Like the other guy, ive gotta say, loving Sicily & this game.

[Massive_attack]

Seriously, this faction rocks me. Been playing with Burrek's K&K, plus my own little personal mod medley (Ultimate AI, some other AI mod, DARTHMOD, Burrek's K&K, Crimson tide (awesome), and some minor (some would say cheats/game breaking edits) changes to export descr unit regarding unit upkeep.

But back to the topic, well, jeez, im really enjoying this game to the fullest:
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/39940c14549433e37c6743cb923e501a9d7757b2.png

A little feud with Venice over Genoa, oh man, i love this game.

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...108d7bc6d6.png

Genoa then gets hit, again, by france. (note: this is the battle between both armies reinforcements, theres another full stack slugout on the other side (minimap) !

Then the holy roman empire came knocking after i took Venice (after a campaign of long bloody battles with venice in the dalmatian coast, creeping around the Adriatic untill i took Venice)
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...65a6b143d1.png

However, screwing around with the HRE is not like screwing with Venice or France, they dont kid around.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...a2a527201d.png

I love this game, and i love these forums and mods. Thanks for making every game more and more awesome, you guys are awesome !

[Viking Prince]

@Massive_attack

Great post. I liked your enthusiasm and screen shots.

[Conquistatore]

Dude, that campaign map looks absolutely beautiful!
And I've never seen the HRE have so many stacks, let alone all in the one place! Amazing.

[Pink Beard]

What the hell... Venice is making -326 cash?? How is that possible?
And eh my friend I hope you can beat those (estimated) 9 stacks of angry germans...

[Massive_attack]

I shall try, currently the pope holds them at bay, since both me and the HRE are in his good graces. As for the Germans, the majority of those stacks are poor militiamen from the southern German territories, most don't have proper force compositions (the AI in my game often prefers making cities, and using those units, i can see why, its more of a horde kind of thing for them) For that reason, its quite possible for me to score tremendous victories with my godlike troops. Why, when the french attacked Genoa (it was like the HRE stack attack, but with more complete stacks, and slightly less frequently) i had to use 1 stack of tough as nails heroic Norman knights against waves upon waves of french peasantry... eventually they grouped together and crushed the army, and so Genoa was lost and a hasty peace signed.

Now im fighting smarter, going after the weaker powers instead of the German fatherland. In particular, the Byzantines are weak, i intend to go after them, and then build up a large enough elite force to take bologna, and (hopefully) be able to hold the enemy off at the Alps.

Though i also fear Egyptian expansion, those people have expanded far and wide, making a vassal of turkey, and stealing Constantinople from the inept Byzantines. They own all of the holy land and middle east, and all of east Africa. Eventually, I shall be drawn into a conflict of necessity with them, being the only other great Mediterranean power, and i can only think of the billions of Egyptian stacks that i will need to face !

PS: Scotland took over England and is now at war with France. Go figure !

Edit: you should remember Venice just lost a ton of territory around the Adriatic, and now only has Milan and a few stacks defending it. I could destroy it, but i have Germans at the gates, and they don't seem to want to stop any time soon, so i allied the french and Venetians instead. Old enemies uniting against the bigger threat (HRE), quite noble really.

[Ascarona]

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/39940c14549433e37c6743cb923e501a9d7757b2.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...108d7bc6d6.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...65a6b143d1.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...a2a527201d.png

I love this game, and i love these forums and mods. Thanks for making every game more and more awesome, you guys are awesome !

(I apologize, I can't help it)... ''And so I Jizz in my pants''
Jup that joke sucked, but come on those are some sweet pictures. I've never seen HRE have that much armies on the field. I might have to take a sicily campaign after my Egyptian one.

[Conquistatore]

'Jizz in my pants' - Best song.

[Massive_attack]

You guys seem to like the pics, so ill see if i can find a few others that i personally like...

PS: the only reason the HRE has such hordes is because of the AI mods i am using in conjunction, as well as darthmod. Now when an AI goes in debt it recieves money, and spends that money like a machine, the result is huge armies !

Now, for a few pictures of my exploits; i love showing off the impressive battles i have fought:
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...96d853ba33.png
"The Steel Horde" the army i sent to venice, to wrap up the 'adriatic campaign' and to seal Venice's place. You can see, i used plenty of heavy infantry and only my best armoured soldiers (as uposed to bringing in men from conquered settlements scattered around italy, these men are straight from Palermo and Naples)

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...8ac3c9fb54.png
"The second (and final) siege of Genoa"
This was after I seized Genoa from a dying Milan early on, and after survivng numerous sieges from an enraged but foolhardy Venice, THIS happens. Much blood was shed, but the french poured more and more troops in. Eventually, my crack force of norman knights and assorted fighting units were defeated in battle by 3 french stacks striking at once, We didnt stand a chance.

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...cb45cb7cc3.png
Not much special about this, one of the many battles involved in the defence of Genoa.

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...9ae725ac2d.png
Another fine pic, this is from the initial venetian strikes on Genoa, as you can see, I did not spare anyone, even the fleeing troops were subject to my wrath !

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...97a3d9ee85.png
Same battle, this time from behind the walls, amazing what a few well placed militia units can do.

Thats more or less it, the war with the holy roman empire has been more or less uneventfull, the HRE has been forced to stay around Bologna, due to papal sanctions. Of course i cannot go agressive either, but why would i want to ? Some times the HRE sends satelite armies to commit minor 'offences' to the 'treaty' but each time they try i crush they're poorly lead armies, and exterminate all prisoners as a sign of sicilian superiority. The tactic is most effective, almost every general in our ranks is feared, and causes men to flee in great numbers, making cleaning these routing troops up a quick and efficient matter, minimizing losses.

In the East the war with the Byzantines has gone well, the majority of the byzantine standing army, stationed at sofia to defend against hungarian expansion, has been crushed in battle, eliminating the ruling byzantine emperor in the process (fool !). The city fell soon after, and with Corsica mine, and other provinces under siege, the campaign promises to be wrapped up within 3 turns.

After that, i shall wipe out the moors, if they are indeed still alive.

Soon, very soon, i shall be able to rise against the HRE's tyranny, and take her place as the dominant military power in europe ! MWAHAHAHAAH !. (lol lame)

Seriously, best game ever.

[Sith_Lord]

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/5ec87e334082a4d59724d79beac0d79ae725ac2d.png

That picture is amazing!!! It looks so epic and the trail of bodies is hilarious. Honestly though, the troops standing on tat wall, it looks like they are standing on an oerhang admiring their work as opposed to the remnants of a shattered wall.

[Massive_attack]

Aye, I'm sure they were quite pleased with themselves, much blood was shed by the foolhardy Venetians who thought they might test Genoa's walls. Alas, these heroes were doomed, caught in the snare of multiple french stacks attacking multiple angles, These pictures reminded me of their sacrifice when i exterminated the populace of Venice. An act which, though i am not proud of, was necessary to ensure that Venice would never again dream of standing against her betters.

Some day, France too shall pay for her insolence.

Edit: on a 'lighter' note, a little update on the HRE's stack attack. Remember when it was just 9 (aprox) stacks ? those were the days...

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screensh...ef7eb87ba1.png

Pray for me guys. lol.
PS: anyone know any techniques to taking out vast hordes of Germans in siege warfare ? that knowledge would be real useful right about now.

[Pink Beard]

o.O they went from 9 to like 15

uhm siege warfare is nothing then getting stakes near the gates as well as pikemen and the like so the enemy soldiers run themselves to death when they poor trough the gate!

btw: boiling oil helps tremendously if u can hold the enemy at the gate. I killed 300 soldiers just with boiling oil before!

[hitokiri2486]

gotta agree with Pink Beard there; keep them at the gates with pikes and you'll kill thousands of them with barely any casualties.

the only time I've ever seen the HRE that active though is when I'm playing them; your AI sure is aggressive! right now I'm playing a Milan campaign, and I'm just trouncing through the German heartland with Lusted's AI. too bad you don't have it as easy, haha~

[Massive_attack]

You know, i kind of perfer it this way. When i finally do amass the resources and armies to take the HRE down it will feel just that much more epic and incredible. For now, im just screwing with the empire's forces, using my elite 'Venetian Home Guard' to stop the empire from gaining a foothold on that bridge to venice.

Thanks for the help on the siege warfare tactics. Too bad no sicilian units can use stakes, but i do have some halberd militia, i guess them plus some italian spear militia units all deployed in guard mode just after the gate would help.

I have other fears though, in the latest stack attack pic you see the HRE massing in the south for a possible attack on either Naples or newly captured Florence. Either way id probably beat them, but its a complication.

The best way for me to ruin the HRE right now is a suprise attack on Bologna with maybe 3 elite stacks of shock troops. One for the city itself, the other 2 to buy time for the besieging force. If the HRE loses Bologna it loses acess to Florence Genoa and Naples, and i can focus all my italian stacks on Venice, where the majority of the HRE seems to be.

PS: Constantinople rebelled, soon ill have all of the byzantine empire under my control !

[Gigahertz]

Woah nice campaign lol im sorry to say i think HRE is gonna steam roll all of italy

[Massive_attack]

Not if i can bloody well help it ! But your kind of right so far. A German pope just got elected...

GG.

[Ascarona]

well, i won't be much of help since i never came into any situation like that, i mean holy , thats 15 full stacks that the germans are sending to you!

But if you want to make sure that the enemy won't be having the pope role anytime soon, then spam your lands with priests and churches. By the end of my English campaign that I was discussing not too long ago,
I had filled the entire cardinal college with English people, also the pope was english (duh). All because I recruited a priest about each turn or so. The theologians Guild was kind of handy as well.

[Massive_attack]

Hmm, yes that would be nice. The germans have maxed out faith though (how they achieved this is beyond me, since they are kind of waging all out war on a christian nation...).

Still, papal support would be invaluable to our cause... I shall do my best to spread the faith.

By the way,

The Germans seem to be fixing their armies up, of late I'm seeing gold armored spear militias and even feudal knights (mounted and dismounted) occasionally. Im going to need a better and more efficient army if i want to stop that. Got any ideas for killer stacks ? The ones i produce are usually good for 2 or 3 german full stack battles, but the fritz like to gang up with multiple stacks, and i simply need more effective armies. The germans are begining to over-run dalmatia now, i must stop them there at all costs !

[Conquistatore]

Load up on archers and siege weapons. These units are infantry killers which you sorely need. Try to keep your enemy at a distance and pelt them with arrows and fire. This will cause them to lose quite a few men and also their morale to waver and hopefully make them rout. I don't think you can go on the offensive at the moment, not with all those stacks and you having to fight one stack plus two or three reinforcement stacks in one battle. I recommend a defensive position for the time being, with sieges and bridge battles and many ranged units with a nice flavouring of artillery, you will eventually wear them down.

[Old Geezer]

Get a few dismounted Norman knight units to help defend walls and chop their spear militia to shreds in open field battles. Try and get the HRE to attack you across bridges so you can whittle them down also. You should be able to get many units promoted. Try and recombine the depleted units with some which have more chevrons and then retrain the donor units so that you can get more high level chevroned units faster.

[Massive_attack]

Solid replies and sound advice.

The Sicilian faction seems to be lacking in any real pre-gunpowder ranged troops. They have crossbows, yes, but they are not as great as archers due to archers' inherent range and the ability to shoot over friendly forces.

Except for this unit called 'Muslim archers' Never tried them, they just seemed to be a relatively poor unit. Never occurred to me to make a few of them. Sorry, this is my first time playing as Sicily, are they any good ? A decent archer unit would be terrific right now.