Going to join in with these AARs - help me choose a faction

[Kaidonni]

I've decided that it'd be fun to join in with all of these AARs, so I'm going to start a thread in the AAR forum also. First, though, a decision must be made - which faction to play.

I am intending to play XL 3.0/Hard/Early/GA, possibly with the Tyberius 2.0 patch once it is released (I have the 1.0 patch already, but I'm considering holding off until the next one is released).

There is a choice of three factions in the poll (obviously ). In alphabetical order, nonetheless.

I've played as Bohemia before, but in the previous incarnation of XL on Hard, and I did reloading, etc, back then. I've never actually approached them properly. I tried them on Expert in XL 3.0, but Hungary was hungry, and I was the 'Dish of the Day.' After losing two battles to them in Bohemia, one defending, the second a reoffensive by the Hungarians, I lost most my forces and my king was trapped in the Keep. My remaining ramshackle forces were consigned to a not-so-well-developed Bavaria.

I've tried Sweden before, but it lasted but a few turns, I had restartitis. I also went through the same with Ireland. I'm willing to play them properly this time. In fact, I'm willing to actually play as them. LOL.

I always like starting in the Early era, and I always play GA (don't feel pressured on that setting).

I prefer Hard because...well...Bohemia, Expert, total annihilation.

So, which faction should I play as? The final decision will be mine, but I'm interested in what other people have to say. And I may be swayed by anyone with sufficient Influence. You may not experience the Bloat effect. I could remain your Ally until you win.

In addition to all of this, I must make it clear that, since as I have to use Nvidia drivers (not my computer), I suffer that darned mouse-over problem on the battlemap. I've done what I can to rectify the issue (posted in the Apothecary on it, in the MTW CTD thread), and I've only managed to prevent units from appearing above unit cards, trees, behind terrain, etc. On Sunday, I played a Quick Battle - and improvised. I used the radar map and the formations provided with the game. I've since altered the GroupFormations.txt to allow me to re-order the depth of units in battle. I have three choices - a) give up playing MTW, b) auto-resolve battles or c) improvise. Improvise I shall!

As a quick question, is it possible to mod GroupFormations.txt so that I only need 1 unit, not 2, to implement changes to the depth? I've managed to change the file so that there are formations to allow units to go from 2 ranks deep to 10, but I'm hoping somewhere in there I can make it so that I don't need a minimum of 2 units (i.e., I don't need groups of units).

Thanks for reading.

[Drunk-Monk]

Sweden should be interesting, though I cant vote.

[seireikhaan]

Bohemia's always a fascinating challenge, imo, and thus, I think you should go for them. Gotta time that sucker juuuuust right.

[bamff]

All could present their own special challenge, but I am leaning towards Sweden....I cannot recall a Swedish campaign having been written up, so that will add to the variety of the AAR's....

[Xehh II]

Bohemia is good.

[Martok]

Well you know I've always had a soft spot for the Bohemians, even if I never was able to survive as them very long. Still, I think bamff may have a point -- I don't know that I've ever seen a Swedish AAR, so that wouldn't be a bad choice. I've course, I've not seen many Irish campaigns discussed (at least in the main "Imperial" campaign, anyway), so they would be fun to read about as well.

Ah, heck with it. I say play as the Bohemians.

[Kaidonni]

So, it seems that Sweden and Bohemia are drawing at the moment in the poll (counting the fact that Drunk-Monk suggested them, but can't vote, but it still counts). I won't be blitzing, it isn't really my style - plus I absolutely love the cold wars where everyone has 2,000 odd troops either side of the border.

[I of the Storm]

I'd like to read about Sweden, please.

[Ironsword]

Sweden looks good. - Unleash the Scandinavian hordes.

Kaidonni - Does this mean you've finally got MTW to work on your PC?

[Kaidonni]

Yep, all thanks to Peter_de123 for discovering that NTW worked on modern computers - because of two of the campaign map buttons. Just needed to copy the two files over the originals, XL and Tyberius don't overwrite them. No CTD issues anymore, and I can run the campaign map on higher resolutions. Unfortunately, 1280x1024 is just too high a resolution for my eyes, and I'm limiting the campaign map to 1024x768. The battlemap will be 1280x1024, though - and I have to use both a modified GroupFormations.txt and the radar map in battles because I haven't been able to fix the mouse-over problems. I refuse not to fight battles, and I don't really see why I can't improvise. It might take some getting used to, but it still works. Any screenies of battles will likely be of the replays (I'm always too busy to take screenshots during battles themselves - someone could get an arrow in their eye! ).

I am curious if GroupFormations.txt can be modified so that only one unit is required for a 'formation' (i.e. rank depth change, I modified the file).

[mps247]

For the same reasons as Martok has given, I respectfully disagree and vote for Ireland instead of Sweden. I have read somebody else's Swedish campaign story, but have never seen an Irish one.

[MJF]

i vote ireland - never hear much about them.

[Tony Furze]

I 've evened up the votes. I just love those Irish units...

[Knight of the Rose]

And I gave the Swedes an edge Not'in like the axeman horde from the north taking out anything: swords, spears, cavalry, archers. Oh, the joy. I plan on playing Vikings in MTW:VI after I finish pushing around camels.

/KotR

[Scurvy]

Bohemia, fun units, interesting starting position + reall fun to play with on campaign

irish have really good + variation of units but can be quite easy after UK has been taken

[Kaidonni]

Okay, by the looks of things, Bohemia has 6 votes, Ireland 4, Sweden 7. I'm assuming most who suggested a faction voted, minus Drunk-monk who couldn't (hence why Sweden technically has 7, not just 6).

Hmmm, but what will my final decision be? It's a very close vote. Sweden can be difficult if one doesn't blitz Norway and Denmark (I wouldn't blitz them ). Those Vikings would give me a defensive edge, although I'd be careful not to spam them. I could be in for a very interesting campaign, lots of difficult battles, not being able to afford massive armies.

Bohemia is somewhat similar. The HRE can really pack a punch after the initial offensive, when they've had a chance to recover and gather their forces. Then there's a whole load of other potential enemies on all sides, no access to trading lanes on the open sea, really have to cherry-pick my armies.

I guess...this time...it'll have to be...

Sweden. It kinda does have the most votes...although that does stink of first past the post, not proportional representation. Non-Swedish factions had the most votes...LOL!

Now, just need Tyberius to release the second patch of his mod (I really don't want to mess with the files too much to fix the Gunsmith error, those files have a nasty tendency to break on me, and the backups not fix the problem...).