Medieval II - Just got it and it's ace!

philstanbridge · 5 Aug 2007 at 08:53

carlazai said:
Just tried the long road mod and not impressed atm. I'am playing as russia and i'am getting gfx glitches on map and around unit cards. Is this a problem others are getting?

Not a problem I'm getting and I'm running on a 7950 GTX and 2.3ghz 7600. I have read about a few such problems and I believe it was sorted with a reintsall. I think perhaps some of your TLR files got corrupt along the way.

Uninstall the entire game and DELETE the folder manually if it doesnt by itself and try it again. MTWII, patch 1.2 and then the mod.

Let us know how you get on. It's well worth it.

philstanbridge · 5 Aug 2007 at 08:57

Sinque said:
Am I the only one that hates crusades?

Why do you hate them? They are pretty handy for a number of reasons. For one, upkeep of the entire army crusading is free - so you can have a full stack march further, faster, for free. Secondly, the General commanding gains special traits, relating to a crusading army, like "Crusader" and "Great Crusader". It's even more important with the Long Road mod and the RPG traits make more of it. Thirdly, it keeps the papal states at bay, and helps strengthen your cause and your alliances with other catholic factions (again more important with the LR mod).

philstanbridge · 5 Aug 2007 at 08:59

Moses99p said:
Hmmm, there are loads of mods.

Can you have a load installed at the same time?

What are the top 3 and why in your opinions?

Not easily as far as I'm aware. There is a "mod manager" that supposedly lets you flip between various mods without having to reinstall but I havent used it. As for installing several mods at one time, not a good idea. Some can work together but generally most overwrite important key files.

tomanders91 · 5 Aug 2007 at 14:24

Sinque said:
Am I the only one that hates crusades?

yep i never do them and make everyone angry

tim_enchanter · 5 Aug 2007 at 15:09

Moses99p said:
Hmmm, there are loads of mods.

Can you have a load installed at the same time?

What are the top 3 and why in your opinions?

You may be able to do it like this (how it worked with Rome TW)
You can do a vanilla install, make a copy of the game folder somewhere.
Then install a mod. This can be backed up and then put the copy the vanilla back in and do another mod.
I have about 5 Rome installs of various states backed up, but I don't really think it's worth having more than one campaign running at once anyway.

My favourite Rome mod was EB had a better feel than Total Realism.

Phil what are your favourite new features over Rome? I've still not got MTW2 yet, very tempted though

philstanbridge · 5 Aug 2007 at 15:32

Moses99p said:
:*(

what are the better mods?

As you correctly point out there are loads out there - I've only tried a handful of the complete mods, and so far The Long Road is the best by far - this contains a load of "mini mods" by the way, its not just something devised by one person. You get the graphical updates, the dynamic weather, script mods, and a whole load of other things.

MumboJumbo · 5 Aug 2007 at 15:38

It makes a whole new game files when installed. You get an icon to a differnt game in a way. Like BF2 mods like POE 2.

Im still finding it hard to complete campaigns because i get to bored. Its all the same, you move an army you attack you win you repeats. But what is made worse is the perfetic diplomacy and AI on the map. This drives me insain. YOu can get an allaince and they can attack you the next move. Alliances mean nothing and unless you kiss the popes ass you will have him on your back if a catholic faction attacks you. Also on Very Hard every computer on your borders will constantly try and attack you. Which is just annoying because it defeats the idea of diplomacy and you migth as well excomunicate your self because you cant win against the pope when every catholic faction wants to attack you.

I like the sound of this long road mod. But 900 turns of move attack win repeate? na ah!

I love playing the battles online against real people. Used to do it on the orginal. But i never bothered on medieval 2 because i found new games to fast.

Is there just somthing im missing? i loved the orginal medieval total war. I think it had style and was somthing new. The new map is annoying. I played the stainless steel mod for about a day and got bored.

So, is it worth me downloading some huge 650mb patch and some huge mod baring in mind i have AOL and it would take years to download? Or do you think that even with the mods id still get bored of the campaign? Does this long road mod achualy add anything new to the game other then a bigger map?

bah i rambled enough.

philstanbridge · 5 Aug 2007 at 15:44

tim_enchanter said:
Phil what are your favourite new features over Rome? I've still not got MTW2 yet, very tempted though

Rome was excellent, but this is better. For starters (and a big thumbs up from me) the graphics engine is hugely superior. Enough said.

The script engine is also improved, and the range of new scripts is quite incredible. It's like a mini mod engine all of its own. For example, in The Long Road, they've added a new script which enables play like a RPG - so if you look after your main characters they will become better (or worse) over time, and they can get illnesses and such like. They've also added Lords/Dukes etc etc of particular areas, via this engine.

The bottom line is the fact that the scripts (that make up the guts of the game) can be almost completey changed. So if you dont like something, you can modify it. This was true for Rome to an extent, but much more so now. You can see by the versatility of some of the mods out there how powerful this engine is and what it will become in time. There's a certain aspect of the game which is hard coded of course, and hopefully Kingdoms will implement further changes still. Like for instance the ability to be able to take direct control of your reinforcements if they are allied.

Rome was/is a fantastic game, and Total Realism/EB were just amazing. Total Realism V6+ was very polished and to some extent is better than any mod for MTWII to date, but you'd expect this. MTWII is still in its infancy. These mods we play today are beta after all.

Hope some of that helps!

tim_enchanter · 5 Aug 2007 at 16:22

Great post thanks,

I'm coming fairly close to the end of a Rome campaign that has taken 4 months so far, so I will probably order it soon.
I think part of the reason I've not taken the plunge yet is because I remember how annoying Rome vanilla was.
The Long Road sounds like it's character development is similar to EB so I'll defo have to give it a go.
So is religion a major part of the game? Sounds like the change from Civ2 - Civ3

philstanbridge · 5 Aug 2007 at 19:36

tim_enchanter said:
Great post thanks,

I'm coming fairly close to the end of a Rome campaign that has taken 4 months so far, so I will probably order it soon.
I think part of the reason I've not taken the plunge yet is because I remember how annoying Rome vanilla was.
The Long Road sounds like it's character development is similar to EB so I'll defo have to give it a go.
So is religion a major part of the game? Sounds like the change from Civ2 - Civ3

Yes Religion is pretty significant. If you're catholic, then you need to remain in favour with the Pope. Although there are ways and means of dealing with this. Crusades are obvious ways, but there are other approaches. Jihads for the muslim factions. You also get to deal with diplomacy on a much more detailed level than with Rome. Not only do you have access to the diplomats you have Princesses and these can play a vital role, especially in The Long Road. They actually work for starters..

There are lots of little "vanilla" bugs in the stock game.

philstanbridge · 5 Aug 2007 at 19:49

8igdave said:
Im still finding it hard to complete campaigns because i get to bored. Its all the same, you move an army you attack you win you repeats. But what is made worse is the perfetic diplomacy and AI on the map. This drives me insain. YOu can get an allaince and they can attack you the next move. Alliances mean nothing and unless you kiss the popes ass you will have him on your back if a catholic faction attacks you. Also on Very Hard every computer on your borders will constantly try and attack you. Which is just annoying because it defeats the idea of diplomacy and you migth as well excomunicate your self because you cant win against the pope when every catholic faction wants to attack you.

I like the sound of this long road mod. But 900 turns of move attack win repeate? na ah!

I love playing the battles online against real people. Used to do it on the orginal. But i never bothered on medieval 2 because i found new games to fast.

Is there just somthing im missing? i loved the orginal medieval total war. I think it had style and was somthing new. The new map is annoying. I played the stainless steel mod for about a day and got bored.

So, is it worth me downloading some huge 650mb patch and some huge mod baring in mind i have AOL and it would take years to download? Or do you think that even with the mods id still get bored of the campaign? Does this long road mod achualy add anything new to the game other then a bigger map?

bah i rambled enough.

Okay firstly it's absolutely essential that you download the 1.2 patch - this fixes many of the issues you have.

Alliances are there to be broken - but they can also work in your favour. It very much depends how strong you are and how the other factions see you. Don't forget what you see on the campaign map is only half of what is going on. There's a load of complicated AI stuff happening behind the scenes.

I've had alliances last for several hundred years - so they do work, but ONLY with 1.2, and the various mods. Alliance blocks can be fun as well! You try fighting off the HRE as England, when you've got them, France/Milan and the Papal states allied together.

There are many different ways to play and to win this game, which is partly the appeal - but to play The Long Road properly takes patience. You can no longer "blitz" your way through the settlements - it simply doesnt work like that. You try it and see what happens

Because this mod is based on reality (of sorts anyway) the events also happen as they did historically, which makes it much more interesting. So rather than gaining that upgrade to the Armour factory when you've built the pre-requisite building you now have to wait until full plate was actually invented! This gives the game a much more realistic feel.

As for that hefty download, if you can't be bothered to wait then I'll send you it on CD.

MumboJumbo · 5 Aug 2007 at 19:55

philstanbridge said:
Okay firstly it's absolutely essential that you download the 1.2 patch - this fixes many of the issues you have.

Alliances are there to be broken - but they can also work in your favour. It very much depends how strong you are and how the other factions see you. Don't forget what you see on the campaign map is only half of what is going on. There's a load of complicated AI stuff happening behind the scenes.

I've had alliances last for several hundred years - so they do work, but ONLY with 1.2, and the various mods. Alliance blocks can be fun as well! You try fighting off the HRE as England, when you've got them, France/Milan and the Papal states allied together.

There are many different ways to play and to win this game, which is partly the appeal - but to play The Long Road properly takes patience. You can no longer "blitz" your way through the settlements - it simply doesnt work like that. You try it and see what happens Because this mod is based on reality (of sorts anyway) the events also happen as they did historically, which makes it much more interesting. So rather than gaining that upgrade to the Armour factory when you've built the pre-requisite building you now have to wait until full plate was actually invented! This gives the game a much more realistic feel.

As for that hefty download, if you can't be bothered to wait then I'll send you it on CD.

Well i think youve convinced me. To have an alliance last 20 years is impressive let alone 100

As for the offer of sending it on a CD. Thats very nice of you but ill just suffer the long download times. Thanks though

Sinque · 6 Aug 2007 at 21:56

How do you guys use your archers? I'm always worried on how to use them as I think i'm raping my own men just as much as theirs. :confused:

I only ever use them as they approach me but after that they sit behind my lines doing nothing. Unless they have some archers which I can fire at.

vincent1989 · 7 Aug 2007 at 00:10

Sinque said:
How do you guys use your archers? I'm always worried on how to use them as I think i'm raping my own men just as much as theirs. I only ever use them as they approach me but after that they sit behind my lines doing nothing. Unless they have some archers which I can fire at.

thats pretty much how i use them, and IMO it's the best way to use them.

archers are really only ever for weakening the enemy and i generally avoid firing into combat (unless i'm heavily outnumbered melee wise (less chance of hitting my own/maximum damage dealing))

edit: they can also be pretty useful as a meat shield (ie stick em on the flanks to absorb a cavalry attack

edit: on another note, is it ok to just DL 2.0? ie is it incramental (or will i need 1.2 etc?)

neoboy · 7 Aug 2007 at 00:14

Good game indeed even if I'm no good at it. It did kill my 9800 Pro and then 6800GT in a space of 2 months.

Sinque · 7 Aug 2007 at 00:31

Hmm, sometimes when i'm trying to line my men up by using the left mouse button they don't line up. One group goes off miles away from the line and they're all the same type of unit :confused:

philstanbridge · 7 Aug 2007 at 10:30

Sinque said:
Hmm, sometimes when i'm trying to line my men up by using the left mouse button they don't line up. One group goes off miles away from the line and they're all the same type of unit

There are little bugs here and there. Lining your men up on the battlements is quite hard work.

As for using archers, there's a few ways of doing it, and it depends on the faction. If you've got longbowmen you can generally set stakes in the ground. These guys go right up on the front line. Set their mode to skirmish and set them to auto fire. They can obliterate the front lines of heavy cavalry, as they did in reality. But you have to be a little lucky as well. Sometimes the enemy out flanks you, then you're in trouble.

As for the other archer types I generally set these guys up directly behind your front line, so that they are kept out of the way, but can still inflict damage. They tend to fire over your other men, although on occasion they can self inflict as well. Crossbow men are generally better quality than archers, and their bolts are able to pierce armour so you get these guys to aim for the heavy dismounted types first.

Sinque · 7 Aug 2007 at 22:03

Just had the closest battle i've ever had, was crapping myself.

http://crispyduck.net/omg.JPG

8men left, and the 3 infantry would route anytime I sent them near enemies

4T5 · 8 Aug 2007 at 08:33

Got this myself yesterday :cool:

Awesome game of Epic size. I think it may take me around 10 years to get my head round it though. The word that springs to mind is MASSIVE

philstanbridge · 8 Aug 2007 at 10:08

malc30 said:
Got this myself yesterday
Awesome game of Epic size. I think it may take me around 10 years to get my head round it though. The word that springs to mind is MASSIVE

It's a vast game - I only ever play with unit size set to normal - I couldnt comprehend battles any larger than they are currently, although it would be fun I'm sure. Also my laptop would struggle with anything much larger. With this new Kingdoms expansion I was reading you can control up to 20,000 units now per battle :eek:

I hear CA are working on a MTWII Patch 1.3 - but I havent been able to confirm it.. Would be good to have another patch to iron out some of these smaller issues.