A collection of DLV strategies and hints - rules changed

**Lord Cave** · January 13, 2009, 02:33 PM

Military/Diplomatic

When moving units near neighbor's territory, don't just click on the destination, make 2 or 3 moves. If you just click where you want to go, you might move through the neighbor's territory and cause relations to worsen.

**BamaToon** · January 15, 2009, 12:56 PM

This may have been mentioned before, but just in case, I'll mention it again. When moving ships, only move them as far as their range of vision instead of just clicking on their destination. Then you can move them again to the range of their vision, and so on until they run out of moves or they arrive at their destination. It might take a while to get them where you want them to go, but you avoid being ambushed by pirates or enemy fleets.

**Wartower** · January 16, 2009, 02:30 AM

Open Beta 3/Financial/Character:

Some merchants start out being Middle Aged, but still wind up crappy. Better to get rid of this merchant quickly by having him get has assets acquired by a better merchant. Then recruit a new one. Rinse and repeat until you get a young guy that has a good enough trait base to develop into something special. It's too easy for merchants in DLV to get the Loyal to Coin trait, so counteract this by ensuring that you develop young, Merchant's Guild trained agents.

**SValkan** · January 16, 2009, 08:39 AM

Administration/Family

Don't get easily hot-blooded with the Crusades. Sending your Heir or any family member plausible for the throne half the world away could mean serious trouble for you in the future.
Let's say your English Heir Augustus Heineken conquers Antioch with a crusade Army. Three rounds later your faction leader Henry VII dies and Augustus becomes his successor. That means you have to fast move him back to your capital to get crowned or you will soon get the trait 'Offends the Nobility'. Then you have to move an army inside Turkey, Byzantium, Hungary, the Holy Black German Thing, the Milan Empire Strikes Back and northern France to get him back to London Capital City.... Try the same with a fleet and you'll get attacked by any nation cruising ships in the known world.
So, either you get a noble death or you will arrive just in time for a rebbellion to break up. And in a few turns comes the 'Inspires Civil War' leader....
-----------------
Tips:
-Join quickly a crusade to avoid Pope ordering you to send your Heir or Leader.
-Remain high in Pope's eyes and overlook his orders by sending an other General.
-Order your 'own' crusade[

] against your neighbour, so you'll be near enough to return.
-Forget Crusades and make a carefully planned campaign against your target. It'll cost you like a divorce but that's war after all.
-Play an Orthodox or Muslim nation and relax yourself. But you loose all the fun (Religion is politics after all, and TW without politics it's CounterStrike).

**BamaToon** · January 16, 2009, 10:06 AM

If you want your heir to marry a foreign princess (for political reasons or to have a claim to another nation's crown later on), it's best to send a diplomat out a few turns before he comes of age. Chances are that some new princesses will come of age while your diplomat is out and about, and he can chase them down and get a marriage proposal (those girls can be hard to track down - just like in real life, eh?). If you wait until after the heir comes of age, it might be too late to find any good princesses, and you'll get stuck marrying an offered bride (who could be too old to have any kids when you marry her).

**mattgonzo** · January 26, 2009, 06:42 AM

it would be good if you don't attack factions in the beginning....at first build up your economic system built streets,ports, markets etc.
than you should make some alliances and trade rights with factions you don't plan to attack(at least at first)....
after you fully did this(should be in round 10-15) you should built up an armee and attack just one faction or two(only factions which cities can bring you a much better trade or bigger towns for better soldiers) or in the historical campaign(which is my favourite) attack just the factions with that you're in a war anyhow..
hope this are some usefull helps

**SonOfOdin** · August 11, 2009, 05:18 AM

Strategy on Battle Map(open field combat)

If you see a weak flank, make sure the other flank is strong enough to hold on it's own
When you see your weaker flank wavering make sure you outflank the enemy on your stronger flank with a strong cavalry charge and when they rout, attack the enemy on the weaker flank with the cavalry and the soldiers on your stronger flank to completely surround the enemy
The weaker flank would be encouraged by friendly numbers and the general(he should be with the cavalry unless there are some "matters to attend to" like chasing the enemy general

Make sure you leave some light cavalry to chase the routers and/or horse archers(they are a total annoyance...that's why I hate crusades vs Middle-Eastern factions)

AND REMEMBER!!! - This is mostly effective against Western Based armies with lots of infantry and some strong cavalry support
The cavalry should be easily eliminated by your own cavalry if you time the attacks well enough
Just keep everything coordinated - That's the key

**mrspanky** · March 17, 2010, 09:51 AM

As Teutonic Order V6.2, at start of the game, send your diplomat strait to the Rome. When he gets there, offer pope alliance, trade rights, and Acre in Holy Land as a gift. Yeah, I know it hurts. Such move would drastically improve your relationship with Holy Father. You can use that army to send on crusade against Cairo. When I took Cairo, the new governor event happened. Without him, my general would have to face rebellion. I wonder if It was just a luck on my part. From that on, crusades will be your monopoly. Ally with the rest of catholic nations and let your allies attack crusading cities for you. I took major cities with minimal casualties. My casualties were the rubbish units used to batter down the gates to allow allies to attack.

**Metatron33** · October 04, 2010, 09:25 PM

version 6.0 or any version..
during times of plague move your Family members/general/governer/priest or any unit you don't want to risk losing.Move them back to city/castle when you wish to build or plague has passed
(i recently found this lol,after 7 family member deing from a major plague event,thats 2/3 of my roster)
Hope this helps =]

**Posantio of Umbria** · April 13, 2011, 03:03 PM

version 6.2, battle map

This is an observation of me that reflects well on this mod's battle AI:

If you fight a battle against the AI on a map with woods and the AI army has several units of (heavy) cavalry, one of his cavalry units might be detached from his main force and hidden in a copse of trees to execute a surprise flank attack!

example 1

If I hadn't moved off to the side in the direction of the upper left corner, but made straight for the enemy in the upper right corner, the unit of "Diederik van Roermond" would have flanked me.

example 2 (open spoiler of Battle of Milano)

Here my "vanguard" stumbled upon them by accident. Imagine the trouble I'd be in if I hadn't manoeuvred up that hill but marched straight ahead!

So, watch your flanks when fighting near/among woods.

**BamaToon** · April 13, 2011, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by Metatron33

version 6.0 or any version..
during times of plague move your Family members/general/governer/priest or any unit you don't want to risk losing.Move them back to city/castle when you wish to build or plague has passed
(i recently found this lol,after 7 family member deing from a major plague event,thats 2/3 of my roster)
Hope this helps =]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but you can use spies as mobile germ warfare units. If you have a spy in a city that is afflicted with plague, move it to a city that your enemies own that is not plagued. Assuming the spy makes it into the city, you have now spread the plague to your enemy.

**QvintvsHC** · May 08, 2011, 01:37 PM

hi,
this mod looks fantastic (installed today), it is more challenging than other MTW mods i played...so i am trying to grasp the gameplay style and features.
i dont know if i did something wrong or i am missing something but...is there a way to rebuilt castle to town and vice-versa? i cant see the option in settlement construction window.
thanks

**Hidden Sage** · May 08, 2011, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by QvintvsHC

hi,
this mod looks fantastic (installed today), it is more challenging than other MTW mods i played...so i am trying to grasp the gameplay style and features.
i dont know if i did something wrong or i am missing something but...is there a way to rebuilt castle to town and vice-versa? i cant see the option in settlement construction window.
thanks

Option was removed with the mod. Something about balancing the game such that you can't have 30 towns and 3 citadels for your entire unit production. Forces things to be spread out more realistically. Makes playing France totally suck, because there's such a disproportionately large number of castles in the area.

**BamaToon** · October 11, 2011, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by Hidden Sage

Option was removed with the mod. Something about balancing the game such that you can't have 30 towns and 3 citadels for your entire unit production. Forces things to be spread out more realistically. Makes playing France totally suck, because there's such a disproportionately large number of castles in the area.

It's a mixed bag. I don't like playing as certain factions because they have too many castles and not enough cities for income, but at the same time it makes the game more of a challenge.