I. Inroduction [@1]
II. The Royal Court [@2]
III. The Royal Family [@3]
IV. The Kingdom Power and Kingdom Advantages [@4]
V. Economy, Construction, Religion [@5]
VI. Diplomacy, Espionage [@6]
VII. Military [@7]
VIII. Starting a campaign [@8]
IX. Expanding your Kingdom [@9]
X. Credits, Version History, Contact Info [@10]
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I. Inroduction [@1]
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Knights of Honour is a great RTS Game designed by Black Sea Studios.
Unfortunately, few know that. They are too busy playing GTA and Halo ><
The goal of this game is to, by all the meanest means, become the Emperor
of all Europe.
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II. The Royal Court [@2]
---------------------
The most important thing in this game is, of course, the honourable Knights.
As you can see, at the top of the screen is your Royal Court. There are 9
slots, that means you can only have a limited number of 9 Knights to use.
There are 6 kinds of Knights: Marshal, Merchant, Cleric, Landlord, Builder,
and Spy.
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1. The Marshal
---------------
- The Marshal is the only military kind Knight. Only a Marshal can lead an
army. Every Kingdom needs armies, so every Royal Court needs Marshals.
- A Marshal's job is to attack enemy towns or defending your towns.
A newly recruited Marshal will have no soldiers. You'll need to send him to
the nearest castle and recruit troops there.
- A Marshal will gain experiences through battles whether he wins or loses
(as long as he survives). Once the experience bar below the Marshal's
portrait is full, you will receive a skill point, that can be spent on a new
Skill, or upgrading an old Skill.
- You will always start with one Marshal in any new campaigns. Keep him,
unless he's too ugly.
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2. The Merchant
----------------
- The Merchant is the breadwinner of your Kingdom. A Merchant can be either
assigned to govern a province or to trade with another Kingdom.
- As a Governor, a Merchant will increase the amount of gold produced in that
province. As a trader, a Merchant can trade with another Kingdom for Goods or
gold.
- A Merchant can be educated by books. The more skilled a Merchant is, the
more gold you'll get in that town and through trading.
- You will need at least one Merchant in your court, unless you are too rich
already.
--------------
3. The Cleric
--------------
- The Cleric is the religious representative of your Kingdom. A Cleric will
need to be assigned to govern a province, or else he will do nothing.
- As a Governor, a Cleric will increase the amount of Piety and Books
produced by Monasteries in that province. A Cleric can also adopt population,
convert religions.
- Adopting Population is extremely important, as it erases the -10 Nostalgia
Unhappiness immediately (instead of having to wait for a long time). This
requires some amount of books, though.
- A Cleric can be educated by books. The more skilled a Cleric is, the more
piety you'll get, and they will succeed their missions more often.
- Always assign a Cleric to govern a newly taken province, and adopt the
population there, or rebels will be everywhere.
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3a. The Pope
-------------
- If your Cleric is highly educated (5 stars), there's a chance that he will
be elected as the new Pope when the old Pope dies of old age. And yes, he will
eventually die of old age as well.
- The Pope can excommunicate other Catholic Kingdoms, call for a Crusade
against any non-Catholic or excommunicated Catholic Kingdoms.
- The Pope will sometimes ask one of your Marshal to lead a Crusader (which
means you will lose him forever). And if you decline (that is most likely if
the Marshal is highly skilled), there is a chance he will leave your court,
and excommunicate you from the Catholic Church at the same time. ><
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3b. The Patriarch
------------------
- Orthodox Kingdoms are all controlled by the Byzantium Empire and have to
tribute money for them. If you want to be free, you must have a Patriarch.
Once you have a level 5 Cleric, choose the "Claim Independency" option to
make him the Patriarch. (Note that he must not be a member of the Royal
Family).
- The Patriarch works just like a normal Cleric. That means you can assign him
to govern a Province...
- Once became the Patriarch, he will lose his immortality :| and will begin to
age, and eventually will die.
If you want to continue as an independent Church, you must have another top
leveled Cleric ready.
----------------
4. The Landlord
----------------
- The Landlord is responsible for food supply. A Landlord will need to be
assigned to govern a province, or else he will do nothing.
- As a Governer, a Landlord will increase the amount of food produced by
farms in that province. A Landlord also increases the growth of population,
and rations the food consumption so a besieged town will last longer.
- A Landlord can be educated by books. The more skilled a Landlord is, the
more food you'll get in that town.
- Landlords are best to govern Provinces in short of food, or Towns that are
developing. There's no point assigning Landlords to Provinces without Farms
though.
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5. The Builder
---------------
- The Builder is responsible for constructions. A Builer will need to be
assigned to govern a province, or else he will do nothing.
- As a Governer, a Builder will speed up the progress of all constructions in
town. The town will also be able to have larger population than normal.
- A Builder can be educated by books. The more skilled a Builder is, the
faster your town will be developed.
- Builders are best to govern developing towns with tons of things under
construction.
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6. The Spy
-----------
- Spy is the head of Intelligence of your Kingdom. A Spy can be either
assigned to infiltrate enemy Royal Court, or to stay home, defending your
own Court against enemy spies.
- A spy who has successfully infiltrated enemy court can perform many
different espionage activities, depending on what profession he is hired as.
An unassigned Spy will automatically perform counter-espionage activities.
- A Spy can be educated by books. The more skilled a Spy is, the higher
chance he will succeed in espionage and counter-espionage missions.
- You must always have a Spy protecting your Royal Court (stay home).
Be careful when hiring your spy, as he may be an enemy spy. A Prince is
the best choice as he is surely not. But who knows? Maybe he's infact the
bard's son. ^^ Not the same bastard in "the Bard's Tale" though.
-----------------------
III. The Royal Family [@3]
-----------------------
The Royal Family is called the Royal Dynasty in this game. Take care of them,
or your supreme reign of terror could come to an abrupt, horrifying end.
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1. The King
------------
- The King is the head of your Kingdom.(Apparently you are the head, but who
cares?) The King's talents can affect your Kingdom's power in several ways:
"Warfare" : The higher this is, the higher your armies' morale will be.
"Economy" : The higher this is, the more gold you'll get from taxes, towns,
and trade routes.
"Religion" : The higher this is, the more likely religion conversions will
succeed.
"Espionage": The higher this is, the more likely espionage and counter-
espionage activities will succeed.
"Diplomacy": The higher this is, the more likely other Kings will accept your
proposals.
- The King can be assigned to the Royal Court like normal Knights, but he
needs no unkeep cost; can be reassigned to another profession; and has some
bonuses. As a Marshal, the King's army will fight more bravely, for example.
But I highly recommend you not to do so, for several reasons. First, as the
King does those jobs, he will take the risk of being killed, which is a total
disaster.
Second, while Knights do not age, the King does. When he dies of old age, all
his hard-earned skills will be gone for naught.
Finally, it would be hard for the King to produce children while he's working
in the Royal Court! Especially if he is a Marshal.
He needs to be at home, with his wife, in order to do THAT, ye know. ^^
- Occasionally you may get a message saying that the King simply can't have
any children (which I find rather amusing). Somebody said "Making money is
hard, but making children is extremely easy". Certainly not in this case ^^
- Ozgur Ozubek sent me an email saying this:
[I believe using the King aggressively in military campaigns shortens the
lifespan of the current King as my conqueror Kings happen to die quickly with
an interesting note saying "unexpected death"]
I didn't test it yet, but maybe it's the punishment of God for killing too
many people? ^^ Or someboby poisoned him o_O?
- Anyway, the King's most important job is to produce the royal offsprings.
And he should focus on that. But to produce those kids, he also needs...
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2. The Queen
-------------
- The Queen is... um... the King's wife. She can be either a princess, or a
noble woman. If you do not get your King a princess soon enough he'll marry
a noble woman instead.
- I believe that a noble woman will give birth to less talented children.
And I also think that Arabian Princesses seem to be more fertile. oO
- The best candidate for this position is the only daughter of an old King who
has no heir. As Sohryu Asuka Langley in Neon Genesis Evangelion said: Chansu!
Chance to claim some free lands that is ^^
- It is also believed that the bigger your Kingdom is, the harder it will be
to produce royal offsprings.
- The Queen's main task (in this game or not) is to eat, woohoo with the King,
and give birth to some baby boys. (May they be weak and dull just like their
father!).
And note that she can only make 3 princes and 3 princesses at most.
---------------
3. The Princes
---------------
- The Princes are the hope of the whole Kingdom. If you have only one Prince,
nothing to say. In case you have 2 or 3, you should always choose the oldest
one as the heir, no matter how dumb he is. If you choose the younger prince
as your heir, the older ones will revolve for sure. (The one with the Crown
is the heir. Don't mess with it).
- Do not waste any Princes. If you have 3 Princes, assign the younger two to
be Merchant, Spy or Cleric. If the chosen heir can't produce any children,
his sibblings will take the throne. This will decrease the chance that your
fully trained Marshal becomes the new King, and later dies of old age.
(You'd like a Cleric/Landlord to become King than a Marshal because training
a Marshal is a pain in the arse compared to other Knights who only need books
to level up).
- Do not get your heir a wife until he succeeds to the throne. Since when
the King dies, people will be unhappy, the new King's marriage at that time
will light things up a bit. Also if you marry your Prince too soon, and his
father-in-laws dies, his wife will no longer be a princess.
- If you have no heir, one of your Knights will take over. Normally, the ones
with royal blood (former princes) will take over (or at least it happens that
way in most of my games). If there's none, the Knight with highest level will
become the new King.
It sux if a fully trained Marshal become new King, because he will eventually
die. When your Kingdom is big, there is a chance that it will be splitted up
if the Knight is not widely supported by the noble.
I once had only 3 more provinces to take, and this happened, I was left with
only one town. I then tried to take some Provinces back with my kicked out
armies before they can build some troops, but the well-protected towns fought
back, and I lost all my armies as well. Time to reload!
------------------
4. The Princesses
------------------
- Princesses are not useless! If your Kingdom is weak, it is most likely
that other Kingdoms will refuse to make Trade Agreement, ect. Offer them a
marriage, and they will agree at once.
- Also if you find an old, unmarried King, immediately offer him your one of
your princess(es). They won't have enough time to make any children, and so,
there will be a chance to claim some more free lands ^^
- If you have no heir, don't marry off any of your Princesses. Let them be
what Bridget Jones should be. You won't get the "Princess becomes spinster"
message like in Medieval Total War though.
- I do pity those Princesses... once I sold my Princess to an Arabian King...
he rocked her days and nights (I guess), and she made 6 children in a short
while... where's LOVE ?!?
Well, it's still better than to be a farmer's daughter, with a 10 cents dowry.
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5. Royal Marriage
------------------
- The following things will decide whether your proposal is accepted or not:
your Kingdom Power, the relationship, how respected you are, the number of
your Provinces (your Kingdom is bigger or smaller than them?), the number of
allies that you have backstabbed, the number of children available for marriage
(both side), and your King's talent in diplomacy.
- Marrying off your Princess is far easier than your Prince. When you ask for
someone's daughter, it's highly likely that they ask something in return
(gold, land, alliance pact, attacking their enemies...), unless you largely
overpower them.
- It's not easy to take away an old King's only daughter.
- You may try to get a marriage from an ally (sign alliance pact with them), a
weak Kingdom, or demand a marriage when someone ask for a peace treaty.
- If you claim land from your relatives so many times, it will build up a bad
reputation (most likely people will run away when being asked for a marriage).
Or at least I believe so :p
- And even when you can't make it, your King will always be able to get
himself a noble woman, so there's nothing to worry about. Later in the game,
there will be a shortage of princesses, so your King will usually end up with
some noble women.
- And truth be known, I always BUY my King/Prince's wife ^^
- The game has some scheduled councils where all Kings gather to vote and
choose an Ultimate Emperor to rule all Europe. Of course most of the time it
will end without a winner.
If you intend to end the game that way (not by eliminating everyone), first
you must be a big, respected Kingdom, then work hard to have as many allies
as possible.
- You can also attempt to claim the title by choosing the "Claim your title"
option on the Royal Dynasty menu. Should you fail, you get big troubles.
--------------------------------------------
IV. The Kingdom Power and Kingdom Advantages [@4]
--------------------------------------------
---------------------
1. The Kingdom Power
---------------------
- The Kingdom Power show how powerful and respected you are, and you should
always keep an eye on it.
- The Kingdome Power bar is at the top left of your screen. The more to the
right, the greener it is, and the more powerful your Kingdom is.
- Higher Kingdom Power means more gold, happier population, higher army
morale, less likely to be declared war with; and vice versa.
- You can increase your Kingdom Power by clicking the icon left to it. It
costs quite some gold and Piety to go up to level 5.
- Actions like declaring war, dishonouring an Alliance Pact... will make
your Kingdom Power go down.
--------------------------
2. The Kingdom Advantages
--------------------------
- There are 10 Kingdoms advantages, each requires some certain Goods in order
to become active. These Advantages will grand you bonuses in many areas.
Glorious Conquest: Increases all your armies' Morale by 3.
Secret Order: Increases your Spies' chance of success by 10%.
Silk Route: Doubles the income of all Merchants.
Grand Cathedrals: Doubless the bonuses of all Cathedrals. Awesome!
(Believe me, you won't have so many Cathedrals, so not many awes here).
Age of Discoveries: Adds 5 golds to all Coastal Villages' income.
Age of Enlightenment: Doubles the number of books written in Universities.
(Again you won't have many Universities).
Grand Fotress: Makes your Castles last 30% longer in sieges.
Crop Rotation: Adds 1 food to all Farms, and increases the limit of food
storage in all Towns by 100.
Urbanisation: Increases the population of all your Towns by 30%.
Spring Festival: Increases the happiness bonus of Inns by 2 and Hostels by 5.
- Your Aim in the whole Campaign should be mainly to meet the requirements
of these Advantages. For Example, if you only need the "Clothes" Goods to
enter the "Age of discovery", open the map, find the nearest town that can
potentially make "Clothes", then plan to take it by miliatry, diplomacy,
or espionage means.
- In my opinion, the last 3 Kingdom Advantages are important, and somewhat
easier to achieve. So you may want to have them first.
- Once you have activated all Kingdom Advantages (possess all the Goods),
you will have a chance to claim a minor victory (which I never do).
----------------------------------
V. Economy, Construction, Religion [@5]
----------------------------------
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1. Resources
-------------
There are some kinds of resources in this game. On the top right of the
screen is your Kingdom treasury. Clicking on the Icons (Piety, Book, Gold)
will bring up the respective menus.
a. Gold
- Gold can be earned mainly from taxes. There are some levels of taxes.
Normal taxes is the default and highly recommended one. No taxes means no
gold, and happy population. Double taxes means more gold, and :( population.
War taxes should only be used when you has no other options.
- Gold can also be earned through trade routes. The amount of gold earned
depends on the skill of your Merchant, how powerful your counterpart is,
the relationship between you that country, and the King's economic talent.
So, the best is to trade with a huge, "in hamornious" Kingdom.
- Gold can also be earn through towns' contribution, vassals' contribution,
the King's economic talent, Catholic religion, raiding enemy villages,
asking for ransoms... and of course, by cheating ^^
- Gold is used to recruit troops, build town Improvements, pay Knights'
wage, import Exotic Goods, and pay your Overlord if you are a vassal.
- There is inflation in this game, so if you have more money than your
real economic power (took a huge ransom, for example), you will gradually
lose money due to inflation.
b. Piety
- Piety can be produced in Churchs, Cathedrals, Monasteries or Mosques, and
by the King's religious talent.
- Piety is used to take over a town's authority, increase Kingdom Power,
convert Religions...
c. Books
- Books can be produced in Churchs, Libraries, Universities, or written by
Clerics governing towns.
- Books are used to educate Knights (except for Marshals) so they will serve
you better. Books are also needed to Adopt Population (basically by forcing
captured towns to learn your Kingdom's culture so they'll feel less nostalgic)
d. Food
- Food is produced in normal Farms, Coastal villages, Bakeries, Cattle Farms,
Sheep Farms, Butchers...
- Food is needed to recruit troops. The amount of food stored in a town will
decide how long your town can last during siege, so building a "Granary" and
a "Bakery" is a must.
- An army not deployed in a town will consume food at a rapid rate. You'll
need to go to neerest Castle to refill the army's food wagon. But you can
also go and raid enemy Farms instead.
e. Workers
- Workers are needed for towns' growth and construction. Lacking of workers
will make constructions take longer.
- You can increase the number of workers in a town by assigning a Builder
there.
f. Population
- When you recruit troops, population decreases. If the population in a town
is too low, you won't be able to recruit troops there until it goes up.
- Landlords will make the Town grow faster and increase the population limit.
---------------------
2. Province Features
---------------------
- There are 8 Province Features that are ramdomly given to Provinces each
time you start a new campaign.
Fishery: Most Coastal Provinces have this feature. It does no thing special
except for giving your town more food and allowing "Fishmonger".
Game Land: A common feature. This will allow you to build "Hunter's Huts"
which produce "Hides" and gold.
Silver Ore: Silver Ores bring um... "Silver", and gold. But "Silver Mines"
make people unhappy. No one likes working in a mine.
Brine Deposites: Brine Deposits are required to build "Salt Mines", which add
more food to towns and produce the goods "Salt". I heard some lousy scientists
said that we are eating too much salt nowadays, so don't buid it! ^^
Marble Deposits: This feature brings you marbles, which can be used to build
big building like "Cathedrals". Without Marble Deposits you won't have
"Column", "Statues"...
Mineral Deposits: Mineral Deposits bring you "Dyes", "Inks", and are
required to make the trade goods "Clothes".
Fertile Soil: With Fertile Soils, you can have Vineyardes, Hemp Fields, and
Apiaries. Without this feature, you won't have "Wine", "Honey", ect.
Pasture: Pasture is surprisingly rare. It's a very important feature as you
need at least one town with Pasture to breed sheeps, cattles, and more
importantly, "Horses" that are required to make Mounted Units (unless your
Knights ride cows). Without "Pasture", you won't have "Meat", "Leather", ect.
Uh, I forgot that you also need Pasture to have cows -.- So if you don't have
any pastures, your Knights will ride bicycles.
- Each Province has at most 3 Features. Some can have 1, a few have 3, and
most have none. The Combination of Province Features is very important.
Say, if none of the Provinces of Europe has the combination of "Pasture +
Mineral Deposits", you will never have "Universities", that means no
"Illustrated Books", no "Grand Cathedrals", and no "Age of Enlightenment".
- Provinces with no Features are not useless. Use them as military bases.
---------------------
3. Town Improvements
---------------------
- The number of Town Improvements are huge, so I won't list them here. You
can find the detailed infos for all of them in the Royal Library instead.
- The level of your Castles depends on how many Town Improvements you have
in them. You can tell the level of towns easily by looking at the map.
Castles with 2 red towers are at top level.
- There are 3 kinds of buildings: Military Buildings, Civilian Buildings,
and Advanced Buildings.
Military Buildings are required to recruit troops, and they add defensive
bonuses to the town. The must-builds are "Town Watch House, Training Ground,
Bulwark, Tool Smithy". I tend to build all the town defending buildings in
every town, so the Town Guards and Garrisoned troops can defend the town by
themselves against enemy Marshals.
Civilian Buildings are required to produce goods and enhance the town's
economy. Unlike Military Buildings, some of these require certain Province
Features in order to be built. For example, "Stud Farm" produces "Horses",
but it requires "Pasture". The must-builds are "Granary, and Hostel". Don't
build the "Tax Collectors' Office" unless you want some more rebels.
Advanced Buildings brings powerful bonuses and valuable Goods. Most of them
require more than one Civilian Building in order to be built. The ones with
hardest-to-meet requirements are "Univeristy" and "Coast Guard". The "Bakery"
is a must-build for any towns.
- Building Town Improvements takes quite some time. You can force them to
complete immediately, but it costs HUGE amount of gold.
- Some Buildings are upgrades of others. For example, if you upgrade (click
the small Up arrow on the low left of the buildings) "Sword Smith", you will
have "Sword Mastersmithy" and the latter will replace the former.
And there's no "Axe Mastersmithy" for you. After all, axes are short-lived.
- The slots available in each Town are limited, so have a plan before you
build anything. But never forget to build "Town Watch House", "Hostel", and
"Granary". And avoid buildings which make people unhappy at all costs.
- You can also demolish any unwanted buildings.
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4. Goods
---------
There are 2 kinds of goods: Trade Goods that can be produced in towns and
traded with other Kingdoms, and Exotic Goods that can only be imported.
Goods are required for Buildings, recruiting troops, and Kingdom Advantages.
- Trade Goods include "Wine, Wax, Honey, Linen, Ink, Dyes, Clothes, Salt,
Silver, Hides, Parchment, Horses, Wool, Meat, Leather, Statues, Columns,
Tackling, and Illustrated Books". Some Trade Goods like "Hides, Dyes", are
easy to make, some are extremely hard ("Clothes, Illustrated Books"). Until
you can make some clothes, your people are all nakkit.
- Exotic Goods include "Gemstones, Silk, Ebony, Ivory, Spices, Suger, and
Amber". These Goods can only be imported by building Admiralty, then click on
the Harbour Icon in Towns' menu, choose one to import. You will need at least
7 Provinces with Coastal Villages and "Admiralty" in order to have all Exotic
Goods. And importing these Goods costs you money as well.
To build an "Admiralty", you'll need to build the "Fishmonger", then upgrade
it to "Docks" first.
- Do not produce Goods that you already have. For example, if Aquitiane is
producing "Wine", why should you waste a slot building another "Winery" in
York? It's obvious, right?
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5. Religions
-------------
- There are 4 different Religions in the game:
Catholic: The most common and the best Religion in the game. As a Catholic
Kingdom, you gain more money (30%).
And if you have a highly skilled Cleric (5 stars), he can be elected as the
new Pope when the old one dies. Once you control the Pope, you can call for
Crusades against other countries. Deal with the Pope with care, or you'll be
excomminicated from the Catholic Church (most of the time I end up so).
Aggressively attacking many pious Catholic Kingdoms will also get you that.
Once excommunicated, you can ask the Pope for forgiveness (cost A LOT of golds
and Piety).
You can also donate money to the Pope and improve your relationship with all
other Catholic Kingdoms, which I never do. (To do so, bring up the Religion
menu, then click the "donate hand" picture).
Orthodox: Just as Catholic, but less common at that time, and you have to
tributes money (20%) to the Byzantium (unless you are playing with them).
Orhtodox Kingdoms also gain 30% more Piety.
If you have a highly skilled Cleric (5 stars), you can claim Independency
and make an Independent Church. (To do so, bring on the Religion menu, then
click the "fist" picture). One of your top leveled Clerics (if you have more
than one) will become the Patriarch. Also you'll get an instant message from
the Byzantium declaring war. ><
C'mon! You want war? It's war that you'll get!
If you can nolonger endure the threat from the Byzantium, kneel down before
them once again. Then you get peace, but your Patriarch will vanish...
Hanged, I think :(
Muslim: As an Islamic Kingdom, you can call for a Jihad, where soldiers from
Mosques in all over your Kingdom will continueously come out to attack the
invaders. This cost some gold and piety. (To do so, bring on the Religion
menu then click on the "sabres" picture).
You can also suicide bombing people. But don't do that. There's still love,
tons of great anime shows to watch, and there are many interesting video
games out there to play. If you just want to kill people, play GTA instead.
Just kidding ^^
Pagan: Obviously the worst of all, only if you choose to play with the Golden
Horde (and some nearby countries that I don't remember). With this "Religion",
you lose 30% income, gain no Piety at all, and can not even hire a Cleric.
You'll need to choose one religion ASAP.
- You can change your Kingdom's main Religion if you have enough Provinces
following another Religion. But beware, it can cause some major unrests and
may split up your Kingdoms. So save first.
- Provinces with Religions different from the Main Religion will feel
unhappy, and you'll need to send an experienced Cleric there to convert it
into the Main Religion. Before doing so, remember to demolish any Churchs
or Mosques in town, as those buildings make it harder to convert religions,
and increase the chance that your clerics get killed. It's not so easy as
converting *.BMP to *.JPEG, ye know.
-----------------------------
VI. Diplomacy and Espionage [@6]
-----------------------------
-------------
1. Diplomacy (After all, human society is just like a jungle)
-------------
- The Diplomacy system is simple enough. You can make peace, declare war;
give gold, land; demand gold, land; propose royal marriages; claim land;
sign Trade agreement, Non-agression Pact, Alliance Pact; ask for help from
allies; or even bribe other countries to attack your enemies, offer Vassalage
to a powerful Kingdom so they'll protect you, demand Vassalage from weaker
countries...
- The tip here is to keep good relationship with big, distant Kingdoms and
trade with them. Take a look at the Allies and enemies of the country you are
planning to attack. Do not attack Kingdoms that have good relationship with
many countries. And do not wage war with more than 2 bordering Kingdoms if
possible.
- The whole Europe will eventually be divided into 2 or 3factions that hate
each other. Follow the better one, and always know who are in your faction.
Do not attack a Kingdom in your faction just because they are wealthy.
Be honourable! (And please, do not attack other countries for oil ^^)
- Also if you are big enough, do not trade with smaller Kingdoms since you
will have no real profits, just make deals with big ones.
- Royal Marriage is a very effective way to get more lands. In fact, I got
most of my Provinces through properly planned marriages and claiming
people's lands. It seems that the decision to give up land or decline it is
totally random, so reload if your kins decline to give up the Provinces.
Also there's no points in claiming Provinces that are far, far away from your
Kingdom. It will be hard to defend them anyway.
- The Kings' personality is said to affect their decisions, so take a look
at it before you enter the council. (Normally I just don't care).
"If there is a hell, if lying is a sin, and sinful souls are sent there,
that place should be full of lawyers, dentists, country leaders, and anyone
who said that Windows XP is reliable" - Me.
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2. Espionage
-------------
All espionage related things can only be performed if you have Spies.
- Espionage Activities: First, hire a Spy, then command him to infiltrate an
enemy Court. The more skilful he is and the higher the King's espionage talent
is, the shorter it will take to successfully infiltrate enemy Royal Court.
(Still, it will take forever if the enemy Court is full).
Your Spy will then be hired as either a Marshal, Cleric, Merchant, Landlord,
Builder, or even a Spy. Personally, I think Landlords and Builders are
useless, and it seems that the CPU also thinks so, as they rarely hire a
Landlord or Builder. (In fact, I've never seen that).
Most often he will be hired as a Marshal, because Marshals die often (and so
is your Spy). He can easily be killed in battles. And the Spy can persuade the
enemy King to make peace with you; or try to make an army revolt, where all
armies in that Kingdom will become rebels. I would hang myself if I were that
King. ^^
Keep an eye on your Spy while he's acting as a Marshal. When he's going into
dangerous fights, call him back. You won't want to waste a level 5 Spy.
The Spy can also often be hired as a Merchant. Then, he can steal all of that
Kingdom's treasures, or sabortage a trade route. If you are lucky enough, he
may be appointed as a Governor. In that case, save, then try to take it for
free. If the Spy does not succeed, keep reloading until he does. ^^
If your Kingdom is large enough, you can even try to annex all the enemy
Kingdom's provinces.
The Spy can sometimes be hired as a Cleric and assigned to govern a province.
Then, he can change the Religion of that Province, so people will be unhappy;
or even teach people in enemy neighbouring towns your culture so that they
will have nostalgic feeling ^^. (This command is only available when your Spy
is assigned to govern a Province bordering your country).
Occationally, the Spy will be hired as a SPY. Then, feel free to kill anyone
you like in that Kingdom's Royal Family. If you plan things well, you can take
some free lands. First, save, then see if the King is married or not. If he
is unmarried, offer him your Princess, then assassinate him. Claim lands! If
he has no heir, offer your Prince to his Princess, then kill him. Claim lands!
Don't say it's so evil. Man is evil. (I mean human is evil. And woman is even
more evil than man ;)
Ok I'm only joking, so please do NOT send emails calling me a pig T_T
I'm not a pig. I'm a very handsome boy. I have tons of chest hair too.
I'm very cool, I make girls swoon. I also have only one girl friend who is
also my childhood friend. I'm very faithful. And I bath once a week *cough*
Anyway, You can also tell the Spy to spoil your relationship with that
Kingdom. This is useful when you are trying to invade your allies.
Whenever a King refuses my Royal Marriage proposal with his daughter, I'll
try to send a Spy there to kick the darn Princess's arses. (Failed most of
the time ><)
As long as you do not try any schemes, your Spy will remain under cover.
The risk of being caught depends on the difficulty of missions. For example,
assassinating a King is of course extremely hard as he is well protected.
Killing a helpless Princess is also easier than killing a Prince. The fact is
that it can be done much more easily and beautifully by a Ninja...
Spoiling relationships seems to be easy.
Before commanding your Spy to do anything dangerous, save. Man, I always feel
brave after saving in Resident Evil. Even the Nemesis can't scare me then :p
"I HAVE JUST SAVED MY GAME! C'MON YOU UNDEAD!! BRING IT ON!!!"
- Counter-Espionage Activites: Remember that whatever dirty things you are
planning to do to your enemies, they are just doing the same things. So,
you must always has a trusted, experienced Spy protecting your own Court
before trying any thing.
In later stages of the campaign, spies are everywhere, so 9 out of 10 newly
hired Knights are enemy spies. But they will remain undiscoverd as long as
they keep hiding. If you have a 5 stars Spy, he will catch any Spy attempting
to do harmful schemes.
In one of my campaigns, I have a Marshal who follows me since the early days.
He was fully trained, with all useful skills, and is one of my 4 main
Marshals. Suddenly, he was caught and imprisoned for trying an army revolt.
And my most faithful ally tried to bail him out with a huge sum of money...
Of course I generously let him die in pieces in the dungeons, after some
bloody tortures... muwaaahhahahahahah ><
---------------
VII. Military [@7]
---------------
-----------
1. An Army
-----------
- An army is led by a Marshal. The Marshal alone has his own Body Guard squad.
The Knight's body guards are the most skilled soldiers in the game. You can
have 9 more squads in your army.
- The speed of an army is decided by the slowest squad. So, if you make an
army with 8 squads of Light Cavalry, and 1 squad of Spearmen, your army will
march at the speed of Spearmen.
- An army should contain 3 foot units, 3 mounted units, and 3 ranged units.
- How well an army fight will depend on many aspects: the Marshal, the troops'
experience, the King's warfare talent, your Kingdom Power, the Kingdom
Advantages, and, of course, the type of units.
- You can see the squads' Experience, Stamina, Men Count, Arrows, Morale...
by clicking the Icon above the food wagon.
- Always keep an eye on the army's food wagon. Starving men won't fight well.
But somehow they are still very good at running away...
- You can refill a squad which lost men in battles anywhere, even if that
squad has only one survivor. For example, you can refill a squad of Steppe
Cavalry in Paris, where you can not build Steppe Cavalry.
- To refill an army, enter a castle and click on the small asterisk icon.
- Whatever you do, don't make an army of peasants and give it to your King in
his glorious conquests. Unless you have some wicked plans in mind.
Imagine Williams the Conqueror with a bunch of brave peasants :D
A Marshal learns skills through battles, not books. There are totally 23
Skills, but a Marshal can only learn 6 at most. The max level of each Skill
is 3. These Skills will affect the army that the Marshal is commanding.
Other Knights governing a province can join in Town defending battles, but
they do not have military Skills.
- Skills that affect Army Morale (I believe that they do stack)
Leadership: A Marshal with this Skill causes the army to fight more bravely.
His army has increased Morale in battles. An useful Skill.
Dread: A Marshal with this Skill brings fear to enemy. They suffer decreased
Morale in battles. An useful Skill.
Conqueror: A Marshal with this Skill cause the army to feel more confident
on foreign lands. His army has increased Morale on foreign territories. Get
the Leadership skill instead.
Admiral: A Marshal with this Skill cause the army to have increased Morale
and attack bonus in sea-battles. You can also build ships without having to
visit a dock. Just go to the seasides, make a camp, then you can build ships
there. Nice Skill, but sea-battles do not happen often in this game, so
it's not really useful.
Fanatic: Die, ye filthy infidels! A Marshal with this Skill cause his army
to fight more bravely against enemies of different Religions, and so, has
increased Morale. I don't see why you should learn this (unless you play with
Islamic countries).
- Skills that give Attack/Defense Bonuses
Tactics: This Skill give huge attack and defense bonuses in Camp Assault
battles. Additionally, it allows the Marshal to fortify a camp, which is
extremely useful. This is a must-have Skill. Once your Marshal have maxed
out this Skill, winning a battle is a piece of cake. Simply command him
to make a fortified camp and wait for the enemy to come. The camp will
shoot at the enemy while they are approaching, then in the battle, let your
Marshal fight by himself. He'll manage to win with minor losses.
Did I mention that this is a must-have skill?
Siegecraft: This Skill give defense bonus in Siege battles. This is a must
for Marshals commanding your invading force, as armies laying siege to high
leveled Castles suffer a lot.
Ballistics: This Skill increases the damage of Siege weapons and ranged
units. Let your Marshal learn it if he is leading a bunch of Archers. This
Skill works well with the Archery Mastery, and Engineering Skills.
Night Stalker: This Skill gives attack bonus in night battles. During daytime,
it does nothing, and therefore, is not very useful.
Iron Fist: This Skill give attack bonus while fighting rebels. If you are
making a Marshal who specializes in beating up rebels, grant him this skill.
(Actually, this is totally not needed, as a Marshal with level 3 Tactic skill
can defeat a rebel peasant army without losing 1 man. Just make a fortified
camp on their marching way, and wait.)
- Skills that affect Experience gain
Learning: This Skill makes the Marshal gain more experiences in battles. If
you are for hasty methods, learn this first. If not, save the slot for more
useful Skills.
Cavalry Mastery: This Skill makes mounted Units gain more experiences in
battles. Not very useful, as an army containing all Cavalry won't do well.
Sword Mastery: This Skill makes sword-wielding Units gain more experiences in
battles. Not very useful, as an army containing all Infantries won't do well.
Spear Mastery: This Skill makes spear-wielding Units gain more experiences in
battles. Not very useful, as an army containing all Infantries won't do well.
Archery Mastery: This Skill makes ranged Units gain more experiences in
battles. This would be another not-so-useful skill as the ones above if it
did not have some additional bonuses. In fact, these bonuses make it one of
the best choices. At maximum level, all ranged Units have 50% more Arrows, and
cause no casualties from friendly fire! And an army with only ranged Unit
does pretty well, too.
There's no Axe Mastery.
- Other Skills
Jousting: This Skill gives attack bonus to the Knights squad only. This
sounds good, but there are many more useful Skills out there.
Endurance: This Skill causes your troops to become tough, and use less
Stamina in battles. This means they can run, charge, etc longer. Not a bad
choice at all.
Strategist: This Skill causes your Marshal to march faster on Strategic map,
that means easier to intercept enemy Marshals. This is one of the best
skills. Every Marshal should learn it.
Manoeuvre: This Skill causes your troops to move faster in battles. The
limited bonus (only 12% faster at level 3) tones down the usefulness of
this Skill.
Logistics: This Skill makes your Marshal better at rationing food. His army
will consume less food, so they can travel farther and indure longer sieges.
Thanks God my mom does not have this Skill. ^^
Engineering: This Skill allow your Marshal to build Siege Weapons. You can
not build Siege Weapons with a Marshal, then give it to another. Therefore,
this skill is a must for Marshals commanding your invading force. Without the
Engineering Skill, you can only build Laddermen.
Healer: This Skill allow your Marshal to cure the injured soldiers. Your
army can recover automatically from some losses, as the result. This is very
useful. Say, you have a rare Templars squad, and it is wiped out in battle,
you will have to come back to a town that can build Templars to recruit a new
one. With this Skill, some of the Templars can survive, and you will only
have to go to any towns to refill it instead.
At level 3, you has 70% recovery, that means when you lost 100 men, you have
70 back!
Enforcer: Raid! Burn! This Skill allow your Marshal to loot more golds when he
attacks a village. With this Skill, you can turn your Marshals into darn
robbers! Go, you village raiders!
- Note that you can NOT unlearn Skills like Sorcerers unlearn Spells, so make
wise decisions.
- There's a little trick to train your Marshals. First, crush a Country until
it's left with only one Town. Bring the Marshal you want to train here. Raid
villages and attack any enemy Marshals that appear. They will eventually run
out of men, so enemy Marshals will have no soldiers; but they'll keep spawning
anyway. Your Marshal will max out all his Skills in no time.
But be careful since someone may come across and take the Town.
------------------
3. Military Units
------------------
- You can find all the statistic numbers of all military units listed in
the Royal Library. For example, their attack power, defense, and speed.
- You can recruit Military Units by deploying a Marshal to a town or clicking
on an empty slot in the Town Garrison. Each town has its own types of Units.
On the top of the Recruit Menu are your Kingdom Special Units, which you can
recuit anywhere at cheap price.
Next is the Local Units, which are usually basic Units with normal price.
At the bottom of the Recruit Menu are Local Special Units (that is other
countries' special units) which you can buy at an increased price.
The type of units available in a Pronvince is fixed. Ie if a Pronvince does
not have Axemen, building an Axe Smith won't make them available.
For example, if you play with England, and want to have Steppe Cavalry (which
is Mongol's special unit); you will have to recruit them at one of the
Mongol's lands where they are available as Local Special Units. Because there
is obviously no Mongolians in England ^^
- Light Units and Medium Units are cheaper and easier to build, while Heavy
Units have high defense and can crush enemies with ease.
- There are basically 4 kinds of military units.
Infantry: Infantries are foot Units that can be divided into sword-wielding,
axe-wielding and spear-wielding Units. While sword-wielding and axe-wielding
are attackers, spearmen act well as defensive Units against Horsemen. These
melee Units will be the ones to fight and die in kirmishes.
The best Infantry Units are Teutonic Knights and Templars. But Teutonic
Knights are SLOW, super slow due to their plate armours, and they are somewhat
hard to recruit.
Ranged Units: Ranged Units are equiped with bows or crossbows. They can fight
with swords too, but not as well. The best Ranged Units are Longbowmen and
Heavy Crossbowmen. The Crossbowmen are more deadly and well armoured, but
the Longbowmen are cheaper, cooler, and can shoot at a very long range.
Mounted Units: These Units are fast and more expensive. They are very deadly
with the Charge Attack, but is easily killed in woods. The best Mounted Units
are Feudal Knights and Cataphracs. Mounted Units often cost ye more food
since horses eat too, ye know.
Siege Weapons: Siege Weapons can only be built and carried by Marshals with
"Engineering" Skill. These Weapons need the Siege Workshop in order to be
built. Depending on the Skill level of the Marshal, he can make Rams,
Ballistas, Catapults, and Trebuchets.
- Weak Units like Peasants often have more men in one squad, while Cavalries
have less. You may think this makes them equal, but it's the Morale level
that counts. Peasants will run away when several of them die, while Vikings or
Knights will stand fighting to the last man.
- Sword and axe-wielding units are the back bone of any army. Spear-wielding
units do well against Mounted Units, but are easy targets for Ranged Units.
Ranged Units can easily be chased and killed by the fast Mounted Units.
- There are some special units that can shoot and fight with swords equally
well. They are Steppe Cavalry, Mongol Cavalry, Horse Archers, and
Janissaries.
- The fastest Unit in the game is the Pronoias (Walk 100, Run 150).
- There are some special Units that can not be hired.
The Knight Squad: These are bodyguard squad of your Knights, the best Unit
in the game.
Crusader Infantry: Just another version of Templars.
Crusader Crossbowmen: Just another version of Heavy Crossbowmen.
Crusader Cavalry: Just another version of Feudal Knights.
The Mongol Cavalry: Only hireable when you play as the Golden Horde.
Town Guards: These Units can't be recruited like others, but you can have them
in any towns by building "Town Watch House". Town Guards only join in town
defending battles. And believe me, they are not so bad.
The number of Town Guards depends on the level of your Towns.
- You can always get Units that you can't access thanks to the Mercenaries.
To hire Mercernaries, send a Marshal to their camp. They only cost gold.
Mercenary camps spawn randomly across the land.
----------------------------------
4. What kind of Army is the best?
----------------------------------
- There are many kinds of army that you can make by combining the Marshal's
skills with the right Units.
- You should have at least 2 Armies for conquering (always send them to siege
a town together). The Marshals should learn "Siege Craft", "Engineering",
"Balistics", "Logistics", "Healer", "Leadership"... The Units should include
3 Infantry Units, 3 Ranged Units, 3 Mounted Units, and 4 Siege Weapons.
The type of Units depend on your resources. For examples:
Pathetic Army: 3 Axemen, 3 Bowmen, 3 Peasants :(, 0 Siege Weapon
Cheap Army : 3 Swordmen, 3 Archers, 3 Light Cavalry, 4 Rams
Decent Army : 3 Heavyswordmen, 3 Heavy Archers, 3 Jinetes, 4 Ballistas
Good Army : 3 Men-At-Arm, 3 Longbowmen, 3 Hobilars, 4 Catapults
Ultimate Army: 3 Templars, 3 Heavy Crossbowmen, 3 Feudal Knights, 4 Trebuchets
This ultimate army is almost as good as a Crusader Army!
-You should have 2 or more extra armies for specific purposes:
Navy: The Marshal has learnt "Admiral", "Archery Mastery". The army contains
many ranged Units. This kind of army can be used to intercept enemies
attacking you from the sea, or transport troops across the sea. Very useful
if you are playing England.
Anti Heavy Cavalry Army: The Marshal has learnt "Spear Mastery", "Tactics",
"Archery Mastery", and "Maneouvre". The army contains many spear-wielding
soldiers amd Crossbowmen. Send this army to face enemy Marshals who use
Heavy Horsemen.
The Longbowmen Army: The Marshal has learnt "Archery Mastery", "Ballistics",
and "Tactics". The army contains all Longbowmen. This army can destroy any
enemies before they can even see you.
The Mongol Army: The Marshal has learnt "Cavalry Mastery", "Archery Mastery",
"Ballistics", "Strategist", "Tactics", "Manoeuvre", and "Enforcer". The army
contains all Steppe Cavalries. Use this army to intercept enemy, raid
enemy villages, scout...
The Viking Army: The Marshal has learnt "Leadership", "Conqueror", "Admiral",
"Dread", "Logistics", "Endurance". The army contains all Vikings. If you are
playing a Nordic Kingdoms, why not make an army like this? This army will
fear nothing.
The fastest Army: The Marshal has learnt "Strategist", "Tactics", "Manoeuvre"
"Cavalry Mastery". The army contains all Pronoias. As I said before, SUPER
FAST!
- You should know that Infantries die more often than Ranged Units or Cavalry.
So having only Swordmen is alright. Nothing's bad about that. Don't be fancy
too much about Templars or Teutonic Knights. They'll just die like normal
soldiers. And it is harder to re-recruit them -_-
----------
5. Rebels
----------
- If you do not take care of your people well, they will be rebelious. Even
when you do, rebels from other Kingdoms can still always come and attack your
Provinces. While these Rebels do not attack your Castles, they will burn all
the villages, one after another. This can be really annoying when you do not
have any Marshals nearby. But is certainly not such a pain in the arse
compared to a rebelling princess (like Rinoa in FF VIII).
- Normal Rebels will appear in Provinces where the population is unhappy.
There will also be Loyalist Rebels in newly taken Provinces if you do not
adopt the population there. These kinds of Rebels are only peasants, so
is easy to beat. But if you let them live long enough, they will become
famous rebels. Robinhood wannabes.
- The appearance of Famous Rebels in a Provinces will make people even more
unhappy. Famous Rebels can be either Normal Rebels that became famous, or
Marshals who became rebels in army revolves. These Rebels roam around the
land, burn villages, and can even attack the Castles. They can actually take
a town and form their new (old) Kingdom. So don't freak out when a destroyed
France comes back.
- You can make a rebel-controlling Army with all mounted Units, led by a
Marshal with "Strategist", "Iron Fist", "Tactics", "Dread", and "Cavalry
Mastery" Skills. This Army will be able to rush from towns to towns to
suppress rebels, or intercept enemy invaders...
Rebel Armies are often all Peasants. So don't be so proud of yourself if you
can wipe them out without any losses. When you have some rebels, you are a
bad Warlord already.
------------
6. Crusades
------------
- Crusades are available for Catholic Kingdoms only.
- The Crusader Army can only be formed once a Marshal is chosen by the Pope
to lead a Crusade against a country of other Religions.
- When the Pope ask one of your Marshals to lead a Crusade, you can accept
or refuse. Accepting means you will lose him forever; since if he fails, he
dies; if he succeeds, he will a new King. Refusing means you'll get into the
Pope's list (you know what list), and can be excommunicated from the Catholic
Church. But who cares?
- A Crusader Army is uncontrollable. It marches through lands without resting
until it reaches the destined target. Really realistic, right oO?
- In case you have the Pope in your Court, you still can only send your own
Marshals to lead Crusades. So don't get your hopes up.
- Destroying the Papacy means no more Crusades.
-----------------
7. The 2D Battle
-----------------
- The 2D Battle is simple enough. The only thing I can say here is:
Lead a battle only when you know you can do better than your Marshal. If
your Marshal is inexperienced, lead the army. If he already had tons of
skills, let him do it instead, while you do something else (like rushing for
a snack).
- There are some kinds of battles:
Open field battles: 2 or more Marshals meet in the field, and none is
camping.
River crossing battles: One side is crossing the river oO duh
Camp assault battles: 2 or more Marshals meet in the field, and one is
camping.
Castle assault battles: This happens when the attacking force decides to
assaut, or the defending force decides to break siege.
You can not lay siege to a castle if it has no wall.
Sea-battles: You can't lead a sea-battle. And I like swimming, but not in the
middle of nowhere, so I don't want to lead sea battles.
- Play the free battle mode to get used to it before you actually lead
battles in campain mode.
---------------------------
VIII. Starting a campaign [@8]
---------------------------
-----------------------------------
1. What Kingdom should you choose?
-----------------------------------
- The difficulty of the game largely depends on the country you choose to
play with.
For example, England has good strategic position, good Units like Men-At-Arm
(Longbowmen, Hobilars...). It has a good base to attack the continent.
Moreover, Its Provinces all have Coastal Villages, which make it easy to get
all Exotic Goods.
Italy related Kingdoms are my favourites. They have Feudal Knights and Heavy
Crossbowmen, but are in a place somewhat strategically hard to expand.
Germany starts with some enormous lands but will be attacked by many countries
as they are envious. Same goes to the Byzantia Empire.
Golden Horde has the fantastic "Steppe Cavalry", but also has the pathetic
Pagan. It's really hard to expand with them as you'll need to adopt
a new Religion, then convert Provinces repeatedly.
Nordic Kingdoms are always fun. But there's not enough snow in this game ><
The Muslim Kingdoms seem to have weaker military units. So the "Fanatic" Skill
may prove to be useful here.
For new players, Byzantia Empire and England are recommended.
- Depending on how you want to play, you can choose a small Kingdom, then
expand, or choose a huge Kingdom, and test your management skills.
- Let say if you are Spanish, for example, then be a patriot and choose Spain.
- After choosing a Kingdom, start the campaign and take a look at the map.
If your Provinces have many good Features, save and continue. If not, retry.
For example, if you play with England, and the nearest Province with
"Pasture" is in Croatia (!) (weird, but it can happen in this game), it means
you'll have to trade for "Horses" in order to build Mounted Units. That wastes
a place for a Merchant.
- Your Kingdom's name can be changed if you take the right Province
historically. The most common that everyone knows are "Ireland" and
"Scotland". Start with one of the two Scottish Provinces, take the other,
and you'll be unified as Scotland.
Start with one of Irish Provinces, take the other two, and you'll be unified
as Scotland.
I think I have seen Italy united when I played as Genoa. And Normandy invading
from the Continent will make England. That should make sense, but I never saw
once.
And I think those things depend on what period you are playing. Well, find out
youself. I have uninstalled the game (gotta clear space for storing anime. I
have over 500Gbs of fansubs (^^)v
----------------------
2. Things to do first
----------------------
- Once you start a campaign, you'll have a Marshal. Keep him. Then take a
look at your Royal Dynasty, assign your King or a Prince as a Spy. Then hire
a Spy. This will ensure that he is not an enemy Spy, as the AI controled
Kingdoms do not have enough money to spend on a Spy at that time. Even if
they have money, the number of countries are huge, chance that they send
their Spies to your Court is tiny. And the enemy Spies are inexperienced, so
they won't be able to infiltrate your Court before you appoint your own Spy.
- Hire another Marshal if you have more than 1 town. Then take a look at the
map, find a big Kingdom that is in good relationship with you, hire a
Merchant (or some Merchants), sign a Trade Agreement, and start trading with
them. Remember that the better the relationship is, the more gold you'll get.
- Next, you can either hire a Landlord or a Buider to govern your capital (I
mean the first town you have).
- Assign the Landlord to the Town which your Marshal is deployed. This will
increase the food and population growth rate. Build a Sword Smith and recruit
some Swordmen. Don't use the Peasants if possible, since they are useless
anyway. If your military power is weak, you'll more likely be attacked.
- Fill the towns' garrisons ASAP, preferably with Ranged Units.
- Try to build "Palisades" if your town do not have them. Then upgrade it.
- Increase your Kingdom Power if it is too low.
- Now it's time to look at the Political Map more carefully, make friends and
enemies.
------------------------------
3. Starting as a poor Kingdom
------------------------------
- In case you chose to play as a poor Kingdom which has only one Province to
start with (like Wales or Highland), you'll face some serious economic
problems. There is a small trick.
- At the begining, you can demand some money from every Kingdom. Most of them
will decide to pay. (Possibly because there is no hatred yet ^^)
And demand money as the peace treaty with Kingdoms at war with you as well.
(This will give you some peaceful time to build up your poor Kingdom)
I tested this with Highlands in Early Period at Hard difficulty and it worked.
Forgot who posted this on the board. Sorry.
- Since your Kingdom is poor, you should feel free to exploit the King and
his Princes (if you have any). They can be recalled and reassigned to other
careers. They also cost no money.
- And be patient. Make sure that the gold is going up. Just pray so your dear
neighbours won't crush you.
- You can always gather all you have to attack a nearby Town which does not
have a wall (very easy to take). But this can make some people really mad and
lead to some undesired results.
Gathering all you have means take some war taxes. Someone will surely be
pissed off though.
- And this is not recommended for rookies. It'll be hard, and might make you
hate this game instead.
--------
4. Tips
--------
- Make your life easier by adjusting the speed.
This is obvious and you might know it already, but with -, +, and * keys, you
can change the game's speed from 0.3 to 10. This is really helpful.
When you are flooded with many messages, slow it down to solve things. When
you are just waiting for some buildings to be completed or watching your
turtle army marching, change the speed to 10.
- Exploit the map system. Be sure to know how to find which Provinces can
produce "Clothes", which can build "Horse Archers"; or which Provinces of
yours do not have "Town Watch Tower", which are happy or not...
You can also find out your relationship with other Kingdoms by a quick glance.
(The colours). And make sure that the whole map is not red. You'll be in big
trouble if so. (You can click on the "?" to see the map legends).
----------------------------
IX. Expanding your Kingdom [@9]
----------------------------
-------------
1. Preparing
-------------
- Before attacking other Kingdoms, be sure to keep people happy first, or you
will be very busy dealing with rebels. The Population's level of happiness
depends on:
The Kingdom Power: The higher it is, the happier people are. At level 5, you
get +15 Happiness!
The Royal Dynasty: Dead King makes people unhappy, Royal Weddings and Royal
Offsprings make them happy. Get your new King a Bride will make people forget
the late King sooner. ^^
Famous Rebels: The appearance of those darn Rebels alone can make people
unhappy. Wipe them out ASAP. (Normal rebels become famous if you let them
run amok in a while. Handsome rebels become famous faster... or maybe not.)
Religion: Different Religions and Religion Conversions make people unhappy.
Town Development: Tax Collecters' Office, Silver Mines - happiness; while
Inns, Wineries, or Hostels + happiness.
Taxes: No taxes means +5 happiness; doubled taxes means -5 happiness.
Battles in Province: Being plundered and losing battles - happiness;
Triumphs + happiness.
War: If you don't adopt population in provinces that you've just invaded, they
will miss their old Kingdom and feel unahppy. Do you leave things as they are,
they will eventually be happy again... after numerous rebellions :D
And your people won't be happy if wars last for too long. In that case, try
to sign peace treaty with all countries. Then waste war again, because that's
the way it is.
- Build town defending Buildings in all of your towns, and put Ranged Units
in Towns' Garrisons so they can hold on by themselves against enemy Marshals.
- Build at least one extra army with all Cavalries, led by a Marshal with
the Skill "Strategist" to run around, defending your lands.
- Build at least 2 armies for Conquering, which must have Siege Weapons, and
"Siege Craft" Skills.
- Train your Marshals a little first by raiding some enemy Villages. Spend the
first Skill point to learn the "Tactics" skill. This allow your Marshals to
fortify a camp, therefore can win battles easily by themselves, gaining more
experiences in the process.
---------------------
2. Choosing a target
---------------------
- There is no time limit, so patience is the key of the game. Only take one
or two towns at a time.
- Do not take a town that will be hard to defend. For example, if you are
playing Wales or Enland, do not try the Continent until you've conquered
all of Ireland and UK.
- If an enemy town is not yet to have a wall, it's an easy target. Plan to
take it at once.
- Enemy of an enemy is a friend. Make friend with your enemies' enemies.
Try to sign Non-Agression Pact with neighbouring Kingdoms that you won't
attack in the near future.
- If you have more than 1 Spy, try to send one to the country you are at war
with, then read his reports.
- You can also play some dirty tactics (lie, cheat, and steal) here. Before
attacking a country, bring your armies to camp near the castle. Then suddenly
declare war, and rush in for a sneak attack. If you declare war first, the
enemy will try to intercept your invading force.
-----------------
3. Taking a town
-----------------
- Once you chose the target, make sure that you have a free Cleric before
attempt to attack. Then send your extra army there to take a look at it.
- If the town has no Marshals deployed, send your 2 main armies there to lay
siege.
- If there is an enemy Marshal, send your 2 armies to camp near the town, then
use the extra army to raid a village. This will lure the enemy Marshal out.
Wait for him to enter the Village, command the main armies to join the battle.
Or you can make a fortified camp to ambush him on the way, then send the other
Marshal to team up and finish him. ^^ After that, attack the empty castle.
- If a town is well protected, lay siege instead of assaulting the castle. It
will take more time, but less casualties.
- After the town is taken, you'll have to spend sometime taking over its
authority (the town turns purple, and you can't govern it during this period).
Use the 2nd army to protect the town against any rebels or enemy
reinforcements while the other one is taking over the town's authority.
You can take over the town immediately if you have enough gold and Piety.
- Once you have controlled the town, assign your Cleric there, adopt the
population, and convert religion if needed, then recall him at once. Appoint
a Landlord/Builder to govern it instead.
- Refill your troops, and rebuild the town's defense. Then prepare for the
next target.
- And make sure that the food wagons are full before you start marching.
--------
4. Tips
--------
- Military is not the only means of expansion. You can take more lands by:
Planning political marriages and claim lands.
Sending a skilled Spy and see if you are lucky enough. A huge Kingom can be
splitted up into tiny countries after some small... ahem... assassinations.
- Always decline a demmand to attack from strangers. Sometimes they will offer
a Province to bribe you. Unless the target is your biggest ally, accept it.
You can always make a white peace later. Congrats! You had a Province for
free! ^^
- Try to collect all the Kingdom Advantages before you attempt other things.
- Expand carefully. Do not make your Kingdom look like a snake, that is ugly
as hell, and will be hard to defend.
- Expand slowly. Upgrade your towns, build better armies, and make sure that
your population is happy before invading other countries.
- Always have a free place in your Royal Court to keep prisoners. You will
have a chance to capture enemy Marshals or Spies alive. Then wait for their
Kings to offer ransom money. Take it. You can also use captured enemy Spies
to declare war with their countries.
If you have no free place, they will be killed instead. What a waste!
It's also fun to torture the prisoners (remember to turn on the speakers).
You'll hear 'em scream ^^ But this will give your reputation a cut, and the
prisoners can easily die if you beat them up too much, or use the Iron Maiden.
- Only wage war with 1 or 2 Kingdoms at a time if possible. Once your people
are too tired of wars, try to sign peace treaties. Always try to demand
something first, then a white peace if refused.
- If your allies or relatives ask you to attack someone, accept it. Then if
you feel not in the mood to bring an army there, sign a white peace with
them. Refusing such requests, and your Kingdom Power will take a severe blow.
- Money is everything. Hire as many Merchants as possible, and make sure that
they are trading with the richest Kingdoms. Or cheat. Well, the cheat codes
are on the Cheat section of gameFAQs by the way ^^
Cheats: During gameplay press enter and type in the following codes
bskinti -> 100,000 gold (kachin!)
showspies -> any of your Knights which are actually enemy spies shall have a
yellow highlight. Fire 'em (^^)'
Those are the only useful codes. I do not cheat. At least in this game. I cheat
when I got bored with a game, and wanna find out all the secrets in the 2nd
play through.
- Unless you like being risky, have 3 saves for one campaign, and save often.
-------------------
1. Version History
-------------------
Version 0.0 - Jun, 28th, 2005 - Started writting
Version 0.1 - Jun, 29th, 2005 - Mission Compreted!
Version 0.2 - Jul, 03rd, 2005 - Changed some minor things
Version 0.3 - Jul, 19th, 2005 - Corrected some typos
Version 0.4 - Jul, 23th, 2005 - This is the first time I re-read it ^^
Version 0.5 - Jul, 25th, 2005 - Added "Starting with small Kingdoms"
Version 0.6 - Aug, 24th, 2005 - Added some minor things
-----------
2. Credits
-----------
Thanks Black Sea Studio for making such a great game.
Thanks GameFAQs for accepting this FAQ.
Thanks me for writing it in 2 days.
Thanks my Mom and Dad for feeding me.
Thanks Asuka Yukimura, my lovely angel, for warming my frozen heart.
Thanks Hime Sakurada, my friend, for having slapped me across the teeth
(literally) and made me kinda realize that love > game, or not :p
Thanks BlackMouth, my cute puppy, for having disposed my GTA SA DVD.
Thanks anyone for reading this FAQ, if it was helpful to you in anyway.
-----------
3. Contact
-----------
This FAQ is copyrighted (c) 2005 Hiroyuki Kazama
Email:
- BakaBoy@Email.com
You can find this FAQ on:
- GameFAQs.com
- Cheathappens.com
- DLH.net
- Supercheats.com
If you want to post this on your site, please email me with a link to obtain
permission. I check these free emails once per month (or so), so don't get mad
if I do not reply.
Emails for questions, corrections, and compliments are always welcomed. But
do not send me emails just to say that my FAQ sux, they will be completely
ignored.
Make sure you write something like "From John Smith, about Knights of Honor",
so it won't go right to the bin.
