Out of character thread IV

[FactionHeir]

Three things

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The ancillary Henry got was a pagan magician. Let's hope he doesn't meet an inquisitor again or it will get hot

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Otto is still in charge of the crusading army. Possibly due to a bug as Henry had less command when he joined Otto. Rejoining Henry to the stack leads to Henry taking over btw.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Jobst should not wait for Ulrich. Sally forth. I just did it as a test and beat back the French. The way to do it is to put all your missiles on the wall. (except for 2 PAs)
T PA PXB T T CB CB T CB
where T are towers.
Everyone else stays on the bottom inside.
Once battle starts, move your 2 unupgraded PAs out the gate so they stand just in front of it in a thin line, tight formation.
Have them on fire at will and not on skirmish.
What you will notice is the AI sends all its ranged units forward to shoot them. They will be picked off by your towers and your missiles on the towers as well as the two units on the ground. You will lose both units on the ground eventually (actually you'll have 8 men left in each) but it will lead to the AI losing ALL of its missile units (well again, 2-9 men per unit left)
During that procedure, the AI won't utilize its ballista btw.
You can then choose to charge in and drive them from Dijon with mediocre casualties or you can wait a turn, take a few starvation casualties and then at the next sally move all missile units out the gate in a thin line and shoot his cav (he doesn't have missiles to counter you and will be passive) His ballista will likely retaliate then but since your units are in thin lines (max 3 deep), it will not do much damage.
Once his knights are gone, shoot the spears. Then use cav to line up outside and charge him.
Chances are though that the French will withdraw after your first sally when you take out all his missile.
Gotta love passive (or non passive but stupid) sally AI

[AussieGiant]

That's a real pisser about not being reconciled after GH's death.

I was really hoping to get that mechanism back in place to prevent our unmitigated expansion. I'm just worried that we are doing quite well being excommunicated AND giving the AI heaps of cash with no real consequence.

Ah well. I'm sure the crusade is going to be a blaze of glory.

[ArchdukeEvan]

it should be easyier now... lol... well now that the anit-pope is gone... to get reconsiled

[GeneralHankerchief]

Well, our Pope-O-Meter is now back to zero, so it's not like a walk in the park back to reconciliation.

I should have told Ituralde to send me against any Pope if it wasn't Otterbach. Ah, well...

[FactionHeir]

You know, there is actually a way to go through all popes in 1 turn.
The way to do it is to whack one.
Then save.
Then load.
This will trigger papal election to occur immediately on loading instead of next turn.
Whack the pope.
Rinse and repeat.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Nice work on the summary thread, OverKnight.

I can't wait to see the product after all of the threads are browsed.

[OverKnight]

Thanks GH, I just finished reviewing the battle report thread.

If I could ask everyone a favor? In the future, please put the in game year on your reports. I'm as guilty of not doing this as anyone else. I don't mind digging through the saves, but if we consistently date battles, stories and chancellor reports, it will make my, admittedly self imposed, job easier.

Thanks.

Oh, it looks like we've still got a few placeholders in the battle reports thread. I'm probably not going to link to those until they're done.

Again if you want something mentioned in the history, post there or let me know. I'm sure I've missed a few dramatic screaming matches in the Diet that you all remember.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Hmm, in 1118 you could put the Kaiser's announcement that we are at war with Milan and the conversation that followed.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...43#post1422643

[Ignoramus]

You shouldn't test battles, Factionheir. If you're going to, keep the results and tactics to yourself. Otherwise it spoils the PBM.

[FactionHeir]

Exactly the reason why I put them in spoiler tags no?
Besides, the tacts for a sally against the dumb AI is the same each time anyway. Regardless of the situation.

[Jalf]

You know, there is actually a way to go through all popes in 1 turn.
The way to do it is to whack one.
Then save.
Then load.
This will trigger papal election to occur immediately on loading instead of next turn.
Whack the pope.
Rinse and repeat.

Am I the only one who feels that cheating (and yes, playing ahead to test battles) kinda detracts from the game?

[econ21]

Am I the only one who feels that cheating (and yes, playing ahead to test battles) kinda detracts from the game?

No, you are not the only one. People are welcome to use the savegames to play ahead for their own entertainment, but it's been agreed they should keep any information they uncover to themselves.

The forthcoming battle with the French outside Dijon should be the most epic we've had so far - I hope we can fight it without relying on the AI passive behaviour against sallies. Perhaps the battle should be initiated by Ulrich attacking to relieve Djion so it is not a sally? Warluster should still command, of course.

The situation with the Pope is perplexing, but then again a quick reconciliation would be rather implausible given what Heinrich did.

[OverKnight]

The History is complete for now. The only threads I didn't review for it were the House threads and this one. Take a look, I would appreciate any insights or additions you all might have.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=82780

[Kagemusha]

I kind of wonder how should i address this whole issue as Dietrich, Heinrich dying and Henry as new Kaiser.My character has withdrawn from matters of state, so i guess maybe he will just sit in the crusading camp and maybe only adresses issues in letters to his wife,in the stories thread.

[GeneralHankerchief]

The History is complete for now. The only threads I didn't review for it were the House threads and this one. Take a look, I would appreciate any insights or additions you all might have.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=82780

Very nice. I think you caught all of Heinrich's altercations.

This should probably be stickied to prevent it from falling into the abyss.

[econ21]

I agree with GH: very nice work, Overknight.

[OverKnight]

Thanks, I was just organizing the good writing of others.

One thing I couldn't pin down is when Poland betrayed their alliance and attacked us. I'm looking for year, location and details. If anyone involved knows, please pass it on. The war against the Poles has been an epic see-saw affair and I want to do it justice.

In general, much of the chronology is guess work and I would welcome corrections. Also if people want their favorite events fleshed out feel free to send me dates, details and any appropriate links and I'll put them in the mix. I want to make the chronology a team effort, it'll be better because of it.

[Ituralde]

I just want to thank for your patience, and say that I'm back!
Sorry once again for the delay. I'll catch up on the reading and have already tinkered with the current save. Expect some battles to go around by tomorrow morning.

Cheers!

Ituralde

[TinCow]

Just a note: Initial indications from the unofficial/leaked patch 1.2 are that it is save game compatible.

[Northnovas]

Thanks, I was just organizing the good writing of others.
One thing I couldn't pin down is when Poland betrayed their alliance and attacked us. I'm looking for year, location and details. If anyone involved knows, please pass it on. The war against the Poles has been an epic see-saw affair and I want to do it justice.

If no one can recall have the Chancellor make a diplomatic contact and it will let us know how many turns we have been at war.

Just a note: Initial indications from the unofficial/leaked patch 1.2 are that it is save game compatible.

If it is, will we keep the current mod or use 1.2 alone if it fixes the ancillary issue and other bugs?

[FactionHeir]

I'd say wait until the actual final 1.2 is out officially before deciding on anything as we don't want to run into something unexpected where a leaked 1.2 won't be compatible with the final 1.2 for some reason or another.

[Ituralde]

Battle Awaits!

Dear Gerhard Steffen,

As requested your army has been reinforced by Conrad Salier with parts of the Milanese garrison. Your army is encamped on a hill northwest of the Hungarian foe. Although their main body is parted from Prince Jakab he might arrive on the batlefield eventually.
Good luck, the fate of Northern Italy depends on the outcome of this battle.

Chancellor Leopold

kotr1170-1

OOC:
I would have usually sent a PM with these informations to Stuperman. However with Conrad Salier joining the army he is now commanding it from a gameplay point of view. However Steffen is commander of the BHA and Conrad Salier is not even a knight. So my guess would be to let Stuperman play it even if he would be controlling GH's avatar and pretend it was Gerhard Steffen. That would make him pay even more attention to the other bodyguard too.

[OverKnight]

They're both in the same army?

Is it too late to have Conrad's army be separate but reinforce Gerhard's at the start of the battle? That way whoever commands the army that initiates the attack has overall command. The reason I ask is, the avatar that commands and wins is likely to get some nice "bumps" from the victory. I would prefer that Stuperman's avatar, since he'll be fighting the battle, gets the rewards.

Edit: Sorry for being nit-picky but I've got to look out for my minions.

[Ituralde]

Yeah they're both in the same army. Stuperman wanted to attack from the Northwest so it was quite convenient to have Conrad Salier join him since he was coming from that direction anyways. I didn't watch out for it and only realized that Salier was now in charge once I attacked the Hungarian stack.
I realize your concern but would say that Steffen will get to fight battles in the future.

Edit: Either way, if Stuperman manages to separate the two armies again and still attack with Conrad's reinforcements this turn, he can do that.

[OverKnight]

OK, it's up to Stuperman then.

[OverKnight]

Upon a more in depth review of the Diet threads I have been able to pinpoint starting years and events for the Polish and Hungarian wars for the History. I've also added some links to Diet discussions concerning Pope Gregory, the Investiture Crisis, various Diet sniping () and the origins and execution of the Household Armies concept. I have also added a second post that will detail the events of the reign of Kaiser Henry.

I will be reviewing the Council of Crusaders thread to integrate it into the chronology if needed.

Again, suggestions and additions are welcome, post here or PM me.

[TinCow]

Very nice work OverKnight.

[OverKnight]

Thanks TC, coming from the Librarian that's high praise.

All this work reviewing the threads has put into my mind my next project:

The KotR drinking game!

Take a sip every time a bloodied messenger bursts into the Diet.

Take a drink every time an Elector threatens to kill the Kaiser or proposes an Edict to marry a princess to her brother.

Finish your drink every time a Pope dies.

[AussieGiant]

Thanks TC, coming from the Librarian that's high praise.

All this work reviewing the threads has put into my mind my next project:

The KotR drinking game!

Take a sip every time a bloodied messenger bursts into the Diet.

Take a drink every time an Elector threatens to kill the Kaiser or proposes an Edict to marry a princess to her brother.

Finish your drink every time a Pope dies.

LMAO @ OK.

I'd be unconscious after about 15 minutes of reading!!

I really hope 1.2 is save compatible...I really really do :)

And OK, your skills are impressive Master Kenobi. How do you get the time to do all this?

[OverKnight]

Quite simple my young Padawan,

I have a boring third shift job with internet access and a lax IT department.


That reminds me, I'm visting my parents for Easter. I'll be away from home, but still have an internet connection Sunday and Monday EDT. Since I'm in the trailing army of the Crusade, I doubt anything interesting will come my way during that time.