Impressions of MTW2

[-0blivion-]

So I got the game today, and its been a good amount of fun actually - starting the Grand Campaign with Venice, with the aim of first forming an extensive trade empire then later on with goals such as uniting Italy, defeating the Byzantines, etc.

Managed to get myself embroiled in two early wars which was unfortunate, against the Byzantines which was mostly a quiet front (although there were two major battles, 500+ on my side versus 1000ish) on theres. Enemy infantry still felt a bit tentative about attacking archers, there were some issues with them sitting there getting shot until my archers were out of ammo then attacking, would have made more sense for them to just engage.
This battle unfortunately tied up many troops in Dalmatia/Greece. The Byzantines used their navy very well in terms of blockades.

The other war was at the same time against Milan so i was severely stretched. Had to beat off several attacks at Venice itself and couldn't gain any headway. So far, its been challenging although i feel im getting on top of it now.

So, first impressions are thumbs up, maybe some minor combat issues to iron out but otherwise I was very pleased. Can shoot with any questions if you want.

Feel free to post your first impressions of the game, when you get it.

 

[shortguy]

Enemy infantry still felt a bit tentative about attacking archers, there were some issues with them sitting there getting shot until my archers were out of ammo then attacking, would have made more sense for them to just engage.

This is, apparently, a known bug that shall be fixed with a patch in the next few days.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

So far it's good fun, the only problems I'm seeing is a rather passive AI (especially when under fire from archers or catapults) that I believe is to be fixed. I am losing a lot more men in battle than I would in Rome, though I assume that's due to the longer archer ranges, as well as the fact I just enjoy watching the flaming arrows and siege ammo firing back and forth at each other.

The campaign map is lovely, especially with so many provinces now. In my first game as England I unified the British Isles before moving into France (I didn't want to, but they backstabbed me ). From there I was quite content to defend my borders, though no-one besides the Danes wanted to fight me anymore. The Mongols also put up a grand fight - wiping out Egypt and the Byzantines before reaching Hungary. I believe the Timurud invasion slowed them down somewhat, which was quite the relief.

One thing I am very pleased about is the Pope and the way you get missions. There's missions from your aristocracy, which don't give any punishments if failed, and there's ones from the Pope, which is usually just a crusade every so often, or some 'build a church/faith in a province' missions. These are fairly simple to achieve, and are nowhere near as annoying as the Senate in Rome. The inquisitors they send though, are. They executed one of my generals - who was leading a frickin' crusade!

 

[steviejay]

The campaign map is lovely, especially with so many provinces now. In my first game as England I unified the British Isles before moving into France (I didn't want to, but they backstabbed me ).

TRAITOR!! what did the Scots ever do to you?

Can you play as the Scots yes?

To all: How are the system specs? I don't want to know what it says on the box, I mean, how does it feel on a medium range PC/low range PC etc?

 

[-0blivion-]

Scots have to be unlocked. I assume theres a mod on the internet somewhere to unlock them without doing anything.

 

[steviejay]

Ah, so THATS why Kan attacked them first

Is it you need a mod to unlock them or in the RTW sense where you go into a txt file in the directory and change that about?

 

[Dell19]

Hopefully its just a text file as I absolutely hate having to unlock nations. Mainly because I generally don't want to play as a nation I have recently defeated, that I may be forced into fighting the nation I was previously playing and that I could take the majority of their cities and then the AI could take the last city and thus I would not unlock them. One of the most evil game features that is somehow meant to be fun.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

As far as I know, unlocking them manually is the same as in Rome - just a text file. I just went the slightly longer road - I picked the English on a short campaign, that way I could unlock the Scots first, and then conquer France to win the game, unlocking all factions.

It also broke me into the game, so to speak.

 

[steviejay]

Thats how you win the game as England?

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

For the short campaign, it's take 15 provinces and destroy Scotland and France. Other nations are along the same lines.

For the long campaign, I believe it involves taking 45 provinces, as well as Jerusalem.

 

[steviejay]

oh right sorry I forgot you said you played a short campaign.

Just ordered it. you's talked me into it

 

[Hitti-Litti]

In RTW nations could be unlocked by adding nations from locked to unlocked in Notepad.

 

[Kal'thzar]

Good Game, a bit irritated that the Scots get no gun units (only the cannons), and yes I'm losing slightly more troops, APART from my current Egypt Game, they have a large amount of Horse units, which means I Typically suffer 28-60 Casualties (mostly from skirmishers i take along to take cities etc), which is fairly accurate.

Just a bit disapointed that the ransom isn't accepted more often, I could have got 5000k

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Stevie: Have you checked to see if it'll actually run yet?
Kal'thzar: Chances are the nation couldn't afford it. That said, I've rarely ransomed them back

 

[steviejay]

Stevie: Have you checked to see if it'll actually run yet?
Kal'thzar: Chances are the nation couldn't afford it. That said, I've rarely ransomed them back

...... oh PISS IT TO HELL!!!! I guess I'll find out in 3-5 days

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Couldn't you try the demo first?

 

[Dell19]

The demo is huge.

I'm planning on buying it when I get a new external harddrive.

 

[Kal'thzar]

Kal'thzar: Chances are the nation couldn't afford it. That said, I've rarely ransomed them back

oh no thats CERTAINLY the reason. I mean They ransomed back the first 2000 florins worth. After that they were broke.

I mean the second richest state is the Papal States, with me being the richest.

I dread the Timuruds however :/

 

[Suppersalmon]

yeah i unlocked everything by just going into notepad there's a file in

Medieval II Total War\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign called

descr_strat.txt

just move the locked countries to unlock remember to back up the file first

although don't put the group of countries that starts off with papal states in playable that will cause the game to crash

 

[steviejay]

The demo is huge.

I'm planning on buying it when I get a new external harddrive.

you can get a 320Gig for around £80 or so. I was really annoyed cause a few months ago I bought a 250 gig for the same amount, space is crazy ass cheap atm so if you hold off I'm sure you could get more.

Heh, yes I could have just played the Demo, but stupidity took hold just need to wait and see. besides I'm the type of gamer who tends to upgrade his comptuer to play the game rather than hold off, so it should be ok