Play times ... MTW

[Marcus_Gerald]

Hi all ..

I'm wondering just how long it should take a person -- newbie to start / play / win .. MTW? I realize that some newbies would be better / quicker / faster and this is hard to pinpoint, but just trying to get some idea. I also realize it depends on various factors. Like what faction one starts with and if one reads the manual or not and so on. We all have to / had to start someplace. If you were new to MTW how long should it take you to to play / win the game?

I got MTW as a gift and I'm really slow at it. I'm quite old to, so perhaps that is why I'm so slow. I have other Total war games and they were also gifts. some I haven't even opened. I did try RTW, but the micro-management of so many settlements and all, got the best of me. I own MTW, RTW-Gold with B-Invasion. MTW-II, Kingdoms. At the rate I'm going, I'll most likely die of old age before I finish all these games.

Thanks in advance !

M_G

[Puzz3D]

MTW has less micromanagement than the newer TW games. It still becomes a lot to manage after you get about half of the approximately 120 provinces. I played an MTW campaign using the MedMod all the way to the end, and it took about 3 months playing almost every day. The battles can be exhausing. I often had 1.5 hour battles in turns in the middle part of the campaign, and sometimes as many as three 1.5 hour battles in a single turn. My longest single battle lasted 3 hours. You could select a lesser objective than conquering all the provinces such as conquering half of the provinces or selecting one of the glorious achievement goals. The campaign seems to be designed for the English faction. That would be the easiest faction to play.

You can play shorter campaigns in the Viking Invasion part of the game. You only have to conquer England, and there are much fewer provinces than in the MTW campaign. You could at some point also try the Samurai Warlords mod for MTW/VI because its campaign is middle sized with only 60 provinces, and you can play to conquer half of those. The maps are also smaller than the MTW maps, so the battles take much less time to play. Also, the economics has been balanced to keep the size of the armies smaller than in the MTW campaign.

[Verrucosus]

I know the feeling. I have not played Medieval Total War a lot so far, but even Shogun (60 provinces) takes quite some time to play properly. Although I have once rushed through a Shogun campaign in less than two hours autoresolving all battles and limiting myself to two or three castles, that was certainly not the most enjoyable way of playing the game. I took much more pleasure from a long, slow-moving campaign of Rome that took the better part of five weekends to finish.

Puzz3D's recommendation of the Viking Campaign sounds good. If I remember correctly, the arrow next to the minimap in MTW allows you to automate almost everything except the actual movement of armies. Maybe you should try to play a really quick game with full automation and see how you like it. If you don't, I can assure you there is a lot of pleasure to be obtained in taking things slowly; the trick is not to think of the game as a chore you have to finish in order to get to the next one, but to really immerse yourself in your very own version of history. Nowadays my own games tend to move at the speed of a glacier. I doubt that I will play a lot of them, but I have a great time with each one.

Verrucosus

[Guildenstern]

Hello, Marcus_Gerald.

Yes, most Total War games can seem overwhelming in the beginning until experience is gained. Well, just choose a game and try to enjoy it little by little. Find little things to enjoy in the game every time you play. Find something good to feel. I think it's good to do this in the context of the game so as to not try to escape from the situation: it's not as ugly as it may seem! Just prepare for every moment in a positive and more focused manner. Don't care about time; it's all about finding your own happy way.

Regards ~;)

[Martok]

I would say the majority of us MTW players go at a somewhat slower pace -- partially because blitzing the map just isn't most people's style, and partially because it's simply much easier to enjoy oneself when playing at a leisurely pace. I can say with a fair degree of certainty that most of us take at least a few weeks to play a campaign, if not months. (My games always last at least a month or more, which is not at all unusual.)

MTW *does* take a little while to learn, regardless of age (so you can't use that as an excuse! :laugh4: ). Even once you have figured out how to play, it's still not the type of game you can just rush through. After all, you're recreating history, which certainly takes some time. ~;)

Just remember that it isn't a race, Marcus_Gerald. There's no timer, and I can assure you no one will be surprised if you end up taking months to play a single campaign. In fact, I'll tell you quite frankly that many MTW players (including myself) don't even finish a lot of our campaigns -- we sometimes reach a point where our faction is so powerful that we know victory is inevitable, and so we don't always feel the need to play to the end. Either way, there's no need to feel that you need to win in a certain amount of time.

In the end, the most important thing is to simply enjoy yourself. It's the journey that matters, not the destination at the end. ~:)

[Marcus_Gerald]

Puzz3D, Verrucosus, Guildenstern, Martok ...

Thank You folks for all the great info and quick replies. I've made some notes and I understand it is going to take some time. I'll concentrate on enjoying the game and think less about time and the end game. I think I'll check out the guides and other helpful stuff here. I've also noted that age is no excuse. :)

I don't think I have Viking Invasion .. unless that is Barbarian Invasion? I got BI with RTW-Gold. Anyway, not a big deal as I can try and pickup / find - Viking Invasion.

I'll be around (mostly reading / learning) and I think maybe I'll start a new campaign soon and take my time with it. If it takes a few months, it takes a few months. I'll try and find VI and check out the mods as well.

If there is something here that all newbies should read before they start playing MTW, then please point me to it.

Thank You All .. Much appreciated !

(I've saved these post and made some notes.)

M_G

[Verrucosus]

The most helpful guide that I have found here is frogbeastegg's "Beginner's Guide to Medieval Total War". It is topped in the MTW Guides forum. It does not assume too much knowledge about the game beyond the contents of the manual and it is very enjoyable to read. However, it is certainly not required reading and, if you would prefer to explore a game on your own, it is comprehensive enough to spoil that part of the fun. On the other hand, I doubt that Medieval Total War is the kind of game that loses its attraction once you learn how it works, so I would have a look at it.

Verrucosus

[Martok]

I don't think I have Viking Invasion .. unless that is Barbarian Invasion? I got BI with RTW-Gold. Anyway, not a big deal as I can try and pickup / find - Viking Invasion.
If you have MTW Battle Collection, MTW Gold Edition, or MTW Eras Edition, then it automatically includes the Viking Invasion expansion pack.

If you do only have vanilla MTW (that is, the original game minus the VI expansion), then my recommendation would be to pick up a copy of one of the editions I just listed -- they're a lot easier to find than a copy of just Viking Invasion, and they're usually the same price anyway. :yes:



If there is something here that all newbies should read before they start playing MTW, then please point me to it.
I second Verrucosus in recommending frogbeastegg's Beginners Guide to Medieval: Total War (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=31445).

You don't necessarily *need* to look at it -- it's admittedly a somewhat long & dense read -- but you'll likely find it helpful to at least refer to it now and then. It's chock-full of useful information, as well as basic tips for new players. :thumbsup:

[Marcus_Gerald]

Thanks Verrucosus .. I'll read the beginners guide. As far as my MTW manual goes, I loaned it with the game to a young man this past summer. He went off to school someplace and never returned them. I called his home and asked his parents if they would ask him about the game, as I would like to have it back. They never got back to me. So, I was at Walmart and picked up the game for $10.00. This wasn't anything but 2 CDs and No Manual.

I have a newer computer now and I had a heck of a time getting MTW to install. It kept asking me to insert the correct CD and once it worked, but quickly crashed back to the desktop. I did an uninstall / some temp-files cleaning / Registry cleaning / Shut everything down I could and did a reinstall. I guess I got it, but haven't applied the patch yet.

I wonder if there is an online Manual for MTW-1? The beginners guide mentioned reading it from cover to cover and then come back to the guide.

--

Thanks for the info .. Martok

I'm looking around for them. Collectors Edition is rare and not available on most of the "buy" sites I have accounts with. mainly - Ebay & Amazon. Seen the Viking invasion Ex-pack for around $30.00 plus $3.00 or so for shipping.

Total War Eras -- £15.00 out of UK. (On Game UK.)
Medieval Battle Collection -- 20.99 US (Amazon)

Medieval: Total War Gold Edition -- a few of these CD & DVD versions and some as retail box set. Most seem to be UK versions. UK versions ok?
They sell for around $11.00 each. (meaning for both MTW & VI.) CD or DVD or does it even matter?

M_G

--

[Marcus_Gerald]

Update .. Found Eras (new) for $29.00 and ordered it. Also found a PDF version of the MTW manual. I've already read about half of it. Once I finish that, I'll go on to the beginners guide and some other stuff. I've also installed the patch for MTW. Everything seems to be ok. All ..

M_G

[Martok]

Excellent! Let us know if you have further questions. :2thumbsup:

[Ravencroft]

Gotta agree with the pillars of our glorious society.

Well, Even I don't complete my campaigns because a) I get tired/bored because of frustration or b) I get tired/bored because I get too big.

Just me two cents' worth... hehe... :egypt:

[macsen rufus]

Welcome to the Org, Marcus_Gerald :bow:

It's a few years now since my very first MTW campaign, but I still recall it well; I played the Almohads on "easy" and was into every tiny little detail of micromanagement. It took me three months to finish the campaign, and it included quite a few evenings when I had battles lasting over four hours - humungous ones with ten or more stacks on either side. Mostly against the Spanish and their pesky hordes of Jinettes. Nowadays I complete campaigns a little quicker, mostly due to not allowing such super-power enemies to arise on the map, and probably being less assiduous in dealing with every single little detail, every "corrupt" governor, every broken unit etc etc. But it is still absorbing.

I can also heartily commend Froggie's guide :2thumbsup:

[caravel]

My first campaign was as the English, then I tried every other faction and I hated it and went back to STW again. It took several months for me to finally pick it up again. I hated the new stats system for generals, the titles, VnVs and all the other added toys. Eventually I went back to it and later bought VI, I haven't looked back since. But still play the occasional STW campaign.

[ArtistofWarfare]

I definitely don't think that with any of the Total War games, the player benefits from moving quickly through the campaign.

There is no rush...just an end goal. When you reach that goal, is rather irrelevant (as far as real play time).

As Martok said, I tend to see MTW:VI players going at a very, very slow pace (myself included). Still, one look through any AAR reports for M2TW or RTW would also show quite a few people who are taking literally months upon months to move through their campaign.

Whether you're sitting at your campaign map for 3 hours straight micromanaging and tweaking/perfecting, or sitting in a battle for those same 3 hours...matters not. You're still "playing" the game. Only, by spending more time planning things out and micromanaging, you're ensuring as much as possible that you don't wind up with considerable regrets later in the campaign.

It's a fine line. You don't want to become obsessive and spend 2 weeks on a turn...but it can easily turn into that, and sometimes: It's actually warranted.

I find if you just throw time out the window though and don't allow yourself to feel pressure to move along, you'll put together a far, far stronger faction than if you were trying to "get to the meat and potatoes".

The meat and potatoes is in everything...from debating which building to construct next in each of your provinces, to moving your strategic agents around the map appropriately, to fighting 3 hour battles with tens of thousands of troops. The great thing about this genre and this type of game, is again- There is no rush. Nobody would ever give you anything other than respect for taking a very long time to complete your campaign.

You do it at your own pace...and enjoy yourself as well as learn as much as you can in the process. If you're a micromanager type like this, you'll find that after 50+ turns you'll start to have your current campaign map pretty pressed into your memory and you'll be able to actually "sit at the campaign map" and plan even when you're not at the campaign map. Driving in the car, sitting at work...whatever. heh.

Definitely don't worry about your time though. As you see here, several months to complete a campaign is by no means anything extraordinary around here.

[Theodotos I]

MTW is probably the best "vanilla" game that CA ever put out. I say vanilla because I'm now completely switched over to RTW with EB. And IMHO it's better. But the thing I really liked about MTW was the Glorious Achievements campaign. There was just something about having to get points for doing things historically, rather than just conquering everything in sight, that appealed to me. That said, to play the Glorious Achievements game, you have to play all the way to 1453, so it's not for everybody. Good luck with a great old game. :yes: