A Swedish Campaign report

[Jack Lusted]

A Swedish Campaign report

As you guys have seen quite a few videos of battles, I thought I’d post about a recent Swedish campaign I played so you guys get more of an idea about how the campaign game plays.

The start

Early on I decide I must help build my military power. So I focus my research onto military technology, build extra schools to allow the research of more items at once, and begin to build up an army in Estonia near Riga. This will allow me to fight the Russians if they decide to start a war, or to expand into the nearby Duchy of Courland...

WAR!

...which I invade after gifting the Russians a bit of cash to keep them happy for a bit. After a tough fight I secure the region, but almost immediately the Prussians approach me asking for the province in exchange for some technologies and more importantly an alliance. Eager for allies I accept, and the tech allows me to upgrade my farms to increase my income as well as keeping my population fed.

Preparations...

With my economy secured and a strong ally in Prussia, I turn my eyes towards my Scandinavian neighbours Denmark. Determined to take Denmark out in one glorious invasion, I begin to prepare three armies ready to take Iceland, Norway and Denmark.

...and Problems

But these big armies rapidly begin to drain my income. My research focus switches onto techs that will improve my income from workshops and farms, and I cancel a trade agreement with France in order to free up a trade route so I can sign a new trade agreement with the Marathas which proves much more profitable.

Revolution!

All the focusing on techs and building schools has had an unfortunate side effect, the people are not happy. They are clamouring for reform, and so I endeavour to spark a revolution myself. Raising taxes soon leads to one, and I side with the rebels in order to turn Sweden into a republic. After a hard fought battle for Stockholm, victory is mine and the old order is removed. The public is now happy with the more enlightened Republic government type.

With the revolution over, I focus once again on preparations to invade Denmark.

The First Strike

But Denmark declare war first, marching armies through my lands and damaging my buildings. Damaged schools means no more research, and damaged farms leads to unhappiness as the population is less well fed. So I march an army out to deal with these raiding forces and I initiate my own invasion plans.

One army lands on Iceland after a long trip away from trade routes to avoid detection where it quickly takes the region. But my main invasion army fares less well. Marching close to Copenhagen, my almost 2000 men find themselves facing over 4500 Danish troops. In a hard fought battle barely 500 of my men survive after fleeing the field having been beaten decisively.

And this is where my campaign report ends. Sweden has transformed into a Republic, improved its economy and military and is now engaged in a long and costly war with Denmark with wins and losses on both sides. I hope this has help give you an idea of what playing the early stages of an Empire: Total War campaign is like.

Feel free to ask questions about this campaign and I'll try and answer as many as I can.

[Polemists]

So when you mention trade with the Marathas does that mean a trade theatre or just a old fashion trade rights?

Just curious how the trade theatres work.

[Merak]

what difficulty was you playing at? (i understand if you can not answer the question)

[Kalle]

Hi Jack!

If you brake this report down not only in phases of your focus in the game but also in turns and years how many turns of playing and years in the game does this report constitute?

Are there any famous commanders available for your armies?

Charles XII would most likely never tolerate a loss of power (im guessing he is the king of Sweden when the game starts), afterall he embodies the era of absolutism in Swedish history, being able to rule the coutry for years from Turkey for instance. In this report it seems revolution is sparked easily and is the natural step to take. Is this so?

Also you focus on military technology as a first step. My guess would have been that Sweden allready had a headstart in military technology but without proper play this headstart would soon be eaten up by more popoulus and resource rich neighbours. Am I making the wrong assumption?

Best regards
Kalle

[Jack Lusted]

So when you mention trade with the Marathas does that mean a trade theatre or just a old fashion trade rights?

Old fashioned trade rights. I did not have a fleet in a trade theatre.

what difficulty was you playing at? (i understand if you can not answer the question)

Normal for campaign and battle.

If you brake this report down not only in phases of your focus in the game but also in turns and years how many turns of playing and years in the game does this report constitute?

It ends in 1720 so about 42 turns in.

Are there any famous commanders available for your armies?

I do not know enough about historical Swedish commanders to say.

Charles XII would most likely never tolerate a loss of power (im guessing he is the king of Sweden when the game starts), afterall he embodies the era of absolutism in Swedish history, being able to rule the coutry for years from Turkey for instance. In this report it seems revolution is sparked easily and is the natural step to take. Is this so?

It was the natural result of the path I chose in terms of techs, you can research in a way that does not build much clamour for reform.

Also you focus on military technology as a first step. My guess would have been that Sweden allready had a headstart in military technology but without proper play this headstart would soon be eaten up by more popoulus and resource rich neighbours. Am I making the wrong assumption?

If you focus on building schools in your slots you can keep up a quick research pace.

[oldgiffer]

Ask your prussian allies to help beat up the danes? :P

Btw, thanks for the insight to how the game works... looking so much forward to this game!

[Megalos]

Could you enlighten me a little with the mechanics of trade in Empire? Are we limited (without techs) to the ammount of trade routes we can sustain? Could you tell us a little more about trade theatres and how they work?

Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed here are those of the poster and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Creative Assembly or SEGA.

I your opinion how close are we to the demo? very close, very very close, or very very very close? (please ignore this if it's easier! :P )


Thanks for this snippet btw!

[Fisherking]

I hope this is just the first in a long line of reports!

I take it that either there are a limited number of trade agreements or France was hostile to Marathas.

These are all fascinating twists which will make every new campaign a new adventure.

Thanks so much Jack

[zerathule]

This is an excellent post Jack :)
I have a few questions for you :
- When you changed to a republic, did you take a serious relation hit with all surrounding monarchy ? Did they all took a "stability hit" when it occured (higher unrest) due to the exemple their people have ? Was it the reason Denmark attacked you ?
- Can you now face a counter-revolution from the inside ? (revolt again with monarchists this time). or could opposing monarchy invade you and ask you to surrender in exchange for a change of government ?
- When you say you recruit an army next to Riga, does it mean you had to have a settlement there ? does this confirm the "fears" from fans saying that if you dont have multiple provinces you cant recruit multiple armies at the same time ?

Thankf for any answers Jack :)

[Merak]

is there a way to see were the AI countrys have focusted there research on?

(on a sidenote you forgot the disclaimer in the yuku forum post)

[USS Providence 1972]

Thanks, I'm considering playing with Sweden initially also and this provides some insight into Sweden and the overall game.

I understand you can raid trade routes, did you engage in any of that?


I'm also curious about becoming a republic. Can you research democracy instead of having a revolution? Once you become a republic are there elections? If so what happens if the prime minister loses an election?

[Nelson]

Have you had occasion to build a fort yet, Jack? I’m curious how forts might affect campaigns.

[Barkhorn1x]

Good info. Jack.


Some questions:

- What specific technologies did you research - and did you gain a battlefield advantage from them?
- Did you send too big a force to Iceland in hindsight? That being responsible for you being outnumbered by the Danes? - OR -
- From a quantity vs quality standpoint, were your troops of higher quality than the Danes and is that why you were outnumbered?

Thanks.

[Razor]

This is an excellent post Jack :)
I have a few questions for you :
- When you changed to a republic, did you take a serious relation hit with all surrounding monarchy ? Did they all took a "stability hit" when it occured (higher unrest) due to the exemple their people have ? Was it the reason Denmark attacked you ?
- Can you now face a counter-revolution from the inside ? (revolt again with monarchists this time). or could opposing monarchy invade you and ask you to surrender in exchange for a change of government ?
- When you say you recruit an army next to Riga, does it mean you had to have a settlement there ? does this confirm the "fears" from fans saying that if you dont have multiple provinces you cant recruit multiple armies at the same time ?

Thankf for any answers Jack :)

Good questions.

[Necceh]

Historically i think the Swedes at the time often fought outnumbered as they had a highly proffesional army, not sure if thats the actual reason though.

[Freakk]

Thanks for the information Jack. Cannot wait for this game to come out.

[woad&fangs]

Thanks for the Q&A/campaign info, Jack

[Elmar Bijlsma]

But Denmark declare war first, marching armies through my lands and damaging my buildings. Damaged schools means no more research, and damaged farms leads to unhappiness as the population is less well fed. So I march an army out to deal with these raiding forces and I initiate my own invasion plans.

Thanks for the post and answering questions, Lusted.

How much time is spent hunting down these invaders? Is there some sort of intercept function for friendly armies that have such enemy raids in their zone of control? (I believe fleets do have this chance to intercept enemy fleets passing by?)
I'd hate to have to micromanage the protection of every little resources out there.

[peacemaker]

so, um, are alliances in this game worth anything now? In rome and m2, the AI would betray you in a heartbeat for no reason, except to send 2 units of peasants to try and take a well-garrisoned town. I'm hoping this will differ now?

[Barkhorn1x]

so, um, are alliances in this game worth anything now? In rome and m2, the AI would betray you in a heartbeat for no reason, except to send 2 units of peasants to try and take a well-garrisoned town. I'm hoping this will differ now?

Short answer = YES!!!!!!

CA has been very forthcoming in terms of how improved the Diplo coding will be. All in all, allies will be allies unless you screw them and enemies will not screw you for no reason.

[peacemaker]

sounds great. I was also wondering, now, in the other games setting the difficulty on hard/very hard would just basically give the enemy army like a boost in morale and stats but not in tactics. Would this change so that the tactics differ as opposed to having super-units?

[Barkhorn1x]

sounds great. I was also wondering, now, in the other games setting the difficulty on hard/very hard would just basically give the enemy army like a boost in morale and stats but not in tactics. Would this change so that the tactics differ as opposed to having super-units?

No one really knows the effects of increased difficulty as that has not been discussed by CA yet.

[Jack Lusted]

I was wondering. What if you'd conquer Normway or Denmark as Sweden and only after that turn into a republic. Would this trigger liberal/nationalistic uprisings in Denmark and Norway? Or simply put: will Denmark and Norway (re-)emerge as a faction in such situations?

If there are rebellions in those regions yes Denmark could remerge and Norway emerge as a faction. There is no nationalistic unrest though apart from in a factions home region.

Is it possible for you to tell us something about the composition of the armies and navies you have used and seen in the campaign? The more detail the better :)

There were balanced armies and fleets.

Can you actually name units? If so, will these names appear on the battlefield?

Yes. Personally I like naming units after settlement/slots in the region they were recruited in. So for example 3rd Gothenburg Foot or 2nd Stockholm Horse.

Mh, don't really know about questions, but one part intrigues me. Would you say that giving Prussia a province in return for an alliance has proven to be worthwile?

Got me some nice techs and an ally, I would say it was worth it.

- When you changed to a republic, did you take a serious relation hit with all surrounding monarchy ?

Yes government type affects diplomatic relations.

Did they all took a "stability hit" when it occured (higher unrest) due to the exemple their people have ? Was it the reason Denmark attacked you ?

Denmark most likely attacked me due to change in relations and because of my temporary weakness due to the revolution.

- Can you now face a counter-revolution from the inside ? (revolt again with monarchists this time). or could opposing monarchy invade you and ask you to surrender in exchange for a change of government ?

Yes there can now be a rebellion by the Middle Class and you could become a Constitutional Monarchy.

- When you say you recruit an army next to Riga, does it mean you had to have a settlement there ? does this confirm the "fears" from fans saying that if you dont have multiple provinces you cant recruit multiple armies at the same time ?

Well as I had both Riga and St. Petersburg I could recruit from both settlements so positioned my army between it to receive recruits. How many armies you can recruit at the same time depends really on how many recruitment slots you have available.

is there a way to see were the AI countrys have focusted there research on?

Could try either sneaking a Gentlemen into their land to see what techs you could steal, or try to trade techs with them to see what they have.

I'm also curious about becoming a republic. Can you research democracy instead of having a revolution? Once you become a republic are there elections? If so what happens if the prime minister loses an election?

Government type changes only come through revolutions. Yes there are elections in Republics and Constitutional Monarchies, and if the ruling party lose the Opposition takes over so you get new Ministers with different traits.

Some questions:

- What specific technologies did you research - and did you gain a battlefield advantage from them?

I researched thigs like ring bayonets, square, carbines, improved grenades etc.

- Did you send too big a force to Iceland in hindsight? That being responsible for you being outnumbered by the Danes? - OR -
- From a quantity vs quality standpoint, were your troops of higher quality than the Danes and is that why you were outnumbered?

The Danish armies were of similar quality to mine, I just underestimated how many troops they had defending their capital.

Have you had occasion to build a fort yet, Jack? I’m curious how forts might affect campaigns.

No I did not build any forts in that campaign.

How much time is spent hunting down these invaders? Is there some sort of intercept function for friendly armies that have such enemy raids in their zone of control? (I believe fleets do have this chance to intercept enemy fleets passing by?)
I'd hate to have to micromanage the protection of every little resources out there.

Yes there is an intercept system so that any time a hostile force enters the zone of control of one of your armies, you get the option to attack them. I just had no armies near my border with Norway so I had to move troops to deal with them.

[Crazed Rabbit]

First off, thanks for coming here to give us news and answer our questions.

But Denmark declare war first, marching armies through my lands and damaging my buildings. Damaged schools means no more research, and damaged farms leads to unhappiness as the population is less well fed. So I march an army out to deal with these raiding forces and I initiate my own invasion plans.

I recall something in Lords of the Realm 2 where an invading army could damage the buildings in a province, to force the castle garrison out, and so this makes me happy.

My question is; will you be able to choose if you want your invading army to damage farmland and buildings? To me, if you think you can take the province quickly, you may not want to damage the assets.

Thanks again.

CR

[Sol Invictus]

This almost makes up for the "late" demo. Great stuff Jack!

[Monk]

This almost makes up for the "late" demo. Great stuff Jack!

Agreed. This AAR style of preview, along with the Q + A, was a great idea. Kudos Jack!

Few thoughts from me:

Yes government type affects diplomatic relations.

Okay now this was a huge thing for me and I am very pleased to hear it's in. It's great to see that whatever government type you choose, your diplomatic neighbors will think either more or less of you. Republics might flock to you, seeking allies and hoping that democracies can "stick together" while Monarchies will seek to topple you and make an example! Sounds very promising.

The Danish armies were of similar quality to mine, I just underestimated how many troops they had defending their capital.

And this was another thing. In M2 the AI never displayed that it understood the importance of its capital. You'd regularly see the Byzantines be ousted from Constantinople by 1100, for example.

But an army of 4500 defending the capital? That sounds like close to two stacks! I can't imagine that was an encouraging site. Seems the AI has at last learned what to sacrifice and what to defend!

How long do you think it'll take you to reform an army Jack? I can't imagine the Danes will be content to wait for you to try for their capital again, and in the meantime your (presumably) main army was left in ruins. Might be time to throw that navy you've been building up into action and buy yourself some time

[Polemists]

So I thought i'd seperate my questions into different areas :), so that way Jack can answer ones he wants and not feel he is just repeating himself to much.


AI:
Have other factions gone to war during your war? Ex: France goes to war with England etc.


Diplomacy:

If another nation goes to war and is our ally do you get a message asking you to join them in the war, similiar to the past, or is it just assumed as a ally you are in war with them?


Other Factions:

I saw no mention of Russia, have they just been quiet up in the East?


Ministers:

Are your ministers well liked? Do they affect different areas? Ex: A good minister of defense improves morale of troops or something.


Mission:

Have you recieved many missions from nobles, workers, peasants, etc?

[knoddy]

Denmark most likely attacked me due to change in relations and because of my temporary weakness due to the revolution.

this makes me warm n fuzzy inside and also prussia coming to the table to do a deal . cant wait

[Pinxit]

Agreed. This AAR style of preview, along with the Q + A, was a great idea. Kudos Jack!

But an army of 4500 defending the capital? That sounds like close to two stacks! I can't imagine that was an encouraging site. Seems the AI has at last learned what to sacrifice and what to defend!

The fact is that Denmark is so small that it really doesnt matter where you place your two stacks of troops. They will still defend the capital
Ofcourse, this time around it was Denmark-Norway (and Iceland), but still. Greenland? There are only so many reasonable places to put the army without compromising security. And even if you try compromising security, that security wont be far of.

But thats okay, because we are all in Scandinavia.

[Fisherking]

I have a few questions I have not seen asked before.

Did Sweden start with 4 or 5 provinces?

Did you have Pomerania at start?

Courland must have been the most attractive to attack but were there other minor powers possible?

Did you have any Special Units you can think of and discuss?