Rebellions

[Zajuts149]

I recently upgraded MTW to VI, and I've found that among the changes was the downsizing of rebellions. I used to get rebellions in the thousands, especially the peasant rebellions, but now, they're usually just a few hundred. This is cool in one way, since rebellions are more manageble, and a good training device for fledgling generals(quite a few of my Captains have made their career crushing rebellions in Scotland), but it gets boring in the end, and besides, if I can't capture 1000+ peasants after a rebellion, how can i give my Generals the 'Butcher' - vice?

[macsen rufus]

Hi Z: I've been playing VI so long I can't remember the difference from MTW v1 lol, but I found a rebellion in one of my provinces produces generally 15x the numbers in my army there. This means once a rebellion is inevitable you can "seed" it for its size. If you want 15000 rebels, put in 1000 men - however, you may have to find a really awful governor (or none) and screw up the tax rate etc to make sure your 1000 troops don't quash the rebels before they rise.

Likewise, if the rebellion is a real pain for your strategy and can't get the loyalty over 100%, then leave in a very small unit as seed - a broken unit knackered by the last battle is good for this (maybe a couple of knights or naptha throwers will keep the rebellion down to one or two units).

I'm not sure whether the type of troops you leave also influences the quality of troops the rebels get, though.

Generally, I prefer rebellions to occur in the enemy's territory, no matter how many spies/preachers it takes!

[Ash]

Hi Z: I've been playing VI so long I can't remember the difference from MTW v1 lol, but I found a rebellion in one of my provinces produces generally 15x the numbers in my army there. This means once a rebellion is inevitable you can "seed" it for its size. If you want 15000 rebels, put in 1000 men - however, you may have to find a really awful governor (or none) and screw up the tax rate etc to make sure your 1000 troops don't quash the rebels before they rise.

Unless a faction reappears.

Although the exact troops reappearing seems indeed to be dependant on the number and quality of troops in the province.

[macsen rufus]

You're right, Ash - it all depends on whether the rebellion is loyalist, bandit or a re-emergence.

My last reemergence made me laugh for a change - 5000 Aragonese appeared in Sicily led by a 72-year old king, with 70 yr old heirs. Within two years the royals had died out and the reemergence was all rebels! Not sure whether to invade or bribe now.....

[Zajuts149]

I've usually just met peasant rebellions, and the larger ones seemed to have a cap of 2700. Never had real big loyalist rebellions. Even though rebellions in VI is smaller, peasant rebellions can be quite sophisticated, including advanced troops in the late game.
With loyalist rebellions, I often get the most advanced troop types(because mine is too?), and I often let them take over and then bribe them..
I once had a peasant rebellion turn Loyalist, then neutral as that factions king died, and right afterwards that same rebellion joined a loyalist rebellion for me. This was pre-VI. Anyone had this happen to them?

[macsen rufus]

Hi Zajuts, Did you trust the general that changed sides so much??

according to the manual there are different types of rebellions, and loyalists usually have good troops, as can bandits (religious conflict in the province), but peasants just turn out in huge, slaughterable numbers usually...

My current game has been very starnge - very rebellious all around. Late Turkish, my border is spreading westwards. Once i got spies into place i found that nearly the whole of north/central europe was rebel controlled (Poland, Franconia, Saxony, Bohemia, Austria, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Silesia), and the rebel groups held more than one province each, so they are coordinated, too. To the west is a big Swiss empire; French and English (or should I say the Northumbrians, these days?) at war with each other AND both having civil wars. Haven't found the HRE yet, but they're still in the game somewhere! Almos control Algeria to Aquitaine. The year is 1400. And the Pope controls most of Italy.

So what it is this collapse of central europe all about? I haven't seen it happen before, so is it historical or is it my 7-dread Sultan and all the shattered crusades?

[Ludens]

So what it is this collapse of central europe all about? I haven't seen it happen before, so is it historical or is it my 7-dread Sultan and all the shattered crusades?

Well, you might say that the entire dark ages were a collapse of central authority and the middle ages were a period in which central authority slowly and erratically, with many false starts and set-backs, was being reconstructed. But in game terms it has probably a to do with crusades failing and costing the AI factions a lot of influence. This in turn causes low loyalty, rebellions and civil wars. Dread has nothing to do with it (dread only influences loyalty in your provinces).

You never know quite how the game is going to turn out, but sometimes this disintegration of a number of factions happens. Off course, if a player causes a lot of damage to the AI factions early, it is more likely that this kind of chaos will ensue.

[macsen rufus]

if a player causes a lot of damage to the AI factions early, it is more likely that this kind of chaos will ensue

Moi? Surely not

But, yeah, I was only questioning it in game terms, as I've never seen it so rebellious before, but historically it is probably more accurate.... I think I may go over to the XL mod soon, as I believe these "rebels" will actually be factions, and be generally more accurate.