Learning Advice - To Battle or Campaign?

[sparty]

Learning a new game, particularly a strategy game like this one, can be daunting. My perception is that there are really two games here. The strategic map and kingdom/campaign management game. The battle game.

My initial thought is that at its heart MTW2 is a battle game and the campaign is there to put you in a position to manage how/when you engage in battle. Therefore battle sounds like it's critically important to understand prior to venturing into the campaign mode.

From your experience which one should I master first and why?

[Theseus1234]

i would suggest you just try out some quick battles to work on your battle skills. then after several quick battles, just go ahead and try an easy campaign to get the reigns of ruling

the reason i think you should master battle first is that you cannot gain nor defend an empire without battle skills. with bad battle management comes the fall of an empire

[Georgy Zhukov]

Though don't neglect your campaign skills either! Bad management leads to, instabilities, deficit, and the stagnation of your empire! If you don't maintain any campaign skills you will not field armies, enrich your economy, or have the proper infrastructure to defend and expand when war comes. In my opinion they are both equally important!

[sparty]

lol.

I just played about 25 turns in a SS early campaign as Ireland. I managed to get into England and win a battle against a captain with ~650 men, but then the English swooped down on me with 3 armies (I stupidly moved between Nottingham and London).

I learned to never march without knowing what is in front of me and that even if you win a few battles knowing how to win when the odds are stacked against you might be as important as fighting evenly pitched battles.

Does that sound pretty reasonable? How do you practice something like that?

I've read a few strategy guides / tips about both campaign and battle, but they seem pretty tough to follow as soon as the enemy shows up my guys are adjusting all over the place to face the threat and I feel like I set up well, get in my first shot okay, and then things kind of fall apart.

[Theseus1234]

Though don't neglect your campaign skills either! Bad management leads to, instabilities, deficit, and the stagnation of your empire! If you don't maintain any campaign skills you will not field armies, enrich your economy, or have the proper infrastructure to defend and expand when war comes. In my opinion they are both equally important!

yeah but when the rebelling starts, you use your battle skills to crush the peasants and rebels!

[Xamt]

There is a quote (from Gian Giacopo Trivulgio - or however its spelled) saying that three things are important in war... money, money and more money

so imo, you should first learn how to manage your economy/settlements/growth and then try to work your way into learning how to be an effective battlefield general

if you take a look at most of the great battles, they were won on a tactical level before they were actually fought (choosing a good defensive location, luring the enemy into a trap, knowing when to engage your enemy etc etc)

so imo, learning how to fight battles where your forces are "even" with those of your oponent shouldnt be your top priority, coz if you do everything right you should outnumber and/or outclass your oppoent in every single battle

having said that, its always usefull to be able to win a battle with the odds stacked against you, but that only comes with experience (btw - dont always trust the game telling you who has the advantage in a battle, since its often wrong) ... and always fight the battles yourself, never use autoresolve since you can experiment with different things even against 1 or 2 enemy units

[Gornard]

The campaign eases you into battle, you start off with relativly small battles against rebels and what not and as your forces increase your skills will. After a few battles you'll probably get the hang of things. Just remember that the idea is to make the enemy rout as opposed to kill them out right in a slogging match. Use combined arms and always try to have your enemies engaged from the most sides possible and providing your army isn't completly lacking you'll find you'll beat the AI often.

In the campaign the most essential tips are to keep an eye on your funds: make sure you only build more units when your treasury can afford to sustain them. Build the cheaper trade buildings first and then go onto the cheaper farm buildings, the more expensive buildings take longer to pay off so wait till the early upgrades are done on all your cities. Keep an eye on taxes to make sure you have no blue faces, make sure you have lots of cities too. You only need 3 castles for much of the mid game (specialised in cavalry, infantry and missles with one city specialising in artillary). You'll conquer lots of citadels and fortresses later on which can serve as forward bases.
AlWAYS use crusades and jihads whenever available.
Finally keep your settlements well garrsioned (at least to the maximum free garrison in cities) cheap units will do, the idea of this is to deter unwanted declarations of war in the early/mid game

[Leutrim]

Just play the game on E/E and you'll pick it up. You'll come to a point where you'll think you've got the hang, then you'll be addicted, then you'll think your actually pretty good. By this point you'll start to imagine yourself as one of the generals and you'll shout orders at your computer. Then you'll get a dozen or so heroic victories and you'll be so addicted at this point that you'll eventually become good enough to play harder difficulties, so on, etc.

Best of luck dude, I remember when I first started learning this game and it was very rewarding, hope it is for you too.

[sparty]

Once again thanks for all the input everyone. I really am so glad I found these boards. My enjoyment of the game has gone up immensely!