Strategy Guides for Mods

[ULC]

I think this was attempted a while ago...come to think of it, about the time I joined. I was thinking of possily starting a sub-secction (where ever you wish to put it Martok) for factions in mods. The factions could be sub-divided by mod (of course!), and we could have each mod represented (XL, BKB super, BKB AOW, Hellenic, SW, etc.). Who's with me?

[Tratorix]

I think this is a great idea and would love to see it implemented. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to vote in the poll

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

If I could guarantee that this would work, then I would be definitely in favour of the move. Unfortunately, if this was to go ahead, you have to query it's sustainability - would anybody write guides? I know that the main M:TW guides forum has slowed recently, as has activity here - are there enough active and willing people for this to work? Perhaps asking who would write guides would be a good idea before starting anything like this.

[Noir]

I think that its better to leave it at posters' discretion - whoever wants they can write one anyway. Having an "official" thread serves little purpose IMO. It might motivate some - but it might equally stagnate.

Many Thanks

Noir

[Martok]

I think this was attempted a while ago...come to think of it, about the time I joined. I was thinking of possily starting a sub-secction (where ever you wish to put it Martok) for factions in mods. The factions could be sub-divided by mod (of course!), and we could have each mod represented (XL, BKB super, BKB AOW, Hellenic, SW, etc.). Who's with me?

I'd actually brought up this idea myself several months back, although I was focused more on guides for XL (since it was the most popular mod at the time). Unfortunately, it didn't look like the proposed project was going to get off the ground, so I dropped it.

The problem wasn't really whether or not people supported the idea, as I think most MTW players here were behind it. The bigger problem was that there didn't seem to be enough people to write guides for all the factions. For example: I've played XL fairly extensively, but even I would've only felt comfortable writing guides for maybe 3-4 of the new factions XL introduces. There's no way I could've written guides for all of the factions, and not enough people had played the other new XL factions to feel comfortable writing guides for them either.

And of course, that's just one mod. After you factored in the other half-dozen or so major mods, the sheer scale of the project would be that much more daunting. Heck, even if you were to factor in only the other main medieval-era mods (most notably BKB SuperMod and Wes' MedMod), it would still require a huge collaborative effort to get guides up for all the new factions these mods add.

I don't mean to come across as pessimistic or unsupportive, by the way. I still think a sub-forum for mod faction guides is a wonderful idea, and I would love to see it happen. I just know from our prior attempt, however, that finding the players who are willing and/or able to actually sit down and *write* said guides would be a difficult task at best.

[ULC]

We could still set it up. It doesn't have to appear like magic in one complete peice, but could be made over time. We could select a few dedicated people (I would be one, considering it's my idea) and progressivly work from mod to mod, slowly covering the entire spectrum. We could then have each one go over and check each others work. Alternatively, we could cover the same factions first in each of the main mods (XL, BKB, Medmod) with just three people. We of course could have people select different factions they would like to cover, PM you Martok or post the faction they wish to cover, and write the guide, along with our dedicated team, covering one mod at a time. Whats more, we *may* be able to get the original mod developers to help us in such an endeavor.

[seireikhaan]

Well, Lord and Conqueror, I would be willing to put in some effort for the XL mod. I would support making this, just so long as we keep working at it and make sure the thing doesn't die. But as others said, the problem would be getting people to do it. I'd like to echo Martok in that I would be willing to do a few for XL, but that's still far short of what we need.

[Peasant Phill]

I believe that some guides are allready floating around on this forum from the previous attempt (Mine included of the XL Volga-Bulgars). It wouldn't be to hard for a Mod to locate them, bundle them and sticky them. The mtw guides are still growing because they are easy to reach, I think the mod guides will also grow if they are collected in one place.

[Gimli]

I'm also with Martok on this one... I can only write guides for a few factions in XL that I have actually played with a lot... Um, the ones that I could work on would be Byzantines, Novgorod, Kiev, Russians, Armenians... [maybe Lithuania, Serbia, Venice, Bulgarians] (well, mostly the Orthodox ones! ) If we can get a few people who want in on it, list which factions you can do and lets see if we can get a list of the ones that COULD be done now.

P.S. - What exactly would go into said guides?

[ULC]

Her is a List of Factions to cover, with them under their respective mod.

XL......................................................Whos Covering

Catholic
The Aragonese
The Bohemians.....................................YourLordandConqueror
The Burgundians
The Crusaders......................................YourLordandConqueror
The Danish
The English
The French
The Genoese
The Germans
The Hospitallers
The Hungarians
The Irish
The Norwegians
The Papacy
The Polish
The Portuguese
The Scottish
The Sicilians
The Spanish
The Swedish
The Teutonic Order
The Venetians

Orthodox
The Bulgarians........................................lord illingsworth
The Serbians..........................................lord illingsworth
The Byzantines.......................................Gimli
The Kievians
The Novgorod.........................................Gimli
The Armenians........................................lord illingsworth

Muslim
The Volga Bulgarians................................Peasant Phil
The Egyptians
The Turks
The Almohads

Pagan
The Cumans
The Lithuanians..........................................greaterkhaan
The Golden Horde........................................greaterkhaan

I am compiling a list of the other mods and their factions, So I'll update this list as soon as possible.

As to whats to be put in the guide, a basic first 15-30 years for each starting era avaible to the faction being covered is a necessity. After that, you could add unit specific strategies, economic plans, diplomacy, etc.

[Martok]

People, harken to me!

I have a thought (although it may admittedly be only half-formed): Perhaps we should just start writing mod faction guides and posting them here in the Main Hall. If enough guides were put together, that might then be sufficient to persuade Tosa to open up a separate subsection for them. I know it seems like it might be too simple an idea, but it it still seems to me like it could work. What do you guys think?

P.S. - What exactly would go into said guides?

Pretty much what YLC said.

At the least, a guide should review the faction's strengths and weakness, as well as detailing what that faction's "best" strategy(-ies) should be for the first 20-30 years or so. Guides also often include tips on how to best use a faction's unique units, plus possible future strategies to try once your faction has gotten past the first couple decades & is fairly well-established.

[seireikhaan]

Ok, for XL, I'd like to do the guides for Lithuania and the Mongols.

Edit: I'll probably only be able to do the Lithuania guide for early period. I haven't yet felt motivation to try them on high or late.

[doctrellor]

Hell yeah, this is an AWESOME thing to do..

SInce I play XL, and I think I've done some stuff on the russian steppe factions..:P

I am sure I'd throw my name into the hate to work on a guide for that area..:)

[Peasant Phill]

I've covered (together with a lot of others) the Volga-Bulgars in two threads. Mind you there is some editing to do.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...=Volga-Bulgars
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...=Volga-Bulgars

[Gimli]

If nobody else really wants them, I can do the Byzantines and the Armenians.

[ULC]

OKay, list updated. I will be doing the Bohemians and Crusaders. Seems to be coming along nicely. Hey Martok, do you wish for me to reserve the Egyptians for you?

[Martok]

Hey Martok, do you wish for me to reserve the Egyptians for you?

I appreciate the consideration, but it's not necessary. As I stated in another thread, it's probably going to be at least another couple weeks before I'll have time to contribute to the guides anyway. So if someone else wants to start an XL guide for the Eggies, they should certainly feel free to do so -- and the same goes for Castille-Leon (Spanish) & the Portuguese.

If nobody else really wants them, I can do the Byzantines and the Armenians.

lord illingsworth has already started an Armenia XL guide in this thread, so feel free to contribute. As for the Byzantines (XL), you can go ahead and start a guide for them as well if you wish.

[Gimli]

lord illingsworth has already started an Armenia XL guide in this thread, so feel free to contribute. As for the Byzantines (XL), you can go ahead and start a guide for them as well if you wish.

Thanks! I will start work on that right away! And the Armenian Guide is looking great!

[caravel]

People, harken to me!

I have a thought (although it may admittedly be only half-formed): Perhaps we should just start writing mod faction guides and posting them here in the Main Hall. If enough guides were put together, that might then be sufficient to persuade Tosa to open up a separate subsection for them. I know it seems like it might be too simple an idea, but it it still seems to me like it could work. What do you guys think?

I think that's such a rotten idea that it just might work. For me, the main hall clogged up with those guides is very unsightly, a very big turn off and actually part of the reason why I hardly post here now, though I've never been one for guides or walkthroughs anyway. It is much more fun to find your own way through a campaign picking up hints and tips on the forums as you go along or learning from your own mistakes.

It really needs cleaning up, and the guides putting in their own forum(s).

[Martok]

Welcome back, Caravel.

It really needs cleaning up, and the guides putting in their own forum(s).

Agreed. The problem, however, is that right now there's not really a whole lot of guides up yet. I believe there's only about half a dozen or so thus far, and we're probably going to need about twice that number to justify a separate forum for them.

That said, it's partially my fault that we don't have more guides up than we do. I'd been planning to write at least a few myself, but my ongoing PC problems have prevented me from doing so (I've been resitrcted to posting from my work computer the last few weeks). I should finally be back up and running in a week, though, so I'll hopefully be able to start cranking out those guides in not too much longer. [crosses fingers]

[Tony Furze]

Hello again to all. Just back from 50 days in UK and Ireland (Eire) I ve changed my view on this-I used to think faction guides were useful but now I feel they re very subjective.

However, unit guides are what launched me into MTW VI in the first place thanks to the excellent efforts of Ms FBEgg. Without them I wouldn t even have bothered, and i would ve moved on to other "less difficult" games.

So Im divided about this one.

Great to be back.


PS It was quite a surprise to see the Total War games in their home environment, ie the shops in England. M2TW was going for 19.99 pounds the same I paid for MTW VI in 2005.

PPS Hope you solve your PC problems soon, Martok.

Best wishes to all.

[Noir]

There's a certain fatality coming out of faction guides - that's because IMO most of the time a "winning" strategy is proposed when there are plenty of ways to play a certain campaign and most of the time they are much more fun than the "winning" one.

I would prefer to read battle AAR's from a faction's campaigns that focus on the tactical side of things rather than telling a story as the ones in the relative section. Screenshots would help a lot in making little examples (and these can be very precise if one has saved the battle and shoots straight out of the replay) of a nice charge, a hard fought melee, an encirclement etc

Obviously lost battles and battles on the line should be also included and would make great cases of interest IMO.

In this way one can learn about the use of the units a certain faction offers as units and as a combination.

PS Did they evacuate you yet from anywhere you stayed Tony?

Many Thanks

Noir

[Agent Miles]

I agree, Noir. I've been trying to get people to save their battles and make narrated screenshots. The software is free and it is very simple to do. A Tactical Guide would help people enjoy the real nuts and bolts of the game.

[UltraWar]

I believe that I will part my wisdom on the great Gaelic nation of Ireland!

[Gimli]

I've been writing on the Byzantine one (cursed computer problems at home have made it hard to get from paper to digital... ) and I think that guides are an ok idea, but the important part (at least on XL) for me is that you are made aware of what units you can get and where and what buildings are required. Some people may find all that random discovery stuff fun, but I'm not one of them...

[TosaInu]

Hello,

A forum for mod strategy guides is added below the Hosted mods for MTW section. https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=238

Other mods will get their own subforum there, so topics of your interest are easier to find. A similar forum will be made for RTW and M2TW hosted mods.

[ULC]

Thank you very much indeed, your generosity much appreciated.

[Gimli]

Indeed, thank you TosaInu!

YLC Is there an updated list of who is (or has done) what for this? If the above list is updated, we need some Catholic faction people!

[Martok]

I'll happily add my gratitude as well. Many thanks, Tosa.

[caravel]

A lot tidier.