Previous threads: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1118933-total-war-discussion/, http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1180016-total-war-discussion-2/, http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1305493-total-war-discussion-3/

I can also provide some useful links to the Total War games series as well and here can you find more news about modding.

http://forums.totalwar.com/

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/124-The-Medieval-Total-War-and-Viking-Invasion-FAQ
http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/118-Frequently-Asked-Questions-amp-Game-Fixes
http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/119-Frequently-Asked-Questions-and-Game-Fixes
http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/46-A-guide-to-the-guides-%28Empire-Total-War%29
http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/263-Guide-to-the-Guides-%28Napoleon-Total-War%29

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=735
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=736
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1549
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=9871125#post9871125
http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Released_Mods
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downloads.php

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Modding_Portal
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=734
http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Released_Mods
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=483527
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=92488
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=477691
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=477898
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=443435

Gameplay and strategy for each game

- http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25
- http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=406671
- http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1448
- http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=136409
- http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1695

I'll update the OP if anyone want to have a list of mod recommendations or solutions of troubleshooting in the OP.

Mod recommendations


DarkOneVenzar has a tool for managing your Medieval2TW mods. Thanks for sharing this M2TW-mod tool.


How to install mods on Steam versions

Since http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1305493-total-war-discussion-3/page__view__findpost__p__19788436 I realize that were no such list of Steam version games in the OP, but below they are listed and let me know if there is something to add or correct that game list.

Retail Version

- Medieval TW
- Medieval 2 TW
- Rome TW
- Shogun TW

Steam Version

- Empire TW
- Napoleon TW
- Shogun 2 TW

Please note that most retail games is also available on Steam except for Shogun TW and probably Medieval TW, because the older titles was development with either DX7 or DX8 for Windows 95/98 when they were released in the 90's.



Big thank you to Leonardo2 for continiuing the thread and for also providing all the helpful links in the OP

I really enjoyed Rome: Total War, but I found that Medieval 2, while still fun, balanced everything too much. There wasn't that much of a difference between playing as England or Milan.

The original Medievil, or MTW2? I've only played the original myself and I rather liked it but I played it last before Rome Total War came out so I was pretty young then and didn't really fully understand it.

I will fix all the links in the OP tomorrow when I get in my computer because im on my phone ATM.

The second one, I haven't played the first one.

Pretty much this. Rome had more variance in units, while Medieval you played as the same archer militia or town militia for every European country.

Oh, never played the second one myself, is it worth a look?

I am currently playing Rome Total War gold, its my favorite total war by far.

I wish they'd bring back the cheat console, it was kind of fun after completing a campaign to cheat your way into the most powerful nation.

?

add_money 40000
add_population Caralis 2000
process_cq Caralis

I swear I never cheat on RTW

Oh,

toggle_fow

There are others of course. Love being able to change all factions to playable too!

Insert dr. Evil laugh

Just finished a Rise of the Samurai campaign. LOVED IT. Back to the regular game now though, and still loving it. They hit a homerun with Shogun 2.

I agree, except they made Hungary svck. the only two that were unique were Hungary (which as I said svcked unfortunately) and Scotland (whom I always played) with their awesome pike-men and highland nobles.
As for the previous discussion about gunpowder...I am a fanatic. Every time I play Shogun the first arts I master are the ones relating to gunpowder so that I can start utilizing my matchlock ashigaru and eventually samurai. I think that it's well balanced, because up-front nothing can stand up to a matchlock volley but ashigaru are totally screwed in melee and samurai are very vulnerable to cavalry. I generally play Hojo and combine matchlocks with fire-mangonels and cannon to create armies that pack serious firepower. This way, the only real weakness is an army consisting primarily of cavalry (and I mean at least 60-70% cav.) and we are practically unbeatable in a siege situation (both defense and offense but even stronger in offense).

Even when I played the Shimazu who I converted to Christianity as soon as I could, I never really got that into gunpowder. I'd rather get good melee units.

Understandable seeing as they have a bonus in katana samurai. If I use melee units, I tend to go with naginata samurai. This is because the majority of my armies are taken up by said gunpowder units and I don't have the space to include all sorts of specialists (no-dachi samurai, yari samurai etc.) so I go with the naginata which make good all-round troops that can protect my big guns. The only cavalry I use are my generals.

Gah. Clans that have converted to Christianity are the worst to conquer at keep. Constant rebellions at all time unless I have nearly an entire army garrisoned in every town.

Adding to my troubles is that literally every single clan that isn't a vassal (And a few that are) hate me and would love to see me dead.

It works both ways bro. Worse for Christians because the majority of provinces still remain Buddhist. I personally try not to have more than four or five clans pissed at me at once and always try to keep a few really friendly clans (though without alliances). I also do not engage more than three clans in war at once.

Vassals always rebel for me, I always get wiped out in the first 10 turns or so X_X

The only thing worse than having a vassal is being a vassal IMO. It's always a feeble alliance because the two clans usually hate each other.

Exactly. I think its harder to play a Christian clan.

Fixed all the links in the OP, thanks Leonardo2

I really enjoyed playing as Hungary, I really liked the cheap, high attack croatian axemen that you could send against the enemy flanks in swarms. I think there is more variety as you go along. At the start of a campaign its all militia untis but as the campaign progresses factions get more varied. The Spanish factions get great skirmishers and Sword and Buckler men. The Scandinavian factions are very dependent on attacking the enemy since very few of their untis use spears. Novgorod is interesting to play because of their heavy cavalry and horse archers, they also have a lot of infantry that carry a bow or javelins in addition to their melee attack. I'm basing this off the Stainless Steel mod, but since it is the vanilla campaign just better I don't see why anybody would play vanilla Med2.

I found the Fatimid Caliphate to be the most fun faction from the Stainless Steel mod, mostly because it is so damn hard. Wave after wave of crusaders, Byzi ships destroying my navy and blockading my ports. It' vary rewarding however once you conquer the Holy Land and ally all the Islamic nations.

Also for Medieval 2, is there a mod that changes the aesthetics of cities/castles? Taking the same example, I always hated having Jerusalem with northern european architecture in the middle east.

Nope. All factions don't have the same militia especially the http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=176102 has one unique militia called Almohad Urban Militia, but I know there is other factions that has unique militia units.

Look http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2483808#post2483808 for more cheat codes and http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/119-Frequently-Asked-Questions-and-Game-Fixes?p=396&viewfull=1#post396 if you want to play all factions in Rome TW.

Good call about the mod recommendations in the OP, Rome and Medieval 2 have some of my favourite overhaul mods of all time (supposed to be read in Kanye West's voice. I think you should put http://www.europabarbarorum.com/ for Rome: Total War in there as well. It's by far my favourite Total War experience. It looks great, plays great and there's a huge amount of attention to historical accuracy in the factions, with very detailed unit descriptions. And if you doubt anything in there, they have all their source references on their forum.

What I like most is that the factions are both realistic and well-balanced, unlike in Roma Surrectum 2 for example. The Roman units there get massive stat bonuses if you're playing with one of the other factions, to make sure that the Romans can't get wiped out early. Takes all the fun out of fighting them when they're so ridiculously overpowered imo. In Europa Barbarorum all factions are viable.

The EB team is now working on http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=454 by the way, for Medieval 2. From what I've seen it's going to be roughly the same as the first, only everything is going to look much better. I'm greatly looking forward to it.

I've put it in.