New Spain - wrong choice?

[phonicsmonkey]

hi all,

well I started a campaign as New Spain (on VH/VH) and I was really enjoying myself, cut off miles from home in the jungle, my men slowly dwindling, my cannons destroyed, my forces slowly being replaced by unreliable native mercs...and it was quite tough for a while...but just when it was hotting up for me some dude arrived from Spain with a bunch of conquistadores, musketeers and a new set of culverins....and now it all seems just too easy.

I had allied early with the Aztecs with the intention of taking out the Mayans first and consolidating in the Yucatan before pushing north.

so my question is, to those who have played on, is it worth continuing, mopping up what's left of the mayans and taking on the Aztecs?

are they tougher, with different units, or just more of the same?

should I have picked a different faction to play, say the Apaches?

and are the later Spanish units (dragoons for example) worth hanging around for?

[Monsieur Alphonse]

I would advice you to continue. The Aztecs or one of those T factions are building up their empire. You will face lots of stacks in the future. Taking out the Mayans isn't really that difficult. After that you will face the English and the Aztecs are probably going to backstabb you. Once you face highly developed native factions with lots of stacks it will be fun.

I had used my uber exploit against the Aztecs. I bought all their cities in exchange for an alliance and some money. After that I destroyed them and the Tlaxcalans and allied with the Tarascans. That left my Northern border secured so I could concentrate on the Mayans. Before I could finish them I was at war with the Tarascans and their allies the Chichimecs. Those two a have lots of stacks. The Chichimecs have lots and lots of stacks. One of my armies is holding eight stacks in a valley. An other stack was facing two Tara stacks and was defeated because my infantry wasn't able to hold the line against all those infantry scaring pyjamas. My cavalry charged over and over again but in the end the were exhausted and I had to retreat. Two cavalry units had killed more than 500 enemies each and the rest over 200 each. It was really fun. I had almost destroyed fur thousand enemies with one Spanish stack.

Continue and have fun.

[Per Ole]

You should look foreward to the Apaches... :)

They have *very* cheap upkeep units, and loads of space, so they'll be hard to conquer.

Enjoy!!

[Moah]

And you have to wait until you get Dragoons.

They're just insanely good. Much fun. 150 kills, out of ammo, before teh battel even strarts. He. Then right at teh end game when you've got a huge city and barracks to produce them successful mission give you 6 for free!


I've won now and am going to try something else - but I may return just to see if the apache cause me more troubel than the soutehrners. The lack of missiles in the heavy inf southerners was one of my biggest advantages. Won't be an advantage with the dog soldiers!

[Fookison]

Then once you have had fun with the dragoons. Have a game as the Aztecs. They are enjoyable with the many interesting infantry units. See how the AI manages the Spanish as you see things from the other side of the table.
Have fun!!

[icek]

Ai dont manage spanish, it have several raiding stacks programmed into itself than appear in florida and california.

[Yesugey]

phonicsmonkey is absolutely right on that point.

When i choosed Spanish, i thought they will have no support from mainland, and they will have to send lots of gold to the King. And they will have no advantage but firepower of musketeers.

But game is totally opposite of it:
* Spanish men are almost unkillable.
* Their cav. charge is unresistable.
* They taking huge reinforcements to the most strategical points during the game.
* They are not sending gold to the King, but King sending them tons of gold...

So spanish campagin was really disappointment for me as well.
Only good side of the Spanish is killing thousands of worthless peasants with cannons, while waiting at the city hall.

[Bernal Diaz]

Yesugey is right. It is counter intuitive and historically inaccurate that King sends gold to new Spain. Otherwise it is fun: single culverin can take out more than 150 even before battle starts, foot and horse conquistadors easily break any native unit, and as soon as you get used to easy life and become careless, native armies will beat your army and so on..

[Rahwana]

The backbone of all mighty spanish armies is their 2 HP Conquistadores on horseys... they are just completely awesome to be used and spammed everywhere..... even with Spanish campaign, I got my general commands only Conquistadores and dragoons, while the slow infantry commanded by lesser general (younger one), and carryin my cumbersome cannons.

[Yesugey]

And remember how you get 6 units of conquistadores as a trophy for capturing little rebel vilages! I can make my way to other corner of the map with 6 Conquistadores! I absolutely disband them whenever i get them.