M2TW FAQ and Strategy Tips

[econ21]

CITADEL FAQ and M2TW STRATEGY TIPS

This thread is for Citadel frequently asked questions and for a compilation of strategy tips. Members are invited to use this thread to:
(a) ask or answer any important gameplay questions not answered in the manual;
(b) to post tips and strategies.
To avoid repetition, links to other posts and threads are welcome. No modding or multiplayer questions, though - we have other forums for those.

I will try to maintain the first post, although no promises. I apologise in advance but I am not going to religiously attribute every answer to a specific member, although I will if a particularly memorable substantive post stands out.

Index

Chapter 1: Combat
1.1…………….. How to use the various combat arms
1.2…………….. Special attacks and formations
1.3…………….. Sieges
1.4…………….. After the battle

Chapter 2: Managing your kingdom
2.1……………..Ships
2.2……………..Managing unrest and the economy
2.3……………..Training and recruitment
2.4……………..Buildings
2.5……………..Guilds
2.6……………..Diplomacy

Chapter 3: Characters and agents
3.1……………..Generals
3.2……………..Kings
3.3…………….. Princesses
3.4…………….. Assassins
3.5………….. …Spies
3.6…………….. Merchants
3.7…………….. Priests
3.8…………….. Inquisitors
3.9…………….. Miscellaneous Agents

Chapter 4: Specific historical aspects of the campaign
4.1…………….. The Pope
4.2……………..Crusades and jihads
4.3…………….. The Mongols and Timurids
4.4…………….. The Plague
4.5…………….. Gunpowder units
4.6…………….. America

Chapter 5: Settings
5.1……………..Settings
5.2……………..Miscellaneous
5.3……………..Bugs
5.4……………..Useful links

Chapter 1: Combat

Chapter Sub-headings:
1.1…………….. How to use the various combat arms
1.2…………….. Special attacks and formations
1.3…………….. Sieges
1.4…………….. After the battle


1.1…………….. How to use the various combat arms

Q: I don't know what the heck I'm doing in regards to what units do what and what the unit stats are also. RTW is easier to understand than this era!

A: What I recommend is pick your faction and start a campaign. Go to the building browser for a settlement and right click on the troop producing buildings. They will list what troops you can get at what level. If you right click on the unit, it will pull up the unit card with a full description and the key stats. That way you can see your entire unit line up and what buildings you need to get them.

Beyond that, M2TW is not that dissimilar from other Total War games. For example, here’s a breakdown of the English roster.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You have the following types:

Missiles - pretty much the same as in RTW; for England in M2TW, these are a key strength.

Swords - relatively more powerful than RTW, although I guess you could say armoured swordsmen are England's cohorts. Perfect for sieges (attacking or defending). Arguably the toughest units in the game.

Polearms - AP heavy infantry without shields; higher attack, lower defence than swords. Good flankers.

Spears - best for receiving a cavalry charge, but otherwise pretty lousy for England.

Cavalry - devastating charge like RTW, but much less robust to counter-attack

Artillery - I haven't played around much with these, but helps reduce losses in sieges: blast towers, units on walls etc before sending in the breaching parties.

Within each category, just shoot for the best in class. This makes billmen pretty redundant, for example, when you have dismounted English knights. Purchase price may be a good summary statistic, as it is supposed to be balanced for MP.

Other factions have more "exotic" (to English eyes) stuff - pikes, halberds, missile cav, skirmishing infantry etc. But most of that was in RTW.

But to be honest, I would not worry about stats. Use the units as they should be used historically. (Then come back here and start grumbling when they don't perform as you expect... )

Q: Where can I find a list of unit stats?

A: R'as al Ghul has produced a comprehensive list here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=76702

Yas has created a nice tool here:
http://www.totalwar.co.kr/

Brandybarrel has created very nice printable pdfs (the FAUST) with unit stats:

The FAUST v1.3 downloads:

for the Kingdoms expansion (8MB, 40 pages):
FileFront MediaFire

for the Grand Campaign with Kingdoms Stats (5MB, 25 pages):
Unit stats based on the Retrofit mod by Unspoken Knight (CA)
(applicable to other mods or updates which incorporate similar data files)
FileFront MediaFire

for the Grand Campaign (5MB, 25 pages):
FileFront MediaFire


Q: Which stats matter and how much?

A: In earlier Total War games, a good summary measure of unit combat effectiveness was their attack stat and their combined defence stat (armour+shield+defence skill). The chance to kill was driven by the difference between attack and defence stats, so each could be regarded as roughly of equal importance. In STW and MTW, a one point difference in the (attack - defence) differential led to an increase in the kill rate of about 20%. In RTW, the stats differed more and the corresponding increase was about 10%. In M2TW, we have no hard information yet but since the game uses a modified RTW engine, a 10% effect seems plausible.

However, in M2TW (and also RTW), the attack animations of the units also play a role, so the stats alone do not tell the whole story. This was seen most visibly in 1.0 and 1.1 when many two handed units could not damage cavalry much due to their animations. Due to differences in the animations, some units may hit more rapidly than others.

Beyond the attack and combined defence stats, the player should consider a range of other factors:
- Unit size: as Stalin said, quantity has a quality all of its own.
- Charge stat: this is particularly important for cavalry (it adds to their attack value if "charging" or if following through on a charge)
- Morale: on VH, militia will often prove fragile due to low morale
- The range, rate of fire and ammunition limit of any missiles
- Unit speed (this is especially important for cavalry wanting to catch routing enemy cavalry, e.g. defeated generals!)
- Armour piercing weapons: this may halve the effect of enemy armour.
- Spears vs swords? Spears are more effective against cavalry, less effective against infantry.
- Does the unit have a special formation? Phalanxes make pikes almost invulnerable to frontal melee attack on level ground. etc

General's bodyguards have two hit points making them twice as hard to kill. They also regenerate losses between battles.

In MP, the purchase price of the unit is the cost and should represent CA's assessment of the unit's overall combat effectiveness. However, in SP, upkeep is likely to have a much bigger effect on the overalll cost of a unit (providing surival prospect are not too grim). Upkeep is not closely tied to combat effectiveness and so some units are clear bargains (e.g. England's armoured swordsmen are more effective than the more expensive Dismounted Feudal Knights and cost about the same as far inferior militia).


Q: What is the difference between armour, defence skill and shield?

A: A unit's overall defence - if attacked frontally in melee - is the sum of its armour, defence skill and shield values. However, there are some differences in the way these three factors work.

Armour and shield influence both melee and missile combat; defence skill affects only melee.

The contribution of armour is reduced (halved?) if attacked by armour piercing weapons.

The position of the attacker relative to the defender also affects the contribution of these three stats in different ways:

You get 100% of the Shield defense at the front, and 50% at each side (nothing at the back).

Defence Skill you get 100% at front and at each side, nothing at the back.

Armour defence is 100% all round.

Q: What is the "ultimate stack"?

A: You tell us:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=73708


Q: How should I deploy my troops? Archers at the front, cavalry on the flanks or what?

A: Some suggestions about how to deploy various armies are here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=73103


Q: Can I dismount cavalry?

A: Sadly, no. You can train "dismounted" units - like dismounted Feudal Knights - but not dismount mounted cavalry.


Q: My cavalry attack without being described as "charging". How do I get off a good cavalry charge?

A: Jason from CA has explained how charging works:

Regarding the new charge mechanic, there are two charges available to a cavalry unit: a formed charge which allows for most of the unit to charge into a target; and an unformed charge which stops the charge after 10% of the soldiers within that unit have made contact with the target. In RTW this wasn’t as much of an issue because cavalry did not have long lances and as such did not require two significantly different charge abilities. The M2TW charge system allows you to have a very powerful charge if you do everything right and a light charge if you don’t.

The triggers for a formed (powerful) charge include:

Line up the cavalry parallel to the target
Utilize a long straight run up toward the target
Prioritize stationary targets as moving targets may result in a last second turn and reform

The triggers for an unformed (weak) charge include:

The unit is spread out just before charging
The charge is issued while too close to the target
The charge is issued when the unit isn’t facing the target
The player changes direction just before the charge• The target moves and turns just before being hit

http://totalwarcommunity.blogspot.com/

In order to get a good charge going:
(1) you need to have a decent sized gap between your cav and your target
(2) Stop your cav to let them form up if need be (i.e. if youve had them running around).
(3) Target your enemy, but WALK DONT RUN. If you run your charge will lose cohesion
(4) Leave em to it. At the correct distance your cav will break into a charge.
If youre defending against elite heavy cav or bodyguards with normal (i.e. non-spear etc) infantry then expect to get slaughtered. This is as it should be.
Use spearmen and ensure theyre in guard mode, in formation, and NOT MOVING.

For further advice on how to get off a good cavalry charge, read Hashashiyyin's tips:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...41&postcount=1

And yet more discussion here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=73535


Q: Which cavalry units are faster?

A: According to tests by Dopp and CBR, there are three horse speeds:

Fast: 630 metres/minute. (19% faster than normal)
This covers fast ponies.
Includes Alans, jinettes, stradiots, border horse, albanian light cavalry, most horse archers, Skys, Vards

Normal: 530 metres/minute
This covers heavy horses and ponies. Basically all horses that are not "fast ponies" and don't have any armour.
Includes mailed knights, mercenary Frankish knights, demi-lancers, Latinkons, Byzantince cavalry, lancers, hobilars, Danish scouts, French mounted archers

Slow: 420 metres/minute (21% slower than normal)
This covers mailed, barded and armoured horses.
Includes feudal and Chivalric knights, Italian men-at-arms, gendarmes, kataphracts. Sipahis?

Fast cavalry will have that mentioned in their unit description. For slow cavalry, you have to look at the picture of the horse - it will have armour or be covered by barding.

Note - there are also three infantry unit speeds: 157/215/255 metres per minute.


Q: Which infantry units are faster?

A:

Notes:
- May be incomplete; I did not test all infantry units
- Does not take into account slowdown due to straggling or fatigue
- The armour levels below refer to the base armour level, not what it can be upgraded to
- Upgraded armour has no effect on speed

Marching Speeds:

• Very Slow
  - All spearwall polearm units
• Slow
  - All pike units
• Normal
  - All other infantry and missile infantry units

Running Speeds:

• Very Slow
  - Dismounted Gothic Knights
• Slow
  - All infantry units with partial or full plate armour except Obudshaer
  - All 2H Sword units except DGK
• Normal
  - Most infantry units
  - Most mid to upper-tier missile infantry units
  - All spearwall polearm units
• Fast
  - All unarmoured missile infantry
  - All missile infantry with padded armour except Norse Archers
  - All gunpowder infantry except Handgunners
  - Aventuriers and Naffatun
  - Sudanese Tribesmen and Highlanders
  - Most Aztec infantry

Comments:
- It may be better to completely ignore DCK's in favor of DFK's. DFK's have better availability, faster running speed and lower recruitment price at the cost of only one armour point.
- If cavalry is completely unavailable, infantry units with the “fast” running speed may be used to chase routing infantry, especially if they are “slow” or “very slow.”

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=84334


Q: What bonuses do spear and pike units get against cavalry?

A:

All spear and pike units get +8 attack against Cav, plus a further unspecified bonus from having the Spear Attribute.

they also get an unspecified defense bonus vs. charging Cav from their spear attribute and an unspecified penalty vs. infantry from the same source.

Based on the fact that (with fixed Shields or working pikes), many Cav seem to die on impact, I also suspect a reflected charge value.

More detail here:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The formed charge is NOT a push-back type effect at all. A Cav-man that impacts somebody will inflict an attack on them (how this is calculated is unclear). If they survive it and are directly in front of the Cav-man, (he can hit those to the side as he plows into a unit), the Cav man then sometimes drops dead so the man hit must always get a kind of free attack in. I'd guess spears/pike get to reflect charge too as they seem much more successful than their performance in general melee vs. Cav suggests they should be.based on the fact that Spears will also often kill an enemy charging Cav man even if he kills them I would also say it is probable that in addition to reflect charge giving a Cav bonus, it also gives the model with it a free attack back regardless of weather the Cav man kills him or not. I'm not 100% sure of how this works, but based on the functioning of various units I believe the free attack of the spearman and the attack of the formed Cav charge are resolved simultaneously for them, rather than the Cav man going first and the impacted infantryman, (if they are not a spearman/pikeman), getting a free attack back if the survive If the Cav man survives the free attack back, then he may be stopped or he may inflict another hit on the guy he has collided with and even get it reflected back again. This is probably where momentum comes in in M2TW, and probably also mass as it would be that that determines momentum. Naturally the attack and defense of both the charging Cav and defending soldier are considered in this, but high defense is far more important for receiving a charge than high attack. If your defense isn't above a particular value (varies with the type of attacking Cav), you haven't got a chance full stop of stopping them.

A note on pikes: The formed charge effects seem to mostly rely on the Cav man hitting or passing extremely close to their target. Normally coming into contact with a targets weapon will also cause the model holding it to take a formed charge hit.

However, this is not the case with pikes against Cav charges. In this case the Cav man does not inflict a hit on the pikeman, but the Pikeman does inflict a hit on the Cav man. It is also clear that even if the Cav man survives this hit, he will not inflict a hit on the pikes.

On the other hand a Cav man that hits or passes very close to the pikemans actually body will inflict a hit on him. So it's clearly related to either the Spear-Wall or Long Pike attributes. I'll need to do more tests to confirm which attribute is responsible though.

However it's clear that Cav that do a formed charge into braced pikes are unable to inflict any formed charge attacks on the pikemen despite being in contact with their weapons. However, it is equally clear that the pikes can hit the Cav, and with some kind of reflected attack, and that doing so, (if it doesn't kill the Cav), doesn't always stop him from continuing to count as charging.

Most likely, (based on observational evidence), their is a line of code in either the spear wall formation or the long pike attribute that reads something like, "can_suffer_attacks_from_formed_charges=false" , and it is set to true for all other weapons, attributes, and circumstances. This would explain how the Cav can count as charging, whilst the pikemen still don't suffer any damage from it in a situation where for the effects of reflect charge they are in contact with the Cav.

Extra Reflect charge info: it's quite clear from the fact that only pikes attacked head on and spears hit head on actually get to reflect the charge, (and that spears and pikes that are moving and thus holding their spears/pikes up in the air), that the reflect charge ability is localized to only affect enemy that come into contact with the units actual weapon, and not just those that come into contact with the unit whilst it has that weapon out.

The defense bonus from spears appears to be quite large as fixed Spear militia with Gold Armour (base defense of about 14), are about as charge resistant as DFK (defense 21) so it looks like the bonus is about 50% extra to the defense score.

Q: How do I use pikes? They keep switching to their swords and dying!

A:

...during the fight you have to "remind" your pikes that they are pikes by swithcing off the spearwall function then -more or less- immediatly switching it on AND ordering them to attack.

Note - there are "pike fix" mods that remove the sword, forcing the pikemen to use pikes all the time. However, these arguably make the pikemen too strong.


Q: How should I use missile cavalry?

A: Some tips from Doug-Thompson:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...28&postcount=1

Some key points:
(a) unlike RTW, skirmishing cavalry have the "skirmish" mode switched back on automatically after they come out of melee. This reduces micromanagement.
(b) The "Parthian shot" - shooting at a purusing unit - appears less deadly than in RTW.
(c) Javelin armed cavalry have rather long ranges, although limited ammo makes switching off "fire at will" mode recommended.

Doug is also working on a guide to missile cavalry units:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...58&postcount=1

Here are the boiled-down useful points:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1. Get to high ground.
2. Know the enemy’s weak spots. Exploit them.
3. Create cross fire.
4. Don’t get pinned.
5. Attack morale at least as much as units.
6. If enemies aren’t dying, get closer.

Now, thumbnail explanations of what those mean:

1. Get to high ground. That’s self-evident. If there’s a hill you can get to and fire from, get there first with the most men. If the enemy holds high ground, find the gentlest slope and go up it instead of riding directly at them. Missile cavalry are among the fastest units in the game. Use that.

============

2. Know the enemy’s weak spots. Exploit them. These spots are, in priority order:

a. From the back.
b. On the enemy’s “weapon hand,” his right flank. This matters less with units that have no shield, like peasants, but most units have shields.
c. The other side, “shield side.”
d. In front, from the “weapon” or right end. If you are in the enemy’s “2 o’clock” position, you get at least some of the raking effect.
e. In front, “shield” end.
f. Dead ahead.

(See the link to enfilade fire below)

Note that the ability of missile cavalry to get to those spots is its greatest advantage over missile infantry.

=============

3. Create cross fire. Shields can only face one direction at a time. Even shieldless, unarmored units present a smaller target when facing you. This is particularly true of horses and camels. This level of detail is apparently present in the game. Give units more than one direction to face. You will find that horses and camels make particularly inviting targets from the side. Also, see the tactics guide or this thread for an opinion on enfilade fire.

===========

4. Don’t get pinned. Battle map corners and sides are almost as big a threat as the enemy. Those borders are the anvil. The enemy is the hammer. Don’t get close to the anvil without a compelling reason, and keep a way of escape in mind. Also beware of getting one of your units surrounded and terrain obstacles like rivers or structures. See the main tactics thread.

=============

5. Attack morale at least as much as units. Nothing helps win a battle like a dead enemy general. Javelin cavalry are the best general-killers available. Also, note that having your missile cavalry behind and flanking units create big morale penalties for your opposition. Use it. If your melee units can rout one unit, the rest may soon follow.

==========

6. If enemies aren’t dying, get closer. Self-explanatory.

Q: What is the rate of fire of missile units - e.g. longbows compared to crossbows?

A:

I tested how many volleys the different missile units could fire within a minute.

English longbowmen = 6 volleys
Genose crossbowmen(arbalest) = 3 volleys
Crossbowmen = 3(almost 4) volleys
Archer = 5(almost 6) volleys
Composite archer = 5(almost 6) volleys

This info gave me a pretty clear view of how the game mechanics work.
1)Bows fire about twice as fast as crossbows.
2) Theres almost no difference between different types of crossbow units.
3)Theres almost no difference bewteen different types of archer units.

Miracle has collected similar data:

Notes:
- The following states the average time in seconds between the start of the firing animation of an individual soldier or artillery piece
- Gunpowder infantry are assumed to be in a two-rank dense line formation and in fire-by-rank mode
- Flaming, exploding or rotting ammo have no effect on artillery firing rate
- The larger the unit size, the more the firing rate may vary
- In some cases an individual may skip a volley even though there is a target in range and in clear line-of-sight

Infantry

Javelin 19
Bow 11/22
Crossbow 17
Naphtha Bomb 9
Gun 32

Cavalry

Javelin 9
Bow 11.5
Crossbow 14
Jezail 13.5
Pistol 14
Elephant Gun 11
Elephant Artillery 13.3

Artillery

Ballista 17.75
Catapult 22
Trebuchet 29
Bombard 30
Grand Bombard 30
Cannon 20
Culverin 20
Basilisk 20
Monster Bombard 26
Mortar 23
Serpentine 21.5
Ribault 25.5
Monster Ribault 30.5/88
Rocket Launcher 41.5

Here's a related test by Zpartan's:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Did all tests on grassy plain in clear weather against Papal Guard. Always placed missle units 3 rows deep (don't know if that matters).

1. Retinue Longbowmen(90) - missle 8
1 minute = 5 volleys and 17 kills
1 minute = 5 volleys and 16 kills

2. Aventurier(90) - missle 14
1 minute = 3 volleys and 12 kills
1 minute = 3 volleys and 13 kills

3. Janissary Musketeers - missle 17
1 minute = 4 volleys and 38 kills
1 minute = 4 volleys and 37 kills

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...73&postcount=1


Dopp notes that Janissaries actually have a lower rate of fire, although this is masked by their reloading by ranks.

Q: Are missiles more accurate in thinner formations?

A: No, it makes no difference whether you spread them out in a thin line two wide, or form them up into a dense square:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1354924

Note: missiles are affected by terrain, so sometimes a very narrow (deep) formation is more accurate as fewer men may be obstructed by terrain (e.g. use a column of archers to fire through a city gate).


Q: Can crossbows fire over the heads of intervening friendly units?

A: Yes, but their accuracy is so low, they are useless deployed like that. It is better to give them a clear shot.

Q: Are missiles less accurate in night battles?

A: Sadly, not:

I just did a simple test, fighting 4 day and 4 night battles. HRE pavise xbow vs English peasants, without any upgrades. All battles had the same conditions, grassy plain, VH difficulty, dry weather. In each battle the xbows fired three volleys to the approaching peasants.

The results:
DAY: 32 27 28 33 - Average:30
NIGHT: 35 30 29 24 - Average:29.5

edit: I forgot to mention that those are the numbers of soldiers killed in each battle

Q: My archers don't do enough damage defending settlement walls - they fire high up into the air, rather than directly down to their targets. How can I fix this?

A: Lusted proposes reducing the max angle to 45 in this thread:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=83719


Q: How much ammunition do missile units have?

A:

Javelin Cavalry - 8
Crossbow Cavalry - 30
Archer Cavalry - 25
Gun Cavalry - 20

Javelins - 8
Crossbows - 30
Archers - 30
Handguns - 20

Q: How do I get my archers to stop firing?

A: Hit "backspace" will cancel a fire order. Make sure "fire at will" is off, too.


Q: How do I get units with a missile attack to enter a melee attack?

A:

Press "Alt" and right click (double right click if you want them to run to the destination).

Q: How I use firearm units effectively? A lot of times, they would just reform and reform without doing anything.

A: This may be a bug.

...deploying your gunpowder units in two ranks fixes the reforming problem for most gunners.

Q: What is the best anti-personnel artillery?

A: Some recommendations here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=76167


Q: Is there anyway to detach artillery crews from their war machines?

A: Yes, ALT+click on an enemy will do this (it also happens automatically when they are out of ammo). This can be useful it you want to retreat the crews behind melee troops in the face on an AI attack. Selecting the crew and right clicking on their war machines will re-attach them. (This idea was originally suggested by Usurper on the twcenter.net forums).


Q: How do I kill elephants?

A: Missiles (esp. javelins) and artillery seem the safest bet:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showpost.php?p=1338083


Q: How do I set waypoints on the battlefield?

A: Hold down "shift" and right-click.


1.2…………….. Special attacks and formations

Q: How do I get my longbowmen to deploy stakes?

A:

1. Stakes must be deployed during the Deployment Phase.
2. Stakes cannot be placed on obstacles or hard surfaces like roads. You have to place stakes on soft ground. At least from what I have seen, I couldn't place stakes during a bridge battle since it was a road so I had to place it next to it.
3. Cavalry running through will be instantly killed.
4. Usually infantry running through will be slowed down.
5. Cavalry can bypass stakes by walking through them.

Note: Janissary and Lithuanian archers also get stakes.

You can, of course, deploy the stakes, then move the archers back and replace them with decent melee infantry to guard the stakes.


Q: When should I use the Cantabran circle formation?

A:

It's useful only if you are getting hit hard by enemy missiles. Usually, with a large superiority in missiles of a pure HA army, it's better simply to sit in squares and flank with the units so your units sit in a circle around their army shooting. Multiple horse archers in circles collide with each other any how.

Q: When should I use flaming arrows in a field battle?

A: Flaming arrows have a larger effect on morale, but cause less casualties since they fire more slowly. Use them when you want to weaken the enemies morale (e.g. preparatory to a decisive melee), rather than just shoot them to death. The issue is discussed here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=73879

BigTex hypothesises, based on BI, that flaming arrows may be more accurate at night time (they are on by default in night battles). They may be less accurate in day time.

Flaming arrows also seem to cause more casualties if they hit. They may be better to use against heavily armoured targets.


Q: When is the schiltrom formation useful?

A: It is a defensive formation against melee attack - it will not kill many enemies, but it should reduce casualties against a charge (perhaps especially from cavalry). It can be useful to deploy at the front, to take the initial hit of a charge. You can then send in other units kept in a second line to counter-attack the AI.

Schiltroms seems particularly vulnerable to missiles. An effective tactic in BI was to menace AI spearmen with cavalry to induce them to form schiltrom and then shoot them down with your archers.


1.3…………….. Sieges


Q: Should I sit out a siege or launch an assault?

A: Sitting out a siege reduces the number of tiresome siege battles you have to fight and also paces your expansion, perhaps producing a more challenging game since the AI has more time to build up. However, storming settlements may bring you closer to victory for the reasons RickooClan articulates:

I have read some guides which suggesting saving your troops by sitting out the siege but honestly i think that is a very bad move. The reasons are:

1. Siege battle is the best place to clear out your low-tech troops such as militia which could give room to maintain better troops.

2. Each settlement at least give you 700 forin per turn which could recruit 2~3 low tech troops. Lets say you sit for 5 turns on a sieging a settlement you actually lost 4~5k forin potential income. By comparing the cost of the troops you may lost in battle, it does not worth it. [You will only lost 40~100 militia men in early game by taking a settlement even on VH/VH, and they only cost around 700 forin.]

3. Sitting on siege is a waste of your army force, especially for France you have lots of bother to defend.

4. Time is important, the faster to take the settlement, the quicker you establish your power and develop your faction. At least this is true for France.

Q: How can I set fire to rams and siege towers? They never burn!

A:

I always try to defend with at least 4-6 units of longbows or above and nearly always successfully burn anything that comes close.

And:

I'm playing Spain now, and although peasant archers ... in sufficient quantities they have also managed to set fire to well over half of the rams and towers that they have come up against.

I also park a unit of my best melee troops in the space between the gate towers in such situations. I don't think the area is wide enough for archers to be that effective, but a melee unit is fairly safe there and will be well positioned to rush to the walls on either side of the gate towers as the need arises.

Q: Can I re-use ladders and siege equipment, e.g. after taking down the outer wall?

A:

You can re-use ladders. You just need to wave your cursor around the bottom of one of the ladders until it turns into a hand cursor; the same one that lets you pick up the ram. For some reason my screengrab doesn't show my cursor, so I've added some arrows to show you where to put your cursor.

:

...ladders and rams can move through gateways. In addition, I have managed to move catapults through them as well. It also appears that anything (including trebuchets) can move through wall breaches, though I have yet to try that with a siege tower.

It appears that the restriction on gateways is limited to units that are too high. In addition to trebuchets, the tall Venetian morale-boost standard (Carrocio or something) cannot move through gateways.

I can also confirm that ladders can be moved after being placed. I have not done so myself, but I have seen the AI take a ladder down from an outer wall to assault an inner wall after capturing the outer wall and gateway.

... it is not necessary to break any wall or gate after having taken the first ring since all rings are interconnected and troops can pass from one outlying ring to the next inner ring.

Note: in my experience, attackers on the walls cannot alway pass from outlying rings to inner rings (1.2 unofficial leaked patch).


Q: How do I assault settlements without taking heavy losses?

A: For good insights into siege artillery and siege tactics, read SMZs faction-specific guide to siege warfare:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...88&postcount=1

Making or threatening multiple points spaced well apart in the settlement is useful, as explained here:

During a siege when playing single person, having multiple ladders can be extremely useful. I have gotten into the habit of attacking any castle or city from all sides at once and it seems the AI is not good at dealing with this tactic.

I will normally use one or two infantry units to do scaling per side and I normally have missile troops to back them up. The AI will generally concentrate on stopping one attack and allow the others to get in. This tends to cause the AI to retreat (if possible) to the center while allowing me to get the rest of my army inside to attack with. Then I can surround the AI’s troops and move in for the kill.

Note: multple rams rather than ladders will also work when used against cities (castles have only one gate). Having some redundancy and bringing more than one ram helps deal with the risk of it being set on fire.

Didz outlines his approach to sieges in detail:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

:Assuming you have the battle timer off I would recommend a systematic approach to any seige or assault.

Breach the walls (Not the gate) preferrably opposite one of the main raods to the settlement centre. If you have any artillery take out any dangerous looking towers first.

Having made the breach move forward your missile troops and place them as close to the breach as possible so that they fire through it into the defenders on the other side. (You will probably need to limit firing to one unit at a time, otherwise you are wasting missiles.)

If the enemy bunch on the approaches to the city centre as they sometimes do then then use massed fire arrows to thin their ranks and panic them.

If the enemy fall back from the breach and approachs to the town centre then move your best heavy infantry through the breach and order them to block the approach roads, remembering to cover the approaches from right and left not just the main route to the centre (especially if the enemy has cavalry). Choose this location with care preferably just behind a point where the street narrows and never with a side road just behind one of your flanks (unless you have a spare unit to block that too).

Having established a foothold inside the walls move selected units of missile troops through and deploy them just ahead of your blocking force on the road to the town centre. (Don't let them fire at will, they will just waste arrows in house walls, choose deliberate targets and use fire arrows if the fire is parabollic)

Move the blocking force and missile screen forward slowly preferably using the overwatch system where one group stands firm and the other moves.

Let the missile unit trigger counter attacks by the defenders along the street and then kite the attackers onto the heavy infantry or spearmen and let them deal with the attack. (Remember to switch 'Skirmish mode off' on the missile unit otherwise it will do really weird things, and don't leave your withdrawal too late as missile troops tend to dither before running.)

Rinse and repeat, until your assault group reaches the town centre or the enemy runs out of troops, or both. Upon reaching the town centre don't move anything inside the flagged objective area. Move forward and deploy your heavy infantry around the edge and then march any remaining missile units forward and empty the rest of your missiles into the defenders clustered around the objective.

If you run out of arrows before killing them all bring up your cavalry to deliver the 'coupe de gras' or merely have your infantry finish them.

I find this minimises my casualties during an assault and the only real threat is usually the General's Personal Bodyguard who can normally chew up the blocking force if its formation isn't solid enough to prevent penetration.

The AI seems to do best when the human player rushes the breach and then attempts to rush on to the town centre. Units get very distended in the narrow streets and if not allowed to reform regularly become easy meat for defending cavalry. Its much better to force the defenders to come to you and suffer this disorganisation themselves instead.

More discussion here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=83930

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=88794

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=95294

Artillery can be very useful in sieges. Even ballista can knock down the gates of any settlement. This typically leads them to retreat to the city square, where ballsta can reek terrible damage on enemy troops massed in the centre of the settlement. See Forward Observer's account here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...3&postcount=39

For my tips on sieges, read:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=74367

Note: wall towers provide powerful missile fire if the defenders have a unit stationed nearby. An important use of attacking artillery is to destroy those towers.

Hust found out - the assasins can sabotage ballista/cannon towers too.

Q: How can I fire diseased sheep?

A:

Well so far I think only trebuchets can do that.
It is pretty simple, you simply click the special ammo button.
You start with the normal ammo, you click once and you get your exploding rocks and then you click again and you get your diseased cows.

Can point out that the cows uses a seperate ammo then the others.
When you have selected the cows your ammo bar turns green.
And once that's empty you will still have the other ammo.

This causes a big morale effect on the battlefield.

Green flashing banners mean that your/the enemies troops are affected by the disease from dead cows launched by trebuchets.

Q: How do you know if you have captured a tower in a siege?

A:

You "own" a tower when the flag disappears from the top, but it's not ownership in the sense of RTW where it will fire at the enemy. You're just turning it off so it doesn't shoot at your men.

And the dynamic for this is different too. You have to clear all the enemy units near the tower, not just on the walls but also at the base of the walls and nearby streets. You can't just run troops through the tower to turn it off, if there are still enemy units anywhere nearby. Anyway, check for a flag on the tower. If there's a flag there, it's still shooting at you.

Q: Sometimes I lose a siege when my catapults have no more ammunition. Why?

A: This is a bug/feature with castles with more than one wall (fortresses/citadels). The computer thinks you can't get through the inner wall (even though they are often connected to outer walls). Build a ladder or just save the lost round of your artillery.


Q: What makes a good garrison to defend a settlement?

A: Issue is discussed here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=78177


1.4…………….. After the battle

Q: Should I ransom, execute or release prisoners after the battle?

A: See discussion in a poll thread on this question:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=75806

Generally releasing raises chivalry; executing raises dread so it partly depends on how you want to develop your general. It is generally better to have either dread or chivalry, so you may want to accentuate the current leanings of your general rather than reduce them by acting contrary to his nature. If the number of captives is less than 80, your choice will not affect your traits. Releasing raises your reputation and executing lowers it. Ransoming is neutral.

Ransoming is good when you need the cash and/or when the captured enemy troops are relatively low grade types, who you don’t mind eating up the AIs budget. It is particularly profitable if you capture a general. Kings fetch 10000 florins; family members 5000 or so. Note: often the AI factions cannot afford the ransom, so it is way of executing without penalty.

Releasing may be an attractive way to boost chivalry or reputation when the prisoners are not seen as much of a threat.

Executing is sensible if you are in a really tight spot or when you have captured an enormous amount of prisoners and fear the AI can afford the ransom.


Q: How do I control reinforcements?

A:

On the screen where you get to choose whether to fight it manually, autocalc, or withdraw, you should see checkboxes for reinforcement armies. Uncheck all the boxes if you want to control your reinforcements.

Reinforcements will arrive until you have 20 units on the field (that's the max). If you want another unit from the reinforcements, you need to withdraw one of the units currently in battle. This is best for missiles troops that ran out of ammo, for example.

Q: How does unit experience raise combat stats?

A: From inspecting the unit cards in my VH/VH campaign:

experience 1: no effect
experience 2-3: +1 attack, +1 defence
experience 4-6: +2 attack, +2 defence
experience 7+: +3 attack, +3 defence

There may be morale effects, but these are not visible. Experience effects seem somewhat smaller than those in earlier TW games.

Curiously, after a crusade, all my units were rewarded with going from zero to one experience and this single point did raise their attack and defence.

Unlike RTW, missile attack is not raised by experience, but experienced archers do get more kills. Tests by CaptainSolo reveal that three gold chevrons of experience roughly doubles the kills from longbowmen and Genovese crossbows against Scottish noble pikemen:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...36&postcount=1


Q: When I retrain my a depleted unit, are the replacements of the same experience as the unit?

A: Yes. That quirk of RTW is unchanged (one might imagine replacements have zero experience.)


Q: How can I shuffle unit cards to get them in an intuitive order?

A: There is no easy way to do this (you can't drag them from place to place).

On the battlefield, you can group and ungroup them to switch their order.

On the campaign map, you can control click them in an army or town and click for them to move somewhere. They will form a stack in the order you clicked them. However, IIRC, you cannot do this for all units - one must be left behind.


Q: Can I retrain mercenaries and Crusader units back to full strength?

A: Yes, under some circumstances.

You can retrain all mercs as long as its possible to buy the same kind of merc in the region youre in, oh and there needs to be some available otherwise you cant retrain you will need to wait like when training your normal units.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=72686

[lecnac]

As far as I can tell, no siege equipment of any kind can get through a gate. I haven't tried a wall breach, but I assume it's the same. Essentially you need trebuchets or long range gunpowder artillery in order to be able to hit the third wall of a citadel. I found 3 units of trebuchets were just barely enough to breach all 3 walls before running out of ammo. 4-5 would be necessary if you wanted more than a single breach in each wall plus disabled towers. Perhaps gunpowder units are more effective, but I have yet to try them.

That is incorrect.

Ladders and rams CAN be carried though gates, even the AI does this! Furthermore Cannons and other ranged siege equipment can pass the gates and / or wall breaches.

Even so it is not necessary to break any wall or gate after having taken the first ring since all rings are interconnected and troops can pass from one outlying ring to the next inner ring. The AI uses this fact as well ( at least in my game on vh )

[Ja'chyra]

A small tip:

If you are planning on starving out a settlement don't build any siege engines. 9 times out of 10 the AI will sally forth rather than then go quietly to the grave (good on them too) and any siege engines in your troop line up will only delay and disrupt your defensive line.

[hirins]

about assasin
actually i some how managed to kill inquisitor was not the strongest one but still an idiot who hates everybody (assasin had 4 star level)..

[KhaderKhan]

Just curious but does anyone know how to switch off the video/movie for assasinations and spy infiltrations?

My (tired, knackered) computer has the nasty habit of turning (with the music in the background) whenever I send my spies or assasins on their missions.

[Daveybaby]

There's a 'dont play this type of animation again' checkbox when an animation is playing, so assuming your PC manages to get that far, you should be able to disable them one by one for a given campaign.

[LordMorgan]

Q: How do I unlock other factions?

A: Either finish a campaign or:


Quote:
Originally Posted by Throumbaris
Open medieval2.preference.cfg and add this:

Code:
[misc]

unlock_campaign = true

Just wanted to point out this does not work. I guess you have to play with the starting Factions first no matter what. SO far there is no way around playing first with the start ups in order to play with the unlockables.

[Alexander: The hellenic empire]

There's a 'dont play this type of animation again' checkbox when an animation is playing, so assuming your PC manages to get that far, you should be able to disable them one by one for a given campaign.

During my first week of play, (I bought the game just when it came out in the UK), I accidentally pressed the "Don't show animation again button" with the spy video. I still get the videos with the assasins, but how can I re-activate the spy animation again?

[Alexander: The hellenic empire]

about assasin
actually i some how managed to kill inquisitor was not the strongest one but still an idiot who hates everybody (assasin had 4 star level)..

During my Sicilian campaign an 8-star assasin of mine killed three Popes in a row. Who can beat that?

[Ramses II CP]

Heh, at the end of my English campaign I surrounded Rome with assassins and killed every Pope who showed up for almost a hundred years. I was bored (And they were mostly my own Popes).

Strategy tip? Don't anger the Pope until you can surround Rome with assassins.

[Darkmoor_Dragon]

That is incorrect.

Ladders and rams CAN be carried though gates, even the AI does this! Furthermore Cannons and other ranged siege equipment can pass the gates and / or wall breaches.

Even so it is not necessary to break any wall or gate after having taken the first ring since all rings are interconnected and troops can pass from one outlying ring to the next inner ring. The AI uses this fact as well ( at least in my game on vh )

Just to clarify one point: You can not RE-USE ladders: so if you have used them on the outer wall then you can not take them down and use them again on an inner wall.

You CAN, as Lecnac points out, carry them through to any inner wall though (SO long as you have not used them yet), so build extra before you assault the castle and leave the extras on the ground outside the outer wall in case you need to go back and pick them up later.

[PickledGecko]

You can re-use ladders. You just need to wave your cursor around the bottom of one of the ladders until it turns into a hand cursor; the same one that lets you pick up the ram.


For some reason my screengrab doesn't show my cursor, so I've added some arrows to show you where to put your cursor.

[Daveybaby]

*squints*

Arrows? Where?

[Clearchus]

Question: How do you take a screenshot, and what folder does it go to?

[lakedaemus]

I hope this is the right place for this question, I apologize if it is not.

I feel like I'm being a total brick about this, but I can't figure out how to offer specific sums of money as Bribes. So far, all I have been able to do when offering Bribe is leave it blank, it says "Your offer reasonable to our demands" or something like that. I can't find where to enter a sum. I know in RTW that it was possible to offer specific amounts when bribing, did they take that functionality out of the game? Or am I just being blind?

[Quillan]

You can't offer specific amounts when bribing, as in trying to disband/steal and army and/or character away from another faction. You try to bribe, they tell you what the price is, and you agree or disagree. Or they reject you outright. You can offer specific amounts in normal diplomacy only.

[Hashashiyyin]

Typed up a guide on how to get effective charges with infantry and calvary in M2:TW. As well as discussion on how/why it's different from other total war games, and how to effectively use heavy calvary. link is below

Guide to charging:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=72726

[Spendius]

All the playable factions were unlocked after I won a long campaign

[urbancohort]

Re FAQ above - Inquisitors do come back for a second bite if they have already decided your innocent, usually the turn after or untill they decide your guilty and have found the petrol

If you have been cleared once get your general out of there, if you don't chances are he won't be there for long if you really need him.

[Comrade Alexeo]

A word on diplomacy (as taken from a previous posting):


1) This is not supposed to be Civilization. Totally different mindset - not power through peace, but peace through power.

2) In Shogun, you have all these different Japanese families who loathe each other because they're standing in each other's way of controlling Japan. In Medieval and Medieval 2, you have all these different European familes who loathe each other because they're standing in each other's way of controlling Europe. In Rome, you have all these different cultural groups who loathe each other because they're standing in each other's way of controlling Europe.

3) The games are vastly more accurate than you might guess. Alliances in ancient and medieval times almost never lasted very long. The Persians and the various Greek cities had so many diplomatic intrigues with each other (Athens allies with Ionians against Persia, Persia attacks Athens, Athens and Sparta ally to push back Persia, Athens and Sparta declare war with each other, Sparta allies with Persia...) that you could write an epic that could well dwarf Homer's Iliad. Rome was particularly notable for almost never allying with anyone because, after all, there was Rome and there was everybody else, and who wants to ally with barbarian scum? (Realistically, "alliances" were made for the sake of expediency-Greeks support Rome against Macedon, Rome support Aedui in Gaul to defeat Avernii-but they were almost always used for stalling, as the Greeks and the Aedui rather quickly found out). And of course in medieval times, there was hardly ever a time when "peace" was widespread, and notable "alliances" like, say, the one between the French and the Scots were more out of a mutual hatred of England rather than any real sense of committment to each other. The Shi'a -Sunni conflict was as volatile back then as it was today in the Middle East - read up on how Saladin came to power. It is extremely easy but extremely wrong to assume that the ancient political world was anything like the political world today; while this is a major generalization, alliances today are generally to avoid war altogether, while alliances back then were generally to stall war.

[Whacker]

Small rather pointless time-saving tip. If for some reason you need to reinstall M2TW, save the "unlocked.txt" file in the "\Medieval II Total War\data\world\campaign\imperial_campaign" someplace safe (assuming you've already used the "unlock_factions" trigger, or honestly unlocked them. When done reinstalling, simply copy that back into that folder. Viola, all factions should be unlocked, instead of having to start the game once, then add the "unlock_factions" trigger to the config file, then loading up the game again.

Cheers!

[Ciaran]

Q: Can you ally with a faction already allied to your enemy?

A: No. (Although the AI can be your ally and then ally with your enemy - this brings peace between you and your enemy.)

I´d like to extend on this one, as there is a way to ally with a faction that´s at war with your ally, it´s possible through marriage. If you marry the princess (that´s the way I did it) of the faction to your King or prince, you become allied with the princess´ faction and this results in a ceasefire between your old and new ally.
I don´t know if it works as well when you´re the one providing the bride, but my guess is that it does.

[Prussian Abroad]

For some reason I can't edit the descr_strat file. Everytime I try to save the edited version it tells me I have the incorrect path or file name, which I don't. Suggestions please as I really want to get rid of the green arrows and also play as the Russians.

[locked_thread]

edit

[Deus]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned this as i havn't had chance to read through all 5 pages but in the miscelleneous section where the map is posted there is another difference compared to the game. The tiny island east of iberia that is normally lumped in with valencia is a separate province called Palma on that map.

[Il Duce]

Hey folks,

I'm just curious to know how some of you guys garrison your cities and/or forts with your army?

[EnemyOfTheState]

hahahahahaha FINALLY a way to kill those genocidial inquistors



Now for something completly different: My garrison depends on the area, for instance if its non-frontier city or castle i general put 2 or 3 of the free units into it. If its on a frontier city i keep 2-3 missle troops, 1-2 spearmen, and 2-3 heavy infantry.

[Il Duce]

Thanks for the info EnemyoftheState...I'm such a noob at this game...




BTW, after playing for several days in a row as the Venetians, fending off attacks on all fronts, I would like to say:

Hello everyone, my name is "Il Duce" and I am a M2:TW addict...

[Lochar]

Counter Intelligence

When viewing you settlements and noticing high unrest, could be a good chance you have a spy in town. Plop one or 2 down and flush them out. I ususally have 2 now on my frontlines and its ammusing watching them send spies to fail. If one gets thru I just try plopping a 3rd.

Also spies are by far the easiest to level up, just spy everyone and thing around you. Diplomats, merchants,priests, etc. Youusually get a trait increase doing so.

For my garrisons, usually just the free milita units unless bordering an enemy, I try to find a hub spot that is my medieval rapid response armies.

[Daveybaby]

Think this should go in, as i've seen a lot of people say this is a bug, and its not:


Q: Archers / Artillery ignore my orders - they fire at different targets to the ones i select - they are bugged.

It's NOT a bug, it's a feature (no, really, no irony in that sentence, for once). Archers and arty will chose their own targets if you select them as a group and order them to fire at one unit.

In that case, the game group automation takes over and assigns each single unit a single, best target, out of the same code that lets you order a full charge of your battleline with a single click, pairing your units with those of the opponent.

If you want archers or arty to fire at a precise target, give them the order separately.

If still the archers/arty won't fire at the target, it's because either they don't see them, or can't get a good "firing solution" because your own men are in the way, or there's an enemy just on the edge of their skirmish range (that part is mostly true for javelins and IS slightly buggish, but it was already there in Rome, and was worse in MTW since back then javelin range was shorter than skirmish range. Just toggle skirmish off and turn it back on when there's a real danger to be overrun)