Any tips for getting through a campaign faster?

[Gilrandir]

Hi

But I generally try to avoid killing off a faction in its entirety. Wherever possible, and obviously allowing for strategic geographic considerations (you do not want a hostile province in the middle of your empire's hinterland) I will leave a faction a single province for as long as possible. The reason: that way you avoid, or at least cut down on, faction reappearances.

Now these ARE one of the spicier, more exciting aspects of MTW, I feel. I'm sure all vets have had the 'OMFG! What the hell is that?!' experience when a souped up multi mega stack reappearance is announced in your empire (shoudln't happen unless you've not been managing province happiness and garrison numbers properly) or, more likely, in an adjacent AI empire which is tottering. And some provinces (e.g., Portugal IIRC) are more prone to this than others.

That's what I do. Moreover, if a faction leader is killed and the faction becomes a pack of rebel provinces, I always leave one province unconquered as there is a great probability that re-emerging of the faction (if it ever comes) will be limited to that very province. Although, that is not 100% guarantee. Once playing as the French I accidentally killed the last king of England. By that time the English were evicted north of the Thames (to Mercia and Wales and perhaps something else up there). But when the faction reappeared it popped up not only there but in the heart of my empire - Anjou where I didn't keep any significant forces it being my no-border internal province.
So, I would like to ask: are there any laws that determine the provinces subject to faction re-emergence?

[Plato]

are there any laws that determine the provinces subject to faction re-emergence?

To qualify as a site for a possible re-emergance, the province has to:

• have been owned by the faction at some point in the past (even one turn will do, apparently)

• have a happiness lower than 120%

Of course, this leads to some further questions to which I don't have the answer:

• Is there a limit to the number of regions that can be affected?

• Is there anything further which determines how the re-emergance manifests itself (unit types and numbers)?

I know that the provinces don't have to be contiguous (ie. sharing a border or sea); crusader factions sometimes get a plot in Europe, and either an island or a crusade target.

[drone]

A reemergence has to have a "seed" province, a province previously owned by the dead faction that is under 100% happiness and triggers an uprising. I think that if any of the other provinces previously owned by the faction are under 120%, they get sucked into the reemergence. So as long as you keep your provinces over 120% happiness, you don't need to worry about losing a province to reemergences.

[cpgray]

A reemergence has to have a "seed" province, a province previously owned by the dead faction that is under 100% happiness and triggers an uprising. I think that if any of the other provinces previously owned by the faction are under 120%, they get sucked into the reemergence. So as long as you keep your provinces over 120% happiness, you don't need to worry about losing a province to reemergences.

I think it's pretty clear from the manual, the game interface, and frogbeastegg's beginners guide, that rebellion only happens when happiness drops under 100%. It is recommended that you keep all your provinces at >= 120% because there are things that will drop the happiness in one turn so you want a bit of a cushion. Frogbeastegg says that the auto tax management in the original game aimed to keep happiness at >= 100% and that caused problems (for instance, when your monarch leaves the kingdom to a less competent son) when happiness dropped at times. With VI the auto tax management aims at 120% so that a small, quick drop keeps you over 100%.

[Brandy Blue]

With VI the auto tax management aims at 120% so that a small, quick drop keeps you over 100%.

And there was me changing my taxes manually because I thought VI did this the same way vanilla does. Thanks for the tip.

[drone]

The -loyalty switch can be used to set the auto-tax default (and the AI's target loyalty) if you want to customize it. Makes it easier for you, and improves the AI stability, as seen in the Caravel mod with the recommended settings.

[Gilrandir]

I think it's pretty clear from the manual, the game interface, and frogbeastegg's beginners guide, that rebellion only happens when happiness drops under 100%.

It is not about rebellion, but reemergence chances, and as far as I understood Drone differentiates rebellion (which happens if loyalty is below 100%) and probable reappearence of a faction (if loyalty is above 100% but lower than 120%). Thus, to have 110% loyal province will not prevent it from going over to a resurrected faction.

[drone]

To clarify, for a reemergence to happen, there first must be a rebellion/uprising (less than 100% happiness). If the province was previously owned by a dead faction, and the game is tracking a potential leader of that faction (an underage heir when the faction was eliminated, so up to around 60-80 years from the factions demise), the rebellion/uprising becomes a reemergence. Now, all the provinces previously owned by the faction are checked, if the happiness ratings are below 120%, they can become part of the reemergence.

So to prevent your own provinces from being affected, you need to keep your happiness above 120%. This will not prevent reemergences in provinces owned by other factions, but it will keep your lands from getting sucked into them. If there are no rebel provinces, and everyone keeps their happiness above 100%, a reemergence will not occur since a rebellion/uprising will not occur, but this is a pleasant fantasy scenario in Total War.

[Trapped in Samsara]

If there are no rebel provinces, and everyone keeps their happiness above 100%, a reemergence will not occur since a rebellion/uprising will not occur, but this is a pleasant fantasy scenario in Total War.

Hi

Drone makes an excellent point. And this is why I am not with Gilrandir when he wrote, above, "...if a faction leader is killed and the faction becomes a pack of rebel provinces, I always leave one province unconquered...".

I get rather nervous about having rebel provinces on my borders when a dynasty dies out because, IIRC, rebel provinces are always on the 100% loyalty score. So anything with less than about 300 to 500 troops in it is easy meat for a rebellion and therefore, potentially, a faction reappearance.

By the way, loyalist rebellions are strange and unpredictable things. Me English, hard, early, Caravel mod v2.1. The Egyptians are giving me a hard fight in and around the Iberian peninsula. I invade Portugal amphibiously to outflank them by opening a new front which was supposed to undermine their defence of Castile. I easily defeat the Egyptian garrison but then lose my naval control of the Atlantic seaboard. So my force is cut off from reinforcements. I suffer three years of rebellions then decide that the only way I'm going to get my general out of this predicament is by conducting a chevauchée from Portugal to Navarre. I do this in concert with attacks from my forces in the North and manage to rescue my general and a handful of his stalwarts.

Once I'm gone the Egyptians then retake Portugal only to suffer a succession of English loyalist rebellions (!) which are not ultimately successful in returning the province to me 'directly', but amount to such an ulcer, drawing in more and more Egyptian troops, that I finally manage to take and hold Castile. At which point I had the strategic initiative because that province borders so many Spanish provinces it's like a huge salient, hence the Egyptian position disintegrated.

A great fight and a thoroughly enjoyable campaign; probably one of the best I've ever had. But go figure English loyalists rising up against the Egyptians in Portugal, when I suffered repeated rebellions when I was in there!?

I love this game.

Best regards
Victor

Sapere aude
Horace