Total Noob here with a couple of questions

[fuddha]

Welcome Weegee!

All I have to say to you is:
Are you absolutely positively sure about playing MTW??! MTW should come with a warning about possible addiction problems...

If you really want to play it, be prepared to lose a month or two of your life to it. If you are willing to make such a sacrifice be prepared to be engulfed completely. Now, don't you try saying later that we didn't warn you!

1) There is no best faction to play with, everyone has it's own style. Choose a faction that "feels right". Choose someone that you can identify with. For newb play, choose a faction that has more than one choice of development. Written intro should tell you more or less what you need to know.

!!! Don't choose highly specialised nations such as trading Sicily or Denmark !!!

2) Things to do:
get plenty of money --> build armies --> get more provinces -->upgrade them to gain money from them; wash, rince and repeat

Things to avoid:
Maybe it's just my opinion, but crusades are a total waste of time and resources if you ask me. When I think about it, don't ask me!

PS take your time and read the guides. Also don't hesitate to ask any question that might seem stupid to you. We will gladly clarify it to you and have a good laugh while at it... It's a win-win situation!!

[macsen rufus]

Hi Weegee,

If you really want to play it, be prepared to lose a month or two of your life to it. If you are willing to make such a sacrifice be prepared to be engulfed completely. Now, don't you try saying later that we didn't warn you!

What Fuddha says is true, except for the couple of months, I think he meant years ....

I reckon your laptop should be okay, I'm using a Toshiba Satellite, which has a "16Mb" video card that is really only 12Mb according to my system properties, external CD ROM cos the built in DVD broke, so on video alone it is supposedly below min spec. I usually turn the pyrotechnics down to about 20%, use small units (less number crunching) and rarely bother with music. I can play MTW, STW and VI, but RTW, no way - can't even play the demo properly. Still, I stopped worrying about RTW since I got the Hellenic Mod for MTW VI

Crusades and Jihads do have uses, so long as you don't use them like the AI does, and you get units you can't train to play with. Not forgetting the one huge advantage of not having to pay them whilst they're on crusade...

One reason it's so absorbing is that it's one of the least 'gameable' games around - unless you look really hard, you won't find many exploits, so you have to use real tactics rather than just confuse the machine to win.

[NobodyExpects]

I tended to play either the English or Spanish the most when I started, and found both quite good for a beginner (advantages being early access to cavalry, and early expansion).

Things to avoid:
Maybe it's just my opinion, but crusades are a total waste of time and resources if you ask me. When I think about it, don't ask me!

For the most part, I would agree with fuddha's comments. However, he and I may dispute the value of crusades...

When you can get an early series of crusades (the first thing I'd build in Castile was a chapterhouse!), you can get a number of useful units, specifically the foot and knights. I would use crusades to complete the reconquista (clearing the Moors from Spain), and take Morocco (as a convenient block to the Alhomands). These units are superior to Fuedal Knights (they are disciplined), and will be useful for years, IMHO...

[weegee]

Wow. Thanks for the great responses, guys. Game should arrive by Thursday from Amazon, so I have been and will continue to spend time reading through these boards and the beginners guide you mentioned getting ready. I definitely have a lot to learn. I'm pretty quick though, growing up through the Atari age. One of my favorite games was Ghenghis Kahn (on the Sega system if I remember correctly, although maybe it was Ninetendo. Seems so long ago). The principals seem to be the same, although MTW clearly much more sophisticated. Can't wait.

I'm Sicilian by blood so I'm sure I'll be leading them very soon, but I guess I'll take a stab with the Spaniards or English until I can prove myself.

One more question. What is the sprite ratio? Is it 1 for 1 on the battle displays for infantry, cavalry, etc.

[kiwitt]

!!! Don't choose highly specialised nations such as trading Sicily or Denmark !!!

Unless you want a real challenge !

After Spain and England, I choose these two. However, I have played every faction, just to see how they develop. Mostly I play Western Christian.

As to Sprites ... each soldier on screen is individual and you can only attack one man with two. e.g. if you are fighting one "King" only two of you troops can attack him, even if you have 200 units in your group. It has been known for one King to kill 200 men single-handedly.

[el_slapper]

It always seemed to me that English was THE faction of the game, the one it is designed too, others being just variations. Maybe due to the fact that CA is an English company.....

Anyways, I support other's choice by saying English. Destroy the French as your first move(and destroy the English for your first move if you happen to play the French!). There must be only one

[weegee]

that's pretty cool that the display is 1 to 1. Most RTS games I've played are usually in the 10 to 1 or even 20 to 1 range. Even though the rule with the king sounds a little bit overkill (excuse the pun), it makes sense from a chivalric/sign of the times sort of angle. After all, the king was supposed to be the man, the best soldier in all the land, etc. etc.

Some more questions:

I've tried looking at those tech maps, but I can't make heads from tails. Mostly because they don't print up quite right. Can someone break down or maybe point me to a post that breaks down the role and use of these "buildings". I'll admit that it's a new concept to me. I think I understand that they each 1) probably cost a certain amount of money and 2) serve some sort of role as to building your army, feeding your army/people, and/or keeping the civilians in check.

[kiwitt]

I've tried looking at those tech maps, but I can't make heads from tails.

Essentially the Tech Tree is based on the "fort/keep/castle/citadel/fortress"

Try and picture the "fort/keep/castle/citadel/fortress" upgrades down the left side and the building upgrades to the right. More specialised buildlings not being available until you have built a "Fortress". All military upgrades are dependent on these upgrades.

Try to think of it this way ... new industry will not set up unless they have better security.

Only exception is Farming / Mining / Horse Breeder. These can develop independent of "fort/keep/castle/citadel/fortress" upgrades.

[Mithrandir]

Even though the rule with the king sounds a little bit overkill (excuse the pun), it makes sense from a chivalric/sign of the times sort of angle. After all, the king was supposed to be the man, the best soldier in all the land, etc. etc.
.

I thought the king was just the lucky kid of the previous king and in general someone who was fat of all the royal banquets and commanded his army from a safe hill top...save the 2 o 3 exceptions in history...

Welcome to The Org :)

[kiwitt]

I thought the king was just the lucky kid of the previous king and in general someone who was fat of all the royal banquets and commanded his army from a safe hill top...save the 2 o 3 exceptions in history...

I think the tradition of training future kings has been passed down the ages, with young princes joining the military.

[weegee]

okay, I'm starting to pick up on some of the lingo after having read a few of the guides and a bunch of posts.

With regards to unit size. Do most of you play at default or do you increase the size? Seems like it would be funner playing with bigger unit sizes because that pits more troops against each other, so I'm not sure if the choice is a system limitation or if there is something that I'm not grasping that would want to make you keep it on a smaller setting.

Also, could someone break down some other typical options as far as game play. I see there's a camera setting that will allow you to see all. I'm assuming most hardcore gamers play with the limited angle to keep things realistic. Any other options like this? And what do most people choose?

[QuantumEleven]

I've tried looking at those tech maps, but I can't make heads from tails. Mostly because they don't print up quite right. Can someone break down or maybe point me to a post that breaks down the role and use of these "buildings". I'll admit that it's a new concept to me. I think I understand that they each 1) probably cost a certain amount of money and 2) serve some sort of role as to building your army, feeding your army/people, and/or keeping the civilians in check.

Expanding on what kiwitt said, you indeed need a certain level of fort/keep/castle/citadel/fortress before you can build certain buildings - see the tech tree for exact details. If you haven't already, get the tech trees from http://www.onemorepill.com/mtw/ - they're (IMHO) very clear and useful.

As to what each building does, right-click on the building in the "build" window (the one where you queue up buildings to be built), and it will tell you what it does. Most are pretty self-explanatory - they usually allow you to build a new unit, or provide upgrades to all units being built in that province. For straight unit-producing buildings, there are nine broad "lines" of buildings - sword infantry, spear infantry, cavalry, siege engines, archery, spies/assasins, religious units, gunpowder (only after gunpowder has been discovered - about 1260) and militia/pike/halberd infantry - although some units require multiple buildings (see the tech tree). Watch towers and border forts increase happiness, plus improve your chances of catching spies/assasins who try to enter your provinces. Watch towers also give you a "view" into neighbouring provinces - no province should be without these two improvements unless you are utterly desperate for cash.

The armourer's guild increases the armour of all units built in the province. Metal smiths do the same for weapons (read: attack power), but can only be built in provinces with iron. The Town Watch line of buildings also increases happiness, plus allowing you to build militia, pike and halberd units (at the later stages). Inns allow you to hire mercenaries.

Farms increase the province's income (based on its basis income, which is dependant on the province) - build the higher farm "upgrades" (60% and 80%) only in your richest provinces. In these boards you will find lots of discussion what is best to build when. Mines (and their upgrades, mine complexes) act as a fixed "guaranteed" income, and should be built whenever possible.

The trading post line of buildings first enables and then improves the province's trade income. Remember that while there is some land trade with neighbouring provinces, the amount you make off of this is peanuts compared to what you make with sea trade. You can only build these buildings in provinces that have tradeable goods (check the province information screen), and build the higher upgrades in your biggest trade cash cow provinces.

Buildings like the Chancellery and Admirality give the province titles that you can hand out to your generals. These will appear in the province alongside the usual governor's title and are assigned in the same way. These normally give pretty good benefits to the recipient general (something like +2 acumen and +2 loyalty).

Of course, this only scratches the surface, but ask, ask away if you've got any other questions! And enjoy MTW :)

Oh, and something that took me about two months to figure out (and which is utterly daft when I now look back ) , you don't pay any maintenance on any of the buildings you build. So (unlike in, say, Civ III), it's never a question of breaking even on your investment, just a question of return on investment. So, even though building all the farm upgrades in a puny-income province will increase your overall income, but the up-front cost of building all those farms will take many, many years to recover...

[English assassin]

On the unit size qu, its up to you really. I find that default keeps the units small enough so there is some fun manoeuvreing on the battlefield, even if the maximum number of troops you can have on the field at once (16 units of 100, and chances are you will have more like 1000 as most units are less than 100 men) is a bit small. Its more like a medium sized skirmish when you think about it but it needn't spoil the fun.

Personally with bigger unit sizes I find the game less tactical but maybe thats just me.

The most fun battles tend to be in the early stages IMHO. Making the best of, say, three units of spears, some archers and a few light cavalry gives you a chance to make a difference to the outcome as a general. Throwing an army of say 6 upgraded Longbowmen, 6 billmen and four chiv knights at some poor saps in the later stages has its appeal too, but you'd have to try quite hard to lose. I guess that's what Expert is for. Don't feel bad about using autoresolve to get out of battles that look boring.

Oh and on my fitst game I made the mistake of thinking that titles were sweeties to be handed out to keep generals loyal, and tended to keep a load unassigned in case my generals started rebelling (which is not in fact a big problem). Provinces without governors make a lot less money than ones with even mid-acumen governors so always assign them right away.

[macsen rufus]

Re unit sizes, it could be an issue for you, weegee, if you're getting a laptop - just make sure your graphics card is up to scratch before going to big units...

The big tactical difference is that you have to be a lot more careful manoeuvering with larger units as they deploy more slowly and bump into each other more Also on small units, the Royal units are NOT scaled the same, so they become proportionately larger (still 20 heavy cav/unit when your typical infantry is at 30 men/unit), and the units placed on the map at the beginning of the game are on default size and often 2ce the size you can actually train. Look after them and use them well!

As for building priorities, in a new province I always get watch towers/border forts in first (for the loyalty and to see the new neighbours next door), and then the next religious level upgrade for more loyalty and morale. It slows down military development, but that helps your loyalty....

As for the camera, well, I leave mine free, because I like to watch...

[LittleGrizzly]

I was always sucked into playing the english, a huge piece of advice if you go a western christian nation make sure your hiers are married! if they come to late to the throne and they're not married they wont have enough time to produce an hier, which means game over (happened not long ago in a brilliant english game i was playing)

Naval domination should be an absoulte priority, combine that with merchants in the right provinces (ones which have tradeable goods) and you'll have lots of money coming in, and the ability to move around easily.

ohh and one thing i didn't learn until a had the game for almost 2 years (i have an excuse i mainly play mp!) you can't build a horse farmer without the basic farm upgrade first.

all this has put me in the mood for a campaign....

[{KotR}Lionheart]

FIrst thing in every province build a fort, then a town wathc, so u can at least protect your new province. Farms are very important to a healthy economy, as are merchants. Pretty much whatever province yo uare, u want to control the seas. If u have at least one ship in each sea province i na n area, you can move troops ver quickly. Howver, if you attack a province by sea, make sure you build a dock, so u can move troops from there. Using naval attacks, u can attack nearly all of some factions provinces, in the same turn, stretching them to breaking point.