The most satisfying moments in Medieval Total War

[Haccapelite]

I was playing Medieval yesterday and was just fighting an annoying battle against the Spanish. I was watching my mounted sergeants surround a group of Jinetes from three directions and then charge them from all directions leaving behind a pile of Jinetes in a form where I prefer all fast missile cavalry, on the enemy side to be accurate. (dead, that is) I was looking at those poor guys desperately trying to escape from my advancing horses and then getting inevitably beaten from all directions, and deep inside of me a small,sadistic voice said: "damn, this has to be one of the sweetest things to look at in this game."

(I think this deep bitterness towards all fast missile cavalry is explained by my experiences with them especially in my current French campaing. I made two crusades to the holy land, and managed to capture Palestine and Tripoli from the cursed infidels, and had some very unpleasant encounters with the Turkish and their Turcoman horses. One battle comes to my mind in special, it was an absolute carnage on both sides, thanks to my small number of horses it was painstakingly difficult to beat their horse archers, but eventually I managed to win, over 600 of the Turkish didn't leave the field that day but i also lost well over 500 of my men, it was one of the costliest victories i've had. And like fighting the Turkish wouldn't be enough, the spanish decided to attack me back home in the old France and well, we all know that the AI loves to spam Jinetes...)

But now, back on topic, I started to think about all those happy moments I've had with this game and tried to find those that give me the most satisfaction and in addition to that thing with missile cavalry I already mentioned, these things came first to my mind:

- When you engage the enemy army, and watch your units fight bravely ignoring their losses, and then you hear that horn blowing that indicates that one enemy unit has had enough and has just routed, and then more horns start blaring all around the enemy lines and you see their lines crumbling to smithereens under the pressure of your units.

- No matter how the battle is going, but every time I fight a battle in a thunderstorm just gives such a great feeling to it that there isn't anything that can match it. I don't care how bad my missile units shoot in the rain but geez, when i see that flash and hear the peal of thunder, and suddenly everything is lit and then almost instantly the darkness covers everything again... My english isn't good enough to describe it.

- I've had so many campaings cut short because of a lack of heirs, I feel so relieved every time I open the faction heirs scroll and see at least 4-5 relatively young princes there, knowing my empire is safe.

I can't think of any more things right now, but feel free to post all those small things and events you have experienced in this game that give you that nice, warm feeling inside and keep you going despite all the obsticles you encounter.

(Off topic, but I just love this christmas theme here at the .org, absolutely wonderful!)

[Turbosatan]

To finally inveigle a unit or two of ubercavalry around behind the enemy lines, when your men are at their most hard-pressed, & to smash those ubercavalry units in a perfectly executed one-click charge into the rear of the enemy, & see them melt like the snows of early Spring; & to hear the shrill retreat being played upon the horns of the enemy, & to look over your defensive position & view the welter of bodies, friend & foe upon the ground; & to run down the fleeing enemy like dogs...

Ah, is this not happiness?

(Apologies to Ching Shengt'an)

[gollum]

Hi,
the happiest moments are when the campaign is still dynamic - there are a lot of factions around vying for power and are all healthy financially - contest, skirmish for land, crusades, marriages, alliances, betrayals, excommunications all happen and matter.

All that is cut short once most factions are gone, the palyers faction is permanently safe and the campaign turns in a slugfest all the way to victory (be it GA or domination).

The biggest complain i have with TW campaigns is that they work as intended for a limited amount of turns. This happens in all incarnations of the game with the exception of Shogun.

In MTW the campaign works - that is there is uncertainty over the victor and potentially true danger for the players faction - for about 30 to 40 percent of the time frame. In Shogun in about 60 to 70.

!it burnsus!

[Fagar]

I don't necessarily like to get myself into this position but if I am I love defending a castle.
I get all warm and fuzzy hiding behind my massive stone walls and watching as the enemy smash themselves to pieces apon it.
A group or 2 of hardy spear set to hold right at the gate mouth and I can happily sit back and turn the music up and watch every second of the assault.
grinning as ballista and catapault smash through the advancing enemy and watching hundreds of assaulters fall to archer fire from my battlements.
Give me a barbican and that tops it all off.

[jadast]

Best moment for me is re-emerging empires. Especially when they are in a year area of the empire with peasants holding the fort. Having to retake my land from a new army of high quality and often times high quantity units is fantastic.

[PershsNhpios]

Pressing the Shift button on the campaign map after 70 long years. Green is my favourite colour!

And those moments where you decide;

"Well, those silly Iberians are at it again - I saved them from the Arabs - I gave Algarve to Portugal and Cordoba to the Castilians, because they weren't trustworthy enough to hold their capitols. And now King Alfonso VII has made the decision to expand his little thiefdom into Algarve! Well! I'll have him starving in his little fort with his emaciated peasants!"

Or recently, when an interesting political situation developed for me, as the Aragonese (I am confronting my fears for Camel Archers);

I began the reconquista by uniting my Kingdom with the Castilians and Portugese, when I came the rescue of the Spanish king, besieged in Castile by his former allies, the Almohads!
Yes, I held the Arabs back from my kingdom on the Ebro river with 800 men, whilst they amassed 2600 for the assault from Africa. And Portucale! Beloved Portucale drove south to Algarve, diverting the Muslim eyes westward, and allowing me to launch an offensive which reached Granada in two years.
They are trapped in Cordoba! No matter how precarious my conquests are, I brought Christendom together in Iberia - I have never seen so much allied assistance before. Satisfying!

[Haccapelite]

Today I fought the most annoying battle I can remember in a long time: My once- great crusade army licking its wounds in Tripoli was attacked by the rebels from Antioch, well at that point I though "bah, rebels, I'll crush them with a single mouse-click!" But then I looked at their army and I wasn't that sure anymore if I would be able to win after all. The rebels had 10 units of Turcopoles + an odd unit of horse archers and Turcoman horses, and I had lost almost all of my light cavalry a while ago. Luckily I had three units of archers and some pictish crossbowmen (those scots sure loved to travel around europe in those days, they can pop up in just about anywhere on the map.) and somehow I managed to shoot majority of their HA's to the kingdom come. But damn those infidels, they just kept rallying back and running around my army shooting everything they could hit. I was this close to command all my remaining cavalry into a foolish charge towards the Turcopoles, but then I saw that the enemy finally decided to march their infantry towards my lines, and finally, after crushing their footmen and routing them they decided that maybe Tripoli isn't that tempting after all and turned around riding behind the horizon. I have never been that happy listening to the happy tunes of victory than that time.

[Fagar]

A small quirk guys but I love when playing as an Islamic nation, asking for an alliance with an Alim.
The prayer-music just sounds sweet.

[Xehh II]

A small quirk guys but I love when playing as an Islamic nation, asking for an alliance with an Alim.
The prayer-music just sounds sweet.

I have the same quirk, I often find myself playing islamic factions just to hear that music sometimes.

[Fagar]

I have the same quirk, I often find myself playing islamic factions just to hear that music sometimes.

ha.
I thought I might be the only one.
I just think it is a very cool touch.
Little details sometimes make all the difference

[Caliburn]

Taking out Byzantine princes and the emperor with javelin infantry.

[caravel]

Taking out Byzantine princes and the emperor with javelin infantry.

I would say it's much more satisfying to take the Janissary Heavy Tin Openers to them.

[Fagar]

Ah yes.
The building sound FX when you finally complete your Military Academy and prepare to build your JHI.
You can nearly hear the Katatanks quiver in their mailed boots.

[Jxrc]

- clicking the "kill all prisoners" icon when you get to 1,000 ...
- your king is 78, his first son and heir matures !!!
- discover that the first byzantine heir is a 0-star idiot ...
- sinking the last dromon that evaded you for 50 years and sunk 53 of your ships ...
- silly enemy king with attacks with a stack that includes all its 7 and more stars generals ...
- big rock thrown by cataput hits enemy general's head (or even better byz emperor's crown ...)

[HopAlongBunny]

Some of the best are those "just in time" moments.

My favorite was a Turkish battle early in the campaign.

I face an AI assortment of militia, peasants, swords and a cpl archers. I'm outnumbered but saracens, ghazi and AHC should make this easy.

Battle is up a steep hill; np I'll fight a holding action on the hill and circle my AHC to the rear; I auto all 5 AHC to march a 4-5 waypoint journey to the top...no running I want them to be fresh.

Battle is joined! I am hard pressed everywhere! I run around shoring up morale, fixing lines switching units to "attack"/"hold" or rally...OMG! the centre is about to collapse!! Rush a unit of ghazi in to strengthen resolve and teach the infidel a lesson!

Time passes...I continue patching the line but the whole thing is going to collapse...hmmm, what are these 5 untouched AHC units? Oh yeah! I remember them, and here they are! At the top of the hill, untouched and fresh the AHC have done the Long March!

The resulting surprise charge smashed the enemy, only the peasant commander put up any fight at all.

God that felt good!!! I don't think I have ever enjoyed the "clean up" phase so much

side note: the ghazi support unit sent to the centre early in the battle survived...3 men cursing the denial of paradise

[drone]

- clicking the "kill all prisoners" icon when you get to 1,000 ...

I love that one.

[Fagar]

Had a great momemt playing as the Almo's in early recently.
In a pitched battle with the French in Provence.
Both of us with 4 star princes leading.
It was only early in the battle and the frontlines were holding each other up but I managed to get a unit of Ghazi around the side of the ranks and threw them into his archers that were peppering me mercilessly.
The result was brilliant his archers folded immediately as expected but the best bit was in my pursuit the Ghazi streamed past a group of hobilars and with barely breaking stride cut them clean in half.
Not into the flanks just past the head of the unit as it was manouvering into position.
The ghazi only engaged for about 10 seconds and Hobilars went from 40 to 18 horse.
I love it because it was so symetrical and clean, just like a scapel.
The Ghazi continued the pursuit of the archers and the Hobilars just halted stunned.
Priceless.

[Brandy Blue]

There's so many simple pleasures, its hard to choose.

1 Sometimes you get to take down an "uber" unit easily using inferior troops to do it. I thinned a Varangian guard unit with a single javelin unit once, and it was a pleasure to see how little fight was left in them when my melee troops closed in on them front and rear. One of the joys of playing Irish in Viking Era is the chance to maul a Huscarl unit with your javelins, and maybe send someone in to finish them off or maybe retreat when you run out of javelins, only to maul them again next year.

2 Defeat, oddly enough, can be fun sometimes. I was playing the Scots in Viking era, and trying to take over Ireland. To make it more challenging, I only allowed myself to use troops raised in Ireland Now, Spearmen and Highland Clansmen aren't good at going toe to toe with Gallowglasses raised in the province that gives a Gallowglass valor bonus, but its about all I could raise in Ireland for quite some time.

Well, I remember one battle I lost, but not until I had destroyed the bulk of the enemy Gallowglasses. I knew that in spite of the outcome of the battle, I had won the war, because Spearmen and Highland Clansmen can deal with lots Kerns, a few shattered Gallowglass units, and the odd troop of Royal Guardsmen. I could watch my terrified Scots flee with the satisfaction of a job well done.

[Vladimir]

I love that one.

I'm not alone!

[caravel]

Time passes...I continue patching the line but the whole thing is going to collapse...hmmm, what are these 5 untouched AHC units? Oh yeah! I remember them, and here they are! At the top of the hill, untouched and fresh the AHC have done the Long March!

The resulting surprise charge smashed the enemy, only the peasant commander put up any fight at all.

God that felt good!!! I don't think I have ever enjoyed the "clean up" phase so much

That one has my vote every time. It's great when your units are battling away and you're worried they won't hold out for much longer then to bring up your cavalry or flankers onto a particularly hated enemy's rear and/or flanks and slam them into foe with conviction, saving your beleaguered men then turning them on the enemy and hunting them down to the last man, with the prisoners tally increasing rapidly...

I've done this when playing as the Turks with Futuwwa. It's a beautiful thing to see them emerge from the woods, charging with swords drawn and hitting the enemy where it hurts.

[Ironsword]

A lot of the above are great reminders of all the quirks that keep me playing! Here are a few more of my own...

- Realising that you got the direction of the enemy right when forced to deploy trebuchet's in the field!

- Holding off a massive rival empire and your defensive wins cause them to succumb to a civil war.

- Also, I really like fighting battles in the snow. It feels more atmospheric as you can't really see the enemy until they are upon you!

[Fagar]

The realism settings just work so well in this game.
They have a rustic feeling and pixelatic graphics and that is what actually makes them great.
My favourite is the lightening sound FX, especially if it is really pouring rain and you have just completed the slow march up the hill and the lightening highlights your enemy and the battle music begins.
Sensational.

[HopAlongBunny]

My favourite is the lightening sound FX, especially if it is really pouring rain and you have just completed the slow march up the hill and the lightening highlights your enemy and the battle music begins.
Sensational.

Yes!

I don't know how many time I've closed with the enemy; peel of thunder! flash of lightning!!; my heart skips a beat: "Canon!??? they can't have gunpowder yet!! wt@$#%$@!!!"

Composure is regained as you hunker down to the battle at hand...feeling like a noob

And yes, it looks great!

[HopAlongBunny]

I've done this when playing as the Turks with Futuwwa. It's a beautiful thing to see them emerge from the woods, charging with swords drawn and hitting the enemy where it hurts.

Futuwwa, Ghazi the Turk roster abounds with armed and dangerous loons! Gotta love it

[Axalon]

Hi people,

For me it is always wonderful to execute few thousand peasants or something like that (slaughtering those blasted and worthless horse archers is certainly a worthy candidate as well). In the original game it is always an abundance of peasants everywhere. Executing them and cleaning up MTW Europe makes it a better place you know….

- Just your average peasant-hater signing off.

[Brandy Blue]

- Holding off a massive rival empire and your defensive wins cause them to succumb to a civil war.

A nice refinement on that one - the rival empire was considerably stronger than you, so you made an alliance for your own protection. Your trecherous new ally soon attacks you, and succumbs to civil war the very next turn because the attack failed. I've only seen that once.

[Brandy Blue]

- Just your average peasant-hater signing off.

Why don't you mod your game so that no one can build peasants or Muslim peasants? It should be pretty easy to do with gnome editor, so long as you back up your files to prevent accidents.

You can get gnome editor at https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/local...=N&pp=5&page=3

[Ironsword]

Ah, I nearly forgot!

One of the most satisfying moments for me is when the girlf is out, I have three hours spare and hear the intro music!

Sadly, this doesn't happen all that much!

[Trapped in Samsara]

My most recent campaign (Cumans, Early, Hard, GA, XL+Tyberius): the Cumans do not get arbs so I was forced to use arqs much more than previously. Sicily declared war, so its fleet in the Tyrrhenian interdicted the link to the Khan's capital province. Sardinia rebelled, mustering about 600 rebels including a unit of horse. My garrison didn't amount to much and I elected (And gambled.) to build a unit of arqs.

The battle opened. When the rebel horse were in range the arqs fired a volley taking out 2 or 3 of their number. The horse formed open order and made to charge the arqs. They were so nearly upon them I thought, "This is it. Adios amigos." At the very last millisecond the arqs unleashed a volley that sounded like a thunder clap. About twenty of the horsemen dropped (no surprise, it was point blank range) and the remaining half dozen bolted, routing off the field.

Boy did I enjoy that: the tension, the outcome, pure immersion.

Even after that the rebel spears and peasants put up a decent fight; they had a two-star general versus my no star chap.

All in all a real fun episode. I still slaughtered the ringleaders.

VGB

[Fagar]

Ah, I nearly forgot!

One of the most satisfying moments for me is when the girlf is out, I have three hours spare and hear the intro music!

Sadly, this doesn't happen all that much!

HA HA How true is this!
Me I so look forward to my monthly RDO, smile and send the GF off to work, wave good bye, have a lovely day dear.
Immediately bolt back inside put the computer on, boil the jug make a coffee and turn the speakers up!
Sit back in true contentment as the intro music starts up and "THIS IS AN AGE OF DARKNESS"