War And Peace

[Joishm]

Hi, as a noob (not to total war, but to discussing with all yooz clever folk with the nous for it) i have a few questions that need answering.

I've played 2 campaigns since starting Medieval 2 Total War, and the results of which have left me in a bit of a conundrum.


First of all i started off with the English, with the policy of all-out war. This policy treated me fairly well during both Shogun and Rome, so i thought i'd go with it again.

I started fairly well, eliminating the Scottish, French, Sicilians, and almost Milan, Portugal and the Papal States (all with only 1 territory left) in about 50 turns. Despite having had 2 popes within those turns (though i'm at a bit of a loss as to why i did), it was in total disregard for both the Catholic church (only making the effort to fulfill my duties in crusades) and relations with neighbouring nations.

By about turn 80 i was feeling the full force of the backlash from my antagonistic ways. My borders have to be manned to the fullest, whilst i have to very heavily man major cities like London and Edinburgh, after threat of rebellions after having been excommunicated.

For about 50 turns onwards, this stalemate has meant my states have been fluctuating between 26 and 29, whilst i'm the only enemy of the world (the Egyptians are the only faction i'm not at war with - and they seem happy enough to damn me to hell and ally with my enemies), and the pope repeatedly calls crusades against my major states. I'm also the Mongols only enemy, and that's a nagging pain in itself.


In my second campaign i've started with France, with the policy of total peace. After the vicious kickback i took after giving not but two ****'s about Christendom, so that i could expand, i thought i'd bide my time on amicable terms with all to gauge the results.

The first few turns i've spent focusing solely on Rebel States, and any crusade i'm called on. By turn 20 something i've managed to create an alliance and manage a very good relationship with all of England, Portugal, Holy Roman Empire, Milan, Hungary, Venice, Denmark, and the Papal States, and i'm a turned door knob away from getting into bed with the pope (although i don't feel good about it). I've retaken all of France, and have about 13 states overall. I'm only at war with Egypt, after taking Jerusalum on a crusade.

I am however now in debt. I've made a big emphasis on production and trade this time round so i'm not totally sure why. However, call it paranoia, but after the theatre of war that was my last campaign, that left me so on edge that i was willing to reprimand myself in a tied sleeve jacket and make my way to the local institute, i have manned my boarders with the English, Italians, and Iberian Peninsula with a stack about 8 troop brigades. I've also heard word these alliances and relationships are too easily broken to persist with in this game

I've only just started the campaign again, but going to war with Christendom seems yet again to be an immediate inevitability. Without expansion, it seems that i'll end up financially screwed.

What approach is to be made in this game, since i seem to be falling flat from all angles? *Oooh, Matron!*


By the way, i also compulsively spend, and rarely save (if ever). Is there any value in conservatism (that can be answered generally, if you wish - i'm still yet to find it), and if so, how much should i temper spending with moderation?

[skofuz]

I'm playing as France aswell in my campaign and I went for expansion in the west and alliances in the north and east. I conquered all of France and the Iberian peninsula aswell as West-Africa and I allied myself with England, Denmark, HRE, Milan and the Papacy. And now with my new money making territories I focused on my economy aswell as my military and I churned out 4 armies to deterr my allies from betraying me.

I'm at turn 120 now (I play with 445 turns in my campaign) and the only nation that has tried it's luck was Denmark and I retaliated hard and wiped them out. After that Milan tried aswell but I offered them a ceasefire which they accepted. Of course they had to pay a very sizable sum to me aswell.

At present I've conquered half of the Middle-East just to have something to do as I don't like fighting catholics. And I now have 6 armies in france, 3 in North-Germany, 2 in the Middle-East in addition to large garrisons in my rebelious cities and I have a full stack in Algiers to deterr Sicily from attacking me.

Also remember to always have a faction leader with maxed out chivalry to boost your reputation with other nations. Also never execute prisoners and always occupy cities and castles.

[cpt krunch13]

I have all out war when I play as the Holy Roman Empire and, currently, as the Byzantine Empire. When I did a British campaign I played defensively only keeping the starting settlements and not expanding at all. I instead focused on building my cities up and getting on good political terms with lots of factions as well as defending my borders. Needless to say it got boring fast but that was my first ever time playing a total war game so I was still getting my "sea legs" so to speak.

[AJenny58]

If you are allied with the world who can you conquer? I suggest breaking an alliance with the use of a diplomat (preferably a faction with little to no alliances, or at least little to no mutual alliances), then tell them to give you a city or else you will attack. If they don't give you the city you attack them in the next turn. Occupy the settlements you take and release the prisoners. Build up economic buildings until you are making profit again, then you can continue war. Try your best to single out one faction for attack at a time. Multi-front wars are expensive, but if it happens I would defend in one front and expand into the other.

[the new username]

multi fronr wars are HRE thing. one day, i was playing as the germans, i saw france, poland, dennmark and venice entering in an alliance, 3 turns later, fracne besieges metz and bern;denmark besieges hamburg; poland besieges breslau and magdeburg and venice besiges viena and insbruck. 2 turns later i lost all of those pronvinces and i had to pay 50000 florins to them to end the war, after, in stayed in , with no money, territories and army.

[Gavani]

When you get told by the pope to end the war or risk excommunication pull your forces back to your own territory. Whichever province is nearest the enemy - reduce the garrison and place a large army hidden or a turns march away. The computer will attack you and they will get excommunicated and not you leaving you to pillage destroy and crusade accross their territory and the pope will like you more for doing it.

Can be annoying but in my experience the AI can't resist a lightly defended province when you are at war regardless of what the pope says!

Also what a lot of other threads talk about is you need to think about each and every action that you take as it affects your characters and their reputations. If you are chivalrous other factions will like you more and it will be easier to form lasting alliances. Allying with the pope asap is very useful.

Sometimes however it is more fun to steamroll Europe in which case try to focus on wiping out one enemy at a time whilst holding the others. Particularly if you have regions with high ground. Picking the right place to fight may mean you don't need nearly so many men to hold one front releasing troops for an assault on another one. Artillery can be handy for multiple fronts as it allows you to smash and grab settlements quickly.

Good luck and fight on.

[In3x]

I'd like to make a slight addition to Gavani's point.

If the Pope gives you one of those "Don't attack this guy again or I'll excommunicate you." ultimatums and you are currently besieging one of his cities it is possible to continue to besiege this province as long as you do not add any troops to the besieging army. An added bonus of this is that the enemy faction will most likely attack you to try and drive off your army, getting themselves excommunicated in the process and cancelling the do not attack mission from the Pope. Even better news is that if you kill all the enemy troops in the battle you can walk into a completely unguarded and undamaged city after the battle.

[Drustan]

The best way to suceed is finding the right balance between war and peace. The reason your campaigns have gone pear- shaped is because you have tried to follow a policy of either one or the other.

[In3x]

The best way to suceed is finding the right balance between war and peace. The reason your campaigns have gone pear- shaped is because you have tried to follow a policy of either one or the other.

I find the best way to succeed is to attack attack attack, check out my AAR "The Spirit of the Blitz" to see how effective constant aggression can be.