Medieval 2: Total War Expansion Announced

[Avellon]

Sweet, I'm looking forward to this.

NEW ARMIES WILL RISE AND NEW FACTIONS WILL FALL IN THE RECENTLY ANNOUNCED
MEDIEVAL II: TOTAL WAR KINGDOMS EXPANSION!

We are pleased to announce, after much speculation and guess work on the part of the community, the arrival of the new expansion pack for Medieval II: Total War. Kingdoms will feature four new campaigns of the epic proportions fans have come to expect in Total War games. Britannia, The Crusades, The Teutonic Wars and The Americas complete a thrilling line-up of scenarios to delight even the most discerning of Total War players.

A host of new features accompanies the expansion. Some 23 playable factions join the melee, providing the opportunity to play as Aztec and Native American factions, as well as new European factions such as the Teutonic Order,the Crusader states, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Principality of the Antioch. In total, more than 150 new units grace the battlefield, including the deadly Greek Flamethrower.

Kingdoms will provide even bigger Medieval II battles, thanks to the ability to control multiple armies. Now players will be able to take command of reinforcement armies on the battlefield. The four new campaigns are packed with new historical events and titanic figures like Richard The Lionheart and Saladin, who come complete with new special abilities to help turn the tide of battle. With many new mission types, six new multiplayer scenarios and 20 new custom battle maps, Kingdoms is a fantastic addition to Medieval II that will satisfy any fan of the game.

Some screens, the Teutonic order looks sweet

[Heavens_Myst]

Would be cool if they'd actually patch the game people bought first. "Officially" I believe most or all 2H units can't even attack cavalry still.

[ChewieTobbacca]

Yeah some fixes would be nice (due soon) but this looks awesome... teutonic knights and crusades ftw

[WillzZz]

Ooh Teutonic knights, I may need to load this back up. I think I played for a weekend and then gave up, though. Too hard! Never won a single battle =/

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by WillTR

Ooh Teutonic knights, I may need to load this back up. I think I played for a weekend and then gave up, though. Too hard! Never won a single battle =/

It hasn't gotten any easier since then. Definitely a steeper learning curve than practically any strategy or RTS game out there, but it's been refined and tuned for three generations now.

The battle part is unique in the RTS gaming world though. If you're coming from CoH or DC with an eye for good micro you would do well once you get the hang of maneuvering units and roles. It's basically a tabletop pike-and-musket wargame simulation (which explains the diehard community of rabid, pewter-poisoned modders) and like such games the most important thing to remember is that Morale>>all. People new to the game tend to assume numbers, experience and training govern the battle's outcome when the truth is pinning a unit with peasants then hitting them from the rear with light cavalry will break even the best units.

While I enjoyed and played the fuck out of CoH, Dark Crusade and GalCiv2, and despite hating how they dumbed down a lot of the battle AI, MTW2 has clambered onto the top of my PC gaming list since its release, and this expansion looks set to keep it there.

[Screamfeeder]

Lands to Conquer.

Thank me later.

[ChewieTobbacca]

Leaked patch for those whose computer it works on supposedly fixes all the major bugs... expansion looks awesome

[Punko]

Originally Posted by WillTR

Ooh Teutonic knights, I may need to load this back up. I think I played for a weekend and then gave up, though. Too hard! Never won a single battle =/

It really is a great game which keeps you interested for a long time due to its complexity. Unfortunately that also means it takes a while to pick up.

[Khorum]

Oddly enough the biggest complaint about the stock version of the game is that it's way waaay too easy. And it is. The learning curve isn't really all that steep, it's just that MTW sticks to it's own RTS school of thought, with its tabletop gaming heritage, instead of responding to the traditional RTS gamer's assumptions and skillsets. Once any given CoH or WC3 gamer gets his head around MTW's paradigm, they tend to do fairly well in multiplayer. Then again, a lot of traditional RTS fans get turned off by said paradigm (more like they want more of the usual).

Folks who stick around tend to destroy the AI after getting the hang of morale, pin-and-maneuver, and cavalry tactics. After said players gets into much more demanding multiplayer bouts for even a just a couple weeks, he catches on to horse archers and harassment tactics that make the campaign's AI becomes a bit of a joke. They even made morale less crucial in MTW2 compared to say RTW or even MTW1--where peasants would rout halfway to the enemy if you tried to have them charge a wall of Janissaries.

There's a ton of mods that make the AI more responsive, or adjust the stats, but few of them expand the state machine enough to make it terribly challenging. Hell, the way the mongols are handled, even on impossible difficulty, isn't terribly representative of how badass they were.

[Screamfeeder]

Originally Posted by Khorum

Oddly enough the biggest complaint about the stock version of the game is that it's way waaay too easy.

Using Ultimate AI with both difficulties set to Very Hard is about as hard as it can possibly get.

Having to take HOURS to do the battles and most of the victories being pyrrhic is both getting on my nerves and making me love it at the same time.

EDIT - I don't know if that is the most recent Ultimate A.I. but I do know the LoC mod I posted above has the most recent.