Total Noob here with a couple of questions

[weegee]

I just entered the magical world of PC after being more of a MAC guy all this time. I'll save you the long story. Anyway, I have access to a pretty decent laptop. Brand new Dell Inspirion 600m with ATI Radeon 9000 chip, 32mb display, 512 Ram, 1.6mhz, etc. I'm well above the minimum requirements, but hoping someone can confirm I won't have any issues playing MTW or VI. Also, I confirmed that the graphics card is not integrated (learned that lesson the hardway). Ideally I know I should have gotten at least 64mb display, but like I said, I'm new to this, and quite frankly screwed up.

Okay, so assuming I'm going to be able to play this game to its fullest. I've already got coffee brewing, plenty of "sick day" excuses for work, and lots of leave me alone credits with the girlfriend. According to amazon, I should have my copy of the MTW/VI battle pack on Thursday. After going through the tutorial and probably needing to install the 2.1 patch, and here comes the questions part:

Reflecting back on your experience of when you first got this game:

1) What faction should you first play with (and what level? I don't want to be a total wimp and start at the lowest level, but at the same time I don't want to be blown away and frustrated. Afterall, the laptop cost me $1300 and I can't afford to throw it out the window)?

2) What are some good pointers about things to definitely do and things that are a waste of time (i.e. alliances and what troops to develop first, etc.)

Anyway, thanks in advance. I'll be hanging around a lot once I get this game. Since my system limits me to some of the older game, I have no interest with moving on. I got a feeling I'll like this genre and the game, so here's to heads rolling

[Bobablooie]

Weeg, welcome!
See the Guides section in this Guild forum. I highly recommend Frogbeastegg's Beginner's Guide. It's the best primer and I still refer to it after a year of solid playing.

Best bet is to start out either as the Almohads Early or English High, both on Easy. This will give you the best overall "feel" of the game.
Definitely do the tutorials, esp the tactical ones.

Finally, read as much as you can in these forums! They are a treasure of knowledge and good advice.

Again, welcome.
You'll be sleep- and affection- deprived like the rest of us in no time!

[Kommodus]

First, I should say that there is a fine resource in the "Beginner's Guide to Total War" by frogbeastegg; it is located in the Guides section of this forum under Medieval. This has excellent answers to your questions; however, if you're like me and don't want all the game's secrets handed to you, and would rather discover what you can by yourself, don't read the whole thing - just what you need to get by.

As for your questions:

1. On difficulty, I'd go with Normal. You shouldn't get frustrated as long as you've gone through the tutorial first; neither side gets any combat or morale bonuses. Once you've done one campaign, play on Hard at least, or Expert (but be warned that the AI gets a significant morale bonus on Expert which can be frustrating).

As for your faction, there really are quite a few that are perfectly suitable for beginners. Spain, England, and the Almohads are probably your best bets; they have good starting positions and good unit rosters, particularly in the infantry department. However, the Byzantines, the Turkish, and the Russians are quite fun to play with for only slightly more advanced players; you'll need a good dose of cavalry tactics to be effective with them.

As for the era, Early or High would be fine (but don't choose Russians in High unless you want a really tough fight). The later you make it, the quicker you get to the game's best units. However, if you choose Late, you don't have as much time to achieve your goals. Early is best if you are the adventurous Crusader type and don't mind starting out with some pretty basic units.

2. Definitely Do:

A) Build up your empire economically and technologically. Farming upgrades are great for increased income; also build structures that increase troop morale (like churches) and troop effectiveness (like armourers).

B) Build a navy, and focus on it early. You will need those ships later in the game and they take a long time to build; they will help with trade and troop mobility. Dominance of the sea is often a key to victory.

C) Assign positions of authority wisely. A governor with high acumen increases a province's income, so be sure your wealthy provinces have good governors. A governor with high dread increases loyalty. Posts that add to a general's command rating are best reserved for your good generals, as this can make them great.

D) Watch province loyalty; try to keep it above 120% at all times. This isn't too difficult if you keep an eye on tax levels and garrison your provinces appropriately, while converting conquered provinces to your religion. Use the "shift" key to check loyalty quickly. Rebellions and faction re-emergences can be a pain; it's best to just avoid them.

E) During battles, attack engaged enemy units from the flanks or rear. This is basically the key to winning battles - flanking, and getting favorable unit matchups (cavalry beat archers, spears beat cavalry, swords beat spears, etc.)

Don't Waste Time On:

A) Sieges. After a few, they're all the same, and you'll get the best castle-assault results if you just come in with a big army and autoresolve them. You don't even need siege engines if you do this.

B) Diplomacy in the late game. Once your empire gets big and powerful, no one will ally with your, accept ceasefires, or generally do anything friendly. Once you get to that point, just crush them mercilessly if you're still interested in the campaign; otherwise, just give it up and do something else.

C) Playing every campaign out to the bitter end. I recommend doing Glorious Achievement campaigns instead of conquest campaigns anyway; they tend to be more fun.

Hope this helps!

[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.

[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.

[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...

[fuddha]

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...

Yeah, most laptops come with crappy video cards, so you should test it out with custom battles that include as many men as you can put them in.

However, I'm all for default size. It's more tactical and easier to outmanouver the enemy. On the other hand, some people like the mega-super-ultra battles with as many participants as they can put in. It gives it rather an epic feeling. But I find it difficult enough to manouver with my default size unitsas it is, and I'm a tactical player, I don't use headrush tactics. I just can't put my units to full use with huge setting.

[weegee]

Again, thanks for all the comments and help.

The tech map prints over 18 pages (yikes), so I'm trying to manipulate it into a smaller size, but the .bmp format isn't very cooperative. I'll figure something out though.

I'm hoping my laptop can handle the game at it's max. The only thing lacking on it is the display output of 32 mb, otherwise everything is top notch. But seems like the consensus is to keep the unit sizes on default anyway.

Well expect a barrage of questions in about 2 or 3 days, once I've had some time to get my feet wet.

[hungry]

I haven't had any technical problems with the game except with freezes during battles. Disabling my anti-virus problem seemed to solve the problem.

Methinks you don't need to install the 2.1 patch, as it's a part of the Viking Invasion add-on.

I'm not sure what tech maps you're referring to, but the paper one that came with my battle collection wasn't updated for version 1.1 or 2.1. The online community has produced more accurate ones at:
http://www.3ddownloads.com/strategy-...nfo%20pack.zip

I recommend playing England in Early, as that faction has a lot of options and thus should suit the most playing styles. If you didn't play Shogun, you should start at the easiest level. If you insist on starting at the normal level, I recommend that you try some "quick battles" or "custom battles" first.

If you're are an expansionist like myself, my only tip is that you pay attention to the loyalty of your provinces. As the campaign gets further along, it becomes harder to maintain loyalty. The loyalty of each province is affected by many different things.

[weegee]

Thanks, Hungry. That's good news about having the most updated version with collection. All this patch business is new to me so I wouldn't even know where to begin. Although, I'm sure I'll have to learn sooner or later so I can check out some of these interesting mods.

Shrinking margins on the tech maps available on the downloads still prints up to 18 pages. If someone can correct my ignorance with .bmp programming, I can't seem to lower the zoom, only increase it.

[QuantumEleven]

Shrinking margins on the tech maps available on the downloads still prints up to 18 pages. If someone can correct my ignorance with .bmp programming, I can't seem to lower the zoom, only increase it.

What program are you using to view the BMP files with? If you have a decent photo-editing program (Photoshop, Paintshop, the GIMP...), use that, it will almost certainly have a "fit to page" or "resize" option. I use MS Photo Editor (comes with MS Office - useless for most things but seems to do well here), and it will happily print on one A4 sheet on the default settings. If you need it, it too has a "fit to page" option in the "Print" dialog box...

HTH!

[weegee]

What program are you using to view the BMP files with? If you have a decent photo-editing program (Photoshop, Paintshop, the GIMP...), use that, it will almost certainly have a "fit to page" or "resize" option. I use MS Photo Editor (comes with MS Office - useless for most things but seems to do well here), and it will happily print on one A4 sheet on the default settings. If you need it, it too has a "fit to page" option in the "Print" dialog box...

HTH!

Yes! Thanks. If you're ever in LA, I owe you a beer.

[Blacknek]

Hi there,

Beeing myself a "veteran" player but a newb to this forum community, I have a similar question to unit size:

I played always on default unit size. Question is, does the maximum amount of men per army change with unit size ?

If not, this would mean, that on big or huge unit size one could only put a handfull of individual units in an army, doesn't it?

And would this be the reason for some people thinking this is less tactical, just becaus this means less micro-management on the battlefield?

@weegee: reading Frostbeagseggs unit guide and begginer guide some weeks ago after owning the game since it hit the shelves and playing and trying for myself led to a huge increase in knowledge . Where do some of you guys get the info about bonuses and modifiers not mentioned in my cute little gamemanual anyway? Awesome !

Have fun (you definetly will),
Blacknek