Total War/YMMV: Difference between revisions

** The entire Mongol faction, the Mongols in the first game in particular. ''Medieval II'''s Mongol horde was manageable if you had the right units in your army (lots of light and heavy cavalry.) In the first game, the Mongols got dropped in Khwarezm with about 10,000 men, ''far'' more soldiers than any one faction is liable to possess by that time. They made the Russian High Era start the hardest faction in the game. Don't get us wrong though; the Mongols of ''II'' are ''not'' to be messed with... and that applies to the ones who turn up in ''Shogun I'' too...

** While we're striding on to ''Medieval II''... '''Inquisitors'''. If you don't want these jerks killing your entire royal family and all your diplomats and merchants, you'd better have plenty of assassins on hand, because that's the ''only'' way to deal with them ([http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=7636371#post7636371 other than putting them in a glass then stepping on them]). For that matter, the whole damn Catholic Church is a Demonic Spider ([[South Park|no pun]]). The Papal favor rates are entirely random to start with, and are almost entirely random throughout the game, as you can LOSE favor for not building enough churches, or even while building plenty of churches. It can get to a point where you can be struggling merely to exist, and the Pope will FORCE you to devote your glorious faction leader to a pointless Crusade of Buttfuck, Nowhere or else be excommunicated. Even worse is when another Catholic faction decides it wants your land, attacks you, you attack it back, manage to retake your land, then while you're besieging your old capital, the Pope tells you to STOP FIGHTING WITH SAID FACTION and that if you attack them again within 10 turns, you will be EXCOMMUNICATED! Even just taking back your old capital will get you punished, and in the end THEY will get off with HUGE Papal favor... of course, if you know how to take advantage of the Papcy's crazy mindset, you can actually turn the tables right back on the other Catholic nations. Sure, the Pope will order you to hold off on attacking your enemies, but he won't bat an eye at you maneuvering an army into their territory and parking it right outside their city, and attacking the moment the enforced truce ends. The real trick to beating most Catholic nations is to launch coordinated assaults on multiple cities at once, or if you're man enough, just power through the excommunication. It's only a 20% penalty to public order, anyway....

* [[Evil Is Cool]]: Several factions with the right motifs can seem like this.

* [[Goddamned Bats]]: Though he's not (usually) an enemy to the Catholic nations, the Pope is nothing short of ''incredibly'' annoying. You get right in the middle of destroying your hated (and usually campaign-specific) enemy, and he demands you stop the war for five to seven turns. You don't, enjoy your excommunication. Not to mention he'll essentially ''force'' you to build a Crusade army and sometimes demand your faction leader take command of it. And he'll also send [[Demonic Spiders|Inquisitors]] to your lands.

** Though you ''can'' take advantage of the Pope's annoying tendencies by hitting a Catholic nation and triggering a "truce." Immediately afterward, during the "lull" in the war, you can move units into enemy territory, right next to their cities, without being molested by the enemy, who will be excommunicated if ''they'' attack you. Then, the moment the enforced truce ends, you can hit them with a coordinated assault, taking multiple cities. Next turn, the Pope calls for another truce. Rinse and repeat.

** If you take control of Italy and have a decent number of cardinals, it's possible to rig the Papal elections. Assault Rome, kill the Pope, and elect your Preferati into the Papacy. Wham. Instant reconciliation, perfect relations with the Papal States, and you can order up Crusades on demand. And if your elected Pope becomes troublesome (like, say, demanding Rome back) and excommunicates you, an experienced assassin can put him in his place.

* [[Historical Hero Upgrade]]: George Washington (the classic example) in the "Road to Independence" campaign in ''Empire.''

** Arguably, ''L'Empereur'' himself in his campaigns in ''Napoleon.''