Medieval: Total War
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| Medieval: Total War | |
Missing image Medieval_Total_War.jpg | |
| Developer: | Creative Assembly |
| Publisher: | Activision |
| Release date: | 2002 |
| Genre: | Real-time strategy |
| ESRB rating: | Teen (T) |
| Platform: | PC |
| Media: | CD |
Medieval: Total War (MTW), is a real-time strategy game where the player builds a dynastic empire in medieval Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Gameplay is both strategic and tactical, with grand strategy played out in turn-based fashion on a province-by-province level, somewhat like Risk, while military units of varying types and capabilities fight against each other on a tactical map.
MTW was the second game in the Total War series from The Creative Assembly, which includes Shogun: Total War and Rome: Total War. MTW was followed by an expansion pack called Viking Invasion (VI). VI featured a new campaign map of the British Isles and surrounding parts of the Continent. Players can either try to unite the people of the British Isles, or simply conduct raids on coastal settlements by taking on the role of the Viking invaders. The existing campaign is also expanded with new units, and three formerly unplayable factions are made available to the player.
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Factions
MTW divides the strategic map among a large number of factions. There are three types of factions: major playable factions (any one of which the player chooses to control), major unplayable factions, and minor factions. Major factions, listed below, can control several provinces, have hereditary rulers, and generally act in an organized manner. They have a faction flag and distinctive color. Minor factions control a single province, usually raise only low-quality troops, and rarely act with any kind of coordination. They represent minor civilizations or kingdoms (such as Scotland, Navarre, or the small Turkic states), the side in a civil war not holding the throne, and rebels and bandits. The initial extent of each major faction's territory depends on the starting period of the game—Early (1087), High (1205) or Late (1321), reflecting the historical state of these factions over time.
Almohads
The Almohads are the Berber Muslims of Iberia and North Africa, one of the three Muslim major factions in MTW. Their wide territory is an initial advantage, but conflict with other major factions is almost unavoidable. Their faction colour is orange.
Byzantines
The Byzantines are the major Orthodox faction. They are one of the easier factions to play as in the Early period, but their historical decline makes them increasingly difficult to start as in the High or Late periods. Events in Byzantine history are also used to divide these periods: the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade marks the start of the High period in 1205, and the fall of the same city to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 marks the end of the game.
The Byzantines have more unique units available to them than any other faction. Several of these unique units, such as kataphraktoi, Trebizond archers, Varangian Guard and Byzantine Infantry, give this faction a significant advantage. Their faction colour is purple.
Danes
The Danes are a Catholic faction. They are well suited to early expansion (thanks to their unique units, Vikings and longboats) and a trading strategy. Their faction colour is white.
Egyptians
The Egyptians are a Muslim faction. Their position is both good and bad. Their position is good because they are in a corner of the map (so they can be attacked from fewer places) and they are near some very rich provinces (holding Egypt, and they are close to Antioch, Tripoli, and Palestine). The Egyptian position is weak because it is the target of many Crusades and they have to fight through neighboring factions to expand. However, a range of unique units offsets this weakness. Their faction colour is a dark yellow.
English
The English are a Catholic faction, moderately easy to play. They are well suited to both war and peace, with good provinces and several unique unit types (particularly longbowmen and billmen, which are early types of halberdiers). Their faction colour is red.
French
The French are a Catholic faction and one of the more difficult to play as. They are surrounded by other factions with a tendency to invade, and typically have fragmented territories. All their unit types are shared with at least one other faction. As a positive, several French provinces give a bonus to particular unit types trained there, such as Chivalric Knights and crossbowmen. Their faction colour is blue.
Holy Roman Empire
The German Holy Roman Empire is a powerful Catholic faction, whose only real disadvantage is its own large size. They have access to some of the most powerful unique and special units in the game, including Gothic knights, making them suited to aggressive play. Even their surrounded position is hardly a disadvantage, as they can expect victory against any one of their neighbours as long as peace is maintained with the others. Their faction colour is black.
Italians
The Italians are a Catholic faction with excellent trading prospects. In something of a break with history, the Italian faction unites several historical rivals of the region, notably Genoa and Venice (with Sicily as an independent kingdom under computer control in the original release and playable in the expansion). The ease with which this faction can generate income makes it well suited to any style of game, played ambitiously. Their faction colour is dark green.
Polish
The Polish are a Catholic faction of moderate difficulty. Aggressive play, usually involving conquest of the minor factions to the east, is the usual approach with this faction, as their inland position makes trade difficult unless a coastline can first be conquered. Their faction colour is maroon.
Russians
The Orthodox Russians only become available in the High and Late periods, developing from the non-playable people of Novgorod in the Early game. This represents the historical decline of the Kievan Rus, centred on Novgorod, after the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade (which marks the start of the High period), and the rise to dominance of the Russian people of the north and northeast of that realm. Russian prospects for expansion are good, but conflict with the Golden Horde is all but inevitable. Their royal unit, Boyars, are one of only two ranged royal units in the game, mounted and armed with both bows and swords. Their faction colour is light blue.
Spanish
The Castilian Spanish are a Catholic faction with mixed prospects. Even when not player-controlled, this faction tends to launch more Crusades than others. Dominance of the Iberian peninsula, paralleling the historical Reconquista, is often an aim, bringing them into conflict with the Almohads to the south. The need for aggressive play means the Spanish tend to either dominate or collapse. Their faction colour is bright yellow.
Turks
The Turks are a Muslim faction. In the Early game, their position is poor, requiring conflict with either the Byzantines or the Egyptians to expand. By the Late period, though, the Seljuks have given way to the Ottomans, and the Turks are one of the most powerful factions, thanks to their outstanding Ottoman and Janissary unique units. By this time, the Turkish royal unit has become the Sipahi of the Porte, which (like the Russian boyars) are armed with both swords and bows. The Turkish faction colour is light green.
Unplayable Factions
- The Aragonese begin with a single province, and rarely make as much of an impact as their Castilian neighbours. Their faction colour is light pink. This faction becomes playable in Viking Invasion.
- The Burgundians are an unplayable faction that rarely emerges during the game. Their unit roster includes no unique units; it is identical to that of the French. Their faction colour is light blue.
- The Golden Horde appear abruptly from the east, usually disrupting all eastern factions. They come with powerful forces, comprised largely of unique units. Their faction colour is gold.
- The Hungarians sit as a buffer between the Byzantines, Germans and Poles. They are generally able to hold their own against these neighbours, but rarely have any influence on the wider world. Their faction colour is dark pink. This faction becomes playable in Viking Invasion.
- The people of Novgorod are essentially the unplayable Early period predecessors of the Russians. Differences between the two are otherwise minimal. Their faction colour is that of the Russians — light blue.
- The Papacy is unique in more ways than one. Its political power extends far beyond its territories to all Catholic factions. Excommunication is a constant threat to any Catholic ruler who is too aggressive to fellow Catholic factions, and an immediate reality to any who invade Papal territory. Defeating the Pope means that a faction can establish a puppet ruler, but it is almost inevitable that the 'true' Papacy will re-emerge before long. The Papal faction colour is pale yellow.
- The Norman Sicilians are similar to the Italians in several respects, including prospects for domination of the Mediterranean, but they lack their northern cousins' wealth. Their faction colour is grey. This faction becomes playable in Viking Invasion.
- The Swiss emerge in the Late period if Switzerland is not held firmly and loyally by a major faction. Their royal unit, Swiss armoured pikemen, is the only royal infantry in the game. With strong defences but little chance of expansion, they are essentially a more formidable minor faction; even their faction colour, grey, seems to reflect this.
Buildings and Units
Each province can build buildings and train units. Buildings are set up in a tech tree. There is no research as such, but certain advances (most notably gunpowder) do become available over time. More advanced buildings bring more money from trade, farming or mining, or allow the training of more advanced unit types. Many unit types, such as Spanish Jinetes or Polish Retainers, are called unique units and are restricted to a single faction. Some special unit types shared by only a few factions, such as Knights Templar, are also called 'unique', though this is not strictly true.
Military units, each consisting of up to 100 men (on default unit sizes), are grouped into armies, and can fight to control provinces. Fights take place on a 3D battlefield, with full tactical control given to the player (although this can also be computer-simulated, speeding up games with extremely large confrontations that sometimes result in hours of battles per turn).
Faction leaders (variously called kings, emperors, sultans, and so on) lead units of their own, as do their sons and brothers. The unit type for these 'royal units' is fixed for each faction: the Catholic factions all have Royal Knights, with the exception of the Swiss; Byzantine Emperors and princes fight as Kataphraktoi; princes of Novgorod or Russia lead Boyars; and Muslim factions have Ghulam Bodyguards, or Sipahi for the Ottoman Turks. Royal units without a king or prince can also be trained normally, but are expensive.
Ships can be built, and are used to control the seas, which are divided into regions just like the land. The usefulness of ships revolves around building 'sea lanes', controlling the seas between one's own provinces and those abroad. Having a sea lane to foreign ports allows a faction to profit from trade in those waters. Any province adjacent to a sea lane can be spied upon by the fleet, unless that province's faction has its own ships in part of the sea lane. Similarly, soldiers may be transported to another province via sea lanes, but cannot land in a foreign province if that faction can intercept them at sea. Ships can attack other ships, but this is not controlled by the player.
Crusades and jihads can also be 'built'. Once one has been constructed, it can be targeted at a province, have more soldiers added to it, and set forth. A crusade or jihad is the only army that can peacefully cross a foreign province (but only if the faction permits its passage). They are limited, however; a crusade must be granted permission by the Pope, often involving a sizeable donation, while a jihad can only be used to reclaim a lost province.
Non-military units, collectively referred to as 'agents', can also be trained. These include emissaries, spies and assassins, religious units (bishops, inquisitors, and others), and princesses (who are born, not trained). These units conduct foreign relations, such as concluding alliances (often by marriage in the case of princesses), assassinating rivals, and spreading religion.
Agents and military commanders have various attributes indicating their skill. For agents, this is simply a rating, from zero upwards, referred to as 'rank' or 'valour'. Generals also have rank as their Command ability, but are also rated on Loyalty (or Influence for a faction leader), Piety, Dread and Acumen. These influence their ability to govern a province as well as command battles. A pious governor will improve the loyalty of a zealous population of the same religion, while one with great acumen will increase the income from his province. Sometimes, a unit will be trained with unusually high abilities and the name of a famous historical figure. For example, Saxo Grammaticus or Thomas Becket appear as three-rank bishops, while commanders like Tancred de Normandie or El Cid are great generals and leaders.
On top of these ratings, it is possible to shape the personality of individual kings and generals. The progression of time, and notable actions performed by generals, often lead to them gaining certain 'traits', called Vices and Virtues, that can influence their ratings and certain other values. For example, a general who often retreats is seen as a coward, and may lose Command ranks, while killing prisoners generates a reputation for bloodthirstiness and increases Dread.
External links
- Official Site (http://www.totalwar.com/community/medieval1.htm)
- Unit Guide (http://www.totalwar.org/strategy/twug/mtw/index.html)