Medieval 2: Total War Heaven Tips of the Week


Weekly Gameplay Tips

Each week, we’ll add a new gameplay tip as suggested by our forumers. If you want to suggest some yourself, then head on over to
the thread on our forums to submit your gameplay tip or trick. Some players may see some or all of these methods as cheating or taking advantage of game weaknesses but we’re just posting the information. It’s up to you the player to decide how to use it.


Week 50 2008

After a strong start, the number of great tips dwindled somewhat but today I saw el_bandito’s “The Citadel Rush”.

Basically, convert all your castles into wooden walled towns (stone walled cities cannot be changed back to castles) and then change their tax settings to low. Put high chivalry governors there, as well as build farms. Within a few decades, your population will reach around 6000-7000 and you can convert them back to Fortresses or even Citadels immediately after that.

Week 40 2008

Simple move to get rid of low-level enemy archers using your Heavy horses submitted by Lone Scotsguard.

If you fight against multiple archers/crossbowman unit (peasants/militia/mercenary level) and they are lining up in two lines or more, just charge the front line and right after it, click on empty land right behind the rearmost archers unit. For example, there could be 2 line of archers and after charging the front line, click on the empty land behind the 2nd line and set your horses on the run. Your horses will whack their way through the masses of archers, leaving dead bodies behind. Its faster then to chase them on the rout. Because after the charge only the front of your cavalry engaging the archers but if you sent them moving, they will wrap all archers on their way.

But don’t try this move against better units such as Genoese crossbowmen/Scots guards/Aventuriers. Only applied to the weak archers who fight melee using daggers, not archer units who draw swords.

Week 39 2008

el_bandito came up with a typically devious way to erase longbowmen stakes from the map.

Want to get rid of the stakes lain on the field for the fear of accidentally charging your cavalry into them? Just run an artillery engine (catapults, cannons…) over them. They will be gone.

Week 38 2008

zlack discovered a very cunning way to hold cities captured by a crusading army when it isn’t the final target.

If you have captured a settlement with a crusading/jihading army that isn’t the target settlement but want to keep some troops for garrisoning it, then as long as you remove the general from the army, then the soldiers left behind won’t desert.

Move the army into a settlement, move any units plus the general you want to keep on the crusade out. Simple as that.

Week 36 2008

theboyne clearly has the evil gene because he enjoys inflicting slaughter on the enemy. Here is a tip he had for using artillery:

When you have cannon of whatever type, put them on a flank so they’re firing as close to along the line of the enemy as possible and use basic cannonball, not the flaming cannon ability.

I’ve seen cannonballs take out most of a line before and they’re more likely to hit something anyway.

Week 35 2008

HAMandCHEESE restated a trick that was “sort of” known before but he’s the first to post it in the thread and gets the credit.

Want to lock up a valuable resource for your merchants?

If you build a fort on a resource and move a merchant to the fort, he will trade that resource. Enemy merchants are not able to seize his assets. Another way to do this is to move the merchant to an army and have the army stand on the resource. Again, the merchant will reap the benefits of trade from the resource without the headache of enemy merchants.

On a side note: If you play Stainless Steel, in which units not led by a general rarely ever rebel, its easier to use this tip with units if you’re opposed to the upfront cost of forts. However, in the long run forts will always be less costly as they have no upkeep. Therefore, they will eventually pay for themselves over time unlike units who will always have a perpetual upkeep.

Note that you cannot build a fort on a resource in Kingdoms but you can move a unit onto it. Once a unit is on the resource, you can stack up to 20
merchants onto the resource. The unit will have a maintenance cost so bear that in mind.

Week 34 2008

Battlefield assassins for more factions other than the Hungarians? Aftermath has a method.

Javelin cavalry can be used very effectively as battlefield general assassins. Flank the enemy army using a few units of Javelin cavalry and proceed to pelt him, usually a few volleys will be enough to either have killed them already or enticed them to chase you (a likely outcome as the javelin cavalry need to be closer than other missile cavalry to be in range), which again presents a neat opportunity to ambush the general or continue to hammer his unit with projectiles as your cavalry can easily outrun him.

Week 33 2008

Wage crusades and make friends with the defeated? HAMandCHEESE will show you how.

If the pope calls a crusade to Cairo, I make sure that I am the one to take the city. I immediately create a diplomat and destroy all the other buildings. The next turn, I send the diplomat to an Egyptian agent or army. I offer Cairo and a ceasefire (which always seems to end up being ‘very generous’) in exchange for an Egyptian castle (Acre is my favorite) and as much money as I can get away with.

I move the crusading army to the castle and await new crusades. This allows you to keep an army in the holy lands without really worrying about public order. If you keep an eye on the pope and call the crusades yourself as soon as they’re available, you will always be the first to hit the city (and very quickly I might add).

Week 32 2008

Princesses can be used as diplomats and by itself, that’s not all that useful but you can improve their charm and thus general-stealing abilities.
el bandito has the answers on this one.

Princesses gain their charm level from successful diplomacy deals. In order to get the most out of them, which means successfully seducing a powerful general from your neighbours, you need to do the following. Make trade rights, trade map infos, and offer payments successfully to your immediate neighbours with her highness, until you get at least 4-5 charm level. Now have them seduce the target general, preferably with high command and chivalry rate. Usually your odds of success is around 40-50% which is good.

Week 27 2008

We were sick of enemy Imans until HAMandCHEESE brought this tip to our attention.

If assassination just isn’t doing the trick, there is an easy way to rid yourself of their blasphemous ways. Bring one of your big armies and split it up so that the Imam is surrounded on all sides. Then take one more unit and move it to the tile the Imam currently occupies. Since the Imam cannot move out of the way, he instantly dies! You will need a minimum of 9 individual units to do this. It works for other enemy agent types as well so if you want to get rid of pesky merchants, this is one way of doing it.

Week 26 2008

HAMandCHEESE has been working hard on seeing what the AI does when defending sieges and has discovered the following.

Want to take the castle or town with minimal losses?

Build one battering ram and a lot of ladders. Usually I have a unit of peasants on the ram and about 4 or 5 units of archers manning ladders. At the beginning of the battle, put your ram right in front of the main gate and deploy your ladders around the sides and front corners of the enemy settlement. Make sure the ladders are well out of range of the enemy archers and towers and that they are spread out quite a bit from each other.

You will notice that the AI is more concerned with defending against the ladders as opposed to the ram. Most times, there isn’t even an enemy unit at the main gate which allows my ram to go in untouched. If the AI has enough units to place one or two at the front gate, they generally won’t use their archers which means your ram is only hit by the towers there.

Once you batter down the gate, have your infantry rush in. The units on the walls will sprint to the town center and once engaged, tend to flee quickly. I have been using this for a while against the AI and have had astounding results.

Week 25 2008

crusading1 has a tip to allow quick expansion and eliminating the pesky problem of having to build up a garrison in your new city before you leave.

Whenever you plan to take a city, include in your army the number (and type) of militia which will qualify for free upkeep in your new city. If feasible, keep them out of the fray when you assault and when you move in the rest of your army will be free to go forth into the world. Otherwise, it will take two to three more turns until you can recruit any militia units for occupation purposes.

Week 24 2008

El Bandito has come up with this week’s tip and it has to do with improving your general’s chivalry rating.

One easy way to raise chivalry is to let the general govern a settlement with “normal” or preferrably “low” tax settings. Within few turns he will gain “fair in rule” trait and 1 chivalry. As the time goes he will add as many as 3 chivalry ratings. His loyalty meanwhile will soar as well.

If you don’t like idle generals then there is another way to raise chivalry. Engage every enemy with equal “strength”. It doesn’t necessary mean equal numbers so check your troops’ quality, etc. Do it right and your general will immediately earn “fair fighter” trait and 1 chivalry. If you keep doing it his chivalry rating will go 2 or 3 more times. Releasing some non-vital prisoners also help but generally it is inadvisable to release even a single soldier.

Week 23 2008

El Bandito had a great idea so stunningly obvious that I was embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself. In the final turn before taking the target city/castle of a Crusade or Jihad, have every single family member & army join the crusade. Then when the Crusade or Jihad is successful, every single family member gets the benefit of the good traits & experience that a successful crusade or jihad brings. Also you get a free experience point for every unit you squash onto a crusading or jihading army.