You can be Prussia. I'm totally going all Frederick William I on their asses.
Building me an army of tall men.
What, you're going to be a brutal, little fat Lutheran that executes his gay son's lover? :P
I actually get that reference (hope you got mine)...Postdamn Grenadiers, right? Didn't he kidnap a good number of them with a bunch being mentally retarded as well, due to gigantism?
Anyhow, if a British unit plays and/or sings "Harlec Men" while opposing Zulus who do traditional tribal chants I will never play another game in my life than Empire:Total War.
You can be Prussia. I'm totally going all Frederick William I on their asses.
Building me an army of tall men.
What, you're going to be a brutal, little fat Lutheran that executes his gay son's lover? :P
I actually get that reference (hope you got mine)...Postdamn Grenadiers, right? Didn't he kidnap a good number of them with a bunch being mentally retarded as well, due to gigantism?
Anyhow, if a British unit plays and/or sings "Harlec Men" while opposing Zulus who do traditional tribal chants I will never play another game in my life than Empire:Total War.
You can be Prussia. I'm totally going all Frederick William I on their asses.
Building me an army of tall men.
What, you're going to be a brutal, little fat Lutheran that executes his gay son's lover? :P
I actually get that reference (hope you got mine)...Postdamn Grenadiers, right? Didn't he kidnap a good number of them with a bunch being mentally retarded as well, due to gigantism?
Hell yeah. The Hohenzollerns are like the coolest royal family ever
The main thing I'm looking forward to in Empire is how character advancement has developed. There was a huge jump from Medieval to Rome to Medieval 2, and I really want to see what Empire brings to the table.
Flippy, if the naval combat even begins to reflect what's in that video than Empire may just literally be the greatest strategy game ever.
I'm losing the love for Medieval 2. Everything is out to get you.
Maybe I should just switch the game type to easy and keep the battles on hard.
I want to be challenged, not bullshitted.
Does stainless steel really balance the game more? I want [strike]more loyal[/strike] less traitorous AI, and less shit like sixteen spies in each one of my cities. I want to know that I can retaliate to an unprovoked attack without them running to the pope or suddenly becoming fuck buddies with the guy the opposite side of me who suddenly has no problem amassing three full-stack armies.
I'm losing the love for Medieval 2. Everything is out to get you.
Maybe I should just switch the game type to easy and keep the battles on hard.
I want to be challenged, not bullshitted.
Does stainless steel really balance the game more? I want [strike]more loyal[/strike] less traitorous AI, and less shit like sixteen spies in each one of my cities. I want to know that I can retaliate to an unprovoked attack without them running to the pope or suddenly becoming fuck buddies with the guy the opposite side of me who suddenly has no problem amassing three full-stack armies.
My experience with stainless steel so far has been that it crashes every 10 minutes or so, and it has about a 50/50 chance of crashing at any loading screen, or at the end of a battle If only they'd only put in about 1/3 of the content they did, and used the time they freed up to make it semi stable I would love it.
Portugal should not be telling me my threats are shallow when I have eliminated all but Lisbon. And the Moors should not be saying "well we don't think you're going to attack them" when I offer to take them out - because I've just completely decimated their armies. I don't think they even have any family members left.
What the fuck, AI.
I'm-a crush them and then deal with these fucking Sicilians.
The AI is simply retarded when it comes to seeing the writing on the wall. Don't even try to get them to surrender - simply crush them.
If your sick of people running to the Pope my advice is download Stainless Steel and fire up a game as either the Knights Templar or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Your surrounded by Muslim enemies with absolutely no reason to worry about the Pope getting all uppity about going to war, in fact he will like you more for it. What's more is that you can ally yourself to just about every Christian power and demand about 3-4000 florins for each faction and never worry about them backstabbing you until your empire reaches the borders of Europe.
I always played as Byzantium for that reason, lots of fun heavy units but no Pope to worry about. The Christian factions are still jerks to you though.
Portugal should not be telling me my threats are shallow when I have eliminated all but Lisbon. And the Moors should not be saying "well we don't think you're going to attack them" when I offer to take them out - because I've just completely decimated their armies. I don't think they even have any family members left.
What the fuck, AI.
I'm-a crush them and then deal with these fucking Sicilians.
Part of success in a Total War game is not just keeping your borders undesirably well defended, but ensuring that your neighbors have a far more tempting target. In Medieval I was playing as Poland in the Late Era, and I had allied myself with Hungary very early on. Married their daughters, sent them my daughters, and so on. I had, via lightning raids, given the Hungarians two options. Attack me, or attack the Italians who were busy crusading against the Almohads in Spain.
Let me tell you this much. By the time the Hungarians had finished in Italy there wasn't a Pope. Ultimately it came down to giving them a much more tempting target, and after a certain point the sheer brutality of the conflict prevented any resolution. It's hard to engineer, but it's something that will help a lot in the long term.
Playing as Lithuania in Stainless steel is quite the challenge. My main problem is aconomical, even after capturing most of Sweden and considerable parts of the baltic countries I could barely afford two stacks of soldiers.
I just managed to capture Novgorod, and sweeping up the rest of that nation should give me the florins I need to complete my conquest of eastern europe and Scandinavia.
That is, if my currently rather meager forces can defend myself against both the threat of the danish and the recently founded Teutonic Order. The fate of christendom may very well be settled within the next few dozens of years...
I wonder how Stainless Steel does with a nublet at the helm. I've not really played a Total War since a few brief excursions in and around Rome. Looking at some of the mods floating around, the descriptions are somewhat intimidating. So many mods, so many vague bullet points, one incredibly massive installation to corrupt.
My grasp of medieval tactics and management is limited to, "Pepper them with arrows, charge them before they charge you, peasants like paying taxes if you threaten to kill them, and virtual knights only lower their lances if you select a distant target for them to run toward." which isn't really the strongest base to work from.
From what I can see on the forum, it looks real snazzy. But how does it play, apart from reported bugitude?
It plays fine, and I have only had the faction selection problem. I do not think you will find any large weaknesses in the mod over the vanilla version. I can warmly recommend it.
Man, I can't decide what faction to play in Stainless Steel.
Can anyone help me choose? In terms of units my order of preference from most liked to least goes ranged, pikemen, spearmen, other infantry, skirmishers, cavalry, artillery.
Inquisitor on
0
PharezonStruggle is an illusion.Victory is in the Qun.Registered Userregular
Highly disciplined suicide marches, thank you very much.
Also, I'll see your redcoats and raise you press-ganged naval warfare:
Lively!
The best war movies are the ones stripped of the "tragic love" bullshit.
Anyhow, I'll see your press ganged naval warfare and raise you a late republican, highly trained Roman infantry cohort that's actually fighting like they did back then.
That's what happens when you break ranks, fucker...
Man, I can't decide what faction to play in Stainless Steel.
Can anyone help me choose? In terms of units my order of preference from most liked to least goes ranged, pikemen, spearmen, other infantry, skirmishers, cavalry, artillery.
So we took Palanga. It's doing okay. The walls were damaged along with a building, but aside from that, it's doing wonderful.
But it is very, very pagan and a little bit orthodox.
We also have Visby here. It's not doing quite as well, but it is mostly Catholic. It's having a port built in order to help turn it into an economic powerhouse. Maybe. Some day.
The only big worry I have right now is Pernau, one of the Order's northernmost settlements. It's lightly defended, as you can see, and it doesn't have the means to build up a good military presence on its own. And it has a rather large army from Novgorod right next to it. It wouldn't be surprising if they attacked it.
We also have the British noble here by Palanga. I'm not sure what you guys want to do with him. He has a rather formidable force save for not having any ranged units.
Here's our standings at this very moment. We're in second with Poland way, way out there, and Novgorod nipping at our heels. Poland just declared war on the Holy Roman Empire, though, so they shouldn't be too much of a danger. For now, at least.
Here's the diplomatic situation as it stands right now.
Here's our financial situation at the moment after I spent some money on repairs and some new units. What you can't see because I cut it off is that we currently have 1,153 florins so we are making money, just not in huge amounts.
Have the noble win his spurs! Throw him into battle against the pagans, bolster his army with some of your units and take the fight to the pagans in earnest. If Novgorod attacks, make the fuckers rue the day they messed with the Teutonic Order after you have dealt with Lithuania. Also minor spoiler
if you have the English noble slaughter as many pagans as possible he leaves a nice donation to the Order when he leaves which could help your financial situation.
Edit: I just found this screenshot and had to share it with you guys! Empire: Total War is looking pimp!
All my dicks etc
And also, I see your late Republican infantry cohort, and in keeping with the previous press gang vibe I give you...
Man, I can't decide what faction to play in Stainless Steel.
Can anyone help me choose? In terms of units my order of preference from most liked to least goes ranged, pikemen, spearmen, other infantry, skirmishers, cavalry, artillery.
Many of the eastern factions have excellent archers, but their infantry sucks. The Turks are an exception. They have great archers, and good infantry when you get janissary troops.
If crossbows are more your thing, the Italian factions have several different flavors. In later eras they also get arbalests which have awesome range and rape anything in heavy armor. A few units concentrating fire can even take out bodyguard cavalry if they are stupid enough to stay still (which the AI often is). Plus the Italians eventually get access to swiss pikemen.
oh yeah? I see your fancypants European infantry and raise you some Indians...
Well, I would advise the following for the Teutonic Order. The Lithuanians appear to be growing weaker and weaker, so now might be the time to deal a decisive blow to them. By utterly destroying them you remove a threat, improve your holdings, and give yourself more leeway to deal with the Mongols and Novgorod. You'll probably lose Pernau temporarily, but remember it's a fairly small city anyway; the loss is minor and shouldn't cause you too much grief. Once the Lithuanians are slaughtered you can deal with Novgorod.
The English Noble throws an interesting boon your way. To avoid him getting too comfortable, throw him to the wolves. Don't support his efforts in the slightest, and if it's at all possible let him wear out the remaining Lithuanians or at least make Novgorod uncomfortable. It's too much to hope he'll go hunting for the Mongols, but who knows. Either way, make him so weak that if he turns belligerent you can handily butcher him. Claim he was Orthodox or something, that always works.
Your military is developing nicely, and I can see you needing at least four self contained armies. One to keep the border with Poland secure, one to keep the border with Novgorod secure, one to keep the border with Lithuania secure, and one to march in and take Lithuania. The army securing the border with Lithuania can serve both of those purposes, but it's important to have not only a strong garrison military but a mobile army ready to take cities and burn heretics.
Pancake, I see you took Gotland as I suggested. Don't worry, it will flourish into a money center when you develop a port in it...and have trade relations with either Denmark or Novgorod, preferably both, but we all know that can't happen. Both nations are the trade powerhouses of the Baltic Sea and grabbing Visby gives you a slice of all that money flowing around.
If the Novgorodians really do attack Pernau, I'm afraid you have no choice but to cede the province for now. Dunaburg should be focused on being a center of power in the Novgorodian borders, and the English general is a perfect candidate for leading a power projection mission. He has a sound force that you should bolster with your own ranks as you see fit, and guard the Novgorodian frontier. I think that at this point, the Russian attack is inevitable. The only problem I see is I'm not really sure if killing Orthodox people is still gives you money when the general retires.
Remember to keep recycling your forces. At this juncture, you still can't afford to build armies as freely as other kingdoms because your forces have very high upkeep. Take men away from relatively safe fronts (it takes a while for Poland to consider attacking you, for example) and transfer them to points as needed.
Unless you're confident about fighting a two-front war, you had best hope the Novgorod do not wage war upon you, or failing that, make peace with them quickly. You cannot afford such a costly endeavor now, and your budget will likely fall apart if you engage in a war with both the Russians and the pagans.
Best use for that English noble would be to sweep pagan armies out and about. Makes him happy and clears up the countryside for Hans to continue conquering the pagans. You might want to give him some missle troops, but I don't see why he can go as-is and charge like mad with his infantry and knights.
As for Novgorod, if they attack, once they begin the siege (as they probably will with that many units more than you) the best way to make them pay for Pernau is to sally out the light cavalry in there and start charging the siege equipment. It won't be a long life for them, but every catapult you destroy, along with every battering ram, ladder, and siege tower you can stop will equal more time for those archers to rain down flaming arrows on those bastards.
When attacking Novgorod, I would suggest bring some catapults and avoid as many battles on the open plains as you can. Not only do they have tons of light cavalry archers to wear you down but instead of the normal mailed knights that most factions receive, they get mailed cavalry that throw spears which have a bonus towards armored units. They can easily negate one of your mainstay units, the Order Spearman. In the confines of a town, however, their cavalry will get eaten up by just one or two Spearmen units, and they lack any sort of Heavy Infantry to hold the walls.
So push towards the big settlements and insta-siege with catapults and hope you don't get caught on the way there by a horde of horse archers.
As for Lithuania, I would swing an army around Riga and head straight towards their capital of Vilnius. It would be a huge blow to them and with it's stone walls it should be easy enough to defend despite being deep in their territory. I'd say two Prussian Archers and two Order Spearmen plus city garrison forces would be able to hold out against any threat. Also, Vilnius is directly North of their last remaining castle.
Man, I can't decide what faction to play in Stainless Steel.
Can anyone help me choose? In terms of units my order of preference from most liked to least goes ranged, pikemen, spearmen, other infantry, skirmishers, cavalry, artillery.
Many of the eastern factions have excellent archers, but their infantry sucks. The Turks are an exception. They have great archers, and good infantry when you get janissary troops.
If crossbows are more your thing, the Italian factions have several different flavors. In later eras they also get arbalests which have awesome range and rape anything in heavy armor. A few units concentrating fire can even take out bodyguard cavalry if they are stupid enough to stay still (which the AI often is). Plus the Italians eventually get access to swiss pikemen.
oh yeah? I see your fancypants European infantry and raise you some Indians...
How do you beat press-ganged Prussian Infantry for militant brutality? :P
Anyhow, I always hated that scene...even an European column always had flank guards and in an ambush would HALT! OUTER-FACE! PRESENT-ARMS! not just stand there and get cut down stupidly.
Oh yeah, set the Brit to pagan killin'. You'll get cash for it even if he never takes a city. Just make certain he doesn't die. Also makes sense top focus on the Lithuanians and, even if the ruskies declare war on you, have them get bogged down in sieges while you mop up.
Heck, if you've got a diplomat close, you might as well buy them off and give them a weak-ass city to avert a war.
The crusading nobles can provide you with some nice units and the fact that they arrive very quickly can help bolster your forces, but I always hated how the pricks arrive in the Baltic and suddenly I'm stuck with the upkeep of his army.
"I am here to crusade in Christ's name! You couldn't you spot me a few florins Hochmeister??? The lads spent a bit too much time in Berlin partying on hookers and mead"
I just played both Rome and Medieval II again because of this thread, and wow the music is really fantastic in this series. The Teutonic and Britannia campaign especially have really good themes. Hymn of War really captures that "marching knights coming to wreck your pagan town" feel, while War of Kings is a suitably grand battle theme for the Britannian campaign.
I've extracted the music from both games, and tagged them appropriately. They make my morning and afternoon commute much more epic. I was thinking of sharing them, but I don't know if that's allowed.
Posts
Christ that was a good movie.
Hell yeah. The Hohenzollerns are like the coolest royal family ever
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=qfvCjLgbpy0
That is how Europeans settle their differences. Flashy uniforms and disciplined suicide marches.
It was a stick.
Also, I'll see your redcoats and raise you press-ganged naval warfare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYZil1IZVoo
Flippy, if the naval combat even begins to reflect what's in that video than Empire may just literally be the greatest strategy game ever.
Except for the different uniforms and a rather quicker outcome due to machine guns, that looks a bit like most WW1 scenes.
Expansion for Empires maybe?
Maybe I should just switch the game type to easy and keep the battles on hard.
I want to be challenged, not bullshitted.
Does stainless steel really balance the game more? I want [strike]more loyal[/strike] less traitorous AI, and less shit like sixteen spies in each one of my cities. I want to know that I can retaliate to an unprovoked attack without them running to the pope or suddenly becoming fuck buddies with the guy the opposite side of me who suddenly has no problem amassing three full-stack armies.
What the fuck, AI.
I'm-a crush them and then deal with these fucking Sicilians.
If your sick of people running to the Pope my advice is download Stainless Steel and fire up a game as either the Knights Templar or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Your surrounded by Muslim enemies with absolutely no reason to worry about the Pope getting all uppity about going to war, in fact he will like you more for it. What's more is that you can ally yourself to just about every Christian power and demand about 3-4000 florins for each faction and never worry about them backstabbing you until your empire reaches the borders of Europe.
It was a stick.
Part of success in a Total War game is not just keeping your borders undesirably well defended, but ensuring that your neighbors have a far more tempting target. In Medieval I was playing as Poland in the Late Era, and I had allied myself with Hungary very early on. Married their daughters, sent them my daughters, and so on. I had, via lightning raids, given the Hungarians two options. Attack me, or attack the Italians who were busy crusading against the Almohads in Spain.
Let me tell you this much. By the time the Hungarians had finished in Italy there wasn't a Pope.
I just managed to capture Novgorod, and sweeping up the rest of that nation should give me the florins I need to complete my conquest of eastern europe and Scandinavia.
That is, if my currently rather meager forces can defend myself against both the threat of the danish and the recently founded Teutonic Order. The fate of christendom may very well be settled within the next few dozens of years...
My grasp of medieval tactics and management is limited to, "Pepper them with arrows, charge them before they charge you, peasants like paying taxes if you threaten to kill them, and virtual knights only lower their lances if you select a distant target for them to run toward." which isn't really the strongest base to work from.
From what I can see on the forum, it looks real snazzy. But how does it play, apart from reported bugitude?
Can't wait to play the game once its done downloading though.
It leads to a campaign select screen with both the campaign and the campaign description boxes blank.
You're funny.
There's a laugh in every bite.
How many sods have you put to the sword so far, then? Must be a fair number of prisoners.
According to my screenshots, around 900 prisoners have been executed.
Can anyone help me choose? In terms of units my order of preference from most liked to least goes ranged, pikemen, spearmen, other infantry, skirmishers, cavalry, artillery.
More!
For anyone else who is interested in getting Stainless Steel or reading on what it is all about just follow this link here: Stainless Steel v6.1.
Lively!
The best war movies are the ones stripped of the "tragic love" bullshit.
Anyhow, I'll see your press ganged naval warfare and raise you a late republican, highly trained Roman infantry cohort that's actually fighting like they did back then.
That's what happens when you break ranks, fucker...
Margaret Thatcher
England.
One word: Longbows.
Margaret Thatcher
So we took Palanga. It's doing okay. The walls were damaged along with a building, but aside from that, it's doing wonderful.
But it is very, very pagan and a little bit orthodox.
We also have Visby here. It's not doing quite as well, but it is mostly Catholic. It's having a port built in order to help turn it into an economic powerhouse. Maybe. Some day.
The only big worry I have right now is Pernau, one of the Order's northernmost settlements. It's lightly defended, as you can see, and it doesn't have the means to build up a good military presence on its own. And it has a rather large army from Novgorod right next to it. It wouldn't be surprising if they attacked it.
We also have the British noble here by Palanga. I'm not sure what you guys want to do with him. He has a rather formidable force save for not having any ranged units.
Here's our standings at this very moment. We're in second with Poland way, way out there, and Novgorod nipping at our heels. Poland just declared war on the Holy Roman Empire, though, so they shouldn't be too much of a danger. For now, at least.
Here's the diplomatic situation as it stands right now.
Here's our financial situation at the moment after I spent some money on repairs and some new units. What you can't see because I cut it off is that we currently have 1,153 florins so we are making money, just not in huge amounts.
What do we do from here?
Edit: I just found this screenshot and had to share it with you guys! Empire: Total War is looking pimp!
And also, I see your late Republican infantry cohort, and in keeping with the previous press gang vibe I give you...
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=30PGeCGLlC4
It was a stick.
Many of the eastern factions have excellent archers, but their infantry sucks. The Turks are an exception. They have great archers, and good infantry when you get janissary troops.
If crossbows are more your thing, the Italian factions have several different flavors. In later eras they also get arbalests which have awesome range and rape anything in heavy armor. A few units concentrating fire can even take out bodyguard cavalry if they are stupid enough to stay still (which the AI often is). Plus the Italians eventually get access to swiss pikemen.
oh yeah? I see your fancypants European infantry and raise you some Indians...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEIgZTUuPvk
Though, it's really weird that they just wear the shields on the back and don't have to deploy them.
The English Noble throws an interesting boon your way. To avoid him getting too comfortable, throw him to the wolves. Don't support his efforts in the slightest, and if it's at all possible let him wear out the remaining Lithuanians or at least make Novgorod uncomfortable. It's too much to hope he'll go hunting for the Mongols, but who knows. Either way, make him so weak that if he turns belligerent you can handily butcher him. Claim he was Orthodox or something, that always works.
Your military is developing nicely, and I can see you needing at least four self contained armies. One to keep the border with Poland secure, one to keep the border with Novgorod secure, one to keep the border with Lithuania secure, and one to march in and take Lithuania. The army securing the border with Lithuania can serve both of those purposes, but it's important to have not only a strong garrison military but a mobile army ready to take cities and burn heretics.
If the Novgorodians really do attack Pernau, I'm afraid you have no choice but to cede the province for now. Dunaburg should be focused on being a center of power in the Novgorodian borders, and the English general is a perfect candidate for leading a power projection mission. He has a sound force that you should bolster with your own ranks as you see fit, and guard the Novgorodian frontier. I think that at this point, the Russian attack is inevitable. The only problem I see is I'm not really sure if killing Orthodox people is still gives you money when the general retires.
Remember to keep recycling your forces. At this juncture, you still can't afford to build armies as freely as other kingdoms because your forces have very high upkeep. Take men away from relatively safe fronts (it takes a while for Poland to consider attacking you, for example) and transfer them to points as needed.
Unless you're confident about fighting a two-front war, you had best hope the Novgorod do not wage war upon you, or failing that, make peace with them quickly. You cannot afford such a costly endeavor now, and your budget will likely fall apart if you engage in a war with both the Russians and the pagans.
Two front wars are bad times, friend.
As for Novgorod, if they attack, once they begin the siege (as they probably will with that many units more than you) the best way to make them pay for Pernau is to sally out the light cavalry in there and start charging the siege equipment. It won't be a long life for them, but every catapult you destroy, along with every battering ram, ladder, and siege tower you can stop will equal more time for those archers to rain down flaming arrows on those bastards.
So push towards the big settlements and insta-siege with catapults and hope you don't get caught on the way there by a horde of horse archers.
As for Lithuania, I would swing an army around Riga and head straight towards their capital of Vilnius. It would be a huge blow to them and with it's stone walls it should be easy enough to defend despite being deep in their territory. I'd say two Prussian Archers and two Order Spearmen plus city garrison forces would be able to hold out against any threat. Also, Vilnius is directly North of their last remaining castle.
How do you beat press-ganged Prussian Infantry for militant brutality? :P
Anyhow, I always hated that scene...even an European column always had flank guards and in an ambush would HALT! OUTER-FACE! PRESENT-ARMS! not just stand there and get cut down stupidly.
Oh yeah, set the Brit to pagan killin'. You'll get cash for it even if he never takes a city. Just make certain he doesn't die. Also makes sense top focus on the Lithuanians and, even if the ruskies declare war on you, have them get bogged down in sieges while you mop up.
Heck, if you've got a diplomat close, you might as well buy them off and give them a weak-ass city to avert a war.
Margaret Thatcher
"I am here to crusade in Christ's name! You couldn't you spot me a few florins Hochmeister??? The lads spent a bit too much time in Berlin partying on hookers and mead"
It was a stick.
I've extracted the music from both games, and tagged them appropriately. They make my morning and afternoon commute much more epic. I was thinking of sharing them, but I don't know if that's allowed.