• Global map showing all states medieval Europe, North Africa and the Middle East;
• Expanded system of government, its economic, scientific, diplomatic and military aspects;
• A well-designed system for increasing the experience of the main characters, their family ties and increasing strategic and tactical skills;
• A full-fledged tactical mode, where the player can control troops in real time during land and sea battles, city sieges and spy missions;
• Added the era of great geographical discoveries, the conquest and exploration of the territories of the New World.

Strategic Mode

This part of the game takes place on the global map of medieval Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, but with the onset of a certain time, the territories of the New World, discovered by Columbus at the end of the 15th century, become available to the user. The entire administration of the country is divided into separate provinces, in the center of which is the main city and several smaller settlements with various functions - military, strategic, economic, resource, and so on. All control in the strategic mode has a turn-based mode, where each member of the system in turn is able to perform actions on the global map, train troops, build buildings in cities, manage the economic and diplomatic parts of the game, and also move units.

tactical mode

To conduct land and sea battles, an extended tactical mode is provided here, where the player can command units on the battlefield in real time, make combined attacks from the sea, siege and storm cities. main role not only the number of troops plays here, but also the personality of the commander, who can become one of the representatives of the ruling family. Each of the current commanders has a basic set of skills and abilities that can be supplemented with experience and expansion of the commander's retinue. During the battle, the commander's unit is on the battlefield and is able to increase the combat characteristics of neighboring units, and the loss of the commander can lead to a significant decrease in the combat performance of the entire army and its morale.

Addition "Medieval 2: Total War: Kingdoms"

The main advantage of the add-on is the presence of four exciting campaigns: the Crusades, the Conquest of America, the Teutonic and British campaigns. Each of them has a certain plot, which is almost completely devoid of the original version. In addition, the map is significantly supplemented (although the area of ​​​​action is narrowing) or even completely redrawn. Therefore, the passage of the game will bring even more pleasure.

I have a lot of problems with Medieval 2 Total War map. At first it looks quite sensible, with all parts of the map covered by regions:

But that "s an illusion, region borders don" t matter at all, except maybe for diplomacy - AI gets annoyed when you cross its borders and it can see it - but it gets annoyed by just about anything or totally at random, so it matters little.

What matters is where the cities are. And heatmap of distance to the nearest city reveals something very different:

Now you can see that parts of the map have plenty of cities - and plenty of action - while others are huge gaps where nothing happens.

This map is an approximation - it ignores how difficult terrain is (deserts, mountains), how likely it is that there are already roads there and so on.

Almost the entire Western Europe is fully covered by cities with tone of action. There's also a reasonable number of settlements on the entire Northern coast of the Mediterranean - all the way from Cordoba to Marseille to Italy to Greece to Constantinople to Antioch to Jerusalem to Alexandria.

There are a few small gaps like Burgundy, Northern Netherlands, or middle Balkans, but since they have a lot of settlements on all sides, they are an interesting aspect of campaign strategy.

One thing which I feel is somewhat questionable is how natural barriers like Alps which should provide a solid barrier between North Italy and the rest of Europe doesn't - the Alps are very well connected, and the big gap is in Burgundy for some reason. Anyway, I can live with that.

The problem with Medieval 2 map

Outside of Western Europe and Northern Mediterranean the map is filled with huge gaps where nothing ever happens. Every single settlement in Africa is so far from all other settlements it could as well be an island.

You know how Islam ruled the entire African coast, from Morocco to Egypt? That never happens in Medieval 2 since neither Moors nor Egyptians have any way to reach Tripoli or Tunis in reasonable time - or to even reinforce Algiers for that matter. So they become colonized by Italians in every single game I played.

And remote places like Timbuktu, Arguin? It takes so ridiculously long to go there, that you"re better off sending just your general and recruiting all infantry on site. They never take part in any action, and neither does Jedda or Dongola which are simply part of a final cleanup after Egyptians have been defeated.

Sparsely settled places like Scandinavia, Black Sea coast, Caucasus, Mesopotamia - all suffer from the same fate of nothing ever happening there. Do you remember having any epic battles over Stockholm, Caffa, Tbilisi, or Algiers in any of your campaign? no way! But I bet most of you can easily recall some great battles over places like Paris, Venice, Antioch, and Jerusalem, or even smaller but well connected places like Bruges, Florence, Zagreb, and Acre see far more action.

This annoys me mostly as a gameplay problem. People often want to extend the map, but one third of it is currently so sparsely settled hardly anything ever happens there. If we connected all these isolated settlements into bigger areas of activity, it would lead to a lot of new fun.

It "s also not very historically accurate - places like Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Northern Coast of Africa were fairly densely populated compared to a lot of places like Northern Europe.

Oh, and the thing many mods do - making the map bigger and adding a lot more settlements, but about evenly everywhere - it doesn't actually fix the problem. If Africa is 50% bigger and has 50% more settlements, it still has small islands of safely held settlements and huge gaps where nothing ever happens.

What should be done?

So the simple question to all of you - which historically important settlements would also enhance gameplay by filling the worst gaps? They should all probably start as rebels and pretty small to avoid breaking balance too much.

Would you like to play on such a fixed map? Possibly independently from the rest of Concentrated Vanilla, since I can simply disable all other options in the build script.

The world is changing. Quite unexpectedly, we understand that the simple and understandable rules of "total war", familiar to us from the battles of samurai in the mountains of Japan, suddenly cease to operate. We went through medieval battles and Roman conquests to return to the European High Middle Ages... and discover that we ended up in a wonderland - mysterious and frightening.

The same time - but it is necessary to develop and fight in a completely different way, otherwise you should conduct diplomatic relations and spy, and you should equip your 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 to face the new, unexplored Middle Ages.

Strategy

Long, short...

The main campaign mode (the only one in which the strategic part is available) does not fully open immediately. At first, you can only play as five countries - England, the Holy Roman Empire, France, Venice and Spain. Winning the campaign as any of these countries unlocks Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, the Moors, Scotland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Milan, Sicily, Russia, Hungary and Turkey (the names are, of course, conditional, like many things in the game). However, if you destroy any country in the game, then it will appear among the available ones - this way you can “manifest” them one by one.

For your information: if to file medieval2.preference.cfg you 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 the people are calmer. On difficult and very difficult, enemy peasants slaughter knights, people rebel, enemies have noticeably more warriors, no one loves the player, and luck often turns its back on him.

At high difficulty levels in tactical battles, fatigue and morale are of great importance. The developers claim that the general level of consideration of the enemy general is also increasing, but these words should be taken critically, because where can generals be more stupid.

At the start of the campaign, you can choose the level of help - at the highest level, talking heads will always give you hints in both tactical and strategic modes (they can be turned off already in the game). You can turn on the time limit for battles - due to some problems with AI sticking in battles, it is better to limit them (again, you can turn it on already in the campaign). Another point is the forced auto-management of cities without governors. This item is of no particular importance. It used to be that 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 according to the rules of victory. In a long one, it takes 225 moves (450 years - from 1080 to 1530) to conquer 45 provinces (half a map) 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 era 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 are likely to win long before the advent of gunpowder, and even in a long campaign, with vigorous development, you can keep within two or three hundred years.

For your information: if you erase the line show_years_as_turns in file descr_strat.txt, then with the start of a new campaign, the 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 here are six months, and the hero who is 60 years old in the game was actually born 240 years ago (120 moves).

Welcome to wonderland. The surprises are just beginning.

Game events

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

1080 - start of the campaign.

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

1138 (29th move) - an earthquake in Syria.

1044 (32 moves) - the heyday of alchemy.

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

1180 (50th move) - the steering wheel of the ships.

1182 (51 moves) - the invention of the compass.

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

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

1208-1224 years (64-72 moves) - rumors about the invasion of the Mongols. After a few moves, the Mongols themselves appear.

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

1268 (94th move) - an earthquake in Sicily.

1280 (100 stroke) - the first mechanical clock.

1283 (103 moves) - the first points.

1302 (111 moves) - an earthquake in Egypt.

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

1314 (117th move) - the ball game is prohibited.

1328 (124th move) - the first sawmill.

1334 (127th move) - the first chimes.

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

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

1348 (134th move) - the first outbreak of the plague in Europe. Repeat for the next three years.

1350 (135th move) - the first blast furnace.

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

1368-1384 years (144-152 moves) - rumors about the invasion of the Timurids. After a few moves, they themselves appear.

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

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

1420 (170 stroke) - the first oil painting.

1444 (183 move) - the treatise "On learned ignorance" by Nicholas of Cusa - the forerunner of the ideas of the Renaissance.

1454 (187 moves) - the invention of the printing press.

1456 (188th move) - an earthquake in Naples.

1486 (203 move) - the treatise "Hammer of the Witches", marking the beginning of the "Witch Hunt" of the Renaissance.

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

1510 (215th move) - the first wrist watch.

1530 (225th move) - the 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 removed from the game the opportunity to optionally look at your city from a bird's eye view. Of course, this opportunity was useless, but 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. In cities, budget money is mined (the level of taxes can be adjusted in them), the townspeople moderately speak out about the existing system. At first, a few military detachments were produced in the cities - militia of various types, siege weapons, cannons and - in a later period - gunpowder rifle detachments. The city also specializes in agents - diplomats, spies and assassins.

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

Gunpowder is not favored in castles, but guns and trebuchet are built. The castle will not give you arquebusiers and musketeers, but the line of real medieval units starts right with the peasants. Then comes a variety of infantry, cavalry units, archers and, in general, the color of medieval chivalry. The castle will not bring much money, taxes are levied at a strict rate, but the 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 high middle ages. What ratio do they need? There may be fewer castles than cities, and it is desirable to keep them on the edge of the empire so that fresh knights can keep up with the battle. However, there are no strict rules here, it is only 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 summary list with detailed explanations - it is called through the city menu.

It is important: a line of "forge" buildings provides your units with new armor that looks very cool on the battlefield. But let her appearance does not deceive you - in fact, the units are protected minimally. 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 urban line of universities - they improve the quality of ... melee combat in gunpowder squads. Some Venetian units were especially unlucky - improving armor is 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 number depends on the size of the city. But at the same time, you cannot collect more units of a certain type than are available for hire (usually - from two to four). If, for example, you “chosen” all the available knights, then it will take several turns to wait until they can be hired again.

Agents are always available one at a time, which means that you cannot hire three spies per turn in one city at once, 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 after a turn.

This innovation serves two purposes. Firstly, now the player can, if necessary, collect a large army in one turn. Secondly, the player is forced to diversify his army - it is not so easy to collect a dozen knights of the same type now, especially considering that half of your settlements can only be trained by the militia.

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

It should also be noted that now the hiring of units does not affect the population of the city. This is also a very convenient innovation - the war now does not deplete the economy. But now it is impossible to calm the city down by “relocating” its inhabitants by 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 are walking along the line, and the feudal peasants do not open their mouths at all. As the saying goes: "Yes, my lord." However, the peasants in the new game are generally animals - 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, offers from guilds to build an institution in the city will come in handy - for a certain fee. You should choose carefully, since only one guild can exist in one city. I advise you not to accept offers as soon as one or two similar guilds have started up in your cities. Why do we need five thieves' guilds?

For your information: if you still 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 do we need these guilds? You will find the effect of some directly in the city list of available buildings, while others are secretive. Let's reveal the secrets.

The Explorers Guild increases the number of moves for units. Guilds of assassins and assassins improve the respective units hired in the city and have a beneficial effect on public order. Alchemists improve gunpowder squads, the masons' guild reduces construction costs and again affects law and order (those who rebel, that brick).

The Merchant's Guild adds trade income and strengthens the merchants hired in the city. The theologian's guild influences priests, the thieves' guild improves the quality of spies. Swordsmen reinforce the armament of the units, horsemen are responsible for horses, lumberjacks - for archers and crossbowmen. Since archers, cavalry units and swordsmen are not made in cities, these guilds can only be built in castles.

On a separate line there are four knightly orders - the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Teutons and the Knights of Santiago. They make it possible to train knights of the respective 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 give 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 an experience point to all knights in the country. But getting the guild to offer to improve the building is usually not easy.

What determines whether there will be a proposal to build a guild and what kind of guild it will be? It depends both on the development of the state and the actions of the player (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 affect 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 the battle adds HP to him, and storming cities - 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 pampered and prone to vices.

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

A separate category is the retinue - up to eight "additional" characters. For example, by often storming cities, a general can pick up a useful engineer that speeds up the construction of siege weapons and adds a unit of experience in siege battles, and after surviving an assassination attempt, get a dog that increases personal security. Very rarely, a general could pick up a legendary figure like Marco Polo or Leonardo da Vinci as an escort.

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

Second, on the control screen family tree you cannot appoint an heir - he is automatically selected 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 a big impact on the gameplay. Much worse is the disturbed balance and bugs in the system for acquiring virtues and vices. We are used to the fact that it makes sense to appoint governors to the most important cities in order to calm the inhabitants and increase incomes. Say goodbye to governors - now there is no point in appointing them to cities, unless you want to turn a brave general into a dissolute loafer, stealing your money and bringing people to white heat.

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

This is a bug: you can save generals from vice in fortresses, but even there sometimes it comes to the ridiculous - in a castle where it is impossible to manage taxes in principle, the general grabs the devastating vice "bad tax collector".

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

• Command. The most important parameter in combat. A general with a high command parameter strengthens the army and inspires courage in it. This is one of the reasons why the general's squad should still participate in the 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 on crusades, on 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 scares 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’s better to be afraid than loved,” especially since there is still no point in sticking a knight into a recalcitrant village - they will quickly spoil it there.
• Loyalty. Affects the probability of bribery and the "cost" of the general. It doesn't really matter in the game, 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 the knight a priest agent in the squad.

There are also implicit, hidden parameters - personal authority, personal security, increases in travel range, impact 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. First, in a natural way - the heirs become generals (the eldest is the crown prince). Secondly, noble ladies (daughters of the royal family) often get generals by marrying.

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

This is a bug: all such "nouveau" generals will be outright atheists with zero religiosity parameter.

In general, armies should not walk alone - so they can turn into rebels on their own. Try to give every army a general, even the most mean one. He can also break away, but the probability of this is less (if you have not been 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, the relations of states, intelligence information and information about the position of your country on the world medieval arena.

Advice: to learn about the intentions of the state will help spies in enemy cities. So, if you have an ideal relationship with an ally, but his intentions include war, get ready for it.

Improve relations between countries different ways- gifts, trade agreements, alliances, military aid, modest requests. Money can do wonders and mend relationships 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 negotiate something. It's good for reputation to let captives go and occupy cities without destroying them. It is harmful to attack other countries first and declare wars.

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

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

This is a bug: sometimes, in the process of trade, foreign diplomats are weird: “No, I do not agree to X. I put 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 ones. On average - to neutral (these rules apply between countries controlled by AI), that is, both insults and good deeds are forgotten. On 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 treaty, then the relations between the two countries will worsen, and the diplomat or princess may lose experience.

Numerous bugs aside, the new diplomacy is a step forward in the entire series. Relations between countries very well reproduce the spirit of the Middle Ages, and the countries are moderately treacherous and moderately honest. So, an ally can treacherously attack if you leave the border towns unattended (the player can use this "casus belli"). Sometimes an AI-controlled state can simply declare war, warning of its intentions. Threats can even annex a province, usually a sign of a well-designed system.

This is a bug: if at the time of destruction the country was in alliance with you, then the alliance will become “indestructible” 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 alliance with the right to pass 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 overlord.

For your information: now in the game not only monarchs and generals age, but also all agents. Assassins, spies, merchants, diplomats have ceased to brag about elven longevity and now modest gnomes live for two or three centuries.

Trade and competition

Merchants are a new type of agents. They begin to make a profit if they are “installed” 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:

• Merchant experience;
• Volumes of trade in the province;
• Resource price (gold, ivory, spices are valued above all);
• Monopoly;
• Trade agreements;

The merchant pays for itself very quickly - he does not require a "salary" every turn, like a diplomat or a spy.

Advice: in order to develop a merchant faster, you can “similar” to them on the map, “stepping” on individual resources.

The life of a merchant is full of dangers. It can be obtained not only by the killer, but also by a rival merchant from another country. Having found a competitor on the resource, he can try to arrange an unfriendly takeover, having received finances, freeing the resource and eliminating the merchant who turned out to be less experienced and successful.

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 roam 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 have conceived) all your princesses have a charm parameter equal to zero. This makes dynastic marriages very difficult - few overseas princes want to marry a terrible princess, and if they do, they will not have to wait for heirs.

Unfortunately, the only way to raise the charm is successful diplomatic negotiations (talked with the ambassador - she became a little more beautiful), 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 in your generals or wave your hand at the princess - it depends on luck.

Killers are the saviors of the country

When you do not have the opportunity to drive someone else's merchant from their homes, when the inquisitor from Rome roasts your generals one by one, they are the killers who save you. At first, they know almost nothing, but as soon as they "dunk" a couple of princesses, their skills grow. Unfortunately, they are still not enough - if you play off a novice killer and a medium-sized merchant / inquisitor, then 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 grows), however, sometimes paranoia prevents them from coping with their duties. But that doesn't make it any easier for killers.

For your information: cutscenes showing the actions of an assassin or a spy had previously been in the only game in the entire series - Shogun: Total War.

A good way to earn the first experience is terrorism. By blowing up buildings in foreign cities, your killer has a better 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 guild of assassins in the city - 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 he will die of indignation. It's a scam way to save money on killers - and it never fails.

Spies in cities and in armies help against enemy assassins.

Espionage and counterintelligence

Spying is fun and useful. Sometimes you can't do without it. And the point is not even that a spy can infiltrate the enemy army, find out everything about its composition and the personal qualities of the general. And not that the “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 combat among AI, and only ... spies can resist them. If, for example, your city is buzzing for no apparent reason, then don’t go to a fortuneteller - pests have started up. Plant a few spies in the city, and in a couple of moves they will figure out 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 a foregone conclusion.

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

Yes, as for their traditional activities, spies can open gates for you from the inside if you send them into cities before a siege - and very often they do. It is best to "plant" several agents at once to the enemies - so 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 him while the agent is walking, then the spy will calmly enter and open the gate for you.

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

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

Military campaigns

War is the main occupation of the player in the campaign. You recruit units in cities, assemble them into armies, equip them with generals at will, and lead them into battle. The general rule is to attack weak armies with strong armies as much as possible, break the enemy piece by piece and use 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 goes in a column). By controlling the crossings, you can protect the area very well - no one in the game knows how to build pontoon crossings, and rivers are insurmountable obstacles.

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

The general's detachment, if it is 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 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 the authority of Quetzalcoatl decide everything.

In addition to this, the general can, in the Roman tradition, build an observation tower (scatters 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 sally from the field camp. At all. This means that you can take one unit 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 armies that appear here and there from time to time), attack each other, besiege and take cities. Sometimes, however, they perform inexplicable maneuvers, or even stand in one place for centuries.

After the battle, if your general won, you will have the opportunity to release the captured prisoners, offer the enemy to ransom them, or simply kill them all. The first option increases the general's chivalry parameter, the second gives money, the third makes the general scarier (negative chivalry). I advise you to use the opportunity to make the general nobler or scarier, because you should not rely on financial injections from the ransom. They will often refuse to buy back, 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 of a triple row of walls, and more often it is more profitable to starve them out. In this case, even building siege equipment is optional. If the enemy tries to make a sortie, towers, ladders and a battering ram will prevent you from repelling a surprise attack.

This is a bug: a neutral state or even an ally who wants to surprise attack your city, very often betrays his intentions with a bold arrow in the path of his army, ending in your city.

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

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

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

Communication with the Pope

The Pope is an indestructible "country". Initially located in Rome and owns the province. Others do not capture. If you take Rome, then the Pope will simply wander around the neighborhood. If he is killed, the cardinals will elect a new one, and everything will be repeated from the beginning.

The Pope doesn't want Catholics to fight each other, and he loves to start crusades (the first one will be announced a few turns after the start of the campaign). If you play as Orthodox or Muslims, you will be able to freely conquer any provinces and countries you choose. It will be more difficult for the Catholics - it is worth starting a serious war with a neighbor, as 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 system of punishments works through a stump-deck. Sometimes you can keep the siege on and still win the mission. Sometimes you are excommunicated for defending yourself from the aggressor. However, it should be noted that your enemy, who is carried away by the war, can also be excommunicated - then he becomes outside the law and can become easy prey.

If your country was excommunicated, then your relations with Catholic countries and with Rome will drop sharply. The population begins to rebel, and especially zealous generals in the faith can go on the run along with the armies. However, such a trifle as excommunication is unlikely to keep many from capturing Rome - this is a very rich city. And the Pope 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. From the island, the Pope will not go anywhere, and he will not be able to send inquisitors to the continent.

The pope is chosen for life by the College of Cardinals. Cardinals are nominated from the ordinary priests of all Catholic countries. However, not quite ordinary - to go to the cardinals, the priest must be exceptionally devout - seven or eight or more points of piety out of ten.

Piety is earned by missionary work in Orthodox, Muslim or pagan areas. It also helps to hunt for comic witches and bald heretics, who now and then are reborn on the map. However, be careful - failing to burn a heretic, the priest himself may fall into heresy: "Maybe it's true - chemistry is everything."

If we push several of our priests into the cardinals, then in the future we can achieve that one of them will be chosen as the new Pope. It’s nice, but it’s useless in the game, although there are rumors that it’s easier to negotiate 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 burn your agents and your generals, and even (with some difficulty) a king or prince at will. Protects from the attacks of the inquisitor a high parameter of piety and ... a crowd of murderers.

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

Crusades and Jihad

The crusade is announced by the Pope, expecting all orthodox Catholics to join him. The Pope indicates the purpose of the campaign (in the beginning, usually Jerusalem or Antioch), and if you play as a Catholic country, you can join the campaign in order to be in time for the distribution of rewards.

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

This is a bug: if one turn before capturing the march objective, you join an army with generals in the country, then these soldiers will also receive an increase in experience without taking a single step. For several campaigns in such a fraudulent way, you can pump 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 them. The rest can be hired in Europe and sometimes even on the spot very cheaply - these are special "crusading" 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 - a quarter of the entire army can leave in an unknown direction in one turn. The crusader army moves very quickly, but an unexpected encounter with another army can quickly "exhaust" the movement reserve per turn.

Advice: if you do not want the army to desert, move slowly towards the target of the crusade and, seeing an obstacle ahead (a city or an alien 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 illiterate soldiers, seeing that the fleet is moving away from the goal of the campaign, will run away. As you can see, the rule "where do you go from the submarine" does not work here.

Attacking the "marching" armies of other countries means running into excommunication. Moreover, being on a crusade, the player will very quickly spoil relations with the Pope if he attacks ... Orthodox. It is difficult to understand whether this is a bug or an idea of ​​the developers.

This is a bug: in general, I do not recommend attaching agents to the campaign - they slow down the entire army. But you can get around the limitation by selecting an army and highlighting 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 on the city that you need - of course, the best one belongs to a non-Catholic country. You can organize trips no more than once every fifteen moves (thirty years).

If a player behaves very badly, is excommunicated and generally interferes with the Pope, then they can declare a crusade on 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 object of jihad should be a city in an area where at least a third of the citizens profess Islam. The player can also recruit low-cost jihad-specific units.

Mongols and Timurids

The Mongol horde comes from the east. In 1206 you get word of this and in a few years about a dozen full (twenty companies) armies hatch in the Baghdad area.

They can be aggressive or passively ride through the desert for several years without trying to take Baghdad. You look at these circles, cut by the Mongols, and it is not clear whether Genghis Khan felt himself to be Moses, or hit Zen Buddhism.

With the first city captured, the Mongols become a new country, begin to send out agents and establish 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 incline the situation to your side - guard the Mongols at the 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 units, 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 deal with elephants traditionally - fire from bows, crossbows and artillery, best of all with burning shells and arrows.

If you are playing as Egypt, Turkey, Byzantium or Russia, 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 the plague begins in the fifties of the fourteenth century. The infected city must be isolated - no armies, generals or agents must enter or leave it. After a few years, the outbreak will subside on its own, and you will regain strength.

Is it worth trying to infect enemy cities with an agent? There is no economic sense in this, armies decrease very reluctantly (it is better to destroy them in a fair fight), and political results depend on luck - perhaps a few important cones 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 will have time to recover.

Naval battles

Battles at sea are still automatically calculated. The computer likes to sail in large fleets, so having twenty ships of the latest model on hand just in case is justified.

Ships can block 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 troops - an entire army. Tellingly, the 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 ships.

What is very bad is that artificial intelligence cannot, in principle, land troops. This is very unrealistic and gives the player an unfair advantage. For example, playing as France, you don't have to worry about the landing of the British - there won't be any. And vice versa, playing for the British, you can not worry about the defense of the islands - no one will covet them, except that the rebels will be reborn somewhere in the corner.

This is a bug: sometimes the captains of the ships show excessive independence and sail wherever they please. Try to stop such attempts.

These mysterious missions

If earlier the task was given to you by the Roman Senate, now everyone is in command - 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 Catholic brothers.

Sometimes the merchant communities or guilds that you host in your cities are asked to capture a certain city, remove a certain merchant, or blockade a key port. Usually the tasks are easy to complete, and, moreover, their execution is planned in advance in your plans. But sometimes strange and impossible things come across - 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. For a failed task, the guild will not punish the monarch - after all, he is the king after all. Sometimes it's very fun to read the texts of tasks, they contain funny typos: "If you complete this task, the guild will give you florins and will be pleased with you - if not, then the guild will be pleased with you."

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

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

Discovery of America

Somewhere in the middle of the fifteenth century (around 1440), a part of the map with several American provinces will be opened. Cross the ocean and deliver the armies of the conquerors (and with them - agents and merchants) can only be very fast and powerful ships - carracks. For them, they will have to rebuild the shipyard top level.

With a fleet of merchants (for gold!), spies (for finding jungle ambushes) and a large army, sail west, and in about ten turns you will have opened the first American provinces.

Capturing the provinces from the rebels will not be difficult, but the Aztecs can be a serious problem. Their crowds, and they have a lot of heavy infantry. Only pikemen of the late Middle Ages, for example, landsknechts, can cope with them. It would not hurt to load 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 sections 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 is difficult to talk seriously about the tactics of defeating AI when half of the battles follow the same scenario: the enemy runs up to your archers and starts running in place, now and then showing the archers their back. In addition, the computer often completely ignores the cavalry detachments that have appeared in the rear, which, without encountering resistance, surround entire armies.

I'm waiting for payments. However, AI problems are one thing, and strange and ambiguous 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 trifle. But now a detachment of unwashed peasants, armed with pitchforks, easily put 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 is an advantage.
• A blow to the flank is more profitable than a frontal one, a blow to the rear is more profitable than a flank one.
• It is more important to overthrow the enemy army and put it to flight than simply to pass 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 driven rat.

This is a bug: speaking of dominant heights - sometimes an enemy detachment, consisting, probably, of born climbers, may at the beginning of the battle be on an inaccessible mountain in principle.

In the same, with regard to questions of the relationship between horses and infantry, issues of assault, miracles begin.

For your information: now you can't dismount cavalry units before the battle. This is how they are trained in castles - dismounted. No one understands why the developers did this, but for some reason the game is designed that way.

First, the assault works very badly. Forcing a mounted detachment to mount the enemy on spears or forcing infantry on the run to cut into enemy detachments ... is very difficult. The reason for this, it seems to me, was the new system for calculating movements for each warrior. If you send cavalry to storm the enemy at a gallop (double-click the right mouse button), then the squad will simply fall apart on the run and there will be no effect from the assault. No one will take off into the air and run - just the horses will slowly run up to the enemy, your soldiers will remove their spears, draw their swords and begin the usual 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 directed at the enemy (otherwise, even with light turns, the formation will fall apart and the assault will not take place).
• Make sure that the fronts of your and the enemy unit are parallel.
• Make sure that the distance is sufficient (a hundred meters minimum).

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

If you did everything right, the cavalry will slowly, step by step, go to the enemy, at a certain distance it will switch to a trot without breaking the formation, then, a few tens of meters away, it will go to a gallop and raise the enemy to spears according to all the rules. Oh yeah, it's also important to make sure that the enemy unit 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 must have already felt bewildered - how can it be: if enemy knights are jumping on you, it is enough to start running away from them to mix up all their plans? Exactly. But these are still flowers.

Now we will have to wean ourselves from the fact that the cavalry attack must be met in close formation. It’s not necessary anymore - it’s most profitable to thin out the squad (as under the attack of archers). No, the detachment that stood up at intervals will not be swept away by the cavalry in the game - it will strike in a narrow front and, perhaps, throw back several soldiers, but immediately after that the detachment will surround it from three sides (it is more along the front) and quickly nullify. Yes, this is a new word in military affairs.

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

Infantry assault generally lost its meaning. It is more advantageous to meet the enemy while standing still, simply because it is one of the few ways to keep the formation.

The "shield wall" is completely useless. It does not protect against cavalry attacks and does not save from infantry either. The only way somehow use it - put it in the defense of the bridge in order 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 units against cavalry attacks. The forest of spears does not scare horses and does not do much damage at the time of the assault, so if you want the spearmen to survive, place a squad at intervals, and the horsemen will not be in trouble. Only the Swiss pikemen and landsknechts, with their anti-cavalry formation in three ranks, can hope to succeed in the battle with the cavalry.

For your information: line showbanners = 1 in file medieval2.preference.cfg is responsible for pennants over units. If you change the value to zero, these flags will disappear. The line is responsible for the green circles under the units disable_arrow_markers, and for the scenes “they killed the general”, “they took the gates” - 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 combat and lose even to the cheapest units. This is most likely a bug and is waiting for patches.

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 each, 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 two.
• 7-9 (gold stripes) - the increase is three.

These are rather modest numbers. However, do not forget that other, imperceptible parameters are also growing - the morale or accuracy of the shooting units (but they do not increase the damage from arrows, as it was before).

For your information: retraining and uniting units is now 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 put them under AI control, or put them on the edge of the map so that they come out one at a time when space is free 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.

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

In battle, your own units can inadvertently upset your plans, or even fire at you from bows (tolerantly) or from cannons. He will aim at the enemy with whom you are fighting, and will act from the best of 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

No wonder the introductory video shows the game engine storming the city. 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 starts building siege weapons. A large army can build several towers, ladders and battering rams in one move, a small one will do it in two or three moves.

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

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 - the movement calculations will bring the processor to a coma.

The city can be stormed if at least one ram or ladder is built. If the 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 the gates opened by spies, preferring to climb the walls.

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

This is a bug: ballista towers sometimes shoot cannonballs, and cannon towers, on the contrary, fire spears.

The goal of the enemy is to try to burn down the battering ram and towers in the first place. If the arrows set fire to them, it will be impossible to put out the fire.

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

The strongest infantry detachments must be placed in the towers and on the stairs. A battering ram can also be dragged by archers.

For your information: Undermining is now impossible, and there is no need - with such and such guns.

Your first goal is to capture the wall. Break through gates or take walls from ladders or towers. After losing a section of the wall, the AI ​​will start to lower its troops from the walls, retreat to the square or behind the next row of walls if you storm the castle.

This is a bug: watch out for Tamerlane's elephants - they can capture walls from a distance, using telepathy.

The purpose of the assault is not to exterminate all the defenders, but to occupy the central square and hold out on it 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 break into the citadel on the shoulders of the fleeing defenders (this happens very often) or simply bring siege weapons, battering rams and ladders through the gates and holes 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.

Outside the city walls, it is almost impossible to maneuver, so the cities will have to be occupied mainly by brute force. Two more tips to 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 these gates are 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 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, and 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 his siege weapons. Place the strongest units (for example, peasant animals) in front of the breaches in the walls, trying to catch the enemy "in a bag". In fortresses, it is easier to leave a few rifle squads next to the defensive towers, and withdraw the main forces to the citadel. The enemy, advancing 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 artillery. Ballistas, rocket launchers, light cannons and serpentines are good for hitting infantry in the field (especially the "general" squad), catapults, trebuchet and large cannons are suitable for taking cities on the move.

For enemy soldiers and artillery fire and explosive shells are well suited, for the demolition of walls, towers and gates - ordinary ones. Trebuchet can bombard the city with dead cows - from their fumes, enemies swell and die, losing strength. The dead animal does not have a "friend or foe" identification system.

Do not abuse field artillery - in a fleeting battle, guns in large quantities will not make the weather, but they will take a place in the army. Don't carry a lot of siege artillery with you either - a couple of catapults will be enough to take out the gates and a couple of breaches in the wall.

This is interesting: the catapult teams are real beasts. Before my eyes, they tore to pieces the cavalry detachments that had crept up from the rear. It must be that continuous work with a heavy collar developed a heroic strength in them.

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

Archers and crossbowmen

Developers are afraid of "friendly fire" as... fire. In order to avoid it, they attached to the crossbowmen the ability to shoot with a canopy and allowed the rifle squads to cease fire on their own initiative and transfer it to other enemy squads if there was a risk of hurting their own.

If you select several units of archers and order them to shoot at one unit, then they will choose their targets on their own, based on their own ideas about how best to inflict damage on the enemy. Sometimes they are too independent and this upsets the owners. Although I don’t even know what can upset more than the unwillingness to leave the path of the enemy’s troops. Sometimes crossbowmen, having received an order to retreat, “shoot” empty crossbows for a while and usually fall under the blow of enemy cavalry.

In all other respects they are similar to the archers and crossbowmen of Rome. They shoot better from top to bottom, they shoot badly uphill. Burning arrows kill less, but, burning enemies (what is smeared on them - napalm?), They quickly nullify morale. In the rain, the arrows work ... badly.

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

For your information: some English archers are able to put stakes in front of them before the battle to protect themselves from cavalry. Horses on stakes die perfectly, but be careful - your own cavalry units will not even think about bypassing dangerous places.

Mounted shooters

Mounted archers are not as effective as archers and carry a smaller supply of arrows, but they can harass fire and still remain relatively out of range.

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

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

Mounted marksmen are good at chasing, but "Parthian shooting" after the runners has become less effective than in Rome: Total War.

hand firearms

Abundant bugs lie here, the most famous of which is the pupating arrows in the “caracol” formation. They can stick so tightly, rearranging themselves, that only death from the enemy's hand will save them. To protect them from this can (sometimes) build in two rows.

Early shooters and arquebusiers are ineffective, musketeers are a completely different matter. Against armored knights - that's it. But I do not advise you to put musketeers on the defensive on the city walls. They will most likely refuse to shoot for some of their own (religious?) reasons.

When I was finishing this text, there were rumors that the first patches were on the nose. Most likely, much of what I wrote about with bitterness and indignation has already been fixed in the game, and an updated version of Medieval II: Total War is waiting for you, cleared of many shortcomings and oddities. So good luck in your battles!

Tactical battles and strategy elements are waiting for you if you decide to download the torrent for the Medieval 2 Total War game. As the game progresses, you will have to solve difficult economic problems and create a powerful Empire. The events described in the scenario refer to the period of the gloomy Middle Ages of the 11th-15th centuries, when European, African and Middle Eastern countries waged constant wars to expand their influence. The main goal facing the user is to create an expansion and development of a powerful empire. To do this, the player has to solve the problems of politics, economics, support religion and, of course, fight with the armies of neighboring states. Traditionally for the series, the gameplay is represented by two modes.

If you decide to download a torrent for the Medieval 2 Total War Kingdoms game, you can find out that the mode of moving armies and units around the map is implemented step by step, and battles are controlled without stopping time, real-time. The game world is divided between twenty factions and, as you might guess, you will manage one of them. It is noteworthy that only 12 fractions out of 20 are available to the user. It is also worth noting the presence in the game of historical campaign modes, as well as individual battles. The campaign will allow you to take part in the most epic battles of the described period, for example, in the Hundred Years War. The second mode implies that you will control the troops in a single battle. To win, you will have to show all your talents as a strategist and commander. We advise you not to forget about it. Well, the graphics, voice acting and gameplay of the presented game will not disappoint you!

Medival 2 Total War Kingdoms pictures