What's the most factions you've seen in a single battle?

[The Lizard Pope]

In a recent game I've seen the Egyptians suffer a rebellion in Portugal while simultaneously being attacked by an English army. I almost attacked them myself and would have made it a four-way fight.

I've been in a few three-ways but is it possible to have four or five different armies in a single battle?

[macsen rufus]

I've had 4-way battles on a number of occasions. Two that spring to mind have been me and two allies invading (ie 3v1) and a strange 2v2 - at least it was 2v2 on the opening screen - me + one ally against defenders (rebels) + one neutral, with the usual message about "Faction x has also invaded and must be defeated if you are to win this battle". But when the battle started out, I found that the "neutral" force was actually allied to my (known) allies, so acted as another ally with regard to me as well. Most odd...

I don't recall anything with more than 4 factions, though.

[Roark]

I've been involved in a 1 vs 1 vs 2.

Me and my allies vs Rebels and an invading faction.

[Dark Water]

The most would be four. Me as the French allied to the Spanish attacking the HRE in Provence, while they were rebelling (mostly archers and FMAA). But for some reason BOTH the rebels and HRE went after me first while my "allies" just started maneuvering around the battlefield. Luckily I won but it was really a 2 vs 1( the one was me)

[Martok]

I've been involved in a 1 vs 1 vs 2.

Me and my allies vs Rebels and an invading faction.

Same here. Four armies at once has been my max.


I can't remember who it was now, but I believe someone here posted last year about having been involved in a battle (as the Turks/Seljuks, I think) where -- as the defender -- he had to fight off 3 Crusades plus a regular invasion force from another faction (the Hungarians, maybe?) at Constantinople. I can't remember whether the player had to fight the 3 Crusading armies and then the 4th army separately, or if all 4 enemy armies allied together against him. In any case, that was at least one battle where 5 different factions were on the field at the same time.

[Scurvy]

I've been involved in a 1 vs 1 vs 2.

Me and my allies vs Rebels and an invading faction.

same here, identical situation..

i think i was playing as Novgorod, can't remember who my allies were, but i lost due to sitting at back waiting for the other 3 to damage each other, only for ym ally to rout right through me

[Kamakazi]

Ive had 4 against me at once......Everyone on the field was enemies so i just stayed on my little hill and let them ahanialate eachother........ Then i mopped them up....... i only lost bout 150 men and all together enemy forces were bout....10k

[Martok]

Ive had 4 against me at once......Everyone on the field was enemies so i just stayed on my little hill and let them ahanialate eachother........ Then i mopped them up....... i only lost bout 150 men and all together enemy forces were bout....10k

Wow, that's pretty impressive Kamakazi. Out of curiosity, which faction were you, and who were you going up against in that battle? And how did it happen that you were facing four opponents in the same province? Was it in a centrally-located territory that touched 5 different factions, or were you facing multiple Crusades/Jihads?

[western]

I had a 5 faction battle today - basically my (German) crusade passing through a Byzantine province, at same time another crusade did and province was invaded by Seljuks and Normans. Each of the 5 armies was 2000+. The strangest thing was the Seljuks and Normans were all tangled up, so Seljuk units kept moving through the Norman lines, trying to find a space. Eventually, they formed a joint formation, 4000+, with Seljuk and Norman units basically alternating.

My army was the weakest so I sat on a hill hoping the others (all enemy to me) would fight each other. When they didn't, I pitched into the Byzantines, and after I had started, the other crusade pitched into them too, while the Seljuk-Normans stayed stationary and aloof. Both crusades got beaten by the Byz. Seljuk-Normans never fought.

First time I can ever remember seeing a 5-way

[Martok]

Interesting battle, western. It seems rather odd that the Normans and Seljuks fought together, though. Are they allies in this campaign?

[western]

Martok

Truth to tell, I didn't look and I abandoned the campaign after my crusade got mashed. I've never seen even allies form an intermingled formation before. Literally their front spearwall would have a unit of Seljuk spears, then a unit of Norman, couple of units of Seljuk, then another Norman, all beautifully aligned to make a single spear hedge. Norman general was sitting happily at the back. Didn't spot where the Seljuk honcho was, but it certainly looked like a single army, not two wings.

This game can still surprise me!

[Martok]

I've never seen even allies form an intermingled formation before. Literally their front spearwall would have a unit of Seljuk spears, then a unit of Norman, couple of units of Seljuk, then another Norman, all beautifully aligned to make a single spear hedge.

Wow. Did they actually stay in formation like that through the whole battle then?

[Wasp]

If I'm allowed to use Shogun instead of Medieval, I can present you with this screenshot:

[Csargo]

me(England) and my ally (HRE) versus some rebels.

[Kamakazi]

Wow, that's pretty impressive Kamakazi. Out of curiosity, which faction were you, and who were you going up against in that battle? And how did it happen that you were facing four opponents in the same province? Was it in a centrally-located territory that touched 5 different factions, or were you facing multiple Crusades/Jihads?

I was the.....polish i think...... and i was against The Golden horde, Byzantines, Russians ( i think) and turks? lol it was a bit ago and yea it was one of those provinces everone wanted at once..and i just happend to have it at that time

[Peasant Phill]

A 4 way battle was the biggest one I've encountered. Me (English), the HRE and the Byzantines against a larg rebel force. The rebels (mostly peasants) retreated in the woods and we, the allied forces looked at each and waited for whoever would make the first move.

The HRE sat themselves down and I (being on the rebels right flan moved only a portion of my force (I was cavalry heavy so I only used a few hobilar units to bait the rebels out of the woods). The Byzantines decided that they would bore the brunt of the attack.

It ended with the Byz loosing a large portion of there army and me gaining the province. They shouldn't complain though as I won the battle for us by manouvering my royal knights and hobilars in the back of the rebels main line and killing a large portion of them including the general in the first charge. After that it was just mopping up.

[r johnson]

It wasn't Medieval but the Napoleonic total war. Me (the English), my allies the Dutch and Saxons attacked a French army in Franconia despite this our armies were still out numbered.

[Martok]

Peasant Phill: Interesting. I don't know that I've ever been in a battle where three allies faced a rebel army at the same time. Which province was it that you were all attacking?


r johnson: Very cool. Out of curiosity, what kind of numbers were you and your allies facing?

[macsen rufus]

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this, but I've found that the game can get a bit confused over enemies/allies, sometimes. A case in point, Ive been playing a Norse campaign in BKB recently and had just taken a couple of provinces in Iberia, and moved on to Morocco. The Spanish (Castillean-Leonese in BKB) were initially my allies. They launched a Crusade one year, used my ships to get the Crusade to Morocco, and the next year they back-stabbed me, trying to take (IIRC) Cordoba from me. That same year the Egyptians counter-attacked Morocco whilst I had the Spanish Crusade sat there. Here's where it goes wierd....

On the pre-battle screen it showed the Spanish as ALLIES (even though we were now at war), and true enough, in the battle itself they deployed as attackers and my cursor rollover was red, so they were enemies. Anyway, they ran away once they saw the size of the Egyptian horde.

A little later on, the Spanish sued for peace as "it benefitted neither party". Their Crusade was still stuck in Morocco, and this time the Egyptians AND the re-emerged Almohads attacked. Pre-battle screen showed me on one side, the other three on the other side, with the usual note that the Spanish have also joined the battle and intend to take the province for themselves (which was a bit optimistic, they had been wittled down to about 50 men by now, and the combined Muslim forces were over 6000..... ) However, when the battle started, they deployed as defenders, and had the yellow rollover as expected.

So basically it looks as though the pre-battle screen stage can get it wrong, though the battle itself does seem to be true to the actual strategic situation. Confusing, nonetheless.

[Drunk-Monk]

Great story, Macsen Rufus

. They launched a Crusade one year, used my ships to get the Crusade to Morocco

How does the AI use your ships? I have never experienced that before.

[macsen rufus]

Crusades can use an ally's shipping route so long as it reaches a port belonging to that ally, and the ally has a chain of ships that would shorten the Crusade's route. I've TRIED to use that for my Crusades, but every time I do the dam' useless allies go and break the chain of ships, and it's back on the road with tired aching feet

[Drunk-Monk]

Crusades can use an ally's shipping route so long as it reaches a port belonging to that ally, and the ally has a chain of ships that would shorten the Crusade's rout:

Thats something which I never knew about this game, and very interesting. I'm sure it doesn't mention it in the manual. That's what I love about MTW all those subtle things, which make the game as a whole more interesting and unpredictable.

[r johnson]

r johnson: Very cool. Out of curiosity, what kind of numbers were you and your allies facing?[/QUOTE]

The allies (me) were around 1000 with me being around 300 of that and the French were roughly 1500 however we had cannon and they did not. Btw it is possible to get more than four factions fighting but the only way I'e ever done it is man made, made up battles.