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I was busy orchestrating the assault on Kyoto with my ally when all of a sudden he was being beset by phantom metsuke. I tried to come to his aid but was caught in a time paradox with an opposing naval fleet of which we have not been able to escape.
Aka, I am busy enjoying the fun fun desyncs of Shogun 2.
Aka, I am busy enjoying the fun fun desyncs of Shogun 2.
Continuing history of the Venetian reign of terror. H/H difficulty
Following my attack on the treacherous Holy Roman Empire, I suddenly find myself in the midst of a brutal land war for the Italian Peninsula. Ajaccio is stolen from me by the Milanese, using their Sicilian allies as meat shields to wear down my defenders in three battles, before rolling onto the island and besieging the haggard troops before they can reinforce.
Ajaccio falls, cutting off the western half of Venice's ports. Out of vengeance, a battalion of Armored sergeants an spear sergeants sets sail from Ragusa towards Naples, intent on kicking the Sicilian bastards off the continent. Meanwhile, multiple Milanese armies attempt to attack Venice. One army is trapped in a bottleneck on the bridge approaching the city, and their army is promptly slaughtered. The Venetians start levying hundreds of Italian Spear militia in preparation for a counterattack against Milan itself.
While this is happening, the damnable Byzantines decide to attack Durazzo and Zagreb, but they are well defended. Once the Italian nations fall, they are the next target.
Following my attack on the treacherous Holy Roman Empire, I suddenly find myself in the midst of a brutal land war for the Italian Peninsula. Ajaccio is stolen from me by the Milanese, using their Sicilian allies as meat shields to wear down my defenders in three battles, before rolling onto the island and besieging the haggard troops before they can reinforce.
Ajaccio falls, cutting off the western half of Venice's ports. Out of vengeance, a battalion of Armored sergeants an spear sergeants sets sail from Ragusa towards Naples, intent on kicking the Sicilian bastards off the continent. Meanwhile, multiple Milanese armies attempt to attack Venice. One army is trapped in a bottleneck on the bridge approaching the city, and their army is promptly slaughtered. The Venetians start levying hundreds of Italian Spear militia in preparation for a counterattack against Milan itself.
While this is happening, the damnable Byzantines decide to attack Durazzo and Zagreb, but they are well defended. Once the Italian nations fall, they are the next target.
I'm still playing Rome, but a friend might be lending me Medieval 2.
Well, meet Marcus Julius. Possibly the best general the Julii have ever seen. Better even than Gaius. At the time of his life, Gaius holds the Praetor position in the Senate. Sent on his first campaign on the age of 16, his young grandson, Marcus marches into the untamed Gaulish lands, he has an opportunity rarely afforded to one so young (and with various brothers and other relatives hungering for success too) He manages to take two settlements within four years, and winds up in control of Lugdunum. Gaius is spending his twilight years in Carthage (arguably the jewel of his military career). Due to his immense success in conquest, and successfully running Lugdunum while sending out (and leading) other raiding parties against Gaulish settlements and rebel slaves, before he is even out of his early twenties, Marcus is awarded the position of Quaestor. With so many men from the three families striving for success this is incredibly unexpected. Gaius passes away peacefully in Carthage shortly after this. Carthage and Thaspus are then managed without an official governor from this point on. With the death of his grandfather, control is passed to his uncle. Arguably unfair, given Marcus' huge success.
His uncle leads for several years, taking on mostly political activity. Marcus himself makes gradual advances politically. His uncle eventually grows bored with his role, however and leads a brash assault deep into Gaulish territory. It's a close win, but at the cost of his life. Control then passes to Marcus as he approaches his thirties. Having acquired a massive amount of command stars, Marcus takes a backseat in terms of military. Around this time, his cousin Amulius Julius had founded his own reputation. It was one of infamy, however and he became known as Amulius the Foul. A political lickspittle with little military experience and a habit of succumbing to the advances of other men for favors. With this being the harsh world of Rome, Marcus gave him a command and sent him to put down a large rebel army of roughly equal number. If he died, then the family would be washed of his reputation. It was a win-win situation. He crushed the rebels with acceptable losses, and was ordered to set upon a Gallic family member, with four command stars to Amulius' one. Somehow, Amulius triumphed again. Satisfied by this, Marcus stopped trying to pitch his disgusting relative into the flames. Marcus was kind to his people, but merciless to any uprisings. Starting with the Gladiator uprising, Marcus would put any rebel settlements to the sword upon recapture.
Perhaps the most famous case of retribution occurred several years into his reign. He slowly formed alliances and trade rights with most of the other factions, not including Carthage and Gaul, both of whom he was at war with. Not having any Carthaginian settlements on the map beyond the two Gaius had conquered in his life (Carthage and Thaspus), he sent a small army to scan the surrounding land for fresh map information. They found only Numidian settlements and returned home, careful not to disturb any of them. They were seen off seemingly peacefully by an army much smaller than their own. The next year, however, a Numidian assassin was ejected from the city, having caused various riots. Marcus was enraged. He had given these people the benefit of the doubt and been betrayed. He amassed a raiding party, taking the two nearest Numidian settlements and putting them to the sword before he was content. Though no battles have occurred since (the Numidians now saw was they had provoked, although they did not try to make amends) the Julii have stayed at a state of perpetual war with them. At this point, Amulius the Foul's son came of age. Not wanting him to go the same was as his father, Marcus gave him a command and sent him against the Gauls to fair success. By the time he was forty, Marcus was Pontifex Maximus; overseeing a veritable golden age for the Julii, he became more relaxed about allowing outside men to marry into his family. There were a couple of deaths in the line of battle, however, as the Gauls were continually driven further back. After a few years, it came to Marcus' attention that by default, heirship had passed to one of the men who had married into the Julii. He quickly changed it to one of his nephews as he, himself had only daughters. This luxuriant period attracted jealousy from the other great Roman families, however and the senate offered missions with evasion of penalty (ie, investigations into his family and faction) in place of the rewards that were part of his ascension. These mostly pertained to blockading ports far from his borders in an attempt to have him slip up. He completed many of them, but eventually, by the time of his 51st birthday, one of his ships was intercepted by pirates and sunk. His family was investigated for corruption and was brought up on charges (most likely the fault of Amulius) and fined. Marcus himself was predictably disgraced and lowered shockingly quickly to the rank of Consul. Marcus no longer represented the threat and object of jealousy he once did, and was no longer bombarded with missions. Though the ones he did receive still had consequences for failure as opposed to rewards for success, as the families were hardly like to let him recover. Marcus saw these assignments completed, but for one, although he didn't fail it. He was ordered to blockade a Gaulish settlement he had been preparing an army to raid in the first place. Having no ships in the area, he merely sent his army on to conquer it. Though the mission was merely cancelled, the Senate gleefully saw it as enough of a technicality to lower him further to the rank of Praetor. His relatives now began struggling furiously to ascend onto the political ladder, as Marcus was in his fifties and old. If he died, the Julii would lose their presence in the Senate. They could also shield their leader from further underhanded political moves from the Scipii and Brutii. It is here where we reach the present, with Marcus' relatives assuming military commands so as to find glory in battle and perhaps win positions of power to repair the damage that wrought the end of their grace; Marcus himself once again reassuming minor military action in the last days of Gaul, and the reactivation of the long dormant war between the Carthaginians and the Julii, as well as their feud with Numidia.
His uncle leads for several years, taking on mostly political activity. Marcus himself makes gradual advances politically. His uncle eventually grows bored with his role, however and leads a brash assault deep into Gaulish territory. It's a close win, but at the cost of his life. Control then passes to Marcus as he approaches his thirties. Having acquired a massive amount of command stars, Marcus takes a backseat in terms of military. Around this time, his cousin Amulius Julius had founded his own reputation. It was one of infamy, however and he became known as Amulius the Foul. A political lickspittle with little military experience and a habit of succumbing to the advances of other men for favors. With this being the harsh world of Rome, Marcus gave him a command and sent him to put down a large rebel army of roughly equal number. If he died, then the family would be washed of his reputation. It was a win-win situation. He crushed the rebels with acceptable losses, and was ordered to set upon a Gallic family member, with four command stars to Amulius' one. Somehow, Amulius triumphed again. Satisfied by this, Marcus stopped trying to pitch his disgusting relative into the flames. Marcus was kind to his people, but merciless to any uprisings. Starting with the Gladiator uprising, Marcus would put any rebel settlements to the sword upon recapture.
Perhaps the most famous case of retribution occurred several years into his reign. He slowly formed alliances and trade rights with most of the other factions, not including Carthage and Gaul, both of whom he was at war with. Not having any Carthaginian settlements on the map beyond the two Gaius had conquered in his life (Carthage and Thaspus), he sent a small army to scan the surrounding land for fresh map information. They found only Numidian settlements and returned home, careful not to disturb any of them. They were seen off seemingly peacefully by an army much smaller than their own. The next year, however, a Numidian assassin was ejected from the city, having caused various riots. Marcus was enraged. He had given these people the benefit of the doubt and been betrayed. He amassed a raiding party, taking the two nearest Numidian settlements and putting them to the sword before he was content. Though no battles have occurred since (the Numidians now saw was they had provoked, although they did not try to make amends) the Julii have stayed at a state of perpetual war with them. At this point, Amulius the Foul's son came of age. Not wanting him to go the same was as his father, Marcus gave him a command and sent him against the Gauls to fair success. By the time he was forty, Marcus was Pontifex Maximus; overseeing a veritable golden age for the Julii, he became more relaxed about allowing outside men to marry into his family. There were a couple of deaths in the line of battle, however, as the Gauls were continually driven further back. After a few years, it came to Marcus' attention that by default, heirship had passed to one of the men who had married into the Julii. He quickly changed it to one of his nephews as he, himself had only daughters. This luxuriant period attracted jealousy from the other great Roman families, however and the senate offered missions with evasion of penalty (ie, investigations into his family and faction) in place of the rewards that were part of his ascension. These mostly pertained to blockading ports far from his borders in an attempt to have him slip up. He completed many of them, but eventually, by the time of his 51st birthday, one of his ships was intercepted by pirates and sunk. His family was investigated for corruption and was brought up on charges (most likely the fault of Amulius) and fined. Marcus himself was predictably disgraced and lowered shockingly quickly to the rank of Consul. Marcus no longer represented the threat and object of jealousy he once did, and was no longer bombarded with missions. Though the ones he did receive still had consequences for failure as opposed to rewards for success, as the families were hardly like to let him recover. Marcus saw these assignments completed, but for one, although he didn't fail it. He was ordered to blockade a Gaulish settlement he had been preparing an army to raid in the first place. Having no ships in the area, he merely sent his army on to conquer it. Though the mission was merely cancelled, the Senate gleefully saw it as enough of a technicality to lower him further to the rank of Praetor. His relatives now began struggling furiously to ascend onto the political ladder, as Marcus was in his fifties and old. If he died, the Julii would lose their presence in the Senate. They could also shield their leader from further underhanded political moves from the Scipii and Brutii. It is here where we reach the present, with Marcus' relatives assuming military commands so as to find glory in battle and perhaps win positions of power to repair the damage that wrought the end of their grace; Marcus himself once again reassuming minor military action in the last days of Gaul, and the reactivation of the long dormant war between the Carthaginians and the Julii, as well as their feud with Numidia.
In Shogun 2 I wiped out several large clans with nothing but Ninjas. No armies, no battles, just Ninjas. 10+ provinces with several maxed armies, laying down the pain on everyone around them, and then out of the shadows, without a single battle they are laid to waste. How? Simple!
Step 1: Train up a batch of Ninjas and spec them for Sabotage. If a skill helps them blow up a building TAKE IT! For bonus points, train up a monk or two and spec them towards inciting unrest. This is harder than training Ninjas, though, but it's not necessary. It just speeds things up.
Step 2: Send ninjas into the enemy clan's lands and set them to sabotaging stuff. Priority is Farms > Happiness buildings > Everything Else. At first your efforts will be swiftly repaired, but after a while the enemy's money will run out and stff will stay burned down.
Step 3: Watch the unrest ferment. This actually works better against larger clans since you can put them further into the negative on food. If you trained up any monks send them to incite unrest in unhappy provinces. The lower the happiness the easier it is to incite unrest. Soon enough, rebel armies will be appearing all over the place.
Step 4: After the target clan loses all its provinces to rebels, just waltz in and take over. You even get to play all noble, since you're not conquering a major clan, you are just wiping out some rebels and restoring order. It's absurd to even suggest you'd try to wage war of your noble neighbours...
Step 1: Train up a batch of Ninjas and spec them for Sabotage. If a skill helps them blow up a building TAKE IT! For bonus points, train up a monk or two and spec them towards inciting unrest. This is harder than training Ninjas, though, but it's not necessary. It just speeds things up.
Step 2: Send ninjas into the enemy clan's lands and set them to sabotaging stuff. Priority is Farms > Happiness buildings > Everything Else. At first your efforts will be swiftly repaired, but after a while the enemy's money will run out and stff will stay burned down.
Step 3: Watch the unrest ferment. This actually works better against larger clans since you can put them further into the negative on food. If you trained up any monks send them to incite unrest in unhappy provinces. The lower the happiness the easier it is to incite unrest. Soon enough, rebel armies will be appearing all over the place.
Step 4: After the target clan loses all its provinces to rebels, just waltz in and take over. You even get to play all noble, since you're not conquering a major clan, you are just wiping out some rebels and restoring order. It's absurd to even suggest you'd try to wage war of your noble neighbours...
In Rome Total War one of the things I always try to do is make sure that my Roman allies are somewhat contained. I was playing the Brutii, and had conquered the Balkans, Greece, Asia Minor, and various little islands like Rhodes and Salamis. I was ready to take out Egypt, but they had a massive amount of troops because they were the only faction left besides a few Pontus cities in the east. Also, the Scipii had finally taken out all of North Africa and was beginning to build up to invade Egypt. So as I was building up my armies, I sent a ton of spies into the Egyptian territory and could easily see all their troop movements as a result.
As I was readying my invasion force, I noticed that the Scipii had four of five almost fully stacked armies moving towards the Egyptian border. The next turn they declared war, and started to move in. The Egyptians responded by moving about six of their own massive armies to counter it, yet their cities were only at about half-strength. Once both armies were basically right next to each other at the border, I struck. I landed two fully-staffed, very highly ranked professional troops right on the Egyptian shore, near a border town, Siwa. I also dropped two similar armies into Egypt proper and attacked Memphis and Alexandria.
The results? Next turn I took over two of the best Egyptian cities, and by taking Siwa I contained the Scipii in North Africa, forcing them to go and try and beat the Juluii in Spain instead. But their entire invasion force was currently surrounded by the majority of the Egyptian army. A massive slaughter ensued, and most of the Scipii limped back into their territory. The Egyptians, meanwhile, massively depleted their armies, and when they tried to return to re-conquer their territory I could easily destroy them. That basically crippled the Egyptians and ensured that I could conquer most of the coastal Middle East, forcing them into the deserts. It was just such an amazing move because it basically solved two of my problems in one brilliant stroke of random strategy.
As I was readying my invasion force, I noticed that the Scipii had four of five almost fully stacked armies moving towards the Egyptian border. The next turn they declared war, and started to move in. The Egyptians responded by moving about six of their own massive armies to counter it, yet their cities were only at about half-strength. Once both armies were basically right next to each other at the border, I struck. I landed two fully-staffed, very highly ranked professional troops right on the Egyptian shore, near a border town, Siwa. I also dropped two similar armies into Egypt proper and attacked Memphis and Alexandria.
The results? Next turn I took over two of the best Egyptian cities, and by taking Siwa I contained the Scipii in North Africa, forcing them to go and try and beat the Juluii in Spain instead. But their entire invasion force was currently surrounded by the majority of the Egyptian army. A massive slaughter ensued, and most of the Scipii limped back into their territory. The Egyptians, meanwhile, massively depleted their armies, and when they tried to return to re-conquer their territory I could easily destroy them. That basically crippled the Egyptians and ensured that I could conquer most of the coastal Middle East, forcing them into the deserts. It was just such an amazing move because it basically solved two of my problems in one brilliant stroke of random strategy.
Well, running out of campaign time two provinces from Kyoto. Twice. Then I rage-uninstalled. Shogun 2 is a great game, but I feel like the campaign isn't long enough to make proper use of the endgame stuff. I never even got a geisha assassin :<
I really want to get back into Medieval II, but I made the foolish mistake of lending it to a friend, so I'll be lucky if I ever actually see it again.
I really want to get back into Medieval II, but I made the foolish mistake of lending it to a friend, so I'll be lucky if I ever actually see it again.
Medieval 2:total war and the Mongols streaming in towards my capital of Jerusalem, Need a say anymore? Honestly, once the Turimids and Mongols invade, every fight is an epic fight. When Five full stacked armies that are marching on my gates are considered only "Vanguards" you are well and truly doomed, That Gatehouse is a mass grave by the end of it.
My recent carthaginian campaign on RTW was particularly lovely. My initial strategy had been to first take sicily for the maritime trade, then focus my efforts on spain and numidia. Rome decided on bloodlust from turn one. Within 20 years, the Scipii had fallen, the brutii were driven to only their outposts in macedonia, rome sacked and converted to my religion, and the julii driven from northern italy and wedged between an irritated Gaul and my vindictive forces.
Carthaginian armies are pathetic. All they have going for them are the ELEMAPAHNTS. I walked my spearmen up, formed a line, and then crashed in the elephants from the left while the cavalry swept around the right. The romans never stood a chance.
Carthaginian armies are pathetic. All they have going for them are the ELEMAPAHNTS. I walked my spearmen up, formed a line, and then crashed in the elephants from the left while the cavalry swept around the right. The romans never stood a chance.
I tried killing off the pope once because he excommunicated my country. Trained a army(well 15) assasins for a entire day(real-time) then sent them all after the pope. Took 8 too kill him, but it was totally worth it.Mrmac23 said:
Just to see assassin after assassin trying to kill off the pope. You kinda think after dodging 5 assassins in one day the pope might take a hint and dig a nice little hole for himself to hide in, but Nooooo, he has to kill three of my favorite assassins rather than just die!
Don't you just love how all the initial (and most of the subsequent) generals/admirals were historic figures? The paintings were a nice touch as well. I kept sending George de Dreiberg into fights before continually raging: why won't you get your fourth star?!JaceValm said:
And why did Adm Cornwallis have to be in a freakin' fourth rater?!
Serious question: did you raid the French trade routes or attack their ports?
...Baby Tea said:
y'welcome!
playing as Denmark and bum rush east taking out Poland and Russia in viking frenzy and then move down to northern Anatolia when the mongols turn up, retrat like crazy to castles and then ~1000 Danes take out all mongol army's that turn up with out them ever taking a single town. have to love sword staff militia and the top Dane halberd troopers.
in rome- had a couple of 300-esque stands, had one where i won with maybe 78 hastati and 126 archers, plus 12 cavalrymen. i killed like 900 of them. then they came back the next day and finished me off
empire: i was laughably outgunned in northern russia somewhere, so i set up in the middle of town and just had my soldiers hold position in tactically advantageous positions and waited. they never attacked, and when i hit "end battle now" it listed them all as having been killed. i lol'd.
empire: i was laughably outgunned in northern russia somewhere, so i set up in the middle of town and just had my soldiers hold position in tactically advantageous positions and waited. they never attacked, and when i hit "end battle now" it listed them all as having been killed. i lol'd.
I murdered my way to pope. i got a highest level assasin next to rome, and just kept killing the pope until it was only my cardinals that were left. this lead to a 5 year period where there was 10 different popes. you would think after the 6th one got assasinated by crossbow while giving mass they would check for assasins, but apparently not.