Help a Newb!

[BoPoMoFo]

I have played RTW for awhile, and now I am playing MTW2. Just like most newbies, I have tons of questions.

1) One of my town needs to expand into a city. I checked the construction list, and there doesn't seem to be a building that I can build to expand. So how do I do it?

2) How does merchant work? How do they make business?

Thanks!

[DinkyDonkey]

Well in rome total war build roads first followed by a market, and keep upgrading the govnerners buildings.

(ops never mind, realized this is for medieval 2 total war and not rome total war) lol

[ChrisG]

Hi!
1) A wall icon will appear on the costruction list when the population reach the needed number
2) select your merchant and put him on a resource on the map
(resources like tin,silver.gold,wool).

[diez]

yeah u build walls to expand...they will appear one u reach the needed population
u can also use the merchant to trade with other merchant.
the "acquisition" as it is called,can fail,and nothing happens,success and the other merchant dissapears and u take his money,or backfire,and the opposite from the last happens,ur merchant dissapears etc.

[eXistenZ]

a very usefull merchant guide:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=230023

If used right they can be big moneymakers

Just like in rome, population needs a certain level before you can xpand. unlike like in rome, recruiting doesnt influence population

[Diamond]

Village -> town requires wooden palisade
town -> large town requires wooden wall
large town -> minor city requires stone wall
minor city -> large city requires large stone wall
large city -> huge city requires huge stone wall

Use these icons on the construction list to expand your city. Instead of administrative buildings like in Rome, you use walls in Medieval

[Fireright]

Town 400 Wooden Palisade
Large Town 2,000 Wooden Wall
City 6,000 Stone Wall
Large City 12,000 Large Stone Wall
Huge City 24,000 Huge Stone Wall
Fortress 4,500 2 Stone Walls
Citadel 9,000 3 Stone Walls

Usually wise to convert military settlements on coasts/islands into towns/cities to maximise trade income and get the florins rolling in.

[Drustan]

Unlike rome, you expand cities by upgrading the walls rather than government buildings, this confused me for a while too

[Fireright]

Regarding the merchant stuff, I seem to recall an exploit whereby building a fort on a resource then packing it with merchants would both ratchet up the income immensely and protect merchants from enemy acquisition and maybe assassination and all that. I can't recall if it still works or was removed in a later patch?

I seldom bother with merchants, too much micro for my taste.

[Tidybeard]

I tried it on one of the gold sites near Timbuktu but it wouldn't let me build one. For shame!

[eXistenZ]

Yeah that trick exist, but i prefer to spread out my merchants. getting other merchants assets brings a lot of money in too.

[PrestigeX]

You might not have enough money yet to Upgrade the city ? If the message came for that settlement to be able to Upgrade (ie, population grown, need bigger place) just make sure you're on the correct place. -

(i've been playing mtw series , minus rome, since shogun one and man it does get confusing sometimes all the heads-up messages / battles / things that come up certain turns)

Merchant -- the better the building, and settlement (trade wise) they come from - the better they will be, but ofcourse they get points while 'in the field' -- Certain reasources worth a lot more than others, and I find it helps to send them farther away to yield high profits -- but also keep a core on your own lands, that are trading medium-income reasources. You'll see after playing a few campaigns where most of the resources can be found..

In general tho, there's gold in Timbuktu & Ivory & Slaves -- all worth a lot, sending merchants 1-2 that far takes a while but afterward its prolly a 1,000 plus revenue source.
Russia / North East -- lots of amber, and bear fur - also worth a lot.

France = wine ,sometimes worth a lot depending who you play as.

Middle-East -- spices, silk, sugar -- all worth a lot.

[the new username]

1) u need to reach a certain population, then a message will appear saying that u can upgrade the city/castle
2)merchants are very useful. send them to resources that are far from ur captial(value ones like silk, gold spices etc..)if u are the only trading in random region one determinate resource u will get a monoploy. ur merchants income from that resource will increase and probably they will get the title"monopolist" that gives them points