Uhm... The Marathas landed in England...?

[Megas Methuselah]

The Marathas, who own most of India and the mid-east (and hate me, btw), sailed over to England and landed a half-stack on the land that I am occupying. At the same time, Scotland declared war on me.

I haven't played since 1.2. Is this, uh, normal? Screenie:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

patch 1.5, latest version of Darthmod, with personal modifications to Morocco (unit recruitment/availabilities).

[Zarky]

Sure it's quite normal, once they own most/all of India they have to go somewhere, right?
I'm yet to see Marathas do such move, but it can't be that far in my Ottoman Game as they own all of India (excluding rebel Ceylon and Mysore). They will either declare war on me and push to Europe trough Persia or then they'll gather mighty navy and sail and hopefully destroy GB for me.
But AI does lot more naval assaults now, although sometimes they don't make much sense.

[Megas Methuselah]

REALLY? Well, that's very nice to hear. They just sailed another fleet around africa with an army, and it's somewhat disheartening.

[peacemaker]

Yep, post-patch 1.3 lots of people were complaining about "naval invasions" so now Marathas decides to sail around the world to capture Britain while still fighting with the Mughals. I think it's ludicrous and kind of stupid, but I never play as Britain so it doesn't affect me

[G. Septimus]

what????
how can they do that???
it's like from the edge of the world to Britian....
That would never happen, really

[A Very Super Market]

Well, it did happen in reverse a few times.

[antisocialmunky]

Marathas just chartered its West Europa company, lol.

[Beskar]

I think this is a great move by the AI to grab Britain.

[Megas Methuselah]

I think this is a great move by the AI to grab Britain.

They didn't grab it. I fought them in a spectacular battle, with my Muslims and the Hindus fighting for control of Britain. It seemed so surreal seeing my Moroccan desert warriors and Nizam infantries fighting Hindu and Bargir Musketeers in the countryside of England. I won.

Their second fleet landed another army in Portugal, which they conquered. I sent my Army in Africa (Afrika Korps?) to reclaim the province, and did so with stunning casualties. I killed 2600 in exchange for 2200. The war of the Titans, the two world-powers, the Moroccan Empire and Maratha Confederacy.

I noticed that before I re-took Portugal, the Marathas gave it a 5% boost to population growth due to migration from the home theatre.

...so now Marathas decides to sail around the world to capture Britain while still fighting with the Mughals. I think it's ludicrous and kind of stupid, but I never play as Britain so it doesn't affect me

Yeah, even though the Marathas own all of India except for Punjab and Mysore, who are Maratha allies. But back to your statement, oh yeah, pretty stupid, eh? Almost as stupid as those Europeans invading the Americas while they're killing each other.

[peacemaker]

Wowzers! didn't notice the date there I have never managed to play a campaign all the way to the point where the Marathas manages to conquer most of India. I always change my mind on which faction I feel like playing

[Megas Methuselah]

Yeah, it's generally quite easy to get far in the years if you don't blitz yourself an empire and overextend yourself too much; the turns are much shorter. I limited myself to North-western Africa, Iberia, and France (abandoned Britain to the natives).

[Quickening]

In one of my games the Marathas, after conquering India and the Middle East, colonised all of South America, the Caribbean Islands and then attacked my British holdings in North America. Man they wanted me dead something bad.

[Servius]

When I play as GB and get DOWed by Marathas, Marathas usually sends 2 invasion fleets to take the Lesser Antilles.

I've also seen them make an amphibious landing, so you can't prevent these things just by sticking a ship or militia unit in each port anymore.

While it does seems kinda odd for India to invade England (like, dystopian), it DOES give you a good reason to actually keep strong military forces in your home regions. I never used to do that as GB because the AI couldn't do naval invasions at all, and then they could but only if there was a port for them to dock their invasion fleet in.

[NimitsTexan]

Marathas do seem a bit . . . overpowered? For example, I tried gifting the Mughals most of my techs, so they could hopefully keep the Marathas occupied a little longer . . . did not work, though.

[Zarky]

Yeah, In my current GB campaign I'm in 1724 and Marathas own most of India and I made landing there in order to get my last victory conditions province (Hindustan).
The Marathas are seriously overpowered compared to me and I'm going to need to fight my own battles with serious advantage in numbers to compensate for their experienced Bargir and Sikh musketeers.
I should have just send an army to South India somewhere in early game, kick Maratha and Mysore ass and then later worry about Mughals who are way much weaker.

[Servius]

In case anyone was curious, the one way you can prevent Marathas from launching naval invasions (short of destroying them) is just blockade their ports. It's much cheaper than garrisoning every region you own, especially in the Carribean. This makes excellent sense for any faction that is trade good rich and wealthy land poor. Such factions (like GB) will benefit most from control of the seas (and trade nodes) and can also keep land force costs down by simply blockading all ports of enemy factions.

Marathas is so badass because they have the 2nd best strategic position in the game and I'm guessing their units must be superior to those of the Mughals because they take over India EVERY time. The Mughals have to worry about Marathas, Mysore, and Persia or Ottomans. Marathas just have to worry about Mughals and Mysore. Marathas also have TONS of ports whereas the Mughals seem to only have one.

[peacemaker]

Once the Marathas own most of India, I figure their treasury goes sky high. They have money to fund huge armies, so they need to use all those troops on somebody...

[Seamus Fermanagh]

They went after Ireland against me, then crossed into Scotland. Forming square against elephant charges in a snowstorm......

[Dreadnought2]

I had a similar experience with the AI last week while I was playing as UP.

Both the Maratha Confederacy and United Provinces were doing very nicely (and doing a bit of trade in the bargain) when Maratha suddenly declared war. I had already built fortifications in Ceylon but started a troop build up there just in case. The best ships they had were brigs and as I'd captured a number of galleons (both Spanish and Pirate), I did keep the seas adjacent to Ceylon fairly clear...

About 10-15 turns later, a fleet of about 10 brigs & sloops (which must have sailed through the GIUK gap as I had the Channel well and truly covered) rocks up in the North Sea, goes straight into the Zuider Zee and dumps a nearly full stack close to Amsterdam!

Their fleet didn't last the turn - my North Sea trade protection fleet saw to that in very short order...

Their land attack on a well-garrisoned and fortified Amsterdam really just ended up adding to the experience levels of my troops...

I then went returned the favour by destroying all their remaining ships and blockading/sacking every one of their ports. In addition, I used my naval units to land single dragoon units in their ports to raid the local farms/towns/mines (returning to the occupied port to re-embark at the end of each turn) and then returning offshore to allow them to rebuild (and just waste their money - as I intended to destroy the port again next turn!). Soon, they had no trade with anyone (other than Mysore) and the fact that they were running out of money soon became evident as the number of facility repairs they did each turn kept decreasing until most of the subcontinent was covered in burning settlements & ports. I ended up letting the blockade take it's toll on the Maratha economy and armies for a while then used my Ceylon based army to easily take Carnatica (with it's depleted garrison of one cavalry unit and a heap of citizen units).

So please take note, Mr AI, that's what happens when you get cheeky!

Cheers,
Dreadnought2

[Servius]

That's the way to roll Dread!

[crpcarrot]

In case anyone was curious, the one way you can prevent Marathas from launching naval invasions (short of destroying them) is just blockade their ports. It's much cheaper than garrisoning every region you own, especially in the Carribean. This makes excellent sense for any faction that is trade good rich and wealthy land poor. Such factions (like GB) will benefit most from control of the seas (and trade nodes) and can also keep land force costs down by simply blockading all ports of enemy factions.

Marathas is so badass because they have the 2nd best strategic position in the game and I'm guessing their units must be superior to those of the Mughals because they take over India EVERY time. The Mughals have to worry about Marathas, Mysore, and Persia or Ottomans. Marathas just have to worry about Mughals and Mysore. Marathas also have TONS of ports whereas the Mughals seem to only have one.

yes i jsut started playing as Maratha's after avoiding the game for a long time.

Maratha tech is much highre than muglas, who hardly seem to have any gunpowder units. on the other hand if the maratha's didnt have this advantage they would never survuve thier starting position. but it would definitely be mroe fun if the mugals could put up more of a fight. for all the provinces they have their armies seem very weak at the start of the game.

on a realted note can some kind soul point me in the direction of unlocking all factions? i would like totry playing as the Mugals as well. how is playing one of the locked factions? is the agme really buggy when you do this?

[A1_Unit]

Here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=288139

[Megas Methuselah]

is the agme really buggy when you do this?

AI_Unit already posted a link to a good startpos file, so I'll skip that. Most modifications to unlock factions aren't buggy, except the very earliest ones (had trouble with fog of war); not that it matters to me, as I myself tend to remove fog of war altogether. The latest ones are all fixed, anyways. The only noticeable difference you'll encounter is the fact that the "unplayable" factions don't have an introduction made by the advisor that describes the faction's position in the world and the best actions to take.

So no, contrary to popular belief, the game is not buggy.

EDIT: Oh, btw, some factions have very limited unit recruitment (like Morocco, Barbary States, Crimean Khanate, etc.).