England Faction Guide: Medieval 2 Total War

[@leaderunith4l324]

Oh, So this is where Uriel Septim went to when he died

[@kainwittrig2180]

To England?

[@ChewysDynasty]

You forgot to mention that all of England’s Longbow units have armor piercing arrows. So they are actually insane against late game armored knights and infantry. It’s quite broken

[@Karagianis]

Don't forget the anti-cavalry stakes they can put down in front of their position when defending.

[@ihaterz123]

@@Karagianis perfect for defending against Mongol horsemen.

[@hannibalburgers477]

-Broken- Prefer fun

[@ericairlangga2955]

@@Karagianis super useful when placing them in front of the gates or street chokepoints in a settlement. Absolute cheese grater for cavalry

[@jarlnils435]

Yeomen Archers also have armor piercing melee weapons. Makes them actually better in melee against heavy infantry that the retinue archers.

[@davidnoble8748]

Worth noting that Armoured Swordsmen have a much lower upkeep cost than Dismounted Feudal Knights, which really puts them as one of the best heavy infantry in the game.

[@hardywatkins7737]

Never noticed but you're right. Dismounted feudal knights = 225 upkeep, Armoured swordsmen = 150 upkeep. Those Irish 'Muire' however have an upkeep of 60 and they do 14 damage but not quite as good armour/defence.

[@logicalrat]

As someone just getting into medieval 2, this helps a lot. You should do quick videos on how to do the crusades, merchants, religion, and sailing to America

[@lugotorix6173]

Cole Morgan That's a good idea actually, I'll definitely do that at some point!

[@skyrim654]

+1 to cole morgans suggestion

[@blubbfisch98]

I would have never imagined finding an active community. I played this game so many years ago, it's crazy.

[@lugotorix6173]

yess its amazing, a testament to what an awesome game this is!

[@midshipman8654]

Lugotorix thank you so much for these videos! i got med ii partially for the mods, but im enjoying vanilla just as much, its great there is still some recent stuff about this! also, idk did you confuse high and late? isnt high mid game not end game?

[@MrJabbothehut]

This is the best total war game imo. It has so much sould and freedom to it and is built as a fun game. Newer ones are stat multiplier stacks and punish players for playing differently to what the devs intended.

[@willlastnameguy8329]

@@midshipman8654 Yes, high period is mid game. He gets it wrong this entire series. But I don't hold that against him, it's a confusing title

[@jackdaone6469]

The way I handle France in the beginning is to marry my starting Princess to their faction heir. That keeps France out of my hair while I consolidate my power in the Isles by eliminating the Scots turning the Isles into my money factory, as the only castle on the Isles worth keeping is Nottingham, anyway.

[@RocketHarry865]

York, Rennes and Bruges should be your first main targets. Seizing York gives you a buffer zone against Scotland. Rennes and Burges give you better economy. Once you have control of these region you should want to take Carnarvon and if Scotland hasn't taken it then try to take Dublin as Ireland has Silver Mines

[@Darkdaej]

Sounds about right. I'd take Antwerp instead of Rennes. Both cities can back each other up easily if besieged and help form a good naval trade hub with London early on, especially if you go for a Merchant's guild in London once you get the stone walls. Plus, while Rennes will likely end up a strong defensive position for France, the AI doesn't develop it because it's too isolated from Paris/Rheims which they'll prioritize (for good reason). Tip: Having Bruges/Antwerp turns Antwerp into the siege capital of the world. HRE/Denmark will constantly spam armies on it. Fill it with longbows and laugh at the piles of corpses at your walls.

[@stoyanb.1668]

You can just rush the scots and wipe them out quicky. Its the best thing to do honestly.

[@jackdaone6469]

Nah. First objective as England is to wipe out the Scots first chance you get. That leaves you with a secure homebase to strike out from, with only Portugal being a real threat to you due to their naval prowess and penchant for landing troops near your vulnerable settlements if you go to war with them. And that’s easily mitigated by either an alliance with them or just letting the Moors and Spanish wipe them out, which tends to happen by about midgame.

[@snowisthebestweather]

Ballistae are really handy in Medieval 2, at least as a Catholic faction. Good way to attack other Catholics without worrying about the Pope threatening excommunication, since you can attack on the same turn you besiege the settlement.

[@override83]

That's good to know. Thanks. Going to use that in my strategy next time I play. I always hated it when a faction has one or two settlements left, and the pope threatens your faction if you don't stop attacking your "fellow Christians."

[@ShackleYT]

they're also really handy for defense, since they have the ability to pierce through people. no not armor, actual people. you set them up at the end of the main road leading to the gatehouse and wait for the enemy to breach your gate, then you open fire with ballistae and watch them melt with 2 shots costing them like 10 or 20 soldiers. and it gets even more busted with the catapults and trebuchet.

[@jarlnils435]

Or you just siege the enemy until they make a sally out. Than, they opened the battle and get excommunicated.

[@snowisthebestweather]

@@jarlnils435 It's been a long time since I played vanilla med 2, but I want to say that simply maintaining the siege makes the pope mad and can get you excommunicated. In any case, sieging a settlement out takes a long time.

[@sligacheese6470]

What about assassins. Does the pope notice assassinations?

[@RocketHarry865]

English Knights are actually better than you think as they have axes which allows them to fight other knightly cavalry in melee as axes allow them to penetrate armour.

[@jarlnils435]

Those are no ordinary axes. They are poleaxes. They are polearms, with spike, hammer and axe, metal plated grip and even a handguard. The other end has a spike, too. You can use them to stab, hack or to happer down the enemy. In Germany it is known as Mordaxt, murder axe. It was a feared weapon in the hand of knights in full plate armor.

[@ivanvoloder8114]

​@@jarlnils435He is talking about English Knights (cavalary) not the dismounted English Knights. English Knights have axes as a side arm.

[@hardywatkins7737]

Yeah the English Knights are strong units.

[@Karagianis]

One thing about the levee spears and spear militias is they have a lot of upgrade potential, they can stay relevant for longer than you'd think if upgraded to heavy mail armour.

[@zorantanasic5828]

With enough of English longbowman you can make every battle look like Agincourt

[@dam11232]

I use 5 units of longbows

[@robwright1286]

@@dam11232 Gotta be at least six for me

[@dazhibernian]

14 years old and still an amazing game.

[@Darkdaej]

Two words: Yeoman Archers. Damn are these things OP, especially for city defense... Well, given how much of a joke Vanilla AI is when they attack your cities (being complete arrow fodder), it makes sense...

[@michaelaburns734]

You can set up wooden spikes up to stop cavalry charges.

[@jackdaone6469]

I suck at running sieges. I try to set fire to the enemy siege equipment and it never succeeds. Where am I going wrong?

[@Darkdaej]

@@jackdaone6469 Well the AI siege units get a major boost to their resistance to fire. Best thing to do is to have multiple archer units on the walls with fire arrows, preferably units better than peasantry. having ballista towers is also a must. They're excellent at taking out rams by sheer force if they don't catch fire first. You can't do much against ladders except kill as many soldiers as you can before they get to the wall. As for enemy catapults, ballistae and trebuchets...keep a few units of fast (and expendable) cavalry and rush them out the gate as soon as the battle begins. The moment you hit their siege units, their entire army will move in. wipe out their siege units as fast as you can and if possible, pull back your cavalry on their flanks and wait for them to commit to your walls. Hit their ladders and siege towers with them before they reach their targets. Those cavalry units will most likely be destroyed but the chaos they cause is more than worth their loss. I'll usually keep 4-6 archer units in a city garrison along with armoured swordsmen and sergeant spearmen (the heavier, the better) to hold the gate and walls. If you have Dismounted English Knights, keep them back in case they breach the walls. Keep a unit of archers covered by spearmen on the walls and retreat them when the enemy siege towers or ladders lock on the wall. if you're lucky enough to be defending a U-shaped wall you can pick off 40% of the enemy infantry with your archers and ballista towers in the first few minutes, then move them away from the surviving towers and ladders and send them back to your city center. Those that aren't at risk of enemy attack on the walls can stay there and keep firing. Their cavalry and general will stay back and watch the massacre. If you have the men, sortie and wipe them out. If not, just speed up the gameplay to maximum and wait for the timer to count down to zero or for them to miraculously withdraw (happens very rarely)

[@baldrickthedungspreader3107]

As England you should also invest a lot in your navy early on because if you don’t fractions like Denmark will be a major problem because they tend to build a navy too

[@jarlnils435]

Don't see a problem. Have a good army at Nottingham for defense. England has land on the continent from the start. Just attack the danes from the land route.

[@alfiegleed189]

Also I would say personally ensure that the British provinces are towns rather than castles as you will have better income, and you dont need the recruitment benefits of castles anyway there.

[@lucastegers]

the danes might come over

[@alfiegleed189]

Luca Stegers good point but i found personally that if you had taken bruge or antwerp they tend to focus all their energies on taking those, at least in my experience.

[@lucastegers]

Antwerp is a target for both the HRE and the Danes. Playing with England on VH-VH makes it really difficult to aim for both York and Caernarvon with the army in England. And Rennes, Bruges and desired Antwerp with the army in Caen. And the English economy at the start is rubbish compared to France and the HRE with the landtrade and larger settlements

[@diddlydoodlywalrus6167]

I'd keep Nottingham as a castle though. For some reason, Portugal really hates England in vanilla Medieval 2 TW. And I've found full stack Portuguese armies attacking Dublin to be quite an issue. Also, France is quite aggressive in sending troops over the channel. (especially if they get ahold of Bruge)

[@RocketHarry865]

@@diddlydoodlywalrus6167 Ironic that England and Portugal has a long history of being allies with the earliest treaty was the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373

[@BarefootLorrie]

I have found that France can be persuaded to give you angers in exchange for an alliance, trade rights and marriage to your princess, I also exchange map information in the same transaction. This works well if you’re focus is on consolidating the British isles.

[@paulalex19]

For whatever reason, Armored Sergeants are not recruitable for England in the campaign :/

[@skyrim654]

Yeah. Never made sense to me. Especially since you use them in a tutorial mission.

[@jackdaone6469]

Yeah. Really sucks, too, because the lack of pikes means that Longbow stakes and Levy Spears are England’s only anti-cav measures.

[@marianmarkovic5881]

I think i used mainly Armoured Swordsmen as core, levy spearman as anitcharge and whatever best archers i had att(littlw green man is exception half unit size, half the fun) if u upgrade armor Armoured Swordsmen are defacto dismounted knights while having cheaper upkeep also as england is easy to get Swordsmith's Guild. af far as "weak calwary" goes just go for templars or Hospitallier.

[@jackdaone6469]

Marián Markovič Yeah. As much of a bad rep English cav gets, it’s still highly effective. Especially English Knights, because their cavalry axes makes them effective in a prolonged melee due to their armor piercing ability.

[@tylermcneeley3136]

@@marianmarkovic5881 I prefer using Spear Militia since they're basically the same as Levy Spearmen, but they get free upkeep in cities.

[@garymcivor7696]

This game is still so good, I find myself coming back few times a year

[@4everanarsenalfan]

It annoying that as England you can’t have armoured Sergeants/ Sergeant Spearmen in campaign for some reason

[@benerdick_cumberbiatch]

It felt the same for years. But a few days ago I finally moded the game so that I could recruit them on campaign. Any unit that is available in custom battles can be modded onto the campaign far easier than adding a unit from a different faction, because the image and model files are already assigned to your faction. You don't need to download any programs, if you have the steam version you can use the unpacker and mod them onto the campaign without much effort. It seems daunting but in the end it was easy.

[@ajaxtelamonian5134]

Especially as so much of the infantry is so atrocious.

[@hardywatkins7737]

@@benerdick_cumberbiatch I agree it seems daunting at first but it's actually quite easy. And of course any mercenary unit can be built by any faction as long you have the troop added to a building to build it. I like to copy and paste models and textures in battle-modelsDB so i can add a faction ownership to that unit (instead of stealing the unit from a faction). It;'s also interesting to make say, 3 units out of one unit using the different UG models.

[@ironknights7196]

England no one will attack me Portugal gets a boat and sails to the British isles

[@michaellazar4855]

England is a nice faction to play. Here is what I tend to do: 1. Consolidate power on Britain and Ireland, but avoid taking out Scotland until it can be done quickly. Prolonged war with Scotland takes resources, angers the Pope, and once war with other factions happens, I find I start getting into a lot of wars at the same time. 2. Make the Pope like you. If you ally with the Pope and keep in good standing, the Pope is your best friend, sort of. Factions that attack you get dinged and sometimes excommunicated, which means free land for the taking without Papal interference. You can also get crusades against your enemies and that helps break their alliances so everyone doesn't want to kill you by turn 50. 3. Rennes, and York are the first territories I try to take. And then I try to take Wales, Inverness, and Dublin, especially if Scotland does not take it. Dublin is a tricky one to take, since I notice that Portugal likes to pester up there for some reason. 4. Taking Bruges and Antwerp or eliminating Scotland, or both. If Scotland can be taken out quickly, I will do it. Otherwise, I will focus on Bruges, and then Antwerp. These cities make bank once built up enough. One thing to note about Antwerp, the HRE likes that territory and I find myself at war with them soon after taking it. Sometimes Denmark will be aggressive here, but mostly it is the HRE. 5. If I do everything well, I can have the 7 territories of the British Isles and the four coastal territories of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I convert everything in Britain except Nottingham to towns to gain more money. I focus on population growth, building the economy, while slowly increase my military capability. I try to always build something. 6. I try to get a theologians guild and a cathedral as soon as possible. Getting this allows you to train bishops rather than priests, which have more piety. They get promoted to cardinals quickly, and I can generally get enough to control who becomes Pope later. 7. Try to build alliances strategically. I typically try to do this to the Pope, and a few factions that are near expected enemies. I try not to ally myself with factions that tend to go to war together, so I do not ally with Hungary and Poland, or Venice and Hungary. I sometimes ally with Milan, but sometimes they end up at war with the Pope. 8. Make peace for money or territory, especially if you are financially struggling, need a break from war, or a faction you don't care about that you end up at war with wants to make peace. As mentioned, Portugal likes to sniff around Ireland and will start a war, but many times will ask for peace soon after. It might be a glitch, but I can often extract 10,000 Florins from them early in the game. This stops working if you are at war with too many and they are all in alliance. 9. You will be at war with a lot of factions at some point most of the time. The trick is to be in a spot where you are making 20,000 florins per tern by the time that happens with good military units available. 10. Most games I am making decent incomes and I start building reserves by turn 100. It is important to have 100,000 to 200,000 florins in the bank when the plague hits so you can keep building and fighting when everyone else is going bankrupt. 11. If you can, prolong the plague against whoever you are fighting. You can do this by taking a spy from an infested city and going to a healthy city. You do this, it helps kill soldiers and lowers their income making them weaker when you eventually try to invade. 12. In most games, your allies will betray you, although I have had games where I have a faithful ally through out other than the Pope. The only one that stays faithful is the Pope. Try not to get into a position where the Pope will choose an enemy over you, because sometimes the Pope will ally with a lot of factions. If they ally with France too, do not initiate war with France and try to keep your standing as good or better. The Pope favors those who are in better standing and those who get attacked over those who attack.

[@hardywatkins7737]

I like tip eleven particularly but it's all good advise.

[@antonycharnock2993]

I find ballista & catapults handy for defending cities if the enemy has breached the walls. Pull your troops back to the square in stages. Keep your ballista or catapult in the square pointing in the direction of the enemy behind your troops & enjoy the flaming death(control them manually though or you'll get friendly fire!)

[@ShackleYT]

especially ballistae, point them at the gate if they get a ram up to it. wait for them to breach, and then fire. i've never seen so many people shishkababed onto a telephone pole in my life XD

[@flarek9686]

I never understood why dismounted feudal knights have 225 upkeep but armoured swordsmen on the other hand have only 150 denarii upkeep.

[@stoyanb.1668]

Ya unique to england i think. Great for defending.

[@jackdaone6469]

Because Dismounted Feudal Knights are all knights, whereas the Armored Swordsmen represent both knights as well as Men-At-Arms, which were simply professional peasant soldiers and not gentry or nobility like Knights were.

[@JakeBaldwin1]

My very first campaign was England, I took the island, then went on a crusade and took Egypt, then took morocco and moved south and was surprised to find Timbuktu. I then decided to colonize every island and Denmark. What's the strangest campaign you have ever had in M2?

[@aloffvalkyrie4001]

I've play Milan, trained tons of assassin's and kill the whole royal family of France

[@armandom.s.1844]

As Byzantium, I conquered the coast of the Adriatic and Black sea and also Poland but not the Central Balkans so I created an unholy Byzantine donut of provinces. Worst experience of my life. 10/10

[@thelightinthedark100]

It seems the only difference between the militia and levy spearman are where they are trained (city or castle) I always kept militia in citys and levys in castles so if they have loses i retrain them to be ready for future attacks.

[@zakback9937]

Found this channel to be interesting, I’ll check on more.

[@lugotorix6173]

Thank you!

[@tomasplanicka2539]

Tried England recently and finished the campaign. The war with Scotland triggered pope so much he ended up hating me for the rest of my game, Portugal decided that is a signal to colonize doublin and France got angry I am defending from Portugal so they have joined war against me.. oh and denmark stuff too

[@indieWellie]

there is a mod to fix the diplomacy so that the iberian factions in particular don't do quite such nonsensical things.

[@hannibalburgers477]

You are english, go blitz and take scots, Ally with French and get the rebel cities. (They will betray you anyway) At this moment you have to unify British isles, and Portuguese, Spanish or Danish will attack you. Accomplish naval supremacy and secure your trade routs.

[@hardywatkins7737]

Should have sent a diplomat down to Rome to bribe the pope. He wouldn't have hated you for the whole game then.

[@hardywatkins7737]

Yeah, i always try and get an army together as soon as possible to go take a settlement on the mediterranian so that if a crusade happens i don't spend ages getting there and possibly missing it altogether. It doesn't really matter if that settlement is in Spain, south of France or Italy ... as long as you can get a foothold on the Med. Florence is ideal, being next door to the pope but Milan gets there pretty quick. Same with Venice and Ancona. Trade income in the med is good too.

[@theneoclassicalgamer524]

I just had a big wtf moment when western England was invaded by Portugal and I was so confused I’d never seen it before and I almost always play England😂 I’m glad to hear it happens to others as well!

[@MikeDindu]

Take the British Isles as quickly as possible with whatever forces you can muster. Spain and Portugal like sneak up to Ireland, not immediately but you’ll almost always see one of them within the first twenty or so turns. Send a force to Carnarvon, once you’ve captured it hop over to Dublin. Have another, larger force to march north all the way through Britain. You’ll usually be able to destroy Scotland in two turns, which means the Pope shouldn’t be able to get mad at you. The key here is speed. After that mad dash through the British Isles you can now consolidate your forces, decide if you want a stay behind force to defend the homeland, and send rest of them south. Then, it’s always going to be time for war with France. France will harass you at Caen, trying to keep the peace with them is like trying to catch smoke. Hold them off at Caen if you have to, then once you’re ready to take the fight to them capture their castles at Toulouse and Angers, sometimes they’ll already have Bordeaux as well which the AI always has as a castle. With their castles gone, their war machine is gone and you’ll have them by the balls. Of course you might have to worry about a lot of the factions bordering France, but I find if I’m quick enough I can capture all these settlements by the time the AI is done putting it’s pants on. I like to give the Pope money in the hopes that I can barely avoid excommunication. England is a fun faction because very early on you could potentially have the British Isles and France. Hard campaign to lose at that point.

[@Admiralofthedeeps]

Every bloody time i play as England or Scotland, Portugal continuously sends one unit at a time to attack Caernarvon.....its infuriating, especially when i make peace with them they immediately break that peace and start sending units back there again hahaha

[@hernanreipp3321]

Diplomacy is broken in this game.

[@Admiralofthedeeps]

@@hernanreipp3321 it really is. A nation could be being attacked from all sides by my enemies and i ask to form an alliance so we can fight together and they invariably refuse for no reason haha

[@robertfisher8359]

Ar-ka-bus-ee-ers Hospital-ler Cae (the n is silent), so you got it right. Renn (es is silent here). Again, you got it right.

[@lugotorix6173]

Thanks a lot, the pronunciation is difficult sometimes!

[@robertfisher8359]

@@lugotorix6173 no problem. I kind of guessed that you got Caen right due to its significance in the Normandy campaign in WWII.

[@johnroscoe2406]

Sorry but the "n" is not silent, it's simply pronounced in a very particular fashion in French. It's very nasal or glottal and sounds like it's cut off but it's technically not.

[@robertfisher8359]

Would be true, as I've learned it, if the next word begins with a vowel (for example, Caen et Paris would be said "Caen e Paree"), but I wasn't going to get into grammar.

[@WrinkledHound]

@@robertfisher8359 I was in Caen for a few days back in 2010. The people there say it like kong as in "King Kong" but with a silent g, resulting in a word more like cone. And, they seem to be very proud of William the Conqueror whom they call William the Bastard.

[@josephc.558]

When I play England I’m like a rapper repeating every word “feudal feudal feudal KNIGHT, chivalric chivalric chivalric KNIGHT”

[@dman1988]

Probably the strongest nation in the game, if playing against AI obviously. I've seen many people talking about almost only the unit stats, but the pikes placing and armor piercing archers are incredibly useful in the campaign. Yes french late game archers and crossbowmen are better in general, but they cannot put spikes. The best faction to fight mongols and timurids as well. The only thing I don't like is the starting position. Yes evebody talking about how good it is, but I'm not agree. You're too far from muslim and orthodox nations, the pope, big cities and holy land, so your start will be pretty slow, unless you do a migration campaign or something. Still very interesting and unique gameplay. I love Britain in real life and in the game as well.

[@MrTripleAgamer]

you should do Warhammer 2 total war as well! love your faction guides !!!

[@alexgee6393]

you forgot that you cant get armoured seargeants as the english

[@liverturcxdanpavs]

"no nonsense" i like this guy

[@josh8945]

Does anyone actually still play Vanilla? 😢

[@davidstears7037]

'Arr-Q-Boos-E-Ai-s' I know this is old, but I couldn't help but help you pronounce Arquebusiers lol

[@hardywatkins7737]

R, Q, Boos, E, Erz.

[@patmcgroin6916]

A few points... 1. The armored sergeants are not available in the campaign game for England at all. 2. Armored swordsmen may cost a little more than dismounted feudal knights up front for only +1 defense, but cost 75 a turn less for maintenance...and are not available much later at all. I always hold out for them rather than pay +75/turn for the dismounted feudal knights... 3. Smaller units like Sherwood archers, hashishin, battlefield assassins, and general's bodyguards all have 2 hit points each, so...kinda like twice as many as the number of individuals... 4. A very important part of information regarding units is in which type of settlement can they be recruited. Castles or cities. Important piece of info there...

[@JonatasAdoM]

I would advise you not to use the custom battle setup as it doesn't reflect the units available to a faction during the campaign. The English for example don't gave access to Armored Sargents as France does, I don't know about the rest but I have yet to see Sherwood arches. The HRE doesn't have access to Gothic Knights.

[@RocketHarry865]

Yeoman archers why worse than Retinue Longbowmen in melee defense they do have hammers which allow them to armour piercing in melee.

[@Craig07L]

How do you get Armoured Sergeants playing England? It says 'early period' and I have all building upgrades in towns and castles but no Armoured Sergeants option.

[@pcopp4349]

they aren't recruitable for some reason ,probably only in the tutorial campaign ,same with the mounted longbowmen from the files.

[@Craig07L]

@@pcopp4349 I edited one of the files and have them available now. Thanks.

[@TheRedKing247]

You can only recruit them as mercenary units.

[@4everanarsenalfan]

IIRC you DON’T get Armoured Sergeants in the campaign for some reason

[@TheRedKing247]

You only can recruit them as mercenary units iirc.

[@Dover939]

Coming from my first total war game (rome total war) i went from absolutely destroying everything as the Julii and germans to getting absolutely slaughtered in medieval 2 no matter my faction. I think it's just because of my tendency to only use infantry and archers with a single support cavalry which absolutely does not work in medieval. The infantry seem to be really weak in comparison to legionary cohort, and with pretty much everything being spearmen a single unit of cavalry tends to get killed instantly. I've had the most success as england, I really like spamming longbow men but that tends to not work so much when you're taking settlements. Which is also wayyy harder in this game for me. It seems like almost every battle except vs rebels I'm taking or defending a settlement. Any tips for someone like me who always likes to keep it simple? I've taken to just spamming the hell out of levy spearmen and attacking with a full stack, but even this has actually led to me timing out a battle and losing, lol.

[@OldCarpenter]

Medieval battles are all about morale. The simpliest tactics (and the nearly the most effective one) for an average nation is to hold the front with heavy infantry (spearmen are not a heavy infantry, most of them are useless) - feudal knights or similar unit, then get behind the enemy with heavy cavalry and strike. Enemy infantry will broke and you've won. Another tip is that in this game who wins cavalry engagement, wins the battle. AI is not very cleaver, but it still knows what is cycle charges is and will use it against you. Most cavalry in the game is extrimely deadly at charge and almost useless if stuck in infantry. So use it. Charge with your cavalry (preferably from behind), wait for 3-5 seconds and run back. get some distance and charge again. General bodyguard of a western faction can destriy 3-5 units of infantry like this alone. Half of a rebel settlements on the map can be taken with a single bodyguard unit even on VH difficulty.

[@majorthomas0035]

So what the first guy said was really good. I would also like to add to this. In medieval history wars, were fought in three main ways. Skirmishes, sieges, and field battles. Skirmishes are very important. Now what I mean by this is when you see in the map your enemy has multiple different little armies(1-3 units). They’re obviously trying to either A) build a larger force or B) fortify a town/castle. It is important that you take them immediately. Generally having at least archers, and cavalry for this can really help. As if you let them go all of a sudden those little forces have now turned into nearly a full stack and you will have to fight that out. I know it’s annoying to do that, but it will help a lot. Next sieges. Mainly find a good mix up that works for you. I personally like a heavy infantry armor, followed by archers, then cavalry. And of course base on the type of settlement and how many defendants are inside will decide what engines you should use. Ladders are great for getting your men up quickly, however I find that because the men are separated they have a harder time of taking the wall and those still waiting to clime are undefended. Siege towers are great for helping protect the troops, but if the castle/ town have ballista towers, they will see that tower and try and take it down, it is slower as well, but I find it to be more effective then a ladder, these are better for places less guarded. And then of course the ram. Again ballista love shooting these, as well as archers, so give it to a unit that’s worthless or easy to retrain like spears and archers. In the begging of the siege try and use the archers you have to take out the defenders on the wall, even if it’s little just keep going since as the attack you control when everything happens. Once inside the wall don’t bunch up the troops have spread out, Calvary is good for this. Have them get around to the different spots that lead to the center. I know it’s a lot of micromanaging but it will save you hundreds of troops. Last are the field battles. In actual medieval history these were less common and often major battles could literally make the difference between many territories being taken or being forced back to the board and sailing home. For me a true field battle is when they have at least 8 units on each side, as even though they aren’t even half a stack that many soldiers will play a huge role when the rest of the army merged together. When fighting these use terrain to your advantage. Hills are great for defense and if you’re not good at managing then do focus on your cavalry if anything even just one unit can make the difference in these battles. Try and use the cavalry to take down the enemies cavalry as well as archers, then move for the infantry. Also if you can find their general, if it is a Captain most times it will be their cavalry unit if you can take him, the battle will be over before they can fire an arrow at you. I hope this helps, I still am always looking for ways to get better myself.

[@majorthomas0035]

Sorry looking back at this i realize that my grammar and spelling was horrible.

[@antonycharnock2993]

You need more cavalry for a start. Cavalry charges are key in destroying enemy archers(especially crossbowmen - bloody Milanese) Remember to cycle your charges & dont get involved in melee. Most medieval battles started with an archery exchange. Move them back behind your main line once the battle starts then as someone has already stated try to flank with any remaining cavalry and if possible go for the general.

[@antonycharnock2993]

@@majorthomas0035 I always build a couple of rams in sieges placing them at opposite gates if possible. Splits the defending force like a feint attack.

[@gabrielegenota1480]

I know I'm late to the party and I feel it's unlikely someone would reply but I'll ask anyways. When enemy spearmen are charging mine, should I stand my ground or countercharge like the game tells me to? I don't know if my Defense stat will save the day or if I should utilize the minuscule charge bonus of spears.

[@doink3570]

that really depends on what the spearmen are charging at if it's cav then you have to back off, if it's archers you can just skirmish, if it's infantry you could fight or flank with another unit

[@gabrielegenota1480]

@@doink3570 If enemy spears are charging my spears, should I just hold and brace, or countercharge- if the latter, when?

[@doink3570]

@@gabrielegenota1480 counter charge with phalanx turned on

[@ShackleYT]

@@doink3570 phalanx isn't in this game, it's een specifically removed because it was so overpowered.

[@doink3570]

@@ShackleYT I probably meant counter charge with the spear placed down, I just said phalanx cause I play too much rome 1 spartan campaign

[@malice9830]

Hey lad can u pls do MTW2 TheKingdoms DLC factions?

[@mantiore1037]

Gunpowder units can be recruited in any settlement lol

[@vallytine]

Isn't High midgame, not Lategame?

[@darkcom395]

I cant see ur mouse i dont know which one ur pointing at

[@NFT_Noobie]

Does anyone know how to fix constant crashing of m2tw (and all the mods) after some 15-20 minutes of playing on win 11? win 10 has no problem with it. I tried reducing graphics, 4gb patch, scan and fix disc, clear registry, reinstall... Any more ideas?

[@DoktorAmfas]

Scotlands Catholic too and the Pope does get pissed if you attack them too.

[@lugotorix6173]

David Kaevik That's true but at least with Scotland if you act quick you can take their only settlement and not have to repeatedly attack them (which would really annoy the pope). If you went for France, for example, then you would have to have many attacks against them which the pope would hate. In my opinion it's better to take Scotland early on (even if the pope does get annoyed) so that they don't expand beyond Edinburgh.

[@skyrim654]

Not if they turn rebel. ;)

[@antonycharnock2993]

@@skyrim654 *COUGH* You been watching spiffing brit?

[@jackdaone6469]

Yeah, but it’s relatively easy to hit them at Edinburgh early and wipe them out before losing too much Papal favor.

[@michaelaburns734]

Arqubusers (R. K .Busters)

[@SuperJoshdave]

No matter the difficulty all of the UK should be united within 15 turns if you are England or Scotland

[@fabianustertius6460]

in my med 2 total war i dont have a picture on the england faction of the king

[@sligacheese6470]

Great game. I play the English 🎉

[@klassehkhornate9636]

Do Turks next I can’t figure out where to expand to

[@lugotorix6173]

Kennan Hottinget I've already promised to do Venice next (coming out tomorrow), but I can make the Turks video after that. Probably will be out by Wednesday!

[@antonycharnock2993]

Consolidate the Middle East and Anatolia then attack the Byzantines. I always try to invade Europe after that & recreate the Ottoman Empire. Make sure you're well fortified for when the Mongols invade and the timurids later with plenty of archers. NEVER go one on one with the Mongols. Slow them down in bridge battles and sieges. You have to whittle down their strength.

[@Joker-yw9hl]

Tbh I basically abandon Mosul and the other small town in the east, and don't build anything there apart from roads, and leave a unit of peasants as garrison. Then ignore the rebel cities in favour of attacking the byzantines. Take Constantinople, defeat them and then start taking cities like Antioch and Jerusalem if you're fast enough

[@TheInfectedCherry]

Late period is after the high period my guy

[@joebonaparte1490]

I still playing this game

[@Wolfogre]

I've never seen the Sherwood Archers. How do you get them?

[@BinBad92]

Wolfogre build a lot of archer to have an archer guild :D

[@Wolfogre]

@@BinBad92 , thanks a bunch! I hardly ever bother financing guilds but now I have a reason to do so. :)

[@stoyanb.1668]

Ya its an event that pops up. Makes sense since they are the best archer unit in the game.

[@antonycharnock2993]

Archers guild but only in the Nottingham area. As stated you need to build a load of archers in the Nottingham area to get the guild.

[@coreymicallef365]

@@antonycharnock2993 The guild gets randomly offered at any castle that trains a lot of archers, not just Nottingham.

[@pcopp4349]

don't billmen get affected by the 2 handed bug?? because every test i have done says that the most recent steam version has a bug with them.

[@jackdaone6469]

Yeah, Billmen are worthless against anything that isn’t cavalry, and even then they’re not much better. They meant to be an early means of having Heavy Infantry for England, but you’re honestly better off just using Levy Spears and Archers with Heavy Cav until you gain access to proper heavy infantry like Dismounted Feudal Knights.

[@angquangnguyenthac2833]

@@jackdaone6469 not quite. With sufficient Longbow support (You actually should use Longbow to take out other archers due to their superior range), they become brutally effective due to their high attack and can easily ripped most normal infantry unit to shred (even high armor ones, due to the fact that they are also armor piercing). And since Longbow can completely ripped most normal Archer to shred (since most early game archers are mostly militia bowmen and crossbow, who's reloading way slower than usual), you just win the ground war infantry battle. Also deadly effective at wall taking due to their best trait of beating most other infantry to shit as well. The billhook range makes all the difference

[@rafaborucki7245]

I miss Polish guide, how dare you skip my favourite cav faction filthy Gaul :p

[@lugotorix6173]

hahaha Poland guide will be next so don't worry!

[@user_harddrive]

0:32 it's still England lmao.

[@nathanaelyny]

I'm getting ready for this game coming to android soon

[@SwordsmanRyan]

This is clickbait. All you did was read stats. There was no useful commentary.

[@ThePrinceofParthia]

I have a turn 5 save for England where I've already wiped out Scotland and taken Dublin if anyone wants it. Think it's VH/VH

[@JonatasAdoM]

You could have said they had one settlement in old day England xD

[@malekiththeeternityking5433]

Do France or Byzantines.

[@lugotorix6173]

Yeah i'm doing France next, should be out in a few days!

[@Outlawtotheend]

Seems like I can't make armoured sergeants in the vanilla game. Do you know why?

[@LispyJesus]

England doesn’t get to make them. You have levy spearmen instead., you can get them only by mercenaries

[@Outlawtotheend]

@@LispyJesus Funny because you get them in the tutorial. In the battle against the Saxons. Those spearman are called armoured sergeants.

[@pcopp4349]

@@Outlawtotheend I suspect they're only availible for the tutorial campaign.

[@jackdaone6469]

Yeah, it annoys me, too, because that means you have to roll with Levy Spearmen, which aren’t bad but aren’t particularly good, either, and longbowmen stakes for anti-cav. Or you can pay through the nose for Mercenary Spears.

[@F2000-q2z]

They are in the tutorial but not in campaign. I'm guessing for variety. A lot of factions in the west of Europe get them: France, HR Empire, Milan, Sicily, Venice and the Papal States. The creators probably wanted to make England different by giving them worse spearmen but better archers. I don't mind.

[@SmartFox1]

): i cant get better units because i dont know how to build better barracks ):

[@kitsunekierein7253]

It's pronounced "Are-que-bus". It's a strange word. Took me ages to figure it out myself.

[@dyllanrudge8742]

Dude your English, people are used to us fucking up there language don’t worry about your pronunciation

[@A.Warrior7]

Pertinax brought me here

[@joa65]

Honestly, a not very useful guide. First You are talking way to long at the start of every single unit (sometimes minimal differences between the stats). Concentrate on core ore key units. The first regions to conquer are very obvious. Unfortunately nothing beyond. No advice for specialization (military or economic) of the provinces, no advice for good places for the merchants (e. g. amber in Scandinavia), no info for the midterm ore longterm goals...

[@sadskins5447]

Why is the picture a spanish flag ?

[@lugotorix6173]

In the thumbnail? Thats the English flag in the game haha

[@donvitocorleone7863]

The time system is broken

[@Digitaaliklosetti]

How do you mean

[@donvitocorleone7863]

Digitaaliklosetti a lot of times you can get late game units early and early game units late into the campaign

[@bananajoe4494]

Pls do venice next

[@lugotorix6173]

Banana Joe Sounds good, video will be out in a couple of days!