Diary of a Spearman Entry 4: So I'm back in good old Charlies army, and I swear to God I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "It's been a while," I said to myself. "Surely he's matured since you last saw him." Unfortunately, I was quickly disabused of that notion. We made it through Europe in a timely fashion, despite Charlie and his new butt buddy Steve being terrified that an Imperial army would blockade the mountain pass for literally no reason except to piss us off. We got to the shore, and Charlie was just about to hire some boats to get us across to the Holy Land when Steve pointed out some 'mercenaries' for hire. Honestly, using that word to describe the slavering mob of lunatics those idiots scrounged up would be a compliment. I got near as near to one of those BDSM looking bastards as I could before passing out from his body odor, and I swear the son of a bitch looked like he was considering biting my nose off. But never fear! Not only did our glorious prince Charlie and his heterosexual life partner hire a band of black-plague infested peasants with clubs, they also got us a big wagon with a cross on it! Steve told Charlie that it would 'boost the morale of the troops'. Apparently it's all the rage in Venice. Either that or the used wagon salesman they bought it from is a real smooth liar. We had to wait another week to hire the boats, and now here I am, writing this letter while standing in the one foot of clear space between the hull of the ship and that fucking wagon. Hopefully we get to the Holy Land soon. Dying on a Moslem's spearpoint never sounded so inviting.
hey, my name is jorg (IRL), and i'm thoroughly confused. I played medival 2 for quite some time, but i never saw a 'jorg' in game. is this name in MTW2?
What the hell, just googled some names from this comment section and apparently this let's play has a wiki. Like, the entire battle of Hamburg got described by paragraph upon paragraph. Some dedicated fandom Jon has.
I know it's a long shot considering it's been four years, but do you have a link to the wiki? I've done some searching and I can't find it but I'm really interested to give it a read. Cheers
Even weirder, there is a real-life person named Steve Stenger. He was a St. Louis County executive before he was indicted and pled guilty on federal corruption charges. He served four years in prison between 2019 and 2023. Google the name and he's the first result.
Unofficial Tracker! Wins: 8 Losses: 0 Kills: 3208 Captures: 910 Deaths: 934 Dead Factions: 0 Territory's: 7 Faction Status: The Byzantine Empire: Neutral Denmark: Jon Egypt: War England: Neutral France: Neutral The Holy Roman Empire: Neutral Hungary: Neutral Milan: Neutral Moors: Neutral Poland: Allied Portugal: Neutral Russia: Neutral Scotland: Neutral Sicily: Neutral Spain: Neutral The Turks: Neutral Venice: Neutral Aztecs: Neutral Mongols: Neutral Papal States: Neutral Rebels: What do you Think Timurids: Neutral ... Not a single battle was had this video
While travelling through the desert, which frankly seems to have no end, I have taken to study Victor The Killer's contemporaries. In particular, I have just learned that he had a son named Gnaeus. Not much is known of Gnaeus. My translators tell me that the records say he was influenced greatly by his uncle. Unfortunately, he never lived up to the example set by his father, and his most famous victory was over a northern tribe whose only defense were a few chariot archers. According to the merchant travelling with us, in modern times the word Gnaeus is a slang term meaning: "Who?"
Admiral Jon That does not surpise me. Onagers are awkward to pick up, and surely difficult to throw. A boulder, even a heavier one, would surely be easier to heave than complicated siege equipment. Not that I would know, we use rockets.
I recall a story about a brave general named Spurius Scapula who killed a dragon, giant ants and swamp people when fighting near Egypt, I hope I could follow in his footsteps in the Crusades
When participation in the early Crusades, after conqueting the targeted city I usually then gave said city to the pope before taking back my now stupidly experienced troops back to Europe. That way I got a good army, good relations with the pope, no settlements the other way to the map full of infidels to take care of, and if the pope lost the city to a Muslim counter-attack I could just go there for the next Crusade. Though sometimes it enabled the pope to get annoyingly expansionist, so not really the best idea sometimes.
The more I watch you play this, the more I appreciate this game. Never had much love for it when it released as I felt it wasn't as fun as Rome. But really they improved upon Rome in ways that make sense and are more challenging. I never bothered with religion, merchants or crusades before as I just didn't "get" them. Now I can't wait to pick this up again.
So Jon does this mean your allies with the Spanish. Because the Spanish are allied with the mores, who are allied with the Imperials, who are allied with the Polish, who are your allies.
I'm surprised you didn't nerd out over meeting Anna Komnene, the Byzantine princess at 13:00. She's quite famous for writing the Alexiad, a fantastic and fascinating book about the reign of her father, emperor Alexios Komnenos.
Same here, the way things are going Jon's play through will be...interesting. Anyone know what the mod that Jon mentioned in the first episode is and where to find it?
When he starts talking about forming a central European Power and knocking out Russia and France... That awkward many a True Nerd moment when Jon starts channeling his inner Hitler...
I know it is early in the series, but so far i liked Rome better. Also, is Poland the new Thracians? Are you going to inevitably betray and wipe them out?
Will Ingrid marry Boleslaw Herman, or will she go for her secret lover? Find it out next time, on the Medival Bachelorette!! :D Seriously, this story is already more romantic then the entire Twilight franchise, i think :(
Crusades, as a Catholic I approve. Catholic...yes...that is indeed my religion...Say what you will of an inquisition, nobody expects the Spanish Jihad!
Alfonso Kyrie, Pedro showed me your shrine to Venus. I just asked him to show me chapel for Compline, and he informed that what he showed me was your private altar
He asked for a place to pray! When I showed him one, he complained that it wasn't the chapel, so I explained how all Christian worship houses were dissolved, and showed him your Venus altar! It's his fault for not asking about the state of Catholicism in the Kingdom of León when he got here!
I quite like how the Crusade mercenaries have the trait "may charge without orders". If you look up the kind of atrocities the crusaders committed in the First Crusade, it makes a dark kind of sense.
Dionysios of Babylon "I walk a holy road a crusade called upon a thrice dammed foe it leads right to Cairo But there's such a long way left to go (to greenday boulevard of broken dreams)
Merchant spamming, even sacrifical ones that you keep loosing is not always a bad idea as it can be a good way of getting a merchant's guild in one of your cities.
it's 1 Merchant per town with a market building (and maybe castle with an acadamy too, can't remember). Also you should take all the crusade mercs you can and have two stacks heading off on crusade. You can always disband after the crusades are over.
20:15 Apologies if someone else has already posted something similar but technically you can still siege cities of Catholic factions with an army which is on Crusade. LegendofTotalWar's video of glitches for MTW2 shows you how. Guessing that probably wouldn't be in the spirit of this playthrough though so guessing you won't exploit it
Little TIP, try getting a merchant to cairo as well there is some sugar there and with a decent merchant about 3/10 could get 200 florins per turn on some sugar
I never caught up on RTW series, but I skipped to the most recent episode. Funny thing is, I actually came in 2-3 episodes before Julianus Vatinius got promoted.
I do feel an alliance would be a nice change of pace compared to Rome TW. You'll still have merchant sniping and diplomacy between the neighbors which I think is good fun.
Hey Jon, could you maybe do another playthrough of this as Britian? I love this campaign and the last one, but I would love to see how good you are when you can pull out the super range tatics and you can pronounce the names right off
So regarding Merchant profits, resources that are further from you capital are worth more, meaning Byzantium is a good place to trade silks for most Europeans. However the heavy competition means only skilled merchants need apply
When I played the pope loved me so I sent an army to a none catholic city and asked him to call a crusade and he did. Then, after a few turns, I asked him to call another crusade so now I have an overpowered general with 6 command, 10 chivalry, 5 loyalty, and 9 piety. Did I mention he's only 28? I have him near Baghdad crippling the Mongols. I have to say I'm really lucky
It's interesting that you say how much you like the crusades mechanic, because it actually does a very poor job of representing the crusades, especially the first one. Most crusades did not have a set target, ones in Europe targeted people (Cathars, Wends etc.) and the ones in the Middle East, whilst they did have a set target (Jerusalem in the 1st and 3rd, Edessa in the 2nd, Cairo in the 5th) the forces sent usually diverted (3rd gave up after reaching the port of Jaffa, 2nd went to Damascus for no apparent reason, 4th went to Constantinople and fucked everything up). Also, with the rate at which time moves in the game, you could fit the entire First Crusade in 2 turns, whereas it will take ages in-game. The one thing it really gets right is the involvement of the Pope. The Pope would call a crusade and then usually do nothing to assist it whatsoever. It also does a decent job of desertion, but I've never been able to work out what actually triggers crusading forces to abandon the army. And don't get me started on the Crusades expansion. I love it mechanically, but as a historian who did an exam on the crusades 4 days ago it causes me deep emotional pain.
One other thing, crusades were almost never economically advantageous. Hauling an army across all of Europe turned out to be way more expensive than anyone thought. Those people needed their equipment maintained, they needed food, they needed horses and they still had to pay mercenaries because, as it turns out, religious peasants don't make good infantry.
Uh.. All the major crusades had targets. And they usually diverted not due to planning, but because of other problems like lack of food or just not being allowed. Like during the first crusade Hugnary stopped wanting crusaders to cross their borders due to how the first group really fucked up the place. It wasn't really 'just because'. And the papal state didn't really have a good army to assist with anyway. They mostly used mercenaries. The crusades expansion wasn't any more or less inaccurate than the base game tbh
Bob Boblington in medieval 2 you never join crusade until your army is at the target. Otherwise chances are you are not going to have any army to do crusade with. Sadly that desertion mechanic is just stupid and works only for the player, AI seem to be unaffected by it. Good countries to go on a crusade are: Sicily, Milan, Venice, Hungary, HRE(if you prepare army in your only Italian city in advance), Poland can do it too if you rush for the other sea connection you can get and hire some merc cavalry that can do a charge, France is also as a possibility since it has connection to the sea. Spain and Portugal have muslims nearby so they can just not give an eff about crusades on the beginning and then at all anyway. England, Scotland and Denmark are the worst(can be done but it takes long time and might turn out some AI county got there first) due to how far away they are from the target of the first crusade, Denmark being furthest away from it usually, unless you don't mind going through someone else's territory and piss them off or loose troops. Or you could just say fuck you pope and just build one of your towns into priest production facility eventually turning it into pope production facility and control pope indirectly.
They all settled on targets, yes, but many did not initially have one, at least not in the manner that is set out in the game. When Urban II called the First Crusade he did not mention Jerusalem, and it is a point of debate between historians as to when exactly Jerusalem became the target. When the Third Crusade was called the papal bull did not mention Jerusalem, but because that city was the obvious target that's what they went for and the lack of a clear target is what allowed Philip II and Richard I to leave before taking it without picking up too much flack. In the Baltic and Iberian crusades there was no set target (in addition to the Reconquista, the pope called multiple crusades to help them out, which not many people know about, they did not have set targets either, just whatever Alfonso wanted them to do). The Crusades expansion does a poor job of representing the period and the crusading phenomenon. The expansion still moves at 2 years per turn but most crusades or jihads took place the summer of a single year (Saladin's 1187 campaign crushed all of the kingdom of Jerusalem, minus Tyre, in about 3 months). Phillip II was there for a few months, whereas the game has him settle there, as does Richard. The game starts in the year Nur Ad-din died, but he lives well past that to give the Turks an inspiring leader.
Each town with market gives you one merchant. Level of merchant building doesn't matter. Its just town with proper building, same goes to assassins, spies, priests. Or just priests and merchants.
I just learned the word "shambolic" from Jon (which is apparently British slang), who steadfastly believed that "exfiltrate" was not a word. What a crazy world we live in.
You're saying there's not much room to expand but you've still got Antwerp, Bruges, Dijon and Prague you could grab if you're fast and then you've got a big empire with a lot of European neighbours and you wait for one to attack you and then you tear them apart when the pope scorns them
You can get over a thousand gold worth of income per turn from merchants but you need to send them far from your territory and onto valuable trade goods like gold or spices. The closest gold mine for you is probably just south of Belgrade in the south Poland-northern Hungary area.
The Huffmanator The Seljuk Turks invaded Anatolia before the Mongols, the Seljuk Turks were the ones who fought the Byzantines during the battle of Manzikert which rather decisively gave the Turks Anatolia
Jon, Ingrid's charm went up because she got rid of the Bruised Confidence trait when she succeeded at the diplomatic action with the Byzantine princess.
Yo John. I don't know if you'll see this, but if you do, please explain why growth rate increases are good. Isn't there no way to take care of the resulting squalor relation penalty?
It's only a late game problem, there being too much population, but you always could produce units from overpopulated regions then disband them elsewhere
Growth=More people, faster=more taxes and earlier access to higher tiers of castle/city. Farms are obvious. As is putting the tax rate down. If you want even more growth(To counter Squalor), you get health bonuses. The higher ranks of Churches give them, as well as the Diplomatic building lines(Mayor's House, Council Chambers, etc) Islam gets a bonus here via Bimastrian buildings. Sufficient Trade bonuses/buildings can lead to more growth. Finally, Chivalry on the governor is a growth booster. High levels of Chivalry can add something like 5% on it's own. Squalor is there to put a check on your growth if you've not been keeping up with your building. Ideally, your cities/castles should never stop growing turn by turn. Squalor doesn't directly affect unhappiness in Med2. More population is always good.
But... it does, though? Directly affect unhappiness, I mean. At least it appears to. That being said, since I posted that, I realized that upgrading to a new tier of castle/city results in the squalor being reset, so at least there is that.
Jon I think u might have trouble holding Cairo when u take it they kicked me out 3 times when I crusaded as Spain might just be my lack of skill though
Diary of a Spearman Entry 4: So I'm back in good old Charlies army, and I swear to God I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "It's been a while," I said to myself. "Surely he's matured since you last saw him." Unfortunately, I was quickly disabused of that notion.
We made it through Europe in a timely fashion, despite Charlie and his new butt buddy Steve being terrified that an Imperial army would blockade the mountain pass for literally no reason except to piss us off. We got to the shore, and Charlie was just about to hire some boats to get us across to the Holy Land when Steve pointed out some 'mercenaries' for hire. Honestly, using that word to describe the slavering mob of lunatics those idiots scrounged up would be a compliment. I got near as near to one of those BDSM looking bastards as I could before passing out from his body odor, and I swear the son of a bitch looked like he was considering biting my nose off.
But never fear! Not only did our glorious prince Charlie and his heterosexual life partner hire a band of black-plague infested peasants with clubs, they also got us a big wagon with a cross on it! Steve told Charlie that it would 'boost the morale of the troops'. Apparently it's all the rage in Venice. Either that or the used wagon salesman they bought it from is a real smooth liar. We had to wait another week to hire the boats, and now here I am, writing this letter while standing in the one foot of clear space between the hull of the ship and that fucking wagon. Hopefully we get to the Holy Land soon. Dying on a Moslem's spearpoint never sounded so inviting.
Jorg the Mercenary Spearman I love your character.
It shall all be worth it in the name of the lord my dear spearman. The crusade is a noble cause, DEUS VULT
hey, my name is jorg (IRL), and i'm thoroughly confused. I played medival 2 for quite some time, but i never saw a 'jorg' in game. is this name in MTW2?
J. Pot (No, this is a character I created
most interesting at least
No, Ingrid didn't pick up a new trait. She lost her "Bruised Confidence" trait because of her successful deal with the Byzantines.
What the hell, just googled some names from this comment section and apparently this let's play has a wiki. Like, the entire battle of Hamburg got described by paragraph upon paragraph. Some dedicated fandom Jon has.
I know it's a long shot considering it's been four years, but do you have a link to the wiki? I've done some searching and I can't find it but I'm really interested to give it a read. Cheers
@@idlehandszine did you find it?
Wow
😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
Even weirder, there is a real-life person named Steve Stenger. He was a St. Louis County executive before he was indicted and pled guilty on federal corruption charges. He served four years in prison between 2019 and 2023. Google the name and he's the first result.
Unofficial Tracker!
Wins: 8 Losses: 0 Kills: 3208 Captures: 910 Deaths: 934 Dead Factions: 0 Territory's: 7
Faction Status:
The Byzantine Empire: Neutral
Denmark: Jon
Egypt: War
England: Neutral
France: Neutral
The Holy Roman Empire: Neutral
Hungary: Neutral
Milan: Neutral
Moors: Neutral
Poland: Allied
Portugal: Neutral
Russia: Neutral
Scotland: Neutral
Sicily: Neutral
Spain: Neutral
The Turks: Neutral
Venice: Neutral
Aztecs: Neutral
Mongols: Neutral
Papal States: Neutral
Rebels: What do you Think
Timurids: Neutral
... Not a single battle was had this video
No they're not they're at war. The crusade declares war on the country
I like how Jon is a state of war.
"War with Russia seems, if not likely, a distinct possibility right now"
- Jon, 2017
He predicted the future.
Damn. That’s just insane. He literally predicted the future.
*speaking to Prince Charles and King Knud
"Get in -losers- I mean my lords we are going on a crusade"
Admiral Jon shall reign supreme over Denmark
Admiral Jon Jeh boi jori joined #danishvictory
DEUS VULT
Prince Charles Kill infidels *removes saracens*
Onward to Victory
Bolesław is not a nickname, it's an old Polish name still in use today. Actually, the first ever Polish king was named Bolesław.
King Boleslaw Coleslaw
While travelling through the desert, which frankly seems to have no end, I have taken to study Victor The Killer's contemporaries. In particular, I have just learned that he had a son named Gnaeus.
Not much is known of Gnaeus. My translators tell me that the records say he was influenced greatly by his uncle. Unfortunately, he never lived up to the example set by his father, and his most famous victory was over a northern tribe whose only defense were a few chariot archers.
According to the merchant travelling with us, in modern times the word Gnaeus is a slang term meaning: "Who?"
The Mongol Horde my friend what have you heard of Lentulus Brutus? I heard he could throw a boulder further then a onager
Admiral Jon That does not surpise me. Onagers are awkward to pick up, and surely difficult to throw. A boulder, even a heavier one, would surely be easier to heave than complicated siege equipment.
Not that I would know, we use rockets.
The Mongol Horde That that is not what I meant
You're much more literate than my men would have me believe my good man.
I recall a story about a brave general named Spurius Scapula who killed a dragon, giant ants and swamp people when fighting near Egypt, I hope I could follow in his footsteps in the Crusades
When participation in the early Crusades, after conqueting the targeted city I usually then gave said city to the pope before taking back my now stupidly experienced troops back to Europe. That way I got a good army, good relations with the pope, no settlements the other way to the map full of infidels to take care of, and if the pope lost the city to a Muslim counter-attack I could just go there for the next Crusade.
Though sometimes it enabled the pope to get annoyingly expansionist, so not really the best idea sometimes.
Shall i marry ingrid? Will i still be the most interesting man of europe? we will see....
I may one day rise to such heights, but to draw coclusions would be selling the hide before shooting the bear.
No battles and I'm still entertained. A testament of Jon's ability.
The more I watch you play this, the more I appreciate this game. Never had much love for it when it released as I felt it wasn't as fun as Rome. But really they improved upon Rome in ways that make sense and are more challenging. I never bothered with religion, merchants or crusades before as I just didn't "get" them. Now I can't wait to pick this up again.
The entire time he's speculating about that one HRE army, I'm just screaming, "THEY'RE GOING ON THE CRUSADE YOU TIT."
I love the fact that Polish Mounted Crossbowmen are literally named "Shooters" in polish.
"Undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven!"
Jon, queued buildings in Medieval 2 don't get paid for until they reach the top of the queue.
Episodes like this is why this needs to be three times a week. Nothing happened today except moving an army from point A to B.
MATN Drinking Game: Take a shot every time he says "flipping"
"If I can I'd like to keep the Byzantines around." calling it now Jon will wipe out the Byzantines
I love how Jon got so excited over a wagon
Thank you for all what you are doing these days I had a panic attack was kind of severe listening to your voice helped a bit, thank you.
So Jon does this mean your allies with the Spanish. Because the Spanish are allied with the mores, who are allied with the Imperials, who are allied with the Polish, who are your allies.
It does mean that when war breaks out in Europe, a lot of people have to decide which alliances to honour...
Battlefield 1: Medieval Expansion
Also, you're a couple centuries early in building Germany there.
Add in some Austrians and an Assassination and this could be WW1.
In Medieval, unlike Rome, buildings in queue don't cost money. They will just take your money when it's "their turn to be built" :)
Does my heart good to see people still making vids about TW Medieval 2. Subbed..
> ...Medieval 2 TW
FTFY
"A group of nutters with sticks" might be the most brilliant thing I've ever heard uttered on the internet lately
I'm surprised you didn't nerd out over meeting Anna Komnene, the Byzantine princess at 13:00. She's quite famous for writing the Alexiad, a fantastic and fascinating book about the reign of her father, emperor Alexios Komnenos.
Also, the "Turks" here are Seljuks, not Ottomans. The Ottoman dynasty won't be founded for another 250 years in real life.
Yesssssssss.... having been updating Many a True Nerd's page all day for this to come out, I'm well chuffed now!!
I wish i knew you existed way earlier
I have been waiting for this all day, thank god
Same here, the way things are going Jon's play through will be...interesting. Anyone know what the mod that Jon mentioned in the first episode is and where to find it?
I was since Thursday
Do you mean this one?
t-a-w.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/why-everyone-hates-you-in-medieval-2.html
Yes, thank you PenitusVox!
Man, I wonder how is Julianus Vatinius doing on the Moon. I miss him :(
Watch the Stellaris live stream and/or highlight series. You'll find out about what Julianus Vatinius and Space Rome is up to.
I'm doing ok but after my "death" I returned to Olympus as I was mars on earth
Julianus Vatinius #notmyvatinius
Considering the Stellaris streams he's doing pretty damn well.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!! Well played, Jon.... :)
When he starts talking about forming a central European Power and knocking out Russia and France...
That awkward many a True Nerd moment when Jon starts channeling his inner Hitler...
I know it is early in the series, but so far i liked Rome better.
Also, is Poland the new Thracians? Are you going to inevitably betray and wipe them out?
I have a feeling that in three of these, something will go pearshaped for me and mine.
8:29 "Scouts get a little bit better as they actually improve" Yup =)
25:30 Boleslaw ( Bolesław ) is not a nickname, it's a normal polish name. *The more you know*
You say it like "Bol" in the "Bold" + "es" + and then "wav"
Coooool different languages
Thank you for educating these ignorant danes.
Wait, is his name basically Bold and Suave?
yes but without "d" at the "Bold" and "es" after that
15:54 "Crusades... are hilarious" Jon 2017
Will Ingrid marry Boleslaw Herman, or will she go for her secret lover?
Find it out next time, on the Medival Bachelorette!! :D
Seriously, this story is already more romantic then the entire Twilight franchise, i think :(
Crusades, as a Catholic I approve. Catholic...yes...that is indeed my religion...Say what you will of an inquisition, nobody expects the Spanish Jihad!
Alfonso Kyrie, Pedro showed me your shrine to Venus. I just asked him to show me chapel for Compline, and he informed that what he showed me was your private altar
Maldita sea Pedro!
He asked for a place to pray! When I showed him one, he complained that it wasn't the chapel, so I explained how all Christian worship houses were dissolved, and showed him your Venus altar! It's his fault for not asking about the state of Catholicism in the Kingdom of León when he got here!
Fine, I'll let it pass because I'd rather you be my heir than my idiot son.
Is he really that dumb?
Im here late. Like 7-8 years late. But this series is great. Another amazin entry in the MATN catalog
29:30 "I want to build a church in our house." Well, maybe discuss it with your family first, and maybe ask the pope, too...
The crusades is going to be AWSOME kick there ass Jon
hey you know how you said its hard to get a crusade called upon you. Well guess again! I got a crusade called upon me and it sucks. Thx Jon!
Red Scorpion then your land were either full of heretics or you are really unlucky
really unlucky. it was a Sicilian area with only catholic Sicilian priest.
Red Scorpion quite sining and repent
lol
Or sin so much that it's worth getting killed. Either or.
23:05 they're bribing your castle.
The crusader fleet's admiral is called Grim.
That's a bad omen if I've ever seen one.
Totally forgot this was on today. Pleasant surprise.
queue up buildings to your heart's content. That doesn't seem to pull from your treasury until it starts building.
for every town with grain Exchange you can train a new merchant and its the same with other agents
23:50 "you're pagan me crazy" lmao
Conquer Ivarstead!
I like how you've basically recreated the Kalmar Union
I quite like how the Crusade mercenaries have the trait "may charge without orders". If you look up the kind of atrocities the crusaders committed in the First Crusade, it makes a dark kind of sense.
Could you get the cardinal to helsinki to improve his stats?
A good tip for a crusading army is to buy some pilgrims or use your cavalry to scout ahead
I played as Milan, and the "best units possible" was the great cross, so I had like 5 bumming around with my armies.
Here I Go again on Crusade
Down the only warpath I've ever trudged
I feel like I'm somewhat scraping the bottom of a barrel here...
Dionysios of Babylon still, not bad
A) Didn't sound like the original song.
B) Didn't rhyme.
Result: Scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Dionysios of Babylon Nah, you hit the bottom when you start rhyming Admiral Jon and gone.
Dionysios of Babylon "I walk a holy road
a crusade called upon a thrice dammed foe
it leads right to Cairo
But there's such a long way left to go
(to greenday boulevard of broken dreams)
Merchant spamming, even sacrifical ones that you keep loosing is not always a bad idea as it can be a good way of getting a merchant's guild in one of your cities.
it's 1 Merchant per town with a market building (and maybe castle with an acadamy too, can't remember).
Also you should take all the crusade mercs you can and have two stacks heading off on crusade. You can always disband after the crusades are over.
The turks are actually led by the Seljuks at this period, not the Ottomans.
I like how this comment section is just the lord's from this game talking to each other
Audio got a little rough at around 2:28. The levels might be a bit out of whack.
Goddammit Jon, was just about to sleep and saw this video RIP tomorrow
A army, filled with *G R E A T C R O S S E S*
20:15 Apologies if someone else has already posted something similar but technically you can still siege cities of Catholic factions with an army which is on Crusade. LegendofTotalWar's video of glitches for MTW2 shows you how. Guessing that probably wouldn't be in the spirit of this playthrough though so guessing you won't exploit it
For the love of Julianus Vatinius Jon ONCE A WEEK IS NOT ENOUGH
Little TIP, try getting a merchant to cairo as well there is some sugar there and with a decent merchant about 3/10 could get 200 florins per turn on some sugar
7 years later: you avoid princesses getting bad traits by marrying them off. Your attempt to max her out backfired
Hell yeah, right as I was finishing catching up on this series.
I never caught up on RTW series, but I skipped to the most recent episode. Funny thing is, I actually came in 2-3 episodes before Julianus Vatinius got promoted.
(It was most recent back then)
we need one more episode a week
I do feel an alliance would be a nice change of pace compared to Rome TW. You'll still have merchant sniping and diplomacy between the neighbors which I think is good fun.
Hey Jon, could you maybe do another playthrough of this as Britian? I love this campaign and the last one, but I would love to see how good you are when you can pull out the super range tatics and you can pronounce the names right off
man I love this series!
So regarding Merchant profits, resources that are further from you capital are worth more, meaning Byzantium is a good place to trade silks for most Europeans. However the heavy competition means only skilled merchants need apply
Ingrid didn't gain a trait, she lost the trait of bruised confidence
14:00 Jon, the Ottomans arrived in Turkey in 1300 after being driven out by the Mongols. You're talking about the Seljuqs.
I love Total War: Jon. I love it
"Land clearance complete , heres a picture of some dirt."
When I played the pope loved me so I sent an army to a none catholic city and asked him to call a crusade and he did. Then, after a few turns, I asked him to call another crusade so now I have an overpowered general with 6 command, 10 chivalry, 5 loyalty, and 9 piety. Did I mention he's only 28? I have him near Baghdad crippling the Mongols. I have to say I'm really lucky
Also, onetime I literally walked into a Portuguese settlement. They only had two settlements and I literally had an army walk in and claim it.
Jon is lollygagging again. 1 hour to complete 6 turns lol.
It's interesting that you say how much you like the crusades mechanic, because it actually does a very poor job of representing the crusades, especially the first one. Most crusades did not have a set target, ones in Europe targeted people (Cathars, Wends etc.) and the ones in the Middle East, whilst they did have a set target (Jerusalem in the 1st and 3rd, Edessa in the 2nd, Cairo in the 5th) the forces sent usually diverted (3rd gave up after reaching the port of Jaffa, 2nd went to Damascus for no apparent reason, 4th went to Constantinople and fucked everything up).
Also, with the rate at which time moves in the game, you could fit the entire First Crusade in 2 turns, whereas it will take ages in-game.
The one thing it really gets right is the involvement of the Pope. The Pope would call a crusade and then usually do nothing to assist it whatsoever. It also does a decent job of desertion, but I've never been able to work out what actually triggers crusading forces to abandon the army.
And don't get me started on the Crusades expansion. I love it mechanically, but as a historian who did an exam on the crusades 4 days ago it causes me deep emotional pain.
One other thing, crusades were almost never economically advantageous. Hauling an army across all of Europe turned out to be way more expensive than anyone thought. Those people needed their equipment maintained, they needed food, they needed horses and they still had to pay mercenaries because, as it turns out, religious peasants don't make good infantry.
Its total war, what do ya expect
Uh.. All the major crusades had targets. And they usually diverted not due to planning, but because of other problems like lack of food or just not being allowed. Like during the first crusade Hugnary stopped wanting crusaders to cross their borders due to how the first group really fucked up the place. It wasn't really 'just because'.
And the papal state didn't really have a good army to assist with anyway. They mostly used mercenaries.
The crusades expansion wasn't any more or less inaccurate than the base game tbh
Bob Boblington in medieval 2 you never join crusade until your army is at the target. Otherwise chances are you are not going to have any army to do crusade with. Sadly that desertion mechanic is just stupid and works only for the player, AI seem to be unaffected by it. Good countries to go on a crusade are: Sicily, Milan, Venice, Hungary, HRE(if you prepare army in your only Italian city in advance), Poland can do it too if you rush for the other sea connection you can get and hire some merc cavalry that can do a charge, France is also as a possibility since it has connection to the sea. Spain and Portugal have muslims nearby so they can just not give an eff about crusades on the beginning and then at all anyway. England, Scotland and Denmark are the worst(can be done but it takes long time and might turn out some AI county got there first) due to how far away they are from the target of the first crusade, Denmark being furthest away from it usually, unless you don't mind going through someone else's territory and piss them off or loose troops. Or you could just say fuck you pope and just build one of your towns into priest production facility eventually turning it into pope production facility and control pope indirectly.
They all settled on targets, yes, but many did not initially have one, at least not in the manner that is set out in the game. When Urban II called the First Crusade he did not mention Jerusalem, and it is a point of debate between historians as to when exactly Jerusalem became the target. When the Third Crusade was called the papal bull did not mention Jerusalem, but because that city was the obvious target that's what they went for and the lack of a clear target is what allowed Philip II and Richard I to leave before taking it without picking up too much flack. In the Baltic and Iberian crusades there was no set target (in addition to the Reconquista, the pope called multiple crusades to help them out, which not many people know about, they did not have set targets either, just whatever Alfonso wanted them to do).
The Crusades expansion does a poor job of representing the period and the crusading phenomenon. The expansion still moves at 2 years per turn but most crusades or jihads took place the summer of a single year (Saladin's 1187 campaign crushed all of the kingdom of Jerusalem, minus Tyre, in about 3 months). Phillip II was there for a few months, whereas the game has him settle there, as does Richard. The game starts in the year Nur Ad-din died, but he lives well past that to give the Turks an inspiring leader.
56:05 does this game have dogs?.. because if not that unit literally fills the roll for dogs from Rome Total war lol.
Ulfhedin, where do you get these tricky abacuses? Will exchange for food.
Don't forget about that you are also technically allied with Spain and the Moors too.
Each town with market gives you one merchant. Level of merchant building doesn't matter. Its just town with proper building, same goes to assassins, spies, priests. Or just priests and merchants.
a good series ... I enjoy watching.
i thought the series was over. Didn't realise it was an on going one. So made up, fantastic total war lets play (including rome)
I just learned the word "shambolic" from Jon (which is apparently British slang), who steadfastly believed that "exfiltrate" was not a word. What a crazy world we live in.
You're saying there's not much room to expand but you've still got Antwerp, Bruges, Dijon and Prague you could grab if you're fast and then you've got a big empire with a lot of European neighbours and you wait for one to attack you and then you tear them apart when the pope scorns them
You can get over a thousand gold worth of income per turn from merchants but you need to send them far from your territory and onto valuable trade goods like gold or spices. The closest gold mine for you is probably just south of Belgrade in the south Poland-northern Hungary area.
42:57
NEVER
EVER
TRUST POLAND
Aren't they Seljuks and not Ottomans?
Indeed
"it's the seljuk turks"
"aahh!"
The Huffmanator The Seljuk Turks invaded Anatolia before the Mongols, the Seljuk Turks were the ones who fought the Byzantines during the battle of Manzikert which rather decisively gave the Turks Anatolia
yes, at the time the game starts the Seljuq turks controlled central Anatolia so it is entirely the Seljuqs and no Rum or Ottomans
The game is not very historical, just flow with it.
Jon, when upload a video 7 mins ago and there are already over 24 comments and 490 views, you know you are loved.
Jon, Ingrid's charm went up because she got rid of the Bruised Confidence trait when she succeeded at the diplomatic action with the Byzantine princess.
the fact that the byzantine disnasty is written as "Conmenos" triggers me
man it is PAINFUL looking at you expanding so slowly....
The Egyptians shall crumble beneath our feet! I am honored to join the noble crusade.
well this is going to be an intresting game
Yo John. I don't know if you'll see this, but if you do, please explain why growth rate increases are good. Isn't there no way to take care of the resulting squalor relation penalty?
It's only a late game problem, there being too much population, but you always could produce units from overpopulated regions then disband them elsewhere
Last I checked, that doesn't work in medieval 2. Seeing as armies aren't taken out of the general population anymore.
Growth=More people, faster=more taxes and earlier access to higher tiers of castle/city. Farms are obvious. As is putting the tax rate down. If you want even more growth(To counter Squalor), you get health bonuses. The higher ranks of Churches give them, as well as the Diplomatic building lines(Mayor's House, Council Chambers, etc) Islam gets a bonus here via Bimastrian buildings. Sufficient Trade bonuses/buildings can lead to more growth. Finally, Chivalry on the governor is a growth booster. High levels of Chivalry can add something like 5% on it's own.
Squalor is there to put a check on your growth if you've not been keeping up with your building. Ideally, your cities/castles should never stop growing turn by turn. Squalor doesn't directly affect unhappiness in Med2. More population is always good.
But... it does, though? Directly affect unhappiness, I mean. At least it appears to. That being said, since I posted that, I realized that upgrading to a new tier of castle/city results in the squalor being reset, so at least there is that.
Jon I think u might have trouble holding Cairo when u take it they kicked me out 3 times when I crusaded as Spain might just be my lack of skill though
WE SHALL MARCH ONWARD TO CAIRO AND TAKE IT FOR THE POPE HIS HOLINESS DEUS VULT!
He should get himself a court groomer, and become as fair as me.