Unbeatable Enemies and other newbie frustrations

So I've been playing MTW 1.1 for about a month (bought the CD from Walmart online - no manual, ouch!) and have had two really frustrating things happen to me.

1st, I was the Turks playing on Normal-Early and took care of the Egyptians then turned to the Byzantines. I had a big income and a lot of units and I guess they were a bit spread out at first and I pretty much walked over them, going west into modern Turkey and northwest around the Black sea. Well everything was fine except I defeated a Byzantine army in Crimea and I killed everyone in their army there except their general, a 7 or 9 star katapraktoi who exited before I could get him. Well, he went into the fort there. I clicked on the fort next turn and it said that the fort wouldn't fall to a seige. Well, I had about 150 men available there - nothing special probably a unit of spear, a unit of archers of some kind, and a unit of milita maybe (I don't remember now it was a week ago) so I decide to assault the fort, thinking 150 to 1 is pretty good odds. I used the spear to break down the gate, threw some arrows on there (no effect) then sent in my infantry. Well, that general defeated me despite being surrounded and the unbelievable odds. He just kept killing my guys. So anyway I was pretty mad (at the game mostly) and I put about 300 men into the Crimea for an assault next year. I did that (and this time I let the computer resolve the attack, trying not to let any incompetence on my part get in the way), and I got the message that I lost like 167 men, was defeated, and had to pay so many florins to get my army back. Well, that was too much for me and I quit that game.

Questions: What was I supposed to do? Was I not able to put seige to the fort because there was a port in Crimea that could have connected it to another byzantine province with a port on the black sea?

2nd - similar thing playing the Almohads Early-Hard and fighting against El Cid. I defeat his army (all gone/dead) but cannot kill him (he's a Jinet) even though I have 5 or 6 units left including Almohad Urban militia, Berber Camels, Spear. Time runs out and I'm the loser, my 200 men left against his 1. What am I supposed to do?


3rd - I have figured out a lot of the game by playing and reading FAQs, etc. including getting a unit tech tree from the files area (although it's hard to understand everything), but what I'd really like to see is a manual (my game didn't come with one). Does anyone know if there's a pdf or other version of the manual available online somewhere?

Thanks!

Jedi generals in Castles are very very very deadly... beardy cheesy kind of deadly. Best thing to do is get seige weapons... and drop them on his head... they kill with one hit if they hit.

Spears and lots of them. Crossbows too.

Generals need to be killed with missles. Even if it means shooting some of your own troops.

As for a manual, read the guides on this site. They will help with the basics. Just look through the medievel section.

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Originally Posted by petertmorgan

So I've been playing MTW 1.1 for about a month (bought the CD from Walmart online - no manual, ouch!) and have had two really frustrating things happen to me.

1st, I was the Turks playing on Normal-Early and took care of the Egyptians then turned to the Byzantines. I had a big income and a lot of units and I guess they were a bit spread out at first and I pretty much walked over them, going west into modern Turkey and northwest around the Black sea. Well everything was fine except I defeated a Byzantine army in Crimea and I killed everyone in their army there except their general, a 7 or 9 star katapraktoi who exited before I could get him. Well, he went into the fort there. I clicked on the fort next turn and it said that the fort wouldn't fall to a seige. Well, I had about 150 men available there - nothing special probably a unit of spear, a unit of archers of some kind, and a unit of milita maybe (I don't remember now it was a week ago) so I decide to assault the fort, thinking 150 to 1 is pretty good odds. I used the spear to break down the gate, threw some arrows on there (no effect) then sent in my infantry. Well, that general defeated me despite being surrounded and the unbelievable odds. He just kept killing my guys. So anyway I was pretty mad (at the game mostly) and I put about 300 men into the Crimea for an assault next year. I did that (and this time I let the computer resolve the attack, trying not to let any incompetence on my part get in the way), and I got the message that I lost like 167 men, was defeated, and had to pay so many florins to get my army back. Well, that was too much for me and I quit that game.

Questions: What was I supposed to do? Was I not able to put seige to the fort because there was a port in Crimea that could have connected it to another byzantine province with a port on the black sea?

2nd - similar thing playing the Almohads Early-Hard and fighting against El Cid. I defeat his army (all gone/dead) but cannot kill him (he's a Jinet) even though I have 5 or 6 units left including Almohad Urban militia, Berber Camels, Spear. Time runs out and I'm the loser, my 200 men left against his 1. What am I supposed to do?


3rd - I have figured out a lot of the game by playing and reading FAQs, etc. including getting a unit tech tree from the files area (although it's hard to understand everything), but what I'd really like to see is a manual (my game didn't come with one). Does anyone know if there's a pdf or other version of the manual available online somewhere?

Thanks!

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If you don't have missiles, you have to "charge" (double-left click) repeatedly (press halt then re-charge again) to finish the AI General off. Generals have a lot of 'hit points' for a lack of a better word. So you either pepper with arrows or the (overpowered and unbalanced) crossbows or arbalests or charge from the back while pinning with spear infantry.

1) Soften the AI General with arrows (don't overdo it or he might die)
2) Charge with Spears.
3) When the General routs (as expected), use a fast light horse to catch him from the backside. (Position your cavalry on the extreme flank and slowly walk them to the back without the AI recognizing).
4) Ransom the enemy.

Go to www.replacementdocs.com for the MTW manual.

Remember to always hit from the back, where every unit is vulnerable, with a cavalry for instant-routs. Also put your cavalry on wedge for maximum effectiveness. Use light cavalry, particularly the Steppe cavs (they are the best unit in the game, arguably). Lastly, if you do this to Kataphracts, use at least a heavy cavalry with powerful charge (ie. Armenian Heavy Cavs).

yep, what they said. Add a high command gen to increase your troops effectiveness, don't swarm the jedi with low att troops (he only fights two at a time regardless of the number), so use high att troops and it him front and rear, keep dropping rocks on his head, in addition to lots of arrows, and have reserves ready cause eventually he'll tire.

Also, the Turks lack a really good javelin troop, but try to pick up a few stick-throwers and add them to the hail of missiles

ichi:bow:

Thanks for the help - I think I can get over my frustration now that I know the tricks. Fortunately, the game seems reasonably realistic so as not to have too many other situations like this...