View Full Version : House Rules for Harder Play
Also, I thought Byzantia was supposed to have Constantinople or some province but a lot of the time they don't. So why are they still head of Orthodox?
Illuminatus!
15-07-2005, 22:41
Also, I thought Byzantia was supposed to have Constantinople or some province but a lot of the time they don't. So why are they still head of Orthodox?
An "Orthodox Church-in-exile"...
candelarius
27-02-2006, 05:01
I thought I would revive this old thread since I really like the idea of "House Rules" (since after 8 provinces I find myself "steamrolling" the map), so, I thought I would state what House Rules I find myself using:
1. No King/Prince Warping. This means I can't recall my King/Prince, and then respawn him on the other side of the map to deal with a threat. Since a non-King/Prince would have to march/sail to meet the threat, so should the King/Prince. If I need an army to deal with a distant threat, such as rebels, I have to march/sail my army to deal with them, or, hire a new, fresh marshall, deal with the threat, and then dismiss that marshall. This is the equivalent of "mustering" a local lord to put down the rebellion, and then having said lord return to his lands.
2. No "adopting the population". This is a very easy and unrealistic way of wiping out nostalgia. England had to deal with Scottish and Welsh rebels for centuries before the populace was subjugated, for example.
3. No more than three marshalls. One marshall should be the King, either at home in a defensive position or fighting the major war/campaign focus/player imposed crusade. The other two marshalls would be major lords, working together on campaign or one stays home defensively while the other assists the King on campaign. Since a "full stack" army is about 300 men, I imagine that to be about 3,000 men, and, most small armies in the medieval time would be about this size, with the largest armies being about 6,000, and only very, very rarely were they over 10,000 (according to the book Medieval Castles and Fortifications that I am reading). Also, no "uber armies". A realistic army, IMO, would be 2 archers, 1 horse, 3 heavy infantry (men-at-arms, templars/hospitaliers, etc), and 3 light infantry (swords, spearman, axeman). No army should have more than 2 super units (knights, templars, etc).
4. Fight and conduct yourself honorably and realistically. Always leave at least one province left to the enemy you conquer, and also force him to be your vassal/give up lands rather than fighting a projected war. Vassalage is always better than annihalation. Never ask for peace unless you have fought at least three battles or lost one province. Never attack with more than two marshalls. Only marry those of your own religion. Honor your allies, fight for them when attacked, give cash when they are poor.
5. Conduct self-imposed crusades, giving your conquest kingdom to your religions ruler (papacy, byzantium, fatamids/cordoba/etc). Each king should conduct at least one in his life-time.
The first four rules I had already started using on my own, and, I noticed many others use them too. I never thought of rule 5 till I read about it in this thread, but, that's a great idea and very realistic, especially for Catholics. Many other rules here are good, but, I think 5 main rules are good enough without having to think to hard as I play. Also, I don't like to limit my strategy too much, so, if I want to play as a mercantile kingdom, it's ok to have four merchants, or, if I'm a secretive, sneaky kingdom, have four spies, etc. As for Kingdom Power, I try to always keep my meter at 0, never going above and always bring it back up when it drops. This seems to be the most "fair" way of playing to me. I found this thread to be very helpful, so, thanks everyone! Oh, and, BTW, I play with the Holy Rome Mod, too.
Cheers,
Candel
Quite commendable ideas, I would say. :go:
Angryminer
27-02-2006, 11:07
I like to keep my playing very close to the role of my current ruler. That means I will not try to conquer everything around me, cunningly taking out provinces that suit my master-plan best. Instead I will have my decisions based on feelings. When someone denies a royal marriage I sometimes break all relations. When someone has traits that are very close to the imagined traits of my own ruler I will offer an agreement. I will seldomly have more than two armies and sometimes both are lead by members of the royal family. My crusades will be fought with honor and bravery, sometimes conquering well over 5 provinces in one go. Most of my wars will be caused by heritage. If someone denies my ligitimate claim of provinces I will declare war to conquer these provinces, no matter how big the enemy is. I will even declare war on allies when they deny assistance. Even though I have only two armies and both are in the territory of a different enemy.
That makes playing rather tough sometimes. :wink:
Angryminer
Nice suggestions. Playing already with some of them.
I have another:
Playing historically ... means: conquer, if possible, only regions which belonged historical to a determined kingdom or became part of it. But i think, nice only for the history buffs.
But, ie. i had much fun with starting as the Normans "William" and conquering first the south of England and became later "England".
Or played the Osmans to build up the "Ottomanic Empire".
Btw., play preferred Laudan's Mod Hard.
I Instead I will have my decisions based on feelings. When someone denies a royal marriage I sometimes break all relations. . :wink:
Angryminer
That is quite a lot like what really happened in medieval times; must be fun at times to play like that. :lol:
Never use ballistas, catapults, trebuchets.
Never? I see laddermens, battering rams,ballista, catapults and trebuchets in action!
But only with mod siegemachinery.:king: :megawall: :knight:
Never use ballistas, catapults, trebuchets.
without them I can't imagine conquest of Constantinople and Rome... but against other cities it's good idea
without them I can't imagine conquest of Constantinople and Rome... but against other cities it's good idea
But ahistorical, to not use these seige equipments. And i agree with Laudan, but i also play his mods, and then the AI has in fact often seige-equipment :go: .
I know but this is on account of normal forces. I see no real challenge in meeting AI army equipped by 4 leddermen and only 5 other squads
it's nice that AI uses siege equipment, but I rather want him to use fully equiped armies with 9 squads (at first) and then also some siege equipment.
maybe the rule never use ballistas, trebuchets etc shuold be changed to: never use military structures that attack enemy forces (ballista towers and cauldrons)
I know but this is on account of normal forces. I see no real challenge in meeting AI army equipped by 4 leddermen and only 5 other squads
it's nice that AI uses siege equipment, but I rather want him to use fully equiped armies with 9 squads (at first) and then also some siege equipment.
maybe the rule never use ballistas, trebuchets etc shuold be changed to: never use military structures that attack enemy forces (ballista towers and cauldrons)
Yup, alright what you said.
But the thing in Laudan's mod is, that you will face partially 2 or 3 enemy armies at the same time in the later advanced game, all of them have mostly a full stack (9 full slots), if those armies aren't just raised from an already empty town or by a faction which is already bancrott. And, naturally, playing always with pause deactivated for the battles. Then, it is in fact partially a real 'Mod Hard' against the AI.
Sir Sean
14-03-2006, 18:15
i would say:
now this i think is good but well u tell me BE YOUR KING say if he has 3 stars in warfer then be very warful or if he has 3* in diplomace be peaceful and so on
in a mod that is nothing very special that AI attacks you with 2 marshals. What I say is that it's easy to defeat even 2 marshals that have almost a half of their squads filled by useless units for a battle (trebuchets, laddermen). Even one marshall with 9 good squads can easily defeat 2 marshalls with 10-12 good squads.
I like many of changes Laudan had done, but in his mod marshalls are too cheap in comparison to all other proffesions. And one of biggest disadvantages, as I see it, is that that the spies are too expensive.
Sir Sean. Yes, this is very good idea. Another (not mine) is that you shouldn't declare war without being asked to or if the kingdo doen't attack your relatives of allies. Then you'll have to use other ways to dominate, not only strong army. :go:
in a mod that is nothing very special that AI attacks you with 2 marshals. What I say is that it's easy to defeat even 2 marshals that have almost a half of their squads filled by useless units for a battle (trebuchets, laddermen). Even one marshall with 9 good squads can easily defeat 2 marshalls with 10-12 good squads.
I like many of changes Laudan had done, but in his mod marshalls are too cheap in comparison to all other proffesions. So AI can send 4 marshals against you, but there are rebellions in his back as he doesn't convert provinces to his religion and doesn't adopt them. And one of biggest disadvantages is that even a player has almost no chance to use spies as they are way too expensive.
Sir Sean. Yes, this is very good idea. Another (not mine) is that you shouldn't declare war without being asked to or if the kingdo doen't attack your relatives of allies. Then you'll have to use other ways to dominate, not only strong army
This is your opinion, but i think you never play with one of my mods. The words in bolt not true. Sorry , you no understand my mod and my style of playing is not the same style from you.:angry:
You always show how it is great that AI uses siege equipment and then everyone can see army with 5 squads and siege equipment, mostly catapults and laddermen. Than you only need one strong army and the enemy is defeated.
And for the spies. They were already expensive in the vanilla and you made them even more expensive. In vanilla Ai almostdidn't use spies. When I looked at your mod files (didn't play it but watched them) the spies were even more expensive than in vanilla. :sad:
I always said how I dislike military expansion. And the way you present your mod is understood by me that it is very militaristic. (4 and more marshalls in every kingdom etc.)
Pls read the info about my mods and you can see that every kingdom have only one or two uprising. Look the picture in the thread MOD HARD Finalversion. There can you see big kingdoms and only if the kingfamily havent any son , so can the kingdom split into many kingdoms. This is in every mod so. Never can change this. And in my mods i will not change the athmosphere ,the spirit of koh. Some modders remove many things, i dont like this. Elvain, you break the rule of the modders. I dont like this. I will never speak about your mod. Now , i closed the speech, let me alone pls,and dont forget the golden rule of the modders.:angry:
I think not using Siege Weapons reduces the gameplay too much. If only the AI would use them WELL (because, when it does use siege machinery, the AI does its worst).
I hope that it's clear that using cheats is not even considered in this thread. For modding purposes, okay, but if you use them in normal games..you're reading the wrong thread, I think.
eh? what rule you speak of Laudan?
I have never heard of a "Golden rule of modders" :sad: What is it about? Enlighten me, please.. (maybe us, because I guess noone heard of it yet :go:)
and yes, I agree that not using them reduces the gameplay :go: As I said, without them you can't conquer the most important cities so it is also impossible to follow this rule :wink:
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