Advice on this great mod

[bakes0310]

Basically ive decided to download this mod after reading a couple threads, im very excited but i got some questions:

1) What setting was this game made to be played on. If i was going by the Third Age Mod the modders recommend VH/VH so what am i supposed to have on this one?

2) Whats this about the different eras, what one should i start on first?

3) What faction would be a good beginner one, i like England or Scotland should i just pick a faction that i like?

4) Whats next after 6.1, will there be another big update or will it be the final?

[JorisofHolland]

Well you can play whatever you like. But as you're new to it, just pick E/E or M/M
Early is with more rebels and smaller settlements; Late has beter evoled settlements and some factions that are emmergent in Early
England is fine; Scotland is a bit more difficult but you should be able to handle it.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Basically ive decided to download this mod after reading a couple threads, im very excited but i got some questions:

1) What setting was this game made to be played on. If i was going by the Third Age Mod the modders recommend VH/VH so what am i supposed to have on this one?

2) Whats this about the different eras, what one should i start on first?

3) What faction would be a good beginner one, i like England or Scotland should i just pick a faction that i like?

4) Whats next after 6.1, will there be another big update or will it be the final?

First off, I'd really recommend Stainless Steel 6.2. It's the latest version and its got some really nice features....difficulty wise it's a bump up from the norm so you may want to try a short campaign on m/m or less til you feel comfortable...Got some errands to run so I'll come back later and take a stab at your other questions...

Try S.S. 6.2, I'm pretty sure you'll like it...

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=302184

Edit: The other guys gave this plenty of coverage. Shutting up now...

[meese]

1. Any setting really. Just play what you can. I think most people play at M/M or above but I could be very wrong.

2. Early will give you a better grasp of everything as you won't be thrown into war straight away (more armies, higher upkeep, disband or go to war). But late is more fun battle-wise from the get-go. Some factions are only available in the early, others only in the late campaign.

3. England is usually regarded as the easiest faction though to be honest, they're all easy once you get control over your general starting area. With the exception of a few of course that have to deal with the mongols.

So I'd probably advise you to play as anybody you like. At any rate, a hard campaign is always more interesting.

4. 6.2 is currently the most up-to-date I think and it's very well done. It's not by King Kong though. I -think- he'll return one day and release another. We're all hoping he does, but that's his decision now ours

[JorisofHolland]

Well I play VH/VH all the time. I need a challange I can't get, even then.

[scarybandit]

1) If you're experienced enough to be downloading mods I'd recommend the harder settings. Better to be owned but know the usefulness of your strategies than have an easy ride. Besides, getting owned is fun.

2) The Late Era has more factions to choose from and slightly more turns. But either is fun.

3) France is fun - has nice units from start to end, and is in a relatively central location without necessarily being in mortal danger... like say the Italian Factions, Kingdom of Jerusalem or HRE are.
Easier Factions are the ones with their backs to the Atlantic - British Factions, Iberian Factions.

4) 6.2 is the latest like has been said above. It's been a stable version for months now.

[bakes0310]

Well ive installed 6.1, id rather wait for kingkong's official update (whenever that is) even though it doesnt need one

Anyway im playing the early era on M/M as England and im nearly on turn 20. This is miles better than vanilla medieval 2 total war this is what it should of been.
I started off by building my economy up and getting more troops ready to take your. By turn 4 i made my way to York only to be beaten by 1 turn and scotland took it.
Deciding not to go to war with them....just yet i turned my army towards Wales. 3 turns later i took it with ease, while this was going on i made alliances with france and aragon and sent my spy to have a look around Scotland.
Once again i was late with taking the rebel settlement to the west of my castle on the french coast, but this time it was my new allies who took it. I decided to go east and try and take the other rebel base, which i failed against and lost one of my generals in the process.
With a full stack of troops and prince William leading them i decided the scots were left alone long enough. I started to besiege York, which went down with ease all i did was starve them out and they didnt even want to battle.
Now a few turns later im pushing Prince William and his men up north to take the scottish capital, i can see a full stack of scots and a quarter full stack right next to them. Ive decided to hold my position as there waiting on the top of a hill, so im sending more forces to come help, ideally more archers could be handy.
Whats next for me im not sure but my plans are to take scotland and ireland. And maybe go have a word with the spanish as to why they dont want to be friends. And as for the moors i just dont like them, and im bound to bump into them when i finally decide to take spain.

[Sokar Rostau]

Well ive installed 6.1, id rather wait for kingkong's official update (whenever that is) even though it doesnt need one

6.2 IS an official update. Gracul did the work and it was approved by Kong, who was busy elsewhere.

[milknnuts]

If youre doing fine playing TATW on vh/vh, then start off on vh/vh as well. 6.1 has a nice pace to it, you'll get your battles and win most of the time, and building an empire would still take time and give you some challenge.
As for 6.2 with PB's RC/RR compilation, vh/vh is just extremely hard. So you might wanna try that after you finish 6.1

[bakes0310]

Well im on turn 72 and im getting my ass kicked.........

I held the coast of france just south of england and two out of three provinces the french took back. So i sacked my last one and got the survivors back across the water.
The danes sent a whole stack of troops and took nothingham, which ive only just got back.
I tried to take ireland, but there a crazy bunch and drove me out aswell.
The good news is ive taken scotland and im still making profit (about 2000 a turn) but the problem is im low on troops.
Im not sure what to do now except get ireland out the way. Then what should i try to take france again or leave them be and go further a sea and take the fight to the danes.
At the moment the pope is on my side and ive managed to get one of the french provinces taken away by a crusade which the aragon won.
Any tips, is there any hope as im already on turn 70, with so much to do.

Im sort of tempted to start all over again, but this time do a short campaign but on VH/VH but really think what im doing and really be a strategist.

[rogergargantua]

Well most questions have been answered.

But I do really suggest you play as Crown of Aragon!! Its a Spanish faction with tons of units! They have great knights, even special ones like the Knights of Montesa (a special order which you can get by building a chapter house). Also the militia armies (the units you can recruit in cities) are quite awesome. You have plenty of different units such as pikemen, musketeers, sword and buckler men, etc.
There's just so much variety in the armies of Crown of Aragon. I think they have the most extended roster in SS.

Also their colors are really bright and much different colors. Its a must to start out with Crown of Aragon!!

Also a perfect start location, you are near the Moors. Good way to pimp up your priest by sending them there. Your pimpy priests have a quicker chance to become a pimpy pope!

Have fun playing SS! You certainly wont regret it! It has great AI, awesome factions and more!

[Point Blank]

Latest sub-mod is in my .sig

[jo_dus]

Latest sub-mod is in my .sig

^HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 6.2 with RR/RC is the only why to go.

[daviduk109]

this is what i like to hear, instead of keep hearing 'playing england is so easy, yawn-yawn'

[meese]

I think the reason why you've had so much trouble is that you haven't focused your forces. It sounds like you tried to take France, Ireland and Scotland all at the same time, or at least without enough of a regrouping break in between. I'd probably just forget France but keep Caen alive and go straight up north to scotland as the Irish never really do much and you can gobble them up later.

I don't think people actually say england is so easy, just that it's probably one of the easier/easiest to start with IF you focus on one front.

[Souka]

Irish have two towns and one castle so sacking and destroying them ain't very smart because if he can manage to take over one settlement he should be able to take the rest. Besides if he destroy all buildings it would take atleast 50 years or so untill the city is back att full strenght.

Just train some troops, 2-4 cavalry, 5-6 spear milita and the rest archers, and get a general to lead them. Try to avoid long sieges and take the battle to the open field because thats where your archers will be most usefull.

[sbroadbent]

Exactly.

He attempted to get into Ireland and establish a foothold, but the Irish came, spanked him and forced him out, meaning he couldn't hold anything he had taken (if he had taken anything) and didn't have the military strength to decimate the Irish troops. I won't assume whether it was due to being out numbered, or just bad battle tactics.

Thus, if you can't take someone over and you want to eliminate them being a threat for the near future, knock out their economy and tech. Of course, that presumes that in this case the Irish are an actual threat, and may send Naval invasions over. If they are rather benign, haven't done anything, and haven't bothered to build a navy, nothing to necessarily worry about on that front.

One reason to suggest knocking out their tech now is to soften them up for the future, while you deal with someone else. They will eventually rebuild some tech, so when you're finally ready in 50-75 years to take them out they'll be a lot easier to deal with.

Optionally, if I could pay for an army or two to reduce Irish troop numbers, I'd build an army specialized in killing troops, and send them over to dance. Even better is to go over there, build a fort, and force them to come to you to remove you.

[meese]

I'd assume he was badly outnumbered because of the money script. I have vague recollections of finding Ireland quite strong with numerous stacks of troops and quite simply, one stack won't cut it in the field. Sacking/generally raiding is perhaps the only option if you can't field enough troops there - nobody else wants ireland, they'll just start replacing spear militias with knights and soon you'll have a huge pain in the ass across the ocean. On the other hand, if you can keep them at spear militias while progressing to knights yourself, well, that's much better.

[Point Blank]

SS 6.2 or RR/RC, when it says VH, it means VH.

[JorisofHolland]

6.2 isn't too hard, RR/RC is a bit harder but I still managed to expand into all directions during my first campaign.