Americas Campaign: Apache

[acemutha]

I think only Scouts and/or Medicine men meet the infantry requirement for Ondes Men. Just a guess, but it would explain why they're so hard to unlock.

You are right !


Ok I've done some testing changing the campaign script to:

; indian_raiders_2 Recruit 50 infantry units & Win 10 battles
monitor_event FactionTurnStart FactionType apachean
and I_CompareCounter apachean_infantry_recruited > 20
and I_CompareCounter apachean_settlements_captured > 1

add_events
event counter indian_raiders_2
date 0
end_add_events

if I_LocalFaction apachean
historic_event apachean_raiders_2 factions { apachean, }
end_if

terminate_monitor
end_monitor

So basically u need to conquer 1 settlement and train at least 21 infantry units.
So i trained only medicine and scouts and that did the trick.
Note that if your units betray you they don't count to the sum.

[diotavelli]

First thing to realise about playing as Apaches is that you don't have to get hung up on spamming units in order to get upgrades; not to the extent of risking bankruptcy, anyway.

To explain: the units you start with are good enough to do a job for you. The units you get following upgrades are better but not to the extent that the game gets radically easier or your tactics are going to change dramatically (at least until horses and guns but these are dependent on the arrival of the French, not on your appetite for unit-spawing). That being the case, you gain very little by getting the upgrades early, so what's the point in bankrupting yourself to do so?

Your starting troops are sufficient for two stacks. One goes east on a warpath and the other cleans up down the Pacific coast. Each time you take a camp, recruit a dog soldier unit as garrison and then move on (you can normally move whilst the recruitment is ticking over if you keep taxation at normal). Keep your starting troops in the stack and you should be strong enough to take all rebel camps without resorting to mercenaries and you'll get some highly experienced warriors too. Only recruit extras units as you can afford them.

By the time you've taken all rebel camps, you'll have two highly experienced stacks and a really healthy treasury. Round about now, you'll be face-to-face with the mesoamericans and the French will arrive. Hold off the mesos and whip the French with your experienced eastern stack, plus additional troops recruited as necessary. Let the French attack you in battle and you'll take them easy enough. Soon enough, you'll gain the initial horse and gun upgrades.

Once the French are whooped, you'll have guns, horses and a full treasury. Now is the time to show your soft, southern neighbours what true Apache grit is about. Concentrate your remaining weaker troops into stacks and soften up anyone nearby; then hit them with improved troops. Keep aside one or two decent stacks to send on the Warpath against the Spanish. These can create havoc en route and should do enough to earn you the further gun and horse upgrades.

Preserve troops at all times and don't over stretch yourself: if your treasury gets bare and you have a few casualty-heavy results, you're defenceless - and remember, this never happens to your opponents as they get the cash bonuses each turn. If you're sensible, you can grow at a reasonable rate and do so in a fashion that puts you ahead of the game technologically.

Just because you can get upgrades, it doesn't mean you have to. In fact, fighting and winning with lower grade troops is more of a challenge and potentially more satisfying - plus, when you get upgrades, you feel like you've earned them, not just adopted an easy work-around.

Not a strategy to everyone's taste but it worked for me.

[doombringer]

small note on the french:
because they are in horde mode, i found it possible to assasinate them into submission because of the low numbers and local concentration of family members

[Cadwallon]

Battles are bloody affairs - particularly when you face the Mesoamericans. Hugh armies, high attack values combined with low armour values make for high casualties. I found the Chichimecs, with their huge stacks of heavy infantry very hard initially. You usually hadn't done enough damage with your missile troops before they get to your line.

Until you get Kotisenkos (sp?) and Onde's men, the priests are probably your best bet. Don't rely on your general's body guard - they are lightly armoured and vulnerable - only commit them in rear charges - not attrition as they will lose against mesoamericans or Europeans who are tougher with higher attack values. Lost track of the number of general's I've lost.

Money is not an issue. As one of the other posters said - your armies have a low maintenance cost - so go large! Elite armies are hard to build, so just build lots. I made one of the Mesoamericans my vassals (after taking two of their cities, then threatening them and offering them 15000). Next turn I'm in a war with the Aztecs and I have 500 000 florins in the kitty!

Until you get Onde's Men you really don't have a line of battle infantryman that can go toe to toe with jaguar, eagle or other heavy infantry. Even with Onde's men, I'm finding it hard fighting the hordes of Aztecs that I'm now facing. I'm losing more than I'm winning - if it weren't for the continual streams of reinforcements coming from the north I'd be cactus and my frontier of former Chichimec territory would have long been swallowed up.

Try using your mounted thunder braves to snipe and harry flanks. Thunder braves are great at shooting, but crap in combat - they won't last. Target your opponent's general, as you can guarantee he'll be doing the same (I've watched as I moved my general down the line - the opposing Aztecs followed him from the left to the right flank!). One tactic which is long but worthwhile is having only mounted troops - stay ahead of him, snipe his flanks and rear and don't let him get into combat until a large proportion of his army is gone or broken.

Remember that thunder braves have long range and cause fear against your native opponents. The Europeans seem to have been limited and/or stamped out by their more numerous native american opponents. The aztecs, apachean and mayans are rampant. Now if I can only get the Mayans to declare war against the Aztecs...

[icek]

it work in 1.4 on m/m and dont know if it a bug or feature but it seems that rebels in settlements dont have fire at will turned on and there are no more arrows chasing at you, so basically to capture settlements you need large portion of archers doing one volley, escape and replay. It takes long than usual full attack but this way you can lose less than 10 men fighting againts settlements with 6 archer units(dogs).

[Droce]

Maybe is was just me, but playing h/vh was incredibly simple for one reason: Braves are insane morale killers. I get one general, 6 dog soldiers (or the K guys when I got them) 12 braves, and some medicine men for the chant and destroyed. As the enemy comes towards your lines (and every AI faction did that for me, even when I attacked) your dog soldiers will cause horrible damage, then when they get within range of the braves, a few spears sends them running. Even if they didn't run, the braves are powerful enough to survive in melee (and easily destroy the faction beneath you). The french died en masse because they simply charged, and the Spanish don't have enough numbers to cause you a problem.

Another thing I did was ally Aztecs, they would never backstab because everyone was against them, so you could often stick an army beside theres and have them kill the enemy for you.

Another thing, warpath is vastly overrated (and my elder died right at the start, so I could only use one), because every town you conquer can build your staple troops in a few turns. Not to mention that every city can support it's own full stack.

My two cents. Hello everyone, also.

[Benandorf]

I have a question for my fellow chiefs: Is there any reason not to keep medicine men in chant? Are there any negative effects at all? From what I've seen, it gives a big morale boost, lowers enemy morale, and takes nothing away. Does it stop when fighting?