Quote Originally Posted by The Great Apple
Post number one:

1) I have here the tech tree that came with the game, but it doesn't seem to be correct. For instance, as the English, in one city I have a Swordsmiths Workshop. According to the tech tree I should be able to build Civalric Men-at-Arms. But I can't... I should also be able to builid longbowmen at a place with a master bowyer right?

2) Some things in this game seem a bit cumbersome. For example: Castle walls should not mysteriously fire arrows! You should have to put archers inside the castle for it to be able to shoot you! Also you have no option to not ransom back the prisoners from a fight. I often find myself killing them at then end, as I don't need money, and I often take about twice as many prisoners as I kill.

There are so many little things which could make this game sooo much better. The RTS element is good, but I supose, being a civ player, I want the turn-based bit to be more like civ...

Now, to find a place to put post number two...
Welcome, fellow civ player! MTW is definitely NOT like civ. Its focus is on the RTS battles, not the building/strategy level. It's still a fun game though.

Some units are not available until the High or Late periods of the game. Any Civalric unit won't be available until 1205 (or there abouts). Gothic units aren't available until the Late period (don't remember the date). Longbowmen become available in High. Unfortunately, the tech tree doesn't identify the time period in which units are available. There some better tech trees in the files/download page, but they don't have "dates" either.

Your other issues are even more design-related. Look on the bright side: not many arrows come at you from those castle walls; it's not like they're given several groups of archers to harrass you with.

As for prisoners, I believe they're being historically acurate. I don't think POW camps were common until much later. So, what's your choices? Ransom them back or kill 'em. Ransoming them means you have to fight them again. Killing them affects your vice/virtue. I normally just ransom them back to make the game a bit more difficult. There may be a happy medium in killing about half the prisoners; just kill what you captured about halfway through the battle and ransom the rest. That should slow down your vice problem and return fewer men to the enemy.