Medieval 2: Total War (Cont.)

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GIven the way that the tower fix patch appears to have been done it should work if you overinstall the new official patch. if it doesn't then you would probably just have to uninstall and reinstall the program without losing your saved games.

 

At 600 Mb, I can't really download that patch...

Up next in my path through the Game is Sicilly.

Taking the advice given, I'm building up more slowly. I've got 10 settlements without taking any from a foreign power.

The early land grab yielded Durazzo, Ajiacco, Cagliari, Tripoli and Florence, and a Crusade netted me Antioch. I also claimed Aleppo and Eddessa from Rebels before that well dried up.

I am claiming a victory over Venice in a brief skirmish, killing one family member and sending the Doge fleeing with his tail between his legs (Damn them Royal Bodyguards can run), but losing a half stack army and a 3 star general at see to Pirates.

My Economy is like a roller coaster, but does not crash. The Moors have just declared war on me, and I have an army in production in Palermo that can sail into Tunis for number 11...

 

Mines can now be built on in any territory with "metallic" resources like copper, tin, etc. Kind of a nice change, as mining is not such a rarity anymore.

As for the question about the tower bug, I'd give it a try and see how it goes. Probably the easiest way to test is to set up a skirmish game (can't remember what M2:TW actually calls these) with the appropriate towers in them and test out the results. I'm pretty sure this fix just amounts to some text changes in a .ini file.

 

Started a new game as the Papal States, short game(only 80 territories compared to 100 for the long game ), and I can see why they are not unlockable by default. I never have any economic issues, I got about 30k+ left over after taking out Sicily and Venice and chasing away HRE from Italy, and I excommunicate people by attacking them. Nobody dares to attack me and my milita is fearsome enough to make sure that nobody can resist me either.

UPDATE: Alright, things are going well. Sure, I only got ~25 regions but I doesn't really count on being able to finish this in time. So far I've eliminated Sicily, Venice, Moores, and Spain and I got Portugal down to one region and Milan just decided to attack me so they're next. The armies are really great and it's fun running around with Inquisitors, but I must say I hate how they deal with the Papal guard. The first units, suped-up spearmen or if you'd like, rather decent(14/14) heavy infantry that counts as spearmen and can do schiltrom and +damage to cavalry, are great. But, due to a bug I can't create those anymore after I've gotten to Huge Cities, as I get the lousy Swiss Pikemen instead. Not a fan of pikemen of any sorts, so it's a big turnoff for me.

Anyway, all of the Iberian Peninsula except Lisbon, all of Italy except for Genoa and Milan, as well as the old colonies from Venice and the Moores are all mine. I practically control what goes in and/or out of the Mediterranian.

Oh, one more thing: Anyone know if there's a mod that makes the Papacy a bit more playable? I'm having great fun but the bugs are being a bit... annoying.

[ May 12, 2007, 03:14: Message edited by: Register ]

 

The Papacy sounds interesting. I can't wait until I can play them...

 

You are not supposed to be able to play them, they are not designed to be played together with the Mongols, Timurids and Aztecs. You have to go in and fiddle with game files to unlock them so I think you should expect a few bugs mate

 

I think the game crashes if you try and play the Papal States. They are down as 'Unplayable' IIRC, rather than 'Unlockable'.

 

You can't. You have to manually edit one of the files, GameFAQs explain how:

Well, off course, but it's still great fun and I'd love if anyone modded them to fix the Papal Guard bug as well as the Crusade calling bug, and not to forget the campaign objectives.

Nope, see my post above. I am planning as them right now.

Also playing a mod that lets you play as Sweden. Rather poorly made, honestly, as it lack any kind of historical units that made Sweden as powerful as they were.

 

My game won't load when I installed the patch, so I'm having to re-install it (takes forever). How annoying is that.

 

Sicilly Update: I played for an hour today. The Moors were a dissappointment, giving me Tunis without a fight when I moved an army there to take it.

Then the Pope called for a Crusade (Jerusalem this time), drawing me into war with Egypt (claiming Damascus and Jerusalem thus far). Acre is likely to be taken soon, and I'll likely try to unify mose of the Middle East under my rule. Taking the Nile valley is a longer term goal. Alleppo is my nearest forward base, and better troops can be sailed in from Palermo as the economy allows.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Milan and Venice are both Excommunicated. Both started as allied to me, but I am now at war with Venice as the Pope has asked me to blockade Venice. I think I'll try to build another force or two to try to eliminate Venice while the excommunication is in place. That would put me at 23 settlements. By then, Milan will likely act up, the Moors will probably cause trouble too.

Economically, I'm no powerhouse, but I'm not running a deficit either. My queues regularly stall, but that's nothing that a good sacking can't fix (which is why I'm hoping that Venice stays excommunicated...)

 

Sicilly is still a thorn in my side, but have not spent as much time lately.

I still find that the economy is slow, but not bankrupt. I still find that European powers won't let me build my empire in a way that won't impact them or offend the pope. The Islamic nations are too far away to conduct an effective campaign against, and teh Byzantines too far away from Palermo for any sustained pressure. It's a difficult balancing act. And again, it's not just one nation, but Milan and Venice, with the HRE jumping on the bandwagon when I start to have some success against Milan and Venice.

I'm thinking a ruthless stab or counter punch needs to be prepared. Perhaps an attack stack in Florence for when Milan acts up and have a diplomate to sue for an extortionate peace. Have another stack in Durazzo for when Venice acts up, so that I can get a forward base in the balkans.

 

Anyone out there still playing this game? I took a pretty long break, but recently got the itch again, and have started up a new campaign as Venice on Med/VHard

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy this game.

I'm currently in turn 60, and I have 16 territories under my control (3 castles, 13 cities). I love playing Venice, because as powerful of a faction as they are, they are an absolute target—so the action is way high. It was around turn 20 that my allies, Milan, HRE, and Sicily turned against me. The Byzantines have been after me for a while also, and the Moors really seem set on getting Ajaccio from me. More recently I have come into conflict with the Egyptians, but that conflict, I must admit, was provoked (the Egyptians were turning Constantinople into an absolute hell hole, which the Venetians couldn’t abide).

This is the first campaign that I've been excommunicated by the pope. After Milan and HRE turned on me, Doge Domenico Selvo, ruler of Venice, knew it was a moral imperative that these peoples learn the price of crossing his nation state. The price for Milan was the city of Genoa. The price for HRE was the territory of Bologna—and oh, what it a bloody price that one was. But when scores were finally settled, the Pope had abandoned the Venetians.

It took only a few years before the pope let us know just how far that abandonment went, when he ordered his own forces to take Bologna away from us. Outrage! Blasphemy!

The pope was unsuccessful.

It became clear to Domenico that the holy father was bent on his destruction. The only thing greater than Domenico’s devotion to Rome – the home of the papacy – was the preservation of his own family, his own people. The solution was clear. Rome had to be freed from the maniacal whims of the misguided pope—and Domenico had the feeling that his allies, the Hungarians, had a man much more suited for the seat.

And so it was that Domenico’s favored son, Bartolomeo, future Doge of Venice, marched to the very gates of Rome herself, and met with the pope’s finest. Near a bridge just outside the great city is where the confrontation happened. The forces of the enraged pope were drawn across the bridge, pelted by Venice’s deadly crossbow bolts, and met by a near impenetrable wall of Venetian spears. The pope himself was among the last to join the fight, and among the last to fall to his death.

A sad day, to be sure, but Domenico would have repeated it 1,000 times had he been given cause to. But no, there was no need for further bloodshed. Hungary took the papacy, and granted a full pardon to Domenico. The papacy would continue to be run out of Rome, but the management of the city proper – and the riches – would remain under control of Venice. That was part of the deal. That, and a promise that Venice would lavish the papacy with gold for an age to come.

And now, many, many long years after… many years since the death of Domenico, his son, Doge Bartolomeo, has seen to it that one of his own blood, a Venetian Cardinal, now sits in the papal seat.

Aint revenge a bitch!

 

Apparently the M2:TW bandwagon has ended....

 

When I get my new Video Card in, I may take a break from BtS for another round as Sicilly...

 

I'm just waiting the expansion , it will be released in two weeks

 

Currently reinstalling the game together with a realism mod, gonna play as an Italian state cause they're just that fun.

 

Well, i completed my 2nd Milan game, this time with 98 turns left, and most of Europe under my belt. Gonna finish this one, as my Economy is super strong, and all my cities are in good order.

 

I'm currently in the low 90s from a turn perspective, and have around 24 territories. I'm purposely going a little slowon gaining territories. I could certainly have more territories if I were trying, but I'm hoping to let the other factions gain in power, so I'll have at least a modicum of challenge going forward.

I find, though, that the game gets dissapointingly easy once you get your empire established. There are the occassional tough battles that still happen. There are also the Mongols and Timurids to look forward to, though I'm always scared that these guys will cause my game to crash. My first M2:TW game as the English had to die an untimely death when I couldn't proceed past a battle against like 7 full stacks of Mongols. The battle would crash as soon as they began to engage my castle.

Anyhow, I'm still having tons of fun. Most of the world is my enemy, hehe (kind of like modern day USA). I'm at war with Spain, Sicily, HRE, Mlian, Poland, Hungary, Egypt, Moors, and Turks (I think that's all of them), and just about every other faction is allied with at least one of my enemies. Portugal and Byzzy's are distant memories.

I wish the enemy factions would fortify their settlements better, so taking them over didn't feel quite so much like stealing candy from a baby. I would play on Very Hard for the campaign map, but I hear the garrison issue only gets worse due to the boost to public order the AI factions get (they can keep public order high with practically no garrison).

The Turks seem to have a pretty good foothold in my game, and have several well fortified territories that ought to be fun to siege. HRE is still pretty powerful, but don't seem to be interested in increasing their technology. They still field full stack armies of mailed knights, militia spearmen, peasant archers and maybe a couple of ballistas. My armies tend to consist of some Italian spear militia in heavy mail, pavise crossbowmen in heavy mail, Venetian archers/infantry (many now in partial plate), some mounted and dismounted feudal knights, good siege, many armies include broken lances, and I'm starting to get a good presence of stradiots! With the exception of gunpowder units (which don't exist yet), I've got every possible unit except for mounted crossbowmen, which I should have in a turn or two more.

I sort of wish the AI could keep up with me a little better. Maybe my next game I should try VH/VH settings, though I hear parts of the campaign actually get a bit easier (like the garrison scenario I mentioned).

 

Anyone picked up the Kingdoms expanions yet? I think I'll wait a little to see how the fans like it.

I'm still plenty entertained by my Venetian Campaign (currently on turn 140ish), so there is no compelling need to get kingdoms just yet.

 

I'm with you, Marceror. I did the same when the original came out and, with the bugs, it seems like it was a good idea. Even more so, now, due to my current Sicily campaign.

I hope the reduced textures mod will work with the expansion or/and the 1.3 patch; I wish they'd make an option in the video portion of the settings to change the buildings size as they are too large for my computer to handle in a medium to large battle.