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Thread: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

  1. #21
    jurcek1987's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdaddy1204 View Post
    Cool! That sounds like a great campaign. I’d love to see a few more screens showing the campaign map and the Italian provinces.

    In my Moors campaign, I have had some spectacular success using assassins, merchants, spies and imams. I decided early on to make a strong focus on agents. It started when I realised that merchants would be key to my economy, but I could NOT allow enemy merchants to move in and steal my trade. Therefore I hired assassins and started killing enemy merchants ruthlessly.

    From there it progressed to enemy agents and ultimately generals. I have assassinated every single merchant, priest, assassin and spy that has dared to enter my territory – and many more who were in neighbouring lands. My lands are completely clear of enemy priests and merchants. This has enabled me to maximise my income from merchant trade, as well as increase public order across my cities by ensuring that high percentages follow Islam.

    The pinnacle of this drive of assassination was when I managed to assassinate several family members of the Kingdom of Leon, leading to an extremely skilled assassin called Mustafa the Killer. I successfully assassinated the heir to the kingdom of Aragon! I also fatally weakened several enemy armies by assassinating the commanding general. Eventually, even the Kingdom of Leon was forced to surrender, and they begged for peace in exchange for being allowed to keep their capital city Leon and the small town of Santiago (their only remaining 2 provinces).

    After smashing the Aragonese in three consecutive battles of Valencia one after the other, I was able to conquer Zaragoza and Barcelona. Pamplona is now the last enemy settlement in the whole of Spain and Portugal (the town is held by Aragon). I decided to offer Aragon peace as I noticed the French are now close to my lands and I would rather border a weak enemy with one settlement than a strong one. However, they refused my offer. It seems they are determined to fight on, even though they are utterly beaten. Therefore I will have no choice but to exterminate their last settlement and extinguish them for good. Then perhaps I will turn on Leon and finish them off, before turning east and advancing into France. Septimania (south France coast) was a Muslim province in about 730AD; it shall be so again!
    Well if you want to have a perfect leader with max chivalry, using assassins isn't the way to do it . Personally I don't use them or spies to open gates, it's part of my house rules. Oh and be sure to send one of your merchants to Tunis and "appropriate" the gold there.

    Here's the pic you asked:

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Fatimids just captured Rome! I guess the Pope isn't all too pleased about that. And the poor little English couldn't hold the mighty juggernaut that is Scotland at bay

  2. #22

    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    And this is my English empire - after securing France from the Pyrenees to the Rhine I joined the crusade. CS conquered the target before I arrived, so I sacked the three Egyptian delta cities then proceeded to capture Ascalon and have been growing ever since.

    Unfortunately I'm about to lose Jerusalem due to unrest after my king died, but I will take it back and am also en route to capture Taym and then on to Makkah. Also the Aragonese have just DWed on me, so I think my lords will soon be vacationing on the Costa Brava.

    The only negative aspect was that, after holding an alliance with the HRE for pretty much the entire game, the Pope gave me a mission to break it after they got excommed. So now they are extremely unhappy with me and it's probably only a matter of time before the two superpowers collide. Which is a shame, as I was hoping I could go through the entire game without any conflict on that border, just taking Spain and the Holy Lands.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


  3. #23
    jurcek1987's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Swarbs View Post
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    That is one mightily impressive empire, well done! Actually I should have a lot more money but I always gift tens of thousands almost every turn to my allies so I don't have above 50.000. I read somewhere that in that case your governors start getting bad traits, but that was for RTW, not sure if it still applies.

  4. #24

    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by jurcek1987 View Post
    Well if you want to have a perfect leader with max chivalry, using assassins isn't the way to do it . Personally I don't use them or spies to open gates, it's part of my house rules. Oh and be sure to send one of your merchants to Tunis and "appropriate" the gold there.

    Here's the pic you asked:

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Fatimids just captured Rome! I guess the Pope isn't all too pleased about that. And the poor little English couldn't hold the mighty juggernaut that is Scotland at bay
    WTF?! Was it a jihad, or did the AI actually launch a proper naval invasion across the Tyrrhenian?

    Also how are you managing to keep Palermo so happy? I had a 10 dread general in there with a full stack of Alamanoi and Scoutatoi and it still rebelled! Damn Mafia

  5. #25
    jurcek1987's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Swarbs View Post
    And this is my English empire - after securing France from the Pyrenees to the Rhine I joined the crusade. CS conquered the target before I arrived, so I sacked the three Egyptian delta cities then proceeded to capture Ascalon and have been growing ever since.

    Unfortunately I'm about to lose Jerusalem due to unrest after my king died, but I will take it back and am also en route to capture Taym and then on to Makkah. Also the Aragonese have just DWed on me, so I think my lords will soon be vacationing on the Costa Brava.

    The only negative aspect was that, after holding an alliance with the HRE for pretty much the entire game, the Pope gave me a mission to break it after they got excommed. So now they are extremely unhappy with me and it's probably only a matter of time before the two superpowers collide. Which is a shame, as I was hoping I could go through the entire game without any conflict on that border, just taking Spain and the Holy Lands.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Personally I'd rather disobey the Pope than break a long lasting alliance. Gift him some money if he's upset. If he excommunicates you, I wouldn't be particularly worried, you're much too powerful.

  6. #26

    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by jurcek1987 View Post
    That is one mightily impressive empire, well done! Actually I should have a lot more money but I always gift tens of thousands almost every turn to my allies so I don't have above 50.000. I read somewhere that in that case your governors start getting bad traits, but that was for RTW, not sure if it still applies.
    I think it does, but I keep it down by building up the queues and recruiting like mad for garrisons. I can usually spend everything I earn every turn, even after a big gain like that.

    Particularly now, with PO so low in so many cities I am recruiting just about everything I can in just about every settlement I can to stave off the rebellions whilst my usurper finds a convenient rebel stack to die against!

  7. #27

    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by jurcek1987 View Post
    Personally I'd rather disobey the Pope than break a long lasting alliance. Gift him some money if he's upset. If he excommunicates you, I wouldn't be particularly worried, you're much too powerful.
    Yeah, in retrospect I probably should have done. But at the time I was trying to build up papal favour to get a crusade in the Levant and thus ship some more troops out there and take some settlements without too much cost. Running a crusade when there's no actual crusade called is damn expensive - I'm beginning to see why the RL crusaders couldn't hold on to what they captured!

  8. #28
    jurcek1987's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Swarbs View Post
    WTF?! Was it a jihad, or did the AI actually launch a proper naval invasion across the Tyrrhenian?

    Also how are you managing to keep Palermo so happy? I had a 10 dread general in there with a full stack of Alamanoi and Scoutatoi and it still rebelled! Damn Mafia
    Hehe. They actually sent a full stack by ship and it must have been a powerful army, the Pope had an almost full stack of Swiss guard and lost.

    Palermo first had a plague and then I exterminated the population upon capture so currently it's stable. But I guess that'll change in the near future. Oh I also tinkered around the unrest levels, I lowered the distance to capital penalty in cities by 50%. To me it was much too punishing, even in Thesallonica which is very close to the capital I had I think a 15% penalty. In distant cities the distance penalty, combined with high unrest was just overkill.

  9. #29

    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by jurcek1987 View Post
    Hehe. They actually sent a full stack by ship and it must have been a powerful army, the Pope had an almost full stack of Swiss guard and lost.

    Palermo first had a plague and then I exterminated the population upon capture so currently it's stable. But I guess that'll change in the near future. Oh I also tinkered around the unrest levels, I lowered the distance to capital penalty in cities by 50%. To me it was much too punishing, even in Thesallonica which is very close to the capital I had I think a 15% penalty. In distant cities the distance penalty, combined with high unrest was just overkill.
    Ah, that explains it - I think Palermo has the max 125% distance to capital penalty for the ERE, and as a huge city it gets so big that the garrison bonuses are very small when it reaches its full size, even for a full stack.

    I could probably have controlled it over time, by continually recapturing it after rebellions and exterminating it to give me time to build up the library and barracks. But when it rebelled it caused a Sicilian respawn with three full stacks, so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle and just blockaded the port so they couldn't go anywhere. Once everything else is dealt with I'll be back with some uber stacks to wipe them all out for the win

  10. #30
    bigdaddy1204's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Swarbs View Post
    ...whilst my usurper finds a convenient rebel stack to die against!
    I tried doing that once in my Fatimid campaign with a usurper king. Ironically though, despite deliberately sending him into battle after battle against rebel stacks across the empire, he kept surviving the battles! He kept winning, despite being just a bodyguard alone against a whole army. And any time he lost, he always managed to get away by routing. Thus my repeated attempts to kill him failed. But ironically, all those battles had started to markedly increase his positive traits, including authority and command. I could see my generals were starting to gain loyalty as well. Eventually, I decided to put him at the head of a real army and send him on a rampage across the Mediterranean, commanding the army in person. With each battle, his authority and command points increased, until within a few turns he had blossomed into a great ruler, and he actually lost the usurper trait. By the later years of his life, he had become a genuinely respected ruler with fully stacked authority!

  11. #31
    bigdaddy1204's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Swarbs View Post
    Ah, that explains it - I think Palermo has the max 125% distance to capital penalty for the ERE, and as a huge city it gets so big that the garrison bonuses are very small when it reaches its full size, even for a full stack.

    I could probably have controlled it over time, by continually recapturing it after rebellions and exterminating it to give me time to build up the library and barracks. But when it rebelled it caused a Sicilian respawn with three full stacks, so I figured it wasn't worth the hassle and just blockaded the port so they couldn't go anywhere. Once everything else is dealt with I'll be back with some uber stacks to wipe them all out for the win
    Ah yes, I used a little bit of 'light' cheating to solve this problem. If you type in process_cq Palermo, it instantly builds whatever building was under construction. In some cities, you may find that the public order buildings are not well developed, and it would take many tens of turns to build everything you need (which is impossible if the city is about to rebel the next turn). So I just upgrade the buildings instantly using that command. By doing that, I've upgraded from say a tier one barracks to a tier 7 barracks. And the same with town halls. Upgrading from the basic building, all the way up to like a level 5 or 6 structure in a single turn. I think, as long as you've got the money, why not? You're the Emperor, after all. If you command something to be built urgently, why should it take 40 years to go through all the levels?

  12. #32

    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdaddy1204 View Post
    I tried doing that once in my Fatimid campaign with a usurper king. Ironically though, despite deliberately sending him into battle after battle against rebel stacks across the empire, he kept surviving the battles! He kept winning, despite being just a bodyguard alone against a whole army. And any time he lost, he always managed to get away by routing. Thus my repeated attempts to kill him failed. But ironically, all those battles had started to markedly increase his positive traits, including authority and command. I could see my generals were starting to gain loyalty as well. Eventually, I decided to put him at the head of a real army and send him on a rampage across the Mediterranean, commanding the army in person. With each battle, his authority and command points increased, until within a few turns he had blossomed into a great ruler, and he actually lost the usurper trait. By the later years of his life, he had become a genuinely respected ruler with fully stacked authority!
    Yeah, I would try the same with my emperor, except he's current in Hadrianopolis which is miles away from any enemies! Current plan is to drop him off on Sicily, move the fleet away, and see how he holds up against three Sicilian full stacks. Only problem with that is it then leaves my heir next to Damascus, and also miles away from any enemies! And with even worse movement

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdaddy1204 View Post
    Ah yes, I used a little bit of 'light' cheating to solve this problem. If you type in process_cq Palermo, it instantly builds whatever building was under construction. In some cities, you may find that the public order buildings are not well developed, and it would take many tens of turns to build everything you need (which is impossible if the city is about to rebel the next turn). So I just upgrade the buildings instantly using that command. By doing that, I've upgraded from say a tier one barracks to a tier 7 barracks. And the same with town halls. Upgrading from the basic building, all the way up to like a level 5 or 6 structure in a single turn. I think, as long as you've got the money, why not? You're the Emperor, after all. If you command something to be built urgently, why should it take 40 years to go through all the levels?
    Yeah, don't really like cheating tbh. If there was a gameplay option to rush the construction for a higher cost then I'd go for that, but changing values and using cheat codes just undermines the value of the game for me. Also massively reduces the challenge of holding a huge city like Palermo. As I said in my post I know I can control the city with enough strategy, time, effort and resources, so there's no real need to cheat.

  13. #33
    jurcek1987's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Battle of Antioch, 1182 AD

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    My army composition was:

    1x Bodyguard
    1x Armenian Nakharar Cavalry
    1x Archontopoulai
    1x Mounted Akritai
    2x Cavalarii
    4x Skoutatoi
    2x Akritai
    2x Saxon Huskarls
    6x Mourtatoi

    Their cavalry outnumbered mine by 3:1, but I placed stakes on my flanks which prevented them to outflank my position. And they just stood in front of my stakes for a while while being shot by my archers continuously. Then some of them decided to chase my horse archers while the rest charged my centre but I placed my Skoutatoi there in deep formation and were repulsed. After their cavalry was sufficiently weakened I charged them with my own cavalry. And after I achieved supremacy I charged their infantry attacking my centre with Armenians and sent the rest against their crossbowmen and mangonels. Mangonels were responsible for about a third of my casualties. It took a long time before I destroyed their cavalry and the key to victory were my Skoutatoi who managed to hold the line long enough while being massively outnumbered. I'm so proud of them , I think they are the best line infantry in early era.

  14. #34
    bigdaddy1204's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Quick update - I don't have any screens as I'm in the office but I just wanted to share what happened. I assassinated the King of Leon! In fact, I assassinated so many generals that Leon was down to just the king, and the faction heir. When I assassinated the king, their last remaining general became king. I realised that if I could kill him in battle, the kingdom of Leon would be destroyed and their forces degenerate into rebels. So I hastily gathered my field army and attacked theirs in battle (the same turn). Their king died in battle, hit by arrows as he attempted to chase down my archers.

    On exiting the battle, I got the "faction destroyed" message. At this point, Leon and Santiago de Compostela are the only two provinces in the whole of the Iberian peninsula outside my control, and they both became rebel. It was then an easy matter to lay siege, exterminating Leon the next turn and gaining 26,000 florins of loot. A couple of turns later, Santiago fell as well. By this point, Portugal, Aragon and Leon had all been wiped out and I was at peace. But then a crusade was called against Marrakesh, and the whole of Europe declared war against me.

    I was just thinking about this last night, when I realised that there is no land bridge in SSHIP... meaning it will be impossible for the crusade armies to walk through Spain to get to Marrakesh. I am now wondering how the Crusade armies will get to Marrakesh. Some factions might be able to send boats, but I don't know if the AI is competent enough to arrange that. And what about some factions that don't border any coastal settlement! Then I realised that if they want to walk all the way to Marrakesh, they will have to go east, walk over the north part of the Black Sea, down through Georgia and Armenia, past Turkey and down into Syria, then down past Jerusalem and into Egypt, then west across the desert into Libya, then across Tunisia and Algeria, and approach Morocco from the east side!

    But by the time they have done all that, I think the Crusade may fail. So I am genuinely curious to see what happens next...

  15. #35
    jurcek1987's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    They don't need coastal settlements, they can hire mercenary ships. Be alert for a ship with a crusade banner. But that is a rare sight, most armies will use the land route through Dardaneles. An army from KoJ will arrive very soon, be prepared.

  16. #36
    Lifthrasir's Avatar "Capre" Dunkerquois
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    That's the main problem in that game.

    Originally, the land bridge of Gibraltar was removed because it gave too much bonus to the Almoravids. They could train and send stacks after stacks and in all games, Spain, Aragon and Portugal didn't survive for long. By removing that land bridge, it balances the game for that area.

    Regarding Crusades and Jihad, most of the time, these armies travel by land. I don't know if it's possible to balance that in a certain manner like for example 1/3 of the armies travelling by sea and 2/3 travelling by land (or completely randomly) when these armies are controlled by the AI.
    Under the patronage of Flinn, proud patron of Jadli, from the Heresy Vault of the Imperial House of Hader

  17. #37
    bigdaddy1204's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    Well it's a good thing they are coming to Africa, because I don't have much there anyway. I never even tried to capture the rebel cities in North Africa. So the Crusader armies won't cause much damage. Most of my economy is safely tucked away to the north of the straits (i.e. in Spain/Portugal).

    On the other hand, Marrakesh is bringing in about 9,000 florins a turn, so I wouldn't want to lose it. It'll be interesting to see how many crusaders actually make it that far across the map. It can be interesting watching holy soldiers attack unusual targets. For example I have called Jihads on Rome and Palermo before (although not in this campaign).

  18. #38
    bigdaddy1204's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    As promised, now I'm home I can finally share some more screenies! This one holds particular interest for me, as I changed the picture for the 'farming' upgrade building - what do you think? !



    It also shows my forces laying siege to Toledo on turn 5. My strategy in this campaign was to restore to frontier of the old Caliphate of Cordoba. I am reading a book called "Moorish Spain" by Richard Fletcher, and he explained the river Dauro, which is basically the northernmost river running horizontally towards the west coast at the very top of portugal, although it extends deep into Spain. You can just about see the river in this screenie - it's to the north of Toledo, on the other side of the mountains. So I first conquered Portugal, then moved southeast to secure Toledo, which was essential to remove the Leonese threat to my lands. I then returned to the River Dauro, continuing eastwards by taking Salamanca, which is on the northern bank. Next I took Burgos. Then I made peace and turned against Aragon, liberating Zaragoza, Barcelona and Pamplona.

    Here are two screens of my initial battle against Portugal, in which my army took their capital and destroyed their faction on turn 2:



    Last edited by bigdaddy1204; November 13, 2015 at 02:53 PM.

  19. #39

    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    hAHAHAHA bigdaddy,is possible that the image of land clearance woulb be a screenshot of windows???hehehe i will do a campaign against the moors and all islams factions come on crusaders!!!!!!!!!!!
    THE MORE YOU SWEAT NOW,
    THE LESS YOU BLEED IN BATTLE!!!



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  20. #40
    bigdaddy1204's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Screenshots / Empires' Maps Thread

    One new screenshot from my Norman England campaign. I stayed neutral with the French, and made an early alliance with Scotland. This allowed me to mop up several rebel settlements in France. I was particularly keen to race down south to capture Bordeux. After that I moved north and captured Kaerenarvon in Wales. I then noticed the Scots had a large army standing outside York, and they were sending more and more men there. They refused to go away. This annoyed me, so I cancelled my alliance with them. I moved up my field army, and declared war. I then utterly destroyed the entire Scottish army in two field battles. I advanced on Edinburgh, and took the castle by force, exterminating the inhabitants. The Scots then begged for peace, but I refused. I marched north and was about to take their last castle, when the Pope intervened and threatened to excommunicate me. So I demanded the Scots "become vassal" and they accepted. I then moved my army south, crossed into Ireland and destroyed a large rebel army, before occupying Dublin peacefully (there was no enemy unit left to defend it). I am now at about 50 turns in, I have plenty of money and I am not at war with anyone. The Scots are my vassal, the Germans and the Pope and the Aragonese and Leonese are my allies, and the French are neutral. I consider it mission accomplished!


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