Find M2TW Campaign really difficult... compared to RTW anyway (Vanilla)

[Escuratii va bene]

So I've gotten back into M2TW, I was one of those 'first players' to rush out and buy it back in 2006 after being such a huge Rome Total war fan, loved the graphics, gameplay but mostly just played Custom battles and multiplayer before eventually stopping playing it altogether, I barely played the campaign

Got back into as of like....a week or two ago, campaign is awesome but so different, I've got 4 campaigns atm

. Holy Roman empire which is taking a while to get started really, bored of it so I don't really play it
. Venice (I've actually lost Venice itself.... yeah Milan screwed me over)
. 2 English campaigns
1 at around turn 82 - ruined, all of North France, my resources are dwindling and my army is thinning as I've been taking soldiers from all over England and Wales to fight Scotland for a good... 25 turns or so? (And they're still at my throat) quit that campaign of course and abandoned it

New English campaign at around turn 64, against lost North France to France, they overwhelmed me with fully stacked armies outta nowhere... didn't stand a chance, even took Bruges from me (Wtf!) bastards :| I have all of the UK except Edinburgh now, been fighting and beating the Scots for a couple years now but they're seriously tough skinned, maybe the most irritating faction fullstop aside the Rebels

The whole 'A fully experienced, highly ranked army of 5 or 6 units can completely rape your half full army with several different unit types even though you outnumber them 2 - 1' really gets old, I've been in a few match ups with the scots that are so utterly ridiculous with me having like 500 men to their 150 or so but the balance of power is so in their favour I just withdraw cos I know I'll lose

Anyway, enough complaining. I know I'll get better with time, experience and dedication but I'm impatient... for people with good campaigns going in Medieval 2, tips, advice, what should I avoid, how do I manage and keep a good economy, always avoid highly ranked, experienced units?

[Leaf-Fan-Forever]

I try to finish all my campaigns, because other wise it just gets boring (starting all over again), and I love when it gets difficult, because then the game isn't easy, and I think it adds realism. So I can't just march over all the other countries with hardly a fight.

[shikaka]

Diplomacy:

- get trade deals with everyone except your inmediate enemies (like scots and french as english)
- get a few allies (3 would do). Apart from the Pope, ally 2 catholics who will not attack each other. (like Hungary and Portugal or Venice and Spain as England)
- _ally the pope_


Economy:

- aim to have less then 1 castle for 3 towns (It is enough to have 1 castle in the whole island, plus keep Caen)
- start with economic upgrades (roads, grain exchange, farms)
- don't build everything possible (like inns in cities with good public order, or leather tanner/siege workshop in cities which you will not use for recruiting)
- if you have high army upkeep, and there is a crusade/jihad, enter it with lots of troops. you can save thousands per turn!


War:

- blitzing rebel territories in the beginning is the easiest to get provinces
- if possible call crusade on your enemies (french, milanese and germans usually get themselves excommunicated)
- learn to use the cavalry charge (wait till they are 'idle', single click on enemy, preferably on slope, not in forest)
- use mercenaries if you are in need of troops (for some factions, the mercs are better then what they can do on their own in the beginning. Like crossbows for England, spearmen for Rus...)

[Double A]

I try to finish all my campaigns, because other wise it just gets boring (starting all over again), and I love when it gets difficult, because then the game isn't easy, and I think it adds realism. So I can't just march over all the other countries with hardly a fight.

It never gets hard for me. I could upgrade the difficulty, but all that does is give the game fake difficulty, which isn't fun at all.

Well, unless I play as the Teutonic Knights in SS, anyway. That's very, very hard. Freaking Novgorod.

[tudor93]

blitz Scotland in the beggining of the campaign, ignore the Pope's excomunication warnings, ally with the french from the first or second turn (in my campaigns they almost never backstabed me so they are to be trusted); Oh yeah, watch out for the Danes, those bastards will land full stacks near Nottingham

[painter]

Have you been auto-resolving your battles or fighting it? If fighting it, the battles odds are a lot less relevant if you're good at being a field general.

On the advice of joining a crusade with your armies, be aware that all the crusade stacks must make some progress towards the crusade target or they will desert you. So do not convert all of your armies into crusaders at the start. But if you can take the crusade target in less than ten turns, you should try to get all possible units, army and militia to join the crusade so that they will get the free experience bonus when you complete it in the same or following turn.

[shikaka]

On the advice of joining a crusade with your armies, be aware that all the crusade stacks must make some progress towards the crusade target or they will desert you. So do not convert all of your armies into crusaders at the start. But if you can take the crusade target in less than ten turns, you should try to get all possible units, army and militia to join the crusade so that they will get the free experience bonus when you complete it in the same or following turn.

Crusades make saving up money really easy.

- you don't pay upkeep
- you can sell the crusade target (antioch or cordoba as Hungary) to someone for thousands

[Silverheart]

It seems strange that you lose such battles, if you´ve spent so much time in the custom battles... Shouldn´t that have made you a Better field commander?
Also, if you really find it that hard, you should start out nice and easy... on the "easy" difficulty... and then after one or two successful campaigns start moving on to higher difficulties.

I think you should do another English campaign, but this time, do like this:
1. Fortify Caen.
Once the French declares war, you´ll need around ten units of quite good soldiers - Longbowmen, Armoured Sergeants, DFKs, the whole shebang. Defend yourself on that front, while focusing attacks on another front.
2. Kill the Scots.
Playing as any of the two british factions (in vanilla) means that you have to destroy the other ASAP (!!!), lest it will become a tedious war that strains your entire kingdom to the brink of self-collapse.
Attack the Scots early. They have a nice army from the beginnning, but with a few units of Mailed Knights to reinforce Your initial army, they shouldn´t be too much to handle.
Once their initial army is gone, besiege and starve Edinburgh -> Ping! Done! Scots fries!
3. Focus on Economy.
In my experience, you only need to keep ONE castle in the British isles (Nottingham is kind of central, so I ususally go with that). Convert the other castles if the need for more money increases, and focus on economic buildings (Markets, Ports, Roads, Merchants Guild, and even improved Farms) in all but the threatened settlements.

[Escuratii va bene]

It seems strange that you lose such battles, if you´ve spent so much time in the custom battles... Shouldn´t that have made you a Better field commander?
Also, if you really find it that hard, you should start out nice and easy... on the "easy" difficulty... and then after one or two successful campaigns start moving on to higher difficulties.

I think you should do another English campaign, but this time, do like this:
1. Fortify Caen.
Once the French declares war, you´ll need around ten units of quite good soldiers - Longbowmen, Armoured Sergeants, DFKs, the whole shebang. Defend yourself on that front, while focusing attacks on another front.
2. Kill the Scots.
Playing as any of the two british factions (in vanilla) means that you have to destroy the other ASAP (!!!), lest it will become a tedious war that strains your entire kingdom to the brink of self-collapse.
Attack the Scots early. They have a nice army from the beginnning, but with a few units of Mailed Knights to reinforce Your initial army, they shouldn´t be too much to handle.
Once their initial army is gone, besiege and starve Edinburgh -> Ping! Done! Scots fries!
3. Focus on Economy.
In my experience, you only need to keep ONE castle in the British isles (Nottingham is kind of central, so I ususally go with that). Convert the other castles if the need for more money increases, and focus on economic buildings (Markets, Ports, Roads, Merchants Guild, and even improved Farms) in all but the threatened settlements.

Thank you all for the advice, will take it on board - I've eliminated Scotland finally in England campaign 2.0.... but it's like turn 84 I have all of the British Isles but that's it.... re-taking northern France will be a pain and will take years

You're right about the scots though - Definetely don't let them have a standing army and just be there - They actually took Dublin before I did in my new campaign.... I had to take it back after 2 or 3 battles and a few years, If I hadn't have been fighting the brutish scots for years my army and economy would have been so much better off it's unbelievable

@Painter - I don't tend to auto-resolve mostly but when I can't be bothered to do a really big battle I do, if the balance is slightly in my favour I usually AR, If the balance is against me I play real time, If I have no chance in the balance but an equal amount of men I play real time, If it's a large battle that could go either way then I play real time

Re-taking Northern France now. I might start another campaign? Or just try to do this

[Valandur]

Yeh after recently returning to M2TW I am finding it difficult on easy, although I was never a great player.

Rome was much easier as cavalry just destroyed everything. The key in M2TW is to try and win battles with the minimum amount of casualties possible even if it takes a lot of micro-management and the employment of strategies you don't really use.
Also, don't rush and spam units, wait for your economy to strengthen itself and always keep your border/key cities garrisoned with at least half a stack if worried of an invasion.

As Venice, I was doing reasonably well by Turn 30, Byzantine had went to war at like Turn 9 but hadn't done much in land battles. A Crusade was called, me and Milan being the only ones to respond. I captured Jerusalem, next turn, the large Milanese Crusader Army marching past Venice attacks me whilst a small Hungarian force lays siege to Zagreb and a full stack of Byzantines lay siege to Ragusa. Haven't tried to see if I can win my way out yet, but will probably try soon. Ragusa was well garrisoned, Venice not so much, and the Hungarian force should be destroyed easily.

[shikaka]

Also, don't rush and spam units, wait for your economy to strengthen itself and always keep your border/key cities garrisoned with at least half a stack if worried of an invasion.

Well, blitzing through rebels and helpless factions is not fun. However it is a game winner if you are willing to do it!

So from 'powerplayer' point of view, the strengthen economy-garrison cities is not as good as blitzing.
For example as England, you should be able to take Wales, York, Dublin and Rennes in a few turns, with your starting troops and maybe a few mercs.

[painter]

Selling a Levantine region means you're giving up the chance to stop the Mongols and the Timurids in their infancy. You would have to either hurry up to complete your campaign goals or be prepared for a massive war of attrition.

[shikaka]

Selling a Levantine region means you're giving up the chance to stop the Mongols and the Timurids in their infancy. You would have to either hurry up to complete your campaign goals or be prepared for a massive war of attrition.

I usually don't mind that the Turks/Byzantines/Egyptians are destroyed by the Mongols.
Actually I find that the Mongols or Timurids do nothing after taking over the Levant...

Also, if you sell Antioch to for example Portugal or the Pope, it will rebel/be lost to Egypt/Turks in a few turns, so you can crusade again.

[Dekazon]

Try to limit on 1 hostile at the beginning of the game and ally with nations that are hostile to the nations I am preparing/at war with.
For example:
I immediating sent 1 diplomat to Rome, 1 to Spain and Portugal, 1 to the HRE in a English campaign.
This way, I can concentrate on France and know that I will have my allies as buffers. I still had Very Good-Perfect relations with all of them for 200 turns

[FootSoldier]

As England I would always take out the Scots.

As an alternative with France - ally, and sell them Caen. Then take Antwerp, and fight the Danes instead. Take Scandinavia, and move on to the HRE and Poland. Oh, and I'd leave Bruges for the French too if you want long term peace.