Medieval European Mod II 2016-10-05

[Stormrage]

But.. but.. with 20 units.. You can`t take down a capitol of such a huge empire with less than 20 units (have to leave some at Jerusalem).. he probably has 20+ defenders in there. Plus units that will harass you. Plus units that will take Jerusalem back if you march on Baghdad.

What are the keshiks doing?

 

[St Exupère]

Stormrage: I am running short on cash but I have 15+ banks about to be built since I just discovered Banking - it will help. Note that Hanseatic League built in Lyon means banks are maintenance-free, as well as harbors, markets and guid halls. I can also trade 1 tech for $ with Byzantines who are loaded, as usual, which would allow me to increase science rate above 50%.

I am at war with Abbassids only, since I conquered Crete in 1270. So far they have brought in no one with them, and neither have I. There is no civ that can hurt the Abbassids apart from the Tatars with whom they just signed peace - Byzantines are too weak and Almohads I do not want to involve. If I go to war again with the Tatars (which I believe is inevitable), the only help I can get is from the powerful Danes. The danger is that they get lambasted by the Golden Horde, who could then threaten me from Poland; they fought once in the past, to the advantage of the Danes - but I was busy butchering Tatars in Hungary at the same time, while Novgorod was feeling the heat from the Horde in the north.

Germans are really an issue, stuck in the middle of Europe and unable to hurt any of my 2 big ennemies.

Will post more, later.

 

[St Exupère]

I was kidding about taking Baghdad, I won't move neither north, nor east, from Jérusalem until I have hurt the Abbassids enough around those hills. I might venture south though ;-)

Here are the positions, Novgorod are gone and I have not played beyond 1276 so keshiks have not moved and I have not decided on war yet.

Gone now.

 

[St Exupère]

As the Franks demanded Tatar troops withdrawal in 1276, the Horde declared war. Paris decided to bring in Denmark along, while executing a very lucrative tech-trade with Byzantium to be more cash comfortable. ROP with Germans was reconducted, though they were not invited in the eastern battles.

In Palestine the Abbassids seem unable to launch any sort of decent counter-attack. The crusaders conslidated their positions, built a harbor and as re-enforcements keep on coming, Frankish chiefs are thinking of moving into Egypt because a/ it is a much easier terrain for conquest than Syria, b/ it will relieve Jérusalem of its southern front.

It was in Ukraine again that the fate of Central Europe was decided; Frankish strategists had planned their defenses well: lots of chevaliers hidden in cities, a good road-network and walls + castles to resist the ennemy's onslaught. It worked beyond expectations.

Northern Ukraine snapshot, 1279:

Crimea snapshot, 1279:

In 3 years our chevaliers slaughtered 16 keshiks + 6 saracen knigths in the region, for 3 losses! Despite more and more attacking waves, the moslem do not stand a chance with such a ration. Even better: another army was raised in Beryslav, called the 2nd Crusade.

 

[Stormrage]

Good, good, all is good. Will you counter-attack the Tatars and/or Abbasids when their forces become depleted, to expand the Ukranian territories?

 

[St Exupère]

1279 - after a bloodbath in Ukraine (6 keshiks + 9 saracen knights vs 2 chevaliers), the Franks decide on a bold amphibious assault on Alexandria. The city on the Nile Delta is taken and renamed Damiette.

The conquest of Egypt has started, in spite of worrying cohortes of Almohad soldiers marching through the desert to go battle the... Tatars!

 

[St Exupère]

Good, good, all is good. Will you counter-attack the Tatars and/or Abbasids when their forces become depleted, to expand the Ukranian territories?

There is not much the Franks fear - but the keshiks, we do fear. Experience has taught us that they are best fought on open terrain, within our territory with a good road network - exactly what we have been busy building in Ukraine for some decades, which just paid off. I let them come and slaughter them like lambs, being on par in mobility. The Golden Horde empire is huge and I do not have the depth to conquer big chunks of it. Kiev is far away, I will not attempt to attack it (Northern Ukraine snapshot above). What I might do however, is try and conquer the Crimean peninsula and maybe the Abbassid bridgehead to the east (city of "Sofia" on Crimean snapshot above). Although I am not sure of the latter, since it would stretch my frontline and I thought I would not cross the Dniepr and keep Beryslav as my strategic fortress on the mighty russian river.

Right now, all my troop re-enforcements are either setting sail for the Holy Land, or consolidating home positions in fear of a possible German backstab - which would hurt, I believe they have at 20+ ritters wandering around and are at peace with both Byzantines and Danes, their other neighbours.

 

[Stormrage]

In case of a bacstab, try to reverse your postions - cut straight trough their middle and connect you lands while they should end up split in half. You could also get the Byzantines to aid you with the southern part, while you concentrate on the northern part. In the south they`ll slaughter each other, the AI panics when fighting on 2 fronts, and usually does amazingly stupid things. Meanwhile you sweep trough the rich german core cities..

Hope you don`t mind me commenting and offering "sage" advice, I`m sure you can handle your games by yourself, the mini-map proves that, its just that I am really excited about this outcome, I rarely end up with such powerfull enemies against me

 

[Alan McG]

If you have enough gold/resources to bribe the Byzantines/Danes/English I would do so and declare a common war against the Germans.. That's a very dangerous position you are in, and if they catch you with your pants down so to speak you might lose plenty of cities before being able to push them back..
Basically, attack them before they attack you.

 

[St Exupère]

1283 - still allied with Danes vs Tatars, still at war with Abbassids (who have just pledged for peace)

The titanic clash continues in Ukraine; in particular the last 2 years have seen huge battles over the Dniepr with 20+ Saracen knights killed, and some keshiks. The chevaliers losses have increased and re-enforcements have been called from France for fear the front could collapse at Beryslav/Odessa. Still, our 2 "crusading" armies are still alive there which is a huge field advantage.

In the Near-East, Jerusalem fears not; it seems Abbassids have abandoned any hope to reconquer lost territories for the moment. Our 2nd and 3rd armies have marched to Cairo but the ex-Fatimid capital is well defended. A great force of crusaders, hospitaliers and trebuchets has just landed on Cyprus for its imminent conquest.

At home, excellent piece of news while our engineers were busy building the Maginot line:

The Swiss city of Bâle (Mainz on snapshot) pledges alliance to our mighty king after centuries of Germanic rule. This will increase cross-border tensions, but it removes the Helvetic enclave within Frankish borders and gives great geostragical advantage in case of a German attack.

VPs: 1- Tatars 52k ; 2- Abbassids 51k ; 3- Franks 41k
Historiograph: 1- Abbassids 3.6k ; 2- Tatars 3.5k ; 3- Franks 3k

 

[Stormrage]

Great news! How are your relations with Almohads?

 

[St Exupère]

Great news! How are your relations with Almohads?

One of the few that are still polite to us, probably because we are both at war with the Horde.

Just conquered Cyprus.

 

[Stormrage]

So no fear of them attacking you in north Africa?

OMG, look at your last screenshot, a pikeman has become an angel of death!

 

[St Exupère]

No fear, simply because the AI is incapable of using its navy as an efficient launch pad for a terrestrial invasion. Almohads could hurt me in the Near-East though, since they have tons of troops on their way to... get their rear ends smashed by the Tatars on the other side of the continent.

It is 1285 and Cairo has just capitulated in front of my 2nd and 3rd armies. The Masjid-al-Haram wonder will be the subject of an art thesis at the Theology University of the Sorbonne next spring, under the topic: "islamic art in Egypt, or how the absence of the face of Christ limits inspiration".

Gone now.

 

[Yoda Power]

Great story, keep it up.

 

[HoMM3 fanatic]

Everybody knows it, still I must say this mod is awesome work! Compared to original civ3, well.. No need to even say... Everything is so perfect! I hated the original civ3 for being so overlooking and fast pacing. Now, when you concentrate on certain era instead of the whole "pre-historic to future"-scale everything can be much more detailed, just like it is in this mod!
I´d like to ask the makers do you consider 1.1 to be the final version of the mod (not counting the scenarios) or will there be any patches/changes/additions in future?
I for one prefer this mod to any other, I mean, it just is totally complete, but still there could be something more to add, maybe? Not that it needs anything anymore, but being that greedy I am, I would always like to see something new and get some more stuff to play with.. And I don´t mean that you should add anything useless or meaningless, like +50 pointless techs or improvements that do nothing new. But some great innovations, like religions and vassalage, something like that, they rock! Maybe few new wonders with certain uniqueness compared to existing and so on. Things that make one civilization even more different from the other. I was thinking of these citizen types, astrologers and so on: maybe some civs could have unique citizens of some kind? For example, slave traders for Almohads, giving boost to economy AND production or something like that. Just an example, I don´t know if any of you consider that useless or pointless to add, that´s why I want to hear what kind of options/implementations do you miss in this mod? And by you I mean all the people here, not just the makers of this great mod!
Anyway, thanks once more for the best mod ever, it´s just greed who drives me to want more of everything, especially when the stuff is so good..!

 

[St Exupère]

The Frankish 2nd and 3rd armies achieve the conquest of Egypt in 1290, while Abbassid heavy cavalry fail to besiege Jerusalem.

In 1292, our 1st Crusade has finally chased Tatars and Abbassids from Crimea:

It is there on the banks of the Dniepr river, that the most ferocious battles hve taken place, with most of both the keshik-based Tatar army and Saracen knights-based Abbassid army having been defeated fair and square by tactical superior Frankish chevaliers.

 

[St Exupère]

1292 - while both Abbassids and Tatars demand peace, the Frankish empire is more powerful than ever.

more later

 

[Dezzilisk]

Nice story, I just noticed that the Fatmids are still alive!?
I would have thought someone would have wiped them out by now.

Looking forward to more

 

[Konrad13]

An update: Remember that I'm playing the Byzantines...

I have secured a northern border, as I seem to have had a numerical advantage over the Bulgars and Serbs. They fell, though Belgrade to around 15 of my units (a mix of swordsmen and Cataphracts). I went to war with the Abbasids over Rhodes, and got Georgia in on it, and they siezed the Abbasid enclave in their territory. I made peace ASAP (though it was still some time later...
I then made a fairly large buildup of arms, and used my sole general (earned while fighting the Serbs) as a spearhead against the Turks. Ankara and Iznit fell fairly quickly (2 turns), but I've now stalled at Konya. I'm thinking of asking the Georgians to join in my "crusade," as well as the Venetians. Currently I'm sieging Konya with around 10 cataphrachts and 2-3 catapaults, plus a couple of swordsmen. I'm about to sen my first pronoir (?) to the front...