Viking Prince’s Short Campaign Faction Strategy Guide to Medieval II Total War: The Holy Roman Empire
Viking Prince’s
Short Campaign Faction Strategy Guide to Medieval II Total War:
The Holy Roman Empire
Version 1.0
Date 1.31.2009
By Viking Prince
With inspiration by Rebel6666 and his incredible threads such as The Great M2TW Informative Thread
Contribute to the next version and your name can be here!
I am considering a guide to the short campaign.
This is a test to determine interest and whether I can suck some value out of your input.
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This is a guide to the short campaigns in Medieval II Total War (M2TW) as I would approach the campaigns. There are many ways to approach these campaigns and I would certainly suggest reading a bit from the other fine authors posting to this site.
My style of play will be a more or less chivalric campaign with religion used as an important facet of role playing. Occupation is the normal resolution to a successful conquest of a region. I use a more or less vanilla version of M2TW with the Retrofit Mod patched to 1.05. Regions are only acquired through conquest or as a resolution of a war. No purchasing or trading of regions with factions. I tend to take my time and a typical short campaign will last about 50 – 75 turns. This seems to be a good length of a campaign to have some fun and get the feel for the factions. Even though this is a guide to the short campaign, the play is with the thought of the faction thriving well beyond the end of the campaign and not meant as the quickest means to victory within the game simulation.
This is a follow up to Viking Prince’s Faction Strategy Guide for Newbies to Medieval II Total War: England. I would also modestly recommend a quick read of Viking Prince’s Strategic Guide for Newbies to Medieval II Total War.
The Holy Roman Empire (HRE):
Joe Friday’s Just the Facts Ma’am
The HRE is the largest faction at the beginning of the campaign and can be played right out of the box without unlocking factions. The short campaign victory conditions are to hold 20 regions and eliminate Milan and Denmark as factions within the game.
The initial position consists of:
Frankfurt (capital, large town),
Staufen (wooden castle),
Nuremburg (town),
Innsbruck (wooden castle),
Vienna (large town), and
Bologna (large town).
Examine your initial cash and projected cash flow and you will discover the first concern is to stabilize the economy. You can literally be broke on the second turn if you are not careful. Over the first several turns the garrisons of the towns need to be free of upkeep if you are to be able to keep any troops in the field. Build mines when the payout is greater than 200fl per turn. Complete the usual land, road, markets, small churches, and town halls to improve communication, growth, and cash flow.
Diplomacy or How to be Dependant Upon the Kindness of Strangers
This is a short campaign and there is no reason to be at war with any factions other than Milan and Denmark before this portion of the victory conditions is met. A good diplomatic plan is to make no agreements including trade with these two factions. A good alliance structure is to become allied with France, the Papal States, and probably Venice. Within the time constraints of the campaign this should be a doable coalition to crush Milan and not bicker too much with each other.
A challenge will be to get the alliance and trade agreements. You emperor has neglected the administrative training of diplomats. There seems to be greater needs than first building a town hall and then training a diplomat. You will be, to paraphrase a misused quote from “Street Car” – dependant upon the kindness of strangers.
Try to get some tribute with every trade and alliance deal since this will allow you to keep afloat for the first turns as you get the economy in order. In most cases this is usually about 500fl for 3 turns for me. More can be had, but I like the other party to remain happy. The artificial intelligence (AI) may disrupt your perfect plans though, so be prepared to adapt to conditions on the ground. Remember, the diplomat has approached you – do not scare the fool away since he may not return.
If you want to marry the princess off to cement an alliance, do it. You will not be lacking for generals. The same is true for your heir, Prince Henry. The more solid you can make the alliances, the better for the short campaign.
Do not forget to feed the Pope a 100fl tribute to keep relations up. Build the churches and priests for the same reason. Stettin and Thorn and even further east are good places to send your priests to convert the people to the church and to build up their piety for the College of Cardinals.
Stage One – Seizing the Strategic Strong Points
The initial moves should be towards besieging Hamburg, Metz, Florence, and Prague.
Hamburg
The hidden captain led army should immediately besiege the rebel held wooden castle at Hamburg before Denmark gets a chance to do so. Dietrich von Saxony and the spears in Frankfurt should join up as soon as possible. Move your spy into the Danish area to keep a good watch on movements. Once the force has combined and the Danes have moved off to grab another rebel held province you might find the chance to break off the siege and make a quick thrust to take Arhus. This will complete your first goal, if luck is with you. Otherwise you should convert Hamburg to a town and develop Magdeburg (stage two) as a castle. You need cities with ports to develop the income of an empire.
Metz
Prince Henry and the army at Staufen (except a peasant archer or take both and recruit another) should move and besiege Metz. The siege is short enough to wait out and defeat the army in the open field. Otto von Kassel and two spears should then redeploy to Staufen for garrison duty. When the economy allows, Staufen can then be converted to a town with Otto von Kassel in firm control for the conversion. Metz and Innsbruck are sufficient for holding the front. Innsbruck will eventually supply some better spears to supplement the militia defenses of Florence and Bologna to keep the other factions honest prior to the move on Milan and Genoa.
Prague
The rebel held Bohemian large town of Prague can be besieged by joining forces from Vienna and Nuremburg leaving a token garrison behind. No more than two peasant archers are really useful in the siege force. Wait for the enemy to sally out or assault as your skills and style merit. It takes six turns and time is money.
Florence
The Emperor and the army in Bologna should besiege the rebel held large town of Florence. Recruit some town militia to garrison Bologna. You should be fine with the defense of Bologna for the first several turns with the token force, but reinforce the garrison before Milan, Sicily or Venice decide this is an easy target. Bologna is a huge cash cow that is surrounded by hungry factions. Hold it and do let allow others to treat it as an appetizer that starts a needless war. This is also a bit of the role play reason for the victory conditions in the short campaign; the reason why Milan must be consolidated by the Germans to create physical continuity to the empire.
Stage Two -- Straighten Out the Borders and Frontiers
With a completed stage one, you will now expand to round out the German empire with four more regions: Stettin, Magdeburg, Breslau, and Ajaccio.
At some point, better sooner than later, you will need to send a spy, priest, or diplomat to the vicinity of Dijon. The city is a key potential trigger to war. If held by either France or Milan, Milan needs to locate the next easiest target. It may very well be either Florence or Bologna. This may mean Milan beginning the war early. Continue with stage two, even if war breaks out.
Follow up from Prague with rebel held Village of Breslau and the rebel held Motte and Bailey at Stettin. A new general and more militia from Frankfurt can be used to take Magdeburg. If the siege is completed at Hamburg and Arhus is not taken, use the army to take Stettin. Convert Stettin and Staufen to town based economies.
Stage two completes the consolidated German empire that is to be developed for cash and troops. Do not over invest in economic institutions. The first level of markets, ports, churches, town halls and roads are sufficient. Second level and eventually third level town barracks will be need for the better militia to garrison free of upkeep. Keeping taxes set to high or even very high will slow growth and thus slow the urge to improve the infrastructure in this short campaign. Villages should be kept on low taxes to speed the population growth for a second level town, especially if there is the potential of a port for trade income. High level chivalric generals can administer the villages to also speed up growth.
A quick comment on garrisons is needed. Vienna, for example, is critical not just for the income but also to keep the eastern powers from looking westward. Keep a good general and perhaps a few armoured spearmen as well as the free upkeep militia based here. This is useful for anti-rebel forces as well as a reaction force against Polish/Hungarian/Venetian/Byzantine forays into the lands of the Kaiser. Try to never use militia as garrison troops unless they are free of upkeep costs. They are neither cost efficient nor are they sufficient to hold off a serious military force. Other critical points are Hamburg, Florence, Bologna, Metz, Innsbruck, and eventually during the Milan campaign -- Bern. It will always be a balancing act between costs and sufficient military to deter aggression. Not all of these critical areas can be supported at one time, but to neglect to support those under direct threat will result in distracting wars and consume resources that will not lead to victory.
Stage Three -- Taking out Milan
If you can take out the Danes quickly, do it. If not, do not worry. You have Hamburg and Stettin which will limit their expansion. If you do not take them out, get a trade agreement now. You will now prefer to focus on Milan. Milan is the biggest threat to the Germans and your alliance structure is not stable in the long run. Take Bern and if possible the island of Ajaccio to put the squeeze on them. With luck they will begin a war with HRE, France, or Venice for expansion. Usually they will be grabbing Dijon from France or the rebels.
There are two ways the Milan-HRE war can begin. The most obvious was mentioned in the stage two discussion. Milan strikes at a weak HRE settlement -- either Florence or Bologna as the most probable.
If they strike early, they will have an advantage. The first wave of the attack will be burning off their first units. Do not be fooled. The next waves will be with the newer units.
A key for the HRE is to have a full garrison up to the limits of free upkeep plus a peasant archer or two in each city. Keep the additional units in a single army in the field led by a good general. If you wish to lure Milan in making the assault, move the defensive army south but within range of the towns. It is then your choice on whether to wait for them to assault the town or for your field force to assault the besieging force. As long as you have a general and an additional mailed knight in your field army, you should be fine. You should be able to recruit a couple of mercenary crossbows and a mercenary spear or two to fill out the spearmen and militia spears.
The perfect campaign is to build siege catapults for two attack armies to strike at both Milan and Genoa simultaneously. It is even better if you are able to call a Crusade on an excommunicated Milan. I prefer to use Florence for my siege works, but Bologna is fine also. No siege equipment bigger than catapults will be needed in the short campaign. Each army should consist of a good general, two catapults, two mailed knights, some mercenary crossbows, and several armoured sergeants. Fill out the army with militia spearmen. It is best if you have upgraded the militia armor two steps. These armies are the reason for the good economy. You will need to recruit and provide the upkeep for these men. In some cases, you may need to refit and make a second go at it if the Milanese has no other enemies.
A quick comment on missile soldiers is needed. If you want several mercenary crossbows, you will need to recruit and pay upkeep on the first ones and wait for more to come available. Plan accordingly. Waiting for Bologna to pass 6000 in population to build a city watch and then militia crossbows will take too long and the Milanese will still greatly outclass you. Building up Innsbruck to train pavise crossbows is also an option, but this is a more long-term option that is not really suitable for the short campaign. If it fits your style of play better, go for it. Nothing says that you cannot win the short campaign by completing a master plan for a longer campaign! This is why there are such strategic decision differences between the two campaign lengths.
The idea is to siege and assault only if needed. Two catapults can put one hole in the outer walls. If you desire to do without the catapults, you may be able to mount an earlier campaign. I do not try to bum rush the towns at the expense of the rebel settlement expansion in stages one and two. You will read many a guide that does do the quick and dirty campaign which usually results in the HRE becoming excommunicated. I prefer to keep the Pope happy and never strike when the Papal rating for Milan is very high. Waiting for your chance is the key to the victory. Have patience. Milan will do something to lose favor. Count on it! Also, try to time the campaign so that the Pope is not likely to die in the middle of the siege. A reconciled Milan can always be a problem.
Stage Four -- Taking out the Danes
If you did not take out the Danes with a single blow to Arhus in stage one, now is the time to do so. If you have established trade, you will need to send a diplomat to break the agreement. It is all a part of the chivalric role playing and not really needed for the play of the game. The expected regions under Danish dominion will be Stockholm, Riga, and Antwerp. There may be more, but after Milan – this is merely a formality to complete the short campaign victory conditions. The castle at Magdeburg should now be able to pump out armoured spearmen and cavalry. Hamburg should be capable of producing some catapults as well as filling out the army with militia spearmen with some upgraded armor. Just as with the Milanese Campaign, rely on the mercenary crossbows since they are much most cost and time effective than building up a castle to the third level archer to train the pavise crossbows. With the naval ports and some time the campaign will now come to a triumphal close.
Epilogue
There you have it. The basic German empire of the starting 6 regions, the four rebel regions of stage one, the four rebel regions of stage two, Arhus, Milan, Genoa, and what ever other regions that have been added to the two factions. You should reach your 20 region requirement with the fall of the last faction. The empire stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, from “Sea to Shining Sea” --- so to speak.
More factions are planned. Your comments are always welcome. If I update the guide and use your ideas, you will be given the credit! Until next time ---
Regards, Viking Prince
Originally Posted by Simon Cashmere
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Go Vikings!!!! 
