-- Secrets of TATW (that are no Secrets) -- Collection of Eastereggs, special options and hints

[Tropical Bob]

- To save the game press CTRL+S

Take note that this is the quicksave function.

[jản]

Take note that this is the quicksave function.

well yes it is - and <Ctrl>+<L> loads that quicksaved game. and BTW you can quicksave everywhere - in every window and mode - even in the battle window. but only when playing on the start map.

[servium]

well not that there are really allot of pahalnx units in this game. but i learned this tactic as romans vs greeks.
i hate when i cant get past those dam pikes. so
my new tactic is. take a unit and make them run to a point behind the phalanx. like this they will run through the spears without allot of casualties. i mean if u just attack in front they would be wasted anyway. though make sure these units got decent defence or else it the will be with to few to pass. this really works and u dont have to waste allot of horses bij useing the hammer and anvil.
also this makes bridge battles allot easier

[Germanicu5]

Since some keyboard shortcuts were posted, I suggest a more direct way of learning all of them.

When on campaign map or in battle, press <F1> and all relevant shortcuts making player's life easier will appear.

Regards

[Mile83]

- Follow projectile -
Selecting an archer or artillery unit on the battle map and pressing <DEL> will have the camera follow a projectile when the unit fires.

- Battle in slow motion -
When you hold <SHIFT> on the battle map while clicking on the faster or lower speed buttons you can increase or lower the speed with 0.1.

[HarneY]

Another keyboard shortcut.

Pressing ALT while using a unit with 2 weapons allows them to use the ALTernative weapon.

So far example archers/crossbowmen will go in for melee if your getting short on numbers.

Take note that not all units have a secondary weapon.

EDIT: It also allows catapult/ballista/trebuchet units to abandon their equipment and go in with daggers.

[drogoth232]

I was killing myself trying to figure out how it would work.. So yesterday night I found out.. In descr_srat (in imperial campaign) I saw Aragorns stats. I copied his traits and a specific bit of code. (cant find code tag so its in spoiler.):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

character Halbarad, named character, male, age 20, x 96, y 290, portrait Halbarad, battle_model aragorn
traits Elessar 1 , GoodCommander 3 , PublicFaith 1 , ReligionStarter 1 , GoodAttacker 1 , Brave 2 , Just 2 , KindRuler 2 , Loyal 2

The bold is the important one. Put in the underlined as well as this may also be a contributing factor. This is what I have for Halbarad my general. Have battle_model aragorn in it. Also named character is important as well for portraits and all. So with that edited go play your historical battle! If you want to download I will attach my historical battle made. Not the most creative one but it is very fun if you take out the reinforcements and fight mano-e-mano (I won it but not without a fight!)
Go into battle and if you want to see him immediately without looking at the other units and hearing his speech click start deployment. Zoom in, into the bodyguard unit and vuala there is Aragorn! I tried it with gondor except with battle_model elessar and it worked. I am using RR/RC but I am 100% sure that it will work for vanilla. Sorry for the, might be messed up post!

For the historical battle, download all the attached, put it in a file called Battle_of_Fornost (with underscore) and in the directory where you installed TATW in data/world/maps/battle/custom. To play it go to single player, historical battle, and you know the rest. If you want take out the reinforcements (second Eriador army) from descr_battle (which I will do later for myself) to make it more challenging. Ask around the forums for more help putting it in if this isnt clear enough.

I cant upload the map.wrc thingy so, I dont know what will happen without it.

[athanaric]

Nice thread! If you want ladders off your wall, select an infantry unit. Move your cursor over the ladders and it will give the attack cursor that looks like a sword. You have to click at the base of the ladder; as close to the ground as your cursor will get before changing from the sword icon the something else. This is the only consistent way I know to get ladders knocked down. So.
To have an infantry unit pull the ladders off the wall you:
1. Select infantry
2. Move the attack sword icon to the very bottom of the ladder just before it changes back to the regular icon.
3. Click at the base of the ladder and your soldiers will take it down.
This is the only way I have had my soldiers consistently tear the ladders down. Just clicking on the ladder anywhere is hit or miss.

This works with all siege equipment. Be careful though when destroying rams or siege towers with melee units. They tend to crash down and kill a few of your own men upon destruction, as happened in this situation:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In RTW, you could ignite sap points (and thereby kill hordes of them tunnel rats, har har). I duuno if this is still possible in M2TW.

[Ozzmosis]

There are no sap-points anymore in M2, or at least I have never seen them in the 6 months I have been playing it...

[confused german]

Hi there!
Very good thread discipline.
Excuse me that I'm too dump to upload pictures. You'll get it without anyways.


SIEGES: 'Blitz empty side walls'
Attacking a settlement you choose a hidden unit (either a hide_anywhere unit or a unit hidden in a suiting wood nearby) and give them ladders. Now position them at the sides of the settlements where you don't attack with the rest of your army. Let them put their ladders down and hide nearby. A soon as battle starts you can take up the ladders and blitz an empty wall with your formerly hidden unit and fullfil some guerilla tactics or special operation.
Not really a secret, just a little trick.

EDIT: Units can sometimes be hidden around a single(!) tree if you wrap them up in a square-like formation. Very useful for this purpose. This works very good for smaller units and 'experts at hiding in woods'.
Effective especially with archer units: If you do not reveal them too early they can quickly climb empty walls and shoot in the back of the bunch of the guys who are defending the gate against youre assault. Very effective.
Try to have all enemy infantry that could endanger your archers be bound in melee or far away at the time you launch the 'blitz'. No silvan campaign for me without this trick anymore...
EDIT2:
If you have some small units and trolls in your siege attacking army, use the trolls to 'divide' ladders, i.e. make up to 4 single ladders out of one 4-ladder-unit. The point is the small units are more easy to hide and don't need more than one ladder to 'blitz' an empty wall.

ARCHERS'S QICKSTOP: 'Reduce friendly fire'
To tell a ranged unit to stop shooting immediately, don't use the "stop" button or backspace shortcut! They seem not to listen and often continue shooting for one or two volleys.
- Instead press in quickly "loose formation" and then "tight formation"! -
This way the unit perfectly and alltogether stops shooting and can be immediately redirected on another target. Pressing "disable free fire" before makes it more clean.
But you have to be quick or use pause to prevent the unit actually changing their formation!
I remarkably(!) reduced my friendly fire using this method.


STATS SCREEN: 'The personal Palantir'
Of course(!): Like in med2 you have a perfect intelligence service for free: The stats tabel you reach via your "faction overview" screen. This stats DON'T represent the full truth, as they are updated a little slow and the exact movement of the lines can NOT be trusted, especially those in the far past.
Still it grants you a lot information:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

- Enemy lands
Map informations or not, this stats show you the exact number of any factions settlements. If you have a little experience in the map, you can get a quite complete overview very quick. Check out areas in question with spies.
[Another cheap trick to know about someone's territory is to meet him with a diplomat and just look what it says when you click "give settlement" on his side. Remember here, that his capital is missing in that list (since you can't give your capital away).]
- Economy
I'd recommend to always compare Finance with Production and Military and never to look at them isolated. This way you get a good impression of anyone's economy. Always relate production to the number of regions a faction has, too. More regions of course equals more production and more income. Maybe some examples:
High financial rating and many settlements without high production -> Someone is saving money (I have seen it in Med2!)
High production plus high finance --> Good economy.
High production plus high finance and good military --> Powerful economy
High production plus high finance and good military and at your border --> That's where the party starts!
Production decreasing, Military increasing, Finance stable --> Someone reached his limits in upkeep!
This is especially helpful to watch a distant war, e.g. being dwarves watch rohan and isengard: comparing finance, production and military you can pretty well see who probably will be winning.
- War
You can "see" distant battles in the stats: Look for a (relative) decrease in military for two factions at the same point of time. As stated, the past stats are flawed, so only the last couple of turns grant reliable information.
The same way you can see, if a faction took another faction's settlement: Just compare their 'territory' and look out for simultaneous changes.
If more than one faction have a increase of territory at the same time another faction has a decrease - and this is often the case - you just go looking at the population index: The one faction, that has a similar increase as the one who lost the settlement has a decrease in population, tells you the easy way who did it.
Often you can guess which settlement it was. So playing Isengard I could "see" the Fall of Minas Tirith by the hands of Mordor, without having ever send one spy near the Anduin.

There's a lot more to see in these lines, I'm sure I forgot and overlooked things. So, please post somemore tricks and experience.

Of course, some players use the houserule not to use the stats, since this gets you deeper into your factions situation and allows more identification (a little like playing with locked camera in battle). I myself can't help it!
c u!

cnofused

[Sitalkes]

Battle deployment:
For some reason, the initial deployment in a battle almost always puts you in the bottom of a valley. Stay there and the opponent will be attacking you from above! The higher ground on your side is almost always on your left. You also want to attack on the left as that's attacking your opponent's shieldless flank - so give a preference to deploying your army on the left side of your deployment area.

Sieges
If you would like your spies to open the gates , use more than one spie if they are inexperienced - around three spies will give close to 100% certainty that the spie will open the gate. Before attacking the castle. save the game. If the spie doesn't open the gate, reload the game (not from a quick-save).

Attacking towns - towns always have four gates, so use them all if you have enough troops. Try to at least attack the three gates nearest your deployment area. The left gate is usually defended but not the right gate (depending on the number of units available to the AI). If you advance on the left and right gates first, the AI will pull away troops from the front gate, sometimes leaving the front gate unguarded! Put most of your army in front of the front gate to get this effect. This might also encourage a sally from the front gate, which will often include the enemy general and his bodyguard. Be prepared with plenty of archers to stomp on the sally and you may get the enemy general early on in the battle. Particularly satisfying if you have a lot of archers and some ballistas to see the enemy charge out into your prepared trap - getting so shot up that he doesn't get into contact with your troops before routing. Be careful - often the computer seems to be encouraging you to pursue its troops into the town, where your numbers will be nullified. Think carefully before rushing after the town inhabitants, as they will always rally by the time they get to the town plaza.

Sick of losing your favourite spie? assasin always fails? AI makes an unexpected attack? Keep saving the game often, with different save names. Reload the game and you will fix most problems - the AI may behave quite differently if you load the game again and start a new turn. Lots of other things will change, too, like the amount of booty you get from a town, or retinues awarded.

[jản]

Attacking towns - towns always have four gates, so use them all if you have enough troops. Try to at least attack the three gates nearest your deployment area. The left gate is usually defended but not the right gate (depending on the number of units available to the AI). If you advance on the left and right gates first, the AI will pull away troops from the front gate, sometimes leaving the front gate unguarded!

i use this too sometimes, if i start a siege with one or more cavalry units. They are not very usefull inside a settlement so i deploy them at the nearest position to the side gates. the enemy will put units on the walls there too (if they have enough ) and if you let your cavalry stay in that place, these enemy units will not move until the main gate has been crushed down.
later on the cavalry units can be used to attack routing enemies in the settlement or to perform some charges in the back of fighting enemies.

[drogoth232]

I never thought of that

[Alex-ander]

Since i posted my tip in the wrong place here it is. This thread should defiantly be a sticky

If you are playing as the High Elves move your capital to Mirthond to reduce corruption and gain yourself more money. As you expand your empire consider moving it to Allimir or maybe Argnod.

If you want to spy out a city or army but the chance of your spy being successful is low. Move him next to the city or army but don't spy on them. You will get some useful information about the target. It wont be as good as a successful spying mission but your spy will still be around for next time

[confused german]

The classic: If you can't fight trolls, go to edu and lower their hp.

Btw: updated my post

[Bombur]

If u re playing Gondor:

Always siege cair andros with 1 general and then automaticly resolve battle (u can do this with any rebel town). Like this your generals will get more chivalry (fair fighter instead of winning first) and get scarred, while Mordor cant take cair Andros and u only need to defend 1 spot now vs Mordor (Bridge Osgiliath is untakeable with few ballistas, some archers, 2 schiltrom units and reinforcements from W. Osgiliath). This will increase your economy significantly early game (more production + more chivalry + less military = more growth). U can also use the extra money to go and raid some harad towns by sea in so keeping them away from your borders by bringing the fight to them (sack + destroy every building = raid paid). If u can take Umbar u will have saved yourself a lot of turns before Harad stands at your borders ready to invade, all while your econoy can flourish.

[Bombur]

U can increase your relation with a faction (not at war) to outstanding (if ur not untrustworthy) with a diplomat by offering him generous offers he cant accept over and over again. Example: offer your biggest city for 7000 gold when that faction has less money than that.

This tip is extremely usefull when u cant afford a(nother) war. Nobody will attack u if your relations are very good or better. The relations can go down fast though (surely when u re at war with an allie) so be sure to do this with a diplomat every 3 turns or so.

[Killerbee]

They're not that alike...
If anyone is curious, I actually made that portrait from this photo of the LOTR movie extras:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

But I actually used people from other movies such as Narnia to serve as portraits, and King Bard's portrait is based on Daniel Day Lewis.

One trick I use on TATW is to attack an army close to a city so that the garrison serve as reinforcements and completely exterminate the enemy leaving the settlement empty which doesn't set of the garrison script when I capture it.

Wow, very low-res pic. Good job on creating portraits from that


U can change control of a faction by opening the cosnole and then write : control <faction>

So for instance : control mongols
Would give the Silvan Elves. Do note that the console uses he internal names, so writing control Mordor won't work

[glassakias]

you can actually move enemy siege equipment: just press ALT and then select it
i found out when i was playing as mordor and sallied out against some dwarves. it was kinda funny, seeing my orcs moving their ram right in front of their nose

[Little Rock]

A cheeky but quick expansion and/or extermination of large armies in settlements. Use one "mounted" general or any cavlary unit, siege the settlement. The next turn, fight the battle and the AI small or fully stacked army will chase you, let their entire army follow you to the furthest corner on the battle map and wait till they're close behind you, then charge your unit back towards the settlement and enter the gates "as someone forgot to close them" and go to centre square. The AI will try and reach you but it will time out as a close victory settlement is now yours, with good traits. Note: this only works if the battle timer is on and if there is no AI mounted units or Trolls.