noob with questions

[kensai_loki]

hey guys. thanks for reading this. will help me out a lot if u guys can answer my questions. i'm a total war junky and i have all the editions from shogun to rome. ALL. Even the expansions. but this is my first time that this happened. i lost the manual!!!!
so i have tons of questions. please help me out.... and thanks in advanced.

MERCHANT
WTF is a merchant?
how u level them up?
are they worth it? they only generate a few florins a turn.
plus u have to micromanage them and avoid other merchants....
wheres the best place to put them?
noticed different places with same resources generate diff amt of florins[???]
do u get a bonus if u monopolized all of a certain resource?
can u cannibalize your own merchants to upgrade them?
is it better to put your merchants own own territory resources or others?
what happens when your merchants gets acquired? will my florins get lesser every turn? and what if you acquire others?

FACTIONS
how do i unlock other factions? do i play all of them or just one?
is there a shorter way?
is it possible to play aztec and timurids? elephants with cannons on top? [ORGASMIC!]
what do i do to unlock americas map? sail to edge of the world?
will there be emerging factions like M1?

INQUISITORS
THEY ARE EVIL!
bloody hard to assasinate too. whats their problem?
some of my units like priests and generals have high piety and some are even new still they burned.
can we train our own inquisitor? later on in the game i mean. like M1...
is there a patch to it.....
they even torched my spy? hows that possible?

PATCHES
my version is still 1.0. is there any patch to it?
are there any bug for me to watch out?
which patch version is the best?

BUILDINGS
ok which is better? castle or city?
so far i felt city is better cause they can practically build everything a castle can and more even. whats the point of having castle then?
and whats the point with the free upkeep stuff? something like free?
is it possible to build and have more than just 1 guild in a city?
and what do i do to get more of the guilds offers pop up?

UNITS
can we cannibalize our own units to make them stronger? assassin vs assassin. i use to generate like 10 assassins and then unleashed them on each other to get the best. survival of the fittest. assassinate own captains?
should i get rid of merchants in my provinces? do they drain my resources or florins? or increases?
How do i discover gunpowder?
during the crusades or jihads, do i gain units as i go along? like in M1?
will they be for keeps or disband once it is over?
can i hire other units of diff religions?
can i destroy bridges during battle? hehehehe.....
how do i make crusades on excomm factions?
will i able to control the papacy if my cardinal becomes pope?
how do i get my cardinal to become pope?
what are the perks if i vote the right cardinal and he becomes pope?
do my priest and cardinal gain experience if i were to send them to non catholic provinces which i dont own and stayed there?
how do i get my general to gain piousness? have a priest attached to him all the time?
my opponents units and turns move too slowly. how do i speed it up other than pressing spacebar? it can get to 5 mins!!!
what are the repercussions if i were to raid and eliminate the papacy?
how do i improve better relations with other factions? sometimes they hate me for nothing.
do mercenary units become rebels after i disband them? fav tactic in shogun.... heheheh.
is there a 1 person unit in the game. i really miss my kensai..... ok mybe hashashin battle units? please say yes.....

thats all i got for the moment but i'm sure to have more questions soon. overall i see alot of improvement in M2. been playing it for only 2 days. feel free to post me with other matters that require my attention, a heads up i mean. thanks dudes and dudettes!

[Ravencroft]

Hi there, Kensai_Loki

Here are some answers(don't expect much, I'm new to M2TW too, but I also play

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

MTW

)

Merchants are needed to exploit trade resources. Without these guys, your settlements won't earn that much.

You can level them up by taking over another merchant's goods. Sometimes, this won't work though.

Try placing them in provinces far from other factions, that way, they're not disturbed much.

You unlock most factions by eliminating them using one of the five starting factions, or,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You edit the game files like this

Yes you can play as the aztecs/timurids, but not on the campaign map.

Castles bring in less money, but they build better troops; Cities are the reverse.
Cavalry and the cooler soldiers are only trained in castles.

Yes, try asking about the latest version. I myself haven't gotten any patch yet.

Gunpowder arrives via a game event, don't worry, it'll come sooner or later.

Ask the pope to commission a crusade; And the excommed faction settlements will appear.

And No, you won't be able to control the pope, but his nationality influences your relations with him.

No one-man units, sorry.

Keep your alliances, that way, other factions trust you. Not really!

[FactionHeir]

I would suggest you read the manual first, then the FAQ thread in this forum (sticky at the top, just post 1).

Then ask again.

[MerlinusCDXX]

I would suggest you read the manual first, then the FAQ thread in this forum (sticky at the top, just post 1).

Then ask again.

he specifically mentioned that he lost the manual...but yeah kensai_loki, check out the FAQ, and the latest patch is 1.2 for the non-expansion version, 1.3 for kingdoms (if you install kingdoms your game will be patched to 1.3 from the disc

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

I can answer most of your questions, hell ive lost the manual plenty of times
Merchants

WTF is a merchant?
A merchant is somebody you use to gain advantage of the numerous resources in the game , such as if you see textiles, they can be sold by your merchants

how u level them up?
You can do this by improving the place they are recruited at, or gaining the assets of rival factions merchants

are they worth it? they only generate a few florins a turn.
It depends, certain resources, such as gold and silver, may bring you 30-50 gold each turn, but the price varies at the distance from your capitol, say you had a capitol as edinburgh, As the Scottish do, and then you had a merchant near Cairo, you would make more money for the product even if there was one near your capitol, as prices increase at distances.

plus u have to micromanage them and avoid other merchants....
If your merchant is a high level, you wont have to worry about him too much

wheres the best place to put them?
Anywhere which has a high priced resource and is at a distance from your capitol, such as say Cairo had gold in it, it would be worth more than gold closer to your captiol

noticed different places with same resources generate diff amt of florins[???]
It depends on the distance from your captiol, aswell as what other factions trade you and if they control certain resources

do u get a bonus if u monopolized all of a certain resource?
I dont think so, i think somebody said you might get a bonus if you allow nobody to take a certain resource, as an increased price would come up if you were the only faction selling it

can u cannibalize your own merchants to upgrade them?
No, atleast i dont think so

is it better to put your merchants own own territory resources or others?
It depends again on the distance, but it probably would be a better idea to have them a distance from your capitol

Factions

how do i unlock other factions? do i play all of them or just one?
is there a shorter way?
To unlock a faction you must destroy them, so if you were england, you destroyed scotland, when you save you can then play their campaign. There is a specific way of changing the text files in descr_strat, where you put all factions to playable, and therefore you can play all of the factions, although you cannot play slave or papal states, as these factions are bugged and need modification

is it possible to play aztec and timurids? elephants with cannons on top? [ORGASMIC!]
Yes, just change the descr_strat files, im not sure about the cannon-elephant though

what do i do to unlock americas map? sail to edge of the world?
I am not sure about this one, it is possible

will there be emerging factions like M1?
You mean like vassals, or the two actually joining so they cannot backstab each other like in m2tw they frequently do.

Inquisitors

bloody hard to assasinate too. whats their problem?
They have been sent by the pope to find heretics and have them executed for treason. The pope is a power angry madman, he will not allow heretics to think differently

some of my units like priests and generals have high piety and some are even new still they burned.
A high piety should usually save them, but i have seen priests burned by inquisitors, but never people with a high piety

can we train our own inquisitor? later on in the game i mean. like M1...
No

is there a patch to it.....
There might be, i dont know

they even torched my spy? hows that possible?
Very, they are the least pious of all, spying on ladies getting changed, the popes wife

Patches
my version is still 1.0. is there any patch to it?
If that is the original that you get with the disk, there are many patches

are there any bug for me to watch out?
Many

which patch version is the best?
I dont know im still playing vanilla with no kingdoms, i dont know how to edit the files with mods

Buildings

ok which is better? castle or city?
It depends on where the thing is, if it is on a border, then you might want a castle to produce men to attack and defend, if you want it for economy, then you would choose town as it has more money making aspects

so far i felt city is better cause they can practically build everything a castle
Untrue, i do believe castles can build more unit buildings, aswell as upgraded towers, as castles can get citadels and seem to have better terrains to defend

can and more even. whats the point of having castle then?
Defence, and getting soldiers to the frontiers quickly

and whats the point with the free upkeep stuff? something like free?
Free upkeep is where you dont have to pay the units that have the symbol on, which will therefore put your upkeep down

is it possible to build and have more than just 1 guild in a city?
I think you can upgrade the guild you have in the city, but no, just one guild

and what do i do to get more of the guilds offers pop up?
I think if you produce a lot of merchants, the merchants guild thing is more possible to come up

Units

can we cannibalize our own units to make them stronger? assassin vs assassin. i use to generate like 10 assassins and then unleashed them on each other to get the best. survival of the fittest. assassinate own captains?
No, unless a general rebels, you cannot assassinate him, and also you cannot get assassins to kill each other

should i get rid of merchants in my provinces? do they drain my resources or florins? or increases?
They do not drain income, they just dont allow merchants to trde the resource they are trading

How do i discover gunpowder?
It happens at a certain time period, you research it in your alchemy lab

during the crusades or jihads, do i gain units as i go along? like in M1?
You purchase them along the way, crusaders cost much less than mercenarys, and are often of better quality than mercenarys

will they be for keeps or disband once it is over?
If you travel slowly to your crusade target, they will desert you, but if you get there and take it over you can keep them, but when the crusade is over you have to pay the units

can i hire other units of diff religions?
Im not sure about orthodox, the units will probably just be bought in the different areas, like gallogiah in ireland and scotland

can i destroy bridges during battle? hehehehe.....
No, but you can make catapults shoot at them, if an enemy is on them

how do i make crusades on excomm factions?
If you go onto the pope page, there is a circle with something in it, if it is grey, it means there is a crusade in progress, it is too soon since the last crusade, or you do not have enough papal favour to call a crusade, if it is blue you can attempt to call a crusade, but this only works sometimes

will i able to control the papacy if my cardinal becomes pope?
No, but you will gain lots of papal support, aswell as the increased ability to call crusades, and the pope will turn the other way when you destroy other factions. The pope also begins to dislike factions that your faction dislikes

how do i get my cardinal to become pope?
Get him a very high piety by killing heretics, convert countries religions, etc

what are the perks if i vote the right cardinal and he becomes pope?
The faction will like you much more, as will the pope

do my priest and cardinal gain experience if i were to send them to non catholic provinces which i dont own and stayed there?
They always convert the population, so they may gain experience

how do i get my general to gain piousness? have a priest attached to him all the time?
Have a priest in the army, release prisoners, get chivalry, do crusades etc

my opponents units and turns move too slowly. how do i speed it up other than pressing spacebar? it can get to 5 mins!!!
When you start a campaign, there is a box that saus show AI movement or something along those lines, just untick the box

what are the repercussions if i were to raid and eliminate the papacy?
Immediate excommunication, even more crusades directed at you, all catholic nations will dislike you, etc

how do i improve better relations with other factions? sometimes they hate me for nothing.
You can give them gifts, but the main cause of your relations falling might be religion, or the difference in wealth or the size of armies, or moving armies through territories which they have no given you military rights

do mercenary units become rebels after i disband them? fav tactic in shogun.... heheheh.
No, they dissapear, the only time my units have ever gone rebel is if a low loyalty general commands a large army, but you can never make him come back to your family...

is there a 1 person unit in the game. i really miss my kensai..... ok mybe hashashin battle units? please say yes.....
I dont think there is, if you can get a unit down to 1 man, then pull him out, you could have a 1 man unit, but i dont know for much so meh

Well i hope this helps, took me like 30 mins to type it lol