, so obviously 60 turns would be an even more hopeless scenario. However, in raw MTW the circumstances are different and I thought it was worth a shot as it would/will bring new light, interesting contexts, perspectives, references on raw MTW and Redux alike (and possibly even other work done for MTW). All stuff that I think are well worth further discussion somehow, or so I would argue....
The Italians... First I decided to try this stuff with Italy... Overall, I think I ended up with a good run as I was offered victory at 71 turns - however that is nowhere close to a success in regards to the goals as specified in the intended context here. I started my first war in 1100 AD and was at war from that point onwards with at least 1 faction all the time... I had a constant shortage of cash the initial 40-50 turns, and I could not produce enough troops, or these fast enough, to have any honest prospect of reaching a win at the magic 60-barrier... The Papacy, which was the very first faction I killed, re-emerged on me probably 10 times and typically with lots of troops that was much better then the ones I had - as a result my casualties was high every time (I actually never managed to tech-up that high in the entire campaign! No time, no cash!). I was thus forced to have a standing (serious) army available in the area all the time - troops I certainly could used much better elsewhere - especially in this given context...
The Danes... Having learned some valuable lessons on my Italian run I concluded that a different and even faster approach was clearly needed (and that without bending/disregarding the outlined rules). The Danes - due to their Viking-units - were probably the best shot I would get at this, despite all things, such as my inexperience of the faction, for starters. After all, it would be the first time I ever tried to play the Danes (seriously) but all the same I believed that the Vikings would still be the thing that would eventually decide the outcome here and not my inexperience with that particular faction. Besides, the Viking-units have all the traits needed to get a decent shot at the 60-barrier, they are easy to build, cheap and good enough in battle at the same time - just the very stuff one would need in this context....
Anyhow, I started my first regular war at 1100 AD with the HRE as they had Saxony and that was my only way out (I had no ships). Once Saxony was secured I put that war on hold and turned east towards Russia - which was the first faction I actually killed in this campaign. Once that had happened I could finally get my hands on some much needed (steppe) cavalry units, which I tried to build as fast as possible too. I had a serious and constant problem with cash-flow to build all the troops necessary for expansion and taking ever new provinces. Resulting in that my tech-development was typically very low, which in turn meant that I had to make due with Vikings regardless until I managed to conquer some castle with a little more tech-development. I had no cash or time for any serious development anywhere basically... It would take me some 40 turns at least before my economy was not in constant state of crisis, but even then it was still not strong enough to actually keep up with events. It only got that strong in my 5-10 last turns or something...
Anyhow, after have expanding like crazy from Russia southwards to the desert, and westwards towards France, HRE and Italy, and building ridiculous amounts of troops in the process - every turn - I was closing in on the 60-barrier. At turn 50, I realized that I actually had a shot at it - If I somehow managed to expand/take 3-5 provinces every turn up to that point (and then keep them). Long story short, after some very tough last turns I was eventually offered victory at turn 59!!! It just seemed incredible to me that I would actually manage to go south of the 60-barrier but apparently that is exactly what I did with the Danes... I doubt that any other faction would enable a repeat of that deed (or close to it). Ergo, I basically think that the Danes are probably a condition for this kind of lightning-war/win-stunt... Anyhow, I smell a record here somewhere....
Thoughts? If any?
-A
05-06-2015, 03:51
drone
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Axalon
Anyhow, I smell a record here somewhere....
Pretty impressive! :bow: Did Maltz play MTW? I remember from Rome onwards he was the king of the rush.
If it was going to be possible, Danes/Early would be the faction to do it. Vikings are good troops and very spammable, and longboats help with mobility. A few Mounted Sergeants and Feudal Sergeants thrown in with Vikings can get you pretty far, you don't need missile units at all.
How did you handle sieges/castle assaults?
05-06-2015, 09:31
Ludens
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Impressive, indeed :bow: .
Quote:
Originally Posted by drone
If it was going to be possible, Danes/Early would be the faction to do it. Vikings are good troops and very spammable, and longboats help with mobility. A few Mounted Sergeants and Feudal Sergeants thrown in with Vikings can get you pretty far, you don't need missile units at all.
Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.
05-06-2015, 15:10
drone
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludens
Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.
It might be possible, but the Danes have the advantage in location and resupply. It's easier for them to limit their front lines, and they can reinforce from any province with a Fort. You don't need to spend time and money teching up provinces.
05-06-2015, 16:39
Axalon
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Thanks guys, yup its pretty crazy... :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by drone
Did Maltz play MTW? I remember from Rome onwards he was the king of the rush.
I don’t have a clue and I would not know. All I know is that you can achive totally ridicolous wins in MTW2, like less the 10 turns even due to using obviously unconcidered flaws in the designs on jihads etc. I know I am typically a fat critic on MTW in many things, but I think they did that part right in MTW, or well enough anyhow...
Quote:
Originally Posted by drone
A few Mounted Sergeants and Feudal Sergeants thrown in with Vikings can get you pretty far, you don't need missile units at all.
Obviously, this context is all about extreme and unusual circumstances, but I certainly had plenty of battles I wished I had some of that (often I had pure Viking-armies by sheer necessity), and every time I had some of it, my army/battle-power were better off because of it. I also knew that I had to have some fast cavalry to effectivly kill the missile-heavy factions like the Turks and/or Egyptians – or I would take extra casualties and the battles would take virtually forever. Besides, there are few places to take cover behind in the desert... Anyhow, I agree – archers does strike me as redundant in this context. They are hardly worth the effort and attention they basically crave to be somehow useful at all, especially so in this context and particularly with those weak MTW stats.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drone
How did you handle sieges/castle assaults?
As you surely can imagine most castles around were at fairly low levels (they had little time to grow), and so I typically (if at all possible) cut my way thru the palisade from all directions to get in. Storming the defenders from several points, thus dividing the defender as much as possible. If the castle were at higher levels, I basically autoresolved with massed Viking formations, drowning the defender by weight of numbers, while my precious cavalry (if any) moved on/transfered to another battle/front... Something like that...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludens
Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.
I might not be an expert on raw MTW-byzantium but I think they will probably be too slow in producing enough truly useful troops to actually keep up with the speed neccesary to get even close of the 60-barrier (and there will probably be several undesirable yet “do or die”-battles in this context, so you will probably need troops that can fight seriously somehow). I don’t think byzantine infantry have what it takes all over... For starters they require way too much tech-development (fort+keep+watch+spearmaker+swordmaker. Some 18 turns in total, right?) and that takes both time and cash – you (probably) have neither in this context - and that are their main weaknesses here, or so I would argue. Basically, I offer more of the same of what Drone have already pointed at on this note.
If given more time, byzantium could probably go south of the 100-barrier at least, or that is what I believe. I doubt there are any faction in raw MTW that could not go south of the 100-barrier if played by a skilled enough player. The 60-barrier however, is another beast all together and obviously a much more demanding scenario all over. Sheer player-skill alone will probably not be enough, you need some unit just like the Vikings in order to have any serious prospect at all on reaching the 60-barrier (or close). You have virtually no time to spare before you must act, simply to enable the expansion needed to get anywhere near it, and that takes alot of troops, a lot... That takes cash and you constantly have not enough for it to happen properly etc. etc. And in the case of Byzantium, it will also require higher tech-levels before any of that stuff really happens. So, nah I don’t think they could do it...
- A
05-07-2015, 22:28
edyzmedieval
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludens
Out of curiosity, why not the Byzantines? They've got strong early units and don't need to worry about the pope.
I very much often play with the Byzantines and the problem with them is that they always have at least 2 fronts + a Crusade to deal with in the first 50 turns if you decide to take up Antioch or Tripoli.
And as Axalon noted, it's the problem of teching up. :book: Byzantine Infantry are good, but it takes some time to develop, and in some cases they're not even that capable. (against heavily armoured units they're no match)
But otherwise, impressive stuff Axalon! :yes:
01-27-2016, 01:55
Valer
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Hello there,
I was hanging out on boards and when I saw this thread, and that you were talking about byzantine campaign, I couldn't resist to register myself and post this screen of my byzantine campaign, in expert difficulty
It's not below 60 turns but I think I could have catch a few years with more aggressivity. I will give an other shot later :)
01-27-2016, 14:03
Axalon
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Well done! I didn't think the Byzantines had the capacity to reach the 60-barrier. You have proven otherwise. Interesting and impressive! If there ever was any doubts that all factions of raw MTW can finish up/win the game before 100 turns - there can hardly be any rational doubts left at this point.
- A
01-27-2016, 17:02
drone
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
:bow: Very nice! What units did you mainly rely on for the rush?
01-27-2016, 23:56
Valer
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Thank you both ! I mainly relied on spearmen then on byzantine infantry as soon as I get swordmaker. It is true that byzantine faction need more tech-developpement but in the other hand you can recruit powerful units at Constantinople very early, you have very good economy, it's easy to get control of the sea and of course you already have an empire.
I think most of the factions can reach the 60- barrier :)
02-15-2016, 19:10
Valer
1 Attachment(s)
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
So I tried to go under the 60-barrier with egyptians, still in expert difficulty, early period :
To say the least egyptians are very good, they have rich provinces and a perfect initial situation, with an important kingdom and only 1 front (Almohades aren't a threat).
So I was super aggressive after 4/5 turns, was constantly at war against 2 or 3 kingdoms, and never did alliances. I used cheap units, like peasants, urban militia and mostly nubians spearmen. Then I recruited saracen spearmen, one of the best units in the early period, as soon as I get Spearmaker's workshop. It worked very well since I won after 44 turns !
02-16-2016, 23:00
Age
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Those are some nice camps.
02-18-2016, 07:23
Axalon
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Valer
So I tried to go under the 60-barrier with egyptians, still in expert difficulty, early period... ... ...It worked very well since I won after 44 turns !
Another impressive result! My jaw dropped, when I first saw it...
Although, to be fair here... I think we should point out that Valer did achieve such good results by doing this with a different "set of rules" then I used - in my previous entries/posts. After all, I made a point of not using "low and easy"-units like peasants, spearmen and urban-boys in my runs/campaigns - much in contrast to Valer who used whatever units available to him as he raced against/towards the "60-barrier". Obviously, all my previous remarks on factions and speed in general are hopelessly colored by that very fact, and evidently utterly irrelevant in Valers campaigns. As has been also clearly demonstrated here, by Valer. Using an "Axalon-set-of-rules" will unquestionably slow things down and make things harder somehow, while a "Valer-set of rules" (in short, use whatever units available to you. Minus all mercenaries, as I understand it) will be easier and faster somehow. There is little doubt to be had on all that. All the same, the "Axalon-set of rules" are not (and never was) mandatory for people to follow, and folks are obviously free to play it in any way they like. Just like Valer did. That said...
Upon seeing Valers last run (campaign) with the Egyptians and only 44 turns... My jaw basically dropped, it clearly made the 60-barrier much less formidable if a "Valer-set of rules" was used - evidently. So, what to do? Instead of stupidly trying to enforce the "Axalon-set of rules" upon the rest of the world on this note, I simply decided to just adapt and adjust here... Play with the "Valer-set of rules" and see whatever happens... And ultimately see how the "60-barrier" fits into all that... Here is what I ended up with (in the spoiler folks, as its a big fat secret and all)...
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/image..._Victory08.jpg 30 (freaking) turns! This at expert, default unit-size, no alliances, mercenaries and cheats. I used whatever units was
available to me - save mercs. Had I used mercs too, I could have managed to cut at least a few more turns for sure.
- A
02-18-2016, 14:24
Gilrandir
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
It may not be symptomatic, nor a touchstone to gauge one's success with. Each faction has a different starting conditions, some factions have better units than others. For example, the Byz are known to have multi-starred princes/kings from the outset and a unit to rely on in any battle - Varangian guard. Their starting provinces in early are superb. Those are some of the reasons of your stunning performance. If you started, say, with the French in High the outcome might have been somewhat different.
02-18-2016, 18:17
Valer
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Haha nice one Axalon, your spoiler killed me, 30 turns is just awesome ! Your result, even in the "Valer-set of rules" (and yes, I also didn't use mercenaries), really impress me :D
Just to be clear about our rules, I think that vikings units are the danes' equivalent of peasants, since they are cheap and just need a fort to be recruited. And we can agree that vikings are way better units than peasants, and therefore a hudge advantage on those kind of rush, as you stated it on your post about danes' campaign. So I saw this restriction as an arbitrary one, because to me Vikings are also "easy" units. That's why I didn't see the point to put cheap units out of my run in the first place.
In "Axolon-set of rules" (I love these rules' names by the way), I agree with you, Danes are probably one of the best factions.
Anyway 30 turns appears to me like a great challenge, half of our dear 60 turns barrier, you showed no mercy. I might try to do a similar performance later, if my skill allows me to do so !
I also agree with you Gilrandir, starting conditions are very unequal among the different factions. However I persist, I think that most of the factions can win in less that 60 turns, even France in High period (smaller factions like Aragon will certainly have more trouble with this objectif). 10 minutes ago, 30 turns seemed unreachable to me, but now maybe that France in High can reach 40 turns or something like that (but likely nothing comparable to Byzantines in Early era, indeed).
02-19-2016, 03:24
Axalon
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Thanks man, as it is, even I have problems grasping such turbo-haha-speed... :D
Anyhow... In times like these, I am totally with Valer. Any faction can reach the 60-barrier... "Valer-set of rules", of course... Had anyone asked me the same thing some 2-3 weeks ago - I would have had serious doubts about it. Now, I have zero doubts about it. Prior to all this extreme turbo-overdrive-stuff, I never ever heard of anyone that had actually managed to beat MTW in less then 50 or even 60 turns, regardless of difficulty. The result of "Byzantium at 30" have certainly forced me to change how I view all these things - as it is both ridiculous and extreme (in the extreme) - well beyond what I previously thought was actually possible to achieve in MTW. Hell, "Egypt at 44" did that already...
As for France, in "High"... I could probably do a very good run with France in "High" - all them French castles would certainly rival or surpass that of Byzantium in early, in terms of favourable circumstances. The kingdom also is split in two, and far away as well, that too would serve my blitzer-haha-plans extremely well. And all them pretty castles, that all the other factions also had, sure would save me a lot of valuable time too... There is zero doubts in my mind that I could and would fly right through the "60-barrier" and beyond with that one...
Also, while we are still talking about the obvious... There is a reason I constantly disregard all periods/eras save "Early" in this context. Early is without a doubt the hardest possible period to handle given the context of "blitzkrieg in MTW" (and all this began as to put MTW and its challenges to the test). No infrastructure, little or no tech anywhere... You are typically forced to build up all that on your own, as peasants and such will hardly do in any serious battle, and all that takes time. Time you don't really have, not in this extreme context you don't. Both in "High" and "Late" there are plenty of tech and castles everywhere - that's easier, a lot easier. To go below even 30 turns in MTW - I think that would be the best place to start - for that very reason, its a lot easier there. I doubt it will happen in early, but these days who knows...
- A
02-20-2016, 22:47
Axalon
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
And another one.... Strudel unt sauerkraut-season are back all over Europe!
27 turns! Jawohl! Ze Germans! This at expert, default unit-size, no alliances, mercenaries and cheats. I used whatever units was available to me - save mercs. Yup the Germans are back up in the lead, cooking sauerkraut and dominating Europe yet again... Seriously, this will probably mark the end of my blitz-adventures in “Early” as the HRE is probably the last solid faction that could ever hope to somehow rival Byzantium as a favourable starting point for doing this kind of turbo-haha-nonsense in raw MTW. This time I really had lousy generals all over – the best one I got eventually earned up to 4 stars - and my troops were really not much to look at either. I lost a few battles in this run because of all that. I was reminded several times why I hate low grade troops so much. Running around like chickens instead of fighting as soldiers. And the Pope? I killed him and his minions as soon as I was in position to do so, as usual...
If I do more of this silly hyper-blitzing across the map it will probably be in “High” from now on. Its probably the only viable option left for this kind of nonsense because I don’t think I can get much lower/faster in “Early” anyways. Then again, just a few days ago I said that someone ever going below 30 turns seemed doubtful in “Early”. Nah, I think I do this in “High” from now on, with all them juicy castles. I rather conquer a castle then build it, and save myself a lot of precious time and coin in the process. Anyhow, this is getting ridiculous... Beating MTW in less then 30 turns...
- A
02-21-2016, 23:40
Ingersoll
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Just in case anyone wants to know: Steam.com has the Medieval Total War (1) Gold Edition for $9.99 and it runs very well under Windows 10.
11-20-2016, 12:10
Axalon
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gilrandir
It may not be symptomatic, nor a touchstone to gauge one's success with. Each faction has a different starting conditions, some factions have better units than others. For example, the Byz are known to have multi-starred princes/kings from the outset and a unit to rely on in any battle - Varangian guard. Their starting provinces in early are superb. Those are some of the reasons of your stunning performance. If you started, say, with the French in High the outcome might have been somewhat different.
"It was time for croissants, wine and French wenches..." France, High - 29 turns... Actually even faster then what I did with the Byzantines... :laugh4:
I hope that treasury was the result of a last minute buying spree and not an ongoing concern...
04-08-2019, 16:14
Goalum
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by drone
I hope that treasury was the result of a last minute buying spree and not an ongoing concern...
could be because of brexit ~;)
04-09-2019, 09:46
edyzmedieval
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
It was an ongoing concern unfortunately - I had to redo all of my calculations / finances after the wars started in around 1300. Until then the trading was going buttery smooth, with Tripoli generating me close to 8000 florins a turn!
04-09-2019, 09:50
Goalum
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Quote:
Originally Posted by edyzmedieval
It was an ongoing concern unfortunately - I had to redo all of my calculations / finances after the wars started in around 1300. Until then the trading was going buttery smooth, with Tripoli generating me close to 8000 florins a turn!
Yeah, was about to say, edyz was getting money through trade that got disrupted and he didn't wanted to get rid of the extra stacks~:)
04-09-2019, 20:16
edyzmedieval
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
In fact that's my first finished GA campaign! I was quite happy to achieve this after playing the game for 17 years!
04-09-2019, 21:27
Goalum
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Congrats then, it always has a nice feeling winning without having to conquer the whole map~:)
04-11-2019, 01:48
edyzmedieval
Re: Pics & History of your Empire
Will always cherish this game - my favourite game of all time, with my favourite FPS Day of Defeat Source top of the pile. Played both of them way too much and I still love them.
