Love mod but confused on start, help needed

[zorphon]

Hey all.

I'm new to TATW, and just now trying it out. I find my M2TW Gold discs again and after a lot of Shogun 2 decided to try out M2TW+Stainless Steel again, but noticed that this mod has gotten big so am trying this too.

Unfortunately, no matter which faction I try the start of the campaign is hard for me. I tried a few custom battles and love the units and sieges and what-not, but in the campaign I just don't get it.

This may sound stupid, but I actually feel like the map is too large, or at least I'm too spaced out from everything.

And I recruit like every unit at my disposal from the cities I have to start with, but I run out of units to recruit and I don't understand how to get more.

In addition to those things, I also don't know what I'm doing and like the idea of Shogun 2 starting with like one province, you don't start overwhelmed.

So can you guys help a noobie out? Thanks in advance.

[Vice]

Well first of all you should try an easy faction to play with such as the High Elfs (if you like good factions) or Harad or Rhun (Evil factions)

[zorphon]

Well first of all you should try an easy faction to play with such as the High Elfs (if you like good factions) or Harad or Rhun (Evil factions)

I tried the Silvan Elves, but all the heretofore problems I mentioned are still occurring.

[Vice]

I tried the Silvan Elves, but all the heretofore problems I mentioned are still occurring.

I would not say the Silvan Elves are hard per say...but I would not say they were also easy per say either (At least for a new player)

Anyways onto your problems now I guess...First of all you should not recruit limitless amounts of soldiers...As this will give you very high upkeep and you will not be able to make a profit in your cities...Also the reason the units take long to recruit is to balance the game so you won't crush the AI right away (at least that's why I think it's there)

Be aware there are no Merchants in this mod...So you cannot make money with them as well. Like I stated before you should try the High Elves...they start with 4 or 5 cities as I recall...And only Imladris is in danger of being attacked...Make sure if you do that though you move your capital to one of your other cities along the coast (Mithlond for example)

Stay away from such factions as...

Gondor -As awesome as it may be to play them...they start with a 2 war front which is not easy to overcome...at least as a new player to this mod..

Free people of Eriador - They have a weak roster (except for their Dunedain units) And have a rather poor economy as well...

Both Orc specific factions as well are rather weak until you get Trolls...so I would not recommend either of them to a new player...

Also the Dwarfs can be somewhat challenging as they have poor ranged units (Axethrowers...and Crossbows) and basically no Calvary (have to hire Dale Calvary)

I am sure others can enlighten you on other tips or correct a miss statement or two of mine (if any)

[zorphon]

I would not say the Silvan Elves are hard per say...but I would not say they were also easy per say either (At least for a new player)

Anyways onto your problems now I guess...First of all you should not recruit limitless amounts of soldiers...As this will give you very high upkeep and you will not be able to make a profit in your cities...Also the reason the units take long to recruit is to balance the game so you won't crush the AI right away (at least that's why I think it's there)

Be aware there are no Merchants in this mod...So you cannot make money with them as well. Like I stated before you should try the High Elves...they start with 4 or 5 cities as I recall...And only Imladris is in danger of being attacked...Make sure if you do that though you move your capital to one of your other cities along the coast (Mithlond for example)

Stay away from such factions as...

Gondor -As awesome as it may be to play them...they start with a 2 war front which is not easy to overcome...at least as a new player to this mod..

Free people of Eriador - They have a weak roster (except for their Dunedain units) And have a rather poor economy as well...

Both Orc specific factions as well are rather weak until you get Trolls...so I would not recommend either of them to a new player...

Also the Dwarfs can be somewhat challenging as they have poor ranged units (Axethrowers...and Crossbows) and basically no Calvary (have to hire Dale Calvary)

I am sure others can enlighten you on other tips or correct a miss statement or two of mine (if any)

I see what you're saying. The problem is I have like vision of nothing.

[Mhaedros]

What do you mean with 'vision of nothing'? I agree with Vice that you should play High Elves as they are fairly easy. Play the battles yourself, rely on archers. Don't recruit too many soldiers, rather make good use of those you have. Make Imladris your military base, while you make the four Lindon territories to moneymakers.

[Bloodly]

He means he can't see where to go. There's no advisor to point out your first targets(Not that that would especially help) and by default you can't see enemy/neutral towns and castles on the map. Effectively, he has to guess, to which I can only say-you've got to suck it up and search blindly. Most factions start with a spy or two, so that can be a help.

I'm not saying it to be cruel, that's how it's been engineered. The large land spaces between towns don't help matters. Worse, many factions have no time to waste-they have specific offensive moves that are required to survive that must be done very quickly.

In case you hadn't guessed from "If it's too easy, you're not doing it right!", the mod is very unforgiving to the new player.

[Myoria]

What you could do just until you get a feel for the map i use the cheat toggle_fow which will allow you to see the whole map.

I think this spoils the gameplay but it IS helpful just to learn where the settlements are on the first playthrough.

As far as recruitment goes you need to learn to win with far less units than in a normal medII game. You simply don't have enough cash to keep buying new units all the time.

[dannyalex]

for the economy i dont believe that any faction is poor or rich in the beginning,u just need to build structures that gives u money growth trade ports and few military barracks,this way u will boost ur economy signfically,u need to explore the map observe the moves from hostile borders,use spies for that,as for the army of your state u dont need elite units in the start that are expensive and have high upkeep cause each turn u will damages and no profit,stick by 80 % to the army that exists from the start,try not to loose them in one battle,my personal target with Eriador is not make more army unless i have take some regions first use generals bodygurd from family tree not adopt new candidates for ur family tree except they are very good,each bodyguard comes with a high up keep,next,ur capital place is crusial i personally have Bree from the start ,if u change that u are going to loose some arounmd 5k in the next turns...thats for now....see my images from my campaign to give u an idea..i play at very hard / very hard and use baron samedi sub mod ( has some minor bugs )

edit ok cant post images,sorry

[Mhaedros]

Rhun, Harad, Dwarves and Gondor have very good starting economies. Rhun's got goldmines, Harad slaves and stuff, Dwarves mines as well and Gondor is designed so it's easy for the player to build a steady economy due to the two front war their in from the start of the game

[Captain Zoran]

Rhun, Harad, Dwarves and Gondor have very good starting economies. Rhun's got goldmines, Harad slaves and stuff, Dwarves mines as well and Gondor is designed so it's easy for the player to build a steady economy due to the two front war their in from the start of the game

My personal recommendation for new players is pretty much similar. Start with factions that have a good economical situation. There are alot of guides and tips for the different factions on this forum if you care to search abit. Most factions have key settlements that you should focus on apart from the capital. Natural chokepoints, castles etc that will allow you to defend your land effectivly before you feel strong enough to expand.

My personal choice for new players would be to play the dwarves. Apart from Dale mercenaires you have no cavalry and very few missle units, however your infantry easily outmatch the other factions, and because of this, you have a minimum of micromanagment in battles. Play it smart, keep your army conserved and go for economic development in your western regions and Erebor, and pretty soon you'll be able to field dangerous armies backed up by an good economy.

[nein]

try 2.0 its alot easier on the player, there is also alot more stack spam though

in 3.1 try rhun they are an easy faction to get wealthy with (focus on building mines and a port for that large town region - your capital)

use cavalry blitzkrieging to quickly sieze many regions

[Brewskin]

If you want to play a good faction, but want time to build up a bit, try either the Dwarves as Captain Zoran suggested or the High Elves as Maedhros did. The stunties can just roll over the northern orcs, and quickly secure their borders, plus have the bonus of fighting against Rhun and protecting Dale in the East. High Elves start in a really good position as well, and their archers ensure you won't have to buy many troops if used right. Just snatch up every rebel province you find and can get a couple of archers to, defend Imladris, build your economy, and pick a tribe of orcs to wipe out first.

Rhun or Harad if you want to serve the Dark One, definitely. Rhun's economy gets going fast, and both have good starting positions. Same basic strategy works for them, grab everything that isn't nailed down, build up, and go kill infidels.

Diplomats are important to my gameplay, and they can help out a lot early on, with trading map rights for cash and other's map info, as well as trade rights and alliances. Helps you find your way around as well as financing some early expansion, and friends are always good. Especially in TATW.

[Argeus the Paladin]

I've only played as Gondor, but I can testify that their economy need a lot of tweaking to get up and running. And luck, for that matter. You'll have to get used to the fact that at the beginning your profit margin is going to be so low that a bunch of bad traits can completely ruin the day.

Though when you have gotten it all set up, you can out-stack-spam Harad and Mordor.

[Bastard King]

Hey all.

I'm new to TATW, and just now trying it out. I find my M2TW Gold discs again and after a lot of Shogun 2 decided to try out M2TW+Stainless Steel again, but noticed that this mod has gotten big so am trying this too.

Unfortunately, no matter which faction I try the start of the campaign is hard for me. I tried a few custom battles and love the units and sieges and what-not, but in the campaign I just don't get it.

This may sound stupid, but I actually feel like the map is too large, or at least I'm too spaced out from everything.

And I recruit like every unit at my disposal from the cities I have to start with, but I run out of units to recruit and I don't understand how to get more.

In addition to those things, I also don't know what I'm doing and like the idea of Shogun 2 starting with like one province, you don't start overwhelmed.

So can you guys help a noobie out? Thanks in advance.

You run out of units because there is a recruitment pool. When you hover over a unit in the recruitment tab it will tell you how many more turns you have to wait before you are able to recruit that unit. Additionally, each faction has a type of area where they recruit fastest. Elves recruit quickly in forests. Dwarves and orc factions recruit fastest in mountain regions. Good human factions recruit fastest in grasslands. Evil humans recruit fastest in grasslands and deserts.

Another factor that affects recruitment is culture (basically the religion feature in vanilla M2TW). Most units require a minimum culture percent. Militia units are typically 25%. Mid level units usually need 50%. And your elite units need 75%+. This stops you from recruiting in newly conquered settlements that have a low% of your culture. You'll either have to recruit from your home regions and bring them to the front lines, or construct buildings that increase your culture level. You're gonna need a lot more planning when launching a major offensive against your enemies.

[Louis XVI]

Very important that you play all the battles yourself, especially with the good factions because then you will not run out of units because you win a lot of battles with one army.
Economy......., I never have much trouble with it.

[ThaDoews]

I've only played as Eriador/Arnor and economy suxx!
Get a diplomat around to talk with different nations, share maps and traderights. Then u'll know where the other forts and cities are
Trade rights is also never bad to have...

[Elven Warrior]

I've only played as Eriador/Arnor and economy suxx!
Get a diplomat around to talk with different nations, share maps and traderights. Then u'll know where the other forts and cities are
Trade rights is also never bad to have...

to get a good economy for eriador you basically do nothing but take the shire and the towns on the river which tharbad sits, (agrond Lond dear and tharbad) then sit around defending your territory and build economy structures for about 30 turn and you should have enough money to destroy the orcs

[Bloodly]

That's a point. Getting Alliances and Trade Rights to boost your trade income is absolutely vital as any faction. Hit everyone you can. Friends, enemies, doesn't matter. Get that trade.

[Spits32]

About the "vision of nothing". I found this extremely annoying when I first started playing the mod. Not having any idea where enemy/friendly settlements are, how many there are, how spaced out they are, where factions start (although I suppose you can figure this out from the select faction screen). It makes it very difficult to plan your starting strategy for the newcomer. But trying to attack someone like Harad or Rhun before you've played it long enough to have all the settlement locations memorized is extremely annoying and caused me to have 1-2 false starts for every campaign I did.

Eventually I just started up every campaign to see where the settlements were but that still doesn't help you with the rebel start settlements. I suppose you should just build spies. I dunno but my point is I can see where the OP is coming from, even though he obviously has problems with the other basic game mechanics.