Regarding unit uses and stats

Hey folks,

I bought MTWII and, ummm, I don't know what the heck I'm doing in regards to what units do what and what the unit stats are also. :oops:

RTW is easier to understand than this era! :beam:

I'm currently reading the Smithsonian "history of warfare" series which IS helping, but not really in game.

I found out about how to get a good charge for cav. but I need unit info and stats. I simply won't play another campaign without knowing what does what.

Btw, I bought the strategy guide by Brady games, and then returned it after reading in a post that the unit stats where wrong! :thumbsdown:

Hellas1-Heeeellllllpppppp!

It depends on what facton your playing, but for a rule of thumb, castle units create the "core" and "elite" units, while citys provide bulk and garrion (cheap spears, archers, some li ght cav). Read the unit descriptons. Also keep your mens armor updated, it might not seem to help alot but it does, and it looks great to see your town milita in full mail while the enemys are half naked :P. Also 2 handed units are buggy... i read over at the TWcenter that some 2h men dont attack at all sometimes or there animations are broken causeing little to no kills. Unless your sure, i would steer away from most 2h units.

What I recommend is pick your faction and start a campaign. Go to the building browser for a settlement and right click on the troop producing buildings. They will list what troops you can get at what level. If you right click on the unit, it will pull up the unit card with a full description and the key stats. That way you can see your entire unit line up and what buildings you need to get them. I copied down the stats for England and posted them in the English guide:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...09&postcount=7

Beyond that, M2TW seems very like RTW. Let me take you throw the English roster.

You have the following types:

Missiles - pretty much the same as in RTW; for England in M2TW, these are a key strength.

Swords - relatively more powerful than RTW, although I guess you could say armoured swordsmen are England's cohorts. Perfect for sieges (attacking or defending). Arguably the toughest units in the game.

Poleaxes - AP heavy infantry without shields; higher attack, lower defence than swords. Good flankers.

Spears - best for receiving a cavalry charge, but otherwise pretty lousy for England.

Cavalry - devastating charge like RTW, but much less robust to counter-attack

Artillery - I haven't played around much with these, but helps reduce losses in sieges: blast towers, units on walls etc before sending in the breaching parties.

Within each category, just shoot for the best in class. This makes billmen pretty redundant, for example, when you have dismounted English knights. Purchase price may be a good summary statistic, as it is supposed to be balanced for MP.

Other factions have more "exotic" (to English eyes) stuff - pikes, halberds, missile cav, skirmishing infantry etc. But most of that was in RTW.

But to be honest, I would not worry about stats. Use the units as they should be used historically. (Then come back here and start grumbling when they don't perform as you expect... :wink:)

Do not use billmen, or any 2-handed axemen, for they are bugged and do not attack cavalry. Therefore, England is pretty much hopeless until those units are patched, since it almost entirely relies on billmen.