In this video we will show you the many different benefits your characters can gain from ancillaries
How do I earn & equip ancillaries such as followers & accessories?
In this video we will show you the many different benefits your characters can gain from ancillaries
How do I increase my character’s rank?
In this video we will show you the best ways to gain experience and rank up your character
In this video we will show you the best ways to gain experience and rank up your character
How do I see & manage character relationships?
In this video we will navigate the Character Panel to examine the effects of positive and negative relationships
In this video we will navigate the Character Panel to examine the effects of positive and negative relationships
How do I get new characters to join my faction?
In this video we will look at the character recruitment pool in the Court Panel
In this video we will look at the character recruitment pool in the Court Panel
What makes a character good or bad at a specific role?
In this video, we explore character roles, their attributes, how to best use them in campaign & battle, and which units to recruit with them.
In this video, we explore character roles, their attributes, how to best use them in campaign & battle, and which units to recruit with them.
Which are the best skills for my character?
In this video we examine the skills available to each character as they level up, and how they shape a character's role
In this video we examine the skills available to each character as they level up, and how they shape a character's role
How do I manage character satisfaction?
In this video we demonstrate how to keep your characters satisfied, and highlight the pitfalls of not doing so
In this video we demonstrate how to keep your characters satisfied, and highlight the pitfalls of not doing so
Loyalty
With all the characters under you command, some are going to like you more than others, here is how you keep them loyal.
How to Play the Family Tree
The Family Tree is a visual representation of the web of character relationships within your faction, and offers the functionality for you to interact with those characters and generate Intrigues, which bring new gameplay options.
The Family Tree is a visual representation of the web of character relationships within your faction, and offers the functionality for you to interact with those characters and generate Intrigues, which bring new gameplay options. The characters in your faction can forge strong bonds and alliances with other factions. Marriages can produce offspring, who grow and obtain duties of their own. Characters are born, live their lives, and eventually die throughout the course of a game.
To learn more about the Family Tree as part of the Ancestral Update please visit the FAQ https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-rome-ii-ancestral-update
Politics and Intrigue
In this video we discuss the enhanced diplomatic options available to you in Thrones of Britannia. Learn how to manage your disloyal subjects with force or bribery, arrange marriages for your heirs and allies and perform underhanded actions.
The Character System
The Character system has been reworked for Thrones of Britannia, allowing you to progress with your characters in a way that makes sense to you
The Character system has been reworked for Thrones of Britannia, allowing you to progress with your characters in a way that makes sense to you, and not having traits and abilities locked through a skill tree. So, you could create a general who makes your men formidable fighters, that only a fool would meet in battle. Or you could create one who can range far and fast, striking enemy settlements and sacking them for all their worth. You can also do this for governors who can boost your income from the region they govern, and boost food output, extend siege holdout times and much more. All the skills can be leveled up five times for greater bonuses. And throughout this process all the skills are unlocked and can be selected allowing you to decide how you want your characters to progress.
Tomb Kings: Legendary Lords
Learn about the four Legendary Lords at your disposal when playing as the Tomb Kings.
Settra the Imperishable is the greatest of all of the Tomb Kings. In life, Settra saw the rise to greatness of Nehekhara, and has been awoken to find it all in ruins. His goal is to restore his great empire. Settra is the easiest King to start off with, with strong faction effects for growth and public order. He also starts with Tomb Guards equipped with halberds and a Khemrian Warsphinx.
Grand Hierophant Khatep was once the religious head of the mortuary cult. Khatep refused death but time has taken its toll on him, after being banished by Settra, Khatep would only be able to return when the mortuary cult could fulfil their promise to restore the golden age of the Nehekhara. Khatep is one of the hardest Kings to start off with, being banished far from the rest of the Tomb Kings and surrounded by enemies, support is hard to come by. Khatep starts with a Hierotitan and Carrions, with much stronger enemies nearby. The Exiles can live comfortably within the mountains, while also gaining canopic jars each turn without the need for character traits, they also have diplomatic issues with the Dark Elves that are their neighbors, but they can be rounded up with the movement bonus in all armies.
High Queen Khalida, was once a much loved and respected queen, struck down in her prime. Khalida has risen again to protect her home lands against the corruption of the vampires. Poison is one of Khalidas key weapons, as it courses through her. Khalida starts with a unit of Sepulchral Stalkers and Necropilis Knights. Khalida is joined by her famed archer legions with their bonus 20% ammunition throughout all of her armies. Khalida was greatly respected throughout all of the Nehekhara and as such she gains +20 to all diplomatic relations with all Tomb Kings.
Arkhan the Black was once a lieutenant of Nagash, greatly aiding the great necromancer in his rise to power. Arkhan is one of the hardest characters to play as he starts with an under developed settlement and strong enemies (Dwarfs) all around. Arkhan adopts vampiric units to his roster, enabling him to recruit some of the foulest beasts to his armies. He also has strong ties to the Vampire Counts with a +20 to diplomacy with them, and a -50 to all Tomb Kings. Arkhan also has a +10 magical reserve for all of his armies. Vampiric corruption does not affect the public order of his settlements and he starts with units of Crypt Ghouls and a Tomb Scorpion.
Battle: How to Use Lords and Heroes
In this video you'll learn about the mighty Heroes and Lords at your disposal in Total War: WARHAMMER II
In this video you'll learn about the mighty Heroes and Lords at your disposal in Total War: WARHAMMER II
Heroes and Lords can be recruited on their respective recruitment panels, located on the Province Overview panel. To raise an army, you first need a Lord, as what good is an army without a leader? Heroes are not available from Turn One of the campaign, but become unlocked when their specific building has been erected in a settlement; their building requirements are shown on the Hero Recruitment panel. Heroes and Lords can level up by gaining experience points, albeit a different process to Unit Experience, as well as acquiring new items, followers and banners.
Heroes can move independently of armies and can freely move into enemy territory. They are used to strengthen your armies or settlements, or to strike against enemy targets. For example, Skaven can recruit Assassins, which can be sent into enemy territory in attempt to sabotage an army or assassinate another Hero. Tooltips on the various Hero action buttons show more information about that action, including its chance at success. A Hero with more experience will have a higher success rate in actions!
Looking at a character in more detail allows us to see their current rank as well as how much experience is needed for them to rank up. Clicking on this icon brings up the Character Details panel. The leftmost section of this panel shows us character stats and effects which influence both the campaign and battle. Hover over any of these stats to learn more about them.
How many skill points a character currently has to spend are displayed in the top-right and can be used in exchange for unlocking the skills in the tree. Again, hover over the skills to learn what they do. Certain skills will even unlock mounts for the character.
Characters gain rank and items and develop traits as they perform successful actions. Clicking the magnifying glass button brings up the Details screen. Here we can see what the character currently has equipped as well as any traits or items the character may have obtained. We can also see their current location, as well as how much it is costing you per turn to upkeep their army.
Characters can gain magical items and banners from victory in battle: these can be equipped by selecting them down here. Banners can be equipped on the pre-battle screen onto specific units to provide them with various stat bonuses, attributes and abilities.
When going into battle, armies are led by a Lord who leads and encourages the troops. The Lord appears in battle as a single-person unit – Lords provide a leadership boost to nearby troops, improving their courage in battle. The area of a Lord’s leadership boost is shown as a blue circle when the cursor is placed over them. Try to protect your Lord in battle – they are your most important unit! Without them, troops are much more likely to rout and run away from the enemy.
Select your Lord to browse and activate their abilities – these are shown around the Unit Portrait panel on the left-hand side. To cast a spell, first left-click a spell button and then left-click a target; many spells may be overcast by left-clicking on the spell button a second time before casting. An overcast spells has a greater effect, but also a chance of being miscast and dealing damage to the caster, so use this warily.
When a spellcaster is selected, the spells available to them are shown on the Winds of Magic panel, on the bottom right.
Campaign: Rituals
This video will introduce the central mechanic of the Eye of the Vortex campaign for Total War: WARHAMMER II - Rituals.
This video will introduce the central mechanic of the Eye of the Vortex campaign for Total War: WARHAMMER II - Rituals.
Rituals are how factions can influence the Great Vortex within the Eye of the Vortex campaign. To begin a ritual, a faction must first accumulate sufficient ritual currency, represented by the icon next to the Rituals Bar at the top of the campaign UI.
To initiate a ritual, click on the corresponding button on the Rituals Bar: once begun, a ritual takes several turns to complete. They are conducted at several ritual sites across the campaign map, the locations of which are indicated on the Rituals Bar while casting. While a ritual is underway, energy is channeled from these sites to the Great Vortex and the forces of Chaos will seep into the world, potentially attacking the ritual sites.
Rival powers can attempt to interrupt the ritual by attacking the ritual sites, and may hire intervention armies to support their assault. To call an intervention force during an enemy’s ritual attempt, click the interventions button to the right of the Rituals Bar. These armies cost money to hire and the more money spent, the greater the military power of the army that appears.
A ritual can be successfully interrupted by capturing one of the ritual sites. Failed rituals may be attempted again after a short time.
Campaign: Diplomacy
In this video we will be discussing the intricacies of diplomacy and how to use the systems to your advantage.
In this video we will be discussing the intricacies of diplomacy and how to use the systems to your advantage.
To initiate negotiations with another faction, click on the diplomacy button at the bottom right of the campaign UI. Information about your faction is shown on the left; you can see your allies, enemies and trade partners as well as the resources you are currently trading. The central panel shows a list of known factions and your relations with them: the green colour represents that a faction is friendly towards you, the brown indicates relations are neutral and the red, hostile. If you hover your cursor over a faction you can see a list of things that have a positive and negative impact on your relations - useful to know if you would like to be on better terms with a faction!
You'll also be able to see their relative strength over them – the more yellow you see on the bar next to their strength rank, the stronger you are in comparison. You can also view the treaties that have already been signed between your faction and others and whether you are currently at war. The second-last column shows if trading is possible between your factions and if you are currently trading with one another, and lastly, we have the aforementioned attitude.
Click on a faction to move your camera over to their location or double-click to open negotiations. To add an offer or demand, just press the button at the top of the diplomacy section to see your options. The colour of the diplomacy icons here represents how likely the other party are to agree to the offer, green being high and red low.
Non-aggression pacts are the ideal first step in building friendly relations with another faction; a faction breaking a non-aggression pact will incur significant diplomatic penalties which make it less likely that other factions will trust them in future. Military access allows you to move through one another’s territory without any diplomatic penalty and defensive allies are sworn to protect each other if war is declared on one of them.
Military alliances are a stronger version of defensive ones and will replace the latter if signed. Military allies are under oath to support each other if attacked or attacking another Lord or Race, however significant diplomatic standing must be built up between the two before an alliance proposal is likely to succeed.
Lastly, if you are negotiating with another faction of the same Race, you may have the option to confederate – this means that their faction will be assimilated into your own, including their settlements and some of their armies. However, watch out as you will also inherit their armies and upkeep! For example, if they had minus 2000 gold per turn, your income will also decrease by that value. Confederating also incurs a significant penalty to public order, so make sure your faction can handle the hit before proceeding.
You can also ask a faction to break a treaty it has already agreed with another faction. You can demand or offer a payment either to extract money from another faction to make your own offer more desirable; using the arrows to adjust the amount you send. You can also offer a small, medium or generous gift to a faction to improve your standing with them. You can also ask them to join a war against a third-party, and lastly and perhaps most importantly your faction can declare war upon theirs! This will end any current agreements you have with their faction and may cost you your deals with other factions, as they will pick sides.
When you have decided your negotiation, its success rate will appear at the bottom of the panel. Try adding in an appealing monetary gift to sweeten the deal if it’s not looking likely to succeed.
Campaign: Recruiting Armies
In this video we'll be showing you how to recruit new units to your armies and how to raise new armies to take the fight to multiple fronts.
In this video we'll be showing you how to recruit new units to your armies and how to raise new armies to take the fight to multiple fronts.
Recruitment takes time, costs money and the recruiting army must remain stationary whilst recruitment is taking place. To recruit new units to swell the ranks for an army, simply click the Recruit Units button at the bottom of the screen and a new panel will open. Depending on what military buildings you have constructed in your settlements, different and more advanced units will appear here – but watch where you choose to recruit! The local recruitment options show all units that are available in the local province. It will remain empty when not in controlled territory. The global recruitment pool is shared across all armies in a faction, even when in foreign territory! However, these units cost much more and take longer to recruit. Lastly, watch how many units you are recruiting at once: each unit requires an upkeep payment per turn, so make sure there’s enough in your treasury and predicted income.
If you would like, entirely new armies may be raised from the Recruit Lord panel to allow wars to be fought on multiple fronts. Recruit a new Lord to appoint them to lead the new military force, and then recruit units under them by the method we just mentioned.
Campaign: Army Movement, Stances and Exploration
In this video we'll show you how to move your armies around the campaign map on both land and sea, and we'll be explaining how your army's stance can affect how they move.
In this video we'll show you how to move your armies around the campaign map on both land and sea, and we'll be explaining how your army's stance can affect how they move.
To move an army, or hero, simply select by left-clicking and then right-click on the desired destination. If the destination is further than the army can move in one turn, the movement will take place over multiple turns.
The distance a selected army or hero can move is displayed by a yellow highlighted boundary which can fluctuate depending on what stance an army is currently in. You can also see this amount represented in the bar on the bottom left of the screen as shown in the video. Around an army is a red zone of control: enemies cannot pass through these except to attack the owner.
Roads that cross the landscape usually provide the fastest and safest method of travel – some races have their own special movement abilities which allow them to cross impassable areas, such as the Skaven who use the Underway. These are called Stances and can be seen on the bottom left corner of the campaign screen when an army is selected. Armies can modify their movement, behaviour and abilities by adopting Stances. An army may raid enemy territory by entering the Raiding Stance; raiding brings in money and has detrimental effects on the target. Raiding in enemy territory causes unhappiness in the targeted province.
There are a variety of different terrain types on the map, some of which are dangerous and may inflict attritional casualties on armies passing through, so watch your step… Hostile terrain types such as snowy wastes, deep ocean, deserts and swamps are uncomfortable for travelling troops. Watch out – should a Skaven plague spread to an army, all units will suffer attritional casualties for the duration of the plague!
Unexplored areas of the campaign map are obscured by the Fog of War – this may be lifted by sending an army or hero to explore in that direction. However, High Elves may use espionage to lift the Fog of War over the territory of any factions they trade with.
Sea areas of the map may only be charted by boat, but armies must take time to construct and dismantle their ships as they transition between the land and water. Be careful, an army will not be able to move further on that turn when switching between, unless they move through a port. The oceans sometimes throw up chance encounters such as wrecked vessels or shifting islands. Armies at sea which are close to such encounters may be able to plunder them for rewards. Set sail for a treasure hunt, but watch out for storms that might also cause attrition!