Hi, new player here

**Desertcavalier** · January 04, 2011, 07:04 PM

So I have downloaded Medieval 2 total war and its expansion from steam today, and I have been glued to my computer screen ever since. Yesterday I was watching the movie Kingdom of heaven and it inspired me to get this game. Since I'm interested in history and war strategies I was quickly sucked into the game.

So the first thing I done was play a couple of custom battles to check out the gameplay and how it works, then I dived in into the crusade campaign playing as Egypt on normal. I've been doing pretty well so far won all my battles except for 2 (had like 10 battles), I also had the most unfortunate situation ever. Basically instead of wanting Saladin staying in Cairo all day, I wanted him to be in the thick of battle due to him being a powerful military commander. I had him in most of my battles, usually well defended and his battalion will only attack with backup nearby, but on one of my battles with the crusaders he was killed

. The funny thing is that I won that battle with only 60 something deaths due to me outnumbering his army, now what were the odds of Saladin the Caliphate of the Ayyubid dynasty ruling most of NorthAfrica dying in that battle.

Anyway I continued without him, while someone else took command. My next stop will be Jerusalem hopefully retaining it from those crusaders as most of my battles have been between Egypt and Jerusalem. So far im really enjoying, will look forward to hanging out in these forums.

**Leaf-Fan-Forever** · January 04, 2011, 07:40 PM

When I first started, I lost my General's a lot because of lone charges into the enemy when I thought the battle was won. I understand your pain. In the my first campaign I was the Crusaders (Jerusalem) and lost both Richard the Lionheart and Baldwin.

**Desertcavalier** · January 04, 2011, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by Leaf-Fan-Forever

When I first started, I lost my General's a lot because of lone charges into the enemy when I thought the battle was won. I understand your pain. In the my first campaign I was the Crusaders (Jerusalem) and lost both Richard the Lionheart and Baldwin.

Yh that was exactly what happened to me. I was winning the battle, he had small units scattered, some rioting other fighting for their life's, it just happened that Saladins battalion was fighting these small groups and that he was killed.

**rebelyell2006** · January 04, 2011, 07:47 PM

I think we all have our embarrassing/frustrating moments. There's nothing like forgetting to turn off fire at will mode and watching my generals get shot in the back as they chase fleeing enemy soldiers. Even worse is when my cavalry runs through my own longbow stakes.

**EmperorDan** · January 09, 2011, 04:35 AM

Originally Posted by rebelyell2006

I think we all have our embarrassing/frustrating moments. There's nothing like forgetting to turn off fire at will mode and watching my generals get shot in the back as they chase fleeing enemy soldiers. Even worse is when my cavalry runs through my own longbow stakes.

it happens to me painfuly often to charge my genral into the spikes...it is however a good strategy to kill the factions hair with traits like mad or incestous....

**Jambat** · January 09, 2011, 04:40 PM

When I first started playing I actually lost a general while mopping up a routing army. Pay attention to stakes on the ground Jambat, the staaaaakes!

It sounds like you are incredibly new to the game though, you might want to check out the Tutorial. It's actually a decent mini-campaign with some decent beginner tactics that help you with things like staggering units in combat, reliable hammer and anvil tactics with cavalry, seige's...not required by any means but was helpful to me.

**Bowden** · January 09, 2011, 05:05 PM

I once lost no man but the general.
Sometimes, it's ridiculous.

Their general needs 10283918239081203 hits do die and mine falls by one hit.... Pathetic.

**zekic** · January 10, 2011, 04:18 AM

Their general needs 10283918239081203 hits do die and mine falls by one hit

Agree..at my apachee companing i see theyr general to taste about 15 bullets before he dies :O still when he is routing and cavalery gets into malee he dies quite quickly however its very hard to catch up and kill enemy general on grand campaning who got some distance..

**Sulfurion Blackfyre** · January 10, 2011, 05:38 AM

I rarely loose my generals to combat because I keep them safe and only use them to chase routing units when I'm sure there is no danger for him or when it's a full rout. But I've had my surprises too where I got completely caught offguard by their deaths, the "WTF!" moments, especially in those 2 cases where I was grooming them to be excellent generals, and then.. it actually kind of hurts and you get a feeling of loss haha.

**zekic** · January 10, 2011, 06:22 AM

I only lose my generals when i roleplay and send them to fight enemy general 1vs1

or in very close battles.But i remember one very nice moment when my army was losing however i was able to get theyr general out of others and they fought 1vs1 in the end it was 3 of mine and only they general.Theyr general died however with last breath he attacked my general and killed him to :O.It was amazing to see how they both hit eachother and die.
And one more thing my generals never die if i not get em battle for longer then 10s so i usually use them as regular cavalary

**Silverheart** · January 10, 2011, 07:34 AM

It is generally wise to use the generals´ bodyguard as regular heavy cavalry.
You don´t even need to worry that much about the general, since he is often the last to die (unless he is in the middle of the fray), so just retreat them and charge again when they start taking casualties.

I also have a nice memory of a campaign as Ireland in Brittannia, where my general was THE LAST GUY left in my army, and he WON! All on his own!
He killed the enemy general (in 1vs1 combat) and charged right into the last enemy infantry (about 20 swordsmen) and the cowards start to rout! "Oh no, it´s a single, tired, badly hurt guy coming at us on an exhausted horse! Run for your lives!"

**EmperorDan** · January 10, 2011, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by Silverheart

It is generally wise to use the generals´ bodyguard as regular heavy cavalry.
You don´t even need to worry that much about the general, since he is often the last to die (unless he is in the middle of the fray), so just retreat them and charge again when they start taking casualties.

I also have a nice memory of a campaign as Ireland in Brittannia, where my general was THE LAST GUY left in my army, and he WON! All on his own!
He killed the enemy general (in 1vs1 combat) and charged right into the last enemy infantry (about 20 swordsmen) and the cowards start to rout! "Oh no, it´s a single, tired, badly hurt guy coming at us on an exhausted horse! Run for your lives!"

i don`t use his bodyguards since i need to babysit them and i have, like, 19 other units to look for...he is there, only to sound the horn, if needed...

**General Dithrick** · January 10, 2011, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Silverheart

It is generally wise to use the generals´ bodyguard as regular heavy cavalry.
You don´t even need to worry that much about the general, since he is often the last to die (unless he is in the middle of the fray), so just retreat them and charge again when they start taking casualties.

I also have a nice memory of a campaign as Ireland in Brittannia, where my general was THE LAST GUY left in my army, and he WON! All on his own!
He killed the enemy general (in 1vs1 combat) and charged right into the last enemy infantry (about 20 swordsmen) and the cowards start to rout! "Oh no, it´s a single, tired, badly hurt guy coming at us on an exhausted horse! Run for your lives!"

Truly, the best computer generated Medieval soldier who had ever lived.

**DennisRoos** · January 11, 2011, 06:23 AM

I once played the historical battle of Otumba (the one where you fight as Spain against lots of Aztecs) and I was winning and all the Aztecs were routing and there was only a group of 12 noob militia archers left and they fire at my general who still has most of his bodyguard and they killed him and I automatically lost the battle

. Damn archers

**zekic** · January 11, 2011, 07:14 AM

You don´t even need to worry that much about the general, since he is often the last to die (unless he is in the middle of the fray), so just retreat them and charge again when they start taking casualties.

Often but not always yesterday my bodyguards were attacking theyr archers and got in close contact with theyr infantry for 4-5s.The only one of bodyguards died..it was general...this was so furstrating that had instantly clicked Quit and reloeaded autosave...

**Double A** · January 11, 2011, 09:05 AM

Good and high chiv generals are better for defense. If you repetedly win battles, it's no big deal you lost Saladin. His special ability makes him a little better than the other generals, but personally, the only one I find any useful is the Byzantine emperor's one (and he's in his 50s). If you had a high dread, guy, though, that would be sad. I would send flowers... of DOOM!

FYI, don't charge infantry with cavalry in the front, unless they're peasants or a ranged unit. Flanking lowers morale and its less likely cavalry dies that way (weapons turned the other way). And always pull out when the melee fighting starts, and then charge again. Cavalry are not good melee fighters unless they're Norse War Clerics or Cataphracts.