Scotts are weak... and here's why

[ASPER THE GREAT]

Playing as the Scot's, what you see is what you get . 1 city (Edinburgh) that is "Scotland", in the game (Inverness) is a rebel city, you ask "why is it not part of Scotland" because the "Scottish" (2 "T") clans waged war on each other for who has the right to rule Scotland & they just could never come together. It was war against "England" and yes the English army's were better equipped and could field many more troops then the Scot's, Welsh, & Irish. After many battles & political (shuck & jive) through the years we have a "Happy United Kingdom" or so the world believes. "British Policies Make The World England" Brand new game straight out of the box play England take over the world, yea right after screwing around taking rebel cites then sending 2 full stacks up to Scotland easy picking's "NOT" they whooped my butt A/I style !!!!!! That part of the world has the best money can buy.

[dismal]

Scots are effectively a "corner faction". What you do get is a very nice initial army, and only one border to worry about. Mass your initial troops and send them south and you can be in London in just a few turns.

[IsItStillThere]

In the game I'm playing now, the AI Scots are whipping AI England. England only has two provinces, london and the one just north of london.

The Scots have all the rest of the british isles (Ireland too), and norway to boot!


They can do quite well, since England can get bogged down fighting for france.

[dumas]

I'm editing the thread title - let's try to avoid the word "suck" as an insult, please.

No insult intended. I have nothing against Scottish people in real life and I didn't realize "suck" had a sexual connotation.
"blowing the bagpipe" would've been much more obvious.

[IrishArmenian]

When playing as Alba, one cannot rely on one's units. Rather, one must build some forts with some highland rabble inside to divert all the English attacks into one pass, where one has already positioned a field army waiting to ambush. This works quite well for me and it has depleted the English army with few casualties on my part. That strategy works to get the Scottish economy working, and once that is in full swing, it is ver easy to pick up momentum, building very good infantry--granted the 2-hand fix has been downloaded.
I like the Border Horses, great calvary when used correctly. After a few upgrades, they can either out fight or out run anything the English have. They are the bane of the Longbowmen!

[Derfasciti]

I've always wanted to play as the Scots simply because I wanted to wage war with England. The problem is I just have a problem with continuing those campaigns because I just see Scotland conquering the whol Isle, let alone the world, as a tad too unrealistic.

[crpcarrot]

I've always wanted to play as the Scots simply because I wanted to wage war with England. The problem is I just have a problem with continuing those campaigns because I just see Scotland conquering the whol Isle, let alone the world, as a tad too unrealistic.

HAHA

r u serious??

how can u ever play any faction then cos the whole concept of the game is not to conform to history but to change it

[Didz]

I've always wanted to play as the Scots simply because I wanted to wage war with England. The problem is I just have a problem with continuing those campaigns because I just see Scotland conquering the whol Isle, let alone the world, as a tad too unrealistic.

I know what you mean but the thing to remember is that the Stuart dynasty had as much claim to the English Throne as it did to the Scottish and so there is nothing outlandish about the idea of a Scottish monarch ruling a United Kingdom. In fact it might have happened if a double agent had not persuaded the Scots that London was heavily defended.

Beyond that point I found it hard in my campaign to justify an invasion of mainland europe. Historically, the French have always been good allies to Scotland and so I kept that alliance solid in my campaign to provide some historical credibility.

That does rather limit Scotlands options, but I found that by concentrating on trade in Africa and keeping in with the Pope I didn't need to invade mainland europe to survive and its only recently TURN 122 that I have been forced by papal edict to capture Toulouse.

[Kobal2fr]

I know what you mean but the thing to remember is that the Stuart dynasty had as much claim to the English Throne as it did to the Scottish and so there is nothing outlandish about the idea of a Scottish monarch ruling a United Kingdom. In fact it might have happened if a double agent had not persuaded the Scots that London was heavily defended.

Beyond that point I found it hard in my campaign to justify an invasion of mainland europe. Historically, the French have always been good allies to Scotland and so I kept that alliance solid in my campaign to provide some historical credibility.

That does rather limit Scotlands options, but I found that by concentrating on trade in Africa and keeping in with the Pope I didn't need to invade mainland europe to survive and its only recently TURN 122 that I have been forced by papal edict to capture Toulouse.

True.
There is however (well, to me at least) a "realistic" concern about building highlander units all over the place. They're called Highlanders for a reason, and how many sheep shaggers can there be up there, total ?

Yeah, yeah, I know, I could make believe that Highlanders recruited in Acre or Halych are really strong local peasantfolk taught to fight the MacWallace way... but where's the fun in that

@OP : Scots may be weak, but they wha hae, too. Whatever that means.

[Matt_Lane]

Beyond that point I found it hard in my campaign to justify an invasion of mainland europe. Historically, the French have always been good allies to Scotland and so I kept that alliance solid in my campaign to provide some historical credibility.

I think the game provides a great opportunity historically for what could have been. Play fast and loose with the time line and you could side with France in a European campaign, invade Holland and crown yourself King then set up a successful South American colony and buy England.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Kilt check!

[Marquis of Roland]

As far as taking out the AI factor, Scots are indeed probably the weakest faction in the game. Their cavalry arm is limited, and they have no long range missile capability from their own unit roster. This means that their armies will be generally slow-moving on a battlefield and they won't be able to dictate the tempo of the battle and will have to react to the enemy instead of making the enemy react to their actions. In addition their armor is not the highest either (and the highlanders don't have shields I believe, correct me if I'm wrong), which makes them very vulnerable to missile-heavy armies like their neighbor England, or even worse, HA-heavy armies like Egypt or Mongols.

Which leads me to wonder: has anyone successfully taken out all the Mongols (12 stacks) with Scots?

I don't care if Scots suck in the game though, I love using Scots in custom battles (where I pit them against mainly infantry-heavy armies hehe), and I just like the way they look. I know there's all sorts of historical inaccuracies in Braveheart but damnit I like that movie and they just look cool . Scots vs. Aztecs was a fun one

[Fookison]

The Scot's are like any other faction. You need to play to their strengths. Take their Pikes and watch a cavalry army melt in your wake. Throw in some highland archers and away you go. We have had some great battles and campaigns as the Scots........"Where's the fight?"

[Rathelon]

My current campaign is with Scotland. I crushed England early on, and France shortly thereafter. Then had a very long off-and-on war with Sicily (who had taken over all of Italy), and finally eliminated Sicily and Spain. Denmark decided to test me, so I've virtually crushed his entire empire now as well. I control all of the British Isles, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, and the northern half of Spain/Portugal. Just need about 2 more territories, and to sail an army to Jerusalem to secure the win.

Early on, the highland nobles and highland archers are good enough to take on whatever troops you're facing. Upgrade the armor on the nobles and they tear through enemy troops. Most of my infantry now are noble swordsmen, and I have Templar knights in Angers for cavalry (as well as feudal knights in my other fortresses). Noble highland archers still serve me fine, though I rely on archers less now since I have culverins and mortars with most of my armies.