[X] My Assistant

[SubRosa]

Here is a topic for the Total War games by the Creative Assembly. I own Shogun 1, Medieval 1 & 2, and Rome 1. I never played much of Shogun 1. In fact when I first tried the demo for it many years ago when it first came out, I was go creamed by the AI. It wasn't until I tried Rome years later that I was able to get the knack of playing a TW game. I never liked Real Time Strategy games, because you can never control all of your units. But I found that by pausing constantly I was able to make it essentially a turn-based game. After that I got really good. Especially in RTW.

In fact, I created the Amazon Total War mod for RTW. When I finally got burned out on RTW and stopped updating it, other people even picked up the torch and went on with it. It was my first foray into modding games, and was very rewarding. I put Amazon Total War up on Dropbox for anyone who wants to try it out, since I don't think my old versions are still around on the web anymore. This version requires the Barbarian Invasion expansion, as it uses the BI executable to make use of new things added by it, like night battles.


Here is a map of all the regions in Rome Total War

A map of Barbarian Invasion

An Amazon Total War map

A Medieval 2 Total War map


Froggbeastegg has an excellent guide to Rome Total War and Barbarian Invasion here. There is even a link to a pdf version of it on the same page.

Froggbeastegg has another guide for MTW1


In any case, I bought Shogun 2 a few days ago. Which makes it the most recent TW game I own. So far I am liking it. Though some of the changes are taking a while to get used to. I miss having the population of every province clearly listed, and being able to change my tax rate for each individual province, and being able to replace my losses in one turn.

I can see why they got rid of a lot of these old things. By the mid-game of RTW you spend more time administering your empire than actually going around conquering. By the late game it takes forever to get through one turn because of the micro-managing required. Obviously the Creative Assembly worked on finding ways to streamline all the management overhead, which is a good thing in general.

One thing I really miss in Shogun 2 is a proper manual though. The other games all came with an in-depth manual that told you exactly what everything did, what every little symbol on the maps meant, and so forth. The manual for this game is really shallow, and doesn't explain any of the real nuts and bolts of the interface. Some things I have figured out on my own, some I had to do forum searches to find out. Playing the past TW games helps of course. But there are changes with every game, and Shogun 2 is several generations ahead of my last TW experience with M2TW.

On the plus side, the graphics are incredible compared to RTW or M2TW, and it runs flawless even on Ultra settings. It is really nice to finally be able to fight out my sea battles on the tactical map as well. I am having a lot of fun with the Japanese setting too. I stared a Shimazu campaign, but gave up after a day when I got over-extended. I started again two days ago, and have concentrated on my economy first, and conquering second. Now I am the sole ruler of Kyushu. The latter half of the conquest was really difficult because my main rivals - the Otomo - were Christian. That make keeping order in every province I took from them a struggle. I have been knocking down all the Christian buildings, and construction Buddhist temples in their places, recruiting monks, and even a secret policeman (metsuke) to keep a lid on things.

Right now I am taking a breather to rebuild my army's losses and getting my economy back on track after the rebuilding. I have a ninja out scouting my neighbors to see who I should strike next. There is a land bridge to Honshu which I could take next. That would put me into the lands of the Ouchi clan, and the Amako after them. However, my ninja discovered an army of the Chosokabe clan that crossed over from their island of Shikoku into Honshu and took one of the Ouchi's cities. So those two clans are now at war. I am thinking this might be an excellent time to invade Shikoku and go after the Chosokabe homeland, They will have to divide their attention between islands and myself and the Ouchi. The only problem is that the Chosokabe have a powerful fleet. But one of the provinces I took from the Otomo has a pirate lair, which gives a +3 to experience to all ships recruited there. So I think I will be building a pirate fleet...

I even got tempted to fire up Shogun 1 and try it again. But it won't run on my Windows 7 computer. Still, I might try putting it on my old Windows XP box.

One of my Kobaya - the smallest ship in the Samurai arsenal

A medium Bune (which is technically a Seki-Bune) probably the workhorse of a Japanese fleet

A trading ship

My Seki Bune grapples a Wako (pirate) trading ship

Great plan!

Banzai!

My Katana Samurai (in green) battle Otomo clan Yari Ashigaru (peasant spearmen)

Slaughtering an Otomo general

Scaling the walls of a fortress

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 30 2017, 12:35 AM

[hazmick]

Update, 404AD:

My earlier desire to see the Lugians in turmoil came true, as the advance of the Huns pushed more barbarian factions into Gothiscandza - the Lugian town of Rugion changed hands half a dozen times to as many factions.

The Danes did do some raiding but rather than the east coast, as I'd hoped, they raided Flevum! The public disorder caused by their attacks caused rebels to pop up. The rebels took over the settlement, so I moved in to attack and was supported by some Danes.

King Gewis and his troops arrive in Flevum

On the other side of town, the Danes arrive

Caught between two armies, the Germanic rebels are quickly crushed

My forces form up in the town centre as the Danes raise our flag, Flevum is Saxon once again. Praise Wodan!

As you can see, the town has barely any buildings left standing. The reconstruction has been very expensive, but now the whole province of Frisia is under Saxon control. Across the Rhine, to the west, Gaul has declared war on me at the urging of their WRE allies, so my armies will be on alert for the time being.

Here is the current family tree

Here is the current world map. The Jutes have two colonies to the south, which allow a glimpse into the state of things down there - the roman emblem on the southern tip of spain is the Western Roman Separatists, and the black and white roman emblem to the east is the Western Roman Rebels.

This post has been edited by hazmick: May 21 2017, 02:47 PM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Update, 404AD:

My earlier desire to see the Lugians in turmoil came true, as the advance of the Huns pushed more barbarian factions into Gothiscandza - the Lugian town of Rugion changed hands half a dozen times to as many factions.

The Danes did do some raiding but rather than the east coast, as I'd hoped, they raided Flevum! The public disorder caused by their attacks caused rebels to pop up. The rebels took over the settlement, so I moved in to attack and was supported by some Danes.

King Gewis and his troops arrive in Flevum

On the other side of town, the Danes arrive

Caught between two armies, the Germanic rebels are quickly crushed

My forces form up in the town centre as the Danes raise our flag, Flevum is Saxon once again. Praise Wodan!

As you can see, the town has barely any buildings left standing. The reconstruction has been very expensive, but now the whole province of Frisia is under Saxon control. Across the Rhine, to the west, Gaul has declared war on me at the urging of their WRE allies, so my armies will be on alert for the time being.

Here is the current family tree

Here is the current world map. The Jutes have two colonies to the south, which allow a glimpse into the state of things down there - the roman emblem on the southern tip of spain is the Western Roman Separatists, and the black and white roman emblem to the east is the Western Roman Rebels.

Congrats to you and your Danish allies on your glorious reconquest of Flevum! Sounds like a truly amazing turn of events!

[SubRosa]

Very cool that you were able to team up with the Jutes to retake Flevum. That kind of thing didn't happen in the old games. I did team up with another faction in a battle once in Shogun 2.

But soon the Huns and other barbarian hordes might be knocking on your gates. Unless you are lucky and they veer farther south.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Hey Haz, who has control of the British Isles in your game?

[hazmick]

Britannia starts off split between WRE, Picts, Caledonians, and Ebdanians.

In the last map screenie I posted, WRE have been replaced by the Franks and Britain (A Roman-based faction, similar to Gaul, Asia etc.)

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Britannia starts off split between WRE, Picts, Caledonians, and Ebdanians.

In the last map screenie I posted, WRE have been replaced by the Franks and Britain (A Roman-based faction, similar to Gaul, Asia etc.)

Oh ok, gotcha.

Khajiit is about to make his move against the rest of Gaul. We've got two forces coming up from the boarder of the Iberian Peninsula and another is carving its way through some Britons in Germanía, trying close in on their last city*.

*We think it's their last city.

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: May 21 2017, 11:57 PM

[SubRosa]

My Sarmatian horde has wiped out the Sassanids.

I have settled in their old lands. Well, some of them at least. Here is a pic of the new Sarmatian homeland. I have three cities, so now all of my horde units are gone.

Now the real hard part of the game has begun. I had to recruit a large standing army just to keep order in my cities thanks to both the culture penalty of Barbarian vs. Eastern, and the religious penalty of Pagan vs. Zorastorian. I also already had one invasion by a full stack of Eastern Romans. Of course they were no match for my horse archers, and I completely wiped them out.

Before I de-horded I had 44k in gold in my treasury. Now I have about 12 I think. I cannot afford my army. But I cannot afford to disband them. I just redistributed my generals, so my faction leader - who has the most Influence, is in my most rebellious city. That allowed me to raise taxes there a little without triggering a rebellion. I have disbanded a few infantry units here and there, and the herdsman units I started the game with. I am loathe to disband any of my horse archers however. I need them too much. At this point I am going to try to buy time and hope the religion penalty dies enough over time for me to raised taxes more, and free up my cavalry from garrison duty.

And somewhere far in the west, the Romano-British have emerged.

[hazmick]

Sounds like everyone's doing well! Or at least...not doing poorly.

Horse archers are so handy. My Saxons can hire some as mercenaries - expensive but definitely worth it.

[SubRosa]

I love horse archers. They require a lot of micro-management. But when used properly, they can annihilate much larger enemy forces. Even when you are out of arrows, they can still make the enemy run around the map chasing them. Then you can gang up on them from all directions with multiple horse archer units. The lower quality units will often rout at that point (very tired and surrounded).

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Sounds like everyone's doing well! Or at least...not doing poorly.

Horse archers are so handy. My Saxons can hire some as mercenaries - expensive but definitely worth it.

Khajiit could be doing better than he is. Several of his towns are very unhappy but there isn't anything we can really do about it at the moment. Some don't have governors. One (the frickin Julii capital no less), is being ravaged by a plague. The main reason we are going so hard at the Gauls is because destroying them (or outlasting them) is one of our victory conditions. The poor Britons are just in the way of some big armies, lol

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Welp, it wasn't pretty but Khajiit finally met the victory conditions for his Julii campaign. Gaul was down to one last stronghold and we were beaten back once. At the second battle though, we crushed them. We could've kept playing but the end was so sloppy Khajiit was ready to be done with it. Now we've got more options for campaign factions so we may try a Britannia campaign next.

[hazmick]

Welp, it wasn't pretty but Khajiit finally met the victory conditions for his Julii campaign. Gaul was down to one last stronghold and we were beaten back once. At the second battle though, we crushed them. We could've kept playing but the end was so sloppy Khajiit was ready to be done with it. Now we've got more options for campaign factions so we may try a Britannia campaign next.

Congrats! For your first ever Total War campaign, messy is fine. Good luck with whichever faction you go for.

[hazmick]

Update. 408AD.

I began by sacking the Gaul-controlled Colonia Agrippina, to the west of Frisia, which convinced Gaul to offer me a peace treaty. I then set up a defensive alliance with the Geats and a trade deal with the Alamans. The old Alaman king has died, and the new king seems trustworthy.

My desire for expansion met with some problems. Primarily, I can't expand in any direction without upsetting half a dozen factions. Fortunately, the Huns solved my problem - they razed the town of Duna in Germano-Sarmatia, so I sent a force to occupy and rebuild. It's not too far from Frisia, but far enough that I'm away from all of the barbarian shenanigans. Also, the Huns have already been here so I shouldn't have much trouble. I've also sent a high priestess to the new settlement to cement germanic paganism as the dominant religion.

While that was going on, the Picts attacked and occupied the weakened Colonia Agrippina. A force of Jutes from the north moved to attack them, with my army in support. The Pict version of the settlement differs from the Roman/Gaul version (it's on a hill rather than flat ground) but our forces had no trouble. The Jutes decided to revive Gaul rather than take the settlement for themselves.

Shortly after returning to Tulifurdum my king, Gewis, died from natural causes. His son Esla, governor of Frisia, is now high king while a general named Cynesige took over command of Gewis's army, The Sons of Wodan. Cynesige's first act as general was to lead the army north and west, across the sea, to attack the Pict capital of Tuesis. Their garrison was surprisingly small, and we took the city with little trouble. After that I raised a third army, to be stationed in Frisia.


Some shots from my attack on the Gauls at Colonia Agrippina:
My forces prepare to attack

The defenders march out to meet us

Battle commences

It was a decisive victory, despite our losses


Here's the family tree

Here's the world map

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Update. 408AD.

I began by sacking the Gaul-controlled Colonia Agrippina, to the west of Frisia, which convinced Gaul to offer me a peace treaty. I then set up a defensive alliance with the Geats and a trade deal with the Alamans. The old Alaman king has died, and the new king seems trustworthy.

My desire for expansion met with some problems. Primarily, I can't expand in any direction without upsetting half a dozen factions. Fortunately, the Huns solved my problem - they razed the town of Duna in Germano-Sarmatia, so I sent a force to occupy and rebuild. It's not too far from Frisia, but far enough that I'm away from all of the barbarian shenanigans. Also, the Huns have already been here so I shouldn't have much trouble. I've also sent a high priestess to the new settlement to cement germanic paganism as the dominant religion.

While that was going on, the Picts attacked and occupied the weakened Colonia Agrippina. A force of Jutes from the north moved to attack them, with my army in support. The Pict version of the settlement differs from the Roman/Gaul version (it's on a hill rather than flat ground) but our forces had no trouble. The Jutes decided to revive Gaul rather than take the settlement for themselves.

Shortly after returning to Tulifurdum my king, Gewis, died from natural causes. His son Esla, governor of Frisia, is now high king while a general named Cynesige took over command of Gewis's army, The Sons of Wodan. Cynesige's first act as general was to lead the army north and west, across the sea, to attack the Pict capital of Tuesis. Their garrison was surprisingly small, and we took the city with little trouble. After that I raised a third army, to be stationed in Frisia.


Some shots from my attack on the Gauls at Colonia Agrippina:
My forces prepare to attack

The defenders march out to meet us

Battle commences

It was a decisive victory, despite our losses


Here's the family tree

Here's the world map

So you sacked a Gaulish city, the Picts moved in, the Jutes along with your forces kicked them out, and then the Jutes gave the city back to the Gauls?

[hazmick]

So you sacked a Gaulish city, the Picts moved in, the Jutes along with your forces kicked them out, and then the Jutes gave the city back to the Gauls?

Yep, you've got it. I was hoping that the Jutes would capture it for themselves, and I have no idea why they'd resurrect Gaul. I wonder who'll take it next.

[SubRosa]

The diplomacy sounds a lot more complicated than it is in the older RTW games, where whoever neighbored you would eventually attack you, no matter what.

My Sarmatian game has still been mired in cultural and religious penalties, along with squalor. I think I de-horded too soon. Maybe I should have sacked my way farther west into Roman territory before trying to settle. Now I am being inundated by Roman armies. I was able to finally build the next higher tier government building in my most difficult city - Araskia. I am hoping that will alleviate some of the cultural penalty and allow me to disband more of my infantry.

I did have a rare occurrence. A rebellion back on the steppe joined my faction. But sadly I am so stretched to the limit that I just could not afford the units the rebellion spawned, or the city. So I had to abandon it. I tried to bring the best units over to New Sarmatia, but they were attacked by rebels from Campus Roxolani and wiped out. So it was all for naught.

OTOH my victories against the Romans have borne fruit.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

So you sacked a Gaulish city, the Picts moved in, the Jutes along with your forces kicked them out, and then the Jutes gave the city back to the Gauls?

Yep, you've got it. I was hoping that the Jutes would capture it for themselves, and I have no idea why they'd resurrect Gaul. I wonder who'll take it next.

Silly Jutes, lol!

So if you attacked it again would the Jutes get mad?

The diplomacy sounds a lot more complicated than it is in the older RTW games, where whoever neighbored you would eventually attack you, no matter what.

My Sarmatian game has still been mired in cultural and religious penalties, along with squalor. I think I de-horded too soon. Maybe I should have sacked my way farther west into Roman territory before trying to settle. Now I am being inundated by Roman armies. I was able to finally build the next higher tier government building in my most difficult city - Araskia. I am hoping that will alleviate some of the cultural penalty and allow me to disband more of my infantry.

I did have a rare occurrence. A rebellion back on the steppe joined my faction. But sadly I am so stretched to the limit that I just could not afford the units the rebellion spawned, or the city. So I had to abandon it. I tried to bring the best units over to New Sarmatia, but they were attacked by rebels from Campus Roxolani and wiped out. So it was all for naught.

OTOH my victories against the Romans have borne fruit.

Ooh an Eagle! Bet the Romans are super pissed about that!

[hazmick]

So if you attacked it again would the Jutes get mad?

I think so. I'll have to check their alliances info to be sure. Usually when you revive a faction they become your faction's puppet state.



SubRosa - Good job with that eagle! Hope it doesn't cause too much trouble for you though

[SubRosa]

I played a little more, and now I have collected a dozen or so eagles. There are a couple in every Roman army I face these days. My faction leader is called "Of The Eagles" because he has captured so many.

I was able to break out of the cultural and religious penalties in my first three settlements. Going up a tier in one city helped. I also went back to my other cities and demolished many of the Eastern buildings, that lowered the culture penalties, and gave me some money. Then I started building all over again.

I was even able to finally take Kotias, giving me a total of 4 territories now. I Exterminated it, and it has not given me any troubles.

I just decided to mount a punitive raid south. I sent a small force down to Ctesphion. They had a big fight along the way and took some losses. But I shattered the Roman resistance in the area. Now I have the city under siege. I don't plan on trying to assault it, as it has a couple of Comitanses defending it. Instead I just plan to wait it out.

I sent my main army south towards Hatra as well, with the same idea. But I see a big Roman army coming up north to meet them. So it looks like there will be another huge battle first.

I don't plan to keep either Ctesphion or Hatra. Instead I will exterminate the populations, raze the buildings, and then abandon them. Maybe that will slow down the Roman deluge a bit.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

I played a little more, and now I have collected a dozen or so eagles. There are a couple in every Roman army I face these days. My faction leader is called "Of The Eagles" because he has captured so many.

I was able to break out of the cultural and religious penalties in my first three settlements. Going up a tier in one city helped. I also went back to my other cities and demolished many of the Eastern buildings, that lowered the culture penalties, and gave me some money. Then I started building all over again.

I was even able to finally take Kotias, giving me a total of 4 territories now. I Exterminated it, and it has not given me any troubles.

I just decided to mount a punitive raid south. I sent a small force down to Ctesphion. They had a big fight along the way and took some losses. But I shattered the Roman resistance in the area. Now I have the city under siege. I don't plan on trying to assault it, as it has a couple of Comitanses defending it. Instead I just plan to wait it out.

I sent my main army south towards Hatra as well, with the same idea. But I see a big Roman army coming up north to meet them. So it looks like there will be another huge battle first.

I don't plan to keep either Ctesphion or Hatra. Instead I will exterminate the populations, raze the buildings, and then abandon them. Maybe that will slow down the Roman deluge a bit.

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?