Good day!

Here are some tips and tricks that will come in handy as you progress through the campaign. Some of them will be useful only to beginners, but you may not know about others after playing this wonderful game for many hours.

1) If you place a fleet in the area of ​​the green arrow (crossing the straits), then the enemy army will not be able to pass! For example, you can do this in the area of ​​Constantinople to block the path of the Crusades.
2) If there is a plague in your cities, use this and ruin the life of the enemy! Hire spies in the infected city and send them to enemy cities and villages. Even after the epidemic subsides, your spy will still be infected, because... will become infected in the cities that he himself infected. This can greatly undermine the economy of enemy factions and helps weaken their pressure on you.
3) If your princess does not get married before the age of 40, then at the age of 40 she will go to a monastery and disappear from the map.
4) On a small fleet we put a couple of generals, a small army with siege weapons, 2 spies, and about 5 assassins, and the whole gang goes along the coast. We stop near a town we like, send spies there, then saboteurs, provoke a revolution and ultimately conquer the rebellious city. With such a simple maneuver you can conquer many regions without going to war.
5) Do not keep your army in one place for a long time, especially without generals and in regions where there is a high percentage of heresy. She may become rebellious.
6) Do not leave a weak garrison in a border city with an ally, otherwise you are guaranteed problems for the entire garrison. Don't provoke your ally into betrayal =)
7) If you marry the princess of your faction to a general of another faction, who sits alone in the city, you can arrange a very serious adventure - the commander will leave the city and can either immediately take the city (and plunder it) or hire mercenaries and hold it. The city can also be given to the best ally for the balance of power in the region (if necessary), or given to the Pope.
8) Build observation towers! In illuminated territory, there is less chance that your army will turn into a rebel during the transition.
9) Often, even an observation tower (even if it is very close) cannot see an army hidden in the forest.
10) Left clicking on someone else's army will show a yellow area - the limits within which it can go in the next turn.
11) Right clicking on the icon of the commander of the enemy army, if two armies met before the battle, will show the full composition and number of enemy troops.
12) If your mixed army wants to besiege a city, but is exactly one step short of doing so, first besiege the city with cavalry, and then add all the remaining infantry to it, as well as siege weapons, if any. Don't take the whole army in your arms - the army moves at the speed of the slowest unit in it. Otherwise, you will approach the city, and at the “attack” command a red arrow will appear, symbolizing the next move. The same can be done when disembarking from ships.
13) If you place two fleets side by side, you can transfer an army from one to the other. In the same way, the cavalry can be landed on the shore before the rest.
14) If the city has Cathedral, then you shouldn’t hire merchants there, because they can get the trait "religious", which gives a trade reduction of -1.
15) To find out which way your army will go, you need to select the army, hold down the right mouse button and move it along the map, the route will be shown. If you don’t want to move this army, then release the right mouse button on the army itself, it won’t go anywhere.

In this article we will talk about tactical battles in Medieval II. Of course, you can entrust them to the computer - but if you do this all the time, then why did you install this game? After all, they are perhaps the most interesting part of it. In Kingdoms it has become even better: new features have been added and annoying bugs have been eliminated. And although artificial intelligence is inferior to humans, it still fully lives up to its name: don’t expect an easy life. There are many different paths to victory, as elsewhere in this game, and I won’t try to give you clear instructions. Rather, I will try to systematize my knowledge. Well, let's get started: to arms, gentlemen!

The richer we are, the more we will join the ranks

First, let's look at what kind of troops are at our disposal and how best to use them. Naturally, we have infantry, which we will immediately divide into melee fighters (we will continue to call them infantry) and riflemen, cavalry and artillery. We will not talk about the fleet in this article - tactical mode naval battles They promise only in the next game in the series.

Blade Masters

Different types of infantry, of course, differ greatly from each other. Cities supply simple militias - not outstanding fighters, who take only numbers. They are of little use in the field - heavy cavalry can destroy such a detachment with one blow. But in the cramped streets, the horsemen cannot accelerate, and 2-3 detachments of spearmen can inflict considerable damage on the enemy, blocking a gate or a gap in the wall. It is also important that for the benefit of their hometown, a certain number of troops are ready to serve for free, and a strong garrison improves the mood of the inhabitants - so that the money spent will quickly pay off due to higher taxes. In the rear, it is quite possible not to hire other troops, but on the border it is necessary to keep more professional soldiers. Later, citizens with firearms can be added to this number.

Shields and armor

You probably noticed that the squad's defense consists of armor, a shield and fencing skill. This is taken into account when calculating damage for different types weapons and direction of attack.

Anyone attacked from the front or left receives full protection; when attacking from the right, the shield does not bring any benefit, and when attacking from behind, both the shield and the skill are ignored.

In addition, some types of weapons (for example, halberds) have the property of piercing armor - then the effect of armor is halved. Arrows completely ignore the skill (not for witchers, tea, to hit bolts on the fly), and for crossbowmen and the best archers they are also armor-piercing. Well, firearms ignore all but half armor protection.

As you can see, it doesn’t matter from which side the musketeers shoot, the effect will be the same.

Glorious sons of the fatherland are brought up in castles. Buildings that produce the best units are not cheap, so I recommend choosing a specialization for each of them - heavy infantry, cavalry and archers - and purposefully building the corresponding line to the maximum. As a result of mass purchases of one type of troops, the corresponding guild may show interest in the castle. She will pass on valuable experience to new recruits and can train special elite troops - for example, the Sherwood shooters in the English guild of lumberjacks.

You cannot step into the same river twice. Many of them will not be able to get out of it even once.

Different types of heavy infantry differ significantly in their parameters: warriors with shields have lower attack, but much higher defense. Who to choose depends on your strategy: if you are forced to attack with infantry, then take units that cause more damage. Yes they will more losses from enemy archers, but there’s no shooting range right there—you won’t have enough time to shoot. If your main tools are riflemen and cavalry, choose troops with maximum survivability. Their task is to engage as many opponents as possible in small numbers and hold them back, preventing them from reaching vulnerable archers. Well, and hope that the cavalry is about to be freed from more pressing matters and strike the enemy in the rear. How many opponents the infantry will defeat by this moment is not of fundamental importance: it is assumed that such a cavalry strike will cause the enemy to scatter and it will not be difficult to complete the battle.

On a note: It is better for infantry to fight in winter - many units have an advantage in the snow. The cavalry is not allowed skis, and they don’t sew fur coats on their horses. Sometimes it’s worth waiting to attack in order to fight at the right time of year.

Pay attention to such a parameter as the salary of your units. Often, with very similar combat characteristics, new types of troops differ from those already known by it - this is the case, for example, with the English dismounted feudal knights and heavy swordsmen.

Homework: a squad of 60 knights requires 250 florins per turn. What part of a florin is the smallest coin of change if a knight can subsist on 2 florins a year?

Medieval troops

A description of the self-defense forces of Maastricht, besieged in 1407 by the inhabitants of Liege, has been preserved.

Each house fielded one fighter with its own weapon and simple armor - a chain mail shirt or thick leather jacket, wearing a helmet or leather cap. Of course, wealthy citizens took better care of their lives and bought more serious armor. The number of militias is estimated at 2000.

In addition, there was a guild of St. George, which united crossbowmen. The charter of 1380 required them only to wear a leather jacket and a metal or leather helmet.

But the guild of archers, already founded in 1408, made higher demands: a metal cuirass, edged weapons (for example, a short sword) and two dozen arrows. In total, there were about 400 trained fighters in the city.

The number of cannons is unknown, but there was an order to install one on each tower and gate, providing the proper amount of gunpowder. Monks and women were supposed to help the fighters - give arrows, stones and fill bags with straw: they were secured with outside city ​​walls to reduce damage from besieging shells. In addition, they used the services of mercenaries.

Bow and arrows

Now everyone understands that English archers are at the top.

In a head-on collision between two armies of heavy infantry, the losses on both sides would certainly be enormous. The best way to reduce yours is to actively use shooters. In accordance with historical truth, the quality of rifle squads varies quite significantly among different nations. The best are the British: their elite archers are significantly superior to almost all their colleagues in both range and accuracy. Although they still do not live up to historical prototypes: the largest battles of the Hundred Years' War - the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt - were won by English archers from a knightly army of the French many times superior in number.

This is interesting: these same battles, however, remind us that the most important thing is proper command and control of troops. The French troops in all three battles did not interact and caused each other almost more harm than the enemy. Thus, in the Battle of Agincourt, the French huddled under arrows, and many in the cramped conditions could not even get their weapons. The dismounted knights, falling under the weight of their armor, were pressed into the soft ground by those following, and one of the Englishmen wrote that “more people died, being crushed, than our warriors could kill.” The reconstruction of Agincourt in the “Historical Battles” section is far from easy to win.

Fireworks were displayed in Jerusalem to mark the arrival of a delegation from Central Asia.

As you probably noticed, archers can shoot flat or mounted. Mounted shots are fired when the enemy is covered by walls or attacked by your troops (they kill their own arrows no worse than others - and sometimes even better, they fly into the back), as well as the back rows of a multi-row formation. With flat fire, accuracy is higher, so place the squad in two ranks. By the way, keep in mind that if you shoot at an enemy unit in the second line, the archers will also harm the one in the first line.

On a note: if you have to arrange a duel with archers, place your own behind the heavy infantry: their shields will cover the troops standing behind.

Another ability is to use flaming arrows: this increases the damage dealt and greatly harms the morale of the victims, but reduces the rate of fire and accuracy. I recommend it for use against large masses of infantry (it will hit someone anyway) or heavy cavalry, which only professionals can damage with ordinary arrows. Especially at the beginning of the game, when you have only light archers at your disposal - they have trouble with accuracy in any case, but this way the performance increases.

He fought with dignity - let's not forget the hero.

On a note: Archers and crossbowmen have 30 arrows each, horse archers have 25, guns are given 20 charges, you can’t carry more than 8 darts. Bows and crossbows shoot at a distance of 120-160 meters, for horsemen 120 is the limit. Pistols hit at 55, and you can throw a dart at the same distance. Arquebuses are comparable to simple bows - 120, muskets hit 180. But the accuracy of all crossbowmen is low, and the champions of shooting competitions are elite archers.

Another ability of professional troops is to dig sharpened pegs into the ground against cavalry. Of course, this must be done before the start of the battle. Highly recommend. Just make sure that your cavalry does not fly into them at full gallop.

And the last tactical issue is the melee evasion mode, which is turned on for all shooters at the beginning of the battle. In fact, it does not always help - infantry, for example, still cannot escape from cavalry. It often gets in the way - you can fire a couple more volleys, but the archers give up the fight for about five minutes, although a detachment of heavy covering infantry is standing two steps away. In general, if you actively use the pause mode and are ready to engage in such “micromanagement” as timely withdrawal of troops to a new position, then I recommend turning off this mode.

Homework: Each of the 60 English archers fires 30 arrows per battle, and the squad kills an average of 38 enemy warriors. How many hectares of deciduous forest would need to be planted around Cairo in 1350 to destroy a Timurid army of 6,500 in 1390? Neglect elephants and woodworms.

Knights without fear and reproach

Guys, we are coming to visit you. Of course you don't mind? Why then with spears?

Is the infantry the queen of the fields? There is no more stupid statement when it comes to Medieval II. Only “in modern warfare the outcome of the battle is decided by artillery preparation.” The fields are ruled by those who find food and a place to walk there - horses, for some reason loaded with canned food, called knights. Cavalry has one drawback - it is smaller in number compared to infantry units. But it fully pays off with greater speed and maneuverability, which allows not only to escape from an unfavorable battle, but also to reduce losses from archers, and the ability to attack with acceleration ( Charge). Therefore, an army of one cavalry, although not ideal, has a chance, but one infantry in a fight with the enemy’s cavalry is doomed to defeat, unless he can use his advantage wisely. The infantry has one tactic in such a battle - stand up, children, stand in a circle, whoever survives the blow of a horse-drawn ram, try to strike back before the rider rides back. And the ability of the cavalry to deliver a sensitive blow should not be questioned - a lone cavalry, when attacking a light infantry formation, can somehow immediately scatter six or seven to the sides. Probably, as I suspected, it’s all about the horses - one is hit by a rider with a spear, the rest are knocked down by a horse. In terms of weight, a knight's horse in armor and with this miracle of feathers on its ridge is not inferior to any car.

This is interesting: During the Hundred Years' War, 30 English knights met the same number of French. The British, as riders, were inferior to the French and offered to fight on foot. They agreed, both groups formed phalanxes and fought with cavalry spears. The more experienced British killed four French, losing only two, after which a break was called. And then the French resorted to a trick: only 25 foot soldiers returned to the field, and when the British lined up for battle, the 26th ran into them on horseback. Seven Englishmen never rose, the rest fled, pursued by the cavalry, and were either killed or captured without loss to the French. Thus, 26 knights and one horse had a decisive advantage over 28 knights.

The main difficulty for the player is to get an effective charge attack from the cavalry. There is a certain amount of advice on this matter floating around on the Internet, and not all of them are correct.

So, for example, you clicked the mouse twice on an enemy unit or once - it’s not relevant. The main condition is the required distance to the target: otherwise the cavalry either does not have time to accelerate, or probably forgets why it is going there. It is about fifty meters. To get maximum benefit, line up your unit in a wide front (two rows deep) and, as soon as the cavalry strikes, immediately order a retreat. Otherwise, she will get involved in a sword fight, in which she may be surrounded and outnumbered. If you have several units in a small area, it is better to send them in waves so that they do not bunch up in a group in which the back rows will only hear about the enemy. Do not forget - although cavalry is superior to infantry in hand-to-hand combat, it is in this that it suffers the main losses.

On a note: a charging attack gives some advantage to both infantry and cavalry. But for infantry it is usually 20-40% of the main attack skill, and for cavalry with spears it can exceed 50%. With swords it decreases to the same 25%.

Named after Tamerlane of the Order of Tamerlane, the Samarkand mountain cavalry division in action.

Please note: the rule “the higher the level, the better the troops” for cavalry is not entirely true. Of course, feudal knights are more useful than ordinary knights in a head-on collision with heavy infantry, but they are inferior to them in speed and maneuverability. This is important when you need to not only drive away the enemy riflemen running forward with the terrible sight of cavalry, but also destroy them, while avoiding a collision with the main forces of the enemy. At the beginning of the game, light cavalry is also used, but later in the battle with dismounted knights it will be of little use.

On a note: horses are afraid not only of elephants, but also of camels - because of the unusual smell. So in a clash with camel riders, the riders act with a penalty, and they gain an advantage. This is probably a hidden advertisement for deodorants. Camels are afraid of elephants (although less than horses), which they take advantage of. By the way, elephants have 6 HP, like a good general.

The best way to counter cavalry is with a combination of all types of troops. Light artillery and archers fire at it from afar, the infantry takes the blow and engages in battle, and at this time your horsemen strike from the rear and flanks. Of course, you can simply arrange a clash of cavalry detachments on a collision course, but the result with equal strength opponents is difficult to predict - it will largely depend on “moral and volitional qualities.”

Homework: a new type of armor with improved aerodynamic characteristics allows heavy cavalry to accelerate 5% faster. How will the maximum speed of cavalry change when crossing the Strait of Gibraltar under its own power?

Parthian shot

Not all nations have mounted riflemen, but they cannot be ignored. They are excellent against light infantry, quite effective against heavy infantry, and they lose a duel to good infantry archers due to the smaller number of shooters in the squad. And against fellow cavalrymen they are one of the best means: their speed is much higher, and with careful control they will not engage in hand-to-hand combat.

I feel sorry for the horses...

How many chances do the British have to hold back this French wave?

How to deal with them? If they make up a small part of the enemy's troops, then first focus on the main army - perhaps the enemy will simply run away from the battlefield and save you from problems. Your artillery and cavalry can contribute to this. Casualties in its ranks cannot be avoided, but if everything goes well, a fight will take place at the edge of the map, from which the remnants of your squad will emerge victorious.

If the enemy army consists almost entirely of mounted riflemen, it is necessary to involve all types of troops. Assign everyone to a scattered formation and advance in as wide a chain as possible, trying to pin the enemy in the corner of the map.

A duel of archers is often beneficial for you - you have more archers in your squad. Well, surround those who lose caution and get too close with cavalry and destroy them in hand-to-hand combat. Just don’t try to chase all the hares at once - to prevent the enemy squad from escaping, you will often need 3-4 of yours.

Our wives are guns loaded

The period considered in the game was not for artillery best time. The times of complex throwing machines used by the Greeks and Romans are over; in the Middle Ages people forgot how to make such designs. Byzantium was somewhat superior to the others, having better preserved the ancient heritage. In the 14th century, cannons began to be used during siege, but at first they were very cumbersome and not very accurate.

How did they lock you up like that, guys?

In the game, field artillery could be completely useless if it were not for the completely wrong tactics of the computer: sometimes it waits for your attack and does nothing. His troops humbly await your strike, but for now they stand under arrows and cannonballs, and even the most “oblique” artillery can reduce the enemy army by 10 percent. Try to focus your fire on armored enemies - the commander's squad, mounted and foot knights. Use bombs and incendiary shells - a lower rate of fire in this situation is completely unimportant. If you find yourself in such a situation, the cavalry should help out.

On a note: sometimes your artillery begins to constantly plant shells on some hill in front of the enemy squad. Try to target the one who is standing in the second row - the sight will change.

When it comes to an assault, the firing trajectory of the guns becomes important. Bombards are best at destroying gates and walls, trebuchets can throw shells over walls, and mortars are only capable of this, and with not particularly high accuracy.

It is important: even a slight slope, which infantry and cavalry can overcome without problems, can interfere with artillery - it’s impossible to drag the cannons up the mountain, even if you call a bug or a cat and mouse.

We select fighters

I think there is no need to dwell on the fact that there is no one ideal army composition and with proper management you can almost always achieve success. Therefore, we outline some general points.

Firstly, the army must have a commander: a second-rate commander is better than none. Of course, sometimes you can get a "people's general" after a battle, but even a heroic victory does not guarantee this. By the way, keep in mind that the emergence of a new candidate for heir will reduce the loyalty of the monarch’s sons.

If an army goes on a campaign against the enemy, and is not intended to solve a private problem like “deal with this marauder,” then it must be ready to storm settlements. We most often cannot afford the luxury of keeping the enemy under siege for twenty or thirty years.

Firstly, feeding an army is not a cheap pleasure. Secondly, the situation may change, and you will need troops in a completely different place - time will be wasted. Thirdly, the Pope may demand that the Catholic powers stop the war, but he does not like jokes. So at least we should take the cities right away. This means that we need artillery - 1-2 of the best available on this moment guns. Yes, they will slow down the movement of the army - but usually we send troops not halfway around the world, but to our neighbors. It’s better to lose a move or two on the way than during a siege - if something happens, it won’t be too late to change your mind before the relationship is ruined.

Regardless of the purpose of the army, I recommend having at least 4 cavalry detachments, optimally 7-9. In the city they are quite useful, but in the field they are irreplaceable. Well, the ratio of riflemen and infantry depends on the nation and your preferences. It’s hardly worth betting on simple crossbowmen - 3-4 squads will be enough. They won't be much help against enemy knights, rely on steel. But when playing, for example, for England, it is better to recruit a lot of archers with heavy infantry cover: it will only have to delay those who still reach your ranks. I often had armies with 8-10 units of archers and 2-3 units of infantry.

To battle!

A tragic accident - a shot from one’s own gun broke the siege tower.

Perhaps we should start with a “thank you” to the creators of the game. The Kingdoms electronic strategist on the maximum difficulty level, while not perfect, is quite good. He understands concepts like flanking and outflanking - he can apply them himself and recognizes them in your actions. The main thing he lacks is the willingness to act according to the plan once adopted. Of course, it is necessary to take into account the changing situation on the battlefield, but throwing only makes the situation worse.

A real example: my troops consisted of five detachments of militia archers, three and a half detachments of the same spearmen and two dozen light cavalrymen, the enemy had about the same number of sergeants and dismounted knights. I placed my troops in a horseshoe formation, with a detachment of infantry on the edges, and the cavalry pretended to be preparing an attack from the rear. As a result, over and over again the iron brain directed its infantrymen to attack, at some point it realized that there were my cavalry behind, infantry in front and on the flanks, and withdrew its troops back, not reaching 10-15 meters from the inevitable victory. All this time, the archers, naturally, did not stand idle, and after half an hour the remnants of the enemy fled from the battlefield. In general, any distribution of your troops makes it difficult for the computer to assess the situation.

It is important: if you want troops to stay in formation and move together, combine them into a group (Ctrl+number)

Let's look around the battlefield

If not half, then a third of the battles are won before the soldiers draw their swords from their sheaths - when choosing the initial disposition of the troops. Find a commanding height and bring your troops as close to it as possible. This is especially important for riflemen and artillery, and cavalry attacks running uphill are much easier to repel. Your troops outnumber the enemy, and no one will attack you? Well, at least you won't have to take the hill from your opponent.

My infantrymen stood at the bottom of a small slope, and the crossbowmen fired over their heads at the descending Milanese

In addition to the terrain, pay attention to the forests. In fact, I don’t always succeed in understanding what is a forest and what is not—either a cavalry detachment deployed in a line is hidden behind two trees, or a dozen infantrymen cannot hide in what I would call a grove. Most often, troops running out from an ambush are not such a surprise to the computer, but for you, a surprise may be inappropriate. Light cavalry will help dispel suspicions. But heavy horsemen shouldn’t go under the trees: branches can hit their helmets, and infantry can knock on them - in the thickets even militias become a threat to feudal knights.

However, it is not only the terrain that influences the choice of battle location. Often one side is waiting for reinforcements to arrive. It is usually advantageous to gather them into a fist before the start of the battle. Fighting on two fronts is, of course, inconvenient, but you can manage to defeat the enemy piece by piece - it’s easier than dealing with a united army. Accordingly, place your troops further away from the enemy if you are waiting for reinforcements from behind, or move them to the flank if they are about to appear behind enemy lines. Of course, there are times when two enemy armies are coming at you, and it is impossible to quickly destroy either of them. Then you have to move on to plan B - choose a position so that the enemy, on the contrary, approaches from one direction.

It is important: if during the battle reinforcements should approach you, make sure that the checkbox is not checked, giving them under computer control. You'll do better.

If you are attacking, the initial deployment of troops will not play a big role, but in defense, the seconds spent rebuilding can be fatal. It is almost always worthwhile to immediately set the arrows to a sparse formation. Place artillery on the flank or on high ground (or better yet, both) so as not to fear fire from behind your troops, and allow them to fire at their own discretion. Disable the shooters' evasion mode and move forward (don't forget about the stockade if your shooters know how to set one up). The infantry is the second line behind the archers, so that they have somewhere to retreat. The cavalry is on the flanks, the commander is in the rear to support the faltering troops. Now we can begin.

Maneuver is the key to victory

While the infantry holds formation, a cavalry attack from the front looks more like mass suicide.

So, the troops are lined up and ready to rush into battle. But it will almost certainly start at a long distance. A typical opening for the computer - the shooters run forward in a sparse formation and fire at your troops from afar. You can do the same or send your cavalry to disperse the shooters. The second option is almost always better; we shouldn’t combine them - we don’t need losses from our own arrows in the back. The main thing is not to get carried away and retreat in time. Enemy riflemen, of course, will run behind the infantry, a clash with which at this stage is not included in our plans: one or two cavalry detachments against an entire army will not last long. It is likely that you will repeat this maneuver several more times. For some reason, the computer rarely attracts its cavalry to counteract such outrages.

If the enemy attacks with all their forces, the remaining skirmishers will be behind the main part of the army and will be a good target for your cavalry. However, be careful, they are no longer the greatest threat. If you attack, do not rush and let your shooters spend their ammunition. Look, perhaps there is a way to attack the enemy from a high ground, and there is a flat area for the cavalry.

Your task in the next phase of the battle is not so much to destroy as much as possible more enemies How much to concentrate your forces so that the enemy trembles and runs, and victory will cost you much less casualties. How to achieve this can be easily established by at least listening to the screams of players in Counter-Strike. “And then three of them ran out at me!”, “Is he indestructible, or what?!”, “How did you end up behind me?!” - almost ready-made recipes. Deep envelopment of the enemy's flank by cavalry, concentrated fire from riflemen, simultaneous attack of several of your units on one enemy - you need to position your troops in such a way that you can easily apply these techniques. Well, add a front breakthrough, which allows you to surround enemy units.

The enemy shouldn’t have placed crossbowmen in front of the catapult, and even higher up the slope...

To solve the second and third tasks, a wide “horseshoe” of shooters is suitable, who run back behind the central formation of heavy infantry. This allows them to first not block each other's line of fire, and then forces the enemy to spread out - some units have already engaged in battle with your main forces, while others are still just getting back from the place where arrows were recently flying at them. Attack the most morally unstable units first - for example, militias. Their desertion will reduce the enthusiasm of stronger troops and free up your forces. The main thing is to remember to leave a path for your enemies to escape; those surrounded are much more dangerous than those fleeing.

On a note: firearms cause panic among dense hillbillies. A volley from several of your units at one enemy will often cause him to flee.

Of course, you need to be wary of the fact that your opponent will use the same techniques on you. If he is superior to you in cavalry, you will have to leave at least one infantry detachment on each flank deployed towards the enemy cavalry. Monitor your troops' morale - send reinforcements to those who are low and keep a general nearby. If your warriors do run, his horn will help call them to order.

About battles on bridges

The most difficult type of battle in the field is capturing bridges. Attackers crowded together in a narrow space are an excellent target for shooters, and on the other side the enemy has much more forces.

The main task is to ensure unhindered passage of your soldiers across the bridge, and to do this you need to drive away the enemy from the opposite end. Artillery will help, which will need more than to storm the city. Only the best shooters can cope with this task, and only if the river is not wide.

A little thing that can help is that soldiers wear a shield on their left hand. Place archers to the left of the bridge and they will shoot at the unprotected side of the enemy soldiers, causing more damage. Well, then the infantry will go forward - it is necessary to seize a bridgehead.

The cavalry, although it will suffer fewer losses on the bridge, will face greater problems on the other side - there are fewer warriors in the detachment. Let's not forget that the coast can be quite steep, which, again, is more important for cavalry than for infantry.

On the assault!

No matter how much we say, we need to create military fire brigades...

I’ll say right away: the computer doesn’t know how to storm cities, but it thinks it can. The first is easy to verify while holding the defense. In the second, we left it to artificial intelligence to calculate the assault. In Kingdoms, the results became more realistic, and before the release of the add-on, the assessment of the results was extremely optimistic for the attackers (the fact that the battle was not simulated is indicated by at least equal losses for all units of the same type) - it was very difficult to achieve the same by storming the city yourself.

Of course, it is best to avoid an assault. Often there is another army near the city. Attack him, the city garrison will come to the rescue of his brothers - and you will get an excellent opportunity to defeat the enemy in an open field, and not pick him out from behind the walls. Of course, some of them will flee from the battlefield to the same city, but your task will be much easier. To ensure fewer enemies return behind the walls, execute prisoners, no matter how barbaric it may sound.

When the assault cannot be avoided, you must penetrate the walls. You can make completely unaesthetic holes in them, use siege equipment, or send spies to open the city gates. In the first case, you will damage valuable property, which you will then have to repair; in the second, you will lose soldiers under the fire of the defenders while the wooden monsters are approaching the city.

If the vehicle manages to be set on fire, your plans will go down the drain, but it can help you realize an advantage in the infantry, forcing the enemy to stretch his forces. The third method for a guaranteed effect requires several agents behind the walls, and developing them in Kingdoms has become much more difficult. But you can bring troops into the city from different sides - it is only important to use this to your advantage, and not to make the enemy’s task easier.

Choosing siege equipment

As usual, there is no one right option - each type has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Enemy knights hit the wall one at a time, so they have little chance.

Ram can destroy a gate or palisade and open up cavalry access to the city - they haven’t yet learned how to train climbing horses, so other methods won’t allow this. You can take it beyond the first row of castle walls and storm the second and third gates. But it moves slowly and presents a large target for shooters, who can set it on fire quite easily. In Kingdoms, boiling oil has been added to the list of threats, poured on the heads of those storming from the gate if the city is surrounded stone walls. Thus, the losses in the ranks of the team moving it will be great - give it to the squad that you will not regret too much, and let the rest of the troops down when the gate is broken.

Stairs you can be delivered to the walls by running and quickly launch an attack, without spending a short time under fire from the defenders. The stairs themselves are small, and it is almost impossible to set them on fire, but they also do not protect the soldiers from arrows. Finally, they can also be carried inside the castle and used further. But your people get to the top one by one, and there a whole detachment is waiting for them - they may become afraid. Use ladders where there are no defenders on the wall. By the way, in big cities the walls for stairs are too high.

Siege towers cover your warriors on the way to the walls and plant them on the walls in large numbers, so that the probability of capturing the wall is higher. But they are slow, make an excellent target for shooters and towers, and if they manage to set fire to them, the warriors inside will die. In addition, even if you move the tower past the first row of walls, it will not be possible to attach it to the second - obviously this is a bug. Sometimes I use towers as bait for enemy shooters.

If you don't have spies, first of all make a hole or demolish a gate to be sure to be able to develop an offensive. Next, destroy the towers - even if the accuracy of their fire leaves much to be desired, losses still cannot be avoided. Damage to city property will be easier to repair than to resurrect fighters. Well, then transfer fire to the enemy troops.

It’s good that the treasurer did not see exactly how this city was taken. That's a lot of stone to be transported halfway across the country to be repaired!

On a note: if the walls are not repaired after the previous assault, then you can immediately attack the city even without siege weapons.

After the path to the city is open, look at the remaining troops of the enemy. If there are few shooters in his ranks, try to get the most out of yours. However, the walls will still interfere with you, and if the enemy’s archers inflict significant losses, all that remains is to throw the main forces into battle.

On a note: if your troops captured the wall using siege equipment, send riflemen there. The view is excellent, let them admire it.

In fact, the city is a completely unsuitable place for cavalry: there are not even lawns where horses could graze for their own pleasure. However, if the gaps are wide enough, it is worth trying a few quick strikes with cavalry that is not involved in a close battle. The bulk of the work will go to the infantrymen - horsemen in narrow streets lose their advantage in maneuverability. You can achieve good results by bringing cannons into the city - it’s more difficult to miss here, but you can’t escape from the counterattack of the defenders.

All on the walls!

And now, guys, let’s take those elephants over there and make a great kebab!

Well, we figured out a little about how to storm. Defense often turns out to be a trickier business. Your best troops will not always be in the garrison, you cannot build buildings in a besieged city, your forces dwindle over time, merchants cannot get into the city - income decreases. Well, time is always limited - even if the enemy does not storm, the city will eventually surrender. By the way, the computer often practices just this method of siege - its troops do not plan to attack and are waiting for your active actions. In fact, how will two dozen detachments of horse archers go on an assault?

If the enemy is about to launch an assault, the most important thing for you will be the riflemen, the infantry will be in second place, and the cavalry and artillery will probably not interfere. The preliminary arrangement is very important here: arrows on the walls in chains, infantry - mainly behind the gate (the ram will go there), and a detachment on the walls opposite the siege towers. Try to activate as many towers as possible (the active ones have flags flying). Those standing on the wall will populate both nearby towers with artillerymen, and the detachment standing close behind the tower will only populate it. Quite a suitable activity for cavalry at the beginning of a battle.

Bombards can shoot from behind the city walls - a good option against elephants.

If the enemy began his monologue with cannons, quickly withdraw your troops from the part of the wall that is being shelled. In the early Middle Ages, artillery hardly harmed both buildings and soldiers, but later a large Turkish bombard could easily demolish a wall in a couple of shots and deprive you of half the squad standing on it.

On a note: Sometimes you shouldn’t wait until the enemy artillery has shot all the ammunition: pull out your guns outside the gate and try to destroy the enemy’s. Thus, you can provoke the enemy to attack before he finishes the artillery barrage. You can try to shoot siege equipment, but in this case the chances of your artillerymen returning home are extremely low.

Shooters can try to set fire to siege weapons moving towards the walls. However, most often, without the support of ballistas or cannons from the fortress towers, these attempts will be a waste of time and arrows.

I gave the first tier of the castle to the Timurids without a fight, and now they were crowded together in the cramped streets: there was no hiding from the arrows of archers.

Repelling attacks from ladders and siege towers is often not difficult. If your troops are not much inferior to the attackers in class, then a large number of simultaneously fighting should help out. The enemy will almost certainly break into your fortress through gaps or gates broken by a battering ram. His path should be blocked by infantry - it is better to line up detachments in 4-5 ranks. Place the militia in the first ranks - due to their large numbers, they create a dense barrier. And so that they do not desert, support them from the rear with more serious troops. If the enemy's onslaught breaks through this living wall, the time will come for the cavalry - it will have some space to disperse, and it will hit the enemy tied up in battle. If everything turns out really badly, try to make a last stand in the city square: the cavalry will have room to accelerate to attack the enemy who has just emerged from the narrow streets.

A situation may arise when, in addition to the main army attacking the city, there is another one nearby. In this case, the computer, apparently, does not consider the second army to be an assault one, and it is simply trying to shoot your troops. If at the same time the walls are accidentally destroyed, then this does not bother the iron commander at all.

On a sortie!

As I already wrote, the computer often does not plan an assault, but waits for your actions. Even if this is not the case, but you have a fair number of shooters, do not wait for an attack - go on a sortie. It may end in a draw - your troops will return to the city, you will press Escape and see confirmation: the sortie is successful, you can leave the battle. The tactic of “making a sortie every turn: archers fire at troops retreating from under the walls” helped me a lot when I played for England. Each attack reduced enemy numbers by 15-30% and helped destroy three Timurid armies with much smaller forces.

However, a draw will not always suit you, so cavalry and artillery are needed in the garrison. If the enemy's forces are significant, he will try to attack the cannons pumped out of the gate - and on your walls the arrows are just waiting for this. If the enemy does not have enough courage for such a thing, then nothing prevents you from firing a full load of ammunition at him. Cavalry is primarily needed to destroy enemy archers before your archers appear behind the walls. By the way, remember that the city has more than one gate, and it’s quite possible to go out into the open field through the side entrance without exposing yourself to arrows? Well, after the initial clearing of the area is completed, build up the main forces - the usual battle will begin.

War with the Timurids

The most difficult tests What lies ahead of you is the fight against the Mongols and Timurids. The first invasion may not affect you in a concentrated form if you play for a Western European country. But by the time of the second, you will probably have territories conquered in the Crusades in the Middle East. And it would be a pity to give them away just like that.

Guys, I have a big request - can’t the gate be made lower next time? So that this won't happen again?

But keep in mind that it will not be easy for you to conduct a campaign without losses, including territorial ones. 9 Timurid armies reach these places almost unharmed, and if they begin to storm a city, they do not give up until they achieve their goal or are destroyed.

Prepare in advance - send spies to the east and prepare the best killers: it is better to deal with the enemy generals in an unfair battle. Replace the city militia with heavy infantry and the best archers: you will hardly need cavalry, you will have to defend yourself. Artillery is also unlikely to be needed (if only bombards), but rebuild the towers.

The biggest problem is the gray one in red blankets and with guns on top. They are called "war elephants". Theoretically, elephants are afraid of lit arrows. In practice, not really. They are afraid of burning catapult shells, but out of fear they run to your batteries very quickly; and yet the artillery is in the field The best way struggle.

Cavalry shy away from elephants, they quickly trample infantry - in general, there is no good remedy. Shooters can be helped by pegs driven into the ground: they are very effective against elephants, but they do not always move at all, and for some reason the pegs do not save them from cannonballs.

On a frosty morning there is nothing better than throwing a couple of stones at the besieging barbarians. They are bored sitting in tents.

City towers help, but their accuracy requires a lot of time. But if a wounded elephant goes into a rage, he may well trample a lot of his troops.

It is also very difficult to fight the Timurids in the field because at first their armies stick together and a couple of thousand reinforcements immediately approach the enemy. If you still have to do this, try to force the enemy to attack and take a commanding height - your shooters will have an important advantage. Cover your archers with heavy infantry with maximum protection and prohibit them from running away from the enemy: enemy horse archers love to drive closer to your archers, and when they run, shoot them in the back. And be sure to choose a sparse system.

While the conquerors are engaged in the usual robbery, try to deplete their strength by defending the cities. Even a weak city garrison can destroy 2-3 armies, but a castle with several rows of walls can withstand even more.

Sooner or later, the Timurids will get tired of the nomadic lifestyle, and they will settle in one of the captured regional centers. After this, their troops will go in different directions to expand the territory. And such armies that have fled to the sides can already be beaten one by one. Please note: if you capture all the Timurid cities, but they still have troops at their disposal, they will simply return to a nomadic lifestyle, and will not disappear like ordinary peoples. So we will have to fight until complete victory.

Who will come to us with a sword?

A commander on the battlefield works both for the army and for himself. Troops fight better in the presence of a good commander, and he acquires new character traits and companions as a result of the battles. A commander's command skill in each battle is influenced by a number of factors. Modifiers depend on the type of battle - for example, special skills are responsible for battles in which your army attacks, defends, storms cities, repels assaults, and attacks from an ambush. The rules here are simple - the more significant the victory your commander won (for example, he defeated the enemy with minimal losses, although the computer initially assessed the chances as bad), the more the corresponding skill will increase. Accordingly, for defeat he will be punished by its deterioration. But you don't lose battles, do you? If you don't take the fight, your commander's skills will also deteriorate, although less likely.

In addition, individual skills depend on the composition of your troops. If more than 80% of the army is infantry or 50% is cavalry, then the command skills of the corresponding types of troops will improve in case of victory or with a probability of 50% deteriorate in case of defeat.

Another important factor is the impact on troop morale. The brave commander promotes him - send him into battle, because he has more than one hit, like most soldiers, and his bodyguards are at first simply the best squad available to you. If the battle is lost, and the general has not even entered the battle, he will be recognized as a coward, under whose command not everyone will want to serve. Morale is also affected by a number of other stats, many of which appear randomly. It will not be possible to describe them all - many of them also “change the polarity” of influence over time. Let's not waste a page on a list of all the possible companions of the commander - most of of these are acquired during his time as governor or for his services in the crusades, and only a few can be obtained in battle.

This concludes my review. Of course, it cannot become a desktop guide to churning out victories. But this is for the better - because it means that the game will not bore you with monotony and will challenge your abilities over and over again. And at your leisure there will be something to remember - about unexpected decisions, which brought victory, and about the troops that marched from Novgorod to Timbuktu and from London to Cairo. Well, this means that the creators of the game did a great job and the result of their work deserves all praise.

The world is changing. Quite unexpectedly, we understand that the simple and understandable rules of “total war,” familiar to us from the samurai battles in the mountains of Japan, suddenly cease to apply. You and I have gone through medieval battles and Roman conquests to return to the European High Middle Ages... and discover that we have found ourselves in a wonderland - mysterious and frightening.

The same time - but we need to develop and fight in a completely different way, otherwise we should conduct diplomatic relations and spy, and we should organize our own state according to completely different rules. The new laws of the game may be shocking at first... but this guide will give you the big picture and prepare you for the new, unknown Middle Ages.

Strategy

Whether long or short...

The main campaign mode (the only one in which the strategic part is available) does not open entirely immediately. At first, you can only play as five countries - England, the Holy Roman Empire, France, Venice and Spain. Victory in the campaign for any of these countries opens up Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, the Moors, Scotland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Milan, Sicily, Russia, Hungary and Turkey (the names, of course, are relative, like many things in the game). However, if you destroy any country in the game, it will appear among the available ones - this way they can be “manifested” one at a time.

For your information: if to a file medieval2.preference.cfg you will add and on the next line unlock_campaign = true, then all seventeen countries will be available from the very beginning.

There are four more races that are not available in the campaign - the Aztecs, the Timurid dynasty, Mongol horde and the Papacy. They can be played in a separate tactical quick battle mode, in a multiplayer game, or in a battle designer.

In campaign mode, you can choose the difficulty level - strategic and tactical separately. At the easy level, your troops are stronger and your people are calmer. On difficult and very difficult, enemy peasants kill the knights, the people rebel, the enemies have noticeably more warriors, no one likes the player, and luck often turns its back on him.

At higher difficulty levels, fatigue and morale play a big role in tactical battles. The developers claim that the general level of consideration of the enemy general also increases, but these words should be taken critically, because generals could be much more stupid.

At the start of the campaign, you can choose the level of assistance - at the highest level, you will be constantly given hints in both tactical and strategic modes talking heads(they can be disabled already in the game). You can enable a time limit on battles - due to some problems with AI getting stuck in battles, it is better to limit them (again, this can be turned on already in the campaign). Another point is forced auto-government of cities without governors. This point is not particularly significant. Previously, in cities without a governor, it was impossible to build and hire troops at will; now only taxes are levied automatically.

Finally, each company can be completed in two versions - long and short. They differ in the rules of victory. In the long game, you need to conquer 45 provinces (half the map) and one specific city - Jerusalem, Rome or Constantinople - in 225 moves (450 years - from 1080 to 1530). In a short campaign, you need to conquer 15 provinces and destroy a certain state or even two.

The Age of Centenarians

In the first part of Medieval, you can choose a time period from three options - and, if you wish, start the game right from the late Middle Ages, with gunpowder and several rebuilt provinces. This cannot be done here - you will have to start from 1080. This means that in a short campaign you will most likely win long before the advent of gunpowder, and even in a long campaign, vigorously developing, you can do it in two or three hundred years.

For your information: if you erase a line show_years_as_turns in file descr_strat.txt, then with the start of a new campaign, time will be calculated in years, not in moves.

Each move is two game years, but this does not mean that after twenty-five moves the young prince turns into an old man. On the contrary, in the game a character may well live... two hundred years. Two years pass in six months here, and the hero, who is 60 years old in the game, was actually born 240 years ago (120 turns).

Welcome to Wonderland. The surprises are just beginning.

Game events

Historical events in the game written in scripts are divided into important ones that have a key impact on the gameplay, and ordinary signs that inform about progress.

1080 - start of the campaign.

1130 (25th move) - invention of the mill.

1138 (turn 29) - earthquake in Syria.

1044 (turn 32) - the heyday of alchemy.

1152 (36th move) - the appearance of paper in Europe.

1180 (50 stroke) - the rudder of the ships.

1182 (51 moves) - invention of the compass.

1200 (60th move) - invention of the wheelbarrow.

1202 (61 moves) - understanding the concept of zero.

1208-1224 (moves 64-72) - rumors of a Mongol invasion. A few moves later the Mongols themselves appear.

1240-1250 (moves 80-85) - invention of gunpowder.

1268 (turn 94) - earthquake in Sicily.

1280 (100 stroke) - the first mechanical watch.

1283 (move 103) - first points.

1302 (move 111) - earthquake in Egypt.

1312 (116th move) - repeated earthquake in Egypt.

1314 (move 117) - playing ball is prohibited.

1328 (124th move) - the first sawmill.

1334 (127th move) - the first chimes.

1336 (128th turn) - the first weather forecast.

1346 (turn 133) - rumors of the Black Death.

1348 (turn 134) - the first outbreak of plague in Europe. Repeats for the next three years.

1350 (135 stroke) - the first blast furnace.

1362 (141 strokes) - hurricane Grote Mandrenke, marking the beginning of the Little Ice Age.

1368-1384 (moves 144-152) - rumors of a Timurid invasion. After a few moves they themselves appear.

1400 (160th move) - invention of a musical instrument operating on the principle of a piano.

1400-1408 (160-164 moves) - rumors that the Earth is round.

1420 (170 move) - the first oil painting.

1444 (183 move) - treatise “On Learned Ignorance” by Nicholas of Cusa - the forerunner of the ideas of the Renaissance.

1454 (187th move) - invention of the printing press.

1456 (move 188) - earthquake in Naples.

1486 (turn 203) - the treatise “The Witches’ Hammer”, which marked the beginning of the “Witch Hunt” of the Renaissance.

1492 (move 206) - invention of the ornithopter by Leonardo da Vinci.

1510 (215 movement) - the first wristwatch.

1530 (turn 225) - end of the game (it can be continued, but there will be no more inventions, historical events and new types of troops in the game).

Cities and feudal lords

The system of cities in the new game was seriously reworked, and quite logically they were divided into cities (centers of trade, science and crafts) and castles (concentration of military power).

For your information: The developers have removed from the game the ability to optionally take a bird's eye view of your city. Of course, this opportunity was useless, but it’s still a pity.

It is possible to turn a city into a castle and back - but only at the initial levels of their development. Then the changes become irreversible. Budget money is obtained in cities (the level of taxes can be adjusted in them), and citizens moderately speak out about the existing system. At first, a few military units are produced in cities - militia of various types, siege weapons, cannons, etc. late period- gunpowder rifle squads. The city also specializes in agents - diplomats, spies and assassins.

For your information: a city can contain several militia units for free for the player - from two to six. This is a very convenient innovation. You can recognize a “free” squad by its blue rim.

Castles don't use gunpowder, but they build cannons and trebuchets. The castle won't give you harquebusiers and musketeers, but the line of real medieval troops starts right from the peasants. Then comes a variety of infantry, cavalry units, archers and, in general, the flower of medieval knighthood. The castle will not bring much money, taxes are levied at a rigid rate, but feudal peasants are not accustomed to rebel.

The game requires both cities and castles. The first - as the basis of the economy and a valuable source of diplomats/spies, the second - as a real military force of the high Middle Ages. In what ratio are they needed? There may be fewer castles than cities, and it is advisable to keep them on the edge of the empire so that fresh knights can keep up with the battle. However, there are no hard and fast rules here; it’s just important not to overdo it with locks. In addition, cities are needed for guilds, and each can have only one guild (more on them below).

The line of buildings in cities and castles is extremely simple. The developers have combined it into a consolidated list with detailed explanations - it is called up through the city menu.

It is important: The line of "forge" buildings supplies your units with new armor that looks very cool on the battlefield. But let her appearance It’s not deceiving you - in fact, the units are minimally protected. That is, the most fashionable armor that the blacksmiths gave to the detachment can protect worse than the “native” chain mail. This makes building forges largely pointless. The same applies to the city line of universities - they improve the quality of... melee combat for gunpowder units. Some Venetian units were especially unlucky - improving their armor was simply reduces their protection.

The very principle of hiring units has changed dramatically. Now it resembles the old and familiar mercenary recruitment system. Simply put, now in cities and castles you can “build” or retrain several units at once in one turn - starting from two. The quantity depends on the size of the city. But at the same time, you cannot assemble more units of a certain type than are available for hire (usually from two to four). If, for example, you “selected” all the available knights, then you will have to wait several turns until they can be hired again.

Agents are always available one at a time - this means that you cannot hire three spies in one city at once in one turn, but it is quite possible to hire a spy, a diplomat and an assassin at the same time. Fortunately, agents, unlike armies, become available again within a turn.

This innovation has two goals. Firstly, the player can now, if necessary, gather a large army in one turn. Secondly, the player is forced to diversify his army - collecting a dozen knights of the same type is now not so easy, especially considering that half of your settlements can only train militia.

This is a bug: in the game you can change the capital to reduce losses from corruption and freethinking. However, I do not recommend using this opportunity - your economy and trade may fall into chaos due to game errors, and the point of moving the capital will be lost.

It should also be noted that now the hiring of troops does not affect the population of the city. This is also a very convenient innovation - war no longer depletes the economy. But it is now impossible to calm the city by “relocating” its inhabitants in peasant detachments to an open field. But this is not necessary - after complaints about the townspeople of Rome: Total War, the developers took up discipline, and now the townspeople walk to the line, and the feudal peasants do not open their mouths at all. As they say: “Yes, my lord.” However, the peasants in the new game are generally beasts - but I will talk about this below, in the tactical section.

Guilds

When at least one of your cities is developed to the Minor level, there will be a lot of offers from guilds to build an institution in the city - for a certain fee. You should choose carefully, since there can only be one guild in one city. I advise you not to accept offers as soon as one or two similar guilds have appeared in your cities. Why do we need five thieves guilds?

For your information: if you nevertheless accepted an unwanted guild, you can always demolish it. It is better, of course, not to resort to this measure - then it will be more difficult to establish relations with the guild.

And anyway, why are these guilds needed? You will find the effect of some directly in the city list of available buildings, while others are hidden. Let's reveal the secrets.

The Explorers Guild increases the number of turns for units. Guilds of assassins and assassins improve the corresponding units hired in the city and have a beneficial effect on public order. Alchemists improve gunpowder units, the masons' guild reduces construction costs and again influences law and order (whoever rebels gets bricked).

The Merchant Guild adds income from trade and strengthens the merchants hired in the city. The Guild of Theologians influences priests, the Guild of Thieves improves the quality of spies. Swordsmen strengthen the weapons of units, cavalrymen are responsible for horses, lumberjacks are responsible for archers and crossbowmen. Since cities do not have archers, cavalry units or swordsmen, these guilds can only be built in castles.

There are four knightly orders on a separate line - the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Teutons and the Knights of Santiago. They provide the opportunity to train knights of the corresponding units and can be built both in the castle and in the city.

Each guild has three levels of development - regular, master guild and headquarters. They provide improved effects. For example, the master guild of merchants allows you to train strong units of “merchant” heavy cavalry in the city, and the master guild of swordsmen gives a unit of experience to all knights in the country. But getting a guild to propose improvements to a building is usually not easy.

What determines whether there will be an offer to build a guild and what kind of guild it will be? This depends both on the development of the state and the player’s actions (issued missions are counted, if the guild has any), and on the specific city.

Generals and how to deal with them

The system of virtues and vices that influence the qualities of generals and agents first appeared in Medieval: Total War. Everything is simple and clear - by winning battles, the general becomes more experienced. Personal participation in battle adds HP to him, and storming cities gives him additional experience in a familiar situation. Sitting in the city, the general in the role of governor could become an experienced mayor, but at the same time soft and prone to vices.

The retinue is a separate category - up to eight “additional” characters. For example, often storming cities, a general can pick up a useful engineer who speeds up the construction of siege weapons and adds a point of experience in siege battles, and after surviving an assassination attempt, get a dog that increases personal safety. Very rarely, a general could pick up a legendary figure like Marco Polo or Leonardo da Vinci to accompany him.

Raising generals, a prince and a king, exchanging retinues - funny, although not required element games. In Medieval II: Total War, the system, at first glance, remains the same. But there are also changes. Firstly, it is now possible to transfer not the entire retinue between generals, but only some characters.

Secondly, you cannot assign an heir on the family tree management screen - he is selected automatically by the game, and if the player wants the country to go to a strong prince, he either trains what he has in battle, or eliminates the prince, throwing him into a hopeless battle.

However, even these innovations do not have great influence on the gameplay. Much worse is the disturbed balance and bugs in the system of acquiring virtues and vices. You and I are accustomed to the fact that it makes sense to appoint governors to the most important cities in order to calm down the residents and increase incomes. Say goodbye to governors - now there is no point in appointing them to cities, unless you want to turn a gallant general into a dissolute bum, stealing your money and driving people to white heat.

Think about it - according to the new rules, generals appointed by governors to cities (especially large ones) grasp vices almost instantly, in one move, and soon begin to devour and drink away budget money, ruining the king. No, let the people govern themselves, and the generals must fight external and internal enemies.

This is a bug: You can save generals from vice in fortresses, but even there sometimes things get ridiculous - in a castle, where taxes cannot be managed in principle, the general gets the ruinous vice of “bad tax collector.”

Each general, in addition to age, has four main parameters:

• Command. The most important parameter in battle. A general with a high command parameter strengthens the army and instills courage in it. This is one of the reasons why the general’s detachment must still participate in battle - but only at the most decisive moment, when there is no risk of losing the general and snatching defeat from the hands of victory.
• Knightly honor/cruelty. These are two sides of the same coin. Knighthood is earned through crusades, through noble deeds (we release captives without ransom) and increases the morale of our own troops. “Negative” chivalry is called cruelty (we exterminate captives - again without ransom) and frightens enemies. It is more profitable to have a very noble or very cruel general than a neutral one. In this case, one subtle point arises - if the king is cruel, then the knightly generals will not be loyal to him, while the cruel ones do not care. As Machiavelli said, “it is better to be feared than loved,” especially since there is no point in sticking a knight into an unruly village anyway - he will quickly be spoiled there.
• Loyalty. Affects the likelihood of bribery and the “cost” of the general. It is not particularly important in the game; the AI ​​buys generals relatively rarely.
• Piety. Indirectly depends on the knightly qualities of the general. A noble knight will be pious, a dishonest villain will not. Piety can protect a Catholic knight from an inquisitor. To increase piety, you can give a priest agent to a knight’s squad.

There are also implicit, hidden parameters - personal authority, personal safety, increases in driving range, influence on taxes and the mood of citizens, and others. Many are intended for governors, that is, they are useless.

There are several ways to get new generals. Firstly, in a natural way - the heirs become generals (the eldest is the crown prince). Secondly, generals are often obtained by noble ladies (daughters of the royal family) when they marry.

The third way is promotion from the masses. Any army you have without a general, even a lone detachment of peasants, is controlled by a captain. If an army under the command of a captain achieves an impressive heroic victory and the captain’s detachment personally deals with a hundred or two enemies (this is a very, very large number), then he will be offered to be promoted to general. The parameters of the newly minted general will be low, but quite tolerable.

This is a bug: all such “nouveau” generals will be outspoken atheists with zero religiosity parameter.

In general, armies should not walk alone - this way they can turn into rebels on their own. Try to give each army a general, even the most seedy one. He can also break away, but the likelihood of this is less (if you are not excommunicated).

Diplomacy backed by the sword

Diplomacy has been reworked very seriously, bringing it closer to the classic “trade” system familiar from Civilization and Galactic Civilizations. In the diplomacy window we see the main parameters of diplomats, state relations, intelligence information and information about the position of your country on the world medieval stage.

Advice: Spies in enemy cities will help you find out about the state’s intentions. So, if your relationship with an ally is ideal, but his intentions include war, get ready for it.

You can improve relations between countries in many ways - gifts, trade agreements, alliances, military assistance, modest requests. Money can do wonders and mend relations between bitter enemies, but the outcome of diplomacy also depends on your reputation. With a very low reputation, it can be very difficult to conclude a truce, enter into an alliance, or bargain something in negotiations. It is good for your reputation to release prisoners and occupy cities without destroying them. It is harmful to attack other countries first and declare war.

This is a bug: If, before attacking an ally, you warn him by breaking the contract, your reputation will drop in the same way as with a treacherous attack.

It is easier to negotiate with fellow believers, but with infidels it is somewhat more difficult. Small countries are more accommodating than big ones.

This is a bug: sometimes in the process of trading other people's diplomats say strange things: “No, I don’t agree to X. I’m putting forward a counterproposal to X.”

Diplomacy is affected by the difficulty level set in the game - on easy, all relations between the player’s country and other countries automatically drift to ideal. On average - to neutral (these rules apply between countries controlled by AI), that is, both insults and good deeds are forgotten. At the hard and very hard levels, all relations between the player and other countries smoothly shift to disgusting - that is, they hate you... just like that.

This is a bug: If you open the diplomacy window and close it without concluding a single deal or agreement, then the relationship between the two countries will deteriorate, and the diplomat or princess may lose experience.

If you ignore the numerous mistakes, the new diplomacy is a step forward in the entire series. Relations between countries very well reproduce the spirit of the Middle Ages, and countries are moderately treacherous and moderately honest. Thus, an ally may treacherously attack if you leave border cities unattended (the player can use this “casus belli”). Sometimes an AI-controlled state may simply declare war, warning of its intentions. Threats can even annex a province - usually this is an indicator of a well-developed system.

This is a bug: if at the time of destruction the country was in an alliance with you, then the alliance will become “unbreakable” and in the future may prevent you from establishing new relations.

The vassal system has not changed - only a country at war with you can be made a vassal. This is something like an extended union with the right of passage of armies, similar to the protectorate of Rome: Total War. I would say that taking out a country is both cheaper and easier than trying to become an overlord.

For your information: Now in the game not only monarchs and generals age, but also all agents. Assassins, spies, traders, and diplomats have stopped boasting about elven longevity and now modest dwarves live for two or three centuries.

Trade and competition

Traders are a new type of agent. They begin to make a profit if you “install” them on a resource. From a few florins per turn, a merchant can bring you up to five hundred florins - the result depends on many factors:

• Trader experience;
• Trade volumes in the province;
• Resource price (gold, ivory, spices are valued the most);
• Monopoly;
• Trade agreements;

A merchant pays for himself very quickly - he does not require a “salary” every turn, like a diplomat or a spy.

Advice: To develop a merchant faster, you can “walk” them around the map, “stepping” on individual resources.

The life of a merchant is full of dangers. It can be obtained not only by a murderer, but also by a rival merchant from another country. Having discovered a competitor on a resource, he can try to arrange a hostile takeover, receiving finances, freeing the resource and eliminating the less experienced and successful merchant.

Scary princesses

Princesses are the adult daughters of a Christian monarch or his heir. They can be immediately passed off as a general or sent to wander around the map as an agent.

The princess can replace the diplomat - the only difference is that where the diplomat has experience (scrolls), the princess has a different parameter - charm. Initially (I don’t know if this is a bug or the developers intended it) all your princesses have a charm parameter of zero. This makes dynastic marriages very difficult - few of the overseas princes will want to take a terrible princess as their wife, and if they do, they won’t have to wait for heirs.

Unfortunately, the only way to increase charm is through successful diplomatic negotiations (I talked to the ambassador and became a little prettier), and any failure almost instantly turns the girl into an ugly girl again.

Dynastic marriage strengthens relations between states. Whether you get someone else's prince as your general or wave to the princess - it depends on luck.

Killers are the saviors of the country

When you don’t have the opportunity to drive someone else’s merchant from his home, when the inquisitor from Rome roasts your generals one after another, they save you - the murderers. At first, they know almost nothing, but once they kill a couple of princesses, their skills grow. Unfortunately, they are still not enough - if you pit a novice killer against a medium-sized merchant/inquisitor, the chances of a successful assassination vary from six to eighteen percent. The most unpleasant thing here is that, having survived several assassination attempts, an agent or general acquires a certain immunity to them (the Personal Security parameter increases), however, sometimes paranoia prevents them from coping with their duties. But this doesn't make it any easier for the killers.

For your information: video scenes demonstrating the actions of a killer or spy were previously found in the only game in the entire series - Shogun: Total War.

A good way to earn first experience is terrorism. By blowing up buildings in other people's cities, your assassin has a greater chance of success. But it is worth remembering that in case of failure, even if the agent escapes retribution, he can not only lose experience, but also bring it to negative values. That is why I advise you to build at least one assassin guild in the city - the agents will have more experience.

This is a bug: If you surround an enemy agent from all sides with troops, and then put a detachment in his place, then the agent will have nowhere to retreat and will die from indignation. This is a scam way to save money on killers - and it never fails.

Spies in cities and armies help against enemy assassins.

Espionage and counterintelligence

Spying is fun and rewarding. Sometimes you can't do without it. And the point is not even that a spy can penetrate the enemy army, find out everything about its composition and the personal qualities of the general. And it’s not that a “fifth column” of several spies can open the gates of the fortress for your army.

Just Spies - very popular with AI means of combat, and only... spies can resist them. If, for example, your city is bustling for no apparent reason, don’t go to a fortune teller - there are pests. Plant a few spies in a city, and in a couple of moves they will identify an enemy of the people, or even two. If you're lucky, someone else's spy will be killed. If not, he will only be “thrown out” of the city, and he will immediately try to infiltrate again. Pour SMERSH into the same city with a slide - and the fate of someone else's agent is sealed.

For your part, you can flood an enemy city with spies, send assassins to sabotage “pleasant” buildings and, after the uprising, as if nothing had happened, recapture the city from the rebels, and then say that this is what happened. There are no diplomatic consequences; the Pope does not object to such exercises.

Yes, as for their traditional activities, spies can open the gates for you from the inside if you send them into cities before a siege - and very often do this. It is best to “plant” several agents at once on the enemies - this way the chances of successfully opening the gate can jump much higher than one hundred percent.

This is a bug: The spy cannot get through the siege into the city. But if you send a spy far into the city, and besiege it while the agent is walking, the spy will calmly enter and open the gates for you.

If successful, the gates are unlocked from all sides at once - and you can enter the city from several directions without crowding in one place.

For your information: It's very easy to develop spies - just spy on everyone. Even if the probability of success is one hundred percent, the agent will lose experience.

Military campaigns

War is the player's main activity in the campaign. You hire troops in cities, assemble them into an army, supply them with generals if desired, and lead them into battle. The general rule is to attack weak armies whenever possible with strong armies, break up the enemy piecemeal and take advantage of the terrain. In the forests on the strategic map, you can set up ambushes, catching the enemy army on the march (in campaigns the army marches in a column). By controlling the crossings, you can protect the area very well - no one in the game knows how to set up pontoon crossings, and rivers are insurmountable obstacles.

For your information: The space bar regulates the display of movement on the map - just moving on foot or instant movement. The first option is easier to track (especially if the enemy is moving), the second is convenient when you need to quickly make a move and save time.

The general's detachment, if there is one in the army, can hire soldiers of fortune - each province has its own set (in central Europe, usually crossbowmen and spearmen). Mercenaries are expensive, but they can support and literally save a beaten army. If you “buy out” all the mercenaries in the area, they will run out and will be restored only after a few turns. A computer opponent can also buy mercenaries.

This is interesting: Islamic mercenaries successfully join the crusade, and in America local tribes can be hired to fight the Aztecs. Money and authority of Quetzalcoatl decide everything.

In addition to this, the general can, in the Roman tradition, build an observation tower (dispels the fog of war at a short distance, can only be installed on his territory) or a field camp.

This is a bug: the enemy never makes a sortie from the field camp. At all. This means that you can take one detachment of peasants and kill a huge army in a few moves. Realism is in full swing.

The armies of other countries and enemies usually behave adequately on the strategic map - they deal with groups of rebels (gray-colored armies that appear from time to time here and there), attack each other, besiege and take cities. Sometimes, however, they make inexplicable maneuvers, or even stand in one place for centuries.

After the battle, if your general wins, you will have the opportunity to release the captured prisoners, offer the enemy a ransom, or simply kill them all. The first option increases the general’s knighthood parameter, the second gives money, the third makes the general scarier (negative knighthood). I advise you to use the opportunity to make the general more noble or more terrible, because you should not hope for financial injections from the ransom. They will often refuse the ransom, and the game will not allow you to bargain.

For your information: It is impossible to take a ransom for captured rebels.

To capture a province, you need to take the central settlement - this is a fortress or a city. Cities are noticeably easier to take - there is only one wall, and even that is not high. Castles can sometimes boast a triple row of walls, and more often it is more profitable to starve them out. In this case, it is not even necessary to build siege equipment. If the enemy tries to make a sortie, towers, ladders and battering rams will prevent you from repelling a surprise attack.

This is a bug: a neutral state or even an ally wishing to surprise your city very often betrays its intentions with a bold arrow on the path of its army ending in your city.

Having captured the city, the commander is faced with a choice - what to do with the city: simply occupy, plunder or destroy?

The second option gives the most money. Yes, taxpayers also die, but in small numbers. I advise you to use it every time - you can “withdraw” more than tens of thousands of florins from a rich city.

The third option is “bad”. Residents are dying en masse, the city is being thrown back in development, and not a lot of funds are coming into the account (which, generally speaking, is strange). The destruction of a city is a blow to relationships and authority. I do not advise exterminating captured cities, even though their inhabitants become quieter and lower than the grass for a long time.

Communication with the Pope

The Pope is an indestructible “country”. Initially located in Rome and owns the province. Others are not exciting. If you take Rome, the Pope will simply wander around the neighborhood. If you kill him, the cardinals will elect a new one, and everything will happen all over again.

The Pope does not want Catholics to fight each other, and is very fond of starting crusades (the first one will be announced a few moves after the start of the campaign). If you play as Orthodox or Muslim, you will be able to freely conquer any provinces and countries you choose. Catholics will have a harder time - as soon as they start a serious war with their neighbor, the Pope will intervene and offer to stop fighting. He will do this very often, sometimes letting you know that he will be unhappy, and sometimes directly promising excommunication.

This is a bug: The punishment system works through the stump-deck. Sometimes you can not lift the siege and still win the mission. Sometimes you are excommunicated for defending yourself from an aggressor. However, it should be noted that your enemy, who is carried away by war, can also be excommunicated - then he becomes an outlaw and can become an easy prey.

If your country is excommunicated, then your relations with Catholic countries and with Rome drop sharply. The population begins to rebel, and generals who are particularly zealous in their faith may go on the run along with the armies. However, such a trifle as excommunication is unlikely to deter many from capturing Rome - it is a very rich city. But Dad will manage.

This is interesting: you can, for example, “move” the Pope to a remote island - first give him a province, and then treacherously take Rome and try to appease the angry pontiff sitting on the island with large sums of money. The Pope will not leave the island, and he will not be able to send inquisitors to the continent.

The pope is elected for life by the College of Cardinals. Cardinals are nominated from the rank and file of priests in all Catholic countries. However, not quite ordinary ones - in order to become a cardinal, a priest must be extremely devout - seven or eight or more units of piety out of ten.

Piety is earned by missionary work in Orthodox, Muslim or pagan areas. It also helps to hunt for comical witches and bald heretics, who are reborn every now and then on the map. However, be careful - having failed to burn the heretic, the priest himself may fall into heresy: “Maybe the truth is all chemistry.”

If you push several of your priests into cardinals, you can eventually ensure that one of them is chosen as the new Pope. This is pleasant, but useless in the game, although there are rumors that it is easier to come to an agreement with “your” dad. For example, ask him to announce crusade on your enemies.

Sometimes Rome can send a unique inquisitor agent. This is a very dangerous person, he can, at will, burn your agents, your generals, and even (with some difficulties) a king or prince. Protects from the attacks of the inquisitor by a high piety parameter and... a crowd of killers.

This is a bug: Sometimes an inquisitor can burn a general who is going on a crusade. It would seem that participation in the campaign washes away sins, but no...

Crusades and Jihad

The Pope declares a crusade, expecting all faithful Catholics to join him. The Pope indicates the goal of the campaign (usually Jerusalem or Antioch at the beginning), and if you play for a Catholic country, you can join the campaign in time for the distribution of rewards.

And they are good, even if you do not take into account the spoils of war. Firstly, the general receives powerful increases to the command and piety parameters. Secondly, his entire army increases experience by one. Thirdly, the Pope will be pleased; The main thing is to be the first to reach the goal of the trip, otherwise the other country will get all the goodies.

This is a bug: if, one turn before capturing the target of the campaign, you join armies with generals in the country to the campaign, then these soldiers will receive an increase in experience without taking a single step. In just a few campaigns, using this fraudulent method, you can pump up all the armies of the country to the maximum.

To join a campaign, an army with a general must have at least eight units with it. The rest can be hired in Europe and sometimes even locally very cheaply - these are special “crusader” units that are not available for training in cities and fortresses.

An army that joins a crusade must move towards the target city every turn, otherwise the soldiers will desert - in one turn a quarter of the entire army can leave in an unknown direction. The Crusader army moves very quickly, but an unexpected meeting with another army can quickly “exhaust” its movement reserve for the turn.

Advice: if you do not want the army to desert, move towards the crusade target slowly and, seeing an obstacle ahead (a city or someone else's army), quickly press Backspace to stop the army and bypass the dangerous place.

The crusade can also be delivered by sea, but if the ship sails from England, skirting the Iberian Peninsula, then the illiterate soldiers, seeing that the fleet is moving away from the goal of the campaign, will go on the run. As you can see, the rule “where can you go from a submarine” does not work here.

To attack the “marching” armies of other countries means to risk excommunication. Moreover, being on a crusade, the player will very quickly ruin relations with the Pope if he attacks... the Orthodox. It's difficult to understand whether this is a bug or an intention of the developers.

This is a bug: In general, I don’t recommend adding agents to the campaign - they slow down the entire army. But you can get around the limitation by selecting an army and selecting all the units in it.

If you have a good relationship with the Pope (he loves money), then you can ask him to organize a crusade against the city that you need - of course, best of all belonging to a non-Catholic country. You can organize campaigns no more often than once every fifteen turns (thirty years).

If a player behaves very badly, is excommunicated and generally interferes with the Pope, then a crusade can be declared against his city.

Jihad among Muslims is a little simpler - it can be declared by any imam who has reached the fifth level of piety. The target of jihad should be a city in an area in which at least a third of the citizens profess Islam. The player can also hire inexpensive jihad-specific units.

Mongols and Timurids

The Mongol horde comes from the east. In 1206 you receive word of this, and within a few years about a dozen full (twenty squads) armies are hatching in the Baghdad area.

They can behave aggressively or passively gallop through the desert for several years without trying to take Baghdad. You look at these circles cut by the Mongols, and it’s unclear whether Genghis Khan felt like Moses, or whether he fell into Zen Buddhism.

With the first city captured, the Mongols become a new country and begin sending out agents and establishing diplomatic relations.

If you happen to be at war with the Mongols, I advise you to stock up on large armies and use every opportunity to sway the situation to your side - guard the Mongols at crossings, defend cities and castles (cavalry feels uncomfortable on the streets) and even ask the Pope to start a crusade to some Mongolian city.

The armies of the Mongols consist mainly of cavalry, among which there are many riflemen.

The Timurids arrive around 1370. They have fewer troops, but more gunpowder artillery and elephants - with cannons or musketeers on their backs. There will be no burning pigs at your disposal, so you will have to fight the elephants in the traditional way - using bows, crossbows and artillery, preferably with burning shells and arrows.

If you play as Egypt, Turkey, Byzantium or Russia, then it will be difficult to avoid encounters with the Mongols and Timurids. All other countries need not worry too much.

Pestilence - Black Death

The first outbreak of plague began in the fifties of the fourteenth century. An infected city must be isolated - no armies, generals or agents should enter or leave it. After a few years, the outbreak will go away on its own, and you will regain your strength.

Is it worth trying to infect enemy cities with an agent? There is no economic sense in this, armies die very reluctantly (it is better to exterminate them in a fair fight), and political results depend on luck - perhaps a few important shots will die, but the Black Death unleashed can hit the player’s empire with a ricochet.

For your information: it is impossible to infect the Aztecs with the plague - the agent will not survive the voyage or have time to recover.

Naval battles

Naval battles are still calculated automatically. The computer likes to sail in large fleets, so have twenty ships at hand latest model just in case - justified.

Ships can blockade enemy ports, blocking maritime trade, or close crossings, preventing armies or agents from moving, for example, from Central Europe to Scandinavia or from Scotland to Ireland.

In addition, each fleet can carry twenty detachments - an entire army. Typically, guns limit the speed of the army not only on land, but also at sea.

This is a bug: If you want to speed up the movement of ships with guns on board at any cost, you can click on the fleet and select all the ships.

What’s very bad is that artificial intelligence cannot land troops in principle. This is very unrealistic and gives the player an unfair advantage. For example, when playing as France, you don’t have to worry about the British landing - there won’t be one. And vice versa, playing as the British, you don’t have to worry about the defense of the islands - no one will set their sights on them, unless the rebels are reborn somewhere in the corner.

This is a bug: Sometimes ship captains show excessive independence and sail wherever they please. Try to stop such attempts.

These mysterious missions

If previously tasks were given to you by the Roman Senate, now all and sundry are in charge - the Pope, guilds and even foreign ambassadors. Rewards for tasks - troops, money, the location of Rome or... “non-excommunication”, if the situation is such that the Pope insistently demands an end to hostilities with fellow Catholics.

Sometimes the merchant communities or guilds that you host in their cities ask you to capture a certain city, remove a certain merchant, or blockade a key port. Usually tasks are easy to complete, and, moreover, their implementation is planned in advance in your plans. But sometimes you come across strange and impossible ones - for example, a request to establish trade relations with a country that has been successfully trading with you for many years. What can you do, programmers are people too and can make mistakes too. Prizes for completed tasks are money and sometimes rare units. The guild will not punish the monarch for a failed task - he is, after all, a king. Sometimes it’s very fun to read the texts of tasks, there are funny typos in them: “If you complete this task, the guild will give you florins and will be happy with you - if not, then the guild will be happy with you.”

Assassination missions - separate fun theme. Once, the prince of a country at war with me asked me to “remove” his daddy monarch, promising to improve relations. I was just besieging the city in which the king was sitting, and on the next turn I killed him in battle. And the prince says to me: “Since he died, I don’t have to pay, goodbye.” It turns out that in such tasks only an assassination attempt is counted, but not death in a fair fight - and even then, relations between countries do not improve. Yes, programmers made mistakes, it happens.

There are also simply impossible tasks. For example, a guild may demand to "annex" a certain city. Capturing it by force is a failure of the mission. If I bargain for a city with diplomacy, the task again does not count.

Discovery of America

Sometime in the mid-fifteenth century (around 1440), part of the map with several American provinces will be discovered. Only very fast and powerful ships - carracks - can cross the ocean and deliver the armies of conquerors (and with them agents and traders). They will have to build a top-level shipyard.

After loading your fleet with merchants (for gold!), spies (for spotting jungle ambushes), and a large army, sail west and in about ten turns you'll discover the first American provinces.

Taking provinces from the rebels will not be difficult, but the Aztecs could pose a serious problem. They are in droves, and they have a lot of heavy infantry. Only pikemen of the late Middle Ages - for example, landsknechts - can cope with them. It wouldn't hurt to load up gunpowder rifle squads, crossbowmen and a couple of serpentines.

It is best to fight the Aztecs not in the jungle, where they are obviously stronger, but in narrow areas of the map.

This is interesting: if the general is defeated by the Aztecs, he will begin to hate... Denmark. I would say that Norway needs to pay serious attention to this.

Tactics

In general, it’s difficult to seriously talk about tactics for defeating AI when half of the battles follow the same scenario: the enemy runs up to your archers and starts running in place, every now and then showing his back to the archers. In addition, the computer often completely ignores cavalry units that appear in the rear, which, without encountering resistance, surround entire armies.

We are waiting for patches. However, AI problems are one thing, and strange and controversial innovations in tactical principles are another. Just one example - you will have to get used to the peasants again. They learned to walk in formation - this is a small thing. But now a detachment of unwashed peasants armed with pitchforks easily puts the city militia and even sergeants to flight!

It feels like the world has turned upside down. And this is just the beginning.

Unfortunately: It is still not possible to record battles in campaign mode (usually the most interesting, unexpected and memorable ones).

Brave new fight

In general, many of the old tactical rules work:

• Height and crossing give an advantage.
• The environment gives you an advantage.
• A strike to the flank is more profitable than a frontal strike, a strike to the rear is more profitable than a flank strike.
• It is more important to overthrow the enemy army and put it to flight than to simply crush it in battle.
• A panicking enemy must be given a way to retreat so that he does not end up in the position of a cornered rat.

This is a bug: Speaking of commanding heights, sometimes an enemy squad, probably consisting of natural climbers, may find themselves on a mountain that is inaccessible in principle at the beginning of the battle.

As for the issues of relationships between horses and infantry, issues of assault, miracles begin.

For your information: Now horse units cannot be dismounted before battle. This is how they are trained in castles - dismounted. Nobody understands why the developers did this, but for some reason this is how the game is designed.

Firstly, the assault works extremely poorly. Forcing a mounted detachment at a gallop to impale an enemy on spears, or forcing infantry to run into enemy units while running... is very difficult. The reason for this, it seems to me, was new system calculating movements for each warrior. If you send the cavalry to storm the enemy at a gallop (double-click the right mouse button), then while running the squad will simply fall apart and there will be no effect from the assault. No one will fly into the air or run - the horses will simply slowly run up to the enemy, your soldiers will put away their spears, take out their swords and begin a normal battle. And most likely they will lose. Even peasants (however, we already know that peasants are terrible in close combat).

In order for the assault to take place, several rules must be followed at once:

• Place the cavalry exactly so that it is aimed at the enemy (otherwise, even with slight turns, the formation will fall apart and the assault will not take place).
• Make sure that the fronts of your and the enemy squad are parallel.
• Make sure that the distance is sufficient (a hundred meters minimum).

& Click on an enemy unit once - haste is good only when catching fleas.

If you did everything correctly, the cavalry will slowly walk towards the enemy, at a certain distance it will go to a trot without breaking the formation, then, a few tens of meters away, it will go to a gallop and lift the enemy onto its spears according to all the rules. Oh yes, it is also important to make sure that the enemy squad does not move or turn around, otherwise the horses will have to turn around/slow down, and the formation will be broken. And even more so, you cannot allow the enemy to retreat, otherwise your squad will go into pursuit mode, and this is not at all the same as an assault.

You probably already felt bewildered - how is it possible: if enemy knights are galloping towards you, it’s enough to start running away from them to mix up all their plans? Exactly. But these are still flowers.

Now we will have to unlearn the fact that a cavalry attack must be met in dense formation. It’s no longer necessary - it’s most profitable to thin out the squad (as if under attack by archers). No, a detachment that has stood up in intervals will not be swept away by cavalry in the game - it will strike with a narrow front and, perhaps, throw back several soldiers, but immediately after that the detachment will surround it on three sides (it is larger on the front) and will quickly reduce it to nothing. Yes, this is a new word in military affairs.

The main thing is not to turn on the “security” mode for the squad, otherwise each soldier will remain in place. In general, there are many useless modes in the game. Take the classic wedge, the pig. He didn't work in Rome, and he doesn't work here either. I’m telling you - in life, a wedge breaks deep into a detachment, cutting it in half, and “opens up”. In the game, the wedge runs up to the enemy - and the first horseman (maybe a couple of his neighbors) begins to cut with swords. The rest of the horses stand behind, and their riders are probably smoking and discussing business.

The infantry assault lost its significance altogether. It is more advantageous to meet the enemy while standing still, simply because this is one of the few ways to maintain formation.

The “shield wall” is completely useless. It does not protect against cavalry attacks and does not save against infantry either. The only way to use it in any way is to place it in the defense of the bridge to delay the enemy and give other units the opportunity to attack him from the flanks.

Another innovation that may seem shocking is the defenselessness of dense formations of spear detachments against cavalry attacks. The forest of spears does not frighten the horses and does not cause much damage at the time of the assault, so if you want the spearmen to survive, place a detachment at intervals, and the horses will not be in trouble. Only the Swiss pikemen and landsknechts, with their anti-cavalry formation in three ranks, can hope for success in a battle with cavalry.

For your information: line showbanners = 1 in file medieval2.preference.cfg is responsible for pennants over units. If you correct the value to zero, these flags will disappear. The green circles under the units are indicated by the line disable_arrow_markers, and for the scenes “they killed the general”, “they took the gate” - event_cutscenes.

It is worth knowing about one more feature of the game - units with halberds (Zvei Hander, Billmen, Forlorn Hope) are very weak in battle and lose to even the cheapest units. This is most likely a bug and is awaiting a fix.

Squad training

Another innovation is related to role-playing elements. In Rome: Total War, an experienced squad received very strong increases in attack and defense parameters. Here the “old men” were given a hat, and now the number of stripes is not important - only their color is important.

• 1-3 (one, two and three bronze stripes) - an increase of one to attack and defense.
• 4-6 (silver stripes) - the increase is equal to two.
• 7-9 (golden stripes) - the increase is three.

These are quite modest numbers. However, we should not forget that other, invisible parameters also increase - morale or accuracy of shooting units (but their damage from arrows does not increase, as it was before).

For your information: retraining and combining units has become easier than in Medieval. Now defeated units retain experience, even if there are very few of them left.

Let me remind you once again that the updated armor for units gives only an external effect - in reality it almost does not increase. And this, unfortunately, is not a bug - the developers simply could not allow archers to receive knightly armor not as decoration, but as serious protection.

Reinforcements

Reinforcements can be handled in two ways - either give them to the control of the AI, or put them on the edge of the map so that they come out one at a time when space becomes available for them. The maximum is twenty “your” units on the map, that is, your unit must either leave the map itself, or run away, or be destroyed, or... be absent from the very beginning.

Giving units under the control of AI can sometimes be very convenient: forty units is a serious force, even if twenty of them are controlled by a stupid piece of hardware. But it’s worth doing this only if you don’t mind risking troops and a general, if there is one in the army. The problem of “suicidal generals” (salute, Caesar!) has not gone away from the game.

In battle, your own troops may inadvertently upset your plans, or even shoot you with bows (tolerable) or with cannons. He will aim at the enemy you are fighting, and will act with the best intentions.

This is very sad, but you cannot choose the order in which reinforcements appear on the battlefield (as was the case in Rome: Total War). This is another moment “cut down” by the developers for unknown reasons.

Siege and defense

It’s not for nothing that the introductory video shows an assault on the city using the game engine. It was sieges and defense that became the most beautiful and spectacular spectacle in the new game.

The rules are similar - on the strategic map, the army besieges the city and begins to build siege weapons. A large army can build several towers, ladders and battering rams in one turn, while a small army will do it in two or three turns.

The enemy can sit under siege for several turns (sixteen game years - easy!), but his troops will slowly melt away. At any moment he can launch a raid. In this case, the besiegers will not have the opportunity to line up their troops before the battle (they usually stand in a row in front of the main gate by default).

This is a bug: if the entire enemy army rushes to attack along one ladder or tower, then a crowd of hundreds of soldiers can slow down the game - movement calculations will bring the processor to a comatose state.

The city can be stormed if at least one battering ram or ladder is built. If your squad has siege weapons, you can try to storm the city right away. Spies can also help - if you “plant” them in the city in advance, they will open the gates for you.

This is a bug: very often honest enemy generals refuse to storm your city through gates opened by spies, preferring to climb the walls.

The assault goes like this: we roll the ram to the gate, carry it to the walls of the stairs and roll the towers. At this time, the enemy fires at you with bows and crossbows - defensive turrets shoot arrows, spears or cannonballs at you.

This is a bug: towers with ballistae sometimes fire cannonballs, and cannon towers, on the contrary, fire flaming spears.

The enemy's goal is to first try to burn the ram and towers. If the arrows set them on fire, it will be impossible to put out the fire.

It is important: remember that defensive turrets do not fire unattended - there must be a squad next to them.

The strongest infantry units should be placed in the towers and on the stairs. Archers can also drag a ram.

For your information: It’s impossible to make tunnels now, and there’s no need to do so with such and such guns.

Your first goal is to capture the wall. Break through gates or occupy walls from ladders or towers. Having lost a section of the wall, the AI ​​will begin to lower its troops from the walls, retreat to the square or beyond next row walls if you are storming the castle.

This is a bug: Beware of Tamerlane's elephants - they know how to capture walls from a distance using telepathy.

The goal of the assault is not to destroy all the defenders, but to occupy the central square and hold out there for three minutes. Usually, however, one does not interfere with the other.

If you have occupied the city wall, move towards the central square. Remember that in urban battles troops suffer huge losses, especially cavalry. If the castle has a second row of walls, then you can rush into the citadel on the shoulders of running defenders (this happens very often) or simply bring siege weapons, battering rams and ladders through the gates and gaps in the wall (yes, they can be reused).

Advice: Most often it is more convenient to walk along the walls - the inner row of walls communicates with the outer one.

It is almost impossible to maneuver outside the city walls, so you will have to occupy cities mainly by brute force. Two more tips will help you:

• Use assassins to blow up defensive towers with ballistas or cannons in the city before the assault. Unfortunately, the killer cannot blow up the walls themselves.
• If a spy opened the gate in front of you, then know that not only this gate is open, but also all the others along the perimeter of the entire wall.

If the enemy makes a sortie, this is a great success for you, because he goes beyond the walls of the city, losing his advantage. In addition, you are lined up in a long line (immediately drop the siege weapons and command a quick formation), and the enemy comes out of the gate in disarray. His attack is very easy to repel, and on his shoulders it is easy to break into the walls of the city, into the citadel, and into the city square.

In the defense of cities, place archers on the walls and fire at the enemy, trying to set fire to their siege weapons. Place the strongest units (for example, peasant animals) in front of the breaches in the walls, trying to catch the enemy “in the bag.” In fortresses, it is easier to leave several rifle squads next to the defensive towers, and take the main forces to the citadel. The enemy, moving towards you, will lose soldiers, and you will save them.

Artillery - field and siege

Artillery in the game is clearly divided into field and siege. Ballistas, rocket launchers, light cannons and serpentines are good for hitting infantry in the field (especially the “general’s” detachment), catapults, trebuchets and large cannons are suitable for taking cities on the move.

Fire and explosive shells are well suited for enemy soldiers and artillery; ordinary shells are suitable for demolishing walls, towers and gates. Trebuchet can shower a city with dead cows - their fumes make enemies swell and die, losing strength. There is no “friend or foe” identification system for dead cattle.

Do not overuse field artillery - in a short-lived battle, cannons in large quantities will not make a difference, but will take up space in the army. Also, do not carry large quantities of siege artillery with you - a couple of catapults will be enough to remove the gates and a couple of breaches in the wall.

This is interesting: The squads operating the catapults are real beasts. Before my eyes, they tore into pieces the mounted detachments that had crept up from the rear. Continuous work with a heavy collar must have developed a heroic strength in them.

Artillery is almost unsuitable for shelling the enemy hiding behind the walls of the city. Even a mortar is ineffective - and all because of its very low accuracy. It's much easier to get into the gate from a hundred paces.

Archers and crossbowmen

Developers fear "friendly fire" as... fire. In order to avoid it, they gave crossbowmen the ability to shoot with a canopy and allowed rifle squads to stop fire on their own and transfer it to other enemy squads if there was a risk of hitting their own.

If you select several squads of archers and order them to shoot at one squad, then they will choose their targets independently, based on their own ideas about how best to damage the enemy. Sometimes they are too independent and this upsets their owners. Although I don’t even know what could be more upsetting than the reluctance to get out of the way of the enemy’s troops. Sometimes crossbowmen, having received the order to retreat, “shoot” empty crossbows for a while and usually come under attack from enemy cavalry.

In all other respects they are similar to Rome's archers and crossbowmen. It's better to shoot from top to bottom; it's bad to shoot uphill. Burning arrows kill less, but by burning enemies (what's smeared on them - napalm?), they quickly reduce morale. In the rain, the arrows work... poorly.

In a firefight, it makes sense to thin the formation. Very often in battle, due to AI problems, disabling the Skirmish mode pays off - archers stop running away from the approaching enemy, which sometimes leaves him in a stupor.

For your information: Some English archers know how to place stakes in front of them before a battle to protect themselves from cavalry. Horses die well on stakes, but be careful - your own mounted troops will not even think about going around dangerous places.

Mounted riflemen

Mounted marksmen are not as effective as archers and carry fewer arrows, but they can lay down harassing fire and remain relatively out of reach.

It is best to shoot in a regular rectangular formation. It is worth turning on the Cantabrian circle only if the detachment is under fire - in this case, the horses, running in circles like in a circus, quickly get tired.

It is important: Having run out of ammunition, shooters automatically exit Skirmish mode. If you forget about them, they can easily be chopped.

Mounted riflemen are good at pursuit, but “Parthian shooting” after those running has become less effective than in Rome: Total War.

Handguns

There are numerous bugs here, the most famous of which is the pupating arrows in the “carakol” formation. They can stick so tightly while rebuilding that only death from the enemy’s hand will save them. Forming them in two rows can (sometimes) protect them from this.

Early marksmen and arquebusiers are ineffective, musketeers are a completely different matter. Against armored knights - just right. But I do not advise placing musketeers on the city walls in defense. They will most likely refuse to shoot for some of their own (religious?) reasons.

As I was finishing this text, I heard rumors that the first patches were on the nose. Most likely, much of what I wrote about with bitterness and indignation has already been corrected in the game, and you will find an updated version of Medieval II: Total War, cleansed of many shortcomings and oddities. So good luck with your battles!

The world is changing. Quite unexpectedly, we understand that the simple and understandable rules of “total war,” familiar to us from the samurai battles in the mountains of Japan, suddenly cease to apply. You and I have gone through medieval battles and Roman conquests to return to the European High Middle Ages... and discover that we have found ourselves in a wonderland - mysterious and frightening.

The same time - but we need to develop and fight in a completely different way, otherwise we should conduct diplomatic relations and spy, and we should organize our own state according to completely different rules. The new laws of the game may be shocking at first... but this guide will give you the big picture and prepare you for the new, unknown Middle Ages.

Strategy

Whether long or short...

The main campaign mode (the only one in which the strategic part is available) does not open entirely immediately. At first, you can only play as five countries - England, the Holy Roman Empire, France, Venice and Spain. Victory in the campaign for any of these countries opens up Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, the Moors, Scotland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Milan, Sicily, Russia, Hungary and Turkey (the names, of course, are relative, like many things in the game). However, if you destroy any country in the game, it will appear among the available ones - this way they can be “manifested” one at a time.

For your information: if to a file medieval2.preference.cfg you will add and on the next line unlock_campaign = true, then all seventeen countries will be available from the very beginning.

There are four more races that are not available in the campaign - the Aztecs, the Timurid dynasty, the Mongol Horde and the Papacy. They can be played in a separate tactical quick battle mode, in a multiplayer game, or in a battle designer.

In campaign mode, you can choose the difficulty level - strategic and tactical separately. At the easy level, your troops are stronger and your people are calmer. On difficult and very difficult, enemy peasants kill the knights, the people rebel, the enemies have noticeably more warriors, no one likes the player, and luck often turns its back on him.

At higher difficulty levels, fatigue and morale play a big role in tactical battles. The developers claim that the general level of consideration of the enemy general also increases, but these words should be taken critically, because generals could be much more stupid.

At the start of the campaign, you can choose the level of assistance - at the highest level, talking heads will constantly give you hints in both tactical and strategic modes (they can be turned off already in the game). You can enable a time limit on battles - due to some problems with AI getting stuck in battles, it is better to limit them (again, this can be turned on already in the campaign). Another point is forced auto-government of cities without governors. This point is not particularly significant. Previously, in cities without a governor, it was impossible to build and hire troops at will; now only taxes are levied automatically.

Finally, each company can be completed in two versions - long and short. They differ in the rules of victory. In the long game, you need to conquer 45 provinces (half the map) and one specific city - Jerusalem, Rome or Constantinople - in 225 moves (450 years - from 1080 to 1530). In a short campaign, you need to conquer 15 provinces and destroy a certain state or even two.

The Age of Centenarians

In the first part of Medieval, you can choose a time period from three options - and, if you wish, start the game right from the late Middle Ages, with gunpowder and several rebuilt provinces. This cannot be done here - you will have to start from 1080. This means that in a short campaign you will most likely win long before the advent of gunpowder, and even in a long campaign, vigorously developing, you can do it in two or three hundred years.

For your information: if you erase a line show_years_as_turns in file descr_strat.txt, then with the start of a new campaign, time will be calculated in years, not in moves.

Each move is two game years, but this does not mean that after twenty-five moves the young prince turns into an old man. On the contrary, in the game a character may well live... two hundred years. Two years pass in six months here, and the hero, who is 60 years old in the game, was actually born 240 years ago (120 turns).

Welcome to Wonderland. The surprises are just beginning.

Game events

Historical events in the game written in scripts are divided into important ones that have a key impact on the gameplay, and ordinary signs that inform about progress.

1080 - start of the campaign.

1130 (25th move) - invention of the mill.

1138 (turn 29) - earthquake in Syria.

1044 (turn 32) - the heyday of alchemy.

1152 (36th move) - the appearance of paper in Europe.

1180 (50 stroke) - the rudder of the ships.

1182 (51 moves) - invention of the compass.

1200 (60th move) - invention of the wheelbarrow.

1202 (61 moves) - understanding the concept of zero.

1208-1224 (moves 64-72) - rumors of a Mongol invasion. A few moves later the Mongols themselves appear.

1240-1250 (moves 80-85) - invention of gunpowder.

1268 (turn 94) - earthquake in Sicily.

1280 (100 stroke) - the first mechanical watch.

1283 (move 103) - first points.

1302 (move 111) - earthquake in Egypt.

1312 (116th move) - repeated earthquake in Egypt.

1314 (move 117) - playing ball is prohibited.

1328 (124th move) - the first sawmill.

1334 (127th move) - the first chimes.

1336 (128th turn) - the first weather forecast.

1346 (turn 133) - rumors of the Black Death.

1348 (turn 134) - the first outbreak of plague in Europe. Repeats for the next three years.

1350 (135 stroke) - the first blast furnace.

1362 (141 strokes) - hurricane Grote Mandrenke, marking the beginning of the Little Ice Age.

1368-1384 (moves 144-152) - rumors of a Timurid invasion. After a few moves they themselves appear.

1400 (160th move) - invention of a musical instrument operating on the principle of a piano.

1400-1408 (160-164 moves) - rumors that the Earth is round.

1420 (170 move) - the first oil painting.

1444 (183 move) - treatise “On Learned Ignorance” by Nicholas of Cusa - the forerunner of the ideas of the Renaissance.

1454 (187th move) - invention of the printing press.

1456 (move 188) - earthquake in Naples.

1486 (turn 203) - the treatise “The Witches’ Hammer”, which marked the beginning of the “Witch Hunt” of the Renaissance.

1492 (move 206) - invention of the ornithopter by Leonardo da Vinci.

1510 (215 movement) - the first wristwatch.

1530 (turn 225) - end of the game (it can be continued, but there will be no more inventions, historical events and new types of troops in the game).

Cities and feudal lords

The system of cities in the new game was seriously reworked, and quite logically they were divided into cities (centers of trade, science and crafts) and castles (concentration of military power).

For your information: The developers have removed from the game the ability to optionally take a bird's eye view of your city. Of course, this opportunity was useless, but it’s still a pity.

It is possible to turn a city into a castle and back - but only at the initial levels of their development. Then the changes become irreversible. Budget money is obtained in cities (the level of taxes can be adjusted in them), and citizens moderately speak out about the existing system. At first, a few military units were produced in cities - militia of various types, siege weapons, cannons and, in the later period, gunpowder rifle detachments. The city also specializes in agents - diplomats, spies and assassins.

For your information: a city can contain several militia units for free for the player - from two to six. This is a very convenient innovation. You can recognize a “free” squad by its blue rim.

Castles don't use gunpowder, but they build cannons and trebuchets. The castle won't give you harquebusiers and musketeers, but the line of real medieval troops starts right from the peasants. Then comes a variety of infantry, cavalry units, archers and, in general, the flower of medieval knighthood. The castle will not bring much money, taxes are levied at a rigid rate, but feudal peasants are not accustomed to rebel.

The game requires both cities and castles. The first - as the basis of the economy and a valuable source of diplomats/spies, the second - as a real military force of the high Middle Ages. In what ratio are they needed? There may be fewer castles than cities, and it is advisable to keep them on the edge of the empire so that fresh knights can keep up with the battle. However, there are no hard and fast rules here; it’s just important not to overdo it with locks. In addition, cities are needed for guilds, and each can have only one guild (more on them below).

The line of buildings in cities and castles is extremely simple. The developers have combined it into a consolidated list with detailed explanations - it is called up through the city menu.

It is important: The line of "forge" buildings supplies your units with new armor that looks very cool on the battlefield. But don’t let its appearance deceive you - in fact, the units are minimally protected. That is, the most fashionable armor that the blacksmiths gave to the detachment can protect worse than the “native” chain mail. This makes building forges largely pointless. The same applies to the city line of universities - they improve the quality of... melee combat for gunpowder units. Some Venetian units were especially unlucky - improving their armor was simply reduces their protection.

The very principle of hiring units has changed dramatically. Now it resembles the old and familiar mercenary recruitment system. Simply put, now in cities and castles you can “build” or retrain several units at once in one turn - starting from two. The quantity depends on the size of the city. But at the same time, you cannot assemble more units of a certain type than are available for hire (usually from two to four). If, for example, you “selected” all the available knights, then you will have to wait several turns until they can be hired again.

Agents are always available one at a time - this means that you cannot hire three spies in one city at once in one turn, but it is quite possible to hire a spy, a diplomat and an assassin at the same time. Fortunately, agents, unlike armies, become available again within a turn.

This innovation has two goals. Firstly, the player can now, if necessary, gather a large army in one turn. Secondly, the player is forced to diversify his army - collecting a dozen knights of the same type is now not so easy, especially considering that half of your settlements can only train militia.

This is a bug: in the game you can change the capital to reduce losses from corruption and freethinking. However, I do not recommend using this opportunity - your economy and trade may fall into chaos due to game errors, and the point of moving the capital will be lost.

It should also be noted that now the hiring of troops does not affect the population of the city. This is also a very convenient innovation - war no longer depletes the economy. But it is now impossible to calm the city by “relocating” its inhabitants in peasant detachments to an open field. But this is not necessary - after complaints about the townspeople of Rome: Total War, the developers took up discipline, and now the townspeople walk to the line, and the feudal peasants do not open their mouths at all. As they say: “Yes, my lord.” However, the peasants in the new game are generally beasts - but I will talk about this below, in the tactical section.

The world is changing. Quite unexpectedly, we understand that the simple and understandable rules of “total war,” familiar to us from the samurai battles in the mountains of Japan, suddenly cease to apply. You and I have gone through medieval battles and Roman conquests to return to the European High Middle Ages... and discover that we have found ourselves in a wonderland - mysterious and frightening.

The same time - but we need to develop and fight in a completely different way, otherwise we should conduct diplomatic relations and spy, and we should organize our own state according to completely different rules. The new laws of the game may be shocking at first... but this guide will give you the big picture and prepare you for the new, unknown Middle Ages.

Strategy

Whether long or short...

The main campaign mode (the only one in which the strategic part is available) does not open entirely immediately. At first, you can only play as five countries - England, the Holy Roman Empire, France, Venice and Spain. Victory in the campaign for any of these countries opens up Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, the Moors, Scotland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Milan, Sicily, Russia, Hungary and Turkey (the names, of course, are relative, like many things in the game). However, if you destroy any country in the game, it will appear among the available ones - this way they can be “manifested” one at a time.

For your information: if to a file medieval2.preference.cfg you will add and on the next line unlock_campaign = true, then all seventeen countries will be available from the very beginning.

There are four more races that are not available in the campaign - the Aztecs, the Timurid Dynasty, the Mongol Horde and the Papacy. They can be played in a separate tactical quick battle mode, in a multiplayer game, or in a battle designer.

In the campaign mode, you can choose the level of difficulty - separately strategic and tactical. At the easy level, your troops are stronger and your people are calmer. On difficult and very difficult, enemy peasants kill the knights, the people rebel, the enemies have noticeably more warriors, no one likes the player, and luck often turns its back on him.

At higher difficulty levels, fatigue and morale play a big role in tactical battles. The developers claim that the general level of consideration of the enemy general also increases, but these words should be taken critically, because generals could be much more stupid.

At the start of the campaign, you can choose the level of assistance - at the highest level, talking heads will constantly give you hints in both tactical and strategic modes (they can be turned off already in the game). You can enable a time limit on battles - due to some problems with AI getting stuck in battles, it is better to limit them (again, this can be turned on already in the campaign). Another point is forced auto-government of cities without governors. This point is not particularly significant. Previously, in cities without a governor, it was impossible to build and hire troops at will; now only taxes are levied automatically.

Finally, each company can be completed in two versions - long and short. They differ in the rules of victory. In the long game, you need to conquer 45 provinces (half the map) and one specific city in 225 moves (450 years - from 1080 to 1530) and one specific city - Jerusalem, Rome or Constantinople. In a short campaign, you need to conquer 15 provinces and destroy a certain state or even two.

The Age of Centenarians

In the first part of Medieval, you can choose a time period from three options - and, if you wish, start the game right from the late Middle Ages, with gunpowder and several rebuilt provinces. This cannot be done here - you will have to start from 1080. This means that in a short campaign you will most likely win long before the advent of gunpowder, and even in a long campaign, vigorously developing, you can do it in two or three hundred years.

For your information: if you erase a line show_years_as_turns in file descr_strat.txt, then with the start of a new campaign, time will be calculated in years, not in moves.

Each move is two game years, but this does not mean that after twenty-five moves the young prince turns into an old man. On the contrary, in the game a character may well live... two hundred years. Two years pass in six months here, and the hero, who is 60 years old in the game, was actually born 240 years ago (120 turns).

Welcome to Wonderland. The surprises are just beginning.

Game events

Historical events in the game written in scripts are divided into important ones that have a key impact on the gameplay, and ordinary signs that inform about progress.

1080 - start of the campaign.

1130 (turn 25) - invention of the mill.

1138 (turn 29) - earthquake in Syria.

1044 (turn 32) - the heyday of alchemy.

1152 (36th move) - the appearance of paper in Europe.

1180 (50th move) - the rudder of the ships.

1182 (51 moves) - invention of the compass.

1200 (60th move) - invention of the wheelbarrow.

1202 (61 moves) - understanding the concept of zero.

1208-1224 (moves 64-72) - rumors of a Mongol invasion. A few moves later the Mongols themselves appear.

1240-1250 (moves 80-85) - invention of gunpowder.

1268 (turn 94) - earthquake in Sicily.

1280 (100th movement) - the first mechanical watch.

1283 (move 103) - first points.

1302 (move 111) - earthquake in Egypt.

1312 (116th move) - repeated earthquake in Egypt.

1314 (move 117) - playing ball is prohibited.

1328 (124th move) - the first sawmill.

1334 (127th move) - the first chimes.

1336 (128th turn) - the first weather forecast.

1346 (turn 133) - rumors of the Black Death.

1348 (turn 134) - the first outbreak of plague in Europe. Repeats for the next three years.

1350 (135 stroke) - the first blast furnace.

1362 (141 strokes) - hurricane Grote Mandrenke, marking the beginning of the Little Ice Age.

1368-1384 (144-152 moves) - rumors of a Timurid invasion. After a few moves they themselves appear.

1400 (160th move) - invention of a musical instrument that works on the principle of a piano.

1400-1408 (160-164 moves) - rumors that the Earth is round.

1420 (170 move) - the first oil painting.

1444 (183 move) - treatise “On Learned Ignorance” by Nicholas of Cusa - the forerunner of the ideas of the Renaissance.

1454 (187th move) - invention of the printing press.

1456 (move 188) - earthquake in Naples.

1486 (turn 203) - the treatise “The Hammer of the Witches”, which marked the beginning of the “Witch Hunt” of the Renaissance.

1492 (move 206) - invention of the ornithopter by Leonardo da Vinci.

1510 (215 movement) - the first wristwatch.

1530 (turn 225) - end of the game (it can be continued, but there will be no more inventions, historical events and new types of troops in the game).

Cities and feudal lords

The system of cities in the new game was seriously reworked, and quite logically they were divided into cities (centers of trade, science and crafts) and castles (concentration of military power).

For your information: The developers have removed from the game the ability to optionally take a bird's eye view of your city. Of course, this opportunity was useless, but it’s still a pity.

It is possible to turn a city into a castle and back - but only at the initial levels of their development. Then the changes become irreversible. Budget money is obtained in cities (the level of taxes can be adjusted in them), and citizens moderately speak out about the existing system. At first, a few military units were produced in cities - militia of various types, siege weapons, cannons and, in the later period, gunpowder rifle detachments. The city also specializes in agents - diplomats, spies and assassins.

For your information: a city can contain several militia units, from two to six, free of charge for the player. This is a very convenient innovation. You can recognize a “free” squad by its blue rim.

Castles don't use gunpowder, but they build cannons and trebuchets. The castle won't give you harquebusiers and musketeers, but the line of real medieval troops starts right from the peasants. Then comes a variety of infantry, cavalry units, archers and, in general, the flower of medieval knighthood. The castle will not bring much money, taxes are levied at a rigid rate, but feudal peasants are not accustomed to rebel.

The game requires both cities and castles. The first - as the basis of the economy and a valuable source of diplomats/spies, the second - as a real military force of the high Middle Ages. In what ratio are they needed? There may be fewer castles than cities, and it is advisable to keep them on the edge of the empire so that fresh knights can keep up with the battle. However, there are no hard and fast rules here; it’s just important not to overdo it with locks. In addition, cities are needed for guilds, and each can have only one guild (more on them below).

The line of buildings in cities and castles is extremely simple. The developers have combined it into a consolidated list with detailed explanations - it can be called up through the city menu.

It is important: The line of "forge" buildings supplies your units with new armor that looks very cool on the battlefield. But don’t let its appearance deceive you - in fact, the units are minimally protected. That is, the most fashionable armor that the blacksmiths gave to the detachment can protect worse than the “native” chain mail. This makes building forges largely pointless. The same applies to the city line of universities - they improve the quality of... melee combat for gunpowder units. Some Venetian units were especially unlucky - improving their armor was simply reduces their protection.

The very principle of hiring units has changed dramatically. Now it resembles the old and familiar mercenary recruitment system. Simply put, now in cities and castles you can “build” or retrain several units at once in one turn - starting from two. The quantity depends on the size of the city. But at the same time, you cannot assemble more units of a certain type than are available for hire (usually from two to four). If, for example, you “selected” all the available knights, then you will have to wait several turns until they can be hired again.

Agents are always available one at a time - this means that you cannot hire three spies in one city at once per turn, but it’s quite possible to hire a spy, a diplomat and an assassin at the same time. Fortunately, agents, unlike armies, become available again within a turn.

This innovation has two goals. Firstly, the player can now, if necessary, gather a large army in one turn. Secondly, the player is forced to diversify his army - collecting a dozen knights of the same type is now not so easy, especially considering that half of your settlements can only train militia.

This is a bug: in the game you can change the capital to reduce losses from corruption and freethinking. However, I do not recommend using this opportunity - your economy and trade may fall into chaos due to game errors, and the point of moving the capital will be lost.

It should also be noted that now the hiring of troops does not affect the population of the city. This is also a very convenient innovation - war no longer depletes the economy. But it is now impossible to calm the city by “relocating” its inhabitants in peasant detachments to an open field. But this is not necessary - after complaints about the townspeople of Rome: Total War, the developers took up discipline, and now the townspeople walk to the line, and the feudal peasants do not open their mouths at all. As they say: “Yes, my lord.” However, the peasants in the new game are generally beasts - but I will talk about this below, in the tactical section.

Guilds

When at least one of your cities is developed to the Minor level, there will be a lot of offers from guilds to build an institution in the city - for a certain fee. You should choose carefully, since there can only be one guild in one city. I advise you not to accept offers as soon as one or two similar guilds have appeared in your cities. Why do we need five thieves guilds?

For your information: if you nevertheless accepted an unwanted guild, you can always demolish it. It is better, of course, not to resort to this measure - then it will be more difficult to establish relations with the guild.

And anyway, why are these guilds needed? You will find the effect of some directly in the city list of available buildings, while others are hidden. Let's reveal the secrets.

The Explorers Guild increases the number of turns for units. Guilds of assassins and assassins improve the corresponding units hired in the city and have a beneficial effect on public order. Alchemists improve gunpowder units, the masons' guild reduces construction costs and again influences law and order (whoever rebels gets bricked).

The Merchant Guild adds income from trade and strengthens the merchants hired in the city. The Guild of Theologians influences priests, the Guild of Thieves improves the quality of spies. Swordsmen strengthen the weapons of units, cavalrymen are responsible for horses, lumberjacks are responsible for archers and crossbowmen. Since cities do not have archers, cavalry units or swordsmen, these guilds can only be built in castles.

There are four knightly orders on a separate line - the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Teutons and the Knights of Santiago. They provide the opportunity to train knights of the corresponding units and can be built both in the castle and in the city.

Each guild has three levels of development - regular, master guild and headquarters. They provide improved effects. For example, the master guild of merchants allows you to train strong units of “merchant” heavy cavalry in the city, and the master guild of swordsmen gives a unit of experience to all knights in the country. But getting a guild to propose improvements to a building is usually not easy.

What determines whether there will be an offer to build a guild and what kind of guild it will be? This depends both on the development of the state and the player’s actions (issued missions are counted, if the guild has any), and on the specific city.

Generals and how to deal with them

The system of virtues and vices that influence the qualities of generals and agents first appeared in Medieval: Total War. Everything is simple and clear - by winning battles, the general becomes more experienced. Personal participation in battle adds HP to him, and storming cities gives him additional experience in a familiar situation. Sitting in the city, the general in the role of governor could become an experienced mayor, but at the same time soft and prone to vices.

Ambush! The army was caught in a marching formation, and now I urgently need to deploy troops to form a front.

The retinue is a separate category - up to eight “additional” characters. For example, when frequently storming cities, a general can pick up a useful engineer who speeds up the construction of siege weapons and adds a point of experience in siege battles, and after surviving an assassination attempt, get a dog that increases personal safety. Very rarely, a general could pick up a legendary figure like Marco Polo or Leonardo da Vinci to accompany him.

Raising generals, a prince and a king, and exchanging retinues is a fun, although not essential, element of the game. In Medieval II: Total War, the system, at first glance, remains the same. But there are also changes. Firstly, it is now possible to transfer not the entire retinue between generals, but only some characters.

Secondly, on the family tree management screen you cannot assign an heir - he is selected by the game automatically, and if the player wants the country to go to a strong prince, he either trains what he has in battle, or eliminates the prince, throwing him into a hopeless battle.

However, even these innovations do not have a big impact on the gameplay. Much worse is the disturbed balance and bugs in the system of acquiring virtues and vices. You and I are accustomed to the fact that it makes sense to appoint governors to the most important cities in order to calm down the residents and increase incomes. Say goodbye to governors - now there is no point in appointing them to cities at all, unless you want to turn a gallant general into a dissolute bum, stealing your money and driving people to white heat.

Think about it - according to the new rules, generals appointed by governors to cities (especially large ones) grasp vices almost instantly, in one move, and soon begin to devour and drink away budget money, ruining the king. No, let the people govern themselves, and the generals must fight external and internal enemies.

This is a bug: You can save generals from vice in fortresses, but even there sometimes things get ridiculous - in a castle, where taxes cannot be managed in principle, the general gets the ruinous vice of “bad tax collector.”

Each general, in addition to age, has four main parameters:

There are also implicit, hidden parameters - personal authority, personal safety, increases in driving range, influence on taxes and the mood of citizens, and others. Many are intended for governors, that is, they are useless.

There are several ways to get new generals. Firstly, in a natural way - the heirs become generals (the eldest is the crown prince). Secondly, generals are often obtained by noble ladies (daughters of the royal family) when they marry.

The third way is promotion from the masses. Any army you have without a general, even a lone detachment of peasants, is controlled by a captain. If an army under the command of a captain achieves an impressive heroic victory and the captain’s detachment personally deals with a hundred or two enemies (this is a very, very large number), then he will be offered to be promoted to general. The parameters of the newly minted general will be low, but quite tolerable.

This is a bug: all such “nouveau” generals will be outspoken atheists with zero religiosity parameter.

In general, armies should not walk alone - this way they can turn into rebels on their own. Try to give each army a general, even the most seedy one. He can also break away, but the likelihood of this is less (if you are not excommunicated).

Diplomacy backed by the sword

Diplomacy has been reworked very seriously, bringing it closer to the classic “trade” system familiar from Civilization and Galactic Civilizations. In the diplomacy window we see the main parameters of diplomats, state relations, intelligence information and information about the position of your country on the world medieval stage.

Advice: Spies in enemy cities will help you find out about the state’s intentions. So, if your relationship with an ally is ideal, but his intentions include war, get ready for it.

You can improve relations between countries in many ways - gifts, trade agreements, alliances, military assistance, modest requests. Money can do wonders and mend relations between bitter enemies, but the outcome of diplomacy also depends on your reputation. With a very low reputation, it can be very difficult to conclude a truce, enter into an alliance, or bargain something in negotiations. It is good for your reputation to release prisoners and occupy cities without destroying them. It is harmful to attack other countries first and declare war.

This is a bug: If, before attacking an ally, you warn him by breaking the contract, your reputation will drop in the same way as with a treacherous attack.

It is easier to negotiate with fellow believers, but with infidels it is somewhat more difficult. Small countries are more accommodating than big ones.

This is a bug: sometimes in the process of trading other people's diplomats say strange things: “No, I don’t agree to X. I’m putting forward a counterproposal to X.”

Diplomacy is affected by the difficulty level set in the game - on easy, all relations between the player’s country and other countries automatically drift towards ideal. On average - to neutral (these rules apply between countries controlled by AI), that is, both insults and benefits are forgotten. At the hard and very hard levels, all relations between the player and other countries smoothly shift to disgusting - that is, they hate you... just like that.

This is a bug: If you open the diplomacy window and close it without concluding a single deal or agreement, then the relationship between the two countries will deteriorate, and the diplomat or princess may lose experience.

If you ignore the numerous mistakes, the new diplomacy is a step forward in the entire series. Relations between countries very well reproduce the spirit of the Middle Ages, and countries are moderately treacherous and moderately honest. Thus, an ally may treacherously attack if you leave border cities unattended (the player can use this “casus belli”). Sometimes an AI-controlled state may simply declare war, warning of its intentions. Threats can even annex a province - usually this is an indicator of a well-developed system.

This is a bug: if at the time of destruction the country was in an alliance with you, then the alliance will become “unbreakable” and in the future may prevent you from establishing new relations.

The vassal system has not changed - only a country at war with you can be made a vassal. This is something like an extended union with the right of passage of armies, similar to the protectorate of Rome: Total War. I would say that taking out a country is both cheaper and easier than trying to become an overlord.

For your information: Now in the game not only monarchs and generals age, but also all agents. Assassins, spies, traders, and diplomats have stopped boasting about elven longevity and now modest dwarves live for two or three centuries.

Trade and competition

Traders are a new type of agent. They begin to make a profit if you “install” them on a resource. From a few florins per turn, a merchant can bring you up to five hundred florins - the result depends on many factors:

Trader experience; Trade volumes in the province; Resource price (gold, ivory, spices are valued the most); Monopoly; Trade agreements;

A merchant pays for himself very quickly - he does not require a “salary” every turn, like a diplomat or a spy.

Advice: To develop a merchant faster, you can “walk” them around the map, “stepping” on individual resources.

The life of a merchant is full of dangers. It can be obtained not only by a murderer, but also by a rival merchant from another country. Having discovered a competitor on a resource, he can try to arrange a hostile takeover, receiving finances, freeing the resource and eliminating the less experienced and successful merchant.

Scary princesses

Princesses are the adult daughters of a Christian monarch or his heir. They can be immediately passed off as a general or sent to wander around the map as an agent.

The princess can replace the diplomat - the only difference is that where the diplomat has experience (scrolls), the princess has a different parameter - charm. Initially (I don’t know if this is a bug or the developers intended it) all your princesses have a charm parameter of zero. This makes dynastic marriages very difficult - few of the overseas princes will want to take a terrible princess as their wife, and if they do, they won’t have to wait for heirs.

Unfortunately, the only way to increase her charm is through successful diplomatic negotiations (I talked to the ambassador and became a little prettier), and any failure almost instantly turns the girl into an ugly girl again.

Dynastic marriage strengthens relations between states. Whether you get someone else's prince as your general or wave to the princess depends on luck.

Murderers are the saviors of the country

When you don’t have the opportunity to drive someone else’s merchant from his home, when the inquisitor from Rome roasts your generals one after another, they save you - the murderers. At first, they know almost nothing, but once they kill a couple of princesses, their skills grow. Unfortunately, they are still not enough - if you pit a novice killer against a medium-sized merchant/inquisitor, the chances of a successful assassination vary from six to eighteen percent. The most unpleasant thing here is that, having survived several assassination attempts, an agent or general acquires a certain immunity to them (the Personal Security parameter increases), however, sometimes paranoia prevents them from coping with their duties. But this doesn't make it any easier for the killers.

For your information: video scenes demonstrating the actions of an assassin or spy had previously appeared in the only game in the entire series - Shogun: Total War.

A good way to earn first experience is terrorism. By blowing up buildings in other people's cities, your assassin has a greater chance of success. But it is worth remembering that in case of failure, even if the agent escapes retribution, he can not only lose experience, but also bring it to negative values. That is why I advise you to build at least one assassin guild in the city - the agents will have more experience.

This is a bug: If you surround an enemy agent from all sides with troops, and then put a detachment in his place, then the agent will have nowhere to retreat and will die from indignation. This is a scam way to save money on killers - and it never fails.

Spies in cities and armies help against enemy assassins.

Espionage and counterintelligence

Spying is fun and rewarding. Sometimes you can't do without it. And the point is not even that a spy can penetrate the enemy army, find out everything about its composition and the personal qualities of the general. And it’s not that a “fifth column” of several spies can open the gates of the fortress for your army.

It's just that spies are a very popular means of fighting among AI, and only... spies can resist them. If, for example, your city is bustling for no apparent reason, don’t go to a fortune teller - there are pests. Plant a few spies in a city, and in a couple of moves they will identify an enemy of the people, or even two. If you're lucky, someone else's spy will be killed. If not, he will only be “thrown out” of the city, and he will immediately try to infiltrate again. Pour SMERSH into the same city with a slide - and the fate of someone else's agent is sealed.

For your part, you can flood an enemy city with spies, send assassins to sabotage “pleasant” buildings and, after the uprising, as if nothing had happened, recapture the city from the rebels, and then say that this is what happened. There are no diplomatic consequences; the Pope does not object to such exercises.

Yes, as for their traditional activities, spies can open the gates for you from the inside if you send them into cities before a siege - and very often do this. It is best to “plant” several agents at once on the enemies - this way the chances of successfully opening the gate can jump much higher than one hundred percent.

This is a bug: The spy cannot get through the siege into the city. But if you send a spy far into the city, and besiege it while the agent is walking, the spy will calmly enter and open the gates for you.

If successful, the gates are unlocked from all sides at once - and you can enter the city from several directions without crowding in one place.

For your information: Developing spies is very easy - just spy on everyone. Even if the probability of success is one hundred percent, the agent will lose experience.

Military campaigns

War is the player's main activity in the campaign. You hire troops in cities, assemble them into an army, supply them with generals if desired, and lead them into battle. The general rule is to attack weak armies with strong armies whenever possible, break up the enemy piecemeal and take advantage of the terrain. In the forests on the strategic map, you can set up ambushes, catching the enemy army on the march (in campaigns the army marches in a column). By controlling the crossings, you can protect the area very well - no one knows how to set up pontoon crossings in the game, and rivers are insurmountable obstacles.

For your information: The space bar controls the display of movement on the map - just walking or instant movement. The first option is easier to track (especially if the enemy is moving), the second is convenient when you need to quickly make a move and save time.

The general's detachment, if there is one in the army, can hire soldiers of fortune - each province has its own set (in central Europe, usually crossbowmen and spearmen). Mercenaries are expensive, but they can support and literally save a beaten army. If you “buy out” all the mercenaries in the area, they will run out and will be restored only after a few turns. A computer opponent can also buy mercenaries.

This is interesting: Islamic mercenaries successfully join the crusade, and in America local tribes can be hired to fight the Aztecs. Money and authority of Quetzalcoatl decide everything.

In addition to this, the general can, in the Roman tradition, build an observation tower (dispels the fog of war at a short distance, can only be installed on his territory) or a field camp.

This is a bug: the enemy never makes a sortie from the field camp. At all. This means that you can take one detachment of peasants and kill a huge army in a few moves. Realism is in full swing.

The armies of other countries and enemies usually behave adequately on the strategic map - they deal with groups of rebels (gray-colored armies that appear from time to time here and there), attack each other, besiege and take cities. Sometimes, however, they make inexplicable maneuvers, or even stand in one place for centuries.

After the battle, if your general wins, you will have the opportunity to release the captured prisoners, offer the enemy a ransom, or simply kill them all. The first option increases the general’s knighthood parameter, the second gives money, the third makes the general scarier (negative knighthood). I advise you to use the opportunity to make the general more noble or more terrible, because you should not hope for financial injections from the ransom. They will often refuse the ransom, and the game will not allow you to bargain.

For your information: It is impossible to take a ransom for captured rebels.

To capture a province, you need to take the central settlement - this is a fortress or a city. Cities are much easier to take - there is only one wall, and even that is not high. Castles can sometimes boast a triple row of walls, and more often it is more profitable to starve them out. In this case, it is not even necessary to build siege equipment. If the enemy tries to make a sortie, towers, ladders and battering rams will prevent you from repelling a surprise attack.

This is a bug: a neutral state or even an ally wishing to surprise your city very often betrays its intentions with a bold arrow on the path of its army ending in your city.

Having captured the city, the commander is faced with a choice - what to do with the city: simply occupy, plunder or destroy?

The second option gives the most money. Yes, taxpayers also die, but in small numbers. I advise you to use it every time - you can “withdraw” more than tens of thousands of florins from a rich city.

The third option is “bad”. Residents are dying en masse, the city is being thrown back in development, and not a lot of funds are coming into the account (which, generally speaking, is strange). The destruction of a city is a blow to relationships and authority. I do not advise exterminating captured cities, even though their inhabitants become quieter and lower than the grass for a long time.

Communication with the Pope

The Pope is an indestructible “country”. Initially located in Rome and owns the province. Others are not exciting. If you take Rome, the Pope will simply wander around the neighborhood. If you kill him, the cardinals will elect a new one, and everything will happen all over again.

The Pope does not want Catholics to fight each other, and is very fond of starting crusades (the first one will be announced a few moves after the start of the campaign). If you play as Orthodox or Muslim, you will be able to freely conquer any provinces and countries you choose. Catholics will have a more difficult time - as soon as they start a serious war with their neighbor, the Pope will intervene and offer to stop hostilities. He will do this very often, sometimes letting you know that he will be unhappy, and sometimes directly promising excommunication.

This is a bug: The punishment system works through the stump-deck. Sometimes you can not lift the siege and still win the mission. Sometimes you are excommunicated for defending yourself from an aggressor. However, it should be noted that your enemy, who is carried away by war, can also be excommunicated - then he becomes an outlaw and can become an easy prey.

If your country is excommunicated, then your relations with Catholic countries and with Rome drop sharply. The population begins to rebel, and generals who are particularly zealous in their faith may go on the run along with the armies. However, such a trifle as excommunication is unlikely to deter many from capturing Rome - it is such a rich city. But Dad will manage.

This is interesting: you can, for example, “relocate” the Pope to a remote island - first give him a province, and then treacherously take Rome and try to appease the angry pontiff sitting on the island with large sums of money. The Pope will not leave the island, and he will not be able to send inquisitors to the continent.

The pope is elected for life by the College of Cardinals. Cardinals are nominated from the rank and file of priests in all Catholic countries. However, not quite ordinary ones - in order to become a cardinal, a priest must be extremely devout - seven or eight or more units of piety out of ten.

Piety is earned by missionary work in Orthodox, Muslim or pagan areas. It also helps to hunt for comical witches and bald heretics, who are reborn every now and then on the map. However, be careful - having failed to burn the heretic, the priest himself may fall into heresy: “Maybe the truth is all chemistry.”

If you push several of your priests into cardinals, you can eventually ensure that one of them is chosen as the new Pope. This is pleasant, but useless in the game, although there are rumors that it is easier to come to an agreement with “your” dad. For example, ask him to declare a crusade against your enemies.

Sometimes Rome can send a unique inquisitor agent. This is a very dangerous person, he can, at will, burn your agents, your generals, and even (with some difficulties) a king or prince. Protects from the attacks of the inquisitor by a high piety parameter and... a crowd of killers.

This is a bug: Sometimes an inquisitor can burn a general who is going on a crusade. It would seem that participation in the campaign washes away sins, but no...

Crusades and Jihad

The Pope declares a crusade, expecting all faithful Catholics to join him. The Pope indicates the goal of the campaign (usually Jerusalem or Antioch at the beginning), and if you play for a Catholic country, you can join the campaign in time for the distribution of rewards.

And they are good, even if you do not take into account the spoils of war. Firstly, the general receives powerful increases to the command and piety parameters. Secondly, his entire army increases experience by one. Thirdly, the Pope will be pleased; The main thing is to be the first to reach the goal of the trip, otherwise the other country will get all the goodies.

This is a bug: if, one turn before capturing the target of the campaign, you join armies with generals in the country to the campaign, then these soldiers will receive an increase in experience without taking a single step. In just a few campaigns, using this fraudulent method, you can pump up all the armies of the country to the maximum.

To join a campaign, an army with a general must have at least eight units with it. The rest can be hired in Europe and sometimes even locally very cheaply - these are special “crusading” detachments that are not available for training in cities and fortresses.

An army that joins a crusade must move towards the target city every turn, otherwise the soldiers will desert - a quarter of the entire army can leave in an unknown direction in one turn. The Crusader army moves very quickly, but an unexpected meeting with another army can quickly “exhaust” its movement reserve for the turn.

Advice: if you do not want the army to desert, move towards the crusade target slowly and, seeing an obstacle ahead (a city or someone else's army), quickly press Backspace to stop the army and bypass the dangerous place.

The crusade can also be delivered by sea, but if the ship sails from England, skirting the Iberian Peninsula, then the illiterate soldiers, seeing that the fleet is moving away from the goal of the campaign, will go on the run. As you can see, the rule “where can you go from a submarine” does not work here.

To attack the “marching” armies of other countries means to risk excommunication. Moreover, being on a crusade, the player will very quickly ruin relations with the Pope if he attacks... the Orthodox. It's difficult to understand whether this is a bug or an intention of the developers.

This is a bug: In general, I don’t recommend adding agents to the campaign - they slow down the entire army. But you can get around the limitation by selecting an army and selecting all the units in it.

If you have a good relationship with the Pope (he loves money), then you can ask him to organize a crusade against the city that you need - of course, best of all belonging to a non-Catholic country. You can organize campaigns no more often than once every fifteen turns (thirty years).

If a player behaves very badly, is excommunicated and generally interferes with the Pope, then a crusade can be declared against his city.

Jihad among Muslims is a little simpler - it can be declared by any imam who has reached the fifth level of piety. The target of jihad should be a city in an area in which at least a third of the citizens profess Islam. The player can also hire inexpensive jihad-specific units.

Mongols and Timurids

The Mongol horde comes from the east. In 1206 you receive word of this, and within a few years about a dozen full (twenty squads) armies are hatching in the Baghdad area.

They can behave aggressively or passively gallop through the desert for several years without trying to take Baghdad. You look at these circles cut by the Mongols, and it’s unclear whether Genghis Khan felt like Moses, or whether he fell into Zen Buddhism.

With the first city captured, the Mongols become a new country and begin sending out agents and establishing diplomatic relations.

If you happen to be at war with the Mongols, I advise you to stock up on large armies and use every opportunity to sway the situation to your side - guard the Mongols at crossings, defend cities and castles (cavalry feels uncomfortable on the streets) and even ask the Pope to start a crusade to some Mongolian city.

The armies of the Mongols consist mainly of cavalry, among which there are many riflemen.

The Timurids arrive around 1370. They have fewer troops, but more gunpowder artillery and elephants - with cannons or musketeers on their backs. There will be no burning pigs at your disposal, so you will have to fight the elephants in the traditional way - using bows, crossbows and artillery, best of all with burning shells and arrows.

If you play as Egypt, Turkey, Byzantium or Russia, then it will be difficult to avoid encounters with the Mongols and Timurids. All other countries need not worry too much.

Pestilence - Black Death

The first outbreak of plague began in the fifties of the fourteenth century. An infected city must be isolated - no armies, generals or agents should enter or leave it. After a few years, the outbreak will go away on its own, and you will regain your strength.

Is it worth trying to infect enemy cities with an agent? There is no economic sense in this, armies die very reluctantly (it is better to exterminate them in a fair fight), and political results depend on luck - perhaps a few important shots will die, but the Black Death unleashed can hit the player’s empire with a ricochet.

For your information: it is impossible to infect the Aztecs with the plague - the agent will not survive the voyage or have time to recover.

Naval battles

Naval battles are still calculated automatically. The computer likes to sail in large fleets, so having twenty of the latest model ships on hand just in case is worthwhile.

Ships can blockade enemy ports, blocking maritime trade, or close crossings, preventing armies or agents from moving, for example, from Central Europe to Scandinavia or from Scotland to Ireland.

In addition, each fleet can carry twenty detachments - an entire army. Typically, guns limit the speed of the army not only on land, but also at sea.

This is a bug: If you want to speed up the movement of ships with guns on board at any cost, you can click on the fleet and select all the ships.

What’s very bad is that artificial intelligence cannot land troops in principle. This is very unrealistic and gives the player an unfair advantage. For example, when playing as France, you don’t have to worry about the British landing - there won’t be one. And vice versa, playing as the British, you don’t have to worry about the defense of the islands - no one will set their sights on them, unless the rebels reborn somewhere in the corner.

This is a bug: Sometimes ship captains show excessive independence and sail wherever they please. Try to stop such attempts.

These mysterious missions

If previously tasks were given to you by the Roman Senate, now everyone is in charge - the Pope, guilds and even foreign ambassadors. Rewards for tasks are troops, money, the location of Rome, or... “non-excommunication”, if the situation is such that the Pope insistently demands an end to hostilities with fellow Catholics.

Sometimes the merchant communities or guilds that you host in their cities ask you to capture a certain city, remove a certain merchant, or blockade a key port. Usually tasks are easy to complete, and, moreover, their implementation is planned in advance in your plans. But sometimes you come across strange and impossible ones - for example, a request to establish trade relations with a country that has been successfully trading with you for many years. What can you do, programmers are people too and can make mistakes too. Prizes for completed tasks are money and sometimes rare units. The guild will not punish the monarch for a failed task - he is, after all, a king. Sometimes it’s very fun to read the texts of tasks, there are funny typos in them: “If you complete this task, the guild will give you florins and will be happy with you - if not, then the guild will be happy with you.”

Murder missions are a separate fun topic. Once, the prince of a country at war with me asked me to “remove” his daddy monarch, promising to improve relations. I was just besieging the city in which the king was sitting, and on the next turn I killed him in battle. And the prince says to me: “Since he died, I don’t have to pay, goodbye.” It turns out that in such tasks only an assassination attempt is counted, but not a death in a fair fight - and even then, relations between countries do not improve. Yes, programmers made mistakes, it happens.

There are also simply impossible tasks. For example, a guild may demand to "annex" a certain city. Capturing it by force is a mission failure. If I bargain for a city with diplomacy, the task again does not count.

Discovery of America

Sometime in the mid-fifteenth century (around 1440), part of the map with several American provinces will be discovered. Only very fast and powerful ships - carracks - can cross the ocean and deliver the armies of conquerors (and with them agents and traders). They will have to build a top-level shipyard.

After loading your fleet with merchants (for gold!), spies (for spotting jungle ambushes), and a large army, sail west and in about ten turns you'll discover the first American provinces.

Taking provinces from the rebels will not be difficult, but the Aztecs could pose a serious problem. They are in droves, and they have a lot of heavy infantry. Only pikemen of the late Middle Ages - for example, landsknechts - can cope with them. It wouldn't hurt to load up gunpowder rifle squads, crossbowmen and a couple of serpentines.

It is best to fight the Aztecs not in the jungle, where they are obviously stronger, but in narrow areas of the map.

This is interesting: if the general is defeated by the Aztecs, he will begin to hate... Denmark. I would say that Norway needs to pay serious attention to this.

Tactics

In general, it’s difficult to seriously talk about tactics for defeating AI when half of the battles follow the same scenario: the enemy runs up to your archers and starts running in place, every now and then showing his back to the archers. In addition, the computer often completely ignores cavalry units that appear in the rear, which, without encountering resistance, surround entire armies.

We are waiting for patches. However, AI problems are one thing, and strange and controversial innovations in tactical principles are quite another. Just one example - you will have to get used to the peasants again. They learned to walk in formation - this is a small thing. But now a detachment of unwashed peasants armed with pitchforks easily puts the city militia and even sergeants to flight!

It feels like the world has turned upside down. And this is just the beginning.

Unfortunately: It is still not possible to record battles in campaign mode (usually the most interesting, unexpected and memorable ones).

Brave new fight

In general, many of the old tactical rules work:

Height and crossing give an advantage. The environment gives you an advantage. A strike to the flank is more profitable than a frontal strike, a strike to the rear is more profitable than a flank strike. It is more important to overthrow the enemy army and put it to flight than to simply crush it in battle. A panicking enemy must be given a way to retreat so that he does not end up in the position of a cornered rat.

This is a bug: Speaking of commanding heights, sometimes an enemy squad, probably consisting of natural climbers, may find themselves on a mountain that is inaccessible in principle at the beginning of the battle.

As for the issues of relationships between horses and infantry, issues of assault, miracles begin.

For your information: Now horse units cannot be dismounted before battle. This is how they are trained in castles - dismounted. Nobody understands why the developers did this, but for some reason this is how the game is designed.

Firstly, the assault works extremely poorly. Forcing a mounted detachment at a gallop to impale an enemy on spears, or forcing infantry to run into enemy units while running... is very difficult. The reason for this, it seems to me, was the new system for calculating movements for each warrior. If you send the cavalry to storm the enemy at a gallop (double-click the right mouse button), then while running the squad will simply fall apart and there will be no effect from the assault. No one will fly into the air or run - the horses will simply slowly run up to the enemy, your soldiers will put away their spears, take out their swords and begin a normal battle. And most likely they will lose. Even peasants (however, we already know that peasants are terrible in close combat).

In order for the assault to take place, several rules must be followed at once:

Place the cavalry exactly so that it is aimed at the enemy (otherwise, even with slight turns, the formation will fall apart and the assault will not take place). Make sure that the fronts of your and the enemy squad are parallel. Make sure that the distance is sufficient (a hundred meters minimum).

& Click on an enemy unit once - haste is only good for catching fleas.

If you did everything correctly, the cavalry will slowly walk towards the enemy, at a certain distance it will go to a trot without breaking the formation, then, a few tens of meters away, it will go to a gallop and lift the enemy onto its spears according to all the rules. Oh yes, it is also important to make sure that the enemy squad does not move or turn around, otherwise the horses will have to turn around/slow down, and the formation will be broken. And even more so, you cannot allow the enemy to retreat, otherwise your squad will go into pursuit mode, and this is not at all the same as an assault.

You probably already felt bewildered - how is it possible: if enemy knights are galloping towards you, it’s enough to start running away from them to mix up all their plans? Exactly. But these are still flowers.

Now we will have to unlearn the fact that a cavalry attack must be met in dense formation. It’s no longer necessary - it’s most profitable to thin out the squad (as if under attack by archers). No, a detachment that stands up in intervals will not be swept away by cavalry in the game - it will strike with a narrow front and, perhaps, throw back several soldiers, but immediately after that the detachment will surround it on three sides (it is larger on the front) and will quickly reduce it to nothing. Yes, this is a new word in military affairs.

The main thing is not to turn on the “security” mode for the squad, otherwise each soldier will remain in place. In general, there are many useless modes in the game. Take the classic wedge, the pig. He didn't work in Rome, and he doesn't work here either. I’m telling you - in life, a wedge breaks deep into a detachment, cutting it in half, and “opens up.” In the game, the wedge runs up to the enemy - and the first horseman (maybe a couple of his neighbors) begins to cut with swords. The rest of the horses stand behind, and their riders are probably smoking and discussing business.

The infantry assault lost its significance altogether. It is more advantageous to meet the enemy while standing still, simply because this is one of the few ways to maintain formation.

The “shield wall” is completely useless. It does not protect against cavalry attacks and does not save against infantry either. The only way to make any use of it is to place it in the defense of the bridge to delay the enemy and give other units the opportunity to attack him from the flanks.

Another innovation that may seem shocking is the defenselessness of dense formations of spear detachments against cavalry attacks. The forest of spears does not frighten the horses and does not cause much damage at the time of the assault, so if you want the spearmen to survive, place a detachment at intervals, and the horses will be in trouble. Only the Swiss pikemen and landsknechts, with their anti-cavalry formation in three ranks, can hope for success in a battle with cavalry.

For your information: line showbanners = 1 in file medieval2.preference.cfg is responsible for pennants over units. If you correct the value to zero, these flags will disappear. The green circles under the units are indicated by the line disable_arrow_markers, and for the scenes “they killed the general”, “they took the gate” - event_cutscenes.

It is worth knowing about one more feature of the game - units with halberds (Zvei Hander, Billmen, Forlorn Hope) are very weak in battle and lose to even the cheapest units. This is most likely a bug and is awaiting a fix.

Squad training

Another innovation is related to role-playing elements. In Rome: Total War, an experienced squad received very strong increases in attack and defense parameters. Here the “old men” were given a hat, and now the number of stripes is not important - only their color is important.

1-3 (one, two and three bronze stripes) - an increase of one to attack and defense. 4-6 (silver stripes) - the increase is equal to two. 7-9 (golden stripes) - the increase is three.

These are quite modest numbers. However, do not forget that other, invisible parameters also increase - morale or accuracy of shooting units (but their damage from arrows does not increase, as it was before).

For your information: retraining and combining units has become easier than in Medieval. Now defeated units retain experience, even if there are very few of them left.

Let me remind you once again that the updated armor for units gives only an external effect - in reality it almost does not increase. And this, unfortunately, is not a bug - the developers simply could not allow archers to receive knightly armor not as decoration, but as serious protection.

Reinforcements

Reinforcements can be handled in two ways - either give them to the control of the AI, or put them on the edge of the map so that they come out one at a time when space becomes available for them. The maximum is twenty “your” units on the map, that is, your unit must either leave the map itself, or run away, or be destroyed, or... be absent from the very beginning.

Giving units under the control of AI can sometimes be very convenient: forty units is a serious force, even if twenty of them are controlled by a stupid piece of hardware. But it’s worth doing this only if you don’t mind risking troops and a general, if there is one in the army. The problem of “suicidal generals” (salute, Caesar!) has not gone away from the game.

In battle, your own troops may inadvertently upset your plans, or even shoot you with bows (tolerable) or with cannons. He will aim at the enemy you are fighting, and will act with the best intentions.

This is very sad, but you cannot choose the order in which reinforcements appear on the battlefield (as was the case in Rome: Total War). This is another moment “cut down” by the developers for unknown reasons.

Siege and defense

It’s not for nothing that the introductory video shows an assault on the city using the game engine. It was sieges and defense that became the most beautiful and spectacular spectacle in the new game.

The rules are similar - on the strategic map, the army besieges the city and begins to build siege weapons. A large army can build several towers, ladders and battering rams in one turn, while a small army will do it in two or three turns.

The enemy can sit under siege for several turns (sixteen game years - easy!), but his troops will slowly melt away. At any moment he can launch a raid. In this case, the besiegers will not have the opportunity to line up their troops before the battle (they usually stand in a row in front of the main gate by default).

This is a bug: If the entire enemy army rushes to attack along one ladder or tower, then a crowd of hundreds of soldiers can slow down the game - movement calculations will bring the processor to a comatose state.

The city can be stormed if at least one battering ram or ladder is built. If your squad has siege weapons, you can try to storm the city right away. Spies can also help - if you “plant” them in the city in advance, they will open the gates for you.

This is a bug: very often honest enemy generals refuse to storm your city through gates opened by spies, preferring to climb the walls.

The assault goes like this: we roll the ram to the gate, carry it to the walls of the stairs and roll the towers. At this time, the enemy fires at you with bows and crossbows - defensive turrets shoot arrows, spears or cannonballs at you.

This is a bug: towers with ballistas sometimes fire cannonballs, and cannon towers, on the contrary, fire flaming spears.

The enemy's goal is to first try to burn the ram and towers. If the arrows set them on fire, it will be impossible to put out the fire.

It is important: remember that defensive turrets do not fire unattended - there must be a squad next to them.

The strongest infantry units should be placed in the towers and on the stairs. Archers can also drag a ram.

For your information: It’s impossible to make tunnels now, and there’s no need to do it with such and such guns.

Your first goal is to capture the wall. Break through gates or occupy walls from ladders or towers. Having lost a section of the wall, the AI ​​will begin to lower its troops from the walls, retreating to the square or behind the next row of walls if you are storming the castle.

This is a bug: Beware of Tamerlane's elephants - they know how to capture walls from a distance using telepathy.

The goal of the assault is not to destroy all the defenders, but to occupy the central square and hold out there for three minutes. Usually, however, one does not interfere with the other.

If you have occupied the city wall, move towards the central square. Remember that in urban battles troops suffer huge losses, especially cavalry. If the castle has a second row of walls, then you can rush into the citadel on the shoulders of running defenders (this happens very often) or simply bring siege weapons, battering rams and ladders through the gates and gaps in the wall (yes, they can be reused).

Advice: Most often it is more convenient to walk along the walls - the inner row of walls communicates with the outer one.

It is almost impossible to maneuver outside the city walls, so you will have to occupy cities mainly by brute force. Two more tips will help you:

Use assassins to blow up defensive towers with ballistas or cannons in the city before the assault. Unfortunately, the killer cannot blow up the walls themselves. If a spy opened the gate in front of you, then know that not only this gate is open, but also all the others along the perimeter of the entire wall.

If the enemy makes a sortie, this is a great success for you, because he goes beyond the walls of the city, losing his advantage. In addition, you are lined up in a long line (immediately drop the siege weapons and command a quick formation), and the enemy comes out of the gate in disarray. His attack is very easy to repel, and on his shoulders it is easy to break into the walls of the city, into the citadel, and into the city square.

In the defense of cities, place archers on the walls and fire at the enemy, trying to set fire to their siege weapons. Place the strongest units (for example, peasant animals) in front of the breaches in the walls, trying to catch the enemy “in the bag.” In fortresses, it is easier to leave several rifle squads next to the defensive towers, and take the main forces to the citadel. The enemy, moving towards you, will lose soldiers, and you will save them.

Artillery - field and siege

Artillery in the game is clearly divided into field and siege. Ballistas, rocket launchers, light cannons and serpentines are good for hitting infantry in the field (especially the “general’s” detachment), catapults, trebuchets and large cannons are suitable for taking cities on the move.

Fire and explosive shells are well suited for enemy soldiers and artillery; ordinary ones are suitable for demolishing walls, towers and gates. Trebuchet can shower a city with dead cows - their fumes make enemies swell and die, losing strength. There is no “friend or foe” identification system for dead cattle.

Do not overuse field artillery - in a short-lived battle, cannons in large quantities will not make a difference, but they will take up space in the army. Don’t carry large quantities of siege artillery with you either - a couple of catapults will be enough to take out gates and a couple of breaches in the wall.

This is interesting: The catapult squads are real beasts. Before my eyes, they tore into pieces the mounted detachments that had crept up from the rear. Continuous work with a heavy collar must have developed a heroic strength in them.

Artillery is almost unsuitable for shelling the enemy hiding behind the walls of the city. Even a mortar is ineffective - and all because of its very low accuracy. It's much easier to get into the gate from a hundred paces.

Archers and crossbowmen

Developers fear "friendly fire" as... fire. In order to avoid it, they gave crossbowmen the ability to shoot with a canopy and allowed rifle squads to stop fire on their own and transfer it to other enemy squads if there was a risk of hitting their own.

If you select several squads of archers and order them to shoot at one squad, then they will choose their targets independently, based on their own ideas about how best to damage the enemy. Sometimes they are too independent and this upsets their owners. Although I don’t even know what could be more upsetting than the reluctance to get out of the way of the enemy’s troops. Sometimes crossbowmen, having received the order to retreat, “shoot” empty crossbows for a while and usually come under attack from enemy cavalry.

In all other respects they are similar to Rome's archers and crossbowmen. It's better to shoot from top to bottom; it's bad to shoot uphill. Burning arrows kill less, but by burning enemies (what's smeared on them - napalm?), they quickly reduce morale. In the rain, the arrows work... poorly.

In a firefight, it makes sense to thin the formation. Very often in battle, due to AI problems, disabling the Skirmish mode pays off - archers stop running away from the approaching enemy, which sometimes leaves him in a stupor.

For your information: Some English archers know how to place stakes in front of them before a battle to protect themselves from cavalry. Horses die well on stakes, but be careful - your own mounted troops will not even think about going around dangerous places.

Mounted riflemen

Mounted marksmen are not as effective as archers and carry fewer arrows, but they can lay down harassing fire and remain relatively out of reach.

It is best to shoot in a regular rectangular formation. It is worth turning on the Cantabrian circle only if the detachment is under fire - in this case, the horses, running in circles like in a circus, quickly get tired.

It is important: Having run out of ammunition, shooters automatically exit Skirmish mode. If you forget about them, they can easily be chopped.

Mounted riflemen are good at pursuit, but “Parthian shooting” after those running has become less effective than in Rome: Total War.

Handguns

There are numerous bugs here, the most famous of which is the pupating arrows in the “carakol” formation. They can stick so tightly while rebuilding that only death from the enemy’s hand will save them. Forming them in two rows can (sometimes) protect them from this.

Early marksmen and arquebusiers are ineffective, musketeers are a completely different matter. Against armored knights - just right. But I do not advise placing musketeers on the city walls in defense. They will most likely refuse to shoot for some of their own (religious?) reasons.

As I was finishing this text, I heard rumors that the first patches were on the nose. Most likely, much of what I wrote about with bitterness and indignation has already been corrected in the game, and you will find an updated version of Medieval II: Total War, cleansed of many shortcomings and oddities. So good luck with your battles!