A Swedish Campaign report

von Jack Lusted (Creative Assembly)
Quasi ein Insiderbericht entnommen von http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/42588

As you guys have seen quite a few videos of battles, I thought I'd post about a recent Swedish campaign I played so you guys get more of an idea about how the campaign game plays.

Der Anfang

Early on I decide I must help build my military power. So I focus my research onto military technology, build extra schools to allow the research of more items at once, and begin to build up an army in Estonia near Riga. This will allow me to fight the Russians if they decide to start a war, or to expand into the nearby Duchy of Courland...

WAR!

...which I invade after gifting the Russians a bit of cash to keep them happy for a bit. After a tough fight I secure the region, but almost immediately the Prussians approach me asking for the province in exchange for some technologies and more importantly an alliance. Eager for allies I accept, and the tech allows me to upgrade my farms to increase my income as well as keeping my population fed.

Preparations...

With my economy secured and a strong ally in Prussia, I turn my eyes towards my Scandinavian neighbours Denmark. Determined to take Denmark out in one glorious invasion, I begin to prepare three armies ready to take Iceland, Norway and Denmark.

...and Problems

But these big armies rapidly begin to drain my income. My research focus switches onto techs that will improve my income from workshops and farms, and I cancel a trade agreement with France in order to free up a trade route so I can sign a new trade agreement with the Marathas which proves much more profitable.

Revolution!

All the focusing on techs and building schools has had an unfortunate side effect, the people are not happy. They are clamouring for reform, and so I endeavour to spark a revolution myself. Raising taxes soon leads to one, and I side with the rebels in order to turn Sweden into a republic. After a hard fought battle for Stockholm, victory is mine and the old order is removed. The public is now happy with the more enlightened Republic government type.

With the revolution over, I focus once again on preparations to invade Denmark.

The First Strike

But Denmark declare war first, marching armies through my lands and damaging my buildings. Damaged schools means no more research, and damaged farms leads to unhappiness as the population is less well fed. So I march an army out to deal with these raiding forces and I initiate my own invasion plans.

One army lands on Iceland after a long trip away from trade routes to avoid detection where it quickly takes the region. But my main invasion army fares less well. Marching close to Copenhagen, my almost 2000 men find themselves facing over 4500 Danish troops. In a hard fought battle barely 500 of my men survive after fleeing the field having been beaten decisively.

And this is where my campaign report ends. Sweden has transformed into a Republic, improved its economy and military and is now engaged in a long and costly war with Denmark with wins and losses on both sides. I hope this has help give you an idea of what playing the early stages of an Empire: Total War campaign is like.


Feel free to ask questions about this campaign and I'll try and answer as many as I can.

Questions and Answers

Teil: 1

-1-
Q: very interesting actually...unit sizes on huge?
A: Huge.

-2-
Q: Did Prussia aid you in anyway against Denmark?
A: Prussia did aid in terms of helping to raid a Danish trade route with their very small navy. They have not built up very much so could not really aid me more than that.

-3-
Q: what year have you ended at? by the way it sounds FANTASTIC!!!
A: 1720, 42 turns in.

-4-
Q: and some informations (tactics, type of troops ...) about the fight you made against the Denmark-Norway soldiers ?
A: Both sides had mix of line infantry, good cavalry, artillery. Classic long lines and flanking manouevres, but their numbers were too much for me. Only managed to kill about 2100 of their men out of 4500.

-5-
Q: when choosing the "Rebel" side, how was the resemblance of your "new" army?
I'm talking soldiers here. Did they wear different uniforms the the loyalists or was there only a "colour" difference?
Do you have any influence on with what soldiers you can fight the civil war or are you confronted with a made decision on what troops are available to you?
A: Same uniform as old one, flag was different. If you side with the rebels in a civil war you get an army spawned for you.

-6-
Q: What was in Iceland?
A: Good income from fishing ports, and it is right next to a trade route to America.

-7-
Q: Jack, I am getting the feeling that revolutions are nearly unavoidable. Why did you want to switch to a republic in the middle of a war?
A: They are not, and I wasn't at war at the time. The revolution was really forced on me because of the techs I chose to research, you can research lots of stuff and manage to keep your people happy, just means you cannot go very far down some paths. If I hadn't been paying attention to my public order the revolution would have taken me by surprise as the clamour for reform was building quicker than I expected.

-8-
Q: In addition to this, did you simply start with just a bunch of rebel troops with the Royalists chasing you down or did you have some infrastructure to aid in your hostile takeover?
A: You have an army spawned for you if you side for the rebels and that is it. You then have to take your capital in order to win.

-9-
Q: and did you attack denmarks mainland or norway?
A: Mainland, I later sent a force against Norway.

-10-
Q: Did you played it on "Easy", "Hard" ?
A: Normal.

-11-
Q: Did you play on highest settings in your computer?
A: Quite high settings, and yes it looks pretty.

-12-
Q: My first question is, how does a revolution wokr? do you choose from a pop-up wether your loyal or rebel? and then, does a rebel army spawn etc?
A: Pop-up, you choose which side. See earlier answers for army spawning.

Teil: 2

-13-
Q: As posted earlier, I would like to know if Iceland has a city/harbour or resources (I.e. is it a full-blown province)?
A: Full blown province.

-14-
Q: Does the fact that you had a revolution in Sweden trigger the Danes (being a monarchy) to attach you?
A: Probably a combination of that(as differing goverment types affects diplomatic relations) and the fact the revolution did weaken me temporarily.

-15-
Q: As you were vastly outnumbered in the battle with the Danes, what tactics did the Danes (AI) use?
A: Lines, outlanking.

-16-
Q: Say something about a powerfull ally you gain...and mean prussia And now say they only raided a trade route because they haven build much up...which mean they are actually not powerful
A: Early game they were powrful, but trouble with Poland has stopped them from becoming as powerful as Denmark.

-17-
Q: Did Prussia declare war on Denmark when Denmark declared war on you?
Was the trade route rading of prussia like those harbour attacks in mtw 2???
A: Yes when you have war declared on you, you can call your allies to join you. Prussia did join me. If they hadn't, they would have broken their alliance with me. If you attack someone and you call your allies to help but they do't join, they don't break alliance as it is not as severe as not helping to defend you. Trade route raiding is different to blockading, you can actually attack the trade routes you see on the map and reduce the enemies income.

-18-
Q: Are there a limit to how big arme you can have? beside money.
A: Do you mean per stack or on a faction basis? If per stack it is 20 units as in previous games. If on a faction basis, maintaining armies is expensive.

-19-
Q: What happens if you fail to take/hold your capital during a revolution ?
A: You lose.

-20-
Q: But what did the flag look like, is it possible u could post the pic of it? Maybe along with your campaign map?
A: Sorry guys no pics.

-21-
Q: But what happens to the other settlements in the empire, after the battle in Stockholm? I mean, is that all that is necessary for the revolution? A battle in the capital?
A: A revolution is a fight for control over your government, so it only happens in your home region.

-22-
Q: is there a limit on how many traderoutes you may have? if yes, how many?
A: Yes the limit based on number/level of your trading ports.

-23-
Q: Are you an beginner or do you play often TW games? I'm more a modder and if I should play against a human pro, so I would completely loose, but I think M:TW has not diffucult AI.
A: Been playing since M:TW came out, wasn't until Rome I started modding fully. So I'd say I was a TW veteran.

-24-
Q: Do you think your campaign is/was difficult to play or do/did you watichng tv, phone, do your work and play E:TW?
A: It is tough.

-25-
Q: Seems CA favorite faction is Sweden. Why? Think to read someone else from CA played it too (was it you?).
A: Well Sweden do have an interesting start position. Personally my favourite factions are Britain, United Provinces, Sweden, Prussia.

-26-
Q:How did you make a contact with Marathas from the start of the game or is it possible to make contacts with every country from the start ?
A:You can contact everyone through the diplomacy screen.

-27-
Q:What were the reactions of the other countries when your revolution become successful or are there any reactions to revolutions in the game ?
A:It affects diplomatic relations based on government type.

-28-
Q: Are there any effects of revolutions like nationalism and what are the advantages and disadvantages of revolutions?
A:Advantages - change of government, Republic generally better for researching some techs. Disadvantages - you do not have as much control over Ministers as in an Absolute Monarchy, and the upper class don't tend to be too happy so now have another group to work hard on keeping happy.

-29-
Q: What did you do to royal family ?
A: There is a lovely video that illustrates what happens, though it stops before any parts of bodies are detached.


Teil: 3

-30-
Q: Is there a reson you did not look to expand overseas first? e.g. Denmark-Norway controlling ocean access? or bad relations with GB?
A: Just wanted to secure Scandinavia first, my plan did involve eventually using Iceland as a base from which to send troops to the Americas.

-31-
Q: Makes it sound like an upper class revolt is possible, this raises the question would they place a King/Queen on the throne or just continue as a Republic? (I would assume a consitutinal moaacachy is the likely result).
A: Yup if Upper Class revolt and you are a republic, and they win revolution you become a monarchy again.

-32-
Q: What is Russia doing in all this?
A: Hostile but busy fighting in Crimea.

Teil: 4

-33-
Q: Do Denmark-Norway have Greenland?
A: No, Greenland is not on the map.

-34-
Q: Did you notice how Denmark-Norway was behaving? (throughout the campaign), did they sit and wait for you to take action? or were they busy in other places?
A: They were building up, think they got into a few wars as well.

-35-
Q: "over 4500 Danish troops", does this number refer to one or to more than one stack?
A: More than one stack.

-36-
Q: What is going on at sea during your campaign - apart from the prussian privateering?
A: Don't know really as I had not been paying much attention to my navy, though I do know lots of activity going on in Trade Theatres.

-37-
Q: How many soilders where there on 1 unit card? on huge setting?
A: Depends on the unit.

-38-
Q: Are the provincial improvements permanently destroyed by occupying armies?
A: No they are damaged, and no slot can be permanently destroyed.

-39-
Q: Prussia remained your allies through the revolution? Is this common? Will you have the option to break your alliance with a country if they have a revolution?
A: Government type does affect diplomactic relations so you can see some factions break alliances with you or look for the first opportunity to break the alliance. Revolutions do not wipe your diplomatic standings, after the revolution finishes you have the same ones as you started. The changed in governmet type though may affect things from then on.

-40-
Q: How many money did you got (or lost) each round (approximately) ? I mean How many money did you got with your capital city and other cities ?
A: Don't know exactly, but enough to keep me growing at a good pace.

-41-
Q: Annexing an entire nation in just one war would would cause the enire northern Europe to declare war on you at once?
A: No but it would annoy a lot of them and the Russians/Poles would probably declare war on me soon afterwards.

-42-
Q: How do you get a constitutional monarchy?
A: You have to start out with one, or have an upper class revolution in a Republic. Though that should more correctly be Middle Class as they are technically the upper class of a Republic(each government type has 2 classes in it). Just used to referring to "upper classes" for all government types as it is what we refer to them as internally even though that is not what you see on screen.

-43-
Q: are the 12 colonies still ruled by Britain?
A: Don't know how things were going in America.

-44-
Q: Who is regarded as the greatest seapower/land army/ richest?
A: Haven't checked, but from what I saw Britain would most likely be greatest sea power and richest. Biggest land not sure. Can't check as the build has changed since I played this campaign and save game no longer works. only thought to write about it after that had happened.

-45-
Q: How much did you have to pay the Russians to keep them friendly and how big was your treasury at the time?
A: Nothing, they were just busy elsewhere, though I'm sure they would have attacked me soon.

-46-
Q: If you have your ships in a line of battle and want them all to fire a broadside, if you select them all and hit one of the broadside buttons will they all fire?
A: No you can't do that in a group or multiple selection, you have to do that for each ship individually.

-47-
Q: How long did it take you to get from 1700 to 1720 (real time)?
A: This was over several days of play broken up by work, wouldn't know the total time.

-48-
Q: If your empire is a monarchy on the brink of revolution, and a neighbouring faction goes through a successful revolution, can that cause the revolution to start in your empire?
A: Don't know, will ask a programmer tomorrow(at home now).

-49-
Q: Is there any way to tell which trade agreement would be more profitable other than actually signing one?
A: Don't know, will check tomorrow.

-50-
Q: Have Sweden special troops? Like as winged hussars, mamluks etc...
A: They do get a Finnish unit beginning with H who's name I cannot pronounce, i'll get that tomorrow at work as well.

-51-
Q: How does the game stop you from simply plastering the countryside with improvements, such as schools? Is there a limit? Or are the prohibitively expensive?
A: Well you only have a certain amount of slots in a region, and some can only be say farms or mines. And for the ones you could build one of multiple buildings in, each building has its benefit. For example I could have tried to fill as many slots as possible with schools, but it would have massively effected my income, happiness in the province and appearance of rakes.

-52-
Q: when we build an improvement do we chose its place on the campaign map or will it appear in a preset position ?
A: Preset positions.

-53-
Q: how many prestige points did you receive after the 40 turns you described? And the other major powers?
A: Don't know. Can't check as the build has changed since I played this campaign and save game no longer works. only thought to write about it after that had happened.

-54-
Q: Are Ottoman Emp. and Sweden allies at the beginning?
A: No.

-55-
Q: jack how is the swedish going?
A: It has finished where I left the report,

-56-
Q: From what you wrote, it seems your people can get angry at you if you spend too much of your research capacity on military tech instead of domestic tech, so I thought of a situation which I would like to see if you could answer for me.
Lets say Im playing as the US and it is a Republic. I spend 100% of my research slots on things that make the people happy and just focus on growing instead of fighting wars. But one day Great Britian starts a war with me and I dont have much military tech to fight them off with, so I start shifting my research off the domestic tech. Will the population get mad at me now, even though before a war effort was needed I treated them very well? OR, will they develop a sense of nationalism and pull together to do everything they need to do to fight off Great Britian, and not be angry with me for now researching mostly military tech?
The question is not based on a specific strategy I intend to take, personally I will try to find the balance between military/civilian tech; but it is more to see how the actual civil engine functions, and if it is that in depth.
A: Most of the clamour for reform comes from Philosophical research which enabled me to research faster and build higher level schools. However, doing so builds a lot of clamour for reform quite quickly. You could for example play as an Absolute Monarchy, only research a few Philosophical techs to speed research up a little and then spend the rest of the game researching other things.

-57-
Q: after you take out denmark, could you take on russia or are they too powerful ?
A: I could have taken them on in a war, but I doubt I would have gained much as they were powerful.

and that is all answers for now, possibly some more later today and some more tomorrow.

Und Fortsetzung folgt... (hoffentlich noch heute)