Total War Series, Shogun, Medieval, Rome, Empire, Napoleon, etc... Options

[SubRosa]

So now that you are a settled barbarian tribe, is abandoning a city like that an option that comes up on the menu after you take a city or just a manual effort after you press "exterminate" on said menu?

It is the latter. Just do the Exterminate as normal, then destroy all the buildings, set taxes to very high, and move all my troops out of the city so it rebels. I find it is a useful tactic when I want to create a buffer zone between me and a particularly annoying enemy whom I don't have the resources to visit a proper total annihilation upon.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 23 2017, 02:55 AM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

So now that you are a settled barbarian tribe, is abandoning a city like that an option that comes up on the menu after you take a city or just a manual effort after you press "exterminate" on said menu?

It is the latter. Just do the Exterminate as normal, then destroy all the buildings, set taxes to very high, and move all my troops out of the city so it rebels. I find it is a useful tactic when I want to create a buffer zone between me and a particularly annoying enemy whom I don't have the resources to visit a proper total annihilation upon.

Oh that is good! Khajiit will have to try that later!

[hazmick]

I had a much slower day today - no fighting, no border expansion, no political shenanigans. I've been building up my newer settlements before I dare risk expanding further.

The Huns have become aware of my easternmost settlement, and have set up camp right on my border. Every time myself or my other neighbours send an army, the Huns scuttle away rather than fighting. I'm not sure what they're up to, but I'm not going to let them draw me out just yet. Once the settlement has some walls I might go hunting.

Up in Tuesis, things are going well. I've been tasked by my priestesses to increase the presence of Germanic Paganism in the area, so I've built a temple to Wodan and will continue to develop that branch. Relationships with the neighbouring Caledonians and Ebdanians are going downhill pretty fast, so I'm expecting a declaration of war quite soon. I'm confident that I can hold my ground there though, and maybe even expand down to Hadrian's Wall.

Back home in Frisia, I'm working on the development of large onagers, which requires me to build some new stuff and rebalance the sanitation situation. I think I've got it under control, so hopefully I should be able to upgrade my siege engines quite soon. The basic onager is already very useful, so the large version will be downright devastating.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I had a much slower day today - no fighting, no border expansion, no political shenanigans. I've been building up my newer settlements before I dare risk expanding further.

The Huns have become aware of my easternmost settlement, and have set up camp right on my border. Every time myself or my other neighbours send an army, the Huns scuttle away rather than fighting. I'm not sure what they're up to, but I'm not going to let them draw me out just yet. Once the settlement has some walls I might go hunting.

Up in Tuesis, things are going well. I've been tasked by my priestesses to increase the presence of Germanic Paganism in the area, so I've built a temple to Wodan and will continue to develop that branch. Relationships with the neighbouring Caledonians and Ebdanians are going downhill pretty fast, so I'm expecting a declaration of war quite soon. I'm confident that I can hold my ground there though, and maybe even expand down to Hadrian's Wall.

Back home in Frisia, I'm working on the development of large onagers, which requires me to build some new stuff and rebalance the sanitation situation. I think I've got it under control, so hopefully I should be able to upgrade my siege engines quite soon. The basic onager is already very useful, so the large version will be downright devastating.

The calm before the storm, eh?

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Started a new campaign. Since the Julii campaign took place in the west, Khajiit decided to go with Egypt this time.

*Update*
Saved and quit after several turns. Pretty much just feeling out the neighbors right now. We made an alliance with Numidia to our west and sent an army east to Petra, which is being held by rebels. The Seleucids to the north offered us trade rights for a couple hundred moneyz tribute for 2 turns. Pharaoh does not pay tribute.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: May 23 2017, 07:43 PM

[SubRosa]

Egypt is a strong faction. Those Nubian Spearmen are good at the start. The chariots can be really powerful. But they can be difficult to use. The Chariot Archers work like any horse archer. Move and shoot and stay out of melee combat. The regular Chariots can be very powerful shock troops. But don't let them sit still in melee combat and just slug it out with opponents. Then is when their small number of people in the unit starts to hurt them. Instead make sure they always keep moving. Move them through the enemy lines and then come back again for another charge. If you can, mix in a cavalry unit with them for support.

My Sarmatian campaign might be taking a turn. When I previously decided to destroy Hatra and Ctesphion and abandon them it was with an eye toward expanding westward into Asia Minor. The ultimate goal being to take the two territories in the balkans that are part of the Sarmatian victory conditions. But today I decided to 'F' the victory conditions. Instead I am creating my own victory condition - destroy the Eastern Roman Empire. With that in mind I am going to take and hold both cities, and part of my goal of conquering the entire eastern Mediterranean.

[SubRosa]

Both Ctesphion and Hatra have fallen to me, without needing to assault either city. In each case a Roman relief force came to attack my besieging armies, pulling the city garrisons into the battles as reinforcements. Each time I completely wiped out the Romans. With no garrisons left, each city automatically fell to my conquering Sarmatian hordes. One of my generals even had a three way...

My decision to take and keep the cities has paid of beautifully. Literally. I am now the richest faction, with about 35k in my treasury. Quite a far cry from a few days ago when I literally could not pay my army. I am now building up my forces. I am even thinking of hiring some mercenary war elephants. But I don't think they really suit the horse archer play-style. If there were not so many cities with stone walls it would be worth hiring them just to break down city gates. But the boiling oil from stone walls makes elephant attacks suicide.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 24 2017, 12:10 AM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Both Ctesphion and Hatra have fallen to me, without needing to assault either city. In each case a Roman relief force came to attack my besieging armies, pulling the city garrisons into the battles as reinforcements. Each time I completely wiped out the Romans. With no garrisons left, each city automatically fell to my conquering Sarmatian hordes. One of my generals even had a three way...

My decision to take and keep the cities has paid of beautifully. Literally. I am now the richest faction, with about 35k in my treasury. Quite a far cry from a few days ago when I literally could not pay my army. I am now building up my forces. I am even thinking of hiring some mercenary war elephants. But I don't think they really suit the horse archer play-style. If there were not so many cities with stone walls it would be worth hiring them just to break down city gates. But the boiling oil from stone walls makes elephant attacks suicide.

Khajiit is probably going to see some elephants this time around. Pretty sure he remembers that the Seleucids field war elephants.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: May 24 2017, 03:36 AM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

WAR WITH SELEUCIA!

Khajiit decided that he could no longer ignore the growing threat of the Seleucids on his doorstep, and then, using a rebel band that popped up near Damascus as an excuse to send an army into their territory, we invaded. After dealing with the rebels, we marched away from the city for a couple of turns to make it look like we were returning to our lands. When we were close enough to one of our cities north of Jerusalem, we took on some extra soldiers. On the next turn we marched back to Damascus and attacked and defeated a decent sized Seleucid army outside the walls. After that, the puny garrison was easily removed from the city and Damascus is now flying Egyptian colors!
Khajiit can tell the Seleucids are going to be very worthy opponents. They have several large armies not far from our lands so now we will work on bolstering our armies along our borders.

[hazmick]

410 AD.

My forces in Tuesis pushed south and captured the town of Eildon from the Caledonians.
All land north of Hadrian's Wall is now mine, so now I'll spend some time getting it all secured. Shortly after my attack a force of Jutes took Eboracum, also from the Caledonians.

More Hun activity to the east, but still no attack. My priestess assassinated another Hun leader, which seemed to scare them off for now.

In political news, the Danes and Ebdanians both hate me. The only factions who hate me more are the Huns, Picts, and Caledonians - all of whom are at war with me. Meanwhile the Geats, Jutes, and I have a pretty strong relationship going, all being defensive allies and trading partners with each other - an invincible triumvirate of northmen.

Here's the world map

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

410 AD.

My forces in Tuesis pushed south and captured the town of Eildon from the Caledonians.
All land north of Hadrian's Wall is now mine, so now I'll spend some time getting it all secured. Shortly after my attack a force of Jutes took Eboracum, also from the Caledonians.

More Hun activity to the east, but still no attack. My priestess assassinated another Hun leader, which seemed to scare them off for now.

In political news, the Danes and Ebdanians both hate me. The only factions who hate me more are the Huns, Picts, and Caledonians - all of whom are at war with me. Meanwhile the Geats, Jutes, and I have a pretty strong relationship going, all being defensive allies and trading partners with each other - an invincible triumvirate of northmen.

Here's the world map

Wait, weren't you good buddies with the Danes? How did that relationship sour?

[hazmick]

Yes, the Danes used to be good friends. Unfortunately their king is quite aggressive with his expansion, and jealous of rival empires - as I've expanded my borders and become more powerful, it's made him unhappy. My alliances with some other factions, particularly the Geats, are also bad for my relationship with the Danes.

I actually want them to declare war on me, so then I could take some of their settlements. We share a province in the east, and their capital to the north is shared with the Jutes and Geats so it'd be perfect for me as a trade settlement.

[SubRosa]

Does Attila have Angles? Or is it just the Jutes and Saxons that will be conquering the British Isles?

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Yes, the Danes used to be good friends. Unfortunately their king is quite aggressive with his expansion, and jealous of rival empires - as I've expanded my borders and become more powerful, it's made him unhappy. My alliances with some other factions, particularly the Geats, are also bad for my relationship with the Danes.

I actually want them to declare war on me, so then I could take some of their settlements. We share a province in the east, and their capital to the north is shared with the Jutes and Geats so it'd be perfect for me as a trade settlement.

Are you strong enough to fight them now?

[hazmick]

SubRosa - There are Angles, they start in the town of Angulus in Frisia. They were destroyed very early in my campaign, so it'll just be the Saxons and Jutes this time.

Cheshire - The Danes? Definitely. They keep sending raiding parties to attack settlements all over the place, but spend little time or money on their own settlement defences.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Cheshire - The Danes? Definitely. They keep sending raiding parties to attack settlements all over the place, but spend little time or money on their own settlement defences.

Wipe them out. All of them.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: May 24 2017, 11:55 PM

[hazmick]

I plan to take 2 of the 3 Danish settlements, but I don't want to wipe them out if I can avoid it - they're really useful in keeping everyone busy. Every time one of my neighbours expands, then Danes are there to push them back. Usually the Huns fill a similar role, but it looks like they've headed south instead of west.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I plan to take 2 of the 3 Danish settlements, but I don't want to wipe them out if I can avoid it - they're really useful in keeping everyone busy. Every time one of my neighbours expands, then Danes are there to push them back. Usually the Huns fill a similar role, but it looks like they've headed south instead of west.

Well that makes sense. Of course, they are likely to harass you also! Lol

[SubRosa]

I say kill them all and let Woden sort them out in Valhalla!

In my Sarmatian campaign, I saw that the city of Antioch was sparsely defended. So I left a few camel mercenaries behind to hold Hatra, and laid siege to Antioch. Before I could assault it, the defenders sallied and brought in reinforcements from outside the city. But I had already built my siege towers, so I was able to take the city. The new Bosphoran Infantry that I can now recruit from 3rd tier barracks' are a big improvement over my old Runaway Slave Spearmen.

With Antioch, I have cut the ERE in two. My plan is to hold on the defensive in the north, and take the Levant and Egypt. Then return and roll up Asia Minor. With that in mind my faction heir took a small force from Ctesphion down to Dumatha. He laid siege, and then I realized he had no infantry in his army! So there was no one to use a ram. I wound up hiring those Mercenary Elephants, who battered down the Roman walls.

So that small force will be headed west to link up with my army from Antioch. To sweeten things Philadephaea rebelled from the ERE. They didn't become regular rebels, but the Eastern Roman Rebel faction. Maybe I can make a deal with them? Or failing that, they can become grist under the feet of my elephants.

[hazmick]

Had some further developments.

The Geats, who have been at war with the Danes for a while, asked me to join in. This was just the chance I'd been waiting for, so I agreed and immediately sent my army in Frisia to attack the Danish capital of Hafn. Decisive victory.

Over in the east, I took the city of Palteskja from slavic rebels. Now I control 2/3 of that province, with the final settlement lying under the control of the Danes. Once Palteskja is back on its feet, I'll march.

Attack on Hafn:
Large Onagers are large. Who knew?

The Saxon line holds firm against the Danish tide

Victory is imminent

Hafn burns

This post has been edited by hazmick: May 25 2017, 01:01 AM