TWC Wiki - User contributions [en]

Holy Roman Empire (M2TW Faction)

2007-10-12T18:18:00Z

201.12.178.33:

cdronsit
{{M2 Factions}}
[[Image:Symbol_hre.jpg|Faction Symbol for HRE]]

The Holy Roman Empire (HRE) or "Heiliges RÃ¶misches Reich" in German is a very deceiving name, as it isn't "holy", isn't "Roman" and definitely isn't an "empire". Instead it was a collection of fiefdoms and small kingdoms loosely grouped together under an elected emperor.
Despite this lack of unite, the HRE was one of the major powers of the medieval period.
Since the "founder" (for want of a better word) of the empire, none other then the legendary knight and leader Charlemagne, was crowned on Christmas day 800AD by pope Leo III, there is some argument that the word "holy" can appear in the empires name, at least during its early history.

In game, the HRE appear as a unified force, beginning with most of modern day Germany and Switzerland under its control and a few rebel provinces surrounding this, beyond that, are many factions, meaning that the HRE can quickly find itself bordering half the European factions. This presents unique challenges for the HRE, as no other faction can be said to border so many different possible enemies from so early on. Therefore, some measure of diplomacy will have to be used to ensure the empire doesn't face war on more fronts than it can manage, or to avoid angering the pope as all its neighbours tend to be catholic.
That said, thanks to its size, it can afford vast armies, effectively ensuring its victory if its able to concentrate its forces on a single enemy, especially late game.

The HRE shares all of its early units with other factions, but they are no less effective for that, later on in the game, it can recruit, in approximate order of availability, Teutonic knights (being the only faction this order is available to), Imperial Knights (mace welding knights), Zwei-Handers (fearsome two-handed swordsmen), Forlorn Hope (an elite unit for exploiting breaches during sieges) Reiters (cavalry armed with pistols and spears) and the infamously powerful Gothic Knights.
In addition to this, both Serpentine and Basilisk guns are available, meaning that the empire's late game army is indeed one to be feared and respected.

Due to its curse of being surrounded, generally disliked by the pope, and lacking in specialist early game units, the HRE can quickly be eliminated if not controlled by a human player, and even then, great care must be taken to not overextend one's forces or anger too many factions at once.

If the empire can exploit wars in Europe to its advantage (attacking factions the pope dislikes who don't have any powerful allies), then it will surely be victorious and able to unite Europe under the rule, if it is unable to do this, then it will be resigned to a footnote in the players (virtual) history book

[[Category: Medieval 2: Total War Factions]]

Russia (M2TW Faction)

2007-10-12T18:17:52Z

201.12.178.33:

cbocrocacele
{{M2 Factions}}

[[Image:Symbol_russia.jpg|Faction Symbol for Russia]]

Russia, the name for the slavic people north of the Black Sea, comes from the Slavic tribe Rus. The Rus who first played a major role in history during the first siege of Constantinople. Afterwards, the pagan rus settled in what is now modern Kiev.They Then became Orthodox Christians and ended up growing to be one of the strongest and largest empires in the world (USSR).

== Religion ==
The Russians are one of the few Orthodox Christian factions in the game. To the south of you is the other Orthodox [[Byzantine Empire]]. To the south west, there are the Catholic [[Poland| Polish]] and the [[Hungary| Hungarians]] Located to the south over the Black sea, or over the Caucasus Mountains are the Islamic [[Turks]]. Because of the fact you aren't Catholic, you have no direct relation to the pope. Because of this fact you don't participate in the [[Crusades]], and are under no pressure form the [[Papal States]]. Also due to this fact you are under no pressure from the Islamic factions to participate in [[Jihad]]s.

== Military ==
Infantry-
The Russians have weak early infantry units, meaning your regular militia/peasant units. However in the high period they already have fairly good units such as the Dismounted Boyar-Sons/Druzhina. In addition, they get decent spearmen and their most useful infantry unit - the Dismounted Dvor. Those elite units can double as both great archers and a decent hand-to-hand unit. In the late period they can get the Berdishe axeman who are a good shock unit for breaching enemy lines. As nearly all Russians use axes they are useful against the armour of the dismounted European knights.

Cavalry-
Cavalry is the mainstay of the Russian army. The Russians specialize in horse archers (Kazaks,Cossacs)
and have excellent dual use cavalry (Boyar Sons, Dvor). In particular, the Boyar Sons can pepper the enemy with javelins and than surprise with a full charge. The Dvor fill the heavy horse archer role and are capable in hand to hand combat as well. Though most Russian cavalry don't use lances (exceptin the late period bodyguard) their Druzhina and the excellent late period Tsar's guard can challenge any contemporary western knight. In hand to hand combat the Russian cavalry usually uses axes.

Ranged-
The Russians start with fairly weak peasant archers. As they progress they can build crossbow militia in the cities and the dual use Dismounted Dvor unit in the castles. Most of Russia's cavalry is also ranged (read above). The Russians really shine with their Cossack Musketeers whose long range is particularly useful against the Mongol ranged units. They can also get the fearsome Basilik cannon, and put guns on their late period fleets.

A note on fashion- If you have good armories it can be pretty amazing to see the Russian spear, crossbow and yearly bodyguard units radically change their appearance on the battle map.

== Economy ==
Many of the lands you will acquire early on in your Russian campaign will have little resources. Meaning that in the beginning of the game your treasury is almost empty every turn. In order to sustain a good economy, capture as many cities on the Baltic Sea as soon as possible and build ports for naval trade. You then need to build roads in every settlement and hire a lot of merchants because there is a lot of fur, wood and amber resources lying around the Russian plains. After gaining a few rebel territories, you will need to try to capture southern provinces such as Kiev and Caffa, for Black sea trade. This will be important for trade with Mediterranean factions.

== Expansion ==
Despite Russia's slow economy and weak early game army, Russia is given many rebel provinces to expand upon. The starting town is surrounded by 3 rebel settlements. This is important because, if you get there early enough in the game there shouldn't be a garrison in the villages. (Smolensk, Riga and Helsinki). Vilnius can be tough as it has a large garrison, so it may be wise to wait for the Poles to weaken it. Once you got your 5 most critical provinces (Riga, Helsinki,Vilnius, Smolensk and obviously Novgorod) under control, you can start the big expansion. Directions are the many rebels to the east, to the south is Kiev and access to the black sea, or you can take on Poland/Hungary in the west. There is also the possibility of landing in Norway and getting to the Danes and HRE from the North.

==Summary==
The Russians start with one city and a potential to expand. Their large steppes can be tough to defend, but they do have a cavalry oriented Army. They also need to be wary of Mongol and Timurid invasions. However if Russia can defend its borders and withstand the invaders the way is open in any direction, with a powerful mobile army.

Their victory conditions are:
For a short campaign- 15 provinces and destroying Poland+Hungary.
For a long campaign- 45 provinces including Constantinople and Jerusalem.

[[Category: Medieval 2: Total War Factions]]

Hungary (M2TW Faction)

2007-10-12T18:17:01Z

201.12.178.33:

ouaceldo
{{M2 Factions}}
[[Image:Symbol_hungary.jpg|Faction Symbol for Hungary]]

Hungary is one of two central European Roman catholic powers in M2TW.

They have a surprisingly versatile army, which includes both horse archers, and western style knights.
Their infantry works on similar principals, they have a good variety of light units recruited from the peasantry, such as Slav levies or Croat axemen, as well as the ever present feudal knights and Hungary is the only faction able to recruit battlefield assassins from an assassins guild, who are similar to Hashashin in battle.
Hungary has access to the ever present catholic pavaise crossbowmen and are able to recruit Bulgarian brigands as mercenaries from nearby provinces.
In the late period, Hungary also gains the serpentine cannon, which can only help a faction whose infantry will now be a bit dated, but still effective if used properly.

Hungary is, aside from Scotland, the only faction that can build castle libraries, allowing spies and assassins to be trained in castles, though, they wont be of the quality of a city which specialises in their production with advanced brothels or guilds.

This gives the faction an adaptive feel, that, once its accessed and the correct troops are moved in place, can defeat any of its neighbours.
Also, one gains the distinct impression that Hungary declined in power during the late period, though, not to the extent of the Byzantine empire.

Due to the many of the nearby settlements being castles, Hungary are likely to be a poorer faction if they don't attack forcefully. The nearby rich provinces of Constantinople and Venice may offer rich pickings for this fledgeling kingdom.

[[Category: Medieval 2: Total War Factions]]

Milan (M2TW Faction)

2007-10-12T18:16:53Z

201.12.178.33:

pasraca
{{M2 Factions}}
[[Image:Symbol_milan.jpg|Faction Symbol for Milan]]

Milan are an Italian faction that begin with Milan itself and Genoa under its control.
These homelands are surrounded by mountains to the north and west and the Mediterranean sea to the south, making it relatively secure from surprise attacked by the more powerful Holy Roman Empire to the north or French Kingdom to the west. Its weakness then, is the other Italian factions, Venice may be a tempting target for early expansion if marching over mountains to attack powerful factions isn't your idea of fun.

With Venice taken, the Eastern approach into your northern Italian heartlands will be just as secure as to the east and north, and, so long as the faction isn't excommunicated, the Papal States should prevent Sicily from invading from the south, meaning that, thanks to the richness of the northern Italian provinces, Milan will grow into a rich, and therefore powerful empire that is both secure from attack and has lots of options for whom it should unleash its armies on.
Another option (that the AI seams to take a lot) is to push into France early on, due to the factions relative weakness when compared to early Milan.

As with other Italian factions, these armies are likely to be composed of quality militia units and various castle-trained troops to augment the armies, and fill in roles that the militia cannot perform, Bern, north of Milan, is a good target to produce troops for this purpose.
The gunpowder selection includes both musketeers and monster ribuarb's.
As a trading faction, ships are of a very high quality.

Unique units include;
Genoese crossbowmen, in both militia and castle-trained variants, these are pavaise crossbowmen that can fight in melee if the situation is desperate enough for them to, the men trained in castles are a lot stronger at both shooting and in a melee than the militia trained men.
and, Familia Ductile, heavy cavalry that can be trained in cities.

In most cases, Milanese battle strategy will be conventional, and focussed on defensive battles, with genoese crossbowmen, artillery or musketeers skirmishing in front of a line of Italian spear militia, with both dismounted and mounted cavalry on the flanks and a corocodo standard positioned behind the main line of militia. the obvious weakness is horse archers, and even archers can cause a large number of casualties against this strategy, factions with heavier infantry such as dismounted gothic knights (available in most mods) or Janissary Heavy infantry can also cause lots of damage against this, as, unlike Venice, Milan lacks any real unit that can defeat them in melee.

[[Category: Medieval 2: Total War Factions]]

Clouds Across Europe

2007-10-12T10:27:06Z

201.12.178.33:

ouc4ta
{{mod|mod=Clouds Across Europe|modscreenshot=No image.png|platform=[[Medieval II: Total War]]|era=Medieval|leader=[[Zephrelial]]}}

Mod lead by [[Zephrelial]], currently at version 1.3 as of Thursday 9 August

==Mod Features==
*Optional to play Mongols, who are now fully Pagan!
*Optional to remove the Teutons family tree and make them more like the militaristic order they were
*Adds '''six''' new factions:The Shahdom of Khwarezm, Wallachia, Lithuania, The Kingdom of Jerusalem, The Caliphate of the Abbasids and the Teutonic Order.
*Take command of the powerful military order of the Teutonics, and wage war against your rivals both in Europe and holy lands.
*Lead the Pagan Lithuanians against the constant raiding of teh Teutons and see your true faith prevail
*Spice up the balkans with Wallachia, who will emerge triumphant, you or Hungary?
*Become the mighty fortress of God in the middle east,with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Build a Kingdom that will last for ages.
*Amass a formidable army consists of veteran Knights,originated from Hospitaller,Teutonic and Templar orders.Instil fear in the hearts of your enemies.
*Experience the richness of the strong Shahdom of Khwarezm. Consolidate your position against the Mongol Horde.
*Take command of the armies of Khwarezm that consists of Turkomans, Kypchaks,Iranians and Arabs.Make good use of the War Elephants to dominate the battlefield.
*New Islamic Princesses for the factions The Turks,Moors and Egypt.
*Use your Islamic princesses to lure enemy family members to your side,and arrange marriages to cement strong alliances.
*Build the secret guild of the Order of the Dragon.And experience the bloody work of the Europe's magnificent Kings who wields the best armour,and received the utmost training..
*Now,the Orthodox factions have their Patriarch.The Patriarch is available from the Huge Orthodox Cathedral for Byzantine players
*The Russian faction Bishops have the chance to become Patriarch based on their piety..
*Eras system that enables units according to Early,High and Late periods of the medieval age.
*Recruitable generals available from citadels.
*Historical and famous faction leaders for the new factions.
*Patriarch for the Orthodox factions,Russian bishops have the chance to be Patriarch provided they have the piety level of 7 at least.
*Its traits an ancillaries are based on a modified [[Blood Broads & Bastards]] (the modders standard) 2.0 expect plenty of cool and interesting traits!

==Team==
*'''Leader''': [[Zephrelial]]
*'''Helpers''': [[Gazi Husrev Beg]] (suggestions), [[SirPaladin]] (Wallachia suggestions and info; faction symbols), [[Hans Kloss]] (new textures and mesh for Teutonic Knights, help with sound problems), [[EzE]] (Fixed the aphna channel problem of the dragon knights unitcard), [[Tadrzeuli]] (Georgian faction info), [[Ieuano]] (Teutonic Rank system) [[SpaceUnion]] and [[Raven Darkwing]] for skinning, modelling and meshing help

==Fan Addons==

[[Ieuano]] and [[Carnium]] are compiling a mini-mod for CAE which will add bloodline tracking for the new factions, various other trait modifications, a reworked AI to take account of the new factions.

See [[Additions to CAE]].

==See Also==
*Interview with [[Zephrelial]], team leader of Clouds Across Europe, in [[Eagle_Standard_Archive#Volume_V_-_Issue_I| Eagle Standard Volume V - Issue I]]
*[[Clouds Across Europe (form)|Clouds Across Europe - Mod Registration Form]]

==External Links==
The first version of Clouds Across Europe is available for download [http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=1301 here]. Mod Leader [[Zephrelial]] is on a break at the moment
*Clouds Across Europe [http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=341 forum] at TWC.

[[Category:M2TW_Mods]]
[[Category:TWC_Hosted_Modifications]]

Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms

2007-10-12T10:26:46Z

201.12.178.33:

elmonorvic
{{Total War}}
The First expansion for [[Medieval II: Total War]] was announced on the March 30, 2007
and released at the end of August 2007.

==Overview==
===Campaigns===
Kingdoms has four completely new campaigns each with its ownunique campaign map. They are:
**[[The Britannia Campaign]]: With [[England (M2TW Kingdoms)|England]], Wales, Scotland, Norway, [[Ireland (M2TW Kingdoms)|Ireland]].
**The Crusades Campaign: Two Alliances vs. Each other: Jerusalem + Antiochia vs Egypt, Byzantines, Turks and all together vs. Mongols
**The Americas Campaign: Aztecs, Maya, Apache, Tarasken, Chichimeken, Tlaxkalteken and Spanish Settlers under Cortez
**[[The Teutonic Campaign]]: With German Knights, Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, Novgorod

===New Features===
*'''Moats''' added around castles
*'''Special Abilities''' for the historical persons in the 4 campaigns
**Richard I of England can collect fleeing troops
**Emperor Manuel of Byzantine can "confuse" enemy units, that they hit them self.
*The campaigns have different targets and a different way of playing it. In the Eastern, the religion plays a big role (because of unrest and unit development -> you can only build Teutonic knights in a Catholic area) in the New World if you play the Spanish have only few Units and you have to look for alliances and trading routes.
*More Units on a battlefield.
*Forts with water around it.... keep their position and which you also can conquer and use for yourself.
*More + Different Mission Targets: A noble man appears and asks for your help in a combat. If you are successful, your reward will depend to how you won (how many you killed).
*In the Britain Scenario you can make as enemy of England an alliance with renegade English aristocrats. They ask for your help, to conquer a town. If you give them the town after the victory, they will found a new anti-English faction "Allianz der Barone"!

==Screenshots==

http://downloads.sega-europe.com/downloads/totalwar/newsltr_screens/20070330/King_Americas2.jpg
http://downloads.sega-europe.com/downloads/totalwar/newsltr_screens/20070330/King_Britannia5.jpg
http://downloads.sega-europe.com/downloads/totalwar/newsltr_screens/20070330/King_Crusades3.jpg
http://downloads.sega-europe.com/downloads/totalwar/newsltr_screens/20070330/King_Crusades.jpg
http://downloads.sega-europe.com/downloads/totalwar/newsltr_screens/20070330/King_Teutonic.jpg

==Reviews and Previews==

*[http://downloads.sega-europe.com/downloads/totalwar/newsltr_screens/20070330/Kingdoms_Trailer_Low.wmv First Preview Trailer]
*[http://www.totalwar.com/index.html?page=/en/medieval2/gameinfo/kingdoms/index.html&nav=/en/medieval2/1/4/ Kingdoms Section on Official Site]

==See Also==
*[http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=476 Kingdoms sub-forum on TWC]

[[Category: Total War Series]]
[[Category: Medieval 2 Information]]

Category:RTW Files

2007-10-10T13:25:04Z

201.12.178.33:

bonobocl
This category is for any article based solely on a text file or tga file etc used in [[Rome: Total War]].

As file structure is almost identical this obviously also includes files used in the extensions
[[Barbarian Invasion]] and [[Alexander]].

A lot of files are also common to [[Medieval II: Total War]] where the file name is the same the same article may be used for both games, but differences should be clearly marked. Articles specific to M2TW game files should be added to [[:Category:MTW2 Files]]

[[Category:Modding]]
[[Category:RTW Modding]]

Category:M2TW Modding

2007-10-10T13:24:18Z

201.12.178.33:

litrocd
List of articles relating specifically to [[:Category: Modding|modding]] Medieval II Total War:

'''If you are new to modding start at the [[Modding Portal]] page!'''

'''Main Articles:'''
*'''[[M2TW Modding Tutorials]]'''
*'''[[M2TW Modding Tools]]'''

[[Category:Modding]]

Category:M2TW Files

2007-10-10T13:23:16Z

201.12.178.33:

eltc4troc
This category is for any article based solely on a text file or tga file etc used in [[Medieval II: Total War]].

A lot of files are also common to [[Rome: Total War]] where the file name is the same the same article may be used for both games, but differences should be clearly marked. Articles specific to RTW game files should be added to [[:Category:RTW Files]]

[[Category:Modding]]
[[Category:M2TW Modding]]