How come it's not easy for me?

[talvisielu]

Reading these forums makes this game seem very easy. Some say they play with very hard and it's still easy. I just keep wondering what on earth am I doing wrong so badly, that I find this game hard. Granted I'm a noob and just bought the game some days ago, I have played the earlier medieval but in that one and those days I sucked real bad.

I play with campaign difficulty easy and battles on medium. The battles are fine for me, I usually win with balanced odds. But the campaign itself seems hard, mostly because when I have fought a war for sometime it starts to hurt my economy real bad and the computer refuses a ceasefire. And I often end up in war with several factions, even tho I don't attack them.

I started sacking settlements to finance my prolonged war, but that seems to make enemies really pissed off and ensures that the war is never over.

How do you, who find the game really easy, play it? How do you begin?

[Jack of Clubs]

Although i dont consider myself an expert i generally play Hard/Hard and still manage to win most of the time. Firstly try not to start to many wars at the same time. Secondly i try to plan my attacks, this means either building purpose built armies or movin in experienced armies just to take a specific settlement. On the economy, i normally base my economy upon trade so i pick factions with lots of trade. Before going to war check you trade scrolls and make sure you wouldnt lose too much money if you went to war with someone. If you do make a lot of money from someone but you still want to go to war with them make your first targets are their ports so you can maintain that trade. Hope i helped.

[Rodrico Stak]

While I can't say that I find the game to be "easy" per se, I can certainly give some advice. So in no particular order, I'd say:

1. Patch to 1.2. This is extremely important, as it reduces the problem of your allies backstabbing you for no reason. They'll still backstab occasionally, else the game would be boring, but it isn't such a problem. It also kills the numerous bugs
2. Don't neglect economic buildings. Build roads, farms, markets, and ports (not necessarily in that order).
3. Make sure your army isn't too big, or has too many "elite" units. Unit upkeep is the #1 thing that will reduce your profits. Elite unit types cost even more upkeep per turn, so use them as a strong supporting force, not the backbone of your military.
4. Take the rebel settlements around you quickly and spend some time building up. Don't go for the neighboring faction too soon.
5. Send a diplomat out to get trade rights and exchange map information with the other factions. Sending 1 diplomat east and another west usually results in getting trade rights and map information with almost all the factions on the map fairly quickly. Also, (catholic only) ally with the pope as soon as you can.
6. (catholic only) Keep on good terms with the pope. He may excommunicate your enemies and then you can have him call crusades on them. Some people will suggest making regular donations to the pope, but I've found that being his ally and having plenty of priests become cardinals usually is enough.
7. Ally with at lest one of your neighbors, but leave room for you to expand - allying with too many neighbors is probably worse than not allying with any. I've found that having one strong ally which you maintain good relations with can be wondrously helpful.
8. Keep your global reputation up. You can get to "reliable" usually by just going around and getting trade rights and exchanging map information with everyone. Only sack the cities that you need the money from, and never exterminate cities.
9. Choose a good faction. Venice was my first game, and I'd recommend it for beginners.
10. Keep a good balance of castles and cities. You'll get better units from castles (unless you're an Italian faction - they have the best militia in the game), but cities give more income.
11. Raise the tax rate in cites as high as you can get it without getting a red or blue public order face.

[Frustian]

Very good guide, but I think the regular tribute to the pope works quite well, the 200/turn to get 10 crosses is nothing compared to the amount of upkeep you would need to pay with priests. I also think if you give regular tributes to the pope the pope gets a bigger army. On a couple of my campaigns that I tribute the pope went wild and attacked Italy/HRE territory with giant armies and participated in crusades. I never saw this happen with only priests. Even though 200/turn would only be enough upkeep for 1/2 units.

[Zadith]

Every game I had played the Pope builds his army up to about 3 units and stays with those units...He never seems to move anywhere until I attack Rome....


As for running out of money I always try to get as many trade rights with as many people as I can. I also make sure as many of my cities as I can afford get ports/roads/markets before I make any plans for a large war...Some also mentioned taking the rebels cities around you as quick as possible which is a really good idea..not only does that help your economy it keeps your potential enemies from gaining lands that should be yours....

[Hungary Horace]

Dont exterminate!! You need to if you want the butcher trait - my fave!!!

[Sacc]

Don't let it bother you. I've played through a few campaigns. I'm new to total war so it takes a little while to understand it all and I still get a good challenge from m/m.

Some of these guys don't do much besides play pc games. If you have a social life and a job/school, you shouldn't be that great at vh/vh.

Let the responses begin...

[Turkeys!]

Don't let it bother you. I've played through a few campaigns. I'm new to total war so it takes a little while to understand it all and I still get a good challenge from m/m.

Some of these guys don't do much besides play pc games. If you have a social life and a job/school, you shouldn't be that great at vh/vh.

Let the responses begin...

Or maybe some people just have a good grasp of tactics and such and are good at those sorts of things?

[masterbaker]

Generally the best value units, and therefore the ones you should be recruiting a lot of, are the faction unique ones. For example as the English you should be training a lot of longbowmen and armoured swordsmen, never dis. feudal knights.

[Xix]

Generally the best value units, and therefore the ones you should be recruiting a lot of, are the faction unique ones. For example as the English you should be training a lot of longbowmen and armoured swordsmen, never dis. feudal knights.

Absolutely! I'm playing English now and I only need 3 units - Retinue Longbows, Armored Swordsmen and Templar Knights. (plus a bombard for blasting walls down if I am attacking a city/keep). These form the backbone of my armies now (though I am still switching out mailed knights for the more powerful (and more expensive to purchase, but equal in upkeep costs) Templar Knights)

I do have a few Sherwood Archers - but only because they are the "best" archers in the game and so far they have performed well for me (I always sick them on the generals or heaviest infantry), but really aren't worth the extra price you pay in upkeep. If I wern't absolutely dominating the game I am currently playing I don't think I could afford to have them in my army.

[NobleNick]

Reading these forums makes this game seem very easy. Some say they play with very hard and it's still easy. I just keep wondering what on earth am I doing wrong so badly, that I find this game hard. Granted I'm a noob and just bought the game some days ago...

Give yourself some time. This game will take at least a few LONG campaigns in order to master. Do not get hung up on what others are doing, Play the game on Easy/Easy at first, if that is what is enjoyable gameplay for you. Once the game starts to get boring because it is too easy, then crank up the difficulty.

Some people LIKE to play fast and loose and not pay attention to details in battle or out; or maybe even auto-resolving battles. The easier settings are for these people. If this is your play style you need not feel bad about it. Others will take 2 or more hours to play a single battle, trying to figure, no matter what the odds, how to pull out a heroic victory with, say, 3 units of light cavalry against a full stack of enemy spearmen. These people need the higher difficulty to get a challenge.

I play with campaign difficulty easy and battles on medium. The battles are fine for me, I usually win with balanced odds. But the campaign itself seems hard, mostly because when I have fought a war for sometime it starts to hurt my economy real bad and the computer refuses a ceasefire. And I often end up in war with several factions, even tho I don't attack them...

How do you, who find the game really easy, play it? How do you begin?

I am just finishing my second M2TW LONG campaign. I play 1.2 vanilla, and play all the way to the end (get victory conditions). I played my latest campaign as the Moors on H/H, am on turn 80, hold 41 territories, have 5 more under seige, am at war or have abysmal relations (or have wiped out) every Catholic faction, and expect to win well before turn 100. Before that I played as England on Normal/Normal and won in about 105 turns. Before that I finished about 8 or so campaigns on RTW; mostly LONG campaigns on VH/VH. I expect to go to VH/VH on my next M2TW game, or possibly only bump up the battles to VH and leave the campaign on HARD.

I can tell you that M2TW seems harder for me to learn and play well than RTW.

So, how do you do it? Rodrico Stak gave a lot of excellent pointers. I found that points 1 through 6, and 10 through 11 apply well to my play style. His other points (7-9), I find, are a little less important for me, but you might find them helpful. Let me emphasize 3 main things which have worked well for me in RTW and which have carried over well to M2TW.

1.) "The sinews of war are money" -(some dead Greek guy). Paying VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to your economy reaps big dividends. Barring extremely flawed strategic or tactical play, you can win this game with your economy.

Build roads, markets, ports, wharfs, and a LIMITED NUMBER of farms and farm upgrades. Don't build a blacksmith or upgrade a barracks when you have the option to build ports, markets or roads. Build, build, build, build, build. Check every city, every turn, and build something, giving HIGH preference to buildings which help the economy. As said, before, I am on turn 80 of my present campaign, and expect to win in another 10 or 20 turns. Of my 41 settlements, about 38 of them are still building. 2 of the other 3 are out of things to build (except farms) until the population increases a bit. One settlement is a fortress deep in my interior, which I do not want to spend the money to upgrade to citadel. If you can not, as a general rule, have EVERY settlement building something EVERY turn in the early to mid game, you are doing something wrong with your money. Don't tell me you can't build everywhere, every turn: I do it every game.

Crank taxes up to VERY HIGH in EVERY city, and LEAVE THEM THERE! If you get a yellow or blue face, SOLVE the PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY by building PO buildings like barracks, bars, churches, town halls, and what-not. If your city face turns red, turn down taxes on that city one notch and continue solving the problem. Return taxes to VERY HIGH as soon as possible.

Use diplomats (train up at least 2 in the beginning of the game) to get trade rights with everyone. Sometimes you can even sell trade rights for extra cash.

Don't forget merchants, which, under the right care, can be a significant contributor to your coffers.

2.) View your military as an extension of your economy. Demand a positive Return On Investment (ROI) for your military.

Do not build a military unit or building without knowing why you are building it. For example: do not build ballista towers on your city walls in Cordoba, when you own the entire western half of Europe. Do not upgrade from blacksmith to Armorer, if you have no units which need the upgrade. Do not build high grade units to sit around in your interior.

Do not build ships unless you have a need for them. I get by on this maxim: "Have a navy which can beat other navies (and is actively engaged in doing so), or have almost no navy at all.

Take advantage of the free garrison troops allowed in each city. The free (no upkeep) troops are differentiated from others by a slightly blue background.

With the exception of free garrison troops do not let your military loaf. This includes loafing around during a siege: seiges are expensive; since you are paying upkeep on your military and NOT getting income from the besieged city. So take or build what you need to assault the city and get on with it.

Castles are a damper on an economy, since they take the place of cities. Cities can make much more money and can garrison a limited number of troops for free. Try to get by on one castle for every 4 cities you have.

Since your taxes are on VERY HIGH, which depresses your population growth, you need to boost population growth by acquiring new territories. (BTW - This is, IMO, the best formula for excellent population growth.)

3.) Fight dirty.

Start the game by RACING to get the most rebel settlements as possible. Sometimes you might want to bypass a rebel settlement closer to you in order to snap up a rebel settlement that would otherwise be taken by a rival faction. Then get the closer rebel settlement later. Lay siege to a rebel settlement with an inferior force, if that is what is needed to keep a rival from taking it.

After all rebel settlements are snapped up, pick on the weakest neighbor (e.g. Scots for England) and eliminate them quickly.

Practice blitzkrieg: Build up armies quickly using all cities/castles nearest the target cities. Make sure seige equipment is in each of your armies. Time all stacks to besiege and assault their respective targets on the same turn. (This is especially important if you are playing a Catholic faction, as it keeps the Pope from interferring with your take.) This way your enemy is irrecoverably crippled before they even know they are in a war.

Develop and use spies: Spies can typically open the gates of a city for your besieging army. They also identify which units are in a stack, so that you can make sure you build the right units to counter. Keep a spy in each of your cities near the front, to keep enemy spies at bay.

Develop and use assassins: Few things satisfy quite like assassinating a pesky merchant or priest, but with the help of a spy, burning down the local church of an opposing religion comes close. After lots of these types of missions, there is the occasional stab at taking out a general, which can make subsequent battles easier.

Develop and use Priests/Imams: Soften up your enemy and make life easier for you, before a shot is even fired; by parking 4 Imams on his territory (and then burning down the church).

Know your enemy... and be where they aren't: Build towers and use spies, so that you know of enemy movements long before they affect you.

Do counter-production warfare instead of counter-force warfare: Attack cities. If your opponent is throwing stack after stack at a city; try to scrape together a stack to throw at the city from where the enemy stacks came from, even if that means leaving the your city temporarily understaffed. Often the AI empties cities to the barebones to field the armies attacking you. These cities are easy pickings.

If you can not stay at the enemy city after taking it, exterminate or sack it, AND destroy every single building (gives you even more cash) before leaving it to rebel. (Don't destroy the church if you are catholic and so is the church.) Take your stack and repeat at another city.

If the enemy keeps using a certain route to get to you; train up a half stack of heavy cav with a general (or 2 or 3 or 4) and park it in the path of the enemy, preferably on high ground with few trees or rocks. The enemy stack will attack. In battle, run your cav around the outer edges of the map. Rest in the corners while the enemy runs to catch up. Keep this up for 75% of the battle timer. Then use your still fresh heavy cav to pick apart the exhausted enemy troops, by ganging up three cav on straggling enemy units. With practice, a half stack of cav can annihilate a full stack conventional mix (footmen, archers and cav), with only 10% friendly losses. Replace losses every 2 or 3 turns. Soon the stacks will have gold chevrons, making the battles easier. Another variant I use is to hide my entire force in the trees and let the enemy chase the general for 35 minutes while they watch with glee. Then the general leads the enemy by the hiding place and the rest of my force pounces in a downhill charge that typically routs the entire enemy stack.

I hope that helped.

Oh, yes, and welcome to the forums!

@ Xix and masterbaker --> Agreed. English Armored Swords (EAS) and Retinue Longbows rock, not just as a military unit, but as a good economic buy. EAS are so cheap to keep and extremely effective, I almost feel like it is cheating when I field half stacks of them (backed up by cav and longbows, of course).

[Pontifex Maximus]

Reading these forums makes this game seem very easy. Some say they play with very hard and it's still easy. I just keep wondering what on earth am I doing wrong so badly, that I find this game hard. Granted I'm a noob and just bought the game some days ago, I have played the earlier medieval but in that one and those days I sucked real bad.

I play with campaign difficulty easy and battles on medium. The battles are fine for me, I usually win with balanced odds. But the campaign itself seems hard, mostly because when I have fought a war for sometime it starts to hurt my economy real bad and the computer refuses a ceasefire. And I often end up in war with several factions, even tho I don't attack them.

I started sacking settlements to finance my prolonged war, but that seems to make enemies really pissed off and ensures that the war is never over.

How do you, who find the game really easy, play it? How do you begin?

You are probably training too many units. that was my problem when i was a first playing. The TW economy is a delicate thing. You cant have a full army in every city. 1-5 garrison armies depending on saze of the cities. Since you are playing M2, you can use militia units which are cheap to garrison. Use the same units to conquer multiple cities. Remember, the enemy can probably not hit you in the back, especially on easy, they wont be smart enough. Use strong units to take settlements.

[Kratos]

Words of wisdom there, NobleNick I'd say economics is the key, learn how to build up a working economy and you're well on your way to have won the game.

[Sacc]

One thing I used to do was not pay attention to what units I had in which territories. Keep militia in your cities for the free upkeep, and keep your expensive (high upkeep) units in the castles/cities that boarder enemy territory.

Another thing I used to do was to build up most cities with stuff I thought they needed. A descent tactic I use now is to make one castle strong in cavalry, another strong in archery etc. Same for cities. This way you'll have the best units available instead of having a bunch of mediocre cities, and can upgrade them later on when you have the money. I’m always a fan of building militia upgrades too. You get better units and usually around 10% public order bonus.

A little while into the game I usually make one sweet ass castle that has it all and can make a seriously sick stack in a few turns if I need it. Location of this castle is important, and a good road system is impt. as well.

[Pontifex Maximus]

its been known to happen on rare occasions, sometimes I, i know this is hard to believe, but sometimes I even lose

[TacticalSkirmish]

Total War is really all about Total Economics mate, as are most (all?) games of this sort.

My approach is to spend the early game building mostly the economy and creating alliances and trade rights. The key to this game is planning and goal setting. Concentrate on a few well-placed castles with everything else being cities (especially adjacent to water). As mentioned, determine what you will need for castles (troop creation) in future phases of the game as the frontline(s) move.

Personally I exterminate most of the time. The only exception might be if this city was previously mine. However, if the population is really low this strategy will do more harm than good.

I love elite troops. Wouldn't be fun unless I could use elite troops as the game progresses. The key to all this is balancing what you need and what you can afford - sort of like real life, eh?

England continues to be my favourite faction, whether in MTW2 or Kingdoms (and mods). Easy faction given its starting location. I usually play VH battles (supposedly realistic and even for both sides) and M for the campaign (no cheats for either side and better diplomacy).

Anyway enjoy the game!

TS!

[The Sweeper]

Fantastic advice NobleNick. +rep!

[Queen Annes Revenge]

If you find yourself low on money you probably have too many troops. Upkeep costs can sneak up really fast on you.

More economic tips:
-You can often sell your map information for around 500 florins
-Get trade rights with everyone you can
-Send your merchants to Timbuktu in southwest africa, trading the gold there can net you thousands per turn!
-Roads should always be priority #1 in every settlement, unless it's an island. Then mines, if available, make an excellent source of steady income. Continue with farms, then markets and ports. You shouldn't rely on cities to produce troops until later in the game, use castles.
-Convert castles to cities. Try to obtain a 3:1 city:castle ratio. A settlement that's well away from testy borders should always be a city.
-If you find yourself losing money early in the game, disband your entire navy. Each ship generally will cost you about 200 upkeep per turn, which can be costly.
-Remember you can have but one guild per city. Merchants guilds are generally the best... you will almost always get offered a theives guild first, but you should only have one of these in your empire, max. Hold out for the merchants guild, you'll get offered them if you build up your trade. You'll want the guilds that give you cool units too, however, like Hashishm's guild for Muslim factions and Woodsmen's guild for England. Just aim for 75% or more of your cities with the merchants guild.
-Don't build useless buildings. It's better to have a settlement idle than building a plaza del toro, for example. Weigh costs and benefits with each building decision. With the plaza: 4800 gold for 5% public order? Not at all worth it. Along the same lines: don't build expensive churches in settlements with >90% of your religion and high public order; don't build inns and taverns where public order is stable; you get the idea.

[Hungary Horace]

Apart from building merchants and market type buildings, what is the best way to get Merchants guild. Also why after taking a new city/castle do you almost always get offered a guild of some sort.

Another point to consider when making money is farms - build as many as you can early as not only do they make money, they increase population which increases tax revenue.

[NobleNick]

Apart from building merchants and market type buildings, what is the best way to get Merchants guild...

Look at this link. Have patience: scroll about halfway down the thread to the post with "spoiler" formats, which you have to click in order to see the charts.

A summary of what should be obvious after studying the info in the above thread: Build economic buildings in one city like mad. Train ALL your merchants in that same city. Do not accept any other guild offers in that city. Have a rip-roaring economy. If possible, acquire other factions' merchants.

...Also why after taking a new city/castle do you almost always get offered a guild of some sort...

Sorry, don't know the answer to that one.

...Another point to consider when making money is farms - build as many as you can early as not only do they make money, they increase population which increases tax revenue.

Not a good plan, except for settlements you know will never be cities. Farms are excellent in the early game; but they come back to bite you big time if you overdo it. I have several rules I follow to keep me out of trouble in cities:

1.) Build the first farm without even thinking about it.

2.) Set taxes to VERY HIGH. Move governor and all non-free militia out of the city. If you get anything other than a green face, do not build/upgrade a farm (build Public order buildings instead, until you can get taxes to VERY HIGH with a green face).

3.) With taxes on VERY HIGH, do not build/upgrade a farm if:
--> Population is over 4500 and population growth is over 3%
--> Population is over 7500 and population growth is over 2%
--> Population is over 10500 and population growth is over 1%

Hope that helps.