Hungary

[frogbeastegg]

Hungary needs to be unlocked before you can play as them. To do this you can either complete a campaign (on any difficutly, long or short setting) with one of the five starting factions, or you can edit the preferences file. To do this open your Sega/M2TW folder/data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign, find the file called "descr_strat" and open it with wordpad. Now find the section which says

campaign      imperial_campaign
playable
   england
   france
   hre
   spain
   venice
end
unlockable
   sicily
   milan
   scotland
   byzantium
   russia
   moors
   turks
   egypt
   denmark
   portugal
   poland
   hungary
end
nonplayable
   papal_states
   aztecs
   mongols
   timurids
   slave
end

Change it so it reads

campaign      imperial_campaign
playable
   england
   france
   hre
   spain
   venice
   sicily
   milan
   scotland
   byzantium
   russia
   moors
   turks
   egypt
   denmark
   portugal
   poland
   hungary
end
nonplayable
   papal_states
   aztecs
   mongols
   timurids
   slave
end

[kaasbris]

(I didn't play Hungary till late yet, so it's about early setup. o and I am not an expert of Totalwar, so might be wrong on some points.)

Overview

Hungary is such an interesting country to play with lots of challenges. Its resources are few, soldiers are no so good, to many strong neighbours.

But its military uits are quite unique and to the eastern Russian steppe, there are plenty lands to expand - till Mongol comes.

Diplomacy

There are 4 neihbours: To North Poland, To South Byzantines, To West HRE & Venice. Each have particular interest in Rebel territories surrounding Hungary.

If you capture Rebel province of Sofia, then Byzantine may declare war in near future. Same as Zagreb for Venice.

HRE and Venice seems most aggressive, while Poland and Byzantine are rather peaceful in some extent.

It's possible to make all 4 allies, while Poland is most reliable with marriage, but with enough garrison in bordering cities.

Military Units

Yeah, their armies are weak, but still interesting to play. Most notable units are Hungarian Nobles(ranged knight) and Pavise Crossbow Militia:

Hungary has fine ranged cavalry army which I love. They are excellent on open field - where Hungarian territories are. With enhanced AI, they can keep shoot & run without control.

Among those, Hungarian Noble can be used as typical knights with charge, while Magyar cavalry should avoid melee except extreme cases.

There are also Feudal/Chivalric Knights available.

For foot ranged units, Pavise Crossbow Militia shines with their excellent attack & defence ratings. Also there are Bulgarian Brigands available as mercenary on east Balkans. They have long ranged missles with effective melee ratings and defence - worth buying.

Infantry units are simply doomed. Croat Axemen are notable armor piercing army but with poor defence. Weak spear units like Spearmen/Spearmen Militia/Slav Levies may make bulk of armies.

(I heard that with Assassin guild, Hungary can build special units of Battlefield Assassin with strong attacking capabilities. Anyone can share what theya re about?)

Military Tactics

On open field, ranged cavalry rules! They can early-skirmish against marching enemy, then flank move-skirmish, then with frontal foot soldiers engaged, charge from behind.

Pavise Crossbows will make frontal shooting while spearsmen guards/absorbs enemy arrows. Croat Axemen will be reserved for decisive frontal engage.

However, on siege, ranged cavalry loses its merits, where roads inside castle/towns are too narrow for maneuver for them.

Economy & Building

Except Budapest, regions are poor at resources. Bran/Iasa/Bucharest/Sofia all are poor. Rich Rebel provinces like Zagreb/Kiev tend to lead to hostility - but early capturing seems inevitable for poor Hungary.

Most Balkan regions are not Catholics. Be sure to spread Catholic belief asap with priests and Church.

Early building should be road/church, then military, then finally economy buildings as you don't need economy buildings early on as conquests itself will pay off for another conquests.

Early Strategy

On very early turns, you can capture Iasa and Zagreb with original troops - City Council tend to give mission of capturing Iasa on turn 2. Bucharest is also easy with some additional troops produced.

Around Sofia, there will already be Byzantine armies sieging on it. If they fails, then you have chance to get it.

Kiev has strong Cossack armies, which will cost you dearly. With its distance, you may need careful preparation for early conquest of Kiev/Kaffa. - also it means exposed front on west.

Zagreb is rich with resources, so it's tempting to make it city not castle. But once peace broken with Venice/HRE, it's hard to defend without castle.

Also, Zagreb is good start point for Crusade to Jerusalem. Park to-go-Crusade army near border to Ragusa, then join Crusade next turn, then go to beach to buy ships/crusade units, then set sail for Jerusalem in several turns.

Along the way, you can land en route-rebel province for capture (e.g. Rhodes).

Whatever I do, war seem inevitable. So prepare for it, while trying number of enemy as few as possible. Poland may stay allied if keep bribing, but other than that, Venice/HRE/Byzantines will declare war on no reason.

Simplest way to avoid early war is to keep sizeable army at border.

[Cheetah]

I am in a three way war with Venice, Byzantines and Russia, Poles joined the fun but were beaten back and ask for peace. War is indeed inevitable, you need a sizable army for each of your neighbours.

Allience means nothing, I was allied with all of those four factions before they attacked.

Money is tight, you have some to develop but as soon as you got in war you will be dancing on the edge (unless you can take some rich provinces, unfortunately I let the Venitians to took Zagreb).

Council of nobles gives you sensible missions, they adviced me to take Bucharest, Iasa, Kiev and Kaffa in this order but it will lead to an overextension of your armed forces.

All in all very difficult situation: 2 of my neighbours are top 5 nations (Venice and Byzantines) all of your neighbours will attack you soon as they see that you dont have the troops to defend your cities, you are seriously overextended, bogged down fending of the attacks fo your neighbours ... perhaps sacking of a rich medditerinian town might help, or taking Rhodes but I have a crappy crusader army ... well, we will see ...

[Blademun]

Agressiveness wins wars.

The failure of the last two guides was a lack of aggresiveness. A hungarian Cavalry army can stand up against the most elite european armys, namely the HRE and Spain. (England is special exception) They do lack good infantry, but using infantry with hungary is like using Knights with Scotland...

First, Diplomacy is your friend. Immediately make Alliances with HRE and Poland.

Then Blitz Venice: Zagreb is a must have piece of land, along with Ragusa. Ragusa gives you another fortress. The Venetians start off fairly weak and are easy to beat. Don't worry about Byzantium to the south just yet. There Time will come.

Tactics: Venice fields a infantry army of Milita and archers and a few spears. All but the spears are lunchmeat for Hungary. When the Venetians march their archers out front, smash them. Then let your ranged cavalry pick apart Venice's infantry. Be on hand with a knight or 2 just in case they are also fielding HC.

When your knocking on Venice's doors, they'll ask for peace. They always do, since they are pretty cowardly. Take it and build up your forces, because Byzantium is next. Also, your standing with the pope is probably hurting, so you need to switch to a non-catholic faction for expansion.

With forces in Bern and Ragusa, you can launch a two prong attack against the Byzantiums. They are most likely embroiled in war with Turks at this point. If not, forge a alliance with Turks and ask them to attack with promise that you will too.

Tactics: Fighting Byzantium is tricky, since they are a cavalry army like you. WIth luck, their best units are off fighting the Turks. Worst case, you'll be fighting a army with composistion similar to yours, only heavier. These battles are tough, hard fought, and you'll want to Quicksave before each one.

Now for your strategy:

Plan A, If their northern border is lightly defended:

Take Durrazzo and Sofia using everything you got. Then attack Thessalonica. This cuts Byzantium off fromt Corinth, which happens to be their most important Fortress. The fortress will likely be poorly defended(the ai doesn't believe in putting large garrisons in their castles). Scrap together whatever you can and immediately siege Corinth before they start building a army there.

Plan B, Its not: Take either Durrazzo or Sofia, using both armies, depending on which province is more lightly defended. Use the Sacking money to build a defensive force in either Zagusa or Bern using your best judgement. Take your main stack and march on Thessalonica. Things get hairy after this, you'll be on the defensive, but you'll eventually have the upper hand. Byzantines army is alot more expensive then yours. Taking Thessalonica and Durrazzo/Sofia robbed them of serious income. They will grind down, and then you can go back on the offensive.

_________________________________

Once you've sacked Constantinople, your set. You own the entire Balkan peninsula, and the rich citys of Zagreb, Constantinople, Thessalonica and Budapest. Prepare yourself for invasion from either Poland, Venice or HRE, since alliances never last. Later on you might want to consider turning the castles of Sofia and the other province south of Bern into citys for extra income. Zagusa/Corinth/Bern should all become Citadels.

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Last notes: I cannot fathom why the last two guides said that the Hungarian army is weak. It is NOT by any means of the word. The Hungarian army plays similarily to the Mongol army. Your infantry will be mostly archers; Brigands and Xbows. Once you get Pavise Spearman, they are pretty strong too. The Battlefield assasins are a quirky unit thats hard to get. They are like a dismounted bodyguard unit, that can hide in the plain open. Their use is obviously to get behind a enemy formation and cause a rout. You also get Serpentines, which are some of the best field cannons in the game.

Your cavalry will be your heart and soul. I often had entire stacks made up of nothing but Magyars and Hungarian Nobles. They can charge and rout enemy archers, and shoot up just about everything else. They are faster then heavy knights and can out manuever them. Last but not least of Hungarys lineup; Hussars! Aside from making you smile everytime you click on them, they are excellent cav with knight-like power at 2/3 the cost and most importantly, can be trained in citys. With only three castles mostly training nobles/Magyars, it helps that the last component of your army can be trained in citys.

Lastly, Like a mongol army, its takes skill to get the most out of their forces. If you feel your up to that challenge, you will be suprised with what Hungary can do.

[katank]

Totally agree with last poster on how key aggression is in TW games. Rather than sitting around and thinking about taking rebel regions with 8+ units like Kiev, thinking about smashing your neighbors. Nearby factions are weak initially and can hurt you later on while rebels just sit there. There is absolutely no reason to be cash strapped when you are near both Byzantines and Venetians (two of the richest factions around). The only limiting factor is how fast your armies can march.