in the quest for a more fun and challenging game

[hardBoiled]

...so im picking my brain to try and come up with ways to make the game more challengingand fun/epic. I play on H/VH but plan to move up to VH/VH ones i learn more about diplomacy.

heres what i do so far.

I do not use massed ha because it so damn easy and makes for a really boring game where 1 army can massacre full stack after full stack of enemy light-heavy inf. ..and its the disgusting way the mongols fight. ...and the turks

my fighting style is a well timed charge head-on with minor microing. allways the heavyest units in front (they wouldnt have it any other way, letting lesser men get a taste of blood before them? no way!).
this makes ur units deployment pre battle and battle planning + recon (allways knowing what ur gonna fight) etc so much more important . ..and ofcource for more epic and challening battles.

I try to use my familymembers as much as i can. gets them to gold quickly and makes for really good traits. i do loose them once in a while but its only because I try to imagine that they fight for hounor, and allways pitch my Fm versus the enemy Fm whitout any help. (well sometimes spears help).
and it makes for those really cool single general vs single general epic fights.

recently i try to "occupy" conquered settlements, release prisoners and allways declare war "or we will attack". I find u can do wondorous things when ur rep is "immaculate". like getting ur enemys naighbours to assist u, getting seace-fire in the middle of a full blown war to buff up ur armys, and making other factions reluctatnt to attack u. and its allways fun to be the champion of islam. ofcourse you need good diplomats for this.
multy-year tributes to neighbors allso helps with this.

Im allso trying now to only use ladders-towers when attacking settlements. again for the epicness off thousands of men fighting in mele on the walls. and its a pain in the ASS! and challenging. means u cannot take a well guarded settlement whitout good inf.

mind you all this takes some dicipline but after a whlie, u cant emagine playing any other way, I guarantee you! ..and still i have managed to take 90% of iran from the turks and hold the ghaznavids off (with ghorid assistance) before the mongols arrive playing this way so it is very possible and a hell of a lot of fun!

...whitout the real danger of loosing there just isnt any good incentive to play for me.

...so in the quest for a more fun and ch.. ya the title, im trying "general-cam mode". this whay u really cant micro ur troops much and epicness is at its peek. being bogged down in mele with my general and having thousands of men fighting on all sides as far as the eye can se, and moving from one side to the other behind youre line just watching the spectacle before charging in whereever ur line is braking ..oh man its beautiful.


but i have a huge problem here, I would like to know if any of u have experimented whit putting units under AI control. im trying and for the life of me I cant make it work, they are so damn stupid!. and most of all I need to find a way to be able to sit back with my general in "gen-cam" while I send my men to take the walls. a way to be able to order them to run on top of the gate to open it whitout having my general run to the gates to right-click on top of the wall.( even then its a pain with the gen-cam to do this). this is the main reason im trying AI-control but they only do it occasionly otherwise they run down to to the streets after routing units. is there a whay at all to do this?

any good AI mods out there not included in BC that solve this? or ways to do it?

I would appreciate advice on what else I could do "the title" aswell.


thx for reading this far and thx for the best mod ever! BC-team, havnt had so much fun playng TW ever. and please mind the spelling.


oh.. and i have 6 years till the mongols charge me up the ass (khwarezm),
will I die a horrable death or what?! advice on how to take them on? feed them massed spears and archers guarding the bridges right infront of theyre spawning area, or just sit back in my settlemets to watch my own economy kill me whitout mongol assistance?

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Well, you certainly have more mental stamina than I do. I agree with you about Horse Archers, but some of the other stuff...Urgh.

[anaztazioch]

I make it this way.
All city defence fight i set to automate.
All my cavalry vs militia only + general i use to automate.
I use 1 super army. Usually its 2 heavy cavs, 2 hybrid cavs and 2 ha or 4 ha, 4 spearmans, 2 assault infantry, 4 hybrid archers, or 3 archers and assault infantry.
This army i use when fighting stronger armier.
Sieges with militia infantry i make automate.
Sieges with my siege army. 2 trehbuchets, 4 assault infantry, 2 spearmans, 4 militia. I controll this army.

The strategy changes vs mongols (suprised ?).

[hardBoiled]

well after having played rome and MW for some time now im desperate for new thrills whit the game. this kind of stuff has been ni the back of my mind for a while but only BC so far has made me want to try it. is so great a feeling beeting ur enemys full stacks like this and alltough I have put up some barriers for myself Im still free to do my best whitin those and get better at it as I go. some training in single battles was needed and hot-keying everything imaginable. now as I sayd i cant imagine playing any other way.

the anticipation while ur waiting on a hill whit ur force, looking at 1 or 2 full stacks of enemy, and they are smart enough to stand there waiting for u so u have to march (gen-cam) knowing that u will fight an epic battle and maybe will get massacred if u didnt deploy ur men the right way and charge at the right time ..and the awsome music. .. is well, awsome!

the stuff like releasing prisones and not sacking cities I dont allways do.

[hardBoiled]

"automate" as in AI control? IM still struggling with that. but will get used to the stupid AI soon i guess

[anaztazioch]

i would call it random dice roll not AI controll

[hardBoiled]

yup. the description says something like "u can give the unit orders but it will find the best way to execute..." but they do things like dropping the ladders in front of the wall and running back. or just standing there and not fighting etc. it on ur game experience rather than enhance it at this point.

[anaztazioch]

No im talking about automate option is battle introduction screen (still on world map, not battle map)

[Cromagnon2]

Don't try to put units under AI control while sieging or defending walls, cause it is broke in MTW2, I have tried that many times. In RTW it worked strangely enough.

[hardBoiled]

it sure is. will have to manage whitout.

[St Naffatun]

General cam is fine for open field battles involving artillery, particularly if you are defending and your cavalry options are limited (looks great with banners removed too) - but with significant use of cavalry it's a pain in the neck to control and judge distance, in reality you would trust the cav commander, agree on a strategy then give the signal, or lead them yourself.

I have only used AI assistance for about 10 seconds, and that was long enough (think clenched fists combined with a spontaneous 'wtf was that!?!111oneone' in the dead of night waking half the house up).

Impose rules on yourself, break the campaign into phases - trade and building, then pick a settlement you wish to take and go to war, muster an army all in one place, always include artillery where possible for the reduced movement points and a central point to defend if attacked as they are not very mobile, never sack the money bonus is insane in most mods, "trust" allies by not garrisoning heavily where there is no obvious need to - in other words try to role-play a little and never, ever reload. Made a mistake - live with it, the fun will last longer.

[Aurion]

General cam is fine for open field battles involving artillery, particularly if you are defending and your cavalry options are limited (looks great with banners removed too) - but with significant use of cavalry it's a pain in the neck to control and judge distance, in reality you would trust the cav commander, agree on a strategy then give the signal, or lead them yourself.

I have only used AI assistance for about 10 seconds, and that was long enough (think clenched fists combined with a spontaneous 'wtf was that!?!111oneone' in the dead of night waking half the house up).

Impose rules on yourself, break the campaign into phases - trade and building, then pick a settlement you wish to take and go to war, muster an army all in one place, always include artillery where possible for the reduced movement points and a central point to defend if attacked as they are not very mobile, never sack the money bonus is insane in most mods, "trust" allies by not garrisoning heavily where there is no obvious need to - in other words try to role-play a little and never, ever reload. Made a mistake - live with it, the fun will last longer.

Yup.

Of course, the AI is always worth a shouted/screamed/shrieked "WTF?!"

[Cromagnon2]

The thing is with grouping units under AI control is that they will have their own agenda on how they will form, and make a total mess of your battle order

Sometimes I still use it to band some mercenaries or auxillia.

I also never play with minimap on.

And give orders while using the 'Delete' key to groups. (= general cam for single units).

[hardBoiled]

in reality you would trust the cav commander, agree on a strategy then give the signal, or lead them yourself.



Impose rules on yourself, break the campaign into phases - trade and building, then pick a settlement you wish to take and go to war, muster an army all in one place, always include artillery where possible for the reduced movement points and a central point to defend if attacked as they are not very mobile, never sack the money bonus is insane in most mods, "trust" allies by not garrisoning heavily where there is no obvious need to - in other words try to role-play a little and never, ever reload. Made a mistake - live with it, the fun will last longer.

thx for the suggestions.

I actually find cav armys easier to command in GC. u just spin around while running and give people orders, and theyre fast enough to keep up with u.
lot of fun.


will be sure to try building an army in one place, but most of my armys are 80% mercs anyhow. but I do wait a few turns to take even very badly defended settlements or idle enemy armys so that heavyer troops can arrive to "lead the charge".
dont use artillery at all. ..and actually am stupid enough to trust allies even whitout roleplaying. Im allways delightfully suprised when they do betray me. "bastards stabbed me in the back!?"

so I do roleplay somewhat, and would never dream of realoading.
I never sack, but extermination/execution vs occupy/release depends on the generals character. allso wether or not he gets in to a lot of fights.

I allso imagine that different kings have different styles of ruling. aggro/passive, infrastructure/military etc


Strelac: where do I turn of those options ?

[Strelac]

You can turn off option to show you the unit status of your and enemy troops. This also prevents you to see mental status and loses on enemy side as well as damage against objects such as gates.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

AI makes me sad. Whenever I have AI allies present at a battle, all they do is go from loose to tight formation every few minutes, and sit there.

[Cromagnon2]

That and the armies of militias + ballistas/trebuchets.

[Aurion]

Well, to be fair to the AI, they do occasionally bring cavalry in M2/BC.

Wheras in R:TW the AI did "OMG INFANTRY SPAM!!!!!111oneone"

[anaztazioch]

Well, to be fair to the AI, they do occasionally bring cavalry in M2/BC.

Wheras in R:TW the AI did "OMG INFANTRY SPAM!!!!!111oneone"

Well in MTW2 Its SIEGE ENGINE SPAM.
In BC its UNIT SPAM and MONEY SCRIPT SPAM

[Poach]

To answer your question on the Mongolians: Defend bridges and city walls. Mongols thrive in open field battles, they are far weaker at taking cities. You'll lose cities because of their super 12-13 odd army spam, but if fought well you can make them pay heavily for every city!