---
title: "Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition: Complete Guide"
game: "Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition"
game_url: "https://qna.gg/games/total-war-medieval-ii-definitive-edition"
author: "Qloud"
author_url: "https://qna.gg/players/Qloud"
topics: ["Maps"]
summary: "A campaign and battle guide for Medieval II and its Kingdoms expansion. It covers the campaign map, settlements, agents, the Pope and crusades, battle tactics, faction picks, late-game threats, and how to mod and run a…"
url: "https://qna.gg/g/total-war-medieval-ii-definitive-edition-complete-guide-3aad218d"
published: "2026-09-27T20:19:18.793Z"
updated: "2026-09-27T20:19:18.793Z"
source: "QnA.GG"
---

# Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition: Complete Guide

A campaign and battle guide for Medieval II and its Kingdoms expansion. It covers the campaign map, settlements, agents, the Pope and crusades, battle tactics, faction picks, late-game threats, and how to mod and run a 2006 classic on a modern PC.

*Researched September 2026. This is a finished classic (the Definitive Edition bundles the base game and Kingdoms) and has had no gameplay patches in years. Check the linked sources if something differs.*

## Quick Start

1. **Pick one of the five starting playable factions.** In the Grand Campaign you start with England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain or Venice. Other factions unlock for later campaigns when you defeat them.
2. **Choose Short or Long campaign.** Short wants roughly 15 settlements and the elimination (or outliving) of specific rivals. Long wants 45 settlements including Jerusalem. Your win conditions are shown at campaign start.
3. **Cities make money, Castles make soldiers.** Keep most provinces as cities for income and a few as castles for good troops.
4. **Keep the Pope happy** if you're Catholic. Excommunication makes you a target.
5. **Build farms, markets and roads early** for income, then ports and merchants for trade.
6. **Win battles with combined arms.** Spears hold, archers soften, cavalry flanks and charges. Don't lead with your general.
7. **Watch your family tree.** Generals and heirs have traits that make or break provinces and armies.
8. **Expect big late-game threats:** the Mongols and later the Timurids arrive from the east, and gunpowder and the New World open up in the later centuries.

## The Campaign Map

### Settlements

| Type | Good for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| City | Taxes, trade, population growth, merchants and priests | Can be converted to a castle and back |
| Castle | Top-tier military units, strong walls | Weaker economy and limited growth |

- **Public order** drops with high taxes, big populations, religious unrest and distance from your capital. Use garrisons, churches, entertainment buildings and good governors.
- **Build order for a new city:** farms/land improvements, then markets/roads/ports, then religious buildings for order and conversion, then walls if it's on the border.
- **Taxes:** set them per settlement. Low taxes grow population. High taxes pay for wars but risk riots.

### Agents

| Agent | Job |
|---|---|
| Diplomat | Treaties, trade rights, alliances, bribing settlements and armies |
| Princess | Diplomacy plus marriage to bring generals into your family |
| Spy | Scouting, seeing inside settlements, opening gates during sieges |
| Assassin | Killing agents and generals, sabotaging buildings |
| Merchant | Earning money from resources, and taking over rival merchants |
| Priest/Imam | Converting populations and fighting heresy. Can become a Cardinal (Catholics) |

**Merchant tip:** park merchants on distant, high-value resources (gold, silver, ivory, silk). Protect them from rival merchants, who try to acquire them.

### Religion, the Pope and Crusades

- Catholic factions have a **Papal standing**. Don't attack other Catholics without cause or ignore the Pope's requests, or you risk **excommunication**, which invites everyone to attack you.
- Your **Cardinals** vote in papal elections. Getting your candidate elected makes relations much easier.
- **Crusades** are called by the Pope against a target (often Jerusalem or a Muslim city). Armies that join get recruitment and movement bonuses as long as they keep heading to the target.
- Muslim factions can call a **Jihad** through an Imam.
- **Heretics and witches** appear in low-religion regions. Station priests there and build churches to push your religion back up. The Inquisition can put your own family members on trial if they aren't pious.

### Family, traits and dynasty

- Generals get traits from their actions. Winning battles builds command. Executing or releasing prisoners affects **Chivalry vs Dread**. Governing in certain buildings has its own effects.
- Chivalry helps with city growth and army morale. Dread lowers enemy morale and keeps order through fear.
- **Retinue** members (advisors, bodyguards, relics) add bonuses. Some can be moved between characters.
- Adopt good captains when you're offered the chance, and marry princesses to competent generals.

## Battle Tactics

### Unit roles

| Role | Examples of use |
|---|---|
| Spearmen/pikemen | Hold the line against cavalry. Some can form spear walls or schiltrom. |
| Heavy infantry | Grind down enemy infantry. Swords and axes cut through armour. |
| Missile infantry | Weaken enemies before melee. Some longbowmen can plant stakes. |
| Heavy cavalry | Charge into the flanks or rear of engaged infantry, then pull back and charge again |
| Light/missile cavalry | Harass, chase routers, kill enemy archers |
| Artillery | Sieges and breaking formations. Gunpowder units arrive later. |

### Rules that win battles

- **Charge, then withdraw.** Cavalry does most of its damage on the charge. Pull back and charge again rather than leaving them stuck in melee.
- **Flank.** Hitting from the side or rear breaks morale fast.
- **Take the high ground.** Units fighting uphill are at a disadvantage.
- **Keep your general alive.** His death is a big morale hit.
- **Use guard and skirmish modes** so archers don't wander into melee, and so units hold formation.
- **Hide in forests** to ambush, and watch out for enemy ambushes.

### Sieges

- Build siege equipment (rams, ladders, siege towers) during the turns you sit outside, or bring artillery.
- Spies inside the settlement can open the gates.
- Defending: fight at the gate and on the walls, keep a reserve in the town square, and remember that holding the town square wins the battle.
- Starving a settlement out takes turns but costs no lives.

## Faction Notes (Starting Five)

| Faction | Strengths | Starting advice |
|---|---|---|
| England | Longbowmen, strong heavy infantry | Secure the British Isles, then push into France |
| France | Excellent heavy cavalry, rich land | Don't go to war on too many fronts in the middle of Europe |
| Holy Roman Empire | Large, rich, strong troops | Surrounded by enemies. Manage the Pope carefully, since the HRE often clashes with Rome. |
| Spain | Rich Iberian land, good mix of units | Push the Moors out first, then look to the New World later |
| Venice | Trade, a strong navy, rich cities | Trade across the Mediterranean and expand into the Balkans or Italy |

## Kingdoms Expansion Campaigns

Kingdoms adds four new campaigns on expanded maps:

- **Britannia:** England against Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Norway in the British Isles.
- **Teutonic:** Northern Europe and the Baltic, featuring the Teutonic Order.
- **Crusades:** the Middle East and Holy Land.
- **Americas:** the conquest of the New World.

Each has its own factions, units and scripted events. Kingdoms is also required by many mods.

## Late-Game Threats

- **The Mongols** arrive with huge horse-archer armies from the east. Hold chokepoints and castles with strong walls, and fight with spears and missile units. Don't meet them in open-field cavalry duels.
- **The Timurids** come later with elephants and gunpowder. Artillery and disciplined spear lines help.
- **Gunpowder** becomes available after a campaign event. Upgrade your castles and cities to use it.
- **The New World** opens later. The Aztecs are there, and colonising pays well.

## Modding and Modern PCs

- The Steam **Definitive Edition** includes Kingdoms. Mac and Linux ports are by Feral Interactive, and Feral also released the mobile version in 2022.
- **Popular total conversions and overhauls:** Third Age: Total War (Lord of the Rings), Stainless Steel, Bellum Crucis and Broken Crescent. Follow each mod's install instructions. Many install into the mods folder and need Kingdoms.
- **Widescreen/high resolutions** work, but UI scaling is dated. Some players use community fixes for crashes on large battles. Keep backups of your saves and your data folder before modding.
- **Save often.** Long campaigns on an old engine can crash. Rotate a few save slots.

## Common Mistakes to Avoid

- **Turning every settlement into a castle.** Your economy will collapse.
- **Attacking fellow Catholics carelessly** and getting excommunicated.
- **Leading with your general's bodyguard.** A dead faction heir can wreck your dynasty.
- **Leaving cavalry stuck in melee** instead of charging again.
- **Neglecting public order** until a city revolts.
- **Ignoring merchants and trade.** Ports and trade rights are some of the biggest money-makers.
- **Expanding east without preparing for the Mongols.**

## Advanced Tips

- **Bribe small rebel towns with diplomats** early. It's often cheaper than a siege.
- **Stack merchants on remote high-value resources** once your own traders can defend them.
- **Use crusades as free movement** to reach far-off targets, then keep what you capture.
- **Keep a "garrison governor"** with good governing traits in your richest city.
- **Sell off and demolish** buildings that conflict with a castle/city role when you convert.
- **Kill the heir.** Assassinating an enemy's faction heir or leader can throw them into chaos.

## FAQ

**What's in the Definitive Edition?**
Medieval II plus the Kingdoms expansion and all feature updates, as one Steam product.

**How do I unlock more factions?**
Defeat them in the Grand Campaign. Beating a faction unlocks it for future campaigns.

**How do I avoid excommunication?**
Don't attack other Catholic factions without good reason, obey or satisfy Papal requests where you can, and build churches to raise your standing.

**When do the Mongols show up?**
They're a scripted mid-campaign invasion from the east. Build up your eastern defenses before then.

**What are the best mods?**
Third Age: Total War for Lord of the Rings, Stainless Steel for a deeper historical overhaul, and Bellum Crucis and Broken Crescent for alternative overhauls.

**Is Total War: MEDIEVAL III coming?**
Creative Assembly announced it at the December 2025 25th Anniversary Showcase. It was in pre-production, which the studio said meant years from release.

## Sources

- [Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4700/)
- [Steam news (25th Anniversary Showcase, Medieval III, sales)](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/4700)
- [Medieval II: Total War on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_II:_Total_War)
- [Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_II:_Total_War:_Kingdoms)