Medieval II Total War...

[PLightstar]

Can't believe that someone hasn't started a thread yet.

Anyway has anyone else got it and what do you think of it.

Got it just after Christmas and it is so good, playing as the English I have taken most of western Europe, I am attacking Rome, so that my conquest's can go on with out a problem from the church, just purchased Jerulslam (sry sp) from Egypt so I don't need to send a large force there to take it. I have ceased my war against poland, so I can prepare for a mongol force which is owning the Russians and polish forces right now. The germans are getting cocky and going through my land to fight my Allies the Milanise so I am preparing to fight the Germans and teach them a lesson.

Only got to take 15 more regions then I have won, and I hope you can bypass the finish by press ctrl + s so I can continue forever. But the Americas haven't appeared as a land, and is it worth going after?

[Dillinja]

As the Holy Roman Empire, I have taken Rome but the Papal States continue to operate. I even killed the Pope in the battle. All I can think of is that they've taken another region somewhere, but I am yet to find it. I have taken Naples and I know they are not in Sicily, so I'm pretty much stumped.

I've also been trading regions with England and France. I have several cities around Italy which are in disarray, so I've been trading them in exchange for cities closer to my capital. My view is that this will cause unrest between the Italians and the English and French, and will divert attention away from me while I fight the Hungarians and Polish to the east. This seems to be working...

As it is, my empire is in a rut. My funds have dropped into the red and I'm going to have to start cutting my military soon. I have only 1 loyal ally in Spain and at least 6 strong countries whom I am at war with. I believe that if the Pope had not excommunicated me for almost completely destroying Milan (who, incidentally, attacked me first), I would have been on my way to total victory. His excommunication, in the best cases, resulted in me having to lower taxes, and in the worst cases, resulted in open rebellion and the loss of 2 of my highest earning regions.

[Vae]

As you've found out if you kill the Papal region one of the other loyal Catholic empires will give them a region to start again from. So it's a bad idea to fight the Pope.

I found best plan was to do everything he asked except join crusades. I managed to stay just above being excommunicated. Also helped that every time my leader was ordered to join a crusade he died of natural causes before the time limit to join was up.

[PLightstar]

No way, so you can not destroy the papal states in this version well that sucks, looks like I will have to destroy every Catholic state. Played again last night and my recent incursions has caused the pope to launch a crusade against London of all places, love to see a force get across the channel and get passed my navy.

[Mnexxiz]

Best way to get the Pope to be happy with you is putting out lots of priests - one for each general/family member and whereever they are required to bring religion to 100%.
This does two things: A) 100% religion = less unrest (priests from other factions create unrest btw)
B) Your generals/faction members get some Piety - which is crucial to deal with Inquisitors.

Over time your priests will become Cardinals - the very guys who decide who is the next pope. In addition build Cathedrals and Grand Cathedrals to make the pope even happier and attack excommunicated factions. Chances are that the pope is even giving missions.

If you are after better diplomacy I recomment Lusted's Land To Conquer mod available at twcenter.net

[Clown]

But what if the pope ends up being your own cardinal bloke?

[Dommers]

^ Then it just means that he likes you and thats it. You cant control him or anything, which kind of sucks.

[Mnexxiz]

Well, assigning one of your cardinals to be pope means that you loose him for once. Normally this also means you have very good if not perfect relationship with him.
Now comes the tricky part. If the faction leader you are after has been excommunicated then (thanks to your relationship with the pope) you set up your army, call a crusade on a town you like to own and more than likely the pope complies.
As long as the faction leader stays alive you are free to go after this faction and exterminating that faction is a lot easier.

On the flip side if the faction leader dies then the pope will reconcile this faction normally automatically. This can throw a spanner in a well planned campaign as he asks you not to attack this faction. Best thing is to wait this ceasefire out, then move some armies into that faction territory. Sooner or later you will be attacked.
Can be difficult to get the other faction to agree to the ceasefire + trade rights if your reputation with them is abysmal. But if it works you generate some extra trade (speak income).

The main money comes anyway from trade, not from merchants. Merchants are the icing on the cake so to speak and the best region for this is Timbuktu and Arguin. Bit hard to get to but worth it.

[Dillinja]

I've noticed that the Pope has something against the Holy Roman Empire. I actually went on a crusade and took Jerusalem like he told me to but I got no favour from him whatsoever for it. Then I start again as Poland and make a few Priests and build a few churches and I get maximum favour from the bastard. I'm doing really good as Poland now though, I think they are one of the easier factions to be on the game due to where they are positioned. Kinda worried about the Mongols coming though.

[00dave]

Arrgh what am I doing wrong in this game? I just can't seem to make money at all, I have a piss poor army and navy yet I still can only just seem to generate enough money to get by. I remember in the original all you had to do was have a ship in each section of the sea and you would rake it in but now I just can't seem to figure it out what am I doing wrong?

[Rulke]

Originally Posted by 00dave

Arrgh what am I doing wrong in this game? I just can't seem to make money at all, I have a piss poor army and navy yet I still can only just seem to generate enough money to get by. I remember in the original all you had to do was have a ship in each section of the sea and you would rake it in but now I just can't seem to figure it out what am I doing wrong?

Upgrade your roads, markets and ports tbh! And tax the peasants til they starve, muahahaha

[00dave]

cheers. Started a new game and just built cities and markets and ports and stuff and now I'm loaded. I bought Ireland and Wales and then a little place in Russia that was manned by 1000 soldiers when 5000 Mongols came, bastards. They'll regret starting on me

[Mabs]

finally, 1.2 patch is due out tomorrow (thurs)

patch notes are Here

and they fixed the 2 major problems; the shields causing negative rather than positive armour mod, and the 2h axe animation bug that wouldnt fight cavalry \o/

yay for it being actually playable without modding finally

[Mabs]

or in fact, not

after months of delay and testing, it was released, and pulled in an hour due to "unseen problems" and will now be released "at a later date"

/burns effigys of SEGA

[Thadius]

Originally Posted by Mabs

/burns effigys of SEGA

poor sonic :<