Viking Prince’s Faction Strategy Guide for Newbies to Medieval II Total War: England
Viking Prince’s Faction Strategy Guide for Newbies to Medieval II Total War: England
Version 1.0
Date 1.20.2009
By Viking Prince
With emotional prodding by Rebel6666, additional ideas contributed by Sher Khan
Contribute to the next version and your name can be here!
Introduction
First, I am still amazed at how many new players are registering to the Total War Community (TWC) site. There are probably several that do not register for every one that does register though. There are some very good reasons to register. First of all, TWC has a huge amount of traffic so your questions have a good chance at a knowledgeable answer and not just a guess. You can be a bit more interactive with the questions and answers; there is private mail; there is profile messaging; modification coding; etc. All very good resources to help you learn how to play the game and when you have a bit of experience under your belt, you will be able to contribute some great stuff to the site.
Before reading this guide or any guide, please read and be prepared for a quiz on the printed manual. Just kidding on the quiz, but the manual is important. If you prefer an online version, Google is your friend. Hints for searching: the game is part of the Total War series, is published by Sega, and is created by Creative Assembly. Enough with the advertising – let’s get started on faction strategy!
This is more of a broad faction specific strategy guide rather than a guide to the perfect plan. There is plenty of each to look at though. Search and ye shall find. For those who care, my favorites are Spain (Jinettes), England (Longbows), and Russia (Cavalry and wide open steppes). If people are interested, some additional faction specific guides may follow this guide, but they will be oriented for more experienced players. Yes, another reason to register – encourage those who are providing good stuff to continue and offer suggested improvements to those of us who are trying but not quite up to your standards.
I will try and avoid discussing what is in the manual. If you can read it here, you can read the manual before reading here. I expect that repeating information will bore you and my typing is not necessarily more entertaining than the manual. I would also encourage a quick read of my Viking Prince’s Strategic Guide for Newbies to Medieval II Total War.
I play my basic “vanilla” games fully patched and with the Retrofit Mod. My playing decisions should not change much between this and a strait out of the box play. I do highly encourage patching the game to 1.02 or downloading the Retrofit mod and patching to 1.05 before beginning play. This is up to you though. When you have digested a great deal of the game, you may also be interested in checking some of the fine mods (modifications) that have be created by enthusiasts of the game and its fairly open coded system.
Why a Guide on England?
A short answer is that all factions need a guide. The reason why this is my first faction guide is a better question. England is a great faction for a first try at this very fine game. Newbies need to learn. This is also one of the factions with which you can start play right out of the box. No need to modify code or file folders to play. I enjoy reading the guides and posts on TWC. Just as I did with my Viking Prince’s Strategic Guide for Newbies to Medieval II Total War, this is mostly a compilation from notes that I made when learning how to play the game.
Joe Friday’s Just the Facts Ma’am
England is a faction on the northwest corner of the map. England shares the Isles with Scotland. The faction consists of three settlements: Caen (on continental Europe), London, and Nottingham. Adjacent/nearby rebel settlements consist of Caernarvon, Dublin, York, and Inverness in the Isles. Continental settlements are Rennes, Bruges, Antwerp, and Hamburg. I have already mention Scotland (Edinburgh) but the big faction is France on the continent with Angers and Paris adjacent to Caen. You will also note that the North Sea separates England from Denmark and the rebel held Oslo.
A brief bio of the settlements (I am not giving enemy unit information or settlement populations. There needs to be some exploration):
Caen – England, castle, pop. 1500
London – England, large town, pop. 3800
Nottingham – England, castle, pop. 3000
Rennes – rebel, town
Bruges – rebel, large town
Antwerp – rebel, large town
Hamburg – rebel, castle
Oslo – rebel, wooden castle
Caernarvon – rebel, wooden castle
Dublin, rebel, village
York – rebel, village
Inverness – rebel, wooden castle
Angers – France, wooden castle
Paris – France, large town
Arhus – Denmark, large town
Edinburgh – Scotland, large town
A brief bio of the units:
Caen – Robert, peasant archer, 2 spear militia
Caen region – peasant, peasant archer, 3 spear militia, merchant, diplomat
London – King William, peasant, town militia, 2 spear militia
Nottingham – peasant archer, 2 spear militia
Nottingham region – Prince Rufus, 2 peasant archer, 2 spear militia, Princess, Cardinal
York region – spy
At sea – cog fleet near London, cog fleet in channel near Caen’s port
What Will it Take to Win the Game?
The first thing to do is count. Count the settlements that can form the final empire upon a successful long campaign or short campaign. For England, the long campaign requires control over 45 settlements including Jerusalem. The short campaign requires the elimination of Scotland and France and control over 15 settlements. For the purposes of the guide, let’s assume you are going to take out Scotland and France and the perhaps do the same process for a first stage of a long campaign. With more experience, your long campaigns will start differently and we will cover some of the possibilities at the end of this guide for those who want to look at other approaches.
How to Eliminate the Enemy Factions or Does AI Really Mean “All Incinerated”?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Factions are eliminated in Medieval II Total War (M2TW) by eliminating the King and the valid heirs or by taking the last settlement controlled by the faction. With Scotland, for example, you will probably capture Edinburgh and thus destroy the faction. The remaining military units will then become rebel forces that will still need to be hunted down to prevent detestation, trade route disruption, etc.
Play Locally and Plan Globally -- Where Should I Expand Initially?
This is somewhat of a trick question. New players want to attack immediately and everywhere. This is total war, isn’t it? There are rewards to patience and also to decisive thrusts against an enemy before he has time to organize. The new player has the instinct to thrust. I would suggest learning when to wait.
A key to expansion is to minimize the number of opponents that you are at war with at any point in time. You will also need to consolidate the gains, invest in economic and military development, engage in diplomatic activities, serve the interests of the church, and plan for what you empire should look like at various stages of the campaign.
For planning purposes, let’s suppose both Scotland and France will be eliminated by conquest of the last settlement controlled by the faction and that you will get no help from other factions to speed you towards your goal. This will mean controlling the initial positions of France and Scotland as well as settlements captured by the factions during the course of the game. This would mean 3 English + 1 Scottish + 5 French = 9 settlements.
You might also want to broaden your economic base by taking some of the rebel settlements in the region which will also prevent the Scots and the French from expansion to a degree. This might mean Rennes and York on the Isles, at a minimum for the short campaign. If you are planning to play out through the long campaign you might want to also take the rest of the Isles and establish a solid corner position on the made from which you can safely advance on your future conquests. For the short campaign that we are playing in our first run thru this will mean York, Caernarvon, Dublin, Inverness, Rennes, and Bordeaux in addition to the previous 9 for a total of 15 settlements. This is close to the number needed for the short campaign game win. So our global plan will be to focus on the elimination of the factions initially. When the faction elimination is closer, we can revise the plan if we are far off the settlement count needed.
Whether to be a Tortoise or the Hare: Choosing a Style of Play
Before we actually begin play, it is useful to decide a style of play to approach the current game. I tend to be a somewhat historic oriented player and my role playing days prior to the Total War series does indeed color my play. Some like to play the role of the good Catholic sovereign and play a Knights of the Round Table chivalric game. They occupy settlements, quickly suppress bandits and rebels form the realm, send priests on missions to convert the world, and never break alliances with a combat action. Well that is really my style so I should not really be saying some people.
Others like to see how quickly they can conquer the world and are simply not concerned with whether they exterminate a settlement of their own religion or not. The world can become a cinder. Their generals will max out the dread rating so that the enemy will begin breaking and running at the mere sight of the heavy cavalry preparing to crush their enemy in one ferocious charge that is known to never take prisoners. Piety is not a consideration since assassins can be used to eliminate the pesky inquisitors and any Pope who dares challenge the sovereign.
You will need to find your own style. The style may change from game to game or even from one session to the next depending on your mood. It may even change within the game depending on a change of events when a king dies and the prince now becomes king. The phrase “The King is dead. Long live the King!” will ring throughout the game. This is to have fun.
The Beginning – Turn One – 1080 in the Year of the Lord – Moving the Armies and Some Diplomacy
I tend to play the game a bit methodically to avoid missing opportunities. I really dislike not moving a forgotten agent or recruiting a key Longbow archer needed for the army that is to set sail from England the next turn. Others play quicker and with more emotion. I will teach you the way of the Viking Prince. You will need to develop your own good or bad habits though. I will not be watching (maybe).
First look at initial expansion possibilities – York and Rennes are always high on my list of first conquests. Scotland can get to York quickly so you cannot dally. The same is true of the French located at Angers which can move onto Rennes.
I usually move the Prince Rufus’s led field force in the Nottingham region directly to besiege the village of York. There is no need for a large army since it is only a rebel village with five units. I did get close enough to look at the force in York before committing the army to a siege operation. This is a good habit for all players to look before biting down hard. The rebel forces can only last two turns, so I will just wait out the siege and win an open field battle.
The captain led field force in Caen can also reach Rennes on turn one. The enemy forces in this rebel town are tougher than those Rufus is facing at York. Rennes is a town that lasts for 4 turns and holds 5 units including a mailed knight. No rebel general is the only real good news. The field force from the Caen region is weaker than the rebel army and is lacking in cavalry. We have options – go with what we have and hope for the best or wait for Robert and perhaps additional military to be moved up from Caen itself.
There is also King William in London. What use is a powerful king sitting in a great city? I usually move him and the military in London up toward Wales and within walking distance of Nottingham. The forces in Nottingham can then join up for a planned future attack and conquest of the rebel held wooden castle at Caernarvon. There will be more on planning the assault of Caernarvon when we move the agents later in the turn.
An Agent of Change or the Fine Art of Diplomacy
This is almost a cheat, but it is a legitimate option for those who wish to use it. Angers is a potential French threat against a slower conquest of Rennes and we have a diplomat in range. The diplomat can move to Angers (Paris is within range, but since we cannot see it due to the fog of war feature in the game we will not head to Paris) and initiate some agreements.
What agreements might you consider with the French? It will depend on your chosen style of play discussed above. The aggressive and non-chivalric style is not worried that the King has set a goal on the destruction of the French dynasty so you may be tempted to get an alliance and trade agreement. This will not prevent a French move onto Rennes if you dally in the Caen region gathering up your forces.
Another option is to offer to buy the Angers castle. You can do this by offering perhaps 1,000 florins a turn for four turns in exchange for the castle. The French agree and you now have another castle as a buffer against French expansion. Sher Khan had mentioned this idea and he went with buying both Angers and Toulouse for more florins so that the French will the have no castles until they take a rebel held or another AI faction castle. The computer factions do not seem to convert towns to castles or castles to towns. This is why I think this is a bit of a cheat. It is also a bit unhistorical to be playing Monty Hall and Let’s Make a Deal with the royal lands. It is still your choice and your campaign.
Back to the Captain Led Force
This will be a good time to test your skills and learn to beat a superior force. Move the captain led force to siege Rennes and do not bring up reinforcements. If you are not ready for the test, also bring Robert and the army in Caen as far as they can go the first turn to reinforce the siege (turn two will reveal a secret). Depending on whether you will be assaulting the town or waiting to defeat a sallying force, you should be considering construction of siege equipment. I will usually want a couple of towers and a ram to both spread out the enemy flaming arrows and so that if the ram flames up, I have not lost the siege. This will cost 180 build points and your brave captain has a smaller budget. This means waiting at least two turns before the attack or waiting 4 turns for the enemy to sally out. This is really your choice.
In my play, I leave the captain led force to take Rennes, purchase Angers, and move Robert to Angers to prepare for a march onto Bordeaux. Or use Robert to build some watchtowers to keep an eye on the French.
Use the Diplomat to Use the Pope
We have already moved the diplomat to Angers and acquired a great inland castle. The diplomat cannot perform and more operations on turn one, but he should be headed to the next great diplomatic mission. I would want to get an alliance with the Pope and also to improve the English rating with the Pope. A high papal rating means an ability to call Crusades that will be in the English interests rather than wait for the expected calls to Crusade in the Middle East (usually Cairo). Also, when in conflict with another Catholic faction, a high rating improves your chances of continuing an assault on an enemy settlement with only a loss of reputation and not excommunication. It is also important to keep you reputation higher than potential enemies for similar reasons and to discourage actual open conflict.
Moving the Rest of the English Agents on Turn One
You have some more agents to move. Now is a good time to learn how to ensure that you deal with all of your agents. On the control panel right click on the agents tab. You will now have a complete list of your agents. Click on each agent and ensure that you have ordered all that need directions. I would rather click on an agent such as our brave diplomat and ensure that all has been done than to forget to take an action and waste a turn. In this case you still have a spy, a merchant, a cardinal, and a princess to still move.
Take the cardinal and the princess via a cog to the continent. Demobilize the cog when complete. The game is early and you do not need to spend upkeep on a navy unless you are going to use it in the next few turns. Every florin counts. The princess can be used as a diplomat, a marriage prospect to attempt to acquire a foreign general, or you can just wait for the Council to suggest a suitable marriage and add a family member and a general to your units. I usually accept the Council marriage suggestions as long as the prospect is not too old, low loyalty or lacking in piety. Chivalry/dread and command can be easily groomed, but old and disloyal are to be avoided at all costs. Send the princess to find the Danes and see what happens. Taking action is better than sitting still. The cardinal should be used to improve the religious rating in your continental possessions. If you spot a witch or heretic, this is just a bonus.
The merchant is another issue. I have never had great luck using merchants profitably. This is a great game within the game. Build up the capability of a merchant and then you can make real money by putting other merchants out of business. Find some great trade resources and you can also make some good money with high level merchants. I usually move the merchant via the remaining cog to the Dublin area and plant the hapless merchant on the silver resource. He will stay there until old age. I know that many of you will do better with the merchants.
The spy is up in the York area. I tend to use spies as moving watch towers. You have a couple of options with this one. You can move him into Wales to spot Caernarvon, the rebel held wooden castle. You will then be able to determine the necessary military resources that you will need to capture the settlement. Another use is to keep an eye on the Scots. Since you are learning and do not know the strength of Caernarvon rebel garrison, I would move the spy to spot the wooden castle. There is no reason to actually use the agent on a mission, just use him as a watchtower. Spies are expensive to recruit if you throw them away on needless risks. Even if the chances of success are 95% this still means failure 5% of the time.
A Time for Fiscal Stimulus
You have now moved your military and agents. It is now time to put some florins to work building your economy and building capacity for better military units. On of the great advantages of the English are their archers. The problem is where to produce them. I would convert Caen to a town if Angers was purchased. Angers needs to be built up along archery, barracks, and armor. If you want to first put in a small chapel and a farm, it is your decision. The farm will help improve growth towards the fortress walls needed for even better units. For thus example I would go for military in Angers and Nottingham. London should get a port improvement as soon as possible so that the warehouse line will become available as the city grows. First right clock the mine. You will discover that spending 2000fl will get you 240fl per turn. The port and the trade routes can wait. To help make such decisions go to the settlement scroll and then at the bottom click on settlement details to see the income and population effects of various economic build choices
General development is usually to buy the cheapest choices available since it gives the best bang for the florin. Mines are the exception. I like any investment that returns 10% or better as a quick improvement to the economy. Many people will do land, small church, and a brothel to give small settlements a boost for population growth. This will then be followed by the second level and improvement and the town hall when available. Roads are good for communication and also improve trade. The merchants are limited to markets within the empire so players interested in playing the merchant game need markets. Markets are also essential to improve your trade.
When building in town settlement, do not neglect the barracks line. Free upkeep is an important feature that can save more florins than a first level market will ever return. The barracks line is also a key to happy settlements.
Recruit New Units
What units to recruit?
We may need a diplomat within England until the conquest of Scotland. If England wishes to have some trade with Scotland while consolidating England there should be a diplomat present to cancel the trade agreement diplomatically a turn prior to beginning the war. This helps keep your global reputation up.
We need to replace the garrison units that left London with King William. Do not bother build town militia if you have spear militia. This is not a hard and fast rule, but you should build the best available garrison units that have free upkeep in a large town.
If you have purchased Angers from the French with your grand diplomatic initiative and left the garrison units in Caen, there is no need to recruit more units at the moment.
This leaves Nottingham. This is a where you will eventually be able to recruit your first longbow men. At the moment you need to replace the units that joined King William. The castle has a high level of loyalty, but you never know who may be lurking in the woods ready to walk into a settlement that is lacking any garrison. For this reason I always keep at least one unit at all times. Just like in London, you want to recruit the best available. Do not get carried away though – this is a very safe settlement and all units will cost you upkeep. Mailed Knights are great but have a high upkeep. Mailed Knights are never a good idea for garrison units unless there is a plan to use the units in the next turn or two. A peasant or two will do just fine for the moment. If you have a retinue that includes a pointy penciled accountant (I do) you might just recruit one peasant unit.
Pushing the End of Turn Button - The Hourglass
I do not like to reset the game to a prior saved or a quick saved position. This means that I am a bit cautious when it comes to ending a turn. Go back and ensure that all builds, moves, etc. have been performed to your satisfaction. Oh wait, check the tax levels and the public order in your settlements. London will become a very large city before any other English settlement, so why not take advantage of the income potential today and raise the tax level. I try to keep most town settlements on high unless this puts the public order into the blue range (less than 85%). Rebellions are not worth it to grab a few extra florins. London is empty of garrison units at the moment, but the units being recruited will appear before the rebellion/unrest is determined. Put London on high for the moment and then reset next to very high if you really want to squeeze the florins out of the general population. Caen and Nottingham are castles which have a fixed tax level. Still make certain that your public order is ok. Now you are ready to end the turn (hit the hour glass to end the turn).
A Final Brief Note Before Ending Turn One
This is really the end to the Newbie portion of this faction guide, but there is one item that you should be aware of. The force led by the Captain to besiege Rennes after the end turn button is pushed will not be fighting a defensive action as the rebel garrison sallies forth. The AI has determined that this is a favorable action to take at this time. You should win this battle. Before ending the turn, save the game (quick save). This will give more than one chance to learn how to succeed in this situation. This is always a great method to quickly resolve rebel settlements sieges at the beginning of the game if you can calculate how weak you can make your force and still win.
Turn Two and Beyond
A good general short campaign strategy with England for a newbie is to grab rebel-held York and Rennes right out of the box, acquire Anger diplomatically from the French, and convert Caen to a town for future income.
The next stages are a thrust to rebel-held Caernarvon and then to Dublin with the cog that brought the merchant to the region. The continental forces should be consolidated after Rennes and with Robert’s leadership take on the castle at Bordeaux.
You now will need to wait a bit (turtle) or launch an invasion by sea onto rebel-held Inverness.
At this point you should have developed catapult technology in London, Longbows in Nottingham to create a professional army to march on Edinburgh. Be certain to cancel any trade agreements a turn prior to war. With the artillery, you should take out the Scots on the same turn the war begins. The only remaining issues will be the rebel debris that was the remains of the Scottish military.
The final stage is to take out the French. Launch the campaign from Bordeaux into Toulouse or from Angers against Paris. Paris will be the harder nut to crack, but the capital is also a huge florin loss to your enemy. Toulouse is the most developed caste the French hold or perhaps their only castle if Metz or some other castle has not been captured. If you are feeling really ambitious, build up two siege forces including catapults and launch your offensive against both simultaneously for a real knockout punch. Then it will be a simple matter of picking up the stray settlements still controlled by the French for a short campaign victory.
Other Campaign Ideas Useful for a Long Campaign
If you have approached the long campaign as a continuation of the short campaign, you now have options:
1) Iberian Peninsula, or
2) Scandinavia and then Novgorod, or
3) Holy Roman Empire, or
4) Italy, or
5) Hold the borders and reach beyond the immediate neighbors.
The best newbie approach would be Iberia since you already hold the French regions and this would consolidate and continue the corner position strategy. Iberia can thus be followed by the Moors and now you will control the entire western portion of the map. At this point it should be a mechanical process of accumulating the 45 settlement count and a quick Crusade or conventional voyage to Jerusalem.
Once you have progressed beyond the newbie stage with the English, try some strategic variations. My favorite is to consolidate the Isles except Edinburgh and Inverness. Let the Scots do their thing for a while and have a more interesting challenge when they are ready to invade Dublin or York or …. Get your diplomat to the Pope and get your Pope-o-Meter up. Request a Crusade on Cordoba. Take King William’s force and head to Toledo’s port area. Take Robert’s force from Bordeaux and march them by land. You should now be able to build another force at Nottingham with a great deal of Longbows for a third force and pick up some spear militia in London on your way to Toledo’s port area. This gives you three forces to bulk up with some Crusade mercenaries. Since the Crusade means free upkeep on these forces, do not be in a hurry to resolve the Crusade until all forces are besieging Cordoba. Swing your naval units around to blockade Moorish ports such as Marrakesh and Grenada. Do not forget to bring some priests also. If you are playing a chivalrous campaign like I prefer, you will be occupying Cordoba despite the huge payoff. If you cannot resist, sack the city. Now you will need to use your forces to take the rest of the peninsula. Start with the Moorish castle and El Cid in Valencia if not already held by an AI faction. Watch for more opportunities for a second crusade and keep your troops busy in the Western Mediterranean.
Another interesting twist with England is a reverse Viking expansion by taking on the Danes after Edinburgh. This campaign will anchor the empire at Novgorod. You will now control the northern map edge and then pick apart Europe as factions lose favor with the Pope.
There you go. A completed Viking Prince’s Faction Strategy Guide for Newbies to Medieval II Total War: England.
Comments and suggests are always appreciated. If I use your ideas in a revision, you will get the eternal fame and glory of a credit at the top of the revised guide. Thank you and make Europe an English speaking Catholic empire. Until next time ---
Regards, Viking Prince
Originally Posted by Simon Cashmere
Reply With Quote
Go Vikings!!!! 
The hardest part is how to handle the Knights' charge at the start of the fight. When I try to handle them with 2, or even all, spearmen, the knights won't rout before his two spearman units jump in. My units are then outflanked and I always end up losing control of the battle.
