Appendix 1: Cheats
and command lines.
These are included for reference; sometimes cheating is the best way to test out
ideas if you are short of time. It can also be fun, not all cheats make your
game easier.
Cheat codes must be entered exactly as they appear here - including the full
stop before and after the code. You must enter them on the campaign map screen;
the method is the same for both Shogun and Medieval. An * after a code means
that the code will affect both the player and the AI factions.
Shogun
.matteosartori. = Reveal the whole map
.muchkoku. = Gives much koku! *
.mefoundsomeau. = Puts gold in all your provinces
.mefoundsomeag. = puts silver in all your provinces
.mefoundsomecu. = puts copper in all your provinces
.viagra. = puts iron sand deposits in all your provinces
.booyakasha. = fast build mode *
Medieval and the Viking Invasion
.worksundays. = fast build mode. Must have all your build queues empty for this
to work. *
.badgerbunny. = all buildings and units are available. You can still only build
the units relevant to your faction, even though you appear to have all types
available. *
.deadringer. = gives 1 million florins *
.conan. = take control of the rebels
.matteosartori. = reveal the whole map
.viagra. = puts iron in all your provinces
.mefoundsomeau. = puts gold in all your provinces
.mefoundsomeag. = puts silver in all your provinces
.mefoundsomecu. = puts copper in all your provinces
.kidsmode. = makes the AI very easy
.nuttermode. = makes the AI aggressive
.unfreeze. = produces an heir for your faction. The heir will be born as you hit
‘end turn’.
command lines for MTW
These are not exactly cheats; instead you add them to your MTW or VI shortcut.
Right click on your shortcut, and then choose properties. In the target box you
should see something like:
"F:\Program Files\Total War\Medieval - Total War\Medieval_TW.exe"
if you have plain MTW or
"F:\Program Files\Total War\Medieval - Total War\Medieval_TW.exe"
–strictserver
if you have both MTW and VI. To add a shortcut you must leave one space after
the “ mark, then enter the command line. To use multiple command lines just
leave a space between each one and remember to include the – at the start of
each successive line. Choose to save your changes and exit the properties box.
Then start the game with the shortcut.
-ian - debug mode, runs in a smaller screen, you can move the camera about more
in the battle maps to get close up views, you can disable the AI or switch
factions using the number keys. The A key allows you to put the game on auto
run.
-loyalty:X - sets the auto tax to maintain X loyalty where X is the number you
want. Always use more than 100 at the very minimum unless you want a lot of
rebellions. I recommend 120 for a reliable income and reasonably reliable
loyalty or 180 to maintain very high loyalty and rarely see a rebellion.
-strictserver – a multiplayer related command that is on by default for all VI
installations. Just leave it alone.
-green_generals – for VI only. When a general dies his replacement won’t be
identical to him in stats, vices and virtues. Instead the new man will be
slightly weaker. This one also affects the AIs generals.
Appendix 2: Unit size chart.
This chart shows how many men there are in each type of unit on each of the unit
size settings in MTW.
On small size: Bodyguards 20 cavalry 20 infantry 30 spears 50
On default size: Bodyguards 20 cavalry 40 infantry 60 spears 100
On medium size: Bodyguards 20 cavalry 53 infantry 80 spears 133
On large unit size: Bodyguards 33 cavalry 66 infantry 100 spears 166
On huge unit size: Bodyguards 40 cavalry 80 infantry 120 spears 200
Appendix 3: Shield bonuses
This section is with help from Kraxis.
Large shields: +2 def and armour
All cavalry and small shields: +1 def and armour
Pavise shields: +3 armour
In the unit_prod files (best opened with the Gnome editor) there is a section on
shield modifiers. This is column 61 in the Gnome editor. The modifiers on the
shields, the 1, 0.5 and 0.0 mean how effective the shields are. Most units have
the modifier of 1 on them, but units such as Chivalric MAA and Chivalric Knights
have a 0.5 modifier. A few units, such as the Hospitaller foot knights have the
0.0 modifier, effectively making the shield a piece of eye candy with no use at
all. Column number 60 has information on whether a unit can use their shield in
melee or whether it is limited to intercepting ranged missiles only. These
two pieces of information are noted in the appropriate unit write ups, so to
check what kind of shield bonuses, modifiers and abilities a unit has look it up
in the main guide.
Appendix 4: Armour
piercing formula
Again this section is with help from Kraxis.
The formula for working out the armour piercing bonus against a specific target
is as follows:
(target armour - 1)/2 = bonus added to attack.
That means that AP gives a bonus of +1 to attack at enemy armour of 3-4, +2 at
5-6 and so on. Upgraded armour is affected by this, effectively making added
armour only half again as effective as it was supposed to. Cavalry armour
affected by AP starts at 4 due to the horse/camel itself being a point of armour
and still a soft squishy thing.
So really while AP units are more effective against heavily armoured units it
doesn't mean they will do poorly against unarmoured units, they just don't get
the bonus.
Appendix 5:
Spears and the charging thereof.
This is copied from a post I made on the topic of charging spears. It explains
why, in my opinion, charging spears is not a good thing except in very specific
circumstances.
Right let us take Mr. Average Joe the spear unit, for our purposes a unit of
Feudal sergeants with 133 men, valour 0 no upgrades. He has base stats of:
Charge 5 Attack 0 Defence –1 Armour 1 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2
Now add in the rank bonus, applied evenly across the entire unit as it is in 4
ranks and perfect order:
Charge 7 Attack 1 Defence 1 Armour 1 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2
Now add the hold formation bonuses/penalties like so:
Charge 7 Attack -1 Defence 3 Armour 1 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2
There is mention of an extra point to defence when spears are in this setting,
taking the stats to:
Charge 7 Attack -1 Defence 4 Armour 1 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2
Now because this unit is not going to charge anywhere, it is going to stand
still and take the charge, you can put it on hold position. This makes the
formation much easier to keep dressed, keeping the bonuses at the level above
for much longer. When the enemy hit the formation will ripple slightly and then
go back to nice, neat, stat boosting ranks and the spearmen take a long time to
die. They don't kill that many but what do you expect - they are spears and
spears are made (with a couple of exceptions) for standing and not killing. The
formation will take significant losses and remain effective for a long time. By
the time there are enough casualties to cause effectiveness to really drop the
unit will be routing anyway.
Now let's take the same unit with the same valour etc, put them in hold
formation and let them charge the enemy. The unit looks like this:
Charge 7 Attack -1 Defence 4 Armour 1 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2
Firstly you can't really use hold position effectively in this situation so the
formation is more likely to be pushed back or disrupted by the enemy. You can
try whacking them on hold position the instant the charge hits but it can be a
little unpredictable as to what position they will hold. It all depends on what
kind of shape your men are in when the order is given - if they are still in a
very neat formation then it should be reasonably obvious where they will hold,
if they are more spread out or the front line is buckled (happens often,
charging units often resemble a curve with the middle further ahead) then it is
less obvious. I have also had occasions where the dense idiots in charge of the
unit decide that it is a good idea to pivot around and hold position with their
flanks to the enemy! Suffice it to say it is not a good decision on their behalf
and I do not ransom them back.
Secondly, as I have already mentioned, the formation often gets disrupted on the
charge and even a tiny disruption affects the bonuses. No neat formation=no
bonuses for some men and this affects their fighting capability. Part of the
formation will attack with the stats above, others will have the basic stats and
this makes them far less effective in battle. They die, the formation slowly
depletes and the bonuses start to disappear across the unit due to casualties
and disruption. This can be countered somewhat by stopping your spears a short
distance from the enemy, waiting for them to dress their lines and then
charging. However you often don't get the full run up so your charge bonus is
cut a little short because your men did not get up to full speed. It takes
almost 3 seconds of charging to reach full speed and therefore the maximum
charge benefit.
Now you know what you risk when charging it is time to work out what you gain.
The charge bonus. (gulp, hard maths! )
Right the units charge bonus is 7 as long as the man at the front has full rank
support; if he doesn't it is 5. For the sake of my brain he has full rank
support from now on unless mentioned otherwise! This number is added to the
attack stat when the unit reaches full charging speed. Therefore a charging
spearman gets an attack value of 6 but only for a short time that is dependant
on how the charge goes. On impact the spearman makes an attack at 6 against the
enemy, if he kills the enemy then he will advance and use his charge bonus.
Eventually he will either fail to kill or run out of momentum and the bonus is
lost completely. Usually charges seem to last for about 3 dead men at the most.
So that is what you gain, now for the detail and this is fiddlier than ever.
As each man charges home he either kills his target and advances deeper into the
enemy, fails to kill his target and stays where he is fighting, fails to kill
his target and dies, or kills his target and dies. If the man advances he
continues to use his charge bonus but the men behind him have to follow him
exactly or he will lose his rank bonus, leaving him high and dry. If he fails to
kill his target he stays put and is likely to continue receiving his rank bonus.
If he dies, well he is dead! :D
Problem.
If the unit is on hold formation, which it should be as spears really need this
setting, then those who kill with their charge cannot advance without breaking
this order. Therefore your charge is a bit wasted you one of the main purposes
of charging is to get men into the enemy and attack from there. But at the same
time if the unit goes impetuous or is not on hold formation then it will break
up very quickly, the charge bonus disappears quickly and there are a lot of men
without their neat little rank bonuses. They die unless the enemy rout very
quickly indeed.
So spearmen on their best settings are unable to take advantage of the best
bonuses charging provides, on their worst setting they can take advantage of
them but they lose a bit too much in the process.
Now lets look at the kind of chances to kill these spearmen would get against
some of their common targets. (Why am I doing this? This is even worse maths! I
could just leave someone else to do it...tempting! ) Yes, that is a good idea -
someone can work out the kill chances spears get against targets like feudal
knights! Have fun :wave: I shall do the froggy patented Easy Maths Reasoning©
instead.
Look at feudal knights; they have a devastating effect when they charge. Why? 8
charge bonus + 4 attack = 12. Now Chivalric knights get 8 + 5 = 13. Galloglasses
get 8 + 5 = 13. A large number is to be found on all the good charging units.
Now look at what the feudal sergeants get - a paltry 6. Crud in comparison. Well
what about against swordsmen and their weak charges? Feudal MAA get 3+3=6 which
is equally cruddy in comparison but, and this is the critical difference to me,
swordsmen never get rank bonuses and they need to break up the enemy formation
by dispersing inside it. For swordsmen charging is a tool that lets them do
their job, unlike charge heavy units it is not their job. Knights=job to charge,
swords=job to kill. Spears job is to hold the enemy, nothing more. They are not
killers and never will be.
So if it is all about the large numbers why not charge units like Muwahid foot
as they get a bigger number? Simple - I already said charge them in the guide!
That is why they are different to other spears.
So there is what you gain and what you lose and my reasoning behind it all. But
to put it how I prefer to explain these things: (i.e. with no maths or numbers!
)
When I charge my spears they die faster, lose the rank bonus as they become
disordered and don't fulfil their function nearly as well. When I stand and
receive a charge they survive with barely a loss unless they are massively
outmatched and they do their job well. Spears are for pinning, someone else does
the killing. Just an observation based on my experiences.
Of course it is all a matter of preference - I like to take my people home
after the battle, others don't care about losses as long as they win. Fair
enough. Someone will probably come along and neatly take this post to pieces now
and demonstrate why charging is better. Have fun!
Appendix 6: Ships
Ship stats from the Gnome editor. Don’t ask me what they mean as I have no
idea! Yes I know longboat is in there twice, maybe there are two versions of the
ship?
Stats are in this order: Range, attack, defence, speed, strength.
Dhow 1,1,1,3,0
Droman 1,1,0,4,0,
Longboat 1,1,1,3,0,
Galley 1,1,1,2,0,
Barque 1,1,2,3,0,
Baggala 2,2,2,2,0,
Caravel 2,3,3,1,0,
Firegalley 1,3,1,2,0,
Wargalley 1,3,3,1,0,
Cog
2,4,2,2,0,
Boom 2,4,3,2,0,
Gungalley 1,5,3,1,0,
Carrack 3,6,3,3,0,
Curragh 1,1,0,3,0,
Boat
1,1,0,2,0,
Longboat 1,1,1,2,0,
Snekkja 2,1,1,3,0,
Drakkar 2,2,2,4,0,
Jarnbardi 3,3,3,3,0,
Credits (in alphabetical order)
AggonyShim2 for some battlefield ninja tips.
arrrse for the archers on steep slopes tactic, and tips on Mongol light
cavalry, gallowgalsses, royal knights and militia sergeants.
A.Saturnus for a correction to the nizari section.
barvaz for raising the issue of unit sizes on different settings.
Brutal DLX for the reliable cavalry disengage method. Apparently a common
multiplayer tactic but he was the first I saw to mention it. Also for help with
the Sherwood foresters.
Bushface for proofreading. Also for many contributions and suggestions.
Clan Berserk for the unit stat comparison tool.
cutepuppy for an addition to the thrall section.
Fragony for an addition to the pike section.
Frankymole for suggesting adding which cheats affect the AI and which
don’t.
fruitfly for pointing out a major error in the steppe heavy cavalry
section, also for a jinetes tip.
gaelic cowboy for suggesting the ship appendix.
Ironside for correcting an error in the ballista section, also one in the
futuwwa section.
Kraxis for the longest list of alterations submitted so far!
Kristaps for a tweak to the feudal foot knight section.
LordHugh for pointing out an omission in the Welsh bandits section.
Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe for helping me get some of these
screenshots.
Ludens for a thunderbomber tactic. Also for corrections in the Ottoman
infantry and Korean skirmisher sections.
Monk for a correction in the fanatic section, also a clarification in the
Khwarazmian cavalry section, and a bit on Sherwood foresters.
Motorhead for pointing out a couple of typos.
Norseman for providing the formula to work out unit support costs.
Oaty for some battlefield ninja tips.
Quokka for providing a list of support costs, also for a correction to
the Ottoman infantry section.
Shigawire for contributing the hold position tactic for pulling cavalry
out of combat.
Shinano for some battlefield ninja tips.
Sinan for proofreading.
Sjakihata for proofreading. Also for numerous tactical tips.
SwordsMaster for spotting an error in the druzhina cavalry section.
Tenkipanda for some battlefield ninja tips.
The_678 for noticing I had missed out Sherwood foresters.
TosaInu for help with the technical aspects of this guide. Without his
help the guide could not exist. Also for suggesting the cheat/command line
section.
A nod to the Bradygames Medieval: Total War official strategy guide is due – I
borrowed their unit categorisation and layout to make sure I didn’t miss any
of MTW’s 101 units. All the work here is my own though, I didn’t copy the
guide further than layout.
The final credit is the hardest to write well as it is for the entire Total War
community. Over the years I have seen so many good tactics, good unit
discussions and just generally interesting conversations on the games that I
have learned a lot from people whose names I cannot remember to add to the
credits. I was once a lost beginner who couldn’t tell the difference between a
yari samurai and a yari ashigaru; thanks to my reading the forums on various
sites I am much better now. I am giving back what I found in the first place.