Sega PC GAMES MEDIEVAL: TOTAL WAR User Manual
1
CONTENTS
Welcome to
Medieval: Total War™
…………………………………………………4
Installing the Game……………………………………………………………………5
Installation ……………………………………………………………………5
Your CD Key ………………………………………………………………………5
Starting Play: The Main Menu ………………………………………………………6
The Options Menu…………………………………………………………………7
The Campaign Game …………………………………………………………………9
Quick Start ……………………………………………………………………9
The Campaign Tutorial ……………………………………………………10
The Campaign Map Screen ……………………………………………………10
Changing Your View of the Campaign Map ………………………………12
Getting More Information on the Campaign Map ………………………12
Quickly Managing Your Faction ……………………………………………12
Moving Units on the Campaign Map………………………………………13
A Game Year …………………………………………………………………14
The Tour………………………………………………………………………14
The In-Game Menu …………………………………………………………14
Factions …………………………………………………………………………15
Faction Leaders ……………………………………………………………15
Heirs: Princes and Generals ………………………………………………17
The Rest of the Family: Princesses ………………………………………18
The Death of Kings …………………………………………………………18
Provinces …………………………………………………………………………19
Resources ……………………………………………………………………20
Tax and Income ……………………………………………………………20
Improving Provinces…………………………………………………………21
Trade Routes…………………………………………………………………22
Loyalty and Revolts ……………………………………………………………22
Provincial Loyalty Ratings …………………………………………………22
Changing Loyalty ……………………………………………………………23
Revolts ………………………………………………………………………24
Provincial Titles …………………………………………………………………24
Offices of State………………………………………………………………25
Armies & Generals ………………………………………………………………25
Training Units ………………………………………………………………25
Generals………………………………………………………………………27
Vices and Virtues ……………………………………………………………28
Who’s in Command? ………………………………………………………28
Armies and the Review Panel………………………………………………28
Merging Units ………………………………………………………………29
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Re-organising Armies ………………………………………………………30
Retraining and Re-equipping Military Units ……………………………30
Castles and Garrisons ………………………………………………………30
Sieges…………………………………………………………………………31
Bribes…………………………………………………………………………31
Battles in the Campaign Game ……………………………………………32
After a Battle and Retreats…………………………………………………32
Baronial Revolts and Civil Wars ……………………………………………33
Fleets ……………………………………………………………………………33
Buildings and the Technology Tree ……………………………………………34
Buildings and the Review Panel …………………………………………35
Constructing Buildings ……………………………………………………35
Castles and the Battle System ……………………………………………37
Destroying Buildings ………………………………………………………37
Strategic Agents …………………………………………………………………37
Emissaries ……………………………………………………………………38
Princesses ……………………………………………………………………38
Spies …………………………………………………………………………39
Assassins ……………………………………………………………………39
Religious Agents ……………………………………………………………40
Religion …………………………………………………………………………40
Generals: Piety ………………………………………………………………41
Provinces: Faith and Zeal …………………………………………………41
Religious Buildings …………………………………………………………41
Catholic Excommunication …………………………………………………41
Heretics ………………………………………………………………………42
Crusades ……………………………………………………………………42
Jihads…………………………………………………………………………42
Information Buttons and Parchments …………………………………………43
Battles ………………………………………………………………………………44
The Battle Tutorials …………………………………………………………45
Before a Battle …………………………………………………………………45
Weather and Climate ………………………………………………………45
The Battle Screen …………………………………………………………46
The Battlefield Camera ……………………………………………………46
The Mini-Map Display ………………………………………………………47
Army Formation ……………………………………………………………47
Basic Battle Controls ……………………………………………………………48
Unit Information Panels ……………………………………………………48
Unit Menus …………………………………………………………………49
Tool Tips and Unit Reports …………………………………………………50
Command Buttons …………………………………………………………50
Changing a Unit’s Formation ………………………………………………51
Unit Facing …………………………………………………………………51
Generals in Battle …………………………………………………………52
Other Basic Controls ………………………………………………………52
The Art of Command ……………………………………………………………52
Alternate Attacks ……………………………………………………………52
Withdrawing from Combat …………………………………………………53
Route Marches and Waypoints ……………………………………………53
Selecting Multiple Units ……………………………………………………53
Grouping ……………………………………………………………………54
Group formations ……………………………………………………………54
Advanced Generalship …………………………………………………………55
Artillery ………………………………………………………………………55
Reinforcements………………………………………………………………56
Reinforcements Before a Battle……………………………………………56
Prisoners ……………………………………………………………………56
Royalty in Battle ……………………………………………………………57
Sieges, Castles and Buildings …………………………………………………57
Custom Battles …………………………………………………………………58
Select Era ……………………………………………………………………58
Select Factions ………………………………………………………………58
Battlefield Conditions ………………………………………………………59
Buying Your Forces …………………………………………………………59
Historical Battles and Campaigns …………………………………………………60
Historical Battles ……………………………………………………………61
Historical Campaigns ………………………………………………………61
Multiplayer Games …………………………………………………………………62
Play On GameSpy ………………………………………………………………63
Chat Rooms …………………………………………………………………63
Internet Games ………………………………………………………………63
Check GameSpy for
Medieval: Total War
Updates ………………………64
Log Off ………………………………………………………………………64
Register On GameSpy ………………………………………………………64
LAN Game ………………………………………………………………………64
Host Game Options …………………………………………………………64
Join Game Options …………………………………………………………65
Multiplayer Lobby……………………………………………………………65
Customise LAN Armies …………………………………………………………66
Medieval: Total War
Website ……………………………………………………66
Medieval: Total War
News Server ………………………………………………66
Appendix 1: Units……………………………………………………………………67
Spearmen ……………………………………………………………………67
Missile ………………………………………………………………………67
Skirmishers …………………………………………………………………67
Infantry ………………………………………………………………………67
Heavy Infantry ………………………………………………………………67
Peasants ……………………………………………………………………67
Heavy Cavalry ………………………………………………………………68
Light Cavalry …………………………………………………………………68
Horse Archers ………………………………………………………………68
Artillery ………………………………………………………………………68
Gunpowder …………………………………………………………………68
Appendix 2: Controls & Keys ………………………………………………………69
Hints and Tips ………………………………………………………………………70
Credits ………………………………………………………………………………73
Limited Warranty ……………………………………………………………………75
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INSTALLING THE GAME
Please make sure your PC has the minimum specification listed on the outside of the
packaging.
Medieval: Total War
has been programmed to run on as many PCs as possible,
but it cannot run on a machine with less than the minimum system requirements.
• Your PC should be 100% Windows-compatible, and be using Windows 98 or later (Windows
98, 2000, ME or XP).
Medieval: Total War
will not work with Windows 3.1, 95 or any other
operating system. The game also requires that you have DirectX 8.1 or later and DirectXcompatible drivers for your sound card, video card and any other peripheral devices you use.
• You will need 1700Mb of free hard disk space for a full install of
Medieval: Total War
.
You may find that running a disk defragmenter on your hard disk before installation will
free some space and speed up your machine slightly.
• Before installing
Medieval: Total War
make sure that all other applications are closed.
• Make sure that Virtual Memory is enabled (if you’ve turned if off in the past). Right click on
the
My Computer
icon on your desktop and select
Properties
. Select the
Performance
tab, and
then click on the
Virtual Memory
button. Make sure that the
Disable
check box is empty. On
Windows XP computers,
Virtual Memory
is handled by the operating system, but if you have
changed the settings to turn it off you’ll need to allocate some disk space to VM once more.
INSTALLATION
• Insert the first
Medieval: Total War
CD in a CD or DVD drive in your PC. The set up
program will start. If you have disabled Autoplay double-click on My Computer on the
desktop and then double-click the CD drive containing the
Medieval: Total War
CD.
• Click the Install button on the title screen to begin the set up process.
• Follow the on-screen instructions that will guide you through the remainder of the installation.
• The set up routine will install DirectX 8.1 if it is not already installed on your system.
Should there be any problems with running the game, the most likely cause will be incompatible
or old sound and/or video drivers. Check out manufacturers’ websites for the latest drivers.
YOUR CD KEY
Your copy of
Medieval: Total War
was shipped with a unique CD key. When attempting to play
a multiplayer game on GameSpy you will be asked for this key code. When asked for the code,
please enter it exactly as it appears on the CD key card included in the package, otherwise the
multiplayer game will not launch. Your key is unique to you. Don’t let anyone else use it.
You will need to insert the
Medieval: Total War
CD when
requested to play the game.
4
WELCOME TO MEDIEVAL: TOTAL WAR
™
Medieval: Total War
is a game of empire building and epic real time battles set in the
Middle Ages, a period of some 400 years when Europe, the lands around the Mediterranean
and the Middle East were in a state of constant upheaval. This period – starting in 1087
and finishing in 1453 – is the time of Crusaders and Saracens, the Hundred Years War, the
Holy Roman Emperors, heresy and inquisitions, the
Reconquista
in Spain, Teutonic Knights
and boyars, the rise of a new, Turkish Empire and the final fall of Constantinople… It is a
time of intense competition between the kings, princes, religions, new nations and radical
new ideas that were to make Europe the cockpit of the world.
The game gives you the chance to experience the Middle Ages in all their bloody
magnificence, to command medieval armies of knights, men-at-arms, archers and peasants
and make your people the new masters of Europe. The successful game ‘split’ first seen in
Shogun: Total War™
between a turn-based strategy element and a real-time battle system
has been kept and enhanced for
Medieval: Total War
. There are more than 100 different
types of soldiers available for the epic battles that can feature more than 10,000 men in a
single battle.
Medieval: Total War
adds new levels of depth, accessibility, gameplay and strategy. In the
game, you control one of twelve aspiring nations as they fight for control through a
fascinating mixture of war, trade, diplomacy, dynastic entanglements and good oldfashioned dirty tricks! You’ll have to think in medieval terms about warfare, about
positioning your royal family through marriage and alliances, about keeping your peasants
profitably content, and about how to do down your rivals.
The strategic part of the game puts you in charge of the fate of a
faction
– an emerging
people or nation – the English, the Germans, the Egyptians, etc. on the world stage. Here,
you can plan your grand campaign to take over Europe and the Mediterranean world, build
castles, recruit armies and manage the diplomatic and dynastic affairs of a royal house. In
addition to armies, you’ll have spies, emissaries, holy men, and other agents to help you
bring your schemes of domination to a successful and triumphant conclusion.
You’ll also have the chance to command your armies in the heat of battle as it took place in
medieval Europe – bloody, glorious and chivalrous (but only to a point). As you lead your men
they’ll gain
valour
and skill at arms, and be better warriors as a result. Their desire to fight
under your command makes the difference between creating a powerful, all-conquering
faction, or of seeing your people live under new feudal masters, your once-loyal followers no
better than leaderless rebels!
If you’ve played
Shogun: Total War
, then be prepared for a few surprises.
Medieval: Total War
might look like its cousin, but it does seemingly familiar things in new and exciting ways.
Strategies and tactics that worked in
Shogun: Total War
can sometimes lead to defeat here.
Take a few minutes to learn the differences between the two games, and you’ll soon be
grinding Europe beneath your armoured heel! If you haven’t played
Shogun: Total War
, then
prepare for the experience that is Total War!
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Battle Tutorial: The battle tutorials introduce the concepts of battlefield command and give
you the chance to practice crushing your enemies. If you’re having difficulty playing the
game, then we recommend you play through these battles at least once.
Options: Allows you to adjust video, audio, performance, controls and game settings. This is
discussed in more detail in the next section of the manual.
Quit: Return to Windows. Remember to save your current game before quitting – unless
you’re running from your enemies like a whipped cur, of course!
Menu options that are unavailable will be greyed out.
THE OPTIONS MENU
The options menu allows you to alter the behaviour of the game to suit your PC. The
selections on this screen are:
Video: Change the video card (if you have more than one), alter screen resolutions for the
campaign and battle maps and change the gamma correction (brightness) of the screen.
Click on the relevant slider to change a setting.
The
Test Display Mode
option at the bottom allows you to check that your video card and
drivers will cope with any changes you make.
Audio: Change the separate volume settings of the music and sound effects, and change
the overall audio quality, by clicking-and-dragging the relevant slider. You can also mute the
volume (which is very useful if you’re conquering Europe when you should be doing a
spreadsheet for the boss!).
Performance: These options apply to battles. Click on the relevant boxes to turn on/off
smoke and fauna on the battlefield. Turning off these effects will make the game run
slightly faster, but you’ll miss seeing crows circling over the dead!
Click-and-drag the slider to change the number of men in a unit. Changing from the default
size of ‘small’ to ‘huge’ will double the number of men in a unit. Medium increases the
number of men by a third, and large by two-thirds.
Controls: These sub-options allow you to change the way you control the game in battles:
• Click on
Mouselook
and
Mousemove
to turn these features on/off.
• Click-and-drag the relevant sliders to change the camera rotation and movement speeds
in battle.
• Assign keys allows you to change the key assignment for any battle command. Click on
the command you want to change, and then press the key(s) you want to use for that
particular command. You can also reset the commands to their default values. You’ll find
a complete list of the key commands in Appendix 3 of this manual.
6
STARTING PLAY: THE MAIN MENU
Once the introductory movie has finished, you’ll be presented with the Main Menu screen.
The options on this menu allow you to choose the game you want to play, adjust settings
and even create your own battle maps. If you haven’t played this game before, we
recommend starting with the tutorials. The menu options are:
Quick Battle: Get straight into the game and fight an instant battle. Your forces and the field
of battle are chosen for you, and it’s up to you to lead your men to victory!
Single Player: Begin a new game of
Medieval: Total War
. You’ll then be given the option of
choosing the style of game you want to play. This option brings up a new parchment. Click
on the option that you want to play:
• New Campaign: Start a new game, ruling your faction in the strategic campaign game and
then using the battle system to resolve conflicts. Use the main menu Load Game option (see
below) to return to an earlier game. See the
Campaign Game
section (later) for full details.
• Load Game: Load a previously saved campaign game. We recommend that you save your
game whenever you take a break from the demands of ruling a kingdom to do mundane
everyday stuff, like work, sleep or eat...
• Custom Battle: This option allows you to fight a one-off battle. Set a budget, buy up
enough soldiers for two armies, and go to it on the battlefield of your choice! This is a
great way of perfecting your grasp of battlefield tactics. See the
Custom Battles
section
for more details.
• Historical Battles: Fight one of the standalone battles based on a famous historical event.
These set piece ‘missions’ give you the chance to change history or do better than the
original commanders. See the
Historical Battles
section for full details, and you can visit
the website to download more historical battles.
• Historical Campaigns: Fight through a series of battles covering the career of a great
leader, or fight the key engagements of an important campaign. See the
Historical
Campaigns
section for complete instructions.
• View Replays: The Battle system allows you to save a record of the action. Here, you can
watch re-runs of your greatest triumphs or, should the medieval idea of (virtual)
flagellation appeal, your greatest defeats!
• Map Editor: This allows you to use one of the game creation tools to create your own
battlefields. We suggest that you look at the Map Editor README.TXT file for full details
of how the editor works before attempting to use it.
If you decide you don’t want to do any of these, click on the back arrow in the bottom left
hand corner of the parchment. This ‘go back’ option is standard on menu screens.
Multiplayer: Search for servers/hosts or act as one for a multiplayer game of
Medieval: Total
War
. This allows you to play against other human opponents over a LAN or the Internet
providing you have a suitable network connection. Multiplayer games are covered in further
in their own section of this manual.
Campaign Tutorial: This is a guided tutorial through the full campaign game. We recommend
that you play through the tutorial to get a feel for the gameplay.
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THE CAMPAIGN GAME
Selecting Single Player from the Main Menu and then Full Campaign starts a new campaign
game, your chance to lead a faction to greatness as you conquer Europe. Before you can
start, you’ll need to select a few options about your game:
Difficulty: You’ll next be asked to select the difficulty setting for your game. Click on the
setting you want, which applies to all parts of the game – expect enemies to be very smart
and tough on
Hard
and
Expert
settings, and rebellions to be more likely.
Campaign Selection: This allows you to choose the starting date for your campaign to
conquer Europe: the
Early, High
or
Late
medieval periods. Click on the period you want.
These are the years 1087, 1205 and 1321. You’ll notice that the map of Europe changes
to show the distribution of territory at each date. There’s also an overview of the period to
give you an idea of the situation. In later periods Europe is more developed, but there’s less
time to make your ultimate grab for power!
In each case the game ends in 1453, and that’s the date at which victory or defeat will
be judged.
You can also choose how you want to win the game here:
• Domination: You need to conquer two-thirds of the provinces in the game.
• Glorious achievements: You don’t have to be a conqueror, although it will help! Instead,
your victory is measured against the historical achievements of your chosen faction. For
example, playing as the Germans of the Holy Roman Empire you’ll be expected to keep
control of what was Imperial territory, take some land from your neighbours and dominate
the trade of northern Europe and the Baltic.
Click on
Continue
to confirm your choices.
Faction Selection: There are 12 playable factions in
Medieval: Total War
. Left click on a
faction’s name to see the provinces it controls and read a brief description of its strengths
and prospects. The factions are not identical by any measure, but each faction’s ratio of
resources to threats and opportunities is about the same: if a faction has many provinces
and armies, it faces many threats and has many opportunities for glory!
Click on
Continue
to confirm your choice and begin the game.
As before, click on the ‘go back’ arrow at the bottom of any dialogue panel or parchment to
return to previous options.
QUICK START
If you want to get started quickly, play the
Campaign Tutorial
, the
Battle Tutorial
and then
start a full campaign at easy difficulty as the English in 1087.
Europe awaits your conqueror’s tread…
We also recommend that you automate many strategy
game elements and concentrate on the military
aspects of play. This can be done at any time during
play by opening the automation panel next to the
campaign mini-map (this is all explained shortly).
8
Game: This sub-menu allows you to alter some aspects of the battle game interface and
gameplay.
• Click the relevant tick boxes to turn on/off the relevant feature. See Battles for an
explanation of what the icon bar and overview map are and do.
• Select
widescreen
or
fullscreen
to change the overall look of a battle.
We recommend that you leave the realism settings on. If you turn them off, the game will
be easier but less accurate and possibly not as much fun.
• Morale: Troops will be scared, want to run away or feel confident and ready to take on all
comers when this is on. In effect, your soldiers will act like people and be brave or
cowards as their overall situation demands!
• Fatigue: Troops will become tired though marching about and fighting, reducing their
combat effectiveness when this is on.
• Limited Ammo: All missile troops and artillery can run out of arrows, bullets, javelins or big
rocks to hurl at the enemy when this is on.
• Restrict Camera: While the camera can still move around the battle fairly freely, it cannot
move too far away from one of your units, neatly simulating what your men can see and
know about on a battlefield.
• Finally, having Campaign Battle Time Limit on means that battles that happen in a full
campaign game are fought against the clock. This can be useful if your faction is involved
in many battles each year. When this is switched on the defender in a battle wins if the
time runs out.
As before, left click on the back arrow in the bottom left hand corner of any parchment or
press the ESCape key to return to the previous screen. This ‘go back’ option is standard on
all the options sub-menus.
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11
• Armies and Fleets: These are the basic military forces of the game. Armies are made up of
units
and are commanded by a
general
. These are described in more detail below, but they
are the tools used to conquer new provinces and defend those you already own. The amount
of colour in the large white banner of a fleet or army shows the number of soldiers in an
army, or the number of ships in a fleet. Only armies and fleets have these banners. You may
also notice that some armies have a column of stars. This is the command rating of the
general in charge of the army, and the more stars he has, the better! One army is shown as a
mounted knight or cavalryman – this is the army commanded by your
faction leader
.
• Agents: Strategic units
without
banners are the spies, emissaries, assassins and others
that can help further your plans of conquest. Each of these agent types has abilities that
are discussed fully later.
• Castles and Ports: These are the only buildings to appear on the campaign map itself, as
they are the most important. The size and grandeur of the castle shows exactly the nature
of the defences in the province. The amount of colour in the large white banner of a
castle shows the number of soldiers in the
garrison
. Castles can also have a column of
stars if the garrison commander is a good general. Other buildings in the province may be
shown in the review panel (see below) – you might need an agent in a province to have
full information about it if you don’t own the province.
• Mini-Map: This gives a complete overview of the game world. The red-bordered trapezium
shows you the boundary of the main view, so you can orientate yourself. Areas that you
own, or where have an agent, or you can see into from an adjacent province are
highlighted in the appropriate faction colour.
• Automation menu: This gives you the choice of how many features in the game are automated.
You can let the computer look after all or some of the detailed management of your growing
empire, while you concentrate on crushing your enemies through military conquest! Each of
the automation options can be turned on or off at any time during the campaign game.
The bottom strip across the screen includes all the other controls you need to play
Medieval: Total War
. These are:
• Information buttons: These bring up information parchments to help you manage your
realm, its armies and agents.
• Building Construction button: This brings up the construction parchment where you can
order the creation of buildings, including fortifications and castle upgrades, in a province.
• Unit Training button: This brings up the training parchment where you can order the
creation of new military units and agents in a province.
• The Review Panel: When a
province
is selected, the review panel shows all the buildings
that have been constructed in that province. When an
army
is selected, the review panel
shows the units that make up the army; the same is true for the ships in a
fleet
.
• Treasury: The number of florins that you currently have in your treasury. This money will
be spent on many things, including buildings, training units and
the upkeep of existing forces. Be careful not to completely
run out of money!
10
THE CAMPAIGN TUTORIAL
We recommend that you have a look at the Campaign Tutorial before launching yourself into
the harsh, cruel world of medieval war and power politics.
Medieval: Total War
is a big
game with many gameplay options, some of which are quite subtle – although some, it has
to be said, are brutally simple and simply brutal! The Campaign Tutorial will familiarise you
with the campaign game’s controls and underlying ideas.
THE CAMPAIGN MAP SCREEN
The campaign map screen is your window onto the detailed world of
Medieval: Total War
.
This map is divided into a number of provinces and represents all of medieval Europe, the
Middle East and the Mediterranean Coast of North Africa. Not all provinces in the game
will have the ‘modern’ name you might think belongs to a region – modern countries have
yet to come into being when the game starts!
Here, you can plan your conquests at your leisure; there are no time pressures as your
moves can be changed right up to the moment you end the turn. It’s from this screen and
its assorted information parchments that you control your provinces, issue orders to your
armies, assassinate and bribe enemies, train new soldiers and keep track of diplomacy, your
royal family and your finances. It may sound like a lot to look after, but we’ve organised
everything to make your life as a medieval warlord easy. This section is an overview of how
the game works. You’ll find a detailed description of each aspect of the game over the next
few pages.
For a start, everything you see on screen has an associated tool tip if you get stuck. Just
hold the cursor over an item for a moment and a mini-explanation of what you can do with
a button, item, province (or whatever!) will appear.
• Provinces: These are the lands that you are fighting to control. Provinces generate tax
income that you then spend to construct defensive buildings, training facilities and to
train new military forces.
• Sea Regions: These zones cannot be conquered in the same way as lands, but can be
occupied by fleets, and then form part of trade routes and be used for sea-borne
invasions. Their use can be denied to enemy forces as well by your fleets.
The Mini-Map
Automation Menu Button
A Province
A Sea Region
A Castle
Game Year
End Year Button
An Army
Review Panel
Treasury
A Strategic Agent
A Port
Information Buttons
Build Button
Faction Shield Training Button
A Fleet
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13
MOVING UNITS ON THE CAMPAIGN MAP
As a general rule in
Medieval: Total War
, left click on an army/fleet, agent or province to
select it. Whenever you do this, you’ll see a grey revolving highlight around the unit. The
contents of the review panel at the bottom of the screen will change to show you what can
be found in a province (buildings), an army (military units) or a fleet (ships). You’ll need
some kind of agent in a province to get these details.
• Left click and hold to ‘pick up’ a strategic game piece belonging to your faction such as
an army/fleet or agent. The piece will be enlarged to show that you have ‘picked it up’.
• For an army, the provinces it can march to directly are highlighted. Drop the army by
releasing the mouse button in a highlighted province to order it to move there. If the
target province belongs to another faction, this may start a war. An army can contain up
to 16
units
.
• You can also drop an army on a castle in its current province to order it to
garrison
the
castle (that is, move inside and defend the castle). The size of a castle garrison is
counted in the number of men it can hold, not the number of
units
.
• You can drag and drop an army onto a distant province and it will automatically find its
own route to the destination over the course of a few (or many) turns. If necessary, a
force will use fleets as transports to get itself to this destination.
• Armies can also be dropped onto other armies belonging to your faction, providing that both
the dropped army and the target began in the same province. This unites the armies into
one larger force. Some units in the two armies may merge if they are numerically weak. See
Merging Units and Armies
later for more details. We’ll talk about
Fleets
in more detail later.
• Picking up an agent works in exactly the same way. Left click and then drag-and-drop an
agent in any highlighted province and he will move there.
• Some agents can be dropped on to other units. This will cause them to carry out some
kind of special mission, depending on the agent involved and the nature of the target.
The agent will be highlighted when held over the target if he or she can be dropped to
carry out a mission. See
Strategic Agents
for more details of their missions.
So,
where
you drop a unit has important effects. Dropping an army in a province invades
that province; dropping an assassin on someone may kill them and
so on. All these different movement orders and their results are
discussed in greater detail in the manual sections on
specific unit types.
12
• Date: This is just the current game year. Remember that the game ends in 1453, so you
can run out of time!
• End Year button: This does exactly what you would expect – the game turn ends, and all
your orders and those of your rival factions are carried out.
CHANGING YOUR VIEW OF THE CAMPAIGN MAP
You can move your view round the map by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, by
moving the cursor to the edge of the screen, or by clicking on the mini-map in the area that
you want to see.
You can zoom into and out of the map by using the mousewheel if your mouse has one. You
can also use the 1 and 3 keys on the numeric keypad to zoom the view as well.
GETTING MORE INFORMATION ON THE CAMPAIGN MAP
In all cases, you can right click on many items to bring up an information parchment on
the item. You can do this with any:
• Province
• Agent
• Army
• Castle
• Fleet
• Sea Region
• Building – in the review panel when a province is selected.
• Military Unit – in the review panel when an army or fleet has been selected.
The information that you are given is explained over the next few pages.
QUICKLY MANAGING YOUR FACTION
Left click on the large arrow next to the mini-map to bring up the automation and interface
options for the game, then left click on any of the tick boxes to change the relevant setting.
Left click on the large arrow to close this menu box when you are happy with your choices.
This is a great option if you want to concentrate on the military aspects of the game.
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15
• Options: This takes you to the options menu as discussed earlier, where you can change
game settings. You cannot change size of military units during a full campaign.
• Main Menu: Return to the main game menu. You will be prompted to save your current
campaign if you have not already done so.
• Quit: Exit the game and return to Windows.
As always, click on the ‘go back’ arrow at the bottom of any dialogue panel or parchment to
return to the previous menu.
FACTIONS
There are 12 playable factions in the game, along with some non-playable factions (these
vary, depending on the start date you choose). Each faction has its own strengths,
weaknesses and potential for European dominance.
You’ll see that not all factions are the same by any means, and the game of
Medieval: Total
War
you experience will be different each time you play a different faction. Some factions
are particularly suited to all-out military conquest, others need to use a combination of
military force and subtler methods to achieve their goals, and some are particularly well
positioned to become trading nations and use wealth to achieve political dominance. Just
to make it all even more interesting, the different start positions for 1087, 1205 and 1321
reflect historical reality and the relative power of a faction can shift remarkably, even in a
hundred years!
FACTION LEADERS
Your faction leader is the most important unit that you command. If he dies the
effects can be catastrophic, including bringing the game and your plans of conquest
to an abrupt end! A faction leader is called a king, sultan, khalifah, emperor, doge or
grand prince, but no matter what his title, his abilities remain the same.
Regardless of his other abilities, a faction leader always acts as a
general
, (see the section
on
Armies
and
Generals
) and will always lead any army that he is part of in a battle, even if
there is another general in the force who is a better commander!
On the campaign map the faction leader is always shown as being mounted on a horse. They
are the only cavalry generals on the map, so you can always spot faction leaders easily.
You can left click on the large faction shield in the bottom left corner of the screen to
centre the campaign map view on your faction leader.
Left click on a faction leader to select him. As with all units on the
campaign map, you’ll see a grey highlight marker revolving around
him to show that he’s been selected.
14
For the moment, we only need to worry about the principle of ‘dragging and dropping’ units
on the campaign map as the way you issue orders to all your forces in the game.
A GAME YEAR
There are no time pressures on your strategic decisions in
Medieval: Total
War
. You are not committed to a course of action until you click on the
end year button. At that point, orders are carried out and plans, for good
or ill, are set in motion. You can’t cancel any orders once you’ve
committed to the end of a turn.
Pressing the return or enter keys on your keyboard will also end a turn.
THE TOUR
After you end the turn, and before the beginning of your next year, you will be shown what’s
happening in provinces you can see – those adjacent to your realm, and those where you
have agents.
You’ll see a row of portraits at the bottom of the screen. These are the leaders of all the
factions in the game and they are highlighted as your computer carries out the orders for
each faction.
The tour can be very useful for gauging the military and political climate, as well as
keeping an eye on what your neighbours may be planning. You may well spot an invasion
force massing for an attack, for example. Press the spacebar to skip the tour.
You’ll also be informed of important events as they occur, such as the completion of a
castle or building, a miraculous happening, or even the discovery of gunpowder. Historical
events that changed the middle ages also occur in the game at (approximately) the right
time, but don’t bank on something unfolding just as it did in reality. Left click on the
red
wax seal
icon on an event parchment when you have finished reading it.
THE IN-GAME MENU
Press the ESCape key at any point to go to the in-game menu. This allows you to do the
following:
• Resume game: Return to the game in the same state as you left it.
• Load game: This allows you to load (or reload!) a game should you think that something
has gone horribly wrong with your plans of conquest. The game automatically saves your
progress at regular intervals, and you can load the
Last Autosave
saved game in the same
way as any other saved game. You can sort the list of saved games by name or by date –
but this means the date you were playing, and
not
the year in the game!
• Save game: The game defaults to the name of the faction plus the year number as a title for
a saved game, but you can edit this to suit yourself. Just type in a new title for the saved
game. Once you are happy, click on Save at the bottom of the screen. There are 99 ‘slots’
available for saved games, so you shouldn’t run out! You can return directly to the game
from here. As before, you can show the list in name or date (your playing date) order.
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If a faction leader doesn’t have a wife and it doesn’t look likely that he will find a princess, he
will marry one of the young women of his court. He’ll do this for himself, and you’ll see a
message telling you this has happened. Once he is married, a faction leader will start having
children. His sons will become heirs to the faction; his daughters will be princesses, diplomatic
pawns and agents to be married off to his generals and into other factions. You can’t influence
the children produced by a royal marriage, but you may like to be careful of the risks you take
with the faction leader until he has at least two adult sons (the traditional ‘heir and spare’).
Left click on the silver arrowhead on the left to see the faction leader’s
vices and virtues
.
These are quirks of character that the man has picked up over the course
of his life, as a result of both events during play and his increasing years.
Move the cursor over any vice or virtue for an explanation. Left click again
on the arrowhead to return to the leader’s traits. You can find out more
about vice and virtues in the
Vices and Virtues
sub-section, but there isn’t
enough room in this manual to explain them all.
As with all information parchments, left click the red X in the top right
hand corner of the parchment to close it and return to the main
campaign map.
HEIRS: PRINCES AND GENERALS
When an heir is born it is an important event for a faction. It secures the future of the
nation beyond the life of the current faction leader. However, heirs must come of age at 16
before they can inherit their father’s lands and, once old enough to be active, they can be
as vulnerable as any other general to the twists and turns of fate.
When a prince comes of age, a new army of one unit
is created in the same province as the faction leader.
This army is lead by the prince and consists of a
bodyguard unit of the best cavalry available to the
prince’s faction. The bodyguard unit of an heir cannot
be disbanded. It comes ‘free’ with the prince when he
comes of age, but the maintenance costs must still be
paid. Unlike other generals, heirs are always loyal to
their faction and cannot be bribed to change sides.
When an heir takes over his brothers (if any) remain as ‘princes of the blood’ and generals.
However, when his son-and-heir inherits the throne, these ‘uncles’ are demoted from princely
status to that of ordinary generals. They still have royal blood, but are no longer directly in line
for the throne. Such a general can inherit the throne if there are no heirs left, but this may
cause a civil war (see the sub-section on
Baronial Revolts and Civil Wars
, later).
16
You’ll also see that a military unit, the faction leader’s personal bodyguard, appears in the
review panel. This unit costs nothing to train and comes into play automatically with the
faction leader, but its maintenance cost must still be paid. A personal bodyguard is the
best cavalry available to the faction, and it cannot be disbanded. The bodyguard will return
to full numerical strength over a few years if it takes casualties in battle.
Right click on a faction leader unit on the campaign map to bring up the information
parchment that describes his personality in detail. Move the cursor over most items on this
parchment, and you’ll be shown an explanatory message. If you right click on his bodyguard
unit in the Review Panel, you’ll bring up the information parchment about the unit, not the
leader. See
Armies
and
Generals
below for more information on units.
The name and age of a faction leader are self-explanatory, but there is one bit of
information you might find interesting. If a faction leader has the same name and (ordinal)
number as a famous ruler of his people he will tend to have the same kind of abilities.
Thus, Henry V of England will tend to be a great general, as will Alexander I of Russia
(Alexander Nevsky) or al-Nasir I of Egypt (better known as Saladin).
As a faction leader becomes older there is a greater chance of him dying of natural causes.
The army size simply shows the number of men the faction leader currently has with him.
Their type and quality can be seen in the review panel.
The faction leader’s traits are
influence, piety, dread, command
and
acumen
. Apart from
influence, these are the same as any other general and are explained in the
Character Traits
sub-section of
Armies
and
Generals
later. Generals normally have a
loyalty
trait, but faction
leaders have
influence
because they are assumed to be completely loyal to themselves!
Influence
is a measure of how powerful this faction leader is perceived to be by his fellow
monarchs. Influence has an effect on whether treaty proposals are accepted, and on
whether factions will offer treaties and alliances – everyone wants powerful friends!
Influence is increased by conquering new areas, defeating foes in war and sometimes
simply by surviving! A large part of a faction leader’s influence also dies with him, as the
medieval world is one where personal power is all-important.
All faction leaders have royal blood, as do their heirs. The crown marker to the right of the
portrait shows the character possesses royal blood. Some generals may also have royal
blood too and its effects on generals are explained later.
If there is a large ring to the left of the portrait, the faction leader is married. A faction
leader needs to be married in order to have any children. From time to time other factions
in the game will offer a princess’ hand in marriage, and it is also possible to send out
emissaries to look for a bride for a faction leader (see
Strategic Agents
).
17
Faction Allegiance
See More
Married Status
Age
Portrait
Royal Blood
Army Size
Ratings
Name
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19
PROVINCES
Provinces are the places where you earn money and train troops. Without land, your faction
will not last long in the face of harsh competition from other peoples. You’ll need to decide
which provinces are important to your faction and hang onto them, and which provinces are
ripe targets for your armies! Sooner or later final victory or ignominious defeat will depend
on the number of provinces that your faction controls.
Left click on a province to select it – anywhere within
its borders will do. You’ll see that any buildings in
the province are now shown in the review panel at
the bottom of the screen. If you can train (or are
training) soldiers in the province, the train unit
button will also have appeared next to your faction
shield and coat-of-arms in the bottom left corner of
the screen.
The province’s name is prominently displayed on the
map. If there is a castle in the province this is
shown on the map, as is the presence of a port for
coastal provinces. Ownership of the province is
shown by the border colour, which is the same as the
main colour of the owning faction.
Right click on a province to bring up the information parchment that gives you details of the
province.
Left click on the arrows on either side of the province name if you wish to look at the next
or previous province belonging to your faction.
The governor is the general who has been given the provincial title for this province. He
controls the day to day running of the land through his servants and can boost trade, or
instil fear and loyalty. For a full explanation of governors see the
Provincial Titles
section.
You will find more information about taxes and income in the next section.
You can find out full details of religion and its effects in the
Religion
section later on.
As with all information parchments, left click the
red X in the top right hand corner of the parchment
to close it and return to the main campaign map.
18
THE REST OF THE FAMILY: PRINCESSES
Princesses are only available to Catholic and Orthodox factions. There are no Muslim
princesses in
Medieval: Total War
. All princesses are valuable assets in the diplomatic
process, and marrying them to a member of a rival faction can cement an alliance.
Princesses are born rather than trained, and take time to come of age and be eligible for
marriage at 15. Unlike male children, they can become too old to be marriageable and are
then removed from play. Their twilight years are spent in quiet religious contemplation.
For full details of the abilities of princesses, see the
Strategic Agents
section.
THE DEATH OF KINGS
When a faction leader dies, his heir becomes the new faction leader, assuming the heir has
come of age.
If there is no heir, the line of succession passes to a general with royal blood. It’s possible
for there to be more than one claimant, and this can cause the faction to split apart in a
civil war (see the sub-section on
Baronial Revolts and Civil Wars
, later). There’s also the
possibility that other factions will have claims on your lands. If one or more of your
faction’s princesses have married outside the faction, they have created a potential claim to
some of your faction’s lands by marriage.
If a faction leader dies without heirs (or his heirs are too young, or his family only has daughters)
and there are no generals of royal blood, things are more serious. All the provinces that made up
his kingdom become independent, under the control of local rebel warlords. These rebels may not
owe allegiance to anyone, but they will often fight when their lands are attacked. This is the end
of the game, as your faction has fallen victim to destiny and is no more.
For computer-controlled factions there is a small chance that a very junior member of the royal
family escaped the destruction of the kingdom caused when the faction leader died. This
individual may reappear (possibly after several years) and rally people to his cause. If this
happens, a faction can rise again in one of its former provinces and re-enter play. This won’t
happen with the faction you control – once your leader dies without an heir, the game is over!
Faction Allegiance
Loyalty
Governor
Taxation
Zeal
Income
Religious Affiliations
Resources
Tradable Goods
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21
• Farming can be improved by up to +80%. Doing this will take a lot of money and time,
but can be very worthwhile in valuable agricultural areas.
• Trading Posts and Merchants improve trade by selling the goods from a province firstly to
their own people and then to foreign provinces overseas. See
Trade Routes
, below for a
full explanation.
• Ports improve income from trade by allowing exports through fleets. They also allow
imports
,
and your officials tax these (at a low level) as they come into one of your provinces.
• Mines and Mining Complexes exploit natural resources such as gold, silver, copper or salt.
These make money every turn they operate.
• Natural Disasters: It’s worth mentioning here that there are events that can cause a loss of
income. Famine and Flood will wipe out harvests, as you might expect. Storms at sea can
also affect trade income because ships can be sunk, and this could break a link in a
trade route.
Protect Your Income: The areas with the highest income, either from agriculture, mines or
trade are your greatest assets. Without the money they produce, you will have no armies.
They should be protected in depth.
• Castles: A castle allows you to hold out in a siege. The larger the fortification, the more
men you can garrison there and the longer they can hold out.
• Disputed Regions: If a region is disputed (there are armies belonging to more than one
faction, or there are rebels present) no faction derives any income until the conflict in the
province has been resolved.
IMPROVING PROVINCES
Constructing buildings in a province always improves it in some way for your faction. This can
be by raising income (by improving farmland, for example), by making the defences stronger
(by building or improving a castle) or by allowing you to train military units and agents there.
No building in the game makes a province weaker or damages its potential in any way.
Left click on the building to bring up the construction parchment. This is
where you order new buildings for a province. You can find full details of the
rest of the construction process in
Buildings and the Technology Tree
section
of this manual.
Medieval: Total War
has quite a complicated technology tree,
so it’s worth looking at this as a separate issue from provinces.
20
RESOURCES
Always check a province’s natural resources, whether you own it or not (this can be useful
when deciding where to invade) as these can be exploited to raise income, or can be very
useful in other ways:
• Income: The number of florins that the province generates as tax. This is a grand total, so
it is affected by the tax rate, the governor’s acumen rating, farming improvements and
whether or not any trading posts, merchants or mines have been constructed.
• Trade goods: The number and type of trading goods gives some indication of the potential
income from a province when trade routes in place and functioning.
• Iron Deposits: Where iron is plentiful, you can build a Metalsmith to improve the quality of
weaponry for troops trained in the province.
• Other Factors: Some provinces are particularly noted for the soldiers they produce.
Switzerland produces superb Pikemen, for example, while Wales is noted for Longbowmen.
It can often be worth invading a province to be able to train these specialists.
TAX AND INCOME
As Cicero wrote in Roman times,
Nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam
(The sinews of war, unlimited
money), so goes warfare in
Medieval: Total War
. You’ll never have unlimited money, but making
sure that you do have a strong treasury is very, very important in bringing your plans of conquest
to a successful conclusion. Once you run out of money you won’t be able to construct new
buildings, train more soldiers, bribe people or pay ransoms for your captured generals.
All factions in the game use the same currency in their treasuries: the
florin
, a type of coin
first minted in the Italian city of Florence. In the middle ages, providing a coin contained
the correct amount of gold or silver no one cared where it had been minted (some kings
were not above ‘cheating’ when minting coins by putting cheaper metals into the mix).
Taxes are your faction’s only guaranteed income, and tax rates are set on a province-by-province
basis. The default rate is
normal
, which yields a reasonable amount of cash without damaging
the loyalty of the locals too much. The rates are
very low, low, normal, high
and
very high
, and
these equate to approximately 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, and 70% taxes. High taxes will give
higher income, but the loyalty of any people being taxed to the hilt will be strained.
Left click on either of the arrows either side of the tax rate to change it for the province.
You’ll see that the income and loyalty values change in response to any taxation change.
Tax rates don’t have to be the same across a whole kingdom or empire, so take a moment
to look at your provinces regularly and see which can be squeezed for more money and
which need to be given a reduction to keep them feeling loyal.
Remember that as well as costing money to construct buildings and train units, soldiers also
cost money each turn in maintenance. Even peasants have to be provided with weapons and
food when they are being soldiers, and some unit types can be very expensive to keep around.
Maintenance money is always deducted first, before any tax income is added to your treasury.
Improving Tax Income: Taxes come from farming, trade and mines. All of these can be
improved to bring in more income in future years:
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23
CHANGING LOYALTY
The loyalty of a province’s people is affected by the following:
• Taxes: High taxes reduce loyalty, and low taxes make people feel happier, it’s as simple as
that. You can alter the tax rate as often as you like before pressing the
end year
button and
see what the result on loyalty is before you commit to taking everyone’s money!
• Harvest: A good harvest makes peasants happy and contented under their master. A bad
harvest makes them disloyal, as they look for someone to blame for bringing down God’s
punishment. Other than hoping for good harvests, there’s nothing you can do to influence
the weather.
• The Governor: The general who holds the title of
Duke, Earl, Count, Margrave
or
Amir
of a
province is its governor. His dread rating can make people loyal if it is high enough – he’s
just frightening them into obedience!
• Occupying Armies: An army in a province helps to calm the peasantry. You should ensure
that you have particularly large occupation force in recently conquered areas. A weak
leader is one that the populace will not respect.
• Spies: Enemy spies can stir trouble in your province by encouraging revolt. Your spies can
provide counter intelligence services in your own provinces, which can decrease the
chance of revolt.
• The Faction Leader: The distance from the province to the faction leader affects how loyal
a population feels towards the faction. People like to bask in the glory of a king! His
dread
rating also has an effect on his people.
• Famine, Floods, Earthquakes and Pestilence: Though Acts of God, peasants don’t react
favourably to natural disasters and blame the bad habits of their rulers for God’s displeasure.
• Watchtowers and Border Forts: By closely watching your people you will be able to control
them. You will also be able to use the information gathered about your neighbours to
incite unrest in their territories.
• Religion: When your faction’s religion doesn’t match a province’s religion, there may be
trouble and the people will obviously feel less loyalty to those who they feel follow the
‘wrong’ faith.
• Previous Loyalties: People are loyal to the ruler they know. If you conquer a province then its
peasants will be unsettled and prone to rebel as they chafe under your mastery. It can take
several years for their loyalties to adjust to the new situation. This can sometimes work in
your favour as people loyal to your faction may revolt in a province taken by an enemy!
22
TRADE ROUTES
Trade can be an extremely profitable activity, but you can only trade where there are goods
available. These are distributed across the map to accurately reflect the pattern of medieval
trade. Some provinces have no trade goods at all (which doesn’t mean that there’s no
business being done, just that it isn’t significant enough to bother the King!). The larger and
grander the Merchant involved in trade from a province, the greater the potential profits.
To sell goods overseas, you need a Port and a Trading Post or Merchant of some kind in a
coastal province (inland provinces can’t trade other than locally). You then have to create a
chain or network of sea regions with one of your fleets in each linking your port (a one-ship
fleet will maintain the link) with a foreign port in another province. This is a
trade route
.
Merchants won’t trade with provinces belonging to their faction, but all your merchants in
coastal provinces who can connect to a trade route that leads to a foreign market will use it.
A Merchant will sell to as many foreign ports (provinces) as his goods can reach through a
trade route (a chain of fleets). The higher-level merchants can trade goods more efficiently,
trade more of them, trade more valuable goods, and so earn more money. You can then tax
their trade earnings.
LOYALTY AND REVOLTS
Despite the real power in Medieval Europe being the iron fist in the plate-mailed glove, few
rulers survived for long without the support of the people and the Church or Mosque. If the
people withdrew their support for a ruler, his days would be numbered – and fearful.
In general, the people were loyal where they experienced strong –yet fair – rulers. There
were many peasants’ revolts, but these usually occurred because a leader showed
weakness, incredible cruelty or rank stupidity.
PROVINCIAL LOYALTY RATINGS
When you look at the Information Parchment for a province, you’ll see a Loyalty rating,
shown as a percentage. This number represents how content the peasants are with the
faction that controls their province. If the Loyalty is below 100 then there is a chance that
there will be a revolt in the region.
You can also press the shift key at any time to show the current loyalty of all your provinces:
• Green: fully loyal.
• Yellow: marginally disloyal, but unlikely to rebel.
• Red: very disloyal, and highly likely to rebel soon, if it hasn’t happened already!
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