New to the mod - need a bit of hand-handling (not too much)

[Boriak]

Hello. Just downloaded the mod and feel a little bit overwhelmed. I figure I can safely toss all knowledge from previous mods out the window as this will have a completely different approach.

I started to play with Rohan but economically they seem very poor. I got a note that it will take 10 years to create propper military infrastructure to get the good units. What should I do in the meantime? I ran out of money pretty soon by investing it into farms, roads and other seemingly important buildings. I can see pretty well that I'm not able to go up against Isengard yet and I won't attack Gondor as we are allies.

So: what faction should I start with? What difficulty? I know the game tells you to play it at VH/VH but that sounds a bit extreme for now.

[Feanaro Curufinwe]

You don't really need to play differently from vanilla Medieval II. The campaign map is still effectively the same, just with more enemy stacks.

[Finlander]

Depends on what kind of gameplay you are looking after, but you can take the Isengard down pretty fast if you do so wish; simply taking the garrison armies to take the rebel settlements nearby while constructing the economy in your own settlements is my way to go. I leave my towns empty except for the regions bordering Isengard itself as Mordor will barely be a threat to your villages in the beginning.

I often stack Generals in my field armies even though it makes the battles a bit too easy: the bodyguard cavalry units are very good and simply by using a carefully targeted flanking tactics you can easily destroy far larger armies without taking much casualties yourself as the bodyguard units get replenishment automatically.

[Macilrille]

All factions are hard- just wait till you try Gondor in a full MOS campaign...

I would probably advice you go and have a look in the Guides section. Lots of advice there. If you feel you need more after that, there is some (mostly on Gondor) here in the main forum again. And try your first campaign on M/M settings as TATW is much harder than most other mods (I have a problem with SS + Grim Reality, but that is mostly cause I am uncertain of some things in the mod).

Battles are harder as enemies will not just break and run, but the same tactics will win you battles here as in Vanilla (except of course against Trolls, Mûmakil, the Balrog and Sauron). Strategy is quite hard as well, you have to focus on population growth and economy, only then military, etc buildings. You will go in red with your economy. Accept it, and use a strategy that takes it into account and counters it.

[Boriak]

What about unlocking elite units? Is that scripted, time-dependent or I just build up and I will have them?

What is the purpose of that note 'it will take 10 years'? Is that an estimation or is it scripted?

[Flinn]

quoting the FAQs

Q: Why can't I recruit advanced units like Eldar units or Trolls ?
A: The barracks events are required for training more advanced units. It happens around turn 45.If you wish to remove these restrictions follow the instructions in the spoiler: Spoiler Alert, click show to read:



Also make sure that you have sufficient "culture" to build a certain unit. Units' culture requirements are listed in the recruitment buildings' info cards.

few points more:

- the exact turn number of the "second" messagge may vary
- in order to recruit a specific elite unit, you need to have the proper recruitment building and sufficient culture; sometimes you don't have a settlement big enough to build the last levels of barracks/stables/archery ranges, so that you can't recruit some elite units even after the so called "Barrack Event" happened.
- culture is only increased by buildings

[Funeh]

I thought governors also increase culture, was I wrong?

[Flinn]

no in TATW culture is increased only by buildings, I think is the same in MOS but I don't know if any other submod have changed it