M2TW FAQ and Strategy Tips

[econ21]

Chapter 2: Managing your kingdom

Chapter sub-headings:
2.1……………..Ships
2.2……………..Managing unrest and the economy
2.3……………..Training and recruitment
2.4……………..Buildings
2.5……………..Guilds
2.6……………..Diplomacy


2.1……………..Ships

Q: Can ships block landbridges?

A: Yes:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...18&postcount=1


Q: Does carrying artillery slow down ships?

A: Yes, but there's a workaround:

The movement points of a ship is determined by its passengers. If a ship has none then it has it's regular movement points. Artillery having fewer movement points then infantry make the ships move slower.

There is 1 way around this though. Before, or after you move the ship, go to the page with the ship unit card. Click select the ship('s) unit card, make sure if there's ships its all the ships. Once the card is highlighted the game ignores the fact that there's passengers on board and your given the ships full movement points. During the movement it also keeps up with the fact that the passengers have moved though. So if you use this method you wont be able to unload in the same turn if you use the maximum possible movement points of the ship.

Q: Which factions have the best ships?

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


2.2……………..Managing unrest and the economy


Q: Should I occupy, sack or exterminate?

A: It depends. Note with sacking, the city is still yours - unlike in BI.

Sacking cities provides a good cash injection. Also, by reducing population, it reduces squalor and unrest, as in RTW. Extermination has a smaller cash benefit and a larger effect on population. Sacking large cities is extremely lucrative and if done regularly arguably becomes akin to playing the game on an "easier" setting. Extermination may be more appropriate when population control is an urgent need.

The costs of sacking and extermination are longer term. You are killing future taxpayers. And you are delaying your settlement reaching the threshhold levels of population required for higher tech buildings. There may also be damage or destruction to some buildings (I need more info on that).

In RTW, there was an argument for not exterminating small settlements as they grow very slowly, whereas extermination could be very helpful in dealing with a huge city which already met the size requirements to build everything. A similar argument probably applies to M2TW.

Note that your choices will affect your general's dread/chivalry, so you may want to roleplay it - there are bonuses to being chivalrous or dreadful, but not to being "balanced". There are also likely to be diplomatic repercussions to your choices - your reputation with all factions will fall if you exterminate. The Pope does not like you sacking Catholic settlements; still less exterminating them.

What I know about occupying, sacking and exterminating, is this:

Trais on the General taking the settlement:
- Occupying gives you a 100% chance of StrategyChivalry
- Sacking gives you a 20% chance of Despoiler
- Exterminate gives you a 100% chance of StrategyDread and Genocide and a 10% chance of Bloodthirsty. Note that the first level of the Genocide trait is at treshold 3, you'll have to exterminate 3 cities with the same guy to get it. It also gives you a 50% chance of DiscontentGeneral if you exterminate with more than 4 chivalry on your general.
- Your leader is not affected traitwise by what his generals do to cities. So you don't screw up your noble leader if you exterminate to train a fearsome general.

Reputation:
- Occupy increases it
- Sacking decreases it slighty, even against rebels
- Extermination decreases it a lot, even against rebels
- in addition, your pope rating will decrease if you sack or exterminate a catholic city

Building damage:
- No damage from occupy
- Sacking has a random chance of damaging, but not destroying, buildings
- Exterminating has a random chance of destroying buildings

Sacking gives you the most money, but when deciding what to do, you'll have to consider all of the points above to decide what to do. It might not be the best thing all of the time.

More discussion here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=72034


Q: Is there still a penalty to unrest due to distance from capital?

A: Yes, but it seems to be roughly half as sharp as in RTW and to be less for castles than towns. therother presents some data here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...24&postcount=7

After a hundred years or so of conquering you may notice that your having trouble with rebellions on the edge of your empire. Well distance to capital can greatly affect public order. So after you've done some conquering don't forget to move and centralize your capital (it costs nothing, doesn't even take any time) and enjoy the benefits.

Q: Is squalor still a major constraint in the game? Should I not build farms to avoid it?

A: Squalor is still in the game but has been toned down from RTW. therother has done research on the penalties are concludes that the penalties have been "reduced markedly" from those in RTW. To get the numbers, read his post:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...67&postcount=9

Farming gives income and, via population growth, technology so may be safe in M2TW:

Huge stone wall gives 15% order. Mayor's palace gives 45%. Pleasure palace gives 25%. City watch (3rd barracks) gives 15%. Huge cathedral gives 30%.

Sure, the final upgrades are expensive but the mayor's palace is only 4800 for the last upgrade and gives 45% total. You'll need to upgrade your settlement level so you'll have the 15% from huge stone wall. The city watch is only the 3rd barracks upgrade so it's pretty cheap. You can build church and brothel upgrades depending on which is cheaper at the moment. Since squalor is capped at 80% (30k pop at huge stone wall), you can put low taxes for an additional 30%. You also get 6 garrison units for free upkeep and these should give 10%.

The fact is, the squalor cap pretty much means building farms is ok. The first 2 upgrades pay for themselves pretty fast and allow you to tech up fast and get higher trade income faster.

Q: I’m having economic problems, any advice?

A: Read this thread:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=75976

1. need one castle right now. Convert the rest to cities.
2. Destroy buildings you don't want.
3. Reduce military to absolute minimum.
4. Disband mercs.
5. Build all farms, markets, mines, ports, series.
6. Train merchants and go for gold in Timbuktu.
7. Sack the next city (Lisbon) you conquer, and be quick about it.

2.3……………..Training and recruitment


Q: How do the "free" militia work?

A: A unit with the word "militia" in its title can be free of upkeep in a settlement that has the buildings required to train that unit. The number of such units that can be supported depends on how upgaded the settlement walls are. 2 at town, 3 at large town, 4 at minor city, 5 at large, and 6 at huge city. Free militia units are immediately visible by their blue, rather than grey, borders on the unit cards.


Q: Why can't England train armoured sergeants? (Or another faction not get a unit in its MP roster)

A: Some MP units are not trainable in SP. This seems to be intentional, perhaps to prompt army diversity between factions. Known cases:

England: armoured sergeants (tip: mercenary spearmen and Crusader sergeants are substitutes)
France: dismounted Franc archers; dismounted chivalric knights
Venice: Dismounted Broken Lances;
HRE: Dismounted Gothic knights

Post other units here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=72360


Q: What mercenaries are recruitable where?

A: As provided by Xdeathfire, descr_mercenaries says this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

pool America
regions Caribbean_Isles North_America
unit Native Mercenaries exp 0 cost 300 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 4 initial 4

pool Scotland_Ireland
regions Dublin_Province Edinburgh_Province Inverness_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1
unit Irish Kerns Mercs exp 0 cost 380 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1
unit Galloglaich Mercs exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0
unit Mercenary Ribault exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.02 - 0.04 max 1 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 4 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading

pool England_Wales
regions London_Province Nottingham_Province York_Province Caernarvon_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 2 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.03 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1350
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Knights exp 0 cost 870 replenish 0.02 - 0.07 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 6 initial 2 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 3 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Welsh Longbowmen Mercs exp 0 cost 810 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300
unit Welsh Spearmen Mercs exp 0 cost 470 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 2 end_year 1450
unit Mercenary Ribault exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.02 - 0.04 max 1 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool Scandinavia
regions Oslo_Province Stockholm_Province Helsinki_Province Arhus_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 2 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.03 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1250
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1250 end_year 1450
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Knights exp 0 cost 870 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1450
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.08 - 0.17 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Mercenary Ribault exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.02 - 0.04 max 1 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }


pool Russia
regions Moscow_Province Smolensk_Province Novgorod_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary German Knights exp 0 cost 950 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1480
unit Mercenary Ribault exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.04 - 0.08 max 2 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Rocket Launcher exp 0 cost 1650 replenish 0.03 - 0.06 max 2 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered mongols_invasion_warn }

pool Netherlands
regions Antwerp_Province Bruges_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 2 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.03 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 1 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Knights exp 0 cost 870 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Landschneckt Pikemen exp 0 cost 530 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1470 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 2 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 end_year 1300
unit Flemish Pikemen Mercs exp 0 cost 470 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 0 start_year 1300
unit Mercenary Ribault exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.04 - 0.08 max 2 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading


pool Northern_Germany
regions Stettin_Province Hamburg_Province Frankfurt_Province Magdeburg_Province Breslau_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary German Knights exp 0 cost 950 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Landschneckt Pikemen exp 0 cost 530 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1470 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1470
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 4 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading

pool Southern_Germany
regions Innsbruck_Province Prague_Province Vienna_Province Nuremburg_Province Hohenstauffen_Province
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary German Knights exp 0 cost 950 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Landschneckt Pikemen exp 0 cost 530 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1470 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1470
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.24 - 0.66 max 8 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Flagellants exp 0 cost 90 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 4 initial 1 start_year 1260 end_year 1370 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Mercenary Ribault exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.04 - 0.08 max 2 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool Poland
regions Cracow_Province Vilnius_Province Thorn_Province Halych_Province Riga_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary German Knights exp 0 cost 950 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Landschneckt Pikemen exp 0 cost 530 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1470 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 2 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1480
unit Flagellants exp 0 cost 90 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 5 initial 1 start_year 1260 end_year 1370 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.12 - 0.28 max 3 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading

pool Steppes
regions Volga-Bulgar_Province Sarkel_Province Kiev_Province Caffa_Province Ryazan_Province
unit Cuman Horse Archers exp 0 cost 620 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1
unit Alan Light Cavalry exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1
unit Mercenary Rocket Launcher exp 0 cost 1650 replenish 0.03 - 0.06 max 2 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered mongols_invasion_warn }

pool Mexico
regions Tlaxcala_Province Cholula_Province Tenochtitlan_Province
unit Tlaxcalan Mercenaries exp 0 cost 400 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 12 initial 4
unit Native Mercenaries exp 0 cost 300 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 12 initial 4

pool France
regions Paris_Province Angers_Province Caen_Province Bordeaux_Province Marseille_Province Rennes_Province Toulouse_Province
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc cog, exp 0 cost 1000 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 2 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Knights exp 0 cost 870 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 2 end_year 1480
unit Free Company Longbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1338 end_year 1470
unit Free Company Men at Arms exp 0 cost 710 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1338 end_year 1470
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 8 initial 2 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 3 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 3 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Mercenary Ribault exp 0 cost 600 replenish 0.04 - 0.08 max 2 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool Burgundy
regions Dijon_Province Metz_Province Rheims_Province
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary German Knights exp 0 cost 950 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Landschneckt Pikemen exp 0 cost 530 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1470 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1480
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1400
unit Free Company Longbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.02 - 0.07 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1338 end_year 1470
unit Free Company Men at Arms exp 0 cost 710 replenish 0.02 - 0.07 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1338 end_year 1470
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 4 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.08 - 0.17 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.08 - 0.17 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Swiss Pikemen Mercs exp 0 cost 690 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400

pool Switzerland
regions Bern_Province
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.03 - 0.10 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300
unit Swiss Pikemen Mercs exp 0 cost 690 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 0 start_year 1400

pool West Balkans
regions Zagreb_Province Ragusa_Province Budapest_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary German Knights exp 0 cost 950 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Landschneckt Pikemen exp 0 cost 530 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1470 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Albanian Cavalry exp 0 cost 900 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1468 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Serbian Knights exp 0 cost 1320 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1350
unit Serbian Hussars exp 0 cost 1250 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 0 start_year 1440
unit Slav Mercenaries exp 0 cost 350 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1300
unit Balkan Archers exp 0 cost 290 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 4 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.08 - 0.17 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Akinjis exp 0 cost 620 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Mercenary Monster Bombard exp 0 cost 1900 replenish 0.03 - 0.06 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool East Balkans
regions Bucharest_Province Sofia_Province Iasi_Province Bran_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.01 - 0.05 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 4 initial 0 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Serbian Knights exp 0 cost 1320 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1350
unit Serbian Hussars exp 0 cost 1250 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 0 start_year 1440
unit Slav Mercenaries exp 0 cost 350 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1300
unit Balkan Archers exp 0 cost 290 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Akinjis exp 0 cost 620 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Bulgarian Brigands Mercs exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1
unit Mercenary Monster Bombard exp 0 cost 1900 replenish 0.03 - 0.06 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool Spain
regions Lisbon_Province Toledo_Province Cordoba_Province Granada_Province Pamplona_Province Valencia_Province Zaragoza_Province Leon_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Knights exp 0 cost 870 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1480
unit Catalans exp 0 cost 980 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 6 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 3 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 3 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Mutatawwi'a exp 0 cost 60 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading

pool Northern_Italy
regions Bologna_Province Florence_Province Roman_Province Genoa_Province Milan_Province Venice_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 2 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.04 - 0.20 max 2 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 2 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary German Knights exp 0 cost 950 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1480
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2 end_year 1480
unit Free Company Longbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1338 end_year 1470
unit Free Company Men at Arms exp 0 cost 710 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1338 end_year 1470
unit Condottieri exp 0 cost 810 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 0 start_year 1400 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Religious Fanatics exp 0 cost 70 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Great Cross exp 0 cost 300 replenish 0.03 - 0.07 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Swiss Pikemen Mercs exp 0 cost 690 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 0 start_year 1400
unit Mercenary Monster Ribault exp 0 cost 1370 replenish 0.03 - 0.06 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool Sicily
regions Palermo_Province Naples_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Mercenary Knights exp 0 cost 870 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1500 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Mercenary Spearmen exp 0 cost 660 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1480
unit Condottieri exp 0 cost 810 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Catalans exp 0 cost 980 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Religious Fanatics exp 0 cost 70 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 4 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Great Cross exp 0 cost 300 replenish 0.03 - 0.07 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Mercenary Monster Ribault exp 0 cost 1370 replenish 0.03 - 0.06 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool Sardinia
regions Cagliari_Province Ajaccio_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 860 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial end_year 1300
unit Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen exp 0 cost 930 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Mercenary Arquebusiers exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Catalans exp 0 cost 980 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400

pool Greece
regions Isle_of_Rhodes Isle_of_Crete Corinth_Province Durazzo_Province Thessalonica_Province Constantinople_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 1 initial 1
unit Mercenary Frankish Knights exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.01 - 0.06 max 1 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Catalans exp 0 cost 980 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1300 end_year 1400
unit Albanian Cavalry exp 0 cost 900 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1468 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Slav Mercenaries exp 0 cost 350 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 end_year 1300
unit Balkan Archers exp 0 cost 290 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Turkomans Mercs exp 0 cost 740 replenish 0.02 - 0.10 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam orthodox }
unit Mercenary Monster Bombard exp 0 cost 1900 replenish 0.03 - 0.06 max 2 initial 0 start_year 1400 events { gunpowder_discovered }

pool Anatolia
regions Smyrna_Province Iconium_Province Isle_of_Cyprus Trebizond_Province Caesarea_Province Nicaea_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 1 initial 0
unit Alan Light Cavalry exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1
unit Armenian Archers exp 0 cost 560 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 2
unit Armenian Cavalry exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0
unit Turkopoles exp 0 cost 720 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Akinjis exp 0 cost 620 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Mutatawwi'a exp 0 cost 60 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Turkomans Mercs exp 0 cost 740 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam orthodox }

pool Armenia
regions Adana_Province Tbilisi_Province Yerevan_Province
unit Alan Light Cavalry exp 0 cost 830 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1
unit Armenian Archers exp 0 cost 560 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1
unit Armenian Cavalry exp 0 cost 1080 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 0
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.12 - 0.33 max 4 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Akinjis exp 0 cost 620 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Turkomans Mercs exp 0 cost 740 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Afghan Javelinmen Mercs exp 0 cost 920 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 0 religions { islam }

pool Arabia
regions Jedda_Province Mosul_Province Baghdad_Province
unit Bedouin Cavalry exp 0 cost 630 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Bedouin Camel Riders exp 0 cost 920 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Kwarizmian Cavalry exp 0 cost 1020 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 end_year 1400 events { mongols_invasion_warn }
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Mutatawwi'a exp 0 cost 60 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Turkomans Mercs exp 0 cost 740 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Elephants Mercs exp 0 cost 2375 replenish 0.02 - 0.04 max 1 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Elephant Artillery Mercs exp 0 cost 3125 replenish 0.02 - 0.04 max 1 initial 0 events { gunpowder_discovered }
unit Afghan Javelinmen Mercs exp 0 cost 920 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam }

;================================================
;=== Finsish Checking Below Here
;================================================

pool Brazil
regions Brazil
unit Native Mercenaries exp 0 cost 300 replenish 0.12 - 0.33 max 4 initial 0

pool North_Africa
regions Tripoli_Province Marrakesh_Province Algiers_Province Tunis_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 1 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 1 initial 1
unit Bedouin Cavalry exp 0 cost 630 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.06 - 0.10 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Mutatawwi'a exp 0 cost 60 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Turkomans Mercs exp 0 cost 740 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam }

pool Levant
regions Edessa_Province Antioch_Province Aleppo_Province Acre_Province Damascus_Province Jerusalem_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.03 - 0.15 max 2 initial 1
unit Bedouin Cavalry exp 0 cost 630 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Kwarizmian Cavalry exp 0 cost 1020 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 0 end_year 1400 events { mongols_invasion_warn }
unit Turkopoles exp 0 cost 720 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { catholic orthodox }
unit Pilgrims exp 0 cost 35 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Religious Fanatics exp 0 cost 70 replenish 0.12 - 0.33 max 4 initial 1 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 220 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Crusader Sergeants exp 0 cost 110 replenish 0.15 - 0.35 max 4 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic } crusading
unit Dismounted Crusader Knights exp 0 cost 170 replenish 0.07 - 0.17 max 2 initial 0 end_year 1300 religions { catholic }
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Mutatawwi'a exp 0 cost 60 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Turkomans Mercs exp 0 cost 740 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 3 initial 1 religions { islam }

pool Egypt
regions Alexandria_Province Cairo_Province Gaza_Province
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 200 replenish 0.36 - 1.0 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit merc galley, exp 0 cost 1040 replenish 0.06 - 0.18 max 1 initial 1
unit Bedouin Cavalry exp 0 cost 630 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Ghazis exp 0 cost 100 replenish 0.18 - 0.5 max 6 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Mutatawwi'a exp 0 cost 60 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1 religions { islam } crusading
unit Turkomans Mercs exp 0 cost 740 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1 religions { islam }
unit Sudanese Tribesmen Mercs exp 0 cost 440 replenish 0.04 - 0.13 max 2 initial 1

pool West_Africa
regions Timbuktu_Province Arguin_Province
unit Sudanese Tribesmen Mercs exp 0 cost 440 replenish 0.11 - 0.33 max 6 initial 1

pool Nubia
regions Dongola_Province
unit Sudanese Tribesmen Mercs exp 0 cost 440 replenish 0.08 - 0.25 max 4 initial 1

Q: Are armour upgrades worth it? They only give +1 armour.

A: The +1 armour effect of each upgrade appears to be misreporting by the game. Testing by SMZ, Carl, Lusted and Foz implies that armour upgrades work roughly as expected, in that each upgrade provides the reported type of armour (padded, light mail etc). The upgraded armour stat does not appear to be correctly reported, but the unit is still as resistant to missile fire as you would expect from a unit with that type of armour. Here is Palamedes description (as reported to Lusted) of what armour stat corresponds to each armour type:

none no valid armour 0
Unarmoured Unarmoured 0
Padded Padded or leather 4
Light Mail Chainmail shirt 5
Light Brigandine 6
Heavy Mail Heavy Mail 7
Half Plate Breastplate and helmet 7
Heavy Brigandine 8
Partial Plate Fully armoured. Mostly Plate 8
3Q Plate Three quarters plate 8
Plate Full set of plate armour 9
Gothic Advanced Plate 10
Late Plate Renaisance suit of plate 11

The implication is that the lowest type of armoury is a great bargain - raising the armour stat of your initially unarmoured troops by around 3-4 points.

Discussion and original research here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79784


Q: Is the armour factory useless?

A: Pretty much. Here are all the units that can use Armour Factory:

Dismounted_Broken_Lances
Dismounted_Mercenary_Knights
Dismounted_NE_Bodyguard
Broken_Lances
Condottieri
EE_Late_Bodyguard
Famiglia_Ducale
ME_Late_Bodyguard
Mercenary_German_Knights
NE_Late_Bodyguard
SE_Late_Bodyguard

Basically all these units have an armor value of 9.

Yes, the late bodyguards of western generals can be upgraded to advanced plate. They are the only ones I can think of.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=73690


2.4……………..Buildings


Q: How many castles relative to cities should you have?

A: Castles often provide the better troops, while cities provide more income. Economic constraints typically mean you only need a few castles to provide enough troops. Plus upgrading castles to have the best troops is expensive. Consequently, most players choose to have fewer castles than cities. Discussion here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=76254



Q: What are the requirements to upgrade a castle?

A:

Castles are indeed dependant on population, but not the first three upgrades. Going from motte and baily to wooden castle, and then to just Castle are not dependant on population. You can do that for any settlement. To upgrade to fortress you need a population of 4500, and to go to citadel you need 9000 population.

Q: Are farms worth building?

A: Following on from the last question, farming is an attractive way to get the population needed as prerequistes for fortresses and ctiadeals.

From my observation all farms increases farm revenuse by 50 florins no matter what the quality of the farmland and what level farm you are building. So the first 2 levels seem well worth the return you get from it after that, you have to factor in wether you want the extra population or not.

More discussion here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=72673


Q: What's the point of building markets? (Often no projected income gain shows up in the settlement details).

A:

It does seem to vary depending on the size and resources of the province. Markets in Constantinople pay off very well (two silk, one wine, one grain resource). Also, the educational line of buildings require great markets and merchants quarters to build.

More discussion here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=72675


Q: What are the effects of the various economic buildings on trade income?

A: ArchieGremlin has produced a nice table:



The buildings listed in this table are the ones that are shown in the game with the property "Increase in tradeable goods". (This matches the "trade_base_income_bonus bonus" property in export_descr_buildings.txt.)

* I've checked the behaviour of most buildings but the ones I couldn't check are marked with a *.

Some commentary:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I did a bit of digging in order to work out what effect the various trade buildings have on the value of a settlement's trade routes and I thought you might like to see the results.

The short answer is that anything in the building browser with the property "Increase in tradeable goods" will increase your trade income by 10% or 20% of the base value.

It's hard to tell how much extra money you'll make when you're choosing which building to construct next. However, the increase in trade value will affect all land trade and sea export routes in the settlement with the new building. It will also increase the value goods imported from this settlement by other settlements.

For example, if Bruge exports cloth to London then upgrading Bruge's Market to a Fairground will increase the value of London's sea import route from Bruge. (But not the other import routes in London.)

I you want to work out a settlement's total trade bonus then just add the bonuses for each building together. For example, if London has a Shipwright, a Great Market and a Merchant's Guild then the trade bonus is 90%. (30% + 50% + 10%) This means that the value of each trade route is 190% of the basic value. (i.e. 1.9 x base value) The bonuses are all listed in the table below.

Note that the bonuses aren't multiplied together. If you add Merchant's Wharf to London then the value of each trade route won't increase by 20%; it'll increase by a factor of 210/190. (about 10.5%)

A good strategy for maximising your income is build ports first and then the other improvements starting with the cheapest.

Originally posted:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...6&postcount=52

Q: On the city details screen, what does it mean if an icon - e.g. for income - is flashing? Or is greyed out?

A: Flashing icons mean an effect is ending this turn. Greyed out mean that they will happen in the future (e.g. project rise in income due to a queued economic buildng).


2.5……………..Guilds


Many questions on Guilds are answered in Daveybaby’s excellent guide to them:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=75649

Another superb guide is DarkKnight's over on twcenter:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ghlight=Guilds


Q: I am offered a guild. Should I automatically accept it?

A: No. It is undocumented but a settlement can only have one guild. This means that you should think carefully when accepting a second guild of the same type in your realm.

You can only have a single guild house in a city, and it has to be at least minor city in size. So if all your cities already have guild houses, you won't ever get offered any. So far, I've accepted two merchants guilds, two assassins, one thieves and one explorers guild. I've got master merchant, assassin and thieves guilds, but I'm not accepting any more duplicate guilds in my other cities. I'm going to hold out for different ones.

Note:

...you can only have one of the Hospitalar and Templar chapter houses. You can have one of those two, plus a Teutonic or a Santiago depending upon your faction.

It goes without saying, that destroying a guild in a city won't stop you from being offered another one, so you if you have one that isn't proving useful, you can always scrap it and wait for another, more useful one, to cycle around.

Q: What do guilds do?

A: Some effects are documented in the building browers. Some undocumented ones raise the starting stats of the relevant agents (e.g. assassins, spies, merchants). Explorer's guilds are reported to increase trade routes and increase army movement speeds, but more information is needed on these effects.

therother designed this table:

With the assassins guild, the first level gets assassins built in that city the "Trained Killer" trait, +1 to agent's skill. The Master and Headquarters are global effects, they give "Apprentice" and "Journeyman" assassin traits to any assassin trained anywhere in your lands, which are worth +1 and +2 to skill respectively.

Some guilds allow unique units to be recruited by a specific faction (e.g. Sherwood Forestors from the highest Woodmen's Guild). The manual flags these and the building brower gives the details.

One thing I can confirm is that family members in a city with an explorer's guild are likely to pick up the 'explorer' ancillary, who gives +15% movement.

Q: Which guilds can be built in castles and which in cities?

A: This information is provided in the in-game building browser - there are tabs for cities and castles. Press one and you can scroll down all the classes of buildings. Greyed out ones cannot be constructed.

IIRC, the woodsman guild (better archers) and the swordsman guild (weapon upgrades) are for castles only. Crusading orders can be built in both castles and cities (putting them in a city might be good, as it gives the city access to heavy cavalry and leaves the castle free for swordsmen guilds). Other guilds can only be built in towns.


Q: What are the triggers for guilds?

A:

Epistolary Richard has released (with CA's permission) the data text files: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=73971

export_descr_guilds.txt would seem to have all the various guild triggers.

Daveybaby has provided a great analysis based on this of how to attract guilds. In fact, it is so good, I am going to quote it in full:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

From perusing the contents of export_descr_guilds.txt i have determined the following:

Each guild type has 3 levels, to get a guild at each level the player has to score a certain number of points for either their faction overall, or for that particular settlement.

Guild: 100 points
Masters Guild: 250 points
Guild H[U]Q: 500 points

The player gains (and loses) points for each guild for each settlement, and for their entire faction, by performing certain deeds. In general, settlements will gain more per deed (typically 10-30 points) than the overall faction score (typically 1-5 points per deed).

Not sure how the overall faction score works, presumably if your overall faction score exceeds the required amount you will get offered a guild even if none of your individual settlements qualify - thus you can still get guilds by, say, training lots of priests all over the place - but it will still be far quicker if you train them all in the same settlement.

Agents can also gain points. Assume that this is once per agent, and that these points add to the overall faction score. Edit: hmmm... this may refer to achievements rather than agents.

Edit: According to work done by Kobal2fr it looks probable that all scores are added to each settlement, or at least the settlement and overall faction scores are (dont know about the agent stuff yet).

Edit: Eldon made the observation that the three tags in export_descr_guilds.txt refer to the specific settlement, other settlements, and all settlements, respectively. This makes a whole lot more sense than the whole the whole faction and agent scores i came up with, so i've edited the stuff below to reflect this.

In summary, points are gained for:
1. The specific settlement where the event occurred.
2. All settlements other than where the event occurred (usually a smaller number of points).
3. All settlements regardless of where the event occurred.

General
Upgrade a guild (+20 settlement bonus for that guild type, +10 to other settlements)
Destroy a guild building (huge penalty for that guild type, -100 settlement, -20 others)
Upgrade a settlement (+10 settlement bonus for all guild types)
Every 25 turns every settlement loses 1 point for all guilds (or 1 point every turn after turn 25?)

Missions
Bonuses are also given for successfully completing a guild mission, but failing to complete the guild mission will incur a penalty for that guild type.

The following guilds offer missions:
Assassin's/Hashashim's Guild
Merchant's Guild
Explorer's Guild
Theologian's Guild
Thieves Guild

Assassin's/Hashashim's Guild
Train assassin/hashashim: +10 settlement
Successful Assassinations: +20 all settlements
Governor with dread >4: +4 settlement bonus (per turn?)
Build brothel series buildings: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement, +0/0/0/2/5 others
Succeed/Fail guild mission: +/-10 all settlements

Alchemist's Guild
Train Cannons etc: +10/15/20 settlement
Train handgunners etc: +15 settlement
Build cannon maker series: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement, +1/2/3/4/5 others

Explorer's Guild
Train merchants: +10 settlement
Build shipbuilding buildings: +15/20/25/30 settlement, +0/0/2/5 others
Build merchants wharf series: +20/25/30 settlement, +0/2/5 others
Fleet distance from capital 50-99: +3 all settlements
Fleet distance from capital >100 : +5 all settlements
Succeed/Fail Explorer guild mission: +/-30 all settlements

Horse Breeder's Guild
Train cavalry: +10 settlement, +1 others
Build stables series: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement, +1/2/3/4/5 others
Build racetrack/sultan's ractrack +50/75 settlement, +5 others
Governor throws races: +5 settlement

Mason's Guild
Build Stone wall series: +10/15/20 settlement, +2/2/3 others
Build mustering halls series: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement, +2/2/2/2/3 others
Build town watch series: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement +2/2/2/2/3 others
Build armourer series: +10/15/15/20/25/30 settlement +2/2/2/2/2/3 others
Build bowyer series: +10/15/20/30 settlement +2/2/2/3 others

Merchant's Guild
Train merchants: +10 settlement
Build merchants wharf series: +20/25/30 settlement, +0/2/5 others
Build market series: +10/15/20/25 settlement, +0/0/2/5 others
Make trade agreement: +10 all settlements
Successful aquisition: +10 all settlements
Income > 1000/2000/5000/10000: +1/2/3/4 all settlements(per turn?)
Succeed/Fail merchant's guild mission: +/- 10/20 all settlements (depending on difficulty?)

Swordsmith's Guild
Build armourer series: +10/15/15/20/25/30 settlement, +0/0/0/1/2/5 others
Train sword unit: +15 settlement
Units: Sword and Buckler Men, Sudanese Tribesmen, Swordsmen Militia, Armored Swordsmen, Highland Nobles, Zweihander, Noble Swordsmen, Forlorn Hope, Byzantine Infantry, Battlefield Assassins, Norse Swordsmen, Dismounted Feudal Knights, Dismounted Chivalric Knights, Dismounted Gothic Knights, Dismounted Conquistadores, Dismounted Italian MAA, Dismounted Broken Lances, Dismounted Norman Knights, Dismounted Polish Knights, Dismounted E Chivalric Knights, Dismounted Byzantine Lancers, Dismounted Latinkon, Hashishim, Urban Militia, Dismounted Christian Guard

Theologian's Guild
Train Priests: +10 settlement
Build church/masjid series: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement, +0/0/1/2/5 others
Get your cardinal elected pope: +30 all settlements
Governor's piety >5: +5 settlement (per turn?)
Succeed/Fail theologian's guild mission: +/-10 all settlements
Priest becomes a heretic: -5 all settlements

Thieves Guild
Train spies: +10 settlement
Build brothel series: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement
Governor with dread >4: +2 settlement (per turn?)
Spy in a settlement: +2 all settlements (per turn?)
Succeed/Fail theives guild mission: +/-10 all settlements

Woodsman's Guild
Recruit archers (England only!): +10/15/20 settlement (depending on unit)
Build brothel series: +10/15/20/25/30 settlement, +0/0/0/2/5 others
Governor with chivalry >4: +5 settlement (per turn?)

Various Knight's Chapter Houses
General joins crusade: +25 all settlements
General abandons crusade: -25 all settlements
Recruit Specialist Knight: +10 settlement, +1 others (knight type tied to guild type)
Governor Chivalry >4: +5 settlement

St. John's guild get a +10 settlement, +1 others bonus when the settlement has muslim neighbours
St. John's guild get a +10 bonus for all settlements when you declare war on a muslim faction.
Teutonic guild get a +10 settlement, +1 others bonus when the settlement has pagan neighbours

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=74072


A very nice tip on guilds:

In my latest campaign (H/VH England), having read a lot of anecdotal evidence on the forum about guilds and who got what, when and why, I decided to test some theories.

Basically, when your City becomes Level 3, you get offered a guild. This seems to happen every time a city reaches that level. This has been documented before, but I'm pretty sure I know what determines which guild you get - to a great extent.

From turn 1, I specialised my cities. this is something veteran totalwar players have always done cause it's the most efficient way of getting high ranked buildings. But I think it's even more important in M2TW cause it determines your guilds, too. In this campaign i've made sure every priest I've trained has been trained in London, and London got offered a Theologians' Guild. I made sure I trained all my swordsmen in Caen and Caen got offered a Swordsmiths' Guild. I made sure I trained all my spies in York, and York got offered a Theives' Guild. I made sure I trained all my archers at Nottingham, and Nottingham got offered a Woodsmans' Guild. I made sure I trained all of my Merchants at Bruges, and Bruges got offered a Merchants' Guild. I made sure that the place next to Bruges (forget the name) trained all my assasins .... well, you get the picture.

Note the benefits from master and higher guilds in different cities often stack. Having multiple master swordsmiths in your kingdom allows you to train very high experience knights from the start.


Q: How do I get knights' guilds in particular?

A: Daveybaby's information above covers this, but here's a more focussed explanation from Horetore:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

To get any guilds, you have to reach 100 "points" for that guild. The way to get points for different guilds is different for each guild. What gives points for chapter houses:

- Any general joining a crusade -25 pts for every province
- Recruiting a unit of crusader(for ex. templars) knights -25 ps for the guild to which the knights belong in that province and 1 point in every other province
-declare war on a muslim faction -10 pts to hospitaler guild in all provinces
-neighboring province >50% muslim -10 pts to hospitaler guild in that province, 1 point in other provinces, EVERY TURN
-neighboring province >50% pagan -10 pts to teutonic guild in that province, 1 point in other provinces, EVERY TURN
-governor has 4 or more chivalry -5 pt for all chapters in that province EVERY TURN, this one is the real killer

Things that will deduct points:
- any general abandoning a crusade -25 pts in all provinces

So, if you are the english for example, then having a governor with 4 chivalry in a province for 10 turns, joining a crusade and declaring war on the egyptians will give you an offer from the hospitalers. Join with another army, and you'll get an offer from the templars.

What makes it likely to get these guilds, is the last trigger, having a high chivalry governor. The other ones are more like one time boosts. Expect the teutonic if you don't convert those pagans and once you gain a muslim neighbor, you'll soon get the hospitalers.

Producing knights(execpt chapter knights) has no effect at all. It was probably due to a chivalrous governor. BTW, whenever it says "knight" in the description, it means any heavy cavalry unit. Broken lances, mamelukes, etc.

PS: spain and portugal can only get santiago, HRE can only get teutonic and all others can get EITHER templars or hospitallers. Once you build one guild, you can't get the other one in your empire.

Q: What happens if I turn down a guild?

A: According to research by Foz, there appears to be a 10 turn "cool down" period for a settlement. You may well be offered the guild again after 10 turns have passed:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...8&postcount=38


2.6……………..Diplomacy


Q: Someone attacked me. Why is my ally not automatically at war with them?

A: Being in an alliance does not mean your ally automatically enters any wars you get in.

:From what i've heard the only major benefit of alliances is if you happen to be at war with an enemy, the two armys will fight together.

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.)


Q: What does becoming a vassal do?

A:

I don't know if it's the same as Protectorates in RTW. In RTW, becoming a Protectorate gave alliance and military access to both parties. The client wasn't supposed to be able to break the agreement (though it did happen in the game), and if the client had over 15K denarii in the treasury then they wound up paying tribute to the patron of the relationship.

Tip:

Just started over with the turks on VH/VH and found that I can get the AI to pay for alliance and trade rights! byzantine gave me 2200, Hungry 800 and Egypt gave me 2800.

Q: What is the range of relations you can have with other factions?

A:

Abysmal
Terrible
Very poor
Poor
So-so
Reasonable
Amiable
Good
Very good
Outstanding
Perfect

Q: What can I do to improve relations?

A: Based on the text files:

a list al ALL the things that you can do in game to improve relations:

Get Trade agreements
Get Alliances
Help out your allies militarily
Hand out cash
Do not be demanding in your deplomacy
Release prisoners
Occupy settlements

The gory details:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Your relationship score goes from 1.0 (Perfect) to -1.0 (Abysmal). This should give context to the increase values noted below, additionally where you see normalized in general the large the number to the right, the small the potential change will be:

Trigger: Forgiveness (I am not sure when this is fired)

Trade_Treaty +0.07

Military_Assistance +0.12

Obvious_Bribe - fired for every 100 gold given as gift + 0.14
(this is why a big bribe gets a good improvment, but in theory a 2000 fl bribe should mean perfect relations which is obviously not the case so there must be another factor in play)

Demeanour 0.001
(I think this relates to getting a nice response in negotiations?)

Update_Religion - Make other factions like factions of the same religion a bit more normalise 1.0 100
(Automatic, should slowly improve your relations with factions of the same religion)

Update_Band_Together1 - Make factions try and band up with smaller factions
(No numbers here because there are 3 versions. This is the opposite to the tall poppy thing which automatically improves a faction's relations with the 5 smallest factions in the game)

Update_Easy_Difficulty - Adjust the AI relationships towards each faction normalise 1.0 50
(Playing the game on easy automatically improves relations every turn)

Update_Normal_Difficulty - Adjust the AI relationships towards each faction based on difficulty level (AI factions have normal difficulty) normalise 0.0 50
(Playing the game on Medium auromaticallu imporves realtions each turn up to a max of Neutral)

Increase_Global_Standing_New_Turn normalise 0.0 200
(Automatically moves all factions towards being Neutral).

Increase_Global_Standing_When_Allied,normalise 1.0 400
(Automatically moves Ally's relations towards Perfect)

prisoners_released_increase_global 0.02
(Every time you release more than 80 prisors)

occupy_settlement_increase_global 0.02
(Every time you Occupy a settlement, don't sack or exterminate)

....

Finally a note for those playing on Very Hard. Your relations automatically degenerate towards Abysmal (-1.0) every turn at the rate "normalise -1.0 40".

I believe this mean if you have Perfect relations with someone that your faction stand with drop by 0.05 the next turn and at a slowly decreasing rate every turn. So you should be able to stabilize this affect with a 100 fl gift every two turns.

Rothe has posted a very good collection of tips:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I have found that the diplomacy system is actually quite "playable" despite many complaints about it. I am currently playing a grand campaign as Venice (H/VH).

I have found that you can make treaties and with relative reliability keep them if you give tribute/gifts to the faction you are in alliance/peace with.

For example, 100 florins per turn has kept the HRE off my back as Venice with trade rights granted all the way, even though they are also allied with my enemy, Milan. It seems that a continued tribute makes them hesitant to attack you.

Also, I keep an eye on the relationship meter and when it drops to so-and-so I give some gift, like map information or 500 florins to get it back to reasonable. I also think that the longer you have had peace with a faction, the less it takes to keep the relations up.

The second thing to keep diplomacy up is to ally with the pope and keep gifting him with suitable stuff (not necessary regions even though many do this as well). I find that a 100/turn is enough to keep decent standings as long as I also give some 500 florins as a gift if I do something to upset the pope.

So far I have consistently kept England, Denmark and HRE in peace, with England and Danes as allies even. This also helps with trade income, which in turn helps with the tributes.

The gifts do not have to be big, just that you have to keep on giving.
The odd part is that this sort of skews the game against the player, but I suppose it must be so to level the field a bit.

I tend to make up for this by selling off trade rights and alliances to other factions, which will in time betray me, attack and then when I beat them they will again pay me for the priviledges.... The trick seems to be to keep a few (2-3) factions gifted up and happy, so you have some safe fronts. Also, make sure that you have a diplomat in their areas. I suppose that muslim nations are more of a problem for the player as there are plenty of enemies that will probably not even take the gifts.

Also don't milk the AI for all its worth. Making a diplomatic deal that is either considered genorous or very genorous increases relations. So if you can sell map info for 2000 at balanced and 1300 for genorous, you dhould opt for 1300 unless you need every florin you can get. Also selling the map info for 2700 at demanding may or may not be accepted but it can decrease relations.

Q: What are the different ranks of reputation?

A:

0 Despicable
1 Deceitful
2 Very Untrustworthy
3 Untrustworthy
4 Dubious
5 Mixed
6 Reliable
7 Very Reliable
8 Trustworthy
9 Very Trustworthy
10 Immaculate

Q: What can you do to increase your reputation?

A:

*Having alliances and maintaining them increases your reputation.
*Having good relations with a faction increases your reputation.
*Having bad relations decreases it.
*Having a high chivalry faction leader increases your reputation.
*Having a high dread faction leader decreases it (So best to keep your main bloodline as high chivarly generals, and let some other line of the family be the bastard enforcers).
*The best thing to do is to make alliances with EVERY faction in the game at the start, so that you have allies far off who you don't share a border with and who won't be tempted to attack you.
*Give gifts to any ally who your relations decline with IMMEDIATELY in order to keep your relations at so-so or better (Preferably better, because that increases your reputation faster).
*Pick a couple of factions to be super allies with, and push your relations with them to perfect, and KEEP them there.
*Don't attack an ally ever (Ever).
*Don't attack a non-ally unless they attack you first. In fact, don't retaliate even, only break their forces in your territory (This is good strategy anyway, fighting them on your home territory gives you the advantage because you should be able to choose your battlefields). If you let them keep entering your territory a few times before retaliating and taking one of their territories, you are much less likely to take a reputation hit. See, if another faction has a BAD reputation, you can attack them freely without losing reputation (In fact you seem to gain reputation for attacking them, as long as you're at war with them and THEY started it). So let them attack you a few times before you retaliate, let their reputation fall and fall and then retaliate. Additionally, the higher your reputation goes, the bigger hit the enemy will take if they attack you. I've seen factions go from mixed to despicable after attacking me just one time, when I had very high reputations.

Discussion here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=78429

Some other thoughts in the spoiler:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Always occupy cities and release/random prisoners. Thats really the main thing.
Never attack a neutral or an ally and if you agree to something in diplomacy, keep to it.

That's really all that is needed to keep it up. Doing that lets me stay between very reliable to trustworthy, but TBH its not really worth the effort as it seem to have a very minor impact on diplomacy only. people still want half your empire for a ceasefire.

someone posted a list of things they got out of the files that affect your various relationships. One of the important ones was the global effects. You'd have to check that thread for the list as I don't have a link to it handy, but as an idea executing prisoners gives you a small global hit, sacking a city gives you a small global hit, exterminating a city gives you a bigger global hit, betraying an alliance was a big hit, cancelling a deal was a hit, etc. Releasing prisoners gave a small positive, occupying a city gave a small positive, and there were a few others. I have a suspicion that the "global relations" effects ARE your reputation. I suspect that everything you do that causes a modifier to all factions adds to this running total, and the running total is your reputation.

*I never break an alliance, unless the Pope orders me to.
*I never sack or exterminate any population.
*I always release prisoners which raises chivalry = high reputation.
*I never set foot in another factions territory.
*I always join every crusade/ jihad etc.
*If you conquer a settlement and give it to another faction do NOT retake this again unless at war or your reputation will take a dive.
It seems that getting a high chivalry rating for your faction leader is the fastest way of raising your reputation.

Q: How can I tell the priorities of my neighbours?

A:

Keep a spy in your closest neighbor's cities. Then, when offering a gift to the faction you are likely to see their "priorities" revealed. I had Germans at "amiable" level for some time, however, their priorities were clearly stated as "war"... In about ten turns (from the time the war priority appeared) they attacked...

A nice tip on how to make diplomacy profitable:

Again, by using the diplomatic channels, I have secured tens of thousands of cash from warfare. I have never started a war, but have brought about devastating retribution for those who have crossed me and as a result my diplomatic reputation is reliable. By demanding extortionate money for cease-fires when enemies realise their error of attacking me and for attacking common enemies with allies and again demanding monies there's a lot to be made through diplomacy and this can be used to pay for diplomacy. Diplomacy pays, folks, diplomacy pays.

Q: How do you arranged a Royal Marriage if given a mission to do so?

On two occasions my council has suggested that a marriage between my English princess and one of the English generals would be favourable - and the faction has between 6 and 10 turns to arrange the matrimony and complete the mission. How do you arrange it? The princess character does not see the general character as being available for marriage.

A:

right click on the town where your guy is with the princess; you'll be shown a portrait with the general in cause and 100% chances of success for marriage. Press the button on the right side of the panel.

Misc. diplomacy tips

For Catholics, the Election of a Pope allows you to conduct diplomatic negotiations with Catholic powers without having to go to the trouble of sending a diplomat to them.