Guide to playing England?

**jackbush** · March 17, 2012, 07:04 AM

Can someone suggest a guide to playing as England in M2TW vanilla? I've been playing at medium difficulty and having a very difficult time expanding beyond the Scotland and Ireland borders. I can't seem to get the money thing going in order to build up sufficient armed strength other than to hang on to Caen. Any help would be appreciated.

**complete noob:(** · March 17, 2012, 07:10 AM

Here is an opening moves guide

http://medieval2.heavengames.com/m2t...d-1/index.html

**jackbush** · March 17, 2012, 07:21 AM

Thanks, looks good!

**eXistenZ** · March 17, 2012, 07:43 AM

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

this might also be very helpfull in future

**Double A** · March 17, 2012, 12:32 PM

Build half a stack of longbowmen, 8 infantry, and 2 cavalry (inc. general) (give or take 2 from any, but min. 2 cav.)
Attack stronger army
Find hill
Deploy stakes so your infantry are protected by them
Move longbows behind meatshields
Kill everything
Repeat

Also read this.

**jackbush** · March 17, 2012, 08:12 PM

Which unit can you "deploy stakes" with -- infantry? Is that levy spearmen or dismounted knights? Or what?

**mesor** · March 17, 2012, 08:40 PM

The longbows deploy the stake's so you have to start the fight then move infantry forward and bows back because in the deployment phase the stakes stay with the bowmen so you cant form them up properly until you begin the fight.

**Sitalkes** · March 18, 2012, 06:25 AM

Note that you can only deploy stakes at the start of the battle. Look for the special abilities button during deployment ( shows shilltron for spearmen, flaming arrows for normal archers etc). During deployment you can put them down and pick them up as often as you like but they will be fixed where you left them at the end of deployment. Don't put them where you might want to charge your own cavalry through them as this will kill your cavalry (OK to walk through them only).If you have more archers than your opponent then the AI should attack you despite your favourable position.

**Diamond** · March 18, 2012, 09:17 AM

Use this picture to set up your army composition: (the brown lines are stakes, sorry for my poor artistic abilities)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

As for your campaign, build a ballista maker in one of your cities, preferably Nottingham. Outfit each of your armies with two ballistas, replacing one cavalry (so you have one on each wing, and your general behind your longbows) and one longbow. You should need two of these armies. Attack both Edinburgh and Inverness on the same turn (so that means marching through Scotland) and assault right away, blowing holes in the walls with ballistas. The reason you're attacking both on the same turn and assaulting right away is so you don't get the mission "Cease Hostilities" from the Pope with a threat of excommunication. If you win both cities and it goes according to plan, you should take both cities, and not hear a word from the Pope because Scotland no longer exists.

Unless you're God at managing your economy, then you should go into debt paying these armies. Don't fret, Edinburgh gives a lot of tax money and you can disband as many units as you need afterwards.

**Sitalkes** · March 18, 2012, 08:32 PM

[QUOTE=Diamond;11183354]Use this picture to set up your army composition: (the brown lines are stakes, sorry for my poor artistic abilities)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

QUOTE]

Overall that plan is sound but you should not put the infantry in front of the longbows unless you are on a hill steep enough to give the longbows a clear shot over the infantry - archers work best when they are given a clear shot. Longbowmen can usually dish out a good deal of damage and hold on long enough for infantry and cavalry to attack from the flanks. Note that the stakes do not cover the frontage completely, there will be gaps betwen the units and the AI will concentrate on attacking those gaps. That's where you need some supporting infantry behind the longbowmen - tell them to charge through at the appropriate moment to protect the longbowmen. You should only need a thin line of infantry behind the longbowmen. It might depend on what difficulty you are playing at, as at VH the enemy cavalry will try to get at your flanks so some spearmen on the flanks of the longbowmen may be necessary.

**Double A** · March 18, 2012, 08:18 PM

If you just invade Yorkshire and leave Wales for later, you can usually catch the Scots before they get Inverness.

It would be awesome if you could play M2 as England or Scotland without being forced to kill the other faction on the Isles. They're both perfect for fighting each other.

**Double A** · March 19, 2012, 01:43 AM

archers work best when they are given a clear shot.

They're also lance bait when given a clear shot. Not as true for longbows, but swordsmen can still charge pretty fast. I prefer to take my chances by moving them behind my line so they can fire uninterrupted.

Note that the stakes do not cover the frontage completely, there will be gaps betwen the units and the AI will concentrate on attacking those gaps.

Or you could just place each unit so there's no gap.

so some spearmen on the flanks of the longbowmen

Or you could just make a corner with the stakes.