Where are all these troops coming from????

[NJSQRL]

Sooo I decided to rebel... unfortunately my plans were thrown into the wood chipper before I even started... instead of re-taking a few of the lands I took when being a loyal vassal to the Rhodoks (or maybe disloyal?) I had to go to war with Swadia to take the same lands (they tookt hem while I was building a new army)... not a big deal.

Fast forward 3 excruciating months...

I am now at war with the Rhodoks, Swadians, Sultinate, and Khergits. My coffers are completely empty and I have decided to resort to raiding villages to raise the funds for my campaigns.

Somehow in the past two weeks the Swadians who only hold 3 castles and 1 town have managed to raise over 3,000 troops.

Every village I try to raid I get attacked by the Swadian army en force... thankfully they are nearly broken and most of their troops are militia with a spattering of tier 3 and 4 troops (I havent seen a knight or sharpshooter yet)

Mit Nun: interupted three times while raiding. 450ish 600 ish and 200ish (sorry dont remember exact numbers.
Emirin: Interrupted twice, 450ish, 200ish
Tosdhar: Interrupted 3 times, 250ish 300, 500
Ehlerdah: Interrupted 1 time (current) facing 754 troops....

This means that over the last two weeks, their 9 lords have put up around 3700 (I would say +/- 150) troops.... how the hell???

I would fully expect this kind of trouble from the Nords who control a vast empire consisting of Swadian, Vaegir, and Khergit lands... I would expect this from the Rhodoks who control... pretty much everything that is not Nord aside from a small spattering of villages held by the other factions... but the Swadians? They are nearly dead in the water yet have these massive armies... how??



/end rant

 

[Ludial]

uhm... they've been left alone for some time now? Anyways, it's mostly recruits.

 

[NJSQRL]

Actually... they like the Rhodoks have been at war since the beginning of the game.

They had the bad luck of being at war with the Rhodoks, Nords, and Khergits at the same time which is why they are scattered to the wind as far as a faction goes. I gave up on my war with them after the first one ended... focused more on the other foes we had as they were more powerful but the Swadians remained at war with at least one faction for the duration of the time....

 

[Blackfish]

What level of 'campaign AI' are you playing with? The AI doesn't get smarter but they do get a lot more money (I think) which makes it easier for them to raise ridiculously huge armies out of thin air.

The situation you're talking about is exactly why I almost always leave the so-called 'campaign AI' at 'Poor'.

 

[Subitai]

Hey NJSQRL,

I hear you...and feel your pain.  Both my rebel games have seen me at war with EVRYONE ALL the time.  And before TweakMB saved my ass, I had Negative...you heard right (-230) Honor.    When you average more than 50 lords in your prisons and KEEP them there...that's what happens.  Hahaha

Ok, so I only have a suggestion about your money problem.  Using TweakMB for some minor enhancements:

1) First for me was to enable Selling of Prisoners to Tavern barkeeps.  I really hated having to run around half the map with 20 prisoners and NEVER Being able to find a Ransom broker...and No I didn't feel like falling back onto "Ramun" (Tihr is out of the way most of the time for me)  Combine this convenience with 30-50 Slaver Chiefs and ANYONE THEY KNOCK Unconcious becomes your prisoner.  (Assuming you can controll at least 20-30 Prisoners).

Serious cash!!  Like 3000 a pop or more when selling (pending on troop types)

2) Town Tourneyments:  Only change I made was to enable being able to bet more on the max bet....ie 1000d. 

My feelings are this...if I HAVE cash, then why shouldn't I be able to bet more per level???    Now a win, is about 34k .
again serious Cash!! 

3) a couple alterations to Honor earning and loosing (that seem more fair to me) and Wala...i've finally worked my way back into positive honor status.

So basically Tweak made my Rebel games much more enjoyable. 


"O"

 

[NJSQRL]

What level of 'campaign AI' are you playing with? The AI doesn't get smarter but they do get a lot more money (I think) which makes it easier for them to raise ridiculously huge armies out of thin air.

The situation you're talking about is exactly why I almost always leave the so-called 'campaign AI' at 'Poor'.

Campaign AI is on good... I turned everything up for this game

Hey NJSQRL,

I hear you...and feel your pain.  Both my rebel games have seen me at war with EVRYONE ALL the time.  And before TweakMB saved my ass, I had Negative...you heard right (-230) Honor.    When you average more than 50 lords in your prisons and KEEP them there...that's what happens.  Hahaha

Ok, so I only have a suggestion about your money problem.  Using TweakMB for some minor enhancements:

1) First for me was to enable Selling of Prisoners to Tavern barkeeps.  I really hated having to run around half the map with 20 prisoners and NEVER Being able to find a Ransom broker...and No I didn't feel like falling back onto "Ramun" (Tihr is out of the way most of the time for me)  Combine this convenience with 30-50 Slaver Chiefs and ANYONE THEY KNOCK Unconcious becomes your prisoner.  (Assuming you can controll at least 20-30 Prisoners).

Serious cash!!  Like 3000 a pop or more when selling (pending on troop types)

2) Town Tourneyments:  Only change I made was to enable being able to bet more on the max bet....ie 1000d. 

My feelings are this...if I HAVE cash, then why shouldn't I be able to bet more per level???    Now a win, is about 34k .
again serious Cash!! 

3) a couple alterations to Honor earning and loosing (that seem more fair to me) and Wala...i've finally worked my way back into positive honor status.

So basically Tweak made my Rebel games much more enjoyable. 


"O"

I already use TweakMB but thanks for the advice anyway.

I did, at one time play with tourney betting amounts to the degree that I you did but I felt it made things too easy... I mean one tourney win turns your pittance into a small fortune! I do however have my bet amounts doubled at the moment so I do make a little more than I used to.

Also as far as selling prisoners... well if I ever get out of this war with the Rhodoks I can use the sergeants I have stockpiled in Shariz... wonderful thing about pre-battle orders is I can tell them to use their little hammers As long as I am at war with the Rhodoks though I face desertion problems so its a no-go.

That said I just got my butt handed to me by 700 Rhodoks vs my 150... escaped with just 30 troops left (yay tons of renown!) sooo think I will call it a night and pick up the rebuilding in the morning.

 

[Blackfish]

What level of 'campaign AI' are you playing with? The AI doesn't get smarter but they do get a lot more money (I think) which makes it easier for them to raise ridiculously huge armies out of thin air.

The situation you're talking about is exactly why I almost always leave the so-called 'campaign AI' at 'Poor'.

Campaign AI is on good... I turned everything up for this game

Yep, there's your answer right there. 

 

[Captain_Octavius]

Campaign AI lower than Good is too boring in my eyes...

How come you are at war with all those factions? I have been a rebel for quite some time in my current game with zero RTR, and no other faction has declared war on me yet. I am at war with the Rhodoks and the Swadians, but only because I attacked them first. I only have one castle though, Grunwalder.

 

[gutsaxe]

They obviously don't think youre enough of a threat: I was the same until I gathered my couple of vassals and took loads of castles and a town and then all hell broke loose..

 

[NJSQRL]

Campaign AI lower than Good is too boring in my eyes...

How come you are at war with all those factions? I have been a rebel for quite some time in my current game with zero RTR, and no other faction has declared war on me yet. I am at war with the Rhodoks and the Swadians, but only because I attacked them first. I only have one castle though, Grunwalder.

I saw it as the other factions thought it was a easy conquest as my faction was small...

If you think about it... the castles surrounding Shariz are held by the Khergits, Swadians (int his game anyway), Rhodoks, and of course the Sultinate.

Shariz itself was my target because it changed hands so frequently... about once a month really so I knew it would have a  small garrison and my casualties would be the lowest. I declared war on Swadia to take it, then the rest decided tehy wanted to play too.

That said, it is not exactly the worst situation I have been in... I have been at war with everyone else at the same time before. Just usually by the time everyone decided to gang up on me I hold a good 1/2 of the map or more where as here I held one little city...