Americas Campaign: Spain

[Barbarian]

Promoting is essential, as you get access to new buildings then.

[Tecnik]

Playing on M/M it's the second campaign i ever do. I used this tactic:

- Allied with West (the impossible to pronounce T-something tribes)
- Killed the Mayas
- Killed the French and English invasions over and over again (i must have killed them about 3 times both now)
- Aztecs got slain by Tlalala
- Am now fighting the Tlalala tribes

I found that Conquistadores are THE way to go. Storming in with 5x30 Conquistadores makes for an instant 50% kill in outdoor battles. You can then even retreat and go for another charge numerous times. I currently have 100k florins even with continuous building / huge army upkeep due to Looting all settlements i took.

I have only 2 questions:

- Can you not build assasins?
- Can you not build castles?

[Must`]

Mayans gone crazy in my game, took 2 settlements from me and it took couple of turns I fought back, took chicken itza with my mega army from cuba and mercenaries(2 full stacks) and i have red head in chicken itza despite big army and low taxes but mayans are now on back foot and i expect to finish them in max 10 turns.

btw. my first campaign and i already like it very much, amazing expansion

[benadin]

This is my first campaign and it looks like I have different tactic experience from the others posters.

In RTW I used to win battles with a much lesser number of soldiers than the counterpart. While trying win the same way in M2TW I faced some difficulties:

1. Musketeers are of no use - they can't fire over the heads and are slow enough to run away from charging natives. Moreover, musket fire can't rout native elite jaguars or eagle warriors. So you need to put all your attention to musketeers regrouping/retreating giving them a chance to fire only few times, making them useless in fact.

Crossbows are able to fire over the heads, so I found it preferable to use them in combination with native archer mercenaries.

2. General & conquistadores are good at charging, but are bad at retreating - few horsemen almost always got killed when you order them to retreat.

Culverin is superior in town sieges, but not in the open battle.

I ended up with the following tactic:
few strong melee units in front, archers behind (no gunners!), week melee units to support strong ones/defend archers. Conquistadores to kill enemy archers and help in urgent situations.

I haven't got into the Dragoons age yet, but so far got very disappointed with the gunpowder units.

[KingKnudthebloodthirsty]

Here's my opening moves: u go to the aztecs, offer them ally, trade rights, map info, military acess, and 6500 fr 10-20 turns in return to all their cities except capital. right after the aggrement, offer another proposition and refuse to pay tribute. u got the land completely free. then send an army to take the capital, perhaps hiring another stack of mercs along the way. reloading is probably needed as u need to find a quick through many stacks. after u reach the city, it should be a piece of cake taking it, provided that u hired EVERY merc along the way. With the aztecs destroyed, the plague has set in and here i am.

[dark@hunter]

in the start of the game i make allience with the tlaxcalans hire tlaxcalan mercenairys then attack the mayans then the aztecs

[Sir Conor March]

What i did was i made vera cruz my capital and took over the settlements east of it(then most rebel settles in southern map) Next after owning all the rebel settlements between maya and aztecs i make economic buildings and ally with everyone apart from the faction im going to destroy or attack. I attacked the aztecs and as the tlax and taras and maya helped me they quickly fell. I didnt attack the maya because when the english arrived i let them conquer the maya then i moved in to kill the english with the help of the remaining maya(then i killed them too XD) At the same time i went to war with the tarascans and remained allied with the tlaxcalans. By doing this i managed to win and went on to finish off the tarascans then i got rid of alliance and trade rights with tlaxcalans, i send guides in their towns and when i went to war with them they fell quickly. And thats how far ive gotten by now(late 1500s)

[Agent Miles]

New Spain was a no-brainer (VH/VH, huge units). You should ally with the Aztecs. This alliance allows you to hire Arrow and Eagle warriors, who are very strong in attack and defense ratings. I traded for their province to the south that becomes Vera Selina for a few thousand florins (I don’t recommend an exploit, since you will always have lots of money and the scenario is a cakewalk) and later Mictlan as well.
Have Hernan take the two rebel settlements to the east by siege, while you train a war galley and some units in Havanna. One of the generals from Havana should go by ship to hire Arrow and Eagle mercs (they are available around the bridge east of Vera Selina) and pick up Dismounted Conquistadors trained in your settlements. Now send these three armies to the northern coast of the region controlled by the Maya and lay siege to all three settlements there at once. You can hire more native mercs as well to fill up your stacks. I had looted half their empire before they could react. On turn 14, Montejo shows up with another force and by turn 21 the Maya were no more. Snap up the last rebel settlements to the south and east. This gives you about a quarter of the map. I kept the Aztecs as allies so that I had access to the best mercs and then crushed everyone else.
'Olé!

[Maltz]

This is my approach on VH/VH.

First, New Spain is really easy overall - you have the exclusive access to Canons, long-range bullets and Cavalry compared to all your potential enemies in the first 50 turns. You have pretty much unlimited cash. You also have a monster starting general! You will take very little losses in all battles esp. in the sieges:

If you have the canon:
Destroy the towers and blast a whole on the wall. The AI is going to send out units to block the hole. Use your musketeer to shoot at them right outside the wall. Very evil but very effective.

If you don't have the canon:
Use the spies (guides). Rush in the conquistadores, lure out the range units and kill them. Then use your musketeers to lure out individual melee units to surround and kill.

(1) Ally with the Orange tribe and go against Aztec. Take over all eastern Aztec territories.

(2) Rush the Mayans with your faction heir's army and a scripted reinforcement, which has a canon. Use your infantry if there are lots of spears. Try not to draw out multiple Jaquar/Eagles - they almost never rout.

(3) Collect all rebels. You only need little defense on your west front, since you are only bordered with the orange (who should be occupied by the west half of Aztec.) By the time your ally finally conquered Aztec, you should have conquered the entire eastern map (that's 20+ regions) and you have become unstoppable with all those conquistador-producing Mayan cities.

If the Aztect is winning against your orange ally, simply use your monster general to get the cities back... in your own control.

At turn 17 I owned 19 regions already. Can't get easier than this!

[Alavaria]

I just finished wiping out the Tarascans (after the Aztecs, Tlaxcalans and Mayans) as Spain. I was playing without using any mercs, just Spanish units. Kept capital in Havana, just shifted it after killing the last Tarascan.

The cannons are very very useful, as you can run to a settlement and assault it. Due to the whole problem of low prestige/title (and after getting a high title, not having time to develop a settlement) the main workhorse unit was the Swordsmen Militia. 10 units of those with 6 of conquistadors (way too many of those as rewards). In sieges I tend to blow out the towers and then open holes in the gates, then start pouring endless amounts of Swordmen militia in. Besides those, there's a growing core of dismounted conquistadors since they are trained from the wall.

Usually in field battles I march up the militia and charge the natives head on, then flank with all the horsemen for a quick rout-capture-execute. I tend to lose a lot of the militia, but with 3 armor/8 shield/2 hp, they're really tough for their 60men unitsize. Also, every single settlement can train them from the wall - so once I had the mayan lands and such under control there were 20+ settlements churning out this endless flood of militia. It helps that their upkeep is so low. I've taken at least 5 settlements with large armies in them by having the militia swordfight almost every defender to death.

There's almost a whole stack of dismounted conquistadors sitting around - they never get any work since the militia that die are replaced by ever more militia, and they sit around in battle as a reserve but never get used >.> They've been awesome in the one or two times I had them actually fight someone.

Once, I slammed 15 units of militia into an aztec charge, and that actually routed the natives., for some reason. Might be Cortez with his 9 dread. Had a huge sacrifice to the king of spain after that.

[Yuilen]

These are all lovely ideas but they're all too absent-minded.

Turn 1 on VH/VH as New Spain. I train dismounted conquistadores, sword and buckler men, and regular conquistadores at Cuba. I bring the ship on the Mayan coast to Cuba. I send 1 unit from Vera Cruz to the top of the hill west of Vera Cruz that leads to all the native cities, thus blocking all diplomats, soldiers, and priests from any other nation. Effectively, the Mayans can't engage in diplomacy with any other nation, and vice versa.

I send my merchants to Huaxtepec for the gold, I send my priests to Tenochtitlan, and I send my explorer to Tlaxcallan. The 2nd turn, I train more elite units at Cuba, prepare the general who is there (I believe his name is Pedro) with the stack of elite units and wait for the boat. Meanwhile, I send my spy to go into Tlaxcallan, and later on to Tenochtitlan. I make an alliance with the Tlaxcallans in exchange for 5,000 florins, and trade rights. I send my explorer further to make an alliance with the Aztecs for 5,000 florins and 2,000 florins in tribute for 3 turns. Then I go to the Tarascans and make alliance for 5,000 florins. I do the same for the Chichimecs for another 5,000 or so.

When the plague comes at Vera Cruz within the first few turns, I send my spy back there to acquire the plague. I then send him to every native city in the Valley of Mexico. This will cause the AI to remove its armies from the cities and leave them poorly defended. Meanwhile back at Cuba towards the 3rd and 4th turn, I load the men onto ship, and then sail for Uxmal.

When Francisco Montejo arrives nearby Chetumal, I hire some mercenaries and then load the ship and sail around the Yucatan to Canpech. Meanwhile, I hire mercenaries from Tlaxcala and the Aztecs with Hernan Cortes. Even though I caused a ceasefire between Tlaxcala and the Aztecs through alliance, they will both go to war with each other eventually, and I stay allied to Tlaxcala. And I still keep the 11,000 florins I conned from the Aztecs.

I also build all the buildings I can in Cuba and Vera Cruz. When I spread the plague in the Valley of Mexico, my men will arrive near Canpech on the Yucatan. I have a full stack with Pedro and a full stack with Montejo. I then hire all the mercenaries and make 3 and a half stacks total. I use my ships' line of sight on the coast of Canpech to spy a good opportunity when it is poorly defended. I keep Montejo on the northern coast of the Yucatan, land him, and attack Uxmal and build siege craft. I also use Pedro and his two stacks to siege Canpech. (There's usually a large stack outside of Canpech, but still close to it).

The very next turn I attack Canpech, take it, then loot it. I empty out all my armies, then move to Uxmal. Francisco takes Uxmal, loots it, then I move him to siege Chichen Itza. The next turn, all 3 armies attack Chichen Itza, loot it, and move down for Tikal.

Meanwhile I prepare Hernan Cortes with the premium stack and the stack and a half of mercenaries. I make a run for Tenochtitlan, siege it, and loot it before the Aztecs can retaliate. It's about 10 turns by this time. I then make for Huaxtepec, Tixtla, and Tollan. Tlaxcala will attack Tehuacan and the other southern settlements. I loot all the settlements.

While Tlaxcala is busy fighting in the southern area of the Aztec empire, I turn back around from Tollan and Tixtla, gather my armies, leave a garrison of a few natives in each conquered city on low taxes, and then send in my spy to Tlaxcallan. I then send in another spy made at Vera Cruz (if you make a brothel at Cuba, which I do.), and I surprise attack Tlaxcallan and the spies open the gates. I take the capital, loot it, then move on to loot Chollolan, Tehuacan, and kill the Tlaxcallan faction while its about to kill the Aztecs.

I have played this campaign many, many times, with many different strategies. The strategy above will get you about 150,000 florins in the first 15-20 turns, it will cripple the Mayans for dozens of turns, it will effectively wipe out the Aztecs and the Tlaxcallans, and your only real problem will be the Tarascans and the Chichimecs. And you will also have free reign over all of the rebel settlements in southern Mexico and beyond. As for the Tarascans and Chicimecs, you merely employ means of diplomacy, extortion, and turning the Chichimecs/Apacheans against one another.

At this time I am absurdly wealthy, and so I send my diplomats to bribe the Tarascan stacks that have no general commanding them, and I effectively cripple their military from attempting to steal my new territories or overwhelming me right after my previous wars. Any cities I conquer and keep, I build small churches, then mines, then the other buildings that relate to public order. I also train a priest in every settlement right after the church is built.

By about 30 turns I have almost 20 regions taken and 20 regions waiting for me alone to claim them. And still over 100,000 florins. The bulk of my armies consist of mercenaries, lots of archers, lots of cavalry, few cannons, and few generals. I use cavalry in massive numbers, with headlong charges, then moving forward past enemy battle lines, and then when they rout 30 seconds later (maybe less) I capture anywhere from 500-2000 indians. And then execute them.

Usually by 70-80 turns I've wiped out the Tlaxcallans, Tarascans, Chichimecs, Aztecs, Mayans, and killing off the Apacheans and English. On VH/VH.

[Yuilen]

Oh yeah, use cannons to blow up most of your enemies. And then archers.