TABLE OF CONTENTS

1A. General Questions

1B. Rome Total War Questions (includes questions on Barbarian Invasion and
Alexander)
1C. Medieval 2 Total War Questions
2A. Empire Total War Questions
2B. Napoleon Total War Questions
2C. Shogun 2 Total War Questions (includes Fall of the Samurai)
2D. Rome 2 Total War Questions
3A. Questions on Game Mechanics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1A. Miscellaneous Questions.

>What game should I buy, and what are these abbreviations?

RTW Set in the Roman Republican period. Game is centered on 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 arent 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 RTWs, making it a suitable Babbys 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 arent the killing machines they once were.
Napoleon Gameplay is much more polished (faster unit responses) than
Empires, 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.
Empire or Napoleon? - 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.
Shogun 2 - 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, theres 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 antiforeigners) 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. Its what ETW
and NTW should have been. The best gun battle TW game in terms of polish
and features.
Rome 2 The long-awaited sequel to Rome 1 Total War. Unfortunately, the
game was designed for high metacritic scores and therefore can be extremely
lacking in terms of gameplay. Only time will tell if patching can make the game
the sequel that Rome 1 deserves, or just an extremely casualized version of total
war. Given the amount of attention it has received on sites such as 9fag and
leddit, it would appear this casualization has drawn in a lot of new blood at the
cost of the older fanbase.

While reading the pastebin, it has been highly suggested to listen to Total Wars
OST.
Playlist of all the Mobilize, Battle, Win, Lose, and Credits songs.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?
list=PLP8DahXsUYhWzNTOGEt8907RRet9K4VaL

>Im new because Im from /gsg. Nah kidding Im 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 its
Alt+M
A battle is divided into 3 phases.
1.
Deployment This is where you set up a formation that youll 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 its time to figure out how youre going to win. Your infantry
may be buying time if theyre 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 enemys sides. If your cavalry are available and
theyre not the shitty kind, hammer the enemys 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
its best to target elites just so they dont live to fight you another day. If its
your troops that are routing, withdraw everyone who is remaining so they dont
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 theyre 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.
Pre-Warscape Campaign Tips
- You can exchange SOME retinues and ancillaries between characters. Simply
drag and drop.
>Gunpowder Game Tips
Its 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 theres 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.
Its 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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1B. Rome Total War Questions (includes questions on Barbarian Invasion and
Alexander)
>ROME Tips
Turn on guard mode, and then let your infantry stand there. Dont 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 families usually fucks up their plans so they never amount to much when
the dreaded civil war comes.

>Barbarian Invasion TIPS

-sell all military buildings bar a couple on the front line (you will make a lot
from the buildings in Rome).
-Replace all units with peasents away from the front line. Cheaper up keep,
rebellious settlements will need full stacks to keep happy
-Keep all of your settlements in blue mood to make as much money.
-Hold the settlements in the Balkans, that bridge in the East settlement is the
single gateway for barbarians.
-Use the one or two family members will high religious traits to change religion
and move around (Christainity is the easiest to stick with)

>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 -> INSTALL INTO ROME - TOTAL WAR FOLDER, NOT THE EB
folder
Download Jirisys' Megamod to make it work for Alexander.exe in order to
utilize the better AI.
It is best to use EB with Alex.exe
http://www.mediafire.com/download/9rn7ho89zzi2sz3/RomeTW-ALX.exe
EB 1.1
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:B3CD0DB3658BE1933C6CA78622499510DA6DC4A5
Patch 1.2
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:AA64F7BDC468FAFA6A25AE2407EF604DEF018926

After installing Jirisys Megamod, make a shortcut to EB Singleplayer in desktop

and in the target put this in:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW-ALX.exe"
-mod:eb -show_err -nm -noalexander -ne -s ebconfig.xml -runeb -type "Single
Player"
Do this fix to stop 70% 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-battleCTD&p=1917393&viewfull=1#post1917393
If you don't care about loading screen quotes and want to fix the remaining 29%
of CTDs, here's the no-quotes fix. Apparently the more loading screen quotes
there are the more often after-battle CTDs will occur.
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?136273-Fix-CTD-after-battle-orloading-saves
If you're using Steam or Rome Total War Gold look here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=7180711#post7180711
>IGdoods Submod for EB
Summary This submod for EB adds in a few Augustan Reform units from
Novus Ordo Mundi, which probably will never be released. It also adds in a
new reform called the Constantinian Reforms, which is meant to represent the
armies and units of the Late Roman Empire during the Barbarian
Invasion/Migration Era timeframe.
Features
1.
Easier reforms overall The requirements for the Marian and Augustan
Reforms can be daunting to the non-autistic. I lessened the absolute province
requirement for Marian from 90 to 45. Augustan can be obtained at 75.
Constantinian can be obtained at 100. That way you still have around ~30 or so
provinces that you can send the units to ransack.
2.

Augustan Reform Units

3.
Constantinian Reforms
The Constantinian Reforms were meant to represent the reforms of Diocletian,
Constantine, and Gallenius (sp?) implemented in order to better facilitate the
military workings of an extremely large empire. Instead of having whole
legions running around, the army was divided up into a field army and frontier
garrison. Frontier garrison troops were typically second-rate soldiers who were

also the very farmers and townspeople of the regions they protected. They can
hold a line and in some cases perform successful attacks but their main use is for
keeping order and siege defenses. Field army units are your conquerors and
offensive elements. The following is a list of units and their uses:
Instructions - Follow the installation of EB in the pastebin. You must install
Jirisys Megamod and use EB with Alex.exe!
This submod is not game save compatible if youve recruited the RS 2 legion
units because I removed many of them to make space for the Constantinian units
due to a hardcoded limit. There are some left but I dont remember which ones
Ive removed.
Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?8tqa08jcjgp8z8g

>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.
2.5 and 2.6 patch here
www.moddb.com/mods/roma-surrectum-ii/downloads/roma-surrectum-25
http://www.moddb.com/mods/roma-surrectum-ii/downloads/roma-surrectum-26patch
>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
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1C. Medieval 2 Total War Questions

>Medieval 2 Tips
Hammer and Anvil are pretty much how youll 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.
>I cannot into Late Medieval Pikes and Gunpowder, why?
>Pikes
Pikemen are a varying bunch. Vanilla M2 pikes are bugged in that they pull their
sword out too soon. Kingdoms pikemen are fixed to some extent but still bug
out. The only way to fix M2 pikemen is to use the retrofit mod that adds
kingdoms features to the M2 main campaign.
Now, to pikemen. Pikemen begin in spearwall mode and guard mode. Spearwall
mode means the pikemen will use pikes. Otherwise they'll use swords.
In Guard Mode, pikemen will adopt a bracing formation when they're stationary.
You'll see the front row kneel down and etc. This is only effective against
cavalry charges (similar effect to deploying stakes) as the pikemen won't
automatically attack units that are in contact with the pikes. With guard mode
off, you'll notice they won't brace, but instead the front row will merely present
pikes forward. This means the men are ready to do push of pike against anyone
who tries to attack them head on. Still, pikemen are buggy and might just switch
to swords.
>Musketeers, Arquebusiers, and Handgunners
M2 gunpowder units reload extremely slowly. The problem is compounded even
further by that stupid fire by rank where units take their time to switch rows.
They can't arc shots either, so what's a good way to use them?
I use them like I use crossbows. I place them in the front of my formation. They
let off the first volley and quickly run past my melee units (usually a pike wall
with men-at-arms placed between the pikemen) Assuming there's no pesky
cavalry running around, I run my gunners to the flanks and fire into the crowd
enemy units trying to push my line. If I don't have cavalry dominance, I
sometimes leave gaps in my melee line. These are "Firing holes" for which my
musketeers have a clear shot at enemy units.
It's essentially like a Roman maniple system.

>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-andpainfree-Install that (install every part of the setup file, aka part 1, part 2, and
part 3. This isnt a linked setup)
Download and install quickfixes for it.
>Thera - Who would win, Romans, Mongolian Samurai, Conquistadors,
Fantasy Monsters, Empire:TW English Pirates, Mammoth riding Native
Americans, Dinosaur riding Aztecs, Renaissance Holy Roman Empire, Knights
in Shining Armor France, Arthurian England, Irish and Scottish Clansmen,
Vikings, Medieval Russians, Black Armored Transylvanians, The Teutonic
Order, The Crusaders, Turks, Elephant Riding Arabs, or Dark Age Spain?
http://www.gameupdates.org/details.php?id=5380
Torrent Link for both main download and patch.
>De Bello Mundi - Rome Total War remade in the M2 engine. New mod!
Much focus on Romes unit roster, everybody else has shit, so dont expect area
of recruitment along the lines of Europa Barbarorum.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?1975-De-Bello-Mundi%28DBM%29
>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
>Chivalry II: Sicilian Vespers: this mod 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 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. Also known as Heavy Cavalry: Total War due to its
buffing of cavalry to the pint where they can defeat spearmen. Spearmen are
still their counter though, theyre a lot better at defeating cavalry than most other
infantry types except those with armor-piercing weapons.
>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 it probably hosts the best representation of a feudal europe amongst
all the other mods. The most notable feature is 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
excommunicated, getting technology to unlock certain buildings or even spread
unrest and plagues using agents. It has a unique unit roster and a solid AI. It
also has an area of recruitment system like EBs. In fact, every time you end a
turn there will be historical events and other information that is given to the
player to read regarding the actual history of that year, so its actually the EB
treatment given to the Medieval period.
A maritime trade system is also present, you recruit a ship from the capital and
with luck it will gain the "empty hold" trait(meaning it's a merchant fleet and to
say it has no cargo) and then you send it to a coastal region far from your capital,
and each turn your ship spends there there's a possibility of gaining a trading in
spaice/ivory/gold, etc. trait, then you send it back to you capital to receive 2000
florins
Technology is also presented at some degree, mostly it improves the bonuses
buildings you build give you, and you are also able to steal them from your
rivals using a spy/assassin(can't remember
Battles are meant for you to be played; this meaning that if you autoresolve
you'll lose, you are forced to play all battles.
You can claim the throne of a country if its leader died and you have a marriage
with that faction.
Bellum Crucis 6.3 English translation
http://www.mediafire.com/download/f3tw1d539yiyi3c/BellumCrucis_eng_transl
ation.zip
>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, so dont expect many updates for the mod.
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, puts Sweden, georgia, wallachia and more in the game, a
superb mod if you are used to vanilla but tired of it.

>1648
a mod about the thirty years' war. I advise to play as Sweden or the Utrecht
Union(Netherlands) as first, because the mod isn't easy. Its 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 function 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.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2A. Empire Total War Questions

>EMPIRE TOTAL WAR TIPS (and to some extent, Napoleon)

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, Caadores,
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.

>naval combat tips

I group my fleet such that similar quality ships are in a line together. I keep the
group function on so I don't need to focus too much on the movement micro
YET.
As my line approaches theirs, I tell my ships to turn so that they won't receive
too much fire on the approach. When the enemy ships are engaged with mine, I
tag using Alt+Right click ships that need to be focused on. That minimizes my
targeting micro. Then I ungroup the ships that are engaged and begin fine tuning
their micro.
I try my best to keep the wind on my side but that doesn't work to my favor too
much. I rarely use chainshot either unless there's some really powerful ships that
I want dead int he water.
Artillery and special ships (galleys, steamships) are independent actors in my
fleet. They don't engage in heavy combat, but target specific ships for heavy
damage.

>Good Mods for ETW?

>Unit mods from TWC
Self-explanatory, but most require a TWC account which many of you dont like
to make. Make one anyways.
>Darthmod.
Darth compiled (or some people would say, stole) many stat tweaks, unit packs,
and his own vision of Empire into a single large mod that improves Empires AI,
battles, and basically the overall game. Many would say he fixed the game and
made it playable.
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.
Also, download the Dagestan Protectorate Fix.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?597036-Bran-Mac-Born-sDME-Mod-settings

>40 units per army instructions FOR EMPIRE More of a game tweak, requires
some technical knowledge.
Download ESFEdit 1.4.3
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?260597-Esf-Editor-1-4-3
Extract and open up the save file you wish to edit.
Go to Campaign_save -> Campaign_env -> Campaign Model
To your right you will see to rows with the number "20"
Change the top to 40, for 40 units per land army. You can do the same for the
bottom if you wish for 40 ships per fleet.
Save.
GO here and download the UI mods so your eyes won't bleed at the clusterfuck.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?498455Albtraum23UIModEmpire-for-40-Units

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2B. Napoleon Total War Questions

>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.
>LME Le Monte de Empire
Needs more information, saw a few anons playing it recently though.
>40 units per army instructions FOR Napoleon More of a game tweak,
requires some technical knowledge.
Download ESF edit, version 1.4.5.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?303205-EsfEditor-1-4-5%28Updated-Oct-24-2009%29
Extract and open up the save file you wish to edit.
Go to Campaign_save -> Campaign_env -> Campaign Model
To your right you will see to rows with the number "20"

Change the top to 40, for 40 units per land army. You can do the same for the
bottom if you wish for 40 ships per fleet.
Save.

Unfortunately, only improved UI for 40 units in Empire was released. There is

no improved UI for 40 units for Napoleon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2C. Shogun 2 Total War Questions (includes Fall of the Samurai)
>Why do my generals wear balloons on their backs?
Those are horo, silk capes denoting status. Before the Sengoku Jida, they
actually had a function in using air turbulence to catch arrows being shot at them
from behind. By the time of the Sengoku Jidai, these capes are propped on
wooden frames and therefore lose much of their arrow-catching ability.
>Why are castles so shit?
Japanese castles werent exactly defensive. They couldnt make high walls such
as that on the Asian mainland and in Europe as earthquakes were exceedingly
common. They thus had to construct sloped walls that could resist earthquakes,
but at the same time allowed for soldiers to climb up them (with ladders of
course, climbing in-game is very difficult to do and was very tiring)
>Why didnt Japanese soldiers use shields?
They did in the Heian period, but by the Sengoku Jidai weapons development
had taken a turn for the 2-handed. Ashigaru went straight to pike and shot, using
yari and bow (and later on, matchlocks) in combat. Samurai mainly used a
shorter yari and bow in combat. They didnt need shields. They did have huge
as fuck pauldrons when they were horse archers (seen in RoTS).
>Shogun 2 Game Tips
Rock paper scissors system means yari beats cavalry beats sword
GUARANTEED no matter what.
Ashigaru are your bread and butter, dont 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.
>Shogun 2 is fucking fast and hammer + anvil doesn't work too well. What
gives?

A yari ashigaru, your basic pikeman, is not a Hellene. Unlike the Hellenes, he
runs fast like a motherfucker in the direction you tell him too, and he routs even
faster when the battle doesn't go his way.
ALWAYS put him in yari wall to hold the enemy at bay. That extends his
lifespan by 10-15 more seconds, which is precious time in the lightning fast
warfare of Shogun 2.
Standard hammer and anvil (spear + cavalry) doesn't work too well. Why?
Because of the rock papers scissor system and the fact that Japanese cavalry was
shit. Most casualties in the Sengoku Jidai were caused by archers. Use archers to
flank from a distance or use yari samurai/katana/nodachi samurai as your
flankers.
Now, what the fuck is cavalry for then?
Yari cavalry are your anti-cav and general-poppers. They can also charge archers
but withdraw them ASAP. Katana cavalry can fight with sustained combat, but
it's better off to use them like mounted katana samurai. Use the horse to move
them where they are needed, then dismount to fight.
>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.
>Good Mods for S2TW?
>Bayonet Mod adding in unused bayonet models to modernized rifle units.
FOTS ONLY
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 runthrough.

http://www.mediafire.com/?b84kd3893i88eir
>Ashigaru Slingers Mod -S2 ONLY
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
>Tired of cheating AI in Shogun 2? Use this.
www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?519382-Yarkis-Reduced-AICheating-Mod
>Unit mods, such as Radious? Darth?
Opinions are divided on these mods. Radious unit packs add a lot of units but
some are weird like mounted katana ninjas. These two mods are guys who
modded the game to fit their own taste and without any higher objective
whatsoever. Darthmod for Shogun 2 isnt as popular as Darthmod for Empire.
>TRoM3 : Total overhaul of the sengoku campaign, aim for historical realism,
features :
-Katana samurai replaced by Yubusame Samurai, they got a bow with low ammo
and are better in melee than Bow samurai
-Yari samurai is the new dedicated melee
-Ashigaru tech tree, you start with short yari ashigaru and bow ashigaru, as you
advance in the tree they gain moral and you unlock new specialised units, top
tier are pike & shot ( square formation of death ) and sharpshooters ( with light
inf training ), better not research the highest tier before tax reform.
-Better combat and morale
-Better teppo
-Best AI of all mods
-Adds AOR household units wich are cheaper and retain the color of their clan
-Caps certain units
-New economy and ressource system
Overral it adds the most feature and is really enjoyable. It's like vanilla++++
>The Sekigahara campaign : total overhaul which focus on the east vs west war.
-Religion replaced by allegiance
-Adds shitload of clans with new units and traits
-New general depending on clan ( Date for example has teppo armed generals )
-Better ai

-New economy
Overall a very good non-vanilla experience.
Fall of the Samurais :
>Land of the Rising sun : has a S2 version but isn't really good, it's TRoM3 but
worse.
For FotS howerer it's awesome :
-Reworked all units
-Range scale with gun and tier of the unit ( levy has 110, Guards have 320, light
infantry 360 )
-Accuracy scales with range
-New foreign units ( cav and light infantry )
-Better economy
-Better campaign AI and Diplomacy ( late game is often 2 stacks vs 2 stacks
with your allies )
-Better battle AI, fights become really intense
-Hard as fuck siege
-New artillery units ( with canister shot )
Only downside : IT RUINS NAVAL FIGHTS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2D. Rome 2 Total War Questions
>Where is guard mod?
It's turned on by default for some units. Roman units have a tendency to keep in
formation while fighting. All units will cheer instead of pursuing routing
enemies.
>My hoplites break out of shield phalanx when I tell them to attack!
Shield phalanx disables itself when the unit is told to attack. CA said it was a
design decision where hoplites will break phalanx to charge (yeah right) To
utilize hoplites in shield phalanx on the offense, simply ctrl click behind the unit
you want to attack.
>I cant deal with this squalor and public order, what gives?!
Research techs that increase public order. You can't develop cities to their fullest
extent anymore. You have to wait for slots to open up (speed it up via edicts or
low taxes) and place priority of public order buildings over squalor-causing
buildings It's historically accurate, bro. Also when a city can expand, expand it
and immediately build something. Dont wait or slums will appear in that slot
and will require demolishing. Slums take away from your food stocks and

generate unhappiness. They also allow you to recruit Mob or Pleb units,
depending on your faction.
>Why are there 3 ways to assassinate people? Its all the same!
Zeal, Authority, and Cunning are different stats that are not evenly distributed
among agents upon recruitment. Different agents grow their stats differently, so
be sure to send agents that can counter enemy agents' weak stats. Ex: Your spy
has strong zeal. That dignitary has low zeal. Use the spy. That champ has
strong zeal, but low cunning. Send an agent with high cunning to get rid of him.
Don't use zeal vs. zeal in this case.
Also, these 3 stats unlock different skills as they are leveled, and skills for each
agent and general. Zeal tends to unlock brute force abilities and survival rates
for agents. Cunning unlocks troop support and leads your generals to become
understanders of strategy. Authority unlocks passive abilities for agents and also
unlocks troop buff abilities for generals, but these usually take on a charismatic
overtone.
>Why do my units blob and not attack cohesively?
There's a distinct audio difference between an actual cohesive attack or a chaotic
block when you give the order.
An actual cohesive attack occurs when you click on the enemy banner once and
you hear a "TINK", the attack audio. The blob happens when you click on an
enemy soldier and you hear a "move order" sound effect as opposed to an attack
sound effect.
Patches have remedied this to some extent.
>Why is fatigue screwed up?!
Using abilities turns your men from Fresh to Exhausted after the ability duration
wears off. Either save it for a final push to guarantee victory or don't use them at
all.
>Javelins, Slings, or Bows?
Bows are anti-skirmishing. They have an average rate of fire and decent
damage, but low armor penetration. They do kill other ranged units rather well,
if only because the other units lack the rate of fire, range, armor, or some
combination of the three.
Slingers have shit damage and rate of fire but average armour penetration. Over
time, they can drop armored units better than the other ranged weapons.
Problem is that it takes time, and run speeds are so quick time is very limited.
So try to use slingers to flank.
Javelins hit the hardest but have the shortest range.

Skirmish units have no armour, therefor. If you want to eliminate your

opponents skirmishing force (so that they're forced to attack you) bring archers.

>Good mods (or fixes for Rome 2?)

>Makes battles longer
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?618513-Radious-Battle-Mod
>SweetFX Shader (removes piss filter)
http://www.mediafire.com/?bms10fg8t61mftm
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?1990-Total-War-Rome-IIMod-Threads
Suggested: Radious Battle Mod or the Reduced Kill Rate Mod, GEM SweetFX,
Multiple Turns Per Year
>Dislike 1 turn per year? Try this.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?619472-Magnar-Mod-v1-021(Updated-10-9-13)-2tpy-and-normal-unit-size-versions-added/page4
>alternative link
https://mega.co.nz/#F!zA9GkSRD!OY4OfyHvVe80wIsWTswjeg

Recommended mods for the non-autist:

Hellbent's Traits, Talents, and Toadies
AI Food Fix
2TPY
2TPY Build and Research Times
Dresden's Sack, Liberation, and Diplo Options
Loose Formation for All Units
There used to be a mod for earlier patches that modified armor and AP of missile
units, but in my experience with Patch 4/5 the AP properties of units such as
slingers has been balanced pretty well.
I also suggest GEM for a graphics overhaul

>over 20 units in a stack?

Unlimited Units in Army
Here is how to get as many units as you want in a single army or navy on the
Rome 2 campaign map.
Start a campaign, and save it.
Download http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?623719
Extract
Open the esf editor, then open your save game, it will be found in
C:\Users\*yourname*\AppData\Roaming\The Creative
Assembly\Rome2\save_games.
Expand Campaign_Save_Game, Compressed_data, Campaign_Env, then click
on campaign_model.
In the 9 and 10th rows from the top you will see two numbers, the first is the
amount of units each army is allowed, the second is the amount each navy is
allowed.
Change these numbers to whatever you want.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3A. Questions on Game Mechanics
>How to mod the unit sizes to go beyond ultra. (Works only for warscape engine
games except Rome 2 because developers removed tweakability)
First enable view hidden folders.
Then go here.
C:\Users\your username\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Empire (or
Napoleon, or Shogun 2, depending on game)\scripts
Edit preferences.
Look for this:
campaign_unit_multiplier
Change the number next to it to whatever you want.
WARNING: Some skills break down when a unit size is above a certain amount.
* Square formation from ETW and NTW breaks down at over 400 men
** Yari Wall from S2 breaks down at over 400 men.
ROME 2 UNIT MULTIPLIER EDITING

If you want to edit your unit number individually then you need to:
1) using PFM 3.0.2 open up data_rome2.pack file in your Data Folder.
2) click on the DB tab
3) scroll down and locate main_units and click on it. You will find a listing of all
units and you can change all attributes not just unit numbers. Change your units
to whatever you like.
4) now locate land_units and click on it. You need to edit here the number of
mounts riding units get. Or else you will see 3 to 4 men on each horse!!. Edit the
number of mounts to the same number as your number of men.
If you want to edit your unit number using a multiplier then you need to:
1) using ESF editor open up your save game.
2) Click on compress_data >> campaign_env >> campaign_setup >>
campaign_setup_options
3) Change the second number to whatever you like. 2 will give 320 men per unit
(2x160). 3 will give 480 men per unit (3x160) and so on. WARNING: this will
give more ships per unit. So if this will bother you, then don't use the multiplier.

>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_exp
erience.html

>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.
Itll tell you things about stats, so lets 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 victims
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 units 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
units 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 units tendency to not run the fuck out of there when things
are going poorly. Pre-warscape games do not display an exact numerical value
(its 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 dont 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 doesnt 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 theyre lighter. Its an important factor to consider when
youre 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 enemys attack. I think its
a direct subtraction, but dont think too much on it. Therefore, yari ashigaru
should NEVER counter-charge. They should stay still and brace for charges, so
while theyll 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 others 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 theyre 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, youll 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.