How often do you actually fight battles?

[professorspatula]

I thought I'd return to MTW after a fairly lengthy hiatus and resume a few campaigns I'd never gotten around to finish. However, after about 25 hours of gameplay in various campaigns, I realise I've only actually fought a very small number of battles, many nothing more but skirmishes.

Firstly, I resumed a XL mod Crusader campaign. With around 6 regions in the holy-land and the Crimea under my control, I intended to sit back and build up my trade fleet and only attack other aggressors. But aside from being excommunicated twice for defending my fleets against the Genoese, and performing a multitude of inquisitions and assassinations, nothing of note happened in around 10 hours of play. My borders are mostly safe and my neighbours are too preoccupied with bashing in each other to hassle me so my Grandmaster gets fat whilst I twiddle my fingers.

I then reloaded a Volga-Bulgarian campaign that I gave up on after a very short time. I'd survived most of the Golden Horde onslaught by launching a multitude of Jihads to take back my lost lands. I'd also auto-calced a few battles and remarkably survived against all odds - my massively out-numbered force somehow holding back the tides of darkness. So when I resumed the campaign, I didn't have much I could do because income was barely in the black and my neighbours were all much stronger than I was. In the end I launched the last few Jihad markers at the neutral Russians just so I could build up an army fast to take some territory. I fought one impressive battle featuring a mass of my spearmen and a couple of light cavalry units against a massive Mongol cavalry army and won, but that was the only battle in about 4 hours.

Wanting a campaign where I get stuck into fighting, and to experience something a little different, I started a new Viking campaign. Those norsemen love nothing more than fighting and pillaging, but after about 6 hours of rampaging across the British isles, I realised I'd still not actually fought more than a mere skirmish in all that time. I'd got fat by looting regions and abbeys, and stormed a few keeps using auto-calc battles, but I'd still not fought a proper decent series of battles. I know that battles beckon when I decide to finally make inroads into conquering the map, but for now it's all about patience.

So my question is - how often in your campaigns do you actually fight battles? In RTW you tend to fight lots of battles, though seldom decisive ones. In a 4 hour session, I'd probably had at least 4 decent sized battles, sometimes many more. But in MTW I find myself slowly considering options, building up my forces and wondering when the time for a decisive battle will be. I'm not an aggressive player, which is probably why my battles are rare, but it just struck me at times just how much time is actually spent on the campaign map, as opposed to the battlefield.

[Matrim]

It is probably because you are not aggressive, as you say. As in your Volga campaign, your neighbors are much larger than you, because they do their best to bash each other to bits. "Carpe Diem" as they say, you know, seize the carp.

But seriously, I can play any faction for little more than an hour before I've nearly doubled my size, in most instances, or at least fought a couple of battles. That all depends on the faction, of course. I tend to start with the one- or two-province factions so I have the pope's backing of excommunication, if I'm catholic, or I do my best to whittle down the outskirts of enemies or take advantage of rebellions. By the time my trade fleet is up, I begin pouring florins into barracks and stables, and then jump on mine enemies. Something I've noticed, though, in many of my campaigns--the AI factions rarely let me sit idly by. As soon as I've rubbed one faction out of the map, another attacks within a few years.

So to answer your question... I fight battles almost continuously. These periods are broken only by, perhaps a decade, when I'm building up in a mad rush. What difficulty are you playing on? That may have something to do with it, as well.

[caravel]

I usually fight every open battle until my faction is so big that the campaign becomes boring. The only battles I don't fight are sieges, I tend to either starve them out, use subterfuge or auto resolve the assault.

[Scurvy]

Very much depends on who I am playing as, but normally maybe 1 battle every 10 years or so, although sometimes more early on in the game...

[predaturd]

I do virtually all my battles myself. the last time i auto resolved was a good 9 campaigns ago as the sicilians and i only did that because the game kept crashing half way through the battle.

one of the greatest battles ive ever fought is the 4000 man defence of khazar from the golden horde, follwoed closely by the 300 man defence of antioch vs 3000 turks.

the last campaign i did (ended abruptly by nvidia card problems) i had all of modern day germany, britain,spain,france, and morroco in just under 19 hours of playing. no lack of action for me, cept for rubbish technology geting involved.

[ArtistofWarfare]

Guys..he's not asking how often you manually fight battles as opposed to auto calc'ing them.

He's saying that in his campaigns, battles seem to be scarce. He's asking how often battles occur in your campaigns.