7 More Things I Wish I Knew Earlier About... Medieval 2 Total War!

[@MelkorGG]

Getting closer to 10K Subscriber Everyday. COME ON! Help me out. : )

[@fredrikeriksson5199]

So I got 3 subscribers ;)

[@Martin-vu1do]

You should do some of the later games in the series. I’ve been watching your content for a while and I’m suprised your sub count hasn’t risen but I think the main reason it hasn’t increased is because you don’t play later titles. Sure the later titles have some bad dlc practices but everybody is focusing on warhammer right now

[@MelkorGG]

I plan to. New PC and internet arriving next week. That's what I've been waiting the last year for. : ) Although, I have certainly grown. Last Year I grew 7 times my size. Making me the fast growing Total War KZbinr percentage wise. Already gained another 3K subs from this year alone.

[@Martin-vu1do]

@@MelkorGG my bad saying hasn't increased then. i only though it would have increased a lot more you have interesting content even if its mainly for the older titles and thats good to hear, i hope your channel blows up to be like legendoftotalwar or pixelated apollo.

[@MelkorGG]

@alvi syahri XD Yep, I hit it quicker than I thought.

[@SrVain]

I've played this game for 14 years and WHAT, fire by ranks? Slow motion? What is this witchcraft?!?

[@SuperPope69]

Both of thos things are in every list of things this game needed 🤣

[@paynetimestudios9773]

@@SuperPope69 lmao true true I thought there WASNT ANY RANK BY FIRE

[@jackyabdoul1435]

Let see when you know how to kill any agent by 9 units. Specially the inquisitor.

[@paynetimestudios9773]

@@jackyabdoul1435 put every unit around them then walk one unit into them, the rank by fire with skirmish set really got me by surprise haha i learned that with this video, I’ll probably learn new things cause idk everything about this classic masterpiece.

[@artolan_illusive]

I've never seen fleet blocking as cheating. It's simply a feature and makes sense: You put your fleet so another army cannot use boats, floating bridges or whatever they use because you control the passage. Also, it's a great way to defend against Mongols or Timurids near Constantinopole. Sometimes it makes them just walk around Nicea like headless chickens and do nothing.

[@nathanielgangi8917]

I've done that Constantinople trick with forts, it's so funny to watch them huddle around nicea and do nothing for 100 turns

[@jarskil8862]

@@nathanielgangi8917 Mongols are actually Jews confirmed.

[@MelkorGG]

"cheating" was not the right word by me.

[@Thouse_Muchachos]

@@MelkorGG maybe it's more of a trickster move. But an inteligent one

[@blaisevillaume2225]

@@Thouse_Muchachos What's tricky about it? There's nothing that prevents another player from building a navy to take yours out. Plenty of examples in real life where armies were stopped along fairly narrow bodies of water because their enemies controlled it.

[@Ye-Hu]

Fire by rank before empire? *I was not aware of that*

[@SuperPope69]

I'm gonna guess a very large number of players didn't know that, beings that I've seen multiple videos say that's why gunpowder sucks in medieval

[@Hell_O7]

6:03 for personal use

[@ChaseMcCain81]

@@Hell_O7 lol

[@Sharnoy1]

The Cardinal diplomacy thing blew my mind :D Very nice video once again!

[@MrBoemmel]

Mine too,been playing it for years.... Mind is blown

[@MrBoemmel]

@Roo Smith Come join us,more will follow...

[@wk2337]

Am I the only one who now plans to turn this into medieval 2 diplomacy screen?

[@Norhod]

Well it literally says "click to open diplomacy" I don't know how you all could have missed that.

[@euromanijak]

"dont build the merchant's warf its not worth it" *me rolling in hundreds of thousands of denars* "Is this some peasant joke i'm to rich to understand?"

[@jarskil8862]

@Blanco I dissagree. Iron in Sweden or Silk in middle east gives you like 500 per turn. You can stack 10 merchants to same resource. This would give you 5k extra per turn

[@NotFinnish]

@Blanco You can make back the merchant cost in one turn with a merchant in Timbuktu.

[@joevenespineli6389]

@@NotFinnish How can I access that quickly?

[@NotFinnish]

@@joevenespineli6389 I would start as Spain, blitz south to take the Moors (Zaragoza if possible) After taking Granada attack and destroy Portugal. Then go to Algiers and go back to take Timbuktu. BUILD A TOWN HALL or else all merchants will have one less finance. Set up basic things and then make grain exchange. Create merchants. profit.

[@ashina2146]

Merchant Buildings are just in short run because they will give like less than 100 Florins. but it will increase every turn.

[@PyrrhicPax]

WHAT? I been playing TWM2 for YEARS and I didn't know about the Papal Election Diplomacy! Mind Blown Melkor!

[@PyrrhicPax]

I also didn't know about shift+speed. Itll come in handy when in the thick of a battle (u can argue pausing is cheating hey hey AI can control their whole army at once we cant)

[@victoriaveritatis5859]

Because you don't listen to the advisor

[@RJALEXANDER777]

I always found brute forcing Papal politics to be effective. The more priests (specifically bishops) you have, the more likely you are to have them become cardinals. And the more cardinals you have in Rome, the more likely you are for them to become Pope. This snowballs as the game goes on, so by the late game you hold a veritable monopoly over church politics. A few bribes (send money/tributes as a gift to the Papal States), and a military alliance for good measure, and it makes excommunication practically impossible. That's all without knowing that you could directly request other nations to vote for you.

[@craigmason9893]

@@victoriaveritatis5859 dude fuck the adviser

[@wallace8637]

I was mind blown too

[@sineupp]

One tip that would make pikes OP, especially for holding city gates/ streets or bridges. You know how pikes will drop their polearms and switch to swords when units, especially infantry, get too close? You can prevent that easily. Just place another melee unit right on top of the pikemen, but slighly ahead of them, preferably two ranks of infantry should be in front of the pikemen. Now when you put your pike unit in guard mode, they will lower their pikes on top of the unit covering them, and will still use their pikes to fight while the melee infantry are keeping enemy units from getting in contact with the pikemen. Once the battle line has been established, you can release the pikes from guard mode to have them use the pikes more aggressively and kill faster. If they start advancing and ruin their formation, just take them out of pike wall and reform them behind the melee inf, back in pike wall, guard mode, rinse and repeat. This trick works best with heavy infantry, but even trash militia can hold a position forever with the pikes covering them.

[@sineupp]

@alvi syahri love how he cheers his pikemen on lol. This works too, but you don't always have two pike units on hand. Plus if you use regular infanty, who are better equipped for melee than the unarmoured pikes, you'll lose fewer men in total, and you can use your pike units to cover a wider line by not doubling them up. TLDR The method in the video makes your pikes kill faster in exchange for less coverage and more losses on your side. Both are viable tho.

[@The_Custos]

How good are Aventuros pikes?

[@mikeangelo2886]

...so, you pretty much invented tercio formation :D tercio means "one of the third", and refers to combined forces of musketmen, pikemen, and, often forgotten, the swordsmen. Most of the conquistadors during Cortez expedition were actually not musktemen but armed with swords and round metal shields called "rodela".

[@KasumiRINA]

Another huge one: when your units don't do what you want, mash backspace/stop button. ONLY way to reliable charge multiple times as cavalry that switched to swords when closing up. You can even see them swap back to lances after you press backspace. Then aim them and charge repeatedly. Another thing is lining them up first, stopping, and THEN double right clicking opponent - guarantees they will charge like lancers instead of running up and fighting in melee. Follow that by retreating, backspace, charge again. Finally, you can single right click to attack AND when they close, press R or run button, and they will charge, this is great for shock infantry. Saves their fatigue instead of charging from afar too.

[@Confessor]

Pikes are a weird element to the game. They break formation way too easily, but I've found one way to counteract this (working best in sieges or outnumbered defence in the field) is to keep them roughly 4 ranks deep and keep a second similar unit behind it. Once the first one drops their pikes you have the unit behind them move forward and attack the unit that's engaged with the first. They'll eventually push back the attackers and your front unit will switch back to pikes

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

In RTW peasants were mostly useful to transfer population from one city to another, for quick development if you already own some large cities.

[@lowcost549]

Was doing it in rome too. I wonder why they ddnt pass it here both peasants and any military units is basically civilians when disbanded

[@Duke_of_Lorraine]

@@lowcost549 too powerful of an exploit to rush the growth of cities.

[@Laucron]

​@@lowcost549figure it's either got to do with it being cheesy or with peasants being more tied to the land during medieval times

[@LGC8373]

04:45 It's not a chet. It's logical - the land armies use boats to cross the water, but when there are histile fleets in the area u can't use a boat to cross the water, except if you are chuck norris...

[@zord1352]

8. Press Alt+attack to use secoundary wepons. Its super usefull for archers to engage with some extra troops and especially horse archers when you are flankin/anvillin

[@blaisevillaume2225]

I bought this game in 2007 and have beat it a lot...but up until this moment my dumb ass thought you just had to make them fire all their arrows.

[@zord1352]

@@blaisevillaume2225 It was the same with me for a long time. I just found this info 2 years ago! Oh, and not to forget! If you like Rome also, you can use the same with Roman infantry to not to throw the pillums in charge :)

[@danielshagman]

372 hours on Steam. And this tidbit is the only thing I've learnt from this video. Thank you, Zord. :)

[@Randomstuffs261]

8. If Melkor is at the other side of the bridge battle, you are screwed

[@MelkorGG]

XD

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

What if I am B R I D G E

[@Randomstuffs261]

@@TheDrumstickEmpire Then you should prepare for total war players who love to start battles on you

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

Randomstuffs216 I will simply collapse hence no one vin

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

Win*

[@ion_force]

That thing about papal diplomacy has blown my mind. I might even reinstall. Did you know that in empire you can shift right click your units to give them a sequence of orders for more precise movement? Or that toggling the fire at will button will make your men actually occupy the canons on the wall if they are just standing around being useless?

[@geminiblue6677]

After all these years, the graphics and animations still look good. I only wished it had better AI

[@janpiet1530]

Lots of mods out there to improve all of vanilla.

[@Volkaer]

The non-defensive pike wall is just as useful though - they will still lower their pikes when an enemy gets in range, and it's also where they will shift out of position to "poke thrust" at the enemy (providing they have a gap). Basically you have two units of pikemen, one directly behind the other (so the first row of the second unit is one or two rows behind and into the front unit). Turn defense on for the unit in the front, and keep it off for the unit in the back, and you would see some pretty interesting results (providing the enemy isn't overwhelming them with a dozen units of their own) :) Awesome video though - didn't know about half of these. Though I admit I ended up modding the gunpowder units as I found them unusable (other than hand gunners - as they actually workeD)

[@wewliusevola]

Number 5 is something i have done the entire game now. Playing as England pretending to be the Empire controlling Gibraltar hah!

[@jeromydoerksen2603]

Wow, that first one blew me away. 10+ years playing this game and still learning new stuff about it. Another reason why M2 is my favourite game ever! Thanks for all the great advice!

[@hasameli1083]

I know its a year old video on an old game, but here is mine; A Family member has a chance to get a trait if he sits inside a settlement with an appropriate building. Some of them are good and some of them are bad like Womanizer, gambler, Alcholic etc. and you can lower the chance of your family member to get those negative (except gambler) traits by simply taking them and walking them around the campaign map a bit. Because those negative traits usually coded with conditions such as: "At the end of any turn, if a general is in a settlement with a brothel or better and has 100% of his movement points remaining, he gains a point of Drink with 5% probability, plus an additional chance at 5% probability if that building is a pleasure palace. "

[@danielrobertson2154]

After over 3000hrs game time i finally learned you can merge depleted units together.instead of having an army of 26 spears and 34 spears you can drag the units together on the campaign map and replenish their numbers......yeah... Took me a couple years lol

[@Nikola-uo8xd]

You can also press M to auto merge all units

[@danielrobertson2154]

@@Nikola-uo8xd damn... You know, thinking back i think i have actually done that by accident a long timr ago but i thought i had deleted half my army and refrained from touching the keyboard further lmfao

[@jackdonith]

That's actually how I taught my nephew to add numbers...And subtract, I mean. If you have 26 spears and 52 spears, but the full unit has 60, you'll have 18 left.

[@bogaziciliceohaluk]

omg this just saved my life

[@bandiiit1573]

Ya but don't do this if your units have experience as in most cases it will get rid of it if you merge with a unit with no experience just retrain units with good experience

[@PyrrhicPax]

I wanna add an extra point to blocking water crossing with ships for the purpose of fighting crusading armies. AI DONT lose crusader troops to desertion. So, forcing the AI to go around wont cause desertion like it would for the player, but it does buy an extra 10 or 20 turns since the AI crusades seem to rarely use fleets to sail the holy lands (tho I wish they would as it would make Crusades much more dynamic)

[@blaisevillaume2225]

I bought this game in 2007 and the first one I learned so long ago that I forgot about it. The pike mechanics are news to me. I've never really used pikemen in the past but I just recently finished a game as HRE and couldn't see why my pikemen kept getting shredded. Mongols and Timurids would have been too easy if I would've had my pikers up to snuff. OH AND FIRE BY RANK! I thought gunpowder units were useful, I just figured gunpowder units weren't meant to be too powerful. I wonder if it says anything about that in the game manual.

[@nehukybis]

Narrow crossing arrows: you can also set up the "sound toll" in Denmark. Block the Swedish end with one ship and wait for the AI to try to send a merchant through. Then block the Jutland end, trapping the merchant on one of the islands. If it's a very experienced merchant watch it grow old and die without getting to acquire all your assets in Scandinavia. If it's an inexperienced unit, dispatch a merchant who is near retirement age to bankrupt him.

[@MrDew335]

Yo thanksfor the pike tip. I thought they were broken, but now looking back on those greek hoplites.......

[@BRDScorpion]

I played a bit total war back in a the day and i did not noticed most of these options thank you very much for pointing them out, its a great learning series for everyone !

[@CollinBuckman]

The fire by ranks for gunpower units is also historically accurate for the pike and shot period, down to them performing countermarch so the front rank moves to the back and the second rank shoots.

[@theprezydent6250]

Played the game for hundreds of hours and never knew some of these Amazing video!!!! I remember when you had 100 subs

[@ashina2146]

Pikemen Pike wall + Defense is for defensive line, killing less but can hold the line Pike Wall only will rack up many kills but the formation will broke at some point, as they will move forward.

[@krystofcisar469]

theres also thing which u can use to micro your pikes. Not sure if its a glitch or feature, anyway its about clicking them to attack and stopping them with backspace repeatedly - they will hold the line and can thrust all together.

[@olekjaer86]

A million thank for this- it surprisingly hard finding good advice on TW basics .

[@ARojas-dg2ce]

Me, a spanish speaker: *preferati* This guy: pehfehwwerawtii Nice video

[@7777-z7p]

Just a "heads up" if you will, the spear wall thing has drawbacks. Units will attack less often, wont advance on the enemy, and only hold their spears out until their first line takes casualties. And switching out of it causes the soldiers in the back rows to raise their spears and the front rank to stop crouching. It does hold the enemy in place, though. This can be useful if you have another pikemen, an infantry, or even an arquebus unit inside of the pikeman.

[@SGWeber]

Good points. I used to put infantry inside the pikes, but I'm going to start trying arquebusiers. Sounds pretty effective, something like a Spanish tercio

[@brianmayabella5992]

Thats why pikemen is better at defensive sieges but very bad at offensive they better hold ladders

[@zaatas]

The problem with pike units is even if they are set in formation properly they will automatically pull out of it once they engage. Just look at this video, they immediately drop out of it when they are engaged. The only way to use them is to overlap them when they are set to 3 men deep. Use 3 units, stack one unit into the other unit but one line of men back, and repeat. And it has to be a bridge or a gate to really be worth it. Basically a useless unit because they nerfed the shit out of them compared to the previous game where a phalanx would actually be very strong from the front and would be nearly impossible to break from the front if you did the same type of unit stacking. Just use heavy spearmen, you get them earlier so you end up with more experienced units, they are easier to retrain, they are more mobile, they charge a line better, hold a line without having to constantly micromanage them, they work against cavalry nearly as good, schiltrom works nearly as good in chokepoints, and they actually have the armor and shield rating to withstand range attacks without crumbling into a pile of corpses.

[@febbra2]

The shift+LMB is the best thing that's happened to me this year, thanks MELKOR!

[@peternope165]

Here's another : To make pikemen actually fight with their pikes in stead of pulling swords, you have to hit "Stop" and "Attack" the enemy facing the pikes ASAP. This works primarily with enemy charges, might work with already combat-engaged units.

[@m.b.5198]

I started this series on M2, played it nonstop. Then, I came across Crusader kings 2, and oh boy, the complexity of the game made me loose interest in TW in general, but yet, I miss the epic battles. I’m addicted now, and I want to play both for complexity and the epic battles ): Thanks for the vid and the tips btw.❤️

[@andybenson2971]

For the fourth one, you should also notice the pikes have no real effect on the charging infantry, because they are really only useful for knocking down calvary.

[@sineupp]

They wont kill infantry on impact like they do with cav, but if you put them in a formation that's three ranks deep, they can bog down or completely nullify an infantry charge with their pikes. They can even slaughter infantry in melee if you use the tip I put in the comments (sort by newest first).

[@casey8153]

@melkor an easy fix for Gunpowder units, even with the super slow fire by rank (They still reload both ranks before restarting) Just go into the units folder and delete the trait Gunpowder_unit or something like that on the unit, and makes em all fire at once! which makes them super affective! It's almost a requirement if playing mods like OG Call of Warhammer.

[@AudieHolland]

DAMMIT that 'papal election diplomacy thing' is the most useful in this game and I never knew about it untill now.

[@lennydale92]

I honestly didn't know any of these. The other day I also found out that an inquisator can get your character when they are in a ship if they are close to the shore, Probably works the same for assassins!

[@codyjensenleague]

My mind was blown away by these, thankyou so much. This game is a childhood game of mine that I truly love, because I am a fan of war and armies till now. Back to playing it again, properly this time.

[@pythonprojectsforwindows6795]

Ship combat Not used by AI, when the AI attacks your fleet, there is no option to withdraw, that's normal, However, when an AI ally attacks an AI fleet you have the option to withdraw (and not goto war) Forced march Not used by AI, when your army doesn't have enough movement to besiege a town/castle, send your general or cavalry ahead and your infantry can merge with the besiegers (effectively gaining more movement) Halt retreating Never used by AI, when you lose a battle and your army routs, you can hit the backspace key to stop the rout (on the campaign map and your army stays in unfriendly territory) Protect priests from inquisitors Leave your priests in towns/castles

[@Ryan-ug8pr]

Been playing my whole life.. Did not know about the preferati diplomacy or the shift + timespeed. Big thanks

[@joejosa8985]

Love how the papacy diplomacy encourages good diplomacy between nations to help elections. Love it.

[@andrewp8284]

I discovered the cardinal vote diplomacy like last year, despite having the game for many years. I didn’t think about blocking straits with boats. It kind of makes sense though, as it would stop the enemy from ferrying over troops. Also didn’t know about the pike wall!

[@IvanDjuric300]

Thanks for the vid man. Enjoyed it. Im currently playing the game. Ive played this game on and off for ever it seems. Love it. Its the best in the series.

[@charliesierra6919]

Thanks for the great tips here! Learned a couple of new ones so thanks again mate!

[@malingmann]

I did not know the speed-control! And controlling the crossing-points with ships is a legit tactic.

[@TheDeadbone1961]

Cripes! Playing since release: never knew why my pikemen wouldn't actually form a wall. And very handy tip on musketmen/firearms shooting in ranks - did not know that. Subscribed :)

[@thatguy4084]

Yeah, I had to spend a lot of battles going “you have pikes, the historical META! Why are you dying? They shouldn’t even be able to touch you!” Before I read a Reddit post about it

[@Oscar_Lasco]

4:57 About n.6, let's add that it can be also applied to medieval 2 mods like third age. Thanks again for the tips!

[@Midironica]

You don't actually have to click the hold ground/defensive formation button for pikes to work. They'll lower their pikes automatically when enemies get close. It does help prevent the pike lines from moving around once combat has started. And I don't know what you're talking about in regards to the merchant wharf/warehouse line of buildings. Docks give you a slight increase in trade and allow better ships to be built but warehouses give you more merchant fleets i.e. you can export to more places. They are one of the FIRST buildings to build in any decent trade city. Stockholm's income can increase by 1000 with just the first level of the merchant's wharf because it'll start trading with Thorn and Stettin, doubling its sea trade income.

[@johnnyd3387]

I did not know many if not all these things. Extraordinary! Thank you Melkor.

[@danswarroom9576]

Thanks for making these videos, there was actually a lot I didn't know lol especially the ones about the musketeers and the pikemen

[@LudietHistoria]

I still remember when you had 1k subs man, from 2k to 9k you steamrolled it! How did you do it?

[@MelkorGG]

Over 4.5 Long Years of regular uploads. : ) 3 Years getting mostly zero views, but learning. Then the last year and a half of taking what I learnt and succeeding with it.

[@LudietHistoria]

@@MelkorGG i know the period of 4.5 years, been with you for that time. Just shocked how fast you've grown last year man, can't be just quality of videos, they were good before also

[@MachinegunnerMugZ]

As far as I remember Merchant's Wharf increases Sea Trade by 33%. Kinda easy to check if it worth building it, opening trade screen of a settlement.

[@sethleoric2598]

Ship blocking becomes very useful very late in the game whdn you're a western/Catholic kingdom with access to Carracks and you want to expand east. I use it as well as the Papal States territory wall thing to contain both Mongols and Timurids to parts of the map.

[@darkushippotoxotai9536]

I really think gunpowder units' main purpose was nipped in the bud in this game. The fact that arrows are much less convenient to carry is hardly a factor in the game. Both units have, per my experience , roughly the same ammo. cap. And the whole mechanic about knight armour being impenetrable by bows and unreliably damagable by crossbows is untouched by the game. It would make the gunpowders more desirable and seriously, who doesn't want to see the Mongols pull their hair out in frustration as they see the 10000th arrow bounce off off the knightly cuirass ?

[@eugenefrolov1396]

The Mongols will screw in skirmish all but knights, and then they will come to screw the knights in close combat. Besides, nomad cavalry is not about fair fight, its about speed, denying the area and exhausting the enemy. There is a reason why gunpowder did not start to dominate the field of battle until 17th century. So in my opinion, the developers did it great, gaving gunsmen inflicting fear effect, but making them useless without standard armoured melee units.

[@unissay3530]

This is insane I didn't know most of this stuff like the diplomacy thing and all the battles features

[@coreymicallef365]

The usefulness of the merchant's wharf and subsequent buildings depends on the city in question and your present situation. If a city can easily have access to enough other settlements to trade with for the additional maritime trade routes to be used then it's valuable (in most cities though the max potential maratime trade routes is well below 6, the max number you get from fully upgraded shipyards and merchant wharfs, but the places that can trade that much are going to be potentially very valuable, Stockholm's one of those I think), if not then you're going to max out your trade before you finish all of the shipyards and merchant wharf building and there'll be no more trade income added after that. however if you have the money just sitting there and the city can't upgrade to the next level yet to build a bigger shipyard and you've built everything else you want to build in that city then there's very little harm in adding the merchant wharf building to open up those trade route earlier than you otherwise would have to gain the immediate boost in income at the expense of still needing to build the shipyard later to get larger ships.

[@gandalfthewhite2809]

Amazing man u r helping us discovering some mysterious features. Thank you Just one thing i hope that someone find it is how to change the faction heir

[@robertbloom7279]

I have a Venician game right now where I'm building a ton of warehouses bc they are adding 1000+ income (Antioch, Constantinople, and Nicaea were huge boosts). I've been trying to figure it out, the economy in this game is quite weird bc, conversely, Venice is making >2000/turn and has very little in trade income, it doesn't even have little boats or carts coming to and from the city, no idea why. I have merchant banks in those cities, which amplifies the trade income, but take a second look at warehouses. They are making me bank right now. My territories are essentially the Western Roman Empire plus North Africa and am currently conquering the Iberian Peninsula with Constantinople as my capital.

[@MsSirAndy]

I didn't knew for pikes (it was always very strange why they don't have pikes turned down despite the option was clearly active, and then when I put today on guard mode I wondered 'OH JESUS') I didn't knew for gunpowder unit skirmish trick to allow them fire in ranks, as well

[@olic3270]

That path you can block with a ship reminds me of an early Gibraltar. Whoever controls that, decides who passes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean/Bay of Biscay and vice versa.

[@rm4164]

Um, 8th thing that was right in front of you all the time you described 7, staring you in the face: Skirmish-mode shooting involves ONLY the 1st 2 ranks; it's not, "then the next line, then the next line, and so on"; watch again and you'll see it for yourself. Off-Skirmish Reforming is similarly annoying: after all that silly-cuckoo-clock-tin-soldier-marching, only the front rank fires. In either mode, deploy gunners only 2 ranks deep if you want all of your guns to operate at %100 potential.

[@sligacheese6470]

Here is a subscriber ❤love this game.

[@martinwalshe5657]

I'm a total war fanatic especially the Rome version , I play medieval now and again so next time I'll try this ,thanks

[@spennybeastlyy]

Brooooo, I got like 7-8k hours and some of these were completely new to me! hahaha big thanks dude!!

[@kVendett]

i've played this game since realease, just realised the pikeman def stance lul

[@RJALEXANDER777]

I've tried to get "Tercios" (mixing muskets in with pikemen) to work before, but they just don't seem to, even with this new knowledge. Each unit seems to disrupt the other. Even with the defensive wall the pikemen seem ineffective against holding enemy infantry out. Reason being that having units inside the "phalanx" forces the majority of them into a side-step animation where the AI tries to re-position them. Meaning they aren't actually "set up" when the enemy charges them. And the musketeers have to be stationed further ahead of the pikemen than is ideal in order to get them to fire. Otherwise they refuse to shoot. And even then you only get the front rank firing this way. With the rank cycling style of shooting the pikemen get in the way, stopping the next rank from coming forward quickly enough to be relevant. And with the skirmish shooting mode they obviously run away when the enemy gets close, thereby ruining the Tercio either way. Also, because the enemy has a knack of getting inside the pike wall during the fight (due to the problems I've already mentioned), the gunners enter close quarters mode soon as the enemy touch them, so it's not like you can get them to keep shooting even if the stand and shoot animation was available outside of skirmish mode. I think they realised how stupidly powerful they made pikes in the original Rome, but they went too far nerfing them in Medieval 2. Making the weapon that dominated the battlefield (in combination with the musket) a joke. If I ever modded this game I'd make musketeers, cannon and pikemen far more powerful, but make them far more expensive in order to balance things out. Meaning you needed a late game economy in order to support armies of them. But once you had those armies they'd be extremely effective against older style ones.

[@sineupp]

Have you tried putting melee infantry inside the pike formation? I explained it in more detail in another comment. (Sort by newest)

[@RJALEXANDER777]

@@sineupp Haven't tried that, no. Tercios often included a line of swordsmen historically, so that would be interesting to see if it works.

[@D00Rb3LL]

I love medieval 2 but damn there are so many life changing things that the game doesn't tell you

[@SimonAshworthWood]

Are you a Catholic faction and want an easy way to make deals with lots of other Catholic factions early in the game? Then kill the current Pope. Follow me for more pro gaming tips.😎

[@chainz983]

even turning on the stand guard button on pikemen, ur pikes still switch from their pikes to swords and essentially get annihilated

[@TheAvidian]

If you set the gunpowder units in 2 man lines rather than 3+ blocks, they spend less time reloading

[@shaheer_ghazi]

MA I really like this series of 10 things I wish I knew.

[@schotti7813]

The thing with the gunpowder units was new for me! 😨

[@yourtotalwarmaster3635]

Holy shit this was a good one. I learned quite a few things

[@dominikpesut7498]

As far as I'm aware, Merchant's Wharf chain is bugged in the Steam version, while on the disc version it's a money factory. I know, since I'm playing on the disc version. You can check this in the settlement details.

[@parengthonycastillo4272]

This totally saved me. Thank you and I gave a thumbs up!

[@emmaselmeci966]

Thanks, this video turned out to be surprisingly useful :)

[@HUNTERKILLER20001]

Blocking straits with a fleet is the oldest trick in warfare, not a cheat or an exploit.

[@PiperTMTotalWar]

Another good tip is to put all missile troops into guard mode. It means they won't stop firing if the enemy engages them in hand to hand combat.

[@zaatas]

Or when they are on a wall. If they do stop firing, you just tell them to fire again and again until they finally listen. Best way to fight on the walls is with the hybrid melee/archer units like this.

[@HD-np7eb]

Also there is a secret unit in game as Elephant Rocketeer

[@GoFartherPodcast]

Hey brother, have you played Thrones of Brittania? Any thoughts or vids in the future?? Love your channel :)

[@Tonixxy]

I was killing all oposing cardinals all this time lol...

[@Locklear117491]

F1 is a key in the original medieval in order to see your unit stats ^^

[@Locklear117491]

I grew up playing the fuck out of it, im uploading a spanish campaign on it with XL mod soon ^^ which is pretty much stainless steel for medieval on steroids

[@nicolasbouchard6331]

For firearm line fire is extremely good to hold a position. Put ur spear men/infantry rigth behind the fire line. Use arrowmen to give constant fire onto enemy lines. Guns aren't really effective apart from dealing alot of fear and good damage for its awful firerate.

[@morpheusgreene2704]

massed guns is inherently better than massed arrows though. as long as your economy can handle it, thats the best way to commit instant mass slaughter in medieval 2.

[@ZecaPinto1]

I allways put my units in guard mode. Even when attacking i use guard mode because even if my units get dispersed they will try keep the formation making them more organized and not subject to shock morale. Guard Mode is a very basic tactic which i can understand why you would not use it though let me warn you that I won many battles in which i was heavily outnumbered thanks to proper terrain and unit use and essentialy the guard mode which allowed a bit more time to make rear attacks and win the battles. And the matter of the pikemen... Cmon... Thats prety basic. they are pikemen it is supposed to use them in guard mode if you want them standing in pike wall formation. Otherwise they will only assume formation when in contact with the enemy

[@fishyfudfelix6124]

Hey Melkor you ever thought about doing mod tutorials? lot of great mods out there and alot of them are very daunting to install like the divide and conquer mod

[@ryanw2032]

I always hated pikes in MTW2 compared to the phalanx in RTW... Now I'm excited to test the defensive mode trick in this video.

[@zaatas]

They still suck, they will drop formation as soon as the front line gets touched. You need to overlap units for them to keep the pikes down reliably, and then its really only good for choke points because you are making your line shorter, or stopping another unit that could be used to flank the side and back of the line.

[@ryanw2032]

@@zaatas Yeah, that's what I found out too. Bummer.

[@AudieHolland]

I've mentioned this a few times in other videos but I'll mention it again: creating peasants in Rome Total War improve public order not because they are great garrisson troops but because creating peasant units lowers the city population. It's the best solution for controlling population levels in big cities and boosting population growth in newly conquered settlements. Set up a chain of peasant units to the frontier area and disband them in the new settlements. Kind of 'reverse enslaving.'

[@9822703]

does that work in medieval 2?

[@AudieHolland]

@@9822703 I don't think so. Never tried it because I need decent troops more than to move people around.

[@GoFartherPodcast]

I love you vids, bro!

[@Natedawg1998]

So, can someone explain to me how merchant wharfs are bugged, and yet building one in my Byz game in Constantinople makes an extra 800 a turn from trade? I am very confused now

[@MelkorGG]

It is bugged in that it does not open up more trade routes, which it says. But it still does provide money. I don't know exactly how it works, I'm just going off the info of some modders.

[@Rynewulf]

Probably the Increase In Tradeable Goods, either giving more or more value to your trade (but the port trade routes part is bugged)

[@RJALEXANDER777]

Do ports still work like they did in Rome? In Rome you had to build port, shipyard and dockyard to increase the number of trade routes. I know Medieval uses a lot of the same data that Rome did, maybe that's why it doesn't work as advertised?

[@Rynewulf]

@@RJALEXANDER777 Medieval 2's ports are different. They have two types: a main line (that builds ships, and adds sea trade slots) and a side line (that adds sea trade slots and increases trade goods/their value). The side line of ports is a bit bugged in vanilla Med2, and either isn't as effective as intended or is ineffective at random

[@zaatas]

Some regions get way better boosts from trade buildings, and it is worth it to max them out. Antioch, Constantinople, York, Antwerp, Bruges, Stockholm. Some places will always have low trade income even if they are on a coast. Corinth always sucks even when you convert it to a city and max it out. Cairo, and the two regions it trades by sea with suck. Its just something you pick up the more you play the game. Most coastal cities are in the middle of this range though, and I think are still worth investing in trade buildings.

[@peepeepoopoomyguy7457]

You hypnotisted me

[@raskfel555]

Phew I'm Glad i'm not the only Knuckle head playing this game lol Cheers fer the Eye Opener ;)

[@MelkorGG]

It's still the 4th most played Total War game, and that's not including Disc Version : )

[@raskfel555]

@@MelkorGG and did i have a sheite loada disks for them all :) Probs cause i is an old Fart :)

[@agonyaunt6325]

Demand cardinal votes? Hells..... that could have changed so many games i played. Unless i'm dominating its rare to get the pope.

[@jakubantala5666]

Hi. Please help switch off shaking when artillery shoots. I found few tips on the Internet but none of them works for Medieval2 TW

[@mixelplik]

Been playing and modding the game for 15 years - and never know about Demanding Cardinal Votes.

[@FlushedNoob]

F1 so helpful

[@sstt5585]

And to think such old games still have secrets which have not been found (looking at you Doom and San Andreas)

[@arnatar2086]

And there I thought you needed to research fire by rank in empire, showing that this was unknown before...