what is the most effective way to play as a smaller faction?

[Dxman]

so, ive been playing as denmark lately in my first time in this submod. i havent realy played MTW either in years but these new games just makes me whant to puke in how hollow they are. annyway, to the point. ive played 2 half assed campaigns to this point, both around 150-170 turns in, and i suffer the same results in both. First campaign was VH/VH secund one H/VH. battles are fine, abit hard but i can manage as an old TW fox, but the campaign, JEEZ LUISE! both campaign i got rid of norway after around 100 turns! after 150 turns im abit in to russia controlling moscow but there it ends both times. i can only afford 1 maybe 1 and a half army. the upkeep is creazy, yet my oponents manage to spit out armys like attila total war!! i dont get it. how am i suppose to compete with kievan rus when they can have 6-8 armys out running and i cant even manage 1 full army in russia..

am i playing this to fast? should i not attack russia but just build my cities in scandinavia for another 200 turns before i can compete? what if another nation attacks me? cant possibly fight that back. i dont know, just feels like the playing field is super uneven for the player and AI. will it get better if i put campaign difficulty to medium? or even easy!?!?

thx guys awesome mod tho! feels ing great being back to MTW!

[Lifthrasir]

Weel, you haven't done that bad. you just took the wrong direction to expand. Getting ride of Norway was a good move because it avoid to get a threat in your back. Then, choosing the Eastern Europe to expand was a bad choice because it doesn't bring much incomes. It would be better to look Westward.
In that case, you can choose to expand through HRE but it is too powerful at that stage. Anyway, try to keep good relations with it. The best option remains the Brittish Islands. Go for Scotland and/or Ireland. Then, go for England. If you succeed, you'll get a very strong position to expand anywhere and a good economy as well.
Meanwhile, recruit merchants, as many as you can and send them where there are the best ressources. If used wisely, these guys will boost your incomes.

[RodriguesSting]

I wonder, is this mod really balanced out for VH/VH? You can't even outnumber the rebels on early game with a small faction, which is kinda tough. Unless, of course, I am supposed to approach this submod on a different way that I would approach regular SS (get the levies running and grab everything I can while try to build up relationships with a good scary potential ally, say the HRE, and then build the economy up).

Also, how would one play the Papal States (assuming they are fully fleshed out, of course), while on the topic of small factions?

[Alavaria]

Eh I tried Italian factions, the Papal States aren't really special... you automatically excommunicate anyone you attack and you can't get excommunicated. Also you can't call crusades I think.

Just run down and beat up Sicily and grab those things, try to off Pisa and Venice fast and then just rip into HRE.

[RodriguesSting]

So are you saying that it is much easier to blitz major factions and then switch to rebels later?

[Lifthrasir]

No, the Papal States are basically a "new" playable faction. They really need more work. This is just a "beta" playable faction if you get my point. Playing as them gives you too many advantages compare to the other factions: no Catholic faction will attack you, no family tree (once he Pope dies, you get a new one elected each time), etc...

Another way to play small factions is to become the vassal of a strong one. For instance in your case, at the beginning, if you can become the vassal of HRE, your southern border is safe and you can develop quietly until you're enough strong to be independant.
In a general view, you can not blietzkrig in SSHIP. You need to take your time to develop and to think where to expand. You have to build your economy to improve your armies and then you can expand but not too fast. Over wise, the situation can easily become out of control.

[Alavaria]

Fast and hard targeted expansion is the best early game play if you're small. You need an army, it might as well get you more space. Increasing income by getting more settlements is great. As AI's get magical cash, killing off an AI is a big gain for you, as even a 1-castle faction can roll a lot of guys...

You get to choose who borders you so carefully making sure to only fight as few factions as possible is wise. For example for a decent bit of fighting HRE, everyone else was blocked by the HRE (chase Castles first if you can).


I blitzed a lot with Pisa and HRE went down super fast, I opened them up with only one stack, though #2 and then #3 soon arrived. By the time other people like France, Poland, Hungary, Danes, wanted to fight I had a stack for each and more being trained. Then I started attacking in all directions.