Aztech thread

[Grislok]

Aztec campaign update and observation. On turn 87, after two huge battles outside Sevilla in which 3 Aztec armies out fought 4 Portuguese and forced the survivors in to siege, Portugal is destroyed. After I took Lisbon and the two above it they simply waited at Sevilla and I was able to dictate the terms of the battle. I let one of my three armies fight all four first until it was heroically and fully sacrificed. My remaining two armies outdid the remnants and suffered 86% casualties. It is hard fighting the good European armies. Spain and my ally the Moors continue to battle and I aim to join the fight after a regroup session. Thankfully they never came to the aid of their ally Portugal, presumably too obsessed with Cordoba. The French navy has also been scarce the last 20 turns. My terribly dense ass just figured out why I could not build ships on the Portuguese coast....must destroy the European port first,and all their buildings eventually. That will end the arduous ferry system back and forth across the Atlantic and maybe speed up my game. There have been 6 storms at sea in the first 87 turns of the game accounting for the death of 3 admirals, one general, and my first successfully chosen heir to the heir, as well as numerous sailors. Probably historically accurate but felt excessive. Has been a ball.

[Grislok]

Aztec campaign update. I am in turn 138 and control all of Portugal's provinces and Cordoba, the French fort on the east coast, and the citadel to the immediate east of Lisbon. I accidentally started war w/ Spain by a failed assassination attempt which I regret. We have had an awesome back and forth war which continues. My major problem now is the collapse of my economy. I can make about 1000 if I squeeze my American provinces and create negative population growth there. I made yet another blunder and sent a full staff army across the Atlantic on one boat and rebels sunk it. I have really enjoyed this campaign and like how it seems my wars are one at a time and so lengthy and full of movement, kind of like the first half of the Korean war. Also I have enjoyed some fort and city walls that I had not seen before. Grislok out.

[Soul Firez]

yes i mustsay it has been optically pleasing but damn grislock you sound like your doing better than me so far trying to break into europe has been a battle i have just 2 x portugal lands and now spain has fired up against me and wel its looking dangerously like i will loose my footing and have to start a reinvasion again maybe ireland may make an easier landing for me as they seem enraged in a warfrom scotland and from the graph of how a faction is doing ( i resist the urge to use toggle_fow to see whats happening in the world) they seem to be going down

[Grislok]

That is the really cool thing....so many possibilities of where to invade and who to play off one another. How's your economy?

[Soul Firez]

my economy is bleak but then building a good economy has never been my strong point for the game my usual tactic is to take another nations capital city and sack it this usually brings a huge cash flow in allowing me to then develope my nations cities to boost my flagging economy but as yet i have not hit the big cash in with the aztecs so myinvasion is going slow and well now going backwards as spain have some good armies stacks beating me down for some reason spain is doing rather well this campaign not becoming a vasal of the moors they have actualy beaten back the moors almost to northafrica

[Grislok]

Aztec campaign update turn 150. Had an incredible back and forth night last night highlighted by French capture of valencia and their laying siege to vallodolid, which I had only recently captured from Spanish. Sevilla and the province to the east of Oporto remain guarded by 2-3 full stack Spanish armies and remain thorns in my side. With the more vigorous Frrench attacks my plans to eliminate Spain have suffered a great setback. My record is 56 and 11. I love how in this campaign my losses have occurred in every type of battle. In an open field battle last night an Aztec army of 1436 managed only 367 kills against two elite Spanish armies. Other times I am beating them at a rate of 2 or 3 to 1. I have never used the toggle FOW and do not know how but I have become aware of the following in the world situation. France has no regions on the Atlantic despite their renewed and invigorated efforts against me. The HRE has the southern two French coastal regions and the English the one north of that. Antioch, Jerusalem and Lithuania are out of the game and also Portugal by my own hand. The Mongols have taken most of Russia and have a navy in the North Sea. All the British isles powers are still in the game and all have strong navies moving around. Sicily sent an oddball one-man army all the way through Iberia and in my last turn last night the Moors finally appeared in Iberia. They must have been chased out before I ever arrived in Iberia many tens of turns ago. They are my ally. Starting to wonder if I will be able to win this campaign. So much fun and so different though. Grislok out.

[Grislok]

Sicilians now have sent a full stack across Iberia to Sevilla and laid siege to Spanish there. Spain has laid siege to and will take Badajoz from me. French continue to attempt to take Vallodolid. Mongols declared war on me out of blue and there navy is blockading Lisbon and Oporto. Can an enemy navy spread disease? Both of these got disease. Moors are still in Sevilla as well. Five nations now fight for the peninsula! My horseless armies fight on.

[Stoicblitzer]

I am also playing an Aztec campaign as I was bored of the regular campaign. I got to 50 settlements with KOJ. It was fun and I managed about 95% of my settlements without using auto-manage. I did use toggle_fow and the campaign was on M/M. After around turn 75, I never had any money problems. I did it in ~165 turns. When i learned that VH BAI gave the enemy unfair advantages, I kind of lost interest in it. I am afraid to do VH CAI because I had bad experiences with vanilla where everyone and their dog would declare war on me. Not realistic at all.

With the Aztecs (H/M), I am at turn 52 and I've just been building up. I am making a ton of money and am at around 60k constantly. I have looked at making an invasion army and decided that Cuahchiqueh are my best bet. They have 0 upkeep and have the same stats as Jaguar Warriors, plus they frighten nearby enemy units. I am proceeding to build several stacks (10 Cuahchique, 6 Eagle Warriors, 4 Aztec Archers in each). I think I will need 4-5 full stacks. I am preparing a navy of 4-5 boats with 5 merc cogs in each. I am going to invade The un-United Kingdom. I figure that's my best shot at having any chance of getting to 50 settlements. I need a nearly impenetrable base to launch raids on france. I thought about attacking N. Africa, but there will not be a lot of money in that. I also thought about attacking the Iberian Peninsula, but I am too vulnerable to land invasions as Grislok knows.

I may send a stack to Rome for the hell of it. I will post screens later.

[Grislok]

My Spanish war is almost 60 years old and continues unabated. The French are all over me and the freaking Mongol navy never lets me shuts down enemy ports. Now the enemy is showing up with gunpowder units on the battlefield. This campaign is beastly.

[Stoicblitzer]

here is an interesting screenshot. campaign is on H/M.

[Dave Scarface]

I am also playing an Aztec campaign as I was bored of the regular campaign. I got to 50 settlements with KOJ. It was fun and I managed about 95% of my settlements without using auto-manage. I did use toggle_fow and the campaign was on M/M. After around turn 75, I never had any money problems. I did it in ~165 turns. When i learned that VH BAI gave the enemy unfair advantages, I kind of lost interest in it. I am afraid to do VH CAI because I had bad experiences with vanilla where everyone and their dog would declare war on me. Not realistic at all.

Hmmm I am not surprised you are bored playing a regular campaign on M/M. Try a campaign on VH/VH and you will not see it act anything like the AI in vanilla at all.. This CAI is far more advanced and not so much of a the blunt instrument as the vanilla AI. Also I cannot understand why so many of you play with FOW off? How is the AI ever supposed to catch you out with a move if you can see everything? You are making this mod a lot easier than it was mean't to be played. Ah well, each to his own I guess.

With the Aztecs (H/M), I am at turn 52 and I've just been building up. I am making a ton of money and am at around 60k constantly. I have looked at making an invasion army and decided that Cuahchiqueh are my best bet. They have 0 upkeep and have the same stats as Jaguar Warriors, plus they frighten nearby enemy units. I am proceeding to build several stacks (10 Cuahchique, 6 Eagle Warriors, 4 Aztec Archers in each). I think I will need 4-5 full stacks. I am preparing a navy of 4-5 boats with 5 merc cogs in each. I am going to invade The un-United Kingdom. I figure that's my best shot at having any chance of getting to 50 settlements. I need a nearly impenetrable base to launch raids on france. I thought about attacking N. Africa, but there will not be a lot of money in that. I also thought about attacking the Iberian Peninsula, but I am too vulnerable to land invasions as Grislok knows.

Thanks, I did not actually notice that Cuahchiqueh had free upkeep as I left all the Aztec stats the same. This will be changed though now as I don't like the sound of full stacks with free upkeeps. As this does not fit well with my mod at all.

Dave

[Stoicblitzer]

Well, I just wanted to know where settlements were without having to buy map information. Many of the Aztec units have free upkeep. That's probably the only advantage they have over western factions.

I bit off more than I could chew earlier when I tried to assault an Irish fortress. I got owned hard.

btw, when I said I was getting bored I meant with the unit types and locations. I get sick of staring at the same part of the map for 150+ turns. I love your mod, though, and I will start a UK campaign on VH/VH soon. Why put the BAI on VH if it just gets morale boosts but does not increase the skill? I understand that it is not as good as a human, but I want a fair fight regardless. Or am I wrong and it does not get any artificial boosts on VH?

[Grislok]

Quick update on my Aztec campaign. Turn 188 and I have reduced the Spanish to two settlements and dealt the French a big blow by taking the citadel in the North west part of the peninsula(Pamplona?) I should be able to eliminate Spanish tonight, end this 60+ year war and then I will post a screenie. Silver jaguar warriors in open field battle are getting 40-70 kills. Love this campaign! Took Sevilla from Spanish and now will open tonight with a 2:1 superiority siege battle of the last Spanish city. Win it and the two full staff Spanish armies that are closing in on my siege will turn rebel and they will be vanquished before turn 200. Lose it and I will have a ways to go. I love how in this campaign my performance in a battles can decide the course of the next ten years. It feels so epic! The French only have two provinces left in Iberia and the peninsula will be mine. The taking of Pamplona has really seemed to stifle their aggression. Perhaps I can still win this campaign.

[Grislok]

Been meaning to ask...Is it right that I never am offered the chance to sacrifice enemy prisoners?

[pwf224]

What's really weird is that it looks as if the Welsh have been defeated. I can't see any regions they own in that mini-map. If they are defeated then it is really strange. Another possibility is that he was on crusade when the crusade was won, and then he separated from the rest of the army due to the infamous AI doing stupid things like that.

[Dave Scarface]

What's really weird is that it looks as if the Welsh have been defeated. I can't see any regions they own in that mini-map. If they are defeated then it is really strange. Another possibility is that he was on crusade when the crusade was won, and then he separated from the rest of the army due to the infamous AI doing stupid things like that.

I bet you they've got Castle town but its too hard to see on the campaign minimap.

[Grislok]

Did you notice the papal states holding Cairo? They called a jihad on Cairo last night.

[Soul Firez]

rare for the pope to claim another land but not impossible generally he only attacks those who attack him unlike when i tried a different campaign AI which had the pope as a raging warmongering maniac and had captured all of italy and was working his way into central europe

Hmm i wonder who can excomunicate the pope for having attacked all those catholic nations

[Grislok]

My HRE/English war continues. The HRE laid down two sets of crossed swords victories near Pamplona before I pushed them back to the north and east. My Moorish allies are firmly entrenched in Narbonne and have sent three navies to the North Sea. I have drained every city in the Old and New World of troops and launched a two pronged assault to push English and HRE out of France. I have found I can only succeed on the open field if I have a serious numbers advantage. Archers remain key in depleting powerful pike and heavy infantry units. I believe I am a little over half way to the victory conditions of fifty with 126 years to go. If I make it, it will have been against the most powerful Catholic factions in game. I also remain leery of the Moors, and would be screwed if they ended are over two century long alliance. Gris out.

[pwf224]

This epic saga continues. I love the updates. It really looks like a fun and challlenging campaign. BTW, how are you finding the composition of late era armies? Is the AI recruiting balanced armies?