Frustrating!!

[PunchDrunk]

So i'm playing as Scotland and I have the British Ilses and I invade France. I take a few of their cities and then Milan attacks me. So now i'm trying to eliminate France while holding off the Milanese ( who at the time is the #1 military power ). It's pretty much a stalemate for about 20 turns... then Denmark attacks me and sends one full stack to Caen and then as full stack to Paris.. right about then is where I quit the campaign.

I had all of the nations abysmal relations with me... I have no clue how it got that bad. I honestly don't know how to keep a good relations and keep other nations happy with me. Can somebody plz help me here?

[danny X]

look in the thread "execute, release or ransom?" page 1 and the post by ishan, that will give you some handy advice!!

[Kabeloko]

look in the thread "execute, release or ransom?" page 1 and the post by ishan, that will give you some handy advice!!

use the search button, there are tons of topics on this one...
btw, wich mod are u playing??

[PrestigeX]

With Milan, war against them... It's going to be difficult to avoid war once it's started, this is the number one 'back stab' faction ..

neways, as Scotland, you just want to be pumping out Border Horse (hopefully, with armor upgrade) and Mailed Knights,, then your rabble infantry -- one Highlander per one Spear Militia.

Against the Milan, scotland does not want to try and 'shoot it out' just quickly engage , infantry overwhelm theres,, lots of horse to hack at Xbowmen.

[PunchDrunk]

With Milan, war against them... It's going to be difficult to avoid war once it's started, this is the number one 'back stab' faction ..

neways, as Scotland, you just want to be pumping out Border Horse (hopefully, with armor upgrade) and Mailed Knights,, then your rabble infantry -- one Highlander per one Spear Militia.

Against the Milan, scotland does not want to try and 'shoot it out' just quickly engage , infantry overwhelm theres,, lots of horse to hack at Xbowmen.

When the war startd with Milan I had Dismounted/ Feudal Knights, so I didn't even bother with Mailed Knights or Highlanders.

use the search button, there are tons of topics on this one...
btw, wich mod are u playing??

I'm on vanilla, but I modded the game to have perfect relations with the Pope and I increased the short campaigns from 15 to 25 settlements.

[Silverheart]

Most of the Highlander units are great as storm troops - charge them in en masse and let them play around until their sheer numbers overwhelm the enemy.
Also, as Scotland, you need to make military advances early on, or quick conquests during the later periods.
They have a crappy unit roster and quickly becomes outdated by most other factions, making them impressive in the beginning, but real crappy as time goes on.

[PunchDrunk]

Most of the Highlander units are great as storm troops - charge them in en masse and let them play around until their sheer numbers overwhelm the enemy.
Also, as Scotland, you need to make military advances early on, or quick conquests during the later periods.
They have a crappy unit roster and quickly becomes outdated by most other factions, making them impressive in the beginning, but real crappy as time goes on.

Is there a way to NOT get your neighbors abysmal towards and have them all attack you?

[ahmed5]

Is there a way to NOT get your neighbors abysmal towards and have them all attack you?

Don't backstab, only make trade agreements with nations you can trade within vicinity/capacity, gift with money every now and then. if your king has high dread then nations will fear you, if he has high chivalry then he'll be respected and that'll make diplomacy easier.

this only really works in the early aspect of the game. the goal is to establish yourself as a military and economic powerhouse so that no one can do anything to you. britain is a great base of operations to launch attacks on northern europe.

the diplomacy is frustrating and very illogical but that's the TW series for you.

[Double A]

Don't backstab, only make trade agreements with nations you can trade within vicinity/capacity, gift with money every now and then. if your king has high dread then nations will fear you, if he has high chivalry then he'll be respected and that'll make diplomacy easier.

this only really works in the early aspect of the game. the goal is to establish yourself as a military and economic powerhouse so that no one can do anything to you. britain is a great base of operations to launch attacks on northern europe.

the diplomacy is frustrating and very illogical but that's the TW series for you.

Don't backstab unless you orchestrate it so they attack first, rade with everyone you expect to not attack in the near future, tribute 200 florins/turn to nations you fear that will attack and you aren't ready for, king having high dread only pisses off your high chiv generals so it doesn't matte, don't execute prisoners or exterminate settlements ever, and don't be in too many wars (rep drops turnly). Don't let your assassins or spies get caught and don't bribe.

If you get too powerful in the vanilla game AI will attack you for no reason other than fear that you, who is at war with 5 factions, will attack them in the middle of said war.

Diplomacy is very easy and logical if you play a mod.

[ahmed5]

Don't backstab unless you orchestrate it so they attack first, rade with everyone you expect to not attack in the near future, tribute 200 florins/turn to nations you fear that will attack and you aren't ready for, king having high dread only pisses off your high chiv generals so it doesn't matte, don't execute prisoners or exterminate settlements ever, and don't be in too many wars (rep drops turnly). Don't let your assassins or spies get caught and don't bribe.

If you get too powerful in the vanilla game AI will attack you for no reason other than fear that you, who is at war with 5 factions, will attack them in the middle of said war.

Diplomacy is very easy and logical if you play a mod.

Yeah Broken Crescent was the best I've tried so far. Vanilla is just headache-y

[shirajzl]

I've had something similar playing as Scotland. After conquering the Isles and attacking Caen, three countries turned against me at once; France, Portugal, and Denmark. After I managed to conquer France and Portugal, I got two new enemies; Holy Roman Empire and Milan...After a few turns, the pope calls a crusade against me and Holy Roman Empire, Milan, Hungary, Poland, Venice, and Denmark all send a full stack each. Battles everywhere, a nice challenge every few turns. Fun times

[eXistenZ]

Vanilla has no logic at all, its really annoying. if you want to a mod that doesnt change too much to the game (before you try other mods), try retrofit mod. it makes the AI much more rational

[GNU07]

Vanilla has no logic at all, its really annoying. if you want to a mod that doesnt change too much to the game (before you try other mods), try retrofit mod. it makes the AI much more rational

Yea try Retrofit but first delete the descr_campaign_ai_database file from the mod's folder. The Retrofit AI is completely broken IMO.

[eXistenZ]

Yea try Retrofit but first delete the descr_campaign_ai_database file from the mod's folder. The Retrofit AI is completely broken IMO.

Then what do you call vanilla AI?

[ahmed5]

Then what do you call vanilla AI?

shattered?

[GNU07]

Then what do you call vanilla AI?

Both are broken in their own way. Vanilla AI is very aggresive and doesn't know what diplomacy is, while Retrofit AI is very passive and lets you walk over it in diplomacy.

If you delete the descr_campaign_ai_database you get the Vanilla AI played through Kingdoms.exe which results in a mild version of it. It retains most of it's aggresiveness while it becomes more rational and logical in diplomacy. And also in this AI, reputation does actually matter. In my current Russia campaign i'm allied to Hungary and the Byzantines for more than 100 turns and we share borders since turn 20. And no, i don't gift them a crapload of gold every single turn to keep them happy. Also in a previous campaign as HRE, i managed to get 6 vassals!

Try it if you don't believe me.

[ahmed5]

Both are broken in their own way. Vanilla AI is very aggresive and doesn't know what diplomacy is, while Retrofit AI is very passive and lets you walk over it in diplomacy.

If you delete the descr_campaign_ai_database you get the Vanilla AI played through Kingdoms.exe which results in a mild version of it. It retains most of it's aggresiveness while it becomes more rational and logical in diplomacy. And also in this AI, reputation does actually matter. In my current Russia campaign i'm allied to Hungary and the Byzantines for more than 100 turns and we share borders since turn 20. And no, i don't gift them a crapload of gold every single turn to keep them happy. Also in a previous campaign as HRE, i managed to get 6 vassals!

Try it if you don't believe me.

Are you serious?

[Rumpadum]

It's not called 'Total War' for nothing, get fighting soldier!

[Double A]

Melty.

[eXistenZ]

yes its true the AI in retrofit is very passive, but im not playing medievall anymore, so i'll just believe you. you're probably right about deleting it :p