The Americas Campaign
| M2TW Kingdoms: |
|---|
The Americas Campaign is one of four campaigns available in the Kingdoms expansion to Medieval II: Total War.
Contents
Overview
The Americas campaign is based in the 'New World' starting in 1521AD. Spanish Conquistadors in search of new lands, fortune and glory have arrived in the Americas. Some disgruntled native warriors stand in their way however...
Map
Factions
Main Playable Factions
- New Spain: Has many good European units including cavalry and artillery, and uses the prestige system. Difficulty: Easy
Spain mostly relies on halved 2 hit point melee units with excellent armor and attack but with relatively slow speeds, they have both the crossbow and gun at their disposal and can attack through the use of boats at any chosen area. They have the advantage of starting in Havana which is an island and therefore unreachable except by New France and New England. They start with mostly sword militias but through gaining ranks they can eventually advance to improved units, including the very powerful spanish dragoons
- The Aztec Empire: Fast Plentiful and very cheap units. No artillery or cavalry. Difficulty: Moderate
They Aztec empire starts with some well-developed cities. Most of their powerful units are accesile with very few upgrades to buildings. They have some very powerful units early on but eventually will be outmatched by most other factions with technology. They can ritually sacrifice instead of disbanding or execution which will result in increase of the belief of the sun god in the area.
- The Mayans: Fast but cheap units. No artillery or cavalry. Difficulty: Hard
Their units are mostly similar to the aztecs, they get an interesting hornet thrower unit. They are usually in close proximity to the early spanish expedition and ocassionaly new englands first landing . They are considering difficult due to the constant invasion and difficult enemies.
- The Apachean Tribes: Good archers. Can advance in technology to get horses and guns, gets really good missile cavalry. Difficulty: Easy
Apacheans only have villages, They have no walled cities unless they capture them. They rely mostly on huts. They can create better huts and better units with them as they defeat their enemies and capture villages. Their units are extremely cheap, an average city can support about 50 times more apachean units then spanish ones. They do lack powerful early technology and their cities usually make very little .
Unlockable Factions
- The Tlaxcalans Tribes- Fast but cheap units. No cavalry or artillery. Difficulty: Hard
Surrounded by the Aztecs and Spanish, they would be advised to attack the Aztecs with a Spanish alliance. However this means that spain which would be the bigger of the two threats, will grow stronger. The decision to ally with Spain or not is a very important one early on .
- The Chichimec Tribes- Representing the Puebloan peoples of the North of Mexico. Good infantry and archers. Can get horses and guns. Difficulty: Moderate
- The Tarascans Tribes- Fast but cheap units. No cavalry or artillery. Difficulty: Moderate
Unplayable Factions
- English Colonies (M2TW Kingdoms)|English Colonies- Similar to New Spain, but uses Longbowmen.
- New France (M2TW Kingdoms)|New France- Similar to New Spain.
Special Features
- The prestige system. New Spain's action will be rewarded by the king with monetary rewards or units.
- The Apache can use a priest to call on the warpath (similar to jihad) to unite the other tribes against a settlement.
- Sacrifice units, disbanding units in a region or units executed after captured in battle will be instead sacrificed which will increase the amount of the followers of the sun god in a region.
- Ritual Sacrifices and Dances can be preformed on a Yearly/Monthly/Daily basis to increase public happiness but reduce income based on frequency.
Spain also has very powerful gunpowder units.
The Americas campaign also features different agent skins and names: -For New Spain, priests become missionaries, who are not liable to becoming unorthodox in an area of strong conflicting faith. -Spanish Diplomats become explorers, and spies are guides. -The native factions can build Priests, to spread either the "Sun God" (Mayans, Aztecs, etc.) or "Sky Spirit" (Apachean, etc.) religions.
The Spanish Player
-The Spanish Player, while having European units, must rely mainly on Native Mercenaries, because few of these European units are available in the New World.
-Special mercenaries can be acquired through allying with the native factions, many will give their native units in the form of mercenaries to New Spain when they are around their homelands. From early on, Spain can use cheap native mercenaries without having to ally with anyone. Their strength however, is in sheer numbers, not in decent quality.
-The Spanish Crown will periodically send reinforcement armies under the command of historical conquistadors to assist you. These armies are often landed at areas in order to help you conquer that particular area, such as Florida or on the Yucatan peninsula.
-You will move up in rank as you complete missions and objectives, the higher the rank you are, the more money and units you will receive from the king and you will be given a title by the King once you move up a rank( lord, Baron etc).
-Spain cannot be defeated by American factions because they don't have boats to attack Havana. Only England and France can invade Havana. However, if Havana rebels Spain can be defeated.
New France and English Colonies
Although New France and the English will not be much of a problem to the Spanish player because by the time they arrive Spain should have a significant part of America, they are a threat to native tribes like the Mayans and the Apache as they are the two first neighbors of the English and French respectively. Even if you kill all their armies and destroy them, they will return after some turns by sending reinforcements to the New World. The French tend to land in Florida and expand Westwards towards the Apache, while the English tend to land in the South-Eastern tip of the Yucatan peninsula and expand Westwards towards the Mayans.
