New Blitz Record - 14 Turns! SERIES COMPLETED

[totalwar_legend]

Hey everyone,

I've just finished my blitz game and I'm claiming new record at 14 turns

VH/VH - No cheats - Vanilla 1.3 no mods - exploited game mechanics as much as possible

Videoed the entire campaign. Will be up on youtube with commentary soon.

Happy to discuss how I did it if anyone wants to try beat 14 turns. I think it is possible.

[PapaRosario]

Congrats, that's pretty awesome. Can't wait to see that video commentary.

+rep for sharing

[fredtrotter]

Could you upload the save?

[totalwar_legend]

Why would you want the save? and how do i do that?

[PrestigeX]

How do you keep settlements from revolting ?

do you keep any garrison at all in captured places ?

Is the army used entirely made up of Cavalry troops?

how are mercenaries used / relied on -- (do you recruit them for a battle, then disband them so you can march farther with all-cav )

what sort of battle-tactics do you use if your army of like .. 20 bodyguards, and idk.. 12 soldiers left of a horse archer unit.. face up against the rebel armies in particular ?

some of these places stand up pretty well to a siege, a few turns atleast - how do you win these cities/castles with only a handful of men ?

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

Why would you want the save? and how do i do that?

You can find the save file in ...\Medieval II Total War\saves Copy it, upload it somewhere and give us the link.

How do you keep settlements from revolting ?

do you keep any garrison at all in captured places ?

Is the army used entirely made up of Cavalry troops?

how are mercenaries used / relied on -- (do you recruit them for a battle, then disband them so you can march farther with all-cav )

what sort of battle-tactics do you use if your army of like .. 20 bodyguards, and idk.. 12 soldiers left of a horse archer unit.. face up against the rebel armies in particular ?

some of these places stand up pretty well to a siege, a few turns atleast - how do you win these cities/castles with only a handful of men ?

You can read about that here

[totalwar_legend]

How do you keep settlements from revolting ?

Exterminating the population. I generally had no need to recruit troops from settlements I took. I fought most of my battles with minimal casualties and increased my numbers with mercenaries.

do you keep any garrison at all in captured places ?

Sometimes none, depending if there are nearby enemies or if settlement is red. Most of the time just 1 battle-weary unit of peasants or something. I moved my capital to be near the most unhappy cities as I went along. since I finished it in 14 turns, most still had a fear public order bonus from extermination.

Is the army used entirely made up of Cavalry troops?

Some were comprised entirely of cavalry. The one that was sent to arguin is a good example. Usually I only hired whatever mercenaries i needed for each battle and left them behind afterwards. At no point was I roaming with an army of 20 units. If they grew to 16 I split them into two. Sometimes I only had the general bodyguard pushing on its own. Jalal took down the HRE by himself and destroyed England with a handful of men. Horse archers and General bodyguards are the key to victory.

how are mercenaries used / relied on -- (do you recruit them for a battle, then disband them so you can march farther with all-cav )

I think i addressed this above. Usually the mercenaries were left behind as garrison though. I didn't disband any troops until it was near the end of the campaign. I made sure that my armies were not too large, which often meant the odds were against me. However, I there wasn't a single battle I cowered away from. It was tempting at times though.

what sort of battle-tactics do you use if your army of like .. 20 bodyguards, and idk.. 12 soldiers left of a horse archer unit.. face up against the rebel armies in particular ?

I used a variety of tactics. My videos will go into details about them. Generally I tried to get man of the hour as much as possible and to win each battle with as few casualties as possible, yet getting at least 85% of the enemy dead. Horse archers were great for this. I barely ever used infantry.

some of these places stand up pretty well to a siege, a few turns atleast - how do you win these cities/castles with only a handful of men ?

The only time I had an army waiting at a siege was when the Jihad army arrived at Baghdad, the jihad target which i dragged out the entire game. I made sure it was the last city I took. Every other time I tried to take the settlement without an assault. There were 3 main ways I went about this.
1. The Draw Out - If there is an army just outside the settlement and you attack it, the garrison of the settlement will reinforce it. If you destroy both armies there is nobody left in the city and its yours to take and move on.
2. The Forced Draw Out - Harder to pull off, but satisfying when done right. If there are no armies near the settlement, but one in the province, you send you worst unit (peasant) to siege the city and the rest of your army to fight the other army. You don't want to destroy this army however. Just get it to 84% or leave just the General and 1 bodyguard alive and it will retreat to the city. But since it is under siege it will not enter it. You then drop the siege and attack the army you just beat and the garrison will reinforce it. Destroy both armies for the city and continuation of blitz.
3. Underwhelming Sally Out - Assaulting cities can be a real pain, especially if you still had movement points to burn before arriving at the city. However, there is a little trick you can use to speed this along. As you are moving past the city send a couple of troops, or even just 1, preferably light cavalry or horse archers, to siege the city, and simple have the rest of the army leave them behind. Even if they are on Jihad. The garrison will get overconfident and sally out at end-turn. If you beat them, you get the city. No assault. No slow down. However, if the troops were on jihad you'll probably lose them a turn after to desertion. Sometimes you just gotta accept your losses. There are plenty of mercenaries to replace them.
Assaulting large towns or wooden castles can be a real pain because they eat up infantry if the garrison is large enough. Sally outs avoid those losses.

[eugenioso]

meh. happy for you i guess

[Aeratus]

Do you use arcade style battles?

I could see how it would make a ton of difference. With arcade style battles, a single unit of horse archer can destroy entire AI stacks due to unlimited ammo and impossibility for the enemy to catch up.

[totalwar_legend]

Do you use arcade style battles?

I could see how it would make a ton of difference. With arcade style battles, a single unit of horse archer can destroy entire AI stacks due to unlimited ammo and impossibility for the enemy to catch up.

No, I did not have arcade mode on. If you know how to use them right, horse archers should have all the ammo you need to get the job done normally.

[The Useless Member]

SO AWESOME.

[Duncan III]

congrats very impressive.

[Herpus Derpus]

Congrats. and good luck on your turtling campaign.

[Emperor of The Great Unknown]

Wait you didn't take America yet.

[totalwar_legend]

Wait you didn't take America yet.

Lol. Only have to wait like 200 turns before a ship can take me.

[complete noob:(]

Could move the event up to turn 2

[totalwar_legend]

Could move the event up to turn 2

that would violate the non modified game requirement.

[Choombi]

you sir, are freaking awesome!

[totalwar_legend]

I'll be posting my first video tomorrow. Just gotta finish setting up my new youtube channel and tidy up my commentary a bit more.
The video will show the battle of Tbilisi, where I take on the sallying out garrison with just a single unit of alan mercenary cavalry.

[In3x]

Just curious, why not 1.5?