2 things I'm wondering about M2TW

[Germanicus75]

1) anyone know if it will be possible to have 3-way (or more) campaign battles as in MTW and will it be possible to declare war on an ally on the battlemap simply by attacking him?
I think this would bring a whole new dimension to the game.

2) Knights. I'm not an expert on the late medieval period but I know knights took years to train, lots of resources and were rather thin on the ground. I reckon there ought to be no more than 1-2 units of knights per full army (indeed, did knights go to battle in pre-definied "units" anyway?). So I'm worried about the screenies showing loads of knights. How realistic would it be to have an army sporting several units of knights (mounted or foot)?

Despite these concerns and other concerns people are raising, I reckon the new game will be great. Rome was a brilliant game - despite some obvious flaws - so if this game looks better than Rome and has better AI, I fail to see how it can be anything other than terrific.

Cheers, Germanicus91

[Markas]

1) anyone know if it will be possible to have 3-way (or more) campaign battles as in MTW and will it be possible to declare war on an ally on the battlemap simply by attacking him?

Yeah I'd like to see that but the problem is the RTW-style campaign map makes it nigh-on impossible to join forces with allied factions (i'm assuming thats what you meant) unless you're adjacent on the map when battle comences. In MTW it was so much easier.

Perhaps if you have movement left during the enemies turn you get a pop-up saying-

'My Lord, your noble allies are engaging in battle. Their enemies are the French. Your relations with the French are wary. Engage?' etc etc.

Just a thought.

[Byte]

For (1) i dont think they will lose time coding that.
For (2) most people like seeing knights on the battlefield. If you want you can wait for a realism mod where 2/3 of the units will wear white t-shirts as armor and half of them wont even wear helmets. Fun! :tooth:

[CrazedClown]

Yes aren’t we all looking forward to the realism mod sponsored by Bob’s T-Shirt Emporium.

[The Mongol]

I would love to actually get involved in battles with allies. It would be very fun and your reputation would go up with them. You could have some strong ties with another faction if you helped them out alot. Only once or twice of playing RTW I've had an ally help me and I've only helped an ally once because I never know if they're fighting.

Hopefully CA considers this, it would add much more to the campaign map imo. Alliances in RTW feel nothing more than being neutral.

[Barbarian-Bob]

1) anyone know if it will be possible to have 3-way (or more) campaign battles as in MTW and will it be possible to declare war on an ally on the battlemap simply by attacking him?
I think this would bring a whole new dimension to the game.

As said earlier, it is possible, (it's always been) but ever since the transition to the 3d campaign map it's a lot more rare. Don't think it's possible to declare war on the battlefield, but I agree, that would be nice, just like in MTW1.

2) Knights. I'm not an expert on the late medieval period but I know knights took years to train, lots of resources and were rather thin on the ground. I reckon there ought to be no more than 1-2 units of knights per full army (indeed, did knights go to battle in pre-definied "units" anyway?). So I'm worried about the screenies showing loads of knights. How realistic would it be to have an army sporting several units of knights (mounted or foot)?

Remember, knights are not "trained", they are of aristocratic family, and are therefore rare.
I don't think you should worry about loads of knights, though. They've got a new recruitment system, remember? You can probably train only a few knights at a time.
Also, I think nobles generally lead their own men, "drafted" from the knight's land (ie. peasants) and perhaps hired professional soldiers.
Though knights were generally rare, there were a lot of them present in the famous battles like Agincourt and Crecy. The French had a lot of support from the nobles at the time, so it is not unthinkable that knights were gathered in large numbers (though if they actually acted as a unit as such, I don't know)

[Ringeck]

Remember, knights are not "trained", they are of aristocratic family, and are therefore rare.

Knights were definitely trained - to function as one you needed a long period of preconditioning. Look in the early chapters of William Marshal's biography by John D'Erlay (his squire), M888 Pierpoing Morgan Library Catalogue, for some detail on the process in the early 13th century. From the 12th century overall on there's a wealth of sources describing the training processes for young milites-to-be. Their availability and numbers depend on the period, the geographic region, and the local conditions. Also note that "knights" weren't necessarily always nobles - the german ministeriales were often not even yeomen, and the men-at-arms common in the 13th and 14th century needed not be nobility - they just needed the kit and training. The tactical grouping of knights and other heavy cavalry depends on the period - multiples of 3, 10, 20 and 30 (and many more) are mentioned (sized up into larger groups for larger conflicts). Sometimes the recruitment base differed from the deployment unit - the french l'ordonnance lances fourniers consisted of a knight, his squire, two men-at-arms, and three archers, who would typically not fight together.

[SaberHRE]

Well the thing is what would you call a knight in the late medieval period. Certainly a landowner with his own coat-of-arms, a document of legitimacy(family tree or such) etc. But by the late period, many non-aristocrats(or poverty stricken aristocrats) served and fought like knights. Those men could support their horses and armour. Thats why you saw the resembling appearance of "men-at-arms" in MTW 1 to feudal knights and chivalric knights.

[Logue]

Well from what I've seen the recruitment system has been changed so its a more fuedal based system.

[Aristocrat]

If CA would make battlefields larger and coded it in so that armies within a 10 movement point radius of battles could join it then battles between three factions would be much more likely.

[Shadow_Imperator]

If CA would make battlefields larger and coded it in so that armies within a 10 movement point radius of battles could join it then battles between three factions would be much more likely.

Or than any army with their remaining movements points could reach the battle, but, as per se`, the distance from the battlefield should dictate the time it takes to reach it in real time battle mode.

I myself, would like an amalgamation of both the MTW and RTW reinforcement systems.... In a pre battle menu, I'd like to be able to choose which units will go directly under my command, whihc units are to arrive onto the battlefield under the command of an AI controlled general, and other part were I can leave units off the field and use them as replacements in an MTW sense....