
   Lords of the Realm 2 Strategy Guide
   Lords of The Realm II is a medieval strategy-conquest game that
   thrusts the player in the role of a noble vying for the Crown of
   England. (or Germany, France, Italy, etc.) The game can be quite
   overwhelming to novices and even veteran gamers may have some trouble
   getting started. This is the type of game that needs to be played over
   time to get the most out of it. It takes time to build Royal Castles,
   draft huge armies, form alliances, manage crops, deal with merchants,
   and seize control of the crown. This is a guide that will help you get
   the most out of the game. Soon, you will be marching your Knights
   across the countryside thrashing the opposition, while your Castles
   stand as mighty fortresses that will make your enemies think twice
   about attacking your counties. 
   
   [General Strategies] [Happiness] [Resource Managment]
   [Battle/Fighting] [Sieges] [Enemies]
   
   General Strategies
   
    Every player has their own set of strategies that they like
   to use. Some players like to expand as fast as possible, taking county
   after county and splitting their forces right from the outset of the
   game. Others will stay in their home county and build and build and
   build until they have a very strong base to work from. Each strategy
   has a positive and a negative side. But regardless of the way in which
   you rule your Kingdom, the following guidelines should help you in
   your bid to be crowned King.
    I. Food
       The first thing you should concern yourself with is building a
       good stockpile of food. Make sure you have a good mixture of cows
       and grain. Random events will rarely destroy both parts of your
       food supply.
       
   II. The Garrison
       Depending on how you setup your game in the game options menu, you
       will usually have a small army to start the game with. The first
       item on the agenda should be to garrison your castle. If an enemy
       army enters your county and attacks an empty castle--wave good bye
       to your county. Consider building a good castle in your home
       county as fast as possible. Try to at least get a Norman Keep
       built relatively quickly. When the opportunity presents itself,
       upgrade to the Stone and then the Royal Castle.
       
   III. Talk to Nobles
       While the other computer opponents will stab you in the back
       whenever it suits them, you should try to form alliances early in
       the game. This will give you some time to build an army.
       
   IV. The Army
       It's now time to start building an army. This step coincides with
       the fact that you should be gathering and buying resources from
       the outset. I suggest building archers before anything else. Stick
       the archers in your castle as a garrison and then concentrate on
       building that diverse army that can do anything. An army with only
       one troop type (ok..an army of Knights being the exception) is an
       army that is doomed to fail.
       
    V. Neutral Countries
       Start taking neutral counties when you have a solid army to
       command. The neutrals will usually have an army full of peasants
       and a few archer units. A good army should have little trouble
       with them. Expanding too quickly can be fatal if you are playing
       with other humans. The best strategy is to expand slowly and
       gradually. Don't just sit in your castle and watch the grass grow,
       but try not to expand too quickly and leave yourself vulnerable.
       
   VI. The War
       After you capture some neutral counties, you can expect the other
       nobles to attack your counties. Be prepared. Take the fight to
       them whenever you have the strength. Eliminate nobles who are
       weaker than you and that have spread out too quickly. The Knight
       loves to do this. He will expand like mad and leave himself thin.
       Take advantage of that by taking the fight to him.
       
   TIP: Lords 2 is the type of game that can be played using many
   different strategies. The best thing to do is to explore all the
   possibilities and use the strategy that works best for you.
   
   Happiness
   
   While there are many different strategies that can be employed to win
   the game, the first thing that needs to be made clear is one important
   factor that will need your constant attention: Happiness. Keeping your
   subjects happy and healthy is vital in your quest to be crowned King.
   Many factors can lower the happiness of the people in a county:
   
     1) Drafting Soldiers
   
     2) Raising Taxes
   
     3) Plagues
   
     4) Lack of Food

   TIP: When it is obvious that you are going to lose a county to an
   opposing player, raise taxes to 100% and put your people on a half
   ration. When your opponent takes the county, they will be anything but
   happy! 
   
   Drafting soldiers into your army lowers the happiness of your people.
   The more you recruit, the unhappier happier the people get. A high
   happiness rating allows you to conscript more troops into your army
   without having your happiness fall to a very low level. Don't worry
   about keeping the happiness rating at 99. Just try to keep it
   reasonable. However, if your happiness score drops below 50, do
   whatever you need to do to make them happy again. The peasants can
   revolt--and that is a BAD thing. Taxes are another factor that relates
   to happiness. You need money, right? Peasants are fickle and when you
   tax them they tend to get a little upset. Not to worry, the best thing
   to do early in the game is to raise taxes to a point where your
   people's happiness score will drop about one or two points per turn.
   Once you build a nice sized castle, you can lower taxes to a more
   reasonable rate. Castles bring in a lot of money so you can afford to
   do this.
   
   Food is important. You need to keep your peasants fed. Try to keep
   your ration at normal unless there is a reason to change it. If your
   happiness is low try to put them on double ration to boost it back up
   to a safe
   level.(you can also buy ale from a merchant to boost happiness)
   Sometimes you will be forced to put your people on 1/2 ration. This
   usually happens when you do not have sufficient food to feed all of
   your people. If this happens, try to get food to that county as fast
   as possible. Either buy cows or grain from a merchant or send supplies
   to that county from one of your others. Starving your people is a sure
   path to a revoltwhich again, is a bad thing. The Plague. Obviously,
   this is something you want to avoid. If a plague hits one of your
   counties there is really only one thing to do: Ride it out. Lower your
   taxes and for God's sake don't try to raise an army. Your population
   will plummet even faster if you do. Plagues don't last THAT long but
   the safest thing to do is to put the county on hold until it passes.
   The key thing to remember is that you need a solid happiness score for
   your county to run at peak efficiency. In other words: KEEP YOUR
   PEOPLE HAPPY! 
   
   Resource Managment, Medieval Style
   
    The first thing that you should do when the game starts is to
   survey your starting county. What does it have? What doesn't it have?
   How many fields does it have for cows and grain? Check the landscape
   as well. Are there mountains anywhere that will help protect you from
   invasion? There is much to be done and not a lot of time to do it.
   (especially if your county is adjacent to The Knight!) If you are
   lucky, the county that you begin the game with will have all the tools
   you need to build a strong base of operations: a blacksmith, a
   forestry, a quarry (or a mine), a plethora of fields, and several
   cows. All too often, however, your county will lack one or more of
   these features. If your county lacks a quarry, for example, you cannot
   get stone to build castles. Don't panic. There are ways for you to get
   supplies. Early in the game you will want to visit the merchants when
   they come to your county. Do not let this opportunity pass you by
   because merchants will not be available every turn. Buy grain as soon
   as possible. You will want to feed your people by using cows & grain
   together. Usually around 300 sacks to start is a safe purchase. After
   that, buy up whatever resource your county cannot build on its own.
   
   Eventually, after you conquer other counties, you will not have to
   worry about this as much. Your counties SHARE their resources . For
   example, if you have one county that lacks a mine but you have another
   county that has one, all of the iron that comes from the mine is
   placed in a 'pool' for all counties to use. You don't have to
   transport resources from one county to the next. You should use this
   to your advantage. Designate each county to a specific purpose. County
   'A' will be your mining county while county 'B' will be used for
   gathering stone etc. Don't forget that each resource serves a specific
   purpose. The list is as follows:
    I. Wood - Wood is vital in castle building and weapons. You need a
       good supply of wood.
   II. Iron- The key source in making weapons. If you dream of that army
       full of Knights, you will need a hefty amount of Iron.
   III. Stone- Stone has but one function: Castles.
   IV. Ale- Buy Ale when you want a quick boost to your county's
       happiness rating.
       
   TIP: Try to avoid buying cows from merchants. They are very expensive.
   (24 gold per bovine) If a county needs cows, ship them in from one of
   your other counties. 
   
   Battle/Fighting
   
   To be the King you will eventually have to fight it out against the
   other nobles. There is simply no way around this. To be a successful
   field commander you need to know what your units can and cannot do.
   Who is good at storming castle walls? Who is the best in defensive
   situations? Let's look at each unit individually for each has its own
   unique characteristics.

   TIP: There will be times when mercenaries are available for hire. If
   you can afford them, buy them up. They are the best way to quickly
   build a force without having to recruit from your own people. Keep in
   mind that mercenaries of different nationalities will not fight
   together. 
   
   Archers
   Every army needs archers. Period. They fire at a rapid rate, do a fair
   amount of damage, and can turn away castle assaults faster than any
   other unit. Yet, they do have a weakness: They are horrid when
   fighting in melee combat. Peasants can give archers a good fight when
   engaged in hand-to-hand combat. If you can keep your archers
   protected, however, they can lay waste to the enemy. Archers are the
   best unit to put inside a castle. While your enemy is digging away
   trying to fill in the moat to attack your castle, your archers just
   sit back and pummel them with a hail of arrows. It takes a mighty army
   to attack and conquer a Royal Castle with a full garrison of archers!
   
   Crossbowmen
   The crossbowmen are the other ranged attack unit at your command. They
   shoot at a slower rate than archers and have a shorter range. But they
   do more damage and are more accurate. They also cost 33% more than
   archers. The only unit that costs more are the Knights. Use
   crossbowmen only if you cn afford them.
   Knights
   Knights are the most expensive units you can buy. There is a reason
   for this, however. Knights are the strongest and fastest unit
   available. If used properly they can be used to outflank the enemy,
   getting behind enemy lines to attack archers and crossbowmen. They are
   also good at storming castles once the gate is broken. To capture a
   castle all you need to do is capture the flag, and Knights are so fast
   that they can rush in and overwhelm the enemy and seize the castle
   flag in a matter of seconds. Do not let your knights get bogged down
   in the middle of the fray. Use their speed to your advantage and you
   will have much success with them.
   
   Macemen
   Macemen offer a lot in terms of flexibility. The have the same attack
   and defense rating as do swordsmen and move three times as fast. The
   only drawback being their lower armour score. This is a problem when
   charging a unit of archers or crossbowmen. They offer quite a bit for
   their price, however, and smart commanders will have a good number of
   them in their army.
   
   Pikemen
   Pikemen are an inexpensive way to fill your army with good troops.
   They are best used in defensive situations and they make the best
   blockers for your ranged units to shoot behind. They are very slow so
   don't expect to be able to out flank or out maneuver the opponent with
   them. Pikemen can even keep knights at bay (for a while, anyway). A
   simple rule, wherever you have archers or crossbowmen--have some
   pikemen by their side.
   
   Swordsmen
   Swordsmen are very good in every aspect except for one thing, that
   being speed. They are extremly slow (slower than pikemen) and are best
   used to charge archers and crossbowmen. They have a very high armour
   rating so they can withstand the arrows and bolts far better than any
   other unit. They cost about as much as crossbowmen but are by far the
   better unit. When attacking an army that has a lot of ranged attackers
   in it, bring a good amount of swordsmen with you.
   
   Peasants
   Good ol' peasants. They are the weakest unit in the game-bar none.
   They do come cheap- actually, they're free! You simply recruit them
   from your population. Amazingly, the pitchfork wielding peasant CAN
   play an important role in battles. They can serve as a blockade for
   archers to shoot over, in addition they are great at soaking up
   boiling oil during castle sieges, and did I mention that they were
   free?
   
   Sieges
   
    One of the best parts of the game are the castle sieges. To
   watch your units dump pots full of boiling oil on your enemy is simply
   something that everyone should experience. (this is especially true in
   multi-player) Each castle design is different and should be approached
   differently in terms of strategy. This applies to attacking and
   defending. Let's take a look at the five castles in detail.
    I. Wooden Palisade
          + Attacking:
            This is simply a small wooden fort. The best thing to do is
            to send a battering ram and smash the gates, then send in
            some fast units to capture the flag. The palisade only holds
            up to 150 men so any decent sized army should have little
            problem.
          + Defending:
            Good luck. Your only hope is that you have a good amount of
            archers that can whittle down the opposition followed by some
            decent soldiers inside to attack the enemy after they smash
            the wooden gate. If a large army attacks you--just try to
            take out as many as you can before dying.
            
   II. Motte and Bailey 
          + Attacking:
            This castle design is similar to the Wooden Palisade,
            however, there are differences. The flag is placed around a
            section that is guarded by a moat. A two-pronged attack works
            best when attacking this structure. While your peasants fill
            in the moat, use a battering ram to smash the front gate. Be
            sure to have a Siege Tower with you because while the
            peasants are filling in the moat you will need a fast way to
            storm the castle from the rear. As your troops rush in the
            front door, the Siege Tower allows other troops to attack
            from behind.
          + Defending:
            Protect the flag and use the moat to your advantage. Try to
            prevent the moat from being filled by having archers pummel
            whoever tries. If you have decent hand-to-hand troops you can
            protect the flag fairly well because the enemy must come
            through a small bottleneck to get to the flag. The key here
            is to keep the enemy from filling in the moat and attacking
            you from behind. Still, a large army can overwhelm you
            because you can only have 200 troops garrisoned in this
            castle.
            
   III. Norman Keep
       
          + Attacking:
            The Norman Keep is the first castle design that uses Stone as
            its main resource. This castle design has many advantages
            over the Palisade and the Motte and Bailey. The flag is
            protected by a set of double gates. The best device to use,
            once again, is the Battering Ram. I suggest having at least
            two of these machines available. Once the ram smashes the
            first gate it still has to get past the second gate in order
            to reach the flag. Trying to use the back door trick like you
            would in attacking a Motte and Bailey will not work because
            the rear of this castle cannot be penetrated with a Siege
            Tower. Be aware that although the enemy can put only 200
            troops inside a Norman Keep, if they have a full garrison of
            ranged units, your best bet is to stand back with your
            catapults and battering rams and let them do their damage
            before storming the gates. Watch out for oil. This castle has
            a decent supply of it and anyone that gets too close is bound
            to get burned alive!
          + Defending:
            The Norman Keep has a very good defensive layout and if you
            have a full garrison you can stop larger armies with a good
            degree of success. The key here is to have archers or
            crossbowmen garrisoned in your castle. The reason for this is
            that the enemy MUST smash through both gates to get to your
            flag. While they are trying to do this just sit back with
            your bowmen and rain arrows on them from a distance. This can
            destroy a large force in no time. You don't want to keep ALL
            of your troops behind the second gate, however. When the
            battle starts move your oil and some archers to the front
            turret. Start hitting any enemy that is close enough to reach
            with arrows. Try to take out the enemies archers so that you
            have free reign to sit back behind the castle and pick off
            the enemy soldiers. After the first gate falls, move all
            troops to the rear and guard the flag. By this time the enemy
            should be weakened enough so that your remaining archers can
            finish them off.
            
   IV. Stone Castle
       
          + Attacking:
            This is where it starts to get tough. The Stone Castle can
            hold up to 400 troops and is protected by a moat that fully
            surrounds the structure. The Stone Castle also has a good
            supply of oil that can be used on anyone that tries to fill
            in the moat. To take this castle you really need a lot of
            peasants(see I told you they were useful). The peasants are
            used to fill up the moat while archers are placed behind them
            to back them up in case the enemy has a garrison of archers
            that can lay waste to the peasants very quickly. Unless you
            have a huge army, do use all of your peasants to fill in the
            moat at the same place. Spread things out a little to make
            the enemy split up his forces. The flag is usually located in
            the rear somewhere.(always find the flag before the battle
            starts). Use your siege engines to break the gates once the
            moat is filled and use fast moving troops to try and capture
            the flag as quickly as you can.
          + Defending:
            If you have a good number of archers or crossbowmen inside a
            Stone Castle it will take a very large army to take it from
            you. You can place your ranged attackers along the walls and
            really rip the enemy to shreds. Always take out the enemy
            archers first. After they are weakened concentrate on the
            moat-diggers. Use pikemen to hold off the enemy if they
            manage to get past the front gate although they should be
            considerably weakened by that point. Watch out for Siege
            Towers. If they manage to fill in the moat, they can force
            your archers to engage in hand-to-hand combat--which is bad.
            Don't forget to use your oil. The moat-diggers are prime
            targets for oil dumping.
            
    V. Royal Castle
       
          + Attacking:
            This is not an easy task, let me tell you. Your only hope is
            that the garrison inside is weak or lacks a good amount of
            archers or crossbowmen. If the castle is anywhere near the
            600 soldier limit--it is going to be a long day. The Royal
            Castle has a double gate (like the Norman Keep), a large
            quantity of oil, multiple turrets to place archers, and that
            pesky moat. The strategy here is the same as it was for the
            Stone Castle. However, before launching an assault be sure to
            have as many siege engines that you have time to build. You
            will need rams, towers, and catapults to breach the walls of
            this monster.
          + Defending:
            This is the grand-daddy of all castles and it will take a
            very large and powerful army to take it if you have it
            garrisoned. The same strategy can be used as was the case
            with the Stone Castle. The only difference here is that you
            have more oil, troops, and walls to help you defend the flag.
            A fully stocked Royal Castle can defeat an army many times
            its size. Just make sure to garrison a lot of archers and/or
            crossbowmen.
            
   TIP: Every castle has a limited supply of boiling oil. If you want the
   enemy to use up their supply, have peasants storm the castle walls.
   The enemy will drop their oil and waste it on the peasants. This gives
   your stronger troops a chance to smash down the walls without having
   to worry about being fried with black stuff.
   
   Enemies
   
   There are four computer opponents that are also trying to capture the
   crown. The Knight, The Baron, The Countess, and The Bishop. Each noble
   has a distinct personality and regardless of the scenario, will
   usually stick to their game plan game after game.

   TIP: None of the four nobles can be trusted. When an opening is
   there--take advantage of it and do not let the noble get off the hook.
   Eliminate any noble that is weaker than you. If you give the noble
   time to rebuild, expect an attack. The Knight
   He's young, arrogant, and militant. Do not even attempt to make a
   treaty with this noble. He expands as fast as he can and will attack
   anyone that gets in his way. If he offers you a treaty, attack him
   because that usually means he is very weak.
   
   The Countess
   Of the four nobles, The Countess will betray you more often than any
   of them. While she will accept treaties from time to time, if you
   leave a back door open, she will run through it and attack without
   warning. You simply should NOT trust this noble.
   TheBaron
   The Baron acts as if he is already the King. He will usually honor
   treaties (at least longer than the others) and will usually tell you
   the turn prior to attacking you that he is breaking the pact. While
   you shouldn't TRUST The Baron, he is usually the noble to approach
   early in the game to establish a treaty.
   
   TheBishop
   The Bishop ranks second in back stabbing ability to The Countess. The
   Bishop will usually tell you that The Church needs the land and then
   proceed to attack you with everything he has. He tends to gravel once
   his armies have been dwindled down to nothing and will on occasion
   give you money in order to stay on the map.
   
