Here they are galloping, Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Four? Give it up. There are hundreds of thousands of them, and they multiply faster than your slaves can clean up after their master’s orgy. While you are finishing your first morning cup of wine, a dozen more Horsemen of the Apocalypse are jumping into the saddle and anticipating how they will burst into your villa, slaughter the servants, quarter you alive and burn the whole house for the glory of Heaven. Because a roof that cannot be rolled up and put in a cart is the roof of a tomb, and the tomb is inhabited exclusively by the dead.

Approximately such ominous predictions were probably heard by the imperial Roman nobility basking in luxury at the end of the 4th century of our troubled era. It is at that time that it begins.

The air was filled with smoke and blood

Total War: Attila did not become a “name” part of the series, like , where the campaigns were based entirely on the adventures of the cunning Corsican. Attila inspired by another page in the series' history Total War- addition Barbarian Invasion, and is even dedicated to the same era, which foreshadowed one of the darkest nightmares of the civilized world. Only here this era was shown in all its perishable splendor. And with all the modesty of visual means.

The small clump on the left is the Huns' camp. In addition to production functions, it is useful because the units in it do not suffer from the vagaries of the weather. Even from frost!

But the most noticeable difference from Rome 2- artistic. It catches your eye right from the splash screen in the main menu: against the backdrop of a red glow, endless hordes are galloping from distant flames, warlike Mongolian music is playing. Demonization in the flesh, although the Huns, the perpetrators of the Great Migration, did not plunge Europe into the darkness of the “Dark Ages” for occult reasons. But who cares when the world is collapsing?

Each of the playable factions was provided with a mournful introduction, where the player is reminded: comrade, the hour of reckoning for free days is approaching. Or vice versa - we’ll burn it The eternal City Let's trample the crops! On the campaign map, the colors are faded, red and black dominate, and fire blazes everywhere as a symbol of reckless, destructive force. Fire colorfully devours the lands that you chose to completely destroy. The boundaries of the zone of aggression around the army are indicated by dancing flames.

In battle, fires have freedom. Archers with fiery arrows burn not only enemies who come under fire, not only houses and barns - even the trees in the forest where the skirmishers are hiding will flare up from arrows flying through the foliage.

The eye can't get enough of it! The dynamics of the fire are even more impressive. And very useful, by the way, if you don’t want to leave potential enemies behind.

At the same time, the desired mood is not achieved with the success that the developers hoped for. Partly because of the caution of artists who did not dare to go against reality and, for example, add crimson tones to the skies. Partly because the game is more difficult than usual, but only due to the wrong properties Total War: Attila, which was advertised in the first place.

My name is Horde

Taking the lead roles in the action of the new Total War- of course, the decaying Western Roman Empire and its enemies, the Hun tribe that came from Mongolia. Byzantium will have time to mothball and fall only in the 15th century, all sorts of Franks, Saxons, Goths are just a backup dancer for the people of Attila, and the eastern Sassanid empire wasted all the fun and went to be devoured by the future Arab Caliphate.

Therefore, Rome and the Huns are played completely differently than before.

In 395, the Eternal City controlled almost all of Europe, excluding Scandinavia, Northern Germany and the territory of the future Scotland and Ireland. But the greatness of Rome is fragile: unwashed savages from all sides are testing the boundaries, and some are gnawing at the empire from the inside. The army of Rome is small, the income is negligible, and the popularity of the Senate and Caesar himself in the regions is falling. The elite is split, control is slipping away... in short, the game for Rome will turn into a painful struggle with the rules of history. Just have time to fight off the barbarians, retreat deep into the domain and frantically count the denarii, shuddering at the cost of provisions.


Legend It’s even clearer now, but separating infantry from spearmen in a crowd can be difficult.

The Huns faction is not so much difficult to manage as it is to understand. Steppe nomads are really Nomads, they don’t have cities, but they can’t capture them. Because the horde! In fact, this trick has already been used in Barbarian Invasion, and in Attila just slightly modified.

Each army of the Huns (as well as other nomads) serves as a mobile city, where yurts for various purposes are assembled and the Hun hordes are trained. For the “parking” functions to work, the horde will have to be camped. To do this, you should hold back a quarter of the army's movement points: that is, advance three-quarters of the route - and pitch tents.

At the same time, a lot of little things come to light that might not have come into view. Thus, several hordes cannot be kept in one area at the same time: they quarrel and receive powerful fines to add to their already meager income, and they eat beyond all measure. It is better to keep the hordes at a distance and bring them into a cavalry fist only for mass battles.

In terms of income, the standard profit from buildings is always higher if the horde is camped. Many incomes are not available to her: from trade, for example. The method of earning money recommended by the game - raiding every little thing and demanding tribute - works poorly: the tribute is ridiculous, barely enough for travel, and the tributaries strive to form an alliance with your enemies and start the war all over again. Re-reasoning them again wastes valuable moves, resources and people.

Close combat always turns into a fight. This is especially dangerous for the cavalry, which will be dismantled for offal in no time, as soon as it stops.

The military doctrine of the Huns is pure horse fetishism. Horse archers, horse swordsmen: why brake infantry when there is maneuverable cavalry? That is why battles on behalf of the Huns are demanding fine motor skills. Run, fire a couple of volleys, run away; swoop in, clinking blades, and gallop away, dropping manure. Even small villages become a cemetery for small Hunnic forces, because there is nowhere to turn around, and the enemy has many opportunities to create a dump and fetter the actions of the cavalry. Let us mournfully remain silent about the sieges: more than one cavalry company found its stupid death at the gates.

Playing for the Huns is perhaps as intense as playing for the Roman Empire, but much more mobile, flexible and multi-variant. If you want, rush to the Caucasus, butt heads with the Sassanids, if you want, chew on Byzantine merchants, if you want, become a hooligan in the Gallic forests. Everywhere it will be equally difficult for the Huns, and equally interesting for us.

Who will remember the old

Something in Total War: Attila returned on the urgent advice of the public (fans simply knocked down the score on Metacritic). For example, family tree. Now fiddle with domestic politics has become more, and promotion the right people and the persecution of the unnecessary has become a routine.

Similar dilemmas will confront you if you like the path of intrigue and careerism. The range of actions is small, but the consequences for the elite are large.

Diseases and epidemics have returned in a new form: now they do not fall on you “by the will of the gods,” but serve as a direct and logical consequence of poor sanitation and high pollution. For example, good workshops and populated urban centers generate more and more garbage and sewage, and wells, as well as ditches and other primitive means of removing sewage, are useful to neutralize them. One more headache.

The professional growth of commanders is now expressed in a full-fledged skill tree (armies have the same joy at their disposal). The perks include both standard increases in zeal, authority and cunning, as well as percentage increases to any parameters, be it the maintenance of mounted units or the speed of movement on the campaign map. True, these bonuses are distributed confusingly throughout the tree, and you will have to take some extra perks to get to more useful things.

A family tree is more like a return of an old debt than a generous gift. Who wants illegitimate children?

But the promised brutal street battles with barricades and crowds in squares did not work out. That is, formally there are barricades in the game, they are allowed to be built, but not enough to correct the course of enemy troops. And there are probably too many streets to make a tricky labyrinth out of them.

But still, the rules of the siege have changed a little: the blockade of the city has lost its meaning, since it lasts ten, or even twenty moves. Help will eat up all your baldness until the townspeople finally surrender, and the military ranks will noticeably thin out.

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How to play online

Online play is available in the licensed version of the game.

As in , the game's multiplayer features both individual battles and a campaign mode, taking place on the same map as the single-player mode. Also in multiplayer you can take part in nine historical battles.

Total War: Attila crashes, what should I do?

— If every time you start the game it gets stuck on the loading screen and at times returns you to the desktop, update your video card drivers.

— If you get error 53, disable your antivirus firewall and start the game. This error occurs because the program does not allow the exchange of information with the game server.

— If the game does not start at all, check the integrity of the game files on Steam.

When will the patch come out?

Two patches have already been released for Total War: Attila: one on February 4, and the other on February 25. While the first patch mainly contains performance improvements, gameplay fixes, and patches to fix persistent crashes, the second patch adds new content to the game, fixes balance, improves the interface, and optimizes the game. It is still unknown when the next patch will be released, however, most likely, it will be released along with new DLC.

Where are the saves?

Approximate path: C:\Users\*username*\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Attila\save_games

What to build

Different factions differ from each other in starting conditions and gameplay in general, so there is no universal path for development. The Roman economy, for example, is in poor shape at the start, so when playing as them and having a break between the barbarian raids, it is worth considering the construction of trade buildings. Unable to settle down, the Huns had better divide into hordes and develop them separately.

All factions, however, should think about constructing buildings that improve sanitation in the regions - this will help prevent the plague epidemic.

How to move or change the capital

No way. Even after migration, your capital will be the first settlement you occupy.

How to defeat the Huns

After defeating Attila several times, you will receive a message saying that Attila's next defeat will be his last. After defeating him again, another message will appear confirming his death. Such a loss will reduce the Huns' ability to produce armies and allow you to defeat the nomads.

How to unlock all factions

There are only 10 factions available in the main game. The remaining nine are unlocked by purchasing three DLC packs (Culture Packs): Viking Forefathers, Longbeards and Celts.

How to appoint a governor

Only male members of your faction can be appointed to the position of governor. Go to the “Family” tab in the faction window, select the required character and transfer him to the position from the list panel on the right.

How to change religion

A change is possible if 35% of your population are representatives of the religion you need. After that, open the “Factions” window, go to the “Summary” tab and click on the “Convert” button next to a specific religion. Destroying the temples of your current religion, such as Christian cathedrals in the Western Roman Empire, will help speed up this process.

Why are barricades needed?

Barricades are used during siege to protect your cities. They, however, are placed only in predetermined places and are not particularly durable.

Where to watch political events

Political events after they first appear can be reopened by clicking on them in the upper right corner.

Where to get wood

Trade the wood with a faction that has the supply, or capture a city that has it near it. Then build the building needed to produce it.

Army Management

The first thing you need to learn on the multiplayer battlefields is army management. Your army must move as a single whole, maintain formation, it must be ready at any time to react to any enemy action.

You, as a player, must master as much as possible all the arsenal of tools that the game puts at your disposal. In the chaos of battle, seconds matter. This video will show you how you can quickly and clearly give orders of any complexity.

Total War School (Attila) - Army Management (#1)

Opening a Simple "Box"

In the multiplayer battles of Total War: Attila, you will encounter a great variety of different combat tactics. Some of them are traditionally condemned by the majority of players, as they abuse the balance of the game or are extremely unpleasant in nature. Fighting against some squads is not fun at all.

One such case is the "box". This is a tactic where the player takes as many phalanxes as possible and becomes a square. After this, the game on the part of such a person practically stops, since his strength lies precisely in immobility, in the monumentality of the structure. In this video you will see the game against such a composition and will receive several recommendations that will help you resist the “boxes” on the battlefields even more effectively.

Total War: Attila School - Opening a Simple "Box" (#2)

In this chapter we will look at an example of a rush - a tactic in which you take the maximum attacking lineup and play as number one. Combat in such a situation is usually fast-paced and aggressive. In my opinion, rushing is good for new players, as you can concentrate on your actions first, and thinking about one army is always easier than two. The video shows examples of rushing and gives advice on how to act in such a situation.

Total War: Attila School - Rush (#3)

Total War Attila School #7 - Rush Yutami

The Importance of Repetitions

The first days, and sometimes even weeks, of playing multiplayer can be accompanied by a feeling of total misunderstanding of what is happening. Factions seem the same, units merge with each other, the same tactics first bring a confident victory, and then a crushing defeat. In the fourth chapter of the School of Total War: Attila, we will talk about the enormous importance of battle replays in such a situation.

Total War: Attila School - The Importance of Replays (#4)

Unit Characteristics

In this video we will talk about the explicit and hidden characteristics of units in Total War: Attila. Not all the necessary information can be seen on the unit card in the game; sometimes you have to go to the encyclopedia, and some data can be obtained exclusively in the database of the game itself. Thanks to this analysis, it is possible to identify clear specialization among units, as well as understand which units are the most effective for their money.

Total War: Attila School - Unit Characteristics (#5)

Visualization of Unit Characteristics

User Vaenson On the official forum of the game he publishes a utility with which you can flexibly visualize the characteristics of units. The information is taken from the game database and updated with each patch. This is a very useful thing if you want to quickly find out which infantry unit has the highest bonus against cavalry, which archer deals the most damage through armor, and so on.
Since the interface is not very obvious, and everything is in English, in the video I will show you how to use this utility.

Almost finished on legendary difficulty, the goal was to destroy all factions to the ground, all settlements, with the help of quick technology research. Turn 327, only two factions left, east. and zap. empire, the eastern has five provinces, the western has thirty, left for later. I can’t get around to finishing the game, there’s little interest anymore, maybe someone will be interested.

I set the goal of rapid technology research as the basis for the passage, and focused on this. I replayed it a bunch of times until I found the optimal strategy in my opinion; I’m not imposing it, I’m just providing it for your reference.

Start of the company

It is advisable to start with 1-2 sages in your family/candidates (the sage skill gives +5/10% to the research speed). First of all, we attack the Sklavins, making a general a family member with the sage skill, thereby pumping it up for him.
Advice: we first ravage each city, then destroy it, thereby getting more money. And you can destroy it with a weaker horde, thereby gaining additional points for its growth.

We ravage/destroy the city, then disband the army, change the general (thereby receiving additional movement points, and take us towards the Kutigurs, not forgetting to become a camp by 25%.

Advice: when moving armies, use the right button held down, thereby seeing in the movement bar where exactly it will stop, so that there are not enough points to move to the camp.

This horde will be our economic springboard, since with 3 full hordes the treasury will go into the minus and it will be quite difficult, and development will slow down. Let's move her 20 moves towards the cutigurs (when the stable profit in the treasury will be about 4 thousand, in order to allow the maintenance of the third stack). I don’t recommend it for longer, because lonely stacks of some kind of holes will start coming, from which you won’t be able to hide, and you’ll lose the horde on early stage almost equal to losing.

I advise you to better finish off the Sklavins with the second horde, so we approach them and set up camp. We send the third to a small Ant city, it won’t be possible to destroy a large one, the full stack is in the garrison. .(which can easily be destroyed when he comes to the rescue after our attack on a lone stack with 1-2 units near the city).

Advice: we try to attack a small stack of the enemy, if there are large reinforcements nearby, thereby easily killing the general and finishing off reinforcements (the general of all stacks is the one we attacked).

After destroying the Sklavins/Ants, it is better to attack the Wends with two hordes. Why do I think it’s better to stay in the north rather than move straight to Rome? Firstly, densely populated provinces, with narrow passages, and a lot of stacks at the ZRI, which will be able to pin you down and destroy you, and it’s difficult to set up a camp, they will constantly attack, you will have to retreat. Yes, all the same, then you will have to return to destroy the northern factions. And due to the sparse population of the north, it is easier not to be ambushed by several enemy stacks and lose the horde. Moreover, a big plus, by destroying the northern factions, our relations with the ZRI are growing, and soon, somewhere when the relations are +600 +800, they will ask us for peace, we will be able to knock off 10 thousand + union/military alliance from them (if necessary), and about 15 thousand more for declaring war on their enemies, and getting 25 thousand money just like that at an early stage of the game is no joke. And the peace proposals from the VRI, it will be possible to shoot down about 8 thousand.

After the Wends, it will be the turn of the Laz/Turings, etc. Next are the Vikings and Britain. Well, after that for personal reasons. The third stack, after we withdraw from the economic rear, I would advise sending them to destroy the Greuthungs, it will be impossible to maintain relations with them, and then to the Caucasus/East to destroy the weak factions. By the time Attila grew up, I reached the Sassanians, and was just ready to hire the 4th horde (for Attila and the attack on the Sassanians). We don’t need more than four stacks until the end of the playthrough, where we can only hire them to quickly finish the campaign. Two hordes in one battle defeat any number of enemies. So we play, two hordes in the northwest, two in the east.

Advice: we definitely try to camp in hordes in different provinces, but next to each other, so that in case of an attack we can come to the rescue. Yes, and we try to end every turn with a camp. The raid is not beneficial for the hordes.

Now all the subtleties of passing in order:

Diplomacy

We try not to wage many wars, but to destroy enemies one by one. Otherwise, at an early stage, agents with Disinformation of the armies may bother you, and wandering stacks from somewhere in Africa may arrive at the wrong time) We try to declare war in a cunning way, we look at who our enemy is fighting with, and we try to knock off money from these factions for declaring war. Gifts are an extreme measure, a small gift gives about 10 to relationships, medium and larger ones make very little sense. A diplomatic marriage gives about 19, but the AI is extremely reluctant to give away its daughters, and I strongly advise against marrying ours to foreign factions; I will describe in more detail later. The most significant improvement in relationships is common enemies. Try to force a faction that interests you politically to go to war with your enemy, this will give you 50+ relationships, depending on your aggression towards it. Sometimes they agree for free, sometimes you have to pay the same amount as in a small gift, but in return we get many times more. In this way, you can avoid losing Gpids and Greatngs at the start, when the relationship is positive, they will never give up on you, and an extra penny from tributaries will not hurt.

Diplomacy at the start: there are 4 nomadic factions, next to us, Budins, Roxolans, Kutigurs and Savirs. We try to make friends with everyone. War with them is not profitable, since they have no cities, and they have a lot of cavalry that will greatly complicate the war. The primary task is to appease the Roxolans, since relations with them are average, and their hordes are nearby, it is dangerous, it may even be spent on a gift on turn 1. Further, Budins/Kutigurs, Savirs are not so important, they are far away, and usually do not live long. The Budins are the most friendly, you can form an alliance with them and try to set one of your enemies on someone.

Domestic policy

The most interesting thing is that power should be kept at the Decent level, that is, at the beginning it should be slightly reduced. You can downgrade if any political actions fail, or by hiring candidates from other families, thereby lowering the ratio of their influence to ours. And now about main task- you need as many members as possible with the Sage skill. To do this, you need to expand your family by marrying all members so that they can reproduce. And hire all possible candidates from other families. To hire him, you need to change the general to a candidate in any horde, thereby you will hire him, this costs money, depending on the number of candidates already hired, as well as the number of family members, ranges from 800 to 16 thousand and above. I increased the number of family members to a huge number through marriages and adoptions, and because of this, some natural descendants began to appear on the list of candidates, apparently the slots ran out. We hire all possible candidates, 1-3 per turn, if money allows, regardless of their skills. If there are sages, then we pump them up by playing any one battle, the second level will immediately be up, and we will get +10% to the research speed. If a candidate does not have such a skill, then after hiring we need to get rid of it in order to reduce the cost of hiring subsequent candidates. To do this, we use adoption, murder and marriage of a female family member. Thanks to these manipulations, plus manipulations with agents (I will describe below), I achieved 225% research speed at approximately turn 30.

Advice: we marry our daughters to members of other factions only as a last resort. After all, we are losing influence. Plus, we do all political actions through women, such as murder (after all, if you fail, you can die, but losing men is not worth it), gather support, and ensure loyalty.

We don’t spend influence on men, we save for adoption. It’s not worth spending influence on horde generals at all, because we will promote them career ladder. The most important thing will be to appoint Glorious Conquerors (+8 to the growth of all hordes) and an Honorary Elder (+10% to wealth from buildings) and the rest, if possible.

Advice: we try to get all family members married as quickly as possible so that they can start multiplying faster. Third-party factions are quickly running out of women, so we’re accumulating influence and looking for a wife.

The buildings

Well, everything is already written about this in the guide. I will write in order of importance: Weaver's yurt, goat shed, supply wagons/elder shaman's yurt, cattle pens, tinsmiths' camp, craftsmen's camp, cupbearer's abode, archers' camp.

Technologies

The main thing here is to first learn a lesson about the first branch of civilian technologies for the growth of the horde, and the weaver's yurt lvl 4. Next, it’s worth learning the rest of the civilian technologies until we feel the opportunity to learn horse breeding (improves shooters to archers). Please note that you must have a stable income of 7000+. Since the content will double. It’s not worth learning all the civilian technologies until the end, since our research speed will increase with the number of moves, and to save moves, we should teach the second third branch of military technologies, and then take on the last branch of civilian ones.

Try to learn paid civilian technologies as quickly as possible, they are worth it, and you learn in just 1 turn.

Generals

First of all, when starting a company, you should abandon the basic generals. They are all many years old, which means they will die soon, but we don’t need this, so that only after leveling up the general he will die. That's why we choose new ones. I destroyed almost all factions with the same generals chosen at the start. Priority age, younger. I’m also interested in skills; the best experience would be for shooters or cavalry. It’s not worth upgrading their innate skill to the second level, since we have a maximum level of 10, and it’s better to spend the free perk on another skill. At 2 we pump up food and movement range. Then we get to Povelitel, also level up to 2, and then quickly go to Beach. Of course, we also teach him a lesson in 2. Then the commander of archers and cavalry, and Lightning. Unfortunately, this is where the perks end)
Advice: periodically check the generals’ surroundings for items to increase the speed of research, and equip them on the youngest members of the family.
Advice: if there are too few people in the general’s squad, you can replace him with another one on a turn, and return him the next, this will immediately give a full squad, but will reset his experience, but we don’t really need it.

Agents

Based on the buildings, we will only be able to hire priests. But we don’t need any more, thanks to the dogma skill, we will lure all the other agents from other factions. Most importantly, we need priests with the Legend Keeper skill, which increases the speed of research. Therefore, if there are no such priests among the available ones, we choose with any other, but older one, so that he dies quickly, and new candidates for hiring appear on the list, perhaps with the skill we need.

We upgrade the priests to kill by 2 and dogma by 2, the rest to authority, because it increases the chance of crit by 20%, starting from a value of 6, the rest is not important. Next, having lured the scouts, we try to add him to each horde, with a pumped-up Pursuit and preferably with a skill for cavalry experience. The main function of the priests is to lure the agent, the spies are to misinform the troops, and lure them away. Warriors, on the other hand, have excellent skills in degrading the characteristics of the enemy stack. That's how we use it.

Army

In terms of skills, we quickly go to the Scourge of the World, then Terror, then at 2 we teach Accuracy and cavalry of the nomads, steppe customs. Well, now about the composition. 19 mounted shooters/archers/demons and an onager to capture cities. We don't need other units. The tactic is this: we shoot, we retreat, we try to kill the general, we don’t let the enemy get closer. We run out of arrows, go around from several sides, and use the onslaught. We use flaming arrows against cavalry, regular ones against lightly armored units, heavy ones for the rest. And one or two units set up a whistling shot to debuff the enemy. If there are a lot of enemies, then we control the amount of ammunition by turning fire on/off so that they don’t shoot at those running away.

Also, when manually controlling the fire of archers, shoot at units that are not covered on the flanks, their morale is lower and they will run away faster. When an enemy general dies, we immediately fire a flame/whistle shot at everyone and watch them run. Here is a video of successful use of horse archers. 800 without a general, against 3000, almost without losses. Watch from 20 minutes.

Well, let’s take into account that against large enemy forces, when the detachment begins to tremble, you can send it to flight with an onslaught, so as not to waste arrows in vain.

We use the general only as a last resort, using skills to push him through, for example. We try to catch the enemy in the field, it’s worth storming cities with large garrisons only if we have several stacks, or during the colonization of a destroyed settlement the city will be completely destroyed, minus morale and holes in the walls. I mostly played all the sieges in auto battles. You can do it manually, then it is very important to set fire to as many buildings as possible with the cavalry, to reduce morale.

I'll write a short guide on the Huns. Almost finished on legendary difficulty, the goal was to destroy all factions to the ground, all settlements, with the help of quick technology research. Turn 327, only two factions left, east. and zap. empire, the eastern has five provinces, the western has thirty, left for later. I can’t get around to finishing the game, there’s little interest anymore, maybe someone will be interested.

Start of the company

Advice: we first ravage each city, then destroy it, thereby receiving more money. And you can destroy it with a weaker horde, thereby gaining additional points for its growth.

We ravage/destroy the city, then disband the army, change the general (thereby receiving additional movement points, and take us towards the Kutigurs, not forgetting to become a camp by 25%.

Advice: when moving armies, use the right button held down, thereby seeing in the movement bar where exactly it will stop, so that there are not enough points to move to the camp.

This horde will be our economic springboard, since with 3 full hordes the treasury will go into the minus and it will be quite difficult, and development will slow down. Let's move her 20 moves towards the cutigurs (when the stable profit in the treasury will be about 4 thousand, in order to allow the maintenance of the third stack). I don’t recommend it any longer, because lonely stacks of holes will start to appear from which you won’t be able to hide, and losing a horde at an early stage is almost equal to losing.

After destroying the Sklavins/Ants, it is better to attack the Wends with two hordes. Why do I think it’s better to stay in the north rather than move straight to Rome? Firstly, densely populated provinces, with narrow passages, and a lot of stacks at the ZRI, which can pin you down and destroy you, and it’s difficult to set up a camp, they will constantly attack, you will have to retreat. Yes, all the same, then you will have to return to destroy the northern factions. And due to the sparse population of the north, it is easier not to be ambushed by several enemy stacks and lose the horde. Moreover, a big plus, by destroying the northern factions, our relations with the ZRI are growing, and soon, somewhere when the relations are +600 +800, they will ask us for peace, we will be able to knock off 10 thousand + union/military alliance from them (if necessary), and about 15 thousand more for declaring war on their enemies, and getting 25 thousand money just like that at an early stage of the game is no joke. And the peace proposals from the VRI, it will be possible to shoot down about 8 thousand.

Now all the subtleties of passing in order:

Diplomacy

Domestic policy

The most interesting thing is that power should be kept at the Decent level, that is, at the beginning it should be slightly reduced. You can downgrade if any political actions fail, or by hiring candidates from other families, thereby lowering the ratio of their influence to ours. And now about the main task - you need as many members as possible with the Sage skill. To do this, you need to expand your family by marrying all members so that they can reproduce. And hire all possible candidates from other families. To hire him, you need to change the general to a candidate in any horde, thereby you will hire him, this costs money, depending on the number of candidates already hired, as well as the number of family members, ranges from 800 to 16 thousand and above. I increased the number of family members to a huge number through marriages and adoptions, and because of this, some natural descendants began to appear on the list of candidates, apparently the slots ran out. We hire all possible candidates, 1-3 per turn, if money allows, regardless of their skills. If there are sages, then we pump them up by playing any one battle, the second level will immediately be up, and we will get +10% to the research speed. If a candidate does not have such a skill, then after hiring we need to get rid of it in order to reduce the cost of hiring subsequent candidates. To do this, we use adoption, murder and marriage of a female family member. Thanks to these manipulations, plus manipulations with agents (I will describe below), I achieved 225% research speed at approximately turn 30.

We don’t spend influence on men, we save for adoption. It’s not worth spending influence on horde generals at all, because we will promote them up the career ladder. The most important thing will be to appoint Glorious Conquerors (+8 to the growth of all hordes) and an Honorary Elder (+10% to wealth from buildings) and the rest, if possible.

The buildings

Technologies

Try to learn paid civilian technologies as quickly as possible, they are worth it, and you learn in just 1 turn.

Generals

Advice: periodically check the generals’ surroundings for items to increase the speed of research, and equip them on the youngest members of the family.

Advice: if there are too few people in the general’s squad, you can replace him with another one on a turn, and return him the next, this will immediately give a full squad, but will reset his experience, but we don’t really need it.

Well, we take into account that against large forces of the enemy, when the detachment begins to tremble, you can send it to flight with an onslaught, so as not to waste arrows in vain.

We use the general only as a last resort, using his skills for example. We try to catch the enemy in the field, it’s worth storming cities with large garrisons only if we have several stacks, or during the colonization of a destroyed settlement the city will be completely destroyed, minus morale and holes in the walls. I mostly played all the sieges in auto battles. You can do it manually, then it is very important to set fire to as many buildings as possible with the cavalry, to reduce morale. Uploaded a couple of screenshots. The first is the most epic battle for the entire company. 1 vs 4 full stacks. The enemy had few losses, since I did not have time to kill those fleeing, the small size of the battlefield for such battles affected, the enemy reinforcements came from all sides, there was no time for frags)

I think I described everything, good luck in your battles!)