How fast is it possible to blitz the game?

[zhuge]

For many turn based strategy games, the question of fast completion arises once in a while. I certainly understand that fast completion is not a goal for some players. But just like others who like to have playing themes and house rules, this is basically just another target to aim for to make the game a bit more of a challenge by pushing the limit and by proving it is possible to blitz your way through and that battles and province management need to be adjusted to slow down the pace a little (to make it more like previous games in the series).
It is not at all intended to be some sort of bragging contest and there are no prizes involved nor any checks for validity via saves, but you can describe in some detail on how you did it if you want to.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Carthage and Numidian short stories by Maltz which indeed show that blitzes are quite possible though I would have preferred if certain bugs like protectorate were not involved.

The goal: To complete the long campaign in 20 turns or less.

To help standardize matters, here's a list of playing conditions. Some border on being outright exploits but the rest are not necessarily fair, nor do most players use these house rules. They are merely suggestions on my part and what I adhere to so feel free to ignore and/or add new restrictions as you see fit.

General settings:
1)Playable faction of your choice
2)VH/VH
3)Timed battles
4)Unmodded
5)Units at regular size (most infantry at 40 men and most cavalry at 27 men)

The following is aimed to keep troop generation/troop strength within reasonable bounds:
1)No bribing
2)No merc hiring
3)No retraining/reequipping troops with upgraded weapons and armor (merging depleted units still allowed)
4)No elephants, no wardogs

The following are added to keep denarii production within reasonable bounds:
1)No diplomacy (allies, selling map info, protectorates, etc)(if approached by foreign diplomat, answer no to all requests)
2)No extermination (the most you can do to improve public order is enslavement)
3)No razing

Preventing too many promoted generals/too many lines of expansion:
1)All voluntary attacks on any enemy army or enemy town led by a general (captains may fight battles only if first attacked)

Additional rules:
1)Try as far as possible to keep all province loyalties at Content or better. You may not voluntarily move troops from a province if this results in dropping Loyalty below Content (so minimum is 85%)
2)No queueing up units (to reduce population only to cancel them later) and no queueing up buildings
3)If you sally from a besieged city, attempt as far as possible to NOT get any enemy troops shot by towers
4)No sieges past 2 turns (fighting is the aim here, not exhausting food supplies)
5)No forts, no watchtowers

Anyone want to take up the challenge? Or do you think the time should be shortened/lengthened.
There are lots of highly skilled veteran players here so I'm hopeful some will take up the challenge and show that in R:TW it is quite possible to simply blitz your way through (even with some house rules and what more without) and we therefore need a serious battle AI/management tweak to improve things.

[Oaty]

Short or Imperial campaign?

[zhuge]

Long (Imperial) campaign - acquire 50 provinces and take Rome

[mcveigh]

I dont think its possible to take over +- 45 provences in 20 turns.
I think your looking at about 50 turns before completing the long campaign.
IMO i think the imperial campaign can be done in 20 turns.

[Jambo]

I think what you just outlined is nigh impossible in 20 turns (10 years)...

[*Ringo*]

I'm with the general consensus here, pretty much impossible. Assuming you start with say 4 provinces, you would need to capture about two and a half regions a turn. Considering low populations, money and poor units you'd be hard pushed to produce enough units to garrison provinces alone!

*Ringo*

[zhuge]

Ok, ok, perhaps I was a bit hasty putting the time limit at 20 turns. Still it wouldn't be called a blitz if one were to take one's time in completing the campaign. You needn't choose a faction that starts with few provinces and isn't completely fiscally sound initially. Some factions such as the Greeks start with 5 provinces, have a solid economy to boot and can potentially expand on more than 1 front, so it is possible to take multiple towns in 1 turn. Admittedly you will be spreading yourself rather thin and that's risky but well that's the challenge.

Remember that you get instant cash for each town you take and an extra source of income so once you can take a few early towns, cash flow should stabilize. As for garrisoning these new provinces adequately, you may need to babysit the town for 1 turn but once you get a couple of peasant units, public order should be tolerable. I've had towns with no garrison (-15% public order) but with a low tax rate, sometimes you can still get by. Any province you take counts to the target of 50 provinces so you need not necessarily take highly populated provinces (despite the fact that they have very good income) if you think that they are too well guarded and hard to garrison (when you've taken them).

Also I'm not saying I could do it and freely admit I probably couldn't. But even though I've played S:TW and M:TW before, my battle skills and experience are probably considerably inferior to some of the really hardened vets around here.

I didn't say that you had to search blindly for town locations for provinces with no roads. I expect those who attempt the challenge to have completed the long campaign at least once and are therefore roughly familiar with town locations and will therefore zero in on the town upon entering the province.

Lastly I'm sure you will not have failed to notice that I did not put some of the more demanding house rules like no pause and general's camera only. I don't or I rarely use them but some of the more skilled players (especially the MP ones) appear quite comfortable with it.

So all things considered, I'll revise the goal as:
To complete the long campaign in 30 turns or less (I did ask for opinions regarding the time limit since I wasn't too sure anyhow).
That's quite a difference actually. Uhm... ok... any takers?