Pics & History of your Empire

[Mystic]

i attacked the spanish and quickly went after the almohads after due to thre fact they had a small army at the time and had only returned to their lands after their faction reappeared. on a run of success i got ahead of myself and started war against the egyptians (most money, soldiers and technology) as i was conquering my florins replenished due to the fact my provinces werent having to support them

[Derfasciti]

Another question: Do you all ever reload after you've made a mistake? I personally try not to because it feels like I'm cheating.

Also, Any good advice on how I expand my knowledge of other nation's borders?

Ok my first real post here:

French, early, normal.

To make a very basic post I started off by offering an alliance to HRE.... many times in succession. Each time being flatly refused. Now, England has already signed a treaty with me. However, I'm trying to RP this and I really felt that if I were a French king I'd think that i'd be pretty mad about England acting like a real king instead of one of my vassals.

So I decided to first and foremost try to reclaim my continental posessions from England. Seeing HRE's build up of troops in Burgundy I knew I would be fighting a war on two fronts. I went along with the war and it looked like I really was going to lose. HRE took Il-de-France without much of a fight and I took Flanders (or friesland?) from them. I also took all continental English provinces. HRE offered a daughter in marriage and I whole-heartedly accepted.

Now, England is fortifying Wessex and Aragon has declared war on me and we are really duking it out.

Aragon declared war on me and the pope demanded that I stopped fighting the Arogonese!!! (What the heck is that!?)

I expect to be excommunicated shortly but I will take Aragon for her treachery.


So, was this any good?

[Mystic]

reloading is for the guys without enough skill to bring it back from the bottom of the barrel. (no offense to anyone but it is a sad thing to do)

[LegioScythia]

I almost never reload but i don't think its called cheating if you do so you would have been in some bad position to be needed to reload
@HoH Mystic : Nice campign it seems that there are only four factions left

[Innocentius]

I don't reload, simply since it's no fun if your empire is a total success. You have to suffer some defeats to really appreciate the victories.

I'll try to get a post of my Hun-campaign today, Martok.

[Mystic]

agreed!

[gingergenius]

i reloaded once in my almohad game... but i have an excuse.

i never usually train agents, especially since alliances seem to mean squat at expert level. but at one poin i wanted some imams and assassins, but couldn't be bothered to train them all myself, so set it to auto train agents for 1 turn. after this, i didn't notice that jihads came under agents, and amongst others, egypt had created a jihad marker. when the sicilians invaded egypt, and took it, my jihad was destroyed, and this caused a civil war. at that point, i was under the kosh on two fronts, plus needing troops in all my coastal provinces, so a civil war would have all but ruined me, maybe i could have recovered in 20 turns or so but everyone else would be so much stronger by then.

[r johnson]

[QUOTE=Derfasciti]Another question: Do you all ever reload after you've made a mistake? I personally try not to because it feels like I'm cheating.
QUOTE]

Nope, thought if my PC crashes then i might continue from previous save but thats not my fault. I don't for 2 reasons;

1. It's boring to have to do what I just did again

2. I think it to be as real as possible so reloading is a bit of a cheat.

[Derfasciti]

Gotta couple other questions:

1: How do I take screenshots?

2: Can I get inquisitors in the early period?

3: What does piety, dread, influence, acumen do for your king exactly?

4: How should I deal with the pope?

[LegioScythia]

Gotta couple other questions:

1: How do I take screenshots?

2: Can I get inquisitors in the early period?

3: What does piety, dread, influence, acumen do for your king exactly?

4: How should I deal with the pope?

1:Press Print screen of you're keyboard then open Paint and click paste (or ctrl-v) and upload to one of the following sites :https://imageshack.us/ or www.photobucket.com (you need register on photo bucket to upload)

2:if you are able to build monasteries early enough (witch is hard since it takes like 16 turns and the fact that its one of the last buildings available) then yes
3:Piety dread, influence, acumen are his traits each one helps him in a particular subject for example if he is a Governor of a city and has a high acumen he may produce additional money to Providences influence determines you're position in politics if you have a high influence then a lot of Kingdoms will offer you alliances
4:http://www.totalwar.org/strategy/mtwbg/index.html read Frogbeastegg guide

[Derfasciti]

Hmmm... for image shack I printed, copied and pasted in Paint.

I went to image shack, used: C:\Documents and Settings\Jonathan\My Documents\My Pictures\France.bmp

and uploaded. Both times it went to an error screen.


My french campaign has become a total failure. To make things short, I got a crusade against me, a massive re-emergence of the Aragonese. The Spanish taking Aragon. The English retaking Wales and 3 civil wars in quick succession. I have only Flanders, Normandy, Wessex and Mercia under direct control. Think I can really survive?

[Martok]

Aragon declared war on me and the pope demanded that I stopped fighting the Arogonese!!! (What the heck is that!?)

The Pope generally sides with the smaller faction, even if they're the aggressor. Sad, but true.

On the other hand, it can be a real advantage when playing smaller factions like the Aragonese and the Danes.

My french campaign has become a total failure. To make things short, I got a crusade against me, a massive re-emergence of the Aragonese. The Spanish taking Aragon. The English retaking Wales and 3 civil wars in quick succession. I have only Flanders, Normandy, Wessex and Mercia under direct control. Think I can really survive?

It depends on a number of factors, but yes I think you can pull yourself out of the pit you've found yourself in. For one, how powerful are your adversaries (Aragon, English, & Spanish)? Do they have uber-armies everywhere, or are they now somewhat spread out after attacking you? If those other factions simply regained ground to the point that they're now roughly even with you, you can still recover your losses.

The four provinces you've retained possession of are decent in their own right, with Flanders being the real "crown jewel" of your kingdom--it's one of the riches provinces in the game, especially if you get some trade routes going. If you can hold on to what you have, you have a decent chance of eventually retaking your lands in southern France. And if you can pull *that* off, then you'd be in a pretty good position again!

[Derfasciti]

england just has Scotland and Wales and a mediocre force in numbers. I have a similar army in Mercia and Wessex. I think that at least Mercia can hold it's own.

Aragon is a REAL threat. While they've taken a lot of my territory they still have lots of troops at each of the provinces.

Spain took Aragon from me and I have no forces (or will) to try and take it back. Geographically, I am 2 or 3 provinces away from them at the least.

HRE I believe I'm still at war with and they of course have at least a measureable force. Currently most of central France is now in rebel (my traitors) hands.

Being that I'm trying to play this as a real guy, I always chose to support my monarch even when the rebels eaisly outnumbered me.

My king is currently in the recently reconquered Normandy province and preparing to do...something. I have no idea what though

[Dragon20]

It has been a while since I last posted in the org.

Derfasciti, if I may give you some advise. I would go for the british islands now. Because it seems to me that you are now on a 2 front war, and that might be a bit to much for your weakened empire.

What I would do is retreat from normandy so you only need to defend flanders. This will also free up the troops necessary to defeat the english. At the same time you may want to try to make a ceasefire with the HRE, now that your empire is a lot smaller they will be more likely to accept. Maybe the HRE will even go to war with the Aragonese then, and that will provide you with valuable time to rebuild.

About central france. I hope you have some spies. If one of your previously owned provinces are conquered by someone and there is a loyalist revolt to your faction, than all the provinces and troops you lost at the civil war that are still in rebel hands will join it and return to your control. I have seen this happen many times to the AI and even a few times to me.
Although from what you are telling, those provinces may be conquered with such large armies that there will be no revolt possible.

[ColdPrecision]

Good day folks.

My first attempt at writting the History of my Empire will be text only, as I have yet to master the art of posting images :P

Anyways, I have been playing MTW for an awfully long time now (I bet most of you have) but I have never went very "in detail" with the game.
Never finished a full campagne, I just pick a faction and play until my ass gets handed back to me in pieces, then loose interrest and start over.

Reading this thread inspired me to start a "Serious" MTW campagne, for maximum enjoyment I have also installed the XL mod.
Kudos to VH!

Here we go: The Irish, XL, Hard, Conquest, Early.

Reasons for picking the Irish:
I am fond of seeing heavily armoured knights getting torn appart by pointy things.
I love Green
They seem to have slim chances of getting anywhere in the game and I love a challenge.



I noticed I had no good income from my homelands in Ireland, so decided to expand right at the start, I had 2 options; Either invade rebel Wales, thus avoiding declerations of war with the English.
Or hit the The English ASAP in their richest province, in that time Northumbria.
I decided to hit the English first and try taking them off the scene as early as possible, the Welsh could wait arround to get conquered for a few more turns.

So, I landed my army in Northumbria, where the English suffered a humiliating defeat, I decided to wait a few turns for Loyalty to go up before moving on, in the mean time I built up Ireland to produce Bonnachts and gotten some armor for my army.

The English rallyed and tried retaking Northumbria a couple of times, they failed both times at the cost of little casualties on my end. I tried bribing the Welsh to join my cause but their leader turned out to be too loyal, too bad, I could have really used those two units of Longbowmen to fight against the English. The next turn I landed an invasion army in Wales and quickly made short work of the rebels, I managed to secure Wales without much casualties.

A few more seasons passed before I was ready to resume my offensive against the English, by then I had my ships all around the British Isles, my troops where ready to strike, My armies reflected the typical Irish war Tactics; Hit, Run, Hide, Tire the enemy, Flank, Rout the enemy.
A unit of armoured spearmen was enough to keep the enemy occupied while my kerns threw their spears and my Gallowglasses went arrond the Flanks.
Archers were made short work of by my Irish Cavalery, when not chassing enemy archers they would go around the enemy and try holding back a regiment or two, they would throw their spears at the backs of unsuspecting Royal Knights / Men at arms before the charge.

Wessex and Mercia both fell under my reign in 2 turns, the English were cleansed from the Isles. I decided to leave the weakling province of Scotland to the scots, I decided it was not worth fighting a re-emerging Scotish clan when I least expected it.

A few turns passed and the English tried a couple of Amphibious assaults with armies consisting mainly of Hobilars, the later made good fertilizer after my Bonauchts dealt with them. On the second attack I was blessed with the presence of the King of England on the battlefield, I managed to shoot down his Royal knights before he even made hand to hand contact, for the purpose I surrounded him with 3 units of my Irish Cav. He got impaled on the second volley and died a silly death.
His petty kingdom then plunged into anarchy, as there was no one to take the throne.

Well, that's it so far, hope it made a good read :)
more to come, hopefully with Pics.

[Innocentius]

Good work there ColdPrecision The Irish seems like an interesting faction.

History of the Hungarian Kingdom between year 1226 A.D and 1255 A.D.

After the great conquests in the late 1210's, King András II settled for a while, adjusting his economy and improving his army. The first steps in order to create a standing fleet for the Hungarian Kingdom were taken in the late 1220's.
Several princes matured these years of peace; Prince Kálmán in 1226, Prince Geza in 1227 and Prince Samuel in 1231.
In year 1230 A.D, a the great keep was finished in the province of Carpathia, but the most important news this year was the invasion from the east; Mongol warriors from the east invaded Russia and Armenia. Already by 1234, these steppe warriors had reached the borders of Hungary, and King András saw a good opportunity for a mighty allied, and was happy to conclude an alliance with the leader of the Golden Horde in the same year.

Except from the keep in Carpathia, a few other fortifications were raised during this time. Several border forts were constructed, but the most notable fortifications was the fort in Croatia, completed in 1232, the keep in Moldavia, finished in 1235, and the keep in Croatia, finished in 1244.

The war with the Mongols forced the Turkish to use all their troops at the eastern front, thus leaving many of their western provinces undefended. The Hungarians seazed this opportunity and invaded the unprotected Constantinople in 1241, but were forced to retreat the next year as Turkish troops rushed to the defence.

In 1243 A.D, an alliance with the English was concluded, and the next year, an English crusade headed for Lesser Armenia passed through Hungary, and later through Bulgaria. In 1246 another crusade, this time launched bu the Holy Roman Empire entered Hungary, and continued on through Bulgaria.

The newly constructed Hungarian fleet won a successful sea battle against an Egyptian fleet in 1245, and the same year a marriage was arranged with a prince of Novgorod.

In 1248 A.D, the Turks launched a massive invasion on Bulgaria, in order to compensate for their losses of lands in the east. The Hungarian army attempted to defend the province, but was beaten:

The Hungarian fleet, however, won a sea battle against the Turkish fleet in the Black Sea in the same year.

The success in Bulgaria was short-lasted though, as King András launched a massive counter attack in 1249, and the Turkish were forced to retreat without a fight. In 1251, the Hungarian fleet won yet another battle against the Turkish ships in the Black Sea.
But in 1251, the old King András died. He was succeeded by his son, who became king under the name King András III. By the time King András was crowned king, he was already 59 years old, and was a well-known and respected warrior.
King András III first action as king was to launch a second invasion on Constantinople. The attack was a complete success.
The many crusades and the invasion of the Mongols had divided the Turkish sultanate, so that Constantinople was surrounded by rebel peovinces and was unable to make contact with other Turkish forces. Thus, the Sultan himself and his oldest son were captured. The ransom that the Hungarians received was massive.
The victories continued: In 1252 yet another Turkish fleet was destroyed by the Hungarian one, and in 1253, the rebel province of Trezibond was conquered. The rebels fled and retreated to their castle, which fell to the Hungarians in 1254. In the same year, a marriage between an Hungarian princess and King Pedro III of Aragon was arranged.
In 1255, a castle was completed in Carpathia.

The Hungarian Kingdom in 1255:

[Derfasciti]

It has been a while since I last posted in the org.

Derfasciti, if I may give you some advise. I would go for the british islands now. Because it seems to me that you are now on a 2 front war, and that might be a bit to much for your weakened empire.

What I would do is retreat from normandy so you only need to defend flanders. This will also free up the troops necessary to defeat the english. At the same time you may want to try to make a ceasefire with the HRE, now that your empire is a lot smaller they will be more likely to accept. Maybe the HRE will even go to war with the Aragonese then, and that will provide you with valuable time to rebuild.

About central france. I hope you have some spies. If one of your previously owned provinces are conquered by someone and there is a loyalist revolt to your faction, than all the provinces and troops you lost at the civil war that are still in rebel hands will join it and return to your control. I have seen this happen many times to the AI and even a few times to me.
Although from what you are telling, those provinces may be conquered with such large armies that there will be no revolt possible.

I have no spies, no. But withdrawing from Normandy may be a good idea, thanks.

Can anyone help me with the screenshot problem I'm having?

[Martok]

@ColdPrecision: Nice campaign! Speaking only for myself, I'm pretty impressed with how well you've done with the Irish thus far--they're widely recognized as being one of the most difficult factions in XL. So do you think you'll expand further, or are you going to just hold the British Isles for now?

Oh, and I too am too computer-illterate to figure out how to post screenshots as well, so you're not alone.

@Innocentius: Good to see the Hungarians are prospering. I find it interesting how balanced the map looks right now in your game. It appears that a number of major powers (including yourself) have emerged, but no one seems to have become overly dominant yet. Watch out for the Egyptians, though--they have a nasty tendency to become the main superpower in the East if left unchecked!

[ColdPrecision]

Well, I'm actually considering an expansion around the northern sea and setting up trade before striking into the European mainland.
Either that, or I could try landing in the ex English now Rebel provinces along the French coast.

Well, will have to wait till tomorrow, cant play now

[Derfasciti]

What exactly are the effects of the 3 options on what to do with rebel captured troops?

execute them all, just the ringleaders, or release them all.

[Kavhan Isbul]

What exactly are the effects of the 3 options on what to do with rebel captured troops?

execute them all, just the ringleaders, or release them all.

If you execute only the ringleaders, nothing will happen. If you repeatedly execute everyone (if you have vanilla MTW once is enough), your ruler will get 1 dread point and some dread increasing vice. Helps with loyalty. If you release them all a few times (again, in vanilla MTW before VI once is enough) your ruler will get a virtue, which increases happiness by 10. Happiness raises loyalty, by much more than the 1 dread point. So initially I let them live, then massacre them in order to geta as much loyalty increase as possible.
I also think in case of a civil war, with the capturing and execution of the leaders, once or twice I had the rest of the rebels simply rejoin my forces. I am not exactly sure how this works and who do you need to kill to get your armies (and provinces) back.

[Derfasciti]

I have the Total War Eras version FYI.

What do you mean by vanilla?

[Geezer57]

Hmmm... for image shack I printed, copied and pasted in Paint.

I went to image shack, used: C:\Documents and Settings\Jonathan\My Documents\My Pictures\France.bmp

and uploaded. Both times it went to an error screen.

Rather than use the Print Screen/Clipboard/Paint method, I'd recommend you learn to use the F2 key, which saves a screen capture (as a .tga file) in the \Total War\Medieval - Total War\TGAs folder. Then use any of the common image conversion programs (IrfanView is a good one - download here http://www.irfanview.com/) to convert the file to .jpg format. It's much, much smaller than .tga or .bmp, without compromising image quality. Image Shack handles .jpg files better than other formats, so that alone may help your problem.

[Derfasciti]

Ok thanks Geezer. I just decided to restart my French campaign because it was going way too slow for my liking.

I'm not very computer-smart at all but I can try it when/if I want to post a pic.


200TH POST!!!!!!!!

[Derfasciti]

Ok, started up my French campaign again and it's going off almost perfectly. England's continental forces are no more. France has reclaimed what was rightfully hers. After the fall of their final outpost in Aquitaine, the king of England immediately sent his daughter to marry into my family and I accepted. I'm at peace with everyone and my income is going really good.

[Martok]

I have the Total War Eras version FYI.

What do you mean by vanilla?

In this case, "vanilla" refers to the original MTW game, without the Viking Invasion expansion pack, and with no mods attached/installed. Since you have the Eras version of the game (which inclues Viking Invasion), that means you don't have the vanilla version.

Ok, started up my French campaign again and it's going off almost perfectly. England's continental forces are no more. France has reclaimed what was rightfully hers. After the fall of their final outpost in Aquitaine, the king of England immediately sent his daughter to marry into my family and I accepted. I'm at peace with everyone and my income is going really good.

Well done!

[Innocentius]

The Kingdom of Hungary: 1256 A.D to 1277 A.D

The latter half of the 13th century was a dark period for Hungary. In 1257, an English crusade passed through Hungary, and next year Bulgaria, on it's way to Anatolia. The same crusade arrived in Trezibond in 1259 after travelling across the Black Sea.
In 1259 King András III died of an illness, and was succeeded by King Lázló IV, already an old man, aged 62. King Lázló was indeed not a great man, he was a known coward, yet still a cruel man who executed every prisoner he took. There were also rumours that he was in fact insane. King Lázló didn't rule for long however, he died out of old age the very next year, and was succeeded by King Béla IV, aged 52. Béla was also prone to executing every prisoner he took, and was on top of that lazy.

In 1259 a keep was finished in Walachia, and in 1262, a son to the already aged king was born. Thereafter followed a few peaceful and calm years.

In 1266 an Italian crusade arrived in Hungary, and in the same year Prince István became of age. Thereafter followed a grim period for the kingdom.

In 1267, a massive army lead by the Khan of the Golden Horde himself invaded Moldavia. The outnumbered Hungarians retreated to the castle, awaiting reinforcements. In 1268 reinforcements arrived, and the Hungarians were able to beat the Golden Horde, though at a great cost:

An heir to the throne was born in the same year.

However, just the year after the Golden Horde launched a second attack on Moldavia, inflicting upon the Hungarians their greatest defeat ever:

More than 400 men were killed in the battle, and just as many were taken prisoners. These were ransomed for a reasonable sum of money, though.

In 1269, another tragedy struck Hungary as king Béla died of an illness. He was succeeded by King István V, only aged 19. István was the first king in many years to be under the age of 50 at the time he became king.
The next year, Mongol troops attempted to storm the castle in Moldavia. This failed, however, and the Khane himself was killed during the attack.

King István, worried by the successes of the Egyptians to the east decided to invade Armenia in an attempt to cut the sultanate in half, isolating the Sultan in the northern provinces, near his enemy the Khan.
In 1271 Armenia was conquered without a fight, but the Sultan himself rushed to its defence the next year, and defeated the Hungarians:

The number of casualties were almost equal, although the Egyptians managed to capture many prisoners. These were ransomed immediately.
On top the defeat in Armenia, the Egyptian fleet destroyed an Hungarian one in the Black sea in 1272.

King István did not want to loose this opportunity, as the Egyptians were weakened by the last battle, and he had the Sultan himself within reach, he commanded a second invasion of Armenia in 1273, this turned out to be disastrous as the Egyptians recieved reinforcements in time:

And after suffering a second defeat in the Black Sea in 1275, all ideas of expanding further to the east were put aside.

In the late 1270's a few good news eased the situation a bit: in 1276 King István got married, and in the next year Prince Károly became of age, and a son to the king was born.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
No pic of the kingdom this time as I forgot to take one and can't be bothered to start the game just to do that.
I really hate the eastern factions, I hate horse archers, and all I fight is horse archers, and all my good troops are horse archers. Gotta download a mod were all factions are restricted to artillery, infantry and cavalry - no hybrids or stuff

[Scurvy]

What do you mean by vanilla?

Its a type of ice cream

V interesting campaign with hungarians Inno - i only ever played with them once (xl) and found them quite fun, because there are many options open in terms of expansion

[Innocentius]

The Hungarian Kingdom: 1278 A.D to 1300 A.D.

By the late 1270's, Hungary was an impoverished kingdom. The failed wars to the east and the loss of Moldavia to the Golden Horde had taken its toll on the country. Yet better times were soon to come.

In 1278, King István finally got the Khan to sign a ceasefire with him, thus more or less eliminating the threat from the northeast since the Mongols were busys fighting the Egyptians.
In 1279 Prince András became of age, and a citadel was finished in Hungary.

A small setback was the defeat in a naval battle against the Egyptians in 1280, however with the loss of Moldavia, the trade profit in the Black Sea was slim at this time, thus the king decided not to try keeping control of the Black Sea. A daughter to King István was born in the same year.

In 1281, massive Egyptian forces invaded Trezibond, and the Hungarians decided to leave the province without fighting. On the map this was a big setback, howeber, Trezibond was not a very fertile province, and the garrison needed to maintain loyalty became too big and costly to be profitable. In a way, the loss of Trezibond released the Hungarians from an economic burden. The next year, a ceasefire was concluded with Egypt.

In 1281, Prince Károly was married to Princess Valeria of the Papal States, closing the bonds with the Pope, and in the next year Prince András married with Princess Apolonia of Poland. In 1283, Prince Lázló became of age.

The Italians had been on the decline for the past years, with Serbia being lost to rebels. King István immediately seazed the opportunity and sent his son Prince Károly to defeat the rebels. A minor italian army participated in the battle, but was nearly annihalated. The battle was a great success for the Hungarians though:

This was an important victory to the demoralized Hungarian army.

In the same year, 1284, an alliance was concluded with the past enemy the Turkish Sultan, and an heir to the throne was born.

The rebels who had survived the battle retreated to their castle, but were bribed to surrender already in 1285.

Then followed several happy and calm years. Alliances were concluded with France, the Byzantines and the Golden Horde.
In 1285 a marriage was arranged with Poland, Prince Lázló married Princess Dorothe of the Holy Roman Empire in 1291 and Prince Béla (who matured in 1292) married Princess Sancha of Spain in 1293.
In 1299 Prince Kálmán came of age, and a marriage with Poland was arranged in the same year.

The Kingdom of Hungary in 1300 A.D:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Russia is on a slow rising and will hopefully keep the Khanate busy for a while, and Egypt and GH keep fighting. The many rebel provinces in the middle east is a result of three spies in every region =P I keep on pestering the Egyptian provinces who are still loyal (in Egypt itself, taxes are at Very Low and the loyalty is around 85%).
The Italians have been excommed I don't know how many times, and are at war with the superior HRE, so it's Greece next, once I can afford to put up some more, and better cavalry (there are about 2000 troops in Greece, these are mainly Urban militan and Archers though)

[Derfasciti]

Ok just got back from a friends house and I got a question:

Can anyone just give me a basics on strategy in field battles. It seems to me that I am very horrible with them and I just don't know what I'm doing wrong.


While I don't do any real elaborate things, I usually group my cavalry, missile, and infantry together. Archers and missiles try to harass the enemy while my infantry comes up and I try to keep cavalry in reserve to either flank, go completely around the enemy to either hit their archers or their backs, and then persuit.

When I try field battles I stink, but then when I do auto-resolves it seems to end in victory.