What's your fighting style?

[RodentDung]

Howdy y'all. Here is a new topic to wake up the dusty medieval drinking hall.

I noticed most people tend to say they take over the world or try to anyways. I know this is the objective of the conquest game. But I never seem to do that. I prefer to have only a few provinces and build them up with specific, dedicated tasks like one is for agents, another soldiers and another for ships kinduv of idea. Each one has taverns built in case the drunken rowdies are needed in an emergency and I go in there with my checkbook and put them to work killing and being killed for a day or two.

So my small 'empire' only has one professional army with a solid defensive garrison in each province. Instead of trying to take over the world, we are a police force which only fights evil by sending out our one expeditionary force to hotspots kinduv like what Superman does. Meanwhile, the provinces keep building newer infrastructure and trade routes.

For troops, I prefer many swordsmen with 2 or 3 light cavalry squads backed up by a combined siege engine/archer/horse archer fire support system. I seldom use any kind of spearmen and may put one squad of an advanced type like a billman merc into a defensive garrison. My fighting style is more violent and bloody than the pike and bow school of defensive fighting. I like high bodycount fights with both sides being mauled and often do frontal assaults uphill into the teeth of the enemy.

Who do I fight?

1) Of course anyone who attacks me. Also those who are jealous of my coolness and send endless waves of assassins against me to awaken my slumber also receive attention. After a very brutal beating is delivered, I occupy for some time to collect revenues to pay for the war expenses, then I burn everything and move out. Rebels and religious fanatics pop-up like mushrooms and contest each other for the vacant, roasted lands.

2) If there are none who mess with me directly, a reason for a war is sought elsewhere. Qualifying nations include those who bully and oppress those weaker, as well as muslims who aren't providing regular tours for incoming Crusaders. Of course the opposite in the case when I'm muslim; then Christian nations cannot be allowed to prosper to too great a degree and should expect a short, destructive visit from me sometime.

3) Vendettas. Some nations are big and strong with up to a dozen stacks of troops in a single province. I usually only use one stack with perhaps a few light cavalry in reserve for chasing runners so the fights can be quite closely fought. Vendettas occur when these affairs drag on with huge losses in the thousands on both sides and little or no change in territory. These wars are senseless, stupid, very wasteful and very fun.

4) The Pope has a special place on my hit list.... at the top. For him, the gloves come off and no level of brutality is spared. Wiping out the Papacy and devastating his lands is a joy seldom felt to the same degree from wiping out other factions. Whether I be a christian, orthodox or muslim state matters little; the Pope must be disciplined. And he is. After storming Italy, I camp on Mount Rome and rain hell and despair down upon the returning hordes of the Papacy. The massed ranks of his 4000+ army are shredded on the sides of the mountain while my light cavalry chase down the chickens who weren't manly enought to handle the beating and we decorate the approaching fields in their carcasses. When enough dead cover the ground and all those captured 'no longer trouble my thoughts', I build a harbor to evacuate by and then burn the whole place to a crisp, except the castle with its walls, finishing with salting the fields. As for my wrecked mercenary squads which are too depleted to fight effectively anymore, they are put into the castle defences and left there after I go. Their last mission is to trouble the Pope some more when he returns with his yet bigger armies. Hopefully the tiny defensive merc party is castle assaulted because a siege would last too long which means a very nice kill ratio in our favor thanks to the advanced fortress defences built by the Papacy itself. The mercs fight to the death but take scores down with the catapults and arrows. Sometimes the Romans themselves return who are not Papacy troops so we simply burn down the castle, disband the rebels and leave the Romans to fight to the death instead. It's a nasty, necessary bit of business and a lot of fun too. Even the Popes have fun... I think.

So what are your fighting styles? Any unique strategies?

[Axe-Battler]

normally i just build royal courts as quickly AS possible and build as many royal knights or if im muslim ghulam bodygaurds, i constantly build up farms and merchant guilds then ill take rebel provinces when they are neighboring me, i build enough ships for each coast and deep sea for high trade bonus, if i have a neighbor who has no allies ill attack them, i always put my taxes on as high as i can and make sure each province has the governor with the highest acumen, i keep this pattern up until i feel too superior to even bother continuing then i start a new campaign.

[Korinthos Hoplites]

As I usually play with spain, my strategy is also a turtling one:

1) Conquer the whole Iberian Penninsula

2) Build up specialised provinces (Leon for cavalry, Castille and Valencia for infantry, Navarre for militias, Aragon for siege units, Portugal for archers and the other province I can't remember for agents)

3) Train HUGE armies of sergeants, men-at-arms, militia sergeants, archers, catapults, jinetes and mounted sergeants/knights; train an assassin, emissary, bishop and spy for every province

4) Crush the enemy (non-christians preferably)

[unfortunate crow]

Well I have a soft spot for this game so I'll post mine here. I usually play Glorious achievement games.

I usually like to build a core around my starting provinces and quickly snatch up any rebel provinces that border my lands (or any of the mediterrainian islands if they are in revolt) before any other factions can. If any provinces are needed for glorious achievements, those become a priority.

With these territories, I first build the fort, and then an inn to set up a temporary mercenary garrison (and to also serve as emergency troops in a pinch) then I focus on putting together what I call my "basic garrison", which is as follows;

2 spear units
1 archer unit
1 melee cavalry unit (can be a family member)

Once the facilities are in place for each province to be self sufficient in that respect, I focus on building ports and then a shipbuilder. Next in line comes merchants and farm upgrades. I use just my basic recruiting facilities for a long time while I expand my trading network accross the seas. Once I have substantial income from trade, I begin to upgrade my training facilities.

Wars are avoided as much as possible and alliances are sought to maximize trading profits. When two allies engage in hostilities, the choice of whom to support depends on who will effect my economy more. The only wars i initiate are those against nations which are on pace to defeat me in the glorious achievements department.

My last game as Egyptian, I was forced to undertake a massive last-minute (well, 10 years!) operation to annihilate the novgorad royal family! It was a bear, but I got them with 2 turns to spare!