Report!

[PershsNhpios]

The players on this forum have an entertaining and very interesting treasury of experience; which can be explored in a number of ways but only if the information is shared with detail.

Garnier has shown many new techniques to me simply by writing briefly about his current campaign - chiefly regarding the subversion of the King.

So I am asking very enthusiastically that everyone who reads this message, and who plays Medieval: Total War in any form should press the quick-reply button and write everything they would share about their current campaign in the game.
If they are busy, and have no campaign - please, mention your last one!

Strange developments, new methods, old methods, surprises, drama, difficulty - satisfaction - bring everything worthy of note about your current or last campaign here - please!

It need not at all be an AAR, it is not necessary even to structure your input.



I would place my current campaign here, but it is quite obviously somewhere else already.

Which reminds me.. I have some bad news to report there.

Please! Tell me!

[bondovic]

Hungary, early. Modded the TAO (Tyberius' add on) so that each faction now has a more characteristic unit roster with very harsh homeland restrictions. Exception being made for HRE that is in deep enough Barney as it is (didn't help them though - dead by the hands of EVERYONE, as usual). Also bumping the 'rebellious' value by 2 for all regions. This means that e.g. Livonia oozes a hefty rating of 4 in this aspect. Makes expansion harder and the sorting-out-period longer.

[PershsNhpios]

Grand, Bondovic! I wish I had time and knowledge to play with modding..

From what I have experienced, the baltic people are quite vicious and barbarous as they are - without needing to make them more so.
I have never bothered to try taking Pomerania or Prussia in XL!

I am about to test the MedMod on the advice of Asai.
However I have a second copy of MTW ready if I wish to go running back immediately to XL.

Is the MedMod the same as what you are using in that screenshot, Durango?

And I am sorry to hear about your brave sir Knight, Garnier, if it were me, he would have been replaced by 33 green sir Knights long ago, that I could rely on the unit in a proper charge.
But then I do often neglect to train units well in valour, I rely on the stars of my general.

[caravel]

Is the MedMod the same as what you are using in that screenshot, Durango?

It looks like the Medmod and i know that Durango plays that mod, so it's a safe bet that it is.

[Durango]

Glenn: Yes. that's the MedMod IV right there. Excellent work by Wes, as many already attest to.

The changes to the game are quite substantial, but my own home-mods also add to the flavor of it in much the same way as Bondovic's does. Especially regarding the upped rebelliousness which really makes expansion a more risky affair. However, I you love XL/Tyberius, the MedMod might not be to your tastes. Primarily due to a more restricted unit roster (ca. 6-8 units per factions per era), homelands and other things like fewer crusades. The "supermods" offer more content and breadth than does the more focused mods like MedMod and Asai Nagamasa's Pocket Mod (since it is based on vanilla).

But the battles....of my!

The battles are very balanced and competitive in the MedMod IV. Top stuff for the tactician, since virtually no unit is unneeded and/or completely overpowered IMHO. I lost about 50% of all my battles against the English in my most recent Celtic campaign on Early/Expert when you get no decent archers to go up against the English regulars.... couple that with enemy stacks that are pretty much equal to yours in terms of army composition and some rough terrain and you could be in for a smacking whenever you least expect it!

My Celtic campaign on the whole was chaotic. I was struggling to get enough Claymores to counter the English when my provinces in the north was barely holding on while being outnumbered 2:1 and with them having the better generals. Started with an early defeat when I invaded Nurthumbria thinking it would be a close victory as my previous experience would lead me to believe. Big mistake. The terrain was like a ski slope at some alpine resort and covered with trees none the less. Up I march, trying to scout ahead, but to no use. The AI did exactly as it was supposed to do, flanked me out of the trees with Claymores from two sides and annihilated me

Ahhh... the joys of old AI at play.

(Btw, if you are wondering about the province lettering on that sceenshot, it's my own. I've changed the campaign map to look cleaner and more interesting at places.)

[Garnier]

I started a new HRE campaign today after rethinking some of my modifications. I upped the rebelliousness everywhere by +2, like bondovic did. I have a ton of other tweaks and stuff, but one important aspect is the farming upgrades and province loyalty. I removed the happiness bonuses from everything except a +10 for the militia building, and +5 for each of the religious buildings. Then I made the farming upgrades each do -5 more than the one before, for a total of -20 at 80%. This makes rich provinces harder to maintain authority over.

So, starting an HRE campaign with these settings made ALL of my provinces under 100% loyalty to start with even on very low taxes. However, I have persevered so far and am conquering scandinavia. I get very little money though, so it's an interesting game. I had a lot of trouble taking Denmark, the initial battle was a very close affair, and then there were four subsequent rebellions all of which cost me a lot of men. I expanded too fast into Sweden and Norway, I lost Norway and am retaking Sweden at the moment.

[chris34au]

i started a Sicilian campaign last night but i don't know whether to stick with it or to try another faction. i love their starting position and the income from their 3 starting provinces is insane but i don't know what to expect from their unit roster when the late and high eras hit. from what i've heard, you're pretty much stuck with the basic Catholic unit roster when playing a Sicilian campaign.

reading Glenn's NTW AAR has left me really curious about the NTW mod and the Hellenic mod sounds really promising too. i hope this isn't considered OT but can anyone tell me more about the Hellenic mod(either in this thread or a PM) or where to find more info on it? TIA

[PershsNhpios]

I would very much like to write about the organisation of my armies in my Portuguese campaign - but there isn't any!

Why?

Because little organisation is required for the use of two light armies!

I would instead like to ask anyone familiar with the MedMod;

How does one make money in this mod?

I have control of the entire peninsula, (See the campaign thread), and my armies consist of 2900 men overall.
Yet I am only just making 1050 florins in a year, when in XL I would have 2200.
This is obviously intended, but there must be some way of making currency here!
I cannot afford another army, and I need another army to expand, what I have is the minimum requirement for a sufficient defence against a very probable Byzantine attack (They are colossal!).

Farmland seems useless.. Trade will take much time to develop, as will upgrading every province to 60% farming.

What to do?

[caravel]

I believe medmod places some deep sea zones at the straits of Gibraltar and perhaps in other areas (?). This will be severely restricting your maritime trade income and naval transportation - which is a very good thing indeed. Try optimising your provincial governors, build mines and disband any useless units you do not need. Check the income parchment to see how much you are grossing per year then look at what is costing the most. Fleets can be very costly. If you have too many ships and they're not really brining you in anything worthwhile in trade then you should reduce them. Two ships per sea zone is usually enough.

Medmod has been tuned up to not give the huge bloated income of vanilla and some other mods. This is why it's much more challenging. The SW mod is similarly hard and the income in my Asai campaign has been abysmal so far.

[PershsNhpios]

I have since extended my borders to hold southern France, which move allowed to me three armies and 1000 florins per turn.
I used this to increase the navy, and I then assisted my German allies in a war with Venice, where I lost all of my fourth army troops in a massacre.
The Italian units were simply far superior.. it was not fair.

But nevermind income!

Nevermind the Italians!

The Eastern Roman Empire, quite restored and holding more than half the known world, having provinces on all seas, has just declared war on little Iberia.
I am disillusioned, but I suppose the devastation of everything I created before the 13th century should make for a good AAR.

--

Is it normal for the HRE and Byzantines to do so well in MedMod?

It is truly like the Western and Eastern Empires have returned - Venice and Portucale are the only middleweights left!

[Durango]

Very good advice from Asai as usual. The deep sea zones are very important to note when planning your campaign.

The North Sea is in contrast to vanilla, a deep sea zone that restricts which type of ships can enter and leave the Baltic. The Adriatic ocean is blocked off, further dividing the Mediterranean. And finally, the Gulf of Cadiz is removed so that you have to cross the Atlantic Ocean to get beyond the Gibraltar (Or conquer the Costa Verde zone to bypass it). You need deep sea capable ships to get by all these zones, which is the Caravel in the high period if I remember correctly.

I can only concur about the money shortage in MedMod. This is, together with much better unit balance and Homelands, what I like most about it. You can't just keep pumping units every turn non-stop and expand relentlessly to support them, but you have to carefully consider what you will need as well as taking risks when fighting other armies.

If you continue to wait for a moment when your enemies are weaker than you so that you can comfortably outnumber them (like in other mods), you get outproduced and surrounded fast, and could quite possibly suffer serious setbacks due to the much improved AI army composition.

When building armies and invading, take very careful notes on the enemies exact stack composition, his total number of units, the terrain and landscape of invasion routes and other variables. In MedMod (and I guess in SW), you need to maximize the advantages that allows you to take on superior and larger forces such as the killer Italian spears or the fearsome French cavalry.

War is costly and carries serious consequences, like it should

Also, considering what provinces to invade is more important. Study the potential of provinces you wish to conquer, and set top priority on certain ones. Trade centers are a good idea to set your sights on.

For an increased challenge (), you can also play with increased province rebelliousness. By raising it, the campaign becomes very, very strategic when coupled with limited income, forcing you to enter nerve wrecking battles that are absolutely crucial to win!

[Durango]

[gollum]

Great stuff Durango!

Talk about succesful Civil Wars - if only the player was as succesful as the AI in self instigating them (especially the HRE AI).

[caravel]

Ah the fabled catapult rebellion! Brilliant.

[Garnier]

I must report a saddening occurence, as I said in the Campaign History thread, I had a famous knight of Aragon who had just killed the English king, and had slain hundreds through his lifetime, he was killed by arrows fighting the English in France. I am going to work on the career of another of my knights though, hopefully turning him into another famous warrior and general.

My main general for the entire game so far has been the line of El Cid, with 8 command stars and +3 and +2 on attack and defense, respectively. However, he now has the Coward trait and the Not so Bold trait, which among other things make me want to retire him...

[gollum]

8 command stars? You can try playing with the -green_generals addition to your MTW shortcut - this gives degraded stats to generals as they die over the years as well as degraded traits.

Coward and not so Bold - this must be -12 morale - even Knights turn into jelly.