Outrageous Campaign

[THE_IMPERIALIST]

Ive had just enough of my Byzantine campaign. At first it was going so well. I had a rock solid economy, 23 provences, and at turn 91 I thought everything was gravy. Then a jihad happened. A stack from the Moors showed up, then two more came, one from the Turks and another from Egypt, all heading straight for Constantanople, then something far worse happened. MONGOL INVASION! Yes, twelve stacks of Mongols came for Adana, all lead by badass generals. Then two more stacks for the Turks poped up and went for my territories in the Holy Lands. I'm barely holding on. Have anyone experienced this before?(im playing on med/med difficulty btw)

[Ishan]

Lol Make sure you hang tight of Nicosia that will act your retaliation base and for supplying reinforcements to retake lost lands.
Start using Assassins and kill enemy generals. Use peasants as cannon fodders and weaken the enemy armies.

If enemy are in over whelming numbers don't go for field battles Mongols Horse archers while obliterate your army so fight only siege battles.

[The Source]

post a scrennie

[Wegen7 die Große]

Take them out one by one and not all at once, but I am sure you probably already knew that.
Anyway if you have a good economy then spend what you can on making the best armies for siege battles(archers, infantry, etc) and send them to Constantinople(if you have not already lost it).

[Vanderdecken]

That's total war my friend. My best suggestion; build balistia towers wherever you can. Doesn't matter what else, just build those.

Then, in the sieges. That's where you can grind their massive armies into dust. All of their horse archers obliderated under a hail of balisitia pikes. Then, when they are weak. Take them to the field and finish them off. As for the turks and egyptians. Send armies, with fire and sword, lay waste to the country side, burn every village, kill every hostage, leave none of them alive. Show them that opposition to the emperor is death.

Make Constantiople, your Stalingrad. And let your watchword be: "Death to the Muslim Invaders!"

[Parzival2211]

You are lucky, man! Such a great challenge late in the game when you probably thought it was getting boring. Enjoy and post some screenies.

[Paladin94610]

During sieges against Mongols use the old trick of Stakes at the Gates!

[Ishan]

During sieges against Mongols use the old trick of Stakes at the Gates!

He is playing as the Byzantines they don't have any archers that can plant stakes. You are confusing it with SS.

[THE_IMPERIALIST]

Lol, I think I might be able to salvage this campaign. Ive destroyed all those jihadists coming for Constantanolpe and both the Turkish stacks, simply by turtling and letting their troops charge my walls and letting loose strorms of arrows(archers milita ftw). Mongols just sitting around Adana. Ive got two full stacks there, but ill send one round the Mongols and take Jewsalem and Gaza. The other is in a fort and the plan is to have them attack it(field battles are a big no-no against the mongols). My biggist worry is not losing my settlements but not having enough to win. Ill post a screenshot soon, and btw ballista towers, although effective, cannot destroy an entire army by themselves, but they certainly help.

[painter]

I don't know about the range of the ballista towers, but cannon towers can destroy an attacking stack by themselves. It was the remnants of the Timurids, that I fought and painfully whittled down to their last full stack but with 6 units of elephants, against the remnants of my defending forces in the region. I was using auto-resolve for the second half of my war against the Timurids, thus the sorry state of my armies. That last Timurid stack laid siege to Antioch that had huge walls and cannon towers. After blowing up the ram, the cannon towers proceeded to destroy the besiegers, killing their last three generals and leaving so few survivors that the Timurids routed and the faction ended up destroyed.

As for field battles, if you have eight to ten units that can lay three rows of stakes, you ought to try fighting at the river crossings, particularly those without bridges or with a wooden bridge. With a smart application of stakes and retreating his archers to higher ground, a captain can routinely destroy two Mongol stacks. I have had so many heroic victories against the Mongols and the Timurids at a couple of river crossings.

[goro]

my advice when this happens.lay on the city with a full stack and put all soldiers in the plaza (center of town).let the enemy pass the gates and have 4-5 archers behind a mass of infantry.also hide 4 units of cavalry in nearby but not closer to the city gates because then the enemy is going to attack them first.when the enemy comes they will start going to the plaza 3 units or a few more at a time.you will win the battle with very few casualties and kill thousands.i exploited the stupidity of the ai with that strategy.i holded cities from 3 stacks with just 10 units.its too easy especially if you are in a fortress or citadel

[Grato]

I used to do that with my phalanxes back in rome, worked like a charm, haven't tried it in Medival 2 though, will have to try it

[goro]

it works excellent in medieval too but you need defensive infantry.the archers will do the work of demoralising and killing most of the enemy and when the time is right just touch the back of the enemy with your cavalry and boom massive rout .Then you go and gather some chevrons .So next battle you got an almost intact army and with full experience from the killing.Mongols in a siege sack btw.so your best chance is to let them try and siege you.In open field you will get your ass kicked seriously especially if you are playing mostly with infantry.European factions dont stand a chance against them.Im talking always about battle map.autoresolve is a whole different thing.I prefer to play large battles in battle map

[SturmChurro]

Play a western faction ...although defending seiges gives you a great advantage.

[King Patrick]

Bring in the Artillery!

[Valandur]

You are gonna lose a few settlements, however, you should be most worried about the Mongols. They will not go for Adana, they only go for large settlements/citadels like Constantinople/Jerusalem/Kiev/Antioch. If they are heading towards Adana, there is still a chance they might head south for Antioch or Jerusalem, but then it is likely they are heading for Constantinople. Heavily garrison Constantinople, a full stack of infantry, archers and a few units of heavy cavalry. It is vital you make sure the Mongols don't gain a foothold in the very heart of your empire, because once they touchdown, all they do is expand.
With the Turks, Egyptian and Moors, their armies will probably be made up of useless Ghazis and Mutawiwis.

[THE_IMPERIALIST]

Lol, stakes would be great, but Byzantium can't use them, and they do not have any pikes or halberds. I guess they are going for Constantanople as they seem unintrested in any of my nearby territories. My goal will be to pin them in, and when ive got enough stacks ill strike. They have no ships, and they wont take Adana, so they can rot in Asia Minor.

[Ishan]

Lol, stakes would be great, but Byzantium can't use them, and they do not have any pikes or halberds. I guess they are going for Constantanople as they seem unintrested in any of my nearby territories. My goal will be to pin them in, and when ive got enough stacks ill strike. They have no ships, and they wont take Adana, so they can rot in Asia Minor.

Mongols will head for Constantinople coz its a horde target so be prepared and on the right side of Constantinople there is a land passover(green arrow thingy) that's where turks will come from so you can block that area with a navy so they can't pass which will help you in buying some time and field your army.

[Valandur]

Lol, stakes would be great, but Byzantium can't use them, and they do not have any pikes or halberds. I guess they are going for Constantanople as they seem unintrested in any of my nearby territories. My goal will be to pin them in, and when ive got enough stacks ill strike. They have no ships, and they wont take Adana, so they can rot in Asia Minor.

Anatolia is quite a hilly region in some places, especially in Cicillian Armenia. If you can, find a pass in the mountains and get some archers, artillery and spearmen, and just keep them at the top of the pass and let them pound the Mongols as they try to get up. The higher ground will make their horse archers less useful, and it will be hard for them to charge your men at such a height.
Also, bridge battles are useful.

[painter]

Bridge battles against the Mongols require stakes. If I don't have stakes, I'll prefer a mountain pass fight if the battle map terrain is agreeable to me and I get the high ground. But some mountain pass terrains will not allow you to do battle with the enemy.