So, based on advice in this thread, I finally got around to picking up Medieval: Total War and the Vikings Invasion expansion. When it first came out my computer wasn’t up to dealing with it, and since then I’ve had other obsessions.
I am glad I finally picke it up, though. It’s been fun, even though I’ve only played it for a few hours. More to come tonight. So far, I’ve been playing with the Vikings because I’ve always loved that period of history. Eventually I’ll have to try out the other campaigns, but for now I’m a Viking raider.
So does anyone else really like this portion of the game? Most of the discussion I’ve seen on the 'net has focused on the other three campaign periods.
My current priority is to figure out enough of the economics to actually put together a viable economic plan. So far I’ve done well initially, but faltered once the other kingdoms get decent military forces. It does help that the Vikings seem to be able to win even when at a 2-1 numerical disadvantage. Though I do have one question. How the heck can the computer manage to have a kingdom reduced to one province still supporting a 1000 troop army?
Because you don’t lose troops or improvements whn you run out of money, you just can’t make new ones. That enemy of yours probably has a 50,000 florin overdraft. Unless he manages to conquer a large amount of territory, fast and with minimal losses, those troops are all he’ll ever have.
That’s why it’s always good to disband any outdated units, a least at the beginning of the game. They’ll just be a drain on your resources.
Right, I should have figured that out. I had noticed that you didn’t seem to lose anything when you went negative, so I should have just applied that to the computer. You’d think that at some point his troops would just desert, since he has nothing to pay or feed them with.
I have a semi-related question. In the European campaign, at least, when I’ve completely conquered an enemy nation and taken all of his land, inevitably, a few years down the line, he’ll suddenly reappear in one of his original provinces with thousands and thousands of troops. Even if the province is totally pacified and completely loyal to me. Is there anyway to stop this? Do I have to maintain five-thousand troop garrisons in every home province I conquer forever and ever, or will he give up after I beat him down enough times?
The Pope can be a real prick about doing this. Pointy-hatted sucker just won’t stay down.
Returning royalty is one of thoses things you shouldn’t waste your time worrying about - it’ll come when it comes. Just think of it as an extra challenge to the game. Besides, they rarely come back more than once or twice, and after they’ve ben gone for long enough (25 years or so) it’s over.
The Pope, however, is an exception. He always comes back within a couple of rounds. Either park a force permanantly in Rome or save him for the very end.
Man, I’ve had that friggin’ game on my shelf for a couple of months and haven’t been able to play it because my computer’s graphics aren’t up to the challenge. (I get a grey, featureless horizon and white oblongs instead of the vibrant landscape and detailed little medieval soldier dudes I should have.) I just got a memory upgrade, but it looks like I’ll have to go back and get a new video card. Looks like it should be a great game.
The Vikings have a brutal economic situation. You have two options. You can pay the bills by raiding the crap out of everyone else. Or you can make an early grab for various rebel territories, thereby acquiring an economic base without starting any major wars. Or you can combine the strategies. If memory serves, there are a couple nice plump rebel territories in the southeast. So you could, say, send some early huscarle units through Northumbrian and Pictish territory for some quick cash and then take and hold several territories far from their borders to provide an economic base.
Read the tutorials at www.total-war.org. They explain that this occurs with pretty much everyone. What they suggest is cornering your opponent into one small territory and keeping him there until the end of the game.
The pope apparently revolts with increasingly stronger armies.
Try as I might with the Vikings, I just can’t beat the damn thing. If you grab the uppermost territories, you’ll have the hell of a time making any money and I can’t seem to quell the rebel territories. Basically, raid the ones with abbeys and you’ll get the most loot. Taking over Ireland is what I was going to try the next time I got to playing.
Actuall, the best way to get around this, if you want to be cheap, is save-reload-reload-reload… Factions returning is somewhat random, and sometimes when you reload a game the faction simply won’t return.
(With the european campaign, I like the Germans, English, and Byzintines)
When playing with the vikings, I found it useful to take the islands and use them as bases for raiding. Use your king in the beginning since his retinue regenerates over time and his unit is pretty badass. Only downside is that viking cavalry aren’t worth spit, and I love a good cavalry charge.
I have a question myself - are Gendarmes worth anything? By the time I get the I already have either Gothic Knights or Lancers, who both seem much cooler. Should I bother building them?
Thanks for the advice, folks. I had some more fun playing last night, but I really have to improve my generalship. I’m still not sure how I lost the battle last night between my ~800 Vikings and the ~700 neutrals. I think I let my units get too scattered.
The battles aren’t that easy to control for me so far. More practice, I guess.
The Vikings are easy once you know how. First forget the north they have no cash countries that are worth keeping instead look at those nice fat countries to the south. I tend to go after the Mercians (sp?) first hitting a few rebel countries with abbeys to make cash. Now you instinct may be to abandon those countries because of the loyalty issues. FIGHT THAT FEELING. You’ll never be able to win if you’re stuck with 2 unit producing countries and the AI has huge stacks of men. After you sack a country quickly build Watch Towers then Border forts for the loyalty bonus if you have a spy stick them in the new country as well. After that get a muster field and produce a few peasants as cheap garrison units (note Total War seems to calculate loyalty by number of troops not quality so cheap units with 100 men are the best to keep a place under control but they will be slaughtered if you let it get invaded) Try to get treaties with all the countries but the Saxons. Now don’t be afraid when your cash goes to 0. It will over and over as you get these countries under your thumb this will change in a moment.
After you get the Mercians under control is the hardest part of the game by far. Your troops are spread all over the place you have countries all around you that would love to invade and by now the Saxons have large armies and they’re your next target. Invade them targeting their best countries first and consolidate like you did with the other countries building for loyalty. Pick a few of your best defended countries for your cash countries and start building those expensive slow moneymakers like ‘forest clearing’ in them. Two more countries I turn into Navy producers to keep my coasts clear of surprise attacks by the Irish. Every other country you have should be building cheap thrall units as many as you can afford this makes the AI think twice about attacking your vulnerable countries. For instance if you have 1 peasant unit it’s sure to get attacked but if you have 1 peasant unit and 3 thrall units in a country the AI usually leaves it alone even if they could take it easily unless you make the first move.
If you balanced things right you should have most of the South under control with a few along the western coast to deal with next. Money shouldn’t be an issue anymore and as you push out your borders you can start using the extra thrall units as cannon fodder or as loyalty garrisons as you take new countries. If you didn’t balance things right then you’re probably getting invaded from both the north and the west. I find this funnier myself trying to get my army into position as I’m assaulted from two sides but it’s hard to win. After you get the south fully unified the game is pretty much won you’ll have the money you’ll have a large army and you can control the seas with no problems.
One thing that works well is to let the computer run the battle for you. It’s generally a much better general (heh) than you are and if you win, casualties are often much lower. You can also quicksave before attacking so if the computer loses you can take a shot at it yourself.
Use the grouping buttons, constantly, if you’re the attacker. Choose your formation at the beginning - my default is “infantry charge” - and regroup after every melee. It’s the easiest way to fight large battles.
If you’re a defender, simply set up a position at the edge of the map and return your units to their beginning position after every charge. Don’t go on infantry chases ubless you’re positive they’re broken and have no reinforcements.
Generally I don’t play the Vikings (I got the expansion for some of the other goodies you can use in the 3 major campains, for the new countries you can play, and to fix some of the bugs with being able to create the uber units early), but basically an agressive strategy with cheaper units is what I generally do…LOTS of peasants. Raid raid raid. Sell off everything when you conquer a territory, retreat if there is overwhelming force and hit them somewhere else. Keep a decent fleet with boats in as many sea zones as you can afford…certainly links to your conquests and proposed conquests. I managed to amass enough money to eventually buy a decisive army and start taking and keeping territories for a more conventional expansion.
I have a question though for anyone with the Viking expansion. How do you win with the new country in northern Spain (who’s name obviously escapes me atm)? I’ve tried to play them several times and while I’ve been able to survive, I’ve never been able to expand enough to win the game. Its the only country I’ve never been able to win with.
BTW, there are some cool mods for ME: TW. I played one Napoleonic mod a year or so ago that was VERY cool (though I don’t have the link for it anymore…I uninstalled ME: TW when Rome shipped and have been obsessively playing it since).
In case anyone is interested, here is a mods forum for Total War ME. I don’t think they have the actual mods linked here (this isn’t where I got mods before), but they discuss some of the mods available for ME: TW…some of them are QUITE good.
I haven’t seen any mods for Rome yet, but I expect some good things there…unless Activision is smart and puts out a series of games with this engine that is.
xtismeYou’re thinking of the Argon I assume? I’ve never heard of anyone win with them on hard so far. I did it on normal once. No real strategy other then my “attack, attack, attack, consolidate” strategy I always use.
Thanks for the advice on beating up the pope. This time around, I let him keep Rome and got him and Sicily into a fight instead. The Hungarian domination of Europe and the Mediterranean is all but assured.
