MTW2 thoughts

[Tolya]

Well, Im playing English, about year 1190 AD now.

The game plays basically like an expansion pack to Rome. Not that it's a bad thing, but I guess I expected a bit more.

Okay, first of all I can say that the strategic AI is pretty good. It was the first time that I encountered a computer player, who can recognize his own failure and retreat.

I was attacked by the Milanese. Hell knows how did they get through France exclusively to get me (I managed to hold Caen and two adjacent sectors), but they did. Two armies - one about 700 men, the second one about 200. Their strategy was quite good (for an AI). The big one went for the Caen castle, whilst the small one attacked the closest place of reinforcements.

They besieged Caen and attacked during the next turn. I had about 300 men on defences, three longbows, three squads of spear militia and two members of royal family along with their escorts. I basically annihilated their army (although it was a close call at the gates. If not for their foolishness of rushing a general into the battle who knows, maybe they'd succeed).

Anyways, they routed and I chased them down using my small cavalry. Of an army of 700 about 80 survived.

And then what do I saw? They packed their shit and went home! It was really refreshing to see an enemy AI who cares for their own good, rather than being a nuisance to the player.

Has anyone ever tried to do "Henry IV"? I mean, invading the Vatican and killing the Pope (and, by game rules, annihilating the faction)? What happens then? Does the pope simply disappear, along with his "dont do this or I'll excommunicate you!" shit? Having been excommunicated (and reconciled) two times already, it's beginning to be some of a nuisance.

[Cincinnatus]

Well, Im playing English, about year 1190 AD now.

The game plays basically like an expansion pack to Rome. Not that it's a bad thing, but I guess I expected a bit more.

Okay, first of all I can say that the strategic AI is pretty good. It was the first time that I encountered a computer player, who can recognize his own failure and retreat.

I was attacked by the Milanese. Hell knows how did they get through France exclusively to get me (I managed to hold Caen and two adjacent sectors), but they did. Two armies - one about 700 men, the second one about 200. Their strategy was quite good (for an AI). The big one went for the Caen castle, whilst the small one attacked the closest place of reinforcements.

They besieged Caen and attacked during the next turn. I had about 300 men on defences, three longbows, three squads of spear militia and two members of royal family along with their escorts. I basically annihilated their army (although it was a close call at the gates. If not for their foolishness of rushing a general into the battle who knows, maybe they'd succeed).

Anyways, they routed and I chased them down using my small cavalry. Of an army of 700 about 80 survived.

And then what do I saw? They packed their shit and went home! It was really refreshing to see an enemy AI who cares for their own good, rather than being a nuisance to the player.

Has anyone ever tried to do "Henry IV"? I mean, invading the Vatican and killing the Pope (and, by game rules, annihilating the faction)? What happens then? Does the pope simply disappear, along with his "dont do this or I'll excommunicate you!" shit? Having been excommunicated (and reconciled) two times already, it's beginning to be some of a nuisance.

The papacy continues on, the pope just goes to live in one of the other Catholic power's lands.

[Darth Wong]

I tried defying the Pope the first time I played, but it's really not a prescription for a good game. In my second campaign, I'm playing nice with the Pope and things are going much better. I maintain all of my cities and fortresses with enough garrisons to defend themselves against attack but I stay defensive until a faction gets excommunicated. At that point, I instantly go medieval on them (heh heh), knowing that there will be no repercussions from the Pope for doing so.

That never happened with Scotland, which was annoying to me because I wanted to unify the British Isles, but Scotland finally attacked me, and our two faction popularities with the Pope were the same, so I swiftly seized his two settlements and accepted that my relations with the Pope would deteriorate but not collapse completely. Relations went down from excellent to mediocre, but I wasn't excommunicated, and I was able to build them back up over time.

[Tolya]

Yeah, you have to get Scotland out of the way early in the game, since british isles are too good of a place to share.

My King has just returned from a Crusade, landed in Italy. Funny thing is, he was excommunicated before he reached Jerusalem, so right now Im mounting a mercenary Army to attack the goddamn Milanese from the south.

It seems that those SOBs gathered quite a huge army and they are threatening Bruges.

Anyways, too bad that the Pope cant be really exterminated.

Also, what are the real gains from releasing prisoners? Does it make your relations with the enemy country a bit better?

[InnocentBystander]

Regarding prisoners:

I would *guess* that it might increase your general's chivalry (rather than dread), and I suspect that releasing good christian prisoners makes the pope happy.

Also, when you know the enemy can't pay, don't bother with the ransom, if you choose execute there is a chance you might get a trait/retinue. Or, if even a new general if the army didn't start with one.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Also, what are the real gains from releasing prisoners? Does it make your relations with the enemy country a bit better?

Executing prisoners gains Dread. Releasing them gives Chivalry. Ransoming is totally neutral and has no impact on the general.

[atg]

I've said to hell with the Pope in my game. After being excommunicated several times due to trying to defend my cities from attacks by France and Denmark I just got sick of him.

I finished conquering France when the Pope called the first Crusade against me. I beat back the Danes, Spanish, Milanese, and Portugese and now my English troops are pouring through the Alps ready to attack Rome itself

It does seem to be a lot easier to fight a war on two or more fronts than it was in Rome: TW. Since I started playing as England I was in a fight with Scotland, Denmark, France, Milan and Spain initially, now I'm against Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Sicily, Poland and Russia. Scotland, France and Milan have been conquered; Spain, Portugal and Denmark are down to at most 2 or 3 provinces each, I'm taking cities from both Poland and Sicily and my fleet is blockading Russian ports.

[Tolya]

Okay, I just defended Bruges from a huge Milanese army.

I mean, it was HUGE. Two armies, one with 1200 men, the second one with about 200. I had around 600 defenders, most of which were mercenary crossbowmen.

You may not believe this, but I basically beat them down with two general units. Their entire army comprised of siege equipment and spear militia.

I was getting ready for a noble death, but I decided to swing some cavalry on the flank to make their lives a bit more difficult. Meanwhile, the catapults wrecked my walls, creating two large holes.

What happened when I started messing around with cavarly? The entire Milanese army became confused. It was pretty stupid, since I almost had no good infantry, and if they went straight at the walls I would've lost.

But instead they started to chase down my cavalry down the map. So I invited a second general unit and did a little running around. One unit would bait a squad of spearmen, while the second one stormed from behind/side.

Eventually, I managed to kill the general (member of spearmen) and after several minutes of playing the entire army routed.

The results (roughly speaking) were:

1st Milanese Army - 1200 men. 1090 dead or taken prisoner. Rest ran aways
2nd Milanese Army - 200 men, around 60 dead. I was just getting at them, but the time ran out.

My lossess: about 60 men (I lost an entire mercenary cavalry squad early in the battle). My two general unit killed or taken prisoner about 350 men. I didn't get that good results in Rome.

To be quite frank, that battle was stupid and it wouldn't happen in real life. Any enemy with half of his brain dead would simply ignore the cavalry and went straight for the city courtyard, since I only had wooden walls and breaching it was extremely easy for them. But no, they took the bait like idiots. I mean, in this game, AI can sometimes make you raise an eyebrow, but most of the time it's the good'ole stupid computer that we are used to from Rome.

[Dartzap]

So, has anyone tried killing all of the other catholic factions *then* bombarding seven kinds of mouldy shit out of Rome? He can hardly ask you to give him a place!