MTW: Viking Invasion Succession game(s)

(Sticky please)

note: This is the second succession game that we will be running along with the current MTW game, so don't forget to join in with that succession game as well.

Game: Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion (No patch)
Difficulty: Normal
Kingdom: Hungarians
Starting period: Early

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King: Laszlo I (1087-1106)

At the age of 38, King Laszlo became King of the Hungarian kingdom and with rebels in the south and to the east he was convinced that these rebels must be persuaded to join his empire so that the Hungarians could begin to produce a large army that could one day destroy the Byzantines whilst avoiding a war with our neighbours to the north, the Italians, Polish and the Germans.

A string of provinces were bribed in the early years of his reign, with some help from the Pope who was very generous by giving us a handy amount of florins for our support During this time he also began to establish several building programs, including building several docks in Croatia and Serbia so that one day these provinces would be able to build a great navy to generate a huge income.

After 10 years of peace, and after establishing several alliances, King Laszlo began his campain to establish the Huns as a true power in Europe and to provide his heir with a Kingdom that would be able to challenge the Italians or the Germans. Constantinople blinded the king and effectively made his decision for him, so in 1097 the Hungarians launched their military campain against the Byzantines.

Several times the Byzantines retreated in front of the glorious Hungarian armies which were bolstered by a small amout of mercenaries to provide some quality troops. However this meant that whilst Constantinople was initially captured early in the war, it had to be abandoned as the Byzantine people launched a counter attack.

However in the year of 1105 Constantinople finally fell to our troops and with a peaceful northern front, the armies once again pushed further into Byzantine territory taking two more provinces. As the troops were celebrating though, new reached them from Croatia, of the death of King Laszlo, who as he layed dying had told his heir to continue his war and defeat the remaining Byzantines, start to build a navy from constantinople, to make sure that no rebellions occur and finally to never leave the border provinces too weakly defended.

The saved game:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/The_Hungarians.zip

Current player list:

Current player list:

Dell19
BobTheTerrible
Greeny

Current player: BobTheTerrible

(New players will be added to the list below the current player)

Weren't the Huns and the Hungarians different? I htought the Huns were a "barbarian" tribe thing that pillaged and came from Asia. I could be wrong though.

I thought the Huns probably turned into the Hungarians or perhaps they just came from the same region... Plus Huns is alot shorter and quicker to type.

Well, I wasn't sure because my friend is Hungarian and in AoE 2 they have the Huns, and I asked him and he said he didn't know, and they seemed to have a lot to do with the fall of Rome and stuff. Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'll download and begin playing today, but I do have a party so I don't think I'll finish unless my king dies early.

Here's what has happened so far, and probably all the playing I'll get in today:

King Lazlo II acsended the throne at the age of 31. The first major battle under his riegn was the Battle of Nicea, where the Byzintine garrison had sallied from their castle supported by troops moving from another province. The battle was a complete defeat for the Byzantines. The commanding general, Lord Wyzslaw, sent out horse archers to harrass the enemy's general's unit, 60 urban millitiamen. After killing nearly half the unit with arrows, the horse archers retreated. Royal knights led by Prince Bela pounded in to the enemy general's unit from the side, with the general himself dying from the force of the charge. With that, the horse archers charged down to harass the enemy as they fled. None made it alive, because Wyzslaw had every last one of the prisoners executed.

Later in his reign, the year 1114, he got word that the Turkish Sultan had been executed. He still had been unable to move against the Byzantines in Anatolia because of the 80 Kataphractoi they held there, along with nearly 200 of the Byantines famous infantry. The Byzantines were powerful even now, but the Hungarian cashflow wasn't as he liked. Across the empire, farms began to appear in greater numbers, but only a few each year because of the limited cashflow. What was worse was that troops could not be trained. Some mercenary generals began to have their units disbanded.

In 1122, the King of England, William III, accepted Lazlo's daughter in marriage. Farms were being built faster, and soon he should have enough money to fund a larger army. Meanwhile he had been hearing rumors of the Germans might and power, of armies and of income. The Turkish have reappeared, attacking Syria.

The Byzantine King himself launched an attack to retake Nicea. Though few in numbers, the 120 Kataphractoi spoke for themselves. Even though the Hungarians tried to fight, they were badly outclassed and quickly routed. Soon the Hungarians would be able to train troops en masse, but for now they needed to build a stronger economy.

Have you tried changed the tax rates as they always seem to default to a lower level when you pass someone the saved game, so perhaps if you changed them you might be able to make more money.

Would anyone mind if i put auto-taxes on? They work great and you don't have to MM. It will automatically lower the taxes if there would be a rebellion and hires them when there won't. Is there any reason I shouldn't?

Here's the rest of the tale:

Armies all across the Hungarian Empire began marching twoards Constantinpole. By 1129 there were many many armies there, and they launched an attack to reclaim Nicea. Now theres this weird glitch. I can't move armies out of the castle! The attack will wait till next turn.

In 1131, the Sicilians attacked! Their armies hit Greece, which was only defended by 100 peasants. They retreated to the castle. An army had to be pulled out of Nicea, which now was ours because the Byzantines had retreated from the 2000 men of ours.

In 1132 (?) King Lazlo II died from an illness. He told his only heir not to attack the Byzanties because he had sighted over 120 Kataphractoi. He also told his heir to build a navy and whip those Sicilians.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/The_Hungarians1.zip

The Sicilians do like attacking Greece... Anyway its Greeny to play next.

Damnit! I just won an epic battle where I killed the last Byzantine Emperor, then when I presses escape to save it crashed to desktop! I'll have to go back to the latest Autosave...

Anyway the story so far:

King Kálmán I ascended to the throne in 1132. Despite being only 18 years old he was already renowned as a great warrior and for his ability to do hard sums. On viewing his new empire he saw that the Hungarian army needed modernising, a navy must be built for trade and warfare and watch towers were urgently needed to spy on potential enemies. He immediately launched a counter-attack on Greece, taking it after a hard fought battle ended with the enemy General slain and his troops fleeing. The Sicilian King himself then attacked Croatia, but again he was repelled leaving two of his sons dead in the process, the Sicilian King then dies of illness (although most said it was from grief). Serbia was then invaded and for a third time the Sicilians were driven back into the sea. Despite the Sicilians starting it, the Pope excommunicated the Hungarians. An alliance was then made with the all-powerful Holy Roman Empire, which had already nearly conquered Poland, and together Hungary and the HRW invaded a weak Italy while peace was made with the Byzantines which were still too strong to risk attacking. Venice, Tuscany and Genoa fell to the Hungarians, when Greece was invaded again, and the Sicilian king was killed causing a civil war. In an attempt the end the excommunication the Papal Sates were invaded, but the cowardly Pope retreated back to Rome. But this gave the Hungarians a corridor to the Sicilian lands in Southern Italy. The Sicilian Kings invaded the Baltic more times and another King was killed, before Sicily itself was taken and the last of the Sicilian Kings slain! Alliances were then made with the Byzantines and Turks in the East, the Egyptians were getting too strong. Skirmishes on the Steppes along with bribery brought Vothynia, Lithuania, Smolensk, chernign and Livonia into the fold. After refusing to make peace Rome was invaded, the Pope killed and Rome burned to the ground and left for Rebels, ending the excommunication.

The year is now 1147: thanks to the efforts of his father, and the new territories conquered, Kálmán’s empire is now the richest in Europe, and can also afford the largest military. Slowly a Hungarian navy has been built in Constantinople and new trade routes are starting to appear, although the Italian navy will have to be dealt with to truly trade with the rest of the Mediterranean. The Empire now stretches from Genoa in the West, to Trebizond in the East, From Malta in the South, to Livona on the Baltic in the North. The King’s eyes now turn East, to the rich lands of the Egyptians and the Byzantines…

Originally posted by Greeny
Damnit! I just won an epic battle where I killed the last Byzantine Emperor, then when I presses escape to save it crashed to desktop! I'll have to go back to the latest Autosave...

Click to expand...

Oh, I know the feeling. Even in VI, the game keeps crashing for me, I had thought the problem to be gone. I now save every turn, AND before every battle, and any other time I can think of. It seems to freeze now, not crash, and usually it occurs after playing a lot but not always. In fact, I had won a battle at Armenia (?)(the one next to Nicea) but the game crashed, I restarted and lost the battle.

Anyway I was trying to build a navy, but Constantiople was the only place that Lazlo II could build feudal men-at-arms, and they were needed badly in the Byzantine Conflict. Instead of modernizing his armies, Lazlo II decided that a good economy was needed and more than doubled the old one. Alas, he died before his plans for world domination were complete... Don't disband the peasant armies though. They are cheap peacekeepers, ie your 100-man garrison for only 37 florins a year. Also your castle garrison will hold out longer if you have less men to garrison it, because they eat less food.

Anyway, it sounds as if King Kálmán I is doing a terrific job, perhaps better than that of his father.

Are you going to try and hold the Papancy's lands or once a new pope reappears will you abandon the province(s) so that we would be neutral with the new Papancy? This would probably be the best option as too many troops would be needed to hold on to the papancy's provinces for any length of time.

I've already moved out of Rome, destroying all buildings for cash, and leaving it to the bandits\rebels.

Cool

here you go

A summary?

Next King Kálmán, seeing that the Byzantines were weak, launched a huge invasion along with his allies the Turks taking their lands (Anatola, Rhodes and Georgia) and killing the Emperor, his heir fled to Cyprus but soon he too was put to the sword and the Byzantines were no more. Having a huge army with nothing much to do, and since the Egyptians were had a huge army, he decided to seize more land off of his former allies and invaded the Turks, killing two of the Sultan's sons. In the face of the huge Hungarian army of over 3000 men the Sultan fell back until there was no more land to give, and made a last stand in Edessa. Foolishly the Sultan charged at the head of his army into Kálmán's waiting men-at arms and soon fled before being cut down, after this the rest of his army lost heart and the successive waves were easily dispatched, after just 3 years, the Turks were no more.

After this peace reigned for many years, a cease-fire was finally signed with the Italian King in exile in Sardinia opening up the seaways for trade. The Sicilians re-appeared in Malta and the Pope in exile returned to the ruins of Rome at the head of a huge army. The Danes accepted an alliance. However despite having sired 5 daughters the King had not yet had an heir meaning that his brother would have to take the throne after him.

Then in 1160 the peace was shattered as the Egyptians and Novogordians conspired to lauch a join attack on the Empire! Heavily outnumbered in Syria the Hungarian's stood firm and when all but the Egyptian Sultan had fled in the face of the valiant defenders he was killed for his bravery, surrounded by hundreds of Hungarian warriors. Soldiers from all across the empire were gathered together and sent East to take on the Egyptian might. A huge amphibious invasion was made in Palestine to try and take the new Sultan by suprise and capture him but he retreated and retreated until the huge, fully mobilised Hungarian military had him cornered in Egypt where he and his nation were destroyed.

Meanwhile to the North on the lightly defended Steppes a huge mercenary army was called for to deal with the Russians, paid for by the massive new wealth brought by Mediterranean trade, lightly defended Novogord and Moscovy were taken quickly by Kazan proved more difficult and changed hands several times. Prince Geza was captured there but his ransom was paid, so he survived. Eventually the people of Novogord were beaten back, and confined to Finland, their King was captured 2 times in the process and sold back for a massive Kings ransom.

After these threats were take care of Civil war erupted in the Almond Kingdom, the King was quick to take advantage, bribing the rebels to join him and gaining new territories in North Africa, Norway was bought in this was too. The Hungarian navy now stretched right across the known world so money was now no object.

King Kálmán died in bed, ages 56 in the year of our lord 1171. His one regret was that he never had a son to be his hear, so had to leave his throne to his brother Geza, on his death bed his counselled him not to take on the huge German Empire until he was ready and that there were probably easier enemies to take on first.

BTW Geza II is 53 already so whoever is playing him will only play for 4 years (a bug in VI means all Kings die ages 56 ) I expect the throne will then pass to his brother (also quite old) and then to one of thier sons who will only just have come of age.

And how do you take a screenshot in MTW?

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads5/The_Hungarians_1171.zip

To take a screenshot, press the "print Screen" button on the keyboard. Then you must exit (or alt-tab) to Paint, and press "paste." You will get the full screen so it's only necessary to make a copy of the mini-map.

Thanks: