Few Questions

[HeroSK]

Hi all,

First, in my campaigns, I usually end up with thousands of denariis but I am curious about if there is a penalty about it. (except corrupt governors)

Second, I did a quick search about mortars and it seems many people like them and find them useful. Tried them myself but when they hit the ground they do less damage than flat trajectory cannons. Simply the question is what they are good for ?

Third and last, what would your faction choice for turtling ?

Thanks in adavance.

[Lennert]

1. Don't know for certain if there are any more penalties to having a lot of florins except unfavourable traits.

2. Mortars can hit the town plaza from the outermost street in most settlement lvl's, plus they have area effect damage, which is nice. Target large groups of units with them (for example on the plaza) they will help lots.

3. This is very personal I think.. Starting position is most important, since you'll need a spot that's easy to defend. England, portugal/spain, the Moors and Denmark all seem good choices in this regard.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

1. Only corrupt governors. But since I don't use governors except in fortresses to get the swordsmith guild and as commanding officer of a defensive garrison I don't care.

2. I find them worthless. They never hit anything.

3. England and Denmark are good because they have hardly any fronts to defend. I actually prefer Spain or Portugal; simply rush the first few turns to conquer the Iberian Peninsular and then you can turtle all the way. Although real turtling is impossible because the AI (especially Milan) will never leave you alone for a while.

[John Doe]

1 if you have more than 50000 before pressing end of turn, there is a probability that something happens, but I don't remember what (I think bad financial traits, but I'm not sure)

2 used them a few times and never liked them

[Ishan]

First, in my campaigns, I usually end up with thousands of denariis but I am curious about if there is a penalty about it. (except corrupt governors)

Like JD said there are some traits that are based on when the amount of florins is greater than a 50,000 mark but in general there are no penalties about it and hell the the only penalty is to not have money and go in negative balance.

Second, I did a quick search about mortars and it seems many people like them and find them useful. Tried them myself but when they hit the ground they do less damage than flat trajectory cannons. Simply the question is what they are good for ?

Use them in siege defense or offense battles attacking the troops behind walls etc. They help create panic in the enemy army and they rout quickly making for you to win the battle with lesser losses. As far as the attack is concerned it's not based on trajectory but the actual damage mentioned that is 63 Vs troops and 150 Vs buildings which is a good number when considering comparison among other.

Third and last, what would your faction choice for turtling ?

The Scandinavians, England, Scotland. Depends on what you like & make sure your border settlements are heavily fortified that prevents or reduces the chances of AI attacking stupidity.

[Ezilkannan]

1. I wouldn't dare sacrifice florins for avoiding some bad traits. There's got to be a balance of everything, you can't expect a general or a governor to be good always

2. I have used them in siege offensives as well as siege defense. The point is they do good but there are others that do better.

3. Depends on the difficulty level in which you are playing. But otherwise, England, Denmark, Moors, Russia are all good for turtling.

[Lennert]

I would be carefull with Russia.. The mongols can become a real problem far to early when turtling with them. Also, you would have to advance far enough to gain control over the baltic aswell as the black sea in order to be able to defend Russia effectively.

[King Of Scotland]

Best faction for turtilng of course is Scotland, conquer the Great Britain and stay there. Money is good for everything, the only bad thing is that other factions wan't it too.
Mortars are useless, use Highlanders for everything.

P.S - I've been away for a long, long time because I fell in love to Mount and Blade Warband's Mount and Musket mod.
I will try to be more active here now and play Medieval II more often.
P.P.S - Ishan, my old friend, I remember when you still we're a novice, but now a moderator with just a year, amazing.
P.P.P.S - Good to be back lads!

[PrestigeX]

Mortars are really good for a few things.

1 - defending during a siege, they can shoot up and over your walls.
2- As others have said, attacking in a siege they can fire upon the town plaza.
3 - In a field battle, they can fire over you main line with ease and are easier to defend because of it.

[Silverheart]

Mortars work better in numbers - 3 units or so - or when deployed in tandem with other cannons.
In a sicilian campaign, one of my armies decimated a huge milanese army with two bombards and one mortar.
Surprisingly, after the battle I noticed that the mortar had caused almost as many dead as both the bombards, and it also had a much greater range.

England is good for turtling. They have super-good archers, great heavy infantry and even quite powerful cavalry.
Spain/Portugal, Denmark, Scotland and Egypt are also in good positions for turtling.

[HeroSK]

Thanks all for answers.

I decided to give a go to Denmark with Hard Campaign, Very Hard battle difficulty. At the first turns, rushed and captured Oslo, Stocholm and Hamburg. Then, blocked the bridge over Elbe river and some other passage points with forts. After that, I started to build up my kingdom.

At the begining I tought allying with a faction may bring war upon me so avoid all ally offers. However, eventually I got surrounded by a allience consist of England, HRE, Poland and Portuguese. I just for fun bribed Dublin from rebels but Portuguese Kingdom wanted it badly and attacked me. Later all those allied kingdoms decleared war against me. I evecuated Dublin and pushed back some HRE waves over Elbe. Poland and England just send navies and blocked my ports. I infulenced Pope with denariis and made him a Crusade over Constantinopole in order to draw my enemies armies away from me. It somehow worked well and there was no attempt to invade Dannish peninsula.

Patiently, I waited for them to break their alliances in some way. Eventually, alliance got broken and now I allied with them. Now, in future if they start war among themselves I will support them in order to draw their attantion away from me.

Also, I am trying to regulate treasue in order to make sure it is below 50.000 thus I spend many denariis by gifting other countries especially the Papacy.

Last, just for fun I bought timbuktu from a Moorish diplomat and now I will got even more money to manipulate European countries.

Almost forgot to say, now year is about 1320s and gunpowder event has come for some years ago and my cannod towers are ready to fire over an invading enemy.

A quick question, are those pike infantry any good at defending my forts and towns ? I tried some custom battles but couldn't decide if they are good or bad.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Ishan]

A quick question, are those pike infantry any good at defending my forts and towns ? I tried some custom battles but couldn't decide if they are good or bad.

Pikemen are excellent units in sieges for blocking cavalry from entering the settlement though one has to defend or protect them from enemy heavy infantry.

[Ezilkannan]

About that Mongols invading Russia, well it depends on the timescale you are using. If its the normal timescale, You will be well prepared to face the mongols. Russians too have very good HA and Cavalry units. I have sent both the Mongols and Timurids running for their lives when i played Russia . Also Its much better with Russia since you wouldnt be under any pressure to join crusades or Jihads, you can play freely