Hello (M2TW Campaign Questions)

[DavidArmstrong]

I installed the game and have had a few go's on the campaign.

France was neat, but I didn't know about the city/castle system, so I discovered later that I was burning through gold changing from city to castle and back again, every other turn. What can I say, I just didn't know.

Next was England - this lasted very well. On M/M by T15 I had the isles to myself and was actively pushing back France. By T85, I had half of Spain and all the cities up to the Pope and east of those mountains, but Portugal had me completely blockaded and I found I was wasting money, upgrading ALL my cities with EVERYTHING - Dublin doesn't need Armories, especially if all they can produce is Militia Spearman.

So now, on my third campaign I selected Spain, and I have learned a lot. I'm on T111, I have the Iberian Peninsula, and via Crusades have taken Antioch and all south of it. Another Crusade, and I take Milan and all the cities in that cluster north of the Papal States. Then I take over the Papal States lol. I like the Crusades, because they allow for very cheap recruitment for a lot of units, those units are very very good, and you keep them if the Crusade was successful (my Crusades always are).

My problem with this campaign is my empire is literally map-to-map. From Lisbon to Baghdad, Every city East of the Papal States is at best yellow happiness, and I'm wasting my generals in the cities as they keep the people from rebelling.

My questions are: what will I gain by playing the game on a harder difficulty? Are the politics more dynamic, is the game more exciting, or do the numbers just get bigger as the cpu "cheats"?

Diplomacy and Merchants. Huh? I've never played the game where the "Diplomacy" made any sense, so if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would be very grateful. As for Merchants, I made 1 guy 1 time, and I was not impressed. Is there something to that part of the game?

World-spanning Empires. Is there something I can do to keep cities distant from my Capitol from rioting? I considered the idea of making them all castles, but that isn't very appealing - my playstyle is to have one or two prominent castles surrounded by a cluster of cash-cow cities. As it is, it's all I can do to keep 6-8 units in Gaza and Jerusalem while keeping pressure on the damn Turks. But I don't want to waste that much money upkeeping armies that will never march, ever.

I have the M2:TW Gold Edition. Does this include the recent patches? Are there patches that I shouldn't download?

Last question: is there a popular mod to increase the game's intelligence for a more difficult battle - that is, to give the other factions some measure of tactics? After T75, I'm hit with the notion that every faction is biding their time for when the "rules" say they can attack me - or maybe it's just the logical consequence of ignoring diplomacy. Either way, by that milestone I'm more or less fighting the world. And now with Spain, I'm getting pecked to death and it's getting boring, fighting off 3 sieges every turn.

It isn't that I'm not winning, it's that the game seems to be fighting me directly, which spoils the role-playing aspect of the game.

[Double A]

Every question you just asked is in the manual.

And you can move your capital by the way. It makes everyone happier because they are closer to the most important city.

[Georgy Zhukov]

Let me just tell you something about Med 2 Total War. . . It is the worst game in the total war series, I would recommend you forsaking the vanilla campaign and going to the kingdoms hosted modification (gold includes kingdoms right?) and download Stainless Steel the latest version and patching everything. Or I also recommend Deus lo Vult! or Broken Crescent all of these mods make diplomacy stable, new skins to units, make campaign AI on the battle map and battle feild much more of a challenge they also re-skin units to be more realistic and include some role playing element.

[jsktrogdor]

^^^stainless steel is one of the most popular mods. Playing on a harder difficulty as far as im aware doesnt boost computer stats, but makes them more aggressive IE: your allies will attack you, and on like vh/vh you'll be at war with everyone by like turn 100.

Merchants can be valuable but only when put on the right resource, if your playing as spain send one to timbukto, find something thats worth at least 100florins per turn.

Stainless steel will make playing the AI more challenging and it will make diplomacy much more important, but you also should know that it makes it more challanging by as you put it "cheating". Its my understanding that the computer's budget is supplimented so that they can train more troops. They will continue to retrain troops even after youve defeated their first wave. Its for this reason also that diplomacy becomes more important, strategic alliances will keep you from having to defend every border.

stainless steel is pretty fun, i would recomend it i guess. Your old save games wont be updated to stainless steel but, you will still be able to play them just by loading the vanilla version of the game.http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=159996


EDIT: oh and about your distant populations growing restless, someone already said moving your capital closer. Also when you pull up the details for a settlement, theres a little icon at the bottom left (one of three icons there). It will bring up a settlement details scroll that will tell you whats going on there:
-Pop growth
-Income
-religion
-settlement order

It breaks them down like bar graphs, take a look at the settlement order graph and see what it says. My guess is that the bottom line on the bar will be filled with broken crosses, if you mouse over them it will say "religous unrest". Its either that or a series of pitchforks "Unrest", religous unrest is because they're probley still mostly muslim and your catholic. Train some priests and build churches in them, if its unrest than theres probley an enemy spy in the settlement.

[D.B. Cooper]

Let me just tell you something about Med 2 Total War. . . It is the worst game in the total war series, I would recommend you forsaking the vanilla campaign and going to the kingdoms hosted modification (gold includes kingdoms right?) and download Stainless Steel the latest version and patching everything. Or I also recommend Deus lo Vult! or Broken Crescent all of these mods make diplomacy stable, new skins to units, make campaign AI on the battle map and battle feild much more of a challenge they also re-skin units to be more realistic and include some role playing element.

That's bs...I'm pretty just about nobody would go back to Shogun or Med1 after playing Med2, and find it hard to go back to Rome, and not just for the graphics.

[Georgy Zhukov]

That's bs...I'm pretty just about nobody would go back to Shogun or Med1 after playing Med2, and find it hard to go back to Rome, and not just for the graphics.

Wait, What? I just recommended he skipped the vanilla campaign and go to a few different mods for more challenge and just all around general game play quality.

[D.B. Cooper]

Wait, What? I just recommended he skipped the vanilla campaign and go to a few different mods for more challenge and just all around general game play quality.

Oh yeah, I was just commenting on what you said about how Med2 was the worst game in the series.

[12345abcd3]

That's bs...I'm pretty just about nobody would go back to Shogun or Med1 after playing Med2, and find it hard to go back to Rome, and not just for the graphics.

I find it quite easy to go back to rome because it's the same engine, but med1 not so much.

What makes it hard for you to go back to rome?

[The Noble Lord]

You can always go back to ROME, can you just imagine ROME 2 and how good it would look?? It will be awesome when it comes out and of course if it comes out.


CHEERS

[Viking Prince]

Welcome to the forum! I think you are doing just fine as you are. Learning the game and how to work the differant factions is what makes it interesting. No nee to dive into the mods until you are wanting a new set a challanges. You will know when it is time.

I use the Retrofit Mod which is a bit like the final, but unofficial, patch to M2TW by using the .exe code from kingdoms and a bit of adjusting the the units and stats. Some would say this is still vanilla, but who knows.

My questions are: what will I gain by playing the game on a harder difficulty? Are the politics more dynamic, is the game more exciting, or do the numbers just get bigger as the cpu "cheats"?

The AI factions are a bit more agressive. Make certain that whatever version of the game you are using is patched to the current version. You can find the info in the forum threads. Politics are less effective on higher levels since the AI is more likely to take offense anyways. Playing the Catholic factions, I would get trading rights with any neighbors that I am not planning to go to war with and probably plant a diplomat near the pope. He likes little money gifts and you need him on your side.

Diplomacy and Merchants. Huh? I've never played the game where the "Diplomacy" made any sense, so if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would be very grateful. As for Merchants, I made 1 guy 1 time, and I was not impressed. Is there something to that part of the game?

Merchants are not that impressive IMO. Too much time and money invested and too many just get eliminated. I would rather do something else with my money. There are a few good opportunities though. The biggest problem is in the center of the game map where all the merchants kill each other off. I tend to use the 10 turns to pay off as a rule on most investments.

World-spanning Empires. Is there something I can do to keep cities distant from my Capitol from rioting? I considered the idea of making them all castles, but that isn't very appealing - my playstyle is to have one or two prominent castles surrounded by a cluster of cash-cow cities. As it is, it's all I can do to keep 6-8 units in Gaza and Jerusalem while keeping pressure on the damn Turks. But I don't want to waste that much money upkeeping armies that will never march, ever.

Others have answered this. Good advice to follow.

I have the M2:TW Gold Edition. Does this include the recent patches? Are there patches that I shouldn't download?

Patch from the official sites. I am using the Retrofit Mod and the 1.5 patch for kingdoms and this has me current. Without the mod -- I am not certain (I think 1.4 is the one, but I am not certain if any other is needed.) Check the forum and look to the more recent posts. There were problems and confusion as the patches were released and comment were not always accurate. Several on this forum will be able to give you a concise and good answer.

Last question: is there a popular mod to increase the game's intelligence for a more difficult battle - that is, to give the other factions some measure of tactics? After T75, I'm hit with the notion that every faction is biding their time for when the "rules" say they can attack me - or maybe it's just the logical consequence of ignoring diplomacy. Either way, by that milestone I'm more or less fighting the world. And now with Spain, I'm getting pecked to death and it's getting boring, fighting off 3 sieges every turn.

It isn't that I'm not winning, it's that the game seems to be fighting me directly, which spoils the role-playing aspect of the game.

The program is not cheating. If you grab all that you can as quick as you can -- there is nothing left for neighbors to do but attack you. Also if you are among the top 5, I think that influences the AI. Be patient. Reward your allies and fight the enemies of your allies. Keep the pope happy by striking quickly with seige equipment and end the war promptly (ceasfire or elimination).

Good luck and keep us informed!

[The Noble Lord]

My friend, you should get SS 6.1 mod and Broken Crescent mod.
Install those two and you will love the TW games. Much better, much harder, much bigger, and much more authentic and historicaly accurate.


CHEERS

[jsktrogdor]

My friend, you should get SS 6.1 mod and Broken Crescent mod.
Install those two and you will love the TW games. Much better, much harder, much bigger, and much more authentic and historicaly accurate.


CHEERS

I havnt seen any details about this mod, I looked for a string about it but couldnt find it. Anyone have a link to some details? im curious

[Double A]

But even though chocolate's better doesn't mean you should hate vanilla.

[The Noble Lord]

I havnt seen any details about this mod, I looked for a string about it but couldnt find it. Anyone have a link to some details? im curious

Just go to Total War center Forums and in the M2 hosted modifications you will find the Broken Crescent sub-forum and in there you can find all the details about the mod and how to download it and install it.
You do the same for the SS, just go to the Kingdoms hosted modifications and you will find the Stainless Steel sub-forum and all the info is in there.


CHEERS

[Double A]

What's wrong with Vanilla anyway?

[DavidArmstrong]

I will check out SS and BC mods, and download the 1.5 patch.

Thanks a lot guys!

[DavidArmstrong]

Hey, i checked out the mods section. There are a lot.

Those people who had downloaded them and tried a few, tell me, which ones address my concerns best?

-fix bugs
-adds to the ai
-stabilizes politics

I like the vanilla campaign, I like the factions, I like the map. I'm not ready for new content - I'm just looking for a better foundation for the game. I've noticed that it seems lacking.

I'm on my fourth campaign, this time as Milan (having decimated them).

PS: Stainless Steel and Darth Mod seem to be doing the same thing. Tell me about them: why does DM have such glowing reviews if SS is more popular? What's the dealio?

[Double A]

I bet everyone was going to say "SS 6.1" until he said "stabilizes politics"

[The Noble Lord]

-fix bugs
-adds to the ai
-stabilizes politics

You get all of this in SS 6.1 and plenty more.

I like the vanilla campaign, I like the factions, I like the map. I'm not ready for new content - I'm just looking for a better foundation for the game.

Vanilla is good, but if you wanna go one step further then its the SS 6.1 that answers your concerns. Just go for it and you will see the beauty of it.

Stainless Steel and Darth Mod seem to be doing the same thing.

They are different, with the brand new Lusted's AI's its the SS 6.1 that definitely has the edge.


CHEERS

[jsktrogdor]

You know when I was thinking about getting stainless steel i asked them about bugs (with the mod, not fixing ones with vanillia) they all told me it was great. I got into the game and it crashed before I got out of the campaign selection menu. They forgot to mention if you click on like more than 3 factions in the selection menu the game crashes .

Doesnt really affect gameplay, and I still enjoy the mod but Im going to tell you so you dont end up with the sour feeling I had. Just choose your campaign faction carefully, you only have three chances .