WOW what a cool game

[Leviathon]

if you have read my prev posts you will know that this is the first time i have ever played any of the total war games and wow am i impressed i started my first campaign last night and made a big mistake in trying to take over spain (silly me) but i shall learn from my mistakes lol, anyway is there any difference to the way the game is played if you play as the vikings and what would be the best campaign to do being a begginer ofcourse?

Also any tips on this game would be well noted thnx

[Caerfanan]

if you have read my prev posts you will know that this is the first time i have ever played any of the total war games and wow am i impressed i started my first campaign last night and made a big mistake in trying to take over spain (silly me) but i shall learn from my mistakes lol, anyway is there any difference to the way the game is played if you play as the vikings and what would be the best campaign to do being a begginer ofcourse?

Also any tips on this game would be well noted thnx

What's the TW game you're playing? Med 2 our Medieval Total War: Viking Invasions?

I don't know much of M2TW yet, but I could say, for MTW that any faction has its pros and cons. And every faction has its differences, the various units leading to different behaviors on the battlefields! So, basically, you're doomed. Because you will have to play dozens of campaigns to forge your own opinion!

[caravel]

if you have read my prev posts you will know that this is the first time i have ever played any of the total war games and wow am i impressed

Welcome Leviathon, to the .org, and to the Main Hall in particular.

i started my first campaign last night and made a big mistake in trying to take over spain (silly me) but i shall learn from my mistakes lol,

You have a sound philosophy there.

anyway is there any difference to the way the game is played if you play as the vikings and what would be the best campaign to do being a begginer ofcourse?

You are referring to the Viking campaign? That campaign is played out on a different map (of the British Isles) and centres arounf Anglo-Saxon England at the time of the Viking raids. There are many different units and most of the uinits from the original game are not included. The tech tree is also very different, and in some ways better than the original. The Viking and Saxon Huscarle units are among the deadliest in the entire game.

For a beginner I recommend you go for the early era and nmot the high or late eras. The Egyptians or the Almohads are good starters. There is no Papal interference to worry about less immediate enemies bordering your lands. Another faction for a new player, though debatable, are the Byzantine. They have good income, many provinces and some very good units such as Kataphraktoi, Trebizond Archers and the Varangian Guards.

For a catholic faction you definitely want to go with the Spanish. They also have good defensible lands, good units and their ownly immediate enemies are the Almohads and the Aragonese. The establishment of a strong navy is important for most factions, but moreso for the Spanish. The conquest of the entire peninsula is also a must, which means rebel Portugal, Navarre and Valencia as well as Aragon need to come under your control fairly early on and the Almohads need to be forcibly ejected from Cordoba and Granada.

The Almohads are a faction than build up quite well on what they have, combined with the acquisition of Valencia, and Portugal. It is important to deny these to the Castilians.

Also any tips on this game would be well noted thnx

For the most part you will pick things up as you go along, feel free to ask your questions here as they arise.

[Leviathon]

What's the TW game you're playing? Med 2 our Medieval Total War: Viking Invasions?

i am currently playing MTW: Viking invasions

You are referring to the Viking campaign? That campaign is played out on a different map (of the British Isles) and centres arounf Anglo-Saxon England at the time of the Viking raids. There are many different units and most of the uinits from the original game are not included. The tech tree is also very different, and in some ways better than the original. The Viking and Saxon Huscarle units are among the deadliest in the entire game.

For a beginner I recommend you go for the early era and nmot the high or late eras. The Egyptians or the Almohads are good starters. There is no Papal interference to worry about less immediate enemies bordering your lands. Another faction for a new player, though debatable, are the Byzantine. They have good income, many provinces and some very good units such as Kataphraktoi, Trebizond Archers and the Varangian Guards.

For a catholic faction you definitely want to go with the Spanish. They also have good defensible lands, good units and their ownly immediate enemies are the Almohads and the Aragonese. The establishment of a strong navy is important for most factions, but moreso for the Spanish. The conquest of the entire peninsula is also a must, which means rebel Portugal, Navarre and Valencia as well as Aragon need to come under your control fairly early on and the Almohads need to be forcibly ejected from Cordoba and Granada.

The Almohads are a faction than build up quite well on what they have, combined with the acquisition of Valencia, and Portugal. It is important to deny these to the Castilians.

thankyou for you advice i will try this as you have said hopefully after i have it mastered i will start playing on multiplayer

p.s thanks for the welcome

[Caerfanan]

i am currently playing MTW: Viking invasions

Argh!!! I'm stuck playing the viking campaign. About to play probably the picts on hard. I'll try to get to the mounted xbows!!!

[Vladimir]

Good, my favorite faction!

[caravel]

IMHO the only factions worth playing in VI are the Irish, Welsh, Picts and Scots. The rest are relatively easy due to the Huscarles.

[Caerfanan]

IMHO the only factions worth playing in VI are the Irish, Welsh, Picts and Scots. The rest are relatively easy due to the Huscarles.

That's right if you are experienced. But if you're beginning in hte TW games, I would recommend the vikings: you cannot be eliminated (or really with difficulty), and you have a good set of units to train on the battlefield. Your little errors will be compensated by your superior units.

[caravel]

True enough, if we are speaking of beginners though I would recommend the Mercians. Very easy.

[Leviathon]

this is all so interesting, say would you recomend playing multiplayer and is there many tribe/clans/factions on gamespy?

[Caerfanan]

True enough, if we are speaking of beginners though I would recommend the Mercians. Very easy.

Big troops, a lot of money! I wasn't thinking of the viks trouble with money when starting! :-)

The only "difficulty" with the Mercian is try not to be at war at the same time with the Saxons, the Welsh adn the Northumbrians. at the beginning at least.

[Martok]

Welcome to the Org, Leviathon! Make yourself at home.

As far as which faction you should start with, I first off second Caravel's recommendation that you play in the Early period if you're playing the main Imperial campaign.

Given that, probably the best factions to start out as are the Almohads, Spanish, and English. All three factions have decent income and a good starting position.

The Byzantines are great fun and they bring quite a bit of money, but their size and location can make them a chore to properly manage when you're not used to the game. Unless you're a diehard fan of the Byzantines, I recommend staying away from you're more comfortable with the game.

If you're playing the Viking Invasion campaign, then the Mercians and Saxons (Wessex) are the two easiest factions. Avoid the Northumbrians and Welsh until you've played a few games -- they're significantly more difficult.

this is all so interesting, say would you recomend playing multiplayer and is there many tribe/clans/factions on gamespy?

I know there is still an active MP community, albeit not as large as used to be. To be honest, I don't think many of us here in the Main Hall play MTW online that much -- we're generally more interested in the game's singleplayer campaign. For questions about online play, you should go here. The guys there will be more than happy to help you out.

[Bregil the Bowman]

IMHO the only factions worth playing in VI are the Irish, Welsh, Picts and Scots. The rest are relatively easy due to the Huscarles.

I haven't really got on with playing the Irish. Bows tend to be a big part of my game. Love the Welsh though, those Welsh Bandits can rip the heck out of a nice stack of huscarles if used properly. What I find with the Vikings is you can get a bit cash-strapped early on unless you're careful.

In the main game, Almohads or English are good factions to start with - lots of effective units and hard to wipe out completely.

I'd recommend reading Frogbeast's unit guide, I have learned a great deal from it. Knowing what enemy units can and can't do is the key to success.

Also, have a look through the threads on this site, there are often some good tips to be had.

[Derfasciti]

if you have read my prev posts you will know that this is the first time i have ever played any of the total war games and wow am i impressed i started my first campaign last night and made a big mistake in trying to take over spain (silly me) but i shall learn from my mistakes lol, anyway is there any difference to the way the game is played if you play as the vikings and what would be the best campaign to do being a begginer ofcourse?

Also any tips on this game would be well noted thnx

Welcome to the forums and welcome to Total War. Medieval Total War is indeed a VERY fun game. I'm currently going to replay Viking Invasion although as what faction I don't know.

For VI i suggest the Saxons as the easy faction to play first. They have a pretty good starting position and their lands are rich. Be prepared to try to make an alliance with the Mercians at first and the Vikings as the vikings especially can kick the crap out of you if they really want to. the Welsh should be conquered fairly quickly and then get ready for a very long war with the Mercians. Personally I just go with the faction I feel more interested in at the moment. I don't care what their units are like and rarely use too advanced tactics to win battles. I guess I'm just a noob.

On the main game, Early England is probably one of the easiest. Spain also has a lot of merits once you conquer all of Spain. Really it all comes down to what you want to do. If you're big into history, role-playing a faction might be a lot of fun and it might not matter if England or Spain are pretty easy to play.

Have fun and I hope this helped!


edit: A general tip: If you find yourself losing battle after battle, don't fret. I still lose many battles and I've been playing on and off for quite a while. Patience and the enjoyment of the game is what counts. Losing a lot make all those great victories all the more enjoyable too.

[Leviathon]

I know there is still an active MP community, albeit not as large as used to be. To be honest, I don't think many of us here in the Main Hall play MTW online that much -- we're generally more interested in the game's singleplayer campaign.

This is ashame as online activity gaming can be fun anyway no bother as we can still share info here which is as good as multiplayer online, lets face it multiplayer is for fun but is a good way to communicate with others.

For questions about online play, you should go here. The guys there will be more than happy to help you out.

I will check this out thanks Martok

[caravel]

Also, you may or may not be aware of this, but TW games don't have a multiplayer campaign, only multiplayer battles.

[seireikhaan]

For the regular campaign, I second the Spanish as a good starter, they have a great royal line to start off with and good provinces and troops. Whoever you decide on, don't make the decision based on the difficulty the game tells you, it's usually wrong. Egypt is also a good starter, they can get incredibly wealthy, just remember to build your navy good and strong.

Oh, and I would heavily advise against trying to play as Germany, Poles, Hungarians, or Sicilians. Germans and Poles are both rather difficult to play as, money is often an issue for both. Sicily is rather complex for a beginner, they can go just about any direction because of their position. And lastly, Hungary is just an odd faction, I wouldn't try them until you've gotten some experience with Horse archer style combat, since Hungary kind of relies on that form for a while. Horse archers take some practice to use, but w/ experience, they can be incredibly useful, especially the Szekely that Hungary can train. Also, they lie right in the crosshairs of the mongols, and for a new player, the Mongols could be almost unstoppable(at least they were for me my first time).

[Leviathon]

Also, you may or may not be aware of this, but TW games don't have a multiplayer campaign, only multiplayer battles.

this is a shame a campaign would be intersting but then i would guess that time would conquer the game as it would take forever

[Leviathon]

Oh, and I would heavily advise against trying to play as Germany, Poles, Hungarians, or Sicilians. Germans and Poles are both rather difficult to play as, money is often an issue for both. Sicily is rather complex for a beginner, they can go just about any direction because of their position. And lastly, Hungary is just an odd faction, I wouldn't try them until you've gotten some experience with Horse archer style combat, since Hungary kind of relies on that form for a while. Horse archers take some practice to use, but w/ experience, they can be incredibly useful, especially the Szekely that Hungary can train. Also, they lie right in the crosshairs of the mongols, and for a new player, the Mongols could be almost unstoppable(at least they were for me my first time).

This is very sound advice

REGARDS

[Martok]

this is a shame a campaign would be intersting but then i would guess that time would conquer the game as it would take forever

Indeed. This is the main reason CA cites for never having implemented multiplayer campaigns, and why none of the TW games have them.

[Derfasciti]

Indeed. This is the main reason CA cites for never having implemented multiplayer campaigns, and why none of the TW games have them.

*puts on Conspiracy Cap* Or that is what CA would have us believe...

[seireikhaan]

Thanks, Leviathon. BTW, let's try to stay on topic here please.

[Derfasciti]

If you're refering to my last post, then.. sorry. I went out on a whim

[Leviathon]

I have just started a campaign with the Byzantine and see what you all mean, I would personally recommend that all begginers to MTW play this campaign as it has a great learning curve.

I would also like to take this time to thank all of you for your great advice and help.........

[Leviathon]

Thanks, Leviathon.

Not at all if anything thankyou