Tips on campaign strat?

[ghyslyn]

I havent bought M2TW yet, probably will this weekend, but researched it alot

heres my unelaborated plan for my campaign strat(at the beginning at least)

i would start as england and take the british isles to get my own easily defendable corner of the map, but i dont like england, im thinking taking france and conquering the brits, afterwards i would be able to mass produce in british cities to give me an easily defendable economic backline, and start attacking the rest of modern day france, and afterwards take the iberian peninsula. Now seeing as ive yet to play the game(and i havent played MTW, only RTW) what am i missing? and should i go on easy or normal difficulty? id do normal just so that i lose some battles and such but i dont have alot of time to spend on gaming, had a normal campaign in RTW with brutii and it took me 3 real months to complete(and i also did it all before 150BC)

one more Q, ive been told that conquering the new world is great for fueling your economic war machine in europe, my question is why not conquer the new world earlier? for example take the british isles and then go and conquer it? what in the game limits ur ability to see it early?

[jimbob]

Your plan sounds good to me! I played as england for my first game, and did something similar. I took the british isles, then progressed through modern day france and took out spain and portugal. I then butchered my way through northern europe to get the 45 regions needed for victory, whilst sending a crusade to jerusalem, because i needed that for victory as well.

As far as the new world goes, you can't reach it straight away. The technology to get there only appears on turn 161, and you've still got to build a new type of docks, and get your ships over there. Theres no way you're going to reach the new world before turn 180 or so. There isn't a huge amount of money over there really... I don't see it as being profitable at all conquering the new world. Theres some resources for your merchants there, but only being able to access them for 40 turns isn't going to make a huge difference to your finances. You'll need to send at least 2 full stacks to conquer everything, and I don't think the return really justifies the initial investment of going over there in the first place.

[ghyslyn]

sounds like your strat is pretty much the same as mine, only u started english and ill start as france

anyone can tellme the strengths and weaknesses of france? are they more economical or are they more military might? whats the battle strat for their troops(just like romans were mass infantry with lines fighting, compared to egypt's many arrows, or greek spearmen in RTW)

and what about the difficulties? which should i take?

[turtle]

I haven't played m2tw yet, but I am pretty sure French armies were not known for their infantry superiority, but for their crossbow formations and their good heavy cavalry, in reality, not sure how this plays out in the game though.

[jimbob]

I wouldn't play on easy. Probably go for normal if you've played RTW a bit, but maybe harder if you're a RTW veteran.

France are probably one of the easier factions to play with. You've got good troops. Mainly dismounted knights, heavy cavalry and crossbows. I'd say similar tactics are fairly similar to the romans, but with a greater emphasis on missiles and cavalry charges, and less dominant infantry. Pepper them with missiles for as long as possible, before engaging with with expendable milita, whilst flanking with your knights and cavalry.

They're a fairly good all rounder I reckon, and a good side to start with. Pretty much all the regions in modern day france produce a good amount of money, so you should be able to get some good finances going. Once you take england, then you won't have to worry about defending it a huge amount, and can concentrate on building money stuff there.

The main difficulty is you'll have a lot of borders with other catholic nations. As long as you keep the pope on side, then the should be fairly well behaved, but if you get excommunicated (like I did ) then you'll get attacked by the spanish and portugese in the south, milan and sicily in the SE, HRE in the east, and the danes in the north. Keeping the pope friendly is probably your top priority, so you can do battle with each opponent seperately, rather than them all rushing you simultainously.

I'm pretty sure the french need one of the holy regions (england need jerusalem, france is probably the same). Don't make the mistake of capturing it too early. I took jerusalem early, and wasn't able to hold onto it until I had 45 regions, so had to send a second crusade later on. With the Muslims, mongols and timurids all rampaging round that corner of the map, its difficult to hold onto any regions around there, so it's best to conquer your victory condition region near the end. By all means go on early crusades to the middle east, but do it to gain favour with the pope, rather than as a method of gaining territory.

[ghyslyn]

so economic conquest? or militaristic would be best? i was mainly thinking economic, i do know that both france and england were some of the most proficient economic leaders in middle ages, especially later on where france remained dominant economically and culturally(since the hundred years war) until their fall in the napoleonic wars, where england took control with immense trade and colonization, although its small population at the time.

so controlling both these territories early in the game im GUESSING would be a great economic feat, any ideas anyone?

[ghyslyn]

i think ill go for normal, although i want a challenge, i also want to have the time to finish my campaign within the next few months, i have school to go to, work, preparations for grad, homework and im taking a history course on my own so yea... plus my dad's a prick

[ghyslyn]

what are the french starting positions? so i have an idea of my strategic expansion north, and also keeping a foothold in france?