Love all these screenshots!
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Love all these screenshots!
That's great ~:cool: --- affable with killer instinct ~D .
Multiple Personality Disorder maybe?
*waits for "Strange" vice*
Finally a campaign it looks like I'll complete...
Byzantines, started in Early, Normal difficulty, XL mod.
When I first began I intended to go at the Turks first but people kept attacking me on the opposite side. First the Cumans who were swiftly dealt with, then the Germans. Without thinking about what I was doing I pushed them all the way back to western Europe, taking the Hungarians out along the way. When I got them weak enough to where they HAD to accept my truce, I left the invading armies there for insurance and got on with the business of fighting the Turks. I invaded Rum with 2500 brand spanking new troops led by "the best general ever" and kicked their ass. After that they kept throwing lame counter-attacks at me which were too pathetic for me to waste my time with personally - auto-calc. I took a few more provinces from them by force and then bribed the rest of their delapitated army, aside from the Sultan's stack of course. When I first went to war with them the Egyptians allied with me (finally, they've been trying to ally with me for decades but I wanted to keep things quiet with the Turks while I dealt with the Germans). Then when the Turks are reduced to insignificance they attack one of my ships. Poor them, they'll go the way of the Turks soon enough.
This is one of the most fun campaigns I've had. I have Constantinople so teched up it's amazing (just got Gold armor). And as long as I keep conquering at a steady rate I have a practically unlimited income, no matter how many troops I raise. I can't remember the last time my annual income was below 5,000 florins.
Can any of you tell me how close to 60% I am? I don't have the stomach for 100% as it's already becoming aparant that everyone wants me dead (for the first time people cancelled their alliances with ME when Egypt attacked).
Rum:
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...t/byz3-rum.jpg
Current Campaign Map:
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...oldat/byz2.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...oldat/byz1.jpg
Stoopid Lithuanians...
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v.../byz4-lith.jpg
When do the Mongols appear again? I'd really like to wrap this up before they appear if it's possible.
Nice empire graphic.
I think the mongols appear at 1230 or so. So you better hurry
Mongols appear at the end of year 1230. Maybe if you push on all front you can hit 60% before the Mongols come.
I'll try that then, thanks guys. I'll come back with pics from the ByzBlitz. :charge:
Lurking forward to it ~:cool: .Quote:
Originally Posted by Graphic
~:eek: @ Spain
I've never had such swift victories than in the Spanish campaign I just created.
I had the Almohads out of Ibera in 10 turns, all EXTREMELY decisive victories, I'm talking 500 killed/capped for 60 dead type victories. All with just Spanish Jinettes and FMAA.
Then I launched a crusade without putting anything in it but a few Jinettes and end up going through a bunch of 60% zeal provinces on my way to Croatia, two free stacks! Serbs attack north against Hungary, leaving Serbia itself totally undefended. Took that then attacked the besiegers and eliminated them.
This was within an hour. ~:eek:
No pics at the moment, I just wanted to praise Spain.
Oh, btw. I blitzed, lost a few battles and half my empire revolted. Got mad and quit.
*Bump*
Which Mod are you playing Graphic ?
XL ?
Reading all these stories about all your empires always inspires me to start a new campaign, hell maybe I'll even post some pics of my new Italian campaign myself ~:)
:balloon2:
XL, yep.
All my empires, indeed lol. I always get deep and campaigns and start new ones to try new units, I think I have half a dozen unfinished in here. There's just so much crap in MTW and then XL that it never gets old trying it all. I still have the save files though, maybe when I go broke and lose the internet for a while I'll finish them all https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/image...sc/biggrin.gif
No later than 10 minutes after I post this I find out that this will be the case lol. Funny, I think =/. I'll take the time to finish these campaigns.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graphic
Broke? Sounds a bit drastic.
Err, you mean in real life, I take it? ~:eek:
I have one:
[img=https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1981/pope1is.th.jpg]
No you are not drunk, no you don't need eye check that really is Pope and his golden age. ~D
The funny part is that he was already killed once then come back and as you can see he came back in style. :charge:
:bow:Quote:
Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
Welcome to the forums ~:cheers: .Quote:
Originally Posted by SaintBlackAdder
Are you playing as Spain? That map IS amazing, I've never seen the Pope
expand like that ~:eek: .
BUMP! :grin2:
C'mon guys, this thread shouldn't silently slip to page 2. This is one of the more interesting threads in the Main Hall. I demand pictures! :wink:
Agree. I'll soon finish Hungarians/normal/high/GA campiaign and post with screenshots.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tricky Lady
That's great KT, good to see this thread up and running again ~:)
:balloon2:
:nice: That's the spirit!Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight Templar
Perhaps I should start a MTW campaign again too? Mmm, I guess I should try BI first... :thinking:
I like this thread too. When I finish and get time I'll put up my German campaign. Perhaps I'll put my Byzantine one up too. It takes me a lot of time since I put up so many pictures and description.
I´d love to send pcs of my HRE campaign, especially the high rise and even more sudden fall of my neighbours, the Hungarians (they ruled the whole southeast of the map and were completely killed of in two battles), but I´ve got difficulties with taking screenshots. Could it be that there´s a limit on the number of screens that can be stored in the TGA folder? I had 15 taken, after that there were no new ones, no matter how often I pressed F2 (that is the screenshot button, isn´t it?).
Yes, F2 is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ciaran
Maybe your disk space run out? TGAs are quite big files...
Well don't have experience with TGA's , I've heard they mostly turn out to be black... and never quite turn out hte way they should.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ciaran
I normally just press print-screen, alt-tab out of the game , open paint, past in paint:yes: and save as .jpg in a folder solely dedicated to MTW/RTW screenies.
:balloon2:
Out of space, I don´t think so. even a tga pic is hardly 80 GB large, or is it ~:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by bretwalda
I know you can do it that way, but that´s really cumbersome, and it interrupts the gameplay, too. Hardly anything you´d want to do in the middle of the biggest fight of your campaign.Quote:
I normally just press print-screen, alt-tab out of the game , open paint, past in paint and save as .jpg in a folder solely dedicated to MTW/RTW screenies.
I have FRAPS, too, but then again, the game is supposed to have an inbuilt screenshot capture function. Even if it´s not documented in the handbook.
I had zero problems with TGAs, irfanview reads, displays and converts all of them. OTH alt-tabbing out of MTW is a risky business... But do as easier for you. F2 works for me every time. (Silly question, but did you accidentaly press capslock? I do all the time and of course F2 wouldn't work in that case...)
I've just finished it, I' ll post tommorow with 7-8 screenshots.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight Templar
My Hungairians/normal/high period/GA campiagn, although I've played it more like conquest as Hungarians don't have interesting goals at all. Before the game, I made little modifications; I made Szekelys trainable in every province, and I made crusader knights trainable for me, English, French, Sicilians (Templars), Italians (Hospitalers), Spanish and Aragonese (Ko Santiago) and HRE (Teutonics). Conditions for training were Horse Breeder's guild and Spearmaker's guild.
https://img473.imageshack.us/img473/9094/mad11td.jpg
This is the situation in the 1229. After conquering Balkan (except Constantinopole), I attacked HRE. They didn't even want to fight for their lands- I gained 4 provinces, but had only 1 battle.
https://img473.imageshack.us/img473/8758/mad21ja.jpg
Well, I conquered HRE except Provance, and now I'm preparing to attack French; as you can see, my economy isn't working and I need rich provinces like Flanders. Sicilians used the fact that I have no navy and started to attack Croatia by sea.
https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/4209/mad32ty.jpg
I conquered French Europeian lands, however they are still strong in Africa and Asia. In meantime, Turkish attacked me, so I took Constantinopole from them (another rich province) and bribed rebel army in Trebizond (there was civil war in Egypt).
Interesting to note, GH got England by marriage; in 3 years, this is the first time I see someone took a profite from marrying his prince to foreign princess.
https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/4155/mad42gn.jpg
By the 1275, I was just about to attack Italians, when I got message his king died heirless. Of course, I use this opportunity to gain 6 of their provinces with little fight.:charge: I also bribed army in Sweden hoping to conquer Scandinavia later. In Minor Asia, I eliminated the Turkish. English reappeared and took their homelands from GH.
https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/421/mad55qf.jpg
Damn Italians reappeared taking 8 provninces including Sweden. Another big army to deal with. I'm in war with English (got Wessek, lost Friesland), Egys, reappeared Turkish (in one moment they even held Constantinople) and Byzs (tried to conquer Nicaea). I dealed with Sicilians: my spies initiated rebellion on Malta and I bribed the rebel army, and I invaded Naples by sea (my navy got stronger).
https://img498.imageshack.us/img498/7007/mad68gq.jpg
My war against Turkish (soon will be eliminated), Egys and English goes well. However, I didn't leave lots of army in Europe, so Pope thought I was weak and invaded Venice (taken back soon). To be revenged...:knight:
https://img473.imageshack.us/img473/5025/mad70pp.jpg
I expelled English from Britain, they remained on Ireland. Asy ou can see, I have problems with Italians (who attacked me) and English royalists. War with Egys goes excellent. My spies caused rebellions in Denmark and Sweden (stupis Italians didn't build BF). I bribed rebel army in Denmark. I revenged the Pope.:charge:
I was also working on eliminating Polish (althought I'm not in war with them yet) by killing they heirs. My v5 grand inquisitor killed two sons of their king. He only has his brothers now as his heirs, so I thought I succeeded.
https://img454.imageshack.us/img454/7360/mad82pr.jpg
And here it is, 60 % victory. ~:cheers: ~:cheers: Egyptians are eliminated, Corsica and Sardinia conquered. I was so angry my plan with Polish didn't work (in the year the latest brother died, they got new 16-year old king), so I attacked them conquering 4 regions (Poland, Saxony, Silesia and Bragdenburg) in one year.
As picture shows, I worked on my agents (especially inquisitors).
Nice work knight templar. How come you didn't have any cash in your treasury? You should have attacked the Middle East first because they're much more wealthier than central Europe.
Excellent K T ! ~:cheers: Thanks for the pics ~:cool: . Great (spy,etc)
network.
Very interesting with the Horde in England ~:eek: , never seen that either.
Are you going to keep going or try a new game? ~:confused:
Nice empire building Templar. That is one very screwed up map of Europe with Italy having norway and Egypt and the horde at one point having england.
Thanks for compliments ~:)
I felt I was not strong enough to attack Egypt.Quote:
Originally Posted by miho
@dgfred: No, I stop at 60%
Since I finished my HRE game, I might post some pics showing the development and rulers of my empire:
[img=https://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5416/1225ottoiv9iy.th.jpg]
In 1225 things are still as they started in 1205, for most of the part.
[img=https://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7684/1243ottov3eb.th.jpg]
A new man has taken over, the Horde has arrived, almost killing off the Polish, and the Italians were so foolish as to go to war with both me and Hungary. They are pushed from the continent and shall remain on Sardinia for the rest of the game. England and France are happily engaged in war.
https://img387.imageshack.us/img387/...diii9wl.th.jpg
France and England have swapped locations, the French insisted on going to war with the Danes as well and look where it got them. The Horde´s conquering its way through Russia, Hungary is busy at empire-building - they already are the strongest power around and myself, I´m picking the odd rebellious province, not making much in the way of progress.
[img=https://img415.imageshack.us/img415/9609/1291conradiii5nj.th.jpg]
1291, the year of the big revolutions. Provinces of England, France and myself went to revolt in this year. While the loss of the baltic province wasn´t all that much in the way of a loss to me, the revolting english and French provinces that went revolting proved excellent opportunities to expand my empire without upsetting anyone, apart from the rebels, maybe.
[img=https://img383.imageshack.us/img383/2240/1356ludwigiv0ej.th.jpg]
Fifty-odd years and a war with the Danes later, the latter are anihilated, leading to a re-emergence of the French on the fair island of Ireland with nothing but an inn as infrastructure. Needless to say they would not play an important role again. The Horde has crumbled, too (not my fault, this time), leaving me Russia to conquer.
https://img438.imageshack.us/img438/...ariv5wq.th.jpg
1398, the last year of peace between the two largest realms in the known world: Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire. At this time, Hungary rules all the land from Poland to Arabia.
[img=https://img438.imageshack.us/img438/1375/1409adolfi1qc.th.jpg]
Only eight years later, nothing is left of Hungary. Not their arms and armies, but their royal bloodline proved the weak spot. In the final battle, the Hungarian King and Emperor Lothar IV killed each other - it was indeed in the clash between their respective units that both rulers were killed. However, Lothar had in Adolf I an able heir left, the Hungarians did not have one. Their downfall led to several faction re-emergences, Poland and Russia being only two of them.
https://img449.imageshack.us/img449/...olfi9ku.th.jpg
Adolf I´s reign was dominated by the conquest of the western European continent and several crusades against the Almohads, but also a border skirmish with the papal states, disputing over the ownership of the rich trading capital of Venice. The picture above is the last of the living Emperor Adolf I, he died the same year, being followed on the Throne by Hermann II, last Emperor of medieval Germany.
Nice game, Ciaran! That was a pretty spectacular collapse on the part of the Hungarians; way to hit them where it hurts. ~:cheers:
Thanks. The Hungarian end was pretty - abrupt, I never thought they only had one heir and would even send him into battle after he was made king. I was preparing for the German-Hungarian version of the Hundred Years War and was rather sure to be on the losing end.
I just don´t get why there are some thumpnails displayed and sometimes only the link appears ~:confused:
Hello Ciaran,Quote:
Originally Posted by Ciaran
to post an image you need to enclose the link of the image in these tags :
To link the image to another image use these tags:Code:[img][/img]
-Mithrandir.Code:[url= ][/url ]
I have a question. How do you put images in my posts? If to put an image its very small. Like this:
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1...6/00000008.jpg
Why is it so small? Its jpg and 500kb large.
Never mind.I figured it out images over 250 kb are automatically resised in photobucket. I'll try imageshack now.
Mithrandir: Imageshack provides with complete entries for thumpnail posting when uploading pictures, I just copied them into here.
(I sincerly hope that the images in this post won't bog you guys down, because it is MASSIVELY IMAGE HEAVY) I promise next time to find a way to make the pictures thumbnails.
As promised (at least indirectly) here is my HRE campaign, completed.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1210.jpg
year 1210
Such sweet memories from long ago, when Emporer and Pope saw eye to eye. The HRE took all the Polish territories in one year as well promeria and prussia were also annexed into glorious holy roman empire.:duel: We are told they were overjoyed to now be ruled by pious, wise and gentle leaders. The following rebellions were merely caused by fringe groups financed from outside sources, probably the Italians.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1222.jpg
year 1222
A succesful German crusade takes Greece, german subjects now can find feta cheese in their market places.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1228.jpg
year 1228
Many years later little has changed except the Alhomods, hungarians and russians have gained some land.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1232.jpg
year 1232
Finally the northern Italian lords were brought to heel. They're disregard for the Emperor's authority has ended however their self proclaimed king still has holdings elsewhere. Also significant is the capture of croatia and hungary.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1236.jpg
year 1236
The dastardly Sicilians have stolen Greece, which was crusaded for so many years ago. It would be 5 decades before it would be reclaimed, after Sicily itself was taken. Aswell the barbaric mongols for the first time share a border with the HRE. It is an uneasy time for the empire.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1241.jpg
year 1241
The horde briefly gets hold of Syria and begins a slow decline as it is pushed further north over the coming century.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1254.jpg
year 1254
French success brings about an english civil war, essentially sending the english kingdom into decline. The pope is also attacked and crushed. A questionable war but it is very quickly resolved. The attacked was justified by claimed that the Pope who was turely supposed to rule rome in trust of the emporer and was refusing to acknowledge the Emporer's earlthy right to rule. However questionable this claim it was accepted by most HRE bishops and a new papacy was setup in Venice at the massive Cathedral there. The emporer wisely avoided having to deal with the anti German Roman aristocracy that always seemed to have such a large hand in past papal politics. A group of opportunist cardinals joined the new papacy giving some legitimacy to it.
However a very large group of cardinals and others who had lost much status squirlled away resources and prepared for a ressurgance many years later also supposedly financially assisted by those Christian kingdoms who opposed the HRE.
Toulouse was also aquired.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1260.jpg
year 1260
By this point the pagan mongols have been pushed back from the good christians. Disturbingly, the mohammadian turks have grown powerful and now share a lot of border with the HRE replacing the pagans that inspired great speaches by priests and bishops. In the western parts of the empire there is not too much concern but the east is highly uneasy setting the groundwork for many future crusades that would start in bohemia and go south east.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1273.jpg
year 1273
The Danes invade Saxony, which is an embarrasment for the Emperor, a situation that would be fully rectified within two decades time.
As a sort of counterbalace to that humiliating loss, the long time enemies the Hungarians have finally been defeated.
Rudolf the seconds reign certainly was interesting. In the next decade the Turkish wars would begin and last for over a century. To the virtue of the empire in the eyes of future historians the empire is for once, with the exception of the Danish hostility, not the starter of the war. The Turks attack the newly annexed exhungarian provinces.
A new rogue Papacy tries establish itself. Worried by the success of RudolfII several parties secretly fund the rebel pope and many declare allegience to this pope. Some of the old cardinals and rich atni german roman aristocrats are believed to be involved. This betrayal of the emporer angers him greatly but he is prusuaded not to crush the Pope. Relations are very poor with the new Papacy though. Future emporer's regularily ignored the Pope. The city of Rome was also plundered to punish the rebels and the cathedral in Venice was fabulously furbished and the palace in Bavaria too. The rebels cardinals were regularily found guilty of heresy by HRE agents.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1287.jpg
year 1287
France was my long time ally but they chose to ally with an enemy and eventually were excommunicated so they were crusaded against to allow the French to be ruled by true catholics. Ironically many emporer's in future and past decades were excommunicated themselves. The empire makes many gains in the west. Many scholars and aristocrats make references to the empire of Charlamagne, claiming that it is the HRE's destiny to regain those lands.
This is the year that that Rudolf the second, now refered to as Rudolf the great, took the holy city of constantinople. After a few fierce battles Turkish power was finally broken though German power could not expand too far into aisian minor without dangerously overextending itself so time was spent in consolidation.
The duke of sicily in convinced to join the empire. The emporer publicly praises their rationality, stating, such intelligence is rare among non-germans. That year and the following many decades German offers of alliance and truces are unfailingly rejected.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1296.jpg
year 1296
Greece is finally retaken finally. Western france and Sussex are attained. This is a period of great prosperity and optomism (at least for the ruling class) in HRE history.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...lomacy1308.jpg
year 1308
Germany's enemies pretty much include everyone who has ever shared a border with them. The French to some extent however have some right to be mad since they were attacked first, as opposed to most of the others.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1313.jpg
year 1313
Expansion into Turk lands occured in this decade. Kiev, that piece of land in the northern Baltic,Trebezond, and Nicea were taken to further hinder the Turks and to take vital ports that allowed for the troublesome sea invasions previous. In a few years time, Anatolia and Rum were also taken.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1329.jpg
year 1329
At this point the spanish have become intolerable and can no longer be ingnored. The HRE has never attacked them yet the continue to attack insist on war while neglecting the much more threatening Egyptian forces eating at their southern provinces. They too have refused any sort of peace. The German nobility will not stand for this and begin to formulate capturing Iberia in their future plans... to save the Spanish peasants of course.
The false Roman Empire (from HRE perspective of course) and the French, in their warlikeness, invaded and occupied Nicea for over two years. The initial counter attack was unsuccessful but the second one was much more devasting to the Emperor's foes.
Also of note is the Turkish civil war, which further serves to weaken their empire.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1332.jpg
year 1332
This idiocy is not welcome, notice how Corboda has no a single soldier to fight off the very aggressive Egyptians.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...shcivilwar.jpg
year 1340
A Spanish civil war breaks out and Corboda and Portugal gain independance hough Corbode is recaptured. The Egyptians take adavantage of the weakened Spandiards as does the Holy Roman Emperor choose to make his move. With great fortune, the Pope has FINALY allowed the Germans to crusade against the Egyptians. ~:cheers: :charge: ... even though technically the pope is at war with the empire. Many cursades were launched and the pope's money was given to one of theheavily indepted Catholic island kings.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/HRE1361a.jpg
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/HRE1361b.jpg
Year 1361
This is an important year for the empire. Firstly a massive invasion was launched on Iberia and also the Turkish lands. Lesser Armenia was crushed denying the turks their original homeland.
Things were not too great for the HRE as their expenses have for years now been greater than their income. New conquests and the streamlining of the military in next year would correct this but it was embarrasing for the sitting emporer.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1362.jpg
Year 1362
The Emporer's influence jumps incredibly with such a succesful conquest. The new optimism and pride takes hold adding to already massive egos. There is much talk about recreating the old Roman empire. Many now seriously consider it a possibility whereas nearly two centuries ago few would take such dreams seriously.
Adding to this belief the Egyptian looses several provinces to a civil war.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1368.jpg
Year 1368. The Egyptian Empire continues to deteriorate, few forsee the events over the next two years.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1370.jpg
Year 1370
Where as the Egyptians had generally been considered a kingdom in decline a few years ago fear of Egypt grew exponentially surprising many except the spy masters. The Emporer was heavily criticized for not taking the opportunity to take the smaller independant kingdoms when he had the chance without starting a war with the muslim kingdom.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1382.jpg
Year 1382
The 3rd HRE crusade soon reached Edessa's border. Most knew that the neutrality was purely nominal. The crusade was perhaps, thanks to zealous intolerant assasination of all egyptian agents, a unconfirmed rumour to the Egyptian lords. They already had already prepared. Much innocent blood would be spilt.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/hre1399.jpg
Year 1398
The Roman citizens have taken up arms against the pontificate to the great amusement of the Germans. At first the Pope is rescued but later
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1407.jpg
Year 1407
Though the war was relatively long and costly the conclusion was unsurprising, especially for the cocky german lords. The victories were seen as divinely predetermined. More secular scholars would attribute the victory to vastly suprior army size and quality backed by a much more massive economy.
Also of note was that the corsicans gained their independance, largely attributed to inquisitional attrition. A Spanish royal line had been established in Algeria. The Cryptiots also joined the empire.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1449.jpg
Year 1449
Finally the mostly peaceful Spanish Algerian dynasty was brought to a catastrophic demise. If the imperial declarations were to be believed, the attack was a critically defensive action aimed at bringing peace to the mediteranean by gently crushing a great danger.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...us/HRE1451.jpg
Year 1451
Within a few decades the entirety of the mediteranean belonged to the HRE with the exception of the four island kingdoms of Sardinia, Malta, Crete, and Rhodes who were spared for their long time neutrality and also trading purposes. Finally the Roman empire, with the exception of said island kingdoms, was recreated and even larger than the original by the descendants of the very tribes of the poeple who greatly helped contribut to its original downfall.
Emporere Herrmann was not unaware of what he had completed, in fact he made sure to put a scultural portrait of himself in nearly every government institution. He did not precisely admit he was not the most important leader, and saw himself on terms with Rudolf the Second. Regardless he knew that his descendants would need to be strong to withstand the sands of time.
Very nice NodachiSam. Too bad you couldn't go for the total domination. I haven't seen many ships in the screenies. You obviously didn't have much trade income.
Oh wow lol
That's very extensive Nodachi and it lasted over 250 years. It's nice to see someone play a game without a 30000 florin a year income and a global navy, it also has nice personal touches. I think I might start a German 1205 campaign.
Great empire, NodachiSam. And very, very nice army attacking Algeria in 1449 :charge: . BTW, How did you mod ports ~:confused:
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2...ottoiv1215.jpg
I started my German campaign and this is year 10 in Otto IV's reign. I micromanaged to start off and managed to increase yearly florin yields by 1300 and then up to 2000 after I finnished building watchtowers and border forts. I spent some excess on as many advanced troops as I could build, in particular militia seargants and swiss halbs. I then invaded Poland, and scaring the Polish into Silesia at 1209 and the pope threatenned to excommunicate me if I attacked again. So I fortified the 3 provinces around Silesia and marched the rest of my troops across Germany after determinning France as the next most profitable venture. By this time I was getting some cash in and could spend on some feudal knights and a few mercenaries. My army was still small however so I concentrated my forces on northern France, luckily the French abandonned Paris and fled to Normandy allowing me to occupy the fortifications. Next year I sent some forces into Flanders, scaring the garrison into Ghent, though the French decided to march their entire army from Normandy into Paris to try and retake their capitol, so I garrisonned my troops there. Fresh troops had just arrived in Burgundy so I had to strength to repel the French liberation force, I also sent some troops from Flanders to occupy normandy so the French had no where to flee or withdraw to depending on how they chose to combat my superior forces. The rest is history.
Nice fightin' Patron ~:cheers: . Venice looks kind of tempting too ~;) .
Thanks for the comments, glad you guys enjoyed it.
The ports are actually a bug as another mod overwrote the original ports.Quote:
Originally Posted by Knight Templar
Very nice empire building so far Patron, very aggressive ~:cheers: I was lucky when I invaded poland in that they fled both provinces, hehe. Are the Italians next?
Shortly after the last pic I invaded toulouse and put young prince and heir Otto in charge, for some reason the French surrenderred without a fight. All 700 of them were held prisonner awaiting execution, when an emissary from landed in the mediteranean and gallopped to Toulouse with the promise of ransom. Fearing some sort of trick Prince Otto orderred his men at arms to begin putting swords to the hamstrings of the captives, but was later informed that the French may have conquerred some island in the mediteranean and we know nothing of it due to our emphasis on military rather than diplomatic intelligence. A ransom of 12000 florins was duely paid. So ended the French threat, for all practical purposes.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2...ottoiv1221.jpg
Troops were moved into Toulouse to help enforce law and order, however the deceitful English, paranoidly fearing that they were next orderred a pre-emptive attack on Burgundy and Normandy. This came a quite a shock to the Germans as for decades their homelands had never been trespassed apon, the horrors of war were at their doorstep, the rape, pillage and injustice on full show for the Burgundian people. However the retaliation was swift and devastating. Some of the French King's ransom had been used to employ fearsome cavalry from the east who were eager for glory in these rich lands and crossed the channel forcing the peasants there to retreat into London, the Army in Toulouse decided to split into 2 parts, one would lift the siege at Burgundy and the other would invade Anjou, thus sealing them deep within German territory as had been done with the French several years before.
The tides turned very quickly and the English panicked. Their invasion force had completely dissapeared, the Germans had landed on Britain and had gained major strategic gains in the centre of France. The invasion force in Normandy and seemingly the English in Wales broke their ties to the King in Brittany, however the English remained strong on the Atlantic coast. Prince Otto took Aquitaine easily and laid siege to Bordeaux, however his brother was ambushed whilst marching on Brittany and his army was routed. However by now the situation for the English was dire, Prince Otto attacked from the south with a retinue of elite swiss halberdiers and 2 units of feudal knights and managed to kill King John I in battle.
At the moment my armies are mainting control over these lands that have been taken and the imperial coffers are experiencing a crisis considerring the expense of the war, however it is still managing to squeeze out enough to fund the emperor's plans for a fleet. The Pope has orderred an end to hostilities against the English and a withdraw from Aquitaine within 2 years if they cannot lift the siege, for long the Papacy has watched the Germans and attempted to curb their power, but through intrigue they have managed to circumvent many of the restrictions placed on them. There is currently a rebellion in Aquitaine, but if I can defeat them all or lift the siege next year I will be in an excellent position to gain more strategic lands in the east and in Italy to secure my borders.
Nice. At what period did you start playing?
I think he posted before that it was a 1215 (or so) HRE campaign start, butQuote:
Originally Posted by miho
I am not positive on that.
DANISH FLEET!!! :jawdrop:
https://img161.imageshack.us/img161/...liiline5ak.jpg
Cruseders vs Jihad army in Byzantium territory (Constantinopoles)... :duel:
https://img307.imageshack.us/img307/...krstasi6fx.jpg
That fleet ~:eek:
What in god's name is happening in this picture !? ~:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by miho
Ouch! Looks like 3 faction re-emergences and a civil war/uprising?
Sicilia
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v...dat/sicily.jpg
Just finished off the Spanish and now I'm wondering what to do next. Egypt is getting very big and their homelands are undergarrisoned. I'll think I'll beef up my Euro boarders and then take over the Middle East.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DukeofSerbia
~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek: ~:eek:
Nice empires so far guys :)
Patron: Did you reach 60% with your game?
I'm not finnished. I've played lots of campaigns before and I'm going to play this one lightly over a period of time.
By 1223 the Germans had laid claim to all of France and Poland as lawless conquerors. Emperor Otto IV died a few years later for all practical purposes handing state power over to his son after the last of the English were rid from France. most of the French and English nobility were left intact, but the 2 crowns had almost dissapeared, the Germans don't know where they are, however the English navy is strong and King John II the dim led a suicide attack on Normandy. The king and a mere 20 knights suprised the garrison of urban milita and spearmen who tracked the knights and lured them into battle in a forest. The knights fought bravely and managed to slay 10 times their weight in men, but they were all killed. This act of stupidity combined with the French high aristocracy's flight to some unknown destination in the mediterranean caused a seemless transference of power to Emperor Otto V after his father's death in France.
There were uprisings in the east however. A large band of German bandits in Silesia was put down by the army which had destroyed the last of the Poles.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2...ottoIV1228.jpg
Otto V is decidedly Franko-German now, having spent much of his adult life fighting against the English and being crowned in Notre Dame, he governed the 2 countries from Burgundy which had been the strategic clinch point during the war and continued the project of building a fleet left by his father using the small surplus his militaristic empire could yield. During the short 2 years of peace (1224-1226) the borders with the empire's hostile neighbours had been fortified with Germany's formidable forces and much of the elite had musterred in Burgundy and Provence for another lawless invasion. The invaders of Milan withdrew due to the unexpected movement of the reputed Italian infantry from Venice and the invaders of Genoa forced the Italians into retreat. In the same year uprisings in Lorraine and Normandy occurred and the King moved north from Burgundy for the sport of killing the 120 odd peasant archers who has claimed the large swathes of land for themselves, in his haste however he neglected to send forces into Normandy to quell the uprising.
Later that year reinforcements from Tyrolia coupled with the Milan invasion force forced the Italians to give up and retreated back to Venice or into Milan and the Italians attacked the Genoan invasion force besieging Genoa. The Italian army consisted entirely of Infantry and the German cavalry managed to skirmish heavily, split the army in 2 and flank the 2 segments with the help of 120 feudal men at arms. No Italians returned to Genoa.
Next campaign, I'm upping the troop size. Battles with default sizes are pretty underwhelming.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Wizard
That is the most ships I have ever seen in a game :jawdrop: . Wow, that
is some serious florins.
Wow. Thats a lot of ships. The Italians have had a few full stacks in my games but this is unbelievable. Is it all they've got or they have more in other seas?
I had a massive rebellion and a civil war in the same time. Lost about 70% of my provinces in a turn.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graphic
How long did the danes spend building ships?
It has been 10 years since any major conflict and things are beginning to heat up again. Many have attempted to take advantage of Germany's thinly spread forces including an austrian royal family, but have all been put to justice, most considerred the war to be over until the invasion of Italy. Otto has confirmed rumours he first heard from mercenary horsemen from the east of a huge empire spanning steppes no christian has ever reached.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2.../OttoV1230.jpg
The war in Italy is proving difficult, but Charlemagne's territories have been restored and German is finally putting more weight on it's borders. There are currently 5 sorties underway which need assisstance, in Britain, the Pyrenees, Northern Italy, Denmark and Pomerania. These are complicated times indeed.
The Germans considerred the Aragonese to be a tough well developped mountain nation which still existed due to it's impenetratable defenses, however the King of Aragon thought the opposite of Germany and paid for it with his life when he stupidly invaded a Aquitaine and it's battle hardenned garrison of elite knights and swiss halberdiers, he charged uphill into a forest only to be greeted with falling blades. One of his princes escaped, but no one knows what happenned to him as it appears Aragon is now leaderless. The Garrison of Toulouse and Aquitaine are now organizing an invasion to capitalise one the situation, restore order and justice to Aragon and retaliate.
The Pomeranians unexpectedly invaded Poland, Germany has been unable to deal with these troublesome pagans for decades and Otto has expressed his will to secure Germany's long eastern borders within his lifetime. He has not been criticsed for neglect due to his obvious desire to secure Germany's borders as a whole.
The war of intrigue in England is over, Germany managed to polarise the fragmented Britons to her favour, short of reaching for her sword. The German navy rules supreme over the North sea and the pope seems to have forgotten the existence of the English, possibly due to more pressing worries. The opposing Welsh nobility were overwhelmed by the German defectors and slaughterred and their peasants have fled and now hide somewhere to the north. Robin of Locksley was unable to defeat the shire referee of Nottingham, but luckily fled to Wales and swore fealty to it's prince before the prince joined the empire.
The Danes have shown their dark side as pirates and attempted to sent find German sailors to a watery grave in the freezing North Sea. They failed, as has their relations with the empire and Germany now sees reason to keep a large garrison in Saxony.
The war in Italy has seen some terrible losses on both sides: 600 or so italian infantry, 240 crossbowmen and a prince were killed in an attempt to lift the siege at Milan; 600 Bohemian feudal seargants, 200 spearmen and 120 urban milita were killed or routed in an attempt to drive the Italians into Venice. The Italians are desperate to prove they can hold their own as they have always done, but their reputed infantry cannot compete with Germany's elite men at arms and it's heavy cavalry. Italian rebels have musterred in Tuscany and forced a "retreat", into Venice, along with more reinforcements from the heartlands. It is only a matter of time until Venice is under siege. However the Tuscan rebels and Italian navy will still have to be dealt with. The war with Italy has been predicted to last more than a decade, or more if the pope has the nerve to threaten excommunication during the siege of Venice.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2.../ottov1232.jpg
The German military is now a large unified loyal force, bound to their leader by the fact the military and social elite voted him into power in the first place. The recently raised nobility care not for honour, but the nobility's ties to Otto and his father have ensured the law of Germany, regardless of hte law of the pope or other nations. No longer are wars fought to "rightfully" put an 8 year old puppet into some obscure position of Marquis, the Otto now excuses wars by claiming that the means justify the ends, that securing borders through apparent injustice will prevent years of war and are in fact just. It could also be said that Otto respects the tradition of election and is a more just governor than other Kings, but he uses martial law to tax his subjects to the hilt and tortures and executes without whim as any other King.
Nice empire so far Patron. Good luck with the Italians :charge:
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2.../OttoV1240.jpg
I consider the elimination of the Italians as a turning point, with their navy gone Germany is finally in a position to dominate the mediteranean and free from the plague of piracy. There are also many rational figures making their appearance within Germany's strong borders, Albertus Magnus has been ordained Bishop in Aquitaine and is currently converting the Pomeranian and Prussian pagans to Catholicism and Roger Bacon is publishing his works in Wessex. Though Albertus has yet to make his contribution to philosophical history. Churches are springing up across France, Germany and Northern Italy, Otto is turning into a fine king, carefully negotiating with his conquerred populations in order to extract tax, but not force them into poverty and only promoting pious and intelligent governors into their position.
His military skills have only improved, the huge Spanish, Danish and Hungarian armies dare not tread on German land. From Burgundy and with talks with the pope (and 3500 florins) he has organized a crusade to venture east, through Hungary and to the pagan city of Kiev, which has thus far inspired 1500 followers of mainly medium infantry and a number of pavise arbalesters, a unit of strategic value that the German armies lack.
The War in Italy was less bloody on the part of the Germans than was expected. The Tuscan rebels and Venetian garrison, despite their up to date arms were slaughterred by the professional, competent and hardenned German army, in both cases using the heavy skirmishing strategy to confuse and seperate Italian forces enabling the infantry to hold them in position and face being surrounded. There was no siege of Venice or threat of excommunication, the pope used the threat to avert war against the Danes. Relations improved quickly after this threat and a cease fire was signed. Venice was abandonned by the Germans so the army could eliminate the Tuscans, but Prince Konrad had other ideas, he remained on the border in secret with his retinue of elite knights and 20 veteran mounted crossbowmen, when his spies reported the few remaining venetians had ventured out from their citadel, he rode to intercept and managed to pick them off one by one before finally surrounding and killing the Italian king. He picked up the Italian flag, shut his visor, marched straight into Venice and had a personal talk with the mayor of the broken city.
Though somehow the Italian line remained unbroken and they reverted to a war of piracy from Sardinia. Their navy's power seemed to stretch all the way to the North sea preventing any trade and threatenning the southern coast of France. Though Germany had several ships on the coast of Genoa and Otto orderred the Venetian ship builders guild to accept god's will and construct German ships. There were a few years of peace, whereby Germany fought a war of attrition against the Italian pirates and trained troops to invade those annoying Pomeranians and many of the other feats already mentionned. In 1237 A small force of 60 elite chivalric men at arms from Genoa disappointingly drove 300 Italian peasants from Corsica and much to their suprise, scouts reported they could not find the Italian Monarch anywhere in Sardinia. When this was reported to Otto, he feared wasting any more time dealing with the immense Italian navy and some island in the mediteranean where the Pirate King they protected dwelled and orderred his finest emmisary to find the Italian Pirate King and offer a ceasefire, after a famous discussion between 2 very experienced diplomats, Eschenbach succeeded in revealing that the Pirate King was in Greece. A few years later fine Venetian Caravels filled the Adriatic and Prince Conrad and a band of very impetuous swiss halberdiers left for Greece to rid Germany of this plague and usher in what may well be a rennaissance.
Eschenbach was later instrumental in convincing the Pomeranian warlord to convert to "catholicism", thus speeding up the process of getting the small numbers of fresh German troops into Lithuania without those violent pagan peasants being a thorn in their side.
The Rennaissance is underway, German empire has found a new life blood, a powerful state funded navy, that circumvents the less advanced Barques and Galleys of lower nations. Otto V is now as famous and influential as his father in his final years and has reserved himself a place in the history books. Venice and several provinces on the coast of the North sea and English channel are now producing military caravels to patrol the seas from the Baltic to the Aegean. From Venice to Prussia. For now Prussia is part of the christian world. The German army is not at a stalemate, the borders with the mighty Hungarian and Spanish kingdoms are secure, but Germany has excess military resources which it has donated to the furtherance of Catholicism. Though not officially sanctionned by the Pope, this doesn't really matter, seeing as it is a war against pagans and considerring Germany's reputation quite frankly no one cares. The pagans were wedged between the Mongol and German empires, the Prussians fled to Volhynia knowing that the German army would have to leave the warlord of Pomerania to quell the populace whilst the German army under prince Ludwig would have to invade alone. The German empire however has been training troops from all over it's lands and sending them east to aid in the war and several knights and some infantry bolsterred the small group of elites. The German infantry engaged in a savage melee with the hoardes of Slavic warriors, who fought bravely to do what they can against the better equipped, armoured and trained men at arms, until their rear ranks were lanced by 240 feudal knights. Otto V hasn't mentionned it, but he now realises that the Mongols did not destroy the pagans, but scare them to the borders with Germany, which explains their invasion of Poland all those years before (by the warlord of Pomerania who oddly conerted to catholicism).
The speed at which Germany subjugated the pagans was phenomenal, taking 1 province each year and send forces to conquer the next the year after, often leaving troops behind to besiege them and the pace continued as a year after the invasion of Volhynia Prince Ludwig and his knights and elite men at arms met up with the crusaders and prepared to attack the mongol garrison there.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2...fkievottov.jpg
organize themselves, march in front of the shield wall and begin returning fire inflicting heavy casualties apon the unarmoured horse archers. The shield wall led quite a distance from a slope curving down to the lake bed on it's right, preventing the mongol force from flanking on that side without splitting their smaller army in 2, thus allowing Ludwig and his knights to double the strength on the left flank. Fearing that the knights would charge into the horse archers and continue charging until they could no longer be supported by the infantry, Ludwig orderred the polish mounted seargants to attempt to scare some of the horse archers, who had distanced themselves from the mongol heavy cavalry, further away from the heavy cavalry. The sergeants did their duty, and charged into a numerically superior mass of horse archers, they managed to split some of the horse archers from the main body of horsemen and began chasing them away from the mongol heavy cavalry who did not respond still waiting for their horse archers to win a ranged contest against the thick ranks of pavise arbalesters. Ludwig then sent 80 knights to kill off the seperated and fleeing group of horse archers, unfortunately this episode cost the lives of over half of the sergeants. Their sacrifice was not in vain however. Seeing his horse archers being slaughterred on all fronts and fearing the effectiveness of the german army at close combat, the Mongol General began a withdrawal. Ludwig rode amongst his knights urging them not to give chase. Instead the infantry were organised into an advancing line and the knights kept snuggly on the flanks where they proceeded to march to Kiev. The Germans had won the calculated face off, but could have inflicted more casualties and whether this will be indicative of the rest of the war is uncertain. With Kiev however the Germans are in a strong strategic position to raid many of the Mongol strongholds scatterred across the steppes and keep them at bay whilst they achieve further conquests and glory.
https://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y2.../ottov1243.jpg
Pff, no coments?
I like your empire so far. Its good to see the Italians submit to their rightful emporer :) I suggest and hope that you show the hungarians the brunt of your power and also Take Constantinople. I would crusade to Constantinople and suck up some of the Hungarian forces beforehand though.
At that point you'll have a very respectable kingdom, in fact, you already do but I mean more so :)
He already has a crusade marching towards the Horde. You could try bribing the army in Cons.
I have another crusade started, heading for Volga Bulgaria. At the moment I'm pushing my troops too far and they are spread thin, but I should have my trade routes up and running after a while. The Mongol armies are large, but I recently slaughterred a Mongol army in Khazar using some proffessional troops. However they invaded Prussia and slaughterred the warlord of pomerania's 1000 or so slav javelinmen and warrios with the loss of 150 heavy cavalry.
The attack on Khazar however was text book, with my protected arbalesters doing a lot of damage. They fled again, abandonning their foot soldiers, thus allowing my knights to have some fun.. I now have 2 major strategic clinch points in the far eastern europe theatre. I had hoped to raid a few weakly defend points along Mongolia's stretched borders, but there are a lot of them and it looks like I will have to fight a few pitched battles before I can say they are helpless. I will also have to lift the siege at Prussia..
I currently have a total GDP of 17500 florins, but a lot of this goes to the troops at my borders who are going to be staionary for some time as I use my excess to conquer the east, the Spanish have quite an advanced well led army, and the Hungarians will be swallowed up as part of my campaign in the east. I am spending nearly everything on trading posts and harbours, once all this is in place, the pace will pick up again. My chivalric knight buildings are almost complete in Paris and Munich.
I am currently playing an English campaign with my boss at work. We do it on Monday nights and play through one king each night (we've only done one so far). We got the idea from someone here at the org (though they were talking of PBEM with a zip file). When one of us is king (we alternate), he makes all the decisions and only fights battles he is leading. The other fights battles lead by other generals and royals. It's a lot of fun. Anyway, I've saved all the battles and tried to keep up with notable events. I will write a history of each reign (The first will be of William [II] the Heretic 1087-1114). It will be fun to see if my "son" is chip off the old block who furthers his father's ambitions or an "idiot boy" who screws up what I've built ("His mother was a French hussy...he couldn't have come from my loins...oh why oh why did I not send him on a crusade to Egypt...by himself?"). How do I do screen shots and post them?
You can take screenshots by pressing F2. The game will store them in the "tga" folder in the .tga-format. Unfortunatly, .tga is not compatible with standard windows progams so you need to convert them to .jpg with another program. (If you don't have an image program that is .tga compatible, you can download Irfanview from here: link. I never tried it, though.) I don't know if resizing still is required, but it used to be 70% height and width.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Darkhorn
The rest is easy, however. All you need to do is send them to an upload site and then use the image-tags to put the picture in your post. The image tags work like this: [*IMG]https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/661/135ck.jpg[*/IMG]. If you remove the stars, you get:
https://img413.imageshack.us/img413/661/135ck.jpg
(I don't have any M:TW screenshots available here, or else I would have posted them ~;p .)
For hosting, I recommend ImageShack (www.imageshack.us). The Org also has its own uploading servive (click here), but I must confess that Imageshack is faster and easier. They provide you with the correct image tags and upload immediatly, whereas I only check every day for new submissions to upload.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludens
Burn the heretic! [rioting mobs follow] :san_grin:
After the conquest of Khazar it was found out the Khan Kubilai was long dead and had been replaced by the less impressive Ogadai, though he had complete control over the hoardes he had little experence in the field and experienced a humiliating defeat as he was kicked out of Chernigov, once again withdrawing to preserve his precious heavy cavalry, however behind them Mongols from Volga Bulgaria and Georgia drove out the Khazarian garrison. It was clear then that the Khan was fighting a war of attrition as the lands taken were of little use to him, he was also protecting key points and sending his swift forces out from them to attack the thinly spread troops and withdrawing just before my slower troops went in for the kill. Georgia, Muscovy and Lithuania were all heavily guarded, the possession of Lithuania being of most strategic value as it allowed incursions into Prussia and Volhnyia and then on to Christian lands and also allowed the Mongols to retaliate should I take their neighbouring territories, which had to be the next target if Germany's forces were to gain any objectives in this war.
The malleable and opportunistic military tradition of Germany's conquerors in the past inverted and they now saw the pitched battle for it's virtues, abandonning Khazar and Chernigov (aswell as Pereyaslavl to rebels). Around 320 knights, 240 crusader pavise arbalesters the 20 year old heir to the throne Prince Herrman with his retinue of 19 elite Parisian knights aswell as an anti-cavalry infantry regiment of seasonned swiss halberdiers, english chivalric seargants, Robin of Locksley's milita seargants and Bohemian feudal seargants with fine steel armour and weapons marched into Lithuania. Apon sight of the mongols Herrmann immediately orderred the infantry and archers to form up inside a nearby forest and for the knights to hide behind them, knowing that the mongols will send their archers forward in an attempt to harrass and seperate the line.
After the army was protected from archer fire, Herrmann organised his crusader arbalesters in front of the tree line with a unit of anti-cavalry infantry behind, but in the forest, to counter any charge. The usual exchange of fire began, leaving several hundred horse archers dead on the field. However this time, as predicted, the mongols decided to stay and fight instead of giving up such an important strategic point. Around 500 mongol heavy cavalrymen moved around the forest and formed up seemingly blocking the army's escape route. Herrmann orderred his arbalesters to begin firing apon the mongol heavy cavalry which only encouraged them to charge. Despite the infantry's advantage in the forest, there wasn't enough Infantry to cover all points of entry into the forest and Prince Herrmann himself was charged as the cavalry made their way around the flanks. The impetuous and impatient knights responded in kind by charging out of the forest, before wheeling around and charging into the rear of the heavy cavalry engaged with the infantry. This glorious counter charge became the stuff of legend as nearly all of the mongol heavy cavalry were slaughterred including Khan Ogadai. These heavy cavalry were reputed to be the equals of western knights, they were even referred to as Mongolian knights in the annals. It was also the first battle fought by the soon to be King of Germany. Of course this was no chivalrous contest, the cavalry were handicapped by unsuitable terrain and trying to fend off the swiss halberdiers, but that wasn't the point, it was the consequences of the bravery and skill of knights in this situation that attracted troubadours and storytellers.
Nice battle, Patron! What was the final tally at the end, by the way?
I duno lol, i didn't save it. I remember there were 2000 mongols and most of the 2nd wave fled, a lot of horse archers were killed and a portion of the mongol heavy cavalry were captured instead of killed. I must have killed around 500-600 and captured 300 or so. I lost quite a few of the famous pavise arbalesters so I think 200 of my troops died.
Nice job Patron. I hate taking the mongols on and I usually only do it with very superior numbers.
I started a Serbian campaign in XL high. Only medium difficulty.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...ughtempire.jpg
The Tzars first move was to send out his diplomat. The greeks and rulers of constantinople quickly agreed to bow to Serbian rule after enough fiscal pursuasion. It was expensive but the two rich provinces payed themselves off quickly. At this point Tzar steffen has allied himself with the Romans and the Sicilians, as well as Aragon. Hungary's approaches have been rebuffed as were the Bulgarians. Stefen in his ambition wished to invade them and put their lands under better rule, -for the benefits of the common plebeans of course.
The invasion of Bulgaria went fairly smoothly. It was a hard fought but acceptable victory. The bulgarians began in a bit of a valley with the Serbs on the other side of the hill. Steffen rushed his men to the hill and was unprepared when the bulgarians advanced instead of finding a solid defensive position, of which there some options. The Bulgarian king was killed in combat, collapsing their royal line. The hungary remnants holed up in the castle two years later were happy or at least willing to join the Serbian army to fight the pagans and catholics.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...anconquest.jpg
Circa 1215. The Cumens invade bulgaria with nearly twice as many men as the defending force. Luckily they were forced to cross a river by excellent Serbian manouvering. The bridge was held and the Cumens routed. The death ratio of foe to friend was 8 to 1 or more in Serbias favour. The miserable attack weakens the Cumans understandably but the Serbians are in no position to counter attack.
This condition however was no shared by the Hungarians. Who as far as the priest intelligence network could tell had not recently engaged in any conflict. They attacked the weakened wallachian rulers and routed their remnants to the castle.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...iainvasion.jpg
Tzar Steffen composed an army strong enough to dispatch the hungarian guard. The hungarians fled but the Cumans reinforced their sallying troops.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...etingparty.jpg
The battle took place over a river and was hard fought and fairly long (because my computer ran at what seemed like two frames a second or something for a lot of it)
Steffen set up his archers on a hill where he would cross and then sent accross his spears and swords. He went accross the bridge with them to encourage them. "I is right behind yous!"
At the same time sent a battled hardened and battle diminished unit of fuedal knights accross the other bridge which was guarded only by a half unit of Cuman warriors. The most basic combat protocal was ignored and the knights charged straight uphill at the archers instead of flanking or charging from behind. "Wot, they is only archers" was the rational. Inexplicably the horse men were eventually completely defeated. (Strangly the archers were apparently losing badly the whole time)
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...ysurpassed.jpg
Finally, with good archer backup, the lump of soldiers at the bridge head was broken and Steffen could finally get all his men accross.
The Cuman general had graciously refrained from any fighting the whole battle. He was approached, flanked and finally wedge charged from behind with the less perfect horse archers who had no more arrows. The circumstances were less than ideal but with foot archer support the horse archers and the rest of the army broke the Cuman general's unit.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b.../closingin.jpg
By this time almost all the Cuman army was dead, captured or fleeing. In a scene that would later be repainted and glorified Stefen captured the fleeing Khan. The poor sap's ransom was refused though. 35 Cumans fled to their castle.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...ingcapture.jpg
A costly but ~successful~ battle to be remembered fondly for as long as the Serbian Clerical intelligence network stood.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...aconquered.jpg
The capture of Wallachia was glorious and grand but unfortunately the Sicilian allies took this opportunity to invade the much more valuable Constantinople.
https://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b...inoplelost.jpg
The Serbians knew this would be a difficult battle, and they were soundly defeated.
Will constantine's city be recaptured and the Sicilian prince be brought to justice? Are the Greek's going to have to learn Sicilian? Will Stefen's third son ever get a royal bride? Find out next time!
Nice campaign so far, I would fight an opportunistic war against the Hungars and a proper offensive into Turkey and also build that navy up and dominate the eastern mediteranean. After you consider the Hungars pacified you should then start to raid lands around the black sea until you have pacified the Turks and Byzantines, so you can go for Khazar and seal Turkey from invaders from the north. Then you can concentrate on a nice middle east campaign, for thousands of years that area has swapped sides enmass, the Persians, Macedonians (nudge nudge), Romans, Jihads, Caliphates, but not Timur and the Mongols in this time line. The Serbians!
A year after the great victory at Lithuania the Mongols attemped to take Lithuania, but Mongols were no longer the devastating offensive force they once were, most of their gigantic war horses and valorous riders were killed, their horse archers were outclassed especially on the offensive where christian crossbowmen and arbalests had time to prepare and their domestic ponies and herdsmen could not possible mount a proper offensive. Though a few core troops existed still in Muscovy and Georgia, they were unwilling to be wasted. Despite the death of the Khan his son still lurked somewhere in the depths of the steppes, the crusade to Volga Bulgaria was reaching Kiev though and would soon drive them into less hospitable lands hopefully never to return. New troops arrived in Khazar including Herrmann's younger brother Lothair (Lot hair or lof air?) who was expected to take over command of the forces of the east if Otto V died and Herrmann has to return as King. The famous emissary Eschenbach nearing his 70s capped off his tremendous career by reconverting the ex-crusaders who honourably decided to replace the Byzantines as protector of Constantinople, ahem, who had converted to the orthodox church in name. There was a crusade to Constantinople originating in Spain in which the Spanish had hoped to use the German navy to transport their army, however there was a clerical error and the coast of Greece was left unguarded and instantly filled with legions of pirates and their ships which could sink transport vessels with their rams without ever engaging in combat, so they had to take a detour through Finland. The crusade was then cancelled next year as the ex-crusaders of Constantinople had converted back to catholicism. The King of Spain will be pleased to hear that Constantinople is under catholic, German hands, he has conquerred Finland and has 1500 hungry troops there to keep it safe.
However the year 1251 saw both the glories and horrors of war. A battle between 2 young men in Khazar, the son of Otto V and the son of Ogadai, Lothair was 17 when he fought the battle and Ogadai's son was 19. Lothair ambushed the Mongols and in a downhill charge, 80 feudal knights and an assortment of mercenary cavalrymen decimated an entire unit of Mongol knights and chased a few mongol horse archers off the field with minimal casualties whilst the rest of the army held the elevation. The knights returned to the rest of the army to fend off the horse archers slowly surrounding them, the young mongol King seemed to have had enough and attempted to engage the German body of troops. The knights charged into his unit of mongol knights, trapping him allowing Lothair and his foot knights to begin mowing his retinue down. The weaker horse archers dared not help their leader until it was too late and most of them were fended off by peasant spearmen. Lothair himself killed the Mongol King and the horse archers began to flee. However they returned and reinforcements enterred the field, the mongol army was immense and the exhausted smaller and slower German army succumbed to the traditional overhwleming tactics of the mongols. The army was slowly mowed down and fled leaving Lothair and the famous feudal knights fighting against numerically superior steppe heavy cavalry hand to hand. Lothair and his knights fought to the last. His sacrifice was not in vain however, for this was the last in line of the great Ghengis Khan, at least in Eurasia. According to heresay the remaining Mongol thugs hanged Lothair's mutilated corpse on the gates of Rostov, a city who's populous they had long controlled, but the teenager's remains were met with shock rather than the jeers of hate they wanted.
Herrmann waged a small campaign in Khazar driving the unchained mongol hoarde into the Crimea, he then set sail to attend 2 funerals in 1252, one with glee and one with despair. He was crowned Emperor Herrmann II in the Hagia Sophia for the same reason his father was crowned in the Notre Dame all those years ago and was met with cheers from the ex-crusaders of Constantinople and it's people due to the vast riches now permitted by the German navy.
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The death of the Mongol leader and his son, the conversion of Constantinople, the famous victory at Lithuania and the corwning of the victorious general in Hagia Sophia, the heart of the Orthodox church had a revolutionary effect on eastern europe, at least for those who are informed. Eastern europe had long seen Constantinople as the faher of the orthodox church, but with it's governorship at the hands of catholic crusaders, the demise of the Byzantines and the terrible invasion by the Mongols they had lost hope. However now that the Germans have put Constantiinople under the true church, the heart of the Orthodox church being used to ceremonially crown a catholic emperor, are in the process of driving out the Mongols and hold both Kiev and Lithuania, it is obvious what lies in the future. The dream of unifying everything from Georgia to Finland and combining it with the eastern borders of the German Empire is looking more and more.. divine.
He asked his famous valorous uncle Konrad to take up patriarchship of the eastern Roman empire and guide the crusaders and German army of the east to victory where he and his brother had left off. Konrad was a catholic, so he ordained himself as more of a Imperial Catholic Patriarch rather than a Byzantine Orthodox Patriarch and thus refused to have anything to do with the Orthodox church and kept one pace away from Catholicism in order to show his loyalty to the Byzantine people. Though Hagia Sophia was declared a Catholic cathedral, their annoyance was mosly dulled by the flood of trade enterring the city. The German clergy intends to convert them all before they realise what's going on.
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Nice Campaign Patron, did you start in 1205? If so you're pretty quick with the empire building. That is a very stretched empire you have. I've never seen one like that before. Usually mine have as little border to defend as possible. I'm really surprised that Hungary is still around though. Are they allied with you for you to spare them or are you perhaps trying to avoid excommunication for now? When I play HRE, Hungary and Poland rarely last too too long. When Polish I also take Hungary out asap. They can be such a thorn in the side.
Right now I am waiting to take out Hungary. It will be a glorious day when they are put under my control. So far I've been fighting wars of defense and opportunity. I don't yet have enough provinces to make enough troops for defense, boats, and agents. That will change int he coming game decade though, especially after the siege in Nicea ends. In the East the Mongols have just showed up and I'll let them stretch out play defensive against them now. The Turks, as you'll read, have been weakened and won't last too long against the mongols. The same with my old enemies the Cumans.
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It was time to retake the great and holy city. Faced with an underabundance of troops but a large surpluss of revenue the path of action seemed obvious to the Tzar. A large mercenary army was raised quickly and marched north out of Greece. It met the Sicilian prince in a valley which was then surrounded and rained down upon with clouds arrows. The battle was won but it was clear that spear wilders were severly lacking. Many unneeded casualties were sustained when sicilian calvary ran down on the archers. The Prince was dispatched with a volley of arrows and not burried.
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In the same year a sicilian prince renowned as a tactician (8 star) invaded the motherland, Serbia. They were repulsed and the prince slain. As well the Sicilian King was also present and met the same end. It was truely a glorious victory. The end of this year was celebrated.
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The following year another prince came into Serbia and was burried but his brother managed to escape.
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The Roman (Byzantine) province of Nicea was then taken over by Seljuk Turks. The Romans were fairly long term allies of the Tzar and he felt strongly the need to assist them. Most of his advisors felt that the turks should be fought off immediately while a few felt that it was too risky and that they should be allowed to ware each other out first. The siege was thought to last at least 2 more years. Perhaps after that the Turks would be weaker and the province could be taken for Serbia. The king was uncertain and waited to invade the following year when his ships would protect Constantinople from sea invasion. At the end of that year however the Tzar recieved news that the castle had been taken and he decided to invade. He did not plan on giving the province back.
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The odds were a bit against the Serbs but the Tzar would not allow them to establish themselves too much. He remembered how they destroyed the greatness of so much of the Roman empire. That did not prevent his own hypocrisy in planning to keep what he took instead of returning it to the Romans however. He did not want to expand east and have a hole in his territory regardless of how long they had been allied.
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The serbian forces marched towards the bridgehead. Curiously enemy forces reacted little and withstood arrow bombardment for along period loosing many of their men, especially their men at arms and spearmen. Their bridgehead thus was only defended with token effort. Serbian forces amassed accross the river and then marched up to the Turkish prince and his remaining soldiers.
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The victory was clear and involved the death of another enemy family member. A counter attack was sure to follow however.
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It came the following year. The Seljuk king reportably invaded with over 5000 troops but this is undoubtably a massive exageration. The real number is believed to be closer to 1500 men.
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Lord Sgouros positioned his men on a massive hill and waited for the Turks to approach. Reportably, he was quite confident. His archers rained down arrows, incoming infantry and horses were pinned by infantry and flanked and surrounded by calvary.
Eventually the Seljuk king met his end.
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Re-enforcements like these horsearchers were delt with.
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This battle was a great success.
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Lord Sgouros was now a national hero. He was celebrated in all good and loyal Serbian cities. The Turkish threat has been reduced while the Tzar and his sons look west. The Hungarians are nothing but trouble and the general concensus amongst insiders in the Serbian aristocracy is that they should somehow be subdued. Perhaps, as the Navy is growing the Sicilians can finally be punished. All this while a new threat is reported coming from the east. A massive horde of horsemen apparently.
There should be an After Action Report section with some of this stories...