Eternal War

[Magna0pera]

Im playing as Empire and I cant make any headway.

I took the first 2 provinces. Then I had to fight orks, then I got dragged into a Brettonian civil war, Then I was dragged into war with Mousillion. Then the first Chaos came, destroyed all my northern settlements and fought me to a standstill at the gates of Altdorf. I finally defeated them the turn before Archon showed up. The second Chaos war was an abomination. I confederated the states but most of it got wiped out until chaos was finally defeated. I thought it would be an age of rebirth then 3 stacks each of Varg and Skealing showed up. All the best genrals except Franz died in the war.

I ran them off, then marched north to secure Middenburg but I got dragged into a dwarf civil war and had to turn south again.

The vampires all got wiped out by Chaos, Orks and Dwarfs but even them I cant seem to be able to march out of my 2 provinces. I finally got access to the top teir units so my main army can will all the battles but I still end up losing the war as sneaky half stacks pillage low level settlements.

I have resolved to now play extrememly slowly and only not stretch my force but then I cant occupy territory far enough away.

I need to march north and put a dent in the varg but whenever I do I get backstabbed by supposedly good factions.

Turn 207 snd counting

Any tips?.

[The Mighty Mulletman]

1. Build level 2 walls in every settlement. No exceptions. This allows you to focus your armies where they are needed. Level 2 walls can fend off a Norscan stack and half stacks of other factions.

2. Don't accept any and all alliances as this is what drags you into other people's wars. None aggression pacts and trade agreements are fine.

3. Don't build all elite armies. You're hunting flies with a bazooka. The money is wasted on upkeep.

Balance your armies and their upkeep and you'll be able to field more armies where needed and stills win every battle.

4. When advancing on the Norscans be sure you have forces at home. Don't send all your armies as this will leave you relatively defenceless. 2 armies would do for a Norscan campaign. 3 would be perfect. Don't rush them and make sure they encamp at the end of every turn. After you raze a settlement take a turn or 2 in encampment stance to recover your losses. Leveled Warrior Priests with the troop replenishment upgrade would help you a great deal.

Walls and lonely Lords can handle Norscan armies at home, the same is not true for other faction's armies so if you need to go South to defend from the orcs/dwarfs then do so

5. Don't confederate when public order is low somewhere as this may lead to a rebellion. This also sours your relationship with other Empire provinces for a while so you may find yourself in a war if you time it badly.

[Ysthrall]

I concur with the advice of Mulletman above. Additionally, don't be afraid to wipe out other nations if you need to. Karak Ziflin, Karak Hirn, the Brettonian factions... Better to squash them and if necessary take their territory than to end up with a 2-front war later.

Also check the personalities of the faction NPC leaders. Anyone with Aggresive and Unreliable will probably turn on you eventually....

[SleepyNarwhalz]

Mulletman gave some great advice.

[Magna0pera]

Thanks for the sound advice. I didnt realise the walls added such significant garrisons, I thought they just made the wall higher like in Rome

Well its now turn 250 of the eternal war and things are starting to improve. I havent lost a provincial capital since stating to build walls, the scallywags just bypass them and burn down my settlements.

The Dwarfs wiped out the greenskins, now they are seizing control of every hold on the map. I have green relations with them and they wiped the smile off King Louis face for me. They are also my most important trading partner.

As it stands they are power rank one by a large margin, and I am rank 2.

Is this status quo safe? They are only one rebel hold away from total dominion of the dwarf race.
Am I smart to appease them or am I setting myself up for an endless Dwarf war?

I have never broken faith with them, nor have I trespassed on their lands.

[Naughty Mouse]

The walls dont just add garrison, they level two wall puts actually a wall around your small settlement, forcing the enemy to fight a siege battle.

[Magna0pera]

Ok so typical composition for an army of mine would be 2 Greatswords, 4 swordsmen, 2 halberds 2 spear sheilds 4 handgunners the general leaving 5 slots spare for cavalry and artillery. Is this still too OP because I find it hard to field more than 2 armies of this type.

I finally managed to get my stable back so I can have cavalry in my armies again yay!

Basically I can field armies or build but I cant seem to do both. Im almost glad sometimes when an army is destroyed then I can afford at least to buy some stuff. I tried building armies of basic spears to capture settlements but they dont seem to do so well.

You mean the level 2 wall can force a seige at a minor settlement? Ok thanks I might give that a try.

On a happier note Middenburg stood, I took Salzenburg and destroyed a Norsca settlement so
things are looking up.

[The Mighty Mulletman]

Originally posted by Magna0pera:

Thanks for the sound advice. I didnt realise the walls added such significant garrisons, I thought they just made the wall higher like in Rome

Well its now turn 250 of the eternal war and things are starting to improve. I havent lost a provincial capital since stating to build walls, the scallywags just bypass them and burn down my settlements.

The Dwarfs wiped out the greenskins, now they are seizing control of every hold on the map. I have green relations with them and they wiped the smile off King Louis face for me. They are also my most important trading partner.

As it stands they are power rank one by a large margin, and I am rank 2.

Is this status quo safe? They are only one rebel hold away from total dominion of the dwarf race.
Am I smart to appease them or am I setting myself up for an endless Dwarf war?

I have never broken faith with them, nor have I trespassed on their lands.

Keep them happy and let them do as they will for now. Once you run out of mutual enemies they'll be after your blood though. So long as the relations are good don't worry, support them and don't help their enemies then later focus your best armies at the Blackfire Pass and send secondaries into the eastern mountain reaches to burn them out.

[Gamefever]

Eternal war was almost the name of the game!

[Magna0pera]

Its now turn 300 and the Norsca are getting a lot less cash from raiding me now. So I see less of Felman Ingorsosn but he will always have a stack devoted to him.

The Dwarfs and Brettonians war constantly across my lands. Brettonia trespasses with impunity but I dont care. Long may their war continue.

So the slow crawl east continues...

[Glorious Comrade]

You want to cheer pick city that are within 1 turn of travel from one another. best would be you have a city in the middle and two city within 1 turn of travel. so 1 army can hold 3 cities.

[Leri-Weill [FRA]]

Ally with dwarfs. NAP, defensive alliance, everything. If they don't have ennemies anymore they'll go after your ennemies :)
In my Empire campaign, the two dwarfen nations between Brettonia and the Empire (can't remember their names) always went out of the mountains to clear up the rebel forces in my empty territories for me. And at the end of the campaign, they even got to Norsca helped by Bretonnia and razed almost every barbarian settlement. And I shouldn't forget to say that they also helped me a lot against the Vampire C(o)unts :p

EDIT : I see a lot of Let's Plays in which Empire players get attacked by dwarfs. Is it because I "only" play on Hard that I manage to ally with them in 40 to 70 turns ? (When Chaos comes my relations just goes up without anything to do)

[SleepyNarwhalz]

Originally posted by Leri-Weill FRA:

EDIT : I see a lot of Let's Plays in which Empire players get attacked by dwarfs. Is it because I "only" play on Hard that I manage to ally with them in 40 to 70 turns ? (When Chaos comes my relations just goes up without anything to do)

Probably.

[Magna0pera]

I think diplomacy works heavily on a freind of a freon type basis. I am lucky because the dwarfs like me. Reason being is I have never been a freind to Brettonia and they dont like them either. The trade agreements we set up during the Chaos war keep relations green. I also broke alliances with smaller dwarf factions when they were attacked by the big blue. I dont want to fight them they have strategic depth.

Dwarfs are the best allies in the game for the Empire no doubt. They often send large stacks after any stragglers and periodically clean up my lands for me. I wish they would march north and destroy all the barbs for me too tho that would be sweet. It was the Dwarfs that defeated Archon ultimatlely when he was weak after a battle with me (that I lost)

Turn 360 and the Varg and Skealing are still my biggest headache. Now they send teaming triple stacks which can be pretty dangerous. Castle Drakenhof is mine. Not long to go now I think

[-Singularity-]

Originally posted by Magna0pera:

Dwarfs are the best allies in the game for the Empire no doubt. They often send large stacks after any stragglers and periodically clean up my lands for me. I wish they would march north and destroy all the barbs for me too tho that would be sweet. I

You can designate war targets for them if you are allied.

[The Mighty Mulletman]

In regards to your army composition. You can replace the handgunners with crossbows.
They work better in a traditional battle line and will do better against low armour targets like Norscans, Bretonnian infantry and Greenskins.