Save strategies: How often, how much, & why

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

In order to save-guard our campaigns we utilize saves. I save at the end of each turn, and save seven consecutive
turns, then rinse and repeat. This gives me the flexibility to go back, if I really screw up or one of the saves is corrupt.

These are the ones I use...

England - the campaign save. I try and save to this when the games in a safe place or when I quit the game.
end turn - right before I hit the button.
battle - before each battle.
Battle - Complex battles.
maybe - as stated.
perhaps - as stated.
Crusades/Jihad - Right before you call it. sometimes I try and get in on the last couple turns of a Crusade for exp. and the money. Sometimes I mis-judge and have to go back.
I'm screwed - the situation is...."not good".

I do alot of micro-managing and certain harmful things can slip by you. By having a lot of saves I can go back and
usually catch a big mistake. So how often do you save and why?

[meese]

I rarely save and mostly rely on the auto-save though I do save my campaigns as [faction] - 6.2 VHVH every time I get off the computer.

Sometimes before a tough battle that looks rather fun (eg. bridge) I do save into a seperate slot as [faction] - 6.2 VHVH 2 though this is rare. More often, I start saving when the plague gets around because, while I dont' mind it killing my citizens, I hate it when generals die so I move them all out the turn before it hits.

[spur390]

I mash ctrl + s every minute, and new save beginning of each turn. I get ctds several times a turn (turn 110). It could be because of using Xenophonia with 6.2, but I don't want to give up authentic spanish, italian, french, etc. for funny sounding accents. I'm not sure, as I get ctds when I click on a city usually, not when I'm about to hear a voice. I also make a new save right before big battles, so I can replay them at my leisure. I have a few of these but I really only replay the fortress defense of lithuania's 1 full stack and king vs. 2 teutonic full stacks with king.

Edit:I got to my better computer and played a few turns. I suppose the crashes were due to my other, worse system. I'm not getting any crashes on a decent computer.

[Abyrvalg]

Sometime I make 20 saves per turn, sometime no saves per 20 turns.
But usually I save at the beginning and at the end of turn, before battles, and some quicksaves through turn.

[Enomine]

I rarely save and mostly rely on the auto-save though I do save my campaigns as [faction] - 6.2 VHVH every time I get off the computer.

Sometimes before a tough battle that looks rather fun (eg. bridge) I do save into a seperate slot as [faction] - 6.2 VHVH 2 though this is rare. More often, I start saving when the plague gets around because, while I dont' mind it killing my citizens, I hate it when generals die so I move them all out the turn before it hits.

This is essentially what I do as well.

[Tyrenia]

ctrl S every turn before I hit the "End Turn" button, or as I prefer to call it, the houglass of "oh , I forgot to move my vulnerable general away from the enemy army of spearmen".

I also save before each battle, so that if the enemy gets a freak win because I failed to command the battle, or if a freak shot from my allies catapult wipes out my 10 general (why does the AI think that firing a catapult into a melee is a good idea? And yes, it did happen once before to my king ). Oh, and I have my "England" save, which I use to save before I leave the game.

[Galain_Ironhide]

Hey! you posted this in the Medieval II General Discussion forum too.

Oh well... click... copy.... click... paste

I press the save button just prior to ending a turn, that way everthing is done. Every so often prior to a major battle I will save too, just in case the game decides to crash, then once that battle is fought I might re-save using that same file name again just in case the game crashes during another battle in the same turn - this has happened too many times in the years gone past.

[caspian]

I save all the time, the Ctrl+S is so easy to do. But I only reload if I loose an auto-resolved battle that doesn't make sense. I cant reload when I take the reins and then get my ass handed to me, i feel I have to live with that defeat.

[Pietrak]

Before major battles and before assassination/espionage/merchant attack/burn heretic attempts (quick saves). You don't have an idea how fast can you get a couple of assassins with maximum subterfuge.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Hey! you posted this in the Medieval II General Discussion forum too.

Oh well... click... copy.... click... paste

...Yes and I see you were there as well..... I posted this in SS, TATW, & MTWII Gen Discussion to measure the difference in responses. Remember,
different game, different crowd. Minus of course forum jumpers like you and me. Each different forum has regulars who stay close to home and never leave it.

[hpsauce13]

Other than autosave, its usually about once every 10 turns, or before a difficult and important battle. Oh and for taking out the occasional really pesky heretic.

[Soul Firez]

Hmm strange post for someone who has a historical/mythological character whos greatness walked hand in hand with there demise as there avatar have courage i say live with your mistakes feel the pain push the limits win or lose fight with honour .

yeah i save seldom and never reload auto saves etc i live or die by my decisions

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Hmm strange post for someone who has a historical/mythological character whos greatness walked hand in hand with there demise as there avatar have courage i say live with your mistakes feel the pain push the limits win or lose fight with honour .

yeah i save seldom and never reload auto saves etc i live or die by my decisions

Yes....you are right...my everyday avatar while playing games should be chicken little. This one goes with my profile pic and is meant for an upcoming appearance in fight club..

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The quote is from the Movie...*IsThereNoOneElse?*, and hopefully it will do me well in the upcoming competition.

[JorisofHolland]

I save before battles, because I fear the game might crash. Especially other mods, less stable than SS, often crash during battles.
Oh and of course I save when I quit, but I don't use it to go back. If I loose something, I lost it. I mean: in RL you can't go back either, aye?

[The Mouth of Sauron]

I save only before I leave the game,I haven't experienced 1 little crash since I got this mod and never download sub mods (makes things compicated and has more chances to crash)

[JorisofHolland]

RR/RC is pretty stable too, I never had it crash (I must admit I have played it for only a few days, though )

[Galain_Ironhide]

Oh and of course I save when I quit, but I don't use it to go back. If I loose something, I lost it. I mean: in RL you can't go back either, aye?

Thats the rule I run too. Earlier in my current TO campaign I seiged the Lithuanians only to realise right at the end of the battle when the day was virtually mine, that I left Timed victory's on at the GC selection screen ( at the camaign start) and lost the battle. I ended up losing about 75% of my best troops whilst the Lithuanians got a lot of their soldiers back (something like 800). After walking away from my puter swearing and cursing for about 45minutes I came back to it and went on playing. The best leaders in history have had to struggle against adversity after a military disaster so why couldn't I? Taught those nasty Lithuanian's a lesson about 5 or 6 turns later with a rag tag army built from remnants from other provinces.

...Yes and I see you were there as well..... I posted this in SS, TATW, & MTWII Gen Discussion to measure the difference in responses. Remember,
different game, different crowd. Minus of course forum jumpers like you and me. Each different forum has regulars who stay close to home and never leave it.

lol its been a while since I looked in TATW, as SS is more my thing at the moment, but it is always good to look around to keep up on the TW goss.

[hpsauce13]

but I don't use it to go back. If I loose something, I lost it. I mean: in RL you can't go back either, aye?

i agree totally, preferring realism over winning(mostly) but i do reload when something that wouldnt happen in real life happens, like my army decides to attack the enemy up a 100ft cliff, or my faction leader 'forgets' about his bodyguard and charges headlong ,alone into the centre of the enemy

[Gigahertz]

Just before I turn the game of otherwise I roll on makes it more fun with their being a chance of me losing my empire.

[JorisofHolland]

The best leaders in history have had to struggle against adversity after a military disaster so why couldn't I?

Well, maybe cause your not one of them?
Loosing armies and continueing anyway (maybe a little angry) only makes the game more fun. If I would re-load after every battle, things would get a bit boring, and as I'm not heading for a perfect score, I don't really care.