Assassin Spam by Milan

I am playing Denmark currently. Embroiled in a war with HRE and Milan. The Milanese have spammed LOTS of Assassins against me. My faction leader was killed by them after surviving like 10 attempts. My Heir (now faction leader) has had more attempts than I care to count. Some crazy security trait have earned to be sure. Has anyone else noticed the backstabbing filthy Milanes doing this? It has forced me to hold against HRE (who has the 2nd biggest military) and push all available troops against Milan to eradicate them to STOP the assassins. :knight:

I've noticed that Milan is assassin happy too! Could be coincidence, or maybe they are just predisposed towards assassins.

However, this is an easy problem to face. Just pump out a few spies or assassins on your own -- then use them defensively and keep them parked with your own generals. It seems that the AI prefers to attempt a 15% chance assasination on one of your generals governing a town with 3 spies in place than a sabotoge attempt that might have an 80% chance. Not only will the vile Milanese assassins start dying quickly in their attempts but your own agents will level up too. You might find yourself in command of a lvl 5 or 6 assassin pretty quickly just from having him protect your own general.

Also, keep in mind that assasination chances on a general is based partly on the number of troops in his command, so be wary of leaving him out in the countryside alone in assassin infested areas.

This usally happens later on in the game and its not just the Milanese.

Yup, Milan and Venice seem to use assassins as a war machine in their own right.

A bit of a problem. Watch closely where the assassins are coming from and how many in a turn. Ever wonder why their agents come in groups of three?

CA thought it wise to give the AI an agent bonus so they actually can produce 3 in a turn!

Now I am not sure if they can produce 3 of each type of agent (total 6-9) or only 3 of one type each turn but when playing the HRE I saw Milan send out 3 assassins every turn from their capital towards me (Marseille). Ridiculous!

The only solution is exterminate!

Note: while agents like assassins are hard to kill with your own assassins, keeping a few spies around can radically reduce their chances of success.

Also, if you don't mind using an exploit, use military units to surround and squish the assassins. (Move units to all 8 squares surrounding said agent, then another unit to where it is -> crunchity)

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Originally Posted by katank

Note: while agents like assassins are hard to kill with your own assassins, keeping a few spies around can radically reduce their chances of success.

Also, if you don't mind using an exploit, use military units to surround and squish the assassins. (Move units to all 8 squares surrounding said agent, then another unit to where it is -> crunchity)

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haha..that is exactly what I do. 100% kill rate.

Though I wouldn't exactly call it an exploit. First, I have to have a spy nearby to detect the assassin. After which I send my army to surround and kill him. How is that unrealistic? since it is in fact realistic, then how is it an exploit?

Oh yeah...assasins...how I hate them...more then Cossack musketeers (and I am a men who really hates cossack musketeers to fight against). An yes Milan and Sicily. In Italy I cannot keep a damned general 'cause he gets killed in 3-4 turns...and I have 3 spies + assasin with him. It does not help much for me. Not against 6 or seven assasins in a turn. (I really hate them - to lose a 7 star general with 2-3 security traits...it is just cool...) Russia never sends assasins, just priests (by the way I hate them too 1. assasins 2. cossack musketeers 3. orthodox priests).

Ugh....lets not talk about the Assassins in Italy...I had to restart my Sicily AAR cause Milan decides to rape all my characters with their damned assassins...grr:angryg:

Yeh...i've noticed that my characters in italy pick up +x to personal security traits pronto :P

I wonder...was Italy REALLY that bad when it came to under-handed dealings of deaths?

I am playing as Milan right now and man the HRE will not f-off with their damn assassins and spies. It's quite annoying really. What I really would like to know is how they pump out spies with like 6 subterfuge each turn. ~:mad Mine always have like 1 maybe 2 if I am lucky. Unrest is becoming a problem because I can't flush out their spies from my towns. Not to mention the HRE is sieging my cities, and Sicily is being gay by blockading all my ports and the Moors decided that my island holdings would be nice to have, so those are soon to be gone... Don't get me wrong Milan is fun, I love the challenge, its those damn spies and assassins that are killing me.

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Originally Posted by Nutranurse

I wonder...was Italy REALLY that bad when it came to under-handed dealings of deaths?

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One word, Mafia :laugh4:

I had exactly the same problem, so I blew up his Taverns...
Found it quite easy to spy-spam his minor citys into revolt thereafter...

Is it sure the town-parked assasins work as counter-assasins too?

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Originally Posted by Nutranurse

I wonder...was Italy REALLY that bad when it came to under-handed dealings of deaths?

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Google "Borgias" and read about some of their activities in the 14th & 15th centuries. A quite extraordinary story (even for the middle-ages).

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Originally Posted by Sir_Hawkwood

I had exactly the same problem, so I blew up his Taverns...
Found it quite easy to spy-spam his minor citys into revolt thereafter...

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:stupido2: Why didn't I think that? I KNOW about sabatoge. :wall:

Any campaign in which I'm not directly confronting it is a campaign where Milan is just this obscene powerhouse. France never runs roughshod over western Europe, it's dinky Milan.

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Originally Posted by Nutranurse

I wonder...was Italy REALLY that bad when it came to under-handed dealings of deaths?

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Go read The Prince, written by Machiavelli in the early 16th century, and see what he suggests that a ruler do.

I've been running into an en mass spy-a-thon with Milan and Venice (I'm the Moors). Every turn for a while consisted of me sitting there for 5 minutes watching their spies walk out of the city, walk back in, scribble stuff down on their little note book then drop the happiness of the settlements from green to red.....

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Originally Posted by General Zhukov

Any campaign in which I'm not directly confronting it is a campaign where Milan is just this obscene powerhouse. France never runs roughshod over western Europe, it's dinky Milan.

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I noticed the same thing in other campaigns that Milan was this powerhouse, so I decided to try them out myself. At first it's kind of hard to get going if you don't rush, but once you get a stable empire going you can go anywhere you want. Milan is a blast, you should play as them sometime. Their city troops are freaking awesome considering most factions require you to train their best troops from castles; Milan is almost the opposite. At the beginning their best troops seem to come from towns. Most definitely the castle troops are better, but not by much considering the time and money you have to put into the buildings you might as well train a few extra militia units. Just don't piss off too many factions at once without having a really good economy, because it will bite you in the ass later...

Yeah, I have noticed Milan spawns assassin blitzes. I keep a spy and at least one assassin, preferably two or more, in each town/fortress to keep them from doing mischief. Usually thats enough to thwart assassins until I can hunt down their point of origin and take it out. :yes:

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Originally Posted by BlackAxe3001

It's quite annoying really. What I really would like to know is how they pump out spies with like 6 subterfuge each turn. ~:mad Mine always have like 1 maybe 2 if I am lucky.

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Maybe they have the Assassin's guild headquarters in one of their towns.

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Originally Posted by Sir_Hawkwood

I had exactly the same problem, so I blew up his Taverns...
Found it quite easy to spy-spam his minor citys into revolt thereafter...

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:wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: Oh yeah...it seems to obvious to figure it out myself...damn. Thanx for the advice! Poor Italian bastards, won't have a place to drink some good wine from now on...and when I blow up some of their taverns...they just will kill the assasins themselves. Hehehe. But actually it will be good for them not having everyone drunk all the time...hmmm...this is an issue...maybe if they are sober they won't just stand there gettiing killed by my archers and artillery...hmmmm

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Originally Posted by Sir_Hawkwood

I had exactly the same problem, so I blew up his Taverns...
Found it quite easy to spy-spam his minor citys into revolt thereafter...

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Did it. Turned the towns of Milan into sabotage hell. That slowed the Assassins down! Plus with spies in them I can plan for the final Milan kill.

Good work Von Nanega!

Now, try and play the next few turns without talking to your screen in a fake and all so eviiil Saurauman accent...

A most difficult task, after so much sabotage...

Many thanks
SJH

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Originally Posted by Sir_Hawkwood

Good work Von Nanega!

Now, try and play the next few turns without talking to your screen in a fake and all so eviiil Saurauman accent...

A most difficult task, after so much sabotage...

Many thanks
SJH

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BuHahahahahahahaha

In my current Spanish Campaign I worked through the Milan spy/assassin spam and now Milan is spamming warships galore. They are building alot of fleets and some of the fleets comprise 15 warships in a stack. crazy...crazy....crazy.... :dizzy2:

Personally I'm loving it. In my Spanish campaign my Crusader King charged north into France with his stack full of Knights of Santiago and dismounted Footknights. This man had glory and honour behind him. He had helped his father drive the Moors out of Iberia and "bring the Portugese back into the fold" to win the respect of his people, and had led the Crusade against the excommunicated French castle at Toulouse, becoming a Knight of Santiago in the process. In game terms, he had mega command stars, authority, piety, etc. Alas, the Spanish lands in France are a dangerous place to be, for the agents of Milan and France roamed freely around, and after several years on the frontier and surviving countless assasination attempts my great King was reduced to a cowering, shivering wreck of a man. Spanish assasins powered out of Leon, the "City of Death", home of the infamous Assassins guild, to wage a subterfuge war against the European powers.

And, while all this was going on I was heavy absolutely massive Naval battles around the Corsican islands with Milan. I had to put in a determined effort to sweep their numerous and large navies from the sea so I could land my naval invasion on the islands, and then it was tough enough maintaining naval superiority to ensure the invasion of mainland Italy went smoothly.

These are two aspects of the game that were completely unitilised pre-patch, and it's certainly made my campaigns more interesting.

Dont get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Its just funny crazy how the game AI switched to spamming Milanese fleets once I dealt with their spies/assassins. Milan has about 20 fleets in the Central Mediterranean. Some are single units. some are 3 or 4 units and some are 10 and 15units. And they all travel as one huge pack/taskforce.:laugh4:

They'll zip around from Tunis to Genoa (both I own), to Naples (I own), to Palermo(I dont own), and over to Tolouse (I own), and Corsica and Sardinia (I own), over to Rome(Papal States owned), and back again. Just zipping all over that area in one huge pack. I'm building up my three Mediterranean fleets to deal with them at the moment. I plan to hit them in a big flanking naval engagement. It should be fun. :smash:

Now I Sacked and Looted Milan. Then I looked around and noticed the rest of Italy is held by HRE except for Rome. Hmm.....thinking.....thinking, I know!
I gift the trashed city of Milan to the Pope. Yay, HRE beseiges Milan, angering the Papacy, I slaughter the HRE army, Pope loves me some more. As I rest briefly on my laurels Milanese assassins appear and try to knock off the general of the sack of Milan. EEK! I retreat north up the pass and hold. Milanese general with a few troops show up. I look over and see the Papal army of Milanese occupation is next to me. BUHAHAHAHAHAHA, I attack the Milanes, bringing in the Papacy and now THEY are ecommed too! Time to get a crusade against those heretics.

Just make the assassins and spies not buildable and you will restore some realism back to the game. The AI spams a ridicious amount of spies and lesser so with assassins. These are building slots that could be producing troops!

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Originally Posted by Veresov

Just make the assassins and spies not buildable and you will restore some realism back to the game. The AI spams a ridicious amount of spies and lesser so with assassins. These are building slots that could be producing troops!

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That's a bit drastic, don't you think? I rather like the espionage aspect of the game.

But then again, different strokes for different folks and all that. Good thing the game is so moddable ~:)

Now playing as Sicily. I was ready for the most part for Milan assassins. I burned those inns by stationing my assassins by each of their cities. One turn, burn baby burn and they were out of business. I then kept those buildings down. No more spies and assassins for them! This war should go better! ~:cheers: