I say take Bruinost and everything to Zag Kala to make sure the dwarves have only one place to expand to... The snow Orcs which will mean that more dwarven troops are dedicated to distracting the snow orcs.
If Mordor ever declares war again I suggest taking Eastern Osgilioth and selling it to Angmar for money and an alliance. Also, do you think peace with the snow orcs will occur now? The snow orcs have been getting smashed by the dwarves and I don't think anything, but 4 or 5 elite full stacks will force the dwarven full stack back as there are a lot of elite troops like legion troops and Khazadum reclaimers in that army. Perhaps peace with the snow orcs could be achieved with the taking and selling of Erui.
with the elves first we build the armoury to have the garrison to defend , then we can go to war the garrison is the shield ; the army in campaign is the sword or spear
Because he has building OCD and he knows that's it's going to bug him if he sees it's the only thing left at some point, so there's not point in getting rid of it 😂
1:03:00 Your Calenhad Governor has the "Distrusts Foreigners" trait, increases Public Security by +2 (that's one more than guard dog has). If there was any stat i've seen so far in this game that would be related to spotting a spy, I think "public security" would be it. Given their proximity it would be an easy swap (and he has healer too) Btw, since your broke off your Alliance to Harad, and even more so since they are gone, there is nothing stopping you from trying to get an Alliance with Dol Amroth now :)
As with your previous suggestion re spies, I'll have to do this two videos from now since I recorded last night. Might try changing gov and if that doesn't work try levelling spy. I guess I have no confirmation that the spy is even still in there given the peace deal. Also, I should try that alliance with DA.
@@epmtotalwar You can check for a spy presence by looking at the amount of unrest in your settlement, (assuming you didn't just take it). A 10 infiltration skill spy will generate 50 unrest, it should be pretty obvious in Cair Andros since you had it for a while now. I think it also explains why in some rare occasions when you take a settlement the public order is fine, and the turn after you're in the red, maybe that means the AI put a spy in there during their turn. I'm sure we'll figure all this out at some point ^^'
@Aldonoth ok this is really down the rabbit hole now. I'll have to look and that would explain so much like why when sacking a settlement and having a full stack doesn't hold public order 🤔
1:01:05 There are, but they involve "risking" the spy, you have to send him on operations to infiltrate stuff. They get a chance to move up in their "inconspicuous" skill line when successfully infiltrating a settlement, fort, other agents or armies, and since you can see their success chance (capped at 95% ofc 😉) when mousing over targets, you can pick your easiest battles. I know having a spy in a settlement makes it harder for an enemy spy to successfully accomplish an infiltration (lowers their success chance), but I am not certain as to what plays into kicking out a spy that's already in. Fun fact: Merchants can get above 10 skill points even if it the UI doesn't show it, you can see this because it keeps increasing the value of trade resources. I wonder if the skills of other agents work the same, you could test this with a maxed out skill-tree spy and playing around with retinues and see if it changes the mouse over success chances. Edit: I'm not sure about the RU-vid etiquette here, but the source for most of the stuff I mention here is Thesavagekitti, since you're not putting out the same type of content, I think it's okay? You let me know
I might try some missions then to lv him up, I really would like some confirmation that I could kick a spy out. Certainly (I think), having them in the settlement at the point of infiltration lowers their success chance. Sometimes though a spy will be found in a settlement without any spy there so I don't know the reasoning. Maybe that is just when they are trying to infiltrate and get caught. In terms of RU-vid etiquette I'm pretty easy as long as you're not just blatantly promoting someone else. What you did which was back up your claims, within context, with a source is just good sense.
It does get a bit hard to manage but at the same time it fixes one of the big problems of total war games. You never really get to a point where you are snowballing against everyone. It is really hard to push through a well established faction. I think it is a positive overall, if you want to do a new campaign after a 100 turns then nothing really changes but if you want a long term challenge it is there to be had.
@@epmtotalwar I'm mostly fine with it because once you get god tier Elves or Dwarves you're going to win 90-95% of the time on unit strength but my main problem is that your "allied" AI factions never spam in the same manner as the enemy AI and they get steam rolled and you're left fighting 1v4 like you are in this playthrough. I'd like one time to play Rohan and turn around and see the Elves or Gondor steamrolling a bit and not folding like a cheap suit.
@@zackc3767 That I can agree with, at it's core it is a med 2 problem but has been vastly made worse in V5 due to changes to AI campaign decision making.
Really glad to see this campaign cont'ing to get good viewage.....I personally love the late game....battles are bigger with better rosters so the dynamics of each fight can be different and it showcases one of the greatest aspects of Med2- the cinematics
DG gets anti player bonuses, they cannot fight against that. Rhun was fighting Dorwinion, Dorwinion was fighting Rhun and DG was taking them both out from the side.
I guess the question is how long can the East hold because if Dol Gouldor turns their entire northern army on you the grind will be borderline impossible unless Khand goes to war with them. Even still Thranduil's halls must fall before those dwarves and Easterlings fall.
32:55 Off the top of my head, here's the list of the settlements that you sold for money and to who(m?) this campaign so far: Erui to KD Eastern Osgiliath to DG Eastern Osgiliath to KD Faen Obel to KD I thought that retaking Osgiliath after you sold it to DG should have tanked your diplomatic reputation by half but it didn't. The exact wording on twcenter is "This might be the case when you give away a settlement trough diplomacy and taking it back afterwards". It could be interpreted as giving it away literally, by using the gift button. If so... that's kinda useless? idk The fastest way to test the 2nd conclusion I have (won't buy any settlement from you anymore) now is when taking Osgiliath once more, to try and sell it again to either KD or DG. You should get a very specific response message in the text box at the top of the diplomacy pannel if that conclusion is to be valid. Hope this helps, cheers! Edit: 39:45 I give up.
Yep, you sure did. You tried to do this exact thing in your, err, I don't remember which campaign (when you pointed to your first gondor for data, maybe enedwaith?), where you tried to resell a settlement to the same faction and they wouldn't have it. Anyway, that just worked right now, so there's clearly more things at play that lock the AI at some point... Is it because you were never at war with KD? I'll try to track down the other campaign that it occured in later, I'm a little demoralised about this right now ^^'
And then DA will lose them and I'll just have to fight them at weaker spots and Khand will have become stronger by 2 more settlements. Khand was rolling over Harad with ease, they wont even blink in taking those two settlements even if DA magically moved all their troops there immediately.
@@epmtotalwar You won't have to worry about Dol Amroth threatening your bread basket those troops can be put to use plus Edellhond is a rich settlement and you can easily take it back. This would also motivate Dol Amroth to go down south since Global Tolfalas can hit the settlement below that.
You've that Khand army that looks like it is about to cross the Anduin at the fords. That army needs to be engaged. Now you could try to ally Khand in exchange for you attacking Dol Amroth and maybe the Ardunaim and possibly get Khand to go to war against Mordor. That's probably not going to happen, so that means giving Rohan, Gondor and Dol Amroth military access. I think I'd take troops from Empremi's Last Resort with the forces sent from Caras Galadhon and attack Danta'lad. hat should mean Mordor will send armies to attack you there allowing the Cair Andros force to come out take the two settlements Mordor has and move on to the Black Gate. Meanwhile you march on Minas Ithil. Between the troops in Methrast and Do l Amoroth you've enough for a third army in the south to push to take Tir Ethraid, Hardanaur and OstIthil. you may even have to gift Barad Harn to Dol Amroth. It's not that i've got any hopes that Dol Amroth will hold the place, but it's a distraction to Khand. Since I do not trust the Dunlendings, I'd get that ring-bearer army to shore as soon as possible. Assist in the destruction of Isengard. I suppose the mantra is 'If it's in the Misty Mountains, sell it to Khazadum'. I have visions of you sending the army in Caras Galadhon west to fight the Snorc stacks and the army in Limhir to Caras Galadhon and thence to Erui. Then use two armies to advance on the west bank of the Anduin. We'll see what you actually did and I can see just how wide of the mark my predictions were, again. Considering how many fronts you have to manage, you're doing really well.
Khand cannot attack across the river, they don't border there so I can sit in my cities and watch their horse archers circle round and round till they decide to attack. There is no negotiating with Khand to get them to attack Mordor, they are allied. I don't want Mordor's forces to attack anywhere else, I've got them locked in place and manageable. My forces to the North have got all of DG coming at them, I don't need to add Mordor's forces to that for no reason. I am holding Mordor with minimal effort until the ring arrives. There is absolutely no reason to put more effort into Mordor when I have the answer coming. Dunland don't have any full stack fleets or even close to it, that navy is the strongest in the area and can sail safely up the river. Regarding snow orcs, I either keep flooding troops across the river to DG or I divert and go up the river bank, I don't have the forces to do both and since I'm rolling now in Mirkwood I'd rather the forces keep moving that direction.
Do you ever consider destroying garrison building once your settlement becomes not a bordering one? I mean, to save money, ofc. It's +/- 250g in your pocket every turn for every settlement without a garrison building if I understand mechanics well. and one more question: during this long campaign, did you ever considered like for real killing Khazad-dum for their mines?
The garrison question is far more complex than you put it. For starters it only subtracts from 'building income' so if a settlement has less than 250 building income it is only subtracting what is available. In most castle settlements the only source of building income is mines and not all castles have mines and even if they do the building income component is normally less than 250. Admittedly, in city settlements there are far more sources of building income: markets, inn, mines, warehouse, banks... so you are often losing the full 250. However, it doesn't stop there. Garrisons provide 'law' bonuses which directly impact the amount of corruption a settlement has. Governors and proximity to capital are the main way to control corruption which is why you typically want your capital in the middle of your empire and governors in wealthy cities. I don't destroy enemy recruitment buildings that provide law even if it doesn't live me recruitment options because a reduction in law can mean hundreds of gold per turn. So even if it isn't on the frontier garrison structures still somewhat cancel themselves out and depending on the settlement can end up making money. Law is super important especially in a campaign like this where my settlements are so far apart. KD has been taking the heat from Gundabad pretty well and doing most of the heavy lifting against them. I'd have to fend off Gundabad and then take out KD, something that just adds more strain on my already stretched resources. Beyond that, I don't really want to thematically or for gameplay purposes betray one of the only other good factions contributing anything to the state of the map.
@@epmtotalwar thank you for your great and patient answer, I wish more of this knowledge was implemented into the ingame tutorials or simiiliar tools. I guess they are limited by many code related issues. This is still one of the best games I haver ever played. And don't feel bad about campaign getting that long, I've enjoyed every episode even more due to you loving to play Lothorien . Greeting from Poland
@@rafachwaa6981 Pleasure mate. I've learnt most of these things just by playing and experimenting. I'm in a fortunate position in that I get the combined knowledge of everyone that interacts with me. The hard part is remembering it all. The whole law thing I only figured out in my Reunited Kingdom campaign, it became pretty obvious when I have settlements on opposite ends of the map and destroying a recruitment structure that gave 5% law removed 250 income from a settlement.
Crimes? What crimes? All I'm seeing is a dutiful gardener keeping up with his gardening chores, uprooting weeds and getting rid of pests! Praise Yavanna!
I aware that the halberd wall apparently does that so it makes sense that maybe the pike wall does too. That still doesn't explain what's going on. If that was the case then all pikes would be like that when they definitely are not.
I was hoping to see you smash that snow arc group around the dwarf army. The AI always astounds: five snow arc stacks making snowmen while a dwarf stack sits in the middle .
Not sure how productive this thought is but I'm guessing the spy you started with (Cofniben?) who's down in Faen Abel is probably your highest rated spy....maybe he could sus-out the spy in Cair Andros
He's actually pathetic unfortunately. Hasn't got many traits because I never have him in settlements and newly recruited spies always seen to get some bonuses that the starting spy doesn't.
Man I don't understand how you never get attacked, around 25min you have no army, exactly like me but at this time a whole AI army is attacking me it's litteraly impossible
This was my second attempt at it, there is a fair bit of RNG to these conquest runs. Sometimes you get lucky and on extreme it takes getting lucky to succeed. Maybe the ai spent their troops against a neutral tile on mine and not on yours. I find reloading to get a new spawn more effective than trying to savescum a particular load.
4:03:56 I think if you kept haldir and celeborn out of their settlements the squalor would start to increase again over time. Some of their traits reduce squalor and I think it takes time for the squalor to build back up again. Don’t think this is reflected in the “governors influence” section. Could be wrong though
Ah, that's potentially a good call. Another comment had said squalor is capped at 5% in castles so I'm not sure. Something weird is going on. Isengard is the real outlier, not coastal, no chicken farms, gov giving same amount of bonus as those in coastal cities.
I am playing the same campaign and Aragorn will not become high king. I dont know what I am doing wrong. The norther Kingdom is kicking ass, Aragorn is in the south next to Minas Tirith. My undead general fought his battles and won them all. Gondor are allies but Dol Amroth is not. Is that the kicker, getting Dol Amroth onboard
Yes. From memory I believe it outlines it in the script info, open the mission panel and it should give you the details. Also, once you get all requirements it takes a few turns of Aragorn sitting in the province, I'd be tempted to move him in and out once getting the alliance. You can just give DA a settlement for the alliance and you'll get it back as soon as the Reunited Kingdom triggers.
Regarding Pelargir pop growth, large cities get a lower threshold for squalor than citadels or fortresses so it gets the same squalor percentage at a lower population, it's also not getting any growth from ports since it's a city line, and it's lacking .5% from sheep farming, that's a total of 1.5% difference between Mehtrast and Pelargir.
I'd have to check again but it was like 12000 pop less at Pelargir and they still have an additional 0.5% even when they were maxed at 32000. Isengard has no port or chicken farming line, what is going on there? Something is off, I have the 1% global but I've never been even close to sustaining max pop, normally the pop falls if you capture a super high pop AI city since they have some growth cheats it would appear.
It seems my first answer didn't go through. So, Elves get their growth from governor traits and retinue more than their buildings, Celeborn and Haldir start with a lot of retinue that don't necessarily give growth, whereas a new governor will get more. 1 sculptor retinue gives as much growth as a tier 2 port. It would seem that Citadels have their squalor capped at 5% since it didn't change when you took Haldir and Celeborn out (or that neither of them have anti-squalor traits), so as long as you can get 5.5% growth baseline, you'll reach poppulation cap, just a matter of when. That's for the Isengard comparison.
2:32:19 The adoption might have been the MotH you got off-camera beeing accepted in the family tree, or maybe one of your recuited generals. Just to say that an adoption doesn't mean a new general has spawned.
damn ok, I guess I could have checked for myself before posting lol. Still, it's something to remember, if you're ever chronically "understaffed" in a future campaign, a reload might help. cheers
