Need Guidance

[mrbilzor]

Community,

I have never been really good at Total War games. I played Rome exhaustively through college, and pretty much only played short games, up until my attack dogs would get slaughtered. I would just giggle as they chased down archers, it was pretty sweet.

Now I am back from a quick vacation in the desert, and decided to play Medieval 2, and not suck at it.

Started a campaign last night as the Brits, and surprisingly did well (for me). Crushed the Scotts and Rebels so I own all the isles, and have a small foothold in Europe proper. Just took Paris, so I have four territories there.

I have one castle on the islands, and one on the mainland, all the rest are cities (for cash). I make about 1.5K per turn, and have a ton of upgrading to do.

France is picking up their attacks, and have brought siege weapons and armored sergeants, which I think are a tech level above my generic spearmen and billmen. Just started longbow men, but they are expensive!

Now, a couple of things: I actually read a description, and realized that militia units have no upkeep in cities. I now realize I missed a couple things jumping from Rome to Medieval 2.

I read the posts here, and pretty much they are all giant endgame set piece huge multistack mega death battles. I need some advice running through the start.

What is the fastest way to tech up? Do people overtax for the cash? How do you use priest/merchants?

I remember building taverns in Rome was bad (made your general a drunk), is there more of that in Medieval? Buildings to avoid or need to build?

Just looking for some general tips for a noob. One step above build armies, crush others, and below the intricate stats of endgame units.

Thanks in advance!

[Grand Duke Vytautas]

Man, there are very nice links to guides and stuff in the FAQ thread (just scroll to the bottom of first post)
Enjoy the medieval era

[Dick]

Started a campaign last night as the Brits, and surprisingly did well (for me). Crushed the Scotts and Rebels so I own all the isles, and have a small foothold in Europe proper. Just took Paris, so I have four territories there.

Good start, make sure you get Dublin as well, it saves having to create or move an army there in the future.

I have one castle on the islands, and one on the mainland, all the rest are cities (for cash). I make about 1.5K per turn, and have a ton of upgrading to do.

Make sure Canaervon is a city, there's no need for it to be a castle, Nottingham is fine being the only castle on the mainland. Angers and Caen (when captured) should really be kept as castles, this will allow you to produce enough troops to fight of an invasion from France.

France is picking up their attacks, and have brought siege weapons and armored sergeants, which I think are a tech level above my generic spearmen and billmen. Just started longbow men, but they are expensive!

Counter the siege weapons with some hobilars or other merc light cav you can get your hands on. Use your longbowmen against the armoured sergeants. Make sure they're protected well though, as you said they're expensive and you can't afford to continually replace them.

What is the fastest way to tech up? Do people overtax for the cash? How do you use priest/merchants?

Only raise taxes if you're desperate, it can make your population unhappy and will probably lose you money on the extra troops you have to train to keep public order down.

Priests should be used to keep your religious level up in regions. This won't be that much of a problem in regions previously owned by France, HRE and Spain/Portugal, but the level may not be that high in regions previously owned by rebels.

Some people send their merchants straight to Timbuktu, but as they're not high levelled they can be displaced easily. What I do is train as many merchants as I can and put them on the resources in your region. When you've trained enough in a city you'll get the merchants guild if there is no other guild in the city. This will allow you to train better merchants, and then send them to places such as Timbuktu and Egypt.

I remember building taverns in Rome was bad (made your general a drunk), is there more of that in Medieval? Buildings to avoid or need to build?

Farms are the economic booster when built in cities, much like ports where in Rome.

[Sher Khan]

Merged topics. Please refrain from making multiple topics with the same post in the future.

[Roshak]

Was going to post my link but I see its there all ready.

[evolvedbullet1]

Since I'm an evil brut , I see the income in taxing the citizens to the extreme. I like milking my folks for their money. I spend my cash on maintenance of the public order and rarely build farms (more people = bad order = bad $$$). I think England is the best faction in the game since I'm a Missile Overlord . Longbows will kill anything they see, invest in that to the extreme if your into killing instead of capturing. Move forward slowly with foot soldiers and Cavalry, let the missiles do their work and then hit them like if it was your first back-stabbing girlfriend.

[mbchudno]

more people = more taxes = less order... but once your city gets to certain unrest level, move army out, set tax to high, let it to rebel and then take it back and sack it. It will net even more money that will well cover the damage to the buildings and bring people under back control for a while. now this is evil way It just requires some micromanagement (having army ready...etc).

[Kalos]

You already posted this exact topic...