Medieval: Total War «

Battle Tutorial Demo - Readme Documentation

Full game coming soon!

23rd August 2002

Website: http://www.totalwar.com

 

System Requirements

 

MINIMUM CONFIGURATION

Windows 98 «, Windows 2000 «, Windows ME « or Windows XP á«

Intel Pentium II « 350 Mhz MMX or AMD Athlon « processor with supported Direct3D video card

64 MB RAM

4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive

310 MB free hard disk space

3D Accelerated Mode requires a 16 MB Direct3D capable video card with a DirectX 8.1 compatible driver.

DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card

DriectX 8.1 required

Windows Media Player « 7.0 or higher (not on CD; available at www.microsoft.com)

Keyboard

Mouse

 

RECOMMENDED

500 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor

128 MB or more RAM

4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive

310 MB free hard disk space

64 MB or greater Direct3D capable video card

 

IDEAL

1.0 GHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor

256 MB or more RAM

4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive

310 MB free hard disk space

Fast 64 MB Direct3D capable video card

 

For smooth running, all specifications may require an additional 64 MB approximately for Windows swap file space.

General Help

 

Cursor Help

When you point the cursor at icons and units, you get a quick description alongside the cursor.

 

Red text û Enemy information

White text û Your unitsÆ information.

òáááá This text gives you a good idea of how individual units are fairing in battle so donÆt neglect it.

Range indicator cursor

òáááá If the arrow is green, this indicates that the enemy units are within range of your missile-firing units. Red indicates the units are currently out of range.

òáááá If the arrow is crossed through, the currently selected unit is out of ammunition.

 

Surveying the Domain

Use the Arrow keys or the mouse-scroll to move around the map.

Changing your Viewpoint

òáááá Right-click on the terrain to centralise focus on that point.

òáááá Your viewpoint is indicated on the Map View by the white quarter circle.

Note: If æmouselookÆ is selected in the control options then you can hold down the right mouse button for æmouselookÆ.

Line of Sight

In order to create more realistic battlefield scenarios, you can only see as far as your unitsÆ line of sight allows.

òáááá Before battle commences, the pale circle on the Map View shows the extent of your unitÆs view of the terrain. Using units to scout and extend your view over the terrain should not be overlooked as an effective strategy.

Note: To switch æLine of SightÆ off, go to Game Options, Realism Settings and deselect RESTRICT CAMERA.

Mouse-defined Camera Positioning

Note: Only accessible when mouselook is switched off

Right click, hold and drag to radically alter you viewpoint. The start point of your click and drag is where the camera will be positioned whilst the point where you release the button is the centre of the new view.

Zoom to your Battle units

To move your viewpoint directly behind your gathered forces, double-click on one of the unit flags in the bottom left of the screen.

òáááá If the units are on-screen, double-click on the unit itself.

 

Knowing your Army

To be a great general, you must know your units. To know your units you must learn their ways. The next section will take you through every aspect of controlling your warriors in a battlefield scenario.

The Unit Flag

At the bottom of the screen are the unit flags. These display important information about the status of each of your units. Use this as a constantly updated status report to allow you to make the correct decisions for you and your faction.

Action indicator

òáááá A Grey Unit Flag indicates the unit is not currently selected.

òáááá A White Unit flag indicates that the unit/s are selected.

òáááá The unit containing your general is denoted on the battlefield by the star on the Unit Icon.

Action Indicator

Here is a list of action indicator icons that you will encounter in battle.

Unit under fire

Unit routing. If the Flag is blinking, the unit is wavering.

Unit firing

Hand to hand combat

 

Selecting and Moving Units

To move units, you must first select the unit. There are three methods you can use to select a unit.

òáááá Click on the unit you wish to select.

òáááá Click on the Unit flag of the troops you want to command. Take note that a selected toggle is depressed and highlighted white.

òáááá Double-click the unit flag to select a unit and move your viewpoint behind the unit.

Note: The Standard of any units currently selected pulses.

Once the unit/s are selected, click on the ground at the point you want them to move to.

òáááá If you want the selected units to run/charge, double-click.

To Order an Attack

òáááá Click on the enemy units. The unit moves to attack the chosen enemy Unit.

òáááá Double-click to order your unit/s to charge.

If your unit is a range unit (archer/crossbowmen), they move into range. Other units move in to engage the enemy hand-to-hand.

Note: Ordering your units to charge or run increases their fatigue.

To force range units into melee mode (Force Move for other units)

òáááááááááááááááá ALT + click.

Viewing the æGhostÆ destination of a unit

To see the æghostÆ destination of your units, press the SPACEBAR and a æghostÆ of the selected units final destination appears.

Deselecting Units

Click another unit to deselect the previously selected unit.

Deselect All Units

ENTER deselects all units.

 

Grouping Units

Selecting Groups of units

If you want to create a temporary group of units, hold down the CTRL button when you click the unit flags or the units themselves then press G to group them.

òáááá Alternatively, hold CTRL, then right-click and drag on the ground to drag a selection box around units. Finally, press G to group them.

Creating Pre-defined Groups

In the heat of battle, quick selection of pre-defined groups of units may mean the difference between glorious victory and ignoble defeat.

òáááá To assign units to a group press CTRL + SHIFT + ænumberÆ. That group is now assigned with the number you chose.

Selecting Pre-defined Groups

òáááá To select a pre-defined group, press CTRLá + ænumberÆ. All units within that group are now selected to do your willing.

Deselecting a unit from a group of units

òáááá Select the individual unit and press G.

Note: This function does not work with pre-defined groups.

 

Commanding Your Army

Use any of the control methods or combine them to tailor the interface to your own preference. In the heat of battle, the ability to issue multiple orders quickly and accurately will offer the sure-footed general a distinct advantage.

There are three methods of accessing orders:

Icon Menu Bar û Visual method with tooltips. Select unit/s and then click the icon to give an order.

Drop Down Menu û Select unit then right-click. Click when you have highlighted the desired order.

Keyboard shortcuts û Press the respective keyboard shortcut to issue the order.

 

Improving Performance

Windows XP

Note that the game may appear to run normally in XP with the graphics card drivers installed incorrectly. If problems occur, please check that the correct display drivers for your card are installed fully.

General

Note that higher resolutions may cause slower gameplay. We suggest you adjust the detail levels in the Performance menu including the number of units on the battlefield. Lowering the sound quality may also increase game performance. The default setting is medium. It is advisable that you shut down all non-essential applications that may be running when you play Medieval: Total War. If you make use of the Microsoft Office Toolbar, and it appears over the game screen when playing Medieval: Total War, you will have to disable it before playing. There is a utility installed in most Windows systems (Findfast.exe) that will periodically run and catalog all of the Microsoft Office files on your hard drive. When it is doing this check, your computer's performance will be dramatically impaired. You may want to remove it or disable it when running Medieval: Total War.

Tested Video Chipsets

The following list of video card chipsets have been tested and work with Medieval: Total War. For all these cards, you should ensure that you have the latest drivers available. If your card is not on this list it doesn't mean that it won't work.

Matrox G400 Ö, nVidia Riva TNT 2 Ö (nVidia 650 drivers tested), nVidia GeForce 256 Ö, nVidia GeForce 2 Ö, nVidia GeForce 2 MX Ö, nVidia GeForce 3 Ö, nVidia GeForce 4 Ö, ATI Rage 128 Ö, ATI Rage Fury Ö, ATI Radeon Ö (7500 and 8500), Rendition 2100/2200 Ö and Intel I840 Ö and I940 Ö.

Crashing When Setting to Higher Video Display Resolution

The game may crash to the desktop or display an error message when you attempt to start a game after changing the display resolution in the setup screen. This occurs if your monitor or its driver does not support the display setting you selected. If this occurs, we recommend that you restart the game and set the resolution to a setting supported by your monitor. To view the highest setting supported by your monitor, in Windows, right click on your desktop, select Properties, and click the Settings tab. By dragging the Screen Area slider bar all the way to the right on this screen, you can see the highest resolution supported by your monitor.

 

Software ⌐2002 The Creative Assembly Ltd. Documentation ⌐ 2002 Activision Inc. All rights reserved. Total War, Medieval and the Total War logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Creative AssemblyÖ in the United Kingdom, United States and/or other countries. All rights reserved. The Activision logo is a trademarks or registered trademarks of Activision Inc. in the US and/or other countries. DirectX, Direct 3D, DirectSound, DirectDraw, Windows and Microsoft are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. QSound and the Q Logo are registered trademarks of QSound Labs, Inc. "Environmental Audio" is a trademark and the Environmental Audio Logo is a registered trademark of Creative Technologies Ltd.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.