Lok'tar ogar - A Timurid AAR

[Emeny]

Settling down into a civilized nation is great and all, but what if we didn't? This AAR explores what would happen if the Timurid nomads decided they liked being a bloodthirsty barbarian horde, and continued to rampage and pillage to the edges of the world. Or, at least, until that pesky water gets in the way.


Game is DW5.2 (ZZFZ) set to Very Hard with Random Lucky Nations. Everything else is set to default or unchanged.


If you haven't been scared off yet, let's see about some rules:
-No console or other cheating/reloading. (unless it can't be helped)
-No overly gamey or cheesy techniques. If you see something you think is unreasonable please let me know!
-Stay as nomads until all reachable land is conquered. (not including those across straits or uncolonised provinces.)
-Maintain/regain ownership of all conquered territory.
-Westernise and reform the government once previous conditions are met.
-Secret bonus objective to later be revealed. Suspense!


This is my first attempt at any sort of AAR, so any suggestions or feedback are welcome. I am fairly knowledgeable about the game but if I do get something wrong then feel free to thoroughly embarrass me! I have already played ahead a fair bit to make sure it won't be a complete failure and/or abandoned mess, but I make no promises! Hopefully it will be entertaining, either way.


A quick note of format: This will be a mainly gameplay AAR with some light roleplay thrown in if I feel up to it. Updates will be at least twice a week and I'll start us off with a nice summary sometime today.


Additional notes: Unfortunately partway through my game -- in 1433 -- steam automatically updated my EU3 to the latest 5.2 patch. Instead of trying to revert the game back I have decided I'll just stick it out and see how it goes.


So, there has also been a bit of indeciveness on my part about what to do about the rebels+manpower but basically I have decided to simply reload back to the point the game was patched and play through it with the only change to rebels being they have no general. (With the exception of pretenders.) Sorry for any confusion all this stuff might have caused! Hopefully nothing more will be changed.

 

[Emeny]

Table of Contents


Chapter 1 - Timur-wha?
Chapter 2 - Sleeping giants
Chapter 3 - Do, or do not
Chapter 4 - Legacy
Chapter 5 - Over the hills
Chapter 6 - Great ships still sink
Chapter 7 - Holding back the tide
Chapter 8 - A whole new world
Chapter 9 - Horde justice
Chapter 10 - Weathering the storm
Chapter 11 - Into the mists
Chapter 12 - A new era
Chapter 13 - Forward unto dawn
Chapter 14 - Old friends
Chapter 14 - The snowball effect
Chapter 15 - Dark clouds on the horizon
Chapter 16 - A challenger approaches
Chapter 17 - A dash of reality
Chapter 18 - Back on track

State Of The World - 1450

Chapter 19 - Back to work
Chapter 20 - An order to the chaos
Chapter 21 - Stalking the elusive victory
Chapter 22 - Undaunted
Chapter 23 - As the World Watches On
Chapter 24 - Breathe Easy
Chapter 25 - Last of Their Kind
Chapter 26 - Borrowed Time
Chapter 27 - Smooth Sailing
Chapter 28 - You Can Run
Chapter 29 - The Hope of a Nation

Alternate history - EU3, CK2 style

Chapter 30 - Once more, with feeling!
Chapter 31 - Is that the best you can do?
Chapter 32 - Back on our Feet
Chapter 33 - For a Better Tomorrow
Chapter 34 - Nemesis

State Of The World - 1500

Chapter 35 - Fighting Dirty
Chapter 36 - The Swelling Tide
Chapter 37 - Come on Boys... Let's Play
Chapter 38 - Chosen One


​

 

[Delta388]

Are you planning on fixing the 5.2 truce periods? Because with 5.2 manpower and 5 year truces, won't you get into some VERY tough spots pretty quickly?

 

[vasziljevics]

Are you planning on fixing the 5.2 truce periods? Because with 5.2 manpower and 5 year truces, won't you get into some VERY tough spots pretty quickly?

ZZFZ is the last beta patch _before_ the manpower changes so hopefully it won't be a problem (or at least not due to the new system).

anyway subbed.

 

[Delta388]

Oh okay then never mind, I took kind of a very long break from EU3 before the latest beta patch so I didn't know that. So yeah, you should be fine then, rampage and pillage along!

 

[ggtothemax]

i played timmies 5.2 with manpower changes on VH a while back (conquered most of europe and then got bored / distracted)

you might find some tips i left here useful

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...DW)-Empire&p=14857615&viewfull=1#post14857615

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...DW)-Empire&p=14860145&viewfull=1#post14860145

So here is what I did:
1. Build cavalry, if necessary, disband infantry. Horde can get combined arms bonus as long as you have 1 infantry unit in your army. Normally in battles infantry take big losses but cavalry don't even if you lose. Manpower is the most important thing in the game now, so fighting with infantry is the best way to deplete your manpower pool and lose. Furthermore cavalry have more 'punch' than infantry meaning you can have a smaller stack with doesn't incur attrition and still win battles
2. Make you troops fight better, save army tradition for 4-6 shock generals, get the discipline great man. If you have a stack of steppe cavalry (2 offensive shock) with a 4-6 shock general you will smash an equal size stack.
3. Stack wiping enemies isn't the be all and end all anymore. Only stack wipe when you are in a position to occupy all / most of an enemies territory. As soon as you wipe their doomstack they will recruit like crazy. You want to have occupation forces in place to kill off all newly created units. If you leave an enemy stack batter sieging one of your provinces while you seige there's and periodically fight it to stop the seige you are better off as you will inflict maximum casualties on them, draining their manpower.
4. Take tribute in poor manpower countries. Take everything else and never make peace (exception being the initial Ottoman & Mamluk war you start in. You need to make peach with one to destroy the other). The more provinces you take the more manpower you get. Don't worry about being able to hold the land.
5. Focus on one enemy at a time. Quite often a neighbouring enemy will leave your siege stacks and occupied provinces alone, even if they are right next to them (unless they have military access).
6. Allow enemies to occupy your provinces. The Timmies are surrounded by muslims who get hardly any colonists so you can let them occupy provinces for no cost (war exhaustion is negligible in 5.2). If they finally get a colonist and start settling then it might be time to act upon them with a total war (occupy all provinces, and then destroy their doom stack). But even then, letting them take a province or two until you can deal with them is fine.
7. When you don't want to fight and want to preserve your resources get into a holding pattern of disrupting sieges when they come, focusing on minimising your casualties. Never make peace, there's no point unless you are really manpower depleted and in trouble
8. Use rebels to your advantage: If you expand really fast you will get a lot of rebels. If you are always at war then you can focus on rebel stomping in your interior and let your enemies deal with the rebels near your borders.
9. Ally with all hordes. you don't want to get stabbed in the back.

 

[Emeny]

Thanks for the tips, but not to worry! I am already quite decently progressed. I will be talking about the various aspects of the hordes as i get to them.

I will say this however: Playing as the horde on very hard is not for anyone who would consider themselves sane! I recommend normal for anyone playing along, especially if your still new to the nomads.

 

[Emeny]

Chapter 1 - Timur-wha?​

Timur sat alone in his war tent, having dismissed his noisy and bickering advisors. Spread out before him where the various maps and reports of the great Timurid empire. As he reviewed them, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

(For a better view you can either rightclick - view or drag the image to a new tab.)

He had achieved much, but he was growing old and his work was not yet done. Surrounded by enemies, his country's place in the world was still precarious. With no allies and only his well meaning but untested son Khalil to carry on in his absence, he endeavoured to ensure a future for Timurid.

But first, there was governing to be done.

Our starting policies are quite horrendous. We are basically always going to be wanting for slider moves and most (or all) of them will be spent on preparing for westernisation. Apart from that we will be wanting to move free subjects, mercantilism, defensive, land and quality.

After taking some time to review his options, Timor decides some changes in the interests of Centralisation are needed. This goes on to spark a pretender rebellion, but Timur is unconcerned. Such things are common in Timurid and are little more than an annoyance.

Next, he sent out several offers of Royal Marriage to his fellow nomads in the hopes of improving relations.

Not content to let an opportunity pass him by, he also announces his intentions of subjugating the neighbouring country of Qara Koyunlu.

The armies arranged against him were numerous and it would take all of the resources Timurid had to offer to overcome them. War taxes were needed.

His affairs now in order, he left to join his troops. The coming days would see much bloodshed and he intended to lead his troops to victory.

Province Count: 39


Next time: Chapter 2 - Sleeping giants (just below)

 

[Grundius]

Province Count: 39

Keeping track of the province count ehh? I like it already Good luck!

 

[Emeny]

Keeping track of the province count ehh? I like it already Good luck!

Thanks! My goals may be a little on the crazy side, but that doesn't mean I won't give it my best!

I'm working on another bonus update just this once to get us going. Should be done by tomorrow!

 

[unmerged(271387)]

I'll be following this,but I want you to colonise eventually all of the Americas.Or atleast conquer them

 

[ATBKING]

Timmies aye? My first horde AAR. I shall follow this closely Emeny!!

 

[Emeny]

I'll be following this,but I want you to colonise eventually all of the Americas.Or atleast conquer them

No pressure or anything!

Timmies aye? My first horde AAR. I shall follow this closely Emeny!!

Glad to have you here, ATBKING!

 

[TonyJoe]

Looks great. I love gameplay AAR's

 

[Emeny]

Chapter 2 - Sleeping giants​

The invasions begin primarily on the lesser nations. The larger adversaries, namely the Ottomans, Mamluks and Delhi will take a more concentrated effort. Sieges are established and it's not long before armies begin to clash.

The main force of Qara Koyunlu leapt recklessly into the fray, attacking a leaderless Timurid army as it lays a siege to a Georgian fort. Little did they know Timur himself was waiting nearby with a relief force, unseen in the mountains.

The trap was sprung and Timur's bolstered troops devastate the Qara Koyunlu army.

Meanwhile, on the Ottoman border, the main Ottoman force is poised to invade Timurid land, which is already ripe with rebellion for the Ottoman flag.

Sometimes rebels can appear with an allegiance to a certain nation and will actually assist that nation in battle. This can be seen by their flag split into two parts. One the basic rebel flag, and another for the country they are aligned with.

Fearing a messy situation, Timur sends a diplomat to explore options for peace. The Ottomans, having better things to do than fight off barbarian hordes for years, agree to end hostiles for the token act of conceding defeat to them.

Since we are the aggressor in this war it also costs us 20 legitimacy, which is tied directly to reducing revolt risk and increasing tolerance. It's not something we should do often if we can help it.

On the other side of Timurid, the Hindu minors Sind and Kashmir are falling to our armies and Delhi seems oddly focused on Chagatai.

Nogai is also eager to join the fighting by invading the northern province of Khawarzam, which just happens to be where the pretender rebels had appeared.

The remnants of Qara Koyunlus forces are run down by Timur, ending their threat and allowing small siege forces to spread out over their provinces.

Nogai chases the pretender down and finishes him off in Kara Kum. Their bloodlust apparently sated, they then send an offer for white peace. Timur gladly accepts, but is left wondering exactly whose side they were on to begin with.

Back in the forefront, sieges have been successfully set on all provinces within the nations of Qara Koyunlu, Georgia, Jalayirids, Trebizond and Dulkadir.

Only the Mamluks are still free and able to resist Timur, but they have a problem. The province they have invaded is particularly unstable and before long trouble arises.

Not to be outdone, The Golden Horde arrives to show off their battle prowess, slaughtering a Georgian army that managed to retreat into their lands. Timur is most grateful.

---

One summers evening, Timur is enjoying a pleasant stroll with his troops, cutting through swarms of Ottoman rebels and admiring the distant sunset. He comes across a large tree with a nice view of the battle and decides to take a moment to sit, the cool breeze carrying the cries of the rebels as they fall.

His thoughts turned to his son Khalil back at home in the palace. As Timur wondered what he would be doing he suddenly he realized how little he actually knew of him. With all the time he had spent preparing his empire for his passing he had shamefully neglected to prepare his son. It was there he decided that he would return to the palace and dedicate his remaining time to teaching and getting to know Khalil.

Not long after, he received word that the Mamluk armies had taken control of Van.

The nerve of those Mamluks! He knew he would need to teach them their proper place before returning, lest rumours of some sort of weakness start to spread. Khalil would still be there in a few extra days. He started gathering as many troops as he could in order to take them on one last time.

Province Count: 39


Next time: Chapter 3 - Do, or do not

 

[yequr]

Yes! I loved Rebels without a Pause, and I'm already loving this as well

 

[The Danish King]

Looks great! Eagerly waiting the next installment.

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

Wow, finally a Horde WC AAR for DW!

 

[Monzon]

So far so good.

Subbed

 

[Emeny]

Thanks for the encouragement! I suspect I am going to need it. :unsure:

In my test game I managed to get most of Europe before crumbling under the weight of the TSCs and attrition based WE. That was back in 5.1 though and attrition is MUCH more reasonable now. The rebels are honestly bad enough without the extra +15 RR from chasing rebels around your empire. Don't try this in 5.1...

That said, luck is still going to play a huge factor and back to back TSCs could easily end me, so fingers crossed! Toes too! :happy: