Golden Horde!

[EatYerGreens]

I think what Glyndwr was getting at is that Crimea to Kiev doesn't involve a bridge battle and was asking whether the AI is smart enough to make a point of using this route?

Given the number of threads I've read where the Horde gets itself turned into dogmeat trying - and failing - to take Kiev via the bridge route, I would say that it isn't.

I'm wondering if the Horde get any more interesting when you play a faction on the western edge of the map and the Horde are out of your reach when they first arrive. For instance, I'm still playing English and they've reached as far as Brandenburg.

So, rather than one monumental (but potentially tedious) battle where I can get close to eliminating them in a single turn, I will be faced with several dozen individual battles against manageable-sized armies, most of which are less than one full stack. Since you can't catch cavalry with foot troops and my cavalry will mostly get shot down before they can engage hand-to-hand properly, then these could be equally tedious affairs, not to mention repetitious.

The worst part of it is that, if they have spread out this far, then you need to be in a position to lose them as a trading partner before you can even begin to take them on.

Killing them off completely, in two turns, is certainly a laudable achievement but it also removes a large chunk of 'politicking' (sp?) from the game, whereby they are a long-lasting, inconvenient, presence and you may have to set aside wars with your various neighbours and make a joint effort at getting rid of them. (Not easy to arrange, the way the diplomatic AI works).

[Glyndwr in the Soke]

I think what Glyndwr was getting at is that Crimea to Kiev doesn't involve a bridge battle and was asking whether the AI is smart enough to make a point of using this route?

Precisely.

Thanks for that feedback. Unfortunately, I may never finish this Eggy campaign now, since my new computer is taking over.

Will have to start a completely new one.

[Martok]

I know the feeling, Glyndwr. Having finally gotten my new computer this past weekend, I've had the happy experience of starting up a new campaign as the Spanish.

But back to topic: Unfortunately, EatYerGreens is most probably correct. I don't know that I've ever seen the Mongols invade by sea, and the fact that they always seem to attack Kiev over that bridge supports this theory.

[Vantek]

Sorry to bump a 2 year old thread but,

Back in vanilla MTW times they were pitiful - just two stacks of units, and no more than 16 MHA units.

What??? I distinctly remember a moment back when I first got vanilla MTW (perhaps even unpatched) where I played the Turks, knew nothing about the Horde, and was dismayed by the appearance of about fifteen stacks of high quality Mongol troops right at my doorstep! So could someone please elaborate on this comment?

On a related note, I have hated the Horde ever since. Epic battles that take many hours are not my style, nor is being at the disposal of a retarded giant, who clearly has the power to tear me apart, but fails to follow through due to having the intellect of a drooling braindead cretin.

So is there a quick way to reduce the number of forces they bring? I would like to be able to limit it to 4-6 stacks with the standard composition.