Multiple fronts

[Remedius]

I'd like to know if anyone has any particularly notable experience in defending against multiple foes - ie fighting against multiple factions and their lords simultaneously. How do you and your faction respond to invasions - possibly by several enemy campaign armies all at once.

Tips and advice are welcome as are any short tales of particular heroism.

For my part I tend to respond to threats as they come in treating each according to strategic priority. So for example if I am Marshal and a message informs me a village is under attack and a town then I'd have to have a very good reason not to assist the town.  But of course there are times when multiple towns are besieged. As Marshal I tend to use the order system as much as possible to help too.

Over to you....

 

[zazaza]

well firs of all I never want to be a marshall because as a marshall it is really hard to defend my faction against  3 or 4 other factions.  well for example vaegirs are atacking  my faction with nords at the same time.( I was a vassal  at swadia with 123 knights no other units. and we were at war with nords  sarranids and vaegirs)  I m not fighting them I go to their lands  with out being seen and taking out their remaining  armies which didnt join their marshall after that  I start burn their villages  starting from the furthest village to their armies then going back to swadia as our marshall weaken their force at our lands I crush their armies with my knights after they lost all their armies I start to take their castles one by one.

 

[Thundertrod]

Bets thing to do do is soon has war is declared find the marshel and beet him befor the army can assembel that end the campaine. and you have some time to focus on outher enemys.
and maby some cross wars will break out amoungst your enemys.

If you enemys are war with each outher pull one army in to the outher

 

[saint29]

Capture enemy kings and marshals, if possible, and then don't ransom them. When a kingdom's ruler is imprisoned, it really seems to make the whole kingdom fall to pieces (surprise!).

 

[Astronesthes]

well, apart from capturing lords and not ransoming them, I generally go for a scheflen plan. Take out most or all of one faction, ignore losses caused by other, then move to the second front. It normally works best if you are a good spearhead to your army. If you own your own kingdom, make yourself marshal and order all of your lords to attack different areas (2 or 3 per town, 2 or 1 per castle). Most likely youll wind up taking some land, losing some lords, and taking enemy lords. It will light up the enemy front very quickly.

 

[Remedius]

Ah yes - great points made by all. The scheflen plan is something close to what I do. And not taking Marshal is excellent cos the player is a powerhouse in his/her own right so player + marshal means two fronts covered.

I wonder though - nobbling the King and the Marshal - how do you know who is the enemy Marshal? It's not under reports is it? How do you know if war is coming to get there in time?

I think also from a tactical pov - it would be good to tell allies to attack particular lords - that way you could initiate battles and control them better.

 

[John Felton]

The main thing is, not splitting up the army. I have seen many times that the Marshall goes continuously on one side, without waiting for others to catch him up; and others who cannot find him, group together and go to other side.

Second thing is, that King rarely joins either party; and keeps patrolling around his own city.

You may have seen that instead of joining the Marshall party or independent party, some lords return to their castles if they have one; or hide in the nearby settlement.

 

[ugly]

I have previously been at war on three fronts.
I always play as Marshall because I like to control my lords.

Usual tactics include sending a group of three or more lords to raid or patrol around an area that I believe enemy troops will pass through or try to attack. I usually send my best lords for this job as I won't be there to increase chances of success.

I usually have war declared on me when I'm already at war with another faction, normally in the middle of a siege. Depending on how things are going I might abandon the siege: I'll definitely abandon it if a castle or town gets besieged by an enemy, then rush to defend it.
Or I may fight out the battle I'm currently fighting in order to secure more land, then tell a whole bunch of lords to patrol it.

If more than one enemy is a large empire, I try to set lords defense or raid tasks while I rush back to my capital to broker peace. I have two very good diplomats in my party (Ymira and Katrin) so I can broker multiple peace deals simultaneously. (I play with Diplomacy btw)

I usually don't bother with defending villages from raids unless I am close by.
The main priority after attempting a peace deal with one or more factions is to take the few lords who aren't on patrol missions and engage the enemy in the field.
I try and hunt down all their lords, so they have to go home to recuperate.
If I can do this then I don't  really have to worry about being besieged, leaving me some breathing room to attack another kingdom.

Generally I always try to broker peace deals as soon as possible.
I haven't used the diplomacy defensive pact option yet, may have to give it a go soon.

 

[Ser Gregory]

If you see a war party check who everyone is following, that would obviously be the marshall. I usually try to remember the name and then try to capture him, etc. I usually roam around killing loads of lords and imprisoning them, also trying to get some lord to follow me so I have a bigger force.. Although that's as much as I can give, and it's a given that some Castles or towns might be taken. And you can always hope another faction goes to war with the one you're at war with So you'll have less to worry about

 

[Remedius]

I suppose that you could simply assess the renown of each enemy lord and go by that. But identifying him - let alone knowing who is going to war with you requires quite an amount of clairvoyance!

 

[John Felton]

One more thing: You will have to guess these in the game when playing against multiple fronts:

1. The mood and requirements of lords i.e. Do they need more troops/food etc.? If they need something, they will not follow you with spirit, and will go back to their or someone else's fiefs to fulfill their requirements.

2. Where to put the lords to attack i.e. Which side requires more attention, eastern or western? If you put the lords in secure position, they will worry that enemy will come from other sides and raid/capture fiefs.

3. When to put the lords in right position i.e.  If you put the lords to attack too late, your kingdom's fiefs will already be raided and looted/captured.

 

[munchiepoo]

Well in my old character I was a swadian fighting against Khergits,Rhodoks and Saranaids all at the same time i had a whole marshall army all againsrt my 300 Swadian Knights and I thrashed about 3000 of em,it was REALLY hard and in the end i had 66 troops left after that we took over half of Khergit and Rhodok land and a lil bit on Nord land and like 2 castles/towns off the saranaids but then they started beating us back so I left them and made my own kingdom.

 

[Lord Brutus]

Generally, you can make a good guess at who the enemy marshall is when you see a cluster of enemy lords. Hover your cursor over them, you can see who they are accompanying. In most cases, he's the marshall.

 

[Remedius]

Thundertrod seems to be indicating a way of identifying an enemy Marshal as soon as war is declared. If this is true it means a whole campaign could be nobbled barely after it has begun. Doing this repeatedly could effectively stop a whole factions war effort. But how do you know when war is about to break out and who will be given the honour of Marshal?

Munchie: you have 300 knights!!! Holy cow - how do you maintain that lot?

 

[Ogrecorps]

I took a castle and became the upstart everybody hated. Before I knew it 9 Nord and 10 Swadian lords were all trying to sack my one little village. I was besieged immediately but waited for more of my troops to heal before setting out. Beginning with 90 knights and 9 equivalent companions I began the most trying real-life day of gaming I have ever had. In the end I had killed nearly 1500 of them and had about a dozen men still standing. Then the Rhodoks came. I flipped them the bird and started a new character, intent on fixing a few major flaws while getting a fresh start.

 

[Dreadnaught]

Don't be afraid to lose land. You don't have to absolutely defend something if the cost to your troop is too high. Remember that attrition is the name of the game. If you rush to go defend a town let's say against 1k+ enemies, the best you'll do is kill about 300 of them. Then they break the siege and you can go after them, but there is still 700 of them at the gates. You could just let them have the city, they will lose a few to that fight, then you take your cavalry and steamroll them on the plains when they break off into clusters while waiting for your Lords to catch up with you. Once that is done you siege the town back and kill 150-180 more of them. After that just go swap your cavalry for a siege force (archers and infantry + a few knights) and go conquer 1 or 2 of their fief and lower the controversy you got from losing that town.

 

[John Felton]

Another thing is, that when they conquer a city, the enemy lords go away to their homes and split up their forces. Even the Marshall rides back to his city by making an excuse of "I don't have enough soldiers and need some more" or "I've been away from my fiefs and I am collecting taxes".

At this moment, they leave a garrison of 20-40 men in the city till other reinforcements arrive. You can recapture the city by defeating this small army.