Historical Gameplay Let's Plays

[realm56]

I wonder sometimes if Baktria's "opening crawl" should mention that the Seleukids are their conduit for Hellenistic colonists, which is why they shouldn't be so quick to reject the tribute and go to war with them right away?

I say do it, Baktria was the first faction I dived into when I first started playing EB2 ( v2.35, having jumped straight from EB1 and never having played vanilla Medieval 2 at the time...), at the time, I knew nothing of the script rationed colonists nor how to get them and got severely punished for it by never being able to upgrade Baktria to a metropolis on my very first EB2 playthrough (Please make sure people read the guide first before playing a single minute of EB2 !), it also did not help that I rebelled against the Seleukidai just after the 3rd mission (To fortify Alexandria- Eschate).

[Shoebopp]

I skipped through most of the second video so I don't know if you've already got the second mission to take Alexandreia Eschate... but if you haven't yet you might as well restart the campaign. The Seleucids refuse to grant you colonists if you take that settlement before they order you to

Edit: Nevermind, the title of this video is "Mission 2" so you definitely got the notice from daddy Seleucos. Sorry!

[Sarkiss]

I skipped through most of the second video so I don't know if you've already got the second mission to take Alexandreia Eschate... but if you haven't yet you might as well restart the campaign. The Seleucids refuse to grant you colonists if you take that settlement before they order you to

Edit: Nevermind, the title of this video is "Mission 2" so you definitely got the notice from daddy Seleucos. Sorry!

thanks for the heads up. luckily, i take my time and focus on following the missions as religiously as i can. but yeah, with the two starting stacks, there is certainly scope for blitzing, if anyone's tempted enough.

[Sarkiss]

episode 3 of Baktrian campaign:


btw, was elephants' ability to smash their way into the settlements disabled?

[Shoebopp]

Yes, Elephants can no longer do that

[Sarkiss]

Yes, Elephants can no longer do that

i see, thanks. i know it wasn't perfect but im going to miss the option a bit, alongside flaming arrows. made unit more unique and in general spiced things up a little.

[Sarkiss]

you truly learn something new every day. in all those thousand hours i played EBII (and Med2 & its various mods) i have never happen to use pikes offensively in sieges. until now.

episode 4/mission 4 of Baktria is up:

[realm56]

Another job well done!

But one thing that makes me really curious for a potential R4 is how easily the Saka accepted peace and you got money out of them as well. They are usually an absolute the pain in the for any faction to deal with as they have the usual MO of sending hordes down to the Fergana Valley and rarely made peace. Combined with the improved campaign movement, I could see Baktria's difficulty potentially go down from challenging to moderate.

Looking forward to the time where she enters the point of no return .

[eyelurker]

you truly learn something new every day. in all those thousand hours i played EBII (and Med2 & its various mods) i have never happen to use pikes offensively in sieges. until now.

episode 4/mission 4 of Baktria is up:

Yeah pike are really good at securing the gates so long you don't attack boiling oil stone wall gate.

Street fight however is a gamble 50/50 due to wonky ai pathfinding the enemy may decide to ignore the pike and storm to the middle of pike formation. This shinenigan destroyed half of my agema(240 -> 120)

[Sarkiss]

Yeah pike are really good at securing the gates so long you don't attack boiling oil stone wall gate.

Street fight however is a gamble 50/50 due to wonky ai pathfinding the enemy may decide to ignore the pike and storm to the middle of pike formation. This shinenigan destroyed half of my agema(240 -> 120)

i had my pikes slaughtered when trying to hold the passes immediately next to the gate. doesnt work like in RTW and you better pull them back from the gate area which seems to be rather buggie. good point on the stone walls with boiling oil. i didnt think of that!

Another job well done!

But one thing that makes me really curious for a potential R4 is how easily the Saka accepted peace and you got money out of them as well. They are usually an absolute the pain in the for any faction to deal with as they have the usual MO of sending hordes down to the Fergana Valley and rarely made peace. Combined with the improved campaign movement, I could see Baktria's difficulty potentially go down from challenging to moderate.

Looking forward to the time where she enters the point of no return .

thanks, we are nearing that moment. with regards to Saka, I too was rather surprised. but the last thing i wanted was to chase them across the steppe and having to take over their miserable camps which Baktria cant convert iirc. so it turned out good.

see episode 5, where we 'go back' to complete the previous mission and deal with the Parthians:

[Sar1n]

I see you've stumbled upon the dirty secret of pikes in the streets. You can even replicate this in the field battle, but I'd call that a bit of a dirty trick as AI can't do that.

See...in M2TW, unless someone really messes with some soldier attributes, two unit can occupy same space without interfering, as troops of one formation stand in the gaps between troops of the other formation. For most units, it means little as reach of every soldier is limited and it's really only the front row that fights. But with pikes, it effectively means you're bringing in extra three rows of pikes into fight. This both means twice as many attacks and denser wall of pikes preventing the enemy from closing in to melee range. In fact, two overlapping pike units on guard mode are virtually impenetrable from the front.

You can overlap the pike units while deploying them, but when you simply order multiple pike units to push through the street, it happens naturally.

[Sarkiss]

I see you've stumbled upon the dirty secret of pikes in the streets. You can even replicate this in the field battle, but I'd call that a bit of a dirty trick as AI can't do that.

See...in M2TW, unless someone really messes with some soldier attributes, two unit can occupy same space without interfering, as troops of one formation stand in the gaps between troops of the other formation. For most units, it means little as reach of every soldier is limited and it's really only the front row that fights. But with pikes, it effectively means you're bringing in extra three rows of pikes into fight. This both means twice as many attacks and denser wall of pikes preventing the enemy from closing in to melee range. In fact, two overlapping pike units on guard mode are virtually impenetrable from the front.

You can overlap the pike units while deploying them, but when you simply order multiple pike units to push through the street, it happens naturally.

i see, thats what must have happened, the overlapping! i was very surprised by how effective they happen to be. never really used them in this manner (and generally do not like M2TW pikes). i seem to recall now there was a video that showcased the pikes effectiveness when overlapped/double deployed but that was in the field iirc. but yeah, it seems in the sieges this happens naturally once you right click them due to limited space. they truly are the tanks in such circumstances. will bear that in mind, thanks

[Shlazaor]

How do you make it so that the unit march forward in the same formation you assembled them in?

[eyelurker]

How do you make it so that the unit march forward in the same formation you assembled them in?

This is not rtw2 where they automaticly become straight line formation regardless what earlier formation you taking unless you use rtw2 pre set formation.

Once you finish with your formation in battle preparation just click all of them and march them forward.

[Cleitus the Pink]

How do you make it so that the unit march forward in the same formation you assembled them in?

Just group them?

[Demon Soul]

Otherwise:
Ctrl+G and after: give orders by dragging (highlight group then mouse right-clicking and holding it move your group).

[Sarkiss]

next episode of Baktria campaign, and the gloves are off now:

[realm56]

Another well-done episode! But with just two little bits of constructive feedback. Firstly, you could have recruited a couple of those amazing Saka or Pointed Hat Riders from Alexandria Escate and Chach to make the inital seleucid attack easier to deal with. The other one being that for your Hellenistic Colonization, I would prefer to have built the military colonies first in Baktria before ANY new minor polis is placed elsewhere as any and all hope of getting any additional colonists after independence is dependent on Baktria getting to that sweet 69% HP required to build the Hellenistic metropolis.

Other than that, good work!

FYI: Since Bukhara is too far to effectively defend, when I played as Baktria, I sacked the place and demolished any structure of value before evacuating the region to concentrate my defenses against the Saka (After making sure that I have the colonists from the completed mission of course ).

[Sarkiss]

Another well-done episode! But with just two little bits of constructive feedback. Firstly, you could have recruited a couple of those amazing Saka or Pointed Hat Riders from Alexandria Escate and Chach to make the inital seleucid attack easier to deal with. The other one being that for your Hellenistic Colonization, I would prefer to have built the military colonies first in Baktria before ANY new minor polis is placed elsewhere as any and all hope of getting any additional colonists after independence is dependent on Baktria getting to that sweet 69% HP required to build the Hellenistic metropolis.

Other than that, good work!

FYI: Since Bukhara is too far to effectively defend, when I played as Baktria, I sacked the place and demolished any structure of value before evacuating the region to concentrate my defenses against the Saka (After making sure that I have the colonists from the completed mission of course ).

by the military colonies do you meant the 'frontier settler towns' (thats how they called iirc?)? i didnt actually know that the latter also generates the colonists, and if so how effectively. thought it was the polis thats the main producer, hence rushing to build more. as for the cavalry, yes, they can be handy but im much more keen to get the cataphracts, which i cannot seem to find anywhere, no matter the govt type

i would probably do the same with Bukhara if under pressure, but both Saka and Parthia were very eager to sue for peace (playing on H/H) so i could just settle and develop the place at my leisure.

thanks

[realm56]

by the military colonies do you meant the 'frontier settler towns' (thats how they called iirc?)? i didnt actually know that the latter also generates the colonists, and if so how effectively. thought it was the polis thats the main producer, hence rushing to build more. as for the cavalry, yes, they can be handy but im much more keen to get the cataphracts, which i cannot seem to find anywhere, no matter the govt type

i would probably do the same with Bukhara if under pressure, but both Saka and Parthia were very eager to sue for peace (playing on H/H) so i could just settle and develop the place at my leisure.

thanks

Yes, I ment frontier settler towns, they do not generate colonists (The polis is the main producer of them (one produced every 16 turns for a trio of hellenistic polises (lvl 2 polis) or one hellenistic metropolis (lvl 3 polis))) but they provide both hellenistic professional recruitment and more importantly, they convert the province they reside in to Hellenistic Polities (Baktria's culture), with said conversion needed to reach the 69% needed to build metropolis in Baktria (Upgrading them increases the conversion cap to 30% - 50% - 70% (Reformed Colony for Baktria and that particular one will have to wait until at least turn 200 )).

As for Hellenistic Cataphracts, they are only avaliable after the Thorakirtai reforms (At least turn 200). Additionally, you need a Basilike Patris government to get them (Avaliable after making good on the proclamation of : Freedom or death! and having 'Basileos of all Asia' wave the white flag).