The UNofficial Gondor Thread

[Hallow]

First of I am terribly sorry if this isnt the first Gondor thread, if it isnt, feel free to bash and insult me for being a troll to your hearts content.

Anyways, I thought I'd make a thread for us Gondorians, how are you enjoying the faction? How is it going? What is your stretegies and tactics?

Personally I just became the target of an invasion called on east osgiliath and I'm rallying forces there from the heart-land to protect myself.

[The Doge of Venice]

Creating a legitimate thread isn't really trolling as long as it's not rude or inappropriate or pointless.
Yeah I just started a Gondor campaign but I've modified trolls so they are not as good and I used the cavalry mod, I think it'll be pretty hard to be honest with you.

[Their Law]

I'm enjoying the decision to have the river crossings neutral at the beginning of the game, it makes the gondorian early game quite hectic as you dash towards the crossings to secure them, whilst at the same time mordor's doing the same. I don't think it's accurate that gondor doesn't have control of the crossings but it's a good design decision.

Controlling the east bank is a real struggle as well which is good as both mordor and gondors side of the river should be hard to take for the opposing side. I like the way the two cities minas tirith and minas morgul are the early rivals and each are the key to breaking the back of each factions control of the river bank.

Militarily i like the balance they have achieved, i do feel that minas tirith should have access to the plate armored spear men from the beginning. Aside from that the look of the units is fantastic and i am enjoying my campaign at the moment. Though i'm worried about the monster that Isengard has become, damn Rohirrim can't fight to save their own lives.

Aside from that currently trying to push the Haradrim from harondar so i can establish a river border with them. Mordor's contained for the moment apart from the routine raids on east osgilith. However just like the OP i've had an invasion called east osgilith so i'm expecting Isengard at any moment. Only complaint is that the osgiliths shouldn't be able to go above village in my opinion.

No matter they shall all fall before Gondor......

[Hallow]

I'm enjoying the decision to have the river crossings neutral at the beginning of the game, it makes the gondorian early game quite hectic as you dash towards the crossings to secure them, whilst at the same time mordor's doing the same. I don't think it's accurate that gondor doesn't have control of the crossings but it's a good design decision.

Controlling the east bank is a real struggle as well which is good as both mordor and gondors side of the river should be hard to take for the opposing side. I like the way the two cities minas tirith and minas morgul are the early rivals and each are the key to breaking the back of each factions control of the river bank.

Militarily i like the balance they have achieved, i do feel that minas tirith should have access to the plate armored spear men from the beginning. Aside from that the look of the units is fantastic and i am enjoying my campaign at the moment. Though i'm worried about the monster that Isengard has become, damn Rohirrim can't fight to save their own lives.

Aside from that currently trying to push the Haradrim from harondar so i can establish a river border with them. Mordor's contained for the moment apart from the routine raids on east osgilith. However just like the OP i've had an invasion called east osgilith so i'm expecting Isengard at any moment. Only complaint is that the osgiliths shouldn't be able to go above village in my opinion.

No matter they shall all fall before Gondor......

If you are gonna defend against an invasion then recruit lots of archers and put them in E.Osgiliath, and I mean LOTS :p You'll have 5 stacks bearing down on you soon enough :p

But yeah alot of whats happening to you are happening to me, Rohirim are getting their asses handed to them, although they are not the only ones, silvans, high elves and eriador are falling to Mordor, Isengard and OotMM whilst Dale and Dwarves are falling to Rhun, atleast I got Harad contained

[gaunty14]

If you are gonna defend against an invasion then recruit lots of archers and put them in E.Osgiliath, and I mean LOTS :p You'll have 5 stacks bearing down on you soon enough :p

really, I've only ever had two invasions in 50 turns

1 in Cair Andros, the other in Osgiliath

[Afonso the Conqueror]

really, I've only ever had two invasions in 50 turns

1 in Cair Andros, the other in Osgiliath

only 2??? lool i already defended Osgilath 15 times in 50 turns, since the time i captured W.Osg i didnt have the chance to regroup and capture E.Osg

Edit: sry for double post

[Hallow]

only 2??? lool i already defended Osgilath 15 times in 50 turns, since the time i captured W.Osg i didnt have the chance to regroup and capture E.Osg

Edit: sry for double post

You do know the difference between an invasion and a regular attack right? An invasion is what Sauron calls on you making every single evil faction marks on the targeted city, its scary and overpowered.

[The Sweeper]

I started as the Elves but thought I'd go for Gondor cause I liked the sound of the challenge. Glad I made the change.

Loving the campaign so far. Not really very far, but as everyone else does I immediately rushed West Osg and took it from the rebels, literally one turn after Mordor took East. I'm establishing my borders at the moment. To the far West of the territories I've consolidated the town in the Mountains. I had an army en route to Cair Andros but suddenly had a stack from Mordor assaulting West Osg. I hadn't been able to fortify West Osg much since I took it, so I only had a couple of units in there, and I didn't think I could hold off the attack, so I diverted the Cair Andros army down and attacked the Mordor army. Unfortunately this also meant that the Mordor units in East Osg. came into the battle and I ended up with some pretty heavy odds against me. Fortunately it was a bridge battle and managed to get a heroic victory over 'em. None of them escaped which left East Osgiliath completely undefended, allowing me to step in and take it .

The only problem I've had so far is my bank balance. Gondor seems to have a fair bit of wages to pay at the start, with pretty underdeveloped territories, which means spending on recruiting troops and buildings is leaving me a little poor. Once I've fortified my borders I'll concentrate on improving economy and then start taking territories further out. Hopefully Rohan won't get completely destroyed by Isengard though

[Afonso the Conqueror]

^ yeah gondor has a weak economy at start, ill give an advise to everyone, harad has the abit to atack from the sea, so its a good idea to scout all your coast area, osgiliath and Cair Andros are key settlements, who ever takes them as defensive advantage

[Turkeys!]

Gondor is really just chaotic to play. I made the mistake of mainly focusing on my Eastern border (Cair Andros *sigh* what a mistake) and somewhat ignored my southern border except for taking Tolfalas. That is now biting me in the ass because Harad is just rampaging straight in and Mordor keeps sending giant Orc hordes toward Cair Andros which is my main defense for Minas Tirith and requires fresh troops all the time. It is fun to actually have a challenge for once though . Oh and those Gondorian Militia actually can pack a punch when besieged. On the open field though, they rout extremely quickly. I think I'm going to start restricting myself to sieges more simply because I've only just started being able to get better, main-line units (Economy has been squeezed dry)

[Afonso the Conqueror]

^ like Théoden said.... "Let them come"
the only reason for sauron dont call up an invasion on me (gondor) its because they are still trying to capture Edoras i send a few knights to help Rohan, its a preaty battle to fight, also i charge some harad crusaders on their way to Edoras

[King Kily]

seems like you guys having a quite relaxing campaign^^
I'm at turn 124 now and close to defeat, maybe i explain the situation and you guys could give me some help

I quickly took w.osg and cair andros and left full stack armies there. I stayed defensive for some rounds and invested in my economy. At around turn 30 I sent one full stack army to besiege henneth annun and as I got the mission to block the harbour of umbar I've put another full stack on the ships and tried to take the city but was got my my ass kicked by three suddenly appearing full-stacks of haradrim.

after turn 50 the disaster began
although i sent 2 armies to help rohan against isengard and an invasion on edoras the rohirrim somehow managed to get their ass kicked leaving them with only one settlement in dunharrow which I am constantly defeating from isengard attacks.

at turn 100 all my regions south and east from the anduin were lost (5 regions) and now I am constantly attack by isengard from the north, rhun (dale almost distroyed, dwarves busy with orcs) from the north-east, mordor from the east and harad from the south

if someone knows what went wrong or what I can do to prevent a defeat feel free to answer

[HordeOfDoom]

Vh/Vh, no changes to the mod. Immediately grabbed Osgiliath (both sides), and then pushed into Ithilien. With regards to the garrison forces spread throughout Gondor, sent half my forces south across the delta of the Anduin, sent the rest towards Osgiliath to reinforce the attack, and recruited some more to take the rebel settlement in the extreme West. Ended up spreading through Harad down the Sea. Once I'd taken Henneth Annun and Minas Morgul, I concentrated all forces on the push into Harad, staying on the defensive elsewhere. I'm currently on turn ~130, have captured all of Harad [Faction destroyed], and most of the border provinces of Mordor. I've also pushed north along the sea up into former Rohan territory which Isengard had taken.

Here's a screen from a few turns ago :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I have since taken Durthang and begun pushing into Mordor proper, as well as sending a full stack north towards Dol Guldur.

[Tharros]

^
Nice.

I'm at turn 50 on vh/vh. After I got the initial strugle against Mordor/Harad (and my economy) under control things are pretty cruisy. Minas Morgul is under seige and I am moving into Harad. For some reason Sauron has not called any invasions in my campaing so far

[Devor]

I had a very nice campaign until turn 72

I managed to build my enconomy, hold Cair Andros and W. Osgiliath, as well as having a stack of militia to the south fending off Harad stacks appearing every few turns. I was even starting to build an army in Minas T, that also defeated the invasion sent there by ordor, Harad and OotmM.

Then the trolls struck. 48 at a bridge battle. I maanged to defeat them by sacrificing 6 melee units that bound them and my 4 ballista units fired into the melee. 1 turn later 48 at cair andros. I stood no chance. My army that killed 10s of thousands of orks was annihilated by the trolls. I managed to kill like 5 of them. They are really imbalanced especially on walls.

anybody can point me to the mod that somebody mentined that changes them to cavalry?

[HordeOfDoom]

Then the trolls struck. 48 at a bridge battle. I maanged to defeat them by sacrificing 6 melee units that bound them and my 4 ballista units fired into the melee. 1 turn later 48 at cair andros. I stood no chance. My army that killed 10s of thousands of orks was annihilated by the trolls. I managed to kill like 5 of them. They are really imbalanced especially on walls.

Olog-Hai or Cave Trolls? I've only encountered 4 total battalions of Olog-Hai in my entire campaign, and luckily they were only in pairs -- I still couldn't beat them in a single go, but managed to wear them down enough with one stack, that the next battle their unit numbers were depleted enough for a win.

With Normal Cave trolls however, just surround them with some Gondor Spearmen/Gondor Infantry (or citadel guard if you can get them) and wait. I've even been able to take on a unit of trolls with a couple battalions of militia. In my experience, I can take 6 cave troll battalions with a half-stack of infantry, provided they're softened up by some archers beforehand. Although you should definitely retreat from bridges/walls, and engage them in an area where you can swarm & surround them.

[Devor]

I think they were normal cave trolls, the Gondor Spearman and Swordsmen didn't do too well though. 4 of the 6 melee units at the bridge were Gondor spearmen and at Cair also 4 Spear and 2 Gondor infantry. The 2 Gondor infantry on the walls did kill 0 trolls though.

I think the mod is really great overall but this troll thing really got me. I really like the challenge of defending the river, including full Haradrin stacks every few turns at the southern land bridge but sudden appearence of 3 or 4 units of trolls is a bit much. Not that I cant defeat them with my army, loosing some units. To be able to do it i need to focus on the trolls, leaving 3000 orcs unattendend, that proceed to demolish my units.

[faramir....]

trolls are a little impossible to control...i have never been attacked at osgiliath..they called an invasion on rohan capital and they all went around... im waiting for it to fall so they will call an invasion on minas tirith...hopefully ill have the chance to kill thousands of them!!!

[Devor]

I will try the balance mod by mithrandir tonight and hope this is save game compatible. If yes I will see if i do better against the trolls. Still I would like to test the trolls to cavalry mod that somebody mentioned too, but cant find it in the sub mods section.

[Their Law]

Some house rules i'm using to make it interesting:

1. Gondor cannot take Barad-Dur settlement ( i know this means it's impossible to win the campaign aims but meh) as it's beyond the power of any faction lore wise to do.

2. Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth and Minas Ithil are the only settlements in which professional Gondor infantry can be recruited, the rest rely on militia and AOR units.

(Note: You can add important settlements to this as you progress, settlements that have a Gondorian link to them or are Faction capitals. So Isengard would be one for example.)

3. Official Gondorian Army must consist of only professional troops and have no more than 3 horse units OF ANY TYPE within it AND must include a minimum of 2 Fiefdom units to a maximum of 5.

Fiefdom Units: Axeman Of Lossarnach
Pelagir Marines
Dismounted Swan Knights
Ithilien Rangers
Swan Knight
Citadel Guard

4. Faction Leader must always reside within Minas Tirith if not on campaign.

5. Peace is not allowed to be brokered with the following factions until the settlements are taken from them:

Harad: Harondar, Umbar,
Mordor: Minas Ithil, Black Gate, Any of the Ithilian provinces, Osgilith ( both east and west)

6. Fountain Guard are only allowed on campaign in the following situations:
- There is a faction leader or heir present in the army
- There is already one unit of Fountain Guard in Minas Tirith and Minas Ithil (if owned)
- There is not already a unit of Fountain Guard in the army (1 unit per army guys)


There not binding it just makes the game a bit more lore friendly in my eyes, i'm thinking of seeing if i can give the professional Gondorian troops a hidden_resource cost called Gondorian Bastion and then only apply it to certain settlements such as Minas Tirith.

Now only if i could work out how to limit stone walls to certain settlements.