First Campaign Report

[Werthead]

This was the first go as House Stark. I decided to be bold and replicate the Stark strategy from the books: advance as fast as possible with the starting armies and kick some arse. Since House Stark has virtually no money and is in the red within 3 turns of starting the game, it's not like I had anything else to do ;)

So, I rapidly advanced down the Neck and combined my three armies (under Robb, the Greatjon and Roose) for [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0035.jpg"]an attack[/url] on the Twins. I possessed [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0036.jpg"]overwhelming superiority[/url] of numbers and due to engine limitations the Twins are nowhere near as formidable as in the books, but the Freys' defensive position was still strong.

[url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0037.jpg"]Battle was joined[/url] and [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0038.jpg"]I breached the gates[/url] in short order. The struggle inside the gates was bloody as I was [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0039.jpg"]charged by the Frey cavalry[/url], but I [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0040.jpg"]emerged trimuphant[/url]. The surviving remnants of the Frey host [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0043.jpg"]took shelter outside the castle[/url], but this strategy [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0044.jpg"]proved inadequate[/url].

After [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0045.jpg"]savouring the moment[/url] I continued the advance. I split my forces, Roose Bolton taking the bulk of the foot and the archers down the Trident towards the ford, whilst Robb and the Greatjon pressed on into Tully lands, sweeping past [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0046.jpg"]our allies in Riverrun[/url]. Obviously the advance had been so fast the Lannisters had not had time to begin the siege, and I was able to [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0047.jpg"]identify Jaime Lannister's position[/url] near the Golden Tooth. I besieged his camp but the Lannisters rallied and [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0048.jpg"]hit me from all sides[/url].

Although the numbers were against me, they arrived on the battlefield in piecemeal fashion, and I was able to bring my full army against each group in turn, destroying them in detail. Jaime's forces arrived on the battlefield and as his and my infantry and supporting cavalry [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0050.jpg"]engaged one another[/url], I spotted his bodyguard and [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0049.jpg"]had Robb charge him[/url]. This proved unwise and Robb had his arse handed to him. Luckily, the Greatjon spotted his lord's peril and rode into the fray, [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0051.jpg"]killing Jaime Lannister in the face[/url]. I would have preferred to ransom him, but that's the way battles go sometimes. The butcher's bill was [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0052.jpg"]heavier[/url] this day, and Jaime killed about 30 of those men by himself, but victory had been achieved.

Although my forces had been decimated, a severe lack of funds and a lengthy reinforcement distance (the Twins was my nearest base and was a good 3-4 turns away) meant I had no choice but to press on and besieged the Tooth. Fortune smiled on me when it turned out that [url="http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4/Werthead/Medieval%202/0053.jpg"]Tywin himself was within the castle[/url] with only a modest force to defend him.

Meanwhile, in the east Roose Bolton met with Arryn diplomats near Saltpans and forged peaceful trading relations between them and the Starks, before crossing the ford, brushing aside one of Joffrey's forces which had been skirmishing up towards Harrenhal (which remains in Tully hands) and launch an exploratory reconnaisance towards King's Landing. Whilst I doubt I have the men to take the city, I may have enough to besiege it.

All to play for next time ;)

[TheKingSlayerTWModTeam]

Wert, awesome AAR. You should add some pics next time! ;) Here's a link to my AAR with the Arryns.

[url="http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=195470"]http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=195470[/url]

[Jak o the Shadows]

Nice AAR. :)

I noticed in the pics that the Men at arms have the Denmark skins after the patch. Which is great because I thought i had messed up the install.

But yeah the Starks do tend to run out of money fast. I sent Robb to take the twins, with Roose and the Greatjon staying north to take over rebel settlements. That helped a bit.

[TheKingSlayerTWModTeam]

[quote name='Jak o the Shadows' post='1536918' date='Sep 30 2008, 06.55']Nice AAR. :)

I noticed in the pics that the Men at arms have the Denmark skins after the patch. Which is great because I thought i had messed up the install.

But yeah the Starks do tend to run out of money fast. I sent Robb to take the twins, with Roose and the Greatjon staying north to take over rebel settlements. That helped a bit.[/quote]


When using the Starks, I usually only leave Rodrik and Bran in the North to handle the Rebels and to take The Dreadfort, Karhold, etc. While taking most of my forces south to deal with the Lannister scum! Also, at Winterfell you can recruit generals. I think you can purchase their services like every 11 turns or something like that.

Glad you guys are having fun!

[Werthead]

I took the Tooth and killed Tywin. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of men and couldn't hold it, with Sandor Clegane and Devan Lannister bringing up reinforcements from Casterly Rock, so I burned down every building in the castle and fled. Disaster struck when the Lannisters cut off Robb and the Greatjon from Riverrun. They manage to escape south through the mountains, but were finally cornered by a much vaster force outside Hornvale and brutally slaughtered, although they did kill the Hound in the process. The crown passed to Bran, who was all the way up north at Last Hearth, well out of danger, and Roose Bolton assumed command of my main army in the field.

Roose besieged King's Landing, seized the capital and then held it against a ferocious storm of counter-attacks by Joffrey (who had eluded capture to make his new main base at Duskendale). I sent a scout ship down the coast, and was amused to see Renly and Stannis slugging it out for control of the Storm Coast. The Tyrells made alliance with me and the Tullys won several decisive blows against Joffrey. Joffrey was forced to sue for peace, which I accepted. With the Martells a very distant and remote threat, Stannis and Renly preoccupied with one another (guess Stannis forgot to hire Melisandre this time around) and the Tyrells, Tullys, Arryns and even Joffrey on my side, peace descended. The Tullys were able to turn their full attention towards the Lannisters and I took advantage of the lull in combat to rebuild my forces. Back home in the North Bran sent forth several lesser armies to seize the Dreadfort from the Bastard of Bolton (who had rebelled) and pacify several other rebel castles, such as Widow's Watch and Barrowton. However, White Harbour was attacked by a large force of brigands. They beat off the attack after taking some significant losses. More serious was the arrival of the Grejoys, who landed in force along the west coast and seized Flint's Finger. Luckily, I had been mustering reinforcements at Moat Cailin and was able to march west to meet them. That battle should be fought tomorrow and should prove most interesting.

[Werthead]

I feel dazed and wearied. The war against the Greyjoys seemed to go well, with me capturing their mainland strongholds at Seagard and Banefort. However, I got bogged down in repeated attempts to invade the Iron Islands. Great Wyk eventually fell but the cost in lives was horrendous. After four massive full-scale assaults on Harlaw were repulsed, I opted to abandon the offensive, blockade the islands and launch an invasion of the Lannister territories instead, marching on Kayce. My Tully allies seemed to have a similar idea and launched a devastating offensive, taking the Golden Tooth and Hornvale in short order. Now a joint Tully-Stark army besieges Casterly Rock itself. Good times.

In the east Bolton's boldness had given the Starks control of King's Landing, but also provided a tempting target to many of the other factions. A furious counter-attack against Joffrey saw the boy king dead and Rosby captured. Tommen, now based at Duskendale, sued for peace and became my vassal. Renly brought a fleet up from the south and took Dragonstone, driving Stannis onto Crackclaw Point where the most random thing in the game happened. Stannis, despite only having one castle, was able to muster about three full-stack armies out of nowhere. Myself, Tommen and the Tullys launched attack after attack against Crackclaw Point, but they were repulsed with ludicrous losses. Yet Stannis seemed to rebuild his armies almost instantly. After about [i]thirty turns[/i] of this (WTF?) I finally built up a large enough army, waited until the latest Tully-Tommen force was beaten off, and then launched a furious assault by sea of the peninsula.

The single most grinding battle of [i]Total War[/i], in all iterations I have played to date (which is all of them) over the past eight years, took place. The battle lasted well over an hour and saw my army grappling with invisible enemy units (banners floating above enemy forces which weren't there, but you [i]could see their shadows [/i] :stunned: ). Obviously Melisandre's will at work!

But at the end the battle ended and I was victorious and House Stannis had been destroyed, although my will to live had also been eroded and I had to cease playing.

[TheKingSlayerTWModTeam]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1540696' date='Oct 2 2008, 15.25']I feel dazed and wearied. The war against the Greyjoys seemed to go well, with me capturing their mainland strongholds at Seagard and Banefort. However, I got bogged down in repeated attempts to invade the Iron Islands. Great Wyk eventually fell but the cost in lives was horrendous. After four massive full-scale assaults on Harlaw were repulsed, I opted to abandon the offensive, blockade the islands and launch an invasion of the Lannister territories instead, marching on Kayce. My Tully allies seemed to have a similar idea and launched a devastating offensive, taking the Golden Tooth and Hornvale in short order. Now a joint Tully-Stark army besieges Casterly Rock itself. Good times.

In the east Bolton's boldness had given the Starks control of King's Landing, but also provided a tempting target to many of the other factions. A furious counter-attack against Joffrey saw the boy king dead and Rosby captured. Tommen, now based at Duskendale, sued for peace and became my vassal. Renly brought a fleet up from the south and took Dragonstone, driving Stannis onto Crackclaw Point where the most random thing in the game happened. Stannis, despite only having one castle, was able to muster about three full-stack armies out of nowhere. Myself, Tommen and the Tullys launched attack after attack against Crackclaw Point, but they were repulsed with ludicrous losses. Yet Stannis seemed to rebuild his armies almost instantly. After about [i]thirty turns[/i] of this (WTF?) I finally built up a large enough army, waited until the latest Tully-Tommen force was beaten off, and then launched a furious assault by sea of the peninsula.

The single most grinding battle of [i]Total War[/i], in all iterations I have played to date (which is all of them) over the past eight years, took place. The battle lasted well over an hour and saw my army grappling with invisible enemy units (banners floating above enemy forces which weren't there, but you [i]could see their shadows [/i] :stunned: ). Obviously Melisandre's will at work!

But at the end the battle ended and I was victorious and House Stannis had been destroyed, although my will to live had also been eroded and I had to cease playing.[/quote]



Those damn Asshai shadow binders! What will they think of next! ;)

[aeoleron9]

That Stannis thing sounds interesting. Do you still have the save?

[Atreides]

When I played as Stannis I had ghost units-you could see them, but they were sorta transparent.

[aeoleron9]

Oh, the ghost units means their skins were not completed yet. (Or you could blame Melisandre :P) What I was concerned with was how they pumped out stack after stack like Wert said.

[Werthead]

[quote name='aeoleron9' post='1541433' date='Oct 3 2008, 09.56']Oh, the ghost units means their skins were not completed yet. (Or you could blame Melisandre :P ) What I was concerned with was how they pumped out stack after stack like Wert said.[/quote]

I did subsequently find a partial explanation, which is that they'd retaken Dragonstone and Massey's Hook without me realisng it, which probably explains where their influx of funds came from.

[Werthead]

I've had a lot on, so missed out on playing more of the mod. Finally went back and completed the Stark campaign by wiping out Joffrey. Despite some oddities from the AI near the end (I was attacked by the Tullys, but after seizing two of their castles in a counter-attack they sued for peace almost immediately) I was overall very impressed by the mod. May give it another go with another faction soon-ish.

[Ser Phillip Stone]

I bought the game last night, DLed the mod and went at it. Started a campaign as Dorne and has been pretty fun so far. Since I don't know what I am doing on the battle map (its been a while since I've played a Total War game) I got pretty far just auto-resolving my battles.

Dorne is in a funny sort of position at the beginning, having its two neighbors allied with eachother, and not at war with anyone. The one faction I need to kill for victory (Lannister) has an entire nation in between me and them.

I would have preferred to ally with Highgarden against Renly, but once I attacked Renly the Tyrells broke their alliance with me. Guess that's what happens with two factions are attached at the hip like those two are. Ser Loras was probably very upset that I attacked his special friend.

I proceeded to attack Renly on a couple of different fronts. Darkstar and Red Viper have been my main generals of use, since they have portraits. One was marching up from the south on a land route, and the other by transporting my troups across the Sea of Dorne. Renly put up a couple of good fights, but one after another his zones fell to my Dornish spears.

Finally I sieged Storm's End, and weathered several attacks to my sieging force before the castle finally fell. Once it fell, and Renly was dead, Highgarden decided to declare war on me. They'd sent troops to the edge of my zones before during my assault on Renly, so I knew an attack was coming, but my solid defenses seemed to discourage them.

Their initial attack was pretty pitiful. They sent a ship with a very modest army to take Starfall, and the attack failed. I had my warships sink every Tyrell ship in the area, and the attacking party got wiped out on my turn. I then took the remaining two zones away from Renly, wiping out the faction.

If Highgarden had attacked when I was fully committed to Renly, it would have been pretty devastating for me. I never could have taken Storm's End without my full force committed to that siege. I had four full stacks of armies devoted to that attack, and it still wasn't a sure thing. Waiting until I'd already taken Storm's End was the best possible result for me.

Now I have the entire Stormlands and Dorne ready to go to war against Highgarden. I'd prefer if I could make peace with Highgarden and go after Lannister now that I have some access, but Highgarden hates me pretty badly and probably won't accept a peace treaty until I beat on them a bit. Highgarden is the second most powerful house on the map behind me, with all others fighting for a distant third, so if I defeat them the rest of it may be somewhat anti-climactic.

I'll probably see if I can defeat Highgarden first, take over all their stuff, and then have the whole south to attack Lannister / Joffrey with.

I'm currently allied with Stannis, but he didn't do any good against Renly. Stannis spent all his time fighting Arryn. They are currently locked in a silly little stalemate around Gulltown. One would take it, then the other would take it, back and forth turn after turn.

One problem I am currently having is that my once-bottomless treasury is leaking dragons like a sinking ship. I'll probably be in the hole after a few turns. I've got too many armies spread out over too much of the map. It would be in my best interest to get peace with Tyrell so I can disband many of my units. It's hard to do that when I share so many border territories with them.

I'm curious as to what Greyjoy is up to, since they have almost 100,000 dragons in their treasury (growing every turn) and don't seem to be doing anything with them. Guess they are just sitting on their island talking about how great it is to be kings.

As an aside: I've gotten a few messages saying that a zone of mine can be upgraded, but then I can't seem to figure out how to do that. It's driving me crazy. I think the manual says "on the construction tab" but I didn't see it anywhere. Can anyone point me to it?

Also related to the TW2 game in general, which do you guys normally do when taking over a city? I've pretty randomly been executing or leaving the elites at random since I don't fully understand the consequences of the actions.

[Callum]

Sounds like an interesting game.

Re the upgrading zones: This feature was removed from the mod as for a little village to turn into a huge citadel by the end of the game isn't all that true to the books and requires people to protect what they have. They just haven't taken the notifications out yet.

When taking a city I normally do one of the first 2 (that don't kill most of the civilians - been a while since I've played). By doing the last one, a significant portion of the population is executed and it's easier to decrease the civil unrest. However, I don't think things such as religion or culture or similar have been included yet, so you're just sacrificing a lot of income (income is related to population) as you shouldn't be having problems with civil unrest. By doing the middle one, you get an influx of cash, and only sacrifice the income a little bit.