Embarassing campaign defeat

[Used2BRoz]

Playing on Normal settings with SS6.4 plus the Bugfix 1.27 compilation, plus my own PSFs and some minor tweaks, I have succumbed to a campaign defeat in less than 200 turns

Whilst it is true I wasn't blitzing, rather playing slowly to see what happened elsewhere, (testing some minor mods I had made) and so wasn't too concerned by the rapid advance of the Khwarezmian hordes. The Mongols will wipe them out soon enough I thought.

Nope -they achieved their victory conditions about 40 years before the Mongols were due to arrive.

Well played the AI - and as I was playing England there wasn't too much I could have done to stop them.

As usual the Seljuks get destroyed quite easily by the Byzantines and the Khwarezmians, in much the same way that the HRE gets destroyed by just about everyone.

Not sure what causes those - bad geographical location, poor starting armies, expensive upkeep for units, underdeveloped regions ?

So maybe a little game balance tweaking is needed.

[AKDeath]

ill give you a clue, on how i like my campaign, maybe you'll love it aswell, maybe you'll hate it http://imgur.com/ZPh3NOF
as u can see, there are no rebels, apart from the greek empire, and i gave every faction, a 20 stack army per city, with a named character commanding each army.
and 15.000 denars, for each province, but thats just the starting money, i also gave 15.000 more money as kings purse, than what the expenditure is, so if england is expending lets say 20.000 each turn, due to the high number of units.
i just gave them 35.000 purse, thats solves everything up, and will keep the ai in a good financial state, and dangerous hehe.
also, as u can see, the crusader states, are now really really strong, and within 50 more turns, theyll be as strong as the mongols, they will have a huge empire. (i gave them some extra stacks, and money, here what they look like at the beginning http://imgur.com/nkk0KTu) lol
and i made a german(hre)-italian(genoa,venice) alliance, thats to prevent the HRE from geting destroyed, cuz i like them, also did the same on southern europe (Portugal , Aragon , Leon and Castille)

anyways, the whole point of this, is to show you, how much u can play with how the camping will look like at the beggining, and who will become the major powers, as u can see, i tend to favor the catholics, over everybody else, thats only personal taste tho, u could create your own enviroment, anyway u like. it will take alot of time tho, i remember i spent two days working on it, to make my campaign start that way. if u like what u see, i could upload some of my files for you, and you starting working form there, just leave me a message.

well, this post is bug enough already, just remenber, its not cheating, same way i get more unites, money and provinces, so does everybody else, and i like to play as england always, so there will be much more stronger factions than me, since the very fist turn. it wont take the fun away, on my humble opnion, and i get to have the game i want to, thats what really matters, playing the game, the way u feel it should be played. peace

[Used2BRoz]

Interesting approach !
I can't spend too long messing with the files, so my edits are fairly small-scale.
I've got other things to try out, possibly involving boosting trade income or farms (I've given nearly all regions a start with farms)
But I'm testing everything and doing small steps at a time, so I can see how each change works out.

You can always upload your files as your own sub-mod if you like
(but you may have to specify what options you've chosen in the set-up or else some files may get over-written if people chose them

[bigdaddy1204]

So maybe a little game balance tweaking is needed.

Have you tried the SS6.4 submod SSHIP (stainless steel historical improvement project)? I've found this has quite a bit more balance. Faction starting positions are more accurate, the boundaries of the provinces are much improved and overall its a more balanced game. They also added four new factions (Serbia, the Zengids, the Abbasid Caliphate, Georgia), which were desperately needed to make the non-western Europe parts of the map more interesting. Especially the Zengids in north Syria - the game was crying out for a new faction in that area.

The HRE is huge, and all empires get their historical start position. I've played it a fair bit, it's now much better because the unit costs are so much higher, there are no spam stacks all over the map. Each small/medium faction can usually just about stretch to putting one stack in the field, although often less than 20 units. Battles matter much more, and it's a real achievement just to field an army. Also, merchants actually do something useful - they can now bring in tens of thousands per turn. Because the merchants become a crucial part of the economy, I find myself using assassins far more often to eliminate enemy merchants who are trying to take over my trade. Allowing the enemy merchant to eat yours and get away with it is simply not an option - you NEED the money. So you hire assassins and have them 'eliminated'. It's all very satisfying! Makes for a great game.

As for being defeated by the AI, that's pretty special

Very few of my campaigns ever last more than 100 turns. Usually I achieve what I wanted by around turn 70 or so and get bored and start another one. Although I am rather enjoying my Byzantines campaign on SSHIP, and that's up to near 100 turns or so. I've conquered Anatolia, conquered the Serbs and defeated the Georgians. I'm also fighting the Zengids. In the west, I invaded Italy and captured the south as well as Sicily. I am now contemplating an attack on the Pope, to bring the rebellious church man back under the control of the Roman Empire where he belongs!

Have you ever been actually defeated and destroyed by the AI? It happened to me in Shogun 2 and Rome II, but I've never experienced it in Medieval II... although I did get stuck in my Abbasids campaign in SSHIP mod and gave up.

[AKDeath]

"Each small/medium faction can usually just about stretch to putting one stack in the field, although often less than 20 units." i find that to be so boring, lol scotland in my campaing, starts with 3 stacks, and after 10 turns, they get 2 more, but thats just personal taste really ahah

[Sint]

Nope -they achieved their victory conditions about 40 years before the Mongols were due to arrive.

Well played the AI - and as I was playing England there wasn't too much I could have done to stop them.

Well you can still play and win the game.

[Abdülmecid I]

The Khwarezmians can be really tough: In my last campaign as France, Asia is full of battlemarks listing their heroic victories against the Byzzies and the Fatimids, while the Seljuks are their protectorate in Oman. Then, the Mongols came and they managed to conquer Iran, until they were finally crushed by the Khwarezmian Empire, which recaptured Iran, although Mesopotamia was lost to the Fatimids. When the last Mongol was killed in battle, the Timurids appeared, only to get evaporated even more easily than the Mongols. Currently, the Khwarezmians have recaptured Mesopotamia and they already conquered their first regions in Syria. I'm a bit scared, to be honest...

[Boogie Knight]

I've only played two campaigns in SS so far (both 6.4) one as the Moors (early) and one as Venice (late) and both times the Khwarezmians have been swallowed up by the Mongols pretty quickly. Great to hear that isn't always the case and that they can sometimes bite back. I'd be tempted to try playing as them due to the challenging position but their roster is just so darned limited.