MTW DEADLY SINS

**edyzmedieval** · 04-22-2017, 19:23

I disagree with the disbanding part - it kind of limits you if you have a large garrison and it's pointless, just disband the units especially if they're not of big use.

**Gilrandir** · 04-24-2017, 11:42

Originally Posted by edyzmedieval

I disagree with the disbanding part - it kind of limits you if you have a large garrison and it's pointless, just disband the units especially if they're not of big use.

One more necessity of disbanding is when the general heading the unit has low loyalty, so you disband the unit to prevent it from revolting.

**DEB8** · 04-25-2017, 17:47

Originally Posted by Gilrandir

One more necessity of disbanding is when the general heading the unit has low loyalty, so you disband the unit to prevent it from revolting.

Whilst I completely understand why this would be done ( and I may have done this myself on one or two occasions... ) , this could be a sin ( particularly when playing a MTW campaign rather than a VI campaign ) !

[ NB : Perchance less so, if the unit is a Mercenary ! ]

**LordK9** · 04-26-2017, 02:47

DEB8 said: Agreed - No sin.
Hell, I doubt if I could win a battle without it !!! The AI can compute and action orders and movements way faster than I could even dream of. Therefore this just evens things out.
[ I view it as : a ) unit commanders taking "executive" decisions as and when required, and b) a means to review the entire field of action as ( unlike the AI ) I cannot be in more than one place at once !

Besides that, trying to click on a moving target is just plain silly. Most commanders can trust their lieutenants but the game takes everything completely literal so unit movements have to be baby sitted.

**macsen rufus** · 04-26-2017, 14:15

The pause button is essential to sanity -- how else can you find the time to make another cup of coffee whilst there are still 10,000 enemy soldiers left to kill

And this:

trying to click on a moving target

really bugs me. When things get crowded it's almost impossible to 'pick up' the unit you want, or accidentally point it at the wrong target because there's a stray man from another enemy unit in the midst of the one you wish to target....

Most of the other 'sins' I tend to role-play rather than have fixed rules. If my general dies, for instance, the prisoners get it in the neck, but generally I only massacre prisoners if I have more than 1,000 of them. This means the general goes straight to 'butcher' without passing 'scant mercy' in the VnVs after the battle...

As for the pillaging, I generally prefer to leave provinces as intact as I find them, if I intend to keep the province immediately, but there are times when I'm up against a big enemy faction, I might launch a chevauchee into a vulnerbale province which I can't hope to hold - preferably forcing the AI to retreat completely (best chance is to overwhelm their king's army...) then I can trash the province before returning to my secure borders. However, even then it's a role-played thing for when I'm in a tough spot. And I always have the rule that I NEVER trash the economic infrastructure - so farms, merchants and mines are spared the torch.

Setting up the re-inforcement grid is also not a sin in my book - if a big army goes into battle it will often be divided into different columns or battles before meeting the enemy, so it's effectively a way to designate your van, main battle, reserves, and rearguard. Interestingly, do you realise that in a battle where you have allies, you can also order the allies' reinforcement grid when their army is big enough? It can be a useful way to balance out your overall forces, if say you are short of cavalry, you can make your ally put in a first wave that has all of his cavalry deployed etc. I'd been playing for years before I discovered this can be done! (I also use this to keep his missiles out of the way if I fear he'll just shoot into the melee and kill as many of my men as the enemy's...)

I don't disband much, usually just broken mercenary units that have become too small to be of use, or when a general has become so vice-ridden he is no longer fit to serve the king (cracked-brained cowards who are fond of retreating etc...)

And of course that gives away that I sometimes use mercenaries, but only in extremis. In vanilla I might sometimes snaffle up any advance gunpowder units that crop up, as they come in very useful against the Mongols, especially for bridge battles. And talking of bridge battles, someone mentioned that the AI never attacks over the second bridge when available - yet it does somehow manage to defend a second bridge.... why is it blind in attack, but smarter in defence???

And saving between battles... that for me is purely a practical issue - I've tried it, but found more times than not it either causes me a CTD or the save is corrupted when it doesn't CTD, so I only do a quick-save at the end of the turn, and a full save before launching a war at a new enemy.

**LordK9** · 04-27-2017, 03:51

I use mercenaries at times too. There are times when you need your army now but it isn't ready yet so the mercenaries are hired then (yep) disbanded. Sometimes towns need large garrisons to keep the peace until things settle down but afterwards these militia units are not needed and, well, that's the whole point of militia - call them up when needed then disband them.

**DEB8** · 05-03-2017, 17:16

Originally Posted by LordK9

I use mercenaries at times too. There are times when you need your army now but it isn't ready yet so the mercenaries are hired then (yep) disbanded. Sometimes towns need large garrisons to keep the peace until things settle down but afterwards these militia units are not needed and, well, that's the whole point of militia - call them up when needed then disband them.

Agreed.

**Gilrandir** · 04-27-2017, 12:20

Originally Posted by macsen rufus

so I only do a quick-save at the end of the turn, and a full save before launching a war at a new enemy.

How do you do the quick-save? When I need a save I press the Esc button to get to the menu and save the campaign. But sometimes the game crashes at this transition to the menu, so I lose a couple of years of campaigning just when I try to save to avoid it.

Of course, if there was an autosave not long before, the losses are minimal, but you can never know when the AI will decide to autosave.

**macsen rufus** · 04-27-2017, 15:59

How do you do the quick-save?

When you're on the campaign map, it's Ctrl-S, and Ctrl-L to load the latest quicksave. I got into to the habit because of the occasional crashes on hitting Esc to do the full save. Apart from the ones between battles, I find quicksaves are less prone to corruption than the full saves - probably because it's a different file type (IIRC .dat instead of .cpg). I find the Esc crash gets more likely with the more battles you've fought that year, but that could just be good ole Murphy, of course....

**DEB8** · 05-03-2017, 17:14

Originally Posted by macsen rufus

The pause button is essential to sanity -- how else can you find the time to make another cup of coffee whilst there are still 10,000 enemy soldiers left to kill

That reason, along with Toilet breaks and various other non game related interruptions just goes without saying anyway...

And this: really bugs me. When things get crowded it's almost impossible to 'pick up' the unit you want, or accidentally point it at the wrong target because there's a stray man from another enemy unit in the midst of the one you wish to target....

Agreed. It's difficult enough sometimes even with the pause button on !!!

but generally I only massacre prisoners if I have more than 1,000 of them. This means the general goes straight to 'butcher' without passing 'scant mercy' in the VnVs after the battle...

Interesting. I must remember that...

As for the pillaging, I generally prefer to leave provinces as intact as I find them, if I intend to keep the province immediately, but there are times when I'm up against a big enemy faction, I might launch a chevauchee into a vulnerbale province which I can't hope to hold - preferably forcing the AI to retreat completely (best chance is to overwhelm their king's army...) then I can trash the province before returning to my secure borders. However, even then it's a role-played thing for when I'm in a tough spot. And I always have the rule that I NEVER trash the economic infrastructure - so farms, merchants and mines are spared the torch.

Sound play, particularly the last rule....

Interestingly, do you realise that in a battle where you have allies, you can also order the allies' reinforcement grid when their army is big enough?

Well that's news. Ta !!

And talking of bridge battles, someone mentioned that the AI never attacks over the second bridge when available - yet it does somehow manage to defend a second bridge.... why is it blind in attack, but smarter in defence???

Sadly it appears so. To date though, I have noticed it more in Shogun than Medieval...

And saving between battles... that for me is purely a practical issue - I've tried it, but found more times than not it either causes me a CTD or the save is corrupted when it doesn't CTD, so I only do a quick-save at the end of the turn, and a full save before launching a war at a new enemy.

I don't think I have had a problem yet with corrupted saves ( famous last words )... I do get a few crashes between battles though, so the option to save prior to a battle on the "reinforcements" screen is most useful.

**Gilrandir** · 04-26-2017, 14:01

Originally Posted by DEB8

Whilst I completely understand why this would be done ( and I may have done this myself on one or two occasions... ) , this could be a sin ( particularly when playing a MTW campaign rather than a VI campaign ) !

[ NB : Perchance less so, if the unit is a Mercenary ! ]

Middle ages were all about committing sins and atoning for them. So I root for being as authentic as possible.