My first ever mtw campaign

[Scurvy]

Well although i'v been playing mtw and vi mp since the game came out i'v never actually got round to playing campaign (i'v done the historical battles and so on and played camapign on shogun years ago)
so i decided to try one. I installed the xl mod (on reccomendation) and after playing a few custom battles to see the new units i decided i'd play as the Irish (i liked all those throwing spears)

So i played the tutorial and thought it was all quite nice and easy, and then started the campaign itself... I set it to hard difficulty (as i though that any mess ups on the sp aspect would balance out with my slightly above average battle skills)

so i started out qite nicely and immediately bribed the rebels in wales and then steeled for a bit... after maybe 3 turns i remembered to set the tax's to very high :D

i started loosing money quite qucikly (i think i made too many units) and so when i hit - numbers (argh!) i had to attack the english again, i decided to go for Mercia as the English only had maybe 4-5 units there, and the scots were attacking Northumbria (and those scottish people really scare me )

so i sent a v large army at them and they retreated to castle and i made my first mistake, after one turn of siege i realized i lost men from it, so i took maybe half the units out....the english then sent some huge army at me to "relieve the siege" and so i had to abandon the province i then took it back beating the english with a kill + capture count of 860 against losses of 43, those dartmen are amazing).

Slowly i captured all of Britain apart from Scotland, which i left well alone) there was one big battle in Wessex (which i won quite nicely) but apart from that nothing that interesting...

but now im stuck, loosing loads of money per turn and even though i'v built a boat cant invade Flanders from Wessex? should i head towards france and the the rest of england or try to head towards scandinavia?!
any advice greatly appreiciated (probably spelt wrong)


sorry about the long post, but im still quite happy i got this far

[Odin]

Well although i'v been playing mtw and vi mp since the game came out i'v never actually got round to playing campaign (i'v done the historical battles and so on and played camapign on shogun years ago)
so i decided to try one. I installed the xl mod (on reccomendation) and after playing a few custom battles to see the new units i decided i'd play as the Irish (i liked all those throwing spears)

So i played the tutorial and thought it was all quite nice and easy, and then started the campaign itself... I set it to hard difficulty (as i though that any mess ups on the sp aspect would balance out with my slightly above average battle skills)

so i started out qite nicely and immediately bribed the rebels in wales and then steeled for a bit... after maybe 3 turns i remembered to set the tax's to very high :D

i started loosing money quite qucikly (i think i made too many units) and so when i hit - numbers (argh!) i had to attack the english again, i decided to go for Mercia as the English only had maybe 4-5 units there, and the scots were attacking Northumbria (and those scottish people really scare me )

so i sent a v large army at them and they retreated to castle and i made my first mistake, after one turn of siege i realized i lost men from it, so i took maybe half the units out....the english then sent some huge army at me to "relieve the siege" and so i had to abandon the province i then took it back beating the english with a kill + capture count of 860 against losses of 43, those dartmen are amazing).

Slowly i captured all of Britain apart from Scotland, which i left well alone) there was one big battle in Wessex (which i won quite nicely) but apart from that nothing that interesting...

but now im stuck, loosing loads of money per turn and even though i'v built a boat cant invade Flanders from Wessex? should i head towards france and the the rest of england or try to head towards scandinavia?!
any advice greatly appreiciated (probably spelt wrong)


sorry about the long post, but im still quite happy i got this far

My advice to you is, is get your economy in order before fooling around in France. You will probably win comfortably in France, but you spread yourself even thinner. With out solid cash flow you wont have replacement forces to support your growth, and that can be a back breaker. With the XL mod you get most of your cash from land improvements, so improve your holdings and specialize your provinces.

Keep an eye on the scots to, just because you left them alone dosent mean they wont strike when your not expecting it. Once your empire is making money and you can support your armies I would take Scotland, why not have a secure Britian before going to the continent?

Also France and the HRE tend to get into some spats, monitor these two and if france begins look like they are winning you better attack because France can get powerful fast and no matter how fond of your dartmen you are your in for a fight.

Build up your land mate !

[Martok]

I pretty much concur with Odin. Build up your lands in Britain (upgrade your farms and whatnot) to improve your cashflow. Then get some boats in the water (for both trade purposes and to protect from invasion). Once you've got things stabilized in Britain, get ready to take on France--and hang on for dear life!

[NodachiSam]

In order to invade by sea your army needs to be in a province with a port. As well you need ships in the sea regions between your ported province and the target province. A third stipulation is that you can't have hostile ships in the same water. The English need only put a single ship and thwart your plans for another year. Fix your economy first, take scotland I suggest and build up naval superiority around great Britain and Ireland. Then your in business. If you can, take sweden soon. It is great for trade income. Also for trade income you need unbroken lines of ships with no hostiles blockading you.

Nice to see someone else get into the campaign though, enjoy! I'm kind of the opposite in that I have only really played the campaign and not really historical.

[Scurvy]

hmm thanks for all suggestions, i have now taken scotland (and they did scare me for a minute, killed my general with a well aimed ballista) but now they are all happy up north, i have taken a large bit of france, through flanders and now got to Germans (i had to kill some enemy ships to land men -- thanks!) although the danes just attacked me and destroyed me (val 5 vikings vs val 1 kerns, not pretty ) so im now having to settle a bit and work out how to kill millions of longboats

again thanks for the help --> next choice, do i head for germany or finish off french and english to south (i dont think the danes will be much threat as they are fighting everyone)

o yeah and try out multiplayer --> its the best! :)

[Martok]

next choice, do i head for germany or finish off french and english to south (i dont think the danes will be much threat as they are fighting everyone)

All things being equal, I'd probably finish off the English and French first, as this will give you a nice, easily-defended border in the south with Spain and Aragon. Once you've regrouped, I would then move northeast and wipe out the Danes. In particular, make sure you take the provinces of Scandanvia--Sweden, Denmark, and Norway--as they are great money-makers when it comes to trade!

[Roark]

Yeah, what Martok said.

Conquering Scandinavia right off the bat is essential in Early era, because of the ability to train Huscarles.

[Martok]

Conquering Scandinavia right off the bat is essential in Early era, because of the ability to train Huscarles.

I thought only the Danes could train Huscarles in the main campaign....(?)

[Roark]

So did I, until I discovered otherwise.

Merry Christmas!

[Martok]

Well shiver me timbers! Guess I'll have to go invade Norway here in my next game then.

[Odin]

again thanks for the help --> next choice, do i head for germany or finish off french and english to south (i dont think the danes will be much threat as they are fighting everyone)

o yeah and try out multiplayer --> its the best! :)

Impressive so far mate. So you are at war with France, England and Denmark? Seems to me you have enough war going on for now The German campaign can be had at a later date. Like the others have said Scandanavian provinces are great for many reasons, sweden might be the best province in the game considering its tradable goods, iron deposits and mines.

Here in lies the problem though, in the early game Huscarles and assorted other goodies the viking kingdoms have are probably better then what you can field yourself. So you have to win with superior numbers, or superior leaders. Danish armies (in my expirence) dont normally field a lot of archers, you might consider a defense battle or two. Simply leave a weak garrison in a border province, and when they attack retreat to the castle and releve the siege next turn with some archer units and melee defense. Whittle down those huscarles !

Or just go for the big battle, eitherway I dont think your foray north is going to be as easy as you think considering you have a southern front and a western front with France. Additionally, HRE is notrious for taking advantage of spread out kingdoms dont be shocked if they move in on your french holdings. In the XL mod the swede's and the norwegians arent easy, so even if the Danes are fighting everyone you still are now a long way away from the emerald Isle.

It dosent sound like you need much help really, your winning battles and taking provinces, not to shabby for Ireland, but remember the more you conquer the more you have to defend....

[Just A Girl]

I wouldnt bribe people that much, It seems to make the ai bribe you more,
(although i havent played xl)

But keep up the good work.

[Scurvy]

hmm quick update, i played for like 2 hours non-stop earlier hcih is a bit much but i acieved a fair bit...

first i finished off the english and the french have one province somewhere, iv reached the aragon/genoan border to south and have got as far as denmark to north (although Germany is looking very very stong to east) the spansih (dunno how) have got sweden and i didnt want to go to war witht them yet so iv stopped there and now im trying to consolidate a bit, the moneys no problem now as im getting bucketloads and irish untis are really cheap, (i have 30 000 spare)

im tempted by attacking aragon, as it looks very easy, but genoa and maybe germany are possible targets for my javelin

i did manage to loose a battle though and that was a bit embarrassing, although i think it might happen more as the computers armies are starting to have more than 0/1 val, and thats a prob for my val 0 men (how do you get val up without actually fighting loads) do you have to build a building or something? In the one i lost, my val 0 kerns got charged by val 3 vikings....i took out maybe 1/3 with throwing spears but then got steam-rollered, managed to get my cav out of the weay and killed their prince with a well aimed javelin-from-horseback, so it was only a half-loss, but still

[Mr White]

You can get valour without fighting on two ways.

1) by building the unit in the province that gives them a valour bonus (if you right-click on a province it will mention if it gives a valour bonus), for example gallowglasses will get a valour bonus in Ireland.

2) by building a unit by with its master building. for example building archers with a master bowyer.

Each way will increase the valour by one, so the max valour for newly build units is 2, for example longbow men trained with a master bowyer in Wales will give you valour 2 longbowmen.

The general also gives valour to his men. His men (himself included) get additionel valour equal to half of the generals command stars. This is why building up generals is so important in campaigns.

[Odin]

im tempted by attacking aragon, as it looks very easy, but genoa and maybe germany are possible targets for my javelin

You have successfully executed your 3 wars against the french english and the danes, your economy is up and running with a surplus and I assume your army situation is strong enough (if you have surplus cash).

Time to take out the HRE....

[Ludens]

The general also gives valour to his men. His men (himself included) get additionel valour equal to half of the generals command stars. This is why building up generals is so important in campaigns.

However, do keep in mind that this valour disappears when the general dies and, most importantly, general's valour does not come with a morale bonus. The General himself does impart a morale bonus to nearby units that becomes higher as he gets more command stars.