The Kingdom of England exercises influence over most of the Isles, but its power is contested from several theatres. A player who strongly enforces the faith, builds churches and completes the Pope's missions will receive favor from the Pope; a player who ignores his missions, fights with other Catholic nations and allows the faith to flounder will incur the Pope's displeasure and may be excommunicated – which also leads to unrest, which may cost the player's faction entire cities immediately, and the possibility of a Crusade being declared against a settlement belonging to the player's faction. A chosen Pope that had belonged to the player's faction before being appointed will begin with a more favorable view concerning the actions of that faction, while a Pope chosen from among the units of a player's enemy may look negatively upon that player's faction. A new feature of Medieval II is the ability to build guild halls. They can accuse any agent of heresy, and if they are found guilty, they will be executed. A number of special historical figures, including King Edward I, William Wallace, Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, High King Brian O'Neill and King Haakon IV of Norway appear either at the start of the campaign or at some later point. The original Shogun was not a mainstream product, but attracted a dedicated fan base. The Apache can also learn from the technologies of colonizing factions—after battling a colonizing faction such as New Spain, the Apache will be able to construct gun trading tipis and horse trainers, unlocking new, more technologically advanced units (such as cavalry and musketeers, which the faction initially lacks). This game was the first in the TW series to feature siege battles and used siege equipment for the first time. This campaign implements various conquistador armies that went to the New World by spawning large, formidable armies in the Americas with allegiance to New Spain. They are particularly effective in assaulting settlements, where the close quarters nullify their opponents' advantage of mobility. The presence of permanent stone forts placed in strategic locations (which can be garrisoned and provide free upkeep for a small number of units).
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is desperate to drive off the Teutonic Order. All of the factions that believe in the Sun God are able to sacrifice units instead of disbanding them. A given settlement may only have a single guild hall, although there are several different types. They move around the map taking it in turns with the AI to battle over provinces and strategic locations. The Lithuanian leader will be rewarded by his council of nobles in events should he managed to kill any of these crusaders. THIS IS TOTAL WAR! Rule your kingdom through four centuries of brutal Medieval warfare. The player takes command of armies, agents and fleets to try and gain control over the known world. Cookies help us deliver our services. This can be rectified by altering a value present in the descstrat file in the game files.
Flower of Chivalry: Briefly increases attack power and stamina of troops. Cities generate much larger income and are technological centers of a faction, but are more difficult to defend and only have access to militia troops, which are generally inferior to those trained at castles except for a select few unique units. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Castles also need less population to be upgraded. Princesses, for example, have a "Charm" attribute that governs their success in diplomacy and the likelihood that a proposal in marriage will be accepted. This game was the last to feature a 'risk' style map as the campaign map.
Each playable faction has access to a single "Hero" character, these powerful individuals possessing special abilities capable of turning the tide of battle. It should also be noted that, perhaps due to a game bug, factions of religions not pertaining to a holy war (be it Crusade or Jihad) may be rewarded in their participation against a target city; Hungary, for example, may be rewarded at the end of a successful Jihad if it captured Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire and granted ownership of the city over to a Muslim faction despite Hungary being a Catholic nation. Strong traits can earn the general epithets, such as "the Brave," "the Just," "the Lewd" or "the Corrupt." There is also an option which allows the player to allow for time limits on battles, meaning that the attacker must defeat the defender within a certain time limit (determined by the computer) or the battle results in a victory for the defender. PC Gamer magazine cover promotional art, artist: Michael Kutsche. An expansion pack, The Mongol Invasion, was released with the original in the Warlord Edition.