Help with Middle Ages Conquest

[Breunor]

I tried playing the Middle Ages for the first time last night. I play the Epic game on demigod, getting ready to break into deity. For a first time at Middle Ages, I played on Emperor.

I got assigned France -- so far, so good. However, things didn't go well. I realized that there were practically no worked tiles, so I went about building lots of workers. I had to keep science down to maintain troops and my large group of workers. I was going into maintenance mode on combat units, with the idea of getting to the point where i could build knights. Once I had knights, I was going to churn them out and go for substantial conquests. I could also absorb workers once most of the tiels were worked, allowing me fairly good support.


Well, it didn't work! I got hit by England and a very strong Burgandy. I usually figure that the human player advantage is enough, but I just had a lot of trouble. Burgandy just kept sending tropps, and I couldn't get a big plus. I lost a city, took it back, took one more, but was struggling. Finally, my main army was destroyed on a culture flip (One of my own cities where I built a temple)!

This may have been a tad unlucky, but I think I may have been in a bad place anyway.

Is there some general advice? Should a France player really concentrate on the military? Is it important to conquer early, using horseman and swordsman? Who should be the first target usually?

Is there a recommended country to play as first? The Byzantines seem like they are strong. I don't want the best country but maybe the 3rd or 4th best.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Breunor

 

[rschissler]

I just started playing The Middle Ages last week. I usually play emperor in regular games, but decided on monarch for this conquest. I started as Burgandy and had 8 or 9 cities, but I had a problem of not having enough gold to keep up science research. I built at least one non-automated worker for each city and at least 90% of the tiles with citizens were roaded, so I don't know what else I could do to generate more income I had research at 10-20%, and still losing gold, so in frustration I gave it up.

Next (and currently playing) I tried as the Abbasids and have been doing very well. They are commercial, so an extra gold per city, plus the Ansar Warrior is hard to beat, with the 5 attack and 3 movement.

 

[island007]

The 3 civs I played on the Conquest all DG

The easiest was Denmark. It is almost laughable how easy it was for Denmark.

France is a strong choice in this conquest. You need to hit Burgundy early, especially the city in the North with a harbor. (I think it is their capital.) After you take about 2-3 cities you should switch your focus to the south. (Castile & Cordova ? area) You can pick up LUXs and don't have to worry about a counter attack. You should keep the Viking civs (Denmark, Sweden and Norway happy) most would gladly sign an MA for a tech to help with the early war against Burgundy.

Byzantines is also strong: start with a nice plot of land; however, Heavy Cav sucks in this conquest.

 

[shortguy]

One thing that helps with the money is starting out with a min science run on the first Viking tech. This lets you get a little money flowing, and you can buy the techs up to blacksmithing (for the all important +50% shield blacksmiths) dirt cheap.

 

[Breunor]

Island, Shortguy,

Thanks for the help!

Breunor

 

[Vilati Timmadar]

I've played the Middle Ages a lot...

The strongest nations are Byzantine Empire, Abbasids and Fatimids. Maybe even the Turks or the Kievan Rus, but they're too far in the east.

As a western europe-player you can't do very much alone. You have to have allies. So, if you're France and fight Burgundy, you should ally with Germany (or Holy Roman Empire or how it's called) and crush Burgundy from both sides. After that, you can kill off Germany.
Another possibility is to conquer Spain. The castilians and the cordovans are both weak and they hate each other. Playing defensive against burgundy and offensive there might strengthen France enough, that you can take on Burgundy later on your own.

 

[Pounder]

The 3 civs I played on the Conquest all DG

The easiest was Denmark. It is almost laughable how easy it was for Denmark.

I beat the middle ages on Sid with Denmark. It is the only game that I have ever won on Sid.

You can always get an easy start by destroyng England in the first couple of turns.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Denmark is very powerful. I just pumped out Berserks and went on a warpath. Conquered Germany, Poland, Italy, and Eastern France, capturing 3 relics, and I already had 20000 VP. I won with 50000

 

[dgfred]

The 3 civs I played on the Conquest all DG

The easiest was Denmark. It is almost laughable how easy it was for Denmark.

France is a strong choice in this conquest. You need to hit Burgundy early, especially the city in the North with a harbor. (I think it is their capital.) After you take about 2-3 cities you should switch your focus to the south. (Castile & Cordova ? area) You can pick up LUXs and don't have to worry about a counter attack. You should keep the Viking civs (Denmark, Sweden and Norway happy) most would gladly sign an MA for a tech to help with the early war against Burgundy.

Byzantines is also strong: start with a nice plot of land; however, Heavy Cav sucks in this conquest.

You must strike early . The Burgundy's will even bring you their relic during
the battle in most cases . Next set your sites on Germany's, then
England's relics . Southward will still be for the taking later.

 

[romeothemonk]

After having played the Middle ages with every civ playable or not except the poles and won, I can offer some advice. (DocT is the expert at this scenario and his playability mods are excellant)
1st research goal: Min science run on someone elses first tech. This should be the first viking tech if you are not a viking, or a byz tech if you are the vikings. HBR and such can be bought very cheaply.
The biggest waste of gold in this map is unit support, so you should fight battles with smaller stacks than you normally use. This also means that you might pack some cities a little tighter than normal. If you are quick, you can prevent Burgundy from getting iron. Many civs start with no iron, or no iron hooked up. Abuse this and deny your neighbors.
Use small stacks of artillary to help you out. Pults are very nice.
In the tech tree, race to Map Making, as I can get that at monopoly on Deity, and get a complete WM and everyones gold.

I have found Sweden to be the easiest civ to play followed by Denmark and England.
France, Germany, Burgundy and Byz are all easy as well (up to deity)
The Turks and Abbasids are hard due to location and shield poor cores. The Rus and Norwegians are average difficulty.
The Fatimids are boring, the Cordobans are challenging above emporer. Spain and Celts are very fun, but not overly playable above DG.

 

[Breunor]

Rome,

Thanks, great stuff. I was doing everything wrong!

Breunor