Medieval Total War...I finally got it...

[Memnoch]

...for $9 AUD. Great bargain. Great game, as well! I'm a bit under the pump at the moment (playing as the Danes) but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I have a few questions however:

1. how does everyone keep track of where all their emissaries, armies, etc all are? It's not like Civ where units flash when it's their turn to move. I'm sure some armies are wasting away somewhere while others die due to a lack of reinforcements.

2. How do you know who's married into your family? I've got quite a few heirs, but they're mainly royal princes - my actual heir (he's 52) has just assumed the throne and he doesn't have a wife yet. Now some of my younger princes have married outside the faction, how do I know who they got married to (I can't remember who the princesses were). The alliance screen doesn't tell you who's married to who...

3. How useful are these marriages anyway?

4. How come I can't travel from Norway (which has a port) to Mercia (which also has a port) but I can travel to Flanders (which has a port). Does this have something to do with dominating shipping lanes?

This is an awesome game isn't it.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Memnoch: ...for $9 AUD. Great bargain. Great game, as well! I'm a bit under the pump at the moment (playing as the Danes) but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I have a few questions however: 1. how does everyone keep track of where all their emissaries, armies, etc all are? It's not like Civ where units flash when it's their turn to move. I'm sure some armies are wasting away somewhere while others die due to a lack of reinforcements. 2. How do you know who's married into your family? I've got quite a few heirs, but they're mainly royal princes - my actual heir (he's 52) has just assumed the throne and he doesn't have a wife yet. Now some of my younger princes have married outside the faction, how do I know who they got married to (I can't remember who the princesses were). The alliance screen doesn't tell you who's married to who... 3. How useful are these marriages anyway? 4. How come I can't travel from Norway (which has a port) to Mercia (which also has a port) but I can travel to Flanders (which has a port). Does this have something to do with dominating shipping lanes? This is an awesome game isn't it.

This is one of my favorite games!

Ass far as I know, you can't know who your princes wed. The usefullness of it, is that if a faction lose all kings and princes, their lands all become neutral rebels. You might get some of those automatically. Mostly usefull if you use assasins.

To travel by ship, you need to have a ship in each sea square from the starting port to the other. If there is an ennemy ship on one of those, your units won't be able to cross. Non-military units can cross on ship from any country I think.

I just use the minimap to keep track of my lands, but I think there is a button to see your troops.

[General Nosaj]

I must admit Medieval is probably the best strategy empire builder I've played. And I would really suggest that you further invest in the viking invasion expansion as you can then play as the Hungarians, Sicilians and Aragonese. Not to mention you can play as the Vikings in the British scenario.

[Memnoch]

I just played it for eight hours STRAIGHT. Haven't done that with any game other than Civ (I and III). So far I've destroyed the Byzantine faction (after three MASSIVE battles, one a siege) and the Sicilian faction (stupid idiot refused to marry my daughter) and pretty much have the Hungarians, French, Polish and German factions all under my boot.

I decided not to worry about the princesses [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] I decided to marry them all off to my generals to improve their loyalty (got tired of having to send them all over the continent to try and find men - besides you get betrayed by your in-laws anyway).

Some more questions:

1. WHAT is the best way to keep track of who needs to move where (aside from me manually making notes). For example I was trying to attack Mercia (as the Danes) as I'd already taken Scotland and the loser English were holding out in their castle, unfortunately I didn't have any seige machinery and it looked like they were going to be there for at least 5 years. The Pope had already warned me about going to war against fellow Christians, but I figured I had 2 years to get them, so I started building catapults in Denmark. Unfortunately next round I forgot all about them (they just appeared in Denmark but there was nothing to alert me of it) and I ended up waiting too long and got excommunicated!!!

There's a huge amount of detail to be managed - I'm starting to find the info screens useful but it's hard to know where all my bishops/princesses/emissaries are (the Subterfuge screen isn't that userfriendly). I'm SURE that a lot of times some resources are just sitting there idle...

Another thing, with ships - what's the value of haivng a fleet as opposed to individual ships? I suppose it's to increase your chances of survival if you're attacked?

What's the penalty for being excommunicated btw? And how do you reverse it? Is it for life? I've been excommunicated twice.

AWESOME GAME. Can't believe it missed it the first time. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Djinn Raffo]

You should really download the medmod. It greatly balances the game and fixes some issues as well as letting you play some factions that aren't available in the regular game.

Being execommunicated means that the Christian factions might launch crusades on you which could be very bad. If your Emperor is old then you should go for a land grab amongst the Christian lands as once he dies the excommunication is rendered void.

You should uncheck the option that tidies up units after battles. It makes it easier to remember which unit is where, which army is which as the game seems to mess that up badly. (click the little gray rectangle right beside the mini map to see those options).

Keeping track of who to move where.. keep your army units tight and units that are guarding provinces in the castles so they don't clutter the map up.

Having a fleet is useful only against warring factions and to maintain naval superiority in a given sea area.

[Djinn Raffo]

And by the way if you think Medieval is good.. Rome: Total War is coming out the end of September and by all accounts it looks to blow Medieval off the map!

[Memnoch]

Gee, this must be the most addictive game EVER - I don't think I've played anything this addictive!! I've been bleary eyed at work because I've been playing it non-stop practically. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]

I got excommunicated, but the funny thing is nobody's decided to attack me - I'm too powerful I think. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

I still can't work out how to keep track of where all my bishops/assassins/troops are, the Info boxes aren't that userfriendly, but I reckon that it was just like that in history...for want of a good computer system Rome collapsed...

Djinn, what tidy up option? And what's the medmod?

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Memnoch: Gee, this must be the most addictive game EVER - I don't think I've played anything this addictive!! I've been bleary eyed at work because I've been playing it non-stop practically. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] I got excommunicated, but the funny thing is nobody's decided to attack me - I'm too powerful I think. [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] I still can't work out how to keep track of where all my bishops/assassins/troops are, the Info boxes aren't that userfriendly, but I reckon that it was just like that in history...for want of a good computer system Rome collapsed... Djinn, what tidy up option? And what's the medmod?

You've been excomunicated again? Why is the pope still alive? Time to show him who's the boss...

[Memnoch]

I have to get through Hungarian lands to get to him, and unfortunately every assassin I've sent has gotten caught and hanged. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]

I'm thinking of attacking the Hungarians anyway since I'm excommunicated, everyone's still allied with me, they're scared of me I think...but my daughter (one of the many I've sent out) is married to the Hungarian king. Will this be a problem?

[General Nosaj]

Attacking the Hungarians will only tarnish your reputation but it sounds that it doesn't really matter with the amount of power you hold. Killing the pope is one way of stopping further excomunications but the destuction of the papacy causes seriously strong revolts in rome every few years. So as long as you are willing to maintain a large garrison there then good luck to you. The first time I completed the game with the Poles I decided just to push the pope into the less productive papal states and let him rot. With the natural death of the pope your excomuniction will be removed until any further conflicts with the holy father.

[ 08-11-2004, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: General Nosaj ]