TWG FAQ

TWG FAQ – to be posted every new thread.  FEEL FREE TO CONTRIBUTE
>What game should I buy, and what are these abbreviations?
RTW – Set in the Roman Republican period.  Game is centered around the Rise of Rome, and generally the Roman units are extremely OP.  Cavalry are also OP, being able to charge nonstop in a period where half of them were supposed to suck.  At least, the Greek and Roman ones are OP compared to real life.  Eastern cavalry are fine.  While it has aged pretty poorly, many fans tout it as great due to nostalgia and some very nice historically accurate mods made for it.

BI – Barbarian Invasion: Fall of the Roman Empire period.  Difficulty has been amped compared to the original game, and the barbarians aren’t underpowered.  Cavalry also gets better on all sides, and night battles are featured.

Alexander - A short, rather difficult and limited campaign focusing on Alexander the Great's conquest.  Features Brian Blessed as a voice actor. First TW game that centers around a historical figure, in this case Alexander the Great. (derp)

MTW 2 – Medieval period.  Cavalry are extremely powerful with the new emphasis on unit mass and the rise of the knight.  Crusades, Mongols, Jihads, the New World, and guns are all available in a single playthrough.  Battles are generally slower compared to RTW’s, making it a suitable Babby’s first TW.

Kingdoms – The expack to MTW 2, adds in 4 new mini-campaigns revolving around the New World, Teutonic Knights, Crusades, and the British Isles. Touted as the best TW game ever by fans mainly because of sheer amount of mindblowing mods available for Kingdoms.

Empire – The first “gun battle” TW game, set during 1700s.  Touted as the worst TW game ever mainly due to the introduction of the new warscape game engine and general bugginess of everything.  Still, mods fix some of the problems and the scope of the game is unparalleled as it pretty much involves most of the world aside from Australia and Asia.  Introduces real-time naval battles in the game.  Unit replenishment is also simplified to a button click instead of having to send units back to territories for retraining.  Most units carry a gun, and cavalry aren’t the killing machines they once were.


Napoleon –   Gameplay is much more polished (faster unit responses) than Empire’s, though the concepts are largely the same.  Unit replenishment is different, as it occurs slowly and automatically in friendly territories so players cannot just hide their armies for 2 turns and emerge fully healed.


You play Empire for the wide range of the campaign map, from America to India. It focuses more on a longer time period as well, so the technology advancements are more significant.

Napoleon has the better combat, its more polished and more immersive.


S2 covers the Sengoku Jidai, basically the “M2-era” of Japan.  Cavalry are quite weak as everyone carries an anti-cavalry weapon.  Battles are generally extremely fast as many units are focused on offense and have very weak defenses.  Introduces a rock-paper-scissor concept for units in order to optimize multiplayer and tap into the mainstream SC/CoD crowd.

RoTS – Rise of the Samurai covers the Genpei war, the first real war in Japan.  Units fight in loose formation, there’s no real army, just a lot of warbands.  Harder than the other games due to how easy it is to kill levy and the AI is more prone to backstabbing the player.

FoTS – Fall of the Samurai covers the Boshin War, the modernization war of Japan.  Contrary to popular belief, the Shogunate is NOT a backwards, anti-tech faction.  They are pro-tech (the Imperialists are also pro-tech, but anti-foreigners) and backed by the French.   Gameplay is like a lovechild between NTW and S2, with katana units fighting alongside extremely modern units armed with breech-loading rifles.  Naval units can bomb cities to damage buildings and kill garrisons as well as support units in the field.  It’s what ETW and NTW should have been.  The best gun battle TW game in terms of polish and features.


>Good mods for M2?
Call of Warhammer – Warhammer Fantasy universe, excellent music and atmosphere
Install M2
Install Kingdoms
Download patch from TW centre and patch to 1.5
Download Gingantus' rage of dark gods mod
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?525138-RodG-1-5-Easy-and-painfree-Installation
Install that
Download and install quickfixes for it
and good luck

Thera  - Uruk Hai vs. Knights vs Longbows vs. Renaissance vs. Roman Empire vs. Native Americans vs. Janissaries vs. Elephants vs. Asia/Samurai/Mongols

http://www.gameupdates.org/details.php?id=5278  Torrent Link for both main download and patch.


Stainless Steel – Keeps to the medieval 2 formula, but fixes many things, makes knights OP, adds “Realism”


Third Age – Lords of the Rings, total war style.  The MOST popular mod out there by far.
Link here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=500418


Broken Crescent – Another excellent mod focusing on the Middle East

>Deus Lo Vult: Focused much more on Roleplay, this one is more harder than SS, it's more focused in RP than the previous, if you love roleplaying this one is a must have(sorry because of the shortness, haven't played much of this)


>Chivalry II: Sicilian Vespers: this mods is divided in several campaigns:
-Dark Age Era; Play as one of europe's faction before the first millennium, you will find a pagan northern Europe, the Magyar tribes in the east , Saxon kingdom in the British isles and the children of Charlemagne in Western and Central Europe
-Early Era; Basically the regular grand campaign with more factions, new factions not represented in the previous mods are Serbia, Bulgaria and Armenia(though it's represented in DLV)
-High Era; you will play with a faction after the 4th crusade, being the most interesting factions IMO the Latin Empire(crusade state founded after the capture of Constantinople, the byzantine empire and the quest to recapture the Golden Horn.
-Late Era; It gathers around the Sicilian Vespers,a rebellion that occured in sicily in the 14th century, Sicily is a good choice as faction to play, or Provence/Aragon and try to control Southern Italy
-Renaissance Era; As the name says, it takes place in the renaissance, Europe Faces the Ottoman Menace and the Rise of the Iberian Monarchies(Castille/Aragon), The hundred years war is no more, and great power in the east, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has risen.
Interesting Scenarios would be the attempt to make the Holy roman empire weaker in Italy as the French, the Unification of the two Hispanic kingdoms(Castille-Aragon) and the conquest of it's historical possessions, try to survive and restore the byzantine empire or destroy it once for all, or even the Latin empire playing as Achaea.


>Stainless Steel, a complete overhaul that adds various mechanics to to the game such as the Byg Grim's reality mod, useful for some roleplay, and recruitment based on eras. Also features a complete retexture of the factions and a new and better campaign map

>Eras Total Conquest: Unique mod, probably the only one on which you have the entire world map, it's also divide in campaigns you have to choose in the launcher
It features an AOR system that allows you to recruit other factions' units when you conquer their provinces, but the letdown is that there's almost no core units, so you can only recruit the native units (f.e in the world campaign if you play as spain you can't recruit musketeers in south america, only native troops), but apart some few inconveniences, it's a pretty solid mod. Has probably the most variety of factions, from Ireland to the Japanese shogunate and from Muscovy to the Khmer Empire, a lot of more which i'll let you discover by your own
-from 970 to 1500 is basically M2TW vanilla campaign map, new factions are Croatia, Sweden, Bosnia, and a whole bunch of swap factions
-India, europe and africa campaings, you will have the opportunity to play as either Despotate of Epirus or Empire in Nicaea in the first one, never seen this and one of the features that pleases me the most, also the Delhi dynasty and the african nation are interesting choices
-Europe, Asia and Africa, Play as the mongols in the 13th century and try to conquer the world or fight them as the Song or Jin dynasty, the other campaign is about the sucessor states of the Mongol Empire, that begins in the 1320s
-Whole world campaign: Begins in 1550. the spain have a shitload of colonies, same as portugal, feats the duchy of prussia and the austrian habsburgs, in the east there's the Ming, the Mughal Empire and Japan.


>Bellum Crucis: Another favorite, Bellum Crucis has some extraordinary game tweaks, and i'd say it probably hosts the best representation of a feudal europe among all mods,alongside with DLV, being the most notable features the council of nobles(you must gain and keep their support, if you don't you might expect unrest and a possibility of a civil war), the ability to change religion if you are excomunicated, getting techonolgy to unlock certain buildings or even spread unrest and plagues using agents. It has an unique unit roster and a solid AI


>Hyrule Total War:  What if Link never existed?  Essentially one very big piece of fanfiction that had a lot of work devoted to it. The modder is now working for Sony, go figure.

Download Core Files, Full Releases, and Patches.  Extract them all into the same folder.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?549472-Releases


For people who don't have Kingdoms:

The Long Road
Clouds under Heaven, being this one my favorite for vanilla M2TW, because you have Sweden, georgia, wallachia and more in the game, a superb mod if you are used to vanilla but tired of it


Historyfags bonus
1648, a mod about the thirty years' war. I advise to play as Sweden or the Utrecht Union(Netherlands) as first, because the game isn't that easy. it's unit roster is great and even features a marching drumming cadence. A new feature is probably small towns around the map, which have the same fucntion as stone forts but have the city's model to add immersion to the game.
The mod is in german, but there's an english translation for it.


>Good Mods for RTW

Europa Barbarorum – Immense historically accurate unit appearances and native language voiceacting.  Every end turn gives facts on what happened that year.  Moderately fast battles, slow game.  AUTISM
If you want to be able to train Polybian and Camillan units after the Marian reform and have Augustan reforms come easier, download this and replace.  Copyright IGdood
> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/13249028/EBBS_SCRIPT.TXT

How to install EB?
Install 1.1
Install 1.2
Download Jirisys' Megamod to make it work for Alexander.exe in order to utilize the better AI.

Do this fix to stop 99% of CTDs (Will also stop most CTDs for kingdoms.exe from M2, especially for Call of Warhammer)
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?103089-After-battle-CTD&p=1917393&viewfull=1#post1917393


If you're using Steam or Rome Total War Gold look here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=7180711#post7180711


Roma Surrectum – Lots of stacks, lots of carnage.
SPQR - Focused entirely on the Roman war machine, it provides one of the best battle AIs in a mod. Expect to fight 10 stacks a turn later on. VERY Slow battles, fast campaign.


Hellenic States Mod - Minor modification to vanilla RTW adding in some new units and a new faction.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=544325


Extended Cultures - Not as autistic as EB, keeps to the vanilla feel but makes it more historically accurate.


http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?1101-Extended-Cultures-%28XC%29


>Good Mods for ETW and NTW?
Unit mods from TWC , Darthmod.


Napoleon Darthmod makes the game as enjoyable as Empire (i.e. it doesn't feel like you're commanding toy soldiers who all fire at the same time and march in perfect squares and rectangles); makes morale more dynamic etc. etc.


However, it has Darth's boot logo, campaign menu sign and Darth Vader as an advisor.

Here's what you do to get rid of that:

1. Copy this to your Napoleon\Data and overwrite.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22299599/DMN_Boot.pack
2. Rename the extension of DMN_Logo_UI.pack.pak to .bak or simply delete the file.


Here's the "fix" to the Empire version of Darth

Make sure you get DME 8.0 (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=562420) and then update it to 8.01 newest beta (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=569761).

Now, replace your Data\Dme\Packs\Dme_CPUC.pack with the following one - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22299599/DME_CPUC.pack

Now place these two in Empire\Data\
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22299599/DME_boot.pack
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22299599/DME_Custom.pack

Re-launch with the launcher.
There is only one Darthmod logo left, it's on the campaign screen, but the shitty bg-video and star wars music is gone (along with the bootscreen).

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=12217768#post12217768

I also recommend this: download and overwrite the BSM addon in Data\Empire.

Keep BSM on in the launcher.


>Good Mods for S2TW?
Unit mods, maybe Darthmod?  Opinions divided.


Radious unit packs add a lot of units but some are weird like mounted katana ninjas.


Bayonet Mod adding in unused bayonet models to modernized rifle units.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?538081-Bayonets


Time Warp Mod for FoTS.  Ports over the Shogun 2 and RoTS units to FoTS campaign to give an edge to the traditional run through player.

http://www.mediafire.com/?b84kd3893i88eir


Ashigaru Slingers Mod
http://www.mediafire.com/?oiy75kokya81fd6


>S2TW has weird sound bugs, recommend you run Simphonia Semplice every time you remove/add a mod that deals with units.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=544459


>Experience and Total War.
Each chevron = 1 level.
In general, killing routing enemies nets less experience than killing them normally.  Killing elite units nets more experience than killing regulars.  Because the exp requirement is the same regardless of unit size, leveling is a lot faster on Ultra despite it going by a kill per man ratio.  Taking casualties also increases exp slowly.
Rome Total War
Each level -> +1 attack, +1 defense skill, +1 morale, +1 missile attack.  Missile units react faster when enemies come into range and fire faster and more accurately.
Experience is retained after retraining.  Occasionally it gets raised even more when merging understrength veterans.

Medieval 2 Total War
Attack +1 every 3 levels.  So going from nothing to bronze gives +1 attack, going from bronze to silver nets another attack.  Defense does not increase.  Morale and attack speed increase every level.  Missile units react faster when enemies come into range and fire faster and more accurately.
Experience is retained after retraining.  Occasionally it gets raised even more when merging understrength veterans.

Empire and Nappy Total War
Land Units – Every level -> 2 accuracy, +2 reload, +1 melee attack, +1 defense.  Every 2 levels -> +1 morale
Naval units – Every level -> +2 accuracy, + 2 reload skill.  Every 2 levels -> +1 morale

Shogun 2 (campaign, because multiplayer is different)
http://www.totalwars.ru/encyclopedia/how_to_play/031_enc_manual_army_experience.html

>How to mod the unit sizes to go beyond ultra. Really easy, here's how to do it. (Works only for warscape engine games)

First enable view hidden folders.

Then go here.

C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Empire\scripts

Edit preferences.

Look for this:

campaign_unit_multiplier

Change the number next to it to whatever you want.
** Yari Wall from S2 breaks down at over 400 men.


>Difficulty
Total War has 2 different difficulties for the campaign and for battles.  Increasing campaign difficulty gives the AI more money, less penalties that cause rebellion, and they can spawn units in the fog of war.   Increasing battle difficulty gives enemy units crazy stat bonuses and on Very Hard even peasants can beat your knights.


>Total War Mechanics?  How do I what?
When you pause the game and double click the unit card in the UI, a big info panel will pop up.
It’ll tell you things about stats, so let’s look at some basics.

>Attack – Generally tells you how good a unit is at killing things.   In warscape engine games such as ETW this is called Melee Skill.  Ranged units also have a separate value called Missile Attack.
*Attacks that are effective against armor just means that half of the victim’s armor is negated.  This trait is useless against enemies with high defense skill/shield values and low armor values.
*If a unit has 2 melee weapons (pikemen with pike and sword), this number is that of the primary weapon (pike), not the sword.  This does not apply in the warscape engine.
** In RTW, Attack is actually used to calculate the likelihood a strike will hit an enemy.  Lethality (a hidden value) determines whether that blow is a killing blow.
>Defense – Generally speaking, this tells how good a unit is at surviving against ranged attacks and melee attacks.  It is calculated against attack values.  This is split into 3 separate values:
1.       Defense Skill – This applies only to MELEE attacks from the FRONT.  This is summarized as a unit’s ability to dodge and parry.
2.      Shield – This applies MELEE and RANGED attacks from the FRONT and LEFT of a man.   Left-handed people do not exist in total war.   Summarized as a unit’s shield quality and ability to use a shield.  **in M2 shield only applies from FRONT.
3.      Armor – This applies to MELEE and RANGED attacks from ALL sides.  Note:  Armor  also increases heat fatigue, so upgrading your units’ armor will make them tire out more easily in desert areas.  Still worth it.
**Surprisingly enough, Shield and Armor values exist in ETW and NTW, though they are all summed up with defense skill as “Melee Defense”.  DLC units tend to not die so easily because they have shield bonuses assigned to them.   S2TW differentiates between defense skill and armor.


>Morale – This is a unit’s tendency to not run the fuck out of there when things are going poorly.  Pre-warscape games do not display an exact numerical value (it’s in the game files)  By meaning of going poorly, these things decrease morale:
-       Being in combat
-       Being attacked from flank or rear
-       Getting shot  (Friendly fire inflicts a bigger penalty, but AI in ETW and NTW do not suffer from friendly fire)
-       30% casualties
-       70% casualties  (stacks with above)
-       Frightening units/weapons (gunpowder, though guns don’t do additional morale penalties in ETW/NTW)
-       General is killed
-       Army has lost combat (in other words, 80% of army is dead)
-       Bad general traits
These things increase morale:
-       Friendly units nearby
-       Inspiring elite units
-       General nearby
-       Charging


>Unit Mass
This is a value that I believe doesn’t exist in the warscape engine, where you sometimes see 100 men standing on one square inch of ground.
Unit mass applies when two units are fighting each other and one side starts to back up slowly because they’re lighter.  It’s an important factor to consider when you’re deciding on what units would hold a solid line and what units are good in punching through a line.  It might also factor in charging.
>Charge
The charge bonus is a number applied to attack when a unit is charging.
It is a ONE-TIME attack bonus that happens during a charge.  If the charge is done poorly where only a few men make contact then essentially you just wasted a charge.  This is why I prefer upgrading melee attack instead of charge in S2TW because I tend to have boneheaded moments.
**In warscape engine, units that are charged from the front while in “ready” status will use their defense skill to negate a charging enemy’s attack. I think it’s a direct subtraction, but don’t think too much on it.  Therefore, yari ashigaru should NEVER counter-charge.  They should stay still and brace for charges, so while they’ll still get fucked if No-dachi charge them, they would fare better standing and ready tan if they were also charging.
>Unit Spacing
This value shows how far apart each man stands from each other in a unit.  Generally a loose spacing provides better protection from missiles because of a scatter effect, but this allows enemy cavalry to easily push through.  Also, men that are spaced far apart are generally crappier at covering each other’s backs even in a general melee.
**Unit spacing actually plays an effect in the warscape engine.  Even though the animations show 1 vs 1 duels, nearby men are actually calculated in the killing.


>What is Guard mode?
1. Units attack less often, meaning they kill less but have a higher chance to block. ALso tire out slower.
2. Units don't pursue fleeing enemies
3. Ranged units will keep shooting if caught in melee.
4. Units that see flanking enemies will turn to face them
5. Units will attempt to hold formation.

**M2 only, for Spear Wall users, guard mode off means they begin stabbing the next fucker in front of them instead of lying there with a pike angled up while enemies run between them and hack away.
In the warscape engine #1 and 4 do not apply anymore.
>Why do my units randomly charge?
1.       Some units may charge without orders if they’re the undisciplined kind.
2.      Did you group units and did group charge?  If so, each unit will run forward and then autocharge the closest enemy.

>What does increasing difficulty do?
More penalties for the player, you’ll face more rebellions and your agents are more prone to failure.  Diplomacy becomes impossible.
AI cheats, receiving much more gold than you ever will and their units receive stat gains to the point where their peasants fight as well as knights can in the highest difficulties.  It does NOT get smarter.


>I’m new because I’m from /gsg.  Nah kidding I’m just a bonehead, how do I into combat?
GENERAL ADVICE
Use the pause button.
Read the fucking manual.
M merges understrength units together on the campaign map.  Warscape it’s Alt+M
A battle is divided into 3 phases.
1.       Deployment – This is where you set up a formation that you’ll be pretty much using for the rest of the game.  Now is a good time to take a good note of the terrain.  Can you spring an ambush from the woods?  Will the enemy have hills that it can camp on?  Are there river crossings besides that bridge that need to be defended?
2.      Skirmish – If both armies have plenty of ranged units, this is the time when the melee units are advancing to meet each other and the ranged units are shooting at each other.  At this time the cavalry may be fighting each other for flanking dominance or just generally screening the ranged units.  You may also send cavalry/fast infantry into flanking positions at this point.
3.      Clash – Your infantry have met, your cavalry might still be fighting against theirs, and now it’s time to figure out how you’re going to win.  Your infantry may be buying time if they’re inferior, or they may be doing the winning.  If you had the advantage in the skirmish phase, position your ranged units at the flanks so they can shoot into the enemy’s sides.  If your cavalry are available and they’re not the shitty kind, hammer the enemy’s rear with them.
4.      Rout – Your infantry have won the day and the enemy are running.  This is where you kill the fuck out of the enemy troops that are routing.  Cavalry are suitable for this task because of their speed.  Routing troops die very easily so it’s best to target elites just so they don’t live to fight you another day.  If it’s your troops that are routing, withdraw everyone who is remaining so they don’t suffer further casualties.


SOME HOTKEYS THAT MAY BE HELPFUL

>General Hotkeys

Left click to select, right click to give order.

ctrl+click selects more than one unit. ctrl+a selects entire army.

Shift+right click allows you to give multiple orders. Eg run here, then run there, then charge this. Just hold shift down and click "here" then "there" and then the enemy. If you've done it right you'll get a big red arrow pointing to where they're going.

Hold space to show where units are marching to and what formation they'll be in when they arrive.  (Warscape engine games automatically does this without needing to Hold Space)

Enter deselects everything.

G  groups multiple units.

Right click+drag allows you to choose how wide the unit will be and what direction it faces when it arrives at that point.
>when done to a grouped formation they will stay in formation and you can only choose direction. Ungrouped formations will form a line and you decide how long it is.


>CTRL M Select all missle
>CTRL C select all cavalry
>CTRL I select all melee Infantry
>CTRL B select all artillery
>CTRL A select all all units
>CTRL D disbands all units selected on the campaign map

>Pre-Warscape
alt+right click to melee if the unit is a ranged one.

eg Hastati will throw a javeline before charging. Alt+click and they will just charge.

F to enable/disable special abilities like fire arrows.

>Warscape
Pressing F turns on melee mode.

Special abilities have their own hotkeys but generally you can see several icons of them on the UI.


>GENERAL BATTLE TACTICS
Cavalry do poorly in forests, and units receive less damage from ranged attacks when in forests.
Units can usually hide in a forest, and cannot be targeted (but the cheating AI knows they’re there!).
When outnumbering an enemy, hit them from the sides and rear whenever possible.
Spears beat Cavalry beat Swords beat Spears, GENERALLY.  Missile beats most at range, but dies in melee.
HAMMER AND ANVIL – Infantry pins everyone else down and your cavalry/ranged units smash their asses.  Works most of the time assuming you have cavalry or some sort of hard hitting infantry.

>ROME Tips
Turn on guard mode, and then let your infantry stand there.  Don’t give them commands, just let them get charged.  Watch as they fight back but never get tired while the enemy gets killed.
When playing as a Roman faction, conquering the destined territories of the other factions usually fucks up their plans so they never amount to much when the dreaded civil war comes.
>Medieval 2 Tips
Hammer and Anvil are pretty much how you’ll win your battles in M2.  Cavalry charges are extremely powerful even by shit tier cavalry as long as you line them up with their victims.  Spearmen are a counter but even they will take heavy casualties.


>Gunpowder Game Tips
It’s pretty unnerving for people used to melee battles when the gun games pretty much involve shooting only.
Watch for inclines in the terrain. Zoom in periodically to see if a slight mound of earth is blocking line of sight (and bullets!).
Hammer and Anvil does exist, but there’s a new factor: Artillery.  Howitzers are short ranged but can fire over lines of men, so you can position them safely behind the troops.  Cannons cannot, and so you must place them within your lines or on raised terrain somewhere.
Cavalry should only attack from the side or rear, and expect heavy casualties for them if you make even the slightest mistake.
It’s best to let the men pick their own targets, especially in Empire where the units will not fire until every man in the unit is in formation.  Just let them stand still and let the enemy come to them, where they will usually get the first shots off.


>Shogun 2 Game Tips
Rock paper scissors system means yari beats cavalry beats sword GUARANTEED no matter what.
Ashigaru are your bread and butter, don’t waste too much money on samurai.  Yari wall whenever in combat.
Agents are a lot more useful now than in past games.  Use them in conjunction with armies if you can afford them.


>I'm getting spread thin.  What do?

It doesn't matter who you really play as so long as after you take 3-5 initial provinces you sit back, take a breather, and pump up your economy. You should have 1-2 production provinces to make your armies, preferably they have some other resource building like pastures for cavalry or a blacksmith for infantry. The other provinces should be economically focused, good farms, inns and marketplaces. Garrisons are overrated.  Try to not fight a war on two fronts. Keep two main armies once you have a handfull of provinces under control, using Garrisons only to keep public order, build happiness buildings where needed to reduce your garrison need and get some more income. Defense should be handled by your second army, and eventually a tertiary or quaternary army.

FOCUS ON CIVIL TECHS DAMMIT.  Ashigaru alone can hold off siege assaults very well.


>EMPIRE TOTAL WAR TIPS

Here's a sort of entertaining tidbit from PortugueseBro.

Empire is the black sheep of the Total War family but, in my opinion is also the most complex of the lot.

Don't listen to the fools saying that Empire is just moving your men onto a line and keeping them there. These people are not true understanders of strategy. Moving into a line is of course what you always do, in all of the Total Wars.

But in Empire you have so much more. You have Grenadiers. You have Cavalry. You have artillery. You have GreenJackets and Chasseurs.

Lets start with the economy. In Empire you have trade theaters. There are 4 in total. The Coast of Brazil, where you get sugar, the West Coast of Africa and the East Coast of Africa, where you get Ivory. Then you have the Indian Isles where you get spices.

These nodes are very important. It's where you'll get most of your money from in the beginning. Get three trade partners and rake in the cash, build up your economy and don't forget to protect those nodes. Pirates and Enemy nations (these, only some times) will attempt to take those ships, so keep a fleet close to your Galleons or Trade Ships.

Naval combat in Empire is hard to understand at first, but like 18th century warfare, easy to get into after that first contact. Remember to have the wind blowing from your back so you have more movement, don't fire salvos unless you are really close to the enemy ship and choose your shot accordingly.

This means that if you're behind the enemy ship you should use chainshot or regular round shot to cause a morale drop. Don't use chainshot from the sides, as it will be less effective than from the back.

Grape shot should only be usefd when you're close to the enemy and want to demoralize them before boarding.

Your Admiral should be kept safe at all times. Losing him will cause severe damage to your units morale and likewise to the enemy if you manage to kill him.

Also be ready to have your ships take a beating. Tis hard to see your sailors take damage, but that is to be expected.

Let's move into land combat. Your standard army will have linemen, brave men who are expected to get shot at, blasted and bayoneted and hold the goddamn line. These guys will stay with you for a long time in any given campaign and you should take care to respect them. They can take cavalary charges and keep on fighting and later, when they have bayonets and know how to form a square, can even kill whole units of them.

They are not expected to move into melee unless they really need to. They aren't very good melee fighter but they can get the job done against skirmishers or other linemen, but not against specialized units such as Janissaries or Cheroke warriors.

When you start the game, most won't even have bayonets and when they first arrive they make you lose the ability to fire their guns. After that though, they get ring bayonets and socket bayonets, meaning they now have a pike and a gun. Still, don't throw them against melee infantry unless it is absolutely necessary.

You also have artillery, the mistress of the field. These guns are your trump card and they can break an army when used properly. You have several ways of using them in battle. You can put them in your line, as shown on the screenshot, where they will prove to be good against infantry and cavalry by the use of grape shot, which absolutely destroyes everything, as it acts like an oversized shotgun.

Be aware that the enemy might be able to rush it with cavalry or tough units, making a big hole in your line and turning your cannons into useless shotguns.

Personally, I prefer to deploy them behind my units. They're protected there and they can lob roundshot over your line into a confused enemy mass, continously damaging their morale and making them regret ever attacking you. The problem with this strategy is that you lose the opportunity to use grape shot and you can only fire at the enemy for so long, as after they reach your lines you can no longer fire because you would hit your units.

Disregard that last part if your name is Edward Longshanks.

Now, with your linemen holding the line and your artillery positioned so you can attack the enemy we come into specialized units, like the Grenadiers.

The Grenadiers are big strong men who don't need no general. They have great morale, they can use their guns and they have the brawn to stand up and fight the enemy in melee. In vanilla Empire they even have grenades!

You should put them either at your flanks to hold off the enemy or in the middle to take the brunt of the enemy attack.

However, they have less men than a standard unit of Linemen, so don't waste them in a prolonged fight against a unit of them. Use them to charge the enemy line and create confusion in the enemies ranks or to counter an enemy melee unit like shown on the screenshot here.


The we have skirmishers. These can be Fusiliers, Chasseurs, Caçadores, Tiradores, Greenjackets, etc.

They have more range than your linemen and should fight on loose formation, to screen the enemy lines shooting at the enemy line with impunity and raking in the kills. As battles goes on, they should move into the flanks and get the enemy while your line attacks.

They are weak against cavalry, so take care of them and keep them properly protected from them with your own cavalry or Grenadiers.

They have great accuracy and the time they take to reload varies from faction to faction, but I think that they usually take more time to reload than other units.

Just keep them out of melee or linemen, leep them focused on the flanks of the enemy or other skirmishers.

And finally, Cavalry. These are not the rape trains from Medieval 2, Rome or Shogun 2, but that doesn't mean they are weaklings or poor units. These are the troops responsible for breaking the enemy, taking care of skirmishers and enemy artillery.

Use them to protect your flanks from enemy cavalry if they can. This means, don't use a unit of Hussars to take care of a Regiment of Horse, as they'll get destroyed because they are light cavalry.

Use them to flank the enemy and destroy the enemy artillery or, in a prolonged battle, to take care of an unit of linemen if they have their sweet, tender asses showing.

Be wary of squares of infantry as these will completely destroy your anus. Also use them to run down the enemy when they start to run from the fight, as they can reform if you don't take care.

Never charge a unit, unless they are skirmishers and even then, from the front and never charge into your units. You'll take losses and a morale hit, making it a no-no.

Now for the Overworld map. You have three major theater where you can act. The Americas, Europe and India. Europe is the standard old continent, cities are developed and you have some things that you can build up, such as factories and in the Ottoman territory, cotton to sell and trade.

In America you have tobacco plantations and Gem mines, making it also a reach territory to conquer, build up and get money. However, you have Spain, Holland, France and a couple of other major factions to contend and fight for territory, making it bad for your diplomacy.

In India you have the Marathas and Mughals. You also have tea. Lots and lots of tea to get and trade. You won't step in any major nations toes if you play it right and can take a big chink of territory before the British or the Netherlands decide to fuck with you. By this time however, you should have a pretty strong economy and can hold against them, or at least pay them to go take a hike.


Now, each territory you take has a capital which has to be managed. Each territory has a couple of towns that can be developed and it falls to you to decide how to develop a province.

For example, if you take a region fromt he ottomans you should probably build a church in a town so you can get a priest. You then move that priest into another province so he can convert the populace to your religion, while the church converts the populace from the province where it was built.

After a region is completely converted and there is no more religious unrest, which you can check by clicking the capital of the province, you should tear down the church or move the priest. If you tear down the church the populace will get a bit sad, but fuck them. Build a unit of milicia and use the town to either build a factory or a school, as these are more useful for the future.

Speaking of schools, these are where you research new technologies. They also spawn gentlemen, who should be used to speed up research.

You do this by placing them in schools you own.


You have three branches to research. Military, Industrial and Civil. These are useful as they give you bonuses, allow you to recruit new troops, use new weapons, etc. What you research is your choice, but I encourage you to research bayonets first, as they give you a real edge in combat and make your linemen, as stated above, capable of melee fighting well enough to not immediatly die.

And finally, taking cities.

Picture this, Imperator. You have just taken the enemies Capital, Istanbul. You are of course, white and civilized. But the populace of Istanbul is not. They are unwashed, are pissed at you for taking the capital and to make matter worse, they are Muslim!

You'll have revolts when taking capitals. Be prepared for this. After three turns a rebellion will spawn and they can keep your army tied down for quite some time, so http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0AiN8vrn9Y [Embed]

Each time you quell a rebellion, the resistance to occupation will go down. Time also makes it go down each turn and having a priest (if they are from another religion) will also help you taking over the region. Meanwhile you'll just have deal with it and keep the region.

Lastly, I want to talk to you about Diplomacy.

The AI is retarded, so you'll have to plan accordingly. Always try not to be a dick. Don't break alliances when you can, don't ask for a peace treaty and immediatly break it the next turn, keep trading with the same factions and try to limit your assassinations.

If relations are going down, consider giving the faction a bit of cash, a technology or a gift. These will keep them happy with you and make them not to attack you.

If they go to war and you are able to, join the war against the enemy faction, lest you get the unreliable Ally trait.

Consider making buffer states, giving regions to a no name faction so that you have a buffer against other factions, so that if shit hits the fan, you at least don't get immediatly swarmed by enemy stacks.

Use your navy! You can completely block the mediterrainean by putting a navy near spain. Don't think that the sea isn't important, because it fucking is. Attack trade lanes and get a bit of cash.

Also, the AI knows. If they see you taking all of the Ottoman Empire and removing the Kebab from the world, don't be surprised when Persia declares war on you. If you were Persia and suddenly Russia destroyed the Ottomans and were now eyeing your beautiful muslims, wouldn't you declare war to get them off there?

Be aware that you take a hit to relations each turn if your king, for example, is a Retard (Charles 2). If your religion and government is different , you'll also take a hit to relations. Sometimes there will also be a war of sucession. Nothing you can do about this, you just have to tough it out.

In short, don't be a dick and most nations won't declare war on you just because. We'll I guess I'm done.