[WIP] Middle Earth Strategikon ~60% Complete

**Incomitatus** · October 19, 2012, 11:22 AM

Ab Initio
-
Introduction/Foreword

I have been playing Total War games for a decade now. Careers, relationships, and homes have come and gone since I began, but Total War is still here. I've moved to another continent and back again, moved across the United States, made money and lost it, and gained my first grey hairs. It's practically the only video game franchise I still play at 30 and I suspect I'll be playing it for many years to come.

Long ago, I wrote some guides for some of the factions in Medieval Total War: Viking Invasion. I don't remember where they were posted, and I only have one left in a .txt file on my computer (it's for Mercia, my favourite faction back in those days). I have not written any 'guides' since then, partly because I tend to really dig into the details and many people don't appreciate that, partly because I've been too busy to play and write and I'd rather play (

), partly because my style of play tends to be slower and more methodical than the 'rushing' that seems most popular, but mostly because I haven't known the later games as well as Viking Invasion. This last is not because I haven't played them a lot, but because, starting with Rome Total War, the Total War games began becoming progressively more and more complex and I've felt it to be impossible to know them completely like I felt I knew Viking Invasion.

Nevertheless, from time to time I've written long posts about tactics (links to some of which you can find in my signature) and economics. I've been present for most of, and participated in some of, the controversial arguments over how the engine works and how to mod it - especially for unit balancing and behaviour. I've done my share of empirical testing and modding for my own personal enjoyment.

I've realised recently, in other words, that I know this engine better than the majority of players. At the very least, I know it from a player's perspective who also knows enough about modding to understand things deeper than their surface level. I don't know everything, far from it, but I'm now thinking that it's time to share a decade's worth of experience. I also want to discuss other viewpoints and solicit help in filling the gaps in my knowledge.

There are other good guides out there, and I don't mean this project to be in any way suggesting that they aren't good enough. Many of them have been indispensable to helping me learn this game, both playing guides and modding guides to the files. There are far too many to list or give credit to right here, but I will try to link to them in the relevant sections as this guide gets built.

I'm doing this for TATW because it is the only mod of M2:TW I'm still playing. I have every intention of trying Stainless Steel sometime (like after I write a best-selling novel, or win the lottery, or marry a wealthy heiress... ), but for now, TATW fills my free time. When Spring returns to the mountains I live in, I'll be disappearing onto the hiking trails, so this is a Winter project for me. I'm also starting my own business, and since I like to eat and pay rent and keep internet service, that will take priority if and when it needs to. At the moment, though, I can't do much but sit here because my flatmate very helpfully gave me the flu. So I might as well get started on this, fever notwithstanding.

I will also assume that readers understand the basics. If not, the links I will try to include to other guides will be useful for those who need to start at the very beginning. This Guide will be more like the Intermediate/Advanced Course. It will not be short. It will be text-heavy, long, detailed, and presented as a number of essays.

My hope is that when I'm done, readers of this thread/guide will be able to confidently plan a campaign from beginning to end and then conduct it, adapting for changing circumstances, without the need for frustration, confusion, or serious deviations from the chosen course for any faction and at any difficulty level. Perhaps that is aiming too high. If readers walk away with a better understanding of how to get more out of their economy, their armies, and their generals/governors it will be enough.

Is there anything that people particularly want to see/understand, other than specific faction guides? (Bearing in mind, I don't know everything, but I can find out if it's something I don't know).

Table of Contents

Parts I and II, Introduction to Strategic Thinking and Diplomacy
Containing:
PART I: INTRODUCTION TO THINKING STRATEGICALLY
What is strategy?
Okay, but do I need a strategy?
Yeah, Yeah, but so far this is just a bunch of words!
Practical Example of How to Start Building a Strategy for Dale

PART II: DIPLOMACY
Understanding Diplomatic Modifiers
Practical Guide to Using Diplomacy

Part III, Character Development in Two Parts
Containing:
Part A:
Links to other Character Development guides and resources
Ways TATW 3.2 differs from M2:TW
Governors vs Generals
Discussion of Character Attributes

Part B:
Getting the Most Out of Your Generals and Family Members
Generals: Traits and Ancillaries
Types of Governors and Their Traits and Ancillaries
A Brief Note on Removing Ancillaries

Obligatory Disclaimers of Bias

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

1. I play with FRoGS, before that I played with FRoME. I won't be discussing faction specific strategies in detail, though I may use examples, so the differences in FRoGS shouldn't matter to the usefulness of what I'm saying.

2. I've also heavily modified my installation. I've taken unbalanced units out, rebalanced some units, nerfed some factions (Vale of Anduin, I'm looking at you...

), and begun a major overhaul of the traits system.

About the traits:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

3. I have a natural bias toward being an infantry commander. I have no intention of hiding this fact, and I will address my reasons why later. However, I have beaten RTR Platinum as both Numidia and as the Sarmatians as well as both MTW: Viking Invasion and M2TW:Britannia as the Welsh. I am no stranger to reliance upon cavalry or archers (or cavalry archers!) as the core of an army.

4. I am a 'slow' player, which is to say, I don't 'rush' the enemy (rebels are a different story, of course). Most of what wisdom I have to share has to do with playing the long game. The deep game.

5. Most importantly, I pretty much only play 'good' factions in TATW. I feel that, having fought against the evil factions so much, I have a good idea of their basic strengths and weaknesses, but if there is one area where the input of other players would be appreciated, this is it.

If I think of any other 'biases' I have that may be relevant, I'll add them here. Or if they are pointed out to me.

**Incomitatus** · October 19, 2012, 11:22 AM

PART I: INTRODUCTION TO THINKING STRATEGICALLY
(Part II: Diplomacy also included)

What is strategy?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines strategy as (among other things) :

1. the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war

2. the science and art of military command exercised to meet the enemy in combat under advantageous conditions

The italic emphasis is mine. I don't know about you, but I always like to meet the enemy under advantageous conditions. It's certainly better than meeting him under disadvantageous conditions!

Okay, but do I need a strategy?

Truthfully, in TATW, probably not. None of the factions are so difficult that a reasonably tactically skilled player can't just sort of muddle through and win eventually. But where is the fun in that? It makes the game harder than it has to be, and not in a fun way.

How many threads have you seen that are all about how hard it is to make money in TATW?

How many threads about how hard it is to afford a decent army?

How many threads about how impossible it is to win without cheating?

How many threads about how x faction is too weak and needs to be made better? (my personal favourite)

How many times have you seen (or given) advice on making money that depends on exploiting the diplomatic AI of your allies?

Are you tired of exploiting the AI to take advantage of the AI money cheats?

Do you want to learn how to make money, afford great armies, and how to do it without exploiting your allies?

YOU NEED A STRATEGY!

Yeah, yeah, okay, but so far this is just a bunch of words!

So let's get started. Basically a strategy is the combination of goals and a plan to achieve those goals.

First step, then... set goals. Some goals are unrealistic. Some goals are easy. How do you tell the difference? You assess the potential of your faction and compare that potential against your most likely enemies. Ask yourself a series of questions. Seriously, even with all the years of playing I have behind me, I find it beneficial to actually ask myself, and answer, these questions, as a way of focusing my thoughts:

1. What are the strengths of my faction? What are my weaknesses?

2. What are the strengths of my most likely enemies? What are their weaknesses?
3. What does the surrounding territory offer that I can take quickly?
4. What do I have to do/seize to be sure I can be secure from my enemies?
5. Do I benefit more by expansion or development at this time?
6. Can my current situation allow me to grow stronger faster than my enemies?
7. Do I have potentially useful allies, and if so, do I need to help them? Can I?

Let's use a stripped down example from FRoGS (so it won't be exactly the same as vanilla TATW, but the principles/process are the same).

DALE

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

A quick note here on using faction-specific guides,

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Strategy is combining military and economic and diplomatic planning to most efficiently leverage all three areas into victory. When we looked at Dale above, we were mostly considering security needs and security goals. This is because there isn't any point in developing longer term goals if you aren't secure. Security comes first, but eventually you want to begin working economic planning and diplomacy into your goal-setting and strategic thinking.

Military planning includes the type of security planning we sampled with Dale, but it also includes deciding what units you need, in what quantity, when you need them by (and when you can actually have them by!), and how to organize reinforcement so you always have a fresh supply at the front. It also includes identifying the best places to defend, like the noted ford in the East of Dale screenshot. It includes identifying the tactics and army compositions that best suit your terrain, your enemies' vulnerabilities, and your command style and abilities. The need for expensive and time consuming construction to increase your access to units means that military planning can often conflict with ...

Economic planning is identifying how to increase your revenue to most efficiently meet your needs and how best to grow your settlements (and which to grow first/fastest). This isn't just development: sometimes identifying rich or potentially rich provinces to capture can fall into being both a part of military and economic planning. Deciding that a substantial part of your revenue will come from raiding, such as Gondor should inflict on the Harad coast for example, is also as much economic planning as it is military. But for the most part, economic planning will consist of deciding which province developments to build, where, and in what order. It also includes the training and maintenance of good governors. In most cases, it is perfectly reasonable to expect to at least double your income within 100 turns, even without substantial conquest. More is very possible if you are also adding territories.

Diplomatic planning is concerned with how to get allies, get them all working together, and how to keep them in the fight when they come under pressure. It's also about minimizing the chances that you will be back-stabbed and sometimes about generating some incidental revenue from selling maps or services and establishing trade rights. Which means Diplomacy is like a glue that helps bond both your military and economic planning together.

---We can talk about the three areas separately, and we will, but it is essential to remember that strategy is all about blending all three components together so they have a synergy moving toward the same overall goals.---

Military and Economic planning will be discussed thoroughly in later installments. Right now, though, I want to close this installment with a discussion of Diplomacy, as it is the simplest of the three.

PART II: DIPLOMACY
(Link to an excellent comprehensive guide for vanilla M2:TW)

Total War games are infamous for having... odd... diplomacy. Allies backstab with alarming regularity. TATW makes this less likely by requiring alliances be cancelled before attacks can happen, but it doesn't completely solve the problem.

Like most things in Total War, diplomatic decisions by the AI seem to have a random element, affected by various modifiers. If you understand the modifiers, you can have less frustrating diplomatic interactions with the AI, but there will always be a slight random element. As such, advice on diplomacy is about increasing probabilities, not creating certainties. Please bear that in mind.

First, the basic workings of diplomacy and relations are rational. However, unlike diplomacy in the real world, the AI has no concept of norms and customs. It calculates entirely on self-interest. This is modified, somewhat, by the relations standing between two factions, and by factions' reputations.

So, without further ado, a run-down of the modifiers on Diplomacy - I'm sorry I can't quantify the relative impact of each.

1. Reputation - the better your reputation, the easier diplomacy is. The worse, the harder. (Link to a good guide)

Short summary of effects on Reputation

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

2. Relations standing - the more a faction likes you, the more likely they are to agree to diplomatic proposals. There are so many ways to improve your standing that I won't list them all, most of them are pretty obvious (giving them things, having trade rights or an alliance with them, attacking their enemies, helping them in battles, etc, etc.)

3. Culture/Religion - There is a penalty to relations standing, and hence diplomacy, between factions with different cultures/religions. You can do nothing about this. This is unavoidable in relations between the 'good' factions: the 'evil' factions don't have this problem.

4. Strength - What really matters here is relative strength: if you are stronger than the faction you are negotiating with, they will be more inclined to co-operate; if they are stronger, they will be less inclined.

Alliances and effects on calculations of strength

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

5. Goals- you aren't the only one with goals. The AI has goals, too. Sometimes if your diplomat is good enough, the diplomacy screen will give you a clue to what they are under "Desires".

Desires

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Why the AI attacks...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

6. Money - Every possible diplomatic offer has a value assigned to it by the AI; this value is modified by all the above points. There is always a quantity of money you can add to an offer to make the AI accept... however, many times this quantity will greatly exceed your ability to pay. The AI prefers lump sums, but they will consider tribute/turn offers. There does seem to be a reduced perception of value the longer the duration you offer. A great diplomat can reduce this balancing sum, but the effect isn't that impressive.

That's a basic overview of how diplomacy works, but how do you use it?

Well, the first thing you should bear in mind is how very, very, helpful it is to keep a good reputation. That, combined with getting as many alliances as possible with the other factions on your 'side', makes your game much easier because it reduces the chance of being back-stabbed and makes diplomatic initiatives cheaper and easier - even with enemies, if you so desire.

Offering to attack rebels as a gift and then attacking them is a great and easy way to improve relations and reputation quite dramatically, without having to give away money or land.

---An alliance that also shares military access is very unlikely to be broken and much more likely to actively help you.---

Easy ways to get the AI to agree to Military Access:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Don't give a settlement to an ally unless you have military access, otherwise the garrison you had in the settlement must either be disbanded or it will trespass if you try to move it.

Some players suggest giving settlements between you and your enemies to distant allies. I never do this, as I believe it is cheap and 'gamey'. Also, to the best of my knowledge there is no expiration on the Reputation penalty for taking back a settlement you gave away. If you owned it, gave it away, and it ends up back in your possession, you suffer a very substantial penalty to your reputation. I do not believe that it matters if a third party conquers it first.

The AI will almost always honour promises they make to you to attack a faction, however getting them to make such a promise in the first place can be... challenging. Give them something they really want and probably quite a lot of money.

The AI is often inclined to make peace after suffering major defeats - whether this is due to 'shock' or just due to the reduction in relative strength, I do not know. The AI is also more inclined to make peace if they end up in more than one war. This can be very useful for some factions, such as Dale. Once Rhun joins an Invasion against Gondor, they are at war with Dale and Gondor, and possibly the Dwarves. Destroy a stack or two of theirs, then offer them peace terms... they may be willing to negotiate. Dale can almost always benefit from some time at peace.

The AI will also usually (but I have seen it be stubborn sometimes) make peace if they don't share a border with you and don't absolutely detest you. Sometimes, also, when you are playing a "Good" faction and have an Invasion called on you, an AI you were at peace with will join the Invasion, making them be at war with you. When the Invasion is over, they may very well be willing to accept a Ceasefire. Regardless of the reasons, when the AI really wants to make peace with you it is often possible to extract quite a bit of money from them, either in a lump sum or especially in a per turn tribute. Do note: if the Tribute is so high that it causes the AI to begin to run low on funds, it may start a war with you just to end the Tribute! In this case, it is often willing to negotiate a Ceasefire again soon.

Diplomats aren't worth wasting too much time trying to improve, since the effect of their skill level is minimal, but if you want to know how to do it...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Finally, good reputation, good relations, plentiful alliances, and a good diplomat can all make a real difference to the cost of buying settlements. Sometimes your allies will take land you want. Buying it from them, while expensive, is a better option than attacking them. The more careful you've been with your diplomacy up to that point, the less it should cost you - though it still won't be cheap.

Final Thoughts

Diplomacy should form a key part of your strategy. You should work to keep your allies alive, keep them happy with you, and keep them at war with your enemies. Securing trade rights with neighbouring factions (or factions that you have 'sea' access to) will help both of you in staying in funds. This is especially important as a cash-strapped AI is a more aggressive AI and thus more likely to randomly backstab someone, possibly you or another one of your allies.

Contrary to popular belief the AI does not have 'unlimited' money. The Money Script only gives them enough that they don't go broke, but starting in the mid-game it really isn't enough money to build much; so anything you can do to keep your allies in coin is worth doing, so long as it doesn't set you back too much. Not only will it keep them happy, it will make them better able to assist you against your enemies (who, hopefully, you can find ways to make go broke

).

In the next installment we will explore economic planning and strategy as well as dig into understanding character development for both governors and generals! Meanwhile, suggestions, feedback, and questions are appreciated. This section is tentatively 'done', but I'm open to adding more if people want it, clearing up unclear points, and generally just revising it from time to time.

**Incomitatus** · October 19, 2012, 11:22 AM

PART III: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

I was going to have PART III be Economics and have Character Development as PART IV, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that the Economics are easier to talk about if this part is already well-understood. Regardless the two PARTS are intricately related there will be a lot of cross referencing to concepts in the other part. That will make this a rather complicated entry, I'm afraid, but there's not much I can do about it: this game is not simple, and this guide is for people who appreciate the complexity. I'll be as clear as I can, but I suspect this is going to end up being something that needs to be read more than once to be fully understood.

So, without further ado...

Here are Kobal2fr's fantastic guides to developing both governors and generals for vanilla M2:TW. I strongly advise even experienced players read them.
The Royal Military Academy also has every trait and ancillary listed, divided by faction, and with the conditions required to gain them. There is also a LOT more information there on units and buildings. As of this writing, RMA has not been updated for TATW 3.2 (current version is for 3.1)

Note: There are some things Kobal2fr neglects to mention...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I don't want to repeat all of what is in those guides here, so I will focus on four things:

The ways in which TATW is different from vanilla M2TW for character development and what those differences mean.
A discussion of the value of Governors vs. Generals since this is a point of disagreement among players.
A discussion of the best traits (in my opinion), why they are the best, and how to get them.
An introduction to the export_descr_character_traits.txt (EDCT) and the export_descr_ancillaries.txt (EDA) - because giving a man a fish is fine, but teaching him to fish, etc etc.

But first to clear up some confusion before it happens:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

If you want a good resource to see the traits and their levels together, The Royal Military Academy will serve you well. Or you can use my preferred method, which is look in the actual game files:

...mods\Third_Age_3\data\export_descr_character_traits.txt <--- for traits

...mods\Third_Age_3\data\export_descr_ancillaries.txt <--- for ancillaries

These files contain the traits/ancillaries, their levels, how many points in a trait you need for each level, what the antitraits are, and all the triggers. In other words, everything you need to know to completely understand traits and ancillaries (and to modify them).

How to read the EDCT and EDA:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

First, they should be opened in Notepad, or some other simple text editor. Under no circumstances should you open them in Word, for example, as the hidden formatting that Word adds to documents will corrupt the files.

Second, the top half of each file/document lists the traits/ancillaries and their effects. Like so:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Note how Drink is forbidden to Greek culture - that means the Elves.
NoGoingBackLevel means that once the trait reaches that level, it can never become less.
Antitraits lists traits that, if you gain a point in them, they will reduce the points you have in this trait, or vice versa... but they cannot overcome the NoGoingBackLevel.
Threshold specifies how many points in the trait are required to gain that level.

The bottom half of each file lists the triggers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

WhenToTest is... when to test.
Conditions lists the things that have to be true for the trigger to fire, there can be one condition or many. This example has many, but most are and not conditions - those cannot be true for the trigger to fire.
Affects lists the trait, the points that will be awarded, and the chance they will be awarded if the trigger fires.
Note that many different triggers may give chances for a trait, it's not one trait = one trigger. Also, obviously, one trigger may give chances for more than one trait.

These files are really quite easy to read once you get used to them. Use the search function in your text editor to find what you are looking for quickly. One other thing to remember, any line that begins with a semicolon ';' is 'commented out' - it will be ignored by the program. The contents of these two files (the EDCT and the EDA) are what is used by the program. Different files contain the text for the in-game tooltips and those files have no bearing on how the program actually works. When needing to understand a trait or ancillary the EDCT and the EDA are the final word - take all other sources of information with a grain of salt.

Important Ways TATW Differs From M2:TW (Vanilla)
(for character development)

The most important is the nerfing of Chivalry. I explained this up above, but it's worth repeating:

---7 Chivalry is required for a governor to get a bonus to growth, and the bonus is capped at 0.5%.---

On the one hand, this makes Governors less useful as most of the time you have to invest considerable planning and time into getting them up to where they can help growth and they can't help that much. On the other hand, growth in general is so slow in TATW that any help at all is extremely valuable and worth investing in - for some factions, some of the time. We'll cover that in more detail under Economics.

The second most important is that Characters, except for those who are 60ish or older at the beginning, live for the entire length of the game! There is much, much more time for character development to repay itself in TATW than there is in vanilla M2:TW. In vanilla, after training up a Governor, for example, you may only have a dozen or two dozen turns to profit from the investment. In TATW, after fully training a Governor out of a General you start with, you may have up to 350 turns! to recover the costs of your investment and make profit. You will definitely get your money back, many times over, even if you beat the game before the time runs out. This actually makes paying attention and planning how to develop your Governors much more important and much more profitable in TATW than in M2:TW. Your people are going to be with you for a long time: you should get to know them and treat them well.

The third most important difference are the choices made by the team for which buildings would be responsible for cultural conversion. Their choices, for the most part, were very sensible and add some uniqueness to the different races, however, some problems also occur as a result. The construction of and presence of these buildings are used as trait (and ancillary) triggers as can the absence of these building types, and it is the absence that makes for some problems. For a more detailed explanation/discussion, click the spoiler.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Fourth, the system for gaining BattleChivalry or BattleDread receives a major overhaul (StrategyChivalry/Dread and CaptorChivalry/Dread still work the same). I'll post the whole relevant section of the EDCT below, but to summarize:

To gain BattleDread:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

To gain BattleChivalry: (is harder!)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

So as you can see, this is very different from vanilla M2:TW. If you are playing an Orc faction, your Generals are almost certainly going to be dreadful. If you are playing a "Good" faction, and aren't betraying other "Good" factions, your Generals are going to be chivalrous. It takes some planning to work around these trends. There is one glaring oversight (at least I assume it is an oversight): "Good" Generals who attack Rebels are very likely to get BattleDread (as Rebels are Heretics and not Followers of Melkor) and having BattleChivalry already does not protect them. "Good" players plan accordingly: attack rebels with Generals you want to have BattleDread or with Captains (you can still have your chivalrous General present, though: attack with a Captain and have the General be a reinforcing army, he won't get any traits, good or bad, but you'll have his Bodyguard for the battle).

As promised, here is the relevant section of the TATW EDCT so you can check out the details for yourself:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Please note, the names of the triggers don't always reflect how the trigger actually works, especially in the BattleChivalry section. I do not know if this is a bug, a leftover artefact from a previous working idea, or if the devs just felt like being confusing!

Code:

;########################################################################
  ;############# Battle Dread #############################################
;########################################################################

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle2_Dread_Orcs_fighting
    WhenToTest GeneralAssaultsGeneral

    Condition CultureType eastern_european

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  5 
    Affects Bloodthirsty  1  Chance  2

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle2_Dread_Orc_General_fighting
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition GeneralNumKillsInBattle > 15
      and CultureType eastern_european

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  30 
    Affects Bloodthirsty  1  Chance  5

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle2_Dread_Orcs_PickingOnWeak
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition WasAttacker
          and WonBattle
          and BattleOdds > 1.3
          and PercentageEnemyKilled > 50
;          and not Trait BattleChivalry > 0
      and CultureType eastern_european

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  70

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle2_Dread_Orcs_TotalAnnihilation
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition WonBattle
          and BattleSuccess >= crushing
          and PercentageEnemyKilled > 70
          and GeneralFoughtInCombat
          and IsGeneral
          and BattleOdds < 0.95
;          and not Trait BattleChivalry > 0
      and CultureType eastern_european

    Affects BattleDread  2  Chance  100 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle3_Dread_Gondor_fighting_Good
    WhenToTest GeneralAssaultsGeneral

    Condition CharacterReligion numenorian
          and not TargetReligion catholic

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  10 
    Affects Bloodthirsty  1  Chance  5

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle3_Dread_Elves_fighting_Good
    WhenToTest GeneralAssaultsGeneral

    Condition CharacterReligion orthodox
          and not TargetReligion catholic

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  10 
    Affects Bloodthirsty  1  Chance  5

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle3_Dread_Dwarves_fighting_Good
    WhenToTest GeneralAssaultsGeneral

    Condition CharacterReligion islam
          and not TargetReligion catholic

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  10 
    Affects Bloodthirsty  1  Chance  5

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle3_Dread_Northmen_fighting_Good
    WhenToTest GeneralAssaultsGeneral

    Condition CharacterReligion northmen
          and not TargetReligion catholic

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  10 
    Affects Bloodthirsty  1  Chance  5

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle3Dread_Humans_PickingOnWeak_Humans
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition WasAttacker
          and WonBattle
          and BattleOdds > 1.3
          and PercentageEnemyKilled > 50
      and not CharacterReligion catholic
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction england
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction france
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction hre
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction portugal
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction spain
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction venice

    Affects BattleDread  1  Chance  70

;------------------------------------------
Trigger battle3Dread_Humans_TotalAnnihilation_of_Humans
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition WonBattle
          and BattleSuccess >= crushing
          and PercentageEnemyKilled > 70
          and GeneralFoughtInCombat
          and IsGeneral
          and BattleOdds < 0.95
      and not CharacterReligion catholic
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction england
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction france
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction hre
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction portugal
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction spain
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction venice

    Affects BattleDread  2  Chance  100 

;########################################################################
;############# Battle Chivalry ##########################################
;########################################################################

;------------------------------------------
Trigger Chivalry_Human_General_fighting_Evil
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition GeneralNumKillsInBattle > 15
      and not CharacterReligion catholic
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction sicily
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction milan
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction moors
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction scotland
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction turks
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction egypt
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction mongols

    Affects BattleChivalry  1  Chance  20

;------------------------------------------
Trigger Chivalry_Evil_Men_General_fighting_Good
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition GeneralNumKillsInBattle > 15
      and CultureType middle_eastern
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction sicily
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction milan
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction moors
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction scotland
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction turks
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction egypt
          and not GeneralFoughtFaction mongols

    Affects BattleChivalry  1  Chance  20

;------------------------------------------
Trigger general_wins_hard_battle
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition IsGeneral
          and WonBattle
          and BattleOdds <= 0.7
          and GeneralFoughtInCombat

    Affects BattleChivalry  1  Chance  25

;------------------------------------------
Trigger general_wins_very_hard_battle
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition IsGeneral
          and WonBattle
          and BattleOdds <= 0.5
          and GeneralFoughtInCombat

    Affects BattleChivalry  1  Chance  66

;------------------------------------------
Trigger general_not_chasing_routers
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition WonBattle
          and BattleSuccess >= average
          and PercentageEnemyKilled < 66
          and IsGeneral
          and BattleOdds < 0.95

    Affects BattleChivalry  1  Chance  33

Fifth, disasters have been removed from the game, so you would think that the traits that depend upon disasters to trigger them wouldn't happen, right? Wrong. I've argued about this point (and been told I'm crazy) and I won't have that argument again. I will say this once, this is the only thing not open for discussion in these guides: disasters still happen and trigger traits. They don't have effects on the campaign map, they don't kill characters or units, they are completely invisible to the player... until you notice characters becoming Superstitious or gaining ForcedReligious. There are only two ways to become Superstitious in the TATW EDCT: gain it when Coming of Age or gain it from a disaster. So when your 40-year-old General suddenly gains Silly Beliefs (the first level of Superstitious), you know the disaster trigger had to fire. There are also only two ways to gain ForcedReligious: survive a disaster or suffer a denunciation by an Inquisitor. More to the point, the trigger for becoming Superstitious from a disaster has a two-part random number roll: it has to pass a 4% chance to happen before re-rolling at 15%. So even with disasters it should be rare. Nevertheless, I am constantly using the console to remove Superstitious from my characters (since it's not supposed to be a possible trait to gain if not 'born' with it in TATW). The game thinks disasters are happening all the time, everywhere. Something is deeply buggy about this, but it hasn't been taken seriously nor fixed from 2.6 to 3.2.

Some people consider using the console to edit traits to be cheating, in this particular case I clearly do not. For instructions on removing Superstitious from your generals and governors, click the spoiler.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Sixth and finally, the "Hero" units (Gandalf, Sarumon, Aragorn, etc.) are unable or extremely unlikely to acquire the worst of the bad traits, especially the ones that are gained from sitting around in towns or foreign lands. No more drunk Legolas.

Governors vs. Generals, or "I don't need no stinkin' governors, do I?"

Let's just get one thing out in the open right away: Generals/Governors/Family Members ARE EXPENSIVE!

Not only do you have to pay upkeep on their bodyguard troops, they also add to your Wages expense - 250 gold/turn/character. So a General/Governor with a bodyguard costing 250/turn in upkeep costs 500/turn! Obviously, then, you want to get your money's worth. How best to do that?

There are different opinions, but I think everyone can agree that it depends on the faction you are playing. I think we can all also agree that every army should have a General in command. I trust I don't have to list the reasons why. Most of us can probably agree that major cities, like Minas Tirith, should have Governors. The question then is, "What do I do with the extras?"

There are three options: use them in the armies, use them to govern, or kill them. Let's look at each option:

Killing Them:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

It does save quite a bit of money. Sending Generals off on suicide missions is a time-honoured way to get rid of troublesome sorts. Even if you like to use Governors, sometimes a kid will come of age who is so utterly useless - perhaps he's a Lazy, Deranged, Superstitious, Drunk, Cowardly Gambler right from the age of 16 - that he obviously has no useful future as a Governor or a General. You could send him out to build watchtowers, but after that's done... well, maybe a glorious death at least sounds good in the newspapers.

But usually when someone is talking about killing off their Generals to save money it is because they are playing a faction with infantry or archer generals: everyone seems to like more heavy cavalry. The argument goes that melee infantry Generals (Mordor's Uruk Generals, OotMM, Gundabad, Isengard, Dwarves) just aren't that good as military units. Yes, their Bodyguards are usually amazing troops, but the Generals themselves have a nasty tendency to get killed even if you don't want them to (although, that said, I've tried sometimes to get Dwarven Generals killed and they very stubbornly refuse to die

). So maybe it's a good idea to get rid of them and replace them with normal (cheaper) troops.

However, I would argue that a General has to be very bad before he cannot make a decent Governor andif you want to keep him in the army instead, it's not that hard to get ancillaries that improve hitpoints, making it less likely for him to get killed. Careful use on the battlefield can also get very good service out of infantry General units with minimal risk (we'll cover that in Tactics). Even our Lazy, Deranged, Superstitious, Drunk, Cowardly Gambler infantry General can make a good local flanker.

Archer Generals are fantastic. I don't ever see many people disagreeing with this when it comes to the Silvan Elves, but I see a lot of people complaining about Dale's Bardian Marksmen Bodyguards. Everyone does realise that they use the elven_arrow attribute, right? Right? No? Well okay, basically they are incredibly accurate and long-ranged. To the best of my knowledge there are only four human units that are as accurate as Elves (though they still have less Attack value, of course) and those are: Bardian Marksmen Bodyguards, Bardian Marksmen, Athala Rangers, and Dunedain Rangers. So if you're using them in melee, you're not using them to their strengths, and if they are somehow getting killed despite using them as archers... you really should skip ahead to the Tactics section (once I write it!).

(Dale is actually the faction I personally have the hardest time deciding whether to have my 'extra' Generals in the army or as Governors because they are such great archers and it takes some time before you can recruit Longbowmen, not to mention Athala Rangers or Bardian Marksmen.)

The only faction that I ever kill off starting Generals with is Ered Luin in FRoGS, because there are just too darn many of them and you go broke really quickly, even with expansion, if you don't kill off at least one. Every other faction I've ever played (all the "Good" ones, in other words) I've never felt the need to send a General to get killed. I have sent some into battles where I didn't care what happened to them, but that's not quite the same.

Conclusion: As far as I am concerned, killing off Generals to save money is not very efficient in most circumstances, there are rare exceptions. Take my word for it at the moment, but keep reading about the other options and I'll hopefully convince you.

Sending them to the Front! (using them in the armies):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Warriors get the glory, but bureaucrats make the shiny coins multiply so prettily...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Attributes: Do you REALLY know them as well as you think?

Authority

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Loyalty

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Loyalty is important for every General other than the King/Leader. The King is obviously Loyal, unless he has severe personal issues! The higher Loyalty is, the less likely a General is to rebel and the more it costs for him to be bribed. Loyalty is not as important for a Governor as Governors cannot rebel in M2:TW (and mods). They can still be bribed, though.

More than just traits affect Loyalty. The King's Authority level is the most important influence. Other important considerations are that the more chivalrous the King, the less loyal dreadful Generals will be and vice versa. In addition, a Dread/Chivalry mismatch between the Leader and a General makes the General more likely to also get traits that decrease Loyalty. If you find yourself with a low Authority King, pay very close attention to the Dread/Chivalry relationships with your Generals and watch Loyalty like a hawk.

Disloyal Generals can be made into Governors where they won't cause any problems. True, they can be bribed easier, but the cost of bribing a Governor + a settlement + the garrison will usually exceed even the AI's ability to pay, especially since the Money Script in TATW not only gives money to poor AI factions, it also takes money away from rich ones (no one ever seems to complain about that part

). If the Governor has some traits or ancillaries that make him easier to bribe, things can get more difficult. Still, in all my years of playing M2:TW, I can only recall having a Governor/settlement combo bribed away from me once (in the Kingdoms: Crusades campaign by the Turks).

Also note, the easiest way to 'train' Loyalty is let a General be Governor of a settlement the AI is trying to bribe. Every time he refuses because the AI doesn't have enough money, he gains points for traits that make him more Loyal and cost more to bribe! Enemy diplomats are your friends.

Traits that increase Loyalty:Stoic, Austere, Upright, Loyal, Fearsslave, Hatesslave, ContentGeneral, LoyaltyStarter (every General in the game should have LoyaltyStarter, but there is at least one bug with a Dale General who doesn't at the beginning of the game, otherwise this is a hidden trait you will never see but every General has it for +5 Loyalty).

Obedience/Piety/Management(TATW/M2:TW/Crusades:Britannia):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Chivalry/Dread (Respect/Fear):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Command:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

The next post continues with the actual nuts and bolts of Character Development. This was originally intended to be one post... actually half of one post... but I eventually ran up against the character limit. I've tried to be as concise as I could, and simply underestimated how much there was to write. Read on, and consider the next post as a continuation of this one. I sincerely apologize about the length!

**Incomitatus** · October 19, 2012, 11:23 AM

PART III: Character Development (cont.)

Getting the Most Out of Your Generals and Family Members

---THIS is where we start actually talking about real character development, finally!---

Now that we have covered the Attributes, it's time to discuss traits as they apply to character development. We've done that a bit before this, with examples and tips, but here it will be brought together. We will start with the best traits for Generals and how to get them as training Generals is simpler than Governors.

---This still isn't a replacement for this or this or the EDCT itself.---

I am the very picture of a modern major general...

The first thing to realise is that there are many useful traits (and ancillaries) for Generals, but they fall into three broad categories:

Traits that improve Command:

The long version:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

All traits that improve Command are already listed under the Command Attribute section. So rather than do that again, let's talk about the best and the worst of them.

The traits you don't want even though they can improve Command are Drink, Feck, and Bloodthirsty.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Drink will destroy your General's ability to be a General or a Governor. It is also the most common negative trait for all Generals and Governors and is very nasty. It self-advances from the first level until your General is comatose: -5 Command, -5 Authority, -10% Tax Collection at the highest level. A Governor can make up for that penalty if he's really great at everything else. A General can, too, if he's a naturally great commander, but that's a serious penalty.

You can get Drink by:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Sitting around in towns with brothels+. Don't have these buildings in governed settlements unless the Governor (and any visiting Generals) has Sobriety (and Prim, Upright, and Honest - Drink isn't the only nasty thing brothels/inns/taverns/etc can give a General).
A Pleasure Palace gives another chance (but not for Elves)
Sitting around in any town with full movement points can also give you Drink (and other nasty things) but it's rare to get it that way (double roll, 10% chance followed by 1% - so roughly figure you have a 1% chance every ten turns, on average over time). (But not for Elves).
Sitting around a town with the Dwarven cultural buildings (only build them in territories you have to convert, once converted, tear them down!)
Sitting around on a ship: always land your armies at the end of every turn if there's a General on board and reload them next turn if you have to. Drink isn't the only nasty trait you can get on-board ships.
Getting married: A general who already has Drink has a good chance of having his level reduced or even gaining Sobriety when he gets married. A General who doesn't have any Drink yet has a small chance of gaining it.
Having a kid: same as marriage.
It can be inherited if the father is a drunk, but growing up with Sobriety is much more likely.
Every character Coming of Age has a chance to have Drink.
Isengard, Orcs of the Misty Mountains, Orcs of Gundabad, and the Dwarves are extra likely to have Drink when their Generals Come of Age.
Suffering an assassination attempt.
As mentioned before, it's self-perpetuating, if your General Drinks a little today, he'll Drink a lot eventually. Unless he gets married or has a kid.

The chances that happen per turn can stack. For a General sitting around in a Dwarven town with a Pleasure Palace and cultural building who already has some Drink and who survives an assassination attempt, he has 5 chances with varying odds of advancing the trait.

Elves are obviously much less likely to get the trait or advance it, but it can happen.

Once a character gets the 5th Level of Drink - Alcoholic, he can never be less than Alcoholic. A character with Sobriety has no such protection, he can fall into drunkenness over time.

The best way to avoid Drink for your Generals is to keep them outside of the settlements, on the move, and off ships.

Feck is actually okay for Dread Generals. The problem is that it makes Generals completely unfit to be Governors. It gives Dread and increase troop morale, but at the higher levels lowers Loyalty (-2), Obedience (-6), and Authority (-2) and the Command bonus disappears after Level 2. Troop morale is rarely a problem, so the penalties outweigh the benefits at the higher levels, but it's not the worst thing for a General to get, as long as you never intend him to govern anything.

You get Feck by:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Avoid Feck by not standing around outside of town with full movement points. If you do get it, you might be able to get rid of it by getting married, sitting around in a settlement with a cultural spread building (Followers of Melkor only) or sitting around in a settlement with a City Hall or better. Move quick though, once it gets to the second level you can't get rid of it.

Bloodthirsty reduces Command (-1), Chivalry (-3), and troop morale (-3) at its highest level. You don't want it. Even a Dread General who is good enough to afford the -1 Command doesn't want it because of the morale penalty. Orc Generals especially don't want it because of the morale penalty, though you'd think it'd be natural for them. Wait, it is natural for them: they have a small chance of getting it every time they fight a battle.

Try to avoid Bloodthirsty by not Exterminating settlements, if you're "Good" don't fight other "Good" factions, and just pray that no one Comes of Age with it. If you are an Orc Faction, you'll probably have to live with it in your Generals, even though it's really bad news for you. You can also avoid Bloodthirsty if your General is Sane, but Sane is a hidden trait - there is no way to see if you have it. You'll mostly get Sane from doing normal things - getting married, having kids (Governors get it from doing normal Governor things, as well) - so there's no point trying to train it, especially since you can't tell if you've succeeded.

The best traits to improve Command are gained so easily there's not much to say about them. Just fight battles. Heroic Victories will help you gain them faster, but victories will slowly increase your Command both in general and for specific situations.

Meanwhile, MathematicsSkill, StrategicSkill, Intelligent, and TacticalSkill are all great traits. All can be trained by Northmen factions:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Other factions just have to rely on the luck of the birth/adoption lottery, other than TacticalSkill. You can train TacticalSkill by springing successful ambushes or winning difficult battles with Heroic Victories. It's worth aiming for because all of these traits also prevent other bad ones, like being Ignorant.

The short version:
To get the best chance of high Command Generals without bad traits keep them out of towns/cities, off ships, moving, and fighting. Don't Exterminate, don't fight other "Good" factions if you are "Good", and if you are lucky enough to be Northmannish have your Generals hang out in castles with culture spread buildings when they have some free time.

Traits that improve movement distance:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Traits that improve troop morale:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Then there are the ways to increase Chivalry or Dread. Remember, "Evil" factions will tend to Dread Generals in TATW and "Good" factions will tend toward Chivalrous Generals provided they aren't fighting other "Good" factions or Rebels. TATW 3.2 has both BattleDread and BattleChivalry locked down such that the only ways to gain them are the ways outlined back when we were looking at the ways TATW is different from M2:TW. So for easily training Dread or Chivalry when not fulfilling those conditions, you'll need to rely on the other easy ways: how you treat prisoners and captured settlements.

You can also use the list of traits that influence Chivalry or Dread listed when we examined Chivarly/Dread and look up the more incidental ones at the Royal Military Academy or in your EDCT to see which ones would be easy for you to train and which aren't worth it.

There are far too many good Ancillaries for Generals to talk about all of them. Some add movement points, some add command, some add hitpoints, some add Chivalry, some add Dread, etc. Many are gained by winning battles and some are gained by Governors of settlements. The latter kind you will need to transfer to your General.

The best, in my opinion, are the armours. You can gain armours by winning battles (and shields, too). Each faction has their own type of armour that you can gain by winning a battle against that faction. Some are better than others. Many are worth +1 Hitpoints; some are worth two or three. If you win a Crushing Victory against the Dwarves you can gain Mithril armour: +4 Hitpoints.

There are two other types of armours: Custom Armour (+3 Hitpoints) and Ornate Armour (+1 Hitpoint, +1 Authority). Gain the former by having 4+ Command and completing an Armourer+; gain the latter by having less than 4 Command and doing the same. You can also get Custom Armour by having 4+ Command and sitting around in a settlement with an Armourer+. If your Heir takes over as Faction Leader and has low Command, he has a good chance of gaining Ornate Armour.

The armours are a great way to improve your infantry Generals. So go get them!

The final thought I'll leave you with before we move on to Governors is this: even a General with a less than ideal trait can sometimes be perfect for some use or another. Consider a Dread General with Feck and BadDisciplinarian both maxed: he can't move very far, but he has a lot of Dread and +7 troop morale. Sounds like the perfect general to plant on a river crossing you have to defend! With that much extra morale and the Dread from the General a half-stack of mediocre troops can crush about anything at a crossing. Not only that, but a General who doesn't have Feck and BadDisciplinarian who is put at a river crossing and left there for a while is very likely to develop those traits.

"The Lack of Money is the Root of All Evil." -Mark Twain
"So get a good Governor already!"-Incomitatus

In vanilla M2:TW it was acceptable to develop Generals and ignore Governors because Generals will get better by just doing what they are going to be doing anyway: fighting. Governors, on the other hand, can govern for a long time and barely improve if you don't take care to do things right. Even then, it takes many turns to train a Governor to his full potential: easily 50-60 turns if you are lucky. From Coming of Age to a likely death in M2:TW was only 88ish turns: not much time to enjoy the fruits of your effort.

In TATW 3.2 starting Governors under the age of 50 will live the entire game (as long as they aren't killed in combat or assassinated). Once fully developed a starting Governor has over 300 potential turns to benefit you. You aren't likely to win in 90 turns so you will be able to benefit more than a M2:TW player from developing your Governors.

Just like Generals are divisible into Dread and Chivalry Generals, Governors also come in more than one flavour: there are Farmers, and Miners, and Lawgivers, and Tax Collectors, and Trade Barons, and Architects, and the ones I'll call Rabbit Breeders. These are the good and useful types; there are bad types too, but there's no need to talk about those Corrupt Deranged Unjust Gamblers.

Unlike Generals most of the different types of Governors are not mutually exclusive. A Governor is more than capable of being a Farming, Mining, Trading, Lawgiving, Tax Collector and when possible such combinations should be a goal for their development. Therefore, these types can all be lumped together as the Financial Governors.

Building a good Rabbit Breeder, however, can involve developing traits that make them unsuited to generating revenue. These men are for growing settlements, not making money. Growing settlements does make money in the long run, but once the settlement is the size you need, these Governors should move on and a good Financial Governor should move in.

Now let's take a closer look at the Financial Governor types, bearing in mind that combinations are possible (and essential):

Farmers:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Miners:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Trade Barons:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Lawgivers

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Tax Collectors:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Still reading? Just imagine how long that all took to write, and we still have two more types to talk about! First, let's pause here and do a quick summary/review of the Financial Governors.

As a general rule, every Governor you are going to have in a settlement with the intention of generating revenue should be a Farmer and the best Tax Collector he can be. He should max out the Just and GoodAdministrator traits, giving him +6 Law. Generals who are going to retire into being Governors should try to stay in the field until they pick up the last level of InspiringSpeaker for another +2 Law.

A Governor who Serves Justice and is a Superb Administrator, Rural Expert, Cruelly Exacting Taxman, and a Saintly Ruler (for the Chivalry, keep taxes on Low and wait) will give you +6 Law, +2 Farming Level, +10% Trading, +30% Tax Collection, +2 Unrest, and 8 Chivalry for +0.5% bonus Growth (with one Chivalry to spare!). Ancillaries are likely to add more to his revenue, particularly Farming Levels for the "Good" factions. This is the stripped down basic model of a Financial Governor. Think of him as the default Governor of TATW. Placed in a rich Large Town or just about any City, he shouldn't have any problem paying for his own upkeep/wage, at the very least.

Each culture has a modified form of the default. If he is from:

The Dwarves, he will also have at least a level or two of ReligiousActivity (+Obedience) and Upright (+Law) from building their cultural buildings.
Rhun, Harad, Mordor, Isengard, OotMM, or Gundabad, he will have at least a level or two of ReligiousActivity from building their cultural buildings as well as maxed out Upright, Prim (only Rhun and Harad), and PublicFaith from sitting around in a settlement with those bulidings.
The Northmen, he will be Intelligent from building their cultural buildings. If lucky, from the second generation Geniuses become quite possible for them. He will also be a Mathematician from sitting around with the cultural buildings.
The Elves, he will have Exotic Tastes, Epicurean, and be an Aesthete (-2 Squalor) from sitting around with their cultural buildings.
Gondor or Arnor, he will gain the Inventor Ancillary from sitting around with their cultural buildings.

To these default traits you may become lucky and be able to add the genetic traits that help, or the rare ones to acquire, such as Austere. Finally, there is all the specialised training covered in the sections above that gets layered on top of the basic build to fit a specialized role. With the exception of Miners who have to specialize right away, you should focus on getting a Governor built up to the basic model before focusing his training.

Remember, Trade Barons are such a long-term project, expensive, and hassle to train that it's okay to not bother with them. They can be one-man army financiers, but by the time they grow into their own, you probably won't be having a money shortage any more. That said, Governors who are going to be in good Trading settlements should probably try to aim to become a Lite version, with their Trade bonus beefed up at least a little bit.

Feeling overwhelmed yet? It's really not that complicated once you get used to thinking about it systematically.

Now let's look at the last two types. The Architect and the Rabbit Breeder aren't Financial Governors, though they should be able to pay for their own Upkeep/Wages once they are trained up, and the Architect will save you tens of thousands of coin over time!

Architect:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Rabbit Breeder:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

We've now run through the types of Governors. Hopefully readers now have a better idea of the potential of Governors in TATW and now to draw that potential out into reality. Not every faction needs every type of Governor, some can't have every type, but Architects, Farmers, Tax Collectors, and Lawgivers are very basic types that everyone should become familiar with and know how to train and deploy.

Finally, a note on Ancillaries:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

In the next Part, we will examine the Economy as a whole including putting Character Development into a wider context of Economic Strategy and how to design a military that fits your budget as well as your needs!

**Incomitatus** · October 19, 2012, 11:23 AM

PART IV: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGY

On Turn One the AI is Already Winning

Let me begin by pointing out that the AI cheats. Or perhaps it would be better to say that the AI has several built in economic advantages. What are they? Well, let's take a survey:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

These bonuses are, for the most part, not meant to make the AI unfairly advantaged. Rather they are to compensate for the AI's inability to wisely manage its economy and train its Governors. However, because they kick in from the very beginning of the game and don't require the investment of time and effort that a player needs to make to get the economy running well, the AI does have a substantial economic advantage throughout the early game. It takes time for a human player to close the gap.

There are two strategies that can address this imbalance: a very aggressive opening to seize territory and cripple the AI enemy or a defensive opening (though some territory, especially rebel-held, will usually still be quickly taken) with a serious investment into Growth and other areas of the economy to build up a mid-game dominance.

The aggressive approach seeks to fix the relative weakness in the player economy by gaining more sources of income - regions - and by depriving the AI enemy of sources of income, often the principle troop production centers.
The defensive approach seeks to fix the relative weakness in the player economy by dramatically increasing the productivity of existing territory with investment and leveraging the power of properly trained Governors combined with the advantages of defensive fighting.

Every player must decide for themselves, on the basis of their starting situation and temperament, which opening strategy they wish to employ. My bias is usually toward the defensive approach, but some factions need an aggressive start. Even if they don't attack their principle enemies, both Eriador and Dale need to move aggressively to snap up a lot of rebel territory. Both the Orcs of the Misty Mountains and the Orcs of Gundabad need to be aggressive from the beginning and not let up until their enemies are weakened. Isengard needs to either be aggressive or do some diplomatic chicanery.

Regardless, I believe every player should, at some point in the campaign, take the time to develop their economy. More money is very useful to the aggressive player; it is absolutely essential to the defensive player. With that in mind, this Part of the Middle Earth Strategikon is devoted to discussing the economics of TATW 3.2. It will also touch on military matters insofar as military expenditure is an economic concern.

Military Economics

Army upkeep will form the largest constant drain on the Treasury. Deciding how to structure one's military is an economic decision as much as a military one. Leaving aside what can actually be afforded, a military unit is only worth having if the cost of maintaining it is less than its value. As I said in my Introduction, I have a bias towards infantry. Let me hand off the lesson to Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus for an explanation why:

Originally Posted by Vegetius

The cavalry are designed for plains. Fleets are employed for the protection of seas and rivers. The infantry are proper for the defense of eminences, for the garrisons of cities and are equally serviceable in plain and in uneven ground. The latter, therefore, from their facility of acting everywhere, are certainly the most useful and necessary troops to a state exclusively of the consideration of their being maintained at a less expense.
--Vegetius, Book II, de re Militari

The italics and underlining are my own, to emphasize the key point: infantry is cheaper and more versatile. A Navy can be useful, and you should certainly have some cavalry, but even when playing as Rohan, the core of a cost-effective military is infantry. Archers are included in the infantry category.

Medieval armies in Europe, for all the glory of the knight in the stories, were still composed mostly of infantry: 50-80%. Amongst the infantry 10-20% would be archers or crossbowmen on the Continent and up to 80% in Britain.

The lessons of Terra apply well in Arda as well: infantry, including archers, is better able to be effective on all terrain, is much cheaper to maintain, and is vastly more effective at defending settlements. The only way to build a cost-effective cavalry-based force is to rely upon cavalry archers as the core, like the Parthians or Mongols.

A smart player will still deploy some cavalry. Used correctly, cavalry is a force-multiplier, and the only way to ensure the complete destruction of enemy armies. Destroying enemy armies forces the enemy to invest their money in recruitment and not economic development, making it easier to close the starting gap. Nevertheless, so long as one is watching the Treasury and trying to build the economy, the principle military arm must be the infantry. Later, when the economy is humming along and money is overflowing the vaults, you may invest in as many shiny knights as you like.

A more complete discussion of how to organize a cost-effective fighting force and how to use it on the battlefield will be in the Middle Earth Tactica, when it's written.

Implications of Army Composition on Building Priorities

Once one has decided what the Army composition will be, it is essential to ensure that there are enough training centers to supply the needed numbers of men and that these centers are near the front. Building Barracks and such incurs both direct and indirect costs: direct in the actual cost of the buildings themselves, and indirect in that that money and time is not going into building economic buildings. However, it is worth nothing that the Law bonus provided by the Barracks line of buildings reduces Corruption. In regions far from the Capitol, Barracks will pay for themselves, and often in a decent timeframe.

It is often a good idea to specialize settlements, at least to start with. Recruit archers from one place, cavalry from another. Most losses will probably be sustained by melee infantry, so Barracks buildings should probably be built at all recruitment and front-line settlements, both for retraining and for useful free garrisoning. Regardless, though, military construction will slow economic development on and near the front line. This is inevitable and is one of the many costs of pointless war.

Finally, a neat trick:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Understanding the Economic Interface

Let's take a look at some more annotated screenshots to get familiar with the in-game tools that let the player keep track of his economy. The notes in the images should be sufficient explanation for how to use these screens and what their disadvantages are, so I don't think there's much for me to say. Let's just take a look:

First, the Financial Overview screen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

And the Settlement Details Screen:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

As you can see in the pictures above, adding buildings to the construction queue and then looking at the Settlement Details screen allows you to calculate the Return on Investment, both by seeing the estimated increase in revenue and, where applicable, the change in Corruption. Remember that you have to subtract the change in Corruption from the change in Revenue to get the real estimated benefit. A farm far from the Capitol won't actually add 60/turn income, as a percentage of that will be lost to Corruption. However, as long as you don't mind doing some maths, the Settlement Details screen will let you calculate how much you will gain and how much will be lost.

Remember that Trade income is dependent on population, both in the settlement under consideration and its trading partners. The RoI you calculate from building a trade building will, at best, be slightly lower than you can actually expect in the short-mid term. At worst, in the case of sea-trade-lane increasing buildings, it will be much lower than the actual RoI. This also means that buildings that promote Growth, like Farms, will increase Trade income over time and that is not reflected in the estimates of the Settlement Mechanics screen (they will also increase Tax Income over time, also not reflected).

So to conclude: the Financial Overview screen gives you a snapshot estimate of your expected profit or loss for the next turn and the Settlement Mechanics screen can be used to estimate the future effects of building purchases (but in almost every case, it's estimate will be low). Settlement Mechanics also shows you effects on Growth and Public Order. Neither screen estimates the effect that changes to Governor's traits may have: that you have to figure out for yourself. They will reflect the effects of existing traits.

Sources of Income or How U 2 Can Get Rich Fa$t

There are many different ways to make money in TATW 3.2 and a smart King will leverage as many as possible. There is one method, however, that I'm not going to discuss at length: diplomatic agreements. If you are able to convince an enemy to pay you a lump sum or tribute for something - perhaps a ceasefire - that is well and good, but a lot of players try to milk their allies for money, thinking that they can take advantage of the Money Script. I'm on record back in the Diplomacy section as to the reasons why I think this is a bad idea and so I don't have anything more to say about it. Yes, you can do it, but it's likely to end up stabbing you in the back, literally.

Ransoming captives and sacking enemy settlements can grant your Treasury quite a boost, but it's best to think of that as bonus income. Ransom funds are especially unreliable. The AI will only accept if it can afford to pay the ransom, and that is pretty rare... and still no guarantee that it won't refuse. Sacking can be more dependable, but it is best to think of that money as a means to fund expensive Construction rather than committing it to paying for long-term recurring expenses, such as Army Upkeep. If you are engaged in a sacking campaign - such as Gondor harassing the Harad coast - you should keep a very close eye on your Financial Overview and make sure your fixed expenses don't exceed your fixed income, or when you are done sacking you may find yourself losing money.

Setting aside Diplomacy, Ransom, and Sacking, we come to the real meat of the Economy. Farming, Mining, Trade, and Taxes are the sources of income that flow into the Treasury turn after turn. Combined with Growth, which is the source of Taxes and very important to Trade, these are the things that a ruler should be focused on increasing. Let's look at each:

(NOTE: Had most of this written up in a draft, then decided I didn't like it and I'd start fresh... just about the time my free time disappeared. I'm putting things up in little snippets. Many apologies! -Incomitatus)

WATCH THIS SPACE

(and now, an appropriate message from the US Forest Service, shamelessly appropriated by moi)

**Ultra123** · October 19, 2012, 07:07 PM

following this thread like a hawk, it wont be closed in my firefox browser for a v long time!

keep up the good work, im watching eagerly!

**Incomitatus** · October 20, 2012, 12:14 AM

Part I and Part II are finished, in second post.

**uddhava** · October 20, 2012, 09:48 AM

Please give us more!

. And perhaps this should be stickied as they say?

**Bowmaster** · October 20, 2012, 10:53 AM

Sticky this!

**Incomitatus** · October 20, 2012, 05:14 PM

Don't worry uddhava, there will be more, much more. However, what's there already took almost 24 hours of non-stop writing and editing, and it was the easiest, simplest part. Contrary to popular belief, I do have a life.

At the very least, I do need to eat and sleep, for I am but a mortal Man. As we say where I come from, hold yer horses, now.

At least the first part of the next part should be up ~~tonight~~, though. EDIT: Make that tomorrow, I'm working on it, and bits may start to appear soon, but it's taking longer.

As far as this being sticky... I would greatly appreciate it when it's done (if it's ever done, perhaps I should say when all the sections have a draft written and posted). Before that, I'm not sure it would be appropriate to add it to the sticky collection.

EDIT: Added the following to "Why the AI Attacks" section of Part II: Diplomacy :

The AI is most likely to backstab you, even if they like you and are allied, if you are the weakest neighbouring faction and they are not already at war with another neighbour and they are going broke. The AI's preferred solution to financial difficulty is conquest. Don't let your neighbours go broke! This is actually why small repeating tributes, like 100 gold/turn for 100 turns, to your allies can make them much more loyal... not only does it help them with their finances a tiny amount, it also influences their perception of the financial cost of betraying you. If you can afford it, always be giving your neighbouring allies small tributes.

**uddhava** · October 21, 2012, 03:59 AM

Originally Posted by Incomitatus

Don't worry uddhava, there will be more, much more. However, what's there already took almost 24 hours of non-stop writing and editing, and it was the easiest, simplest part. Contrary to popular belief, I do have a life.

At the very least, I do need to eat and sleep, for I am but a mortal Man. As we say where I come from, hold yer horses, now. :

I know, that's why I've never been a very active forum member

**Incomitatus** · October 21, 2012, 04:11 AM

Originally Posted by uddhava

I know, that's why I've never been a very active forum member

Yeah. I tend to be a binge forum member. I'll be very active for awhile and then disappear for months. I'm hoping this guide qualifies as a magnum opus... not that I'll necessarily permanently fade away when it's done, but I would feel like I've given back enough to do so without guilt.

**FC Groningen** · October 21, 2012, 04:27 AM

Looks really great! Thanks for including me in it somewhat!

**Incomitatus** · October 21, 2012, 05:26 AM

Originally Posted by FC Groningen

Looks really great! Thanks for including me in it somewhat!

You're more than welcome. There's a serious lack of good guides for the Evil factions, so I was very glad to see you were starting one, and it looks like it will be a very good one when complete! I look forward to following your work on it.

EDITED TO ADD FOR EVERYONE: AAAAARGH! I forgot what is probably the most obvious difference for character development between TATW and M2:TW

Corrected now. If you've already read that section, it's worth going back to, both to learn more and so you can marvel at my stupidity. The new entry is now the second point.

**uddhava** · October 21, 2012, 07:23 AM

Excellent + rep (if I'm allowed again, have to spread the love some more

). Well written and indepth. I'll eagerly await your next installment.

**uddhava** · October 21, 2012, 07:40 AM

Incomitatus,

I tried the remove_trait thingy and it only worked for one trait. In most cases it cant 'find the trait in the database'. I'm assuming this is because the trait has a shall we say 'mothername' for which the console searches in the database. So Winning First would fall under battledread or something like that. Oh well I was gonna aks if you know of any list where to find trait descriptions and their corresponding 'mothernames' but here it is:

http://totalwar.honga.net/traits.php...2=silvan_elves

Might as well share for others.

**Incomitatus** · October 21, 2012, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by uddhava

Incomitatus,

I tried the remove_trait thingy and it only worked for one trait. In most cases it cant 'find the trait in the database'. I'm assuming this is because the trait has a shall we say 'mothername' for which the console searches in the database. So Winning First would fall under battledread or something like that. Oh well I was gonna aks if you know of any list where to find trait descriptions and their corresponding 'mothernames' but here it is:

http://totalwar.honga.net/traits.php...2=silvan_elves

Might as well share for others.

Actually, I've been intending to include that information from the beginning! I just haven't gotten around to writing that part yet

But yes, traits have family names and level names. For example, as you pointed out, Winning First is the first level of the BattleDread trait. When using the console to remove (or add) traits, you have to type the master name. If you are adding the trait (bad cheater you!

) you also have to specify the level you want to add. For example, add_trait Imrahil BattleChivalry 2 would give Imrahil the level Noble in Battle.

It is also possible to add points in a trait with the console (levels often take multiple points to advance), but I've never seen the need when you can add full levels and I don't have the command syntax committed to memory.

Note, you can get some really weird and buggy outcomes if you try adding levels of a trait to a character who already posses an anti-trait to the one you are trying to add. If you are going to go adding traits, always make sure you remove any anti-traits first!

+rep for the providing the link, if I don't remember to put it in the Guide (I'm actually planning on teaching people how to look things up for themselves in the actual game files, it's quite easy) please remind me!

EDITED TO ADD: The next instalment (or part of an instalment) will be as soon as I'm done writing it. ~~I'm not stopping for rest until I get at least the Character Development section done~~, and I've got a long ways to go with that still! Keep watching here, stuff's going up in small chunks...

EDITED AGAIN TO ADD: On second thought, I may fall asleep over my keyboard before finishing what I want to... no promises.

**The Norseman** · October 21, 2012, 11:36 AM

Good job! I will add this to the Guides Compilation.

Regarding the economy and character development. You should take a look at Jän`s guide where he included most of the economy and CD tips, however there were some stuff he forgot and if you take a look in the files you can see that there are a lot of ways you can earn a great deal of money.

+rep!

**Incomitatus** · October 21, 2012, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by The Norseman

Good job! I will add this to the Guides Compilation.

Regarding the economy and character development. You should take a look at Jän`s guide where he included most of the economy and CD tips, however there were some stuff he forgot and if you take a look in the files you can see that there are a lot of ways you can earn a great deal of money.

+rep!

Thank you, Norseman!

Look in the files? Man, I've spent so much time buried in the files over the years I have dreams about them. I wish I were kidding.

Jän`s guide... how can I put this politely? I have a great deal of respect for anyone who puts a guide together: as I'm sure you would agree, it is a lot of work and I don't think any writer can write without feeling they are putting their ego at risk. So kudos to him!

That said, there are likely to be many issues where his guide and mine do not agree. My advice to you, naturally, if you were a betting man, is put your money on mine. But of course, I'm rather biased.

AND FOR EVERYONE: I'm terribly sorry, but I must get some sleep before I continue writing the guide. Didn't get as much done as I wanted, but 20 hours of staring at it is enough! More tonight.

**The Norseman** · October 21, 2012, 02:33 PM

Jän`s guide was written back in 2009 so it is likely parts of his guide are outdated. I just hope everyone looks at when these guides were made and to which patches they are made for!

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[WIP] Middle Earth Strategikon ~60% Complete

Re: [WIP] Strategy Guide: Economics, Character Development, Tactics, General Strategic Planning

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