Pics and History of your Empire

[PittBull260]

and here is the empire in the year 1423(i moded the game to start at 1200 for technology). i was expanding west and england personaly pissed me off so i took over caen then london and nottingham, money making cities right there. but then the mongols came.....they took two of my cities in the east and i was able to stop them before they reached my capital. now im working on taking all my cities back. and as u can see i have a lot of enemies so it aint easy.


pretty much all my neighbors are at war with me but im mainly focused on the mongols and they will go down soon!

[Monk]

Good stuff Pitbull! I've never played a campaign to the 1400s, i've always stopped in the 1300s or so, but wow. All neighbors at war? I know from experience that can be tough.

Good luck on reclaiming lost ground!

I fired up SS recently, so I should have some stuff for you guys by the end of the weekend.

[Dead Guy]

Part 3 - A storm of swords

The year is 1324, and the Irish have just been excommunicated.

Troops are gathering to conquer Mercia. A captain-led small stack of cavalry sneak in and besiege London. They are defeated but the city rebels with a small garrison due to a clever spy. The Irish leaves Nottingham virtually undefended to reclaim London, Anund the Merciless sacks Nottingham, then Winchester which is also left with a small garrison.

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Some pesky Murie being dealt with. Mounted Crossbows, the scissors to their paper.

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The poles capture Silves on crusade and the Seljuks capture Palermo. My forces besiege Exeter as the Irish regretably for me decide to lift their siege of London. I start to prepare for a second front on the mainland and convert Oslo to a town to increase income.

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1332: Exeter is sacked. Coilin of Roscommon is defeated in the field outside London, him and his men are executed. My reputation has now dropped from very reliable to mixed, due to Anunds merciless killing. As I send a spy to Ireland by boat, it becomes apparent that the Irish have three strong stacks at Dublin. I conclude that the best way forward is a surprise attack on Galway, which will hopefully draw out the stacks at Dublin and entice them to assault the citadel.

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1336: London and Caernarvon are under siege by our forces, Anund sails for Galway in 1338.

1340: Galway is captured, and later besieged by Irish. Anund becomes known as "the Malevolent".

1345: Capture Cork and London, set up for the final offensive against Ireland. Only Dublin remains. Prince Skapti captures thorn in a large field battle on my newly opened second front, the poles then agree to a cease fire.

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1348: I take Frankfurt by Crusade, and trade it for Antwerp with the HRE. Rumors reach the court of a great plauge killing vast numbers in the east.

1352: The Plauge hits our southern lands, we wait it out. Poland sends a Plauge bearing spy to Stettin after the Plauge has passed. The King is so annoyed by this insolence that he decides to wipe the bastards from the face of the earth.

1359: Lithuania is destroyed due to their faction leader being killed at Vilnius. I repair the damage done by the plauge, both economical and military in terms of dead soldiers.

1360: I Invade Finland, taking Turku by surprise. Reval falls two years later. Four more years later we reach Novgorod and attack a small stack outside to draw out the entire garrison. The Norwegian artillery make mince meat out of the Novgorod line. Leon Castille are destroyed by loss of blood line. Up until now there has amazingly been four factions in Iberia all the time.

1372: My youngest Princess steals a Polish general outside Prague. He cannot escape to my lands and so i move troops in to support him. The poles attack with 3000 men, they're slaughtered but at the cost of quite many Norwegians.

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Portugal is destroyed 2 years later. I'm planning an Invasion of Konigsberg and Riga to control the entire northern sea, but I'm occupied both in Russia and northern Poland. I capture Konigsberg despite this in 1374, the last brother of the teutonic order falls with less than a minute left of the battle. The Teutonic Order besieges Konigsberg immediately, I have no time to reenforce it and my future Prince is in there. Frankfurt is also captured, again, as well as Pskov and Metz.

1375: Bern is captured, Pskov is besieged by Novgorod, so is the city of Novgorod. I decide to sally my army in Pskov to aid the garrison in Novgorod, which is still pretty small. But the russians assault Novgorod before I get there. An amazingly lucky trebuchet projectile kills at least a hundred men inside the gate (because I forgot to turn off fire at will)! Luckily they are all foes and the assaulting army routs.

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1378: I capture Staufen. Poland besiege Konigsberg after I heroically defended against the TO. Poland are now excommunicated and I call a Cruasde on Vienna, taking Prague on the way.

Vienna is taken when alies from Venice and Hungary arrives. Breslau, Bern, Nuremburg, Innsbruck, Krakow, Smolensk, Riga and Salzburg also fall to the Norse onslaught, while I simultaneously get to defend many of my settlements to assaults from Novgorod, Poland and TO.

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1387: King Thorkel dies at the age of 65 after forcing HRE into vassalage. Here begins the reign of Skapti the Conqueror, King of the North. I have a great foothold in the Alps, the Poles and Teutonic Order are virtually destroyed. I plan to try to get Novgorod as vassals because I don't want to extend out onto the steppes. I'm no longer allied to Venice which present my only way forward in the south. My vassals HRE and allies Hungary block the road to the south east, France to my south west. Perhaps Italy will be my next target... the Pope has about 5 regions there, so it will be a prolonged campaign, perhaps with a crusade or two decending upon me. It's been a lot of fun so far, some really hairy siege defences, in particular Konigsberg right afterI captured it. The southern slopes of the Alps really makes me want to park an army there and see how steep they really are, and how easily defended.

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[Monk]

Great stuff Dead Guy! I particularly enjoy the third screenshot of the artillery line opening up.

What are your plans for future conquest? You seem to have Europe on the ropes, or at least right where you want it.

[Dead Guy]

I think I'm actually at the point where I can comfortably wage war on all fronts. I was thinking about undertaking an expedition instead, load up a fleet with priests and 2 good armies and set sail for the holy land. But to do that without too much hassle I'd like to take a settlement with a port in the mediterranean... Venice seems like my best bet, since I border it with Innsbruck. I am sailing a fleet around Iberia now though so I might just borrow the Italian roads for a while :p

Right now I've taken a break because I got a little tired of the infantry line that can't die tactic. I decided to try out Bygs grim reality and real recruitment, as well as total combat and lusteds latest battle and campaign AI, all at once =). Unfortunately I haven't been taking screens :(. My choice of faction was Knights Templar early era, which turned out to be the hardest campaign I've ever played. I had to make some pretty strange moves to survive against the fatimids early on. The problem is that KT combined with Byg's means that you basically have one castle to recruit units from, Tortosa, your one and only starting settlement. Every other region you conquer needs to be brought up to 75% catholic before you can recruit worthy troops... It's a headache to which the only cure is mercenary alans, armenian cavalry and turkopoles. Since the AI mainly fielded huge armies of spearmen and some javelin skirmishers, it proved to be a very effective army though. The alternative would have been a boring horde of spearmen. However, I could only afford a single 3/4 stack and it had to run around all over the place hehe, the general that's been leading it for 12 years is quiet able by now though!

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Now I've taken the coast from Adana to Cario and I'm finally making a profit.

How did your own SS campaign turn out by the way?

[Monk]

I think I'm actually at the point where I can comfortably wage war on all fronts. I was thinking about undertaking an expedition instead, load up a fleet with priests and 2 good armies and set sail for the holy land. But to do that without too much hassle I'd like to take a settlement with a port in the mediterranean... Venice seems like my best bet, since I border it with Innsbruck. I am sailing a fleet around Iberia now though so I might just borrow the Italian roads for a while :p

Right now I've taken a break because I got a little tired of the infantry line that can't die tactic. I decided to try out Bygs grim reality and real recruitment, as well as total combat and lusteds latest battle and campaign AI, all at once =). Unfortunately I haven't been taking screens :(. My choice of faction was Knights Templar early era, which turned out to be the hardest campaign I've ever played. I had to make some pretty strange moves to survive against the fatimids early on. The problem is that KT combined with Byg's means that you basically have one castle to recruit units from, Tortosa, your one and only starting settlement. Every other region you conquer needs to be brought up to 75% catholic before you can recruit worthy troops... It's a headache to which the only cure is mercenary alans, armenian cavalry and turkopoles. Since the AI mainly fielded huge armies of spearmen and some javelin skirmishers, it proved to be a very effective army though. The alternative would have been a boring horde of spearmen. However, I could only afford a single 3/4 stack and it had to run around all over the place hehe, the general that's been leading it for 12 years is quiet able by now though!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Now I've taken the coast from Adana to Cario and I'm finally making a profit.

How did your own SS campaign turn out by the way?

I gave up on my Fatamid Campaign...

In the first forty years I was fighting so desperately to keep just the starting areas. At first the Crusades were easy to fend off, but they gradually got harder and harder, more advanced ect. I think i lost like 10 sultans in battle from 1098-1130 in desperate charges trying to hold back the tide. It was crazy!

Going to start a new campaign when i get some free time. Maybe one that I can enjoy being the aggressor again.

[PBI]

OK, so here are a few pics from my first Stainless Steel 6.1 campaign as Denmark, in the early era. It's only on Easy campaign/ Normal battles, as I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of difficulty (although easy on SS seems to be about the same as about Hard on vanilla, just not as unfair), hence why I've managed to conquer quite a large area; it's been quite fun though.

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A unit of Huscarls battles with a rebel unit of Feudal Knights in a night battle in the north of Scandinavia. Not a particularly exciting battle, I just thought it was a nice picture.

My opening moves were to launch a campaign north into Sweden lead by my faction leader, quickly mopping up the rebel settlements, and snatching Oslo from under the noses of the Norwegians. I also took the castle of Hamburg, which would be my bulwark against the south for the next hundred years. My king then took the island of Gotland, and began to campaign on the east shore of the Baltic, taking Finland and Estonia before Novgorod could reach them.

If was some 20 turns before I first came to blows with another faction; sacking income in SS is roughly a tenth of that in vanilla, so my early expansion did not result in the easy riches it usually would and I spent the next few years slowly building up my settlements. However, eventually my spy in Norway noticed that most of the Norwegian forces had left by sea to attack the rebel settlement of Groningen, leaving their homeland scantily defended. I was able to take both their settlements of Bergen and Eikundarsund in a quick campaign with my Oslo garrison, equipped with catapults.

Shortly afterwards, the Pope called a Crusade against the Fatimid capital of Cairo. I was in a relatively poor position to take advantage, with my distant position and my meagre forces scattered all around the Baltic. Thus by the time I could muster enough units in Hamburg to have the minimum for a Crusade, the other factions had a considerable headstart. However, the Crusades of the factions most likely to beat me to it (Venice and Hungary) both became snarled up trying to take the land route via the Bosphorus, whilst my own force raced South to the head of the Adriatic, amassing an almost full stack of Crusader troops on the way, and made the rest of the journey rapidly via mercenary ships. Upon arriving in Egypt, I had my forces literally burn their boats and easily overcame the small garrison of Alexandria (the main Saracen forces were occupied with the Fatimid expansions into the Levant).

Next was a brutal siege for Cairo itself. My Crusaders took the city, but sustained heavy casualties whilst doing so. However, more problematic was the fact that, without the free Crusader upkeep, my huge mercenary army would be a financial black hole. I quickly bought up the local Saracen mercenaries to replace my losses before my cash reserves vanished completely, and continued the campaign, both to press my advantage against the Fatimids and to deplete my expensive mercenaries. I proceeded to take the wooden castle of Damietta, defeat two large Fatimid armies returning from the East, and seize the castle of Gaza. However, more strong Fatimid armies lay beyond, including the large garrison of Jerusalem, and my position was precarious, with my captured settlements fomenting with rebellion and the uncaptured castle of Luxor posing a threat to my flanks; thus when the Fatimids asked for peace in order to focus upon repelling the Templars to their north, I agreed.

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My Crusader swordsmen and Saracen Mercenaries slash their way across a bridge against the inferior Fatimid infantry.

My Crusader kingdom at the end of the first conflict with the Fatimids.

With my Middle Eastern expansion on hold for the time being, I focused instead on expansion in the north, with the Huscarls and Norse Swordsmen I had trained before the campaign and could no longer afford to have sit idle. So as not to anger the Pope, I decided to attack Orthodox Novgorod. The losses my forces took in the campaign, the extra income from the wealthy city of Novgorod I took, and the money saved by being able to disband many of my mercenaries in the Middle East, finally began to stabilise my economy.

This rapid expansion was followed by several years of peace, as I developed my cities. The Baltic sea trade began to flourish as many of my impoverished settlements finally grew large enough to build ports and mines, and the plentiful trade goods available in the Middle East brought a lucrative new income stream from my merchants. This lull was broken only after my economy had truly begun to thrive, and I was able to train enough of my own troops in Gaza to continue the campaign against the Fatimids. By now, I dominated the College of Cardinals thanks to my efforts to convert the Muslim lands I had taken as well as my Pagan and Orthodox holdings in the north, so I was able to request a Crusade against Jerusalem, allowing me to get a second stack of Crusaders to the Holy Land while my local forces seized Luxor to eliminate the threat to my flank.

With my more secure footing in the Middle East and my Crusader reinforcements I was able to quickly wrap up the remaining Fatimid lands; soon I was master of my own Crusader empire stretching from Mecca in the South to Damascus in the north and from Alexandria in the west to the banks of the the Euphrates in the east.

Following my pattern of alternating between campaigns in the Middle East and Europe, I next decided it was time to expand south into the Holy Roman Empire. The Reich was at the time embroiled with a long war with France, during the course of which both sides had been excommunicated; however, they had also had some success in taking the Venetian capital and with the extra income were slowly starting to gain the upper hand. Thus, once my forces were ready, I launched a third Crusade against the Imperial capital of Frankfurt.

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Danish Huscarls battling Bohemian Hussites on the walls of Prague.

The Reich's forces in the north were weak, and I was able to quickly push deep into Germany, taking Cologne, Magdeburg, Frankfurt, Nuremburg and Salzburg. However, as I continued through the Alps, the resistance began to increase as the Imperial forces began to return from Italy and France. I took Innsbruck in a Heroic victory, and pushed through into Italy. Venice and Bologna fell easily thanks to my plentiful siege weapons, but the Emperor still possessed formidable forces in Ancona. My first attack on Ancona was repulsed in a savage battle, my king's army being sandwiched between two massive Imperial armies and destroyed, the king himself cut down in the battle. However, the Imperial forces were depleted to a single stack, which fortified itself in defense of the Emperor in Ancona itself.

I finally took Ancona with my replacement army, in an epic siege. My armour-piercing dismounted Huscarls barely managed to take the breach made by my trebuchet in a ferocious scrap to the death against Imperial swordsmen and Armoured Sergeants, before being relieved by my Norse Swordsmen and Dismounted Knights of Jerusalem. There followed a huge confrontation on the main road to the centre, with the Emperor himself entering the fray and doing bloody work against my swordsmen. The Imperial infantry greatly outnumbered my own, and were at only a slight disadvantage in quality, but my Norse soldiers' Shield Wall gave them an advantage in the vicious close combat, and my archers and crossbows were able to mount the wall just behind the melee and shower arrows and bolts down into the mass of enemy troops. However, the fight was close-fought, and many of my infantry units were reduced to a handful of men; the fight only swung decisively in my favour when I was able to bring up one of my catapults to just behind the battling swordsmen, and blast flaming boulders into the enemy mass at point-blank range; finally, as his men began to fall or flee around him, the enemy king was felled by a lowly spear militiaman, and the remnants of the Imperial infantry began to break towards the centre.

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This image is shortly after the death of the Emperor, after which the ultimate success of the assault was no longer in doubt.

Late in the siege, my catapults goad the enemy knights into attacking my spear militia; my troops are positioned such that the knights will not be able to charge them.

The aftermath of the pivotal battle in the streets.

At last Ancona was mine, and the Holy Roman Empire was destroyed. By now my empire has reached the point of singularity after which victory is inevitable; I am making more money than I can spend, many of my settlements that started out as towns are reaching Large City size, and my best troop production buildings are starting to be built in Hamburg and Gaza.

I followed my conquest of the HRE by crushing the pagan state of Lithuania at the behest of the Pope; my stack of heavy infantry and siege weapons easily outmatching the light Lithuanian forces, as seen in this shot from late in the siege of Vilnius:

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The conquest of Lithuania was completed a single turn before the emergence of the Teutonic Order; Their two stacks, finding no pagans in the area to attack, instead have descended on the Orthodox Kievan Rus and sacked their capital of Kiev. My own forces in Lithuania now march upon Kiev in order to take what I can of their lands before they are overrun by the Teutonic Order on one side and the Cuman Khanate on the other.

I have decided at long last to intervene in the protracted war between England and Scotland, landing in Kent and seizing London from the excommunicated English. My army is now carving a path through England, having seized Winchester and Exeter and laying siege to Nottingham.

Meanwhile, the Mongol horde has arrived and is laying waste to the lands of the Khwarezm Empire. Before long I may need to defend my Crusader kingdom from them.

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The current state of my empire. Note the huge amount of money being made from merchant trade, having your capital in Denmark and flooding the Middle East with merchants really pays off.

Sorry for the rather wordy and long post, I guess it's actually a pretty typical campaign, but it is fun. I'm thinking maybe next I will try a campaign as the Mongols on the late campaign, for a nice easy romp of conquest and destruction.

[Chaotix]

Damn! 15,000 a turn from Merchant trade? That's insane, I guess they have a use after all.

Anyway, great post, and nice pics! SS is great, too. So much more fun than Vanilla.

This thread should probably be stickied...

[Monk]

Great Stuff as always PBI

Damn! 15,000 a turn from Merchant trade? That's insane, I guess they have a use after all.

It's an insane number but certainly believable given that PBI has annexed nearly all the Levant as well as holding all those juicy fish trade nodes along the Blatic. My latest attempt at Denmark was on H/VH, SS 6.1. Whew, slow going, especially considering the HRE just loves to race you to the nearest money maker provinces. For instance there's a teched up castle just south of your starting territory that, unless you claim right off the bat, could prove to be a major obstacle on your conquests of Germany later.

Keep up the posts PBI! It's always nice to see other Empires.

[Monk]

The year 1099, Ireland.

After nearly nineteen years of bartering, negotiations, skirmishes, plotting and overall intrigue, Great King Brian the Mauler has at long last united the Emerald Isle under one banner, his. The long road to unification was one that the Irish people had been crying out for twenty years and at last it had come. They could now be considered a true nation of their own right and King Brian was the man responsible.

Yet Brian knew that beyond the shores of Ireland lay the greatest destiny of all of his people. In brittian the English and Scots had been locked in a bloody war for the last decade and at the turn of the century Brian's spies reported a decisive turn in the war.

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London, capital of the forces of the English had fallen to the Scots! All he needed was a way to enter the war, some injustice committed upon his people that would allow him to take advantage of the English's perilous position.

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It would seem the English were eager to provide it. That very same year a weary army of England came ashore upon Ireland, what reason they had forsaken the mainland and the war Brian didn't know, but he wasn't about to ask. He gathered his host at Dublin and attacked quickly, utterly annihilating the enemy force with little trouble. The Anglo-scots war had a new player...

Following up in 1100 Brian and his two sons lead the main Irish army in a seaborne invasion of whales, something the English thought beyond the irish's capabilities seeing they lacked a port system! Such a fact would not be an obstacle, a little gold can buy many things and transport is one of them. Caernarvon, the main powerbase in the Whales countryside was quickly beseiged and captured. Lacking in troops it appeared at first glance as if Brian would not be able to finance a further push, yet he found in the welsh a very willing population, one who despised the English. A number of Gent raiders and welsh spearmen signed on full time into the Welsh army as mercenaries right then and there! The campaign would continue.

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1103. After building forces and recruiting local mercenaries to supplement his army, King Brian leads an attack against the lightly defended Settlement of Exeter. With the main English army trying desperately to fend of the Scots to the East at Winchester, the attack on Exeter was an easy affair for the Irish. Despite the merciless reputation of the defending commander, the King of the Irish granted a full pardon to the captured English upon the battle's conclusion.

The following year the English sue for peace, The King knows that he cannot sustain his momentum; not to mention his economy is in dire need of strengthening. Therefore he decides to accept. Meanwhile the Scots make a determined push on Winchester but are again repulsed by the English, Brian quietly begins to rebuild his forces.

1108 arrives, four years after the cease-fire is signed and Brian has had enough! He sends his son Domnall the Chivalrous, mastermind of the Exeter siege, against the English entrenched at Winchester. Extended years of fighting the Scots had left the English army decimated and without strong leaders, the battle that followed was more of a clean up operation than a true battle - something the Irish failed to understand. An overconfidence in their arms is building.. one that could prove disastrous...

Slowly the English have been pushed back, bit by bit, by a coalition of French, Scots and Irish armies. The grand Norman invasion that had claimed half of the british isles has been undone, pressed back to Antwerp King Ralph the Merciless of the combined English forces contemplates his options... then what should he find but a combined host Of French and Irish marching upon his great fortress. Surrounded and out of options he pulls back into the citadel and awaits the seige.

A struck of luck appears however in 1112, the Irish commander Corcc of Monaghan has a falling out with the French commander, the french forces pull back from the siege leaving the battle in the hands of the irish. King Brian, wintering in Exeter, is furious when he hears of the development and orders his army to retreat. The King knows without the aid of the French his men have not the strength of arms to overcome the English, Corcc refuses the order and continues the siege.

Summer of 1113. A terrible surprise awaits Corcc as he sieges Antwerp, the English have recalled their army which was marching to retake Caern, the entire southern army now marches north and is bearing down upon the Irish. Lifting the siege Corcc turns to meet the new force, drawing his lines four miles south of the main fortress. The English king sallies forth, he has the Irish trapped between two armies.

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Yet the irish stand their ground. The Irish army is a hodgepodge of English mercenaries, Whelsh auxiliaries, Ostmen, and Irish citizen soldiers; while the english army in stark contrast is a tough, professional and veteran force. Though having lost much of their kingdom they march with dodged determination intent on driving back the invaders. With a foe in front and one behind, the Irish's only hope is to charge home and defeat their first foe quickly, before turning to meet their other. They charge headlong into the whirl of arrow fire, hacking their way through the ranks of the english and winning home with a charge of their cavalry. The battle is hard fought, and Corcc and his men start to celebrate when...

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Over the hill comes marching the second English army, their armor glinting in the high afternoon sun. The Irish have not the strength to win the day and only now does Corcc see the error of his ways - yet what can he do?

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He charges. With the remainder of his host behind him he slams into the english line, determined to fight to his last breath and utterly refusing to retreat. His men follow the charge, but being exhausted from the earlier confrontation are quickly hacked to pieces. Soon the Irish host is in full retreat, and Corcc of Monaghan is no more.

The Battle of Antwerp is a disaster militarily, one that will likely take many years for the irish to recover from. It is too early to tell whether the English can capitalize upon the momentum from the battle and retake the Normandy coast.


--

It's been too long, here's a small teaser from my recent Irish Campaign, SS 6.1. Those English are not to be counted out, even when down to one province! NoScript seems to hate imageshack so i switched to my old photobucket account for images, funny in a way i haven't used that thing since i stopped playing WoW.

[Martok]

Very nice, Monk! Loved the narrative you used to explain the actions of Corcc of Monaghan. Well done.

[Walternat0r]

This is my Venice campaign on SS6.1 m/h (I don't use Grim Reality or what have you, far to hard )

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Thessalonica is my capital as it keeps my corruption at its lowest, even though its still quite crippling :( I'm only making ~20'000 a turn at the moment, which is totally rubbish.

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As you can see, a fantastically fragmented empire - that's due to my house rules of only attacking ex-comms, muslims and orthodox factions. France are my vassals and England have been reduced to just owning Caernarvon and the Scots seem quite intent on taking them out so i'm leaving them to it.

I recently Crusaded to Fes, with one Stack taking Badajoz and Cordoba, and another creaming its way across N. Africa, just sacking and demolishing all the way so Marrakesh is there only settlement with any buildings in it, that helped me financially quite a lot as my larger cities needed upgrading at this point, and 12'000 florins was basically half my income per turn!

On the up side, I have a shed load of good allies (admittedly, tributes help there!), popes in my pocket so I can pick and choose who I want to fight. France are my vassals, I had knocked them back to Metz with the help of Genoa (an oddly reliable ally, since turn 2 as well). But they've not taken Rheims and Clermont from Genoa and have 3 stacks or so, I can only assume that they have a terrific kings purse to keep armies that size with only 3 poxy little settlements!

Right now i'm about to scope out Ireland, see whats going on there, and hoping to take Lisbon from Portugal, then Oporto then demand they become my vassals. Then I might crusade to Egypt as they seem to be gobbling up Africa quite handily, and I think they need putting in their place.

[Monk]

Woah! Nice shots Walternat0r. Some absolutely huge powerhouses in those shots. The cumans and Lithuanians ruling the steps, i wonder are they at war? Egypt the supreme power in the levant, no surprise there! Where are the mongols though? Did the kwarezmians manage to hold back the tide?

Also i think the fragmented kingdom has a very cool look to it, it really has that "trade empire" feel at a glance. Don't underestimate the value of the holy land! Even though egypt looks supremely powerful, the fight for cities like Antioch and Alexandria would be worth it in how much money they'd give.

Good luck in building further!

[Walternat0r]

I just had a quick gander at the state of the world using toggle_fow and I found the mongols - they seem to be taking there time if i'm honest!

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The Teutons seem to be ignoring the Pagans, maybe because Lithuania are damn powerful lol

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And here's just a screenie of the way my faction and world stands

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Uh oh, just realised my King is "The Malevolent"! I was kinda aiming at a chivalrous game and this buggers worse than Darth Vader

It looks like Turku is rebel still, I think it might be worth sending a ship up there to continue my spread out empire and provide some sort of castle-based springboard for taking out Lithuania, seeing as the Teutons obviously aren't interested.

[PBI]

Nice stuff, Monk and Walternat0r.

On the Mongols, I've found they seem to be a bit lethargic too, just sacked two Khwarezm cities and have been just hanging around ever since. It's just about the only disappointing thing I've found about SS. To be fair though I suppose they aren't much better in vanilla.

I definitely approve of the scattered trade empire appearance. I too very much enjoy picking up all the little miscellaneous islands and isolated provinces here and there. One of my most enjoyable campaigns in RTW was as the Greek Cities; I set myself the target of not only keeping my original holdings, but also expanding to retake anywhere that was once a Greek colony. This meant launching naval expeditions to all sorts of places like Crimea, Sardinia, Cyprus and Spain, followed by some tricky campaigns to defend them against the locals. Loads of money from my massive trading empire, but a logistical mountain to climb in ferrying enough troops from the mainland to all my far-flung colonies.

[Monk]

Nice stuff, Monk and Walternat0r.

On the Mongols, I've found they seem to be a bit lethargic too, just sacked two Khwarezm cities and have been just hanging around ever since. It's just about the only disappointing thing I've found about SS. To be fair though I suppose they aren't much better in vanilla.

FH sent me a PM not long ago about the mongols in his mod, I have to say he got my interest peaked but I had already started a campaign as the Irish! I'm contemplating giving myself a break from SS while i give his mod a go, after all I've got nothing to lose and i've always been curious about it.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Wow... this SS6.1 looks very interesting! I desire a map like that... but I hated SS's supply system. All fixed/deleted?

Good work everyone with your pics!

[Chaotix]

Nice campaigns, everyone!

@ ATPG: The supply system is now optional for SS- when you install it you just have to make sure that the supply system is not included in the installation. I personally like the system, but I suppose it could be annoying for blitzers... also, the map is HUGE. Not only does it cover more area, the map is also scaled up, so provinces are bigger.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Nice campaigns, everyone!

@ ATPG: The supply system is now optional for SS- when you install it you just have to make sure that the supply system is not included in the installation. I personally like the system, but I suppose it could be annoying for blitzers... also, the map is HUGE. Not only does it cover more area, the map is also scaled up, so provinces are bigger.

My main objection is that it was broken, buggy, and easy to circumvent. Also it seemed unrealistic. I suppose if I hadn't been in my home territory for 10 turns, it could become a problem. But it was almost as though as soon as I stepped out, my morale and supplies would drop substantially.


Need to fix it, tone it down, and have it apply even less on crusades and jihads (unless it drags on 20 turns)

[Galain_Ironhide]

My main objection is that it was broken, buggy, and easy to circumvent. Also it seemed unrealistic. I suppose if I hadn't been in my home territory for 10 turns, it could become a problem. But it was almost as though as soon as I stepped out, my morale and supplies would drop substantially.


Need to fix it, tone it down, and have it apply even less on crusades and jihads (unless it drags on 20 turns)

I've just started my first SS6.1 GC as England (I downloaded this weeks ago and never installed it), whilst I'm only in the early stages of it, I have enjoyed using this mod. Well to be frank, its a whole heap easier to expand quickly than in the mod DLV5.73. I played a GC as Spain using that one and you are forced to take things slowly due to the negative income effects on literally just about everything (and plus an even tougher supply system with armies in the field). I do miss the stone forts that are positioned in all provinces throughout the game map in DLV. You can download a forts mod for SS6.1 but unfortunately you need M2TW Gold edition - which I don't have . I think the SS Mod Developers should consider making stone forts a permanent feature for future patches/editions of SS.

My intentions for this GC is to sit low for maybe a 100turns and wait for the AI to develop itself a little before I begin my conquest. Don't know if I'll be able to help my self from taking a province or two (or 3 or 4) though. We'll just see how soon boredom sets in .

To stay on topic -

I like how the Venetian Empire has turned out Walternat0r - Keep it up!

[Walternat0r]

Ey up, I haven't been playing much recently cus I made the mistake of buying Spore, and now my life has devolved into an endless cycle of dancing, eating, and flying random creatures spawned from the dregs of my imagination. However, I had a little stint (About 5-8 turns) and now look a bit like this

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I've gotten rid of Portugal and traded Oporto and Murcia for Granada with Spain. They were having a hard time with Aragon so I figured a couple of settlements nearer to the action would help them out some. Also, Granada is much closer to Fortress level :)

After I took the final picture I took Cork from Ireland so they're trapped in Galway now, once i've taken them out i'm going to gift all of sunny Ireland to the Pope in exchange for Rome (thats the plan anyway). Then expand territories around the Baltic coast, am not planning on going inland as the corruption is huuuuuuge up there.

[Monk]

No write up for these, don't have time and I've let it go a long time without documenting/ screenshots of a few things. But I'll be sure to do so after this post. Basically I wanted a chance to out-do the Mongol AI in MTW, and SS 6.1 has a late campaign, so taking a break from Vanilla mod (which is pretty fun btw) I jumped into SS again for a little mongol action. My find? Every battle I enter into I'm outnumbered, but I'm never outmatched.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

From my war against Khwarezmid Empire. Heroic victories like this were just par for the course, if not increasingly nail biting to fight. Sure, you have great troops but in the beginning you cannnot replinish them. You have 4 stacks to conquer the Kwarezmids.. you're not gonna get anymore until they are dead.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

My Mongols adopted the virtue of marching concentrated, and fighting concentrated. Early on I didn't let a single stack go anywhere unless another was right there with it. The Kwarezmids were way too powerful to Underestimate. As you can see from the mini-map that approach was working.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A great victory here! Jebe the Tyrant finds the faction leader of the most hated enemy, it wasn't easy to track him down, the AI did a good job of protecting him and instead just sending me cannon fodder princes to massacre all the time. After a quick seige, the pain in my side known as the Kwarezmid empire was no more.

After securing Baghdad and Basra, I thought about resting on my conquests and building up a little bit. I could just imagine Genghis khan, his troops arrayed before him as the conquests had come to a halt, "Then it is finished." one utters.. but the Khan just smiles. "We have only just begun."

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The jihad was headed straight for Acre and the Kingdom of jerusalem. KoJ had severely weakened the Caliphate, the Fatimids were on the ropes having lost Cairo. So I thought I would knock out two factions with one Jihad, hit the crusaders hard then mop up the Fatimids!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Another battle results screen, nothing special. This is from when i cornered the Crusader king in Kerak and forced him to sally. The Knights of Antioch and Knights of Jerusalem were really no match for my well trained horde and mercenaries who swept through them like sickle to barely. Notice all the gold chevrons

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The king was without heirs and imagine my surprise, KoJ is eliminated! The Fatimid tried to move quickly to reestablish lost lands but I put a stop to that.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The attack on KoJ and later on the Fatimids really strained my resources and I'm always hurting for troops, but I just moved two fresh stacks across the desert to reinforce the Levant. Once i mop up Fatimid resistance in the corners of the desert, the Turks will be next.

You can see the Moors were eliminated, by Portugal of all people! That means after the turks are gone I'll be the sole remaining Muslim faction in the game. Unless the Cumans are muslim and not pagan... Oh, i smell another conquest coming on!

write up will acompany next update, hope you guys like the screens!

[Walternat0r]

Good stuff Monk! How many turns has that taken you? I find with SS6.1 a slower approach is generally best, considering the effects of supply and whatnot on morale. Although... gold chevrons troops probably wont notice the difference lol.

I've never tried a Mongol campaign myself, although reading the Conqueror series by Conn Iggulden has definately sparked a strong interest in doing one! What are they like financially? With 4 cavalry based stacks are they not rolling in debt by the time you get a small (~5 settlement) khan-dom going?

[PBI]

Nice stuff Monk, I've been thinking of trying a Mongol campaign.

I kind of assumed that thanks to the insanely low upkeep for Mongol units, once you get over the initial imbalance between troop levels and number of provinces and started to make any decent income it would get very easy to support a huge force, did you find this?

Looks like fun, I might try it as my next campaign.

[Monk]

Good stuff Monk! How many turns has that taken you? I find with SS6.1 a slower approach is generally best, considering the effects of supply and whatnot on morale. Although... gold chevrons troops probably wont notice the difference lol.

I've never tried a Mongol campaign myself, although reading the Conqueror series by Conn Iggulden has definately sparked a strong interest in doing one! What are they like financially? With 4 cavalry based stacks are they not rolling in debt by the time you get a small (~5 settlement) khan-dom going?

I'm at about turn 35 or so, only up to 31 was covered in my screens though.

You're right, the Mongols are in serious debt, they start out with about 120,000 gold to give you a head start but that money runs out quick. There's a money script that each turn takes away from you 5000 gold (You can see it in the console, add_money -5000.) The money script is there to prevent the AI horde from growing to big too fast, but I find it an annoying obstacle that I have no control over. There's been numerous turns where my treasury indicates I should make 10k that turn only to find myself in the red.

Troop upkeep is super low but your troops are mostly cav so they are horrible in sieges. I've kept at least one infantry unit in each stack to help siege but most of the time if I can't force the enemy to sally it turns very bloody.

I kind of assumed that thanks to the insanely low upkeep for Mongol units, once you get over the initial imbalance between troop levels and number of provinces and started to make any decent income it would get very easy to support a huge force, did you find this?

Mongol units have a very small refresh pool, so even after you destroy the Kwarezmids you're still going to be hurting for troops. I am finding that the max I can maintain at one time is about 3 stacks of cavalry, I could easily switch over to an infantry based army and field maybe two more stacks than that.. but that's just not horde-like!

The upside is my troops are, pound for pound, the best in the game. There's a reason why those guys are at 3 silver-2 gold chevrons. They've survived since my initial campaigns against the Kwarezmids.

[KingKnudthebloodthirsty]

Im sorry if this gets a bit off topic but are all factions in the SS are playable? if there is any nonplayable factions, i wanna know. like i wanna play as the koj but they werent around in 1080, as with the teutons. im considering downloading SS and another question, how long is the download? is there some factions that are only playable in the 1200s game?

[PBI]

Yes, all factions are playable except Papal States and Rebels, but some are only available in the late period (Teutons, Mongols and Jerusalem) and the Templars are only available in the Early.

As for the download, it's huge I'm afraid (500MB or so). Get good broadband, set it downloading and go out for the day.

[Walternat0r]

Wahooooo I finished, my first ever completed campaign in Stainless Steel lol.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Towards the end of that campaign i've basically been keeping Spain afloat by taking back their cities from Aragon, then gifting them to the Spanish. The useless buggers just cannot defend themselves. I'm not sure whether to carry on and go for world domination - which could take a while as it took me 155 turns to get this far - or give everything I have to the pope except the British Isles or something, and see what he gets up to :P

To KingKnud; if you didn't know already, you can make all factions playable in vanilla version, you just have to edit the descr_strat.txt file. Although word of warning, when I did this, it made all the rebel settlements the lowest level of village, with no garrisons and even when I changed everything back it stayed the same, so I had to reinstall. Thank God there's no DRM for m2tw :P

[PBI]

Nice stuff Walternat0r, I like how you've basically built up this huge empire consisting of many fairly small and isolated regions on every edge of the map, but left the center of the map completely untouched.

[khaos83_2000]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

47 cities and 20 castle = 67
why it show 70 regions?
because of vassals??