AAR Poll

[Matrim]

I've recently come back to M:TW after a few years away, as work, school, and other games (Curse you, World of Warcraft!!) took over my life. Nevermind a girlfriend, lol.

Anywho, I'm still getting back into the swing of things, relearning what I once dominated in my sleep. And I've downloaded the XL mod. Very nice.

I was wondering if anyone would like to see an AAR of the XL mod through a born-again n00b? And if so, what faction? I've toyed with the Serbs and the Danes in the Early period, as that's pretty much all I play, but I'm willing to branch out now that my feet are wet again.

I'll give you chaps a vote on several options, both for factions and rules, and let you guys decide. Whatever the majority in 1 week, I'll do that and keep you guys up to date. I work 7 days a week, so each post will be a few days apart and probably about 25 years each. That'll be my goal at least.

Also, I'll be slightly modding the XL to remove the Border Forts, and reduce the time it takes to build Taverns and other agent training. **Even if I do not use agents, I don't like how this works in-game.**

So, for the faction - Vote for one of the bolded, first, and once narrowed down, We'll chose from among what's left.
Norse - Danes, Swedes, Norwegian
Russian - Novgorod, Kiev, Volga-Bulgarians, Cumans, Golden Horde
Muslim - Almoravids, Fatamids (Egyptians), Seljuk Turks
Balkan - Serbia, Hungary, Byzantines
Central Europe - HRE, Poland, Bohemia
Mediterranean - Sicilians, Genoese, Venitians, Papacy
Western Europe - French, Castile-Leonese (Spanish), Aragonese, Portuguese
UK - English, Scots, Irish

Rules (and feel free to add your own) - Vote for up to 5 top choices
Agents
-No Subterfuge Agents
-No Religious Agents
-Spies Only
-Assassins Only
-Emissaries Only
-Combination to be decided (i.e. Spies&Emissaries, but no Assassins)
*Princesses cannot be helped, but I can refuse to use them
Diplomacy
-Never Break Alliances
-Never Initiate Alliances
-Never Accept Ceasefires
-Never Initiate Ceasefires
-No Bribes
-No Royal Marriages
Troops
-No Mercenaries
-No Archers
-No retraining except Princes
-No cavalry except royalty
-No Infantry
-Combination to be decided (i.e. Spears&Swords, but no archers/cavalry)
Combat
-Never Personally command battles unless involving King or Princes
-No Sea-borne Invasions
-No Castle Sieges
-No Castle Assaults
Domestic
-No Regulations on upgrades
-Never upgrade captured territories
-Never train in captured territories
-Racial Standards - If I am the slavs, for example, I'll never train race-specific units like Scottish highlanders (not sure if this pertains to XL, as I haven't played it extensively enough).
-Play According to Monarch's Vices&Virtues. If King is a Builder, buildings take precedence over battle. If Monarch is a Good Runner or Coward, he will never fight his own battles. Or somesuch clause to be added later.

Again, feel free to add your own or critique those listed herein.

The goal of this campaign will be 1) to entertain through story-telling and high adventure, 2) to experiment and better understand the XL mod, and 3) to conquer.

I believe I will begin in the Early period, unless convinced otherwise. I'm not sure what factions are added/lost with the eras, so the list will have to be amended respectfully.

So, my new-found chaps, VOTE!

[seireikhaan]

Faction- Papacy

Rules-

No mercenaries
Never ally with infidels
Never break alliances except for excommunication
No Bribes
No Royal Marriages(well, obviously)

[Matrim]

Faction- Papacy

Rules-

No mercenaries
Never ally with infidels
Never break alliances except for excommunication
No Bribes
No Royal Marriages(well, obviously)

Haha, to be honest I had never really thought of the repercussions of being His Holiness... those are quite interesting rules. I like it. By the way--as the Papacy, do I still get the option of Excommunicating? Again, never played as them before.

[seireikhaan]

Well, you can't excommunicate anyone you like, if that's what you mean. However, anyone who attacks you, be it a province, ship, or otherwise, WILL be excommunicated. Even if you started the war in the first place.

[Matrim]

Bump! I'm really anxious to dazzle and amaze you all (faux bravado, heh) with my strategery (boo Bush!) and fancy story-telling! Vote... please?

[mps247]

Having never played the XL mod, I am not sure about this:

Faction - Irish
Rules
-No bribes
-No seabourne invasions

would be very difficult... or very boring I guess.

It would be great to see a campaign based on subterfuge as the primary means of conquest. No bribes would make it more interesting. I don't mean not fighting any battles, but having rules like having to successfully assassinate an opposing general before invading a province. Using elite troops only (hence, you can only support a small army) including garrison units (so invading a province with little means of income may not be a good idea, unless it actually reduces your borders). Not sure - just a thought.

[Matrim]

Having never played the XL mod, I am not sure about this:

Faction - Irish
Rules
-No bribes
-No seabourne invasions

would be very difficult... or very boring I guess.

Would be impossible, actually, as the Irish would have to use a sea-borne invasion because they are surrounded by the sea. In fact, without sea-borne invasions, taking out some like England, Sicilians, Genoans, and Byzantines... it would be impossible to completely win.

[caravel]

Muslim - Almoravids, Fatamids (Egyptians), Seljuk Turks
-Never Break Alliances
-No Bribes
-No Mercenaries

-Always accept ceasefires
-No killing of prisoners on battle field
-One Jihad at a time only
-No blitzing of fellow Muslims at start of campaign
-No assassin/spy spam

There you go.

[Matrim]

Sounds interesting. I don't think I've ever actually played/finished a Turk campaign... not sure.

I almost never bribe, so no worries, I never use mercs ever, and usually the AI beats me to breaking allies even as I am getting ready...

No killing of prisoners, boo! But okay.
Never used Jihads, are they fun?
Spy spam? Care to explain?

Sorry I'm a forum whore...

[caravel]

Jihad spamming is a notorious exploit. Unlike crusades you can launch multiple jihads at a target. It is ridiculously powerful when exploited in this way.

Spy spamming is the technique where massed spies are dropped in an enemy province. The highest valour spy causes a revolt, but all others gain valour as a result.

Assassin spamming is the training over of large numbers of assassins and sending them all against a target in the hope that one will succeed. This isn't really so much of an exploit, especially if there's a border fort in the rival faction's province, but as you've said you're removing these then this could be an issue.

[Matrim]

Jihad spamming...
Spy spamming...
Assassin spamming...

Hmm. Interesting. I've rarely run into this, I wonder why. And as I'm abhorrent to most agents, and not effective as muslims... No wonder I haven't toyed with them often.

[Martok]

The Scots.

Rules:

1.) No breaking alliances.

2.) No alliances with the English under *any* circumstances.

3.) Recruitment (and replenishment) of faction-specific units restricted to Britain/Ireland -- i.e., no training/retraining Scottish Spearmen in Constantinople. If a company of Scottish Cavalry has taken losses, it must return home in order to replenish its numbers (or merge with another unit of Scottish Cavalry).

[Matrim]

Nice. I'm currently in a Crusader High campaign, and just started a Burgundian (I have never seen them emerge in any campaign I've ever played, so I thought I'd try it) Late, but I'm going to delete the Burgundian.

I did the crusader as a merge between the two posts up to this point: Pope & Turks. Rules: no breaking alliances, no warring on non-excommunicated catholics, and only early on did I agree to alliances with neighboring non-catholics (they are all dead now, lol!), and no bribes.

I like the idea of a Scot one, though. May look into it.

[Matrim]

I've started multiple campaigns on the heels of my current Crusader AAR, which is on temporary hiatus as I await my promotion to edit my previous posts with pics and fix some typos and such.

But to keep my appetite whetted, I've been keeping the following campaigns within a couple of years of one another, so I don't get too carried away with either and neglect the rest. So far, I'm little more than a couple of decades in with either one, if that.

The Papacy campaign is really slow, having some troubles at sea building a fleet, but holding my own on land. Venetians are my only neighborly ally, as the Genoans and Sicilians are both at war with me. Slow going.

The Irish... I decided not to do this one, honestly. I just have never liked them, even in VI. Perhaps they will be my next--Still toying with XL mod.

The Turks, I'm ignoring all neighbors and building up for the time being. I'm not at all familiar with Muslim units and tactics, except killing them. It's a slow go as well, what with no blitzing of the Egyptians, I'll likely turn north, soon.

The Scots so far have been the most enjoyable, possibly because they've seen the most continuous action. Following the spirit of the Furor Celtica my first turn saw my invasion of Northumbria, only to have a significant uprising from loyalists there. All I did was bulster the English ranks free of charge! After falling back to Scotland and fielding as many troops as possible before the English arrived, I slaughtered first one, and then another overwhelming English retinue. Then my fleet began pushing the English out of the North Sea. I forsee this campaign being a fun one!

Any more requests, lol?

[Matrim]

As if to prove me wrong, as I loaded my games last night, the Scots marched through the rest of England and the Turks became the object of Byzantine envy... heating up!

And the Pope... Venetians break alliance, and Genoans and Sicilians want one? Strange, I feel like I'm being used against the others at each others' whims.

[Martok]

Heh. It's generally been my experience that peninsulas in this game tend to serve as a background for constantly shifting political/diplomatic stances (Italy and Iberia both being good examples of this). Ces las vie.