By Darkhold:
Actually, Aragon, Sicily, Hungary, The Papacy and The Horde are not playable
Here’s another thing: Has anybody actually won territories from marrying off your princesses? Because I’ve never gotten any. The only time marriage had any special effect besides alliance was when I lost my last King and Heir and the nobles married to princesses tore my empire in half.
Tijuana_Golds,
they are if you have Viking Invasion. 
Well the Papacy and the Horde are still unplayable but the others are.
And no I’ve never gotten anything through marriage. It only works if the King and Heirs of another country dies with countries still left over in the empire. Needless to say that nearly never happens.
Well, my local store was sold out of MTW. :mad:
So I bought the Japanese TW instead. 
My impression:
-the strategy screen is nothing much to write home about.
-The tactical screen is something else again!
I must admit, this is the finest-looking tactical wargame I have ever seen - though so far, I am getting my ass kicked regularly, not having the hang of it yet.
Even my wife, who generally hates computer games, was impressed by how it looks - she says it was actually scarey to see the hordes of warriors come charging out of the mist! 
I have nothing much to add to the discussion of EU II vs MTW as its all been covered. MTW is a graphically gorgeous tactical engine with a lot of depth to it, and its unsurpassed at what it does. There is just something enormously satisfying about breaking the enemy line, and then unleashing your cavalry and slaying the fleeing enemy while the dogs run! Its strategic engine and especially its diplomacy however, while fun is limited when compared to EU II. My dream game is a marriage of the pair of them. Ah if I could just have a game combining the strategic engine and depth of EU II and the tactical battles of MTW I’d play that game forever <drool>. Now if you will excuse me, I must attend to reforming my line, the Varangian guard are keen to enter the fray.
It takes some time to get the hang of the tactical side, Malthus. Basically you need to learn how to reform your own lines, to rotate and form up your troops. The pause key of course is essential. Also, learn to use the time compression…I usually run the battles on fast, occationally slowing down or pausing when I need to direct a specific formation to reform or attack.
I found when I first started playing that it was easier to learn on the defensive battles than the offensive battles. I love the tactical battles.
-XT
In fact, the only time I found it easy to win was when my troops were relatively static - just line 'em up on a crest and repel all comers. When I tried to move, I inevitably ended up with all my troops in a big heap in the centre, surrounded by gleeful enemies hacking them down! 
But, what beautiful eye candy the game is!
There is a way to form them up into an army for movement. Not sure I remember how to do it in Shogun though…I think the interface changed some. Its been years since I fired up Shogun, but I still have a copy floating about somewhere. Basically you form them up however you like (infantry first, archers, cavalry, whatever) and then move in small incriments so they reform. For attacks, I usually get them just out of range and then position them, moving forces to the flanks and center. Then I pause the game and pretty much give individual regiments movement or attack orders. There is a way point system so you can swing your cavalry out and around for instance. After I give all the orders I unpause and then move out. ONce my infantry and cavarly engage I bring up my ranged guys and reserves and play it from there.
It sure is great eye candy. Wait until you get MTW…its even better, and the engine is a bit smoother. There are more terrain types as well.
-XT
Alright, I have a port, a merchant, a shipyard, a ship in each region, and tradeable goods. Yet the ships are only generating expenses. Is there something else I need to do to get trade going?
Trading facilities, like a trading post :). You need one more building ( not including the numerous upgrades ).
Malthus: MTW is much more satisfying as a light, risk-style strategy game than STW. STW suffers from playing in Japan, which offers only a limited range of movement and directions due to the limiting shape of the islands. Also MTW has a vastly greater slew of different units to play with and more numerous factions. Basically it is all of Europe, North Africa and the Levant from late 11th century to 1453 - covering Ireland in the far west to the Urals and Syria’s eastern border in the east. The Viking Invasion expansion for MTW ( recommended ) adds a couple of playable factions to the main map as mentioned, plus a map of the British Isles wherein you can experience the joys of 8th-10th century Viking invasions.
By Darkhold:
Doh! :smack:
I didn’t know that about the Exp. Well, more reason to get it.
teemingONE,
your ships won’t show a profit. Check the country which your trading post is in and right click on the post you’ll get a message like “This building is producing XXX income” (if you check it when you have a small trade route up you’ll be discouraged for the amount of effort you put into a small amount it’s when you start getting huge trade routes with trade centers in a number of countries that it starts paying off)
Also I think one of the summary screens will show you trade income but I don’t remember for sure which one.
Some screen shots of the up coming Total War: Rome if anyone is interested. Looks like the tactical battle models got a major revamp to me. Those elephants just look TOO cool for words.
No real details about the game yet unfortunately. I really hope they put in somemore depth to the strategic portion of the game…and I hope they do more with the sea element by providing some of the tactical part of the game to it.
http://www.activision.com/en_US/game_screenshots/3964776e-2af8-4b3e-8f3e-f26f2bb5caf2.html
Looks like this one is taking them quite a while to put out. I guess my hopes for a TW game sent in 15th-18th century Europe are going to be lowered.
-XT