Why production go down?

**jossilva** · December 31, 2011, 04:11 AM

Hi, guys.
I'm try play with the Silven Elves, and i got always the same problem, money.
i got 2 stacks, one in the south defending from mordor and the other in the west,
defending orc of m.m.
i have trade agreement, i change de capital th de midle of empire(Ost-in-gil), 12 regions.
it´s impossivel play without money.
Any idea?
Thanks.

**Mhaedros** · December 31, 2011, 04:45 AM

Instead of recruiting lots of new units in the beginning you should build markets, land clearances etc.

EDIT: 1400 post

**Keyser_Soze** · December 31, 2011, 05:09 AM

Build up your economy before you make a big commitment to war. Take rebel settlements (there are a lot around the silvan elves territory)- your economy should be strong after you take all rebel settlements. Develop the economies of all these settlements. Only after this should you try and take to war with mordor, or even the OOTMM. You don't require a large army to take rebel settlements, but you do to go to war with another faction, especially mordor.
Silvan Elves are a faction that emphasises unit quality, while mordor and OOTMM are factions that emphasise quantity. Even so, it is possible for Mordor and OOTMM to have 5000 in one stack, and that is a frightening sight, given that a silvan elves stack will rarely be above 2500. Choose your battles, as you can easily screw up.

Little point in making stacks out of basic units early on, when you're just going to disband them once you can make powerful, advanced units later- Even when your economy is massive, building stacks will strain it to the limit, especially when construction becomes more and more expensive.

**Artorius798** · December 31, 2011, 06:35 AM

I never play with huge setting because it doesnt work properly in towns and on walls with huge units. I play with normal sized units but still, evil stacks usually are twice as big as mine as Rohan.

And ffs.... I raided Mordor with an elite army led by Theoden... As I took cities in the heart of their territory, I lost most of my troops but because I focused on sieging as many cities as possible, I gave all the cities I captured to allies to not waste troops to defend them but now Theoden is stuck in the area near Sauron's tower cause I cannot pass! Grrrrrr I will have to gather another huge army, head over there to free Theoden hoping he do not get zerged meanwhile.

As for economy, yeah, sounds about normal to only support 2 full army with 12 provinces... I have like 18 with Rohan passed 200 turns and I can also only afford 2 full army or maybe 3 but then my economy gets red...

Not to mention that with over 6000-7000 units on the battlefield it gets laggy even with a strong computer because medieval 2 isn't very well optimised for new hardware.

**Keyser_Soze** · December 31, 2011, 06:50 AM

controlling about 35 with Gondor on turn 200 (reunited kingdom on baron samedi's), and struggle to maintain more than maybe 3 mobile stacks, this is when minas tirith's economy is something like 4800, and umbar's is 3500 (and maxed out). This is why it is necessary to pick your battles. An entire fresh stack can be destroyed in a single battle if you're not careful. Lost an entire new stack besieging isengard when 2 stacks trapped me, forcing me to fight 3- I had 4 units of swan knights and about 5 blackroot archers, and it was still a massive failure. No matter how powerful an army, if the other side has superior units, you may still fail.

**FC Groningen** · December 31, 2011, 06:57 AM

If you manage to rush/kick Mordor out of Mirkwood, you should be good for a while. The longer you wait, the more stacks will spawn out of nothing on your doorstep. Gather about half a stack with a good general and besiege Dol Guldur, directly east of Caras Caladhorn. Bring spears to counter Khamul.

**IHV** · December 31, 2011, 07:06 AM

Nothing to do im afraid. Third Age is developed the way that you HAVE TO conquer half the Middle-Earth in order to fund your kingdom. It is ment to be played full out war and you need to start getting new reigons at the start. I always have to edit the files if i want to enjoy the game and play it more RP style and not get overrun by enemy. Dwarves for example, if you want to stik with mountains get some mines etc , its not possible, eventually you be overrun by orcs and rhun.

**Artorius798** · December 31, 2011, 07:12 AM

Well, defending isn't a problem for me, 1-2 stack with good garrison on all settlements are enough to defend, if you do lose a town with 3-4 units in garrison because they sieged it with a full army just take it back a couple turn after with your army, they never defend their captured towns. Meh, I saw Mordor leave Sauron alone with 1 unit of uruk halberds or something like that in a small town they took from me... A couple turns later I killed them all with Ents...

The problem is to invade far away regions like Mordor because I need to send all my troops over there, destroying my economy and leaving my kingdom pretty much defenseless. Unless I try to capture nearby territories but they are all owned by good factions now...

**Mhaedros** · December 31, 2011, 07:13 AM

@IHV: That's not true at all. Around turn 70 I'm almost always the richest faction even if I support 3 full stacks and not that many cities

**Lazy** · December 31, 2011, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by jossilva

Hi, guys.
I'm try play with the Silven Elves, and i got always the same problem, money.
i got 2 stacks, one in the south defending from mordor and the other in the west,
defending orc of m.m.
i have trade agreement, i change de capital th de midle of empire(Ost-in-gil), 12 regions.
it´s impossivel play without money.
Any idea?
Thanks.

With Silvan Elves the beginning of the campaign is a bit tricky...
What I do is i do not build any units!
That is the most important part that is usually considered as dump by many other people...
I use my money to build markets and fields => stuff that gives you money!
I put all of my bodyguards in one army... now I have an unbeatable army that has not to be retrained as bodyguards replenish by themselfs!
With that army I conquer some rebel settlements first as fast as possible... besiege the rebels with less units then the rebels have... at least 2 less!
They will sally out in the very first turn => your units are superior archers + in melee they are superior to any rebel unit => heroic victory every time... if you turn skirmish mode on you do not even have to touch the mouse!
Let the not needed generals stand around near that or send them to the next... If you attack the orcs with such an army concentrate your fire at the wargs always... then turn on skirmish mode

build units only after you see you have more money then you need... In my case it was about 20000 gold on my account when I started recruiting...
Use these to fend off armies that come from moria... that will be a struggle as you will have to retrain units for the first time!

of course you will loose from time to time a settlement to an army that came from moria... but you can get them back!
Dol Guldur is a bit tricky too... hide some units in the woods near that and wait... you can kill of most of them with ambushes! then besiege them...

**TWWolfe** · December 31, 2011, 03:02 PM

Dol Guldor usually has a 1-2 unit stack right outside it, So i find its easier to sneak 1/4 stack in there, fight that stack to draw out enemies in the city, and beat them in a field battle, rather than a siege.

**webba84** · January 01, 2012, 08:29 AM

I can agree with that, as elves you always want to draw enemies out and fight them in a field battle where your archers can kite. Assaulting cities gets way too many of your guys killed.