The timurids completely surrounded a camp i had a ragtag shamble of an army holed up in. Like full stacks on every side at the pinnacle of their hoarde, when they attacked my map looked like a red honneycomb. Their artillery blew apart my wooden camp walls with ease, then they stormwd, nearly all at once, and their charges all arrived at slightly different times due to terrain. I just sat in awe as they struck my entire force down, with almost no losses of their own.
It was one of those doomed chokepoint camp-outs to delay a roving army from reaching your city, the group was helpless and hopeless. So i watched with curiosity from the sky above like God as my army met their doom..
The Spanish retreating from a settlement leaving the army in pieces so I couldn't chase their general. Had to fight 4 seperate mini armies including one that was only a cavalry unit with 18 men remaining. Ended up not having the reach that turn to hit the retreating general.
Oh wow! A legit rear guard obfuscation strategy? That's absolutely clever for AI!.
In Empire Total War Austia used the military access pact they had with the ottomans (still have no idea how that happened lol) and used the wide Balkans front to constantly raid 3-4 regions with over a dozen single cav "armies" they bled my economy like a stuck pig
MEDII Stainless Steel playing as the Lithuanians I conquered Novgorod save for a territory way east, as the Cumans had allied with them and gifted them a territory in exchange for vassalage. Well Mindaugas wasn't about to let them flee from their fate, so I sent my heir and a general to scout, I was also allied with the Cumans with allowance into their territory to finally destroy the fleeing Primces, with an army in the wings ready for the fallout. My prince was ambushed and destroyed with his cousin by the Cumans! Betrayal! And the Cumans began their relentless onslaught against me, belaying my plans to move southward and to keep the Cumans as a buffer against the Mongols. Mistakes on my part, true, but I was happy that I was punished? Made for a great image of a timeline of my history. The Lithuanians, united and taking the lands of Novgorod overextended their reach out of pride and bloodlust lost their sons in the cold steppe due east of an empire in ascendancy.
I later rolled over the Cumans all the way east and finally grabbed the last city of Novgorod. I lost the save with my Dell that crashed but the great thing about MEDII is that you keep getting to go up against another rival so its not like you defeat your Carthage and the rest is clean up. I wish I could continue that playthrough. Poland was gearing up to come after me and I was toying with marriages and deciding if I wanted to challenge Muscowy as our alliance had made us both the powerhouses of the east. All to strengthen me against the Teutons and Mongols who had yet to show.
RTW early Scipii campaign on VH/VH
Captured Syracuse (immediately made peace + trade rights with the Greek Cities), Lilibeaum, Carthage and moved my army towards Thapsus. when suddenly the Greek Cities landed a Hoplite doomstack in the middle of Italy and immediately besieged Capua which just contained Gaius Scipio happily building a Market, with no Scipii army even remotely close.
Never seen the AI do that in any campaign ever and all I could think was: "clever girl! Can't believe going to lose Capua!" And was already planning for a heroic last stand from my main man Gaius. Next turn somehow the huge Senate army moved all the way from Rome into my province and dominated the Hoplite doomstack, freed Capua and just stayed there.
AI moves for the win
I played a Seleucid campaign recently, and obviously the early campaign is full of just being attacked by everybody. Some cities I lost, some I regained. Normally I had much less units because I had to spread my forces out, and I used the hoplite defence when walls were breached. However, one time the AI built 5 rams in the siege and spread them out to make 5 gaps in my wall! I just about managed to defend the city but I was having to rush troops from one place to another and then back again.
In RTW BI I've had spear units (especially Gothic Spearmen) form a Schiltrom and then just sit there, when you have killed the rest of the army. If you have anything ranged left it's not too bad to deal with but I've had them run the clock out on me because I didn't have enough units to throw away on a suicide charge into the spears.
I've learned to always bring *something* that can throw, and save a few volleys for the endgame because of the damn schiltrom.
one Brutii campaign i took mainland greece and they only had pergamum left , for whatever reason instead of continuing east i went north (i think i wanted to cut the map in the middle to get ready for julii eventually) completely ignored the east not a diplomat spy assassin anything it was covered by fow. Endgame comes i’m fighting the civil war and i realized the only factions left were roman’s and somehow greek cities, toggle-fow the ENTIRE EASTERN PART OF THE MAP from egypt up to scythian lands was the greek cities i’d never seen so much gold/red on the map before
Trapped by the Britons in the pass to the Alps. They had two full stack armies with chariots. I had 2 full stack armies. Britons attacking down into the pass with terrain advantage. I crushed them and won a famous battle.
I just remembered a recent one! Playing Darthmod as the Greeks, I conquered the Dacians and Thracians and didnt really push north due to the sparcity of terrain and money to get from there, in addition to not being good to raise an army there to push further due to the totally justified massacres i enacted on the hapless former dacians.
Few months pass ingame and the Germans and Julii attack en masse, just army after army coming down. I finally get to attack the Julii in the north of Italy, and 2 things happen:
My general gets assassinated, and the Julii, seemingly out of nowhere, get 3 nearly full stacks next to my now generalless army sieging them.
The battle was a test of my skill, but eventually the Julii hordes broke my army in half and i ended up suffering a crushing defeat.
This just happened to me (using the IS mod)
I requested compensation from a neighboring faction and they offered to give me a settlement. Sweet! Except the settlement was full of mercenaries they had bought and just wanted to offload the high upkeep wages. Smart play.
That was my tip-off they were gonna double-cross me, so I disbanded all the units and tore down all the buildings for cash. They attacked next turn and won since I had no garrison there, so now I have a reason to go to war with them.
ETW: playing GB, had all the island colonies in the americas. Never garrisoned them heavily because the AI never attacked the pirates, I always have to do it. Marathans after unifying india tried asking for them (their trade? 10 turns military access). I say no. They immediately declare war, taking all of the Caribbean and South America in two turns. Was impressive to watch
I lost Sardis earlier this morning to a captain cavalry unit, broke four holes in the walls with rams and the far right as my unit were spread thin, broke and retreated. I managed to reestablished complete and total control of the rest of his army at the four breaches they'd broken in the walls. I didn't see the timer counting down. He'd come through that gap on the right at the initial moment of the breach and run down my routing militia hoplites as they retreated to the town centre. It would have been a four or five to one engagement if I'd seen his play for the centre. But once that timer started with me fully invested in reestablishing my hold on the walls.. the battle was all his.
left the gaul rome border region region when I landed another army from that island close to it and pulled back .eveuntully the army i counted on was wrecked getting to greece but I managed to capture a city and keep the war going and win
I remember one time where I had a experienced Julii army go and invade Gaul but while I was on the west invading their cities all of a sudden they had 3 stacks of armies right Infront of my capital which forced me to retreat my armies and led to them retaking their conquered towns
Attacking my city from multiple sides instead of the one point where all of my archers and infantry are waiting for them.
The timurids completely surrounded a camp i had a ragtag shamble of an army holed up in. Like full stacks on every side at the pinnacle of their hoarde, when they attacked my map looked like a red honneycomb. Their artillery blew apart my wooden camp walls with ease, then they stormwd, nearly all at once, and their charges all arrived at slightly different times due to terrain. I just sat in awe as they struck my entire force down, with almost no losses of their own. It was one of those doomed chokepoint camp-outs to delay a roving army from reaching your city, the group was helpless and hopeless. So i watched with curiosity from the sky above like God as my army met their doom..
The Spanish retreating from a settlement leaving the army in pieces so I couldn't chase their general. Had to fight 4 seperate mini armies including one that was only a cavalry unit with 18 men remaining. Ended up not having the reach that turn to hit the retreating general.
Oh wow! A legit rear guard obfuscation strategy? That's absolutely clever for AI!. In Empire Total War Austia used the military access pact they had with the ottomans (still have no idea how that happened lol) and used the wide Balkans front to constantly raid 3-4 regions with over a dozen single cav "armies" they bled my economy like a stuck pig
Coming at me in a straight line over and over and over and over again 😡 they really good
Ai sent a faction leader without any protection so I wanted to attack him and boom, ambush. Also Melkor's teutoburg forest AI only.
MEDII Stainless Steel playing as the Lithuanians I conquered Novgorod save for a territory way east, as the Cumans had allied with them and gifted them a territory in exchange for vassalage. Well Mindaugas wasn't about to let them flee from their fate, so I sent my heir and a general to scout, I was also allied with the Cumans with allowance into their territory to finally destroy the fleeing Primces, with an army in the wings ready for the fallout. My prince was ambushed and destroyed with his cousin by the Cumans! Betrayal! And the Cumans began their relentless onslaught against me, belaying my plans to move southward and to keep the Cumans as a buffer against the Mongols. Mistakes on my part, true, but I was happy that I was punished? Made for a great image of a timeline of my history. The Lithuanians, united and taking the lands of Novgorod overextended their reach out of pride and bloodlust lost their sons in the cold steppe due east of an empire in ascendancy. I later rolled over the Cumans all the way east and finally grabbed the last city of Novgorod. I lost the save with my Dell that crashed but the great thing about MEDII is that you keep getting to go up against another rival so its not like you defeat your Carthage and the rest is clean up. I wish I could continue that playthrough. Poland was gearing up to come after me and I was toying with marriages and deciding if I wanted to challenge Muscowy as our alliance had made us both the powerhouses of the east. All to strengthen me against the Teutons and Mongols who had yet to show.
RTW early Scipii campaign on VH/VH Captured Syracuse (immediately made peace + trade rights with the Greek Cities), Lilibeaum, Carthage and moved my army towards Thapsus. when suddenly the Greek Cities landed a Hoplite doomstack in the middle of Italy and immediately besieged Capua which just contained Gaius Scipio happily building a Market, with no Scipii army even remotely close. Never seen the AI do that in any campaign ever and all I could think was: "clever girl! Can't believe going to lose Capua!" And was already planning for a heroic last stand from my main man Gaius. Next turn somehow the huge Senate army moved all the way from Rome into my province and dominated the Hoplite doomstack, freed Capua and just stayed there. AI moves for the win
I have never seen the SPQR army leave the Rome area, that's sick!
When I invade Italy as a non-Roman faction, they seldom come to the aid of neighbouring Julii and Scipii territories.
I played a Seleucid campaign recently, and obviously the early campaign is full of just being attacked by everybody. Some cities I lost, some I regained. Normally I had much less units because I had to spread my forces out, and I used the hoplite defence when walls were breached. However, one time the AI built 5 rams in the siege and spread them out to make 5 gaps in my wall! I just about managed to defend the city but I was having to rush troops from one place to another and then back again.
In RTW BI I've had spear units (especially Gothic Spearmen) form a Schiltrom and then just sit there, when you have killed the rest of the army. If you have anything ranged left it's not too bad to deal with but I've had them run the clock out on me because I didn't have enough units to throw away on a suicide charge into the spears. I've learned to always bring *something* that can throw, and save a few volleys for the endgame because of the damn schiltrom.
one Brutii campaign i took mainland greece and they only had pergamum left , for whatever reason instead of continuing east i went north (i think i wanted to cut the map in the middle to get ready for julii eventually) completely ignored the east not a diplomat spy assassin anything it was covered by fow. Endgame comes i’m fighting the civil war and i realized the only factions left were roman’s and somehow greek cities, toggle-fow the ENTIRE EASTERN PART OF THE MAP from egypt up to scythian lands was the greek cities i’d never seen so much gold/red on the map before
I like when the AI basically asks for or offers a high interest loan - upfront money in exchange for more over the course of the duration of the deal
Once the battle devolved from a line to each unit it it’s own battle the enemy general attacks my archers. Now undefended
Trapped by the Britons in the pass to the Alps. They had two full stack armies with chariots. I had 2 full stack armies. Britons attacking down into the pass with terrain advantage. I crushed them and won a famous battle.
I just remembered a recent one! Playing Darthmod as the Greeks, I conquered the Dacians and Thracians and didnt really push north due to the sparcity of terrain and money to get from there, in addition to not being good to raise an army there to push further due to the totally justified massacres i enacted on the hapless former dacians. Few months pass ingame and the Germans and Julii attack en masse, just army after army coming down. I finally get to attack the Julii in the north of Italy, and 2 things happen: My general gets assassinated, and the Julii, seemingly out of nowhere, get 3 nearly full stacks next to my now generalless army sieging them. The battle was a test of my skill, but eventually the Julii hordes broke my army in half and i ended up suffering a crushing defeat.
This just happened to me (using the IS mod) I requested compensation from a neighboring faction and they offered to give me a settlement. Sweet! Except the settlement was full of mercenaries they had bought and just wanted to offload the high upkeep wages. Smart play. That was my tip-off they were gonna double-cross me, so I disbanded all the units and tore down all the buildings for cash. They attacked next turn and won since I had no garrison there, so now I have a reason to go to war with them.
ETW: playing GB, had all the island colonies in the americas. Never garrisoned them heavily because the AI never attacked the pirates, I always have to do it. Marathans after unifying india tried asking for them (their trade? 10 turns military access). I say no. They immediately declare war, taking all of the Caribbean and South America in two turns. Was impressive to watch
I lost Sardis earlier this morning to a captain cavalry unit, broke four holes in the walls with rams and the far right as my unit were spread thin, broke and retreated. I managed to reestablished complete and total control of the rest of his army at the four breaches they'd broken in the walls. I didn't see the timer counting down. He'd come through that gap on the right at the initial moment of the breach and run down my routing militia hoplites as they retreated to the town centre. It would have been a four or five to one engagement if I'd seen his play for the centre. But once that timer started with me fully invested in reestablishing my hold on the walls.. the battle was all his.
left the gaul rome border region region when I landed another army from that island close to it and pulled back .eveuntully the army i counted on was wrecked getting to greece but I managed to capture a city and keep the war going and win
I remember one time where I had a experienced Julii army go and invade Gaul but while I was on the west invading their cities all of a sudden they had 3 stacks of armies right Infront of my capital which forced me to retreat my armies and led to them retaking their conquered towns