Nah I wasnt at war with anyone.

But, last time I loaded the game and hit end turn, I got a notice that Me and France were at war. France didnt attack, or block my ports or anything. Can they declare war without attacking or anything? Our relations are Abysmal.

Another question. How do you improve relations?

11/19/2006 2:39:01 PM

lol it's been awhile, ummm, trading things if i can remember, give them a slight edge or something

11/19/2006 3:02:33 PM

How do I deal with the pope not wanting me to attack another christian faction(France?). The only way I can see it is if I seige a city and take it in 2 turns before the pope sends me a message to cease hostilities.

11/20/2006 12:35:51 AM

That's one way to do it. Another is to have great relations with the Pope and the other faction have bad relations.

To improve relationships, sometimes gifts of money or tribute are needed. If you're really desperate you could give them a region.

But yeah, the Pope and religion plays a huge part of this game. You can't just go all military and swarm all over Europe like in the original, which is awesome IMO.

11/20/2006 12:21:19 PM

Another question.

Why do I have no princesses? I see others walking around, but I dont have any anywhere.

When and how do they appear?

11/20/2006 12:54:25 PM

Umm, your king has to have an unmarried daughter.

Keep the stupid questions coming though, they're entertaining.

11/20/2006 1:05:48 PM

So, what your saying is, if I get a marrage notice(before I even get the princess agent), I shouldnt let them marry so I have a princess running around.

11/20/2006 1:16:16 PM

If you want a princess running around and you get a marriage request from one of the King's daughters, yes.

But a princess is only really good at marrying high level general of another faction, IMO. So if the marriage proposal is good, I usually accept.

But yeah, if you decline the proposal, you'll find a new agent that is a princess there. Don't forget to check your towns for agents.

11/20/2006 1:41:58 PM

I got this the other day and have been playing like crazy.

I freaking love it.

It's a huge step from RTW, but there are still some bugs that need to be worked out.

I'm playing as the French right now, and one of the only things I don't like is the population. It's freaking explosive, I can't afford to upgrade all the cities that need to be, especially while I try to produce enough troops to defend my borders. So the squalor of my cities is slowly creeping up (Paris has almost 30 thousand people, but I can't yet afford to upgrade to huge city) which thakfully at least is much less dramatic than in RTW, when it would tear apart your whole empire pretty quickly.

I am eagerly awaiting the plague to cut my population down some.

11/20/2006 4:17:53 PM

Sounds like less of a bug and more of a challenge in gameplay to me. The french have a tough campaign because of their location.

Keep in mind that population is related to your tax income. So if population decreases, so does your income.

I prioritize upgrading my cities/strongholds over everything else. But I keep my income above 1 or 2 thousand per turn also. I know you said you can't defend your borders, but try to trim down the military upkeep you have and make good use of those free upkeep militia units to defend your town. Those can really make a big difference.

There definitely are bugs that need to be patched, but all the things in the thread so far seem right to me.

11/20/2006 4:22:59 PM

Here is my military situation. Right now I am neutral with France and Denmark, but my relations with France are Abysmal






Here are my relations with the pope








I dont really know what to do other than just throw money at the papal states to improve relations. Because I dont see how I can continue attacking France without eventually being excommunicated.

And honestly, I am looking to see how you guys go about the game vs my way. Im still in RTW mode where I just destroy things militarily. What ya think?

[Edited on November 20, 2006 at 4:35 PM. Reason : finally]

[Edited on November 20, 2006 at 4:58 PM. Reason : df]

11/20/2006 4:34:06 PM

I always say fuck the Pope and do what I feel like.

But I usually don't play Catholic factions, either.

[Edited on November 20, 2006 at 5:14 PM. Reason : .]

11/20/2006 5:11:20 PM

Quote :

"Sounds like less of a bug and more of a challenge in gameplay to me. The french have a tough campaign because of their location."

Yeah I know that isn't a bug, that's not what I was talking about when I said bugs.

I might have to convert to my old RTW strategy of population control.

Get all my military out of the city, let it rebel, and retake it, killing everyone inside.

11/20/2006 11:08:51 PM

I never had to do that.

I always build the anti squalor, and public happyness buildings first as soon as I take a city or upgrade the city. If you have to build military buildings that much then you are doing something wrong.



....or just playing on a real hard setting?

11/21/2006 12:04:53 AM

ahaha, i've done that before in rtw...

11/21/2006 8:52:39 AM

Quote :

"Im still in RTW mode where I just destroy things militarily. What ya think?"

Yeah, I play my games much more diplomatically and pay attention to religion and stuff. I pretty much play it like I think historically they would given the circumstances rather than just trying to win the game.

I had to do that because if I just try to win, it's usually way too easy.

Quote :

"I dont really know what to do other than just throw money at the papal states to improve relations. Because I dont see how I can continue attacking France without eventually being excommunicated."

Yeah, you have to play the diplomatic game. Improve your relations with the Pope via money every turn and tempt the French into attacking you and angering the Pope. Park some troops in their territory and get them to attack. Or attack outright but then don't press the assault when the Pope asks you to stop. They'll likely continue attackign and get Excommed. Also, I'd recommend maybe decreasing your garrisons in your cities. You could hold off almost any army with any of those garrisons, but that's a lot of upkeep. I havent played the English yet, but are you using the free militia units?

[I always say fuck the Pope and do what I feel like.

But I usually don't play Catholic factions, either.[/quote]

In this game unless you are already a superpower, that will get you fucked up proper. Best way to wipe out another Catholic faction is to get them excommunicated and then Crusade all over their asses.

11/21/2006 10:00:27 AM

the one thing i hated about mtw 1 was when you did conquer the papal states it was inevitable that they would come back with 4-6 full stacks at some point in the next 15 years.


(already at superpower status (all of france, germany, spain, turkey, italy, england, and scandinavia, most of east europe))

or play as the Byzantines

11/21/2006 3:02:52 PM

But they don't in this game.

The Pope of course will be reelected and you will probably be forever excommunicated, but he won't spring up time and time again with 4-6 experienced stacks.

Now they elect a new pope as usual and then he is granted a region from the remaining Catholic States.

11/21/2006 3:53:17 PM

I always played the Arabs or Byzantines in the old game. I played Germany once, and that was the worst idea ever- it was nearly impossible to maintain a position.

11/21/2006 5:32:23 PM

Quote :

"Yeah, you have to play the diplomatic game. Improve your relations with the Pope via money every turn and tempt the French into attacking you and angering the Pope. Park some troops in their territory and get them to attack. Or attack outright but then don't press the assault when the Pope asks you to stop. They'll likely continue attackign and get Excommed. Also, I'd recommend maybe decreasing your garrisons in your cities. You could hold off almost any army with any of those garrisons, but that's a lot of upkeep. I havent played the English yet, but are you using the free militia units?"

Thanks for the tip! That sounds like that will work out nicely.

As far as my garrisons. Those cities are full of armies that are not militia. I was hoping somone would tell me how I will be able to attack France. As you can see, I am ready to destroy them. I am still making ~4k a turn even with those large garrisons.

So, let me get this straight, any unit that is a militia unit doesnt have an upkeep?? That is sad because my levy spearmen have the same stats as the militia, yet they have an upkeep.

Definatly gonna convert my garrisons to the north to militias. And I am trying to figure out the merchant thing. I notice that Dyes are all around me, is there any way to tell where all the dye is. VIA website or forum on the interwebnets?

11/21/2006 5:53:24 PM

A certian number of militia units per city (not castle) have free upkeep, depending on the size of the city.

Smaller cities have 3-4 units free, larger cities get 5-6 units free.

11/21/2006 6:00:26 PM

Right. Note that castles(except for wooden ones) do not get free upkeep units. Check the walls building in each of your cities to see how many militia units you can get.

As for the dyes question...I don't know of a way to see all dyes. You could try a reveal all map cheat if you are desperate, but that can ruin the fun. Just worry about monopolizing the dyes in your region maybe.

11/21/2006 6:52:23 PM

can you monopolize them in my region and get a bonus, or is the bonus only with all of a resource

11/21/2006 8:42:49 PM

Dunno. Merchants is one of the few things I don't know much about.

11/22/2006 2:01:56 PM

Just a tip, never go on crusade for the holy land when it is in the hands of the Mongols.

They seriously have unlimited numbers of great cavalry and great foot archer/swordsmen that they can send at you constantly. I took a fortress, a citadel, and my crusade objective of Antioch, after fighting several massive battles with Mongol armies. But they kept on coming, and it doesn't help that i'm the whole world away from my capital (Portugal) and nobody there has my religion. I have to keep taxes on low and keep

On top of that, the plague hit while I was trying to fend off all these things, and reduced my income to negative for several turns, so I couldn't even afford to replace my massive losses.

I still hold Antioch (huge city, I can barely keep control of it) and some pretty well upgraded fortress. But Antioch doesn't have great militia barracks, so I can only make a few new units per turn, and the fortress is making good units, but it still has the freaking plague, so I lose 10% of all my units in there per turn, and I can't use them to garrison Antioch because if it got the plague it would revolt. Now I'm under siege and I don't think I can fend it off, and even if I do I won't be able to maintain control with the garrison I will have left.



I think I might just blow up all the buildings in those cities and get the hell out of there.

11/25/2006 12:36:17 AM

I went on a crusade, and my army kept GETTING STUCK WHEN IT GOT TO CLOSE TO CITIES I hadnt found yet. So I wasted half the damn turn getting stuck. AND its a bitch to try to get around armies. AND I was so slow getting there that I didnt even get to the city, so my army turns back from a crusade in the middle of another factions territory, and im stuck!

If I try to make my way back I piss off everyone. I had to leave them in the papal states territory (allies) because I cant get them to me because france, and milan freaking hate me, and I dont have enough ships free to make my way around europe to pick there poor asses up.

But its only like 100 men total, made up of shitty spearmen and peasants(I wasnt to keen on a crusade to begin with, so I made it full of shitty units.) But its nice that I can team up with the papal states when they are under attack. MY PEASANTS RULE SO MUCH!

11/25/2006 10:23:56 AM

Quote :

"the one thing i hated about mtw 1 was when you did conquer the papal states it was inevitable that they would come back with 4-6 full stacks at some point in the next 15 years"

In mtw1, I almost never wiped out any faction. I found one the the best things to do was to back a faction into one or two provences that are out of the way, fill them with spies, and keep them so busy with rebellions that they can't fight a damn thing. When I say fill with spies, I mean 20-50. Faction reappearences are a bitch. Don't set your self up in a position where you have to deal wit them.

11/25/2006 12:54:11 PM

Does this happen in MTW2?

And what is the reasoning behind it?

11/25/2006 3:46:28 PM

Faction reemerging? No, not in MTW2.

Half the things you guys are bitching about sounds like a challenge and interesting part of the game. The other half are shit you didn't like in MTW1.

Haha.

I'm ready for the patch...but I'm still having fun with MTW2.

11/25/2006 8:39:02 PM

Ok, I left an army in france territory for several turns and cant get them to attack me. My relations with the pope are the same as frances.

I am paying 100 gold to the papal states for 10 turns trying to get my relations up. I have a very small army trapped in the papal states territory.

I am trying to use the games non military options to attack France, but it isnt workinf very well.

11/26/2006 5:57:59 PM

Put a half dozen spies in one of their cities to increase unrest, then send in assassins to destroy buildings.

Pretty soon the city will rebel and be up for grabs, get there before France does and it will be yours without going to war with France or being excommunicated.

11/27/2006 2:16:12 AM

i'm england with supreme power.... 50k in the bank, make about 25k / turn when not building. in the process of taking out scotland (one territory), took tolouse via crusade, took bologna via negotiations with a beaten down HRE, took Florence from rebels. i have the netherlands, belguim, corsica and sardinia...


i have 2 castles only, nottingham and caen, rest are cities, with trade rights with most of the world, only the mongols have more troops than me and im far away from them...

the only thing that's 'hard' is getting the merchants skills up... and priests into the college of cardinals....

i hate the inquistors....

i'm gonna see if i can get a crusade against more french cities.... not sure if they are excomm'ed currently

11/27/2006 1:06:09 PM

scotland down, crushed the french in a few battles, but they are reconciled with the new pope, so no more war for a bit with them....

11/28/2006 11:10:43 AM

Oh how I love calling a crusade against neighboring factions. Man do you get abunch of shit for completing them.

Need the french to lose favor though

11/28/2006 11:27:34 PM

does anyone know where I can get a key generator for this game.

11/29/2006 10:19:57 PM

Finally finished the English short campaign. I took up a temporary alliance with France by having their Princess marry Prince Robert early on. After that, I quickly snuffed out Scotland, secured the isles, and captured the rebel cities around France. The Danes tried to pick a fight, but with overwhelming military force, I conquered Antwerp and then had them cede Hamburg to me for peace. Participated in a crusade for Antioch, but that went rather badly. Took Paris from the Milanese when they got ex-communicated, and then got Dijon off them for peace.

After going assassin crazy, killing people left and right, I failed in a 95% success-rate assassination attempt of a French captain which led to the end of the alliance. Seized Rheims in one turn, and was about to take Angers when the Pope intervened. I took advantage of the six years of peace to position three large armies outside the three remain French cities of Angers, Marseilles, and Toulouse, and when the moratorium was over, I overran each city, not even bothering with besieging them and simply assaulted them straight out.

Stupid game. I've lost way too much sleep to it.

11/30/2006 3:43:45 AM

^^ Best Buy

^ Yeah I spend so much time on it also. As can be seen by it being 3:50 in the AM. I meant to go to bed around 1, but as the Byzantines I'm trying to take all of Italy and suddenly there was a Jihad called on Constantinople, which the Mongols decided to join with 4 stacks of elite heavy cavalry and armored horse archers. So I scrambled together some elite forces (had to let a couple of my italian holdings rebel and sack them to raise the money for the armies) and meet them. So I've been pretty busy over the last couple of hours.

And it's like this every night.

11/30/2006 3:54:58 AM

Yeah, I started the short campaign for Byzantium last night, but I'm still trying to reorient my strategy using the missile cavalry instead of just straight shock cavalry. Are the missile cavalry any good in hand-to-hand (ie. after I burn my arrows, can I use them to harass the flanks once they've engaged my infantry)?

11/30/2006 10:41:16 AM

Depends, the cheap ones, Skythikons, can't do crap, the Byzantine Cavalry is alright in a pinch, and the Vardariotai are incredible, they can easily hold their own (and win) against earlier knights. They are some of the best units in the game, and the Byzantines get them with just castles!

The problem with Byzantines is that they don't have any good spearmen. They don't even have any mediocre spearmen, they have 3 spear units and they all have just 5 attack and 7 defense, worse than the even cheapest of Italian spear militias.

11/30/2006 11:04:18 AM

use them as light cav. only and you will be fine, (routing units etc)

damn you guys you can save it and quit! you don't have to keep playing!

11/30/2006 4:07:13 PM

For me the games pace isnt as fast as Romes due to the Pope over your head before you attack anyone. I like this because you are forced to use assasins spys and diplomats more because there is more time for your enemy to do the same thing against you.

Lovin it

11/30/2006 4:20:56 PM

building cathedrals boost your rep with da pope a lot....

also upgrades your priests when they are made there....

the AI seems really stupid in combat.....

12/1/2006 3:34:35 PM

Is it me or do ALL THE ARMIES HAVE NOTHING BUT ARCHERS!!1

seems like a bug, like the AI thinks archers are the best units or something.

I killed 3 big armies with my 1 because they had so many archers.

patch fix this?

12/2/2006 12:04:55 AM

It all depends on the faction as to what they build.

However, the genoese crossbow milita is an incredible unit that is way overpowered for its cost/upkeep/tech level, along with the Italian spear militia, which is also very powerful and cheap, to counter your cavalry charges (which is the best way to fight the crossbow) and these armeis with just 2 different kinds of units are pretty tough to beat early on.

I think this is also why either Genoa or Milan becomes the most powerful faction in 1/2 the campaigns I have seen.

Don't know if this will be addressed in the patch, but supposedly the patch will be out this weekend or soon after. Main fixes are the passive AI bug (where the enemy just stands there under missile fire, even if you have missile superiority) and unit cohesion problems (where it's nearly impossible to get knights to charge with lances down).

They are also releasing the .pack extractor, to allow modding the game.

I can't wait to start tinkering with it (I have been modding TW games since MTW1)

12/2/2006 12:13:49 AM

i've never run into a archer mostly army, which being england is good, b/c that's what i do...

12/2/2006 12:32:36 AM

Yeah, Milan runs crossbow heavy armies because that's what they are good at. They are good crossbowmen and decent infantry.

Most other factions have a good mix I think.

12/2/2006 11:39:35 AM

so i finally got this game and I started out using the spanish

i took about the portugese and the french pretty quickly (only because they started shit first)

i have all of france and the iberian penisula but I'm still losing money like crazy

What are some good ways to increase my income?

Also, how exactly do I use merchants?

12/2/2006 3:23:33 PM

1. Raise taxes
2. Convert some castles in the interior of your empire into cities, they make way more money.
3. Don't have a bigger army than you need, army upkeep is the biggest expense in the game for the most part.

[Edited on December 2, 2006 at 4:10 PM. Reason : and just put your merchants on the resources you see on the map, they don't make that much $]

12/2/2006 4:09:34 PM

you only need 2-4 castles really, the rest should be cities, with ports, markets, and prefferably paved roads....



every freakin bastard in the game just about is at war with me, 1 broke a marriage alliance, and 3 broke alliances just to attack me. then one just randomly attacked me..... oh well, i'm beating their collective faces in.... taken 2 of 3 of the most powerful cities near me.... fortresses.... the third will take some focus and i need to get the HRE and milan off my ass in Italy....

tempted to just give HRE and Milan the 2 italian cities just to get them off of me until i can finish off france complete a crusade and revamp my armies to smite them in due time....

[Edited on December 2, 2006 at 6:18 PM. Reason : 2]

12/2/2006 6:14:02 PM

1. I havent had a princess in 70 turns. How do I get one on the map? I want to strengthen some alliances.

2. I want to seige a citadel, but I am the only one that has one. I have seiged 1 fortress, but my spies had the gates unlocked, so I dont really know how hard it would be normally.

3. Milans crossbow units get destroyed by any calvary charge. They might be good units, but making that many of them leads to their destruction.

4. I want the mongols to eventually seige a citadel that I own. I want to see how to fall back to inner walls. Because basically, in my head, I cant figure out when is the best time to fall back to the inner walls.

5. I daydream about playing this game because there is so much to do other than military combat.

12/2/2006 7:06:44 PM