Guides.

1.Getting started
1.1 Useful resources
1.2 What to practise before starting a main game
1.3 Choosing your faction, difficulty, mode and era
-On era
-On difficulty
-On factions
-Faction and religion – which is easier for a beginner?
-On mode – Glorious achievement or conquest?

1. Getting Started
Welcome to Total War! This guide is intended to aid the new player adjust to the complex and, at first, bewildering world of the Total War games. This guide has been written with Medieval: Total War in mind, although many of its tips can be applied to Shogun: Total war. The Total War series is made by Creative Assembly, a British company. Here is a brief rundown of the series so far:
-Shogun: Total War (2000) The Original game, set in Japan
-The Mongol Invasion (2001) The add-on for Shogun featuring the Mongol invasion of Japan
-Shogun Warlords Edition (2001) Shogun and its add-on combined in one package
-Medieval: Total War (2002) The second full game. Set in medieval Europe it is bigger and more complex than Shogun.
-The Viking Invasion (2003) The add-on for Medieval. Covers the factional fighting that took place in Britain during the 9th - 11th centuries.
-Rome: Total War (N/A) The next full game in the series. Not yet available.

1.1 Useful resources
Firstly if you just have Medieval: Total War and not the Viking Invasion add-on get the medieval 1.1. patch here. If you have the Viking Invasion add-on you don't need the patch, as it is included in the install of VI. The patch for the Viking Invasion is now available from the same link as the MTW patch.

Next on your list should be a visit to Clan Berserk for a free copy of their excellent unit stat and comparison tool. This handy tool will allow you to look at the stats of any unit from Medieval and the Viking Invasion. When you want to know why a certain unit is better than another this tool is your bible.

You should also consider finding a few minutes to read through The Medieval: Total War and Viking Invasion FAQ by Obake Date, it has some information this guide does not, just as this guide has some information the FAQ doesn't.

For those who want to take their game even further I would recommend Bushface's Total War Information Pack. The pack contains 1 MTW map, 1 VI map of Britain, 1 set of 4 pages detailing unit availability and build requirements, 1 Catholic specific tech tree, 1 Orthodox specific tech tree and 1 Muslim specific tech tree. The two maps are a miniature version of the campaign map from both the main medieval game and the Viking add-on. They show each province along with relevant information like trade goods, iron, borders, sea zones and ports. They can easily be coloured in to show which provinces are owned by who at each of the three starting points in the campaign, this will allow you to make a better informed choice about which faction to start with, as well as where to attack next, the locations of handy resources etc. If you have the Viking Invasion add-on you will need Bushface's tech tree. Unlike the PDF that comes with the game this tree prints legibly onto A4 paper. It also corrects no less than seven errors that were on the PDF. The tree contains extra information such as the price and build times of each building and the valour bonuses are far clearer. The three MTW specific tech trees show exactly what a religion can and cannot build as well as integrating the new units and buildings added into the medieval game by VI. All the VI additions are clearly labelled so you can use it with plain MTW if you wish. The unit sheets come on four A4 pages and pack in details on every single unit in both MTW and VI. The information includes what eras the unit is limited to, which factions can build it, which provinces give it a valour bonus, what building and events are required to build it, and what units a faction can expect to get on a crusade. The sheets also have some 'hidden' provincial valour bonuses listed, for example Janissary heavy infantry get a bonus in Bulgaria but the game doesn't tell you this. You can download them from the org here, just look for the file called MTW_VI_Sheets by Bushface/frogbeastegg. As you can tell from that I did help Bushface make this pack, I was the researcher, but that has nothing to do with my recommendation, as the pack is excellent. An alternate download location can be found here.

Another set of documents that you might like to get is made by Nefarious. He has:
1. MTW Heroes document. A faction by faction listing of names, dates, types, and V&V's. Included is a brief history on each character.
2. VI Heroes document. A faction by faction listing of names, dates, and V&V's.
3. MTW Provinces listing. Spreadsheet showing each province's capital, resources, trade goods, and specialty troops.
4. VI Provinces listing. Spreadsheet showing each province's capital, resources, trade goods, and specialty troops.
5. Glorious achievement listing. A faction by faction list of the original glorious achievements and their points scores.
These documents are very worthwhile, you will need Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel to view them, fortunately there are free readers for both those programs available: excel reader word reader
To get the files send an email to tugowar@(blahblah)mchsi.com leaving out the blahblah, as that is to baffle email sniffing bots.

The Complete Total War Unit Guide has the stats, classification, and general information and tactics for all unit types in Medieval and Shogun. It is aimed more at the intermediate to advanced player, but with a basic grounding in TW principles you should be fine.

There are two main websites I would recommend. First is the official site. Take a look in the forums, there are often interesting discussions going on. The second is the org, the site that is hosting this guide.

If you can find a copy of Bradygames official Medieval: Total War strategy guide take a look through it. It has plenty of detail on the unit stats and battle factors that decide morale penalties, hit chances etc. If you want a look at how Medieval works out its combat sums than this is for you!

1.2 What to do before starting your first campaign game
Firstly READ THE MANUAL. I don't care if you think you can manage without reading it, you will not be able to. There is a wealth of information in there, it is well written and clear and will set up with a basic understanding of what you can do and how to do it. I will not be reiterating the manual in this guide, so go and read the manual cover to cover and then come back.

Done that? Good. Now you are going to play the tutorials, both the battle tutorials and the campaign map tutorial. Finish them all. It may even be worth playing the last few battle map tutorials several times to make sure you are comfortable commanding an army.

Now you can choose between doing several custom battles and starting your first campaign. I would recommend the custom battles, as they will allow you to try out different units and factions, as well as giving you necessary practise. You can find more on the battle map in chapter 3. For advice in choosing a faction go to chapter 1.3.

Get accustomed to the idea that you have plenty of time in the campaign to conquer everything! There is no need to rush, in fact rushing will make your life much harder so calm down and take life slowly.

1.3 Choosing your faction, difficulty, mode and era
This is a very important subject. Once you have made your choices you will not be able to alter then without restarting your campaign. These few settings will define how long your campaign lasts, what units and buildings you start with, how the AI behaves and many other things. You must choose carefully if you want to get a game tailored to you.

On era.
If you just have Medieval you will be able to choose between early, high and late. If you have the Viking Invasion add-on you will also be able to choose Viking. The Viking campaign takes place on its own separate map, which is smaller than the main medieval one. All three medieval start dates take place on the same map, however pre-built armies and buildings, province ownership and unit availability will change. Early has the least pre-built stuff so you can customise your empire with ease. Early begins in 1088 and provides the longest time to finish a game. You will start with poor units like peasants and have to build your way up to better units. High starts in 1205 with more buildings already placed. You can still customise your empire but it is harder due to the development that is already there. Chivalric and feudal units are available at the start of a high game. You will have a medium length of time to finish your game in high. Late starts in 1321 and a lot of development is present in the provinces, also you don't have much time to customise your empire. Gothic units will be available at the start of the campaign, along with chivalric and feudal. This is the shortest medieval campaign. Recommendations: If you play the main medieval game start on early. If you have the Viking campaign available you may like to try it instead. Be aware that some people find the Viking campaign much harder, although I find it easier as it has less to do and is generally more manageable. The lack of the Pope and his interference also helps.

On difficulty
There are four difficulties, easy, normal, hard and expert. Your difficulty will decide how much money you start off with, any bonuses given to you or the AI and what tactics the AI will use on the two maps. Starting funds are as follows:
Easy = 10000 florins
Normal = 8000 florins
Hard = 6000 florins
Expert = 4000 florins
On easy the player will get an extra +4 to morale in battle, making it harder for the AI to rout your troops. On expert the AI get this bonus. Normal and hard don't give anyone a bonus. The AI will use different tactics on the battlefield depending on your difficulty. Here is a list provided by GilJaySmith, one of the developers of Total War:
- On expert the AI gets a morale bonus - on easy the player gets one
- On hard and above, AI skirmishers will try to avoid being pincered
- On easy the AI will not consider going into loose formation to avoid being shot at
- On easy the AI will not consider outflanking, double-envelopment, or stop-and-shoot tactics
- On easy the AI won't move troops out of the way of castle walls that may be about to collapse
- On easy the AI will try to hide rather than flee if the battle is going badly
- On easy the AI will not try ambushes
- On easy the AI will not try the 'appear weak' battle plan
- The AI is more likely to deploy in woods on harder difficulties, and less likely to camp near the red zone on easier difficulties
- The AI is more likely to consider scouting the map to find the rest of your army if it can't see it all on higher difficulties
- On easy the AI will not skirmish
- On higher than easy, the AI will specifically consider sh00ting at your artillery
- On easy the AI will generally attack rather than defend, and will not consider withdrawing for a much longer time
- On higher than easy, the AI will check to see if it's marching into enfilade fire when attacking your main body
- On easy the AI may come out of a wall breach to chase you if you attack and are repulsed
Recommendations: For your first game choose either easy or normal.

On factions
This one is a real biggy. Your faction will decide your religion, unit selection, starting provinces, colour, diplomatic relations and succession to the throne. There are three religions you can play as (four if you play the Viking campaign, as the Vikings are pagan) Catholic, Muslim and Orthodox. The Catholics have the largest unit selection; they have many strong units with lots of armour. They also have to deal with the Pope (see chapter 2.8 ). The Muslim and Orthodox factions do not have to worry about the Pope. However they don't get as many units and their units are aimed more at hit and run tactics than the heavily armed and armoured Catholics. Each faction is rated for difficulty on the selection screen.
Recommendations: For the Viking campaign try the Vikings (excellent units, raiding tactics, good boats and generally a lot of fun), the Mercians (reasonable units, good starting location, rich provinces) or the Saxons (good units, easier to defend provinces, compact kingdom, quite rich). For the medieval game try the English (nice location, good units with even better ones available when the clock hits 1205, reasonable income), the Byzantines (no need to worry about the Pope, awesome units which slowly become outdated, potential for massive income), the Egyptians (no Pope, isolated position which is easy to protect, potentially large income), the Danes (only one province to manage) or the Spanish (really good units, small at the start so they are easy to manage, can expand into Muslim territory easily, quite rich and they have easy access to iron).

Faction and religion - which is easier for a beginner?
That depends on several factors such as what tactics you like to use on the battlefield, what kind of position you want on the campaign map, whether you want to deal with the Pope or not, etc. I always find the Catholic factions easier because I like their armies and I fight well with them, enabling me to win battles that are very unfavourable in odds or conditions. Easier Catholic factions include England and Spain, while Spain is rated hard by the game it is actually very easy because it has rich lands, easy access to iron for troop upgrades, an enemy that is made for attacking without upsetting the Pope (Almohads), reasonable trade with access to both the Med and North seas, and a narrow set of borders with France and co. There are also many gold mines along the trail leading to the Crusader provinces and you can sweep them up while moving to grab the hideously rich and worthwhile trio of Antioch, Tripoli, and Edessa. Spain has the typical Catholic army with a couple of extra units thrown in; Jinetes are very good when you get the hang of them. Lancers are devastating but only around in late and you will probably have finished your campaign by then. England, well, once they hit high they have some excellent unique units (billmen and longbows) and if you have taken out France and got Wales and Scotland you are in a very healthy position to pursue a multitude of possibilities. Both these factions benefit from an aggressive start - flatten those who pose a threat to you before settling back to build your borders and stabilise your empire. All Catholic factions have to deal with the Pope and that is their biggest drawback. However once you learn how to take care of the Pope (poisoned chocolates work well, as do visiting armies kicking over his sandcastles) life becomes much sunnier!

The Muslim factions don't have to deal with the Pope screaming at them each time they do anything and this is part of their appeal to many players. However they do tend to be on the receiving end of crusades, but as long as you keep strong borders they shouldn't pose a problem. Muslim factions tend to have more flexible armies as they often get a lot of speedy cavalry and mounted missile units. Infantry wise they don't have the punch of the Catholics except for certain eras where they do have a very nice advantage. The Almohads have strong infantry in early but less so in high and late, the Egyptians have a few nice spear units like Saracens, and the Turks trample the opposition when they get their Janissary units in High. However generally speaking you can't just assemble an army, march straight at the foe and squish them like you sometimes can with the Catholics. The Almohads are a good faction for a beginner as they start with a good position and have easy access to one of the best units in early - the Almohad urban militia. The Turks are easy in high or late. The Egyptians are supposed to be easy in early, but I don't get on with their armies too well so I find them harder.

Orthodox factions are a mixture. The Byzantines start off incredibly strong but by late they are as weak as anything because in terms of units they have everything at the start and that is basically it for them - no real upgrades like the other factions. You need to get going in early and basically kick ass for lack of a better description! Stabilise your empire and then destroy the foe with all possible speed but be careful not to over reach and trigger a lot of rebellions. They have good enough units to pursue either strong arm Catholic style infantry and heavy cavalry pounding the enemy or to take a more mobile approach with their mounted archer types and faster cavalry. The Russians are not available in early and they are usually classed as quite hard. Orthodox factions don't deal with the Pope and they can be common targets for crusades but as long as you keep your borders protected this shouldn't be a problem.

Decide whether you want to faff around with the Pope and then try out some of the factions. If you like the armies then try the faction in the campaign.

On mode, Glorious Achievements or Conquest?
Basically on GA mode you will have to fulfil objectives given to you by the game for points. The faction with the most points at the end wins. There is no Glorious Achievement mode in the Viking campaign. In Conquest you are free to do your own thing. You are offered a lesser victory when you take 60% of the map. To get the greater victory you must conquer 100% of the map. Unfortunately there is no province counter so you can see how close you are to winning.
Recommendations: I would go with conquest for your first game so you can experiment freely.