Nazgūl Killer's M2TW Total Guide

[Nazgūl Killer]

Army.
But yeah, I know what you mean Jiub. I still miss him, even though I didn't know him half as well as many of the people in this forums have.

[Radboud]

What a sad story (about Calvin). I guess I never met him because I didn't participate in general discussions on this forum.

You're going to the army? Will you have time to register at twc?

[Nazgūl Killer]

Once I head off to the army I won't have time to do anything, especially not TWC. Maybe I'll log on here and there, but not in the first two years, that's for sure. And I doubt I'll be returning to TWC afterward. It's all in the process of growing up and all that. And even if I do return to TWC, I highly doubt I'll be hanging around at the M2TW forums

[Ascarona]

And even if I do return to TWC, I highly doubt I'll be hanging around at the M2TW forums

Bah! You traitor
When are you going to enter service?

[Nazgūl Killer]

26th of July 2010. Exactly 150 days from now.

[Ascarona]

26th of July 2010. Exactly 150 days from now.

Lols so thats what the countdown was for... oops .

[Nazgūl Killer]

I answered that about 5 times already in this thread alone
But yeah, that's what the countdown's for.

[Radboud]

Once I head off to the army I won't have time to do anything, especially not TWC. Maybe I'll log on here and there, but not in the first two years, that's for sure. And I doubt I'll be returning to TWC afterward. It's all in the process of growing up and all that. And even if I do return to TWC, I highly doubt I'll be hanging around at the M2TW forums

Haven't you heard, men never grow up . Bad news this is.

[Nazgūl Killer]

Of course we never grow up, but to an extent
Nah, I just doubt I'll have time for TWC.

[Double A]

Oh come on, you can't write a giant guide and then abandon us!

We're too awesome.

That was the "royal we" by the way.

[Onyx Spartan II]

Y0u N0085 N3eD T0 L3@rn 7h@7 i @M 7h3 m@573R @R0unD h3R3.
N0w g0 m@k3 m3 @ 5@nDwiCh, $3rvaN7.

Is it a bad thing that I could read this without trying?

[Double A]

...Probably.

[Nazgūl Killer]

Is it a bad thing that I could read this without trying?

Nah. It just says some stuff about you. No experience is a bad experience

Oh come on, you can't write a giant guide and then abandon us!

We're too awesome.

That was the "royal we" by the way.

Aww, thanks AA.

[Karnage]

Hi Naz, I have never played any of the Total war series before and decided to try medieval 2, tried playing the french easy/easy and got dominated, as I said, very new. I found this forum and found your guide, I read it all and I must say it was of great help. Now I play England and I have survived the mongols, the timurids, the black death, some weird flood, civil unrest due to various factors and came out stronger. "I was shocked to go through the black death and still have a strong economy, by the time the plague was over, I had more then 35k florins, had about 2k when it began" I have for territories all of the english isle, Lisbon, Caen the Brudges(I think thats how its called) and considered a superpower among my peers.

All of this success came from reading carefully your guide. Dont know if you will reply but thanks a million from a new player to this old but exciting game.

Considering I play vanilla, what good advice would you give me to have success beside your awesome guide?

[Nazgūl Killer]

Thank you for your kind words, Karnage.

As for advice for continued success... Well, there aren't really that many. Experience taught me that experience is the best teacher . Experiment, do what you will and don't be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are the only way to learn (As seen by your previously failed campaign).

I would however like to suggest to keep a sturdy reputation by using this info page: http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Reputation-M2TW
It gives you detailed, accurate, and true information about reputation and how to keep it up.
Just so you understand how good that guide is: I hold half of Europe in my current campaign and with "Immaculate" reputation. No way I could've done that without that guide.

I would also like to say that England is relatively easy (Amongst the easiest), which makes the utter perfect faction for starters, and there's absolutely no shame in that. I have not seen a single M2TW player who has not started as England, successfully, to base the rest of his campaigns. And most of those who say they didn't, lie.
France is also one of the hardest factions in my eyes, which easily explains why you lost, and there's no shame in that. Goodness knows I lost about two campaigns, both of which were my starting tries. It only served to make me better.

And, another advice for the road: Use diplomacy.
Whilst the diplomatic system may seem a bit broken in times, you should try and make up for these faults by using it to your advantage; Conquering and destroying an enemy without going to war. Be it with annexing settlements, funding your allies' wars against your enemy or anything else. It helps.

As a final tip:
Download Stainless Steel 6.1 (Follow the download instructions that apply to you). It improves everything. Terrain, armies, diplomacy, tactics, economy... Everything. But bear in mind it does take out the Americas.
Once you downloaded and all that I want to prepare you for a few things:
1) This game does not have the Americas.
2) This game has many added factions.
3) This game tends to crash, especially on the main menu, so save every turn, don't rely on autosave.
4) Once you have this modification, successfully installed and want to start playing: Make sure you know what you want. Don't click "Late Campaign" and then "Early Campaign" (Or anything else for that matter) since it crashes. Determine what you want to start early on and pick.
5) Be prepared that this game is much harder than Vanilla when it comes to wars, despite the AI not being as aggressive, the fighting is intense and the wars much, much harder.
6) This game improves alliances and actually makes your allies trustworthy.
7) Have fun!

What I find truly fun about M2TW in general, mods or not, is the ability to explore. Be free, explore what you wish, don't be afraid. Making mistakes is only human and it will only lead for you to be utterly victorious later on.

Good luck mate! Hope to see you around soon - I suggest you stick around. TWCenter is far beyond TW games, and is a fantastic community. You'll love it.

[Karnage]

For the Stainless Steel mod, dont you need the kingdom expansion? I only got gold through digital download.

[Ascarona]

For the Stainless Steel mod, dont you need the kingdom expansion? I only got gold through digital download.

Yes you need kingdoms for SS, but kingdoms comes with the Gold version so no worries .

[Nazgūl Killer]

Yes, Ascarona's right. The Kingdoms expansion should come with the Gold version of the game.
Bear in mind that, as far as I recall, the Gold version has a different installation of modifications. So please, be sure to read the entire post in the link I sent you to make sure you know what you're doing.

[Karnage]

Will do, however, I am starting to believe that I dont have gold edition as I have no access to some of the campaign and new features"I only have access to grand campaign"

[Nazgūl Killer]

In that case I strongly suggest to get the Kingdoms expansion, of course if financially possible. It adds a lot more to the game in term of modifications.