No doubt we all liked the second game of Medieval Total War. It wasn't insult to the first one to make a second of exactly same background, it was a praise. And why should they insult their own game anyway? Some people need to think, before judging too harshly. Medieval II total war was as good as, and maybe even better, than medieval first. But here lets see our strategy guide for Medieval II Total war.
Unlike the previous game, Rome Total War, for campaign map, it is vital to keep your army number low. There are too high upkeep costs and you can barely eaern any money at early periods of the game. So you better not spam any armies if you are not going to get in wars soon enough. So for each faction, determine a settlement to be the bulwark against probable attacks. This can be a hard thing to do, as the enemy may drift through your city without touching it, trying to reach the interiors. At that point, you need to intercept them manually with your army, stationed in that castle of your choice. It might be a good idea to keep what i call policemen, which is militia, inside interior settlements too.
Militia takes no upkeep if can be trained in that town, up to certain numbers for size of the settlement, which is 6 for Huge Cities. So in general, i have 1 bodyguard unit, for the governor, and 3 spearmen, 3 archer militia as policemen. So my cities aren't that easy targets when border fortresses are flanked. They need to stop 1 turn to be able to buuild siege equipment to breach your walls anyway. Good thing in Medieval II is that it is not governor's villa or palace or something that expands your town but new walls, higher, stronger and wider walls. It is quite logical, as when your settlement expands, it needs more territory, therefore the walls which you build first must be renewed, to a bigger ring or square of walls. Whatever. At each of your border fortress, there should reside an army.
This army is precious, because it takes long turns and money to recruit a new. So be sure that no unit is destroyed. After each two or three battle, return to your castle and retrain your army to fill the ranks of your units again. This way, they can gain experiance points and hold onto them, which makes them stronger. So, focusing militarily on border fortresses, and that is adjusted on how many enemies you have and how hard they attack you. And focuising for finance on any other settlement will get you almost unending money. So you can build any building you need. As for me, i keep construction queue on, for every single turn from start to end of the game in my capital and most other cities. If i can do that, you can do that. Be sure to get trade rights of each other factions so that your income increases. Also, there is a good logic of the AI nations, of enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-ally style. Keep your diplomats everywhere on the map. Do not forget to use spies too, meddling with public order can get your enemies into struggle therefore give you enough time.
As for battles, there are few blunt tactics. All others depend on the situation, and might completely be adjusted to different points, according to which units you have. Either if you need to fight offensive, defensive, cavalry at sides, centre, maybe deploying stakes, keeping the high ground. Hiding your units into forests - which generally i fail - The best advice i can give you is about use of knights. Knights are ultimate charge power and generally unstoppable when lined and faced the enemy properly, in chage. And due to being highly armoured, they can rip themselves off from the enemy when struck. So making sucsessful charges against non-spearwalled formations can be useful, but you also need to withdraw your cavalry and charge them back again and again. Do not ever keep your cavalry fighting near their heavy infantry. Cavalry gets owned quite easily when not mobile, by heavy infantry. These are the blunt tactics for land battles. I hope you enjoy the game.