An embarrassing question from a MTW newb.

[Dayve]

Goodday to all.

I got MTW today (Yes i realise i am several years late) and just started my first campaign as the English a few hours ago... I'm enjoying it immensely and i have to say that even on normal difficulty it is more of a challenge than RTW was on very hard... Those bloody Welsh have defeated me 3 times now 3! Anywho, in battle i cannot seem to get my units to move as a group... I put them in formation, group them, click for them to move somewhere on the battle map and their formation becomes jumbled up. How do i rectify this? Thanksmuch.

[rvg]

ALT + Click onto the destination.

[Dutch_guy]

You could also just bribe those longbowmen/Welsh - especially if you start in the early era, gives you the added power to hurt the Frenchies

[Dayve]

I think i've cracked it now, i was trying to left click + drag out a formation, like you would do in RTW, but i realise you simply have to left click once and they stay in formation.

I started in the early era, beat the Welsh (finally) and the French took Wessex from me, but how did they get over the channel? I don't see any navies and none of their towns have a port even, so wtf? I took it back and also took Britanny from them and i'm kicking behind at the moment as i have a big army of spearmen and archers and all they seem to have are peasants.

I have to say this game is very enjoyable, despite its old looking graphics... I like the risk style campaign map very much so but i haven't seen much intelligence from the AI yet, although i am playing on normal... Does playing on hard or very hard give battle bonuses or just make them more smart on the campaign?

Just goes to show you don't need great graphics for a great game... Maybe i'll get Shogun and see what i think of that...

[drone]

I started in the early era, beat the Welsh (finally) and the French took Wessex from me, but how did they get over the channel? I don't see any navies and none of their towns have a port even, so wtf? I took it back and also took Britanny from them and i'm kicking behind at the moment as i have a big army of spearmen and archers and all they seem to have are peasants.

The Channel, and some other waterways, have a line with 2 dots connecting two provinces on either side of the water. This means you don't need boats to cross, the theory being that the passage is narrow enough that you don't need naval vessels to get troops over.

Welcome to MTW. If you can look past the sprite graphics after playing Rome, you will find the gameplay much better. Soon you will understand what all the old-timers were complaining about in the Colosseum.

[Dayve]

I already see that this is a brilliant game... I believe graphics don't make a game... Always have. Final fantasy 7 has been my favourite game of all time since the day it came out almost 10 years ago, and look at the graphics on that!

Anyway i've 2 questions... I won't start another thread i'll ask them here. What bonuses does hard and very hard give to the AI exactly, and also:

My England campaign just ended abruptly with my king dying with no heirs to the throne... I'm sure he had a child but, i can't find him... I probably got him killed using him as heavy cavalry ANYWAY! Surely i can set a heir? By marrying one of my daughters perhaps? He is 70 years old and i have had to stop my campaign because everytime he dies it ends... Surely any king would choose a heir before he died even if it wasn't his son?

Thanks for any help.

[p_nutter]

No heirs = you're screwed. Next time, take better care of them.

Well, take better care of the *good* heirs. If you have an inbred, cowardly, unhinged loon heir who would be the first in line to the throne, get him killed any way you can.

Actually, you have one way out of this mess: start a civil war and back the rebels. Raise taxes to maximum, strip your least loyal generals of their titles, get yourself excommunicated, lose some battles, destroy loyalty-increasing buildings, move troops out of disloyal provinces... do everything wrong, basically. And if you're lucky you'll get a civil war.

[drone]

Anyway i've 2 questions... I won't start another thread i'll ask them here. What bonuses does hard and very hard give to the AI exactly, and also:

From the Frog's guide:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=31445

On difficulty
There are four difficulties, easy, normal, hard and expert. Your difficulty will decide how much money you start off with, any bonuses given to you or the AI and what tactics the AI will use on the two maps. Starting funds are as follows:
Easy = 10000 florins
Normal= 8000 florins
Hard = 6000 florins
Expert = 4000 florins
On easy the player will get an extra +4 to morale in battle, making it harder for the AI to rout your troops. On expert the AI get this bonus. Normal and hard don't give anyone a bonus. The AI will use different tactics on the battlefield depending on your difficulty. Here is a list provided by GilJaySmith, one of the developers of Total War:
- On expert the AI gets a morale bonus - on easy the player gets one
- On hard and above, AI skirmishers will try to avoid being pincered
- On easy the AI will not consider going into loose formation to avoid being shot at
- On easy the AI will not consider outflanking, double-envelopment, or stop-and-shoot tactics
- On easy the AI won't move troops out of the way of castle walls that may be about to collapse
- On easy the AI will try to hide rather than flee if the battle is going badly
- On easy the AI will not try ambushes
- On easy the AI will not try the 'appear weak' battle plan
- The AI is more likely to deploy in woods on harder difficulties, and less likely to camp near the red zone on easier difficulties
- The AI is more likely to consider scouting the map to find the rest of your army if it can't see it all on higher difficulties
- On easy the AI will not skirmish
- On higher than easy, the AI will specifically consider sh00ting at your artillery
- On easy the AI will generally attack rather than defend, and will not consider withdrawing for a much longer time
- On higher than easy, the AI will check to see if it's marching into enfilade fire when attacking your main body
- On easy the AI may come out of a wall breach to chase you if you attack and are repulsed

In addition to these changes LongJohn (another developer) says the following: The combat strength of the a.i. units is affected by the difficulty level.
On easy its combat effectiveness is reduced by 30-40% (can't remember the exact figure).
On hard it's increased by 10-15%, and on expert its 30%. 30% being around 75% of the increase you'd get from 1 valour upgrade.

[Ulfang]

I miss MTW :) Haven't played it much since I got RTW but decided to have another go with it last week but unforunately my comps have changed since I last played it and it doesn't like my Radeon Card now or at least the drivers.

The battles were a lot more interesting in MTW and a lot longer and harder to win. Even with all the mods in RTW there's not many battles you lose even on the harder levels.

Only problem I have with MTW is going back to the Risk style movement. I much prefer the movement system in RTW and also the Sieges. In RTW they look good but are almost unplayable because of your troops movement ai (fighting in the city streets being a nightmare) but in MTW the siege combat was pretty poor due to the fact you couldn't put anyone on walls so overall I prefer the RTW system but prefer the MTW time period and battles.

Also I'd agree with bribing those Welsh to join your ranks in the Early Period. They're very useful at the beginning of the game. You need to keep Wessex well defended because of the channel crossing. I prefer to sort things out in France first as you don't really need to worry about Scotland, Wales and Ireland .... unless you are playing the XL mod where those countries are playable.

[Dayve]

Well it looks like i'll be doing that - I have to start again since i have obviously got my heir killed, even though i don't remember that... Anywho i shall concentrate on building up in France before thinking about taking the rest of Britain. Thanks everyone.

[Ironside]

Well it looks like i'll be doing that - I have to start again since i have obviously got my heir killed, even though i don't remember that... Anywho i shall concentrate on building up in France before thinking about taking the rest of Britain. Thanks everyone.

Unless the hier is the commander, you'll never notice him die. So try to avoid getting your royal cav depleted too much, as the hiers usually among the last men that dies in a unit.

[Dayve]

Shouldn't it tell you if he dies or not? I have 2 heirs now so i'm using one in battle since he has such a high command star rating, the other is in a castle in Wessex safe as houses.

One thing though... I accidentally clicked the 'rout' command instead of the 'group' button and my general started to run away, then after the battle got the 'good runner' trait, saying he had run away more than once, and -3 morale... What's up with that?

[Peasant Phill]

BTW there is a guide on the Org. that gives some pointers on how to play the English (or any other faction in mtw). That will give you some more ideas.

[Asmodai]

Shouldn't it tell you if he dies or not? I have 2 heirs now so i'm using one in battle since he has such a high command star rating, the other is in a castle in Wessex safe as houses.

One thing though... I accidentally clicked the 'rout' command instead of the 'group' button and my general started to run away, then after the battle got the 'good runner' trait, saying he had run away more than once, and -3 morale... What's up with that?

Generals get virtues and vices after battles, and this is dependent on how they behave on the battlefield. If general runs away, he get good runner vice. If you throw him into thick of battle, he get good battle virtues like: Mighty warrior or somethink similar.

As for heirs....try to keep them out of the fighting, and store them up in your central province. Many heirs have low loyalty, so keep them near your king, so they dont start civil war. Also, when one of your heirs have vices that are not tolerable(unhinged loon for egs.) throw him into battle. Obviously, he must not survive that battle.

[Ulfang]

Well whether you clicked on it by accident or not you General ran in front of all his forces so obviously he'd get a bad rep for that. As for your Heir Units you do need to use them very carefully. Royal Cavalry are very precious units and very difficult to replace in the early period so you need to protect them and only use them where necessary. You can only recruit them after building several expensive buildings and they are also expensive to recruit so should be protected at all costs.

[acesman]

I miss MTW :) Haven't played it much since I got RTW but decided to have another go with it last week but unforunately my comps have changed since I last played it and it doesn't like my Radeon Card now or at least the drivers.

I had a friend that had the same problem, he solved it by going to the video option in M:TW and reducing the strategic map to 800X600. I know it is off topic, but hope it helps.

I agree that if you have an inbred, strange, unhinged loon for an heir you should use him in battle, but if succeeds, he may get some good traits that will balance out, or at least some stars. I rarely kill an heir unless I am being overrun with them, death can come swiftly and heirs may become rare.

[HopAlongBunny]

ppl may rail against the cheatcodes however:

when faced with no heir one will be born if you type .unfreeze.

type it exactly as it it above (begin with the . and end with the .

the heir will have to come of age...so you need to plan a wee bit.

welcome to the .org!

[Dayve]

Nah i will not cheat, i'm against cheating... Unless of course you're bored and cheat for a laugh.

Thanks.

[HopAlongBunny]

You will find the AI is much better in MTW (still needs work but...)

I actually had an AI general refuse to commit his core troops and run me around the battlefield...he actually ran my horse archers out of ammo. All the "padding" was killed but it left me with either a withdrawl or a bloody battle against spears and a RK (the HA were all I had on the field)

The bonuses to morale for the higher settings make the game much more challenging; in some cases the AI appears to get a lil smarter as well.

Reccomended reading: Frogbeastegg: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=31445

and anything else in the Guides section that looks interesting

Enjoy :)

[Dayve]

I have noticed that the AI is better in MTW... I almost lost a battle today against French peasants, what a shock i got. My army was spearmen and archers, and even my king with 4 command stars! The enemy peasants attempted to outflank my line of spearmen on the left side causing one unit to actually rout... Their royal cavalry did damage too, it was close but i won... Never thought peasants could be effective like that.

[Ciaran]

Yes, the battle AI is definitely better than Rome´s. And follow HopalongBunnys advice of getting the Frog Godesses guides. After reading them you´ll see why she´s called the Frog Goddess

[naut]

The battle AI is alot better than in Rome, but you may find that it can be a bit bizarre sometimes especially when the map contains a bridge or two. Often I've fought battles on expert, where I'm outnumbered 100-200 : 1, but the AI doesn't properly take the bridge(s) into account, so I win easily. So be careful of bridges!

[ajaxfetish]

Nah i will not cheat, i'm against cheating... Unless of course you're bored and cheat for a laugh.

Thanks.

One cheat you might consider is .matteosartori. It doesn't necessarily give you any advantage. It allows you to see the entire map without having to send out hordes of priests or spies (though you still don't get the details of what's going on inside a province). I like to see the history of the whole continent unfold, and I think the cheat actually allows me to do this more objectively than by flooding the map with agents, who will have an effect on the provinces I put them in.

Ajax

[Mithrandir]

I like to see the history of the whole continent unfold, and I think the cheat actually allows me to do this more objectively than by flooding the map with agents, who will have an effect on the provinces I put them in.

Ajax

But the agents also cost money :)
admit it ajax, you're just as lazy as the kings of old

-Mithrandir.

[Dayve]

One cheat you might consider is .matteosartori. It doesn't necessarily give you any advantage. It allows you to see the entire map without having to send out hordes of priests or spies (though you still don't get the details of what's going on inside a province). I like to see the history of the whole continent unfold, and I think the cheat actually allows me to do this more objectively than by flooding the map with agents, who will have an effect on the provinces I put them in.

Ajax

Thanks Ajax. I was gona ask how to lift the fog of war... I don't really conider that cheating anyway. Where do i enter that to make it work though?

[Martok]

Thanks Ajax. I was gona ask how to lift the fog of war... I don't really conider that cheating anyway. Where do i enter that to make it work though?

Just type ".matteosartori." on your keyboard when you're looking at the campaign map, and it should lift the FOW immediately.

I also use the .matteosartori. cheat as well, at least from time to time. It's much easier than having to send out spies and emmisaries all over the place.

[ajaxfetish]

But the agents also cost money :)
admit it ajax, you're just as lazy as the kings of old

-Mithrandir.

Dang it, am I that transparent?

Ajax