Of either the Medieval II/Kingdoms or Rome/Barbarian Invasion variety?
Just finished another long campaign in Medieval II, and thought there were definitely times when it could use someone else in there.
We can sort out what faction we’ll play (although my favourites are Venice in Med II and the Greek Cities in Rome) and other details (how long people get per go, order of play, etc) if there’s an interest.
I’m interested in Medieval II, as I keep playing campaigns wanting to get into the gunpowder era but being bored with it before that, a co-op would help with that.
I just don’t like the idea of only passing along the game when the sovereign dies, like we did before on this forum: with my style of play, not only would it take a couple weeks but I’d have around a 50% change of winning before he dies, even on hard/hard.
Perhaps if we do do Medieval II we could have a “modified sovereign” rule that you pass along the game when your sovereign dies, but with a minimum of, say, 5 turns even if he dies and a maximum of, say, 25 turns if he doesn’t (in roleplaying terms, this can represent a regent over a young or senile king, respectively.)
ETA: oops, you mean the Kingdoms expansion? I don’t have that currently 
Probably should have clarified; both the original Medieval II and the Kingdoms expansion pack, as well as the original Rome or its expansion pack Barbarian Invasion are good for me, sorry for the confusion there.
You might need to patch up Medieval II to the latest version, as Kingdoms patches the original game automatically.
I’m with you; I don’t like the “pass when the sovereign kicks the bucket” idea for the simple reason that it doesn’t seem particularly fair if you get stuck with King Sickly Runt (plus I like using my faction leaders in battle); yours is a good idea that I think would work well, although I was thinking maybe we have a fixed turn limit for each person (of about 20?) to make sure everyone gets a nice slice of the co-op pie. I’m not too fussed either way, though.
I’m down for a M2:Total war campaign, but don’t have Rome: Total War. I’m not leaning in favour of any specific faction, but I’d like to vote against the Moors because both their unit variety and location sucks to play.
Russia might be cool, as they only truly come into their might in the Gunpowder Age. Could we have a campaign where the background is that a prescient Seer warned us of the rise of the Mongol Empire and that we were the only hope of defeating it? I.e. the background goal is to meet and deal with the Mongol Horde when they arrive?
Thirding the suggestion for 5/25 turn rounds.
Sounds like we’re set on Medieval II, just a thought about the turn rules; I have a vision of a long turn (king survives) followed by a short turn (said king dying) followed by a long turn (new king survives), etc etc; Do you think a slight tweak on those rules would be a better idea - 10 turns if your king pops his clogs, 20 if your king survives?
As for factions; I agree with not using the Moors; poor position and unit roster.
I’d also vote against Milan because I hate them (crossbow spamming swine).
My vote is for Venice; good units all round (including late game), good position for expansion and crusading.
I’ve played one campaign with the Russians, lots of empty expanse would be the downside for a co-op I think. The ‘us vs the Mongols’ idea is quite interesting though (providing it doesn’t devolve into “leave the stack for the next player”); the Turks might be a good one for this (with the added bonus of Jihads). Worth mentioning that Eastern factions also have the Timurids to deal with.
I’ve never even seen the Timurids.
If we’re doing this, I insist on starting us off. I don’t really care what faction, just let me start us off.
I suppose 5/25 is a good way to run things, as well. Last time we did this, we played until the king died. I never really paid attention to kings that die soon (or really, kings that don’t die soon) before that, but some kick the bucket early. It rarely happens, but it does happen, and that’s not cool.
Now, something that tripped us up before: any mods? If so, let’s list the mods that MUST be had. If not, then we should all uninstall and then reinstall. **xtisme **had a bitch of a time getting the save game to work if he didn’t do that, so if we all do it before hand, install the same mod(s) (if any) and do everything the same order, we should be okay.
I’m interested in playing, but I don’t have the expansion. Would we be using it?
Also, it’s worth noting that last time we sometimes won within the first, second, or third player’s turn. It might be worthwhile to play to a given goal, not the game-specified 45 territories and a couple particular cities. If Russia, maybe we could agree to try to hold, say, London, Granada, Jerusalem, Cairo, Tenochitlan, and Constantinople, and to entirely destroy the Mongol and Timurid hordes. The Russians are in an OK position to deal with the Mongols and Timurids- their Cossack musketeers and spearmen will do well, but they lack good armor-piercing archers and pikemen, and their heavy infantry aren’t great. No crusades or jihad, either.
Not only that, but the Russians can expand a lot.
I still call first.
I’m not mad keen on the Russians, I was pretty crap with them the last time I campaigned with them, to be honest. We’ll sort out order of play and whatnot once we’ve got everyone in who we’ve gonna get.
@ appleciders; you won’t need the expansion, but might need to patch it up to the latest version.
IMHO, monetarily-wise, the Russians are barely in the top 3 in expansion capabilities because the open territories are so poor and spread apart, but that will make it more challenging. I also like the lack of crusade and jihad for the same reason (although crusading with a northwestern or western catholic nation can be more trouble than it’s worth in early and mid-game except to placate the Pope and get mad bonuses to your generals.)
ETA: but I also haven’t played as Milan or Venice in awhile so I would be up for Venice as well. As long as you don’t mind my sovereign having a strategy of sucking up to the Pope (my current kick is to see how well I can do as a catholic with never getting excommunicated.)
Note to self: kill Pope before** Ludovic**'s turn.
No point - he’ll just regenerate!
Well, yes, but if we take over Rome…
Come to think of it, he does look rather troll-ish…
How’s this work, now? Ya’ll pick one faction and take turns playing it?
Correct. We send the actual save file to the next person in line. They play everything and let us know how it all went. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, the person lets us know what’s going on as they’re playing it. After you’re done, send the file to the next person. Just send it to the appropriate hard drive location, then resume the game.
If no mods, then, I’m in. I’m still at school, though, and I won’t be at home until a week from Sunday. Put me last in the rotation.
I’m fine with almost any faction, but can we discuss goals beyond the basic ones required for the campaign? LOUNE has a habit of reaching those in the first fifty turns or so. I’d like to try something more challenging, like successfully destroying the Mongols.
Huh. I don’t know if I’m good enough to hang with ya’ll then… I’ve got no desire to go down in history as the crap-ass king what ruined the Russian empire.
That’s fine. Let’s have highs and lows.
I’ve never seen the Timurids, so having the goals as destroying the Mongols and Timurids will keep my spurs from jangling, so to speak.
coff
If you use Stainless Steel, I’m in. Once you play that mod, vanilla is unacceptable.