hi im new. i need help

[salemty]

hi ive played rtw for a while and just started m2tw and finding it very hard. i never know what to build, i always go bankrupt and even though i was great at battles in rtw im terrible at them in m2tw. plz help me

[Must`]

Try reading FAQ topic above and guides for specific factions

[salemty]

i have but im still finding it very hard. the battles i seem to lose a LOT more men throught auto-resolve than me actually fighting it

[Martok]

Could you give us some specifics (i.e., which faction you're playing, the difficulty level, whether you're playing any mods, etc.)? That would help. :yes:

[salemty]

ok, ive played as spain and england and i play on easy/easy and i dont know what to do what cities to take and i usually get bored of it

[Flavius Merobaudes]

Have you patched your game? Because without patches it will be buggy and next to impossible to have satisfying tactical battles. You could try the retrofit mod: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=1581
It will give you a better unit balance and improved battlefield mechanics and doesn't change anything else. Maybe battles are indeed a bit harder in MTW2 than they were in RTW, which at least I think is a good thing.

Economy also works different than it did in RTW. Learn how to train your merchants and how to get the most benefit from diplomacy. Actually, you don't need a big army - cut down those military expenses and start building towards economy and population growth. This might help you: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=104416


ok, ive played as spain and england and i play on easy/easy and i dont know what to do what cities to take and i usually get bored of it

Well, that's up to you. This is a strategy game and you have to develop your own plans and set your own goals. The game gives you a starting position and from there on you are free.

Finally, MTW2 is far more complex than RTW. So one needs some time to get to know it.

[Vlad Tzepes]

Salemty, if you liked RTW, you'll love MTW 2. Read some faction guides on this forum, if you feel like you really need help and don't have the time or will to discover by yourself.

If you want a piece of advice from me - keep armies under control, you don't need huge numbers at the begining. First develop economy, farms, ports and markets, roads. Use diplomacy to cash in some good money by selling maps and making alliances. Getting other factions to pay you tribute is easy in the early stages of the campaign. Expand on rebel cities, sack. Keep castle numbers low.

Have fun!

[Quintus.JC]

Hi Salemty. It’s best you read some guides on MII: Total war first, it shouldn’t be too hard for a R:TW players to adapt to MII, MII maybe more complexes but they aren’t that different from RTW. I’ll write you a short guide on how to start as England in MII:TW.

The English begin with three provinces under their control with castles at Nottingham and Caen and the capital city at London. The Scots to the north and the French to the south represent the only immediate threat. Early expansion is best achieved by conquering the nearby rebel towns both in the British isles and mainland Europe. You have three starting family members, all of whom are historically people. Your faction leader is King William the conquer. Faction heir being William Rufus and the other one is Robert, who is across the channel.

Early expansion
You should receive a mission from the council of nobles to take York, a rebel town close to Nottingham. You should make short work of this, York is very weakly garrisoned although you probably don’t want to attain too much casualty to you men early on. Try to rest King William in London as he won’t live long enough, let Rufus fight all the battles so when he becomes King he’ll have many commander stars and hopefully authorities as well. Your next target in the British isles should be Caernarfon (in Wales). Just be ware that this will be harder than York as the rebels are mostly made of Welsh longbowmen, who can do you lots of damage if you attempt to assault the walls. It’s best to bring a lot of cavalry and starve them out, when the Welsh longbowmen rushes out slaughter them with your cavalry, low-tier missile infantry are still weak in MII:TW. Covert it to a city straight away as there is no need of a castle apart from Nottingham in Britain. Across the channels taking Rennes (West of Caen) should be an simple task, the French will be interested as well so get their ahead of them, but there’s no need to rush.

Agent Movements.
Your starting spy, Richard should be used to penetrate rebel settlements to build up his subterfuge. He’ll become useful watching the Scots for you.
Your diplomats should be travelling around the world just like in RTW. But make alliances wisely as there is more consequences in bad diplomacy in MIITW than in RTW. It’s best to link up with the Papals states and at least one of the Italian factions.
Your Princess should be trying to marry foreign general into your own faction, Cecilia should be able to do that but if not then you can marry her to one of the faction heirs to you ally to further straighten your alliance.
You also have a merchant and a priest, use them accordingly to your advantages.

Buildings
London is your capitcal and financial centre, there is very little need to it to have any military buildings, mainly focus on administration and economic buildings in London, it will also be responsible for recruiting naval and agents for you early on.

Nottingham is your most populated castle at the start, concentrate it on recruiting some sort of cavalry and archers, the English famed for their archers and you should definitely take advantage of this.

Caen is your lone settlement across the sea. Some fortification might be needed, focus this castle on infantry and archers. Billmen will be needed for your early conquests.

Attained Settlements: York and Caernarfon should be converted into cities to help your finical cause. While Rennes might have to stay as castle (or convert to one) as you have to be wary of the French early on.

Diplomacy
The French cannot be trusted, although they aren’t always hostile to you. The Scots is a thorn at the back and must be destroyed before any serious conflict at the mainland occurs. The Holy Roman Empire is a great power in centre Europe but that might not be for long. The Danes are likely to clash with you once you capture Antwerp, those are your early enemies. You allies should consist of one of the Iberian faction, one of the Italian factions, Poland and some others of your choice. Its best not to ally yourself with a Muslim faction to avoid trouble with the Pope.

Expansion after the first stage.
After York and Caernarfon you could start to think about Scotland, but be cautious. You must blitz the Scots with one decisive blow, you can’t afford to linger around for too long or else the Papal stages might intervene. Make sure you are strong enough though, or else this could back-fire and you can end up facing a possible Scottish invasion.
In mainland Europe after acquiring Rennes you should head north-east into the rich part of the Flanders. Bruges and Antwerp are all wealthy settlements, but guarded by relatively strong rebel forces, and also attracts attention from other factions such as HRE and Denmark. Ideally after 60 turns you should have 11 settlements. 8 Being cities including London, Dublin, Inverness, Edinburgh, Caernarfon, York, Bruges and Antwerp. The other are castles. Finding a balance between castle and cities will the key of your success (I find it useful to have a much lesser number of castles than cities).

After that you could start to think about major expansion in Europe, France, HRE and Denmark are likely to be at war with you anyway so they’ll be next……. And after defeating some major powers you should have your army at full strength and making uses of the awesome English archers. Good luck on your campaign.

[salemty]

thx for help. but i really could use a battle guide. i enjoy fighting battles myself so it really annoyes me that in autoresolve i lose a lot less men. could someone help me

[Flavius Merobaudes]

Could you be more specific on when and why you lose so many men?

I found that sieges are a lot harder in MTW2, mostly because defenders get a huge bonus on the walls. That is totally unrealistic and makes sieges a total slugfest. As a conclusion, I now try to avoid the walls, but it's still normal to lose a lot of men in a siege.

Which tactics to use on the battlefield depends largely on your and the enemy's army composition. So I cannot give any advise here. As a matter of fact, I had huge problems on the battlefield when I first played MTW2 coming from RTW and it took some time to get used to it.

For example, cavalry behaves totally different. They are now more powerful when charging, but very vulnerable when bogged down.

Personally, I try to field armies of various unit types for different tasks. Sometimes I use sophisticated tactics but mostly it's just cheap old tricks like flanking and surrounding against the stupid AI. Anyway it works...

I'm sure, a lot of people here could give you a detailed battlefield tactics guide, as we all have them in our minds, but this will take quite some time to write down and end up being a lot of text.

Still, the best way is to do some custom battles (a lot of them) and get some experience in handling the units and get a feeling of how they behave. After some time, it's mostly intuitive.

[IrishBoy]

I had that problem too salemty.When you start a new campaign start building roads ,markets ,farming ,and ports ,this should give your economy a good starting position.Next recruit diplomats and make trade agreements with other factions.Now you should have your kingdom well on its feet in a few turns.Start taking over rebel settelments to expand your empire (Remember, money is the key to victory.If you have money you'll have armies).I hope this helps you!:egypt:

[Flavius Merobaudes]

Welcome to the org, IrishBoy!~:cheers:

The first turns of a campaign are decisive indeed. I always try to rush in a good position before pausing and consolidating. After that, I check the situation and adjust my plans accordingly.

[IrishBoy]

Thank's for that Flavius Merobaudes. I'm sure i'll enjoy sharing my tactics and stratagies with other members as well as learning new ones:2thumbsup:

[LadyAnn]

ok, ive played as spain and england and i play on easy/easy and i dont know what to do what cities to take and i usually get bored of it

Welcome to the club, am bored playing the campaign as well. Never finished any TW campaign :D

Annie