favorite faction in XL or Vanilla

[chris34au]

Can I persuade you to try the Gnome editor? I think you can download it from here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/local...=n&pp=5&page=6

Its easy to use, and you can make any units you want available to whoever you want. Just back up any file before you change it, just in case. Matter of fact, I might try Sicily modded for ILI and Gothic units myself.

thanks so much for the link. i keep reading about the gnome editor but i didn't know where to find it and i wasn't sure if it'd be very user friendly, if i did. i can't wait to check this out.

[Turbosatan]

Byzantium Byzantium Byzantium, but that's just 'cos I have a sad affection for the East Roman Empire.

Actually I started my first (XL GA) Sicily campaign in High over the weekend & it's fantastic -- mega-zeal a-go-go so crusades are flowing (a bit cheesy but lot's of fun) in a desperate attempt to stifle the Almohad juggernaut which is climbing slowly up the West flank of Europe...

Mega-cool to be Catholic & have so many targets to hit in open warfare so early & also Norman Knights rock, it's fantastic to do a Robert Guiscard (out of time I know!) impression across the Balkans.

[drone]

Has anyone here ever tried a vanilla (well, almost ) Late Swiss campaign? The thought of it sounds brutally difficult to accomplish.

[caravel]

Well I can count the late campaigns I've played on one hand and the Swiss just don't appeal. I tend to avoid the late era as IMHO it's far too short to really get a decent campaign going.

[Turbosatan]

But surely, if boredom sets in after two hundred years waiting for the AI to develop beyond sharpened sticks et cetera, a short campaign would be the answer, no? & a brief bit of fiddling with the startpos & everyone starts on a near-level pegging tech-wise, so battles are more even...

Or do people miss the infrastructure building in a short campaign? I only ask 'cos sometimes it's just a bit dull for me, I just want to crush nations beneath my heel & get bored upgrading eleventy-billion types of building just to produce halberdiers...

Genuinely interested in your reply.

Oh, & on-topic, the Swiss in Late would be all foot soldiers, would it not? A bit Puke & Missket for my liking, but horses for courses...

[Turbosatan]

Oh, & on-topic, the Swiss in Late would be all foot soldiers, would it not? A bit Puke & Missket for my liking, but horses for courses...

Hahahaha: Or no horses for courses.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

[drone]

Or do people miss the infrastructure building in a short campaign? I only ask 'cos sometimes it's just a bit dull for me, I just want to crush nations beneath my heel & get bored upgrading eleventy-billion types of building just to produce halberdiers...

Genuinely interested in your reply.

Oh, & on-topic, the Swiss in Late would be all foot soldiers, would it not? A bit Puke & Missket for my liking, but horses for courses...

The Swiss start with a Citadel and County Militia, so they have access to halberdiers and pikes (both vanilla and Swiss versions) right at the start, but they would have to build up (or capture) all the infrastructure for missiles and cavalry. They can't even go cheap and get Royal Knights, they would have to tech to Feudal/Chivalric Knights, until then I guess they are stuck with Mounted Sergeants. Plus they are landlocked, surrounded, and Switzerland is fairly poor farming. I'm guessing it would be quite a challenge to get going at the start, and rushing the map (since time is limited) with footsoldiers would be pretty difficult. I may have to try this...

[Wasp]

But surely, if boredom sets in after two hundred years waiting for the AI to develop beyond sharpened sticks et cetera, a short campaign would be the answer, no? & a brief bit of fiddling with the startpos & everyone starts on a near-level pegging tech-wise, so battles are more even...

Or do people miss the infrastructure building in a short campaign? I only ask 'cos sometimes it's just a bit dull for me, I just want to crush nations beneath my heel & get bored upgrading eleventy-billion types of building just to produce halberdiers...

Genuinely interested in your reply.

Oh, & on-topic, the Swiss in Late would be all foot soldiers, would it not? A bit Puke & Missket for my liking, but horses for courses...

Personally, I'm much more of a builder/trader/defender than a conqueror. So I don't mind the building phase, especially not when I can field an impressive army after a few years of peace and quiet.

[Turbosatan]

I appreciate the responses in this thread; s'all a matter of personal taste, no?

As I mentioned I find that turtling always almost yields the same results : boring defensive battles where the enemy cannot get near me without getting mown down by flying things & my army consisting of a legion of ubertroops clanking in armour whilst my opponents try to batter my men with nought but sticks...

I realise that the beauty of MTW is that this is down to my personality (don't attack fellow Catholics so as not to incur the displeasure of the Pope, a certain amount of boredom building salt mines & horsey stables for decade after decade); were I a different person my campaigns would be different. If I lacked natural caution then my particular troop mix (which affects my battlefield tactics natch) when in turtle mode would not consist of missile troops & a wall of spikey things!

All of this could be changed, it's just I tend not to, reserving my bravado for those campaigns that favour devastating lightning raids, which in a roundabout way brings this back ontopic & lets me say:

I love any faction that involves a battle in which your horse archers stream forward to harrass & surround the moribund enemy like liquid death, surging & receding, while in the background the music goes:

"Aaaawwwoooyaaah! Dun-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-DUN-DUH-DUN-duh-duh-DUN-DEDUH-DUN-DUN-DUN -- Aaaawwwoooyaaah..."

& then that Arabic girl starts going "Lalalalala" or its Semitic equivalent over the top... Gets me every time.

Ahem. So that'd be the Islamic factions, then.

[oz_wwjd]

I usually play the byzantines and I've used raiding tactics with vanilla ha's and byz cav before effectively,only catch is that byz cav aren't as fast as the islamic calvary,but they can still outrun any spearmen or infantry while showering them with various volleys of pointed things. Plus it gets harder for them as the tech advances and the surrounding countries build up armies I've had to defend 3 provinces as once before against the mongols,spanish and Hungarians all of which had armies that were a lot bigger than mine in size.