Is Scotland a Strong Faction??

Well, I'm almost finish my world domination with my dreaded english hordes, and I'm thinking about starting a campaign with the scots.
I saw people saying that most of their units are bugged, is there a patch to solve this?
I'm now playing with vanilla 1.0

To my understanding the patches partially fix the two handed weapon bug but also fix the shield bug. The shield bug was that units with shields did not get the proper bonus for using them in melee. Since two-handers do not have shields, they are now stronger against enemies who are also stronger so nothing is really fixed.

From the few experiments I have done with 1.2, two handers are exceptional when they are charging, but then lose in the standstill melee.

Other people have figured out this is because most of their melee animations (which are what determine a succesful hit) are too slow to kill infantry, as they are blocked every time, but they work well against cavalry.

In their favor though, two handers are fairly cheap for their stats so maybe it is expected that they not win against more expensive units.

One option is to develop specific strategies when using two-handers. I do not have much detailed campaign experience in using them so this is guesswork on my part, but I imagine that if you engage the enemy line with non-two-hander units, and then charge the engaged enemy with two-handers from the sides/rear, the massive casualties caused by the two-hander charge will cause those enemy units to rout and hopefully cause a chain reaction through their entire army.

The second option is to try to find a mod that fixes two-handers. I know there are several schemes used in some mods, perhaps the fixes are available as standalone mods (Look on twcenter) I don't know any more than that so I can't recommend anything specifically.

Any faction in the hands of a player is plenty strong. You might have it slightly harder because of all the two handers, but not much. Our old Scotland succession game didn't have any trouble stomping across pretty much all of western Europe and the Levant.

I'd still get the 1.2 patch if I were you, fixes some crash bugs in addition to gameplay fixes.

I'd definately get the patch, it fixes a lot of problems.

One problem Scotland has is that they get a lot of pike units, which still don't work well. They still have good infantry, with highlanders working kind of like vikings, and Noble Swordmen the equal of England's Armoured Swordmen.

Their archers are shortrange, but very good in melee. Their strongest cav is Feudal Knights (with the exception of crusading orders) but they work well enough. Artillerywise I think they get the same units as England, and I enjoyed playing with mortars.

I really liked playing Scotland, but I doubt you'll ever see a thread claiming they're overpowered.

I played as scotland and kicked some serious ass.
the main reason why they are good in the Campaign game is that it is easy to secure the British Isles which you can use as a base to send out armies by sea.
BUT the main advantage is that they are undefeated in a defense cuz of all the pike man units.
There are also very good at attacking cities/castles for the same reason.
But they are terrible in the open field cuz thay have no good archers and their Cavalry is not the best.

Scotland is not hard. Playing in VH, all you do is hurry and take those rebel factions, and hit England as soon as possible. Just blitz.

BIG shame that their pikemen are buggy, really annoying. (1.3 version)

Is a 1.4 patch being worked on then to improve them?

Originally Posted by Tom0

Is a 1.4 patch being worked on then to improve them?

Apparently the only patch being made is the one for Kingdoms. Go to totalwarforums.com, an check the thread Kingdoms update. Perhaps it fixes some M2 bugs as well?

If you play as the Scots, I strongly suggest that you do not bother fighting field battles with your pikemen. Micromanaging them as has been suggested does not work well. The noble pikemen don't seem to do better than the cheapest militia pikes. The border horse are very effective because they are so fast (I think the only western cav. unit that is as fast is the Jinete). Border Horse are especially good at charging the AI's advancing archers and catching them before they can retreat. The Scots' strength lies in their swordmen units which are powerful and cheap.

Scotland is definitely one of the weaker factions. It has poor cavalry, lacks missiles, and its focus on the bugged 2-handers and pikemen really damage its playability.

It does have some redeeming features though, just not where you would expect them. As Old Geezer said, Border Horse have the 'Fast Moving' attribute, making them excellent flankers. And although the Scots lack powerful missile units, those they do have can double up as melee units, with Highland Archers and Highland Noble Archers easily holding their own against enemy infantry, their AP axes are a huge bonus - how many factions get foot archers with an AP melee attack (apart from those hammers the English Yeomen have)? And the Noble Swordsmen are a great bargain, and can take on pretty much any rival infantry. And if you plan of Crusading, the Scots can solve their cavalry deficiency by getting Chapter Houses.

And of course taking the British Isles as an economic base can make your Highland Hordes pretty much unstoppable.

I just started a campaign as the scots, and from the very start you become a very powerful nation. My Highland archers are just as good as spearmen in melee, perhaps better, the only thing they lack is the ability to kill their own people, i lost 500 men fighting 400 soldiers in inverness, darn highland archers, my General died when the gate was destroyed and he was surrounded by highland rabble But York fell very quickly, and i now have the advantage of a strong vantage point over the English

I find the largest weakness with Scotland in the begining is heritage. Your king is about to die, and the third generation hasn't even been considered. Which carries on in maintaining reasonably reproduction cycles for a couple of generations.

Yeah, i saw that too, you have very little option as to who to do things with, i had to marry my generals or risk destruction. Also, you have little choice of where to expand, i took york, then inverness, plaanning on taking dublin, but then where, everywhere else is either taken or has ultimate defences noobs like me cant handle

With Scotland the key is to take out England as quickly as possible, as a lot of posters have said. Taking either Nottingham or London will cripple the English and improve your own position enormously. Scotland are at a disadvantage against the English but most factions are at the start, this is why the early game is so fun.

Once the British Isles are secure, the Scottish are in a very strong strategic position. I found I could expand very rapidly but that was because I had modded the pikemen by removing the secondary weapon, which made the Scottish units very formidable indeed. This only helps in the mid to late game however, as you can't build any pikemen until you have a fortress or a city.

Secure the British Isles and build up a strong navy with which to transport merchants to the most lucrative trade resources. You'll have a pretty pile of cash which you can use to send expeditionary forces around Europe.

I would say Scotland is one of the best strategically placed positions on the map, you are in a corner contesting with a single power in a small country which you do not need to convert, the amount of units you start off with is formidable, and you can defeat one of the most threatening empires when they only begin to advance into modern technology.
Also, you can pick where to start you campaign, not like HRE where you are forced onto the defence by the milanese hordes.
I also find Scotland interesting as you need to think of different strategies and you do not really need to bother with the defense of you cities with your capital being boxed into one corner which is unreachable to most of the other empires vying for control of Europe

Originally Posted by Sirrvs

Secure the British Isles and build up a strong navy with which to transport merchants to the most lucrative trade resources. You'll have a pretty pile of cash which you can use to send expeditionary forces around Europe.

This is a good tactic. Also, use assassins wherever possible to wipe out the opposing family members. Works like a charm in assisting on the battle field later on in the battle sequence.