Questions from a new player

[wafflezboy]

Hey everyone. I'm new here so be kind to me

After many fun and addicting hours of Rome: Total War gameplay with vanilla and the numerous mods, I decided to go and take a break from spartans, legionaries, and damned horse archers to check out Medieval 2. I then used my trusty friend, Google, to search for a kick-ass mod like the ones for RTW, and I came upon Stainless Steel. I downloaded it immediately.

So now, I have a couple of questions.

1. Is there a learning curve to Medieval 2? More specifically, can I just skip vanilla, install Stainless Steel and go conquer?

2. These patches have somewhat confused me. From what I deduced, I install 6.0, patch to 6.1 except untick RR/RC and BYG's mod, then patch to 6.2 and apply the bugfixes. Is that correct and are there any other options? The subsequent "bugfixes" stated in the 6.2 patch sticky are the ones that stump me.

3. What are the more discernible differences/features that Medieval 2 and Stainless Steel have to offer?

4. Can someone give me an overview about the Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Order, and England? I loved playing those two factions in Age of Empires 2

5. How graphics/cpu intensive is this mod? I have a stock q6600 @ 2.4 and an 8800gt with 4gb of RAM, I play on 1680x1050, all settings max except no AA, with huge settings. On Rome I played with those settings and it got noticeably laggy when 2 full stacks collided. What FPS can I expect from Stainless Steel?

6. Are there any good starting tips or guides I should know before attempting to conquer the world? By the way, what the heck is the Early/Late period campaign and hotseating? Which campaign is preferably better?

I suppose that is all. And if you managed to bear with me, I thank you in advance.

[Caesar Clivus]

1. Is there a learning curve to Medieval 2? More specifically, can I just skip vanilla, install Stainless Steel and go conquer?

Seeing as you have played RTW, you could probably jump right in to SS. But SS is a bit more difficult than vanilla (smarter AI for a start). You might still want to look at the M2TW manual to see how some things have changed from RTW.

2. These patches have somewhat confused me. From what I deduced, I install 6.0, patch to 6.1 except untick RR/RC and BYG's mod, then patch to 6.2 and apply the bugfixes. Is that correct and are there any other options? The subsequent "bugfixes" stated in the 6.2 patch sticky are the ones that stump me.

That is correct. But if I were you, I wouldn't play 6.2 yet. It is much more difficult than 6.1. Seeing as you haven't played M2TW before, I'd suggest just sticking with 6.1 for now

3. What are the more discernible differences/features that Medieval 2 and Stainless Steel have to offer?

Check the release thread for a exhaustive list of features.

4. Can someone give me an overview about the Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Order, and England? I loved playing those two factions in Age of Empires 2

For an overview of their unit rosters, go to this site: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=163574. England would be a good faction for you to start with as it is one of the easiest to play. The HRE is a bit harder as it is surrounded by catholic nations which can be hard to conquer because of the pope. The Teutonic Order I would stay away from if I were you as they are one of the hardest factions in the game (also one of the most fun IMHO but still difficult)

5. How graphics/cpu intensive is this mod? I have a stock q6600 @ 2.4 and an 8800gt with 4gb of RAM, I play on 1680x1050, all settings max except no AA, with huge settings. On Rome I played with those settings and it got noticeably laggy when 2 full stacks collided. What FPS can I expect from Stainless Steel?

You should be ok with those specs.

6. Are there any good starting tips or guides I should know before attempting to conquer the world? By the way, what the heck is the Early/Late period campaign and hotseating? Which campaign is preferably better?

Early era starts earlier with less developed settlements. Late era starts later with more developed settlements and empires. Hotseating is a multiplayer mode of playing.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

6. Are there any good starting tips or guides I should know before attempting to conquer the world?

Mumma Mia das a big one if you've never played MTWII before.....{} Okay...let's try these...

1. Settings -{in the faction selection screen} Campaign difficulty I'd go with easy or meduim {if you were tearing RTW up.} Battle difficulty... again depends on how comfortable you are...

2. Faction selection - Catholic = mostly european factions have to deal with the pope and trying to avoid being excommunicated. Catholic factions can ask for crusades against islamic factions plus excommunicated factions. Islamic factions can call Jihads {their version of crusades} and Orthodox factions can't call for anything.

3. Economy - early on grab the local rebels just like RTW and build your economy.

4. Era selection - Early - means you start from strach building wise. Late - starts about 1220 I think and gives you already built advanced buildings and structures...

wafflezboy.... Let us know if you have installation problems and any follow up questions...and welcome to the TWC Forums...

[wafflezboy]

Thank you both for helping me out.

However, are there any good sub-mods for 6.1? I'm not too keen on moving to 6.2 because it is only a RC, and it says that there are no sub-mods compatible with 6.2.

I'm currently downloading Crimson Tide and Xenophobia mod, and intend on using Grim Reality and RR/RC with 6.1

EDIT: Actually, do I just have to install the RR Compilation Mod? I assume that it's like an All-in-one package and is composed of all the up-to-date sub-mods?

[NoMercy88]

Using BYG Grim Reality makes the game harder than just 6.2 imo, so does RR/RC.

RR/RC compilation includes 6.2.

If I were you take my adive and just install 6.1 without RR/RC and BYG GR and install crimson tide and y and y visual pack(there is a list of submods compatible with SS 6.x in the subkods forum).

I reccomend Real Horses and Better Grass(you don't have to unpack the game, i tried it and it worked without unpacking.)

Kind Regards
Will