Elves Help.

[Michael11]

I recently downloaded the mod and have started a campaign as the Elves. My first move were to combine most of my forces with Glorfindel and head straight for the Rivendell area,crushing any Cultists in my path,and then secure that general area. In the area around the Elvenking's Halls I thought I could combine my troops around that are,and use them to secure the area around my two
fiefdoms in the area. It appears that Dale has other plans for my cities,as they laid siege to the ElvenKings halls with one rather large army,and then the Beornings joined in as well
which led to a restart.

I'd rather not fight a 3-front war until I have the chance to build a large army,which I can't do at this time. Will Dale always attack me early on,as I'm spending money maintaining a large garrison in there right now which I could find much better uses for,crushing the Beornings comes to mind.

[Highland Laddie]

Leave a medium sized garrison in Elvenking's Halls (maybe 1-2inits of Threshhold troops, 1-2 Greenwood Guards, and 1-2 Greenwood bows). I also usually like to have 1-2 units of the Elven Scout (those are the horse archers, I think) to harass any army that may besiege me. This is usually a good deterrent to prowling expansionists.

[CountMRVHS]

In my last Elves campaign, Dale didn't attack me too early, though they did eventually. I think I left most of my Greenwood armies right in or around the Elvenking's Halls, because I didn't want to march them through Beorning territory anyway. That may have deterred them, and Dale will usually get into extended wars with North Rhun and/or the other Northmen factions. Maybe you just got unlucky?

Fortunately, war with Dale can be relatively manageable, since you are close to their center of power and can isolate them into 2 separate halves, east and west, on either side of the Celduin. Maybe gifting some of their territory to the Dwarves would allow you to form a buffer, which in turn may allow you to get a ceasefire with Dale and focus on other areas.

[Wambat]

Elves are a special case. So long as you have a FM in a settlement, and the enemy is not fielding Trolls or Oliphants, no mannish faction will be able to take your settlement. Just have your FM in the Square with his back to a wall and he will grind up all the enemy troops, no matter how many are sent in. This is particularly true of Dunidainic settlements where you can get your FM in a corner inside the square. Devote your regular units to your field battles and garrisoning your new acquisitions; but, try to hire all the mercs you can find to do garrison duty for you.


One of the reasons war with Dale and the Beornings is so likely is that you share large borders with them, and you, perforce, have very small forces yourself. I think the AI factions have to judge threat levels based on auto-resolve values, and I don't think the auto-resolve value do, or can, reflect just how powerful Elves are. Combined with the fact that you just wont have the manpower to leave stack loitering around all your provinces to act as deterrent. I believe units outside settlements are a greater deterrent than units inside a settlement.


A few things which might help reduce aggressiveness:


1. Small donations; as little as 100 mirian per turn; to these factions may help forestall the inevitable.


2. Powerful and plenty of allies should help these factions think twice before declaring war. Try to avoid alliances with factions that are likely to go to war with one another.


3. Keeping an area form being claimed that borders the territories of the two factions may forestall their aggression. I find AI factions often wait until all the provinces they border are claimed before starting wars with neighbors. If you maneuver to keep a settlement like Ereb-gobel in the hands of the IP, this may effectively neutralize both the Beornings and Dale.

I, and probably some others, have documented Elven campaigns in the Campaign Reports thread. You may find some good insights into how best to pursue a campaign there.

[Michael11]

Ok,thanks for the advice. I know roughly where I'm going with them, I need to get my fiefdoms up and running,so I have access to a source of troops I can replenish relatively easy,as I wont be able to
replenish my Elven forces anytime soon,and not have too many wars going at once,if I can help it,as 2 or 3 front wars are bad in general. Once I have that done I'll have more options to choose from.

[Michael11]

I have a further question:Will the Beornings always attack me,or is it possible to get them not to attack me.In my current game I had secured my 2 two fiefdoms near Caras Galadhon
and was just beginning to produce some troops to supplement my armies when an army of 1,300 Laid siege to Caras Galadhon. I might be able to repulse them if I had enough
Elvish Nobles to cover all my cities,but I don't and my Threshold Troops get cut to pieces against those numbers.

[CountMRVHS]

I think the Beornings will almost always attack.

From my observation, the AI tends to follow a fairly predictable pattern of expansion. First, AI factions will attempt to conquer neighboring rebel settlements. If at war with another faction, the AI will pursue that war. If the AI has no other wars and no other rebel settlements to take, it will attack the player if you share any borders.

There are some exceptions to this. But think about it from the perspective of the Beornings. The Elves just took Langwyke, which prevents them from expanding to the south. They are allied to Dale, which means they are not going to expand northward. So unless the Beornings are at war with Rhovanion (unlikely, since Rhovanion is usually either at war with Dale or Dorwinion, or trying to expand southward), the closest target is the one that almost entirely surrounds them: the Elves.

You *might* be able to discourage the Beornings from attack in future campaigns. I would avoid taking Langwyke, in the hopes that the Beornings would expand southward and get themselves into a war with Adunabar or someone else. I would also try to keep a large deterring force around Caras Galadhon, or any province that the Beornings might be threatening with armies of their own. This strategy brings other problems, though, so I'm not sure it's worth it. Probably the best thing is to just prepare for a Beorning war, and try to make it a relatively short war.

The good news is, you have a good chance of defeating them. Fighting on the defense in sieges can be extremely effective, even with your lower-tier troops, because your Elven cities are set up on hills which will exhaust the assaulting Beornings. Arrows *really* hurt the poorly-armored Beornings. The biggest danger they pose is in their own archers and their 2-handed axemen - the bodyguard unit and the Beorning Axemen. Apart from that, you can rout much larger armies in some rather satisfying battles.

Usually when the Beorning war starts, I take it as a signal to get my Greenwood troops out of the forest and start taking over the Anduin Vale.