Noob Questions

[GNU07]

Hey people! First time poster here.

I'm still a newbie to this game (well not really but there's still much to learn) so i'll ask a couple of questions i have in mind.

1. How do i get more bodyguards for my generals? I found a lonely Moor general strolling in my lands and i attacked him with 2 of my generals and 3 units of dismounted feudal knights. He had like 32 soldiers while my gens had only 20. Also do the enemy generals have any bonus? I sandwiched him with my gens but he killed both units and he still had 24 bodyguards. Even when the foot knights attacked he managed to kill a large quantity of them before dying. Also could i capture him? How?

2. Is there a ''disobeying orders'' thing? I had some javelin cavalry (forgot the name, i play as spanish) and i harassed the enemy infantry. But when the enemy closed enough, i ordered them repeatedly to fall back and they just stayed there. They got caught and lost about 15 men before finally retreating. Also the same units (javelins), sometimes i order them to go right and they just go left!

3. When is the right time to retreat after a cavalry charge? I usually let them to tramble a bit, and then i draw them back. But always 4-5 horses get trapped in enemy lines and get slaughtered. Even worse, some other horses withdraw fast while others just walk (waiting for the soon to be dead to come? i dunno). The result is my horse unit to become a complete mess. Is there any trick on this?

4. I read the guild guide and on the explorers, when you get the HQ, it opens a trade route to India. Is it something fancy, or just another trade rights agreement?

5.Do castles go rebel? How? When an ally has a city i want, i usually put 2-3 spies in ( i noticed they cause ''unrest'') and blow up their night clubs and churches with assassins to make them rebel. Is there another way to do it against castles? I really want Pamplona

6. What does my country reputation affect? I am reliable now, but i haven't seen any difference in getting what i want in diplomacy. Do i get attacked less?

I play on medium (yeah i know..) campaign and hard battle, M2TW 1.3 I have Kingdoms but there's no grand campaign to play.

Excuse me for the lengthy post... Thanks in advance!

[voca]

1. I think the number of bodyguards differ by rank? The faction leader and heir always have the most followed by family members and then generals. I don't think you can change the number.

2. Ranged units have the tendacy to lag in response to a fallback order. I am not sure why but I think it might be due to their reloading/firing sequence? I learnt the lesson and always order my ranged units to fall back before the enemy gets too close.

3. Usually I retreat immediately after the charge. In fact when the first 2 rows of my calvary hits the enemy I will order the fallback. If you let the calvary unit engage in melee for too long they might rout and usually in the direction of the closest spear...
I believe losing 3-4 soldiers on every charge is quite normal. But I try not to form up a line longer than the enemy rank. If not some of them might charge past the enemy rank and get stuck when you order them to fallback.

4. India? The only bonus I know of from explorer guild is movement points and lots of irritating quest to obtain settlements...

5. They do rebel if order falls really low for a few turns but really rarely it happens to AI...I planted 5 spies in a city and 2 assassins to destroy every buiding that gives order. I always manage to get the settlement order below 50% and rioting but AI always manage to repair everything and get order back above safe level. Its easier to send troops seriously. Btw, it works only on cities (if it even works that is). Pamplona is a castle and castles have solid order.

6. Kinda. If other people like you more, your alliance is more stable and neutral factions have less tendacy to point their spears at you. Honestly, I don't see the point. Having everyone hates you allows you to take any settlement you want and not feel bad.

[eXistenZ]

What do you mean with grand campaign? there is just short and long.

The explorer's guild HQ indeed opens up a route to india, i assume it's a money bonus ( a bit like the hanseatic league in teutonic campaign). But you get indeed a lot of irritating requests.

THe higher your reputation, the more friendly other factions are to you. In theory... In my experience, it doesn't matter that much whether you are nice or not to prisoners (which will affect your reputation the most). Most of them will backstab you, maybe a good reputation delays it for a few turns...

[MJDreamWalker13]

1) More important figures tend to have more bodyguards. Faction leaders and heirs, but also very good generals, the ones hardened by battle have more bodyguards. The generals get a variety of bonuses depending on their traits and ancillaries. The only way to catch an enemy general is to 'kill' him when he routs. I've never seen any good generals rout and the wimpy ones die quite quickly, so it's hard to catch any.

5) It's possible to make a castle riot, but it's far easier and quicker to attack it instead. Alternatively you can buy it off Portugal if you have the money, or demand it in exchange for some gold + 'accept or we will attack'.

[avion365]

1. How do i get more bodyguards for my generals? I found a lonely Moor general strolling in my lands and i attacked him with 2 of my generals and 3 units of dismounted feudal knights. He had like 32 soldiers while my gens had only 20. Also do the enemy generals have any bonus? I sandwiched him with my gens but he killed both units and he still had 24 bodyguards. Even when the foot knights attacked he managed to kill a large quantity of them before dying. Also could i capture him? How?

The number of units depends on the strategic experience(not combat), the enemy general probably had quite a few exp. thus could kill you generals easily, the way you capture him is by routing his unit and "killing" him while they are routing.

2. Is there a ''disobeying orders'' thing? I had some javelin cavalry (forgot the name, i play as spanish) and i harassed the enemy infantry. But when the enemy closed enough, i ordered them repeatedly to fall back and they just stayed there. They got caught and lost about 15 men before finally retreating. Also the same units (javelins), sometimes i order them to go right and they just go left!

that is probably just a bug, i know about "Charging with out orders" but what happened to you is proboly not that.

3. When is the right time to retreat after a cavalry charge? I usually let them to tramble a bit, and then i draw them back. But always 4-5 horses get trapped in enemy lines and get slaughtered. Even worse, some other horses withdraw fast while others just walk (waiting for the soon to be dead to come? i dunno). The result is my horse unit to become a complete mess. Is there any trick on this?

IDK, i put my horse units into a 2 deep formation and i lose about 2-3 hourses every time i charge, just let them stop from the initial charge than pull them out, thus they get the charge in but don't stay for the fighting, heavy cav. is for shock charges, only charge with them unless you need them to hold someone

4. I read the guild guide and on the explorers, when you get the HQ, it opens a trade route to India. Is it something fancy, or just another trade rights agreement?

i don't know much about this, it is probably just a trade boost, but it is not worth it, trust me, the explore guild has very annoying missions.

5.Do castles go rebel? How? When an ally has a city i want, i usually put 2-3 spies in ( i noticed they cause ''unrest'') and blow up their night clubs and churches with assassins to make them rebel. Is there another way to do it against castles? I really want Pamplona

assassinate the general in charge, other than that you are doenig the right thing if you don't just want to take it by force

6. What does my country reputation affect? I am reliable now, but i haven't seen any difference in getting what i want in diplomacy. Do i get attacked less?

yes, though i never manage to get there, since i am a blitz guy my rep is almost always untrustworthy.

Excuse me for the lengthy post... Thanks in advance!

its ok

[eXistenZ]

Ranged units (archers and horse archers) have a tendecy to not directly act on your order. Very annying when you want to pull them back behind your line, you'll learn to do it a bit sooner than you normally would do.

Also, there are a lot of guids here (on reputation and guilds too), i highly recommend them, they have helped me a lot Also don't be ashamed to ask questions on this forum the people will help you here. stupid questions don't exist, not asking is stupid

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52410

But i keep to my view that the AI will backstab you, no matter what your reputation is. Even with a royal marriage you aren't safe

[voca]

Even with a royal marriage you aren't safe

I hear you.

While playing as France, my heir married an English princess. 10 turns later we are at war.

[painter]

I hear you.

While playing as France, my heir married an English princess. 10 turns later we are at war.

Opposite here. While playing as England, Rufus married married Princess Constance of France. But three children and about twenty turns later, France laid siege to Caen and set up camp. When it happened however, I kept refusing to adopt new generals to much pain at times, until Queen Constance gave birth to her fourth child for Rufus. I was curious to know if she would bear another child or not and now I know.

[Radioman]

2. Is there a ''disobeying orders'' thing? I had some javelin cavalry (forgot the name, i play as spanish) and i harassed the enemy infantry. But when the enemy closed enough, i ordered them repeatedly to fall back and they just stayed there. They got caught and lost about 15 men before finally retreating. Also the same units (javelins), sometimes i order them to go right and they just go left!

Most Mounted missle units have a:

a. cantabrian_circle - this is a feature that will be hard to stop once
you've enabled it.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/9986/1125f.jpg
or
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/9656/1126.jpg

b. skirmish_mode - this is set for most missle units
before you start your battle.
This is more than likely the reason your units are
unresponsive...

To deselect skirmish mode just press the highlighted sword
button at the top of screen.
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/2500/1124v.jpg
or
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/6419/1127l.jpg

[Silverheart]

1. Your generals bodyguards increase numbers automatically over time, up to a maximum amount. Maximum amount is determined by the generals rank in the family.

2. All missile troops have "skrimish mode" toggled at the beginning of a battle automatically. Skirmish mode causes them to always try and stay a bit away from the enemy. Turn it off and they will do whatever you say.

3. Right time to retreat after a Cavalry charge depends on the situation. Usually you should just wait for about 3 seconds, or retreat right away if the enemy sends more troops towards the scene. When more enemies make contact, your Cavalry will always stay to fight them - so if more enemies have joined the fray when you retreat, you may need to order them to retreat again and again and again. In such situations, needless casualties are inevitable...

4. That´s just an historical fact, but unfortunately not a feature in the game. The Explorers Guild only increases movement points of troops trained in the settlement and offers an unusual amount of missions, regardless of which level the guild house is.

5. Castles may rebel just like cities, but because they naturally have high public order, it´s very hard to make them do so. It is actually better to try and win them as part in a diplomacy treaty with the owning faction, or by declaring and taking them by force.

6. Yes, high reputation makes other faction less inclined to attack you, and more likely to accept demanding proposals. It also causes your allies to be more keen of maintaining the alliance. More or less...

[shikaka]

1. Your generals bodyguards increase numbers automatically o

I don't know in MedII, but in RTW, the retinue members who gave personal security (shieldbearer, wrestler, gladiator, old servant, etc.) and the traits which gave personal security also increased the numbers of the general bodyguard unit.

[Ishan]

1. Your generals bodyguards increase numbers automatically over time, up to a maximum amount. Maximum amount is determined by the generals rank in the family.

They replenish automatically not increase it depends.....

I don't know in MedII, but in RTW, the retinue members who gave personal security (shieldbearer, wrestler, gladiator, old servant, etc.) and the traits which gave personal security also increased the numbers of the general bodyguard unit.

^This and it happens in Medieval 2 two also.

[GNU07]

Wow! Thank you everybody for the information and the links! It was more that i could hope.

a. cantabrian_circle - this is a feature that will be hard to stop once
you've enabled it.

2. All missile troops have "skirmish mode" toggled at the beginning of a battle automatically. Skirmish mode causes them to always try and stay a bit away from the enemy. Turn it off and they will do whatever you say.

Well cantabrian circle wasn't enabled because it's risky to use this formation with jinetes. Their range isn't that great, unlike horse archers.

''Skirmish mode'' might be the problem. I'll try it out in the next battle.

3. Right time to retreat after a Cavalry charge depends on the situation. Usually you should just wait for about 3 seconds, or retreat right away if the enemy sends more troops towards the scene. When more enemies make contact, your Cavalry will always stay to fight them - so if more enemies have joined the fray when you retreat, you may need to order them to retreat again and again and again. In such situations, needless casualties are inevitable...

I usually let them stay a bit, because with the initial contact, only a few enemy soldiers die. Then suddenly they start dropping massively like flies and i always have the pointer on their unit to watch their remaining men until there is only ~1/5 left. Only then i order my knights to retreat..

[Silverheart]

They die in massive numbers by the initial charge. It just takes a few seconds before the fallen actually count as dead.
Zoom in on a charge and you´ll see what I´m talking about
If you´re lucky, the lances impale several enemies, causing staggering casualties!

[Old Geezer]

The problem that you are having with the Jinetes not retreating fast enough or going the wrong directions sounds to me like you have selected them to attack a unit which is not the one closest to them. They are very fast (none faster) and should avoid melee with knights but sometimes they do get caught. The only way that I have found to lessen this (and it works well most of the time) is to make sure that each of your units is selected to attack a close enemy. Sometimes I have just selected all of them (Jinetes) to advance toward the center of the enemy or attack their general and sat back and done almost nothing. Surprisingly, they skirmish quite well on their own unless they get caught in a maelstrom of enemy units. Jinetes skirmish better, I think, than the Polish Nobles which have javelins also, because the Polish Nobles seem more eager to be valiant and stay and fight like nobles rather than run away - so they must be watched very closely.

[Argeleb]

Have to say, the stupidest thing CA made in idea to get game harder was making Campaign AI so keen on betrayals. It's so stupid when you have 25 regions and enemy has 4 and he attacks your full-garrison-castle with town militias.

[shikaka]

Have to say, the stupidest thing CA made in idea to get game harder was making Campaign AI so keen on betrayals. It's so stupid when you have 25 regions and enemy has 4 and he attacks your full-garrison-castle with town militias.

This is not annoying. The annoying this is that when they are defeated, they don't sign a vassal agreement even if you give back their original provinces.


The biggest powers in history (like you most likely will be in TW soon) always had troubles, because as the main power of the time, there were more expectations from him.

See Spain, the biggest empire of the reneissance, holding whole Iberia, southern italy, sicily, some casltes in North Africa, netherlands... Did the sheer power scare off anybody? No.
Within 1-2 centuries, they were fighting the much smaller English, the Cognac league (Florence-Pope-France), were fighting the ottos on sea and funding the defenses of Austria-Czechia-Hungary, were fighting in the Netherlands, their own rebel catalans. And they were continously poked by the pope to launch a crusade. This all led to successes of much smaller states. I mean Spain didn't have the power to crush rebels next door (OK, I hope I don't offend any portuguese members, but during Felipe IV viewed portuguese as traitors - I _guess_)

This is also similar with the German Empire WW1 times, or Russia (Crimean war), France (Napoleon), but also Eestern Rome, 'normal' Rome (). When you are rich (which is a result of might in the beginning) everyone wants a piece

[GNU07]

Turning off skirmish mode really did the trick for me! They are now very obedient and responsive to my orders. I guess the problem was that they were trying to stay away from melee due to ''skirmish mode'' so this overrided my own commands.

Have to say, the stupidest thing CA made in idea to get game harder was making Campaign AI so keen on betrayals. It's so stupid when you have 25 regions and enemy has 4 and he attacks your full-garrison-castle with town militias.

I disagree with this. At first i was thinking the same thing, but after downloading Retrofit mod and playing for a while, i loved the original M2TW AI. In retrofit, nobody attacks you, while everybody comes and begs for an alliance. I was playing as Holy Roman Empire to test the 2 handed units, and Sicily came 8-9 times asking for an alliance. I took Jerusalem through a Crusade, and the very next turn Egypt came and asked for ceasefire., while on normal M2TW they would call 6-7 Jihads to take it back. Everybody was kind, nobody ever betrayed me... It was a NIGHTMARE!

[midget_roxx]

It all depends on preference. If you like the AI gurenteeing to attack you then go play Vanilla, but if you like some order to MTW2 then go for a mod. Personally I like having allies that won't betray you over useless blockades