What's your style of play?

[Martok]

My style of play consists of GAH!-zi Infantry, hence the vote.

Ok coat on, etc...

*groans* You've been hanging out with Gregoshi again, haven't you?


As for myself.... I should mention that while I'm a turtler at heart, in practice I seem to end up being more aggressive than I'm really comfortable with. I think this is because I oftentimes feel compelled to blitz my immediate neighbors if I'm feeling overly "crowded". This is particularly true for when I'm playing as my two favorite factions, the Egyptians and Spanish. As the former, I team up with the Byz to destroy the Turks more often than not; as the latter, I usually take out Aragon early on as the former, and then shove the Almos off the Iberian peninsula soon after that.

Now it's true that once I finish my early blitzkrieging, I *then* settle down and (generally) behave myself. Until I've reach the point where I've secured control over the local vicinity, however, I admit I do have a tendency to do a little warmongering early on. It's not really my natural inclination to do so, but playing MTW for as long as I have seems to suppressed some of my instincts.

[Noir]

I would comment that local blitz goes well with your instincts: it allows for for ever effective turtling (can't turtle effectively with local enemies around) - i also do that as a rule, particularly when the game version favors it (for example XL).

Many Thanks

Noir

[caravel]

*groans* You've been hanging out with Gregoshi again, haven't you?

Well he's the absolute master and I was assuming the role of a mere cheap imitation.

But to quote Omanes for taking the thread off topic. Back to the style of play: Cautious approach, stop, mod the game, start again, stop, change something, stop, start again, change something else, stop....

It's been like that for a while unfortunately. I have to play Shogun these days as I can't mod that, and even if I could I don't think Mrs Caravel would put up with another mod - I'd probably get thrown out. The reading books and maps in bed bit is proving unpopular. Apparently I was talking in my sleep about provinces a few nights ago as well...

[Noir]

Originally posted by Caravel
even if I could I don't think Mrs Caravel would put up with another mod - I'd probably get thrown out. The reading books and maps in bed bit is proving unpopular. Apparently I was talking in my sleep about provinces a few nights ago as well...

Tell Mrs Caravel, that many other Mrs... feel her pain - i guess they should put it in the marriage oath questions for hardcore TWes:

"...till campaigning, modding, chatting, frequenting the forums, staying up in the MP lobbies for "one more game" tear you appart?"

Ah, the beauty of these games!

Many Thanks

Noir

[doctrellor]

Tell Mrs Caravel, that many other Mrs... feel her pain - i guess they should put it in the marriage oath questions for hardcore TWes:

"...till campaigning, modding, chatting, frequenting the forums, staying up in the MP lobbies for "one more game" tear you appart?"

Ah, the beauty of these games!

Many Thanks

Noir

Ah yeah, my wife kicks me in the middle of the night as she bitches about me talking about TW or HOI2 (a fav WW II strat game I play)

[Martok]

Oh dear. Perhaps you need to lay off for a bit, then?

[Noir]

Laugh young master Martok,

while (as i presume) you are single and free... enjoy playing (without having to dodge flying objects and make excuses by the dozen) as much as you can!

Many Thanks

Noir

[jadast]

I have to believe I'm a complete warmonger. The only time I am not attacking is when I am out of troops. I see more provinces as more recruiting stations which leads to quicker replenishment of troops which leads to quicker attacks.

[Ciaran]

One of the nice things of MTW is the risk-style campaign map. There are certain provinces that minimize your frontline length, and that is always my goal. So usually it´s a short flurry of invasions with long streches of build-up in between. After the first few games I´ve been cured from the "build everything everywhere"- disease I´ve suffered from earlier strategy games (though I must admit that RTW, my first TW game, doesn´t punish that nearly as severly as MTW does).

[macsen rufus]

Well, I voted for the wishy-washy liberal thing, as I think my approach is pretty balanced (well as balanced as wasting 4 hours a day playing games can be )

Obviously, if there are any nearby rebel provinces begging for the benificence of my government, then they will be obliged straight away, but generally I prefer to get my economy in a sound state, and build up enough of an army to defend my core provinces before looking for conquests. It always depends on faction of course. In some cases rapid early expansion is necessary just to keep the coffers full...

I generally tend to increase my tech level in a suitable core province, and recycle troops through training for weapon / armour / morale / valour upgades rather than churn out low-quality stacks from every available province. It's not that I never do that though, where it's necessary to get every warm body out to meet the threat of the day.

My expansion tends to be opportunist, and I always* honour alliances. I try to go after one faction at a time. Once war has begun, I tend to prosecute it to the point of extinction. Strategic issues like reduced borders, valuable provinces etc tend to sway the direction of expansion when I am in an expansionistic phase. Each time I establish a new compact boundary, I tend to recoup and retrain whilst loyalty is built up. Generally before I'm ready to launch the next offensive, though, the AI will attack from the opposite direction

I do quite enjoy "grooming" my generals, as well, and my heir-apparent usually heads up the main offensive army, or defends the most vulnerable province, as he can often gain virtues I want for my next king

I also have no qualms about "pruning" the family tree to keep the bloodline strong, so very often princes will find themselves in a far-flung foreign land facing an overwhelming force. They also tend to get dismounted (where possible) so they have less chance of running away to safety as well

On the subterfuge side, I rarely bother with assassins, unless I want to station one on permanent duty near the Pope, as part of my patented "Pope on a rope" strategy (TM). Spies, on the other hand, I do tend to use quite a lot. I've recently taken to never building border forts, and letting my spies do all the "counterspying" thereby building up good valour. I usually identify one or two provinces that AI factions like to send spies or assissins into, and that quickly trains up my new spies to v5 or v6. Once they're at this level, you no longer need artillery for sieges, and you can easily tip a neighbour's province into rebellion, and they are a great help in stabilising loyalty in newly taken provinces.

I'm not really satisified with my economy until I'm at the point where every province is building and training constantly and the coffers are still increasing. Once there, the game is generally won




* remember the value of 'always' may go down as well as up

[Ironside]

Now it's true that once I finish my early blitzkrieging, I *then* settle down and (generally) behave myself. Until I've reach the point where I've secured control over the local vicinity, however, I admit I do have a tendency to do a little warmongering early on. It's not really my natural inclination to do so, but playing MTW for as long as I have seems to suppressed some of my instincts.

You learn't blitzing from MTW?
I take it that you bought STW later then, considering that my opening moves from STW often involved invading up to 3 provinces on turn 1. An MTW blitz is awfully slow in comparation.

[Martok]

You learn't blitzing from MTW?
I take it that you bought STW later then, considering that my opening moves from STW often involved invading up to 3 provinces on turn 1. An MTW blitz is awfully slow in comparation.

Strangely enough, I didn't blitz that often in Shogun (and yes, I bought it well before I ever picked up MTW). Maybe it was just because of the clans I played, but I simply didn't rush my neighbors that much -- at least not early on. It wasn't until MTW that I really started doing that. Yeah I know that's probably a bit unusual, but that's me for ya....

[doctrellor]

Funny that I also didn't learn blitzing from MTW..

I actually also bought STW first, but even earlier I got HOI and HOI2, so I played Germany or the Soviets, so with a WWII game, one can learn blitzing quite well..:P

with STW I learned to turtle and to play defensively, which is why I play Hojo or Shimazu all the time.

[Bregil the Bowman]

I take the liberal path, trying to develop peacefully while expanding my influence. You'd be amazed how many times that requires me to invade my neighbours with overwhelming force (to maintain the peace) or take down their leaders with assassins or inquisitors (in the cause of justice).

Good men sleep peacefully in their beds because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf...

[naut]

I'm a perfectionist, so I tend to turtle and build "perfect" armies and then expand slowly.

[General Dazza]

Funny that I also didn't learn blitzing from MTW..

I actually also bought STW first, but even earlier I got HOI and HOI2, so I played Germany or the Soviets, so with a WWII game, one can learn blitzing quite well..:P

with STW I learned to turtle and to play defensively, which is why I play Hojo or Shimazu all the time.

Hey doctrellor - what's HOI2 like? I played HOI for a bit, but eventually got a bit bored with it (I find it doesn't have the replayability of MTW).

I don't think I learnt blitzing from any particular game - I tend to blitz when the situation calls for it. Despite what I said earlier I probably am more balanced as I do turtle when I need to. But I guess I only turtle so I can build up my troop and training capabilities for future conquest, and maybe to get some cash.

[Caerfanan]

My style of play would depand of my faction... As the French, I rushed to the English, then HRE as they attacked me, and the french king have been at war 9 years out of 10.

However, with the danes, I took Scandinavia, then started a trading empire, taking all the ressource-filled rebel provinces around the baltic sea. Then, I only took rebel provinces, from the start or civil war, with one exception, a heavy strike on 3 HRE provinces to balance a western european conflict.

[doctrellor]

Hey doctrellor - what's HOI2 like? I played HOI for a bit, but eventually got a bit bored with it (I find it doesn't have the replayability of MTW).

I don't think I learnt blitzing from any particular game - I tend to blitz when the situation calls for it. Despite what I said earlier I probably am more balanced as I do turtle when I need to. But I guess I only turtle so I can build up my troop and training capabilities for future conquest, and maybe to get some cash.

HOI2 is defeinately worth it for a WWII game (1936 - 1948), since it has some pretty good replayibility.. depending on what faction you play... especially with alliances...

I play the Stony Road Mod which most would say is the best for HOI/HOI2

The new one, some would call it HOI3, which is Doomsday/Armageddon.. .one can play up to 1953, and so tech is upgraded/more realistic/complex...lol

I like the spy networks and what a good proganda/assassin can do..:P

I still like to play the Italians and go after Turkey/Spain/Vichy France/Balkans and do a "Roman Empire" start before I choose which alliance I wanna be in..lol

Or the Germans and change thier government so that the Kaiser is still in power.. or the Americans and have a Communist govt and ally with the Soviets...lol

There are some very fun tweaks one can do....so yeah the replayability is enhanced...

[gaijinalways]

My last campaign was interesting as my empire was very small. At one point another member was worried when I asked for help, but I wasn't worried as it was a GA campaign. I sometimes expand a little, trying to firm up my borders. But generally I like to build and play defensively. In my last campaign I had over 50 years of peace, then I was attacked, otherwise it may have been longer.

I try to build troops for balanced armies, and I will attack and bribe, but again generally I expand slowly and take places that help with money or for buildin troops, or finally defining my broders for defense.