For all its innovation, Shogun: Total war was a simple composition of turn-based strategy and real-time tactical. The ideas were to be developed and given new depth in the form of Medival total War. As the name implies, the developers chose the Middle Ages period.
Remember the stereotypes of the Middle Ages. Dirt, hunger and poverty in the villages. Selfish lords. Witch hunts and knights in shining armor. Now throw it away. Unfortunately, most of the stereotypes about the typical Middle Ages are false. Some of them were tritely invented (For example, the right of the First Night), some were copied from the situation at the turn of the late Middle Ages and modern times. The common population and the nobles are bound together by a system of rights and obligations in relation to each other. With the exception of bandits, few people specifically destroyed peasants or abused them. There were few people and they were too important a resource. There was no high Middle Ages and a time of famine. At this time, the climate improves, allowing abundant harvests to be harvested from the fields. This era was not intolerant of knowledge. By the tenth–eleventh centuries, Europe, thanks to the church, had almost completely restored the knowledge of ancient times, even if it was less widespread at that time.
All this would change by the 14th century, when plague, climate change and centralization of power would lead to the end of the Middle Ages. In the meantime, the continent is recovering from the Dark Ages and the Viking invasion. The feudal states of Europe are beginning to look to the East, where the rich Byzantium and the Caliphate are located. The era of the Crusades begins.
The more everything changes, the more everything remains the same
At the beginning of the game you have to choose a time era and a country that the player will lead to dominance. The later the selected era, the more developed countries will be available. The choice of faction affects not only bonuses, but also access to certain units. There are two ways to win the main campaign. First: conquer all provinces on the map. Second: score the most points by completing tasks.
The basic mechanics in strategic mode remain unchanged, although the scale has increased significantly. The entire Mediterranean, part of the Middle East and Europe up to the Volga are available for conquest. The player still moves army and agent tokens along the map divided into provinces. In addition to land provinces, water spaces and ship tokens have also appeared. Now each move takes one year.
Looking at the map, you expect the inscription “Here be dragons”
Provincial governance has not changed. In each province we build a castle, which opens up buildings for us to recruit soldiers. The higher the castle level, the more advanced buildings and powerful units become available.
Construction and hiring require money (florins in this game). In addition to the classic sources of income in the form of mines and farms, local and maritime trade were added. If there are goods for sale in the province, then to turn them into money you need to build a trading post. Sea trade is more difficult. For her to do this, it is necessary to create a chain of ships in sea regions to the ports of other factions. Income can be received when there are no hostile ships in the chain and the faction itself is at peace with the player. Maritime trading is one of the most profitable ways to make money, albeit the most boring. There is another truly feudal way of getting money. After each victory over the enemy, you will be offered a ransom for soldiers and heroes, and vice versa, if you lose, they will offer to ransom your own. This method of generating income poses a dilemma for the player to give up money (and they are very necessary) or strengthen the enemy a little. It is impossible to build an economy through battles alone, but a significant bonus to development is useful.
The main problems of the strategic mode Medival inherited from Shogun. This includes writing off money only at the end of the year and not the most understandable city leveling tree. But the big problem was brought about by the not-so-convenient system of governing the provinces and the state as a whole. Each province must be viewed separately to obtain even the most basic information. If at the beginning of the campaign, when the player controls three or four provinces, such micromanagement does not cause problems, then in an expanded state, viewing takes a significant amount of time, which slows down the already low pace of the game.
Family and other troubles
Commanders are https://betcakecasino.co.uk/bonus/ no longer just an addition to soldiers’ experience. Now each commander is a character with a number of characteristics: Command, loyalty, intimidation, control, piety. Command gives a bonus to soldiers, management increases the income of provinces. Intimidation ensures higher loyalty of the population of the province. Piety Helps Spread Faith. A loyal general will not betray. Each character throughout his life can acquire features called Vices and Virtues, which are perks that give bonuses or penalties to the main characteristics or affect other aspects (for example, the cost of bribing a hero or a bonus to construction or public order). The division into members of the dynasty and ordinary generals remained with a slight difference. Simple commanders are assigned to any unit, and the heirs of the factions receive a separate detachment of royal knights.
Our generals received not only entries in their personal files, but also a face
A new type of chips has appeared in the game: titles. They are mainly needed to increase loyalty, but some titles give increases in other characteristics. Titles cannot be produced, they are given for capturing provinces. Each province gives one title token.
An old trinity of agents helps make politics: an emissary spy and a murderer. The functions of spies and assassins have not changed compared to Shogun. Spies conduct reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance and trouble the people, Assassins kill generals and agents. Unfortunately, in Medival, basic-level spies and assassins enter enemy territory and immediately die. Which makes them completely useless in the early stages of the game. This can be corrected by building third level buildings. Video inserts with the actions of agents also disappeared. The emissaries have remained virtually unchanged. The ability to take away titles has been added to the functions of bribery, concluding alliances and peace treaties. In this part of the series, diplomacy between factions began to play a larger role. Computer opponents are more willing to agree to an alliance and often offer it themselves, although sometimes they go overboard with this. The situation when, for example, Catholic France, Orthodox Byzantium, Islamic Egypt are in an alliance and together they beat Germany or Italy is not uncommon and beats the immersiveness. Computer opponents maintain an alliance for a long time, which does not prevent them from breaking it at an unexpected moment, but this happens much less often than Shogun.
An agent has appeared who is also a member of the family: the princesses. Their Highnesses are bargaining chips in politics. A wedding with a prince of another faction will cement the alliance, and with a general of your own country will increase the loyalty of the commander.
The number of random events has increased. There are droughts that affect income in the provinces or storms that can destroy the player’s ships. Events have appeared that affect the entire faction. They are mainly historical and affect the characteristics of the characters. A new treatise has been written, piety has increased, pamphlet loyalty has fallen. Leaving a province without protection and without a fort will immediately result in bandits, even with high loyalty. The worst scenario is a civil war, when the state and the player’s armies are divided in half. New factions may appear on the map (for example, Mongols). Also, the player is not immune from the revival of recently destroyed factions.
Technological development is tied to historical events
Deus Vult
The emergence of mechanics related to religion provided new political opportunities. There are three main religions: Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam. Converting the population of a newly captured province to your faction’s religion is important. The lower the percentage of the population in a province that follows your faction’s religion, and the greater the religiosity, the greater the likelihood of a religious uprising
Orthodoxy is the least fortunate. Factions with this religion can only proselytize. Islam can raise the banner of jihad against previously conquered Islamic provinces. Catholic factions have much more varied mechanics related to religion. Firstly, the Catholic faction can declare a crusade in any non-Catholic province. Secondly, Catholics have two more agents. Inquisitor or Grand Inquisitor allows you to kill characters with low piety, even kings and popes can be targeted. Thirdly. The map contains the Papal States, headed by the Pope. Good relations with this faction can be maintained by building cathedrals and converting the population to the Catholic faith. Rome does not like battles between Catholics, and may demand peace if the player has been at war with fellow believers for too long. By ignoring this request, you can get excommunicated from the church and provoke a crusade on your own lands.
Our sword begs for blood
The engine remained the same, but it was modified. Thanks to a larger global map, both the range of landscapes and various weather effects have expanded for tactical battles. Unit sprites have become much more detailed and, when approached, look more like people. The computer opponent acts and acts intelligently on the strategic map, trying whenever possible to ensure a superiority of forces, and if he cannot, he retreats, uses the tactics of raids and amphibious assault.
In the review of Shogun: Total war, I mentioned that a rock-paper-scissors system was created. Spearmen beat cavalry, cavalry archers, spear archers. A number of special units have been added to these three. This system was intuitive and made it possible to create an army for any tactics. The developers at Medival have more than several times expanded the set of available units, and also added units unique to a particular side or available to the owners of a certain territory. And the player may have problems with the new system. Let’s take for example assault infantry, soldiers with swords or axes to fight spearmen. Some soldiers of this type have better armor, but poor morale, some have better attack, but are vulnerable to arrows, some have both armor and attack, but their weapons do not penetrate armor…And so on. And this is only one type of units. The pattern of who beats whom remains, but has become much more complicated. You can figure out such a system, but only in the heat of battle, there is rarely time for this. If we add to this a construction tree that is not very clear, then the player will have problems collecting a balanced army in the early stages.
The second serious miscalculation of the developers is sieges and siege artillery. Castles look impressive, and towers can seriously thin out troops. But taking castles is still as boring as in shogun. The artillery itself is useless except for the destruction of fortifications. The guns are stationary and cannot be moved once they are placed. The area affected by shells is small and not with the highest accuracy; you shouldn’t count on high losses. In this case, you will have to carry a couple of siege weapons, since in each province you will have to take fortifications.
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I don’t think Medival is an outright bad game, but I think it’s more outdated than Shogun. I can’t make allowances for age Shogun even though it came out earlier still plays well. The developers were unable to correct most of the shortcomings inherited from the first game and were unable to polish the innovations well. Add to this bugs that can ruin a multi-day playthrough.
God! Protect us from the fury of the Normans
The improvement in climate, which after some time came to Europe, reached Scandinavia several centuries earlier, ensuring population growth and, most importantly, increased prosperity, which made it possible to recruit large squads. Viking raids began with attacks on monasteries, but soon not a single coastal city in Europe and even northern Africa could feel safe. The situation with the raids was so terrible that in Spain, Christians and Muslims who had been fighting for a long time concluded a truce and alliance. After a period of raiding, the Vikings began colonizing. Norman settlements began to appear in France, Greenland, Sicily in the lands of the Slavs, North America and of course in England
Why England. It’s all about the Gulf Stream. Thanks to the current, it is easy to get from England to Scandinavia even in calm weather, which was very helpful during robberies. Soon England became the base and transit point for attacks on all of Europe. The Vikings were not able to completely conquer England, but they managed to grab a significant piece, later called the area of “Danish law”, and at the end of their era they were expelled. The whole of England was captured by the descendants of the Vikings – the Knights of the Duchy of Normandy, but that’s a story for another game.
I’ll say right away that I liked the conquest of the British Isles much more than the main campaign. Medival’s shortcomings, which I described above, affect the game much less. A small map makes for a more dynamic game. The number of units available for hire has been reduced, which, oddly enough, has improved the combat system, in which units unique to both sides have begun to play a larger role. For example, crossbowmen (including mounted ones) are available to the Picts. The best cavalry of the Saxon kingdoms: Mercia and Northumbria. But of course the main characters of the add-on are the Vikings.
The developers managed to avoid the imbalance that was created in the Shogun expansion, but they gave the Viking faction some nice goodies. Viking ships can move to two regions at once; when a province is ravaged and buildings are destroyed, the Vikings receive more money. Thus, the player’s most profitable tactics will repeat the tactics of real Vikings. Attacked, robbed and ran away with the loot.
The Vikings have the best infantry in the game, easily passing through enemy lines. But the sea robber faction is not without its drawbacks. Firstly, there are no good archers or cavalry. Secondly, the Vikings are pagans, so in the occupied territories they have to wait a long time for the population to convert from Christianity or face constant religious riots.
If the player is not put off by the graphics, then I recommend starting to play Medival with the add-on
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Despite not the most pleasant impressions of the game, I understand the reasons why players and critics accepted the game. This includes a popular setting, the overall scale of the game, and unusual mechanics. In subsequent games you can easily find the ideas and concepts first introduced in Medival. Unfortunately for me the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of the game.
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