Exploit Guide - Medieval II: Total War

[@arsnakehert]

*guy surrounded by four armies in mountainside road* _Are you looking to negotiate with us?_

[@lionelhutz5137]

His old, frail voice makes it even more comical, as if he knows he's about to get fucked up.

[@anthonyteasley3837]

@@lionelhutz5137 the princess knew shit was up and she backed her ass up lol

[@iceintheair]

Anthony Teasley 😂😂😂

[@_Gandalf_The_White]

Fuck that made me laugh haha

[@guitarHero1885]

lmao

[@thomasalvarez6456]

That young voice XD

[@gusess5743]

Thomas Alvarez blew my mind, sounds like a voice modulator,such change in only 3 years!

[@LiamRedmondVideo]

Think its just a shit microphone more than anything tbh

[@jakehatton2910]

No he did voice conditioning over the years in order to sound as badass as he does now

[@alexww180]

I think he was genuinely more passionate and stressed when he made this video.

[@bigschnee7785]

Holy mother of god this is hilarious.

[@MrRobakowski]

Exploit 1: Unlimited boat movement 0:31 Exploit 2: Time-out Assult Win 2:12 Exploit 3: Agent Squashing 4:53 Exploit 4: Merchat fort 5:41 Exploit 5: Pseudo random chance manipulation 6:56 Exploit 6: Sally Out Draw Glitch 11:45 Exploit 7: Attacking factions of the same religion on crusade/jihad 14:35 Exploit 8: Units never desert 16:53 Exploit 9: General With Quadruple Movement 18:20 Exploit 10: Recruitment Replenishment Glitch 19:36

[@Yeagerbonebone]

thanks

[@GonzoTehGreat]

You deserve (Reddit) gold! The video maker could learn from you. Thanks

[@prettyokandy230]

[@matapegheata7257]

How do i quick save and quick load?

[@MrRobakowski]

Mata Pegheata I think "ctrl+S" is quick save, and "ctrl+L is quick load. Haven't played the game in a while now

[@guiterrorist]

-10 chivalry +10 dread

[@legitpineapple4044]

Lol

[@bobthetop3242]

WUT?

[@afghankid639]

LOL I GET IT

[@UnitAlir]

What? Can someone explain 2 years later?

[@UnitAlir]

@@johnrivierok I see. I've always wondered the difference between those two. How do you gain each in a game? Some battles I try to be all honorable and not chase down fleeing enemies. I still get dread. Other times I chase down all fleeing enemies. +4 chivalry.

[@cszm7892]

I can't believe this. You OCCUPIED three cities and RELEASED prisoners??? Were you feeling well that day?

[@adoschtinad]

You draw aggression if you execute everyone since everyone likes you less

[@VenomCold]

wrong .. if you dont know med2 game mechanichs dont bother

[@a.e.9821]

@@VenomCold you definitely do

[@rintv3675]

@@a.e.9821 he's talking about the glitched game design where every option you pick loses you reputation with everyone, regardless of how good or bad you were to towns/prisoners.

[@sevenpolar3483]

@@rintv3675 the penalty for taking cities is 1 for occupying, 1 for sacking, 2 for extermination, the penalty for prisioners is 1 for releasing, 0 for ransoming and 2 for exercuting, so killing prisoners still makes people hate you more

[@cooknaris]

cant quite understand the people who clicked on a video titled 'exploit guide' and then moaned that the guy is cheating... either use the exploits or dont, but theres no point watching just to moan about it... i thought this was a very helpful video, whether i choose to use exploits or not

[@amadeupname151]

Right. I look at it like GTA or Saints Row. Do it once without cheats or glitches, then go back and do it again and see what happens. It just depends on how you want to play it. But that sally out glitch is some greasy shit.

[@NTJedi]

Most tasks he's mentioning are *not* exploits..... they are cheats. Any save and reload is *always* a cheat.

[@Mahfireballs]

@@NTJedi I dont think saving and reloading is cheating I mean it's in the game. You have to possibility to save and reload whenever you wan't only in later tw titles quicksaving was removed. So if it's intended game design I wouldn't consider it cheating it's just as the titles possible to exploit this more then probably was intended. Of course it can be really powerfull and as MedII has really short load times you can just prevent all agents from dying when sending on missions as long as you are willing to reload but that doesn't make it cheating.

[@NTJedi]

@@Mahfireballs If you are reloading a saved game because the game crashed unexpectedly then it's not cheating. If you are reloading a saved game because the mouse double clicked instead of single clicking as desired then its not cheating. *HOWEVER* if you are reloading a saved game because you didn't like the results of decisions you made or actions during the game then you are cheating because you are altering the course of time within the game itself giving you and advantage and your opponent a disadvantage.

[@BWeManX]

Another siege strategy is to send a light cavalry unit or 2 (the faster, the better). When they sally out the next turn, just camp your forces in the farthest corner of the battle map. The AI never leaves a rear guard in the town center, and they leave the gates open when they sally. Let them get as close to you as they possibly can without getting your unit(s) destroyed, then BLITZ around them and straight into the town center :) The light cav is so much faster than infantry (and occasionally heavy cav) that you can time-out victory before they catch up to you. 2 units increases your chances of success because one can claim the town center while the other "skirmishes" or at least distracts the enemy long enough that they wont kill your main unit.

[@arsnakehert]

Damn, I have to try this one

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Thats how Zardar plays, the zardariqn tactic

[@ragnarrock6432]

3 doesnt even feel like an exploit, seems legit having your armies hunt down agents

[@iplyrunescape305]

Yeah, I've even done that myself without having to blockade the agent. Just stomp right on 'em

[@breaden4381]

iplyrunescape305 Now I can finally get rid of that Venetian merchant making 960 gold per turn by Constantinople.

[@iplyrunescape305]

XDD

[@breaden4381]

iplyrunescape305 I've also seen Milanese merchants go over 1k. But they are my allies, and they need the money. The Pope is a bit of a warmonger.

[@adoschtinad]

@@breaden4381 you can just place a military unit on the trade resource if you want to block it. Armies displace agents as Im sure you know.

[@donnalau4520]

why do Legend sounds like a really angry English boy

[@gooscarguitar]

His voice just used to be higher, and his accent is pretty damn mild. I thought he was english too the first time I ever watched him.

[@sebking7902]

He's Aussie

[@redwaldcuthberting7195]

He doesn't even sound English. XD

[@hubristicmystic]

Very good job mate, just picked the game back up after many years and sick of raging at mmo’s - I use the reload assassin trick to kill everyone in the Scottish and friend royal families (playing English) so the faction turns to rebels then take over without being excommunicated. I see you quick save before every try - does that reset the odds? I noticed if you just reload the last save it never succeeds

[@_Gandalf_The_White]

@@hubristicmystic Yeah, every save re-rolls the dice so to speak.

[@TheTomlev40]

It's not an exploit as such, but I have found that if you place Pikemen as close as you can to the city gates during a siege, the pikes will stick through the gate and skewer any infantry using a battering ram. As they constantly have to replace the infantry, the ram won't damage the gate, leaving you free to combat any ladders/siege towers.

[@UndrState]

This is definitely a game I keep learning about, even after years.

[@dylanwinter7937]

lol I'm still learning 9 years later

[@GrugSmesh]

Merchant fort is awesome

[@lithen00]

ye i made me 3012 bucks a turn

[@someidiotfromover7yearsago]

And I never feel bad for using it, i just imagine its a little trade town. I did pay for those walls after all.

[@kaiserwilhelmii4816]

nopinkcreations did they really?

[@oleksandrmelnychenko4709]

MemeJihad I thought that the merchant fort was a feature not a glitch.

[@Sharp931]

That's fun, when the fort is far from you and you have 3 turn to answer the attack. Moors got it easy with those gold mines.

[@AlexanderSilver1996]

The merchant fort thing (Although it might be an exploit, technically) is actually a pretty fun game mechanic. Forts were constructed around valuable materials to facilitate trade so it's kind of true to life. I like to think of it as roleplay

[@addochandra4745]

interesting perspective...

[@denmichaelmalayo9716]

just think of it is like what happens if this faction industrialized... like a factory or workshop

[@dylanram4653]

doesnt work anymore sadly, notr wit forts anyways but u can have high loyalty general do it

[@perrymeril]

Sadly, despite being the same engine, you can't do this in rome total war remastered.

[@JLang117]

My god its amazing how his voice changed

[@IYIENACE]

He had a cheap headset mic back then from what he said

[@johnwicksfoknpencil]

Still the best total war game they’ve ever made

[@mackmasters325]

and will ever make :(

[@kaisermoneybags4450]

nah

[@izzycatzi3648]

Po

[@Xerrand]

This or Rome total war. I find it tough to pick between them.

[@Jeyeyeyey]

nah, rome 1 and shogun 2 are better

[@istn9478]

Jeez, his voice is so different now. It is almost freaky.

[@RegumRai]

The great exploit of all time is the stakes at the gates!

[@kevinpatrick6967]

ahahaha Defending a castle/city against Cavalry Faction (Mongol,Turkish) and have 1 English Archers there you go!

[@da_cat]

or the bizantine unit that shoots fire :D

[@officialromanhours]

Enemy at the stakes

[@jameswomer6796]

Great video! Another exploit I didn't see here: when you have a city with huge stone walls and cannon towers, and you get besieged, start a sally battle, but line up all your troops on top of your walls to man the towers. The enemy will abandon their siege equipment and move into defensive formation within range of your cannon towers; simply speed up time and wait until they are shot to pieces and rout or are killed. I've had this work regardless of odds or enemy equipment and never lost a man.

[@jackytreehornsghost]

'Agent squashing' is the only one I'd use.

[@arvidfalk5719]

+justin Kline Yep, because that is at least somewhat realistic.

[@glazedgamer7661]

I use the merchant fortress as well, makes sense to me to be able to have a monopoly on some sort of resource

[@Nugget_prime]

lmao

[@odinyourfavoritenorsegod.4154]

Giannis Zapsas LMAO

[@maxmagnus777]

Crusade glitch is ok since the AI is messed up.

[@Lorgar64]

I'd just like it on record that while I use agent squashing, I learnt it from the AI when the Mongols wouldn't stop using it on my merchants in the holy land.

[@cliffsam98]

Step 1: Play as France Step 2: Build armies of only heavy cavalry Step 3: Win

[@K0ragg]

HA are much better lol.

[@loganpodojil8965]

cliffsam98 till you face the mongols

[@cliffsam98]

Logan Podojil Then, it takes like, the entire military to win. I just took Jerusalem and won. Wasn't even about to try and deal with that.

[@K0ragg]

cliffsam98 "Won" HAH! True winning is achieved when you conquer the whole bloody world! Also, France get HA's too in the late period, coupled with great missile troops to absolutely smash any enemy horse archers.

[@K0ragg]

nyphix4321 You'd think so. It's actually really easy if you prepare.

[@Hintrax]

Don't you raise your voice at me!

[@YuriPRIMErpg]

Damn XD When you said "Jihad Speed" on the boats, I instantly thought of Battlefield and boats with fronts packed to the roof with explosives.

[@1Phase1]

Yuri PRIME So...what you're saying here is Jihad = explosians? Because that's stereotypical and unfair...

[@X3riv3X]

brahim dahbi And totaly reasonable , seeing what has been happening over the last couple of years. Oh and Jihad also reminds of murder , burning people alive , stoneing people to death , destryoing works of art and murder. Noone realy likes Jihad in the cultured West

[@1Phase1]

X3riv3X​ That's not really how I refer to Jihad, well i'm Muslim myself so of course that's not how I would refer to it, but isn't all that stuff just a bit how mainstream media would refer to Jihad?

[@Validus_Gaming]

+brahim dahbi Doesn't jihad mean holy war?

[@1Phase1]

***** yes

[@hyper_5pace902]

"There's nothing I can do to prevent a riot" *has high tax rate enabled*

[@ByronBanger]

Came here for this comment 😅

[@akinji1299]

hahah that voice and current voice have too much difference :D

[@gooscarguitar]

C1h4d This is calm and relaxed compared to his voice in the Peasant Challenge...

[@erikseidler133]

PEASANTS!!!

[@Lankyblankman]

Gooscar But the last episode of the peasant campaign is after he went to voice therapy

[@alevort]

@@Lankyblankman Voice therapy?

[@Runamoinen]

I don't know if I'm late to the party with this glitch and whether others have already noticed it, but I've found that in siege battles when I am the attacker, if I order 4-5 cavalry units (one by one) to run and position themselves right in front of the gate the models will start pushing each other forward and sooner or later one model will phase through the gate opening (capturing) it. This is useful when playing draw-out battles and the enemy defenders have siege units stuck inside the city and you have dealt with the other units before attempting this, or in any other situation when the enemy is not holding the walls.

[@markr7421]

Note that, in time, the no-desertion exploit will remove all your generals points in StrategyChivalry and CrusaderHistory, then add one back if you join again of course.

[@marredten1918]

Is this what legends kid will sound like in the future

[@grandengineernathan]

Okay, so watching this video from 2021, we can all say the all Legend is now locked up in a cave an the one running the channel is an imposter

[@SWBGTOC]

I love how he spent 5 minutes explaining savescumming

[@chancevance1641]

Holy shit learning of Legend in 2023 and coming back to 10 years later, he's a damn kid!

[@meuxtag]

Quite amazing how Legend's voice has change with time!

[@transsylvanian9100]

So here's my take on things: if it's not immersion breaking I use the exploit, otherwise I have a strict no-exploit policy. Like I would always use savescumming in any game, in fact i consider it almost playing a game wrong, not to its full potential if i don't use reloads. It ultimately does not make anything happen that could not have happened had I been lucky. The limit is how much time I'm prepared to waste on reloading. Eventually I get fed up. If someone else has more patience and takes the time to reload more often, they deserve the better outcome. I take the same approach to random loot in RPGs, if I put in the work to reload until I get what I want, I feel I've earned it. The movement glitch, especially the boat one, or the siege draw or the recruitment pool thing I find are completely immersion breaking and would permanently ruin a campaign for me if i would use them, just like using a cheat code. The crusader attack i'm more split on. If it can be justified from a roleplay perspective in the given situation's story I think it could be fine but it's on a case by case basis.

[@AAARREUUUGHHHH]

AKA how to get bored of total war really quickly

[@JECGaming]

Pretty much. Doing it normally is so much more rewarding

[@Sharp931]

The AI is too dumb in vanilla.

[@brodiem9569]

That mod crashes non stop after turn 140

[@ScottishRebel]

at 140 unless you suck should have most of europe

[@seanwalters1977]

What if you want the world? Pretty lame it crashes at 140

[@NKismynextgoal]

Thanks to give us these glitches! I still don't get the logic of soldiers deserting while they are on sea, but maybe they were good swimmers :-) Merchants are a weakness, because they are kicked out of business all the time, so thank you to show how to have a maximum of trade income by them.

[@nikolozgilles]

theres also another exploit like the agent squashing bug: you can take advantage of the fact agents can't move through armies no matter the army's size (a unit of 2 peasants works as well as a full unit of feudal knights) so you can spam a bunch of peasants near a chokepoint to stop assassins, spies, priests, diplomats, inquisitors, etc from passing through

[@kar351]

That merchant one is really great. Got tired of losing merchants not to mention the income boost. Thank you for sharing. The rest of them are pretty cool, but smells a bit cheaty :P, I know it is a exploit, but it kinda changes the way of gaming. Anyway, pretty cool, Thank you.

[@UnitAlir]

It's not a cheat though. In real life, if a gold mine is found, you want to maximise how many businesses are trading with that gold. You don't just send one company and send all others into hostile territory to get mugged.

[@Green.n.Purple]

Merchant one is at least semi-justifiable once you realize the AI goes out of their way to target your merchants. Seriously, one game as the Netherlands I put a merchant on some really shitty resource, but in a fort so he'd be safe. 10 turns later and every square around the fort in a 3x3 radius is occupied by enemy merchants, all who want to seize the 6 florin/turn resource

[@TheManofthecross]

@@Green.n.Purple ic though I think that what you typed is a exsaderation they go after the other merchants as well.

[@Green.n.Purple]

@Vincent Celeste A bit of an exaggeration, the 3x3 gridlock didn't happen only 10 turns later, but merchants were already swarming him by then. The 3x3 didn't establish itself until I think like 30 turns later, and there were even merchants belonging to the muslim nations in the mix. Considering this was for some really common resource node, of which there were even some empty only a couple turns away, it's clear the AI is biased to attack the player. It's a common balance thing and I can understand why they made it that way, but it still feels unfair. It's bad enough they can spawn armies and high level agents out of their asses

[@lordinquisitorpeter8221]

@@yourinatrance8676 Does the merchant fort still work? I'm curious because my economy is completely garbage from the start and whatever I do I can't fix it so I want to make some money without using the console

[@sekaidongyi208]

The exploit i've used before i ever seen this video is only the save n reload that i realised myself. Lol

[@LegendofTotalWar]

Eventually yes. I need to play them a bit more to find more out though. Glad you like it.

[@gachacaspa]

How do I undo knowing all this :S

[@gachacaspa]

I feel you have aggressive methods :-P

[@corleonis7792]

Alexander Waters Clear your history.

[@pcprincipal345]

Delete your memory

[@pieterpietersen9438]

Drink it away

[@odinyourfavoritenorsegod.4154]

Alexander Waters you are doomed to savescum and exploit now

[@keatonburton5636]

Just performed the time-out assault win exploit today on my England campaign at Arhus. The Danish army in control of that particular city was only a General's Bodyguard, and I used 7 units of Armored Swordsmen. I stacked all 7 Armored Swordsmen just outside the town square, grouped them together, moved them until they were just in front of the enemy general, and simply waited out the timer. Now I have a full-strength elite army which I plan to use for other purposes, so in order to garrison my new acquisition, I have an army of Levy Spearmen in Britain preparing to sail for Denmark.

[@K.I.A22]

Are the enemy troops that survived the battle immediately captured? Or erased?

[@keatonburton5636]

@K.I.A22 Erased, I think.

[@K.I.A22]

@@keatonburton5636 that sucks

[@TalicFIN]

Merchant Fort, Recruitment Pool and Agent Squashing, those I shall do more often now.

[@papasculli5769]

Cant believe I played this game so long without knowing these tricks haha, the agent squashing and merchant fort will come in handy

[@GoldenbanjoDJ]

that first one is fucking unreal. my full carack stack will have fun

[@07jaworski07]

GoldenbanjoDJ lol

[@07jaworski07]

GoldenbanjoDJ lol

[@07jaworski07]

GoldenbanjoDJ lol

[@odinyourfavoritenorsegod.4154]

GoldenbanjoDJ doom stack infinite movement

[@maycontainnuts3127]

i cant believe he taught us how to savescum and called it "Psudeo Random Chance Manipulation"

[@antonjunior9189]

It's 2020 and this video is still fun

[@KamikazeCommie501]

Lol that voice. Sounds like you were auditioning for Cheez TV

[@aleaiactaest6503]

Fun fact: the speedrunning community have found small instances of rng manipulation in rome 1 that don't require reloads. Its small for now but the potential is limitless. for example, you can consistently gate syracuse as Scipii first try with correct tile perfect menuing.

[@jmurray2018]

Wow he sounds like a young angry excitable teenager thank god for life experience and Microphone upgrades

[@sterbin5348]

5:25 "ArE YoU LoOkiNg To NEgOtIaTe WiTh uS?"

[@hAppyfAce1792]

a good way to give your generals some few quick traits. when you are on a crusade and you know that you will take the target in the following turn, take all the generals you have back home and give them just enough troops to join the crusade. the generals now get their traits, pluss when you then take the settlement in the same turn your troops will not desert and all get experience for doing nothing. One of the more "honorable" exploits you can do

[@etiennemourez3059]

Thanks for remembering this one. It became a standard procedure for me when I figured it out;

[@anirbanbhattacharya9185]

Enrico Dandalo must have seen your videos about attacking a Christian city with a crusading army. That's how he got Constantinople!!! Lol

[@grantwalter2243]

no they attacked the muslims. get your facts straight

[@GGamersUnited]

@Grant they were rockstars...raping here, looting there..no big stuff.

[@grantwalter2243]

Martin Uzunov actually they were used to fight the Islam Empire and reclaim the Holy Land. Youre confusing them with radical "jihadists"

[@GGamersUnited]

haha i was joking. they did demand stuff on their way to there tho. Just cuz.,

[@odinyourfavoritenorsegod.4154]

Look up 4th crusade

[@Dannydiamond16]

Sounds like the Bear Grylls of Total War

[@badgerbane]

Turns out Legend's 'skaven voice' is actually is real voice. Now I understand the obsession with cheese...

[@bumman1989]

Wow. This somehow came up on my recommended list and listening to Legend's voice from back then is very much a " wtf, is this even the same guy !?" moment! lolz.

[@Spartan70NL]

Wow great exploits, the greatest one for me would be the last one. Getting infinite recruitment numbers would be great for Third Age Total War with the recruitment limited Silvan/High Elves.

[@cpreyde]

Spartan70 NL I was thinking the same thing.

[@davidchristen8365]

Does this really work?!?

[@kamilcieslak6353]

In Third Age total war it works (DaC)... So far I tried for Dwarfs. Infantry works fine. Did not manage to make it work for ranged units though

[@nikolozgilles]

1 year on, here is another exploit: as a Catholic faction, if the Pope gives you a mission to stop attacking another Catholic faction, but you want to do it anyways and you're in at least decent standing with the Pope, you can call a crusade before getting excommunicated to ensure a crusade doesn't get called on YOU for a while. The settlement you call a crusade on has a big impact, select a settlement as far away from mainland Europe as possible, to stretch out the crusade and buy you more time. You should also call the crusade on a settlement owned by the strongest faction possible, definitely not rebels, to ensure that the crusaders will encounter as much resistance as possible. Not only will this prevent a crusade from getting called on you, this also draws away military forces from anyone foolish enough to go on adventures to the holy land, making them easier targets for conquest. If you call a crusade on a powerful faction, they might even destroy/weaken some crusader armies for you, and kill other factions' generals! Note that this doesn't prevent excommunication and you'll still get the negative effects associated with it (factions more likely to attack you, public order penalty)

[@savasolarov8424]

I am finding this a late but this sounds interesting. I never considered the game can have exploits at all. This deserves some more googling. Then again you already have a wonderful compilation. One of the other commenters mentioned a speed running community for RTW, I can't believe i didn't consider that. haha.

[@LegendofTotalWar]

Thanks. Yeah I know of that one. I wasn't sure whether to put it in or not. It is a great technique. Maybe if I make a part 2 I'll put it in. Thanks for your input.

[@thefoodthefatandthehungry6181]

I once planned to attack an enemy city, but my ALLIES (this is important) already started besieging that city. Enraged, I sent 7 soldiers to BESIEGE as well (also important). The defender, after ending my turn, attacked me, and my ally joined the battle. It was a large battle of two armies, my allies won, I lost 0 soldiers, but since it was my besieging army that was attacked, I got the city instead of my allies. So, basically, I got a free city without even fighting- my allies fought for me.

[@SereglothIV]

That voice xD At first I didn't know if he was trolling or if it was the actual little Legend's voice.

[@tank9432]

wtf is this voice legend

[@emconitegamez5566]

Ikr like what the hell

[@1001themaster]

hehehe

[@Matt-cz6ti]

Your voice has dropped about an octave in the last 5 years

[@thanosnaoussara]

i enjoyed your video very much.Another interesting exploit i frequently use is the following: If you have a general or generally cavalry and you are being attacked and cannot win, you can simply move the cavalry around the corners of the map.That means that you move them to one corner and when the enemies are coming near you you command them to run to the other corner and so on so on...Provided that you have chosen to have a battle timer on the battles of the campaign , you can have close victories against an enemy and save you general-cavalry.This works almost every time

[@gooscarguitar]

Nasos Pap ...Unless the other army have any cavalry whatsoever.

[@zarroth]

+FlipUltraHD this still works in that situation, you just have to move before they start to charge.

[@steelpanther88]

I really like using ballista towers and cannon towers in campaigns. It is not a glitch to be honest, more like good defensive tactics. Cannon towers usually kill all the enemy army's siege towers in battle. Ballista towers also shoot down siege towers and rams with flaming ballista bolts. When attacking manually cities with large army garrison... It helps to use cannons to bombard the walls in a specific way. Try to make small cracks into two sections of the wall, so that an enemy unit manning the wall is stuck between broken sections of wall. Sometimes the pathfinding is so bad that the enemy infantry becomes stuck on the city wall. Then you bombard the wall, and watch the enemy unit die completely. usually the enemy completely dies, when the wall crumbles from underneath them. This usually requires 3-4 cannons and preferrably city walls, (citadel not ideal...)

[@sebking7902]

No shit it isn't a glitch or exploit...

[@Utgarman]

Oh gosh this is so long ago and Legend sounds so different...

[@SusaVile]

Just checked this one on the forums, thks mate! Gonna watch it to check it out. A definitive must for those situations were we think there is nothing to do:D

[@LegendofTotalWar]

Thanks. I did not know that one. It borders along the minor exploit though. There are other ways to delay battering rams as well.

[@LegendofTotalWar]

go to game settings in the main menu and find unit scale.

[@jamesg4460]

IMO, the time-out victory is more of an AI deficit than a real exploit. You can get the AI to react in lots of dumb ways on the battlefield. While it's taking advantage of a failure in the programming, it's a subset of programming that is imperfect by substance. The weird stuff on the fringes of the RTS AI doesn't strike me as an "exploit" per se. I know it's semantics. Sorry for bringing down the discussion. =P

[@gooscarguitar]

I can't use the Merchant Fort, I think it might have been patched. When a general is on top of a trade resource, he can't build a fort.

[@gooscarguitar]

Actually, it works with armies

[@neutralfellow9736]

+FlipUltraHD Armies can't built forts though.

[@gooscarguitar]

+Neutral Fellow I mean that you can put an army on a resource and have a merchant travel with it. You can have more than one merchant travel with an army.

[@neutralfellow9736]

FlipUltraHD Oh.

[@C12H22O11rush]

+FlipUltraHD But armies without a general can rebel and than you loose all your merchants in that army. so a shitty general with decent loyalty can do the job

[@riversandlakes]

"Probably just try to keep your cities in good order in the first place." Hear! Hear!

[@Yourantsally]

Why does he sound like he sound like current legend doing a voice to make fun of someone?

[@iwantcrawfish6110]

You sound like the fuckin sells men for explots. I love it

[@the_rover1]

Exploit #3 when it comes to killing agents. Question 1: does that work on killing assassins, merchants and priests, too? Question 2: does that effect the diplomatic status quo with that faction I just killed an agent of?

[@futuregohan2398]

1: Yes 2: No

[@triskeliosthelastcelt1303]

Great video. and the very useful tips. and have you heard of the mad faction leader glitch .

[@LegendofTotalWar]

+Sebastian Espinoza yeah if their authority drops to -1 or -2 it goes up to +10

[@nikolozgilles]

I call it the drunk faction leader glitch because they have the alcoholic trait, -3 authority, which usually surpasses the natural 2 authority. Maybe the game is trying to teach us something about drunk faction leaders being better?

[@triskeliosthelastcelt1303]

I think its trying too tell us that even if you're mad you can still lead a nation. As long as youre a mindless pupet controlled by an Ethereal being. Known as a player

[@triskeliosthelastcelt1303]

Wow hahhahahha

[@TheManofthecross]

@Bill Soon heh ik if you managed to tag him first you get some good dialog and be on your way other wise if he tags you then you have to fight that shit. he does not go after groups that have enough compentent troops in it that can turn his group in to swiss cheese they are a threat for lower tier troops and small parties.

[@MrShadowofthewind]

The speed up exploid is really handy for crusades, normally by the time you get there you have nothing to fight with.

[@SoccerFury08]

15:20 ahh so this explains how constantinople was sacked by Venice during the crusades..

Also fun fact : It is good to leave mercenaries in the province you recruited them in, after battle, because you can replenish them there. Only exception : you can never replenish crusader mercenaries.

[@LegendofTotalWar]

I did say that in the video. I only had it high to make the point. Low tax rate would have left the city with about 60% public order.

[@unifieddynasty]

Holy shit, I've played the shit out of this game for the past decade and a lot of these exploits are new to me. And even better, a lot of these exploits can be used/justified through role-playing. Thank you!

[@bowlock9901]

If 2024 LOTW sucked up a balloon of helium! Takes me back this voice!

[@Luke_Danger]

5:44 I tried this a few times in Timbuktu just to see how much - whenever I build the fort, no matter how I place it doesn't land right on the resource. Ditto when I tried this in Ireland for Tin since that was the best England could offer. Did the exploit get patched out on the Steam version or something? It seems like all resources were moved to be between squares so forts couldn't be set up on them.

[@gooscarguitar]

Luke Danger Use an army. I've discovered you can't built forts on resources anymore, but you can still add merchants to an army. Get a unit of peasants, plonk them on the ivory or spices or gold and add every single merchant to that army.

[@Luke_Danger]

FlipUltraHD Thanks, that worked in England.

[@canadian__ninja]

oh my god his voice. It sounds almost like a parody of his current voice

[@stkrdknmibalz8038]

I want medieval 2 remastered and I want it now.

[@kaydos6355]

There are a few that were missed, you can place crossbowmen or archers on your walls and have them engage an enemy unit that has climbed the wall in melee then retreat to the other end of the wall the enemy will often (depending on the distance your units moved) chase in melee but slowly and in small groups. This lets a single group of archers massacre soldiers of much greater quality and quantity, at least until they run out of arrows. This one may have been patched but iirc some pikemen can be put in pike wall formation and have their pikes extend out through a gate or portcullis allowing them to attack any soldiers bringing a ram to the gates preventing them from breaking the gates down. Iirc again as it was a long time ago when I discovered this it was quite hard to do and couldn't be done with all gatehouses as some didn't let you move your units close enough to the gate. A third, this one is most useful against hordes like the mongols or timurids. you can prevent them from reaching your cities by blocking fords/bridges which would be the fastest route to your nearest city with an army for a single turn then moving it away the next turn and blocking whichever bridge they moved towards with a second army. So long as they aren't already at war with you they will move back and forth between the two bridges and never get anywhere. I haven't done this when they are at war with me so I don't know if it works in that case. General units recover casualties at no cost and are overpowered enough at the beginning of the game that they can take most rebel armies that hold a city by themselves, just besiege until they sally out and charge them repeatedly from the sides and rear draw them far away from the city walls first so you can run down any broken units before they reach the gates and make sure to not let your general get too tired as combat effectiveness drops off massively then.A side effect of this is that your generals bodyguard will rapidly reach max experience, also don't let your general die. Lastly a single unit of light cavalry can be used to defend against a much larger army simply by having it run around the map until time runs out, any cavalry can do this but the ai is decent at catching you if they have cavalry in the army.

[@googleistdoof6656]

I feel the general thing is not an exploit as it will cost you ~ 4-8 turns of waiting, making this a net loss in my view as I could be earning all the benefits of that settlement much earlier. You need units for public order after taking the settlement anyway so you're not saving upkeep either.

[@WarPigstheHun]

Stacking a giant ass army and a shit ton of merchants on a resource (I forgot which one) somewhere near Constantinople can net you 20k+ trade income. Best part is, you can buy lots of Merchant riders and Zerg the enemy with them.

[@connorbecz3036]

You exhibit a delightful hierarchy of consequences in your dissertation. Clearly you have applied the faculty to good results. Well done and I hope that you will not neglect to bring this same skill to affairs in real life. Good job, and I think you revealed a lot which will be useful to both new and veteran players. I was impressed by your explanations and I felt the video was really well done.

[@deniza9731]

Wow .. amazing how these things work .. truly you are a legend!

OH YEAH I JUST REMEMBERED. If you keep clicking abandon and join crusade button, each time you join the crusade you will increase your ruler's chivalrous-ruler trait, up to Saintly ruler, so you can get +5 chivalry and +3 authority for any ruler that you don't want to be dread ruler.

[@LegendofTotalWar]

Simple answer is: I didn't know about it then. I would have used it if I did know. But armed with this knowledge someone else should be able to beat it faster than 14 turns.

[@SereglothIV]

I would add two exploits - forced sally out and canon sally out. Forced sally out: You siege a settlement with a single weak unit in one corner and put your big army in another corner, two tiles away, so they both stand next to the city/castle but not next to each other. During the end turn, the AI doesn't detect your big army and sallies out against the single unit, but your big army comes as reinforcements anyway. If you manage to kill 85% of the enemy troops and all their generals, you can take the city/castle without assaulting the walls. Cannon sally out: When your city/citadel is under siege and it has cannon towers, sally out against the enemy. In the battle they won't move, because they're defending, but they'll be in range of your cannon towers, so just put your soldiers on the walls and let the cannons kill everyone. You'll just need patience, because it can take a loooong time for the cannons to kill all the enemy troops. Disclaimer: I've learned both of these exploits from Legend's videos, but they weren't mentioned in this very video, so I felt like talking about them in the comments.

[@TheWarguppy]

It seems the merchant fort doesn't work. Maybe it was patched? (I tried using it as Venice and the build option is greyed out when I am in that spot in relation to a resource).

[@jameswomer6796]

No problem. Thanks for making all your videos. They're almost as much fun as playing the actual game!

[@kl142000]

Holy shit, he used to be such a pure Australian.

[@euromanijak]

Some are ok but some are waste of time

[@IMakeULoveMe]

In siege battles the AI will only protect their gates and walls if you man your siege equipment. If you do not, they would change focus. So you can break through the gate by dropping the rams multiple times without casualty from arrow towers. To bring the numbers of your generals to the limit, besiege a settlement and attack an inferior army nearby without a general. Capture them all and release them afterwards. You will get the man of the hour event each time you repeat.

[@snowisthebestweather]

Don't know if this has been reported before, but there's an exploit in battle where you position several units of cavalry right in front of the enemy gate, and eventually one of your cavalrymen will slip inside. As long as there are no enemy units nearby, you will then immediately capture the gate. Found this out accidentally while trying to run down routing enemies, and I believe I have only tried this with european-style fortresses.

[@monophthalmos9633]

I don't know if this has been mentioned and if it would be considered to be an exploit, but I found out, that if you have two diplomats, you can get as much territory as you want, for free. All you have to do, is to take one of those to the faction that is in charge of the province you desire. Then you offer them a tribute that is by far to high for the settlement. With a little haggling, they should accept your offer. It doesn't matter how much you promise them, since the next diplomat will cancel the tribute and you will have gotten the settlement(s) for free.

[@lostinnepal7897]

+Gerhard Thiel That will only work once, because when you cancel tributes, trade rights etc. you get a bad reputation for that, and it'll be really hard to get any kind of deal with other factions

[@monophthalmos9633]

lostin nepal So what? It takes time to get a good reputation, but you get that for free too and the province is yours permanently.

[@lostinnepal7897]

Gerhard Thiel Once you do that, most factions won't even accept a simple map information exchange, or even trade rights in the a good amount of turns after you do that

[@lostinnepal7897]

Gerhard Thiel Not that it really matters against the AI

[@azmhyr]

Sally out glitch. I used to do it in the old Broken Crescent where economy was impossible to manage, and I had to capture rebel settlements, while keeping my armies intact. On vanilla I never used it.