Medieval 2 total war thread

MrMoon · 13 Nov 2006 at 20:17

LEUVEN said:
When people mention "turn" I hope this is not what I think it is, as it sounds like the Civilization game Civ3 which was owned by me for one day before i rushed back to the shop to get my money back once i realised it wasnt actually a game but something you just watched, and the most the player was involved was some message saying you achieved xxx etc...

I thought it was an RTS type game?
I must be confused with something else

burn the non believer civ is one of the best game series ever

Pookie Bear · 13 Nov 2006 at 21:34

philstanbridge said:
hehe sounds good. I think the trick here is to start slowly - naturally this game is a lot slower than Rome which is a good thing in my books - focus on your income initially, followed by your army, and concentrate on your home security rather than galloping across distant lands. I couldnt resist starting my first campaign, and I'm into turn 35. (I'm playing med/med difficulty). I have wiped out the Welsh resistance and have sacked Antwerp and now moving into the rest of Belgium. I am trying my hardest to hit the rebels first, and I'm not running into too much resitance although the French have just cancelled their alliance with me. I dont want to start anything with the big boys until I'm armed to the teeth, otherwise they will steam roller me. It's pretty good stuff so far actually - a vast improvement over Rome.

Still having waaay too much fun

and started very similar to you in that I basically built nothing unless I expected it to help me make money - made for a sound financial base from which I've gone a bit mad. Wales, Scotland and Ireland didn't last very long once I'd got up and running - maybe until turn 30. I grabbed Belgium about the same time (but Rennes I'd grabbed before York

).

Turn 95 had passed when I razed the last of the French cities to the ground, then good old Popey launched a crusade against me in Toulouse - so now, fifteen turns on, I'm desperately fending off 3 full stacks of crusaders and the Pope refuses to reconcile me (offered him 15000 florins and he told me to bog off

). I'm keeping on top of things though (just took an HRE city with one of my Northern armies), and pretty soon I'm gonna go galloping through Northern Italy.....and I'm gonna take a trip down Italy to go have a word with his Popiness about what a plank he is.

number41 · 13 Nov 2006 at 21:47

When powerful enough can you go rid the world of the Pope or is he built into the game and non-removable? Haven't got the game as yet but looking to get it this weeked!

Nieldo · 13 Nov 2006 at 22:03

LEUVEN said:
Phew, thanks fellas.

I dont mind some "money management" just as long as its not that that is the whole of the game. I can get it this week now.

I take it it's not like collecting resources in Age of Mythology tho?.
Im sure i have the demo somewhere, Im best off giving it a go.

well if you really wanted you could totaly skip the turn based map and just fight custom battles but I would have to invade you and marry your princesses because the turnbased part is very good also.

Frosti · 13 Nov 2006 at 22:49

number41 said:
When powerful enough can you go rid the world of the Pope or is he built into the game and non-removable? Haven't got the game as yet but looking to get it this weeked!

You can kill off the current pope, but a new one will always be relected.

However when a new pope is elected every faction which has been excommunicated is allowed back in.

number41 · 13 Nov 2006 at 23:42

Frosti said:
You can kill off the current pope, but a new one will always be relected.

However when a new pope is elected every faction which has been excommunicated is allowed back in.

Hmm I liked it in Rome TW when you could just capture Rome and be done with it all then you basically rule the world and set your own rules!

Bubo · 13 Nov 2006 at 23:48

Does the old suicide trick to cancel excommunication still work? By that I mean sending you king off on his own to certain death. Once he's dead you become un-excommunicated I believe.

Kheldar · 14 Nov 2006 at 08:44

tempted with this.

never really took to Rome after loving Shogun and MTW.

must play the demo although i note someone said the demo's not as good as the game due to old code ?

Pookie Bear · 14 Nov 2006 at 09:10

Bubo said:
Does the old suicide trick to cancel excommunication still work? By that I mean sending you king off on his own to certain death. Once he's dead you become un-excommunicated I believe.

My king died (well, an Inquisitor got him) and it made no difference, then my next king, who was still on a crusade for the old pope, died at the age of about 70 on the way back to England and I was still excommunicated.

I'll give updates on my peril when I get a chance to slaughter more foreigners tonight

I should do screenshots.

Learning new things about this game all the time.

philstanbridge · 14 Nov 2006 at 10:08

Kheldar said:
tempted with this.

never really took to Rome after loving Shogun and MTW.

must play the demo although i note someone said the demo's not as good as the game due to old code ?

The demo was built from old code and the actual game is superior in every way; if you liked Shogun and MTW you will absolutely love this. A lot of people on forums have said that Shogun was the best in the series, and they are already comparing this game with that - so it shows you how good it is.

philstanbridge · 14 Nov 2006 at 10:10

Couple of questions as I havent read the manual - I presume "priests" just help stabilise your castle/town or city? What do the other guys do (those fellas like priests) that just roam around?

yongja · 14 Nov 2006 at 10:26

philstanbridge said:
Couple of questions as I havent read the manual - I presume "priests" just help stabilise your castle/town or city? What do the other guys do (those fellas like priests) that just roam around?

Priests/imams help convert the population to your religion. They don't need to be in the city/castle just in the area. They can also be used to denounce (kill) the heratics and witches units, although if they fail there's a chance they will be converted to a heratic.

Merchants can be placed on trade resources in provide some income, although I haven't found the amount to be too useful ( max I've got is 200 a turn)

Princess can be used to "charm" enemy general's onto your side.

Frosti · 14 Nov 2006 at 10:51

philstanbridge said:
Couple of questions as I havent read the manual - I presume "priests" just help stabilise your castle/town or city? What do the other guys do (those fellas like priests) that just roam around?

Priest with high piety can be elected Cardinals, they do the same as Priests but they cannot be converted by heretics or witches and they also cannot be tried for heresy by the Inquisitors. They also get a vote when a new pope is elected.

Pookie Bear · 14 Nov 2006 at 11:05

philstanbridge said:
Couple of questions as I havent read the manual - I presume "priests" just help stabilise your castle/town or city? What do the other guys do (those fellas like priests) that just roam around?

Select a priest and then hover your mouse over the ground in a region - you'll see the level of fanaticism....sorry, religion in that area. The closer to 100%, the better. Leave him sitting there to increase it, slowly. Use them to burn heretics and witches, but failures can mean a loss of piety (and then they're Inquisitor food!), or even death. Having 100% religion can make quite the difference in keeping your people happy.

Merchants.....make money, albeit slowly. But if you have 10 of them out and about, you can make a lot of money over time. Move them around the map (generally, the further away they are, the more they make. Select one and hover him over a resource on the map - it will tell you how much he can make. Having trade rights increases the amount. Beware of hostile takeovers - I like to send my merchants out with assassins so they can kill any opposing merchants I come across - take over profitable resources - it's not a declaration of war.

Diplomats.....I'm sure you use them already

Princesses......I just marry them off, but they can work as diplomats or you can use them to tempt enemy generals.

Spies and assassins, just like diplomats, I'm sure you know how to use them.

And all of them are reasonably good ways to scout ahead of your forces without getting into more fights.

Fubsy · 14 Nov 2006 at 11:27

Guys!!!! What do i do!? Inquisitors!!! Goddammit! I hate them

They keep killing my merchants and priests for herecy. How do i stop the buggers?

Frosti · 14 Nov 2006 at 11:59

1. Make sure you are on good terms with the pope (build lots of churches, keep peace with catholic factions and give the pope some cash from time to time).

2. Make sure that all your regions have a high percentage of catholics and kill any heretics/witches on sight otherwise an inquisitor will turn up.

3. If they are already in your regions having a barbecue each turn, then use your assassins to get rid of them, however inquisitors are very hard to kill so you may need to recruit a lot.

Zip · 14 Nov 2006 at 12:04

Can you go any other nation that isnt under the rule of the pope? :confused:

Any Pagan, Jewish, Muslem countys?

What happens if you sack rome? Does the pope get very very angry? :confused:

G00SE · 14 Nov 2006 at 12:21

Zip said:
What happens if you sack rome? Does the pope get very very angry?

And so would all Catholic nations i would imagine! it would be suicide!

miracleboy · 14 Nov 2006 at 12:27

This game is fantastic, then again I'm a big fan of the series.

I started my first campaign and am about 40 turns in now, I'm playing as the English on default settings.

My plan was to spend a lot of my time making sure my home empire was doing well with money and good town improvements etc, rather than provoking the big boys.

So I made alliances with France and Scotland to keep my immediate borders safe and then took York, Caenarvon and Dublin. Then I took Rennes before the French could, but just missed out on Bordeaux which they took first.

I also took Antwerp and Bruges to stop those annoying pirates attacking my fleets. Now I have those towns built up and my empire is looking okay - probably not as militarily strong as Franch or the HRE.

Next plan is to take out Scotland - sooner or later the French are going to attack Rennes or Caen I think. The HRE had a stab at Antwerp but it was just a poorly armed probe.

I have been trying to max out my cardinal by targeting regions with under 90% Catholicism, hoping he will get into the College of Cardinals soon, 2 openings just came free.

Couple of things I haven't quite worked out yet...

1) How do you 'make' a Governor - do you just have to wait for family members to come of age, be adopted or married to provide someone to do it? I have a few towns without Governors at the moment.
2) How do you get more merchant income? I have a couple out earning 12 or so per turn - but there is a Portuguese merchant in Bordeaux trading wine for 135 a turn! I know it has to do with roads and trading rights.

Pookie Bear · 14 Nov 2006 at 12:28

Zip said:
Can you go any other nation that isnt under the rule of the pope?

Any Pagan, Jewish, Muslem countys?

What happens if you sack rome? Does the pope get very very angry?

The other factions are unlocked once you have successfully completed the game as one of the first five on offer (England, France, Spain, HRE or Venice). After that I believe there is a total of 15 factions (although I've been 17th on the lists before, so there might be more

).

No idea about sacking Rome, but the moment you destroy a crusader army, your relations with all Catholic nations automatically drop to Abysmal. Which is a bit of a pain.

Once I crush the world as England, I'm definitely going to play as Egypt or the Moors - that way I can stick two fingers up at his Holiness without my neighbours jumping on me.