New to MTW

[Quickening]

Hi. I was going to be getting the Total War Eras set a while back but I never managed to. However a friend of mine says that he has MTW and the Viking Invasion game and will give thm to me for free because he hates them. Im picking them up later today and I can't wait.

I have only ever played Rome Total War and with this in mind what advice can anyone tell me about playing Medieval? Also, what is the latest patch for the game? Thanks.

[naut]

Heres the patch:

Link.

Advice?

Its more challenging than RTW, you may find the battles difficult in some situations.

However a friend of mine says that he has MTW and the Viking Invasion game and will give thm to me for free because he hates them.

Slap you friend for me.

[Quickening]

Heres the patch:

Link.

Advice?

Its more challenging than RTW, you may find the battles difficult in some situations.

Okay thanks. Is that the only patch I need? Do I not need to patch up the original Medieval at all?

Slap you friend for me.

Will do!

[R'as al Ghul]

Okay thanks. Is that the only patch I need? Do I not need to patch up the original Medieval at all?

Just install Vinking invasion and patch that to 2.01. That's all.
Older patches for MTW are included in VIking invasion.

Have Fun,

R'as

[Quickening]

Whats the difference between the normal campain and the Viking Invasion? Am I as well just starting with Viking Invasion?

[satchef1]

Install viking invasion straight away, it saves you downloading the patches and removes a lot of bugs (IIRC skirmish AI was poor before VI, so horse archers etc tended to get caught a lot).
With Viking Invasion you get the original MTW campaign (Early, High and Late eras) and the Viking Invasion campaign.
Early is the longest campaign, you start off in 1087 with very basic units and basic buildings. Armies generally consist of Spearmen + Archers + Barbarian/Feudal Infantry + Light/Missle Horse.
High introduces Knights into the game, focusing the catholic factions on heavy armies (the Muslim/Orthodox armies still tend to value mobility).
Late sees the medieval era in decline, guns are introduced and the time of Knights has hit its peak. Pikemen and Heavy Knights pretty much dominate this era, the knights act as the hammer with the pikes being the anvil.

I recommend you read these 2 guides, MTW is more difficult to get to grips with than Rome because it has stupidly complicated things like the trade system:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=31445
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=32726

The Viking Invasion campaign is fairly small, it focuses on the Viking invasion of Britain. Faction choices are Saxons (hold southern England, rich provences and heavy units late in the game), Mercians (similar to saxons), Welsh (Celtic infantry + the deadly Welsh Bandits ), Irish (fast Skirmishing troops armed with javalins), Northumbrians (not to sure what these are like, not played as them), Scots (light, cheap, and expendable infantry), Picts (Celtic units + Beserkers), Vikings (the strongest faction, although they're heavily armoured and therefore slow. They lack decent horse and ranged units)

I recommend downloading the XL mod once you've got to grips with the game, it adds a lot of new factions and units to the medieval campaign. BKB's SuperMod (similar idea to XL, but different factions) and Samurai Warlords (Brings Shogun: Total War to the MTW engine) are also worth a mention, ive recently downloaded both and finding them both great fun!

[drone]

Also read up on the TW Unit Guide Frogbeastegg wrote up:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=31444
It has both STW and MTW units in it, it's a great way to get a feel for the units and their uses.

The Viking Invasion campaign is shorter, with fewer provinces to manage, but can be more difficult depending on the faction you choose. It's a blast once you are used to it though. The main MTW campaign can take a while to finish, depending on how much time you have to play.

Welcome to the dark side!

[Quickening]

Thanks for all your responces! They are appreciated.

I just went and got the games. Im amazed in that they are in perfect condition with manuals and all!

About to install now!

[Martok]

Hope you're enjoying the game, Quickening. Let us know if you have any other questions!

[Quickening]

Well the game looks amazing and had many things to comment on about it.

However for no apparent reason the game crashes back to the desktop from the campain map very frequently. It also crashes to the desktop when I try to load a game.
I have all my drivers updated etc etc. Looks like it's just one of those things. Excuse me while I cry.

[mfberg]

If you get frequent crashes to desktop search these folders, or ask in the apothecary, certain video cards require OLDER drivers to be stable. I think its the Nvidia drivers that have to be downgraded to a certain number.

mfberg

[Quickening]

If you get frequent crashes to desktop search these folders, or ask in the apothecary, certain video cards require OLDER drivers to be stable. I think its the Nvidia drivers that have to be downgraded to a certain number.

mfberg

Thanks for the information. I do have a nvidia card. But Im not about to stop the rest of my games working just for the benefit of this one.

[mfberg]

Download the old video driver and keep copies of the new and old on your desktop. Downgrade your video when you want to play MTW, upgrade immediatly after. Or you could do what I did and go get a video card that can handle it all, there are some out there for about $50-80 US.

mfberg

[Quickening]

Thanks. A quick look in the technical help folder reveals that my Geforce FX 5200 does indeed need its drivers rolled back. Im unable to roll them back which means I'll have to download them and since Im on 56k that will take forever. Ah well I'll do it tomorrow.

[drone]

Some people have had luck adjusting the anti-aliasing settings from the nVidia control panel.
Check posts #7 and #11 from this thread:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=64977
This allows you to keep the current driver. Good luck!

[Quickening]

Some people have had luck adjusting the anti-aliasing settings from the nVidia control panel.
Check posts #7 and #11 from this thread:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=64977
This allows you to keep the current driver. Good luck!

Well I did what they said and tried to load my game and for once it didn't crash! I'll need to test more to make sure but I think it may be sorted! Thanks! I owe you.

My enthusiasm got kicked in the head a few times with this technical error but here are my first impressions of the game.

Having only played Rome before I found this game drastically different. I mean, they could almost be games from different series altogether.

After about fifteen minutes of play it became obvious that Medieval is much, much more complex and intricate than Rome. I actually prefer the Risk style map of Medieval already. To me it just looks nicer than the Rome campain map. Also the music doesn't make you want to end the turn as quickly as possible like it does in Rome.

The battles... well lets just say I was humiliated many times. The pace is much slower than in Rome but I actually enjoy this. I learned quickly not to use my general in combat like I did in Rome otherwise he'll end up dead. Also love the whole weather thing! Seems to have a greater effect than in Rome. However, the battles don't have quite the thunder that they do in Rome.
The whole "left click" control method was easier to get used to than I would have thought.

All in all Im very impressed with Medieval having only played it for about an hour in total. I can see it easily taking over Rome in my affections. Actually, it has already. Like I said though, they are totally different games. I think Rome is more of an action game wheras Medieval is more tactical. I still love Rome but I'll probably play Medieval more often.

Im really looking forward to getting into this game more. There are certain details that I think "Why the hell wasn't this in Rome?" So two thumbs up for this game!

All the above is the observations of a "n00b" so please don't feel you have to shoot me down if you disagree.

EDIT: Oh I forgot to add, love executing prisoners!

[Martok]

All in all Im very impressed with Medieval having only played it for about an hour in total. I can see it easily taking over Rome in my affections. Actually, it has already. Like I said though, they are totally different games. I think Rome is more of an action game wheras Medieval is more tactical. I still love Rome but I'll probably play Medieval more often.

Im really looking forward to getting into this game more. There are certain details that I think "Why the hell wasn't this in Rome?" So two thumbs up for this game!

Glad you're liking MTW so much. (It does have a way of gripping you and not letting go!) Also, as one who's experienced similar difficulties with the Nvidia-crash problem, I'm very happy you were able to rectifiy the matter.

All the above is the observations of a "n00b" so please don't feel you have to shoot me down if you disagree.

There are "newbs" and there are "n00bs", Quickening....and I think it's safe to say you're a newb (the good kind). It also helps to remember that everyone here has been newbs ourselves at some point, so we know where you're coming from. Besides which, it's not like those of us who frequent the subforum dedicated to MTW are going to bash you for praising the game.

EDIT: Oh I forgot to add, love executing prisoners!

Well of course! Who doesn't?

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Hey m8, hope you liking MTW. It gets Pretty good Once you get the hang of it :-)

[drone]

Glad to see you were able to get around the video problem (if I'm not mistaken, it has something to do with how the nVidia driver renders the campaign map, battles are no problem).

About the Risk-style map. The AI seems to handle this better than Rome's map (less complex), so you will get more "big" battles (none of the small stack beatdowns you could exploit in Rome). These battles are also more meaningful, every battle is a basically a fight for territory (not some meaningless skirmish out in the middle of nowhere), and if you lose a few of these your unrest levels will rise quickly.

Combat will be slower, but there are more tactical options and seemingly small things can turn the battle in your favor.

Just out of curiousity, what era/faction did you pick for your first campaign?

[Quickening]

Glad to see you were able to get around the video problem (if I'm not mistaken, it has something to do with how the nVidia driver renders the campaign map, battles are no problem).

About the Risk-style map. The AI seems to handle this better than Rome's map (less complex), so you will get more "big" battles (none of the small stack beatdowns you could exploit in Rome). These battles are also more meaningful, every battle is a basically a fight for territory (not some meaningless skirmish out in the middle of nowhere), and if you lose a few of these your unrest levels will rise quickly.

Combat will be slower, but there are more tactical options and seemingly small things can turn the battle in your favor.

Just out of curiousity, what era/faction did you pick for your first campaign?

I went the English. I was surprised to see that the Scottish were not an option but I don't want to play the Viking Invasion yet.

[Quickening]

Well the conquest goes well I think. My plan was to take Scotland and Wales first. Seemed logical. However shortly after taking Wales the damn French attacked resulting in a bloody war that is still raging. It didn't help that there was then a rebellion in Wales.
However, I finally crushed the Welsh rebellion and the French are now being steadily beaten. I will wait until there is some stability in my Kingdom before claiming Scotland.

Im loving this game. Definately the kind of game you could play for hours. It's 2AM here now!

[drone]

Sounds like you are having fun. Watch out for the Scots, Highland Clansmen can be tough early on, they are fast and will chew through spearmen. Scotland will also need more troops to maintain order once conquered.

If you want to play the Scots in the MTW time period (not VI), the XL and BKB mods have a Scottish faction. After a few campaigns, you may want to try one of them out.

Im loving this game. Definately the kind of game you could play for hours. It's 2AM here now!

I usually only fire the game up if I can get in at least 3 hours straight. If you have a woman in your life, she may begin to hate this game.

[Martok]

Scotland will also need more troops to maintain order once conquered.

To add to what drone just said, there are several other provinces that are especially "restless", and will need a larger-than-normal garrison to keep the people from rebelling there. Some of these provinces include: Portugal, Livonia, Lithiuania, Prussia, and Pomerania (and of course Scotland). There are other rebellious provinces as well, but those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

If you want to play the Scots in the MTW time period (not VI), the XL and BKB mods have a Scottish faction. After a few campaigns, you may want to try one of them out.

I can personally recommend the XL mod. BKB is also very popular, however, and may be more to your liking. Of course, there's also no reason why you couldn't download and install both!

I usually only fire the game up if I can get in at least 3 hours straight. If you have a woman in your life, she may begin to hate this game.

I too don't play MTW unless I can devote a significant chunk of uninterrupted time to it. As a result, I don't play that much during the week anymore, although I usually try to workin at least a couple hours somewhere.

As for women, I'm blissfully single right now. However, my last ex actually got hooked on a couple of my strategy games, including MTW. There was a brief but bitter custody battle over the disk, let me tell you.

[Matador]

I am glad your liking the game. I have never played RTW so I don't know what all is the same. Some advice though, everything you do affects your generals and Kings vices and virtures. For example if you execute alot of prisoners than soon you will get a negative vice that says something like your King kills innocent people in his sweeps of rebels, this will reduce happiness. Just something to watch out for. Have fun!

[Quickening]

Thanks for all the advice. I killed the French King in battle and his lands fell to rebels. After Ive sweeped up the rebel proinces I'll turn my attention towards Scotland.

Just one question that may be foolish. I have armies in Ireland. I thought that all I had to do was have a ship bridge to be able to move my troops across the sea. I have a fleet in the Irish Sea yet my men will not move to mainland Britain for some reason.

Also, many times I have had a general die in battle, yet after the battle he appears to be alive and well?!

[macsen rufus]

Definately the kind of game you could play for hours

Believe me, it's the kind of game you can play for years...

Welcome to the org, btw. As for foolish questions: the only foolish question is the one you're too embarrassed to ask... so ask away

The reason you can't get your troops back from Ireland is that there's no port there -- you need a port in the province if your army is to travel by sea, but once on the ships, they can land anywhere on the coast. So you've probably already worked out that your army is now stuck in Ireland for at least four years whilst you build that port...

As for the un-dead generals, I'm amazed! Are you sure sure it's the same general, and not a replacement? Usually they stay dead! But what might happen is if you go to battle with a one-star general, then he dies, but you still win the battle, one of the other units gets the credit for winning the battle and therefore you will have one of your ex- 0* guys now with 1*, looking like the 1* general came back to life. If it's not this, and you have the same name (and maybe titles?) it sounds like a bug.

Glad you like MTW - I also have the FX5200 card, and just use the drivers that came bundled with my OS - I did get updated ones for RTW but MTW then crashed. After trying RTW for a few months, I decided I'd rather roll back the drivers and stick with MTW and its many mods (may I also recommend Hellenic, Napoleonic, Pike and Musket and Samurai mods for when you're ready?)

Enjoy!

[Martok]

Just one question that may be foolish. I have armies in Ireland. I thought that all I had to do was have a ship bridge to be able to move my troops across the sea. I have a fleet in the Irish Sea yet my men will not move to mainland Britain for some reason.

macsen rufus has the right of it. If you have a boat in the water, you can ship your army to Ireland, but unfortunately they'll be unable to leave the island until you build a port there. (This is admittedly one area in which Rome did better than its predecessor.)

On a related tip: Never ever ever ever ever have your faction leader lead an invasion of an island! Even assuming you win the battle, your king will considered to be "cut off" from the rest of his lands, and your empire will suddenly erupt in mass rebellions everywhere. Take it from someone who learned the hard way....

As for the un-dead generals, I'm amazed! Are you sure sure it's the same general, and not a replacement? Usually they stay dead! But what might happen is if you go to battle with a one-star general, then he dies, but you still win the battle, one of the other units gets the credit for winning the battle and therefore you will have one of your ex- 0* guys now with 1*, looking like the 1* general came back to life. If it's not this, and you have the same name (and maybe titles?) it sounds like a bug.

That would be my guess as well. Either the army was taken over by a general different from the one who was killed in the battle, or it's a bug. (If it's the latter, then it's definitely a bug in your favor. )

[Quickening]

Im writing a journal from my English campain for another forum but I decided to post some of it here incase anyone is interested It is written for people who know nothing of the Total War games so don't think Im being patronising to you experts ;) Hope you enjoy it! Have to say Im enjoying this game more than any in recent memory!


PART 2: THE INVASION OF SCOTLAND AND A FAMILIAR FOE

Mustering what I believed would be a great enough force, I launch my attack on Scotland.


Knowing that if I get caught up in melee combat with the Highlanders Im already dead, I order my specially picked missile troops to take position on a hill thus giving me the advantage of height.


In the distance you can see the Scots wisely hiding in the forests thus giving them cover from my archers and crossbowmen. I brought along a regiment of Welsh longbowmen as well so they are wise to hide in the woods.


After a while it became clear that the Scots were not going to come for me as I would have liked. They know that if their Clansmen leave their cover and charge me uphill, being shot at all the way, they have no chance. So I move a regiment of Urban Militia forward in the hopes of luring some out of the woods. It works! Some Scottish archers foolishly venture out to meet me.


I bombard the archers with missiles before charging my regiment of Urban Militia at them. They break and flee very quickly.


Then disaster strikes! I had moved my Militia too far away from the rest of my force and the Scots cavalry charged from the forest at my doomed regiment.


My infantry were decimated and I quickly send help down the hill. My second mistake. I should have cut my loses and thought of a new strategy.


The enemy cavalry began to take damage from my archers upon the hill. They went to retreat back to the woods from whence they came and I impetuously ordered my entire army to chase right after them. Foolish.


It ends up in a battle on the outskirts of the wood. Fighting hand to hand and uphill I had absolutely no chance. I was decimated.


After that humiliating defeat I received a ransom letter from the Scots. They had captured a number of men live from the battle. I decided to pay the ransom though I was loathe to do so. It will only aid their war effort. Still, at least I don't abandon my soldiers to their death.


For the next few years I build up a massive army. The next time I attacked Scotland, I took nothing to chance.


They attacked me headon as I had hoped, because this time I had taken some formidable melee units as well as longbowmen.


Patriots of Scotland, starving and outnumbered, charged the fields... and were slaughtered! MWHAHAHAHA!!


And thus was Scotland finally within my grasp!


I get word of a rebellion and go to quell it. But look who is leading the rebellion, none other than Robin Hood himself! I never expected that! Classic.


And so my troops marched out to meet Robin of Locksley. Despite being outnumbered and outclassed he managed to kill my general and defeat my army!


I built up another sizeable force and lay in wait for Robin...


And he kicks my ass again sending my troops running for their lives! No wonder his men are merry!


Whilst my General in Mercia cowers in his castle and Robin Hood besieges it, I get word of a rebellion in Scotland. This was no annoying little uprising. This was thousands of men baying for blood. See those hordes swarming over those hills? Those are the pissed off clansmen about to decimate my huge army.


I had absolutely no chance. I was fighting uphill against superior numbers and the bad weather meant that my archers were at a disadvantage. Barely any of my men survived and most of those that did were held against me for ransom.


Giving up on Scotland I turned my attention back to Mercia where my troops were still under siege. I broke the siege and ventured out to meet Robin Hood for the last time. This time luck was with me! He had no choice but to lead his men up a steep hill with my archers firing down upon them all the way.


See the man carrying the green barrier? Thats Robin of Locksley leaving a trail of not so merry dead men behind him and ironically perhaps, providing target practice for my archers.



And so Scotland was claimed and lost and Robin Hood rose to glory and fell just as fast as a pincushion.

In other news, the French were born again under a decendant of the previous King. This man was wiser than his forefather however and immediately sought and alliance with me.

I also managed to marry one of my Princes off to a Polish Princess. Not only does this make good for my diplomatic relations but also means that should the Polish King die without an heir, I can make a claim on his lands!

[drone]

Good journal! I never think to take screenies when I play, and couldn't narrate a battle if my life depended on it anyway.

Couple of hints (you may or may not know these already):

On the campaign map, if you press the "shift" key, it will show colors for all of your provinces. Red means rebellion is imminent (province loyalty below 80%(?)), yellow means it's possible (80-99%?), green means everyone is happy (100%+). Try to keep all provinces green. You can raise the loyalty with more troops (peasants are good for this) and by lowering taxes. Governors with high dread will also improve loyalty. Check every turn before hitting "end year", just in case...

On the battles. The Scottish leader in your first battle was a 3-star general, Robin Hood was a 4-star, while your generals for both battles were 0-star. These stars confer attack and defense bonuses to the army. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up. When attacking, compare your general's rank to that of the enemy. If it's lopsided, you will need more troops.

Glad to see you are having fun. Hope to hear more!

[macsen rufus]

Interesting battles, Q, and you seem to be learning the ropes as you go Another idea that may have helped you - if your coffers are full, you could have tried bribing Robin with an emissary. If you'd had a 4* general to meet those swarming highlanders I think the battle may have gone the other way.

Another useful hint: Press "F1" when in battle and it will bring up a screen of stats for your units - can be handy when plannng last-minute tactics