Teutonic hotseat signup

[_Tristan_]

What did Denmark end up doing? From our side it seemed they sent a few troops by sea and then kept mostly to Scandinavia trying to unite it.

It didn't do much more than this but it remained a threat to my northernmost settlements and I always feared a seaborn invasion or raids... Though that fear was never proven true...

Tristan de Castelreng is that good? Now I have to keep a closer eye on him in the "When world collide" game :D

When battles are taken out of the equation player skill can be determined by his strategical choices, the way he handles logistics and the way he prioritizes his objectives. Diplomacy and roleplaying I think are just as important, although they are tools to accomplish said objectives.

Then again I am new to hotseat games :)

Most of my reputation comes from one or two hotseats where I've proven a tough fighter (though somewhat lucky), fighting teeth and nails to the end, and outliving the expectations of enemies...

And you're right that strategical choices and how you handle diplomacy are very important...

Roleplaying gives flavor but can make you predictable...

[phonicsmonkey]

I remember in that game I took over from the Mongols about 6 or 7 turns in when they were already in debt up to their eyeballs.

After failing to extort money out of my neighbours through empty threats I came up with the cunning plan of letting all my settlements rebel and then re-taking and sacking them all. Failing to realise that my own horse-archer forces would be somewhat less than sufficient in dealing with the full stacks of woodsmen that appeared as garrisons.

The next iteration of the plan involved getting Zim to sack them all for me and hand me the cash. About two turns into that scheme Tristan showed up with his uber-stacks and demonstrated to us the value of timing.

Anyhoo, where are we with the question of the extra Teutonic stacks?

Should we have a vote on it?

[Visor]

Haha. Completely the opposite of the third Teutonic hotseat. :P

The Order (My brother) got smashed by Lithuania (Swarbs), and I (Novgorod) smashed Lithuania's ally, the Mongols. (Emotion_name) Then the TO with their massive debt and one and a half armies, betrayed their ally Poland, who was smashing the HRE (Hellboy). Meanwhile, Denmark (Wolvvv) and Norway (tavix) were facing off for a while. The TO then destroyed Poland, and then Denmark and Lithuania invaded Scandanavia (me and him had a truce agreement.) Then Norway was killed and only Novgorod, TO, Lithuania, Denmark and the HRE were left, the HRE is practically dead though. And it was turning into a face-off.

Pity Swarbs left before we got a chance to finish it, it was quite fun. I'm going to reopen it and see if I can get some players to finish it off.

[Myth]

You already know my opinion. I'd ask you guys to not judge based solely on that last game where Tristan took you by surprise and where Poland was a sitting duck.

Crusading nobles (I've read up some in the guides section) do other things apart from giving you stacks. The guy from England gives you Levy Spearmen (average foot, but not OS level), Dism. Feudal Knights and Mailed Knights - hardly the most impressive stacks but I suppose better than nothing and better than archer/HA heavy stacks when autorseolve is on.

The crusading nobles also reward you with gold whenever you conquer pagan territories and exterminate/sack them. One player int the Teutonic Order guide thread said he got up to 14000 florins (or whatever the currency in this expansion is) for exterminating 4 pagan settlements and winning a couple of field battles.

I guess I should play 10 turns or so vs the AI to get the hang of the faction and see what is where and establish some priorities. Too bad I don't have access to the M2TW PC until Monday unless I get lucky.

[Visor]

I'm for Cruading Nobles.

[_Tristan_]

I don't mind either way... They surely didn't play a great part in my victory IIRC...

And I start far enough from Order lands that I should not have to worry about them too much this time...

[_Tristan_]

All set up and ready to go !!

[Thanatos Eclipse]

I don't care about the crusading armies

[Nightbringer]

I don't care either way.

[phonicsmonkey]

All set up and ready to go !!

Who else is all set? if the TO is ready we can get started today...

[Nightbringer]

I'm set

[_Tristan_]

I don't know if it is still possible at this point but one thing I've seen done in some hotseats is changing the order the factions played in order to give "weaker" factions a chance at being more on the offense...

Maybe make Norway and Mongols among the first and TO last with the rest spread in-between...

What do you guys think ?

[phonicsmonkey]

I'm happy to look into this if others are interested. We do have some rules in place to counter the effect of the turn order on movement, but I still think this is a good idea. I know it's possible because it's implemented in the KGCM hotseat patch.

[Nightbringer]

either way is fine by me

[Thanatos Eclipse]

All set up. Tristan's idea sounds good

[phonicsmonkey]

ok I found out how to do this, tested it and it's working.

if I put the weakest factions (according to the ingame charts) first, it would look like this:
- Norway
- Mongols
- HRE
- Novgorod
- Denmark
- Poland
- Lithuania
- Teutonic Order

so far I count four in favour which is only half, so do let me know what you think if you haven't already.

[Visor]

Standard style is fine by me.

[Myth]

I've modded the game and am ready to go. I have no problem with being last in the turn order, although if you guys think this campaign so imbalanced and the TO so scary I fail to see why you keep playing it instead of regular M2TW.

[_Tristan_]

It is not so much that it is imbalanced but the TO is so strong in autoresolve than 1/2 TO stack (and sometimes 1/4) can take on a full Lithuanian or Novgorad stack...

But I don't mind playing in the normal turn order... My proposal was made to give norway a chance at taking some rebels settlements before smeone else claims them, as it starts with only two of its own...

[Thanatos Eclipse]

It's not so much the TO, as it is the Mongols and Norway. This way it just gives the weaker factions first run at the rebel settlements

[phonicsmonkey]

although if you guys think this campaign so imbalanced and the TO so scary I fail to see why you keep playing it instead of regular M2TW.

We are striving for perfection Myth!

[phonicsmonkey]

ok I'm going to do this - however, with Zim away for the weekend I'll change it up a little so we can get a couple turns done before he's back, so:

- Mongols
- HRE
- Novgorod
- Norway
- Denmark
- Poland
- Lithuania
- Teutonic Order

I think the important thing for Norway at the start is that they go before Denmark.

I will need to modify descr_strat and I don't know whether everyone else will too, so the safest thing is that I upload mine and you all use it. Is that ok?

[_Tristan_]

Fine by me... If you can have it up in the next hour or so, I might even be able to play my turn before I turn off the lights for a good night's sleep...

[Myth]

Greay guys! Waiting for the file as well, though it is unlikely that I'll be able to play my turn today.

I did some testing and planning vs the AI. Yes it really seems that a stack wtih about 5 OS and additional troops and the general that starts up North can take on Lithuania's faction leader+second best general all by himself.

Also, Norway does indeed start with only one castle (albeit a very good one) whilst Denmark upon closer inspection seems to be by far the second most powerful nation on the map.

[phonicsmonkey]

The modified descr_strat file is linked in the first post of the game thread.

[Visor]

I hate Denmark. I never play them for a reason.